\ 155. ST. ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. G67
4. TJic Order of Creation.1 It treats of the Trinity, the crea tion, the devil and demons, paradise, fallen man, purgatory, and the future life.
III. Eeelesiastic and monastic. 1. The Ecclesiastical Offices, i. e.j the old Spanish liturgy.2 It is dedicated to his brother Fulgentius, and is in two books, for the most part original. The first is called " the origin of the offices," and treats of choirs, psalms, hymns and other topics in ecclesiastical archa> ology. Under the head " sacrifice" 3 Isidore expresses his view of the Lord's Supper, which is substantially that " Body and Blood " denote the consecrated elements, but not that these are identical with the Body and Blood of our Lord. The second book, " the origin of the ministry/7 treats of the different clerical grades; also of monks,* penitents, virgins, widows, the married, catechumens, the rule of faith, baptism, chrism, laying on of hands and confirmation. 2. A Monastic Hide* It was designed for Spanish monasteries, drawn from old sources, and resembles the Benedictine, with which, however, it is not iden tical. It throwrs much light upon the contemporary Spanish monasticism, as it discusses the situation of the monastery, the choice of the abbot, the monks, their duties, meals, festivals, fasts, dress, punishment, sickness and death. It recalls the somewhat similar Institutes of Cassiodorus already mentioned.5
IV. Educational and philosophical. 1. Twenty books of Etymohyics? This is his greatest work, and considering its date truly an astonishing work. Caspar Barth's list of the one hundred and fifty-four authors quoted in it shows Isidore's wide reading. Along with many Christian writers are the following classic authors : JEsop, Anacreon, Apuleius, Aristotle, Boethius, Caesar, Cato, Catullus, Celsus, Cicero, Demosthenes, Ennius,
1 De ordine creaturarum liber, ibid. 91 3-954.
2 De, ecclesiasticis officiis, ibid, col. 737-826.
3 I. 18, ibid. col. 754-757. 4 Regida monachorum, ibid- col. 867-894.
6 See p. 657. 6 Etymologiarum libri XX. Migne, LXXXII. col. 73-728.
668 FOUKTH PERIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
Herodotus, Hesiod, Homer, Horace, Juvenal, Livy, Lucan, Lucretius, Martial, Ovid, Persius, Pindar, Plato, Plautus, Pliny, Quintilian, Sallust, Suetonius, Terence, Varro, Yirgil.1 It is a concise encyclopedia of universal learning, embracing the seven liberal arts (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), and medicine, law, chro nology, angelology, mineralogy, architecture, agriculture and many other topics. Although much of his information is erroneous, and the tenth book, that of Etymology proper, is full of absurdities, the work as a whole is worthy of high praise. It was authoritative throughout Europe for centuries, and re peatedly copied and printed. Rabanus Maurus drew largely upon it for his De Universo. 2. The Differences, or the proper signification of terms? in two books. The first treats of the dif ferences of words. It is a dictionary of synonyms and of words which sound somewhat alike, arranged alphabetically. The second book treats of the differences of things, and is a diction ary of theology, brief yet comprehensive. 3. On the Nature of Things,3 in forty-eight chapters, dedicated to King Sisebut (612— 620), who had given him the subject. It is a sort of natural philosophy, treating of the divisions of time, the heavens and the earth and the waters under the earth. It also has illustra tive diagrams. Like Isidore's other works it is a skilful com pilation from patristic and profane authors,4 and was extremely popular in the Middle Age.
V. Historical. 1. A Chronicle,5 containing the principal events in .the world from the creation to 616. It is divided into six periods or ages, corresponding to the six days of crea-
1 Arevalo, Prolegomena, c. 53, in Migne, LXXXI. col. 337-340.
2 Di/erentiarum, sive de proprietate sermonum, libri duo, LXXXIII. col. 9-98.
3 De natura rerum, ibid. col. 963-1018.
4 See Becker's ed. for a careful statement of his sources.
5 Chronicon, LXXXIII. col. 1017-1058. In abbreviated form in the Ety mologies, cf. V. 39. Migne, LXXXI I. col. 224-228.