Prīncipia seu Rudīmenta Grammaticēs ex Īnstitūtiōnibus Emmanuēlis Alvārī ē Societāte Jēsū
Excerpta ad ūsum discentium, cum exercitiīs.
This is the first door into the classical education the world has half-forgotten. For two centuries the Jesuit schools were the best in Europe, and every boy who walked through their gates began in exactly the same place: here, with the Rudīmenta, the bare bones of Latin drawn from the grammar of Manuel Álvares (1526–1582) that the order made standard wherever it taught.
There was nothing gentle about it. Before he read a single line of any author, the beginner learned the paradigms by heart — every declension of the noun, every conjugation of the verb — reciting them aloud, day after day, until the endings were automatic and unforgettable. It was relentless, and it worked: the same drill shaped minds like Descartes and Voltaire, and the ruling elite of a continent.
The drilling was only the foundation. The education built on it had no rival, and it gave the Jesuits real power: they taught the sons of the nobility, heard the confessions of kings, and answered to Rome before any crown. That made the Society impossible to control, and easy to fear. Its enemies, within the Church and without, accused it of everything from meddling in politics to plotting the murder of kings, and one by one the Catholic courts turned on it. Portugal, France, and Spain expelled the Jesuits and seized their schools, then pressed the Pope so hard, even seizing his own lands, that in 1773 he dissolved the order outright. The method very nearly died with it.
I am bringing a piece of it back. This text is transcribed from a volume in my collection of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Jesuit schoolbooks, a single binding that holds the rudiments, Álvares' full De Īnstitūtiōne Grammaticā, and everything else a boy needed to begin. I am making a faithful diplomatic copy of the whole book, which you can download from the Index; and as I go I am publishing this — the same text, set out in a modern hand, with the paradigms turned into the very drills a magister would have made his pupils repeat again and again.
Terminationes
Omnium Casuum quinque Declinationum.
Singulariter.
| I. | II. | III. | IV. | V. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N. | a. as. es. e. | er. ir. ur. us. ius. u. os. on. | a. e. i. o. c. d. l. n. r. s. t. x. | us. u. | es. |
| G. | ae. es. | i. | is. | ûs. u. | ei. |
| D. | ae. e. | o. | i. | ui. u. | ei. |
| A. | am. an. en. | um. on. | em. im. in. | um. u. | em. |
| V. | a. e. | er. ir. ur. e. i. on. u. os. | ùt in Nom. | us. u. | es. |
| A. | a. e. | o. | e. i. | u. | e. |
Pluraliter.
| I. | II. | III. | IV. | V. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N. | ae. | i. a. | es. a. ia. | us. ua. | es. |
| G. | arum. | orum. | um. ium. | uum. | erum. |
| D. | is, ab’. | is. | ibus. | ib’. ub’. | ebus. |
| A. | as. | os. a. | es. a. ia. | us. ua. | es. |
| V. | ae. | i. a. | ùt in Nom. | us. ua. | es. |
| A. | is. ab’. | is. | ibus. | ib’. ub’. | ebus. |
Prima Nominum Declinatio
Musa, Nomen primae declinationis, generis faeminini, numeri singularis, sic declinabitur.
Declinantur omnia nomina in a, item Graeca in as, et es; sed Graeca in as habent accusativum in an, et vocativum in a, ut Aeneas, Aenean, o Aenea. In es vero habent accusativum in en, vocativum et ablativum in e, ut Anchises, Anchisen, o Anchise, ab Anchise.
Dea, Filia, Socia, Anima, Equa, Mula, Domina, Famula, Nata, Liberta, in dativo et ablativo plurali habent abus.
Exercitia
Secunda Nominum Declinatio
Dominus, Nomen secundae declinationis, generis masculini, sic declinabitur.
Declinantur nomina masculina in us, nisi ante us habeant i, ut Populus. Deus tamen habet vocativum o Deus.
Graeca in os habent accusativum in on. Quaedam vocativum similem habent nominativo, more Attico, ut Athos, o Athos.
Exercitia
Nomina in ius. Vir.
Ita declinantur nomina propria in ius, ut Pontius, o Ponti. Item appellativa, ut Adversarius; sed habent in vocativo ie, ut Adversarie. Sed Filius, o fili.
Vir, nomen secundae declinationis, generis masculini, sic declinabitur.
Masculina et faeminina in er, ir, et ur, ut Faber, Levir, Satur, declinantur ut Vir.
Exercitia
Neutra Secundae Declinationis
Templum, nomen secundae declinationis, generis neutri, sic declinabitur.
Nomina neutra tres casus habent similes: nominandi, accusandi et vocandi; ii autem numero plurali a littera terminantur.
Exercitia
Tertia Nominum Declinatio
Sermo, nomen tertiae declinationis, generis masculini, sic declinabitur.
Tertiae declinationis sunt nomina quae in genitivo crescunt, ut Lampas, lampadis; Pes, pedis; Lapis, lapidis; Flos, floris; Lepus, leporis.
Exercitia
Tertia Declinatio: Ovis
Ovis, nomen tertiae declinationis, generis faeminini, sic declinabitur.
Nomina in es vel is, quorum genitivus non crescit, declinantur ut Ovis, ut Clades, Ensis. Item monosyllaba exeuntia in duas consonantes, ut Pars, Arx. Et substantiva in ns, ut Fons, Mons, Serpens.
Exceptio. Canis, Panis, Vates, Iuvenis, Lynx, habent in genitivo plurali um.