From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →A changing classification and its violence
monstrum; monstra; monstris; monstro; monstrorum; mirabiliora; honorabiliora
Monstrum gathers several kinds of extraordinary or supposedly irregular being in these passages.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordMonstrum gathers several kinds of extraordinary or supposedly irregular being in these passages.
- In the workBook 1 initially describes animals allegedly produced from plants and from putrefaction.
- In this editionThe note explains honorabiliora as “remarkable” in this context, not as modern praise.
- A place to read“non solum omnia animalia, quae parentes non habent”
Meaning
Monstrum gathers several kinds of extraordinary or supposedly irregular being in these passages. Some are alleged artificial products, some arise without parents of their own kind, and some are human beings with bodily differences. These applications must not be treated as a single valid biological classification. The text moves from describing unusual origin or appearance to assigning moral and theological blame. Its harmful conclusions concern actual human differences as well as fabulous creatures; the category therefore carries moral condemnation, not merely the notion of a marvel.
Use in the book
Book 1 initially describes animals allegedly produced from plants and from putrefaction. The category of monsters includes forms with multiple heads, limbs, tails or colours, as well as creatures born from unlike materials. The formulation is expansive: not only parentless or unlike-born animals, but also animals arising from other things belong to it. The basilisk is then singled out as the monster above all monsters, a superlative case defined by its legendary dangerous gaze.
The next paragraph shifts to the supposed short lives of monstrous animals and human monsters. It asserts that extraordinary cases cannot survive among others unless separated, and then converts bodily difference into a sign of divine rejection and diabolical origin. It even claims that people with additional, absent or doubled limbs should be shunned. Those are the historical speaker’s stigmatizing assertions, not facts about character, dignity or spiritual standing.
The paragraph’s executioner image makes the violence of its reasoning visible. Physical marks are compared with punishments and treated as evidence of hidden wickedness. The category therefore means more than unusual beings generated artificially: it carries social and theological consequences. Nor should the nearby homunculus automatically be assigned the same condemnation, since its own passage praises artificial humanity as a disclosed divine marvel.
Places to read
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 6Latin“non solum omnia animalia, quae parentes non habent” The definition expands beyond one kind of extraordinary origin.
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 7Latin“monstrum super omnia monstra” The basilisk is made the supreme instance.
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 8Latin“omnes homines fugiendi sunt” The argument becomes an explicit and invalid social exclusion.
- Book 1 · Generation · Original marginal note 22Latin“Monstra fugienda.” The margin preserves the hostile injunction in compressed form.
Translation in this edition
The note explains honorabiliora as “remarkable” in this context, not as modern praise. The edition preserves the offensive assertions to expose their historical meaning while rejecting their validity. The quoted word is a historical category, not a valid classification of people.
From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →A source category, not a valid moral judgement
monstrosis; monstra; Hermaphroditae; Androgyni; Monstrum
The source places varied congenital bodily and sex-characteristic differences under monstrous signs and makes unsupported inferences about vice.
Meaning
The source places varied congenital bodily and sex-characteristic differences under monstrous signs and makes unsupported inferences about vice. Those discriminatory inferences do not establish valid relations between bodily difference and moral character. The historical terms identify what the argument classifies, not how people should be described or assessed today. The following maternal-mark qualification limits some judgements without correcting the whole system.
Places to read
- Book 9 · Signature · Passage 11Latin“Hermaphroditae, Androgyni”