Nota Bene

Vol. 13 No. 3 SPECIAL MEMORIAL ISSUE Spring/Summer 2008

Zep h St e w ar t January 1, 1921—December 1, 2007 ZEPH STEWART

chairman of the Department of the area of military intelligence. the Classics, trustee of the Loeb During these years (1943–47), Classical Library, director of spent initially in Washington, Harvard’s Center for Hellenic D.C., and then in London and Studies in Washington, D.C., and Paris, he went from private to a trustee of the Episcopal chap- captain. He was recalled for ac- laincy at Harvard. In addition, he tive duty during the Korean War was president of both the Ameri- (1951–53) as part of a NATO can Philological Association and delegation, working on diplo- the Teachers of Classics in New matic liaison, again in London England. and Paris. Born on January 1, 1921, in In 1953, Stewart joined the Jackson, Michigan, Stewart was faculty of Harvard’s Department the son of a prominent political of the Classics as assistant pro- family and younger brother of fessor of Greek and Latin, and Potter Stewart, who later became began to pursue his research and a justice of the U.S. Supreme publishing work in Latin litera- istinguished American Court. Like his brother before ture and manuscript studies. His classicist Zeph Stewart, him, Zeph Stewart attended the early endeavors were centered who was the Andrew W. Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, on some of the major Latin au- DMellon Professor of the Humani- Connecticut; he was a member thors, including Virgil, Horace, ties Emeritus at Harvard Univer- of the class of 1939. In later life, and Plautus, and he dealt also sity, passed away at his home in as was typical of him, he served with palaeographical issues. He Watertown, Massachusetts, on as a trustee of the school and re- had a lifelong interest in Greek December 1, 2007, at eighty-six ceived the 1964 Alumni Award. philosophy and religion, particu- years old. After Hotchkiss, Stewart went larly the transition to Christian- on to Yale, where he graduated ity. He edited several volumes Stewart was associated with with highest honors in Classics in these areas, most notably the Harvard for sixty years, begin- in December 1942. “Essays on Religion and the ning with his arrival as a gradu- Ancient World of Arthur Darby ate student in Classics in 1947. In January 1943, Stewart Nock” (Oxford, 1972). Over the course of his career he entered the Army, having been was at various times a Junior recruited for his linguistic skills In each of the many appoint- Fellow of the Society of Fel- by Edwin O. Reischauer. He ments he held, Stewart set about lows, master of Lowell House, learned Japanese and did two to improve the intellectual, com- professor of Greek and Latin, stints of service, first working in munal, and fiscal aspects of the

JANUARY 1, 1921

2 OBITUARIES

institution in question. He did tion, namely, the establishment American Philological Asso- so because he cared about the of the Loeb Classical Library ciation (1983); a fellow of the field of Classics, about libraries, Foundation, which currently American Academy of Arts about teaching and research— provides considerable financial and Sciences (vice president and about the well-being of col- assistance for the research of 1979–82); and visiting profes- leagues and students at all levels. classicists worldwide. sor at Hamilton College and the University of Colorado. In 2000, Jeffrey Henderson of Boston As master of Lowell House, he received the Barlow-Beach University, the present general Stewart greatly emphasized the Award of the Classical Associa- editor of the Loeb Classical Li- importance of community. He tion of New England “for excep- brary, fondly remembers Stewart welcomed the advent of women tional service to the Classics in as “teacher, mentor, and true into the House. He endeavored New England.” friend for nearly forty years.” to modernize the college rules He recalls the crucial role his and regulations, and was particu- He is survived by his wife, mentor played—as executive larly successful in integrating Diana, with whom he offered trustee of the Library for over a Harvard faculty into the life of cherished hospitality to succes- quarter of a century—in helping the House. sive generations of scholars and to develop a renewal plan in the Stewart became renowned for students, and by two daughters, 1970s to put the Loeb Library his administrative skills and fi- Sarah and Mary, a son, Christo- on a sound financial footing. nancial expertise. Over the years pher, and two grandchildren. “Indispensable,” according to he held eight different appoint- Henderson, “were Zeph’s vision ments in offices and on commit- and respect for what the Library tees of the American Philologi- Reprinted, with permission and should be, his keen judgment cal Association (APA). Adam minor revisions, from the obitu- about the right projects and the Blistein, the current executive ary by John Duffy which ap- right scholars to tackle each one, director of the APA, recalls the peared in the Harvard University and his matchless tact and skill immediate and dramatic effect Gazette on December 6, 2007. at recruiting potential authors, or of Stewart’s impact as financial letting them down gently when trustee of the Association. Ward they were not right for the job.” Briggs of the University of Richard Thomas of Harvard’s South Carolina and a serving fi- Department of the Classics, who nancial trustee of the APA credits succeeded Stewart as executive him largely with radical changes trustee of the Library, points to that helped to restore the financ- the direct and impressive result es to a robust condition. of this reordering and revitaliza- Stewart was president of the

DECEMBER 1, 2007

3 ZEPH STEWART

ust a few years after becom- 1, 2007, in his Watertown home on the state’s Supreme Court. His ing a Classics professor, Zeph after a few years of illnesses and older brother Potter became a U.S. Stewart sent a letter to Har- declining health. Mr. Stewart was Supreme Court justice. Mr. Stew- Jvard’s student newspaper in 1957 eighty-six. art followed his brother to Con- praising a colleague who would “Zeph cared about every part of necticut through prep school and soon retire. It was not a mash note Harvard, and every part of Classics college at the Hotchkiss School crafted to curry favor with the in particular,” said Richard Thom- and Yale, but the family’s finances lords of the academic manor. as, a professor of Greek and Latin suffered during the Depression “I need not dwell on his years at the University. “He was brilliant and he graduated from each as a of service in this community, but in a very quiet way. He knew a scholarship student. prefer to speak of the good fortune great deal, but he wasn’t ostenta- His skill with languages led to of the University in having in its tious about his knowledge, and he Army intelligence assignments janitorial staff a person who has had an aesthetic sensibility that it during and after World War II, contributed so much to the Har- was wonderful to be touched by.” first in Washington, D.C., then in vard education of so many young Jeffrey Henderson, former dean London and Paris. men,” Mr. Stewart wrote in the of arts and sciences at Boston He began his graduate work Harvard Crimson of David Ger- University and now a professor at Harvard in 1947, becoming a maine, a custodian whose example of Greek, had been one of Mr. junior fellow in the Society of “taught countless undergraduates Stewart’s students. Fellows. That allowed him to the value of gentlemanly conduct “He didn’t always get credit for pursue his studies without formal and of directness and integrity for what he did. I don’t think there’s requirements. By doing so he did living a good life.” anyone in the field who doesn’t not receive a doctorate and in 1953 Hailing contributions by the owe something to Zeph Stewart, became an assistant professor in least-noticed “was part of the directly or indirectly,” Hender- the Classics Department, which he fabric of his life—what he, in his son said. “He was a person of later served as chairman. little quiet way, paid attention to,” great dignity, but also openness In 1963, he and his wife, Diana, said Mr. Stewart’s daughter Sarah, and warmth. He was a friend you moved into Lowell House, where of Cambridge. always respected and could come Mr. Stewart became the third mas- A longtime master of Lowell to with things. Sometimes Zeph ter, the administrative head of that House, Mr. Stewart also had a was the only person I could come residence community. deft touch with administration to with a question. Academics are “He was a person who was very that helped right the finances of a gossipy lot, but you could trust interested in other people,” said Harvard’s Loeb Classical Library Zeph completely.” his wife, who married Mr. Stewart and the American Philological Born in Michigan, Mr. Stewart nearly forty-eight years ago. “I Association. He died of complica- grew up in Cincinnati, where his think the main characteristic in the tions from pneumonia December father was mayor and also served way he looked at other people was

JANUARY 1, 1921

4 OBITUARIES

he looked at their good qualities activities, colleagues said. walk and read in the shadow of the first. That didn’t mean he didn’t “This was a calm, always gentle, state’s western mountains. see the warts, but it was the good but strong and righteous man,” “He sometimes said rather wist- qualities that mattered.” said Adam Blistein, executive fully, ‘It would be nice if Widener The dozen years when the director of the American Philologi- Library were dumped down in Stewarts were surrogate parents to cal Association, which Mr. Stewart Wyoming,’” his wife said. class after class of Harvard stu- served as president and financial In addition to his wife and dents brought many changes. In trustee. “This was a man who daughter, Mr. Stewart leaves an- 1965, Mr. Stewart announced that knew what was right and would other daughter, Mary, of Berkeley, Harvard’s residence houses would stand up for it without beating you California; a son, Christopher, of extend until midnight the hours over the head with it.” San Francisco; and two grand- for gatherings after home football Said Sarah Stewart: “He had daughters. games, telling the Crimson that that true humility where no one “the character of the student body even notices that you’re humble. Copyright © 2007, Globe News- has gradually changed and that My dad was an incredibly good paper Company. Republished by students are less likely to become man, by all standards of what permission. disorderly at after-game parties that means. I just don’t know that than they were a couple of decades many people like that. It’s really ago.” quite amazing to have been raised The Stewarts also kept peace at by him and love him.” Lowell during the tumult of Viet- As a scholar, Mr. Stewart took a nam War protests and volunteered keen interest in the work of Arthur their house when Harvard began Darby Nock, editing a collec- experimenting with coeducational tion of the classicist’s essays. Mr. accommodations in the 1970s. Stewart, the Andrew W. Mellon “Both Diana and Zeph were not professor of humanities, became only welcoming and very support- professor emeritus in 1992. ive, but downright delighted that Decades ago, he began vacation- this change was taking place,” said ing in rural Wyoming. Mr. Stewart Diana Eck, a professor of compar- stayed in cabins with no electric- ative religion and Indian studies ity or running water near the tiny and current co-master of Lowell town of Cora, which his wife said House. had once posted a sign announcing Composure and leadership in a population of three. Environmen- turbulent times were traits Mr. tally conscious long before it was Stewart brought to bear on all his fashionable, Mr. Stewart liked to

DECEMBER 1, 2007

5 Mary Stewart shared with her father a great love of poetry, and she asked that this be read at the service.

SONNET LXXIII

That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by. This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

William Shakespeare

6 ZEPH STEWART

il ego contulerim iucundo he worked hard at all he did, gener- ing in a stronger position than that sanus amico, “As long as ally until 4 or 5 a.m. in which he found it. The graduate I’m in my right senses I’d Of all the serendipitous turns that program in Classics at Harvard, the Nprefer nothing to a dear friend.” So end up affecting our lives, for me American Philological Association, the poet Horace. Zeph Stewart was the most fortunate was arriving in and the Center for Hellenic Studies as good and dear a friend as I’ve the fall of 1977 as a rookie assistant still prosper from his chairmanship ever had. I met him at the end of professor, just as Zeph was begin- and directorships—and every under- 1976, at an intimidating New York ning his term as chair of Harvard’s graduate, graduate student, junior job interview, three months before Department of the Classics. I was fellow, or colleague connected with my father, who was exactly the not a student of his, but he became his years of service has nothing but same age as Zeph, died at the age of my teacher in all the important fondness for him. fifty-six. If I seem to be making an ways. Zeph was a great scholar. There analogy, well, that is what I am do- In those years he read and cor- are important seminal writings on ing, as embarrassed as Zeph would rected drafts of everything I wrote. Greek and Roman religion and Ro- have been to hear it. He taught that teaching intermediate man literature. But, as in everything Each of you has a Zeph story as Latin was as important as teaching else, so here, too, he contributed his important as any of mine, for Zeph a graduate seminar. He taught that deep knowledge and his expertise to seems to have been there when the lives of undergraduates, gradu- the advantage of others. His best- many of us just happened to need ate students, and library staff were known publication was the two- him. So it is a challenge to represent as important and as interesting as volume collection of Arthur Darby you all today. A challenge also for those of the great colleagues and Nock’s papers, all meticulously reasons spelled out by the historian scholars who worked in or passed edited and annotated by Zeph, in the Sallust: “When you write of the through the Department. He taught service of a great scholar. outstanding merit and glory of good that it was part of the job to visit His chief scholarly achievement men,” he wrote, “people are quite Latin classes in local schools. He of the last thirty-five years will ready to accept what they could taught how to fight for what matters, benefit classicists for generations easily do themselves; but anything how to use our positions of privilege to come. In 1973 the Loeb Classi- beyond that is dismissed as an im- to do the right thing by others. He cal Library was dying. It was losing probable fiction.” Zeph was such a even taught me to turn off the lights money, many of the translations good man, and I truly know nobody on those rare occasions when I left were fifty to sixty years old, anyway whose life was devoted so fully and the third floor of Boylston Hall later done by unimpressive translators, with such good effect to the well- at night than he did. He taught all little new was being added, and the being of students, colleagues, and of this without saying a word, for Library was generally considered no anyone lucky enough to have come that would have been pompous, and more than a trot for students. Zeph into his orbit. He was a true human- Zeph was anything but pompous. stepped in and saved the Library, ist, a scholar of broad learning, and In every administrative position working closely with two general a man of deep culture, wit, compas- he held, Zeph was a brilliant stew- editors and with sympathetic figures sion. He was guided by a commit- ard, believing that it was his job to at the Harvard University Press, ment to principles that mattered, and leave the institution he was lead- and approaching the whole enter-

REMEMBRANCES

7 ZEPH STEWART

prise as an intellectual challenge. ish little smile, as he took pleasure ho was that wonderful Through his own magnetism, he in anticipation of what might lie man?” my department attracted scholars of the highest ahead. As it turned out, Joan did secretary asked, after caliber. New volumes were added, fine, and the graduate students WZeph had struck up a conversation outdated volumes were replaced, were in fact annoyed with me, as with her before a lecture. Not an and this will continue. The Loeb they thought I was too hard on her. easy question to answer, as all here Library was saved and has become That was a good lesson, and Zeph will appreciate, especially on this an intellectual and a commercial enjoyed all aspects of it. Nothing occasion, when the world without success, its new volumes regarded malicious about it, just part of the Zeph is still hard to get used to. I as scholarly resources. Six years fun of life. told my secretary that Zeph was a ago, in accordance with Loeb’s will, Even when his health was fail- legendary figure at Harvard and one a foundation was established. It now ing, and we now know it had been of the most important people in my provides considerable financial sup- failing for some years, Zeph liked field. I also recollected my own first port for the research of some forty to hear about Harvard, about its acquaintance with Zeph in the fall classicists and archaeologists a year successes, foibles, and absurdities. of 1968. It was the elegant recep- worldwide. None of this would have And even when he could not talk, tion for that year’s new graduate happened without the vision, and the impish Zeph was still there, still students, for which I had fished my the hard work, of Zeph Stewart. engaged, still amused. only suit out of a U-Haul box in my But my Muse is getting too grave, The last year was difficult, for dreadful new apartment (“You’re and I cannot omit my favorite side the family, and for those of us who young, you can take it,” my landlord of Zeph. For want of a better word, got to see our friend on Garfield had said). Among the faculty in at- he also had his impish side: he liked Street. And yet, because of Diana’s tendance, it was Zeph who made a to pull your leg, take the mickey, serene strength, life went on al- point of introducing himself to this tease, twit, or play around, all for most as normal, it seemed: a cup of nervous newcomer, and he quickly the fun of it, for your fun as well as tea, a cookie, and a little time with established the background that we for his. Zeph—and with Diana. For so many had in common—amazing to me, a Sir Ronald Syme, Sir Hugh Lloyd- of us here, our memories have to do New Jersey boy of undistinguished Jones, D. R. Shackleton Bailey, all not just with Zeph, but with Zeph pedigree and feeling more than a were fair game. My own example and Diana—even now the names are little out of his element, until I came comes from 1982. Zeph was still hard to separate. You all know how to learn that Zeph was interested in, chair and I was down to teach Ad- they were, Diana’s wonderful laugh and seemed never to forget, anyone vanced Latin Prose Composition, a correcting Zeph when his humor got he ever encountered or knew of, the course in which even good students too close to the edge, and there as great and the humble alike—and he can start out with weekly grades his equal in all they did together, in had an exceptionally broad range of of C and C+. Joan, then a graduate Lowell House, Belmont, Boylston acquaintances. student, and I had been married for Hall, in Washington and Watertown. Zeph came to my rescue again a year, and pleading Harvard’s nepo- So, let us take good care of all of three years later, when my proposal tism rules, but in reality, I suppose, these memories as we celebrate the to write a dissertation on indecent looking for a way out, I suggested life of Zeph Stewart. language in Attic comedy was very to Zeph that surely Joan should do coolly received by the Harvard fac- an independent study with someone Richard Thomas, Department of ulty: such topics had not yet become else. the Classics, Harvard University; acceptable in classical scholarship. No, the all-knowing Zeph replied, Trustee of the Loeb Classical Indeed, it had been only a few years it would be fine for her to take it Library since the U.S. obscenity laws were with me. I still remember the puck- relaxed enough to allow such a

8 REMEMBRANCES

publication, initially through a 1964 Classical Library, which he had member of the janitorial staff soon Supreme Court decision featur- saved and revived—a position that to retire. “By his example,” Zeph ing Zeph’s brother Potter’s famous was attractive not least because I wrote, “he taught countless under- remark in his concurring opinion, “I would again have a chance to work graduates the value of gentlemanly know it when I see it.” Zeph agreed with Zeph—he was as ever a superb conduct and of directness and in- to direct my dissertation when no mentor, showing care for a col- tegrity for living a good life.” On a one else cared to, even though this league but also watching out for the grander scale but in an equally quiet was a topic far from his own areas security of the greater enterprise. way, Zeph did the same for all who of expertise and, strange as it might It was a second great education to knew him. seem in retrospect, a risky topic. study Zeph’s vision and respect for Without him I doubt I would have what the Library should be, his good Jeffrey Henderson, Department had the confidence or the support I judgment about the right projects of Classical Studies, Boston needed in order to succeed. For all and the right scholars to tackle each University; General Editor of the of us in the program Zeph provided one, and his matchless tact and skill Loeb Classical Library many opportunities to gather—in at recruiting and guiding potential the Department or at Lowell House authors, or letting them down gently with the incomparably gracious when they proved not right for the eph Stewart has been a men- Diana: this was immensely valuable, job. On the scholarly side I found tor and friend almost all my since the life of an academic human- out just how learned Zeph was— years at Harvard. As a gradu- ist can be terribly isolated. Zeph had something best seen up close, since Zate student, I met Zeph when he was an indefatigable liking for bringing he wore his learning so lightly—and one of the members of the Commit- people together, with the tact and in his pastoral role with authors it tee on Higher Degrees in the Study social graces that elicited the best in was striking that he could nearly of Religion which administered the even the most socially challenged always draw on personal acquain- PhD program, serving alongside members of any gathering (and tance: for a young scholar, a remi- Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Giles Con- there are not a few of these in the niscence about their good conversa- stable, Richard Niebuhr, Thorkild field of Classics); a natural inclina- tion at a conference, for the eminent Jakobsen, Alan Heimert, and Krister tion to find and focus on their good and persnickety Shackleton Bailey, Stendahl in the critical time when qualities; and a keen eye for what to an apposite observation about cats. the move to an undergraduate con- encourage in their scholarship and It is often said that Zeph didn’t get centration was being considered. teaching. These were roles that Zeph proper credit for all that he did, but I went to his office as a graduate also played beyond Harvard for that’s not exactly right: I think it is student and lobbied for an under- teachers and scholars at all levels, truer to say that, somewhat mysteri- graduate program in Religion. Why in the New England Classical As- ously, Zeph’s remarkable record of was I so concerned about this, he sociation, the Teachers of Classics professional achievements always asked. I told him I had majored in in New England, other regional and looked to be more the profession’s Religion at Smith College to great national associations, the Center for than his own. Zeph was not self- profit, and I considered it regrettable Hellenic Studies, and the American effacing, and “modest” isn’t really that Harvard had no undergradu- Academy of Arts and Sciences. the right word. He simply did things ate major. Of course, Zeph needed There can hardly be anyone in the because they were good and right no persuasion. His work in Greek field that doesn’t owe a lot, directly things to do, and because he enjoyed religion and his inherent disposi- or indirectly, to Zeph. doing them. “Quiet charisma” per- tion toward the Humanities made When Zeph recruited me to haps defines this quality. him a strong supporter of the broad understudy and then to succeed In 1957 Zeph wrote a letter to the humanistic study of religion. He had George Goold as editor of the Loeb Harvard Crimson recognizing a just finished editing in two volumes

9 ZEPH STEWART

the papers of Harvard’s great high-tension spring of 1969 when reign has been characterized by an historian of religion, Arthur Darby the Rosovsky Report recommend- enlightened radical spirit.” Nock, an enormously complex ed the development of a program Zeph’s radical spirit led the and exacting task that could only in Afro-American studies, Zeph quiet and yet firm campaign to be described as a labor of love. was one of a small group of fac- change college parietal rules, a When the Faculty of Arts and Sci- ulty appointed to the new Stand- move strongly opposed by some ences voted in 1974 to establish ing Committee on Afro-American of the other masters. Today an an undergraduate concentration in Studies to bring this idea to real- undergraduate at Lowell or else- the Comparative Study of Reli- ity. There was considerable con- where would scarcely know what gion, Zeph Stewart was one of its troversy over the decision of the the word “parietals” means, but staunchest advocates. Faculty to include student mem- then it signaled the strict hours Zeph was important in many bers on this Committee, students when gentlemen could entertain ways in my intellectual world. who would participate in seeking young women in their rooms, When I was turning an ungainly the first faculty members in the mostly on weekends. Master doctoral thesis into my first book, new program. In this atmosphere Stewart posted in Lowell House Banaras, City of Light, my editor of contention, Zeph’s voice was discreetly worded notices ef- told me to write it to a friend or no doubt a stabilizing influence. fectively liberalizing Lowell’s colleague with some of my own Zeph and the Committee worked parietals and eventually persuaded sensibilities, but in a different or through the summer of 1969 and his colleagues to do the same. The adjacent field of work. I wrote it appointed the first chair in Afro- issue of parietals was overshad- to Zeph, someone I knew would American Studies that fall. owed, however, when the hith- want to read it, but would not have From 1963 to 1975 Zeph served erto unthinkable happened—the every god or goddess in his im- as master of Lowell House. Today, beginnings of coeducation in the mediate, though admittedly vast, as we came up the steps to the houses. Lowell became the first vocabulary. He did read it, and Memorial Church just before two of Harvard’s houses to welcome carefully enough to find a mistake, o’clock, the great Mother Earth women into residence. Diana about which he graciously and Bell in the Lowell House bell Stewart, who had been able to apologetically informed me. tower tolled once for each of the dine in the Dining Hall only on During the tumultuous years of twelve years of his service there. weekends, became associate mas- the late 1960s and early 1970s, It was a period that saw extraor- ter of the House. Lowell House Zeph was one of the most ac- dinary turbulence and the change became, for the first time, a com- tive and engaged members of the of generations, and Zeph Stewart munity of women and men. Faculty. Not only was he master was the right person for the times. Zeph’s gentle radical spirit was of Lowell House, he also served On May 1, 1963, at a festive recalled by an alumnus at one of on the very first Faculty Council, dinner at the High Table in Lowell our Lowell House History nights, a new body recommended by the House, Elliott Perkins passed the a member of the class of 1967, Fainsod Report in 1969. Zeph was master’s emblematic tippet to who said succinctly, “Zeph looked one of the first four tenured mem- Zeph. Through the years of the as if he might be conservative, but bers of the Humanities elected 1960s and early 1970s, Zeph’s he really was not at all.” It was, to the Council in early 1970. In imprint on Lowell House, the after all, on Zeph Stewart’s watch addition to supporting the Com- community of housemasters, in 1964, he said, that Allen Gins- parative Study of Religion, he also and the wider university was berg sang and read with his com- had a critical role in shaping the extraordinary. The editors of the panion Peter Orlovsky at his side program in Afro-American Stud- yearbook of 1968 wrote, “Despite in the Lowell House Dining Hall. ies. Many did not know that in the his personal urbane gentility, his Jack Kerouac came to the House,

10 REMEMBRANCES

as did Dr. Benjamin Spock. And, gentler time.” On December 1, when Zeph of course, there was the famous In his mastership, Zeph influ- died, I stopped by the office of my week that Agatha Christie, a long- enced his colleagues, too. Bob colleague, Ali Asani, to tell him time friend of Diana and Zeph, Kiely, who became master of the sad news. Ali put down his stayed in the master’s residence. Adams House, wrote in a note work at his desk, looked up at me, Many Lowellians who recall the to Diana, “He was certainly one and said, simply, “Zeph was an years of Zeph’s leadership speak of the reasons that I agreed to angel.” As a young undergraduate of his “humanism,” his “gracious, become a house master. He made from Kenya, Ali had been among gentle way,” his “kindness,” and it look worthwhile and impor- the first students interviewed for his “profound humanity.” There tant—and at the same time fun. I admission to that new concentra- is a theme here: the beautiful still remember walking past the tion in the Comparative Study of combination of kindness and au- big windows of the Lowell Dining Religion. As a freshman, he was thenticity, generosity and care. He Hall and seeing Zeph addressing to be interviewed by a distin- “radiated a benign wisdom and an the assembled crowd of students guished professor of the Classics unwavering decency,” wrote one at some House event. The scene and he was understandably appre- of his Lowell House students. stayed in my mind—like a Rem- hensive. Ali has never forgotten A student from the class of ’73, brandt—warm and coppery rich how kind and unintimidating Zeph Stuart Berman, wrote to Diana colors, an atmosphere of collegial- was in that interview. Since that of how much Zeph had meant to ity and civility that seemed worth day, every time their paths would him as a young man who gener- preserving.” cross in the Yard, he said, Zeph ally felt “cast adrift in an uncaring We too, Dorothy and I, looked would stop and ask him about his institution.” “But walking into the to the Stewarts in our decision to work and his well-being. Many of gate of Lowell House,” he said, “a become house masters, and we us here today can repeat this story different and wonderful world un- have been beneficiaries of the of Zeph’s unfailing kindness and folded for me. It was a rich, caring spirit of unfailing goodwill that his unhurried quality of attention. world akin to Harvard’s version Zeph and Diana brought to Lowell To conclude, I would like to of Camelot ... The person whom House. When we were appointed, read a poem composed by one my friends and I most loved was an e-mail from Zeph came late, of our Senior Common Room Zeph. He made all of us feel as late at night with the subject line members, Kevin McGrath, our though we were at home, among “intense delight.” Throughout our House poet, in early December friends and family.” years at Lowell House, that “in- as the Lowell House community Willard Spiegelman, a former tense delight” became the faith- received word of Zeph’s passing. resident tutor now a professor of ful, engaged, loving participation Diana Eck, Department of English at Southern Methodist that has set the standard for the Comparative Religion and Indian University, wrote, “Zeph’s leader- beloved community of the Senior Studies, Harvard University; ship during what was a tumultu- Common Room. Zeph and Diana Master of Lowell House ous period in American culture, have been what we affectionately and especially in American higher have called the “Grand Masters.” education, proved to me the Both came regularly to House virtues of quiet command, good dinners, High Tables, and summer Nota Bene is the biannual newslet- sense, humane values, and gentle Gin and Tonics. Indeed, Diana ter of Harvard’s Department of the Classics. Contributions are welcome wit. His cordiality, rapier wit, Stewart has continued to come to and should be sent to Lenore Parker, and deep commitment to humane High Tables, bringing with her the 204 Boylston Hall, Cambridge, MA letters and learning gave all of love and care both of them have 02138, or [email protected]. us a daily reminder of an earlier, had for the Lowell community.

11 ZEPH STEWART

IN MEMORIAM

BENEATH the bells, across these deep Beyond the forests and low hills, Two secluded courtyards, Your spirit like a bird’s soul In this house beside a river Joined with goodness in the universe Once lived a man who knew Fused with inconceivable space? All antinomies of the world: Human conscience and vanity Human beauty comes and goes How the intellect might struggle The ephemeral makes life vivid, To be true to its potential Our ability to laugh and love What is possible for human-kind Allows us to triumph over Before it runs away and goes. Mixtures of the human psyche: Like the young as they patrol Sometimes when the hawks perch Pursuing amity and desire, Upon that golden turning vane Or like the flashing swallows High up there upon the tower, In a blue and empty air above I remember you one afternoon Chasing what we only imagine. When a ceremony filled The courtyard with a busy crowd, So when that bell calls out again Saying, “Look at those birds On Sunday noon to mark an instant, I wish we knew what vision, I shall remember you and all What augury lies burning Your generous and percipient words Invisible in their terrific mind.” The wise humility you offered: There is so much darkness What day is this now when you In the world and paradise Once master of all that lived Is so easily lost from sight. And flourished beneath these rooves, I think of you, dear Zeph, recall What strange time is it when Your gentleness and light humour, You are not part of this earth: And as I cross these courtyards Have retreated beyond the walls Will always greet your subtle spirit.

Kevin McGrath December 1, 2007

12 REMEMBRANCES

t has been one of the biggest ence, his capacity to engage and also a devoted attendee of funerals, gifts of my life to have been openly listen meant that his chil- weddings, and memorials. Dad was born with my dad as a role dren, and most people who crossed by no means a saint; he was just not Imodel and a caretaker. his path, felt that what they were that sort of person. He did have an He was a man of true dignity, saying was important, perhaps even outstanding moral compass, but I which came from a confluence of wise. And this meant you felt that believe that really he did what he characteristics which are rare: a what you said mattered, and thus did for the simple reason that he curious mind, a great and flexible in- you took yourself more seriously. wanted to. That to him that was the tellect, a deep love, respect, and in- He wrote beautiful, simple, and point of life. He took pleasure in terest in other creatures, and all this moving letters and cards. I have so care and connection. In his busy life tempered with humility and a sense many kind, amusing, and thoughtful he never did not have time to talk to of humor which prevented him from things saved which he wrote to me. a friend or an offspring … ever. ever being pompous or false. In one note he sent to all three of us, To lighten up a bit, which is He was remarkably straightfor- he speaks of some of the extraordi- important to be true to Dad’s style. ward, clear, honest, and kind. nary role models we were lucky to Dad had a dry sense of humor It was from watching him that I have known. Even though we grew and a wide range of interests and learned that true social intelligence up in the middle of Harvard Univer- activities … teaching his children comes with the ability to express sity, the people my father cited were and their friends to walk on their complicated things simply. our cook, our housekeeper, and a hands (Dad was in his forties and Dad was not an emotionally cowboy we knew well in Wyoming. fifties at the time), bringing down flamboyant person, but his capacity They were all three extraordinary my boa constrictor to help usher out to be fully present in conversation people and role models of character stragglers at Lowell House parties, with absolutely anybody spoke to in some ways similar to what he building a frog pond with us out of a his heartfelt presence. He was one modeled for us. I know he would bathroom in Ireland, taking us to the of the truly best listeners that I have have been proud that I see him in bell-ringing on Sundays, setting up ever known, and this takes a very the same group. a large trampoline in the tiny yard open heart as well as a very open Friends, family, and community of 50 Holyoke where he jumped mind. I think it also takes a certain were hugely important to Dad. He with us for hours. Reading aloud genuine self-integrity and strength worked tirelessly for many causes was a pleasure Dad enjoyed with us of character, of moral clarity such of the latter and was never too busy from when we were very young up that others’ opinions are not threat- to make time for the former. He was until his end. And then from Tosca ening. My father was a very truthful, very social, and my parents always to Gilbert and Sullivan, my father balanced, and generous gentleman. did a lot of entertaining. He enjoyed loved music. He shared with people He was also remarkably present and honored holidays, birthdays, what he loved and took great inter- in the lives of those he cared for. I and anniversaries as times to gather est in what they loved. Whimsy and mean, if you showed up, he showed or make contact, whether to remem- openness made him wonderful with up. I mean, really showed up! Like, ber a loss or a celebration, or to children. He engaged with them no matter when we came home, Dad express gratitude. Every Christmas with the same respect and possibil- was awake and available. Many of he would telephone the nurse who ity of fun as he did with adults. My you know how available he was, had cared for his mother years ago, cousin Harriet wrote, “When I was a really any time of day or night. Con- and wish her Happy Holidays. He little girl, his arrival always felt like sidering how many people looked always took time to write a note, or Christmas.” to Dad for input, it is amazing how make a telephone call or a visit. He He turned piles of rubble in much time he seemed to make for was an extremely loyal friend and Greece into fascinating peopled each person and concern. was frequently visiting people who stories, showed us bears in Yellow- In addition to his physical pres- were sick, old, or lonely. He was stone long before such things were

13 ZEPH STEWART

fashionable, was Green, very Green, do. In my house now, I always wash bers that we have had in the past before anyone knew what that was. the dishes myself, because nobody, months, usually saying how he took Dad was never a snob. He saw in fact not even a dishwasher, can do extra time for them to really make a true worth for what it was and had as good a job as I can. That careful difference in their lives, testifies to a very wide range of interests and cleaning of the dishes is one thing I his being available to so many peo- openness to fun. This included will remember, and apparently carry ple in ways that had meaning. He clearly seeing people and relating to, on, of my father. was certainly wonderful in groups, and bringing out, the best in them. I also remember seeing my father but that one-on-one time with him I invited my parents to all my high in the morning, adding final notes was also quite precious. school and college parties because to the talks, the memorials, the And within this precious time with they were never judgmental and lectures he often gave, scratching him, I reflect that my best conversa- always interested in my friends. All little additions or corrections on his tions with my father were late at my friends loved my parents. pencil-handwritten paper, paper usu- night, and that is how it seems it has In the last years of his life and in ally recycled from some waste that always been. As a child I remem- his dreadful time of the last year and somebody else had tried to throw ber well his office, where we were a half, my father taught me some away. He would work up to the very allowed to come and bother him new lessons by his example. As my last minute, having invariably been before we went to bed. It was this cousin Cynthia said at Dad’s funer- up late the night before. warm, brown, woody office lined al, he taught us how to age, be very And so there I was last night, hav- with leather-bound books where we sick, and to die with acceptance, ing flown in late from San Fran- came for our time of playing with presence, care, respect, and dignity. cisco, working away on this talk. him. It never seemed we were both- He always remained gracious, grate- I think if I can get a wry chuckle ering him, though I am well aware ful, interested, and kind to us and from my father for my humanness, now of the types of pressures and to all who came into his orbit. He my folly, in putting this together last deadlines he dealt with early into the always kept his wit and his discern- minute, then I will be okay. And if I morning after we left. But he took ing wisdom and care. can succeed in making you all laugh the time for us, and in his study he My Dad was absolutely never just a little bit, I will have taken would delight us with interesting boring. He was just too engaged and another small lesson from him. He gadgets or humorous stories. He had curious. It was impossible to spend often mentioned to me the impor- a knack for making the relatively time with him and not to think and tance of humor being included when simple thing intriguing … he would learn, and to feel his care and inter- before an audience. put a fake diamond into his belly est. I never felt lonely with him. I Of course, I wish I could be even button, telling us how that was what felt deeply loved and respected. I close to like my dad, but I am glad the rich people did in some coun- felt proud to know him and it has to have the model: his respect for tries, and he planned to always wear been one of the joys of my life to simplicity, his respect for nature, it there. He would sometimes don have people know that I am related and his profound respect for the a wig, which he threatened to start to him. importance of friendships and con- wearing in public. nections with people. I remember best his reel-to-reel Sarah Stewart My father appreciated life, and tape recorder … he appreciated the lives of others. He took time for good audio equipment to listen to others in a way few people I know opera. When we pleaded with him, t is a peculiar thing when we are able to do. I can’t think of many he would record us talking, and then realize we might be like our who work so hard, yet are always he would play back our words, ei- parents. That realization that we present when the opportunity arises. ther in very fast, fast playback mode Iare doing the things we laughed at The flood of cards from student after so it sounded like we were little for years, or swore we would never student, friends, and family mem- mice after inhaling some helium, or

14 REMEMBRANCES

in slow, slow mode so we sounded It has been hard over the past any years ago at a memo- like we were cartoon characters of three short … or long ... months for rial service in this church, a more sloth- or whale-like nature. my mother, my sisters, my fam- from this very lectern The wonderful thing I remember ily—for many whose lives Zeph MArchibald MacLeish said, “Now about these moments is seeing my so affected. It really struck me when we think of the great of the dad’s face lit up in genuine laughter again last night as I arrived at my University, we must first turn to the each time … he truly enjoyed these house at midnight … everyone was dead.” So it was then, and so it is moments, and he was not just laugh- asleep. I sat in our kitchen and felt now. When we think of the great and ing or amusing us. He was involved a profound emptiness; I am so used shining lights of this College and in a true way. Placet experiri is a to having the late hours with my University, and we turn to the dead, Latin phrase meaning “It pleases to father. This would be the time my the name that leads all of the rest experiment,” and he was willing to dad would find his way into the is that of our friend and colleague experiment. And he knew the impor- kitchen from his study, and he and I Zeph Stewart. tance of that time for laughter. would discuss how things were with We have heard much today in an In his inquisitive way, it is not each other, and perhaps share some effort to reconstruct some of those surprising to me that my father cookies and drinks, before eventu- many and now happily remem- considered the role of laughter in the ally, usually around 2 a.m., I would bered acts of love and kindness that ancient world. He was, in his schol- fade, and my dad would say, “You seemed so characteristic of his stew- arly mind, looking for what I think go on to bed. I’m just going to finish ardship here in the University. His he experienced in his own life … up a few more things.” I miss those were what an English friend would connecting, again, to others across conversations. I miss my dad. call “a safe pair of hands.” You time and cultures. Thomas Mann stated in The could, in other words, as presidents In Zeph Stewart’s “Laughter and Magic Mountain, one of my father’s and deans frequently did, commend the Greek Philosophers: A Sketch,” favorite books, “A man’s dying is to him difficult, seemingly intrac- he wrote about “that mysterious more the survivors’ affair than his table problems and be certain that laughter, beautifully described by own.” he would give to them a thorough Spinoza (Short Treatise pt. 2, chap. Seeing us here today, my dad airing, come to a just solution, and 11) that arises when we feel that might remind us of a quotation from become a part of that solution. No all is going well and we are happy the same book: “The only religious university can flourish without such in our world,” but he goes on to way to think of death is as part and people at its heart, and Zeph was for mention the wide variety of laugh- parcel of life; to regard it, with the all these years one of those. Every ters: “Surely no single cause can understanding and the emotions, as one of us here who has had anything be found, no single theory can be the inviolable condition of life.” to do with the affairs of Harvard devised, that will explain this vast I thank you all for taking the time College and of Harvard University phenomenon of laughter.” Thus, in to be here today, as it is thus, com- over the last forty years stands in his studies he was certainly aware of ing together here, that I, my family, some considerable debt to the clarity some of the darker, nefarious sides each of us can respect my father’s of mind and depth of integrity that of laughter. However, in his own memory, by sharing these under- were part of the furnishings of Zeph life, even through some tough times standings and emotions with each Stewart. We are now a sadder place in his last few years, he kept the other: our stories, of how he touched because of his departure from us, very best of humor, wry, subtle, and us in some way, how he cared for but O! what richness we enjoyed connecting. He did not use laughter us, and made us feel important, while he was in our midst. to separate, embarrass, or mock. or how he, perhaps, allowed us to It occurred to me that if anything Time has a way of speeding up or laugh. went awry at this memorial ser- slowing down, like those tapes be- vice this afternoon, if the smallest ing played back. Christopher Stewart detail were out of place, it would

15 ZEPH STEWART REMEMBRANCES

be because Zeph is not here, for he to justify the house system in these remembrance, the dead live. Zeph was a consummate manager of oc- latter days, it would be Zeph; and continues very much alive in our casions such as this. As chief usher he could not have done any of it hearts, our minds, and our imagina- more times than we can remember, without the care, guidance, and af- tions. and private confidante as to how fection of Diana. What a remarkable There is something very rich, gen- we should proceed in these Harvard team they provided in a day when erous, and gracious about that kind rituals, he was the person who made we—happily—did not always refer of inheritance, literally the gift that sure that we did it right, without to people as a “team”! There was a keeps on giving, and generations to ostentation, fuss, or pomp. We shall sense of colleagueship and affection, come of young people, tutors, and miss him on occasions such as this. and of grace in the Lowell House of others who will pass through the It was my great pleasure to be the Stewart era, and much of it had doors of Lowell House, the Classics drawn into his network when in to do with the kindness and shrewd- Department, and Harvard College 1970 he invited me into the Senior ness of the master. will have reason to remember or to Common Room of Lowell House, You could go to him with your learn of this good, kind, shrewd, and and into an association that I have tale of woe, of manufactured crisis, gentle man, Zeph Stewart. We who cherished more than almost any or moment of existential doubt, and are here today happen to be among other that I have enjoyed over long within a few minutes you would the most privileged, for we knew years in this University. He had suc- know that he knew what the real him in his prime, we saw him in full ceeded a legend, for Elliott Perkins story was, and that he would simply cry, and our worlds were affected by was larger than life. We all knew wait for you to catch up with him his words and actions. How blessed and respected that, but Zeph was not and the real conversation could take are we all to have been a part of an institution; he was a warm, pul- place. Those are rare qualities here that world in which he lived, which sating, delightful, kind, and shrewd and anywhere, and how fortunate is why, I suspect, we have come human being. Now, kindness and we were to have them in such abun- out in our numbers today, why our shrewdness do not often go together, dance in such a visible place, for affection crosses many generational even here, and most of us know such a long time. borders, and why this is no mere colleagues whom we can call kind, A friend once asked me what I tribal gathering of the Classics De- and a few of us know colleagues think is the most important thing partment or of Lowell House. whom we may think of as shrewd, that I do, and I answered, “That’s The man whose life we celebrate but rarely are those two characteris- easy: burying the dead.” “What an today, and for whom we give thanks tics found together, productively, in odd reply,” he said. “Have you lots to God, while deeply engaged in the same person, as they were in the of people you wish to speed out of each of his communities, was far person of Zeph Stewart. Never in this life?” I responded, “That is ir- beyond them in so many ways. Now my thirty-eight years of friendship relevant; but when we bury the dead that he has journeyed on he leaves with him did I see him do a con- at Harvard we have the occasion to behind a legacy that never ends, a sciously mean, wicked, or perverse bring together the living to remem- legion of uncounted friends; and thing, and when I spoke with him ber the one who has passed from us, for that and for all that has been, we I always had the sensation that he and in that way we are bound to- give thanks to God. knew more than I did, and certainly gether in what Dean Sperry used to more than he was telling. A house delight in calling the ‘beloved com- The Reverend Professor Peter master needs those qualities, which munity of memory and hope.’” In a Gomes, Harvard University is why I think so many thought of place like this the dead are never far him as the consummate house mas- from us, for as long as there is one ter at Harvard. of us here who can remember, and If any individual could be said who is prepared to share his or her

16 above: Christopher, Mary, Diana, Zeph, and Sarah in Cora, Wyoming, 2002; below: Surrey, England, 2001

17 “A Budding Classicist . . .

n 1942–43, when most of the unmentioned: very few Americans for some of the workers there, young men of the nation were could speak or read Japanese. And sometimes providing fascinating being herded into the armed the great majority of those who relief from the usual routine of even Iforces by the draft, an amusing an- could, first-generation and second- very important military messages. ecdote appeared in The New Yorker generation immigrants, were consid- The next job was to provide a cadre magazine. It told of the experience ered suspect and were more likely to of students with linguistic aptitudes of an Ivy League youth who was be sent off to detention camps than and, if possible, some knowledge of entering the Army as a private. His allowed to serve in the war effort. Japanese. So Reischauer visited ex- parents cautioned him that he would Aside from a scattering of scholars isting Japanese programs to identify be living in close quarters with men and businessmen there were only the best students and to suggest to from many different walks of life, two groups in the country who prospective draftees that they enlist some of them poorly educated and had lived or traveled in Japan and in the Army for this special oppor- rather rougher in speech and man- learned Japanese in their occupa- tunity. ners than he was accustomed to. So tions: missionaries and their families I was a junior at Yale majoring in he should be prepared for a certain and art dealers who specialized in Classics when America entered the amount of culture shock. The young Japanese materials. So members war. Like every other college, Yale man was inducted in due course and of these two groups were recruited immediately set out to reorganize its assigned to a small army post on quickly for military or civilian work schedules and programs to fit into the East Coast. On the first day in in intelligence. There was an urgent the war effort. My older brother, the barracks he was astonished to need. At some point in the conflict who was already in the Navy, soon hear the angry complaint of one of there would be prisoners of war to phoned me with a single urgent the other soldiers, who was walk- interrogate and captured documents piece of advice: “Study Japanese,” ing among the bunks demanding, to read. More immediately there he said. He himself detested his “Who’s taken my text of Pindar?” was code breaking to do, since the stints of sea duty and he assured The New Yorker commented dryly outbreak of hostilities had filled the me that, if I took Japanese, I would that this was not the culture shock airways with encoded messages that stay on land. He was a wise coun- that he had expected. were being intercepted but could selor even then (later he became a I myself was soon afterwards to not be read. A massive effort had to Supreme Court Justice), and indeed come to know these barracks and be mounted to give instruction in I did study Japanese and I never set also the Pindar enthusiast, who, it Japanese language in the military foot on a ship during the war. turned out, had been a Classics con- services. Yale had had no Japanese pro- centrator at (naturally!) Harvard. There were very few university gram, but very quickly, under the I’ve been asked occasionally programs in Japanese at the time. pressure of events, organized one. whether people with a Classics One of the best was at Harvard, The professor of Chinese had background found any special work where Edwin Reischauer (himself once spent a few weeks in Japan, to do in World War II. I think my the son of a missionary) was a and with that qualification he was own experience was not atypical as leading young figure. He was hired deemed capable of teaching the long as active hostilities continued. by the Army to help establish a language. With my training in Greek It was only in the last part of my Japanese language-training center and Latin I was considered a natural military service, after the Japanese at a new military post near Wash- participant for the newly organized surrender, that I was given unusual ington. The site of a former girls’ course, along with a small group of opportunities. school named Arlington Hall had other students with good language When the United States entered been bought by the Army to become backgrounds. We did not realize, the Second World War in 1941 its center for code breaking. The of course, that the same thing was after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army also took responsibility for happening all over the country, as nation started with an enormous the breaking of diplomatic codes, students in language courses, espe- linguistic handicap that usually goes which later turned out to be a boon cially classicists, enlisted in long

18 . . . in World War II” established or hastily organized be- for collaborative work with the American occupation forces. For ginning courses in Japanese in the mathematicians and statisticians me, this was a dismal prospect, for hope of making this their military who made the initial breakthroughs. despite my long immersion in the occupation. Our professor, an easy- Arlington Hall provided an extraor- use of Japanese and in the events of going and congenial man, kept a dinary setting: many languages were the Pacific area, I had never lost my lesson or two ahead of us, and at the being worked on (even Latin, I was primary interest in Europe. I remem- end of a year we had acquired an told); military and civilian personnel ber poring in my spare time over elementary knowledge of Japanese. of many ranks and ages and kinds maps of the European theater of op- At this point Professor Reischauer of competence labored together erations and tracing the movements visited the Yale program looking on a twenty-four-hour schedule of of forces through the areas where for good prospects. He was ac- three eight-hour shifts. Most of the Caesar had fought and in what had companied by an Army major, the deciphered messages were dull and been the Roman Empire. To my sur- military head of the Japanese sec- routine, but there were occasional prise and delight, therefore, some of tion at Arlington Hall. He had been great surprises. By this time Reis- my high-level associates (probably a dealer in Japanese art before the chauer had moved to the Pentagon led by Reischauer), as a reward for war. Following the recommenda- as an Army officer in a special intel- my hard work, arranged for me to tions of our professor they chose a ligence unit, and he and I worked be awarded a medal and, best of all, group of students who were offered together closely (as he records in his to be transferred not to Japan, but as eventual commissions as officers if autobiography) to make more effec- a special intelligence officer to the they would enlist in the Army for tive use of information gleaned from American embassy in Paris. duty at Arlington Hall. Our profes- the type of messages I was handling. When I entered the Army, I was sor really didn’t know one student During all this period we were not planning to pursue a career in from another, and I always sus- aware, through the occasional ap- Classics after the war. Although I pected that I was among the chosen pearance at our post of British Army had loved it as a major at Yale (and more because he had been told that visitors, that very much the same earlier in the excellent program at I was good at Greek and Latin than developments had taken place in The Hotchkiss School), I always for any aptitude I had shown in his England. An estate outside London assumed I would follow a family Japanese course. I signed up with called Bletchley Park had been tradition of law or perhaps finance. the Army and after graduation from bought and made the center for (My first job offer when I was Yale was duly inducted as a private code breaking and related intelli- eventually leaving the Army was as and shipped to Arlington Hall. gence activities. Talented linguists a financial advisor!) Although I had Through some mix-up it was in the schools and universities were not felt an overwhelming appeal in almost a year before our group recruited for this work, and many legal or financial work, I had always of about fifty men from various were taught Japanese as part of their thought that if one did something institutions was commissioned as training. A surprising number of the well, one would come to enjoy it. It promised. Meanwhile we spent best-known British classicists of was in my work on Japanese codes those months living in barracks, the postwar era had been involved that I learned that my assump- bizarrely combining regular army in this work, either at Bletchley or tion was naive: I worked hard and training and routine with intensive in the field, including such diverse successfully, but I never came to Japanese courses taught mainly by figures as Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Denys enjoy what I was doing. It was this Reischauer. Our task was to learn Page, and George Goold. discovery that made me think more to read the language, mainly in Suddenly, with the dropping of the seriously of a career in Classics, transliteration, not to speak it. The atomic bomb and the Japanese sur- which I knew was my first love. My Army and Navy had by then set up render, the world of Arlington Hall stay in Paris was destined to seal my other centers in the country to teach was transformed. All the military conviction. spoken Japanese. Code breaking personnel who knew Japanese were needed only a reading knowledge to be sent to Japan to work with the Zeph Stewart, Persephone Magazine

19 “The Loeb Classical Library”

ood afternoon, kind col- editor. paper and the color of the binding, leagues and friends of The Library was founded by the width of the margins, and the the Classics. I should James Loeb, an American with placement of the titles. He checked Glike, first of all, to thank President German immigrant parents, whose the texts of all advertisements of Reckford, my dear friend and father was one of the founders of the series, and he put his banking former student and colleague, for Kuhn Loeb & Company in New experience to good use in nego- making the Loeb Classical Library York. The younger Loeb attended tiating personally the contracts a part of the Presidential Panel “To Harvard on his way to his in- for rights and for distribution. Honor the Translators.” It is not evitable banking career and was Published by William Heinemann inappropriate for the Library to deeply influenced and affected in London, the series was greeted have a place here, since it has been there by his teachers of Greek and with excitement and popular ap- the largest and most widely known Fine Arts. (There has seldom been proval. And it prospered, surviving translation project connected with a better example of the importance the disruptions of the First World the Greek and Latin Classics in at of great teaching!) He was very War and Loeb’s debilitating at- least a hundred years, possibly in successful in his father’s bank- tacks of depression. By the time of all time. ing firm, but twice he suffered his death in 1933 it was an estab- During the last week or two I breakdowns which I’ve surmised lished enterprise, but he had lost have altered the original order of from his later troubles—of which his keen interest in it, having given my presentation because of the I know a good deal—to be pro- up his earlier grandiose dreams death in early December of Profes- longed attacks of clinical depres- and thinking in fact that it should sor George Goold. From the time sion brought on by compulsive be limited in size. In his will he when I appointed him general overwork on details. So he retired left the Loeb Classical Library, editor of the Loeb Classical Li- early, moved permanently to Mu- along with an endowment, to his brary in 1973 until his retirement nich, and looked for worthwhile alma mater, Harvard University, twenty-six years later, the intel- projects to pursue in Classics and directing that it should be man- lectual and professional renewal ancient art. (At this time he trans- aged by a board of three trustees, of the Loeb Library were largely lated Decharme’s book on Eurip- including at least one classical owing to his industry, his scholarly ides from French into English.) scholar. standards, his intelligence, learn- It was the great French scholar, Harvard made almost no change ing, and loyalty. His collaboration Salomon Reinach, who suggested in the operation of the Library. and friendship meant so much to to him the project that became All the editorial work, along with me—and to the increasing strength the Loeb Classical Library. Loeb the production and the storage of of the Library. threw himself into it with such books, remained with Heinemann So I cannot fail to begin with a energy that all appointments had in England. The one change was tribute to him, and that will lead been made and the first volumes that the Harvard University Press immediately into a look at the his- were under way when in 1911 he was made the American distributor tory and vicissitudes of the Loeb announced the founding of the and was put in charge of keep- Classical Library. Only after that series. The first thirty volumes ing the accounts, paying the bills, will come a discussion of prob- were published in 1912–1913, and making routine financial and lems of translation itself. an astonishing achievement. He production decisions. Let me start therefore by ex- himself, working with the editors, This strangely divided arrange- plaining my own part in the Li- T. E. Page and W. H. D. Rouse, ment let the Library continue brary and how I happened to be in supervised every detail in the under its own momentum for a position to appoint him general early years—even to the choice of several decades—until the rampant

20 from an APA Panel, “To Honor the Translators”

inflation and resulting crisis in the Harvard Press, and he took as A good deal of nonsense has been academic publishing of the early his pet project the salvation of the written about this matter in recent 1970s brought a sudden threat Loeb Classical Library. It was not years—some very recently, in fact, of bankruptcy and collapse. The an easy task. He and I set out an when a journalist discovered Jef- Harvard Press reported that every eight-year plan of slowly raising frey Henderson’s fine new transla- new volume was being sold for the price of the books while pub- tion of Aristophanes and thought less than its production cost. The lishing only one newly composed that explicit translation had just English editor and the academic volume each year. The most dif- made its début in the Loeb. In fact trustee, meanwhile, knowing noth- ficult part for me was the need to the change began at least by 1968 ing of the coming storm, had just tell the dozens of editors of recent- and 1969, when Warmington re- embarked on a vigorous commis- ly commissioned works that the vised reprints of Martial and Petro- sioning of new work. The admin- Loeb wouldn’t be able to publish nius, and it has continued steadily istration of the Library was also their work for at least ten years. as volumes have been reprinted or in disarray, as the early trustees Fortunately, because of sloppy revised. People, including quite died or retired and the academic management, there had been no intelligent people, who have little trustee, Professor Herbert Bloch, contracts issued in recent years. knowledge of law and social his- now the sole trustee, disaffected by And, also fortunately for me, the tory have spoken of “fuddy-duddy conflicts with the Harvard Press, new director of the Harvard Press Classics professors” who prudishly wanted to resign. He asked me agreed to write the letters. He was self-censored their translations. to take his place, and in 1973 I in fact not unhappy to do this task, They don’t realize that until quite entered into this turmoil without since he was convinced that the recent decades there were anti- really realizing its gravity. Loeb was not viable as a business obscenity laws in both the United So it was that I asked George venture, and he urged me several States and the United Kingdom Goold to become the general edi- times to abandon all but the fifty which led to actual confiscation of tor, replacing the aged Eric Warm- best-selling titles. books and prosecution of publish- ington. George had just taken up And so it was that the Loeb ers. In the United Kingdom the the Latin professorship at Univer- Classical Library was saved. Dur- laws were not relaxed until 1959. sity College London, after many ing the next years it slowly recov- When James Loeb replied to his years in Canada and the United ered. I continued as sole trustee, editor, Page, that obscene passages States, most recently at Harvard. working with George Goold on were to be either paraphrased or So he would be close to the edito- volumes already under way and left in the original language, he rial offices at Heinemann, and he on the correction and revision of was simply reflecting the standards had good American connections. existing volumes. I was dismayed and laws of his time and protecting His only connection with the Loeb to discover how many misprints himself and William Heinemann Classical Library was that he had and outright errors there were from possible fines or imprison- been preparing a Manilius for the in the series, many of them left ment. (As a footnote I might add series, but nonetheless he was uncorrected in successive reprints that the story that translation into intrigued by the opportunity (and I over the years. I have made a Italian was also offered as a gen- think he did it partly as a favor to personal project of noting them for eral option is quite untrue; it just me). correction. One major task was to happened that the translator of one I was also saved at this juncture put into explicit English the many author, Martial, knew of an Ital- by another lucky coincidence. passages that had been altered or ian translation and used it for this A new business manager, Brian omitted because they were con- purpose.) Had this been a privately Murphy, had just been appointed at sidered obscene or pornographic. printed series or for a restricted

21 “The Loeb Classical Library”

readership, there would have been “crib” or “trot,” and for advanced the scholarly level while keeping no problem, but for Loeb the main scholars as an interpretive method; firmly in mind that this should be purpose of his series was to reach very free and paraphrasing transla- a resource as much for non-clas- a wide general public. tions and adaptations seem to lead sicists as for classical scholars. This will be an appropriate away from the original, not toward Detailed scholarly discussions and point to pause and consider what it. Since the primary readership massive collections of references kind of translation is sought in the of the Library is drawn from the and sources do not belong in the Loeb, since the type of translation general educated public, and the Loeb. On the one hand, they are depends largely upon the intended purpose is to convey to that public somewhat lost or wasted there (as audience and the intended purpose. in an attractively readable form I have always felt about Brunt’s Translation comes in many differ- both the content and the style of splendid historical essays buried ent forms. Perhaps the most primi- ancient texts—what Socrates in the in the revised Arrian) and, on the tive is the use of glosses written third book of the Republic calls the other hand, they may overwhelm under individual important words, logos and the lexis—our goal is a rather than inform the common the kind one sees occasionally in translation in natural and idiomatic reader, as in some volumes of Anglo-Saxon and other medieval English which follows the original Josephus or in Greek Lyric. Goold manuscripts; they make a sort of fairly closely, and within those once explained to an editor why portable ad hoc dictionary. Then parameters conveys some sense of the Loeb would include only a there is the very close interlinear the style. A strength of the Library, selection of certain fragments, not kind, and the very literal, then a in our view, is that it has normally the complete corpus. He compared more flowing and idiomatic but been regarded as representing a the Library to the public exhibi- exact translation, then so-called standard and “reliable” version of tion area of a great museum. In the “free” translation verging into ancient texts, avoiding eccentric storerooms there are indeed many paraphrase, and finally, if one can or experimental translations, ec- more artifacts for specialists to call them translations, there are centric textual readings, and novel study and enjoy, but in the public imitations and adaptations. The theories or “hobby horses” in the areas are placed only the most presence of the original text on the introductions. important and the most meaningful facing page in the Loeb suggests The early volumes of the series pieces. that a reasonably close translation were a rather mixed bag, in part Let me return briefly to the would be appropriate. At the same because of the Herculean task of recent history of the Library. The time James Loeb hoped to ap- producing thirty volumes in the strategies devised in the mid- peal to a very wide audience, and first two years. The language was 1970s worked, and the Library he wrote particularly of making occasionally archaic, the transla- slowly stabilized financially. By translations “accessible” and “in tions sometimes free, sometimes the 1980s we were breathing more themselves real pieces of litera- overly literal. Some of the transla- easily and could consider publish- ture” and “not dull transcripts of tors were excellent scholars, others ing more than one new title a year. ideas.” (I am quoting from his were amateurs. The introductions Then in 1989 there was a shock. essay on the scope and purpose of were very brief and the annotation The Heinemann firm, which had the Library that was included in all often exiguous. Over the years published the Loeb Library from the early volumes of the series.) the series became more and more the beginning, had been taken Extremely close and literal transla- professional and also more help- over by a group called Octopus, tions are useful for two entirely ful in scholarly and general guid- which decided that they would different audiences, for beginning ance for the reader. George Goold no longer publish the Library and language students as a guide, a and I made great efforts to raise that its books and offices must

22 from an APA Panel, “To Honor the Translators”

be removed from Heinemann’s a larger publication program. In Rudenstine in his last year in of- premises immediately. Once again 1990–91 we enlisted a group of fice to discuss the future of the Brian Murphy, who had been some thirty scholars, experts in trustees. Again to my delight, he so helpful earlier, met the chal- various areas, to evaluate the indi- appointed two trustees to serve lenge and in consultation with me vidual volumes of the Library with with me—our colleague, Professor transferred the whole operation a view to making a coherent plan Richard Thomas, who will eventu- to the Harvard University Press, of replacements, revisions, and ally take my place, and Professor divided between its main office in new additions. Professor Philippa Lloyd Weinreb of the Harvard Law Cambridge and its London office. Goold joined us as an assistant School—both of them splendidly To our great good fortune Mar- editor. I pushed for the creation of suited to manage and oversee the garetta Fulton joined the team as a new computer font to print the Library. our administrative editor at the books. The arrival of computer When Pope Nicholas the Fifth Harvard Press. And by a stroke of printing had given our pages an was determined in the fifteenth luck George Goold returned to the ugly look—thick Greek letters fac- century to restore the cultural United States just at this time to ing spindly Roman type. Now an centrality and splendor of Rome, take a position at Yale, bringing elegant Greek script faces match- the centerpiece of his program him within close reach. ing Roman. was not his extensive rebuilding One odd incident during this Two important factors have of churches and monuments, not move deserves special mention. greatly aided our worldwide his vast collection of manuscripts George Goold noticed some boxes success: first, the dominance of (the true beginning of the Vatican of papers in the office that was English as a second language, and, Library), but rather a massive being vacated by the Library at secondly, the shrinking of Teubner translation project. He employed Heinemann. He asked about them after the Second World War, which a small army of translators to and was told that they were just has left the Loeb series as the most bring to Italy and western Europe old letters that were going to be easily available large collection their first widespread access to the sent off somewhere into storage. of Greek and Latin texts in print. writings of the Greeks. The Loeb He glanced at the contents and Our sales are brisk, for example, Classical Library, too, has given said he thought they should be sent in Japan; when our colleagues in us all reason to honor our transla- to me. When the shipment arrived, Moscow and St. Petersburg started tors, who have spread knowledge I found myself in possession of to rebuild classical programs ten of Greek and Latin culture, and the the whole of Loeb’s correspon- years ago, their first desideratum enlightenment which it provides, dence, as well as Heinemann’s was a set of Loebs. By the time throughout the world. and the editors’, that pertained to of his retirement George Goold Zeph Stewart, January 4, 2002 the founding and first ten years could justly feel that the Loeb of the Library. Goold’s vigilance Library was the most important had saved a remarkable archive. and influ ential project for Classics Through it I have come to know in in the world. detail Loeb’s working habits, his There is also a happy epilogue. enthusiasm and energy, his suffer- To George’s and my own delight, ings from depression, his kindly I persuaded Professor Jeffrey Hen- personality, and his extraordinary derson to succeed him as general genius. editor. So our editorial excellence With greater financial flexibil- and stability are assured. I also ity it was possible to contemplate approached Harvard’s President

23 County Wicklow, Ireland