As regards history, it is superfluous to speak of its usefulness for a higher education. History is, indeed, a magistra vitae, a teacher and mirror of life, a school of practical wisdom. Of particular importance for the teacher is the thorough knowledge of the history of Greece and Rome. A scholarly appreciation of the classics is impossible without an intimate acquaintance with the history: political, social, religious, and literary, of these nations.
Here we must say a few words on the teacher's attitude towards ancient history. The religious teacher's viewpoint of history is radically different from that of the agnostic. To the religious teacher historical events are not merely the products of natural agencies. He sees rather in history, to use the words of the Jesuit Kropf, "the wonderful manifestation of God's power and a revelation of the wisdom of a
rendered to history and geography by Jesuit schools and scholars. Thus Dr. von Sallwürk says: "The study of history was considerably advanced by Jesuit writers, but the colleges of the University [of Paris] did not imitate the example of the Jesuits." Geschichte der Erziehung, vol. IV, Abteilung I, p. 436. "The Fathers Sirmond, Petavius, and Labbe have well deserved of historical studies and of the teaching of history in the schools. ... Geography was henceforth zealously cultivated by the Jesuits. ... Of great practical importance were the labors of the remarkably diligent Father Buffier; especially on geography and grammar he has written good books, in which the traditional scholastic tone is happily avoided. ... His Philosophy and Practical Grammar was for a long time considered the only useful grammar of the French language. ... In the schools of the Oratory we find geography as a branch of study; but to the Jesuits must be allowed the merit of having taught this branch before the Oratorians. In their College at Amiens was trained Nicolas Sanson, the 'Father of Geography'." Ibid., p. 456 and 466.
