John Pentland Mahaffy John Pentland Mahaffy Rev. Sir John Pentland Mahaffy GBE CVO ( 26 February 1839 - 30 April 1919 ) was an Irish classical scholar . He was born in Switzerland on 12 July 1839 . He received his early education in Switzerland and Germany , and later at Trinity College , Dublin . As a student , he became President of the University Philosophical Society . As an academic , he held Trinity 's professorship of ancient history and was later Provost . He was a distinguished classicist and Egyptologist as well as a Doctor of Music . He wrote the music for the Frace in chapel . Mahaffy , a man of great versatility , published numerous works , some of which , especially those dealing with the 'Silver Age ' of Greece , became standard authorities . His versatility was not confined to academia . He both shot and played cricket for Ireland and knew the pedigree of every racehorse in Ulster . He was also an expert fly fisherman . He was regarded as one of Dublin 's great curmudgeons . When aspiring to be Provost of Trinity College , upon hearing that the incumbent was ill , he is said to have remarked `` Nothing trivial , I hope ? `` In his academic years , he was acquainted with undergraduate Oscar Wilde , with whom he discussed homosexuality in ancient Greece . Wilde described him as his `` first and greatest teacher '' . Like his protégés , Wilde and Oliver Gogarty , Mahaffy was a brilliant conversationalist , coming out with such gems as “in Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.” When asked , by an over-zealous advocate of women’s rights , what the difference was between a man and a woman he replied , “I can’t conceive.” He is also reputed to have said “ James Joyce is a living argument in favour of my contention that it was a mistake to establish a separate university for the aborigines of this island – for the corner boys who spit into the Liffey .” Among his most notable works are History of Classical Greek Literature ( 4th ed. , 1903 seq. ) ; Social Life in Greece from Homer to Menander ( 4th ed. , 1903 ) ; The Silver Age of the Greek World ( 1906 ) ; The Empire of the Ptolemies ( 1896 ) ; Greek Life and Thought from Alexander to the Roman Conquest ( 2nd ed. , 1896 ) ; The Greek World under Roman Sway from Polybius to Plutarch ( 1890 ) . His translation of Kuno Fischer 's Commentary on Kant ( 1866 ) and his own exhaustive analysis , with elucidations , of Kant 's critical philosophy are also highly regarded . He also edited the Petrie papyri in the Cunningham Memoirs ( vols. 1891—1905 ) . This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , a publication now in the public domain . Categories : Irish classical scholars | Irish academics | People associated with Trinity College , Dublin | Former officers of the University Philosophical Society | Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order | Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire | 1839 births | 1919 deaths | Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica In other languages : Русский 