Bolgar R.R. The Classical Heritage and its Beneficiaries

Cambridge University Press, 1974. — 600 p.Fifty years ago the classical education still enjoyed an exceptional measure of public esteem. That training in taste and accuracy of thought, that lucid if somewhat factitious understanding of human institutions and human nature, which a close acquaintance with the Greek and
Roman authors could give, were considered to fit the young supremely for the conduct of life. Those who had undergone the rigours of the
traditional Humanist discipline in school and university were accepted by the majority of their contemporaries as an authoritative elite. The
classical student of Edwardian times had reason to feel that he, if any man, possessed the magic key which would unlock the kingdoms of this world.