"The imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth." The fact of original sin and its consequences accounts for this spirit of rebellion which, at the best of times, is slumbering in us, and which is easily roused into a fatal potency by a combination of inclination and ill-disciplined knowledge. When the perverseness of our desires is nursed and petted, and steered by evil suggestions and abundance of hurtful information, we become indeed equipped for moral mischief to an extent which is limited only by our abilities and our opportunities. An educational system which tends naturally to bring about those results, cannot be morally healthy. We do not, however, propose to survey here the disciplinary arrangements of the College, or to ask how far they assist the students in practising that wholesome voluntary restraint, which must be at the same time a capital weapon and the crown of a genuine Christian education. We desire to confine ourselves exclusively to the "teaching," as the term is generally employed; and we think it is not very difficult to show that the system of this teaching, especially as carried out in practice, not only does not tend to promote a Christian habit of thought and conduct, but directly tends to produce a habit of mind which is morally vicious.

I. The Calendar of the "University of Dublin," or, in other words, of Trinity College, for the year 1875, is before us. At page 51 are set out the manner of conducting the "Classical Honor Examinations," and their subjects, as follows:

1. Candidates for Honors will be separately examined, viva voce, in the text books of the ordinary Classical Course, and in the portions of the Honor Course marked in Italics in the following Table:

2. Passages will be proposed for written translation, taken from the works of the Greek and Latin writers named in the following list :

:

HILARY
TRINITY

JUNIOR FRESHMEN,

Horace:-Odes, Books I., II. ; Epodes; Carmen Saeculare. Ovid,
Epistolae Heroidum, I. to XIV., both inclusive,

etc., etc., etc.

Now, we do not believe that it would be possible to select out of the whole range of Latin Literature a more objectionable work than the Epistolae Heroidum. It is a work which does not stand out from the rest of Latin Poetry conspicuous beyond compare for beauty of style, for elegance of diction, for felicity of invention, for polish of rhythm, or even (except in a sense to which we shall have hereafter occasion to refer) for artifice of device, and skill of treatment. It does not, therefore, belong to the exceptional category of those books, whose rare excellences have been allowed to counterbalance 1 Gen. viii., 21.

serious blemishes; no one could pretend that we can ever close our eyes to the objectionable features of the Epistolae Heroidum. It is a work which no one should read without some justification ex-officio. It is one which, therefore, ought, as far as possible, to be kept from the hands of lads, which no one could with propriety recommend them to read, still less invite them, nay, command them to study, assimilate to to their minds, and pore over, con amore, in order to be able to acquit themselves thoroughly in an examination embracing both its matter and its language. Indeed the authorities of Trinity College have themselves certified its character in unambiguous terms. Although the young student who is a candidate for classical honors is to be examined upon it in writing, it is not one of the works upon which he is liable to be examined viva voce. There are slippery passages, no doubt, in the Epodes of Horace, which is one of the works set down for viva voce examination. But, as the great satirist of a century later writes, "Maxima debetur puero reverentia :"1 and while it is easy to avoid the objectionable places in the Epodes, such is the texture of the Epistolae Heroidum from the first line to the last, that, with some exceptions which we will hereafter specify, no respectable man could look a youth straight in the face, and ask him to construe orally twenty consecutive lines anywhere in the book.

Some one, we can imagine, who reads these lines, may have begun by this time to regard us as over strict adherents of an obsolete "Rigourist" school. Having some general vague reminiscence of his schoolboy acquaintance with the Latin Classics, he recalls his impressions of Horace as of an author in whose writings naughtinesses occur not seldom. And then he remembers how some passages used to be slurred over, others "skipped" altogether; and he is reminded of the old Delphin editions, with marginal interpretatio occasionally broken by asterisks. And then his memory reverts to Juvenal, and he shakes his head, and feels inclined to exclaim: Why, on their principles, they ought, if consistent, to proscribe almost all the Latin Poets; Virgil is the only one who could pass their censure, and even in him objectionable passages may be found." Or if our censor has travelled farther afield, and is widely read in the ancient Latin and Greek writings, he may at once refer to the Comedians, and to Martial, to Ovid's contemporary, Propertius, and ask whether they are all to be put under a common ban?—or in what respect has the poet of the Metamorphoses sinned beyond his brothers of the craft?

To the first of our censors we would say, with all kindliness and respect, that in the simplicity of his ignorance, he is con'Juvenal Sat. XIV., 47.

founding things which must be kept separate; he is arguing, if we may borrow a dialectical formula, a genere ad genus. He observes that Horace, no less than Ovid, sometimes introduces foul allusions and expressions; therefore if we ostracize the latter, we must also exclude the former; in other words, if we give place in our school-rooms and lecture-halls to the Epodes and the Satires, we cannot keep out the Epistolae Heroidum. Now the answer is that Ovid is not Horace, nor can the Epistolae Heroidum be truly classed with the Satires. Our venerable friend, who fancies we are too hard on those old Pagans, may perhaps have some acquaintance with the Metamorphoses, probably limited even here to some edition of selected extracts. If this be all, then indeed he knows Ovid not at all; most certainly not in a way which might render him competent to discuss the relative position, on the score of morality, of Ovid and Horace. The same answer may, in substance, be given to our second censor. It is incredible that any man well read in Latin poetry, who still preserves-we will not say a Catholic sense of the heinousness of sin-but the moral instincts of a conscientious man, who knows that there is a God, and a law of right and wrong-it is incredible that such a man should class Ovid with his fellow-poets, and decline to admit that pre-eminence of evil repute and immoral influence which is his by right. Such, certainly, was not the verdict of antiquity., The Roman Society of his own days, the Roman writers of the next two centuries, all unanimously accord to him this baleful superiority.

(To be continued.)

DOCUMENTS.

I-ENCYCLICAL OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS IX. GRANTING THE JUBILEE.

PIUS PP. IX.

VENERABILES FRATRES ET DILECTI FILII SALUTEM ET APOSTOLICAM BENEDICTIONEM.

GRAVIBUS Ecclesiae et huius saeculi calamitatibus ac divini praesidii implorandi necessitate permoti, nunquam Nos Pontificatus Nostri tempore excitare praetermissimus christianum populum, ut Dei Maiestatem placare et caelestem Clementiam sanctis vitae moribus, poenitentiae operibus, et piis supplicationum officiis promereri adniteretur. In hunc finem pluries spirituales indulgentiarum thesauros Apostolica liberalitate Christi fidelibus reseravimus, ut inde ad veram poenitentiam

VOL. XI.

12

incensi et per reconciliationis sacramentum a peccatorum maculis expiati ad thronum gratiae fidentius accederent, ac digni fierent ut eorum preces benigne a Deo exciperentur.

Hoc autem uti alias, sic praesertim occasione Sacrosancti Oecumenici Vaticani Concilii praestandum censuimus, ut gravissimum opus ad Ecclesiae universae utilitatem institutum, totius pariter Ecclesiae precibus apud Deum adiuvaretur, ac suspensa licet ob temporum calamitates eiusdem Concilii celebratione, Indulgentiam tamen in forma Iubilaei consequendam ea occasione promulgatam, in sua vi, firmitate, et vigore manere, uti manet adhuc, ad populi fidelis bonum ediximus et declaravimus.

Verum procedente miserorum temporum cursu, adest iam annus septuagesimus quintus supra millesimum octingentesimum, annus nempe qui sacrum illud temporis spatium signat, quod sancta maiorum nostrorum consuetudo, et Romanorum Pontificum Praedecessorum Nostrorum instituta universalis Iubilaei solemnitati celebrandae consecrarunt. Quanta Iubilaei annus, ubi tranquilla Ecclesiae tempora illum rite celebrari annuerunt, veneratione et religione sit cultus vetera ac recentiora historiae monumenta testantur; habitus enim semper fuit uti annus salutaris expiationis totius christiani populi, uti annus redemptionis et gratiae, remissionis et indulgentiae quo ad hanc Almam Urbem Nostram et Petri Sedem ex toto orbe concurrebatur, et fidelibus universis ad pietatis officia excitatis cumulatissima quaeque reconciliationis et gratiae praesidia in animarum salutem offerebantur.

Quam piam sanctamque solemnitatem hoc ipsum nostrum saeculum vidit, cum nempe Leone XII. fel. record. Praedecessore Nostro Iubilaeum anno 1825, indicente, tanto christiani poupli fervore hoc beneficium exceptum fuit, ut idem Pontifex perpetuum in hanc Urbem peregrinorum per totum annum concursum adfuisse, et religionis, pietatis, fidei, caritatis, omniumque virtutum splendorem in ea mirifice eluxisse gratulari potuerit. Utinam ea nunc Nostra et civilium ac sacrarum rerum conditio esset, ut quam Iubilaei maximi solemnitatem anno huius saeculi 1850, occurrentem, propter luctuosam temporum rationem Nos omittere debuimus, nunc saltem feliciter celebrare possemus iuxta veterem illum ritum et morem, quem Maiores nostri servare consueverunt! At, Deo sic permittente, non modo non sublatae sed auctae magis in dies sunt magnae illae difficultates, quae tunc temporis Nos ab indicendo Iubilaeo prohibuerunt.

Verumtamen reputantes Nos animo tot mala quae Ecclesiam affligunt, tot conatus hostium eius ad Christi fidem ex animis revellendam, ad sanam doctrinam corrumpendam et impietatis

virus propagandum conversos, tot scandala quae in Christo credentibus ubique obiiciuntur, corruptelam morum late manantem, ac turpem divinorum humanorumque iurium eversionem tam late diffusam tot fecundam ruinis, quae ad ipsum recti sensum in hominum animis labefactandum spectat; ac considerantes in tanta congerie malorum, maiori etiam Nobis pro Apostolico Nostro munere curae esse debere, ut fides, religio ac pietas muniatur ac vigeat, ut precum spiritus late foveatur et augeatur, ut lapsi ad cordis poenitentiam et morum emendationem excitentur ut peccata, quae iram Dei meruerunt, sanctis operibus redimantur, quos ad fructus maximi Iubilaei celebratio precipue dirigitur; pati Nos non debere putavimus, ut hoc salutari beneficio, servata ea forma, quam temporum conditio sinit, christianus populus hac occasione destitueretur, ut inde confortatus spiritu in viis iustitiae in dies alacrior incedat, et expiatus culpis facilius ac uberius divinam propitiationem et veniam assequatur.

Excipiat igitur universa Christi militans Ecclesia voces Nostras, quibus ad eius exaltationem, ad Christiani populi sanctificationem et ad Dei gloriam universale maximumque Iubilaeum integro anno 1875 anno 1875 proxime insequenti duraturum indicimus annunciamus et promulgamus; cuius Iubilaei causa et intuitu superius memoratam indulgentiam occasione Vaticani Concilii in forma Iubilaei concessam, ad beneplacitum Nostrum et huius Apostolicae Sedis suspendentes ac suspensam declarantes, caelestem illum thesaurum latissime recludimus, quem ex Christi Domini eiusque Virginis Matris omniumque sanctorum meritis passionibus ac virtutibus comparatum, auctor salutis humanae dispensationi Nostrae concredidit.

Itaque Dei misericordia et Beatorum Petri et Pauli Apostolorum eius auctoritate confisi, ex Suprema ligandi atque solvendi, quam Nobis Dominus, licet immeritis, contulit potestate, omnibus et singulis Christifidelibus, tum in alma Urbe Nostra degentibus, vel ad eam advenientibus, tum extra Urbem praedictam in quacumque mundi parte existentibus, et in Apostolicae Sedis gratia et obedientia manentibus vere penitentibus et confessis et sacra communione refectis, quorum primi BB. Petri et Pauli nec non S. Joannis Lateranensis et S. Mariae Maioris de Urbe Basilicas semel saltem in die per quindecim continuos aut interpolatos dies sive naturales sive etiam ecclesiasticos, nimirum a primis vesperis unius diei usque ad integrum ipsius subsequentis diei vespertinum crepusculum computandos, alteri autem Ecclesiam ipsam Cathedralem seu maiorem, aliasque tres eiusdem Civitatis aut loci sive in illius suburbiis existentes ab Ordinariis locorum vel eorum Vicariis aliisve de ipsorum mandato, postquam ad illorum notitiam