2 176. JOHANNES SCOTUS ERIGENA. 703
and Maximus.1 He was acquainted with the T'nnaeuft of Plato in the translation of Chalcidus and with the Categoric* of Aristotle.2 He was also well read in Augustin, Boethius, Cassiodorus and Isidore, lie took a leading part in the two great doctrinal controversies of his age, on predestination and the eucharist,3 and by request of Charles the Bald translated into Latin the Pseudo-Dionysian writings. The single known fact about his personal appearance is that, like Einhard, he was of small stature. He died about 877, probably shortly after Charles the Bald.
HIS WRITINGS.
Besides the treatise upon Predestination and the translation of Dionysius, already discussed,4 Scotus Erigena wrote :
1. A translation of the Obscurities of Gregory Nazianzen, by Maximus Confessor.5 This was made at the instance of Charles the Bald, in 864.
2. Expositions of the Heavenly Hierarchy, the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and the Mystical Theology of Dionysius.*
3. Homily upon the prologue to John's Gospel.7
4. A commentary upon John's Gospel.8 Only four fragments of it have as yet been found.
5. A commentary upon the Dialectic of Martianus Capella. This has been published by Haureau.9
6. The out-going and in-coming of a soul to God.10 Of this only a small fragment has as yet been found.
1 His affinity with Maxiraus has been shown by Baur and Dorner.
2 Ueberweg, /. c. p. 359.
3 See full account in this vol. pp. 539 sqq. and 551 sqq.
4 These works are in Migne, CXXII. col. 355-440, and col. 1029-1194.
5 Versio Ambiguorum S. Maximi. Migne, CXXII. col. 1193-1222.
6 Expo.ntiones super itrarchiam ccclestem S. Dionysii, etc. Ibid. col. 125-284.
7 Homilia in prologum S. Evangelii secundum Joannem. Ibid. col. 283-296.
8 Commmtarius in S. Evangelium secundum Joannem. Ibid. col. 297-548.
9 See lit., p. 762.
10 Liber de egressu etregressu animce ad Deum. Migne, CXXII. coi. 1023, 1024.
764 FOURTH PERIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
7. The vision of God. This is in MS. at St. Omer and not yet printed.
8. Verses.1 Among them are some Greek verses, with a selfmade Latin interlineal translation. He introduces both single Greek words and verses similarly interlineated into his other poems.
9. The great work of Scotus Erigena is The Division of Na ture.2 It consists of five books in the form of a dialogue between a teacher and a disciple. The latter, generally speaking, repre sents the ecclesiastical conscience, but always in the end echoes his teacher. The style is lively and the range of topics em braces the most important theological, cosmological and anthro pological questions. The work was the first practical attempt made in the West to unite philosophy and theology. As in the dedication to Wulfad, the well-known opponent of Hincmar, John calls him simply •" brother," the work must have been written prior to 865, the year of Wulfad's elevation to the archiepiscopate of Bourges.3
HIS THEOLOGICAL TEACHING.
In the Division of Nature Scotus Erigena has embodied his theology and philosophy. By the term " Nature " he means all that is and is not.4 The latter expression he further interprets as including, 1st, that which is above the reach of our senses or our reason ; 2d, that which though known to those higher in the scale of being is not known to those lower ; 3d, that which is yet only potentially existent, like the human race in Adam, the plant in the seed, etc. ; 4th, the material which comes and goes and therefore is not truly existent like the intelligible ; 5th, sin as
1 Ibid. Verses, col. 1221-1240.
2 Tlepl Qvoeus fieptafiov. Id est, de divisione naturce. Ibid. col. 411-1022.
3 V. 40, ibid. col. 1022, 1. 13.
* " Est igitur natura generate nomen, ut diximus, omnium qvce sunt et qucK non sunl" De Div. nat. I. Ibid. col. 441, 1. 10.
1 176. JOHANNES SCOTUS ERIGENA. 765
being the loss of the Divine image.1 Nature is divided into four species: (1) that which creates and is not created, (2j that which is created and creates, (3) that which is created and does not create, (4) that which neither creates nor is created. The first three divisions are a Neo-Platonic and Christian modifica tion of the three-fold ontological division of Aristotle :2 the un moved and the moving, the moved and moving, and the moved and not moving. The fourth form was suggested by the Pseudo- Dionysian doctrine of the return of all things to God.
One of the fundamental ideas of his theology is the identity of true philosophy and true religion. Both have the same divine source.3 " True religion " and authority, i. e. the Church doctrine, are however not with him exactly identical, and in a conflict between them he sides with the former. In his use of Scripture he follows the allegorical method. He puts the Fathers almost upon a level with the Sacred Writers and claims that their wisdom in interpreting Scripture must not be ques tioned. At the same time he holds that it is permissible, espe cially when the Fathers differ among themselves, to select that interpretation of Scripture which most recommends itself to reason as accordant with Scripture.4 It is, he says, the province of reason to bring out the hidden meaning of the text, which is manifold, inexhaustible, and striking like a peacock's feathers.5 It is in teresting to note in this connection that John Scotus read the New Testament in the original Greek, and the Old Testament in Jerome's version, not in the Septuagint.6 And it is still more interesting to know that he prayed most earnestly for daily guidance in the study of the Scriptures.7
1 I. 3-7. Cf. Ueberweg, 1. c., p. 361.
2 Metaph. XII. 7 ; cf. Augnstin, who mentions the first three forms, De civ. Dei, V. 9, and Ueberweg, I. c. I. 363.
3 "Ambo siquidem ex unofonte, divina videlicet sapienlia, manare dubium non est." De div. nat. I. 66, Migne, ed. col. 511, 1. 28.
* Ibid. II. 16, col. 548. IV. 16. col. 816, cf. col. 829.
5 Ibid. IV. 5, col. 749. 6 "Septuagintapra manibus non habemus." Migne, col. 243.
» Neander, III. p. 462.