STUDY OF GREEK IN EARLY MEDIÆVAL IRELAND:
Having shown that there was an unbroken tradition of classical Latin learning in early mediæval Ireland, having examined the scope and character of that learning and noted its influence in the history of European education, we may fittingly examine the position which Greek occupied in the curriculum of Irish monastic schools. The traditional belief that the study of Greek was pursued in these schools cannot be accepted without investigation in view of the doubts raised by such scholars as Manitius, Roger, and Esposito in recent years.[374] The most important objection raised by these writers is that the evidence is insufficient to justify the claim that the Irish schools possessed a knowledge of Greek prior to the ninth century. Even in the ninth century Esposito will allow the Irish schools no credit for Greek scholarship. According to this writer men like Johannes Scottus Eriugena learned Greek from the books which they found on the Continent, especially in Gaul. We might retort that these assertions require more proof than has been advanced on their behalf, that these conclusions derive no support from the authorities adduced by Esposito as evidence, and that the views expressed by him are contradicted by the contemporary evidence contained in the well-known passage from Eric the Auxerre.[375]
We believe, however, that the knowledge of Greek for which the Irish schools have been given credit can be established to the satisfaction of the unbiased, just as we have demonstrated the fact that classical Latin was cultivated. In attempting to prove that Greek studies were pursued we are confronted with a difficulty which we did not encounter in our investigation of the question of classical Latin. An examination of the actual writings of Irish scholars who flourished during the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries revealed numerous quotations from, and reminiscences of classical Latin authors, thus we had incontestable evidence of an intimate acquaintance with classical Latin. In studying Greek the aim was not, as in case of Latin, to acquire a new medium of expression, consequently its study would be conducted on different lines. The necessity for such a knowledge existed nevertheless. The great object of study being the Scriptures,[376] the aim of the whole course of study was to prepare men’s minds for the “Lectio Divina,” their one great science to which all the other “disciplinae” were but auxiliaries. It is therefore but reasonable to suppose that the Irish monks were impelled towards a study of Greek, a knowledge of which was so necessary in studying the Scriptures. This view is corroborated by an examination of native Irish sources. Thus Dallan Forgal in his eulogy of Colmcille (composed c. 576 A.D.) says: “Atgaill grammataig greic,” that is, “he taught Greek Grammar.”[377] The early glossaries swarm with Greek words quoted for etymological purposes.[378] The hymns in the Antiphonary of Bangor contain numerous Greek words.[379] Indeed, the charms of the Greek language had such a fascination for Irish writers that many of them had developed a pedantic turn as early as the seventh century.[380] Zimmer has pointed out the Greek of these early writers was not merely bookish learning but a living speech.[381] Meyer’s tabulation of the peculiarities in the transcription of Greek as practised by Irish writers confirms the accuracy of Zimmer’s observation.[382] We are informed that a Greek taught Mosinu MacCuimin “the art of computation.”[383] Keller gives numerous examples of Hiberno-Greek characters.[384] In an eighth century MS. of Adamnan’s Vita Sancti Columbae there are many instances which suggest that the Greek and Roman characters, as written by the Irish scribes, mutually affected each other and gave the Irish alphabet especially in the capitals that peculiar character which distinguishes it from all others.[385] In the Book of Armagh written about 807 A.D. there are several Greek words and the Lord’s Prayer is written in Greek characters.[386] In the glosses on Priscian’s Grammar Greek words and phrases are explained by Irish equivalents and we note a familiarity with the rules of Greek grammar.[387] The most remarkable evidence is that of Aldhelm[388] who in a letter to Eahfrid fresh from the Irish schools finds fault with him for having gone to the “didasculi Argivi” of that country instead of staying in England where Theodore of Tarsus and Hadrian of Nisida[389] had introduced Greek studies. It is significant that this letter of Aldhelm’s abounds in Hellenisms to a greater extent than any of his other writings, his object being apparently to impress Eahfrid with the Greek learning to be obtained in England.
We have referred to a common practice of the Irish monks, viz., the making of marginal and interlinear glosses in which were explained Latin, Greek and even sometimes Hebrew words and expressions by Irish equivalents. They also compiled lists of Irish words which were considered difficult or obsolete at the time the glosses were written. These words were explained by giving their more modern equivalents. Frequently the meaning was given in Latin and Greek also. The most famous glosses of this class are Cormac’s[390] and O’Mulconry’s glosses.[391] Dr. Hyde describes[392] Cormac’s glossary “as by far the oldest attempt[393] at a comparative vernacular dictionary made in any language of modern Europe. The king-bishop (Cormac, d. 903 A.D.) was a most remarkable man and an excellent scholar. He appears to have known Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Danish and to have been one of the finest old Gaelic scholars of his day and withal an accomplished poet.” In the library of St. Paul in Lavanthale (Steyermark) there is a MS. full of extracts written by an Irish monk. It contains Irish poems of the eighth century, Latin hymns, the commencement of a commentary on Virgil, a treatise on astronomy, Greek declensions and paradigms as well as a Greek vocabulary.[394] The Greek Creed was sung in the churches of St. Gallen.[395] Under the title Proverbia Graecorum there is a collection of sayings translated by some Irish scholar from Greek into Latin before the seventh century.[396] In the eighth century Boniface brings Clement the Irishman to task for not accepting the teaching of the Latin Fathers Jerome, Augustine and Gregory, just as a century later Scottus Eriugena was charged with being inclined too much to the Greek Fathers and with under-rating the Latin Fathers.[397] In the library of Laon there is a MS. written by an Irish scribe between the years 850–900 A.D. This MS. contains two glossaries in the Greek and Latin languages with occasional passages in the Irish language. It also contains a Greek grammar.[398] It is believed that the Hermeneumata of the Pseudo-Dositheus, a text used by Roman boys in studying Greek, as well as the work of Macrobius were only saved for the afterworld because they were used by the Irish.[399] The interlinear Latin versions of Greek texts are of exclusively Irish origin.[400] In the department of Biblical study Zimmer recalls two important examples: the Gospel Codex of St. Gallen written in Greek with a Latin translation and the Codex Boernerianus, now in Dresden, which contains the Epistles of St. Paul in Greek together with an interlinear Latin version. Both belong to the ninth century.[401]
These various examples of a knowledge of Greek and of the necessary materials for teaching it, such as grammars, paradigms, vocabularies and glosses, as well as interlinear translations clearly point to the conclusion that Greek was taught in the Irish monastic schools of the seventh and eighth centuries. In our next chapter when we come to examine the scope of Irish scholarship, the knowledge of Greek will be so evident in the case of the great ninth century scholars like Sedulius of Liège, Dungal of Pavia, Clement the successor of Alcuin at the Palace School and Scottus Eriugena that it is unnecessary to discuss the matter further at present. The question as to where these scholars got their classical training can be answered best by saying that they got it in the monastic schools of Ireland where we have shown that the classical tradition was unbroken from at least as early as the sixth century, possibly a century or two earlier.[402]
De Jubainville declares that in the ninth century the Irish scholars were the only persons in Western Europe who knew Greek.[403] Traube claims that in the time of Charles the Bald at least the Irish were the sole representatives of Greek scholarship: “they could read and write Greek, they could transcribe it, nay, they even ventured occasionally to make Greek verses.”[404] Anyone who in the time of Charles the Bald was credited with a knowledge of Greek was, according to Traube, an Irishman, or had learned it from an Irishman, or his reputation for Greek scholarship was a fraud.[405] It is significant that the copy of the work of Dionysius the Areopagite, which Pope Paul had presented to King Pippin had to wait for an Irishman, Johannes Scottus Eriugena, to translate it for Charles the Bald.[406]
That a knowledge of Greek was indispensable for a study of the Scriptures would in itself be sufficient to account for the study of Greek in the Irish monastic schools. A further reason for the Irish love of Greek has been suggested by several writers. Michelet says: “Le génie celtique, qui est celui de l’individualité, sympathise profondément avec le génie grec.”[407] As we have pointed out, the Greek views in philosophy and theology appealed in an especial manner to Irish scholars of this period. According to Healy, “the Irish mind, like the Greek, has a natural love for speculation, is quick, subtle, and far-seeing, has greater power of abstraction and generalization—that is, greater metaphysical power than the phlegmatic Anglo-Saxon.”[408] We venture no opinion as to whether this proposition will stand a critical examination but would merely record the fact that other able writers when dealing with this period have also discerned much in common between the Hellenic and the Celtic mind. Mullinger notes “a certain speculative, outlooking quality certainly not very apparent in the school of York.”[409] Cardinal Newman declares that as Rome was the centre of authority in these ages so Ireland was the native home of speculation; while contrasting the English scholars with the Irish he says: “The Englishman was hardworking, plodding, bold, determined, persevering, obedient to law and precedent, and if he cultivated his mind he was literary rather than scientific. In Ireland, on the other hand, the intellect seems to have taken the line of science and we have various instances to show how fully this was recognised. ‘Philosopher’ in these times is almost synonymous with ‘Irish Monk’.”[410] It was this characteristic of the Irish monks Renan[411] had in mind when he spoke of them as “les colonisateurs scientifiques d’Europe occidentale.”
A further resemblance, and one of a less promising character, may be traced in the predilection shown by both the Greek and the Gael for questions which admitted a display of dialectical subtlety. It was this feature which arrested the attention of Benedict of Aniane and aroused his dislike for the Irish theologians. They were distinguished, he tells us, for syllogistic mystification. “Apud modernos scholasticos maxime apud Scottos iste syllogismus delusionis.”[412] Mullinger tells us that they would sometimes amuse themselves by interrogating some stolid representative of orthodoxy, and compel him as a logical sequence of his replies, to admit the existence of three Gods or to disavow his belief in the Trinity.[413] This typically national characteristic of adding a humorous touch to a profound but dry metaphysical discussion has for us a deep human interest, though it was undoubtedly embarrassing to learned and solemn opponents who could neither understand, nor sympathise with, the rather subtle and complex Irish temperament.
It has also been remarked that this tendency to speculation led the Irish to admire the work of Martianus Capella whose volume was a sealed book to the school of York; while in the three great monasteries of Luxeuil, St. Gall, and Bobbio numerous MSS. in the original Irish character (Scottice scripta) of Origen and other Greek Fathers remained to attest the more inquiring spirit in which the studies of their communities were pursued. Thanks to his Greek studies and his natural mental attitude the Irish Theologian became a better astronomer as well as a better dialectician.[414]