OF THE PERSECUTION HE HAD FROM HIS MASTER WILLIAM OF CHAMPEAUX--OF
HIS ADVENTURES AT MELUN, AT CORBEIL AND AT PARIS--OF HIS WITHDRAWAL
FROM THE CITY OF THE PARISIANS TO MELUN, AND HIS RETURN TO MONT
STE. GENEVIÈVE--OF HIS JOURNEY TO HIS OLD HOME
I came at length to Paris, where above all in those days the art of
dialectics was most flourishing, and there did I meet William of
Champeaux, my teacher, a man most distinguished in his science both
by his renown and by his true merit. With him I remained for some
time, at first indeed well liked of him; but later I brought him
great grief, because I undertook to refute certain of his opinions,
not infrequently attacking him in disputation, and now and then in
these debates I was adjudged victor. Now this, to those among my
fellow students who were ranked foremost, seemed all the more
insufferable because of my youth and the brief duration of my
studies.
Out of this sprang the beginning of my misfortunes, which have
followed me even to the present day; the more widely my fame was
spread abroad, the more bitter was the envy that was kindled
against me. It was given out that I, presuming on my gifts far
beyond the warranty of my youth, was aspiring despite my tender,
years to the leadership of a school; nay, more, that I was making
read the very place in which I would undertake this task, the place
being none other than the castle of Melun, at that time a royal
seat. My teacher himself had some foreknowledge of this, and tried
to remove my school as far as possible from his own. Working in
secret, he sought in every way he could before I left his following
to bring to nought the school I had planned and the place I had
chosen for it. Since, however, in that very place he had many
rivals, and some of them men of influence among the great ones of
the land, relying on their aid I won to the fulfillment of my wish;
the support of many was secured for me by reason of his own
unconcealed envy. From this small inception of my school, my fame
in the art of dialectics began to spread abroad, so that little by
little the renown, not alone of those who had been my fellow
students, but of our very teacher himself, grew dim and was like to
die out altogether. Thus it came about that, still more confident
in myself, I moved my school as soon as I well might to the castle
of Corbeil, which is hard by the city of Paris, for there I knew
there would be given more frequent chance for my assaults in our
battle of disputation.
No long time thereafter I was smitten with a grievous illness,
brought upon me by my immoderate zeal for study. This illness
forced me to turn homeward to my native province, and thus for some
years I was as if cut off from France. And yet, for that very
reason, I was sought out all the more eagerly by those whose hearts
were troubled by the lore of dialectics. But after a few years had
passed, and I was whole again from my sickness, I learned that my
teacher, that same William Archdeacon of Paris, had changed his
former garb and joined an order of the regular clergy. This he had
done, or so men said, in order that he might be deemed more deeply
religious, and so might be elevated to a loftier rank in the
prelacy, a thing which, in truth, very soon came to pass, for he
was made bishop of Châlons. Nevertheless, the garb he had donned by
reason of his conversion did nought to keep him away either from
the city of Paris or from his wonted study of philosophy; and in
the very monastery wherein he had shut himself up for the sake of
religion he straightway set to teaching again after the same
fashion as before.
To him did I return, for I was eager to learn more of rhetoric from
his lips; and in the course of our many arguments on various
matters, I compelled him by most potent reasoning first to alter
his former opinion on the subject of the universals, and finally to
abandon it altogether. Now, the basis of this old concept of his
regarding the reality of universal ideas was that the same quality
formed the essence alike of the abstract whole and of the
individuals which were its parts: in other words, that there could
be no essential differences among these individuals, all being
alike save for such variety as might grow out of the many accidents
of existence. Thereafter, however, he corrected this opinion, no
longer maintaining that the same quality was the essence of all
things, but that, rather, it manifested itself in them through
diverse ways. This problem of universals is ever the most vexed one
among logicians, to such a degree, indeed, that even Porphyry,
writing in his "Isagoge" regarding universals, dared not attempt a
final pronouncement thereon, saying rather: "This is the deepest of
all problems of its kind." Wherefore it followed that when William
had first revised and then finally abandoned altogether his views
on this one subject, his lecturing sank into such a state of
negligent reasoning that it could scarce be called lecturing on the
science of dialectics at all; it was as if all his science had been
bound up in this one question of the nature of universals.
Thus it came about that my teaching won such strength and authority
that even those who before had clung most vehemently to my former
master, and most bitterly attacked my doctrines, now flocked to my
school. The very man who had succeeded to my master's chair in the
Paris school offered me his post, in order that he might put
himself under my tutelage along with all the rest, and this in the
very place where of old his master and mine had reigned. And when,
in so short a time, my master saw me directing the study of
dialectics there, it is not easy to find words to tell with what
envy he was consumed or with what pain he was tormented. He could
not long, in truth, bear the anguish of what he felt to be his
wrongs, and shrewdly he attacked me that he might drive me forth.
And because there was nought in my conduct whereby he could come at
me openly, he tried to steal away the school by launching the
vilest calumnies against him who had yielded his post to me, and by
putting in his place a certain rival of mine. So then I returned to
Melun, and set up my school there as before; and the more openly
his envy pursued me, the greater was the authority it conferred
upon me. Even so held the poet: "Jealousy aims at the peaks; the
winds storm the loftiest summits." (Ovid: "Remedy for Love," I, 369.)
Not long thereafter, when William became aware of the fact that
almost all his students were holding grave doubts as to his
religion, and were whispering earnestly among themselves about his
conversion, deeming that he had by no means abandoned this world,
he withdrew himself and his brotherhood, together with his
students, to a certain estate far distant from the city. Forthwith
I returned from Melun to Paris, hoping for peace from him in the
future. But since, as I have said, he had caused my place to be
occupied by a rival of mine, I pitched the camp, as it were, of my
school outside the city on Mont Ste. Geneviève. Thus I was as one
laying siege to him who had taken possession of my post. No sooner
had my master heard of this than he brazenly returned post haste to
the city, bringing back with him such students as he could, and
reinstating his brotherhood in their for mer monastery, much as if
he would free his soldiery, whom he had deserted, from my blockade.
In truth, though, if it was his purpose to bring them succour, he
did nought but hurt them. Before that time my rival had indeed had
a certain number of students, of one sort and another, chiefly by
reason of his lectures on Priscian, in which he was considered of
great authority. After our master had returned, however, he lost
nearly all of these followers, and thus was compelled to give up
the direction of the school. Not long thereafter, apparently
despairing further of worldly fame, he was converted to the
monastic life.
Following the return of our master to the city, the combats in
disputation which my scholars waged both with him himself and with
his pupils, and the successes which fortune gave to us, and above
all to me, in these wars, you have long since learned of through
your own experience. The boast of Ajax, though I speak it more
temperately, I still am bold enough to make:
"... if fain you would learn now
How victory crowned the battle, by him was
I never vanquished."
(Ovid, "Metamorphoses," XIII, 89.)
But even were I to be silent, the fact proclaims itself, and its
outcome reveals the truth regarding it.
While these things were happening, it became needful for me again
to repair to my old home, by reason of my dear mother, Lucia, for
after the conversion of my father, Berengarius, to the monastic
life, she so ordered her affairs as to do likewise. When all this
had been completed, I returned to France, above all in order that I
might study theology, since now my oft-mentioned teacher, William,
was active in the episcopate of Châlons. In this held of learning
Anselm of Laon, who was his teacher therein, had for long years
enjoyed the greatest renown.