16 On natural philosophy (1542) CR XI, 555–60
16 On natural philosophy (1542)
CR XI, 555–60
Oration on natural philosophy, held at Wittenberg1
Peace is the best of all things ‘that it is given to man to know, peace alone triumphs’ [Silius Italicus, Punica II]. It is more powerful than countless other things, says the poet, and most of all among citizens. Let us therefore entreat God for everlasting peace, for the sake of the Church that is otherwise quite badly affected, and is retaining only some small remnants of erudition. And let us now give thanks to God, the father of our liberator Jesus Christ, for calming the panic (panikon) unrest that has originated nearby;2 I shall say very little on that, because it is now to be hoped that the whole matter will be forgiven. But let us be warned by that danger, and let us therefore worship God with greater piety and diligence, so that He assist the Church and the studies that are necessary for humankind. We should achieve this more easily if we do not abuse leisure for the purpose of luxury or of vile pleasures, but instead keep in view the goal for which God has granted peace to the state, so that the young be educated and instructed, and ruled by discipline, and that we apply greater assiduity in this our gowned profession.
As it is usual to speak of a variety of either arts or virtues at this point in these assemblies in order to encourage you, so I, too, am going to hold an oration, this time on the science of natural philosophy. It both takes its first beginnings from mathematics, and again and again borrows demonstrations from it. Therefore I have spoken of mathematics often at other times and recently. Perhaps, however, just as soldiers are inflamed not so much by words as by their nature and grief, and by the greatness of the cause – as it is said in Sallust [The War with Catiline LVIII. 1] – words do not supply virtue. In the same way this our trifling speech for kindling minds does not provide that much impulse. But I nevertheless believe that they are profitable to good intellects for judging on the arts; they show the goals, teach where, so to speak, the hand should be guided in learning, and which subjects should most be chosen. These same admonitions are nevertheless conducive to kindling zeal. Nor do I believe that the habit of leaders is utterly useless,
1 Another version of the De doctrina physica was delivered by Paul Eber in 1550: see CR XI, cols. 932–9.
2 The battle at Wurzen, 1542.
who stir up the soldiers not only by a speech, but also by the bugle. By the kindness of God you have, in this University, most learned lecturers expounding natural philosophy, who are wont to attract eminent minds by the quality of the subject and to promote studies by their discourse. I do not doubt that natures that are not twisted will be kindled both by their judgement and by their authority. Since, then, an oration expressing the sentiment of the entire University is to be held, I reckon that I ought to speak of the same topic, so that you may understand that the sentiments of all agree on this kind of science. Virgil's verse is well known, in which it is said: ‘Happy is he who can know the causes of things’ [Virgil, Georgics II.490]. Even though human nature is weak, and cannot avoid disease or dangerous misfortunes by sagacity or diligence, we should nevertheless not believe that life is provided in vain with so many arts, which are after all shown to humankind by divine providence.
Sometimes the art of sailing is overcome by storms; nevertheless the art of building ships and of rowing is not shown therefore to be pointless. Sometimes the crops either perish from unseasonable heat, or are choked by rainfalls; nevertheless, agriculture is not to be abandoned. One could say the same about all the other arts. Medicine often succours life, and it drives out pernicious diseases, although sometimes the illness is stronger than the learned art. The starting-point of medicine is natural philosophy, which is usually taught to the young because of its many benfits, and of which I am yet to speak.
The knowledge of physicians includes very great learning that is salutary for human life. But not all can practise the same art: Aristotle says that the state consists of farmers and doctors, that is, the state has need of various arts.3 Therefore the beginnings of natural philosophy are taught not only for the purpose of knowledge or pleasure, but in order that they may be of use for many aspects of life. Although not all practise the art of healing, nevertheless all who do not live like barbarians need some kind of general knowledge of the seeds of the body which we call the elements, of the temperaments, of the function and nature of the limbs and organs in humans, of the causes of diseases, and, I add further, of the movements of the heavens and the various effects that accompany the motions. I bear in mind that this is also knowledge for mothers of families, because it is necessary for the protection of health and for education. All have need of some kind of household science for protecting their health and for
3 See note 3, oration 2, p. 10.
managing their way of life. And it is proper for the educated to know the sources of arguments which, although they appear trifling, can nevertheless teach the studious many things. Varro was not a doctor by profession, but nevertheless, by his reason and diligence, he protected himself and his company in a province that was infested by a destructive plague. He ordered that all windows be barricaded, especially those on the north side from where the harsher winds blow. As you can all understand, he had taken this advice from the basic precepts that are taught in natural philosophy on the difference between the winds.
Galen recounts that the Emperor Antoninus4 usually rid himself of repletion of the stomach by fasting for a day and taking one cyathus of wine, into which he had sprinkled some pepper. These are household remedies, but we cannot use them correctly without knowledge of natural philosophy. For one needs to ask Antoninus the reasons why he used substances that are almost inflaming: he had noticed that for him the repletion originated from the cold in the stomach. How many ancient and recent leaders could I recite who, although they did not practise medicine, nevertheless by this philosophy took care of their own health and that of others. Alexander had extraordinary eagerness in this field, knowing that Achilles, too, had learnt medicine from Chiron, as we read in Homer [Iliad, XI.831f.]. Now I am not speaking about the entire art of physicians, but of the general and household science that we cannot do without, if we do not want to live like wild beasts.
Let me also add some examples from the Church. Noah, Abraham, the Prophets and the Apostles commanded the same science of natural philosophy. For, in order that they would stand out from among the other men by their dignity and could also bind many to themselves by their services, it was God's will that they join the medical art to the profession of God's Gospel, and He directed their hands towards healing. Do not consider it unseemly for yourselves to imitate the studies of such great men, who – although they upheld other difficult duties – inquired into the workings and temperaments of the human body, and into remedies for diseases; some perhaps more studiously than others, but nevertheless they all understood that general kind of natural philosophy that cannot be taught without letters.
It may be the foremost benefit that it is a small part of medicine, but there are many other reasons why natural philosophy is taught to the young. A
4 Reading Antoninus for Antonius, which refers to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (160–81 AD).
great part of ethical disputations spreads from it, because the causes of the virtues are to be sought in the nature of man. And so in civil business, too, often something can be gained from the science of natural philosophy. And Plato says [Phaedrus 270] that Pericles surpassed other orators to such an extent because he had listened assiduously to the physicist Anaxagoras. Well-informed natural philosophy also strengthens worthy sentiments on God and on providence, for from the teaching of the causes we infer that there is an eternal, single mind, of great power, wise and the best, and, as Plato says, the cause of the good in nature. It is of no use for instruction to strengthen weak and listless minds by these arguments. Not infrequently I weigh in my mind all the reasonings of the natural philosophers concerning God, so that I can more clearly refute the tricks of false opinions, which the Epicureans or Academics spread over the eyes of men. We learn from the natural philosophers that nature that has understanding cannot originate from the irrational, or be produced by chance. The human mind is an understanding nature, and indeed in being born it brings with it some unchangeable distinction between what is worthy and what is vile. Therefore it has to take its origin from some more outstanding and eternal mind. Who does not see that the reflection on other arguments is of great benefit? But I agree that the reflections need to be led by a heavenly voice, in which God reveals more clearly both His nature and His will.
Therefore I come to the doctrine of the Church. While I know that in the past the Manicheans and several others, bewitched by fanatic madness, brought about great upheavals in the Church by badly constructed opinions of natural philosophers, there is nevertheless no doubt that the Church has need of well-informed and genuine natural philosophy. If some have foolishly made a disturbance one should execrate the madness of these men, and not censure the art which they themselves have shamefully perverted. And they can be more easily refuted by producing true demonstrations. Examples also show that the ancient commentators could not do without natural philosophy. Thus Gregory of Nyssa published a long commentary on the parts of man.5 And how much physiology is there in other authors, when they discuss the parts and duties of the soul! So many times, in most serious theological controversies, one has to speak of the causes, the variety of which is taught learnedly only in natural philosophy.
5 The De natura hominis of Nemesius of Emesa circulated under the name of Gregory of Nyssa in this period: see H. B. Wicher, ‘Nemesius Emesenus’, Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum 6 (1986), 31–72.
As for maintaining a distinction between the parts of the soul, when there is such discord between them, the mind retains God's law engraved on it, it shows God's kindness and teaches that punishment threatens for disobedience. However, the other part of the soul, which is called the appetitive soul, the seat of which is in the heart, is neither moved by kindness to love God constantly, nor does it tremble when it is admonished by horrid examples of all ages to fear an angry and avenging God. Often one has to speak about the origins and seats of the affections, and one has to distinguish learnedly between affection (storgas) and corrupt emotions. One who is not versed in the natural philosophy that is taught in the schools will never explain these things skilfully.
Sometimes we also see ancient writers who are not vulgar get stuck in these subjects as if in mud,6 because of their ignorance of physics. Many times in the Church a dispute about fate is begun. How will one who is inexperienced in natural philosophy speak about this, how will he overthrow the axioms of the Stoics or the Peripatetics, which he does not know? It is not only in the matters of which I have spoken that natural philosophy is of use; in the explanation of the science of the heavens one often happens upon natural-philosophical passages, where a knowledge of these elements is a great support for the expounder, just as a certain ability to paint is for the architect or the sculptor. Erudition that includes not only the knowledge of words, but also some variety of things, is a great ornament for the Church. For it is neither possible to form a judgement without the consideration and comparison of many things, nor does one's oration have vigour or strength if it does not arise from good things. For the verse is well known: ‘Knowing is the beginning and source of writing properly’ [Horace, Art of Poetry 309]. Therefore natural philosophy is also to be embraced, if we do not want the Church to be ignorant, and in this matter we have to give attention to many things. Because they do not restrain their minds with the fixed limits of the sciences, the ignorant stray easily from the path, and it is more difficult to correct them, because they neither know nor observe the laws which one has to follow in teaching like a pattern, and they do not have true hypotheses. If we want to avoid these disadvantages there certainly is great need for us to improve and refine our minds by true erudition. You know what the vagaries of the Anabaptists7 are like, which, it is evident, have originated only from the illiterate and are propagated by them. If the light
6 For this saying, see note 4, oration II, p. 102.
7 For Anabaptists, see note 2, oration I, p. 5.
of erudition became extinct in the Church, various kinds of madness would ensue, as has happened before. The rulers would need to foster the study of letters, but since few are affected by this care, let us exert ourselves all the more strongly, so that we may protect this embellishment of the Church as much as we can. This is the proper duty for our rank, which God will assist and honour with rewards, even though we are disregarded by the Centaurs,8 and much hardship is to be borne. But you know that it is the duty of virtue to do what is right and be of use to others, even though the multitude may be ungrateful. We most need to be strengthened in this way in the Church, where hatred against the well-deserving is sharp and violent. What thanks were rendered to Isaiah or Jeremiah for the highest and divine services? Let us rouse ourselves by their example to preserving the beneficial teaching for posterity, and let us acknowledge that God will not fail His army, nor will He permit that the heavenly teaching be utterly destroyed. Let us sustain and encourage ourselves by this hope in the tribulations that accompany our profession. I have spoken.
8 Centaurs were considered barbaric and savage: see, for instance, the entries on centaurs in Erasmus' Adages.