primacy of Abel, the governance of Noah, the patriarchate of Abraham, the order of Melchizedek,
the dignity of Aaron, the authority of Moses, in judgeship Samuel, in power Peter, in unction
Christ." The net result of Saint Bernard's activities was, of course, a great increase of the power of
the Pope in secular affairs.
John of Salisbury, though not an important thinker, is valuable for our knowledge of his times, of
which he wrote a gossipy account. He was secretary to three archbishops of Canterbury, one of
whom was Becket; he was a friend of Hadrian IV; at the end of his life he was bishop of Chartres,
where he died in 1180. In matters outside the faith, he was a man of sceptical temper; he called
himself an Academic (in the sense in which Saint Augustine uses this term). His respect for kings
was limited: "an illiterate king is a crowned ass." He revered Saint Bernard, but was well aware
that his attempt to reconcile Plato and Aristotle must be a failure. He admired Abeélard, but
laughed at his theory of universals, and at Roscelin's equally. He thought logic a good introduction
to learning, but in itself bloodless and sterile. Aristotle, he says, can be improved on, even in
logic; respect for ancient authors should not hamper the critical exercise of reason. Plato is still to
him the "prince of all philosophers." He knows personally most of the learned men of his time,
and takes a friendly part in scholastic debates. On revisiting one school of philosophy after thirty
years, he smiles to find them still discussing the same problems. The atmosphere of the society
that he frequents is very like that of Oxford Common Rooms thirty years ago. Towards the end of
his life, the cathedral schools gave place to universities, and universities, at least in England, have
had a remarkable continuity from that day to this.
During the twelfth century, translators gradually increased the number of Greek books available to
Western students. There were three main sources of such translations: Constantinople, Palermo,
and Toledo. Of these Toledo was the most important, but the translations coming from there were
often from the Arabic, not direct from the Greek. In the second quarter of the twelfth century,
Archbishop Raymond of Toledo instituted a college of translators, whose work was very fruitful.
In 1128, James of Venice translated Aristotle Analytics, Topics, and Sophistici Elenchi; the
Posterior Analytics were found difficult by Western philosophers. Henry Aristippus of