Auctores octo

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.