Goropius 1569 Origines

Texts on Paracelsus

Joannes Goropius Becanus, Origines Antwerpianae 1569

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Text

[p. 212] Malo tamen admittere, singulari aliqua mistionis firmitate tantum homini tempus contingere posse, quàm Theophrasto Paracelso credere , qui pollicetur se consecuturum, vt medicamentis suis hominem, communi conditione natum ad plura secula deducat, cùm ipse hic, tam vasti hiatus promissor, ad quadragesimum octauum annum non peruenerit. Sed adferunt discipuli excusationem non minùs, quàm ipsa est pollicitatio, absurdam. Aiunt Paracelso tantum scientiarum in illa aetate contigisse, vt frustra putaret se longiùs victurum, cùm omnis illa [p. 213] aetas perdi videretur, in qua nihil amplius posset addisci. O stolidos & insanos homines, ô caecas mentes! Adeóne barbarus ille omnem humani ingenij cultum absoluerat, vt nihil amplius in eo desideraretur? Sed missum faciam hoc omnios perfectionis exemplar, & cum eo etiam omnem vitae longitudinem, quae primis illis hominibus contigit. Siue enim primo quodam iure, siue temperamento, & ratione victus tantam aetatem sint consecuti, nego tamen hominum vitam contuna successione fieri minorem. [...]

Bibliography

Goropius Becanus, Joannes (1518-1572): Origines Antwerpianae, Antwerpen: Christoph Plantin, 1569.
  — USTC 401427.
  — View at Google Books here or here or here

English Raw Translation

Generated by ChatGPT on 28 February 2023. Attention: This translation is a machine translation by artificial intelligence. The translation has not been checked and should not be cited without additional human verification.

However, I prefer to believe that it is only through a certain strength of constitution that a person can attain a long life, rather than to trust in the promises of Paracelsus, who claims that his medicines can extend human life to many centuries, when he himself has not even reached the age of forty-eight, despite such grandiose claims. But his disciples offer an excuse that is just as absurd as his promise. They say that Paracelsus had already attained such a level of knowledge in that age that he thought he would live in vain, since that age seemed to have nothing left to be learned. Oh, foolish and insane people, with blind minds! Had that barbarian really completed the entire cultivation of human intelligence, so that there was nothing more to desire? But let me present an example of perfection in all aspects, and with it, the maximum possible length of life, which was attained by those first humans, whether by some natural law or by their diet and way of life. For even if they lived for a very long time due to some initial condition, I still deny that human life can continue with an uninterrupted succession for any less time.