“‘_Ne facias_’ dicas ‘_oroque ne facias_.’ _Humane_, _dure_, _large_, _firme_que, _benigne_, _Ignave_que, _probe_, vel _avare_ sive _severe_, Inde _nove_, _plene_, vel _abunde_ sive _proterve_, Dicis in _er_ vel in _e_, quamvis sint illa secundae,”
“Feminine is Linter, boat Learn these neuters nine by rote,”
in the twentieth century, seems to help the harassed student along the linguistic path. The reading of Virgil and Statius and some other writers put flesh upon these grammatical dry bones. But as the masters of grammar at Oxford were expected to be guardians of morals as well, they were expressly forbidden to read and expound to their pupils Ovid’s _Ars amandi_, the _Elegies_ of Pamphilus, and other indecent books.[543]
Next to the figure of Grammar is Rhetoric, with Cicero seated beneath. Cicero, with Aristotle, Quintilian and Boëthius were the chief exponents of rhetoric; with Virgil, Ovid, Statius, and sometimes such a book as Guido delle Colonne’s epic of Troy, as examples of literary style. John Garland (_fl._ 1230) recommended Cicero’s _De Inventione_ (_Rhetorica_), _De Oratore_, the _Ad Herennium_ ascribed to Cicero, Quintilian’s _Institutes_ and the _Declamationes_ ascribed to him. The third figure is Logic, coupled with the figure of Aristotle. The _Categories_ and Porphyry’s _Isagoge_ were the books of greatest service in the study of this subject; with Boëthius’ translations and expositions of Aristotle and Porphyry. All the foregoing and Cicero’s _Topica_ are selected by John Garland. Later the _Summulae logicales_ of Peter the Spaniard (_fl._ 1276), William of Heytesbury’s _Sophismata_ (_c._ 1340), the _Summa logices_ of the great English schoolman, William of Ockham (_d. c._ 1349), and the _Quaestiones_ of William Brito (_d._ 1356) were the chief manuals of dialectic.
The first figure in the representation of the _quadrivium_ is Music, with Tubal Cain beneath. In this subject, for which few books were necessary, Boëthius was the guide. With Astronomy is associated Ptolemy. The _Cosmographia_ and _Almagest_ of Ptolemy, and the works of some Arabian authors, with books of tables, were the student’s manuals. In our cartoon Geometry has Euclid for companion. Arithmetic is associated with Pythagoras in the picture: for this subject Boëthius was the text-book.[544]