.. 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.
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