[16] Special translations of Aristotle's Rhetoric and Politics, from the original Greek texts, obtained at Constantinople by the Crusaders, were made for Thomas Aquinas at his special request, about 1260, by William of Moerbeke, who knew enough Greek to perform the task. This gave him better translations from which to lecture and write.
[17] In 529 the Eastern Emperor, Justinian (see p. 76), directed that an orderly compilation be prepared of the many and confused laws and decisions which had been made in the Roman Empire, with a view to producing a standard body of Roman law in place of the unwieldy mass of contradictory material then existing. The result was the Corpus Juris Civilis, worked out by a staff of eminent lawyers between 529 and 533 (R. 93). This consisted of
I. The Code, in twelve books, containing the Statutes of the
Emperors;
II. The Digest, in fifty books, containing pertinent extracts
from the opinions of celebrated Roman lawyers;
III. The Institutes, in four books, being an elementary
textbook on the law for the use of students;
IV. The Novellae, or new Statutes, the final edition of which was issued in 565, and included the laws from 533 on. This was preserved and used in the East, but came too late to be of much service to the Western Empire.
[18] The subdivisions were as follows: I. Contained 106 "distinctions," relating to ecclesiastical persons and affairs. II. Contained 36 "distinctions," relating to problems arising in the administration of canon law. III. Contained 5 "distinctions," relating to the ritual and sacraments of the Church.
[19] The additions were:
I. The Decretals of Pope Gregory IX, issued in 1234, in five
books.
II. A Supplement to the above by Pope Boniface VIII (Liber
Sextus), issued in 1298.
III. The Constitutions of Clementine, issued in 1317.
IV. Several additions of Papal Laws, not included in any of the
above.
[20] He held that the body contained four humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Disease was caused by an undue accumulation of some one of the four. Hence the office of the physician was to reduce this accumulation by some means such as blood-letting, purging, blisters, diaphoretics, etc. In the monastery of Saint Gall (see Diagram, R. 69) a blood-letting room was a part of the establishment, and this practice was continued until well into the nineteenth century.