De physica.
The Method of Natural Science
Natural science is defined as the investigation of causes through effects and effects through causes.
Natural science examines the causes of things through their effects, and the effects through their causes, by investigating them.
The Wonder of Created Things
Natural philosophy encompasses the hidden causes behind earthquakes, the swelling seas, the powers of plants, the passions of animals, and every species of stone and creature.
Whence comes the trembling of the lands, and by what force the deep seas swell up. The powers of herbs, the angers and passions of wild beasts, every kind of shrub, and every species of stone and creeping thing.
The Name and Scope of Physics
The term 'physics' derives from 'nature,' is also called physiology because it treats of natures, and can be taken broadly as equivalent to the whole of theoretical philosophy, under which division philosophy is tripartite: physics, ethics, and logic.
Physis is translated as 'nature,' which is why Boethius, in an earlier division of the theoretical, called it natural physics. This is also called physiology — that is, a discourse about natures — because it looks to the same underlying cause. Physics is sometimes taken broadly, as equivalent to the theoretical; under that meaning, some divide philosophy into three parts — that is, physics, ethics, and logic — in which division mechanics is not included, but philosophy is restricted to physics, ethics, and logic.
Read the original Latin
Physica causas rerum in effectibus suis et effectus a causis suis investigando considerat.
Unde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant. Vires herbarum, animos irasque ferarum, Omne genus fruticum, lapidum quoque reptiliumque.
physis natura interpretatur, unde etiam in superiori divisione theoricae physicam naturalem Boethius nominavit. haec etiam physiologia dicitur, id est, sermo de naturis disserens, quod ad eandem causam spectat. physica aliquando large accipitur aequipollens theoricae, secundum quam acceptionem philosophiam quidam in tres partes dividunt, id est, physicam, ethicam, logicam, in qua divisione mechanica non continetur, sed restringitur philosophia circa physicam, ethicam, logicam.
Didascalicon de Studio Legendi (On the Study of Reading) companion
Hugh said begin with small daily portions. Start tomorrow.
Chosen Portion serves one short, ordered devotional reading each day — the medieval lectio pattern, free on iOS.
Hugh taught that formation comes from ordered, incremental daily reading, and Chosen Portion is that ordered daily portion delivered to your phone.
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