Letter, 1526-11-10, Paracelsus to Christoph Clauser
| Author: | Paracelsus |
| Recipient: | Christoph Clauser |
| Type: | Letter |
| Date: | 10 November 1526 |
| Place: | Basel |
| Pages: | 5 |
| Language: | Latin |
| Quote as: | https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/index.php?curid=2039 |
| Editor: | Edited by Julian Paulus |
| Source: | Paracelsus, De gradibus, de compositionibus et dosibus receptorum ac naturalium libri septem, ed. Adam von Bodenstein, Mülhausen: Peter Schmidt 1562, sig. A1r–A3r [BP043]
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| Translation: | Raw translation see below |
| Back to Paratexts Back to Texts by Paracelsus |
[sig. A1r] Theophrastvs ex Hohenheim Haeremita, vtrivsqve medicinae doctor, physicvs et ordinarivs Basiliensis, clarissimo domino Christophoro Clavsero, doctori medicovm ac philosophorvm Tigvrinorvm ervditissimo svo salvtem.
Excellentissimum atque optimum cuiusque veri medici est, ut suum ipsius ac propriium mendalem medicum probè cognitum habeat, sciátque sui ne arcani potens sit an non, perinde ac tu Christophore Tigurinorum medicorum optime, nihil planè citra iudicium & exquisitam (quam mille testem haud immerito vocant) conscientiam in medica facultate vsurpas: Sed qua potestate in hac nostra monarchia ego me exerceam sic habe: Innata mihi mea est violentia medica ex patrio solo: Sicut enim Arabum medicus erat Auicenna, pergamensium Galenus. Ialorum vero Masilius me- [sig. A1v] dicorum optimus fuit, ita etiam ipsa me Germania fœlicissima in suum medicum necessarium delegit. Scis namque & tu ipse vniuscuiusque medici velut matrem esse ipsam experientiam, imo nostræ quoque totius monarchiæ. Præterea vero, & sui quoque iuris esse omnem patriam, insuper nullum peregrinum cum patritio patriæ probè vniri, neque contrarium, hoc est, alienum, cum alio sibi contrario, unquam bene comparari posse: Ex quo quidem obserua, vt ad me Hypocratem conferas, me vero ad Auerroen, Rasim autem cum nobis tribus compara simul, quemlibet nempe iuxta suam patriam.
Quandoquidem & Arabes & Græci vna cum Germanis non secus atque triplex marrubium in eodem consistunt æquilibrio. Et ambram Germaniæ græcamque cum storacæ & theribintho, balsamo & mumia parem faciunt: Neque enim clam te est, vnamquamque patriam sui elementi in se continere matrices, sibique ipsi id quod est necessarium exhibere: Est enim Arabia suæ patriæ ambra: Et licet fortè Chaldaicæ rosæ ad Arpinatem nulla [sig. A2r] sit comparatio, quid hoc ad ipsas attinet ægritudines? Rosa quippe semper suæ patriæ rosa, Eodem sane pacto quælibet natio suum sibi proprium ac percularem medicum producit, illumque nimirum ex suo Archæo. Omnis enim necessitas artific suo præstat industriam: Cæterum ipsa eadem necessitas medicinæ visque velut præceptor ac parens est: Quocirca excusare se possunt á Græcis Itali, & ab utrisque Germani, quilibet enim horum suam sibi ipsis habent necessitatem, eiusque necessitatis peculiarem item adiutorem, propriæ scilicet nationis naturæ, Atque ut Arabum aut Græcorum quis insomnia sectetur ac mores necessitas nulla est, patriæ autem error, peregrina uero arrogantia, Oscitanter siquidem hoc sit ac uelut per somnium citra omnem rationem incoactè preterquam, uel oportunitatem uel occasionem, ex quibus tamen rebus medicum gigni oportet. Cæterum, qui propter eiuscemodi oscitantiam ac somnium ex patriæ suæ necessitate in medicum excitatur, is demum nationis suæ perfectus [sig. A2v] medicus existit, ac planè eius soli Hippocrates, ipse Auicenna: ipse ac ipse denique Lullius: Quanquam hoc in loco non idcirco eos laudarim in hoc, quasi, qui ex necessitate sint prognati, cumquodde istis silentiò præteream, eorum errores sua ipsorum etiam patria sufferre nequeat, quid enim quæso Viennam Rasis iuuat? quid Friburgo prodest Sauonarola? quid Arnoldus Sueuis? quid Gentilis Iacobi de partibus & Trusiani commentarij Misneris conferunt medicis? quid his omnibus Auicenna? quandoquidem vel sola infirmo non consideranda est sanitas: Hæc igitur facultas ea est ex qua ego scribo quam ipsa mihi patria dedit, idque ipsum per necessitatem quam dixi ex qua prognatus ego sum: proinde & hoc quicquid est libelli tibi dedico, vt in Typis excudendo eum commendatum tibi habeas: persuasum vero mihi est, hisce meis, propediem ab aliquo fortassis imperitiore responsum iri, atque illi ipsi à me rursum, inde enim vtrinque manifestata fiet atque innotescet planè cuiusque medici necessitas [sig. A3r] ægrorumque sanitas. Cæterum ij, quos ego dilectissimos habeo, breuiter fortè aliquot obscuriorum in his locorum interpretationes dabunt, non autem ille ex meis uetustissimis vulpibus, Nempe distecta est quippe ac lacera mea medicorum turba, pars una linguæ fallacis, altera cordis & linguæ: Quid num velim nimirum intelligis, proximè ad te aliquot mittam descriptiones unà cum mea oleo colchotarini emendatione. Boni consule semperque amicum ut agas operam dato. Vale, Basileæ quarto Idus Nouembris. Anno XXVI.
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Generated by ChatGPT-4 on 3 April 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.
Theophrastus of Hohenheim, Hermit, doctor of both medicines, physician and ordinary of Basel, sends his greetings to the most learned Christoph Clauser, doctor of medicine and philosopher of the people of Zurich.
The most excellent and best quality of any true physician is to know well his own personal medicine and to know whether he is capable of keeping his secrets or not, just as you, Christoph, the best of the Zurich physicians, do not use anything in the field of medicine without judgment and a thorough conscience (which is not undeservedly called a thousand witnesses). But know that I exercise my power in our kingdom in this way: My innate medical power comes from my homeland. For as Avicenna was the physician of the Arabs, Galen of Pergamon, and Masilius of Ial was the best of physicians, so too has my own happy Germany chosen me as its necessary physician. For you also know that experience is like the mother of every physician, and indeed of our entire kingdom. Moreover, every homeland has its own rights, and no foreigner can truly be united with a native of a country, nor can the opposite, that is, the alien, ever be well compared with another that is contrary to it: From this, observe that you may compare me to Hippocrates, and me to Averroes, and Rasim to the three of us together, each one according to his homeland.
Since Arabs, Greeks, and Germans stand together in the same balance, much like a triple horehound. And they make amber of Germany equal to Greek storax and terebinth, balsam and mummy: For it is not hidden from you that every homeland contains within itself the matrix of its element and provides for itself what is necessary: Arabia has its amber for its homeland. And although perhaps there is no comparison between the Chaldean rose and the Arpinian one, what does this have to do with the diseases themselves? For a rose is always a rose of its homeland.
In the same way, each nation produces its own unique and particular physician, and him indeed from its own origin. For every necessity provides its artificer with skill: moreover, this same necessity and power of medicine is like a teacher and parent. Therefore, Italians can excuse themselves from the Greeks and Germans from both, for each of these has its own necessity for themselves, and also the peculiar helper of that necessity, namely the nature of their own nation. And there is no need for anyone to follow the sleeplessness and customs of Arabs or Greeks, but rather it is an error of the homeland and foreign arrogance to do so, if this is done negligently and as if through sleep without any reason, other than opportunity or occasion, from which things a physician must be born. However, he who, because of such negligence and sleep, is aroused from the necessity of his homeland to become a physician, is finally a perfect physician of his nation, and indeed its sole Hippocrates, he is Avicenna: he is, in the end, Lullius. Although I would not praise them in this place for this, as if those who are born from necessity, with those I pass by in silence, their errors cannot even be endured by their own homeland.
For what, I ask, does Rasis help Vienna? What does Savonarola do for Fribourg? What does Arnoldus for Swabia? What do the commentaries of Gentilis Jacobi de Partibus and Trusiani contribute to Misner's physicians? What do all these things do for Avicenna? Since even the health of the sick alone should not be considered: This is the faculty from which I write which my homeland gave me, and this very thing through the necessity I have mentioned from which I was born: therefore, I dedicate this little book to you, so that you may have it commended to you in printing: but I am persuaded that an answer will soon be given to these of mine by someone perhaps less learned, and that I myself will respond again to him, for thus on both sides the necessity of each physician and the health of the sick will be made manifest and clearly known. However, those whom I hold most dear, will perhaps briefly give some interpretations of the more obscure places in these works, but not the oldest of my foxes. For my crowd of physicians is indeed torn and tattered, one part deceitful in language, the other in heart and tongue: You understand, of course, what I mean, soon I will send you some descriptions along with my emendation of colchotar oil. Always consider the good and strive to act as a friend. Farewell, in Basel on the fourth day before the Ides of November, in the twenty-sixth year.
