[2443] See below p. 683. Schanz fails to mention it among the apocryphal works of Apuleius.
[2444] H. Köbert, De Pseudo-Apulei herbarum medicaminibus, Bayreuth, 1888. Schanz (1905) 138, mentions only continental MSS, although there are numerous MSS of it in the British Museum and Bodleian libraries, some of which have been used and others described by O. Cockayne in his edition of the Herbarium and the other treatises accompanying it in his Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, Vol. I (1864) in RS XXXV. Nor does Schanz note Cockayne’s book.
[2445] See Sloane 1975, a vellum MS of the 12th or early 13th century written in fine large letters and beautifully illuminated; Ashmole 1431, end of 11th century, and 1462, 13th century, fol. 45r. Harleian 4986, Apuleii Platonici de medicamentis cum figuris pictis, is another early illuminated English MS. Cockayne I, lxxxii, does not date it, but the MSS catalogue lists it as tenth century. In CU Trinity 1152, 14th century, James (III, 162-3) estimates the number of colored drawings as between 800 and 1000; he describes only a few. Singer (1921) reproduces a number of such illuminations from MSS of the Herbarium and of Dioscorides.
[2446] Lucca 236, 9-10th century, “Herbarium Apuleii Platonici quem accepit a Chironi magistro Achillis et ab Escolapio explicit feliciter.” In Cotton Vitellius C-III, early 11th century, in Anglo-Saxon, although the title reads, “The Herbarium of Apuleius the Platonist which he received from Esculapius and Chiron the centaur, the master of Achilles,” a full page painting shows Plato and Chiron receiving the volume from Aesculapius (Cockayne, I, lxxxviii). And Sloane 1975 and Harleian 1585 speak of the Herbarium as “Liber Platonis Apoliensis.” In a 15th century MS (Rawlinson C-328, fol. 113v-, Incipit de herbis Galieni Apolei et Ciceronis) Galen and Cicero, who perhaps replace Chiron and Aesculapius, are associated with Apuleius as authors.
[2447] Daremberg (1853), 11-12, said that the pagan incantations were preserved intact in a number of MSS at Oxford and Cambridge. Conjurations of herbs are not limited to the Pseudo-Apuleius in medieval MSS but sometimes occur singly as in Perugia 736, 13th century, where at fol. 267 a 14th century hand has added a passage in Latin which may be translated: “In the name of Christ, Amen. I conjure you, herb, that I may conquer by lord Peter etc. by moon and stars etc. and may you conquer all my enemies, pontiff and priests and all laymen and all women and all lawyers who are against me etc.” In Sloane 1571, 15th century, fols. 1-6, at the close of fragments of a Latin-English dictionary of herbs is a Latin prayer entitled, Benedictio omnium herbarum.
[2448] The above passages are from Sloane 1975 and the edition of 1547.
[2449] Ashmole 1431, 11th century, fol. 3r, “In nomine domini incipit herboralium apuleii platonis quod accepit ascolapio et chirone centauro magistro. Lege feliciter. Precantatio omnium herbarum ad singulas curas.” CU Trinity 1152, 14th century, fol. 1. Gonville and Caius 345, 14th century, fol. 89v.
[2450] Or Papyriensis Placitus.
[2451] Perhaps merely for “auctor.” ed. Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. XIII, 395-423, Sexti Placiti liber de medicina ex animalibus.
[2452] In Montpellier 277, 15th century, “Liber Sesti platonis de animalibus,” perhaps because the Apuleius of the Herbarium is called a Platonist. In Digby 43, late 14th century, fol. 15, “Liber Septiplanti Papiensis de bestiis et avibus medicinalis.” In Rawlinson C-328, 15th century, fol. 128, “Incipit liber Papiriensis ex animalibus ex avibus.” The work is sometimes found in juxtaposition with a somewhat similar “Liber medicinalis de secretis Galieni,” concerning which see below, chapter 64, II, 761.