chapter 36

).

[2484] _Hermes_ VIII, 38, comparing _Etymologies_ XVII, 93, with cap. 30 of the _De 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, in _Rom. 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. _Aggregator_ was 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 as _Medici antiqui omnes_, Aldus, Venice, 1547, fols. 223-46.

[2501] Choulant (1832) Preface.

[2502] Choulant (1832) _Prolegomena ad Macrum_, p. 14.

[2503] See the description of _Ligusticum_, 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 as _Macri spuria_ 487 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 in _The Consolation of Philosophy_ after the death of Beatrice that Dante was led into a new world of literature, science, and philosophy, as he tells us in his _Convivio_; 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. The _De 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., the _Etymologies_ at fols. 1-154, are followed by the _De natura rerum_, the last chapter of which (fol. 164v) is numbered 42 instead of 48 as in Migne. But up to