Scholars in General.—The Necessity of Introducing Better Methods of
Teaching Greek in Schools in Order that Greek may become the
International Language of Scholars
EPILOGUE.—Calumniations Against the Greeks of To-day and the Refutation
of These
List of Subscribers EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS AND REVIEWS IN JOURNALS.
His GRACE, ARCHBISHOP CORRIGAN, New York, wrote the day after having
received the book: “Dear Doctor, Many thanks for your great courtesy in
sending me a copy of your charming work, ‘Christian Greece and Living
Greek.’ I have already begun its perusal, the chapter on the proper
‘Pronunciation of Greek’ naturally inviting and claiming immediate
attention. I think you laugh Erasmus out of court. Now I must begin, if
leisure be ever afforded me, to dip into Greek again, to learn to
pronounce your noble language correctly. Congratulating you on your
success, and with best wishes, I am, dear Doctor,
“Very faithfully yours,
“M. A. CORRIGAN, ARCHBISHOP.”
DR. ACHILLES ROSE.
S. STANHOPE ORRIS, Professor of Greek in Princeton University, who was
Director of the American School at Athens from 1888 to 1889, who kindly
revised the manuscript, wrote:
“I think that the impression which the manuscript has made on my mind
will be made on the minds of all who read your book—that it is the
production of an able, laborious, enthusiastic, scholarly man, who
deserves the gratitude and admiration of all who labor to perpetuate an
interest in the language, literature, and history of Greece.”
Again, after having received the book, the same Philhellene writes to
the author: “Professor Cameron, my colleague, who has glanced at the
book, pronounces it eloquent, as I also do, and unites with me in
ordering a copy for our University Library.”
HON. EBEN ALEXANDER, former United States Minister to Greece, Professor
of Greek, North Carolina University: “My dear Dr. Rose, The five copies
have been received, and I enclose check in payment…. I am greatly
pleased with the book. It shows everywhere the fruit of your
far-reaching studies, and your own enthusiastic interest has enabled
you to state the facts in a strongly interesting way. I hope that it
will meet with favor. I wonder whether you have sent a copy to the
King? He would like to see it, I know…. I am sincerely your friend.”
WILLIAM F. SWAHLER, Professor of Greek, De Pauw University,
Greencastle, Ind., writes: “I received the book today in fine order,
and am much pleased so far as I have had time to peruse the same.”
THOMAS CARTER, Professor of Greek and Latin, Centenary College,
Jackson, La., writes: “Am highly delighted with Dr. Rose’s work; have
not had the time to read it all yet, but from what I have been able to
get over, am more than ever convinced of his accurate learning, his
profound scholarship, and his devoted enthusiasm for his beloved
Hellas.”
A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON, Professor of Oriental Languages, Columbia
University, New York: “The welcome volume arrived this morning and is
cordially appreciated. This note is to express my thanks and to extend
best wishes for continued success.”
MR. JOHN C. PALMARIS, of Chicago: “[Greek: Eugnomonon Eggaen]. Dr.
Achilles Rose. Dear Sir, Allow me to express my thanks from the bottom
of my heart as a Greek for your sincere love for my beloved country
‘Hellas,’ and to congratulate you for your noble philological and
precious work, ‘Christian Greece and Living Greek,’ with the true
Gnomikon. ‘It is shameful to defame Greece continually.’ I received
to-day the three copies for me and one for my brother-in-law (Prince
Rodokanakis), which I despatched immediately to Syra.”
DR. A. F. CURRIER, New York: “Dear Dr. Rose, I received your book with
great pleasure. It is very attractively made up, and I am looking
forward to the pleasure of reading it. As I get older I am astonished
at the charm with which memory recalls history, myth, and poetry in the
study of the classics long ago. With sincerest wishes for your success,
believe me yours, Philhellenically.”
C. EVERETT CONANT, Professor of Greek and Latin, Lincoln University,
Lincoln, III.: “I wish personally to thank you for the effort you are
making to set before us Americans the true status of the modern Greek
language in its relation with the classic speech of Pericles’ day. With
best wishes for the success of your laudable undertaking, I am
cordially yours.”
MR. H. E. S. SLAGENHAUP, Taneytown, Md.: “Dr. Achilles Rose. Dear Sir,
Your book, ‘Christian Greece and Living Greek,’ reached me this
morning. Although it arrived only this morning I have already read the
greater part of it. It is a work for which every Philhellene must feel
truly grateful to you. Not only do I admire the care, the industry, and
the scholarly research which are evident on every page of this valuable
exposition of Hellenism and Philhellenism, but I most heartily indorse
every sentiment expressed in it. I rejoice that such a book has
appeared; I hope it may have a wide influence favorable to the just
cause of Hellas; and I pledge myself to render whatever assistance may
lie in my power in the furtherance of that cause. The disasters of the
past year have in no wise shaken my faith in the Hellenic race; on the
contrary, they have increased my admiration for the brave people who
undertook a war against such odds in behalf of their oppressed
brethren; and I believe that the cause which sustained such regrettable
defeats on the plains of Thessaly last year will eventually triumph in
spite of opposition.”
FRANKLIN B. STEPHENSON, M. D., Surgeon United States Navy. “United
States Marine Corps Recruiting Office, Boston: My dear Doctor, Permit
me to write you of my pleasure and satisfaction in reading your
excellent book on Christian Greece and Greek; and to express my
appreciation of the clear and vivid manner in which you have portrayed
the life and work of the Hellenes, who have done so much in preserving
and transmitting to us the learning in science and art of the ancient
world…. Your reference to the eminent professor of Greek who said that
there was ‘no literature in modern Greek worthy of the name,’ reminds
me of the remark of a man, prominent in financial and social circles,
who told me that there was nothing in Russian to make it worth while
studying the language [Dr. Stephenson is a well-known
linguist—mastering eight languages, Russian among them]. I wish you all
success in the work of letting the light of truth, as to Greek, shine
in the minds of those who do not know their own ignorance.”
MORTIMER LAMSON EARLE, Professor Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa., who
mastered so well the living Greek language that Greeks of education
pronounce their admiration of his elegant style, saying that it is most
wonderful how well a foreigner writes their own language: “The book has
been duly received, but I have not as yet had time to read all of it.
However, I have read enough to know that, though I differ with you in
many details, I am heartily in accord with you in earnestly supporting
the cause of a people and language to which I am sincerely attached. I
am glad that you speak so highly in praise of the Klephtic songs. I
hope that your book may do much good.”
LOUIS F. ANDERSON, Professor of Greek, Whitman College, Walla Walla,
Wash.: “From my rapid inspection I regard it as superior even to my
anticipations. I trust that it will have an extensive sale and
corresponding influence. It is the book needed just now. I hope to
write more in the future.”
MR. C. MEHLTRETTER, New York: “After due reading of your book I feel it
my duty to congratulate you on same. True, you may have received so
many congratulatory notes that the layman’s opinion will be of little
value. Nevertheless, I can assure you the perusal of your book caused
me more pleasure and instruction than any other I heretofore read on
the subject. I assure you it will find a prominent place in my library,
and any time in future you should again write on _any subject_ consider
me one of your subscribers.”
WILLIAM J. SEELYE, Professor of Greek, University of Wooster, Ohio:
“Dr. Rose’s book received yesterday. I have already read enough to see
that the author is not only full of his subject, but treats it with
judicial mind.”
JOSEPH COLLINS, M.D., Professor Post-Graduate School of Medicine, New
York: “The chapters of your book that I have read have been
entertaining and instructive.”
ISAAC A. PARKER, Professor of Greek and Latin, Lombard University,
Galesburg, Ill.: “I wish to say to Dr. Rose that, although I have yet
had time only to glance hastily at the book, the few sentences which I
have read have interested me very much, and it will give me much
pleasure to give it a careful perusal, as I see that it contains much
valuable information. The thanks of those interested in Greece and
Greek literature are due to Dr. Rose for giving them this book. Praise
is due to the printer for his excellent work.”
CHARLES R. PEPPER, Professor Central University, Richmond, Ky.: “Your
book, ‘Christian Greece and Living Greek,’ came duly to hand. I am much
pleased with it. I hope the interest of the Philhellenes in the United
States may be quickened to a livelier degree in Greece and Greek
affairs, and that your book may accomplish a good work in putting
before the people generally the claims of Hellas to the gratitude,
love, and admiration of the civilized world.”
[_From the Troy Daily Times_, Feb. 7, 1898.]
“Christian Greece and Living Greek,” by Dr. Achilles Rose. In view of
the Hellenic defeat in the war with Turkey a year ago the future of
Greece to many minds is rather vague and clouded. This idea is due to
lack of knowledge of Greece history and character. Were Americans more
familiar with the character of the Hellenes and their traditions none
would doubt that the descendants of those great figures of the heroic
age have a mission before them and that this mission will be
accomplished in spite of Turkish bullets and the selfishness of the
other European powers. Dr. Rose in this volume offers a clear
presentation of the condition of Greece at the present time. His work
deals not only with the nation, but with the language, and the history
of each is traced from its earliest beginnings down to the present
time. The reading of this book will afford a much clearer understanding
of the causes leading to the war of 1897 than is generally possessed.
Of especial interest is an introduction written by one of the best
known Greeks now resident in this country, who reviews the causes
leading to the great war, and clearly shows the shamefulness of the
course pursued by the great European powers in leaving Hellas to her
fate. Some of the statements made are significant, notably the
following: “If Greece has sinned, it was on the side of compassion for
her oppressed children and coreligionists. She is bleeding from every
pore of her mutilated body, but there is a Nemesis which sooner or
later will overtake those who rejoice now at her defeat and
humiliation.” New York: Peri Hellados Publishing Office.
From REV. HENRY A. BUTTZ, Dean Theological Seminary, Madison, N.J.: “My
dear Sir, I have read with interest your book ‘Christian Greece and
Living Greek,’ and have found it full of valuable suggestion. It
discusses many points of great interest, giving a more correct view of
the true condition of the Greece of to-day and of its relation to its
glorious past. I am especially pleased with your forcible putting of
the importance of adopting the modern Greek pronunciation in our study
of the Greek language. I wish your book a wide circulation.”
F. A. PACKARD, M.D., Kearney, Neb.: “Dear Sir and Doctor, Your book on
‘Christian Greece and Living Greek’ received. I must say it is a grand
work and I prize it highly and consider it a valuable addition to my
library. Wishing you success, etc.”
A. JACOBI, M.D., Professor Columbia University: “Dear Dr. Rose, The
perusal of your book has been a source of much pleasure to me. If
Hellas has as enthusiastic men and women among her own people as you
are, a friend in a foreign nation, she will have a promising future.”
MR. LOUIS PRANG, Boston, Mass.: “‘Christian Greece and Living Greek’
has given me not only great pleasure to read but I have learned more
about Greece, as it was and as it _really_ is, than I ever knew before.
Your book is exceedingly valuable to a man like me who desires
_reliable_ information on this very interesting people and who lacks
the time for personal investigation or much book-reading, which after
all, to judge by your statements, would not lead to a correct
appreciation of present conditions. Your personal experience based on
large and varied observations among the people, and your evidently
thorough study of past history make your judgment acceptable, and your
manner of giving it to the reader is eminently interesting and
engaging, and above all convincing. I do not think that what I have
said here will be of much interest or satisfaction to you, as coming
from a simple business man, but I wished to thank you for the enjoyment
your book has given me and to tell you that you have made at least one
convert for the cause of living Greek.”
A GREEK LADY, living in Cairo, Egypt, writes to her father: “I thank
you above all for the book of Dr. Rose you were so kind as to send me,
and which I am perusing with the greatest interest. One can see that
Dr. Rose is a friend of our dear country; if there were more like him
we would not be so run down by ignorant and spiteful people.”
[_From New York Medical Journal_, March 5th, 1898.]
Dr. Rose’s well-known enthusiasm for the Greeks, their country, and
particularly their language has resulted in the production of a very
interesting book. Physicians will naturally be most interested in the
concluding chapter, which treats of Greek as the international language
of physicians and scholars in general, but from cover to cover there is
nothing commonplace in the book; it is quite readable throughout. We
congratulate Dr. Rose on the appearance of the volume in so attractive
a form.
[_From The Independant_, March 24th, 1898.]
Dr. Rose stands forth in his volume the champion of modern Greece, the
Greeks and their wrongs. He tells the story as it has been developed in
this century, and recites the older history and appeals to the
intelligent Christian world against the Great Assassin of
Constantinople. He believes the modern Greek tongue as now spoken and
written to be the ideal one for international intercourse, especially
on scientific matters, and repudiates the Erasmian method of
pronunciation. His account of the Greeks themselves is encouraging. He
claims for them a strict morality. Theft he declares unknown, and
drunkenness. The book is certainly eloquent and inspiring.
[_From The Living Church_, Chicago, March 19th, 1898.]
This is a most interesting book. There is not a dull page in it. It is
made up of various lectures delivered by the accomplished author, at
different times, on the Greek language and history. Magnificent as
Gibbon’s work is on the Byzantine Empire, the contemptuous tone he uses
toward it has much misled modern writers and readers in their
estimation of that wonderful monarchy. A state which lasted as that did
in the face of so many difficulties, could not have been so badly
governed as Gibbon implies. That Dr. Rose shows, and a good, English,
up-to-date Byzantine history is greatly to be desired. Dr. Rose’s
account of the Greek struggle for independence is vivid, patriotic, and
full of information on a subject that few people know much about. The
most interesting part of the book to scholars is the chapters on modern
Greek. Dr. Rose says: “The living Greek of to-day shows much less
deviation from the Greek of two thousand and more years ago than any
other European language shows in the course of centuries.” This
statement will surprise many, but it is literally true. Dr. Rose gives
the history of the creation of the modern Greek literary language on
the lines of classic Greek, and he advocates the use of modern Greek,
especially in the matter of pronunciation, in teaching classic Greek.
In all this we go with him heartily, and his views are being adopted in
many colleges in Europe and America.
[_From the Evangelist_, February 17th, 1898.]
We commend this book to all who would know what the “concert of
European powers” means to a struggling kingdom and people used as a
“buffer state” between the unspeakable Turk and civilized “Westerns.”
The historical chapters of the work are a revelation of the intricacies
of “the disgraceful deals of the great powers whose victim the kingdom
of Greece has been.” The story is simply told with great candor and
quiet reserve, but it carries a lesson that moves the heart and stirs
the indignation of dispassionate and perhaps indifferent observers. How
hard is it for a people like the Greeks or the Armenians to get a
hearing! What “political necessities” demand silence; what diplomatic
falsehoods, deceptions, subterfuges are indulged by ministries and
cabinets that are called Christian! The history of Greece from the fall
of the Byzantine Empire up to this hour is a tragedy, and the final
deliverance in 1828 was more painfully sad and disappointing, more
shamefully mismanaged and limited, more wretchedly hampered and
hindered in every possible way, than is easily conceivable, considering
the popular sentiment roused by such Philhellenes as Byron, Erskine,
Gladstone, and the Genevan banker Eynard. Think of the massacre of
Chios, and then hear men talking of Navarino as a blunder!
But let our readers turn to the pages of Dr. Rose’s book for
information. There is a historical sketch of the Byzantine Empire,
showing the most extraordinary misrepresentations which have held on
till very recently; a second chapter exposes the “erroneous views which
have prevailed in regard to the relation of the Greek of to-day to the
Greek of the classical period,” with a chapter on “absurd ideas in
vogue in regard to Greek pronunciation”; a fourth chapter gives the
misery of the Turkish bondage and “their spiritual and political
resurrection”; then follows one on the wrongs to the Greeks in their
struggle for liberty, in which some American shipping firms are
involved and “Mr. W. J. Stillman” is pretty severely handled; then “the
kingdom of Greece before the war of 1897,” and an “Epilogue,” which
should be read before Dr. Hepworth has time to get in his Armenian
discoveries. This is the merest hint as to the intrinsic interest and
pertinency of the book, the only unprejudiced and patriotic plea for
the Greeks which has escaped the censorship of the press and politics
and politicians. Let the Greeks be heard! Let the list of Philhellenes
grow to a grand majority in Europe and America that shall make itself
heard in behalf of justice and humanity!
The scholarly chapters are as admirable as the statesmanlike and
patriotic ones. They should lead to a Greek revival. We think the
university wars of “Greeks and Trojans” might be fought over again. We
join the Greeks!
His EXCELLENCY KLÉON RANGABÉ, Greek Ambassador in Berlin, writes: “Many
sincere thanks for the kind transmission of your most interesting
book…. I can congratulate you most sincerely. You treat all the
important subjects in so exhaustive and conclusive a manner that all
those who seek for truth must necessarily be convinced. We are in
consequence indebted to you for a valuable service, but your own
American countrymen ought also to be thankful to you, for every apostle
of truth is in his way a benefactor of humanity. I hope that the days
of the Erasmian absurdity, which belongs to the Dark Ages and is
unworthy of American scholars, are now numbered. I hope that your book
will also appear in German as it would do a great deal of good here.
What you say about the system applied to Greek studies in general is
also perfectly correct. These studies are still and will always be the
soul of every liberal education, and, constantly undermined by the
materialistic tendencies of the age, they can only be saved through a
fundamental change of this system. The language must henceforth be
taught as a living one, having never ceased to live for a moment since
the days of Homer.”
_Neologos_, an Athenian paper, writes a long article, reviewing the
book and its author’s works in general. “The author’s name is already
known to us by his lectures on Greece which have been published here.
Mr. Rose belongs to those who will persevere to establish an idea;
obstacles and difficulties can only serve to such characters to spur
their ardor. Mr. Rose is inspired by the noble idea to disseminate a
better knowledge of Greece of to-day and to enlist sympathies in her
behalf. He is combating the influence of an impossible Grecophobe
press. People abroad will change their opinion when they know our true
history, our character, our morals, customs, etc.”
THE PUBLISHER OF THIS JOURNAL HAS PUBLISHED A GREEK TRANSLATION OF THE
BOOK.
Other Athenian political and literary journals bring likewise reviews.
All are full of praise of the author and his book. The editor of the
journal, _Salpinx_, of Cyprus, writes that the author’s name is
engraved in the hearts determination of Greeks.
D. B. ST. JOHN ROOSA, M.D., President Post-Graduate Medical School and
Hospital, New York: “My dear Dr. Rose, The copy of the important work
written by you, which has just been published, came to me two days ago.
I write to thank you, and again to express my sincere interest in your
book. I hope you may live to see it successful. A common language for
scientific men is indeed a great need. Yours ever faithfully.”
B. T. SPENCER, A.M., Professor of Greek, Kentucky Wesleyan College: “I
am deeply interested in the subject and feel that that interest has
been intensified by reading Dr. Rose’s book. All the friends of Hellas
should read it.”
DR. JAMES T. WHITTAKER, Cincinnati, Ohio: “I am enjoying your book very
much and have just finished the chapter concerning the Greeks under
Turkish bondage, which is the most interesting description of this
subject which I have ever seen.”
KNUT HOEGH, M.D., Minneapolis, Minn.: “Your book came one mail after
your letter; I went to a medical meeting in the evening; during my
absence my oldest daughter read the book, and on my return, when I
opened the door, she told me how well she liked it. I had to sit down
and read it, and I did so until far out in the small hours. I must say
that the book opened new views to me, and I am sorry that I did not
know the many valuable facts contained in it when I was in Berlin last
year, when you know the wind that was blowing was anything but
Philhellenic. What a forcible argument against the prevailing order of
things in Europe is the whole Eastern question!”
A German translation under the title: Die Griechen und ihre Sprache
seit der Zeit Konstantin’s des Grossen, has been published in Leipzig
Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, 1899.