Text.BP190.F5r
From Theatrum Paracelsicum
Back to Authors | Back to Texts by Bernard Gilles Penot
Source: Paracelsus, Centum quindecim curationes experimentaque, ed. Bernard Gilles Penot, Lyon: Jean Lertout, 1582, sig. F5r–F7r = pag. 73 [89]–77 [93] [BP190]
Summary: This letter from Penot to Arndt (referred to as Johann Aquila) delves into the juxtaposition of ignorance and wisdom in the context of societal honors and the practice of medicine and alchemy. Penot begins by lamenting the contemporary preference for individuals ignorant of scholarly disciplines over those well-versed in Latin and Greek, noting the irony of such individuals being favored by royalty and receiving generous gifts. He posits that in these "last times," God has elevated the unlearned to emphasize the importance of hands-on experience in medicine, suggesting that true healing requires both theoretical knowledge and practical application.
Penot champions the art of alchemy as a means to purify and perfect medicines, drawing on Paracelsus' belief that everything is created by God but requires human effort to reach its perfect form. He uses the metaphor of raw materials like clay and iron, which must be refined and shaped into useful objects, to illustrate how medicine, too, must be extracted and refined from the earth. Alchemy, according to Penot, teaches the purification of medicine to separate the pure from the impure, thus preventing the mixture of corrupt substances that could lead to compounded diseases.
Highlighting the resistance to new knowledge, Penot argues that disdain for the unfamiliar stems from ignorance. He asserts that increased understanding fosters appreciation and love for a subject, which in turn enhances faith in God. He criticizes those who reject empirical knowledge, using the story of a noblewoman cured by an empiric practitioner as an example of how empirical knowledge can triumph over traditional scholarship, despite the scorn it may receive.
Penot concludes by acknowledging several contemporaries who embrace the art of alchemy, signaling a shift towards recognizing its value in medicine. This letter encapsulates the tension between traditional academic knowledge and empirical, hands-on experience in the pursuit of healing and understanding the natural world, urging a reconciliation of theory and practice for the betterment of society. (generated by ChatGPT)
Text
[p. 73 [89]] Bernardvs G. Penotvs Londrada a portu sanctæ Mariæ Aquitanus, doctissimo viro Iohanni Aquillæ Saxoni, Ethnicorum malleo. S[alutem] P[lurimam] D[icit].
Non solùm hoc nostros seculo (amice Iohannes) verùm etiam priscis temporibus inter doctos prouerbium hoc locum habuit, Admirationis matrem ignorantiam esse. Quis hoc tempore non miraretur, homines omnium bonarum disciplinarum prorsus imperitos, viris doctißimis tum Latinæ, tum Græcæ linguæ peritißimis anteferri? & à Regibus, & à principibus excipi, donísque amplißimis donari? viros autem ornatißimos omniúmque linguarum peritissimos reijci, & contemni? Tu qui iudicio eruditionéque polles, omne donum perfectum descendens à Patre luminum esse respondebis. Hos itaque nouißimis his temporibus idiotas, & empyricos excitat Deus, vt quilibet medicus ipsa medicamenta manu sua propria rectè paret, & parata acri iudicio proprijs morbis applicet, vt [p. 74 [90]] Semen morbi radicitus euellatur, & non imperito coquo committat. Hinc theoricam & practicam, & rationem & opus oportet concurrere. Nam iudicium sine practica est sterile. Pars illorum maxima respondebit vestras operationes, præparationésque ignoramus quas durum laborem habent. Nos iam senes, & doctores tyrones & discipuli fieri nolumus. Responsio hæc si locum haberet, Iudæus, Papa, Turca quoque suas superstitiones mutare nollent, quas tamen à sacris literis esse alienas non ignoramus. Nos verò satis indies probamus calcinando, sublimando, soluendo, putrefaciendo, distillando, congelando & fixando per hanc artem alchimiæ laudatißimam, purm ab impuro, corruptibile ab incorruptibili discerni, virosum ac lethale in salubre, & syncerum mutari posse. Et (vt ait Paracelsus) circa hanc artem debemus primo aduertere à Deo omnia creata esse. Nam ex nihilo aliquid creauit. Illud aliquid est semen omnium, illud semen, finem imponit rei ad quam destinatum est: omnia tamen ita creata sunt, vt ad nostras manus perueniant, & in nostra potestate esse incipiant: ita tamen vt non perfecta sed perficienda, non vt absoluta, sed absoluenda. Prima in illis materia perfecta est quidem, media autem & vltima perficienda restant. Exemplum, ferrum Deus creauit, terram, argillam, non qualia esse debent, nam argilla crescit, non tamen vt ollæ, & alia [p. 75 [91]] vasa fictilia. Sic ferrum in rudi materia iacens creauit rudéque nobis tradidit, ideo elaborandum est, vt ex eo calceos equis paremus, falces, lanceas faciamus. Sic quoque medicina sese habet: est enim & illa adeò creata. Sed non postea vt planè absoluta sit, sed sub terra adhuc occultata, non ab impuriore materia purgata, & quod restat in ea perficiendum, vulcano, id est medico committitur purgandum. Herbas, arbores, gemmas, ferrum, & omne id quod oculis cernitur, medicina recta non est, sed est rudis & immunda, in qua adhuc pars impurior occultatur. Alkimia ergo, medicinam purgare, dissoluere, & heterogenea ab homogeneis separare docet. Aliter putrida putridis, corruptibilia corruptibilibus miscentur, & in vnum conspirant effectum. Ita vt ex vno morbo plures oriantur. In summa, quilibet id non amat cuius cognitionem non habet. Sed etiam fugit, contemnit, nec discendum putat. Corpus solum modo externum curat, ménsque suum Deum colit. Quanto autem scientia ac cognitio alicuius rei plus crescit, eò magis amor eius augetur. Omnia enim in cognitione iusta, sita sunt omnia, ex ea manant omnésque boni fructus ad cognitionem redeunt: cognitio quoque fidem dat. Qui Deum cognouit fidere ei statim incipit. Nam qualis cuiusquæ fides est talis etiam cognitio: & econtra qui aliter operatur circa naturam, facit [p. 76 [92]] quemadmodum pictor imaginem pingens in qua vita, & vis nulla inest. Quare Empyrici (quos ita vocatis) exurgent vobis experctantibus ægritudines morborum, curas vobis impossibiles, & arripient, & sanabunt. Et vos vnà cum vestris consultationibus ratiocinationibúsque ludibrio, & risui trademini, sictur nuper B. in Germania accidit de quadam nobili celebríque muliere, quæ matricis dolore cruciabatur, quidem calculum, & lapidem esse dicebat: sed præteriens Empyricus calculum, & lapidem non esse contendebat. Quamobrem pro matrice remedium parare iussit: quo facto, statim liberata est. O qualis rumor ab illo exortus est, alios ad rumores concitans! (dicens) maritus eius nos ita contemnit, qui Empyricum hominem potius quàm nos consulit? Alij illo sapientiores parui eum fecerunt, qui illum Empyricum, hominis imperitissimi opera singulis horis vti sciebant: Vide (mi Aquilla) quanta inuidia ducti hostes, veritatem opprimere conantur: tandem velint nolint fateri cogentur quod negari non potest. Mihi obijcere posses, Qui totum dicit, nihil excludit. Quoniam plurimi sunt egregij laureati, viri magistri & medicinæ professores, qui hanc artem minimè abnegant. In quorum numero sunt amplißimi domini doctores viri præstantißimi, Petrus Seuerinus Danus, qui mira de spagyrica hac arte scripsit. Egregius [p. 77 [93]] piusque vir Michael Neander Humanus, professor. Theodorus Zuingerus Basiliensis, in hac arte versatissimus. Necnon Theodorus Birckmannus Coloniensis medicus, qui opere & ore quotidie maximo his in rebus iudicio pollet, silentio numquam relinquam. Inuoluetur nobilis ille Gallus vtriusque medicinæ eruditissimus D[ominus] D[octor] Rochefort, & Liebaud Lutetiæ medicus, nónne eius opera exstant? Illis ergo tantum dictum sit qui hanc artem laudatissimam, cane peius, & angue odio prosequuntur. Interea intui gratiam hæc abdita tria particularia in publicum edenda censui, quæ & qualia sint, res ipsa indicabit breui tempore, Deo volenta maiora daturus. Vale Geneuæ, Augusti 15. anno 1581.
Modern English Raw Translation
Generated by ChatGPT on 22 February 2024. 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.
Bernard G. Penotus from London at the Port of Saint Mary, Aquitaine, to the most learned man Johann Aquila [Johann Arndt] of Saxony, the hammer of the heathens, sends many greetings.
Not only in our times, dear Johann, but also in ancient times among the learned, the proverb held its place that ignorance is the mother of wonder. Who would not wonder at this time that men utterly ignorant of all good disciplines are preferred over the most learned men, experts in both Latin and Greek? And are welcomed by Kings and princes, and gifted with very generous presents? While the most adorned men, experts in all languages, are rejected and despised? You, who excel in judgment and learning, will answer that every perfect gift comes from the Father of lights. Therefore, in these last times, God raises up idiots and empirics so that every physician may rightly prepare the medicines with his own hand and apply the prepared remedies with sharp judgment to his own diseases, so that the seed of the disease may be uprooted and not entrusted to an unskilled cook. Hence, theory and practice, reason and work must come together. For judgment without practice is barren. Most of them will respond that we do not know your operations and preparations, which involve hard labor. We are now old, and we do not wish to become novices and students. If this response were valid, Jews, the Pope, and even Turks would not want to change their superstitions, which we know to be foreign to the sacred scriptures. However, we prove daily by calcining, sublimating, dissolving, putrefying, distilling, freezing, and fixing through this most praised art of alchemy that the impure can be separated from the pure, the corruptible from the incorruptible, and the poisonous and deadly can be changed into the wholesome and pure. And (as Paracelsus says) regarding this art, we must first notice that everything was created by God. For He created something out of nothing. That something is the seed of all, that seed sets the end for the thing to which it is destined: yet all things were created so that they come into our hands and begin to be within our power: yet so that they are not perfect but to be perfected, not as completed, but to be completed. The first matter in them is indeed perfect, but the middle and the last remain to be perfected. For example, God created iron, earth, clay, not as they ought to be, for clay grows, but not as pots and other earthen vessels. Thus, He created iron lying in raw material and delivered it to us raw, therefore it must be worked, so that from it we prepare horseshoes, make scythes, spears. So also medicine is: for it too was created. But not afterward to be completely finished, but still hidden under the earth, not purified from the impurer matter, and what remains in it to be perfected, is committed to the volcano, that is, the physician, to be purified. Herbs, trees, gems, iron, and everything that is seen with the eyes, is not right medicine, but is raw and unclean, in which the impurer part is still hidden. Therefore, alchemy teaches to purify medicine, to dissolve, and to separate the heterogeneous from the homogeneous. Otherwise, the putrid are mixed with the putrid, the corruptible with the corruptible, and they conspire to one effect. So that from one disease, many arise. In summary, everyone does not love what they do not know. But also flees, despises, and does not think it should be learned. He only cares for the external body, and the mind worships its God. However, as the knowledge and understanding of something grows more, so does the love for it increase. For everything is situated in just knowledge, from it all good fruits flow and return to knowledge: knowledge also gives faith. He who has known God immediately begins to trust Him. For as one's faith is, so is also his knowledge: and conversely, he who operates differently about nature, does as a painter painting an image in which there is no life or force. Therefore, Empirics (as you call them) will rise to you, expecting diseases of illnesses, impossible cures for you, and they will seize and heal them. And you, along with your consultations and reasonings, will be given over to mockery and laughter, as recently happened in Germany with a certain noble and famous woman, who was tormented by the pain of the womb, indeed said to be a stone, but a passing Empiric contended that it was not a stone. Therefore, he ordered a remedy to be prepared for the womb: having done so, she was immediately freed. Oh, what a rumor arose from him, inciting other rumors! (saying) her husband despises us so much, who consults an Empiric man rather than us? Others made little of him, wiser than him, who knew to use the work of that most inexperienced Empiric man every hour: See (my Aquila) how much envy led enemies try to suppress the truth: eventually, willing or unwilling, they will be forced to confess what cannot be denied. You could object to me, He who says everything, excludes nothing. Since there are many excellent laureates, masters and professors of medicine, who do not deny this art at all. Among whom are the most magnificent lords, most excellent doctors, Petrus Severinus the Dane, who wrote wonderful things about this spagyric art. The distinguished and pious man Michael Neander Humanus, professor. Theodorus Zuingerus of Basel, very experienced in this art. Also Theodorus Birckmannus of Cologne, a physician, who every day by work and speech excels in great judgment in these matters, I will never leave in silence. The noble Frenchman, the most learned Lord Doctor Rochefort, and Liebaud, a physician in Paris, will be involved, are not his works extant? Therefore, so much is said to those who pursue this most praised art worse than a dog and a snake with hatred. Meanwhile, I deemed it right to publish these three hidden particulars for the public benefit, what and how they are, the thing itself will indicate in a short time, God willing to give more. Farewell in Geneva, August 15, 1581.
