De subieccione discipuli erga magistrum.
The Four Steps of Learning
Once hindrances are removed, the beginner ascends through four stages of learning and must first seek out and attach himself to a suitable teacher.
Therefore, once all the aforementioned hindrances have been removed and the necessary supports obtained, one can safely approach scholastic discipline and, if it suits one's character, ascend through it to perfection in what are, as Boethius says, as it were four steps. Beginners are meant to listen; those who are making progress, to study; the more advanced, to practice; and the perfect, to teach. It is fitting, then, for a beginner first to find a teacher and choose a suitable one, and then, if possible, to attach himself to that teacher and place himself under that person's authority.
The Necessity of a Teacher: Witnesses from Jerome and Seneca
Jerome and Seneca are cited to show that no one can enter learning without a guide, just as the blind need a leader.
On the first point, namely: That one ought to have a teacher is urged by Jerome, who exhorts Paulinus to understand that he cannot enter into the Scriptures without someone to go before him and show him the way. Hence the same Jerome, in his book On Illustrious Men, says: 'Whoever follows no one who has gone before him makes himself the worst possible teacher.' The same Jerome, writing to Marcella, says: 'I would rather follow another person's experience than hold on to the foolish knowledge of those who do not know what they are talking about.' Hence too Seneca, writing to Lucilius, says: 'The blind seek out a guide.'
The Presumption of Self-Taught Readers
Without a leader we wander; we are slow to heal because we do not know we are sick, and Jerome rebukes those who read Scripture without a teacher, praising instead a teachable mind.
But we wander without a leader. . . . And so we arrive at health with difficulty, because we do not know that we are sick. For this reason Jerome rebukes the presumptuous in his letter to Paulinus — those who, without a teacher to guide them, read the Scriptures and explain them according to their own meaning.1 'A teachable mind,' he says, 'even without a teacher, is praiseworthy.' .
The Soft Wax: Teachability and the Example of Paul
The learner must be like soft wax shaped by the craftsman; even Paul sat at Gamaliel's feet, and every humble trade requires a teacher.
. . For wax is soft and easy to shape, and even if the craftsman's hands cease from the mold, nevertheless by its own nature it is fully whatever it can be. And yet the Apostle Paul, who sat at the feet of Gamaliel to learn the law and the prophets, boasts that he learned them.✦ . . . And to come to the lesser arts — which are managed not so much by tongue as by hand — farmers, masons, craftsmen in metal and wood, cutters, wool-workers and fullers too, and all the rest who make varied and humble furnishings: they cannot be what they aspire to be without a teacher.
The Singular Presumption Regarding Scripture
While physicians and craftsmen acknowledge their need for training, Scripture is the one art that everyone—learned and unlearned alike—claims for themselves, writing poems without discrimination.
What belongs to physicians, Doctors make promises. Craftsmen handle the work of their craft. Scripture alone is the art that everyone everywhere claims for themselves. Learned and unlearned alike, we write poems everywhere and without discrimination.
Jerome's Rebuke of Those Who Teach Before They Learn
Old women, senile men, and wordy sophists presume to teach what they do not know; Jerome calls this childish, like street performers, and speaks of the hidden energy of the living voice poured forth from the teacher's mouth.
This one a chattering old woman presumes to tear apart and teach before she has learned; this one a senile old man; this one a wordy sophist — all of them presume to tear apart and teach before they have learned. . . And afterward he adds, 'These things are childish, and like the game of street performers — to teach what you do not know, or rather, to speak with nothing but bile, and not even to know that you do not know.' The same author says in the same letter, 'It has — I know not what — hidden energy,' that is, of an inner working, 'the power of a living voice, and —' . . poured forth from the teacher's mouth, they resound more powerfully.'
The Living Voice and the Harmony of Teacher and Disciple
Jerome rightly calls the teacher's voice living, in contrast to the dead voice of parchment; Paul wished to be present with the Galatians to change his voice, and Symmachus agrees that the living voice is more fitting—hence a student must have a teacher and choose one wisely, since teacher and disciple rarely agree.
So says Jerome. And he rightly calls it a living voice — the voice that comes from the mouth of a teacher or speaker who is present — for by contrast, a voice written on parchment is like a dead voice. Hence the same Jerome, commenting on the Epistle to the Galatians in book two, says: 'The apostle says, "I wish I could be with you now and change my voice — so that I who taught you through a letter might instruct you in person."'✦ Indeed, the living voice has great power — the voice resounding from the mouth of its own speaker — which is uttered and distinguished by that very pronunciation by which it is generated in the heart of its own hearer.' So says Jerome. In agreement with this is Symmachus in his letter-writing, saying that for matters to be communicated, the indication of the living voice is more fitting. For these reasons, then, it is necessary first of all that a student have a teacher. Second, that a suitable one be chosen for himself, as was already stated above — since, as Jerome says in the passage cited earlier, 'it rarely happens that teacher and disciple agree with each other, that is to say,'
The Danger of Judging the Teacher Prematurely
The teacher should teach only what the student can absorb, yet listeners complain of length, subtlety, or crudeness, and before they have been disciples they make themselves judges—boldly interpreting what they do not understand.
Let the teacher teach only as much as the student can absorb, and let the learned take in only as much as the teacher can impart. This is why complaints so often arise against teachers from their listeners — about excessive length, or excessive subtlety, or crudeness, about speaking too fast or too slow. And so they neglect their lessons, and before they have even been disciples, they make themselves teachers and judges of teachers. Whence the same author says in the same place: 'Now we are all judges. . . And with a facility for speaking we boldly interpret what we by no means understand.' These are Jerome's words.
Choosing a Teacher: Harmony, Authenticity, and the Refinement of Speech
Quintilian compares knowledge to seed that needs softened soil; Varro advises choosing a teacher admired for his own work; it is better to discover than to merely remember; and Jerome warns that even natural eloquence must be refined by one's own hand or it remains like wealthy peasants—showy but unpolished.
As Quintilian says in Book Two: 'Just as seeds are scattered in vain unless the furrow has softened and warmed them beforehand, so knowledge cannot take root and grow together unless there is harmony between the one who hands it on and the one who receives it.' 'Choose,' says Varro, 'the teacher whom you would admire more for what he does in his own work than for what he does in others'.' . . . It is not so praiseworthy to remember what you have been told as to discover it for yourself. The one is borrowed from another; the one that comes from your own effort is your own gift. Hence also Jerome, in the passage cited above from Book Four: "Speech," he says, "even if it has grown from a natural talent of good disposition and is set apart by distinguished inventions and adorned with the flower of words, is still not polished unless it has been filed and refined by the speaker's own hand; nor does it possess dignity blended with grace, but like wealthy peasants, it is shown up by its own resources more than it is adorned by them."
Judging Words, Not Persons: The Apostle's Warning
Quintilian says to consider accomplishment, not age; Seneca says to attend to what is said, not who says it; Augustine warns against foolish eloquence; and Paul's prophecy to Timothy is fulfilled—people heap up teachers to suit their itching ears, turning from truth to fables.
Furthermore, as Quintilian says in the passage cited above: "This is not a matter of estimating what age a person is for learning or teaching, but rather how much he has already accomplished in his studies." Again, as Seneca says in his book on the four virtues: "Do not let the authority of the speaker sway you; pay attention not to who is speaking but to what is being said." For as the same author says in his book on morals: "Words should be judged not by the persons who speak them, but by the substance of what they say." But as Augustine says in the fourth book of On Christian Doctrine: "The more a person overflows with foolish eloquence, the more he is to be avoided, because the more the listener delights in hearing things that are useless."2 But today, as seems to be the case in most instances, what the apostle foretold in his second letter to Timothy has been fulfilled.✦ "There will be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap up for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, their ears itching —✦3 and they will indeed turn their hearing away from the truth; instead they will be turned toward fables."✦4 These are the words of the apostle.
Attachment to the Master and Humble Submission
Boethius prefers the tedious fruit of a stammering master to the sweetness of a seducer; the disciple should attach himself to the teacher as Ecclesiasticus counsels, live alongside him as Boethius and Seneca advise, and humbly submit—for one who has not learned to submit has not learned to lead.
Against which, Boethius says in the book mentioned above: 'I would rather be shaped by the tedious fruit of a stammering master than glory in the sweetness of a seducer's blindness.' The third point, which concerns the master in relation to the disciple, is that, if it can be done, the disciple should attach himself to the master, according to Ecclesiasticus 7: 'If you see a prudent man, be watchful for him, and let your foot wear down the steps of his doors.' Hence too Boethius, where he writes above, has the Scholar say: 'Let him love his teacher by showing reverence, and let him, if he can, attach himself to the teacher's household by living alongside him, so that when the time comes he may return to seek him out.' Hence also Seneca, in a letter to Lucilius: 'A living voice and daily companionship will profit you more than any speech.' 'So come to the matter at hand,' it is necessary. The fourth point is that the disciple should humbly submit himself to the same master. Hence Boethius, where he writes above, has the Scholar say: 'Let him love his master, and let him rejoice in submitting to him, because the one who has not learned to submit has not learned to lead.'
Read the original Latin
Remotis ergo predictis omnibus impedimentis et adminiculis assequtis secure potest quis ad disciplinam scolasticam accedere et in ea, si persone sue congruit, quasi per quatuor gradus, sicut dicit boecius, ad perfeccionem ascendere. Ad incipientes enim pertinet audire, ad proficientes studere, ad prouectos se excercere, ad perfectos autem docere. Incipienti ergo conuenit primo magistrum querere et sibi competentem eligere, seque, si fieri potest, ei coniungere, se quoque eidem subicere. De primo, scil. quod debeat magistrum habere, Jeronimus ad paulinum hortatur, ut intelligat se in scripturis absque preuio et monstrante semitam ingredi non posse. Hinc et idem ieronimus in libro de illustribus uiris: ‘Qui nullum,’ inquit, ‘sequitur preuium, pessimum semetipsum facit magistrum.’ Idem ad marcellam: ‘Malo,’ inquit, ‘alienam sequi periciam quam stultam habere nesciencium scienciam.’ Hinc etiam seneca ad lucilium: ‘Ceci,’ ait, ‘ducem querunt.
Nos autem sine duce erramus. . . . Ideoque difficulter ad sanitatem peruenimus, quia nos egrotare nescimus.’ Idcirco presumptuosos increpat Jeronimus in epistola ad paulinum, qui sine doctore preuio scripturas legunt et ad sensum suum exponunt. ‘Ingenium,’ inquit, ‘docile etiam sine doctore est laudabile. .
. . Nam cera mollis et ad formandum facilis, etiam si artificis e plaste cessent manus, tamen uirtute totum est, quicquid esse potest. Paulus tamen apostolus ad pedes gamalielis legem et prophetas se didicisse gloriatur. . . . Et ut ad minores artes veniam, que non tam lingua quam manu administrantur, agricole, cementarii, fabri metallorum lignorumque cesores, lanarii quoque et fullones et ceteri, qui variam supellectilem et uilia fabricant, absque doctore esse non possunt, quod cupiunt.
Quod medicorum est,
promittunt medici. Tractant fabrilia fabri.
Sola scripturarum et ars est, quam sibi passim omnes uendicant.
Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim.
Hanc garrula anus, hanc delirus senex, hanc sophista uerbosus, hanc uniuersi presumunt, lacerant, docent, antequam discant’ . . . et post, ‘puerilia,’ inquit, ‘sunt hec, et circulatorum ludo similia, docere, quod ignores, immo ut etiam cum stomaco loquar, nec hoc quidem scire, quod nescias.’ Idem in eadem epistola, ‘Habet,’ inquit, ‘nescio quid latentis energie,’ id est interioris operacionis, ‘uiue uocis actus et . . . de actoris ore transfusa forcius sonant.’
Hoc Jeronimus. Et recte uocat uiuam uocem de doctoris uel actoris presentis ore prodeuntem, nam econtra vox in pelle scripta est quasi vox mortua. unde idem Ieronimus dicit super epistolam ad galathas libro iio: ‘ “vellem,” inquit apostolus, “apud vos esse modo et mutare uocem meam, ut qui uos per epistolam docui, presens instruerem.” Magnam siquidem habet uim uox uiua, uox de sui actoris ore sonora, que illa pronunciacione profertur atque distinguitur, qua in hominis sui corde generatur.’ hec Ieronimus. Cui consonat in epistolari suo symacus dicens apcius esse negociis intymandis indicium uiue uocis. hiis ergo racionibus oportet primum, ut doctorem habeat scolasticus. Secundo, ut sibi competens eligatur, sicut iam habitum est superius, quoniam, ut dicit ieronimus ubi supra, ‘raro contingit, ut sibi consenciant magister ac discipulus ut scil.
iste doceat, quantum ille possit haurire uel tantum suscipere doctus, quantum doctor ingerere.’ Ideo frequenter oriuntur contra doctores auditorum querimonie de nimia prolixitate uel de nimia subtilitate uel ruditate, de lingue velocitate vel tarditate. Hinc et negligunt lectiones et antequam fuerint discipuli, faciunt se doctores et doctorum iudices. unde idem ibidem ait: ‘nunc omnes iudices sumus . . . et loquendi facultate audacter interpretamur, quod nequaquam intelligimus.’ Hec Jeronimus.
ut ergo dicit quintilianus libro iio: ‘sicut frustra sparguntur semina, nisi ea premollitus fouerit sulcus, ita sciencia coalescere nequit, nisi sociata tradentis accipientisque concordia.’ ‘Illum,’ inquit uarro, ‘elige eruditorem, quem magis mireris in suis quam in alienis. . . . Non tam laudabile est meminisse quam inuenisse. Hoc enim alienum est, illud proprii muneris est.’ hinc et ieronimus, ubi supra, libro iiio: ‘Oracio,’ inquit, ‘licet de bone indolis ingenio profecta sit et distincta inuencionibus ac flore uerborum ornata, non est tamen nitida, nisi actoris sui manu limata fuerit et polita; nec habet cum decore mixtam grauitatem, sed in modum diuitum rusticorum opibus suis magis arguitur, quam ornatur.’
Ceterum, ut ait quintilianus, ubi supra: ‘nec id quidem estimandum est, cuius etatis ad discendum uel docendum quisque sit, sed quantum in studiis iam effecerit.’ Iterum, ut dicit seneca in libro de quatuor uirtutibus: ‘non te moueat dicentis auctoritas, nec quis, sed quid dicat, attendas.’ ut enim dicit idem in libro de moribus: ‘uerba non personis estimanda sunt, sed rebus.’ At, ut dicit augustinus de doctrina christiana libro iiiio: ‘qui affluit insipienti eloquencia, tanto magis cauendus est, quanto magis in hiis, que audire inutile est, delectatur auditor.’ Sed hodie, ut in pluribus uidetur impletum esse, quod predixit apostolus IIa ad thimoth. iiii: ‘Erit tempus, cum sanam doctrinam non sustinebunt, sed ad sua desideria coaceruabunt sibi magistros prurientes auribus. Et a ueritate quidem auditum auertent; ad fabulas autem conuertentur.’ Hec apostolus.
Contra quod in libro supra dicto dicit boecius: ‘Malo balbucientis magistri licet tedioso fructu deliniri, quam seducentis cecitatis dulcore gloriari.’ Tercium uero, quod de magistro ad discipulum spectat, est, ut, si fieri potest, ei se coniungat, iuxta illud ecclesiastici vii: ‘Si uideris sensatum, euigila ad illum, et gradus ostiorum illius exterat pes tuus.’ unde et boecius, ubi supra, ‘Scolasticus,’ inquit, ‘doctorem suum metuendo diligat et eius mansioni, si fieri potest, cohabitando se inferat, ut, cum locus fuerit, ad eum requirendo recurrat.’ Hinc et seneca ad lucilium epistola via: ‘Plus tibi uiua uox et conuictus quam oracio proderit. unde, in rem presentem uenias, oportet.’ Quartum est, ut eidem humiliter se subiciat. unde boecius, ubi supra, ‘Scolaris,’ ait, ‘magistrum diligat, eique subici gaudeat, quia qui non nouit subici, non nouit magistrari.’
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.22.3 — I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, trained according to the exactness of the ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as you all are today.
- ↩Gal.4.20 — I wish I could be with you right now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.
- ↩2Tim.4.3-2Tim.4.4 — For the time will come when they will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers according to their own desires, 2Tim.4.4 — and they will turn away their ears from the truth, and will be turned aside to myths.
- ↩2Tim.4.3 — For the time will come when they will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers according to their own desires,
- ↩2Tim.4.4 — and they will turn away their ears from the truth, and will be turned aside to myths.
Notes
- 1 ↩preuio: uncertain whether ablative adjective agreeing with doctore or adverbial use; rendered as 'preceding' modifying 'teacher' following the ablative reading
- 2 ↩insipienti eloquentia: ablative of description/quality — 'with foolish eloquence' or 'in foolish eloquence.'
- 3 ↩Direct quotation of 2 Timothy 4:3 (Vulgate). Final Moses resolution pending.
- 4 ↩Direct quotation of 2 Timothy 4:4 (Vulgate). Final Moses resolution pending.
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