antiquities are an almost untried field. Old positions have to be reconsidered: thus, the Homeric question receives new light in the discovery of the ancient Aegean writing; the antiquity and continuity of worship on certain sites, such as Argos, Olympia, Sparta, and our new knowledge of geometrical art, throw light on the course of history and its supposed cataclysms. New vistas in literature are opened up by the finding of Bacchylides, Herodas, and now of large fragments of Menander. Lastly, the results have to be correlated and made available for schools or for more advanced students.

No one can peruse this volume without realising that classical study in our day has become in an amazing degree vital and progressive. No period since the Renaissance has been so rich in discovery or in the hopes of the future. All who care for the classics will, we doubt not, welcome the effort here made to keep teachers familiar with the advance of classical learning in all departments.

S. H. BUTCHER.

President of the Classical Association.

THE YEAR'S WORK

IN CLASSICAL STUDIES

I

THE TEACHING OF CLASSICS IN SCHOOLS

ALTHOUGH there has been a good deal of talk about the reform of classical teaching, very little has been published which bears on the subject, and of that little still less touches the details of method and organization.

The Times a few months ago announced a series of articles on Public Schools, to be written by public school masters, which aroused great hopes; but these hopes have been disappointed. The papers are mostly conceived in a narrow spirit, and are often special pleading for the writer's own subject; none of them deals with the question which lies at the root of all reform-the arrangement of the timetable. An exception, however, is Mr. T. E. Page's paper on "Classics" (The Times, September 10th, 1906), which meets several difficult questions quite frankly, and points out some faults which must be remedied in any reform. Mr. Page points out how weak is the position of our schools, even the richest, because they are financially not sound. No secondary school can pay its way, whilst parents are unwilling to pay adequate fees; and they are unwilling, because they believe education to be much less expensive than it is. Hence no school can afford to face even temporary unpopularity, which would cause a fall in

numbers and a loss of income. The result is that the opinion of those many who do not understand the question prevails over the opinion of those few who do. Mr. Page points out the mistake made in forcing young boys to learn three strange languages at once, and adds that “whatever be the fortune of Latin, the revival of Greek certainly depends on its study being made more living and fruitful than it now is." He advocates consequently the casting aside of all unnecessary weights, such as a minute study of grammar for its own sake.

The root of the evil lies in early specializing; and early specializing is directly fostered by the system of competition for open scholarships. This question is now coming to the front. The preparatory schools have long felt the burden, although they have hitherto been dumb on the subject; but one master of a preparatory school, Mr. Charles Simmons, has published a remarkable article in The Contemporary Review (September, 1906), "The Preparatory Day School of the Future," which deserves the attention of all who are interested in education. He brings out quite clearly the mischief done by these examinations. In The National Review (October, 1906) I have tried to show the same thing from general considerations, and the evidence of the Board of Education's Special Reports. One of The Times papers on this subject (by the Rev. C. E. Williams, October 16th) fails altogether to recognise the evils which are admitted by impartial observers.

These articles concern the question of the time-table, directly or indirectly. As regards method, we are in England only beginning to recognise that methods may be reformed; but there is widespread dissatisfaction with our present methods, and it seems likely that experiments will be made before long in many places. A Greek First Course by the present writer (Blackie; 2s. 6d.) attempts to meet the wants of those who wish to reform; and it is to be hoped that experiments may soon show the way to an improvement upon that attempt. In Latin the first step was taken in Scott and

Jones's First Latin Book (Blackie, 1904; 1s. 6d.)—a good book, but soon likely to be superseded by better. The second part of this work is inferior to the first, since it fails to suit its methods to advancing age and increasing knowledge. The principles on which reform should be made are clearly put in W. H. S. Jones's Teaching of Latin (Blackie, 1905; 18.), and Mr. Jones has published a First Latin Book (Macmillan; 1s. 6d.).

In view of the dearth of English works on our subject, it may be useful to call attention to those of the pioneers. The new edition of Prof. Woodward's Vittorino da Feltre and other Humanist Educators (Cambridge University Press; 3s. 6d.), shows clearly how Greek and Latin were made a living influence in schools. The first reviver of the idea was Hermann Perthes, whose name has been obscured by those who have followed in his footsteps. In his pamphlets, Zur Reform des lateinischen Unterrichts auf Gymnasien und Realschulen (Berlin, Weidmann, 1873 and 1875), he lays down principles of teaching which are based on sound sense and reasoning : the works have an interest more than historical. But the work which is most practically useful, and should be most convincing, is a pamphlet by Gerhard Michaelis, Welche Förderung kann der lateinische Unterricht an Reformschulen durch das Französische erfahren (Marburg, Elwert, 1902). Michaelis sketches out a first course of Latin in detail, and gives a number of compositions actually done by the pupils. Their correctness is no less remarkable than their command of Latin; it would be difficult to produce such compositions from any form of an English school.

The questions which call for solution may be briefly stated: (1) The arrangement of the time-table, the time at which Latin and Greek should be begun, the proportion of time to be given to them, and their relation to the other languages learnt; (2) the mode of instruction, the use of books and the use of speech, the place of grammar; (3) the use of construing; (4) free composition as compared with translation. W. H. D. ROUSE.

II

GREEK EXCAVATION

WORK has been carried on this year on sites very widely scattered over the Greek world, although almost all the more important results bear on the archaic periods.

In the prehistoric field Dr. Pernier, for the Italian Mission in Crete, has examined the strata below the Late Minoan or Mycenean palace of Phaistos. The levelling necessary for building this later palace spared much of the earlier Middle Minoan constructions, especially in the south-western quarter, and rooms lined with painted plaster and fine vases were found. An olivepress adds to the evidence for the cultivation of the olive in Minoan Crete. Deeper down are scanty Early Minoan remains, and below these a Neolithic stratum in places 500 m. thick. Phaistos had thus the same long history through the Stone Age and the Minoan Age of bronze as Knossos. Above the Minoan strata on the south slope remains of a Greek temple have been found, from which in 1900 came fragments of embossed bronze shields in the same archaic style as those from the Idacan cave and the temple at Palaikastro. Dr. Pernier has also found at Priniá archaic Greek remains with fragments of inscriptions.

In East Crete Mr. Seager, for the University of Pennsylvania, has discovered and begun to excavate a Minoan town on the small and now uninhabited island of Pseíra, lying near the coast, close to the prehistoric town at Gournia recently excavated by Miss Boyd. Streets and walls have been found,

As yet unpublished. For earlier results see Monumenti Antichi, Rome