I mean the
fact that the Greeks were not acquainted with any language but their
own. I have never known an attempt to parry this thrust. Yet, besides
the fact itself, there are strong presumptions in favour of the position
that to know a language well, you should devote your time and strength
to it alone, and not attempt to learn three or four. Of course, the
Greeks were in possession of the most perfect language, and were not
likely to be gainers by studying the languages of their contemporaries.
So, we too are in possession of a very admirable language, although put
together in a nondescript fashion; and it is not impossible that if
Plato had his Dialogues to compose among us, he would give his whole
strength to working up our own resources, and not trouble himself with
Greek. The popular dictum--_multum non multa_, doing one thing well--may
be plausibly adduced in behalf of parsimony in the study of languages.
The recent agitation in Cambridge, in Oxford, and indeed, all over the
country, for remitting the study of Greek as an essential of the Arts'
Degree, has led to a reproduction of the usual defences of things as
they are. The articles in the March number of the _Contemporary Review,
1879_, by Professors Blackie and Bonamy Price, may claim to be the
_derniers mots_.
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