After an interesting digression on the value and limitations of
translation, Lord Bryce devoted the remainder of his address to adducing grounds for the belief that the values, commercial and literary, of modem languages did not outweigh the values of the study of the ancient world. Greece and Rome were the well- springs of the intellectual life of all civilized modern peoples, and classical literature was almost their only common possession. Ancient history was the key to all history, and though the world set before us by the ancient writers was superficially unlike our own, human nature was in essentials what it is now, with the added charm of simplicity and freshness. It was of the utmost value to know human societies in the forms they took when civilized society first came into being. Without that knowledge we could not compre- hend the progress and life of mankind as a whcle. Finally, Lord Bryce dwelt on the unfailing refreshment, solace, and inspiration to be derived from the great classical writers, ending with a happy quotation of the immortal line in the Iliad : " The best of omens is our country's cause."
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