Quadrivʹium
.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 triʹvium (q.v.) the “threefold way” to eloquence; both together comprehended the seven arts or sciences. 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.”
