Prologue, Chapter 8: Using Pagan Philosophers and Poets as Sources

Vincent defends himself against the charge of taking information from ancint pagan authors as well as from sacred books deemed apocryphal by the Catholic Church. (In my mind, he's maybe a little too defensive!) But he says that he has scriptural authority on his side. If anyone disagrees with his approach, he says,

"he will otherwise be contradicting the apostles who, in their letters, made use of some evidence from both kinds of book. For, as an example, Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, placed a saying of the comic poet Menander's verse: Bad company corrupts good character. He does the same thing when writing to Titus, introducing a saying from the verses of the poet Epimenides: Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies. He also, when disputing in the Areopagus at Athens, makes use of the evidence of the poet Aratus, talking about God: For we too are his offspring.”

I had two thoughts when I read this. First, it's been a long time since I've read the Bible straight through and so I had forgotten Paul quotes several pagan poets in his teaching; I think that's fascinating. Second, I think it's very interesting that Vincent is implying some sense of equality between himself and Paul - "Paul quotes pagans, so it's OK for me to do so, too."


Later in the chapter, Vincent explains an important point regarding his methodology of using pagan authors. He acknowledges that philosophers often disagree with one another and present information that contradicts other philosophers (and, indeed, even the Bible and teachings of the Church). Therefore, he says,

"I follow the habit not of a treater of literature but of an excerptor. And so I have not particularly worked to bring the words of the philosophers into agreement but to recite as much as several of them know or write about each topic, leaving it to the judgment of the reader whose opinion he should rather adhere to."

 Vincent thus disavows responsibility of telling us as readers what to believe; he assumes we're intelligent enough to decide which expert opinion we should trust and accept.

Prologue, Chapter 5: Kings, Wars, and Dating of Events

In Chapter 5 of the Prologue ("Apology regarding kings and wars in this work"), Vincent addresses his method of recording history in the Speculum Historiale, the historical part of his book which I will not be translating. He says that he feels justified in inserting the names of kings in his history as a method of dating Church events. After all, he says,

"Luke wove the history of the Lord's incarnation [and] in the very beginning of his gospel, he made mention of King Herod and, after a few words, of Caesar Augustus. So those things which were little noted by people were confirmed and corroborated by those things which are carried by frequent report to almost everyone."

In other words, "The writer of the Gospel of Luke used Herod and Augustus and date the birth of Jesus, so why shouldn't I do likewise in my history?"


Later in the same chapter, Vincent explains why he has no problem recording wars and slaughter in his history, despite their apparent display of un-Christian virtues:

"The reader will be able to pay attention to the rest of the famous wars which took place everywhere throughout the world within different kingdoms before our peaceable king came who spoke peace to his people; with how much fervor should we fight against spiritual enemies for the sake of our own spiritual health and for the eternal glory which has been promised to us when those certain people (namely infidels) – who are completely arising and ignorant of this health and glory – so bitterly fight for temporal health only and for acquiring or guarding momentary glory."

That is, meditating on warfare is a way to think about the vanity of the world and encouragement to fight for spiritual health. He goes on to say that reading about warfare is a way for readers to consider God's righteous punishment of unbelievers.

Prologue, Chapter 3: Citing Sources

In the Prologue, Vincent lays out the plan and scope of his work as well as his method when it comes to selecting and quoting authors. In Chapter 3 ("Regarding the book's title and plan of making"), he writes about citing his sources:

 "so that it can be known what is from which author, I noted their names with the words of each and so that they are not easily transposed from their proper places, I never inserted them in the margins (as is done in the glossed Psaltery and the epistles and opinions of Paul) but I inserted them between the lines themselves (as Gratian did in the compilation of the canon law)."

Vincent not only is concerned with proper attribution, he's also concerned about the process of copying and distributing his manuscript. If he writes his citations in the margins, he's concerned that copyists will ignore them or move them around in the text as they copy. If he puts his citations directly after the quotation, then it's less likely a copyist will be able to move them to the wrong place.

I find it amazing that a 12th-century monk is upholding modern scholarly conventions when it comes to avoiding plagiarism by correctly and consistently citing his sources!