Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
A fresh translation from the early Latin text with annotations and study apparatus
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Latin Page · Branch 82 of 642
Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 1
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1605 p. 208
Latin
Ut res conservari & a nocumento defendi possit, necesse est primum omnium bene ipsius hostem cognosci, ut ab illo praeservari possit, ne ab ipso laedatur & corrumpatur in sua substantia, virtute, vi, aut quomodocunque damnum illud nominari possit. Multum igitur in hoc situm est, ut hostis omnium rerum naturalium cognoscatur. Quis enim sibi a damno & adverso casu cavere possit, qui ignoret suum hostem & nocere. Quare necessarium est, ut is bene sit cognitus. Sunt enim multiplices hostes. Praeterea tam necessarium est nosse mala, quam nosse bona. Quis enim bonum absque cognitione mali cognoscere potest? nemo profecto. Ita nemo scire potest, quantus thesaurus sit sanitas, qui nunquam aegrotavit. Quis scit quid gaudium sit, qui nunquam moestus vel tristis fuit? Et quis recte sciret, quid Deus esset, qui nihil sciret de diabolo? Quare cum Deus nobis notum fecerit hostem animae nostrae, nempe Diabolum, etiam nobis significat hostem vitae nostrae, nempe mortem, quae est hostis nostri corporis, nostrae sanitatis, hostis medicinae & omnium rerum naturalium: inquam etiam nobis facit, quomodo & per quid fugari debeat. Nam sicut nullus morbus est, contra quem non etiam sit creata & inventa medicina, quae illum curet & expellat: ita etiam semper una res est contra aliam posita, una aqua contra alteram, unus lapis contra alterum, una minera contra alteram, unum venenum contra alterum, unum metallum contra alterum: ita in pluribus rebus, quas non opus est omnes hic recensere.
English
For a thing to be preserved and defended from harm, its enemy must first be well known, so that it may be protected against it and not injured or corrupted in substance, virtue or force, or whatever name that damage may bear. Much therefore depends on knowing the enemy of every natural thing. Who can guard against damage and adversity without knowing the enemy and its capacity to harm? That enemy must be well known, for enemies are of many kinds. Moreover, knowing bad things is as necessary as knowing good. Who can know good without knowledge of evil? Surely no one. No one who has never been ill can know what a treasure health is. Who knows joy who has never been sorrowful or sad? And who could rightly know what God is without knowing anything of the Devil? Since God has made known to us the enemy of our soul, the Devil, he also shows us the enemy of our life: death, which is the enemy of our body and health, of medicine and of all natural things. Indeed, he also makes known how and by what means it should be driven away. Just as no disease exists for which a medicine has not also been created and found to cure and expel it, so one thing is always set against another: one water against another, one stone against another, one ore against another, one poison against another, one metal against another. It is so in many things, all of which need not be listed here.
Socrates
Reading Nine Books on the Nature of Things · Book 3 · Preservation · Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 1
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The complete supplied Latin–English edition of the historical title, dedication and all nine books, with 363 separately labelled historical marginal notes, 117 modern annotations and the complete Diotimos study apparatus. The transmitted composite work is traditionally attributed to Paracelsus; individual authorship remains qualified.
Historical Text and Translation
The normalized Latin follows the complete 1605 Frankfurt Palthenian witness, volume six, printed pages 198–271, in SUB Göttingen PPN578052199, historical scans 182–255. Earlier textual tradition is German; the individual translator of the 1605 Latin text is not identified. The dedication’s 1537 date is transmitted text, not an established date for the composite work.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
Rights
The historical Latin text is in the public domain. The fresh English translation and editorial material were prepared with AI assistance for Diotimos Editions in 2026 and are published with the site owner’s authorization.