De duobus generibus scripturarum.
Two Kinds of Writings
Writings are divided into the proper arts, which treat a determined part of philosophy, and their appendages, which only look toward philosophy from outside, with poems, fables, histories, and miscellanies serving as scattered or playful preparation for philosophy.
There are two kinds of writings. The first kind consists of what are called the proper arts. The second consists of what are appendages of the arts. The arts are those placed beneath philosophy—that is, those that deal with some specific and definite part of philosophy, like grammar, dialectic, and the rest of that sort. The appendages of the arts are those that only look toward philosophy—that is, those that work with some material outside philosophy. Sometimes, though, certain things torn from the arts touch on philosophy in a scattered and confused way, or, if it's a simple narrative, they prepare the way for it. Of this kind are all the poems of the poets—tragedies, comedies, satires, as well as heroic and lyric poetry, and iambic verse, along with certain didactic works; also fables and histories, and even the writings of those we now call philosophers, who were in the habit of stretching a brief subject out with long circumlocutions and obscuring an easy meaning with tangled arguments. Or even putting together diverse things at once, as if from many colors and shapes, to make a single picture.
A Pause for Distinction
The distinction between arts and appendages is restated and then illustrated poetically, with the image of the slow willow yielding to the pale olive and lowly nard to rosy gardens.
Notice the distinctions I've marked out for you. There are two kinds: the arts themselves and their appendages. But between these two there seems to me to be so great a distance — as someone says — The slow willow yields to the pale olive as much as the lowly wild nard yields to the rosy gardens.
The Primacy of the Arts
The arts alone can make a reader perfect, while their appendages are vain without them, so effort should be given first to the seven liberal arts, which are so interdependent that lacking even one prevents true philosophical learning.
And so it's like this: whoever wants to reach knowledge, if they abandon the truth of the arts and get tangled up in the rest of it, will find the material of their labor—not to say boundless, then at least very great—and the return on it slight. In fact, the arts can make a reader perfect without their appendages, but those appendages without the arts are worth nothing for achieving perfection—especially since they contain nothing worth seeking in themselves by which they might draw the reader in, unless it's drawn from the arts and adapted; and nobody looks for anything in them except what belongs to the arts. Therefore it seems to me that effort should be given first to the arts, where the foundations of everything lie and pure, simple truth is laid open—above all to those seven I mentioned, which are the instruments of all philosophy. Afterward, the rest may be read too, if there's time—because sometimes playful things mixed with serious ones are more enjoyable, and rarity makes a good thing prized. That way we sometimes hold on more eagerly to a thought discovered in the middle of a story's flow. Yet the foundation of all teaching lies in the seven liberal arts, which above all others must be kept close at hand, since without them philosophical learning customarily can explain or define nothing. Indeed, these arts are so closely bound to one another and need each other's methods in turn that if even one is missing, the rest cannot make someone a philosopher. That's why it seems to me that those people are mistaken who, not noticing this close connection among the arts, pick out a few for themselves and, leaving the rest untouched, think they can become accomplished in those alone.
Read the original Latin
Duo sunt genera scripturarum. primum genus est earum quae propriae artes appellantur. secundum est earum quae sunt appendicia artium. artes sunt quae philosophiae supponuntur, id est, quae aliquam certam et determinatam partem philosophiae materiam habent, ut est grammatica, dialectica, et ceterae huiusmodi. appendentia artium sunt quae tantum ad philosophiam spectant, id est, quae in aliqua extra philosophiam materia versantur. aliquando tamen quaedam ab artibus discerpta sparsim et confuse attingunt, vel si simplex narratio est, viam ad philosophiam praeparant. huiusmodi sunt omnia poetarum carmina, ut sunt tragoediae, comoediae, satirae, heroica quoque et lyrica, et iambica, et didascalica quaedam, fabulae quoque et historiae, illorum etiam scripta quos nunc philosophos appellare solemus, qui et brevem materiam longis verborum ambagibus extendere consueverunt, et facilem sensum perplexis sermonibus obscurare. vel etiam diversa simul compilantes, quasi de multis coloribus et formis, unam picturam facere.
nota quae tibi distinxi. duo sunt, artes et appendicia artium. sed inter haec tanta mihi distantia esse videtur, ut ille ait:
Lenta salix quantum pallenti cedit olivae, Puniceis humilis quantum saliunca rosetis.
ita ut quicumque ad scientiam pertingere cupit, si relicta veritate artium reliquis se implicare voluerit, materiam laboris, ut non dicam infinitam, plurimam inveniat et fructum exiguum. denique artes sine appendiciis suis perfectum facere lectorem possunt, illa sine artibus nihil perfectionis conferre valent, maxime cum nihil in se expetendum habeant unde lectorem invitent nisi traductum ab artibus et accommodatum, neque quisquam in eis quaerat nisi quod artium est. quapropter mihi videtur primum operam dandam esse artibus ubi fundamenta sunt omnium, et pura simplexque veritas aperitur, maxime his septem quas praedixi, quae totius philosophiae instrumenta sunt. deinde cetera quoque, si vacat, legantur, quia aliquando plus delectare solent seriis admixta ludicra, et raritas pretiosum facit bonum. sic in medio fabulae cursu inventam sententiam avidius aliquando retinemus. verumtamen in septem liberalibus artibus fundamentum est omnis doctrinae, quae prae ceteris omnibus ad manum habendae sunt, utpote sine quibus nihil solet aut potest disciplina philosophica explicare et definire. hae quidem ita sibi cohaerent et alternis vicissim rationibus indigent, ut si vel una defuerit, ceterae philosophum facere non possunt. unde mihi errare videntur qui non attendentes talem in artibus cohaerentiam quasdam sibi ex ipsis eligunt, et, ceteris intactis, in his se posse fieri perfectos putant.
Didascalicon de Studio Legendi (On the Study of Reading) companion
Hugh said begin with small daily portions. Start tomorrow.
Chosen Portion serves one short, ordered devotional reading each day — the medieval lectio pattern, free on iOS.
Hugh taught that formation comes from ordered, incremental daily reading, and Chosen Portion is that ordered daily portion delivered to your phone.
- A curated daily portion in 2-3 minutes, no decision fatigue about what to read
- Progress through complete historic works in order, the way Hugh prescribed
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