ITALIAN AT THE UNIVERSITIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 80, 30 December 1918, Page 8

ITALIAN AT THE UNIVERSITIES

A PLEA FOR FULLER RECOGNITION LATIN AND CIVILISATION (By Edward Fulton, in the London "Observer.") Sla , . Arthur Serena's recent magnificently generous gift of .£20,000 towards the foundation of Italian Chairs at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge is, rightly understood, by far the most important thing so far achieved, in tho new intellectual entente botvoon Italy and England and the revival of Latin culture in these isliinds, which if it'succeeds will be among the most important results «f tho war

From the point of view of civilisation Mr. Sorenn's gift is at least tho equivalent of tho winning of an action in buttle. It is important that all of lie, and not only an intellectual elite, should realise this, and give it- its true value. Let us consider this.

In Europe there is but one civilisation —it is Latin. All else is barbarism. When wo aro closest to tho Latin original then are wo hapuiest and at our best, as in the times of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Shelley and Rents. When wo wander away from the Latin then are wo engulfed, as we wero in tho fifth, tho ninth, and tho nineteenth centuries and came near to being again, in the latter part of tho nineteenth. Now tho sheer value of Italian to iw is first and foremost simply that it is Italian, a Latin .language, the Latin language, the production of tho Latin mind and the expression of Latin ! -thought. That is a transcendental thing -transcendental becauso it is pre-sup-posed in, and accessary to, our experience. Linguistic Value, When wo come down to consider tho utilitarian value of Italian and of Italian studies three considerations stand out clearly: .... (1) Its intrinsic linguistic value. (2) Its great cultural value; the beauty and nobility of its literature. (3) Its usefulness from a commercial and economic standpoint. Tho intrinsic linguistic value of Italian, especially for the English, lice in tho fact that it possesses certain qualities, such as tho clearness of pronunciation which it requires, tho pure vowel sounds which it preserves, which emphasises an appreciation of ionn in speech, and thus give Italian from this very important, if particular, point oi view, great educational value; a higher educational value regarded from this standpoint than Greek or Latin, which it is possible to pronounce in half a dozon different ways, most of them equally barbarous; and at least equal to French. An English boy or girl carefully taught to speak Italian will never use his own language with tho casual brutality which bus becomo the habit in every class in England. Grammatically Italian is probably superior to French as an instrument of education, for no other Lai in tongue has preserved its Latinity to the same extent. Though it has not the inflexional wealth it lute kept much of tho flexibility of the Latin whilo French has lost both, lhe study of Italian teaches not only accuracy of form, 'but accuracy of thought, and indeed if ever Latin were to be generally dropped from our system of educa-tion-winch God forbid-tho only language which could replace it, not indeed without loss, but with as little loss as may be, from the standpoint of educational value, would bo Italian. It is, perhaps, needless to examine hero the second claim of Italian to bo studied by us-thc great cultural value of IB literature. No educated man can afford to bo ignorant of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, or to ignore the humanism ot tho Italian Henaissance, upon which tho )>«st of our education in Lnglmid ]S founded, or to leave unread snoh poets as Ariosto, Taeso, and Leopnrdi; historians like Guicciardini and Sarpi: philosophers such .is Galileo, Vico, Becciirm, Kosmini; or political thinkere liko Jiacinavelli, and Maraini; or to be finite ignorant of the achievement of! fiuch discoverers and travellers as Marco l'olo, Cristofero Colombo, and Amerigo \ es-

The Italy of To-day. Thirdly, the knowledge of Italian ia' necessary for understanding tho Italy 01 to-ilav. Modern Jtaly is a young, vigorous and growing nation; if wu are to understand her and to do business with her, if wo <aio to sell her our goods and to buy hers, wo must know something of heir language. Jfe'or commercial purposes it is of ttie utmost importance that Italian should be studied in I'iiiglnwl, us important as that Knglish should ]>» studied in Italy. Lot us consider the mutter in the most elementary and practical way of all. After th« war having loat tho German market, and saddled ourselvea with an enormous debt, wo "hall have to sell our goods wherever ive can contrive to do business. The Italian market will be open to us on favourable terms. Hut if we are to got the beat out of such an opportunity wo must have an army of commercial travellers who speak Italian to travel tho peninsula. Does such an army exist to-day? We nil know it does noi. \'el. without Italian-speaking commercial travellers bow are we to make the most of the Italian market? \"ow it is from all theso three points of view that we. ought to regard und to value Mr. Serena's magnificent und generous "ift The foundation of two Chairs of Italian at Oxford and Cambridge will place Italian on a cultural equality witn Kn"lish, French, and German in tho eyes of all people professionally interested m education. It should do more. It should rive bad; to Italian once more the preeminent position it once possessed in England, and make it. possible at least that English literature should still continue, and even more certainly to draw its inspiration formally from tho. purest of Latin sources still left to us: the sources from, which Chaucer, Spenser, Sidney and RhatepeaTo drank po deeply. Moreover, if wo are to establish not merely politically, but really and vitally, a T/cagiio of Nation*, we cannot do this without an intellectual and moral entente wliie.h slinll be thn ror.k upon winch the political entente shall >.n fomuM. T;non such an putonto first: of all tlie future must ho built. England nnd the Britisli Empire aTO profoundly European by civilisation; culturally Iliey «ro profoundly Latin. Their whole' literature, the very form of.their thought and expression that is, is Ltttm. That they should remain Latin is necessary, for'it is the same thing as to say (hat they should renin jn civilised. And in supporting and urging this, how can we <lo hotter than frtify am i onenise nnow that great and living civilisation wliii'h came to us from Italy irhoii Caesar landed there, arid which continually through the ages has guided and inspired