Liber aphorismorum Book of Aphorisms

This book is used for establishing stable medicine... ...?

Preface of Lord Constantinus Africanus, monk of Monte Cassino, to his disciple Azo, or Glauco.

Although you, my son Azo, have often said to me in your persistent requests that I should translate some works of Galen from the Arabic language into the Latin tongue, I have for a long time refused, hesitant to translate such great works of the philosopher. But since you did not cease to ask, and said that you grieved that the Latin tongue lacked such a man, I finally condescended to you and decided to translate his work on the Aphorisms of the most glorious Hippocrates original: "Hypo.". If anyone reads this with a sharp mind, they will rejoice that their effort was not wasted. In this work, there is lucid material and powerful words; when joined together, as the poet says, the verse of the satirist Horace seems to have been borrowed for him: "Poets wish either to benefit or to delight." In this work, he succeeded in using powerful words to both delight and benefit.

In this proem, the author shows what his intention is...

A large decorative initial 'V' (for Vita) printed in red ink, containing a circular diagram or rota. The diagram contains concentric circles with names of medical authorities and categories. At the center is the word 'Aphorismu'. Radiating outwards are segments containing names such as 'Hippocra', 'Galienus', 'Musa', and 'Theophil'. The entire structure is surrounded by dense handwritten marginalia in a late medieval or early modern cursive hand, providing glosses and commentary on the text and the diagram.

Many? interpreters of this book...

Many interpreters of this book are in agreement that whether there is one aphorism or many, the whole is like a preface to the following work, in which it is fitting to investigate what the intention of Hippocrates was, which perhaps will be made clearer if each point is considered individually.

He called life short in comparison to the immense expertise of this art. He called the art long because the time in which one must work specifically appears to be narrow and small, which, if one wishes to grasp it, must be acquired through long exercises and long use. For whenever anyone wishes to bring any art to action, two instruments are necessary: experience and reason; but reason is the judge testing the matter, of which the first, namely experience, is timid, and the second, namely judgment, is very difficult. Time is narrow because of the subject upon which one must labor, and it is clear that this is the human body, which, since it is easily moved by itself, is moved even more by external accidents. Experience is timid because of the nobility of the subject, not because of the speed of its movement, which pertains to the narrowness of time. Judgment, according to rational intellects, is clearly difficult, since everyone disagrees about it to this day. If anyone wishes to understand this according to the methodici those who follow a simplified medical method, such that judgment is a confirmation of a thing already known, it is clear that this is difficult, which even the most perfect can barely attain. But because Hippocrates belongs to the rationalists, his primary opinion must be held. Here, the first end of this aphorism is placed. The following part is not to predict, that is, to explain, but to instruct the one who is doing what must be done. He says: "It is necessary not only to show yourself doing what is necessary, etc.," as if he were saying: "It is necessary for the reader of this book of mine, if he wishes to test and certify what I have written, that once he has become a physician, he should not be content only with those things that are necessary to do, but he should also organize the matters of the sick, those assisting him, and those things which are external, as is necessary."

What he said at the beginning pertains to life being short and art being long. Regarding those things which follow "life is short" and "art is long," he confesses that they are subsequent, as if he established a pact between Hippocrates himself and the reader of the book itself. But having passed over these for the moment, it is necessary to repeat from the beginning why he said life is short in regard to the art being long. This was our first intention. Some say that he intended to urge readers toward the assiduous reading of this art. Some confirm that he labored toward this so that he might remove them from this art. Others say he wished to discern who would be more prompt for this art, and who would be slower. Others say it was to show why it was necessary for books on medicine to be made. Many testify that he intended that short books on this art should be made, from which they say he titled them "Aphorisms." There are others exclaiming that he wanted to show that no one could reach the perfection of this art, but that each should aspire to it according to their ability. Others say that he shows that it is a great fault of the physician if he cannot accomplish what he intends and wishes to do. I think that almost all of these are removed from his intention. It is not that of a wise man to make books because of Hippocrates, and to tell readers that he cannot fulfill his own sayings, and thus to repel them from himself, which contradicts the good until he said: "It is necessary not only to show yourself doing what is necessary." By these words, he certified that all things could be fulfilled that he himself commanded. For he did not say in many places that one sins and cannot reach perfection. If he had said this, he would not have subjoined: "It is necessary." But after he had said "life is short, etc.," the physician sins in the sick, the sick in himself, and those assisting him sin; it had to be said. Therefore, those who say he stated "life is short" to repel students from himself are not to be praised. For it would be a great madness to make books, and afterwards to wish to dismiss them from himself, and that he should strive to repel them when he ought to make the readers attentive. But those who say that he urges the disciples, as if saying: "Because of the brevity of life and the multiplicity of the art, it is necessary for them to labor much," can be true. But saying this fits neither the sense nor the intention of Hippocrates, nor the words of this book. Those who say he also wished to test the disciples by saying that the art is hard and long can perhaps speak the truth. For Plato persuades us, to test the will of the disciple who ought to be introduced into any art, that the art should be called long and hard so that it may be more dear to the soul of the one reading. But that this should be persuaded orally was not to be added to the preface of this book, because the prologue of this one is to be exposed in the time of those that follow.

Perhaps, therefore, Hippocrates wanted the aphorisms of all his books to be the first; for that reason, he placed at their head that which is universal to all, showing that this art cannot be grasped in full unless there is much exercise and a long time, according to what nature demands of those learning. Believing that Hippocrates made this prologue universal to all his books does not conflict with those saying he wished to show here why it was necessary to make books about medicine. But since he made this same book, which he entitled the Introduction to Medicine, to which he also applied a universal prologue of this art, which is to be understood universally as the way and significance of the whole art of medicine, as we shall also teach when it is said to be universal. Therefore, both of those groups are to be praised more than the others who assert the intention of this prologue was to show the authoritative nature of his aphoristic sermons and to confirm his wish to show why it was necessary for books about medicine to be made. The first, because the aphorism is to explain the opinion of the author briefly, a great help is granted to those wishing to learn a long art in a short time. Others are laudable who confirm the necessity of making books of this art, because since the life of every person is short relative to the length of the art, no one can reach the perfection of this art unless they have read it beforehand.