SCOT AT TOLEDO 55 



The authority of this manuscript, now perhaps 

 for the first time appealed to, is sufficient not only 

 to determine the relation of Scot's work to that of 

 the earlier Toledan school, but even, by a most 

 fortunate circumstance, enables us to feel sure of 

 the exact date when the translation of the Abbreviatio 

 was made. For the colophon to the Vatican manu- 

 script, brief as it is, contains in one line a fact of 

 the utmost interest and importance to all students 

 of the life of Scot. It is as follows : ' Explicit 

 anno Domini m ccx.' 1 The researches of Jourdain 

 had the merit of making public two colophons from 

 the manuscripts of Paris, containing the date of 

 another and later work of Scot,' 2 but since the days 

 of that savant no further addition of this valuable 

 kind has been made to our knowledge of the 

 philosopher's life. The date just cited from the 

 Vatican copy of the Abbreviatio shows, however, 

 that further inquiry in this direction need not be 

 abandoned as useless. We now know accurately 

 the tune when this version was completed, and find 

 the date to be such as accords exactly with our idea 

 that Scot must have quitted Sicily soon after the 

 marriage of Frederick ; for the year 1210 may be 

 taken as a fixed point determining the time when 

 he first became definitely connected with the Toledo 

 school. It will be remembered that we anticipated 

 this result of research so far as to use it in our 

 attempt to conjecture the date of Scot's birth. 3 



Like the De Animalibus ad Caesarem, the Ab- 

 breviatio Avicennae bears a dedication to Frederick 

 conceived in the following terms : ' Frederick, 



1 P. 158 redo, the last line of the third column. 

 - Recherches, p. 133. 3 See ante, p. 10. 



