[121] Four definitions are given, 2, 24, 3 and 9. _Cf._ 8, 6, 1; _Diff._, 2, 149. See pp. 116–119. For the marshaling of the minor subjects under philosophy see Appendix II.
The pagan philosophy, however, was a different thing. It was known to have been concerned with the same problems as was Christian theology. It had thus a certain right to exist and a certain value, but this terminated with the appearance of Christianity. As Isidore puts it, “the philosophers of this world certainly knew God, but the humility of Christ displeased them and they went astray”; “they fell in with wicked angels and the devil became their mediator for death as Christ became ours for life”.[122] After Christian theology had settled beyond the shadow of a doubt the problems that had occupied the pagan philosophers, these latter could cause only trouble. Pagan philosophy now stood only for a perversion of the wisdom which was found in its true form in the books of the Scriptural canon and the works of the church Fathers. Its “errors” were believed to be the source of the heresies in the church. “The same material is used and the same errors are embraced over and over again by philosophers and heretics”.[123]
[123] _Etym._, 8, 6, 23. In books VII and VIII of the _Etymologies_, where the subjects taken up appear to be treated in the order of merit, the place of the pagan philosophers in the list is an instructive one. The list is as follows: God, the persons of the Trinity, angels, patriarchs, prophets and martyrs, the clergy, the faithful, heretics, pagan philosophers, poets, sibyls, magi, the heathen, and heathen gods, who are the equivalent of demons. See p. 196, note.
Isidore’s idea of the function of poetry is a peculiar one. “It is the business of the poet,” he says, “to take veritable occurrences and gracefully change and transform them to other appearances by a figurative and indirect mode of speech”.[124] From this it might be inferred that he thought that the use of poetry was to furnish material for allegorical interpretation. He ranks the poets of pagan antiquity below the philosophers, and brings serious charges against them. He asserts that they have “disregarded the proper meanings of words under the compulsion of metre” and have thus been guilty of introducing a great amount of confusion into thought and language.[125] His most vigorous indictment of pagan poetry, however, is that it had its origin in the pagan religions, which he identifies with demon worship. He quotes Suetonius to establish this point: “When men ... first began to know themselves and their gods, they used for themselves a modest way of living and only necessary words, while for the worship of their gods they devised magnificence in each”. This “magnificence” of speech is alleged to have been poetry.[126] With such opinions, he naturally desired the ostracism of poetry. “The Christian is forbidden to read their lies.”[127]