He died on the 14th of September and by his orders the words Hic jacet pulvis, cinis, et nihil were put on his tomb.
Francois Sanchez (1562-1632), professor of medicine and philosophy in Toulouse, combated the Aristotelianism of the schools with much bitterness, and was the author of a book with the title Quod nihil scitur.
During Sigismund's reign, moreover, the Crown recovered many of the prerogatives of which it had been deprived during the reign of his feeble predecessor, Alexander, who, to say nothing of the curtailments of the prerogative, had been forced to accept the statute nihil novi (1505) which gave the sejm and the senate an equal voice with the Crown in all executive matters.
As, however, their vehicle was Latin, a mere mention must suffice, and for the same reason only the title of a notable book by Francisco Sanches can be given, the De nobili et prima universali scientia quod nihil scitur.
In the Liber Sad-der, indeed (Porta xxv.), we read, " Cavendum est tibi a jejunio; nam a mane ad vesperam nihil comedere non est bonum in religione nostra "; but according to the Pere de Chinon (Lyons, 1671) the Parsee religion enjoins, upon the priesthood at least, no fewer than five yearly fasts.
