On Medicine

Above all, the scribes handled books V, VI, and VIII badly; you will easily be able to give an account of the interpolations and corrupt readings with which the first two are infested, by considering the multitude of medical prescriptions found in them. But on the contrary, book VIII was corrupted rather because the scribes transcribed it without understanding the matters about which Celsus speaks.

It is my wish that I may someday bring to light what I have discovered concerning the life and writings of Celsus, with the fragments of his lost works appended, which I collected long ago from books both manuscript and printed. But what I have committed to writing concerning these matters has not yet been brought to such a state that it can be submitted to the press.

And if, after the extraordinary merits of Dr. Targa regarding Celsus, I have been permitted to augment the labors of this man with some additions, I hope those readers will not make light of the paucity of my efforts who do not ignore how much an editor must sweat who has determined to purge of errors and interpret the work of a writer dealing with topics so varied and so difficult. Above all, I desire this reward for what I have performed, that all the most excellent philologists might turn their minds to Celsus with greater zeal than they have to this day, as he is currently too neglected by them. For my part, I will not spare the labor by which I might polish the context of Celsian speech with new emendations, led by the hope that, with the favor of the readers, all copies of this edition being sold out, the most honorable publisher might want to prepare another.