and not for the market. All these things we learnt
and learnt by practical experience under Hermann and Haupt, but what
we failed to acquire was a large knowledge of Greek and Latin
literature, of the character of each author and of the spirit which
pervaded their works. I ought to have read in Latin, Cicero, Tacitus,
and Lucretius; in Greek, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle;
but as I read only portions of them, my knowledge of the men
themselves and their objects in life remained very fragmentary. For
instance, my real acquaintance with Plato and Aristotle was confined
to a few dialogues of the former and some of the logical works of the
latter. The rest I learnt from such works as Ritter and Preller's
_Historia Philosophiae Graecae et Romanae ex fontium locis contexta_,
and from the very useful lectures of Niedner on the history of ancient
philosophy. However, I thought I had to do what my professors told me,
and shaped my reading so that they should approve of my work.

This must not be understood as in any way disparaging my teachers.
Such an idea never entered my head at the time. People have no idea in
England what kind of worship is paid by German students to their
professors. To find fault with them or to doubt their _ipse dixit_
never entered our minds. What they said of other classical scholars
from whom they differed, as Hermann did from Otfried Mueller, or Haupt
from Orelli, was gospel, and remained engraved on our memory for a
long time. Once when attending Hermann's lectures, another student who
was sitting at the same table with me made disrespectful remarks about
old Hermann. I asked him to be quiet, and when he went on with his
foolish remarks, I could only stop him by calling him out. As soon as
the challenge was accepted he had of course to be quiet, and a few
days after we fought our duel without much damage to either of us. I
only mention this because it shows what respect and admiration we felt
for our professor, also because it exemplifies the usefulness of
duelling in a German university, where after a challenge not another
word can be said or violence be threatened even by the rudest
undergraduate. A duel for a Greek conjecture may seem very absurd, but
in duels of this kind all that is wanted is really a certain knowledge
of fencing, care being taken that nothing serious shall happen. And
yet, though that is so, the feeling of a possible danger is there, and
keeps up a certain etique