‘One might get one’s Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato,’ the Very Young Man thought. ‘In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go. The German scholars have improved Greek so much.’
(From The Time Machine by H.G.Wells)
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Sign up to join this community‘One might get one’s Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato,’ the Very Young Man thought. ‘In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go. The German scholars have improved Greek so much.’
(From The Time Machine by H.G.Wells)
According to the OED, to plough is to fail an examination; and Wikipedia says that the Little go was an examination, actually called Responsions, that used to be required to obtain a degree at Oxford University. Then the sentence means that even if you learnt Greek from the ancient Greeks themselves you wouldn't pass a Greek exam in the late 19th century, because "the German scholars have improved Greek so much".
It looks like that was also asked and answered before at wordreference.