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HiEROimiUS RlACASTOR'S
SYPHIUS
FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN.
ATransliitioiv,iii prc^
oTtl^s Hnvortal poeny,
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
GIFT
Dr. 0. Huberty
HIERONYMUS FRACASTOR'S
SYPHILIS
HIERONYMUS FRACASTOR
Q Hieronymus Fracaslor was oorn in 1433 and died in 1553.
He was a poet and a scholar and served as professor of logic
at Padua. He published his masterpiece "Syphilis sive
Morbus Gafficus " at Venice in 1530. Eloquent, melodir us
and beautiful, Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus stands vveW
in the froat of the world's great poems and has earned for its
author eternal fame. It was from this poem that the word
Syphilis had its orin-'n.
Hieronymus Fracastor's
rilLlS
FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN
A TRANSLATION
IN PROSE OF
FRACASTOR'S
IMMORTAL
POEM
The Philmar Company
Saint Louis Missouri
MCMXl
Copyright. 1911. by
THE PHILMAR COMPANY
H-^H^iiji
THIS CELEBRATED POEM OF
HIERON YMUS FRA CA S TOR
has endured through nearly four
centuries. To the author is due the
credit of having given this name
which, not only supplatited the many
others which had been given to it,
but which has persisted to the pres-
ent day and is in utiiversal use.
Whilst this poem is filled with
mythological allusions it affords a
good clinical description of the
symptoms of the disease. It shows,
throughout its lines, the erudition
of its author, his keen appreciation
of the importance of the subject as
rvell as his mastery of the matter in
hand. It may be suggested that to
treat such a subject in Latin hex-
ameters is not very setious but we
will call the attention of those crit-
ics that the poem is merely a putting
in verse, by the author, of his small
prose treatise, De Contagionibus et
Contagiosis Morbis, published in
1546. Born in 1483, Fracastor ivas
still a child when the Morbus Galli-
cus made its first appearance in
Europe. However, he did not attrib-
ute the disease to the ifivasioti of
Charles VIII., but regarded it as
much more ancient.
THE PUBLISHERS
1SING of that terrible disease, unknown to past cen-
turies, which attacked all Europe in one day, and
spread itself over a part of Africa and of Asia. I
will tell what concourse of influences, what occult germs
have caused it, how it arose in Latium at the time that
the French armies rendered desolate that unhappy coun-
try, what reason caused it to be called the French dis-
ease. I will tell how in those cruel trials, the genius of
man succeeded, with the help of the gods, in discovering
the heroic remedy which abated the fury of the plague.
I shall interrogate in order to reveal the secret origin of
this disease, both the azure plains of the ether and the
stars suspended from the vault of the heavens. The field
of the unknown and the mysterious domains of Nature
open up before me, and my seduced muse permits her-
self to be drawn by the learned Sisters of Parnassus.
Illustrious Bembo, glory of Italy, if thy master has
accorded thee some moments of rest, if he permits thee
to leave for an instant the helm of the world and devote
a short space of thy time to the muse, deign to cast thy
eyes on these verses, all unworthy as they may be of thy
genius. My work is but a medical essay, but remember
that Apollo himself did not look upon it as derogatory
to his dignity divine to cultivate the healing art. This
subject besides, light in appearance, takes on at times
a serious interest; mine under a frivolous guise, will cause
to appear before thee the great laws of nature, the de-
Pase Nine
cisions of destiny, and the mysterious origin of a frightful
scourge.
And thou divine Urania, thou who knowest the
cause and effects of all things, thou for whom the spaces
of air and the depths of the heavens hold no secrets, de-
scend to my side under these quiet shades where the
breath of the zephyrs, the perfume of the myrtle and the
harmonious murmurs of Banacus invite me to sing. Give
me the sacred inspiration, and rnay, in return, as through
Olympus thou traversest the lummous field of ether, the
sublime choir of the celestial world applaud thy glory.
Muse, what causes presided at the origin of this
scourge so long wrapped in the darkness of nothing ?
Was it imported among us from those new worlds which
were discovered by the brave mariners of Spain beyond
the unknows seas of the Western world ? Have we re-
ceived from those far countries the germ where it is said
it has reigned as sovereign master from all eternity, num-
bering as many victims as there are inhabitants ? Is it
true that introduced, in that manner, among us it was
then spread throughout Europe by means of commercial
relations ? Is it true that it was born weak and obscure,
to increase its force a hundred fold later on as it extended
its ravages and invaded, little by little, the entire universe ?
Such as once, springing from a badly extinguished focus
which an imprudent shepherd left in the country, a sin-
gle spark sufficed to start a conflagration; the fire first
slumbers and insidiously spreads in the grass, then bursts
out with fury; the flame, fed by the fuel, then raises itself
in threatening tongues, devours on its passage the fields
Page Ten
_,
and prairies, fires forests which fall with a crash, and
throws afar off baleful lights on sky and earth.
No, it is not in this manner that this disease has de-
veloped itself. Incontestable testimony proves that it is
not of a strange or foreign origin and that it was not
necessary to cross the Ocean to arrive in our midst.
Among the first victims who were attacked in our cli-
mate, I could mention a number of patients who were spon-
taneously attacked, without having exposed themselves
to the least chance of contagion. Besides, how would
it be possible to attribute to a contagious influence a dis-
ease which attacked so many peoples in such a short
time? As a matter of fact it was on all sides at one
time that the scourage was let loose upon us, in Latium,
in the fertile fields of Sagra, in the forests of Ausonia, on
the plains of Otrantes, on the banks of the Tiber, in the
hundred cities that the Eriden enlarges by the hundred
streams tributary to it, which laves them with its majestic
waves. At the same time, in addition, it raged on for-
eign shores, and proud Spain, mother of the conquerors
of the New World, did not suffer from the cruel attacks
earlier than the people of whom the Pyrenees, the Rhine
and the Alps are the boundaries.
In addition to this it was at this time that it made its
invasion among us, a people of the North with icy regions,
among all of you, descendants of ancient Carthage, fort-
unate Egyptians whom the Nile enriches with the treas-
ures of its waves, son of Idumea with its evergreen palms.
Now, such a disease which attacks the entire universe
at one blow could hardly be the product of a simple
Page Eleven
contagion; other causes must be assuredly recog-
nized.
All beings with which Nature has peopled land, air
and the water, have not one mode of creation, which is
identical and subject to the same laws. The most sim-
ple, whose formation calls but for a few generating prin-
ciples, are incessantly reproduced everywhere. Others,
more complex, require for their being the help of many
germs which are dispersed, succeeding but very rarely and
with difficulty in being born at certain times and in cer-
tain places. Others, finally, come out of nothingness but
after thousands of centuries, so many are the obstacles
presented to the germs which are necessary to their
genesis and to their union. Well, the same is true of
diseases. All diseases do not have a common or iden-
tical origin. The ones, the majority even, have an easy
developmeat which accounts for their habitual frequency;
but, others are of a difficult sort to deliver and succeed
but very slowly to constitute themselves, after having
long fought against the infinite difficulties which destiny
opposed to their birth. Of this number, for instance, is
elephantiasis, still unknown by Ausonia, and lichen which
remains confined on the banks of the Nile. Of this num-
ber is also the French disease which, for a long time
wrapped up in the darkness of the nothing, has suddenly
freed itself from its bindings, after many centuries of
waiting, to finally rise in the light and make an irruption
among us.
It is to be surmised, however, that in the course of
the eternity of ages this disease must have shown itself
Page Twelve
upon earth several times. If we were ignorant of every-
thing even including its name when we suffered its attacks,
there is no doubt that the traces of its passages have
been obliterated by time, time, that pitiless destroyer who
reduces to naught everything in its footsteps and who
robs us even of the monuments, even of the recollections
of our ancestors.
In the West, on the other hand, on those shores re-
cently discovered beyond the Atlantic, this disease is
habitual and general. Strange contrast, inexplicable in-
fluence of climate and time. In those far-off regions, the
scourge reigns as a rule; it occurs there spontaneously 5
it germinates there at pleasure as if on a soil which has
been prepared with a design to receive it, whilst it has
not succeeded in developing among us but thousands of
years later.
So you wish to go back, by an analytic method, to
the source and origin of this disease ? First of all look
at how many countries have been struck and how many
people have been afflicted. From the immensity of its
ravages you will recognize the fact at once that its pro-
ductive germs could neither be in the bowels of the earth,
nor in the bosom of the waters. In order to have gen-
eralized itself in the manner in which it did, it is evidently
necessary that the mysterious agent from which it has
originated be contained in the air, in the air which bathes
and envelopes the entire world, which penetrates all
bodies, and which serves as a vehicle for contagious fer-
ments. In fact, air is the essential cause and the prin-
ciple of all things. If but loo often it becomes for us the
Page Thirteen
source of diseases, it is because the changeable nature
of its elements exposes it to corruption; it is because it is
equally prompt to impregnate itself with the morbific
miasms and to disseminate those with which it is
charged.
Again, consider on the other hand in what manner
air may be modified in the course of ages; learn how it
conceived the germ of the fatal contagion which it has
spread among us.
The sun and the stars are the sovereign masters to
whom the air and the earth and the waters do servile
obedience. Their course and their evolutions in the
heavens rule the course of the elements. Thus, directly
Phebus approaches the earth by directing his rapid
coursers to the South, cold winter shows itself with rigor;
the soil hardens and is covered with frost and ice stops
the course of rivers. On the other hand, hardly has the
God of Day entered in the sign of Cancer, but the burn-
ing Summer devours the fields and the woods, dries up
the prairies and covers the tilled parts with an arid dust.
And it is not doubtful, either, that the elements in their
state of repose in the same manner as during the great
revolutions which agitate them, are subject to multiple
sidereal influences which they obey, either from the moon,
the queen of night, which holds under its laws the seas
and all the moist principles of nature, or from the sinister
star Saturn, or from the beneficent fires of Jupiter, the
rays of Mars and of Venus. Those manifestations be-
come especially marked when the stars deviate from their
courses and when several of them converge upon one
Page Fourteen
point of the sky. Such disturbances, it is true, as signs
of divine will, do not produce themselves except at rare
intervals and after a long series of regular cycles. But,
when they do accomplish their end, when the hour fixed
for them by destiny has sounded, then, oh misfortune;
the earth, the air, and the waters are suddenly turned
over to fearsome cataclysms. At times it is thick clouds
which steal the light of day; the sky melts into water;
torrents hurl themselves from the crests of mountains,
carrying away, in their impetuous force, trees, rocks, and
flocks of animals; raising above their banks their roaring
waves, the Erida and the Ganges inundate cities, sub-
merge forests, and form new streams. At other times,
it is the unchained wands which blow with fury, or sub-
terranean storms which shake the ground and throw over
the walls of cities. Perhaps even, alas ! there will come
a day, an unlucky day marked by Nature and the
Destinies, when those countries which we inhabit today
will either be changed into an uncultivated desert or be
swallowed up in the waves; or the sun himself. Oh pro-
digy ! will follow a new course in space; or the seasons
will be turned topsy-turvy; or extraordinary heats or colds
will desolate the world; during which unknown animals
will rise to the light, borrowing their principle of life from
the eternal source of all creation !
Who knows whether the earth at such a time, trying
itself at more arduous labors may not produce anew some
Encelatae, Ceae, Typhae, daring Titans, who will at-
tempt for a second time to pile Olympus on Ossa in
order to scale the heavens, their old home ?
Pase Fifteen
In view of such sights, how can it be doubted but
that, on some fatal day, prepared in the course of ages
and the revolutions of the sky, the air can suddenly
charge the world v^th pestilential germs and afflict it
with this unknown scourge ?
Shall I cite to you an example ? Two hundred
years ago, at the precise time that Mars united his rays
with the baleful fires of Saturn, there was suddenly ob-
served rising on the banks of the Ganges, among the
people who viewed the rise of Aurora, a fever of a na-
ture absolutely new. This fever — horrible thing ! — tore
waves of blood from the palpitating bosom of its victims,
and but too often ended itself on the fourth day by a
mortal crisis. From its primitive cradle it soon spread
itself in Assyria, in Persia, on the banks of the Tigris,
then in Arabia, Egypt and Phrygia; and from there,
crossing the immensity of the seas, it came to infect Italy,
to extend afterwards over the whole of Europe.
If then you wish to know the origin and the cause of
this scourge which now afflicts us, raise your looks to the
ethereal spaces, the abode of the Immortals, to search
with me what the situation of the stars was and what
presages they furnished at the time that this disease ap-
peared among us. Look ! At that fateful moment all
the greater stars converged on that point of the sky where
Cancer, the vigilant sentinel, seems to watch, his arms
extended over the gates of Olympus, on that sinister
point where are always formulated the unlucky signs of
calamities which are to come ! And thence all those
united stars spread in the air their rays conjured against
Page Sixteen
us ! Such presages did not escape Sirenis, initiated long
before by Urania in the knowledge of stars and of di-
vine prescience, the wise old men having but seen the
threatening aspect of the sky, from a high hill, suddenly
cried out: "All-powerful gods, pity, pity for unfortunate
mortals ! How many disasters, how many calamities do
I see suspended above your heads? An awful pestilence
infecting the atmosphere, impious wars desolating Europe,
blood pouring in torrents in the plains of Ausonia."
Prophetic words which he himself placed in his writ-
ings.
The time had come when, after the completion of
several centuries, the sovereign ruler of the world was,
according to an eternal law, to future destinies of the
earth and of the heavens, Jupiter prepared himself for
this great work, to which he invited Mars and Saturn.
On the appointed day. Cancer opened the doors of
Olympus to the Immortals. Mars was the first to cross
the threshold of the sacred place. From his impetuous
gait, his glistening armor, the god of war was easily
recognized, the cruel god who slakes his thirst with blood
and carnage. Calm and majestic Jupiter next appeared,
carried on a golden chariot, Jupiter always benevolent
and good to mortals, unless contrary destinies claim his
clemency. Saturn came last, holding his scythe in his
hand. It is not alone the fatigue of a long journey,
joined to the weight of years, which have delayed this
old man; always irritated against his rebellious son and
only obeying him with reluctance, he stopped several
times on the road, undecided and ready to retrace his
Page SeTCnteen
steps ; even when entering he could not hide his anger
nor repress muttered threats.
Nevertheless, Jupiter sat on the throne where he alone
had the right to sit. He consults the oracles and regu-
lates the destinies of future periods. He cannot con-
template, without pain and compassion, the calamities of
all sorts that will afflict the world, wars, revolutions, the
demolition of Kingdoms and cataclysms giving up the
earth to the empire of death, a new and fearsome pesti-
lence whose ravages the resources of human genius will
be unable to stop ! Despite this, it is settled, the voice
of the gods has shaken Olympus and the fatal decree is
pronounced.
A subtle poison at once spreads itself in the ether
and disseminates its pernicious effluvia throughout the
immensity of space.
What was the origin of this poison ? Are we to
believe that the sun's rays, associated with the malign
influence of the stars, raised from the bosom of the earth
and of the waters unhealthful vapors which spread in
the air contagious miasms, the germs of a disease as yet
unknown? Or, on the other hand, were these miasms
engendered in the upper regions of the atmosphere, from
which as a consequence, they descended among us? It
cannot be told, how many mysteries of the sky unfold to
our eyes, how difficult it is to go back to the origin of
causes, which at times are separated from their effects by
long series of years, and at others are mingled with
events in an inextricable confusion.
Add to this that Nature may vary at its will the in-
Page Eighteen
fluence of epidemic miasms. Thus, at times, the infected
air pours its poisons only on vegetation, killing the flowers
and the tender buds, tainting the wheat with an unclean
rust, destroying all hopes of crops, changing seeds as
deep as the very bosom of earth. At other times it is
the animals only that are struck, and that, either all at
once, or only a few among all. I remember, for instance,
in a year that was remarkable not only for an unusual
and suspicious fertility of the soil, but also by an exces-
sive frequency of Southern winds and of autumnal rains,
that all goats — and only goats — were affected by disease.
They came out of the sheds full of vigor and health ;
then, at the same moment that they were cheerfully
browsing the grass of the meadows, they were attacked
with a suffocating cough, a certain prelude of death.
They were then seen to turn convulsively on themselves
and fall exhausted, among their companions, and soon
give up their last breath. Then, a surprising thing ; in
the spring and in the summer which followed, it became
the turn of the various cattle, whom a malignant fever
decimated to the point of almost completely destroying
them. As a matter of fact, celestial influences are varied
in an infinite degree like the events derived from them,
and to each one of them is intimately bound a certain
order of phenomena.
And on the other hand, what diversity in the morbid
germs, what oddity in their effects I You shall judge of
them.
The miasms contained in the atmosphere are found
in direct contact with the eyes ; well, it is not only the
Page NioetecD
eyes that they affect, it is the lung that they will reach
in the depths of the chest ! In the same manner also
we occasionally see the tender grape preserve itself intact
next to hardier fruits which die away ; and when, in its
turn, it dies, either by impoverishment of the seed, or by
a swelling or a shrinking of its pores, it is never so except
under the influence of causes that are proper to it.
Let us now study the symptoms of this scourge which
a celestial influx has caused and reproduced after centu-
ries that it was forgotton. This disease does not affect
the dumb inhabitants of the wave, nor the wald beasts of
the forests, nor the birds of the sky, nor horses nor cattle.
It only has to do with man; man alone is its prey.
In the human body, it is the blood that it attacks at
first, and, feeding on naught but fat and viscid humors,
it is on the fat and corrupted parts of this fluid that it
preferably attaches itself.
Here especially, O muse, I claim thy help to limn
the picture of this execrable pestilence. Deign also to
inspire me, Apollo, god of the day, god of poetry, and
make matters such that my work may, thanks to thee,
remain through coming centuries. A day, in fact, may
perhaps come when our great grand nephews will take
the pleasure of consulting the description of a forgotten
disease. Forgotten, yes, for no one doubts at a given
time this disease will return into the clouds of nothing-
ness. And no one doubts also but that, after another
series of centuries, it will return to the light, to afflict
anew the world and once more spread terror among the
peoples of another age.
Page Twenty
One of the most surprising of facts is that, after hav-
ing contracted the germ o^ the contagion, the victim at-
tacked by the scourge does not often present any lesion
that is well marked before the moon has four times ac-
complished its travels. The disease, in fact, does not
show itself at once by accusing symptoms directly that it
has penetrated the organism. For a certain time it
broods in silence, as if it were gathering its forces for a
more terrible explosion. During this period, at all events,
a strange languor seizes the patient and depresses his
whole being ; his mind seems heavy, his limbs are soft,
and weakening, fail for work; the eye loses its flash and
the face is depressed in its expression and has become pale.
It is on the organs of generation that the virus first is
transported, to irradiate from there to the neighboring
parts and on the regions of the groin.
Soon after, more well defined symptoms shov/ them-
selves. When the light of day disappears to give place
to the shades of night, at the time when the inner heat
of living bodies leaves the peripheral parts to concentrate
upon the viscera, atrocious pains suddenly burst forth in
the limbs charged with vitiated humors and torture the
articulations, the arras, the shoulders, the calves. It is
because at that moment, vigilant Nature, an enemy of all
impurity, is at work to react against the putrid ferments
which the disease has introduced into the veins and with
which it has penetrated all the humors, all the nourishing
juices of the organisms. She strains to drive them away;
she energetically fights against them. But they resist ;
thick, viscid, not displacing themselves except slowly,
Page Twenty-ooe
they fix themselves on the muscles, they attach them-
selves to the exsanguined framework of the tissues, and
give rise to horrible sufferings wherever they adhere.
The most subtle of these morbid humors, those which
are the most easily evacuated, take refuge either in the
skin or in the extremities of the limbs. They then pro-
duce hideous eruptions on those points and these exan-
thems soon spread over the whole body and cover the
face with a repulsive mask.
Unknowm up to our days, these eruptions consist of
pustules and conical pimples, which, gorged with cor-
rupted liquids, are not slow in opening to allow the
escape of a mucous and virulent sanious liquid. Even,
sometimes, the pimples that are similar develop in the
depths of organs and noiselessly corrode the tissues. It
is thus that horrible ulcers are seen covering the limbs,
denuding the bones, eating the lips and penetrating the
throat, from which there only issues a weak and plaintive
voice.
At other times, again, there exhales from the skin
thick humors which dry into fearsome crusts on the sur-
face of the integument. Like these are seen the viscid
juices which come from the cherry tree or the almond tree
condensing in a gummy callus on the bark of these trees.
Ah ! how many patients, sorrowful victims of this
plague have contemplated with horror their faces and their
bodies covered with the hideous taints, deploring their
youth destroyed in its bloom, and have cursed the gods and
threatened the sky ! Unfortunates ! Night which pours
sweet repose upon all nature, has no more charms for
Page Twenty-two
them, for sleep has fled from their eyes. For them, in
the same manner, aurora comes without attractions, for
day like night recalls their pains. The pleasures of the
table, joyous feasts, the intoxicating gifts of Bacchus, the
festivities of the city, the delights of the country, nothing
smiles for them any more. Vainly do they search for a
respite to their sufferings on green banks made pleasant
by the purling of streams, in the shade of valleys, and in
the solitude of mountains. Desperate, lost, they return
addressing ardent prayers to the gods, burning expiatory
incense in the temples, loading altars with rich gifts.
Useless trouble 1 The gods remain deaf to their voices
and disdain their sacrifices.
O painful recollection ! In rich Canomania, which
the Olilius renders fertile before uniting its waves with
those of the Sabine, there lived a young and rich patrician
whom all Ausonia could have envied for his renown and
happiness. Strong in the flower of his age, he took
pleasure either in mastering the nature of an untrained
horse, or in shining in a tourney his helmet on and sword
in hand, or contesting for the prizes of a trial in the gym-
nasium, or in hunting the deer, or in forcmg wild beasts
back into the depths of forests. His face shone with a
divine beauty. All of you, O nymphs of the Olilius and
of the Eridan, goddesses of the fields and of the woods,
all I say burned for him secret fires and sought his love.
And, perhaps, it was one of you, irritated by his indiffer-
ence, who called upon his head the anger of the gods.
Alas ! he enjoyed life in full security when the terrible
scourge struck him. Ah ! never was seen, and never
Page Twenty -three
more will the lamentable victim be seen ! Flower of
youth, the brilliance of health, the vigor of the soul, all
these wither in him under the pressure of an unpitying
disease. A hideous leprosy invades his entire body ; his
swollen bones become a prey to caries ; his nose is eaten
by a malignant ulcer ; and, as a limit of affliction, his
eyes, so beautiful, the clear mirrors of the day are de-
voured by a fearsome ulcer ! Death finally took pity on
him and hastened the end of his torture. Long regrets
followed him from the nymphs of the woods and of the
fields ; the Alps, the Olilius and the Eridan gave their
tears, and the Sabine itself gave a muffled groan at the
news of his demise.
Such were the evils that Saturn spread upon the
earth in those fateful days! And not less enraged
against us, Mars afflicted us, at the same time, with a
thousand disasters. It seemed as if the Eumarides had
been sworn to encompass our ruin, and that from the
bottom of the Styx or the depths of Tartarus hell had
unchained upon us all the scourges at one time, pesti-
lence, war, famine and death !
O Saturn, father of Latium, O protecting gods of
Ausonia, what crimes have your children committed to
merit such punishments ? Is there any affliction, is there
some pain which we have not exhausted? Was there
ever a nation more cruelly tried by the vengeance of
heaven? I, Parthanope, shall be the first to lefl of the
disease to which thou has submitted us, the massacre of
thy Kings, the ravage of thy states, the captivity of thy
people ! Shafl I also speak of those murderous combats
Page Twenty-tour
which witnessed the flowing Italian blood mingled with
the French? Shall I tell of those days of carnage
when the reddened waves of the Tar poured into the
Eridan so many spoils of war, so many dead bodies of
men and of hair piled about in confusion? Even thou,
nymph of Abdua, did not fail to see thy bosom soiled
by the blood of ours, and the Eridan could not allay
thy pain except by mingling its tears with thine, by
uniting its waves with thy desolate billows ! And thus,
unfortunate Ausonia, thus it is that discord has ruined
thy power and has robbed thee of the sceptre of the
world, the heritage of thy ancestors. Does there remain
in the whole extent of thy empire, does there remain a
single shred of ground which has not suffered the out-
rages of conquest, the insult of the conqueror and the
horror of carnage ? Answer, ye, banks which the
Erethene fecundates before precipitating itself in the
Adriatic, mingling its waves with those of the river of
the Euganeans, answer calm vineyards, who until then
had never known the click of arms or the brawl of
combats !
O my fatherland, sacred soil, cradle of the gods,
Italy, mother of so many heroes, opulent country which
the Adigus and the Benacus fecundate, thou whom the
entire world envied formerly for its peaceful prosperity,
who today would be able to recite thy own fortunes, to
enumerate thy disasters, thy outrages, thy sufferings?
Ah, lower thy head, bend thy humiliated face. Bena-
cus, go, thy waves no longer bathe the land of laurels !
And, as if so much misfortune, and so many troubles
Page Twentjr-Dve
were not enough, here is the limit of affliction, that the
hope of Latium, the honor of letters, the loved disciple
of Pallas, has been taken from us. Mark Anthony is no
more ! Jealous death snatched him from the arms of
the Muses and struck him in the springtime of his age.
He now rests on the rocky banks where the Banacus
rolls its murmuring waves. The Nymphs of the Adiga
weep for him ; for the adjacent groves heard during one
night the well beloved voice of Catullus sighing melo-
dious regrets on his tomb. And, at the same time, the
armies of the King of France devastated our provinces
and subjugated Liguria. The emperor, on the other
hand, passed iron and fire over the territory of the
Euganeans, ravaging the shores of the Sila and loading
with chains the rebellious Frioul ; entire Italy was plunged
into mourning and desolation !
Syphilidis Liber secundus.
I will now, following my work, state here the diet
and treatment which are proper to oppose to the disease
accordmg to its phases and different forms; I will reveal
the marvelous agents which were discovered to com-
bat it.
At the beginning, amid the consternation produced
by a disease unknown up to that time, a thousand reme-
dies were tried which were all powerless. But stimula-
ted by the darts of sufferings, otherwise illuminated by
his first reverses, man learned how to find new arms
against this redoubted enemy ; he fought against the
Page Twenty-six
scourge, he threw it, he was enabled one day to pro-
claim himself victor.
I believe, to tell the truth, that divine help was not
a stranger to this victory and sustains us at our wish in
these cruel trials. For, at the very time when evil doing
stars persuade us with their anger, Heaven had for us
pitying looks and gave us, in the midst of our misfor-
tunes, days of peaceful prosperity. Our century, with-
out doubt, has undergone misfortunes without number.
It has seen the world invaded by a new pestilence ; it
has seen impious wars overturn empires, and drench our
devastated homes with blood, terrible fires consume
entire cities, sacreligious cohorts profane sacred temples,
terrible famines render desolate the universe, inundations
submerge our fields and carry oft on their way, men,
flocks, crops and forests 1 But this same country, on the
other hand, has viewed the most majestic spectacles that
were ever produced in the eternity of ages. It has seen
our intrepid fleets conquer the immensity of the seas.
We had already discovered the Hesperides, neighbors
of Atlas ; already we had doubled Presson, under the
antarctic pole, explored the precipitous banks of the
Raptus and gathered the tributes of Persia and of
Arabia. All these conquests, nevertheless, did not suf-
fice for our ambition ; we had to push back the limits of
the old world. For this purpose our hardy navigators
penetrated, beyond the Indies and the Ganges, into
those countries which look upon the rise of AurorsT and
up to Cyambus whose forests give us ebony and rnacer;
for these things, and guided by the gods, our valiant
Page Twenty-seven
squadron approached a new continent, different from ours
both in its peoples and in the splendor of its firmament.
Our century may also honor itself in that sublime
poet, who celebrated in his verses the great cycles of
the stars, the gardens of the Hesperides and the revolu-
tions of the sky. Parthenope and the Sebethus ap-
plauded his divine accents, and the sacred manes of
Virgil shook at his voice.
And if thy modesty, illustrious Bembo, forces me to
forget thee here, thou and several of our contemporaries
whom grateful posterity will place in the same rank as
the greatest geniuses of antiquity, how could I not men-
tion, among the glories of this country, the name of the
illustrious pontiff whom Rome is proud to obey and of
whom Latium is so proud? Under thy auspices, O
Leo, the malign influences of the stars have vanished,
and Jupiter has not poured upon us any but the propi-
tious fires of his purest rays. It is thou, and thou alone,
who, after so many disturbances and storms, hast re-
called to us the exiled muses ; it is thou who hast re-
turned to Italy both her ancient laws, and her sanctuaries
of justice, and her sacred temples. It is thou who, for
the defense of Rome, and of our altars, art preparing
today a holy crusade ; and already, at the mere sound
of thy arms, the Euphrates and the Nile shake with
terror, the Euxine retreats frightened, and the nymph of
the Egean flees all lost to the Doric shore.
But I must leave to other voices the honor of cele-
brating so many brilliant facts ; perhaps noble Bembo,
thou deservest for thyself the care of marking for future
Page Twenty- eight
centuries the memorable history. My muse dares not
aspire to such subjects ; she has put upon herself a more
humble task, whose course she will pursue.
Blood has not the same identical composition in all
patients. If it is pure, it is a good presage; if, on the
contrary, it is thick, superabundant and charged with
bile, the disease, under such conditions will be more
serious, more rebellious, and will only give way to the
use of more energetic measures, as well as more violent.
That which is the most essential to a cure, is to
surprise the disease at its inception, to strangle it in the
form of a germ before it has had time to invade the
viscera. For when it has penetrated into the organism,
when it has taken root and developed its ravages, it is
alas! but at the price of rough experience that one
can succeed in expellmg it. Apply yourself then, be-
fore all, to combat it at its very inception, and engrave
in your mind the precepts which will follow.
Patients, the quality of the air that you breathe, is
far from being an indifferent matter. Learn how to
avoid winds from the south ; flee from the fogs and from
wet grounds with pernicious effluvia. Choose for a stay
a laughing country with uncovered horizon or some hill-
side bathed by the sun. Only there will you find pure
air, continually renewed by the winds and the friendly
zephyrs.
Especially guard yourself against laziness and non-
chalance. Go, go drive in their dens the bear and the
boar; hunt the deer from the crests of mountains to the
foot of the valleys and into the depths of the woods.
Page Twenty -nine
As a fact, I have often seen the disease clear up by the
sweating and cure after long runs in the forests. This
is not all. Without false shame, take in hand the
plough and turn its share in the bosom of the earth;
armed with a hoe tear up the underbrush, strike with an
axe the towering oak, uproot the sycamore. Even at
home or in the evening, do not remain inactive. May
dancing, shuttle-cock and palestra be then for you useful
and salutary exercises. No truce for the disease !
And, if such labors cause you to often bitterly regret
the charms of a sweet repose and the delights of a soft
and downy couch, resist, resist with courage! Sleep
and repose are your enemies; under the appearance of
a deceptive ease, they would do naught but feed and
render worse the disease in your bosom.
Drive away far from you the anxieties, pre-occupa-
tions, and regrets; far from you the trouble of passions
and the assiduity of serious studies I What suits your
state is the mild business of the muses, it is joyous
couplets, and frolicsome dances. At all events do not
succumb to the attractions of love ; nothing could be
more harmful, and your kisses would taint the tender
daughters of Venus with a detestable contagion. Noth-
ing is more important for you than the ordering of your
diet and the choice of foods. Upon this point redouble
your attention and vigilance. In the first place banish
from the table all fish, no matter which they are, fish
from rivers or ponds, from fresh or from salt water. At
most you may, in case of necessity, indulge in those that
are fished near bluffs or falls and whose meat is white.
Page Thirty
soft and delicate; such are, for example, the phycine,
the dorade, the gudgeon, the perch, friend of rocky
shores, and the scare, sole ruminant of the waves, the
constant guest of the mouths of rivers. Also abstain
from aquatic birds which, living along the banks of rivers
or in swamps, feed on nothing but fish. In the same
manner avoid duck with its flesh charged with fat,
goose, which long ago saved the Capital, the full quail,
the bacon and entrails of the hog, the loin of boars
which have fallen under your blows in your murderous
hunts, cold cucumber, provocative truffles, artichokes,
onions with the acrid and piquant taste, vinegar and
milk.
Do not let yourself be tempted either by the spark-
ling or frothy wines of the shores of Corsica, of Faler-
num or of Puini, or those which are produced in our
small forms by the grape of Rhetia. Nothing will be less
healthful for you than the light wines of the Sabine or
those of which the Naiads will have dulled the generous
odors. On the other hand, that of which you may freely
use, is comprised in all simple foods which are healthful
and of which Nature is generous in gardens, and which
are the delight to the gods ; mint, cress, chicory, hare's
lettuce whose flower braves hoar frost, skirret, the friend
of small streams, sweet marlum, calamus with perfumed
odor, the coquettish melissa, ox-tongue which thrives best
on the edges of fountains, packet, spinage, sorrel, sam-
phire with salty buds, hops which interlaces with brush,
byronia of which I advise you to gather the young before
the adult branch has spoilt the shoots and spread its seeds
Page Thirty-one
t
that are turning green. But I stop, for I cannot mention
all. Other cares demand my attention also. O muse,
it is time to leave the shade of Aonia to approach the
domain of nature. A new career opens before my steps.
May I gather there, in default of poetic laurels, the hum-
bler crown of oak leaves, as the prize of my efforts de-
voted to the saving of so many victims ! If the disease
occurs in Spring or even in Autumn, if the patient is
young, robust, and plethoric, the indication is to open
the basilic vein or even the median, in order to free the
body of corrupted blood. In addition, no matter what
the season, hasten to place purgatives at work ; for, this
is the most certain means of evacuating peccant humors
and morbid ferments. At all events it is proper not to
have recourse to them until after due preparation of the
channels by resolvents, cutting medicines, and such as
delay action.
Now, to work! First of all prepare a decoction in
which you will add to the thyme of Crete that of pam-
philia so similar to thymber, almost to its hardness, the
tops of hops v^th the undulating stem, fennel, smallage,
fumitory, whose leaves simulate the arms of marine pulp,
capillaria which remains dry on the bosom of the waters,
sterile ceterach, hart's tongue with reddish filiata. Make
use of this remedy until all the humors have arrived to a
perfect cooking. Then, at that moment seize the favor-
able occasion to put to use the favorable properties of
squills with the acrid taste, of bitter colocynth, of helle-
bore, sea star whose flowers change color three times
daily, ginger, wild cucumber, olibanum, myrrh, bdellium.
Page Thirty-two
1
gum ammoniac, opoponax and hermodactylum. Having
done this, if your constitution is delicate or enfeebled and
refuses the use of these violent remedies which could
assure your liberty in a short time, it is proper to have
recourse only to a medication that is more mild and more
slowly curative. In such a case here are the remedies
to employ to complete the cure and dissipate the last re-
mains of a disease which is ever ready to take on insidi-
ous recrudescences.
First of all, on account of their drying and antiseptic
properties, resinous substances of all sorts are indicated
such as myrrh, olibanum, the resin of cedar, aspalath,
cypress with its evergreen foliage, aromatic gallingate.
odoriferous cassia, cinnamon with two perfumes, carda-
mon, mace and aloes wood. It is still scordium, a strong
antidote whose powers dissipate the effects of all poisons
and of every virus. This valued plant grows in the
meadows and on the edges of marshes. You will easily
recognize it by its purple flower, its odor of garlic, of its
appearance which recalls the common germanger. Go
and pluck in the morning, at sunrise, the leaves and the
roots to prepare a salutary decoction of which you will
have to make use for a long time.
And thou, especially, noble lemon tree, the pride of
the Flespendes, precious gift of the Orient, fear not that
my muse will forget thee here. Already rendered cele-
brated by illustrious poets, deign again to accept the
homage of a physician. May thy brow be crowned
with eternal verdure, may thy thick branches be deco-
rated with perfumed flowers and bend beneath the
Page Thirty-thiee
weight of their golden fruit! Divine tree, which Venus
endowed with marvelous powers as a souvenir of her
dear Adonis, we hail thee who, in actual trouble, fur-
nishes us the most useful help for our disease.
Another remedy imagined by the industry of man.
Look at that glass ball with a tapering neck, with a
roundish paunch. There has just been poured in it some
water together with a few handfuls of ivy leaves and of
dittany, or roots of orris, of perprunum and of elder. In
a short time, under the influence of the flame, the liquid
comes to a small boil ; light vapors are freed and fill the
dome of the apparatus ; but hardly have they touched
its walls cooled by the outer air than they condense in a
dew, running on the cap and flowing into the serpentine
tube. The liquid obtained by this ingenious distillation
possesses marvelous powers to dissolve the last ferments
of the disease. It must be taken hot in glassful doses, in
the morning while in bed, in such manner as to excite
copious sweats. During the course of this treatment,
there are at times noted terrific pains which cruelly tor-
ture the limbs. Hasten to alleviate them by the use of
different topical remedies, such as notably wool-fat, oil
of mastic, goose grease, linseed, mucilage, daffodils, elder,
honey, saffron of Crete, and dregs of oil.
At other times, it is a malign ulcer which appears in
the mouth or throat. Attack it, without loss of time,
with verdigris, to kill it in its germ state, before it has
spread its ravages. This caustic associated with fats and
with dessicants, will be equally useful to employ for the
destruction of pustules, to dissolve callosities and cicatrize
Page Thirtjr-foni
eating ulcers. But it is in vain, I suppose, that you have
exhausted the entire series of these remedies ; or, per-
haps, impatient of such slov/ness, relying upon your
strength and your health, you resolve to turn to more
energetic agents, to end the matter with the hated enemy
as soon as possible. Be it so ! I will show you these
violent and expeditious methods which can triumph, in a
short time, over a disease that is usually long in duration,
stubborn, subject to relapses and rebellious to mild medi-
cation. But also learn the price you v/ill have to pay
for your hasty deliverance.
First of all here is a treatment which consists in the
use of fumigations composed of styrax, of cinnabar, of
minium, of antimony, and of incense. We have here,
without doubt, an active medication, which succeeds in
cleaning the body of its awful taints ; but it is excessively
violent, irritating, and uncertain in its results. In addition
it brings on respiratory difficulties and a true suffocation.
Therefore, these fumigations, in my opinion should never
be used on the entire body ; it is proper to limit their
action to those parts which are the seat of eruptions or
of ulcers. Another method of which mercury forms
the basis is much preferable. As a fact, the action of
mercury on the scourge is marvelous, either because its
natural affiinity for heat and cold renders it proper to ab-
sorb the devouring fire of the disease ; or, because its
surprising density permits it to divide and to dissolve the
humors for a reason that is analogous to that which gives
to incandescent iron a caustic action more marked than
that of a light flame ; or that its mobile and penetrating
Page Thitty-fiye
molecules, apt to infiltrate themselves in the warp of tis-
sues, have the power of pursuing and consuming even to
the b ^ttom of organs the impure yeasts of the disease ;
or finally that its magic virtues are derived from Pome
occult force whose mystery escapes us. But, I stop, for
before all I must here state how that remedy was re-
vealed to man by a divine hand, and celebrate in ray
verses this good deed of the gods.
In a valley of Syria, shaded by the luxuriant foliage
of willows and cut by the murmuring waves of Callirhoe,
there formerly lived, it is said, a husbandman named
Ilceus. He divided his tranquil life between the labors
of his field, and the cultivation of a garden consecrated to
the gods of the field in which grew through his care gallin-
gate, the cassia tree, and perfumed ginger. Suddenly,
O horrors, he was struck by the terrible scourge. The
unfortunate man, in his distress, called the heavens to his
aid: "Ye gods that I adore," he cried, "have pity on my
torture! And thou, beneficent Callirhoe, thou who al-
ways curest our ills, do not forget that but a few days
since I made an offering to thee, on the trunk of an oak,
of the carcass of the deer that had fallen under my blows.
Powerful divinities, if your clemency delivers me from
this awful disease which tortures me night and day, my
grateful hand will not cease to load your altars with
crowns and flowers. From this time on my most pleas-
ing violets and my whitest lilies go to you; to you the
budding roses and the first hyacinths of my humble place."
He spoke and fell back exhausted on the grass.
Page Thirly-iiz
At that time Callirhoe was bathing herself in a
neighboring grotto. She heard his prayer and those
vows. She at once answered Ilceus by the cares ing
murmur of her limpid waves which flowed upon the moss
of the rocks. She then sent him sleep to assuage his
pains; and, whilst he was resting in peace beneath the
fresh shade of the willows, she appeared to him in a
dream, arising from the bosom of the waters, and said*
"Ilceus, at last the gods, in answer to my prayer,
have taken pity on thee, but, alas! the remedy, the only
remedy, that may cure thee of thy ills, thou shall hunt in
vain in this part of the world that the Sun lights with his
rays. Such in fact is the inexorable chastisement which
has been visited upon thee by Diana and her brother
Apollo, the very day that thou didst pierce with thy ar-
rows the sacred deer of whose carcass thou didst make
an offering to me. Diana saw thy victim panting upon
the ground and bathed in blood; she saw thy fatal trophy
suspended on one of the oaks of the neighboring forest;
and in her grief she cursed thee! It is she and the son
of Latona, excited against thee by the anger of his sister,
who have afflicted thee with a horrible disease; and both
have sworn that every where in which their empire extends
thou shalt find no remedy for thy sufferings. There
remains for thee, as the only resource, to seek thy safety
in the bowels of the earth a ad the darkness of the infer-
nal regions. Listen! Under a neighboring rock, a dark
cavern opens and it reveals to the eyes of mortals a dense
forest of oak trees; a horrible chasm, which is terrifying, in
Page Tliirty-ieTeii
which the cedar with plaintive murmuirs alone troubles
the eternal silence. Let the next sunrise see thee there,
immolate a black sheep and offer it to Cybele, burning
cypress and thuja in honor of Erebus, of the shades and
of the unknown divinities of Tartarus. Thy prayers will
be heard, and a nymph will come offering herself to thee
as a guide for thy steps in the dark roads which lead to
the center of the earth. She herself, will also point out
to thee the remedy that thou implorest. Take courage!
And do not believe thyself to be deceived, at this time,
by the illusion of a dream. Look, recognize me! I am
Callirhoe, the Nymph friend, whose waters fecundate
the fields which thou dost cultivate." She had spoken
and at once plunged in the blue waves.
Ilceus awakes, "intoxicated with joy." "Beneficent
goddess," he cries, "I accept thy presage, I will obey
thee; I will go, divine virgin, whither thy voice calls me!"
The next day, at the earliest streak of dawn, he pro-
ceeded to the cavern. He found its entrance under im-
mense rocks which the tree of Jupiter has covered wdth
its branches. On the threshold of the chasm, he im-
molates a black sheep which he offers as a sacrifice to
powerful Cybele. Then, he burns the thuja and the
cypress in honor of Erebus and of the divinities of the
dark shores. Suddenly there arises a voice which over-
throws the subterranean echoes; it is the sacred voice of
the goddess!
The nymphs of the earth who preside over the met-
als, were occupied at that moment in uniting liquid
sulphur with the silvered wave of mercury, a marvelous
Page Thirty-eight
amalgam which, hardened by the bath, transforms itself
into pure gold. All ready, for this divine work, un-
known to mortals, and they alloyed a hundred rays of
flame and a hundred molecules of burnt air with two
hundred germs borrowed either from the bowels of the
earth or the bosom of the waters. When the voice of
Cybele resounded, seized by a religious alarm, they sus-
pended all their labors, and one of them, detached her-
self from her companions, and approached at once the
entrance to the cavern. It is the nymph Lipara to whom
is confided, in the dark empire, the task of purifying by
fire, gold, silver and the sacred bitumens. Addressing
Ilceus: "I know," she told him, "thy name and thy mis-
fortunes; i know the design that brings thee here. Be
without fear. It is not in vain that a goddess beloved
by us has promised thee our help. The remedy that
thou seekest is here. Come, follow me in these dark
paths which lead to our domain; the nymph who is
speaking to thee will guide thy footsteps." At these
words she crossed the threshold of the cavern. Ilceus
followed her without hesitation. What a picture then
unrolled itself to his eyes! There were here gaping gulfs,
there some subterranean rivers, at other places bottomless
abysms filled by eternal night. "We are here,"
says Lipara, "in the empire of Earth. Several divinities
have divided among themselves these darksome places.
Under our feet extends the kingdom of Proserpine; on
its arches are the sacred springs from which pour the
rivers which then roll their thundering waves to the sea.
Page Thirty -nine
For us, this is our domain. My sister and I make bronze,
silver and gold. It is I who guide through the torn sides
of this mountain the threads of sulphur whose beneficent
vapor mingles itself with the water of thy sweet friend,
Caliirhoe." However, they continue their walk in the
midst of the darkness, and soon they begin to hear the
muffled sounds of the subterranean braziers, the crack-
ling of flames excited by the sulphur and the shaking of
the bronze which is slowly boiling. "We now approach,'
continued the nymph, "where Cybele brings forth those
metals which so markedly excite the envy of mortals.
A thousand goddesses, daughters of the earth and of
night, inhabit these dark homes and there consecrate
themselves to tasks without number. The one distributes
the waters; others dig the earth to gather the sparse
germs of flame and of fire; others, finally compose the
metallic alloys, which they subsequently pour into molds
or which they harden by tempering. The narrow path
which thou seest on our left leads to the arsenals of the
Cyclops of Etna, who are incessantly hammering iron on
the resounding anvils and whose forges belch far away
on the earth whirlwinds of smoke. Finally this other
road to the right will lead us to the sacred river whose
metallic waves carry quicksilver and will furnish thee
the remedy, the only remedy that is good for thy disease."
They then entered the avenue whose arches gar-
nished with tutty are traversed by threads of gold and of
sulphur of scintillating reflections. Then they arrive at
the banks of a river with silvery waves. "Ilceus," says
the nymph, "thou hast finally reached the end of thy
Page Forty
troubles. When that sacred stream shall have passed
over thy body three times, thou shalt be delivered of thy
disease and its impure poison," At these words, she
plunges her virgin hands into the river; three times she
takes out of it the liquid metal and three times she
spreads it on the limbs of Ilceus. O prodigy! It is done!
The disease at once disappears, and his hideous covering,
on contact with this glowing flood, dissolves and dis-
appears in a moment!
*'Now leave," continued Lipara, "go find the day,
the pure sky and the fortunate regions that the sun lights.
But let thy first care be to offer a sacrifice to Diana, to
the gods of these gloomy places and to the goddess who
has saved thy days."
She has spoken and resumes the road to the cavern.
Ilceus follows her, intoxicated with gratitude and joy; he
soon passes the threshold of the darksome empire and
sees again the radiant clearness of day.
Renown immediately seized this prodigy, and soon
the sublime virtues of mercury were known throughout
the universe.
At the beginning, mercury was employed associated
with lard; later it was combined with the turpentine of
Epirus and with the resin of the majestic birch. Certain
physicians today combine it with horse fat or bear's
grease, or bdellium and with the juice of cedar, others
with m)nfrh, with male incense, with mibium and with
burning sulphur. For my part, I prefer to alloy it with
a mixture of black hellebore, orris root, galbanum, asa-
fetida, oil of mastic, and oil of native sulphur.
Page Forty -ooe
Patients, a truce to the disgust which may be caused
by this remedy! For if it is disgusting, the disease is
still more so. Besides, your cure is at this price. So,
without hesitation, spread this mixture on your body
and cover with it your entire skin, with the exception of
the head and of the precordial region. Then, carefully
wrap yourself in wool and tow; then get into bed, load
yourself with bed covering and thus await until a sweat
bathes your limbs with an impure dew. Ten days in
succession renew this treatment, for ten entire days you
are to undergo this cruel trial whose beneficial effect will
not cause you to wait.
As a matter of fact, very soon an infallible presage
will aimounce to you the hour of your freedom. Very
soon you will feel the ferments of the disease dissolve
themselves in your mouth in a disgusting flow of saliva,
and you will see the virus, even the virus, evacuate itself
at your feet in rivers of saliva.
If, during the course of this treatment, small ulcers
develop in your mouth, have a care to fight them with
gargles of milk or by a decoction of pomegranate privet.
This treatment being completed, you may then, without
fear, recall Bacchus to your table and enjoy in full liberty
the generous nectars of Phetia, of Falernum and of Chios.
The disease thus subdued, a last and very simple
matter remains for you to carry out in order to complete
your victorious work. It is that of purifying your body
of the last taints by means of ablutions, for which laven-
der, marjaram, rosemary, verbena and clary offer you
their perfumed odors.
Page Forly-two
Syphilidis liber Tertius
O muse, beyond the columns of Hercules a new world
claims thee. Listen to those murmuring waves which
call thee to distant shores. Go, take thy impulse and
celebrate in verses the foreign tree which assuages our
pains and places a limit to our affliction. And thou,
celestial Urania, put on thy medical purple, show to the
peoples of Italy thy brow crowned with the August
branches of Guaiac, and relate the wonderful prodigies
of which our century is a witness.
Ah ! heroic century, may some day an illustrious
poet consecrate the accents of his lyre to thee ! Let him
then narrate this inspired singer of heroes and of glory,
how our intrepid fleets set out to conquer another conti-
nent beyond the unknown seas ! Let him sing of those
new worlds recently discovered, their cities, their rivers,
their different peoples, their strange customs, their skies
bespangled with glittering pleiades ! Let him relate those
combats, those memorable battles which subjected to our
laws a continent until then ignored ! Let him especially
note for the admiration of future centuries that frail bark
which alone, plows with its bold prow the im.mensity of
the seas ! Happy the favorite of Apollo who will be
able to worthily limn such marvels! My Muse would not
dare to aspire to such a brilliant task; more modest, she
will do naught but here celebrate a sacred tree; she will
recite its virtues, she will recount how it was discovered
and how it was imported among us from a distant shore.
Page Forty -three
Under the ardent fires of Cancer, in the bosom of an
immense sea in which the chariot of Phebus plunges at
the close of day, an island extends, narrow and long,
which the Spanish navigators were the first to land upon
and in remembrance of their country they called His-
paniola. This land is sown with gold; but that which
makes a greater wealth for it than gold, is the precious
tree to which natives of the country have given the name
of Guaiac.
Guaiac has a stem that is slender and cylindrical.
Its branches which are broadly spread are loaded with
a thick foliage that is always green, its fruit consists of
small, numerous berries, which are astringent to the taste.
Its wood has the hardness of iron; under heat it ex-
udes a sticky resin; when cut it is agreeably shaded in
color; green and shining like laurel just below the bark,
it takes on a little deeper the pale gray color of box, and
becomes darker up to black near its central portions, in
such fashion as to recall the tints of both ebony and of
walnut. Suppose that to these different colors red is
added, the scaif of Iris would not be more richly streaked.
The natives devote an extreme amount of care to the
culture of this tree. They force themselves to multiply
it; they cover their highlands and lowlands with it. They
cherish it, and they worship it as the equal of a saving
god. And it is not without reason, for it alone furnishes
a remedy against the implacable scourge which the heaven-
ly ire permanently maintains among them.
This remedy is thus prepared by them: A stout
branch is detached from the tree, it is freed of its bark.
Page Forty-four
crushed and scraped; the different fragments thus obtained
are first left in water to digest for the length of one day
and one night, then it is subjected to the action of fire.
Care is taken to manage the cooking of the mixture with
economy, in such manner as to avoid a hard ebullition
and so as not to lose any part of the scum, a topic that
may be usefully employed for ulcers and abscesses. TTie
liquid is evaporated in this manner until reduced to one-
half and then carefully recovered. The solid residue is
then again taken up with water, shaken up wdth honey
and again cooked with a care that is entirely similar.
Of these two decoctions that are successively made
the first is given as a remedy in the dose of two glassfuls
daily, of which one is to be taken at the rising of Aurora,
and the other at the time that twilight begins to spread
its shadows on Olympus. The second comprises the
only drink which the national rite and the religious law
of the country permit patients to use at their meals. J he
use of the one and of the other must equal in duration
the length of time that it takes a star to go through its
course to rejoin the chariot of the Sun.
During the whole course of this treatment, the
patients are closely confined in a tightly closed apart-
ment, sheltered from the cold, from air and from the
inimical draft of the winds. They limit themselves to
the most austere diet, to the most rigid fasting, taking no
food, except a quantity such as is indispensable to keep
up the functions and preserve life. However, they easily
support this diet, thanks to the sacred drinks which sus-
tain them equally like a celestial ambrosia and furnish to
Page Forty -fr»e
their famished bodies the occult principles of resistance
and of nutrition. After each dose of the remedy, they
take care to lie in bed for two hours, in order to permit
the divine nectar to penetrate their organs and to purify
them by salutary sweats.
And, Diana, O Prodigy, has not completed her
career which the action of the remedy already reveals.
It is an act of evil I The pustules dry, the ulcers heal,
the pains disappear, and the flower of youth is born
again with the return of health.
I wall tell how a divine hand pointed out this remedy
to the natives of the new world, and how the helpful
Destinies imported it among us.
Departed from the shores of Spain in search of
another world, an intrepid flotilla sailed on far away seas
which are present at the setting of the Sun. Uncertain
of their way, they proceeded in a haphazard way on
unknowoi waves. About them crowded innumerable
Nereids. Nymphs of those unexplored seas, they had
all left their damp homes to come and look upon those
winged vessels, which, their sails to the wind, appeared
to them to fly upon the deep.
It was night. From the serene vault of the firma-
ment the moon spread its pure rays on the undulated
surface of the seas. Raising his suppliant looks to that
star, the hero who commanded the fleet, he whom the
Destinies had chosen for the grand work which is pre-
paring itself, implored the daughter of Latona in these
terms: "O Phebe, queen of night, sovereign of these
Page Forty-iiz
waves, twice hast thou turned thy silvery crescent to us,
twice hast thou filled thy course, and nothing yet offers
itself to us but the immensity of the waves. Land flees
before us. For our grace, cause some shore to appear
at the horizon, and direct us, O, goddess, to those worlds
that we seek for so long !"
Diana heard the prayer; she at once came down
from the sky, borrows the features of the Nereids
Cynothos and Clotho, then, mingling with the group of
nymphs that surrounded the fleet, she answered the hero
in these words : "Courage, beloved son, courage ! The
days that will shine shall not be done without land ap-
pearing before thine eyes, without a port to shelter thy
vessels. But do not stop at the first shore that thou shalt
meet. It is further on that the Destinies call thee. Be-
yond that these seas hold a large island of the name of
Ophir; there, only must thou hmit thy course and found
the capital of thy empire !"
She had spoken, and touched the ship with her hand,
which, pushed by favoring winds, lightly passed over the
azure of the waves.
The chariot of Phebus had scarcely emerged from
the waves when a foggy point appeared at the horizon ;
it is land ! Soon, as a fact, the squadron came in view
of a shore, of the shore so long desired. It lands, it salutes
this hospitable soil, and returns to heaven a just tribute
of actions and of thanks. Then the crew seeks in repose
new strength for the fatigues that are to come.
Page Forty-feTCB
Four days pass thus, A mild breeze arises and fills
the sails. The squadron at once puts to sea with en-
thusiasm. It left behind it the island of Anthylie, which
floats at the will of the waves. Hagie, Ammerie, the
cursed land of the Cannibals, and Gyana with its green
shores, and then it noticed an archipelago which traces
above the waters escarped heights. Of the innumerable
isles which compose it, there is one that is crowned by
luxuriant forests and which pours into the sea a large
river whose bed is covered with gold. Pure rivulets
cross it, and cool shades make charming a stay. Se-
duced by so many attractions, the squadron is halted.
The sailors landed on this enchanting shore with trans-
ports of joy. Their first care was to offer a sacrifice to
the gods of this place and to the Genius of the river
which enriches the ocean with the riches of its waves.
They then prepared their table on the carpet of grass,
and, a cup in the hand, celebrated this happy day. Some
next went out in search of discoveries, impatient of
knowing if this land had inhabitants; others went to con-
template the river with scintillating waves and gather the
scales of gold with which its bed is sown.
Innocent guests of this country, birds with red bills,
and azure plumage, flew at this moment in the thick
shades which bordered the banks. The sailors perceived
this winged assemblage; they at once seized their arque-
buses, rival arms to the thunder, terrible arms whose secret
Vulcan revealed to the Teutons, the day that it pleased
him to endow mortals with the bolts of Jupiter. Each
one chose and adjusted his victim. It is done, the bum-
Page Forty-eight
ing wicks fire the powder, a murderous mixture of sulphur,
of nitre and of willow charcoal; the lightning flashes, the
shot occurs, the balls whistle in the air, and the ground
is covered with dead bodies ! The sky at the same
moment is lighted up by thousands of fires, lightnings plow
the clouds and shakes, by its angry claps, the shore, the
forest and even down to the deep caves of the sea.
Terrified, those of the birds who have escaped the car-
nage take refuge upon the heights of the rocks, or ask for
refuge from the darkest caves. But one of them, O
prodigy, stops upon a pointed peak and offers these
sinister prophecies : "Cursed strangers, your sacreligious
hand has struck the birds of the Sun. Woe be unto
you ! Learn from me the punishment with which Apollo
will visit your crime. If favorable winds have brought
you to the banks of Ophir, which you sought for such a
long time, it is only at the price of thousands of disasters
and of thousands of diseases that it will be given to you
to reach this other world from which you hope to steal
its ancient liberty. All the scourges of the earth and of
the waves will be let loose upon your heads. War will
decimate you; these waves will engulf your squadrons;
this shore will be covered with your remains, and very
few among you will see the sky of your native land !
Europe will refuse you all help, and whilst Discord will
turn against you your own arms, this land will bring forth
giants to crush you. In fine, an unknown pestilence will
spread upon you its noisome, tainted marks, until the day
when, suppliants, you will come here and implore pardon
Pa«e Foity-nine
for your sacrilege and ask from this forest a remedy for
your sufferings !" — He had spoken, and, uttering a terrible
whistle, disappeared in the depths of the woods.
Upon hearing this fatal prophecy the Spaniards stood
pale with terror and chilled with fear. In order to ap-
pease the celestial anger, they hurried to offer expiatory
sacrifices to the Sun, to the sacred birds, and to the
nymphs of the forest. They implored their pardon;
they tried all means to bend by their prayers the gods of
Ophir and the Genius of the sacred river.
Nevertheless, men of a race that was unknown sud-
denly emerged from the adjacent woods. Their body
was as black as their hair; their chest was naked; their
forehead, as a sign of peace, was bound with foliage.
They advance toward the sea; they consider with stupe-
faction the gigantic sides of the vessels, the clothing and
the arms of the soldiers; they do not seem to be able to
satisfy their eyes with the spectacle of so many marvels.
They humbly prostrate themselves before the Spaniards,
whom they take for the gods or messengers of the sky,
and presenting to their chief, as an offering, some gold,
wheat, honey and fruits, they receive in return clothing,
wine and divers presents. The wine especially seemed
to surprise and please them to ecstacy just as celestial
ambrosia would a mortal admitted to the table of the
gods.
Tokens of peace are exchanged, and a reciprocal
confidence did not take long to be established. The
chiefs of the two nations then advanced to meet one
another on the river bank. The king of the natives car-
Page Fifty
ried in his belt a light veil bordered with emeralds having
green reflections; his right hand is armed with a sharp
javelin and his left with the threatening skin of a dragon.
The admiral is dressed in a tunic woven with gold, on
which sparkle gleaming arms; his head is covered with a
bronze casque surmounted by a brilliant plume; upon his
shoulders shines a collar of gold; a Toledo blade hangs
at his side. One and the other, as a sign of peace, ex-
change a fraternal embrace. The union between the
two people is then complete; it is soon cemented by a
reciprocal hospitality, and, be it aboard the Spanish ves-
sels, or on land in the cottages of the natives, feasts and
joyous banquets make sacred this happy alliance.
It was then the time when the inhabitants of the
distant shores were accustomed to offer their annual
sacrifices to the vengeful Sun. The entire population of
Ophir, whom the Spaniards joined met for this solemnity
in a dark valley which was shaded by a thick crown of
woods and was traversed by green streamlets. There,
in the center of the assemblage, a numerous group existed,
diversely composed of men of all ages and ranks of
women, of children and of old people. Horrible spec-
tacle ! All the unfortunates who form this group carry
upon their visages the marks of suffering; a horrible lep-
rosy soils their body; their flesh is eaten by hideous
ulcers !
Notwithstanding, a priest all attired in white advances
towards these poor victims. He shakes over their heads
a branch of guaiac from which a bright liquid flows, then
with his own hand he sacrifices a young bull with a snow-
Page Fifty -one
white coat ; he gathers its blood in a sacred dish and
pours it upon a shepherd kneeling at the altar. He then
addresses a solemn hymn to the Sun, and the entire as-
semblage responds to his sacred words. Boars, and ewes
are then immolated and their entrails, roasted at once,
are distributed to those who are present.
The Spaniards gazed upon these strange ceremonies
with wonder; they trembled with fear at the sight of the
hideous ravages of a disease that was unknown to them.
Their leader remained silent for a long time as if in a
dream, and then cried out: "Ah, here it is: doubtless,
this is the scourge with which the bird of Apollo,
threatened us, O eternal gods, pity, pity us!" Then ad-
dressing the King of the natives (for already the two
peoples had learned to understand one another): "What
are" said he, "the religious rites? Who are those un-
fortunates gathered together in this place? Who is the
shepherd upon whom your sacrificer has spread the blood
of the victim? "
"Valiant stranger", answered the King, "thou hast
witnessed our annual sacrifice in honor of the Sun. Its
origin is very ancient. And since thou hast asked to
know it, I will satisfy thy v^sh: I will tell thee what
series of misfortunes has struck us, and how this scourge
which now desolates us was born in our midst."
"An issue of Atlas, of Atlas our father, whose name
no doubt is not unknown to thee, our nation lived for a
long time happily and cherished of the sky, as long as it
honored the gods and remained faithful to their worship.
Page Fifty-two
But a time came, alas! in which corruption and im-
piety slipped in among us, in which the sacred altars of
our fathers were devoted to contempt. The punishment
of such a crime did not take time to come, for from that
period dates for us a series of misfortunes which I would
be unable to recite. It was, at first, that famous island
to which Atlas had given his name, that queen of the
seas, Atlantic, that a fearful cataclysm shook to its very
foundations, and which threw itself in the bosom of those
waves which were formerly subject to its empire. Then
the anger of heaven turned itself against our flocks, and
we saw disappear to the last young of this giant animal
of which nothing has survived among us but a memory.
As a result, we have nothing to offer to our gods but the
blood of foreign victims, born under a sky which is not
ours. Later on yet, the anger of the gods and the ven-
geance of Apollo unchained upon us the terrible scourge
of which thou hast seen the ravages. This disease has
spread itself in all our cities, and very few among us es-
cape its cruel attacks. It is for the purpose of conjuring
him and to propitiate him that our fathers established
these expiatory sacrifices, of whose origin it remains for
me to tell thee".
According to an ancient tradition, even here, on the
banks of this river, a shepherd of the name of Syphiius
watched innumerable flocks of King Alcithous. It was
the period of the Solstice, and Sirius threw the fire of
his rays on these fields. A torrid heat burned the earth;
the forests had no shade, the breeze was no longer cool.
Syphiius saw his animals dying; seized with indignation.
Page Fifty- three
exasperated by his own sufferings, he threw to Sirius a
threatening look and thus addressed the god: 'What!
we honor thee as the father and the creator of all things,
we erect to thee altars, we offer to thee our incense, we
sacrifice to thee victims without number, and this is our
reward, this is the care that thou takest of the flocks of
my King! Ah! it is jealousy without doubt that is de-
vouring thee! Thou who hast in the heavens, it is said
but one bull, but one ram, with a hectic dog to watch
this great drove, thou hast not borne in view without
envy our thousands of cattle, our thousands of sheep with
the white fleece. Fool that I am. It is not to thee, it
is to Alcithous that I should render divine honors. If
that great King commands so many peoples, if so many
seas obey his laws, it is because, most assuredly, his
power is greater than thine and that of all the other gods.
He, at least, will know how to guard our flocks, to give
them cool shelter, and to furnish them with green shades' ".
"He had spoken, and without waiting he erected an
altar on the neighboring mountain; he then rendered di-
vine honors to Alcithous. Shepherds and plowmen soon
follow this impious example; and incense no longer
smokes, the blood of victims is no longer poured out in
honor of the new god".
Alcithous received these homages with intoxication.
From the top of his throne, in the midst of his assembled
peoples, he proclaimed himself the sovereign of the world;
he decreed that in future, to him alone were divine hon-
ors to be rendered. 'Let the gods', said he, 'divide the
Page Fifty-four
heavens among them; they have nothing to look after
among the things here below!' "
"But Sirius, whom nothing escapes, Sirius who with
one look embraces the universe, could not see without
indignation such sacrileges. In his anger, he charges his
rays with pestilential poisons and virulent miasms, which
simultaneously infect the air, the earth and the waters.
At once upon this criminal earth there arises an unknown
plague. Syphilus is the first attacked by it, on account
of having been the first to profane the sacred altars. A
hideous leprosy covers his body; fearful pains torture his
limbs and banish sleep from his eyes. Then, this terri-
ble disease — known since then among us by the name
of Syphilis— does not take long to spread in our entire
natioa, not even sparing our King himself".
"Our fathers then, in their alarm, ran to ask the
n)maph America, who gives the sacred oracles in the
woods of Carthese. They ask her the cause of the dis-
ease which is afflicting them; they implore of her a
remedy for their sufferings".
' Impious mortals', answers the nymph, * you
have had the presumption to equal yourselves to the
gods, and today you suffer the punishment of your crime.
Go, go without loss of time, to implore your pardon of
the god whom you have offended; re-erect those altars
and offer to him those sacrifices which are his due. Per-
haps you may, in this manner, appease his anger. But
do not hope to see the end of the scourge that is afflicting
you. This disease shall be eternal, and whosoever
shall be born on this earth will suffer from its attacks;
Page Fifty -five
Apollo has sworn it by the Styx and by immutable Des-
tiny. Here at all events, is how you may obtain relief
to your sufferings. Choose in your flocks a white heifer
and a black one; sacrifice the first to Juno and the sec-
ond to Cybele. Juno will scatter in the air propitious
germs which, received and fecundated in the bosom of
Cybele, produce a tree with green branches. That tree
is your savior'".
"Thus spoke the nymph, whose voice shook the
cave and the neighboring wood. A chill of terror oc-
curred at this sinister prophecy. Nevertheless, the com-
mands of the nymph were obeyed; the altars were re-
erecled; two heifers were sacrificed, the white one and
the other black, in honor of Juno and of Cybele".
"Then suddenly, O unheard prodigy and true pro-
digy (I attest for it the gods and the names of our
fathers), an unknown tree arises from the bosom of the
earth, spreads its branches and develops its luxuriant
crown of foliage. It is from the fruitful trunk of this
tree that the neighboring forest was born".
"Our high priest at once prescribes new sacrifices in
honor of Apollo. He insists upon an expiatory victim,
and fate chooses Syphilus to pay with his life for the
crime of the nation".
"The sacrifice is being prepared. Already the rib-
bons and the sacred cakes are deposited on the altar ;
already the iron threatens the breast of the victim, when
all at once Juno and Sirius, whose anger has been ap-
peased, substitute for the shepherd Syphilus a young
Page Fifty-tix
bull who receives the fatal blow and alone pays with the
price of his blood the outrage done to the gods".
"It is to preserve the memory of these memorable
events that our fathers instituted the religious rites which
you have just witnessed and which are renewed each
year among us. A fictitious victim, this shepherd whom
you see at the foot of the altar recalls to us the sacrilege
of Syphilus. These unfortunates are those of our people
whom the anger of the gods has struck and who cruelly
expiate the faults of our father. Our high priest tries
to call down on them the pity of heaven and appease
the anger of Apollo by his prayers. Purified by these
pious sacrifices, they soon regain their homes, loaded
with the sacred branches which are to deliver them from
this horrible disease".
In this manner mutual relations were thus completed,
cementing the union of these two peoples, formerly
strangers to one another, when suddenly a gruesome
rumor spread, brought by ships of the squadron which
came back from the old world after having twice crossed
the immensity of the seas. O pain, O cruel and im-
penetrable destiny! The scourge which desolates Ophir,
has, it is said, just burst forth in Europe.
It rages there with fury, sowing fear everywhere and
no remedy can prevent its ravages. This is not all !
Here soon the same disease is developed aboard of the
fleet. Numbers of sailors are attacked by it and see
their bodies covered with hideous taints.
In their affliction, the Spaniards recalling the ill-
omened oracle of the bird of Apollo, predicting to them
that the day would come when they would implore for
Pte Fifty-»eTeo
their pardon and their safety the forest made bloody by
their arms. Without more hesitation, they offered a
sacrifice to the Sun and to the Nymphs of that country.
Then they went to pluck in the forest branches of the
sacred wood, and prepared, according to the native rite,
the salutary brew which is to purify them. Thinking of
the distress of their companions, they load their ships
with similar branches, in the hope that this precious
remedy will preserve its qualities under a foreign sky.
They finally leave. Propitious winds fill their sails;
Apollo himself directs their course.
Divine guaiac, it was Spain that had the happiness
of first receiving on our continent and of being the first
to know thy marvelous virtues. Later the Gauls and
the Germans, Scythia and Latium implored thy help.
Salutations to thee, savior tree with the luxuriant trunk,
with the generous sap ! We salute thee, the pride of the
New World ! Ah ! what would have been thy glory, if
propitious Destinies had caused thee to be born in this
land, the natal place of poets and of the gods! A
stranger among us, mayest thou at least owe some part
of thy honors to these verses as honors which are thy
due ! Without doubt my Muse does not dare to aspire
to spread the noise of thy marvels from the confines of
Bactria to the ice-bergs of the pole or to the burning
sands of Ethiopia; but she will at least publish thy sub-
lime virtues among the peoples of Latium, in the fields
of the Adigos and on the flowery banks of the Benacus ;
perhaps even it will carry thy name to the ears of Bembo,
on the banks of the Tiber, and this wrill be for her the
dearest reward for her labors.
Page Fifty-eight
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY W -t
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