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garrulousness of the dialecticians and their sophistical arguments. From all which instances it is gathered that knowledge of profane literature is not to be sought after by churchmen. But, on the other hand[N] one reads that Moses and Daniel were learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and Chaldeans. One reads also that God ordered the sons of Israel to spoil (_g_) the Egyptians of their gold and silver; the moral interpretation of this teaches that should we find in the poets either the gold of wisdom or the silver of eloquence, we should turn it to the profit of useful learning. In Leviticus also we are ordered to ... (_d_) Such a one is rejected by the evidence, as VI. quaest. I. qui crimen. Also, he cannot be a bishop. As XLVIII. dist. Sec. necesse. Nay he is called a dog rather than a bishop. As II. quaest. VII. qui nee. John. (_e_) Because he read them for pleasure not for instruction, as de conse. dist. V. non mediocriter. (_f_) That is, with profane wisdom which fills but does not satisfy,[O] (_g_) XIIII. quaest V. dixit.[P] ...offer up to God the first fruits of honey, that is, the sweetness of human eloquence. The Magi, too, offered three gifts, by which some would have us understand the three parts _(h)_ of philosophy. [The reader will note that the two paragraphs following belong more properly to the first part of the argument; they may be inserted just before the third paragraph above,--"From all which instances," etc.] Finally in his exposition of the Psalms, Cassiodorus bears witness that all the splendor of rhetorical eloquence, all the melody of poetic speech, whatever variety there may be of pleasing pronunciation, have their origin in divine Scriptures. Hence also Ambrose says concerning the Epistle to the Colossians: The sum total of celestial knowledge or of earthly creation is in Him who is their Fountain-head and Author, so that he who knows Him should not seek anything beyond, because He is goodness and wisdom in their completeness; whatever is sought elsewhere, in Him is found in its completeness. In Daniel and Solomon he shows that He is for infidels the source of all their eloquence and wisdom. Infidels do not so think, because they do not, in the Gospels and the prophets, read about astrology and other such
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