An imperial circular announced to the learned the nature and origin of these new versions.[249] This letter was designed to secure for them such general interest and attention as was due to works of the first importance. Opening with the avowal of his devotion to the cause of letters, a confession which he supported by quoting from the _Metaphysica_, Frederick touched upon the manifold cares of state which the conduct of his affairs in the Empire involved. He added that he had never allowed these to occupy his whole attention, but had still devoted part of his time to the pursuits of learning. His mind, he said, had been particularly attracted to the works of Aristotle with the commentaries of the Arabian philosophers, especially those concerning mathematics, and the books called _Sermoniales_. Finding that they were inaccessible to Latin scholars, owing to their obscurity and the foreign tongues in which they were written, he had commissioned learned men to translate these works, desiring them to preserve in their versions the exact style as well as sense of the original. The treasures thus procured he would not keep in obscurity, but designed to publish them for the general good. He addressed himself to the most famous schools of Christendom as the proper means of obtaining the diffusion of this wisdom among those who were able to profit by it. Which then were the universities intended by the Emperor? That of Naples certainly in the first place, for it was his own creation.[250] Bologna, also, we may believe, judging by the estimation in which we know him to have held that still more ancient seat of learning.[251] Copies of Frederick’s letter are indeed extant, which actually bear the address, ‘To the Masters and Scholars of Bologna.’ Nor can we think that he forgot Paris, the great centre of European culture. At least one text has preserved this the most natural of all directions:—‘To the Doctors of the Quadrivium at Paris.’[252] Thus far then the course of Scot’s journey on this important business is plain. In it he but reversed the progress he had made in early years, revisiting in the contrary order the scenes of his former studies. His own remarkable fame, the widespread curiosity concerning the books he brought, and his official character as Frederick’s Ambassador of Letters, must have secured him everywhere a cordial and distinguished reception.