The names are venerable, the history is remarkable: Harvard University was founded in 1636, Yale was founded in 1701 by the Puritans, and the College of Philadelphia was founded by the Quakers and Benjamin Franklin in 1749. These earliest of American universities were founded in independence: independence from government.
In the 1750s the curricula of these institutions included the study of Greek and the part played by Callimachus in voting to give his life for the freedom of Athens during the Persian invasion of the Greek homeland. And there was the study of Latin and the part played by Horatius defending the last bridge into Rome, in defiance of Rome’s last king, Tarquin Superbus, who personally sought to disestablish the liberties of every last
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