Idiota (De sapientia, de mente, de staticis experimentis)
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~38,700 words · 184 passages
Cite this work
- APANicholas of Cusa. (n.d.). Idiota (De sapientia, de mente, de staticis experimentis). Digital reproduction: 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). Digital reproduction, 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). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/nicholas-of-cusa/idiota-de-sapientia-de-mente-de-staticis-experimentis.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
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.
omneäliud å ad æternæ fapientiæ pabulum cõuerfus:feextra vítam quafi in tenez bris ignorãtíæ inuolutum potius mortuum ġ viuum reperíetEr híc eft cruciatus intermínabilís : íntelle&uale efe habere; &nunğ intelligere: Sola ením æterna faz píientiaeft:in quaomnís íintelleãus intelligere potet: ORATOR. Pulchraatg raa ranarrasinuncage gquæfo:quomodo eleyari queam ad aliqualem guft æternæ faz píentiæ! IDIOT A;,Aeterna fapičtia:in omni guftabíli guftatur. ipfa eft delecãtaríio: in omní dele&abili,ipfa eft pulchritudo:inomníi pulchroiípfa eft apperitio:in omní appetíbili:Sic decunãís defiderabílibus dicito, Quomodo tunc poteft non guftarit Nonne víta eft tibi iocunda: guandoeft fecundum defiderium tuum! ORATOR; Immo níhil plus: IDIOTA; Cum ergo hoc defideríium tuum non fit nifi per æter nam fapíentiam ex qua/& in qua efti '&'hæc víta fælix quă defideras! fimiliter non fit nifi ab eadem æterna fapientia ín qua eft & extra quam effe nequit:hinc nõ aliud ín omní defideríoíntelleã&ualis vitæ defideras ĝfapientiam æternam/quæ eft defideríí túi compleměétumpríncipiumimediű/& finis: Sí ígitur eft tibi dulce hoc dez fideríum immortalis vitæ ivt ætèrnalíter fælicíter víuas:quádam in te præguftaa tionem experiris xternæ fapientiæ,Nihiteniím:penítus incognítä appetitur, Sant etenim poma apud indo$/quorum præguftatíoné cum non habeamus:ea non appe timus:fed cum fineë nutrimento viuere non poflimus:àppetimus nutriment, Ha--. bemusautemnutrímētiquãdam præguftationem:yt víuamus fenfibiliter. & hine puer quädam habet lactis præguftatíonem in fua natura, quare dum efurít: ad lac mouetur,Ex quibus enim fumus:ex illis ñutrímur; Sic intelle&us habet vítã fuam abæterna fapientia:& huius habet qualécűg præguftationé, V ndein omni pafcen tía quæ ei yt viuat nècefaria eft:nő mouetür nifi yt inde pafcatur /a quo habet hoc intelle&uale efe, Sí igitur ín omni defiderío vitæ intelleãualisiättéderes aquoeft intelle&tus/ per quod mouetur /& ad quod:in te cõperíres dulcediné…
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