Study of the Classics
You might be asking how I could afford to give so much time to these dissipations without neglecting my studies. I will not hide the fact that I could have studied harder. But remember that by paying attention at school I was able to learn as much as was necessary. In fact, in those days, I made no distinction between reading and studying, and I could easily recall material from books I had read or heard read. Moreover, my mother had trained me to get by on very little sleep, so I could read for two-thirds of the night at will, thus leaving the whole day free for activities of my own choice. I liked to devote some time to coaching and private lessons, and even though I often did this out of charity or friendship, others paid me.
At that time, there was in Chieri a Jewish bookseller called Elijah. I had come to an understanding with him because of my interest in the Italian classics. For a soldo per volume I could borrow books, returning them as soon as they were read. I read a volume a day from the Popular Library series.
In my fourth year of ginnasio, I spent much time reading the Italian authors. During the rhetoric year, I turned to the study of the Latin classics. I began to read Cornelius Nepos, Cicero, Sallust, Quintus Curtius, Livy, Tacitus, Ovid, Virgil, and Horace amongst others. I read them for pleasure, and enjoyed them as if I had understood everything. Only much later did I realise that I had not. After my ordination, when I took on teaching these masterpieces to others, I quickly found how much concentration and preparation were necessary to penetrate their true meaning and beauty.
My studies, extensive reading, and coaching of students took most of the day and a good part of the night. Often when it was time to get up in the morning, I was still reading Livy, which I had taken up the previous evening. This practice so ruined my health that for some years I seemed to have one foot in the grave. Consequently, I always advise others to do what they can and no more. The night is made for rest! Except in cases of necessity, after supper no one should apply himself to scientific things. A robust person might take it for a while, but it will always prove detrimental to his health.