Caption: "Aristotle, Ethics, 'The Master of those who knew' - Dante, manuscript written in Erfurt, 1365. Aristotle who lived in the fourth century B.C., had a profound effect on medieval thought. He became 'the philosopher' and his word came to be regarded as comparable in weight to the Bible. Papal prohibitions against 'reading' the treatises in the universities were disregarded and later withdrawn. Soon an intimate knowledge of Aristotelian writings frequently became the only requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. Of all these works by one of the world's greatest thinkers the Nichomachean Ethics has the greatest value to us today and is the most likely to survive. This masterpiece of Greek literature, named after the son of the philosopher to whom it was dedicated, offers logical explanation of all aspects of human behavior. In it Aristotle maintains that the chief human good and the end of life is happiness, (well being), and that this consists in virtuous activity, the highest form of which is contemplation. This manuscript page was written in Erfurt, Germany, in year 1365 A.D., thirteen years before the great university was founded in that small city. This University of Erfurt was the first in Germany to introduce into its curriculum the study of classic literature and the humanities. The casual and natural cursive writing, done hastily, no doubt by a secular writer, is in sharp contrast to the handsome and leisurely executed book-hands we usually find in the work of the monastic scribes.”
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