A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Lat. misc. c. 73

Summary Catalogue no.: Not in SC (late accession)

Medical texts; three MSS. bound together at an early date. French (Southern?), 13th century.

Physical Description

fols. 1–24 || fols. 25–93 || fols. 94–152
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: iii + 155 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 360 × 230 mm.
Dimensions (written): 255 × 160 mm.

Collation

1 missing, 2(10), 3(8) (3 cut out), 4(10) (5 cut out, 7–10 canc.) + 1(10), 2(8)–5(8), 6(4), 7(8), 8(8), 9(8) (8 canc.) + 1(12), 2 (only first leaf), three quires missing, 6 (only last leaf), 7(10), 8(3), 9(12), 10(12), 11(8) quires numbered i–xxiv in an almost contemporary hand, before the loss of quires in the third MS. Many numbers now cut away by the binder

Layout

2 cols., 49–56 lines, the writing below the top line

Decoration

Good historiated and other initials. (Pächt and Alexander i. 555)

Historiated initial (fol.25) showing a physician holding a urine glass, two illuminated initials (fol.1 and 121), other large and small initials, red with blue flourishes and blue with red flourishes

Binding

Modern reversed calf binding.

History

Origin: 13th century, end ; French, South (?)

MS. Lat. misc. c. 73 – Part 1

Contents

Summary of Contents: Collection of short tracts, chiefly ancient and early mediaeval, but including some Salernitan work

Language(s): Latin

(fol.1ra)
John of Seville, Epistola Aristotelis ad Alexandrum de regimine sanitatis

Partial translation of the Secreta Secretorum, ed. H. Suchier, Denkmäler Provenzalischer Literatur, Halle, 1883, pp.475–80, followed by three short notes on diet

Incipit: Aristotiles ad Alexandrum regem. Alexander cum hoc corpus
Explicit: debilitant et desiccant
Language(s): Latin
(fol.1vb)
Ps.-Hippocrates, Letter to Maecenas,

in the version pr. by A. Henschel, Janus I (1846), 672–9, cf. L. C. Mackinney, Osiris 10, (1952) 198

Incipit: Libellum quem roganti tibi
Explicit: nec medicis indigebis
Language(s): Latin
(fol.2vb)
Vindicianus Afer, Epistula ad Pentadium,

ed. V. Rose, Theodori Prisciani Euporiston, Leipzig, 1894, pp.484–492

Rubric: Epistola Vindiciani Pentadio nepoti salutem
Incipit: Licet sciam te karissime nepos
Explicit: maiora posse noscituro
Language(s): Latin
(fol.3ra)
Treatise on elements
Rubric: Diversas naturas et diffinitiones diversorum hic invenies
Incipit: (fol.3rb) Elementum est simpla et minima pars compositi
Explicit: est sicut et sanguis

Found also in Oxford MSS. Christ Church 99, fol. 136–137v and St. John's Coll. 178, fol. 39–41, ascribed to Aristotle

Language(s): Latin
(fol.3vb)
Incipit: Expleto tractatu complexionis elementorum … videndum est ex quot et quibus constat corpus humanum
Language(s): Latin
(fol.4ra)
Rubric: De anatomia
Incipit: Sicut asserit Galienus duplex anathomia
Explicit: lumborum vel renum fiat

Found also in MS. Digby 197, fol.83–4

Language(s): Latin
(fol.4vb)
Note on diet to be observed during each season of the year
Incipit: Quattuor anni tempora sic distinguntur
Explicit: quia humida et frigida est
Language(s): Latin
(fol.5rb)
Note on diet
Incipit: Cibaria stomacho conveniencia sunt stiptica
Explicit: omnia ista indigestibilia sunt
Language(s): Latin
(fol.5va)
Rubric: Quibus signis cognoscatur quis humor sit in causa
Incipit: Si quis macilentus sit
Explicit: non possit minui per temporis repugnanciam etc.
Language(s): Latin
(fol.5vb)
Rubric: Que medicine purgant humores
Incipit: Simplex flegma purgatur benedicta catartico
Explicit: et tempus requirit
Language(s): Latin
(fol. 5vb, margin, marked for inclusion after the preceding item)
Rubric: De delicatis medicinam suscipere nequeuntibus capitulum
Incipit: Sunt nonnulli delicati
Language(s): Latin
(fol.5vb)
List of syrups
Incipit: Sirupis[sic] acetosus calidis complexionibus
Language(s): Latin
(fol.6va)
Rubric: Incipit tractatus de clisteriis, pessariis et suppositoriis et siringis

the first chapters of the work pr. pp.293–300 in P. Giacosa, Magistri Salernitani nondum editi, Turin, 1901

Explicit: et ista sufficiant de pessariis
Language(s): Latin
(fol.7vb)
Johannes de S. Paulo, Practica (first seven chapters)
Rubric: Incipit de generalibus signis et causis egritudinum
Incipit: Quoniam longitudini in hoc opere
Explicit: que in proprio loco dicimus

For other MSS. see G. H. Kroemer, J. von S. Paulo, Leipzig (diss.), 1920, p.59

Language(s): Latin
(fol.9ra)
Copho, Anathomia porci
Rubric: Incipit anatomia secundum magistrum Salernum minorem
Incipit: Quoniam interior humani corporis disposiciones erant
Explicit: in oculis ponantur

A long version of the Anatomia Cophonis, ending with section De anatomia capitis and de anatomia oculi, for which see G. W. Corner, Anatomical Texts of the Early Middle Ages, Carnegie Inst., Washington, 1927, p.48

Language(s): Latin
(fol.10va)
Archimattheus
Rubric: Incipit liber Galieni de flebotomiis
Incipit: Flebotomia id est recta vene incisio
Explicit: vite sanitatem ministrat

This is the work of the Salemitan Archimatthaeus, ed. H. Erchenbrecher, Leipzig, 1919

Language(s): Latin
(fol.11va)
Rubric: Incipit modus flebotomandi
Incipit: Brachium autem spacio quattuor unctiarum
Explicit: confortativum dandum est
Language(s): Latin
(fol.11vb)
Rubric: Incipit flebotomia que fieri debet in egritudinibus secundum magistrum Salernum
Incipit: Propositum quidem presentis negotii est breviter pertractare

Ascribed to Ricardus Anglicus . Ends imperf. due to the lose of a leaf after fol.12. Found also in London, Brit. Mus. MSS. Royal E.XV, fol.3–5 and Sloane 4, fol.31–34v

Language(s): Latin
(fol.13ra)
Isidore, Etymologiae,

lib.IV, vii–xiii, incomplete at the beginning

Incipit: sollempnis (vii.7)
Explicit: corpus curatur. Explicit liber
Language(s): Latin
(fol.14va)
Sapientia artis medicinae
Incipit: Quattuor sunt venti
Explicit: balneis utantur et sani efficiuntur

ed. M. Wlaschky, Kyklos I (1928), 104–8

Language(s): Latin
(fol.15ra)
Vindicianus Afer, Gynaecia
Rubric: De expositione membrorum et de anathomicis. Ex libro Sorani
Incipit: Expositio membrorum quo ordine quibus ossibus

Ed. V. Rose, Theod. Prisc. Euporiston, pp.429–62, closest to version V from cod. Cassin. 97, except at the end § 24, where it is closest to version I.

Explicit: statim morsum sanguis sequatur. Quarum passionum curas sigillatim exponamus. (For this sentence, see Rose, p.462 n.) Require in flemonis.
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: Quoniam medicus
Explicit: pinguem

pr. Rose, p.462, and see Beccaria, I codici di Medicina del Periodo Presalernitano, Rome 1956 p.155

Language(s): Latin
(fol.16rb)
Rubric: De ratione viscerum vel ventris
Incipit: Se [sic for Ne] ignorans quispiam medicorum
Explicit: ante calorem

Pr. as c.xii of Ps.-Soranus, In artem medendi isagoge in De re medica, ed. A. Torinus, Basel, 1528, p.5

Language(s): Latin
(fol.16vb)
Rubric: De quattuor humoribus corporis
Incipit: Nunc me convenit dicere
Explicit: longam egritudinem de modica faciant

Pr. ibid. c.xiii, p.6

Language(s): Latin
(fol.17ra)
Rubric: De coagulatione seminis et conceptu capitulum
Incipit: Qam [sic for Nam] concipit mulier natura volente
Explicit: legittimi non erunt

Pr. ibid. c.xvi and part of xvii. It is a reworking of Vindicianus, Gynaecia §§ 18–19, mainly in version II of Rose

Language(s): Latin
(fol.17rb)
Ps.-Hippocrates, Ep. ad Antiochum

In a version which resembles most that pr. by H. Stadler, Archiv für lateinische Lexicographie 12 (1900), 21–5

Rubric: Epistola Scolapii
Explicit: et corpus curandum
Language(s): Latin
(fol.17vb)
Rubric: Quomodo debeas visitare infirmum
Incipit: Nonne [sic for Non omnem] infirmum uniter visites
Explicit: difficilis non videbitur

pr. Renzi, Coll. Salernitana II.73 and Sigerist, Bull. hist. medicine 10 (1941), 31

Language(s): Latin
(fol.18ra)
Rubric: De ratione medicine
Incipit: Ron [sic for (recte Non)] satis vexentur

pr. Sigerist, art. cit. p.35, followed by Ypocras dixit. Frustra mortalium genus, pr. ibid.

Language(s): Latin
(fol.18ra)
Ps.-Hippocrates, Prognostica (Capsula eburnea) (anon. tr.)

in the first version of those ed. by K. Sudhoff, Archiv. f. Gesch. der Medizin, IX (1915), 84–106

Rubric: Incipit pronostica de signis et egritudinibus vite vel mortis
Incipit: Peritissimus omnium rerum
Explicit: si sudat totum corpus scias cum vivere
Language(s): Latin
(fol.18va)
Incipit: Si tinnitus aurium
Explicit: ad maximum periculum deveniet

Also follows the preceding item in other MSS.; a version about twice as long as that pr. Kuhlewein, Philologus 42 (1884), 123, and with the same ending as Glasgow Hunterian V.3.2 (Beccaria no.73) and other MSS.;

Language(s): Latin
(fol.18vb)
Rubric: Epistola Ypocratis ad Antiochum regem
Incipit: Ut salus tibi contingat

ends imperf. adiutoria adhibenda sunt, p.215 1.9 in the version ed. A. Nelson in Symbolae Philologicae O. A. Danielsson dicatae, Uppsala, 1932, pp.213–216

Language(s): Latin
(fol.19rb)
Rubric: Problemata Aristolis[sic] philosophi
Incipit: Quare si venter
Explicit: unde fit rigor

Ed. V. Rose, Aristoteles Pseudepigraphus, Leipzig, 1863, pp.666–676

Language(s): Latin
(fol.19vb)
Rubric: De singulis morbis interrogatio
Incipit: Ossa in corpore humano absque cura
Explicit: ut abortivum faciat

pr. Wlaschky, art. cit., pp.208–10

Language(s): Latin
(fol.20rb)
De virtute pigmentorum et herbarum
Incipit: Vera est hoc [blank] et monstratio
Explicit: omnia melius integra facies

Slightly longer than the text pr. in Spurii Galeno ascripti, Venice, apud Iuntas, 1586, fol.18v, see L. C. MacKinney, Isis 24 (1935–6), 410, n.40

Language(s): Latin
(fol.20va)
Rubric: Amonitio Theodori medici
Incipit: Interea moneo te
Explicit: salus est medicis[sic]. Amen

Pr. Giacosa, op. cit. p.360; Also attributed to Theodorus in Glasgow, Hunterian V.3.2 (Beccaria 73 no.15)

Language(s): Latin
(fol.20vb)
Work on fevers
Incipit: Multa genera febrium nascuntur in homine
Explicit: longo tempore peniteat
eTK 0885C

Usually described in MSS. as Galen , epistola de febribus, cf. Beccaria p. 457

Language(s): Latin
(fol.21ra)
Galen, Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo (excerpts)
Incipit: Maximum est in medicina
Explicit: et diligenter considerare
Language(s): Latin
Note on water
Incipit: Oportet medicum aquarum virtutes

Also follows the preceding item in Monte Cassino 225 (Beccaria no.96)

Language(s): Latin
(fol.21rb)
Rubric: Incipit genecia Prisciani
Incipit: De passionibus mulierum utile previdi
Explicit: bene apponitur et diladanum

For a work with this title and incipit see V. Rose, Theod. Prisc. p.xvii sqq. It is a compilation from Cleopatra and Mustio. A considerable part of it was pr. in Gynaeciorum … Libri, Basel, 1566, col.105 ff. in the pars posterior of the Harmoniae gynaeciorum, in sections headed ‘ex Prisc. et Cleop. priore’. The work with the same incipit in Spurii Galeno ascripti, p.100–1 and in Constantini Africani Opera, Basel, 1536, pp.321–4 differs after the first few sentences

Language(s): Latin
(fol.24rb)
Liber de muliebria[sic] causa,

ed. F. P. Egert, Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften 11 (1936), 24–33: extracts, consisting of §§ 1, 2, 25, 20, 23 and sentences not in the edition

Language(s): Latin

MS.Lat.misc.c.73 – Part 2

Contents

(fol.25)
Avicenna, Canon medicinae,

liber secundus

Preceded by the last paragraph of bk. I written as a rubric. Tractatus II (fol.29v) differs considerably from the printed editions in order and content; fol.78v is blank

Language(s): Latin
(fol.79)
Avicenna, Canon medicinae,

lib. I, fen III

Language(s): Latin
(fol.91v)
Treatise on avian medicine
Rubric: Incipit phisica avium
Incipit: Oportet eos qui ancipitres nutriunt
Explicit: et pone super carnem et dabis ad comedendum

Also found in Cambridge, Univ. Lib. MS. Ff.6.13, from which the beg. is pr. by P. Meyer, Romania 15 (1886), 279; see also C. H. Haskins, Studies in medieval science, p.354

Language(s): Latin

MS.Lat.misc.c.73 – Part 3

Contents

(fol.94)
Razes, Liber Almansoris
Rubric: Abubeci Rasis filii Zacarie liber incipit translatus a magistro Girardo Cremonensi in Toleto de Arabico in Latinum

Pr. Opera, Lyons, 1511, fol.i–ccviv, Bk.I beg. at fol.96, preceded by a table of contents, bk.II at fol.104, II.25–IX.89 missing due to the loss of three quires after fol.106, bk.X at fol.108. There are extensive marginal notes, written by the same hand as the text

Language(s): Latin
(fol.121)
Razes, Liber diuisionum
Rubric: Liber divisionum. Verba Abubeci filii Zacharie filii Arazi. Antidotarium rasis et quidam tractatus de simplici materia

Pr. Opera, Lyons, 1510, fol.ii–lxvii, ends imperf. in bk.II, ch.I (fol.lxix of the pr. text)

Language(s): Latin

Additional Information

Record Sources

Typescript description by Bodleian library staff.

Last Substantive Revision

2017-07-01: First online publication.