THE LAST DAYS OF MICHAEL SCOT 173 



the nature and origin of these new versions. 1 This 

 letter was designed to secure for them such general 

 interest and attention as was due to works of the 

 first importance. Opening with the avowal of his 

 devotion to the cause of letters, a confession which 

 he supported by quoting from the Metaphysica, 

 Frederick touched upon the manifold cares of state 

 which the conduct of his affairs in the Empire in- 

 volved. He added that he had never allowed these to 

 occupy his whole attention, but had still devoted part 

 of his time to the pursuits of learning. His mind, 

 he said, had been particularly attracted to the works 

 of Aristotle with the commentaries of the Arabian 

 philosophers, especially those concerning mathema- 

 tics, and the books called Sermoniales. * Finding 

 that they were inaccessible to Latin scholars, owing 

 to their obscurity and the foreign tongues in which 

 they were written, he had commissioned learned 

 men to translate these works, desiring them to 

 preserve in their versions the exact style as well as 

 sense of the original. The treasures thus procured 

 he would not keep in obscurity, but designed to 

 publish them for the general good. He addressed 

 himself to the most famous schools of Christendom 

 as the proper means of obtaining the diffusion of 

 this wisdom among those who were able to profit 

 by it. 



Which then were the universities intended by 

 the Emperor ? That of Naples certainly in the first 

 place, for it was his own creation. 2 Bologna, also, 

 we may believe, judging by the estimation in which 

 we know him to have held that still more ancient 



1 See the Epistolarium of Petrus de Vineis . Jourdain reprints thi 

 letter with a French translation in his Recherches, pp. 156-162 



2 In 1224. 



