Europe. His translations were the medium whereby much of the lost Aristotle was restored to western civilization. He expresses himself as to Aristotle's greatness as follows.

Aristotle was the wisest of the Greeks and constituted and completed logic, physics, and metaphysics. I say that he constituted these sciences, because all the works on these subjects previous to him do not deserve to be mentioned and were completely eclipsed by his writings I say that he put the finishing touches on these sciences, because none of those who have succeeded him up to our time, to wit, during nearly fifteen hundred years, have been able to add anything to his writings or to find in them any error of any importance. Now that all this should be found in one man is a strange and miraculous thing, and this privileged being deserves to be called divine rather than human.

89. How Aristotle was Received at Oxford

(A description by Roger Bacon; trans. by Rashdall)

The following description by Roger Bacon, an English monk, who died in 1294, indicates a rather more tardy reception of Aristotle at Oxford than at Paris.

But a part of the philosophy of Aristotle has come slowly into the use of the Latins. For his Natural Philosophy and Metaphysics, and the Commentaries of Averroes and of others, were

translated in our times, and were excommunicated at Paris before the year of our Lord 1237 on account of (their heretical views on) the eternity of matter and of time, and on account of the (heresies contained in the) book on Interpretation of Dreams (which is the third book on Sleep and Wakefulness), and on account of the many errors in the translation. The Logicalia were also slowly received and read, for the blessed Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, was the first at Oxford, in my time, to lecture on the book of Elenchi (Sophistical Refutations), and I saw Master Hugo who at first read the book of Posterior Analytics, and I saw his opinion. So there were few (books) which were considered worth (reading) in the aforesaid philosophy of Aristotle, considering the multitudes of Latins; nay, exceedingly few and almost none, up to this year of our Lord 1292. So, too, the Ethics of Aristotle has been tardily tried and has lately been read by Masters, though only here and there. And the entire remain

ing philosophy of Aristotle in a thousand volumes, in which he treated all the knowledges, has never yet been translated and made known to the Latins.

90. How Aristotle was Received at Paris

(From Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, vol. 1; trans. by Norton) The hesitant attitude of the ecclesiastical authorities toward the study of Aristotle, and later his adoption as the great supporter and bulwark of theology, is well shown in the following regulations adopted at Paris, between 1210 and 1254 A.D.

(a) Church Council, Paris, 1210

Nor shall the books of Aristotle on Natural Philosophy, and the Commentaries (of Averroës on Aristotle) be read in Paris in public or in secret; and this we enjoin under pain of excommunication.

(b) Statutes of the Papal Legate for the University, 1215

The treatises of Aristotle on Logic, both the Old and the New, are to be read in the schools in the regular and not in the extraordinary courses. On feast-days (holidays) nothing is to be read except... the Ethics, if one so chooses, and the fourth book of the Topics. The books of Aristotle on Metaphysics or Natural Philosophy, or the abridgments of these works, are not to be read.

(c) Statutes of Pope Gregory for the University, 1231

Furthermore, we command that the Masters of Arts . . . shall not use in Paris those books on Natural Philosophy which for a definite reason were prohibited in the provincial council (of 1210), until they have been examined and purged from every suspicion of error.

(d) Statutes of the Masters of Arts for the University, 1254 None of Aristotle's works is now forbidden. Of the twenty-one in the list given in Reading 87, the ones marked with a* are now prescribed as regular texts.

91. Abelard's Sic et Non

(Cousin, V., Ouvrages Inédits d'Abélard)

As a teacher of theology at Paris, early in the twelfth century, Abelard (1079-1142) prepared a little textbook for the use of his pupils, entitled Sic et Non (Yea and Nay). It was in the form of a large number of questions as to Church dogma and practices, in which, after stating the question, he presented the arguments

on both sides as gleaned from Scriptures and advanced by the Christian Fathers, but drew no conclusions. In the introduction he stated his method, it being his desire to stimulate thinking. The following extracts indicate the nature of the work.

(a) From the Introduction to Sic et Non

In truth, constant or frequent questioning is the first key to wisdom; and it is, indeed, to the acquiring of this (habit of) questioning with absorbing eagerness that the famous philosopher, Aristotle, the most clear-sighted of all, urges the studious when he says: "It is perhaps difficult to speak confidently in matters of this sort unless they have often been investigated. Indeed, to doubt in special cases will not be without advantage." For through doubting we come to inquiry, and through inquiry we perceive the truth. As the Truth Himself says: "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." And He also, instructing us by His own example, about the twelfth year of His life wished to be found sitting in the midst of the doctors, asking them questions, exhibiting to us by His asking of questions the appearance of a pupil, rather than, by preaching, that of a teacher, although there is in him, nevertheless, the full and perfect wisdom of God.

Now when a number of quotations from (various) writings are introduced they spur on the reader, and allure him into seeking the truth in proportion as the authority of the writing itself is commended.... In accordance, then, with these forecasts it is our pleasure to collect different sayings of the holy Fathers as we planned, just as they have come to mind, suggesting (as they do) some questioning from their apparent disagreement, in order that they may stimulate tender readers to the utmost effort in seeking the truth and may make them keener as the result of their seeking.

(b) Types of Questions he raised for Debate

Of the 158 questions he raised and gave evidence on, the following are illustrative.

Should human faith be based on reason, or no?

Was the first man persuaded to sín by the devil, or no?

Was Adam saved, or no?

Nuts to who?

Did all the apostles have wives except John, or no?

Are the flesh and blood of Christ in very truth and essence present in the sacrament of the altar, or no?

Do we sometimes sin unwillingly, or no?

Does God punish the same sin both here and in the future, or no? Is it worse to sin openly than secretly, or no?

92. The Great Work of the Schoolmen

(Rashdall, H., Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, vol. 1, p. 365.
Oxford, 1895

The following statement gives a good summary of the organizing and reconciling work of the Schoolmen, as well as of their services in satisfying the intellectual hunger of the age.

The Dominican Theologians made peace between the contending factions by placing Aristotle and the Fathers side by side, and deferring as reverentially to one as to the other, except on the few fundamental points upon which the former could not be interpreted into harmony with the latter. The Scholastic form of argument, which attained its full development in Aquinas a chain of authorities and syllogisms in defence of one thesis, another series for the opposite view, a conclusion in harmony with Augustine or Aristotle as the case might be, and a reply to the opposing arguments by means of ingenious distinction or reconciliation afforded exceptional facilities for the harmonious combination of orthodoxy and intellectuality.

The Dominicans showed the Latin Churchmen how to be ingenious, startling, brilliant, even destructive, without suspicion of heresy. (Saint) Bernard would have been shocked at the idea of inventing or even of fairly stating objections to the Catholic Faith. By the time of Aquinas it was felt that the better the imaginary opponent's case could be stated, the more credit there was in refuting it. The scholar's intellectual enjoyment of thirty ingenious arguments against the Immortality of the Soul was not diminished by the thirty-six equally ingenious arguments with which the attack would immediately be met. In scholastic disputation . . . restless intellectual activity found an innocent outlet, love of controversy and speculation an innocent gratification; and into the love of controversy and speculation the real a.dour for truth and knowledge, which distinguished the age of Berengar and the age of Abélard, had for the most part degenerated.

93. The Justinian Code

(Justinian, Preface to the Institutes; trans. by Sandars)

The great compilation of Roman law known as the Corpus Juris Civilis was perfected at Constantinople by a staff of eminent

jurists, under the direction of the Emperor Justinian, in 529-33 A.D. It consisted of the Code, in twelve books; the Digest, in fifty books; and the Institutes, in four books. The first contained the Statutes of the Emperors; the second extracts from legal opinions by Roman lawyers; and the third was an elementary textbook for students, somewhat like the English Blackstone. In the introduction to the Institutes Justinian explains the nature of the entire compilation.

When we had arranged and brought into perfect harmony the hitherto confused mass of imperial constitutions (i.e. the Code), we then extended our care to the vast volumes of ancient law; and, sailing as it were across the mid ocean, have now completed, through the favour of heaven, a work that once seemed beyond hope (i.e. the Digest).

When by the blessing of God this task was accomplished, we summoned the most eminent Tribonian, master and ex-quæstor of our palace, together with the illustrious Theophilus and Dorotheus, professors of law, all of whom have on many occasions proved to us their ability, legal knowledge, and obedience to our orders; and we have specially charged them to compose, under our authority and advice, Institutes, so that you may no more learn the first elements of law from old and erroneous sources, but apprehend them by the clear light of imperial wisdom; and that your minds and ears may receive nothing that is useless or misplaced, but only what obtains in actual practice. So that, whereas, formerly, the junior students could scarcely, after three years' study, read the imperial constitutions, you may now commence your studies by reading them, you who have been thought worthy of an honour and a happiness so great that the first and last lessons in the knowledge of the law should issue for you from the mouth of the emperor.

When, therefore, by the assistance of the same eminent person Tribonian and that of other illustrious and learned men, we have compiled the fifty books, called Digests or Pandects, in which is collected the whole ancient law, we directed that these Institutes should be divided into four books, which might serve as the first elements of the whole science of law.

In these books a brief exposition is given of the ancient laws, and of those also, which, overshadowed by disuse, have been again brought to light by our imperial authority.

These four books of Institutes thus compiled, from all the Institutes left us by the ancients, and chiefly from the commentaries of our Gaius, both in his Institutes and in his work on daily affairs, and also from many other commentaries, were presented to us by the three learned men we have above named. We have read and examined them and have accorded to them all the force of our constitutions.