not be read (as far as "But on the other hand,"
p. 64). Then he proves the opposite and afterwards gives the solution
(to "Then why," p. 68). The first two chapters are plain.

[SHALL PRIESTS BE ACQUAINTED WITH PROFANE LITERATURE, OR NO?]

=But the question (_h_) is asked whether these men should be made
acquainted with profane literature.=

Here is what is written upon the matter in the fourth
Carthaginian Council:

=A Bishop should not read the books of the (_i_) heathen.=

A bishop should not read the books of the heathen: those of
heretics he may read carefully, either of necessity (_k_) or for
some special reason.

So Jerome to Pope Damasus on the prodigal son:

=Priests are blameworthy who, to the neglect of the Gospels, read
comedies.=

We see priests of God, to the neglect of the Gospels and the
Prophets, reading comedies, singing the Amatory words of bucolic
verses, keeping Vergil in their hands, and making that which
occurs with boys as a necessity (_k_) ground for accusation
against themselves because they do it for pleasure.

Idem:

=They walk in the vanity and darkness of the senses who occupy
themselves with profane learning.[B]=

Does he not seem to you to be walking in the vanity of the
senses, and in darkness of mind, who day and night torments
himself with the dialectic art; who, as an investigator of
nature, raises his eyes athwart the heavens and, beyond the
depths of lands and the abyss, is plunged into the so-called
void; who grows warm over iambics, who, in his over zealous mind,
analyses and combines the great jungle of metres; and, (to pass
to another phase of the matter), who seeks riches by fair means
and foul means, who fawns upon kings, grasps at the inheritances
of others, and amasses wealth though he knows not at the time to
whom he is going to leave it?

(_h_) In this thirty-seventh division Gratian asks[C] whether one who
is to be ordained ought to be acquainted with profane literature. First,
however, he shows that the clergy ought not to give attention to the
books of the heathen.[D] Then he gives the argument on the other side
and offers this solution, that some read the books of the heathen for
amusement and pleasure, and this is forbidden, while some read for
instruction, and this is lawful, in order that, throug