90 RICHARD MCKEON 



calculators, for grammarians divide verses into words, words 

 into syllables, syllables into feet, and feet into long and short, 

 and since it is impossible to divide further, the short foot is 

 the atom. Bede rejects the divisions of time proposed by the 

 astrologer, and concludes his treatment of atoms by quoting 

 Paul on the speed of resurrection: " We shall not all sleep, but 

 we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 

 at the last trumpet." ^^ Bede's text, however, reads " atom " 

 instead of " moment," and he therefore defines the atom of 

 time by the flash of an eye which cannot be divided or cut, 

 and which is sometimes called " moment," sometimes " point," 

 and sometimes " atom." ^* Bede's interpretation of Paul could 

 have been derived from Augustine, and one of the continuing 

 sources of information concerning the meaning of atom during 

 the Middle Ages was interpretations of the New Testament. ^^ 

 The elements of the world, the seasons of the year, and the 

 humors of man are distinguished by the same qualities and for 

 this reason man is a microcosm or lesser world. Air, spring, 

 and blood which grows in spring, are damp and warm; fire, 

 summer, and red choler, which develops in summer, are hot 

 and dry; earth, winter, and black choler are dry and cold; water, 

 autumn and phlegm are cold and damp. Moreover the succes- 

 sive ages of man and the different temperaments of men are 

 determined by the predominance of one or another of the 

 humors.^® 



Rhabanus Maurus (748-856) treats the world in Book IX of 

 his De Universo in the manner of Isidore of Seville, even to the 



^^ I Corinthians, 15: 51-52. 



" De Temporum Ratione, iii. PL 90, 302-7A. 



35 I 



St. Augustine, Sermo, CCCLXII, 16, 19-18, 20. PL. 29, 1623-25. Augustine 

 explains the atom in time by the atom in body. He remarks that many do not 

 know what an atom is, and then defines atom from tom,e or cutting, so that atomos 

 means what cannot be cut. He uses the division of a stone into indivisible parts to 

 clarify the division of a year into like parts. Moreover, he argues that the ictus oculi 

 by which Paul explains atomus, does not mean the opening or shutting of the eye, 

 but the emission of rays from the eye to what is to be seen, including distant objects, 

 such as heavenly bodies. 



*^ De Temporum Ratione, XXXV, 457C-9A. 



