Opus majus

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PHILOLOGY.

intelligibi e translation of Aristolle. Under both these head sthe minor works, edited by Brewer, contain much sor whicli in the opus Majus Pacon had not found room. With regat dio tho firSt, the Valuable me moir publislied in 1888 by Abbe Martin may be consul ted '. It appears that, to ardes the enclof the twel fili or the beginning of the thii te enth Centvry, a teXtos the Bible had heco me generalty current in Paris under thet ille of Te Ytus Parisiensis.' Bacon, writ ing in I 267, SpeakS Ofit as having been hastily compiled abo ut sorty yearS be fore, by SOCOnd-rate theologians and caret essty Copi ed by unc ritical

linguistic knowledge, but of the criti Cal spirit, that they seemto have been entire ly una vare of the origin and history of the Vulgate. Bacon 's history of the Various Biblicat Versiones ending with that of Jero me, as gi ven in the OrnS Tertium,PP. 334 349, iS not one of the leaSt interesting portions os his work. His principat result was to Ahow that, besore Jero me' stranslation frona the Hebrew, the Version rogariled aes authentic by the Chiarch was the Septuagini : although theologiansh ad scit them solves at liberi y to correct that Version fronathat os Aquila, Symmachus, and ab ove ali of Theodotiora.

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INTRODUC ION. Aster the time os Jero me, the translation frona the Septuagint

opened, of re-entering the temple os Greek wisclom, and listening to the voice of the greatest of ancient thinkers, had been falsified by the fallure of Aristotie's translatorsto comply with the two elementary Conditions os translation ; knowledge of the language in Whicli, and comprehension os the subject abo ut whicli, the book was written.

Something has at ready been s id of the Toledo school of translators institu ted by Archbishop Raymond in the tweli thCentvry. A ne and vigorous impulse was gi Ven sorty Orsisty years afterinariis by the Emperor FrederiC II, whose preserence of Mahommedanism to Christianity, had heoccupied a humbier station, would assured ly have subjected hi in to a worse sate than that of Bacon. Leaving out Ofaccount translations of Aristotie'S Orfanum, paris of whichwere familiar to the western wOrid from the times of Augustine and Boethius, the translators of Aristotie's philosophic and scientific work in the twel fili and thirteenth century, to whom Bacon calis attention, were five: Gerard of Cremona, Aluredor Alfred of Englarid, Michael Scot, Hermann the German, William os Moerbelae, otheriuise called the Fleming. OfthCSe, Gerard, Scot, and Hermann translated frona ArabicVerSionS. Gerard Spent many years in Spatia, attained a thorough knowledge of Arabic, and translated Ptolemy's Alma est, and Aristotie'A Meteorologi , also the astronomyof Alfraganus, Severat works of Alkindi, and , almost certainly,

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PHILOLOGY.

patronage he Visited Spain. and translated stom the Arabicmany of Aristotie's works, with the Comments of AVOrro OS. Albertus Magnus says of him that he was ignorant Os naturalthings, and that he dici not thoroughly understand Aristolle 'sbookS. Bacon who Spealis of the impression produced in the schools when he appea red in I 23O, with translations os Aristolle 's metaphysical and scienti sic treati ses, says that he was ignorant of words and of things, and that the greater part of his work was due to Andrew the Jew. Scot's translation of Avicenna's treati se Des Animalibus; as I have remari edin a note Vol. ii. p. 85), Certa in ly seem S to bear out this severe jud gement. Hermania, the German, waS Personalty

known to Bacon he worked in Spatia, and with the hel' os Arab interpreters, produced translations of the Rhetori C, Poetic, and Ethic os Aristolle. He mentions incidental ly urdam, p. I O) that Grosseteste had produced a more Complete rendering of the Ethic direct ly frona the Greela.

translator himself; the principat part of his work was done by Saracens in his employment' Compesuae. Sm ii, Cap. 8).William the Fleming of Moerbelae in had the ad vant ageoVer these men that he translated direct ly frona the Greel . His work is belloved to have been done at the speCial requestos Thomas Aquinas, who made in se of it in his Commentarieson Aristolle. But it was notorious in Paris ' says Bacon that william of Moerbel e was totalty ignorant os science. and his translations are consequently ill of errors.' On the whole. he concludes that it would have been bet ter that Aristotieshould never have been translat d, rather than that suci, a mass of error Should be propagated under the shelter of hisname. Had I the Power of disposing of these works. I would have them ali burni: it is a waste os time to Study them. a solarce Os error and of diffusion os ignorance greater thancan he describe l. ' Aristotie's wOrks,' he continues, fare the undation os ali wisdom; but they must be studi ed in the

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EUery one who considers Bacon 's e ris in promoting thestiady os langu age must agree with Professor Brewer p. lκii in that his labo urs in this respect have attracted tess attentionthan they deSerVe. . . . It is as creditatile to his discern mentas to his courage that he should have seen be iter than Lord Bacon clid, the param Ount importa iace of philology, and urgedit repea ted ly On hi S contemporaries. It is a maging to hear a scholar os the thirteenth century insisting on the necessi ty of Constant referen Ces to originat authorities as the only Sure undation os sacred criticis m. 'It may be that Pacon 's CX hortations, re itera ted a s we seelsiare they would be not in Wri ting me rely, but in conversationwith the yoting men whom he gat hered round him, Here notenti rely without esseCt on the solio ing generation. In thecouncii convoked in 13Ι2 by Clement V at Vienne, one of the proVi SionS, Says Fleury Hist. Eccl. book 91), was theestablishment in the Roman Curia, and in the Universities of Paris, O Xford, Bologna, and Salamanca, of tea chers for thethroe langu ageS, Hebre , Arabic, and Chaldaean, twO foreach. They were to be maintained in Rome by the Pope, in Paris by the King of France, and in the other Cities by the prelates, bi Shops, and Chapters of the colant ry.' This subjecthas been caret utly studi ed by Mr. Rashdali in his important work on the Universities os Europe in the mi dii te ages. Hegi Ves Strong author ity for the belles that Greek was included :

tion to stud y Aristolle and the Bible in the original, with the View of undet standing them betier, may have been stili audit,le.

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MATHEMATIC S.

In the opus Majus, though much is sa id of the importan Ceand necessi ty of mathematical method, there is very liti lectis play of mathematical knowledge. Frequent referen Ces arema de to Euclid. whose Elements h ad been introduced to the western worid early in the preVious century, by Adelard of Bath, and more complet ely in the thirteenth century by Campanus of No Vara. Archimedes and Apollonius are rare lymentioned. But in his Optics Bacon shows that he was a qua in ted with the propertieS os Parabolic ConcaUO miri OrS and of their po er os causing parallel rays to ConUerge asterreflection to a socias. In this respect he was in ad vance of his principat teachers in Optic. Euclid. Ptolemy, and Allia gen. of the Calculus, arithmetical or algebraical, Bacon has butflight occasion to speali in the opus Majns. It has attaaysto be remembered that this Work, with iis appendices, thec pus uiuus and HS THrtium , waS not, Properly SPCal in , a philosophical treati Se, but an eXhortation addi essed to astates man, abSOrbed in ecclesiastical and political stringilles. to e Xert his author ity sir the reVivat os learning. Hence it

ing the Church. It is but the pream bie to the ' Scriptum

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INTRODUCTION. Principale ' whicli there is reason sor thini ing that Paconli ad ali eady begula, but whicli ho regret utly e X presses hi S

Among the fragments of the Scriptum Principale' whichhRUe come clown to US, i S a portion of the firSt book onMathemati CS. PreserUed among the Sloane MSS. sa 156). Thisfirst book contained three paris. We haVe the fit si part of this book, and a considerable part of the second. A se vfragmen is more are to be mund in the Bodleian Di by MSS.

The first part deals with preliminary principies quaedam

preambula ad interiora mathematicae ').It has fi ve divisions or distinctions. The subjecis dealt vitii are the relation os mathematic to metaphysic iis distinction frona magi C; the hindrances to iis culture offered by the four Causes Os error, viz. false conceit of wis dona, Ruthoi ity, cu Stom, and Popular prejudice ; the utili ty os math mati s iis importance to the pre liminary studies of logic and grammar. The final Chapter of this section is curious. The final purpOSe, says Bacon. of logic is conWiction: Bot conviction is notrea Ched by argumentative procesS Alone, but by the aris of rhetoric and poetry whi Ch are theres re in a triae Son Sede pari ments of logic. But these artS are goVerned by thelaws of mu Si C, whicli is a brancti os mathematical science. The second division cleals with the definition of the paris os quantity. Certa in generat ternas, suci, as Simultaneity in Space and time, limit continuit 3 infinity, dimen Sion, areexpla in ed. The distinction is drawn bet ween continuous an discrete quantity. Continuous quantity in one, livo, and three dimensions is defin ecl. Discrete quantity is distinguished intowhat is permanent, as number; what is not Permanent, AS

The thirci division exponiads the distinction belween the speculative and the practical depari mentS of geometry an d

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MATHEMATI .

l. ii

os arithmetic. The section ora practical or applied geometryis os much interest as illustra ting Bacon 's en larged Vieu's Offcientific training. He indicates eight de pari ments of this branch os science. I) Agriculture, in a sar wider sense thanis usualty gi Ven to the word, compri Sing men Suration, ArChit Oct Iare, Civili mechani Cal, and military engi nee ring. sa) The fabrication os astronomical instruments. 33 Os musical in

struments. 4, Os optical instruments. 5ὶ Os barological

instruments. 6) of instruments of e X perimental SCience.

In ConneXion with the practical branch of arithmeti C, after spea ing os the use of the Abacus, he mentions Vias algorithmi, Scilicet quomodo conjugantur numeri et dividuntur, secundum Omnona SPOCiem algorithmi, tam in particularibus fractionibus quam in integris.' In this conneXion he sp calis of Algebra quae CSi negotiatio, et almo Cha bala quae est census ' Howfar Bacon had assimilated the work of Moliam med ben Musa Τ, WhOSe Surna me, Al Chwarismi, is incorpora ted in the word Algorithm. we cannot teli. But with the work of one of the two great mathematicians of the thirte enth century, Jordanus Nemorarius, he was certa in ly familiar, as may be Seen byrei rence to Uol. i. pp. 3 58, 169 of the opus Majus. Among Other branches of practical arithmetic he includes the Con-

These things are trea ted os at great tength in the Libo Abaci of Leonard os Pisa, the other great mathematicianof the timo, whose work dedica ted to Michael Scot, Bacon

in Multam med ibn Musa Alchwarismi was horia in the firAt quarter os the ninthCentu . HC ConStructed astronomical tables for the Caliph Al Mamoun, whichwere translated into Latin by Adelard of Bath. of more importance, howCVer, are his Arithmetic and his Algebra. The si si of these re mained for a long timetanknown. But it was discovered in Cambridge in 1857, and is included among the Trauali d ADt efica publi Ahed by Boncompagni. A fuit account of this work and of the Algebra, translated and edited by Rosen London, Ι 831 , Willbe Mund in Cantor, Vol. i. pp. 611 620. Cantor p. 6 Ia) explain S Clearly the PaSAage of the word Alchwarismi into Algorithm. Bacon A interpretation of the words Aldschebr walmuli abala, which Alchwarismi uses, is incorrect. DAchebi

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INTRODUC ION. had possib ly seen and studi ed ; though he mal es no mention

use of the worcis has not been uni Uersalty adopted. but maintains iis correcinesS. AStrologia componitur eX hoc nomine astron quod est stella, et hoc nomine logos quod est Verbum vel ratio, Vel Sermo. quia est sermo de Stellis. Astronomia Vero dicitur lex stellarum et nomos est te X. Unde quia leX uni Uersaliter sonat in practicum, ut in morali philosophia lex est ipsa practica, ita similiter Astronomia eSt practi CR RStronomiae.' In the foui th division music is considered. This includes not me rely Aound but gesture. Audi te music is consideredunder the two heacis os vocat and instrumenta l. In the vocaldivision every branch of elocution is included. Finalty. the effect os music on the temper and health both of men and of animal f should bo systematicalty studi ed. Abstraction is the subject of the fifth division. First we

have the abstraction common to ali science, Since Scien COdoals with universals, not with particulars. There is thera theabstraction os a first cause Dona secondary Causes and of spiritfrona body, whicli the metaphysici an deals with. Mathematical abstraction has to do with the stud y of quantity apari frona the substance to whicli it belongs: apari frOm ali naturalchanges Such aS growth, diminution Or change of place. This fit si part closes with an explanation of the differen ceb et ween RXionas, POStulatos, and definiti Ons. The second part begins with the Stud y of whole numbersand fractions : passing from this to the subject of arithmetical geometri Cal, and harmonic ratio, and to the question of proportion generally. Continuous and discontinuous proportionare considered ; and Euclid's definition os proportion is care- fully considored.

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ASTROLOGU.

mentary way in the Bodleian Digby MSS. No. 76. Theauthor proceeds to the consideration Os geometrical trullis, professing his intention to select those which were of para- molant importance Since it was ObVious that the number os possibi e problem S in geometry was infinite. Illae fueritates) ' he says, sunt eligendae quae POSSUnt

Vocari radices et elementa respeCtu ramorum et foliorum,

quorum fructus Vadit in infinitum .' Proos is gi ven in this part of the work that Bacon was a quainted with the geometryof Apollonius as weli as with that of Euclid. Aster defining the cone pyramis rotunda ') he mentions iis three sections presenting Curves of a different form si Om tho circle, one Ofwhi Ch was of use in the Construction of mirrors Capable Ofrendering rab S conUergent to a I Oint. He promises to deal vitii these curvos later in the work of the whole, so far as the fragment os his mathematicalwork preserved to his en abies his to judge, it would seem that Bacon had made himself acquainted with the highest mathemati s os his time : though no evidence is soritico ming to Shoruthat he contributed personalty to the ad Uance of the science, other vise than by strongly insisting on iis culture and by potiati nil out new felds for iis practical application. in thebetier goVerrament of the Chiarch, and in the develo sement os industry. His interest, like that os Galileo; lay in appliedrather than in abstraci mathemati Cf. Whether the study of equations as carried on by the Italian algebrai sis of thes urteenth and fifteenth centuries would haVe intereste ihim is dolabi sui. But he would have eagerly wel comed the invention Os logarithm S, as facilitating the constructi On ofastronomical tables. VI. PACON'S ASTROLOGU. The transition frona Mathematics to Physios supplies thebest opportuni ty sor a se rem artis on the subject os Pacon s Strology, on whicli something is also Sa id in a note to VOl. i. p. 269. Bacon dweli frequently and emphati catly on the

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acted with greater or leSs potency ACCOrding as the course of the rab S was perpendicia lar or Oblique, and that in this wayan CX planation could be giUen os climate, temperament and of the thousand complex Chances and changes os mortal lise,

vas a belles firmi y held by Bacon, and it operated powerfully

over his whole View of man s position in the worid. He hasbeen much reproached sor holding it; and it has been supposedio be an e Xplanation, is not an eXcuse, for the dis astro usrepression eXOrci Sed oUer him by his superiores, and for thepopular dis redit attaching to his name. But this would be an entire mi Sconception of the belles scurrent in Bacon 's time. The influence of the stars OVerhuman life was a belles almost universalty held by ali instructed men from the thirtoenth to the si Xteenth century; an abundant traces os it a re Visibi e throughout the SOUenteenth,

not to spea k of stili later times. The Divina Comines in is fullos it. Beatrice, admonishing Dante at her hi si mee ting withhim in the Earthly Paracli se, spe alis of the ricli endo ment vith which he came in to the wor id,

Per ovi a delle ruote magne, Che driggan Ciascun seme ad at Cun fine, Secondo che te stelle son compagne U

Ma non distingue t 'un dati' altro ostello. Quinci adclivion cli' Esaii Si di parte Per Seme da Jacob, e vien Quirino Da si vii padre che si rende a Marte