Climbing Parnassus...

As the Gentle Readers of this blog know, I have been reading Climbing Parnassus over the last year or two, in little bits and pieces. You know, because you have been reading my favorite quotes from the book as I've slogged along. Near the end of the book, Tracy Simmons sums up the work this way:

"Latin and greek are not dead languages," J. W. Mackail once said. "They merely have ceased to be mortal." Parnassus-- that resplendent symbol of inspiration, eloquence, refined polish, and grace-- has lodged within the Western mind a majestic image of the Baeutiful and the unattainable. it's steep, forbidding peaks, its cloud-girt summits, stood out against the sky, throne of Apollo, abode to the Muses, and source of inspiration for untold pilgrims seeking artistic perfection and the peace that comes at the end of arduous acheivement...Parnassus reminds even now that we must struggle and sacrifice, even to become fully human. Few reach the crest. But it's the climbing that counts.

The book is not only a fascinating history of classical education, but an inspiring apologetic for its revival and use. With me reading the book, of course, he was preaching to the choir. I already understand the importance of classical education. But i was inspired and encouraged on the journey. And I recommend the book to you, Gentle Readers, if the quotes have been provocative or interesting to you, you will enjoy the whole of the argument as well. Mr. Simmons ends the book this way:

...The best education, the highest and most bracing education, does not scorn the ground; without the ground we cannot spot the horizon. Yet it doesn't disdain the stars. it shows us how to be fully human-- and to exercise all the powers proper to a human being. It bids us, as Pope once inscribed, "to trace the muses upward to their spring."