St Stephens Episcopal School - Scroll Yearbook (Alexandria, VA)

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The Scroll of 1956 St. Stephens Episcopal School For Boys Alexandria, Virginia THE PARTHENON KENDON L. STUBBS Editor JOHN R. MARSHALL Business Manager

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Foreword The Aegean Sea, dotted with islands and bor- dered by the mountainous lands of the Greek peninsula and of Asia Minor, was the center of the activities of the Hellenes. Greece itself is a land of mountains, which divide it into little valleys with thin but fertile soil. Yet in some of tliese little valleys and along the coast of Asia Minor, there developed a culture so varied and so brilliant that it has not been equaled until the present era. Here in ancient Greece the human mind liberated itself from supersti- tion; created new sciences; rationalized medi- cine; secularized history: and reached unprece- dented peaks in poetry, drama, philosophy, ora- tory, and art. The period between the birth of Pericles and the death of Aristotle is undoubt- edly, whether considered in itself or with ref- erence to the effect it has produced upon the subsequent destinies of civilized man, the most memorable in the history of the world, wrote Shelly. In this short space it is impossible to give an adequate conception of Greek accomplishments. Excepting machinery, there is nothing secular in our civilization which is not Greek in origin. School, hygiene, anatomy, history, geometry, theology, music, idealism, politics, and tyranny — all these come from the Greeks. All the problems which disturb us today — such as conservation, the emancipation of women and the limitation of the family, wars between the classes, the struggle between East and West, and the corruptions of politics — agitated, as if for our instruction, the brilliant and tubulent life of ancient Greece. There is nothing in Greek civilization which does not illuminate our own. Perhaps the greatest of Greek products was Greek art. Despite its faults, it exemplifies most fully the Greek striving for harmony, unity, proportion, and logic. By the end of the Attic period Greek artists in all mediums had ac- cepted Aristotle ' s dictum that all art is imitation. The more closely the work resembled the model, the more highly valued it was; and the view that art should copy nature found expression in the legend that a painting by Zeuxis depicted a plate of grapes with such fidelity that birds attempted to pick at them. Perfection in Greek architecture and sculp- ture was the Parthenon. It is a masterful union of art. architecture, science, mathemat- ics, and beauty. Further, it is the best known single examj)le of the Greek heritage in our times. Thus, it stands for more than art; it becomes the symbol of Greek life and endeavor, of principles of freedom and confidence in the powers of man. Of all the wonders on earth, none is more wonderful than man. said Soph- ocles. The Greeks, unafraid, and free to explore and to discuss, endeavored to solve the mvs- teries of the universe in their search for truth. They looked for beauty — in art, literature, religion, and the life of man. Lastly, they sought for full development of all an individual ' s fac- ulties. The ideal man combined beauty and justice in a gracious art of living that valued ability, fame, wealth, and friends, as well as virtue and humanitv. We believe this last to be the kev which loosed the vast energy of the Hellenes. But not onh then was it a predominating force. Even today, in the age of specialization, it remains a force — and one which is beginning to grow stronger. It may be truly said that all our modern thinking on education goes back to Plato. The very ideas we now put into practice after many years of experimentation are par- tiallv his. Plato expounded the idea that real education deals with an all-round development of the child ' s mind, body, and spirit. This ideal of education also related the full, well-rounded growth of the individual to that of tlie state and society. At St. Stephen ' s, as at man other liberal institutions of learning, one is striving to produce in the vouth of today, as far as pos- sible, this unit)n, first discussed in ancient Greece, of mind, body, and spirit. This, in fact, is the union which the (ireeks called the Golden Mean. It is. then, to the Golden Mean — as sym- bolic of the life of ancient Greece — that we consecrate The Scroll of 1956.