The Dead Language Lives

A heartening report on the radio last night about the successful reintroduction of Latin into schools, via [Lat.] the Cambridge Schools Classics Project, which does this kind of thing, making Latin accessible to all. As one of the contributors pointed out, Latin acts as a ladder to higher ways of thinking and higher forms of discourse (hence the centuries-enduring Gradus ad Parnassum). It certainly leads to clearer thinking, especially about the structure of language and therefore meaning, and, happily, half-opens the door to a range of other modern languages - imagine how infinitely harder it would be to learn Italian with no knowledge of Latin. I think, historically, the learning of Latin has also been a ladder whereby children of lowly origin can, in every sense, 'get on' - that is why the teaching of Latin was central to the grammar school curriculum. And that is why, my friends, we have Shakespeare.