Page:Illustrations of the history of medieval thought and learning.djvu/319

Rh copious extracts from Walter given by o du Boulay, and the reference is to the dialogue i. pp. 25 sqq.:

Sunt igitur in unoquoque corpore minima, quae simul iuncta unum magnum constituunt. Haec a nobis dicuntur elementa.

The interlocutor here objects, Ut mihi videtur, in sententiam Epicureorum furtim relaberis, qui dixerunt mundum constare ex atomis: to which the author replies,

Nulla est tam falsa secta quae non habeat aliquid veri admixtum; sed tamen illud admixtione cuiusdam falsi obfuscatur. In hoc vero quod dixerunt Epicurei, mundum constare ex atomis, vere dixerunt: sed in hoc quod dixerunt, illas atomos sine principio fuisse, et diversas, permagnum et magne volitasse, deinde in quatuor magna corpora coactas fuisse, fabula est.

5. In most manuscripts the work is called the Dragmaticon Philosophiae, 'dragmaticon' being a synonym of 'dialogus'. p Ducange quotes a sentence describing it as 'a work conducted by means of question and answer,' and q Dr. Schaarschmidt, who does not profess to have seen the dialogue with which we are concerned, rightly corrects the title into Dramaticon. William, as it happens, himself explains the source of the title:

r Sed quia, similitude orationis mater est satietatis, satietas fastidii, nostram orationem dragmatice distinguemus. Tu igitur, dux serenissime, interroga: philosophus sine nomine ad interrogata respondeat.

The published book was edited from a comparison of two manuscripts, one of which bore yet another title. The preface is headed 'Authoris Wilhelmi in suam Secundariam praefatio: nam hoc eius nomen fuit et haec libri