The Scholemaster

by Roger Ascham

wing: euen so a man reacheth not to excellency with one tong. I haue bene a looker on in the Cokpit of learning thies many yeares: And one Cock onelie haue I knowne, which with one wing, euen at this day, doth passe all other, in myne opinion, that euer I saw in any pitte in England, though they had two winges. Yet neuerthelesse, to flie well with one wing, to runne fast with one leg, be rather, rare Maistreis moch to be merueled at, than sure examples safelie to be folowed. A Bushop that now liueth, a good man, whose iudgement in Religion I better like, than his opinion in per- fitnes in other learning, said once vnto me: we haue no nede now of the Greeke tong, when all thinges be translated into Latin. But the good man vnderstood not, that euen the best translation, is, for mere necessitie, but an euill imped wing to flie withall, or a heuie stompe leg of wood to go withall: soch, the hier they flie, the sooner they falter and faill: the faster they runne, the ofter they stumble, and sorer they fall. Soch as will nedes so flie, may flie at a Pye, and catch a Dawe: And soch runners, as commonlie, they shoue and sholder to stand formost, yet in the end they cum behind others & deserue but the hopshakles, if the Masters of the game be right iudgers. Therefore in perusing thus, so many diuerse bookes for Optima // Imitation, it came into my head that a verie pro- ratio Imi- // fitable booke might be made de Imitatione, after tationis. // an other sort, than euer yet was attempted of that matter, conteyning a certaine fewe fitte preceptes, vnto the which should be gathered and applied plentie of examples, out of the choisest authors of both the tonges. This worke would stand, rather in good diligence, for the gathering, and right iudgement for the apte applying of those examples: than any great learning or vtterance at all. The doing thereof, would be more pleasant, than painfull, & would bring also moch proffet to all that should read it, and great praise to him would take it in hand, with iust desert of thankes. Erasmus, giuyng him selfe to read ouer all Authors Greke Erasmus // and Latin, seemeth to haue prescribed to him order in his // selfe this order of readyng: that is, to note out studie. // by the way, three speciall pointes: All Adagies,

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all similitudes, and all wittie sayinges of most notable person- ages: And so, by one labour, he left to posteritie, three notable bookes, & namelie two his Chiliades, Apophthegmata and Similia. Likewise, if a good student would bend him selfe to read diligently ouer Tullie, and with him also at // {Plato. the same tyme, as diligently Plato, & Xenophon, // {Xenophon. with his bookes of Philosophie, Isocrates, & // Cicero. {Isocrates. Demosthenes with his orations, & Aristotle with // {Demosth. his Rhetorickes: which fiue of all other, be // {Aristotles. those, whom Tullie best loued, & specially followed: & would marke diligently in Tullie where he doth exprimere or effingere (which be the verie propre wordes of Imitation) either, Copiam Platonis or venustatem Xenophontis, suauitatem Isocratis, or vim Demosthenis, propriam & puram subtilitatem Aristotelis, and not onelie write out the places diligentlie, and lay them together orderlie, but also to conferre them with skilfull iudgement by those few rules, which I haue expressed now twise before: if that diligence were taken, if that order were vsed, what perfite knowledge of both the tonges, what readie and pithie vtterance in all matters, what right and deepe iudgement in all kinde of learnyng would follow, is scarse credible to be beleued. These bookes, be not many, nor long, nor rude in speach, nor meane in matter, but next the Maiestie of Gods holie word, most worthie for a man, the louer of learning and honestie, to spend his life in. Yea, I haue heard worthie M. Cheke many tymes say: I would haue a good student passe and iorney through all Authors both Greke and Latin: but he that will dwell in these few bookes onelie: first, in Gods holie Bible, and than ioyne with it, Tullie in Latin, Plato, Aristotle: Xenophon: Isocrates: and Demosthenes in Greke: must nedes proue an excel- lent man. Some men alreadie in our dayes, haue put to their helping handes, to this worke of Imitation. As Peri- // Perionius. onius, Henr. Stephanus in dictionario Ciceroniano, // H. Steph. and P. Victorius most praiseworthelie of all, in // P. Victor- that his learned worke conteyning xxv. bookes de // ius. varia lectione: in which bookes be ioyned diligentlie together the best Authors of both the tonges where one doth seeme to imitate an other. But all these, with Macrobius, Hessus, and other, be no

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more but common porters, caryers, and bringers of matter and
stuffe togither. They order nothing: They lay before you,
what is done: they do not teach you, how it is done: They
busie not them selues with forme of buildyng: They do not
declare, this stuffe is thus framed by Demosthenes, and thus and
thus by Tullie, and so likewise in Xenophon, Plato and Isocrates
and Aristotle. For ioyning Virgil with Homer I haue suf-
ficientlie declared before.
The like diligence I would wish to be taken in Pindar and
Pindarus. // Horace an equall match for all respectes.
Horatius. // In Tragedies, (the goodliest Argument of all,
and for the vse, either of a learned preacher, or a
Ciuill Ientleman, more profitable than Homer, Pindar, Virgill,
and Horace: yea comparable in myne opinion, with the doctrine
Sophocles. // of Aristotle, Plato, and Xenophon,) the
Grecians,
Euripides. // Sophocles and Euripides far ouer match our
Seneca,
Seneca. // in Latin, namely in oikonomia et Decoro, although
Senacaes elocution and verse be verie commendable for his tyme.
And for the matters of Hercules, Thebes, Hippolytus, and Troie,
his Imitation is to be gathered into the same booke, and to be
tryed by the same touchstone, as is spoken before.
In histories, and namelie in Liuie, the like diligence of
Imitation, could bring excellent learning, and breede stayde
iudgement, in taking any like matter in hand.
Onely Liuie were a sufficient taske for one mans studie,
Tit. Liuius. // to compare him, first with his fellow for all re-
Dion. Hali- // spectes, Dion. Halicarnassæus: who both, liued in
carn. // one tyme: tooke both one historie in hande to
write: deserued both like prayse of learnyng and eloquence.
Polibius. // Than with Polybius that wise writer, whom Liuie
professeth to follow: & if he would denie it, yet
it is plaine, that the best part of the thyrd Decade in Liuie, is in
Thucidides. // a maner translated out of the thyrd and rest of
Polibius: Lastlie with Thucydides, to whose Imita-
tion Liuie is curiouslie bent, as may well appeare by that one
1 Decad. // Oration of those of Campania, asking aide of the
Lib. 7. // Romanes agaynst the Samnites, which is wholie
taken, Sentence, Reason, Argument, and order,
Thucid. 1. // out of the Oration of Corcyra, asking like aide of
the Athenienses against them of Corinth. If some

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diligent student would take paynes to compare them togither, he
should easelie perceiue, that I do say trew. A booke, thus
wholie filled with examples of Imitation, first out of Tullie,
compared with Plato, Xenophon, Isocrates, Demosthenes and
Aristotle: than out of Virgil and Horace, with Homer and
Pindar: next out of Seneca with Sophocles and Euripides:
Lastlie
out of Liuie, with Thucydides, Polibius and Halicarnassæus,
gathered with good diligence, and compared with right order,
as I haue expressed before, were an other maner of worke for
all kinde of learning, & namely for eloquence, than be those
cold gatheringes of Macrobius, Hessus, Perionius, Stephanus, and
Victorius, which may be vsed, as I sayd before, in this case, as
porters and caryers, deseruing like prayse, as soch men do
wages; but onely Sturmius is he, out of whom, the trew suruey
and whole workemanship is speciallie to be learned.
I trust, this my writyng shall giue some good student
occasion, to take some peece in hand of this worke of Imitation.
And as I had rather haue any do it, than my // Opus de
selfe, yet surelie my selfe rather than none at all. // recta imi-
And by Gods grace, if God do lend me life, with // tandi ratione.
health, free laysure and libertie, with good likyng
and a merie heart, I will turne the best part of my studie and
tyme, to toyle in one or other peece of this worke of Imitation.
This diligence to gather examples, to giue light and vnder-
standyng to good preceptes, is no new inuention, but speciallie vsed
of the best Authors and oldest writers. For Aristotle // Aristoteles.
him selfe, (as Diog. Laertius declareth) when he
had written that goodlie booke of the Topickes, did gather out
of stories and Orators, so many examples as filled xv. bookes,
onelie to expresse the rules of his Topickes. These were the
Commentaries, that Aristotle thought fit for hys // Commen-
Topickes: And therfore to speake as I thinke, I // tarij Græ-
neuer saw yet any Commentarie vpon Aristotles // ci et Lati-
Logicke, either in Greke or Latin, that euer I // ni in Dia-
lyked, bicause they be rather spent in declaryng // lect. Ari-
scholepoynt rules, than in gathering fit examples // stotelis.
for vse and vtterance, either by pen or talke. For preceptes in
all Authors, and namelie in Aristotle, without applying vnto
them, the Imitation of examples, be hard, drie, and cold, and
therfore barrayn, vnfruitfull and vnpleasant. But Aristotle,

278 The second booke teachyng

namelie in his Topicks and Elenches, should be, not onelie fruitfull, but also pleasant to, if examples out of Plato, and other good Authors, were diligentlie gathered, and aptlie Precepta // applied vnto his most perfit preceptes there. in Aristot. // And it is notable, that my frende Sturmius writeth Exempla // herein, that there is no precept in Aristotles in Platone. // Topickes wherof plentie of examples be not manifest in Platos workes. And I heare say, that an excellent learned man, Tomitanus in Italie, hath expressed euerie fallacion in Aristotle, with diuerse examples out of Plato. Would to God, I might once see, some worthie student of Aristotle and Plato in Cambrige, that would ioyne in one booke the preceptes of the one, with the examples of the other. For such a labor, were one speciall peece of that worke of Imitation, which I do wishe were gathered together in one Volume. Cambrige, at my first comming thither, but not at my going away, committed this fault in reading the preceptes of Aristotle without the examples of other Authors: But herein, in my time thies men of worthie memorie, M. Redman, M. Cheke, M. Smith, M. Haddon, M. Watson, put so to their helping handes, as that vniuersitie, and all studentes there, as long as learning shall last, shall be bounde vnto them, if that trade in studie be trewlie folowed, which those men left behinde them there. By this small mention of Cambridge, I am caryed into three imaginations: first, into a sweete remembrance of my tyme spent there: than, into som carefull thoughts, for the greuous alteration that folowed sone after: lastlie, into much ioy to heare tell, of the good recouerie and earnest forwardnes in all good learning there agayne. To vtter theis my thoughts somwhat more largelie, were somwhat beside my matter, yet not very farre out of the way, bycause it shall wholy tend to the good encoragement and right consideration of learning, which is my full purpose in writing this litle booke: whereby also shall well appeare this sentence to be most trewe, that onely good men, by their gouernment & example, make happie times, in euery degree and state. Doctor Nico. Medcalfe, that honorable father, was Master D. Nic. // of S. Iohnes Colledge, when I came thether: A Medcalf. // man meanelie learned himselfe, but not meanely

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