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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—Q

Quadrivium

The four higher subjects of scholastic philosophy up to the twelfth century. It embraced music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. The quadrivium was the “fourfold way” to knowledge; the trivium (q.v.) the “threefold way” to eloquence; both together comprehended the seven arts or sciences. The seven arts are enumerated in the following hexameter:

“Lingua, Tropus, Ratio, Numerus, Tonus, Angulus, Astra.”

And in the two following:-

“Gram. loquitur, Dia. vera docet, Rhet. verba colorat. Mus. cadit, Ar. numerat, Geo. ponderat, Ast. colit astra.”

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894

Quadroon

Quadriloge

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Quadrivium

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