First knives, spoons, and salts be set on the board, and then bread and drink, and many divers messes; household servants busily help each other to do everything diligently, and talk merrily together. The guests be gladded with lutes and harps. Now wine and now messes of meat be brought forth and departed. At the last cometh fruit and spices, and when they have eaten, board, swine, or of a wether, or of a sheep; the temples and forehead shall be anointed with the juice of lettuce, or of poppy. If after these medicines are laid thus to, the woodness 5 dureth three days without sleep, there is no hope of recovery. GEOGRAPHY England is the most island of Ocean, and cloths, and relief2 are borne away, and guests 10 is beclipped' all about by the sea, and de wash and wipe their hands again. Then grace is said, and guests thank the lord. Then for gladness and comfort drink is brought yet again. When all this is done at parted from the roundness of the world, and hight sometimes Albion: and had that name of white rocks, which were seen on the sea cliffs. And by continuance of time, lords meat, men take their leave, and some go 15 and noble men of Troy, after that Troy was to bed and sleep, and some go home to their own lodgings. MEDICINE destroyed, went from thence, and were accompanied with a great navy, and fortuned to the cliffs of the foresaid island, and that by revelation of their feigned goddess with giants long time that dwelled therein, and overcame the giants, both with craft and with strength, and conquered the island, and called the land Britain, by the name of Brute that was prince of that host: and so the island hight Britain, as it were an island conquered of Brute that time, with arms and with might. Of this Brute's offspring came most mighty kings. And who that hath liking to know their deeds, let him read the story of Brute. These be the signs of frenzy, woodness3 20 Pallas, as it is said, and the Trojans fought and continual waking, moving and casting about the eyes, raging, stretching, and casting out of hands, moving and wagging of the head, grinding and gnashing together of the teeth; always they will arise out of their 25 bed, now they sing, now they weep, and they bite gladly and rend their keeper and their leech: seldom be they still, but cry much. And these be most perilously sick, and yet they wot not then that they be sick. 30 Then they must be soon holpen lest they perish, and that both in diet and in medicine. The diet shall be full scarce, as crumbs of bread, which must many times be wet in water. The medicine is, that in the begin- 35 ning the patient's head be shaven, and washed in lukewarm vinegar, and that he be well kept or bound in a dark place. Diverse shapes of faces and semblance of painting shall not be shewed tofore him, lest he be 40 tarred with woodness. All that be about him shall be commanded to be still and in silence; men shall not answer to his nice words. In the beginning of medicine he shall be let blood in a vein of the forehead, and 45 bled as much as will fill an egg-shell. Afore all things (if virtues and age suffereth) he shall bleed in the head vein. Over all things, with ointments and balming men shall labour to bring him asleep. The head that is 50 shaven shall be plastered with lungs of a And long time after, the Saxons won the island with many and divers hard battles and strong, and their offspring had possession after them of the island, and the Britons were slain or exiled, and the Saxons departed' the island among them, and gave every province a name, by the property of its own name and nation, and therefore they cleped 10 the island Anglia, by the name of Engelia the queen, the worthiest duke of Saxony's daughter, that had the island in possession after many battles. Isidore saith, that this land hight Anglia, and hath that name of Angulus, a corner, as it were land set in the end, or a corner of the world. But saint Gregory, seeing English children to sell at Rome, when they were not christened, and hearing that they were called English: according with the name of the country, he answered and said: Truly they be English, for they shine in face right as angels: it is need to send them message, with word of salvation. For as Beda saith, the noble kind of the land shone in their faces. Isidore saith, Britain, that now hight Anglia, is an island set afore France and Spain, and containeth about 48 times 75 miles. Also therein be many rivers and great and hot wells. There is great plenty of metals, there he is clothed with feathers and wings and restored into the kind of a bird, and is the most fairest bird that is, most like to the peacock in feathers, and loveth the wilder5 ness, and gathereth his meat of clean grains and fruits. Alan speaketh of this bird and saith, that when the highest bishop Onyas builded a temple in the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, to the likeness of the temple in be enough of the stones Agates, and of pearls, 10 Jerusalem, on the first day of Easter, when the ground is special good, most apt to bear corn and other good fruit. There be, namely, many sheep with good wool, there be many harts and other wild beasts; there be few wolves or none, therefore there be many 15 sheep, and may be securely left without ward, in pasture and in fields, as Beda saith. England is a strong land and a sturdy, and the plenteousest corner of the world, so rich a land that unneth it needeth help of any 20 land, and every other land needeth help of England. England is full of mirth and of game, and men oft times able to mirth and game, free men of heart and with tongue, but the hand is more better and more free 25 than the tongue. NATURAL HISTORY he had gathered much sweet-smelling wood, and set it on fire upon the altar to offer sacrifice, to all men's sight such a bird came suddenly, and fell into the middle of the fire, and was burnt anon to ashes in the fire of the sacrifice, and the ashes abode there, and were busily kept and saved by the commandments of the priests, and within three days, of these ashes was bred a little worm, that took the shape of a bird at the last, and flew into the wilderness. Nothing is more busy and wittier than a hound, for he hath more wits than other beasts. And hounds know their own names, and love their masters, and defend the houses of their masters, and put themselves wilfully in peril of death for their masters, and run to take prey for their masters, and forsake not the dead bodies of their masters. We have known that hounds fought for their lords against thieves, and were sore wounded and that they kept away beasts and fowls from their masters' bodies dead. And that a hound compelled the slayer of his master with barking and biting to acknowledge his trespass and guilt. Also we read that Garamantus the king came out of exile, and brought with him two hundred hounds, and fought against his enemies with wondrous hardiness." Phoenix is a bird, and there is but one of that kind in all the wide world. Therefore 30 lewd3 men wonder thereof, and among the Arabs, where this bird is bred, he is called singular alone. The philosopher speaketh of this bird and saith that phoenix is a bird without make, and liveth three hundred or 35 five hundred years: when the which years are past, and he feeleth his own default and feebleness, he maketh a nest of right sweetsmelling sticks, that are full dry, and in summer when the western wind blows, the 40 sticks and the nest are set on fire with burning heat of the sun, and burn strongly. Then this bird phoenix cometh wilfully into the burning nest, and is there burnt to ashes among these burning sticks, and within three 45 saw such a one in the wilderness, as it is days a little worm is gendered of the ashes, and waxeth little and little, and taketh feathers and is shapen and turned to a bird. Ambrose saith the same in the Hexameron: Satyrs be somewhat like men, and have crooked nose and horns in the forehead, and like to goats in their feet. Saint Anthony said, and he asked what he was and he answered Anthony, and said: 'I am deadly, and one of them that dwelleth in the wilderness.' These wonderful beasts be divers: Of the humours or ashes of phoenix ariseth 50 for some of them be called Cynocephali, for a new bird and waxeth, and in space of time they have heads as hounds, and seem by the 7 more sensible, more knowing • boldness $ intelligence working, beasts rather than men, and some be called Cyclops, and have that name, for one of them hath but one eye, and that in the middle of the forehead, and some be all headless and noseless, and their eyen be in the shoulders, and some have plain faces without nostrils, and the nether lips of them stretch so, that they hele1 therewith their faces when they be in the heat of the sun: and some of them have closed mouths, in 10 story. their breasts only one hole, and breathe and such as it were with pipes and veins, and these be accounted tongueless, and use signs and becks instead of speaking. Also in Scythia be some with so great and large ears, 15 cious stones, and most apt and able to fingers that they spread their ears and cover all their bodies with them, and these be called Panchios. . . . And other be in Ethiopia, and each of them have only one foot so great and weather. With sweetness of song this beast maketh shipmen to sleep, and when she seeth that they are asleep, she goeth into the ship, and ravisheth which she may take 5 with her, and bringeth him into a dry place, and maketh him first lie by her, and if he will not or may not, then she slayeth him and eateth his flesh. Of such wonderful beasts it is written in the great Alexander's The sapphire is a precious stone, and is blue in colour, most like to heaven in fair weather, and clear, and is best among pre of kings. Its virtue is contrary to venom and quencheth it every deal. And if thou put an addercop3 in a box, and hold a very sapphire of Ind at the mouth of the box any while, by dieth, as it were suddenly. And this same I have seen proved oft in many and divers places. ca. 1250 so large, that they beshadow themselves 20 virtue thereof the addercop is overcome and with the foot when they lie gaping on the ground in strong heat of the sun; and yet they be so swift, that they be likened to hounds in swiftness of running, and therefore among the Greeks they be called Cynopodes. 25 Also some have the soles of their feet turned backward behind the legs, and in each foot eight toes, and such go about and stare in the desert of Lybia. The mermaid is a sea beast wonderly shapen, and draweth shipmen to peril by sweetness of song. The Gloss on Is. xiii. saith that sirens are serpents with crests. And 30 Richard de Bury (1281-1345) Chapter I THAT THE TREASURE OF WISDOM IS CHIEFLY CONTAINED IN BOOKS The desirable treasure of wisdom and 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; compared with whose marvellous sweetness honey and manna are bitter to the taste. O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time, some men say, that they are fishes of the sea 35 science which all men desire by an instinct of in likeness of women. Some men feign that there are three Sirens some-deal maidens, and some-deal fowls with claws and wings, and one of them singeth with voice, and another with a pipe, and the third with an 40 harp, and they please so shipmen, with likeness of song, that they draw them to peril and to shipbreach, but the sooth is, that they were strong hores, that drew men that passed by them to poverty and to mischief. And 45 virtue ever flourishing, that cleanseth its Physiologus saith it is a beast of the sea, wonderly shapen as a maid from the navel upward and a fish from the navel downward, and this wonderful beast is glad and merry in tempest, and sad and heavy in fair 50 the celestial nourishment of the intellect, 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 *Translation by E. C. Thomas, Medieval Library, American Branch Oxford University Press. Windus, London, Publishers, 1913. By permission of Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Company. Chatto and which those who eat shall still hunger and been unknown to fame, if the aid of books had been wanting. Towers have been razed to the ground; cities have been overthrown; triumphal arches have perished from decay; 5 nor can either pope or king find any means of more easily conferring the privilege of perpetuity 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. Who wherefore 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 Where dost thou chiefly lie hidden, O most elect treasure! and where shall thirsting souls discover thee? Certes, thou hast placed thy tabernacle in 20 it is reckoned holy to honour before friend ship, which is the way without turning and the life without end, which holy Boethius considers to be three-fold in thought, speech, and writing, seems to remain more usefully For the meaning 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 sense. It commends itself to the sight when it is read, to the hearing when it is heard, and moreover in a manner to the touch, when it suffers itself to be transcribed, bound, 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 speedily 25 and to fructify to greater profit in books. 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 incom- 30 to manifest itself to every impressionable prehensible 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, 35 corrected, and preserved. The undisclosed 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 of Crato contained. In books I find the dead as if they were 40 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 corrupted and decay in time; Saturn ceases not to devour the children that 45 it were in a breath. But the written truth he generates; all the glory of the world would be buried in oblivion, unless God had provided mortals with the remedy of books. 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 begins and perishes as of books, not transient but permanent, plainly offers itself to be observed, and by means of the previous spherules of the eyes, passing through the vestibule of perception Alexander, the conqueror of the earth, Julius, the invader of Rome and of the world, 50 and the courts of imagination, enters the who, the first in war and arts, assumed universal empire under his single rule, faithful Fabricius and stern Cato, would now have chamber of intellect, taking its place in the couch of memory, where it engenders the eternal truth of the mind. Chapter XVII OF SHOWING DUE PROPRIETY IN THE 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 5 instruct us without rod or 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 withdraw themselves; they do not chide 10 if you make mistakes; they do not laugh at you if you are 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 15 to the Lord's body, holy books deserve to We are not only rendering service to God in preparing volumes of new books, but also exercising an office of sacred piety when we treat books 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 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 easily avoided and do wonderful harm to books. 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. ye commended to learned men in the Scriptures given us by inspiration of God! For ye are the minds of profoundest wisdom, to which the wise man sends his son that he may dig out treasures: Prov. ii. Ye are the 20 various negligences, which might always be wells of living waters, which father Abraham first digged, Isaac digged again, and which the Philistines strive to fill up: Gen. xxvi. Ye are indeed the most delightful ears of corn, full of grain, to be rubbed only by 25 apostolic hands, that the sweetest food may be produced for hungry souls: Matt. xii. Ye are the golden pots in which manna is stored, and rocks flowing with honey, nay, combs of honey, most plenteous udders of 30 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 refreshed. Ye are the ark of Noah and the ladder of 35 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 the smoothest stones 40 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, fig-trees 45 that are never barren, burning lamps always to be held in readiness and all the noblest comparisons of Scripture may be applied to books, if we choose to speak in figures. 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 puerilities. They behave with petulance, and are puffed up with presumption, judging of everything as if they were certain, though they are altogether inexperienced. 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 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 50 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 |