THE LIFE OF PARACELSUS 15 



been based upon a passage occurring in a letter which he 

 wrote to some students of the University of Zurich, and in 

 which he addresses them as Combibones optimi. It seems, 

 however, more probable that the partnership in drinking 

 alluded to in this expression was meant to refer to the 

 " wine " of wisdom rather than to any more material 

 liquid ; moreover, the contents of that letter are very 

 serious and pathetic, and show no indication of frivolity 

 or a love for debauch. It has also been ascertained that 

 Paracelsus up to his twentieth year never drank any 

 intoxicating drinks, and even if it should be found that 

 he afterwards drank wine, such a fact could easily be 

 explained by the general custom of those times, according 

 to which even the most honourable and respected persons 

 (Luther included) were in the habit of " drinking each 

 other's health." If we, moreover, take into consideration 

 the quantity and quality of his works, which were all 

 written within a period of time covering fifteen years, we 

 may be permitted to conclude that he could not have 

 accomplished such a work in a state of that continual 

 intoxication in which, according to the statement of his 

 enemies, he must have remained. " Therefore," says 

 Arnold in his " History of Churches and Heretics " (vol. 

 ii. cap. xxii.), " the report is disproved by the fact that 

 a man who is a glutton and drunkard could not have 

 been in possession of such divine gifts." 



Paracelsus has been accused of vanity and boasting, 

 and the fact is, that he was proud of the attributes or ac- 

 complishments manifested in hira ; but he did not glorify 

 his own person, only the spirit that exalted his soul. 

 Seeing himself surrounded by ignorance, misjudged and 

 misrepresented, but conscious of his own strength, he 

 asserted his rights. He maintained that the value of the 

 truths he taught would be appreciated in due time, and his 

 prophecy has proved to be true. It was this consciousness 

 of his superior power that inspired him to exclaim : " I 

 know that the monarchy (of mind) will belong to me, that 



