F-4usd: Pseudo-Galen, Liber de dynamidiis, De catharticis and recipes for the face, throat and chest
The two leaves are identified with high confidence as the pseudo-Galenic Liber de dynamidiis, the compilation that opens with the letter to Maecenas (Libellum quem roganti tibi promisi) and is printed in the Giunta editions of Galen as the "Liber alter de dynamidiis". Fol. 104 carries the catalogue of purgative drugs (De catharticis) from the phlegm-purgers to the recipe for opium; fol. 105 carries a later part of the same work, from remedies for the face and skin to electuaries for the chest.
The Fragmentarium record describes one parchment bifolium, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Latin 11411, ff. 104-105, 165 x 242 mm, France, dated 1101-1200, in praegothica script with red decoration, catalogued as "Medical text (unidentified)". The subject is as catalogued; the record names no author or work. The catalogue date and origin have not been reassessed.
- Identification: identified, high. Four passages on three faces agree in wording and in order with the Liber de dynamidiis, and they come from two different sections of it: the drug catalogue (agaric, cnicus, lathyrides; opium, omphacomel) and the recipe collection (impetigo, morphea, wrinkles; Diamoron for the throat). Recipe collections share material, and single recipes here recur elsewhere (the Diamoron also stands in the Antidotarium Nicolai), so no one recipe is diagnostic; what identifies the compilation is the same run of entries in the same order on both leaves. The Latin Oribasius, Synopsis I 17, lists the same purgatives from the same Greek tradition but in shorter, differently worded entries without the recipes, and is not the text on the leaf. The main comparison text is a print of 1625 that its editors call corrected in many places. The leaf has an older form of the text: it keeps Greek drug names that the print latinises (Diamoron batinum, succi mororum bati against de rubis, rubi), lacks the print's glosses and chapter titles, and on fol. 105r has one recipe the print lacks and lacks two the print has. In the throat recipes it agrees with a fourteenth-century manuscript of the work against the print. Which medieval recension (that is, distinct version of the text) the leaf follows has not been determined.
- Transcription: source-assisted selected reading of fol. 104v lines 1-5 and 39-41, fol. 105r lines 10-20 and fol. 105v lines 12-16 and 21, reread on the image by a research reader with the printed text at hand. The image-only first reading covers all four faces and was made without knowledge of the work; everything outside the lines just named rests on it. Rubbed stretches on every face remain poorly read (fol. 104r lines 1-4 and 9-16, fol. 104v lines 5-12, fol. 105r lines 4-8, fol. 105v lines 1-7 and 22-32). Weight signs and numerals are uncertain throughout. Accuracy has not been measured.
- Verification: a research reader compared the four passages below with page images of the 1625 print and compared the opium and throat passages with images of Cologny, Cod. Bodmer 58; the rest of the leaves was compared only as first reading against the print's OCR text. The coordinator read fol. 105r lines 10-20 on the image against the print text. No human review. The two places on fol. 105r where the leaf departs from the print in content were not checked against a manuscript, and the 1490 first printing was not seen.
Textual evidence
Manuscript images: fol. 104r, fol. 104v, fol. 105r, fol. 105v. Native-pixel boxes: fol. 104v lines 1-7 at 1258,84,3313,560 and lines 36-41 at 1258,2440,3313,2870; fol. 105r lines 10-20 at 1106,740,2514,1500; fol. 105v lines 12-21 at 165,900,3047,1560. Abbreviations are resolved silently; a question mark marks an uncertain word; square brackets mark text lost.
| Bifolium | Spurii Galeno ascripti libri (Venice, 1625), ff. 21v-22r, 25v-26r |
|---|---|
| fol. 104v, lines 1-4: "semper superiora petit. Sit autem albissimum et fragile?, non ualde lignosum nec robustum. Gnicus id est semen croci purgat flegma sed non fortiter, tritum .ii. et in iuscello galline uel ptisana [...] et colatus sic bibitur. Quidam autem quod intus est gnici accipiunt [...] et terunt cum amigdalis aniso et melle cocto catapucias formantes? seruant [...]. Lacterides" | "quia leue est superiora petit. Sit autem albissimum, et facile, et non valde lignosum, neque robustum. De Cnico. Cnicus idest semen croci hortensis, siue hortulani, purgat phlegma, sed non fortiter. Tritum ad drach. ij. et in iuscello gallinae, vel ptissana mixtum et colatum, sic bibitur. Quidam autem quod interius est cnici accipiunt, et terunt cum amygdalis, et aniso, et melle: et catapotia formantes seruant ictericis vtilia [...] De Lathyride. Lathyrides" |
| fol. 104v, lines 39-41: "Opium sic facies. mense iulio papaueris uiride teris folium et per lintheum ex[tor]ques. semen ipsius papaueris uiride teris, cum ipso iure misces et coque ut spissum sit, uel ad solem siccabis. id est opium. Omfacomelli? sic facies. Recipe botros" | "Opium sic fac. Mense Iulio papaueris viridis folia teras per linteolum extorquens: semen ipsius papaueris viridis teras, et ipso iure miscens coque vt spissum sit, et ad Solem siccabis: et serua: illud est opium. De Omphacomelite. Omphacomeli sic fac. Recipe botros mundos" |
| fol. 105r, lines 10-16: "Geralogodion et Gera rufini facit in initio impetigines habentibus et uariis alfis. Unguentum ad impetigines. Lacertam uiuam et uitem albam pone in oleo et coque usque ad terciam, et colato oleo adhibeatur? purissima cera. probatum est. Ad idem. olei libram .i. libani, corumbri, pecule, sulfuris, saponis, licii, auripigmenti, cere libram .i. Trocisci ad morfeam albam uel nigram. Recipe Ellebori albi, piperis longi, cardos?, alcionii, sulfur uiuum, calamum aromaticum, andragis, sandarace, omnia equali pondere tere et fac trociscos cum aceto et uteris. Ad maculam siue albam siue nigram. oua trita et creta et litargirum, cerusa ex equo cum aceto et oleo rosato confice, et loca prius cum linteo perfricata usque ad ruborem perunge." | "Item hieralogodion, et hiera Rufi, facit in initio impetiginem habentibus, et variis alphis. Vnguentum ad impetiginem. Lacertam viuam, et vitem albam pone in oleo, et coque ad tertiam: et colato oleo, adhibeatur cera purissima. probatum est. Ad idem. Rec. olei libram j. olibani, cozubri, pegulae, sulfuris, saponis, lycii, auripigmenti, cerae, ana libram mediam. De morphea curatione. Trochisci ad morpheam albam, vel nigram. Rec. ellebori albi, piperis longi, careos .i. carui, halcyonii .i. spuma maris, sulfuris viui, calami aromatici, andrachnes .i. portulacae, sandarachae: omnia aequali pondere tere, et fac trochiscos cum aceto, et vtere. Ad maculas albas, vel nigras. Oua trita, et cretam, lithargyrum, et cerusam, ex aequo cum aceto, et oleo rosato confice: et loca prius cum linteo perfricata vsque ad ruborem perunge." |
| fol. 105r, lines 17-20: "Ad rugas de facie tollendas et omnes egritudines depellendas. Cucumeris agrestis radices siccas tere diligenter et cerne et misce cum aqua [...] quod si triduum feceris mirum effectum habebit. Unguentum ad morfeam. Staphisagriam, sulfur, litargirum, fac puluerem, uade ad balneum" | "Ad rugas de facie tollendas, et omnem aegritudinem depellendam. Cucumeris agrestis radices siccas tere, et secerne, et misce cum aqua [...] quod si per triduum feceris, mirum effectum videbis. Vnguentum ad morpheam. Recipe staphidos agriae, sulfuris, lithargyri: fac puluerem, et vade ad balneum" |
| fol. 105v, lines 12-16: "Ad sinanciam. Diamoron batinum quod facit ad omnes causas palati et gutturis, uuam subleuat ca[den]tem et humorosam desiccat. Recipe succi mororum bati libras .ii. mellis libram .i. sape libram .i. [...] Succum cum melle et sapa in uase eneo stagnato ad prunas lente decoque, et ad perfectam decoctionem bullire dimitte." | "Diamoron de rubis, quod facit ad omnes causas palati, et gutturis: vuulam subleuat cadentem, et humorosam desiccat. Rec. succi mororum rubi libras duas, mellis libram vnam, sapae libram vnam. quod conficitur sic. Succum cum melle, et sapa in vase aeneo stagnato ad leues prunas decoque, et ad perfectam decoctionem feruefacere desine" |
The leaf marks each drug with a red initial and each recipe with an underlined title where the print has chapter headings. It lacks the print's explanatory glosses (hortensis siue hortulani, id est carui, id est spuma maris, id est portulacae) and gives a dose after accipiunt that the print does not. It reads cere libram .i. for ana libram mediam, habebit for videbis, uel ad solem for et ad Solem, and batinum, bati for de rubis, rubi. According to the first reading, which was not reread at these points, fol. 105r has no scrofula recipe with wild radish between the ointment for serpigo and Ut tota facies sit candida, has a dropsy recipe (Ut ydropicus sine dubio curetur) that the print lacks there, and seems to lack the print's second scrofula recipe (radicem spathulae); otherwise the entries follow the print's order on all four faces.
A medieval copy of the work, Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 58 (Italy, 14th century), was read at two places. On fol. 244v it has "Ad squinantiam diamoron batinum quod facit ad omnes causas palati et gutturis, uuam subleuat cadentem et humorosam desiccat. Recipe succi mororum bati", and a little further "Electuarium probatissimum ad uocem clarificandam", where the leaf (fol. 105v, line 21) has "Elact. probatissimum? ad uocem clarificandam" and the print only "Ad vocem clarificandam electuarium". On fol. 238r, second column, it has the opium recipe followed by "De omfaco mellito ... botros mundos non maturos". The leaf therefore shares the manuscript wording where the print departs from it. The Basel Galen of 1542 already prints de rubis.
The print used is Spurii Galeno ascripti libri (Venice, Giunta, 1625), ff. 21v-22r and 25v-26r, archive.org scan (scan pages 41-43 and 50-51), read as page images and as OCR text. It heads the text "Galeni attributus liber alter de dynamidiis" with the note that it is largely taken from Aetius and full of errors. The attribution to Galen is false and long recognised as such; the work is an anonymous early medieval compilation that begins with the pseudo-Hippocratic letter to Maecenas. K.-D. Fischer, "Die vorsalernitanischen lateinischen Galenübersetzungen", Medicina nei Secoli 25 (2013), article page, describes it as the second of two unrelated "books" printed under this title, with chapters on purgatives followed by a head-to-foot recipe collection whose sources are unstudied, and names Bodmer 58, ff. 225ra-263va, as a witness. It is distinct from the separate pseudo-Galenic De catharticis. P. Giacosa, Magistri Salernitani nondum editi (Turin, 1901), pp. xxxiii and 382, describes the text in Rome, Biblioteca Angelica, 1481 as "Liber dynamidios G."
Leaf order and limits
The text of fol. 104 precedes that of fol. 105. Between the last words of fol. 104v and the first of fol. 105r the print has roughly 3.7 times the amount of text that one of these leaves holds, which suggests that four leaves, two bifolia, once lay between them and that this was not the innermost bifolium of its quire. That is an estimate from a print that differs from the leaf in content, not a measurement; whether the two leaves are still joined was not examined. A marginal note "de glandulis" stands beside fol. 105v line 7. No claim is made about the date, origin or recension of the fragment, or about whether the identification has been made elsewhere; the 68 other Fragmentarium records for Latin 11411 name no medical work except "Medical recipes" on fol. 103, a different leaf that was not examined.