Isidore's SYNONYMS, or Lamentations of a Sinful Soul, contains a dialogue between MAN and REASON in which the complaints of MAN and the responses of REASON are rendered in several synonymous... More > versions; the second section is a discourse on vice and virtue. The DIFFERENCES distinguish between meanings of words. Book I treats words (generally synonyms and homonyms) which might be open to confusion. Book II expounds differences in theological terms, e.g., 'God' and Lord', 'Soul' and 'Spirit'.< Less
Isidore's SYNONYMS, or Lamentations of a Sinful Soul, contains a dialogue between MAN and REASON in which the complaints of MAN and the responses of REASON are rendered in several synonymous... More > versions; the second section is a discourse on vice and virtue. The DIFFERENCES distinguish between meanings of words. Book I treats words (generally synonyms and homonyms) which might be open to confusion. Book II expounds differences in theological terms, e.g., 'God' and Lord', 'Soul' and 'Spirit'.< Less
Hildegard of Bingen's medical/visionary work, Causae et Curae,describes the world and man's place in it. Holistic medicine and quantum physics intertwine astoundingly in this 12th century work,... More > translated completely, from Latin to English, by Priscilla Throop, translator of Hildegard's Physica,Isidore's Etymologies, Abelard's Sic et Non and Aelfric's Grammar and Glossary.< Less
An anonymous 12th century work, long attributed to the 9th century bishop and abbot, Hrabanus Maurus, presents an alphabetical listing of words used in the Bible, with varied allegorical meanings. As... More > the author states, "When Scripture exposes the mysteries of faith through the exercise of allegory, it lifts up the edifice of the mind with the love of truth" and "One and the same thing can have not only a different meaning, but sometimes an opposite meaning in holy Scripture".< Less
An anonymous 12th century work, long attributed to the 9th century bishop and abbot, Hrabanus Maurus, presents an alphabetical listing of words used in the Bible, with varied allegorical meanings.
THE MORAL INSTRUCTION OF A PRINCE is the first part of Vincent of Beauvais’s thirteenth century didactic work, Opus universale de statu principis. Written to advise Louis IX on the moral... More > aspects of wise kingship, it was intended to contain four treatises. This and the fourth section, THE EDUCATION OF NOBLE CHILDREN, are the only parts of the work extant. Indeed it is not known that the other sections were ever completed.
THE TWELVE ABUSES OF THE WORLD is the 7th century treatise on social and political morality of an anonymous Irish monk. It has been wrongly ascribed
to Cyprian and Augustine and Patrick. The 12 abuses are: a wise man without works, an old man without religion, a young man without obedience, a rich man without charity, a woman without modesty, a nobleman without virtue, an argumentative Christian, a proud pauper, an unjust king, a neglectful bishop, a populace without discipline, a people without law.< Less
Vincent of Beauvais’s thirteenth century educational treatise, De Eruditione Filiorum Nobilium, was written at the request of Margaret of Provence, wife of Louis IX, as an aid in bringing up... More > her children. Organized by topics, this florilegium cites (along with Biblical passages) classical writings, patristic literature, Christian-Latin poets, scholastic and Arabic writings, and miscellaneous Medieval literature. Meant to be the fourth part of a longer work, an 'opus universale' (of which only one other part, 'The Moral Instruction of a Prince' is extant), it is a valuable mirror for the education of children today.< Less
The LIFE of Alcuin of York, head of Charlemagne's Palace School at Aachen, written by an anonymous monk; Alcuin's treatise ON VIRTUES AND VICES, written as a handbook for Wido, Commander of the... More > Breton March; and the DIALOGUE between ALCUIN and PEPIN, son of Charlemagne< Less
Peter Abelard's SIC ET NON lay in obscurity until the 19th century, when Victor Cousin discovered a full manuscript and a fragment. Since then, another full MS and eight fragments have come to light.... More > Abelard's SIC ET NON presents 158 theological questions, followed by citations from various Church fathers, councils, and creeds. These conflict in their discussion of the matter at hand, some SIC (YES) others NON (NO). Abelard includes the "Gelasian Decretals", showing that all of his citations are from approved works. Abelard was condemned as a heretic and sentenced to perpetual silence (1141), and his writings were included on the list of prohibited works (1563). SIC ET NON is a gem of theological education.< Less
So thorough, so succinct, so literate, so straightforward and true.
Dropping in and out of various institutions, at Vassar she was adjudged by a fellow student as being "just like Suzuki Beane", while her English professor said that having her in class was "like having Holden Caulfield", and he "didn't know what to do about it". At URI she was referred to as "the girl who looks like Bob Dylan" and asked if she were "one of the Rolling Stones". A classics professor at UVM was amazed at the quality of her translation -- in an exam: "So smooth!" At EDS she was said to handle her "great literacy and learning so easily" and to have "splendid common sense", "highly intelligent wit" and "ease with historical materials" and to be "wonderfully open and gracious, with a touch of wry humor". Having been told by UT's Centre for Medieval Studies that "around here a little Latin goes a long way, and you've got lots! ", she passed, upon matriculation, both the MA the PhD level Latin exams.
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