Page:Essays and Addresses.djvu/567

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Like It—whether it is more than legendary I do not know—by which the words—

                               "books in the running brooks,
          Sermons in stones,"

were corrected into

                               "stones in the running brooks,
          Sermons in books."

It is no exaggeration to say that emendations like this—yes, and worse—have repeatedly been proposed in the texts of Greek poets by excellent scholars who, on the "scientific" side of their work, leave nothing to be desired. Or turn to the study of history—Mr Freeman will not permit us to call it "ancient"—the history of Greece or Rome. It frequently happens that our estimate of character or motive, our view of a political situation, or our conception of a social phase, must depend on something beyond the mere power to construe our classical author's words according to the rules of grammar; it must be effected, further, by our perception of the tone which his form of expression conveys. In Archæology, again, take what branch of it we will, the literary evidence is often important in its bearing on the monuments, and often depends on nice points of interpretation. Nor can any aid to the comprehension of Greek art be more valuable than that which is given by a true sympathy with the spirit of Greek literature; for the same mind is in both.

If, then, classical studies are to be cultivated with the best result, it is not enough that the spirit and the ardour of scientific research should animate