Apici Excerpta A Vinidario Viro Inlustri
FIFTH CENTURY
Vinidarius, a Goth, of noble birth or a scientist, living in Italy. Vinithaharjis is the native name. Of his time and life very little is known. It appears that he was a student of Apicius and that he made certain excerpts from that book which are preserved in the uncial codex of Salmasius, sæc. VIII, Paris, lat. 10318.
Vollmer in his Apicius commentary says that Salmasius and his predecessors have accepted them as genuine. Schuch incorporated these recipes in the Apicius text of his editions, in appropriate places, as he thought. This course cannot be recommended, although the recipes should form an integral part of any Apicius edition.
M. Ihm, who faithfully reprinted the excerpta in the Archiv f. lat. Lex. XV, 64, ff. says distinctly: “These excerpts have nothing to do with the ten books of Apicius, even if some recipes resemble each other ...” and other researchers have expressed the same opinion. Vollmer, however, does not share this view.
If I may be permitted to concur with Vollmer, I would say that the excerpts are quite Apician in character, and that in a sense they fill certain gaps in the Apicius text, although the language is strongly vulgarized which may be readily expected to be the case in the age of Vinidarius.
The recipes of Anthimus, written around A.D. 511 also confirm the close relation existing between Vinidarius and Apicius. Anthimus was the Greek physician to Theodoric I, (The Great), Frankish king living in Italy. He was not acquainted with Apicius.
SUMMARY OF SPICES BREVIS PIMENTORUM [1]
WHICH SHOULD BE IN THE HOUSE ON HAND SO THAT THERE MAY BE NOTHING WANTING [in the line of condiments]: SAFFRON, PEPPER, GINGER, LASER, LEAVES [laurel-bay-nard], MYRTLE BERRIES, COSTMARY, CHERVIL [2], INDIAN SPIKENARD, ADDENA [3], CARDAMOM, SPIKENARD.