Page:William of Malmesbury's Chronicle.djvu/139

bishop of Worcester out of Mercia, who by command of the king rendered into the English tongue the books of Gregory's Dialogues. At this time Johannes Scotus is supposed to have lived; a man of clear understanding and amazing eloquence. He had long since, from the continued tumult of war around him, retired into France to Charles the Bald, at whose request he had translated the Hierarchia of Dionysius the Areopagite, word for word, out of the Greek into Latin. He composed a book also, which he entitled περὶ φύσεων μερισμοῦ, or Of the Division of Nature,^[1] extremely useful in solving the perplexity of certain indispensable inquiries, if he be pardoned for some things in which he deviated from the opinions of the Latins, through too close attention to the Greeks. In after time, allured by the munificence of Alfred, he came into England, and at our monastery, as report says, was pierced with the iron styles of the boys whom he was instructing, and was even looked upon as a martyr; which phrase I have not made use of to the disparagement of his holy spirit, as though it were matter of doubt, especially as his tomb on the left side of the altar, and the verses of his epitaph, record his fame.^[2] These, though rugged and deficient in the polish of our days, are not so uncouth for ancient times:

"Here lies a saint, the sophist John, whose days
On earth were grac'd with deepest learning's praise:
Deem'd meet at last by martyrdom to gain
Christ's kingdom, where the saints for ever reign."

Confiding in these auxiliaries, the king gave his whole soul to the cultivation of the liberal arts, insomuch that no Englishman was quicker in comprehending, or more elegant in translating. This was the more remarkable, because until twelve years of age he absolutely knew nothing of literature.^[3]

1. It has been printed by Gale, Oxon, 1681.
2. John the Scot is generally supposed to have died in France before a.d. 877, as the letter of Anastasius (Usher's Sylloge, Ep. 24,) addressed to Charles the Bald, who died in that year, seems strongly to imply that he was not then living. There is, however, no positive notice of the time of his death. The story indeed has so much the air of one told in Asser of John abbat of Athelney, that one would almost suspect it was formed from it: especially as Malmesbury seems to speak in a very hesitating manner on the subject. V. Asser, à Wise, p. 62.
3. Asser says he first began his literary education, Nov. 11, 887.