Cord Byrd: “not long ago, I came across a letter from Thomas Jefferson to his nephew, Peter Carr, which discussed the elements of a…”

“not long ago, I came across a letter from Thomas Jefferson to his nephew, Peter Carr, which discussed the elements of a good education. In his letter dated August 19, 1789, Jefferson advised his nephew to divide his studies into three main areas: Give the principal to History, the other two, which should be shorter, to Philosophy and Poetry. ``Begin [with] a course of ancient history,'' Jefferson wrote, ``First read Goldsmith's history of Greece. . . . Then take up ancient history in the detail, reading the following books, in the following order: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophontis Anabasis, Arrian, Quintus Curtius, Diodorus Siculus, Justin.'' This, Jefferson wrote, would form his ``first stage of historical reading.'' Next, Jefferson wrote, he should read Roman history. I remind Senators, this is Thomas Jefferson speaking. He then recommended reading ``Greek and Latin poetry.'' He advised reading Virgil, Terence, Horace, Anacreon, Theocritus, Homer, Euripides, Sophocles, Milton's ``Paradise Lost,'' Shakespeare, Pope and Swift. Regarding the subject of morality, Jefferson advised, ``read Epictetus, Xenophontis Memorabilia, Plato's Socratic dialogues, Cicero's philosophies, Antoninus--I don't know whether he meant Pius Antoninus or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus; it could well have been both-- and ``Seneca.'' I was pleased to see what Jefferson found to constitute a quality education.…”