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History of the Planetary Systems from Thales to Kepler. Cambridge, 1906. Ebert, A. Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters im Abendlande bis zum Beginne des 11 Jahrhundert. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1880–89. French translation by Aymeric and Condamin. Paris, 1884. Flach, J. Études critiques sur l’histoire du droit romain au moyen Âge avec textes inÉdits. Paris, 1890. Gams, P. B. Die Kirchengeschichte von Spanien. 3 vols. Regensberg, 1862–79. Gleditsch, H. Metrik der Griechen und RÖmer mit einem Anhang Über die Musik der Griechen, 1901. (In MÜller, Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft.) Gow, J. A Short History of Greek Mathematics. Cambridge, 1884. GÜnther, S. Abriss der Geschichte der Mathematik und der Naturwissenschaften in Altertum. An appendix to Geschichte der alten Philosophie (MÜnchen, 1894) (MÜller’s Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft). Harnack, A. History of Dogma, translated from the 3d German edition by N. Buchanan. 7 vols. Boston, 1897–1900. 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Geschichte der Lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters. MÜnchen, 1911. (In MÜller’s Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft.) MenÉndez y Pelayo. Estudios de CrÍtica Literaria. 2 vols. (San Isidoro in vol. 1). 2d edition. Madrid, 1893. Meunier, L. Histoire de la mÉdicine depuis ses origines jusqu’À nos jours. Paris, 1911. Muirhead, J. Historical Introduction to the Private Law of Rome. London, 1899. Second edition revised by H. Goudy. Nettleship, H. Lectures and Essays on Subjects Connected with Latin Literature and Scholarship. Oxford, 1885. Nettleship, H. Lectures and Essays; second series, edited by F. Haverfield. Oxford, 1895. Neuberger, Max. Geschichte der Medizin. 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1906–11. Translated by E. Playfair. 2 vols. London, 1910. Parker, H. The Seven Liberal Arts in English Historical Review. Vol. 5, 1890. Poole, R. Lane. Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought. London, 1894. Prantl, K. von. Geschichte der Logik im Abendlande. 4 vols. Leipzig, 1855–70. Rashdall, H. Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. 2 vols. Oxford, 1895. Reifferscheid, A. Suetoni Tranquilli Reliquiae. Leipzig, 1860. Reinach, Salomon. Orpheus, Histoire gÉnÉrale des religions. Paris, 1909. Ritschl, F. W. Opuscula philologica. 5 vols. Leipzig, 1866–79. Roger, M. L’Enseignment des lettres classiques d’Ausone À Alcuin. Paris, 1905. Saintsbury, G. A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe. 3 vols. New York, 1900. Sandys, J. E. History of Classical Scholarship. Cambridge, 1903. Sandys, J. E. M. Tullii Ciceronis ad M. Brutum Orator. Cambridge, 1885. (The introduction contains a brief history of rhetoric.) Schanz, Martin. Geschichte der RÖmischen Literatur. MÜnchen, 1899–1911. Schenk, Arno. De Isidori Hispalensis de natura rerum libelli fontibus. Jena, 1909. Schmidt, C. Quaestiones de musicis scriptoribus Romanis, imprimis de Cassiodoro et Isidoro. Darmstadt, 1899. SchÖne, A. K. J. Die Weltchronik des Eusebius in ihrer Bearbeitung durch Hieronymus. 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System of Logic and History of Logical Doctrines. Translated by Lindsay. London, 1871. Vinogradoff, P. Roman Law in Medieval Europe. London, 1909. Volkmann, R. Rhetorik. MÜnchen, 1890. In MÜller’s Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft. White, A. D. Warfare of Science with Theology. 2 vols. N. Y., 1898. Wulf, M. de. History of Medieval Philosophy. 3d edition. Translated by P. Coffey, London, 1909. Wolf, R. Geschichte der Astronomie. MÜnchen, 1877. Woodridge, H. E. The Oxford History of Music. Vol. 1, The Polyphonic Period. Oxford, 1901. VITA The writer of this thesis was born in Prince Edward Island, Canada. He attended Dalhousie College, from which he graduated in 1894 with high honors in the Classics. He entered Harvard University in 1895, and received the degree of A. B. in 1896, and A. M. in 1897. From 1898 to 1908 he was Instructor, Assistant Professor and Professor of Latin at Colorado College, and from 1908 to 1911 Professor of History at the same institution. He spent the years 1908–9 and 1911–12 in the school of Political Science of Columbia University. He has taken courses with Professors Burgess, Dunning, Osgood, Robinson, Shotwell, and Sloane of Columbia. He is thirty-eight years old. FOOTNOTES [1] Cf. S. Reinach, Orpheus, p. 36. [2] Neoplatonism, the last phase in the decline of ancient philosophy, profoundly influenced the Christian philosophy of patristic and medieval times, for which it prepared the way. The “first principle” of this philosophy was “the supra-rational, that which lies beyond reason and beyond reality.” It was from this source that Christian mysticism and contempt for empirical knowledge were largely drawn. It has been said that Catholic Christianity “conquered Neoplatonism after it had assimilated nearly everything that it possessed.” Its influence was far greater in the eastern than in the western empire. See Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. i, App. 3, for a brief account of Neoplatonism. See also Encycl. Brit., 11th edition, Art. “Neoplatonism.” [3] Nihil enim Isidorus intentatum reliquit: facultates omnes attigit, scientias humanas divinasque pertractavit, scriptores veteres profanos et sacros evolvit, atque in suum usum descripsit; nec contentus etymologico suo opere scientiarum encyclopaediam comprehendere, multa singillatim in sacrarum litterarum interpretatione disseruit, multa in omni alio theologiae genere, multa in philosophicis atque astronomicis argumentis, multa in re litteraria, chronologica et historica. Arevalo, Prolegomena in Editionem S. Isidori Hispalensis, cap. 1, 3. [4] Arevalo in his Prolegomena, cap. 33, collects passages containing “laudes Isidori” from medieval writers, including Fredegarius, Alcuin, William of Malmesbury, Vincent of Beauvais, and others. Isidore is cited by Petrarch in a way which shows that he was much read in his time. Petrarch is giving authorities for his theory of poetry, and after mentioning Varro and Suetonius, he says: “Then I can add a third name, which will probably be better known to you, Isidore.” Cf. Robinson and Rolfe, Petrarch, p. 263. [5] Ac portenti quidem simile est, quot mihi antiquissimi Isidori Codices in Urbis (Rome) bibliothecis sed maxime in Vaticana occurrerint. Arevalo, Prolegomena, cap. 1, 7. Manuscripts of Isidore’s works are numerous also in Spain and France. [6] The editions of Isidore’s complete works are as follows: (1) that of de la Bigne published at Paris in 1580; (2) that of Grial, Madrid, 1599; (3) that of du Breul, Paris, 1601; that of Arevalus, Rome, 1796. Arevalus, in the Prolegomena to his edition, enumerates ten editions of the Etymologies between 1477 and 1577. Others of Isidore’s works appeared also in frequent separate editions. [7] See CaÑal, San Isidoro, ch. 7. [8] Martin A. S. Hume, The Spanish People, p. 45. [9] See Teuffel and Schwabe, History of Roman Literature, vol. ii, sec. 495, 1, and Poetae Latini Minores, 5, 357. [10] See Einhard, Vita Caroli Magni in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores (Pertz ed.), vol. ii, p. 456. [11] Another factor in the history of Spain at this time that may have had a slight influence on the culture of the country was the reoccupation of the southeastern part of the country by the Eastern Empire, which lasted from Justinian’s time down to 628. The region so held included even Seville for some years. [12] For the history of Spain under the Visigoths, see Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire GÉnÉrale, vol. i, chap. 3 (by M. A. Berthelot), and Altamira, Historia de EspaÑa, vol. i, c. 1. [13] In the Acta Sanctorum, Aprilis 1 (April 4) is the life of Isidore supposed to have been written by Lucas Tudensis (13th century). Arevalo also gives a life by Rodericus Cerratensis (also 13th century). These ‘lives’ are full of fables and cannot be trusted as sole authorities for any detail of Isidore’s career. [14] Severianus, Leander, Fulgentius, Florentina. [15] Gregory’s Moralia is dedicated to Leander. [16] Sancti Leandri Hispalensis Episcopi Regula sive de institutione virginum et contemptu mundi, in Migne, Patr. Lat., vol. 72, col. 866–898. [17] Isidori De Viris Illustribus Liber, cap. 41. [18] In one of Isidore’s letters, addressed to Duke Claudius (Claudio duci), he says: “Memento communis nostri doctoris Leandri.” This seems to point to formal instruction given by Leander, and possibly to the existence of a school at Seville. Migne, P. L. 83, col. 905. [19] Isidore, in his life of Leander (De Viris Illustribus, cap. 41), says: “(Leander) fluorit sub Reccaredo (d. 601) ... cujus etiam tempore vitae terminum clausit.” Ildephonsus, in his life of Isidore (d. 636), says of him, “Annis fere quadraginta tenens pontificatus honorem” (Migne, P. L. 82, col. 68). Gregory the Great has a letter to Leander and one to Reccared belonging to the year 598–599 (Migne, P. L. 77, col. 1050–1056). [20] Gams, Kirchengeschichte von Spanien ii, 2, pp. 89, 101. [21] Contemporary sources for Isidore’s life are: the passage in the regula of his brother Leander (Migne, P. L. 72, col. 892); the correspondence of Isidore (Migne, P. L., 83, col. 893); Braulio’s Introduction to Isidore’s works (Migne, P. L. 82, col. 65); the life of Isidore given by Ildephonsus, bishop of Toledo (d. 667) in his continuation of Isidore’s De Viris Illustribus; and the letter of the clerk Redemptus, describing Isidore’s death (Migne, P. L. 82, col. 68). [22] Sancti Braulionis, Caesaraugust. episcopi Praenotatio librorum Isidori, Migne, P. L. 82, col. 65. [23] The reference in this passage is undoubtedly to the difference between the colloquial Latin and that of the scholar. The same consideration may perhaps explain the decidedly peculiar comment of Ildephonsus on Isidore as a public speaker: “Nam tantae jucunditatis affluentem copiam in eloquendo promeruit, ut ubertas admiranda dicendi ex eo in stuporem verteret audientes, ex quo audita bis, qui audisset non nisi repetita saepius commendaret.” Migne, P. L. 82, col. 68. [24] This passage is found in Cicero, Academica Posteriora 1, 3, and is addressed to Varro. [25] Braulio’s list mentions a Liber de Haeresibus which does not appear in Arevalo’s edition, and fails to mention the Liber de Ordine Creaturarum and the Epistolae, which are included. Ildephonsus’s list is still less complete, leaving out the Prooemia, Allegoriae, Numeri, Officia, Regula, De Ordine Creaturarum, Chronicon, De Viris Illustribus, and the Epistolae. [26] Quadam propria origine. [27] Cato did not himself write on synonyms. But Isidore probably got this idea from the fact that synonyms were excerpted from his writings by later grammarians. See Teuffel, History of Roman Literature, 121, 6. [28] Migne, P. L. 83, col. 9. [29] There is a critical edition of De Natura Rerum by G. Becker, Berlin, 1857. [30] Isidore describes this ruler in his History of the Goths as scientia literarum magna ex parte imbutus. See Migne, P. L. 83, col. 1073. [31] “The higher meaning.” Compare De Natura Rerum, chapter 26, 4: “Per hunc Arcturum, id est, Septentrionem, Ecclesiam septenaria virtute fulgentem intelligimus.” [35] “La Suma TeolÓgica del Siglo VII.” MenÉndez y Pelayo, Estudios de CrÍtica Literaria, vol. 1, p. 149. [36] If Isidore had been as thorough-going as Gregory in depreciating the secular he certainly would not have written the Etymologies. His strongest anti-secular spirit is shown in the chapter (13) de libris gentilium of the Sententiae where, following Gregory, he denounces “all secular learning.” It is pretty plain, however, that he is here following his model rather than working out his own position, and in the last section of the chapter he modifies what he has said by admitting that grammar may “avail for life if only it is applied to better uses.” [37] It is not of great length—three hundred and twenty-eight quarto pages in the reprint of Arevalo’s edition in Migne, Patrologiae Latinae, with about one-fifth of each page occupied by footnotes. [41] The circumstances under which the Etymologies was written are referred to in Braulio’s Introduction and in the life of Isidore by Ildephonsus (both in Migne, P. L. 82, col. 65–68); in the correspondence between Braulio and Isidore (Migne, P. L. 83, col. 910–914); and in the preface of the Etymologies. [42] The oft-repeated expression, Latinis, Graecis et Hebraicis litteris instructus, found in the Vita Sancti Isidori, deserves no attention. There is no historical basis for the assertion that Isidore knew Greek or Hebrew. In view of the time, it would be more reasonable to demand proof that he did know them rather than that he did not. As to his knowledge of Greek, see Dressel, De Isidori Originum Fontibus in Rivista di Filologia, vol. iii (1874–75), p. 216. The legend of Isidore’s wide linguistic learning persists, however, even in the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. See Art. “Encyclopedia.” [44] The point has been made that Isidore shows his ignorance of the Greek language by the mistakes he made in the use of Greek words in his derivations. A few examples selected almost at random may be useful in this connection, although it must be remembered that the possibility of corruption in the text is always great. (a) 3, 22, 6. “Chordas autem dictas a corde.” (b) 3, 22, 8. “Lyra dicta ?p? t? ???e?? a varietate vocum.” (c) 12, 1, 35. “Camur enim Graecum verbum curvum significat.” Why Isidore in (a) does not give the natural derivation from ???d? is not clear unless his knowledge of Greek was very slight. ???e??, in (b), is a form that is not found in Greek. In (c) camur is not a Greek word written in Roman letters, as Isidore apparently thought. See Harper’s Latin Dictionary. Compare also the form in which Aristotle’s pe?? ????e?a? is cited: de perihermeniis, praefatio perihermeniarum, in libro perihermeniarum (2, 27). Isidore’s Greek has given his editors much trouble. See Migne, Patr. Lat. 81, 328, for comment upon it by Vulcanius, who edited the Etymologies in 1577. [46] For a brief account of Oriental influences in Roman religion, see Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire (London, 1898), ch. 4. [47] Younger Pliny, Epistles, 3, 5. [48] An outline of the contents of leading encyclopÆdic works, so far as known, is here given for purposes of comparison with the contents of the Etymologies.
This encyclopedia stands for the interests of the scholarly antiquarian rather than for those of the man interested in natural science. The work itself is lost, but the nature of its contents is fairly well known, thanks to St. Augustine. For further information regarding Varro’s encyclopedic works, see Boissier, Étude sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. Varron, Paris, 1861; and Geschichte der RÖmischen Literatur, Martin Schanz, MÜnchen, 1909, Erster Teil, Zweite HÄlfte, 187, 188.
The work itself has been lost, as also the greater part of the abbreviation of it to twenty books made by Pompeius Festus before 200 A.D. Festus’s abridgement was further abridged by Paulus Diaconus in Charlemagne’s time. It is regarded as certain that material in Isidore’s Etymologies came directly or indirectly from the De Verborum Significatu. Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, Oxford, 1885.
Dressel, De Isidori Originum Fontibus, pp. 243–247, in Rivista di filologia, 1874–75, gives an incomplete list of Isidore’s borrowings from Pliny. He points out Isidore’s carelessness in borrowing in one case where he shows that what Pliny tells us of the echineis, Isidore hastily assigns to the mullus. Cf. Isidore 12, 6, 25, with Pliny, 32; 8, 9, 70, 138–39.
This work is lost. It was an encyclopedia in at least ten books, of which the titles of some books and fragments have been recovered, a large portion of them from the Etymologies and De Natura Rerum. Among the subjects were leges, mores, tempora, mundus, animantium naturae. Isidore quotes Suetonius twice. See A. Reifferscheid, C. Suetoni Tranquilli Reliquiae, Leipzig, 1860, pp. 155 et seq., and Schanz, Geschichte der RÖmischen Literatur, Dritter Teil, pp. 47–66.
This work is, in part, in dictionary form (Bks. 1–6). There is much resemblance between passages in Nonius Marcellus and in the Etymologies, which Nettleship believes to be due to the use of a common source. Nettleship, “Nonius Marcellus,” in Lectures and Essays. Lindsay, Nonius Marcellus, Oxford, 1901. [49] Disciplinarum Libri IX. Bk. 1. Grammar. Bk. 2. Dialectic. Bk. 3. Rhetoric. Bk. 4. Geometry. Bk. 5. Arithmetic. Bk. 6. Astrology. Bk. 7. Music. Bk. 8. Medicine. Bk. 9. Architecture. (Conjectural list of disciplines given by Ritschl, Opusc. 3, p. 312.) [50] Martianus Capella, De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii. [52] E.g. Suetonius, Prata. [54] Dressel, De Isidori Originum Fontibus, in Rivista di filologia, 1874–75, discusses Isidore’s method of using his sources, and gives a list of writers and works to which he traces passages in Isidore, giving usually a list of the latter. The writers include Sallust, Justinus, Hegesippus, Orosius, Pliny, Solinus, the abridger of Vitruvius, Lucretius, Hyginus, Cassiodorus, Servius, the scholia on Lucan. Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, Oxford, 1885, devotes attention chiefly to the encyclopedic tradition, treating of Verrius Flaccus, the Glosses of Placidus, the Noctes Atticae of Gellius, Nonius Marcellus, and Servius. He treats of Isidore only by the way, and lays stress on his debt to Suetonius, Prata, and Verrius Flaccus, De Verborum Significatu. See pp. 330–336, and for opinion of Latin encyclopedic tradition, pp. 283–285. Reifferscheid, Suetoni Reliquiae, recovers several passages of Suetonius from Isidore. C. Schmidt, Quaestiones de musicis scriptoribus Romanis imprimis de Cassiodoro et Isidoro, traces Isidore’s De Musica to an unknown Christian writer. G. Becker, editor of De Natura Rerum, Berlin, 1857, discusses the sources of that work especially, tracing it to Suetonius, Solinus, and Hyginus on the one hand, and Ambrose, Clement, Augustine, on the other. H. Hertzberg, Die Chroniken des Isidors, Forsch. zur deutschen Geschichte, 15, 280 et seq., discusses the sources of Isidore’s Chronica, which he traces to Jerome’s translation of Eusebius with later continuations. The same writer also treats of the sources of The History of the Goths (GÖtt. 1874). H. Usener, Anecdoton Holderi (Bonn, 1877), p. 65, asserts that Isidore did not use Cassiodorus’ encyclopedia of the liberal arts. M. Conrat, Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des RÖmischen Rechts im frÜheren Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1891) treats of the sources of Isidore’s Leges, pp. 151 et seq.; as also Voigt, Jus Naturale, 1, 576 et seq., and Dirksen, Hinterlassene Schriften, 1, 185 et seq. Arno Schenk, De Isidori Hispalensis de natura rerum libelli fontibus, Jena, 1909, finds that Isidore wrote the De Natura Rerum and the Etymologiae from his collection of excerpts which is drawn from Ambrose, Clement, Augustine, Jerome, the scholiast on Germanicus, Hyginus, Servius, the scholia on Lucan, Solinus, Suetonius, and a number of the Roman poets. This dissertation is largely meant to show that Reifferscheid in his work, Suetoni Reliquiae, had gone too far in attributing passages found in Isidore to Suetonius. M. Klussman, Excerpta Tertullianea in Isidori Hispalensis Etymologiis, Hamburg, 1892, gives a list of nearly seventy passages borrowed by Isidore from Tertullian, at the same time pointing out that credit for the passages is nowhere assigned to the latter. [55] For example, Isidore evidently had a theory as to the origin and value of language, but he does not state it anywhere, although innumerable times he approaches the subject in an oblique sort of way. See p. 99. Again, he never tells us whether he believed the earth to be flat or spherical; he uses at one time language that belongs to the spherical earth, and at another, language that can have sense only if he believed the earth to be flat. Here we have not only no definite statement of the conception—although it must have existed in his mind, considering the frequency of his writings on the physical universe—but we have in addition the puzzle of deciding which set of expressions used in this connection was meaningless to him. See pp. 50–54 and Appendix. [56] For Isidore’s physical universe in general, see Etym. 3, 24–71; 13, 4–6; De Natura Rerum, 9–27. See pp. 142–154, 234, 243. [57] Isidore seems to have kept an open mind on the question of the number of the spheres. He says: de numero eorum [coelorum] nihil sibi praesumat humana temeritas. D. N. R., 13, 1. [60] See Appendix I. [61] De Quinque Circulis. “In definitione autem mundi circulos aiunt philosophi quinque, quos Graeci pa?a???????—id est, zonas—vocant, in quibus dividitur orbis terrae.... Sed fingamus eas in modum dextrae nostrae, ut pollex sit circulus ??t????, frigore inhabitabilis; secundus circulus ?e?????, temperatus habitabilis; medius circulus ?s?e?????, torridus inhabitabilis; quartus circulus ?e?e?????, temperatus habitabilis; quintus circulus ??ta?t????, frigidus inhabitabilis. Horum primus septentrionalis est, secundas solstitialis, tertius aequinoctialis, quartus hiemalis, quintus australis.... “Quorum circulorum divisiones talis distinguit figura (Fig. I). 3. “Sed ideo aequinoctialis circulus inhabitabilis est, quia sol per medium coelum currens nimium his locis facit fervorem, ita ut nec fruges ibi nascantur propter exustam terram, nec homines propter nimium ardorem habitare permittantur. At contra septentrionalis et australis circuli sibi conjuncti idcirco non habitantur, quia a cursu solis longe positi sunt, nimioque caeli rigore ventorumque gelidis flatibus contabescunt. 4. “Solstitialis vero circulus, qui in Oriente inter septentrionalem et aestivum est collocatus, vel iste qui in Occidente inter aestivum et australem est positus, ideo temperati sunt eo quod ex uno circulo rigorem, ex altero calorem habeant. De quibus Virgilius: “Has inter mediamque duae mortalibus aegris Munere concessae divum. “Sed qui proximi sunt aestivo circulo, ipsi sunt Aethiopes nimio calore perusti.” De Natura Rerum, ch. x. [62] The two passages in which Isidore states the theory of the zones correctly are from Hyginus, Poeticon Astronomicon (Mythographi Latini, ed. Muncker, Amsterdam, 1691). Cf. p. 146. [63] For a similar confusion of sphaera and circulus see Appendix I. [64] That this was Isidore’s conception of the land surface is evident from many passages (e.g., see p. 244) and is made certain from his map (p. 5). This map is found in an old edition of the Etymologies (Libri Etymologiarum ... et de Summo Bono Libri III, Venetiis, 1483) in the library of Union Theological Seminary. [65] Cf. Psalms, 104, 2. [66] De Ordine Creaturarum Liber, 4, 1–2. [67] 3, 71, 3. [68] De Natura Rerum, ch. 10. [69] For a clear account of the theory of the four elements in medieval thought see Les Quatre Elements, J. Leminne in MÉmoires couronÉes par l’AcadÉmie Royale de Belgique, v. 65, Bruxelles, 1903. [70] Etym., 13, 3. Cf. D. N. R., 11. [71] The theory of atoms is also stated by Isidore. See p. 235. It is not used, however, and is not fully stated. The part played in the theory by atoms of different sizes is not mentioned, and although “the void” is mentioned, its importance is not brought out. [72] See Art. “Chemistry,” Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition. [73] Etym., 13, 5, 1. [74] Diff., 1, 82. [75] De Ordine Creat. Liber, 4, 5–6. Cf. D. N. R., 11. The problem of “the waters above the firmament,” which occupied the minds of the church fathers so much, and which is at variance with the cosmological side of the theory of the four elements, Isidore seems inclined to settle by regarding it as a miracle. Cf. D. N. R., 14. [76] In the De Natura Rerum and the De Ordine Creaturarum, as well as in Books XIII-XIV of the Etymologies, Isidore follows the order of the four elements in describing the universe. His fidelity to this order, as well as the variations of emphasis and of minor treatment which he introduced into it, are of interest. These may be exhibited in parallel form as follows:
This table indicates the great stress Isidore laid upon the cosmological side of the theory of the four elements, as well as his tendency to use his large general ideas in relating the individual branches of knowledge. Here astronomy, meteorology, and geography are thus grouped together, and angelology is put into relation with astronomy and demonology with meteorology. [77] Etym., 13, 3, 3, and 8, 11, 17. [78] Diff., 2, 17, 48. [79] Diff., 2, 17, 67. [80] Here blood and the element, air, are related; the passage quoted in the preceding paragraph shows a similar relation between blood and the element water. Such inconsistencies are extremely common. [81] Etym., 4. 5. [82] Etym., 4, 7, 4. [83] Etym., 13, 7, 1. [84] Etym., 13, 3. [85] Etym., 13, 7. Almost side by side with this explanation of rain is another which says that rains “arise from an exhalation from land and sea, which being carried aloft falls in drops on the lands, being acted upon by the sun’s heat, or condensed by strong winds,” 13, 10, 2. Lightning is explained as caused by the collision of clouds (13, 9, 1); thunder, by their bursting (13, 8); the rainbow, by the sun shining into a hollow cloud (13, 10, 1). [86] D. N. R., 7, 4. Cf. Etym., 5, 35, 1. [87] Sent., 1, 11, 1. [88] “Mundus est universitas omnis, quae constat ex coelo et terra.... Secundum mysticum sensum, mundus competenter homo significatur, quia sicut ille ex quatuor concretus est elementis, ita et iste constat quatuor humoribus uno temperamento commistis. Unde et veteres hominem in communionem fabricae mundi constituerunt. Siquidem Graece mundus ??s??, homo autem ??????s??, id est minor mundus, est appellatus.” D. N. R., 9, 2, and 3. Cf. 11, 3. [89] Sentent., 1, 8, 1–2. [90] Etym., 16, 25, 19. [91] Etym., 1, 3, 4. Cf. 6, 1, 3. [92] Etym., 11, 1, 109. Cf. Diff., 2, 17, 56 and 71. [93] While this mode of viewing the universe had its origin in pagan antiquity, and even earlier, its scope was greatly enlarged by Christian thinkers. Living in a world whose general constitution and purpose they thought they thoroughly understood, they were confident that even in its smallest details there could be perceived a conscious adaptation to the whole. This idea they often carried so far as seemingly to leave no place for chance or convention. Each trifling matter was given a meaning that was greater than itself. [94] Etym., 16, 26, 10. [95] Etym., 16, 25, 20. [96] Etym., 3, 23, 2. [97] Etym., 3, 4, 3. [98] The explanation suggested accounts for the prevalence of allegory in medieval times. Among the less comprehensive and not characteristically medieval causes for it must be reckoned the influence of the parables that are explained in the New Testament, the occasional grossness of Biblical characters and language which called for an interpretation that would remove offence and offer edification, the congenial activity which allegorizing offered to the pious mind, and, finally, the fact that by a clever use of allegorical interpretation some desired end might be obtained. [99] Migne, P. L., 83, col. 303. “Inter haec igitur omnia decem praecepta solum ibi quod de Sabbato positum est figurate observandum praecipitur. Quam figuram nos intelligendam, non etiam per otium corporale celebrandam, suscipimus. Reliqua tamen ibi praecepta proprie praecepta sunt, quae sine ulla figurata significatione observantur. Nihil enim mystice significant, sed sic intelliguntur ut sonant. Et notandum quia sicut decem plagis percutiuntur Aegyptii, sic decem praeceptis conscribuntur tabulae, quibus regantur populi Dei.” The Scriptures were for Isidore un vasto simbolismo (CaÑal, San Isidoro, p. 51). [100] D. N. R., 29, 2. [101] De Natura Rerum, 14, 2. [102] Sent., 1, 8, 6. [103] Etym., 11, 3, 1 and 2. [104] Diff., 2, 100. [105] Diff., 2, 92. [106] Diff., 2, 97. [107] Sentent., 3, 3, 5. [108] Sentent., 3, 16, 5. [109] Etym., 8, 3, 2–3. [110] Jerome, In Isaiam, Lib. xi, ch. 40. “Ita universa gentium multitudo supernis ministeriis et angelorum multitudini comparata pro nihilo ducitur.” Cf. Etym., 7, 5, 19. [111] Etym., 7, 5, 24. [112] For appearance to man. Cf. Angeli corpora in quibus hominibus apparent, de superno aere sumunt. Sentent., 1, 10, 19. [113] Diff., 2, 41. [114] Sentent., 1, 10, 16. [115] Sentent., 1, 10, 13. [116] De Ord. Creat., 8, 7–10. [117] Diff., 2, 41. [118] Sentent., 1, 10, 17. [119] Sentent., 3, 5, 35–36. [121] Four definitions are given, 2, 24, 3 and 9. Cf. 8, 6, 1; Diff., 2, 149. See pp. 116–119. For the marshaling of the minor subjects under philosophy see Appendix II. [122] Sentent., 1, 17, 1–4. [123] Etym., 8, 6, 23. In books VII and VIII of the Etymologies, where the subjects taken up appear to be treated in the order of merit, the place of the pagan philosophers in the list is an instructive one. The list is as follows: God, the persons of the Trinity, angels, patriarchs, prophets and martyrs, the clergy, the faithful, heretics, pagan philosophers, poets, sibyls, magi, the heathen, and heathen gods, who are the equivalent of demons. See p. 196, note. [124] 8, 7, 10. [126] 8, 7, 1. [127] Sentent., 3, 13, 1. It seems extremely probable that Isidore did not quote from the poets directly but merely appropriated along with other material the quotations contained in the sources which he consulted. [128] “Illud trimodum intelligentiae genus,” Diff., 2, 154. Cf. “Tripliciter autem scribitur, dum non solum historialiter vel mystice sed etiam moraliter quid in unum quodque gerere debeat edocetur.” Contra Judaeos, 2, 20. See also De Ord. Creat., 10, 4–7 and Etym., 6, 1, 11 (p. 186). [129] De Universo is published in Migne, Patr. Lat., 3. In the preface Rabanus says: “Much is set forth in this work concerning the natures of things and the meanings of words and also as to the mystical signification of things. Accordingly I have arranged my matter so that the reader may find the historical and mystical explanations of each thing set together (continuatim positam); and so may be able to satisfy his desire to know both significations.” Isidore’s Etymologies is said to have been left unfinished (quamvis imperfectum ipse reliquerit. Braulio’s Introduction. See p. 25). The conjecture may be offered that the finishing of the work might have meant chiefly the insertion of “the higher meaning”. [130] Sentent., 2, 1, 14. [131] Sentent., 1, 17, 2. [132] Cuvier, Histoire des Sciences Naturelles, vol. i, pp. 260–280. [133] Cf. Isidore’s attitude: “The histories of the gentiles do no harm where they tell of what is profitable,” 1, 41, 1. See p. 103. [135] 5, 38, 5; 5, 39. [136] 9, 1, 1. [137] 9, 2, 132. [138] The basis on which the canon of the seven liberal arts was formed is indicated by a passage in Martianus Capella, who makes Apollo say in regard to the exclusion of medicine and architecture from it that “their attention and skill is given to mortal and earthly things, and they have nothing in common with the ether and the gods; it is not unseemly to reject them with loathing.” (Ed. Eyssenhardt, IV, 13). The Christian Isidore held much the same notion as the pagan Capella. He believed that the order of the seven liberal arts terminating in astronomy was one whose object was “to free souls entangled by secular wisdom from earthly matters and set them at meditation upon the things on high” (3, 71, 41). See also pp. 65, 77. It is plain enough that education in both the pagan and Christian spheres was strongly affected by the mystical tendency of the time, and it is not too much to say that the seven liberal arts stand not so much for the impracticality of a “gentleman’s” education as for that desirable in the education of a mystic. [139] Cf. CaÑal, San Isidoro (Sevilla, 1897), p. 23. [140] Cf. Roger, L’Enseignement des lettres classiques d’Ausone À Alcuin (Paris, 1905), pp. 126–129. [141] Of Augustine’s treatises on grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, and music, all but that on music were lost within a very short time. They could have had but little influence. Cf. Retract., 1, c. 6, and Teuffel and Schwabe, History of Roman Literature, Sect. 440, 7. [142] M. Aurelii Cassiodori, De Institutione Divinarum Litterarum and De Artibus ac Disciplinis Liberalium Litterarum. In Migne, P. L., vol. 70. [143] Cassiodorus, De Institutione Divinarum Litterarum, Migne, P. L., 70, 1108 and 1141. In the former of these passages Cassiodorus discusses also the question whether there should be absolute reliance on divine aid in the interpretation of the Scriptures—in which connection he cites miraculous interpretations by illiterate persons—or “whether it is better to continue in the use of the ordinary learning.” He decides on the whole for the latter course. The fact that Cassiodorus wrote an account of the seven liberal arts shows perhaps that he was more benighted in his theory than in his practice. Gregory the Great, however, was more consistent and thorough-going. He stands as the typical example of extreme illiberality in the history of European education. His position is shown in the notorious letter addressed to the Bishop of Vienne: “A report has reached us which we cannot mention without a blush, that thou expoundest grammar to certain friends; whereat we are so offended and filled with scorn that our former opinion of thee is turned to mourning and sorrow.... If hereafter it be clearly established that the rumor which we have heard is false and that thou art not applying thyself to the idle vanities of secular learning (nugis et secularibus litteris), we shall render thanks to our God.” Gregory the Great, Ep. ix. 54. The translation is that given in R. Lane-Poole, Medieval Thought. [144] The second council of Toledo (531) devoted especial attention to the subject of preparation for the priesthood. See Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum Collectio (Florence, 1764), vol. 8 (Concilium Toletanum II). [145] Mansi, vol. 8, p. 785. [146] Cap. 2. [147] Mansi, vol. 10, p. 626 (Concilium Toletanum, IV, Cap. 24). [148] Isidore’s Regula Monachorum, 20, 5. [150] Etym., 3, 71, 41. [151] To this conception of the time, that the secular side of education was a necessary evil, of which a minimum use must be made, the school disciplines had in reality been adapting themselves for centuries by their growing formalism and loss of content. Among the seven liberal arts rhetoric is the best example of the former characteristic. It was so purely conventional a discipline in Isidore’s time that, even though he wrote of it, he confesses that it made no impression on him, either good or bad. “When it is laid aside,” he says, “all recollection vanishes.” The loss of content, on the other hand, is best seen in Isidore’s account of the four mathematical sciences, especially in that of geometry, which consists of nothing more than a few definitions. [153] However, Cassiodorus had in the De Institutione Divinarum Litterarum a chapter entitled “On monks having the care of the infirm”. In this he urged upon them the reading of a number of medical works (those of Dioscorides, Hippocrates, Galen, Caelius Aurelianus, and “various others”. Migne, P. L., 70, 1146). [155] See Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, pp. 6–10. [156] It is still in existence. The best text is that of Uhlig, 1883 (Leipzig). [157] “Grammar is a practical knowledge of the usages of language as generally current among poets and prose writers. It is divided into six parts: (1) trained reading with due regard to prosody; (2) explanation according to poetical figures; (3) ready statement of dialectical peculiarities and allusions; (4) discovery of etymology; (5) an accurate account of analogies; (6) criticism of poetical productions, which is the noblest part of grammatic art.” The Grammar of Dionysius Thrax, translated by T. Davidson (St. Louis, 1874), p. 3. In contrast to this definition the body of the work is devoted to reading, punctuation, the alphabet, syllables, and the parts of speech. [158] The older definition or its substance was still retained, however. See p. 97. Its retention is rather an evidence of conservatism than a proof of the continued study of the poets. [159] The following list of passages gives some idea of the way in which grammatical works were produced in this age. Vox sive sonus est aer ictus, id est percussus, sensibilis auditu quantum in ipso est. Probi, Instituta Artium in Keil, Grammatici Latini, vol. vi, p. 4, 13. Vox est aer ictus sensibilis auditu, quantum in ipso est. Donati, Ars Grammatica. Ibid., vol. iv, p. 367, 5. Vox est aer ictus sensibilis auditu, verbis emissa, et exacta sensus prolatio. Sergii, Explanationum in artem Donati, Liber I., Ibid., vol. iv, p. 487, 4. Vox est aer auditu percipibilis quantum in ipso est. Marius Victorinus, Ars Grammatica. Ibid., vol. vi, p. 4, 13. Vox quid est? Aer ictus sensibilisque auditu quantum in ipso est. Maximus Victorinus, Ars Grammatica. Ibid., vol. vi, p. 189, 8. Vox articulata est aer percussus sensibilis auditu quantum in ipso est. Cassiodorus, Institutio de Arte Grammatica. Ibid., vol. vii, p. 215, 4. Vox est aer ictus sensibilis auditu, quantum in ipso est. Isidore, Etymologiae, 1, 15. These grammars are almost altogether made up of definitions which had become stereotyped. [160] The greater length of his treatment is due to the fact that he includes more subjects than do the preceding writers of text-books. A comparison of his table of contents with those of Cassiodorus, Martianus Capella, Donatus, and Servius shows that he professes to cover much more than they; he has ten topics that do not appear in Donatus’ Ars Grammatica, and a greater number that do not appear in Servius, Capella, or Cassiodorus. [161] See especially his definition of verbum, 1, 9, 1. [162] The analysis is meant to indicate briefly the formal organization of the subject. It is followed by selected passages in translation, which, while illustrating the technical treatment, are meant rather to give what is of more general interest. It must be remembered that this treatment by selected passages fails to give a just idea of the meagerness, attenuation, and confusion of the material considered as a whole. [164] A set of terms unfamiliar to the modern student of grammar is given under this head. Nouns having six distinct case-forms are called hexaptota; those having five, pentaptota, and so on. See 1, 7, 33. [165] Pronouns are classified according to use into finita, infinita, minus quam finita, possessiva, relativa, demonstrativa; and according to origin into primigenia and deductiva. [166] Three conjugations are given. [167] Note part of the definition: “Adverbium autem sine verbo non habet plenam significationem, ut hodie: adjicis illi verbum, hodie scribo, et juncto verbo implesti sensum.” 1, 10, 1. [168] Isidore asserts that there are one hundred and twenty-four sorts of metrical feet, “four of two syllables, eight of three, sixteen of four, thirty-two of five, sixty-four of six.” 1, 17, 1. [169] The ten so-called accents of the grammarians are described: the acute, the grave, the circumflex, the marks to indicate long and short vowels, the hyphen, the comma, the apostrophe, the rough and smooth breathing. [170] This section is to be explained by reference to the chief controversy in the history of the science of grammar in classical times, that between analogy and anomaly, or whether grammatical regularity or irregularity was the more basic phenomenon. In Capella’s grammar analogia is the heading under which declensions of nouns and conjugations of verbs are given, while exceptions are grouped under the heading anomala. See Martianus Capella, Eyssenhardt, pp. 75–97. Also Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, Index. [171] Solecism is “the failure to put words together according to the correct method”, while barbarism includes blunders in the use of single words. 1, 33, 1. [172] Chiefly a parade of long words, like perissologia, macrologia, tapinosis, cacosyntheton, etc. 1, 34. [173] A large number of poetical figures are described. This section is probably nothing but an evidence of conservatism, since Isidore certainly did not include a study of the poets in his scheme of education. [174] A number of metres are described and some attention is given to different kinds of poetry, such as the elegiac, bucolic, hymn, cento, etc. [175] Du Breul has disciplinis, not artibus. [176] Librarii et calculatores. [177] From Jerome, ad Soph., in Migne, Patr. Lat., 6, 7, 30. [178] This sentence, as many others, is in the accusative and infinitive without any governing verb. [179] Liberalium litterarum. [180] In complexum istarum cadunt. [181] See Etym., 1, 21, 2–28. [182] The grammarian. [183] Notas sed tantum praepositionum. Probably abbreviations for prepositions and other connectives that were in frequent use. [184] Praefixis characteribus. [185] Among the seven liberal arts grammar is the art par excellence. [186] Cf. Quintilian, 1, 6, 28. [187] Quia nomina et verba rerum nota facit. [188] Cf. 17, 6, 5, where silva (xilva) is derived from ????? (wood). [189] De Fabrica mundi et Evangeliis. [190] Isidore, Etym., 2, 19, 14, “Praeterea secundum Victorinum enthymematis est altera definitio. Ex sola propositione, sicut jam dictum est, ita constat. ‘Si tempestas vitanda est, non est navigatio requirenda.’” Cassiodorus, De Rhet. Halm, Rhetores Latini, p. 500. “Praeterea secundum Victorinum enthymematis est altera definitio. Ex sola propositione, sicut jam dictum est, ita constat enthymema, ut est illud: ‘si tempestas vitanda est, non est navigatio requirenda.’” Isidore, Etym., 2, 9, 18. “Hunc Cicero ita facit in arte rhetorica.” Cass. in Halm, p. 500, 18. “Hunc Cicero facit in arte rhetorica.” [191] The analytical treatment of this subject is obviously carried to an absurd degree. The whole activity of the orator is analyzed into five parts: inventio, dispositio, elocutio (wording), memoria, pronuntiatio. The whole subject-matter is analyzed into three parts: deliberative, epideictic, forensic. All court cases are analyzed from the point of view of the defence, according to status, that is, according to the nature of the leading point in the case. The speech itself (oratio) is analyzed into four parts: introduction, narrative, argument and conclusion. All cases are analyzed again according to the psychological impression they make on the audience. All arguments are analyzed into regular and irregular syllogisms. Even negation, giving the lie, is analyzed into several sorts. Rhetorical figures are analyzed elaborately. [192] “In which there is discussion of what ought or ought not to be done in regard to any of the practical affairs of life.” 2, 4, 1. The genus deliberativum is divided into suasio and dissuasio, and each of these again, under the three headings, honestum, utile, possibile. [193] Epideictic; divided into laus and vituperatio, 2, 4. [194] Forensic rhetoric. [195] Under this heading we have the chief effort of ancient rhetoric to be helpful to the defense in cases brought before the courts. The term status meant the crucial point in a case, and its subdivisions are intended to include the chief kinds of crucial points upon which the advocate must base his speech. The inference in both Isidore and Cassiodorus is that there is only one status in a case, but Quintilian (3, 6, 21) expressly says that there are more than one, and that the chief status in a case “is the strongest point in it on which the whole matter chiefly turns.” In this section Isidore borrows from Cassiodorus almost without change in the wording. In one case he has made a serious blunder in copying: the subdivisions that Cassiodorus places under qualitas, Isidore has placed under finis. (Cass., De Rhet., Halm, p. 496.) [196] “When an act that is imputed to a person is denied by another” (2, 5, 3), and the balancing of evidence is the method of deciding. [197] “When it is maintained that the act that is the matter of accusation is not that [specified], and its nature is shown by the use of definitions.” 2, 5, 3. [198] “In which the nature of justice and right and the abstract grounds of reward and punishment are gone into.” 2, 5, 5. [199] Term left undefined. [200] “Which of itself offers no satisfactory ground for defence but seeks for defence beyond its own limits.” 2, 5, 5. [201] “When the accused does not deny the act but demands that it be pardoned.” 2, 5, 6. [202] “When the deed is confessed but guilt is denied” on the ground of ignorance, accident, or necessity. 2, 5, 8. [203] “When the accused confesses that he has committed the wrong and has done so purposely, and still demands that he be pardoned, which kind can be of very rare occurrence.” 2, 5, 8. [204] “When the accused endeavors energetically to divert the charge made against him from himself and his guilt to another.” 2, 5, 6. [205] “When it is urged that there is justification because another had committed a wrong before.” 2, 5, 7. [206] “When some other honorable or expedient act of another is alleged, for the accomplishing of which the act specified in the accusation is asserted to have been done.” 2, 5, 7. [207] “In which there is discussion of what is just in view of civil custom and equity.” 2, 5, 5. [208] “When the nature of the case is inquired into; and since the dispute is concerned with the real meaning and classification of the matter at stake, this is called the constitutio generalis.” 2, 5, 3. This is the general heading under which all the sub-heads classified under finis should have been placed. Isidore made a mistake in copying from Cassiodorus, in whom the classification is correct. [209] “When the case depends on this, that it is not the proper person who brings the action, or that it is not before the proper court, at the proper time, according to the proper law, charging the proper crime, demanding the proper punishment.” 2, 5, 4. [210] “When the words seem to be at variance with the intention of the writer.” 2, 5, 9. [211] “When two or more laws are perceived to be in conflict with one another.” 2, 5, 9. [212] “When what is written seems to have two or more meanings.” 2, 5, 10. [213] “When from what is written another thing also which is not written is inferred.” 2, 5, 10. [214] “When inquiry is made as to what is the force of a word.” 2, 5, 10. [215] A division applying only to the genus deliberativum. [216] Six are usually given. Cassiodorus has exordium, narratio, partitio, confirmatio, reprehensio, conclusio. Halm, Rhetores Latini Minores, p. 497. [217] An analysis of cases according to the emotional effect they are likely to have on the audience. [218] “Ut admirentur (judices) quenquam ad defensionem eius accedere.” Halm, 316, 34, from Sulpitius Victor. [219] The irregular syllogism. Each sub-head is exhaustively analyzed. [220] Giving the lie as conclusion of an irregular syllogism. [221] A short account of the nature of law. This sub-head is not found in the text-books on rhetoric before Isidore’s time. [222] In the use of letters, words, and sentences. [223] Figurae verborum et sententiarum. Samples of the former are anadiplosis, paradiastole, antimetabole, exoche; of the latter (forty-seven in all), coenonesis, parrhesia, aposiopesis, aetiologia, epitrochasmus. Cf. p. 107, note. [224] H. W. Blunt, Art. “Logic,” in Encycl. Brit., 11th ed. See also Rashdall, Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1895), vol. i, p. 36. [225] It was thought that the Latin vocabulary was not well suited to the expression of the ideas of logic. Cf. Martianus Capella, De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (ed. Eyssenhardt) where Dialectica is about to speak: “Ac mox Dialectica, quanquam parum digne latine loqui posse crederetur, tamen promptiore fiducia restrictisque quadam obtutus vibratione luminibus etiam ante verba formidabilis, sic exorsa.” [226] It is true that the works of Boethius, which were not school texts, served to revivify the subject, but his influence was very slight in this respect until long after Isidore’s time. M. Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters (MÜnchen, 1911), pp. 29–32. [227] 2, 26, 15. Cf. Cass. Migne, P. L., vol. lxx, col. 1170. [228] 2, 27, 1. Cf. Cass. Migne, P. L., vol. lxx, col. 1170. [229] 2, 28, 22. Cf. Cass. Migne, P. L., vol. lxx, col. 1173. [230] The substance of Isidore’s De Dialectica is taken chiefly from Cassiodorus. A number of passages seem to be based on Martianus Capella: for example, Etym., 2, 31, 1, on Martianus Capella (Eyssenhardt), 118, 8 ff.; Etym., 2, 31, 4–5, on M. C., 118, 15–25; Etym., 2, 31, 7, on M. C., 120, 9 ff. [231] Isidore’s ignorance of Greek has been inferred from his use of the forms, isagogae and perihermeniae. See p. 36. [232] Du Breul has theologia; Arevalus, theorica. [233] This passage is copied from Cassiodorus and is not an indication that Isidore had read the work of Aristotle that is mentioned. [234] A recommendation copied word for word from Cassiodorus. [235] “The cumulative evidence is surely very strong that the alphabetic numerals were first employed in Alexandria early in the third century B.C.” J. Gow, A Short History of Greek Mathematics (Cambridge, 1884), p. 48. [236] We have in Isidore, for example, the terms numerus trigonus, numerus quadratus, numerus quinquangulus, and linealis, superficialis, and circularis numerus. [237] Cajori, Hist. of Math., p. 72. [238] Gow, speaking of the Greek ?????t???, says: “Its aim was entirely different from that of the ordinary calculator, and it was natural that the philosopher who sought in numbers to find the plan on which the creator worked, should begin to regard with contempt the merchant who wanted only to know how many sardines at ten for an obol he could buy for a talent.” Gow, op. cit., p. 72. [239] Cantor believes that the use of the abacus had been forgotten before Isidore’s time, cf. “calculator a calculis, id est a lapillis minutis quos antiqui in manu tenentes numeros componebant.” Etym., 10, 43. See Cantor, Vorlesungen Über Geschichte der Mathematik (Leipzig, 1894–1900), vol. i, p. 774. [240] Isidore adds to the account as found in Cassiodorus a few remarks about numbers in the Scriptures, some derivations of numbers, and the sections on the means and on infinity. [241] Du Breul has magnitudinis et formarum; Arevalo, magnitudinis formarum. [242] This derivation points to a soft c in decem. [243] Six was regarded as a perfect number, because it is equal to the sum of all its factors. [244] Pariter par, et pariter impar, et impariter par et impariter impar. Since these all profess to be divisions of even number, the word odd is not used in the translation. [245] To remind the reader of Isidore’s notation Roman numerals are kept wherever he used them. [246] The division into even, odd, and numbers sharing the characteristics of even and odd numbers goes back to Nicomachus. It is not a logical division, as the second class contains the third. See Gow, p. 90. [247] Superflui, diminuti, perfecti. [248] The examples are found in Du Breul. They do not appear in Arevalo. [249] Cantor, Vorlesungen Über Geschichte der Mathematik, vol. i, p. 521. [250] The authenticity of the work on geometry that has been handed down under Boethius’ name is questioned. (See Cantor, ibid., pp. 536 et seq.) It contains the complete proof of only three of Euclid’s propositions. It also contains calculations of areas of geometrical figures. See edition of Friedlein (Leipzig, 1867). [251] Cf. Martianus Capella’s definition: “Geometria vocor quod permeatam crebro admensamque tellurem eiusque figuram, magnitudinem, locum, partes et stadia possim cum suis rationibus explicare neque ulla sit in totius terrae diversitate partitio quam non memoris cursu descriptionis absolvam.” Eyssenhardt, 198, 30. [252] The whole of Isidore’s De Geometria is here given, with the exception of a few passages that are untranslatable. It is given as a whole to enforce attention to the loss of the traditional content, partial or complete, which was so striking a feature of all the members of the quadrivium in early medieval times. [253] Hujus ars disciplinae. Ars may be equal to ‘hand-book’ here. [254] Schmidt, Questiones de musicis scriptoribus Romanis, imprimis de Cassiodoro et Isidoro (Darmstadt, 1899). This dissertation is in part an examination of the question whether the Roman writers associated music with grammar or the mathematical sciences in their enumerations of educational subjects. It contains a useful list of passages bearing on the seven liberal arts. [255] Five definitions of music are given by Isidore, two making no allusion to its mathematical character. They are as follows: “Musica est peritia modulationis sono cantuque consistens.” Etym., 3, 15, 1. “Musica est disciplina quae de numeris loquitur qui inveniuntur in sonis.” Etym., 3, Preface. “Musica est disciplina quae de numeris loquitur qui ad aliquid sunt his qui inveniuntur in sonis.” Etym., 2, 24, 15. “Musica quae in carminibus cantibusque consistit.” Etym., 1, 2, 2. “Musica est ars spectabilis voce vel gestu, habens in se numerorum ac soni certam dimensionem cum scientia perfectae modulationis. Haec constat ex tribus modis, id est, sono, verbis, numeris.” Diff., ii, cap. 39. [256] Etym., 3, 17, 1. [257] Etym., 3, 15, 1. [258] C. Schmidt, op. cit., after a detailed comparison of passages, concludes that Isidore did not obtain his material for De Musica from Cassiodorus or Augustine, but that all three go back independently to an original work produced by an unknown Christian writer. However, the numerous identical passages in Cassiodorus and Isidore would indicate that the latter had used the former at least as a guide in plagiarism. See Schmidt, pp. 26–52, and compare Dressel, De Isidori Originum Fontibus (Turin, 1874), pp. 5 and 6. [259] Woodridge in the Oxford History of Music (Oxford, 1901), vol. i, p. 33, note, says of Isidore’s De Musica, that it “clearly reveals the complete ignorance of his time. His dicta upon music are chiefly crude and misleading paraphrases from Cassiodorus and others, from which it is evident that the signification of the terms employed had completely escaped him. Modes are not mentioned by him [but cf. 3, 20, 7] and keys and genera are confounded together.” [260] Qui voce propria canunt. [261] The pandura was a stringed instrument! In the succeeding sections these instruments are briefly described, and the sambuca, another stringed instrument, is also included. [262] Other instruments mentioned are psalterum, lyra, barbitos, phoenix, pectis, indica, aliae quadrata forma vel trigonali, margaritum, ballematica, tintinnabulum, symphonia. [263] The general sense of the passage: “ut sine ipsius perfectione etiam homo symphoniis carens non consistat.” 3, 23, 2. See p. 65. [264] J. L. E. Dreyer, History of the Planetary Systems from Thales to Kepler (Cambridge, 1906), p. 141. [266] Tannery in his Recherches sur l’histoire de l’astronomie ancienne (Paris, 1893), has an interesting discussion of the successive names of the science of the heavenly bodies. He attributes the revival of the older term astronomy about the end of the third century A.D., to the association of the term astrology with divination. In Varro the name used was astrology. [268] Du Breul has Ptolemaeus, rex Alexandriae. [269] The canons by which Ptolemy calculated the position of the planets. Isidore makes no further reference to them. [270] For map showing the climata see Konrad Miller, Die Ältesten Weltkarten (Stuttgart, 1895), vol. iii, p. 127. [271] This order is repeated in 13, 6. [273] Isidore does not observe the distinctions he lays down here. He does not seem to have known that Orion and Bootes were constellations. [274] Du Breul has in addition: latitudo intelligitur per signiferum, longitudo per proprium excursum. [275] The celestial equator. [276] Subjects of medical interest are treated also in book xi (parts of the body, monstrous births, etc.), in book xii (healing springs), and in book xxii (diet). There is also a chapter (39) on pestilence in De Natura Rerum. [277] Galen was one of these. [278] Max Neuberger, Geschichte der Medizin (Stuttgart, 1906–1911), vol. i, pp. 310–321. [279] Ibid., vol. ii, p. 61 et seq. [280] Neuberger, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 240–278 for an account of medicine in the early middle ages. [281] This school was really founded in the first century B.C. According to it disease consists in a contraction or relaxation of the pores (strictus status or laxus status). Nothing but the supposed general condition of the body was of importance. Neuberger, Geschichte der Medizin, vol. 1, pp. 303–309. [282] A school that appeared in the third century B.C., and corresponded in medicine to the skeptical movement in philosophy. All a priori reasoning was rejected. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 276–284. [283] The classical school of medicine founded by Hippocrates. Isidore fails to mention the Pneumatici and the Eclectici (ibid., vol. 1, pp. 327–336), other prominent schools of medicine. [284] The derivation which Isidore had in mind was probably ??? (to live). [285] The sentence is a confused one. Isidore probably had in mind the derivation of cholera from ???? and ???. [286] Arteriae. Compare “Sanguis per venas in omne corpus diffunditur et spiritus per arterias.” Cicero, N. D., 2, 55, 138. [288] Du Breul has insania daemonum. [289] A kind of leprosy. [290] De initio medicinae. [291] The De Legibus constitutes Isidore’s formal account of law. In bk. ii a chapter is devoted to the subject of law as a sub-division of rhetoric; it consists of definitions of general terms. In bk. ix there are chapters on citizens, and on degrees of kinship, which have a legal bearing. Cf. also bk. xviii, 15. [292] Considering the intellectual stagnation of the time, it seems quite possible that the Justinian code was unheard of wherever it was not actually the law of the land. Vinogradoff gives the conclusion of modern scholarship as to this when he says (Roman Law in Medieval Europe, London, 1909, p. 8): “The Corpus Juris of Justinian, which contains the main body of law for later ages, including our own, was accepted and even known only in the East and in those parts of Italy which had been reconquered by Justinian’s generals. The rest of the western provinces still clung to the tradition of the preceding period, culminating in the official code of Theodosius II (A.D. 437).” Compare also Conrat, Die Epitome Exactis Regibus, Introd., pp. 248–257; Flach, Droit Romain au Moyen Age (Paris, 1890), especially pp. 52–57. Conrat, in his Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des RÖmischen Rechts in FrÜheren Mittelalter, pp. 150–153, maintains, first, that there is no trace of evidence elsewhere in Isidore’s works, of a knowledge of the existence of the Justinian code; and, second, that the internal evidence in the De Legibus points to the use of other sources. See also UreÑa, Historia CrÍtica de la Literatura JurÍdica EspaÑola (Madrid, 1897), vol 1, p. 294. [293] The De Legibus should not be regarded as a text-book for a law school, but for the subject of law as forming a minor part of the preparation of a priest. See Introd., p. 87, and Flach, op. cit., the fourth section of which (pp. 104–128) deals with the teaching of law from the sixth to the eleventh century. [294] For an account of separate MSS. of Isidore’s De Legibus (often containing also legal matter from bks. ii, ix and xviii), see Joseph Tardif, Un AbrÉgÉ Juridique des Etymologies d’Isidore de Seville in MÉlanges Julien Havet (Paris, 1895). [295] Communis omnium possessio. [296] Holding the consulate for part of the year only. [297] Reading legis for eius. See 2, 10. [298] See Muirhead, The Law of Rome, p. 249. [299] In his “On Times,” Isidore is apparently condensing what he has written elsewhere. The first part of it, which gives an account of the divisions of time—the moment, hour, day, week, month, year, and so forth—is drawn from De Natura Rerum, which in turn was based on Suetonius, Solinus, Hyginus, of the heathen writers, and Ambrosius, Clement, and Augustine, of the Christian. (See p. 46.) In the second part, which consists of a brief chronology, Isidore condensed his Chronicon, which was drawn from Eusebius as translated and modified by Jerome, and supplemented by the later work of Prosper, Victor Tunnensis, and Joannis Biclarensis. The sources of the Chronicon have been thoroughly discussed by H. Hertzberg, Ueber die Chronicon des Isidors von Sevilla in Forschungen zur Deutschen Geschichte (GÖttingen, 1875), vol. xv. [300] At the same time chronology was incidentally made to show in a statistical way what a great priority Hebrew civilization had over its pagan rivals. Cf. pp. 79, 80. [301] In some respects Isidore’s chronology is peculiar, and differs from any known chronology of world-history of the time. For example, where Hieronymus gives the time from the flood to Abraham as 1072 years, Isidore gives it as 942 years; and where Africanus put the birth of Christ in the year 5500 of the world, Isidore put it in 5197. See Hertzberg, p. 376. Again, only the full years are noticed, the fractions of the older chronologies being either counted as integers or ignored, though this is not done according to any system. For table showing irregularities here, see ibid., p. 325, notes 3 and 4. [302] E.g. De Civitate Dei, xxii, 30. [303] 5, 38, 5. [304] Hora (hour) and ora (coast or border) are confused. [305] A communionis temperamento. [306] So in the case of summer, autumn, and winter. [307] The reference in “complex history” (complicem historiam) is to the parallel sets of chronological tables of the histories of different peoples given by Eusebius. [308] Sufficient of Isidore’s chronology is translated to give an idea of its method and of the events mentioned in it. His dates for the six ages of the world are as follows:
The world according to Isidore’s chronology was in its 5825th year. Although Isidore professes to start the sixth age with the birth of Christ, he really starts it with the beginning of the reign of Augustus. See Chronicon; Migne, P. L., vol. 83, col. 1038. [309] These three books are not grouped by Isidore under one name. There apparently was no name in existence by which to designate them, as theologia was not applied, commonly at least, to Christian doctrine before Abelard’s time. [310] The sources of bks. vi-viii differ from those of the remaining books of the Etymologies in being almost exclusively Christian. Isidore himself, in his non-secular writings, covers more fully the subjects which he here treats in a summary fashion. Compare bk. vi, chaps. 1 and 2, with Proemia in Libros Veteris ac Novi Testamenti; bk. vii, chaps. 6 and 7, with Expositiones Mysticorum Sacramentorum and De Ortu et Obitu Patrum; bk. viii, chaps. 1–5, with Sententiarum Libri Tres; bk. vi, chap. 19, and bk. vii, chaps. 12, 13, with De Ecclesiasticis Officiis. [312] Of the alphabet. [313] This passage is preceded by a table indicating the date of Easter for 95 years (627–721). It is clear that although Isidore was not acquainted with the plan of Dionysius Exiguus to institute the Christian era, he was acquainted with the essentials of his Easter table. Dionysius had given the dates for Easter in five 19-year cycles, dating from 525; in Isidore this is continued for the years 627 to 721. Isidore’s table consists merely of parallel columns of the days of the month and corresponding days of the moon on which Easter fell. Each date is marked C or E, abbreviations for communis annus and embolismus which describe respectively the year of twelve and that of thirteen lunar months in use in the Hebrew chronology. A further abbreviation, B, stands opposite each fourth year, to mark the leap-years. The years are not numbered according to any era, and the assignment of dates, 627–721, is inferred from the dates given for Easter. See Ideler, Chronologie, vol. ii, p. 290 (Berlin, 1826). Isidore does not make it plain that he understood the mathematics of the computation of Easter. It is of interest that in 643 the fourth synod of Toledo passed an enactment to secure a common observance of Easter throughout the Spanish churches, no doubt according to this Easter-table. See Gams, Die Kirchengeschichte von Spanien (Regensburg, 1874), vol. ii, part 2, p. 94. [314] It is worth noticing that in bks. vii and viii Isidore gives a list of the whole hierarchy of supernatural and human existences beginning with God and ending with the devil. An inspection of the order of subjects will suggest to the reader that he was arranging them in order of merit. If this supposition is correct, the table of contents of these two books is a very significant one, as throwing light upon Isidore’s scale of values for the divine, the human and the demonic. [315] A list of heresies precedes. [316] Du Breul, hominum instead of omnium. [317] Reading secreta for decreta. [318] Verg. Aen. 4, 487–491, not quoted directly but taken from Augustine, De Civitate Dei, 21, 6. [319] From Augustine, De Civitate Dei, bk. vii. cap. 35. [320] The reference is to heathen gods. [321] Isidore gives a table of “the prohibited degrees” within which marriage was forbidden by the rule of the church. Since the introduction of Christianity these had been steadily extended until in Isidore’s lifetime intermarriage within the seventh degree was prohibited by Pope Gregory. The analogy between the wide extension of “the prohibited degrees” in the dark ages and that found among primitive peoples generally is remarkable. Westermarck, History of Human Marriage, p. 297, says: “As a rule among primitive peoples unaffected by modern civilization, the prohibited degrees are more numerous than in advanced communities, the prohibitions in many cases referring even to all the members of a tribe or clan.” For an account of this development of marriage, see Westermarck, op. cit., p. 308, and Smith and Cheetham’s Christian Antiquities, art. “Prohibited Degrees.” This social phenomenon of the dark ages is a development parallel to the recrudescence of the primitive in the intellectual sphere which is illustrated in so marked a manner in the Etymologies (cf. pp. 50–54). [322] Corporaliter. [323] The names of the nations are enumerated in the preceding sections. [324] The name China appeared for the first time in the Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes. It does not appear in the Etymologies. [325] This is the only part of the Etymologies in which Isidore gives up every principle of organization of his subject-matter except the alphabetical one. Elsewhere the terms are grouped according to their meaning, with sometimes traces of alphabetical order in the groups, but here the dictionary method alone is used. [326] Grandson, sometimes has meaning of prodigal, spendthrift. [327] In the first part of book xi are contained the remnants of the sciences of human anatomy and physiology as the ancients had known them. The second part is devoted to unnatural births, which were regarded as having a prophetic meaning, and to monstrous races. It is not known what were Isidore’s immediate sources for bk. xi. Most of the natural science of the later Roman empire, however, was drawn ultimately from Pliny. To correspond to Isidore’s topics in this book of the Etymologies, comparative anatomy and physiology are found in Pliny’s Natural History, bk. xi, ch. 44 et seq., and chapters on monstrous races (Gentium mirabiles figurae) and on unusual and unnatural births (prodigiosi, monstruosi partus) are found in bk. vii. [328] Vult. [329] Cuvier, Histoire des Sciences Naturelles, vol. i, p. 166. [330] Cuvier, vol. i, p. 264. [331] The Physiologus probably originated at Alexandria in the first century A.D., and was translated into the Latin about the end of the fourth century. It was very popular with the church fathers. Isidore’s De Animalibus exhibits its influence in many passages. See Lauchert, Physiologus (Strassburg, 1891), p. 103. A Greek version of the Physiologus is given by Lauchert and a Latin by Cahier in MÉlanges d’ArchÉologie, Paris, vols. ii, iii, iv (1851–53). [332] Superacta pernicie veneni. [333] The Greek is ??. [334] A notion found in the Physiologus. [335] This animal is of literary origin and illustrates the danger of a literary science. For some reason the Septuagint translators translated the Hebrew word for lion in Job 4:11 by the word ?????????. The commentators later on, in their efforts to explain the term, evolved a new animal, a compound of ant and lion. See Lauchert, Geschichte des Physiologus, p. 21, and art. “Physiologus” in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. [336] Aranea, vermis aeris, 12, 5, 2. [337] ???, ?a??. [338] Cornix is not a Greek word, as Isidore seems to imply. Its nearest Greek equivalent is ??????. [341] ???. [342] I.e., elementa = hylementa. [343] The word st???e??? means “one in a series.” [344] Orbis. [345] Orbem. [346] Terrae. [347] Opem fert frugibus. [349] Romphaea flamma. Cf. Etym., 18, 6, 3. [350] Egypt is regarded as part of Asia. 14, 3, 27–28. [351] Extra tres autem partes orbis, quarta pars trans Oceanum interior est in Meridie. [353] Architecture appears in a disintegrated form in the Etymologies (bks. xv, chs. 2–12; xix, chs. 8–19). A comparison with Vitruvius’s work on architecture (translated by J. Gwilt, London, 1880) shows that the main differences between the subjects treated by Isidore and those in Vitruvius’s work lie in the omission by the former of the account of building materials (bk. ii), temple architecture, water supply (bk. viii), dialling, and mechanics. [354] See Introd., p. 32. The two chapters, “De Mensuris Agrorum” and “De Itineribus,” together with three chapters of bk. xvi, “De Ponderibus,” “De Mensuris,” “De Signis,” are given in Hultsch, Metrologicorum Scriptorum Reliquiae, Leipzig, 1886 (Scriptores Romani in vol. ii). Hultsch finds (vol. ii, 34) that Isidore made use of Columella and a number of minor writers on these subjects. [355] Isidore probably had in mind some derivation of Byzantium, which would explain his meaning here, but he gives no hint of what it was. [356] Saragossa. [357] Pliny’s five books (xxxiii-xxxvii) on mineralogy in his Natural History are the chief source upon which later writers drew. An epitome of them, or rather, an epitome of an epitome, was made by Solinus in the third century. This underwent a further revision in the sixth century. Isidore is supposed to have used both the epitome and the original, as well as an unknown source, from which he drew the medical virtues of the precious stones. Cf. King, The Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Precious Stones (London, 1865), p. 6. [358] Asphalt, alum, salt, soda, etc. [359] Striped jasper. [360] Unknown. [361] Twenty-one of these are named. [362] The information on military matters contained here and in bk. ix was drawn ultimately from the succession of Roman writers on military science. The chief of these were Frontinus, Hyginus, Vegetius. [363] The title, De Spectaculis, and much of the material are drawn from Tertullian’s De Spectaculis. See M. Klussman, Excerpta Tertullianea in Isidori Hispalensis Etymologiis (Hamburg, 1892). [364] Compare Tertullian, De Spectaculis, chs. 6–9. [365] At this point in his work Isidore turns from the ‘sciences’ to the useful arts. [366] For a similar subject and treatment, compare De Genere Navigiorum, in Nonius Marcellus’s encyclopedia. See p. 43. [367] For passages illustrating Isidore’s cosmology, see Etym., 2, 24, 2; 3, 52, 1; 3, 47; 9, 2, 133; 11, 3, 24; 13, 1, 1. See also pp. 50–58 and notes. [369] 2, 24, 10–16. [370] Diff., 2, 39. [371] The list given here is not a complete list of works consulted. The wide range of topics included in Isidore’s encyclopedia has made it necessary to consult a great many books, and the great modern encyclopedias have been used continuously, especially the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Transcriber’s note
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