De septima claue discentivm
The Teacher as Parent of the Mind
The student's love and devotion toward their teacher is essential for the fruitful reception of wisdom and eloquence.
In Quintilian's book on the training of an orator, the seventh key for students is identified as love for their teachers, by which instructors are to be loved and honored like parents. For just as those are the parents of our bodies, these are the parents of our minds; they don't produce the substance of the spirit from themselves, but they beget wisdom in the minds of their listeners by, in a sense, reforming nature for the better. This devotion contributes a great deal to study; students listen willingly to those they love, they believe what they say, they long to be like them, and with a heart moved by devotion, they gather joyfully and eagerly in the company of their peers. When corrected, they don't get angry; when praised, they don't blush, so that they might themselves earn the love of their studies. Just as it is the duty of teachers to teach, it is the duty of listeners to make themselves teachable; otherwise, neither is sufficient without the other. Just as the birth of a human being is completed by both parents, and you would scatter seeds in vain unless the furrow had been prepared to nourish them, so eloquence cannot grow unless it is joined by the harmony of the one who teaches and the one who learns. Quintilian says this in his precepts on eloquence, but it should nonetheless be applied to the training of wisdom. Indeed, eloquence is not acquired except through the precepts of wisdom, and anyone whom philosophy has not carefully instructed in how to speak bursts into the forum of those who have ears to hear looking not only ridiculous, but in a way, insane. The book *On Christian Doctrine* will bring to light seven other keys that Ticonius set forth for the understanding of the Scriptures; but they don't in any way conflict with these, for all of them are contained within one of these keys, as the desire to seek encompasses them all.
The Master Key of Truth
Beyond human instruction, there exists a singular, divine key that is necessary for all true understanding.
Although the discussion was framed around pagan traditions, it was intentionally directed toward the instruction of the faithful. Yet there is one unique key—a key to all keys, as it were—that opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens; without it, no one approaches the understanding of the truth, and I would believe that whoever does not grasp or hold onto it is raving rather than philosophizing.
Read the original Latin
In libro Quintiliani de Institutione Oratoris septima discentium clauis ponitur amor docentium, quo praeceptores ut parentes amandi sunt et colendi. Sicut enim illi corporum, ita et isti quidem sunt genitores animorum; non quidem de se spiritus propagando substantiam, sed quasi sapientiam in auditorum mentibus gignunt in melius reformando naturam. Et haec quidem pietas studio plurimum confert; nam et libenter audiunt quos amant, et dictis credunt et eis esse similes concupiscunt, et pio faciente aflfectu in ipsos cetus scolarium leti alacresque conueniunt, emendati non irascuntur, laudati non erubescunt, ut sint et ipsi carissimi studio merebuntur. Nam, ut doctorum officium est docere, sic auditorum praebere se dociles; alioquin neutrum sine altero sufficit. Nam, sicut hominis ortus ex utroque gignentium est confectus, et frustra sparseris semina nisi ea praemoUitus fouerit sulcus, ita eloquentia coalescere nequit nisi sociata tradentis accipientisque concordia. Haec quidem Quintilianus in praeceptis eloquentiae, sed nichilominus sunt ad institutionem sapientiae applicanda. Profecto nec eloquentia nisi praeceptis sapientiae comparatur, et in forum illorum qui aures audiendi habent non modo ridiculosus sed quodammodo uesanus irrumpit quemcumque philosophia ut loqueretur diligentius non instruxit. Septem alias claues, quas ad intelligentiam a Scripturarum Ticonius posuit, in lucem proferet liber qui de Doctrina Christiana inscribitur; sed nequaquam istis obuiant, omnes potius uersantur in una istarum; eas namque studium quaerendi complectitur.
Ceterum de traditione gentihum sermo fuerat institutus, ita tamen ut ad institutionem fidelium ex proposito referatur. Vna tamen est et singularis et quasi clauium clauis clauis illa quae aperit et nemo claudit, claudit et nemo aperit, et sine qua ad intelligentiam ueri nullus accedit, quam quisquis non apprehendit aut non tenet, potius insanire crediderim quam philosophari.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
Pair the outline with the Chosen Portion app, which serves short daily portions from the same royal devotional tradition — free on iOS.
John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
- 8 weeks, one book per week, with the 3-4 key chapters flagged in each
- Discussion questions usable for a reading group from week one
- A daily 5-minute companion portion in the app alongside your weekly study