To doubt it would be to doubt palaeography itself.
VII.

SIGNS IN THE MOON At that time, whilst Penguinia was still plunged in ignorance and barbarism, Giles Bird-catcher, a Franciscan monk, known by his writings under the name Aegidius Aucupis, devoted himself with indefatigable zeal to the study of letters and the sciences.

He gave his nights to mathematics and music, which he called the two adorable sisters, the harmonious daughters of Number and Imagination.

He was versed in medicine and astrology.

He was suspected of practising magic, and it seemed true that he wrought metamorphoses and discovered hidden things.
The monks of his convent, finding in his cell Greek books which they could not read, imagined them to be conjuring-books, and denounced their too learned brother as a wizard.