95 



nomianism of the mystic. The brilliant futilities 

 of the medieval dialectic had led to weariness 

 of spirit. After vain and vexatious jugglings with 

 the dry tissues of unchastened ratiocination, sim- 

 plicity and even ignorance brought their solace. 



As from Florence humanism invaded English 

 letters, so the Averroistic physician of Padua, 

 became known, even in Chaucer's day, as a man 

 of secular rather than of Scriptural learning. In 

 Padua, while Galileo was teaching Euclid for a 

 pittance, chairs of Averroistic philosophy were 

 filled by highly paid professors, whose " rotuli " or 

 portfolios, many of which now rest in the dust of 

 the libraries of North Italy, were handed down 

 from one to another in deadly routine. Virtually, 

 however, the Averroistic tradition ended with a 

 contemporary Paduan professor, Cremonini, lifted 

 into fame by Harvey's refutation in the De motu 

 cordis, and by his own repudiation of the satel- 

 lites of Jupiter, bodies for which Aristotle had 

 made no provision. The coarseness and pedantry 

 of the Averroistic freethinkers, whose scepticism 

 lacked the elegance and sprightliness of the French, 

 and their bastard language mongrel of Greek 

 and Arabic revolted the humanists also : " Nihil 



