Erasmus, Letter to Paracelsus, March 1527

Erasmus, Letter to Paracelsus, March 1527

Names in this document: Paracelsus; Desiderius Erasmus; Johann Froben

Sources

Primary Sources

Paracelsus: De gradibus, ed. Bodenstein, 1562; https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/Bibliographia_Paracelsica/BP043

Paracelsus: De gradibus, ed. Bodenstein, 1568; https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/Bibliographia_Paracelsica/BP098

Paracelsus ed. Huser 3 (1589), S. 340 (http://books.google.de/books?id=EmxeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA340)

Paracelsus: Philosophia Magna, ed. Dorn,https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/Bibliographia_Paracelsica/BP109

Paracelsus: ###, ed. Gohory, 1568; https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/Bibliographia_Paracelsica/BP099

Older Editions

Melchior Adam: Vitae Germanorum medicorum, Heidelberg: Johann Georg Geyder for Jonas Rosa (Frankfurt am Main) 1620, esp. p. 37-38 (Google Books) (VD17 23:248384H)

Daniel Le Clerc: Histoire de la médecine, 3rd ed., vol. 1, Amsterdam: Compagnie 1723, esp. p. 800-801 (Google Books)

Nicolas François Joseph Eloy: Dictionnaire historique de la médecine, vol. 2, Liège: J. Bassompierre 1755, esp. p. 241-242 (Google Books)

John Jortin: The Life of Erasmus, vol. 2, London: J. Whiston and B. White 1760, esp. p. 402 n° 29/2 (Google Books)

Johann Christoph Adelung: Geschichte der menschlichen Narrheit, vol. 7, Leipzig: Weygand 1790, esp. p. 232-233 (Google Books)

Christoph Gottlieb von Murr: Litterargeschichte des Theophrastus Paracelsus, in: Neues Journal zur Litteratur und Kunstgeschichte 2 (1799), p. 177-285, esp. p. 203-204 (Google Books)

Janus Cornelis Maris: De Paracelso, MD thesis, Leiden 1832, p. 54-55 (Google Books)

Biographie médicale (Encyclopédie des sciences médicales, ed. by Antoine Laurent Jessé Bayle, 6), Paris: Bureau de l’Encyclopédie 1840, p. 181-188: »Paracelse (Philippe-Aurèle-Théophraste Bombast de Hohenheim)«, esp. p. 183-184 (Google Books)

William Newnham: Letter from Paracelsus to Erasmus, in: Provincial Medical Journal 7, n° 164 (1844), p. 142 (Google Books)

Biographie médicale par ordre chronologique, ed. by Antoine Laurent Jessé Bayle and Auguste Thillaye, vol. 1, Paris: Adolphe Delahays 185, p. 181-188, esp. p. 183-184 (Google Books)

Werner Grundhoff: Andr. Vesalii et Theophrasti Paracelsi instauratorum artis medicae Germanorum vitae et merita et scripta, MD thesis, Berlin 1860, p. 27-28 (Google Books)

Eduard Schubert and Karl Sudhoff: Paracelsus-Forschungen, vol. 2 (Handschriftliche Documente zur Lebensgeschichte Theophrasts von Hohenheim), Frankfurt am Main: Reitz & Koehler 1889, esp. p. 105 (Google Books)

Franz Strunz: Theophrastus Paracelsus, sein Leben und seine Persönlichkeit: Ein Beitrag zur Geistesgeschichte der deutschen Renaissance, Leipzig: Eugen Diederichs 1903, esp. p. 119

Anna M. Stoddart: The Life of Paracelsus: Theophrastus von Hohenheim 1493–1541, London: William Rider 1915, esp. p. 298

Modern Editions

Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami, ed. P. S. Allen, Bd. 7, Oxford 1928, Nr. 1809

Translations

– Braun (1978), S. 234f. <zit. CP 1>

T – Der deutsche Renaissance-Humanismus. Abriß und Auswahl von Winfried Trillitzsch. Leipzig 1981, S. 555–556. – Deutsche Übersetzung von W. Trillitzsch.

Hedwig Heger: Spätmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation: Texte und Zeugnisse, vol. 2 (Blütezeit des Humanismus und Reformation) (Die deutsche Literatur, ed. by Walther Killy, 2), München 1978, esp. p. 59 (UB Heidelberg: LSA Ger-XA 001::2,2)

William A. Murray: Erasmus and Paracelsus, in: Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 20 (1958), p. 560-564, esp. p. 562

Erasmus: La Correspondance d´Erasme: Traduction intégrale en 12 volumes, ed. by Aloïs Gerlo, vol. 7 (1527-1528), Bruxelles: University Press 1978, esp. p. 39-49 n° 1808 (DOI)

Winfried Trillitzsch: Der deutsche Renaissance-Humanismus: Abriß und Auswahl, Leipzig: Philipp Reclam 1981, esp. p. 554-555

Erasmus: The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1802 to 1925, March–December 1527, ed. by James K. Farge, tr. by Charles Fantazzi (Collected Works of Erasmus, 13), Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2010, esp. p. 55- n° 1808 (DOI)

Text

Text according to Bodenstein (1562)

[sig. B1r] Rei medicae peritissimo doctori Theophrasto haeremitae, Erasmvs Roterodamvs S[alvtem].

Non est absurdum medico per quem Deus nobis suppeditat salutem corporis, animæ perpetuam optare salutem: Demiror unde me tam penitus noris semel duntaxat uisum, Aenigmata tua non ex arte medica quam nunquam didici, sed ex misero sensu uerissima esse agnosco. In regione hepatis iam olim sensi dolores, nec diuinare potui quis esset mali fons. Renum pinguedines ante complures annos in lotio conspexi: Tertium quid sit non satis intelligo, tamen uidetur esse probabile mihi, id molestare ut dixi: Hisce diebus aliquot nec mendicare uacat, nec ægrotare, nec mori, tot studiorum laboribus obruor, Si quid tamen est quod citra solutionem cor- [sig. B1v] poris mihi potest lenire malum, rogo ut communices, Quod si distraheris, paucissimis uerbis ea quæ plusquam laconicè notasti, fusius explices aliáque præscribas remedia quæ dum uacabit queam sumere: Non possum polliceri præmium arti tuæ studióque par, certè gratum animum polliceor. Frobenium ab inferis reuocasti hoc est dimidium mei, si me quoque restitueris, in singulis utrumque restitues, utinam sit ea fortuna quæ te Basileæ remoretur. Hæc ex tempore scripta: uereor ut possis legere, bene Vale.

Erasmus Roterodamus suapte manu.

Apparatus

Corrections

Text according to Dorn (1569)

Non est absurdum medico per quem Deus nobis suppeditat salutem corporis, animæ perpetuam optare salutem: demiror vnde me tam penitius noris semel duntaxat visum. Aenigmata tua non ex arte medica quam nunquam didici, sed ex misero sensu verißima esse agnosco. In regione hepatis iam olim sensi dolores, nec diuinare potui quis esset mali fons. Renum pinguedines ante complures annos in lotio conspexi: tertium quid sit non satis intelligo, tamen videtur esse probabile mihi, id molestare ut dixi. Hisce diebus aliquot nec medicare vacat, nec ægrotare, nec mori, tot studiorum laboribus obruor. Siquid tamen est quod citra solutionem corporis mihi potest lenire malum, rogo vt communices. Quod si distraheris, paucißimis [p. 3] verbis ea quæ plusquàm laconicè notasti, fusius explices, aliaq́ue præscribas remedia, quæ dum vacabit queam sumere. Non possum polliceri præmium arti tuæ studio{{q́ue par, certè gratum animum polliceor. Frobenium ab inferis reuocasti, hoc est dimidium mei, si me quoque restitueris, in singulis vtrumque restitues: vtinam sit ea fortuna quæ te Basileæ remoretur. Hæc ex tempore scripta, vereor vt poßis legere, Bene vale.

Erasmus Roterodamus suapte manu.

Text according to Huser (1589)

Rei medicae peritissimo doctori Theophrasto Heremitae, Erasmus Roterodamus S[alutem]. Non est absurdum, Medico, per quem Deus nobis suppeditat salutem corporis, animae perpetuam optare salutem. Demiror vnde me tam penitus noris semel duntaxat visum. Aenigmata tua non ex arte medica, quam nunquam didici, sed ex misero sensu verissima esse agnosco. In regione Hepatis iam olim sensi dolores, nec diuinare potui quis eset mali fons. Renum pinguedines ante complures annos in lotio conspexi: Tertium quid sit non satis intelligo, tamen videtur esse porbabile mihi, id molestare vt dixi. Hisce diebus aliquot, nec medicare vacat, nec aegrotare, nec mori, tot studiorum laboribus obruor: Si quid tamen est, quod citra solutionem corporis mihi potest lenire malum, rogo vt communices. Quòd si distraheris, paucissimis verbis ea quae plusquam laconicè notasti, fusius explices, aliaque praescribas remedia, quae dum vacabit queam sumere: Non possum plliceri praemium arti tuae studioque par, certè gratum animum polliceor. Frobenium ab inferis reuocasti, hoc est, dimidium mei: si me quoque restitueris, in singulis vtrumque restitues. Vtinam sit ea fortuna, quae te Basilea remoretur. Haec ex tempore scripta, vereor vt possis legere: Bene Vale.

Erasmus Roterodamus

suapte manu.

Text according to NN

Translation

English Translation (ChatGPT-5, date)

German Translation (ChatGPT-5, date)