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The Greek Element in the Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

Author(s): Charles H. HaskinsSource: The American Historical Review, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Jul., 1920), pp. 603-615Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association

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VolumeXXV] July, 1920 [Number

3mrgan it0taT reiwTHE GREEK ELEMENT IN THE RENAISSANCE OF THE

TWELFTH CENTURY

THE renaissanceof the twelfth entury onsisted n part of a

revivalof theLatin classicsand theRoman law,whencethemovement as sometimesbeen called a "Roman renaissance", in

partof a rapidwidening f the fieldof knowledgebytheintroduc-tionofthescience ndphilosophyftheancientGreeks ntowestern

Europe. This Greek earning amein largemeasure hroughArabic

intermediaries,ith omeadditions n theprocess, o thattheinflu-

ence of the Saracen scholars of Spain and the East is well under-stood. It is not always sufficientlyealizedthattherewas also a

notableamountof directcontactwithGreeksources,bothin Italy

and in the East, andthat translationsmade directlyfromGreek

originalswere an important,s well as a moredirect nd faithful,

vehicleforthetransmissionf ancient earning. Less considerable

in theaggregate hanwhat came through heArabs,the Greekele-

iient was nevertheless ignificantorthe laterMiddle Ages, while

it is furthernterestings a direct ntecedent f theGreekrevival

of theQuattrocento. No generalstudyhas yetbeenmade of this

movement, ut detailed investigation as advanced sufficientlyo

permitof a brief surveyof the presentstate of our knowledge.

The most mportantmeeting-pointf Greekand Latin culture

in the twelfth enturywas the Normankingdom f southern taly

and Sicily.' Long a partof theByzantineEmpire,this region till

retainedGreektraditions nd a numerousGreek-speaking opula-

tion, nd ithad not ostcontactwith he East. In the eleventh en-

1

See, in general,Haskins and Lockwood,"The Sicilian

Translators- f the

TwelfthCentury nd the FirstLatin Version of Ptolemy'sAlmagest , in Harvard

Studies in Classical Philology,XXI. 75-IO2 (i910) ; Haskins, " FurtherNotes on

Sicilian Translations of the Twelfth Century , ibid., XXIII. I55-i66 (I9I2);

and the literature herecited.

AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XXV.-40. ( 603







604 C. H. Haskins

turythemerchants f Amalfimaintained n activecommercewith

Constantinople nd Syria; Byzantine craftsmenwroughtgreat

bronzedoorsforthechurches nd palaces of the south2 and travel-lingmonksbroughtback fragments f Greeklegendand theology

to be turnedinto Latin.3 Libraries of Greek origin,chiefly f

Biblical and theologicalwritings,were gathered nto the Basilian

monasteries,4nd more comprehensiveollectionswere formed t

the Norman capital. Only in the Norman kingdomdid Greek,

Latin, and Arabic civilization ive side by side in peace and tolera-

tion. These three anguageswere in current se in the royalchar-ters and registers, s well as in many-tongued alermo, so that

knowledge fmorethanoneofthemwas a necessity ortheofficials

of theroyalcourt, owhichmenofdistinctionrom very andwere

welcomed. The production f translationswas inevitablen sucha

cosmopolitan tmosphere, nd it was directly ncouragedby the

Sicilian kings,fromRoger to Frederick I. and Manf ed,as part

of their ffortso foster earning. While Rogercommanded his-tory f the fivepatriarchates rom Greekmonk,Neilos Doxopatres,

and a comprehensive rabictreatise n geography rom heSaracen

Edrisi, translation ppears to have been more activelyfurthered

during hebriefreignof his successor. UnderWilliamI. a Latin

renderingof GregoryNazianzen was undertakenby the king's

orders,and a versionof Diogenes Laertiuswas requestedby his

chiefministerMaio. Indeed the two principaltranslatorswere

membersof the royal administration, enricus Aristippusand

Eugene theEmir,bothofwhomhavelefteulogiesof thekingwhich

celebratehis philosophicmind and wide-ranging astes and the

attractiots of his courtforscholars.5Archdeaconof Catania in ii56, whenhe workedat his Plato in

the armybeforeBenevento,Aristippuswas theprincipalofficerf

the Sicilian curia from i6o to ii62, whenhis dismissalwas soon

2 A. Schaube, Handelsgeschichteder RomanischenVYlker (Munich, I906),

pp. 34-37; F. Novati, Le Originli,n the co-operativeStoria Letteraria d'Italia,

p. 3I2 ff.

3 The principal examples are Nemesius, De Natura Ho iinis,translatedby

Alfano, bishop of Salerno, and a collection of miracles put into Latin by the

monkJohn of Amalfi. On Alfano, see particularlyC. Baeumker,in Wochen-

schriftfuirKlassische Philologie, vol. XIII., coil. I095-1102 (i896); and G.

Falco, in Archiviodella Societa Romana di Storia Patria, XXXV. 439-48I (I912).

On John,M. Huber,Johannes Monachus,Liber de Miraculis (Heidelberg,1913).

4 F. Lo Parco, " Scolario-Saba ", in Attidella R. Accademia di Archeologiadi

Napoli, n. s., vol. I., pt. II., pp. 207-286 (I9I0), withHeiberg's riticismn

ByzantinischeZeitschrift,XXII. I6o-I62.

5Hermes,1. 388; ByzantinischeZeitschrift, I. 451.







Greek n the TwelfthCentury 605

followedbyhis death. Besides theversionsof GregoryNazianzenand Diogenes, which, f completed, ave not reachedus, Aristippus

was thefirstranslator f the Meno and Phaedo of Plato and of thefourthbook of Aristotle'sMeteorology,6nd his Latin renderingremained n currentuse duringthe Middle Ages and the earlyRenaissance. An observer of natural phenomenaon his ownaccount,he was also instrumentaln bringingmanuscriptso Sicilyfrom he ibrary f the EmperorManuel at Constantinople. One ofthesepossesses special importance, beautifulcodex of Ptolemy's

AImagest, romwhich he first atin versionwas made by a visitingscholarabout i i6o. The translatorellsus thathe was much aidedby Eugene theEmir," a man most earned nGreekand Arabicandnot ignorantof Latin", who likewise translatedPtolemy'sOpticsfrom the Arabic. The scientific nd mathematical ent of theSicilianschool s seen in stillotherworks whichwereprobably irstturned nto Latin here: theData, Optica,and Catoptrica f Euclid,

theDe Motu ofProclus, nd thePneunmaticafHero ofAlexandria.A poet of some importancen his native Greek,Eugene is likewiseassociatedwiththe transmission o the West of two curiousbits ofOrientalliterature, he prophecyof the ErythraeanSibyl and theSanskritfable of Kalila and Dimna. If it be added thatthe newversions fAristotle's ogic wereincirculationt the courtof Wil-liamI., and that n important roupof New Testamentmanuscriptscan be tracedtothe scribesof KingRoger's court,we getsome fur-thermeasureof the intellectual nterests f twelfth-centuryicily,whilethe medical chool of Salernomustnot be forgottens a centreof attraction nd diffusionorscientific nowledge.

Italy had no other royal court to serve as a centreof the newlearning, nd no other regionwhere East and West met in suchconstant nd fruitful ntercourse. In otherparts of thepeninsulawe must ook less forresidentGreeksthan for Latins who learned

theirGreekat Constantinople,s travellers r as members f thenot nconsiderable atin colonymadeup chiefly rom hegreat com-mercial republics f Venice and Pisa.7

Among the various theologicaldisputationsheld at Constanti-

6 See now F. H. Fobes, " Mediaeval Versions of Aristotle'sMeteorology, inClassical Philology,X. 297-3I4 (19I); and his edition of the Greektext (Cam-bridge, 9I9). Cf. also C. Marchesi, "Di Alcuni VolgarizzamentiToscani ", in

Studi Ronzanzi, V. 123-I57 (1907). For the Phaedo the conjectures of F. LoParco, Petrarca e Barlaam (Reggio, I905), should be mentioned.7 See, in general, G. Gradenigo,Lettera intornoagli Italiani che seppero di

Greco (Venice, 743). J. E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship (seconded.), I. 557 ff., ouches the matterverybriefly.







6o6 C. H. Haskins

nople n the courseof thetwelfthentury, nselmofHavelberghasleft us an accountof one beforeJohnComnenos n 1136,at which

therewere presentnot a fewLatins, among themthreewise menskillednthe two anguages ndmost earned nletters, amelyJamesa Venetian,Burgundio Pisan, and the third,mostfamous mongGreeks nd Latins above all othersfor his knowledge f both itera-tures,Moses byname, n Italianfrom he city of Bergamo, nd hewas chosenbyall to be a faithfulnterpreterorboth sides.8

Each of these Italian scholars s knownto us fromothersources,

and theystand out as theprincipaltranslators f the age, beyondthe imits ftheSiciliankingdom.

Under the year I 28 we read in the chronicle of Robert of

Torigni, bbotof Mont-Saint-Michel,nd well informed espectingliterarymattersn Italy,that"James,a clerkof Venice,translated

fromGreek nto Latin certainbooks of Aristotle nd commentedn

them,namely heTopics,thePrior and PosteriorAnalytics, nd the

Elenchi, althoughtherewas an older version of these books .9Long the subjectof doubt and discussion, his passage has recently

beenconfirmedrom n independentource,10o thatJamescan be

singledout as thefirst cholarof the twelfth enturywho brought

theNew Logic ofAristotle fresh o theattention f Latin Europe.Whatpart his versionhad in theAristotelian evival, nd what its

fate was as comparedwith the traditional endering f Boethius,

are questionswhichfor our presentpurpose it is unnecessary oexamine.

Moses of Bergamoevidently oundhis easternconnections ywayofVenice." He is the authorof an importantmetrical escrip-tionof Bergamo, nd kept up relationswith his nativecitythroughletters o his brothernd through enefactionso variouschurches,

s L. d'Achery,SpicilegiumiiParis, 1723), I. 172; cf. Driiseke, in Zeitschrift

fiir Kirchengeschichte, XI. I60-I85 (I900).9Robert of Torigni, Chronique, ed. Delisle (Socikt6 de 1'Histoire de Nor-

mandie), I. 177; MonumentaGermaniae Historica, Scriptores)VI. 489.10The preface to another version of the twelfth enturywhich I discovered

in the cathedral ibrary f Toledo in II3 and published n an articleon " Mediae-val Versions of the Posterior Analytics , in Harvard Studies in Classical Phi-lology,XXV. 93 ff. 1049, where the problemof the diffusion f the New Logicis also discussed. For recent discussion of this problem,see Hofmeister, nNenes Archiv, XL. 454-456; Baeumker, in Philosophisches Jahrbuch,XXVIII.

320-326; Geyer, ibid., XXX. 25-43. Geyer believes James of Venice to be theauthorof the versionwhichbecame current.

11See Haskins, " Moses of Bergamo , in Bylzantinische eitschrift,XXIIt.133-142 (19I4).







Greek in the Twvelfth entury 607

buthismessengersass throughenice,nd he ives ntheVenetianquarter t Constantinople. ere heis found n the mperor'serv-ice in II30, whenhe has lostby fire precious ollectionf Greekmanuscripts,roughtogether y longeffortt the priceof threepounds fgold. He tellsus thathe learnedGreek or he specialpurpose f turningntoLatinworksnot previouslynownn theWest,buttheonly pecimen hich as been dentifieds a transla-tionof an uninterestingheologicalompilation.He has also leftgrammaticalpuscula,ncluding commentaryn theGreekwordsin St. Jerome'srefaces, hich ttest is familiarityith he an-guageand with he writingsf theGreekgrammarians.Appar-ently hatwe have eft re only hefragmentaryemainsf a many-sidedactivity,s grammarian,ranslator,oet, and collector fmanuscripts,hich ustifies s in consideringima prototypefthemenwho settled oti's usiness in thefifteenthentury.

Burgundio he Pisan is better nown, y reasonof his public

career s well s ofhis ndefatigableeal as a translator.12 ppear-ing first t thedebate f II36, he is found n legal documentstPisa fromI47 to ii8o, first s an advocate nd later s a judge;he s sent n diplomatic issionsoRagusa n i16 andto Constan-tinople n I I72,13 and was present t the Lateran Councilof II79;

and he died at a ripeold age in II93. The sonorous nscriptionnhis tomb s stillpreserved, elebratinghis doctordoctorum, emmat

magistrorurn,minent like in law, in medicine, nd in Greek andLatin letters; and this reputation s confirmed y the survivingmanuscripts f his work.14 Translationwas evidently ot the prin-cipal occupation f thisdistinguishedareer, ndeed Burgundio ellsus thatoneof hisversionsrequired hesparetimeof two years,buthis long life made possible a very considerable iterary output.Theologyheld thefirst lace: John fDamascus,De Orthodoxa ide

(II48-II5o), which had been "preached for four centuries s the

12 See particularlyG. M. Mazzuchelli, Gli Scrittori d'Italia (Brescia, 1753),

vol. II., pt. III., pp. 1768-I770; [Fabroni], Mernorie storiche di piz' UominiIllustri isani (Pisa, I790), I. 7I-I04; Savigny, eschichtees Romischen echtsim Mittelalter1850), IV. 394-410; F. Buonamici, Burgundio isano , inAnnali delle Universita Toscane, vol. XXVIII. (I908); P. H. Dausend, "ZurUebersetzungsweiseBurgundios von Pisa ", in Wiener Studien, XXXV. 353-369

(19I3).

13Besides the documents cited by Savigny, see G. Muller, Documnenti ulleRelazioni delle Cittd Toscane coil' Oriente (Florence, I879), pp. I8, 4I6 if.

14 Cf. his survey of previous translations, ncient and medieval, from theGreek, nfra,note 56.







6o8 C. H. Haskins

theologicalcode of the Greek church;15 the Homiliesof JohnChrysostomn Matthew jj5 )16 andJohn jI73)17 and perhapson

Genesis (incompleten II79) ;18 St. Basil on Isaiah (before I54) ;19

Nemesius,De Natura Honminis,edicatedto FrederickBarbarossaonhis Italianexpedition f II55 ;20 perhapsothers.21 Two oftheseversionswere dedicatedto Pope Eugene III., who secureda manu-scriptof Chrysostom rom hepatriarch f Antioch nd persuadedBurgundio o undertake hetask of turningt into Latin.22 His re-sults were used by the great theologiansof the WesternChurch,

such as Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas 23 indeed he "madeaccessibleto theWestworkswhichexercisedgreat nfluencen thescholastics, heexegetes, he mystics,nd the oratorsof theMiddleAges ".24 In medicine,Burgundio'sname is attachedto the Latinversions of ten works of Galen 25 De Sectis Mcdicorud,26De

15J.Ghellinck, Les Oeuvresde Jeande Damas en Occidentau XIIe Siecle ">

in Revue des Questions Historiques, LXXXVIII. 149-I60, reprinted n his Le

MouvenientThe'ologiquedu XIIe Siecle (Paris,I9I4), pp. 245-275,

wherefurther

studies of Burgundioare promised. Cf. M. Grabmann,Geschichteder Scholas-

tischenMethode,II. 93; P. Duhem, Le SystemedieMonde, III. 37.16Preface in Martene and Durand, VeterumScriptor rnAmplissima Col-

lectio (Paris, I724), I. 817. On thedate,cf. Dausend, in WienerStudien,XXXV.

357.17 Preface,incomplete,Marteneand Durand, p. 828; see note 56, below.18Robertof Torigni,ed. Delisle, II. I09. Cf. C. Baur, S. Jean Chrysostome,

p. 62.

19

Savigny,IV. 40I; infra,note 56, where a version of the Psalter is also

mentioned.20 Preface in Martene and Durand, I. 827; text, ed. C. Burkhard,Vienna

programmes, I89I-I902.

21 Commentaryf St. Paul, inferredfrom he sepulchral nscription;Athana-

sius, De Fide, conjecturedby Bandini, Catalogus, IV. 455; St. Basil on Genesis

(ibid., IV. 437; Codices UrbinatesLatini, I. 78); Chrysostom n Acts, R. Sabba-

dini, Le Scoperte dei Codici: Nuove Ricerche (Florence, T914), p. 264.22 Martene and Durand, I. 8I7.23 Ghellinck, lc. cit.; G. Mercati,Note di LetteraturaBiblica (Rome, i9oi).

pp. I41-144.

24 Mercati,p. 142. His Chrysostoms cited as late as Poggio; Sitzungsbe-

richte of the Vienna Academy,LXI. 409.25 The elaborate catalogue of Greek MSS. and translationsof Galen pub-

lished by H. Diels, "Die Handschriften er AntikenAertzte , in Abhandlungen

of the Berlin Academy (I905), pt. I., pp. 58-I5o, does not ordinarily ndicate

the authorshipof the Latin versions,which in many cases still remains to be

investigated. Evidentlysome of Burgundio'swork was revised in the fourteenth

centuryby Nicholas of Reggio and Peter of Abano. For Nicholas see F. Lo

Parco, "NiccolI da Reggio", in Atti della R. Accademia di Archeologia di Na-poli, n. s., vol. II., pt. II., pp. 241-3I7. There may be some confusionwith a

Johannesde Burgundia,to whom is ascribed a treatiseDe Morbo Epidemie in

TrinityCollege, Cambridge,MS. II02, f. 53, MS. 1144, f. II0 v.; and in Caius

College, MS. 336, f. 144 V.







Greek n theTwelfthCentury 609

Temperamentis,27e Virtutibus aturalibus.,28e SanitateTuenda,29De Differentiis ebriun, De Locis Affectis,30e CorpendiositatePulsus,31De DifferentiisulsuuM,32De Crisibus,33nd Therapeutica(Methodi Medendi) 34 while his translation f the AphorismsofHippocrates s cited n the thirteenthentury s preferable o thatfrom he Arabic.35 In a quite differentield,he turned nto Latina treatiseon the culture of the vine,3 doubtless for the practicalbenefit f his native Tuscany, just as a Strassburg cholarof thesixteenth entury ought to help the vineyards of the Rhine by

translating xtractsfrom he same Geoponica.37 As a lawyer, oo,he had opportunityo apply his knowledgeof Greek to translatingthe Greek quotations n theDigest.38 or which he appearsto haveused the text of the famousPisan manuscript. He is freely redited

26 " Translatio greca est Burgundionis . Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. Lat.6865, f. 8i; Diels, p. 6o.

27 ccExplicit liber Galieni de complexionibus ranslatus a Burgundionecive

Pisano secundumnovam translationem. Vatican, MS. Barberini Lat. I79, f.14 V.; MS. unknowno Diels,p. 64.28 Prag, Public Library,MS. I404; not in Diels, p. 66.29 Diels, p. 75; Lo Parco, " Niccolo da Reggio", p. 282 ff.30" Explicit liberGalienide interioribus ecundumnovamtranslationem ur-

gundii . Vatican,MS. Barb. Lat. I79, f. 36v.; MS. not in Diels, p. 85.31 "Finis libriqui est de compendiopulsus a Burgundione udice cive Pisano

de greco in latinumtranslati". BibliothequeNationale, MS. Lat. I5460, f. iii

v.; MS. not in Diels, p. 86. For the De Differentiis ebrium the Latin MSS. arecited by Diels, p. 8o.

32 Diels, p. 87.33 Munich,Cod. Lat. 35; Diels, p. go.34" Expletus est liber tarapeuticecum additionibusmagistriPetri de Ebano

que deficiuntex translationeBurgundioniscivis Pisani ". Vatican, MS. Barb.Lat. I78, f. 44 v.; not in Diels, p. 92. Cf. G. Valentinelli,Bibliotheca Manu-scriptaad S. Marci Venetiarum,V. 79, and MS. Madrid 1978 (L. 6o), f. 45 v.

35 Puccinotti, toria della Medicina (Leghorn, i850), vol. II., pt. II., p. 290;

Neuburger,Geschichteder Medizin (Stuttgart, 906), vol. II., pt. I., p. 375. Ascited by Diels, pp. I4-I6, the Latin MSS. do not mentionBurgundio.

36 Edited by Buonamici, in Annali delle Unitversita oscane, vol. XXVIII.(igo8). Incomplete MS. also in the Ambrosian,MS. C. I0, sup., f. iI8 v.; alsoformerly t Erfurt W. Schum,BeschreibendesVerzeichnissderAmplonianischenHandschriften-Sammlung,. 802) and at Peterhouse,Cambridge (James, Cata-logue, p. i i).

37 Serapeum,XVII. 287ff.

38Savigny, V. 403-410; Mommsen,Digesta, editiomaior (i876), I. 35*; H.Fitting," Bernardus Cremonensisund die Lateinische Uebersetzungdes Grie-chischen n den Digesten'>, in BerlinSitzungsberichte I894), II. 813-820; N.Tamassia, " Per la Storia dell' Autentico", in Atti del R. IstitutoVeneto,LVI.607-6I0 (I898). I agreewith avignyhat here s no evidencehatBurgundiotranslated heNovels, and that the reference o them n the preface to his trans-lation of Chrysostom's t. John (see below,note 56) shows that Burgundioac-ceptedthe extant versionas a literal translationmade at Justinian's rder.







61o C. H. Haskins

with the Latin versionby the glossatorsof the thirteenthentury,and, as in the case of his theological nd medicaltranslations,he

results of his workpassed into the general traditionof the laterMfiddle ges.

LeEs noteworthyhan Burgundio,two other membersof thePisan colony should also be mentioned,Hugo Eterianus and hisbrother eo, generally nown s Leo Tuscus. Hugo, thoughmasterof bothtongues,was not so mucha translator s an activeadvocateof Latin doctrine n controversy ithGreek theologians, polemic

careerwhichwas crownedwith cardinal'shat by Lucius III. Leo,an interpretern the emperor'shousehold, ranslated he mass ofSt. Chrysostom nd a dream-bookOneirocriticon)of AhmedbenSirin. Anotherdream-book,ompiledby one Pascal theRoman atConstantinoplen II65, offers urtherllustration f the interestnsigns and wonderswhichprevailedat Manuel's court.39

North of theAlps there s little o record n the way of trans-

lation, lthough t is probablethat certainof the anonymous rans-latorswho worked n Italycame from ther ands. In II67 a certainWilliam the Physician,originallyfromGap in Provence,broughtback Greek manuscripts rom Constantinopleo the monastery fSaint-Denis at Paris,40wherehe later became abbot (II72-II86).

Sentoutoriginally y Abbot Odo, hewas evidently pecially hargedwith securing the works attributed o Dionysius the Areopagite,who was confusedwith the patronsaintof the-monasterynd ofFrance, and a volumeof thesewhichhe broughtback is stillpre-served among the Greek codices of the BibliothequeNationale.41He also broughtwithhimandtranslatedhetextof theVitaSecundi,a philosophical extof the secondcentury,42nd summaries Jzypo-theses)of thePaulineepistles,while tillothermanuscriptsmayhavebeen included n the opes atticaset orientalesmentioned y one ofhis fellow-monks.This monk, lso named Williamand sometimes

confusedwith thephysician, ranslated heeulooyof DionysiusbyMichael Syncellus,but the writingswhichoccupythe remainder fthe Dionysian volume-De Caelesti Hierarchia,De Ecclesiastica

39 See my note on "Leo Tuscus ", in English Historical Review, XXXIII.

492-496 (I9I8).40The material relatingto William the Physician is conveniently iven by

Delisle, in Journaldes Savants, I900, pp. 725-739.41 MS. Gr. 933.42 Delisle, in Journaldes Savants, p. 728. The version is criticallyedited,

and its use by Frenchwriters raced,byA. Hilka in 88. Jahresberichter Schlesi-

schen Geselischaft lirVaterltindischeultutrBreslau, i9io), IV. Abt.,c. I. See

further . Pfister,n WochenschriftiirKlassische Philologie, I9II, coll. 539-548.







Greek n the TwelfthCentury 6i

Hierarchia,De DivinisNoiinibus, De Mystica Theolo'gia, nd tenepistles-were rendered ntoLatin by JohnSarrazln.43 This John

had himself isited he GreekEast, wherehe had sought n vain theSYmbolica Theologia of Dionysius,as we learn from one of hisprefaces.44 In spite of the crudenessof his translations, is learn-ing was valued by John of Salisbury,who turnsto him on a pointof Greek whichLatin masterscannotexplain,and who even ex-presses a desireto sit at Sarrazin'sfeet.5

The dependence f the leadingclassicistof the age upon a man

like Sarrazin shows the generalignoranceof Greek. "The mostlearned manof his time , Johnof Salisburymade no less thantenjourneysto Italy, n the courseof which he visited Benevento ndmade the acquaintanceof the Sicilian chancellor;he knew Bur-

gundio,whomhe cites on a point n the history f philosophy46 hestudiedwith Greek nterpreterf Santa Severina, o whomhe mayhave owed his early familiarity ith the New Logic; yet his cul-

ture remainedessentiallyLatin.47 "He never quotes fromanyGreek authorunless that author exists in a Latin translation."48Greek couldbe learned only n southern talyor the East, and fewthere were who learned it, as one can see from the sorry ist ofGreek referenceswhichhave been culled fromthe whole seventyvolumes of the Latin Patrologia for the twelfth entury.49 TheHellenism of the Middle Ages was a Hellenism of translations

-and so, in large measure, was the Hellenism of the ItalianRenaissance.50Finally thereremain to be mentioned he anonymous ransla-

43Delisle, p. 726 ff.;Histoire Litteraire de la France, XIV. 191-193. MSS.of these translations,with the prefaces,are common,e.g., Bibliothequede l'Ar-senal, MS. 529; Chartres,MS. I3I; Vatican, MS. Vat. Lat. I75; Madrid, Biblio.teca Nacional, MS. 523 (A. 9o); Munich, MSS. 380, 435.

44 Delisle, p. 727.

45 Epistolae, no. I6*; cf. also nos. 347, 149, 223, 229, 230.46 Metalogicus,bk. IV., c. 7.

47 Schaarschmidt,Johannes Saresberiensis (Leipzig, I862); Poole, in Dic-tionary fNational Biography;C. C. I. Webb, oannis SaresberiensisPolicraticss,vol. I., introd.

48 Sandys,History of Classical Scholarship (second ed.), I. 540.49How sorrythis list is, theAbbeA. Tougard does not seem to realize when

he has drawn t up. L'Hellenisme dans les Ecrivains du MoyenAge (Paris, i886),ch. V. On the reserve necessary in using such citations, cf. Traube, 0 Roma

Nobilis (Munich, i89I), p. 65. On Greek in the twelfth entury, ee Sandys, pp.555558. Miss Loomis, Medieval Iellenisn (Columbia thesis, I906), adds noth-ing on this period.

50Loomis, "The Greek Renaissance in Italy "', in American Historical Re-view, XIII. 246-258 (1908),







612 C. H. Haskins

tions,made forthe mostpart doubtless n Italy. Where we arefortunate noughto have the prefaces,theseworks can be dated

approximatelynd some facts can be determinedwith respecttotheir uthors, s in the case of the first atinversion f theAlImagest,made in Sicily about i I6o, and a versionof Aristotle'sPosteriorAialyticsII28-II59) preserved n a manuscript f the cathedralof Toledo.51 In the majorityof cases no such evidencehas beenhandeddown, ndwe haveno guidebeyond he datesof codicesandthe citationsof texts in a formdirectlyderivedfrom the Greek.

Untilinvestigationas proceededconsiderably urtherhan at pres-ent, heworkofthetwelfthenturynmany nstances annotclearlybe separatedfrom hatof theearlierMiddle Ages on theone hand,and on theotherfrom hatof the translators f thethirteenthndfourteenthenturieswho follow nunbroken uccession. Oftenweknowonly hat particularworkhad beentranslated rom he Greekbeforethe timeof the humanists. The most important ody of

materialwithwhichthe twelfth enturymay have occupied itselfanonymouslys the writingsof Aristotle.52 The Physics,Meta-

physics, nd brieferworksonnaturalhistory eachwestern uropeabout 200; thePolitics,Ethics,Rhetoric, ndEconotics only nthecourseof the nexttwogenerations. In nearly very nstance rans-lations are foundboth fromthe Greekand fromthe Arabic,andnearly ll are undated. At present bout all thatcan be said is thatby the turnof the century races are found of versions from theGreek n thecase of thePhysics,De Caelo,De Anima, nd theParvaNaturalia.53 The Metaphysics eemsto have come fromConstan-tinople hortlyfter204.54

On the personal side these Hellenistsof the twelfth enturyhave left ittle f themselves. Jamesof Venice is onlya name; thetranslator f theAlmagest s not eventhat. Moses of Bergamoweknow slightly hrough he accidentwhichhas preservedone of his

letters;others urvive lmostwholly hrough heirprefaces. Char-acteristic raitsor incidents re few-Moses lamenting he loss of

51Harvard Studies in Classical Philology,XXI. 99; XXV. 98.52 The fundamentalwork of A. Jourdain,RecherchesCritiquessur 1' Age et

I' Originedes TraductionsLatines d'Aristote Paris, i843), has now been supple-mentedby M. Grabmann, Forschungen iber die Lateinischen Aristotelesiuber-

setzungendes XIII. Jahrhunderts, in Beitrige zur Geschichteder Philosophiedes Mittelalters,vol. XVII. (Miinster, i9i6). For a summaryof the problem,

see Mandonnet,Siger de Brabant (Louvain, I9II), pp. 9-I5.

53 Harvard Studies, XXV. 87-89; Baeumker, in Munich Sitzungsberichte

(19I3), no. 9, pp. 33 ff. For theMeteorology, ee above, note 6.54 Grabmann, Forschungen , pp. 124-I37.







Greek n theTwelfthCentury 6I3

his Greek ibrary, nd the threepounds of gold it had cost him; thePisan secretary f Manuel Comnenos railing fter the emperor n

the tortuousmarches f his Turkishcampaigns; Burgundio edeem-ing his son's soul frompurgatory y translating hrysostomn theleisure moments f his diplomatic ourneys; a Salerno studentofmedicinebraving the terrorsof Scylla and Charybdis n order tosee an astronomicalmanuscript ust arrivedfromConstantinople,and remainingn Sicilyuntilhe had mastered tscontentsnd madethem vailableto theLatinworld; Aristippusworking verPlato in

camp and investigating he phenomenaof Etna's eruptions n thespiritof the elder Pliny; Eugene the Emir, in prisonat the closeof his public career, writingGreekverse in praise of solitude andbooks. Little enough all this,but sufficiento show the kinshipofthese men with "the ancient and universal companyof scholars .

In all its translations he twelfth enturywas closely, evenpainfully iteral, n a way that s apt to suggestthe stumbling nd

conscientious chool-boy. EveryGreekword had to be representedby a Latin equivalent, ven to 1%Ev and 8E. Sarrazin aments hathecannot renderphrases ntroduced y the article, nd even attemptsto imitate Greek compounds by runningLatin words together.55The versions were so slavish that they are useful for establishingthe Greek text,particularlywhere they represent tradition lderthanthe extant manuscripts. This method,de verbo ad verbum,was, however,followednot from gnorancebut of set purpose,asBurgundio,for example, s at pains to explain in one of his pref-aces.56 The texts which hese scholarsrenderedwere authoritiesn

55 John of Salisbury,Epistolae, nos. I49, 230; cf. William the Physician, nJournaldes Savants, I900, p. 738.

56 "Verens igitur ego Burgundione, si sentenciamhuius sancti patris com-mentacionis assumens meo eam more dictarem, n aliquo alterutrorum orumduorumsapientissimorum irorum sentenciisprofundammentemmutaremet intamnmagna re, cum sint verba fidei,periculum apsus alicuius alteritatis ncurre-rem, difficiliuster arripiens,et verba et significationemandeem t stilum etordinem eundemqui apud Grecos est in hac nmea ranslationeservare disposui.Sed et veteres tam Grecorum uam et Latinorum nterpretes ec eadem continueegisse perhibentur, the Septuagintbeing an example. "Sanctus vero BasiliuspredictumYsaiam prophetam xponens xx duorum nterpretumditionemirabili-ter ad litteram commentatur, iusque commentacionem go Burgundio iudexdominotercio Eugenio beate memoriepape de verbo verbumtransferens x pre-dicta lxx duoruminterpretumditione facta antiquamnostramtranslationem nomnibus fere sum prosequtus. Cum Sancti Ieronimi novam suam editionemnullatenus bi expositam nveniremnec eam sequi ullo modo mea commentacionepossem,psalterium uoque de verbo ad verbumde greco in latinumtranslatum stsermonem. He thenpasses in review the various literaltranslationspreviouslymade from he Greek-the Twelve Tables, the CorpusJurisCivilis,theDialogues







614 C. H. Haskins

a sense thatthemodernworld has lost,and theirwordswerenot tobe trifledwith. Who was Aristippus hathe shouldomitanyof the

sacred words of Plato 57 Bettercarryover a wordlikedidascaliathan runany chanceof altering hemeaningof Aristotle.58Bur-gundiomight ven be in danger of heresy fhe put anything f hisown insteadof theverywords of Chrysostom. It was natural nthefifteenthentury o pour contempt n such translating,ven asthehumanists atirized he Latin of themonks,butthe men of theRenaissance did notscruple omakefreeuse of theseolder versions,

to an extent which we are just beginning o realize. Instead ofstrikingutboldlyf rthemselves,he ranslatorsf theQuattrocentowere apt to take an olderversionwherethey ould,touching t up tosuit current aste. As examplesmay be cited thehumanistic di-tions of Aristotle'sLogic, of Chrysostom nd Johnof Damascus,and even of Plato.59 It has alwaysbeen easier to ridiculeDryasdustthan to dispensewithhim!

Apart from uchunacknowledgedse during heRenaissance, hetranslators f the twelfth enturymade a solid contributiono thecultureof the later Middle Ages. Where theycame intocompeti-tion with translations rom heArabic, twas soon recognized hattheywere morefaithful nd trustworthy.At theirbesttheArabicversionswereone removefurther rom heoriginal nd had passedthrough he ref actingmedium of a whollydifferent ind of lan-guage,60while at theirworst

theywere made in

hasteand with

theof Gregory he Great, Chalcidius's version of the Timaeus, Priscian,Boethius,theAphorisms of Hippocrates and the Tegni of Galen, John the Scot's version ofDionysius the Areopagite, nd the De Urinis of Theophilus-and concludes: " Sienim alienam materiam tuam tuique iuris vis esse putari, non verbo v-erbuni, tait Oratius, curabis reddere ut fidus interpres,ymo eius materiei sentenciamsumens tui eam dictaminiscompagine explicabis,et ita non interpres ris sed exte tua propria composuisse videberis. Quod et Tullius et Terentius se fecissetestantur. . Cum igitur hec mea translatio scriptura sancta sit et in hoc

meo labore non gloriam sed peccatorummeorum et filii mei veniam Domini ex-pectavi,merito huic sancto patri nostro ohanni Crisostomo ui operis gloriametapud Latinos conservans,verbum ex verbo statui transferendum, eficienciamquidem dictionum intervenientem uabus vel etiam tribus dictionibus adiectisreplens, dyoma vero quod barbarismovel metaplasmo vel scemate yel tropo fitrecta et propriasermocinacioneretorquens . Preface to translationof Chrysos-tom's St. John,Vatican, MS. Ottoboni Lat. 227, ff. v-2. For specimensof Bur-gundio's method, ee Dausend, in Wiener Studien,XXXV. 353-369.

57Even to the point of rendering e Kat by que et. Rassegna Bibliografica

della Letteratura taliana, XIII. I2.

58 Harvard Studies, XXV. 98.59Ibid., XXI. 88, XXV. I05; WochenschriftuirKlassische Philologie, i896,

col. 1097.60 Eugene of Palermo remarkson the difference f Arabic idiom. G. Govi,

I Ottica di Claudio TolomneoTurin, I885), p. 3.







Greek n theTwelfthCentury 615

aid of ignorant nterpreters orking hrough he Spanish vernac-ular.61 It was moreor less a matter f accidentwhetherheversion

from the Greek or thatfromthe Arabic shouldpass intogeneralcirculation;thus the Sicilian translation f the Almagest,thoughearlier, s known n but threecopies,whilethatmade in Spain isfoundeverywhere; utin the case of Aristotle he two sets of ren-derings xisted ideby side. The list of worksknownonlythroughthe Greekof thetwelfthentury s,however, onsiderable. It com-prises heMeno and Phaedo ofPlato, theonlyotherdialogueknown

to the MiddleAges being the Tirnaeus,n an olderversion;thead-vanced works of Euclid; Proclus and Hero; numerous reatises fGalen; Chrysostom, asil, Nemesius, Johnof Damascus, and thePseudo-Dionysius; nd a certain mount f scatteredmaterial, heo-logical, egendary,nd liturgical.62

The absence of theclassicalworks of literaturend history s assignificantn this ist as it is in the curriculum f themedievaluni-

versities. We are in the twelfth entury, ot thefifteenth,nd theinterestn medicine,mathematics,hilosophy,nd theology eflectsthepractical nd ecclesiastical reoccupationsftheage rather hanthewider nterests fthehumanists. It is well,however, o remem-ber that hese same authors ontinue o be read in theQuattrocento,in translations ew or old; they re merely rowded ntothe back-groundbythenewer earning. In thissense there s continuity e-tween hetwoperiods. Thereis also a certain mount f continuityinthe materials f scholarship-individualmanuscriptsf theearlierperiod gathered nto ibraries t Venice or Paris, the library f theSiciliankingsprobably orming he nucleus of theGreekcollectionsof theVatican.63 To whatextent herewas a continuousnfluenceofHellenism s a moredifficultroblem,nview of our fragmentaryknowledge f conditionsf the outh. The Sicilian ranslators f thetwelfthenturyre followeddirectly ythoseat thecourtsof Fred-

erick I. and Manfred,whilein the fourteenthenturywe have toremember hesojournofPetrarch t thecourtofRobertof Naples,and the CalabrianGreek who taughtBoccaccio. The gap is short,butit cannotyetbe bridged.

CHARLES H. HASKINS.

61 Cf. Rose, in Hermles,VIII. 335 ff.62 Sabbadini, Le Scoperte dei Codici: Nuove Ricerche,pp. 262-265, gives a

list of medievalversionsfromwhichEuclid, Hero, and the Geoponica are absent.63 See the studies of Heiberg and Ehrle cited in Harvard Studies,XXV. 89,note.

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