f
Oriental breeding. At his command Ptolemy's Optics were translated
into Latin from the Arabic. The prophecies of the Erythrean Sibyl
were rendered accessible in the same way. His respect for the occult
sciences was proved by his disinterring the bones of Virgil from
their resting-place at Posilippo, and placing them in the Castel
dell' Uovo in order that he might have access through necromancy to
the spirit of the Roman wizard. It may be remembered in passing,
that Palermo in one of her mosques already held suspended between
earth and air the supposed relics of Aristotle. Such were the saints
of modern culture in its earliest dawning. While Venice was robbing
Alexandria of the body of S. Mark, Palermo and Naples placed
themselves beneath the protection of a philosopher and a poet. But
Roger's greatest literary work was the compilation of a treatise of
universal geography. Fifteen years were devoted to the task; and the
manuscript, in Arabic, drawn up by the philosopher Edrisi, appeared
only six weeks before the king's death in 1154. This book, called
'The Book of Roger, or the Delight of whoso loves to make the
Circuit of the World,' was based upon the previous labours of twelve
geographers, classical and Mussulman. But aiming at greater accuracy
than could be obtained by a merely literary compilation, Roger
caused pilgrims, travellers, and merchants of all countries to be
assembled for conference and examination before him. Their accounts
were sifted and collated. Edrisi held the pen while Roger
questioned. Measurements and distances were carefully compared; and
a vast silver disc was constructed, on which all the seas, islands,
continents, plains, rivers, mountain ranges, cities, roads, and
harbours of the known world were delineated. The text supplied an
explanatory description of this map, with tables of the products,
habits, races, religions, and qualities, both physical and moral, of
all climates. The precious metal upon which the map was drawn proved
its ruin, and the Geography remained in the libraries of Arab
scholars. Yet this was one of the first great essays of practical
exploration and methodical statistic, to which the genius of the
Norseman and the Arab each contributed a quota. The Arabians, by
their primitive nomadic habits, by the necessities of their system
of taxation, by their predilection for astrology, by their
experience as pilgrims, merchants, and poets errant, were specially
qualified for th