De ordine scolastice discipline.
The Three Necessities of Learning
Three things are necessary in learning: order, affection, and intention, drawn from the Apostle and Bernard of Clairvaux.
Furthermore, three things are necessary in the way we learn, namely: order, affection, and intention. This is why the Apostle says in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter eight: 'If anyone thinks they know something, they haven't yet learned the way they ought to know.'✦ On the subject of theological study, blessed Bernard puts it this way in his thirty-sixth homily on the Song of Songs: 'What,' he says, 'is the right way to know, except that you should know in what order, with what zeal, and to what end each thing ought to be known?' He takes up these three points regarding the discipline of theology like this: 'In what order — so that' you take up first the thing that leads most quickly to salvation. With what zeal — so that whatever has to do with love is pursued more eagerly. To what end — so that it aims not at vain glory or curiosity or anything of the kind, but only at your own edification or that of your neighbor.'
The Order of the Sciences
Al-Farabi's ordering of the sciences from language through logic, poetics, natural philosophy, divine science, and civil science is presented as a model for right order in learning.
This is what he has to say about studying divine Scripture. Still, eager students in any field should imitate that approach as best they can — that is: the order of learning should be right, the learner's disposition eager, and the intention pure. On the order of things to be learned, Al-Farabi says in his book on the origin of the sciences: 'The beginning of all the sciences is the science of language — that is, of the imposition of names on things — namely:' 'substance and accident.' The second is grammar, which is the science of arranging the very names imposed on things and of composing sentences. . . Third comes logic, the science of arranging declarative statements according to logical figures in order to draw conclusions from them, by which you arrive at an understanding of what has been said and can judge whether it is true or false. Fourth, then, is poetics, the science of arranging metrical patterns. . . according to the arrangement of words and the timing according to the number of their feet. Then the remaining ones are arranged as they are elsewhere. Therefore he says in his book on the division of the sciences that the first is the science of language, the second logic, the third the science of doctrine, the fourth natural philosophy, the fifth divine science, and the sixth civil science. Here too the science of language includes grammar, and under it — or under logic — rhetoric.
Richard of Saint-Victor on the Foundations of Study
Richard of Saint-Victor places logic (encompassing grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic) first, then ethics to purify the mind, before advancing to theoretical study, warning that neglect of grammar undermines all further learning.
But Richard of Saint-Victor, in his Book of Excerpts, puts the matter differently. In the disciplines, order must be observed: 'The first thing of all to be acquired,' he says, 'is fluency of expression, and for this reason logic is to be sought after.' Then the eye of the mind must be purified through ethics, and so one must pass on to theoretical study. Where, under the name of logic, he includes a threefold verbal discipline, namely: grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic. For logos in Greek is called sermo — speech or discourse — in Latin. And so grammar is the foundation of all the disciplines, yet many today neglect it as if it were worthless, and for that reason they can make little progress in the others. Whence Quintilian, in Book One of his Education in Oratory: 'Those who mock the art of grammar as slight and meager,' he says, 'are not to be tolerated.'
The Necessity of Foundations and Right Order
Drawing on Quintilian, Aristotle, and Al-Farabi, the text insists that foundations must be laid first, that principles must precede advanced learning, and that general rules in every art keep the learner from error.
And unless. . . If the foundations haven't been faithfully laid, whatever you build on top will collapse. It's necessary for the young, pleasant for the old, a sweet companion of secrets, and — whether alone or above every other kind of study — it has more substance than show. However, very many teachers, in their ambitious haste, begin with the later subjects, since they prefer to show off their students with flashy material. So says Quintilian. Furthermore, as Aristotle says in the first book of the Metaphysics: 'It is impossible for anything to be learned unless its principles — which are universal propositions — are known first.' Hence also Al-Farabi, in his book On the Division of the Sciences: 'In every art,' he says, 'whether it is practical or theoretical, liberal or mechanical, there are rules that generally comprehend all things — or at least most things — with which that art deals. These rules were devised for this purpose: first, so that through them everything belonging to that art may be recognized, and nothing that does not belong to it may be admitted into it; and second, so that through them we may be careful not to err in anything.'
Usefulness, Necessity, and the Discernment of Study
Order demands that the most useful things be learned first, and Hugh of Saint-Victor counsels prioritizing what is most profitable when one cannot read everything, while varying effort according to the value of the material.
. . In the mechanical arts, the instrument by which one detects whether an error has been made — as in the craft of a builder, the plumb line — is called a rule. This is from Alphorabius. Order also requires that what is more useful to your purpose be learned first, or with greater diligence. Hence Hugh, where he writes above: 'If you cannot read everything, read the things that are more useful.' If, however, you can read everything, the same effort should not be spent on all things alike. Rather, certain things must be read so that they are not left unknown, and certain things so that they are not left unheard of — since sometimes we believe that what we have not heard is of greater value. This is from Hugh.
What We Must Know and What We Must Refuse
Some things are shameful to ignore, some dangerous to be ignorant of, and the text draws on Ambrose, Bede, and Jerome to show that even heretical and pagan writings must be approached with discernment according to the reader's station.
We also read or learn certain things, not because knowing them is especially useful, but because it's shameful to be ignorant of them. Certain things, however, are dangerous to be ignorant of, since, as Boethius says, 'no evil can be avoided unless it is known.'1 Hence Ambrose, commenting on Luke: 'We read some things so that we won't be ignorant; we read not to hold onto them, but to reject them.' Likewise, in the fourth council of Carthage, bishops are permitted to read the books of heretics for reasons of necessity or occasion, but boys, the uneducated, and novices are forbidden, lest they fall into the snare of error.2 Hence Bede, on the Parables, book one: 'It is granted only to read the books of heretics to one who is so firmly grounded in the Catholic faith that he cannot be overcome by the charm or cunning of those writings.'3 On the other hand, the books of pagans are forbidden to bishops in the aforementioned council, yet they are allowed to boys and youths, so that they may be instructed in them out of educational necessity. Hence Jerome, writing to Pope Damasus about the prodigal son: 'We priests of God see, while neglecting the Gospels and the prophets, comedies being read, and the amatory words of Virgil's pastoral poems being sung — and what in boys is a matter of necessity, they make into a crime of pleasure for themselves.'4 The same Jerome also relates about himself to Eustochium: 'Once,' he says, 'when I had left home and parents behind and was on my way to Jerusalem to serve Christ, I could not bear to be without the library that I had assembled in Rome with the greatest devotion.'
Jerome's Struggle with Attachment to Pagan Books
Jerome recounts his inability to part with his beloved library of pagan literature, his inner torment, and his vivid experience of being unable to read Scripture with devotion because his heart was still captive to Cicero and Plato.
. . I couldn't. And so . . . After frequent vigils and tears, which . . And so I couldn't. by the recollection of past sins. And so, after frequent vigils and tears, which I poured out, I know not what I was able to do. And so I couldn't. I was pouring forth; I was taking up Plato or Tully in my hands. And if ever I had begun to read the prophet, turning back into myself the unpolished discourse would shudder, because, since I did not see the light, with blind eyes I thought the fault was not of the eyes but of the sun. Finally, the light of the Lord is not to be measured by the eyes of the body. And so I couldn't.
Jerome's Vision of Judgment
Feverish and near death, Jerome is dragged before a heavenly tribunal where he is condemned as a Ciceronian rather than a Christian, scourged, and forced to confront the disordered treasure of his heart.
. Around the fortieth day, near the middle of Lent, a fever had seeped into my very bones. . . So completely had it devoured my wretched limbs that I could scarcely hold fast to my bones. Meanwhile, funeral rites were being prepared — and the rites of a life. . . A feverish heat was throbbing in my small chest, now growing warm. Then suddenly I was seized in spirit and dragged before the judge's tribunal, where there was such a flood of light . . it was, . . that, cast down to the earth, I didn't dare to look up. When asked my faith, I answered that I was a Christian. But the one in charge said, 'You lie — you're a Ciceronian, not a Christian.' 'For where your treasure is, there your heart is also.'✦ On the spot I fell silent, and amid the lashes he'd ordered for me — while I was being tormented more by the fire of conscience — I kept repeating this little verse to myself: 'But who in hell will confess to you?'✦ I was crying out amid the blows — . . 'Have mercy on me.'✦
Jerome's Vow and Its Lesson for Discipline
Jerome vows never again to read secular books, awakens with real bruises, and turns wholly to divine writings; the chapter concludes that each person should read what fits their age and station, as canon law itself prescribes.
. . At last, those who stood by threw themselves down at the president's knees and begged that he would grant pardon for youth and room for repentance for the error, since he was about to exact torture if I should ever read books of pagan literature. And so I, placed in so great a crisis — I would have wished to promise even greater things — began to swear and to say: "Lord, if I shall ever have secular books, if I read them, I have denied you." In the midst of this — . . Dismissed with these words, I went back, and to everyone wondering, I revealed my eyes bathed in a heavy shower of tears. And this was certainly no empty illusion of a dream. The tribunal before which I stood is my witness, and the judgment I feared — that after the dream I felt the blows and had bruised shoulder blades, and that from then on I read divine writings with as great a zeal as I had not previously read moral philosophy.5 These are the words of Jerome. It belongs, then, to the order of discipline that each person read or learn what is fitting and proper to his own age or station. For canonical law also forbids religious persons to hear natural philosophy or worldly laws, yet it is permitted for others to hear them.
Read the original Latin
Ceterum in addiscendi modo necessaria sunt tria, scil. ordo et affectio et intencio. unde dicit apostolus Ia ad corinthios viii: ‘Si quis existimat se aliquid scire, nondum nouit, quemadmodum oporteat eum scire. ’ Quod de disciplina theologica sic exponit beatus bernardus super cantica omelia xxxvia: ‘Quid est,’ inquit, ‘modus sciendi, nisi ut scias, quo ordine, quo studio, quo fine, queque oporteat nosse.’ Et hec tria prosequitur de disciplina uel studio theologie hoc modo: ‘Quo,’ inquit, ‘ordine, ut scil. illud prius, quod ad salutem maturius. Quo studio, ut id ardencius, quod ad amorem uehemencius. Quo fine, ut non ad inanem gloriam uel curiositatem uel aliquid simile sed tantum ad tuam uel proximi edificacionem.’
Hec ille de studio diuine scripture. verumptamen eciam illum modum debent imitari pro posse studiosi quarumlibet arcium, videl. ut sit rectus discendi ordo, studiosa discentis affectio et pura intentio. De ordine discendorum dicit alpharabius in libro de ortu scienciarum: ‘Principium omnium scienciarum est sciencia de lingua, id est, de imposicione nominum rebus, scil. substancie et accidenti. Secunda est gramatica, que est sciencia ordinandi ipsa nomina rebus imposita et conponendi oraciones . . .
Tercia logica, que est sciencia ordinandi proposiciones enunciatiuas secundum figuras logicas ad eliciendas conclusiones, quibus peruenitur ad cognicionem dictorum et ad iudicandum de illis, utrum uera an falsa sint. Quarta uero poetica, que est sciencia ordinandi metra . . . secundum proposicionem dictionum et tempora secundum numerum pedum eorum.’ Deinde uero cetere, sicut alias sunt ordinate. Ideoque dicit in libro de diuisione scienciarum, quod prima est sciencia de lingua, secunda logice, tercia sciencia doctrinalis, quarta uero naturalis, quinta diuina, sexta ciuilis. Hic quoque sciencia lingue conprehendit gramaticam et sub eadem uel sub logica rethoricam.
Aliter uero dicit richardus de sancto uictore in libro excerpcionum talem uidel. in artibus ordinem esse obseruandum: ‘Prima,’ inquit, ‘omnium conparanda est eloquencia et ob hoc expetenda est logica. Deinde purificandus est oculus mentis per ethicam et sic transeundum est ad theoricam.’ ubi nomine logice conprehendit trinam sermocinalem scienciam, scil. gramaticam et rethoricam et dyaleticam. logos enim grece dicitur sermo latine. Itaque scienciarum omnium gramatica est fundamentum, quam hodie multi tanquam uilem negligunt, et ideo parum in aliis proficere possunt. unde quintilianus in libro i de oratoria institucione: ‘Non sunt,’ inquit, ‘ferendi, qui artem gramaticam ut tenuem atque ieiunam cauillantur.
que nisi . . . fundamenta fideliter iecerit, quidquid superstruxeris, corruet: necessaria pueris, iocunda senibus, dulcis secretorum comes, et que uel sola omni studiorum genere plus habeat operis, minus ostentacionis. Plurimi autem ambiciosa festinacione a posterioribus incipiunt, dum ostentare discipulos circa speciosa malunt.’ Hec quintilianus. Ceterum, ut dicit aristotiles in libro io methaphisicorum: ‘Impossibile est, ut addiscatur res aliqua, nisi sciantur eius principia, que sunt proposiciones uniuersales.’ Hinc etiam alpharabius in libro de diusione scienciarum: ‘In omni arte,’ inquit, ‘siue sit actiua, siue speculatiua, siue liberalis, siue fabrilis, regule sunt generaliter conprehendentes omnia uel forte plura, de quibus ars illa pertractat, que ad hoc quidem inuente sunt, ut per eas cognoscatur omne id, quod est illius artis, ne forte recipiatur in ea, quod non est eius, et ut per eas caueamus, ne forte in aliquo erremus .
. . Nam in mechampnicis instrumentum, quo deprehenditur, si forte in aliquo erratur, ut in arte fabrili perpendiculum, regula uocatur.’ hec alphorabius. Ad ordinem quoque pertinet, ut illud discatur prius uel studiosius, quod ad propositum est utilius. unde hugo, ubi supra: ‘Si omnia,’ inquit, ‘non potes legere, ea, que sunt utiliora, lege. Si autem omnia potes, non tamen idem labor omnibus impendendus est, sed quedam ita legenda sunt, ne sint incognita, quedam uero ne sint inaudita, quoniam aliquando pluris esse credimus, quod non audiuimus.’ hec hugo.
Quedam etiam legimus uel addiscimus, non quia multum utile sit ea scire, sed quia turpe est ignorare. Quedam uero, quia ipsum ignorare est periculosum, quoniam, ut dicit boecius, ‘nullum malum euitari potest nisi cognitum.’ unde ambrosius super lucam: ‘legimus aliqua, ne ignoremus; legimus, non ut teneamus, sed ut repudiemus.’ Hinc etiam in consilio cartaginensi iiiio permittitur episcopis hereticorum libros legere pro necessitate uel tempore, pueris autem uel ydiotis ac neophitis prohibentur, ne in laqueum erroris precipitentur. unde beda super parabolas libro i: ‘Soli conceditur hereticorum libros legere, qui adeo solidatus est in fide catholica, ut nequeat superari librorum dulcedine uel astucia.’ Econtra uero libri gentilium in predicto consilio episcopis prohibentur, qui tamen pueris et adolescentulis conceduntur, ut in eis propter doctrine necessitatem erudiantur. unde ieronimus ad damasum papam de filio prodigo: ‘Sacerdotes,’ inquit, ‘dei uidemus omissis euangeliis et prophetis comedias legere, amatoria bucolicorum uirgilij uersuum uerba cantare, et id, quod in pueris est causa necessitatis, crimen in se facere uoluptatis.’ Idem quoque Jeronimus de semetipso refert ad eustochium: ‘Olim,’ inquit, ‘cum relicto domo atque parentibus pro christo militaturus pergerem ierosolimam, bibliotheca, quam michi rome summo confeceram studio, carere .
. . non poteram. Itaque . . . post crebras uigilias et lacrimas, quas . .
. preteritorum recordacione peccatorum . . . fundebam, platonem uel tullium in manibus sumebam. Et si quando prophetam legere cepissem, in memetipsum reuersus horrebat sermo incultus, quod, quia lumen non uidebam, cecis oculis non oculorum uicium putabam esse sed solis. Denique . .
. in media ferme quadragesima febris medullis infusa . . . sic infelicia membra depasta est, ut ossibus uix hererem. Interim parabantur exequie et uitalis . . .
calor palpitabat in solo pectusculo iam tepente. Tunc subito raptus in spiritu ad iudicis tribunal pertractus sum, ubi tantum luminis . . . erat, . . . ut in terram proiectus non auderem aspicere sursum.
Interrogatus condicionem respondi me esse christianum. At ille, qui presidebat, “mentiris,” ait, “ciceronianus es, non christianus. ubi enim est thesaurus tuus, ibi et cor tuum.” Ilico obmutui et inter uerbera, quibus me iusserat cedi, dum consciencie magis igne torquerer, illum mecum uersiculum reputaui: “In inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi?” Clamabam inter uerbera . . . : “miserere mei” .
. . Tandem, qui astabant, ad presidentis genua prouoluti precabantur, ut adolescencie ueniam et errori locum penitencie conmodaret, exacturus deinde cruciatum, si libros aliquando legerem gentilium litterarum. Ego itaque, qui in tanto constitutus articulo uellem eciam maiora promittere deierare cepi ac dicere: “Domine, si codices unquam seculares habuero, si legero, te negaui.” Inter hec . . . uerba dimissus redij cunctisque mirantibus oculos multo lacrimarum imbre perfusos aperui.
Nec hoc utique uani fuit illusio sompnij. Testis michi est tribunal, ante quod steti, iudiciumque, quod timuij, me post sompnium plagas sensisse ac liuentes scapulas habuisse, tantoque de hinc studio quanto moralia ante non legeram, diuina legisse.’ Hec ieronimus. Ad ordinem itaque discipline pertinet, ut unusquisque legat uel addiscat, quod etati sue, uel statui congruit ac decet. Nam et religiosis personis physicam uel mundanas leges audire ius canonicum prohibet, que tamen ceteris audire licet.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.8.2 — If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
- ↩Matt.6.21 — For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- ↩Ps.6.6 — For there is no remembrance of you in death; in Sheol, who can give you thanks?
- ↩Ps.51.3 — Be gracious to me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'boecius' is a variant spelling of Boethius; the quotation is from his De consolatione philosophiae.
- 2 ↩'Consilium cartaginensi iiiio' refers to the Fourth Council of Carthage (399 AD), which regulated the reading of heretical texts.
- 3 ↩The Latin 'beda' is a variant spelling of Bede (the Venerable Bede); the quotation is from his commentary on the Parables of Solomon.
- 4 ↩Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus (Epistle 22) famously recounts his struggle with classical literature; the reference to the prodigal son frames the context of his confession.
- 5 ↩The sentence is a long periodic construction in the Latin; the infinitives 'sensisse' and 'habuisse' depend on 'timuij' (I feared), giving the sense that Jerome feared he had felt the blows and had bruised shoulders, and that he had thereafter read divine writings with greater zeal than he had previously read moral ones.
De eruditione filiorum nobilium (On the Education of Noble Children) companion
Formation starts with the parents' own practice
Model a daily devotional habit your children can see — Chosen Portion makes it a free 10-minute routine.
Vincent taught that children are formed by the daily practices of their household; Chosen Portion gives parents the daily devotional practice that anchors that household rhythm.
- A short daily devotional you can read before the kids wake up
- Family-friendly portions from the same historic tradition Vincent drew on
- Build a visible 30-day habit your children can imitate