Henr. Stephani Dialogus de bene instituendis Graecae linguae studiis

HENRICI STEPHANI

carried away, with a great loss of hours, but with little fruit: and therefore he had determined in his mind to write some booklet with a simple approach original: "rudi Minerua", where he would imitate the living voice of a teacher for the candidates of Greek letters, so that those who had already grasped the rudiments might have something to follow and something to avoid. PH. I have seen many who committed this very fault of which he complains, who are carried away (if it is permitted to speak with him in this way) reading various things up and down without selection: and whose diligence could be called reckless, just as he calls it. COR. Perhaps I have seen no fewer. PH. Do you think Clenardus was the first to bring this help to those who are deprived of the living voice of a teacher and are forced to learn Greek letters by their own guidance? For these are the very words added to the title. CORNEL. I believe he was indeed the first to bring that help to them in his own century, but I have no doubt that in the preceding centuries some preceded him with this type of writing (which, however, was unheard of by them). For how should I doubt, when I remember the book of Moschopoulos which is called Περὶ σχεδῶν Concerning the drafting of compositions, in which he follows the same way of examining grammatical precepts? PH. Has that book been printed? COR. Yes. PH. By whom? COR. By Robertus Stephanus, at Paris. If you wish, I will have it brought by the servant. PH. You will do me a favor. I am certainly surprised that the name of that book is unknown to me. His grammar, of course, is familiar to me not only by name but also intimately. COR. What judgment do you pass on it? PH. It is not for me to pass judgment on the work of such a man, especially since he was a Greek and preceded us by more than one century. But I await your own. For I know that you can act as a critic in this particular kind of literature. COR. To act

The recklessness of some learning the Greek language.

as a critic...