Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/68

 52 THE SPIRITUAL FRANCISCANS. tion, in loftiness of aim, in all that dignifies ambition, immeasura- bly his inferior. It is no wonder that the apocalyptic specula- tions of Joachim should acquire .fresh hold on the minds of those who could not reconcile the spiritual desert in which they lived with their conception of the merciful providence of God. To such men it seemed impossible that he could permit a continuance of the cruel wickedness which pervaded the Church, and through it infected society at large. This was plainly beyond the power of a few earnest zealots to cure, or even to mitigate, so the divine interposition was requisite to create a new earth, inhabited only bv the few virtuous Elect, under a reign of ascetic poverty and all-embracing love. One of the most energetic and impetuous missionaries of these beliefs was Arnaldo de Yilanova, in some respects, perhaps, the most remarkable man of his time, whom we have onlv of late learned to know thoroughly, from the researches of Seilor Pelayo. As a physician he stood unrivalled. Kings and popes disputed his services, and his voluminous writings on medicine and hygiene were reprinted m collective editions six times during the sixteenth century, besides numerous issues of special treatises. As a chem- ist he is more doubtfully said to have left his mark in several useful discoveries. As an alchemist he had the repute of pro- ducing ingots of gold in the court of Robert of Xaples, a great patron of the science, and his treatises on the subject were in- cluded in collections of such works printed as lately as the eight- eenth century. A student of both Arabic and Hebrew, he trans- lated from Costa ben Luca treatises on incantations, ligatures, and other magic devices. He wrote on astronomy and on oneiro- mancy, for he was an expert expounder of dreams, and also on surveying and wine-making. He draughted laws for Frederic of Trinacria which that enlightened monarch promulgated and en- forced, and his advice to Frederic and his brother Jayme II. of Aragon on their duties as monarchs stamps him as a conscientious statesman. AVhen Jayme applied to him for the explanation of a mysterious dream he not only satisfied the king with his exposi- tion, but proceeded to warn him that his chief duty lay in admin- istering justice, first to the poor, and then to the rich. When asked how often he gave audience to the poor, Jayme answered, once a week, and also when he rode out for pleasure. Arnaldo