In Europe from the beginning of the 14th century through the mid-16th century, the Auctores octo morales (Eight moral authors) were central to the Latin educational curriculum. The Auctores octo consisted of (1) Disticha Catonis (Cato) – a 4th-century collection of maxims attributed to Cato the Elder; (2) Ecloga Theoduli (Theodulus) – a 9th-century eclogue that subtly critiqued gynocentrism; (3) Facetus – a 12th-century book of manners; (4) Chartula contemptus mundi – a 12th-century poem emphasizing that worldly joys and honors quickly perish; (5) Tobias – Matthew of Vendome’s epyllion based on the biblical book of Tobit; (6) Alani Parabolae – Alan of Lille’s book of proverbs; (7) Aesopi Fabellae – 60 Aesopic fables written in verse by Gualterus Anglicus (Walter the Englishman); and (8) Floretus – a 12th-century poetic manual of Christian doctrine. In the 13th century, at the core of the curriculum were Sex Auctores (also called Liber Catonianus): Cato and Theodulus, along with Avianus (Aesopic fables), Maximianus (elegies), Claudian’s Abduction of Proserpina, and Statius’s Achilleid. The Auctores octo gradually replaced the Sex auctores in medieval schools.
A. M. Juster’s wonderful new translation of Maximianus’s elegies is a fine poetic resource for pondering aging in men, men’s impotence & a Greek girl hero. … Read the post Maximianus’s Greek girl mourned men’s complacent impotence
With greatly increasing sexual inequality, Dis in celibate Hell points to a grim future of civil war or other violence in Claudian’s De raptu Proserpinae. … Read the post in celibate Hell, resentful Dis threatens civil war & abducts girl
As the eminent medieval thinker Alan of Lille expressed in Liber parabolarum, trust isn’t inherent in woman. All that glitters isn’t gold. Men, beware. … Read the post Alan of Lille, Chaucer & Shakespeare knew all that glistens isn’t gold
Chiron was a good foster-father to Achilles until his mother Thetis took him, but failed to saved him from the Trojan War. Fathers can learn to do better. … Read the post what foster-father Chiron failed to teach his son Achilles
In Tobias, his 12th-century expansion of the Book of Tobit, Matthew of Vendôme clarified how Tobias differed from Sarah’s previous husbands. … Read the post Matthew of Vendôme’s Tobias shows medieval ideal of marriage
Floretus, a 12th-century Latin poem of Christian doctrine, describes six types of lust, marriage in Paradise, and 12 grounds for annulments. … Read the post types of lust, marriage in Paradise & annulments in medieval thought
Matthew of Vendôme’s 12th-century Tobias both expresses modern romantic ideals and provides an enlightened perspective on current gender equality dogma. … Read the post medieval understanding of gender more sophisticated than modern dogma
From Aesop to Phaedrus to Gualterus Anglicus, a fable describes Thais seducing a young man aware of her deceptions but satisfied with pleasure and betrayal. … Read the post no fable: Thais showed men’s propensity to believe women
With vigorous expressions of Contemptus mundi, medieval men rebelled against the gynocentric world and anticipated today’s MGTOWs. … Read the post contemptus mundi: MGTOW rebellion against gynocentric world
Like much education today, the late medieval schooltexts Disticha Catonis and Facetus instructed young men in subservience to women under gynocentrism. … Read the post making men into gynocentric drones: an example of medieval education