nought save to make me more famous.



CHAPTER V

OF HOW HE RETURNED TO PARIS AND FINISHED THE GLOSSES WHICH HE HAD
BEGUN AT LAON

And so, after a few days, I returned to Paris, and there for
several years I peacefully directed the school which formerly had
been destined for me, nay, even offered to me, but from which I had
been driven out. At the very outset of my work there, I set about
completing the glosses on Ezekiel which I had begun at Laon. These
proved so satisfactory to all who read them that they came to
believe me no less adept in lecturing on theology than I had proved
myself to be in the held of philosophy. Thus my school was notably
increased in size by reason of my lectures on subjects of both
these kinds, and the amount of financial profit as well as glory
which it brought me cannot be concealed from you, for the matter
was widely talked of. But prosperity always puffs up the foolish,
and worldly comfort enervates the soul, rendering it an easy prey
to carnal temptations. Thus I, who by this time had come to regard
myself as the only philosopher remaining in the whole world, and
had ceased to fear any further disturbance of my peace, began to
loosen the rein on my desires, although hitherto I had always lived
in the utmost continence. And the greater progress I made in my
lecturing on philosophy or theology, the more I departed alike from
the practice of the philosophers and the spirit of the divines in
the uncleanness of my life. For it is well known, methinks, that