Loyola University Maryland - Evergreen / Green and Gray Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

Page 15 text:

THE LOYOLA ANNUAL 13 Ci e 01D attD ERE any of the old Romans permitted to take a peep into the world of today, and to study the lives, the pursuits, the ambitions, and the passions of present day peo- ple, they would not, I am sure, notice any great change in any of these particulars since their own times. Externally, no doubt, their flowing togas and sandals would contrast greatly with the dress of present day people. But were they allowed to see into the thoughts and minds of those about them, these old fellows would smile and nod their heads knowingly when they saw that many of the foibles, the desires, the passions, which they depicted so long ago, had survived two thousand years, and bade fair to survive as many more. The satirists in especial would, I think, find abundant ground for comparison between their own and the present times, and would recognize, both in the individual and the class, persons whose vices, follies, and eccentricities they com- plained of so loudly. The degraded state of society so bitter- ly lashed by Juvenal finds its counterpart in parts of the world today, and in many conditions of life. The influential Roman politician would feel very much at home at the meetings of a present day political “ machine,” and would find that politics have changed but little in twenty centuries. The only difference is the much grander scale on which politics are conducted now-a-days than in the “ palmy days of Rome.” “ Sejanuses ” are just as numerous today as when Juvenal threw upon paper that celebrated pen-picture, so well known to students of literature of the fallen political boss. A fall from power, a slip in control, and the “ hook ” is their fate.

Page 14 text:

12 THE LOYOLA ANNUAL visited town, and whose money had entertained her. — Dick said he never dared to. Nevertheless Mrs. Powell has something in her purse that Dick gave her as a luck-piece. What is it? Why it’s a key. In their poetic moments they will both tell you that it is a symbol of the key with which they unlocked each other’s heart. James S. Murphy, ’09.

Page 16 text:

14 THE LOYOLA ANNUAL Good old jovial Horace, too, would recognize as friends that class whose motto is, “ Carpe diem,” and would hold out a welcome hand to those ‘‘ bon vivants,” who like himself, quaff the old Falernian (or its equivalent, which would probably be “ Budweiser ” or “ Schlitz ” now-a-days), and echo his words “ nunc vino pellite curas.” He would find that men were just as anxious to raise a cloud of dust in the race course ” (metaphorically speaking, of course, for the pres- ent day), as in his own times. In fact, very few of us would pass before his ken whom he would not recognize as an old acquaintance, and his smile would grow broader and broader as he realized that his views of human nature were in the main, true for the past, the present, and probably will be true for all time. I fear that our vaunted civilization would not dazzle the eyes of the ancients, were they permitted to revisit earth. For after all, mankind has changed but little, and the same passions, desires and ambitions animate him as did in the olden times, of which the Literary Classics are the most splendid relics. Could we realize how little the world has really advanced in the last twenty centuries ; did we understand in how many respects we still resemble the old Greeks and Romans, in how many of their vices and passions we share, we would not think so highly of our much boasted twentieth century. John H. T. Briscoe, ’10.