Two suburbs reach out to right and left, the less
excellent, even, of which begets envy in envious cities. From the
two suburbs two stone bridges stretch over to the island and one
of them which has been named for its size, for it is Great, faces
the north and the English Sea, while the opposite one, which
opens towards the Loire, they call the Little Bridge....
On this island Philosophy, of old, placed a royal throne for
herself, Philosophy, who, despised in her solitude, with a sole
attendant, Study, now possesses an enduring citadel of light and
immortality, and under her victorious feet tramples the withered
flowers of a world already in its dotage.
On this island, the seven sisters, to wit, the Liberal Arts, have
secured an eternal abiding place for themselves, and, with the
ringing clarion of their nobler eloquence, decrees and laws are
proclaimed.
Here the healing fount of learning gushes forth, and as it were
evoking from itself three most limpid streams, it makes a
threefold division of the knowledge of the sacred page into
History, Allegory and Morals.[81]
(4) JOHANN VON JENZENSTEIN TO MASTER BENESCH OF HORSCHOWITZ, CONCERNING
PARIS. (1375.)
Master Bennessius, dearest comrade and friend. If recent doings
at Paris are unknown to you, if the fecundity of pleasures, the
abundance of all things edible, the manners of the men, the
bountiful supply of all the sciences, even the clever teaching in
very many material crafts,--if you could but see the mere shadow
of all these, surely, overpowered by their arguments, you would
throw off your sluggishness and generously enter into the
aforesaid enjoyments; and your eyes, grown old in old sights
would renew their youth in these new sights.
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