Chapter XXXV

. If one should hesitate to find a phase of the veritable Gerbert in Richer’s report of the disputation with Otric, one may turn to Gerbert’s own philosophic or logical _Libellus--de rationali et ratione uti_ (Migne 139, col. 159-168). It is addressed to Otto II., and the opening paragraph recalls to the emperor the disputation which we have been following. The _Libellus_ is naturally more coherent than the disputation, in which Otric’s questions seem intended rather to trip his adversary than to lead a topic on to its proper end. It is devoted, however, to a problem exactly analogous to the point taken by Otric, that the term rational was not as broad as the term mortal. For the _Libellus_ discusses whether the use of reason (_ratione uti_) can be predicated of the rational being (_rationale_). The concept of the predicate should be the broader one, but here it might seem less broad, since all reasonable beings do not exercise reason. The discussion closely resembles the dispute in the character of the intellectual interests disclosed, and its arguments are not more original than those employed against Otric. Disputation and _Libellus_ alike represent necessary endeavours of the mind, which has reached a certain stage of tuition and development, to adjust itself with problems of logical order and method.

[371] _Post_,