ii THE ARREST OF ENQUIRY 75 



Averroes, and other scholars, into Latin. That was 

 about the middle of the twelfth century, when Aris- 

 totle, who had been translated into Arabic some 

 three centuries earlier, also appeared in Latin dress. 

 The detachment of any branch of knowledge from 

 theology being a thing undreamed - of, the deep 

 reverence in which the Stagirite was held by his 

 Arabian commentators ultimately led to his be- 

 coming ' suspect ' by the Christians, since that which 

 approved itself to the followers of Mohammed must, 

 ipso facto, be condemned by the followers of Jesus. 

 Hence came reaction, and recourse to the Scriptures 

 as sole guide to secular as well as sacred knowledge ; 

 recourse to a method which, as Hallam says, ' had 

 not untied a single knot, or added one unequivocal 

 truth to the domain of philosophy/ 



So far as the scanty records tell (for we may 

 never know how much was suppressed, or fell into 

 oblivion, under ecclesiastical frowns and threats ; 

 nor how many thinkers toiled in secret and in 

 dread), none seemed possessed either of courage 

 or desire to supplement the revealed word by ex- 

 amination into things themselves. To supplant it 

 was not dreamed -of. But, in the middle of the 

 thirteenth century, one notable exception occurred 

 in the person of Roger Bacon, sometimes called 

 Friar Bacon in virtue of his belonging to the order 

 of Franciscans. He was born in 1214 at Ilchester, 

 in Somerset, whence he afterwards removed to 

 Oxford, and thence to Paris. That this remarkable 

 and many-sided man, classic and Arabic scholar, 

 mathematician, and natural philosopher, has not 

 more recognised place in the annals of science is 



