De docilitate ipsius ad intelligendum.
The Duty of the Teachable Student
Quintilian, Caesarius of Arles, the Apostle Paul, and Valerius Maximus on Socrates teach that docility requires the student to offer themselves humbly to the teacher, just as the teacher has a duty to teach.
On the second point — that is, docility — Quintilian says in Book II: "Just as it is the duty of teachers to teach, so it is the duty of students to offer themselves as teachable." For knowledge cannot grow together unless there is a harmony joined between the one handing it down and the one receiving it.1 These are Quintilian's words. Likewise, Caesarius of Arles in Homily I: "Just as it is expedient for us to prepare spiritual food, having gathered the flowers of the Scriptures, so we ought to seek him with great eagerness."2 Those are Caesarius's words. Docility, however, is a right aptitude for learning, concerning which the Apostle says in II Timothy.✦ Chapter ii: "A servant of the Lord must be gentle toward all, teachable," and so on.✦3 Valerius Maximus gives an example in Book VIII, concerning Socrates: "who, while he always believed himself poor for the sake of learning, made himself most wealthy for the sake of teaching."
The Examples of Solon and Cato on Lifelong Learning
Valerius Maximus recounts Solon's lifelong eagerness to learn, and Cato urges the mind to be trained by precepts, warning that without teaching life resembles death and that willed ignorance is blameworthy.
. . But also Solon the Athenian — one of the wise men of Greece — 'With what great diligence he burned; he also set it down in verse, by which he meant that he grew old daily while learning something.'4 So writes Valerius. Hence also Cato says in his book on morals: Train your mind with precepts; never stop learning. For without teaching, life is as it were a likeness of death. You will gain many benefits — but only if you haven't scorned that. You haven't neglected me, the writer — you've neglected yourself. Don't be ashamed of what you don't know and want to be taught. To know something is praiseworthy; it's blameworthy to want to learn nothing.
Sedulius and the Danger of Worldly Sweetness
Sedulius is cited from the Paschal Hymn, and a warning is given against being captivated by the sweetness of worldly things.
Likewise Sedulius, in his Paschal Hymn, Book 10: You, if you are captivated by the sweetness of great things, . . . . . . .
Nature's Banquet and the Desire to Know
The student is invited to feed on the splendid banquets of noble teachers.
. . . . . . . …to feed on the splendid banquets of noble teachers.
Nature, Grace, and the Soul's Capacity for Learning
Aristotle, Seneca, and Augustine affirm that nature itself supports docility: all people desire to know, nature made us docile with reason capable of perfection, and the soul receives its principles from the Creator, though the flesh weighs it down after the Fall.
These are the things that have been said about docility — which nature itself, at any rate, supports. For as Aristotle says at the beginning of the Metaphysics: 'All people by nature desire to know.' Likewise Seneca to Lucilius: 'Nature,' he says, 'produced us docile and gave us reason — but reason that is imperfect, though capable of being perfected.' It matters greatly, indeed, in what kind of body the soul's powers are housed. For many things arise from the body that sharpen the mind, and many things that dull it. Hence Aristotle says, 'All gifted people are melancholic' — so that I, for one, won't take it badly that I'm somewhat slow. So much from him on these points. And from here, Augustine in Book Ten on the Trinity: 'For learning doctrines,' he says, 'the authority of those who praise and proclaim them most often sets us on fire.' And yet, unless we had a brief impression of each teaching stamped in our mind, we would burn with no eagerness to learn it. Likewise, Hugh in his book On the Soul and the Spirit: 'The soul,' he says, 'has its principles from its Creator, by which it is made perfect in its own kind.' Whence, from the moment it exists, it would know all things that can be known by a human being, were it not for the heaviness of the flesh. That this is so can be proved through the first man, who before the corruption of humanity had perfect human knowledge. But now, with humanity corrupted — and the soul is joined to that from which it is corrupted — it cannot exercise its own proper powers, until it is roused by practice and experience and by some teaching, and begins to discern. It's like someone with sharp eyesight being forced into a dark place: they still can't see there unless they first grow accustomed to the darkness and a light is kindled. Furthermore, three things are also required in the teachability of the disciple. First, namely —
Three Qualities of the Docile Listener
The first requirement of docility is to listen gently without contradiction, following James and Ecclesiasticus, and to attend to the speaker's meaning rather than the surface of words, as Hilary teaches.
Let the student listen gently and without contradiction, following that word of James, chapter 1: 'In meekness receive the implanted word.'✦5 And that word of Ecclesiasticus, chapter 6: 'Be meek, so as to receive the word that is implanted to be heard.'6 On the contrary, Clement says in the Itinerary: 'I confess it pains me to speak of certain men who, when they come to us in order to learn something, as soon as we have begun to teach them, they in turn declare themselves to be our masters, and they ask questions indeed as if they were ignorant, but they contradict as if they knew.'7 So much for that.8 Second: the student should hold more to the meaning of the speaker than to the surface of the words.9 In this regard listeners are accustomed to find fault in three ways, namely:10 First, obscurity or ambiguity, on which Hilary says in his book on the Trinity, chapter 1: 'The best reader is one who waits to draw the meaning of what is said from the words themselves rather than imposing it, and who reports more than he brings.'1112 Nor should the reader think that what he has presumed to understand before the reading is contained in the words themselves.13
Meaning Over Words: Patristic Testimony
Dionysius, Augustine, and Jerome all insist that meaning must be preferred to words, just as the soul is preferred to the body, and that holy simplicity matters more than rhetorical display.
Likewise Dionysius in his book On the Divine Names: "It is irrational," he says, "and foolish to pay attention not to the meaning of what is said but to the words themselves, and it is not characteristic of those who wish to understand divine things." Hence also Augustine in his book On Catechizing the Uninstructed: "So," he says, "sayings are to be preferred to words, just as the soul is preferred to the body." Likewise on rustic simplicity, concerning which Jerome says in his book On the Best Kind of Translating: "What has always been my concern is not wordy rusticity but holy simplicity." The same author to Marcella: "Words," he says, "are not as necessary as meaning, because if we are seeking eloquence, we must choose Demosthenes or Cicero." Likewise on appropriateness, concerning which Augustine says in book ten of the Confessions: "See, Lord, and patiently, as you see — see how carefully the established conventions of language received from earlier writers are observed by speakers," . . let them observe, and let them neglect the covenants of perpetual salvation received from you, so that those who —
Charity Over Grammar and the Call to Ask
It is worse to hate a person than to mispronounce a word, and the deepest knowledge is the Golden Rule written on conscience; the third quality of docility is to ask the teacher about what one does not understand.
. . It's a far more serious matter to hate someone for breaking your commands than to be annoyed at a person for mispronouncing a word against the rules of grammar — since the one you hate is a human being. . . And surely there is no deeper knowledge of letters than what the written record of conscience teaches: that you should refuse to do to others what you would not want done to yourself.14 The third quality required in listening with docility is this: that you ask your teacher about the things you don't fully understand. The Savior himself gives us an example of this, even though he had no need of any human teaching.
Christ as Model of Docility and the Example of Marcella
Christ himself, though needing no human teaching, gave the example of asking questions in the temple; Jerome commends Marcella's eagerness to inquire about Scripture, while warning against boasting and fraudulence in questioning.
Jerome tells Paulinus that the Savior had reached the age of twelve and was sitting in the temple, . . he teaches more by asking wisely. So it says in Ecclesiasticus 32: 'Listen in silence, while at the same time asking questions.'15 Hence also Jerome, in the prologue on the epistle to the Galatians, commends the eagerness for learning in holy Marcella, saying: 'Certainly,' he says, 'when I was at Rome, never did she see me in such a hurry that she did not ask something about the Scriptures.' But also, two vices must be avoided in asking, namely: boasting and deceit.
Vices in Questioning: Boasting and Deceit
Insincere questioning is condemned through the example of the Pharisee tempting Christ, the deceitful elders of Israel in Ezekiel, and Chrysostom's commentary, with Jerome warning that the deceitful asker does not deserve truth.
On the subject of boasting, there's that saying of the Merciful One quoted earlier, namely: Some people ask questions as if they're ignorant, and then argue back as if they already know. On the subject of deceit, there's an example in Matthew chapter 22, where we read that a teacher of the law came to the Lord Jesus, tempting him. In a homily on this passage, John Chrysostom says: The most naive questioner and the most malicious deceiver asks about the greatest commandment — the one who doesn't keep even the least of them. Similarly, in Ezekiel chapter 14, where we read that the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord. About these same elders, the Lord says to the prophet: What — am I supposed to answer them when they haven't even bothered to ask me properly? Jerome, explaining this, says: Whoever asks deceitfully doesn't deserve to hear the truth — that is, they ask not with the intention of learning but of putting God to the test. For the teachableness of a diligent person — as was said earlier, following Boethius — lies in a readiness to understand, just as attentiveness lies in a readiness to listen.
Understanding: The Fruit of True Docility
Cato warns that to read without understanding is to neglect; Augustine teaches that true progress in Scripture lies not in memorization but in understanding, and the ideal student both speaks and understands as they ought.
For as Cato says: To read and not understand is to neglect. It profits little or nothing to hear or read, and even to retain, unless understanding is present as well. Many, however, retain the very words of teaching by memory, but they lack understanding of the words, and they don't even strive to understand. Hence Augustine in the fourth book of On Christian Teaching: 'The more or less a person speaks wisdom, the more they advance in the Scriptures — not, I mean, in having read many things and committed them to memory, but in understanding them well and carefully investigating their meanings.'16 For there are those who read them and yet neglect them. They read in order to retain, and they neglect in order to understand. Far better, without a doubt, are those who hold their words less in memory and see their meaning with the eyes of their own heart. But better than both groups is the one who both speaks them when he wishes and understands them as he ought.
Read the original Latin
De secundo, id est, docilitate, dicit quintilianus iio libro: ‘Sicut officium est preceptorum docere, sic discipulorum se dociles prebere. sciencia namque coalescere nequit, nisi tradentis et accipientis concordia sociata fuerit.’ Hec quintilianus. Item, cesarius arelatensis omelia ia: ‘Sicut nobis expedit collectis scripturarum floribus spiritualem cibum conficere, ita nos oportet eum cum grandi auiditate requirere.’ hec cesarius. Est autem docilitas recta discendi habilitas, de qua dicit apostolus IIa ad thimoth. ii: ‘Seruum domini oportet mansuetum esse ad omnes, docibilem etc.’ Exemplum refert ualerius maximus libro viii de socrate, ‘qui dum semper ad discendum se pauperem credidit, ad docendum se locupletissimum fecit .
. . sed et solon atheniensis,’ — uidel. unus de sapientibus grecie, — ‘quanta industria flagrauerit; eciam uersibus conplexus est, quibus se cotidie aliquid addiscentem senescere significauit.’ Hec ualerius. Hinc et cato dicit in libro de moribus:
Instrue preceptis animum; ne discere cesses. Nam sine doctrina uita est quasi mortis ymago. Commoda multa feres, sin autem spreueris illud. Non me scriptorem, sed te neglexeris ipsum. Ne pudeat, que nescieris, te uelle doceri. Scire aliquid laus est, culpa est nil discere uelle.
Item sedulius in carmine paschali libro io:
Tu, si magnarum caperis dulcedine rerum, . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . nobilium nitidis doctorum uescere cenis.
Hec de docilitate sunt dicta, quam utique iuuat ipsa natura. ut enim ait aristotiles in principio methaphisicorum: ‘omnes homines natura scire desiderant.’ Item seneca ad lucilium: ‘dociles,’ inquit, ‘natura nos edidit et racionem dedit imperfectam, sed que perfici posset.’ Magni uero refert, quali in corpore animi locati sint. Nam multa e corpore existunt, que mentem acuant, multa, que obtundant. unde aristotiles ait ‘omnes ingeniosos melancolicos esse, ut ego me tardiorem esse non feram moleste.’ Hec ille. Hinc et augustinus in libro x de trinitate: ‘ad doctrinas,’ inquit, ‘cognoscendas plerumque nos laudancium et predicancium accendit auctoritas.
Et tamen, nisi breuiter impressam cuiusque doctrine nocionem in animo haberemus, nullo ad illam discendam studio flagraremus.’ Item hugo in libro de anima et spiritu: ‘Anima,’ inquit, ‘a creatore suo habet principia, ex quo est in genere suo perfecta. unde ex quo est, sciret omnia, que ab homine sciri possunt, nisi grauitas carnis esset. Quod per primum hominem, qui ante corrupcionem humanitatis perfecte scienciam habuit humanam, probari potest. Sed modo corrupta humanitate, ex quo coniungitur, corrumpitur; nec proprietates suas potest excercere, donec usu et experiencia et alicuius doctrina excitata incipit discernere. ueluti si quis cum subtili acie oculorum in tenebrosa detrudatur, videre tamen non potest ibi, nisi prius assuescat tenebris et lumen accendatur.’ Porro in docilitate discipuli requiruntur eciam tria. Primum scil.
, ut mansuete ac sine contradictione audiat, iuxta illud iacobi io: ‘In mansuetudine suscipite insitum uerbum.’ Et illud ecclesiastici vi: ‘Esto mansuetus ad insitum audiendum uerbum.’ Econtra uero dicit clemens in itinerario: ‘Dolores michi esse fateor de nonnullis hominibus, qui, cum ad nos ita ueniant, ut aliquid discant, ubi docere illos ceperimus, ipsi rursus se magistros esse profitentur et interrogant quidem ut ignorantes, contradicunt autem ut scientes.’ hec ille. Secundum est, ut sensui loquentis magis quam superficiei uerborum adhereat. In qua solent auditores calumpniari tria, videl. obscuritatem uel ambiguitatem, super qua dicit hylarius in libro de trinitate io: ‘obtimus lector est, qui dictorum intelligenciam exspectat ex dictis pocius, quam imponit, et refert magis, quam affert. Nec id uideri dictis contineri cogit, quod ante lectionem intelligendum presumpserit.’
Item dyonisius in libro de diuinis nominibus: ‘Irracionale,’ inquit, ‘ac stultum est non intencionis uirtuti sed dictionibus attendere, nec est proprium diuina volencium intelligere.’ Hinc et augustinus in libro de cathezizandis rudibus: ‘Ita,’ inquit, ‘preponende sunt sentencie uerbis, sicut animus preponitur corpori.’ Item rusticam simplicitatem, de qua dicit Jeronimus in libro de optimo genere interpretandi: ‘Semper michi fuit ueneracioni non uerbosa rusticitas sed sancta simplicitas.’ Idem ad marcellam: ‘Non,’ inquit, ‘tam uerba sunt necessaria quam sensus, quia, si eloquenciam querimus, demostenes eligendus est aut tullius.’ Item in congruitatem, de qua dicit augustinus libro confessionum io: ‘vide, domine, et pacienter ut uides, uide, quam diligenter a prioribus accepta locutoribus pacta litterarum . . . homines obseruent, et a te accepta perpetue salutis pacta negligant, ut qui .
. . contra gramaticam disciplinam sine aspiracione prioris sillabe hominem dixerit, quam magis displiceat hominibus, quam si contra precepta tua hominem oderit, cum ipse homo sit . . . Et certe non est interior sciencia litterarum quam scripta consciencia id se nolle facere alij quod nolit pati.’ Tercium uero, quod in audiendis docilitate requiritur, est, ut ea, que minus intelligit, a magistro requirat. Cuius rei nobis exemplum in se saluator ostendit, licet hominis doctrina non eguerit.
unde Jeronimus ad paulinum dicit: ‘Saluator xii annos impleuerat et in templo sedens . . . magis docet, dum prudenter interrogat.’ Ideo dicitur in ecclesiastico xxxii: ‘Audi tacens simul et querens.’ Hinc eciam ieronimus in prologo super epistolam ad galathas in sancta marcella conmendat ardorem discendi, dicens: ‘Certe,’ inquit, ‘cum rome essem, nunquam me tam festina uidit, ut non de scripturis interrogaret aliquid.’ verum eciam et in interrogando cauenda sunt duo vicia, sc. iactancia et fraudulencia.
De iactancia est illud clementis positum supra, sc. quod quidam ‘interrogant ut ignorantes et contradicunt ut scientes.’ De fraudulencia uero habetur exemplum in matheo xxii, ubi legitur accessisse doctor legis ad dominum iesum temptans eum. In cuius omelia dicit iohannes crisostomus: ‘Simplicissimus interrogator et malignissimus insidiator de magno mandato interrogat, qui nec minimum obseruat.’ Similiter in ezechiele xiiii, ubi leguntur venisse seniores israel ad interrogandum dominum. De quibus eciam dicit dominus ad prophetam: ‘num quid interrogatus respondebo eis?’ Quod exponens ieronimus dicit: ‘non meretur audire veritatem, qui fraudulenter interrogat,’ id est non animo discendi sed temptandi. Est namque studiosi docilitas, ut dictum est supra iuxta boecium, ad intelligendum, sicut attencio ad audiendum.
ut enim ait cato:
Legere et non intelligere est negligere.
Parumque uel nichil prodest audire uel legere, et eciam retinere, nisi assit et intelligere. Multi tamen ipsa doctrine uerba memoriter retinent, sed intelligencia uerborum carent, nec saltem intelligere student. unde augustinus in libro de doctrina christiana iiiio: ‘Sapienciam tanto magis uel minus homo dicit, quanto magis in scripturis proficit, non dico in eis multum legendis memorie mandandis, sed bene intelligendis, et diligenter eorum sensibus indagandis. Sunt enim qui eas legunt et tamen negligunt. legunt enim ut teneant, et negligunt, ut intelligant. Quibus longe sine dubio preferendi sunt, qui uerba earum minus tenent et cor earum sui cordis oculis uident. Sed utrisque melior ille, qui et cum uult, eas dicit, et sicut oportet, intelligit.’
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Tim.2.24 — And the Lord's servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient when wronged.
- ↩2Tim.2.24 — And the Lord's servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient when wronged.
- ↩Jas.1.21 — Therefore, having put away all filthiness and the abundance of evil, receive with meekness the implanted word that is able to save your souls.
Notes
- 1 ↩namque rendered as 'For' to capture its explanatory force; coalescere as 'grow together' preserves the organic metaphor of knowledge developing jointly.
- 2 ↩eum ('him') likely refers to Christ or to spiritual understanding; the referent is ambiguous in the Latin.
- 3 ↩The quotation is from 2 Timothy 2:24 (Vulgate). The 'etc.' indicates the citation is abbreviated.
- 4 ↩The embedded quotation is attributed to Valerius Maximus (cf. section 1); the source of the quoted verse is uncertain and may be a paraphrase of a classical sententia rather than a direct citation.
- 5 ↩Quotation from James 1:21 (Vulgate). The Latin 'insitum verbum' renders the Greek ἔμφυτον λόγον, 'implanted word.'
- 6 ↩Quotation from Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 6:18 (Vulgate numbering). The deuterocanonical source is preserved without quotation-mark styling per policy.
- 7 ↩The Latin 'Econtra vero' is rendered 'On the contrary' to capture the adversative force; 'vero' as postpositive particle is absorbed into the contrastive phrase.
- 8 ↩The Latin 'hec ille' is a brief editorial closing formula — 'these things, that one (said/did).' Rendered idiomatically as 'So much for that' to capture the dismissive transition.
- 9 ↩'Secundum est, ut' is rendered as 'Second: … should' to capture the prescriptive force of the construction. 'Superficiei verborum' — 'the surface of the words' — is kept concrete and plain.
- 10 ↩'In qua' refers back to the principle just stated (attending to meaning over words). 'Calumpniari' rendered as 'find fault' rather than 'calumniate' to match the context of critical listeners. 'Videl.' is the abbreviation of 'videlicet,' rendered as 'namely.'
- 11 ↩Quotation from Hilary of Poitiers, De Trinitate. The passage is a patristic citation, not Scripture, but is treated as a quoted authority.
- 12 ↩'Optimus' rendered as 'best' rather than 'optimal' for natural modern English. 'Referre' and 'afferre' are distinguished as 'reports' (relays from the text) versus 'brings' (imports from outside).
- 13 ↩'Nec' opens the sentence with negative-additive force, rendered as 'Nor.' The subjunctive 'presumpserit' is rendered with the pluperfect 'has presumed' to capture the prior action. 'Id videri dictis contineri cogit' — 'thinks that it is contained in the words' — is restructured for natural English word order.
- 14 ↩Scripta consciencia ('written conscience') likely evokes the Pauline idea of the law written on the heart (Romans 2:15), though the Moses database does not confirm this as a direct quotation.
- 15 ↩Ecclesiasticus 32: candidate quotation; final anchor resolution belongs to a later stage.
- 16 ↩Augustine, De doctrina Christiana IV. The embedded quotation is from this work.
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