Spud. Sometimes they teach contradictory views.
Tyro. What authors are they interpreting?
IV. Authors
Spud. Not all the same, but each one as he is furnished with skill and knowledge. The most erudite teachers take to themselves the best authors with the sharpest judgment, those whom you grammarians call classics. There are those who, on account of their ignorance of what is better, descend to the lowest (ad proletarios) and are worthy of condemnation.
V. The Library
Let us enter. I will show you the public library of this school. It looks, according to the precept of great men, to the east.
Tyro. Wonderful! How many books, how many good authors, Greek and Latin orators, poets, historians, philosophers, theologians, and the busts of authors!
Spud. And indeed, as far as could be done, delineated to the life and so much the more valuable! All the book-cases and book-shelves are of oak or cypress and with their own little chains. The books themselves for the most part are bound in parchment and adorned with various colours.
Tyro. What is that first one with rustic face and nose turned-up?