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followed him and hewed so closely to him that he used to
say that from Plato came everything he knew. Aristotle set out
the art of logic very well, for he knew more of that than the
other sciences. These two noted scholars found through their
wisdom three persons in one essence and proved it by
their wisdom, but they put (see note) nothing of it in Latin for
they were both heathens [lit: Saracens], who lived
long before the coming of Jesus Christ, more than three
hundred years before, and all their books were in Greek.
After that came Boethius who was a great philosopher
and a very wise cleric. He was helped by knowing many
languages, and he greatly loved the law. This Boethius
translated the best parts from their books and put
them into Latin. But he died before he had translated
all of them. Even so, this Boethius translated more than
anyone else did, and we are still using his work. In his
lifetime he compiled many beautiful volumes adorned
with high and noble philosophy, which we still find
of great use when we address ourselves to Our Lord.
And there have been many other scholars in this world of great