CHAPTER I.

Concerning the state of letters and philofophy during

this century.

I.THE declining condition of the Grecian CENT.

XI.

Tempire was fatal to the progrefs of letters PAX II.

PART

The ftate

Greeks,

and philofophy. Its glory and power diminished
from day to day under the infults and ufurpations of learning
of the Turks and Saracens; and while the empire among the
fuffered by thefe attacks from without, it was
confumed gradually by the internal peftilence of
civil difcord, by frequent feditions and confpira❤
cies, and by thofe violent revolutions which fhook
from time to time the imperial throne, and were
attended with the fudden fall and elevation of
those that held the reins of government [4]. So
many foreign invafions, fo many internal troubles,
fo many emperors dethroned, deprived the poli-
tical body of its ftrength and confiftence, broke
in upon the public order, rendered all things pre-
carious, and, dejecting the fpirits of the nation,
damped the fire of genius, and difcouraged the
efforts of literary ambition. There were, how-
ever, fome emperors, fuch as ALEXIUS COMNE-
NUS, who seemed to cherish and encourage the
drooping fciences, and whofe zeal was feconded
by feveral prelates, who were willing to lend a

[a] The fentence which begins with the words fo many
foreign, and ends with the words literary ambition, is added
by the tranflator to render the connexion with what follows
more evident.

fupporting

CENT. fupporting hand to the caufe of letters. The conPARTII. troverfies alfo that fubfifted between the Greeks

XI.

pal Greek

writers.

and Latins, obliged the former, amidst all their difadvantages, to a certain degree of application to ftudy, and prevented them from abandoning ehtirely the culture of the fciences. And hence it is, that we find among the Greeks of this century fome writers, at leaft, who have deferved well of the republic of letters.

The princi. II. We pafs in filence the poets, rhetoricians, and philologifts of this century, who were neither highly eminent, eminent, nor abfolutely contemptible. Among the writers of hillory, Leo the groundrian, JOHN SCYLIZES, CEDREXUS, and a few others deserve to be mentioned with a certain degree of approbation; notwithstanding the parti ality with which they are chargeable, and the zeal they difcover for many of the fabulous records of their nation. But the greateft ornament of the republic of letters at this time, was MICHAEL PSELLUS, a man illuftrious in every refpect, and deeply verfed in all the various kinds of erudition that were known in this age. This great man recommended warmly to his countrymen, the flady of philofophy, and particularly the item of ARISTOTLE, which he embellifhed and illrated in feveral learned and ingenious productions [b], If we turn our eyes towards the Arabians, we thall find that they ftill retained a high degree of zeal for the culture of the fciences; as appears evident, ly from the number of phyficians, mathen a icians, and aftronomers, who flourished among them in this century [c].

The flate of Jetters in the west.

III. The arts and sciences seemed, in fome measure, to revive in the weft, among the clergy,

[b] LEO ALLATIUS, Diatriba De Pellis, p. 14. edit. Fa bricii.

[c] ELMACINI Hiftoria Saracen. p. 291.-Jo. HENR HOTTINGERI Hiftor. Ecclef. Sæc. xi. p. 449.

at

XI. PART II.

at least, and the monaftic orders; they were not c EN T.
indeed cultivated by any other fet of men, and
the nobility, if we except fuch of them as were
defigned to fill certain ecclefiaftical dignities, or
had voluntarily devoted themfelves to a religious
folitude, treated all forts of learning and erudi-
tion with indifference and contempt. The fchools
of learning flourished in feveral parts of Italy
about the year 1050; and of the Italian doctors,
who acquired a name by their writings or their
academical leffons, feveral removed afterwards
into France, and particulary into Normandy, where
they inftructed the youth, who had confecrated
themselves to the fervice of the church [d]. The
French alfo, though they acknowledge their obli-
gations to the learned Italians who fettled in their
provinces, yet give us, at the fame time, a con-
fiderable lift of their own countrymen, who,
without any foreign fuccours, cultivated the fci-
ences, and contributed not a little to the advance-
ment of letters in this century; they mention allo
feveral schools erected in different parts of that
kingdom, which were in the highest reputation, both
on account of the fame of their mafters, and the
multitude of difciples that reforted to them [e].
And, indeed, it is certain beyond all contradic-
tion, that the liberal arts and fciences were culti
vated in France, which abounded with learned
men, while the greatet part of Italy lay as yet
covered with a thick cloud of ignorance and dark-
nefs. For ROBERT, king of France, son and fuc-
ceffor of HUGH CAPET, difciple of the famous

[d] See MURATORI Antiquitates ktab. medii ævi, tom. iii. p. 871-GIANNONE, Hiftoire de Naples, tom. ii. p. 148.

[e] Hiftoire Litteraire de la France, tom. vii, at the Introduction.-Du BoULAY, Hift. Academ. Parif. tom. i. p. 355.LE BOFUF, Dif fur l'Etat des Sciences en France depuis la mort du Roi Robert, which is published among his Differtations fur Hiftoire Ecclefiaftique et Civile de Parif. tom. ii. part I.

GERBERT,

XI.

CENT. GERBERT, afterwards SYLVESTER II, and the PART II. great protector of the sciences, and friend of the learned, reigned fo early as the year 1031 [f], and exerted upon all occafions the most ardent zeal for the restoration of letters; nor were his generous efforts without fuccefs [g]. The provinces of Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and other fouthern parts of Italy, were indebted, for the introduction of the fciences among them, to the Normans, who became their masters, and who brought with them from France the knowledge of letters to a people that fat benighted in the darkest ignorance. To the Normans alfo was due the restoration of letters in England. WILLIAM the Conqueror, a prince of uncommon fagacity and genius, and the great Mæcenas of his time, upon his acceffion to the throne of England in the year 1066, engaged, by the most alluring folicitations, a confiderable number of learned men from Normandy, and other countries, to fettle in his new dominions, and exerted his moft zealous endeavours to difpel that favage ignorance, that is always a fource of innumerable evils [b]. The reception of Chriftianity had polifhed and civilized, in an extraordinary manner, the rugged minds of the valiant Normans; for those fierce warriors, who, under the darkness of paganifm, had manifefted the utmost averfion to all branches of knowledge and every kind of instruction, diftinguished themselves, after their converfion, by their ardent

[f] ROBERT died in the year 1031, after a reign of thirty-five years. [8] DANIEL, Hiftoire de la France, tom. iii. p. 58.- Du BOULAY, Hift. Academ. Parif. tom. i. p. 636. et paffim. [b] See Hift Litter. de la France, tom. viii. p. 171-The Englife, fays MATTHEW PARIS, were fo illiterate and ignorant before the time of WILLIAM the Conqueror, that a man who understood the principles of Grammar, was univerfally looked upon as a prodigy of learning,

application

La

application to the study of religion and the pur- CENT. fuit of learning.

XI. PART II.

pened in fe

IV. This vehement defire of knowledge, that increased from day to day, and became, at length, Schools the predominant paffion of the politeft European veral places. nations, produced many happy effects. To it, more particularly, we must attribute the confiderable number of public fchools that were opened in various places, and the choice of more able and eminent masters, than those who had formerly prefided in the feminaries of learning. Towards the conclufion of the preceding age, there were no fchools in Europe but thofe which belonged to monafteries, or epifcopal refidences, nor were there any other mafters, except the Benedictine monks, to inftruct the youth in the principles of facred and profane erudition. But, not long after, the commencement of this century, the face of things was totally changed, and that in a manner the most advantageous to the caufe of letters. In many cities of France and Italy, learned men, both among the clergy and laity, undertook the weighty and important charge of inftructing the 1 youth, and fucceeded much better in this worthy undertaking than the monks had done, not only by comprehending in their course of instruction more branches of knowledge than the monaftic doctors were acquainted with, but also by teaching in a better method, and with more perfpicuity and fuccefs, many of the fame branches of fcience, which the others had taught before them. The most eminent of thefe new masters were fuch as had either travelled into Spain with a view to study in the fchools of the Saracens (which was extremely cuftomary in this age among thofe that were ambitious of a diftinguished reputation for wifdom and knowledge), or had improved their stock of erudition and phi-. lofophy by a diligent and attentive perufal of the writings