Teaching, the Liberals Arts, and Quintilian
Quintilian in Institutio oratoria II.3:
"For my part, I do not consider a man a real teacher if he is unwilling to teach little things. But I argue that the ablest teachers can teach little things best, if they will: first, because it is likely that he who excels others in eloquence, has gained the most accurate knowledge of the means by which men attain eloquence; second, because method, which, with the best qualified instructors, is always plainest, is of great efficacy in teaching; and lastly, because no man rises to such a height in greater things that the lesser fade entirely from his view."
"For my part, I do not consider a man a real teacher if he is unwilling to teach little things. But I argue that the ablest teachers can teach little things best, if they will: first, because it is likely that he who excels others in eloquence, has gained the most accurate knowledge of the means by which men attain eloquence; second, because method, which, with the best qualified instructors, is always plainest, is of great efficacy in teaching; and lastly, because no man rises to such a height in greater things that the lesser fade entirely from his view."
