LITERATURE. 
804 
khalif Al-Mamon, in the ninth century, erefted a library 
at Bagdad. In the weftern world, the chief collections of 
books were in the abbey of St. Germain at Paris, at 
Fulda, at Clugny, and at York. 
The more Hebrew philology was negletled by Chrifti- 
ans, the more it was cultivated by Jews. During this pe¬ 
riod, feveral works were tranflated into Hebrew' from the 
Arabic. The Babylonifh Talmud and the MafTora were 
completed. The text of the Hebrew Scriptures was cor¬ 
rected by Ben-Afcher and Ben-Naphtali ; and Nathan 
Ben-Jechiel, in the beginning of the nth century, wrote 
a lexicon of the words in both Talmuds. Saadias Hagaon 
tranflated a part of the O. T. into Arabic 5 and R. Judah 
Chiug wrote a grammar and dictionary. The principal 
Greek philologilts were Philoponus, Photius, Suidas, Sto- 
baeus, and the author of the Etymologicon, which ap¬ 
pears to have been compiled about the end of the te'nth 
century. The Latin grammarians were Macrobius, Mar- 
tianus, Prifcian, and Papias; but the Latin language fell 
daily into difufe, and made way for the Italian, Spanifh, 
and other fifter-dialeCts. The Arabic language was greatly 
cultivated during this period; and an excellent Lexicon 
of it was compofed about the year 933 by Abu-beker 
Ibn-Diraid, in three folio volumes. Another lexicogra¬ 
pher of note was Abu-Nafri-Ben-Hamed ; whofe diction¬ 
ary Scheid propofed to publifh feme years ago, but we 
have not heard that he executed his delign. There were 
few good hiltorians during this long peiiod. Indeed, 
philolophical tafte, found criticifm, and all rational judg¬ 
ment, had generally dilappeared ; credulous bigotry fup- 
plied their place, and infected almoft every hiltorical 
compofition ; all learning, fuch as it was, the monks 
monopolized; and legends and pious romances were the 
fruits of their labours. The belt Greek hiftorians of 
thefe days were Zofimus, Zonaras, Nicetas Choniates, 
Nicephorus Gregoras, Chalcondylas, Syncellus, Theo- 
phanes, Leo Grammaticus, Cedrenus, Glycas, Conftan- 
tine ManafTes, Agathias, TheophylaCtus, Genelius, Con- 
itantine Porphyrogenitus, Anna Comnena, Cirnamus, 
George Acropolita, Pachymer, Codinus, Ducas, and Pro¬ 
copius. Thefe are called the Byzantine writers ; of whom 
the laft edition is that of Venice in 28 vols. folio, 1729, 
&c. The hiltorians of Italy were Aurelius Cafiiodorus, 
Epiphanis Scholaflicus, Jordanus, (not to be confounded 
with Jornandes,) Paulus Warnfridi, Landulphus Sagax, 
Liutprandus, and Athanafius Bibliothecarius, a fplendid 
edition of whofe Vitas Pontificum Romanorum was pub- 
liflied at Rome by Blanchini in 4 vols. folio, 1735. The 
other writers are found in Muratori’s collection. Spain, 
during this period, produced feveral hiltorians, the prin¬ 
cipal of whom were Paulus Orofius, whole work was tranf¬ 
lated into Saxon by king Alfred; Ifidore of Carthagena, 
whofe Origvnes Etymologiarum may be conlidered as a 
fort of hiltorical encyclopaedia ; another Ifidore, (or per¬ 
haps the fame,) whofe Chronicon was publilhed by Schel- 
itrate ; and Ildephonfus, bilhop of Toledo. In France we 
find Gregory of Tours,Fredegarius,and the celebrated Hinc- 
imar. In Germany, Eginhard, Reginus, V/itikind,Dithinar, 
Hermann, Lambert, Sigebert, and Marianus Scotus; who, 
though a native of Ireland, palled the greatell part of his 
life as a monk at Cologne, Wurtzburg, Fulda, and Mentz. 
England had no liiltorian of note, except Bede, whofe 
hiltory was publilhed with his other works at Cologne in 
2688; and alone, with Alfred's Saxon verlion, at Cam¬ 
bridge, in 1722. Moles Choronenlis wrote the hiltory of 
Armenia ; the lalfc edition of which was lately publilhed 
in Germany with a Latin verfion. The Arabs, during 
this period, had fome confiderable hiftorians. The chief 
of thole whofe works have been publilhed are, Ibn-Omar 
Alwakedi ; Abu-Muhamed-Abdallah Adainwari ; Abu- 
.Gaphar Ibn-Gorai Athabari ; and Eutychius, or Said-Ibn- 
Batrik. In chronology, the molt confpicuous were Caf- 
fiodorus and Dionylius Exiguus, the inventor of the paf- 
chal cycle. Geographills and chorographifts were, Cof- 
inus of Egypt, and Stephanus of Byzantium. 
3 
The mathematical fciences flourifhed chiefly among the 
Arabs ; who, taking the ancient Greeks for their guides, 
became in turn the teachers of Europe. Their principal 
ftudy was aftronomy, which was greatly encouraged by 
the khalifs ; and at Bagdad was an aftronomical academy, 
furnillied with tables, charts, and inftruments. The prin¬ 
cipal authors were Meflaiah, who wrote on the aftrolabe; 
Abu-Aaalhar, who compofed aftronomical tables; Thg- 
bet-Ben-Korrah, who tranflated Euclid’s Elements ; Al- 
Batani, called the Arabic Ptolemy, who obferved the ob¬ 
liquity of the ecliptic ; Geber, from whom algebra is by 
fome fuppofed to derive its name, and Arzachel of To¬ 
ledo, author of the Toletan tables. In the khalifat of 
Al-Mamon, three brothers, fons of Mufa Ben-Shaker, 
were notable geometricians. From the Arabs, the Per- 
flans feem to have borrowed a part of the mathematical 
fciences. The Chinefe boaft of their ancient knowledge 
of aftronomy, but it falls fhort of that of the Arabs. In 
Greece, mathematics were not much cultivated ; religious 
deputation fwallowed up every thing. Leo VI. however, 
founded a mathematical fchool at Conftantinople. Eu- 
tocius of Afcalon wrote a comment on fome works of 
Archimedes, and of Apollonius Pergaeus. Hiero gave 
a treatife on geometry, inferted in Montfaucon’s Analefta 
Graeca; and Pfellus wrote on the four branches of mathe¬ 
matics, publilhed by Xylander at Balil in 1556. In the 
weft, this Icience was ftrangely neglected. In Italy, Caf- 
fiodorus and Boethius only are worthy to be named. In 
France, the monk Gerbert, afterwards pope Silvefter II, 
was undoubtedly one of the molt learned men of his time, 
and excelled in mathematical and mechanical knowledge. 
In Germany, mathematics, as well as every other branch 
of learning, owes moft to Rabanus Maurus. Next to 
him we find Adelbold bilhop of Utrecht; Hermannus 
Contradlus; and Wilhelm abbot of Hirlhaw; who all 
wrote fome trafts on the mathematical fciences. On mi¬ 
litary tallies, and the art of war, the names of Callinichus, 
Hero, Mauritius, and Conftantine VII. appear in M. Meu- 
fel’s lift; but they did little more than borrow from Po¬ 
lybius and Arrian. 
Any progrefs or improvement, in philofophy is not to 
be expected ; even what was good and ufeful in the pre¬ 
ceding peiiod was deteriorated in this; the prevailing dia¬ 
lectic was a medley of logic and metaphyfics, fo confufedly 
blended, that no clear intelligible confequences could be 
extracted from it; and this lpecies of logic had a won¬ 
derful influence on every other branch of philofophy. Ia 
Greece, the new Platonifm was attempted to be made 
fubfervient to the caufe of Chriliianity; or rather Chrif- 
tianity was compelled to wear a Platonic drefs. The molt 
celebrated Platoniftof this period wasProclus; whografped 
at all the knowledge of his age, and acquired a great 
lhare of it. His writings were numerous; fome of which 
have never been publilhed. His life w<as written by Ma¬ 
rin us, his fcholar and fucceflbr in the fchool of Athens. 
Their contemporary, Hierocles, wrote a good commen¬ 
tary on the Golden Verfes of Pythagoras. ./Eneas of 
Gaza, a fcholar of the former, wrote a work on the im¬ 
mortality of the foul, publilhed by Barthius. Simplici¬ 
us, a true ecleCtic, wilhed to unite all lefts of philofo- 
phersl His commentary on fome of Ariltotle’s works was 
publilhed at Venice, in Greek only, in 1526. Phiiopo- 
nus of Alexandria attempted to reconcile the peripatetic 
philofophy with Chriliianity, which led him to Tritheifm. 
Michael Pfellus was an liiltorian, mathematician, orator, 
phyfician, and philofopher: above twenty of his works 
have been publilhed at Venice, or Paris, between tiie yeara 
1532 and 1624. In the weft, philofophy confided chiefly 
of the follies of an extravagant dialectic, and the laby¬ 
rinths of a fubtile metaphyfic. Little attention was paid 
to practical philofophy. Boethius is at the head of the 
Italian philofophers. He had Itudied at Athens under 
Protlus, and tranflated into Latin lome of the belt works 
of ancient Greece. He was certainly the moft learned 
man of his day, and may be called the laft of the Ro¬ 
mans, 
