Author: William C. Collar

Publisher:

Published: 2015-09-27

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 9781330606599

Excerpt from The Gate to Caesar The recent discovery of a work of Aristotle has interested and delighted the whole learned world; but one may venture to say that if, instead, a book had been found written in the best period of the Latin language for the amusement or instruction of youth, by some Roman De Foe, or Goldsmith, or Lamb, or Burnett, there would be ten times the reason for rejoicing. Unhappily there is no likelihood that we shall ever congratulate ourselves on such a "find," for probably no such work ever existed. What a misfortune that it did not occur to Cicero to divert himself in some leisure hour by writing a story for Roman youth! Millions of boys and girls in these later ages would have had good reason to bless his name. Caesar could have done it; but to him, too, the gods denied such an inspiration, and we must suffer for it. Seeing that he had composed a treatise on Latin Grammar, one almost wonders that a mind so original and fertile should not have conceived the idea of adapting his Gallic War, or some part of it, to the powers and comprehension of youth. What measureless gratitude would he not have won from unborn generations of schoolmasters, who have now to struggle desperately and often unavailingly to make clear to their pupils the meaning of his intricate periods, and untwist the strands of his knotty syntax! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."