Doctor Mirabilis (38 page)

Roger tested this hypothesis with a Greek grammar. It was published without question, and widely copied; in the first year
of its existence, it brought in as his share almost a pound. For a subsequent Hebrew grammar there proved to be much less
demand, as he had anticipated, but again its publication had been brought about as easily as though there had been no censorship
at all. Encouraged, he set himself next to finishing the
Communia mathematica.

In the meantime, necessarily, he had also resumed lecturing. It swiftly developed that he was widely remembered at Oxford,
and though he was now less bold than he had been with his physical demonstrations, he still found a lively audience. He initiated
a class in astronomy; and because this had to meet at night, discovered also that his reputation as a magician had not only
survived, but grown, fed apparently by his Parisian incarceration, for which no reason had ever been made public at Oxford.
In default of such a reason, there was a saying about – ‘There is no smoke without fire’ –which he admired almost as much
for its elegance as he despised it for its injustice. Against these rumours, in any event, there was no remedy but circumspection,
an art he set himself to practising with all the fervent clumsiness of any neophyte with neither experience nor talent.

The
Communia mathematica
, finished at long last, was published without incident; it proved popular; the account for Peter was growing, minutely but
perceptibly. Now seemed to be the logical time to finish the
Communia naturalium;
though it was not without elements of controversy, it was probably not too highly spiced a dish to be inedible by Bungay,
who had now succeeded to the provincial ministership itself; and so sizeable a viand would surely fatten the Peregrine fund
considerably.

Silence and study; and let the world wag. It was managing that task, on the whole, little more badly than usual. The papal
interregnum had ended, after three years, with the election of Gregory X; the event undammed a tremendous outpouring of prophecy,
most especially from the Joachites, who saw in Gregory the Ultimate Pope predicted aforetime
in the
Introduction to the Eternal Gospel.
Roger was hopeful, but reserved judgment. Richard of St. Amour was no longer alive to dispute it; and the death of Gerard
of San Borgo, in the eighteenth year of his imprisonment, raised his partisans to new frenzies.

These half-thought-through prophecies and polemics filled Roger now with nothing but cold disgust, but he was most highly
resolved to stay aloof. Still he could hardly argue, even with himself, that these coils and toils could not have been avoided
years ago by application of but a little knowledge; and he permitted himself the most oblique of public comments, by making
his perfect copy of the
Secret of Secrets available
to the University, and with it an introduction explaining its significance. Both Bungay and Oxford were stunned and delighted,
and the work did not go back on the shelves for more than a day before it was out to be copied again; but the time for it
was past – or perhaps not now to come for a century. Aristotle’s advice to the god-king Alexander served, in the meantime,
to swell the Peregrine account.

Yet it did appear that Gregory X was not entirely comfortable at finding himself depicted by the Merlins and others as a fractional
messiah, or anti-Antichrist. In the second year of his episcopate, he called a Council at Lyons, to discuss all the troubles
of Christendom, spurious and real; but he had no proper appreciation of which was which, and the Council’s decisions could
not have made matters worse had they been deliberately calculated to do so. At the death, before the Council had even met,
of Bonaventura, it was nothing short of inevitable that the new Franciscan Minister-General should be the dour Jerome di Ascoli,
the bitterest enemy the Joachites had in all the Latin world. Nor did Jerome lack for new reasons. He was barely installed
before being called back from a mission to the Greek emperor by the first real outbreak of Joachite violence, in a small central
Italian seaport called Ancona; the brothers had taken a decree of the Council to be an endorsement, and rebelled when their
Order
failed to take the same view. Jerome retaliated by casting all the dissidents into prison for life, and on the spot.

Deeper and deeper all these holy men went into the mire; it was as though the guidance of God had been withdrawn from the
world until the end should come. How to keep silent now, on the very verge of Armageddon? Knowledge should be useful! and
for the lack of it these devout knaves were stumbling to and fro as blindly as sheep in a burning fold.
Speak
, the self insisted, almost as though it were pleading with him.
Speak!

But speak in what voice? None listened to Roger now, beyond the confines of his special competencies. Daring to attack these
follies he had, and bitterness enough as well; but he had no audience that might effect the changes that were most needed
in the world. Suppose that he were to undertake at last that compendium of philosophy which he had so often projected, and
from which he had so often been turned away – how would he finish it in time to reach those who would need to read it, and
how shoulder aside all obstructions vehemently enough to cast sulphur into the eyes of the Antichrist before it was too late?

These questions allowed him no recourse. He must try to write that work, though he had never been less ready. And it must
begin with a frontal attack, for the time for prudence was run out.

As he wrote, the memory of his slights began to rise and rise in him, until in his throat he could taste nothing but bile
all the day long, and all the night too; until the very ink that dripped from his quill was greenish with it, until his every
word was engorged with it. Now was the time, not only to name errors, but to name names:

For nearly forty years the University of Paris has been dominated by some who have made themselves into masters and teachers
of the subject of philosophy, though they have never learned anything of it worth while, and either will not or cannot, being
utterly without training. These are brothers
who entered the two Orders as boys, such as Albert and Thomas and others who in so many cases enter the Orders when they are
twenty years of age or less. They are not proficient because they are not instructed in philosophy by others after they enter,
because within their Order they have presumed to investigate philosophy without a teacher. So they become masters in philosophy
before they are disciples, and so infinite error reigns, and the study of theology is brought to ruination, and with it the
conduct of the Church.

The work went quickly; though long, it took him less than a year; but after he sent it to Bungay, the silence was protracted,
while the world decayed apace. He sent a query, but no answer came back; and then, much later, a brief word that the provincial
minister was John Peckham, Friar Bungay having been called to other tasks, and could Friar Bacon somewhat better describe
the MS. in question, of which there seemed to be no record?

The first inkling of the truth reached him when the lector to the Oxford house, the Dominican Robert Kilwardby, called together
all members of the Order in the city to hear the condemnation, by Bishop Tempier of Paris, of no fewer than two hundred and
nineteen ‘erroneous theories’ now rife in Christendom, and in Paris in particular; to which Kilwardby added some of his own.
Roger had been present at such a reading before, when the constitutions of Narbonne had been proclaimed, but that had been
a short proclamation and a mild one compared to this. Bungay had yielded up his ministership to suppress the
Compendium studii philosophiae
, and indeed seemed to have run away with the MS. for none knew now where he was, solely to protect his friend of old –thus
periling, for love, his immortal soul.

That mortal kindness, however, did not avail; Thomas had thought only of what might happen in England, but it was the responsibility
of the Minister-General’s office to think of all Christendom. Within the month, that office had called in all suspect members
of the Order, to present themselves in Paris, and give an account of their teachings and writings
on these errors. At the head of those called from Oxford, despite all Bungay’s good and desperate offices, was the name of
Roger Bacon.

The office of Jerome di Ascoli at the Ministry was windowless, and bare but for a long massive table. Behind this sat Jerome
himself, flanked by two brothers who seemed to be lawyers; with him too were the Parisian provincial minister and a secretary.
Before the table stood Roger; but it was not he whom Jerome first addressed.

‘I am no little irritated,’ he said slowly, but in rather a pleasant tenor voice, ‘that this case should have come before
me. These extremists are constantly distracting me from the serious business of the Church. Why could not it have been dealt
with locally, as I have frequently ruled?’

One of the lawyers stirred uneasily. ‘It was called to Your Eminence’s attention
de multorum fratrum concilio.’

‘Because of the negligence and sloth of the provincial minister in England. I will write to Friar Peckham of this. It is my
main duty to prevent schism in the Order, not to question brothers on such petty offences as I see here written down. Astrology!
Magic!’

The man is also charged as a schismatic, Your Eminence.’

Jerome looked down the parchment before him, and then nodded curtly. ‘I see. Then I am forced to conclude that neither of
you yet knows how to draw up an indictment. You civil lawyers will be the bane of the Church. Let us dispose of these pins
and needles.’ He turned to Roger a face like a rusty hatchet ‘Prisoner, do you practise the art of astrology?

The word of address shocked him, though he had expected naught else; but Roger was not afraid of the question. ‘No, Your Eminence;
but I am a student of it.’

‘Precisely,’ said Jerome, looking back at the lawyers; ‘and so are Thomas Aquinas, and the Bishop of Ratisbon, and half of
the scholars in Christendom.’

‘But, Your Eminence, the astrological doctrines of Albertus Magnus have been specifically condemned by Bishop Tempier!’

‘Since this man has not taught them at Paris, that is quite beside the point, and ought not to be in the indictment at all.’

Nor would I ever have been guilty of such, Your Eminence,’ Roger said. ‘I do not subscribe to the doctrines of the
Speculum Astronomiae.’

‘There, you see?’ Jerome waved the subject away. ‘Now, magic. Let me see – night walking; a brass head; raising demons; what
alewives’ tales! As a student of astrology, naturally the man must look at the stars, now and again. But here’s somewhat of
substance: a defence, in writing, of the books of magic condemned at Paris. Prisoner, do you acknowledge this?’

‘Yes, Your Eminence. But I am and have been all my life an opponent of magic, and have written a book to prove its nullity.’

‘Then what’s this document?’ Jerome demanded.

‘Your Eminence, the books are largely nonsense, but they contain nothing that is contrary to the Christian religion. It seemed
to me to be unjust that they should be condemned by men who had not even read them. So said I in that writing.’

Jerome looked at him narrowly. ‘That was contumacious. And this on raising fiends – it is sworn to by a number, including
our learned brother Richard of Cornwall.’

‘Your Eminence, I but demonstrated in a lecture how one can make a loud noise with a composition of saltpetre. Richard Rufus
was – disconcerted.’

Jerome suppressed a slight smile. ‘Can you show it me?’ ‘Cedes, Your Eminence, with proper materials, as many times as you
wish. You could do it yourself.’

‘Nay, I dislike noise as much as Cornwall. Let us press on. You are alleged to hold to Averroeist beliefs on the unity of
the
intellectus agens.’

‘Your Eminence, if your clerk will bring you the record of my reading for my secular mastership, which I took here in Paris,
you will find that I specifically and successfully argued against that view with Albertus Magnus himself.’

Jerome swung on the lawyers once more. ‘But this is the document adduced in evidence! What does this mean?’

‘Your Eminence – we took the argument to tend the other way.’

‘Then why would the prisoner adduce it himself? Let me see it.’

The fascicle of the transcript was banded to the Minister-General in silence. He studied it, frowning. Roger found that he
was beginning to become tired with standing; it occurred to him, with some surprise, that he was sixty-three years old. But
he knew that he would remain standing for a long time rt-

‘You gentle scholars,’ di Ascoli said finally, ‘cannot read, either. This is admirable disputation, and to the complete refutation
of Averroes on this subject. Your incompetence leaves me no choice: all these charges are dismissed, categorically and completely.’

‘Your Eminence,’ Roger said huskily. ‘You are as just as you are merciful.’

‘Rejoice not yet, Friar Bacon. The remaining charges are of the utmost gravity. For the safety of your body, and the salvation
of your soul, I bid you answer me thoughtfully. You are accused of having published forth, not once but many times, a belief
in the prophecies of Joachim of Calabria; of Merlin; of the Sybil; of Sesto; and of others whose names are unknown. Do you
deny any part of this?’

‘I do not believe that they can all have been wrong.’ Roger said steadily. ‘The ultimate source of all knowledge is revelation,
which is given, according to Scripture, to those who lead perfect lives. Can there have been none such in our time?’

‘That is not for me to say, nor for any man. I speak now only of Joachim, putting these others aside. You are aware that the
doctrine of the Eternal Gospel is adjudged schismatic?

‘Yes, Your Eminence. But it is not yet proclaimed a heresy.’

‘True,’ Jerome said grimly, ‘else would you be in the hands of the Inquisition, and not here. You have written that this doctrine
in particular is worthy to be believed. Do you cling to this cede? Beware what you say!’