Five Essays

185 Pages·1966·7.462 MB·English

by  Werner Jaeger

WERNER JAEGER
FIVE ESSAYS
translated by
j
Adele M. Fiske, R.S.C.J.
With a Bibliography of Werner Jaege
prepared by Herbert Bloch
MARIO CASALINI LTD.
MONTREAL
© Copyright 1966 by Mario Casalini Ltd., 1519 Pine Avenue West
Montreal 25, P.Q., Canada
PREFACE

Werner Jaeger was more than a philologist; he was a phi¬
losopher as described by Gregory of Nyssa when he asks:
“What is it to be a true philosopher, a lover of wisdom ?
It is to be great in one’s work and humble of heart.” This
small volume is intended as a tribute of affectionate gratitude
from Manhattanville College, its faculty and students, to the
great man whose warmth and friendliness made a golden
age of the years during which he so often came to our campus.
Knowing how much communication meant to him, we hope
that in this book his voice will still make itself heard, es¬
pecially to those less likely to read his German writings,
and thus he will continue to share with an even larger audience
the stored-up treasures which he described as “a slowly
acquired personal experience . . . enriching itself year after
year in constant intercourse with the texts, always present to
one’s inner consciousness yet never wholly expressible in
written form.”
He himself regarded the edition of Gregory of Nyssa as
his most lasting contribution to scholarship in the twentieth
century, although his work on Aristotle produced what
amounts to a revolution in our thinking about one of the
greatest philosophers of all time. His Paideia, the Ideals of
Greek Culture, has also been far-reaching in influence; like
the monumental edition of Gregory it was left unfinished
— “a torso,” as he would say — although his last short
book, Early Christianity and Greek Paideia, outlined the sub¬
stance of his complete thought. The complex web of in¬
tuition, research and synthesis behind this work was a life¬
long process in which all his work and experience grew
along with him. Even as a boy he had begun to live an
VIII PREFACE
“extraordinary union of reverence and independence, of in¬
volvement with, yet freedom from the forms and creations
of history, of eager love of the world, yet meditative detach¬
ment from it.” (J. H. Finley’s address, October 22, 1961,
Memorial Church of Harvard University.) He was pre¬
occupied with continuity, the civilizing continuity in which
Hellenism and Christianity flow together into today’s world;
he was able to hold together, as few men can, the Hellenic
paideia and what he came to call the paideia of Christ. His
approach to ancient civilization was dominated by a vision
of a civilizing humanism that unites men, freeing them from
the limits of time and nation, in his concentrated effort to
understand the nature of “that after-effect of Greek and
Roman antiquity which we call the ‘classical tradition’.” Un¬
less there is a permanent value for humanity in the ancient
concept of man, he felt, classical scholarship exists in a void.
His own work was a concrete response to the crisis facing
our humanistic tradition; he felt deeply that “promethean
urge to fashion men,” which comes to us from antiquity.
In this book five articles by Werner Jaeger are made avail¬
able in English for the first time: three autobiographical
papers and two philological studies. The former include
personal reminiscences of childhood, found in longhand
among his papers after his death and here first printed in
German and English. The survey of classical philology at
the University of Berlin from 1870 to 1945 describes the
development in which Jaeger himself and his immediate
teachers played so important a part, and forms a bridge be¬
tween the autobiographical fragment and the “intellectual
autobiography” that he wrote as introduction to the Scripta
Minora. Together, these three papers bring to life a vanished
world of Olympian figures among whom the author early
took a place. The second group of writings, the great articles
on Solon and Tyrtaeus, supplement the portrait of the growth
of the man in his environment by allowing us to see “the
philologist at work.” Professor Jaeger himself said that, be¬
side the chapters on Homer in the Paideia, the articles on
Solon and Tyrtaeus are the most characteristic of his way
of conceiving the treatment of ancient Greek poetry. They
PREFACE IX
will keep their value for a long time to come. In addition
to the articles, this volume contains a bibliography of Werner
Jaeger’s publications, revised and brought up to date by
Professor Herbert Bloch of Harvard University, with the
addition of a detailed plan of the complete edition of Gregory
of Nyssa by the late Professor Hermann Langerbeck. These
two will be for scholars the most significant part of the book,
providing information unavailable elsewhere.
The choice of articles had in part been already sanctioned
by Professor Jaeger; he had looked over the “Solon” and
the “Introduction,” and planned a critical reading of the
translations for his proposed visit to Manhattanville in
October, 1961, the week of his sudden death. It was then
that, with the wise guidance and generous assistance of
Professor Herbert Bloch of Harvard University, the other
papers were chosen and the bibliography added. Professor
Bloch also found the interesting pages of the autobiographical
fragment and advised their publication here in German and
English. It is due to his untiring interest and painstaking
labor that this publication is possible.
We are also indebted to Mrs. Jaeger for her approval of
the project. Professor Thomas G. Rosenmeyer of the Uni¬
versity of Washington has given the translations final revision,
a laborious and time-consuming task performed with great
kindness and courtesy. What is good in the book is his
— any defects and errors are mine. We are also grateful to
Miss Vera Lachmann of Brooklyn College and Mr. Peter
R. Mayer for their aid and to Professor Gerard C. Thormann
of Manhattanville College and Mrs. Charlotte Thormann for
their transcription of the handwritten text of the fragment.
Not least are we indebted to Mrs. C. Theodore Soderberg
for her secretarial aid. Finally we must express our deep ap¬
preciation of Mr. Mario Casalini’s interest in publishing this
book and his patience in waiting for final revisions, thus
helping to pay tribute to a revered mutual friend.
Adele M. Fiske, R.S.C.J.
Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface. v
Notes towards an Autobiography: the Beginnings. 13
Introduction to Scripta Minora: “ An Intellectual Autobiography ” . 2
Classical Philology at the University of Berlin: 1870 to 1945 . • 45
Solon’s Eunomia. 75
Tyrtaeus on True Arete .101
Bibliography of Werner Jaeger, prepared by Herbert Bloch . . 143