Chapter XXXIV

.). But Isidore’s work is the merest compilation, and he does not marshal his extracts to prove or disprove a set proposition, and show the consensus of authority, like the Lombard. His chief source is Gregory’s _Moralia_. Prosper of Aquitaine, a younger contemporary and disciple of Augustine, compiled from Augustine’s works a book of Sentences, a still slighter affair than Isidore’s (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 51, col. 427-496).

[127] For example, Reason begins her reply thus: “Quaeso te, anima, obsecro te, deprecor te, imploro te, ne quid ultra leviter agas, ne quid inconsulte geras, ne temere aliquid facias,” etc. (Migne 83, col. 845).

[128] _De rerum natura_, Praefatio (Migne 83, col. 963).

[129] See Prolegomena to Becker’s edition.

[130] Migne 82, col. 367.

[131] See Kübler, “Isidorus-Studien,” _Hermes_ xxv. (1890), 497, 518, and literature there cited.

An analysis of the _Etymologies_ would be out of the question. But the captions of the twenty books into which it is divided will indicate the range of Isidore’s intellectual interests and those of his time:

I. _De grammatica._

II. _De rhetorica et dialectica._

III. _De quatuor disciplinis mathematicis._ (Thus the first three books contain the Trivium and Quadrivium.)

IV. _De medicina._ (A brief hand-book of medical terms.)

V. _De legibus et temporibus._ (The latter part describes the days, nights, weeks, months, years, solstices and equinoxes. It is hard to guess why this was put in the same book with Law.)

VI. _De libris et officiis ecclesiasticis._ (An account of the books of the Bible and the services of the Church.)

VII. _De Deo, angelis et fidelium ordinibus._

VIII. _De ecclesia et sectis diversis._

IX. _De linguis, gentibus, regnis, etc._ (Concerning the various peoples of the earth and their languages, and other matters.)

X. _Vocum certarum alphabetum._ (An etymological vocabulary of many Latin words.)

XI. _De homine et portentis._ (The names and definitions of the various parts of the human body, the ages of life, and prodigies and monsters.)

XII. _De animalibus._

XIII. _De mundo et partibus._ (The universe and its parts--atoms, elements, sky, thunder, winds, waters, etc.)

XIV. _De terra et partibus._ (Geographical.)

XV. _De aedificiis et agris._ (Cities, their public constructions, houses, temples, and the fields.)

XVI. _De lapidibus et metallis._ (Stones, metals, and their qualities curious and otherwise.)

XVII. _De rebus rusticis._ (Trees, herbs, etc.)

XVIII. _De bello et ludis._ (On war, weapons, armour; on public games and the theatre.)

XIX. _De navibus, aedificiis et vestibus._ (Ships, their parts and equipment, buildings and their decoration; garments and their ornament.)

XX. _De penu et instrumentis domesticis et rusticis._ (On wines and provisions, and their stores and receptacles.)

[132] The exaggerated growth of grammatical and rhetorical studies is curiously shown by the mass of words invented to indicate the various kinds of tropes and figures. See the list in Bede, _De schematis_ (Migne 90, col. 175 _sqq._).

[133] Cf. Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_, 8 vols.; Villari, _The Barbarian Invasions of Italy_, 2 vols.

[134] This demand was not so extraordinary in view of the common Roman custom in the provinces of billeting soldiers upon the inhabitants, with the right to one-third of the house and appurtenances.

[135] Cf. _post_,