Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute - Acta Nostra Yearbook (Guelph, Ontario Canada)

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ACTA NO-STRA, 1926 65 were for Cicero and you presented yo-ur ac- count when the time was u-pg today you sit as quiet as mumimies in their cases. Here is a parcthment with Arte:mid'ora's signature. Sthe gave it to me 'in the corridor witihout and told me read for you. Hereon are writ the marks. ' Class cries out: X'Ye'l'l hear the marks! Read. Davidonius. read! Davidoniuts-Have patience, it is not meet you know them yet. I must not read them yet. They will inllame you. they will turn you mad. Louder shouts from student body: Read the marks! XN'e'll hear them! You must read the Latin marks! Davi-donius-XVill you have patience? XN7ill you sit quiet? I have outspoken myself to tell you of them. I fear I wrong the honour- able ones whose pens did daub their foolscap with deep blue ink. I do fear but I iuust read them. The Class-The marks! the marks! XYe want the marks! Davidonius-If you have tears. prepare to shed them now. You all do know the exam you did try yesterday. I remember when First I tried it. 'Twas on a hot summer's afternoon in late June. That day I sh.an't forget. Look. on the paper the mighty Iiltonius did draw his pen. See what a scrawl the crafty Brutus made and that Rugby Golibof' On this the clever. learned Lucius writ in devised script and as he folded up his 'paper what a thrill of expectant triumph did he feel. Again I pray you look u-pon the lmlots that Brutus made. the signs that seal his fate. Alas! po-or Brutus! I hold with certainty that Cicero in his grave did ,blush and cry with despair at -the mistakes that some did put upon his works. VYere I 'but you and you I, I would rise to undo myself of such disgrace. QT-he students become restless with fear.l Yet hear me. students. one and all. for I will read the marks. All-Peace ho! he reads the marks. Davidonius-It says hereon that honour shoulld be given to the noble Silvanus who heads the list with sagest perfection and that all did pass save tho-se whose names I read. Silvanus-Do hold me up. I feel my heart doth thump and now it doth give way. It hath overcome me. tFalls from his seat dead! Davidonius-Gobbo I-Itullus. thy name is next upon the list, with twenty and three marks out of one hundred. A SHIP'S The young Russian Prince. a tall ldis- tinguished-lookingl man with black hair and a small dark moustache stood very close to a slim girl. and together they leaned against the sh'ip's railing. He looked very romantic in the glow of the match as he lit his cigarette. Together they gazed out into the full moon, the s-tars and the foaming sea. The air was tingling with roman-ce. and as they gazed both Gobtbo Hulilus-Ah, me! W-retched me! Let me die. I dread the livinfg moment. lSwoons away and falls from his seat! Davidonius-Eltonius. thy marks are 'ten and seven of one hundred. Now bear thyself up if thou canst. Iflionius-O Cicero tuou canst kill me yet. Thy sharp Rhetoric hast slain me mFalls heavilg to the floor and groans -Jf .ltath en- cuinoer himl. Datidonius-Et tu. Iirufte, ten and thre: out of a big one hundred. Oh. last of all you sraml with that unlucky thirteen .ii .fli ntrun- ers. Brutus Langerius-Curses on -lupiter Svtator as 'likewise on thee. O revengeful Ci- cero. Thou are mighty yet. Thy spirit rules the forum and has turned the sword upon my heart. Alas! I too give up in despair of-falls dead on the floorl. Davidonius-You old thing! tsinks into his chair and there remains motionlessj. KLoud screams from the girls and a general disturb- ance with rushing toward the door.j 4Enter Priu. Roscus. fliurriedlyi Prin. Roscus-XYhat uproar! Students! Davidonius! XY'hat. ho! I-In-lip! llinter Artemidora. whiter than suow.l fxrtemidora-What? Pray. what doth it mean? Ah, behold. death has knocked and left a mark. Miltonius Yastus-Nay. not death. but Cicero-revenge was his and he has done us evil. I-Ie sure has left the marks and lo! they oyerdrew their expectation. tArtemidora faiuts and Miltonio hears her up and carries her out. aided by the rest of the studentsj. Princeps Roscus. lalonel-Lo! ambitions debt is paid. Mistrust of good success hath done this deed. O hateful error. melancholy's children thou hast engulfed with thy dread undercurrent and thy havoc lies here before me. My heart is big in its weakness and pas- sion is catching for I fear the beads of sorrow upon my cheeks are the dea-th of me. Behold here: they who loved Cicero less. but loved the Capitol more. lie low. Alas! I feel the flame of life is lowering. I give myself to thee. dark death. tDrotps on the tioor dead. all is silent. weird and greyish-lights go out and Curtain falls.j THE END. -l. NI, Stemmler. ROMANCE were strangely silent. Then our prince turn- ed suddenly struggling for control and looked intently and inscrutably into the eyes of the girl. Sonia-Sonia. he muttered desperately, and then his voice broke. I-Ie became green and then yellow. and with 'his hand to his head he bolted for his cabin. Thesship swayed and creaked on.

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64- Prin. Roscus-You mean you hy answering me thus? Do you not go to Collegiate? In Eltonius Iturning pale and his teeth chat- teringt-Oh. pardon fourth forum. Roscus-Then. where is your Latin book? XYhat mean you hy skipping school when you are on detention list for Latin. You ton ot worthless tlesh. get you to school! You Luc- ius, what work do you? Lucius Silvanus-XYeltl-tlong pause!- well-with due respect for the rest in my forum. I am. as you might say today. but 11 truant. Prin. Roscus-But what is thy work? .-Xnswer me directly. Lucius Silvanus-It does me no honour. Princeps. for when everyone in the forum is quiet on account of keeping late hours with Caesar and Cicero. l continue to work on with greater vigor. You can learn from my classmates that I sit not idle the livelong day but on the contrary I work at more than one task while one is in discussion. Prin. Roscus-XYaste no time in idle de- monstrations hut rt-move that gum and tell me what you do Lucius Silvanus-I do anyone. no one in particular. Prin. Roscus tin exasperationl-Thou naughty knave: in its worst meaning of our day. even then far too good a name for thee. what meanest thou hy that? Lucius Silvanus-I pray you. do not be so angry with me: what I mean hy doing one. is drawing his likeness. Prin. Roscus-Therefore thou art a car- toonist hy trade. considering pictures thy fancy. and sleep thy pass-time. not classify- impudent rascal. what what forum are you? Princeps, I am in the ing the pleasure thou dterivest from chewing that gum accursed by teachers. As for you. Brutus Langerius. I hold opinion of you, to be likewise one of this truant triibe whose com- pany you are now keeping. So none of you appeared within those venerated walls of learn- ing this afternoon. Now. do explain why the holiday. and bear the consequences of t-his day's idleness. Brutus Langerius-But. noble head. come thither and behold this twalks to one of the signs in front of the Capitolj. Here is that beloved Gobbo Hullus who was carried in triumph after he had cleared a touchdown -in the rugby game. Today he appears on the screen and we have come to do him honour and make holiday. Eltonius-Hold! more than that. for that sage old Francois. foreteller of the future. is also here and to me in private he has fore- told my success in the june finals. Surely that was worth making holiday Princeps Roscus-Enough. enough. you blocks. you truants. you worse than hrainless things! XVhat knowledge seek you here? Many a time and oft thave I been misled hy ACTA NOSTRA, 1926 your repeated declarations whereby you have vowed that from overstudy your brows did ache with pain. and now the secret of your false accusations has been overdrawn when I find you at the Children's Hour hard hy the Capitol. Daily with patient expectation you await the time of this reproduction of Vour own foolish faces on a screen of deathly white which soon will mock your examination paid- if you have one. Be gone! Run to your mothers. tell them your failings and your own intended mistdeeds of time and time again. Go! go! and for this fault assemble all the wretched students of your kind to the bantks of the noble Speed triverl and weep such hitter tears that Goldie's dam will he over- flowed and thus appease the god of the falls to gain you forgiveness. Go no more down to the Capitol. but pray now upon your knees that your lessons you may know and bring tomorrow to the Collegian Stator your notes of explanation. SEEN THE SECOND lIn Forum IX' at nine o'clock. Willem curtain rises Daviclonius is filling out the reg- ister anrl looking down at the scarcely-filled room.l Davidonius tholding a narrow slip of paper and a few papers under his arm. has a fore- boding frown!-Good students and lovers, ldoor opens. enter Eltonius. who walks noisily to his seatlh hear me, for your -own surprise and he silent that you may hear. tDoor opens again. enter Silvanus who goes to his sea-tl. Friends. students. lend me your earsg I have some news to read you. No news is good news. but put by your work and list. The scandal that it may bring about will 'live on through the years of forum history. but the good will have its revenge and hear- ing. lDoor opens again. while rest of absen- tees crowd in. amazed at the surprised look of all the studentsj A few of the class-Read. Davidonius, we will hear it. read! Davidtomis-Have patience, gentle stud- ents. I must not read it yet. for ambition should be made of sterner stuff: yet Artemi- dora says you have ambition and Artemidora is an honourable woman. I will not speak what I did only hear. but what I do know from this. You all did love it once. not with- out cause. what cause witholds you it-hen to mourn it now? O Artemidora! I fear you will he sought out if they lose their reason over it. My sympathy is with y-ou who-take Cicero and soon I will read your misfortune. Eltonius-Methinks. Lucius, some dark cloud o'erhangs me. I ain not superstitious hut the Ides of March are come. Lucius-Aye. Eltonius. but not gone. If there he any wrong upon us. we shall stand 'hy and bear it up. See Brutus, his eyes are red as tire with weeping. Hark, David-onius speaks again. Davidonius-Yesterday your ambitions

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66 ACTA NOSTRA, 1926 Essays V SHOULD CLASSICS HAVE A PLACE IN MODERN EDUCATION? lBy Elizabeth McI'hedran. III Sr. BJ fPrize Essayj Matthew Arnold has said that in educa- tion it is above all things necessary that a man acquaint himself with the best that has been thought in the world. Much of the best literature is found among the writings of the Greeks and Romans. No modern writer has been able to inspire a higher. more vivid. and passionate spirit of 'patriotism than the matchless oraitions of Pericles. Cicero and their fellow countrymen. No modern histories have been able to in- struct and enlighten governments of to-day. as those of Greece and of Rome. To under- stand fully political questions one must -have a knowledge of their historical background. Many of our problems are only enlargements of those with which first Greece. then Rome, was confronted. Thucydides Themistocles. the Gracchi an-d Julius Caesar had problems of historical and political movements as -in- structive for us as are those of Burke. Pittt and Macdonald. Since Rome, influenced by Greek culture. is the foundation of modern civilization, it is essential that the 'histories of 'these countries be studied. The literature of Rome shows fthe indu- ence of Greek. yet it contains many new ele- ments which make i-t truly Roman. The structure of the Latin sentence lacks some of the freedom of the Greek. Its foundation shows the character of the people, the-ir strength an-d dignity. and strict adherence to the law. The achievements of the Romans were practical. They gave to the world the first great example of law: they built up ithe first great imperial state whose history no imperial nation can afford to scoff at or over- look. They are one of the greatest people the world has ever known. It is difhcult to find a profession in mod- ern life in which a knowledge of .the classics is not an aid. The law student who must learn the history of law. has 'to go back to the system which the Romans had. A lawyer must be able not only to understand the law but to express himself clearly. The training which he obtains in translating Latin and Greek into English and vice-versa is unequal- led. To the scientist, since the majority of scientific names are derived from Latin and Greek, and since Greece was the cradle of science, a knowledge of these 'languages is of great value. In the study of modern lan- guage an acquaintance with the classics is of much use because the home of the Roman-ce languages was Rome. Classical mythology holds an important place in the world of fine arts. Modern drama, music and sculpture owe much to the classical lore. The legends of Orpheus and Eurydice. Cupid an-d Psyche. etc.. with their countless varieties of representations have ex- erted their influence on modern art. Aricliitects have made use of classical 'legends in the adornment of their buildings. Therefore a knowledge of the classics is of 'much value to the art student and to those who appreciate art. Modern -literature owes a great deb-t -to the classics. To them we are indelbted for even our alphabet. The New Testament was first written in Greek. Without taking into consideration the immense value of the works themselves. of classical writers, who have never been equalled -in their ability to C0111- bine music. poetry and reason. think of the influence which their literature has had on that of the modern age. There is no country in Europe from cold rocky Norway to the sunny plains of immortal Italy whose litera- ture is not interwoven with the threads of classical mythology. He who studies Englis-h literature without the lights of classical knowledge loses half the charm of its senuti- ments and style. of its force and feeling, and of its delightful allusions. Every age of English 'literature from Cha-ucer to the poets of -to-day. is steeiped deeply in legends and myths of Greece and Rlome. Milton. one of England's greatest poets, was also one of her greatest classical scholars. He could never have written as he did. without a knowledge of the classics. Tennyson's Ulysses cannot be really appreciated without a knowledge of Homer. Shelly. Keats, Browning. Lo-ngfel-low and scores of other poets have made use of 'Greek and Latin traditions. The -best proif-e.s- sors of English literature, the best critics, .the best historians are classical graduates. The rigidity of the construction of the Latin and Greek languages tends to correct the slovenly. careless habits of 'mo-dern writt- ing. It is for the best .interests of our Eng- lish language, five-sevenths of the vocabulary of which is derived from that of Greece and of Rome. that the study of the classics 'be encouraged in our modern system of educa- tion. One of the first and perhaps the greatest aim of education is the establishment of i-deals, which with training and heredity a-re the foundation of character. T0 master Greek and Latin one must have self-control, pat-ience, rigorous application, an-d keenness o-f observa- -tion. The Classics are unequalled as a means of disci-p-lining the judgment. of refining the taste and of quickening the understanding. Therefore the study of Greek and Latin. 'be- yond the utilitarian value to the student, direct- ly affects his character. 'Abeunt stu-dia in moresf'