Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, Spanish by birth, Roman by adoption (35–96 AD), was the most important rhetorician of his era, but he was above all a great teacher, the first whose professorship was paid for by the state.
His work Institutio oratoria reveals a moving ability to observe the world of adolescence, an interest and attention uncommon in ancient literature, so much so that it can be considered the first pedagogical treatise in history. Docendo discimus: by teaching, we learn. This is how it is or this is certainly how it should be!
The decadence in oratory — that wonderful art of speaking in public, giving profound contents a well-structured, persuasive and effective look -, for him it was a moral problem, due to the degradation of values and customs: this can and must be remedied only with education, which must begin in the family and continue in a well-groomed and intelligent school; with a renewed seriousness in teaching, with a high and persuasive cultural offer.
We propose some passages from this work, whose relevance is both moving and disconcerting…
The first step concerns the debate between private school (at the time understood as education imparted by a teacher to individual children or to small groups at home) and public school, of which Quintilian is an ardent supporter. Of course, family education is the first fundamental step for the serious growth of a child…
They say that school corrupts customs: it certainly happens, but it also happens at home and there are many examples of it, just as there are religiously respected morals both here and there. The difference lies in each person’s nature and upbringing. Take a soul inclined to the worst, a neglect in the training and protection of childhood modesty, and isolated education will offer no fewer opportunities for vice. Even the domestic tutor may be dishonest, and the company of wicked servants is no less dangerous than that of vicious freemen. If, however, the nature is good, if the care of the parents is vigilant and prudent, one can choose the most honest tutor (which wise people take special care of) and an austere form of education, and nevertheless add to one’s son’s side as a friend a serious man or a faithful freedman, whose assiduous company is able to make even those who were feared better. But it would be easy to remedy this fear: if only we weren’t the ones corrupting the morals of our children! We are the ones who dissolve childhood in pleasures. That soft education we call indulgence breaks every nerve of the mind and body. The child who goes on all fours among the purple, what desires will he not have as an adult? He still can’t utter a word, he already understands purple and wants oysters. We educate the palate before the tongue: they grow on litters and if they touch the ground, they are supported on both sides. If they say something licentious, we are happy; words that would not be allowed even in Alessandria we welcome with laughter and kisses. But it’s no wonder: we teach them to them, they hear them from us, they see our lovers and our concubines; every banquet resounds with obscene songs, they witness shameful spectacles. From this first habit is formed, then nature. The unfortunates learn this stuff before they know that they are vices, then, spineless as they are, they bring these evils into schools, as well as receiving them.
The second step deals with the school teacher: he must feel great responsibility towards his students and always have a balanced and proactive attitude, combining authority and friendliness. He must love them and, above all, want their good.
It is not enough for the teacher to appear irreproachable if, with the rigor of his discipline, he is also unable to stem the behavior of the children who gather around him. Towards them, therefore, first of all take on the attitude of a father, and think of having taken the place of the parents who entrusted their children to him. He does not have vices and does not allow them in others. His seriousness does not take on the features of gloom and his friendliness is not exaggerated, so that, due to the first, antipathy does not arise and, due to the second, little respect. You speak unsparingly of what is honest and what is good: the more often you give advice, the more rarely you will punish. Be angry as little as possible, but do not pretend not to see the defects that need to be corrected, be simple in explanations, resistant to fatigue, assiduous but not excessive. He answers willingly to those who ask him questions, and on his own initiative he questions those who do not ask him questions. When praising the students’ exercises, do not be too narrow or too broad, since the first attitude makes studying boring, the second generates excessive confidence. When correcting mistakes, do not be harsh and do not offend at all, because the fact that some blame the children almost as if they felt hatred towards them, distances many from the intention of studying.
A final step concerns the students: their hearts and their ‘docile’ attitude are fundamental to the construction of their culture and their person. Interesting to think of as the adjective docile derivi proprio dal verbo latino docēreteach, and indicate who is well disposed to learning.
After having spoken so much about the duties of teachers, this is all I recommend to disciples: that they love teachers no less than their studies and that they consider them parents certainly not of bodies but of minds.
This filial respect will be of great benefit to study, because in this way they will willingly listen to them and believe their words and desire to be similar to them; then happily they will go to their school friends’ groups; if they are reprimanded, they will not get angry, they will be praised, they will feel pleasure and, thanks to their study, they will deserve to be very dear to the teacher. In fact, just as the duty of teachers is to teach, so the duty of disciples is to show themselves docile; after all, neither side has any reason to exist without the other. And just as the birth of man is caused by both parents and you will spread the seeds in vain if the previously prepared furrow does not nourish them, so culture cannot grow except with the concerted effort of those who transmit it and those who receive it.
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