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PREFACE xiii ground for being remembered without a grasp of the dem- onstrated order and connection of the propositions. After a brief biography of St. Thomas, I propose, therefore, to set my sail boldly before the wind of doctrine. I concede, however, that the nautical maxim to the effect that even a good wind is an evil wind, contains a relevant warning. BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AT ROCCASECCA near the little village of Aquino, towards Naples, St. Thomas Aquinas was born circa 1225. His family was descended from an illustrious line of noblemen, his own father having the rank of count. For those who lend credence to signs it must seem strange that the name of his birthplace was so inauspicious for one who was to become a fountain of scholastic wisdom. His early education began with the Benedictine Monks at Monte Cassino, but he later went to Naples where among his masters were Petrus Martinus and Petrus de Hibernia. From Martinus he learned the trivium and from Petrus de Hibernia the quadrivium. The trivium and quadrivium made up the pre- liminary matriculation of studies by way of preparation for a professional vocation: law, theology or medicine. The trivium or trivial arts, consisting of grammar, logic and rhetoric, com- posed the three modes of discourse by which discursive ex- pression is mastered, so that the trivium is primarily instru- mental. The quadrivium, or the four ways, is composed of geometry, arithmetic (theory of numbers), music and astronomy, and may be considered as the natural or literal subject matter of the trivium in the divine order of creation. It is curious that the expression liberal arts is derived equivocally