JOHN OF SALISBURY’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE 
CLASSICS. 
A. C. KREY. 
INTRODUCTION. 
By most students of Medieval History, John of Salisbury 
is remembered—if at all—by the legend that he lost his arm 
in trying to ward off the fatal blow which fell on Thomas a 
Becket. Very few, indeed, know him for any other distinc¬ 
tion. He has, however, a more certain claim to our attention 
as the greatest classicist of the Middle Ages. Nor is this all. 
Were he merely a sedentary classicist—a scholar of the cloister 
or the school—he might arouse only a limited interest. But 
John is more than that. A man interested primarily in the 
world politics of his time, he stands forth as the great partisan 
of the classics against the rising tendencies toward a more 
“practical” and speedy system of education. 
This may sotand unusually familiar. It is not so long 
since the classics were routed from their dictatorial position 
in modern educational systems by the more “practical” courses 
and the teachers of Latin and Greek are far from accepting 
their defeat. Every person who goes on in higher education, 
to-day, is forced to settle for himself the problem of whether 
a liberal or a “practical” education is the best preparation for 
the rather fatuous struggle of life. It is therefore decidedly 
interesting to find John of Salisbury battling with almost the 
same problem eight centuries ago. It is still more surprising 
to discover that almost every argument urged in favor of a 
