[19]
The last sentence of the account displays an ignorance of the number of
Aristotle's extant writings which was doubtless shared by all of Bacon's
contemporaries. Earlier writers, beginning with Andronicus of Rhodes
(first century B.C.), had also placed the number at one thousand; Bacon
probably copied the statement from one of these.
The attitude of ecclesiastical authorities toward the study of Aristotle
at Paris is expressed in a series of regulations extending over nearly
half a century (1210-1254). They indicate at first a fear of certain of
the newly translated books on account of their heretical views, as is
stated by Roger Bacon (p. 44). This suspicion gradually disappears; and
by 1254 all the more important works of Aristotle are not only approved,
but prescribed for study.
In 1210 a church council held at Paris sentenced certain heretics to be
burned, condemned various theological writings, and added:
Nor shall the books of Aristotle on Natural Philosophy, and the
Commentaries [of Averrhoes on Aristotle] be read in Paris in
public or in secret; and this we enjoin under pain of
excommunication.[20]
In 1215 the statutes of the Papal Legate, Robert de Courcon, for the
University, prescribe in detail what shall, and what shall not, be
studied:
The treatises of Aristotle on Logic, both the Old and the New,
are to be read in the schools in the regular and not in the
extraordinary courses.
Pages:
45
46
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49
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58
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