344 PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



Thomas Aquinas wrote commentaries on Aristotle's 

 works ; and as this was done soon after the decree 

 of Gregory the Ninth, Launoy is much perplexed to 

 reconcile the fact with the orthodoxy of the two 

 doctors. Campanella, who was one of the first to 

 cast off the authority of Aristotle, says, " We are by 

 no means to think that St. Thomas aristotelized ; 

 he only expounded Aristotle, that he might correct 

 his errours ; and I should conceive he did this with 

 the license of the Pope." This statement, however, 

 by no means gives a just view of the nature of 

 Albertus's and Aquinas's commentaries. Both have 

 followed their author with profound deference 22 . 

 For instance, Aquinas 3 attempts to defend Aris- 

 totle's assertion, that if there were no resistance, a 

 body would move through a space in no time ; and 

 the same defence is given by Scotus. 



We may imagine the extent of authority and 

 admiration which Aristotle would attain, when 

 thus countenanced, both by the powerful and the 

 learned. In universities, no degree could be taken 

 without a knowledge of the philosopher. In 1452, 

 Cardinal Totaril established this rule in the Uni- 

 versity of Paris 24 . When Ramus, in 1543, pub- 

 lished an attack upon Aristotle, it was repelled by 

 the power of the court, and the severity of the 

 law. Francis the First published an edict, in which 

 he states that he had appointed certain judges, 



22 Deg. N. 475. 23 F. Piccolomini, ii. 835. 



a * Launoy, pp. 108, 128. 



