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tium". The "Opus Majus" deals in seven parts
with (1) the obstacles to real wisdom and truth, viz.
errors and their sources; (2) the relation between
theology and philosophy, taken in its widest sense
as comprising all sciences not strictly philosophical:
here he proves that all sciences are founded on the
sacred sciences, especially on Holy Scripture; (3)
the necessity of studying zealously the Biblical
languages, as without them it is impossible to bring
out the treasure hidden in Holy Writ; (4) mathemat-
ics and their relation and application to the sacred
sciences, particularly Holy Scripture; here he seizes
an opportunity to speak of Biblical geography and
of astronomy (if these parts really belong to the
"Opus Majus"); (5) optics or perspective; (6) the
experimental sciences; (7) moral philosophy or
ethics. The " Opus Majus " was first edited by Samuel
Jebb, London, 1733, afterwards at Venice, 1750,
by the Franciscan Fathers. As both editions were
incomplete, it was edited recently by J. H. Bridges,
Oxford, 1900 ("The 'Opus Majus' of Roger Bacon,
edited with introduction and analytical table, " in 2
vols.); the first three parts of it were republished
the same year by this author in a supplementary
volume, containing a more correct and revised text.
It is to be regretted that this edition is not so critical
and accurate as it might have been. As already
noted. Bacon's letter of dedication to the pope was
found and published first by Dom Gasquet; indeed
the dedication and introduction is wanting in the
hitherto extant editions of the "Opus Majus", where-
as the "Opus Minus" and "Opus Tertium" are ac-
companied with a i)r('face by Bacon (see "Acta Ord.
Min.", Quaracchi, 1S98, where the letter is reprinted).
Of the "Opus Miinis", the relation of which to the
"Opus Majus" has been mentioned, much has been
lost. Originally it had nine parts, one of which must
have been a treat ise on alchemy, both speculative
and practical: there was another entitled "The seven
sins in the study of theology". All fragments hith-
erto found have l)een jiublished by J. S. Brewer, "P>.
R. Bacon opp. qua;dam hactenus inedita", vol. I
(the only one) containing: (1) "Opus Tertium";
(2) "Opus Minus"; (3) "Compendium Philos."
The appendix adds "De secretis arlis et natura;
operibus et de nuUitate magiie", London, 1859
(Rerum Britann. med. a^v. Script.). The aim of the
"Opus Tertium" is clearly pointed out by Bacon
himself: "As these reasons [profoundness of truth and
its difficulty] have induced me to compose the Second
Writing as a complement facilitating the understand-
ing of the First Work, so on account of them I have
written this Third Work to give understanding and
completeness to both works; for many things are here
added for the sake of wisdom which are not found in
the other writings ("Opus Tertium", I, ed. Brewer,
6). Consequently this work must be considered, in
the author's own (jpinion, as the mo.st perfect of all the
compositions sent to the pope; therefore it is a real
misfortune that half of it is lost. The parts we
possess contain many autobiographical items. All
parts known in 1859 were published by Brewer (see
above). One fragment dealing with natural sciences
and moral philosophy has been edited for the first
time by Duhem ("Un fragment inedit de I'Opus Ter-
tium de Roger Bacon pr6c6de d'une etude sur ce frag-
ment", Quaracchi, 1909); another (Quarta pars com-
munium naturalis philos.) by Hover (Commer's
"Jahrb. fiir Philos. u. speculative Theol.", XXV, 1911,
pp. 277-320). Bacon often speaks of his "Scriptum
principale". Was this a work quite different from
the others we know? In many texts the expression
only means the "Opus Majus", as becomes evident
by its antithesis to the "Opus Minus" and "Opus
Tertium ". But there are some other sentences where
the expression seems to denote a work quite different
from the three just mentioned, viz. one which Bacon
X111.—S
had the intention of writing and for which these works
as well as his prceambula were only the preparation.
If we may conclude from some of his expressions we can reconstruct the plan of this grand encyclo- paedia: it was conceived as comprising four volumes, the first of which was to deal with grammar (of the several languages he speaks of) and logic; the second with mathematics (arithmetic and geometry), astron- omy, and music; the third with natural sciences, per- spective, astrology, the laws of gravity, alchemy, agri- culture, medicine, and the experimental sciences; the fourth with metaphysics and moral philosophy (see Delorme in "Diet, de Theol.", s. v. Bacon, Roger; Brewer, pp. 1 sq.; Charles, 370 sq., and particularly Bridges, I, xliii sq.). It is even possible that some treatises, the connexion of which with the three works ("Opus Majus", "Opus Minus", "Opus Tertium") or others is not evident, were parts of the "Scriptum principale"; see Bridges, II, 405 sq., to which is added "Tractatus Fr. Rogeri Bacon de multiplicatione specierum", which seems to have belonged originally to a work of greater extent. Here may be mentioned some writings hitherto unknown, now for the first time published by Robert Steele: "Opera hactenus inedita Rogeri Baconi. Fasc. I: Metaphysica Fratris Rogeri ordinis fratrum minorum. De viciis con- tractis in studio theologiae, omnia quse supersunt nunc primum edidit R.St.", London, 1905; Fasc. II: Liber primus communium naturalium Fratris Rogeri, partes 1 et II", Oxford, 1909. Another writing of Bacon, "Compendium studii philosophise", was composed during the pontificate of Gregory X who succeeded Clement IV (1271-76), as Bacon speaks of this last- named pope as the "predecessor istius Papae" (chap. iii). It has been published, as far as it is extant, by Brewer in the above-mentioned work. He repeats there the ideas already touched upon in his former works, as for instance the causes of human ignorance, necessity of learning foreign languages, especially Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek; as a specimen are given the elements of Greek grammar.
About the same time (1277) Bacon wrote the fatal "Speculum Astronomiaj" mentioned above. And two years before his death he composed his "compendium studii theologise" (in our days pub- lished for the first time in "British Society of Francis- can Studies", III, Aberdeen, 1911), where he set forth as in a last scientific confession of faith the ideas and principles which had animated him during his long life; he had nothing to revoke, nothing to change. Other works and pamphlets cannot be attributed with certainty to any definite period of his life. To this category belong the "Epistola de laude Scrip- turarum", published in part by Henry Wharton in the appendix (auctarium) of "Jacobi Usserii Armachani Historia Dogmatica de Scripturis et sacris vernaculis" (London, 1689), 420 sq. In ad- dition there is both a Greek and a Hebrew grammar, the last of which is known only in some fragments: ' ' The Greek grammar of Roger Bacon and a fragment of his Hebrew Grammar, edited from the MSS., with introduction and notes", Cambridge, 1902. Some specimens of the Greek Grammar, as preserved in a MS. of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, had been published two years before by J. L. Heiberg in "By- zantinische Zeitschrift", IX, 1900, 479-91. The above-mentioned edition of the two grammars cannot be considered very critical (see the severe criticism by Heiberg, ibid., XII, 1903, 343-47). Here we may add Bacon's "Speculum Alchemic", Nuremberg, 1614 (Libellus do alchimia cui titulus : Spec. Al- chem.); it was translated into French by Jacques Girard de Tournus, under the title "Miroir d'alqui- mie", Lyons, 1557. Some treatises dealing with chemistry were printed in 1620 together in one volume containing: (1) "Breve Breviarium de dono Dei"; (2) "Verbum abbreviatum de Leone viridi"; (3)
