Janus Cornarius

[2] A gifted philologist,[3] Cornarius specialized in editing and translating Greek and Latin medical writers with "prodigious industry,"[4] taking a particular interest in botanical pharmacology and the effects of environment on illness and the body.

[6] Details of the life of Cornarius are taken in large part from the Latin biography by Melchior Adam in Vitae Germanorum medicorum ("Lives of German Physicians," 1620).

[15] After experiencing these political and spiritual upheavals, Cornarius set out on a "soul-searching journey" around Europe,[16] visiting Livonia, Sweden, Denmark, England, and France.

There he began his efforts to restore the study of the Greeks, whose works, he believed, had been neglected during the Middle Ages in favor of Arab medical authorities.

Of his translation of Hippocrates, Erasmus effused, "The genius is there; the erudition is there, the vigorous body and vital spirit are there; in sum, nothing is missing that was required for this assignment, confronted happily, it would seem, despite its difficulty.

Melchior Adam wrote that Cornarius "tried to render the Greek physicians into Latin with a translation that was not vague and confusing, but lucid and fully articulated.

[22] A scholar of Byzantine studies took a more dismissive view of Cornarius as one of the "Renaissance humanists, fully confident that dissemination of a revered classical text would better mankind’s lot," motivated by "a contempt … for the brutish peasant and his slovenly practices.

Thus he stated:[26] My intention is not to gorge the eyes, but to nourish the mind and spirit, and to quicken critical thinking.The majority of Cornarius's books were published through the printing house of Hieronymus Froben and Nicolaus Episcopius.