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tic and socially empty anti-fascism,
absorbing practically all the intel–
lectuals who formerly had leaned
to the left. And it is clear that this
transition was smoothed by the
Communist Party when it pro–
vided left-wing sanctions for the
scrapping of any political aims
beyond the winning of the war.
Nor has any other radical move–
ment been able to gain sufficient
stature to challenge the memory
or the political conscience of
American intellectuals and to
place restraints on their tendency
to make their peace with the social
order and all its works. Not con–
tent to support the war simply on
the grounds of expediency, they
have gone the whole hog in vir–
tually accepting the political inte–
rests of the Allied powers. Cultu–
rally and politically they have fal–
len in with the official jargon of
the times.
How long can this last? In the
modern period, literature has
thrived on those contradictions in
society that permit writers to ex–
press a detached and critical at–
titude. And it is altogether likely
that the defeat of Hitler will re–
lease new forces and conflicts that
are bound to shake the literary
mind out of its present servility.
There is some hope, too, that a
generation of young writers will
return from the war with a fresh
image of its realities. Judging by
their record, American writers can
be counted on to move quickly
once the social mood shifts. But
even if writers change their opin–
ions quickly, the literary process,
unfortunately, moves slowly.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS
Virgil and War
In connection with a certain
project I am re-studying Latin. I
once knew a little of the language;
but it has since disappeared, de–
clensions, conjugations, rules, ex–
ceptions and all, into the limbo of
unused erudition. I doubt that at
present I could even read at sight
that beginner's classic, "Cornelia's
Jewels." So I have had to start
with the very first sentence in the
grammar, the one which reads:
"The Latin alphabet is the same
as the English, except that Latin
has no 'w'."
There have evidently been many
recent developments in the teach–
ing of Latin. In the bookstm;es are
volumes incorporating "improved
techniques for study" and various
novelty features designed to cap–
ture a pupil's interest. Unfortunate–
ly the newer editions show little
advance in esthetic quality. I am
studying Latin out of a modern
school
Aeneid
which still prints
reproductions of such musty works
as "The Trojan Horse" by Henri
Paul Motte and "Roman Ladies at
the Tombs of Their Ancestors" by
Hector Le Roux. But in other ways
there are great improvements. My
Aeneid
is known as "The Visible
Vocabulary Edition." Its attrac–
tion consists in its printing all to–
gether on the same page text,
glossary, and notes on construc–
tions. The advantages of this plan
are obvious. The vocabularies at
the foot of each page give the Eng–
lish equivalent for every single
Latin word on that page, no mat–
ter how many times the word may
have been given before. No penalty
for forgetting! As someone said to
