CHAPTER V. JOHN SCOTUS ERIGENA: OR, THE IRISH SCHOOL. WE lose all sight of Clement of Ireland after the time of Charles the Great, and it is probable that during the reign of Lewis the Pious the Irish school of philosophy received but little encouragement at court. But in the reign of Charles the Bald a new impulse was given to learning by the united influence of the royal example and the appearance of a notable thinker in Frankland. СНАР. tion of Thomas It was observed by an eminent scholar of the seventeenth Observacentury that John Scotus Erigena appeared to have been born subject to a strange fatality, whereby men's judgement Gale. on him was destined to be always changing.' The numerous attempts at elucidating his philosophy and his character that have been made since the days of Thomas Gale do not tend to impair the justice of this observation. In the criticisms by Maurice, Milman, Staudenmaier, St. René Taillandier, Christlieb, Kaulich, Hauréau, and Huber, the view of each writer differs, in some important respect, from the views of nearly all the rest. To essay the task of deciding John among these different authorities, would be to enter upon a very lengthened and minute enquiry quite beyond the province of these pages; but, while omitting all discussion connect ing link between preceding schools of 1 'Eo fato mihi natus fuisse Joannes videtur, ut hominum de se judicia learning alternantia subiret.' Thomas Gale, Pref. to De Div. Nat., 1681. and the semper 2 Maurice, Mediaeval Philosophy, pp. 45-79; Milman, iv 330-5; Stau- scholastic denmaier, J. Scotus Erigena und die Wissenschaft seiner Zeit, 1833; philoTaillandier, Scot Erigène et la philosophie scholastique, 1843; Christlieb, sophy. Leben und Lehre des Johannes Scotus Erigena, 1860; Kaulich, Geschichte der scholastischen Philosophie, vol. i, 1863; Hauréau, Philosophie Scholastique, c viii; Huber (J. N.), Joh. Scotus Erigena, 1861. CHAP. V. His birth and early education. of much that is ambiguous and obscure, it will at the same time not be difficult to point out with reasonable certainty the general character of John's influence as a thinker. Of this the main importance and significance are to be found in the fact, that that influence forms the connecting link between the traditions which have occupied our attention in the preceding pages and the great subsequent developement known as the scholastic philosophy. By some, indeed, John Scotus has been regarded as himself the inaugurator of that philosophy,' and it is certainly no exaggeration to say that the impetus he gave to speculation, and the manner in which, with far greater boldness than Rabanus, he introduced the employment of dialectic-so that, after having been long regarded as a dangerous and unlawful art, the logic of Aristotle eventually became the recognised weapon for defending the doctrines of the Church-were tantamount to a revolution in the method of theological enquiry. The career of this remarkable man commences and closes in obscurity. There can be little question that he was, as his name implies, an Irishman—' a native of the Holy Isle ; ' 2 but the year of his birth can be fixed with no greater certainty than between the years 800 and 815. His education, again, was doubtless received in one or other of those famous Irish monasteries which have already claimed our attentiona fact of which his Greek learning and his sympathy with the Celtic tendencies in philosophy and theology are unmistakeable evidence; but the only part of his career respecting which we have any trustworthy information is that of his life in Frankland. It was when he was somewhat more than thirty years of age, probably about the year 845, that John set foot in the realm of Charles the Bald-a still young, enthusiastic, and vigorous thinker, his favourite manual that same treatise by Martianus Capella which the Church so much e.g. Staudenmaier; Buhle, Gesch. der Künste und Wissenschaften, i 823. Hegel, Vorles. über Gesch. d. Philosophie, iii 159-161. Ueberweg, Gesch. d. Philosophie, i 103–111. 1 2 Jerugena aber sei eine Zusammensetzung aus ie poù scilic. výσov und gena, nach dem Beispiel von Graijugena, wie Johannes selbst den hl. Maximus benenne.' Huber, p. 39. mistrusted, he himself well versed in the Greek Fathers, especially Origen, whose genius for philosophic speculation he greatly admired,' his whole mental vision, to use the expression of William of Malmesbury, concentrated on Greece.' Had Lewis the Pious still sat on his father's throne, John's reception at the Frankish court would probably have been of no encouraging character. But the aged emperor, the careful guardian of the traditions of the Church, had been succeeded by his youngest son (of whom John was nearly as much the senior as Alcuin was the senior of Charles the Great), and between the youthful monarch and the young philosopher there at once sprung up an intimacy which appears to have lasted until the former's death. John, when he first attracts our notice in Frankland, had already been appointed teacher of the Palace School. In almost every respect, save in a common love of Character learning, Charles was a complete contrast to his father, and of Charles. even in this relation a difference is discernible; for while Lewis' favourite study was the mysteries of Scriptural interpretation, the son delighted in philosophic subtleties. It must, however, be acknowledged that his patronage of learning appears to have included all schools and all parties. He was probably the most liberal benefactor of letters in his His liberal time. If we may accept the testimony of Eric of Auxerre, patronage of learning. as given in a somewhat fulsome dedication written towards the latter part of Charles' reign, he was the stay of schools and studies in well-nigh every land,' 'the cultivators of the most excellent learning had flocked from all quarters to his realm,' so that, as Eric goes on to say, 'your school is rightly styled the Palace School, where the chief daily devotes himself to scholarly no less than to martial exercises.' 2 6 Charles' fondness for disputations and the discussion of 16 Div. Nat. magnum Origenem, diligentissimum rerum inquisitorem.' De 26. cunctarum fere gentium scholas et studia sustulisti . . . in eam mundi partem, quam vestra potestas complectitur, universa optimarum artium studia confluxerunt. . . . Ita ut merito vocitetur schola palatium : cujus apex non minus scholaribus quam militaribus consuescit quotidie disciplinis.' Epist. Dedicat. to Charles the Bald. Migne, cxxiv 1134. Irish V. Nor CHAP. knotty quaestiones rendered the Irish scholars, the professed disciples of dialectic, especially welcome at his court. were they slow to avail themselves of his generous hospitality and aid. Impelled partly by penury, partly by the national love of change and adventure, they appear at this period as Influx of inundating Frankland. In such numbers did they present themselves as applicants for the charity which it was then into Frank- held to be a religious duty to extend to the stranger, that hospitals or houses of temporary shelter were erected for their exclusive benefit.' The writer above quoted declares that 'nearly all learned Ireland, disdaining the perils of the sea, had sought in voluntary exile to subserve the wishes of one who was a Solomon in wisdom.' 2 scholars land. Circumstances of John Scotus' arrival of Alcuin's. Such were the circumstances under which John Scotus appears upon the scene. In strong contrast to Alcuin, he came vacating no well-endowed scholastic chair, entrusted contrasted with no dignified ecclesiastical functions, sorely missed from with those his native land and reluctantly suffered to depart, but rather, to quote his own metaphor, as a storm-tossed voyager anxiously seeking a quiet haven.3 His attainments, however, were certainly in no respect inferior to Alcuin's, and commanded not only the admiration of friendly critics, but also that of those who had little sympathy with his genius or his opinions. His exten- He was a master of clear and terse exposition. He possive attain- sessed a fairly correct and even elegant Latin style. ments. His knowledge of Greek, which has been variously estimated, 16 6 3 Huber, p. 49. 5. 4 Ibid. p. 44. rudes admodum tirones adhuc helladicorum studiorum fatemur.' Pref. to Dionysii Hier., Huber, p. 43. CHAP. V. that he was singled out by his royal patron for a task which, it would seem, no one else had hitherto been able to perform -the translation of the Pseudo-Dionysius.' Hauréau calls His knowattention to the Greek title of his most important work. He Greek. was, beyond all question, well acquainted with the original 2 of the New Testament, and among the Greek Fathers was familiar with Gregory Nazianzen (whom, however, he appears to have identified with Gregory of Nyssa 3), with Origen, St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom. If we add to these acquirements a natural subtlety of intellect and aptitude for controversy which indicate a mind of altogether a different stamp from Alcuin's, we shall be ready to admit that in characteristics like these there was alone enough to excite the curiosity and expectation of the learned in Frankland. 4 But to these gifts, inborn and acquired, John Scotus His Celtic united other qualities still more likely to challenge observa- culture. tion. He exemplified, in a very marked degree, the tendencies of his school-the Celtic proneness to speculation and the Celtic impatience of dogmatic teaching. His high estimate of the value of Martianus Capella is attested by the fact that he compiled a commentary on the treatise, which has recently been brought to light by modern research; from the pages of that author, indeed, he had, in the opinion of Prudentius of Troyes, imbibed a deadly poison,' 5-in less rhetorical phrase, he dared to assert the claims of reason 1 I must confess my inability to discover the grounds on which one writer rests his assertion, when comparing John's knowledge of Greek literature and Greek philosophy with Alcuin's, that as far as mere acquaintance with Greek letters goes there is no question about Alcuin's superiority' (Maurice, Mediaeval Phil. p. 46). The facts appear to me to point to exactly the opposite conclusion. 2 Huber (p. 44) considers that his knowledge of the Old Testament was limited to the version of Jerome. 3 ... venerabilis Gregorius Nazianzenus, qui et Nyssaeus dicitur.' De Div. Nat. III 40. Christlieb, p. 118. 4 Floss confesses that on his first perusal of John's writings he was struck by his wonderful and singular subtlety in argument, haud parum me movisse speciosam ac paene singularem disputandi subtilitatem confiteor. Migne, cxii, i. 5 Migne, cxv 1294. |