2. Whole nations have enjoyed sovereignty each in its own turn, as

the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, whose turns the

lot of time so rolled around that one was destroyed by another. Amid

all the kingdoms of the earth, however, two are said to be more

glorious than the rest; that of the Assyrians first, then that of the

Romans, being separated and distinguished from one another both in

time and place.

3. For as the former was earlier and the latter later, so the

former arose in the East and the latter in the West; finally at the

destruction of the former the beginning of the latter immediately

appeared. All other kingdoms and all other kings are regarded as

appendages of these.

BOOK X

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WORDS[325]

[325] This is the only part of the _Etymologies_ in which Isidore

gives up every principle of organization of his subject-matter

except the alphabetical one. Elsewhere the terms are grouped

according to their meaning, with sometimes traces of alphabetical

order in the groups, but here the dictionary method alone is used.

EXTRACTS

1. Though the derivation of words by the philosophers involves

this belief, that _homo_ comes from _humanitas_, _sapiens_ from

_sapientia_, because _sapientia_ exists before _sapiens_, still

another special cause is evident in the derivation of certain names,

as _homo_ from _humus_, whence in a true sense _homo_ is so called.

And we have set down certain of these derivations in this work for

the sake of example.

44. _Compilator_, one who mixes the words of other men with his own

as painters are wont to mix and pound different things in a mortar.

Of this crime the famous poet of Mantua was once accused when he had

translated certain verses of Homer and mingled them with his own,

and when he was called by his rivals a plunderer of the ancients he

replied: “Magnarum esse virium clavam Herculi extorquere de manu”.

194. _Nepos_,[326] so called from a certain kind of scorpion that

eats its own young, excepting one which has a seat upon its back;

this one, being saved, eats its father. Whence men who eat up in

luxury the goods of their parents are called _Nepotes_.

[326] Grandson, sometimes has meaning of prodigal, spendthrift.

235. _Rationator_, so-called, a great man because he can give a

reason for all the things which are allowed to be wonderful.

BOOK XI[327]

ON MAN AND MONSTERS

[327] In the first part of book xi are contained the remnants of

the sciences of human anatomy and physiology as the ancients had

known them. The second part is devoted to unnatural births, which

were regarded as having a prophetic meaning, and to monstrous

races. It is not known what were Isidore’s immediate sources for

bk. xi. Most of the natural science of the later Roman empire,

however, was drawn ultimately from Pliny. To correspond to

Isidore’s topics in this book of the _Etymologies_, comparative

anatomy and physiology are found in Pliny’s _Natural History_,

bk. xi, ch. 44 _et seq._, and chapters on monstrous races

(_Gentium mirabiles figurae_) and on unusual and unnatural births

(_prodigiosi, monstruosi partus_) are found in bk. vii.

ANALYSIS

I. Man and his parts (ch. 1).

A description of the human body.

II. The six ages of man (ch. 2).

III. Monsters.

1. Monstrous births (ch. 3, 1–11).

2. Monstrous races (ch. 3, 12–27).

3. The imaginary monsters of pagan mythology (ch. 3, 28–39).

4. Transformations (ch. 4).

EXTRACTS

Chapter 1. On man and his parts.

4. _Homo_ is so named because he is made of _humus_ (earth), as it is

told in Genesis: “Et creavit Deus hominem de humo terrae.” And the

whole man made up of both substances, that is, of the union of soul

and body, is termed _homo_ by an abuse of the word.

6. Man is two-fold, the inner and the outer. The inner man is the

soul (_anima_); the outer man, the body.

7. _Anima_ received its name from the heathen, for the reason that

it is wind (_ventus_). Wind is called in the Greek ἄνεμος; and we

seem to live by drawing air into the mouth. But this is most clearly

false, because _anima_ comes into being long before air can be

received into the mouth, because it is already alive in the womb of

the mother.

8. _Anima_ therefore is not air, as certain have thought who have not

been able to form a conception of an incorporeal nature.

9. The evangelist asserts that _spiritus_ is the same thing as

_anima_, saying: “Potestatem habeo ponendi animam meam et rursus

potestatem habeo sumendi eam.” And in regard to the _anima_ of the

Lord at the time of the passion, the same evangelist thus spoke,

saying: “et inclinato capite emisit spiritum.”

10. For what is it to send forth the _spiritus_, if not to lay down

the _anima_. But the _anima_ is so called because it lives, and the

_spiritus_ because of its spiritual nature, or because it breathes

(_inspiret_) in the body.

11. Likewise _animus_ is the same as _anima_. But _anima_ is of life,

_animus_ of wisdom. Whence the philosophers say that even without

_animus_ the life remains, and without the mind, _anima_ endures....

12. ... It is not _anima_, but what excels in _anima_ that is called

_mens_, its head or eye, as it were. Whence man himself is called

the image of God in respect to _mens_. However all those things are

united to _anima_ so that it is one thing. The _anima_ has received

different names according to the working of different causes.

13. ... When it gives life to the body, it is _anima_; when it

wills,[328] it is _animus_; when it knows, it is _mens_; when it

recollects, it is _memoria_; when it judges what is right, it is

_ratio_; when it breathes, it is _spiritus_; when it is conscious of

anything, it is _sensus_....

[328] _Vult._

14. _Corpus_ is so called because being corrupted, it perishes. For

it is perishable and mortal and must sometime be dissolved.

16. The body is made up of the four elements. For earth is in the

flesh; air in the breath; moisture in the blood; fire in the vital

heat. For the elements have each their own part in us, and something

is due them when the structure is broken up....

18. The bodily senses are five: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.

Two of these open and close; two are always open.

56. The arteries are so named because the air, that is, the breath,

is carried by them from the lungs; or because they retain the breath

of life in their narrow and close passages, whence they emit the

sounds of the voice, which would all sound alike if the movement of

the tongue did not create differences of the voice.

77. _Lac_ (milk) derives its name from its color, because it is a

white liquor, for the Greeks call white λεῦκος and its nature is

changed from blood; for after the birth whatever blood has not yet

been spent in the nourishing of the womb flows by a natural passage

to the breasts, and whitening by their virtue, receives the quality

of milk.

86. _Ossa_ (bones) are the solid parts of the body. For on these all

form and strength depend. _Ossa_ are named from _ustus_ (burned),

because they were burned by the ancients, or as others think, from

_os_ (the mouth), because there they are visible, for everywhere else

they are covered and concealed by the skin and flesh.

92. _Terga_, because it is on the back that we lie flat on the earth

(_terra_); men alone can do this, for dumb animals lie either on the

belly or on the side; whence the word _tergum_ is applied to them

mistakenly.

108. The knees are the meeting-points of the thighs and lower legs;

and they are called knees (_genua_) because in the womb they are

opposite to the cheeks (_genae_). For they adhere to them there and

they are akin to the eyes, the revealers of tears and of pity. For

the knees (_genua_) are so called from the cheeks (_genae_).

109. In short they assert that man in his beginning and first

formation is so folded up that the knees are above, and by these the

eyes are shaped so that there are deep hollows. Ennius says: “Atque

genua comprimit artagena.” Thence it is that when men fall on their

knees they at once begin to weep. For nature has willed that they

remember their mother’s womb where they sat in darkness, as it were,

until they should come to the light.

118. _Cor_ is derived from a Greek term—what they call καρδία

(heart)—or, it may be, from _cura_ (cure). For in it dwell all

anxious thought and wisdom. And it is near the lungs for this reason,

that when it is fired by anger it may be cooled by the liquid of the

lungs. It has two arteries, of which the left has more blood, the

right, more air. From it also is the pulse we find in the right arm.

120. The _pulsus_ (pulse) is so called because it beats (_palpitet_),

and by its evidence we perceive that there is sickness or health.

Its motion is two-fold; a simple motion which is made up of a single

beat, and a composite, made up of several movements—irregular and

unequal. And these movements have definite limits....

121. The veins are so called because they are the passages of the

flowing blood, and its streamlets spread through all the body, by

which all the parts are moistened.

124. The Greeks call the lungs πλεύμων, because they are the bellows

of the heart and in them is πνεῦμα, that is, _spiritus_, by which

they are stirred and moved, whence they are called _pulmones_....

125. _Jecur_ (liver) has its name because in it fire (_ignis_) has

its seat, and from there it flies up into the head. Thence it spreads

to the eyes and the other organs of sense and the limbs, and by its

heat it changes into blood the liquid that it has appropriated from

food, and this blood it furnishes to the several parts to feed and

nourish them. In the liver pleasure resides and desire, according to

those who dispute about natural philosophy.

127. The spleen is so called from corresponding to (_supplementum_)

the liver on the opposite side in order that there may be no vacuum,

and this certain men believe was formed with a view to laughter. For

it is by the spleen we laugh, by the bile we are angry, by the heart

we are wise, by the liver we love. And while these four elements

remain, the animal is whole.

Chapter 3. On human monstrosities.

1. Portents, Varro says, are those births which seem to have taken

place contrary to nature. But they are not contrary to nature,

because they come by the divine will, since the will of the creator

is the nature of each thing that is created. Whence, too, the heathen

themselves call God now nature, now God.

2. A portent, therefore, happens not contrary to nature, but contrary

to known nature....

4. Certain creations of portents seem to have been made with future

meanings. For God sometimes wishes to indicate what is to come by

disgusting features at birth, as also by dreams and oracles, that he

may give forewarning by these, and indicate to certain nations or

certain men coming destruction. This has been proved by many trials.

5. ... But these portents which are sent in warning, do not live

long, but die as soon as they are born.

12. And just as there are monstrous individuals in separate races of

men, so in the whole human kind there are certain monstrous races, as

the Gigantes, Cynocephali, Cyclopes, and the rest.

15. The Cynocephali are so called because they have dogs’ heads and

their very barking betrays them as beasts rather than men. These are

born in India.

16. The Cyclopes, too, the same India gives birth to, and they are

named Cyclopes because they are said to have a single eye in the

midst of the forehead. These have the additional name ἀγριοφαγίται

because they eat nothing but the flesh of wild beasts.

17. The Blemmyes, born in Libya, are believed to be headless trunks,

having mouth and eyes in the breast; others are born without necks,

with eyes in their shoulders.

18. In the remote east, races with faces of a monstrous sort are

described. Some without noses, with formless countenances; others

with lower lip so protruding that by it they shelter the whole face

from the heat of the sun while they sleep; others have small mouths,

and take sustenance through a narrow opening by means of oat-straws;

a good many are said to be tongueless, using nod or gesture in place

of words.

19. They say the Panotii in Scythia have ears of so large a size that

they cover the whole body with them. For πᾶν in Greek means all, and

ὦτα, ears.

21. The Satyrs are manikins with upturned noses; they have horns on

their foreheads, and are goat-footed, such as the one St. Anthony saw

in the desert. And he, being questioned, is said to have answered the

servant of God, saying, “I am mortal, one of the inhabitants of the

waste, whom the heathen, misled by error, worship as the Fauns and

Satyrs.”

23. The race of the Sciopodes is said to live in Ethiopia. They have

one leg apiece, and are of a marvelous swiftness, and the Greeks call

them Sciopodes from this, that in summertime they lie on the ground

on their backs and are shaded by the greatness of their feet.

24. The Antipodes in Libya have feet turned backward and eight toes

on each foot.

28. Other fabulous monstrosities of the human race are said to exist,

but they do not; they are imaginary. And their meaning is found in

the causes of things, as Geryon, King of Spain, who is said to have

had a triple form. For there were three brothers of such harmonious

spirit that it was, as it were, one soul in three bodies.

Chapter 4. On transformations to beasts.

2. Moreover they affirm with no fabulous lying but with historic

proof, that Diomedes’ companions were changed to birds. And certain

say that witches are created from human beings. For the shapes of the

wicked change for their many villanies, and they turn bodily into

beasts, whether by magic charms or by the use of herbs.

3. Many creatures go through a natural change and by decay pass

into different forms, as bees [are formed] by the decaying flesh of

calves, as beetles from horses, locusts from mules, scorpions from

crabs.

BOOK XII

ON ANIMALS

INTRODUCTION

The history of zoölogical knowledge during the ten centuries from

Aristotle to Isidore may be indicated with sufficient clearness by

enumerating three of the works that survive. They are Aristotle’s

“History of Animals”, the zoölogical part (Books VIII-XI) of Pliny’s

“Natural History”, and Isidore’s “On Animals”. On the first,

belonging to the fourth century B.C., Cuvier has pronounced judgment

as “one of the greatest monuments that the genius of man has raised

to the natural sciences”.[329] Pliny, four centuries later, is

commended by Cuvier for his industry and learning, but reproached

for his predilection for the fabulous, and his absolute lack of

scientific order and of the scientific spirit.[330] Six centuries

later a résumé of zoölogical knowledge is given in the _Etymologies_,

which is of no value except for the information it gives of the

benighted character of the medieval intellect.

[329] Cuvier, _Histoire des Sciences Naturelles_, vol. i, p. 166.

[330] Cuvier, vol. i, p. 264.

Isidore’s zoölogy is shown in a better light, however, when it is

compared with that of the _Physiologus_,[331] his great rival in

this field throughout the Middle Ages. This is a collection of

fabulous accounts of animals, with the moral and spiritual lessons

that were drawn from them. In it the ancient science is seen in

its most de-secularized form; nature knowledge is made absolutely

subservient to religious teaching, and in the process actual

knowledge is driven out and fable takes its place. It must be

reckoned to Isidore’s credit that he resisted the temptation to give

“the higher meaning”.

[331] The _Physiologus_ probably originated at Alexandria in the

first century A.D., and was translated into the Latin about the

end of the fourth century. It was very popular with the church

fathers. Isidore’s _De Animalibus_ exhibits its influence in many

passages. See Lauchert, _Physiologus_ (Strassburg, 1891), p. 103.

A Greek version of the _Physiologus_ is given by Lauchert and a

Latin by Cahier in _Mélanges d’Archéologie_, Paris, vols. ii,

iii, iv (1851–53).

ANALYSIS

I. Flocks and herds and beasts of burden (ch. 1).

II. Wild beasts (ch. 2).

III. Small creatures (ch. 3).

IV. Serpents (ch. 4).

V. Worms (ch. 5).

VI. Fishes (ch. 6).

VII. Birds (ch. 7).

VIII. Small flying creatures (ch. 8).

EXTRACTS

Chapter 1. On flocks and work animals.

1. Adam first named all living creatures, assigning a name to each in

accordance with its purpose at that time, in view of the nature it

was to be subject to.

2. But the nations have named all animals in their own languages.

But Adam did not give those names in the language of the Greeks or

Romans or any barbaric people, but in that one of all languages which

existed before the flood, and is called Hebrew.

9. A sheep is a domesticated animal with soft wool, harmless and calm

in disposition.

10. The wether (_vervex_) is so called from its strength (_vires_)

... or because it has a worm (_vermen_) in its head, and, excited by

the itch of these worms, they butt one another and fight and smite

one another with great fury.

17. And so these animals (_Ibices_), as we have said, remain among

the loftiest rocks, and if ever they perceive the hostile presence

of wild beast or of man they throw themselves down from the highest

summits, and land unharmed on their horns.

18. [Deer] are foes of snakes, and when they feel that they are

weighed down with weakness they draw snakes out from their holes by

the breath of their nostrils and overcoming the deadly poison[332]

they refresh themselves by eating them. They made known the plant

dittany. For they eat it, and shake out the arrows that have stuck in

them.

[332] _Superacta pernicie veneni._

19. They give a wondering attention to the whistling sound of the

Pan’s pipes. They listen sharply with up-pricked ears, not with

hanging ears. If ever they swim across great rivers or seas, they lay

the head on the haunch of the one in front, and following one another

in turn they feel no weariness from the weight.

43. Horses have a high spirit; for they prance in the fields, they

scent war, they are roused by the trumpet-sound to battle, they are

roused by the voice and urged to the race, they grieve when they are

beaten, they are proud when they win a victory. Certain know the

enemy in battle, so that they bite the foe. Some recall their own

masters, and forget obedience if their masters are changed; some

allow none but their masters to mount them; when their masters are

slain or are dying, many shed tears. The horse is the only creature

that weeps for man and feels the emotion of grief....

Chapter 2. On beasts of prey.

5. When lions sleep, their eyes are on the watch; when they walk

about they obliterate their tracks with their tails that the hunter

may not find them. When a cub is born it is said to sleep for three

nights and three days. Then the shaking, as it were, of the ground

where it lies, because of its father’s roaring, is said to awaken the

sleeping cub.

6. Toward man the nature of the lion is kind, so that they cannot

become angry unless attacked. Their pity is shown by continual

examples. For they spare the fallen, they allow captives they meet to

return home; they do not kill man unless very hungry.

17. The Gryphes are so called because they are winged quadrupeds.

This kind of wild beast is found in the Hyperborean Mts. In every

part of their body they are lions, and in wings and head are like

eagles, and they are fierce enemies of horses. Moreover they tear men

to pieces.

20. They say the urine [of the lynx] is changed to the hardness of

a precious stone, which is called _lincurius_, and by the following

proof it is shown that the lynxes are conscious of this; for when

they have urinated, they cover the urine with sand as well as they

can, from a sort of meanness of nature, lest such a product be turned

to the advantage of man.

21. _Castores_ (beavers) are so named from castrating. For their

testicles are useful for medicine and therefore when they perceive

a hunter, they castrate themselves and cut away their potency by a

bite. Of these Cicero speaks in _Scauriana_: “They ransom themselves

by that part of the body for which they are most sought.”

24. [The wolf] is a ravenous beast and greedy for blood, and of it

the country people say that a man loses his voice if a wolf sees him

first. And therefore if a person is suddenly silent, they say, “It is

the wolf in the fable”. But if the wolf perceives that he has been

noticed first, he lays aside his boldness....

25. ... No creature is more sagacious than dogs, for they have more

understanding than other animals.

26. For they alone recognize their names, love their masters, guard

their masters’ houses, risk their lives for their masters, of their

own free will rush upon the prey with their master, do not abandon

even their master’s dead body. And finally their nature is such that

they cannot exist without men. In dogs two things are to be regarded,

courage and speed.

38. _Musio_ is so called because it is a foe to mice (_muribus_).

Common people call it cat (_catus_) because it catches [mice]. Others

say, because it sees (_catat_). For it has such sharp sight that it

overcomes the darkness of the night by the brightness of its eyes.

Chapter 3. On small animals.

1. _Mus_ (mouse) is a tiny animal; it has a Greek name;[333] but any

word that is derived from it becomes Latin. Others say _mures_ are so

named because they are born from the _humor_ (moisture) of the earth.

For _mus_ is equivalent to _terra_, and from the word comes _humus_

too. The liver of these creatures grows at the full moon, just as

certain things that belong to the sea grow, which grow smaller again

when the moon lessens.

[333] The Greek is μῦς.

3. _Mustella_ (weasel) is so called, being, as it were, _mus longus_

(long mouse); for _telum_ (missile) is so called from its length.

This creature, somewhat wily in its disposition, moves and changes

its nest in the house when it is nursing its young. It chases

snakes and mice. And there are two sorts of weasels. For one is a

creature of the woods, and is of a different size, which the Greeks

call ἴκτιδες. The other wanders about in houses. Now they have an

erroneous idea who say that the weasel conceives in its mouth, and

gives birth through its ear.[334]

[334] A notion found in the _Physiologus_.

4. In Sardinia is a very tiny creature, spider-shaped, which is

called _solifuga_, because it shuns the daylight. It is very common

in silver mines, secretly creeping along, and it poisons those who

unknowingly sit down on it.

8. _Grillus_ (cricket or grasshopper) has its name from the sound of

its voice. This creature walks backward, tunnels the earth, makes a

loud sound at night. The ant goes hunting it, having itself lowered

by a hair into its hole, first blowing the dust out, that it may not

hide itself, and thus it is dragged out in the embrace of the ant.

9. _Formica_ (ant) is so called because it carries morsels (_ferat

micas_) of grain. Its wisdom is great. For it looks forward to the

future and in summer makes ready food to be eaten in winter. At the

harvest, too, it picks out wheat and refuses to touch barley. After

it rains it always puts out the grain [to dry]. It is said there are

ants in Ethiopia of a dog’s shape, and these dig up golden sands with

their feet, and they watch them in order that no one may carry them

off, and those that do seize them, they pursue till they kill.

10. _Formicoleon_ (ant-lion) has its name for this, that it is a lion

of the ants, or at least ant and lion at the same time. For it is a

small creature that is very hostile to ants. It hides itself in the

sand and kills the ants as they are carrying grains. And it is called

lion and ant because it is, as it were, an ant to other animals, but

a lion to ants.[335]

[335] This animal is of literary origin and illustrates the

danger of a literary science. For some reason the Septuagint

translators translated the Hebrew word for lion in Job 4:11 by

the word μυρμηκολέων. The commentators later on, in their efforts

to explain the term, evolved a new animal, a compound of ant and

lion. See Lauchert, _Geschichte des Physiologus_, p. 21, and art.

“Physiologus” in the _Encyclopedia Britannica_, 11th ed.

Chapter 4. On serpents.

3. The serpent has received its name because it crawls (_serpit_)

with unnoticed steps; for it does not go with strides that are

observable, but creeps on by the trifling impulses of its scales. But

those that go on four feet, like lizards and newts, are called not

serpents but reptiles. Now serpents are reptiles because they creep

(_reptant_) on their belly and breast; and there are as many poisons

as there are genera; as many deaths as there are species; as many

dolors, as colors.

4. The dragon (_draco_) is the largest of all serpents and of all

living things upon earth. This the Greeks call δράκοντα. And it was

taken into the Latin so that it was called _Draco_. And frequently

being dragged from caves it rushes into the air, and the air is

thrown into commotion on account of it. And it is crested, has a

small face and narrow blow-holes through which it draws its breath

and thrusts out its tongue. And it has its strength not in its teeth

but in its tail, and it is dangerous for its stroke, rather than for

its jaws.

5. It is harmless in the way of poison, but poison is not necessary

for it to cause death, because it kills whatever it has entangled

in its folds. And from it the elephant is not safe because of its

size. For it lies in wait near the paths by which elephants usually

go, and entangles the elephant’s legs in its folds, and kills it by

strangling. It grows in Ethiopia and in India, in the very burning of

perennial heat.

12. It is said that when the asp begins to feel the influence of

the wizard who summons her forth with certain forms of words suited

thereto, in order that he may bring her out from her hole—when the

asp is unwilling to come forth, she presses one ear against the

earth, and the other she closes and covers up with her tail, and so

refuses to hear those magical sounds, and does not come out at the

incantation.

36. The Salamander is so called because it is strong against fire;

and amid all poisons its power is the greatest. For other [poisonous

animals] strike individuals; this slays very many at the same time;

for if it crawls up a tree, it infects all the fruit with poison and

slays those who eat it; nay, even if it falls in a well, the power

of the poison slays those who drink it. It fights against fires, and

alone among living things, extinguishes them. For it lives in the

midst of flames without pain and without being consumed, and not only

is it not burned, but it puts the fire out.

Chapter 5. On worms.

1. A worm is a creature that as a rule comes into being without

any begetting from flesh or wood or any earthy substance, although

sometimes they are born from eggs, as the scorpion. Worms belong

either to earth or water or air[336] or flesh or leaves or wood or

clothes.

[336] _Aranea, vermis aeris_, 12, 5, 2.

3. _Sanguissuga_, a water worm, is so named because it sucks blood.

For it lies in wait for drinkers, and when it is carried into their

throats or fastens itself anywhere, it draws the blood, and when it

has taken its fill of gore, it vomits it out, to suck in again fresh

blood.

Chapter 6. On fishes.

3. Certain kinds of fishes are amphibious, being so called because

they have the practice of walking on land and of swimming in the

water.

4. Men gave names to the beasts of the field and wild animals and

birds, before the fishes, because they were seen and known first. And

later, when the kinds of fishes had been learned by degrees, names

were applied either from their likeness to land animals, or to suit

the species, whether in regard to habits, color, shape, or sex.

6. [Fish receive their names] from sex, as the _musculus_ (mussel)

because it is the masculine of whale, for by union with the mussel it

is said this monster conceives.

8. There are huge sorts of whales with bodies the size of mountains,

like the whale that received Jonah, whose belly was of such magnitude

that it held something like a hell, the prophet saying: “He heard me

from the belly of hell”.

14. _Thynni_ (tunnies) have a Greek name. They appear in spring-time.

They come in on the right side and go out on the left. They are

supposed to do this because they see more keenly with the right eye

than with the left.

25. _Mullus_, so called because it is _mollis_ (soft) and most

tender, by eating which they relate that lust is held in check and

that the keenness of the sight is dimmed; moreover men who have often

eaten it have a fishy smell. The killing of a mullet in wine brings a

distaste for wine to those who have drunk thereof.

34. _Echeneis_, a small fish, half-a-foot long, took its name because

it holds a ship[337] back by clinging to it. Though the winds rush

and the gusts rage it is seen nevertheless that the ship stands still

as if rooted in the sea, and does not move, not because the fish

holds it back but merely because it clings to it.

[337] ἔχω, ναῦς.

35. The uranoscope is so called from an eye which it has in its head,

by which it always looks upward.

41. The likeness of the eel (_anguilla_) to the snake (_anguis_) has

given it its name. Its origin is in mud. Whence whensoever it is

taken, it is so slippery that the more determinedly one squeezes it

the quicker it slips away. They say, too, that a river of the east,

the Ganges, produces them three hundred feet long. If an eel is

killed in wine they who drink of it have a loathing for wine.

43. Lamprey (_muraena_) the Greeks term μύραινα, because it coils

itself in circles. They say that this fish is of the female sex only,

and that it conceives from the serpent. On this account it is enticed

by the fishermen by hissing like a serpent, and it is taken. It is

killed with difficulty by the stroke of a club but at once by that of

a ferule. It is certain that it has its life in its tail, for if the

head is struck it is hard to kill it, but when its tail is struck it

dies at once.

53. Mussels (_musculi_) as we have said before are shell-fish, and

oysters conceive from their milk, and they are called _musculi_ as if

it were _masculi_.

56. Certain relate what is incredible, that ships go more slowly if

they carry a tortoise’s right foot.

Chapter 7. On birds.

3. Birds (_aves_) are so called because they have no definite roads

(_viae_) but speed hither and thither through pathless (_avia_) ways.

9. Many names of birds were evidently made up from the sound of their

cry, as _grus_, _corvus_, _cygnus_, _pavo_, _ulula_, _cuculus_,

_graculus_, and so on. For the variety of their cry told men what

they were to be called.

10. The eagle (_aquila_) is so called from its sharpness (_acumine_)

of sight. For it is said to possess such power of vision that when

it is borne over the sea with motionless wing and is not visible to

human sight, even from such a lofty place it sees the fishes swim,

and descending like a missile from an engine it seizes its booty and

flies with it to the shore.

11. It is also said not to lower its gaze from the rays of the sun,

and for this reason it lifts its young ones in its talons and exposes

them to the rays of the sun, and keeps as worthy of its kind those

which it sees keep a motionless gaze, and drops down as degenerate

whatever ones it sees turning their gaze downward.

18. The swan (_cygnus_) is so called from singing, because it pours

forth sweet song in modulated tones. And it sings sweetly for the

reason that it has a long curving neck, and it must needs be that the

voice, struggling out by a long and winding way, should utter various

notes.

19. They say that in the Hyperborean regions when cithara players

lead, many swans fly up and sing very harmoniously.

44. The crow (_cornix_), a bird full of years, has a Greek name[338]

among the Latins, and augurs say it increases a man’s anxieties by

the tokens it gives, that it reveals ambushes, and foretells the

future. It is great wickedness to believe this, that God entrusts his

counsels to crows.

[338] _Cornix_ is not a Greek word, as Isidore seems to imply.

Its nearest Greek equivalent is κορώνη.

66. To the hoopoe (_upupa_) the Greeks give its name because it

attends to (_consideret_) human excrements and feeds on stinking

filth, a most foul bird, helmeted with upstanding crests, always

lingering at graves and human excrements. And whoever anoints himself

with its blood, on going to sleep will see demons choking him.

67. _Tuci_, which is the name the Spaniards give to cuckoos

(_cuculi_), were evidently named from their peculiar cry. These

have a time for coming, perched on the shoulders of kites because

of their short and weak flights, in order that they may not grow

weary and fail in the long spaces of the air. Their saliva produces

grasshoppers. [The cuckoo] eats the eggs it finds in the sparrow’s

nest, and substitutes its own, which the sparrow receives and sets on

and cares for.

79. All kinds of flying things are born twice. For first the eggs are

born, then by the heat of the mother’s body they are formed and given

life.

Chapter 8. On small winged creatures.

1. Bees (_apes_) are so called because they hold to one another by

the feet, or it may be because they are born without feet (_pes_).

For it is only later on that they get feet and wings. These are

skilful in the business of producing honey, they dwell in homes

allotted to them, they arrange their dwellings with a skill that

makes no mistake, they store the hive from various flowers, and

forming their wax-cells, they fill the camp with unnumbered young,

and they have an army and kings, they make wars, flee from smoke, and

are enraged by noise.

2. A good many have proved by experiment that these spring from the

carcasses of cattle. For in order to create them the flesh of slain

calves is beaten, in order that worms may be created from the rotten

gore, and these afterward turn to bees. In a correct sense bees

(_apes_) are so called because they spring from _boves_ as hornets

from horses, drones from mules, wasps from asses.

BOOKS XIII AND XIV

[ON UNIVERSE AND EARTH]

INTRODUCTION

In books XIII and XIV Isidore gives a complete and systematic account

of the material universe, taking up and treating in order the

heavens, the atmosphere, water, and earth. His treatment of the last

two is especially full and constitutes a geographical description of

the earth’s surface as known at his time.[339]

[339] _Cf._ Beazley, _The Dawn of Modern Geography_, pp. 366–67.

See also p. 53, note.

ANALYSIS

I. The universe (Bk. XIII, ch. 1).

II. Atoms (ch. 2).

III. Elements (ch. 3).

IV. The heavens (chs. 4–6).

1. The parts of the heavens.[2]

2. The circles of the heavens.[340]

V. The air and the clouds (chs. 7–11).

1. Thunder.

2. Lightning.

3. The rainbow and cloud forms.

4. The winds.

VI. Waters (chs. 12–22).

1. Springs.

2. The sea.

3. The ocean.

4. The Mediterranean.

5. Bays, etc.

6. Lakes.

7. The abyss.

8. Rivers.

VII. The dry land (Bk. XIV, ch. 1).

1. The circle of lands (chs. 2–5).

(1) Asia.

(2) Europe.

(3) Africa.

2. Islands (ch. 6).

3. Promontories (ch. 7).

4. Mountains, etc. (ch. 8).

5. The lower parts of the earth (ch. 9).

[340] Repeated with little change from _De Astronomia_. See pp.

145, 146.

BOOK XIII

ON THE UNIVERSE AND ITS PARTS

EXTRACTS

PREFACE.—In this book, as it were in a brief outline we have

commented on certain causes in the heavens, and the sites of the

lands, and the spaces of the sea, so that the reader may run them

over in a little time, and learn their etymologies and causes with

compendious brevity.

Chapter 1. On the universe.

1. The universe is the heavens, the earth, the sea, and what in

them is the work of God, of whom it is said: “And the universe was

made by him”. The universe (_mundus_) is so named in Latin by the

philosophers because it is in continued motion (_motu_), as for

example, the heavens, the sun, moon, air, seas. For no rest is

permitted to its elements, and therefore it is always in motion.

2. Whence also the elements seem to Varro living creatures, since, he

says, they move of themselves. The Greeks have borrowed a name for

the universe from ornament, on account of the variety of the elements

and the beauty of the stars. For it is called among them κόσμος,

which means ornament. For with the eyes of the flesh we see nothing

fairer than the universe.

3. It is agreed that there are four _climata_, that is, tracts of the

universe: East, West, North, South.

Chapter 2. On the atoms.

1. The philosophers call by the name of atoms certain parts of bodies

in the universe so very minute that they do not appear to the sight,

nor admit of τομή, that is, division, whence they are called atoms.

These are said to flit through the void of the whole universe with

restless motions, and to move hither and thither like the finest dust

that is seen when the rays of the sun pour through the windows. From

these certain philosophers of the heathen have thought that trees

are produced, and herbs and all fruits, and fire and water, and all

things are made out of them.

2. Atoms exist either in a body, or in time, or in number, or in the

letters. In a body as a stone. You divide it into parts, and the

parts themselves you divide into grains like the sands, and again you

divide the very grains of sand into the finest dust, until if you

could, you would come to some little particle which is now [such]

that it cannot be divided or cut. This is an atom in a body.

3. In time, the atom is thus understood: you divide a year, for

example, into months, the months into days, the days into hours, the

parts of the hours still admit of division, until you come to such an

instant of time and fragment of a moment as it were, that it cannot

be lengthened by any little bit and therefore it cannot be divided.

This is the atom of time.

4. In numbers, as for example, eight is divided into fours, again

four into twos, then two into ones. One is an atom because it is

indivisible. So also in case of the letters. For you divide a

speech into words, words into syllables, the syllable into letters.

The letter, the smallest part, is the atom and cannot be divided.

The atom is therefore what cannot be divided, like the point in

geometry....

Chapter 3. On the elements.

1. _Hyle_[341] is the name the Greeks apply to the first material of

things, which is in no way formed, but has a capacity for all bodily

forms, and out of it these visible elements are shaped. Wherefore

they have derived their name from this source.[342] This _hyle_ the

Latins called _materia_, for the reason that everything in the rough

from which something is made, is always called _materia_....

[341] ὕλη.

[342] I.e., _elementa_ = _hylementa_.

2. The Greeks moreover call the elements στοιχεῖα,[343] because they

are akin to one another in the harmony of like quality and a sort of

common character, for they are said to be allied with one another

in a natural way, now tracing their origin from fire all the way to

earth, now from earth all the way to fire, so that fire fades into

air, air is thickened to water, water coarsened to earth, and again

earth is dissolved into water, water refined into air, air rarefied

into fire.

[343] The word στοιχεῖον means “one in a series.”

3. Wherefore all elements are present in all, but each of them has

received its name from that which it has in greater degree. And they

have been assigned by divine providence to the living creatures that

are suited to them, for the Creator himself filled the heaven with

angels, the air with birds, the sea with fish, the earth with men and

other living creatures.

Chapter 5. On the parts of the heavens.

1. Ether is the place in which the stars are, and it signifies that

fire which is separated on high from the whole universe. Ether is the

element itself; and _aethra_ is the glow of the ether and is a Greek

word.

Chapter 7. On the air and the clouds.

1. Air is emptiness, having more rarity mixed with it than the other

elements. Of it Virgil says:

_Longum per inane secutus._

Air (_aer_) is so called from αἴρειν (to raise), because it supports

the earth or, it may be, is supported by it. This belongs partly to

the substance of heaven, partly to that of the earth. For yonder thin

air where windy and gusty blasts cannot come into existence, belongs

to the heavenly part; but this more disordered air which takes a

corporeal character because of dank exhalations, is assigned to

earth, and it has many subdivisions: for being set in motion it makes

winds; and being vigorously agitated, lightnings and thunderings;

being contracted, clouds; being thickened, rain; when the clouds

freeze, snow; when thick clouds freeze in a more disordered way,

hail; being spread abroad, it causes fine weather; for it is known

that thick air is a cloud and that a cloud that thins and melts away,

is air.

2. ... Now the thickening of the air makes clouds. For the winds

gather the air together and make a cloud. Whence is the expression:

“Atque in nubem cogitur aer.”

Chapter 8. On thunder.

1. Thunder (_tonitruum_) is so called because its sound terrifies

(_terreat_), for _tonus_ is sound. And it sometimes shakes everything

so severely that it seems to have split the heavens, since when a

great gust of the most furious wind suddenly bursts into the clouds,

its circular motion becoming stronger and seeking an outlet, it tears

asunder with great force the cloud it has hollowed out, and thus

comes to our ears with a horrifying noise.

2. One ought not to wonder at this since a vesicle, however small,

emits a great sound when it is exploded. Lightning is caused at the

same time with the thunder, but the former is seen more quickly

because it is bright and the latter comes to our ears more slowly....

Chapter 9. On thunder-bolts.

1. ... Clouds striking together make thunder-bolts: for in all things

collision creates fire, as we see in the case of stones, or when

wheels rub together, or in the woods. In the same way fire is created

in the clouds; whence they are clouds before, lightnings later.

2. It is certain that it is from wind and fire that thunder-bolts

are formed in the clouds, and that they are launched by the impulse

of the winds; and the fire of a thunder-bolt has greater force in

penetrating because it is made of subtler elements than our fire,

that is, the fire we make use of....

Chapter 10. On the rainbow and the causes of clouds.

1. The rainbow is so called from its resemblance to a bent bow. Its

proper name is Iris and it is called Iris, as it were _aeris_ (of

the air), because it comes down through the air to earth. It comes

from the radiance of the sun when hollow clouds receive the sun’s ray

full in front, and they create the appearance of a bow, and rarified

water, bright air, and a misty cloud under the beams of the sun

create those varied hues.

2. Rains (_pluviae_) are so called because they flow, as if

_fluviae_. They arise by exhalation from earth and sea, and being

carried aloft they fall in drops on the lands, being acted upon by

the heat of the sun or condensed by strong winds.

13. Shadow (_umbra_) is air that lacks sun, and is so called because

it is made when we interpose ourselves in the rays of the sun. It

moves and is ill-defined, because of the motion of the sun and the

force of the wind. As often as we move in the sun, it seems to move

with us, because wherever we encounter the rays of the sun, we take

the light from that place, and so the shadow seems to walk with us

and to imitate our motions.

Chapter 11. On the winds.

2. There are four chief winds. The first of these is from the east,

_Subsolanus_, and _Auster_ from the south, _Favonius_ from the west,

and from _Septentrio_ (north) a wind of the same name blows. These

winds have kindred winds one on each side.

3. _Subsolanus_ has on its right _Vulturnus_, on its left _Eurus_;

_Auster_ has on its right _Euroauster_, on its left _Austroafricus_;

_Favonius_ on its right _Africus_, on its left _Corus_. Further,

_Septentrio_ has on its right _Circius_, on its left _Aquilo_. These

twelve winds surround the globe of the universe with their blasts.

20. ... In the spring and autumn the greatest possible storms appear

when it is neither full summer nor full winter, whence, as [the time]

is an intervening one, bordering on both seasons, storms are caused

from the conjunction of contrary airs.

Chapter 12. On the waters.

2. The two most powerful elements of human life are fire and water,

whence they who are forbidden fire and water are seriously punished.

3. The element of water is master of all the rest. For the waters

temper the heavens, fertilize the earth, incorporate air in their

exhalations, climb aloft and claim the heavens; for what is more

marvelous than the waters keeping their place in the heavens!

4. It is too small a thing to come to such a height; they carry with

them thither swarms of fishes; pouring forth, they are the cause of

all growth on the earth. They produce fruits, they make fruit trees

and herbs grow, they scour away filth, wash away sin, and give drink

to all living things.

Chapter 13. On the different qualities of waters.

5. Linus, a fountain of Arcadia, does not allow miscarriages to take

place. In Sicily are two springs, of which one makes the sterile

woman fertile, the other makes the fertile, sterile. In Thessaly are

two rivers; they say that sheep drinking from one become black; from

the other, white; from both, parti-colored.

10. Hot springs in Sardinia cure the eyes; they betray thieves, for

their guilt is revealed by blindness. They say there is a spring in

Epirus in which lighted torches are extinguished, and torches that

are extinguished are lighted. Among the Garamantes they say there is

a spring so cold in the daytime that it cannot be drunk, so hot at

night that it cannot be touched.

Chapter 14. On the sea.

2. ... The depth of the sea varies; still the level of its surface is

invariable.

3. Moreover that the sea does not increase, though it receives all

streams and all springs, is accounted for in this way; partly that

its very greatness does not feel the waters flowing in; secondly,

because the bitter water consumes the fresh that is added, or that

the clouds draw up much water to themselves, or that the winds carry

it off, and the sun partly dries it up; lastly, because the water

leaks through certain secret holes in the earth, and turns and runs

back to the sources of rivers and to the springs.

Chapter 15. On the ocean.

1. _Oceanus_ is so named by both Greeks and Latins because it flows

like a circle around the circle of the land; it may be from its speed

because it runs swiftly (_ocius_); or because like the heavens it

glows with a dark purple color. _Oceanus_ is, as it were, κυάνεος

(dark purple). It is this that embraces the shores of the lands,

approaching and receding with alternate tides. For when the winds

breathe in the depths, it either pushes the waters away or sucks them

back.

2. And it has taken different names from the neighboring lands;

as _Gallicus_, _Germanicus_, _Scythicus_, _Caspius_, _Hyrcanus_,

_Atlanticus_, _Gaditanus_. The Gaditanian strait was named from

_Gades_ where the entrance to the _Mare Magnum_ first opens from the

Ocean. Whence when Hercules had come to Gades he placed the columns

there, believing that there was the limit of the circle of the lands.

Chapter 16. On the Mediterranean Sea.

1. The _Mare Magnum_ is that which flows from the west out of the

Ocean and extends toward the South, and then stretches to the North.

And it is called _Magnum_ because the rest of the seas are smaller in

comparison with it. It is also called Mediterranean because it flows

through the midst of the land (_per mediam terram_) as far as the

Orient, separating Europe and Africa and Asia.

Chapter 20. On the abyss.

1. The abyss is the deep water which cannot be penetrated; whether

caverns of unknown waters from which springs and rivers flow; or the

waters that pass secretly beneath, whence it is called abyss. For all

waters or torrents return by secret channels to the abyss which is

their source.

Chapter 21. On rivers.

6. Certain of the rivers have received their names from causes

peculiar to them, and of these some which are told of as famous in

history should be mentioned.

7. Geon is a river issuing from Paradise and surrounding the whole

of Ethiopia, being called by this name because it waters the land of

Egypt by its flood, for γῆ in the Greek means _terra_ in the Latin.

This river is called Nile by the Egyptians, on account of the mud

which it brings, which gives fertility.

8. The river Ganges, which the holy Scriptures call Phison, issuing

from Paradise, takes its course toward the regions of India.... It is

said to rise in the manner of the Nile and overflow the lands of the

East.

9. The Tigris, a river of Mesopotamia, rises in Paradise, and flows

opposite the Assyrians (_contra Assyrios_), and after many windings

flows into the Dead Sea. And it is called by this name because of its

velocity, like a wild beast that runs with great speed.

10. The Euphrates, a river of Mesopotamia, greatly abounding in

gems, rises in Paradise and flows through the midst of Babylonia....

It irrigates Mesopotamia in certain places just as the Nile does

Alexandria. Sallust, however, a most reliable author, asserts that

the Tigris and the Euphrates arise from one source in Armenia, and

going by different ways are far separated, an intervening space of

many miles being left, and the land which is enclosed by them is

called Mesopotamia. Therefore as Hieronymus noted, there must be a

different explanation of the rivers of Paradise.

24. Tanus was the first king of the Scythians, from whom the river

_Tanais_ is said to have been named. It rises in the Riphaean forest,

and separates Europe from Asia, flowing in the midst between two

divisions of the world, and emptying into the Pontus.

35. Certain rivers were overwhelmed in the flood, and shut off by the

mass of the lands, but certain ones which were not, burst forth by

passages that were at that time violently formed from the abyss.

Chapter 22. On floods.

2. The first flood occurred under Noah, when the Omnipotent, offended

at man’s guilty deeds, covered the whole circle of the lands[344]

and destroyed all, and there was one stretch of sky and sea; and we

observe the proof of this to the present time in the stones which we

are wont to go to see in the distant mountains, which have mingled

in them the shells of mussels and oysters, and besides are often

hollowed by the waters.

[344] _Orbis._

3. The second flood was in Achaea in the time of the patriarch Jacob

and of Ogygius, who was the founder and king of Eleusina, and gave

his name to the place and time.

4. The third flood was in Thessaly in the time of Moses and

Amphictyon, who reigned third after Cecrops. At which time a flood

of waters destroyed the greater part of the peoples of Thessaly, a

few escaping by taking refuge in the mountains, especially on mount

Parnassus, on whose circuit Deucalion then possessed dominion. And

he received those who fled to him on rafts, and warmed and fed them

on the twin peaks of Parnassus, and so the fables of the Greeks say

that the human race was re-created from stones—because of the inborn

hardness of the heart of man.

BOOK XIV

ON THE EARTH AND ITS PARTS

EXTRACTS

Chapter 1. On the earth.

1. The earth is placed in the middle region of the universe, being

situated like a center at an equal interval from all parts of

heaven; in the singular number it means the whole circle;[345] in

the plural[346] the separate parts; and reason gives different

names for it; for it is called _terra_ from the upper part where it

suffers attrition (_teritur_); _humus_ from the lower and _humid_

part, as for example, under the sea; again, _tellus_, because we

take (_tollimus_) its fruits; it is also called _ops_ because it

brings opulence.[347] It is likewise called _arva_, from ploughing

(_arando_) and cultivating.

[345] _Orbem._

[346] _Terrae._

[347] _Opem fert frugibus._

2. Earth in distinction from water is called dry; since the Scripture

says that “God called the dry land, earth”. For dryness is the

natural property of earth. Its dampness it gets by its relation to

water. As to its motion (earthquakes) some say it is wind in its

hollow parts, the force of which causes it to move.

3. Others say that a generative water moves in the lands, and causes

them to strike together, _sicut vas_, as Lucretius says. Others

have it that the earth is sponge-shaped, and its fallen parts lying

in ruins cause all the upper parts to shake. The yawning of the

earth also is caused either by the motion of the lower water, or by

frequent thunderings, or by winds bursting out of the hollow parts of

the earth.

Chapter 2. On the circle of lands.[348]

[348] See Map, p. 5.

1. The circle of lands (_orbis_) is so called from its roundness,

which is like that of a wheel, whence a small wheel is called

_orbiculus_. For the Ocean flowing about on all sides encircles its

boundaries. It is divided into three parts; of which the first is

called Asia; the second, Europe; the third, Africa.

2. These three parts the ancients did not divide equally; for Asia

stretches from the South through the East to the North, and Europe

from the North to the West, and thence Africa from the West to the

South. Whence plainly the two, Europe and Africa, occupy one-half,

and Asia alone the other. But the former were made into two parts

because the Great Sea enters from the Ocean between them and cuts

them apart. Wherefore if you divide the circle of lands into two

parts, East and West, Asia will be in one, and in the other, Europe

and Africa.

Chapter 3. On Asia.

1. Asia was so called from the name of a certain woman who held

dominion over the East in the time of the ancients. Lying in the

third part of the circle of lands it is bounded on the east by the

sun-rise, on the south by the ocean, on the west by our sea, on the

north by lake Maeotis and the river Tanais. It has many provinces

and regions, of which I shall briefly explain the names and sites,

beginning with Paradise.

2. Paradise is a place lying in the parts of the Orient, whose name

is translated out of the Greek into the Latin as _hortus_. In the

Hebrew it is called Eden, which in our tongue means delight. And

the two being joined mean garden of delight; for it is planted with

every kind of wood and fruit-bearing tree, having also the tree of

life; there is neither cold nor heat there, but a continual spring

temperature.

3. And a spring, bursting forth from its center, waters the whole

grove, and divides into four rivers that take their rise there.

Approach to this place was closed after man’s sin. For it is hedged

in on every side by sword-like flame,[349] that is, girt by a wall of

fire whose burning almost reaches the heaven.

[349] Romphaea flamma. _Cf. Etym._, 18, 6, 3.

4. A guard of cherubim, too, that is, of angels, is set over the

burning of the fiery rampart to ward off evil spirits, in order that

the flames may keep men off, and good angels, bad ones, that the

approach to Paradise may not be open to any flesh or to the spirit of

wickedness.

5. India is so called from the river Indus, by which it is bounded

on the west. It stretches from the southern sea all the way to

the sun-rise, and from the north all the way to Mount Caucasus,

having many peoples and cities and the island of Taprobana, full of

elephants, and Chryse and Argyra, rich in gold and silver, and Tyle,

which never lacks leaves on its trees.

Chapter 4. On Europe.

2. Europe, which was parted off to form a third part of the circle,

begins at the river Tanais, passing to the west along the Northern

ocean as far as the limits of Spain. Its Eastern and Southern parts

begin at the Pontus, extend along the whole Mare Magnum, and end at

the island of Gades.

Chapter 5. On Libya (Africa).

3. It begins at the boundaries of Egypt,[350] extending along the

South through Ethiopia as far as Mt. Atlas. On the north it is

bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, and it ends at the strait of

Gades, having the provinces Libya Cyrenensis, Pentapolis, Tripolis,

Byzacium, Carthago, Numidia, Mauritania Stifensis, Mauritania

Tingitana, and in the neighborhood of the sun’s heat, Ethiopia.

[350] Egypt is regarded as part of Asia. 14, 3, 27–28.

14. Ethiopia is so called from the color of its people, who are

scorched by the nearness of the sun. The color of the people betrays

the sun’s intensity, for there is never-ending heat here. Whatever

there is of Ethiopia is under the south pole. Towards the west it is

mountainous, sandy in the middle, and toward the eastern region, a

desert. Its situation extends from the Atlas Mts. on the west to the

bounds of Egypt on the east. It is bounded on the south by the ocean,

on the north by the river Nile. It has many peoples, of diverse

appearance and fear-inspiring because of their monstrous aspect.

17. Besides the three parts of the circle there is a fourth part

across the Ocean on the South,[351] which is unknown to us on account

of the heat of the sun, in whose boundaries, according to story, the

Antipodes are said to dwell.

[351] Extra tres autem partes orbis, quarta pars trans Oceanum

interior est in Meridie.

Chapter 6. On Islands.

2. Britannia, an island of the Ocean, completely separated from the

circle of lands by the sea that flows between, is called by the name

of its people. It lies in the rear of the Gauls and looks toward

Spain. Its circuit is 4,875 miles; there are many large rivers in it

and hot springs, and an abundant and varied supply of metals. Jet is

very common there, and pearls.

3. Thanatos, an island of the Ocean in the Gallic sea, separated from

Britain by a narrow strait, with fields rich in grain and a fertile

soil. It is called Thanatos from the death of snakes, for it is

destitute of them itself, and earth taken thence to any part of the

world kills snakes at once.

4. Thyle is the furthest island in the Ocean, between the region of

North and that of West,[352] beyond Britain, having its name from the

sun, because there the sun makes its summer halt, and there is no day

beyond it; whence the sea there is sluggish and frozen.

[352] See p. 145.

6. Scotia, the same as Hibernia, an island very near Britain,

narrower in the extent of its lands but more fertile; this reaches

from Africa towards Boreas, and Iberia and the Cantabrian ocean are

opposite to the first part of it. Whence, too, it is called Hibernia.

It is called Scotia because it is inhabited by the tribes of Scots.

There are no snakes there, few birds, no bees; and so if any one

scatters among beehives stones or pebbles brought thence, the swarms

desert them.

8. The Happy Isles (_Fortunatae insulae_) ... lie in the Ocean

opposite the left of Mauretania, very near the West, and separated

from one another by the sea.

12. Taprobana is an island lying close to India on the Southeast,

where the Indian Ocean begins, extending in length eight hundred and

seventy-five miles, in width, six hundred and twenty-five. It is

separated [from India] by a river that flows between. It is all full

of pearls and gems. Part of it is full of wild beasts and elephants,

but men occupy part. In this island they say that there are two

summers and two winters in one year, and that the place blooms twice

with flowers.

21. Delos is said to be so named because after the flood which is

said to have come in the time of Ogygius, when continuous night had

overshadowed the circle of lands for many months, it was lightened

by the rays of the sun before all lands, and got its name from that,

because it was first made visible to the eye. For the Greeks call

visible δῆλος.

Chapter 9. On the under parts of the Earth.

9. Gehenna is a place of fire and sulphur, which they think is so

named from the valley sacred to idols which is near the wall of

Jerusalem, which was filled in former time with bodies of the dead.

For there the Hebrews used to sacrifice their own sons to demons, and

the place itself was called Gehennon. Therefore the place of future

punishment where sinners are to be tortured is denoted by the name of

this place. (We read in Job) that there is a double Gehenna, both of

fire and of frost.

11. Just as the heart of an animal is in its midst, so also

_infernus_ is said to be in the midst of the earth.

BOOK XV

ON BUILDINGS AND FIELDS

ANALYSIS

I. Cities (ch. 1).

Of India (6), Persia (7–10), Mesopotamia (12–13), Syria

(14–15), Palestine (16–26), Phoenicia (27–28), Egypt

(31–36), Asia Minor (37–41), Greece (43–48), Italy (49–62),

Gaul (63–65), Spain (66–72), Northern Africa (74–77).

II. Architecture.[353]

1. City architecture (ch. 2).

a. Kinds of cities (3–14).

b. Walls (17–21).

c. Gates, squares, sewers, etc. (22–46).

2. Dwellings (ch. 3).

3. Buildings for religious purposes (ch. 4).

4. Storehouses (ch. 5).

5. Workshops (ch. 6).

6. Entrances (ch. 7).

7. Parts of buildings (ch. 8).

8. Defences (ch. 9).

9. Tents (ch. 10).

10. Tombs (ch. 11).

11. Buildings in the country (ch. 12).

III. Fields, landmarks, land-measures[354] (chs. 13–15).

IV. Roads (ch. 16).

[353] Architecture appears in a disintegrated form in the

_Etymologies_ (bks. xv, chs. 2–12; xix, chs. 8–19). A comparison

with Vitruvius’s work on architecture (translated by J. Gwilt,

London, 1880) shows that the main differences between the

subjects treated by Isidore and those in Vitruvius’s work lie in

the omission by the former of the account of building materials

(bk. ii), temple architecture, water supply (bk. viii), dialling,

and mechanics.

[354] See Introd., p. 32. The two chapters, “De Mensuris Agrorum”

and “De Itineribus,” together with three chapters of bk. xvi, “De

Ponderibus,” “De Mensuris,” “De Signis,” are given in Hultsch,

_Metrologicorum Scriptorum Reliquiae_, Leipzig, 1886 (_Scriptores

Romani_ in vol. ii). Hultsch finds (vol. ii, 34) that Isidore

made use of Columella and a number of minor writers on these

subjects.

EXTRACTS

Chapter 1. On cities.

5. The Jews assert that Shem, son of Noah, whom they call

Melchisedeck, was the first after the flood to found the city of

Salem in Syria, in which was the kingdom of the same Melchisedeck.

This city the Jebusaei held later, from whom it got the name

Jebus, and so the two names being united, Jebus and Salem became

Hierusalem, and this was later called Hierosolyma by Solomon, as if

Hierosolomonia.

42. Constantinople, a city of Thrace, Constantine called after his

own name, the only city equal to Rome in deeds and power. This

was first founded by Pausanias, king of the Spartans, and called

Byzantium, because it extends between the Adriatic and the Propontis,

or because it is a store-house for the wealth of land and sea.[355]

Whence Constantine judged it very fit to become his store-house for

land and sea. And it is now the seat of Roman power, and the capital

of the whole Orient, as Rome is of the Occident.

[355] Isidore probably had in mind some derivation of Byzantium,

which would explain his meaning here, but he gives no hint of

what it was.

66. Caesaraugusta Tarraconensis,[356] a town of Spain, was both

founded and named by Caesar Augustus, excelling all the cities of

Spain in the beauty of its site and in its attractions (_deliciis_),

and more famous than all, and distinguished (_florens_) for the

graves of the sainted martyrs.

[356] Saragossa.

67. The Africans under Hannibal occupied the coast of Spain and built

Carthago Spartaria, which presently was captured and made a colony by

the Romans, and gave its name also to the province. But now it has

been destroyed and reduced to desolation by the Goths.

69. Caesar Augustus built Emerita after he had taken Lusitania and

certain islands of the Ocean, giving it a name from the fact that he

placed his veteran soldiers there. For veterans, freed from service,

are called _emeriti_.

70. Olyssipona (Lisbon) was founded and named by Ulysses, and at this

place, as historians say, the heavens are separated from the earth

and the seas from the lands.

71. Hispalis (Seville) Julius Caesar founded, and called it Julia

Romula from his own name and the name of the city of Rome. It is

called Hispalis from its situation, because it is placed on marshy

ground, the stakes (_palis_) being driven deep, that it might not

slip because of its slippery and unsteady foundations.

72. Gades is a town founded by the Carthaginians who also founded

Carthago Spartaria.

Chapter 4. On sacred buildings.

8. Fanes (_Fana_) are so called from Fauns to whom the heathen

blindness erected temples wherein those who sought for guidance might

hear the responses of demons.

9. _Delubra_, the name the ancients gave to temples having springs

in which they washed themselves (_diluebantur_) before entering....

These are at the present time sanctuaries with sacred springs in

which the regenerate faithful purify themselves, and they were well

called _delubra_ with a sort of prophetic meaning; for they are for

the washing away of sins.

Chapter 15. On land measurements.

1. Measure is whatever limit is set in respect to weight, capacity,

length, height and mind (_animus_). And so the ancients divided the

circle of lands into parts, the parts into provinces, the provinces

into regions, the regions into districts, the districts into

territories, the territories into fields, the fields into centuries,

the centuries into acres (_jugera_), the acres into _climata_ [about

sixty feet square], then the _climata_ into _actus_ [120 x 4 ft.],

perches, paces, grades (_gradus_), cubits, feet, palms, inches,

(_uncia_), and fingers. For so clever were they.

BOOK XVI

ON STONES AND METALS[357]

[357] Pliny’s five books (xxxiii-xxxvii) on mineralogy in his

_Natural History_ are the chief source upon which later writers

drew. An epitome of them, or rather, an epitome of an epitome,

was made by Solinus in the third century. This underwent a

further revision in the sixth century. Isidore is supposed to

have used both the epitome and the original, as well as an

unknown source, from which he drew the medical virtues of the

precious stones. _Cf._ King, _The Natural History, Ancient and

Modern, of Precious Stones_ (London, 1865), p. 6.

ANALYSIS

I. Kinds of earth (ch. 1).

II. Earthy substances made out of water (_de glebis ex

aqua_[358]) (ch. 2).

III. Common stones (ch. 3).

IV. The less common stones (ch. 4).

V. Marbles (ch. 5).

VI. Gems (chs. 6–15).

1. Green gems (ch. 7).

2. Red gems (ch. 8).

3. Purple gems (ch. 9).

4. White gems (ch. 10).

5. Black gems (ch. 11).

6. Parti-colored gems (ch. 12).

7. Crystalline gems (ch. 13).

8. Glowing gems (ch. 14).

9. Gold-colored gems (ch. 15).

VII. Glass (ch. 16).

VIII. Metals (chs. 17–24).

1. Gold (ch. 18).

2. Silver (ch. 19).

3. Bronze (ch. 20).

4. Iron (ch. 21).

5. Lead (ch. 22).

6. Tin (ch. 23).

7. Amber (ch. 24).

IX. Weights (ch. 25).

X. Measurements (chs. 26, 27).

Abbreviations for units of measurement (ch. 27).

[358] Asphalt, alum, salt, soda, etc.

EXTRACTS

Chapter 4. On the less common stones.

3. _Gagates_ (jet) was first found in Cilicia, thrown up by the

water of the river Gagates. Whence it was named, although it is

very abundant in Britain. It is black, flat, smooth, and burns when

brought near to fire. Dishes cut out of it are not destructible. If

burned it puts serpents to flight, betrays those who are possessed by

demons, and reveals virginity. It is wonderful that it is set on fire

by water and extinguished with oil.

19. _Amiantos_ (amianth) ... resists all poisons, especially those of

the magi.

Chapter 7. On green gems.

8. Certain believe that the jasper gives both attractiveness and

safety to its wearers, but to believe this is a sign not of faith but

of superstition.

9. The topaz is of the green sort and it glitters with every color.

It was found first in an island of Arabia in which Troglodyte

pirates, worn out with hunger and storm, discovered it when they

pulled the roots of herbs. This island was sought for afterward, and

was at length found by seamen, being all covered with clouds. And on

this account the place and the gem received the name from cause. For

τοπάζειν in the Troglodyte language denotes seeking.

12. Heliotropium[359] ... receives the sun-light after the manner of

a looking-glass, and reveals the eclipses of the sun, showing the

moon passing under. In the case of this gem there is also a most

manifest proof of the shamelessness of the magi, because they say its

wearer is not visible if he takes an infusion of the plant heliotrope

and in addition utters certain charms.

[359] Striped jasper.

Chapter 8. On red gems.

1. ... The magi assert that [coral] resists thunder-bolts,—if it is

to be believed.

Chapter 10. On white gems.

4. _Galactites_ (milk-stone) is milk-white, and being rubbed it

gives a white fluid that tastes like milk, and being tied on nursing

mothers it increases the flow of milk. If it is hung on the necks of

children it is said to create saliva, and it is said to melt in the

mouth and take away the memory.

Chapter 13. On crystals.

1. It is said that crystal glitters and is of a watery color because

it is snow that has hardened into ice in the course of the years....

It is produced in Asia and Cyprus, and especially in the Alps of

the north, where there is no hot sun even in summer. Therefore the

ice itself is bared, and hardening through the years gives this

appearance which is called crystal. This, being set opposite to the

rays of the sun, so seizes upon its flame that it sets fire to dry

fungi or leaves. Its use is to make cups, but it can endure nothing

but what is cold.

2. _Adamas_ ... Though this is an unconquerable despiser of the steel

and of fire, yet it is softened by the fresh, warm blood of stags,

and then is shattered by many blows of an iron instrument.

3. It is said to reveal poisons as does amber (_electron_), to drive

away useless fears, to resist evil arts.

Chapter 14. On glowing gems.

7. _Dracontites_ is forcibly taken from the brain of a dragon, and

unless it is torn from the living creature it has not the quality of

a gem; whence magi cut it out of dragons while they are sleeping. For

bold men explore the cave of the dragons, and scatter there medicated

grains to hasten their sleep, and thus cut off their heads while they

are sunk in sleep, and take out the gems.

Chapter 15. On yellow gems.

17. _Glossoptera_ is like the human tongue whence it took its name.

It is said to fall from heaven when the moon is in eclipse, and the

magi attribute great power to it, for they think that to it the

motions of the moon are due.

21. There are also certain gems which the heathen use in certain

superstitions.

22. By the fragrance of the _liparia_,[360] they relate that all

wild beasts are summoned. By the _ananchitis_[360] in divination

by water they say the likenesses of demons are summoned. By the

_synochitis_[360] they assert that the shades of those below that

have been summoned forth, are held.

[360] Unknown.

23. _Chenelites_ is the eye of the Indian tortoise, of a varied

purple. By means of this magi pretend that the future is foretold, if

it is put on the tongue.

25. _Hyaenia_ is a stone found in the eye of the hyena and they say

that if it is placed under the tongue of a man he foretells the

future.

Chapter 20. On bronze.

4. Corinthian bronze is a mixture of all metals, and it was first

made by accident at Corinth, when the city was taken and burned. For

when Hannibal had taken the city, he piled all the statues of bronze

and gold and silver into one heap and burned them.

Chapter 21. On iron.

2. There is no body with elements so dense, so closely interlacing

and interwoven, as iron; whence in it there is hardness and cold.

Chapter 25. On weights.

1. It is a delight to learn the manner of weights and measures. For

all corporeal substances, as it is written, from the highest even

to the lowest, are ordered and shaped within the limits of measure,

number, and weight. To all corporeal things nature has assigned

weight. Its own weight regulates everything.

2. Moses, who preceded all the philosophers of the nations in time,

first told us of measures and numbers and weight in different

passages in the Scripture. Phidon of Argos was the first to establish

a system of weights in Greece.

19. _Uncia_ ... And it is reckoned a lawful weight for this reason,

that the number of its scruples measures the hours of the day and

night, or because reckoned twelve times it makes a pound.

20. _Libra_ (pound) is made up of twelve ounces, and thence is

counted a kind of perfect weight, because it is made up of as many

ounces as a year is months. And it is called _libra_ because it is

_libera_ (free) and embraces all the aforementioned weights within

itself.

23. _Centenarium_ is a weight of one hundred pounds. And this weight

the Romans established because of the perfection of the number one

hundred.

Chapter 26. On measures.

1. Measure is the limiting of something in amount or time. It has

to do with either corporeal substance or time. It has to do with

corporeal substance as, for example, the length or shortness of men,

pieces of timber, and columns; even the sun has a measure proper to

its circle, which geometricians dare to inquire into. It has to do

with time as, for example, hours, days, years; whence we say that we

measure the feet of the hours.

2. But speaking in a limited sense, measure (_mensura_) is so named

because by it fruits and grain are meted, that is, wet and dry

measure, as _modius_ (peck), _artabo_ (three and half modi), _urna_

(pitcher), _amphora_ (jar).

10. _Modius_ (peck) is so named because after its own mode it is

perfect. It is a measure of forty-four pounds, that is, of twenty-two

_sextarii_. The cause of this number is derived from this, that in

the beginning God made twenty-two works. For on the first day he

made seven, that is, matter in the rough, angels, light, the upper

heavens, earth, water, and air. On the second day, the firmament

alone. On the third day, four things: the seas, seeds, sowing, and

plantings. On the fourth day, three things: the sun and moon and

stars. On the fifth day, three: fishes, and creeping things of the

water, and flying creatures. On the sixth day, four: wild beasts,

flocks, creeping things of the earth, and man. And in all twenty-two

kinds were made in the six days. And there are twenty-two generations

from Adam to Jacob, from whose seed sprang all the people of Israel,

and twenty-two books of the Old Testament as far as Esther, and

twenty-two letters of the alphabet out of which the doctrine of

the divine law is composed. According to these precedents a modius

of twenty-two _sextarii_ was established by Moses according to the

measure of the holy law, and although different nations in their

ignorance add weight to this measure or detract from it, still among

the Hebrews it is kept unchanged by divine ordinance.

Chapter 27. Abbreviations for weights.

1. The marks for weight are unknown to most and thence they cause

readers to err. So let us add their shapes and characters as they

were set down by the ancients.[361]

[361] Twenty-one of these are named.

BOOK XVII

ON AGRICULTURE

ANALYSIS

I. Writers on rural affairs (ch. 1).

II. The cultivation of the fields (ch. 2).

III. Grains (ch. 3).

VI. Leguminous plants (ch. 4).

V. Vines (ch. 5).

VI. Trees (chs. 6–7).

1. Species of trees (ch. 7).

VII. Aromatic shrubs (ch. 8).

VIII. Aromatic and common herbs (ch. 9).

IX. Vegetables (chs. 10, 11).

BOOK XVIII

ON WAR AND AMUSEMENTS

ANALYSIS

I. War[362] (chs. 1–14).

1. Kinds of war (ch. 1).

2. Triumphs (ch. 2).

3. Standards (ch. 3).

4. Trumpets (ch 4).

5. Armor (chs. 5–14).

a. Swords (ch. 6).

b. Spears (ch. 7).

c. Arrows (ch. 8).

d. Quivers (ch. 9).

e. Slings (ch. 10).

f. The battering ram (ch. 11).

g. Shields (ch. 12).

h. Coats of mail (ch. 13).

i. Helmets (ch. 14).

II. The law-court (_de foro_) (ch. 15).

III. Spectacles[363] (chs. 16–59).

1. Gymnastic contests (chs. 17–26).

2. The circus (chs. 27–41).

3. The theatre (chs. 42–51).

4. The amphitheatre (chs. 52–58).

5. Condemnation of spectacles (ch. 59).

IV. Gambling (chs. 60–68).

V. Ball-playing (ch. 69).

[362] The information on military matters contained here and in

bk. ix was drawn ultimately from the succession of Roman writers

on military science. The chief of these were Frontinus, Hyginus,

Vegetius.

[363] The title, _De Spectaculis_, and much of the material

are drawn from Tertullian’s _De Spectaculis_. See M. Klussman,

_Excerpta Tertullianea in Isidori Hispalensis Etymologiis_

(Hamburg, 1892).

EXTRACTS

Chapter 16. On spectacles.

1. Spectacles, as I think, is the general name given to pleasures

which defile not of themselves, but through those things that take

place there.

3. The origin of the word (_ludus_) is of no consequence when the

origin of the thing is idolatry.... On this account the stain of its

origin must be regarded, lest one should regard as good what took its

origin in evil.

Chapter 27. On the sports of the circus.

1. The sports of the circus (_ludi circenses_) were established on

account of worship, and because of the honoring of the heathen gods.

Whence those who view them seem to be furthering the worship of evil

spirits. For horse-racing was in former times practiced by itself,

and its ordinary practice at least was no guilt, but when this

natural practice was included in the games, it was transferred to the

worship of demons.

Chapter 41. On the colors at the races.[364]

[364] Compare Tertullian, _De Spectaculis_, chs. 6–9.

1. The same heathen have associated the colors worn by the horses

with the elements: likening the red to the sun, that is, to fire; the

white to air; the green to earth; the blue to the sea. Likewise they

wished the red to run in summer because they are of a fiery color

and all things are of a golden hue at that time; the white in winter

because it is icy and everything is white; the green during the

verdure of spring, because then the vine leaves are thickening.

2. They also consecrated the red to Mars from whom the Romans are

sprung, because the Roman standards are adorned with scarlet or

because Mars delights in blood. The white [they consecrated] to

western breezes and fine weather, the green to flowers and earth, the

blue to the sea or air because they are of a caerulean color, the

golden or saffron to fire and the sun, and the purple to Iris, which

we call the bow, because Iris has many colors.

3. And so while under this pretence they pollute themselves with the

gods and the elements of this world, they are known to be certainly

worshiping the same gods and elements. Whence you ought to notice,

Christian, how many unclean gods they have around. Therefore the

place which many spirits of Satan have seized shall be alien to you.

For all that place the devil and his angels have filled.

Chapter 45. On tragedians.

1. Tragedians are they who sang in mournful verse the ancient deeds

and crimes of guilty kings, while the people looked on.

Chapter 46. On comedians.

1. Comedians are they who represented by song and gesture the doings

of men in private life, and in their plays set forth the defilement

of maidens and the love affairs of harlots.

Chapter 59. On the execration of these.

1. These spectacles of cruelty and this gazing upon vanities were

established not only by the fault of men but by the command of

demons. Wherefore a Christian ought to have nothing to do with the

madness of the circus, with the shamelessness of the theatre, with

the cruelty of the amphitheatre, with the atrocity of the arena,

with the luxury of the _ludus_. For he denies God who ventures on

such things, becoming a violator of the Christian faith—he who seeks

afresh that which he long before renounced in baptism, that is, the

devil, his parades and his works.

BOOK XIX

ON SHIPS, BUILDINGS, AND GARMENTS[365]

[365] At this point in his work Isidore turns from the ‘sciences’

to the useful arts.

ANALYSIS

I. Ships[366] (chs. 1–6).

1. Seamen (ch. 1, 3–7).

2. Kinds of ships (ch. 1, 8–27).

3. Parts of ships (ch. 2).

4. Sails (ch. 3).

5. Ropes (ch. 4).

6. Nets (ch. 5).

II. Furnaces of smiths (ch. 6).

1. Tools of smiths (ch. 7).

III. Buildings (chs. 8–18).

1. Construction (ch. 10).

2. Adornment (chs. 11–17).

3. Tools for building (ch. 18).

IV. Workers in wood (ch. 19).

V. Garments (chs. 20–29).

1. Weaving (ch. 20).

2. The dress of a priest under the law (ch. 21).

3. The names of other articles of clothing (ch. 22).

4. Peculiar costumes of certain peoples (ch. 23).

5. Men’s garments (ch. 24).

6. Women’s garments (ch. 25).

7. Bedding, tablecloths, and so forth (ch. 26).

8. Wools (ch. 27).

9. Colors of garments (ch. 28).

10. Instruments for making cloth (ch. 29).

VI. Ornaments (chs. 30–32).

1. Head ornaments for women (ch. 31).

2. Rings (ch. 32).

VII. Girdles (ch. 33).

VIII. Footwear (ch. 34).

[366] For a similar subject and treatment, compare _De Genere

Navigiorum_, in Nonius Marcellus’s encyclopedia. See p. 43.

BOOK XX

ON PROVISIONS AND UTENSILS OF THE HOUSEHOLD AND THE FIELDS

ANALYSIS

I. Tables (ch. 1).

II. Food (ch. 2).

III. Drink (ch. 3).

IV. Dishes.

1. For food (ch. 4).

2. For drink (ch. 5).

3. For wine and water (ch. 6).

4. For oil (ch. 7).

V. Cooking utensils (ch. 8).

VI. Receptacles (ch. 9).

VII. Lamps (ch. 10).

VIII. Beds and seats (ch. 11).

IX. Vehicles (ch. 12).

X. Other utensils (ch. 13).

XI. Tools for the country (ch. 14).

XII. Tools for the garden (ch. 15).

XIII. Horse trappings (ch. 16).

APPENDIX I

[ISIDORE’S USE OF THE WORD _TERRA_]

Further light on Isidore’s conception of the earth can be gained by

noticing his use of the word _terra_ in the following passage, and

comparing the passage with that from Hyginus on which it is based.

Isidore. Hyginus.

Nunc terrae positionem definiemus

et mare quibus locis interfusum

videatur, ordine exponemus.

Terra, ut testatur Hyginus, Terra mundi media regione

mundi media regione collocata, collocata, omnibus partibus

omnibus partibus coeli aequali dissidens intervallo,

aequali dissidens intervallo centrum obtinet sphaerae.

centrum obtinet. Hanc mediam dividit axis in

dimensione totius terrae.

Oceanus autem regione Oceanus autem regione

circumductionis spherae profusus circumductionis spherae profusus,

prope totius orbis alluit prope totius orbis alluit

fines. Itaque et siderum fines. Itaque et signa occidentia

signa occidentia in eum cadere in eum decidere existimantur.

existimantur. Sic igitur et terras

contineri poterimus explanare.

Regio autem terrae dividitur Nam quaecumque regio est quae

trifariam e quibus una pars inter Arcticum et Aestivum finem

Europa, altera Asia, tertia collocata est, ea dividitur

Africa vocatur. Europam trifariam e quibus una pars,

igitur ab Africa dividit mare Europa; altera, Asia; tertia,

ab extremis oceani finibus, et Africa vocatur. Europam igitur ab

Herculi columnis. Asiam autem Africa dividit mare ab extremis

et Libyam cum Aegypto Oceani finibus, et Herculi

disterminat ostium Nili fluvii, columnis. Asiam vero et Libyam

quod Canopicon appellatur. cum Aegypto disterminat os Nili

Asiam ab Europa Tanais dividit fluminis quod Canopicon

bifariam se conjiciens in appellatur. Asiam ab Europa

paludem, quae Maeotis appellatur. conjiciens in paludem quae

Asia autem, ut ait beatissimus Maeotis appellatur. (_Hygini

Augustinus, a meridie per Poeticon Astron., Mythographi

orientem usque ad septentrionem Latini_, Thomas Muncherus,

pervenit. Europa vero a Amsterdam, 1681, vol. i, p. 353.)

septentrione usque ad occidentem,

atque inde Africa ab occidente

usque ad meridiem.

Unde videntur orbem dimidium

duae tenere, Europa et Africa.

Alium vero dimidium sola Asia.

Sed ideo illae duae partes factae

sunt, quia inter utramque ab

Oceano ingreditur, quidquid

aquarum terras influit, et hoc

mare Magnum nobis facit. Totius

autem terrae mensuram geometrae

centum octoginta millium

stadiorum aestimaverunt. (_De

Natura Rerum_, ch. 48.)

In the passage from Hyginus, _terra_ in the singular is the spherical

earth occupying the centre of the sphere formed by the universe. The

ocean is on the surface of this spherical earth, and it washes “the

limits of the circle of lands”. For this reason the heavenly bodies

“are [popularly] supposed to set in it.” Hyginus then turns to the

dry land (_terras_), and describes the land surface “between the

boundaries of the Arctic and torrid zones” as divided into three

parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

In Isidore _terra_ means in the first instance, dry land, in the

second—if he realized the meaning of Hyginus—the sphere; in the

third, the dry land; in the fourth, the sphere. There is no evidence

that Isidore was conscious of having made these transitions. He

entirely omits the sentence in which Hyginus passes from the subject

of the spherical earth to that of the lands. It is clear that Isidore

has fallen into the same confusion here as in the passage quoted on

p. 51; he uses the terminology of the spherical earth, while having

no conception of anything but the flat earth.[367]

The difficulty offered by the word _sphera_ in the passage quoted

above from Isidore, is not insuperable, since it is clear from the

following passage that he was not very definite in his notion of what

a sphere was. A sphere and a circle apparently meant about the same

thing to him.

[367] For passages illustrating Isidore’s cosmology, see _Etym._,

2, 24, 2; 3, 52, 1; 3, 47; 9, 2, 133; 11, 3, 24; 13, 1, 1. See

also pp. 50–58 and notes.

Cujus perfectionem spherae vel circuli multis

argumentationibus tractans, rationabile Plato Fabricatoris

mundi insinuat opus. Primo, quod ex una linea constat.

Secundo, quod sine initio est et sine fine. Tertio, quod a

puncto efficitur. Denuo, quod motum ex se habeat. Deinde

quod careat indicio angulorum, et quod in se ceteras

figuras omnes includat, et quod motum inerrabilem habeat,

siquidem sex alii motus errabiles sunt, ante, a tergo,

dextra, laevaque, sursum, deorsum. Postremo, et quod

necessitate efficiatur, ut haec linea ultra circulum duci

non possit. D. N. R., 12, 5.

APPENDIX II

SUBDIVISIONS OF PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy was regarded by Isidore as a comprehensive term embracing

all knowledge. He gives its subdivisions as follows:

I.

Arithmetica

Naturalis Geometria

or Musica

Physica Astronomia

Prudentia

Moralis Justitia

Philosophia or Fortitudo

Ethica Temperantia

Rationalis Dialectica

or Logica

Logica

That Isidore felt the need of an adjustment of this plan to the

Christian scheme of things is to be perceived in the statement with

which he accompanies it, that the Scriptures are made up of the three

kinds of philosophy, natural, moral, and rational; and in the further

statement that Christian scholars asserted the claims of Christian

doctrine (_theorica_) to take the place of rational or logical

philosophy.[368]

[368] 2, 24, 3–8. See pp. 73–74, 116–119.

II.

Arithmetica

Naturalis Geometria

Musica

Astronomia

Inspectiva Doctrinalis

Divinalis

Philosophia[369]

Moralis

Actualis Dispensativa

Civilis

III.

Arithmetica

Geometria

Musica

Physica Astronomia

or Astrologia

Naturalis Mechanica

Medicina

Philosophia[370] Logica or Dialectica

Rationalis Rhetorica

Prudentia

Ethica or Justitia

Moralis Fortitudo

Temperantia

[369] 2, 24, 10–16.

[370] _Diff._, 2, 39.

In connection with this outline also an attempt at adjustment is

made. Christian doctrine is placed, somewhat inappropriately,

under the head of ethical philosophy: “Wisdom (_prudentia_) is the

recognition of the true faith and the knowledge of the Scriptures, in

which one must have regard for the triple method of interpretation.

The first is that by which certain things are taken literally

without any figure, as the Ten Commandments; the second is that by

which certain things in the Scriptures are taken in a double sense,

both in the definite historic meaning and in accordance with the

understanding of figures, as in regard to Sara and Hagar; first,

because they existed in reality, second, because the two Testaments

are figuratively denoted by them. The third kind is that which is

taken in a spiritual sense only, as the Song of Songs. For if it is

understood according to the sound of the words and their literal

force, the result is bodily wantonness rather than the excellence of

the inner meaning. After the definition of wisdom let us now give the

parts of justice (_justitia_), of which the first is to fear God, to

venerate religion, to honor parents, to love the fatherland, to help

all, to harm none, to embrace the bonds of brotherly love, to face

the dangers of others, to bring aid to the wretched, to repay a good

turn, to observe equity in judgments.” (_Diff._, 2, 39.)

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[371] The list given here is not a complete list of works

consulted. The wide range of topics included in Isidore’s

encyclopedia has made it necessary to consult a great many books,

and the great modern encyclopedias have been used continuously,

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VITA

The writer of this thesis was born in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

He attended Dalhousie College, from which he graduated in 1894 with

high honors in the Classics. He entered Harvard University in 1895,

and received the degree of A. B. in 1896, and A. M. in 1897. From

1898 to 1908 he was Instructor, Assistant Professor and Professor of

Latin at Colorado College, and from 1908 to 1911 Professor of History

at the same institution. He spent the years 1908–9 and 1911–12 in

the school of Political Science of Columbia University. He has taken

courses with Professors Burgess, Dunning, Osgood, Robinson, Shotwell,

and Sloane of Columbia. He is thirty-eight years old.