Focuses on Thomas Paine the journalist rather than Paine the patriot or the world reformer. Analyzing his attitude toward the Greek and Latin classics leads to the conclusion that he made as many references to the classic writers as did his contemporaries. The major difference, however, was that Paine, in contrast to his contemporaries, relied on translations rather than the originals for his knowledge, in the conviction that good translations saved the scholar's time from the work of translation. Tracing his reluctance to study languages to his early education leads to the discovery that he was sometimes superficial in his reading and to the conclusion that his attitude was more one of respect than of real admiration for the Greek and Roman thinkers. 43 notes.