第103章

ofage。Iwish，therefore，tooffendnoman’sopinion，nortodrawdisquietinganimadversionsonmyown。Whiledutyrequiredit，Imetoppositionwithafirmandfearlessstep。Butlovingmankindinmyindividualrelationswiththem，Ipraytobepermittedtodepartintheirpeace；andlikethesuperannuatedsoldier，_”quadragenisstipendiisemeritis，”_tohangmyarmsonthepost。Ihaveunwisely，Ifear，embarkedinanenterpriseofgreatpublicconcern，butnottobeaccomplishedwithinmyterm，withouttheirliberalandpromptsupport。Asevereillnessthelastyear，andanotherfromwhichIamjustemerged，admonishmethatrepetitionsmaybeexpected，againstwhichadecliningframecannotlongbearup。Iamanxious，therefore，togetourUniversitysofaradvancedasmayencouragethepublictoperseveretoitsfinalaccomplishment。Thatsecured，I

shallsingmy_nuncdemittas_。Ihopeyourlaborswillbelongcontinuedinthespiritinwhichtheyhavealwaysbeenexercised，inmaintenanceofthoseprinciplesonwhichIverilybelievethefuturehappinessofourcountryessentiallydepends。Isaluteyouwithaffectionateandgreatrespect。

GREEKPRONUNCIATION

_ToNathanielF。Moore_

_Monticello，September22，1819_

Ithankyou，SirfortheremarksonthepronunciationoftheGreeklanguagewhichyouhavebeensokindastosendme。Ihavereadthemwithpleasure，asIhadthepamphletofMr。Pickeringonthesamesubject。Thisquestionhasoccupiedlongandlearnedinquiry，andcannot，asIapprehend，beeverpositivelydecided。

Veryearlyinmyclassicaldays，ItookuptheideathattheancientGreeklanguagehavingbeenchangedbydegreesintothemodern，andthepresentraceofthatpeoplehavingreceiveditbytradition，theyhadofcoursebetterpretensionstotheancientpronunciationalso，thananyforeignnationcouldhave。WhenatParis，IbecameacquaintedwithsomelearnedGreeks，fromwhomItookpainstolearnthemodernpronunciation。ButIcouldnotreceiveitasgenuine_intoto_。IcouldnotbelievethattheancientGreekshadprovidedsixdifferentnotationsforthesimplesoundof{i}，iota，andleftthefiveothersoundswhichwegiveto_n，v，{i-i}，{oi}，{yi}，_withoutanycharactersofnotationatall。Icouldnotacknowledgethe{y}，upsillon，asanequivalenttoour{n}，asin{Achilleys}，whichtheypronounceAchillevs，northe{g}，gamma，toour_y_，asin{alge}，whichtheypronouncealye。Iconcluded，therefore，thatasexperienceprovestousthatthepronunciationofalllanguageschanges，intheirdescentthroughtime，thatoftheGreekmusthavedonesoalsoinsomedegree；andthemoreprobably，asthebodyofthewordsthemselveshadsubstantiallychanged，andIpresumedthattheinstancesabovementionedmightbeclassedwiththedegeneraciesoftime；apresumptionstrengthenedbytheirremarkablecacophony。

Astoalltheotherletters，Ihavesupposedwemightyieldtotheirtraditionaryclaimofamoreorthodoxpronunciation。Indeed，theysoundmostofthemaswedo，and，wheretheydiffer，asinthe{e，d，ch，}theirsoundsdonotrevoltus，norimpairthebeautyofthelanguage。

IfweadheretotheErasmianpronunciation，wemustgotoItalyforit，aswemustdoforthemostprobablycorrectpronunciationofthelanguageoftheRomans，becauserejectingthemodern，wemustarguethattheancientpronunciationwasprobablybroughtfromGreece，withthelanguageitself；and，asItalywasthecountrytowhichitwasbrought，andfromwhichitemanatedtoothernations，wemustpresumeitbetterpreservedtherethanwiththenationscopyingfromthem，whowouldbeapttoaffectitspronunciationwithsomeoftheirownnationalpeculiarities。Andinfact，wefindthatnotwonationspronounceitalike，althoughallpretendtotheErasmianpronunciation。Butthewholesubjectisconjectural，andallowsthereforefullandlawfulscopetothevagariesofthehumanmind。I

amglad，however，toseethequestionstirredhere；becauseitmayexciteamongouryoungcountry