The function of a classical education has always been threefold: first, to engage the mind in the investigation of revolutionary ideas, second, to train the tongue to speak with power and articulation, third, to fire the imagination with examples of conduct that will guide us in our confrontation with life. The classical authors are sometimes mistakenly supposed to be out of date, but they posed to themselves the problems of the human condition in terms that have not changed, and they found solutions with which we still live, though often unawares. These solutions were radical at the time that they were devised and they remain so, for every generation that recognizes them must begin again by going back to the roots of things. There, the ideas live with the freshness of the first shoots of spring. For each age they blossom forth in language that has repeatedly enchanted the western world, supplying it with paradigms for imitation as well as instruments for analysis.The major in Classical Philology is excellent preparation for graduate and professional school, particularly for graduate work in Classics. Students wishing to teach at pre-college levels will also want this major. It requires at least 6 advanced language courses, but leaves some room for courses taken in translation on the history, politics, literature, art, or philosophy of antiquity.