Krey—John of Salisbury and the Classics. 977 
“Unde illud apnd Senecam (alienum tandem).” 3 Aristotle was 
explained to the beginner at that time by the interpretation of 
Seneca’s “de dementia” and “de Beneficiis,” and that John 
was once such a beginner is shown by his quotations from these 
works. The “de Ira” and the Dialogues are also frequently 
drawn upon while the “Quaestiones Haturales” and the Letters 
are thoroughly ransacked. There is no allusion to the Trag¬ 
edies. In the list of the works of Seneca which John says 
ought to he read, all those mentioned occur, with the strange 
exception of the Tragedies. He owned a copy of the “Quaes¬ 
tiones Uaturales” and constantly quotes from it, especially in 
the Metalogicus. He was so familiar with Seneca that when 
the Cornificians cited him in support of the futility of the 
liberal education he was not only able to show that Seneca 
was not opposed to the study of grammar hut that he was a 
writer who ought to be studied as well as for his style as for 
his great moral teachings. John found his own language in¬ 
adequate to express his appreciation of Seneca and drew upon 
Quintilian. He regarded Seneca as almost Christian in senti¬ 
ment: 1 2 “Rationi Hebraeorum consentit Senecae definitio, esti 
ille aliud senserit.” 
The great historians of antiquity do not occupy so high a 
place in his regard. The passage in which he quotes Orosius 
in preference to the greater writers because they are too pagan, 
has already been cited 3 and in this he was quite consistent 
with himself and his age. In his eyes the great value of an¬ 
tiquity lay in the moral examples and teachings which it af¬ 
forded. He did not quote passages merely for the sake of 
quoting them. They must he brief and pointed and long de¬ 
scriptions of men and events tilled with pagan thought were of 
little use for his purposes. To he sure, he read some of them. 
Tor an educated man there was much of value in these his¬ 
tories hut it would not be proper to quote long passages from 
them in a work that was to he extensively read. Accordingly 
only short, significant sentences are used in direct quotation, 
1 Migne, p. 875. 
2 Migne, p. 925. 
3 See above, p. 965. 
