i. Medicine (De medicina) 1. Medicine is the art that protects or restores the body's health; its subject matter concerns illnesses and wounds. 2. To medicine belong not only things practiced by the skill of those properly called physicians (medicus), but also matters of food and drink, clothing and shelter. Ultimately, it consists of every defense and fortification by means of which our body is preserved [healthy] in the face of external blows and accidents.

ii. The term ‘medicine’ (De nomine eius) The term ‘medicine’ (medicina) is thought to be drawn from ‘moderation’ (modus), that is, temperateness, in that medicine is applied not in full measure but little by little. Indeed, nature grieves at excess and rejoices at restraint. Hence those who drink potions and remedies copiously and unceasingly are troubled. Anything that is immoderate brings not health but danger.

iii. The inventors of medicine (De inventoribus medicinae) 1. Among the Greeks, Apollo is considered the author and discoverer of the art of medicine. His son Aesculapius expanded the art, whether in esteem or in effectiveness, 2. but after Aesculapius was killed by a bolt of lightning, the study of healing was declared forbidden, and the art died along with its author, and was hidden for almost fifty years, until the time of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians. Then Hippocrates, a descendant of Asclepius (i.e. Aesculapius) born on the island of Cos, brought it to light again.