The rationale of the OCT series

From the dust jacket of Platonis Opera... Tomus IV (reprinted 1962):

'... In undertaking the series the Delegates were greatly influenced by the consideration of the educational advantages of a long series of Classical Texts upon a uniform plan. As the Oxford Classical Texts are used by the Examiners for the Certificate of the Universities Joint Board and at the Universities themselves, volumes bought at school should serve as the beginning of a small library which will be used by its possessor throughout school and undergraduate life; and be a better stimulus to literary interest than annotated editions of the parts of an author's works which are set for the next examination.'

Ouch!

Reasons to Study Classics

Robert Murray M'Cheyne, an early nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister who died in his 30s, once wrote:

"True, we ought to know them [the Greek and Roman classics]; but only as chemists handle poisons - to discover their qualities, not to infect their blood with them".

See page 29 of A. A. Bonar. 1966. Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne. London: Banner of Truth.

Reasons to study Latin and Greek

Following the debate here about learning Greek to encourage precision in English, I was reminded of this piece [from the Sunday Times of late June 2010], in which it was explained that studying the classical languages 'teaches diligence and responsibility - because they have to be punctual and do their homework without help from the parents' (emphasis mine).

Then, as John Paul Getty observed, classicists 'sell more oil'.

What's in a title?

Over the last few months it has dawned on me that "doctor" and "professor" are titles which relate to teaching, even though we tend to associate them with distinction in research.