The Classical Education of the Founding Fathers

“I keep meaning to read some of the classics like he does, but...”

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For the shear joy of it, consider starting with Robert Fagel’s translation of the Iliad, and then his Odyssey as well.

Then The Oresteia of Aeschylus, and The Three Theban Plays of Sophocles - both books also wonderfully translated by Fagels.

Then Plato - I’d avoid the Republic if you’re not ready for it, maybe work up to it with the Apology, Crito and Phaedo, and then some other approachable stuff like Euthyphro, Sophist, Phaedrus and such.

Unless you really like Aristotle, just stick to the Nicomachean Ethics - which should not be missed. If you like him, read it all: Well worth the struggle, and Thomas Aquinas and others wrote some great commentaries to help us through it as well.

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and the Discourses of Epictetus, Plutarch’s Lives of Famous Greeks and Romans, and Cicero’s De Officiis (a great translation can be found in the Oxford World’s Classics series, entitled On Obligations) should round out a wonderful beginning education.

Hope you can get to some of those treasures. And glad to hear about your son.

Knowing Latin makes it much easier to pick up other Romance languags (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French), plus makes it easier to use Engish grammar correctly and helps a lot with English vocabulary. It even helps with non-Romance languages, at least other Indo-European languages which retain some similar grammatical features (such as Greek, German, or Russian).

“In the 19th century, Cherokee Indian children in Indian Territory studied Latin and Greek in grade school.”

You’re right about that. In the early 1800’s they were sending their children to New England and bringing in missionaries, teachers. The Cherokee learned to read and write their own language, as well as English, and other languages and converted to Christianity. After the trail of tears, they set up their own schools in Indian Territory west, which were
considered the finest in the nation. Most of my Cherokee ancestors were trained in the classics and were very good writers. I’m lucky enough to have many of their documents.
In fact, this ethnic group left the best written record of their history of any ethnic group.

But for some reason, we no longer expect immigrants to this country to learn English. If those ‘savages’ could do it, so can they.

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