Idiota (De sapientia, de mente, de staticis experimentis)
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~38,700 words · 184 passages
Cite this work
- APANicholas of Cusa. (n.d.). Idiota (De sapientia, de mente, de staticis experimentis). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/nicholas-of-cusa/idiota-de-sapientia-de-mente-de-staticis-experimentis
- MLANicholas of Cusa. "Idiota (De sapientia, de mente, de staticis experimentis)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/nicholas-of-cusa/idiota-de-sapientia-de-mente-de-staticis-experimentis.
- ChicagoNicholas of Cusa. Idiota (De sapientia, de mente, de staticis experimentis). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/nicholas-of-cusa/idiota-de-sapientia-de-mente-de-staticis-experimentis.
What it is about
The Layman: an unlettered craftsman teaches philosophy to an orator and a philosopher.
Context and history
'Idiota' here means unschooled, not stupid. The character carves wooden spoons in a Roman market and shows up the learned. The last treatise, On Experiments with the Balance, proposes weighing everything — air, blood, plants — in order to know nature: one of the earliest calls for measurement. Text in LATIN: Cusanus's original, and the version to cite.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
{lín foro Romano:quem facete /fubrídetis fic allocut?eft, j| defatigerís innumerabiles libros leãítandomődum ad 4 | humílitatč duđus fis,hoc certe ex eo: quía fcientia hug| íus mundí ín qua te cætetos præcellere putas/ftultitia H $| quædã eft apud deñ, & hinc infiat,vera autë feiétia:huz Ay | miliat,optarem/vt ad illam te cõferres:quoniam ibi eft j| thefaurus lærtitix ORATOR. Quæeft præfumptio , ġ | tua pauper Idíota/ & penitus ignorans : yt fic paruifaz cías ftudium literarumfine quo nemo proficit! ID]O2 TA. Noneft magneorator præfumptioiquæ me filere non finit: fed charitas,nam vídeo te deditum ad quærendam fapíentiam multo calfo labore:a quo te reuocare fi pofem/íta yt & tu errorem perpenderes/puto/cõttíto laqueo'te euafifie gaude res, traxit te opinioauãtorítatís : yt fis quafi equus/ natura liber ifed arte capiftro alligatus præfepí/vbi non aliud comedít nifi quod illi miniftratur , Pafeitur enim intelle&tus tuus / auãorítati fcribentium aftríi&us / pabuloalíerno & non naturali, ORATOR; Sí non ín libris fapíentum eft fapíentiæ pabulum:ybí tunc eft IDIO TA, Non díco ibi nonèffe:fed dicoinaturale ibi non reperíiriquí enim primo fead fcribendum de fapientia contulerunt:nonde librorum pabulo quí nondum erant? incrementa receperunt.fed naturali alimento: ín virum perfetum perducebãturs & íi : cæteros qui ex librís fe putant profeciffe/longe fapientia antecedunt , OR A2 TOR, Qåžuís forte fine literarum ftudioaliqua feiri poffint/ tamen res difficiles & grandes nequağ:cum fcientiæ creuerint per additamenta, IDIOTA, Hoc eft që aíebam:fcilicet te duci auãorítate & decipí-feribit aliquis verbä illud : cuí čredíss ego autem díco tíbí:¢ fapientia fotisclamat ín plateis! & eft clamor eius quomodo ípla habitat ínaltifimís, ORATOR, Vtaudío: cum fis Idiota ifapere te putas:
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