Beside most of them, he was as a butterfly
to an elephant. A most industrious study of the few works of
Aristotle and of the Roman classics that were available, a
retentive memory, an ease in manipulating his knowledge, a clear,
penetrating mind, with a corresponding clearness of expression, a
ready and productive fancy, a great knowledge of men, a warmer
interest in things human than in things divine, a laughing
contempt for authority, a handsome presence, and a musical
delivery--these were his gifts.[6]
He takes his place in history, apart from the ever-interesting
drama and the deep pathos of his life, in virtue of two
distinctions. They are, firstly, an extraordinary ability in
imparting such knowledge as the poverty of the age afforded--the
facts of his career reveal it; and, secondly, a mind of such
marvellous penetration that it conceived great truths which it
has taken humanity seven or eight centuries to see--this will
appear as we proceed. It was the former of these gifts that made
him, in literal truth, the centre of learned and learning
Christendom, the idol of several thousand eager scholars. Nor,
finally, were these thousands the "horde of barbarians" that
jealous Master Roscelin called them. It has been estimated that a
pope, nineteen cardinals, and more than fifty bishops and
archbishops were at one time among his pupils.
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