A wide-ranging and original study on how enigmas and riddles work in literature.

'From ca. 1300 a new genre developed in European literature, Neo-Latin drama. Building on medieval drama, vernacular theatre and classical drama, it spread around Europe. It was often used as a means to educate young boys in Latin, in acting and in moral issues. Comedies, tragedies and mixed forms were written. The Societas Jesu employed Latin drama in their education and public relations on a large scale. They had borrowed the concept of this drama from the humanist and Protestant gymnasia, and perfected it to a multi media show. However, the genre does not receive the attention that it deserves. In this volume, a historical overview of this genre is given, as well as analyses of separate plays.'--From publisher's website.

The conventional opposition of scholastic Aristotelianism and humanistic science has been increasingly questioned in recent years, and in these articles William Wallace aims to demonstrate that a progressive Aristotelianism in fact provided the foundation for Galileo's scientific discoveries. The first series of articles supply much of the documentary evidence that has led the author to the sources for Galileo's early notebooks: they show how Galileo, while teaching or preparing to teach at Pisa, actually appropriated much of his material from Jesuit lectures given at the Collegio Romano in 1598-90. The next articles then trace a number of key elements in Galileo's later work, mainly relating to logical methodology and natural philosophy, back to sources in medieval Aristotelian thought, notably in the writings of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. La mise en opposition conventionnelle entre l’aristotélisme scolastique et la science humaniste a été de plus en plus remise en question durant les dernières années. Tout au long de ces articles, William Wallace tente de démontrer que l’aristotélisme progressif a en fait pourvu le fondement des découvertes scientifiques de Galilée. Le premier groupe d’articles fournit la plupart des preuves documentées qui ont mené l’auteur aux sources des premiers cahiers de notes de Galilée; on y voit comment celui-ci, alors qu’il enseignait, ou s’apprêtait à enseigner à Pise, s’était en fait approprié quantité de donneés issues de cours magistraux jésuites qui avaient été donnés au Collegio Romano entre 1588 et 90. Les études suivantes retracent à leur tour un certain nombre d’elements-clef des travaux ultérieurs de Galilée, se rapportant plus particulièrement à la méthodologie logique et a la philosophie naturelle, jusqu’à leurs sources dans la pensée aristotélicienne du Moyen Age, notamment dans les écrits d’Albert le Grand et de Thomas d’Aquin.