h do not involve the use
of the ancient languages on the part of the students. For example, at
Brown courses which require no knowledge of the ancient languages are
given in both Greek and Roman "Civilization as Illustrated by the
Literature, History and Monuments of Art."[70] Harvard also offers
courses entitled "A Survey of Greek Civilization" and "A Survey of
Roman Civilization, Illustrated from the Monuments and Literature," in
which a knowledge of the ancient languages is not required.

In deciding the question here at issue it is essential to distinguish
between the different kinds of literature. The value of certain
literary productions undoubtedly consists chiefly in the aesthetic
qualities of their form; that is, the excellence and influence of
these productions depends upon the particular language actually used
by the author. Such works of literature lose very much in translation,
and it may be asserted with some reason that they lose their most
essential qualities. It may well be doubted, therefore, whether any
one can derive great pleasure or benefit from the study of the poems
of Sappho or the odes of Horace, for example, unless these are studied
in the original. The value of other literary productions, on the other
hand, lies partly in their form and partly in their content, or in
their content alone. It is quite a different question, therefore,
whether one may derive a satisfactory pleasure and benefit from a
translation of the _Agamemnon_ of AEschylus or Thucydides' _History of
the Peloponnesian War_, of Lucretius or Tacitus, to say nothing of
such books as Aristotle's _Constitution of Athens_.

=Teaching only from classical texts=

There is another and still more important question connected with the
theory of classical teaching, namely whether all classical courses
should be based upon or begin with the study of some classical text.
Some are of the opinion that it is the business of classical teachers
to teach the Greek and Latin languages, and the literatures in these
languages, and that anything which cannot be taught best through the
study of some portion of the classical literature in the original
should be taught by some other department of the college. Consequently
in some institutions courses on ancient literature in English
translations are given by the English Department,[71] courses on Greek
and Roman History, Archaeology, and Philosophy by the Departments of
History, Archaeology, and Phil