2 The Science of the Cosmographia

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This chapter argues that the work's significance does not turn on the question of whether it was at the avant-garde of mid-century philosophy. Rather, the importance of the Cosmographia seems to lie in its combination of the traditional techniques of literary imitatio with natural philosophical doctrines current in the scholarly circles in which Bernard Silvestris worked. The form of the Cosmographia alternates between sections of metre and prose. Reviving what was taken to be the standard medieval usage, modern scholarship has tended to call this kind of composition a prosimetrum. The purpose of medical learning in the Cosmographia may be illuminated by Bernard's presentation of the allegorical persona of Silva. Silva derives from Calcidius, who used the term to translate Aristotle's word for matter, hyle, which means 'timber' as well as 'woodland', whereas silva denotes only the latter. Calcidius considered silva to be a crucial concept for understanding the Timaeus.Keywords: Bernard

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