Baffled by Bophocles

Harold Macmillan used to tell a story about a practice at the Balliol of his day, the eve of the First World War, of having to read an essay on a set subject to the Master of the college. It was common for weaker candidates to make use of essays that had seen service in past years. One keen oarsman confidently read out a thought from a writer he called “Bophocles”. The Master asked: “Are you sure that’s right?” “Well, it’s written down as Bophocles here...” came the defensive reply. And a century later the number of uninvigilated Oxford examination candidates accused of cheating has doubled since the days before the pandemic. Once, it might have taken a tenacious intellect to regurgitate authorities verbatim; now it’s copy and paste. But then Macmillan was not the first to tell the story of Bophocles and the Master of Balliol.