Recipe for Relevance

Abstract

One reason for calling Classical literature Classical is that it is supposed to be always relevant, meaningful, regardless of the historical period in which it is read and studied. And the reason that this literature, Roman and Greek, has not only survived over two and a half millennia but has served as source, model, and inspiration for later literatures and ideas is that this supposition has turned out to be true. Yet somehow the educated public of the United States today is more willing to see the relevance of Greek literature than that of Roman, especially in the matter of war and peace in the currently highly fashionable theme of love, which is so “relevant” that in the words of a song popular about a generation ago, it “is busting out all over.” This must be recognized as a serious problem for Classics teachers since most of them teach Latin, if they are still in the field in this era of dwindling enrollments in foreign languages when many young people are beginning to turn away even from modern languages. The problem, I submit, is in part of our own making and in part the result of related educational and cultural history.