The Canon of Medicine (Canon Medicinae), Vol. I

...of Damascus, an interpreter for the Venetian merchants, and had taken pains that he might explain the words of Sorsanus in the vernacular, I decided to render them into Latin letters, which until this day have remained hidden from our people regarding the memory of such a great man. For it is no small praise to pursue the ancient wise men with love, and to exhibit testimony of their praises, morals, and learning to everyone.

Indeed, I have always considered Avicenna to be venerated and cultivated among all wise men, as one who wrote so many volumes, and those almost divine in almost every kind of science, that if all men wished to expend all their care in illustrating him, as would be fitting for one who has deserved so well of the human race, they could never satisfy his hands. For who, good gods, among the ancient writers has written more acutely, more accurately, or more abundantly on every kind of science, especially on medicine? He alone reduced medicine to a compendium, yet leaving nothing out. Nor could you easily find anyone more outstanding who wrote so many volumes, as Sorsanus himself says. Would that we had them all! But enough of these things.

Now, let us turn our speech to those things which we received from Sorsanus and which we ourselves also found. I consider these to be not unpleasant for readers, but useful, since even if they are a little long, they contain things which can render the reader attentive, docile, and benevolent. For we will show by what means Avicenna ascended to the pinnacle of wisdom, by what honors he was adorned, what noble men and Kings he had as friends, and also with what riches he abounded. All these things kindle men to the love of wisdom.

But lest anyone hesitate regarding the name of this most wise man, it seemed to me worthwhile to set forth certain things regarding the declaration of the name itself, which were observed by that Andreas Alpagus whom I just named, in the preface to the interpretation of Arabic names, when he explains the title of the Books of the Canons, which are held as follows: "The Book of the Canon in Medicine, which the most wise Prince and Philosopher Abuhali, Alhasen, Ebenhali, Ebenfina composed." From which it is clear that the name of Avicenna is named among the Arabs by these said names, which are interpreted thus: "Father Hali, Alhasen son of Hali, son of Sina." From which declaration of names it is certain that the name of Avicenna was bestowed from that corrupted term, "Ebenfina," by changing the first letters. And although many who have explained the title of the Books of the Canons have interpreted it otherwise, I nevertheless judged that greater faith should be placed in the interpretation of Andreas Alpagus, a man most practiced in the Arabic language beyond other doctrines, than in the rest; since he did not receive it except from the most learned Arabs, both disciples and trustworthy interpreters, and handed it down to us.

Therefore, the father of Avicenna was Hali, who was a Persian, which is certain from the narrative of Sorsanus, and also from many things which are found scattered through the volumes written by Avicenna himself, especially from the third chapter of the second doctrine of the first Canon, where he shows how the solar rays regard his own region; and also in the chapter on Tereniabin a type of manna, in the second [book] of the Canon; and from the process of the first chapter of the sixth [book] concerning animals. Hali, therefore, a Persian, was from the town of Belch, who, when he had betaken himself to Bukhara at the time when the invincible Nuch, son of the King of Bukhara, was ruling the city of Khorasan, was in charge of the Prince's affairs in the village of Carmin; for indeed, Carmin is an excellent village among the other villages of Bukhara. But closest to this village was the village of Aussene, in which Hali took Citara as his wife, and there Citara bore two sons, Avicenna the firstborn, and the other the second-born.

Therefore, Avicenna was a Persian, and one of the number of the wise philosophers under the law of Mahomet, from the already named parents. After Citara had borne the second son, Hali betook himself to the city of Bukhara together with his wife and children, and handed Avicenna to a tutor to be taught. He, while still a boy, was of such acute intellect and so inflamed with the love of virtues that, while he was still in his tenth year, he had progressed so much in letters that he seemed admirable to everyone. For even then, when his father was delighted with Memphite Egyptian singers and other learned men of the sciences, and would meet them together with his sons, talking about Memphite customs and affairs, in which he himself was wonderfully delighted, Avicenna not only listened to everything but also committed it to memory. Often there was conversation among them in these discussions about philosophy, about architecture, and even about the calculations of judges, which sciences Avicenna had already begun to learn from them.

But when Hali subsequently returned to Bukhara, he received Natalinus, a philosopher, into his house, led by the hope that Avicenna might be educated by him. Under the tutor’s guardianship, he progressed so much in both Grammar and Rhetoric that there was no doubt in such sciences that he could not easily declare, so that Natalinus, although he excelled much in the studies of philosophy, nevertheless, admiring his answers, confessed that he had never heard such shrewd and learned things from another. He surpassed everyone in both elegance and learning, answering even better than his tutor. After this, he began to study dialectics together with his tutor Natalinus, which, because they were difficult and were barely understood by Natalinus, Avicenna decided to read the books of dialectics and their expositors alone, and thus learned dialectics most diligently. He also wished to study the books of Euclid, which he viewed five times, and not only did he read these books without a tutor, but various and many other volumes, among which were some concerning the true and the false, which he studied with the greatest diligence. Then he turned himself entirely to natural and supernatural [philosophy] together with their interpreters, from which the doors of the sciences were opened to him. He was indeed of such greatness of spirit and intellect that he desired to experience nothing which did not contribute to the perfection of man. For this reason, he wished to read through all the books of medicine he could possess with diligence.