Chapter 39 read-1

All men, if they had chosen more carefully the vocations they pursued, might prefer to be chiefly student and observer, since the nature and fate of both are equally interesting to all.In that we are mortal in accumulating wealth for ourselves and our posterity, in starting a family or a nation, or even in seeking fame; but in the study of truth we are immortal, and have no need to fear change or surprise.The oldest Egyptian and Hindoo philosophers lifted a corner of the veil from the statues of the gods; and the quivering robe is still raised, and I behold it in the same fresh glory as when it was so brave , is the "I" in his body, and now it is the "he" in me that is looking up at that image again.There is not a speck of dust on the robe; time has not passed since this divinity was manifested.What we have really improved, or the time that can be improved, is neither the past, nor the present, nor the future.

My cabin was more suitable not only for thought but for serious reading than a university; and though the books I borrowed were outside the circulation of the general library, I received more than ever of those in circulation. The influence of books all over the world, which were formerly written on bark, are now only now and then copied on cloth paper.Poet Mir Karma.Wuting.Master said, "Sit down and be able to gallop in the realm of the spiritual world; I get this benefit from books. I am intoxicated with a glass of wine; when I drink the nectar of esoteric teachings, I also experience Have such a good time." I kept Homer's on my desk all summer, though I could only flip through his pages intermittently.At first, there was an endless amount of work at hand, and I had houses to build and beans to hoe, making it impossible for me to read any more.But the idea that I could read more in the future supported me.I read a light book or two on travel outside of my job, and then I blush and ask myself where the hell am I living.

The student who can read the original Greek of Homer or Aeschylus is in no danger of dissoluteness or luxury, for he will imitate their heroes to a considerable degree, and will devote their dawns to them page of poetry.If the poems of these heroes were printed in our own language, that language is dead in our corrupt age; To search for the original meaning of words, with all our intellect, bravery, and magnanimity, to search for their original meaning, to seek a deeper and wider original meaning than is usually used.The cheap and prolific printing houses of modern times, which have produced so many translations, have not brought us any nearer to the heroic writers of antiquity.They are still lonely, and their words are still printed in a rare and strange way.It is very worthwhile, to spend those youthful years, those precious time, to learn an ancient language, even if only a few words are learned, they are the language extracted from the trivial and ordinary in the streets and alleys, yes Perpetual suggestion, with eternal motivating power.Some old farmers heard some Latin aphorisms, kept them in their hearts, and talked about them from time to time, which was not useless.Some have said that the study of the classics seems to give way in the end to more modern and practical studies; however, enterprising students will still study the classics from time to time, no matter what script they are written in, or no matter how old they are.For what is the classics if not the records of the sublime human thought?They are the one and only immortal oracles.Even asking God for divination in Delphi and Dodona, you can't get it. Some answers to modern questions can be found in classical works.We don't even need to study nature, because she is old.To read well, that is to say, to read real books in a true spirit, is a sublime discipline which takes a man's strength beyond all the world-recognized disciplines.This requires a kind of training, like the athlete must undergo, to maintain the original intention and work hard for life.Books are carefully and implicitly written, and should be read carefully and implicitly.Even if you can speak the language of the country in which this book is written, it is not enough, for there is a noteworthy difference between the spoken language and the written language, the one spoken by listening and the other read.One is generally varied, voice or tongue, but a vernacular, almost savage, which we learn as savages from our mothers without knowing it.The other is the agglomeration of the mature form and experience of the former; if the former is the mother's tongue sound, this one is our father's tongue sound, which is some refined expressions, and its meaning Not what the ear hears, we have to be born anew to learn to speak it.In the Middle Ages, how many people could speak Greek and Latin, but due to the place of birth, they were not qualified to read works written by genius writers in these two languages, because these works were not written in the language they knew? They are not written in Greek and Latin, but in a refined literary language, they have not yet learned the higher dialects of Greece and Rome, and the books written in these higher dialects seem to them only A pile of waste paper, but what they value is a kind of cheap contemporary literature.However, when several countries in Europe acquired their own language, which was crude but clear enough for them to develop their literature and art, the original learning was revived, and scholars were able to discern ancient languages ​​from far away places. treasured.What the masses of Rome and Greece could not hear, after centuries a few scholars read them, and only a few scholars still read them today.