Library of the Worlds Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Volume 1 | Page 6

since universals are the tools and criteria of thought, the human mind,
in which alone these exist, is the judge of all truth,--a lesson which
leads directly to pure rationalism, and indeed to the rehabilitation of the

human as against the superhuman. No wonder that Roscellin came into
conflict with the church authorities, and had to flee to England. Abélard
afterwards modified his nominalism and behaved somewhat
unhandsomely to him, but never escaped from the influence of his
teaching. Abélard was a rationalist and an asserter of the human.
Accordingly, when, definitely adopting the vocation of the scholar, he
went to Paris to study dialectic under the then famous William of
Champeaux, a declared Platonist, or realist as the designation then was,
he gave his teacher infinite trouble by his subtle objections, and not
seldom got the better of him.
These victories, which made him disliked both by his teacher and his
fellow-pupils, went to increase his natural self-appreciation, and
induced him, though a mere youth, to leave William and set up a rival
school at Mélun. Here his splendid personality, his confidence, and his
brilliant powers of reasoning and statement, drew to him a large
number of admiring pupils, so that he was soon induced to move his
school to Corbeil, near Paris, where his impetuous dialectic found a
wider field. Here he worked so hard that he fell ill, and was compelled
to return home to his family. With them he remained for several years,
devoting himself to study,--not only of dialectic, but plainly also of
theology. Returning to Paris, he went to study rhetoric under his old
enemy, William of Champeaux, who had meanwhile, to increase his
prestige, taken holy orders, and had been made bishop of Châlons. The
old feud was renewed, and Abélard, being now better armed than
before, compelled his master openly to withdraw from his extreme
realistic position with regard to universals, and assume one more nearly
approaching that of Aristotle.
This victory greatly diminished the fame of William, and increased that
of Abélard; so that when the former left his chair and appointed a
successor, the latter gave way to Abélard and became his pupil (1113).
This was too much for William, who removed his successor, and so
forced Abélard to retire again to Mélun. Here he remained but a short
time; for, William having on account of unpopularity removed his
school from Paris Abélard returned thither and opened a school outside
the city, on Mont Ste. Généviève. William, hearing this, returned to

Paris and tried to put him down, but in vain. Abélard was completely
victorious.
After a time he returned once more to Palais, to see his mother, who
was about to enter the cloister, as his father had done some time before.
When this visit was over, instead of returning to Paris to lecture on
dialectic, he went to Laon to study theology under the then famous
Anselm. Here, convinced of the showy superficiality of Anselm, he
once more got into difficulty, by undertaking to expound a chapter of
Ezekiel without having studied it under any teacher. Though at first
derided by his fellow-students, he succeeded so well as to draw a crowd
of them to hear him, and so excited the envy of Anselm that the latter
forbade him to teach in Laon. Abélard accordingly returned once more
to Paris, convinced that he was fit to shine as a lecturer, not only on
dialectic, but also on theology. And his audiences thought so also; for
his lectures on Ezekiel were very popular and drew crowds. He was
now at the height of his fame (1118).
The result of all these triumphs over dialecticians and theologians was
unfortunate. He not only felt himself the intellectual superior of any
living man, which he probably was, but he also began to look down
upon the current thought of his time as obsolete and unworthy, and to
set at naught even current opinion. He was now on the verge of forty,
and his life had so far been one of spotless purity; but now, under the
influence of vanity, this too gave way. Having no further conquests to
make in the intellectual world, he began to consider whether, with his
great personal beauty, manly bearing, and confident address, he might
not make conquests in the social world, and arrived at the conclusion
that no woman could reject him or refuse him her favor.
It was just at this unfortunate juncture that he went to live in the house
of a certain Canon Fulbert, of the cathedral, whose brilliant niece,
Héloïse, had at the age of seventeen just returned from a convent at
Argenteuil, where she had been at school. Fulbert, who was proud of
her talents, and glad to get the price of Abélard's