LEONHART FUCHS’S DEDICATORY EPISTLE

Against those who despise illustration.

...I value The text continues from the previous page's catchword "pendo," completing the thought that Nature has expressed the plants' features so skillfully. the outlines expressed so skillfully that [Nature] seems to have competed with the painter for glory and victory. But even if we have prepared these illustrations with great expense and much sweat, we know there will be those who condemn them as useless and of no importance. They will even shout that Galen supports their foolish opinion, claiming he did not even want plants to be described, let alone approving of their illustration. Although I believe no one fails to see how insane they are, I will not hesitate to ask them here: where has Galen condemned the descriptions and illustrations of plants? For I know for certain that such a thought never entered his mind, even in a dream.

Yet they will immediately respond that Galen asserts this very thing in the sixth book of On the Powers of Simple Medicines, in the chapter on Southernwood original: "Abrotono". However, we reply to them in turn: we admit that Galen did not wish to describe the forms and species of plants, yet not because he condemned them or judged them useless, but because he thought it would be entirely superfluous to attempt it after so many great men—especially Dioscorides, who (as Galen himself testifies in that same place) performed this task most perfectly.

But why do I linger on many words? Who, I ask, of sound mind would despise illustration, which is known to express things far Praise of illustration. more clearly than can be outlined by any words, even of the most eloquent men? Indeed, it is so arranged by nature that we are all captivated by pictures; thus, things exposed to the eyes and depicted on panels or paper sink deeper into the mind than those described by bare words. Hence, it is clear there are many plants which, while they cannot be described by any words so as to be recognized, are nevertheless placed before the eyes by a picture so that they are identified at the very first glance.

Therefore, not without merit has the honor due to good painters been maintained in all ages. It is well known that in all of Greece, it was the custom that well-born and liberally educated boys were taught painting before all else—or at least alongside their letters—because it was established that this art not only expressed the nature of individual things but also preserved their memory. For this reason, that art was also received into the first rank of the liberal arts, and it was always held in such honor that free-born men practiced it, while it was soon afterward forbidden by a perpetual edict that slaves be taught it. Consequently, no works by anyone who was a slave are celebrated in this art.

But let it suffice to have said these things about illustration, which some certainly reject quite imprudently. Furthermore, since in weaving the history of plants we have had to use terms that are somewhat obscure Why an explanation of certain words was added. and separated from the understanding and senses of the unlearned, we thought it would be worthwhile to add a brief explanation of these, lest they delay those who are less skilled while reading.

Moreover, since it is established that almost every plant has been given four names The system of the four indices.—namely Greek, Latin, "barbaric" This refers to the medieval or non-classical Latin names used in apothecary trade. as used by the shops of the druggists seplastiariorum: historical term for sellers of ointments, perfumes, and medicinal ingredients, and German—we have also compiled a four-fold Index, so that anyone, upon hearing a name, can seek the history of each plant without effort. Regarding ourselves, we can further affirm that we have spared neither expense nor labor in preparing these commentaries, so that we might satisfy the expectations many have of us. For we were not burdened by running out very frequently into the fields and forests, climbing the highest peaks of mountains, and enduring many tedious tasks from the artists—which the correction of their occasional errors produced. Any fair judge of matters will immediately perceive this for himself, so that there is no need for us to immodestly proclaim our own work.

But if anything "human" has happened to us A classical idiom (humanitus accidit) meaning to make an error or to die; here Fuchs uses it to humbly acknowledge potential mistakes in his research., we know well that all good men will judge us worthy of pardon, because it is not within the power of one man to restore a branch of botany original: "rem herbariam" that has been almost entirely obscured, and to do so so completely that it is free from all blame—especially in this difficulty of all things and the scarcity of ancient commentaries on plants. For among all the writings of the ancients on the nature of plants which pass down their characteristics together, absolutely none survives except Dioscorides is sometimes inconsistent and negligent in representing the appearance of plants. that of Dioscorides. Yet he does not describe all of them, as was understood above, nor does he always diligently and accurately outline those he depicts. For in representing the appearance of plants, he sometimes appears inconsistent, and occasionally he even passes over so many characteristics that he seems nothing less than negligent.

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