144 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



life.'^ Mirandola belonged to another age than 

 that of Scot, when purer conceptions of astronomical 

 science were already beginning to prevail, but the 

 very opinions he condemned held a real relation to 

 that progress. They encouraged in early times, as 

 may be seen in the case of Alphonso himself, a 

 study of the heavenly motions without which no 

 true advance could have been made. 



A story told by the chronicler Salimbene may, 

 if rightly understood, show us that Michael Scot 

 too, for all his astrological dreams, Avas a clever 

 calculator and thus stood well in the line on which 

 true advance in astronomy was even then proceed- 

 ing. The Emperor asked him one day to determine 

 the distance of the coelum, which probably means 

 the height of the roof, in a certain hall of the 

 palace where they happened to be standing together. 

 The calculation having been made and the result 

 given, Frederick took occasion to send Scot on a 

 distant journey, and, while he was away, the pro- 

 portions of the room were slightly but sufficiently 

 altered. On his return the Emperor led him where 

 they had been before and asked that he should 

 repeat his solution of the problem. Scot unhesitat- 

 ingly affirmed that a change had taken place ; 

 either the floor was higher or the coelum lower than 

 before : an answer which made all men marvel at 

 his skill. ^ Greek science had taught the art of 

 measuring inacessible distances by means of angular 

 observations, and this art was well understood by 



1 



Opera Omnia, Bale, 1527. In Astrologiam, lib. viii. chap. vi. and 

 lib. xii. chap. vii. 



2 In No. 1 of the Ce7ito NovelU Antiche Frederick answers the 

 ambassadors of Prester John by saying that the best thing in the world 

 ' si e misura.' This may possibly refer to his passion for mathematics. 



