[143] Cassiodorus, _De Institutione Divinarum Litterarum_, Migne, _P. L._, 70, 1108 and 1141. In the former of these passages Cassiodorus discusses also the question whether there should be absolute reliance on divine aid in the interpretation of the Scriptures—in which connection he cites miraculous interpretations by illiterate persons—or “whether it is better to continue in the use of the ordinary learning.” He decides on the whole for the latter course. The fact that Cassiodorus wrote an account of the seven liberal arts shows perhaps that he was more benighted in his theory than in his practice. Gregory the Great, however, was more consistent and thorough-going. He stands as the typical example of extreme illiberality in the history of European education. His position is shown in the notorious letter addressed to the Bishop of Vienne: “A report has reached us which we cannot mention without a blush, that thou expoundest grammar to certain friends; whereat we are so offended and filled with scorn that our former opinion of thee is turned to mourning and sorrow.... If hereafter it be clearly established that the rumor which we have heard is false and that thou art not applying thyself to the idle vanities of secular learning (_nugis et secularibus litteris_), we shall render thanks to our God.” Gregory the Great, Ep. ix. 54. The translation is that given in R. Lane-Poole, _Medieval Thought_. Isidore is the second writer to deal comprehensively with the subject-matter of Christian education. Before giving an account, however, of the way in which he met the problems that were presented to him, it is necessary to glance at the educational situation as it then existed in Spain. It appears from the enactments of the councils of Toledo in the sixth and seventh centuries that the clergy as a body were beginning to be concerned for the education of their order.[144] An article of the council of 531 directs that as soon as children destined for the secular clergy are placed under the control of the bishop, “they ought to be educated in the house of the church under the direction of the bishop by a master appointed for the purpose”.[145] Another article[146] says that “those who receive such an education” should not presume to leave their own church and go to another “since it is not fair that a bishop should receive or claim a pupil whom another bishop has freed from boorish stupidity and the untrained state of infancy”. It is further directed that those who were “ignorant of letters” should not become priests. An article of the fourth council of Toledo in 633, at which Isidore probably presided, orders that “whoever among the clergy are youths should remain in one room of the atrium, in order that they may spend the years of the lustful period of their lives not in indulgence but in the discipline of the church, being put in charge of an older man of