I have the impression that it is here that our world has lostrncontact with what was taken for granted by our civilizationrnfor so many centuries. Physical reality has proved to be muchrnmore complex and enigmatic than our habits of speaking andrnthinking had presupposed; correspondingly, in our more andrnmore refined debates on linguistics, hermeneutics, or semiology,rnplain reality, “that which is simply there,” is found tornevaporate. This also means that claims of factual truth seemrnto become more and more evanescent, as if arguments werernjust for self-indulgent edification or direct political fights andrnnot for establishing what is the case. In the 50’s, eminentrnclassicists such as Walter F. Otto and Wolfgang Schadewaldtrncould still say that Homer’s achievement was to reveal “being.”rnToday, in the more modern and postmodern interpretations,rnself-reflecting structures are brought to light, texts refer torntexts that can all be “deconstructed,” or else the bias of ideologiesrnis indicted—the interests involved in the productionrnand reception of texts and all other cultural achievements.rnThere is even the unmasked irruption of group interests, whichrntry to dictate what must be true and what cannot be the casernbecause it must not be.rnI know we cannot get back to the ideal of “classical” manrnwith classical learning, classical books, and a closed and classicalrnworld view in which everything is neatly and finally put inrnits place; “classical man” of this kind was living in quite anotherrnworld than ours, if he ever was alive. We have consignedrnthe logos to computers, which make it incredibly effective yetrnunintelligible (safe, specific details perceived by specialists ofrndetails), and to the media, where entertainment successfullyrnmasks the tyranny of money.rnThe study of humanity’s evolution in history—and this finallyrnis what classical scholars, for their part, try to do—mayrnstill encourage a foller understanding of our world in which humansrnare confronted with each other and with reality, confrontedrnwith the strangeness of people and the strangeness ofrnbeing, to be—one can hope—overcome by insight. The hopernof Greek philosophers that it is possible to speak with intelligencernabout what is real should still persist, and even a Hellenistrnwill acknowledge that this must not necessarily be donernin Greek—although a lover of ancient Greek must be deeplyrngrateful to the IngersoU Foundation for calling attention tornthe classics. ernCathedralsrnby Gloria WhelanrnRarely is it the surprisernof walking outrnof the Cologne stationrnand beholding the Cathedralrnbeside you,rnso closernyou can touch it.rnMore oftenrnit is like Chartresrnlevitatingrnabove the wheatrnfields of Beauce,rnveiled and distant,rna mirage and God in it.rnAPRIL 1993/21rnrnrn