indomitable perseverance, and I believe they would have turned
out great and distinguished men in Physical Studies, if they had
supported themselves on the great base of Literature, and more
closely followed the tracks of the ancients, instead of taking
such pride in their own discoveries.

All this is said with reference to the time during which I
attended on them. For one of them afterwards went to Bologna, and
there unlearnt what he had taught: on his return also, he
untaught it: whether the change was for the better or the worse,
I leave to the judgment of those who heard him before and after.
The other of the two was also a proficient in the more exalted
Philosophy of Divinity, wherein he obtained a distinguished name.

With these teachers I remained two years, and got so versed in
commonplaces, rules, and elements in general, which boys study,
and in which my teachers were most weighty, that I seemed to
myself to know them as well as I knew my own nails and fingers.
There was one thing which I had certainly attained to, namely, to
estimate my own knowledge much higher than it deserved. I thought
myself a young scholar, because I was ready in what I had been
taught.

Evidence external to this narrative shows that he now went to the school
at Chartres,--some sixty miles southwest of Paris,--which was one of
three great French schools of the period (see p. 10). During the first
half of the twelfth century it became famous under the teaching of the
brothers Theodoric and Bernard Sylvester, who are both mentioned in the
following passages. The school was distinguished in particular for its
devotion to Grammar, Rhetoric, and classical Latin literature; in this
respect it was in marked contrast to Paris, where Logic and Theology
were the prevailing studies.

I then, beginning to reflect and to measure my strength, attended
on the Grammarian William de Conches during the space of three
years; and read much at intervals: nor shall I ever regret the
way in which my time was then spent. After this I became a
follower of Richard l'Eveque, a man who was master of every kind
of learning, and whose breast contained much more than his tongue
dared give utterance to; for he had learning rather than
eloquence, truthfulness rather than vanity, virtue rather than
ostentation. With him I r