the greater became the ardour of my devotion to them, until in
truth I was so enthralled by my passion for learning that, gladly
leaving to my brothers the pomp of glory in arms, the right of
heritage and all the honours that should have been mine as the
eldest born, I fled utterly from the court of Mars that I might win
learning in the bosom of Minerva. And since I found the armory of
logical reasoning more to my liking than the other forms of
philosophy, I exchanged all other weapons for these, and to the
prizes of victory in war I preferred the battle of minds in
disputation. Thenceforth, journeying through many provinces, and
debating as I went, going whithersoever I heard that the study of
my chosen art most flourished, I became such an one as the
Peripatetics.



CHAPTER II

OF THE PERSECUTION HE HAD FROM HIS MASTER WILLIAM OF CHAMPEAUX--OF
HIS ADVENTURES AT MELUN, AT CORBEIL AND AT PARIS--OF HIS WITHDRAWAL
FROM THE CITY OF THE PARISIANS TO MELUN, AND HIS RETURN TO MONT
STE. GENEVIÈVE--OF HIS JOURNEY TO HIS OLD HOME

I came at length to Paris, where above all in those days the art of
dialectics was most flourishing, and there did I meet William of
Champeaux, my teacher, a man most distinguished in his science both
by his renown and by his true merit. With him I remained for some
time, at first indeed well liked of him; but later I brought him
great grief, because I undertook to refute certain of his opinions,
not infrequently attacking him in disputation, and now and then in