The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

by Annie Murphy Paul

In the Romans’ highly structured system of schooling, students would begin by reading and analyzing aloud a model text. Early in pupils’ education, this might be a simple fable by Aesop; later on, a complex speech by Cicero or Demosthenes. The students would memorize the text and recite it from memory. Then they would embark on a succession of exercises designed to make them intimately familiar with the work in question. They would paraphrase the model text, putting it in their own words. They would translate the text from Greek to Latin or Latin to Greek. They would turn the text from Latin prose into Latin verse, or even from Latin prose into Greek verse. They would compress the model into fewer words, or elaborate it at greater length; they would alter its tone from plainspoken to grandiloquent, or the other way around. Finally, they would write their own pieces—but in the style of the admired author. Having imitated the model from every angle, students would begin the sequence anew, moving on to a more challenging text.