Ortega once defined a classic as someone who, like the Cid, can wage war and defeat us, even when he is dead. In disciplines such as ours, where change of topic threatens to become the Ersatz of progress, sheer selfinterest should inspire us periodically to invoke the ghosts of our classics, and challenge them to battle. Having suffered the halberd once too often, however, my more prudent goal will be to summon two of our classic heroes to quarrel with each other.