Gerhard Dorn, Apologia qua Theophrasti respondetur adversariis, no date (1568) (BP109)
| Author: | Gerhard Dorn |
| Title: | Apologia qua Theophrasti respondetur adversariis |
| Type: | Other Text |
| Date: | no date [1568] |
| Pages: | 3 |
| Language: | Latin |
| Quote as: | https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/index.php?curid=1905 |
| Editor: | Edited by Julian Paulus |
| Source: | Paracelsus, Philosophiae magnae collectanea quaedam, ed. Gerhard Dorn, Basel: Pietro Perna no date [1568/69], sig. )(5v–)(6v [BP109]
|
| CP: | Not in Kühlmann/Telle, Corpus Paracelsisticum |
| Translation: | Raw translation see below |
| Back to Paratexts Back to Texts by Gerhard Dorn |
[sig. )(5v] Apologia qua Theophrasti respondetur aduersarijs.
Hæc sunt quæ in Paracelsum ab inimicis eius eiaculari solent: quòd aliud nihil habeant, quo hominem aggrediantur.
In primis (inquiunt) non nisi potus, & obrutus vino suos conscripsit Libros.
Alterum, vulgariter scripsit, quòd Latinæ linguæ prorsus ignarus foret.
Similia solent in vulgus conficta nimium spargere, præter suæ conscientiæ testimonium: saltem vt pium virum errores pseudodoctorum veritate reformare conantem, hominibus exosum reddant. Non secus Pharisæi de Christo, discipulis eius & Apostolis dixerunt, indiesq́ue dicunt. Sed videamus quàm insciè cupientes alios denigrare, se prorsus in carbones, imò prunas conijciant. Ponamus verum fore, quod somniare libenter non erubescunt. Nunquid maximo debet adscribi dedecori tam eximijs doctoribus, quales ipsi [sig. )(6r] se reputatione saltem simulant, quòd homini poto, necnon vulgari (vt aiunt) doctrina velint nolint cedere debeant? Indicio est, quia nihil adferre possunt ex suæ sapientiæ thesauris, quo tam ardua sui reformatoris argumenta refelli queant, præter calumnias perperam excogitatas. Si dixerint ea minus digna redargutione, quod solent: eo se conuictos iam fassi fuerunt, quum nihil nisi falsum redargui debeat: hac ratione verum erit quod Paracelsus loquutus est. Hoc refugij habent quotquot ignari sunt, ad quod velut ad sacram anchoram periclitantes confugiunt: & clypeus eorum optimo iure vocari potest. Iam vt ex vno mendoso conuitio cætera confictissima fore pateat apertius: nonne maximam vniuersitatibus faciunt iniuriam, & Basiliensi præsertim, quæ reliquas inter celebris, Paracelsum ad Medicinæ lecturam ordinariam per aliquot annos libenter admisit? An non flagitiosum id fore videtur, Academias nempe diffamare mendis, ab his qui membra sunt earum: dum tacitè diuulgant facultates in eis vulgari sermone legi? quod falsum esse scitur. Contra hos, epistolam istius Paracelsi ad Erasmum Latinè datam in testimonium adferemus. Profectò nisi Latinum atque doctum virum agnouisset Erasmus Paracelsum, in vniuersitate[c1] Basiliensi tempore suo degentem docentemq́ue, non Latinis, at vulgaribus ei literis re- [sig. )(6v] spondisset. Item adiungemus & literas ab ipso Paracelso Tigurinæ scholæ cœtui Latinè manu marteq́ue proprijs exaratas, & alteras ad D. Christophorum Clauserum Doctorem Medicum atque Philosophum apud Tigurinos. Fortius Liber eius de Tartaro, necnon alia complura Opuscula per ipsum etiam edita Latinè, testantur contra liuidos istos diffamatores, eorum calumnias merè confictas fore. Sed vide quæso, Lectore optime, quàm friuola sunt hæc aduersariorum eius figmenta: quæ si etiam vera forent, nihil inferre possunt. Ac si nulla Philosophia, Medicina, vel alia doctrina quæuis, præterquam Latinè tractari valeat: vulgariter non. Hac sua ratione liberales artes nullæ dici poterunt, sed literatis idiomatibus adstrictissimè subiectæ. Quid non ab inferis adferent, quo scabiem suam regant? Hac via sanè minimè fecerint. Quin potius eam permittunt medicari veris & salutiferis, quæ Paracelsus adfert remedijs? Faciant isti quod possint: aliquandiu veritati resistent: at in posterum velint nolint succumbere cogentur cum ignominia maxima. Satius nimirum foret nobiscum vt à fouea pedem retraherent, prius quàm in eam sese præcipites dedant. Lector optime iudicium huius ex æquo faciens, Vale.
English Raw Translation
Generated by ChatGPT on 10 March 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.
This is a response by Theophrastus to his opponents. These are the things that his enemies often hurl against Paracelsus, because they have nothing else to attack him with.
Firstly (they say) he only wrote his books while drunk and intoxicated with wine.
Secondly, he wrote in a vulgar manner, being completely ignorant of the Latin language.
Similar things are often spread among the people, fabricated beyond the testimony of their own conscience, at least to make a pious man who tries to correct the errors of pseudo-doctors hated by people. Just as the Pharisees said about Christ, his disciples and apostles, and still say today. But let us see how they ignorantly try to denigrate others, throwing themselves into coals, or even into embers. Let us assume that what they are dreaming of is true. Should such disgrace be attributed to such distinguished doctors, whom they at least pretend to have a reputation, that they should yield to a drunken and vulgar (as they say) doctrine, whether they want to or not? The fact is that they can bring nothing from the treasures of their wisdom, with which they can refute the difficult arguments of their reformer, except for falsely conceived slanders. If they say that those things are less worthy of refutation, as they usually do, they have already admitted to being convicted when nothing but falsehood should be refuted. This way, what Paracelsus said will be true. Those who are ignorant have this refuge, to which they resort like to a sacred anchor in danger, and their shield can rightly be called the best.
Now, to make it more clear that other fabrications are derived from one false accusation, don't they do a great injustice to the universities, especially to the University of Basel, which, among the other famous ones, admitted Paracelsus to the regular study of medicine for several years? Doesn't it seem shameful to defame the faculties of universities with lies by those who are their members, while silently spreading the rumor that they are taught in vulgar language, which is known to be false? Against them, we will present the letter of Paracelsus in Latin, written to Erasmus as evidence. Indeed, unless Erasmus had recognized Paracelsus as a learned and Latin-speaking man, who was then living and teaching in the University of Basel, he would not have responded to him with Latin, but with vulgar letters. We will also add letters written in Latin by Paracelsus himself, addressed to the assembly of the school in Zurich, and others to Dr. Christophorus Clauser, a medical and philosophical doctor among the people of Zurich. His book "On Tartarus," and many other works written in Latin by him also testify against those slanderers, that their slanders were purely fabricated.
But please see, dear reader, how frivolous these fabrications of his opponents are, even if they were true, they can prove nothing. If no philosophy, medicine, or any other doctrine can be treated except in Latin, then it cannot be done in vulgar language. By this reasoning, no liberal arts can be called such, but they are strictly limited to literate languages. What will they not bring from the depths to rule their own itch? Certainly, they have not followed this path. Rather, they allow the true and healing remedies that Paracelsus brings to be treated. Let them do what they can, resist the truth for a while, but in the future, they will have to yield, whether they want to or not, with the greatest shame. It would certainly be better for them to step back from the pit before they plunge into it. A fair judgment of this matter, dear reader, farewell.
