MENDOSA METHODICA: PROSPERO ALPINI ABOUT EGYPTIAN MEDICINE
The article deals with a specific approach to the exotic (Egyptian) medical tradition, set forth by a Paduan physician, traveller and fourth prefect of the Paduan botanical garden Prospero Alpini (1553-1617). The study claims that Prospero Alpini may be considered as a founding father of a long-term tradition, affirming the predominance of the European intellectual culture over its Eastern counterpart on the ground of the secondary and degenerative character of the latter. Alpini accuses Arabic physicians of being only inferior imitators and impenitent prodigal sons of the great Ancient tradition of the so-called «methodical medicine». This intellectual deficiency is represented as being connected with particular ethical flaws (laziness, heightened sensitivity, petulance) and depraved political consciousness: the despotic manners of the upper classes merge with their particular effeminacy, undermining moral habits required for good healing (endurance, fortitude, readiness for ascetic behaviour).