Previously Unpublished Works of Roger Bacon, Fascicle 11: Questions on Aristotle's Metaphysics and On Plants

earlier times, has no connexion with the practice. Pliny, Natural History original: "Nat. Hist." xvii, 114, Palladius iii. 25, 7, Geoponica x. 75, 22, and Columella iii. 29, 8, describe various methods used by the ancients.

Medieval Translations of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.

The movement towards collecting the materials for a History of Science has produced, as one of its consequences, a renewed interest in the manuscripts of the early translations of Aristotle, and therefore many of the statements in our text-books need correction. A few years ago the only versions of the Metaphysics Aristotle's fundamental work on the nature of existence and reality. generally known were the Arabic-to-Latin, that of William of Moerbeke A prolific 13th-century translator who provided accurate versions of Greek texts for Thomas Aquinas., and the incomplete Old Metaphysics original: "Vetus Metaphysica". To-day we know of two forms of the Old Metaphysics, two Greek-to-Latin versions from the first part of the thirteenth century, a hypothetical ‘version by Boethius’ original: "versio Boethii", and the New Metaphysics original: "Metaphysica Nova," an Arabic-to-Latin translation, all of which existed before the version or edition produced by William of Moerbeke; there is no reason for assuming that this list is complete. There are in addition a number of composite texts, such as the manuscripts of the eleven books of the Arabic-to-Latin version combined with the thirteenth and fourteenth books of the Greek version found at Rheims.

The rate at which these versions spread has not yet been seriously studied; it is a subject which presents grave difficulties. Translations and original works by friars Members of mendicant religious orders, such as the Franciscans or Dominicans, who lived among the people rather than in monasteries. were most probably not available outside their own order; Bacon quotes the rule of the Franciscans against such communications (Gasquet, English Historical Review original: "E. H. R." XII. (1897), p. 500, see Chartulary original: "Chartul," a collection of legal or ecclesiastical records., I, no. 57), and there are doubts whether some of the translations used by St. Thomas Aquinas were known to Albert the Great. The official restraints on publication are found in constitutions which, however, permit publication at the discretion of the provincial leader.¹ While the first series of these Questions original: "Questiones," a standard academic format of the time consisting of a series of inquiries and logical resolutions. was being composed, Bacon

¹ (Acts of the chapter held in Buda in the year of our Lord 1254) [We begin] ‘Likewise this: In the same chapter [that is, concerning students] at the end let it be added thus: No writings produced or compiled by our brothers shall be published in any way, unless they have first been diligently examined by expert brothers to whom the Master or the Prior Provincial has entrusted the task.’ original Latin: "Acta capituli in Buda celebrati Ann. Dom. MCCLIIII... Nulla scripta facta vel compilata a fratribus nostris, aliquatenus publicentur, nisi primo per fratres peritos... diligenter fuerint examinata." Approved in the General Chapter at Milan, 1255 (ibid., p. 73-4), and confirmed in the General Chapter at Paris, 1256 (ibid., p. 78). Records of the Order of Preachers original: "Monumenta Ordinis Praedica-"