Letter, 1567-07-01, Jacques Gohory to Jean Chapelain
| Author: | Jacques Gohory |
| Recipient: | Jean Chapelain |
| Type: | Letter |
| Date: | 1 July 1567 |
| Place: | Paris |
| Pages: | 6 |
| Language: | Latin |
| Quote as: | https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/index.php?curid=2043 |
| Editor: | Edited by Julian Paulus |
| Source: | Jacques Gohory, Theophrasti Paracelsi philosophiae et medicinae utriusque universae compendium, Paris: Philippe Gaultier dit Rouillé no date [1567], p. 153-158 [BP089]
|
| Translation: | Raw translation see below |
| Abstract: | The author dedicates a new book to a distinguished man, a physician, and a friend. The book contains recently published annotations on the works of Theophrastus Paracelsus. The author praises the recipient's accomplishments and his dedication to philosophy and medicine. Although the recipient has previously criticized Paracelsus's approach to medicine, the author argues that there is value in his work. The author hopes the recipient will appreciate the book and perhaps provide some assistance or recognition in return. The author admires the recipient's dedication to supporting philosophers and navigating the challenging environment of the court, and concludes by expressing hope that the recipient finds the book worthwhile. (generated by Chat-GPT) |
| Back to Paratexts Back to Texts by Jacques Gohory |
[p. 153] Leo Svavivs I[acobvs] G[ohory] P[arisiensis] Io[anni] Capellae Parisiensi Archiatro Regio Sal[utem].
Cvi potius quam tibi (vir præstantissimè) donabo (cum Catullo) lepidum hunc nouum libellum? lepidum, inquam, vt Theophrasti Paracelsi opus: nouum, vt meum scholiorum modò editorum. Tibi enim tanquam medico eruditissimo, medicinæ liber iure offertur: quiquidem ab Ioanne Fernelio doctrissimo viro Archiatrio Regio decessore tuo moriente, quum rogaretur quem ex ordine regiorum medicorum suo gradu locóque dignum censeret, velut Socrates Apollinis oraculo sic illius sententia dignissimus successor es iudicatus. Tibi etiam vt veteri amico munusculum aliquod debeo, vt hospes hospiti tesseram hospitalem. At quum tu eloquentiam cum philosophia ita coniunxeris, vt te Vatronem Gallicum meritò possim appellare, non hîc ego tecum de intima philosophia multis disseram nec cum oratore diserto diuitias orationis expromam. Quid enim agerem? aut sanusue essem [p. 154] qui hæc te docerem? Nam etsi non Sus Mineruam, vt aiunt, tamen ineptè, quisquis Mineruam docet. Tantùm per te liceat de vetere tua consuetudine gloriari, cuius præsentem dignitatem ex medicis atque mathematicis colloquiis, quum Arduæ cum Annibale maris præfecto legato Regio pro pacis conditionibus tractandis vnà essemus, iam spe atque opinione præsagiebam. Philosophiam verò abstrusam quam hîc Paracelsus noster euoluit an inuoluit, neminem arbitror præter te medicorum ætatis nostræ, (Honoratum Castellanum collegam tuum libenter excipiam) vel suspicione solummodò attigisse. De qua ego sæpenumerò cum illo sapientissimo Fernelio quandoque tecum disserui, non de ea quæ vel edictis legum vel bonorum virorum suspicione vlla perstringatur: sed ea, quæ sacrosanctam priscorum philosophorum vatumque sapientiam à prophana multitudine alienam mysticis verborum inuolucris complectatur. At mihi onus hîc incumberet satisfaciendi doctissimæ tuæ aduersus Paracelsi opera disputationi quam mecum coràm subtilissimo collega Honorato & Ambrosio Pareo Archirurgo in Leonardi Botalli Astensis insignis medici pariter regii animi [p. 155] gratiâ instituisti: quum ille nos ad Comediæ Italicæ voluptatem liberali atque opipara cœna exciperet. Tu enim magna ratione contrà me contendebas, non videri Paracelsum ex arte & methodo, medicinæ artem tractate, imò confusè, sparsim absque ordine multa congerere. Artis enim esse (vt Cicero de iurisprudentia scripsit) summa genera rerum velut à capite arcessere, ea deinde tanquam in membra singula partiri, partes tandem ipsas suis quasque diffinitionibus circunscribere: aut ex Arabum officina, causas antecedentes, primitiuásque persequi, earumque effectus, demum sugna morborum eorumque curas: nullam ex iis videri Paracelsum veram disciplinæ formulam composuisse plenam quidem ac refertam. Verùm Galenum ipsum fatebor dialecticum subtilem fuisse sed velut Asianum oratorem scripturiendi quadam libidine multis egisse Theophrasti nostro more (quæ paucis poterant comprehendi)[c1]. Fuerit illud vtriusque vitium: verùm vt Galenus in vsu partium corporus humani mihi admirabilis videtur, non minorem Paracelsus in calculi tractatu videtur laudem sermonis institui logicè consecutus. Relinquamus vocabulorum tartari, ilech, Aniadi similiumque in eo affe- [p. 156] ctationem: exultat enim humanus animus quodam furore delectationis in pulchre inuentis,
Et linguæ cor laxat habenas.
Philosophorum chymicorum verba nulla sunt publica, suis vtuntur. Dandum autem est profectò illi, quod aliis metallicis scriptoribus à quibus hæc iamdiu tractantur, vt in rebus inusitatis (quippe quæ ab artis opere nascuntur) vtatur ipse verbis interdum non auditis. Nihil verò in nobis perfecti esse potest, laudemus quæ bona sunt, quæ mala, humaniter excusemus. Scribebat Paracelsus suis Germanis, velut Lucilius poëta suis Siculis & Tarentinis: ad rudia eorum ingenia stylum accomodauit. Nec dubito Capella sapientissimè, si omnes, saltem complures illius libros legisses, quin aliam de scriptis hominis opinionem fuisses concepturus. Legi ego partim, partim audiui ex Germanorum interpretatione plurima illius opera, quorum indicem præbui in præfatione libri de vita longa: allati sunt nudiustertius ad me alii eius libri Germanici, quos pariter in fine huiusce opusculi recensebo. Expecto alio squoque à Nabot viro mathematicæ disciplinæ peritissimo, ac Theophrasticæ studiosissimo. Confero ego ego quæ possum vt vsus artis maximæ optimus in communem hominum [p. 157] vtilitatem elucescat. Suadebant autem quidam viri minimè mali, iudicio tamen meo parum prudentes, vt hunc libellum qui aduersus medicos conscriptus videbatur alii quam medico offerrem, consecrarem, ne minus tibi gratus esset quòd vulgarem theoriam ac praxim medicam reprehenderet. Quis verò te melius delectum in rebus medicis faciet? quis omnium ea quæ à Paracelso in emolumentum salutis humanæ trahenda erunt, doctius iudicabit. At mihi absurdum videtur, quod plerique hodiè aduersus Paracelsi scripta factitant rem veram aut incignitam damnare: vt coràm te de arcano corallino alcali spirituum, mummia alcaligata in cura Podagræ disserui: in quibus turpe duco cognitioni & perceptioni assertionem reprehensionémque præcurrere. Quinam verò ex omni antiquitate Socrati, Democrito, Empedocli ingenio atque iudicio præstiterunt? quibus cum Hippocrate tuo, vita breuis visa est, ars longa, experimentum fallax: scilicet ob angustos sensus, imbecillos animos & veritatem rerum in profundo demersam aut tenebris vndique circunfusam. A sapientibus autem qui contrariis in partibus momenta rationum paria possunt ponderare, assertio libentius sustinetur, [p. 158] ne contrà prudentis officium incognita pro cognitis habeant iisque temerè assentiantur. Postremà est mei facti ratio, cur tibi potius quam alteri cuiquam istud opus do, dîco, addico: quòd vnus existis in aula morum corruptrice & deprauatrice, qui cum ingeniis conflictaris huiusmodi, neque animus ab officio tamen immutatur aut flectitur, vt solu philosophos ames, foueas iuuésque, illósque in deterrima labyrintho implicatos omni beneuolentiæ genere prosequaris. In qua si mihi aliquam operam præstare, & si me, vt Cicero pro Trebatio amico ad Cæsarem scribebat, quibusdam gloriolæ à Rege insignibus ornare volueris, non recusabo: si tamen rem tibi gratam fecisse hoc opusculo sensero, fecisse mihi operæpretium videbor. Bene vale Lutetiæ Parisiorum Kal[endis] Iulii Anno 1567.
English Raw Translation
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.
Leo Suauius Iacobus Gohory of Paris sends greetings to Ioanni Capellae of Paris, the Royal Physician.
To whom should I dedicate this charming new little book, rather than to you (most distinguished man)? Charming, I say, as a work of Theophrastus Paracelsus, and new, as my recently published annotations. For, as an erudite physician, a book of medicine is rightfully offered to you. Indeed, when your predecessor, the very learned man Ioannes Fernelius, Royal Physician, was dying and asked who among the royal physicians he considered worthy of his rank and position, you were judged as the most worthy successor, just as Socrates was by the oracle of Apollo. I also owe you a small gift as an old friend, as a host offers a token of hospitality to a guest. But, since you have combined eloquence with philosophy so well that I can rightfully call you the French Vatronius, I will not discuss deep philosophy at length with you here, nor will I bring forth the riches of eloquent speech with a skilled orator. For what would I achieve? Or would I be sane to teach you these things? For, even if it is not an owl teaching Minerva, as they say, it is still foolish for anyone to teach Minerva.
Allow me only to boast about our old acquaintance, whose present dignity I already presaged with hope and expectation from our conversations about medicine and mathematics when we were together with the high-ranking Annibal, a prefect of the sea and a royal envoy for negotiating peace conditions. As for the obscure philosophy that our Paracelsus has unfolded or perhaps enfolded here, I think no one among the physicians of our age, apart from you (I gladly make an exception for your colleague Honoratus Castellanus), has even touched it with mere suspicion. I often discussed this subject with the very wise Fernelius and sometimes with you, not about the kind of knowledge that is subject to the decrees of laws or any suspicion by good men, but about that which encompasses the sacred and ancient wisdom of philosophers and poets, hidden from the profane multitude in the mystical wrappings of words.
However, I would have the burden of satisfying your learned dispute against the works of Paracelsus, which you held with me in the presence of your subtle colleague Honoratus and Ambroise Paré, a Royal Surgeon, out of gratitude for the mind of Leonardo Botalli, the distinguished royal physician from Asti, when he entertained us with a lavish and sumptuous dinner at the pleasure of the Italian Comedy. For you argued forcefully against me that Paracelsus does not seem to have handled the art of medicine according to art and method, but rather he appears to have gathered many things in a scattered and disordered way. It is the nature of art (as Cicero wrote about jurisprudence) to first draw the highest categories of things, as if from a head, then to distribute them into individual limbs, and finally to circumscribe those parts with their respective definitions; or to follow, from the workshop of the Arabs, the antecedent causes and the primal ones, and their effects, and finally the signs of diseases and their cures. You maintained that Paracelsus does not seem to have composed any true formula of discipline from these, albeit full and abundant.
But I must admit that Galen himself was a subtle dialectician, yet like an Asiatic orator, he indulged in a certain desire to write many things in the manner of our Theophrastus (which could have been understood in fewer words). This might have been a fault in both, but as Galen appears admirable to me in the use of the parts of the human body, Paracelsus seems to have achieved no less praise in his treatment of calculus, having followed the course of logic in his speech. Let us leave aside the affectation of words like tartar, ilech, Aniadi, and similar terms in his writings; for the human mind delights in a certain frenzy of pleasure in beautiful inventions,
And loosens the reins of the tongue.
The words of the alchemical philosophers are not public; they use their own. Indeed, it must be granted to him that, in dealing with things long treated by other writers on metallurgy, he uses unusual words (which arise from the work of art) that are sometimes unheard of. But nothing in us can be perfect; let us praise the good things, and let us humanely excuse the bad ones. Paracelsus wrote for his Germans, as the poet Lucilius did for his Sicilians and Tarentines: he adapted his style to their crude talents. I do not doubt, Capella, that if you had read all or at least many of his books, you would have formed a different opinion about the man's writings. I have read some of them and have heard many of his works interpreted from German, the index of which I provided in the preface to the book on long life. Just the other day, more of his German books were brought to me, which I will also list at the end of this little work. I am also expecting more from Nabot, a man most skilled in the discipline of mathematics and very devoted to Theophrastus. I do what I can so that the best use of the greatest art may shine forth for the common benefit of mankind.
However, some men, not evil, but in my opinion not very wise, advised that I should offer and dedicate this little book, which seemed to be written against physicians, to someone other than a physician, lest it be less pleasing to you because it criticizes the popular theory and practice of medicine. But who will provide you with better delight in medical matters? Who among all will judge more learnedly the things that are to be drawn from Paracelsus for the benefit of human health? Yet it seems absurd to me that many people nowadays, when faced with Paracelsus's writings, condemn the true or the unknown: as I discussed with you about the secret coralline alkali of spirits and the alkalinized mummy in the treatment of gout, in which I consider it disgraceful for the cognition and perception to run ahead of assertion and reproach. But who, throughout all of antiquity, surpassed Socrates, Democritus, and Empedocles in genius and judgment? For them, as with your Hippocrates, life seemed short, art long, and experience deceptive: surely because of the narrow senses, weak minds, and truth of things submerged in the depths or surrounded by darkness on all sides. However, among the wise who can weigh equal moments of reason in opposite parts, assertion is more readily supported, lest the unknown be taken for the known and be rashly agreed with. Lastly, there is the reason for my action, why I give, dedicate, and assign this work to you rather than anyone else: because you are one of those in the corrupting and depraving court who struggle with such talents, and yet your spirit does not change or bend from duty, so that you alone love, cherish, and support philosophers, and pursue those entangled in the most terrible labyrinth with every kind of benevolence. In this, if you wish to provide me with some assistance, and if you, as Cicero wrote for his friend Trebatius to Caesar, wish to adorn me with some insignia of glory from the King, I will not refuse: however, if I feel that I have pleased you with this little work, I will consider it worth my effort. Farewell in Paris on the first of July in the year 1567.
