CLASSICAL CORNER

256: COUNTING OUR LOSSES

“It’s like looking for a needle that noone ever lost in a haystack that never was” – Fort, Books, p14

I long ago (FT164:21) surveyed Fort’s published thoughts about antiquity. Relevant here are some snippets from what remains of his autobiographical Many Parts (1901, online):

“There were accomplished girls in our kitchen; they spoke Latin fluently, which awes us. But then we picked up a little Latin ourself” – I’d have been awed, too; be hard to find such scholarly scullionesses these days…

“Learning the Latin names for birds”