Back to the Library
The Church Fathers · c. 370
Address to Young Men on Greek Literature
Basil the Great · c. 330–379
Read elsewhere
What it is
Advice to his nephews on reading pagan authors: take what is useful as bees take from flowers, and leave the rest.
Why it lasted
The single most quoted defence of classical education in Christian history, and a charter text of Renaissance humanism.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
Read next