Herbal & Animal Medicines — Medieval Manuscript

35 photostats by Dr. V. Hadel, Gorkum, Feb. 1926.
3'-5'; 34-36 Sept. 1926 photostats by Prof. S. Siggel, Leipzig

f. 1–3' Antonius Musa to M. Agrippa on the Betony Herb
Epistle, with a painted figure. Inscribed "Antonius Musa to Marcus Agrippa, greetings". Begins: "To Caesar Augustus, most distinguished of all mortals," etc. To this is joined, without intermediate space or heading:
f. 3'–36 Apuleius' Herbarium, with painted figures of the herbs.
Subscribed: "The Herbarium of Apuleius Platonicus, which he received from the master Alhiron of Achilles and from Aesculapius, ends happily."
f. 36'–50 Treatments of Herbs, composed from Dioscorides and Apuleius, with painted figures. Inscribed: "Name of the herb: Lycanis, Stephanotice." Begins: "It has oblong, narrow leaves," etc. At the end (f. 50) is a Poem:

He who gathers the flowers, beautiful in their kind, with the bud,
This, King Charles, modest as he is, commands to be done,
So that the wisdom may shine in future ages.
The servant of this [work], Jacob, gathers it in speech and spirit.
(cf. Poetae lat. min. ed. Baehrens III p. 103; Poetae lat. aevi Carol. rec. Dümmler (Mon. Germ. Hist.) I p. 97). Serenus Sammonicus ed. Te Vollbehr 1916. p. V.

Subscribed: "The Treatments of Herbs end happily, which Heinrich, called le Galoys, native of Wales, wrote.
Here it ends entirely; for Christ, give me a drink."
Followed by Incantations: "For extracting a splinter from a wound," etc.
f. 51–52 blank.
f. 53–57 Fragments of the books of Sextus Placitus Papyriensis on Medicines from animals, with painted figures. These are chapters on the badger, with a preface to Marcellinus: Not only of studies but also etc. (cf. Val. Rose in Hermes VIII (1874) p. 38 n. 2), and chapters 1, 3, 2, 4, 16, 15, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (Ackermann).
These are excerpts much more abundant than those published by Ackermann after Sextus Placitus, marked with the name of Constantinus Africanus.
Codex formerly of the monastery of St. Mary of Bern near Heeswijk, bought at Leiden at an auction of J. W. van Leeuwen in Dec. 1887, catalog no. 33 (part 1).

fol. 23 photostats? detached? in manuscripts of W. Blunt, Cronensis, in May 1948
pp. 50 and 50 photographically reproduced
for the use of the distinguished F. Vollmer, Dec. 1946.
cf. Philologus LXXV (N. F. XXIX) [1919] p. 132.

Antonius Musa to Marcus Agrippa, greetings.

A large red ornamental initial "A" begins the first line of the main text.

Augustus Caesar, most distinguished of all mortals, I judge that your favor is the first aid, and also the most beloved of my art, so that by this commentary on my art I may reach you in judgment; I wish to come to you, but I wish less to deserve it from you yourself. You will have henceforth, if there is any need for this work before me, [the knowledge] pertinent to the disciplines of all the highest doctors, and in its order, my own [observations], just as if you had me present and were using them in medicines. They say that the genus of the effect of the Betony herb is considered to pass [into the body]. Of its salubrious state for bodies, other things are to be said even before its powers, for indeed it is not only for remedies; the hand is there, and it may be beneficial without offending the stomach, not tasted [but] sprinkled, bringing remedies to the sick. They are prepared with a certain moderate lightness, neither a disgust of sweetness nor an offense of bitterness; therefore, it provides the effect of health, and it reaches the body not as an intruder, nor even as wormwood (that is, "dog-herb" referring to the Greek kynodes or similar botanical descriptors)—you might feel the aid so that you feel the bitterness. Betony provides so much that those suffering take it, and it is pleasant, and the odor is lovable, or it forces the ignorant to suspect that the herb wants to serve the body. This much the effect of Betony provides, and it already remedies forty-seven diseases. This can be done so that it may benefit all; it is fit for a woman to be healthy. It is thought proper to advise which salubrities follow in the subjects. Few doctors know this, and it does not continue in strength, perhaps [because] they are ignorant of the method, and therefore it is among the organs, [even if] they have a little [of it], [for those] to whom none is unknown. It is not necessary to declare these [things]; they think that the perfection of the Betony herb should be known. However, you gather it at its proper time, that is, in the month of August, when other herbs begin to ripen, with its seeds and roots, reduced to a very soft powder in an aromatic sieve, until you wish to use it thus.