th
Through the cloud, to wedge the ponderous
In the gnarled oak beneath.
Oh, our Sophocles, the royal,
Who was born to monarch's place,
And who made the whole world loyal,
Less by kingly power than grace.
Our Euripides, the human,
With his droppings of warm tears,
And his touches of things common
Till they rose to touch the spheres!
Our Theocritus, our Bion,
And our Pindar's shining goals!--
These were cup-bearers undying
Of the wine that's meant for souls.
And my Plato, the divine one,
If men know the gods aright
By their motions as they shine on
With a glorious trail of light!--

It would not be surprising if some who read these lines should find more
food for mind and soul in Plato than in any other of the Greek writers.
Certainly those works of Plato and his contemporary, Xenophon, that
relate to the life, teachings, and death of Socrates are contributions
to a yet uncollected Bible of humanity, one more inclusive than that of
Jew or Christian.

It is one of the great misfortunes of Roman literature that the works of
its chief writers are used as textbooks for schools, a misfortune shared
to some extent by the Greek. Yet Homer and Xenophon, Vergil and Cicero,
did not write for children or callow youth. They belong to Longfellow's

grand old masters,
Whose mighty thoughts suggest
Life's endless toil and endeavor,

and their writings have no relation to adolescence. Yet it is to be
feared that most people who have read their works remember them as seen
through the cloudy medium of their own immaturity. Byron speaks of
reading and hating Horace as a schoolboy, but no normal person can hate
Horace any more than he can hate Washington Irving. It is possible,
however, that pupils who have to read Irving's "Sketch Book" with the
fear of a college entrance examination before their minds may have no
affection even for him. So some of us may have something to unlearn in
our reading of Vergil and Horace, for we must approach their works as
strong meat for mature minds. Vergil's theme is nothing less than the
glorification of the Roman state through its divinely ordered and heroic
founding. School children seldom read more than the six books of the
"Aeneid" required for college; but the other six, though of much less
varied interest, are necessary for the appreciation of the poem. The
whole is a work that