Chapter 89

[2411]Cap. 34, p. 357.[2412]Cap. 8, p. 69.[2413]Cap. 8, p. 66.[2414]Cap. 12, p. 125.[2415]Cap. 10, p. 113.[2416]Cap. 10, p. 112; NH 30, 11.[2417]Cap. 8, p. 68; NH 29, 38.[2418]Cap. 29, p. 313.[2419]Cap. 29, p. 314. Pliny has a similar procedure with a frog and a reed.[2420]Cap. 22, p. 230.[2421]Cap. 33, p. 347, “mulierem verendaque eius dum cum ea cois tange.”[2422]Cap. 23, p. 239.[2423]Cap. 1, p. 34.[2424]Cap. 25, p. 247.[2425]Cap. 12, p. 126.[2426]Cap. 18, p. 178.[2427]Cap. 17, p. 176.[2428]Cap. 32, pp. 337, 338, 340.[2429]Cap. 8, p. 70.[2430]Cap. 12, p. 123.[2431]Cap. 36, p. 379. Marcellus employs the phrase, of course, to indicate a private or personal incantation, and as a matter of fact it is somewhat less absurd than a number of others.[2432]Cap. 28, p. 301.[2433]Cap. 29, p. 310. For further instances of incantations and characters in theDe medicamentissee page 110, lines 18-27; 111, 26-33; 112, 29-113, 2; 116, 8-11; 133, 18-22, 26-31; 139, 17-26; 142, 19-26; 149, 4-11; 151, 18-33; 152, 9-14, 19-24; 180, 1-3; 220, 11-20; 221, 2-6; 223, 15-18; 241, 1-6, 14-22; 244, 26-28; 248, 16-19; 260, 22-24; 295, 18-22; 333, 9-15; 382, 16-18.[2434]Daremberg (1870) I, 257-8.[2435]Plinii Secundi Iunioris de medicina libri tres, ed. V. Rose, Lipsiae, 1875. V. Rose, “Ueber die Medicina Plinii,” inHermes, VIII (1874) 19-66.[2436]C. Plinii Secundi Medicina, ed. Thomas Pighinuccius, Rome, 1509.[2437]Codex St. Gall 751; described by V. Rose,Hermes, VIII, 48-55;AnecdotaII, 106.[2438]For the list of his six genuine works see above p. 222.[2439]De nota aspirationis and De diphthongis, ed. Osann, Darmstadt, 1826, withDe orthographia, a forgery by a sixteenth century humanist.[2440]Περὶ ἑρμηνείας, sometimes printed as the third book of theDe dogmate Platonis. Some scholars, however, regard it as genuine, and there are a number of MSS of it from the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries. See Schanz (1905), 127-8.[2441]See above p. 290.[2442]See Schanz (1905), 139-40.[2443]See below p. 683. Schanz fails to mention it among the apocryphal works of Apuleius.[2444]H. Köbert,De Pseudo-Apulei herbarum medicaminibus, Bayreuth, 1888. Schanz (1905) 138, mentions only continental MSS, although there are numerous MSS of it in the British Museum and Bodleian libraries, some of which have been used and others described by O. Cockayne in his edition of theHerbariumand the other treatises accompanying it in hisLeechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, Vol. I (1864) in RS XXXV. Nor does Schanz note Cockayne’s book.[2445]See Sloane 1975, a vellum MS of the 12th or early 13th century written in fine large letters and beautifully illuminated; Ashmole 1431, end of 11th century, and 1462, 13th century, fol. 45r. Harleian 4986, Apuleii Platonici de medicamentis cum figuris pictis, is another early illuminated English MS. Cockayne I, lxxxii, does not date it, but the MSS catalogue lists it as tenth century. In CU Trinity 1152, 14th century, James (III, 162-3) estimates the number of colored drawings as between 800 and 1000; he describes only a few. Singer (1921) reproduces a number of such illuminations from MSS of theHerbariumand of Dioscorides.[2446]Lucca 236, 9-10th century, “Herbarium Apuleii Platonici quem accepit a Chironi magistro Achillis et ab Escolapio explicit feliciter.” In Cotton Vitellius C-III, early 11th century, in Anglo-Saxon, although the title reads, “The Herbarium of Apuleius the Platonist which he received from Esculapius and Chiron the centaur, the master of Achilles,” a full page painting shows Plato and Chiron receiving the volume from Aesculapius (Cockayne, I, lxxxviii). And Sloane 1975 and Harleian 1585 speak of theHerbariumas “Liber Platonis Apoliensis.” In a 15th century MS (Rawlinson C-328, fol. 113v-, Incipit de herbis Galieni Apolei et Ciceronis) Galen and Cicero, who perhaps replace Chiron and Aesculapius, are associated with Apuleius as authors.[2447]Daremberg (1853), 11-12, said that the pagan incantations were preserved intact in a number of MSS at Oxford and Cambridge. Conjurations of herbs are not limited to the Pseudo-Apuleius in medieval MSS but sometimes occur singly as in Perugia 736, 13th century, where at fol. 267 a 14th century hand has added a passage in Latin which may be translated: “In the name of Christ, Amen. I conjure you, herb, that I may conquer by lord Peter etc. by moon and stars etc. and may you conquer all my enemies, pontiff and priests and all laymen and all women and all lawyers who are against me etc.” In Sloane 1571, 15th century, fols. 1-6, at the close of fragments of a Latin-English dictionary of herbs is a Latin prayer entitled,Benedictio omnium herbarum.[2448]The above passages are from Sloane 1975 and the edition of 1547.[2449]Ashmole 1431, 11th century, fol. 3r, “In nomine domini incipit herboralium apuleii platonis quod accepit ascolapio et chirone centauro magistro. Lege feliciter. Precantatio omnium herbarum ad singulas curas.” CU Trinity 1152, 14th century, fol. 1. Gonville and Caius 345, 14th century, fol. 89v.[2450]Or Papyriensis Placitus.[2451]Perhaps merely for “auctor.” ed. Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. XIII, 395-423,Sexti Placiti liber de medicina ex animalibus.[2452]In Montpellier 277, 15th century, “Liber Sesti platonis de animalibus,” perhaps because the Apuleius of theHerbariumis called a Platonist. In Digby 43, late 14th century, fol. 15, “Liber Septiplanti Papiensis de bestiis et avibus medicinalis.” In Rawlinson C-328, 15th century, fol. 128, “Incipit liber Papiriensis ex animalibus ex avibus.” The work is sometimes found in juxtaposition with a somewhat similar “Liber medicinalis de secretis Galieni,” concerning which see below, chapter 64, II, 761.[2453]V. Rose (1875) 337-8 suggests that this is a fragment from a fuller work of Aesculapius to Augustus cited by Thomas of Cantimpré, Albertus Magnus, and Vincent of Beauvais. See also Peter of Abano,De venenis, cap. 5, “in epistola Esculapii philosophi ad Octavianum.” But perhaps these writers refer to the entire work of Sextus Papirius.[2454]Ed. Ruellius, with Scribonius Largus, Paris, 1529.[2455]In a later medieval vocabularytaxusis given as a synonym for the animal calledcamaleon:Alphita, ed. Daremberg from BN 6954 and 6957 in De Renzi,Collectio Salernitana, III, 272-322.[2456]Cotton Vespasian B, X, #6.[2457]Harleian 3859, called tenth century in the Harleian catalogue which is often incorrect in its dating, but 11th or 12th century by d’Avezac, Mommsen in his edition of Solinus, and Beazley,Dawn of Geography, I, 523. Royal 15-B-II and 15-C-IV, both of the 12th century. For other MSS at Paris, Leyden, and Rome see Beazley,op. cit.[2458]But after all is Suetonius any more respectable a historian than Aethicus and Solinus are geographers?[2459]Bunbury,History of Ancient Geography, II, Appendix: “How M. Wuttke can attach any value to such a production is to me quite incomprehensible; still more that he should ascribe the translation to the great ecclesiastical writer,” Jerome. Bunbury believed that the work was not earlier than the seventh century. Beazley,Dawn of Geography, I, 355-63, is of the same opinion.[2460]In his edition of Solinus, p. xxvii, he contends that certain passages which Wuttke pointed out as common to Aethicus and Solinus are borrowed by Aethicus from Isidore who died in 636.[2461]Harleian 3859.[2462]Steele,Opera hactenus inedita, 1905, Fasc. I, pp. 1-2.[2463]CUL 213, 14th century, fols. 103v-14, “Qui hunc librum legit intelligat Ethicum philosophum non omnia dixisse que hic scripta sunt, set Solinus (so James, butJeronimusin d’Avezac, p. 237) qui eum transtulit sententias veritati consonas ex libro eiusdem excerpsit et easdem testimonias scripture nostre confirmavit. Non enim erat iste philosophus Christianus sed Ethnicus et professione Achademicus.”[2464]Bridges I, 267-8.[2465]Cited by d’Avezac, pp. 257 and 267.[2466]Vienna 2272, 14th century, fol. 92, De vindemiis a Burgundione translatus: Pars Geoponicorum.[2467]Such is the view set forth in PWGeoponica.[2468]H. Beckh,Geoponica sive Cassiani Bassi scholastici de re rustica eclogae, Lipsiae, Teubner, 1895. PW criticizes this edition as “leider völlig verfehlten.” Its preface lists the earlier editions.[2469]Geoponica, VII, 5; II, 15.[2470]VII, 11; XV, 1.[2471]I, 12; VII, 13; etc.[2472]XV, 1.[2473]R. Heim,Incantamenta magica graeca latina, inJahrb. f. class. Philologie, Suppl. Bd. 19, Leipzig, 1893, pp. 463-576, drew from theGeoponica13 out of his total of 245 instances of incantations from Greek and Latin literature.[2474]VII, 14.[2475]XIII, 15.[2476]The first two volumes, published at Berlin in 1907, 1906, covered the first four of the five genuine books. A previous attempt was K. Sprengel’s edition in vols. 25-26 of C. J. Kühn’sMedici Graeci, Leipzig, 1829. On the textual history and problems see further Wellman’s articles: “Dioskurides” in Pauly-Wissowa, and inHermes, XXXIII, (1898) 360ff.[2477]Περὶ βοτανῶν, περὶ ζῴων παντοίων, περὶ παντοίων ἐλαίων, περὶ ὕλης δένδρων, περὶ οἴνων καὶ λίθων, is another order suggested.[2478]The MS is said by Singer (1921) 60, to have now been removed from Vienna to St. Mark’s Library at Venice; it was procured from Constantinople in 1555 for the future Emperor Maximilian II (1564-1576). A photographic copy was published in 1906 in the Leiden Collection,Codices Graeci et Latini, by A. W. Sijthoff, with an introduction by A. von Premerstein, C. Wessely, and J. Mantuani (C. Wessely,Codex Anciae Iulianae, etc., 1906). See also A. v. Premerstein in the AustrianJahrbuch(1903) XXIV, 105ff.I have examined the facsimile of this MS and found the large but faded and partially obliterated illuminations which precede the text rather disappointing after having read the description of them in Dalton’sByzantine Art, (1911) 460-61, which, however, I presume is accurate and so reproduce here. These large illuminations include a portrait of Juliana Anicia, an ornamental peacock with tail spread, groups of doctors engaged in medical discussions, and Dioscorides himself seated writing, and again seated on a folding stool receiving the herb mandragora (which, of course, was a medieval favorite) from a female figure personifying Discovery (Εὕρησις), “while in the foreground a dog dies in agony,” presumably from the fatal effects of the herb. There are rough reproductions of this last picture in Woltmann and Woermann,History of Painting, I, 192-3, and Singer (1921) 62. When the text proper begins the illuminations are confined to medicinal plants.Other early Greek manuscripts are theCodex Neapolitanus, formerly at Vienna, now at St. Mark’s, Venice, an eighth century palimpsest from Bobbio, and a Paris codex, (BN Greek 2179) of the ninth century. An Arabic translation from the Greek seems to have been made about 850; a century later the Byzantine emperor sent a Greek manuscript of Dioscorides to the caliph in Spain.For the full text of theDe materia medicawe are dependent on MSS of the 11th, 12th, 13th and later centuries.[2479]Περὶ δηλητηρίων φαρμάκων and περὶ ἰοβόλων, edited by Sprengel in Kühn (1830), XXVI, as was the Περὶ εὐπορίστων ἁπλῶν τε καὶ συνθέτων φαρμάκων. The Περὶ φαρμάκων ἐμπειρίας, (“Experimental Pharmacy”), of which a Latin version,Alphabetum empiricum, sive Dioscoridis et Stephani Atheniensis ... de remediis expertis, was edited by C. Wolf, Zürich, 1581, is an alphabetical arrangement by diseases ascribed to Dioscorides and Stephen of Athens (and other writers).[2480]Max Wellmann,Die Schrift des DioskuridesΠερὶ ἁπλῶν φαρμάκων, 1914, and col. 1140 of his article “Dioskurides” in Pauly-Wissowa.[2481]De inst. div. lit.cap. 31.[2482]V. Rose in Hermes VIII, 38A. Harleian 4986, fol. 44v, “ ... marcelline libellum botanicon ex dioscoridis libris in latinum sermonem conversum in quo depicte sunt herbarum figure ad te misi....”[2483]Heinrich Kaestner,Kritisches und Exegetisches zu Pseudo-Dioskorides de herbis femininis, Regensburg, 1896; text inHermesXXXI (1896) 578-636. Singer (1921) 68, gives as the earliest MS, Rome Barberini IX, 29, of 9th century. Some other MSS are: BN 12995, 9th century; Additional 8928, 11th century, fol. 62v-; Ashmole 1431, end of 11th century, fols. 31v-43, “Incipit liber Dioscoridis ex herbis feminis”; Sloane 1975, 12th or early 13th century, fols. 49v-73; Harleian 1585, 12th century, fol. 79-; Harleian 5294, 12th century; Turin K-IV-3, 12th century, #5, “Incipit liber dioscoridis medicine ex herbis femininis numero LXXI .../ ... Liber medicine dioscoridis de herbis femininis et masculinis explicit feliciter.”In Vienna 5371, 15th century, fols. 121v-124v, is a briefer Latin treatise ascribed to Dioscordes, which begins with the herbaristologiaand mentions silk (sericum) at its close. I have not seen the MS but from the title,Quid pro quo, and the fact that the writer dedicates it to his uncle, one might fancy that it was a work written by Adelard of Bath’s nephew in return for theNatural Questionsof his uncle. (See below, chapter 36).[2484]HermesVIII, 38, comparingEtymologiesXVII, 93, with cap. 30 of theDe herbis femininis.[2485]Anecdota graeca et graeco-latina, Berlin, 1864, II, 115 and 119; Hermes VIII, 38; Wellmann (1906), p. xxi.[2486]BN 9332, 8th century; CLM 337, 9-10th century from Monte Cassino; ed. T. M. Auracher et H. Stadler, inRom. Forsch.I, 49-105; X, 181-247 and 368-446; XI, 1-121; XII, 161-243.[2487]Cod. Bam. L-III-9.[2488]PW “Dioskurides.” A fairly early MS is CU Jesus 44, 12-13th century, fols. 17-145r, “diascorides per modum alphabeti de virtutibus herbarum et compositione olerum.” I have not seen it but, if correctly dated, it and Bologna University Library 378, 12th century, which is said to differ from the printed editions, are too early to be Peter of Abano’s version.[2489]Explicit dyascorides quem petrus paduanensis legendo corexit et exponendo quae utiliora sunt in lucem deduxit, Colle, 1478.Dioscorides digestus alphabetico ordine additis annotatiunculis brevibus et tractatu aquarum, Lugduni, 1512. And see Chap. 70, Appendix II.[2490]I have read it in BN 6820, fol. 1r, as well as in the 1478 edition.[2491]A work by Serapion which Simon Cordo of Genoa translated from Arabic into Latin with the help of Abraham, a Jew of Tortosa. Serapion states at the beginning that his work is a combination of Dioscorides and of the work of Galen on medicinal simples.Aggregatorwas printed in 1479,Liber Serapionis aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus. Translatio Symonis Ianuensis interprete Abraam iudeo tortuosiensi de arabico in latinum.[2492]Ruska (1912), p. 5, says that Dioscorides, V, 84-133, among other things describes “eine ganze Reihe von höchst zweifelhaften Steinen mit unglaublichen Wirkungen die in den Arabischen Arzneimittelverzeichnissen und Steinbüchern niederkehren.”[2493]Amplon. Folio 41, fols. 36-7; Montpellier 277, caps. 46-67 of the treatise entitled,Liber aristotelis de lapidibus preciosis secundum verba sapientium antiquorum.[2494]Sloane 3848, 17th century, fols. 36-40.[2495]Macer Floridus de viribus herbarum una cum Walafridi Strabonis, Othonis Cremonensis et Ioannis Folcz carminibus similis argumenti, ed. Ludovicus Choulant, 1832.[2496]V. Rose himself corrected (Hermes, VIII, 330-1) the strange statement which he had made (Hermes, VIII, 63) that the name “Macer” is not found in connection with this work until MSS of the 14th and 15th centuries. Both the treatise and the name are frequent in the earlier MSS.[2497]Cotton, Vitellius C, III.[2498]The Dane, Harpestreng, who died in 1244, translated and commented upon the poem; published by Christian Molbech, Copenhagen, 1826.[2499]There are a large number in the MSS collections of the British Museum alone. Some said to be of the 12th century are Harleian 4346, and at Erfurt Amplon, Octavo 62a and 62b.[2500]See the British Museum catalogue of printed books. I have used besides Choulant’s text of 1832 an illustrated octavo edition probably of 1489. The poem also appears in medical collections such asMedici antiqui omnes, Aldus, Venice, 1547, fols. 223-46.[2501]Choulant (1832) Preface.[2502]Choulant (1832)Prolegomena ad Macrum, p. 14.[2503]See the description ofLigusticum, lines 900-6.[2504]Often printed: ed. F. A. Reuss, Würzburg, 1834; in Migne PL 114, 1119-30.[2505]H. Stadler,Die Quellen des Macer Floridus, in Sudhoff (1909).[2506]Stadler,op. cit.; Choulant (1832), p. 4.[2507]“Macer scripsit metrico stilo librum. de viribus herbarum,”—Stadler (1909), 65.[2508]It was, however, a good deal subject to later interpolation.[2509]Choulant (1832) adds asMacri spuria487 lines concerning twenty herbs.In Vienna 3207, 15th century, fols. 1-50, Macer Floridus, De viribus herbarum; fols. 50-52, Pseudo-Macer, De animalibus et lignis.[2510]Lines 1901-2,Quae, quamvis natura potens concedere posset Vana tamen nobis et anilia iure videntur.[2511]Lines 1881-3,Hanc herbam gestando manu si queris ab egro Dic frater quid agis? bene si responderit eger, Vivet, si vero male, spes est nulla salutis.[2512]Herb 54, lines 1728-.[2513]Herb 49, lines 1617-27.[2514]Herb 67, lines 2095-.[2515]Herb 51, lines 1685-9.[2516]Herb 52.[2517]Herb 34, lines 1135-8.[2518]Herb 41, lines 1421-2.[2519]Herb 50, lines 1641-63.[2520]Herb 69,Cyminum, lines 2118-9, “Hoc orthopnoicis miram praestare medelam Experti dicunt cum pusce saepius haustum.”[2521]Vienna 2532, 12th century, fols. 106-17, “Experimenta Macri. Ad dolorem capitis. Accipe balsamum et instilla .../ ... adde sucum celidonie et superpone vulneribus.”Arundel 295, 14th century, fols. 222-33, “Experimenta Macri collecta sub certis capitulis a Gotefrido.”[2522]R. L. Poole,Medieval Thought, 1884, pp. 19, 21.[2523]Migne, PL 70, 1146.[2524]Anicii Manlii Severini Boetii Philosophiae Consolationis Libri quinque, ed. R. Peiper, Lipsiae, 1871, pp. xxxix-xlvi, li-lxvii. See also Manitius (1911), pp. 33-5.It was by seeking comfort inThe Consolation of Philosophyafter the death of Beatrice that Dante was led into a new world of literature, science, and philosophy, as he tells us in hisConvivio; cited by Orr (1913), p. 1.[2525]Manitius (1911), pp. 29-32.[2526]Ibid., 26-8. At the time I went through the various catalogues of MSS in the British Museum item by item it was not my intention to include Boethius in this investigation, and I am therefore unable to say whether the Museum has MSS which may throw further light upon the problems connected with the mathematical treatises ascribed to Boethius. Manitius mentions no English MSS in this connection, but there are likely to be some at London, Oxford, or Cambridge.[2527]Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, translated from the Latin by George Colville, 1556; ed. with Introduction by E. B. Box, London, 1897, p. xviii.[2528]Manitius (1911) pp. 35-6; Usener,Anecdota Holderi, Bonn, 1877, pp. 48-59; E. K. Rand,Der dem Boethius zugeschriebene Traktat De fide catholica, 1901. TheDe fide catholica, however, is not mentioned by Cassiodorus and is regarded as spurious.[2529]De consol. philos., III, 8, 21.[2530]De consol. philos., IV, 1.[2531]Ibid., III, 9, 1; III, 12, 14; III, 9, 10; III, 12, 99; II, 8, 13.[2532]Ibid., IV, 6, 10, “In hac enim de providentiae simplicitate, de fati serie, de repentinis casibus, de cognitione ac praedestinatione divina, de arbitrii libertate quaeri solet.” To the ensuing argument are devoted the sixth and seventh chapters of Book IV and all of Book V.[2533]Ibid., IV, 6, 21.[2534]Ibid., IV, 6, 30.[2535]Ibid., IV, 6, 48.[2536]Ibid., IV, 6, 77.[2537]De consol. philos., V, 4-6.[2538]Ibid., IV, 6, 58.[2539]Ibid., V, 2-3 and 6, 110, “tametsi nullam naturae habeat necessitatem atqui deus ea futura quae ex arbitrii libertate proveniunt praesentia contuetur.”[2540]Ibid., V, 1.[2541]De musica libri quinque, I, 1-2 and 27; in Migne, PL 63, 1167-1300.[2542]Migne, PL 83, 963-1018. In Harleian 3099, 1134 A. D., theEtymologiesat fols. 1-154, are followed by theDe natura rerum, the last chapter of which (fol. 164v) is numbered 42 instead of 48 as in Migne. But up to chapter 27,Utrum sidera animam habeant, the division into chapters seems the same as in the printed text.[2543]Migne, PL 82, 73-728, a reprint of the edition of Arevalus, Rome, 1796. Large portions of theEtymologieshave been translated into English with an introduction of some seventy pages by E. Brehaut,An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages;Isidore of Seville, 1912, inColumbia University Studies in History, etc., vol. 48, pp. 1-274. For Isidorean bibliography see pp. 17, 22-3, 46-7 of Brehaut’s introduction.[2544]Manitius (1911), pp. 60-61; Brehaut (1912), p. 34.[2545]To say, for example, that “so hospitable an attitude toward profane learning as Isidore displayed ... was never surpassed throughout the middle ages” (Brehaut, p. 31), is unfair to many later writers, as our discussion of the natural science of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries will show.

[2411]Cap. 34, p. 357.

[2412]Cap. 8, p. 69.

[2413]Cap. 8, p. 66.

[2414]Cap. 12, p. 125.

[2415]Cap. 10, p. 113.

[2416]Cap. 10, p. 112; NH 30, 11.

[2417]Cap. 8, p. 68; NH 29, 38.

[2418]Cap. 29, p. 313.

[2419]Cap. 29, p. 314. Pliny has a similar procedure with a frog and a reed.

[2420]Cap. 22, p. 230.

[2421]Cap. 33, p. 347, “mulierem verendaque eius dum cum ea cois tange.”

[2422]Cap. 23, p. 239.

[2423]Cap. 1, p. 34.

[2424]Cap. 25, p. 247.

[2425]Cap. 12, p. 126.

[2426]Cap. 18, p. 178.

[2427]Cap. 17, p. 176.

[2428]Cap. 32, pp. 337, 338, 340.

[2429]Cap. 8, p. 70.

[2430]Cap. 12, p. 123.

[2431]Cap. 36, p. 379. Marcellus employs the phrase, of course, to indicate a private or personal incantation, and as a matter of fact it is somewhat less absurd than a number of others.

[2432]Cap. 28, p. 301.

[2433]Cap. 29, p. 310. For further instances of incantations and characters in theDe medicamentissee page 110, lines 18-27; 111, 26-33; 112, 29-113, 2; 116, 8-11; 133, 18-22, 26-31; 139, 17-26; 142, 19-26; 149, 4-11; 151, 18-33; 152, 9-14, 19-24; 180, 1-3; 220, 11-20; 221, 2-6; 223, 15-18; 241, 1-6, 14-22; 244, 26-28; 248, 16-19; 260, 22-24; 295, 18-22; 333, 9-15; 382, 16-18.

[2434]Daremberg (1870) I, 257-8.

[2435]Plinii Secundi Iunioris de medicina libri tres, ed. V. Rose, Lipsiae, 1875. V. Rose, “Ueber die Medicina Plinii,” inHermes, VIII (1874) 19-66.

[2436]C. Plinii Secundi Medicina, ed. Thomas Pighinuccius, Rome, 1509.

[2437]Codex St. Gall 751; described by V. Rose,Hermes, VIII, 48-55;AnecdotaII, 106.

[2438]For the list of his six genuine works see above p. 222.

[2439]De nota aspirationis and De diphthongis, ed. Osann, Darmstadt, 1826, withDe orthographia, a forgery by a sixteenth century humanist.

[2440]Περὶ ἑρμηνείας, sometimes printed as the third book of theDe dogmate Platonis. Some scholars, however, regard it as genuine, and there are a number of MSS of it from the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries. See Schanz (1905), 127-8.

[2441]See above p. 290.

[2442]See Schanz (1905), 139-40.

[2443]See below p. 683. Schanz fails to mention it among the apocryphal works of Apuleius.

[2444]H. Köbert,De Pseudo-Apulei herbarum medicaminibus, Bayreuth, 1888. Schanz (1905) 138, mentions only continental MSS, although there are numerous MSS of it in the British Museum and Bodleian libraries, some of which have been used and others described by O. Cockayne in his edition of theHerbariumand the other treatises accompanying it in hisLeechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, Vol. I (1864) in RS XXXV. Nor does Schanz note Cockayne’s book.

[2445]See Sloane 1975, a vellum MS of the 12th or early 13th century written in fine large letters and beautifully illuminated; Ashmole 1431, end of 11th century, and 1462, 13th century, fol. 45r. Harleian 4986, Apuleii Platonici de medicamentis cum figuris pictis, is another early illuminated English MS. Cockayne I, lxxxii, does not date it, but the MSS catalogue lists it as tenth century. In CU Trinity 1152, 14th century, James (III, 162-3) estimates the number of colored drawings as between 800 and 1000; he describes only a few. Singer (1921) reproduces a number of such illuminations from MSS of theHerbariumand of Dioscorides.

[2446]Lucca 236, 9-10th century, “Herbarium Apuleii Platonici quem accepit a Chironi magistro Achillis et ab Escolapio explicit feliciter.” In Cotton Vitellius C-III, early 11th century, in Anglo-Saxon, although the title reads, “The Herbarium of Apuleius the Platonist which he received from Esculapius and Chiron the centaur, the master of Achilles,” a full page painting shows Plato and Chiron receiving the volume from Aesculapius (Cockayne, I, lxxxviii). And Sloane 1975 and Harleian 1585 speak of theHerbariumas “Liber Platonis Apoliensis.” In a 15th century MS (Rawlinson C-328, fol. 113v-, Incipit de herbis Galieni Apolei et Ciceronis) Galen and Cicero, who perhaps replace Chiron and Aesculapius, are associated with Apuleius as authors.

[2447]Daremberg (1853), 11-12, said that the pagan incantations were preserved intact in a number of MSS at Oxford and Cambridge. Conjurations of herbs are not limited to the Pseudo-Apuleius in medieval MSS but sometimes occur singly as in Perugia 736, 13th century, where at fol. 267 a 14th century hand has added a passage in Latin which may be translated: “In the name of Christ, Amen. I conjure you, herb, that I may conquer by lord Peter etc. by moon and stars etc. and may you conquer all my enemies, pontiff and priests and all laymen and all women and all lawyers who are against me etc.” In Sloane 1571, 15th century, fols. 1-6, at the close of fragments of a Latin-English dictionary of herbs is a Latin prayer entitled,Benedictio omnium herbarum.

[2448]The above passages are from Sloane 1975 and the edition of 1547.

[2449]Ashmole 1431, 11th century, fol. 3r, “In nomine domini incipit herboralium apuleii platonis quod accepit ascolapio et chirone centauro magistro. Lege feliciter. Precantatio omnium herbarum ad singulas curas.” CU Trinity 1152, 14th century, fol. 1. Gonville and Caius 345, 14th century, fol. 89v.

[2450]Or Papyriensis Placitus.

[2451]Perhaps merely for “auctor.” ed. Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. XIII, 395-423,Sexti Placiti liber de medicina ex animalibus.

[2452]In Montpellier 277, 15th century, “Liber Sesti platonis de animalibus,” perhaps because the Apuleius of theHerbariumis called a Platonist. In Digby 43, late 14th century, fol. 15, “Liber Septiplanti Papiensis de bestiis et avibus medicinalis.” In Rawlinson C-328, 15th century, fol. 128, “Incipit liber Papiriensis ex animalibus ex avibus.” The work is sometimes found in juxtaposition with a somewhat similar “Liber medicinalis de secretis Galieni,” concerning which see below, chapter 64, II, 761.

[2453]V. Rose (1875) 337-8 suggests that this is a fragment from a fuller work of Aesculapius to Augustus cited by Thomas of Cantimpré, Albertus Magnus, and Vincent of Beauvais. See also Peter of Abano,De venenis, cap. 5, “in epistola Esculapii philosophi ad Octavianum.” But perhaps these writers refer to the entire work of Sextus Papirius.

[2454]Ed. Ruellius, with Scribonius Largus, Paris, 1529.

[2455]In a later medieval vocabularytaxusis given as a synonym for the animal calledcamaleon:Alphita, ed. Daremberg from BN 6954 and 6957 in De Renzi,Collectio Salernitana, III, 272-322.

[2456]Cotton Vespasian B, X, #6.

[2457]Harleian 3859, called tenth century in the Harleian catalogue which is often incorrect in its dating, but 11th or 12th century by d’Avezac, Mommsen in his edition of Solinus, and Beazley,Dawn of Geography, I, 523. Royal 15-B-II and 15-C-IV, both of the 12th century. For other MSS at Paris, Leyden, and Rome see Beazley,op. cit.

[2458]But after all is Suetonius any more respectable a historian than Aethicus and Solinus are geographers?

[2459]Bunbury,History of Ancient Geography, II, Appendix: “How M. Wuttke can attach any value to such a production is to me quite incomprehensible; still more that he should ascribe the translation to the great ecclesiastical writer,” Jerome. Bunbury believed that the work was not earlier than the seventh century. Beazley,Dawn of Geography, I, 355-63, is of the same opinion.

[2460]In his edition of Solinus, p. xxvii, he contends that certain passages which Wuttke pointed out as common to Aethicus and Solinus are borrowed by Aethicus from Isidore who died in 636.

[2461]Harleian 3859.

[2462]Steele,Opera hactenus inedita, 1905, Fasc. I, pp. 1-2.

[2463]CUL 213, 14th century, fols. 103v-14, “Qui hunc librum legit intelligat Ethicum philosophum non omnia dixisse que hic scripta sunt, set Solinus (so James, butJeronimusin d’Avezac, p. 237) qui eum transtulit sententias veritati consonas ex libro eiusdem excerpsit et easdem testimonias scripture nostre confirmavit. Non enim erat iste philosophus Christianus sed Ethnicus et professione Achademicus.”

[2464]Bridges I, 267-8.

[2465]Cited by d’Avezac, pp. 257 and 267.

[2466]Vienna 2272, 14th century, fol. 92, De vindemiis a Burgundione translatus: Pars Geoponicorum.

[2467]Such is the view set forth in PWGeoponica.

[2468]H. Beckh,Geoponica sive Cassiani Bassi scholastici de re rustica eclogae, Lipsiae, Teubner, 1895. PW criticizes this edition as “leider völlig verfehlten.” Its preface lists the earlier editions.

[2469]Geoponica, VII, 5; II, 15.

[2470]VII, 11; XV, 1.

[2471]I, 12; VII, 13; etc.

[2472]XV, 1.

[2473]R. Heim,Incantamenta magica graeca latina, inJahrb. f. class. Philologie, Suppl. Bd. 19, Leipzig, 1893, pp. 463-576, drew from theGeoponica13 out of his total of 245 instances of incantations from Greek and Latin literature.

[2474]VII, 14.

[2475]XIII, 15.

[2476]The first two volumes, published at Berlin in 1907, 1906, covered the first four of the five genuine books. A previous attempt was K. Sprengel’s edition in vols. 25-26 of C. J. Kühn’sMedici Graeci, Leipzig, 1829. On the textual history and problems see further Wellman’s articles: “Dioskurides” in Pauly-Wissowa, and inHermes, XXXIII, (1898) 360ff.

[2477]Περὶ βοτανῶν, περὶ ζῴων παντοίων, περὶ παντοίων ἐλαίων, περὶ ὕλης δένδρων, περὶ οἴνων καὶ λίθων, is another order suggested.

[2478]The MS is said by Singer (1921) 60, to have now been removed from Vienna to St. Mark’s Library at Venice; it was procured from Constantinople in 1555 for the future Emperor Maximilian II (1564-1576). A photographic copy was published in 1906 in the Leiden Collection,Codices Graeci et Latini, by A. W. Sijthoff, with an introduction by A. von Premerstein, C. Wessely, and J. Mantuani (C. Wessely,Codex Anciae Iulianae, etc., 1906). See also A. v. Premerstein in the AustrianJahrbuch(1903) XXIV, 105ff.I have examined the facsimile of this MS and found the large but faded and partially obliterated illuminations which precede the text rather disappointing after having read the description of them in Dalton’sByzantine Art, (1911) 460-61, which, however, I presume is accurate and so reproduce here. These large illuminations include a portrait of Juliana Anicia, an ornamental peacock with tail spread, groups of doctors engaged in medical discussions, and Dioscorides himself seated writing, and again seated on a folding stool receiving the herb mandragora (which, of course, was a medieval favorite) from a female figure personifying Discovery (Εὕρησις), “while in the foreground a dog dies in agony,” presumably from the fatal effects of the herb. There are rough reproductions of this last picture in Woltmann and Woermann,History of Painting, I, 192-3, and Singer (1921) 62. When the text proper begins the illuminations are confined to medicinal plants.Other early Greek manuscripts are theCodex Neapolitanus, formerly at Vienna, now at St. Mark’s, Venice, an eighth century palimpsest from Bobbio, and a Paris codex, (BN Greek 2179) of the ninth century. An Arabic translation from the Greek seems to have been made about 850; a century later the Byzantine emperor sent a Greek manuscript of Dioscorides to the caliph in Spain.For the full text of theDe materia medicawe are dependent on MSS of the 11th, 12th, 13th and later centuries.

I have examined the facsimile of this MS and found the large but faded and partially obliterated illuminations which precede the text rather disappointing after having read the description of them in Dalton’sByzantine Art, (1911) 460-61, which, however, I presume is accurate and so reproduce here. These large illuminations include a portrait of Juliana Anicia, an ornamental peacock with tail spread, groups of doctors engaged in medical discussions, and Dioscorides himself seated writing, and again seated on a folding stool receiving the herb mandragora (which, of course, was a medieval favorite) from a female figure personifying Discovery (Εὕρησις), “while in the foreground a dog dies in agony,” presumably from the fatal effects of the herb. There are rough reproductions of this last picture in Woltmann and Woermann,History of Painting, I, 192-3, and Singer (1921) 62. When the text proper begins the illuminations are confined to medicinal plants.

Other early Greek manuscripts are theCodex Neapolitanus, formerly at Vienna, now at St. Mark’s, Venice, an eighth century palimpsest from Bobbio, and a Paris codex, (BN Greek 2179) of the ninth century. An Arabic translation from the Greek seems to have been made about 850; a century later the Byzantine emperor sent a Greek manuscript of Dioscorides to the caliph in Spain.

For the full text of theDe materia medicawe are dependent on MSS of the 11th, 12th, 13th and later centuries.

[2479]Περὶ δηλητηρίων φαρμάκων and περὶ ἰοβόλων, edited by Sprengel in Kühn (1830), XXVI, as was the Περὶ εὐπορίστων ἁπλῶν τε καὶ συνθέτων φαρμάκων. The Περὶ φαρμάκων ἐμπειρίας, (“Experimental Pharmacy”), of which a Latin version,Alphabetum empiricum, sive Dioscoridis et Stephani Atheniensis ... de remediis expertis, was edited by C. Wolf, Zürich, 1581, is an alphabetical arrangement by diseases ascribed to Dioscorides and Stephen of Athens (and other writers).

[2480]Max Wellmann,Die Schrift des DioskuridesΠερὶ ἁπλῶν φαρμάκων, 1914, and col. 1140 of his article “Dioskurides” in Pauly-Wissowa.

[2481]De inst. div. lit.cap. 31.

[2482]V. Rose in Hermes VIII, 38A. Harleian 4986, fol. 44v, “ ... marcelline libellum botanicon ex dioscoridis libris in latinum sermonem conversum in quo depicte sunt herbarum figure ad te misi....”

[2483]Heinrich Kaestner,Kritisches und Exegetisches zu Pseudo-Dioskorides de herbis femininis, Regensburg, 1896; text inHermesXXXI (1896) 578-636. Singer (1921) 68, gives as the earliest MS, Rome Barberini IX, 29, of 9th century. Some other MSS are: BN 12995, 9th century; Additional 8928, 11th century, fol. 62v-; Ashmole 1431, end of 11th century, fols. 31v-43, “Incipit liber Dioscoridis ex herbis feminis”; Sloane 1975, 12th or early 13th century, fols. 49v-73; Harleian 1585, 12th century, fol. 79-; Harleian 5294, 12th century; Turin K-IV-3, 12th century, #5, “Incipit liber dioscoridis medicine ex herbis femininis numero LXXI .../ ... Liber medicine dioscoridis de herbis femininis et masculinis explicit feliciter.”In Vienna 5371, 15th century, fols. 121v-124v, is a briefer Latin treatise ascribed to Dioscordes, which begins with the herbaristologiaand mentions silk (sericum) at its close. I have not seen the MS but from the title,Quid pro quo, and the fact that the writer dedicates it to his uncle, one might fancy that it was a work written by Adelard of Bath’s nephew in return for theNatural Questionsof his uncle. (See below, chapter 36).

In Vienna 5371, 15th century, fols. 121v-124v, is a briefer Latin treatise ascribed to Dioscordes, which begins with the herbaristologiaand mentions silk (sericum) at its close. I have not seen the MS but from the title,Quid pro quo, and the fact that the writer dedicates it to his uncle, one might fancy that it was a work written by Adelard of Bath’s nephew in return for theNatural Questionsof his uncle. (See below, chapter 36).

[2484]HermesVIII, 38, comparingEtymologiesXVII, 93, with cap. 30 of theDe herbis femininis.

[2485]Anecdota graeca et graeco-latina, Berlin, 1864, II, 115 and 119; Hermes VIII, 38; Wellmann (1906), p. xxi.

[2486]BN 9332, 8th century; CLM 337, 9-10th century from Monte Cassino; ed. T. M. Auracher et H. Stadler, inRom. Forsch.I, 49-105; X, 181-247 and 368-446; XI, 1-121; XII, 161-243.

[2487]Cod. Bam. L-III-9.

[2488]PW “Dioskurides.” A fairly early MS is CU Jesus 44, 12-13th century, fols. 17-145r, “diascorides per modum alphabeti de virtutibus herbarum et compositione olerum.” I have not seen it but, if correctly dated, it and Bologna University Library 378, 12th century, which is said to differ from the printed editions, are too early to be Peter of Abano’s version.

[2489]Explicit dyascorides quem petrus paduanensis legendo corexit et exponendo quae utiliora sunt in lucem deduxit, Colle, 1478.Dioscorides digestus alphabetico ordine additis annotatiunculis brevibus et tractatu aquarum, Lugduni, 1512. And see Chap. 70, Appendix II.

[2490]I have read it in BN 6820, fol. 1r, as well as in the 1478 edition.

[2491]A work by Serapion which Simon Cordo of Genoa translated from Arabic into Latin with the help of Abraham, a Jew of Tortosa. Serapion states at the beginning that his work is a combination of Dioscorides and of the work of Galen on medicinal simples.Aggregatorwas printed in 1479,Liber Serapionis aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus. Translatio Symonis Ianuensis interprete Abraam iudeo tortuosiensi de arabico in latinum.

[2492]Ruska (1912), p. 5, says that Dioscorides, V, 84-133, among other things describes “eine ganze Reihe von höchst zweifelhaften Steinen mit unglaublichen Wirkungen die in den Arabischen Arzneimittelverzeichnissen und Steinbüchern niederkehren.”

[2493]Amplon. Folio 41, fols. 36-7; Montpellier 277, caps. 46-67 of the treatise entitled,Liber aristotelis de lapidibus preciosis secundum verba sapientium antiquorum.

[2494]Sloane 3848, 17th century, fols. 36-40.

[2495]Macer Floridus de viribus herbarum una cum Walafridi Strabonis, Othonis Cremonensis et Ioannis Folcz carminibus similis argumenti, ed. Ludovicus Choulant, 1832.

[2496]V. Rose himself corrected (Hermes, VIII, 330-1) the strange statement which he had made (Hermes, VIII, 63) that the name “Macer” is not found in connection with this work until MSS of the 14th and 15th centuries. Both the treatise and the name are frequent in the earlier MSS.

[2497]Cotton, Vitellius C, III.

[2498]The Dane, Harpestreng, who died in 1244, translated and commented upon the poem; published by Christian Molbech, Copenhagen, 1826.

[2499]There are a large number in the MSS collections of the British Museum alone. Some said to be of the 12th century are Harleian 4346, and at Erfurt Amplon, Octavo 62a and 62b.

[2500]See the British Museum catalogue of printed books. I have used besides Choulant’s text of 1832 an illustrated octavo edition probably of 1489. The poem also appears in medical collections such asMedici antiqui omnes, Aldus, Venice, 1547, fols. 223-46.

[2501]Choulant (1832) Preface.

[2502]Choulant (1832)Prolegomena ad Macrum, p. 14.

[2503]See the description ofLigusticum, lines 900-6.

[2504]Often printed: ed. F. A. Reuss, Würzburg, 1834; in Migne PL 114, 1119-30.

[2505]H. Stadler,Die Quellen des Macer Floridus, in Sudhoff (1909).

[2506]Stadler,op. cit.; Choulant (1832), p. 4.

[2507]“Macer scripsit metrico stilo librum. de viribus herbarum,”—Stadler (1909), 65.

[2508]It was, however, a good deal subject to later interpolation.

[2509]Choulant (1832) adds asMacri spuria487 lines concerning twenty herbs.In Vienna 3207, 15th century, fols. 1-50, Macer Floridus, De viribus herbarum; fols. 50-52, Pseudo-Macer, De animalibus et lignis.

[2509]Choulant (1832) adds asMacri spuria487 lines concerning twenty herbs.

In Vienna 3207, 15th century, fols. 1-50, Macer Floridus, De viribus herbarum; fols. 50-52, Pseudo-Macer, De animalibus et lignis.

[2510]Lines 1901-2,Quae, quamvis natura potens concedere posset Vana tamen nobis et anilia iure videntur.

[2511]Lines 1881-3,Hanc herbam gestando manu si queris ab egro Dic frater quid agis? bene si responderit eger, Vivet, si vero male, spes est nulla salutis.

[2512]Herb 54, lines 1728-.

[2513]Herb 49, lines 1617-27.

[2514]Herb 67, lines 2095-.

[2515]Herb 51, lines 1685-9.

[2516]Herb 52.

[2517]Herb 34, lines 1135-8.

[2518]Herb 41, lines 1421-2.

[2519]Herb 50, lines 1641-63.

[2520]Herb 69,Cyminum, lines 2118-9, “Hoc orthopnoicis miram praestare medelam Experti dicunt cum pusce saepius haustum.”

[2521]Vienna 2532, 12th century, fols. 106-17, “Experimenta Macri. Ad dolorem capitis. Accipe balsamum et instilla .../ ... adde sucum celidonie et superpone vulneribus.”Arundel 295, 14th century, fols. 222-33, “Experimenta Macri collecta sub certis capitulis a Gotefrido.”

[2521]Vienna 2532, 12th century, fols. 106-17, “Experimenta Macri. Ad dolorem capitis. Accipe balsamum et instilla .../ ... adde sucum celidonie et superpone vulneribus.”

Arundel 295, 14th century, fols. 222-33, “Experimenta Macri collecta sub certis capitulis a Gotefrido.”

[2522]R. L. Poole,Medieval Thought, 1884, pp. 19, 21.

[2523]Migne, PL 70, 1146.

[2524]Anicii Manlii Severini Boetii Philosophiae Consolationis Libri quinque, ed. R. Peiper, Lipsiae, 1871, pp. xxxix-xlvi, li-lxvii. See also Manitius (1911), pp. 33-5.It was by seeking comfort inThe Consolation of Philosophyafter the death of Beatrice that Dante was led into a new world of literature, science, and philosophy, as he tells us in hisConvivio; cited by Orr (1913), p. 1.

[2524]Anicii Manlii Severini Boetii Philosophiae Consolationis Libri quinque, ed. R. Peiper, Lipsiae, 1871, pp. xxxix-xlvi, li-lxvii. See also Manitius (1911), pp. 33-5.

It was by seeking comfort inThe Consolation of Philosophyafter the death of Beatrice that Dante was led into a new world of literature, science, and philosophy, as he tells us in hisConvivio; cited by Orr (1913), p. 1.

[2525]Manitius (1911), pp. 29-32.

[2526]Ibid., 26-8. At the time I went through the various catalogues of MSS in the British Museum item by item it was not my intention to include Boethius in this investigation, and I am therefore unable to say whether the Museum has MSS which may throw further light upon the problems connected with the mathematical treatises ascribed to Boethius. Manitius mentions no English MSS in this connection, but there are likely to be some at London, Oxford, or Cambridge.

[2527]Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, translated from the Latin by George Colville, 1556; ed. with Introduction by E. B. Box, London, 1897, p. xviii.

[2528]Manitius (1911) pp. 35-6; Usener,Anecdota Holderi, Bonn, 1877, pp. 48-59; E. K. Rand,Der dem Boethius zugeschriebene Traktat De fide catholica, 1901. TheDe fide catholica, however, is not mentioned by Cassiodorus and is regarded as spurious.

[2529]De consol. philos., III, 8, 21.

[2530]De consol. philos., IV, 1.

[2531]Ibid., III, 9, 1; III, 12, 14; III, 9, 10; III, 12, 99; II, 8, 13.

[2532]Ibid., IV, 6, 10, “In hac enim de providentiae simplicitate, de fati serie, de repentinis casibus, de cognitione ac praedestinatione divina, de arbitrii libertate quaeri solet.” To the ensuing argument are devoted the sixth and seventh chapters of Book IV and all of Book V.

[2533]Ibid., IV, 6, 21.

[2534]Ibid., IV, 6, 30.

[2535]Ibid., IV, 6, 48.

[2536]Ibid., IV, 6, 77.

[2537]De consol. philos., V, 4-6.

[2538]Ibid., IV, 6, 58.

[2539]Ibid., V, 2-3 and 6, 110, “tametsi nullam naturae habeat necessitatem atqui deus ea futura quae ex arbitrii libertate proveniunt praesentia contuetur.”

[2540]Ibid., V, 1.

[2541]De musica libri quinque, I, 1-2 and 27; in Migne, PL 63, 1167-1300.

[2542]Migne, PL 83, 963-1018. In Harleian 3099, 1134 A. D., theEtymologiesat fols. 1-154, are followed by theDe natura rerum, the last chapter of which (fol. 164v) is numbered 42 instead of 48 as in Migne. But up to chapter 27,Utrum sidera animam habeant, the division into chapters seems the same as in the printed text.

[2543]Migne, PL 82, 73-728, a reprint of the edition of Arevalus, Rome, 1796. Large portions of theEtymologieshave been translated into English with an introduction of some seventy pages by E. Brehaut,An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages;Isidore of Seville, 1912, inColumbia University Studies in History, etc., vol. 48, pp. 1-274. For Isidorean bibliography see pp. 17, 22-3, 46-7 of Brehaut’s introduction.

[2544]Manitius (1911), pp. 60-61; Brehaut (1912), p. 34.

[2545]To say, for example, that “so hospitable an attitude toward profane learning as Isidore displayed ... was never surpassed throughout the middle ages” (Brehaut, p. 31), is unfair to many later writers, as our discussion of the natural science of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries will show.

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