MixedThe Boston ReviewThe problems with this approach—this ideology of the aesthetic—are legion. It fails to recognize that \'civilization\' is a process of selection—exclusionary by design—and that ugliness is the Janus-faced twin of beauty, the implied defect of those who don’t make the cut. Gardini’s Latin is that of an unrepentant New Critic, who searches the universe for \'perfect,\' \'rational,\' \'well-ordered\' verbal forms to elucidate, without acknowledging the contexts and conflicts that have led him to seek out those forms in the first place ... There is a real-world danger to this aestheticizing attitude toward linguistic study, this appeal to \'beauty\' and \'pleasure.\' It threatens to make classics into a mystery-cult rite, through which initiates gain arcane knowledge of the nature of things. It distorts the marvelous range of Latin-speaking culture, flattening its richness and diversity into a one-note story about the \'West.\' And it suppresses analysis of the political and social conditions in which the language was used ... This kind of classicism limits history, makes ethics an entirely personal affair, and distances itself from the dirty confines of politics. Long Live Latin might have a different tone if it had been written not in the waning days of 2015 but rather in the shadow cast by Brexit, the presidency of Donald Trump, and the expropriation of the Greco-Roman past by ethnonationalists and hate groups. Indeed, though Gardini concedes in passing that studying Latin means different things in different contexts, this fact should be the first premise of his inquiry, rather than the last ... I am also moved by Gardini’s fine writing, and the exceptional translation ... shines brightest when his exhortations get you to read the words aloud, to will them back into the world ... However historical his material may be, Gardini seems persistently disinterested in history and politics ... As with Cicero’s own writing, the beauty of Gardini’s phrases almost obscures a need to prove that the author is speaking the truth. Such is the Ciceronian desire and ability to recast the world through the word, rather than deigning to make words faithfully represent it ... Gardini sings the praises of Western civilization, then, without acknowledging that this also includes imperial, colonial, and enslaving misogynists ... Those who still admire the work of canon-defending may find in Gardini’s book the echo of a rallying cry. But others will find the discomfort of self-recognition.
