Four reasons to become a scribe
The monk, through his dedication to copying, will gain four conspicuous benefits: his time, a most precious commodity, is productively put to use; his mind, while he writes, is illumined; his sentiments are enkindled to total surrender; and after this life he will be crowned with a special reward. (Trithemius, "In Praise of Scribes (De Laude Scriptorum)", Writing Material 473)
There are close ties between monks' mission to achieve spiritual perfection and philosophers' mission to achieve mental (and sometimes moral) perfection. I wonder how Plato's Socrates would have responded to Trithemius' propaganda.
Comments
Wow I could totally use this in intro to ethics with Martino. lol But seriously, Chris' agenda item furthers my point of how people perceived a writer,in this case a scribe. In a very deep way is also an important to look at this profession.
Posted by: Rachel Prichard | February 18, 2008 10:48 PM
Since they did not accept the written word, probably not to well. But, on the other hand, Trithemius treated scribing as Socrates treated the spoken word, they valued it. They both, Socrates and Trithemius, used persuasion to sell their talent, wisdom, to their people.
Posted by: Jeremy Barrick | February 18, 2008 8:22 PM