over their own generation, it is chiefly from their works
that we can estimate the power which the stimulus once
given to learning and thought could gain in a few minds
outstripping their fellows. The history of learning there
fore not only supplies the links that connect the several
divisions of the first part of our enquiry, but also the
groundwork on which its argument must be constructed.
It is well known that the rise of the western church was accompanied by a rapid decline in the study of classical letters.[1] Learning, such as it was, became restricted to the clergy and the monks, and these became more and more inclined to elevate their professional study at the expense, or to the condemnation, of every other. The rhetorical schools which had kept alive, however poorly, the tradition of classical learning, were suffered themselves to die out, and their place was only in a small part taken by the seminaries which gradually grew up about different cathedral or monastic establishments. The grammarian was expelled by the scholastic, and the scholastic had little interest or little power to imbue his disciples with more knowledge than was required for the performance of the offices of the church. Those who aspired to lead others would seek to advance to an acquaintance, seldom profound or extensive, with the writings of the fathers; and might thus obtain an indirect and distant view of that country from which Augustin and even Jerome had not been able, however desirous, to shake themselves free. But since the day when the expiring paganism of Rome had entered its last conflict with Christianity, the church had granted no terms to the system she had displaced. It was not alone that the philosophical spirit had proved inimical
- ↑ In preparing tho following section for the press I have derived much help from the first chapters of M. Haureau s Histoire de la Philosophie scolastique, 1872, and of Mr. James Bass Mullinger s essay on The Schools of Charles the Great; 1877. I am also indebted to A. F. Ozanara s Civilisation chretienne chez les Francs, ch. ix, 3rd ed., 1861 (being the fourth volume of his Oeuvres). See also S. R. Maitland s remarks on the attitude of the church towards secular learning, in The Dark Ages, xi, pp. 171-187 (cf. p. 403 n. 2), 1844.
