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Day 69 - Harvard Classics - 90 Day Challenge





Oct 3: CHAUCER'S POEMS

Good Enough for Chaucer

When polite English society conversed in French—considering
English a vulgar tongue, fit only for servants and working people—
Chaucer, nevertheless, wrote poems in this "vulgar" English,
which charm us because of their quaint words.

Read: CHAUCER'S POEMS ........................     Vol. 40, pp. 11-20



Oct 4: Plutarch's DEMOSTHENES

His Mouth Full of Pebbles

The man who put pebbles in his mouth and orated to the sea,
shaved one-half of his head so that he would be obliged to stay
at home until he had perfected his oratory—a strange method of
attaining eminence, but a successful one.

Read from Plutarch's DEMOSTHENES .............    Vol. 12, pp. 196-205



Oct 5: Newman's UNIVERSITY LIFE AT ATHENS

Amateur Athlete in Old Athens

A boxer in public games desired to study philosophy at Athens.
There were no furnaces to tend, no tables to wait on, no books
or magazines to peddle, yet this sturdy young Greek managed
to work his way through college.

Read from Newman's UNIVERSITY LIFE AT ATHENS .......    Vol. 28, pp. 51-61



Oct 6: Burke's REVOLUTION IN FRANCE

The Atrocious Spectacle of October 6th

Wakened by the death cries of her sentry, Marie Antoinette,
Queen of France, fled by a secret passage from the fury of a vile
mob. The royal family was arrested and taken to Paris to await
their fate.

Read from Burke's REVOLUTION IN FRANCE ........    Vol. 24, pp. 208-217