Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/67

 IV] THE TRANSMISSION OF LETrERS 49 outline the contents of the two most famous of them, the one a compendium of the seven liberal arts, the other a final presentation of the ethics of pagan philosophy. Perhaps the most widely used school book of the Middle Ages was the De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii by Martianus Capella, an African Neo-platonist, who wrote in the first part of the fifth century.^ It is a work in nine books. The first two are devoted to the allegorical narrative of the marriage of Mercury with the polymath virgin Philology. Mercury* seeks a bride ; he cannot have Sophia or Mantice or Psyche ; Virtus counsels him to ask Apollo's advice, and Apollo advises him to wed Philology. Under the joyful convoy of the Muses and enzephyred by the music of the spheres, Virtus, Apollo, and the bridegroom fly to Jove's palace to ask his consent. A council of the gods is summoned ; a favorable decision is reached ; the bride shall be raised to divine rank. With the second book she appears, desiring the marriage, but fearful at the greatness of the honor. Her mother, Phronesis, adorns her for the wedding ; four noble matrons, the cardinal virtues, greet her, and the Graces, with three mystic kisses, give her courage. Athanasia, daughter of Apotheosis, comes to lead her to Heaven, but first commands her to deliver that with which her bosom is seen to swell ; at this she vomits forth many rolls 1 On the dat« of Capella, see H. Parker, "The Seven Liberal ArU," English HUtoHcal Review, 1890. > Mercury — or Hermes — is, according to Plotinus, the k6yot; hence the propriety of his marriage with Ptiilology (^Atif-Atiyov). Zoller, Phil der (MecAen, lU, 2, p. 061; Ebert, op. cU., I, p. 483, note. ■