Poematium Medicum

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Poematium Medicum , also known as Commentarium medicinale , is a therapeutic compendium in 241 hexameters (with a prose preface) that was written in Latin at the end of the 7th century .

Author, sources and time of origin

In Urbino's catalog of 1482 he is named as the author of the manuscript Crispus Mediolanensis . This is associated with the Archbishop Benedict of Milan by some editors , u. a. by the philologist Angelo Mai . However, this attribution is not certain. The chronological assignment to the end of the 7th century largely depends on this assumed authorship.

However, the sources are certain. The author has taken over the basic structure of the work, but also numerous passages from Quintus Serenus Liber medicinalis . He also names this author (v. 208). There are further correspondences with Pedanios Dioscurides and also with folk remedies.

Structure and content

At the beginning of his poem, Crispus wrote a dedication to his pupil Maurus from Mantua, about whom nothing is known. He recommends practical knowledge of medicine, although it does not belong to the 7 liberal arts ( septiformis facundiae libertas ); apparently also because the student has had health problems.

The poem is designed in 241 hexameters, in which 26 complexes of physical complaints are treated, according to the scheme from head to toe that is common in many ancient medical treatises , here from caput aegrum to podagra . Important diseases that are usually included, such as epilepsy , melancholy and the like. a. absence. The didactic poem is not intended to impart knowledge for medical practice. Rather, traditional knowledge of antiquity should be presented effectively.

The individual sections are divided into two parts. Pharmaceutical treatment suggestions follow a description of the disease . If the condition is not mentioned directly, such as surditas (deafness), it is described verbatim, e.g. B. Section XVIII:

si vero immenso turbature pondere venter
when the stomach is disturbed by an enormous weight

The medication is often misunderstood and the treatment is often misunderstood. This can be seen in one of the numerous adoptions from the Liber medicinalis of Septimius Severus. He recommends instilling mouse gall dissolved in vinegar against the appearance of worms in the ears (Section XII). Crispus will take the remedy, but will tell you to drink it (section 15), which should be less effective.

The 70 or so substances that he names, from galenics such as wine and honey, to medicinal herbs and animal products such as pigeon droppings or pigeon droppings, can also be found in the Physica Plinii , but often in a different context. The author also adorns his text with rare remedies that were not found there, such as corallus and Hermodactylus .

Tradition and survival

The use of the text by later authors could not be proven. Only two manuscripts ( Vatican Library ) have survived. Angelo Mai created an edition from these. Another edition was made in 1835 by Ioannes Val. Ullrich. A translation into the German language is not available.

Text output

  • Jaques Paul Migne: Patrologia Latina , Volume 89, P. 369ff, Paris 1850.
  • Ioannes Val. Ullrich: S. Benedicti Crispi Commentarium Medicinale. Kizingen 1835.

literature

  • Angelo Mai: Maii observationes previe in subsequente poemata in Jaques Paul Migne: Patrologia Latina , Volume 89, pp. 367ff, Paris 1850.
  • Max Manitius : History of the Latin Literature of the Middle Ages , Volume 1, Munich 1911
  • Julius Pagel : History of Medicine in the Middle Ages. In: Handbook of the history of medicine , founded by Theodor Puschmann . Hildesheim - New York 1971.
  • Friedrich Vollmer : Quinti Sereni Liber Medicinalis, Praefatio in Theodor Puschmann (ed.): Corpus Medicorum Latinorum , Leipzig and Berlin 1916.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Max Manitius: History of the Latin Literature of the Middle Ages , Volume 1, p. 197f
  2. ↑ Angelo Mai: Maii observationes previe in subsequente poemata , p. 367ff
  3. ^ Friedrich Vollmer: Quinti Sereni Liber Medicinalis, Praefatio , p. IIIf
  4. ↑ Julius Pagel: History of Medicine in the Middle Ages. , P. 630
  5. ↑ Max Manitius: History of the Latin Literature of the Middle Ages , Volume 1, p. 199
  6. ↑ Angelo Mai: Maii observationes previe in subsequente poemata , p. 367ff