Oratory and Rhetoric in Renaissance Medicine

Author(s): Nancy G. Siraisi

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Apr., 2004), pp. 191-211
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
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Oratory

and

Rhetoric

Renaissance

in

Medicine

Nancy G. Siraisi
In Renaissancemedicalpracticerhetorichadanambiguousreputation.Many
authorswarnedphysicians againstuse of persuasionor repeatedsome version
of the truismthatpatientsare curednot by eloquence but by medicines. On the
other hand, physicians were also remindedthat by speaking well they helped
patientsto have confidence in theiradvice and to understanddirections,which
in turnfacilitatedcure.' Yet some aspects of medical cultureof the period between 1450 and 1600 seem profoundlyattentiveto rhetoric,at least as regards
the use of language,performativeelements, and the influence of these features
in ancient models (most notably Galen himself).2 One area in which rhetoric
had an unambiguous,acknowledged, and essential place was in the medical
orationspronouncedat universityceremonies.A sample follows:
Pursuitof all these differentthings by study,investigationof obscurities with ingenuity,conquest of difficulties with industry,and--after
penetratinginto the very fibers of the earthand searchingeverywhere
into the arcanaof the whole of natureand from all herbs, fruits,trees,
animals,gems, andeven
inquiryafterremediesandthe proper
poisons-to
use
for
all
them
the
ills of humanlife from so many authors,so
way
and
even
from the very stars: these things, I say,
many disciplines,
I am very gratefulto Anthony Grafton,Sachiko Kusukawa,and Thomas Riittenfor comments on earlierversions of this essay.
1Ian Maclean,Logic, Signs and Naturein the Renaissance: The Case of LearnedMedicine
(Cambridge,2002), 96, 104; and see Pietro d'Abano (d. 1303), Conciliator: Ristampafotomecanica dell'edizione Venetiisapud luntas 1565, ed. Ezio Riondatoand Luigi Olivieri (Padua,
1985), differentia1, f. 3'.
2 See Heinrich Von Staden,
"Gattungund Gedaichtnis:Galen tiber Wahrheitund Lehrdichtung,"in GattungenwissenschaftlicherLiteraturin der Antike (Tiibingen, 1998), 65-94,
andidem, "Galenandthe 'Second Sophistic' " in Aristotleand After,ed. RichardSorabji,Bulletin of the Instituteof Classical Studies, Supplement68 (1997), 33-54.

191
2004by Journalof theHistoryof Ideas,Inc.
Copyright

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Nancy G. Siraisi
have uncoveredso many hidden cures, been attainedwith such arduous powers of the mind, completed with so much effort of memory,
offer so many things necessaryfor the healthof the entirehumanrace
in common, that does not indeed [the entire enterpriseof medicine]
seem to have been superhumanand really in a certainway divine?3

This nicely exuberantexample of Renaissancemedical rhetoricexemplifies the genre in several respects. The oration to which it belongs was originally deliveredto an academicfaculty of medicine by a physician;it shows the
impact in medical settings of the revival of epideictic rhetoric,and its author
drew on learnedsourcesandcommonplacesaboutmedicine thatbelonged to a
store of broadlyhumanisticerudition,sharedboth in and outside the medical
profession. In fact the only trulydistinctivefeatureof this passage is its author.
It comes from Erasmus'sEncomiummedicinae, which he wrote in 1499 for a
friend- a physiciannamedGysbertus-to deliver to the medicalfaculty of the
Universityof Paris.4
If Gysbertuswas exceptionally fortunatein his ghost, many other surviving medical orations are internalproducts of medical faculties, the work of
universitymastersor studentsof medicine. But whoever theirauthors,orations
deliveredin or writtenfor an academicmedical settingoffer some telling illustrations both of the way in which certain kinds of humanistic interests and
requirementscame to penetratemedical learningandof the reactionof humanistic rhetoricto medicine. "Medical humanism"is usually understoodto encompass both the core enterpriseof intensive philological study, editing, and
translationof Greekmedical texts-never the occupationof more thana handful of hellenist scholars- and also the receptionand scientific influence of the
fruitsof their labors among a wider medical audience.But Renaissancemedicine was also a humanisticdiscipline in a much broaderand more inclusive
sense; that is, it both fostered and providedample scope for the development
among learnedphysicians of interests characteristicof humanisticculture in
general:rhetoric,history,biography,fascinationwithremotepeoplesandplaces,
and antiquarianism.At the same time, as the passage from Erasmusquoted
3 Desiderius Erasmus,Encomiummedicinae, in his Opera omnia, ordo 1, vol. IV, ed. M.
Cytowska, J. Domanski, C. L. Heesakkers,and J. H. Waszink (Amsterdam,1973), 147-86. At
166: "Sed ut dicere coeperam,has omnes rerumvarietatesstudiopersequi,obscuritatesingenio
assequi,difficultatesindustriapervincere,ac penetratisterraefibris,excussisundiquetotiusnaturae
arcanis,ex omnibusherbis,fruticibus,arboribus,animantibus,gemmis, ex ipsis deniquevenenis,
cunctis humanaevitae malis efficacia quaerereremedia atque horum oportunumusum ex tot
autoribus,tot disciplinis, imo et ab istis syderibuspetere:haec, inquam,tam abditarimaricura,
tamarduaviribusanimiadipisci,tammultamemoriacomplecti,tamnecessariaad salutemuniversi
mortaliumgenerisin communeproferre,nonneprorsushomine maiusac planedivinumquiddam
fuisse videtur?"
4 Ibid., Introduction,147-49.

Oratoryand Rhetoric in Renaissance Medicine

193

above demonstrates,humanistsoutside the medicalprofessioninterestedthemselves in medicine and controlleda stock of rhetoricalcommonplaceson the
subject.To be sure,the penetrationof terminologyandconcepts frommedicine
into the general culture long antedatedthe Renaissance.' But the revival of
rhetorictogetherwith attentionto ancientsourcesandcommonplacesprovided
humanistobservers with new tools for commenting, sometimes in quite specific and detailed terms, on the contemporarymedical scene, a phenomenon
parallelto thatnoted by recentscholarshipin the case of variousotherforms of
Renaissancespecializedknowledge andpractice,for example, painting,architecture,and music.6
Orationsandsimilarrhetoricalproductionsprovideone usefulpointof entry
into this broadermedical humanism.In the first place, even the most conventional of them exemplify the rhetoricalcompetence, awareness of changing
fashions in oratory,and wide rangeof classical referenceexpected of academically trainedphysicians.Secondly, some sixteenth-centuryphysiciansused the
form of the oration(whetheror not actuallydeliveredorally) to presentdiversified content shapedby contemporaryinterests,tastes, or polemics. Finally, as
the passage just quoted suggests, in some instances medical orations constituted a very specific kind of convergence of humanismin and and outside of
medicine, with authors,texts, and the commonplaces on which they drew all
crossing disciplinaryboundaries.Space permitsme to offer only a few highly,
and somewhat arbitrarily,selective examples and brief comments to illustrate
each of these points.
I. The Development of Medical Orationsas a Branchof SecularRhetoric
Like other academic orations, medical orations were not a Renaissance
innovation.Almost fromthe originsof the medievaluniversities,orations-the
earlyones betterdescribedas secularsermons-punctuated the rhythmsof academic life. Typical occasions included graduationceremonies, the opening of
the academic year, the beginning of a course of lectures, or funerals of colleagues. Audiences on such occasions would be unlikely to be confined to one
faculty and might constitute a large part of the academic community.In the
medical faculties of northernItaly and Montpellierthe practiceof giving such
orations was fully developed by the mid-fourteenthcentury.Among the few
early examples that have been studiedin detail are the graduationspeeches of
Gentile da Foligno (d. 1348), some of which have been edited and analyzed.
These reflect the influence of the ars predicandi,with the differencethatGen5 See JosephZiegler, Medicine and Religion c. 1300 (Oxford, 1998).
See Michael Baxandall, Giotto and the Orators (Oxford, 1971); Ann E. Moyer, Musica
Scientia:MusicalScholarshipin theItalianRenaissance(Ithaca,N.Y., 1992) andChristineSmith,
Architecturein the Cultureof Early Humanism(New York, 1992).
6

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Nancy G. Siraisi

tile took his texts from medical or philosophicalauctoritatesratherthan from

the Bible.7
The formaloccasions for academicmedical orationsdid not change;but in
the courseof the fifteenthcenturydevelopmentsparallelingthose in otherforms
of oratory,sacredand secular,transformedthem in both content and structure.8
Thematicdiscourses presentingargumentsbased on chosen texts gave way to
demonstrativepraise. At Padua, where contacts between professors of medicine andlocal humanistswerenumerousandwhere, as McManamonhas shown,
the elderVergeriopioneeredthe revivalof classicaloratoryin the politicalsphere
in the 1380s and '90s, the transformationalso began early in the medical faculty.9 Before 1414 Jacopoda Forli praisedmedicine as the most outstandingof
the artswith citationsfrom Boethius, Ovid, Virgil, andCicero as well as medical sources.'0In the 1430s CristoforoBarzizza and Matteolo da Perugiaseem
to have been especially appreciatedas medical orators,if one may judge their
repeatedinvitationsto give the inauguralorationof the academicyear and by
the survival of a numberof the resulting speeches." In an orationdevoted to
praise of Hippocrates,Matteolo mingled approvingreferences to scholastic
medical authoritieswith the language of persuasion and visual imagery. He

7 Gentile da Foligno, Sermoad conventummagistriMartinidi Senis, ed. in CarlC. Schlam,

"GraduationSpeeches of Gentileda Foligno,"MediaevalStudies,40 (1978), 96-119, at 113-19;
Sermo 1, ed. in Jole Agrimi andChiaraCrisciani,Edoceremedicos (Naples, 1988), 258-61; also
see P. OsmundLewry, "FourGraduationSpeeches from Oxford Manuscripts(c. 1270-1310),"
Mediaeval Studies,44 (1982), 138-80; Ludwig Bertalot,"Eine SammlungPaduanerReden des
XV Jahrhunderts,"
Quellen und Forschungenaus ItalianischenArchivenund Bibliotheken,26
(1936), 245-67; Celestino Piana,Nuove ricerche su le Universitctdi Bologna e di Parma (Florence, 1966), 8-82; Ralph Drayton, " 'In the Heart of Any Incepting Student': Religion and
Medical Astrology in Montpellier,ca. 1400," paperdelivered at the annualmeeting of the History of Science Society, 1999; also see Darleen Pryds, The King Embodies the Word:Robert
d'Anjouand the Politics of Preaching (Leiden, 2000).
8 John O'Malley, Praise and Blame in RenaissanceRome: Rhetoric,Doctrine, and Reform
in the Sacred Orators of the Papal Court, c. 1450-1521 (Durham, N.C., 1979); John M.
McManamon,"TheIdeal RenaissancePope: FuneralOratoryfrom the Papal Court,"Archivum
historiae pontificiae, 14 (1976), 9-61; Funeral Oratoryand the CulturalIdeals of Italian Humanism(Durham,N.C., 1989) andPierpaolo VergeriotheElder:TheHumanistas Orator(Tempe,
Az., 1996). See P.O. Kristeller,"PhilosophyandRhetoricfromAntiquityto the Renaissance,"in
his Renaissance Thoughtand Its Sources, ed. Michael Mooney (New York, 1979); Renaissance
Eloquence: Studies in the Theoryand Practice of Renaissance Rhetoric, ed. James J. Murphy
(Berkeley, 1983); and John Monfasani,"Humanismand Rhetoric,"in Renaissance Humanism:
Foundations, Forms, and Legacy (Philadelphia, 1988), III, 171-235; also Karl Milliner (ed.),
Reden und Briefe italienischerHumanisten,ed. BarbaraGerl (Munich, 1970; original edition,
Vienna, 1899).
9McManamon,Pierpaolo Vergerio,31-49 and 170-73.
1oJacopoda Forli, Medicinaartiumpreclarissima,ed. in Jole Agrimi and ChiaraCrisciani,
Edocere medicos (Naples, 1988), 263-73.
" See TizianaPesenti, Professori e promotori di medicinanello Studiodi Padova dal 1405
al 1509: Repertoriobio-bibliografico(Padua, 1984), 42-44 and 133-37.

Oratoryand Rhetoric in Renaissance Medicine

195

extolled Hippocrates's"admirabilinaturaet divino excel-lentissimo ingenio,"

described the words of the Aphorisms as "like jewels," and stated that they
were oracles to be contemplatedratherthan interpreted"thatwe cannot doubt
then emanatedfrom a certaindivine breast."'2All three of these authorswere
professors of medicine whose principal works consisted of scholastic commentarieson portionsof the Canon of Avicennaor otherArabo-Latinmedical
texts. Moreover,as recentscholarshiphas convincingly demonstrated,the selfimage of medicine reflected in such orations, far from being new, had been
built up by scholastic medical authorsextendingback to the thirteenthcentury
and before.13 Nevertheless, this early fifteenth-centuryshift in oratoricalstyle
establisheda place for humanistepideictic rhetoricwithinone form of medical
discourse.As such it deservesto be regardedas the first stage of the penetration
of contemporaryhumanisttastes and values within medicine itself, antedating
by a generationor more the rise of philological study by physicians of Greek
medical texts. Tiziana Pesenti has recently remarkedthat it is no longer possible to regardthe humanisticinterestsandcontactsof fifteenth-centuryItalian
physicians as totally apartfrom or unintegratedwith their medical culture.14
These fifteenth-centurymedical orationsprovide compelling evidence to substantiatethe same point.
II. Description,Narrative,Polemic, and Self-expressionin Medical Orations
New language and style was indeed in and of itself a substantialcomponent of innovationin Renaissancemedicine.'"Yet it must be admittedthat for
the most part,when the subjectwas "theencomiumof medicine"or some variation thereof, generationsof authorsboth in and outside of the medical profession were content to shuffle a handful of well worn topoi. Nevertheless, the
oratoricalgenre as it developed in the sixteenthcenturywas an open one that
allowed the possibility of variety and self-expression to those who chose or
were encouragedto take it. In tone sixteenth-centurymedical orationsranged
fromthe earnestandreligiously inspiredto imitationLucianicsatire.In content
they variedequally widely. In additionto the standardgeneraltopics (praiseof
medicine itself, praiseof majorfigures of medical antiquity,etc.) andthe biographies found in funeraryspeeches, there are medical orations that deal with
12 Matteoloda Perugia,De laudibusmedicinaein
principio suae lectiones ordinariae,in Tre
orazioni nuziali di Guarino Veronesee una 'Laus medicinae' di Matteolo da Perugia, ed. A.
Messini (Rome, 1939), 37-42.
'3Agrimi and Crisciani,Edocere medicos, passim.
14 Tiziana Pesenti, "I libri di medicina di Giovanni di Marco da Rimini
(c. 1400-1474)," II
bibliotecario,NS 2 (1998), 93-109.
15See VivianNutton,"TheChangingLanguageof Medicine, 1450-1550,"in Vocabularyof
Teachingand ResearchBetweenMiddleAges and Renaissance:Proceedingsof the Colloquium,
London, WarburgInstitute, 11-12 March 1994, ed. Olga Weijers(Turnhout,1995), 184-98.

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Nancy G. Siraisi

relatively specialized medical subject matter.Some of these are more or less

routine lectures on particularmedical topics (examples include the causes of
pestilence, deafness, and muteness).'6But a few reflect both the changingface
of medicine itself and the scientific commitmentof their authors.Thus, a recent studyof AlessandroBenedetti'sAnatomice,a treatisewrittenseveralyears
before its publicationin 1502 and usually considereda pioneeringtext of Renaissance anatomy,recognizes new rhetoricas one of its most innovative and
significant features and characterizesthe work as "in the general form of an
orationintendedto supportthe revival of anatomicalstudies."
Consideredin this light,Benedetti'sworkrecallsRegiomontanus'sfamously
prescient oration on the dignity and worth of the mathematicalsciences of a
few years earlier.17But Regiomontanus's was a formalorationdeliveredat the
beginningof a course of lecturesat Padua,whereasalthoughBenedetticharacterized himself as "physicus et orator,"'"his Anatomice was not, of course,
necessarilywrittenfor oral delivery on a single formaloccasion. Perhapsmore
comparable with Regiomontanus's oration is Johann Dryander's inaugural
speech in 1536 at the young universityof Marburg-founded only nine years
earlieras the first Lutheranuniversityin imperialterritory.Dryanderused the
occasion for a forceful expression of his own scientific convictions and commitment, vehemently insisting that the future of medical science lay with
anatomy (and pouring scorn on squeamish reluctanceto handle cadavers).19
More self-serving but still impressive was GiovanniArgenterio'sinsistence in
the orationthat opened his lectures at Naples in 1555, thatrecent advances in
anatomyconstitutedboth a model and a justification for innovationsin other

16

For example, MatthaeusZeizius, Oratio. De physicis causis & periodis pestilentium

morborum:publice recitatain AcademiaFrancofordianaMarchionuma Decano MatthaeoZeysio
... cumdecernerettitulummagisterii... anno 1592. die 12. Octobris.Additaest subfine oratiuncula
de quaestioneAn morbiaequefrigidi ac calidi in pestilenti statugrassentur.Publice recitata ab
eodemZeysio,cumrenunciareturdoctorisartis medicaea ... JohanneKnoblochio... anno Christi
1593 (n. p., 1595);JohannMathesius,Oratio,de admirabiliauditusinstrumentifabricaet structura
(Wittenberg,1577); SalomonAlberti, Oratio de surditateet mutitate(Nuremberg,1591).
17 Alessandro Benedetti, Historia
corporis humani sive Anatomice (Florence, 1998), ed.
GiovannaFerrari,introduction,9: "I1libro di Benedettie infattiun manualepratico,che illustra
un contenuto scientifico, che racchiudeun messaggio filosofico, il tutto compreso nella forma
complessiva di un'orazione volta a sostenere la ripresa degli studi anatomici."See Noel M.
Swerdlow, "Science and Humanismin the Renaissance:Regiomontanus'sOrationon the Dignity andUtility of the MathematicalSciences,"in WorldChanges: ThomasKuhnand the Nature
of Science (Cambridge,Mass., 1993), 131-68.
18Benedetti,Historia corporis humani,ed. Ferrari,introduction,39.
19JohannDryander,Inpraelectionemmedicamoratio, qua anatomiaenecessariumstudium
commendatur,Marpurgia Joan. Dryandro in frequentissimoeius Academiae confessu habita
VIIIKalend.Novemb.anno M. D. XXXVI,in his Anatomiae(Marpurg,1537), [7]-[26]; and see
Andrea Carlino, Books of the Body: AnatomicalRitual and Renaissance Learning (Chicago,
1999), 222-24.

Oratoryand Rhetoric in RenaissanceMedicine

197

areas of medicine, including his own critiqueof Galen's theory of diseases.20

Whateverthe occasion or announcedtopic, the oratoricalgenre was frequently
hospitableto contemporaryreligious and scientific polemic, either separately
or intertwined. The funeral oration for the medical humanist and botanist
LeonhartFuchs (d. 1566)-which incorporatesa detailed biographycarefully
placed in the context of currentevents--is as insistent on Fuchs's Lutheran
constancy and "the very grave vexations"he was subjectedto by "the monks
and their supporters"as on his classical learning and copious medical writings.21

In 1570 the WittenbergprofessorAbrahamWernerdevoted a graduation

orationin the medicalfacultyto the by then standardtopic of a detailed,historical andnon-mythologicallife of Galenbasedlargelyon statementsin the latter's
own writings.22 However, he set it in the context of a lengthy opening denunciation of Paracelsiansand all their works. Their new and untriedideas, their
barbaricimpudenceand insolence in rejectingGalenic medicine based on true
principles,reason, and experience, the violence and dangerof their chemical
medicines were all equally deplorable.23A few years laterThomas Erastus(d.
1583), true to his calling as both physician and theologian,used his declamation on the most standardof all topics of medical oratory,namely,"Inpraiseof
medicine,"to demonstrate,with copious biblical citations,that the fault of the
Paracelsianslay in theirrejectionof a traditionof medicine not only ordained
by God but in continuousexistence from the time of Moses.24 But the genre
was equally hospitableto materialreflectinginterestin or receptivenessto history, biography,travel accounts, or antiquarianismamong physicians. A few
authorsincorporatedgenuinely substantialtreatmentsof the history of medicine or theirown medicalfaculty.Among the most notable,thoughnot the first,
of these was the historyof the medical faculty of the Universityof Paris,composed by GabrielNaud6.25
20
Oratioloannis ArgenteriiNeapoli habita in initio suarumlectionumanno 1555, unnumbered folio at the beginning of his Opera (Venice, 1606), pars prior.
21 Georg
Hizler,Oratiode vita et morteclarissimiviri, medici etphilosophipraestantissimi,
D. Leonharti Fuchsii (Tiibingen, 1566); English translationin The great herbal of Leonhart
Fuchs: De historiastirpiumcommentariiinsignes, 1542 (notablecommentarieson the historyof
plants), ed. FrederickG. Meyer, Emily EmmartTrueblood,andJohnL. Heller (Stanford,1999),
I, 260-80. Hizler was professorof Greek and Latin letters at Tiibingen.
22 See Vivian Nutton, "BiographicalAccounts of Galen from 1350 to 1650"
(Wolfenbtittel
colloquium "Geschichteder Medizingeschichtsschreibung,"1998).
23 AbrahamWerner,Oratio de vita Galeni ... cum doctores in medicinae renunciarentur
viri doctissimiD. GeorgiusAgricola Ambergensis,et D. Fabianus Summer(Wittenberg,1570),

A2r-A5v.
24 ThomasErastus,De medicinaelaudibusoratio. In his Varia
opuscula medica (Frankfurt,
1590), 1-14.
25 GabrielNaud6,De antiquitateet dignitate scholae medicae Parisiensis panegyris. Cum
orationibus encomiasticis ad IX iatroganistaslaurea medica donandos (Paris, 1628); cf. Gian
Giacomo Bartolotti,On theAntiquityof Medicine,in GiovanniTortelli,On Medicineand Physi-

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Nancy G. Siraisi

The eighteenyoung physicianswho achievedtheirmedicaldegreesat Paris

in 1560 listened to graduationorationson an antiquariantopic from a lawyer.
Jean Le Vieil, the authorand speaker(an identitythat, as noted above, cannot
always be assumedfor these productions),was an enthusiastfor ancientathletics.26 Under the heading "motion and rest" exercise had long played a minor
partin the medical traditionof the six things non-natural(environmentalconditions or states of the body, the othersbeing air,food, and drink,sleeping and
waking, evacuation and repletion, and the emotions). But sixteenth-century
interestin the history of the subject was as much or more humanistand antiquarianas medical, as both the chapterson the exercises of the Greeks and
Romans in Sir ThomasElyot's TheBoke Named the Governor(1531) and the
best known complete treatiseon ancientexercise, GirolamoMercuriale'scelebratedDe arte gymnastica(1569) testify.
Mercurialewas a professorof medicine and noted medical author,but this
work closely reflects his contacts with a circle of Roman humanistsand antiLe Vieil's choice of topic for his medical graduationorationsseems
quarians.27
to have more to do with the idea of graduationas testimony to strenuousendeavor than anything else. His collection consists of three introductoryorations and one for each of the eighteen graduands.Each of the individualencomia consists of a capsulebiographyfollowed by moralizationon a distinguishing featureof the candidate.Thus, the name of JeanNestoraremindedLe Vieil
of the HomericNestor and inspiredhim to truismsaboutsage advice (he must
have been fairly desperatewhen he got to Jean Leibald, aboutwhom the only
thing he could find to remarkwas the piety of the auntwho paid for the young
man's studies).28But the threelengthy generalintroductoryorationsare all devoted to extended comparisons of the physical exercises engaged in by the
ancientsand the intellectualstrugglesof Parisianmedical students.In the first,
afterpointingout thatmotionwas necessaryto everythingin the universe,from

cians; Gian Giacomo Bartolotti,On the Antiquityof Medicine: TwoHistories of Medicineof the
XVthCentury,ed. and tr.DorothyM. Schullianand Luigi Belloni (Milan, 1954).
26 Jean le Vieil [JohannesVetus], Orationes in medicinae commendationemet in gratiam
octodecimmedicae laureae candidatoruminstitutae (Paris, 1560).
27 Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governor,ed. Donald W. Rude (New York, 1992),
75-84. GirolamoMercuriale,Artisgymnasticaeapud antiquosceleberrimae,nostris temporibus
ignoratae, libri sex (Venice, 1569); Vivian Nutton, "Les exercices et la sant6: Hieronymus
Mercurialiset la gymnastiquem6dicale,"in Le corps a la Renaissance.Actes du XXXeColloque
de Tours1987, ed. Jean C6ard,Marie-MadeleineFontaine, and Jean-ClaudeMargolin (Paris,
1990), 295-308.
28 Le Vieil, Orationes:Nestor, 83-87; Liebald, 134-39. The only one of the graduatesto
achieve any particularsubsequentdistinction was Maurice de la Corde, later the authorof a
commentaryon the Hippocratictreatises on disease of women (Hippocratis Coi, Medicorum
principis, liberprior de morbismulierum... MaurciioCordaeoRhemointerpreteet explicatore
[Paris, 1585]).

Oratoryand Rhetoric in Renaissance Medicine

199

the heavenlybodies down to plants,Le Vieil led his audiencethroughthe Spartan practice of hardeningboth boys and girls by exposure to harsh climatic
conditions and scanty food (noting with apparentapprovalthat Spartangirls
were not allowed soft upbringingindoors like girls in other cities), and the
educationof young Persiansin hunting.He moved on to Solon's laws regarding the physical educationof Athenianyouth,Plato'srecommendationof gymnastic for both sexes and all ages ("pueroset puellas, viros et matronas"),and
the Olympic games. Finally this traditionof ancient athleticsdeterioratedinto
the cruelRomangames, rightlyabolishedby Christianity.Le Vieil opined,however, that the trainingof young Frenchnobles in arms and horsemanshipand
the practiceof tournamentswas more or less equivalentto the valuableancient
Greek insistence on physical training(this less than a year afterthe disastrous
deathof HenriII from an injuryreceived in a tournament).He managedto find
his way back to university medical educationby declaringthat philosophical
debateservedthe equally importantpurposeof providingexercise for the soul.
In the second of these orationshe comparedthe young medici with victors in
the Olympic games and recipientsof a Romantriumph;in the thirdhe equated
Parisiangraduationinsignia and scholarlyprivileges with the prizes and privileges accordedto victors in the ancientgames.29
In several different versions the theme of travel or of wisdom gathered
from afarprovidedthe authorsof orationsand relateddocumentswith the opportunityto relate ancient practice, precept, or doxographyto the contemporaryworld of medical learning,interestin all kinds of naturaland humanparticulars, and esteem for learned travel. In 1579 ChristophSchilling a young
Germanphysician, arrivedat Montpellieron the last stage of a medical and
philosophicalgrandtourof Italy andFrance.Withthe aid of lettersof introduction from his mentorsCratovon Crafftheimand Erastusand, it would appear,
financial aid from AndreasDudith, he had visited an impressive rosterof famous professors of medicine and other intellectuals throughoutItaly, from
Aldrovandito Telesio andmanymorebesides.At Montpellier,LaurentJoubert,
then chancellorof the University,awardedhim the doctorateof philosophyand
medicine. Schilling's trip to Italy and Franceremindedhim, he remarkedin a
gratefulletter to his mentorsand patron,of the journeys in searchof the wisdom of Egypt supposedlyundertakenby "Orpheus,Pythagoras,Solon, Thales,
Socrates,andPlato."30But in the orationJouberthimself gave on this occasion,
entitled"Onthe qualificationsof a futureexcellentphysician,"Schilling'stravels
become the pretextfor an encomium to a contemporaryinternationalprofes29 Le Vieil,

Orationes,oratio prima, 13-32.

Christoph
Schilling, letterto JohannesCratoof Crafftheim,Andreas Dudith,andThomas
30
Erastus,in LaurentJoubert,Operumlatinorumtomussecundus (Frankfurt,1599), 190-91; and
for a similaraccountsee LorenzGryll,Oratiodeperegrinationestudiimedicinalisergo suscepta,
printedwith his De sapore dulci et amaro (Prague,1566), 5-6.

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sional and intellectual community of learning. From Germany,Switzerland,

Italy, and France,Joubertlisted the name of some thirty professorsof medicine, with their academic affiliations and principalachievements,a few other
philosophersor humanistintellectuals,andone poet, each of whom had apparently providedSchilling with a testimonial.3'(Afterall this, it is somewhatdisappointingto note that,as far as I can discover,Schilling nevercomposed anyAt the sametime Joubert
thingotherthana few medicalepistles andepigrams.32)
praisedSchilling himself because, like Hippocrates,he hadperfectedcomparative knowledge of medicine by travelsto notablecities.33
Thirtyyears later the Hippocraticparalleldoubtless also underlaythe focus on travelin the funeralorationthatEdwardVorstcomposedfor the botanist
CharlesL'Ecluse (Clusius).34 But whereasJoubertused the theme exclusively
to celebrate the wisdom gained from travel to meet learned men, Vorst acclaimed knowledge that was the fruit of direct acquaintancewith the particulars of regions, peoples, topography,and local languages. To be sure, Vorst's
oration for his professorial colleague and fellow physician duly recounts
Clusius's studies,teachers,patrons,writings,translationsof variousvernacular
botanicalworks into Latin,and friendshipswith poets and intellectuals.But he
reserved his greatestenthusiasmfor Clusius's profoundknowledge of plants,
gained by exceptionallyclose observationduringa life of travelthroughmany
regions of Europe.Vorstbelieved knowledge of medicinalplants more essential to the task of healingthanany otherpartof medicine,regardedthe development of medicinal botany as one of the most importantachievementsof his
age, and groupedClusius with the most importantmodernmedicinalbotanists.
But he was equally, and without any sense of incongruity, appreciative of
Clusius's antiquarianand ethnographicinterests, his work as a cartographer
andchorographer,andhis knowledge of modernas well as ancientlanguages.35
EverywhereClusius went, his observation-"mente et oculis attentissimis"encompassed"notonly naturalthingsthatgrew there ... but whateverpertained
to the place, its antiquities,and the customs of the people."36
31 LaurentJoubert,Oratio de
praesidiisfuturi excellentis medici. In his Operumlatinorum
tomussecundus (Frankfurt,1599), 192-96.
32He is listed as one of the contributorsto Epistolarumphilosophicarum:medicinalium,ac
chymicaruma summisnostraeaetatisphilosophis ac medicisexaratarum,volumen,ed. Laurentius
Scholz (Frankfurt,1598).
33 Joubert,Oratio, 194: "Superestiam (ut Hippocratessuperioribussubiunxit)comparata
vobis medicae artis perfecta cognitione, tandem insigniores urbes adeatis, illicque non inane
medici nomen iactetis, sed dignissimo opere medicos vos exhibeatis."
34 EdwardVorst, Oratiofunebris in obitum V.N. et clarissimi Caroli Clusii, bound with
CharlesL'Ecluse, Curaeposteriores (Antwerp, 1611).
35Vorst,Oratiofunebris, 7-10, 14.
36 Ibid., 7: "Neque, quod multi peregrinanteshodie faciunt, perfunctorieaut veluti canis
Nilum lambit,exterasregiones obibat,verumpensiculateminutissimaetiam quaequaeanimadvertebat;nec solum rerumnaturaliumibi nascentiumindagationecontentus,quicquidpraeterea
ad situm, antiquitateset popularummores spectaret,mente et oculis attentissimisobservabat."

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201

III. The Intersectionof Medicine and Rhetoric

Whateverthe range of topics and approachesintroducedby individualauthors, the central task of medical epideictic rhetoric--not only orations, but
also a vast and almost entirely unstudiedoutputof dedicatoryletters,elegies,
complimentarypoems, and so on- was praiseof medicineandphysicians.Fortunately, for this purpose, ancient authors,literary,philosophical, and doxographical,secularand sacred,as well as or even more than medical, yielded a
large stock of many times repeatedcommonplacesabout medicine's origins,
nobility, and usefulness. Many of them were indeed conveniently collected in
PolydoreVergil'sDe inventoribusrerumandotherencyclopediccompilations.37
Renaissance learnedphysicians had a real need for these and otherrhetorical
tools, but theirskill in deploying them variedwidely. Among theirmore singularlyinfelicitousproductions,for example,is the "mournfuleclogue"with which
DietrichWasser,a medical studentfrom Lubeck, commemoratedthe death of
LeonhartFuchs. In it charactersnamed Battus and Melisaeus inform one another that the local "Fauns,Dryads, and Hamadryads"are lamentingFuchs's
demise.38
A vivid glimpse of the dilemma that faced medical lecturerswho lacked
rhetoricalskills comes from mid-sixteenth-centuryPadua.There, by custom,
studentsof law as well as medicine attendedthe formalopening of a course of
medical lectures. If the lecturer,uncertainof his oratorical ability, plunged
straightinto specializedcommentaryon a medicaltext withoutgiving an introby whistles
ductoryorationsuitablefor a broadaudience,he wouldbe interrupted
and catcalls. If on the otherhandhe trottedout well worn conventionalpraises
of medicine, a discipline "thatno-one has ever failed to praise,"he might expect a glaze of tediumto come over his audience.The authorwho remarkedon
this situation,Jande Vleeschouwer,held one of the few remaininglectureships
in the gift of the studentnations, and was perhapsespecially anxious to please
his studentpatrons.At any rate,he neatly avoided the dilemmaby introducing
his lectureson the section of Avicenna'sCanonon joint diseases with a satirical
Lucianic orationin praise of gout.39
But if the youthfulandobscureVleeschouwer'sresponseto the problemof
the properfunctionof the medicalorationwas an essentially frivolousone, two
37 PolydoreVergil,OnDiscovery,ed. andtr.BrianP.Copenhaver(Cambridge,Mass., 2002),
20, "Quis primusmedicinaminvenerit,"154-62; and see "The Historiographyof Discovery in
the Renaissance:Polydore Vergil'sDe inventoribusrerum,I-III,"Journal of the Warburgand
CourtauldInstitutes,41 (1978), 192-214.
38
"Ecloga lugubris inscripta Daphnis autore Theodorico Aquario Lubecensi Medicinae
studioso," in Georg Hizler, Oratio de vita et morte clarissimi viri, medici et philosophie
praestantissimi,D. LeonhartiFuchsii (Tiibingen, 1566), 55-60.
39 Johannes Carnarius [Jan de Vleeschouwer], De podagra laudibus oratio habita in
celeberrimogymnasioPatavino ... in initio lectionum(Padua,1552).

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Nancy G. Siraisi

of the most eminenthumanistsof the sixteenthcenturytook the task of presenting uplifting aspects of the discipline with great seriousness.The medical orations of both Erasmusand Melanchthon,far from being routineproductions,
reflect an authenticinterestin medicine both as a humanisticdiscipline and a
humanscience. Erasmusoriginallywrote his Encomiummedicinae at an early
stage of his career,when he still showed sympathyfor many aspects of traditionalreligious anduniversitypracticefromwhich he latermoved away.4 Nevertheless, as the moderneditor of the orationpoints out, Erasmusintroduced
themes in it that he would later develop in other betterknown works. Moreover, he valued it sufficiently to publish it underhis own name in 1518, nineteen years after its original composition, and to revise it carefully for a later
edition.41Melanchthon'smore thantwenty orations,or declamations,on medical topics may be the largestbody of materialof this type survivingfrom any
one Renaissanceauthor.42
Like the rest of his very numerousorations,they are
the productof his belief that practicein declamatio should play a regularand
centralrole in the Wittenbergcurriculum(preferablyreplacingdisputation)and
of his habit of writing orations for delivery by Wittenbergcolleagues or students.43In content they range from the broadly humanistic and historical
40 See Eugene F. Rice, "Erasmusand the Religious Tradition,1495-1499," in Renaissance
Essaysfrom the Journal of the History of Ideas, ed. Paul OskarKristellerand Philip P. Wiener
(New York, 1968), 162-86.
41 Erasmus,Encomium,introduction,149-60.
42 PhilippMelanchthon,(23) Laus artis medicinae,(24) Encomiummedicinae,(25) Contra
empiricosmedicos;(63) De vita Galeni, (64) De Hippocrate;(69) De physica; (101) De dignitate
artis medicae; (104) De vita Avicennae;(118) De sympathiaet antipathia, (119) De doctrina
physica, (120) De doctrina anatomiae, (121) De partibus et motibuscordis, CorpusReformatorum,11 (Halle, 1843): 191-210;495-509; 555-40; 806-11; 826-32; 924-54. (135) De anatomia;
(146) De arte medica; (158) De pulmone et de discrimine arteriae; (165) De aphorismo VIto
partis II; (170) De considerationecorporis humaniseu de anatomicadoctrina;(176) Explicatio
AphorismiXLII,CorpusReformatorum,12 (Halle, 1844), 28-33; 113-19; 207-13; 271-77; 31724; 360-65. See Thomas and Ulrich Riitten,"Melanchthon'sRede 'De Hippocrate,'" Medizin
historisches Journal, 33 (1998), 19-55; Wolfgang U. Eckhart,"PhilippMelanchthonund die
Medizin,"in Melanchthonunddie Naturwissenchaftenseiner Zeit,ed. GiintherFrankandStefan
Rhein(Sigmaringen,1998), 183-202;Hans-TheodorKoch,"Melanchthonunddie Vesal-Rezeption
in Wittenberg,"ibid., 203-18; Heinz Scheible, "MelanchthonsbiographischeReden:Literarische
Form und akademischerUnterricht,"in his Melanchthonund die Reformation(Mainz, 1996),
115-38. See also Vivian Nutton, "WittenbergAnatomy,"and Sachiko Kusukawa,"Aspectio
divinorumoperum:MelanchthonandAstrology for LutheranMedics,"both in Medicineand the
Reformation,ed. Ole Peter Grell and Andrew Cunningham(London, 1993), 11-32 and 33-56,
and Kusukawa, The Transformationof Natural Philosophy: The Case of Philip Melanchthon
(Cambridge,1995);also PhilippMelanchthon,Orationson Philosophyand Education,ed. Sachiko
Kusukawa(Cambridge,1999). I am also gratefulto Dr. Heinz Scheible for advice in a personal
communication.
43 See Joachim Camerarius,De vita Philippi Melanchthonisnarratio (Halle, 1777), 63:
"Quaevero in doctrinapublica dicebantur,qua recitandaforte erantsolennibusin conventibus,
quae proponendaealiquarumsignificationes,ab hoc uno scribebantur.Atque visae sunt chartae
cum humidis adhuc literis reliquae afferri iis, qui iam pronunciarecomposita ab eo priora

Oratoryand Rhetoric in Renaissance Medicine

203

(accountsof Hippocrates,Galen, andAvicenna,praise of medicine, denunciation of empirics) to the relatively specialized (exposition of particularHippocraticaphorisms).A numberof them were writtenfor delivery by professorsin
the medical faculty and a few subsequentlypublishedin separateeditions under those professors'names as well as in Melanchthon'sworks." Yet there is
no reasonto doubtthatthese orationsreflect Melanchthon'sown scientific interests, which extended to mathematics,astrology, naturalphilosophy--and
medicine. Recent scholarshiphas drawnattentionto the abundantdocumentation in his correspondenceand his De anima for his scientific contacts with
leading physicians, for his close personalrelationswith medical colleagues at
Wittenberg,for his enthusiasmfor anatomyand for Vesalius, and for his considerableknowledge of ancient medical literature.45But Melanchthon'smedical orations surely also, and more profoundly,embody his conviction of the
importanceof presentingthe intellectually,morally, socially, and religiously
uplifting aspects of medicine to medical colleagues, to students of arts who
might contemplatea medical career,and to young medical graduatesembarking on one.
Moreover,the rhetoricalefforts of Erasmusand Melanchthonon behalf of
medicine were incorporatedinto medicine's own literature.In an edition of
1528 Melanchthon'sEncomiummedicinae was printedtogetherwith Celsus's
Medicina, which was one of the ancient medical works most highly prized by
humanistphysicians.46Erasmus'sEncomiumkept less elevated medical company. Clumsily versified by Eobanusof Hesse, it was many times reprintedin
a collection of simple little Latin poems and treatises on the conservationof
health.47And in 1644 JanBeverwyck, Leiden professorof medicine and correspondentof HarveyandDescarteson the subjectof the circulationof the blood,
chose to publishhis own encomiumof medicine in the companyof encomia by

coepissent";also K. Meerhoff, "The Significance of Philip Melanchthon'sRhetoricin the Renaissance,"in P. Mack (ed.), Renaissance Rhetoric (New York, 1994), 46-62; and Marc Gerard
Marievan der Poel, De Declamatio bij de humanisten:Bijdragetot de studie van defuncties van
de rhetorica in de Renaissance (Nijmegen, 1987), 343-51.
44For example, Jacob Milich, Oratio de considerandasympathiaet antipathiawith idem,
Oratio ... de Avicennavita (Wittenberg,1550).
45 See note 43 above and Camerarius,Vita, 15, 76-77, 158-59, 210-11, 242-43.
4 Encomiummedicinaedocto quaedamauthore[Melanchthon],282-88 in Aulus Cornelius
Celsus, De re medica, libri octo eruditissimi. Q. Sereni Samonici Precepta medica, versibus
hexametris.Q. RhemniiFannii Palaemonis,De ponderibus& mensuris,liberraruset utilissimus.
Hos libros D. Joan. Caesarius ... castigavit, adjecto perdocto commentario....Haganau, 1528.
47 Eobanus of Hesse, Medicinae encomion ex Desiderio Erasmo Roterodamo ... versu
redditum.InDe tuendabona valetudine,libellusEobaniHessi, commentariisdoctissimisa loanne
Placotomo,professormedicoquondamin AcademiaRegiomontanaillustratus(Frankfurt,1564),
f. 138'-145v.

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three eminent sixteenth-centuryauthors,only the last of whom was a physician: Erasmus,Melanchthon,and GirolamoCardano.48
For all the specializedlearningandprofessionalself-consciousnessof academically trainedGalenic physicians and the real and highly specific achievements of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-centuryanatomy,physiology, and
botany, a substantialpart of Renaissance medicine involved knowledge and
attitudessharedwith and highly dependenton the broadersociety. This is true
in the case of ideas, terminology,and practicesconcerningthe humanbody as
an object of knowledge and therapeuticintervention-whether these concern
broadculturalassumptionssuch as ideas about genderor practicalknowledge
of remedies sharednot only across a wide spectrumof healers at all levels of
social statusand educationbut also in and outside the medical profession.It is
equallytrueof the entireshiftfromscholasticismto humanism,in which learned
physicians followed the lead of the largerintellectualcommunity. The extent
to which medicine was partof a broaderhumanisticand still largely rhetorical
cultureis furtherreflected in the frequencyand facility with which physicians
embarkedon such projectsas writing general histories and the apparentcomplacency with which their doing so was regarded.GirolamoCardanoreported
that his medical colleagues reproved him for spending more time on mathematics (no doubt including astrology) than medicine, but nothing but praise
seems to have accruedto Dr.HartmanSchedel for spendinghis time writing,or
compiling, the NurembergChronicleor to Dr. TommasoMinadoifor composing his History of the WarBetween the Turksand the Persians, to name only
two of many possible examples.49
Consequentlythe place of oratoryand epideictic rhetoricin Renaissance
academicmedicinecannotbe simply dismissed as peripheralto its "real"enterprise, whetherthatenterpriseis conceived as primarilyprofessional,scientific,
philosophical, or healing. This is not only because some surviving orations
express a scientific conviction or intellectualcommitmentor recounta biography thatmakes them well worthstudying.Many othersare essentially conventional or insignificant in content. But the characterof medical orations and
encomia is one more sign amongmany thatthe self-image of the learnedmedical professionthen incorporatedattributescharacteristicof a Renaissancehumanistdiscipline as well as those of a technicalor scientific profession.
HunterCollege.
48Jan Beverwyck, Epistolicae quaestionescum doctorumresponsionibus.Accedit ejusdem
nec non Erasmi, Cardani Melanchthonis,Medicinae encomium(Rotterdam,1644), including
the letter from Descartes; and see Roger French, WilliamHarvey'sNatural Philosophy (Cambridge, 1994), 169, 193-94.
49See AdrianWilson,TheMakingof theNurembergChronicle(Amsterdam,1976);Giovanni
TommasoMinadoi,Historia della gverrafra Tvrchi,et ... Persiani (Venice, 1587).

Oratoryand Rhetoric in RenaissanceMedicine

205

Appendix
1. Orationsconsultedfor this paper
Argenterio,Giovanni.Oratioloannis ArgenteriiNeapoli habitain initiosuarum
lectionum anno 1555, unnumberedfolio at the beginning of his Opera,
pars prior.Venice, 1606.
Beverwyck,Jan.Epistolicaequaestionescumdoctorumresponsionibus.Accedit
ejusdemnec non Erasmi, CardaniMelanchthonis,Medicinae encomium.
Rotterdam,1644.
Bartolotti,Gian Giacomo. On the Antiquityof Medicine. In GiovanniTortelli,
On Medicine and Physicians. Gian Giacomo Bartolotti,On the Antiquity
of Medicine. Two Histories of Medicine of the XVth Century,ed. and tr.
DorothyM. Schullianand Luigi Belloni. Milan, 1954.
Cardano,Girolamo.Medicinae encomium.In his Quaedamopuscula. Basel,
1559. Also in his Opera, ed. C. Spon, vol. VI. Lyon, 1664.
Carnarius,Johannes[Vleeschouwer,Jande]. De podagra laudibusoratio habita
in celeberrimogymnasioPatavino ... in initio lectionum.Padua, 1552.
Cornarius,Janus.Hippocrates, sive doctor verus, Oratio habita Marpurgi ...
itemDe rectismedicinaestudiisamplectendis,Oratio... habitaGronibergae
Hessorum. In Hippocratis Coi libelli aliquot, tr. Janus Cornarius.Basel,
1543.
Dryander,Johann.InpraelectionemmedicamoratioquaAnatomiaenecessarium
studium commendatur, Marpurgi ... habita ... anno MDXXVI. With his

Anatomiae.Marpurg,1537.
Du Chastel, Honor6. Oratio Lutetiae habita, quaefuturo medico necessaria
explicantur.Paris, 1555.
Eobanusof Hesse. Medicinae encomion ex Desiderio Erasmo Roterodamo...
versu redditum.In De tuenda bona valetudine, libellus Eobani Hessi,
commentariisdoctissimisa loanne Placotomo,professor medicoquondam
in AcademiaRegiomontanaillustratus.Frankfurt,1564. Fols. 138r-145v.
Erasmus,Desiderius. Encomiummedicinae, ed. in his Opera omnia, ordo 1,
vol. IV, 147-86. Amsterdam,1973.
Erastus,Thomas.De medicinaelaudibusoratio. In his Variaopusculamedica.
Frankfurt,1590. 1-14.
Fabritius, Gerard. Encomiasta medicinae et adversus eiusdem calumniatores
recriminatoris oratio habita in Dolana florentissima Burgundiorum.
Academia. Venice, 1548.
Gentile da Foligno. Sermo 1. ed. in Jole Agrimi and Chiara Crisciani. Edocere
medicos. Naples, 1988, 258-61.
ad conventum magistri Martini di Senis. ed. in Carl C. Schlam.
. Sermo
"Graduation Speeches of Gentile da Foligno." Medieval Studies, 40 (1978),
96-119, at 113-19.

Nancy G. Siraisi

206

Hizler, Georg. Oratio de vita et morte clarissimi viri, medici et philosophi

praestantissimi,D. LeonhartiFuchsii. Ttibingen,1566. English translation
in Thegreat herbal of LeonhartFuchs: De historia stirpiumcom-mentarii
insignes,1542 (notablecommentarieson thehistoryofplants),ed. Frederick
G. Meyer,Emily EmmartTrueblood,and John L. Heller (Stanford,Calif.,
1999), I, 260-80.
Jacopoda Forli.Medicinaartiumpreclarissima,ed. in Jole Agrimi and Chiara
Crisciani.Edocere medicos. Naples, 1988,263-73.
Joubert,Laurent.Declamatio in loannis SapportaeAntonii F. inauguratione,
seu promotionead doctoralemdignitatem.In his Operumlatinorumtomus
secundus, 185-89. Frankfurt,1599.
. Declamatio, quae illud paradoxe interpraetatur, Nutritionem vincere

naturam,ex Platone. In his Paradoxorumdemonstrationummedicinalium

... decas prima. Lyon, 1561. "... est quam D. Joubertus ante aliquod annos

habuitMonspellidum ... coronadoctoralidiadematemeritissimodonaretur."

. Oratio de praesidiisfuturi excellentis medici. In his Operum latinorum

tomussecundus, 192-96. Frankfurt,1599.

Junius, Hadrianus(1511-75). Oratio de artium liberalium dignitate. In his
Epistolae. Dordrecht,1652.
Matteolo da Perugia. De laudibus medicinae in principio suae lectiones
ordinariae. In Tre orazioni nuziali di Guarino Veronese e una 'Laus
medicinae'di Matteolo da Perugia, ed. A. Messini. Rome, 1939, 37-42.
Melanchthon,Philipp. (23) Laus artis medicinae, (24) Encomiummedicinae,
(25) Contraempiricosmedicos; (63) De vita Galeni, (64) De Hippocrate;
(69) De physica; (101) De dignitateartis medicae;(104) De vitaAvicennae;
(118) De sympathia et antipathia, (119) De doctrina physica, (120) De
doctrina anatomiae, (121) De partibus et motibus cordis, Corpus
Reformatorum,11 (Halle, 1843), 191-210; 495-509; 555-40; 806-11; 82632; 924-54. (135) De anatomia;(146) De arte medica; (158) De pulmone
et de discrimine arteriae; (165) De aphorismo VItopartis II; (170) De
considerationecorporishumaniseu de anatomicadoctrina;(176) Explicatio
AphorismiXLII,CorpusReformatorum,12 (Halle, 1844), 28-33; 113-19;
207-13; 271-77; 317-24; 360-65.
Mercuriale,Girolamo.Oratioprima. Milan, BibliotecaAmbrosiana,cod. S 84
sup., fols 309r-313.

Naud6, Gabriel. De antiquitate et dignitate scholae medicae Parisiensis

panegyris. Cum orationibus encomiasticis ad IX iatroganistas laurea medica
donandos. Paris, 1628.
Vieil, Jean le. Orationes in medicinae commendationem et in gratiam octodecim
medicae laureae candidatorum institutae. Paris, 1560.
Vorst, Edward. Oratio funebris in obitum V.N. et clarissimi Caroli Clusii. Separately paginated with L'Ecluse, Charles. Curae posteriores. Antwerp, 1611.

Oratoryand Rhetoric in Renaissance Medicine

207

Werner, Abraham. Oratio de vita Galeni ... cum doctores in medicinae

renunciarentur viri doctissimi D. Georgius Agricola Ambergensis, et
D. Fabianus Summer.Wittenberg,1570.
2. Orations consulted for this paper classified by
date, place, and occasion
Approximate dates of composition
Fourteenth century, first half
Gentile da Foligno. Sermo 1. Early 1340s.
. Sermoad conventummagistriMartinidi Senis. Early 1340s.
Fifteenth century, first half
Jacopo da Forli. Medicina artiumpreclarissima. 1409.
Matteolo da Perugia. De laudibus medicinae in principio suae lectiones
ordinariae. 1439.
1480-1520
Bartolotti,Gian Giacomo. On the Antiquityof Medicine. 1498.
Erasmus,Desiderius.Encomiummedicinae. 1499, reissued 1520s.
1530-70
Argenterio,Giovanni. Oratio ... habita in initio suarumlectionumanno 1555.
Melanchthon,Philipp. (23) Laus artis medicinae, (24) Encomiummedicinae,
(25) Contraempiricosmedicos; (63) De vita Galeni, (64) De Hippocrate;
(69) De physica; (101) De dignitateartis medicae;(104) De vitaAvicennae;
(118) De sympathia et antipathia, (119) De doctrina physica, (120) De
doctrinaanatomiae,(121) De partibuset motibuscordis,(135) De anatomia;
(146) De arte medica; (158) De pulmone et de discriminearteriae; (165)
De aphorismoVItopartis II; (170) De considerationecorporis humaniseu
de anatomicadoctrina;(176) ExplicatioAphorismiXLII.Dates rangefrom
1529 to 1560, accordingto CR.
Dryander,Johann.InpraelectionemmedicamoratioquaAnatomiaenecessarium
studiumcommendatur,Marpurgi... habita ... anno MDXXVI.
Cornarius,Janus.Hippocrates,sive doctorverus,OratiohabitaMarpurgi...item
De rectis medicinae studiis amplectendis, Oratio ... habita Gronibergae
Hessorum. 154?
Fabritius,Gerard.Encomiasta medicinae et adversus eiusdem calumniatores
recriminatoris oratio habita in Dolana florentissima Burgundiorum
Academia. 1547 or 1548.
Carnarius,Johannes[Vleeschouwer,Jande]. Depodagra laudibusoratio habita
in celeberrimo gymnasio Patavino ... in initio lectionum. 1552.

208

Nancy G. Siraisi

Du Chastel, Honor6. Oratio Lutetiae habita, que futuro medico necessaria

explicantur.1555.
Cardano,Girolamo.Medicinae encomium.Before 1559.
Vieil, Jeanle. Orationesin medicinaecommendationemet in gratiamoctodecim
medicae laureae candidatoruminstitutae. 1560.
Eobanusof Hesse. Medicinae encomionex Desiderio ErasmoRoterodamo ...
versu redditum.Firstedition appearsto be 1564.
Hizler, Georg. Oratio de vita et morte clarissimi viri, medici et philosophi
praestantissimi,D. LeonhartiFuchsii. 1566.Englishtranslationin Thegreat
herbalofLeonhartFuchs: De historiastirpiumcommentariiinsignes, 1542
(notable commentarieson the history of plants), ed. FrederickG. Meyer,
Emily EmmartTrueblood,and John L. Heller (Stanford,Calif., 1999), I,
260-80.
Joubert,Laurent.Declamatio in loannis SapportaeAntonii F. inauguratione,
seu promotionead doctoralemdignitatem.
Declamatio, quae illud paradoxe interpraetatur,Nutritionemvincere
naturam,ex Platone. In his Paradoxorumdemonstrationummedicinalium
... decas prima. Lyon, 1561. "... est quam D. Joubertus ante aliquod annos

habuitMonspellidum ... coronadoctoralidiadematemeritissimodonaretur."

. Oratio de praesidiisfuturi excellentis medici. 1579
Werner, Abraham. Oratio de vita Galeni ... cum doctores in medicinae

renunciarenturviri doctissimi D. Georgius Agricola Ambergensis,et D.

Fabianus Summer.1570.
Junius,Hadrianus(1511-75). Oratio de artiumliberaliumdignitate.
1570-1630
Erastus,Thomas (1524-83). De medicinae laudibusoratio.
Mercuriale,Girolamo(1530-1606). Oratioprima.
Vorst,Edward.Oratiofunebrisin obitumV.N. et clarissimiCaroli Clusii. 1609.
Naud6, Gabriel. De antiquitate et dignitate scholae medicae Parisiensis
panegyris.Cumorationibusencomiasticisad IXiatroganistaslaureamedica
donandos. 1628.
Beverwyck,Jan.Epistolicaequaestionescumdoctorumresponsionibus.Accedit
ejusdem nec non Erasmi, CardaniMelanchthonis,Medicinae encomium.
Beverwyck's encomiumwas originallypublishedas an independentitem,
Dordrecht, 1633.
Place
Italy
Gentile da Foligno. Sermo 1. Perugia.
. Sermo ad conventum magistri Martini di Senis. Perugia.
Jacopo da Forli. Medicina artium preclarissima. Padua?

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209

Matteolo da Perugia. De laudibus medicinae in principio suae lectiones

ordinariae.Padua.
Bartolotti,Gian Giacomo. On the Antiquityof Medicine. Ferrara.
Argenterio,Giovanni.Oratio ... in initio suarumlectionumanno 1555. Naples.
Cardano,Girolamo.Medicinae encomium.Pavia?
Carnarius,Johannes[Vleeschouwer,Jande]. De podagra laudibusoratio habita
in celeberrimogymnasioPatavino ... in initio lectionum.Padua.
Mercuriale,Girolamo.Oratioprima. Padua?
Germany and the Low Countries
Erasmus,Desiderius.Encomiummedicinae [butoriginallydelivered at Paris].
Melanchthon,Philipp. (23) Laus artis medicinae, (24) Encomiummedicinae,
(25) Contraempiricosmedicos; (63) De vita Galeni, (64) De Hippocrate;
(69) De physica; (101) De dignitateartis medicae;(104) De vitaAvicennae;
(118) De sympathia et antipathia, (119) De doctrina physica, (120) De
doctrinaanatomiae,(121) De partibuset motibuscordis,(135) De anatomia;
(146) De arte medica; (158) De pulmone et de discriminearteriae; (165)
De aphorismoVItopartis II; (170) De considerationecorporis humaniseu
de anatomicadoctrina;(176) ExplicatioAphorismiXLII.Wittenberg.
Dryander,Johann.InpraelectionemmedicamoratioquaAnatomiaenecessarium
studiumcommendatur,Marpurgi... habita ... anno MDXXVI.
Cornarius,Janus.Hippocrates, sive doctor verus, Oratio habita Marpurgi ...
itemDe rectismedicinaestudiisamplectendis,Oratio... habitaGronibergae
Hessorum.
Eobanusof Hesse. Medicinae encomion ex Desiderio Erasmo Roterodamo...
versu redditum.
Hizler, Georg. Oratio de vita et morte clarissimi viri, medici et philosophi
praestantissimi,D. LeonhartiFuchsii. Tiibingen.Englishtranslationin The
great herbalofLeonhartFuchs: De historiastirpiumcommentariiinsignes,
1542 (notable commentarieson the history of plants), ed. FrederickG.
Meyer, Emily EmmartTrueblood, and John L. Heller (Stanford,Calif.,
1999), I, 260-80.
Werner, Abraham. Oratio de vita Galeni ... cum doctores in medicinae
renunciarenturviri doctissimi D. Georgius Agricola Ambergensis,et D.
Fabianus Summer.Wittenberg.
Junius,Hadrianus.Oratio de artiumliberaliumdignitate. Harlem?
Erastus,Thomas (1524-83). De medicinae laudibusoratio. Heidelberg.
Vorst,Edward.Oratiofunebrisin obitumV N. et clarissimiCaroliClusii.Leiden.
Beverwyck,Jan.EpistolicaequaestionescumdoctorumresponsionibusAccedit
ejusdemnec non Erasmi, CardaniMelanchthonis,Medicinae encomium.
Leiden.

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210

France
Fabritius,Gerard.Encomiasta medicinae et adversus eiusdem calumniatores
recriminatoris oratio habita in Dolana florentissima Burgundiorum
Academia. D1le.
Du Chastel, Honor6. Oratio Lutetiae habita, quaefuturo medico necessaria
explicantur.Paris.
Vieil, Jeanle. Orationesin medicinaecommendationemet in gratiamoctodecim
medicae laureae candidatoruminstitutae.Paris.
Joubert,Laurent.Declamatio in loannis SapportaeAntoniiF. inauguratione,
seu promotionead doctoralemdignitatem.Montpellier.
. Declamatio, quae illud paradoxe interpraetatur,Nutritionemvincere
naturam,ex Platone. Montpellier.
. Oratiode praesidiisfuturi excellentis medici. In his Operumlatinorum
tomussecundus.Montpellier.
Naud6, Gabriel. De antiquitate et dignitate scholae medicae Parisiensis
panegyris.Cumorationibusencomiasticisad IX iatroganistaslaureamedica
donandos. Paris.

Occasion
Graduation
Gentile da Foligno. Sermo 1.
. Sermoad conventummagistriMartinidi Senis.
Melanchthon,Philipp.Occasion not determinedfor all; some explicitly designatedfor graduations.(23) Lausartis medicinae,(24) Encomiummedicinae,
(25) Contraempiricosmedicos; (63) De vita Galeni, (64) De Hippocrate;
(69) De physica; (101) De dignitateartis medicae;(104) De vitaAvicennae;
(118) De sympathia et antipathia, (119) De doctrina physica, (120) De
doctrina anatomiae, (121) De partibus et motibus cordis, Corpus
(135) De anatomia;(146) De artemedica;(158) Depulmone
Reformatorum,
et de discrimine arteriae; (165) De aphorismo VItopartis II; (170) De
considerationecorporishumaniseu de anatomicadoctrina;(176) Explicatio

XLII.
Aphorismi
Du Chastel, Honor6. Oratio Lutetiae habita, que futuro medico necessaria
explicantur.
Vieil, Jeanle. Orationesin medicinaecommendationemet in gratiamoctodecim
medicae laureae candidatoruminstitutae.
Joubert,Laurent.Declamatio, quae illudparadoxe interpraetatur,Nutritionem
vincere naturam, ex Platone. "... est quam D. Joubertus ante aliquod annos

habuitMonspellidum ... coronadoctoralidiadematemeritissimodonaretur.

.Declamatio in loannis Sapportae Antonii F. inauguratione, seu
promotionead doctoralemdignitatem.
. Oratio de praesidiisfuturi excellentis medici.

Oratoryand Rhetoric in Renaissance Medicine

211

Werner,Abraham.Oratio de vita Galeni ... cum doctores in medicinae renunciarenturviri doctissimiD. GeorgiusAgricolaAmbergensis,et D. Fabianus
Summer.
Naud6, Gabriel. De antiquitate et dignitate scholae medicae Parisiensis
panegyris.Cumorationibusencomiasticisad IXiatroganistaslaureamedica
donandos.

Beginningof courseor of academicyear

Matteolo da Perugia. De laudibus medicinae in principio suae lectiones
ordinariae.
?Jacopoda Forli. Medicina artiumpreclarissima.
Bartolotti,Gian Giacomo. On the Antiquityof Medicine.
Dryander,Johann.InpraelectionemmedicamoratioquaAnatomiaenecessarium
studiumcommendatur,Marpurgi... habita ... anno MDXXVI.
Carnarius,Johannes[Vleeschouwer,Jande]. De podagra laudibusoratiohabita
in celeberrimogymnasioPatavino ... in initio lectionum.
Argenterio,Giovanni. Oratio ... in initio suarumlectionumanno 1555.

Funeraryoration
Hizler, Georg. Oratio de vita et morte clarissimi viri, medici et philosophi
praestantissimi, D. Leonharti Fuchsii. English translationin The great
herbalofLeonhartFuchs: De historiastirpiumcommentariiinsignes, 1542
(notable commentarieson the history of plants), ed. FrederickG. Meyer,
Emily EmmartTrueblood,and John L. Heller (Stanford,Calif., 1999), I,
260-80.
Vorst,Edward.Oratiofunebris in obitumV.N. et clarissimi Caroli Clusii.

Undeterminedacademicoccasion
Erasmus,Desiderius.Encomiummedicinae.
Cornarius,Janus.Hippocrates,sive doctorverus,OratiohabitaMarpurgi...item
De rectis medicinae studiis amplectendis, Oratio ... habita Gronibergae
Hessorum.
Fabritius,Gerard.Encomiasta medicinae et adversus eiusdem calumniatores
recriminatorisoratio habita in DolanaflorentissimaBurgundiorumAccademia.
Cardano,Girolamo.Medicinae encomium.
Erastus,Thomas.De medicinae laudibusoratio.
Mercuriale,Girolamo.Oratioprima.
Undetermined
Junius,Hadrianus.Oratio de artiumliberaliumdignitate.
Beverwyck,Jan.Epistolicaequaestionescumdoctorumresponsi.Acceditejusdem nec non Erasmi, CardaniMelanchthonis,Medicinae encomium.