Harley MS 3140, ff 21r-29r

Hippocrates, Aphorismi, with Pseudo-Oribasius, Prologue to the Commentary. The Latin translation of the aphorisms by Hippocrates of Kos (460-375 BC), followed by a prologue to the commentary traditionally attributed to Oribasius, the 4th-century Greek physician to the Emperor Julian the Apostate (r. 361-363). The present Latin version is possibly a direct translation of the original Greek text made in Salerno in the early 12th century, perhaps also using the late antique Ravenna version published by Müller-Rohlfsen (Die lateinische ravennatische Übersetzung de hippokratischen Aphorismen aus dem 5./6. Jahrhundert n. Chr., Hamburg, 1980): see P. Kibre, Hippocrates latinus. Repertorium of Hippocratic Writings in the Latin Middle Ages, rev. edn (New York, 1985), p. 32; O'Boyle 1989, pp. 87-88, who rejects the identification with a late 12th-century translation. Latin translation made by Burgundio of Pisa (d. 1193), a judge and translator of many works from Greek.

Title: 'Incipit liber afforismorum Ypocratis', incipit (f. 21r): 'Vita brevis. Ars vero longa. Tempus autem acutum. Experimentum vero fallax / iudicium autem difficile', explicit (f. 28v): 'Corporibus humidas carnes habentibus famen adhibere convenit fames enim siccat corpora', corresponding to Particula VII, aphorism 60. The text is arranged in seven particulae or books, beginning respectively on ff. 21r, 21v, 22v, 23v, 25r, 26v, 27v. Followed (ff. 28v-29r) by the prologue of the Pseudo-Oribasius, title 'Prologus in Afforismos ypocratis', incipit (f. 28v): 'Afforismorum ypocratis huius nove editionis ea causa existit', explicit (f. 29r): 'et pauper quidam distinc-/tione dives vero intellectu'. Both texts with glosses. For the Latin text see also L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, The Mediaeval Academy of America Publication, 29 (London, 1963; with supplements in 1965 and 1968), pp. 144g and 1704f; its electronic edition (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), nos. 144G and 1704F. First printed at Padua by Nicolaus Petri c.1476: for references to the edition see item 1 above. For a modern edition of the original Greek text with English translation see Hippocrates, ed. by W. H. S. Jones, Loeb Classical Library, 150 (Cambridge, Mass., 1931), IV, pp. 97-221.