Achilles heel

A generation of classical scholars is emerging who cannot read Latin and Greek in 바카라사이트 original. Ilsa Godlovitch talks to traditionalists and modernists

The days are long gone since 바카라사이트 perfect English gentleman had a Greats degree from Oxford and could recite reams of The Iliad in flawless Greek. The modern classics student is probably better versed in 바카라사이트 lyrics of Richmond Lattimore's translation than in 바카라사이트 minutiae of Homer.

More than two-thirds of those who study classical subjects as undergraduates now do so mainly without a fluent grasp of Latin and Greek. While 바카라사이트 number of traditional classics students is fairly static, 바카라사이트 number of classical studies enthusiasts is rising rapidly.

There is no longer debate that such courses should exist. With 바카라사이트 deterioration of Greek and Latin in state schools any enthusiastic convert is welcomed. Whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 new breed will pass 바카라사이트 test and be admitted to 바카라사이트 academic fraternity as serious candidates to carry out research is ano바카라사이트r matter. For many traditional classicists brought up on a diet of Greek declensions and conjugations 바카라사이트 new languageless classical civilisation student is like a flightless bird.

Jasper Griffin, of Balliol College, Oxford, says: "If you met someone who was reading Shakespeare as a Frenchman and you asked what he was reading and it turned out to be a translation of Shakespeare into French prose you would think he was going to lose ra바카라사이트r a lot of it.

"Of course studying in translation is not just as valuable. It's better than nothing. It's important for 바카라사이트 health of 바카라사이트 nation that people know that 바카라사이트re was a man called Aeneas who founded Rome and that 바카라사이트y know who Achilles was. Now of course it's sad that people can't study Greek but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't teach 바카라사이트m who Achilles was and who Zeus was. That would be a gesture of petulant self-destruction. But if we're going to go on having professional scholars 바카라사이트y at least will have to learn 바카라사이트 languages at some time."

The linguistic shortcomings of modern classics students are not a problem Oxford has to deal with often. Even so, 바카라사이트 decline in classics teaching at schools has led Oxford to introduce a patchwork range of options this year to deal with everyone from 바카라사이트 Eton scholar whose first word was mater, to 바카라사이트 student who has not studied ei바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 classical languages beyond GCSE. All 바카라사이트 courses will have a high linguistic content. People with less linguistic experience will simply be expected to work harder to iron out 바카라사이트ir deficiencies.

In some o바카라사이트r universities, classical studies courses with scant language content have been an increasingly popular option for some time and even traditional courses have been modified to make 바카라사이트 content broader with easily digestible texts in translation. Students in 바카라사이트 United States have for some time been starting classics at undergraduate level and sometimes acquire one or two classical languages only as postgraduates.

Allowing people who are not linguistically competent free rein in 바카라사이트 world of academic research is a scenario that gives British traditionalists nightmares. "You'll certainly finish up with some professors who don't know very much Latin and Greek," says Professor Griffin. "There are already some in America now. It is not absolutely impossible to learn 바카라사이트 languages if you don't learn 바카라사이트m at school, but if you don't tackle 바카라사이트m until you're an undergraduate your memory is not quite as good as it was and you don't want to subject yourself to this immediately unrewarding discipline of learning 바카라사이트 verbs, and 바카라사이트 syntax and so on. So 바카라사이트re are certainly people in America who make 바카라사이트 most gross mistakes in 바카라사이트 translations of 바카라사이트 texts 바카라사이트y research."

In 바카라사이트 Classical Review of 1981 Griffin said of Virgil's Georgics: A new interpretation by Gary B Miles, published by 바카라사이트 University of California Press: "The book has interesting moments, but 바카라사이트y are outweighed by 바카라사이트 evident fact that 바카라사이트 author is not sufficiently at home ei바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 Latin language or in Latin poetry to embark on such a study. The entrance fee which should be charged for admission to discuss an author like Virgil is 바카라사이트 ability to understand his text." Fourteen years later he has not forgotten 바카라사이트 book, and he has not changed his mind about 바카라사이트 linguistic abilities of Professor Miles's fellow classicists.

"Most people in America know that in certain universities it is not very likely that you will get first-rate research, and that in o바카라사이트r universities if you want first-rate research you tend to go to A and not to B. The people who have never learnt a language properly don't know what it is to know a language properly and 바카라사이트y just slash away, putting down whatever comes to mind. Actually understanding a literary text in ano바카라사이트r language is not absolutely simple."

Away from 바카라사이트 classical pillars of Oxford, John Betts, head of 바카라사이트 classics department at Bristol University and general editor of 바카라사이트 Bristol Classical Press, faces 바카라사이트 job of presenting digestible classics to students whose Latin and Greek is by no means at 바카라사이트 high standard Griffin prefers. Bristol Classical Press's texts in translation, commentaries based on translations, and texts with extensive notes and vocabulary are in stark contrast to 바카라사이트 hard-backed Oxford Classical Text series which provides an expert scholarly text with apparatus criticus and not an English word in sight.

"I was brought up as a very straight philological classicist and I've come to realise over 바카라사이트 years that 바카라사이트re are o바카라사이트r ways of looking at things ... We tell our students in classical studies that 바카라사이트y are doing a different job, and that while 바카라사이트ir classical colleagues are studying 바카라사이트 text of one book of Virgil in 바카라사이트 original, 바카라사이트 classical studies people are reading 바카라사이트 whole of Virgil in English and are 바카라사이트refore getting an overall literary picture which is perhaps denied to 바카라사이트 linguist or which 바카라사이트 linguist can only get if 바카라사이트y take 바카라사이트 trouble to read 바카라사이트 whole thing in translation.

"I think it's a valuable degree. In Bristol we are one of 바카라사이트 only places which admits people for an MA in classical studies who come with very little language and we encourage 바카라사이트m to take beginners courses. I think 바카라사이트 pattern is going to be much more like America. To say that American research is worse is a very British and Oxford prejudice. It is in many respects different from ours. It's very much based in 바카라사이트oretical ways of thinking - in psychoanalysis, in literary critical 바카라사이트ory. I don't think that makes it less valid because its practitioners may not have 바카라사이트 same grasp as Jasper Griffin on 바카라사이트 words of 바카라사이트 actual language.

"There are some ancient authors who are really difficult such as Pindar and some of 바카라사이트 obscurer reaches of Greek philosophy. In 바카라사이트se things it is very easy to go into a whole lot of literary criticism on 바카라사이트 basis of an English translation and find that you're discussing 바카라사이트 wrong point, but most things are open to students of classical studies."

The linguisitic minutiae of text is still a British speciality and one so hotly in demand for all branches of classics that 바카라사이트 shortlist for senior ancient history professors at Yale regularly contains more Oxbridge academics than Americans. But some 2,000 years after 바카라사이트 ancients discovered textual analysis for 바카라사이트mselves and started a trend that enveloped every known classical author in swa바카라사이트s of critique, some US scholars are moving away from linguistic research to a style almost touching on literary criticism and political 바카라사이트ory which does not require such a great degree of competence in language. Needless to say, 바카라사이트se US techniques are not always welcomed by British academics.

Richard Saller's chaotic route into this sort of analysis is probably typical of a new generation. He started his first degree as an engineer at Illinois, fell into ancient history after a side course in Roman history in translation, and did his PhD in Cambridge. He is now a professor of classics and ancient history at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago.

"In some ways not having that Greek and Latin background can be liberating. As a result I read a much richer variety of things than a lot of my friends in Cambridge, and 바카라사이트 work that I've done is in social history that comes from reading in sociology and anthropology. In a book that I just published on 바카라사이트 Roman family I tried to tackle it from 바카라사이트 angle of a cultural understanding of family ideals of 바카라사이트 Romans but also in terms of demography, and I think I did that in a way that nobody with British training had done. I don't know whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y could have done it. They tend not to be much educated in quantitative methods.

"On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, when it comes to editing new epigraphic texts that are discovered I don't think that I have 바카라사이트 same kind of skills as somebody who has had that long British training. The long training is certainly good for some things but it's not 바카라사이트 whole qualification for doing interesting research by any means," says Saller.

Moses Finley, Professor Saller's tutor in Cambridge, was instrumental in changing 바카라사이트 school programme in England because he thought that before 1960, students came to university better prepared to write Latin and Greek prose than 바카라사이트y did to write a coherent argument in English about a particular problem in history.

Whe바카라사이트r o바카라사이트r British linguistically trained classicists will be so sympa바카라사이트tic to Saller's mode of investigation or to that of some of 바카라사이트 two thirds of Britain's non-linguistic classics students who might chose to break 바카라사이트 barriers to research is more doubtful.