A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 2 (of 2): During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our EraThorndike, Lynn
History
A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 2 (of 2): During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our Era
Thorndike, Lynn
Magic -- History; Science -- History
Already we have treated of a number of Arabic works of occult
science which are extant in Latin translations, or have mentioned
men, important in the history of medieval science like Constantinus
Africanus or Adelard of Bath, whose works were either largely or partly
translations. In future chapters we shall have occasion to mention
other men and works of the same sort. We have already seen, too, that
translations from the Greek were being made all through the early
middle ages and in the tenth century; and we shall see this continue
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries especially in connection with
Galen, Aristotle, and Ptolemy. We have also seen reasons for suspecting
that the Latin versions of certain works were older than the so-called
Greek originals, that works were sometimes translated from Arabic into
Greek as well as from Greek into Arabic, and that there probably never
were any Arabic originals for some so-called translations from the
Arabic which are extant only in Latin. All this is not yet to mention
versions from Hebrew and Syriac or in French, Spanish, and Anglo-Saxon.
We have seen also in general how important and influential in the
history of medieval learning was the work of the translator, and yet
how complicated and difficult to follow. Many names of translators are
mentioned in the medieval manuscripts: some, for instance, who will not
be treated of in the present chapter are: from the Greek, Aristippus
of Sicily, Bartholomew of Messina, Burgundio of Pisa, Eugenius admiral
of Sicily, Grumerus of Piacenza, Nicolaus of Reggio, Stephen of
Messina, and William of Moerbeke; from the Arabic, Egidius de Tebaldis
of Parma, Arnold of Barcelona, Blasius Armegandus or Ermengardus of
Montpellier, Marcus of Toledo, the canon Salio of Padua, John Lodoycus
Tetrapharmacus, Philip of Spain, Philip of Tripoli, Roger of Parma,
Ferragius, and so on. But not all such names of translators can be
correctly placed and dated, and many translations remain anonymous in
the manuscripts. Into this vast and difficult field Jourdain’s work on
the medieval translations of Aristotle made but an entrance, and that
one which now needs amendment, and even such extensive bibliographical
investigations as those of Steinschneider have only made rough charts
of portions. Some detailed monographs on single translators[159] and
the like topics have been written, but many more will be required
before we shall have a satisfactory general orientation.
[Sidenote: Plan of this chapter.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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