It is supposed by many that the only object in learning the Latin and
Greek languages is, that the learner may be able to translate them, and to
understand the authors who have written in those languages, with as much
facility as he can understand those who write in his own. If this were
really the only object, then every plan for expediting the acquisition
would be received with grateful approbation. Yet if this were the sole
object, how superfluous to the greater number of learners the labour of
the acquisition, for there is not _a single idea expressed by the ancients
and yet to be found, which has not been translated in our own language_.
The end of learning these languages then must be something beyond, and if
this farther object be not considered, the education must be defective.
_Scargill's Essays_.
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