John Milton (1608–1674) Joannis Miltonii Angli, epistolarum familiarium liber unus: quibus accesserunt, eiusdem, iam olim in collegio adolescentis, prolusiones quædam oratoriae (London: Brabazon Aylmer, 1674). Ee.4.22, sig. E2r.
Milton published this selection of familiar letters and prolusions towards the end of his life, perhaps with his posthumous reputation in mind. The prolusions were Latin orations that Milton delivered during his student years as part of his academic training. The seven collected here challenge the university as an educational establishment, satirizing what Milton considered the empty scholasticism of its curriculum. Prolusion 1, delivered in college, defends ‘day’ in the question ‘Whether Day or Night is the Most Excellent’. Milton wittily flouts the cardinal rule of rhetoric—to gain the goodwill of an audience—by railing against the idiocy of his fellow students: an audacious strategy that they seem, surprisingly, to have enjoyed.