with the Geometric of Boethius. 535 



Rigaltius copied what he called the Fragmenta Terminalia, but which 

 is an almost literal extract from the Demonstratio (p. 401 , 10-403, 4). 

 He most commonly refers to the second book of Boethius, but on one 

 occasion he expressly mentions the revision of Boethius by Gerbert 

 or some one else. Another proof is, that in a published treatise of 

 Gerbert on Geometry, we meet with at least part of one of the ex- 

 tracts from Hyginus, which are to be found in the second Bernese 

 MS. of Boethius*. Blume however is of opinion that the work in 

 its present form is unworthy of Gerbert also : — " For even Gerbert 

 could not have dealt with the contents of the Arcerian MS. in the 

 awkward and silly way in which the MSS. of the pseudo-Boethius 

 represent their compiler to have done : and a part also of its contents 

 must have been derived from a MS. of the second class with which 

 Gerbert was not acquainted so far as we know." He accordingly 

 conjectures that some person living on this side of the Alps got hold 

 of Gerbert's extracts from the Arcerian, and by the help of these and 

 other similar materials, fabricated the work in question. He ob- 

 serves that all the MSS. of the fourth class appear to have proceeded 

 from Alsace or Flanders, whilst those of the third class, on the con- 

 trary, had their origin in Italy : and Gerbert, who was continually 

 moving to and fro between France and Italy, was in those times the 

 best medium of communication on such matters, though his words 

 were often mutilated and misunderstood by his ignorant contempo- 

 raries f. 



Ingenious and plausible as this hypothesis is, the author is unable 

 to assent to it. It is obviously founded on the double assumption 

 that the Arcerian is the identical MS. found at Bobbio by Inghirami, 

 and that Gerbert having become acquainted with it during his 

 tenure of the abbacy of Bobbio, subsequently communicated a part 

 of its contents to the northern and eastern parts of France. At the 

 time that Blume wrote his article it was universally supposed that 

 Gerbert's connection with Bobbio began as early as the year 969 and 

 did not finally cease till 983 J. The subsequent researches of Hock 

 have established that Gerbert did not become abbot of Bobbio till 

 the year 981 or 982, and that he did not continue so above a year, 



while Gerbert's Geometry belongs to the thirteenth. According to Chasles (/, c. 

 p. 505 note), there is another copy in the same collection, No. 7377 C. This 

 statement is not confirmed by the catalogue, which describes the MS. as only 

 containing two letters on geometrical subjects, one addressed to Gerbert, and the 

 other written by him, and also a MS. with the title ' Geometria Euclidis interprete 

 Boetio.' 



* Pez, I. c. 81. Gerbert's work was printed from a single MS. belonging to the 

 Monastery of St, Peter at Salzburg, which is manifestly imperfect at the end. 

 Blume suggests that if other copies were examined, its deficiencies might probably 

 be supplied. The copy in the Arundel collection contains only the first thirteen 

 chapters. The only MS. of Gerbert in England that 1 have been able to discover, is 

 one of the twelfth century, in Sir Thomas Phillips's collection at Middlehill,No. 4437. 



■\ Later researches have proved that Blume is mistaken in confining the MSS. of 

 Boethius to Flanders and Alsace. Besides the one at Chartres above-mentioned, 

 there is one at Middlehill, which came from Tours. They are to be found at St. 

 Gall, and also in the Laurentian library at Florence (Plut. xxix. cod. 19). 



X Histoire Litteraire de France, t. vi. p. 559 seqq. 



