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as [people in] religious orders do. And having settled in these places,
they met together three or four times a week
to provide solace to each other and to debate.
And each one reported on what he had found
and learned. And they continued to experiment this
way until they determined who was truly the most
knowledgeable and whom they found to have the greatest understanding.
By unanimous agreement, they elected him [to be their master].
He would hear the arguments of all the companions
and would report to all what each had actually said,
so that everyone agreed, and everyone would write
down what the master had said. In this
way the clergy were first established and set up.
And they worked so hard, and studied so much that,
with the help of Our Lord, from Whom all knowledge arises and abounds,
they were came to know a great deal of what comprises it [i.e. the knowledge].
But this was never done quickly, and
indeed they spent a very long time at it and studied a lot. And those who were the first
wrote down everything they understood and knew, as best they could,