Page:Illustrations of the history of medieval thought and learning.djvu/197

Rh tical art Alberic and master Robert of Melun (that I may designate him by the surname which he hath deserved in the governing of schools; howbeit by nation he is of England): whereof the one was in questions subtil and large, the other in responses lucid, short, and agreeable. They were in some sort counterparts of one another; if the analytical faculty of Alberic had been combined in one person with Robert's clear decision ''our age could not have shewn an equal in debate. For they were both men of sharp intellect, and in study unconquerable. . . Thus much, John adds, for the time that I was conversant with them: for afterwards the one went to Bologna and unlearned that which he had taught; yea, and returned and untaught the same; whether for the better or no, let them judge who heard him before and since. Moreover the other went on to the study of divine letters, and aspired to the glory of a nobler philosophy and a more illustrious name.'' Whatever may be the exact meaning of the reference to Alberic's defection there is no reason to suppose that there was any lasting estrangement between him and John. In after-years we gather from h the latter’s correspondence that the master and scholar were good friends, when Alberic was archdeacon of Rheims and John a companion of Becket in exile. In his Metalogicus too our author includes his old master in a list of the most highly reputed teachers in France. Of Robert of Melun he could not now foretell the future, when as bishop of Hereford, twenty-five years later, he proved a prelate after Henry the Second's own heart and a sturdy combatant against the archbishop's party. At present John knows only his achievements as a theologian, in which quality he was greatly esteemed as a systematic and most orthodox writer. He appears to have set himself as a moderating influence against the reckless application of dialectical theories which was popular in his time. Like Gilbert of La Porrée he placed the idea of God