The preceding units described the process by which a seven-to-ten year old boy, during his first
three years of attendance at a colonial Latin grammar school, learned basic Latin grammar (i.e. his
accidence), vocabulary, and how to parse and construe correctly. These skills were achieved by the
study of simple sentences, either dictated by the schoolmaster himself or borrowed from collections
such as Erasmus' Adagia, Leonhard Culmann's Sententiae Pueriles, and from the many editions of
Cato's Disticha, a collection of maxims gathered from a variety of traditional classical authors.

        Before the student entered the fourth level of instruction, he also set his hand to composing, or
at least copying, correct Latin from selections such as Clarke's The Making of Latin (see Unit II). In
the fourth year of instruction he also was required to translate consecutive Latin passages from authors,
such as Erasmus, Ovid and Tully (Cicero). To ease the transition from the simple sentences of a school
master, which were designed to illustrate rudimentary grammatical lessons, to consecutive Latin
passages from more challenging authors as Cicero, the student was introduced at some time in his third
year to continuous, and more complicated passages from Aesop's Fables in Latin and Corderius'
Colloquiorum Centuria Selecta.

        Corderius' book of Colloquies was a favorite in early American Latin grammar schools because,
in addition to teaching conversational Latin, it advised the student of proper conduct in and out of the
schoolhouse. It also encouraged the development of personal virtues, such as diligence, courtesy,
honesty, obedience to parents, respect for the schoolmaster, and love and fear of God. Although some
traditional, ancient authors, such as Cicero, Cato, Julius Caesar and Terence, are mentioned in these
dialogues, the vast majority of the text is devoted to instructing the young student to adjusting to the
daily challenges he would encounter in school. These challenges included the need for the constant
repetition of a lesson (Selection I), the recovery of a lost schoolbook (Selection II), and the need for a
note from a parent to excuse an absence (Selection III). Most editions of Corderius also included a
very literal English translation of the Latin text--a practice vigorously defended by John Clarke in
his 1724 edition of Corderius:

        Erasmus also wrote other, more famous and more theoretical essays on the techniques of teaching
and learning in general. His de pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis Libellus (1529), and his
extremely important and influential de Ratione Studii (1511), outlined in detail the classical authors
whom he recommended for study in the Latin grammar school (see Selection V). In this latter essay,
Erasmus also expressed his indebtedness for his own educational ideas to Quintilian, a Roman
educator who lived at the end of the first century AD and who wrote a lengthy treatise on the history
of Roman education (see Unit xxxx). Erasmus' indebtedness to Quintilian gives first-hand evidence
that the educational objectives and the content of the curriculum used in the grammar schools of
sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England, as well as in those of early America, show
a direct affinity to the curricular content and goals of early education in ancient Rome.

        Reading selections, "I, II, III" have been taken from John Clarke's 1724 translation of
Mathurin Cordier: Colloquiorum Centuria Selecta; selection "V" is from the same author's Erasmi
Colloquia Selecta: or The Select Colloquies ofErasmus: With an English Translation, printed by
Isaiah Thomas, Jr. at Worcester, Massachusetts, 1801.

        IV: From Erasmus-Colloquia (The "Naufragium")

                      A. Narras horrenda: est istuc navigare? Deus prohibeat quidquam
                           tale veniat unquam in mentem.
                      B. Imo quod memoravi hactenus, est merus lusus prae his,
                           quae nunc audies.
                      A. Audivi plus quam satis malorum. Inhorresco te memorante,                    5
                           quasi ipse intersim periculo.
                      B. Imo, acti labores sunt jucundi mihi. Ea nocte quiddam accidit
                           quod ex magna parte demit spem salutis nauclero.
                      A. Quid obsecro?
                      B. Erat sublustris nox, et quidam e nautis stabat in galea; nam sic              10
                           vocant,opinor; circumspectans, si viderat quam terram. Quaedam
                           sphaera ignea coepit adsistere huic; id est tristissimum ostentum
                           nautis, si quando ignis est solitarius, felix cum gemini. Vetustas
                           credidit hos esse Castorem et Pollucem.
                      A. Quid illis cum nautis, quorum alter fuit eques, alter pugil?                      15
                      B. Sic visum est poetis. Nauclerus, qui assidebat clavo, inquit, Socie,
                          (nam nautae compellant se mutuo eo nomine) videsne quod
                          soladitium claudat tibi latus? Video, respondit ille, et precor ut sit
                          felix. Mox igneus globus delapsus per funes, devolvit se usque
                          ad nauclerum.                                                                                                20
                      A. Num ille exanimatus est metu?
                      B. Nautae assuevere monstris. Ibi commoratus paulisper, volvit se per
                           margines totius navis, inde dilapsus per medios soros evanuit. Sub
                           meridiem tempestas coepit incrudescere magis ac magis. Vidistine
                           Alpes unquam?                                                                                             25
                      A. Vidi.
                      B.  Illi montes sunt verrucae, si conferantur ad undas maris. Quoties
                            tollebamur in altum, licuisset contingere lunam digito. Quoties
                            demittebamur, videbamur ire recte in tartara, terra dehiscente.
                      A.  0 insanos qui credunt se mari.                                                                     30
 

         V: From Erasmus-De Ratione Studii (1511):

Selection I. Corderius-Colloquium (#l)

L.4 with pensum, understand repeto.

L.7 una, adverb, "together," or "at the same time." coram, adverb and preposition; here used
           as a preposition with the ablative, "in the presence of."

L.9 provocasti = provocavisti.

L.10 esto, second person singular future imperative of the verb "to be."

L.11. with tu, understand es promptus.

Selection II. Corderius-Colloquium (#10)

L.9  museolum, translate as "small library (room)." qui reddat is a relative
            clause of purpose with the subjunctive.
 

Selection III. Corderius-Colloquium (#21)

L.1.quid sibi vult, translate "what does it mean..."

L.4 ut adessem matri, a purpose clause connected in thought with line 2.

L.9f utinam... studerent, optative subjunctive expressing a wish, the imperfect
            tense indicates a wish unaccomplished in present time. quid, in the sense
            of "what else."

L.18 nomine, "on behalf of" or "on the authority of."

L.22 cum satisfeceris, a cum causal clause with the subjunctive.
 

Selection IV. Erasmus-Colloquium - "Naufragium"

L.1 istuc, adverb, "(with respect) to that subject;" navigare, infinitive  used as
            noun, subject of est.

L.3 prae, preposition with the ablative, "in comparison with."

L.5 te memorante, an ablative absolute.

L.6 intersim, present subjunctive in a conditional clause of comparison,
           introduced by quasi.

L.8 ex magna parte, "to a large extent." demo governs accusative (spem) and
           dative or ablative of separation (nauclero).

L.10f nam sic vocant, understand eam as direct object, whose antecedent is
            galeam, a "helmet" or here "crow's nest" of a ship.

L.11 viderat, a misprint; clearly videret is needed here.

L.13 felix cum gemini = id est felix ostentum cum ("when") ignes sunt gemini.

L.15 understand est with quid; the antecedent of quorum is illis; understand
             erat with each alter.

L.18 sodalitium, or sodalicium, "companionship."

L.22 assuevere = assueverunt; monstris, not "monsters," but "wonders,"
            "portents" or "omens."

L.23 soros or sorbos, "timbers."

L.28 licuisset is a potential subjunctive, suggesting an action as possible or
             conceivable, although not necessarily desirable.

L.30 insanos, accusative of exclamation, antecedent of qui.
 

Selection V. Erasmus-De Ratione Studii - Chapters 2-3.

L.1f sibi vindicat "claims for itself;" ea = Grammatica. protinus, adverb,
            "immediately," or "from the outset." Trado in the sense of "propose" or "teach."

L.3  cognitu, supine governed by digna.

L.5 quam . . . quam, "than . . . than."

L.6 auspicari, "to begin well."

L.7 ita, "on the condition that;" literis perceptis, ablative absolute. See Quintilian,
                  Bk. 1. 1: "I would advise the teaching of Greek first  to a boy, because the Latin in
                   common use, will come of itself; and, as our Accidence has been borrowed from
                   the Greeks, it will not be amiss to be first versed in theirs."--translation from
                   J. Patsall, Quintilian's Institutes of the Orator in Twelve Books, (London, 1774),
                    p. 13.

L.10 "but if perchance one (the availability of a skilled teacher) does not happen,
             " i.e., "cannot be found."

1.11 auctoribus, ablative governed by utendum.

1.14 Theodoro Gazae = Theodorus Gaza (ca. 1400-1478), a refugee from
            Thessalonica, who studied at Mantua, taught in Italy, and wrote a Greek grammar
            which was printed in 1495. Erasmus translated the first two books of this Greek
            grammar into Latin. Constantinus Lascaris (1434-1501) also wrote a Greek
            grammar, Grammatica Graeca (1472) which was supposedly the first book published
            in Greek type in Italy in the fifteenth-century.

L.15f. Diomedes was a grammarian of the fourth century A.D.; with Diomedes
            understand primum locum sibi jure suo.

L.16 vindicat haud multum video discriminis, "I do not see much difference."

L.17f. Nicolo Perotti was an Italian philologist (1430-1480), who wrote Rudimenta
            Grammatices (1473). For additional information on all of the grammarians
            mentioned by Erasmus, see Craig R. Thompson, ed., Collected Works of Erasmus
            24 (University of Toronto Press, p. 667). citra superstitionem tamen, "short of
            extraordinary, however."

L.18f  ita velim esse quantum fieri possit, quam paucissima, modo sint optima,
               "so I would wish that as much as it is possible they (praecepta) be as few as
                 possible, but the best."

L.19 modo sint, a clause of provision which takes the subjunctive and is
             introduced by modo.

L.20 his refers to praecepta.

L.21f cum... tum, "not only ... but also." convictu, "by the living together."

L.24 ii, alternate form of ei, third person pronoun nominative plural masculine;
                  translate, "they," i.e., "those authors."

1.25 praeterquam quod, "apart from the fact that."

L.26 illecebra (inlecebra), "attraction" or "charm."

L.27f. with primas, alteras, and tertias, understand a noun such as partes. Lucian
                was a second century AD philosopher-satirist; Demosthenes was a fourth-century
                BC orator; Herodotus was a fifth-century BC historian; Aristophanes was a late
                fifth-century BC comic playwright and Euripides a late fifth-century BC tragic
                playwright; Menander was a late-fourth century BC comic playwright.

L.29. daturus eram; future active participle and esse constitutes the first, or active,
                periphrastic which denotes future or intended action; "to whom I certainly would
                have given first place."

L.30f. Terence was a second-century BC comic playwright; Plautus was a late
                third-century BC comic playwright; Virgil was a late first-century BC epic writer;
                Horace was a late first-century BC satirist and lyric poet; Cicero, the
                orator-politician, and Julius Caesar, the general-historian, were both active in the
                mid-first century BC; Sallust was a first-century BC historian.

L.31 argumenti, translate as "theme" or "subject matter." huic, "to this list."

        Although Erasmus' de Ratione Studii served as the master design for the direction which grammar
school education would take for several centuries in England, and eventually in America, the actual
Latin text of this essay was rarely read in America.³ His Colloquia, on the other hand, were so familiar
to the grammar school student in colonial America that Samuel Eliot Morison, in his comprehensive
history of Harvard College, claims that every "student brought from school to college a Bible, a Latin
lexicon, an edition of Cicero, and the Colloquies ofErasmus."⁴ Morison's claim for Erasmus might
appear to be an exaggeration, especially when Erasmus is put on equal footing with the Bible and Cicero.
But the educational practice of that era, however, supports Morison's claim for Erasmus' popularity, as
well as for that of Corderius. For example, the earliest regulations of the grammar school affiliated with
the College of William and Mary in Virginia required the use of both Corderius and Erasmus for teaching
spoken Latin:

        The sage and witty satirical introduction to the ways of the world and its manifold personages
which Erasmus' Colloquies presented to countless generations of students at an early stage in their
study of Latin, created, in all likelihood, a predisposition in them to enjoy, after their schoolboy days
had ended, this same genre of literature as it appeared in the weekly newspapers of early America.¹⁰
Benjamin Franklin, educated for a brief period at the Boston Latin Grammar School, surely recognized
that the reading audience, to which he directed his "Dogood Papers" and his "Busybody Papers,"
would appreciate the social and moral satire contained in them since it had been weaned on Erasmus'
satirical Colloquies in the early years of its grammar school education. Franklin's evaluation of his
audience's taste was not miscalculated. His own satirical essays received widespread and ready
acceptance in colonial Boston, and this genre of writing became a standard type in American prose
throughout the eighteenth century.¹¹

^{2 For a brief summary of Erasmus' early educational experiences see, William Woodard, Desiderius Erasmus concerning
the Aim and Method of Education, (New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1904), pp- 1-7.}

^{3 For the influence which the de Ratione Studii had on the curricular design of grammar schools in England,see James
Larkin's, Erasmus' "de Ratione Studii": Its Relationship to Sixteenth Century English Literature," (Urbana, Illinois: The
University of Illinois Press, 1942), p. 252.}

^{4 Samuel Eliot Morison, Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century 1 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University
Press, 1936), p. 159.}

^{5 James J. Walsh, Education of the Founding Fathers of the Republic (New York: Fordham University Press, 1935),
pp. 101-102. Corderius and Erasmus are again closely linked as the best examples of consecutive Latin passages for young
Latin students by John Clarke in his very popular (1720) An Essay Upon the Education of Youth in Grammar-Schools: "The
Matter of Cordery's Colloquies is such kind of Tittle-Tattle for the most part, as passes betwixt Boys, and therefore finds a
more easy Entrance into their Minds, and it is therefore most proper for them to begin with. The Classic Authors are, I think,
all too difficult for them. We want indeed an Introduction to the Classics. For tho' Cordery, and Erasmus, are Books proper
enough for them to read, in order to bring them acquainted with the most common Words of the Language; yet perhaps
something further would be convenient to prepare them more effectually for the Reading of Classic Authors .... Till such a
Help can be had, about a Hundred of Cordery's Colloquies, and eight or ten of the most comical, diverting Dialogues of
Erasmus, I think they should read before they meddle with a Classick Author." For additional remarks by Clarke, see
Wilson Smith, ed., Theories of Education in Early America 1655-1819, pp. 61-97.}

^{6 Pauline Holmes, A Tercentenary History of the Boston Public Latin School 1635-1935, p. 266.}

^{7 Morison, Harvard in the Seventeenth Century 2, p. 643.}

^{8 Perhaps the only other Latin teacher whose reputation challenged that of Ezekiel Cheever was George Wythe in Virginia
who is said to have learned his Latin from his mother by spending many hours in translating Corderius. See Imogene Brown,
American Aristides (Teaneck, New Jersey: Associated University Presses, 1981), p 2. Wythe was one of Thomas Jefferson's
closest friends while he was a student at the College of William and Mary and under whom he studied as an apprentice lawyer.
Jefferson, in turn, prepared his sister's son, whose father had died at a very early age, for more advanced Latin study by reading
Corderius: "I have not been without hopes that you might be able to reconcile yourself the same cares of the second, whom,
that no time might be lost while I should consult you on his behalf, I have also taken, have carried him thro’ his grammar and
about half through Cordery." See Thomas Jefferson to Overton Carr, March 16, 1782 in Julian P. Boyd, The Papers of Thomas
Jefferson 6 (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1952), p. 166. It is not certain how well Jefferson himself was
read in Erasmus, but as early as 1779 he attempted to purchasesome of Erasmus' works since a William Fleming writes from
Philadelphia on 10 August 1779: "I have procured all the books you wrote for except Erasmus, which is not to be had in this
place." See The Papers of Thomas Jefferson 3, pp. 63-64.}

^{9 For an excellent, brief description of the early and subsequent editions of the Colloquies, their content, popularity, and
literary characteristics, see Craig R. Thompson, Ten Colloquies: Erasmus (New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.,
1957), pp. vii-xxix.}

^{10 For an introduction to similar essays which had appeared at an even earlier date in London newspapers,see Angur
Ross, ed., Selections from "The Tatler" and "The Spectator" of Steele and Addison (New York: Penguin Books, 1982),
pp. 21-55.}

^{11 Elizabeth Christine Cook, Literary Influences in Colonial Newspapers 1704-1750 (Port Washington, New York:
Kennikut Press, Inc., 1966, reissue of 1912 edition), especially Chap. 1, pp. 8-30. Franklin states in his Autobiography that
his own early prose style was modeled after that of Joseph Addison, the classically trained author of the Spectator. He also says
that he began his "Dogood Papers" with a classical motto in order to charm the uneducated and to give the learned practice
in construing their Latin! See L. Jesse Lemisch, ed., Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings (New York:
New American Library, 1961), pp. 28-29. See also Richard M. Gummere, "Socrates at the Printing Press: Benjamin Franklin
and the Classics," The Classical Weekly 26 (1932), pp. 57-59. Among some of the Latin tags Franklin used in his "Dogood
Papers" are: An sum etiam nunc vel Graece loqui vel Latine docendus? (Cicero) - The New England Courant, 7-14 May 1722;
Mulier Muliere magis congruet. (Terence) -The New England Courant, 21-28 May 1772; Corruptio optimi est pessima -
The New England Courant, 16-23 July 1722.}

Revised September 11, 2002