Tres Orationes

unless it were directed by divinity. For hardly anywhere in the whole of philosophy, which is the offspring of wonder, do more θαυμασὰ καὶ λόγοῦ δεόμενα, καὶ πάντα νοῦν ὑπερέχοντα marvels requiring explanation, and things exceeding all understanding occur than in that very part of the doctrine which deals with the occult properties of plants, which proceed not from matter nor from temperament, but from a form that perfects matter and directs temperament, and therefore must be noted from their effects, not from any sense. Although it is clear that there are some today who are eager to recall the qualities that belong to forms, that is, the most interior instruments of nature, to the judgment of the senses. We do not condemn this laborious endeavor; in fact, we are willing to admit, and even to profess and proclaim, that we and all posterity owe them a great deal if they supplement the lacking consultations of the ancients in this part with their own commentary, and remove so many miracles of nature from the middle, in which most have observed that their own cognitions not only stick and become entangled but also dangerously stumble. Very few have been ἀξιολόγως notably/worthily involved in these matters thus far, recognizing the narrowness of their intelligence only after they had rushed with precipitous impulse into this sharp point of doubt. Galen affirms many things in the second book of τὰ κατὰ τόπους On Affected Parts, saying that among the amulets which Archigenes bound to the head like a crown to drive away pain, there are some that possess οὐδένα λόγον ἰατρικὸν no medical reason, but display their efficacy through