Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/659

 STUDY OF HOMERIC RELIGION 645

tion, that renders the antecedent labors of classical scholars of such small avail to the student of societal evolution. Unques- tionably the philologists have perfected a method that the younger sciences might well emulate; the late Edward G. Bourne once told me that he derived his historical method — a method peculiarly effective in many ways, as historical and other students will bear witness — largely from a study of the phil- ologists' procedure. But when the classical philologist of the past came to deal with aspects other than the linguistic, he often left his good process behind him. Hence, as a general rule, the social scientist who studies the classics for what they may have to tell about the evolution of social forms and institutions, must expect but little aid, except in the matter of detail, from those who went before. This is one of the reasons why study of the classics is good training for the sociologist; he is simply obliged to deal with original material, and to exercise critical judgment at every step. That he may make many errors, and prove to be the laughing-stock of the classical scholars, is a matter of course, and also of small consequence. As the President of this Society has often confided to some of us, in the privacy of the classroom, "You've got to find out where it isn't before you find out where it is."

One of the prime values of Homeric study, a sense of which has grown upon me as time has passed, is the splendid practice which it gives one in distinguishing what you must not believe, and what you need not believe, from what you are obliged to believe. A sociologist, of all persons, signs his scientific death- warrant when he gets to be credulous ; of all scientists the sociolo- gist is precisely the one who most stands in need of a scientifically suspicious mind. I firmly believe that no other single branch of study is so well calculated to sophisticate a man concerning those general aspects of social life in which vague a priori reasoning and irrational emotion are taking refuge, as that which Spencer set upon its feet and called "sociology." Such a study opens a man's eyes to many things, and it teaches him a tolerance which should enable him to keep his head amidst the flow of emotion and the clash of interests. If he can get the habit of thdtige