Scaliger encouraged Grotius to read the work of Martianus Capella, a writer from late antiquity who argued that education should be offered in seven liberal arts: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music. A year after Grotius left Leiden University, he published his translation of Capella’s book on education. The choice to translate this work and the preface Grotius wrote for this book are telling of his stance on liberal arts. In the preface, Grotius argues in favour of the liberal arts system, stating that only a broad, multi-disciplinary education can create good leaders. The book was published by the official university printer Christoffel Raphelengius, whose father Franciscus had taught Grotius Arabic at Leiden University.
Martianus Capella, Hugo de Groot, Satyricon, in quo de nuptiis Philologiae & Mercurij libri duo, & De septem artibus liberalibus libri singulares, book, 1599 [1499 E 20]