[68] Deg. iv. 35.
[69] Ib. iv. 367.
[70] Ib. iv. 413.
[71] Ib. iv. 419.
[72] Ib. iv. 415.
Physics does not originally and properly form any prominent part of the Scholastic Philosophy, which consists mainly of a series of questions and determinations upon the various points of a certain technical divinity. Of this kind is the Book of Sentences of Peter the Lombard (bishop of Paris), who is, on that account, usually called “Magister Sententiarum;” a work which was published in the twelfth century, and was long the text and standard of such discussions. The questions are decided by the authority of Scripture and of the Fathers of the Church, and are divided into four Books, of which the first contains questions concerning God and the doctrine of the Trinity in particular; the second is concerning the Creation; the third, concerning Christ and the Christian Religion; and the fourth treats of Religious and Moral Duties. In the second book, as in many of the writers of this time, the nature of Angels is considered in detail, and the Orders of their Hierarchy, of which there were held to be nine. The physical discussions enter only as bearing upon the scriptural history of the creation, and cannot be taken as a specimen of the work; but I may observe, that in speaking of the division of the waters above the [232] firmament, he gives one opinion, that of Bede, that the former waters are the solid crystalline heavens in which the stars are fixed,[73] “for crystal, which is so hard and transparent, is made of water.” But he mentions also the opinion of St. Augustine, that the waters above the heavens are in a state of vapor, (vaporaliter) and in minute drops; “if, then, water can, as we see in clouds, be so minutely divided that it may be thus supported as vapor on air, which is naturally lighter than water; why may we not believe that it floats above that lighter celestial element in still minuter drops and still lighter vapors? But in whatever manner the waters are there, we do not doubt that they are there.”
[73] Lib. ii. Distinct. xiv. De opere secundæ diei.
The celebrated Summa Theologicæ of Thomas Aquinas is a work of the same kind; and anything which has a physical bearing forms an equally small part of it. Thus, of the 512 Questions of the Summa, there is only one (Part I., Quest. 115), “on Corporeal Action,” or on any part of the material world; though there are several concerning the celestial Hierarchies, as “on the Act of Angels,” “on the Speaking of Angels,” “on the Subordination of Angels,” “on Guardian Angels,” and the like. This, of course, would not be remarkable in a treatise on Theology, except this Theology were intended to constitute the whole of Philosophy.
We may observe, that in this work, though Plato, Avecibron, and many other heathen as well as Christian philosophers, are adduced as authority, Aristotle is referred to in a peculiar manner as “the philosopher.” This is noticed by John of Salisbury, as attracting attention in his time (he died a.d. 1182). “The various Masters of Dialectic,” says he,[74] “shine each with his peculiar merit; but all are proud to worship the footsteps of Aristotle; so much so, indeed, that the name of philosopher, which belongs to them all, has been pre-eminently appropriated to him. He is called the philosopher autonomatice, that is, by excellence.”
[74] Metalogicus, lib. ii. cap. 16.