The latter part of the Policraticus covers substantially
the same ground, although with far greater elaboration
and relative completeness, as the elegiac poem, the Entheticus, which John appears to have originally written
as an introduction to it. The latter is however by no
means superseded by the prose work, and we can readily
forgive the jejune rhythm of its imitation of Ovid for the
pointed epigrammatic accuracy with which it depicts the
learning and manners of the day. The framework of
the Policraticus gives but a slight notion of the variety of
its contents. It is to some extent an encyclopaedia of the
cultivated thought of the middle of the twelfth century.
As an authority for the political history of the time, for
the history of learning and philosophy, it is invaluable
for the simple reason that it is not a professed history.
The facts are introduced naturally, for illustration; and
not on account of their intrinsic or obvious importance. The general liberality of sentiment to which the work bears witness is all the more significant because
of its author’s eminence in the religious world, which
in turn gave his work a wider influence than if he
had been suspected of making a compromise between
orthodoxy and profane learning. Such men by their
silent help towards raising the intelligence of their age
have often done more than the ambitious protestant
against established creeds or the wilful martyr of theological
idiosyncrasy.
From the abundant materials offered by John of Salisbury’s works we can only select two points for observation : one relates to his use of the classics, the other to his position in regard to the philosophy of the time. The distinctive mark of the Policraticus is a humanism which seems to remove it from medieval associations. Beyond dispute the best-read man of his time, no one is fonder than John of illustrating by quotation or anecdote every statement he makes; and the illustrations are taken, as if by preference, from the classics more frequently than from the Bible. No doubt
