Singular Antipathies, or a Dissertation on the Natural but Miraculous Loathing, Hatred, and Abstinence from Food and Drink

For, against my will—I do not lie—and beyond expectation and hope Greek original: καὶ παρὰ δόξαν καὶ ἐλπίδα, contrary to hope and opinion, I am drawn forward, I who by no means deemed myself worthy of such HONOR. For I know, and know well, nor do I deny, that those who now preside over this University and its Colleges, who exercise the public and professorial tongue with praise, and who have offered their services to this present proceeding, could have brought more reason and authority to persuasion, more weight and efficacy to moving the heart, and more elegance and beauty to delighting the ear. I do not deny it, I say; I praise this judgment willingly and with both thumbs original: "utroque pollice," a Roman idiom meaning to give full and enthusiastic approval, derived from the amphitheater where spectators used their thumbs to signal a gladiator’s fate; indeed, I do not blush to add my own opinion to this; I do not refuse it.

But since the Reverend, Most Distinguished, and Eminent Man, Lord JOHANNES CORNERUS Johannes Cornerus (1597–1680) was a prominent theologian and official at the University of Jena, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Dean and Canon of the same Faculty and of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Keeper of the Seal and primary Executor for the Most Reverend Archbishop of Mainz and Prince-Elector, our most merciful Lord, and Ordinary Vice-Chancellor of this our University—who, due to adverse health, is now attending to a serious illness original: "morbum sonticum," a specific legal and medical term for an illness so severe it legally excuses a person from fulfilling their duties or appearing in court, and for that reason is unable to perform himself what would otherwise be his duty—has seen fit that something be granted to me also in this proceeding; and since the Philosophical College—whose leaders I once felt to be my own teachers, and whom I still cherish with a mindful and grateful spirit—has commanded me to grant the PETITION, and has ordered that I should make the Candidates (whom I love for their singular gifts of mind) masters of their WISH; the Will of this man has now been a law to me. His Authority has stood for my reason. Both of these so stirred me in my idleness and pushed me in my hesitation that, although I am conscious of my own insignificance and well know how scanty is my furniture original: "curta supellex," a metaphor from the Roman satirist Persius referring to a lack of mental resources or learning; literally "a short supply of household goods", I nevertheless did not hesitate to ascend this chair and carry out the duty entrusted to me. And indeed, this