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TRANSLATOR S INTRODUCTION. 



The immortal Elements of Euclid was al 

 ready in dim antiquity a classic, regarded as 

 absolutely perfect, valid without restriction. 



Elementary geometry was for two thousand 

 years as stationary, as fixed, as peculiarly 

 Greek, as the Parthenon. On this foundation 

 pure science rose in Archimedes, in Apollon- 

 ius, in Pappus; struggled in Theon, in Hypa- 

 tia; declined in Proclus; fell into the long 

 decadence of the Dark Ages. 



The book that monkish Europe could no 

 longer understand was then taught in Arabic 

 by Saracen and Moor in the Universities of 

 Bagdad and Cordova. 



To bring the light, after weary, stupid cen 

 turies,, to western Christendom, an English 

 man, Adelhard of Bath, journeys, to learn 

 Arabic, through Asia Minor, through Egypt, 

 back to Spain. Disguised as a Mohammedan 

 student, he got into Cordova about 1120, ob 

 tained a Moorish copy of Euclid s Elements, 

 and made a translation from the Arabic into 

 Latin. 



