Ebook: Periphyseon (The division of nature)

The first three books of this translation are a reproduction, with the minimum necessary adjustments, of that by Dr. I.P. Sheldon-Williams in the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies’ edition of the Periphyseon, still in course of complation, for which due gratitude to the Institute is hereby expressed. To this has been added the publication of a draft translation of the remaining two books of the work, exactly as edited by H.J. Floss in Migne’s Patrologia Latina 122, prepared by Sheldon-Williams and considerably revised by me — not however, for reasons of desirable continuity, to the extent of eliminating unusual elements of style and structure that indicate Sheldon-Williams’ close and conscious affinity with Eriugena. The marginalia for books 4 and 5 are taken from MS Bamberg H.J.IV 6, as reproduced by M. Cappuyns in Jean Scot Érigène 207-13. The numbers and letters in the margins refer to the columns and sections of P.L. 122 ; the numbers (only) refer to the sequence of chapters there. The terms (N)utritor and (A)lumnus correspond to Master and Disciple. For all references, including Biblical, notes, and some help with the use of brackets (especially in the early books) the reader is referred, when it is available, to the Dublin Institute’s edition. Acknowledgment is gratefully made to Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C., for a generous grant towards this publication ; to the Royal Irish Academy which supports the study of Eriugena generously; to Miss Mary Brennan, Archivist of the Centre for Eriugenian Studies at University College, Dublin, for her practical help ; and to Professor G.H. Allard, of the Institut d’Études Médiévales, Montréal, and President of the Society for the Promotion of Eriugenian Studies, to whose good offices this volume is particularly indebted.