950 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts, and Letters . 
those of intermediate sources; and if he not only quotes hut 
shows great familiarity with the works of an ancient writer,, 
it is usually safe to conclude that he had read that authoi. 
Furthermore, if the works in question were current in John’s 
day; if they were used as text-hooks in the schools, this con¬ 
clusion would be materially strengthened. Lastly, if he 
makes such statements as “in . . . legisse memini” or 
“noster auctor” or if the work of an author is mentioned in 
John’s will as a gift to some library, he can reasonably be 
credited with having had the work. 
Whether or not John gets his quotations from one of these 
common intermediate sources must be determined by a com¬ 
parison of the passages in which such quotations occur. The 
accuracy of the comparisons made for this essay is unfortunately 
but unavoidably marred by the circumstance that the only ac¬ 
cessible edition of John’s works is contained in Migne’s 
colossal work which was so hurriedly put together that in 
questions of close textual criticism it is sometimes impossible 
to decide whether a variation is due to John or to the editor. 
In determining his familiarity with an author there are to be 
considered the freeness of quotation, the general similarity in 
the treatment of subject matter and his comments, or his criti¬ 
cisms of the author. 
The problem in the case of John, however, is further compli¬ 
cated by the great number of his quotations from the clas¬ 
sics—one thousand would be a very conservative estimate— 
very few of which can be found in the grammars and other 
standard books of that time. It is necessary, therefore, to as¬ 
certain his attitude toward the study of the classics, i. e. 
whether or not he was the kind of man who would go to the 
original for quotations. Then arises the question of whether 
or not it was possible at that time for him to have had access 
to so many classical works and lastly, on the basis of his quota¬ 
tions, what works he seems to have read. The first chapter 
accordingly will consider his attitude toward the study of the 
classics. 
