LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 028 A926p 1888 The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or betore the Latest Date stamped below. Theft mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS UBRARYj^TJJRBANA^C^^ oer -^ % ,»^- k i «CV2 8t !J7Z. JAN 1 I^ 7 \9'?8 'JAN 3 m JAN 3 1995 DEC0 2 2C03 T.if^i_n-inQf; \ \ h The Philobiblon of Richard De Bury LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS f Seal of Richard de Bury The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury Bishop of Durham Treasurer and Chancellor of Edward III Edited and Translated by Ernest C. Thomas Barrister-at-law late Scholar of Trinity College Oxford and Li- brarian of the Oxford Union London Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. 1888 CHISWICK PRESS :— C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURTj CHANCERY LANE. ■2» ] Librorum Dilectoribus ac praecipue Sam : Timmins Ricardi Nostri Amantlsslmo I I 13561 Contents Preface .... Introduction : Biographical Bibliographical . Philobiblon Ricardi de Bury The Philobiblon translated Index .... Page Vll XI xlix I 153 253 Preface Although more than five centuries have passed aivay since Richard De Bury wrote the last words of the Philobiblon in his ^ Manor at Auckland on the 2/\th of January^ 1345/ l^^i^ ^^ only the second occasion on which the original text of his little treatise has been printed in his native coujitry. The editio?is printed abroad were based upon inferior 7na??u scripts ^ and even the edition published by Tho7?ias James, Bodlefs first librarian, left much to be done with 7?iore pains and the aid of better manuscripts. The French editor Cocheris, in 1856, though he made 2ise of three new manuscripts, printed a?i eveti less correct text than those of the ea7iiest editiofis, yet, owing to the scarcity of the earlier copies, this edition is the only one that ca7i be said to be generally accessible. The text now printed after a careful examination of twenty-eight manuscripts a?id of the various printed editions may claim to give for the first time a representation of the Philobiblon as it left its winter's hands. The plan of the present edition has been sufficiently explained in the Intro duct io7i {seep. Ixxvii), a?id it only re77iains for the Editor i7i this place to express his ack7iowledg77ients to those fro?n whom he has received viii PREFACE the most liberal and valuable assistance in his under- taki7ig. He is indebted to the President and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; to the President and Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford; to the Master and Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge ; and to the Trustees of Bishop Cosines Library, Dur- ham ; for the liberality with which th^^y have en- trusted to him their MSS. of the Philobiblon. He also tenders his thanks to the Curators of the Bodleian Library, Oxford ; the Warden and Fellows of All Souls' College, Oxford ; and the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Camb?'idge ; who havelzindly sent their MSS. to the British Museum, or to Grafs Inn Library for his use. He has further to acknowledge the if iter national comity ivith which the Governments of France and Bavaria have sent to this country, the former three MSS. frotn the Bibliotheque Nationale, and the latter, two MSS.fvm the Konigliche Hofund-Staats- biblioihek at Munich. He has to acknowledge a siniilar kindness from the University of Basel. He must express his acknowledgfnents to Mr. E. M. Thompson, Keeper of the Ma7iuscripts at the British Museum, and to Mr. IV. P. Douthwaite, Librarian of Grafs l7in, for their kindness i?i accepting the charge of the MSS. so sent. The Editor is i7idebted to the Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford ; the President a?id Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ; the PREFACE ix Master atid Fellows of Ball iol College ; the President and Fellows of St. John's College^ Oxford^ for the facilities they have kifidly afforded him for i?ispecting tJmr MSS. He has also to tha?ik the Fight Hon. Earl Spen- cer, K.G.f who was good enough to send his copy of the editio princeps to London for his use, and Mr. W. A. Tyssen Amherst, M. P., for a similar courtesy. To Mr. Chancellor Christie he is indebted for the loan of his copy of the Oxford edition, and for several valued communications. He is especially indebted to Mr. Sam : Timmins for the loan of his MS. and of several of the early editio7is of the book. The greatly regretted death of Air. Henry Bradshaw has removed one who took much interest in the p?'ese?it work and e?ttrusted to the Editor a MS. of the Philo- biblon which was in his custody. Fro??i the same cause, the Editor is unable to tender his thanks to M. Alvifi, the Conservateur of the Bibliotheque Royale at Brussels, who ki/uily u?idertook to collate the three MSS. in that library, and to Mr. J. E. Bailey, of Manchester, who was specially ifitei'ested ifi the work and career of De Bury, and lent the Editor his copy of 07ie of the early editions. Finally, the Editor has to express his acknowledg- ments for special courtesies or obliging com?nunicatio7is, to His Enmience Cardinal New7nan ; the Lord Bishop of Chester ; the Lord Charles Bruce, M.F.; the Preside7it of Trinity College, Oxford ; the De- puty Keeper of the Records; [P.] Felix Rozdnski ; PREFACE M. Leopold Delisle ; Dr. Attgiist Reichensperger ; Dr. G. Laubman7ty of Munich ; Dr. Auerman?t, of Erfurt ; Dr. L. Sieber, of Basel ; Dr. F. Letts- c/iuh, of Bamberg ; Signor Castellani^ of Venice ; Dr. Moritz Steinschneider, of Berliji ; Dr. Leopold Seligmann ; M. Henri Omont ; Mr. Geo. Bullen^ Mr. E. M. Thompson^ and Dr. R. Gametic of the British Museum; Mr. E. B. Nicholson, Mr. F. Madan, and the Rev. W. D. Macray, of the Bodleian Library ; the Rev. J. T. Fowler, of Dur- ham ; Mr. W. Bliss, of Rome ; the Rev. S. S. Leivis ; Mr. IL, D. Blakiston ; Mr. T. G. Law ; Mr. Evelyn Abbott ; Mr. J. Bass Mullinger ; Mr. H. R. Tedder; Mr. C. W. Sutton; Mr. C. W. ILolgate; Mr. J. LI. LLessels; Mr. J. A. C. Vin- cent, and Mr. Bernard Quaritch. Since the Bibliographical l7itroduction was in type, Prof essor Henry Morley has reprinted the trans- lation of Lnglis. Of this the Editor need say no more than that to have reprinted this version without an attempt to co7'rect its ?iujnerous mistakes, or to make use of the 7naterials for its i77iprove77ient, which have co77ie to light sittce it was published, was to do less than justice to L7iglis, who did i/ifend to revise his tra7islation, and to do the cruellest possible in- justice to the 77ie77iory of Richard De Biuy. Sherringham, Norfolk, October, 1888. Introduction Biographical €r I. Though the account given of himself by Richard De Bury in the Fhilobiblon is far from satisfying our curiosity, it must be reckoned a fortunate circumstance that he has told us so much as he has of his career and of his pursuits. Apart from the autobiographical particulars which he has there set down, we should have had but scanty materials from which to present his portrait. The chief authority for his life is William de Chambre/ one of the Durham historians, whose sketch, how- ever, is so slight that, although he tells us of the Bishop's great affection for books, and his wonder- ful collection of them, he says nothing of his project of founding a library at Oxford, and makes no mention of the Philobiblon. C 2. Richard De Bury was born on the 24th of January, 1287, in a little hamlet near Bury St. Edmund's, in Suffolk, which was famed for its ^ Chambre's life, first printed in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, is more accurately printed in the Surtees Society edition of the Scriptores Tres. Little is known of Chambre, who appears, however, to have been an officer of the Convent of Durham. xii INTR OD UC TION monastery.^ His father was Sir Richard Aunger- vile, a knight, whose ancestor had come over with the Conqueror, and settled in Leicestershire, where the family held the manor of Willoughby.^ The charge of his education was undertaken by a rector- uncle, John de Willoughby, who in the fashion of the times had assumed the name of his birth-place. From the grammar-school he was sent to Oxford, where he is said to have distinguished himself in philosophy and theology. It is sometimes said that he then became a Benedictine monk in the Convent at Durham ; but if this is so, it is curious that none of the Durham authorities refer to the circumstance, and it seems more likely that the story rests upon a blunder in the chronicle of Adam de Murimuth.^ His university distinction appears to have attracted the attention of the Court, and he was called from his studies to become governor of Prince Edward of Windsor, afterwards Edward IH., who was born in 131 2. Dibdin gives De Bury credit for having com- ^ The Dictionary of National Biography^ following the EncyclopiBdia Britannica and the Biographia Bj-itannica^ says 1 28 1, but this date rests upon an entirely mistaken reading of the final note in the Cottonian copy. ^ Burton, Description of Leicestershire, p. 288, says that in the church of Willoughby, " is this only coat of arms of Angervile : Gules, a cinquefoil ermine, a border sable, bisante." Cp. Harl. MS., 1404, f. 91 (Papworth, p. 869). ^ Ed. Hog., p. 73 : Chambre says nothing of it, and the first reference to it seems to be in Pits. Ziegelbauer, Hist. Lit. Ord. S. Benedict, iv, 636, evidently relies upon Pits. BIOGRAPHICAL xiii municated to his royal pupil some share of his own affection for books/ C 3. In the year 1322 he was appointed Cham- berlain of Chester,- having apparently already held the office of clerk to the justices of Chester, though the identity of the Ricardus de Sancto Edmundo of the Chester records with our Richard de Bury had been obscured until Mr. J. E. Bailey recently called attention to it.^ He was next appointed the King's principal receiver in Gas- cony, ■* which was then an English province. In this position he became mixed up with the wretched intrigues and disturbances which ended in the deposition of Edward II. When Prince Edward and his mother Isabella were at Paris, in 1325, Richard furnished them with a large sum of money which he had received in his office. The King's lieutenant in Gascony pursued Richard with four- and-twenty lancers to Paris, where, in fear of his life, Richard had to hide himself for seven days in the Campanile of the Friars Minor. ' Dibdin, Bibliomania, pp. 118-119. ^ Cp. Coke, 4th Inst. 211 : " The Chambedain of Chester hath, and time out of mind hath had, the jurisdiction of a Chancellor." ^ See Papers of the Manchester Literary Club, 18S0, pp. 283-2S8 ; Acade?ny, 20 Mar. 1880, p. 214. In the Wells register he is called " Ricardus de Bury, alias de S. Edmundo." Wharton, Angl. Sacra, i. 589. * This is Chambre's phrase ; but his office was perhaps more correctly Const alnila7-ins Btirdegaliae. Rot. claus. 15 Edw. III., p. 3, m. 18 : Reg. Pal. Dunelm. iv. 24S. XIV INTRODUCTION C 4. The accession to the throne, on the 14th of January, 1327, of the prince, to whom he had had such opportunities of endearing himself, was a decisive event for the fortunes of De Bury. He was appointed, in quick succession, Cofferer to the King, then Treasurer of the Wardrobe,^ and after- wards Clerk of the Privy Seal. The King, more- over, repeatedly wrote to the Pope, with his own hand, recommending his "beloved clerk and secre- tary" for ecclesiastical promotion.^ In 1330,^ and again in 1333,* De Bury was sent as ambassador to the Papal Court, which was then in ' Babylonian captivity' at Avignon/ It was an age of splendour and display, and Richard fully maintained the dignity of his office and of his master. Whenever he visited the Pope, or any of the Cardinals, he was accompanied by twenty clerks uniformly attired, and by thirty-six esquires, all wearing his livery. It is of more interest to ' His inventory of the Crown jewels on resigning their charge is printed in the Archccologia, vol. x. p. 241 foil. ■^ See the King's letter of 26 Dec. 1330, in Rymer, ii. 2. 804, describing Richard as " virum in consiliis providum, conversationis et vitae munditia decorum, litterarum scientia praeditum et in agendis quibuslibet circumspectum. " ^ See the King's letter on his return, dated 25 Oct. 1331 : Rymer, ii. 2. 827. ■^ The co7npotus of his expenses is at the Record Office : it extends from 20 Feb. to 20 Nov. 1333. ^ Even Thomas Watts, in his account of De Bury in the English Cydopizdia, and Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Chancellors, 4th ed., i. 192, make De Buiy visit Italy. BIOGRAPHICAL rv note that during his stay at Avignon, he made the acquaintance of Petrarch, who has left upon record a brief account of his intercourse with him, the extent of which has been somewhat exaggerated. So far from a Hterary correspondence having been estabhshed between them, Petrarch complains that he could get no answer to his letters : " quamvis saepe litteris interpellatus exspectationi meae non aliter quam obstinato silentio satisfecit." ^ He so commended himself to the Pope, John XXII., that he was made his principal chaplain ; and, besides other privileges, received a rochet in place of a bull for the next vacant bishopric in England. His ecclesiastical preferments" were already so numerous and valuable, that he was master of an income of five thousand marks. The most con- siderable of them was the Deanery of Wells, to which he was appointed in 1333 — "a goodly preferment in those daies, better I think than the Bishoprick is now," as Bishop Godwin says.^ Nor had he long to wait for the promised bishopric. ^ Ep. Fam. iii. i. De Sade, i. 165-9, points out that their friendship must have been fonned during De Bury's first visit, as Petrarch was absent from Avignon in 1333. ^ See the long list of them in Tanner, Bibl. Brit. , 1 748, p. 57; which, however, may be supplemented from Browne Willis, Cathedrals, ii. 437. Dr. Hook, Archbishops, iv. 82, gives a highly imaginative account of De Bury as a pre- bendar}' of Chichester, but there is no evidence that he held a stall there. ^ Bishops of England, 1601, p. 524. xvi INTRODUCTION C 5. On the 25th of September in the same year, the See of Durham became vacant by the death of Bishop Louis de Beaumont/ The vacancy led to an unfortunate conflict of interests, in which, however, the King appears to have been more to blame than De Bury. On the 7th of October Edward issued his license to the Prior and Con- vent of Durham to elect a new Bishop, and the choice of the electors fell upon their learned sub- prior, Robert de Graystanes. Having received letters proclamatory from the Archbishop of York, Graystanes proceeded to the King at Ludgers- hall, to ask for the temporalities. Meantime the King had written to the Prior and Convent and also to the Pope, to secure the appointment of Richard De Bury ; and his answer to Graystanes on his arrival was, that he did not wish to offend the Pope, who had already provided De Bury to the See, and could not, therefore, consent to his election. Graystanes returned to York, and after taking advice, was consecrated by the Archbishop of York, and duly installed at Durham, after which he made another ineffectual attempt to see the King. It was impossible for Graystanes and ^ Beaumont was the Bishop who could not pronounce a Latin word at his consecration, and preferred to take it as read : " Seyt pur dite ! Par Seynt Lowys, 11 ne fu pas curteis que ceste parole ici escrite ! ' He was a relative of the Queen, who is said to have begged the appointment for him on her bare knees : Scriptores Tres, pp. 98 and 118. BIOGRAPHICAL xvii the Convent to Avithstand the King further, and Graystanes returned to his cloister — sine episcopatu episcopus.^ He has left upon record a temperate statement of his case, in which he refrains from throwing any of the blame upon De Bury." ^ 6. Richard was on his return from Avignon while these things were happening, and the tempo- ralities were only restored to him on the 7th of December.^ On the 1 9th of the same month, the Sun- day before Christmas Day,* he was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Abbey of the Black Friars of Chertsey, the Bishop of Lincoln pay- ing all the expenses at the King's direction. Richard was installed by proxy on the loth of January following, but was not enthroned in person until the 5 th of June,® amid great festivities, attended by the King and Queen, the Queen-mother, the King of Scots, two archbishops, five bishops, seven earls ^ Adam de Murimuth, Chronica sui Temporis, ed. Hog, p. 74. ^ See his Chronicle in the Historice Diinelmensis Scriptores Tres, p. 120 ff. Abp. Melton's letters to the Prior and Con- vent and to the Pope add some curious details : Raine's Historical Letters from Northern Registers, p. 36S. 3 Pat. 7 Edw. Ill,, p. 2. m. 6 ; Reg. Pal. Dunelm. iv. 179. ^ Hardy makes a curious slip in translating "Dominica ante Natnle" as "the Sunday preceding his birthday"; which has misled Mr. J. E. Bailey, Papers of the Manchester Literary Club, 18S5, p. 402. '" The Diet, of Nat. Biography, following the blunder of the B. B., puts these festivities at Chertsey at the time of the consecration, 19 Dec. 1333. xviii INTRODUCTION with their countesses, and all the magnates north of the Trent, together v/ith numbers of knights and esquires, and still more abbots, priors, and religious persons, and an innumerable multitude of common folk. The Bishop was present at Newcastle, on the 19th of June, when Edward of Balliol did homage to the King.^ The Bishop had already on the 3rd of February in the same year been appointed Lord Treasurer, and on the 28th of September following he ex- changed the Golden Keys for the Great Seal^ A few days before his appointment as Lord Chan- cellor he was made a commissioner, with the Bishops of Coventry and Norwich, to visit Oxford to inquire into the grave disturbances which had led to a secession of a large number of the students to Stamford.^ In 1332 Bury had visited the sister university of Cambridge as one of the commissioners to inquire into the state of the King's scholars there ; and it was perhaps upon this occasion that he be- came a member of the Gild of S. Mary ^ — one of the two gilds which founded Corpus Christi College. * Chronicle of Lanercost, p. 277. ^ Le Neve, Foss, and Hard}' all state the date ot his treasurership quite correctly ; yet the Dictionaiy of National Biography, again relying upon the B. B., says, " In 1334 he was made high chancellor of England and treasurer in 1336." Lord Campbell also seems to have been misled by the B. B. — See Fat. 7 Edvv. III. p. 2, m. 20 ; 8 Edw. III. p. i, m. 40. ^ Rymer, ii. 2, p. 892 ; Maxv/ell Lyte, Hist. U. Oxford, P- 134- '^ Ixlasters-Lrjnb, Corpus ChiisLi College, p. 16. BIOGRAPHICAL xix C 7- I^e Bury did net long occupy the Marble Chair of the Chancellor, whether because its duties were not very congenial to one who has spoken so disparagingly of the law, or perhaps more probably because his services were even more urgently required elsewhere. At all events on the 6th of June, 1335, at York he restored the Great Seal to the King, who transferred it to John Stratford, the Archbishop of Canterbury.^ The attention of the King and nation was at this time chiefly concentrated upon foreign politics and the claim put forward by Edward to the French Crov/n. The keenest and coolest intellects of the age were required for the tasks of diplomacy, and the choice of the sovereign again fell upon De Bury. The next few years of the Bishop's life were mainly devoted to this service, in the course of which he thrice visited Paris and spent some time in Flanders, Hainault, and Germany. |[ 8. Before proceeding abroad, however, the Bishop was called upon to put his Palatinate into a condition to resist a threatened attack from the Scottish border. The King spent great part of the year 1335-6 in the north, and appears to have been at Auckland from the 12th to the 21st of December 1335,^ where he was no doubt the guest of the man whom he delighted to honour.^ A truce having ' R)'mer, ii. 2, p. 909. * Surtees, Hist, of Durham, i. p. xxxli. ' See Rymer, ii. 2 pp. 927fF. XX JNTR OD UC TION been made with the Scotch, Richard De Bury was appointed a special ambassador with the Bishop of Winchester and two others to the King of France with full povv^ers to treat as to a proposed crusade, and as to all questions in dispute between Edward and Philip, and also to treat for peace with David Bruce. Their appointment was on the 6th of July, 1336,^ and they returned on the 29th of September,^ the result of the mission being unfavourable.^ In October the King appears to have been again at Auckland.* During the year 1337 Richard De Bury v/as three times put at the head of com- missioners nominated to lay the King's intentions before assembhes of magnates at York and New- castle, as to an invasion of Scotland.^ ^ 9. All the energies of the King were engaged in pushing forward preparations for the struggle with the French King. But in deference to the Pope he consented to make another attempt to agree with his adversary; and on the 21st June, 1338, full powers were given to John Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard De Bury and ^ R5^mer, i. 2, pp. 941, 942. ^ The order for payment of De Biiry's salary of 5 marks per diem and of his expenses is dated 4 Nov. ; Ryraer, ii. 2, p. 950. His covipotus is at the Record Office. "^ Rymer, ii. 2, p. 944. ^ See docvmicnts in Rymer, ii. 2, pp. 947-9 ; cp. Gibson, Miscellanies, 1863, p. 78. ^ Rymer, ii. 2, pp. 963 (24 March), 979 (28 Jun.), icoo (6 Oct.). BIOGRAPHICAL xxi Others, to treat of all causes of difference.^ On the 1 6th of July the King himself sailed for Antwerp, where he landed on the 22nd, and on~the same day revoked the powers conferred upon his ambas- sadors,^ and they were not renewed until the 15th November.^ Edward was busily engaged in pro- curing allies and engaging assistance in the Low Countries and Germany. De Bury accompanied his master on his magnificent progress up the Rhine in August and September to that stately meeting between Edward and the Emperor Lewis at Coblentz, which must have rivalled in the splendour of its pageantry the more famous meet- ing on the Field of the Cloth of Gold."* Edward and Lewis sat on thrones surrounded by more than 17,000 barons and knights, and Edward was ap- pointed Vicar-General of the Empire. The task of negotiating with Edward's allies proceeded slowly, and we find Richard named as one of the hostages for the observance of a treaty made with the Duke of Brabant on 22nd June, 1339.^ Edward was so pressed for money that he was obliged to pledge his crowns. In September a commission was issued to the Prince, the Archbishop of Canter- bury, and De Bury, to lay the King's pecuniary ^ Rymer, ii. 2, p. 1043. "^ Ibid. p. 1051. ^ Ibid. p. 1065. * See Pauli, Pictures of Old England, pp. 146 ff., for an account of this progress from the Wardrobe accounts. ' Rymer, ii. 2, p. 1083. xxii INTRODUCTION difficulties before his people/ and Richard seems to have returned to Endand on the lothof October in that year,^ and by December was again in his bishopric. His dread and dislike to the war which had now begun is clearly visible in his letter to the Prior of Durham, ordering thanksgiving for the naval victory of Sluys in 1340.^ Though he was appointed with others to treat of peace with Philip on the Toth of April, 1341/ there seems to be no record of his expenses ; and, as a fresh commission was issued for the same purpose to other ambas- sadors en the 24th of July,^ it is probable that De Bury did not proceed upon the embassy : at all events we find him attending parliament at Easter, and appointed with others to consider the charges of treason preferred by the King against the Arch- bishop of Canterbury and other ministers of the Crown.^ C[ 10. This appears, accordingly, to have been De Bury's last visit to the Continent. Henceforward, save for his attendances in Parliament, he seems to have spent his time in the care of his diocese and in communion with his books, a communion less un- interrupted, doubtless, than the peace-loving Bishop ^ Rymer, ii. 2, p. 1091. ^ His coinpohis is at the Record Office and extends from II July, 1338, to 10 Oct. 1339, or 457 days. ^ Depositions, etc. (Surtees Soc), p. 10. ^ Rymer, ii. 2, p. II 56. ■' Ibid. p. 1 168. ^ Rot. Pari. ii. 129. BIOGRAPHICAL xxiii would have wished, by the more military duties imposed upon him in the protection of the Pala- tinate. On 28th April, 1340^ he was appointed a com- missioner with others to treat with the Scotch for peace/ and a truce was concluded in September. But in the following July, De Bury and others were directed to take measures for the defence of the realm against the Scotch,^ and in September a comi- mission of array was directed to De Bury.^ In December Edward was again at Newcastle to invade Scotland, and granted an indemnity to De Bur}", who had furnished forty men-at-arms at his own personal expense.* The expedition effected little, and in April, 1342, De Bury was again appointed to treat for peace or a truce with Bruce." In the following years v\'e find De Bury enjoining the Prior of Durham not to absent him- self from the Convent, in anticipation of an inroad of the Scotch.® Meantime Edward was devoting all his efforts to the preparations for the great conflict with France, which was to exhaust the energies of both peoples during the next hundred years. In 1344 the peers called upon the King to cross the sea and appeal to the judgment of God by battle, and the representa- ^ Rymer, ii. 2, p. 1122. ^ Ibid. p. 1171. =» Ibid. p. 1 175. ^ Ibid. p. 11S3. ' Ibid. p. 1 191. ^ Scriptores Tres, App. p. cxxix (20 Aug.). xxiv INTR OD UCTION tives of the clergy eagerly voted him three years' supplies.^ De Bury therefore saw and heard quite enough of the temper and circumstance of war to sharpen the pen with which — probably about this very time — he was describing the injuries inflicted upon htera- ture, in the Qiterimonia Librorum contra Bella. He does not present to us, however, that curious combination of the soldier and the bishop which was familiar to the age of chivalry; and we are not called upon to picture him, like his predecessor Anthony Bee, leading a host of " 140 knights, 500 horsemen and 1000 foot " to war under the sacred banner of S. Cuthbert. On the contrary, Chambre tells us not only that the Palatinate enjoyed reason- able tranquiUity during his pontificate,^ but that his maintenance as Lord Palatine of the rights of the liberty of Durham despite his frequent absences caused the lot of his subjects to contrast favourably with the burdens and exactions imposed upon the rest of the country. ^11. How soon De Bury felt the attack of the disease from which he died we do not know, but Chambre tells us that he died longa infiiDiitate de- codus^ and it appears that he was not in parliament ^ Rot. Pari. ii. 147 foil. 2 The story of the sack of Durham and massacre of its inhabitants, told by Froissart (c. 71) as having happened in 1341, is accepted by Cocheris (Introd. p. xiv), but has been rejected by historians. BIOGRAPHICAL xxv in 1344. To this period we are to assign the writing of the Philohiblon^ which was completed, according to the concluding note, on the Bishop's fifty-eighth birthday, the 24th of January, 1345. The latest documents in his Register are dated the 5th of April of the same year at Durham Castle, and on the 14th of April, at his manor ot Auckland, in the words of the memorandum entered on the rolls of his Chancery : Do??ii?tus Ricardus de Bury inigravit ad Dominuni} He was buried on the 2 1 St of April, honourably indeed, but in the judgment of his warm admirer Chambre, not with all the honour he deserved — quodammodo honori- fice 71011 iaincn cum honore satis congruo — before the altar of St. Mary Magdalene in the western angle of his Cathedral. The place of his sepulture was marked by " a faire marble stone, whereon his owne ymage was most curiously and artificially ingraven in brass, with the pictures of the twelve Apostles of either side of him, and other fine imagery work about it, much adorninge the marble stone."- Chambre records that after his death one ' According to Gervase of Tilbury, this elegantissimum dictamii schema is derived from S. Athanasius ; Otia Imper., ii. 16. ^ Surtees, Hist. Durh. i. p. xxxiv, says " It does not appear that any monument was erected to the memoiy of Bury ; " but the account of his tomb in the text is taken from a *' Description of all the ancient monuments, etc. in the church of Durham," written in 1593 and printed by the Surtees Soc, p. 2. The tomb appears to have been destroyed during the Civil Wars. xxvi INTR OD UC TION of his chests which was supposed to contain treasure was found full of linen, shirts, and hair breeches : so that his abundant charities and his expenditure upon books had left him but little. His benefactions to the Cathedral during his lifetime had been con- siderable. The horses which bore his body to the grave and his ecclesiastical vestments, were the admitted perquisites of the sacrist, who, however, had some difficulty in obtaining them. Other rich vestments which De Bury intended for the Cathe- dral, he had been obliged to pledge to Lord Neville, who ultimately presented them to the Church. In accordance with ancient usage, his four seals of silver were broken up and dedicated to S. Cuthbert ; a silver-gilt cup was made of them with the inscrip- tion : *' Hie ciphus insignis fit presulis ex tetra signis Ri : Dunelmensis quarti, natu Byriensis.'^ " ^12. De Bury's passion for the collection of books v/as not selfish, and he intended to bestow them so as to promote the advancement of learning and the interests of the students of his old University. It has been assumed that this intention was duly ^ His seals have been engraved in Surtees' Hist, of Durham, vol. i., pi. iv. and an extremely beautiful example is figured in the Archcpologia, vol. xxvii. pp. 401-2. Yet another is in the Arch(2ological Jotirnal, vol. xxii. p. 389. See also B. M. Cat. of Seals, i. 402. ^ Signis is obviously the right reading for sigillis in Chambre : compare the appendix to the Surtees Soc. edition of the Scnptoj'es Tres, p. ccclxxxviii. BIOGRAPHICAL xxvii carried out and it may appear unreasonable to doubt the truth of the tradition to this effect. But apart from the fact that there is little early or positive evidence that the library was really established, there are one or two circumstances which confirm rather than allay our doubts. We have seen that De Bury actually died in debt, and we know that his executors sold at least some portion of his books. It has already been noticed that de Chambre says nothing of a library at Oxford; and the language of Leland is quite consistent with the idea of a scheme that vv'as never carried into effect. If now we look into the xixth chapter of the Fhilobiblon, we find that in the best MSS., instead of naming the Hall to which his books are to be presented, the Bishop leaves a capital letter N in the text — which was the common fashion of indicating a place left for the insertion of a proper name. In the xviiith chapter he speaks of his long nourished design of founding a Hall, but so as clearly to imply that this intention had yet to be fulfilled — and it must be remembered that De Bury died less than four months after finishing the Philobiblon. That the Bishop had more than an intention to found a college we know, because he had in fact entered into an agreement with King Edward for himself and his successors under the following circumstances. The Crown and the Bishop each claimed the right of presentation to the Church of Symondburn and an action was pending XX viii INTR OD UCTlOy in the King's Bench to decide the matter when the battle of Halidon Hill was fought. On the eve of the conflict Edward vowed that if victorious he would found a house for thirteen monks of S. Benedict. He won the battle and was bound to carry out his vow, and accordingly agreed with De Bury to resign the advowson in question on con- dition that the Bishop or his successors should found a Hall for a Prior and twelve Monks of Durham at Oxford, on the site of the house estab- lished by Prior Hoton in 1290.^ The formal brief issued by the King, and dated at Walton on the 25th of June, 1338, is one of the earliest documents appearing in De Bury's Register.^ It is quite evident that the Bishop in the xviiith chapter of his book refers to this intended foundation, which was only carried into effect by his successor Bishop Hatfield,^ who founded Durham College, where Trinity College now stands. Unfortunately De Bury's will has not been preserved, so that we are deprived of any light which it might have afforded us upon this question. The traditional account of the library is that the Bishop's books were sent in his life-time or after ^ Maxwell Lyte, Hist. U. Ox. 105. ^ Reg. Pal. Dunelm. iii. 210. The first four years of the Register in De Bury's time ai-e missing. Dibdin has en- graved in the BihL Decameron, vol. iii, 229, what he assumes to be De Bury's autograph signature from the first folio of his register, but this is very doubtful. ^ De Chambre in Scriptores Tres, p. 1 38. BIOGRAPHICAL xxix his death to the house of the Durham Benedictines at Oxford, and there remained until the dissolution of the College by Henry VII I., when they were dispersed, some going into Duke Humphrey's (the University) Library, others to Balliol College, and the remainder passing into the hands of Dr. George Owen, who purchased the site of the dissolved college. That a library belonging to the college was then dispersed is probable enough, but it is far from clear that it contained any of De Bury's books.^ It has been assumed by Cocheris, who has been followed by more recent writers,^ that the regula- tions laid down by De Bury for the management of his intended library were taken directly from the regulations made for the library of the Sorbonne in 132 1. The cardinal points of the Sorbonne rules are, according to Cocheris, the system of pledges, and the election of keepers by the sodi. It is true that we find these two points in De Bury's regula- tions, but it is not necessary to suppose that he borrowed them from the Sorbonne. The practice of taking a pledge for the loan of a book had long been exceedingly common ; ^ and the appointment ^ Gutch's Wood, ii. 911 ; cp. Some Account of Durham College, Oxford, Durh. 1840. 2 Le Clerc, Etat des lettres au xi\^ siec'e, i. 345 ; Bass Mullinger, Univ. Cam. i. 204 ; Maxwell Lyte, Hist. Univ. Ox. 158 ; Egger, Hist, du livre, 272. ^ See Botfield's Preface to the Darham Cataloguer-, p. xxxvi fT. ; Merryweathcr, Bibliomania in the ]!.Iidale Age.-, 10, 27. XXX INTR OD UCTION of keepers by the scholares was but a natural exten- sion to the case of books of the general system of government in the Colleges of Oxford and Cam- bridge.^ The regulations of the Sorbonne, which are only partly quoted by Cocheris, have since been printed by M. Alfred Franklin,^ and the rules pre- scribed by De Bury will be found to be more minute and complete than those of the Sorbonne. Among other important variations, De Bury does not direct that any of his books are to be chained, which is a main feature of the system of the Sorbonne. The "special catalogue" of his collection, which De Bury tells us he had prepared, has unfortunately not survived. No doubt from his own book and from the books cited in the works of his friends and house- mates, who may reasonably be supposed to have drawn largely from the Bishop's collections, it would be possible to restore a hypothetical but not improbable Bibliotheca Ricardi de Bury. The diffi- culty would be with that contemporary literature, which they would think below the dignity of quota- tion, but which we know the Bishop collected. How considerable the contemporary literature was in point of quantity, we may learn from Le Clerc, who has registered no less than ten thousand productions for the fourteenth century.^ €[13. Chambre's account of De Bury exhibits him Maxwell Lyte, Hist. Univ. Ox., pp. 77, 79, 83. La Sorbonne, 2 ed. 1S75, P- 45- Etat des lettres au xiv^ siecle, i. 5-^2. BIOGRAPHICAL xxxi as an excellent bishop, and an amiable and warm- hearted man. He was discreet in the government of his household, hospitable to strangers, and zealous in dispensing charity. Every week he distributed to the poor eight quarters of wheat, besides the fragments that were left, and any who were too late for this distribudon received a halfpenny. On his journeys from place to place in his diocese, he would bestow in alms between Newcastle and Durham, twelve marks; between Durham and Stockton, eight marks ; between Durham and Auck- land, five marks, and between Durham and Middle- ham, a hundred shillings — all which sums must of course be multiplied many times to represent the difference in the value of money then and now. He was quick of temper, but easily appeased, and he delighted to have about him, besides his chaplains and friends, the sons of the gentlefolk in his diocese, so that he was much beloved by his people, and he always showed great regard for the monks of his Cathedral church. Chambre tells a couple of anecdotes v/hich illustrate the Bishop's character. He was at Paris when the news reached him of the death of his predecessor, Beaumont, and one of his clerks, William de T3^kaH, rector of Stanhope, urged him to write to the Cardinals and other friends at the Curia, urging his claim to the Bishopric, but he answered that he v/ould not ask for that Bishopric or any other. Again, when the news was brought to him of the death of Graystanes, his unlucky rival on xxxii INTRODUCTION that occasion, as he was sitting in company at York, he was so much affected that he could not bear the presence of the messenger. And when his com- panions asked why he grieved so greatly, he answered : '' If you had known his worth as I do, I believe that you would grieve as much as I ; for he was fitter for the Papacy than I or any of my fellows for the smallest dignity in Holy Church." |[ 14. Chambre's account of his book-loving propensities adds something to the Bishop's own account of them in his book. Iste summe delecta- batur in imdtiiudine librorum ; he had more books, as was commonly reported, than all the other English bishops put together. He had a separate library in each of his residences, and wherever he was residing so many books lay about his bed- chamber, that it was hardly possible to stand or move without treading upon them. All the time he could spare from business was devoted either to religious offices or to his books. Every day while at table he would have a book read to him, unless some special guest were present, and afterwards would engage in discussion on the subject of the reading. The haughty Anthony Bee delighted in the appendages of royalty — to be addressed by nobles kneeling, and to be waited on in his presence-chamber and at his table by knights bare-headed and standing;^ but De Bury loved to surround himself with learned men. Among ' Surtees, Hist. Durh. i. p. xxxv. BIOGRAPHICAL xxxiii these were such men as Thomas Bradwardine, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and author of the De Causa Dei\ Richard Fitzralph, after- wards Archbishop of Armagh, and famous for his hostility to the mendicant orders,^ Walter Burley, the *' Plain and Perspicuous Doctor," who dedi- cated to him a translation of the Politics of Aris- totle made at his suggestion,' John Mauduit the astronomer, Robert Holkot, author of many books, Richard de Kilvington, Richard Benworth, after- wards Bishop of London, and Walter Seagrave, who became Dean of Chichester. The Philobiblo7i may be supposed to represent the fruit of the Bishop's intellectual converse with these and other learned men, as well as of his own reading and experience. It is unnecessary to present any summary or analysis of a treatise which is so short, and which every reader will prefer to peruse for himself. De Bury tells us that he designed it to justify his all-absorbing devotion to books in the eyes of those v>'ho had condemned it as excessive, by indicating their supreme value, and the disinterestedness of his own love for them, as shown by his ultimate purpose in their collection. But he felt that it was not enough to provide the books, unless he ^ Lorimer suggests that De Bury shared the liberal views of Bradwardine and Fitzralph : Lechler's Life of Wiclif, i. Ii8. A too fanciful writer in the Boston Bevieiv, 1863, iii. 94, regards him as the Erasmus of Wiclif 's movement. ^ Brit. Mus. MS. Burney, 304. C xxxiv INTRODUCTION could kindle in the hearts of those for whom they were intended the love that burned so warmly in his own. And so he gives his treatise a name which expresses the central theme of his discourse ^ — the love of books.^ €[ 15. Widely varying judgments have been passed upon the intellectual position of De Bury. It was long the fashion to speak of him with Sir Henry Savile as the learnedest man of his age. More recent critics have regarded him as not a scholar himself, but a patron and encourager of scholarship.^ The truth lies perhaps midway between these different verdicts. There is no reason to suppose that he was a sustained or original thinker like Occam or Bradwardine; nor did he share the literary productiveness of Burley or Holkot. He has left us nothing of his own but what may be described in his own phrase as a '' panfletus exiguus." But we must bear in mind ^ Cp. Pro!, s. 12, and c. xviii. ^ Even Fabricius uses the unauthorised form Fhilobiblion, which is of course quite impossible, while to (pikoftijiXov is at least defensible. It is, perhaps, just possible that it was suggested to him by the article in Suidas (whose book is said to have been translated by Grosteste) on Philo Biblios the grammarian, who wrote a treatise Ilfpt KTrjGsojg Kai eK\oyrjg (3t[3\iiov. The adjective ^jX6/3(/3Xoc, of course, occurs in Strabo, xiii. p. 608, who says of Apellikon, the purchaser of Aristotle's library, that he was 0iX«/3(/3Xoy jxaXXov /) (pikcdocpog, ^ E.g. Mr. Bass Mullinger, Univ. Camb., i. 201 ; Dr. Creighton in the Diet. Nat. Biog., s.n. BIOGRAPHICAL xxxv that De Bury was essentially a man of affairs, and that his official preoccupations left him compara- tively scanty interv^als of time to devote to literature. The judgment of Petrarch may be sufficient to satisfy us as to the extent of his knowledge and the width of his literary interests. We must not indeed look in De Bury for culti- vated taste or historical criticism. The age in which he lived was, in the phrase of Savile, " aetas minime omnium critica,"^ and he shares its defects. Not to speak of his faith in books and sciences ''before the Flood," he cites, in common with Holkot and Bradwardine, Hermes Trismegistus and the Pseudo-Dionysius, quotes the De Fo??io as Aristotle's and seems to have no suspicion that the miserable verses of the De Vehila are not Ovid's own. His knowledge of Greek was probably slender enough, but is unduly depreciated by Hallam.^ He was anxious to see the study of Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic more zealously prose- cuted, and prepared grammars of the two former languages, as well as glossaries of grammatical terms and "exotic" words. On the other hand, I find nothing in De Bury to justify the viev/ of * In Pref. to the De Causa Dei. So Leibniz says of the thirteenth century, "quod ego ciun proximo omnium ssecu- lorum pest Christum natum ineptissinnan esse comperi." — Introd. to the SS. Rerum Brunsv. Ixiii. When James, in his letter to Lord Lumley, called it " illud aureum saecu- lum," he was thinking of it, no doubt, as an age oi faith. ^ Lit. of Europe, i. 94. xxxvi INTRODUCTION one of his recent critics, that he was " penetrated with the principles of humanism,"^ and I fear that he would have felt little sympathy with Petrarch's enthusiasm for the "new learning," or at least with his continual invectives against the aims and methods of scholasticism. This is evident enough from his complaint that the dialecticians of Paris produced no new authors. It was in his days that the University of Oxford was the scene of the last effort of scholasticism, before the revival of classical culture which was to revolutionize the studies of Europe. Again, he does not rise above the view that the liberal arts and the writings of the poets are to be studied only in order to assist the understanding of the Scriptures and of the Fathers. He is not free from a certain ecclesiastical narrow- ness, which leads him to forbid even the handling of books by the laity ; and there is nothing in his book to show that he felt any interest in the vernacular literatures which were springing up in France, in Italy, and in his own country. The style of De Bury is exactly what the fore- going considerations would lead us to expect. There is no attempt, as in the case of Petrarch, to return to a classical standard, which he had not learned to appreciate. His models are not the purest writers of the purest age of Latinity, but the late grammarians and the Fathers of the Church. His style is stiff with a heavy embroidery of scrip- ^ Dr. Creighton in tlie Diet. Nat. Biog. BIOGRAPHICAL xxxvii tural quotation and allusion ; like that of many among the mediceval writers, it is " made of the Scriptures."^ Though he affects to write "in the lightest style of the moderns," he has none of the ease and fluency of such writers as John of Salisbury, and his rhetoric, genuine as no doubt it is, is too often clumsy and overlaboured. Although his book can scarcely claim to rank as a masterpiece of literature, the text now printed will show that his style is much more correct than has been hitherto supposed. The special interest to us of Richard De Bury is that he is, if not the prototype, at least the most conspicuous example of a class of men who have been more numerous in modern than in ancient or mediceval times. No man has ever carried to a higher pitch of enthusiasm the passion for collecting books. On this point, at least, De Bury and Petrarch were truly kindred spirits, and their community of feeling finds expression in a striking similarity of language. The letter in which Petrarch seeks the co-operation of his brother Gerard presents close resemblance to a well-known passage in the Pliilobiblon. Petrarch writes^ : " Aurum, argentum, gemmae, purpurea vestis, marmorea domus, cultus ager, pictae tabulae, pha- - "The writings of the dark ages are, if I may use the expression, vicule of the ScripHires. " — Maitland, Dark Ages, 470. - Ep. Fam., iii. 18. xxxviii INTRODUCTION leratus sonipes, caeteraque id genus, mutam habent et superficiariam voluptatem : libri medullitus de- lectant." One mifrht think that the writer had had before o him the very words of De Bury in his eighth chapter.^ Again, Petrarch bids his brother employ trusty and learned men to search for books for him : "Etruriam perquirant, reHgiosorum armaria evol- vant caeterorumque studiosorum hominum. . . . Scias me easdem preces amicis aUis in Britanniam, GalHasque et Hispanias destinasse." The words seem but an echo of De Bury's account, in the same chapter, of his own pro- cedure. There is one other point of similarity between Petrarch and De Bury : that each of them intended to bestow his books for public uses. In each case, moreover, this pious intention appears to have been frustrated by the carelessness of their successors. f[ i6. De Bury has told us in his book a good deal of his principles and practice as a collector. He collected everything, and he spared no cost ; a book in his opinion could never be too dear — unless one might reasonably hope for an opportunity of purchasing at a cheaper rate. Besides main- taining a staff of copyists and illuminators in his own household, he was on excellent terms with "the trade" — limited as it then was — not onlv ' S. 123. BIOGRAPHICAL xxxix in England, but in France and Germany. He pressed into his service the members of the re- ligious orders, who supplied him with books from the monastic libraries, and used in his behalf the opportunities of picking up rare volumes, which their wandering life abundantly afforded. He made use of his various offices in Church and State to gain access to every quarter whence he might expect some accession to his treasures. The gifts which were then the recognized perquisites of such exalted officers came to him in the shape of books. Let us hope that he speaks no more than the truth when he declares that meantime "justice suffered no detriment." One or two anecdotes have survived which throw a curious hght on this aspect of the matter. It is recorded in the history of the Abbots of the great monastery of S. Alban's, that one of its abbots, a man himself distinguished for his literary and scientific zeal, presented to De Bury, then Clerk of the Privy Seal, four volumes, viz., Terence, Virgil, Quintilian, and Hieronymus against Rufinus, in the hope of securing his favourable influence in fonvarding the interests of that house. Besides this, the abbot sold him thirty-two other books for fifty pounds of silver. The pious chronicler expresses his horror at this transaction, and records that after he had become Bishop, De Bury, conscience-smitten, restored several of the books, and that others were bought from the Bishop's executors by the next abbot, Michael de Mentmore, at a price below xl INTRODUCTION their real value/ Richard faithfully carried out his compact ; for it is recorded that by his aid the abbot obtained the right, which ordinarily apper- tained only to bishops, to imprison excommuni- cated persons as a matter of course, and not by a special vvrit.^ It appears that later Richard's interference in the business of the convent brought him into trouble. It happened that the abbot suffered from leprosy, and there was a cabal within the convent to have him removed. Representations were made to the Papal Court, and Richard appears to have put the Privy Seal to the letter sent to the Pope. The matter was brought before Parliament, and De Bury was censured for this use of the seal without authority. The only excuse he could offer v/as that pressure had been put upon him by men who were too powerful to be withstood.^ There is now preserved in the British Museum a large folio MS. of the works of John of Salisbury, which was one of the books bought back from the Bishop's executors. It bears upon it a note to the effect that it was written by Simon (who was Abbot of S. Alban's, 1167 — 1183), and another note, v/hich runs as follows : " Plunc librum venditum Domino Ricardo de Biry Episcopo Dunelmensi emit Michael Abbas Sancti Albani ab executoribus ' Chronica Mon. S. Albani, ii. 200. - lb. p. 283. 3 Tb. p. 288. BIOGRAPHICAL xli predict! episcopi anno Domini millesimo ccc" XLv'" circa purificationem Beate Virginis."^ ^17. There seems no sufficient reason to sup- pose that De Bury wrote any other book than the Fhilobiblon. Boston and Leland mention only this book, but Bale ^ and Pits add a volume of Epistolce Familiares with another of Orationes ad Principes. This list has been repeated by subsequent writers, and even figures to this day in the Encyclopcedia Britannica.^ Bale was not a very exact biblio- grapher, and there seems to have been some con- fusion, the source of which it is perhaps not diffi- cult to indicate. Bale gives as the initial words of the PJiilobiblon : "Thesaurus desiderabilis " and of the Eptstohe : " Ricardiis miseratione divina." Now the former words are the beginning of the first chapter of the PJiilobiblon omitting the prologue, and the latter words are at the beginning of this prologue or introductor}^ letter to the reader, so that Bale has merely made the one work into two. This suggestion derives support from the fact that in at least one MS. the prologue is omitted and the PJiilobiblon begins with the TJiesaiirus desidera- bills of Chapter I.* This is perhaps a more probable explanation than to suppose, as Dr. Creighton ^ Roy. 13 D. iv. 3. 2 Bale, indeed, says : " et alia scripsit ;" which is adopted by Godwin, Cat. of Bishops, 1601, p. 524 : "he writ many things not yet perished." ^ S.v. Aunger\'ile. ^ The Magdalen MS. ; cp. p. Ixviii. post. xlii INTRODUCTION suggests, that Bale had heard of the letter-book of Richard De Bury, which has recently been described for the Historical MSS. Commission,^ and more fully by Sir Thomas Hardy." This is not a work of literary interest, but a collection of precedents, no doubt collected by the Bishop for the use of the clerks in his chancery. It is described on the first page as Liber Epistolaris quondajti domini Ricardi de Bury, Episcopi Dufielm. ; and from another inscrip- tion, " Liber Monachorum Sancti Edmundi Regis et Martiris," appears to have for some time belonged to the Monastery of Bury S. Edmund's. Sir Thomas Hardy suggests that it was probably bought by the monastery out of consideration for its original owner. It is now in the possession of Lord Harlech. Very few of the documents transcribed into it throw any light upon the career of De Bury. It is per- haps just possible that this book may be the founda- tion of fact for the supposed volume of Orationes ad Pri7icipes, of which Bale speaks. I need only mention that in James's Bodleian Catalogue of 1620,^ and the Catalogues of 1738* and 1843 ^ The Conie7nplacyon of Smners, printed by De Worde in 1499, is attributed to De Bury, an error due to a confusion between Richard De Bury and Richard Fox, one of his successors in the See of ^ Fourth Report, 85 ; Fifth Report, 379. 2 In the pref. to the 4th vol. of the Reg. Pal. Dunebn.^ pp. xxv-cxxvii. ^ App. p. 10. ^ Vol. i. p. 109. ^ Vol. i. p. 377. BIOGRAPHICAL xliii Durham, at whose request this treatise appears to have been written at the end of the fifteenth century.^ ^ i8. Some reference must be made to the attempts to deprive De Bury of the authorship of the Philobiblon in favour of Robert Holkot. This claim, which has the support of Tanner, Hearne, and Warton,^ appears to have been first formally put forward by Altamura and Echard, the biblio- graphers of the Order of the Friars Preachers, who rely upon the authority of Laurentius Pignon and Lusitanus. These authorities are of course a cen- tury later than the time of De Bury and Holkot ; and if this were all, there would be no difficulty in disposing of the claim. But in seven of the extant MSS. oi \\\q Philobiblon the book is ascribed to Holkot,^ as well as in a MS. once in the possession of Fabricius,^ and perhaps in another which was formerly in the Royal Library at Erfurt.^ The Paris MS. has simply "Philobiblon olchoti anglici," and it does not contain the con- cluding note of which I have elsewhere spoken. ^ See Herbert's Ames, i. 135-6. The book is "very scarce," and there is no copy in the British Museum. The Bodleian has t'djo copies, in one of which is a note by Douce. ^ Tanner in Holcot, p. 407 ; Reliq. Eodl. p. xi.; Camden, Annal., p. cxxix ; Leland, Collect, vi. 299; Hist. Engl. Poetr}', i. 215. 3 B. M. Harl. 492 ; Roy. 8 F. 14 ; Paris, 3352 ; C. C. C, Oxen. ; Bodl. Add. C. 108; Venice; and Escurial. * Bibl. M. et I. Lat. i., 308. '" Post, p. Ixxvi. xliv INTRODUCTION In the other MSS., in which I have found the work attributed to Holkot, the concluding note is found, but they begin with some such words as " Incipit prologus philobiblon Ricardi Dunelmens. Epi que hbrum compilauit RoBus Holcote de ordine predicatorum sub nomine dicti episcopi."^ In the great majority of MSS. then, inckiding the earhest, this preliminary note is not found, and in nearly all the MSS. where it does occur, it is ac- companied by a final note, which is, to say the least, hardly consistent with it. As evidence, therefore, that Robert Holkot wrote the Philobiblon it is not very satisfactory. In order to gain such light as can be thrown upon the matter from internal evidence, I have read through most of Holkot's own writings, and I have no hesi- tation in saying that so far as the evidence of style goes, there appears little reason to assign the Philobiblon to Holkot. Lord Campbell has already pointed out that the essentially autobiographical character of the book is all in favour of De Bury's authorship. Holkot, who was one of De Bury's chaplains, may indeed have acted as the Bishop's amanuensis in the preparation of the book. A traditional and perhaps exaggerated account of this may have reached the ears of some scribe or pos- sessor of a MS. of the Philobiblon^ and he may have set down the note in question. But it would * The Harl. MwS. reads coviposiiit for coinpilavit ; and the final note is sometimes modified : see account of MSS., post. BIOGRAPHICAL xlv be unfair to deprive De Bury of the credit of having planned and written his own book on such shadowy evidence as can be adduced in favour of Holkot's claim/ It is the more satisfactory to think that we are not called upon to deprive De Bury of the author- ship of the PJiilobiblon^ as, now that his books have been dispersed, and his tomb despoiled, it is the sole abiding memorial of one who loved books so much in an age and country that loved them so little. One who has sung his praises, in his own words, " even to raving," has truly said of Richard De Bury, that " his fame will never die."^ So, too, the PhilobibloJi will ever continue to kindle the love of those silent teachers who " instruct us with- out rods and stripes, without taunts or anger, with- out gifts or money ; who are not asleep when we approach them, and do not deny us when we ques- tion them ; who do not chide us if we err, or laugh at us if we are ignorant. » 3 ^ Father Denifle, himself a member of the Order of Preachers, supports Holkot's claim in his recent work, Die Universitiiten im Mittelalter, i. p. 727 note. '^ Dibdin, Reminiscences, i. 86 note. ^ S. 26: "words which," it has been said, '* Cicero might have owned :" J. P. Andrews, Hist, of Great Britain, i. 428. xlvi INTRODUCTION Postscript, Since this Introduction was in type, Mr. E. Maunde Thompson has called my attention to a remarkable account of De Bury in a passage of Adam Murimuth, which has never yet been printed and has been overlooked by all the Bishop's bio- graphers. If it is to be accepted, it not only con- firms the doubt I have suggested as to the estabHsh- ment of the contemplated Oxford library, but supports the view that De Bury did not himself WTite the Philobiblon., and may indeed seriously modify our estimate of his character. The passage, as found in MS. Harl. 3836, f. 49"", is as follows : — " Hoc anno, xiiij. die Maii,^ anno Domini M° cccxLV^*', regni vero dicti regis E. tertii a con- questu decimo nono, obiit Ricardus de Bury, episcopus Dunolraensis, qui ipsum episcopatum et omnia sua beneficia prius habita per preces mag- natum et ambitionis vitium adquisivit, et ideo toto tempore suo inopia laboravit et prodigus exstitit in expensis, unde dies suos in gravissima paupertate finivit. Imminente" vero termino vite sue, sui familiares omnia bona sua mobilia rapuerunt, adeo quod moriens unde corpus suum cooperire poterat non habebat, nisi subtunicam ^ unius garcionis in ^ No doubt a slip for Aprilis. ^ Eminente MS. ^ Altered from supcrtimicam. BIOGRAPHICAL xhii camera remanentis. Et, licet idem episcopus fuisset mediocriter literatus, volens tamen magnus clericus reputari, recollegit sibi librorum numerum infini- tum, tarn de dono quam ex accommodatoa diversis monasteriis et ex empto, adeo quod quinque magne carecte non sufficiebant pro ipsius vectura librorum." Adam Murimuth's position as a canon of S. Pauls's and a distinguished lawyer, who was several times employed in diplomatic negociations, no doubt gave him ample opportunities of collecting trustworthy information as to the leading men of his time. It is true that he and De Bury were engaged in similar lines of public employment, and his view of the Bishop's character may have been coloured by jealousy, and by a sarcastic temper. But it is not so easy to dispose of his allegations of fact, and his account of De Bury's poverty agrees only too well with several significant indications in Chambre's life, and in the Durham records : sub jzidice lis est. Bibliographical I. — Printed Editions. We may infer from the corruption of the many existing MSS. that the Philobiblon was frequently copied, and from their distribution that it soon found its way into the libraries not only of our own country, but of France, Germany, the Low Countries, Italy, and Spain. In 1358 long extracts from it are found embodied in a University statute at Oxford,^ yet, as has been already stated, the Bishop's biographer Chambre makes no mention of his book ; and the earliest references to it that I have found are in Boston (f 1410) in this country, and in Trithemius (f I5i6),the famous Abbot of Spon- heim, on the Continent. It has been suggested that Thomas a Kempis made use of the Philobiblo7i in his Doctrinale luvenmn, but I have shown elsewhere that the suggestion is unfounded.^ The book appears to have found a wider audience abroad than at home, and it was three times printed on the Continent— at Cologne in 1473, a-t Spires in 1483, and at Paris in 1500— and then had to wait for another century before it found an English printer. The edition of Thomas James, Bodley's first librarian, appeared in 1598-9. It v/as then again printed in Ger- ^ This is in the Cliancellor's and Proctors' book, and is printed by Anstey, Munim. Acad., i. 207-8, who has not noticed the quotation. It may be a quotation in De Bury. ^ Library Chronicle, 1885, vol. ii. 47. d 1 INTRODUCTION many by Melchior Goldast, apparently without any knowledge of the Enghsh edition, in 1610, and reprinted in 1614 and 1674. It was also included in 1703 by J. A. Schmidt in his supplement to the collection of treatises on libraries published by J. J. Mader. There is then no edition to record until the present century, when an anonymous English translation was pub- lished in 1832. In 1856 Cocheris issued the Latin text with a French translation at Paris; and in 1861 Cocheris' text and Inglis's translation were reprinted in the United States. The bibliography of the Phllobiblon long remained uncertain and obscure, and indeed is hardly yet well understood. Trithemius says of the book in his De Script 07'ibiis Ecclesiasticis (begun in 1487 and printed 1494) " iam impressus est," but there is nothing to show whether he was acquainted with the Cologne or Spires edition, or with both. Leland, Bale, and Pits do not mention a printed text. The Paris printer must have known that the book was in print, for he prefixes to his edition the account of De Bury from Trithemius, but carefully omits the statement that the book had been already printed. When James came to print it, he described his own impression as " editio iam secunda," and Goldast intimates on his title-page that his issue of the book was a first impression. When the in- cunabulists set to work to register the early produc- tions of the press, they ignored one or other of the Cologne and Spires impressions, or, worse still, con- founded them together. Thus Maittaire,^ Panzer,^ and Denis ^ mention only the Spires edition, and Hain ^ is the first to record the two impressions, assigning both ^ Ann. Typ., i. 449. '^ Ann. Tj^p., iii. 22. ^ Ann. Typ., 177. * Rep. bibliogr., i. 579. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL li however to 1483. Other bibhographers were no less at fault : Fabricius ^ and Clement ' know nothing of the Cologne impression ; Peignot ' dates both editions 1473. Our own Dibdin believed that the supposed Cologne edition was a myth ;■* and it was with surprise as well as delight that he found it ' fall to his good for- tune' in the Bibliotheca Spoiceriana^ "to describe the present rare and inestimable impression," meaning this very edition of Cologne. There has been a good deal of confusion as to the Paris edition of 1500 and a supposed reimpression of James's edition at London in 1600. I will show presently that there was in the former case only a single impression, and that in the latter case there was no impression in 1600, but that James's book was first printed in 1598 and reissued the following year. Again, none of the bibliographers has given a full list of the several impressions of Goldast's text, and a complete account of them here appears for the first time. Finally, it has been asserted by the Dictionary of National Biography that the edition now in the reader's hands was published "in 1885." I propose now to describe the various editions in their chronological order : — 1473 The EDITIO PRINCEPS of the Philo- Cologne biblon was printed at Cologne in a small quarto volume of 48 leaves, without pagination, sig- natures, or catchwords. Its printer is said to have ^ Bibl. M. et I. Lat., i. 307. ^ Bibliotheque cur., v. 431-9. ^ Rep. bibl. univ., 378. * Bibliomania, 181 1, p. 38. ' Vol. iii. 237-8. This was in 1814 ; yet in 1842 he reprints the old account in the new edition of the Bibliomania, p. 29. Home, Introd. to Bibl., ii. 517, copies Dibdin. lii INTRODUCTION been G. Gops de Euskyrchen.^ It contains no indica- tion of authorship outside the text, but begins : Incipit prologus in librum de amore librorum qui dicitur philobiblon It ends : Explicit philobiblon sci. liber de amore librorum Colonie impres sus anno domini Mcccc.lxxiij. etc. On ff. [5 v.] and [6 v.] there are indications in at least one copy of a rearrangement of the type during the process of printing. The text was no doubt printed from a single MS. without any attempt at editing. It presents a very close resemblance to the Cologne MS. described further on.^ There are two copies of this impression in the British Museum, and I have had the opportunity of consulting the copies in the possession of Earl Spencer, Mr. W.Amherst T. Amherst, M.P., and Mr. Sam: Timmins. Dibdin's account of the Althorp copy is not very accurate, as I found no trace of the " copious ms. memoranda " to which he refers. Ac- cording to Cocheris there are two copies in the Biblio- theque Nationale. Mr. Quaritch gave ^45 for the copy in the WodhuU sale in 1886. 1483 Ten years afterwards the Philobiblon Spires ^as printed by the brothers John and Conrad Hiist in a small quarto volume of 39 leaves, with 31 lines to the page, without pagination, catch- words, or signatures. The 7'ecto of the first leaf is blank. On the verso is a letter from the anonymous editor, who simply describes himself as "minimus ^ B. M. Cat. ; Ennen, Kat. d. Inkunabeln in d. Stadtb. zu Koln, p. 132. Peignot wrongly made Veldener the printer : Rep. bibl. univ., p. 378. ^ 'Steposf, p. Ixxi. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL liii sacerdotum," ^ to the brothers Hiist, who are addressed as " studiosissimi impressores." The letter is dated " idibus lanuarij anno xpi etc. Ixxxiii ", and the writer speaks of the difficulty he had found in performing the editorial task imposed upon him, owing to the defective state of the copy he used. On the second leaf the title is given as follows : Phylobyblon difertifTimi viri Richardi dilmelmeh epi. de qrimonijs librol/. ornib^ lra2/. amatorib^ putil' ,plog^ Incipit. It ends with the words, after coitspectimi Ame7t : Valete 7 sciaz lfa2^ colite. The book, which was no doubt printed from a single manuscript, presents a somewhat better text than that of Cologne, though both are very defective. Dibdin's suggestion that it would " be probably considered to be a mere reprint of the Cologne impression" is with- out foundation.- The Spires editor allowed himself the liberty of altering the opening words of the pro- logue to " Universis litterarum cultoribus " and of omitting the following clause. Other traces of editor- ship may also be noticed in the book. This edition seems to be even rarer than the editio princeps.^ Cocheris could find no copy in Paris. It is in the British Museum ; and I have had the use of the copy belonging to Mr. Sam : Timmins. A copy ^ Weislinger, Armament. Cathol., 1749, p. 274, assumed that the letter is ffom De Bury himself, in sending " pre- tiosissimum hocce opusculum " to Spires to be printed ; which misled Schelhorn, Anleitung, i. 5. ^ Bibl. Spenc, iii. 238. ^ Baur, Primit. typ. Spin, p. 28 ; Hocker, Hallsbronn. Antiquitatenschatz, p. 156; Maichelius remarked in 1721 : " Liber hodie rarissimus est, nee facile comparet in biblio- thecis seorsim editus : " Introd., p. 132. li V INTR OD UC TION was sold at the Williams sale for ^6 los. ; and at the Fuller-Russell sale in 1886 I bid in vain for a copy against Mr. Quaritch, who secured it for ;^ 12 15^. 1500 Thirteen years afterwards the book Paris was printed at Paris in a small quarto of 24 unnumbered leaves (sig. a [i]-iiii, b i-iiii, c i-iv) with the following title-page : Philobiblion Tractatus pulcher | rimus de amore librorum [Then follows the printer's mark and name JEHAN PETIT] Venundatur in leone argenteo | vici sancti lacobi. On the recto of the last leaf : Explicitum est philobiblion scilicet liber de amore librorum quem impressit apud parrhifios hoc anno secundum eosdem millesimo quingentesimo ad calendas martias Caspar philippus pro loanne parvo Bibliopola parrhifiensi. On the verso of the first leaf is an account of De Bury taken from Trithemius, from which however his reference to the printing of the book is significantly omitted. This is followed by a letter dated i March from the scholar-printer lodocus Badius Ascensius to Laurentius Burellus, confessor of the King and Bishop of Sisteron, who appears to have sent the book to him to print. He expressly says that Jean Petit had joined him in the undertaking " hoc munus nobiscum sus- cepit." This I think explains and disposes of the statement of the bibliographers,^ which has been repeated down to Cocheris, that there were two editions of 1 500, one by Petit and the other by Badius Ascensius.^ Cocheris himself does not say that he has ^ It dates apparently from Panzer, ii. 336. ^ The story told by Chevillier and repeated in Burton's Book Hunter (fi-om Peignot's Diet, de Bibliologie, i. 38), BIBL 10 GRA PHICA L Iv seen either edition, and he gives the title inaccurately. There can be no doubt that the Paris edition is simply a reimpression of that of Cologne. The spelling Philobiblon was however altered by Ascensius to Philo- biblioHy and he extended the title by adding a part of the phrase employed by Trithemius : " scripsit de amore librorum et institutione dictae Bibliothecae pidcherrijimm tractatuin ," 1598 & 9 It was not until the very end of the Oxford next century that the first English edition of this English book appeared, with the following title-page : Philobiblon [ Richardi | Dvnelmensis | sive | De amore librorvm, et Institvtione bibliothecae | tractatus pulcherrimus. | Ex collatione cum varijs manuscriptis edi- | tio jam secunda ; | cui | accessit appendix de manuscriptis Oxoniensibus. | Omnia haec | Opere »& Studio T. I. Novi coll. in alma Academia ] Oxoniensi Socij. | [B. P. N.^] | Non quaero quod mihi vtile est sed quod multis.^ I Oxoniae, | Excudebat losephus Barne- sius 1598. I The book is in quarto and consists of 62 pages, with four unnumbered pages of prehminary matter and 8 unnumbered pages of appendix. So far as I know, the copy in the Bodleian Library is the only copy extant bearing the date 1598, and Fabricius, Oudinus, that the Philobihlion was the first book printed by Badius Ascensius after settling in Paris, will not bear inspection. * The meaning of these letters, which appear only on the 1 599 title-page, is perhaps Bibliothecae Praefectus Novae or Nostrae ; but there is rather reason to believe that they v,'ere intended to mean Bono Publico Naitts. ^ From I Cor. x. 33. Ivi INTRODUCTION and Tanner the only bibliographers who mention this date. The other extant copies bear the date 1599 and appear to be a mere reissue with a fresh title-page. To this reissue the editor prefixes a Latin Epistola Dedi- catoria of four pages addressed to Thomas Bodley, in which he compares him with De Bury for his devotion to literature and his benefaction to the University. He explains how he had found his author " in membranis inter blattas et tineas semivivum, semiesum, pallentem expirantemque," and how far he was from being satis- fied with his efforts to restore his author. He begs the reader to condone the " barbarisms and solecisms " in the Bishop's style and his slight lapses in matters of faith and religion, both the faults of his age.^ He concludes by congratulating Bodley on the success of his plans for restoring the University library. The letter is dated " Ex Mus^o meo in Collegio Novo, Julii 6. 1599 ", and is signed " Thomas Jam.es". James was evidently under the impression that the book had been only once printed. It is not improbable that he had before him the Paris edition. His title- page at all events reproduces the title of that edition as borrowed from Trithemius ; though he uses the phrase in a fuller form and may of course have taken it from Trithemius only. He reprints Bale's account of De Bury, together with a MS. note of T[homas] A[llen's] in his copy of Bale,^ taken from Chambre's life of the Bishop, then still in manuscript. '^ Dibdin speaks of this preface as "the veriest piece of old maidenish particularity that ever was exhibited ! However, the editor's enthusiastic admiration of De Bury obtains his forgiveness in the bosom of every honest bibliomaniac." — Bibliomania, p. 185 note. ^ This annotated Bale is now in the Bodleian. Hearne printed from it the note in question in Leland's Itin., ix. 131. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Ivii Fabricius ^ says that the text of James was again printed at London in the following year in the Ecloga Oxo?iio-Cajitabrigie7isis ; but this statement appears to rest upon a misunderstanding. The Ecloga is an account of the MSS. at Oxford and Cambridge, and was to have been published, as James tells us, with the Philobiblon. As it was not finished and the printer grew impatient, James decided not to wait for it, but instead gave the appendix which is affixed to the Philobiblojt, and which is merely an index of authors represented in the Oxford MSS. But the Philobiblon was ?iot reprinted with the Ecloga issued in 1600, as Fabricius must have supposed.^ The Ecloga enables us to say what MSS. James had at his disposal for the purposes of his edition. The MSS. enumerated in the Ecloga^ are : At Oxford four, viz., at All Souls', Lincoln, Magdalen, and Balliol ; at Cam- bridge, at Benet's (now C. C. C), and one in Lord Lumley's library. The five college MSS. are still where they were ; Lord Lumley's should have passed into the Royal Library, and may be one of the MSS. now in the British Museum. There can be little doubt that James relied largely upon the Magdalen and Lincoln MSS." James's text has been condemned by Dibdin as containing " nothing more than the Cologne impres- sion, being sometimes, indeed, less particular," ^ and Inghs, who "doubts his having looked into several MSS., but has no doubt of his having preferred his own words to those of the author." ^ This is not ' Bibl. Med. et Inf. Latin., i. 307. 2 The Ecloga appears in Prof. Arber's Stationers' Register ^ iii. 164 (25 June, 1600), but I find no entry of the Philo- biblon. 3 At p. 81. * See Library Chronicle, 1885, ii. 132. ^ Bibl. Spenceriana, iii. 238. ^ Notes, p. 131. 1 vili INTR OD UCTION deserved ; though Hearne's language is no doubt ex- aggerated when he says of hhn " in Hbello perpurgando multum sudavit," '^ there seems no reason to doubt that he honestly looked into several MSS. At the same time he left a good deal to be done for the text of his author. One of the copies of James's edition in the British Museum is a presentation copy to Lord Lumley, and contains an interesting autograph letter to Lumley written in James's exquisitely neat hand.^ 1610 From this time until the present cen- Frankfurt ^^^^ ^^ Philobiblo7i was not again printed 1674 by itself, but only in collectaneous works. Leipzig In 1610 was published in a small octavo volume : Philologicarum epistolarum centuria Vna diversorum a renatis literis Doctissimorum virorum ... in- super Richardi de BVRI Episcopi Dunelmensis Philobiblion & Bessarionis Patriarchae Constan- tinopolitani & Cardinahs Nicaeni Epistola ad Senatum Venetum. Omnia nunc primum edita ex Bibliotheca Melchioris Haiminsfeldii Goldasti . . . Francofurti Impensis Egenolphi Emmelii,anno 1610. The Philobiblon occupies pp. 400-500 of the book, p. 400 being a fresh title-page bearing the words " ex Bibliotheca et recensione Melchioris Haiminsfeldii Goldasti." From these words and from the " omnia haec prhnum edita " the natural inference would be that Goldast thought he was printing the Philobiblon for the first time, or at least that he was printing it from a MS. But the text with a few trifling variations ' Leland, Collect, ed. alt., vi. 299. ^ Printed in Miscellanies of the Philobiblon Society, vol. i. art. I. It is curiously overlooked in Delepierre's Analyse. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL lir is obviously that of the Paris impression of 1500, and indeed Goldast actually silently reprints from that edition the account of De Bury by Trithemius, and even the letter of Badius Ascensius already described. The edition of 1614 seems to be merely a reissue with a fresh title-page, and the reprint of 1674 at Leipzig by Conringius presents no variation to call for remark. 1703 The edition printed by J. A. Schmidt Helmsiadt jn (he " Nova accessio " published by him in 1703 to the well-known collection of treatises " Ue Bibliothecis atque Archivis virorum clarissimorum libelli et commentationes" (sec. ed., Helmstadii, 1702, 4°), does not call for than more brief notice, as it is merely a reprint of the edition of Goldast with a few slight alterations. The Philobiblion (as it is called) occupies pp. 1-66. J832 In 1832 there appeared an anonymous London English translation of the Philobiblon^ (Transl.) ^^ London : Printed for Thomas Rodd, 2 Great Newport Street, Leicester Square'' (8vo, pp. viii. 151). Lord Campbell, in the first volume of the Lives of the Cha?tcelIors, published in 1845, cites it anonymously.^ But it is known to have been translated by Mr. John Bellingham Inglis,'- a student and collector of early printed books. The ' Fourth ed., i. 192. Campbell speaks of " that very learned and worthy bookseller, my friend Thomas Rodd." Some account of Rodd, who died in 1849, will be found in Nichols' Illustrations, \aii. 681-4. ^ Knight, William Caxton, 1844, p. vii ; Merryweather, Bibliomania in the Middle Ages, 1S49, p. 76. AUibone, Diet. Brit, and Amer. Authors, s.v. Richard de Bur)', says Inglis "gave it to Rodd ; " but I am indebted to Mr. R. F. Ix INTR OB UC TION translation is a work of more spirit than accuracy, and Inglis has too slavishly followed the edition of 1473) under the mistaken idea that it was most likely to represent the genuine text of the author. In conse- quence he unduly disparages the authority of James's text. He has added "a few collations," which are however confined to printed editions, and thirty-seven pages of notes, devoted largely to what Dibdin de- scribes as " unprovoked and unjustifiable abuse of the English Church and her Ministers." ^ Probably only a small edition was printed, as the work has become scarce, and Cocheris was unable to secure a copy.^ 1856 The first edition of the book professing Paris to furnish an adequate critical apparatus and explanatory notes was issued in 1856 by M. Hip- polyte Cocheris, then engaged in the Bibliotheque Mazarifie, of which he afterwards became Conserva- tetir. The book formed part of a series called " Le Tresor des pieces rares ou in^dites," and bears the following title : Philobiblion excellent traite sur I'amour des livres par Richard de Bury, Eveque de Durham, Grand- Chancelier d'Angleterre, traduit pour la premiere fois en frangais, precedd d'une introduction et suivi du texte latin revu sur les anciennes Editions et les manuscrits de la Bibliotheque imperiale : par Hippolyte Cocheris. . . . Paris : Aubry, 1856. Butler for the following note on a copy of the book : * * Pub- lished at the expense of the Rev. W. J. Jollifife and given by him to William Routh." ^ Reminiscences, i. 86, note. An interesting memoir of Mr. Inglis was written by his friend J. P. Berjeau for his periodical The Bookzvorm, 1870, vol. v. 178-182. ^ Introd., p. xxvi. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Ixi 8vo, pp. xlvii. 287. [500 copies printed, of which 22 were on special papers and 2 on vellum.] The book was dedicated to the late Prince Consort. I have elsewhere expressed an unfavourable judg- ment of this edition/ and a longer acquaintance with it has only confirmed that judgment. Though the text professes on the title-page to be " revu," Cocheris has in fact left the text untouched and has only given the various readings of the three Paris manuscripts at the foot of the page. This he justifies on the curious ground that it was impossible to distinguish between the faults of the author and those of the copyists, though that is most assuredly the first business of an editor.^ Unfortunately his report of the readings of the manuscripts he has collated is quite untrustworthy and in many instances even wildly wrong. But this is not all : while professing to follow the text of the editio princeps, what he has really done is to send to the printer the text of 1703, with all the misprints, errors of punctuation, and defects of all kinds which it had accumulated in passing through the process of repro- duction in 1500, 1610, and 1703. The result is that his text is in many points less genuine and even less correct than that of 1473. At the same time, Cocheris cannot fairly be denied the praise of industry, and he has brought together a great deal of matter for the illustration of his author, though he has done little or nothing to clear up the more formidable difficulties of the text.^ ^ Library Chronicle., i. 151 > ii- 130- ' " Comme il m'etait impossible de distinguer celles que je devais respecter de celles que je devais enlever, j'ai prefere Cjnserver a. I'ouvrage son cachet barbare !" (Prcf. p. ii. ) ^ There is a highly laudatory article on Cocheris in Le Bibliophile fran^ais, 1873, "V"* 303'9> ^"^ which he is declared Ixii INTR OD UCTION 1861 In 1 86 1 one Samuel Hand published Albany jq ^^ United States a volume, which Allibone, "as an American, is glad to register ;" but which, as a flagrant piece of book-making, is not very- creditable either to its editor or to America. Mr. Hand reprinted the text of Cocheris and the translation of Inglis,^ reproducing all the errors and inaccuracies of both. He translated also the introduction and notes of Cocheris, but his own few notes are worthless. It is an octavo of pp. x. 252, of which 230 copies were printed, 30 on large paper. I am glad to know that Prof Andrew F. West, of Princeton, contemplates an edition more worthy of the book and of America. The relation of the editions which have been now enumerated may be thus exhibited : 1473 1483 1599 1500 I i6io\ 1614^ (1674) 1 1703 I 1856 1 1 861 It must be considered a surprising circumstance that a book which has been so often printed abroad and so to have acquitted himself "a son honneur et a sa gloire de cette tache reconnue generalement comme tres difficile et que, le premier, il avait ose entreprendre." Scheler, a more com- petent critic, was evidently disappointed : Bull, du Bibliophile beige, 1857, xiii. 142. ^ Berjeau, and no doubt Inglis, resented this proceeding and announced a new edition here : Notes and Queries^ 4Ser, ii. 378 (17 Oct. 1868). BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Ixiii frequently quoted at home should have remained so long without an English editor; and in particular that neither the Surtees Society ^ nor the Philobiblon Society* should have secured an adequate edition. But in fact the idea of re-editing the book has been several times entertained. In 1816 Surtees announced in his History of Durham ' that " Messrs. Taylor and David Constable are at present employed in collating MSS. for a new edition." The announcement was re- peated in the Quarterly Review'' in 1829 and in the Bibliographical and Retrospective Miscellany^ in 1830. In the first issue of Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual in 1834, the compiler, though he does not mention the translation published two years before, announces that "a new edition of this curious tract is preparing for publication, with an English translation, notes and various readings, by Edw. R. Poole, B.A."^ But time passed on and neither of these promised editions saw the light ; so that in 1845 Mr. Corser could still speak of the Philobiblon as " a book of which, curious and interesting as it is, we have yet, to our national shame be it said, no edition which a reader can take ' Established in 1834 for the publication of inedited manu- scripts illustrating the condition of those parts of England and Scotland which constituted the ancient kingdom of Northumberland. * Established in 1853, perhaps in consequence of Lord Campbell's suggestion in 1S45 • " -^ ^^i rather surprised that a ' De Bury Club ' has not yet been established by the Philo- biblists, as he was undoubtedly the founder of the order in England." — Chancellors, 4th ed., i. 200. ' Vol. i. p. chx. ■* Vol. xxxix. 372. ' At p. 158. The editor of the yl/zVa'/A/w^ was E. R. Poole. ° Vol. i. p. 309. Cp. Allibone, Diet. Brit, and Amer. Authors, s.v. Poole. Ixiv INTRODUCTION up with pleasure." ' In 1850, Mr. W. S. Gibson, M.A., of Lincoln's Inn, read a "very elaborate " memoir of De Bury at the Oxford meeting of the Arch^ological Institute ; ^ and in the Gefitlevian^s Magazine for that year it was announced that " Mr. Gibson's memoir of this Bishop is to be prefixed to a new translation of his Philobibloji which Mr. Gibson announces for publi- cation." ^ This work, however, had not appeared when the British Archaeological Association met at Durham in 1865, where Mr. Gibson read a paper on a "Seal of Richard de Bury."'' But, despite the re- nev/ed promise, neither memoir nor translation has ever appeared,^ and it has remained for the present editor at least to remove from our country the reproach of so long leaving the task of preserving De Bury's literary legacy exclusively in foreign hands. * Introd. to the Iter Lancastrense, Chetham Sec, vol. vii. p. vi., in his account of Thomas James. '^ Archaeological Journ., vii. 310; G. M., 1850, ii. 184. 3 G. M., ii. 346. J cp. N. 6^ Q., i Ser., ii. 203 (' W. S. G.'). ^ Archseological Journ., xxii. 389-396. For De Bury's seals, see ante, p. xxvi, note. ^ A prospectus and syllabus of the proposed work is appended to Mr. Gibson's Miscellanies, issued in 1863. The Philobiblon Society printed Mr. Gibson's "Book-Hunting under Edward III., a popular Lecture founded on the life of Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, the first English Philo- biblist," with an Introductory Note by Lord Houghton : Miscellanies, 1865-6, vol. ix. art. 3, pp. 78. The entry in Hole's Brief Biogr. Diet., s.v. Angarville, " Life by S. Gibson," refers no doubt to the unpublished work. M. Syl- vain Van de Weyer had promised a " Notice sur Richard de Bury" for the Philobiblon Society's Miscellanies. The promise was not redeemed : see his Choix d'Opuscules, i. art. 2. p. 9. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL kv //. — Manuscripts. It has been already pointed out that the three earliest editions of the Philobibloii appear to have been produced from a single MS. in each case, and that James recorded the existence of six MSS. in this country. This was in 1600; and even at the end of the next century the number enumerated in the Cata- logi libroi-um mamiso'iptoriivi AnglicB et Hibernicz was only nine. In 1843, E. G. Vogel contributed to the Se7-apeum^ a German bibliographical journal, a ver>' careful article on Richard de Bury, in which he registered nineteen MSS. This article appears to have dropped out of sight, and was evidently unknown to Cocheris, whose list embraces only sixteen MSS., including that of Fabricius, and omits therefore four MSS. recorded by Vogel. The inquiries made in preparing the present work have enabled me to raise the number of MSS. known to exist to the number of thirty-five, all of which have been examined for the purposes of this edition.^ It is only possible here to find space for a brief account of them, which it will be most convenient to arrange in geographical order. Unless the contrary is stated, the MSS. are all upon parchment or vellum. London : Th^ British Museum is in possession Brit. AIus. of no less than seven MSS. of the Philo- ^'^' biblon, of which four belong undoubtedly to the fifteenth century. The remaining three belong ^ Bd. iv. 129-141, 154-160 : cp. 191-2. ^ The number has been increased from twenty-eight, since I gave an account of them in the Library Chronicle, 18S5, vol. ii. 129 foil. Ixvi WTR OD UC TION in the judgment of the Keeper of the MSS. to the end of the fourteenth century. Roy. 8 F. xiv (f. 70) is a folio MS. written probably between 1380- 1400 and has at the beginning the follow- ing note : " Incipit prologus in philobiblon ricardi dunelmensis episcopi que libru composuit Robertus holcote de ordine predicatoi|. sub noTe dci episcopi ; " and at the end the usual note as to the date on which the treatise was finished. Roy. 15 C. xvi (59^) is a large folio MS. written in double columns about 1400. It begins : Incipit philo- biblon ; and has the concluding note. Harl. 492 (f. 55) is a small 8vo. MS., written about 1425, and begins with the preliminary note in red in the same form as that in Roy. 8 F. xiv, except that it has philtl)iblo?i. It has a.lso the final note, but with the blunder of libro for 1 (=50) 2Ci\^ feciliter iox feliciter and adding at the end the word Qiiod. Harl. 3,224 (f. 67) is also a small 8vo. MS., written about 1400, with no note at the beginning, and at the end the abbreviated note : " Explicit philobiblon dni Ricardi Almgeruile cogno- minati de Bury quondam Episcopi Dunelmeh." Cott. App. iv (f. 103) is a folio MS. written about 1425, having no note at the beginning and at the end simply : — " Explicit philibiblion etc." Arundel 335 (f. 58) is a small quarto MS. of the fifteenth century, formerly belonging to the " Soc. Reg. Lond., ex dcno Henr. Howard, Norfolciensis." BIBLIOGRAPHICAL 1 xvii It begins " Philobiblon Rico de Bury Dunetm. epo authore," these words being in a later hand ; it has no note at the end. Add. j\IS. 24,361 (f. 4^) is a quarto MS. also of the fifteenth century, purchased at the Hunter sale in 1 861. It ends ! '' Explicit philibiblon diii Rici de Aungerv^le cognoiati de Bury quondam epT dunelm. Copletus Anno Doi 1344'° etatis nre 58 Ponf. nrl xi'' Oxford There are altogether nine MSS. at Ox- (9) ford, of which two are in the Bodleian Library and the remaining seven in the libraries of various colleges. The most important of them is MS. Digby 147 (f. 9), a quarto MS. written in Mr. Macray's opinion about 1375. It has no note at the beginning, but has the usual note at the end. This MS. also bears a note showing that it v/as formerly "Liber ecclesie sancte Marie de Mertone"; it afterwards belonged to Tho. Allen, from whom it passed to his pupil Sir Kenelm Digby. The Bodleian Add. MS. C. 108 (f. 20^) is a quarto paper MS. in double columns, written in a German hand in the second half of the fifteenth century. It begins : " Incipit Philobliblon id est tractatus de amore librorum venerabilis viri dhi Richardi de b'uri EpI Dunelmensis editus p venerabilem mgfm Robcrtum Holkot anglicum ordinis predicatorum," but has no note at the end. It was acquired by the Bodleian in 1868. This MS. is follov%^ed by a glossary of some interest, as it consists chiefly of the uncommon and exotic Ixviii INTRODUCTION v/ords found in the Philobiblon ; of the 244 words comprised in it, no less than 212 are used in this book. If I had seen it earher in my work, it might have been of service in suggesting clues to the explana- tion of some of the difiiculties of the book ; but as it was, I had puzzled them out for myself before I saw the glossary. It only once or tv/ice cites any authority, and the explanations are seldom adequate and very often incorrect. It includes asub, aux, and ellefuga ; inserts genzahar, but without explanation ; and makes no mention of Crato, Logostilios, comprehensor, invi- sus, hereos, lilia, canonium, viola, hierophilosophus, and many other words which urgently call for explanation. At Balliol College, there are two paper MSS. in folio written in the fifteenth century : clxvi (A), and cclxiii, the latter written in double columns, and with the usual note at the end. At Lincoln College, No. Ixxxi (f. 79) is a foho MS. of the early fifteenth century in double columns, with illu- minated initials. It has no preliminary note and ends : " Explicit tractatus qui vocatur Philobiblon." There can be no doubt that it was one of the MSS. chiefly used by James. At Magdalen College, No. vi (f. 164) is a small quarto MS. of the early fifteenth century. It has no title and begins with Chapter I., omitting the Prologue. At the end is a note : " Explicit philibiblon diii Ricardi de Aungervile cognoTati de Bury quondam Epi dimelm copletus anno do' 1344'° etatis nre 58. pontf nfi undeclo." This also was one of the MSS. upon which James mainly relied. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Ixix At All Souls' College, No. xxxi (f. 236) is a large quarto MS. of the fifteenth century, ^Yritte^ in double columns. It begins : " Incipit prologus in philobiblon Ricardi dunolmensis episcopi.'' At the end is the usual note with some variations : " Explicit tractatus qui dicitur Philobiblon id est amor hbrorum editus a Dho Ricardi de Buri quondam Dunoliii epo com- pletus est autem in manerio nostro de Ackeland in festo conversionis sancti Pauli A°. diii m' ccc°° xUijj". etatis nostre lviii° pont vero nri Anno xi''. finiente ad laudem dei fehciter et Amen." At Corpus Christi College, No. ccxxii (f. 57) is a small quarto MS. of the fifteenth century. It begins : " Incipit prologus in Philobiblon Rici Dunelmenfsis epi que librum compilauit Ro^us holcote de ordine pre- dicatou sub nomine dicti Episcopi " ; and ends with the usual note. In Mr. Coxe's catalogue of the Corpus MSS., he ob- ser\^es under no. clxvii (p. 68) that this MS., which contained the Philobiblo7i^ has long been missing. It is, I think, apparent on comparing the entries in Bernard under nos. 167 and 222 that two volumes have been bound together, and that nothing is really " missing ; " and the entry in Coxe's catalogue should be corrected accordingly. At S. John's College, No. clxxii (f. 2) is an early fifteenth century quarto MS. with an illuminated initial. After the title Philobiblon follow the words in red : " Hie aurum tibi non valet vbi nitet Philo- biblon." At the end is the usual note. The MS. bears a note to the effect that it was presented to the college in 1634. By an oversight, though duly cata- logued by Mr. Coxe, it is not included in his index. Ixx INTR on UCTION Cambridge There are three MSS. at Cambridge, in (3) the hbraries of as many colleges. At Trinity College, is a MS. (R. 9, 17, f. 48) in small quarto of the early fifteenth century. A preliminary note or title has unfortunately been cropped by some careless binder. At the end it has the usual note. At Corpus Christi, College, among Archbishop Parker's books is a quarto MS., on f. 127 of which is the Philobiblon, written in the fifteenth century. There is no preliminary note, and the concluding note is very inaccurately given. It is catalogued by Nasmith, Catal. librorum MS.orum, 1777, at p. 416. At Sidney Sussex College, is a MS. partly on parch- ment and partly on paper, poorly written in the fifteenth century ; which was presented to the college by William Pratt, Vicar of Bossel, Yorkshire. It has the concluding note. Durham In Bishop Cosin's Library at Durham (i) is a fifteenth century octavo MS., which found its way into the Bishop's collection through the Rev. George Davenport, its first Keeper, who pre- sented seventy MSS. to the library. An account of Davenport is in Surtees' Hist, of Durh., i. 153, 170. The MS. is catalogued in Rud's catalogue, at p. 177 of Botfield's Durham Catalogues. Though very neatly written, the MS. presents numerous omissions of single words. It is without preliminary note and ends : " Explicit philobiblon Dhi RicI Almgeruile cognolati de Buri quod epi Dunelmen]?. It may be noted that the Philobiblon is not found in any of the earlier catalogues of Durham books printed by the Surtees Society. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Ixxi In private Two MSS. have been lent me out of hands private custody. The first of them is a very small quarto Flemish IMS. of the not veiy early fifteenth century. It has no preliminary note, and ends : " Explicit phylybyblon Richardi de Bury epi de amore librorum et scientiarum : Deo gratias." It contains several interpolations, including one of about a dozen lines. The other is an octavo fifteenth century German MS. in a stamped leather binding, on which the figures of the " Three Kings," besides the half-erased entry at the beginning " Liber domus sancte Barbare . . .", clearly point to Cologne. This would at once suggest an association with the editio princeps, and a close examination of its text shows that it is ver>' nearly identical with that of the first edition. It is, however, hardly safe to say that we have here what is so rarely met with — the actual MS. original of a fifteenth century book. But there can be no doubt of the very close relationship. It begins : " Incipit prologus in librii de amore libroru qui philobiblon dicitur," in red ; but has no concluding note. It be- longed to David Laing and 1 have called it L. Paris An account was given by Cocheris of (3) the three MSS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale, used by him for the purposes of his edition, which requires to be supplemented in some important particulars. The MS. formerly numbered 797, now 15,168, forms part of the Fonds de St. Victor, and is a small quarto containing several treatises, of which the Philobiblon is the first. It has a note at the foot of fol. i"" : " Iste liber est sancti Victoris parisiensis — quicunque eum, etc. ; " at the foot of fol. V : " Ihs . m . S ." [A shield Ixxii INTRODUCTION with the arms of Navarre] " Victor . S Aug^tin^ " in red letters ; and again at the foot of fol. 4'' this note : " Iste hber est sancti Victoris parisiensis. quicunque eum furatus fuerit vel celaverit vel titulum istum dele- verit anathema sit amen . O." At the end of the Philo- biblon is a note : " Hunc hbrum acquisiuit monasterio sancti victoris prope parisius frater Johannes lamasse dum esset prior eiusdem ecclesie." Lamasse was Prior from 1448 to 1458.^ This MS., which is in a poor handwriting, begins : " Incipit prologus Philo- biblon." The MS. numbered 3,352 c. is a well written folio MS., which formerly belonged to Colbert, whose arms are on its red morocco covers. Cocheris by an almost incredible oversight has not noted that it bears at the top of fol. I'' the words in red letters : " Philobiblon olchoti anglici." It begins nevertheless : " Incipit prologus in philobiblon Ricardi dunelnensis episcopi," and ends : " Explicit Philobiblon." Both these MSS., which I have called respectively A and B, present a fairly good text. M. Leopold Delisle is of opinion that they may have been written between 1375 and 1400, but Mr. E. M. Thompson thinks that they are not earlier than the beginning of the fifteenth century. The third Paris MS. is a folio MS. on paper numbered 2,454 of the Ancien Fonds latin. It was written pretty late in the fifteenth centuiy and presents a very inferior text. The concluding note as to the date and authorship of the book is not found in any of the Paris MSS. ' Gallia Christiana, vii. 686. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Ixxiii Bmssels Iri the Bibliothcque Royale de Belgique (3) are three copies, of which the late Con- sen-ateur en chef, M. Alvin, sent me the following account: "Notre Bibliothtciue possede trois manu- scrits du PJiilobiblion de Richard de Bury : le No. 738, transcription du xv*^ siecle, provenant du prieure du Val St. Martin h Louvain ; le No. 3,725, date de 1492 et ne se composant que du primum manuale relatif aux livres sacres ; le No. 11,465 du xv<^ siecle, provenant de labbaye des Prdmontrds de Pare. Ces trois transcriptions sont trop recentes pour avoir quelque valeur paleographique et ne semblent pas contenir des variantes ^ signaler." Catalogued in Catal. des MSS. de la bibhotheque royale des dues de Bourgogne, Brux., 1842, torn, i. p. 15. Munich In the Royal Library at Munich are (2) two paper MSS. numbered 4,705 and 5,829, written in the first half of the fifteenth century. No. 5,829 is actually dated by the scribe 1426, and the other was written somewhat later and was indeed not improbably transcribed from the former. Both MSS. begin in the same way : " Incipit tractatus greco vocabulo philobiblon (No. 4,705 has phylobiblon) amabiliter nuncupatus de amore valore et conserua- cione librorum." Bamberg In the Royal Libraiy of Bamberg is a (i) quarto paper MS. entitled : " Tractatus de amore librorum grece dictus philobiblon. Phylo- bylon magnifici disertissimique viri Richardi dilmeli- nensis episcopi de querimonijs librorum." A letter is prefixed to it from "Johannes Abbas in Ebrach" to Friedrich Creussner, the Nuremberg printer. From Ixxi V INTR OD UC TION this letter, which is dated 17 September, 1484, it appears that the Abbot, who was from 1456 to 1474 professor of theology at Vienna, had read the book when a student there. He complains bitterly of the corrupted text of the Spires edition, which had appeared the year before, and he had accordingly carefully corrected it, and now sends his work to Creussner to print. So far as we know, Creussner did not print it. The Abbot's letter was published by Jaeck in the Sei'apeuin in 1843, Bd. iv. 191-2. Basel In the University Library at Basel is a (i) quarto paper MS. of the fifteenth century beginning : " Incipit prologus in librum de amore librorum qui dicitur philobiblon " (in red). It is without the concluding note, and belongs to the inferior group of MSS. It is catalogued in Haenel, Catal. Libror. MSS., Lips. 1830, p. 527. Venice In 1 650 Tomasini recorded the existence (i) of a MS. in the library of S. Giovanni and S. Paolo at Venice, belonging to the Dominicans, adding : " quern miror hie Gesnerum non observasse." ^ It was more fully catalogued in 1778 by Berardelli, the librarian,^ who as a good Dominican maintains that it was written by Holkot. Since the collection has passed into the Biblioteca Nazionale di S. Marco, it has been catalogued by Valentinelli,^ who assigned it to the fourteenth century. The present librarian, Signor Castellani, has been good enough to send me ^ Bibliothecae Venetae manuscriptae . . . Utini, p. 27. ^ Nuova Raccolta d'opusculi . . . xxxii. 19. ^ Bibliotheca manuscripta ad S. Marci Venetiarutn ; Venet. 1868, vol. i. p. 257. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Ixxv some account of the MS., which enables me to correct tliat of Valentinelli. He has also sent a tracing of the handwriting, which appears to be of the fifteenth century. The title appearing in the MS. must, I think, have been added after the edition of Paris : " Philobiblon seu de amore librorum ac de institutione bibliothe- carum." The MS. ends: " Explicit philobiblon magistri Robert! Holkot^ ordinis Praedicatorum." Rome In May, 18S5, M. Delisle, on returning (i) from Italy, was good enough to write to me : — •' Le hazard m'a recemment fait passer sous les yeux le MS. 259 au fonds Ottoboni au Vatican. C'est un volume copie au xiv"^ siecle, dont la premiere partie est le Philobiblon de Teveque de Durham." Mr. W. Bliss has kindly sent me an account of this MS., which he assigns to the " end of the fourteenth century, or later." From a note upon it, it appears to have be- longed to "Daniel Aurelius, 1564." It does not give the note at the end, and has no reference to Holkot. Escurial There is a MS. at the Escurial (Real (i) Biblioteca de San Lorenzo), which was catalogued by the late G. Lowe in the Bibliotheca patruni latiiioriini Hispaniensis, ed. by W. von H artel, Wien, 1887, p. %(i (cp. p. 537), who attributes the volume of which it forms part to the fourteenth century. According to Denifle, Die Universitiiten im Mitlelalter, 1885, i. 797 71., the book is attributed in this MS. to Holcot, but of this Lowe says nothing. Father Felix Rozanski, late librarian at the Escurial, has, however, kindly sent me the following account of the MS. : ^ Not Kolkot, as Valentinelli has printed it. Ixxvi INTR on UC TION "Cod. sec. XV., 11. J. 25. Inter alia fol. 157 incipit : " Incipit libellus dictus Philobiblon editus a fratre . . . \ito7nen auctorzs aviilsiwi\ predicator[e] sacre pagine preclarissimo professore ad petitionem domini Ricardi dimelinensis [sic) episcopi in cuius persona ipse magister Robertus loquitur in libello presenti. — In- cipit prologus in philobiblon Ricardi Dimelinensis episcopi . . ." " Continet hoc opusculum xix. capitula finitque fol. 186 : faciei conspectum. Amen. Explicit philobiblon Ricardi." Missing It may be of interest to record such manuscripts traces as I have met with of the existence of other MSS., which may perhaps some day be found. There was a MS. in the Bibliotheca Amploniana at Erfurt, as appears by the catalogue published by Dr. Schum in 1887, p. 382. In a paper MS. (Q. 123), described as of the end of the fourteenth century, the twenty-fifth v/ork was the Philobiblon. This MS. was sent to London for my use, but I found on examination that the portion containing the Philobiblon had been re- moved, as in fact appears from Dr. Schum's catalogue. I cannot identify the MS. mentioned by Fabricius in the Bibliotheca Af. et Inf. Latinitatis^ as being in his possession with any extant MS. Cocheris^ suggests that it may be the Cottonian copy, but in the first place this does not correspond to the description of Fabricius, and in the next place the MS. was in the Cottonian Library in 1696 ^ and can never have been in the possession of Fabricius. ^ Lib. ii. p. 308. ^ Introd., p. xxi. ^ Smith, Catalogue, p. 158. BIBLIO GRAPHIC A L Ixxvii J. F. Reimmann, the German bibliographer, had a MS, in his possession, which he described in his Bib- liotheca Histor.-Lit., ed. sec, 1743, p. 147. He declares it to contain a text very much superior to any of the printed editions. He mentions also that it was followed by a " carmen leoninum de re biblio- thecaria," which was not to be found in any of the published texts. I do not know to what this refers ; it is certain, however, that the poem never formed any part of the Philobibloii} The most interesting, perhaps, of the missing MSS. is that which Dr. Thomas Kay (or Caius) tells us he saw and read at Durham College, Oxford, towards the end of Henry VIII. 's reign, and which he supposed to be the copy given to the college by the Bishop him- self — " eundem ipsum indubie, quern ipsemet biblio- thecae illi vivus contulerat : " see Hearne's ed. of the Assertio Antiquitatis Oxon. Academiae, ii. 433. His opponent in the controversy as to the respective priority of the two universities, Dr. John Caius, boasts of the possession of a MS. of the Philobiblo7i^ which he says was accompanied by a copy of the foundation- deed of Durham College : loc, cit, i. 242. Present A very few words must suffice to explain edition the use I have made of the MSS. in forming the text of the present edition. Of the whole number of MSS. here enumerated I have personally examined or collated twenty-eight. I have not indeed in the critical notes attempted to give a collation of all these MSS. Nor even of the four MSS. of which ^ At the end of his notes, Inglis printed three elegiac couplets, which Lord Campbell quotes as De Bury's, but this is of course a mistake. Ixxviii INTR OD UC TION I have recorded all the important variants, does the printed collation profess to be absolutely complete. In an edition intended primarily for the general reader, it seemed unnecessary to burden the notes with a mass of various readings due to the errors of copyists or to unsettled orthography. A complete collation of the best MSS. and the important varia- tions of all the MSS. must be reserved for a more elaborate critical edition, if there should appear to be a demand for it. That will also furnish a more suitable occasion for a discussion of the relationship of the various MSS. The MSS. which appeared to be for my present purpose the most important were the two Paris MSS. which I have called A and B ; Digby 147, which I have denoted D, and Royal 8 F. xiv, which I have called E. I have felt myself bound in consequence of the unfavourable judgment I had formed of the critical v/ork of Cocheris to give the variants of the two former MSS., because he has affected to give them, and I have also given the various readings of D and E in all important places. In a few places of special diffi- culty or interest I have occasionally given the readings of other MSS. The readings of the Cologne MS. I have given pretty frequently, in order to exhibit its close re- lationship to the text of the editio princeps ; and for a similar reason I have given the readings of the Magdalen MS., to indicate the extent to which James seems to have used it in forming his text. Occasionally I have given the readings of the early printed texts, when they differ from what may be almost called the texttis receptus. Where I have recorded this current text, as it is found in the successive editions down to Cocheris (comp. the pedigree on p. Ix.), it may be assumed that except in the matter BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Ixxix of orthography and accidental errors of the press it reproduces the readings of the editio princeps. I have thought it right to reduce the orthography of the MSS. to a classical standard. While I accept the general soundness of the view that mediaeval writers should be reproduced in their ov/n orthography, I justify my deviation from this rule on two grounds : first, that the PJiilobiblon is a work of literature and not of philology, and secondly, that I feared to repel many readers who feel no interest in mediaeval Latinists generally, but will be led to take up the present work from the interest of its subject and its claim upon all to whom ** Books are a passion and delight." The explanatory and illustrative notes are mainly directed to the establishment of the text. The Bishop's style is made of scriptural and liturgical quotation and allusion ; and a reference to the Vulgate frequently determines the probable reading in a doubtful passage, as well as explains its mean- ing. I have been more sparing in references to previous or contemporary writers, a kind of illustra- tion Vv'hich it would be easy to multiply. I have tried to leave nothing really difficult unexplained, without burdening the reader with irrelevant or superfluous annotation, and can only hope, in the words of S. Augustine : qtiibus pa7'um vel qtiibus 7iimium^7iobis ig7wsca7it. Philobiblon Ricardi de Bury Inclpiunt Capitula 1. Quod thesaurus saplentlae potissime sit in librls. 2. Oualis amor libris ratlonablllter de- beatur. 3. Qualiter in libris emendis sit pretium aestimandum. 4. Ouerimonia librorum contra clericos iam promotos. 5. Querimonia librorum contra religiosos possessionatos. 6. Ouerimonia librorum contra religiosos mendicantes. 7. Ouerimonia librorum contra bella. 8. De multiplici opportunitate quam habuimus librorum copiam con- quirendi. I potissimum Ja. I| 5 iam /. ^ || 8 conquerendi D conqureiidi E |j Ixxxiv INCIPIUNT CAPITULA. 9. Quod licet opera veterum amplius amaremus, non tamen damnavi- mus studia modernorum. 0. De successiva perfectione librorum. 1. Quare llbros liberallum litterarum praetulimus libris iuris. 2. Quare libros grammaticales tanta diligentia curavimus renovare. 3. Quare non omnino negleximus fabu- las poetarum. 4. Qui deberent esse librorum potis- simi dilectores. 5. Quot commoda confert amor libro- rum. 6. Ouam meritorium sit libros novos scribere et veteres renovare. 7. De debita honestate circa librorum custodiam adhibenda. 8. Quod tantam librorum collegimus copiam ad communem profectum scholarium et non solum ad pro- priam voluptatem. 9 damnajuus B Ja. 1| 12 curamus B retiovare om. E i| 13 neglexeriimts J a. poetamm renovare £" || 14 debent A B potissime ^2i. || 18 vohintatetn /^ Ja. l| INCIPIUNT CAPITULA. Ixxxv 19. De modo communicandi studentlbus omnes libros nostros. 20. Exhortatio scholarium ad rependen- dum pro nobis suffragia debitae pietatis. 19 ojnnibics A B om. Ja. || 20 repetendum D pietati D pietatis etc. B || Abbreviations A = Paris MS. 15168 : see Introd. p. Ixxi. B = Paris MS. 3352 : see Introd. p. Ixxii. D = Bodleian MS. Digby 147 : see Introd. p. Ixvii. E = Brit. Mus. MS. Roy. 8 F. xiv. : see In- trod. p. Ixvi. L = Cologne MS. : see Introd. p. Ixxi. M = Magdalen Coll. MS. ; see Introd. p. Ixviii. 1 = Editio princeps, Cologne, 1473 * ^^^ I^' trod. p. li. 2 = Edition of Spires, 1483 : see Introd. p. Hi. 3 z=: Edition of Paris, 1500: see Introd. p. liv. Ja. = Edition of James, Oxford, 1598-9: see Introd. p. liv. Gold. = Edition of Goldast, 1610 (161 4, 1674): see Introd. p. Iviii. Schm. = Edition of Schmidt, 1703: see Introd. p. lix. Coch. = Edition of Cocheris, 1856 : see Introd. p. Ix. edd. = The editions representing the current text, including all except those of Spires and James : cp. table in Introd. p. Ixii. vulgo = the current text and inferior MSS. Inclpit Prologus. Vnlversis Christi fidelibus, ad quos tenor prae- sentis scripturae pervenerit, Ricardus de Bury, miseratione divina Dunelmensis episcopus, salutem in Domino sempiternam, piamque ipsius praesentare memoriam iugiter coram Deo in vita pariter et post 5 fata. Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retri- buit mihi ? devotissimus investigat psalmista, rex invictus et eximius prophetarum : in qua quaes- tione gratissima semetipsum redditorem volun- 10 tarium, debitorem multifarium et sanctiorem optan- tem consiliarium recognoscit, concordans cum Aristotele, philosophorum principe, qui omnem de See Introduction || l litterarum ctdtoribus Ricardus 2 i| 3 Dunolmensis A Dumiel?7iefisis ^ || 4 represattare Ja. || 8 dato- tissimis A devotissime vulgo |1 9 inunctiis D Ja. iiiuictissimits E \\ll saniorem L l\\ i^ ad oi}i7icm Ja. 1| Universis C. f.] The common form of introduction or salutatio in formal documents. The Spires editor altered the words C. f. to litterarum cultoribus. Dunelmensis] The MSS. vary between Dunt^lm. and Dun^lm. The latter form appears to have been that com- monly used at Durham : cp. the Boldon Buke (Surtees Society), pass.; and Sir T. D. Hardy's edition of Bishop Kellawe's Register (Rolls Series), vol. i. p. ci. Quid retribuam] Ps. cxvi. 12. 6 ? 2 PHILOBIBLON agibilibus quaestionem consilium probat esse : 3° et 6° Ethicorum. 3 Sane si propheta tarn mirabilis, secretomm praes- cius divinorum, praeconsulere volebat tam sollicite quomodo grate posset gratis data refundere, quid nos 5 rudes regratiatores et avidissimi receptores, onusti divinis beneficiis infinitis^ poterimus digne velle? Proculdubio deliberatione sollerti et circumspectione multiplici, invitato primitus spiritu septiformi, qua- tenus in nostra meditatione ignis illuminans exar- 10 descat, viam non impedibilem providere debemus attentius, quo largitor omnium de collatis muneribus suis sponte veneretur reciproce, proximus relevetur ab onere et reatus contractus per peccantes cotidie eleemosynarum remediis redimatur. 15 4 Huius igitur devotionis monitione praeventi ab eo 3 m.futurtis p. Ja. Ii 5 g^ciiis grata Ja. 1| 7 dignius edd. || 8 circumspicione D^w non om. Coch. redibilem Ja. || 13 reue- letur D 2\\i4 ab . . . redimatur om. D || consilium] The Trpoaipeffig of Aristotle. The reference to Aristotle, as Inglis has remarked, is not very happy. septiformi] This word, which is first used by S. Augustine {e.g. De Serm. Dom. i, 4), refers to the seven gifts of the Spirit (Is. xi. 23). Cp. John of Salisbury, De Septem Septenis, s. 5, and the septem spiritus Dei in Rev. i. 4. exardescat] Ps. xxxviii. 4, in meditatione mea exardescet ignis : cp. Ps. xlix. 3 ; Eccli. ix. 9. impedibilem] Not in the dictionaries, but used by Bradwar- dine, De Causa Dei, i. i ; it was no doubt suggested by the viam sine impedi77iento of Wisd. xix. 7, and the use of impe^ dire in such passages as Rom. xv, 22, Gal. v. 7, i Thess. ii. 18. eleemosynarum remediis redimatur] Cp. Dan. iv. 24. PRO LOG us qui solus bonam hominis et praevenit voluntatem et perficit, sine quo nee sufiicientia suppetit cogi- tandi solummodo, cuius quicquid boni fecerimus non ambigimus esse munus, diligenter tam penes DOS quam cum aliis inquirendo discussimus quid inter diversorum generum pietatis officia primo 5 gradu placeret Altissimo, prodessetque potius 5 Ecclesiae militanti. Et ecce mox nostrae considera- tionis aspectibus grex occurrit scholarium elegorum quin potius electorum, in quibus Deus artifex et ancilla natura morum optimorum et scientiarum 10 celebrium plantaverunt radices, sed ita rei fami- liaris oppressit penuria, quod obstante fortuna con- traria semina tam fecunda virtutum in culto iuven- tutis agro, roris debiti non rigata favore, arescere 6 corapelluntur. Quo fit ut lateat in obscuris condita 15 virtus clara, ut verbis alludamus Boetii, et ardentes 3 solo modo A \\4. qui ^ |! 5 dhdnorian D i! 7 cogitationis Ja. II II ita COS edd. || 13 ta?fi orru Ja. \\ in inculto A E\ bonam voluntatem] Phil. i. 15 : perficit ; ib. ii. 13. elegorum] This word is used in classical Latin only ol verses : cp. note on Elifuga in ch. xiii. s. 182. in culto] A quotation from the anonymous author of the De varietate cannifitim, who says, " Tria sunt seminum genera quae in culto iuventutis agro absque comitantibus zizaniis rarissime convalescunt." Cp. Holkot, in Sap. 151 b., 247 b. The date assigned to this work in Warton, H. E. P., iii. 125, requires correction. lateat] A quotation from Boetius, De Consol. Phil. i. m. 5, " Latet obscuris condita virtus Clara tenebris, justusque tulit Crimen iniqui." 4 PHILOBIBLON lucernae non ponantur sub modio, sed prae defectu olei penitus exstinguantur. Sic ager in vere floriger ante messem exaruit, sic frumenta in lollium et vites degenerant in labmscas, ac sic in oleastros olivae silvescunt. Marcesciintomninotenellaetrabeculaeet 5 qui in fortes columnas Ecclesiae poterant excrevisse, subtilis ingenii capacitate dotati, studiorum gym- 7 nasia derelinquunt. Sola inedia novercante, repel- luntur a philosophiae nectareo poculo violenter, quam primo gustaverint, ipso gustu ferventius 10 sitibundi : liberalibus artibus habiles et scripturis tantum dispositi contemplandis, orbati necessario- rum subsidiis, quasi quadam apostasiae specie ad artes mechanicas, propter victus solius suffragia ad Ecclesiae dispendium et totius cleri vilipendium 15 8 revertuntur. Sic mater Ecclesia pariendo filios I nunc C pomintur codd. ponantur Ja. pro Ja. !| 2 exstin- gtiuntur codA, exstinguantur ^2l. || \o gustaverunt q^l^. gustave- rant Ja. frequentkis D || non ponantur] Cocheris absurdly says that the reading nunc "est la seule admissible." The reference is of course to Matt. V. 15. labmscas] Cp. Is. v. 2, '* exspectavit ut faceret uvas et fecit labruscas. " oleastros] Cp. Rom. xi. 24. nectareo poculo] Cp. the De disciplina Scholarium, c. ii. : * Multos autem artes mendicare prospeximus, nullis eis pocula philosophiae administrantibus' ; c. v. : ' Nullum vero vehe- menter obtusorum vidimus unquam philosophico nectare vehementer inebriari.' For the De disciplina^ see note on ch. xiii. s. 182. PRO LOG us abortiri compellitur, quinimmo ab utero foetus infor- mis monstruose dirumpitur, et pro paucis mini- misque quibus contentatur natura, alumnos amittit egregios, postea promovendos in pugiles fidei et athletas. Heu quam repente tela succiditur, dum 5 texentis manus orditur ! Heu quod sol eclipsatur in aurora clarissima et planeta progrediens regiratur retrograde ac naturam et speciem verae stellae 9 praetendens subito decidit et fit assub ! Quid poterit pius homo intueri miserius? Quid miseri- 10 cordiae viscera penetrabit acutius ? Quid cor con- gelatum ut incus in calentes guttas resolvet facilius ? Amplius arguentes a sensu contrario, quantum pro- I aboi-tire L l \\ 2 mensh'uose I menstncoso 2 jnonstrose Ja. 7 atira Ja. \\ 9 decidejis Jit Ja. a sub I 2 1| 12 mmtis I in- tzis E 2 calesctntes D\\1 arguentes om. D H pro paucis] Cp. Boet., De Cons. Ph. ii. pr. 5 : "Paucis enim minimisque natura contenta est." athletas] Athleta Dei is a common phrase for a Christian ; as for instance in John of Salisbuiy's life of Becket. It is no doubt based on S. Paul's references to the arena, 2 Tim. iv. 7, I Cor. ix. 26, etc. Cp. TertulL, Ad martyres, 3. succiditur] Cp. Job, iii. 6, "a texente tela succiditur," and Is. xxxviii. 12. assub] This word, which has been found unintelligible by the editors, is derived from the translations of Aristotle made from the Arabic, in which it means a falling star. Cp. Roger Bacon, Op. Maj., iii. i, ** impressiones inflammatae in acre ex vaporibus ignitis in similitudinem stellaram, quae vocantur Arabice Assub;" and Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat. ii. 84 ; iv. 72 (" De Asub, id est stella cadente ") ; see also Jourdain, Traductions d'Aristote, pp. 367, 414. I have even found the word used in poetry : see Anoiiyjui chronicon rhythmicum 6 PHILOBIBLON fuit toti reipublicae Christianae, non quidem Sardana- pali deliciis, neque Croesi divitiis enervare studentes, sed melius mediocritate scholastica suffragari pau- 10 peribus, ex eventu praeterito recordemur. Quot oculis vidimus, quot ex scripturis collegimus, nulla 5 suorum natalium claritate fulgentes, nullius haere- ditatis successione gaudentes, sed tantum proborum virorum pietate suffultos, apostolicas cathedras me- ruisse ! subiectis fidelibus praefuisse probissime ! superborum et sublimium colla jugo ecclesiastico 10 subiecisse et procurasse propensius Ecclesiae liber- tatem ! 11 Quamobrem perlustratis humanis egestatibus usquequaque caritativae considerationis intuitu, huic tandem calamitoso generi hominum, in quibus 15 tamen tanta redolet spes profectus Ecclesiae, prae- elegit peculiariter nostrae compassionis affectio pium ferre praesidium et eisdem non solum de necessariis victui, verum multo magis de libris utilissimis studio providere. Ad hunc efFectum acceptissimum 20 2 enarrare B entinierare D enutrire Z I || lo et humiliutn edd. II 15 tandem om. E tafn cah'gitioso Qdd.. \\ 16 ecclesiae om. A II 20 affectum A Ja.H Austriacunt, printed in Pertz, Scriptt. xxv. p. 364. The word occurs in the Pro7?iptorium Parvuloi'^an and the Catholicon Anglicum, as the rendering of * sterre-slyme, ' the star-jelly supposed to be deposited by falling stars : see Way's note, P. P., p. 474. superborum et sublimium] This, which.is the reading of the better MSS., may also be supported by John of Salisbury, Pol. iv. 6, ad Jin. But cp. i Pet. v. 5. PROLOG us coram Deo nostra iam ab olim vigilavit intentio indefessa. Hie amor ecstaticus tam potenter nos rapuit ut, terrenis aliis abdicatis ab animo, acquiren- dorum librorum solummodo flagraremus affectu. 12 Vt igitur nostri finis intentio tam posteris pateat 5 quam modernis, et ora loquentium perversa quan- tum ad nos pertinet obstruamus perpetuo, tractatum parvulinum edidimus stilo quidem levissimo moder- norum — est enim ridiculosum rhetoricis quando le- vis materia grandi describitur stilo ; qui tractatus lo amorem quem ad libros habuimus ab excessu purga- bit, devotionis intentae propositum propalabit et cir- cumstantias facti nostri, per viginti divisus capitula, 1 3 luce clarius enarrabit. Quia vero de amore librorum principaliter disserit, placuit nobis more veterum 15 Latinorum ipsum Graeco vocabulo Philobiblon amabiliter nuncupare. Explicit Prologus. Inciplunt Capitula. 2 excitiis Z> II 4 jiagremus i effedu Z> ]| 8 parvtihim D Ja. i| 9 ridiculum edd. 1| 10 scribitur edd. || 13 divisi edd. || 16 ipso E a greco B philobiblon ^ H 17 amicabiliter edd. || luce clarius] Cp. ch. vi. 85, xv. 196. The phrase may have been derived from Augustine, De Civ. Dei, v. 13. more Latinorum] Cp. what is said of Vergil in Macrobius, Saturn. V. xiii, "Omnia carmina sua Graece maluit inscri- bere, Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneis," Philobiblon] This is De Bury's word, though some of the editors have altered it to Philobiblion without sufficient authority. The phrase " de amore librorum" probably re- presents nearly enough what he intended it to mean. 8 PHILOBIBLON Capltulum I. Quod thesaurus saplentiae potissime sit In llbris. 14 Thesaurus desiderabilis sapientiae et scientlae, quern omnes homines per instinctum naturae desi- derant, cunctas mundi transcendit divitias infinite : cuius respectu lapides pretiosi vilescunt; cuius comparatione argentum lutescit et aurum obryzum 5 exigua fit arena; cuius splendore tenebrescunt visui sol et luna ; cuius dulcore mirabili amarescunt 15 gustui mel et manna. O valor sapientiae non mar- cescens ex tempore, virtus virens assidue, omne 2 n. scire d. Ja. || 6ftnt E\\^ omne . . . habente om. Ja. || Thesauras desiderabilis] Cp. Prov. xxi. 20. omnes . . . desiderant] From Aristotle, Metaphysics, i. i : TiavTiq dv9p(i)7roi tov dSh'ai op'tyovTai (pvtxti. transcendit divitias] Cp. Wisdom, vii. 8, 9 : " divitias nihil esse duxi in comparatione illius ; nee comparavi illi lapidem pretiosum, quoniam omne aurum in comparatione illius arena est exigua, et tanquam lutum aestimabitur argentum in con- spectu illius." tenebrescunt visui sol et luna] Cp. Wisdom, vii. 29: "Est enim haec speciosior sole et super omnem dispositionem stellarum." amarescunt] Cp. Wisdom, viii. 16: "non enim habet amaritudinem conversatio illius." non marcescens] Cp. Wisdom, vi. 13: "quae nunquam marcescit sapientia." CAPITULUM I. virus evacuans abhabente ! O munus caeleste libera- litatis divinae, descendens a Patre luminum, ut men- tern rationalem provehas usque in caelum ! Tu es intellectus caelestis alimonia, quam qui edunt adhuc esurient, quam qui bibunt adhuc sitient, et langu- 5 entis animae harmonia laetificans, quam qui audit 16 nuUatenus confundetur. Tu es morum modera- trix et regula, secundum quam operans non pecca- bit. Per te reges regnant et legum conditores iusta decernunt. Per te deposita ruditate nativa, 10 elimatis ingeniis atque Unguis, vitiorum sentibus coeffossis radicitus, apices consequuntur honoris, fiuntque patres patriae et comites principum, qui sine te conflassent lanceas in ligones et vomeres, vel cum filio prodigo pascerent forte sues. 15 1 7 Quo lates potissime, praeelecte thesaure ! et ubi te reperient animae sitibundae? In libris proculdubio posuisti tabernaculum tuum, ubi te fundavit Altisbimus, lumen luminum, liber 3 in om. A B E ad edd. || 5 esurhint A languenthim animas edd. || 11 signis A dentibtis D \\ 12 confossis B 1| 13 comitum D || 16 pi'eeffecie A \\ 18 t. desiderabilc t. edd. 1| Patre luminum] From James, i. 17. adhuc esurient] From Eccl. xxiv. 29 : cp. John, vi. 35. languentis animae] Cp. Wisdom, xvii. 8. nullatenus confundetur] Cp. Ps. xxxvi. 20 ; Phil. i. 20. Per te reges] Prov. viii. 15. in ligones] Cp. Joel, iii. 10. Cocheris thinks the copyists have blundered and absurdly proposes to read ligones et vo?neres in lanceas. The point is that those who might have become rustics are soldiers of the Church. 10 PHILOBIBLON vitae. Ibi te omnis qui petit accipit, et qui quae- rit invenit, et pulsantibus improbe citius aperitur. ,In his cherubin alas suas extendunt ut intellectus studentis ascendat, et a polo usque ad polum prospiciat, a solis ortu et occasu, ab aquilone et 5 18 mari. In his incomprehensibilis ipse Deus altissi- mus apprehensibiliter continetur et colitur ; in his patet natura caelestium, terrestrium et infernorum ; in his cernuntur iura quibus omnis regitur politia, hierarchiae caelestis distinguuntur officia et daemo- 10 num tyrannides describuntur, quos nee ideae Pla- tonis exsuperant nee Cratonis cathedra continebat. 3 et studeiitium ascendunt — prospichmt edd. |1 5 comprehen- sibilis A E edd. || II giiasja.. H 12 Caionis A £ ]a.. in mg. Crathonis B || qui petit] The source is of course Matt. vii. 7, not, as Cocheris suggests, Prov. viii. 17. cherubin] Cp. Exod. xxv. 20; I Kings, vi. 27. a solis ortu, etc.] Schmidt unnecessarily alters "a mari" to "ad meridiem." The quotation is from Ps. cvi. 3. incomprehensibilis] Cp. Jer. xxxii. 19. caelestium terrestrium et infernorum] From Phil. ii. 10. Cratonis] The name occurs also in c. xiii. s. 182, where it is clearly the true reading. Here the sense would rather re- quire Catonis, as more worthy to be coupled with Plato : cp. S. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, ii. 7 ; " quid docuerit Plato vel censuerit Cato." The Crato of the Golden Legend, ed. Graesse, p. 56, and Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. hist. xi. 39, or the fictitious Crato of the Pseudo-Boetius (s. 182 noie) seems too obscure for this distinction. But the phrase Cratonis cathedra is perhaps conclusive ; and very possibly De Bury thought they were the same person. Crato is mentioned in several liturgical hymns : cp. York Missal, ii. 212 j Daniel, Thesaur. Hymnol. i. 93. CAPITULUM I. II 19 In libris mortuos quasi vivos invenio ; in libris futura praevideo ; in libris res bellicae disponuntur ; de libris prodeunt iura pads. Omnia corrumpuntur et intabescunt in tempore ; Saturnus quos generat devorarenoncessat: omnem mundi gloriam operiret 5 oblivio, nisi Deus mortalibus librorum remedia pro- 20 vidisset. Alexander, orbis domitor, lulius et urbis et orbis invasor, qui et Marte et arte primus in unitate personae assumpsit imperium, fidelis Fabricius et Cato rigidus hodie caruissent memoria, si librorum 10 suffragia defuissent. Turres ad terram sunt dirutae ; civitates eversae ; putredine perierunt fornices tri- umphales ; nee quicquam reperiet vel Papa vel Rex quo perennitatis privilegium conferatur commodius 21 quam per libros. Reddit auctori vicissitudinem 15 liber factus, ut quamdiu liber supererit auctor manens athanatos nequeat interire, teste Ptolemaeo in prologo Almagesti : non fuit, inquit, mortuus qui scientiam. vivificavit. 4 tahescunt A B E \\ 6 obUvioni ^9 || 8 in arce et arte edd. deiectae ]di. \\ 12 fornices om. edd. || 13 reperij'et D 2 reperit Ja. II 14 perhenniter edd. || 15 auctori om. edd. actori 2 |i 16 actor edd. 1| omnia corrumpuntur] Cp. Arist. Phys. iv. 12 : Karar^Kti 6 xfjovoQ Kai yi)pdaKSi iravQ^ vTrb rov ■)(p6vov. The quotation occurs also in Holkot, Super Sap., f. 317. Fabricius et Cato] Cp. Boet. De Cons. Phil., ii. m. 7 : Ubi nunc f delis ossa Fabricii iacent ? Quid Brutus aut rigidtis Cato ? Ahnagesti] The Astronomy, or MtyaX?/ ^vvratiq, was pro bably so called to distinguish it from the MaOrjuariKi) Swrra^iCj or Mathematics of Ptolemy. It was preserved and communi- le PHILOBIBLON 2 2 Quis igitur infinite thesauro librorum, de quo scriba doctus profert nova et vetera, per quodcun- que alterius speciei pretium limitabit ? Veritas vincens super omnia, quae regem, vinum et mulierem supergreditur, quam amicis praehonorare officium 5 obtinet sanctitatis, quae est et via sine devio et vita sine termino, cui sacer Boetius attribuit triplex esse, in mente, voce et scripto, in libris videtur manere utilius et fructificare fecundius ad profectum. 23 Nam virtus vocis perit cum sonitu ; Veritas mente 10 latens est sapientia absconsa et thesaurus invisus ; Veritas vero quae lucet in libris omni se discipli- nabili sensui manifestare desiderat. Visui dum legitur, auditui dum auditur, amplius et tactui se commendat quodammodo, dum transcribi se sus- 15 24 tinet, colligari, corrigi et servari. Veritas mentis clausa, licet sit possessio nobilis animi, quia tamen 2 et quodcunqzte D i| 5 stiperare dicitur Ja. [| 9 effectum D II 10 Veritas vocis edd. |1 1 1 abscondita Ja. || 12 discipli- nali edd. \\ 14 tactu A || 16 collocari 2 || 17 animi tamen cum caret edd. || cated to Europe by the Arabs, and the name Almagest is formed of the Arabic article and the Greek /teyicrrj;. nova et vetera] From Matt. xiii. 52. Veritas vincens] Cp. 3 Esdras, iii. and iv. amicis praehonorare] This seems to refer to Aristotle, Eth. i. 6. I : afKpolv yap ovtoiv (piXoiv ocriov irporijiav ti)v aXt]9siuv. Boetius] On the De Interpret., Migne, Ixiv. p. 297. virtus vocis] Cp. I Cor. xiv. 11 ; though we should, per- haps, rather have expected Veritas. sapientia absconsa et thesaurus invisus] Cp. Eccl. xx. 32. CAPITULUM I. 13 caret socio, non constat esse iociinda, de qua nee visus iudicat nee auditus. Veritas vero vocis soli patet auditui, visum latens, qui plures nobis differentias rerum monstrat, affixaque subtilissimo 25 motui incipit et desinit quasi simul. Sed Veritas 5 scripta libri, non successiva sed permanens, palam se praebet aspectui et per sphaerulas pervias ocu- lorum, vestibula sensus communis et imaginationis atria transiens, thalamum intellectus ingreditur, in cubili memoriae se recondens, ubi aeternam men- 10 tis congenerat veritatem. 26 Postremo pensandum, quanta doctrinae com- moditas sit in libris, quam facilis, quam arcana. Quam tuto libris humanae ignorantiae pauperta- tem sine verecundia denudamus ! Hi sunt magistri 15 qui nos instruunt sine virgis et ferula, sine verbis et cholera, sine pannis et pecunia. Si accedis, \jocundam vulgo || 4 osiendit edd. afflixaxjiie A\\^ siiuiliter Ja. II 7 spirituales vias ociilorutn edd. speculia pervia 2 ll 8 ac sensiis edd. !l 10 cubile vulgo || 11 cognoverat 2|| 15 libH hi E Hi libri ]2>.. i| 16 et ferula sine verbis om. Ja. || sensus communis] See Roger Bacon's account of Scientia perspeciiva, Op. Maj., pars, v, for the part played in percep- tion by " imaginatio et sensus communis" (p. 192). John de Garlandia says in his Dictionarius : " In cerebro sub craneo tres sunt cellulae. Prima est ymaginaria, secunda rationalis, tertia memorialis," ed. vScheler, p. 22. pannis] There may be some reference to the distribution of robes, which was expected in mediaeval times from an in- cepting master at the Universities : cp. Maxwell Lyte, Hist. Univ. Oxford, 215 ; Anstey, Mun. Acad.,/aw/w. 14 PHILOBIBLON non dormiunt ; si inquirens interrogas, non abs- condunt ; non remurmurant, si oberres ; cachin- 27 nos nesciunt, si ignores. O libri soli liberales et liberi, qui omni petenti tribuitis et omnes manu- mittitis vobis sedulo servientes, quot rerum millibus 5 typice viris doctis recommendamini in scriptura nobis divinitus inspirata ! Vos enim estis profun- dissimae sophiae fodinae, ad quas sapiens filium suum mittit ut inde thesauros effodiat : Proverbio- rum 2° ; vos putei aquarum viventium, quos pater 10 Abraham primo fodit, Isaac eruderavit, quosque 28 nituntur obstruere Palestini : Genesis 26°. Vos estis revera spicae gratissimae, plenae granis, solis apos- tolicis manibus confricandae, ut egrediatur cibus suavissimus famelicis animabus : Matt. 12^^. Vos 15 estis urnae aureae, in qiiibus manna reconditur, atque petrae mellifluae, immo potius favi mellis, ubera uberrima lactis vitae, promptuaria semper plena ; vos lignum et quadripartitus fluvius para- I se abscondtmt edd. || 4 omnipotenti i || 7 modo edd. H 10 quinto edd. || 15 sanissimics A B gratisswms edd. fidelibus codd. dett. |1 16 in om. A B E\\ i"] favi om. D\\ 19 atque q. edd. II divinitus inspirata] Cp. 2 Tim. iii. 16. urnae aureae] Cp. Heb. ix : 4, " urnaaurea habens manna." petrae mellifluae] Cp. Deut. xxxii. 13 ; Ps. Ixxx. 17. promptuaria plena] Cp. Ps, cxliii. 13. lignum vitae] Cp. Gen. ii. 9 ; Rev. xxii. 2. quadripartitus fluvius] Cp. Gen. ii. lo. Cocheris notes in this an allusion to the Quadrivium and quotes Godefroi de Saint- Victor : ** Hujus quoque fluminis partes sunt bis binae, Quas vulgus quadrivium nominat Latine." CAPITULUM II. 15 disi, quo mens humana pascitur et aridus in- 29 tellectus imbuitur et rigatur ; vos area Noae et scala lacob, canalesque quibus foetus intuentium colorantur; vos lapides testimonii et lagenae ser- vantes lampadas Gedeonis, pera David, de qua lim- 5 pidissimi lapides extrahuntur ut Goliath prosterna- tur. Vos estis aurea vasa templi, arma militiae clericorum, quibus tela nequissimi hostis destniun- tur, olivae fecundae, vineae Engadi, ficus sterilescere nescientes, lucernae ardentes, semper in manibus 10 praetendendae, — et optima quaeque scripturae libris adaptare poterimus, si loqui libeat figurate. Capitulum 2. Quails amor libris rationabiliter debeatur. 30 Si quidlibet iuxta gradum valoris gradum merea- tur amoris, valorem vero librorum ineffabilem persuadet praecedens capitulum ; palam liquet 15 lectori quid sit inde probabiliter concludendum. 3 canaksveja.. || 5 lampades A B £ ]z.\\S hosiis om. ABE Ja. II 10 semper in m. p. om. edd. || canalesque] Cp. Gen. xxx. 38. lapides testimonii] Cp. Joshua, iv. 7. lagenae servantes lampadas] Cp. Judges, vii. 16. limpidissimi lapides] From I Kings, xvii. 40. anna militiae] Cp. 2 Cor. x. 4, and s. 129 note. tela nequissimi] Cp. Eph. vi. 16. lucernae ardentes] Cp. Luke, xii. 35. 1 6 PHILOBIBLON Non enim demonstrationibus in morali materia nitimur, recordantes quoniam disciplinati hominis est certitudinem quaerere, sicut rei naturam per- spexerit tolerare, archiphilosopho attestante,i°Ethi- corum. Quoniam nee TuUius requirit Euclidem, 5 nee Euclidi Tullius facit fidem ; hoc revera sive logice sive rhetorice suadere conamur, quod quae* cunque divitiae vel deliciae cedere debent libris in anima spiritali, ubi spiritus, qui est caritas, ordinat 31 caritatem. Primo quidem quia in libris sapientia 10 continetur potissime, plus quam omnes mortales naturaliter comprehendunt ; sapientia vero divitias parvipendit, sicut capitulum antecedens allegat. Praeterea Aristoteles, De problematibus, particula 3% problemate 10°, istam determinat quaestionem 15 propter quid antiqui, qui pro gymnasticis et corpo- ralibus agoniis praemia statuerunt potioribus, nullum unquam praemium sapientiae decreverun^. Hanc quaestionem responsione tertia ita solvit : in gymnasticis exercitiis praemium est melius et eli- 20 2 utimur B E intimur Z> || 3 prospexerit ^ || 4 archipres- bitero D testante B\(i hec Z> || 9 spirituali \\x\go || 18 Hac respoitsione tertia A Hanc rnone tertia D E\2.q melius et om. D\\ disciplinati] The Treiraidev^Evov of Aristotle: Eth. i. 3, 4. ordinat caritatem] Cp. Cant. ii. 4, " ordinavit in me caritatem. " spiritali] The early ecclesiastical writers appear to have used spiriiualis and spiritalis indifferently. The Catholicon Anglicum (p. 355) makes a distinction : "spiritualis pertinet ad bonum vel ad malum, spiritalis pertinet ad bonum tantum." Aristoteles] Probl., ed. Bekker, iii, 10, p. 956. CAPITULUM 11. 17 gibilius illo, pro quo datur ; sapientia autem nihil melius esse potest ; quamobrem sapientiae nullum potuit praemium assignari. Ergo nee divitiae nee 32 deliciae sapientiam antecellunt. Rursus amicitiam divitiis praeponendam solus negabit insipiens, cum 5 sapientissimus hoc testetur; amicitiae vero veri- tatem hierophilosophus praehonorat et verus Zoro- babel omnibus anteponit. Subsunt igitur divitiae veritati. Veritatem vero potissime et tuentur et continent sacri libri, immo sunt Veritas ipsa scripta; 10 quoniam pro nunc librorum asseres librorum non asserimus esse partes. Quamobrem divitiae sub- sunt libris, praesertim cum pretiosissimum genus divitiarum omnium sint amici, sicut secundo de Consolatione testatur Boetius, quibus tamen 15 librorum Veritas est per Aristotelem praeferenda. 5 esse preponendam Ja, || 7 ieraphus A B D reraphus E arciphilosophns I hierophilosophus Ja. || lO scriptura Z> [J 14 sicut et de D^ 1$ attestatur B || sapientissimus] No doubt Solomon : cp. Eccli. vi. 15, " Amico fideli nulla est comparatio, et non est digna ponderatio auri contra bonitatem fidei illius." Whether Solomon is also meant by the " hierophilosophus " is not quite so clear. The sentiment that truth is to be honoured before friendship is more like Aristotle's oaiov Trporificiv ti)v aXrjOtiav (Eth. i. 6, 5). The word "hierophilosophus" I have not found elsewhere. Zorobabel] The reference is of course to the story told in 3 Esdras, iii. 10-12, iv, 13 ; and also in Josephus, xi. 3. amici] De Cons. Phil., ii. pr. 8 : " Desine nunc et amissas opes quaerere ; quod pretiosissimum divitiarum genus est, amicos invenisti." 1 8 PHILOBIBLON 33 Araplius cum divitiae ad solius corporis subsidia primo et principaliter pertinere noscantur, virtus vero librorum sit perfectio rationis, quae bonum humanum proprie nominatur, apparet quod libri sunt homini ratione utenti divitiis cariores. Prae- 5 terea illud quo fides defenderetur commodius, dila- taretur diffasius, praedicaretur lucidius, diligibilius 34 debet esse fideli. Hoc autem est Veritas libris in- scripta, quod evidentius figuravit Salvator, quando contra tentatorem praeliaturus viriliter scuto se cir- lo cumdedit veritatis, non cuiuslibet immo scripturae, scriptum esse praemittens quod vivae vocis oraculo erat prolaturus : Matth. 4°. 35 Rursus autem felicitatem nemo dubitat divitiis praeponendam. Consistit autem felicitas in opera- 15 tione nobilissimae et divinioris potentiae quam habe- mus, dum videlicet intellectus vacat totaliter veritatis sapientiae contemplandae, quae est delectabilissima omnium operationum secundum virtutem, sicut princeps philosophorum determinat 10°. Ethi- 20 corum, propter quod et philosophia videtur habere admirabiles delectationes puritate et firmitate, ut 36 scribitur consequenter. Contemplatio autem veri- tatis nunquam est perfectior quam per libros, dum 2 Veritas A edd. H 11 script e A B E\*j est ^H 13 proba- turiis i? II 16 nobilioris Z^ H 17 veritati edd. [| 19 vcritatem Ja. I| secundum virtutem] James writes " veritatem," but it is of course the fcar' a.pET>)v of Aristotle. puritate et firmitate] Ar. Eth. x. 7, 3 : ^okh yovv r) \\ ^ nos ^ || 1 1 diversi edd. II 12 vitae om. edd. i| 13 nobis A tenet ur Z? || 16 sunt ABE sint scripsi cum J a. egregia om. Z? || 17 sacerdotum A || thing but a clerical error is, perhaps, doubtful ; but Mr. Lumby's article, in his glossary to Higden, is certainly wrong. Cp. Adam Murimuth of Edward III. " dictus antonomatice gloriosus," though Hog (p. 225) alters the text to " autono- matice. " altari deservientes] From i Cor. ix. 13 : qui altari deser- viunt cum altari participant ; cp. Heb. xiii. lO. corpus Christi] Cp. S. Jerome, Ad Heliodoriivi^ Ep. I ; * Apostolico gradui succedentes, Christi corpus sacro ore con- ficiunt.' paulo magis angelis] From Heb. ii. 7, with a difference. Tu es sacerdos] From Ps. cix. 4. ubi iam quaeritur] Cp. I Cor. iv. 2 : " Hie iam quaeritur inter dispensatores ut fidelis quis inveniatur." CAPITULUM IV. 27 intellectus imbuti cathedras scanditis magistrales, vocati ab hominibus Rabbi. Per nos, in oculis laicorum mirabiles velut magna mundi luminaria, I dignitates ecclesiae secundum sortes varias possi- '51 detis. Per nos, cum adhuc careatis genarum lanu- 5 gine, in aetate tenera constituti tonsuram portatis in vertice, prohibente statim ecclesiastica sententia formidanda : Nolite tangere Christos meos et in prophetis meis nolite malignari ; et qui eos teti- gerit temere violenter anatheraatis vulnere ictu 10 proprio protinus feriatur. 2 Tandem aetate succumbente malitiae, figurae Pythagoricae bivium attingentes ramum laevum eligitis et retrorsum abeuntes sortem Domini prae- assumptam dimittitis, socii facti furum; sicque 15 semper proficientes in peius, latrociniis, homicidiis et multigenis impudicitiis maculati, tam fama quam conscientia tabefacta sceleribus,compellente iustitia, in manicis et compedibus coarctati, servamini morte I itidnti Ja. II 3 himma Z? 1| 5 carebatis edd. I, 7 statuin E || vocati ab hominibus Rabbi] From Matt, xxiii. 7. luminaria] Cp. Phil. ii. 15 : '* Lucetis sicut luminaria in mundo;" and Gen. i. 16. nolite tangere] From Ps. civ. 15. figurae Pythag.] The letter Y as emblematic of the broad and nanow paths of vice and virtue. Cp. Gervas. Tilb., Otia Imper., i. 20 : " Y litteram Pythagoras invenit, ad exemplum humanae vitae, cuius prior virgula primam significat aeta- tem incertam : bivium, quod su^Derest, ab adolescentia incipit, cuius dextera pars ardua, sed ad beatam vitam tendit ; sinistra facilior a luce ad interitum ducens." retrorsum abeuntes] Cf. Jer. xv. 6 ; socii furum j Is. i. 23. 28 PHILOBIBLON 53 turpissima puniendi. Tunc elongatur amicus et proximus, nee est qui doleat vicem vestram. Petrus iurat se hominem non novisse : vulgus clamat iusticiario : Crucifige, crucifige eum ! quoni- am si hunc dimittis, Caesaris amicus non eris. 5 lam periit omnis fuga, nam ante tribunal oportet assisti, nee locus suppetit appellandi sed solum 54 suspendium exspectatur. Dum sic tristitia com- plevit cor miseri et solae Camenae lacerae fletibus ora rigant, fit balatus angustiis undique memor 10 nostri et ut evitet mortis propinquae periculum antiquatae tonsurae, quam dedimus, parvum prae- fert signaculum, supplicans ut vocemur in medium et eollati muneris testes simus. Tunc misericordia statim moti oecurrimus filio prodigo et a portis 15 55 mortis servum eripimus fugitivum. Legendus liber 7 appetit D |1 9 lachrymae Ja. H 10 valatus A B vallatiis D E\\ morte turpissima] From Wisd. ii. 20. elongatur amicus] From Ps. Ixxxvii. 19 : * elongasti a me amicum : ' cp. elongati^ s. 88. It would seem difficult to doubt the meaning of the word, but Mr. Lumby, in his glossary to Higden's Polychronicon, explains elongati to mean ' encouraged by persuasive language, cheered. ' Petrus iurat] Cp. Matt. xxii. 72 : *' non novi hominem." Crucifige] Cp. John xix. 6, 12. periit omnis fuga] Cp. Ps. cxli. 5 : periit a me fuga. ante tribunal] Cp. 2 Cor. v. 10. Camenae] FromBoetius, De Cons. Phil., i. metr. I : *'Ecce mihi lacerae dictant scribenda Camenae Et veris elegi fletibus ora rigant." a portis mortis] Cp. Ps. cvi. 18. legendus liber] The claim to the privilegium dencale^ or CAPITULUM IV. 29 porrigitur non ignotus et ad modicam balbutientis prae timore lecturam iudicis potestas dissolvitur, accusator subtrahitur, mors fugatur. O carminis empirici mira virtus ! O dirae cladis antidotum salutare ! O lectio pretiosa psalterii, quod meretur 5 56 hoc ipso liber vitae deinceps appellari ! Sustineant laici saeculare iudicium, ut vel insuti cuUeis enatent ad Neptunum, vel in terra plantati Plutoni fructificent, aut Vulcano per incendia holocaustum se offerant medullatum, vel certe suspensi victima 10 sint lunoni ; dum noster alumnus ad lectionem unicam libri vitae pontificis commendatur custodiae et rigor in favorem convertitur, ac dum forum transfertur a laico, a librorum alumno clerico mors differtur. '5 7 Caeterum iam de clericis, qui sunt vasa virtutis, loquamur. Quis de vobis pulpitum seu scabellum praedicaturus ascendit nobis penitus inconsultis? Quis scholas lecturus vel disputaturus ingreditur, qui nostris conatibus non fulcitur? Primum 20 4 imperiti E !1 5 qtiae \ailgo || 7 inscti B in fidis Z> i| 9 holO' camta—medullata edd. H 18 ascendet Ja. 1| 20 cofnatibus edd. 1| benefit of clergy, was established by the reading of a verse from the Bible by the prisoner. From Piers Plowman, xv. 127, it seems already to have been usual to set one particular verse. insuti] The classical phrase is insuere aliqueni in cttieum (Cic. Rose. Am. 25). All these punishments were used in medieval times : cp. Archaeologia, xxxviii. 54. holocaustum] Cp. Ps. Ixv. 15: " Holocausta medullata offeram tibi." 30 PHILOBIBLON oportet volumen cum Ezechiele comedere, quo venter memoriae dulcescat intrinsecus et sic more pantherae refectae redoleat extrinsecus concep- torum aromatum odor suavis, ad cuius anhelitum coanhelent accedere omnes bestiae et iumenta. 5 58 Sic nostra natura in nostris familiaribus operante latenter, auditores accurrunt benevoli, sicut adamas trahit ferrum nequaquam invite. O virtus infinita librorum iacent Parisius vel Athenis simulque resonant in Britannia et in Roma ! Quiescentes 10 quippe moventur, dum ipsis loca sua tenentibus, auditorum intellectibus circumquaque feruntur. 59 Nos denique sacerdotes, pontifices, cardinales et papam, ut cuncta in hierarchia ecclesiastica collocentur in ordine, litterarum scientia stabilimus. 1 5 A libris namque sumit originem quicquid boni provenit statui clericali. Sed haec hactenus : 3 refertae vulgo || ^fanus A samis B E \\ <, homines A B II 7 occurrant Z) || 9 librorum quinimmo multitudo jacet edd. jacet E similiterque Ja. || 14 in om. A || cum Ezechiele] Cp. Ezech. iii. 1-3. pantherae] Cp. Pliny, H. N. viii. 23, who says that the smell of the panther attracts all quadrupeds : ' ' quadrupedes cunctas." I have corrected the text accordingly. virtus] For virtus in the sense of a host, cp. the Vulgate, e.g. I Mace. i. 4 ; Judith iii. 7. Parisius] The mediaeval Latin name of Paris, which was treated as indeclinable; cp. Barthius, Advers. 21 ii. dum ipsis] This sentence looks like a grammatical slip, and the only bad one in the book, unless "cernitur" vii. 103, is another. CAPITULUM IV. 31 piget enim reminisci quae dedimus populo cleri- corum degeneri, quia magis videntur perdita quam collata, quaecumque munera tribuuntur ingratis. 60 Deinceps insistemus parumper recitandis iniuriis quas rependunt, vilipensionibus et iacturis, de quibus 5 nee singula generum recitare sufficimus, immo vix proxima genera singulorum. Inprimis de domi- ciliis clericorum nobis iure haereditario debitis vi et armis expellimur, qui quondam in interiori cubi- culo cellulas habebamus quietis, sed proh dolor ! 10 his nefandis temporibus penitus exsulantes im- 61 properium patimur extra portas. Occupant etenim loca nostra nunc canes, nunc aves, nunc bestia bipedalis, cuius cohabitatio cum clericis vetabatur antiquitus, a qua semper super aspidem et basil- 15 iscum alumnos nostros docuimus esse fugiendum ; 4 delude D \\ 5 rependere A \\ 6 genera edd. |1 7 singularum edd. 11 9 cojnpellirmir Z) || lO qinetas edd. |1 11 teviporibtts om. A II 14 bipedalis scilicet imdicr edd. vltabatur a c. edd. 1| 16 esse om. A B ]d.. fugere ]3.. \\ ii-nproperium extra portas] Cp. Heb. xiii. 13. nunc aves] Probably hawks, the monks of medieval times being greatly addicted to hunting and hawking. Cp. Chaucer's Monk, and see John of Salisbury's Policrat. i. 4. bestia bipedalis] This sufficiently contemptuous reference to the fair sex was accentuated by some scribe, who added the words scilicet mulla-, which the editors have printed in the text. We must remember that the Bishop is referring to the focaHae, whose association with the clergy was forbidden by a long series of ecclesiastical prohibitions ne clerlci in sacrls ordinibus constltiiti focarlas habeant : cp. Ilallam, Middle Ages, ii. 1 76 foil. super aspidem et basiliscum] From Ps. xc. 13. 32 PHILOBIBLON quamobrem ista nostris semper studiis aemula, nuUo die placanda, finaliter nos conspectos in aimulo iam defunctae araneae sola tela protectos, in rugam fronte coUecta, virulentis sermonibus detra- hit et subsannat, ac nos in tota domus suppel- 5 lectili supervacaneos hospitari demonstrat et ad unumquodque oeconomiae servitium conqueritur otiosos, mox in capitegia pretiosa, sindonem et sericum et coccum bis tinctum, vestes et varias furraturas, linum et lanam, nos consulit commu- 10 tandos: et quidem merito, si videret intrinseca cordis nostri, si nostris privatis interfuisset consiliis, si Theophrasti vel Valerii perlegisset volumen, vel saltern 25 capitulum Ecclesiastici auribus intel- lectus audisset. I istius E istis Ja H 3 defundo armae Ja. are7ie E\\6 super- vacuos L I semper vaciios Coch. et oeconomiae D \ 8 capitogia E II g fulraturas B \\it, volumen . . . audisset om. D jl sindonem] Sindon^ sendal or cendal, appears to have been used for a rich thin fabric, whether of silk or linen : cp. Catholicon Angl., p. 329 n. coccum bis tinctum] Cp. Vulgate, e.g. Ex. xxvi. i. furraturas] Perhaps the word here means furs, but see Ducange under the various forms of the word : in this passage I notice the forms farraturas, folraturas, ferraturas and fodcraturas. Originally it does not seem to have meant any particular stuff, but stuffing or lining of any sort. Theophrasti] This does not refer to the Characters^ as Cocheris supposes, but to a book against marriage attributed to him by S. Jerome, who quotes it at some length, Adv. Jovinian, i. 28 : "fertur aureolus Theophrasti liber denuptiis, in quo quaerit an vir sapiens ducat uxorem." John of Salis- bury, Policrat. viii. II, quotes the passage. Valerii] This refers not to Valerius Maximus, as Cocheris CAPITULUM IV. 33 62 Quapropter conquerimur de hos])itiis nobis in- iuste ablatis, de vestibus, non qiiidem non dalis sed de datis antiquitus, violentis manibus laceratis. Adhaesit pavimento anima nostra, conglutinatus est in terra venter noster, et gloria nostra in 5 pulverem est deducta. Morbis variis laboramus, dorsa dolentes et latera, et iacemiis membratim paralysi dissoluti, nee est qui recogitet, nee est 63 ullus qui malagma procuret. Candor nativus et luce perspicuus iam in fuscum et croceum est 10 conversus, ut nemo medicus dubitet ictericia 3 laceratis in tantiim quod edd. '] 6 redacta est edd. |1 15 be- 7iigne malagma edd. |! \oa luce A \\ 11 medicus qui nos reperiat edd. II says, but to the Valerius ad Rufimim de tixoj'e non dzccenda, which was one of the most popular of medieval books, and seems even to have been printed as S. Jerome's. It is claimed by Walter Map as his own, and incorporated in the De Nugis Curialium, iv. 3, where he explains that he wrote it to a love-sick friend : " me, qui Walterus sum, Valerium vocans, ipsum, qui Johannes est et rufus, Rufinum. " It must not be confounded with the poem Golias de conjuge non ducenda, which was, perhaps, also written by Map : see Wright's edition of his Poems, p. 77. There is some confusion in Wright's references to the Valerius^ and also in the notices in Warton, ed. Hazlitt, i. 250, ii. 353. Cp. Chaucer in the Wife of Bath's prologue. adhaesit pavimento anima nostra] From Ps.cxviii. 25. conglutinatus est in terra venter noster] Ps. xliii. 25. gloria nostra in pulverem est deducta] Ps. vii. 6. nee est qui recogitet] From Jer. xii. II. luce perspicuum] Cp. Durh. Ritual, p. 64: "luce con- spicuum. " ictericia] The jaundice, said to be so called from the belief D 34 PHILOBIBLON nos infectos. Arthriticam patiuntur nontiulli de nobis, sicut extremitates retortae insinuant evi- denter. Fumus et pulvis, quibus infestamur assidue, radiorum visualium aciem hebetarunt et iam lippientibus oculis ophthalmiam superducunt. 5 64 Ventres nostri duris torsionibus viscerum, quae vermes edaces non cessant corrodere, consumun- tur et utriusque Lazari sustinemus putredinem, nee invenitur quisquam, qui cedri resina nos liniat vel qui quatriduano iam putrido damans 10 dicat, Lazare veni foras ! Nullo circumligantur medicamine vulnera nostra saeva, quae nobis in- noxiis inferuntur atrociter, nee est ullus qui super I archeticam A artheticam B D E\\2, Funms aut fifnus ac pulvis L edd. || 8 lazari 2 et viritisque B lateris edd. || lO qtia- triduario A \\ 12 ligamine edd. || 13 inseruntur edd. || that it was cured by the sight of the icterus, a bird mentioned by Pliny, H. N. xxx. ii, 29 : cp. xx. 9, 34. In classical Latin only the adjective ictericus is found. utriusque Lazari] Most of the printed texts read utriusque lateris, which Cocheris translates, 'nous portons la corruption dans nos fiancs,' and Inglis, * we suffer corruption inside and out.' But the true reading is undoubtedly Lazari, referring to the Lazarus ulceribus plenus of Luke (xvi. 20) and the Lazartis viortuus of John (xi. 14), the one suffering the cor- ruption of disease, the other that of death. quatriduano] Cp. John xi. 39 : * jam faetet, quatriduanus est enim.' cedri resina] Holkot, Super Sap. 1. cxci, quotes Isidorus, Etym. xvii. 8 : " de cedro, quod resinam quandam habet quae cedria dicitur, quae in servandis libris adeo est utilis ut perliniti ex ea nee tineas patiantur nee tempore senescant." Lazare veni foras !] From John xi. 43. CAPITULUM IV. 35 nostra ulcera cataplasmet ; sed pannosi et algidi in angulos tenebrosos abicimur, in lacrimis cum sancto lob in sterquilinio collocamur, vel, quod nefas videtur effatu, in abyssis abscondimur 65 cloacarum. Pulvinar subtrahitur evangelicis sup- 5 ponendum lateribus, quibus primo deberent de sortibus clericorum provenire subsidia et sic ad nos suo famulatui deputandos pro semper com- munis victus necessarius derivari. 66 Rursus de alio genere calamitatis conquerimur, 10 quae personis nostris crebrius irrogatur iniuste. Nam in servos vendimur et ancillas et obsides in tabernis absque redemptore iacemus. Macellariis crudelibus subdimur, ubi mactari tarn pecora quam iumenta sine piis lacrimis non videmus et 15 ubi millesies morimur ipso metu, qui cadere posset in constantem. ludaeis committimur, Sarracenis, haereticis et paganis, quorum super omnia toxi- cum formidamus, per quos nonnullos de nostris parentibus per venenum pestiferum constat esse 20 I vulnera edd. 1| 2 laternis L vel cum edd. |1 4 affatu B mihi effari tdd. \\ 12 nos D \\ 12 venjindanmr edd. || 13 re- detnptwne edd. in cellariis vulgo || 1 7 co?islantem virum A viru7n om. B D E ]^. in virtim posset vulgo |] lob in sterquilinio] Cp. Job ii. 8. in servos vendimur et ancillas] From Deut. xxviii. 68. in constantem] Referring to the legal maxim which, de- rived no doubt through Azo from the Digest, is in Bracton, ii. 5. 14 : " Debemus accipere metum non . . . vani vel meticulosi hominis sed talem qui cadere possit in virum con- stanteiJi." In the Digest, iv. 2, it is cited from Gaius. 36 PHILOBIBLON 67 corruptos. Sane nos, qui architectonici reputari debemus in scientiis et subiectis nobis omnibus mechanicis imperamus, subalternatomm regimini vice versa committimur, tanquam si monarcha summe nobilis rusticanis calcaneis substernatur. 5 Sartor et sutor et scissor quicunque ac cuiuslibet artifex operis inclusos nos custodit in carcere pro superfluis et lascivis deliciis clericorum. dZ lam volumus prosequi novum genus iniuriae, quo tam in nostris personis laedimur quam in fama, qua 10 nihil carius possidemus. Generositati nostrae omni die detrahitur, dum per pravos compilatores, trans- latores et transformatores nova nobis auctorum no- mina imponuntur et, antiqua nobilitate mutata, regeneratione multiplici renascentes degeneramus 15 omnino. Sicque vilium vitricorum nobis nolenti- bus affiguntur vocabula et verorum patrum nomina 69 filiis subducuntur. Versus Vergilii, adhuc ipso vivente quidam pseudoversificus usurpavit, et Mar- tial is Coci libellos Fidentinus quidam sibi menda- 20 citer arrogavit, quem idem Martialis redarguit merito sub his verbis : 3 i}nperavivius1z..snhaltern(yruv2 D edd || 6 salt or "^2^. \\ 7 car- eens D II 10 quia A II 16 vidricorzim D vidritiortivi Ja. aitc- to nun in mg. || 19 qiddem A B \\ 21 arrogavit merito D Ij Martialis Cocus] Cocus or Coquus appears to have been long regarded as a cognomen of Martial, and in the middle ages he was constantly referred to as Martialis Cocus, or merely as Cocus, e.g. by John of Salisbury, Policrat. vii. 12 et al. The origin of the mistake was probably a misreading of Martialis totus : but see Smith's Diet. Biogr., s, v. CAPITULUM TV. Quern recitas, meus est, O Fidentine ! libellus ; Sed male quum recitas, incipit esse tuus. Quid ergo mirum, si defunctis nostris auctoribus suas per nos fimbrias simiae clericorum magnificant, cum eisdem superstitibus nos recenter editos rapere yo moliantur. Ah, quoties nos antiquos fingitis nuper natos, et qui patres sumus filios nominare conamini, 5 quique vos ad esse clericale creavimus studiorum vestrorum fabricas appellatis ! Revera de Adienis exstitimus oriundi, qui fingimur nunc de Roma, semper namque Carmentis latruncula fuit Cadmi, et qui nuper nascebamur in Anglia eras Parisius 10 renascemur, et inde delati Bononiam Italicam sortiemur originem, nulla consanguinitate suffultam. 71 Heu, quam falsis scriptoribus nos exarandos com- mittitis ; quam corrupte nos legitis et medicando necatis, quos pro zelo corrigere credebatis ! Inter- '5 8 extitnus D II lo contra A 14 meditando E edd. Ja || \^ pio A E debebatis edd. || Quern recitas] Mart., i. 39; cp. i. 30. The epigram is quoted by Holkot, Super Sap., 1. ccxii., in a passage not unlike the present. Carmentis latruncula fuit Cadmi] See viii. 128 note. Bononiam] Bologna was one of the great universities of the middle ages. falsis scriptoribus] We may comp. Petrarch's complaint of copyists, De Remed. Utr. Fortunae, i. 43 : " Ut ad plenum auctorum constet integritas, quis scriptorum inscitiae in- ertiaeque medebitur, corrumpenti omnia miscentique? .... An si redeat Cicero aut Livius multique alii veterum illus- trium, ante omnes Plinius secundus, sua scripta relegentes 38 PHILOBIBLON pretes barbaros sustinemus multotiens et qui lingu- arum idiomata nesciunt nos de lingua ad linguam transferre praesumunt ; sicque proprietate sermonis ablata fit sententia contra sensum auctoris turpiter mutilata. Bene gratiosa fuisset librorum conditio, 5 si turris Babel nuUatenus obfuisset praesumptio, si totius humani generis unica descendisset sermonis species propagata. 7 2 Ultimam nostrae prolixae querelae, sed pro materia quam habemus brevissimae, clausulam subiungemus. 10 In nobis etenim commutatur naturalis usus in eum usum qui est contra naturam, dum passim pictoribus subdimur litterarum ignaris et aurifabris, proh dolor ! commendamur nos, qui sumus lumen fidelium ani- marum, ut fiamus, ac si non essemus sapientiae 15 sacra vasa, repositoria bractearum. Devolvimur in- debite in laicorum dominium, quod est nobis amarius omni morte, quoniam hi vendiderunt populum nostrum sine pretio et inimici nostri iudices nostri sunt. 20 73 Liquet omnibus ex praedictis quam infinita pos- semus in clericos invectiva conicere, si non hones- 5 mactdata edd. || 9 Jiostrae om. A\\ii etiivi D \ 22 cojit- miscere A convertere i conimitiere 2 convitiari edd. |1 intelligent et non passim haesitantes nunc aliena credent esse, nunc barbara ?" usum qui est contra naturam] From Rom. i. 25, 26. amarius omni morte] Cp. Eccl. vii. 27. vendiderunt populum nostruin sine pretio] Ps. xliii. 13. inimici nostri iudices] From Deut. xxxii. 31. miles emeritus] This seems to be a hexameter, but I can- not find it elsewhere. CAPITULUM V. 39 tati propriae parceremus. Nam miles emeritus clipeum veneratur et arma gratusque Corydon aratro tabescenti, bigae, trahae, tribulae ac ligoni, etiam omnis artifex manualis hyperduliam propriam suis exhibet instrumentis. Solus ingratus clericus 5 parvipendit et negligit ea, per quae sui honoris auspicia semper sumit. Capltulum 5. Ouerlmonia librorum contra rell^^Iosos possessionatos. 74 Rello;lonum veneranda devotio in librorum cultu solet esse sollicita et in eorum eloquiis sicut in omnibus divitiis delectari. Scribebant namque non- 10 nuUi manibus propriis inter horas canonicas ; inter- 3 tepescenti edd. Il 4 hypoduliaf/i edd. !| 6 ea om. per om. B !l Tit. ia/n possessionatos B \ % et libronini ^ 1| 1 1 inter- vallis captatis A B E ]2.. edd. i| hyperduliam] HypodnUain would certainly seem to be a more suitable term, but the MSS. are unanimous, and James also reads hyperdoidiavi. possessionatos] ' Possessioners,' as it is sometimes trans- lated, as opposed to the fratres memiicantes ; cp. Anstey, Mun. Acad., pp. 400, 480. Religionum] The word occurs in this sense, i.e. a religious order, in Innocent III. 's prohibition of the founding of new religious orders in 1215 : *'ne quis de caetero novam re- ligionem inveniat." horas canonicas] The horae canonicae are due to S. Bene- 40 PHILOBIBLON valla captata et tempora pro quiete corporis com- modata fabricandis codicibus concesserunt. De quorum laboribus hodie in plerisque splendent monasteriis ilia sacra gazophylacia, cherubicis libris plena, ad dandam scientiam salutis studentibus 5 75 atque lumen delectabile semitis laicorum. O labor manualis, felicior omni cura georgica ! O devota soUicitudo, ubi nee meretur Martha corripi nee Maria ! O domus iocunda, in qua Racheli formosae Lya fecunda non invidet, sed contemplatio actione i^ gaudia sua miscet. Felix providentia pro futuro 7 O devota . . . Maria om. ^ || 8 corrwnpi edd. || lo actione om. A cum activa B E Ja. edd. || 1 1 sua om. Ja. || diet, who divided the twenty-four hours into eight periods of three hours, marked by as many acts of devotion. cherubicis libris] The epithet may perhaps refer to the brilHant miniation of monastic books : so the Sompnour in Chaucer "hadde a fire-red cherubinnes face." (Prol. v. 626.) lumen delectabile] Cp. Eccl. xi. 7, cura georgica] Cp. Peter the Venerable : " Pro aratro con- vertatur manus ad pennam, pro exarandis agris divinis litteris paginae exarentui", seratur in cartula verbi Dei seminarium :" Bibl. Clun. 647. devota sollicitudo] The copying of books is regarded as a union of the active and contemplative life, of which Martha and Mary, and Rachel and Leah were treated as types. The distinction is sometimes said to be based on James i. 27, but is more likely to have been derived from Aristotle. See Thomas Aquinas, Summa II. ii., qu. 179 ff. Martha corripi] Coch. reads corriifupi ^ndi translates "O sollicitude devotieuse par laquelle Marthe et Marie sent k peine dignes d'etre seduites !" Inglis : " O devout solicitude from which neither Martha nor Mary would have earned the wages of corruption ! " CAPITULUM V. 41 infinitis posteris valitura, cui nulla virgultonim plantatio, nulla seminum satio comparatur, nulla bucolica curiositas quorumlibet armentorum, nulla 76 castrorum constructio munitorum ! Quamobrem immortalis debet esse patrum illorum memoria, 5 quos solius sapientiae delectabat thesaurus, qui contra futuras caligines luminosas lucernas artificio- sissime providerunt et contra famem audiendi verbum Dei panes non subcinericeos necpe hor- deaceos nee muscidos, sed panes azymos de puris- 10 sima simila sacrae sophiae confectos accuratissime paraverunt, quibus esurientes animae feliciter ciba- 77 rentur. Hi fuerunt probissimi pugiles Christianae militiae, qui nostram infirmitatem armis fortissimis munierunt. Hi fuerunt suis temporibus vulpium 15 venatores cautissimi, qui iam nobis sua retia re- liquerunt, ut parvulas caperemus vulpeculas, quae non cessant florentes vineas demoliri. Vere, patres egregii, benedictione perpetua recolendi, felices 10 neque ^ il 16 veneratores 3 Ja. Gold. Schm. Coch. || virgultorum plantatio] Cp. Alcuin in the lines Admusaewn: *' Fodere quam vites melius est scribere libros :" Migne, ci. 745- subcinericeos] From Ezech. iv. 1 2 : " Et quasi subcmericmm hordeaceum comedes illud ;" cp. Judges, vii. 13. venatores] Coch. leaves "veneratores" in the text, and though he remarks " il faut certainement venatores,''^ he has not observed that it is found not only in a// his MSS., but in the ed. princeps, which he professes to follow. vulpeculas] From Cant. ii. 15 : *' capite nobis vulpes par- vulas quae demoliuntur vineas." 42 PHILOBIBLON merito fuissetis, si vobis similem sobolem genuisse, si prolem non degenerem nee aequivocam reliquisse ad sequentis temporis subsidium licuisset. 78 Sed, quod dolentes referimus, iam Thersites igna- vus arma contrectat Achillis et dextrariorum pha- 5 lerae praeelectae pigritantibus asinis substernuntur, aquilarum nidis caecutientes noctuae dominantur et in accipitris pertica residet vecors miluus. Liber Bacchus respicitur et in ventrem traicitur nocte dieque ; Liber codex despicitur et a manu reicitur 10 79 longelateque. Tanquam si cuiusdam aequivocationis multiplicitate fallatur simplex monachica plebs moderna, dum Liber pater praeponitur libro patrum, calicibus epotandis non codicibus emendandis in- 2 non om. edd. || 7 dominantur . . . nocfe om. B D \\ 12 pies D proles Ja. || 13 Liber potacionum D || dextrariorum] Dextrarius, Fr. destrier, was a warhorse ; palafridus, a riding-horse, runcinus, a packhorse : v. Du- cange. Liber Bacchus respicitur] This appears to be the first verse of a piece of rhyming doggerel. The repetition of the verbal play in " Liber pater — Liber patrum" might suggest that the lines were scribbled in the margin by a copyist or reader and then found their way into the text. The middle ages were very fond of these word-plays : cp. post, s. 123 ; and the complaint of Giraldus Cambrensis, of his too philoprogenitive clergy : " Non libris intendunt sed liberis, non foliis sed filiis, non librorum lectioni sed liberorum dilectioni ; " ed. Brewer, ii. 329. monachica plebs] So Bacon, Op. Maj., p. 114, speaks of j ** plebs studentium." CAPITULUM V. 43 dulget hodie studium monachorum ; quibus lasci- viam musicam Timothei pudicis moribus aemulam non verentur adiungere, sicque cantus ludentis non planctus lugentis officium efficitur monachale. So Greges et vellera, fruges et horrea, porri et olera 5 potus et patera, lectiones sunt hodie et studia monachorum, exceptis quibusdam paucis electis, in quibus patrum praecedentium non imago sed vestigium remanet aHquale. Rursus nulla nobis materia ministratur omnino, qua de nostro cultu 10 vel studio commendentur hodie canonici regu- lares, qui licet a geminata regula nomen portent eximium, Augustini tamen regulae notabilem neg- lexere versiculum, quo sub his verbis suis clericis commendamur: Codices certa hora singulis diebus 15 81 petantur; extra horam qui petierit, non accipiat. I lascivam E edd. || 3 cansaius E || lasciviam] The form lascivins was probably that used by the writer ; it is found several times in Holkot, Super Sap., e.g. ff. 93c, 151b. The reference to the voluptuous music of Timotheus may be taken, as Coch. suggests, from Boetius, De Musica, lib. i. c. 10. planctus lugentis] Cp. S. Jerome, contra Vigilantium, 15 : '* Monachus non doctoris %Qd plangentis habet officium." canonici regulares] Opposed to canonici saeculares. The former observed not only the 'canones' or rules imposed upon all the clergy, but also the 'regulae' of St. Augustine (' geminata regula') : see Ducange in v. codices] See S. Augustine's 109th letter, to his sister : " Codices certa hora singulis diebus petantur ; extra horam quae petiverint, non accipiant." 44 PHILOBIBLON Hunc devotum studii canonem vix observat ali- quis post ecclesiastica cantica repetita, sed sapere quae sunt saeculi et relictum aratrum intueri summa pmdentia reputatur. Tollunt pharetram et arcum, apprehendunt arma et scutum, eleemo- 5 synarum tributum canibus tribuunt non egenis, inserviunt aleis et taxillis et his quae nos saecu- laribus inhibere solemus, ut non miremur, si nos non dignentur respicere, quos sic suis cernerent moribus contraire. 10 82 Patres igitur reverendi, patrum vestrorum digne- mini reminisci et librorum propensius indulgete studio, sine quibus quaelibet vacillabit religio, sine quibus ut testa virtus devotionis arescet, sine qui- bus nullum lumen poteritis mundo praebere. 15 I canonem . . . post om. ^^ 1| 9 cermint A sec. manu suis om. A B \^ 13 sine . . . religio om. A vacillat B || sapere quae sunt saeculi] Cp. Phil. iii. 19 ; Gratian, De- cret. i. 88 : " Episcopus aut sacerdos aut diaconus nequa- quam saeculi curas assumat." relictum aratrum] Inglis refers to Eccli. xxxviii. 25: "Qua sapientia replebitur, qui tenet aratrum," etc., but it is perhaps better to take aratrtmi as typical of the secular pursuits, which have been abandoned, but not forgotten. aleis et taxillis] Cp. ch. xviii. s. 235, and John of Salisbury, Policrat. i, 5. The clergy were forbidden these games at the Council of Worcester in 1240: " Ne ludant ad aleas vel taxillos ;" Wilkins, Concilia, i. 673. vacillabit] Cp. Job, iv. 4 ; Is. xxix. 9. ut testa] Inglis tr. "as a watering-pot," but the reference is clearly to Ps. xxi. 16 : " aruit tanquam testa virtus mea," lumen . . praebere] Cp. Wisdom, xvii. 5. ^ CAPITULUM VI. 45 Capltulum 6. Querlmonia librorum contra rellgiosos mendicantes. S3 Pauperes spiritu sed in fide ditissimi,mundi perip- sema et sal terrae, saeculi contemptores et hominum piscatores, quam beati estis, si penuriam patieiites pro Christo animas vestras scitis in patientia possi- dere. Non enim vos ultrix iniquitatis inopia, nee 5 parentum ad versa fortuna, nee uUa violenta neces- sitas sic oppressit inedia, sed devota voluntas et electio Christiformis, qua vitam illam optimam aesti- mastis, quam Deus omnipotens factus homo tam 84 verbo quam exemplo optimam praedicavit. Sane 10 vos estis semper parientis ecclesiae novus fetus, pro patribus et prophetis noviter substituti divinitus, ut 2 sol E '\6 ncc ulla violenta nee parent lun adiursa fortuna nee ulla vwlenta necessitas D ulla ova. B || 7 voluptas B \\ 8 aestimastis . . . optimam om. D I \\ semper post parentes turoi foetus edd. !| Pauperes spiritu] From Matt. v. 3 : " pauperes spiritu ;'" and James, ii. 5 : " divites in fide." mundi peripsema] From I Cor. iv. 13. sal terrae] Cp. Matt. v. 13. hominum piscatores] From Matt. iv. 19. patientia] Luke, xxi. 19 : "in patientia vestra possidebitis animas vestras." 46 PHILOBIBLON in omnem terram exeat sonus vester, et nostris instituti salutaribus doctrinis coram gentibus et regibus promulgetis inexpugnabilem fidem Christi. S5 Porro fidem patrum potissime libris esse inclusam secundum capitulum supra satis asseruit, quo con- 5 Stat luce clarius quod librorum deberetis esse zelotypi prae caeteris Christianis. Seminare iube- mini super omnes aquas, quoniam non est per- sonarum acceptor Altissimus nee vult mortem pec- catorum Piissimus, qui occidi voluit pro eisdem, 10 sed contritos corde mederi desiderat atque lapsos 86 erigi et perversos corrigi spiritu lenitatis. Ad quem effectum saluberrimum alma mater Ecclesia vos plantavit gratuito, plantatosque rigavit favori- bus, et rigatos privilegiis suffulcivit, ut cum pasto- 15 ribus et curatis coadiutores essetis ad procuran- dum salutem fidelium animarum. Unde et Praedicatorum ordinem propter sacrae scripturae 6dcbetis]^. edd. || \'}^ gratuite B grattiitos edd. || id procu- randam edd, || i^j fidelnun om. Ja. || exeat sonus] Cp. Ps. xviii. 5; Rom. x. 18. zelotypi] The word occurs Eccli. xxvi. 9. omnes aquas] From Is. xxxii. 20 : " Beati qui seminatis super omnes aquas." personarum acceptor] Cp. Acts, x. 34. nee vult] Cp. Ezech. xxxiii. 11 : "Nolo mortem impii." spiritu lenitatis] From Gal. vi. I. gratuito] Cp. Dan. xi. 39 ; Mai. i, 10. plantatosque rigavit] Cp. I Cor. iii 6. salutem animarum] Cp. I. Pet. i. 9. Praedicatorum] The order of Fratres Praedicantes was CAPITULUM VI. 47 studium et proximorum salutem principaliter insti- tutum constitutiones pronunciant eorundem, ut non solum ex regula reverend! praesulis Augustini, quae codices singulis diebus iubet esse petendos, verum mox cum earundem constitutionum pro- 5 logum legerint ex ipsius libri capite ad amorem librorum se noverint obligatos. Sed proh dolor ! tarn hos quam alios istorum sectantes effigiem a paterna cultura librorum et studio subtrahit triplex cura superflua, ventris vide- 10 licet, vestium et domorum. Sunt enim, neglecta Salvatoris prondentia, quern psalmista circa pau- perem et mendicum promittit esse sollicitum, circa labentis corporis indigentias occupati, ut sint epulae 3 regula presulis heat is si mi Augustini B 1| founded by S. Dominic, who obtained the Papal sanction from Honorius III. in 1216, on condition of adopting the Rule of S. Augustine. He prescribed other ordinances in his Con- stitutiones, where in the Prologue, c. 5, we find the words here reff rred to : " Ordo noster specialiter ob praedicationem et ani- marum salutem ab initio noscitur institutus fuisse, et studium nostrum ad hoc debet principaliter intendere ut proximorum animabus possimus utiles esse." Holstenius, Codex Regu- lamm, iv. 10. codices] Cp. s. 80, note. cura superflua] Cp. Eccli. ii. 26. '* Divers Acts of Parlia- ment have been made against the excess of Apparell in the reign of E. 3," says Lord Coke : and he goes on, " Three costly things there are that do much impoverish the subjects of England, viz. Costly apparell, costly diet, and costly building :" 3 Inst. 199. paupercm et mendicum] From Ps. xxxix. iS. 48 PHILOBIBLON splendidae, vestesque contra regulam delicatae, nec- non aedificiorum fabricae et castrorum propugna- cula tali proceritatCj quae paupertati non convenit, 88 exaltatae. Propter haec tria nos libri, qui semper eos proveximus ad profectum, et inter potentes et 5 nobiles sedes honoris concessimus, elongati a cordis affectibus quasi inter supervacanea reputamur, ex- cepto quod quibusdam quaternis parvi valoris insis- tunt, de quibus Hiberas naenias et apocrypha delira- menta producunt, non ad refocillativum animarum 10 eduHum, sed ad pruritum potius aurium auditorum. 89 Sacra scriptura non exponitur, sed omnino seponi- tur; quasi trita per vicos et omnibus divulgata supponitur, cuius tamen fimbrias vix paucissimi tetigerunt ; cuius etiam tanta est litterarum pro- 15 funditas, ut ab humano intellectu, quantumcunque invigilet, summo otio et maximo studio nequeat I necnon et E Ja. || 2 ?// -^ ^ Ja. || 7 siipo'na creanea A stiperna catiea B stipemacanes D siipervaaia Ja. || 9 Hiberas om. edd. venias D Ja. || 10 refocillationein Ja. || 12 deponitm' D Ja. II 16 Jutmano intellectu om. A ^ i*] invigilet om. D vigilet B II Hiberas naenias] The phrase, which has puzzled the editors, comes from S. Jerome's preface to the Pentateuch : " Quod multi ignorantes, apocryphoinim deliramenta sectantur et Hiberas naenias libris authenticis praeferunt ?" It isafavourite phrase with Jerome, and is usually explained to refer to the errors of certain heretics in Spain. refocillativum] Cp. Judith, vii. 7: "ad refocil'andum potius quam ad potandum," and Jer. i. il : "ad refocil- landam animam." fimbrias] Cp. Matt. xiv. 36. CAPITULUM VI. 49 comprehendi, sicut sanctus asserit Augustinus. De hac mille moralis disciplinae sententias enucleare poterit qui indulget assidue, si tamen ostium aperire dignetur Illc, (jui condidit spiritum pietatis, quae et recentissima novitate poUebunt et sapidis- 5 sima suavitate auditorum intelligentias refovcbunt. 90 Quamobrem paupertatis evangelicae professores primarii, post utcunque salutatas scicntias saecu- lares, toto mentis iugenio recollecto, huius se scripturae laboribus devoverunt, nocte dieque in 10 lege Domini meditantcs. Quicquid vero poterant a famescente ventre furari, vel corpori semitecto surripere, illud lucrum praecipuum arbitrantes, vel ^au- 2 inortalis E H 3 turn Ja. || 5 sapientissima Coch. || ^ p, pertatis om. E \\ 8 utrumqtic edd. || 10 devcnerwit edd. || asserit Augustinus] The reference is not, as Coch. says, to the Conf. xii. 14, but rather to Epp. cxxxvii. i, 3 : "Tania est enim Christianarum profunditas litterarum, ut in eis quotidie proficerem, si eas solas ab ineunte pueritia usque ad dccrepitam senectutem maximo otio, summo studio, meliore ingenio conarer addiscere. " salutatas scientias] Cp. the Constitution of the Praedica- tores, ii. 14 : " In libris gentilium philosophorum non studeat, et si ad horam suscipiat saeculares scientias, non addiscat, nee artes quas liberales vocant . . . sed tantum libros theologicos tarn iuvenes quam alii legant. Ipsi vero in studio taliter sint intenti, ut de die, de nocte, in domo, in itinere legant aliquid vel aliquid meditentur." So Abelard declared of secular learning : " non debemus in eis consenes- cere sed potius a liminibus salutare :'' cited in Denifle, Univ. des Mittelalters, p. 99. nocte dieque] Cp. Ps. i. 2 : and previous note. £ 50 PHILOBIBLON emendis vel edendis codicibus adscripserunt. Quo- rum contemporanei saeculares, tarn officium intu- entes quam studium, libros eis, quos in diversis mundi partibus sumptuose collegerant, ad totius aedificationem ecclesiae contulerunt. 5 91 Sane diebus istis, cum sitis tota diligentia circa quaestus intenti, praesumptione probabili credi potest, si per anthropospatos sermo fiat, Deum circa vos minorem sollicitudinem gerere, quos de sua promissione perpendit diffidere, in humanis 10 providentiis spem habentes. Corvum non conside- ratis nee lilia, quos pascit et vestit Altissimus ; Danielem et Habacuc cocti pulmenti discophorum non pensatis, nee Eliam recolitis nunc in torrente per corvos, nunc in deserto per angelum, nunc in 15 Sarepta per viduam, largitate divina, quae dat escam omni carni tempore opportuno, a famis 92 inedia liberatum. Climate miserabili, ut timetur, descenditis, dum divinae pietatis diffidentia pru- 8 antropospatos codii\. cb'^pwrroTra^etav Ja. Dezja.. || 15 an^'e- htm in ^ 11 19 cum edd. 1| anthropospatos] The word occurs in this form in Petrus Gomestor, Hist. Schol., in Gen. c. xxxi., who explains it : "scilicet humana propassio, quando attribuitur Deo quod hominis est." spem habentes] Gp. 2 Gor. iii. 12 ; x. 15. corvum] Gp. Luke, xii. 24, 27. cocti pulmenti] Gp. Dan. xiv. 32. The word discophorus comes from S. Jerome's preface to Daniel. Eliam] I Kings, xvii. 4, 9. dat escam] From Ps. cxxxv. 25 and cxlv. 15. CAPITULUM VI. 51 dentiae propriae producit innisum, innisus veio prudentiae propriae sollicitudinem generat terreno- rum, nimiaque terrenorum sollicitudo librorum adimit tarn amorem quam studium, et sic cedit paupertas hodie per abusum in verbi Dei dispen- 5 dium, quam propter ipsius solum adminiculum elegistis. 93 Vncinis pomorum, ut populus fabulatur, puerulos ad religionem attrahitis, quos professos doctrinis non instruitis vi et metu, sicut exigit aetas ilia, sed 10 mendicativis discursibus sustinetis intendere atque tempus quo possent addiscere, in captandis favori- bus amicorum consumere sinitis, in offensam paren- tum, puerorum periculum et ordinis detrimentum. 94 Sicque nimirum contingit quod qui parvuli discere 15 minime cogebantur inviti, grandiores efFecti docere I innisum innisus A E in visum inuisus B in visum In- nisus D invistif?i invisus Ja. propriae .... propriae om. edd. II 4 studiorum edd. || 5 usum A \\ 6 ipsius om. D II viedicativis A D mendicaturis ^z.. |1 12 in ^uo Ja.. \\ innisum] This word seems not to occur elsewhere, and the editors have left the passage in great confusion : even James, though he observes in the margin " legendum arbitror innisum," leaves the text unaltered, which he would hardly have done, if he had seen that the reference is to Prov. iii. 5: " Habe fiduciam in Domino ex toto corde tuo et ne innitaris prudentiae tuae." For dij/ideniia cp. Ephes. ii. 2. uncinis pomorum] From Amos, viii. i. The phrase is translated in the A.V. "a basket of summer fruit," in the Douay V. "a hook to draw down fruit." sustinetis] Cp. 2 Cor. xi 20. 52 PHILOBIBLON praesumunt, indigni penitus et indocti, et parvus error in principio maximus fit in fine. Succrescit namque in grege vestro promiscuo laicorum qiiae- dam multitudo plurimum onerosa, qui tamen se ad praedicationis officium tanto improbius ingerunt, 5 quanto minus ea quae loquuntur intelligunt, in con- temptum sermonis divini et in perniciem animarum. 95 Sane contra legem in bove aratis et asino, cum indoctis et doctis culturam agri dominici com- mittitis pari passu. Scriptum est : Boves arabant et lo asinae pascebantur iuxta eos ; quoniam discretorum interest praedicare, simplicium vero per auditum sacri eloquii sub silentio se cibare. Quot lapides mittitis in acervum Mercurii his diebus ! quot 2 Est sic namque edd. H 4 plurimis edd. i| praesumunt] Cp. Jerome's letter to Paulinus, Epp, 50. parvus error] From Aristot. , De Caelo, i. 5 : to i.vap\ij [xiKpbv kv ry TeXevry yivETanrafxixfyeOeg. Cp. Bacon, Op. M., p. 40. in bove] Cp. Deut. xxii. 10 : " Non arabis in bove simul et asino." Boves arabant] From Job, i. 14. acervum Mercurii] From Prov. xxii. 8. The meaning of this phrase is very uncertain, but we may perhaps assume that De Bury had in his mind the explanation which we firKi in Holkot, Super Sap., f. 133 b: " Mercurius est deus mercatorum. Acervus computi vel ratiocinii vocatur acervus Mercurii. Computatur autem quandoque cum lapidibus. Sicut igitur ibi ponitur unus lapilkis pro decem libris, ita ponitur in ecclesia quandoque unus idiota vel insipiens loco praelati et loco Dei." It would mean, therefore, that they are merely worthless counters. CAPITULUM VI. 53 euniichis Svipientiae nuptias procuratis ! quot caecos speculatores super Ecclesiae muros circumire prae- cipitis ! 96 O piscatorcs incites ! solis retibus alienis utentes, qui rupta vix imperite reficitis, nova vero nulla- 5 tenus connodatis, aliorum labores intratis, alioruni studia recitatis, aliorum sapientiam superficialiter repetitam theatrali strepitu labiatis. Quemadmo- duni psittacus idiota auditas voces effigiat, sic tales recitatores fiunt omnium sed nullius auctores, asinam 10 Balaam imitantes, quae licet esset intrinsecus insen- sata, lingua taraen diserta facta est, tam domini 97 quam prophetae magistra. Resipiscite pauperes Christi et nos libros inspicite studiose, sine quibus in praeparatione evangelii pacis nunquam poteritis 15 debite calceari. Paulus apostolus, praedicator veri- tatis et doctor eximius gentium, ista sibi per Timotheum pro omni supellectile tria iussit afferri, paenulam, libros et membranas, 2^ ad Tim. ul°., viris evangelicis formam praebens, ut habitum deferant 20 5 quae 2 resuitis A Ja. !| 6 connoditatis B commodatis edd. ;i 13 respicite A B D ]a. pauperes , . . inspicite om. B || 15 praeparationem A B £ ]a.. \\ 20 ecclesiasticis D Ja. et B || caecos speculatores] Cp. Is. Ivi. 10, aliorum studia] Cp. Holkot in Sap., f. 328 b. tam domini] The meaning seems plain enough ; yet Coch. prints ' Dumini. ' resipiscite] Cp. 2 Tim. ii. 26 : * * resipiscant a diaboli laqueis. " in praeparatione] Cp. Eph. vi. 15: " calceati pedes in praeparatione evangelii pacis." 54 PHILOBIBLON ordinatiim, libros habeant ad studendi subsidium et membranas, quas apostolus maxime ponderat, ad 98 scribendum : maxime, inquit, membranas. Revera mancus est clericus et ad multorum iacturam turpiter mutilatus, qui artis scribendi totaliter est 5 ignarus. Aerem vocibus verberat et praesentes tantum aedificat, absentibus et posteris nihil parat. Atramentarium scriptoris gestabat in renibus vir qui frontes gementium Tau signabat, Ezechiel. 9°; in- sinuans figurate quod, siquis scribendi peritiacareat, 10 praedicandi paenitentiam officium non praesumat. 99 Tandem in praesentis calce capituli supplicant vobis libri : luvenes vestros aptos ingenio studiis applicate, necessaria ministrantes, quos non solum - modo bonitatem verum etiam disciplinam et scien- 15 tiam doceatis, verberibus terreatis, attrahatis blan- ditiis, molliatis munusculis et poenosis rigoribus urgeatis, ut et Socratici moribus et doctrinis Peri- 100 patetici simul fiant. Heri quasi hora xi* vos dis- cretus paterfamilias introduxit in vineam ; ante sero so penitus pigeat otiari. Utinam cum prudenti villico mendicandi tam improbe verecundiam haberetis ! Tunc enim proculdubio libris et studio propensius vacaretis. 4 ille clericus D^2l. || 13 apto Z^ || 15 veritatem edd. || 22 m- probo D II 23 enim om. D nobis libris E edd. || aerem vocibus verberat] From I Cor. ix. 26. paterfamilias] Cp. Matt. xx. I, 6. prudenti villico] Cp. Luke, xvi. 3, 8. CAPITULUM VI T. 55 Capltulum 7. Querimonia librorum contra bella. loi Pacis auctor ct amator Altissime ! dissipa gentes bella volentes, quae super omnes pestilentias libris nocent. Bella namque carentia rationis iudicio furiosos efficiunt impetus in adversa et dum rationis moderamine non utuntur, sine differentia discreti- 5 1 02 onis progressa, vasa destruunt rationis. Tunc pru- dens Apollo Pythoni subicitur et tunc Phronesis pia mater in phrenesis redigitur potestatem. Tunc pennatus Pegasus stabulo Cor}'donis includitur et facundus Mercurius suffocatur. Tunc Pallas pru- ^0 dens erroris mucrone conciditur et iocundae Pierides truculenta furoris tyrannide supprimuntur. 2 quia Ja. \\ 7 Phiioni edd. || 9 pennatus om. A stacublo coiTidcns ^ II 1 1 tunditur edd. || dissipa gentes] Ps. Ixvii. 31 : "Dissipa gentes quae bella volunt." Pythoni] In reference to the classical myth of Apollo and the Python: we may note also the use of Python in tht Vulgate ; thus the witch of Endor is described as "mulier pythonem habens," i Sam. xxviii. 7 ; cp. Lev. xx. 27, Deut. xviii. II, Acts, xvi. 16. Phronesis] Phronesis is personified in Martianus Capella, De Nuptiis Philoiogiae et Mercurii (ii. 27), which was a familiar book of instruction in the middle ages, as the mother of Philology. 56 PHILOBIBLON 103 O crudele spectaculum ! ubi Phoebum philoso- phorum, archisophum Aristotelem, cui in orbis dominum Deus ipse commisit dominium, scelerosis manibus vinculatum, ferramentis infamibus com- peditum lanistarum humeris a sacratis aedibus 5 asportari, et qui in mundi magistratum magis- terium atque super imperatorem imperium meruit obtinere, iniustissimo belli iure videres subici vili 104 scuiTae. O potestas iniquissima tenebrarum ! quae Platonis non vereturpessumdare deitatem probatam, 10 qui solus conspectui Creatoris prius quam bellantis chaos placaret litigium, et ante quam hylen ente- 2 archisophum E om. edd. cid in omnibus edd. cui omni dominii Schm. Coch. || 5 Socratis D E edd. || 6 cerniiur aspoi'tari edd. viagistratu edd. || 8 initistissime B || lO divini- tatcm edd. app7'obata77i Z> || ii aspectui edd. || 12 endelechia codd. hylcn entelechiam Coch. || orbis dominum] Alexander, whose tutor and adviser he was. Roger Bacon professes to show, " quomodo per vias sapientiae potuit Aristoteles mundum tradere Alexandro : " Op. Maj., p. 361. sacratis] Coch. prints Socratis and reports this to be the reading of the Paris MSS. and of James : but they all have sacratis. There seems to be a reference to some legendaiy story, which I have not been able to find ; and Socratis may be right. But it is perhaps safer to assume that De Bury was thinking of the phrase sacratis aedibus in 2 Mace. vi. 4. potestas tenebrarum] Cp. Luke, xxii. 53 ; Coloss. i. 13. deitatem probatam] Cp. the De disciplina Scholarium^ c. iv : "Platonis probata divinitas." hylen entelechia] Cp. Arist. Met. xi. 8, 13: to t'i1\v iivai oi'K ex^i vXrjv to irpSjTOV ' tvriXfx^'" 7"P- This is the famous word which so puzzled Hermolaus Barbarus that he is said to CAPITULUM VII. 57 lechia induisset, species ideales obicere digniis fuit, ut mundum archetypum demonstraret auctori, quo de superno exemplo mundus sensibilis duceretur. O lacrimosus intuitus I quo moralis Socrates, cuius actus virtus et sermo doctrina, cfui dc naturae 5 principiis politiae produxit iustitiam, vitiosi vispi- 105 lionis addictus cernitur servituti. P3'thagoram planginius, harmoniae parentem, bellorum incentri- cibus furiis Hagellatum atrociter vice cantus gemitus edere columbinos. Miseremur Zenonis, principis 10 Stoicorum, qui ne consilium proderet linguam 5 sermo est doctrina E \\ 7 vidctur edd. Ii 8 bclloriim om. edd. libcUomm B cum cantricilnts furiis edd. || 1 1 perdcret Ja. || have summoned the devil to his assistance, who thereupon " voce praetenui et paene subsibilante . . . responsilavit." vispilionis] The account of this word in Ducange is not very satisfactory. It occurs in the forms vespilio, vispilio, vispilhis and vispiliator {inspiliatory which Ducange also gives, is doubtless a mis-reading). It is no doubt connected with the classical vespilio, a pauper's undertaker. The word is common in Matthew Paris, and appears to have passed from the sense of "fossarius mortuos sepeliens," as it is glossed in L, into that of a robber. incentricibus furiis] Cocheris and Inglis translate "flagelle par les furies irritees," *' scourged by furious female singers," as though Pythagoras had shared the fate of Orpheus. The mistake is due to the corruption of the text ; the reference is to the death of Pythagoras in consequence of political distur- bances at Crotona. gemitus columbinos] Cp. Is. Ix. S ; Nahum ii. 7. Zenonis] De Bury has confounded Zeno the Stoic, who died of old age, with Zeno of Elea, of whom the story mentioned 58 PHILOBIBLON morsu secuit et exspuit in tyrannum intrepide, Heu, iam rursus a Diomedonte tritus in mortario pistillatur ! 1 06 Certe non sufficimus singulos libros luctu lamen- tari condigno, qui in diversis mundi partibus bel- 5 lorum discrimine perierunt. Horribilem tamen stragem, quae per auxiliares milites secundo bello Alexandrino contigit in Aegypto, stilo flebili memoramus, ubi septinginta millia voluminum ignibus conflagrarunt, quae sub regibus Ptolemaeis 10 per multa curricula temporum sunt collecta, sicut recitat Aulus Gellius, Noctium Atticarum lib. 6"*, 107 cap. 16°. Quanta proles Atlantica tunc occubuisse 2 nam D || adiomedonta A 2 a diomedonta B E a dyometita L Adiomerita edd. Adiomeritatritus Schm. Anaxarchus Ja. || tortario A || 8 Aegypto om. A || 9 decern millia edd. septuaginta codd. mil. il 12 retract at A £ \\ in the text is told. But the confusion is not peculiar to De Bury: cp. Haureau, Philosophic Scol., ii. 56. a Diomedonte] The reading Adionierita has caused the editors much trouble, and James boldly changes it to Anaxar- chus, of whom a similar story is told {e.g. Cic. Tusc. ii. 22). De Bury, however, is clearly referring to the story of Zeno's death told by Hermippus (quoted in Diog. L. ix. 27), who says that he was brayed in a mortar by the tyrant Diomedon, of whom no mention is found elsewhere. The MSS. point plainly enough to the true reading, which I have restored. secundo bello] Aulus Gellius (vi. 17) says "bello priore Alexandrino," and speaks of the number of volumes as ** millia ferme septinginta," and I have corrected it. proles Atlantica] Cp. S. August., De Civ. Dei, xviii. 8 : **Atlans magnus fuisse astrologus dicitur, unde occasionem CAPITULUM VII. 59 putabitur, orbium motus omnes, coniunctiones pla- netarum, galaxiae naturam et generationes pro- gnosticas cometarum ac quaecunque in caelo fiunt vel aethere, comprehendens ! Quis tarn infaustum holocaustum, ubi loco criioris incaiistum offertur, 5 non exhorreat ? ubi prunae candentes pergameni crepitantis sanguine vernabantur, ubi tot innocen- tium millia, in ciuorum ore non est inventum men- dacium, flamma vorax consumpsit, ubi tot scrinia veritatis aeternae ignis parcere nesciens in faetentem 10 loS cinerem commutavit. Minoris facinoris aestimatur tarn Jeptae quam Agamemnonis victima, ubi pia filia virgo patris gladio iugulatur. Quot labores Celebris Herculis tunc periisse putabimus, qui ob astronomiae peritiam collo irreflexo caelum descri- 15 bitur sustulisse, cum iam secundo flammis Her- cules sit iniectus. I ptitahatiir Ja. '! 2 iiahira Ja. prognosticae Ja. || 4 compre- hcndimtur Ja. comprehtudmtes edd. || 6 primiim 2 prime 3 pruin |1 15 encenioruin B exennio- rum D exeniorum A exhtiioi-iim E\},\6 temulenti]zi.\\ 11 nostris tamen tatfi £ \\ i<) referebantur Coch. || tam maioribus] Cp. Ps. cxiii. 13: "pusillis cum majori- bus." xeniorum] The Greek ^evia: cp. Eccli. xx. 31 ; "Sceniaet dona." The word is exceedingly common in medieval Lalin and is written in various forms. armaria] Armarium was a monastic term for a library, and the librari.in was called armarijis. Cp. the well-known CAPITULUM VI I r. 67 tur, et per longa saecula in scpulcris soporata volumina expergiscunt attonita, cjuaeque in locis tenebrosis latuerant novae liicis radiis pcrfunduntur. Delicatissimi quondam libri, corrupti et abomina- biles iam effecti, murium (juidem foctibus cooperti et 5 vermium morsibus terebrati, iacebant exanimes ; et quiolim purpura vestiebanturet bysso, nunc in cinere et cilicio recubantes oblivioni traditi videbantur do- 121 micilia tinearum. Inter haec nihilominus, captatis temporibus, magis volui)tuose consedimus cjuam fe- 10 cisset medicus delicatus inter aromatum apothecas, ubi amoris nostri obiectum reperimus et fomcntum. Sic sacra vasa scientiae ad nostrae dispensationis pro- venerunt arbitrium, quaedam data, quaedam vendita I 2 2 ac nonnulla pro tempore commodata. Nimirum cum 1 5 nos plerique de huiusmodi donariis cernerent con- 2 expergiscunt ur A Ja. Coch. attouuita edd. lucis ^ || 3 siatueraut -^ || 5 qiiidevi om. E || lO concedimtis E edd. i| 13 peti'c'ticntnt BE edd. !! 15 accomodata edd. |i saying of Geoffrey, the Sub-prior of St. Barbara in Normandy in the I2lh century: "Claustrum sine armario, castrum sine armamentario. " corrupti et aboniinabiles] From Ps. xiii. I (cp. lii. 2). murium quidem foetibus] Coch. translates this '* couverts de la liente des souris " and Inglis agrees with him ! Walten- bach suggests quidam or qttippc^ instead of quidem^ but no change seems to be required : Schriftwesen im Mittelalter, 329. purpura et bysso] Cp. Ex, xxxv. 6 ; Luke, xvi. 20. cinere et ciHcio] Cp. Matt. xi. 21. obUvioni traditi] Cp. Ps. xxx. 13. aromatum apothec.xi;] Cp. Is. xxxix. 2. 68 PHILOBIBLON tentatos, ea sponte nostris usibus studuemnt tribuere, quibiis ipsi libentius caruerunt, quam ea quae nos- tris assistentes servitiis abstulerunt. Quorum tamen negotia sic expedire curavimus gratiose, ut et eisdem emolumentum accresceret, nullum tamen detrimen- 5 123 tum iustitia sentiret. Porro, si scyphos aureos et argenteos, si equos egregios, si nummorum summas non modicas amassemus, tunc temporis dives nobis aerarium instaurasse possemus. Sed revera libros non libras maluimus, codicesque plus dileximus 10 quam florenos, ac panfietos exiguos incrassatis I contentos E [] 2 quae om. A B D E quam . . . abstulerunt om. Ja. II 4 et om. B edd. || ii panjlettos D phaleratis edd. || amassemus] Inglis translates, "if we would have amassed ; " but the word is from amare, not amassarc. libros non libras] Cp. Alanus, De Arte praedicatoria, c. 36 : *' Potius dediti gulae quam glossae, potius colligunt libras quam legunt libros, libentius intuentur Martham quam Mar- cum, malunt legere in salmone quam in Salomone. " florenos] The first gold florins were issued at Florence in 1252. In 1343, Edward III. issued a gold florin to be cur- rent at bs. It is an extremely scarce coin, only two speci- mens being known, which were found together in the Tyne ; it was replaced by a noble of the value of 6s. Sd. in 1344: see Kenyon, Gold Coins of England, pp. 14, 15. The Continental florins were extensively used in international intercourse. panfletos] This appears to be the earliest instance yet noticed of this word, which is apparently the origin of our 'pamphlet.' It is not in Ducange : but see Mr. Skeat's account of the word in his Dictionary. incrassatis] Cp. Deut. xxxii. 15. CAPITULUM VI IT. 69 124 praetulimus palefridis. Ad haec eiusdem i)rincipis illustrissimi sempiternae memoriae legationibus cre- bris functi, et ob multiplicia regni negotia nunc ad sedem Romanam, nunc ad curiam P>anciae, nunc ad mundi diversa dominia, taediosis ambassiatibus 5 ac periculosis temporibus mittebamur, circumferentes tamen ubique illam, quam aquae plurimae nequi- 125 verunt exstinguere, caritatem librorum. Haec omnium peregrinationum absinthia quasi quaedam pigmentaria potio dulcoravit. Haec post peri)lexas 10 intricationes et scrupulosos causarum anfractus ac vix egressibiles rei publicae labyrinthos ad respi- randum parumper temperiem aurae lenis aperuit. 126 O beate Deus Deorum in Sion, quantus fluminis impetus voluptatis laetificavit cor nostrum, quotiens 15 paradisum mundi Parisius visitare vacavimus mora- turi, ubi nobis semper dies pauci prae amoris mag- 5 sediciosis E i, 7 turn uhique Ja. !| 9 ovinia peregr'niarum iiatiomim Ja, || 13 levis ]si. |i 16 ilfi moraturi ]di. [\ circumferentes] Cp. 2 Cor. iv. 10. exstinguere caritatem] Cp. Cant. viii. 7. pigmentaria potio] Pignientiim or piment was a mixture of wine, honey, and spices, much affected in medieval times : see Ducange. The word dulcoravit is said to be peculiar to S. Jerome : cp. Prov. xxvii. 9. aurae lenis] John of Salisbury says in one of his letters on returning to France : "Ex quo partes attigi cismarinas, visus sum mihi sensisse lenioris aurae temperiem :" Ep. 134. Deus Deorum in Sion] This phrase occurs twice in Petrarch, De Otio Religios., sig. c. iii., verso. fluminis impetus] From Ps. xlv. 5. 70 FHILOBIBLON nitudine videbantur ! Ibi bibliothecae iocundae super cellas aromatum redolentes, ibi virens viri- darium universorum voluminum, ibi prata acade- mica terrae motu trementia, Athenarum diverticula, Peripateticorum itinera, Parnasi promontoria et 5 127 porticus Stoicorum. Ibi cernitur tarn artis quam scientiae mensurator Aristoteles, cuius est totum quod est optimum in doctrinis, in region e dum- taxat transmutabili sublunari ; ibi Ptolemaeus epi- cyclos et eccentricos auges atque geuzahar plane- '^^ tarum figuris et numeris emetitur ; ibi Paulus arcana 4 diver siciila A \\ g S2thli7nari A B i 2 \\ 10 aoges 3 Gold. Schni. Genzachar edd. Ja. || ii einitur emetatur D 1| cellas aromatum] From Is. xxxix. 2. diverticula] This word seems to be an attempt to render the Xf (T^at, of which we hear so much in Greek literature. sublunari] I have noticed this word, which has not yet found its way into Ducange, in Jo. Sarisb., Policrat. ii. 19 ; Gerv. Tilb., Otia Imp., i. i. Cp. Bacon, Op. M., p. 84: " Dicit enim Avicenna inix. Metaphysicae quod ea quae sunt sub circulo lunae sunt fere nihil in comparatione eorum, quae sunt supra." auges] Cp. Neckam, De N. R., p. 311 : " Non eris philo- sophiae laribus educatus nisi scias quid horoscopus, quid decanus, quid augis solis." Bacon, Op. M., p. 62, yxs>t% aux as the nominative; cp. pp. 89, 90, 109, 138, 144. The word was long used in English : see the new English Dictionary s, V. Auge. geuzahar] This word has been treated by the editors and translators as a proper name, though in that case the order of the words would be obviously wrong. It is a Perso-Arabic astronomical term meaning dragon, and refers to the re- CAPITULUM VIII. 71 revelat ; ibi Dionysius convicinus hierarchias coor- 128 dinat et distinguit ; ibi tiuiajuid Cadmus gram- mate recolligit Phoeniceo, totum virgo Carmenta charactere repracsentat Latino ; ibi revera, apertis thes:iuris et sacculorum corrigiis resolutis, pecuniam 5 laeto corde dispersimus, atque libros imi)rctiabiles 129 Into redemimus et arena. Nequaquam malum est, malum est, insonuit omnis emptor ; sed ecce (luam bonum et quam iocundum arma clericalis militiae I comituinns om. Coch. corinthios codd, dett. I| 2 gram- mate A E pr. manu gramniaticiis B grammatice Z? Ja. H 3 recollegit A Ja. grammaiice recoUegit et phcnices edd. U 6 libros om, Ja. i| 7 redimiviiis Ja. nequaquam ?nahf>u est edd. lation between the equator and tlie ecliptic, their points of intersection, or nodes, being respectively called the head and tail of the dragon. The word was written genzahar or geuzahar, with the common confusion of n and u in medieval MSS. See Dr. Moritz Steinschneider in the Zeitsch. d. d. morgenl. Ges., xviii. 195 ; xxv. 418. Dionysius] To Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts xvii. 34) were attributed a number of treatises, now believed to be the much later productions of some Christian Neo-Platonist, which had a high reputation in the middle ages. virgo Carmenta] Cadmus the Phoenician is supposed to have introduced the alphabet into Greece, whence it was carried into Italy by Evandcr, the Arcadian- His mother Carmenta accompanied him, and she is said to have turned the Greek into Roman characters. apertis thesauris] From Matt. ii. ii. malum est, malum est] From Prov. xx. 14. quam bonum] From Ps. cxxxi. I. arma clericalis militiae] See s. 29 nvte. The phrase is used of the books of the Greek fathers by the Dominican Hum- bert in 1274 : Mart and Durand, ^Vmpl. Coll. vii. 194. 72 PHILOBJBLON congregare in unum, ut suppetat nobis, unde 130 haereticorum bella conterere, si insurgant ! Amplius opportunitatem maximam nos captasse cognoscimus per hoc, quod ab aetate tenera magistrorum et scholarium ac diversarum artium professorum quos 5 ingenii perspicacitas ac doctrinae celebritas clariores effecerant, relegato quolibet partiali favore, exquisi- tissima sollicitudine nostrae semper coniunximus comitivae, quorum consolativis colloquiis confortati, nunc argumentorum ostensivis investigationibus, 10 nunc physicorum processuum ac catholicorum doc- torum tractatuum recitationibus, nunc moralitatum 5 professores A B D E Ja. |i 7 qtwinodolibet Ja. |i 8 nostra se»iper co7iuiiixi7nus commercia]^.. || w phtconmi codtd. philo- sophicoru7n Ja. || professorum] Coch. saw that this was required, and I have made the correction with several MSS. ostensivis] A word not recorded in the dictionaries. physicorum processuum] If we read philosophicorufn with James, the phrase would merely repeat " argumentorum in- vestigationibus ; " physicorum is probably right and refers to treatises on science. Roger Bacon, Op. Maj., p. 116, men- tions catholici doctores in a similar connexion : ' ' postquam in ecclesia fuit evacuata falsitas magicae mathematicae, venit in usum catholicorum doctorum consideratio mathematicae verae." By 77iathematica he means, of course, astronomy and astrology. moralitatum] This perhaps refers to the moralizations not merely of sacred and secular histories and naratives, but even of science and philosophical subjects, which were so common in medieval times ; see Hazlitt's Warton, i. 297, sqq. That a knowledge of these allegorical meanings was con- sidered necessary for theologians, we may gather from CAPiTULUM riir. 73 excitativis collationibus, velut alternatis et multipli- 131 catis ingenii ferculis, dulcius fovebamur. 'I'ales in nostro tirocinio commilitones elegimus, tales in tha- lamo collaterales habuimus, tales in itinera comites, tales in hospitio commensales, et tales penitus in 5 omni fortuna sodales. Verum quia nulla felicitas diu durare permittitur, privabamur nonnunquam luminum aliquorum ])raesentia corj)orali, cum eis- dem promotiones ecclesiasticae ac dignitates debi- tae, prospiciente de caelo iustitia, provenerunt. 10 Quo fiebat, ut incumbentes sicut oportuit curae propriae se a nostris cogerentur obsequiis absentare. 132 Rursus compendiosissimam semitam subiunge- mus, per quam ad manus nostras pervenit librorum tarn veterum quam novorum plurima multitude. Re- 1 5 ligiosonim siquidem mendicantium paupertatem sus- ceptam proChristonunquam indignanteshorruimus, verum ipsos ubiqueterrarum in nostrae compassionis ulnas admisimus mansuetas, affabilitate familiaris- sima in personae nostrae devotionem alleximus, 20 allectosque beneficiorum liberalitate munifica fovi- mus propter Deum ; quorum sic eramus omnium benefactores communes, ut nihilominus videremur 16 viendicantitim om. edd. || 21 alUctasqtie E \\ 23 bene- factor communis E || Bacon, Op. Maj., pp. 104, 112, where he says that they should know all about arithmetic and music : propter sensus mysticos infinites pr cuter lite rales. prospiciente de caelo] Cp. Ps. xiii. 2. 74 PHILOBIBLON quadam paternitatis proprietate singulos adoptasse. ^ZZ Istis in statu quolibet facti sumus refugium, istis nunquam clausimus gratiae nostrae sinum ; quam- obrem istos votorum nostrorum peculiarissimos zela- tores meruimus habere, et tarn opere quam opera 5 promotores. Qui circueuntes mare et aridam ac orbis ambitum perlustrantes, universitates quoque diversarumque provinciarum generalia studia per- scrutantes, nostris desideriis militare studebant cer- 134 tissima spe mercedis. Quis inter tot argutissimos 10 venatores lepusculus delitesceret ? Quis pisciculus istorum nunc hamos, nunc retia, nunc sagenas evaderet? A corpore sacrae legis divinae usque ad quaternum sophismatum hesternorum, nihil istos praeterire potuit scrutatores. Si in fonte fidei 15 Christianae, curia sacrosancta Romana, sermo de- votus insonuit, vel si pro novis causis quaestio ventilabatur extranea, si Parisiensis soliditas, quae 6 circuentes ^ 1|8 dhtersariim Z> || 1 1 deliteret -£" || 13 do?ninice D S. Legis Dominicae Ja. || 14 esternorian B externortim edd.|| facti sumus refugium] Cp. Ps. ix. 10. mare et aridam] Cp. Ps. Ixv. 6. generalia studia] Studitim generale was a medieval term for a University, and is said by Mr. Maxwell Lyte to be of English origin : Hist. Univ. Oxford, p. 5. But Denifle shows that it was first used of Vercelli ; Univ. des M. p. 2 if. nunc retia, nunc sagenas] Cp. Ezech. xii. 13. extranea] The word which originally meant, of course, outside or foreign, passed into the sense of strange or novel : see Ducange. Parisiensis soliditas] Cp. c. ix, s. 157. CAPITULUM Vni. 75 plus antiquitati discendae quam veritati subtilitcr producendae iam studet, si Anglicana pcrspicacitas, quae anticiuis perfusa luminaribus novos semper radios emitlit veritatis, (juicquam ad augmentuni scientiae vel declarationcm fidei proniulgabat, hoc 5 statim nostris recens infundebatur auditibus nullo denigratum seminiverbio nulloque nugace corrup- tum, sed de praelo purissimi torcularis in nostrae memoriae dolia defaecandum transibat. 135 Cum vero nos ad civitates et loca contingeret 10 declinare, ubi praefati pauperes conventus habe- bant, eorum armaria ac quaecunque librorum re- positoria visitare non piguit ; immo ibi in altissima I quam om. Z> li 4 qia'cquid^z.. Coch. 1, 6 aiinbus edd. |1 7 de virgiatum B dcuirginatiini E semiverbo edd. seniimvcrbo Ja. semiverbio Gold, seuii verbio Coch. nugacitate edd. || 9 doliion J a. dcfercndtim A defacandiim B 1| auditibus] Cp. Ps. 1. 10. seminiverbio] Even James appears not to have seen that this is simply the Vulgate rendering of (rntpfivXoyoi: in the Acts, xvii. 1 8. Coch. and Inglis make a great mess of the translation. eorum armaria] One of the chief complaints made against the mendicant orders by Abp. Fitzralph, at Avignon in 1357, was that they monopolized books : " omnes emuntur a Fratri- bus, ita ut in singulis conventibus sit una grandis ac nobilis libraria ; " see the Dt-fcnsoriiim Curatotnm, printed in Brown's Fasciculus, iii. 474. altissima paupertate] From 2 Cor. viii. 2. Cp. the Rule of S. Francis, c. 6: "Haec est ilia celsitudo aUissima paupertatis quae vos carissimos fratres meos haeredes et reges rcgni caelorum instituit." (Ilolstenius, Codex Kegg. iii. 32). 76 PHILOBIBLON paupertate altissimas divitias sapientiae thesauriza- tas invenimus, et non solum in eorum sarcinulis et sportellis micas de mensa dominorum cadentes repperimus pro catellis, verum panes propositionis absque fermento panemque angelorum omne 5 delectamentum in se habentem, immo horrea Joseph plena frumentis totamque Aegypti supellectilem atque dona ditissima, quae regina Saba detulit Salomoni. 136 Hi sicut formicae continue congregantes in 10 messem et apes argumentosae fabricantes iugiter cellas mellis. Hi successores Bezeleel ad excogitan- dum quicquid fabrefieri poterit in argento et auro ac gemmis, quibus templum Ecclesiae decoretur. Hi prudentes polymitarii, qui superhumerale et rationale 15 pontificis sed et vestes varias efficiunt sacerdotum. Hi cortinas, saga pellesque arietum rubricatas resar- I sapientiae om. edd. I| 8 datissima D altissima Ja. Sibilla D E \\ 10 sutit edd. quotidie Ja. in messe edd. || 13 affrabe fieri Ja. II 14 decoraretur E || micas de mensa] Cp. Matt. xv. 27. omne delectamentum] Cp. Wisd. xvi. 20. congregantes in messe] Cp. Prov. vi. 8 ; xxx. 25. apes argumentosae] Cp. the office of S. Caecilia : " Caecilia, famula tua, Domine ! quasi apis tibi argumentosa deservit." Argumentosae thus became a standing epithet of apes : see passages cited in Ducange. quicquid fabrefieri] Cp. Ex. xxxi. 4. polymitarii] Cp. Ex. xxxv. 35. superhumerale et rationale] Cp. Ex. xxviii. 4. cortinas, saga] Cp. Ex. xxvi. i, 7. pellesque arietum r.] Cp. Ex. xxvi. 14. CAPITULUM VIII. 77 ciunt, quibus Ecclesiae militantis tabernaculum con- tegatur. Hi agricolae seminantes, boves triturantes, tubae buccinantes, pleiades emicantcs ct stellae manentes in ordine suo, (juae Sisaram exinignare 37 non cessant. Et ut Veritas honoretur, salvo prae- 5 iudicio cuiuscunque, licet hi nuper hora undecima vineam sint ingressi dominicani, sicut amantissimi nobis libri cap°. 6". supra anxius allegabant, ])lus tamen in hac hora brevissima sacratorum librorum adiecerunt propagini quam omnes residui vinitorcs ; 10 Pauli sectantes vestigia, qui vocatione novissimus praedicatione primus, multo latius aliis evangelium 38 Christi sparsit. De istis ad statum pontificalem assumpti nonnullos habuimus de duobus ordinibus, Praedicatorum videlicet et IMinorum, nostris assis- 15 tentes lateribus nostraeque familiae commensales, viros utique tarn moribus insignitos quam litteris, qui diversorum voluminum correctionibus, exposi- 2 Hi sunt edd. om. A B D E Ja. |1 4 qui Z> 1| 5 iiuiicio edd. II 9 hac om. A ;i 10 pagini D pa^iuae ]^. 14 assumptis Coch. .17 moribus quam scientia quam litteris B 1| boves triturantes] Cp. i Cor. ix. 9. stellae manentes] Cp. Judges v. 20. undecima hora] Cp. Matt. xx. hora brevissima] Cp. I Jo. ii. 18. For Roger Bacon's opinion of their biblical labours, see Op. Maj., p. 37. Minorum] For the Pra^dicatores see note on c. vi. s. S6. The Fratres Minores were founded by S. Francis in 12 10 and were a mendicant order : cp. his Regula, c. 6 : "Nullus vocetur prior, sed gcneraliter omnes vocentur Fratres Mi- nores." (llolstenius, Codex Regularum, iii. 24). 78 PHILOBIBLON tionibus, tabulationibus ac compilationibus inde- ^39 fessis studiis incumbebant. Sanequamvis omnium religiosorum communicatione multipliciplurimorum operum copiam tarn novorum quam veterum asse- cuti fuerimus, Praedicatores tamenextollimus merito 5 special! praeconio in hac parte, quod eos prae cunc- tis religiosis suorum sine invidia gratissime commu- nicativos invenimus, ac divina quadam liberalitate perfusos sapientiae luminosae probavimus non avaros sed idoneos possessores. lo 140 Praeter has omnes opportunitates praetactas, stationariorum ac librariorum notitiam, non solum infra natalis soli provinciam, sed per regnum Franciae, Teutoniae et Italiae dispersorum com- paravimus, faciliter pecunia praevolante, nee eos 15 ullatenus impedivit distantia, neque furor maris absterruit, nee aes eis pro expensa defecit, quin ad nos optatos libros transmitterent vel afferrent. Sciebant profecto quod spes eorum in sinu nostro reposita defraudari non poterat, sed restabat apud :;o nos copiosa redemptio cum usuris. 5 merito om. Z) || 7 g7'atissimae coimnwiicationis Ja., vulgo II 13 intra edd. || 14 co?npajiif?i7is D \\ l^ eos eis D || 19 sciebant enint pro certo edd. || tabulationibus] The word is not found in the dictionaries, but it means probably indexes or summaries. stationariorum] For the stationarii of the middle ages, who were originally rather lenders than sellers of books, cp. Wattenbach, Schriftwesen im Mittelalter, 294, 307. copiosa redemptio] From Ps. cxxix. 7. cum usuris] Cp. Luke xix. 23. 'CAPITULUM Vlir. 79 141 neniijue nee rcctores scholarum ruraliiim puero- rumque rudium paedagogos nostra neglexit com- munio, singulorum ca})tatrix amoris ; sed potiiis cum vacaret, eorum hortulos et agellos ingressi, flores superficietenus redolentes collcgimus ac radices 5 eiTodimusobsolctas, studiosis tamen accommodas et quae possent, digesta barbaric rancida, pectorales 142 arterias eloquentiae munere medicari. Inter huiusmodi pleraque comperimus renovari dignis- sima quae, solerter elimata robigine turpi, larva 10 vetustatis deposita, merebantur venustis vultibus denuo reformari. Quae nos, adhibita necessari- orum sufticientia, in futurae resurrectionis ex- emplum resuscitata quodammodo redivivae red- didimus sospitati. 15 143 Caeterum apud nos in nostris maneriis multitudo non modica semper erat antiquariorum, scriptorum, I scholarhim edd. || 6 accomodatas Ja. Coch. |; 8 vieditari Ta. medicare edd. H 10 rohipne om. edd. || i"^ futuriim B D Juturus £■ 1; 16 atriis edd. || paedagogos] The schoolmasters of the fourteenth century were much looked down upon ; the degree of master of j;rammar was the lowest at the universities, requiring only a three years' course, instead of the seven needed for the study of the trivium and quadrivium. The degree was conferred by the delivery of a rod and birch, after which the incepting master proceeded to flog a boy publicly : see liass Mullinger, Univ. Cam., 344; Maxwell Lyte, Hist. Univ. Oxf., 235. sospitati] Cp. Job, v. II. anticjuariorum] Cp. .Sueton., De Viris illust., ed. Rciffer- schcid, p. 134 : "Librarii sunt, qui nova et vetera scribunt. 8o PHILOBIBLON correctorum, colligatorum, illuminatorum et genera- liter omnium, qui poterant librorum servitiis utiliter insudare. Postremo omnis utriusque sexus omnis- que status vel dignitatis conditio, cuius erat cum libris aliquale commercium, cordis nostri ianuas 5 pulsu poterat aperire facillime et in nostrae gratiae 144 gremio commodosum reperire cubile. Sic omnes admisimus codices afferentes, ut nunquam praece- dentium multitudo fastidium posterorum efficeret, vel hesternum beneficium praecollatum praeiudi- 10 cium pareret hodierno. Quapropter cum omnibus memoratis personis quasi quibusdam adamantibus attractivis librorum iugiter uteremur, fiebat ad nos desideratus accessus vasorum scientiae et volatus multifarius voluminum optimorum. Et hoc est 15 quod praesenti capitulo sumpsimus enarrare. 3 omnes Ja. Coch. |1 d pnlsi D poterant Ja. Coch. W^ et D \\ ^ posteriortun edd. 1| Antiquarii qui tantummodo Vetera." In practice, however, the two terms had come to be synonymous, according to Wattenbach, Schriftwesen im Mittelalter, 244. But see c. xvi. s. 20"/ post. adamantibus] Adamas, the Greek aMiiag, which in classi- cal Latin meant (i) steel, (2) the diamond, was used in medieval Latin for the loadstone, being erroneously connected with adamare ; cp. c. iv. s. 58. CAPITULUM IX. Si Capltiiluin 9. Quod licet opera vcterum amplius ama- remus non tamen damnavinius studia modernorum. 145 Licet nostris desideriis novitas modernorum nun- quam fuerit odiosa, qui vacantes studiis ac priorum patrum sententiis quicquam vel subtiliter vel utiliter adicientes grata semper affectione coluimus, anti- quorum tamen examinatos labores securiori avidi- 5 tate cupivimus perscrutari. Sive enim naturaliter viguerunt perspicaciori mentis ingenio, sive in- stantiori studio forsitan indulserunt, sive utriusque sufTulti subsidio profecerunt, hoc unum comperi- mus evidenter, quod vix sufficiunt successores 10 Tit. dainnamtts B iniddimus studiis ^ || 3 senntis]:^. qiiic- quid'l'x. li 5 lihros vel labores D Ja. || 6 ajtididitate A B cupi- nius D Ja. i; 8 sive . . . indidseruiitoxw. Z> Ja. adidscritnt E 1| () pcrfeceruut]d,. Ij vix sufficiunt] Roger Bacon takes a view more favouraLle to the moderns. Thout^h he admits that "sapientissimi et maxime experti multotiens maximam difllcultatem in libris reperiunt antiquorum " (Op. Maj. i. 4); he adds "semper posteriorcs addiderunt ad opera priorum et multa correxe- runl," and quotes Seneca wiih approval, "quanto iuniores tanto perspicaciores, quia iuniores posteriores successionc temporum ingrediuntur labores priorum " (i. 6). G 82 PHILOBIBLON priorum comperta discutere, atque ea per doc- trinae captare compendium, quae antiqui anfractu- 1 46 osis adinventionibus effoderunt. Sicut enim in corporis probitate praestantiores legimus praeces- sisse, quam moderna tempora exhibere noscantur, 5 ita luculentioribus sensibus praefulsisse plerosque veterum opinari nuUatenus est absurdum, cum utrosque opera quae gesserunt, inattingibiles pos- teris aeque probent. Unde Phocas in prologo Grammaticae suae scribit : 10 Omnia cum veterum sint explorala libellis, Multa loqui breviter sit novitatis opus. 147 Nempe si de fervore discendi ac diligentia studii fiat sermo, illi philosophiae vitam totam integre devove- runt ; nostri vero saeculi contemporanei paucos 15 annos fervidae iuventutis, aestuantis vicissim incen- diis vitiorum, segniter applicant, et cum, sedatis passionibus, discernendae ambiguae veritatis acu- men attigerint, mox externis implicati negotiis 2 dispetidiian Ja. |1 7 veterum om. add. nitimur Coch. ex digitis suis suxit || ^ posteros E |I g praebeni edd. || 16 estuantes E edd. li 19 externis E \\ inattingibiles] Ducange quotes this word from Gervase of Tilbury: "caelum Trinitatis, ubi sola Trinitas habitat non localiter sed incircumscripte et inenarrabili et inattingihili gloria." Phocas] One of the favourite grammatical text books of the middle ages : see Keil, Gramm. Lat., v. 410. implicati negotiis] Cp. 2 Tim. ii. 4. CAPITULUM IX. 83 retrocedunt et philosoi)hiae gymnasiis valedicunt. 148 Mustum fiimosum iuvenilis ingcnii philosophicae difticultati delibant, vinumque maturius defaecatum oeconomicae sollicitudini largiuntur. Amplius sicut Ovidius, primo Dc Vetula, mcrito lamentalur : 5 C)nines declinant ad ea, quae lucra ministrant, Utque sciant discunt pauci, plures ut abundent ; Sic te prostituunt, O virgo Scientia ! sic te Venalcm faciunt castis amplexibus aptam, Xon te propter te quaerentes, sed lucra per te, i'^ Ditarique volunt polius, quam pliilosophari ; et infra : sic Philosopliia Exilimn patitur, et Philopecunia regnat, quam constat esse violentissimum toxicum dis- 15 cipiinae. 149 Qualiter vero non alium terminum studio pos- 7. fhiL^sophiae edd. i! 8 om. E '\ 12 et om. D \\ gj'mnasiis] One of the commonest of medieval words, though there is a mistaken notion that it came into use with the Renascence. The medieval spelling was, of course, gignasium ; and Mr. Lumby, in his glossary to Iligden, in- nocently observes " gignasia, perhaps an error for gymnasia !" De Vetula] This poem, in three books of wretched hexa- meters, was regarded in medieval times as the genuine work of Ovid. It is cited, for instance, by Bacon, Burley, Brad- wardine, and Hclkot, though the last-named observes : "An sit liber Ovidii, Deus novit " (Super Sap., f. 103a). Warton attributes it on the authority of Leyser to Leo I'ro- tonotarius (H. E. P. iii. 107 n. : cp., however, il>. 136 n., where it is assigned to Pamphilus Maurilianus). Cocheris, 84 PHILOBIBLON uerunt antiqui quam vitae, declarat Valerius ad Tiberium, lib. 8, cap. 7, per exempla multorum. Carneades, inquit, laboriosus ac diutinus sapientiae miles fait ; siquidem expletis nonaginta annis idem illi Vivendi ac philosophandi finis fuit. Isocrates 5 94"\ annum agens nobilissimum librum scripsit; Sophocles prope centesimum annum agens; Simo- nides 80. anno carmina scripsit. A. Gellius non aftectavit diutius vivere, quam esset idoneus ad scribendum, teste seipso in prologo Noctium 10 Atticarum. 150 Fervorem vero studii, quem habebat Euclides Socraticus, recitare solebat Taurus philosophus, ut iuvenes ad studium animaret, sicut refert A. Gellius lib. 6, cap. 10 voluminis memorati. Athenienses 15 namque cum Megarenses odirent, decreverunt quod si quis de Megarensibus Athenas intraret, capite 5 Isocratas A consocrates B D et Socrates Ja., vulgo || 7 agetis edypodeaon id est librum de gestis edypodis scripsit L I 11 Oedipodem, etc. edd. who has edited Jean Lefevre's French version of the poem, attributes it to Richard Furnivalle, the author of the Biblio- nomia, and Chancellor of Amiens in the thirteenth century. Isocrates] The editors, including James, have printed Et Socrates, though of course Socrates wrote no books and did not live to be ninety-four. It does not seem to have occurred to them even to look at the passage in Valerius Maximus. This is also quoted by Holkot, Super Sap., f. 93a, where the same mistake of Socrates for Isocrates is found. Walter Bur- ley, in his Vitae, tells the story of " Ysocrates," c. 27, and also of Socrates, c. 30. CAPITULUM IX. S5 l)lecteretur. Tunc Euclidcs, qui Mcgarcnsis erat et ante illud decretum Socratcm audierat, mulicbri ornamcnto contectus dc nocte, ut Socratcm audirct, ibat dc Mcgaris ad Athenas viginti millia passuum 151 ct redibat. Imjirudcns et nimius fuit fervor Archi- 5 mcdis, qui gcometricac facultatis amator nomen edissercrc noluit ncc a figura protracta caput erigcre, quo vitae mortalis fatum poterat prolongasse, sed indulgens studio plus quam vitae studiosam figuram vitali sanguine cruentavit. 'o 153 Quam plurima huius nostri propositi sunt ex- empla, nee ea quidem transcurrere brevitas affec- tata permittit. Sed, quod dolentes referimus, iter prorsus diversuminceduntclerici celebres his diebus. Ambitione siquidem in actate tenera laborantes, ac 15 I Mcgaris ^ i| 3 contcntus D coutenctus MS. Dunelm. contcntiis est J a. 5 Architnenidis A B Athivienides D ll 6 geo- metriae Schm. Coch. |1 7 edissere ^ || 15 in om. Z^Ja. i| ArchimedLs] The story is told by Valerius Maximus, viii. 7, Ext. 7. Ambitione siquidem] The passage beginning with these words and ending with the words " vix faucibus humectatis," preceded by the passage beginning " Uncinis pomorum " (c. vi. s. 93) — which words, however, are altered to " pomis et potu " — to " perniciem animarum," and the passage (s, 96) '* Quemadmodum psittacus " to " prophetae magistra,"' appear, though in a very corrupt form, in a curious memo- randum in the Oxford Chancellor's and Proctors' book, under the year 1358. The memorandum is directed against the cerei dociorcs^ that is, persons who secured a degree by influence, and it is noted that such doctors were always of the mendicant orders. .See Anstey, Mun. Acad, i. 207, who has 86 PHILOBIBLON praesumptionis pennas Icarias inexpertis lacertis fragiliter coaptantes, pileum magistralem immaturi praeripiunt, fiuntque pueruli facultatum plurium professores immeriti, quas nequaquam pedetentim pertranseunt, sed ad instar caprearum saltuatim 5 ascendunt ; cumque parum de grandi torrente gustaverint, arbitrantur se totum funditus sorbuisse, 153 vix faucibus humectatis ; et quia in primis rudi- mentis tempore congruo non fundantur, super debile fuiidamentum opus aedificant ruinosum. lamque 10 l^rovectos pudet addiscere, quae tenellos decuerat didicisse, et sic profecto coguntur perpetuo lucre quod ad fasces indebitos praepropere salierunt. 154 Propter haec et his similia, tirones scholastici soli- ditatem doctrinae, quam veteres habuerunt, tarn 15 I ineptis et inexpertis edd. H 3 proripiunt Ja. || 5 saltuatim A saltatim edd. || 12 decuerat A E doetterat D 1| 13 salierint Ja. II 14 aliis D alia Ja. || not observed the quotation. It may be, perhaps, that it is a quotation in De Bury, the sentiments occurring in many medieval writers : cp. Holkot, Super Sap. 1. ccix, ccxii. pileum magistralem] See ch. vi. s. 94 ; and cp. Petrarch, De Vera Sap., i. : *' luvenis . . . cathedram ascendit cuncta iam ex alto despiciens et nescio quid confusum murmurans. Tunc maiores certatim ceu divina locutum laudibus ad caelum tollunt ; tinniunt interim campanae, strepunt tubae, volant annuli, figuntur oscula, vertici rotundus ac magistralis bonne- tus apponitur ; his peractis descendit sapiens qui stultus as- cenderat, mira prorsus transformatio nee Ovidio cognita !" debile fundamentum] " Debile fundamentum fallit opus " is a well-known legal maxim : Broom, Legal Maxims, 174. CAPITULUM IX. S; paucis lucubratiunculis non attingunt, quantum- cuncjue fungantur honoribus, censeantur noniinibus, auctorizentur habitibus, loccntur(|ue solcmniter in cathedris seniorum. Prisciani rcgulas ct 13onati statim de cunis crepti et cclcrilcr ablactati per- 5 lingunt ; Categorias, Perihermenias, in cuius scrip- tura sunimus Aristoteles calamum in corde tinxisse confingitur, infantili balbutie resonant impuberes et 155 imberbes. Quarum facultatum itinera dispendioso compendio damnosoque diplomate transmeantes, 10 I quamcutiquc A \\ 5 sic ccJcriter edd. " 6 cathcgoricas E || 7 in . . . infantili om, A tinxit infantidi edd. infantuli Ja. II impibcns B inpubcs D \\ 9 quoitim E || cathedris senionim] Cp. Ps. cvi. 32. Perihermenias] ^\iQ De Intcrpretationeoi kx\'-Xo\\t, usually called in the middle ages by the name here given. in corde] Cp. Isid. Etymol. ii. 27, Aristoteles, " quando perihermenias scriptitabat, calamum in mente tingebat." Suidas applies it to all his writings : 'AfjirrroTiXijc tFic (pvTiioQ yfjanfiaTtvc t/J', top KaXafioi' UTrojipixujy tig I'ovp. According to Plutarch, Phocion, p. 743, the phrase was applied by Zeno to philosophers generally. dispendioso compendio] Compendia sunt dispendia is a maxim cited by Lord Coke, 3 Inst. 133. diplomate] The phrase usiis diplomate came to mean merely " post-haste," and is so used in R. de Diceto, ed. Stubbs, i. 351, 433, ii. 21- Originally no doubt it referred to the written authority enabling the bearer to make use of the government system of communication under the empire : see the passages collected in Brissonius, s. v. including Venu- leius, Dig. xlv. i, 137. Here perliai)s there is a further play intended upon the university diploma or license to teach. Ducange cites also passages from John of Salisbury and Tcter 88 PHILOBIBLON in sacrum Moysen manus iniciunt violentas, ac se tenebrosis aquis in nubibus aeris facialiter asper- gentes, ad pontificatus infulam caput parant, nulla decoratum canitie senectutis. Promovent pluri- mum istam pestem iuvantque ad istum phantasticum 5 clericatum tarn pernicibus passibus attingendum papalis provisio seductivis precibus impetrata nec- non et preces, quae repelli non possunt, cardinalium et potentum, amicorum cupiditas et parentum, qui aedificantes Sion in sanguinibus, prius suis 10 2faciliter A feraliter ^^l. || 7 se duct oris Ja. |i of Blois : he says duploma is the only correct form, but all my MSS. here read dipl ornate. In INIoysen] The reference seems to be to the sedition of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. xvi.), and the passage may be a reminiscence of Jo. Sarisb., PoHcrat., vii. 17: " AHus . . . seditionem concitabit in Moysen :" and 20: " Irruunt in Moysen . . . nisi ad sacerdotium permittantur accedere." Cp. Matt, xxiii. 2: " Super cathedram Moysi sederunt scribae et pharisaei." Petrus Blesensis, Ep. 175, compares a gram- mar master to Moses : "de tenebrosis et confusis Prisciani tractatibus educens hicem . . . et quasi de caHgine montis Sinai alter Moyses legifer a Deo et non ab homine sibi scriptam grammaticam reportavit." tenebrosis aquis] From Ps. xvii. 12, *' tenebrosa aqua in nubibus aeris," papalis provisio] One of the abuses of the Church in the middle ages was the practice of obtaining from the Pope the promise of a bishopric or some other ecclesiastical dignity on the next vacancy. The Statute of Provisors was directed against the practice in 1 350, and was followed shortly after- v/ards by the first Statute of Praemunire. De Bury was himself provided to the See of Durham. See the Introduction. aedificantes Sion in sanguinibus] From Micah iii. 10. CAPITULUM IX. 89 nepotibus et alumnis ecclcsiasticas dignilatcs anti- cipant, (juam naturae succcssu vcl doctrinac tem- perie niaturcscant. 15^ Isto, pro dolor! paroxysmo, quern i)langin-ius, Parisiense palladium nostris macstis tcmporibus 5 cernimus iam sublatum, ubi tepuit, immo fere friguit zelus scholae tarn nobilis, cuius olim radii luceni dabant universis angulis orbis tcrrae. Quiescit ibidem iam calamus omnis scribae, ncc librorum generatio propagatur ulterius, nee est qui 10 incipiat novus auctor haberi. Involvunt sententias sermonibus imperitis, et omnis logicae proprietate privantur; nisi quod Anglicanas subtilitates, quibus palam detrahunt, vigiliis furtivis addiscunt. 157 Minerva mirabilis nationes hominum circuire »5 videtur, et a fme usque ad fmem attingit fortiter, I aiiciipant edd. || 2 sjiccessus doctrine tempore in rasura E || 4 iste D I 6 i)iniio ubi fere friguit edd. li 15 miraliUs edd. || incipiat novus auctor haberi] The phrase is from Cato, Dis- ticha, i. 1 2 : " Rumores fuge, ne incipias novus auctor haberi " ; it is quoted by Bonaventura, Speculum Disciplinae, i. 36. Anglicanas subtilitates] Cp. c. viii. s. 134, for ' Anglicana perspicacitas ' as opposed to ' Parisiensis soliditas.' Wood says '* that the most subtle arguing in school divinity did take its beginning in England and from Englishmen ; and that also from thence it went to Paris:" Hist. Oxf. i. 159. The remark comes from Alexander Minutianus, quoted in Pits, p. 341. palam detrahunt] Cp. St. Jerome, praef. in ParalijK, " in publico delrahentes et legentes in angulo." attingit] From Wisd. viii. i: " attingit ergo a fine usque ad finem fortiter (sapienlia)." 90 PHILOBIBLON ut se ipsam communicet universis. Indos, Baby- ionios, Aegyptios atque Graecos, Arabes et Latinos earn pertransisse iam cernimus. lam Athenas deseruit, iam a Roma recessit, iam Parisius prae- terivit, iam ad Britanniam, insulanim insignissimam 5 quin potius microcosmum, accessit feliciter, ut se Graecis et barbaris debitricem ostendat. Quo miraculo perfect©, conicitur a plerisque quod, sicut Galliae iam sophia tepescit, sic eiusdem militia penitus evirata languescit. 10 Capitulum 10. De successlva perfectlone librorum. 15S Saplentlam veterum exquirentes assidue, iuxta sapientis consilium, Ecclesiastici 39*^ : Sapientiam inquit, omnium antiquorum exquiret sapiens, non in illam opinionem dignum duximus declinandum, ut primos artium fundatores omnem ruditatem eli- 15 masse dicamus, scientes adinventionem cuiusque 7 g^'^gi^ E, II 8 profecto A B D E perfecte Ja. edd. || 1 5 prinnim D || debitricem] Cp. Rom. i. 14: " Graecis ac barbaris, sapien- tibus et insipientibus debitor sum." militia languescit] This, it may be noticed, was written not long after the naval victory of Sluys, and only a year or two before the Battle of Cressy. CAPnULUAI X. 91 fideli canonio ponderatam pusillam efficere scientiae porlionem. Scd per plurimorum investigationcs sol- licitas, quasi datis symbolis singillatim, scientiarum ingentia corpora ad immensas, (juas cernimus, quantitates successivis augmentationibus succrcve- 5 runt. Semper namque discipuli, niagistrorum sen- tentias iterata fornace liquantes, praeneglectam scoriam excoxerunt, donee fieret aurum electum probatum terrae purgatum septuplum et perfecte, nuUius erronei vel dubii admixtione fucatum. 10 159 Neque enim Aristoteles, quamvis ingenio giganteo floreret, in quo naturae complacuit experiri quantum mortalitati rationis posset annectere, quemque paulo minus minoravit ab angelis Altissimus, ilia mira volumina, quae totus vix capit orbis, ex digitis suis 15 I fidilis canonio ult. litt. deleta A canonico E canone Ja. conamine edd. I| 4 quas om. E \\ 6 semperqiu Z> I! 9 probatum terras om. Ja. i' () perfecte om. edd. !| 12 pgantis ]di. \\ 13 JW- mortalitcUi Ja. adtnittere A edd. cotnmittcre Ja. i| canonio] Nearly all the best MSS. read canonio^ although I find no trace of the word elsewhere. datis symbolis] Symbolain dare'xs, a classical phrase for con- tribuiions to a joint entertainment ; for its metaphorical use we may compare A. Gellius, vi. 13, and (n'^j^aXkoiTox in the passage quoted below from Aristotle. electum] Cp. Ps. xi. 7 : " Argentum igne examinatum pro- batum terrae purgatum septuplum." paulo minus ab angelis] From Ileb. ii. 7, 9. vix capit orbis] Cp. a sequence in the York Missal, ii. 80 : •* Virgo Dei genetrix, quam totus non capit orbis"— and the well-known hyperbole of S. John in the last ver^e of his 92 PHILOBIBLON suxit. Quinimmo Hebraeorum, Babyloniorum, Ae- gyptiorum, Chaldaeorum, Persarum etiam et Me- dorum, quos omnes diserta Graecia in thesauros suos transtulerat, sacros libros oculis lynceis pene- i6o trando perviderat. Quorum recte dicta recipiens, s aspera complanavit, superflua resecavit, diminuta supplevit et errata delevit ; ac non solum sincere docentibus sed etiam oberrantibus regratiandum censuit, quasi viam praebentibus veritatem facilius inquirendi, sicut ipsemet 2". Metaphysicae clare 10 docet. Sic multi iurisperiti condidere Pandectam, I Hebraeo7'tim om. Coch. || 6 rcseciiit edd. || 7 erronea edd. II 8 et Ja. || Gospel : " nee ipsum arbitror mundura capere posse eos qui scribendi sunt libros." oculis lynceis] This phrase, which is used by Aristotle {e.g. De General, et Corrupt., i. 10) and is not uncommon in classi- cal Latin, originally referred to Lynceus, the Argonaut, who was famed for the keenness of his vision. But it was then transferred to the lynx, and gave rise to the fable that it could see through a wall. Cp. Boet., De Cons. Phil., iii, pr. 8 ; Bacon, Op. M., f. 223,'/' de lynce, qui videt per mediamparie- tem ;" Holkot, Super Sap., f. 151c, 247a. oberrantibus regratiandum] Lib. i. brev., I: Oh \ibvov dk Xtf-pf-v tx^iv diKaiov TOVTOiQ u/v dv rig Koivu)vi]aai tolq do^aiQj aXXd Kal Tolg en tTrnroXaLOTspov aTTO(pi]vaiikvoiQ. Koi yap Kai ol'TOi avixj3aXKovTaL tl' ti)v yape'^iv Ttpoijaicriaav r)ixu>i'. Pandectam] The term Pandects from the Greek JlavoiKrai was applied to encyclopedic works, and the term is used by Justinian in referring to the digest of Roman law made by his orders from the writings of the Roman jurists. In medieval times it was also applied to the Bible. CAPITULUM X. 93 sic medici multi Tegni, sic Avicenna Canonem, sic Plinius molem illam Historiae Naturalis, sic Ptolemaeus edidit Almagesti. i6 1 Qiiemadmodum namque in scriptoribus annalium considerare non est difficile quod semper posterior 5 praesupponit priorem, sine quo praelapsa tempora nullatenus enarrare valeret, sic est in scientiarum auctoribus aestimandum. Nemo namque solus quamcunque scientiam generavit, cum inter vetus- tissimos et novellos intermedios reperimus, antiquos 10 quidem si nostris aetatibus comparentur, novos vero si ad studiorum fundamenta referantur, et istos 162 doctissimos arbitramur. Quid fecisset Vergilius, Latinorum poeta praecipuus, si Theocritum, Lu- cretium et Homerum minime spoliasset et in 15 2 violani illaui D Ja. |i 3 Abnagesttim Ja. || 9 qua?nque Ja. gena-avit tamen infer A £ ]3.. ve f e7-rzmos edd. || \2. studiorum in rasura B studiosonim D fundamina A E Ja. edd. ii Tegni] The writings of Galen were known in the middle ages through the Arabian physicians, and the title of his lix^i] 'larpiKi), the best-known of his works, was corrupted into Tegni or Tegne. Avicenna Canonem] Avicenna or Ibn-Sina, the famous Arabian philosopher and physician of the eleventh century, drew largely from the writings of the Greeks. molem illam] Violatn may, perhaps, be due to a mis- reading of volumina ilia, a veiy common way of referring to Pliny's work {e.g. Holkot, Super Sap., f. cxviii.), and the phrase he himself uses in speaking of Aristotle, H. N. viii. 16 : " quinquaginta ferme volumina ilia praeclara de anima- libus condidit." Almagesti] See ch. i. s. 21, note. 94 PHILOBIBLON eorum vitula non arasset? quid nisi Parthenium Pindarumque, cuius eloquentiam nullo modo potuit imitari, aliquatenus lectitasset? Quid Sallustius, TuUius, Boetius, Macrobius, Lactantius, Martianus, immo tota cohors generaliter Latinorum, si Athe- 5 narum studia vel Graecorum volumina non vidis- 163 sent? Parum certe in scripturae gazophylacium Hieronymus, trium linguarum peritus, Ambrosius, Augustinus, qui tamen Graecas litteras se fatetur odisse, immo Gregorius, qui prorsus eas se 10 I vincula E errasset Sch. Coch. 1| 10 se om. ^edd. describi- tur edd. |1 non arasset] From Judges, xiv. 1 8. Parthenium] A Greek poet, of whom a single line has come down to us in consequence of its adoption by Virgil into the Georgics (i. 437). He was Virgil's tutor in Greek. De Bury probably owed his knowledge of him either to Macrobius (v. 17) or Aulus Gellius (xiii. 26). Pindarumque] Cp. Quintil., Inst. Orator., x. i. 61 : *' Ho- ratius eum merito credidit nemini imitabilem,''* referring to Hor. Carm. iv. 2. Inglis suggests that we should read ** Quid Horatiics nisi Parthenium Pindarumque," which is ingenious but not convincing, though we might certainly have expected to find some mention of Horace. gazophylacium] Cp. Luke, xxi. i. So Peter Lombard begins the Liber Sententiariim : "Cupiens aliquid , . . cum paupercula in gazophylacium Domini mittere." Hieronymus] Cp. Aug., De Civ. Dei, xviii. 44': "Hierony- mus homo doctissimus et omnium trium linguarum peritus." Augustinus] Conf. i. 13, 14. : "Quid autem erat causae cur Graecas litteras oderam, quibus puerulus induebar, ne nunc quidem mihi satis exploratum est." Gregorius] Epp. vii. 32., "quamvis Graecae linguae nescius ;" xi. 74 : "nam nos nee Graece novimus, nee aliquod CAPITULUM X. 95 nescisse describit, ad doctrinam ecclesiae contulis- sent, si nihil eisdem doctior Graecia commodasset ? Cuius rivulis Roma rigata, sicut prius generavit philosophos ad Graecorum effigiem, pari forma postea protulit orthodoxae fidei tractatores. Sudores 5 sunt Graecorum symbola quae cantamus, eorun- dem declarata consiliis et multorum martyrio con- iirmata. 164 Cedit tamen ad gloriam Latinorum per accidens hebetudo nativa, quoniam sicut fuerunt in studiis 10 minus docti, sic in erroribus minus mali. Ariana nempe malitia fere totam eclipsarat ecclesiam, Nestoriana nequitia, quae blasphema rabie debac- chari praesumpsit in virginem, tam nomen quam definitionem Theotokos abstulisset reginae non 15 pugnando sed disputando, nisi miles invictus Cyril- I 7tescire Ja. 1| 3 rivuli D \\ 12 ecHpsaret B ecUpserat R eclipsavit edd. || 15 Theochotos codd. 0£or6/coi^ Ja. || 16 non pugnando sed disputando om. A insimiles E i| opus aliquando Graece conscripsimus." The story of the burning of the Palatine Library by Gregory rests upon the statement of John of Salisbury, Policrat. ii. 26, and viii. 19, and is now discredited. Buckle has pointed to the fact that De Bury does not mention it : Misc. Works, ii. 314. Theotokos] Nestorius, the Bishop of Constantinople, re- fused to apply the name GeoroKoc, '* the Mother of God," to the Virgin Mary, and this heresy led to his deposition and to the separation of the Eastern and Western churches, reginae] Cp. Jer. xliv. 17 : " reginae caeli." Cyrillus] A great part of the life of S. Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria, was devoted to a vehement and unscrupulous 96 PHILOBIDLON lus, ad monomachiae congressum paratus, earn favente consilio Ephesino in spiritu vehementi 165 penitus exsufflasset. Innumerabiles nobis sunt Graecorum haeresium tarn species quam auctores; nam sicut fuerunt sacrosanctae fidei priinitivi cul- 5 tores, ita et primi zizaniorum satores produntur historiis fide dignis. Sicque posterius profecerunt in peius quod, dum Domini inconsutilem tuni- cam scindere molirentur, claritatem doctrinae prae- habitam perdiderunt totaliter ac no vis tenebris 10 excaecati decidunt in abyssum, nisi ille sua occulta dispenset potentia, cuius sapientiam nu- merus non metitur. 166 Haec hactenus ; nam hie nobis subducitur iudi- candi facultas. Unum tamen elicimus ex praedictis, 15 quod damnosa nimis est hodie studio Latinorum Graeci sermonis inscitia, sine quo scriptorum vete- rum dogmata sive Christianorum sive gentilium nequeunt comprehendi. Idemque de Arabico in plerisque tractatibus astronomicis, ac de Hebraico -o pro textu sacrae bibliae, verisimiliter est censendum, 5 fueriint om. D Ja. 1| 6 protit dicitur et prodttctintur edd. I! 8 dumhienttir claritatem A inconsiilnlem B || g proha- bitam prodiderimt Z> Ja. || ii ceciderunt E\\ I'j inscientia D Ja. II 19 apprehendi ^z., || contest with Nestorius, wliose deposition he finally effected at the Council of Ephesus in 431. inconsutilem tunicam] From Jo. xix. 23. sapientiam numerus] Cp. Ps. cxlvi. 5: " Sapientiae eius non est numerus." CAPITULUM X. 97 quibus defectibus proinde Clemens quintus occurrit, si tamen praelati quae faciliter statuunt, lideliter 1^7 observarent. Quamobrem gramraaticam, tarn He- braeam quam Graecam, nostris scholaribus pro- videre curavimus cum quibusdam adiunctis, quorum adminiculo studiosi lectores in dictarum linguarum scriptura, lectura necnon etiam intellectu, plurimum poterunt informari, licet proprietatem idiomatis solus auditus aurium animae repraesentet. 7 scriptura necnon intellectu D scriptura imnio et intellectu Ja. etiam om, edd. Ij 9 auris anijno edd. || Clemens quintus] At the Council of Vienne in 1312, Ray- mond Lully obtained from the Council a decree for the estab- lishment of professorships of Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldee in Rome, Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca, at the expense of the Pope and the prelates : Rohrbacher, Hist. Univ. de I'Eglise Calh., x. 356. Roger Bacon had urged Clement IV. to cause Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic to be taught in the Universities : see preface to the Op. Majus, ed. 1750, xxxi. grammaticam] These grammars have unfortunately not been preserved : it need not be assumed from the phrase providere curavifnus that De Bury wrote them himself. It is more likely that he did not. But it is pretty obvious that Hallam has under- estimated his knowledge of Greek: Lit. of Europe, i. ^t,. The adjiincia were probably the glossaries of exotic words and technical terms referred to in ch. xii. s. 176. H 98 PHILOBIBLON Capitulum II. Quare llbros liberallum lltterarum prae- tulimus libris iuris. 1 68 Iuris positivi lucrativa peritia dispensandis terrenis accommoda, quanto huius saeculi filiis famulatur utilius, tanto minus ad capescenda sacrae scripturae mysteria et arcana fidei sacramenta filiis lucis con- fert, utpote quae disponit peculiariter ad amicitiam 5 huius mundi, perquam homo, lacobo attestante, Dei constituitur inimicus. Haec nimirum Utes hu- manas, quas infinita producit cupiditas, intricatis I In lihris iuris codd. dett. positiva lucra A \\ 2 accomodata D 11 7 Hinc Ja. || 8 tepiditas Ja. || lucrativa peritia] Cp. Wiclif, De Septem Donis, c. vi. : " Monachi dicuntur artibus humanis, iuri civili atque cano- nico patenter vel private intendere. Cuius causa videtur, quia ipsa est sciencia lucrativa." With De Bury's opinion of law w^e may cp. Petrarch's " reason for abandoning the study" in his letter to Posterity : "quiaearum (sc. legum)usus nequitia hominum depravatur ; itaque piguit perdiscere, quo inhoneste uti nollem et honeste vix possem, et si vellem, puritas inscitiae tribuenda esset" (Ep., ed. Fracassetti, i. 5). huius saeculi filiis] From Luke, xii. 8 : "filii huius saeculi prudentiores filiis lucis in generatione sua sunt." lacobo attestante] James, i v. 4: "quicumque ergo voluerit amicus esse saeculi huius inimicus Dei constituitur." CAPITULUM XL 99 legibus, quae ad utrumlibet duci possunt, extendit crebrius quam exstinguit ; ad quas tamen sedandas a iurisconsultis et piis principibus noscitur emanasse. 169 Sane cum contrariorum sit eadem disciplina po- tentiaque rationalis ad opposita valeat, simulque 5 sensus humanus proclivior sit ad malum, huius facultatis exercitatoribus accidit, ut plerum.que litibus intendendis indulgeant plus quam pad, et iura non ad legislatoris intentum referant sed ad suae ma- chinationis effectum verba retorqueant violenter. ^° 170 Quamobrem, licet mentem nostram librorum amor *hereos possideret a puero, quorum zelo I utrnmqiie D did Ja. || 2 sedendas Z) || 3 propriis Ja. || 5 si77iilisqiie D Ja. |1 6 Jmiiis aute77i D \\ 12 hero7is MS. Bas L in mg. ei'etis 2 haeres Ja. om. edd. 1| 12 zelus D || eadem disciplina] A commonplace in Aristotle : cj^. Eth. v. I : Svvafiig fiiv yap Kai i,TtiC)Tt]iii] doKei tmv tvavTtwv 1) avn) tlvai. amor hereos] Nearly all the MSS. read hereos^ a word of which no trace is to be found in the dictionaries. The read- ing of one MS. herous would make sense, but the M-eight of authority is so overwhelming that it is not safe to adopt it. The phrase ai7ior heroicus indeed occurs in an ecclesiastical sequence: York Missal, ii. 217. Haerois, which would appear in the MSS. as herefis, might be supported by the common use of haereo in Cicero : cp. ad Att. xiii. 40, 2 : "in libris haereo." Inglis translates "master love," as though it were herus ; Cocheris takes absolutely no notice of the word. The difficulty seems to be in the termination oc, and I am inclined to suggest that De Bury may have written hivbc. The passage would then be a nearly verbatim repro- loo PHILOBIBLON languere vice voluptatis accepimus, minus tamen librorum civilium appetitus nostris adhaesit affec- tibus minusque hiiiusmodi voluminibus adquirendis concessimus tarn operae quam impensae. Sunt enim utilia, sicut scorpio in theriaca, quemadmo- 5 dum libro de Porno Aristoteles, sol doctrinae, de 1 7 r logica definivit. Cemebamus etiam inter leges et scientias quamdam naturae differentiam mani- festam, dum omnis scientia iocundatur et appetit quod suorum principiorum praecordia, intro- 10 spectis visceribus, pateant et radices suae pul- lulationis emineant suaeque scaturiginis emanatio luceat evidenter; sic enim ex cognato et consono lumine veritatis conclusionis ad principia ipsum I languescere D Ja. |I 4 opera qtiam ivipensis Ja. i| 5 scor- pioni tiriaca A scorpio et tiriaca D Ja. || 7 diffinit D i| 7 in- ter sc leges D Ja. || 8 differentiam habere D Ja. || 9 oclusionis E |1 duction of a sentence in the letter of the Emperor Julian to Ecdikios, Ep. 9 : tjitoi /3t/3/\(a»v KTi'icreiog Ik Trai^afjiov dHibg IvreDjKs TToQoQ. Whether the Bishop can be supposed to have heard of this passage or not, he doubtless knew the word SeivuQ ; the word teii'Mmg occurs in Quintilian, Macro- bius and Martianus Capella. languere] Cp. i Tim. vi. 4 : ''languens circa quaestiones." scorpio in theriaca] Aristot., 0pp. Lat., 1496, f. 373 : " Haec scientia utilis est, ut est utilis scorpio in tyriaca ; quae licet sit toxicum tamen si datur patienti dolorem minuit et praestat remedium." The Ve Po7iio, a treatise on the immortality of the soul, was falsely attributed to Aristotle, being really translated from the Hebrew by Manfred, son of the emperor Frederick II. The quotation occurs in Holkot, Super Sap., f. 154c. CAPITULUM XL loi corpus scientiae lucidum fiet totum, non habens 172 aliquam partem tenebrarum. At vero leges, cum sint pacta et humana statuta ad civiliter conviven- dum vel iuga principum superiecta cervicibus subdi- torum recusant reduci ad ipsam synteresim, aequi- 5 tatis originem, eo quod plus habere se timeant de voluntatis imperio quam de rationis arbitrio. Qua- propter causas legura discutiendas non esse suadet 173 in pluribus sententia sapientum. Nerape consuetu- dine sola leges raultae vigorem adquirunt non neces- 10 sitate syllogistica, sicut artes, prout 2°. Politicorum adstruit Aristoteles, Phoebus scholae, ubi politiam 2 leges om. ^ !1 3 et fortasse secludendum |1 5 syndei'esim codd. veritatis ac eqidtatis edd. equitatls exiguc Z? H 6 eoquc Ja. tijnent]2i. \\ ii artes p?-oz'e7iire 2°. ]2i. \\ lucidum fiet] From Luke xi. 34, 36. convivendum] Cp. Wisd. viii. 9. synteresim] The correct spelling of this word, though it is frequently written synderesis (cp. endelechia for entelechia). IvvrrjpTjniQ was used by the early Christian moralists, and adopted into scholastic ethics. In the Doctor and Student, dialog, i. c. 13, it is explained : "a naturall power of ye soule, set in the highest part thereof mooving and stirring it to good, and abhorring euil." Sanderson explains it : " Habet enim se synteresis ad conscientiam proprie dictam, sicut se habet habitus intellectus ad scientiam. " Jeremy Taylor distinguishes conscience into synteresis and syneidesis, of which Whewell, Elem. of Moral,, i. 235, observes: "We may term the former, conscience as law ; the latter, conscience as witness." Cp. Stephanus, s.v., and Ueberweg, Hist, of Phil. E. T. i. 440, 474. adstruit] Cp. s. 40. Here the word is used in the sense of 102 PHILOBIBLON redarguit Hippodami, quae novamm legum inven- toribus praemia pollicetur, quia leges veteres abro- gare et novellas statuere est ipsarum, quae fiunt, valitudinem infirmare. Quae enim sola consuetu- dine stabilitatem accipiunt, haec necesse est de- 5 suetudine dirimantur. 174 Ex quibus liquido satis constat quod, sicut leges nee artes sunt nee scientiae, sic nee libri legum libri scientiarum vel artium proprie dici possunt. Nee est haec facultas inter scientias recensenda, quam jc licet geologiam appropriato vocabulo nominare. Libri vero liberalium litterarum tarn utiles sunt scripturae divinae, quod sine ipsorum subsidio frustra ad ipsius notitiam intellectus aspiret. 3 sunt edd. i| 5 est tit E sec. manu, Ja. tl 6 dimittantur Ja. II <^ p'oprie om. -£" || il a propriato D || affirmare, which is rejected in the lexicons ; see, however, De Vit's Forcellini. Hippodami] Pol. ii. 8, 24 : to paSiojg jLtera/SaXXfir Ik tu>v vTrapxoPTCov j^ojuwv elg tTcpovg vojjlcvq kcuvovc dcrOti'ij iroitiv icTi T)]v Tov Tojjiov cvi'tt^iv. Holkot also refers to this pas- sage, Super Sap., f. 310, s^. geologia] A curious anticipation of this modem word, of course in a very different and merely metaphorical sense. CAPITULUM XII. 103 Capitulum 12. Quare libros grammaticales curavimus tanta diligentia renovare. 175 Cum librorum lectionibus foveremur assidue, quos moris erat cotidie legere vel audire, perpendimus evidenter quantum impediat intellectus officium vel unius vocabuli semiplena notitia, dum nullius enuntiationis sententia capitur, cuius pars quanta- s 176 libet ignoratur. Quapropter exoticorum verborum interpretationes mira sedulitate iussimus annotari antiquorumque grammaticorum orthographiam, pro- sodiam, etymologiam ac diasyntheticam incon- cussa curiositate consideravimus terminosque vetus- 10 tate nimia caligantes descriptionibus congruis lucidare curavimus, quatenus iter planum nostris studentibus pararemus. 177 Haec est sane summa totalis quare tot gram- Tit. cura?)ius B\\ 2 impetidhmis Z> || 5 capiatur D || 7 siihtili- tate Ja. || 9 diasintasacam A et dyasenteticavi B diasintasim D E^\Q consideramtis D || diasyntheticam] The Greek Ziaavv^z.TiKr]v = syntax. The word is not in Ducange, but Diefenbach in his Supplementum has diasenteticiis. The form diaseiiieiica is found in For- tescue, De Laud. Legum AngHae, c. vii. (ed. Clermont, p. 344)- 1 04 PHIL OBIBL ON maticorum antiquata volumina emendatis codicibus renovare studuimus, ut stratas regias sterneremus, quibus ad artes quascunque nostri futuri scholares incederent inoffense. Capitiilum 13. Qiiare non omnino negleximus fabulas poetarum. 178 Omnia genera machinarum quibus contra poetas 5 solius nudae veritatis amatores obiciunt duplici refelluntur umbone, quia vel in obscena materia gratus cultus sermonis addiscitur vel, ubi ficta sed honesta tractatur sententia, naturalis vel historialis Veritas indagatur sub eloquio typicae fictionis. i<^ 179 Quamvis nimirum omnes homines natura scire desiderent, non tamen omnes aequaliter delectantur 7 obscena mgratns Ja. || lo tepise ^ || ii naturaliter D Ja, stratas regias] In the later Latin the feminine strata was commonly used — strata regia, the regular term for what we still call the ' ' king's highway." Via regia occurs in the Vulgate, Num. xxi. 22. Cp. Jo. Sarisb., Metalog., i. i8 : "Ars itaque est quasi strata publica qua ire, ambulare . . . omni- bus ius est." Cap. 13] With this chap. cp. Jo. Sarisb., Policrat., vii. 10. scire desiderent] Cp. ch. i. s. 14, note.^ CAPITULUM XIII. 105 f addiscere, quinimmo studii labore gustato et sen- suum fatigatione percepta plerique nucem abiciunt inconsulte prius quam testa soluta nucleus attin- gatur. Innatus est enim homini duplex amor, vide- licet propriae libertatis in regimine et aliquantae 5 voluptatis in opere ; unde nullus sine causa alieno se subdit imperio vel opus quodcunque exercet 180 cum taedio sua sponte. Delectatio namque per- ficit operationem, sicut pulcritudo iuventutem : sicut Aristoteles verissime dogmatizat 10° Ethi- 10 corum. Idcirco prudentia veterum adinvenit reme- dium, quo lascivium humanum caperetur ingenium quodammodo pio dolo, dum sub voluptatis iconio 181 delicata Minerva delitesceret in occulto. Muneribus parvulos assolemus allicere ut ilia gratis velint ad- 15 discere, quibus eos vel invitos intendimus applicare. Non enim natura corrupta eo impetu, quo prona se pellit ad vitia, transmigrat ad virtutes. Hoc 2 iiuiicem M Ja. || 4 honiinum 2^ annorum M hominum 24 annortci)i'^2L. \\ lo verisiviile -£" || II Incirco E\\l2 lascumfii A B E \\ \\mnnera AI ]a. delitescerent Ja. || 15 pandaUos A parvos B ^ 17 eo impetitttr edd. i| 18 hoc enim edd. || duplex amor] James, who seems to have relied mainly upon the MS. M, has here been strangely misled by it into his extraordinary reading, as though the love of liberty and pleasure were confined to men of twenty-four. The copyist of M appears to have read 2^, representing duplex^ as standing for 24. See libt-aiy Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 132 f. lascivium] See the note on ch. v. s. 79- delicata] Cp. Is. xlvii. 8. io6 PHILOBIBLON in brevi versiculo nobis declarat Horatius, ubi artem tradit poeticam, ita dicens : Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare poetae. Hoc idem in alio versu eiusdem libri patenter in- sinuat, ita scribens : 5 Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci. 182 Quot Euclidis discipulos retroiecit Elefuga, quasi scopulus eminens et abruptus, qui nullo scalarum suffragio scandi posset ! Durus, inquiunt, est hie 7 eliftiga D Ehofjiga Ja. EUefuga edd. i| 8 scalarum A Ja. scolarhim B scolartun D || Horatius] A. P., 333 and 343. These two lines quoted just in the same connexion, were hackneyed even before De Bury. Euclidis] Cocheris takes this to be Euclid the philosopher, but as the following note sho\vs, there is no doubt that the reference is to the geometer. Elefuga] A barbarous name for what we call the pons asi)iorwu, which is explained by Roger Bacon, Op. Tert., ii. 21 : " Quinta propositio geometriae Euclidis dicitur Elefuga, id est fuga miserorum." This would point to its derivation from the Greek 'iktog and fuga, but it may perhaps be from the Arabic, just as Dulcarnon, a similar term for the 47th prop., was usually but incorrectly explained as SovXia carnis (cp. Neckam, De N. R., p. 295), but is really Arabic (see Selden, Opp., iii. 1730). Ducange, s.v. Eletifuga^ cites a passage from Alanus, Anticlaudianus, iii. 6, but without offer- ing any explanation of the word : " Iluius tyrones cur artis Eleufuga terret, Atque prius cogit illos exire, profundum Quam littus subeant, labiquequam in arte laborent." Durus est hie sermo] From Jo. vi. 61. CAPITULUM XI I L 107 sermo ; quis potest eum audire ? Filius incon- stantiae, qui tandem in asinum transformari vole- bat, philosophiae studium nullatenus forsitan dimi- sisset, si eidem contecta voluptatis velamine fami- liariter occurrisset. Sed mox Cratonis cathedra 5 stupefactus et quaestionibus infinitis, quasi quodam fulmine subito repercussus, nullum prorsus videbat refugium nisi fugam. 1S3 Haec in excusationem adduximus poetarum; iam studentes intentione debita in eisdem osten- 10 dimus inculpandos. Ignorantia quidem solius 2 taiihim Z> II 4 co72tenta D ij Filius inconstantiae] This passage, and particularly the name Crato, have been an^ insoluble puzzle to the editors. But I believe that the source is the De disciplina sckolariufn, which was long attributed to Boetius. The writer says (c. \\\.) oi the Jilms inconstantiae: "Cratonis studiis tutius inhiabat, cuius semicirculi capacitas multis formidabat quaes- tionibus," so that at length the unhappy listener exclaims : "Miserum me esse hominem ! utinam humanitatem exuere possem et asinitatem induere ! " Gervaise tried to show that the book was written by a certain Boece Epo, a professor at Douai in the i6th centuiy (see Tvligne, vol. Ixiv. p. 1554). But the work is quoted not only by De Buiy, but also by Holkot (Super. Sap., 1. li.), and earlier still by Roger Bacon (Op. Maj., i. 7); and is recorded in the Biblionomia of Richard de Furnivalle (f. 18 v.). Thomasius has shown that it was written by Thomas Cantimpratensis {n. 1201, in. 1263). Thomas Aquinas wrote a commentary upon it. Cp. c. i. s. 15. inculpandos] The sense requires non inculpandos, or, per- haps we should read non ctilpandos. But inculpare is found in a letter cited in Ralph de Diceto, Imag. Histor., ii. 127. io8 rniLOBIBLON iinius vocabuli praegrandis sententiae impedit intel- lectum, sicut proximo capitulo est assumptum. Cum igitur dicta sanctorum poetarum figmentis fre- quenter alludant, evenire necesse est ut nescito poe- mate introducto tota ipsius auctoris intentio peni- 5 tus obstruatur. Et certe, sicut dicit Cassiodorus libro suo, De institutione divinarum litterarum, non sunt parva censenda sine q^jibus magna constare non possunt. Restat igitur ut ignoratis poesibus ignoretur Hieronymus, Augustinus, Boetius, Lac- ro tantius, Sidonius et plerique alii, quorum litaniam prolixum capitulum non teneret. 184 Venerabilis vero Beda huius dubitationis articu- lum distinctione declaravit dilucida, sicut recitat compilator egregius Gratianus, plurium repetitor 15 auctorum, qui sicut fuit avarus in compilationis materia, sic confusus reperitur in forma. Scribit tamcn sic distinctione 37, Turbat acumen : saeculares 3 ergo B saepe E || 4 eveiiict codd, evenire scrips! cum Ja. II 13 ^"'^11 proximo capitulo] See nnfe, ch. xii. s. 175. Cassiodoras] The passage quoted by De Bury from Cas- siodorus is in S. Jerome's letter to Laela on the education of her daughter, Ep. 7 : "Non sunt contemnenda quasi parva, sine quibus magna constare non possunt." Gratianus] Gratian collected the decrees and constitutions of the Popes into a body of canon law. Turbat acumen^ Before books were paged the usual method of citing was to give two or three words, as here, to indicate the reference more exactly. CAPITULUM XIII. 109 litteras quidam legunt ad voluptatem, poetarum figmentis et verborum ornatu delectati ; quidam vero ad eruditionem eas addiscunt, ut errores gen- tium legendo detestentur et utilia, quae in eis inve- nerint, ad usum sacrae eruditionis devoti conver- 5 tant : tales laudabiliter saeculares litteras addis- cunt. Haec Beda. 185 Hac institutione salutifera moniti sileant detra- hentes studentibus in poetis ad tempus, nee ignor- antes huiusmodi connescientes desiderent, quia hoc ^o j|c est simile solatio miserorum. Statuat igitur sibi quisque piae intentionis affectum et de quacunque materia, observatis virtutis circumstantiis, faciet stu- dium Deo gratum ; et si in poeta profecerit, quemad- modum magnus Maro se fatetur in Ennio, non ^5 araisit. 3 gentilhiin edd. |I 4 crrendo B || 5 imiertmit B E innec- tant edd. || 10 qtiaestiones Ja. quod D || II igihtr om. AB edd. sibi om. £ || 12 qualiauiqite Ja. || 13 virtutiwi Ja. fiet D faciat edd. || 15 Man-o B Varro in mg. Ja. studiiun non 3 |1 solatio miserorum] The well-known proverbial phrase, which is first found versified in Marlowe's Faust as " Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris," may have been derived from Seneca, De Consol. , 31. in Ennio] Referring to the story told in Donatus' life of Vergil, c. xviii : " Cum is aliquando Ennium in manu haberet, rogareturque quidnam faceret, respondit se aurum colligere de stercore Ennii." no PHILOBIBLON Capitulum 14. Qui debent esse librorum potissimi dilectores. :86 Recolllgentl praedicta palam est et perspicuum qui deberent esse librorum praecipui dilectores. Qui namque sapientia magis egent ad sui status officium utiliter exsequendum, hi potissimum sacris vasis sapientiae propensiorem proculdubio exhi- s bere tenentur sollicitum grati cordis affectum. Est autem sapientis officium bene ordinare et alios et seipsum : secundum Phoebum philosophorum, Aristotelem, primo Metaphysicae, qui nee fallit nee fallitur in humanis. Quapropter principes et 10 praelati, indices et doctores et quicunque rei pub- licae directores, sicut prae aliis sapientia opus habent, ita prae aliis vasis sapientiae zelum debent. I et om. Cocli. [| if potissimi Z> |I 9 prooemio edd. Ja. E || 12 aliis vasis sapientiae ^z. || 13 debent habere vulgo || Aristotelem] Met. i. 2: ov ynp ^tiv eTrirdTr^crOai top (TO(ph>, aXA' iiTirdTTUV, Koi ov tovtov £rtfj || 14 lectioiiem om. D Ja. digitis — delibiitis edd. sanguine B D Ja. i| exarare praesumit] Cp. Boccaccio's complaint to Ben- venuto da Imola, quoted in Symonds' Revival of Learning, p. 153- Latinista, ibi sophista] The students of the early colleges at Oxford were enjoined to use Latin in ordinary conversation, and might therefore be called latinistat. In the third year of his residence the student of the liberal arts was allowed to become a ' sophister,' and to take part in logical disputations. See Maxw'ell Lyte, Hist. Univ. Oxford, 86, 205. lotio lectionem] Forks, of course, were not yet invented. The Bishop may have had in his mind the maxim of the Schola Salernitana : " Lotio post mensam tibi confert munera bina ; Mundificat palmas et lumina reddit acuta." sagimine] Sagimen was fat of any kind, which the monks of some orders wei-e allowed, but in others forbidden, to eat : see Ducange in v. 134 PHILOBIBLON delibutus aut folia prius volvat, aut signacula libri solvat. Pueruliis lacrimosus capitalium litterarum non admiretur imagines, ne manu fluida polluat pergamenum ; tangit enim illico quicquid videt. Porro laid, qui librum aeque respiciunt resupine 5 transversum sicut serie naturali expansum, omni 225 librorum commiinione penitus sunt indigni. Hoc etiam clericus disponat, ut olens ab ollis lixa cinereus librorum lilia non contingat illotus, sed qui ingreditur sine macula pretiosis codicibus minis- 10 trabit. Conferret autem plurimum tarn libris quam scholaribus manuum honestarum munditia, si non essent scabies et pustulae characteres clericales. 226 Librorum defectibus, quoties advertuntur, est otius occurrendum ; quoniam nihil grandescit citius 15 I singnacula ^ || 5 librum e converso respiciunt Ja. || 6 sic B omnium Ja. |1 7 penitus ora. Ja. || 9 folia edd. |1 10 quia -£' II 1 1 confert D Ja. || signacula libri solvat] From Rev. v. 2. It is here no doubt used to mean the clasps of a book. librorum lilia] This is the reading of the better MSS., and though I do not find any other instance of the word in this sense, it is perfectly intelligible. ingreditur sine macula] From Ps. xiv. 2. scabies et pustulae] These words convey a lively idea of the habits of the time. So Petrarch in the De Remed. Utri. Fortunae, ii. 85, has a chapter, • De Scabie. ' It is signifi- cantly said of Abelard in his life : ^^ phis solito scabie et qui- busdam corporis infirmitatibus gravabatur." charactereres clericales] Character clericalis was used for ton sura : see Ducange. CAPITULUM XVI I. 135 iquam scissura, et fractura, quae ad tempus negligi- tur, reparabitur postea cum usura. 227 De librorum armariis mundissime fabricandis, ubi ab omni laesione salventur securi, Moyses mitis- simus nos informat, Deuteron. 31°: Tollite, in- 5 quit, librum istum et ponite ilium in latere arcae foederis Domini Dei vestri. O locus idoneus et bibliothecae conveniens, quae de lignis sethim imputribilibus facta fuit auroque per totum in- terius et exterius circumtecta ! Sed omnem in- 10 honestatis negligentiam circa libros tractandos suo Salvator exclusit exemplo, sicut legitur Lucae 4°. 228 Cum enim scripturam propheticam de se scriptam in libro tradito perlegisset, non prius librum ministro restituit, quam eundem suis sacratissimis 15 manibus plicuisset. Quo facto studentes docentur clarissime circa librorum custodiam quantum- cunque minima negligi non debere. 7 nostri Ja. 1| 8 bibliotheca E Unguis E \ 14 tradita?n D Ja. . libro E II Moyses mitissimus] From Num. xii. 3. lignis sethim] Cp. Ex. xxv. 10, li ; iovi/npuiribilis, cp. Is. xl. 20 ; ciraimtecta is perhaps from Heb. ix. 4. 136 PHILOBIBLON Capitulum 1 8. Quod tantam librorum collegimus copiam ad communem profectum scholarium et non solum ad propriam voluptatem. 229 Nihil iniquius in humanis perpenditur quam quod ea quae geruntur iustissime malignorum obloquiis pervertuntur, et inde quisreportat infamiam criminis, unde magis meruit spem honoris. Oculo simplici perpetrantur quam plurima, nee sinistra dextrae se 5 commiscet, nullo fermento massa corrumpitur, neque ex lino vestis lanaque contexitur. Perversorum tamen praestigiis opus pium mendaciter transforma- tur in monstrum. Haec est nimirum peccatricis naturae reprobanda conditio, quod non solum in 10 factis moraliter dubiis pro peiore parte sententiat, Tit. voluntatem A Ja. || 2 eloquiis ^ II 3 pervertanhtr D Ja. reportet D reperiat Ja. || 4 speciem edd. || 6 nullo D || 9 Hec ctiam nimirum B || lo animae vulgo || Nihil iniquius] Cp. Eccli. x. 10. oculo simplici] Cp. Matt. vi. 22. sinistra dextrae] Cp. Matt. vi. 3. massa corrumpitur] From i Cor. v. 6; cp. Gal. v. 9. lino lanaque] Cp. Deut. xxii. 11. CAPITULUM XVII I. 137 immo frequenter ilia, quae speciem boni habent, ne- quitiosa subversione depravat. 230 Quamvis enim amor librorum in clerico ex obiecti natura praeferat honestatem, miro tamen modo obnoxios nos effecit iudiciis plurimorum, 5 quorum admirationibus obtrectati, nunc de curiosi- tate superfiua, nunc de cupiditate in ilia dumtaxat materia, nunc de vanitatis apparentia, nunc de voluptatis intemperantia circa litteras notabamur, quorum revera vituperiis non plus quam canicu- ,0 lorum latratibus movebamur, illius solius testimonio contentati, ad quem renes et corda pertinet per- :3i scrutari. Cum enim voluntatis secretae finalis in- tentio homines lateat unicoque Deo pateat, cordium inspectori, perniciosae temeritatis merentur redargui, , ^ qui humanis actibus, quorum fontale non vident principium, epigramma tam faciliter superscribunt sinistrum. Finis enim se habet in operabilibus, sicut principia in speculativis vel suppositiones in 5 ejjicit Ja., edd. || 6 curiosa supcrjiiiitate Ja. |I 13 voluptatis ^ II 19 suppone7is E^ curiositate] Cp. i Tim. v. 13. renes et corda] From Ps. vii. 10. fontale] The word is used by Roger Bacon, Op. M., p. 12, in the account of his wonderful boy : "sisano etefficaci consilio iuxta fontalem plenitudinem quam habet dirigeretur, nullus seniorum consequeretur eum in sapientialium profluviis rivo- rum;" et saepitis. The phrase *' virtutis et sapientiae fontale principium " is used of the University of Paris by the Cistercians in 1322 : Martene, Anecdot., iv. 1509. 1 38 PHIL OBIBL ON matbematicis, teste Aristotele, 7° Ethicorum. Qua- propter, sicut ex principiorum evidentia conclu- sionis Veritas declaratur, ita plerumque in agibilibus ex honesti finis intentione bonitas moralis in opera sigillatur, ubi alias opus ipsum iudicari deberet in- 5 differens quo ad mores. 232 Nos autem ab olim in praecordiis mentis nostrae propositum gessimus radicatum, quatenus oppor- tunis temporibus exspectatis divinitus aulam quam- dam in reverenda universitate Oxoniensi, omnium 10 liberalium artium nutrice praecipua, in perpetuam eleemosynam fundaremus, necessariisque redditibus dotaremus ; quam numerosis scholaribus occu- patam, nostrorum librorum iocalibus ditaremus, ut ipsi libri et singuli eorundem communes fierent, 15 quantum ad usum et studium, non solum scholaribus aulae tactae, sed per eos omnibus universitatis praedictae studentibus in aeternum, secundum I philosophoriim principe E edd. || 4 insigiUatur opere E H 5 in differentiis Z> 1| 13 ditat'emus Ja. edd. qitam . . . ut om. A II 14 Iocalibus superditare7)nis i || 17 otnnihus om. E || teste Aristotele] vii. 8, 4 : iv Ss ratg Trpa^ecri to Sv eVeJca dpxV} wcTTTfjO tv Toig [AaOrjfiaTiKolg at viroBkauQ. artium nutrice] S. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xviii. 9, calls Athens "mater aut nutrix liberalium doctrinarum." In 1254 Pope Innocent IV. spoke of the conwitinio of masters and scholars at Oxford as ** foecunda mater." Denifle shows that the epithet alma with universitas is not found before the fourteenth century, and the term Alma mater seems to have been first applied to Paris in the Statutes of Vienna in 1389 : Universifaten im Mittelalter, p. 33. CAPITULUM XVI 11. 139 formam et modum, quern sequens capitulum declara- 233 bit. Quapropter sincerus amor studii zelusque orthodoxae fidei ad aedificationem ecclesiae con- firmandae pepeperunt in nobis sollicitudinem hanc stupendam nummicolis, ut collectos codices unde- 5 cunque venales neglectis sumptibus emeremus, et qui venumdari non debebant, transcribi honestius faceiemus. 234 Cum enim delectationes hominum ex disposi- tione caelestium corporum, cui mixtorum com- 10 plexio frequenter obedit, diversimode distinguan- tur ; ut hi in architectura, illi in agricultura, hi in venationibus, illi in navigationibus, hi in bellis, illi in ludis eligant conversari ; cecidit circa libros nostrae Mercurialis species voluptatis honestae, 15 quam ex rectae rationis arbitrio, cuius nulla sidera 3 confinnandam Ja. 1| 7 dcbcant Ja. || 1 1 tit frequenter E || nummicolis] Cp. c. xv. s. 194. mixtorum complexio] Cp. Holkot, Super Sap., f. 310b: *' Dixerunt enim quidam quod homines liunt boniper naturam, puta ex naturali complexione cum impressione corporum supercaelestium." See Roger Bacon, Op. Maj., p. 112, sqq.^ for a defence of the ti-ue astrology and the opinions of the Fathers. At p. 117 he says : " astronomus, cum videt homi- nes sequisuascomplexiones, quae oriuntura caelestiopevatione, sicut et tota generatio, non est mirum si se extendat ad con- siderationem actuum humanonam." Mercurialis] Cp.Roger Bacon, Op. Maj., p. 121 : **Mercu- rius est significator scripturae et scriptorum et profunditatis scientiarum." nulla sidera] Bacon, op. cii., p 113, sqq., says that the chief authorities in astrology admit that it cannot be a science of 1 40 PHIL OBIBL ON dominantur imperio, in honorem ordinavimus maies- tatis supremae ut, unde mens nostra tranquillitatem reperit requiei, inde devotissimus cresceret cul- 235 tus Dei. Quamobrem desinant obtrectantes, sicut caeci de coloribus iudicare; vespertiliones de lumini- 5 bus disceptare non audeant, atque trabes gestantes in oculis propriis alienas festucas eruere non prae- sumant. Cessent commentis satiricis sugillare quae nesciunt et occulta discutere, quae humanis experi- entiis non patescunt ; qui nos fortassis affectu com- 10 mend assent benevolo, si ferarum venatui, alearum lusui, dominarum applausui vacassemus. 4 ohircdatores Ja. || 5 vespertiliones om. D || 6 deceptare D 1| 8 satiricoriim Ja. || certainties, because this would be inconsistent with free will. Yet this does not exclude the influence of the stars : " quamvis enim anima rationahs non cogitur ad actus suos, tamen fortiter induci potest et excitari, ut gratis vclit ea, ad quae virtus cae- lestis incHnat." alienas festucas] Cp. Jylatt. vii. 3, 4. CAPITULUM XIX. 141 Capitulum 19. De modo communlcandi studentlbus omnibus llbros nostros. 236 Difficile semper fuit sic homines limitare legibus honestatis, quin astutia successorum terminos niter- etur praecedentium transilire et statutas infringere regulas insolentia libertatis. Quamobrem de pru- dentum consilio certum modum praefiximus, per 5 quern ad utilitatem studentium librorum nostrorum comraunicationem et usum volumus devenire. 3 7 In primis enim libros omnes et singulos, de quibus catalogum fecimus specialem, concedimus et do- namus intuitu caritatis comm.unitati scholarium in 10 aula • N • Oxoniensi degentium, in perpetuam elee- mosynam pro anima nostra et parentum nostrorum Tit. omnes D \\ 3 prudentum A B \\ ^ donamtis om. D donavimus edd. comitati edd. || 1 1 'N' codd. mil. nostra Ja. om. edd. Oxon. D Ja. \ -N-] The best T^ISS. read -N-, which probably stands for Nomen and signifies that some name was intended to be filled in. The ed. pr. omits it, but the Spires and Oxford editors print nostra^ of which Hearne approves: Leland, Collectt., iii. 385, vi. 299. On the question raised by the reading of the text, see the Introduction. 142 PHILOBIBLOM necnon pro animabus illustrissimi regis Angliae Edvvardi teriii post conquestum ac devotissimae dominae rcginae Philippac consortis eiusdem, ut iidem libri omnibus et singulis universitatis dictae villae scholaribus et magistris tarn regularibus quam 5 saecularibus commodcntur pro tempore ad pro- fectum et usum studendi, iuxta modum quem im- mediate subiungimus, qui est talis. 2 38 Quinque de scholaribus in aula praefata commo- rantibus assignentur per eiusdem aulae magistrum, 10 quibus omnium librorum custodia deputetur, de quibus quinque personis tres et nullatenus pauciores librum vellibros ad inspectionem et usum dumtaxat studii valeant commodare ; ad copiandum vero vel transcribendum nullum librum volumus extra saepta 15 domus concedi. 239 Igitur cum scholaris quicunque saecularis vel religiosus, quos in pracsenti favore ad paria iudi- 2 Ediiardi vulgo ll qui est talis] Cocheris suggests that the following rules were borrowed by De Bury from the Regulations issued for the library of the Sorbonne in 1 321, some years before the Bishop visited Paris ; but they were quite as probably derived from Oxford : see Introduction. de scholaribus] " The term 'scholar' may be regarded as nearly equivalent to 'fellow' in our early college statutes, indicating a student entirely supported by the revenues of the foundation and participating in the general govei'nment : " Mullinger, Univ. of Cambridge, i. 167. This applies equally to Oxford : iNIaxwell Lyte, ilist. Univ, Oxford, 77. ad paria] Cp. Bracton, De L"gibus, ii. 37, 2 : " Foemina CAPITULUM XIX. 143 camus, librum aliquem commodandiim petiverit, considerent diligenter custodes an librum talem ha- buerint duplicatum ; et si sic, commodent ei librum cautione recepta, quae librum traditum in valore transcendat iudicio eorundem, fiatque statim tam de 5 cautione quam de libro commodate memorialis scriptura, continens nominapersonarum quae librum tradunt et illius qui recipit, cum die et anno Domini quo continget fieri commodatum. 240 Si vero custodes invenerint, quod ille liber qui 10 petitur duplicatus non fuerit, talem librum nulla- tenus commodent cuicunque, nisi fuerit de comi- tiva scholarium dictae aulae, nisi forte ad inspec- tionem et usum infra saepta domus vel aulae prae- dictae, sed non ad ulterius deferendum. 15 241 Scholar! vero cuilibet praedictae aulae liber qui- 6 de om. ^ || 9 contirtgit A Ja. |i 1 1 librtun non codd. dett. 11 13 inspectioneni et A B inspectionem ad D Ja. et usum scrips! II 15 scolaHum Ja. || vero haeres et masculus secundum quosdam ad paria iu- dicantur. " cautione recepta] The practice of taking a pledge or bond on lending MSS. was extremely common throughout medieval times. Thus the Prior and Convent of Durham made an order in 1235 : " statutum est . . . ut nullus liber accom- modetur alicui per Librarium vel per alium, nisi receperit memoriale aequipollens, nisi fuerit ad instanciam Domini Episcopi." Durham Catalogues, p. 121 ; cp. p. 122 for the form of such a bond. inspectioneni et usum] The inspectioncm et of the MSS. points to an omission and I have supplied iLsiim : cp. s. 238. 144 PHILOBIBLON cunque per tres de praedictis custodibus valeat commodari, nomine tamen suo cum die quo librum recipit prius annotato. Nee tamen ipse possit librum sibi traditum alteri commodare, nisi de assensu trium de custodibus supradictis, et tunc delete 5 nomine primi nomen secundi cum tempore tradi- tionis scribatur. 242 Ad haec omnia observandum custodes singuli fidem praestent, quando eis custodia huiusmodi deputatur. Recipientes autem librum vel libros 10 ibidem iurabunt quod eum vel eos ad alium usum nisi ad inspectionem et studium nullatenus ap- plicabunt, quodque ilium et illos extra villam Oxoniensem cum suburbio nee deferent nee deferri permittent. 15 243 Singulis autem annis computum reddent prae- dicti custodes magistro domus et duobus quos secum duxerit de suis scholaribus assumendos, vel si eidem non vacaverit, tres deputet inspectores alios a custodibus, qui librorum catalogum perle- 7-0 gentes videant quod omnes habeant vel in volumi- nibus propriis vel saltem per cautiones praesentes. Ad hunc autem computum persolvendum tempus credimus opportunum a kalendis lulii usque ad 2,pri?nitus E edd. || 8 observanda Ja. I| 9 eis om. -£" || 12 vel edd. II 13 ipsum vel ipsos Ja. || 14 7ion deferent D Ja. i| i^ pertiiiltunt £ \\ 17 ducibzis ]o.. || 18 duxil J&. assumendos om. 2 II 24 oppoiiunms Ja. hinii A E a mense lulii B || kal. lulii] Apart from the question of authority, this is clearly the more probable reading. The feast of the Trans- CAPITULUM XIX. 145 festura sequens translationis gloriosi martyris sancti Thomae. 244 Hoc autem omnino adicimus quod quilibet, cui liber aliquis fuerit commodatus, semel in anno librum praesentet custodibus et suam si 5 voluerit videat cautionem. Porro si contingat for- tuito per mortem, furtum, fraudem vel incuriam librum perdi, ille qui perdidit vel eiusdem procu- rator seu etiam executor pretium libri solvat et eiusdem recipiat cautionem. Quod si qualiter- 10 cunque custodibus ipsis lucrum evenerit, in nihil aliud quam in librorum reparationem et subsidium convertatur. dfortuiiii A B E\\S perdliiim esse^^L. || 1 1 eveniat nihil^z. \\ 14 Hie in lilt as librorum conditiones circam libroruvi custodiam praetermitto eo quod mihi pro praesenti videatur inutile talia recitare M Ja. lation of S. Thomas was on July 7, and a period of seven days is much more likely for such an inspection than one of five weeks. Hie multas] The concluding words of the chapter in James are taken from J/, where they were doubtless written by the copyist, who stopped at deferendu7?t (see 240 ante), omitting the rest of the chapter, to explain his doing so. Cocheris is quite wrong in saying that they occur in A. 146 PHILOBIBLON Capitulum 20. Exhortatio scholarlum ad rependendum pro nobis suffragia debltae pietatis. 245 Tempus iam efflagitat terminare tractatum, quern de amore librorum compegimus, in quo contem- poraneorum nostrorum admirationibus de eo quod tantum libros dileximus rationem reddere nisi sumus. Verum quia vix datur aliquid operari mor- 5 talibus, quod nullius respergatur pulvere vanitatis, studiosum amorem, quem ita diuturnum ad libros habuimus iustificare penitus non audemus, quin fuerit forsan nobis quandoque occasio alicuius negli- gentiae venialis, quamvis amoris materia sit honesta 10 246 at intentio regulata. Si nam que cum omnia fece- rimus, servos nos inutiles dicere teneamur ; si lob sanctissimus sua opera omnia verebatur; si iuxta Isaiam quasi pannus menstruatae omnes sunt iustitiae nostrae ; quis se de perfectione cuiuscunque virtutis 15 Tit. repetendum D E die pietati D pietatis etc. B || *] jam dititurmcm Ja. diicrnum D \\() forsitan D forsan nobis in- ierdum Ja. || 14 smit om. E || pulvere vanitatis] Cp. Mich. i. 10. servos inutiles] Cp. Luke xvii. 10. opera verebatur] From Job ix. 28. pannus menstruatae] From Is. Ixiv. 6. CAPITULUM XX. 147 \ praesumet iactare, quin ex aliqua circumstantia valeat reprehendi, quae forsitan a seipso non poterit deprehendi ? Bonum enim ex integris causis, malum autem omnifarie : sicut Dionysius^ De divinis nomi- 247 nibus, nos informat. Quamobrem in nostrarum 5 iniquitatum remedium, quibus nos omnium Crea- torem crebrius offendisse cognoscimus, orationum suffragia petituri, studentes nostros futuros dignum duximus exbortari, quatenus sic tam nobis quam aliis eorundem futuris benefactoribus fiant grati, quod 10 beneficiorum nostrorum providentiam spiritalibus recompensent retributionibus. Vivamus in eorum memoiriis funerati, qui in nostris vixerunt benevo- lentiis nondum nati nostrisque nunc vivunt bene- ficiis sustentati. ClementiamRedemptorisimplorent 15 instantiis indefessis, quatenus negligentiis nostris parcat, peccatorum nostrorum reatibus pius index indulgeat, lapsus nostrae fragilitatis pallio pietatis operiat et offensas, quas et pudet et paenitet com- misisse, divina benignitate remittat. Conservet in 20 nobis ad sufficiens spatium paenitendi suarum muneragratiarum,fideilirmitatem, spei sublimitatem et ad omnes homines latissimam caritatem. Flectat superbum arbitrium ad culparum suarum lamentum, 2 semetipso D Ja. || 1 7 pius iudex indulgeat om. ^ || l8 nosiri fragiliiate?n Ja. || 22 spci suavitatem Ja. || Dionysius] Op. cit., iv. 30: 'ZvvtXovri de (pdpai to dyaObv £K Ttig fxidg Koi tijq oXtjq cuTiaQ, to dt icatcov Ik ttoXXwi' /cat fiEpiKuiv l\\dipeu}v. 148 PHILOBIBLON ut deploret transactas elationes vanissimas et re- tractet indignationes amarissimas ac delectationes insanissimas detestetar. Vigeat sua virtus in nobis, cum nostra defecerit, et qui nostrum ingressum sacro baptismate consecravit gratuito, nostrum pro- 5 gressum ad statum apostolicum sublimavit immerito, nostrum dignetur egressum sacramentis idoneis 249 communire. Laxetur a nostro spiritu amor carnis, evanescat penitus metus mortis, desideret dissolvi et esse cum Christo, et in terris solo corpore con- 10 stituti cogitatione et aviditate in aeterna patria con- versemur. Pater misericordiarum etDeus totiuscon- solationis filio prodigo de siliquis revertenti benignus occurrat, drachmam denuo repertam recipiat et in I ct deplores D \\ 2 insuavissimas E Ja. || 3 urgent Ja. || 5 sacrarnento baptismatis D Ja. || 6 iitwierito communire om. edd. || 10 ut in ^ || 1 1 conserucmur A D E\\ sublimavit] Cp. Ezech, xxxi. 10. The words from im- merito to commtmire inclusive were accidentally omitted by the scribe of Z, and added by him in the margin. The copyist of L took the marginal addition for a gloss or note and omitted it, and hence it is wanting in the edit. pr. Cocheris also omits them, though they are absolutely neces- sary to complete the sense. desideret dissolvi] From Phil. i. 23. corpore constituti] Cp. Jerome contra Vigil., c. 6 ; August., De Civ. Dei, xxi. 24. conversemur] Phil. iii. 20: "Nostra autem conversatio in caclis est." de siliquis] Cp. Luke xv. 1 6- 1 7. drachmam repertam] Cp. Luke xv. 8-9. CAPITULUM XX. 149 thesauros aeternos per angelos sanctos transmittal Castigetvultu terrifico exitusnostri horaspiritus tene- brarum, ne latens in limine portae mortis Leviathan, serpens vetus, insidias improvisas calcaneo nostro 250 paret. Cum vero ad terrendum tribunal fuerimus 5 advocati, ut cuncta quae corpore gessimus attes- tante conscientia referamus, consideret humanitas iuncta Deo effusi sui sancti sanguinis pretium et advertat divinitas humanata carnalis naturae figmentum, ut ibi transeat fragilitas impunita ubi 10 Clemens pietas cernitur infinita, et ibi respiret spiritus 25 1 miseri ubi exstat proprium iudicis misereri. Amplius refugium spei nostrae post Deum virginem et reginam Theotokon benedictam nostri semper stu- dentes salutationibus satagant frequentare devotis, 15 ut qui per nostra facinorareplicatameruimus iudicem invenire turbatum, per ipsius suffragia semper grata mereamur eundem reperire placatum. Deprimat pia manus brachium aequilibre, qua nostra tam parva quam pauca merita pensabuntur ne, quod absit, 20 praeponderet gravitas criminum et nos damnandos 252 deiciat in abyssum. Clarissimum meritis confes- 3 portarum Ja. || 5 tremendum in rasura A Ja. || 6 in corpore Ja. || 14 theochoton A B tJiothccon D theothecon E \\ 15 satagimt D |[ 18 reperire om. E || 19 aequae librae vulgo p7-ava A \\ 21 nos om. E \\ serpens vetus] Cp. Rev. xii. 9. ad terrendum tribunal] Cp. 2 Cor. v. 10, il. figmentum] Cp. Ps. cii. 14. in abyssum] Cp. Luke viii. 31 ; Rev. xx. 3. I50 PHILOBIBLON soremCuthbertum, cuius gregem indigni pascendum suscepimus, omni cultu studeant venerari devote, rogantes assidue, ut suum licet indignum vicarium precibus excusare dignetur et quern successorem admisit in terris, procuret effici consessorem in 5 caelis. Puris denique tarn mentis quam corporis precibus regent Deum, ut spiritum ad imaginem Trinitatis creatum post praesentis miseriae incola- tum ad suum reducat primordiale prototypum ac eiusdem concedat perpetuum fruibilis faciei con- 10 spectum : Amen. 253 Explicit Philobiblon domini Ricardi de Aunger- vile,cognominati de Bury, quondam episcopi Dunel- mensis. Completus est autem tractatus iste in 2 conwmni cultu ^ || 5 amisit B confessorem ABE Schm. Coch. || 12 Explicit etc. om. A Explicit Philobiblon B || Cuthbertum] Cuthbert, the patron saint of the cathedral at Durham. He reluctantly left his seclusion to become Bishop of Lindisfarne in 685, but in less than two years returned to his hermitage, where he practised great austerity, and was so constantly engaged in prayer that a long callosity extended from his knees downwards. After his death his body was removed from place to place, until it finally rested at Dunholme, which thus became the seat of the Palatine See. consessorem] No doubt the true reading : cp. Eph. ii. 6 : "consedere fecit in caelestibus." The word consessor occurs several times in Cicero. Explicit Philobiblon] For the questions arising in con- nexion with the concluding note, which is not found in any CAPITULUM XX. 151 manerio nostro de x\ukeland xxiiij" die lanuarii anno Domini millesimo trecentesimo quadragesimo quarto, aetatis nostrae quinquagesimo octavo praecise completo, pontificatus vero nostri anno undecimo finiente. Ad laudem Dei feliciter et 5 Amen. of the printed texts, see the Introduction. From the phrase praecise completo it would appear that the book was finished on the Bishop's birthday. feliciter] Cp. S. Jerome, ad Marcellam, Ep. 28 : *'Sole- mus completis opusculis ad distinctionem rei alterius se- quentis medium interponere explicit z.^x\. feliciter aut aliquid eiusmodi." The Philobiblon newly translated L 2 Prologue. 1 To all the faithful of Christ to whom the tenor of these presents may come, Richard de Bury, by the divine mercy Bishop of Durham, wisheth everlast- ing salvation in the Lord and to present continually a pious memorial of himself before God, alike in his lifetime and after his death. 2 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me ? asks the most devout psalmist, an invincible king and first among the prophets : in which most grateful question he approves him- self a willing thank-offerer, a multifarious debtor, and one who wishes for a holier counsellor than him- self : agreeing with Aristotle, the chief of philoso- phers, who shows (in the 3rd and 6th books of his Ethics) that all action depends upon counsel. 3 And indeed if so wonderful a prophet, having a foreknowledge of divine secrets, wished so anxiously to consider how he might gratefully repay the blessings graciously bestowed, what can we fitly do, who are but rude thanksgivers and most greedy receivers, laden with infinite divine benefits ? As- suredly we ought with anxious deliberation and abundant consideration, having first invoked the Sevenfold Spirit, that it may burn in our musings M 156 THE PHILOBIBLON as an illuminating fire, fervently to prepare a way without hinderance, that the bestower of all things may be cheerfully worshipped in return for the gifts that he has bestowed, that our neigh- bour may be reheved of his burden, and that the guilt contracted by sinners every day may be re- deemed by the atonement of almsgiving. 4 Forewarned therefore through the admonition of the psalmist's devotion by Him who alone prevents and perfects the goodwill of man, without Whom we have no power even so much as to think, and Whose gift Ave doubt not it is, if we have done any- thing good, v/e have diligently inquired and con- sidered in our own heart as well as with others, what among the good offices of various works of piety would most please the Almighty and would 5 be more beneficial to the Church MiHtant. And lo ! there soon occurred to our contemplation a host of unhappy, nay rather of elect scholars, in whom God the Creator and Nature his handmaid planted the roots of excellent morals and of famous sciences, but whom the poverty of their circumstances so op- pressed that before the frown of adverse fortune the seeds of excellence, so fruitful in the cultivated field of youth, not being watered by the rain that they 6 require, are forced to wither away. Thus it hap- pens that " bright virtue lurks buried in obscurity," to use the words of Boethius, and burning lights are not put under a bushel, but for want of oil are utterly extinguished. Thus the field, so full of PROLOGUE 157 flower in spring, has withered up before harvest- time ; thus wheat degenerates to tares, and vines into the wild vine, and thus olives run into the wild olive ; the tender stems rot away altogether, and those who might have grown up into strong pillars of the Church, being endowed with the capacity of a subtle intellect, abandon the schools of learning. 7 With poverty only as their stepmother, they are repelled violently iVom the nectared cup of philo- sophy, as soon as they have tasted of it and have become more fiercely thirsty by the very taste. Though fit for the liberal arts and disposed to study the sacred writings alone, being deprived of the aid of their friends, by a kind of apostasy they return to the mechanical arts solely to gain a livelihood, to the loss of the Church and the degradation of the S whole clergy. Thus Mother Church conceiving sons is compelled to miscarry, nay some misshapen monster is born untimely from her womb, and for lack of that little with which nature is contented, she loses excellent pupils, who might afterwards become champions and athletes of the faith. Alas, how suddenly the woof is cut, while the hand of the weaver is beginning his work ! Alas, how the sun is ecHpsed in the brightness of the dawn, and the planet in its course is hurled backwards, and while it bears the nature and likeness of a star suddenly 9 drops and becomes a meteor ! What more piteous sight can the pious man behold ? What can more sharply stir the bowels of his pity ? What can more IS8 THE PHILOBIBLON easily melt a heart hard as an anvil into hot tears ? On the other hand, let us recall from past experience how much it has profited the whole Christian com- monwealth, not indeed to enervate students with the delights of a Sardanapalus or the riches of a Croesus, but rather to support them in their poverty with the frugal means that become the scholar. 10 How many have we seen with our eyes, how many have we read of in books, who distinguished by no pride of birth, and rejoicing in no rich in- heritance, but supported only by the piety of the good, have made their way to apostolic chairs, have most worthily presided over faithful subjects, have bent the necks of the proud and lofty to the eccle- siastical yoke and have extended further the liberties of the Church ? 11 Accordingly, having taken a survey of human necessities in every direction, with a V\Q.\y to bestow our charity upon them, our compassionate inclina- tions have chosen to bear pious aid to this calamitous class of men, in whom there is nevertheless such hope of advantage to the Church, and to provide for them not only in respect of things necessary to their support, but much more in respect of the books so useful to their studies. To this end, most accept- able in the sight of God, our attention has long been unweariedly devoted. This ecstatic love has carried us away so powerfully, that we have resigned all thoughts of other earthly things, and have given ourselves up to a passion for acquiring books. PROLOGUE 159 12 That our intent and purpose, therefore, may be known to posterity as well as to our contemporaries, and that we may for ever stop the perverse tongues of gossipers as far as we are concerned, we have published a little treatise written in the lightest style of the moderns ; for it is ridiculous to find a slight matter treated of in a pompous style. And this treatise (divided into twenty chapters) will clear the love we have had for books from the charge of excess, will expound the purpose of our intense de- votion, and will narrate more clearly than light all 13 the circumstances of our undertaking. And because it principally treats of the love of books, we have chosen after the fashion of the ancient Romans fondly to name it by a Greek word, Philobiblon. l6o THE PHILOBIBLON Chapter i. That the Treasure of Wisdom is chiefly contained in Books. 14 The desirable treasure of wisdom and science, which all men desire by an instinct of nature, infinitely surpasses all the riches of the world ; in respect of which precious stones are worthless ; in comparison with which silver is as clay and pure gold is as a little sand ; at whose splendour the sun and moon are dark to look upon ; com- pared with whose marvellous sweetness honey and 15 manna are bitter to the taste. O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time, virtue ever flourish- ing, that cleanseth its possessor from all venom ! O heavenly gift of the divine bounty, descending from the Father of lights, that thou mayest exalt the rational soul to the very heavens ! Thou art the celestial nourishment of the intellect, which those who eat shall still hunger and those who drink shall still thirst, and the gladdening harmony of the languishing soul, which he that hears shall never 16 be confounded. Thou art the moderator and rule of morals, which he who follows shall not sin. By thee kings reign and princes decree justice. By thee, rid of their native rudeness, their minds and tongues being polished, the thorns of vice CHAPTER I. i6i being torn up by the roots, those men attain high places of honour and become fathers of their country and companions of princes, v>'ho without thee would have melted their spears into pruning- hooks and ploughshares, or would perhaps be feed- ing swine with the prodigal. I y Where dost thou chiefly lie hidden, O most elect treasure ! and where shall thirsting souls discover thee? Certes, thou hast placed thy tabernacle in books, where the Most High, the Light of lights, the Book of Life, has established thee. There everyone who asks receiveth thee, and everyone who seeks finds thee, and to everyone that knocketh boldly it is 1 8 speedily opened. Therein the cherubim spread out their wings, that the intellect of the students may ascend and look from pole to pole, from the east and west, from the north and from the south. Therein the mighty and incomprehensible God himself is apprehensibly contained and worshipped; therein is revealed the nature of things celestial, terrestrial, and infernal ; therein are discerned the laws by which every state is administered, the offices of the celestial hierarchy are distinguished and the tyrannies of demons described, such as neither the ideas of Plato transcend nor the chair 19 of Crato contained. In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth ; from books come forth the laws of peace. All things are 1 62 THE PHILOBIBLON corrupted and decay in time ; Saturn ceases not to devour the children that he generates : all the glory of the world would be buried in oblivion, unless God had provided mortals with the remedy of 20 books. Alexander, the conqueror of the earth, Julius the invader of Rome and of the world, who, the first in war and arts, assumed universal empire under his single rule, faithful Fabricius and stern Cato, would now have been unknown to fame, if the 21 aid of books had been wanting. Towers have been razed to the ground ; cities have been over- thrown ; triumphal arches have perished from decay; nor can either pope or king find any means of more easily conferring the privilege of per- petuity than by books. The book that he has made renders its author this service in return, that so long as the book survives its author remains immortal and cannot die, as Ptolemy declares in the Prologue to his Almagest : He is not dead, he says, who has given life to science. 22 Who therefore will limit by anything of another kind the price of the infinite treasure of books, from which the scribe who is instructed bringeth forth things new and old ? Truth that triumphs over all things, which overcomes the king, wine, and women, which it is reckoned holy to honour before friendship, which is the way without turning and the life without end, which holy Boethius considers to be threefold in thought, speech, and writing, seems to remain more usefully and to CHAPTER I. 163 23 fructify to greater profit in books. For the mean- ing of the voice perishes with the sound; truth latent in the mind is wisdom that is hid and treasure that is not seen ; but truth which shines forth in books desires to manifest itself to every impressionable sense. It commends itself to the sight when it is read, to the hearing Avhen it is heard, and moreover in a manner to the touch, when it suffers itself to be transcribed, bound, 24 corrected, and preserved. The undisclosed truth of the mind, although it is the possession of the noble soul, yet because it lacks a companion, is not certainly known to be delightful, while neither sight nor hearing takes account of it. Further, the truth of the voice is patent only to the ear and eludes the sight, which reveals to us more of the qualities of things, and linked with the subtlest of motions 25 begins and perishes as it were in a breath. But the written truth of books, not transient but permanent, plainly offers itself to be obsen^ed, and by means of the pervious spherules of the eyes, passing through the vestibule of perception and the courts of imagination, enters the chamber of intellect, taking its place in the couch of memory, where it engenders the eternal truth of the mind. 26 Finally, we must consider what pleasantness of teaching there is in books, how easy, how secret ! How safely we lay bare the poverty of human ignorance to books without feeling any shame ! They are masters who instruct us without rod or 1 64 THE PHILOBIBLON ferule, without angry words, without clothes or money. If you come to them they are not asleep ; if you ask and inquire of them, they do not with- draw themselves ; they do not chide if you make mistakes ; they do not laugh at you if you are 27 ignorant. O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully ! by how many thousand types are ye commended to learned men in the scriptures given us by inspiration of God ! For ye are the mines of profoundest wisdom, to which the wise man sends his son that he may dig out treasures : Prov. 2. Ye are the wells of living waters, which father Abraham first digged, Isaac digged again, and which the Philistines strive to fill 28 up: Gen. 26. Ye are indeed the most delightful ears of corn, full of grain, to be rubbed only by apostolic hands, that the sweetest food may be produced for hungry souls : Matt. 12. Ye are the golden pots in which manna is stored, and rocks flowing with honey, nay combs of honey, most plenteous udders of the milk of life, garners ever full ; ye are the tree of life and the fourfold river of Paradise, by which the human mind is nourished and the thirsty intellect is watered and 29 refreshed. Ye are the ark of Noah and the ladder of Jacob, and the troughs by which the young of those who look therein are coloured; ye are the stones of testimony and the pitchers holding the lamps of Gideon, the scrip of David, from which CHAPTER 11. i6: the smoothest stones are taken for the slaying of Goliath. Ye are the golden vessels of the temple, the arms of the soldiers of the Church, with which to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, fruitful olives, vines of Engadi, figtrees that are never barren, burning lamps always to be held in readi- ness — and all the noblest comparisons of scripture may be applied to books, if we choose to speak in figures. Chapter 2. The degree of Affection that is properly due to Books. 30 Since the degree of affection a thing deserves depends upon the degree of its value, and the previous chapter shows that the value of books is unspeakable, it is quite clear to the reader what is the probable conclusion from this. I say probable, for in moral science we do not insist upon demon- stration, remembering that the educated man seeks such degree of certainty as he perceives the subject- matter will bear, as Aristotle testifies in the first book of his Ethics. For TuUy does not appeal to Euclid, nor does Euclid rely upon Tully. This at all events we endeavour to prove whether by logic 1 66 THE PHILOBIBLON or rhetoric, that all riches and all delights what- soever yield place to books in the spiritual mind, wherein the Spirit which is charity ordereth charity. 31 Now in the first place, because wisdom is con- tained in books more than all mortals understand, and wisdom thinks lightly of riches, as the foregoing chapter declares. Furthermore, Aristotle in his Problems determines the question, why the ancients proposed prizes to the stronger in gym- nastic and corporeal contests, but never awarded any prize for wisdom. This question he solves as follows ; In gymnastic exercises the prize is better and more desirable than that for which it is be- stowed ; but it is certain that nothing is better than wisdom : wherefore no prize could be as- signed for wisdom. And therefore neither riches nor delights are more excellent than wisdom. 32 Again, only the fool will deny that friendship is to be preferred to riches, since the wisest of men testifies this ; but the chief of philosophers honours truth before friendship, and the truthful Zorobabel prefers it to all things. Riches then are less than truth. Now truth is chiefly maintained and con- tained in holy books — nay they are written truth itself, since by books we do not now mean the materials of which they are made. Wherefore riches are less than books, especially as the most precious of all riches are friends, as Boethius testifies in the second book of his Consolation ; to whom the truth of books according to Aristotle is to be CHAPTER 11. 167 33 preferred. Moreover, since we know that riches first and chiefly appertain to the support of the body only, while the virtue of books is the perfec- tion of reason, which is properly speaking the hap- piness of man, it appears that books to the man who uses his reason are dearer than riches. Furthermore, that by which the faith is more easily defended, more widely spread, more clearly preached, ought to be more desirable to the faith- 34 ful. But this is the truth written in books, which our Saviour plainly shovred, when he was about to contend stoutly against the Tempter, girding him- self with the shield of truth and indeed of written truth, declaring " it is written " of what he was about to utter with his voice. 35 And, again, no one doubts that happiness is to be preferred to riches. But happiness con- sists in the operation of the noblest and diviner of the faculties that we possess — when the whole mind is occupied in contemplating the truth of wisdom, which is the most delectable of all our virtuous activities, as the prince of philoso- phers declares in the tenth book of the Ethics, on which account it is that philosophy is held to have wondrous pleasures in respect of purity and 36 solidity, as he goes on to say. But the contempla- tion of truth is never more perfect than in books, where the act of imagination perpetuated by books does not suffer the operation of the intellect upon the truths that it has seen to suffer interruption. 1 68 THE PHILOBIBLON Wherefore books appear to be the most immediate instruments of speculative delight, and therefore Aristotle, the sun of philosophic truth, in consider- ing the principles of choice, teaches that in itself to philosophize is more desirable than to be rich, although in certain cases, as where for instance one is in need of necessaries, it may be more desirable to be rich than to philosophize. 37 Moreover, since books are the aptest teachers, as the previous chapter assumes, it is fitting to bestow on them the honour and the affection that we owe to our teachers. In fine, since all men naturally desire to know, and since by means of books we can attain the knowledge of the ancients, w-hich is to be desired beyond all riches, what man living ac- cording to nature would not feel the desire of books? 38 And although we know that swine trample pearls under foot, the wise man will not therefore be de- terred from gathering the pearls that lie before him. A library of wisdom, then, is more precious than all wealth, and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it. Whoever therefore claims to be zealous of truth, of happiness, of wisdom or know- ledge, aye even of the faith, must needs become a lover of books. CHAPTER III. 169 Chapter 3. What we are to think of the price In the buying of books. 39 From what has been said we draw this corollary welcome to us, but (as we believe) acceptable to few: namely, that no dearness of price ought to hinder a man from the buying of books, if he has the money that is demanded for them, unless it be to withstand the malice of the seller or to await a more favourable opportunity of buying. For if it is wisdom only that makes the price of books, which is an infinite treasure to mankind, and if the value of books is unspeakable, as the premises show, how shall the bargain be shov/n to be dear where an infinite good is being bought ? Wherefore, that books are to be gladly bought and unwillingly sold, Solomon, the sun of men, exhorts us in the Proverbs : 40 Buy the h-^iith, he says, and sell not wisdom. But what we are trying to show by rhetoric or logic, let us prove by examples from history. The arch- philosopher Aristotle, whom Averroes regards as the law of Nature, bought a few books of Speu- sippus straightway after his death for seventy-two thousand sesterces. Plato, before him in time, 170 THE PHILOBIBLON but after him in learning, bought the book of Philolaus the Pythagorean, from which he is said to have taken the Thnceus, for ten thousand denaries, 41 as Aulus Gellius relates in the Nodes Atticc^. Now Aulus Gellius relates this that the foolish may con- sider how wise men despise money in comparison with books. And on the other hand, that we may know that folly and pride go together, let us here relate the folly of Tarquin the Proud in despising 42 books, as also related by Aulus Gellius. An old woman, utterly unknown, is said to have come to Tarquin the Proud, the seventh king of PvOme, offering to sell nine books, in which (as she declared) sacred oracles were contained, but she asked an immense sum for them, insomuch that the king said she was mad. In anger she flung three books into the fire, and still asked the same sum for the rest. When the king refused it, again she flung three others into the fire and still asked the same price for the three that were left. At last, astonied beyond measure, Tarquin was glad to pay for three books the same price for which he might have bought nine. The old woman straightway disap- 43 peared, and was never seen before or after. These were the Sibylline books, which the Romans con- sulted as a divine oracle by some one of the Quin- decemvirs, and this is believed to have been the origin of the Quindecemvirate. What did this Sibyl teach the proud king by this bold deed, except that the vessels of wisdom, holy books, ex- CHAPTER IV. 171 ceed all human estimation ; and as Gregory says of the kingdom of Heaven : They are worth all that thou hast ? Chapter 4. The Complaint of Books against the Clergy already promoted. 44 A generation of vipers destroying their own parents and base offspring of the ungrateful cuckoo, who when he has grown strong slays his nurse, the giver of his strength, are degenerate clerks with regard to books. Bring it again to mind and consider faithfully what ye receive through books, and ye will find that books are as it were the creators of your distinction, without which other favourers would have been wanting. 45 In sooth, while still untrained and helpless ye crept up to us, ye spake as children, ye thought as children, ye cried as children and begged to be made partakers of our milk. But we being straight- way moved by your tears gave you the breast of grammar to suck, which ye plied continually with teeth and tongue, until ye lost your native bar- barousness and learned to speak with our tongues 45 the mighty things of God. And next we clad you with the goodly garments of philosophy, rhetoric and dialectic, of which v/e had and have a store, N 172 THE PHILOBIBLON while ye were naked as a tablet to be painted on. For all the household of philosophy are clothed with garments, that the nakedness and rawness 47 of the intellect may be covered. After this, pro- viding you with the fourfold wings of the quad- rivials that ye might be winged like the seraphs and so mount above the cherubim, we sent you to a friend at whose door, if only ye importunately knocked, ye might borrow the three loaves of the Knowledge of the Trinity, in which consists the final felicity of every sojourner below. Nay, if ye deny that ye had these privileges, we boldly declare that ye either lost them by your carelessness, or that through your sloth ye spurned them when 48 offered to you. If these things seem but a light matter to you, we will add yet greater things. Ye are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy race, ye are a peculiar people chosen into the lot of God, ye are priests and ministers of God, nay, ye are called the very Church of God, as though the laity were not to be called churchmen. Ye, being preferred to the laity, sing psalms and hymns in the chancel, and serving the altar and living by the altar, make the true body of Christ, wherein God himself has honoured you not only above the 49 laity, but even a little higher than the angels. For to whom of his angels has he said at any time : Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech ? Ye dispense the patrimony of the crucified one to the poor, wherein it is required CHAPTER IV. 173 of stewards that a man be found faithful. Ye are shepherds of the Lord's flock, as well in example of life as in the word of doctrine, which is bound to repay you with milk and wool. 50 Who are the givers of all these things, O clerks? Is it not books? Do ye remember therefore, we pray, how many and how great liberties and privileges are bestowed upon the clergy through us. In truth, taught by us who are the vessels of ^^sdom and intellect, ye ascend the teacher's chair 5 1 and are called of men Rabbi. By us ye become marvellous in the eyes of the laity, like great lights in the world, and possess the dignities of the Church according to your various stations. By us, while ye still lack the first down upon your cheeks, ye are established in your early years and bear the tonsure on your heads, while the dread sentence of the Church is heard : Touch not 7nijie anoitited a?id do my prophets no harm^ and he who has rashly touched them let him forthwith by his own blow be smitten violently with the 2 2 wound of an anathema. At length yielding your lives to wickedness, reaching the two paths of Pythagoras, ye choose the left branch, and going backward ye let got he lot of God which ye had first assumed, becoming companions of thieves. And thus ever going from bad to worse, dyed with theft and murder and manifold impurities, your fame and conscience stained by sins, at the bidding of justice ye are confined in manacles and fetters, 174 THE PHILOBIBLON and are kept to be punished by a most shameful 53 death. Then your friend is put far away, nor is there any to mourn your lot. Peter swears that he knows not the man : the people cry to the judge : C7-udfy, crucify him ! if thou let this man go, thou art 7iot Ccesar'sfrie7id. Now all refuge has perished, for ye must stand before the judgment-seat, and there is no appeal, but only hanging is in store 54 for you. While the wretched man's heart is thus filled with woe and only the sorrowing Muses bedew their cheeks with tears, in his strait is heard on every side the wailing appeal to us, and to avoid the danger of impending death he shows the slight sign of the ancient tonsure which we bestowed upon him, begging that we may be called to his aid and bear witness to the privilege bestowed upon him. Then straightway touched with pity we run to meet the prodigal son and snatch the fugitive 55 slave from the gates of death. The book he has not forgotten is handed to him to be read, and while with lips stammering with fear he reads a few words the power of the judge is loosed, the accuser is withdrawn, and death is put to flight. O mar- vellous virtue of an empiric verse ! O saving antidote of dreadful ruin ! O precious reading of the psalter, which for this alone deserves to be q6 called the book of life ! Let the laity undergo the judgment of the secular arm, that either sewn up in sacks they may be carried out to Neptune, or planted in the earth may fructify for Pluto, or may CHAPTER IV. 175 be offered amid the flames as a fattened holocaust to Vulcan, or at least may be hung up as a victim to Juno ; while our nursling at a single reading of the book of life is handed over to the custody of the Bishop, and rigour is changed to favour, and the forum being transferred from the laity, death is routed by the clerk who is the nursling of books. 57 But now let us speak of the clerks who are vessels of virtue. Which of you about to preach ascends the pulpit or the rostrum without in some way consulting us ? Which of you enters the schools to teach or to dispute without relying upon our support ? First of all it behoves you to eat the book with Ezechiel, that the belly of your memory may be sweetened within, and thus as with the panther refreshed, to whose breath all beasts and cattle long to approach, the sweet savour of the spices it has eaten may shed a perfume 58 without. Thus our nature secretly working in our own, listeners hasten up gladly, as the load- stone draws the iron nothing loth. What an infinite host of books lie at Paris or Athens, and at the same time resound in Britain and in Rome ! In truth, while resting they yet move, and while retaining their own places they are carried about every way to the minds of listeners. 59 Finally, by the knowledge of literature, we establish priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope, that all things in the ecclesiastical hierarchy may be fitly disposed. For it is from books that everything of 176 THE PHILOBIBLON good that befalls the clerical condition takes its origin. But let this suffice : for it pains us to recall what we have bestowed upon the degenerate clergy, because whatever gifts are distributed to the ungrateful seem to be lost rather than be- stowed. 60 Let us next dwell a little on the recital of the wrongs with which they requite us, the contempts and cruelties of which we cannot recite an example in each kind, nay, scarcely the main classes of the several wrongs. In the first place, we are expelled by force and arms from the homes of the clergy, which are ours by hereditary right, who were used to have cells of quietness in the inner chamber, but alas ! in these unhappy times we are altogether 61 exiled, suffering poverty without the gates. For our places are seized now by dogs, now by hawks, now by that biped beast whose cohabitation with the clergy was forbidden of old, from which we have always taught our nurslings to flee more than from the asp and cockatrice ; wherefore she, always jealous of the love of us, and never to be appeased, at length seeing us in some corner protected only by the web of some dead spider, with a frown abuses and reviles us with bitter words, declaring us alone of all the furniture in the house to be unnecessary, and complaining that we are useless for any household purpose, and advises that we should speedily be converted into rich caps, sendal and silk and twice-dyed purple, robes and furs, CHAPTER IV. 177 wool and linen : and, indeed, not without reason, if she could see our inmost hearts, if she had listened to our secret counsels, if she had read the book of Theophrastus or Valerius, or only heard the twenty - fifth chapter of Ecclesiasticus with understanding ears. 62 And hence it is that we have to mourn for the homes of which we have been unjustly robbed ; and as to our coverings, not that they have not been given to us, but that the coverings anciently given to us have been torn by violent hands, inso- much that our soul is bowed down to the dust, our belly cleaveth unto the earth. We suffer from various diseases, enduring pains in our backs and sides ; we lie with our limbs unstrung by pals)^, and there is no man who layeth it to heart, and no 63 man who provides a mollifying plaster. Our native whiteness that was clear with light has turned to dun and yellow, so that no leech who should see us would doubt that we are diseased with jaundice. Some of us are suffering from gout, as our twisted extremities plainly show. The smoke and dust by which we are continuously plagued have dulled the keenness of our visual rays, and are now in- 64 fecting our bleared eyes with ophthalmia. Within we are devoured by the fierce gripings of our entrails, which hungry worms cease not to gnaw, and we undergo the corruption of the two Laza- ruses, nor is there anyone to anoint us with balm of cedar, nor to cry to us who have been four days 178 THE PHILOBIBI.ON dead and already stink, Lazarus come forth ! No healing drug is hound around our cruel wounds, which are so atrociously inflicted upon the innocent, and there is none to put a plaster upon our ulcers ; but ragged and shivering we are flung away into dark corners, or in tears take our place with holy Job upon his dunghill, or — too horrible to relate — are buried in the depths of the 65 common sewers. The cushion is withdrawn that should support our evangelical sides, which ought to have the first claim upon the incomes of the clergy, and the common necessaries of life thus be for ever provided for us, who are entrusted to their chanj;c. 66 Again, we complain of another sort of injury which is too often unjustly inflicted upon our persons. We are sold for bondmen and bondwomen, and lie as hostages in taverns with no one to redeem us. We fall a prey to the cruel shambles, where we see sheep and cattle slaughtered not without pious tears, and where we die a thousand times from such terrors as might frighten even the brave. We are handed over to Jews, Saracens, heretics and infidels, whose poison we always dread above every- thing, and by whom it is well known that some of our parents have been infected with pestiferous 67 venom. In sooth, we who should be treated as masters in the sciences, and bear rule over the mechanics who should be subject to us, are instead handed over to the government of subordinates, as CHAPTER IV. 179 though some supremely noble monarch should be trodden under foot by rustic heels. Any seamster or cobbler or tailor or artificer of any trade keeps us shut up in prison for the luxurious and wanton pleasures of the clergy. 68 Now we would pursue a new kind of injury by which we suffer alike in person and in fame, the dearest thing we have. Our purity of race is diminished every day, while new authors' names are imposed upon us by worthless compilers, trans- lators, and transformers, and losing our ancient nobility, while we are reborn in successive gene- rations, we become wholly degenerate ; and thus against our will the name of some wretched step- father is affixed to us, and the sons are robbed of 69 the names of their true fathers. The verses of Virgil, while he was yet living, were claimed by an impostor; and a certain Fidentinus mendaciously usurped the works of Martial, whom Martial thus deservedly rebuked : " The book you read is, Fidentinus ! mine, Though read so badly, 't well may pass for thine !" What marvel, then, if when our authors are dead clerical apes use us to make broad their phylac- teries, since even while they are alive they try to 70 seize us as soon as we are published? Ah ! how often ye pretend that we who are ancient are but lately born, and try to pass us off as sons who are really fathers, calling us who have made you clerks the production of your studies. Indeed, we de- i8o THE PHILOBIBLON rived our origin from Athens, though we are now supposed to be from Rome ; for Carmentis was always the pilferer of Cadmus, and we who were but lately born in England, will to-morrow be born again in Paris ; and thence being carried to Bologna, will obtain an Italian origin, based 7 1 upon no affinity of blood. Alas ! how ye commit us to treacherous copyists to be written, how cor- ruptly ye read us and kill us by medication, while ye supposed ye were correcting us with pious zeal. Oftentimes we have to endure barbarous inter- preters, and those who are ignorant of foreign idioms presume to translate us from one language into another ; and thus all propriety of speech is lost and our sense is shamefully mutilated contrary to the meaning of the author ! Truly noble would have been the condition of books, if it had not been for the presumption of the tower of Babel, if but one kind of speech had been transmitted by the whole human race. 72 We will add the last clause of our long lament, though far too short for the materials that we have. For in us the natural use is changed to that which is against nature, while we who are the light of faithful souls everywhere fall a prey to painters knowing nought of letters, and are entrusted to goldsmiths to become, as though we were not sacred vessels of wisdom, repositories of gold-leaf. We fall undeservedly into the power of laymen, which is more bitter to us than any death, since CHAPTER V. i8i they have sold our people for nought, and our enemies themselves are our judges. 73 It is clear from what we have said what infinite invectives we could hurl against the clergy, if we did not think of our own reputation. For the soldier whose campaigns are over venerates his shield and arms, and grateful Corydon shows regard for his decaying team, harrow, flail and mattock, and every manual artificer for the in- struments of his craft ; it is only the ungrateful cleric who despises and neglects those things which have ever been the foundation of his honours. Chapter 5. The Complaint of Books against the Possessioners. 74 The venerable devotion of the religious orders is wont to be solicitous in the care of books and to delight in their society, as if they were the only riches. For some used to write them with their own hands between the hours of prayer, and gave to the making of books such intervals as they could secure and the times appointed for the recreation of the body. By whose labours there are resplendent to-day in most monasteries these sacred treasuries 1 82 THE PHILOBIBLON full of cherubic letters, for giving the knowledge of salvation to the student and a delectable light to 75 the paths of the laity. O manual toil, happier than any agricultural task ! O devout solicitude, where neither Martha nor Mary deserves to be rebuked ! O joyful house, in which the fruitful Leah does not envy the beauteous Rachel, but action and contemplation share each other's joys ! O happy charge, destined to benefit endless gene- rations of posterity, with which no planting of trees, no sowing of seeds, no pastoral delight in herds, no building of fortified camps can be compared ! 76 Wherefore the memory of those fathers should be immortal, who delighted only in the treasures of wisdom, who most laboriously provided shining lamps against future darkness, and against hunger of hearing the word of God most carefully prepared not bread baked in the ashes, nor of barley, nor musty, but unleavened loaves made of the finest wheat of divine wisdom, with which hungry souls 77 might be joyfully fed. These men were the stoutest champions of the Christian army, who defended our weakness by their most valiant arms ; they were in their time the most cunning takers of foxes, who have left us their nets, that we might catch the young foxes, who cease not to devour the growing vines. Of a truth, noble fathers, worthy of perpetual benediction, ye would have been deservedly happy, if ye had been allowed to beget offspring like yourselves, and to leave no CHAPTER V. 183 degenerate or doubtful progeny for the benefit of future times. yS But, painful to relate, now slothful Thersites handles the arms of Achilles and the choice trap- pings of war-horses are spread upon lazy asses, winking owls lord it in the eagle's nest, and the cowardly kite sits upon the perch of the hawk. Liber Bacchus is ever loved, And is into their bellies shoved, By day and by night ; Liber Codex is neglected, And with scornful hand rejected. Far out of their sight. 79 And as if the simple monastic folk of modern times were deceived by a confusion of names, while Liber Fater is preferred to Liber Fatrum^ the study of the monks nowadays is in the emptying of cups and not the emending of books ; to which they do not hesitate to add the wanton music of Timotheus, jealous of chastity, and thus the song of the merrymaker and not the chant of the 80 mourner is become the office of the monks. Flocks and fleeces, crops and granaries, leeks and pot- herbs, drink and goblets, are nowadays the reading and study of the monks, except a few elect ones, in whom lingers not the image but some slight vestige of the fathers that preceded them. And again, no materials at all are furnished us to commend the canons regular for their care or study of us, who though they bear their name 184 TB-£ PHTLOBIBLON of honour from their twofold rule, yet have neglected the notable clause of Augustine's rule, in which we are commended to his clergy in these words : Let hooks be asked for each day at a gtvefi hour ; he who asks for them after the hour is not to 81 receive the?n. Scarcely anyone observes this devout rule of study after saying the prayers of the Church, but to care for the things of this world and to look at the plough that has been left is reckoned the highest wisdom. They take up bow and quiver, embrace arms and shield, devote the tribute of alms to dogs and not to the poor, become the slaves of dice and draughts, and of all such things as we are wont to forbid even to the secular clergy, so that we need not marvel if they disdain to look upon us, whom they see so much opposed to their mode of life. 82 Come then, reverend fathers, deign to recall your fathers and devote yourselves more faithfully to the study of holy books, without which all religion will stagger, without which the virtue of devotion will dry up like a sherd, and without which ye can afford no light to the world. CHAPTER VI. 185 Chapter 6. The Complaint of Books against the Mendicants. ^Z Poor in spirit but most rich in faith, offscourings of the world and salt of the earth, despisers of the world and fishers of men, how happy are ye, if suffering penury for Christ ye know how to possess your souls in patience ! For it is not want the avenger of iniquity, nor the adverse fortune of your parents, nor violent necessity that has thus oppressed you with beggary, but a devout will and Christ-like election, by which ye have chosen that life as the best, which God Almighty made man as well by word as by example declared to be 84 the best. In truth, ye are the latest offspring of the ever-fruitful Church, of late divinely substituted for the Fathers and the Prophets, that your sound may go forth into all the earth, and that instructed by our healthful doctrines ye may preach before all kings and nations the invincible faith of Christ. 85 Moreover, that the faith of the Fathers is chiefly enshrined in books the second chapter has suffi- ciently shown, from which it is clearer than light that ye ought to be zealous lovers of books above all other Christians. Ye are commanded to sow 1 86 THE PHILOBIBLON upon all waters, because the Most High is no respecter of persons, nor does the Most Holy de- sire the death of sinners, who offered himself to die for them, but desires to heal the contrite in heart, to raise the fallen, and to correct the perverse 86 in the spirit of lenity. For which most salutary purpose our kindly Mother Church has planted you freely, and having planted has watered you with favours, and having watered you has estab- lished you with privileges, that ye may be co- workers with pastors and curates in procuring the salvation of faithful souls. Wherefore, that the order of Preachers was principally instituted for the study of the Holy Scriptures and the salvation of their neighbours, is declared by their constitutions, so that not only from the rule of Bishop Augustine, which directs books to be asked for every day, but as soon as they have read the prologue of the said constitutions they may know from the very title of the same that they are pledged to the love of books. 87 But alas ! a threefold care of superfluities, viz., of the stomach, of dress, and of houses, has seduced these men and others following their example from the paternal care of books, and from their study. For forgetting the providence of the Saviour (who is declared by the Psalmist to think upon the poor and needy), they are occupied with the wants of the perishing body, that their feasts may be splendid and their garments luxurious, against the rule, CHAPTER VI. 187 and the fabrics of their buildings, Hke the battle- ments of castles, carried to a height incompatible 88 with poverty. Because of these three things, we books, who have ever procured their advancement and have granted them to sit among the powerful and noble, are put far from their heart's affection and are reckoned as superfluities ; except that they rely upon some treatises of small value, from which they derive strange heresies and apocryphal imbecilities, not for the refreshment of souls, but 80 rather for tickling the ears of the listeners. The holy scripture is not expounded, but is neglected and treated as though it were commonplace and known to all, though very few have touched its hem, and though its depth is such, as Holy Augustine de- clares, that it cannot be understood by the human intellect, however long it may toil with the utmost intensity of study. From this he who devotes himself to it assiduously, if only He will vouch- safe to open the door who has established the spirit of piety, may unfold a thousand lessons of moral teaching, which will flourish with the freshest novelty and will cherish the intelligence of the listeners with the most delightful savours. no Wherefore the first professors of evangelical poverty, after some slight homage paid to secular science, collecting all their force of intellect, devoted them- selves to labours upon the sacred scripture, medi- tating day and night on the law of the Lord. And whatever they could steal from their famishing o i88 THE PHILOBIBLON beily, or intercept from their half-covered body, they thought it the highest gain to spend in buying or correcting books. Whose worldly contemporaries observing their devotion and study, bestowed upon them for the edification of the whole Church the books which they had collected at great expense in the various parts of the world. 91 In truth, in these days as ye are engaged with all diligence in pursuit of gain, it may be reasonably believed, if we speak according to human notions, that God thinks less upon those whom he per- ceives to distrust his promises, putting their hope in human providence, not considering the raven, nor the lilies, whom the Most High feeds and arrays. Ye do not think upon Daniel and the bearer of the mess of boiled pottage, nor recollect Elijah who was delivered from hunger once in the desert by angels, again in the torrent by ravens, and again in Sarepta by the widow, through the divine bounty, which gives to all flesh their meat 92 in due season. Ye descend (as we fear) by a wretched anticlimax, distrust of the divine goodness producing reliance upon your own prudence, and reliance upon your own prudence begetting anxiety about worldly things, and excessive anxiety about worldly things taking away the love as well as the study of books ; and thus poverty in these days is abused to the injury of the word of God, which ye have chosen only for profit's sake. 93 With summer fruit, as the people gossip, ye CHAPTER VL 189 attract boys to religion, whom when they have taken the vows ye do not instruct by fear and force, as their age requires, but allow them to devote themselves to begging expeditions, and suffer them to spend the time, in which they might be learning, in procuring the favour of friends, to the annoyance of their parents, the danger of the boys, and the detriment of the order. And thus no doubt it happens that those who were not compelled to learn as unwilling boys, when they grow up pre- sume to teach though utterly unworthy and un- learned, and a small error in the beginning becomes 94 a very great one in the end. For there grows up among your promiscuous flock of laity a pestilent multitude of creatures, who nevertheless the more shamelessly force themselves into the office of preaching, the less they understand what they are saying, to the contempt of the Divine word and 95 the injury of souls. In truth against the law ye plough with an ox and an ass together, in com- mitting the cultivation of the Lord's field to learned and unlearned. Side by side, it is written, the oxen were ploughing and the asses feeding beside them : since it is the duty of the discreet to preach, but of the simple to feed themselves in silence by the hearing of sacred eloquence. How many stones ye fling upon the heap of Mercury nowa- days ! How many marriages ye procure for the eunuchs of wisdom ! How many blind watchmen ye bid go round about the walls of the Church ! 190 THE PHILOBIBLON 96 O idle fishermen, using only the nets of others, which when torn it is all ye can do to clumsily repair, but can net no new ones of your own ! ye enter on the labours of others, ye repeat the lessons of others, ye mouth with theatric effort the superficially repeated wisdom of others. As the silly parrot imitates the words that he has heard, so such men are mere reciters of all, but authors of nothing, imitating Balaam's ass, which, though senseless of itself, yet became elo- quent of speech and the teacher of its master 97 though a prophet. Recover yourselves, O poor in Christ, and studiously regard us books, without which ye can never be properly shod in the pre- paration of the gospel of peace. Paul the Apostle, preacher of the truth and excellent teacher of the nations, for all his gear bade three things to be brought to him by Timothy, his cloak, books and parchments, affording an example to ecclesiastics that they should w^ar dress in moderation, and should have books for aid in study, and parchments, which the Apostle especially esteems, for writing : and especially, he 98 says, the parchments. And truly that clerk is crippled and maimed to his disablement in many v/ays, who is entirely ignorant of the art of writing. He beats the air with words and edifies only those who are present, but does nothing for the absent and for posterity. The man bore a writer's ink- horn upon his loins, who set a mark Tau upon the CHAPTER VII. 191 foreheads of the men that sigh and cry, Ezechiel 9 ; teaching in a figure that if any lack skill in writing, he shall not undertake the task of preaching re- pentance. 99 Finally, in conclusion of the present chapter, books implore of you : make your young men who though ignorant are apt of intellect apply them- selves to study, furnishing them with necessaries, that )'e may teach them not only goodness but discipline and science, may terrify them by blows, charm them by blandishments, mollify them by gifts, and urge them on by painful rigour, so that they may become at once Socratics in morals and Peri- 100 patetics in learning. Yesterday, as it were at the eleventh hour, the prudent householder introduced you into his vineyard. Repent of idleness before it is too late : would that with the cunning steward ye might be ashamed of begging so shamelessly ; for then no doubt ye would devote yourselves more assiduously to us books and to study. Chapter 7. The Complaint of Books against Wars. 1 01 Almighty Author and Lover of peace, scatter the nations that delight in war, which is above all plagues injurious to books. For wars being without 192 THE PHILOBIBLON the control of reason make a wild assault on every- thing they comes across, and lacking the check of reason they push on without discretion or dis- 102 tinction to destroy the vessels of reason. Then the wise Apollo becomes the Python's prey, and Phronesis, the pious mother, becomes subject to the power of Phrenzy. Then winged Pegasus is shut up in the stall of Corydon, and eloquent Mercury is strangled. Then wise Pallas is struck down by the dagger of error, and the charming Pierides are smitten by the truculent tyranny of 103 madness. O cruel spectacle ! where you may see the Phoebus of philosophers, the all-wise Aristotle, whom God himself made master of the master of the v/orld, enchained by wicked hands and borne in shameful irons on the shoulders of gladiators from his sacred home. There you may see him who was worthy to be lawgiver to the lawgiver of the world and to hold empire over its emperor made the slave of vile buffoons by the most unrighteous 104 laws of war. O most wicked power of darkness, which does not fear to undo the approved divinity of Plato, who alone was worthy to submit to the view of the Creator, before he assuaged the strife of warring chaos, and before form had put on its garb of matter, the ideal types, in order to de- monstrate the archetypal universe to its author, so that the world of sense might be modelled after the supernal pattern. O tearful sight ! where the moral Socrates, whose acts were virtue and whose CHAPTER VII . 19: discourse was science, who deduced political jus- tice from the principles of nature, is seen enslaved 105 to some rascal robber. We bemoan Pythagoras, the parent of harmony, as, brutally scourged by the harrying furies of war, he utters not a song but the wailings of a dove. We mourn, too, for Zeno, who lest he should betray his secret bit off his tongue and fearlessly spat it out at the tyrant, and now, alas ! is brayed and crushed to death in a mortar by Diomedon. 106 In sooth we cannot mourn with the grief that they deserve all the various books that have perished by the fate of war in various parts of the world. Yet we must tearfully recount the dreadful ruin which was caused in Egypt by the auxiliaries in the Alexandrian war, w^hen seven hundred thousand volumes were consumed by fire. These volumes had been collected by the royal Ptolemies through long periods of time, as Aulus Gellius relates. 107 What an Atlantean progeny must be supposed to have then perished : including the motions of the spheres, all the conjunctions of the planets, the nature of the galaxy, and the prognostic genera- tions of comets, and all that exists in the heavens or in the ether ! Who would not shudder at such a hapless holocaust, where ink is offered up instead of blood, where the glowing ashes of crackHng parchment were encarnadined with blood, where the devouring flames consumed so many thousands of innocents in whose mouth was no guile, where 194 THE rmiOBIBLON the unsparing fire turned into stinking ashes so icS many shrines of eternal truth ? A lesser crime than this is the sacrifice of Jephthah or Agamemnon, where a pious daughter is slain by a father's sword. How many labours of the famous Hercules shall we suppose then perished, who because of his know- ledge of astronomy is said to have sustained the heaven on his unyielding neck, when Hercules was now for the second time cast into the flames. 109 The secrets of the heavens, which Jonithus learnt not from man or through man but received by divine inspiration ; what his brother Zoroaster, the servant of unclean spirits, taught the Bactrians ; what holy Enoch, the prefect of Paradise, pro- phesied before he was taken from the world, and finally, what the first Adam taught his children of the things to come, which he had seen when caught up in an ecstasy in the book of eternity, are believed to have perished in those horrid flames, no The religion of the Egyptians, which the book of the Perfect Word so commends ; the excellent polity of the older Athens, which preceded by nine thousand years the Athens of Greece ; the charms of the Chaldceans ; the observations of the Arabs and Indians ; the ceremonies of the Jews ; the architecture of the Babylonians ; the agricul- ture of Noah ; the magic arts of Moses ; the geometry of Joshua; the enigmas of Samson ; the problems of Solomon from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop ; the antidotes of Aesculapius ; the CHAPTER VII. 195 grammar of Cadmus ; the poems of Parnassus; the oracles of Apollo ; the argonautics of Jason ; the stratagems of Palamedes, and infinite other secrets of science are believed to have perished at the time of this conflagration. 111 Nay, Aristotle would not have missed the quadrature of the circle, if only baleful conflicts had spared the books of the ancients, who knew all the methods of nature. He would not have left the problem of the eternity of the world an open question, nor, as is credibly conceived, would he have had any doubts of the plurality of human intellects and of their eternity, if the perfect sciences of the ancients had not been 112 exposed to the calamities of hateful wars. For by wars we are scattered into foreign lands, are mutilated, wounded, and shamefully disfigured, are buried under the earth and overwhelmed in the sea, are devoured by the flames and destroyed by every kind of death. How much of our blood was shed by warlike Scipio, when he was eagerly com- passing the overthrow of Carthage, the opponent 113 and rival of the Roman empire! How many thousands of thousands of us did the ten years' war of Troy dismiss from the light of day ! How many were driven by Antony, after the murder of Tully, to seek hiding places in foreign provinces ! How many of us were scattered by Thcodoric, while Boethius was in exile, into the different quarters of the world, Uke sheep whose shepherd 196 THE PHILOBIBLON has been struck down ! How many, when Seneca fell a victim to the cruelty of Nero, and willing yet unwilling passed the gates of death, took leave of him and retired in tears, not even knowing in what quarter to seek for shelter ! 114 Happy was that translation of books which Xerxes is said to have made to Persia from Athens, and which Seleucus brought back again from Persia to Athens. O glad and joyful return ! O wondrous joy, which you might then see in Athens, when the mother went in triumph to meet her progeny, and again showed the chambers in which they had been nursed to her now aging children ! Their old homes were restored to their former inmates, and forthwith boards of cedar with shelves and beams of gopher wood are most skilfully planed; inscriptions of gold and ivory are designed for the several compartments, to which the volumes themselves are reverently brought and pleasantly arranged, so that no one hinders the entrance of another or injures its brother by excessive crowding. 115 But in truth infinite are the losses which have been inflicted upon the race of books by wars and tumults. And as it is by no means possible to enumerate and survey infinity, we will here finally set up the Gades of our complaint, and turn again to the prayers with which we began, humbly im- ploring that the Ruler of Olympus and the Most High Governor of all the world will establish CHAPTER VIIL 197 peace and dispel wars and make our days tranquil under his protection. Chapter 8. Of the numerous Opportunities we have had of collecting a store of Books. 1 16 Since to everything there is a season and an opportunity, as the wise Ecclesiastes witnesseth, let us now proceed to relate the manifold oppor- tunities through which we have been assisted by the divine goodness in the acquisition of books. 117 Although from our youth upwards we had always delighted in holding social commune with learned men and lovers of books, yet when we prospered in the world and made acquaintance with the King's majesty and were received into his house- hold, we obtained ampler facilities for visiting . everywhere as we would, and of hunting as it were certain most choice preserves, libraries private as well as public and of the regular as well as of the 118 secular clergy. And indeed while we filled various offices to the victorious Prince and splendidly triumphant King of England, Edward the Third from the Conquest — whose reign may the Almighty long and peacefully continue — first those about his court, but then those concerning the public 198 THE PHILOBIBLON affairs of his kingdom, namely the offices of Chancellor and Treasurer, there was afforded to us, in consideration of the royal favour, easy access for the purpose of freely searching the retreats of 119 books. In fact, the fame of our love of them had been soon winged abroad everywhere, and we were reported to burn with such desire for books, and especially old ones, that it was more easy for any man to gain our favour by means of books than of money. Wherefore, since supported by the goodness of the aforesaid prince of worthy memory, we were able to requite a man well or ill, to benefit or injure mightily great as well as small, there flowed in, instead of presents and guerdons, and instead of gifts and jewels, soiled tracts and battered codices, gladsome alike to our eye 120 and heart. Then the aumbries of the most famous monasteries were thrown open, cases were unlocked and caskets were undone, and volumes that had slumbered through long ages in their tombs wake up and are astonished, and those that had lain hidden in dark places are bathed in the ray of unwonted light. These long lifeless books, once most dainty, but now become corrupt and loathsome, covered with litters of mice and pierced with the gnawings of the worms, and who were once clothed in purple and fine linen, now lying in sackcloth and ashes, given up to oblivion, seemed to have become habitations of the moth. 121 Natheless among these, seizing the opportunity, CHAPTER VIII. 199 we would sit down with more delight than a fasti- dious j)hysician among his stores of gums and spices, and there we found the object and the stimu- lus of our affections. Thus the sacred vessels of learning came into our control and stewardship ; some by gift, others by purchase, and some lent to us for a season. 122 No wonder that when people saw that we were contented with gifts of this kind, they were anxious of their o\\ti accord to minister to our needs with those things that they were more willing to dispense with than the things they secured by ministering to our service. And in good will v/e strove so to forward their affairs that gain accrued to them, while justice suffered no disparagement. 123 Indeed, if we had loved gold an d silver goblets, high- bred horses, or no small sums of money, we might in those days have furnished forth a rich treasury. But in truth we wanted manuscripts not money- scripts ; we loved codices more than florins, and preferred slender pamphlets to pampered palfreys. 124 Besides all this, we v/ere frequently made ambas- sador of this most illustrious Prince of everlasting memory, and were sent on the most various affairs of state, now to the Holy See, now to the Court of France, and again to various powers of the world, on tedious embassies and in times of danger, always carrying with us, however, that love of books 125 which many waters could not quench. For this like a delicious draught sweetened the bitterness of 20O THE PHILOBIBLON our journey ings and after the perplexing intricacies and troublesome difficulties of causes and the all but inextricable labyrinths of public affairs afforded us a little breathing space to enjoy a balmier atmosphere. 126 O Holy God of Gods in Sion, what a mighty stream of pleasure made glad our hearts whenever we had leisure to visit Paris, the Paradise of the world, and to linger there; where the days seemed ever few for the greatness of our love ! There are delightful libraries, more aromatic than stores of spicery ; there are luxuriant parks of all manner of volumes ; there are Academic meads shaken by the tramp of scholars ; there are lounges of Athens ; walks of the Peripatetics ; peaks of Parnassus ; and 127 porches of the Stoics. There is seen the surveyor of all arts and sciences Aristotle, to whom belongs all that is most excellent in doctrine, so far as re- lates to this passing sublunary world ; there Ptolemy measures epicycles and eccentric apogees and the nodes of the planets by figures and numbers ; there Paul reveals the mysteries ; there his neighbour Dionysius arranges and distinguishes the hierarchies; 128 there the virgin Carmentis reproduces in Latin characters all that Cadmus collected in Phoenician letters; there indeed opening our treasuries and unfastening our purse-strings we scattered money with joyous heart and purchased inestimable books 129 with mud and sand. It is naught, it is naught, saith every buyer. But in vain ; for behold how CHAPTER VIIL 201 good and how pleasant it is to gather together the arms of the clerical warfare, that we may have the means to crush the attacks of heretics, if they arise. 130 Further, we are aware that we obtained most excellent opportunities of collecting in the following way. From our early years we attached to our society with the most exquisite solicitude and discarding all partiality all such masters and scholars and professors in the several faculties as had become most distinguished by their subtlety of mind and the fame of their learning. Deriving consolation from their sympathetic con- versation, we were delightfully entertained, now by demonstrative chains of reasoning, now by the recital of physical processes and the treatises of the doctors of the Church, now by stimulating discourses on the allegorical meanings of things, as 131 by a rich and well-varied intellectual feast. Such men we chose as comrades in our years of learning, as companions in our chamber, as associates on our journeys, as guests at our table, and, in short, as helpmates in all the vicissitudes of life. But as no happiness is permitted to endure for long, we were sometimes deprived of the bodily companionship of some of these shining lights, when justice looking down from heaven, the ecclesiastical preferments and dignities that they deserved fell to their portion. And thus it happened, as was only right, that in attending to their own cures they were obliged to absent themselves from attendance upon us. 202 THE PHILOBIBLON 132 We will add yet another very convenient way by which a great multitude of books old as well as new came into our hands. For we never regarded with disdain or disgust the poverty of the mendicant orders, adopted for the sake of Christ ; but in all parts of the world took them into the kindly arms of our compassion, allured them by the most friendly familiarity into devotion to ourselves, and having so allured them cherished them with muni- ficent liberality of beneficence for the sake of God, becoming benefactors of all of them in general in such wise that we seemed none the less to have adopted certain individuals with a special fatherly 133 affection. To these men we were as a refuge in every case of need, and never refused to them the shelter of our favour, wherefore we deserved to find them most special furtherers of our wishes and promoters thereof in act and deed, who compass- ing land and sea, traversing the circuit of the world, and ransacking the universities and high schools of various provinces, were zealous in combatting for our desires, in the sure and 134 certain hope of reward. What leveret could escape amidst so many keen-sighted hunters ? What little fish could evade in turn their hooks and nets and snares ? From the body of the Sacred Law down to the booklet containing the fallacies of yesterday, nothing could escape these searchers. Was some devout discourse uttered at the fountain-head of Christian faith, the holy CHAPTER VI 11, 203 Roman Curia, or was some strange question ventilated with novel arguments ; did the solidity of Paris, which is now more zealous in the study of antiquity than in the subtle investigation of truth, did English subtlety, which illumined by the lights of former times i's always sending forth fresh rays of truth, produce anything to the advancement of science or the declaration of the faith, this was instantly poured still fresh into our ears, ungarbled by any babbler, unmutilated by any trifler, but passing straight from the purest of vvune-presses into the vats of our memory to be clarified. 135 But whenever it happened that we turned aside to the cities and places where the mendicants v/e have mentioned had their convents, we did not disdain to visit their libraries and any other re- positories of books ; nay, there we found heaped up amid the utmost poverty the utmost riches of wisdom. We discovered in their fardels and baskets not only crumbs falling from the masters' table for the dogs, but the shevvbread without leaven and the bread of angels having in it all that is delicious ; and indeed the garners of Joseph full of corn, and all the spoil of the Egyptians and the very pre- cious gifts which Queen Sheba brought to Solomon. 136 These men are as ants ever preparing their meat in the summer, and ingenious bees continually fabricating cells of honey. They are successors of Bezeleel in devising all manner of work- manship in silver and gold and precious stones p 204 THE PHILOBIBLON for decorating the temple of the Church. They are cunning embroiderers, who fashion the breast- plate and ephod of the high priest and all the various vestments of the priests. They fashion the curtains of linen and hair and coverings of ram's skins dyed red with which to adorn the tabernacle of the Church militant. They are husbandmen that sow, oxen treading out corn, sounding trumpets, shining Pleiades and stars remaining in their courses, which cease not to fight 137 against Sisera. And to pay due regard to truth, without prejudice to the judgment of any, although they lately at the eleventh hour have entered the lord's vineyard, as the books that are so fond of us eagerly declared in our sixth chapter, they have added more in this brief hour to the stock of the sacred books than all the other vine-dressers ; following in the footsteps of Paul, the last to be called but the first in preaching, who spread the 138 gospel of Christ more widely than all others. Of these men, when we were raised to the episcopate we had several of both orders, viz. the Preachers and Minors, as personal attendants and com- panions at our board, men distinguished no less in letters than in morals, who devoted themselves with unwearied zeal to the correction, exposition, tabulation and compilation of various volumes. 139 But although we have acquired a very numerous store of ancient as well as modern works by the manifold intermediation of the religious, yet we CHAPTER VIIL 205 must laud the Preachers with special praise, in that we have found them above all the religious most freelycommunicativeof their stores without jealousy, and proved them to be imbued with an almost divine liberality, not greedy but fitting possessors of luminous wisdom. Besides all the opportunities mentioned above, we secured the acquaintance of stationers and booksellers, not only within our own country, but of those spread over the realms of France, Germany, and Italy, money flying forth in abundance to an- ticipate their demands ; nor were they hindered by any distance or by the fury of the seas, or by the lack of means for their expenses, from sending or bringing to us the books that we required. For they well knew that their expectations of our bounty would not be defrauded, but that ample repayment with usury was to be found with us. Nor, finally, did our good-fellowship, which aimed to captivate the afl'ection of all, overlook the rectors of schools and the instructors of rude boys. But rather, when we had an opportunity, we entered their little plots and gardens and gathered sweet- smelling flowers from the surface and dug up their roots, obsolete indeed, but still useful to the student, which might when their rank barbarism was di- gested heal the pectoral arteries with the gift of elo- quence. Amongst the mass of these things we found some greatly meriting to be restored, which when skilfully cleansed and freed from the disfiguring 2o6 THE PHILOBIBLON rust of age, deserved to be renovated into comeli- ness of aspect. And applying in full measure the necessary means, as a type of the resurrection to come, we resuscitated them and restored them again to new life and health. 143 Moreover, we had always in our different manors no small multitude of copyists and scribes, of binders, correctors, illuminators, and generally of all who could usefully labour in the service of books. Finally, all of both sexes and of every rank or position who had any kind of association with books, could most easily open by their knocking the door of our heart, and find a fit resting-place in 144 our affection and favour. In so much did we receive those who brought books, that the multitude of those who had preceded them did not lessen the welcome of the after-comers, nor were the favours we had awarded yesterday prejudicial to those of to-day. Wherefore, ever using all the persons we have named as a kind of magnets to attract books, we had the desired accession of the vessels of science and a multitudinous flight of the finest volumes. And this is what we undertook to narrate in the present chapter. CHAPTER IX. 207 Chapter 9. How although we preferred the Works of the Ancients we have not condemned the Studies of the Moderns. 145 Although the novelties of the moderns were never disagreeable to our desires, who have always cherished with grateful affection those who devote themselves to study and who add anything either ingenious or useful to the opinions of our fore- fathers, yet we have always desired with more undoubting avidity to investigate the well-tested labours of the ancients. For whether they had by nature a greater vigour of mental sagacity, or whether they perhaps indulged in closer application to study, or whether they were assisted in their progress by both these things, one thing we are perfectly clear about, that their successors are barely capable of discussing the discoveries of their forerunners, and of acquiring those things as pupils which the ancients dug out by difficult efforts of 146 discovery. For as we read that the men of old were of a more excellent degree of bodily develop- ment than modern times are found to produce, it is by no means absurd to suppose that most of the ancients were distinguished by brighter faculties, 2o8 THE rniLOBIBLON seeing that in the labours they accomphshed of both kinds they are inimitable by posterity. And so Phocas writes in the prologue to his Grammar ; Since all things have been said by men of sense, The only novelty is — to condense. 147 But in truth, if we speak of fervour of learning and diligence in study, they gave up all their lives to philosophy ; while nowadays our contemporaries carelessly spend a few years of hot youth, alternating with the excesses of vice, and when the passions have been calmed, and they have attained the capacity of discerning truth so difficult to discover, they soon become involved in worldly affairs and retire, bidding farewell to the schools of philosophy, 148 They offer the fuming must of their youthful intellect to the difficulties of philosophy, and bestow the clearer wine upon the money-making business of Hfe. Further, as Ovid in the first book of the De Vetula justly complains : The hearts of all men after gold asph^e ; Few study to be wise, more to acquire : Thus, Science ! all thy virgin charms are sold. Whose chaste embraces should disdain their gold. Who seek not thee thyself, but pelf through thee. Longing for riches, not philosophy. And further on i Thus Philosophy is seers Exiled, and Philopecuny is queen. \ CHAPTER IX. 209 which is known to be the most violent poison of learning. 149 How the ancients indeed regarded life as the only limit of study, is shown by Valerius, in his book addressed to Tiberius, by many examples. Carneades, he says, was a laborious and lifelong soldier of wisdom : after he had lived ninety years, the same day put an end to his life and his philo- sophizing. Isocrates in his ninety- fourth year wrote a most noble work. Sophocles did the same when nearly a hundred years old. Simonides wrote poems in his eightieth year. Aulus Gellius did not desire to live longer than he should be able to write, as he says himself in the prologue to the Nodes Atticce. 150 The fervour of study which possessed Euclid the Socratic, Taurus the philosopher used to relate to incite young men to study, as GeUius tells in the book we have mentioned. For the Athenians, hating the people of IMegara, decreed that if any of the Megarensians entered Athens, he should be put to death. Then Euclid, who was a Megaren- sian, and had attended the lectures of Socrates before this decree, disguising himself in a woman's dress, used to go from IMegara to Athens by night to hear Socrates, a distance of twenty miles and 151 back. Imprudent and excessive was the fervour of Archimedes, a lover of geometry, who would not declare his name, nor lift his head from the diagram he had drawn, by which he might have 210 THE PIIILOBIBLON prolonged his life, but thinking more of study than of life dyed with his life-blood the figure he was studying. 152 There are very many such examples of our proposition, but the brevity we aim at does not allow us to recall them. But, painful to relate, the clerks who are famous in these days pursue a very different course. Afflicted with ambition in their tender years, and slightly fastening to their untried arms the Icarian wings of presumption, they prematurely snatch the master's cap; and mere boys become unworthy professors of the several faculties, through which they do not make their way step by step, but like goats ascend by leaps and bounds ; and having slightly tasted of the mighty stream, they think that they have drunk it dry, though their throats are hardly moistened. 153 And because they are not grounded in the first rudiments at the fitting time, they build a tottering edifice on an unstable foundation, and now that they have grown up, they are ashamed to learn what they ought to have learned while young, and thus they are compelled to suffer for ever for too hastily jumping at dignities they have not deserved. 154 For these and the like reasons the tyros in the schools do not attain to the solid learning of the ancients in a few short hours of study, although they may enjoy distinctions, may be accorded titles, be authorized by official robes, and solemnly in- stalled in the chairs of the elders. Just snatched CHAPTER IX. 211 from the cradle and hastily weaned, they mouth the rules of Priscian and Donatus ; while still beardless boys they gabble with childish stammering the Categories and Peri Hermeneias, in the writing of which the great Aristotle is said to have dipped 155 his pen in his heart's blood. Passing through these faculties with baneful haste and a harmful diploma, they lay violent hands upon Moses, and sprinkling about their faces dark waters and thick clouds of the skies, they offer their heads, un- honoured by the snows of age, for the mitre of the pontificate. This pest is greatly encouraged, and they are helped to attain this fantastic clericate with such nimble steps, by Papal provisions ob- tained by insidious prayers, and also by the prayers, which may not be rejected, of cardinals and great men, by the cupidity of friends and relatives, who building up Sion in blood, secure ecclesiastical dignities for their nephews and pupils, before they are seasoned by the course of nature or ripeness of learning. 156 Alas! by the same disease which we are de- ploring, we see that the Palladium of Paris has been carried off in these sad times of ours, wherein the zeal of that noble university, whose rays once shed light into every corner of the world, has grown lukewarm, nay, is all but frozen. There the pen of every scribe is now at rest, generations of books no longer succeed each other, and there is none who begins to take place as a new author. 212 THE PHILOBIBLON They wrap up their doctrines in unskilled discourse, and are losing all propriety of logic, except that our English subtleties, which they denounce in public, are the subject of their furtive vigils. 157 Admirable Minerva seems to bend her course to all the nations of the earth, and reacheth from end to end mightily, that she may reveal herself to all mankind. We see that she has already visited the Indians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians and Greeks, the Arabs and the Romans, Now she has passed by Paris, and now has happily come to Britain, the most noble of islands, nay, rather a microcosm in itself, that she may show herself a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians. At which wondrous sight it is conceived by most men, that as philosophy is now lukewarm in France, so her soldiery are unmanned and languishing. Chapter 10. Of the Gradual Perfecting of Books. 28 While assiduously seeking out the wisdom of the men of old, according to the counsel of the Wise Man (Eccli. 39) : The wise man, he says, will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, we have not thought fit to be misled into the opinion that the CHAPTER X. 213 first founders of the arts have purged away all crudeness, knowing that the discoveries of each of the faithful, when weighed in a faithful balance, makes a tiny portion of science, but that by the anxious investigations of a multitude of scholars, each as it were contributing his share, the mighty bodies of the sciences have grown by successive augmentations to the immense bulk that we now behold. For the disciples continually melting down the doctrines of their masters, and passing them again through the furnace, drove off the dross that had been previously overlooked, until there came out refined gold tried in a fur- nace of earth, purified seven times to perfection, and stained by no admixture of error or doubt. 159 For not even Aristotle, although a man of gigantic intellect, in whom it pleased Nature to try how much of reason she could bestow upon mortahty, and whom the Most High made only a little lower than the angels, sucked from his own fingers those wonderful volumes which the whole world can hardly contain. But, on the contrary, with lynx-eyed penetration he had seen through the sacred books of the Hebrews, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Chaldcxans, the Persians and the Medes, all of which learned Greece had trans- i6oferred into her treasuries. Whose true sayings he received, but smoothed away their crudities, pruned their superfluities, supplied their deficiencies, and removed their errors. And he held that we 214 THE PHILOBIBLON should give thanks not only to those who teach rightly, but even to those who err, as affording the way of more easily investigating truth, as he plainly declares in the second book of his Metaphysics. Thus many learned lawyers contributed to the Pandects, many physicians to the Tegni, and it was by this means that Avicenna edited his Canon, and Pliny his great work on Natural History, and Ptolemy the Almagest. i6i For as in the writers of annals it is not difficult to see that the later writer always presupposes the earlier, without whom he could by no means relate the former times, so too we are to think of the authors of the sciences. For no man by himself has brought forth any science, since between the earhest students and those of the latter time we find intermediaries, ancient if they be compared with our own age, but modern if we think of the foundations of learning, and these men we consider 162 the most learned. What would Vergil, the chief poet among the Latins, have achieved, if he had not despoiled Theocritus, Lucretius, and Homer, and had not ploughed with their heifer ? What, unless again and again he had read somewhat of Parthenius and Pindar, whose eloquence he could by no means imitate ? What could Sallust, TuUy, Boethius, Macrobius, Lactantius, Martianus, and in short the whole troop of Latin writers, have done, if they had not seen the productions of Athens or 163 the volumes of the Greeks? Certes, Httle would CHAPTER X. 215 Jerome, master of three languages, Ambrosius, Augustine, though he confesses that he hated Greek, or even Gregory, who is said to have been wholly ignorant of it, have contributed to the doctrine of the Church, if more learned Greece had not furnished them from its stores. As Rome, watered by the streams of Greece, had earlier brought forth philosophers in the image of the Greeks, in like fashion afterwards it produced doctors of the orthodox faith. The creeds we chant are the sweat of Grecian brows, pro- mulgated by their Councils, and established by the martyrdom of many. 164 Yet their natural slowness, as it happens, turns to the glory of the Latins, since as they \vere less learned in their studies, so they were less per- verse in their errors. In truth, the Arian heresy had all but eclipsed the whole Church; the Nestorian wickedness presumed to rave with blasphemous rage against the Virgin, for it would have robbed the Queen of Heaven, not in open fight but in disputation, of her name and cha- racter as Mother of God, unless the invincible champion Cyril, ready to do single battle, with the help of the Council of Ephesus, had in ve- 165 hemence of spirit utterly extinguished it. Innu- merable are the forms as well as the authors of Greek heresies ; for as they were the original cul- tivators of our holy faith, so too they were the first sowers of tares, as is shown by veracious history. 2i6 THE PHILOBIBLON And thus they went on from bad to worse, because in endeavouring to part the seamless vesture of the Lord, they totally destroyed primitive sim- plicity of doctrine, and blinded by the darkness of novelty would fall into the bottomless pit, unless He provide for them in his inscrutable prerogative, whose wisdom is past reckoning. 1 66 Let this suffice; for here we reach the limit of our power of judgment. One thing, however, we conclude from the premises, that the ignorance of the Greek tongue is now a great hindrance to the study of the Latin writers, since without it the doctrines of the ancient authors, whether Christian or Gentile, cannot be understood. And we must come to a like judgment as to Arabic in numerous astronomical treatises, and as to Hebrew as regards the text of the Holy Bible, which deficiencies indeed Clement V. provides for, if only the bishops would faithfully observe what they so lightly decree. 167 Wherefore we have taken care to provide a Greek as well as a Hebrew grammar for our scholars, with certain other aids, by the help of which studious readers may greatly inform themselves in the writing, reading, and understanding of the said tongues, although only the hearing of them can teach correctness of idiom. f.l CHAPTER XL 217 Chapter ii. Why we have preferred Books of Liberal Learning to Books of Law, 168 That lucrative practice of positive law, designed for the dispensation of earthly things, the more useful it is found by the children of this world, so much the less does it aid the children of light in comprehending the mysteries of holy writ and the secret sacraments of the faith, seeing that it disposes us peculiarly to the friendship of the world, by which man, as S. James testifies, is made the enemy of God. Law indeed encourages rather than extinguishes the contentions of man- kind, which are the result of unbounded greed, by complicated laws, which can be turned either way ; though we know that it was created by jurisconsults and pious princes for the purpose 160 of assuaging these contentions. But in truth, as the same science deals with contraries, and the power of reason can be used to opposite ends, and at the same time the human mind is more inclined to evil, it happens with the practisers of this science that they usually devote themselves to promoting contention rather than peace, and instead of quoting laws according to the intent of 2i8 THE PHILOBIBLON the legislator, violently strain the language thereof to effect their own purposes. 170 Wherefore, although the over-mastering love of books has possessed our mind from boyhood, and to rejoice in their delights has been our only pleasure, yet the appetite for the books of the civil law took less hold of our affections, and we have spent but little labour and expense in acquiring volumes of this kind. For they are useful only as the scorpion in treacle, as Aristotle, the sun of science, has said of logic in his book 171 DePomo. We have noticed a certain manifest dif- ference of nature between law and science, in that every science is delighted and desires to open its inward parts and display the very heart of its principles, and to show forth the roots from which it buds and flourishes, and that the emanation of its springs may be seen of all men ; for thus from the cognate and harmonious light of the truth of conclusion to principles, the whole body of science 172 will be full of light, having no part dark. But laws, on the contrary, since they are only human enact- ments for the regulation of social life, or the yokes of princes thrown over the necks of their subjects, re- fuse to be brought to the standard of synteresis, the origin of equity, because they feel that they possess more of arbitrary will than rational judgment. Wherefore the judgment of the wise for the most part is that the causes of laws are not a fit subject 1 73 of discussion. In truth, many laws acquire force by CHAPTER XIL 219 mere custom, not by syllogistic necessity, like the arts : as Aristotle, the Phcebus of the Schools, urges in the second book of the Politics, where he confutes the policy of Hippodamus, which holds out rewards to the inventors of new laws, because to abrogate old laws and establish new ones is to vv'eaken the force of those which exist. For whatever receives its stability from use alone must necessarily be brought to nought by disuse. 174 From which it is seen clearly enough, that as laws are neither arts nor sciences, so books of law cannot properly be called books of art or science. Nor is this faculty which we may call by a special term geologia^ or the earthly science, to be properly numbered among the sciences. Now the books of the liberal arts are so useful to the divine writings, that without their aid the intellect would vainly aspire to understand them. Chapter 12. Why we have caused Books of Grammar to be so diligently prepared. 175 While we were constantly delighting ourselves with the reading of books, which it was our custom to read or have read to us every day, we noticed plainly Q 220 THE nilLOBIBLON how much the defective knowledge even of a single word hinders the understanding, as the meaning of no sentence can be apprehended, if any part of 176 it be not understood. "Wherefore we ordered the meanings of foreign words to be noted -with particular care, and studied the orthography, prosody, etymology, and syntax in ancient gram- marians with unrelaxing carefulness, and took pains to elucidate terms that had grown too obscure by age with suitable explanations, in order to make a smooth path for our students. 177 This is the whole reason why we took care to re- place the antiquated volumes of the grammarians by improved codices, that we might make royal roads, by which our scholars in time to come might attain without stumbling to any science. Chapter 13. Why we have not wholly neglected the Fables of the Poets. 178 All the varieties of attack directed against the poets by the lovers of naked truth may be repelled by a two-fold defence : either that even in an unseemly subject-matter we may learn a charming fashion of speech, or that where a fictitious but becoming subject is handled, natural or historical CHAPTER XII I. 221 truth is pursued under the guise of allegorical fiction. 179 Although it is true that all men naturally desire knowledge, yet they do not all take the same pleasure in learning. On the contrary, when they have experienced the labour of study and find their senses wearied, most men inconsiderately fling away the nut, before they have broken the shell and reached the kernel. For man is naturally fond of two things, namely, freedom from control and some pleasure in his activity ; for which reason no one without reason submits himself to the control of others, or willingly engages in any tedious task. 180 For pleasure crowns activity, as beauty is a crown to youth, as Aristotle truly asserts in the tenth book of the Ethics. Accordingly the wisdom of the ancients devised a remedy by which to entice the wanton minds of men by a kind of pious fraud, the delicate Minerva secretly lurking beneath the 181 mask of pleasure. We are wont to allure chil- dren by rewards, that they may cheerfully learn what we force them to study even though they are unwilling. For our fallen nature does not tend to virtue with the same enthusiasm with which it rushes into vice. Horace has expressed this for us in a brief verse of the Ars Poetica, where he says : All poets sing to profit or delight. And he has plainly intimated the same thing 222 THE PHILOBIBLON in another verse of the same book, where he says : He hits the mark, who mingles joy with use. 182 How many students of Euclid have been repelled by the Pons Asinonifn, as by a lofty and preci- pitous rock, which no help of ladders could enable them to scale ! This is a hard saying, they exclaim, and who can receive it. The child of inconstancy, who ended by wishing to be transformed into an ass, would perhaps never have given up the study of philosophy, if she had met him in friendly guise veiled under the cloak of pleasure ; but anon, astonished by Crato's chair and struck dumb by his endless questions, as by a sudden thunderbolt, he saw no refuge but in flight. 183 So much we have alleged in defence of the poets ; and now we proceed to show that those who study them with proper intent are not to be con- demned in regard to them. For our ignorance of one single word prevents the understanding of a whole long sentence, as was assumed in the pre- vious chapter. As now the sayings of the saints frequently allude to the inventions of the poets, it must needs happen that through our not knowing the poem referred to, the whole meaning of the author is completely obscured, and assuredly, as Cassiodorus says in his book Of the Institutes of Sacred Literature: Those things are not to be considered trifles without which great things cannot come to pass. It follows therefore that through CHAPTER XII I. 22 J ignorance of poetry we do not understand Jerome, Augustine, Boethius, Lactantius, Sidonius, and very- many others, a catalogue of whom would more than fill a long chapter. 184 The Venerable Bede has very clearly discussed and determined this doubtful point, as is related by that great compiler Gratian, the repeater of numerous authors, who is as confused in form as he was eager in collecting matter for his compilation. Now he writes in his 37th section: Some read secular literature for pleasure, taking delight in the inventions and elegant language of the poets ; but others study this literature for the sake of scholar- ship, that by their reading they may learn to detest the errors of the Gentiles and may devoutly apply what they find useful in them to the use of sacred learning. Such men study secular literature in a laudable manner. So far Bede. 185 Taking this salutary instruction to heart, let the detractors of those v»^ho study the poets henceforth hold their peace, and let not those who are igno- rant of these things require that others should be as ignorant as themselves, for this is the consolation of the wretched. And therefore let every man see that his own intentions are upright, and he may thus make of any subject, observing the Hmitations of virtue, a study acceptable to God. And if he have found profit in poetry, as the great Virgil relates that he had done in Ennius, he will not have done amiss. 224 THE nriLOBIBLON Chapter 14. Who ought to be special Lovers of Books. 186 To him who recollects what has been said before, it is plain and evident who ought to be the chief lovers of books. For those who have most need of wusdom in order to perform usefully the duties of their position, they are without doubt most especially bound to show more abundantly to the sacred vessels of wisdom the anxious affection of a grateful heart. Now it is the office of the wise man to order rightly both himself and others, ac- cording to the Phcebus of philosophers, Aristotle, who deceives not nor is deceived in human things. ^Vherefore princes and prelates, judges and doctors, and all other leaders of the commonwealth, as more than others they have need of wisdom, so more than others ought they to show zeal for the vessels of wisdom. 187 Boethius indeed beheld Philosophy bearing a sceptre in her left hand and books in her right, by which it is evidently shown to all men that no one can rightly rule a commonwealth without books. Thou, says Boethius, speaking to Philosophy, hast sanctioned this saying by the mouth of Plato, that CHAPTER XIV. 225 states would be happy, if they were ruled by students of philosophy, or if their rulers would study philosophy. And again, we are taught by the very gesture of the figure that in so far as the right hand is better than the left, so far the contempla- tive life is more worthy than the active life ; and at the same time we are shown that the business of the wise man is to devote himself by turns ; now to the study of truth, and now to the dispensation of temporal things. 188 We read that Philip thanked the Gods devoutly for having granted that Alexander should be born in the time of Aristotle, so that educated under his instruction he might be worthy to rule his father's empire. While Phaeton unskilled in driving becomes the charioteer of his father's car, he unhappily distributes to mankind the heat of Phoebus, now by excessive nearness, and now by withdrawing it too far, and so, lest all beneath him should be im- perilled by the closeness of his driving, justly de- served to be struck by the thunderbolt. 189 The history of the Greeks as well as Romans shows that there were no famous princes among them who were devoid of literature. The sacred law of Moses in prescribing to the king a rule of government, enjoins him to have a copy made of the book of Divine law (Deut. xvii.) according to the copy shown by the priests, in which he was to read all the days of his life. Certes, God himself, who hath made and who fashioneth every day the 226 THE PHILOBIBLON hearts of everyone of us, knows the feebleness of human memory and the instability of virtuous in- 190 tentions in mankind. Wherefore he has willed that books should be as it were an antidote to all evil, the reading and use of which he has commanded to be the healthful daily nourishment of the soul, so that by them the intellect being refreshed and neither weak nor doubtful should never hesitate in action. This subject is elegantly handled by John of Salisbury in his Polkraticon. In conclusion, all classes of men who are conspicuous by the tonsure or the sign of clerkship, against whom books lifted up their voices in the fourth, fifth, and sixth chap- ters, are bound to serve books with perpetual veneration. Chapter 15. Of the advantages of the love of Books. 191 It transcends the power of human intellect, how- ever deeply it may have drunk of the Pegasean fount, to develop fully the title of the present chapter. Though one should speak with the tongue of men and angels, though he should be- come a Mercury or Tully, though he should grow sweet with the milky eloquence of Livy, yet he will plead the stammering of Moses, or with Jeremiah will confess that he is but a boy and cannot speak, CHAPTER XV. 227 or will imitate Echo rebounding from the moun- tains. For we know that the love of books is the same thing as the love of wisdom, as was proved in 192 the second chapter. Now this love is called by the Greek word philosophy^ the whole virtue of which no created intelligence can comprehend ; for she is believed to be the mother of all good things : Wisdom, 7. She as a heavenly dew extinguishes the heats of fleshly vices, the intense activity of the mental forces relaxing the vigour of the animal forces, and slothfulness being wholly put to flight, which being gone all the bows of Cupid are un- strung. 1 93 Hence Plato says in the Phaedo : The philosopher is manifest in this, that he dissevers the soul from communion with the body. Love, says Jerome, the knowledge of the scriptures and thou wilt not love the vices of the flesh. The godlike Xeno- crates showed this by the firmness of his reason, who was declared by the famous hetaera Phryne to be a statue and not a man, when all her blandish- ments could not shake his resolve, as Valerius Maximus relates at length. Our own Origen showed this also, who chose rather to be unsexed by the mutilation of himself, than to be made effeminate by the omnipotence of woman — though it was a hasty remedy, repugnant alike to nature and to virtue, whose place it is not to make men insensible to passion, but to slay with the dagger of reason the passions that spring from instinct. 228 THE PHILOBIBLON 194 Again, all who are smitten with the love of books think cheaply of the world and wealth ; as Jerome says to Vigilantius : The same man cannot love both gold and books. And thus it has been said in verse : No iron-stained hand is fit to handle books, Nor he whose heart on gold so gladly looks ; The same men love not books and money both, And books thy herd, O Epicurus, loathe ; Misers and bookmen make poor company. Nor dwell in peace beneath the same roof-tree. No man, therefore, can serve both books and Mammon. 195 The hideousness of vice is greatly reprobated in books, so that he who loves to commune with books is led to detest all manner of vice. The demon, who derives his name from knowledge, is most effectually defeated by the knowledge of books, and through books his multitudinous deceits and the endless labyrinths of his guile are laid bare to those who read, lest he be transformed into an angel of light and circumvent the innocent by his wiles. The reverence of God is revealed to us by books, the virtues by which He is worshipped are more expressly manifested, and the rewards are described that are promised by the truth, which 196 deceives not, neither is deceived. The truest likeness of the beatitude to come is the con- templation of the sacred writings, in which we behold in turn the Creator and the creature, and CHAPTER XV. 229 draw from streams of perpetual gladness. Faith is established by the power of books ; hope is strengthened by their solace, insomuch that by patience and the consolation of scripture we are in good hope. Charity is not puffed up, but is edified by the knowledge of true learning, and indeed it is clearer than light that the Church is established upon the sacred writings. 197 Books delight us, when prosperity smiles upon us ; they comfort us inseparably when stormy fortune frowns on us. They lend validity to human compacts, and no serious judgments are propounded without their help. Arts and sciences, all the advantages of which no mind can enume- rate, consist in books. How highly must we estimate the wondrous power of books, since through them we survey the utmost bounds of the world and time, and contemplate the things that are as well as those that are not, ^s it were in 198 the mirror of eternity. In books we climb moun- tains and scan the deepest gulfs of the abyss ; in books we behold the finny tribes that may not exist outside their native waters, distinguish the properties of streams and springs and of various lands; from books we dig out gems and metals and the materials of every kind of mineral, and learn the virtues of herbs and trees and plants, and survey at will the whole progeny of Neptune, Ceres, and Pluto. 199 But if we please to visit the heavenly inhabi- 230 THE PHILOBIBLON tants, Taurus, Caucasus, and Olympus are at hand, from which we pass beyond the realms of Juno and mark out the territories of the seven planets by lines and circles. And finally we traverse the loftiest firmament of all, adorned with signs, de- grees, and figures in the utmost variety. There we inspect the antarctic pole, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; we admire the luminous Milky way and the Zodiac, marvellously and 200 delightfully pictured with celestial animals. Thence by books we pass on to separate substances, that the intellect may greet kindred intelligences, and with the mind's eye may discern the First Cause of all things and the Unmoved Mover of infinite virtue, and may immerse itself in love without end. See how with the aid of books we attain the reward of our beatitude, while we are yet sojourners below. 201 Why need we say more? Certes, just as we have learnt on the authority of Seneca, leisure without letters is death and the sepulture of the living, so contrariwise we conclude that occupa- tion with letters or books is the life of man. 202 Again, by means of books we communicate to friends as well as foes what we cannot safely en- trust to messengers ; since the book is generally allowed access to the chambers of princes, from which the voice of its author would be rigidly excluded, as Tertullian observes at the beginning of his Aj?ologeiicus. "When shut up in prison and CHAPTER XV. 231 in bonds, and utterly deprived of bodily liberty, we use books as ambassadors to our friends, and entrust them with the conduct of our cause, and send them where to go ourselves would incur the penalty of death. By the aid of books we re- member things that are past, and even prophesy as to the future ; and things present, which shift and flow, we perpetuate by committing them to writing. 203 The felicitous studiousness and the studious felicity of the all-powerful eunuch, of whom we are told in the Acts, who had been so mightily kindled by the love of the prophetic writings, that he ceased not from his reading by reason of his journey, had banished all thought of the populous palace of Queen Candace, and had forgotten even the treasures of which he was the keeper, and had neglected alike his journey and the chariot in which he rode. Love of his book alone had wholly engrossed this domicile of chastity, under whose guidance he soon deserved to enter the gate of faith. O gracious love of books, which by the grace of baptism transformed the child of Gehenna and nursling of Tartarus into a Son of the Kingdom ! 204 Let the feeble pen now cease from the tenor of an infinite task, lest it seem foolishly to undertake what in the beginning it confessed to be impossible to any. 232 THE PHILOBIBLON Chapter i6. That it Is meritorious to write new books and to renew the old. 205 Just as it is necessary for the state to prepare arm and to provide abundant stores of victuals for the soldiers who are to fight for it, so it is fitting for the Church Militant to fortify itself against the assaults of pagans and heretics with a multitude of sound writings. 206 But because all the appliances of mortal men with the lapse of time suffer the decay of mortality, it is needful to replace the volumes that are worn out with age by fresh successors, that the perpetuity of which the individual is by its nature incapable may be secured to the species ; and hence it is that the Preacher says : Of making many books there is no end. For as the bodies of books, seeing that they are formed of a combination of contrary elements, undergo a continual dissolution of their structure, so by the forethought of the clergy a remedy should be found, by means of which the sacred book paying the debt of nature may obtain a natural heir and may raise up like seed to its dead brother, and thus may be verified that saying of Ecclesiasticus : His father is dead, and he is as if he were not dead ; CHAPTER XVL 233 for he hath left one behind him that is Uke himself. 207 And thus the transcription of ancient books is as it were the begetting of fresh sons, on whom the office of the father may devolve, lest it suffer detri- ment. Now such transcribers are called antiqiiarii^ whose occupations Cassiodorus confesses please him above all the tasks of bodily labour, adding : "Happy effort," he says, "laudable industry, to preach to men with the hand, to let loose tongues \nth the fingers, silently to give salvation to mortals, and to fight with pen and ink against the illicit wiles of the Evil One." So far Cassiodorus. Moreover, our Saviour exercised the office of the scribe when He stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground (John viii.), that no one, however exalted, may think it unworthy of him to do what he sees the wisdom of God the Father did. 208 O singular serenity of writing, to practise which the x\rtificer of the world stoops down, at whose dread name every knee doth bow ! O venerable handicraft pre-eminent above all other crafts that are practised by the hand of man, to which our Lord humbly inclines his breast, to which the finger of God is applied, performing the office of a pen ! We do not read of the Son of God that He sowed or ploughed, wove or digged \ nor did any other of the mechanic arts befit the divine wisdom incarnate except to trace letters in writing, that every gentleman and sciolist may know that fingers are given by God to men for the task of writing 234 THE PIIIL0B2BL0N rather than for war. Wherefore we entirely approve the judgment of books, wherein they de- clared in our sixth chapter the clerk who cannot write to be as it were disabled. 209 God himself inscribes the just in the book of the living ; Moses received the tables of stone written with the finger of God. Job desires that he himself that judgeth would write a book. Belshazzar trembled when he saw the fingers of a man's hand writing upon the wall, Mene tekel phaixs. I wrote, says Jeremiah, with ink in the book. Christ bids his beloved disciple John, What thou seest write in a book. So the office of the writer is enjoined on Isaiah and on Joshua, that the act and skill of WTiting may be commended to future genera- tions. Christ himself has written on his vesture and on his thigh King of Ki?igs and Lord of Lords^ so that without writing the royal ornaments of the 210 Omnipotent cannot be made perfect. Being dead they cease not to teach, who write books of sacred learning. Paul did more for building up the fabric of the Church by writing his holy epistles, than by preaching by word of mouth to Jews and Gentiles. He who has attained the prize continues daily by books, what he long ago began while a sojourner upon the earth ; and thus is fulfilled in the doctors writing books the saying of the prophet : They that turn many to righteousness shall be as the stars for ever and ever. 211 Moreover, it has been determined by the doctors CHAPTER XVI. 235 of the Church that the longevity of the ancients, before God destroyed the original world by the Deluge, is to be ascribed to a miracle and not to nature ; as though God granted to them such length of days as was required for finding out the sciences and writing them in books ; amongst which the wonderful variety of astronomy required, accord- ing to Josephus, a period of six hundred years, to 212 submit it to ocular observation. Nor, indeed, do they deny that the fruits of the earth in that primi- tive age afforded a more nutritious aliment to men than in our modern times, and thus they had not only a livelier energy of body, but also a more lengthened period of vigour ; to which it contributed not a little that they Uved according to virtue and denied themselves all luxurious delights. Who- ever therefore is by the good gift of God endowed with the gift of science, let him, according to the counsel of the Holy Spirit, write wisdom in his time of leisure (Eccli. 38), that his reward may be v/ith the blessed and his days may be lengthened in this present world. 213 And further, if we turn our discourse to the princes of the world, we find that famous emperors not only attained excellent skill in the art of writing, but indulged greatly in its practice. Julius Caesar, the first and greatest of them all, has left us Commentaries on the Gallic and the Civil Wars written by himself; he wrote also two books De Aiialogia^ and two books of Anticatones, and a R 236 THE PHILOBIBLON 214 poem called Iter^ and many other works. Julius and Augustus devised means of writing one letter for another, and so concealing what they wrote. For Julius put the fourth letter for the first, and so on through the alphabet ; while Augustus used the second for the first, the third for the second, and so throughout. He is said in the greatest difficulties of affairs during the Mutinensian War to have read and written' and even declaimed every day. Tiberius wrote a lyric poem and some 215 Greek verses. Claudius likewise was skilled in both Greek and Latin, and wrote several books. But Titus w^as skilled above all men in the art of writing, and easily imitated any hand he chose ; so that he used to say that if he had wished it he might have become a most skilful forger. All these things are noted by Suetonius in his Lives of the XII Caesars. Chapter 17. Of showing due propriety in the custody of Books. 16 W e are not only rendering service to God in pre- paring volumes of new books, but also exercising an office of sacred piety when we treat books CHAPTER XVII. 237 carefully, and again when we restore them to their proper places and commend them to inviolable custody; that they may rejoice in purity while we have them in our hands, and rest securely when they are put back in their repositories. And surely next to the vestments and vessels dedicated to the Lord's body, holy books deserve to be rightly-treated by the clergy, to which great injury is done so often as they are touched by unclean hands. Wherefore we deem it expedient to warn our students of various negligences, which might always be easily avoided and do wonderful harm to books. 217 And in the first place as to the opening and closing of books, let there be due moderation, that they be not unclasped in precipitate haste, nor when we have finished our inspection be put away without being duly closed. For it behoves us to guard a book much more carefully than a boot. 218 But the race of scholars is commonly badly brought up, and unless they are bridled in by the rules of their elders they indulge in infinite puerihties. They behave with petulance, and are puffed up with presumption, judging of everything as if they were certain, though they are altogether inexperienced. 219 You may happen to see some headstrong youth lazily lounging over his studies, and when the winter's frost is sharp, his nose running from the nipping cold drips down, nor does he think of wiping it 238 THE rniLOBIBLON with his pocket-handkerchief until he has bedewed the book before him with the ugly moisture. Would that he had before him no book, but a cobbler's apron ! His nails are stuffed with fetid filth as black as jet, with which he marks any passage that pleases him. He distributes a multitude of straws, which he inserts to stick out in different places, so that the halm may remind him of what his memory cannot retain. These straws, because the book has no stomach to digest them, and no one takes them out, first distend the book from its wonted closing, and at length, being carelessly 220 abandoned to oblivion, go to decay. He does not fear to eat fruit or cheese over an open book, or carelessly to carry a cup to and from his mouth \ and because he has no wallet at hand he drops into books the fragments that are left. Continually chattering, he is never weary of disputing with his companions, and while he alleges a crowd of senseless arguments, he wets the book lying half open in his lap with sputtering showers. Aye, and then hastily folding his arms he leans forward on the book, and by a brief spell of study invites a prolonged nap; and then, by way of mending the wrinkles, he folds back the margin of the 22 1 leaves, to the no small injury of the book. Now the rain is over and gone, and the flowers have appeared in our land. Then the scholar we are speaking of, a neglecter rather than an in- spector of books, will stuff his volume with violets. CHAPTER XVII. 239 and primroses, with roses and quatrefoil. Then he will use his wet and perspiring hands to turn over the volumes ; then he will thump the white vellum with gloves covered with all kinds of dust, and with his finger clad in long-used leather will hunt line by line through the page ; then at the sting of the biting flea the sacred book is flung aside, and is hardly shut for another month, until it is so full of the dust that has found its way within, that it resists the effort to close it. 222 But the handling of books is specially to be forbidden to those shameless youths, who as soon as they have learned to form the shapes of letters, straightway, if they have the opportunity, become unhappy commentators, and wherever they find an extra margin about the text, furnish it with mon- strous alphabets, or if any other frivolity strikes their fancy, at once their pen begins to write it. There the Latinist and sophister and every un- learned writer tries the fitness of his pen, a practice that we have frequently seen injuring the usefulness and value of the most beautiful books. 223 Again, there is a class of thieves shamefully mutilating books, who cut away the margins from the sides to use as material for letters, leaving only the text, or employ the leaves from the ends, inserted for the protection of the book, for various uses and abuses — a kind of sacrilege which should be prohibited by the threat of anathema. 224 Again, it is part of the decency of scholars that 240 THE PHILOBIBLON whenever they return from meals to their study, washing should invariably precede reading, and that no grease-stained finger should unfasten the clasps, or turn the leaves of a book. Nor let a crying child admire the pictures in the capital letters, lest he soil the parchment with wet fingers : for a child instantly touches whatever he sees. Moreover, the laity, who look at a book turned upside down just as if it were open in the right way, are utterly unworthy of any communion with 225 books. Let the clerk take care also that the smutty scullion reeking from his stewpots does not touch the lily leaves of books, all unwashed, but he who walketh without blemish shall minister to the precious volumes. And, again, the cleanliness of decent hands would be of great benefit to books as well as scholars, if it were not that the itch and pimples are characteristic of the clergy. 226 Whenever defects are noticed in books they should be promptly repaired, since nothing spreads more quickly than a tear and a rent which is neglected at the time will have to be repaired afterwards with usury. 227 Moses, the gentlest of men, teaches us to make bookcases most neatly, wherein they may be pro- tected from any injury : Take^ he says, this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covetiant of the Lord your God. O fitting place and appropriate for a library, which was made of imperishable shittim-wood, and was all covered CHAPTER XVITL 241 within and without with gold ! But the Saviour also has warned us by his example against all unbecoming carelessness in the handling of books, 228 as we read in S. Luke. For when He had read the scriptural prophecy of himself in the book that was delivered to him, He did not give it again to the minister, until He had closed it with his own most sacred hands. By which students are most clearly taught that in the care of books the merest trifles ought not to be neglected. Chapter i8. Showeth that we have collected so great store of books for the common benefit of scholars and not only for our own pleasure. 229 Nothing in human affairs is more unjust than that those things which are most righteously done, should be perverted by the slanders of malicious men, and that one should bear the reproach of sin where he has rather deserved the hope of honour. Many things are done with singleness of eye, the right hand knoweth not what the left hand doth, the lump is uncorrupted by leaven, nor is the garment woven of wool and linen ; and yet 242 THE PHILOBIBLON