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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Facing Pages · Branch 548 of 642
Book 9 · Signature · Passage 40
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1605 p. 259
Latin
Quod quidem ab imperitis Sophistis hactenus minime expensum est, dum per ignorantiam suam multo plures perdiderunt, quam sanarunt. Comprimis autem vos Medicos decet scire, quod perpetuo medicinam morbo iuniorem esse oporteat, ut scilicet felicius vincat, & in expugnando malo robustior sit. Si enim medicina morbo potentior & valentior est, morbus expugnabitur, & ut ignis ab aqua exstinguetur. Si potentior morbus est medicina, medicinam ille in venenum mutat, unde morbi postmodum geminantur & ingravescunt. Itaque si morbus ferreus est, oportet medicinam esse Chalybeam. Chalybs enim ferro vinci minime potest. Potentius semper vincit, & ignavius domatur, &c. Etsi ergo instituti quidem nostri ab initio non fuerit, hoc loco de medicina scribere: propter veros tamen ac genuinos Medicos haec silentio praeterire non potui.
English
Inexperienced sophists have not hitherto considered this, and through ignorance have destroyed far more people than they have cured. You physicians especially ought to know that a medicine must always be younger than the disease, so that it may conquer more successfully and be stronger in overcoming the ailment. If the medicine is more powerful and vigorous than the disease, the disease will be overcome and extinguished like fire by water. If the disease is more powerful than the medicine, it changes the medicine into poison, so that diseases are afterwards doubled and grow worse. If the disease is iron, therefore, the medicine must be steel, for steel cannot be overcome by iron. The stronger always conquers and the weaker is subdued. Although it was not originally our purpose to write about medicine here, I could not pass over these things in silence for the sake of true and genuine physicians.
Socrates
Reading Nine Books on the Nature of Things · Book 9 · Signature · Book 9 · Signature · Passage 40
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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.