De exercicio contra propria scripta.
Two Kinds of Writing
The author distinguishes between private writings, suited to students as memory aids, and public works, which demand greater precision and maturity, and introduces seven virtues to guide public composition.
Furthermore, when it comes to your own writings, a distinction must be made: are they private or public? Private writings are those produced for your own personal use — things like daily notes from readings, collations, questions, and similar memoranda, which are generally made by all older students.1 And it is appropriate for younger students to produce these as an aid to memory. Public writings, on the other hand, are those intended for common use or for the future — things like books, treatises, commentaries, and summaries of this kind. These it is fitting for only the more advanced and wiser students to undertake, and in them a greater precision of expression and meaning must be observed.2 As Symmachus says in his collection of letters: 'Just as in men's clothing and the rest of life's outward form, what is suitable to place and time is adopted, so the variety of natural talents should, in familiar writings, imitate a certain unpretentiousness, but in public ones must sharpen the weapons of eloquence.'3 So much for Symmachus. Now, in writings of this kind — that is, in producing public works — seven things must be kept in mind.4 Maturity, truth, brevity, humility, fitness of time and place, freedom, moderation, and discretion.5
Maturity: Not Before One's Time
The virtue of maturity warns against rushing into public writing prematurely, supported by admonitions from Jerome and Geoffrey of Vinsauf.
Maturity means that no one should presume to produce such works before their time. Hence Jerome to a rustic monk: 'Do not,' he said, 'rush headlong into writing, and do not be carried away by a light madness.'6 Likewise Geoffrey in his New Poetics: Don't let your hand rush to the pen.
Truth and Brevity in Composition
The author treats truthfulness and brevity as essential virtues, citing Seneca, Pliny, Cicero, Jerome, Cyprian, and Peter Cantor to show that honest expression and concise form serve both writer and reader.
Here is the truth, since Seneca says to Lucilius: 'It is shameful to say one thing and think another.' 'How much more shameful,' he says, 'to write one thing and think another.' Brevity too has its value, since, as Pliny says to Cornelius Tacitus, 'A brief performance is more pleasing to many.'7 Likewise Cicero in his book On Friendship: 'All things,' he says, 'ought to be brief and tolerable, even if they are great.' Likewise Seneca to Lucilius: 'It is the mark of a great craftsman,' he says, 'to have enclosed the whole in a small space.' For this reason Jerome says to Exhortatius: 'The brevity of the letter compels silence, though your desire is to speak.'8 Indeed, and according to Cyprian, as was said above, 'Brevity also benefits readers greatly, since a longer book scatters the understanding and meaning of those things, but through a more subtle abridgment a tenacious memory guards what is read.' Finally, just as Peter Cantor of Paris says in the book mentioned above: 'What ought to move us most strongly to pursue brevity and avoid prolixity is the excessive expense of transcribing longer volumes, the waste of time and the tedium, the labor of the body in correcting, the lesser progress in reading, the loss from setting aside or postponing more useful things, and the weight of carrying them.'
The Four Marks of Humility
Humility in writing requires that the author not exalt himself, not presume authority, accept correction patiently, and avoid envy, illustrated through Ambrose, Hugh of Saint Victor, and Pliny.
The humility of the writer, however, is looked for in four things, namely: that he not exalt himself about his own writings, that he not presume authority over them, that he patiently endure their being corrected by others — indeed, lovingly — and that he not envy others. On the first, Ambrose says to Sabinus: 'I don't know how — beyond the darkness of imprudence that surrounds me — everyone is deceived by his own writings, and just as even ugly children are a delight to their parents, so too the writer fondles his unseemly words.' Hence Hugh of Saint Victor also says: 'A fable says that all the beasts presented their young to Jove to be judged, and among them the ape, dragging her ugly offspring, could not be chastised by the laughter of all — but still preferred her own over the others.' For it is innate in every living being to love what it has begotten. From the heart a feeling is born, and hearts love their offspring so much that often a perverse mind, in the sight of the highest truth, does not blush to commend a sense that is crooked, depraved, and worthy of everyone's laughter. These things are from Hugh. On the second, Pliny says in the prologue of his book on natural history: 'It is a difficult thing to give novelty to the old, authority to the new, splendor to the obsolete, light to the obscure, grace to the fastidious, and faith to the doubtful.'
Humility Illustrated: Correction, Envy, and Freedom
The author continues illustrating humility with Pliny's willingness to be corrected and Symmachus on envy, then turns to freedom of speech, invoking Jerome's metaphor of cauterizing rotten flesh and Ovid on fearless truth.
On the third point, the same Pliny says to Notonius Romanus: 'The book I sent you — . . Mark the passages you think need correcting! For in this way I shall be more ready to believe that the rest pleases you, if I come to learn that certain things have displeased.' On the fourth point, Symmachus, in the passage quoted above: 'With middling writings, the kindness of friends knows how to be favorable; but the envy of others does not know how to forgive.' That is what these authors have to say about humility. On freedom of speech, Jerome says to a mother and daughter: 'I beg you that if I have written anything rather sharply, you should not believe it to be so much from my severity as from your illness. Rotten flesh is treated with iron and cauterization.' Elsewhere too it is said that truth spares no one, to which agrees that line of Ovid's in the first book of Sorrows:9
Fearless Song and Timely Wisdom
The writer must compose without fear, in the right time and place, seeking seclusion and leisure as Ovid and Ecclesiasticus advise.
All fear ought to be absent from poems and songs. On the matter of timing, Ecclesiasticus 38 says: 'Write wisdom, even in your time of leisure.' On the matter of place, as noted above, Ovid says: Poems seek the writer's seclusion and leisure.
Moderation, Discernment, and Obedient Writing
Moderation avoids both superfluous boasting and harmful silence; discernment adjusts length to the difficulty of the subject; and writing at another's request reflects humility rather than pride.
On the subject of moderation, Ennodius says: 'To write what is superfluous is a matter of boasting; to keep silent about what is necessary is contempt.' Hence Seneca, writing to Lucilius: 'Didymus the grammarian wrote four thousand books — and he would certainly have been wretched if he had also read so many superfluous things.' In these books, the fatherland of Homer is called into question, the true mother of Aeneas, and other matters that ought to be unlearned even if you knew them. So Seneca. On discernment, Symmachus says, as above: 'In a matter that is clear, it is tiresome to be long-winded; but in difficult matters, a more extended diligence is of great value.' So Symmachus. It is more fitting, however, for someone to write at another's request than to be led by the impulse of his own will. For the former is to be attributed to humility or obedience, while the latter is generally attributed to presumption or pride.
The Joy of Composing
Ovid is cited to show that the writer delights in composition itself, and that true songs arise only from a composed and serene mind.
Furthermore, as Ovid says in his book De Pontō: The writer takes pleasure in the act of writing itself, and that makes the work easier; and when the work grows and stirs within his own heart, The same author, in his book On Sorrows, writes: Songs arise from a mind composed and serene.
Read the original Latin
Porro circa scripta propria distinguendum est, utrum sint priuata uel publica. Nam priuata sunt, que ad usum proprium fiunt, ut sunt cotidianarum lectionum, collationum, questionum et similium memorialia, que generaliter ab omnibus scolaribus maioribus sc. ac minoribus fieri conuenit reminiscencie causa. publica uero sunt, que in usus communes veniunt uel uentura sunt, ut sunt libri, tractatus, conmentaria, summe et huiusmodi, que solis prouectioribus et sapiencioribus conuenit facere, et in hiis maiorem uerborum ac sensuum diligenciam obseruare. unde symachus in epistolari suo: ‘Sicut,’ ait, ‘in uestitu hominum ceteroque uite cultu, loco ac tempori apta sumuntur, ita ingeniorum varietas in familiaribus scriptis negligenciam quandam debet imitari, in forensibus autem acuere arma facundie.’ hec symachus. In huiusmodi autem scriptis, id est publicis faciendis seruanda sunt vii, videl. maturitas, veritas, breuitas, humilitas, temporis et loci opportunitas, libertas, mediocritas, discrecio.
Maturitas quidem, ut nemo ante tempus suum talia facere presumat. unde ieronimus ad rusticum monachum: ‘Ne,’ inquit, ‘ad scribendum cito prosilias et leui ducaris insania.’ Item gaufridus in poetria noua:
Non manus ad calamum sit preceps.
veritas autem, quoniam dicit seneca ad lucilium: ‘Turpe est aliquid loqui, aliud sentire. Quanto turpius,’ inquit, ‘aliud scribere, aliud sentire.’ breuitas quoque, quoniam, ut dicit plinius ad cornelium tacitum, ‘est gracior multis actio breuis.’ Item tullius in libro de amicicia, ‘Omnia,’ inquit, ‘breuia tollerabilia esse debent, etiam si magna sint.’ Item seneca ad lucilium, ‘Magni,’ inquit, ‘artificis est clausisse totum in exiguo.’ Propter hoc dicit ieronimus ad exhomatium: ‘Epistole breuitas tacere cogit, uestri desiderium loqui.’ Siquidem et iuxta cyprianum, ut supra dictum est, ‘legentibus quoque breuitas plurimum prodest, dum non intellectum eorum et sensum liber longior spargit, sed subtiliori conpendio id, quod legitur, tenax memoria custodit.’ Denique, sicut dicit petrus cantor parisiensis in libro supra dicto: ‘Maxime mouere nos debet ad breuitatem sectandam prolixitatemque vitandam sumptus nimius in uolumina prolixiora transcribendo iactura temporis et tedium, laborque corporis in corrigendo, minorque profectus in legendo, dampnum utiliora postponendo uel differendo et ponderositas in deferendo.’
Humilitas autem scribentis in quatuor attenditur, videl. ut de scriptis propriis non se extollat, ut eis auctoritatem non presumat, ut hec ab aliis corrigi pacienter, immo amabiliter sustineat et ut alienis non inuideat. De primo dicit ambrosius ad sabynum: ‘Nescio, quomodo preter imprudencie caliginem que me circumfundit, unumquemque fallunt scripta sua, et ut filij etiam deformes delectant, sic eciam scriptorem indecori sermones sui palpant.’ Hinc eciam dicit hugo de sancto uictore: ‘Fabula dicit omnes bestias fetus suos ioui probandos presentasse, inter quas et symia deformem natum trahens risu omnium castigari non potuit, quin suum ceteris anteferret. Ingenitum est enim omni animanti amare, quod genuit. De corde sensus nascitur et amant corda fetus suos adeo, ut sepe animus peruersus in conspectu summe veritatis tortuosum et prauum et risu omni dignum sensum suum conmendare non erubescat.’ hec hugo. De secundo dicit plinius in prohemio libri sui de historia naturali: ‘Res ardua est uetustis nouitatem, nouis dare auctoritatem, obsolitis nitorem, obscuris lucem, fastiditis graciam, dubiis fidem.’
De tercio dicit idem plinius ad notonium romanum: ‘libro quem misi tibi . . . annota, que putaueris, corrigenda! Ita enim magis credam tibi cetera placere, si quedam cognouero displicuisse.’ De quarto symachus, ubi supra, ‘Mediocribus,’ inquit, ‘scriptis amicorum benignitas scit fauere, aliorum autem inuidia nescit ignoscere.’ Hec de humilitate. De libertate dicit ieronimus ad matrem et filiam: ‘Obsecro, ut si mordacius aliquid scripsero, non tam mee credatis austeritatis esse quam morbi uestri.
Putride carnes ferro curantur et cauterio.’ Alibi quoque dicitur, quod veritas neminem palpat, cui consonat et illud ouidii in libro tristium primo:
Debet carminibus omnis abesse metus.
De temporis oportunitate dicitur ecclesiastico xxxviii: ‘Sapienciam scribe etiam in tempore vacuitatis.’ De loco dicit ouidius, ubi supra:
Carmina secessum scribentis et ocia querunt.
De mediocritate dicit ennodius: ‘Superflua scribere res est iactancie, necessaria reticere contemptus.’ Hinc et seneca ad lucilium: ‘Quatuor milia librorum dydimus gramaticus scripsit, qui utique miser esset, si tam multa superuacua etiam legisset. In hiis libris de patria homeri queritur, de uera enee matre, et alia, que dediscenda erant, eciam si scires.’ Hec seneca. De discrecione dicit symachus, ubi supra: ‘In re aperta piget esse prolixum, in arduis autem rebus multum ualet longior diligencia.’ hec symachus. Magis autem decet, si scribat aliquis ab alio rogatus quam motu proprie uoluntatis ductus. Illud enim ascribendum humilitati uel obediencie, hoc autem plerumque presumpcioni ascribitur uel superbie.
Ceterum, ut ait ouidius in libro de ponto:
scribentem iuuat ipse fauor minuitque laborem Cumque suo crescens pectore feruet opus.
Idem in libro de tristibus io:
Carmina proueniunt animo deducta sereno.
Notes
- 1 ↩memorialia: literally 'things worth remembering' or 'memoranda'; rendered as memoranda to capture the note-taking sense in a school context.
- 2 ↩prouectioribus et sapiencioribus: 'more advanced and wiser' — the pairing signals both intellectual progress and moral-practical wisdom, not merely academic achievement.
- 3 ↩negligenciam quandam debet imitari: 'should imitate a certain unpretentiousness' — the word negligentia here carries the sense of artless simplicity, not carelessness; the author revalues it positively as a stylistic virtue in private writing.
- 4 ↩seruanda sunt vii, videl.: the abbreviation 'sc' in the preceding sentence and 'videl' here stand for scilicet and videlicet respectively, introducing the enumeration that follows.
- 5 ↩This list of eight qualities (despite the text saying 'seven' — vii) appears to be a traditional catalog of virtues for writers. The discrepancy between the stated number and the actual count may reflect a variant reading or a conventional label; the list itself is translated as given.
- 6 ↩prosilias (from prosilio) is a rare verb meaning 'to leap forth, rush headlong'; rendered as 'rush headlong' to capture the force of the prohibitive.
- 7 ↩gracior could derive from gracilis (slender, graceful) or gratus (pleasing); 'pleasing' chosen as the more natural reading in context of rhetorical performance
- 8 ↩The addressee 'exhomatium' is an uncertain manuscript reading; identification with any known correspondent of Jerome is tentative
- 9 ↩palpat (lit. 'strokes/pats softly') rendered as 'strokes' to capture the sense of flattery or gentle handling; the proverbial sense is that truth spares no one.
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