Name: Cathy McMullen
Date: 12/10/03 10:55:30 AM ET
This quote comes from a letter written in 1800 by our third President,
Thomas Jefferson. I think it's neat that our Founding Fathers were so familiar
with ancient history and language. The Roman experience (both the good and the bad)
continues to affect us today through our own Constitutional government:
'I think the Greeks & Romans have left us the purest models which exist of
fine composition, whether we examine them as works of reason, or of style &
fancy; and to them we probably owe these characteristics of modern composition....
To all this I add that to read the Latin and Greek authors in their original is
a sublime luxury...I thank on my knees him who directed my early education for
having put into my possession this rich source of delight; and I would not
exchange it for any thing which I could then have acquired and have since
acquired.'
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