Ubi desinit physicus ibi medicus incipit

In a well-known article, first published in 1985, Charles B. Schmitt called attention to the dictum “ubi desinit physicus, ibi medicus incipit”, extracted from a passage of Aristotle’s De sensu et sensato and widespread among sixteenth-century thinkers who discussed the relationships of philosophy to medicine. Although Schmitt made clear that this dictum might have earlier roots, little attention has been paid to its origins and its first diffusion. This paper aims at reconstructing the genesis of the different versions of this saying, by focusing on a few Aristotelian florilegia and their sources. In so doing, it shows that what has been considered a Renaissance and early modern topos dates back to the beginning of the Latin exegetical tradition of Aristotle’s De sensu et sensato and, in particular, to one of the commentaries on this treatise ascribed to Adam of Buckfield.