ABSTRACT
Guarino da Verona and Jerry Murphy have much in common. Both have been inspired teachers of rhetoric for many generations of students and both have gone down or will go down in history as great facilitators and promoters of their disciplines. Both have combined a deep concern for the classical sources of rhetorical theory with more modem didactic and practical preoccupations. In one majorrespect, however, they differ. Surprisingly, perhaps, in view of the publishing record of contemporaries such as Leonardo Bruni or Poggio Bracciolini, 1 Guarino da Verona published little: "Ancorché dottissimi" Eugenio Garin wrote of the great humanist teachers of the early 15th century, 2 "non scrissero libri originali; prepararono solo qualche sussidio al loro insegnamento: Vittorino un trattatelo d'ortografia, Guarino delle regole grammaticali, edizioni di testi, versioni, orazioni. Consegnarono, come Socrate, la loro parola non alle pagine mute, ma alle anime vive." 3 Jerry Murphy, on the other hand, has produced a prolific series of guides, aids, manuals, translations, and monographs to match his vigorous role as teacher and facilitator. Although the present chapter is devoted to some of the problems raised by a consideration of the teaching career of one of the great masters of the 15th century, its resonance with the commemorative purpose of the present volume should not be forgotten.
