Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/570

564 learned directly our stock of knowledge would be pitifully small. At the utmost, we can make an immediate inspection of the merest fragment of the immense domain of nature and life, while the entire past has for the most part been transmitted to us through many hands. If we purpose to acquire a language for itself alone there is nothing gained by approaching it in a roundabout way. But there is no doubt that if we wish to lay the foundation for studies of a similar character we can not do better than to begin with Latin. A person who knows Latin well will have far less difficulty in acquiring the Romance languages, barring the pronunciation, than he had with the Latin. The great body of the vocabulary of these languages is derived more or less directly from the ancient tongue. Most words, however, which designate modern objects are formed in various ways. Those words that have their roots in the Latin have merely been modified according to phonetic laws that are now well understood. On the other hand, it is admitted by most teachers who can speak from experience that a knowledge of Latin as gained in our schools is of small service in acquiring French, the Romance language most generally taught. With few exceptions the pupils fail to see the connection between the older and the younger vocabulary and teachers have virtually to begin at the beginning. It is only a small minority of learners that acquire French more rapidly because they have studied Latin previously. It is not too much to say that nobody fully comprehends what is written in those languages now called dead. Part of the difficulty is due to variations in the manuscripts, or to their defective character, but it is also largely owing to the impossibility of ascertaining the meaning of many words. To be convinced of this one needs but to examine the copious notes with which most authors have been provided. A few months ago I had occasion to read some of the later Books of the Æneid, a work that I had not had in hand for a number of years. As long as I had only the text before me I thought I understood the author except in a few passages. But after consulting a profusely annotated edition I was in doubt whether I had got the meaning of more than one verse in ten. So many possibilities and probabilities were suggested that nobody could tell who was right. There is always some difficulty in comprehending a profound thinker. But if we know exactly what he said we can usually come pretty close to an understanding of his meaning. If we are uncertain as to the words he wrote we encounter preliminary obstacles which no amount of ingenuity and intellectual acumen can overcome. It is doubtful whether the mind can be most profitably employed in seeking for something which in the nature of the case can not be found. On the other hand, the effort to acquire the facile use of a language, whether ancient or modern, is always a striving towards an attainable goal. We can obtain expert testimony as to whether we have reached it. There are hundreds of persons now