Homily XXII., which is of considerable interest,
on the study of pagan literature, is really not a homily at
all. It has
often been separately published. In 1600 it was included by
Martin Haynoccius in an Enchiridion Ethicum, containing also
Plutarch’s two tracts on the education of boys and the study
of the poets, with which it is interesting to compare it.
Grotius published it with Plutarch’s De Legendis Poetis
at Paris in 1623. They were also published together by
Archbishop Potter at Oxford in 1691. It is a
short treatise addressed to the young on their education. It
would seem to have been written in the Archbishop’s later
years, unless the experience of which he speaks may refer rather
to his earlier experience, alike as a student and a
teacher.