Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/472

 He defended the views of the Orthodox Church against the Arian and Pelagian heresies.

Author:Priscianus Caesariensis.—A grammarian who lived and taught at Constantinople in the sixth century. His Latin Grammar was the basis for much of the grammatical instruction of the middle ages.

Expulsion of pagan books.—It is difficult to reconcile Comenius’ denunciation of the classics in this chapter with his introduction of them into his scheme elsewhere. In this phase of mind he does but return to the distrust displayed by the Church for the new learning introduced by the Renaissance. It is curious to note that no stress is laid on the Utilitarian and “pressure-of-other-subjects” argument now so frequently made use of. Comparatively recently (1850 and 1851) two French writers, the Abbé Gaume and Bastiat, have condemned the use of the classics in schools from a point of view very similar to that of Comenius. Gaume in a pamphlet, Le ver rongeur, maintained that all literature prior to Christ’s coming was devoid of morality, and that the Fathers should be read in preference to Latin writers of the golden age. Bastiat, in a curious book entitled Baccalauréat et Socialisme, objects to any study that will introduce school-boys to a people who, like the Romans, lived by robbery and oppression. “Cette nation,” he declares, “s’est fait une politique, une morale, une religion, une opinion publique conforme au principe brutal qui la conserve et la développe. La France ayant donné au clergé le monopole de l’éducation, celui-ci ne trouve rien de mieux à faire que d’envoyer toute la jeunesse française chez ce peuple, vivre de sa vie, s’inspirer de ses sentiments, s’enthousiasmer de ses enthousiasmes, et respirer ses idées comme l’air.”

Author:Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (died 562 )—Held high office under Theodoric and his successor. After the fall of the Goths he retired into seclusion and employed himself in writing works of a philosophic nature on grammar and orthography.

.—A renowned Italian Cardinal in the sixteenth century. Was secretary to Pope Leo X., and wrote with elegance in both Latin and Italian.

Author:Isidore of Seville (died 635 )—Bishop of Seville. Was a student of the classics in an age when they were generally neglected. Compiled a kind of encyclopædia entitled Originum sive Etymologiarum libri xx. Sketch of the Mother-School.—It is interesting to observe the development or rather the application at the present day of Comenius’ ideas on infant education. The following extracts from the French code of 1887 reflect the Comenian spirit very markedly:—

“L’école maternelle n’est pas une école au sens ordinaire du mot;