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LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


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A926p 

1888 


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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  0  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)  <pi\o- 
ao(p[a  OavfiaaTag  ijdoi'ug  Ix^iv  Ka£api6TT]Tt  Kui  Ti-J  (3ej3aio}. 


CAPITULUM  J  I.  19 


actualis  imaginatio  continuata  per  librum  actum 
intellectus  super  visas  veritates  non  sustinet  inter- 
rumpi.  Quamobrem  libri  videntur  esse  felicitatis 
speculativae  immediatissima  instrumenta,unde  Aris- 
toteles,  sol  philosophicae  veritatis,  ubi  de  eligendis  5 
distribuit  methodos,  docet  quod  philosophari  est 
simpliciter  eligibilius  quam  ditari,  quamvis  in  casu 
ex  circumstantia,  puta  necessariis  indigenti,  ditari 
quam  philosophari  sit  potius  eligendum :  3°. 
Topicorum.  10 

37  Adhuc  cum  libri  sint  nobis  commodissimi  mads- 

O 

tri,  ut  praecedens  assumit  capitulum,  eisdem  non 
immerito  tam  honorem  quam  amorem  tribuere 
convenit  magistralem.  Tandem  cum  omnes  homi- 
nes natura  scire  desiderent  ac  per  libros  scientiam  15 
veterum  praeoptandam  divitiis  omnibus  adipisci 
possimus,   quis  homo    secundum   naturam  vivens 

38  librorum   non  habeat  appetitum?     Quamvis  vero 
porcos  margaritas   spernere  sciamus,  nihil  in  hoc 
prudentis  laedetur  opinio,  quominus  oblatas  com-  2c 
paret  margaritas.    Pretiosior  est  igitur  cunctis  opibus 
sapientiae  libraria,  et  omnia  quae  desiderantur  huic 

5  physicae  edd.  ||  8  circumstajttiis  A  edd.  ||  1 1  sint  om.  B  || 
16  omnibus  om.B  \\  20  leditiir  D  Ja.  1|  21  enini  B  jj 

philosophari]  Ar.,  Top.  iii.  2,  22  :  To  -^ovv  ^CKorso'^HV 
ftiXTiov  Tou  xp^l^aTiL,ta9ai,  aW  ovx  aipiriL'Tepov  ti^j  iicu~i  tCju 
dvayicaitjv. 

scire  desiderent]    See  ch.  i.  s.  19,  note. 

margaritas]  Cp.  Matt.  vii.  6, 

pretiosior  cunctis  opibus]  Cp.  Prov.  viii,  ii. 


20  PHILOBIBLON 

non  valent  comparari :  Proverbiorum  3^  Quis- 
quis  igitur  se  fatetur  veritatis,  felicitatis,  sapientiae 
vel  scientiae,  seu  etiam  fidei  zelatorem,  librorum 
necesse  est  se  faciat  amatorem. 


I 


Capitulum  3. 

Quallter  In  llbrls  emendis  sit  pretlum 
aestimandum. 

39  Corollarium  nobis  gratum  de  praedictis  elicimus,  5 
paucis  tamen  (ut  credimus)  acceptandum :  nullam 
videlicet  debere  caristiam  hominem  impedire  ab 
emptione  librorum,  cum  sibi  suppetat  quod  petitur 
pro  eisdem,  nisi  ut  obsistatur  malitiae  venditoris, 
vel  tempus  emendi  opportunius  expectetur.     Quo-  '° 
niam,  si  sola  sapientia  pretium  facit  libris,  quae  est 
infinitus  thesaurus  hominibus,  et  si  valor  librorum 
est  ineffabilis,  ut  praemissa  supponunt,  qualiter  pro- 
babitur  carum  esse  commercium,  ubi  bonum  emitur 
infinitum  ?     Quapropter  libros  libenter  emendos  et  »5 
invite  vendendos  sol hominum  Salomon  noshortatur, 

4  est  ut  se  Ja.  fateatur  edd.  ||  5  corelarium  D  corrolariuvi 

jg"  II  9  suppetatur  obsistatur  A  \ 

infinitus  thesaurus]  From  Wisdom,  vii.  14  ;  Eccl"«.  xx.  32. 

Sol  hominum  Salomon]  This  phrase  occurs  in  Walter 
Map,  De  Nugis  Curialium,  iv.  3  ;  the  reference  is  perhaps  to 
Eccli.  xxvii.  12. 


CAPITULUM  111.  21 


Prov.  23°:    veritatem,  inquit,  erne  et  noli  vendere 
sapientiam. 

40  Sed  quod  rhetorice  suademus  vel  logice,  adstrua- 
mus  historiis  rei  gestae.  Archiphilosophus  Aris- 
toteles,  quern  Averroes  datum  putat  quasi  regulam  5 
in  natura,  paucos  libros  Speusippi  post  ipsius  deces- 
sum  pro  septuaginta  duobus  millibus  sestertiis  sta- 
tim  emit.  Plato,  prior  tempore  sed  doctrinis  pos- 
terior, Philolai  Pythagorici  librum  emit  pro  decern 
millibus  denariorum,  de  quo  dicitur  Timaei  dialo-  10 
gum  excerpsisse,  sicut  refert  A.  Gellius,  Noctium 

41  Atticarum  libro  tertio,  capitulo  ly*'.  Haec  autem 
narrat  A.  Gellius,  ut  perpendat  insipiens  quam 
nihilipendant  sapientes  pecuniam  comparatione 
librorum.  Et  e  contrario,  ut  omni  superbiae  stulti-  15 
tiam  cognoscamus  annexam,  libet  hie  Tarquinii 
Superbi  stultitiam  recensere  in  parvipensione  libro- 
rum, quam  refert  idem  A.  Gellius,  Noctium  Atti- 

42  carum  libro  primo,  cap,  19'^.     Vetula  quaedam  om- 
nino  incognita  ad  Tarquinium  Superbum,  regem  20 

\i  A.  Gellius  om.  A  A.  Gellius  .  .  .  tiarrat  om.  B  \  12  17" 
om.  B  c°  i^"  codd.  |1  IS  ^  contrane  D  \\  l^  inpcnsione  E 
impensione  Ja.  |1 

regulam  in  natura]  On  the  De  Anima,  iii.  ed.  1550,  f.  169. 
The  passage  is  quoted  by  Albertus  Magnus,  0pp.  iii.  135  and 
Aegidius  Colonna,  Quodlibeta,  iii.  qu.  13,  and  is  referred  to 
by  Roger  Bacon,  Op.   Maj.,   p.    27  :  see  Renan,  Averroes, 

I         P-  55  f. 

prior  tempore]    Cp.  Aristot.  Met.  i.  3  of  Empedokles  and 

Anaxagoras  :    ry  fikv  yXiKKf  rrportpog  Cjv  tovtqv  TOig  d'ipyoig 

n  vaTSpog. 


22  PHILOBIBLON 

Romanum  septimiim,  dicitur  accessisse,  venales 
offerens  novem  libros,  in  quibus  (ut  asseruit)  divina 
coRtinebantur  oracula,  sed  immensam  pro  eisdem 
poposcit  pecuniam,  in  lantum  ut  rex  earn  diceret 
delirare.  Ilia  commota  tres  libros  in  ignem  proiecit  5 
et  pro  residuis  summam  quam  prius  exegit.  Rege 
negante,  rursus  tres  alios  in  ignem  proiecit  et  adhuc 
pro  tribus  residuis  primam  summam  poposcit. 
Tandem  stupefactus  supra  modum,  Tarquinius  sum- 
mam pro  tribus  gaudet  exsolvere,  pro  qua  novem  10 
poterat  redemisse.  Vetula  statim  disparuit,  quae 
43  nee  prius,  nee  postea  visa  fuit.  Hi  sunt  libri 
Sibyllini,  quos  quasi  quoddam  divinum  oraculum 
per  aliquem  de  quindecim  viris  consulebant  Ro- 
man!, et  quindecimviratus  creditur  officium  ori-  15 
ginem  habuisse.  Quid  aliud  haec  Sibylla  prophe- 
tissa  tam  vafro  facto  superbum  regem  edocuit,  nisi 
quod  vasa  sapientiae,  sacri  libri,  omnem  humanam 
aestimationem  excedunt,  et  sicut  de  regno  cae- 
lorum  dicit  Gregorius :  Tantum  valent,  quantum  ^o 
habes*. 

6  exigit E  11  iipoUierat B\  15  ongincyn  om.  edd.  origihes  D 
II  17  vario  B  edd.  |1  19  sic  E  ||  20  valent  A  B  || 

Tantum  valet]  Gregory,  XL.  Homiliarum  in  Evangelia, 
lib.  i.  Horn.  5:  "Aestimationem  quippe  pretii  non  habet, 
sed  tamen  regnum  Dei  tantum  valet,  quantum  habes."  The 
phrase  may  remind  us  of  Cordelia's  answer  to  King  Lear  in 
Gervase  of  Tilbury,  Otia  Imper.,  ii.  17  :  "  Quantum  habes, 
tantum  valet  et  tantum  te  diligo." 


CAPITULUM  ir.  23 


Capltulum  4. 

Ouerimonia  llbrorum  contra  clericos  iam 

promotes. 

44  Progenies  viperamm  parentes  proprios  perimens 
atque  semen  nequam  ingratissimi  cuculi,  qui,  cum 
vires  acceperit,  virium  largitricem  nutriculam  suam 
necat,  sunt  clerici  degeneres  erga  libros.  Redite 
praevaricatores  ad  cor  et  quid  per  libros  recipitis  5 
fideliter  computetis  et  invenietis  libros  totius  nobi- 
lis  status  vestri  quodammodo  creatores,  sine  quibus 
proculdubio  defecissent  caeteri  promotores. 

45  Ad  nos  nempe  rudes  penitus  et  inertes  reptastis, 

ut  parvuli  loquebamini,  ut   parvuli   sapiebatis,   ut  10 
parvuli  eiulantes  implorastis  participes  fieri  lactis 
nostri.     Nos  vero  protinus   lacrimis  vestris   tacti 

3  acceperint — necant  A  mdricein  D  \  if  circa  ^  ||  6  corn- 
put  ate  J  a.  II  8  promotores.    Ex  persona  libroruin  vulgo  i| 

Progenies  viperarum]  Cp.  Matt.  xii.  34. 

nutricem  suam  necat]  Cp.  Pliny,  H.  N.  x.  II,  who  says 
that  the  young  cuckoo  robs  the  other  young  birds  of  their 
food,  and  growing  fat  engrosses  the  affection  of  his  nurse,  in  se 
nutricem  cojivertit,  until  after  she  has  seen  him  devour  her  own 
young,  at  last  when  he  is  able  to  fly  he  makes  her  his  prey. 

Redite  praevaricatores  ad  cor]  From  Is.  xlvi.  8. 

ut  parvuh]  Cp.  I  Cor.  xiii.  ii. 

participes  lactis]  Cp.  Heb.  v.  13. 


24 


PHILOBIBLON' 


mamillam  grammaticae  porreximus  exsugendam, 
quam  dentibus  atque  lingua  contrectastis  assidue, 
donee    dempta    nativa    barbaric    nostris    Unguis 

46  ineiperetis  magnalia  Dei  fari.  Post  haec  philoso- 
phiae  vestibus  valde  bonis,  rhetorica  et  dialectica,  5 
quas  apud  nos  habuimus  et  habemus,  vos  indui- 
mus,  cum  essetis  nudi,  quasi  tabula  depingenda. 
Omnes  enim  philosophiae  domestici  sunt  vestiti 
duplicibus,  ut  tegatur  tarn  nuditas  quam  ruditas 

47  intellectus.      Post  haec,  ut  alati  more  seraphico  10 
super  cherubin  scanderetis,  quadrivialium  pennas 
vobis  quatuor  adiungentes,  transmisimus  ad  ami- 
cum,  ad  cuius  ostium,  dum  tamen  improbe  pul- 

3  nahira  B  D  direpta  nota  edd.  1|  5  vestra  Ja.  vestris  sec. 
manu  A  Ja.  ||  10  seraphin  -£  11 1 1  scandentes  transmisimus  edd.H 

magnalia  Dei]  Cp.  Eccl.  xviii.  5  ;  Acts  ii.  il. 

vestibus  valde  bonis]  From  Gen.  xxvii.  15.  For  the 
*'vestes  philosophiae"  cp.  Boetius,  De  Cons.  Phil.  i.  pr.  I  ; 
Holkotin  Sap.  153  b.  foil.,  explains  these  to  be  the  seven 
liberal  arts. 

tabula  depingenda]  The  phrase  reminds  us  of  the  familiar 
"  tabula  rasa,"  which,  according  to  Prantl,  G.  der  Logik,  iii. 
261,  is  first  found  in  Aegidius  Colonna,  and  goes  back  of 
course  to  Aristotle,  De  Anima,  iii.  4. 

domestici  sunt  vestiti  duplicibus]  From  Prov.  xxxi.  21. 

more  seraphico]  Cp.  Is.  vi.  2  ;  2  Sam.  22.  ii  ;  Ps.  xvii.  II. 

quadrivialium]  The  Trivium  included  Grammar,  Dialectic 
and  Rhetoric— the  introductoiy  arts  ;  the  Quadrivium,  the 
four  sciences— "  quatuor  pennas"— of  Music,  Arithmetic, 
Geometry,  and  Astronomy. 

ad  amicum]  Cp.  Luke  xi.  4,  '*  Amice,  commoda  mihi  tres 

panes." 

improbe  pulsaretis]  ib.  8  :  "Si  ille  perseveraverit  pulsans 
.  .  .  propter  improbitatem  tamen  ejus  surget." 


CAPITULUM  IV.  25 


saretis,  tres  panes  commodarentur  intelligentiae 
Trinitatis,  in  qua  consistit  finalis  felicitas  cuiuslibet 
viatoris.  Quod  si  vos  haec  munera  non  habere 
dixeritis,  confidenter  asserimus,  quod  vel  ea  per 
incuriam  perdidistis  coUata,  vel  in  principio  desides  5 
48  respuistis  oblata.  Si  huiusmodi  videantur  ingratis 
pusilla,  adicimus  his  maiora.  Vos  estis  genus  elec- 
tum,  regale  sacerdotium,  gens  sancta,  vos  populus 
peculiaris  in  sortem  Domini  computati,  vos  sacer- 
dotes  et  ministri  Dei,  immo  vos  antonomatice  ipsa 

3  nos  A  II  8  gens  sancta  et  populus  acquisitionis  vos  Ja.  || 
10  do  mini  D  ipsiiis  D  || 

viatoris]  "  Viator  "  was  a  common  mediceval  term  for  a 
Christian,   especially  frequent  in  Wiclif.      It  dates  back  to 

5.  Augustine  :  cp.  Sermones,  clxix.  18  ( I  Cor.  viii.  2). 
genus  electum]  Cp.  i  Pet.  ii.  9  :  "  Vos  autem  genus  elec- 

tum,  regale  sacerdotium,  gens  sancta,  populus  acquisitionis," 
etc. 

populus  peculiaris]  Cp.  Deut.  vii.  6  ;  Exod.  xix.  6. 

sortem  Domini]  With  reference  to  the  derivation  of  clericus. 
Cp.  S.  Jerome,  Ad  Nepotianum,  Ep.  3  :  *'  Igitur  clericus, 
qui  Chri^ti  servit  Ecclesiae,  interpretetur  primo  vocabulum 
suum,  et  nominis  definitione  prolata  nitatur  esse  quod  dicitur. 
Si  enim  Kkripog  Graece  sors  Latine  appellatur,  propterea  vo- 
cantur  clerici,  vel  quia  de  sorte  sunt  Domini,  vel  quia  ipse 
Dominus  sors,  id  est,  pars  clericorum  est;"  Gerv.  Tilb., 
Otia  Imperialia,  prolog.  :  "  Rex  ille  summus  simul  et  sacer- 
dos  Christus  secundum  ordinem  Melchisedech  suo  sacerdo- 
tium consecravit  imperio,  sortem  suam  in  clero  constituens, 
cuius  merito  clerici  velut  in  sortem  Domini  vocati  nuncu- 
pantur." 

antonomatice]  Formed  from  dvTOvofiaaia  (cp.  Quintil.  viii. 

6.  29),  though  often  written  antonomatice,  and  supposed  to  be 
connected  with  avrovofi'JJg.    Whether  the  latter  form  is  any- 


26  PHILOBIBLON 


Ecclesia  Dei  dicimini,  quasi  laici  non  sint  ecclesi- 
astici  nuncupandi.  Vos,  laicis  postpositis,  psalmos 
et  hymnos  concinitis  in  cancellis  et  altari  deser- 
vientes,  cum  altario  participantes,  verum  con-  | 
ficitis  corpus  Christi,  in  quo  Deus  ipse  vos  non  5  j 
solum  laicis,  immo  paulo  magis  angelis  honoravit.        | 

49  Cui  enim  aliquando  angelorum  dixit :  Tu  es  sacer-  | 
dos  in  aeternum  secundum  ordinem  Melchisedech?  j 
Vos  crucifixi  patrimonium  dispensatis  pauperibus,  { 
ubi  iam  quaeritur  inter  dispensatores  ut  fidelis  quis  lo  ; 
inveniatur.  Vos  estis  pastores  gregis  dominici 
tarn  exemplo  vitae  quam  verbo  doctrinae,  qui 
vobis  tenentur  rependere  lac  et  lanam. 

50  Qui  sunt  istorum  omnium  largitores,  O  clerici, 
nonne  libri  ?     Reminisci  libeat,  supplicamus,  quot  15 
per  nos   clericis   sint  concessa   egregia   privilegia       ' 
libertatum.     Per  nos  siquidem  vasa  sapientiae  et 

I  ipsi  etiam  dii  2  ||  2  postponitis  A  Z>  \\  ^  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<u  edd.  caJentes  I  i|  i^  pidamiis  edd.  1|  15  rejiexo  D 
JUxo  edd.  II 

fabula  invenit,  ut  eum  caelum  portare  confingerit,"  a  passage 
cited  by  Bacon,  Op.  Maj.,  p.  24. 

generationes]  Cp.  Gen  ii.  4  :  "  generationes  caeli  et  terrae." 

mendacium]  From  Rev.  xiv.  5. 

filia  virgo]  Filia  looks  like  a  gloss  transferred  to  the  text, 
but  cp.  Is.  xlvii.  I. 

collo  irreflexo]  The  reading  ineflexo  is  supported  by 
Boetius,  De  Cons.  Phil.,  iv.  metr.  7 :  *'  Uhimus caelum  labore 
irreflexo  Sustulit  collo,"  which  again  is  derived  from  Seneca, 
Here.  Fur.,  71  :  "  Nee  flexit  humerosmolis  immensus  labor." 

secundo  flammis]   The  first  time  being,  of  course,  when 


6o  PHILOBIBLON 

109  Arcana  caelorum,  quae  lonithus  non  ab  homine 
neque  per  hominem  didicit  sed  divinitus  inspiratus 
accepit;  quaeque  Zoroastes  germanus  eiusdem,  im- 
mundorum  servitor  spirituum,  Bactrianis  disseruit ; 
quae  etiam  sanctus  Enoch  Paradisi  praefectus  prius  5 
quam  transferretur  de  saeculo  prophetavit ;  immo 
quae  primus  Adam  filios  docuit,  sicut  raptus  in  ec- 
stasi  in  libro  aeternitatis  praeviderat,  flammis  illis 

1 10  nefandis  probabiliter  aestimantur  destructa.   Aegyp- 
tiorum  religio,  quam  liber  Logostilios  sic  commendat  10 

I  ioni  et  thus  ab  A  lonathas  Ja.  lonancJms  edd.  |i  3  quern 
Rosoastes  A  qiiem  Zoroastres  Ja.  ||  4  Bachianis  B  D  Brach- 
?nannis  Ja.  ||  6  deferretur  edd.  ||  10  Logostilius  Ja.  Logos- 
talios  sic  L  i  Logos taliosiae  edd.  || 

Hercules,  poisoned  by  the  shirt  of  Nessns,  ascended  a  pile 
of  wood,  and  ordered  it  to  be  set  on  fire. 

lonithus]  According  to  Methodius,  a  fourth  son  of  Noah, 
who  was  supposed  to  have  invented  astronomy :  cp.  Fabri- 
cius.  Codex  pseudepigraphus  Vet.  Test.,  i.  271. 

non  ab  homine]  From  Gal.  i.  12. 

Zoroastes]  Cp.  Gervas.  Tilb.,  Otia  Imper.,  i.  20:  "Zoro- 
aster alio  nomine  Cham  filius  Noae  vocabatur." 

immundorum  servitor  spirituum]  Cp.  Matt.  x.  i. 

sanctus  Enoch]  Cp.  Eccli.  xh'v.  16  :  "  Enoch  .  .  .  trans- 
latus  est  in  Paradisum  ut  det  gentibus  poenitentiam." 

raptus  in  ecstasi]  Cp.  2  Cor.  xii.  4. 

liber  Logostilios]  Inglis  supposed  this  to  refer  to  the  lost 
Logistorictis  of  Varro.  Cocheris  has  made  hopeless  confusion 
throughout  the  passage  and  confesses  his  inability  to  under- 
stand this  phrase,  which  he  proposes  to  explain  as  Logos  Tales 
(sic)  "c'est  a  dire  le  traite  de  Thales."  But  the  reference  is 
clearly  to  the  lost  treatise  of  the  quasi-mythical  Hermes  Tris- 
megistus,  extant  only  in  the  Latin  translation  of  Apuleius, 


CAriTULUM   VI I.  6 1 

egregie,  politia  vetenim  Athenarum,  quae  novem 
minibus  annorum  Athenas  Graeciac  praeccsserunt  ; 
carmina  Chaldacorum  ;  considerationes  Arabum  et 
Indorum ;  caerimoniae  ludaeorum;  architectura 
Babyloniorum  ;  Noe  georgica  ;  Moysis  praestigia  ;  5 
losuae  planimetria ;  Samsonis  aenigmata ;  Salo- 
monis  problemata,  a  cedro  Libani  usque  ad  hys- 
sopum  planissime  disputata ;  Aesculapii  antidota ; 
Cadmi  grammatica  ;  Parnasi  poemata ;  Apollinis 
oracula;  Argonautica  lasonis ;  strategematon  Pala-  10 

\  polios  edd.  qtu  cum  edd.  il  4  Medoruni  cerimonie  Indorum 
^  il  5  praesapgia  L  presagia  edd.  ||  10  strategemata  edd.  Ja.  || 

which  was  entitled  Aoyo^  riXaor,  or  as  S.  Augustine  renders 
it,  Verbiim  Pcrfcctutn:  Adv.  qiimqiie  hcurcses,  c.  viii.  The 
title  was  written  as  one  word  in  medieval  times,  e.g.  Jo.  Sarisb. 
De  Septem  Stptenis,  c.  vii. 

sic  commendat]  In  the  Asclepiiis,  the  translation  of  the 
Aoyoc  TtXttog  by  Apuleius,  Ilermes  says  of  Egypt,  c.  24, 
*'  Terra  nostra  mundi  totius  est  templum,"  and  again  speaks 
of  it  as  "sedes  religionum  ;  "  ed.  Hildebrand,  pp.  307,  308. 

veterum  Athenarum]  See  the  Timaetis  and  Crito  of  Plato 
for  the  account  of  the  Egyptiaii  Athens  supposed  to  be  given 
to  Solon  by  a  priest  of  Sais. 

Noe  georgica]  James  remarks,  *'  Ilic  Episcopus  non  tene- 
tur,  nisi  sano  modo  intelligantur  verba  eius. "  The  remark  may 
be  extended  to  the  whole  passage,  though  in  the  last  century 
several  learned  Germans  wrote  treatises  on  science  and  learn- 
ing before  the  flood.  It  would  be  easy  to  accumulate  refe- 
rences to  these  mythical  writers  from  medieval  literature,  if  it 
were  worth  while  to  do  so.  Cp.  Fabricius,  Codex  Pscudcpi- 
graphus  Vet.  Testamenti,  I7U-33- 

Salomonis  problemata]  Cp.  3  Kings,  iv.  33. 


62  PHILOBIBLON 

medis ;  et  alia  infinita  scientiarum  secreta   huius 
incendii  tempestate  creduntur  sublata. 

111  Numquid  Aristotelem  de  circuli  quadratura 
syllogismus  apodicticon  latuisset,  si  libros  veterum 
methodos  naturae  totius  habentium  permisissent  5 
nefanda  praelia  superesse?  Nee  enim  de  mundi 
aeternitate  problema  neutrum  fecisset,  nee  de  in- 
tellectuum  humanorum  pluralitate  eorundemque 
perpetuitate,  ut  verisimiliter  creditur,  dubitasset 
uUatenus,  si  perfectae  scientiae  veterum  invisorum  10 

112  bellorum  pressuris  obnoxiae  non  fuissent.  Per 
bella  namque  ad  patrias  peregrinas  distrahimur, 
obtruncamur,  vulneramur  et  enormiter  mutilamur^ 
sub  terra  suffodimur,  in  mari  submergimur,  flammis 
exurimur  et  omni  necis  genere  trucidamur.  Quan-  15 
turn  sanguinis  nostri  fudit  Scipio  bellicosus,  cum 
eversioni  Carthaginis,    Romani   imperii   impugna- 

113  tricis  et  aemulae,  anxius  incumbebat  !    Quot  millia 

4  apodiciicus  Ja.  ||  5  promisissent  D  ||  8  eorwnque  edd.  || 

II  ohnixe  ^  ||  16  effudit  edd.  ||  i8  quot transmisit 

om.  D  II 

syllogismus  apodicticon]  This  is  the  reading  of  the  MSS., 
which  I  have  retained  ;  for  the  apodeictic  syllogism  cp. 
Ueberweg,  Hist,  of  Phil.,  E.  T.  i,  155. 

Aristotelem]  Cp.  Bacon,  Op.  Maj.,  p.  7  :  *' Ad  haec  repre- 
henditur  de  mundi  aeternitate,  quam  nimis  inexpressam  reli- 
quit,  nee  mirum,  cum  ipsemet  dicit  se  non  omnia  scivisse. 
Nam  quadraturam  circuli  se  ignorasse  confitetur,  quod  his 
diebus  scitur  veraciter." 

problema   neutrum]  Neutral,  apparently,  in  the   sense  of 
doubtful,  rather  than  *  open '  in  the  Catholic   sense.      Cp. 
Lange,  Hist,  of  Materialism,  i.  228  of  my  translation. 


CAPITULUM    VIl.  Ct^ 


millium  praelium  decennale  Troianum  ab  hac  luce 
transmisit  !  Quot  per  Antonium,Tullio  iam  occiso, 
externaruni  provinciarum  latcbras  adicrunt !  Quot 
de  nobis  per  Thcodoricum,  cxulante  13oetio,  in 
diversa  mundi  climata,  sicut  oves  pastore  percusso,  5 
sunt  disi)ersi  !  Quot  Seneca  succumbente  Neronis 
malitiae,  cum  et  volens  ct  nolens  portas  mortis 
adiret,  ab  eo  divisi  retrocessimus  lacrimantes  et 
in  quibus  partibus  hosi)itari  posscmus  penitus 
ignorantes !  ,0 

1 14  Felix  fuit  ilia  librorum  translatio,  quam  in  Persas 
de  Athenis  Xerxes  fecisse  describitur,  quos  rursus 
de  Persis  in  Athenas  Seleucus  reduxit.  O  post- 
liminium gratiosum  !  O  mira  laetitia !  quam 
tunc  cerneres  in  Athenis,  cum  proli  suae  genitrix  15 
obviaret  tripudians  matricemque  thalamum  senes- 
centi  iam  soboli  denuo  demonstraret.  Reassignatis 
hospitiis   veteribus    inquilinis,    mox   tabulata   ce- 

7  vialitia  D  nohtis  et  volens  &^^.  |1  13  0  gauJittm  graciosurn 
edd.  postliminium  saliitare  et  gratiosum  Jx  ||  i6  matrisque 
edd.  demonstrasset  D  J/ Ja.  resignatis  il/Ja.  || 

sicut  oves]  Cp.  Ezech.  xxxiv.  5  ;    Zach.  xiii.  7. 

portas  mortis]  From  Ps.  cvi.  18. 

librorum  translatio]  This  is  awkwardly  expressed,  as  though 
the  felicity  of  the  *  translation '  was  in  the  carrying  away,  and 
not  in  the  return.  The  story  is  taken  from  A.  Gellius,  N.A., 
vi.  17,  I. 

postliminium]  A  technical  term  of  Roman  law,  which  Co- 
cheris  appears  to  have  found  so  unintelligible,  that  he  could 
not  even  read  it  in  his  MSS.,  but  prints  it  as  post  li/ninuni. 
The  MSS.  are  quite  clear. 


64  PHILOBIBLON 


drina   cum   lignis   et    trabibus    levigatis   aptissime 
complanantur ;   auro    et    ebore    epigrammata    de- 
signantur  camerulis  singulis,  quibus  ipsa  volumina 
reverenter  illata  suavissime  collocantur  sic,  ut  nul- 
lum alterius  ingressum  impediat  vel  propinquitate  5 
nimia  fratrem  laedat. 
115       Caeterum    infinita    sunt     dispendia    quae    per 
seditiones   bellorum    librorum   generi    sunt   illata. 
Et  quoniam    infinita   nullatenus   pertransire   con- 
tingit,  hie  statuemus  finaliter  querimoniae  nostrae  10 
Gades,  et  ad  preces  a  quibus  incepimus  regiramus 
habenas,  rogantes  suppliciter  ut  rector  Olympi  ac 
mundi  totius  dispensator  altissimus  firmet  pacem 
et  bella   removeat  ac   tempora  faciat  sua  protec- 
tione  tranquilla.  15 

3  singulis  om.  edd.  li  7  ceterum  qiiidem  edd.  ||  8  librorum 
om.  E  II  quippe  sunt  I  sunt  om.  Coch.  jl  9  qiconiam  qtcidem 
edd.  contigit  A\\li  gaiides  B  a  om.  edd.  || 

tabulata  cedrina]  From  I  Kings,  vi.  15. 

lignis  levigatis]  From  Gen.  vi.  14. 

propinquitate  nimia]  In  the  statutes  of  S.  Victor,  it  is  directed 
that  the  books  in  the  library  should  be  arranged  "  ne  vel  ni- 
mia compressio  ipsis  libris  noceat :  "  Martene,  De  ant.  eccl. 
ritt.,  iii.  733. 

Gades]  This  word,  originally  from  the  Punic  word  gadir,  a 
boundary,  is  familiar  in  classical  Latin  as  the  name  of  a 
Phoenician  colony  on  the  site  of  the  modern  Cadiz,  By  a  re- 
version to  its  original  sense,  it  was  used  in  mediosval  Latin  for 
a  fence  or  boundary,  of  which  see  numerous  instances  in  Du- 
cange.  Cp.  Geoffrey  Vinesauf,  in  the  Epilogue  to  his  Poetria 
Nova :  "  lam  mare  transcurri,  Gades  in  littore  fixi." 

rector  Olympi]  From  Ovid,  Met.  ix.  498. 


CAPITULUM  VI I  I.  65 


Capitulum  S. 

De  multlplici  opportunltate  qiiam  hal^ui- 
mus  librorum  copiain  conquirendi. 

116  Cum  omni  ncgotio  tempus  sit  et  opportunitas,  ut 
testatur  sapiens  Ecclesiastes,  8°,  iam  progrcdimur 
enarrare  multiplices  opportunitates,  quibus  in  adc^ui- 
sitione  librorum,  nostris  propositis  divinitate  pro- 
pitia,  iuvabamur.  5 

J  J  ^  Quamvis  enim  ab  adolescentia  nostra  semper 
socialem  communionem  cum  viris  litteratis  et  libro- 
rum dilectoribus  delectaremur  habere,  succeden- 
tibus  tamen  prosperis,  regiae  maiestatis  consecuti 
notitiam  et  in  ipsius  acceptati  familia,  facultatem  10 
accepimus  ampliorem  ubilibet  visitandi  pro  libito  et 
venandi  quasi  saltus  quosdam  delicatissimos,  turn 
privatas,  tum  communes,  tum  regularium,  turn  sae- 

iiScularium    librarias.      Sane    dum  invictissimi  prin- 
cipis  ac  semper  magnifice  triumphantis  regis  Angliae  15 
Eduardi  Tertii  post   conquestum,   cuius   tempora 

I  sit  ut  B     \\  Uhitu  E  edd.   H   14  priiicipis  .   .  .  inum- 
phantts  om.  J  a.  li  16  Edoiiardi  A  EJwarJi  E  ]o..  \\ 

succedentibus  tamen  prosperis]    From  Gen.  xl.  23. 
magnifice  triumphantis]  Cp.  Durham  Ritual,  p,  122,  et  a!.: 
*' Deus  .  .  .  rex  ac  semper  magnificus  triumpliator." 

F 


66  PHILOBIBLON 

serenare  dignetur  Altissimus  diutine  et  tranquille, 
primo  quidem  suam  concernentibus  curiam,  deinde 
vero  rempublicam  regni  siii,  cancellarii  videlicet  ac 
thesaurarii,  fungeremur  officiis,  patescebat  nobis 
aditus   facilis,  regalis  favoris  intuitu,  ad  librorum  5 

119  latebras  libere  perscmtandas.  Amoris  quippe  nostri 
fama  volatilis  iam  ubique  percrebuit,  tantumque 
librorum  et  maxima  veterum  ferebamur  cupiditate 
languescere,  posse  vero  quemlibet  nostrum  per 
quaternos  facilius  quam  per  pecuniam  adipisci  ^o 
favorem.  Quamobrem  cum  supra  dicti  principis 
recolendae  memoriae  bonitate  suffulti  possemus 
obesse  et  prodesse,  officere  et  proficere  vehe- 
menter  tam  maioribus  quam  pusillis,  affluxerunt 
loco  xeniorum  et  munerum  locoque  donorum  et  15 
iocalium  caenulenti  quaterni  ac  decrepiti  codices, 
nostris   tam   aspectibus   quam   aifectibus   pretiosi. 

120  Tunc  nobilissimorum  monasteriorum  aperiebantur 
armaria,  reserabantur  scrinia  et  cistulae  solveban- 

I  seruare  A  B  consej'vare  edd.  H  3  regni  om.  D  H  Z  ferebattir 
Z)  II  9  quilibct  D  \\  12  bo7iitati  Z>  |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  0  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<i)  TvdOecrOai,  dWd  TOvr(^  rbv 

rjTTOV  (T0<p6v. 

nee  fallit]  Cp.  Macrobius,  C.  in  Somn.  Scip.,  i.  6.  64,  of 
Hippocrates  :  "  qui  tarn  fallere  quam  falli  nescit."  The 
phrase  occurs  again,  post,  s.  195  :   "  quae  nee  fallit  nee  fallitur 


Veritas." 


CAPITULUM  XIV.  Ill 

187  Philosophiam  nimirum  conspexit  Boetius  in 
sinistra  quidem  sceptrum  et  in  dextra  libros  ges- 
tantem,  per  quod  universis  evidenter  ostenditur  nul- 
lum posse  rempublicam  debite  regere  sine  libris. 
Tu,  inquit  Boetius  loquens  Philosophiae,  banc  sen-  5 
tentiam  Platonis  ore  sanxisti  beatas  fore  respublicas 
si  eas  vel  studiosi  sapientiae  regerent  vel  earum 
rectores  studere  sapientiae  contigisset.  Rursus  hoc 
nobis  insinuat  ipse  gestus  imaginis,  quod  quanto 
dextra  sinistram  praecellit,  tanto  contemplativa  ^o 
dignior  est  activa,  simulque  sapientis  interesse 
raonstratur  nunc  studio  veritatis,  nunc  dispensationi 
temporalium  indulgere  vicissim. 

188  Philippum  legimus  diis  regratiatum  devote,  quod 
Alexandrum    concesserant  temporibus    Aristotelis  *5 
esse  natum,  cuius   instructionibus  educatus  regni 
paterni  moderamine  dignus  esset.     Dum  Phaethon 
ignarus   regiminis  fit  currus  auriga  paterni,  nunc 

I  respexit  Ja.  |1  siqtc.idc77i  D  Ja.  ||  8  hoc  nomen  D  ||  lo  contem- 
plativa vita  edd.  !|  II  sapientissime  D  Ja.  ||  13  temporibus 
A  B  \\  15  Alexandro  E  \ 

conspexit  Boetius]  See  the  De  Cons.  Phil.,  i.  pr.  4. 

sententiam  Platonis]  Referring  to  the  well-kno^^^l  passage 
in  the  5th  book  of  the  Republic,  p.  473  D,  cited  by  Boetius, 
loc.  cit. 

contemplativa  dignior]  The  editors  have  inserted  vita,  but 
conteniplativa  and  activa  are  used,  as  here,  without  the  sub- 
stantive by  S.  Bonaventura  in  a  letter  quoted  in  Gieseler, 
Eccl.  Hist.,  iii.  247,  note. 

Philippum]  The  story  is  told  in  Jo.  Sarisb.,  Pollcrat.,  iv.  6  ; 
and  the  letter  is  given  in  Burley's  Vitae,  c.  53. 

currus  auriga]  From  the  epitaph  on  Phaethon  in  Ovid,  Met. 


112  PHILOBIBLON 


vicinitate  nimia  nunc  remota  distantia  infeliciter 
administrat  mortalibus  aestum  Phoebi  ac,  ne  omnes 
periclitarentur  subiecti  propinquo  regimine,  iuste 
meruit  fulminari. 

189  Referunt  tarn  Graecomm  quam  Latinorum  his-  5 
toriae,  quod  nobiles  inter  eos  principes  non  fuerunt, 
qui  litterarum  peritia  caruerunt.  Sacra  lex  Mosaica, 
praescribens  regi  regulam,  per  quam  regat,  librum 
legis  divinae  sibi  praecipit  habere  descriptum, 
Deut.  17°,  secundum  exemplar  a  sacerdotibus  exhi-  10 
bendum,  in  quo  sibi  legendum  esset  omnibus  diebus 
vitae  suae.  Sane  labilitatem  humanae  memoriae  et 
instabilitatem  virtuosae  voluntatis  in  homine  satis 
noverat  Deus  ipse,  qui  condidit  et  qui  fingit  cotidie 

190  corda   hominum    singillatim.     Quamobrem    quasi  15 
omnium  malorum   antidotum  voluit   esse  librum, 
cuius  lectionem  et  usum  tanquam  saluberrimum 

2  administret  E  ac  om.  ^9  ||  3  pro  iniqiio  ^  ||  4  siihlimari  A 
pr.  manu,  B  E  \\<)  doininice  D  ||  13  virtuosa  E  || 

ii.  327:  "  Hie  situs  est  Phaethon,  currus  auriga  paterni,  Quem 
si  non  tenuit,  magnis  tanien  excidit  ausis." 

litterarum  peritia]  This  phrase  and  the  reference  to  Deutero- 
nomy are  taken  from  John  of  Salisbury,  Policrat.  iv.  6. 

librum  legis]  Deut.  xvii.  18,  19  :  "  describet  sibi  Deutero- 
nomium  legis  huius  in  volumine,  accipiens  exemplar  a  sacer- 
dotibus Leviticae  tribus  .  .  .  legetque  illud  omnibus  diebus 
vitae  suae." 

instabilitatem]  Cp.  Thomas  a  Kempis,  Doctrinale  luvenum, 
iv.  I  :  "  cor  hominis  est  instabile  et  memoria  multum  vaga  et 
labilis." 

qui  fingit]  From  Ps.  xxxii.  15. 


CAPITULUM  XV.  IT3 

spiritus  alimentum  cotidianum  iugiter  esse  iussit, 
quo  refocillatus  intellectus  nee  enervis  nee  dubius 
trepidaret  ullatenus  in  agendis.  Istud  eleganter 
loannes  Saresberiensis  pertractat  in  suo  Poliera- 
ticon,  libro  4^  Caetemm  omne  genus  hominum,  5 
qui  tonsura  vel  signo  clericali  praefulgent,  contra 
quos  libri  4°  5°  et  6"  capitulis  querebantur,  libris 
tenentur  veneratione  perpetua  famulari. 


Capitulum  15. 
Quot  commoda  confert  amor  Hbrorum. 

191  Humanumtranscenditingenium,  quantumcunque 
de  fonte  fuerit  Pegaseo  potatum,  instantis  capituli  10 
titulum  explicare  perfecte.  Si  linguis  angelorum  et 
hominum  quis  loquatur,  si  in  Mercurium  transfor- 
meturautTuUium,  si  dulcescat  Titi  Livii  eloquentia 
lactea,  si  Demosthenis  suavitate  peroret,  aut  Moysi 
balbutiem   allegabit,  vel  cum  leremia  se  puerum  15 

2  duhiis  D  |i  6  nomine  c.  E\^  excedit  viilgo  quodcunqne 
^z..  fuerit  om.  edd.  ||  ii  si  ova.  Ja.  1|  12  transforjnaretur  edd.  i| 

linguis  angelorum]  From  i  Cor.  xiii.  i. 

eloquentia  lactea]  Cp.  Quint.  Inst.  Orator.,  x.  132:  "ilia 
Livii  lactea  ubertas."  So  S.  Jerome  describes  him  as 
"  lacteo  eloquentiae  fonte  manantem  :  "   0pp.  i.  269. 

cum  leremia]  Jer.  i.  6  :  "A,  a,  a,  Domine  Deus,  ecce  nes- 
cio  loqui,  quia  puer  ego  sum." 

I 


\ 


114  PHILOBIBLON 


nescientem  fatebitur  adhuc  loqui,  vel  imitabitur 
resonantem  in  montibus  altis  echo.  Amorem  nam- 
que  libromm  amorem  sapientiae  constat  esse,  sicut 

192  2".  cap**,  est  probatum.  Hie  autem  amor  philoso- 
phia  Graeco  vocabulo  nuncupatur,  cuius  virtutem  5 
nulla  creata  intelligentia  comprehendit,  quoniam 
verecrediturbonorum  omnium  esse  mater:  Sap.  7°. 
Aestus  quippe  carnalium  vitiorum  quasi  caelicus 
ros  extinguit,  dum  motus  intensus  virtutum  ani- 
malium  vires  naturalium  virtutum  remittit,  otio  10 
penitus  efi'ugato,quo  sublato  periere  Cupidinis  arcus 
omnes. 

193  Hinc  Plato  in  Phaedone  :    In  hoc,  inquit,  mani- 
festus  est  philosophus,  si  absolvit  animam  a  corporis 

1  confitebitur  edd.  |1  4   comperhim  Ja.  ||  5    appellatur   B  |I 
6  crentura  Ja.  ||  7  vere  om.  edd.  ||  ii  artes  A  onirics  om.  M 
Ja.  II 12  fcd?-one  codd.  || 

montibus  altis  echo]  Cp.  Wisd.  xvii.  18:  "  resonans  de 
altissimis  montibus  Echo." 

esse  mater]  Wisd.  vii.  12  :  "  laetatus  sum  in  omnibus,  quo- 
niam antecedebat  me  ista  sapientia,  et  ignoiabam  quoniam 
horum  omnium  mater  est. " 

vires  remittit]  Apparently  from  Avicenna :  cp.  Holkot, 
Super  Sap.,  f.  155c.  Animalis  =  quod  animani  spectat :  see 
Ducange. 

arcus  omnes]  From  Ovid,  Remed.  Am.,  139  :  "  Otia  si  tollas 
periere  Cupidinis  arcus  Contemtaequejacent  et  sine  luce  faces." 
The  reading  in  Ovid  was  uncertain.  See  Robinson  Ellis,  in 
Journ.,  of  Phil.  xv.  246,  who  notes  that  it  is  cited  in  Neckam 
as  'artes.'  I  find  it  quoted  in  Holkot,  Super  Sap.,  f.  174a, 
with  arms,  and  f.  208b  with  artes. 

in  Phaedone]  64E  :  o^Xo^  tcnv  6  ^iXocofog  dwoXviov  on 


CAPIl'ULUM  XV.  115 

communione   differentius   aliis  hominibus.      Ama, 
inquit    Hieronymus,    scientiam    scripturarum    et 
carnis  vitia  non  amabis.     Demonstravit  hoc  Xeno- 
crates,  deiformis  in  constantia  rationis,  quem  nobile 
scortum,    Phryne    nomine,   statuam    definivit   non  5 
hominem,  cum  nullus  eum  valeret  illecebris  evirare, 
quemadmodum  Valerius  li^.  4°.,  c°.  3°.  plene  refert. 
Hoc  ipsum  noster  Origenes  ostendit,  qui  ne  eum  ab 
omnipotenti  femina  effeminaricontingeret,utnusque 
sexus  medium  per  abnegationem  extremorum  elegit :  10 
animosum   quippe  remedium,  nee  naturae  tamen 
consentaneum  nee  virtuti,  cuius  est  hominem  non 
insensibilem    facere    passionum     sed    subortas   a 
fomite  rationis  enecare  mucrone. 
194      Rursus    mundanas    pecunias    parvipendunt    ex  15 
animo,   quotquot   amor    affecit  librorum,    dicente 
Hieronymo  contra  Vigilantium,  epistola  54  :    non 

I  diffet-entiis  edd.    ||  6  nullis  edd.  ||  9  omni  petenti  E  || 
15  mundana  et  edd.  ex  animo  om.  edd.  |i  16  officii  Ja.  Coch.  jj 

fiaXiara  Trjv  -^^vxhv  airb  ttjqtov  trw/xaror  KoivioviaQ  Siacpspovrug 
Toiv  dXXujv  di'OpojTTojv.  The  passage  is  quoted  by  Holkot, 
Super  Sap.,  f.  300  d. 

Hieronymus]  Epp.  125  and  again  Epp.  130.  The  saying 
is  quoted  by  Jo.  Sarisb.,  Policrat.,  vii.  10,  and  Holkot,  Super 
Sap.,  f.  155a.     It  rests  of  course  on  Gal.  v.  16. 

Xenocrates]  Coch.  makes  the  thoroughly  French  remark: 
"  Richard  oublie  d'aj outer  que  son  heros  etait  pris  de  vin,  et 
que  s'il  ne  succomba  pas  a  la  tentation,  ce  fut  probablement 
plus  par  caducite  que  par  chastete." 

dicente  Hieronymo]  Loc.  cit.  "Non  est  eiusdem  hominis 
et  aureos  nummos  et  scripturas  probare,  et  degustare  vina  et 
prophetas  vel  apostolos  intelligere." 


ii6  PHILOBIBLON 

est  eiusdem  hominis  aureos  nummos  et  scripturas 
probare.    Unde  a  quodam  metrice  sic  dictum  est : 

Nulla  libris  erit  apta  manus  ferrugine  tincta, 
Nee  nummata  queunt  corda  vacare  libris. 

Non  est  eiusdem  nummos  librosque  probare  ;  5 

Persequitur  libros  grex,  Epicure,  tuus. 

Nummipetae  cum  libricolis  nequeunt  simul  esse ; 
Ambos,  crede  mihi,  non  tenet  una  domus. 

Nulliis  igitur  potest  libris  et  Mammonae  deservire. 
195  Vitiorum  deformitasin  libris  maxirae  reprobatur,  10 
lit  inducatur  omnimode  vitia  detestari,  qui  libros 
dilexerit  perscutari.  Daemon,  qui  a  scientia  nomen 
habet,  per  librorum  scientiam  potissime  triumpha- 
tur,  cuius  fraudes  multipliciter  flexuosae  milleque 
perniciosi  maeandri  per  libros  panduntur  legenti-  15 

2  dictiun  est  om.  ^5"  |j  5  non  .  .  .  tuus  om.  Coch.  1| 
7  nummico/ae  ]a.  ||  9  ergo  E  edd.  servire  edd.  1|  11  et  induca- 
tur B  ut  inde  dicatur  edd.  || 

Nulla  libris]  The  lines  are  from  the  Eutheticus,  or  intro- 
ductory verses  to  the  Policraticon  of  John  of  Salisbury,  269- 
272,  281,  282.  This  work  must  be  distinguished  from  the 
Entheticus,  De  dogniate  philosophorutn,  though  they  are  con- 
founded by  Hardy  in  his  Descriptive  Catalogue,  ii.  418.  Both 
occur  in  the  volume  described  in  the  mtroduction  as  once 
belonging  to  De  Bury. 

Mammonae]  Cp.  Matt.  vi.  24. 

a  scientia]  Cp.  Aug.  De  Civ.  Dei,  ix.  20  :  "Aalfjiovsg  enim 
dicuntur,  quoniam  vocabukim  Graecum  est,  ob  scientiam 
nominati." 

maeandri]  Cp.  Wiclif,  De  Septem  Donis,  ed.  Buddensieg, 
p.  556  •  "  I'^ii^^indri  mille  anticristi." 


CAPITULUM  XV,  117 

bus,  ne  se  transfigurans  in  angelum  lucis  dolis 
circumveniat  innocentes.  Divina  nobis  per 
libros  reverentia  revelatur,  virtutes  quibus  colitur 
propalantur  expressius,  atque  merces  describitur, 
quam  quae  nee  fallit  nee  fallitur  Veritas  pollicetur.  5 

196  Imago  siraillima  futurae  beatitudinis  est  sacrarum 
contemplatio  litterarum,  in  quibus  nunc  Creator 
nunc  creatura  conspicitur,  ac  de  torrente  perpetuae 
iocunditatis  hauritur.  Fides  fundatur  potentia 
litterarum ;  spes  librorum  solatio  confirmatur,  ut  10 
per  patientiam  et  consolationem  scripturarum  spem 
habeamus.  Caritas  non  inflatur  sed  aedificatur  per 
veram  notitiam  litterarum;  immo  super  libros  sacros 
constat  luce  clarius  Ecclesiam  stabilitam. 

197  Delectantlibri.  prosperitatefeliciterarridente,con-  15 
solantur  individue,  nubila  fortuna  terrente :  pactis 
humanis  robur  attribuunt,  nee  feruntur  senten- 
tiae  graves  sine  libris.  Artes  et  scientiae  in  libris 
consistunt,  quarum  emolumenta  nulla  mens  suffi- 
ceret  enarrare.    Quanti  pendenda  est  mira  librorum  ao 

5  quaeqtie  Ja.  ||  7  scripfttrarum  litei'aruni  E  ||  16  «?/- 
bilia  B  nubula  E  torrente  Ja.  1|  19  qiiorzun  edd.  |!  20  quanta 
Ja.  II 

se  transfigurans]  From  2  Cor.  xi.  14. 

nunc  Creator,  nunc  creatura]  Cp.  Wisd.  xiii.  5  ;  Rom.  i.  25. 
According  to  Avicenna,  the  perfection  of  the  rational  soul  is 
to  become  the  mirror  of  the  universe  :    Renan,   Averroes, 

P- 95- 

iocunditatis  hauritur]  Cp.  Prov.  xviii.  22. 

caritas  non  inflatur]  From  i  Cor.  xiii.  4. 


ii8  PHILOBIBLON 

potentia,  dum  per  eos  fines  tarn  orbis  quam 
temporis  cernimus,  et  ea  quae  non  sunt,  sicut  ea 
quae  sunt,  quasi  in  quodam   aeternitatis  speculo 

198  contemplamur.  Montes  scandimus,  abyssorum  vo- 
ragines  perscrutamur,  species  piscium  quos  com-  5 
munis  aer  nequaquam  similiter  continet,  intuemur 
codicibus ;  fiuviorum  et  fontium  diversarum  ter- 
rarum  proprietates  distinguimus  ;  metallorum  atque 
gemmarum  genera  et  minerae  cuiusque  materias 
de  libris  effodimus,  herbarumque  vires,  arborum  10 
et  plantarum  addiscimus,  prolemque  totam  pro 
libito  cernimus  Neptuni,  Cereris  et  Plutonis. 

199  Quod  si  nos  caelicolas  visitare  delectat,  suppedi- 
tantes  Taurum,  Caucasum  et  Olympum,  lunonis 
regna  transcendimus,  ac  septena  territoria  planeta-  15 
rum  funiculis  et  circulis  emetimur.     Ipsum  tandem 
firmamentum  supremum,  signis,  gradibus  et  imagini- 

I  eos  potentes  fines  D  \\2  tei-mhiiwi  Ja.  ||  4  s.  et  a.  edd.  1| 
6  aej'  .  .  .  continet  om.  A  saluhriter  B  E  edd.  ||  *]  f.  ct  d. 
edd.  II  9  iminera  -£'  ||  11  planet ariwi  Ja.  ||  12  libitu  E  edd.  || 
14  lovis  E  in  rasurar  edd.  ||  15  et  sept  em  edd.  |1 

ft 

fines  tarn  orbis]  Cp.  Job,  xxviii.  24. 

ea  quae  non  sunt]  From  Rom.  iv.  1 7. 

aeternitatis  speculo]  In  the  Anti-  Clandiamts  of  Alanus, 
Faith  gives  Phronesis  a  mirror  :  "  Hie  videt  ingenitas  species, 
speculatur  ideas  Caelestes,  hominum  formas,  primordia  rerum, 
Causarum  causas,  rationum  semina,  leges  Parcarum,  fati 
seriem,  mentemque  Tonantis." 

similiter]  It  is  not  easy  to  say  whether  similiter  or  salnbriter 
gives  the  feebler  sense.  The  remark  recalls  the  burlesque  lines 
of  the  Anti-Jacobin :  "  The  feather'd  race  with  pinions  skim 


CAPITULUM  XV.  119 

bus  varietate  maxima  decoratum,  lustramus.  Ibi 
polum  antarcticmii,  quern  nee  oculus  vidit  nee 
auris  audivit,  inspicimus;  luminosum  iter  galaxiae 
et  animalibus  caelestibus  picturatum  zodiacum  de- 
200  lectabili  iocunditate  miramur.  Hinc  per  libros  ad  5 
separatas  transimus  substantias,  ut  cognatas  in- 
telligentias  intellectus  salutet  primamque  causam 
omnium  ac  motorem  immobilem  infinitae  virtutis 
oculo  mentis  cernat  et  amore  inhaereat  sine  fine. 
Ecce  per  libros  adiuti  beatitudinis  nostrae  merce-  10 
dem  attingimus,  dum  adhuc  existimus  viatores. 

2  articum  E\(i  ut  om.  D  et  E  et  tit  edd.  ||  9  £■/  .  .  .  dum 
om.  E  11  10  addudi  edd.  || 

the  air  ;  Not  so  the  mackerel  and  still  less  the  bear"  (Progress 
of  Man,  34).  Holkot,  however,  has  something  not  unlike  it. 
Super  Sap.,  f.  327d. 

varietate  decoratum]  Cp.  Esther,  i.  6, 

nee  oculus  vidit  nee  auris  audivit]  From  i  Cor.  ii.  9. 

separatas  substantias]  This  probably  means  the  angels  ;  cp. 
S.  Thomas  Aquinas,  Summa  Theologiae,  i.  79  :  "In  quibus- 
dam  libris  de  Arabico  translatis  substantiae  separatae,  quas 
nos  angelos  dicimus,  intelligentiae  vocantur  ;"  or  it  may 
mean  the  super-sensible  essences,  v^^hich  according  to  S. 
Thomas  are  the  proper  study  of  the  angels  :  ibid,  i.  84  : 
"  Intellectus  angelici,  qui  est  totaliter  a  corpore  separa- 
tus,  obiectum  proprium  est  substantia  intelligibilis  a  corpore 
separata,  et  per  huiusmodi  intelligibile  materialia  cognoscit ; 
intellectus  autem  humani,  qui  est  coniunctus  corpori,  pro- 
prium obiectum  est  quidditas  sive  natura  in  materia  cor- 
porali  existens." 

mercedem  attingimus]  Cp.  Hugo  de  S.  Victor,  Erudit. 
didasc,  i.  9,  speaking  of  co7ite?fiplatio,  *'  in  qua  ...  in  hac 
vita  etiam  quae  sit  boni  operis  merces  futura  praegustatur. " 


120  PHILOBIBLON 

201  Quid  plura?  proculdubio,  sicut  Seneca  docente 
didicimus,  otium  sine  litteris  mors  est  et  vivi 
hominis  sepultura,  ita  revera  a  sensu  contrario 
litterarum  seu  librorum  negotium  concludimus 
hominis  esse  vitam.  5 

202  Rursus  per  libros  tarn  arnicis  quam  hostibus 
intimamus,  quae  nequaquam  secure  nuntiis  com- 
mendamus  :  quoniam  libro  plerumque  ad  principum 
thalaraos  ingressus  conceditur,  quo  repelleretur 
penitus  vox  auctoris,  sicut  Tertullianus  in  principio  lo 
Apologetici  sui  dicit.  Carceribus  et  vinculis  custo- 
diti,  ademptaque  penitus  corporis  libertate,  librorum 
legationibus  utimur  ad  amicos,  eisque  causas  nostras 
expediendas  committimus,  atque  illuc  transmitti- 
raus,  quo  nobis  fieret  causa  mortis  accessus.  Per  15 
libros  praeteritorum  reminiscimur,  de  futuris  quo- 
dammodo  prophetamus,  praesentia  quae  labuntur 
et  fluunt  scripturae  memoria  stabilimus. 

203  Felix  studiositas  et  studiosa  felicitas  praepotentis 

I  docente  octogesima  quarta  epistola  qtice  incipit  Desii  iam 
de  te  esse  sollicitus  edd.  ||  2  didiscimus  A  E  addiscimus  B 
om.  edd.  dicinius  Coch.  |i  5  hominis  om.  edd.  vita  E  ||  *]  prin- 
cipizmi E  ||  loprimo  Ja.  ||  1 1  ciistoditionibus  titivnir  ^  ||  14  atqtie 
illiic  trans  mi/ tiffins  om.  edd.  ||  19  preponentis  D  || 

Seneca  docente  didicimus]  See  Epp.  82.  3. 

Tertullianus]  Apol.  c.  i. :  ".  .  .  liceat  veritati  vel  occulta 
via  tacitarum  litterarum  ad  aures  vestras  pei"venire"  (Romani 
imperii  antistites). 

studiosa  felicitas]  The  phrase  reminds  us  of  the  curiosa 
felicitas  of  Petronius  (c.  118). 


CAPITULUM  XV.  121 


eunuchi,  de  quo  Actuum  8^  narratur,  quern  amor 
propheticae  lectionis  succenderat  tam  ardenter,  quod 
nee  ratione  itineris  a  legendo  cessaret,  reginae  Can- 
dacis  regiam  populosam  oblivioni  tradiderat,  gazas 
quibus  praeerat  a  cura  cordis  semoverat,  et  tam  5 
iter  quam  currum  quo  ferebatur  neglexerat.     Solus 
amor    libri    totum    sibi    vindicaverat    domicilium 
castitatis,  quo  disponente  mox  fidei  ianuam  meruit 
introire.     O  gratiosus  amor  librorum,  qui  Gehen- 
nae  filium  et  alumnum  Tartari  per  gratiam  baptis-  10 
malem  filium  fecit  regni ! 
204      Cesset  iam  stilus  impotens  infiniti  negotii  con- 
summare  tenorem,  ne  videatur  aggredi  temere,  quod 
in  principio  fatebatur  impossibile  cuiquam  esse. 

I  quoniam  Ja.  ||  4  r.  speciosafn  A  rcgiia  popiilosa  L  pro- 
plasam  I  palathtin  edd.  oblivioni  om.  E.  Gazasqiie  Ja.  Coch.  || 
7  vemncarat  ABE".  \o  gloriostcs  E  geturosus  Ja.  || 

reginae  Candacis]  Roger  Eacon,  Op.  Maj.,  p.  146,  cites 
Pliny  to  show  that  the  name  Candax  was  a  name  of  dignity 
like  Caesar  :  H.  N.,  vi.  35. 

gazas]  Cp.  Acts,  viii.  27. 

domicilium  castitatis]  Cp.  Walter  Map,  De  Nug.  Cur.,  iv. 
3,  who  calls  Solomon  "  sapientiae  singulare  domicilium.' 


122  PHILOBIBLON 


Capltulum  1 6. 

Quam  sit  merltorlum  libros  novos  scrl- 
bere  et  veteres  renovare. 

205  Sicut  necessarium  est  reipublicae  pugnaturis  mili- 
tibus  arma  providere  Vulcania  et  congestas  victu- 
alium  copias  praeparare,  sic  Ecclesiae  militant! 
contra  paganorum  et  haereticorum  insultus  operae 
pretium  constat  esse  sanorum  librorum  multitudine  5 
communiri. 

206  Verum  quia  omne  quod  servit  mortalibus,  per 
prolapsum  temporis  mortalitatis  dispendium  patitur, 
necesse  est  vetustate  tabefacta  volumina  innovatis 
successoribus  instaurari,ut  perpetuitas,  quae  naturae  10 
repugnat  individui,  concedatur  privilegio  speciei. 
Hinc  est,  quod  signanter  dicitur  (Ecclesiastes,  12)  : 
faciendi  plures  libros  nullus  est  finis,  Sicut  enim 
librorum  corpora,  ex  contrariorum  commixtione 
compacta,  suae  compositionis  continuum  sentiunt  15 

I  proptignaturis  Ja.  ||  2  Volcana  B  Vnlcana  D  militaria 
edd.  II  5  seniortun  -£"  Ja.  |j  7  omne  om.  A  ||  8  lapstnn]^..  \\ 

arma  Vulcania]  The  phrase  occurs  in  Cic.  Tusc.  ii.  14,  33  ; 
"si  tectus  Vulcaniis  amiis,  id  est  fortitudine,  resiste."  The 
reference  hei'e  is  doubtless  to  arms  forged  by  the  armourer, 
and  not  to  fire-arms. 


CAPITULUM  XVI.  12 


J 


detrimentum,  sic  per  prudentiam  clericorum  reperiri 
debet  remedium,  per  quod  liber  sacer,  solvens  naturae 
debitum,  haereditarium  obtineat  substitutum  et 
simile  semen  fratri  mortuo  suscitetur  verificeturque 
statim  illud  Ecclesiastici  30  :  Mortuus  est  pater  5 
illius  et  quasi  non  est  mortuus,  similem  enim  sibi 
207  reliquit  post  se.  Sunt  igitur  transcriptiones  veterum 
quasi  quaedam  propagationes  recentium  filiorum,  ad 
quos  paternum  devolvatur  officium,  ne  librorum 
municipium  minuatur.  Sane  huiusmodi  transcrip-  10 
tores  antiquarii  nominantur,  quorum  studia  inter 
ea  quae  complentur  labore  corporeo  plus  sibi 
placere  Cassiodorus  confitetur,  De  institutione 
divinarum  litterarum,  capitulo  30,  ita  subdens : 
Felix,  inquit,  intentio,  laudanda  sedulitas,  manu  15 
hominibus  praedicare,  linguas  digitis  aperire,  salu- 
tem  mortalibus  tacitam  dare,  et  contra  diaboli  sur- 
reptiones   illicitas   calamo   et   atramento  pugnare. 

4  suscitet  Ja.  ||  7  relinqidt  Ja.  transcriptores  A  edd.  ||  8 
propagatores  edd.  ||  9  patrum  Ja.  ||  lO  sde  B  huius  D  \\ 
12  phis  om.  edd.  plinius  i  i|  14  scribens  Ja.  i|  15  scientia  edd.  || 
17  taciturn  A  E  tacit  B  tactu  M]sl.  || 

naturae  debitum]  The  phrase  is  quite  classical,  though  it 
does  not  seem  to  be  found  in  Cicero.  It  occurs  in  inscrip- 
tions :  Orelli,  nn.  3453,  4482. 

semen  fratri]  Cp.  Deut.  xxv.  5  ;  Matt.  xxii.  24. 

antiquarii]  See  c.  viii.  s.  143,  note. 

plus  sibi  placere  Cassiodorus]  The  editor  of  the  ed.  pr. 
took  pitis  for  a  contraction  of  Plinius,  and  omitted  Cassio- 
dorus, which  was  restored  in  the  Paris  edition,  omitting 
plus. 


124  PHILOBIBLON 

Haec  ille.  Porro  scriptoris  officiumSalvator  exercuit, 
dum  inclinans  se  deorsum  digito  scribebat  in  terra, 
loh.  8°,,  ut  nullus  quantumcunque  nobilis  dedigne- 
tur  hoc  facere,  quod  sapientiam  Dei  patris  intue- 
tur  fecisse.  5 

208  O  scripturae  serenitas  singularis,  ad  cuius  fabricam 
inclinatur  artifex  orbis  terrae,  in  cuius  tremendo 
nomine  flectitur  omne  genu  !  O  venerandum  arti- 
ficium  singulariter  prae  cunctis  praxibus,  quae 
hominis  manu  fiunt,  cui  pectus  Dominicum  incur-  10 
vatur  humiliter,  cui  digitus  Dei  applicatur  vice 
calami  functus  !  Sevisse  Dei  filium  vel  arasse, 
texuisse  vel  fodisse  non  legimus;  nee  quicquam 
aliud  de  mechanicis  divinam  decebat  sapientiam 
humanatam,  nisi  scribendo  litteras  exarare,  ut  15 
discat  quilibet  generosus  aut  sciolus,  quod  homini- 
bus  digiti  tribuuntur  divinitus  ad  scribendi  negotium 
potius  quam  ad  bellum.  Unde  librorum  sententiam 
plurimum  approbamus,  qua  clericum  inertem  scrip- 
turae censuerunt  quodammodo  fore  mancum,  20 
cap".  6*^.  supra. 

209  Scribit  iustos  in  libro  viventium  Deus  ipse; 
lapideas  quidem  tabulas  digito  Dei  scriptas  Moyses 
accepit.     Scribat  librum  ipse  qui  iudicat,  lob  pro- 

3  indignetiir  A  E  Ja.  |I  9  fr'axibus  D  practicihus  E  || 
12  ceteru77i  edd.  ||  14  dicebat  E  ||  23  qziidem  om.  E  |I 

omne   genu]  From  Rom.  xiv.   Ii  ;   Phil.  ii.   10  (cp.    Is. 

xlv.  24). 

scribit  iustos]  Cp.  Exod.  xxxii.  32. 
lob  proclamat]  Job,  xxxi.  35. 


CA PITUL  UM  XVI.  125 

clamat ;  digitos  scribentis  in  pariete  Mane  TJiecel 
Phares  Nabuchodonosor  tremens  vidit,  Danielis  5°. 
Ego,  inquit  leremias,  scribebam  in  volumine 
atramento,  leremiae  36".  Quod  vides,  scribe  in 
libro,  Christus  loanni  praecipit  caro  suo :  Apoc.  5 
primo.  Sic  Isaiae,  sic  losuae  officium  scriptoris 
iniungitur,  ut  tarn  actus  quam  peritia  futuris  in 
posterum  commendetur.  In  vestimento  et  in  femore 
scriptum  habet  Rex  region  et  Dominus  domtnafitmm 
Christus  ipse,  ut  sine  scriptura  nequeat  apparere  10 
210  perfectum -Omnipotentis  regium  ornamentum.  De- 
functi  docere  non  desinunt,  qui  sacrae  scientiae  libros 
scribunt.  Plus  Paulus  scribendo  sacras  epistolas 
Ecclesiae  profuit  fabricandae  quam  gentibus  et 
ludaeis  evangelizando  sermone.  Nem.pe  per  libros  15 
cotidie  continuat  comprehensor,  quod  olim  in  terra 
positus  inchoavit viator;  sicqueverificaturdedoctori- 
bus  libros  scribentibus  sermo  propheticus  Danielis 
1 2  :  qui  ad  iustitiam  erudiunt  multos,  quasi  stellae 
in  perpetuas  aeternitates. 

I  scrikentes  D  Ja.  ||  2  Balthasar  edd.  |I  5  praecepit  edd.  || 
7  lit  tantae  artis  peritia  edd.  || 

inquit  leremias]  Jer.  xxxvi.  (not  xxx.,  as  James  prints),  18. 
Coch.  translates  "  dans  un  livre  noir  !" 

Rex  regum]  From  Rev.  xix.  16  :  cp.  i,  Tim.  ii.  15. 

defuncti  docere  non  desinunt]  Cp.  Heb.  xi.  4. 

comprehensor]  This  word,  which  I  do  not  find  elsewhere, 
is  no  doubt  derived  from  such  passages  as  i  Cor.  ix.  24 : 
"  Sic  currite  ut  comprehendatis"  and  Phil.  iii.  12,  13. 

viator]  See  ante,  ch.  iv.  s.  47,  note. 


126  PHILOBIBLON 

2 1 1  Porro  polychronitudinem  antiquorum,  prius 
quam  Deusoriginalem  mundumcataclysmodilueret, 
adscribendam  miraculo,  non  naturae  catholici  de- 
crevere  doctores,  ut  Deus  ipse  tantum  eis  vitae 
concederet,  quantum  reperiendis  et  in  libris  scriben-  5 
dis  scientiis  conveniret  :  inter  quas  astronomiae 
miranda  diversitas,  ut  experimentaliter  visui  sub- 
deretur,  sexcentorum  annorum  periodum  secundum 

212  losephum  requirebat.     Verumtamen  non  abnuunt, 
quin    terrae    nascentia    illius    temporis    primitivi  10 
utilius    alimentum    praestarent    mortalibus    quam 
moderni,  quo  dabatur  non  solum  hilarior  corporis 

I  ppolicritudinem  A  poIic7'otudi7tem  B  E  piilcritudinem 
D  2  Ja.  sollicitiidinem  edd.  |]  4  eis  om.  Ja.  ||  7  experiniento 
Ja.  11  8  videretur  y^  ||  10  terrcna  scientia  ^  ll  li  prestaret  E  || 

polychronitudinem]  The  MSS.  and  the  context  point  to 
this  barbarous  word,  which  is  found  in  Petrus  Comestor, 
Hist.  Scolastica,  Esther,  c.  vii.,  where  in  narrating  the  story 
of  the  Septuagint  translators,  he  says  :  "dihiculo  egredieban- 
tur  ad  optandum  regi  bona  et  polichronitudinem. "  A  gloss  on 
the  passage  explains  that  "polichronitudo  dicitur  oratio,  quae 
fit  ab  ecclesia  pro  regibus,  pontificibus,  principibus  terrae  et 
optat  eis  bona  .  .  .  et  temporis  longitudinem. "  The  word 
is  incorporated  in  the  new  Ducange  from  Diefenbach,  but  in 
the  incorrect  form  poliirotiiiudo,  and  simply  with  the  tX' 
planation/rtV6'j/r(j  magnatibiis.  Polychronitudinem  should 
no  doubt  be  restored  {ox  piilcritudinein  in  Gervase  of  Tilbury, 
Otia  Imper.,  iii.  106.  For  the  subject  matter,  cp.  S. 
August.  De  Civ.  Dei,  xv.  9,  and  23. 

secundum  losephum]  Cp.  Anliq.  Jud.,  i.  3,  9  :  u-Kf-o  ovk 
r)v  a(T<pa\ijj(j  avToXg  Trpoenrtip  fi))  ^t/aacnv  e^aicocriovg  IviavrCvr' 
iia  TOCovTQv  yap  0  fityag  iinavrbg  TrXtjpovTai. 


CAPITULUM  XVI.  127 

energia  sed  et  diuturnior  florens  aetas;  ad  quam 
non  modicum  contulit,  quod  virtuti  vivebant 
omnimode,  resecato  superfluo  voluptatis.  Igitur 
quisquis  Dei  munere  scientia  est  dotatus  iuxta 
consilium  spiritus  sancti,  Ecclesiastici  38  :  sapien-  5 
tiam  scribe  in  tempore  vacuitatisj  ut  et  praemium 
cum  beatis  et  spatium  in  praesenti  augeatur  aetatis. 
Caeterum,  si  ad  mundi  principes  divertamus  ser- 
monem,  imperatores  egregios  invenimus  non  solum 
artis  scribendi  peritia  floruisse,  sed  et  ipsius  operi  10 
plurimum  indulsisse.  lulius  Caesar,  primus  omnium 
et  tempore  et  virtute,  Commentaries  reliquit  tam 
belli  Gallici  quam  civilis  a  semetipso  conscriptos ; 
item  de  Analogia  duos  libros,  et  Anticatones 
totidem,  et  poema  quod  inscribitur  Iter,  et  opuscula  15 

I  enchia  A  enechia  B  uenethia  D  enethia  E  endelechia 
vulgo  iv{^ia  Ja.  aiergia  scrips!  |j  4  ditatiis  Coch.  1|  14  idem 
Ja.  II 

energia]  It  is  not  easy  to  make  anything  of  the  readings  of 
the  better  MSS.  ;  the  reading  of  the  inferior  MSS.  and  the 
printed  texts  is  obviously  an  attempt  at  correction.  James 
conjectured  e/e^/a  ;  but  energia  is  perhaps  more  likely,  and 
we  may  compare  S.  Jerome,  Praef.  ad  Genes.  :  "  Habet 
nescio  quid  latentis  energiae  viva  vox."  It  may  indeed  be 
in  favour  of  James's  suggestion  that  Galen  wrote  a  treatise 
Ilepi  Eue^Var,  which  is  mentioned  among  his  works  in  Walter 
Burley's  account  of  Galen  in  the  Vitae  (c.  113). 

sapientiam  scribe]  Eccli.  xxxviii.  25,  where  the  words  are  : 
*'  Sapientia  scribae  in  tempore  vacuitatis,  etqui  minoratur  actu 
sapientiam  percipiet."  Scribit  ox  scribal  seems  to  be  required 
to  complete  the  sentence. 


128  PHILOBIBLON 

alia    multa   fecit.     Tarn    lulius   quam   Augustus 
cautelas  scribendi  litteram  pro  littera  adinvenit,  ut 

214  quae  scriberent  occultarent.  Nam  lulius  quartam 
litteram  proposuit  loco  primae,  et  sic  deinceps 
alphabetum  expendit ;  Augustus  vero  secunda  5 
pro  prima,  et  pro  secunda  tertia,  et  ita  deinceps 
usus  fuit.  Hie  in  Mutinensi  bello,  in  maxima  mole 
rerum,  cotidie  et  legisse  et  scripsisse  traditur  ac 
etiam     declamasse.      Tiberius    lyricum     carmen 

215  scripsit,  et  poemata  quaedam  Graeca.  Claudius  10 
similiter,  tam  Graeci  quam  Latini  sermonis  peritus, 
varios  libros  fecit.  Sed  prae  his  et  aliis  Titus  in 
scribendi  peritia  floruit,  qui  cuiuscunque  volebat 
litteram  imitabatur  facillime,  unde  se  profitebatur 
falsarium  maximum,  si  libuisset,  fieri  potuisse.  Haec  15 
omnia  Suetonius,  De  vita  duodecim  Caesarum, 
annotavit. 

I   injinita  Ja.  ||  4  praeposuit  Ja.  I|  5  alphahettim  exphabe- 
ttim  E  secundafu  vulgo  |1  6  tertiam  vulgo  ||  14  nmtuavit  edd.  || 

Suetonius]  Cp.  Julius  Caesar,  c.  56 ;    Octavianus,  c.  84  ; 
Tiberius,  c.  70;  Claudius,  c.  41,  42;  Titus,  c.  3. 


CAPITULUM  XVI L  129 


Capitulum  17. 

De  debita  honestate  circa  llbrorum 
custodiam  adhlbenda. 

216  Non  solum  Deo  praestamus  obsequium  novorum 
librorum  praeparando  volumina,  sed  sacratae 
pietatis  exercemus  officium,  si  eosdem  nunc  illaese 
tractemus,  nunc  locis  idoneis  redditos  illibatae 
custodiae  commendemus;  ut  gaudeant  puritate,  5 
dum  habentur  in  manibus,  et  quiescant  secure,  dum 
in  suis  cubilibus  reconduntur.  Nimirum  post  vestes 
et  vascula  corpori  dedicata  dominico,  sacri  libri 
merentur  a  clericis  honestius  contrectari,  quibus 
totiens  irrogatur  iniuria,  quotiens  eos  praesumit  10 
attingere  manus  foeda.  Quamobrem  exhortari 
studentes  super  negligentiis  variis  reputamus  ex- 
pediens,  quae  vitari  faciliter  semper  possent  et 
mirabiliter  libris  nocent. 

217  In  primis  quidem  circa  claudenda  et  aperienda  15 
volumina   sit   matura   modestia.  ut  nee  praecipiti 
festinatione  solvantur,  nee  inspectione  finita  sine 
clausura  debita  dimittantur.  Longe  namque  diligen- 
tius  librum  quam  calceum  convenit  conservari. 


qui  exstant  B  requiescant  edd.  |]  lO  presinmmt  attinge}\ 
iitfeda  edd.  1|  13  t7Uitari  I  imilaris\x\gQ  || 


6 
77iami 

K 


I30  PHTLOBIBLON 

218  Est  enim  gens  scholarium  perperam  educata  com- 
muniter  et,  nisi  maiorum  regulis  refraenetur, 
infinitis  infantiis  insolescit.  Aguntur  petulantia, 
praesumptione  tumescunt ;  de  singulis  iudicant 
tanquam  certi,  cum  sint  in  omnibus  inexperti.  5 

219  Videbis  fortassis  iuvenem  cervicosum,  studio 
segniter  residentem,  et  dum  hiberno  tempore  hiems 
alget,  nasus  irriguus  frigore  comprimente  distillat, 
nee  prius  se  dignatur  emunctorio  tergere,  quam 
subiectum  librum  madefecerit  turpi  rore ;  cui  10 
utinam  loco  codicis  corium  subderetur  sutoris  ! 
Unguem  habet  fimo  fetente  refertum,  gagati  simil- 
limum,  quo  placentis  materiae  signat  locum.  Paleas 
dispertitur  innumeras,  quas  diversis  in  locis  collocat 
evidentur,  ut  festuca  reducat  quod  memoria  non  15 

3  infrunitis  inscitiis  edd.  instantiis  A  \\  4  tumescunt  om.  D  || 
6  fortasse  edd.  ||  8  opprimente  Ja.  ||  9  emunctorie  L  j| 
1 2  cacati  2  gigatiti  vulgo  Gagatisijuillimum  Ja.  ||  13  figurant  B  1| 

infrunitis]  The  reading  of  *  infninitis '  is  tempting,  and  is 
found  in  most  of  the  printed  texts :  cp.  Eccli.  xxxi.  23. 
Holkot,  Super.  Sap.,  f.  319a,  discusses  the  meaning  of  the 
word,  but  his  etymology  is  of  course  absurd. 

emunctorio]  This  word,  which  is  found  in  the  dictionaries 
only  in  the  sense  of  'snuffers,'  is  here  obviously  a  pocket- 
handkerchief. 

gagati]  This  word  has  puzzled  the  editors,  but  it  is  a  per- 
fectly good  Plinian  word  (H.  N. ,  36,  34)  for  jet,  with  which 
as  a  product  of  Whitby  the  Bishop  was  no  doubt  familiar. 
Beda  (i.  i)  mentions  it  as  one  of  the  products  of  Britain  : 
*'gignit  et  lapidem  gagatem."  In  his  glossary  to  Higden's 
Polychronicon,  Mr.  Lumby  explains  it  to  mean  agate,  but  the 
Latin  for  agate  is  achates. 


CAPITULUM  XVII.  131 


]  retentat.  Hae  paleae,  quia  nee  venter  libri  digerit 
nee  quisquam  eas  extrahit,  piimo  quidem  librum  a 
solita  iunetura  distendunt,  et  tandem   negligenter 

220  oblivioni  eommissae  putreseunt.  Fruetuset  easeum 
super  librum  expansum  non  veretur  comedere,  5 
atque  seyphum  hine  inde  dissolute  transferre ;  et 
quia  non  habet  eleemosynarium  praeparatum,  in 
libris  dimittit  reliquias  fragmentorum.  Garrulitate 
eontinua  sociis  oblatrare  non  desinit,  et  dum  multi- 
tudinem  rationum  adducit  a  sensu  physieo  vacua-  10 
rum,  librum  in  gremio  subexpansum  humectat 
aspergine  salivarum.  Quid  plura?  statim  duplicatis 
eubitis  reeiinatur  in  eodicem  et  per  breve  studium 
soporem  invitat  prolixum,  ae  reparandis  rugis  limbos 
replieat  foliorum,  ad  libri  non  modicum  detrimen-  15 

221  lum.  Jam  imber  abiit  et  recessit  et  flores apparuerunt 
in  terra  nostra.  Tunc  scholaris  quem  describimus, 
librorum  neglector  potius  quam  inspector,  viola, 
primula  atque  rosa  necnon  et  quadrifolio  farciet 
librum  suum.     Tunc  manus  aquosas  et  scatentes  20 

6  sollicite  E  \*]  eleemosinaru?7i  sacculum  edd.  ||  10  philo- 
sophico  Ja.  ||  14  repatidis  A  B  \\  18  viclata  Ja.  quadrifoliis  Ja.  || 
20  scatentc  E  || 

eleemosynarium]  The  alms-bag,  which  "in  those  days 
answered  the  purpose  of  what  we  call  a  pocket  :  "  Maitland, 
Dark  Ages,  p.  425.  In  this  sense  the  feminine  form  was 
generally  used  (see  Ducange,  s.  v.),  and  hence  perhaps  the 
reading  sacculum. 

reliquias  fragmentorum]  From  Ps.  xvi.  14. 

imber  abiit]  From  Cant.  ii.  ii,  12. 


132  PHILOBIBLON 


sudore   volvendis   voluminibus    applicabit.     Tunc 
pulverulentis  undique  chirothecis  in  candidam  mem- 
branam  impinget  et  indice  veteri  pelle  vestito  vena- 
bitur  paginam  lineatim.    Tunc  ad  pulicis  mordentis 
aculeum  sacer  liber  abicitur,  qui  tamen  vix  clauditur  5 
infra  mensem,  sed  sic  pulveribus  introiectis  tumescit 
quod  claudentis  instantiae  non  obedit. 
222      Sunt   autem    specialiter  coercendi  a  contrecta- 
tione  librorum  iuvenes  impudentes,  qui  cum  litte- 
rarum  figuras  effigiare  didicerint,  mox  pulcherrimo-  10 
rum   voluminum,    si   copia   concedatur,   incipiunt 
fieri  glossatores  incongrui  et  ubi  largiorem  marginem 
circa  textum  perspexerint,  monstruosis  apparitant 
alphabetisj  vel  aliud  frivolum  qualecunque  quod 

4  lineatam  vulgo  ailicis  M  ]a.  |[  5  i7(f7i  Ja.  j|  10  didicerunt 
Ja.  II  \'^ prospexerint B  7nonstruose appareant  alphabeium  tdiA, 
vionstrosis  Ja.  ||  14  al'iqtnd  Ja.  || 

chirothecis]  Gloves  were  forbidden  by  the  constitutions  of 
the  Friar  Preachers  and  of  the  Premonstratensians }  see 
Denifle  and  Ehrle's  Archiv,  i.  205. 

lineatim]  No  doubt  the  true  reading.  Wattenbach  takes 
the  common  reading  lineatam  to  refer  to  the  practice  of  going 
through  the  text  line  by  line,  and  putting  in  the  colours  : 
Schriftwesen  in  Mittelalter,  p.  207.  But  the  meaning  is 
surely  that  the  reader  runs  his  finger  along  the  lines  in  reading. 

pulicis]  A  word  which,  like  scabies  and  ptistulae  in  s.  225, 
speaks  volumes.  It  is  curious  to  note  how  at  least  one  MS. 
tones  the  word  down  to  culicis,  while  another  (T)  adds  the 
words  "  taceo  pediculi." 

frivolum]  Cp.  Alcuin's  lines  Ad  musaeum:  "Hie  inler- 
serere  caveant  sua  frivola  verbis  ;  Frivola  nee  propter  erret 
et  ipsa  manus  ; "  Migne,  ci.  745. 


CAPITULUM  XVII.  133 


imaginationi  occurrit  celerius,  incastigatus  calamus 
protinus  exarare  praesumit.     Ibi  Latinista,  ibi  so- 

Iphista,  ibi  quilibet  scriba  indoctus  aptitudinem  pen- 
nae  probat,  quod  formosissimis  codicibus  quo  ad 
usum  et  pretium  creberrime  vidimus  obfuisse.  5 

223  Sunt  iterum  fures  quidam  libros  enormiter  de- 
truncantes,  qui  pro  epistolarum  chartulis  schedulas 
laterales  abscindunt,  littera  sola  salva;  vel  finalia 
folia,  quae  ad  libri  custodiam  dimittuntur,  ad  varios 
abusus  assumunt;  quod  genus  sacrilegii  sub  in-  10 
terminatione  anathematis  prohiberi  deberet. 

224  Convenit  autem  prorsus  scholarium  honestati  ut, 
quotiens  ad  studium  a  refectione  reditur,  praecedat 
omnino    lotio    lectionem,    nee     digitus    sagimine 

I  celerius  om.  edd.  H  ^Jirmissimis]^. !!  6  qiddem  E  ||  7  cedillas 
A  EscdidasB  Z>  ||  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 


</ 


by  the  trickery  of  perverse  men  a  pious  work 
is  mendaciously  transformed  into  some  monstrous 
act.  Certes,  such  is  the  unhappy  condition  of 
sinful  nature,  that  not  merely  in  acts  that  are 
morally  doubtful  it  adopts  the  worse  conclusion ; 
but  often  it  depraves  by  iniquitous  subversion 
those  which  have  the  appearance  of  rectitude. 

230  For  although  the  love  of  books  from  the 
nature  of  its  object  bears  the  aspect  of  good- 
ness, yet,  wonderful  to  say,  it  has  rendered  us 
obnoxious  to  the  censures  of  many,  by  whose 
astonishment  we  were  disparaged  and  censured, 
now  for  excess  of  curiosity,  now  for  the  exhibition 
of  vanity,  now  for  intemperance  of  delight  in 
literature ;  though  indeed  we  were  no  more  dis- 
turbed by  their  vituperation  than  by  the  barking 
of  so  many  dogs,  satisfied  with  the  testimony  of 
Him  to  whom  it  appertaineth   to  try  the   hearts 

231  and  reins.  For  as  the  aim  and  purpose  of  our 
inmost  will  is  inscrutable  to  men  and  is  seen  of 
God  alone,  the  searcher  of  hearts,  they  deserve 
to  be  rebuked  for  their  pernicious  temerity,  who 
so  eagerly  set  a  mark  of  condemnation  upon 
human  acts,  the  ultimate  springs  of  which  they 
cannot  see.  For  the  final  end  in  matters  of 
conduct  holds  the  same  position  as  first  principles 
in  speculative  science  or  axioms  in  mathematics, 
as  the  chief  of  philosophers,  Aristotle,  points  out 
in  the  seventh  book  of  the  Ethics.  And  therefore, 
just  as  the  truth  of  our  conclusions  depends  upon 


CHAPTER  XVI IT.  243 

the  correctness  of  our  premisses,  so  in  matters  of 
action  the  stamp  of  moral  rectitude  is  given  by 
the  honesty  of  aim  and  purpose,  in  cases  where 
the  act  itself  would  otherwise  be  held  to  be 
morally  indifferent. 

232  Now  we  have  long  cherished  in  our  heart  of 
hearts  the  fixed  resolve,  when  Providence  should 
grant  a  favourable  opportunity,  to  found  in  per- 
petual charity  a  Hall  in  the  reverend  university  of 
Oxford,  the  chief  nursing  mother  of  all  liberal 
arts,  and  to  endow  it  with  the  necessary  re- 
venues, for  the  maintenance  of  a  number  of 
scholars  ;  and  moreover  to  enrich  the  Hall  with  the 
treasures  of  our  books,  that  all  and  every  of  them 
should  be  in  common  as  regards  their  use  and 
study,  not  only  to  the  scholars  of  the  said  hall, 
but  by  their  means  to  all  the  students  of  the 
before-named  university  for  ever,  in  the  form 
and   manner   which    the  following   chapter    shall 

233  declare.  Wherefore  the  sincere  love  of  study  and 
zeal  for  the  strengthening  of  the  orthodox  faith  to 
the  edifying  of  the  Church,  have  begotten  in  us 
that  solicitude  so  marvellous  to  the  lovers  of  pelf, 
of  collecting  books  wherever  they  were  to  be 
purchased,  regardless  of  expense,  and  of  having 
those  that  could  not  be  bought  fairly  transcribed. 

234  For  as  the  favourite  occupations  of  men  are 
variously  distinguished  according  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  heavenly  bodies,  which  frequently 
control   our   natural   composition,    so    that   some 


244  THE  PHILOBIBLON 

men  choose  to  devote  themselves  to  architecture, 
others  to  agriculture,  others  to  hunting,  others  to 
navigation,  others  to  war,  others  to  games,  we 
have  under  the  aspect  of  Mercury  entertained  a 
blameless  pleasure  in  books,  which  under  the 
rule  of  right  reason,  over  which  no  stars  are 
dominant,  we  have  ordered  to  the  glory  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  that  where  our  minds  found 
tranquilUty  and  peace,  thence  also  might  spring  a 
235  most  devout  service  of  God.  And  therefore  let 
our  detractors  cease,  v/ho  are  as  blind  men 
judging  of  colours ;  let  not  bats  venture  to  speak 
of  light ;  and  let  not  those  who  carry  beams  in 
their  own  eyes  presume  to  pull  the  mote  out  of 
their  brother's  eye.  Let  them  cease  to  jeer  with 
satirical  taunts  at  things  of  which  they  are  igno- 
rant, and  to  discuss  hidden  things  that  are  not 
revealed  to  the  eyes  of  men ;  who  perchance 
would  have  praised  and  commended  us,  if  we 
had  spent  our  time  in  hunting,  dice-playing,  or 
courting  the  smiles  of  ladies. 


CHAPTER  XIX.  245 


Chapter  19. 

Of  the  manner  of  lending  all  our  books 

to  students. 

236  It  has  ever  been  difficult  so  to  restrain  men  by  the 
laws  of  rectitude,  that  the  astuteness  of  successors 
might  not  strive  to  transgress  the  bounds  of  their 
predecessors,  and  to  infringe  established  rules  in 
insolence  of  licence.  Accordingly,  with  the  advice 
of  prudent  men,  we  have  prescribed  the  manner  in 
which  we  desire  that  the  communication  and  use 
of  our  books  should  be  permitted  for  the  benefit  of 
students. 

237  Imprimis^  we  give  and  grant  all  and  singular  the 
books,  of  which  we  have  made  a  special  catalogue, 
in  consideration  of  affection,  to  the  community  of 

scholars  living   in Hall  at  Oxford,  as 

a  perpetual  gift,  for  our  soul  and  the  souls  of  our 
parents,  and  also  for  the  soul  of  the  most  illustrious 
King  Edward  the  Third  from  the  Conquest,  and 
of  the  most  pious  Queen  Philippa,  his  consort :  to 
the  intent  that  the  same  books  may  be  lent  from 
time  to  time  to  all  and  singular  the  scholars  and 
masters  of  the  said  place,  as  well  regular  as  secular, 
for  the  advancement  and  use  of  study,  in  the 
manner   immediately   following,    that    is   to   say : 


I 


246  THE  PIIILOBIBLON 

238  Five  of  the  scholars  sojourning  in  the  Hall  afore- 
said shall  be  appointed  by  the  Master  thereof,  who 
shall  have  the  charge  of  all  the  books,  of  which 
five  persons  three  and  not  fewer  may  lend  any 
book  or  books  for  inspection  and  study ;  but  for 
copying  or  transcribing  we  direct  that  no  book 
shall  be  allowed  outside  the  walls  of  the  house. 

239  Therefore,  when  any  scholar  secular  or  religious, 
whom  for  this  purpose  we  regard  with  equal  favour, 
shall  seek  to  borrow  any  book,  let  the  keepers 
diligently  consider  if  they  have  a  duplicate  of  the 
said  book,  and  if  so,  let  them  lend  him  the  book, 
taking  such  pledge  as  in  their  judgment  exceeds 
the  value  of  the  book  deHvered,  and  let  a  record 
be  made  forthwith  of  the  pledge  and  of  the  book 
lent,  containing  the  names  of  the  persons  delivering 
the  book  and  of  the  person  who  receives  it,  to- 
gether with  the  day  and  year  when  the  loan  is 
made. 

240  But  if  the  keepers  find  that  the  book  asked  for 
is  not  in  duplicate,  they  shall  not  lend  such  book 
to  anyone  whomsoever,  unless  he  shall  belong  to 
the  community  of  scholars  of  the  said  Hall,  unless 
perhaps  for  inspection  within  the  walls  of  the 
aforesaid  house  or  Hall,  but  not  to  be  carried 
beyond  it. 

241  But  to  any  of  the  scholars  of  the  said  Hall,  any 
book  may  be  lent  by  three  of  the  aforesaid  keepers, 
after  first  recording,  however,  his  name,  with  the 
day  on  which  he  receives  the  book.     Nevertheless, 


CHAPTER  XIX.  247 

the  borrower  may  not  lend  the  book  entrusted  to 
him  to  another,  except  with  the  permission  of  three 
of  the  aforesaid  keepers,  and  then  the  name  of  the 
first  borrower  being  erased,  the  name  of  the  second 
with  the  time  of  deUvery  is  to  be  recorded. 

242  Each  keeper  shall  take  an  oath  to  observe  all 
these  regulations  when  they  enter  upon  the  charge 
of  the  books.  And  the  recipients  of  any  book  or 
books  shall  thereupon  swear  that  they  will  not  use 
the  book  or  books  for  any  other  purpose  but  that 
of  inspection  or  study,  and  that  they  will  not  take 
or  permit  to  be  taken  it  or  them  beyond  the  town 
and  suburbs  of  Oxford. 

243  Moreover,  every  year  the  aforesaid  keepers  shall 
render  an  account  to  the  Master  of  the  House  and 
two  of  his  scholars  whom  he  shall  associate  with 
himself,  or  if  he  shall  not  be  at  leisure,  he  shall 
appoint  three  inspectors,  other  than  the  keepers, 
who  shall  peruse  the  catalogue  of  books,  and  see 
that  they  have  them  all,  either  in  the  volumes 
themselves  or  at  least  as  represented  by  deposits. 
And  the  more  fitting  season  for  rendering  this 
account  we  believe  to  be  from  the  First  of  July 
until  the  festival  of  the  Translation  of  the  Glorious 
Martyr  S.  Thomas  next  following. 

244  We  add  this  further  provision,  that  anyone  to 
whom  a  book  has  been  lent,  shall  once  a  year 
exhibit  it  to'  the  keepers,  and  shall,  if  he  wishes 
it,  see  his  pledge.  Moreover,  if  it  chances  that 
a  book  is  lost  by  death,  theft,  fraud,  or  carelessness, 


248  THE  PIHLOBIBLON 


he  who  has  lost  it  or  his  representative  or  executor 
shall  pay  the  value  of  the  book  and  receive  back 
his  deposit.  But  if  in  any  wise  any  profit  shall 
accrue  to  the  keepers,  it  shall  not  be  applied  to 
any  purpose  but  the  repair  and  maintenance  of 
the  books. 


Chapter    20. 

An  exhortation  to  scholars  to  requite  us 
by  pious  prayers. 

245  Time  now  clamours  for  us  to  terminate  this  trea- 
tise which  we  have  composed  concerning  the  love 
of  books ;  in  which  we  have  endeavoured  to  give 
the  astonishment  of  our  contemporaries  the  reason 
why  we  have  loved  books  so  greatly.  But  because  it 
is  hardly  granted  to  mortals  to  accomplish  aught  that 
is  not  rolled  in  the  dust  of  vanity,  we  do  not  venture 
entirely  to  justify  the  zealous  love  which  we  have  so 
long  had  for  books,  or  to  deny  that  it  may  perchance 
sometimes  have  been  the  occasion  of  some  venial 
negligence,  albeit  the  object  of  our  love  is  honour- 

246  able  and  our  intention  upright.  For  if  when  we 
have  done  everything,  we  are  bound  to  call  our- 
selves unprofitable  servants  ;  if  the  most  holy  Job 
was  afraid  of  all  his  works  ;  if  according  to  Isaiah 


CHAPTER  XX.  249 


all  our  righteousness  is  as  filthy  rags,  who  shall 
presume  to  boast  himself  of  the  perfection  of  any 
virtue,  or  deny  that  from  some  circumstance  a  thing 
may  deserve  to  be  reprehended,  which  in  itself 
perchance  was  not  reprehensible.  For  good  springs 
from  one  selfsame  source,  but  evil  arises  in  many 

247  ways,  as  Dionysius  informs  us.  Wherefore  to  make 
amends  for  our  iniquities,  by  which  we  acknowledge 
ourselves  to  have  frequently  offended  the  Creator 
of  all  things,  in  asking  the  assistance  of  their  prayers, 
we  have  thought  fit  to  exhort  our  future  students 
to  show  their  gratitude  as  well  to  us  as  to  their 
other  benefactors  in  time  to  come  by  requiting  our 
forethought  for  their  benefit  by  spiritual  retribu- 
tion. Let  us  live  when  dead  in  their  memories, 
who  have  lived  in  our  benevolence  before  they 
were  born,  and  live  now  sustained    by  our  bene- 

248  ficence.  Let  them  implore  the  mercy  of  the 
Redeemer  with  unwearied  prayer,  that  the  pious 
Judge  may  excuse  our  negligences,  may  pardon  the 
wickedness  of  our  sins,  may  cover  the  lapses  of  our 
feebleness  with  the  cloak  of  piety,  and  remit  by  his 
divine  goodness  the  offences  of  which  we  are 
ashamed  and  penitent.  That  He  may  preserve  to  us 
for  a  due  season  of  repentance  the  gifts  of  his  good 
grace,  steadfastness  of  faiih,  loftiness  of  hope,  and 
the  widest  charity  to  all  men.  That  He  may  turn 
our  haughty  will  to  lament  its  faults,  that  it  may 
deplore  its  past  most  vain  elations,  may  retract  its 
most  bitter  indignations,  and  detest  its  most  insane 


250  THE  PHILOBIBLON 

delectations.  That  his  virtue  may  abound  in  us, 
when  our  own  is  found  wanting,  and  that  He  who 
freely  consecrated  our  beginning  by  the  sacrament 
of  baptism,  and  advanced  our  progress  to  the  seat  of 
the  Apostles  without  any  desert  of  ours,  may  deign 
to  fortify  our  outgoing  by  the  fitting  sacraments. 

249  That  we  may  be  delivered  from  the  lust  of  the 
flesh,  that  the  fear  of  death  may  utterly  vanish 
and  our  spirit  may  desire  to  be  dissolved  and  be 
with  Christ,  and  existing  upon  earth  in  body  only, 
in  thought  and  longing  our  conversation  may  be  in 
Heaven.  That  the  Father  of  mercies  and  the  God 
of  all  consolation  may  graciously  come  to  meet  the 
prodigal  returning  from  the  husks ;  that  He  may 
receive  the  piece  of  silver  that  has  been  lately 
found  and  transmit  it  by  his  holy  angels  into  his 
eternal  treasury.  That  He  may  rebuke  with  his 
terrible  countenance,  at  the  hour  of  our  departure, 
the  spirits  of  darkness,  lest  Leviathan,  that  old 
serpent,  lying   hid  at   the  gate  of  death,  should 

250  spread  unforeseen  snares  for  our  feet.  But  when 
we  shall  be  summoned  to  the  awful  judgment-seat 
to  give  an  account  on  the  testimony  of  conscience 
of  all  things  we  have  done  in  the  body,  the  God- 
Man  may  consider  the  price  of  the  holy  blood  that 
He  has  shed,  and  that  the  Incarnate  Deity  may  note 
the  frame  of  our  carnal  nature,  that  our  weakness 
may  pass  unpunished  where  infinite  loving-kind- 
ness is  to  be  found,  and  that  the  soul  of  the 
wretched  sinner  may  breathe  again  where  the  peculiar 


CHAPTER  XX.  251 


251  office  of  the  Judge  is  to  show  mercy.  And  further 
let  our  students  be  ahvays  diligent  in  invoking  the 
refuge  of  our  hope  after  God,  the  Virgin  Mother 
of  God  and  Blessed  Queen  of  Heaven,  that  we 
who  for  our  manifold  sins  and  wickednesses  have 
deserved  the  anger  of  the  Judge,  by  the  aid  of  her 
ever-acceptable  supplications  may  merit  his  for- 
giveness ;  that  her  pious  hand  may  depress  the 
scale  of  the  balance  in  which  our  small  and  few 
good  deeds  shall  be  v;eighed,  lest  the  heaviness  of 
our  sins  preponderate  and  cast  us  down  to  the 

252  bottomless  pit  of  perdition.  Moreover,  let  them 
ever  venerate  with  due  observance  the  most  de- 
serving Confessor  Cuthbert,  the  care  of  whose  flock 
we  have  unworthily  undertaken,  ever  devoutly 
praying  that  he  may  deign  to  excuse  by  his  prayers 
his  all-unworthy  vicar,  and  may  procure  him  whom 
he  hath  admitted  as  his  successor  upon  earth  to 
be  made  his  assessor  in  heaven.  Finally,  let  them 
pray  God  with  holy  prayers  as  well  of  body  as  of 
soul,  that  He  will  restore  the  spirit  created  in  the 
image  of  the  Trinity,  after  its  sojourn  in  this  miser- 
able world,  to  its  primordial  prototype,  and  grant  to 
it  for  ever  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  his  countenance : 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

253  The  end  of  the  Philobiblon  of  Master  Richard 
de  Aungervile,  surnamed  de  Bury,  late  Bishop  of 
Durham.  This  treatise  was  finished  in  our  manor- 
house  of  Auckland  on  the  24th  day  of  January  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  three  hundred 

I 


252  THE  PHILOBIBLON 

and  forty-four,  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  our  age 
being  exactly  completed  and  the  eleventh  year  of 
our  pontificate  drawing  to  an  end  ;  to  the  glory  of 
God.     Amen. 


I  ndex. 


Index. 

The  references  are  to  sections. 


Abraham  27 
acervus  IMercurii  95 
Achilles- 78 
activa  1S7 
Adam  109 
adamas  58,  144 
adstruit  173 
Aesculapii  no 
aeternitatis  speculum  197 
Agamemnonis  108 
aleis  81 

Alexander  20,  188 
Almagest!  21,  160 
Ambrosius  163 
anlhropospatos  91 
aiitiquarii  143,  207 
antonomatice  48 
Antonium  113 
apodicticon  ill 
Apollo  102,  no 
Archhuedis  151 
argumentosae  136 
Ariana  malitia  164 
aridam  133 
Aristoteles  40,  103,  iir,  127, 

154,  159 

De  Caelo  94 


Aristoteles  De  porno  170 

Eth.  2,  30,  35,  180,  231 

Met.  14,  160,  r86 

Polit.  173 

Probl.  31 

Topic.  36 
arm.aria  120,  135 
assub  8 

athletas  fidei  8 
attingit  157 
auges  127 
Augustinus  80,  86,  89,  163, 

183 
Augustus  214 
Aulus  Gellius  40,   41.   loo, 

149,  150 
'  Aver  roes  40 
Avicenna  160 

Babel  71 
Balaam  96 
Beda  184 
bestia  bipedalis  61 
Bezeleel  136 
Boetius  22,  113 

De    Con  sol.    Phil    6,   32, 
54,  187 


S  2 


256 


INDEX, 


Bononiam  70 
Britannia  58,  157 

Cadmus  no,  128 
Camenae  54 
Candacis  203 
Canonem  160 
canonici  regulates  80 
canonio  158 
Carmenta  70,  128 
Carneades  149 
Carthaginis  112 
Cassiodorus  183,  207 
Categorias  154 
Cato  20 
cherubicis  74 
chirothecis  221 
Claudius  215 
Clemens  V.  1C6 
Cocus  69 
compendio  155 
comprehensor  210 
consessorem  252 
consilium  2 
contemplativa  187 
Corydon  'Ji,  102 
Cratonis  18,  182 
Croesus  9 
Cuthbertum  252 
Cyrillus  164 

Daniel  91,  210 
David  2,  29,  87 
De  VeHila  148 
debitricem  157 
Demosthenis  191 
dextrariorum  78 


diasyntheticam  176 
Diomedon  105 
Dionysius  128,  246 
diplomate  155 
discophorum  91 
diverticula  126 
Donatus  154 
dulcoravit  125 

Ecclesiastes.ii6,  206 
Ecclesiasticus  206,  212 
Eduardus  III.  118,  237 
eleemosynariura  220 
Elefuga  182 
elegorum  5 
Eliam  91 
elongatur  53 
emunctorio  219 
energia  212 
Engadi  29 
Ennio  185 
Enoch  109 
entelechia  104 
Euclides  30,  182 
Socraticus  150 
exardescat  3 
extranea  134 
Ezechiel  98 

fabrefieri  136 
Fabricius  20 
figura  Pythagorica  52 
filius  inconstantiae  182 
florenos  123 
fontale  231 
Franciae  124,  140 
furraturas  61 


INDEX. 


257 


Gades  115 
gagati  219 
Galliae  157 
Gedeonis  29 
geologia  174 
geuzahar  127 
Goliath  29 
Gratianus  184 
Gregorius  43,  163 
gymnasia  6,  147 


Habacuc  91 
Hercules  108 
hereos  170 
Hiberas  naenias  88 
Hieronymus  163,  183, 

194 
hierophilosophus  32 
Hippodami  173 
holocaustum  56 
Homerum  162 
horae  canonicae  74 
Horatius  18 1 
hyperduliam  73 

lacob  29 
lasonis  iio 
ictericia  63 
leptae  108 
leremias  191,  209 
impedibilem  3 
improperium  60 
inattingibilis  146 
incomprehensibilis  iS 
inconsutilem  165 
inculpandos  183 
innisus  92 


loannes  Saresberiensis   190, 

194 
lob  64,  246 
lonithus  109 
loseph  135 
losephus  211 
losua  no 
Isaac  27 
Isaias  210,  246 
Isocrates  149 
Italiae  140 
lulius  Ceasar  20,  213-4 


I93j 


Lactantius  162,  183 
lascivius  79,  180 
Latinista  222 
Lazarus  64 
Liber  Bacchus  78 
lilia  224 
Livii  191 
Lo^ostilios  no 
Lucretium  162 
luminaria  50 
Lya  75 

Macrobius  162 
maeandri  195 
magnalia  Dei  46 
Matnmonae  194 
]Maria  75 
Maro  185 
]Martha  75 
]\Iartialis  69 
]\Iartianus  162 
Melchizedech  49 
merces  195,  200 
Mercurialis  234 


2K8 


INDEX, 


Mercurius  102,  191 
Minerva  157,  180 
moralitatum  130 
Moyses  no,  155,  191,  209, 
227 

N,  237 

Nabuchodonosor  209 
naenias  88 
Neutrum  iii 
Neronis  113 
Nestoriana  nequitia  164 
Noe  29,  1 10 

Origenes  193 
ostensivis  130 
Ovidius  192 
De  Vetiila  148 

paedagogos  141 

Palamedis  no 

Pallas  102 

Pandectam  160 

panfietos  123 

pannis  26 

panthera  57 

Parisius  58,  70,  126,  157 

Parnasus  no,  126 

Partheninm  162 

Paulus  97,  127,  137,  210 

Pegaseo  191 

Pegasus  102 

Perihermenias  154 

Petnis  53 

Philippa  237 

Philippum  186 

Philobiblon  13,  253 


Philolaus  40 
Phocas  146 
Phronesis  102 
Phryne  193 
Pierides  102 
pignientaria  potio  125 
pileum  152 
Pindarum  162 
Plato  18,  40,  104,  193 
Plinius  160 

polychronitudinem  211 
polymitarii  136 
possessionatos  73 
postliminium  114 
Praedicatores  86,  138 
praehonorare  23,  52 
Priscianus  154 
provisio  155 

Ptolemaeus  21,  127,  r6o 
Pythagoras  105 
Pythoni  102 

quadratura  circuli  Hi 
quadrivialium  47 
quatriduano  64 

Racheli  75 
rationale  136 
rcfocillativum  88 
religionum  74 

Saba  135 
saga  136 
sagimine  224 
Sallustius  162 
Salomon  39,  no,  135 
Samsonis  no 


INDEX. 


259 


Sardanapalus  9 

scholares  238 

Scipio  112 

Seleucus  114 

Seneca  113,  201 

sensus  communis  25 

septiformi  3 

sethim  227 

Sibylla  43 

Sidonius  183 

signacula  224 

Simonides  149 

sindonem  61 

Sion  126,  155 

Sisaram  136 

Socrates  104,  150 

sophista  222 

Sophocles  149 

sortem  Domini  48 

Speusippus  40 

spiritalis  30 

stationariorum  140 

stratas  regias  177 

studia  generalia  133 

subcinericeos  76 

sublunari  127 

subtilitates  156 

Suetonius  213,  sqq, 

superhumerale  136 

syllogismus  apodicticon  III 

synteresim  172 

tabula  depingenda  46 
tabulationibus  138 


j    Tarquinius  Superbus  41 
I   Taurus  150 
!    taxillis  81 
I   Tegni  160 

Tertullianus  202 

Teutoniae  140 

Theocritum  162 

Theodoricum  113 

Theophrastus  61 

Theotokos  164 

Tiberius  215 

Timoihei,  79. 

Timotheum,  97. 

Tullius,  30,  113,  162,  191. 

uncinis  pomorum,  93. 

Valerius  (Map)  61 

Maximus  149,  193 
Vergilius  69,  162,  185 
De  Vdula  148 
viator  47,  200,  210 
virtus  58 
vispilionis  104 
Vulcania  205 

xeniorum  119 
Xenocrates  193 
Xerxes  114 

zelotypi  85 
Zenonis  105 
Zoroastes  109 
Zorobabel  32 


PRINTEI)   BY   CHARLES  WHITTIKGHAM   AND  CO. 
TOOKS  COURT,   CHANCERY  LANE,  LONDON,  B.C. 


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