Opus majus

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the second of the Communia Mathematicae. Attentionwas called to it both by Brewer and by Charies. and OCCASional referen Ces to it have been made in thepreSent edition. Vet a thirci fragment is the elementary work on Greeli grammar in the possession os Corpus Christi College; OX ford, which was sent to the Bodleian form y peruSal. An imperfect Co Py. in Se Uenteontii CentUry hand writing. apparent ly ma de frona the Corpus S. . is contained among the Laconian MSS. os

Universi ty College.

he do es not appreciate the distinction, So Clearly demonstrated by Professor Brewer be tween the OfluSTe fiam whicli is at once an introduction and A supplement to the opus Majusj, and the far vaster Scriptum

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xviii PREFACE.

Principale projected by Bacon, but ora ly in part

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describes Bacon 's oversio ing gratitude sor Pope Clement' sinessage to him ; apologi Zes for the delay in the transmissionos his works by po inting out that nono of these WorkS were in a complete Atate : OXplain A the obstacles interposed by the disti ess os his fami ly, ruinod in the civit Wars, and by the restrictions os his Order: introduces his disci pie Jolin, who h ad beon sor se Ven years under his tuition : and finalty concludes illi a bries summary of tho contents of the opus Majus. Thishe describes, not as his principat work, but as a Persuasio. It has se vela paris. Aster bri est y noting the contents of thesi St two, Lacon passes to the seventi, spubli Ahed sor the fit sttime in this edition) and thon comments successively on thesi X th, fifth, foui th, and thii d. It will be observed by rea ters of this Ahori treati se that it contains litile that is not Aet sorti, with much greater sui inessin the opus T rtium, whicli is to be regat ded aes the realIntroduction to the collection os writ inges sent by Bacon in1267 to Pope Clement IV. The si rest chapter of Dr. Gasque t 'AMS. is almost exactly identicat with pp. 7 II in Brewer' A editionos opus Tertium, the lalter, howeVer, haVing Certa in SentenCOS not contained in the firmer. The fifth chapter is a repetition

of this ne vly publi Ahed work deserve attention. we learia rom it that Lacon 's life in Paris belween 1257 and I 267 waSa time os comparative in action : a decem annis propter lan mores

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mulsos et infirmitates varias occupationibus exterioribus studii non vacavi. He had writie n. he Says, much bes ore entering the Francis an Order, with a view to the instruction of youth multo in alio statu conscripseram propter juvenum rudi meum ; andos late years he had Aeni fragments of his works to si ieiads aliqua capitula nunc de una scientia nunc de alia ad instantiam amicorum aliquando more transitorio compilavi. No treati Ae ho eVer, On any de pariment of philosophy had been issu ed in

a complete sol m.

On the whole I am inclined to thin k that the Ahort workedi ted by Dr. Gasquet is a fir At drast of what was aster ard Aexpanded in to the opus Tertium. Bacon telis US that he was in the habit of writ ing his disco urses severat times over Untilthey were brought into satisfactory Shape. Sentiens meam imbecillitatem nihil scribo difficile quod non transeas usque ad quartum vel quintum exemplum antequam habeam quod infendo. J. H. B. Ju' a I, I 897.

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PREFACE.

the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College Cambri iste: the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College; Cambri dile: and the President and Fellowsos Corpus Christi College. OXford; ior permiSSion to examine the MSS. os Lacon belonging respectiVely

J. H. B. March 26, I 897.

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FAC TS RELATIN G TO LACON 'S LIFE

12OD. Condemnation ofAristotie's Physic and Metaphysic in Paris. 121 G. Confirmation of this

Optis Tertitam, Cap. 9. 1222. Alexander of Halosonters the Franciscanorder, and teacheS philosophy in PariS. 1231. Condemnation ofPhysic and Metaphysiclyartialty removed by Gregory IX. 123 S. Alexander of Hales reSigias his post aS ateacher of philoSophy. 1245 S. First residen ce of Thomas Aquinas in Paris illi Albertus MagnUS.

Death of Thomas

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INTRODUCTION

IN considering the litile that is known of the li se os BaCon, it is weli to give prece deiice to the sew facts that a re fixe lWith perfeci precision by his own state ment. we know with Cntire accuracy the date of the composition of the opus Majus, and of the two subsidiary works, the opus Minus an clthe opus Tertium. Pope ClementJ IU's instructions to himio transmit the resulis os his labo urs were issu ed June 22, 1266 srom Vitertio. With in the year that sol lowed the opus MajuS, with iis supplement, the opus Minus, and iis introduction, the opus Tertium, had been Complete i and sent tot he Pope. At this time he spealis os himself as an old man, and he says that he had been Stud ying tangia age, Scien CC,

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INTRODUCTION.

temporary writer. Matthe N Paris relates, tander the yeari 233 that Henry III Convoked the counts and barons of thel ingdom to a cotincit at Oxsord. Their animos ity against Pierre des Roches, Bishose of Winchester, the king's clites ad Uiser, who h ad surrounded his person with a body-guard os Polt evitas and filled England with these fore igners, ted themto refuse the sum mons. While the king was debat ing what

mea sures to take against the recalcitrant barons, a Dominican

Eut since he might weli be more than twenty years old atthe time, the do ubi seenas hard ly founded. What is certa in frona Bacon 's o vn statem ent is that hissami ly was one Os Some wealth, since he himself had been able to speiad much money on eXperimental research. Itappe ars also that this fami ly had taken the royal si de througho ut the disputes bet ween Henry and his barons, and had suffered pecuniary loss and e Mile sor their loyalty. He telis Pope Clement that being in fore distress for the moneynecessary for the transcription and con Ueyance of his MSS., Ι wro te to my brother, a ricli man in my country. But he,

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numbers, in the construction of tables, in the use os instrumentS, and in many Other ne CSSary thingS. . . During thi Stime I spent more than two thousand potandes in those thin sanct in the purchase of books and instruments.' Wo may PreSume that the potandS were French, whici, at that timex 'Ouid corresponti to belween 6OO and 7OO potandS Ster ling. The sum was a large one. And whethor large or smali, it

Among the mera distinguished for their learning whose frien d sh ip he culti Vated at this part of his Career may becolanted, in ali probabili ty Adam de Marisco : Edmund Rich, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury and ultimately Canoniged

SayS Os him. He was rector Scholarum, and also Chancellor of OXsord. and in 1224 was the rector of the Franciscans recent ly established there. The ternas in whicli Bacon bears

testimony to his encoharagement os Philology, to his attemptSto apply mathematical method to the study of physicalphenomena, to his disregard of the philosophy of the schools

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INTRODUCTION. as Munded on bad translations os Aristolle Brewer, Comprum

Studii, cap. 8), would be Conclusive as to his personat Contactwith this great man, even though it were not confirmed by referetice to GrosSeteste's scientific writ ings, in Whicli Bacon 'siletit to him is uiam istat able. His treati se Do PDSicis Lincis, Auxulis, et Figoris contains pasSages as to the spherical radiation os force, and as to the change in iis direction by reflectionand refraction, which bear a close resemblance to the langvage USed many years a ter ards by Bacon.

in OYsord than in Paris. In the eleventii chapter os the opus Territim, when speal ing of the science of Optics, Bacon

but we may weli bellove it. It may be supposed that thein fluence of Adelard os Bath. the fit si translator os Euclid. hadlest iis traces. Twenty years bes ore the close of the twel fili Centvry we hear of two Englishmen, Ale Mander Neckliam an dAliis c d Sershall, lecturing in Paris on the Physics of Aristolle, then recent ly introduceo frona the school of translators si om

Hut the Universi ty of Paris, placed nearer the Centre of the spiritual forces that s wayed mediae Val society, had grown Upunder the dialectical influences of thcological controUer Sy; and when Bacon went there, perhaps abo ut 124O, he s undwhat is calleii, Vaguely and in accurate ly en Ough. the Scholasti Cphilosophy in the fuit nos s os iis gro vili, with the en large Scope gi Ven to it by the recent permission to study the PhySics, MetaphySi CS, and Psychology os Aristolle. Its two most Prominent representatives were at this time Alexander of Hales and William os Au vergne. Os the methods and thecontro Versi es then current Bacon made himself a mastor, an cl