SCOT TRANSLATES AVERROES 133 



as a collection of the versions which came from that 

 school appears plainly in the dedication to Stephen 

 of Provins. This is generally prefixed to the De 

 Coelo et Mundo, thus forming an introduction to 

 the versions which follow; but here it has been 

 placed at the end of the volume, occurring im- 

 mediately after the short article De Vita Aristotelis 

 which closes the whole series. We may see in this 

 fact a certain probability that some at least of these 

 additional versions may have been the work of 

 Michael Scot himself. Nor will the five years which 

 he spent at Toledo appear too scant a space of time 

 for the production of the whole body of the Latin 

 Averroes and something more, when we remember 

 the ample and able assistance he enjoyed in the 

 prosecution of his labours as a translator. 



There is one other version of which we must 

 speak before leaving the subject which has engaged 

 our attention so long. The library of St. Omer 

 contains a manuscript collection of the works of 

 Aristotle in Latin which was written during the 

 thirteenth century.^ The fly-leaf at the commence- 

 ment of this volume shows the same handwriting 

 as the other pages, and has proved upon examina- 

 tion to be the last relic of a work which has un- 

 fortunately perished. What that work was may be 

 seen from the closing words, which are as follows : 

 'Here end the Nova Ethica of Aristotle, which 

 Master Michael Scot translated from the Greek 

 language into the Latin.' This colophon opens a 

 curious question. Are we to consider that the 

 scribe wrote Greek when he should rather have said 

 Arabic ? It was by a mistake of such a kind that 



^ No. 620. See Cat. Gen. des Bill, des Dep. vol. iii. Paris, 1855. 



