The Scholemaster Part 8

_Paraphrasis_ neuerthelesse hath good place in learning, but not, by myne opinion, for any scholer, but is onelie to be left to a perfite Master, eyther to expound openlie a good author withall, or to compare priuatelie, for his owne exercise, how some notable place of an excellent author, may be vttered with

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other fitte wordes: But if ye alter also, the composition, forme, and order than that is not _Paraphrasis_, but _Imitatio_, as I will fullie declare in fitter place.

The scholer shall winne nothing by _Paraphrasis_, but onelie, if we may beleue _Tullie_, to choose worse wordes, to place them out of order, to feare ouermoch the iudgement of the master, to mislike ouermuch the hardnes of learning, and by vse, to gather vp faultes, which hardlie will be left of againe.

The master in teaching it, shall rather encrease hys owne labor, than his scholers proffet: for when the scholer shall bring vnto his master a peece of _Tullie_ or _Caesar_ turned into other latin, then must the master c.u.m to _Quintilians_ goodlie lesson _de Emendatione_, which, (as he saith) is the most profitable part of teaching, but not in myne opinion, and namelie for youthe in Grammer scholes. For the master nowe taketh double paynes: first, to marke what is amisse: againe, to inuent what may be sayd better. And here perchance, a verie good master may easelie both deceiue himselfe, and lead his scholer into error.

It requireth greater learning, and deeper iudgement, than is to be hoped for at any scholemasters hand: that is, to be able alwaies learnedlie and perfitelie

{_Mutare quod ineptum est:_ {_Trans.m.u.tare quod peruersum est:_ {_Replere quod deest;_ {_Detrahere quod obest:_ {_Expungere quod inane est._

And that, which requireth more skill, and deaper conside- racion

{_Premere tumentia:_ {_Extollere humilia:_ {_Astringere luxuriantia:_ {_Componere dissoluta._

The master may here onelie stumble, and perchance faull in teaching, to the marring and mayning of the Scholer in learning, whan it is a matter, of moch readyng, of great learning, and tried iudgement, to make trewe difference betwixt

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{_Sublime, et Tumidum:_ {_Grande, et immodic.u.m:_ {_Decorum, et ineptum:_ {_Perfectum, et nimium._

Some men of our time, counted perfite Maisters of eloquence, in their owne opinion the best, in other mens iudgements very good, as _Omphalius_ euerie where, _Sadoletus_ in many places, yea also my frende _Osorius_, namelie in his Epistle to the Queene & in his whole booke _de Iusticia_, haue so ouer reached them selues, in making trew difference in the poyntes afore rehea.r.s.ed, as though they had bene brought vp in some schole in _Asia_, to learne to decline rather then in _Athens_ with _Plato, Aristotle_, and _Demosthenes_, (from whence _Tullie_ fetched his eloquence) to vnderstand, what in euerie matter, to be spoken or written on, is, in verie deede, _Nimium, Satis, Parum_, that is for to say, to all considerations, _Decorum_, which, as it is the hardest point, in all learning, so is it the fairest and onelie marke, that scholers, in all their studie, must alwayes shote at, if they purpose an other day to be, either sounde in Religion, or wise and discrete in any vocation of the common wealth.

Agayne, in the lowest degree, it is no low point of learnyng and iudgement for a Scholemaster, to make trewe difference betwixt

{_Humile & depressum:_ {_Lene & remissum:_ {_Sicc.u.m & aridum:_ {_Exile & macrum:_ {_Inaffectatum & neglectum._

In these poyntes, some, louing _Melancthon_ well, as he was well worthie, but yet not considering well nor wiselie, how he of nature, and all his life and studie by iudgement was wholly spent in _genere Disciplinabili_, that is, in teaching, reading, and expounding plainlie and aptlie schole matters, and therfore imployed thereunto a fitte, sensible, and caulme kinde of speaking and writing, some I say, with very well louyng, but not with verie well weying _Melancthones_ doinges, do frame them selues a style, cold, leane, and weake, though the matter be neuer so warme & earnest, not moch vnlike vnto one, that had a pleasure, in a roughe, raynie, winter

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day, to clothe him selfe with nothing els, but a demie, bukram ca.s.sok, plaine without plites, and single with out lyning: which will neither beare of winde nor wether, nor yet kepe out the sunne, in any hote day.

Some suppose, and that by good reason, that _Melancthon_ Paraphra- // him selfe came to this low kinde of writing, by sis in vse of // vsing ouer moch _Paraphrasis_ in reading: For teaching, // studying therebie to make euerie thing streight hath hurt // and easie, in smothing and playning all things to _Melanch-_ // much, neuer leaueth, whiles the sence it selfe be _tons_ stile in // left, both lowse and lasie. And some of those writing. // _Paraphrasis of Melancthon_ be set out in Printe, as, _Pro Archia Poeta, & Marco Marcello:_ But a scholer, by myne opinion, is better occupied in playing or sleping, than in spendyng time, not onelie vainlie but also harmefullie, in soch a kinde of exercise.

If a Master woulde haue a perfite example to folow, how, in _Genere sublimi_, to auoide _Nimium_, or in _Mediocri_, to atteyne _Satis_, or in _Humili_, to exchew _Parum_, let him read diligently _Cicero._ // for the first, _Secundam Philippicam_, for the meane, _De Natura Deorum_, and for the lowest, _Part.i.tiones_.

Or, if in an other tong, ye looke for like example, in like _Demost-_ // perfection, for all those three degrees, read _Pro_ _henes._ // _Ctesiphonte, Ad Leptinem, & Contra Olympiodorum_, and, what witte, Arte, and diligence is hable to affourde, ye shall plainely see.

For our tyme, the odde man to performe all three perfitlie, whatsoeuer he doth, and to know the way to do them skilfullie, _Ioan. Stur._ // what so euer he list, is, in my poore opinion, _Ioannes Sturmius_.

He also councelleth all scholers to beware of _Paraphrasis_, except it be, from worse to better, from rude and barbarous, to proper and pure latin, and yet no man to exercise that neyther, except soch one, as is alreadie furnished with plentie of learning, and grounded with stedfast iudgement before.

All theis faultes, that thus manie wise men do finde with the exercise of _Paraphrasis_, in turning the best latin, into other, as good as they can, that is, ye may be sure, into a great deale worse, than it was, both in right choice for proprietie, and trewe placing, for good order is committed also commonlie in all

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common scholes, by the scholemasters, in tossing and trobling yong wittes (as I sayd in the beginning) with that boocherlie feare in making of Latins.

Therefore, in place, of Latines for yong scholers, and of _Paraphrasis_ for the masters, I wold haue double translation specially vsed. For, in double translating a perfite peece of _Tullie_ or _Caesar_, neyther the scholer in learning, nor y^e Master in teaching can erre. A true tochstone, a sure metwand lieth before both their eyes. For, all right congruitie: proprietie of wordes: order in sentences: the right imitation, to inuent good matter, to dispose it in good order, to confirme it with good reason, to expresse any purpose fitlie and orderlie, is learned thus, both easelie & perfitlie: Yea, to misse somtyme in this kinde of translation, bringeth more proffet, than to hit right, either in _Paraphrasi_ or making of Latins. For though ye say well, in a latin making, or in a _Paraphrasis_, yet you being but in doute, and vncertayne whether ye saie well or no, ye gather and lay vp in memorie, no sure frute of learning thereby: But if ye fault in translation, ye ar easelie taught, how perfitlie to amende it, and so well warned, how after to exchew, all soch faultes againe.

_Paraphrasis_ therefore, by myne opinion, is not meete for Grammer scholes: nor yet verie fitte for yong men in the vniuersitie, vntill studie and tyme, haue bred in them, perfite learning, and stedfast iudgement.

There is a kinde of _Paraphrasis_, which may be vsed, without all hurt, to moch proffet: but it serueth onely the Greke and not the latin, nor no other tong, as to alter _linguam Ionicam aut Doricam_ into _meram Atticam_: A notable example there is left vnto vs by a notable learned man _Diony_: _Halicarn_: who, in his booke, peri syntaxeos, doth translate the goodlie storie of _Candaules_ and _Gyges_ in 1. _Herodoti_, out of _Ionica lingua_, into _Atticam_. Read the place, and ye shall take, both pleasure and proffet, in conference of it. A man, that is exercised in reading, _Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato_, and _Demosthenes_, in vsing to turne, like places of _Herodotus_, after like sorte, shold shortlie c.u.m to soch a knowledge, in vnderstanding, speaking, and writing the Greeke tong, as fewe or none hath yet atteyned in England.

The like exercise out of _Dorica lingua_ may be also vsed, if a man take that litle booke of _Plato, Timaeus Locrus, de Animo et_

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_natura_, which is written _Dorice_, and turne it into soch Greeke, as _Plato_ vseth in other workes. The booke, is but two leaues: and the labor wold be, but two weekes: but surelie the proffet, for easie vnderstanding, and trewe writing the Greeke tonge, wold conteruaile wyth the toile, that som men taketh, in otherwise coldlie reading that tonge, two yeares.

And yet, for the latin tonge, and for the exercise of _Para- phrasis_, in those places of latin, that can not be bettered, if some yong man, excellent of witte, corragious in will, l.u.s.tie of nature, and desirous to contend euen with the best latin, to better it, if he can, surelie I commend his forwardnesse, and for his better instruction therein, I will set before him, as notable an example of _Paraphrasis_, as is in Record of learning. _Cicero_ him selfe, doth contend, in two sondrie places, to expresse one matter, with diuerse wordes: and that is _Paraphrasis_, saith _Quintillian_.

The matter I suppose is taken out of _Panaetius_: and therefore being translated out of Greeke at diuers times, is vttered for his purpose, with diuers wordes and formes: which kinde of exercise, for perfite learned men, is verie profitable.

2. De Finib.

a. _h.o.m.o enim Rationem habet a natura menti datam quae, & causas rerum et consecutiones videt, & similitudines, transfert, & disiuncta coniungit, & c.u.m praesentibus futura copulat, omnemque complect.i.tur vitae consequentis statum._ b. _Eademque ratio facit hominem hominum appetentem, c.u.mque his, natura, & sermone in vsu congruentem: vt profectus a caritate domesticorum ac suorum, currat longius, & se implicet, prim Ciuium, deinde omnium mortalium societati: vtque non sibi soli se natum meminerit, sed patriae, sed suis, vt exigua pars ipsi relinquatur._ c. _Et quoniam eadem natura cupiditatem ingenuit homini veri inueniendi, quod facillime apparet, c.u.m vacui curis, etiam quid in clo fiat, scire auemus, &c._

1. Officiorum.

a. _h.o.m.o autem, qui rationis est particeps, per quam conse- quentia cernit, & causas rerum videt, earumque progressus, et quasi antecessiones non ignorat, similitudines, comparat, rebusque praesentibus adiungit, atque annect.i.t futuras, facile totius vitae cursum videt, ad_

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_eamque degendam praeparat res necessarias._ b. _Eademque natura vi rationis hominem conciliat homini, & ad Orationis, & ad vitae societatem: ingeneratque imprimis praecipuum quendam amorem in eos, qui procreati sunt, impellitque vt hominum ctus & celebrari inter se, & sibi obediri velit, ob easque causas studeat parare ea, quae suppeditent ad cultum & ad victum, nec sibi soli, sed coniugi, liberis, caeterisque quos charos habeat, tuerique debeat._ c. _Quae cura exsuscitat etiam animos, & maiores ad rem gerendam facit: impri- misque hominis est propria veri inquisitio atque inuestigatio: ita c.u.m sumus necessarijs negocijs curisque vacui, tum auemus aliquid videre, audire, addiscere, cognitionemque rerum mirabilium. &c._

The conference of these two places, conteinyng so excellent a peece of learning, as this is, expressed by so worthy a witte, as _Tullies_ was, must needes bring great pleasure and proffit to him, that maketh trew counte, of learning and honestie. But if we had the _Greke_ Author, the first Patterne of all, and therby to see, how _Tullies_ witte did worke at diuerse tymes, how, out of one excellent Image, might be framed two other, one in face and fauor, but somwhat differing in forme, figure, and color, surelie, such a peece of workemans.h.i.+p compared with the Paterne it selfe, would better please the ease of honest, wise, and learned myndes, than two of the fairest Venusses, that euer Apelles made.

And thus moch, for all kinde of _Paraphrasis_, fitte or vnfit, for Scholers or other, as I am led to thinke, not onelie, by mine owne experience, but chiefly by the authoritie & iudgement of those, whom I my selfe would gladliest folow, and do counsell all myne to do the same: not contendyng with any other, that will otherwise either thinke or do.

_Metaphrasis._

This kinde of exercise is all one with _Paraphrasis_, saue it is out of verse, either into prose, or into some other kinde of meter: or els, out of prose into verse, which was // _Plato_ in _Socrates_ exercise and pastime ( as _Plato_ reporteth) // Phaedone.

when he was in prison, to translate _aesopes Fabules_ into verse. _Quintilian_ doth greatlie praise also this exercise: but bicause _Tullie_ doth disalow it in yong men, by myne opinion, it were not well to vse it in Grammer Scholes, euen

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for the selfe same causes, that be recited against _Paraphrasis_.

And therfore, for the vse, or misuse of it, the same is to be thought, that is spoken of _Paraphrasis_ before. This was _Sulpitius_ exercise: and he gathering vp therby, a Poeticall kinde of talke, is iustlie named of _Cicero, grandis et Tragicus Orator:_ which I think is spoken, not for his praise, but for other mens warning, to exchew the like faulte. Yet neuertheles, if our Scholemaster for his owne instruction, is desirous, to see a perfite example hereof, I will recite one, which I thinke, no man is so bold, will say, that he can amend it: & that is _Hom._ 1. _Il._ // _Chrises_ the Priestes Oration to the _Grekes_, in the _Pla._ 3. _Rep._ // beginnyng of _Homers Ilias_, turned excellentlie into prose by _Socrates_ him selfe, and that aduised- lie and purposelie for other to folow: and therfore he calleth this exercise, in the same place, mimesis, that is, _Imitatio_, which is most trew: but, in this booke, for teachyng sake, I will name it _Metaphrasis_, reteinyng the word, that all teachers, in this case, do vse.

Homerus. I. Iliad.

o gar elthe thoas epi neas Achaion, lysomenos te thygatra, pheron t apereisi apoina, stemmat echon en chersin ekebolou Apollonos, chryseo ana skeptro kai elisseto pantas Achaious, Atreida de malista duo, kosmetore laon.

Atreidai te, kai alloi euknemides Achaioi, ymin men theoi doien, Olympia domat echontes, ekpersai Priamoio polin eu d oikad ikesthai paida d emoi lysai te philen, ta t apoina dechesthai, azomenoi Dios uion ekebolon Apollona.

enth alloi men pantes epeuphemesan Achaioi aideisthai th ierea, kai aglaa dechthai apoina all ouk Atreide Agamemnoni endane thymo, alla kakos aphiei, krateron d epi mython etellen.

me se, geron, koilesin ego para neusi kicheio, e nyn dethynont, e ysteron autis ionta, me ny toi ou chraisme skeptron, kai stemma theoio ten d ego ou lyso, prin min kai geras epeisin, emetero eni oiko, en Argei telothi patres

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iston epoichomenen, kai emon lechos antioosan.

all ithi, me m erethize saoteros os ke neeai.