he stands, the shade of a name once mighty, Like to the towering oak in the midst of the fruitful field." (Lucan, "Pharsalia," IV, 135.) It was not long before I made this discovery, and stretched myself lazily in the shade of that same tree.

I went to his lectures less and less often, a thing which some among his eminent followers took sorely to heart, because they interpreted it as a mark of contempt for so illustrious a teacher.

Thenceforth they secretly sought to influence him against me, and by their vile insinuations made me hated of him.

It chanced, moreover, that one day, after the exposition of certain texts, we scholars were jesting among ourselves, and one of them, seeking to draw me out, asked me what I thought of the lectures on the Books of Scripture.

I, who had as yet studied only the sciences, replied that following such lectures seemed to me most useful in so far as the salvation of the soul was concerned, but that it appeared quite extraordinary to me that educated persons should not be able to understand the sacred books simply by studying them themselves, together with the glosses thereon, and without the aid of any teacher.