SCOT TRANSLATES AVERROES 125 



The second version bearing the name of Scot is 

 that which commences with the words : ' Intendit 

 per subtilitatem demonstrare ; ' being the com- 

 jmentary of Averroes on the De Anima of Aristotle. 1 

 |[n the Victorine manuscript this treatise offers a 

 .urious title : ' Here beginneth the Commentary of 

 :he Book of Aristotle the Philosopher concerning 

 i:he Soul, which Averroes commented on in Greek, 

 md Michael Scot translated into Latin.' 



In the same manuscript the version of Averroes's 

 Jominentary on the various books which compose 

 ::he Parva Naturalia of Aristotle is ascribed to 

 Gerard of Cremona. Kenan observes that this 

 iscription does not occur in any other copy, and 

 l.upposes it to have been a mistake. He seems 

 (influenced in this conclusion by the fact that 

 Lrerard of Cremona died in 1187. It is curious to 

 lind such an eminent scholar forgetful of the 

 Existence of a younger Cremonese ; and he is not 

 llone in this error, for it has been repeated even 

 Ij'f late years. Yet in 1851 Prince Baldassare 

 Boncompagni had distinguished well between the 

 llder and younger Gerard of Cremona in an ex- 

 cellent monograph on the subject. 2 Even had this 

 Irork not been published, the learned world had 

 Ilready reason enough to suspect the truth. In a 

 IreU-known passage of his Compendium Studii, 3 



1 Paris, Sorbonne, 932, 943 ; St. Victor, 171 ; Ancien Fonds, 6504 ; 

 Venice, St. Mark, vi. 54. 



di Gherardo Cremonense, Roma. 1851. The distinction 

 Ijetween the elder and younger Gerard had been noticed by Flavio 

 ffliondo (1388-1463); byZaccharia Lilio (obiit c. 1522) and by Giulio 

 Jiaroldo in the sixteenth century. I have found the same accuracy in the 

 mi$orgimento d'ltalia of the Abate Saverio Bettinelli, which appeared 

 I , Bassano in 1786 (voL i. p. 81). Only foreigners, therefore, seem to 

 I live overlooked it. 



3 Compendium Studii, p. 471. 



