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September/October 2005 · Historically Speaking43 Donald Kagan: The Scholar and Teacher Barry Strauss • n May 12, 2005 Yale historian DonaldKagan gave the 34th annual Jefferson Lecture, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This honor was the occasion forformer student Barry Strauss, himselfa prominent historian at Cornell, topay tribute to his mentor. The following essay originally appeared in the May/June 2005 issue ofHumanities: The Magazine ofthe National Endowment for the Humanities. It is reprintedhere bypermission ofthe NEH. - The editors. I first met Donald Kagan in the fall of 1974 when I arrived at Yale to begin the doctoral program in ancient history. Perhaps "met" is not quite the right word: although not yet the nationally known figure he is today, Kagan was already a phenomenon. "Encounter" may be a better way to describe an introduction to one of the most intellectually challenging educators I have ever known. Or "matriculate ," because Kagan was little short of a oneman university. During my years at Yale in the mid- to late-1970s, Kagan seemed to be in perpetual motion. He was chairman of the classics department, master of Timothy Dwight College, advocate offreedom of speech, gadfly , scholar, author, editor, raconteur, political commentator, sports fan, film buff, and family man, and one ofthe most popular and highly regarded teachers on campus. He was exuberant in his causes and rapid-fire in his wit. And yet, ask a question and, seemingly without any hesitation, he would answer in the prudent and measured words that would have taken most of us the better part of an afternoon to put together. There is something of the Renaissance about Kagan, classicist though he is, and not just that overused term, "Renaissance Man," although he is the soul of versatility. And it isn't just his fondness for the Florentine statesman and historian Francesco Guicciardini, whose maxims he often quoted back then. Rather, he has a humanist's passion for Greco-Roman antiquity, an orator's way with words, a diplomat's shrewdness, a neo-Platonist's idealism and, last but not least, a sense of humor to leave Puck in the shade. He displays, moreover, patriotism enough to rival a Florentine's love ofhis citystate . And in those days of the 1970s, in the shadow of Vietnam and Watergate, it was as courageous as it was unfashionable to be patriotic, especially for an Ivy League professor . To sum it up, Kagan demonstrates the combination of realism and principle that is, perhaps, the hallmark ofthe Renaissance. After the 1970s Kagan went on to serve as dean ofYale College and acting director of athletics at Yale. He began.appearing on the op-ed pages and in magazines as well as on radio and television. And he added a number ofmajor awards to his already deeply impressive collection of honors, most notably, the National Humanities Medal for 2002, and now, the Jefferson Lectureship, the highest honor the federal government bestows in the humanities. All of this not only offers welldeserved recognition to extraordinary achievement, but it strengthens the conclusion that there are, in fact, many Don Kagans, from the athlete to the administrator, from the public intellectual to the godfather of campus conservatism, from the vigorous defender of the teaching of Western civilization to the expert witness on foreign policy before a committee ofthe U.S. Congress. But there are two aspects ofthis remarkable man that have, I think, remained constants in his career: the exceptional scholar and the nonpareil teacher. Kagan's lectures are legendary. As a performer he has superb delivery, perfect timing, and complete connection with the audience. He is full of wit and humor, by turns almost vaudevillian and master of the deadpan joke. Few will forget his way of asking goodnatured student volunteers to form a hoplite phalanx, in order to show how ancient armies tended to lean to the right as they marched so each man could cover his unprotected side by the shield beside him. Yet if part of Kagan's appeal is laughter, another part of it is that he takes himself seriously. For Kagan, ancient history is not just diverting but enlightening, even essential, because studying it makes us better...

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