We may take it, then, that Vergil was read. We hear also of the fables of Avianus, who lived under the Antonines,[1089] and the fourth-century Disticha Catonis, a collection of moral rules. The former work remained in the schools till the tenth century, while the latter was among the commonest of elementary school-books as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth century.[1090] The text-books of the grammarians were no doubt freely used. Sidonius praises the ‘discipline’ of Agroecius[1091] (fifth century), who wrote a famous work on Orthography, intended to supplement a book on the same subject by Flavius Caper. It is significant that the work is dedicated to Bishop Eucherius. As we go into the sixth century the traces of the mediaeval trivium and quadrivium begin to appear.[1092] The fifth century was a transition period, in which the doctrine of the extreme monastic party (if we may speak of a party when so many eminent men spoke now on the one side and now on the other), and the teaching of the liberals, were represented in the schools in fluctuating and uncertain proportions. By the time of Gregory of Tours (sixth century) the extremists had so far given way that he allowed his theological students to pass through the seven arts of Capella, and to write poetry, which, however, was still suspect, and had fallen from its previous prominence to a precarious place at the end of the list.
‘Quod si te, sacerdos Dei, quicumque es, Martianus noster septem disciplinis erudiit, id est si te in grammaticis docuit legere, in dialecticis altercationes propositiones advertere, in rhetoricis genera metrorum agnoscere, in geometris terrarum linearumque mensuras colligere ... si in his omnibus ita fueris exercitatus ut tibi stylus noster sit rusticus, nec sic quoque deprecor ut avellas quae scripsi sed si tibi in his quiddam placuerit, salvo opere nostro, te scribere versu non abnuo.’[1093]
When we take all this into account we cannot fail to see a certain exaggeration in Kaufmann’s[1094] statement that the training of the monastic school was entirely religious and moral. These elements were doubtless predominant, but they were not all.
During the fifth century, however, subjects for reading and discussion came to be taken more and more from the Bible. The Bible, introduced as literature in the schools, started its career of enormous influence on the speech and writings, and so on the education, of all centuries. The hexameters into which Claudius Marius Victor of Marseilles (fifth century) turned the book of Genesis were meant for use in schools, and represented a sort of compromise: Christian matter and pagan form. Psalm singing and lessons in scripture and church ritual were naturally given a fairly prominent place. Exegesis became the main subject of study, as we may see, e.g. from Eucherius’s Formularum spiritualis intelligentiae, Instructionum libri, Dialogorum liber. Scripture, he says, is to be discussed and explained ‘secundum historiam, secundum tropologiam, secundum anagogen’.[1095] ‘Historia’ is given a wide definition: all that comes under ‘veritatem factorum ac fidem relationis’. ‘Tropologia’ is to lead to the improvement of life and of the mystic intellect, and ‘Anagoge’ leads ‘ad sacratiora caelestium figurarum’. These two sides, which are speculative and philosophical, are developed at the expense of ‘Historia’; and falsely developed by abundant reference to allegorical explanation, which becomes a regular solvent of obscure questions.[1096]
Stress is also laid on the etymological side, which is rather unfortunate. Greek and Hebrew are studied to some extent, though the answers which Eucherius, following the example of Jerome, wrote to the questions of his son Salonius on these subjects suggest rather a low standard. Curious as this catechism is, some of the theological questions indicate considerable thought:
‘Scribitur in Genesi tentavit Deus Abraham, quasi ignorabat Dominus an fidelis Abraham foret.’
‘Si Deus hominem immortalem fecerit, quemadmodum potuit mori?’