The Scholemaster

by Roger Ascham

{Humile.
Oratorium in {Mediocre.
{Sublime.

Examples of these three, in the Greke tong, be plentifull & perfite, as Lycias, Isocrates, and Demosthenes: and // Lisias. all three, in onelie Demosthenes, in diuerse orations // Isocrates. as contra Olimpiodorum, in leptinem, & pro Ctesi- // Demost. phonte. And trew it is, that Hermogines writeth of Demosthenes, that all formes of Eloquence be perfite in him. In Ciceroes Orations, Medium & sublime be most // Cicero. excellentlie handled, but Humile in his Orations, is seldome sene: yet neuerthelesse in other bookes, as in some part of his offices, & specially in Partitionibus, he is comparable in hoc humili & disciplinabili genere, euen with the best that euer

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wrote in Greke. But of Cicero more fullie in fitter place. And thus, the trew difference of stiles, in euerie Author, and euerie kinde of learnyng may easelie be knowne by this diuision.

{Poeticum.
{Historicum.
in Genus {Philosophicum.
{Oratorium.

Which I thought in this place to touch onelie, not to
prosecute at large, bicause, God willyng, in the Latin tong,
I will fullie handle it, in my booke de Imitatione.
Now, to touch more particularlie, which of those Authors,
that be now most commonlie in mens handes, will sone affourd
you some peece of Eloquence, and what maner a peece of
eloquence, and what is to be liked and folowed, and what to
be misliked and eschewed in them: and how some agayne will
furnish you fully withall, rightly, and wisely considered, som-
what I will write as I haue heard Syr Ihon Cheke many tymes
say.
The Latin tong, concerning any part of purenesse of it,
from the spring, to the decay of the same, did not endure moch
longer, than is the life of a well aged man, scarse one hundred
yeares from the tyme of the last Scipio Africanus and Lælius, to
the Empire of Augustus. And it is notable, that Velleius Pater-
culus writeth of Tullie, how that the perfection of eloquence did
so remayne onelie in him and in his time, as before him, were
few, which might moch delight a man, or after him any, worthy
admiration, but soch as Tullie might haue seene, and such as
might haue seene Tullie. And good cause why: for no perfec-
tion is durable. Encrease hath a time, & decay likewise, but
all perfit ripenesse remaineth but a moment: as is plainly seen
in fruits, plummes and cherries: but more sensibly in flowers,
as Roses & such like, and yet as trewlie in all greater matters.
For what naturallie, can go no hier, must naturallie yeld &
stoup againe.
Of this short tyme of any purenesse of the Latin tong, for
the first fortie yeare of it, and all the tyme before, we haue no
peece of learning left, saue Plautus and Terence, with a litle
rude vnperfit pamflet of the elder Cato. And as for Plautus,
except the scholemaster be able to make wise and ware choice,

the ready way to the Latin tong. 287

first in proprietie of wordes, than in framing of Phrases and sentences, and chieflie in choice of honestie of matter, your scholer were better to play, then learne all that is in him. But surelie, if iudgement for the tong, and direction for the maners, be wisely ioyned with the diligent reading of Plautus, than trewlie Plautus, for that purenesse of the Latin tong in Rome, whan Rome did most florish in wel doing, and so thereby, in well speaking also, is soch a plentifull storehouse, for common eloquence, in meane matters, and all priuate mens affaires, as the Latin tong, for that respect, hath not the like agayne. Whan I remember the worthy tyme of Rome, wherein Plautus did liue, I must nedes honor the talke of that tyme, which we see Plautus doth vse. Terence is also a storehouse of the same tong, for an other tyme, following soone after, & although he be not so full & plentiful as Plautus is, for multitude of matters, & diuersitie of wordes, yet his wordes, be chosen so purelie, placed so orderly, and all his stuffe so neetlie packed vp, and wittely compassed in euerie place, as, by all wise mens iudgement, he is counted the cunninger workeman, and to haue his shop, for the rowme that is in it, more finely appointed, and trimlier ordered, than Plautus is. Three thinges chiefly, both in Plautus and Terence, are to be specially considered. The matter, the vtterance, the words, the meter. The matter in both, is altogether within the compasse of the meanest mens maners, and doth not stretch to any thing of any great weight at all, but standeth chiefly in vtteryng the thoughtes and conditions of hard fathers, foolish mothers, vnthrifty yong men, craftie seruantes, sotle bawdes, and wilie harlots, and so, is moch spent, in finding out fine fetches, and packing vp pelting matters, soch as in London commonlie cum to the hearing of the Masters of Bridewell. Here is base stuffe for that scholer, that should becum hereafter, either a good minister in Religion, or a Ciuill Ientleman in seruice of his Prince and contrie: except the preacher do know soch matters to confute them, whan ignorance surelie in all soch thinges were better for a Ciuill Ientleman, than knowledge. And thus, for matter, both Plautus and Terence, be like meane painters, that worke by halfes, and be cunning onelie, in making the worst part of the picture, as if one were skilfull in painting

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the bodie of a naked person, from the nauell downward, but nothing else. For word and speach, Plautus is more plentifull, and Terence more pure and proper: And for one respect, Terence is to be embraced aboue all that euer wrote in hys kinde of argument: Bicause it is well known, by good recorde of learning, and that by Ciceroes owne witnes that some Comedies bearyng Terence name, were written by worthy Scipio, and wise Lælius, and namely Heauton: and Adelphi. And therefore as oft as I reade those Comedies, so oft doth sound in myne eare, the pure fine talke of Rome, which was vsed by the floure of the worthiest nobilitie that euer Rome bred. Let the wisest man, and best learned that liueth, read aduisedlie ouer, the first scene of Heauton, and the first scene of Adelphi, and let him consideratlie iudge, whether it is the talke of a seruile stranger borne, or rather euen that milde eloquent wise speach, which Cicero in Brutus doth so liuely expresse in Lælius. And yet neuerthelesse, in all this good proprietie of wordes, and purenesse of phrases which be in Terence, ye must not follow him alwayes in placing of them, bicause for the meter sake, some wordes in him, somtyme, be driuen awrie, which require a straighter placing in plaine prose, if ye will forme, as I would ye should do, your speach and writing, to that excellent perfitnesse, which was onely in Tullie, or onelie in Tullies tyme. The meter and verse of Plautus and Terence be verie meane, Meter in // and not to be followed: which is not their reproch, Plautus & // but the fault of the tyme, wherein they wrote, whan Terence. // no kinde of Poetrie, in the Latin tong, was brought to perfection, as doth well appeare in the fragmentes of Ennius, Cæcilius, and others, and euidentlie in Plautus & Terence, if thies in Latin be compared with right skil, with Homer, Euripides, Aristophanes, and other in Greeke of like sort. Cicero him selfe doth complaine of this vnperfitnes, but more plainly Quintilian, saying, in Comœdia maximè claudicamus, et vix leuem consequimur vmbram: and most earnestly of all Horace in Arte Poetica, which he doth namely propter carmen Iambicum, and referreth all good studentes herein to the Imitation of the Greeke tong, saying. Exemplaria Græca nocturna versate manu, versate diurna.