INTRODUCTION

The text of the Secretum Secretorum original: "Secretum Secretorum," which translates to "The Secret of Secrets." This was a famous medieval book of advice for rulers, mistakenly attributed to Aristotle., which is here printed as edited by Roger Bacon with his introductory treatise and glosses: explanatory notes written between the lines or in the margins of a manuscript, is taken from a thirteenth century manuscript in the Bodleian Library from which all other existing copies of his edition appear to have been derived. To complete the work and make it more generally useful to students of medieval literature, certain passages unknown to Bacon, but inserted by Achillini in his edition of 1501 from a Hebrew version of the Western recension: a specific version of a text resulting from the revision of earlier sources, have been added, together with a literal translation of the original Arabic made under my supervision by Mr. Ismail Ali and edited by Mr. Fulton, of the Oriental Department of the British Museum, who is preparing an edition of the Arabic text. This rendering will serve as a key to the Latin, and at the same time will show the remarkable accuracy of the original translation and the variation it has undergone.

The MS. (Tanner 116) is an English manuscript, which at one time belonged to Archbishop Sancroft. It is described in Hackman’s Catalogue thus: ‘A vellum manuscript in a smaller folio size, 111 leaves, from the late 13th century; in two columns, not written by the same hand; formerly the property of James Windet, as a gift from James Everitt of Antwerp.’ original Latin: "Codex membranaceus in folio minore, ff. 111, sec. XIII exeuntis; binis columnis, haud eadem manu exaratus; olim peculium Jacobi Windet, ex dono Jacobi Everitti Antverpiensis." It contains (1) R. B.’s treatise for explaining certain obscurely stated things in the book of the Secret of Secrets of Aristotle original Latin: "tractatus ad declaranda quedam obscure dīcta in libro Secreti Secretorum Aristotelis" (here printed, pp. 1 to 24). (2) Extracts from Opus Tertium original: "Opus Tertium," which translates to "The Third Work." It is one of Bacon's major scientific and philosophical texts., etc., see p. 24. (3) Secretum Secretorum (here printed, pp. 25 to 172). (4) Tracts by Simon de Faversham, etc. It was apparently in English hands at the beginning of the sixteenth century, as it contains some verses in English by Robert Dey. Later copies (almost certainly of this manuscript) are Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1036 (fifteenth century), Fitzwilliam Mus. Camb. McClean 153 (fifteenth century), and C.C.C. Ox. 149 (late fourteenth, Dr. Dee’s copy).

A number of Bacon’s notes are incorporated in a MS. of the Secretum in the British Museum MS. 12 E. xv, which afterwards belonged to Edward IV when a youth.

The date to be assigned to Bacon’s share in this work lies between well fixed limits. In the first place, the fact that he uses