Commentaries on the Six Books of Dioscorides on Medical Matter

[so that he might] be handled more frequently in the hands of students. Add also that this translation is preferred by the common judgment of nearly all, especially physicians; to which, clearly, it has pleased us also to subscribe. However, it certainly did not escape me that Ruellius was perhaps too scrupulous in it; for he sometimes preferred Ruellius
Dioscori-
des to desert Dioscorides himself rather than Pliny, now captivated by the brilliance of the Latin language, now uncertain in his knowledge of the matter. Having perceived this, I indeed adopted Ruellius’s interpretation, yet in such a way that I sometimes dared to deviate from him, following either the authority of the oldest and most esteemed copies and a single codex of Oribasius, or relying on certain experience of the matter. Of those things which I changed, I left some noted with an obelisk, and for some we even suppressed the sign. Indeed, I would have exhibited more of this kind, and moreover more variant readings, if greater leisure and time had been available to us; which things, however, God granting, will one day be given for the common utility and for a broader field of investigating medical matter.

Hence it happened that I did not think Ruellius’s name should be prefixed to the text, lest I should seem to agree with him in name, while often dissenting from him in fact. For I thought it would be enough if I informed students here that I acknowledge my debt to Ruellius for the translation of Dioscorides; if, furthermore, I gave the reason why I did not wish to be always bound to him. Commen-
tarii Since we have performed this abundantly, as I believe, let us now proceed to the other purpose we set for ourselves, which concerned our commentaries. Regarding which, it would certainly be better for me to be silent than to say little, if I wished to confront the scoffers and fault-finders. For today that kind of men is frequent, and it sprouts more every day in Italy (I know not what happens in other regions), who bring forth no fruit or seed in the whole course of their lives, yet greedily pluck at others’, soon tearing them apart and trampling them underfoot.

But I shall let these go now; for another place and another leisure from our studies will require that we converse with them, either for the sake of deterring them from this evil mind, or for the sake of exciting them to bring forth their own works as well. But let our speech turn to the honest and fair-minded, for whom we write these things. I would wish that it move no one, excellent readers, nor should anyone wonder at what has been done by us, if in our commentaries, now enlarged for a second time, just as in the previous ones, he finds that I have presented some plants that are not unknown—both those of which Dioscorides makes mention and those added by us—yet have not expressed their images in a picture. This (by Hercules!) was done not only because the plants known to us were not all at hand for us while I was seeing to their depiction, but also because there was a lack of engravers who might cut the plants already painted on blocks.

To these was added a great mass of business, which hindered our studies, so that almost no time was left for nocturnal labors. Since after I was appointed Physician by the Most Serene King of the Romans, Ferdinand, to his Most Serene son Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, The Most
Serene King
Ferdinand not only do many affairs daily emerge beyond expectation—as is very common for any court physicians—but also long journeys sometimes present themselves, and wars which Physicians must follow with their Princes; it certainly happened, since it behooved me to carry out all these things, that hindered by these affairs, I could not satisfy both you and myself in everything. Yet we do not seem to have done little for ourselves if, among so many courtly and warlike inconveniences, even as age also weighs heavily, we now give you our commentaries, not only enlarged in nearly six hundred places, but distinguished by very many images of plants and animals, concerning which we have specifically discoursed in the same commentaries, and even some concerning which Dioscorides treated that were not contained in the first edition. Those things which we have now omitted for the compelling reasons stated above, we shall perhaps one day bring forth, unless something human happens to us. Nor will it ever be a source of regret, if by chance I obtain any successive hours of leisure, to spend all that time for your benefit and that of the whole commonwealth.

Furthermore, to say something separately about the images, I once indeed shrank from this type of discourse, thinking that no one could ever attain from icons so true and exact a knowledge of simple medicines that their variety could be encompassed in a single picture. For the appearance of a sprouting herb is not that of an adult one, nor is the adult's that of one already growing old. If all such changes of herbs had to be represented by individual pictures, who could doubt that the work would be one of infinite labor and immense expense? But indeed, when I had seen such attempts by others commended by almost everyone, and the zeal of men publishing the likenesses of things increasing daily, I did not wish to seem the only one to hold a contrary opinion; having finally weighed the matter better and found it otherwise, with experience itself teaching another way, I did not wish to be lacking in this excellent and least unfruitful study.

To this was added something that incited me in no small measure: the vanity of a certain Mantuan printer, who had stealthily inserted into our works previously published in Italian certain images not at all added by us, which represented anything rather than the thing itself. I was glad that this happened while I was still surviving, so that I myself might erase the foul mark falsely branded upon me. Therefore, both to assist the attempts of others and to counter the audacity of this malicious engraver, I myself also wished to try whether I could provide anything in this matter, not only to bring my own findings to light, but also to deserve well of you students, if I could. But how difficult this matter has been for us, there is no need to explain at length; for everyone knows how difficult it is to find men who depict things themselves to the life, just as they are, and who diligently engrave what has been depicted. Of whom there is a still greater scarcity, a fact which you students will also easily judge, who will encounter in this work some likenesses sculpted skillfully enough, but some truly not with sufficient skill,