Cornarius Janus - Haynpol Johann

Lessico

Janus Cornarius
alias
Johann Haynpol

da Icones veterum aliquot ac recentium Medicorum Philosophorumque
di Ioannes Sambucus / János Zsámboky
Antverpiae 1574

Il nome tedesco era Johann Haynpol, detto anche Hagenbut, Hagenbutt, Hagebut, successivamente tradotto nel latino Cornarius dal suo precettore – e poi suocero – Laurentius Ursalius. La corrispondenza fra l’antico tedesco Hagenbutt, e l’odierno Hagebutte che identifica il cinorrodo o cinorrodio – il falso frutto di alcune specie spontanee del genere Rosa (canina, rubiginosa, ecc.) il cui ricettacolo fiorale diventa carnoso e si ripiega a orciolo racchiudendo quasi completamente all'interno i veri frutti costituiti da acheni pelosi – mi è stato molto gentilmente fornito dal Dr Thomas Gloning (Institut für Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft, Università di Marburgo, Germania).

Dr Thomas Gloning

In sintesi: nei vecchi glossari cornum era una delle parole che identificavano il cinorrodo della rosa, e non il frutto del corniolo (Cornus mas) che è molto simile per dimensioni e colore al cinorrodo. Ecco la risposta del Dr Gloning nei dettagli:

“Le mot actuel est _Hagebutte_. Les anciens noms sont _très_ multiformes, voir en premier lieu Heinrich Marzell, Wörterbuch der deutschen Pflanzennamen, s.v. Rosa canina, B4. Dans les anciens glossaires, _cornum_ était un des mots pour la _Hagebutte_, voir Diefenbach, Gl., 152a. Peut-être c'était le point de départ.” (e-mail del 26-9-2005)

Somiglianza tra i frutti di Cornus mas a sinistra e i cinorrodi di Rosa canina a destra

Cornus femina fructu gemino
acquarello di Ulisse Aldrovandi.
Si tratta ovviamente del nostro Cornus mas o corniolo,
in quanto oggi il Cornus femina equivale al sanguinello o Cornus sanguinea.

Da quanto ho potuto desumere dal web, Janus Cornarius era un medico e un umanista nato nel 1500 a Zwickau in Sassonia e morto a Jena in Turingia nel 1558.

Viene ripetutamente citato da Conrad Gessner nel III volume della sua Historia animalium (1555) in quanto spesso confronta la traduzione dei Geoponica di Cornarius con quella di Andrés de Laguna usata da Gessner. La traduzione di Cornarius dei Geoponica vide la luce - forse per la prima volta - a Lione nel 1541 col titolo di Constantini Caesaris selectarum praeceptionum de agricultura libri viginti, riedita a Lione nel 1543 col titolo che vediamo nella successiva immagine. La fonte del testo greco dei Geoponica usata da Cornarius gli era stata fornita dall'amico boemo Matteo Aurogallo: examplar Graecum, quod unicum habui a veteri amico meo doctissimo viro Mattheo Aurogallo Bohemo mihi suppeditatum.

Tradusse, tra le altre, l’opera di Ezio di Amida, medico del VI secolo dC: un’edizione vide la luce a Lione nel 1549 e porta il seguente titolo: Aetii medici Graeci contractae ex veteribus medicinae tetrabiblos: hoc est, quaternio, sive libri universales quatuor, singuli quatuor sermones complectentes, ut sint in summa quatuor sermonum quaterniones, id est, sermones sedecim, per Ianum Cornarium medicum physicum latine conscripti - Lugduni, ex officina Godefridi et Marcelli Beringorum fratrum mdxlix.

Cornarius aveva così tradotto dal greco in latino il
Giuramento di Ippocrate

«Apollinem medicum et Aesculapium Hygeamque ac Panaceam iuro deosque omnes itemque deas testes facio me hoc iusiurandum et hanc contestationem conscriptam pro viribus et iudicio meo integre servaturum esse: Praeceptorem sane qui me hanc edocuit artem, parentum loco habiturum, vitam communicaturum, eaque quibus opus habuerit impertiturum: eos item qui ex eo nati sunt pro fratribus masculis iudicaturum artemque hanc, si discere voluerint, absque mercede et pacto edocturum: praeceptionum, ac auditionum, reliquaeque totius disciplinae participes facturum, tum meos, tum praeceptoris mei filios, imo et discipulos, qui mihi scripto caverint, et medico iureiurando addicti fuerint, alii vero praeter hos nulli. Ceterum quod ad aegros attinet sanandos, diaetam ipsis constitutam pro facultate et iudicio meo commodam, omneque detrimentum et iniuriam ab eis prohibebo. Neque vero ullius preces apud me adeo validae fuerint, ut cuipiam venenum sim propinaturus, neque etiam ad hanc rem consilium dabo. Similiter autem neque mulieri talum vulvae subditicium, ad corrumpendum conceptum, vel foetum dabo. Porro praeterea et sancte vitam et artem meam conservabo. Nec vero calculo laborantes secabo, sed viris chirurgiae operariis eius rei faciendae locum dabo. In quascumque autem domos ingrediar, ob utilitatem aegrotantium intrabo, ab omnique iniuria voluntaria inferenda, et corruptione cum alia, tum praesertim operum venereorum abstinebo, sive muliebria sive virilia, liberorumve hominum aut servorum corpora mihi contigerint curanda. Quaecumque vero inter curandum videro aut audiero, imo etiam ad medicandum non adhibitus in communi hominum vita cognovero, ea siquidem efferre non contulerit, tacebo: et tanquam arcana apud me continebo. Hoc igitur iusiurandum mihi integre servanti, et non confundenti, contingat et vita et arte feliciter frui, et apud omnes homines in perpetuum gloriam meam celebrari. Transgredienti autem et peieranti, his contraria eveniant.» - Hippocratis Coi medicorum omnium longe principis, opera quae ad nos extant omnia (Froben, Basilea, 1546)

incisione di Theodor de Bry (1528-1598)
da Bibliotheca chalcographica di Jean-Jacques Boissard - 1669

La seguente biografia di Janus Cornarius è molto più ricca. È tratta dal Dizionario biografico della storia della medicina e delle scienze naturali - Franco Maria Ricci, Milano, 1985.

Cornarius ricevette la sua prima educazione scolastica a Zwickau; proseguì gli studi presso l’Università di Lipsia, dove si laureò in lettere nel settembre del 1518. Nel 1519 si trasferì all’Università di Wittenberg: Lutero vi insegnava teologia e Melantone (1497-1560) vi era stato di recente nominato professore di greco. È probabile che durante il suo soggiorno a Wittenberg Cornarius sia stato influenzato dalle idee di Melantone su un programma di riforma pedagogica che respingeva i metodi della scolastica in favore dello studio diretto dei classici greci.

Dopo il dottorato, conseguito nel 1521, Cornarius insegnò il greco, e quindi si dedicò allo studio della medicina, ricevendo nel dicembre del 1523 l’abilitazione ad esercitare la professione medica. Viaggiò molto nell’Europa settentrionale, ma nel febbraio 1526 fu nominato professore presso l’Università di Rostock, dove tenne lezioni — come Rabelais a Montpellier — sugli Aforismi di Ippocrate.

Nel settembre 1528 si recò a Basilea. Scrisse più tardi di aver deciso in quel periodo di consacrare la sua attività agli autori medici greci: nello stesso anno difatti pubblicò la prima di una lunga serie di edizioni e traduzioni delle loro opere. Per il resto della sua esistenza egli poté continuare a permettersi gli studi eruditi accettando la nomina di medico civico, ed esercitando questa professione a Zwickau (dal 1530 al 1533 e dal 1546 al 1556), Nordhausen (dal 1535 al 1537), a Francoforte (dal 1538 al 1541).

Per brevi periodi fu professore di medicina a Marburg (1543- 1545) e infine a Jena (dal 1557 al 1558), dove morì d’infarto.

Cornarius condivise con altri medici umanisti la convinzione che la medicina aveva necessità di basarsi direttamente sulla conoscenza degli scritti dei suoi fondatori greci, se voleva ritrovare la sua qualifica di disciplina razionale in cui il trattamento dipendeva dalla comprensione scientifica della natura e delle cause della malattia. Fu questa stessa convinzione a ispirare Cornarius nelle sue molte edizioni e traduzioni degli autori medici greci. La sua edizione del testo greco ippocratico, pubblicata nel 1538, segnò una pietra miliare nella cultura dell’epoca, e la sua traduzione del 1546, la prima basata su un’accurata collazione dei manoscritti greci, venne ristampata più volte e divenne il testo universalmente adottato per l’insegnamento e la consultazione

Bibliografia

Tra le più importanti edizioni e traduzioni di autori medici curate da Cornarius, si ricordano:

da Ippocrate: De aere, aquis et locis libellus. Eiusdem de flatibus. Graece et latine, Jano Cornario ... interprete, Froben, Basel 1529; Libri omnes, testo greco curato da J. Comarius, Froben, Basel 1538; Opera quae ad nos extant omnia. Per Janum Cornarium ... latina lingua conscripta, Froben, Basel 1546.

da Ezio di Amida: De cognoscendis et curandis morbis sermones sex ... interprete Jano Cornario, Froben, Basel 1533; Libri universales quatuor ... per Janum Cornarium ... latine conscripti, Froben, Basel 1542.

da Marcello Empirico: De medicamentis empiricis liber, Froben, Basel 1536.

da Galeno: De compositione pharmacorum localium ... libri decem, (trad. e commentato da J. Comarius), Froben, Basel 1537; Opera quae ad nos extant omnia ... in latinam linguam conversa, Froben, Basel 1549.

da Paolo di Egina: Totius rei medicae libri VII per Janum Cornarium ... latina lingua conscripti, J. Hervagius, Basel 1556.

E vale la pena riportare la ricca biografia di Janus Cornarius scritta da Melchior Adam (1620).

Melchior Adam
Vitae Germanorum medicorum: qui seculo superiori, et quod excurrit, claruerunt congestae
et ad annum usque mdcxx deductae a Melchiore Adamo.
Haidelbergae, Impensis heredum Ionae Rosae,
Excudit Iohannes Georgius Geyder, Acad. Typogr. anno mdcxx.

Ianus Cornarius.

Ad limites Misniae, qui ad Elistrum, oppidum est ducum Saxoniae Cygnea, vel a conditore, vel ut quorundam fert opinio, ab insignibus, quibus olores tres ostentantur, denominatum. Id patriam nactus Joannes vel Janus Haynpol/ vel Hagenbut/ [Note: Ioan Hagenbutt Cornarius dictus, aliis Haynpol.] quod cognomen vernaculum a praeceptore, vel Laurentio Ursalio patriae consule, et postea socero eius in Cornarii fuit [Note: Ipse Cornar. comment. l. 6. p. 445.] mutatum: quam apte, alii judicent; natus est saeculo decimo quinto, post Messiam in carne exhibitum ineunte.

Primum studiorum tyrocinium in patria fecit: et puer domi paternae satis negligenter, quod ad victum, educatus, mox a patre admodum adolescens in externas scholas missus, ad adolescentiae fere usque finem, corpore non adeo firmo fuit: sed quod facile afficeretur, ob victus iusti negligentiam, imo ut rectius dicamus, partim ignorantiam, partim inopiam. Adolescens viginti natus annos, ex Petri Mosellani, viri et eruditi et suaveloquenti facundia ornati, auditoribus, eos in literis utriusque linguae fecit progressus: ut non modo Grammatica doceret: sed etiam poetas et oratores Graecos publice enarraret.

Anno vicesimoprimo, Wittembergae Magister est renunciatus: mox anno vicesimo tertio Licentiatus medicinae. Nam cum non ita tarde intelligere cepisset; sanitate vitam nihil melius habere: circa annum aet{t}atis decimum octavum, animum ad medicinae, quam et conservandae sanitatis, et amissae recuperandae, sive curandorum morborum artem esse audierat, studia adiecit; non admodum probantibus id parentibus et amicis, qui sacris et pietatis religioni addictum malebant. Etsi ergo istis obsecundandum, de mandato etiam divino, ducebat: magis tamen literarum et linguarum studio inhaerens, per aliquot annos progressus fecit eos; ut si omnino sacris initiatus esset, non plane ad id ineptus videretur. Medicinam etiam interea neutiquam neglexit: sed professores publicos diligenter audivit, non velut artis adsecla primum: sed velut explorator, et ut aetas ferebat, velut arbiter. Praelegebatur autem tunc in Lycaeis Avicenna, qui princeps totius artis habebatur: Rasis deinde, praesertim nonus ipsius ad Almansorem liber, in quo absoluta curandorum omnium morborum ratio proponi ferebatur, Albucasis, Avenzoar, Mesuas , Arabes, et alii vix citra taedium nominandi. Allegabantur interim alii ab aliis faciendae medicinae, sive ut ipsi vocabant, practicae scriptores recentiores, Bertrucius, Gatinaria, Guainerius, Valescus, et aliorum innumerabilis turba: sed inter praecipuos producebatur Arculanus, quem alii Herculanum vocant. Graecorum autem medicorum ratio habebatur nulla: nec nati multi sciebantur, nec nominibus suis iustis satis noti erant principes: cum vulgo Hippocras et Galienus a plerisque omnibus appellarentur.

Scripta etiam illorum nec Graeca nec Latina exstabant: nisi quod translationes quaedam corruptissimae pariter ac barbarissimae ex Galeno, a paucis magni thesauri loco possiderentur: et aeque vitiati Hippocratis, exigua mole libelli haberentur, alter Aphorismorum, alter Prognosticon: qui interdum etiam in scholis, ubi magni illi principes locum ultro cessissent, praelegebantur.

Quamquam itaque non iudicio suo ita confideret: ut, quid de illius saeculi medicina sentiret, publice proferret; et esset quaedam in ipso reverentia quoque docentium pro cathedra, qualiacunque didicissent: tamen commilitones saepius intellexerunt ex eo, nec auctorum illud, nec professorum genus, videri satis sanum; quod ea tempestate scholas medicas occupasset: idque assequi sibi videbatur ex linguarum studio, tum in Germania passim florescente. Cum enim auctores illos ad unum omnes barbarissimos videret: ut qui quod dicere aut docere vellent, numquam perspicue satis exponerent: non dubitabat Graecos medicos longe meliora literis mandasse; a quibus Arabes et barbari illi sua hausissent: et vehementer dolebat, nihil eorum scriptorum ad suam extare aetatem.

Quamvis autem toto pectore a scholarum doctoribus abhorreret, et barbaros illos aversaretur: tamen nomine arti dato, eo progressus est: ut medicinam aliquot annis exercuerit ultra citraque Oceanum magnum, apud Livones, Rutenos, et in principum Megalopyrgicorum ducatu atque aula, utens quidem barbaris illis magistris, meliorum subsidio destitutus: sed sperans quotidie futurum, ut aliquando incideret in optimos illos auctores Graecos, sua lingua loquentes.

Ea de causa cum per Belgas ad Anglos, et rursus ab his per Gallias peregrinatus Italiam petere constituisset: ut Basileam venit; commodum reperit illos, quos penitus interiisse creditum erat, medicos Graecos, Hippocratem, Galenum, Paulum Aeginetam, Dioscoridem, in Aldina Venetiis officina excusos, et ad Ioann. Frobenium paulo ante mortem transmissos. Hos auctores cum Hieronymus Frobenius heres, ei utendos dedisset, familiariter excepto et in amicitiam recepto; Italiam visendi desiderium in eo ferme restinxit, eumque annum ipsum Basileae detinuit. Non defuerunt, qui medicinae causa et salarium eidem et supellectilem aliam necessariam, abunde offerrent: venitque in familiaritatem tunc non solum Erasmi; sed et qui ad Erasmum salutandi causa, ex Italia, Gallia, aliisque regionibus, docti homines confluebant; ut professores Basileenses omittamus.

Ex illo porro tempore, reiectis et neglectis medicis illis barbaris; quos novennium ipsum secutus erat: totum se ad Graecam medicinam contulit, Graecisque se totum addixit: quos secutus ad eorum imitationem medicinam exercuit in Germania. Ac principio quidem Northusanae urbis Imperialis medicus physicus fuit: inde ad Francofurtenses ad Moenum accersitus, publico reipub. illius salario medicum physicum egit: ubi cum anno millesimo, quingentesimo, quadragesimo, aestatis inauditus Germaniae aestus ac febris arripuit: quam summa cum difficultate vix tandem a se depulit. Patriae etiam suae aliquot annis operam medicina facienda navavit: atque tempore belli Germanici, cum praesidium Zuiccaviae, ut et aliis Saxoniae oppidis, impositum esset, multum in studiis impedimenti, et in re familiari detrimenti sensit: quin cum supra quingentos opera sua curasset: nemo tamen abeuntium, et loculos bene onustos asportantium, sese gratum adversus medicum fidelem ostendit. Docuit itidem artem suam publice in Marpurgensi ac Ienensi Academiis, non sine laude sua et auditorum fructu.

Ad meliorem vitam transiit Ienae apoplecticus, anno salutis millesimo, quingentesimo, quinquagesimo octavo, die decimo sexto Martii, cum annos cum saeculi cursu numeraret. Filios reliquit duos Achaten et Diomedem, Medicinae itidem Doctores. Hic vir per triginta ferme annos id Germaniae nostrae persuadere conatus est: Graecos esse veros medicos, et veros artis medicae auctores, ipsorum maxime lingua legendos ac sequendos. Et ut ne esset, quod aliqui vel de Graecae linguae ignorantia, vel de auctorum difficultate quererentur: conatus est Graecos illos medicos facere Latinos non obscura et perplexa, sed perspicua et explicata translatione.

Exstat itaque Hippocrates Cornarii Latinus, magnae doctrinae, ingentis utilitatis, immensae difficultatis opus, supra duo milia annorum in Latina lingua desideratum, et a nullo unquam feliciter ante ipsum tentatum. Dedicavit illius interpretationem Augustano Senatui, qui solicitante Claudio Pio Peutingero J. G. [Note: Crus annal. l. 11. p. 3. Augustani Senatus liberalitas in Cornarium.] centum solaribus coronatis Cornarium, anno quadragesimo sexto, eo nomine donavit. Scribit ipse, in transferendo eo auctore se perpetuis quindecim annis laborasse.

Exstat Galenus totus, magna etiam ex parte per Cornarium Latine loquens, reliquis aliorum translationibus ipsius opera castigatis.

Est Cornarii Latinus Aetius, qui universam medicinam sedecim libris includere conatus est.

Dedit et Aeginetam, qui idem quod Aetius, septem libris efficere studio habuit: ad quem accesserunt dolabellarum Cornarii libri septem: quibus difficiles, obscuros, atque asperos eorum librorum locos explicat, illustrat, ac dedolat: non ad cum solum auctorem intelligendum, sed etiam ad alios Graecorum locos.

De Theologicis etiam vertit Basilium magnum, Epiphanium, Chrysostomum Latine autem conscripsit catechesin: et orationes tres in Leonhardum Fuchsium, medicum Tubingensem: qui ei litem super versionibus quibusdam moverat: quam utrinque vix philosophice persecuti sunt. Adeo verum est illud epigrammatographi:

Qui velit ingenio cedere, rarus erit.

Improbarunt et notarunt in utroque eundem fervorem et alii: inter quos Bernardus Dessennius Cronenburgius, medicus Coloniensis, quando ita [Note: lib. 1 de composit. medicam.] scribit: atque hac de re leviuscula (de Aphonitri et Apholitri discrimine) mutuo altercantur, aut verius convitiantur malitiosissime Fuchsius et Cornarius, viri doctissimi: interim nihil docentes aut determinantes, dum uterque pertinaciter opinionem suam tueri conatur: et res ipsas magis in dubium vocat obscuratque, ac se ipsum accusandum coram universo Musarum theatro proponit. Cuperem eiusmodi acerbas, et a Christianorum Lingua calamoque, legibus interdictas, simul ac ingenuis animis odiosas contentiones, numquam ceptas; aut nunc tandem charitatis amore sublatas et consopitas. Quorsum enim attinet, ob res nemini hoc tempore probe notas, aut quarum usus iam apud nos intercidit abolevitque, tam Tragicas turbas concitare? Ecquid enim magni est, sive duae, sive tres res illae sint? cum id palam constet, affinia esse nomina, ac res parum admodum habere discriminis: praeterea nihil omnino noxae, quacumque quis ex tribus (si maxime haberemus) utatur, humanis corporibus accidere: quando similes retinere vires, ipse Dioscorides testatur: Haec ille.

Id, uti dictum, Cornarius unice, nec inepte opinor, optavit: ut medicae per Europam scholae, excusso Arabum iugo, de Graecis fontibus auditoribus propinarent: et ut ad Graecorum medicorum praescriptum, reformarentur pharmacopolia, in quibus multa essent inania, superflua, corrupta, exoleta: improbavit tot syruporum ac iuleporum, barbaris nominibus appellatorum, inutilem copiam: tot aquarum, per fornacis vim, de simplicibus medicamentis extortarum, rudem indigestamque molem: cum Hippocrati ptisana, cum familiaribus naturae humanae potionibus vino, aqua, aqua mulsa, aceto mulso suffecerit, velut iustus exercitus ad omnes morbos acutos expugnandos. Exotica etiam reiecit; ac domesticis nos contentos medicamentis esse iussit. Opes velut studiorum impedimenta, non anxie quaesivit: et eas quoque quae contingere potuissent, magno animo contempsit. Est non nemo, [Note: 1. Wittemb. 2. Bononiae vel Valentiae, ut Petr. Albin.] qui bis cum Doctoris medici titulo ornatum affirmet: de quo nihil certi habemus. Petrus Nigidius philologus mortuum hoc elogio ornavit:

Vixit et in nostro Cornarius ille Lycaeo,
Paeonio notus; Pierioque choro.
Plurima conscripsit proprio bene condita Marte,
Graecorum multos transtulit ille libros.
Hippocratem Latio donavit iure, Galenum
Pergameum Latia vestiit ipse toga.
Transtulit et sacros multos pariterque profanos
Auctores, sed eos quis numerare queat?
Hunc merito luget Zuiccavia morte peremptum
Patria; flet Charitum Pieridumque chorus.
Quem non detinuit celebris Northusia quondam:
Nobile nec Moeni ceperat emporium:
Quem non Hassiaci Nymphae tenuere Lycei:
Musarum studiis inclita Iena tegit.

Est in Cornarium et Ioannis Stigelii acrostichis eiusmodi:

I ngenio si quis sibi nomen et arte paravit:
A nte alios clarum tu quoque nomen habes.
N amque simul Graio facundus et ore Latino,
V ir medicae praestans viribus artis eras.
S untque procul varias via qua munitur in artes
C onsita subsidio commoda multa tuo.
O rba fere genio densisque abstrusa tenebris,
R estituis studio scripta vetusta tuo:
N on hoc Coe senex, magni dux docte Galeni:
A cceptum non hoc Graecia tota negas.
R ingere livor iners: tamen huic sua praemia debes
I ngenuus meriti non pereuntis amor.
V ive deo, studia ista suo qui numine iuvit:
S perantem in Christi transtulit ille sinum.

Georgius autem Fabricius tali cum epigrammate celebravit: sub lemmate; Sedulitatis eruditae

Aetas quotquot nostra tulit; quot secla priora
Praestantes scriptis, artibus, ore, viros:
Iano Cornario plura et meliora nequivit
E Graiis nemo fontibus hausta dare.
Dicere vera negas tumulum: celerando recede;
Tumba te inexpertum ne vocet ipsa virum.

Et haec de Cornario sufficiant, excerpta sparsim ex ipsius operibus: P. Albini chron. Misuiae: collect. M. S. Laubani: Gesn. bibliotheca: aliis.

Janus Cornarius

Janus Cornarius (b. circa 1500, died March 16, 1558) was a Saxon humanist and friend of Erasmus. A gifted philologist, Cornarius specialized in editing and translating Greek and Latin medical writers with "prodigious industry," taking a particular interest in botanical pharmacology and the effects of environment on illness and the body. Early in his career, Cornarius also worked with Greek poetry, and later in his life Greek philosophy; he was, in the words of Friedrich August Wolf, “a great lover of the Greeks.” Patristic texts of the 4th century were another of his interests. Some of his own writing is extant, including a book on the causes of plague and a collection of lectures for medical students.

Life and career

Details of the life of Cornarius are taken in large part from the Latin biography by Melchior Adam in Vitae Germanorum medicorum (“Lives of German Physicians” 1620). Cornarius was born Johann or Johannes Hainpol, the son of a shoemaker, but adopted his fashionably Latinized name by the time he reached age 20. The toponymic Zuiccaulensis (“of Zwickau”) is sometimes added. His name may appear as Giovanni Cornario in Italian, Jano Cornario in Spanish, Jean Cornario in French, and Janus Kornar in German.

Cornarius began his education at the Latin school in his native Zwickau. He studied with Petrus Mosellanus at Leipzig, matriculating in 1517 and earning a bachelor of arts degree in 1518. He enrolled at the University of Wittenberg in 1519, where he earned a master’s degree (1521) and a license in medicine (1523). He thus would have been at Wittenberg when the Zwickau Prophets, an anti-authoritarian Anabaptist movement from his place of birth, attempted to seize power in 1521. They were successfully opposed and rendered ineffective by Martin Luther in 1522. That Cornarius condemned the Anabaptists is clear from his later book on plague, in which he argued that a particular epidemic in Westphalia was sent as punishment from God for their heretical activities.

After experiencing these political and spiritual upheavals, Cornarius set out on a “soul-searching journey” around Europe, visiting Sweden, Denmark, England, and France. While he was looking for work, he settled for a time in Basel, where he gave lectures on Greek medicine at the University of Basel. There he began his efforts to restore the study of the Greeks, whose works, he believed, had been neglected during the Middle Ages in favor of Arab medical authorities. In 1527–28, he was a physician to Prince Henry of Mecklenberg. Returning to Zwickau in 1530, he established a medical practice and married the first of his two wives; she died not long after. With his second wife, he had four sons. For the remainder of his life he was a physician and professor of medicine as well as a prolific editor and translator.

Intellectual milieu

Cornarius came to know the great humanist Desiderius Erasmus while living in Basel, and was encouraged by him to persist with his work in translating Greek texts into Latin; at the time, ancient Greek was little known, but Latin was still in living use as an international language among scholars for such purposes as letter-writing, informational or philosophical essays, and even some literary compositions. Erasmus wrote to him around the time Cornarius was resettling in Zwickau, addressing him as ornatissime Cornari ("oh-so-refined Cornarius"). Of his translation of Hippocrates, Erasmus effused, "The genius is there; the erudition is there, the vigorous body and vital spirit are there; in sum, nothing is missing that was required for this assignment, confronted happily, it would seem, despite its difficulty." The junior philologist was so pleased by Erasmus' many compliments in this letter that sixteen years later he proudly quoted from it in the introduction to his Latin version of Hippocrates. At the same time, his intellectual independence is indicated by his willingness to set aside the translations of Basil and Galen made by Erasmus in favor of his own.

His work as a philologist was not merely academic or text-oriented, but animated by a commitment to teaching. Melchior Adam wrote that Cornarius “tried to render the Greek physicians into Latin with a translation that was not vague and confusing, but lucid and fully articulated.” His goal, as Cornarius himself stated in his commentary on Dioscorides’ De materia medica, was first to read and hear the author in Greek, and then through translation to enable his medical students to hear and read him in Latin. A scholar of Byzantine studies took a more dismissive view of Cornarius as one of the “Renaissance humanists, fully confident that dissemination of a revered classical text would better mankind’s lot,” motivated by “a contempt … for the brutish peasant and his slovenly practices.”

Like the physician and botanist Leonhart Fuchs, Cornarius devoted himself to reviving and perpetuating the classical tradition, seeking to restore both the texts and practice of Greek medicine, which they felt had been eclipsed during the medieval era by Avicennism; Cornarius did not, however, reject the study of Arabic texts and seems to have known the language. While Fuchs approached Galen’s work on medicinal plants as a methodology, Cornarius, grounded in philology, believed Dioscorides’ knowledge of plants resided in accurately capturing the original author’s voice and words, and the two engaged in a vigorous intellectual debate over the value of illustrations in books. With his sometime collaborator Andrea Alciati, Cornarius treated the emblema or image as a verbal construct, and in his index to Dioscorides refers to his own verbal description of a plant as a pictura. In his commentary, Cornarius insisted that pictures were of no benefit to readers who had never seen a particular plant vivam et naturalem (“alive and in nature”), arguing that the static quality of an illustration was misleading, since plants change according to their environment. Thus he stated: “ My intention is not to gorge the eyes, but to nourish the mind and spirit, and to quicken critical thinking.”

Works

The majority of Cornarius' books were published through the printing house of Hieronymus Froben and Nicolaus Episcopius. For a thorough overview (in French), see Brigitte Mondrain, “Éditer et traduire les médecins grecs au XVIe siècle: L'exemple de Janus Cornarius,” in Les voies de la science grecque: Études sur la transmission des textes de l'Antiquité au dix-neuvième siècle, edited by Danielle Jacquart (Paris 1997), pp. 391-417.

Cornarius' complete works were listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, an index of books prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church promulgated the year after his death. As in the case of several other northern Protestant scholars, general content or scientific controversy was less at issue than religious conviction. Writing that could be regarded as anti-Catholic was held to contaminate other works that might be in and of themselves unobjectionable.

Works are listed below in chronological order of publication, except that editions and translations from the same author are grouped.

Universae rei medicae ἐπιγραφή (“Comprehensive Reference on the Subject of Medicine,” Basel 1529), with a dedication to the citizens of Zwickau for their support during his seven years of study, also known as Epigraphe universae medicinae (“Comprehensive Reference on Medicine,” Basel 1534), probably intended as the sort of Cliffs Notes for medical students that Girolamo Mercuriale disdained.

Hippocrates. ΙΠΠΟΚΡΑΤΟΥΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΑΕΡΩΝ ὙΔΑΤΩΝ ΤΟΠΩΝ. ΠΕΡΙ ΦΥΣΩΝ / Hippocratis Coi De aëre, aquis, & locis libellus. Eiusdem de flatibus ("Treatise by Hippocrates of Cos on Airs, Waters and Places, and also Winds"; Basel 1529), Greek text and Latin translation; ΙΠΠΟΚΡΑΤΟΥΣ ΚΩΟΥ ΙΑΤΡΟΥ ΠΑΛΑΙΟΤΑΤΟΥ … βιβλία ἅπαντα / Hippocratis Coi medici vetustissimi … libri omnes, ("Complete Works of Hippocrates of Cos, Most Ancient of Physicians," Basel 1538); Hippocratis Coi … Opera quae ad nos extant omnia ("The Extant Works of Hippocrates of Cos," Basel 1546), Latin translation. De salubri diaeta incerti auctoris liber Hippocrati quondam falso adscriptus (“A book of unknown authorship, at one time falsely ascribed to Hippocrates, on a healthy diet") was translated by Cornarius and reprinted in the Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum (Geneva 1591), pp. 403–410. The transmission of the Hippocratic Corpus is vexed and problematic; Cornarius contributed, albeit with limited success, to 16th-century efforts to “bring order to the chaos.”

Dioscorides. ΔΙΟΣΚΟΡΙΔΗΣ ΙΑΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΡΝΑΡΙΟΥ ("The Diosorides of Janos Cornarios") / Pedacii Dioscoridis de materia medica libri sex ("Six Books by Pedacius Dioscorides on Pharmacology," Basel 1529), Greek edition. His Latin translation was published in 1557 as Pedacii Dioscoridae Anazarbensis De materia medica libri V ("The Five Books on Pharmacology by Pedacius Dioscorides of Anazarbus"), with Cornarius' emblema inserted into each chapter (singulis capitibus adiecta). The volume also contained his translation of Dioscorides' De bestiis venenum eiaculentibus, et letalibus medicamentis Libri II ("Two Books on Beasts that Produce Venom and on Potentially Fatal Drugs").

Selecta Epigrammata Graeca Latine, ex Septem Epigrammatum Graecorum Libris (“Selected Greek Epigrams, Translated into Latin, from Seven Books of Greek Epigrams,” Basel 1529), a compilation with Alciati, who was “not entirely happy” with the work of his collaborator. The collection, taken from the Greek Anthology, ranges from early classical love poems and gnomic verses to later Hellenistic invective. The translations and some freer imitations were by eminent Latinists of the day, including Ottmar Luscinius, Thomas More, William Lilye, Erasmus, Johannes Sleidanus, and Caspar Ursinus Velius. The collection served as a source for the translations or imitations of a number of poets, among them George Turbervile (in English) and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (in Spanish).

Parthenius. De amatoriis affectionibus liber (“Book on Erotic Feelings,” Basel 1531); the copy that the 16th-century French poet Ronsard owned survives with the poet’s signature. Cornarius' publication of this translation coincides with the period of mourning for his first wife, who died soon after they were married.

Aëtius Amidenus. Aëtii Amideni quem alii Antiochenum vocant medici clarissimi libri XVI, in tres tomos divisi ("Sixteen Books by Aëtius Amidenus, Whom Some Call the Most Distinguished Physician of Antioch, in Three Volumes"), vols. 1 and 3 translated into Latin by the physician Johannes Baptista Montanus of Verona (Basel 1535) and vol. 2 by Cornarius, De cognoscendis et curandis morbis sermones sex (“Six Lectures on Diagnosing and Treating Diseases,” Basel 1533), along with a treatise on weights and measures by Paul of Aegina; Libri universales quatuor (“Four Books Unabridged,” often known by its Greek name Tetrabiblos, Basel 1542), Latin translation. Only nine of the books of Aetius are extant in Greek, and Cornarius' translation is the sole source for the full sixteen. “De significationibus stellarum ex sermone III Tetrabibli Aetij Amideni caput CLXIV, interprete Cornario” (“Chapter 164, on Interpretational Techniques pertaining to Stars, from the Third Lecture of the Tetrabiblos of Aetius Amidenus as Translated by Cornarius,” was reprinted in the Uranologion (Uranology, or “The Study of the Heavens”) of Denis Pétau (Paris 1630). See also The Gynaecology and Obstetrics of the VIth century AD, translated from the 1542 Latin edition of Cornarius and annotated by James V. Ricci (Philadelphia 1950).

Marcellus Empiricus. De medicamentis liber (“The Book on Drugs,” Basel 1536), editio princeps of the Latin text. Cornarius worked from a manuscript written in the mid-9th century that was superior to the one used for the Teubner edition of 1889 but which was thought to have been lost; it was rediscovered in 1913 and used for the 1916 edition of Marcellus published in Teubner's Corpus Medicorum Latinorum series. Referred to as the Codex Parisinus, it contains Cornarius' corrections and marginal notes.

Galen. De compositione pharmacorum localium … libri decem (“Ten Books on the Formulation of Site-specific Drugs,” Basel 1537), Latin translation with commentary; Opera quae ad nos extant omnia … in latinam linguam conversa (“The Extant Works of Galen, Translated into the Latin Language,” Basel 1549). Also of some interest are the marginalia that Cornarius wrote in his personal copy of Galen’s “De constitutione artis medicae” (“On the Foundations of Medical Practice”), the first widely available Greek text of the work, published at Aldine Press in 1525. The notes of Cornarius were published “not entirely accurately” by G. Gruner, Coniecturae et emendationes Galenicae (Jena 1789); the book itself is held by the library of the University of Jena.[

Geoponica, a Byzantine agricultural treatise, with Greek text edited by Andrés Laguna, usually catalogued as Constantini Caesaris [Cassii Dionysii Uticensis] selectarum praeceptionum de agricultura libri uiginti (“Twenty Books Selected from the 'Principles of Agriculture' of Constantinus Caesar,” Basel or Venice 1538), the first complete translation into Latin of a compilation made by an anonymous author for Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus but sometimes identified with the work on agriculture by Cassius Dionysius of Utica. The preface of Cornarius is reprinted in the edition of J.N. Niclas, Geoponicorum sive de re rustica libri XX (Leipzig 1781), vol. 1, p. LXXVI ff.

Artemidorus. Oneirokritika (“Dream Analysis”), published as De somniorum interpretatione, Libri quinque (“Five Books on the Interpretation of Dreams,” 1539), Latin translation.

Basil. Omnia D. Basilii Magni archiepiscopi Caesareae Cappadociae, quae extant, Opera (“Complete Extant Works of D. Basilius the Great, Archbishop of Caesara, Cappadocia,” Basel 1540), Latin translation. ΑΠΑΝΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΚΑΛΟΥΜΕΝΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΥ / Divi Basilii Magni Opera Graeca quae ad nos extant omnia (“The Complete Works of the Divine Basil the Great That Survive to Our Day, in Greek,” Basel 1551), Greek edition.

Epiphanius of Salamis. D. Epiphanii Epistola sive liber Ancoratus appellatus, docens de vera fide Christiana ("The Letter of Decimus Epiphanius, also called the Book of the Anchor, teaching the true Christian faith"), with the Anacephaleosis, sive summa totius operis Panarij appellati, & contra octoaginta haereses conscripti ("the Anacephaleosis, or Summation, of the whole work called the Panarium, written to refute 80 heresies"), Libellus de mensuris ac ponderibus, & de asterisco ac obelo, deque notis ac characteribus in divinae scripturae interpretibus, per Origenem usurpatis ("a shorter book on measures and weights, and on the asterisk and obelus, and on notations and characters in translations of Holy Scripture, as put into use by Origen," Basel 1543), all in their first Latin translation. The work is usually referred to in English as the Panarion. Cornarius' edition is also catalogued as Contra octoaginta haereses opus, Panarium, sive Arcula, aut Capsula Medica appellatum, continens libros tres (“A Work Refuting 80 Heresies, Called the Bread-Basket, or the Storage-Box, or the Medical Bag, Containing Three Books”).

John Chrysostom. De episcopalis ac sacerdotalis muneris praestantia, Ioannis Chrysostomi, Episcopi Constantinopolitani cum Basilio Magno dissertatio ("A distinguished discourse on the service of bishops and priests by John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople with Basil the Great," Basel 1544), Latin translation.

Adamantius. Sophistae Physiognomicon, id est De Naturae Indicijs cognoscendis Libri duo ("Sophistic Physiognomy; that is, Two Books on Recognizing the Evidence of Nature," Basel 1544), Latin translation, with a work by Cornarius on alimentation in which he argues against the view of Plutarch.
De rectis medicinae studiis amplectendis (“Understanding Correct Methods of Medicine,” Basel 1545), a collection of his lectures for medical students in the “propaedeutic” genre.

Convivial Greeks. De conviviis veterum Graecorum, et hoc tempore Germanorum ritibus, moribus ac sermonibus; … Platonis et Xenophontis symposium (Basel 1548), introductory treatise on ancient and modern banquets (“On the Banquets of the Ancient Greeks, and the Conventions, Customs, and Conversation of the Germans of Our Own Day”), followed by Latin translations of the Symposium of Plato and the Symposium of Xenophon; notable as a rare example of a 16th-century account of contemporary dining behavior.

De peste libri duo (“Two books on plague,” 1551); despite making a case for disease as divine punishment, Cornarius mostly concerns himself with how the plague was spread by corrupted air and by contact with plague-infected bodies.

Paul of Aegina. Totius rei medicae libri VII (“Seven Comprehensive Books on the Subject of Medicine,” Basel 1556), Latin translation.

Plato. Opera omnia (“Complete Works,” Basel 1561), also catalogued as Platonis Atheniensis, philosophi summi ac penitus divini opera (in latinam vertit Cornario) (“The Works of Plato the Athenian, Greatest and Deeply Inspired Philosopher, Translated into Latin by Conarius”), published posthumously.

Dictionnaire historique
de la médecine ancienne et moderne
par Nicolas François Joseph Eloy
Mons – 1778