I. Life. — The origin, and the place and date of birth of .John Scotus Erigena are all involved in obscurity and are wholly uncertain. According to one account, he was born on the western borders of England and was of royal Saxon blood. According to another tradition, he came from the western highlands of Scotland, and from the monastic establishments of St. Columba. The generally received opinion, however, is that he was Irish, and ac- quired his learning in the religious houses of Ireland, which then preserved a higher culture and education than were to be found elsewhere in Western Europe outside of the Saracenic schools in Spain. We may safely acquiesce in M. (luizot's positive declaration that he was of Irish extraction and of Irish training; but this is a conviction, not an established fact. There is conjecture in the conclusion, as well as in M. Guizot's other assumption, that he was called »*>co/«.s from liis race, and Erigena from his country, Scotus, in the 0th century, meant distinctly an Irishman. Erigena was its Greek equivalent, and may have been adopted by John of Ireland as an Hellenic affectation in conse()uence of his Greek studies, Greek tastes, and translations from the Greek, It may have been assumed in order to dis- tinguish him from the multitude of other Irish Johns, or Scotch Johns; it may have been conferred in the same spirit in which Alcuin bestowed classical or Scripture
names upon Charlemagne and his studious contempo- raries. These are only conjectures. Certain knowledge have we none on this subject, or on the place of his birth, or the time of his birth. He is supposed to have been born between 810 and 815; and no grave error will be committed by provisionally accepting the earlier as the correct date. Current rumors in his own day and gen- eration represented him as having acquired his singular and varied knowledge, like the elder (ireek sages, by travels in Greece, Asia, Egypt, Italy, and France. Such traditions are luiquestionable delusions; but that he did travel extensively is rendered probable by a citation from his works, adduced by M. Guizot, which seems to make distinct reference to such wanderings. The pe- culiar direction of his studies, the character of his learn- ing, the scheme of his philosophy, his addiction to the Greek and to the Neo-Platonic speculations, might all suggest personal acquaintance with the Greeks and the countries of the Greeks. It has scarcely been noticed that the Pvthagorean sect, or, at any rate, the Pythago- rean doctrine, in connection with its Neo-Platonic de- velopments, continued to maintain itself, even beyond the 9th century, in Constantinople and in other parts of the Byzantine empire. This is clearly established by the declarations of Anna Comnena; but it escaped the regard of M. (iuizot while he was awkwardly endeavor- ing to trace the dissemination of Neo-Platonic influences from the 5th to the 9th century. Wherever Scotus may have strayed, wherever he may have been educated, nothing is heard of him till he appears at the court of Charles the Bald of France. Whether an exile from his own country, or a pilgrim in search of knowledge or of sustenance, or invited i)y the king to aid in promoting liberal pursuits, he was cordially welcomed by the mon- arch, who made a zealous effort in a distracted time to renew the plans of his grandfather Charlemagne for the advancement of learning. Erigena went to' Paris, and was placed at the head of the School of the Palace, There is no agreement of opinion in regard to the date of this migration. It is variously assigned to the years 840, 843, 847, 850, and 870. It could not well have been before 848, when Charles ascended the throne. It could not have been later than 850, when the controversy in regard to Gottschalk was raging. Scotus Erigena would be between thirty and forty, probably, at the time. We have little information in regard to his personal appear- ance. He was small in stature and slender in frame ; but the physical deficiencies which would invite only contempt in that muscular age were compensated by the brilliancy of his mind, the amiability of his temper- ament, and the quickness of his wit in social intercourse. The French king became warmly attached to him, and made him his constant companion and intimate friend. Charles was himself devoted to letters. He invited teachers from other countries, and is said to have at- tracted many Greeks to his schools. Employment was found for Erigena beyond the Cathedra Palatina. He was requested by the king to translate a treatise On the Celestial Hierarchy, falsely ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, who was just as erroneously identified with St. Denys, the s\ipposed apostle of Christianity at Paris. The works of the alleged Areopagite had been sent in 824, by the Greek emperor Michael the Stutterer, as a present to the Frank emperor Louis le Debonnaire. They were held in high regard in France — not the less high because they were Greek and unintelligible. John Scotus com])lied with the king's req\iest and translated the book into Latin, adhering, however, so closely to the words of his foreign text as to indicate that the knowl- edge which he had of the Greek, as of the Hebrew and Arabic, was neither elegant nor profound. His reputa- tion, or his position in the king's favor, drew the regards of Hincmar, archbishop of Kheims, who was involved in the controversy respecting predestination between Ea- banus Maurus," of Mentz, and Gottschalk. The arch- bishop requested John to refute the polemic of Gott- schalk. This task was executed with zeal, but it laid