NEMESIUS, Bishop of Emesa (fl. AD 400)

Libri octo . I. De homine. II. De anima. III. De elementis. IIII. De viribus animae. V. De volu[n]tario et involu[n]tario. VI. De fato. VII. De libero arbitrio. VIII. De providentia. [Colophon:] Argentorati, ex officina libraria Matthiae Schurerii Selestensis, Artium Doctoris. Mense Maio. An. M.D.XII

      Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, 1512. Folio: A--H6 I4 K6 L8, 66 leaves, ff. [6] LX. Roman letter.Title printed in red within an elaborate woodcut border; initial spaces with guide letters. Leaf size and condition: 260 x 188mm. Woodcut title border cropped and soiled; top portion of F6 missing and restored with headline and first 4 lines of text in facsimile; multiple worm holes and tracks through title woodcut and text in first few leaves, diminishing to a single hole which continues to E4; a few minor tears. Some soiling in the prelims, otherwise a good fresh copy. Binding: Recent half vellum. Provenance and annotation: Inscription on title, 'Ex libris Principiscae Piccolominiae Bibliothecae fl[??]is densis Jesulanem blan[?], 'From the Princely Piccolomini library ...', possibly that of Prince Octavio Piccolomini, 1st Duke of Amalfi (1559--1656); about 150 words of contemporary annotation (cropped) in red and black ink (in the same hand). Walter Pagel (1896--1983) ; B. E. J. Pagel (1930--2007). References: VD16 ZV7008; Garrison--Morton 571; Ritter 1037; Muller p. 183, Schürer 82; Norman 1581. First edition. Republished in new translations in 1538 and, with the editio princeps of the Geek text, in 1565. English translation 1636. Falsely ascribed to Saint Gregory of Nyssa ('Divini Gregorii Nyssae episcopi'). § Nemesius' De natura hominis was responsible for advancing the theory, generally accepted in the middle ages, that mental processes were localised in the ventricles of the brain. This belief had been advanced earlier in the fourth century by the Greek physician Posidonius, to whom Nemesius refers, but only fragements of Posidonius' work survived, so that the theory of ventricular localisation was disseminated by Nemesius work. According to the theory, the three ventricles were responsible for sensory perception, intellect and memory and this proved a fruitful basis for later theories of mind. Nemesius was convinced of the correctness of his doctrine, since injury to different areas of the brain caused the loss of different faculties. The idea of ventricular localisation of mental faculties was attacked by Berengario on 1521 (see no. 14 above) who grouped the three faculties in three separate areas of the lateral ventricles. The theory was finally demolished by Vesalius who denied any role to the ventricles except the collection of fluid and declared that in some way the mind was in the brain at large. Nemesius' work was an interpretation of Greek scientific knowledge of the human body from the standpoint of Christian doctrine and contains many passages dealing with Galenic anatomy and physiology. His comments on the heartbeat and pulse have been erroneously interpreted as an anticipation of Harvey. Pagel noted that Servetus followed Nemesius' theory of localisation (William Harvey's Biological Ideas, p. 152). Little is known of Nemesius' career except that he was from Syria, probably converted to Christianity about 390 AD and sometime thereafter became bishop of Emessa. He knew his Galen well and may have had some medical training. De natura hominis was written in Greek. It went through a long period of neglect, but Latin translations began to appear late in the 11th century and the work has well known in the middle ages, although its true authorship was still obscure. The first translation to be printed was this one by John Cono of Nuremberg -- who attributed it to St Gregory of Nyssa -- and the Greek text was first printed by Plantin at Antwerp in 1565. This edition also includes texts by Jacobus Faber, St Gregory of Nazianze and St Basil, translated by John Cono and Beatus Rhenanus. The fine title-border is by Urs Graf. It is large for the book and is also cropped in the Norman copy. Literature: Pagel, William Harvey's Biological Ideas (1967); Sarton 1, pp. 373--374; C. D. O'Malley, DSB, 10, pp. 20--21.