Text.Duchesne.1576-01.A2r/Translation

To the Most Serene, Most Illustrious, and Most Powerful Prince, Francis, Son and Brother of the Kings of France, Duke of Alençon, &c. Joseph Quercetanus Armeniacus sends his warmest greetings.

Having been informed of your kindness and goodwill towards me, Most Illustrious Prince, and having been advised that it is your intention—indeed, your firm decision—to receive me into your patronage and household, and since you have recently taken care to make me aware of this resolution of yours, I began to consider how I might demonstrate my devotion, loyalty, and reverence towards Your Highness.

For, as the poet says, to have pleased princes is no small praise, and indeed, to be esteemed and valued by so great and wise a Prince, I consider to be the highest happiness. Therefore, as I was about to publish this book on the treatment of gunshot wounds in the near future, I resolved to adorn it with the splendor of your Most Illustrious name and to send it either as a companion to my journey to you or as a forerunner and herald of my arrival, so that through this, however modest and humble a gift, I might bear witness to the inclination of my heart towards Your Highness.

For although this gift is of very little worth and neither suitable for the greatness, dignity, nor power you possess—since it deals only with the art of surgery and the healing of wounds and bodily injuries—I nonetheless believed that this subject, especially at this time, would not be displeasing to you. Indeed, I have judged it to be particularly fitting for that most sacred and wise endeavor of yours, namely, the assistance and support of your country.

For when you saw your most beloved homeland afflicted, bloodied, and torn apart by these long and bitter civil wars, you conceived the wisest course of action: to seek a remedy for so many evils through the reconciliation of factions and the concord of citizens. So great was your love for your country that you placed its welfare above your own, deeming it necessary to assist it as soon as possible with your peaceful counsel.

O blessed is France to have such a Prince! O fortunate and favored is the nation to have such a son! To its mortal wounds and its nearly hopeless condition, you have offered so immediate and so timely a remedy.

O ungrateful citizens!—not to say impious ones—if there should be any (which God forbid) who would reject so great and so singular a benefit, granted to them by divine providence.

The greatest leaders and princes of Greece, skilled in surgery, are remembered in history; thus, Patroclus, Machaon, and Podalirius are praised by Homer with high honors because they did not hesitate to tend to wounded soldiers and to place their own hands upon their wounds. That Alexander, great both in deed and in name, also treated his wounded soldiers with his own hand, as Plutarch testifies.

And I must confess that the remembrance of these great men has inspired me to make this inscription and dedication, as I considered that this subject and its discussion would not seem foreign to you in this most sorrowful and disastrous time. However, you appear to me to have surpassed the wisdom of those princes in this respect: that you have not only undertaken to heal the wounds already inflicted, but have also taken precautions to prevent such misfortunes from happening again in the future.

Many ancient kings and emperors are praised—among them Mithridates, Attalus, Juba, and Ptolemy, as well as Augustus, Tiberius, Hadrian, Aurelius, and Justinian—not only for having attained the highest degree of medical knowledge but also for having devised certain remedies through their own study. How much greater, then, will your renown be, as you have not merely provided a cure for a few individuals but have offered to the entire nation the most immediate remedy of peace!

Thus, I now rejoice with all my fellow citizens for having such a beneficent prince—one whom we may truly call the father and savior of the country. But above all, I rejoice for myself, for having acquired a patron endowed with such heroic virtue and greatness of spirit.

As for me, I am firmly resolved and determined to serve Your Highness with the utmost faithfulness and devotion in the fulfillment of my duty, so that neither you shall ever regret the decision to extend your favor to me, nor shall I ever regret my earnest dedication and obedience toward Your Highness.

Farewell, Most Serene Prince and Most Illustrious Patron! May God grant Your Highness a long life, filled with the greatest happiness and prosperity.

On the first day of December, 1575.