De medicamentis
De medicamentis is the extensive collection of ancient and late antique recipes and other healing methods that Marcellus Empiricus put on in Latin at the beginning of the 5th century AD .
Meaning and structure
The work offers an incomparable insight into the medical knowledge of late antiquity. Given the large scope of the text and the opportunities that its high position offered the author, one can speak of a representative cross-section. Very old manuscripts such as Scribonius Largus , which was 400 years old at the time, are still present and respected, even if the author's name is misrepresented. On the other hand, with Christianity , magical practices and Gallic ideas, completely new content has flowed in. Much has apparently also been lost, possibly because of the departure from the Greek language. The Greek traditional Galen is z. B. hardly mentioned. The large libraries in which his writings were available were in the Eastern Roman Empire and were not accessible to Marcellus Empiricus either.
The book contains a large number of recipes and remedies arranged 'from head to toe' according to the diseases to be treated. The recipe part is preceded by an extensive introductory part with various contents.
Sources and references
Marcellus Empiricus writes in the foreword to his son that he has brought in the two Plinii, Apuleius Celsus, other older and contemporary authors who write in Latin, but also country people and common people. The two Plinii can be identified with Pliny the Elder and the later compilation Medicina Plinii . Apuleius Celsus is obviously confused with the medical writer Scribonius Largus , whose compositions written at the beginning of the 1st century AD are largely adopted. The other named authors cannot be identified.
Scribonius Largus
The compositions by Scribonius Largus , which were almost 400 years old at the time, are an essential source . The recipes are usually at the beginning of each chapter. Only in eight chapters there are no compositions . This is partly due to a different breakdown of diseases, partly because Scribonius Largus did not treat the problem, such as: B. Marcellus Empiricus VII, Capillo nigrando et incrispando (= dyeing black and curling the hair). There is a large gap in Compositiones 163–221 - mainly anti-poisoning agents and plasters, which Scribonius Largus assigned to the surgeon's field. There are also no recipes for epilepsy , dropsy and shingles , as Marcellus Empiricus does not treat these diseases.
The recipes are largely copied verbatim - with the exception of changes that resulted from the further development of the Latin language. The exact quantities are also adopted.
Medicina Plinii
393 recipes from the then 100 year old Medicina Plinii can be found in De medicamentis . Only five chapters are missing any quotation from the Medicina Plinii . However, from 3, 2 onwards, large parts remain unquoted. As with Scribonius Largus, the focus is on animal bites, poisoning, epilepsy, dropsy and shingles.
The short recipes are torn apart, distributed over the chapters and only rarely quoted verbatim. The Medicina Plinii has a large share of popular belief and dirty pharmacy , which Marcellus Empiricus takes over: the green, living lizard that is hung on the bedroom door (Marcellus Empiricus XXIII, 50 - Medicina Plinii 2, 13), the mouse dung (Marcellus Empiricus XXVI, 14 - Medicina Plinii 2, 18), the blood of a bat torn to pieces (Marcellus Empiricus XXVII, 83 - Medicina Plinii 2, 11) etc. are thus included in the drug book.
Pliny the Elder
In addition to the quotation by the Medicina Plinii , there are 254 references to books 20 to 32 of the natural history of the older Pliny, although it cannot be determined whether the author took over the passages directly or via intermediate sources. Most of the time it is a matter of brief treatment instructions without information on quantities, such as B. Marcellus Empiricus XXVI, 12:
(against urinary bladder complaints) "... a small stone that is found in the urinary bladder of a rooster or in the stomach of a wood pigeon, ground up and sprinkled into the drink."
This is found almost word for word in the Natural history 30, 67.
Other sources
Less than half of the text can be covered by the sources covered. The other texts used have been lost in the course of time; some of them may also be oral transmission. The large proportion of magical practices, amulets and incantations, such as B. the shrinkage
formula SICYCVMA CVCVMA VCVMA CVMA VMA MA A (Marcellus Empiricus X, 34).
Christian references
As an imperial official, Marcellus Empiricus was very likely a Christian. Traces of this belief can not be found very often in the work, since its sources go back far into pre-Christian times.
The presentation of the Christian way of thinking in the foreword to his sons is impressive:
"In the reciprocity of human love you should share the benefits of this knowledge with all the sick ... even with strangers and the poor, since mercy ... is more pleasant before God and praiseworthy before people."
Iatromagy is often mixed with Iatrotheology . So in Marcellus Empiricus XXV, 13, when a medicinal herb is discussed while picking:
"Terram teneo, herbam lego, (in nomine Christi,)"
"I keep earth, I pick the herb, (in the name of Christ,)"
Gaulish language testimonies
The medical compendium contains an animal name (alauda = crested lark) and 12 plant names, which Marcellus Empiricus calls Gallic ( Gallice dicitur ). Sometimes he also gives the Latin and Greek names, so that the plants can be identified, such as coltsfoot (Marcellus Empiricus XVI, 101) and comfrey (Marcellus Empiricus XXXI, 29). Gallic word parts can also be suspected in the numerous magical formulas.
content
The introduction
The introduction is divided into several parts:
- Letter to his sons
Here he presents his sources and recommends his sons to treat strangers and those in need - probably in the Christian sense. - List of chapter headings
- Conversion rules for various - mainly Greek - weights and measures
- Dedications dealing with the tasks of the doctor and the essence of medicine, which Marcellus Empiricus has taken over from various authors:
- As a translation from the Greek 2 fictional letters of Hippocrates . The first letter is also passed down as a letter from Diocles of Karystos to Antigonus .
-
Epistvla Plini Secvndi ad amicos de medicina
is largely identical to the preface of the Medicina Plinii with its claim to enable the reader to self-medicate and his doctor scolding . -
Cornelivs Celsvs G. Ivlio Callisto Salvtem dicit
gives the preface to the compositions of Scribonius Largus, and a. with the mention of the Hippocratic oath . -
Cornelivs Celsvs Pvllio Natali salvtem dicit
is a thank you for 2 Greek recipe books. Neither the text nor the name "Pullius Natalis" can be found in Scribonius Largus. -
Epistvla Vindiciani comitis archiatrorvm ad Valentinianvm Imperatorem
This description of two medical treatments possibly to Valentinian I (364–375) or Valentinian II. (375–392) shows a completely different medical direction than the following prescriptions. The entire body condition of the patient is taken into account. The treatment with healing springs, baths and ointments is reminiscent of the methodological school .
The recipes
The remedies of the Pharmacopoeia Liber de medicamentis are arranged in 36 chapters from head to toe , from headache to podagra of the hands and feet. The recipes begin with the 'rational' pharmaceutical agents of Scribonius Largus and end with magical instructions such as:
" dices ter (say three times): ALABANDE ALABANDI ALAMBO " (Marcellus Empiricus XXVIII, 73).
One focus is on gastrointestinal diseases. Diarrhea - Marcellus Empiricus XXVII, worm infestation - Marcellus Empiricus XXVIII, promotion of bowel movements - Marcellus Empiricus XXX are dealt with in detail in separate chapters.
Illnesses that cannot be assigned to a part of the body, such as epilepsy, 4-day fever, shingles, are absent, although they are treated in the sources.
At the end there is a didactic poem, according to his own statement, written by himself, in which the diverse instructions of the book are praised, because the reader maintains health and can avoid doctors. A variety of remedies are listed, spells (carmina) are only mentioned in passing.
Codices and Editions
The writing was handed down in several codices. Georg Helmreich used the cod. Laudunensis 420 for an edition. The edition by Max Niedermann 1916 in the Corpus Medicorum Latinorum , which also contains the Codex Parisinus Lat. 6880, as well as the Codex Arundelianus 166. In 1968 the Max Niedermann edition by Eduard Liechtenhan was reissued together with a translation by Jutta Kollesch and Diethard Nickel.
Text editing and translation
- Marcelli de medicamentis liber , recensit Maximilianus Niedermann. Corpus Medicorum Latinorum. Leipzig and Berlin, 1906.
- Marcellus: Über Heilmittel , edited by Max Niedermann, translated by Jutta Kollesch and Diethard Nickel , Berlin, 1968 ( cmg.bbaw.de full text).
literature
- Miriam Ewers: Marcellus Empiricus: “De medicamentis”, Christian treatise on mercy or a superstitious collection of prescriptions? Trier, 2009, www-brs.ub.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (PDF; 869 kB).
- Antje Krug : healing art and healing cult. Medicine in ancient times. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1985, 2nd revised and expanded edition 1993; ISBN 3-406-30144-4 .
- Alf Önnerfors : Magical formulas in the service of Roman medicine. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World. Volume 37, Berlin-New York, 1993.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Antje Krug: Healing Art and Healing Cult. End and survival of ancient medicine
- ^ Marcelli de medicamentis liber , Maximilianus Niedermann, Ad lectorem praefatio.
- ↑ a b VIII Conspectvs fontivm, testimoniorvm, locorvm similivm . In: Max Niedermann (ed.): Marcellus - About the remedies (= Corpus Medicorum Latinorum . Volume 2 ). Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1958.
- ↑ Alf Önnerfors, Magic formulas in the service of Roman medicine, II. Main categories of magic formulas in the field of human medicine
- ↑ Miriam Ewers: Marcellus Empiricus, 1.2.2
- ↑ Miriam Ewers: Marcellus Empiricus. 1.3.
- ↑ See Wolfgang Meid : Medicinal Plants and Healing Proverbs. Gaulish language testimonies from Marcellus von Bordeaux , Innsbruck, 1996. ISBN 3-85124-655-1 ; Wolfgang Meid, Peter Anreiter: Medicinal plants and healing sayings. Gaulish language testimonies from Marcellus of Bordeaux. Linguistic and pharmacological aspects . Edition Praesens, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7069-0322-9 .
- ^ Marcelli de medicamentis liber , Maximilianus Niedermann, Ad lectorem praefatio
- ^ Friedrich Ernst Kind: Marcellus Empiricus. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume 28, Stuttgart 1893ff., Sp. 1498-1503.