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 reproduced edition. SigPhi is the digital reproduction, not the publisher. Year, publisher and translator are included when recorded; “n.d.” means the year is unknown. Responsibility for an introduction or note depends on the passage cited.
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…