Note 76 — Chapter III

In the De Natura Rerum and the De Ordine Creaturarum, as well as in Books XIII-XIV of the Etymologies, Isidore follows the order of the four elements in describing the universe. His fidelity to this order, as well as the variations of emphasis and of minor treatment which he introduced into it, are of interest. These may be exhibited in parallel form as follows:

Etymologies Books xiii and xiv De Natura Rerum De Ordine Creaturarum

xiii, chaps. 4–6 chaps. 9–27 4–6

Fire (the heavens) Astronomy Astronomy, fuller Astronomy, briefer, with an account of the angels, the inhabitants of the element of fire

xiii, 7–12 28–39 7–8

Air The atmosphere and meteorological phenomena The same, fuller The same, briefer, with an account of demons, the inhabitants of the air

xiii, 12–22 40–44 9

Water A description of water with a geography of the water surface of the earth The same in very much abbreviated form The same, briefer, without the geography

xiv, 1–9 45–48 10–15

Earth A description of the dry land with a geography of the land surface of the earth The same in very much abbreviated form The same, briefer than in De Natura Rerum, with an account of men as the inhabitants of this element, their nature and future life

This table indicates the great stress Isidore laid upon the cosmological side of the theory of the four elements, as well as his tendency to use his large general ideas in relating the individual branches of knowledge. Here astronomy, meteorology, and geography are thus grouped together, and angelology is put into relation with astronomy and demonology with meteorology.