Letter 6019: VARIAE, BOOK 6, FORMULA 19

XIX. FORMULA OF THE COUNT OF THE CHIEF PHYSICIANS [Comes Archiatrorum]. [1] Among the most useful arts that the divine powers have bestowed for sustaining the neediness of human frailty, none seems to offer anything comparable to what helping medicine is able to confer. For it, with a mother's kindness, always stands by those imperiled by disease; it does battle against pain on behalf of our weakness, and it strives to lift us up in that place where no riches, no rank is able to bring aid. [2] Those skilled in legal cases are held to be foremost when they have defended the affairs of individuals; but how much more glorious it is to drive out what seemed to be bringing death and to restore health to one in peril, of which he had been forced to despair! This art, which discovers more in a man than he himself knows about himself, makes firm what is endangered, strengthens what is shattered, and, foreknowing things to come, does not yield to ill health, even when the sick man has thrown himself into disorder by his present weakness, understanding more than appears, trusting more to its learning than to the eyes, so that what is gathered by reason is by the ignorant almost reckoned a prophecy. [3] To this skill, is it not proved a forgetfulness of human affairs that a judge should be lacking? And while wanton pleasures have a tribune, does this art not deserve to have a chief? Let them therefore have a president, those to whom we entrust our well-being: let them know that they render account to him, those who undertake to work upon human health. Let it be called an art not because it acted by chance but because it acted by what it has read; otherwise we are exposed rather to dangers, if we submit to wandering whims. Hence, if there has been any hesitation, let inquiry be made at once. [4] Exceedingly obscure is the health of men, a balance consisting of contrary humors: where any one of these has grown beyond measure, it forthwith brings the body to infirmity. Hence it is that, just as weary health is restored by suitable foods, so it is poison that is taken unsuitably. Let physicians therefore have, for the safety of all, even after the schools a master; let them have leisure for books, let them take delight in the ancients: no one more justly reads assiduously than he who has dealt with human health. [5] Lay aside, you craftsmen of healing, the harmful disputes of the sick, lest, while you are unwilling to yield to one another, you appear to scatter one another's findings in turn. You have one whom you can question without envy. Every prudent person seeks counsel, since he is recognized as the more diligent who is shown to be the more cautious by frequent questioning. Indeed, in the very beginnings of this art certain sacred oaths, after the manner of a priesthood, consecrate you: for to your teachers you promise to hate wickedness and to love purity. [6] Thus it is not free for you to transgress willingly, you upon whom, before the moments of your knowledge, it is laid to bind souls. And therefore search out more diligently the things that may cure the wounded and strengthen the weak: for I shall hold the view that, whereas a slip may excuse some other offense, it is the crime of homicide to sin in the matter of a man's health. But we believe that these things now suffice, since we are appointing one who ought to admonish you. [7] Wherefore, from the present time, we adorn you with the honor of the countship of the chief physicians, so that among the masters of health you alone may be held preeminent and all may yield to your judgment, those who torment themselves with the ambition of mutual rivalry. Be the arbiter of this distinguished art, and unbind the conflicts of those whom the outcome alone used to judge. In their persons you cure the sick, if you prudently cut away their harmful disputes. It is a great office to have prudent men as subordinates and to become honorable among those whom the rest revere. [8] Let your visitation be the well-being of the sick, the refreshment of the weak, the sure hope of the weary. Let the unskilled inquire, those whom the sick visit, whether the pain has ceased, whether sleep has come; but about his own ailment let the sick man question you, and let him hear from you more truly what he himself suffers. You too surely have the most truthful witnesses whom you can question. To the skilled chief physician the pulse of the veins announces what nature suffers within; the urine too is presented to the eyes, so that it is easier not to heed the voice of one crying out than to fail to perceive signs of this kind. [9] Indulge yourself also in our palace: have the confidence to enter, a thing that is wont to be purchased at great rewards. For although others serve under a subjected law, do you, by the zeal of one who excels, attend upon the lords of affairs. It is permitted to you to weary us with fasts. It is permitted to oppose our desire and, in place of a benefit, to prescribe what may torment us toward the joys of health. Such license over us, in short, you know to be yours as we are not proved to have over the rest.

XVIIII. FORMULA COMITIS ARCHIATRORUM. [1] Inter utillimas artes, quas ad sustentandam humanae fragilitatis indigentiam divina tribuerunt, nulla praestare videtur aliquid simile quam potest auxiliatrix medicina conferre. ipsa enim morbo periclitantibus materna gratia semper assistit, ipsa contra dolores pro nostra inbecillitate confligit et ibi nos nititur sublevare, ubi nullae divitiae, nulla potest dignitas subvenire. [2] Causarum periti palmares habentur, cum negotia defenderint singulorum: sed quanto gloriosius expellere quod mortem videbatur inferre et salutem periclitanti reddere, de qua coactus fuerat desperare! ars quae in homine plus invenit quam in se ipse cognoscit, periclitantia confirmat, quassata corroborat et futurorum praescia valitudini non cedit, cum se aeger praesenti debilitate turbaverit, amplius intellegens quam videtur, plus credens lectioni quam oculis, ut ab ignorantibus paene praesagium putetur quod ratione colligitur. [3] Huic peritiae deesse iudicem nonne humanarum rerum probatur oblivio? et cum lascivae voluptates recipiant tribunum, haec non meretur habere primarium? habeant itaque praesulem, quibus nostram committimus sospitatem: sciant se huic reddere rationem, qui operandam suscipiunt humanam salutem. non quod ad casum fecerit sed quod legerit, ars dicatur: alioquin periculis potius exponimur, si vagis voluntatibus subiacemus. unde si haesitatum fuerit, mox quaeratur. [4] Obscura nimis est hominum salus, temperies ex contrariis umoribus constans: ubi quicquid horum excreverit, ad infirmitatem protinus corpus adducit. hinc est quod sicut aptis cibis valitudo fessa recreatur, sic venenum est, quod incompetenter accipitur. habeant itaque medici pro incolumitate omnium et post scholas magistrum, vacent libris, delectentur antiquis: nullus iustius assidue legit quam qui de humana salute tractaverit. [5] Deponite, medendi artifices, noxias aegrotantium contentiones, ut cum vobis non vultis cedere, inventa vestra invicem videamini dissipare. habetis quem sine invidia interrogare possitis. omnis prudens consilium quaerit, dum ille magis studiosior agnoscitur, qui cautior frequenti interrogatione monstratur. in ipsis quippe artis huius initiis quaedam sacerdotii genere sacramenta vos consecrant: doctoribus enim vestris promittitis odisse nequitiam et amare puritatem. [6] Sic vobis liberum non est sponte delinquere, quibus ante momenta scientiae animas imponitur obligare. et ideo diligentius exquirite quae curent saucios, corroborent inbecillos: nam videro, quod delictum lapsus excuset, homicidii crimen est in hominis salute peccare. sed credimus iam ista sufficere, quando facimus qui vos debeat ammonere. [7] Quapropter a praesenti tempore comitivae archiatrorum honore decorare, ut inter salutis magistros solus habearis eximius et omnes iudicio tuo cedant, qui se ambitu mutuae contentionis excruciant. esto arbiter artis egregiae eorumque discinge conflictus, quos iudicare solus solebat effectus. in ipsis aegros curas, si contentiones eorum noxias prudenter abscidas. magnum munus est subditos habere prudentes et inter illos honorabilem fieri, quos reverentur ceteri. [8] Visitatio tua sospitas sit aegrotantium, refectio debilium, spes certa fessorum. requirant rudes, quos visitant aegrotantes, si dolor cessavit, si somnus affuerit: de suo vero languore te aegrotus interroget audiatque a te verius quod ipse patitur. habetis et vos certe verissimos testes, quos interrogare possitis. perito quidem archiatro venarum pulsus enuntiat, quod intus natura patiatur: offeruntur etiam oculis urinae, ut facilius sit vocem clamantis non advertere, quam huius modi minime signa sentire. [9] Indulge te quoque nostro palatio: habeto fiduciam ingrediendi, quae magnis solet praemiis comparari. nam licet alii subiecto iure serviant, tu rerum dominos studio praestantis observa. fas est tibi nos fatigare ieiuniis. fas est contra nostrum sentire desiderium et in locum beneficii dictare, quod nos ad gaudia salutis excruciet. talem tibi denique licentiam nostri esse cognoscis, qualem nos habere non probamur in ceteris.