St. Augustine's View of Liberal Arts

St. Augustine says in his early work "De Ordine" that liberal arts serve as the ladder of philosophical dialectic. By philosophical dialectic, man can enter the order of universe. This view of St. Augustine can be traced back to Plato. In "Republic", Book 6〜7, Plato explains how to educate a man to be a philosopher by simile of Line and Cave. According to the simile, philosophical dialectic is the final step of education, and liberal arts are preparatory training for philosophy, because they are systematic and have logical coherence like the world of ideas, reached only by philosophical dialectic. The world of idea's system isn't based on the visible world, so it is almost impossible to learn philosophical dialect without having learned liberal arts. Liberal arts help to appreciate the order of the universe and to reach the ultimate wisdom. St. Augustine doesn't state definitely in his work, but we can read and understand his view of liberal arts by comparing with Plato