Editing Bede (section)

=== Educational works ===
Bede wrote some works designed to help teach grammar in the abbey school. One of these was ''De arte metrica'', a discussion of the composition of Latin verse, drawing on previous grammarians' work. It was based on Donatus's ''De pedibus'' and [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]'s ''De finalibus'' and used examples from Christian poets as well as Virgil. It became a standard text for the teaching of Latin verse during the next few centuries. Bede dedicated this work to Cuthbert, apparently a student, for he is named "beloved son" in the dedication, and Bede says "I have laboured to educate you in divine letters and ecclesiastical statutes."<ref name="BedeVen31">{{harvnb|Brown|1987|pp=31–32}}</ref> ''De orthographia'' is a work on [[orthography]], designed to help a medieval reader of Latin with unfamiliar abbreviations and words from classical Latin works. Although it could serve as a textbook, it appears to have been mainly intended as a reference work. The date of composition for both of these works is unknown.<ref name="BedeVen35">{{harvnb|Brown|1987|pp=35–36}}</ref>

''De schematibus et tropis sacrae scripturae'' discusses the Bible's use of rhetoric.<ref name="ODNB" /> Bede was familiar with pagan authors such as Virgil, but it was not considered appropriate to teach biblical grammar from such texts, and Bede argues for the superiority of Christian texts in understanding Christian literature.<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="CM_xxvi">Colgrave gives the example of [[Desiderius of Vienne]], who was reprimanded by Gregory the Great for using "heathen" authors in his teaching.</ref> Similarly, his text on poetic metre uses only Christian poetry for examples.<ref name="ODNB" />