Celebration of a military doctor : an unknown poem by Johannes Gregor Macer Szepsius (ca. 1530 – after 1579)

Abstract

Johannes Gregor Macer Szepsius (ca. 1530 – after 1579) wrote an epigram in praise of his friend Anton Schneeberger (1530–1581) and a celebratory poem on his genealogy, both appearing in Schneeberger's most famous book, De bona militum valetudine conservanda [On the Good Health of Soldiers] in 1564. However, the poem praising Schneeberger's ancestry appears only in the printed version of the book; a surviving manuscript copy of the work in the Palace Library in Ansbach, Germany, features a paean in celebration of the military doctor instead. From a literary perspective, the poem does not surpass the standard level of occasional poetry of this period. Since it is a celebratory poem, the high regard for the doctor is expressed there and this stance contradicts the criticism of the status of the medical profession found in Macer's other works.