P R E F A C E

For a long time and with great effort, learned men have sought to discover where in the world the books On the Division of Nature original: "περὶ φύσεων μερισμοῦ" (peri physeon merismou) might be hidden, which John is said to have composed. Certainly, the writers of English History had extolled that work with distinguished praise, declaring it highly useful for resolving the perplexity of certain questions. To whom would these reports not bring a thirst for knowledge? Who is not inflamed with the desire to see that John who—like Elijah among the Jews, or Agapius among the Greeks—so successfully untied the knots of difficult riddles? original: "δυσεπιβόλων αἰνιγμάτων" (dysepibolon ainigmaton) Hence, one man, as if groaning, cries: "If only that book of Scotus would live again!" while another, speaking of a book he has never seen, predicts only gloomy and harsh things. Behold then, good sirs! He whom you seek is present before you. "He has come, leaving the deep hiding place of the dead and the gates of darkness." A quote from Euripides' "Hecuba," referring to the ghost of Polydorus; the editor likens the rediscovered manuscript to a spirit returning from the underworld.

However, whether he brings with him, resurrected from the grave, the scars of Florus Prudentius Galindo A 9th-century bishop and opponent of Eriugena who accused him of heresy. (just as Hector bore the wounds of Achilles), is not yet entirely clear to me. Certainly, trustworthy witnesses affirm that Florus corrupted these books so that he might more easily refute them. This one thing I know: nothing whatsoever has been changed by me knowingly or intentionally. The absurdities, the "Scottish porridge," original: "Scoticas pultes." A derogatory term used by Jerome and later critics to mock the supposedly "thick" or confused logic of Irish (Scottish) scholars. the obscurities, the errors, and all lapses of every kind that I found, I have left as they were; not to bring infamy upon the man, but to attest to my own good faith as an editor.

Regarding this work, meanwhile, I will not interpose my own authority, which clearly ought to be of no account; I wish the judgment of the readers to be free and unimpaired. When Eriugena was writing these things, the Latins did not feel very friendly toward the Greeks. Photius held the chair of Constantinople. Nicholas I had written encyclicals to the Gauls to refute the errors of the Greeks. The envy of others harmed our John, and he was therefore believed to be pushing "bad merchandise" simply because he was constantly rattling on about his Greeks. Indeed, if he uses the opinions of the Fathers exactly as they placed them in their own writings—if fraud, trickery, false logic, or wicked concealment are absent from this man—then let those who condemn in him what they either approve or ignore in those Church Fathers see to it themselves. Furthermore, the subject matter he treats seems to offer him some protection; it is indeed a slippery and subtle topic. The Greeks call it On First Principles; original: "περὶ Ἀρχῶν" (Peri Archon) in the cultivation of which, who is there among either the Greeks or the Latins who has not suffered some human failing? And granted there are many things which a fastidious person might find wanting in this writer, he will certainly find neither a mind lacking humility toward the Fathers of the Church, nor one lacking piety toward God. He was able to err, but he did not wish to be a heretic. But I had not decided to write either a life of Eriugena or a formal defense; I will make none of his quarrels my own. I never had the spirit for contending, nor do I have the leisure for it now. Therefore, let him who desires to know more about John Eriugena read the testimonies concerning him which I have arranged below, the greater part of which have been produced by no one until now.