rom the Laws and the Canons, so forcible that,
while all were amazed, all were uncertain whether greater praise
should be given to the ornateness of the words or to the efficacy
of the arguments.[57]

The mode of lecturing on Roman Law at Bologna is thus described by
Odofredus (_c._ 1200-1265), a distinguished teacher:

First, I shall give you summaries of each title [i.e., each
chapter into which the books are divided] before I proceed to the
text; second, I shall give you as clear and explicit a statement
as I can of the purport of each Law (included in the title);
thirdly, I shall read the text with a view to correcting it;
fourthly, I shall briefly repeat the contents of the Law;
fifthly, I shall solve apparent contradictions, adding any
general principles of Law (to be extracted from the passage),
commonly called "Brocardica," and any distinctions or subtle and
useful problems (_quaestiones_) arising out of the Law, with
their solutions, as far as the Divine Providence shall enable me.
And if any Law shall seem deserving, by reason of its celebrity
or difficulty, of a Repetition, I shall reserve it for an evening
Repetition.[58]

The varied statement and restatement of the passage, implied in the
foregoing description, was doubtless necessary to make it intelligible
to the not-too-keen minds of the auditors. As Rashdall points out, it
"makes no mention of a very important feature of all mediaeval
lectures,--the reading of the 'glosses.'" This is mentioned in the
Bologna statutes now to be cited.

There are numerous statutes on the mode of lecturing. At Bologna, and
doubtless elsewhere, professors seem to have experienced the difficulty,
not unknown to modern teachers, of getting through the entire course
within the prescribed time. The students, who regulated the conduct of
their teachers, made stringent rules to prevent this, and punished
violations of them by fines large enough to make professors take due
caution:

We have decreed also that all Doctors actually lecturing must
read the glosses immediately after reading the chapter or the
law, unless the continuity of the chapters or of the laws
requires otherwise, taking the burden in this matter on their own
consciences in accordance with the oath they have taken. Nor,
with regard to those things that are not to be read, must they
yield t