en sought and acquired with pure interest, is rightly
believed and considered by all men of discernment as the surmnuni
[bonum]. For, as the Apostle says: Knowledge without charity
puffeth up but, with charity edifieth: for it uproots vices and
grafts in virtues; it instructs itself in its duty to itself, its
neighbor, and its Creator; finally, by its presence, it fortifies
and defends the mind, over which it presides in person, against
all the ills of this life that come to it from without.[79]

(2) PHILIP OF HARVENGT TO HERGALD, A STUDENT AT PARIS (DATE BETWEEN 1154
AND 1181)

Know that I have both read carefully and when read, accepted
gratefully the letters which your affection, with memorable
feeling, led you to send to me ...because in them I thought I saw
evidence of your progress in learning.... Just as the Queen of
Sheba is said to have come with a large retinue, that by the
sight of her own eyes she might have surer knowledge of those
things whose fame she had eagerly absorbed from afar, so you too,
drawn by love of knowledge, came to Paris and found a much
desired model of Jerusalem, sought for by many. For here David
strikes his harp of ten chords, here with mystic touch he
composes the psalms. Here Isaiah is read and in the reading his
prophecies are revealed; here the rest of the prophets present
their diverse strains of harmonious melody. Here the wisdom of
Solomon is open for the instruction of those who have gathered
from all parts of the world; here his treasure house is thrown
open to eager students. Here to stimulate so great a concourse of
students there is so great a throng of clerks that it vies with
the numerous multitude of the laity. Happy city! in which the
Sacred Codes are pored over with so much zeal and their involved
mysteries are solved by the gift of the outpoured Spirit, in
which there is so much diligence on the part of the readers,
and, in short, so much knowledge of Scriptures that it truly
deserves to be called Cariath Sepher, that is The City of
Letters. Therein would I have you instructed like Gothoniel, not
so much in letters as in the spirit, and so to grasp the
Scriptures that you may take delight in searching out their inner
sweetness.... Farewell.[80]

(3) DESCRIPTION OF PARIS ABOUT 1175 BY GUY DE BASOCHES