Tea at Trianon: Bringing Latin to Life

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, July 1, 2016

Bringing Latin to Life

From The Wall Street Journal:

The Paideia Institute’s New York conference, the largest spoken-Latin gathering, now draws scores of representatives from new Latin programs sprouting up around the country. The infectiously energetic Dr. Pedicone, a self-described social entrepreneur, said, “Latin isn’t a dead language, it’s undead—it’s a zombie language. And this is the zombie apocalypse!”

In its six years of existence, the institute reports, its annual operating budget has grown from $50,000 to more than $2 million. It now offers six “Living Latin” programs in Europe, as well as dozens of other classical-themed events around the U.S. Its newest program, Aequora, helps inner-city youth improve their English literacy by studying Latin.

“We’ve made it cool to speak Latin,” Dr. Pedicone said. “We’re proving that interest in the classical humanities is alive and well.” (Read more.)