SCOT TRANSLATES AVERROES 115 



the grave itself, and summon the dead philosopher 

 to tell the secret of his lost works ? Something of 

 the Greek Set^or^s, something terrible, superhuman 

 almost, we discover in a spirit so fully roused and 

 determined, and if we have read rightly the mind 

 of Scot, no wonder that he and the Emperor were 

 fully at one in regard to what they had to do. We 

 have no means of knowing which of the two first 

 conceived the idea of translating the works of 

 Averroes : as master and servant they fairly share 

 the fame of that great enterprise. It was one 

 which demanded, not only means, talent, and 

 unwearied labour, but high courage as well, con- 

 sidering the suspect character of that philosophy 

 and the censures under which it already lay. In 

 the event indeed this proved to be a matter 

 highly creditable to those who promoted it, but 

 one which carried serious and far-reaching con- 

 sequences both for Michael Scot and for the 

 Emperor himself in the ecclesiastical and political 

 sphere. 



When Scot returned to Toledo it^was not with 

 the purpose of attempting single-handed a task for 

 which not only time, but the co-operation of several 

 scholars, was evidently necessary. There is reason 

 to think that the Emperor's commission conveyed 

 some instruction to this effect ; for, as a matter of 

 fact, we know that at least two other hands were 

 associated with Scot in the translation of Averroes. 



One of these was Gerard of Cremona, not of 

 course the Cremonese who died in 1187, but the 

 younger scholar of the same name, perhaps a son 

 or nephew of the elder. He is distinguished as 

 Gherardus de Sabloneta Cremonensis. The Yictorine 



