Medieval Sourcebook:
Roger Bacon:
Despair over Thirteenth Century Learning
Roger Bacon: from Compendium Studii Philosophiae
[Coulton Introduction (1910)] For
a brilliant popular account of Roger Bacon see J. R. Green's Short
History, chap. III, sect. iv; for a far more authoritative
estimate of his work, Rashdall's Universities of Europe in
the Miracle Ages, vol. II pp. 522 ff.. Bacon, in Dr Rashdall's
words, was "the most astonishing phenomenon of the medieval
schools...unlike other medieval thinkers, orthodox or unorthodox,
he saw that the study of Greek was the true key to the meaning
of Aristotle, and a knowledge of the Bible in the original the
true foundation for a fruitful study of theology. All the characteristic
ideas of the sixteenth century are held in solution, as it were,
in the writings of Roger Bacon, mixed up no doubt with much that
is redolent of the age in which he lived; but, of all the anticipations
of modern ways of thinking with which his worlds abound, the most
remarkable is his plan of educational reform."
After twenty years of study and
experiments, during which he expended on books and instruments
the equivalent of nearly £40,000 modern money [=$200,000
in 1910!], Bacon joined the Franciscan Order, a step which he
evidently lived to repent. His superiors forbade him to publish
anything, and he would have died unknown but for the intervention
of Pope Clement IV, who had heard of him before his elevation
to the papacy, and who in 1266 sent a letter bidding him write
down his ideas "without delay, and with all possible secrecy,
without regard to any contrary precept of your Superiors or any
constitution of your Order." In less than two years Bacon
wrote three works extending to some 600 folio pages of print-the Opus Majus, Opus
Minus, and Opus Tertium. In 1271 he followed these up
with the Compendium Studii Philosophiae, from which the
following extracts are taken (ed. J S. Brewer, R.S. 1859).
ROGER BACON: from Compendium Studii
Philosophiae
(p 398.)
Nevertheless,
seeing that we consider not these hindrances from our youth upwards,
but neglect them altogether therefore we are lost with infinite
error, nor can we enjoy the profit of wisdom in the church and
in the three other regions whereof I have spoken above [note:
i.e. the conduct of the State, the conversion of the heathen,
and the repression of reprobate sinners, on p. 397] For these
hindrances bring it about that men believe themselves to stand
in the highest glory of wisdom, so that there was never so great
an appearance of wisdom nor so busy exercise of study in so many
branches and in so many parts of the world, as in the last forty
years. [note: i.e. since the rise of the Franciscan and Dominican
Friars, the Student-Orders as he calls them below, in contradistinction
to the monks, who had already grown careless of learning].
For Doctors, and especially Doctors of Divinity, are scattered
abroad in every city and town and borough, especially by means
of the two Student-Orders; and this has been only for the last
forty years, more or less. Yet the truth is that there has never
been so great ignorance and such deep error, as I will most clearly
prove later on in this present treatise, and as is already manifestly
shown by facts. For more sins reign in these days than in any
past age; and sin is incompatible with wisdom. Let us look upon
all conditions in the world, and consider them diligently; everywhere
we shall find boundless corruption, and first of all in the Head.
For the Court of Rome, which once was ruled by God's wisdom, and
should always be so ruled, is now debased by the constitutions
of lay Emperors, made for the governance of lay-folk and contained
in the code of civil law. The Holy See is torn by the deceit and
fraud of unjust men. Justice perishes all peace is broken, infinite
scandals are aroused. This bears its fruit in utterly perverse
manners; pride reigns, covetousness burns, envy gnaws upon all,
the whole [Papal] Court is defamed of lechery, and gluttony is
lord of all. . .if this be so in the Head, what then is done among
the members? Let us see the prelates; how they run after money,
neglect the cure of souls, promote their nephews, and other carnal
friends, and crafty lawyers who ruin all by their counsels; for
they despise students in philosophy and theology, and hinder the
two Orders, who come forward to serve the Lord without hire, from
living in freedom and working for the salvation of souls. Let
us consider the religious Orders: I exclude none from what I say.
See how far they are fallen, one and all, from their right state;
and the new Orders [of Friars] are already horribly decayed from
their first dignity. The whole clergy is intent upon pride, lechery,
and avarice; and wherever clerks are gathered together, as at
Paris and Oxford, they scandalize the whole laity with their wars
and quarrels and other vices. Princes and barons and knights oppress
and rob each other, and trouble their subjects with infinite wars
and exactions, wherein each strives to despoil the other even
of duchies and kingdoms, as we see in these days. For it is notorious
that the King of France has most unjustly despoiled the King of
England of that i great territory; and Charles [of Anjou] has
even now crushed, the heirs of Frederick [II] in mighty battles.
Men care not what is done nor how, whether by right or wrong,
if only each may have his own will; meanwhile they are slaves
to gluttony if and lechery and the wickedness of other sins. The
people, harassed by their princes, hate them and keep no fealty
save under compulsion; moreover, corrupted by the evil examples
of their betters, they oppress and circumvent and defraud one
another, as we see everywhere with our own eyes; and they are
utterly given over to lechery and gluttony, and are more debased
than tongue can tell. Of merchants and craftsmen there is no question,
since fraud and deceit and guile reign beyond all measure in all
their words and deeds.
There is another measure of the effect
of this corruption. For the faith of Christ has been revealed
to the world, and certified already by saints without number....
And we have our Lord Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the altar;
everywhere and daily we make it at our will, in accordance with
that His precept, "Do this in remembrance of me"; we
eat and drink Him, and are turned into Him, to become Gods and
Christs....Certainly if men had faith, reverence, and devotion
to this sacrament as they are in duty bound, then they would not
corrupt themselves with so many errors and sins and wickednesses,
but would know all wisdom and wholesome truth in this life: wherefore,
seeing that they here play the ass [his asininant], and
many are infirm and weak and sleep (to use the Apostle's words)
therefore they must needs become infirm and weak in all that region
of wisdom, and sleep the sleep of death, and play the ass beyond
common estimation; for this [sacrament] is at the end of the glory
and goodness and comeliness of wisdom, and has more certain proofs
than any other kind.... Since therefore we know but little in
so noble and so plain a matter, therefore all other profitable
wisdom must needs be put farther away from us than tongue may
tell.
The third consideration from effects
is taken by comparing our state with that of the ancient Philosophers;
who, though they were without that quickening grace which makes
man worthy of eternal life, and where into we enter at baptism,
yet lived beyond all comparison better than we, both in all decency
and in contempt of the world, with all its delights and riches
and honors; as all men may read in the works of Aristotle Seneca,
Tully [ie Ciciero], Avicenna, Alfarabius, Plato, Socrates,
and others; and so it was that they attained to the secrets of
wisdom and found out all knowledge. But we Christians have discovered
nothing worthy of those philosophers, nor can we even understand
their wisdom; which ignorance of ours springs from this cause,
that our morals are worse than theirs. For it is impossible that
wisdom should coexist with sin, but she requires perfect virtue,
as I will show later on. But certain it is that, if there were
so much wisdom in the world as men think, these evils would not
be committed...and therefore, when we see everywhere (and especially
among the clergy) such corruption of life, then their studies
must needs be corrupt. Many wise men -- considering this, and
pondering on God's wisdom and the learning of the saints and the
truth of histories, and not only the prophecies of Holy Scripture
but also such salutary predictions as those of the Sibyls and
Merlin and Aquila and Festo and many other wise men --have reckoned
that the times of Antichrist are at hand in these days of ours.[Note:
The next greatest English friar of this age, Adam de Marisco,
is even more emphatic on this subject, and more pessimistic generally,
than Bacon.] Wherefore wickedness must needs be uprooted,
and the Elect of God must appear; or else one most blessed Pope
will first come, who shall remove all corruptions from University
and Church and elsewhere, that the world may be renewed, and the
fullness of the Gentiles may enter in, and the remnants of Israel
be converted to the faith. . . God indeed, in His infinite goodness
and long-suffering of wisdom, does not at once punish mankind,
but delays His vengeance until the iniquity be fulfilled, so that
it may not and should not be longer endured.... But now seeing
that the measure of man's wickedness is full, it must needs be
that some most virtuous Pope and most virtuous Emperor shall arise
to purge the Church with the double sword of the spirit and the
flesh; or else that such purgation shall take place through Antichrist;
or, thirdly, through some other tribulation, as the discord of
Christian princes, or the Tartars and Saracens and other kings
of the East, as divers scriptures and manifold prophecies tell
us. For there is no doubt whatever among wise men, but that the
Church must be purged: yet whether in the first fashion, or the
second, or the third, they are not agreed, nor is there any certain
definition on this head.
(p. 425.)
The second principal cause of error in the present pursuit of wisdom is this: that
for forty years past certain men have arisen in the universities
who have created themselves masters and doctors in theology and
philosophy, though they themselves have never learned anything
of any account; nor will they or can they learn by reason of their
position, as I will take care to show by argument, in all its
length and breadth, within the compass of the following pages.
And, although I grieve and pity these as much as I can, yet truth
prevails over all, and therefore I will here expound at least
some of those things which are done publicly and are known to
all men, though few turn their hearts to regard either this or
other profitable considerations, by reason of those causes of
error which I here set forth, and whereby almost all men are basely
blinded. These are boys who are inexperienced in the knowledge
of themselves and of the world and of the learned languages, Greek
and Hebrew, which (as I will prove later on) are necessary to
study; they are ignorant also of all parts and sciences of the
world's philosophy and of wisdom, when they so presumptuously
enter upon the study of theology, which requires all human wisdom,
as the saints teach and as all wise men know. For, if truth be
anywhere, here is she found: here, if anywhere, is falsehood condemned,
as Augustine says in his book Of Christian Doctrine. These
are boys of the two Student-Orders, as Albert and Thomas [Note:
i.e. Albert afterwards called Magnus, and St Thomas Aquinas. Bacon
(though no doubt he goes too far here in his disparagement) anticipates
the main lines of modern criticism on scholastic philosophy --
that it neglected almost altogether those physical and mathematical
sciences on which all true philosophy must be based, and that
even its principal sources -- the Bible and Aristotle -- were
studied only in faulty translations, and often fatally misunderstood] and others, who in many cases enter those Orders at or below
the age of twenty years. This is the common course, from the English
sea to the furthest confines of Christendom, and more especially
beyond the realm of France; so that in Aquitaine Provence, Spain,
Italy, Germany, Hungary, Denmark, and everywhere, boys are promiscuously
received into the Orders from their tenth to their twentieth year;
boys too young to be able to know anything worth knowing, even
though they were not already possessed with the aforesaid causes
of human error; wherefore, at their entrance into the Orders,
they know nothing that profits to theology. Many thousands become
friars who cannot read their Psalter or their Donate [note:
ie Latin Grammar; Donatus was the favorite grammarian of the Middle
Ages.] yet, immediately after their admission, they are set
to study theology. Wherefore they must of necessity fail to reap
any great profit, especially seeing that they have not taken lessons
from others in philosophy since their entrance; and, most of all,
because they have presumed in those Orders to inquire into philosophy
by themselves and without teachers, so that they are become Masters
in Theology and in Philosophy before being disciples. Wherefore
infinite error reigns among them, although for certain reasons
this is not apparent by the Devil's instigation and by God's permission.
One cause of this appearance is that the Orders have the outward
show of great holiness; wherefore it is probable to the world
that men in so holy a state would not presume on such things as
they could not perform. Yet we see that all states are corrupted
in this age, as I have discoursed in detail above....
Bacon then goes on to set forth,
under a series of numbered heads, the almost universal ignorance
of Greek and Hebrew among Western philosophers and theologians,
the small quantity and detestable quality of the accredited translations
of Aristotle, and the consequent rottenness of contemporary science
at its very foundation.
Wherefore all who know anything at
all neglect the false translation of Aristotle, and seek such
remedy as they may. This is a truth which men lost in learning
will not consider; but they seek consolation for their ignorance
like brute beasts. If I had power over the books of Aristotle
[as at present translated], I would burn them all; for to study
therein is but lost time, and a source of error and a multiplication
of ignorance beyond all human power to describe. And, seeing that
the labors of Aristotle are the foundation of all wisdom, therefore
no man may tell how much the Latins waste now because they have
accepted evil translations of the Philosopher: wherefore there
is no full remedy anywhere. Whosoever will glory in Aristotle's
science, he must needs learn it in its own native tongue, since
false translations are everywhere, in theology as well as in philosophy.
For all the translators [of the Bible] before St. Jerome erred
cruelly, as he himself says over and over again....We have few
profitable books of philosophy in Latin, for Aristotle wrote a
hundred volumes, as we read in his life, whereof we possess only
three of any importance: his Logic, his Natural History, and his
Metaphysics.... But the vulgar herd of students, with their leaders,
have nothing to rouse them to any worthy effort: wherefore they
feebly dote over these false translations, losing everywhere their
time, their labor, and their money. For outward appearance alone
possesses them; nor care they what they know, but only what they
may seem to know in the eyes of the senseless multitude.
So likewise numberless matters of
God's wisdom are still wanting. For many books of Holy Writ are
not translated; both two books of the Maccabees which I know to
exist in the Greek, and many other books of many prophets, which
are cited in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. Moreover, Josephus
in his Antiquities is utterly false as to the course of
time, without which nothing can be known of the history of the
Sacred Text; wherefore he is worthless until he be reformed by
a new translation, and sacred history perishes. Moreover, the
Latins lack innumerable books of the Hebrew and Greek expositors,
as Origen, Basil, Gregory Nazianzene, Damascenus, Dionysius, Chrysostom,
and other most noble doctors, in Hebrew as well as in Greek. Therefore
the Church slumbers; for in this matter she does nothing, nor
has done for these seventy years past, except that the lord Robert
[Grosseteste] of holy memory, Bishop of Lincoln, translated into
Latin from the books of St. Dionysius, and Damascenus, and a few
other consecrated teachers. We must marvel at the negligence of
the Church; for there has been no supreme Pontiff since the days
of Pope Damasus [A.D. 384], nor any inferior pontiff who has been
solicitous for the profit of the Church through translations,
save only the above-mentioned glorious Bishop.
The thirteenth cause why Latin students
need the knowledge of languages is the corruption which besets
our studies through the ignorance of learned languages in these
days. This cause is complementary of the Latins' error and ignorance.
For such books of divine and human wisdom as have been well translated
and truly expounded, are now become utterly faulty by reason of
the disuse of the aforesaid learned languages in Latin countries.
For thus, by the examples already cited, we may set forth clearly
enough by way of compendious introduction, and see in general
terms, how the Bible has been corrupted. But he who would go into
details would not find a single sentence wherein there is no falsehood,
or at least no great uncertainty, on account of the disagreement
of correctors: and this doubt falls upon every wise man, even
as we name that "fear" which falls even upon a constant
man. Yet there is falsehood well nigh everywhere, even though
doubts be interspersed. And would not these false or dubious passages
be cleared away, to the quantity of half the Bible, if we introduced
some certain method of proof, as the reasonable manner of correction
demands? Wherefore all theologians nowadays, whether reading or
preaching, use false texts, and cannot profit, and can consequently
neither understand nor teach anything of any accounts. [note:
In these last two sentences two emendations have been ventured
which seem required by the sense; viz. tonne for non and proficere for proferre, Bacon's complaint of
the corruption of the medieval Vulgate text, exaggerated as it
may seem is borne out by proved facts. The late Sub-librarian
of the Vatican, Father Denifle, wrote an article on this subject,
in which he said: "It offers a melancholy spectacle which
would be still more darkened by a comparison of other manuscripts
of the 3th century....Roger Bacon was indeed right when he exclaimed
with regard to the accredited Paris text, (which followed Correctorium
E, and therefore contained the interpolations and belonged to
the same family of MSS. as that above quoted), 'The text is for
the most part horribly corrupt in the Vulgate, that is the Parisian,
Exemplar."' Archiv. F.. Litt. and Zirchengeschichte u.s.w.,
Band IV, S. 567.]
From C.G. Coulton, ed, Life in the Middle Ages, (New York:
Macmillan, c.1910), Vol 2, 55-62 [The translation in Coulton
has been considerably modernized here.]
This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book.
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(c)Paul Halsall August 1996
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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