Pseudo-Serapion, Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus, in Italian translation, copied on paper, in Italy, Veneto, mid 15th century; imperfect at the end and possibly also wanting a supplementary quire at the beginning [index] as suggested by the lack of quire signature 'a'.
The Italian text is an anonymous translation of a pharmacological text in Latin. The latter was in fact a translation made around 1290 by Simon Januensis (Simon of Genoa) and Abraham ben Shem-Tob of Tortosa (Abraham Iudaeus Tortuosensis or Abraham of Tortosa) of a 13th-century Arabic treatise on simple drugs, traditionally attributed to a Pseudo-Serapion (also known as Serapion the Younger). The Arabic original has been recently identified as the Kitab al-Adwiya al-mufrada (Book on Simple Drugs) by the Arab physician Ibn Wafid (d. 1067) of Toledo: see P. Dilg, 'The Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus of Pseudo-Serapion: An Influential Work of Medical Arabism', in Islam and the Italian Renaissance, ed. C. Burnett and A. Contadini (London: The Warburg Institute, 1999), pp. 221-31, with bibliography on Simon of Genoa and Abraham ben Shem-Tob; P. E. Pormann, 'Yuhanna ibn Sarabiyun: Further Studies into the Transmission of his Works', Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 14 (2004), pp. 233-62 (pp. 236-8).
The treatise discusses pharmacological simples and their medicinal properties combining information provided by Dioscorides and Galen and various Arab authorities. The text is divided in two parts: in the first part the simples are classified according to their medicinal properties, whereas the second lists 462 simples according to their origin: vegetal, mineral or animal, with each cathegory organised in alphabetical order.
Ibn Wafid's original Arabic text survives imperfect in a single manuscript, now San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and a number of fragments: see Ibn Wafid (m. 460/1067). Kitab al-Adwiya al-mufrada (Libro de los medicamentos simples), trans. and ed. by L. F. Aguirre de Cárcer with notes and glossary, 2 vols (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1995), with an introduction on Ibn Wafid and his works in vol. 1, pp. 21-33.
For the Latin text, see eTK, A digital resource based on Lynn Thorndike and Pearl Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy, 1963; with supplements in 1965 and 1968; online at https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/?page=Books#etk), no. 1077G.
For Simon Januensis (Simon of Genoa) (fl. 1288-1303), subdeacon of Pope Nicolaus IV, 'capellanus medicus' and canon of Rouen, and his works, see Mirabile (http://www.mirabileweb.it/author/simon-ianuensis-fl-saec-xiii-post-med--author/19643, and http://www.mirabileweb.it/title/de-simplicibus-title/5567; accessed on 1 October 2016) and Text-inc Person Index (http://textinc-person.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/4978; accessed on 1 October 2016); for Abraham Iudaeus Tortuosensis (fl. end of 13th century) and his works, see C.A.L.M.A. Compendium Auctorum Latinorum Medii Aevi, ed. M. Lapidge and others (Firenze: Sismel, 2000-), vol. 1 (2003), p. 9, and Mirabile (http://www.mirabileweb.it/title/de-simplicibus-title/3124; accessed on 1 October 2016).
The Latin text was printed for the first time in Milan by Antonius Zarotus, 4 August 1473 (ISTC is00467000) and again in Venice by Reynaldus de Novimagio, 8 June 1479 (ISTC is00468000), and Bonetus Locatellus, for Octavianus Scotus, 16 December 1497 (ISTC is00466000, together with other medical and pharmacological texts by Serapion the Elder, Galen, Johannes Platearius and Matthaeus Platearius).
A fragment of the beginning of Part I of the Latin text, can be found in Wellcome MS. 536, ff. 65r, column 1, line 48, - 66v, column 2, last line.
Contents:
ff. 1r-266v: Pseudo-Serapion, Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus, in Italian translation, imperfect, breaking in the middle of Part II, chapter 451, 'Grassi e sugnacci' [corresponding to the 'De pinguedine et adipe' chapter in the Latin version].
f. 1r, column 1: Prologue, Incipit: [rubric in red] Inome [sic] di dio e della gloriosa uer-gine madre madonna sancta maria e di tutta la corte di uita eterna amen. Qui incomincia il- [sic] glorioso libro del sarapione delle me-dicine senplici [sic] raccolto e traslatato [sic] dassimone giannensis cioe da noi interpretato abus mam giudeo tortuensis de lingua Latina. prolago [end of rubric] / [P]Ooi [sic] che io uidi il libro di Diascorides el libro di Galieno raccolti nelle medicine senprici [sic] sopra questo quello che e necessario dalla loro sciença ...
f. 2v, column 1, lines 13-18: Prologue, Explicit: … E ordinai li loro capitoli secon-do lalfabeto arabico. Addio per pieta-de adomando aiutorio sopra lo suo gran-de uigore e sopra la sua grande lau-de. incominciando la prima parte di questo libro.
f. 2v, column 1, line 19: Part I, Incipit: [rubric in red] Qui comincia la prima parte di questo libro sermone della sustançia delle medicine. E prima delle medicine di sub-tile sustançia. [end of rubric] / [L]E medicine di sottile substançia anno [sic] natura solamente per loro ...
f. 25v, column 2, lines 2-4: Part I, Explicit: ... Se alcune sono di piante e di metalli. e delle naturali. col laiuto di-dio.
f. 25v, column 2, line 4: Part II, Incipit: [rubric in red] Qui comincia la seconda parte del libro Serapione nelle medicine senpliti [sic] sermone par-ticulare in ciascuna Medicina della diuisione. delle medicine di tre generaçioni [end of rubric] / [line 10] [I]n primo chelle medicine si diuidono in tre parti la prima delle quali e delle medicine che si prendono di metalli. e di pietre ...
Transposition of text on ff. 26v-27v, corresponding to chapters 2 ('Mace'), 3 ('Chapello venero et chiamasi coriandro de poçço'), 4 ('Sparago di pietra .1. Alyon.c.c.'), and part of chapter 5 on oil ('De ulivo dimestico e delle ulive sue'; 'Morchia dolio'), due to a mistake by the scribe who signalled it with notes in the upper margins and red maniculae to the left of the first lines of ff. 26v and 27v respectively; the correct sequence of text is as follows: f. 26r, f. 27v, ff. 26v-27r, f. 28r.
ff. 265r, column 2, lines 2-3, - 266v, column 2, line 38: Part II, chapter 451, beginning and breaking at f. 266v: [f. 265r] [rubric in red] Grassi e sugnacci [end of rubric] / [S]Euini Vrbacim .1. grasso essugnaccio Galieno dice che quando lanimale e humido ... [f. 266v] poi lo metti nel uaso e cuocilo nel uino odoroso di quella medesima quan-[titade] ...