[Scriptoris] The Engines of Our Ingenuity

[g_r.cathan at att.net]

No. 1039:
AN ARMOR OF COMMENTARY 
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1039.htm 


The handwritten books of the high middle ages used a distinctive trick to teach science, religion, and logic. Those subjects were all based on ancient authority -- on Vitruvius, Augustine, or Plato. An Aristotle text would be laid out in a small square of words, centered on a page. Around that kernel of text, and sometimes to the page beyond, flowed commentary.