This paper gives the first published English translation of William Harvey's epitaph. The translation is based on a re-examination of the stone itself, and is accompanied by an explanatory commentary.
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References
1.
In capitals beneath the frame at the base of the monument is the word “RESURGEMUS” (“We shall rise again”).
2.
KeynesG.The Life of William Harvey. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978: p. 418 and plate XXXI. For a different view of the quality of the bust and the suggestion that it was made from the death mask, see WillisR.William Harvey. London: Kegan Paul and Trench, 1898: p. 311.
3.
MunkWR. The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Vol. I, 1518–1700. London: Longman, 1878: p. 137; WillisR (op. cit. ref. 2): 311–12, repeating the transcription he had made in his introduction to The Works of William Harvey. London: Sydenham Society, 1847: P. lxxxvii. I pass over in silence the many minor errors in their transcriptions.
4.
AubreyJohn, quoted by Keynes G (op. cit. ref. 2: 431), sought among Marshall's papers for a copy of the draft inscription. The somewhat haphazard use of capitals and abbreviations may go back to the original draft.
5.
KeynesG (op. cit. ref. 2): 418. His formulation, “supposed to have been composed by Ent himself”, seems to cast doubt on the suggestion.
6.
I am grateful to my wife for assisting me with the transcription and to the Reverend D Maudlin and the church authorities for allowing access to the monument. Marshall's use of capitals is inconsistent, and both Munk and Willis are inaccurate in their reports of capitals, punctuation, abbreviations and ligatures. Willis alters the line divisions without justification.
7.
For the problems with this word, see below.
8.
PagelW.William Harvey's Biological Ideas. Basle: Karger, 1967: pp. 171–8.
9.
Ibid.: 233–50; AdelmannH.Marcello Malpighi and the Evolution of Embryology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1960.
10.
NuttonV.The anatomy of the soul in early Renaissance medicine. In: DunstanGR, Ed. The Human Embryo: Aristotle and the Arabic and European Traditions. Exeter: Exeter University Press, 1989: pp. 156–7.
11.
Besides, “debet quod” + verb is a common Latin construction — see Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, V.1, s.v. debeo, col. 92. I am grateful to Professor Michael Reeve for confirming my scruples about the Latin at this point.
12.
This may be why Munk WR (op. cit. ref. 3: 137) read “clarissimus” (“most famous”).
13.
I have noted the archaic spelling “charissimus” on other epitaphs of the period. The parallelism of noun and adjective is inelegant, but the dative “Jacobo et Carolo” goes better with “charissimus” than with “archiatrus”, where one would expect a genitive.
14.
KeynesG (op. cit. ref. 2): 396–404.
15.
Ibid.: 397.
16.
The serif can best be seen when standing slightly to the right (east) of the monument.
17.
“Microcosmum” is wrongly spelled on the stone, with three “c”s, the fault of cutter or composer.
18.
HarveyW.De motu corDis.. Frankfurt: W Fitzer, 1628: preface.
