Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/87

 EDUCATION AND THE OLDER HUMANISTS 75 the four Evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles. I also read a work on " the four last things," on the nature of souls, a portion of St. Augustine's discourses to hermits, Augustine of Ancona's work on the power of the Church, an introduction to the study of jurispru- dence ; my uncle's assistant priests explained the Gospels of the Sundays and the feast days to me, Cicero's treatise on friendship, St. Basil's introduction to the study of Humanities, and Homer's " Siege of Troy." Eck also read many Latin and German books to himself. Thus prepared, he entered the University of Heidelberg in 1493 at the age of thirteen, and two years later received at Tubingen the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Examples of this early academic precocity are frequently met with. Johannes Muller, the mathemati- cian and astronomer from Konigsberg, entered the University of Leipsic at the age of twelve, and in his sixteenth year received the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Vienna. Johann Eeuchlin and Geiler of Kaisers- berg began their university studies at the age of fifteen. Johann Spieshaimer, called Cuspinianus, in his eighteenth year held lectures in the Vienna High School on Virgil, Horace, Lucian, Sallust, and Cicero ; three years later he became professor of philosophy, oratory, and art, and at twenty-seven he was chosen rector of the university. It may truly be said that for many centuries there had never been such an eager craving for the treasures of knowledge as prevailed at that period : there was the most zealous industry in earliest youth, and insati- able thirst for learning up to the most advanced age. In the school and in the home there reigned a discipline in every sense proportionate to a strong and hardy race. The rod was supreme. Even the Emperor Maximilian