Pseudo-Apuleius

[image: Kassel Mandragora.jpg|thumb|210px|Manuscript Kassel; 9th century, Mandragora]
Pseudo-Apuleius is the name given in modern scholarship to the author of a 4th-century herbal known as Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius or Herbarium Apuleii Platonici. The author of the text apparently wished readers to think that it was by Apuleius of Madaura, the Roman poet and philosopher, but modern scholars do not believe this attribution. Little or nothing else is known of Pseudo-Apuleius.
The oldest surviving manuscript of the Herbarium is the 6th-century Leiden, MS. Voss. Q.9. Until the 12th century it was the most influential herbal in Europe, with numerous extant copies surviving into the modern era, along with several copies of an Old English translation. Thereafter, it was more or less displaced by the Circa instans, a herbal produced at the school of Salerno. "Pseudo-Apuleius" is also used as a shorthand generic term to refer to the manuscripts and derived works.

Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius

Text

The text itself is based on earlier sources, mostly from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia and Dioscorides's De materia medica. Scholars agree that it was compiled in the 4th century, according to Sigerist from Latin, according to Singer from Greek sources. Each of the 128 to 131 chapters deals with one medical plant. In these chapters the name of the plant is followed by the enumeration of indications in the form of recipes and by synonyms of the plant's name.
For example: Chapter 89, Herba millefolium :

Text	Translation
Herba millefolium	The herb millefolium
1. Ad dentium dolorem. Herbae millefolium radicem ieiunus conmanducet.	1. For toothache. The root of the herb millefolium should be chewed before breakfast.
2. Ad uulnera de ferro facta. Herba millefolium cum axungia pistata et inposita uulnera purgat et sanat.	2. For wounds inflicted by iron. If you put on the herb millefolium crushed in fat, so it cleans and heals wounds.
3. Ad tumores. Herbam millefolium contusam cum butiro inpone.	3. For tumours. Put on the herb millefolium crushed in butter.
4. Ad urinae difficultatem. Herbae millefolium sucus cum aceto bibitur, mire sanat.	4. For difficulties of urination. The juice of the herb millefolium drunk mixed with wine vinegar, heals wonderfully.
Nomina herbae. A Graecis dicitur miriofillon, alii ambrosiam, alii ciliofillon, alii crisitis, Galli mulicandos, alii uigentia, Daci diodela, Itali millefolium, alii militaris, alii Achillion, alii supercilium Veneris, alii cereum siluaticum. Hanc herbam Achilles inuenit, unde ferro percussus sanabat, quae ob id Achillea uocatur, de hac sanasse Telephium dicitur.	Names of the herb. The Greeks call it miriofillon, others ambrosia, others ciliofillon, others crisitis. The Gauls mulicandos, others vigentia. The Dacians diodela. The Italians millefolium, others militaris, others Achillion, others supercilium Veneris, others cereum silvaticum. This herb was discovered by Achilles because it healed wounds, beaten by iron. It was therefore named Achillea.
Nascitur in palustris locis …	It grows in swampy areas...

Associated texts

In the surviving codices the Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius was combined with other treatises:

De herba vettonica. Treatise dealing with the herb Stachys officinalis. It was falsely ascribed to Antonius Musa, physician of the Roman emperor Augustus.
Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius.
De taxone liber. Anonymous treatise on the use of the European badger in medicine.
Liber medicinae ex animalibus ascribed to an unknown Roman physician named "Sextus Placitus Papyriensis".
* A-version with 12 chapters about quadrupeds.
* B-version with 31 chapters about quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, spiders, insects and humans.
Dioscorides de herbis femininis. According to Riddle written before the 6th century in Southern Europe.
Precatio terrae matris and Precatio omnium herbarum.

Manuscripts

Howald and Sigerist divided the codices into 3 classes according to the varying mixture of associated texts in the codices:

α-class containing parts 1, 2, 3, 4a and 5, moreover better synonyms than in the β-class-texts and no interpolations. The α-class is considered to be the class with the best text-tradition.
β-class containing parts 1, 2, 3, 4b, 5 and 6, moreover interpolations. The ß-class is considered to be the class with the best illustrations.
γ-class containing parts 1, 2 and 6, without the interpolations of the β-class. γ-class contains the oldest manuscripts.

Class	Abbreviation	Name of the codex	Century
α	Ca	Monte Cassino, Archivo de la Badia, Cod. 97	9th century.
α	M	Munich, Bayrische Staatsbibliothek, Fragmenta Emeranensia, Clm 14672, 14766 und 15028, in all 8 pages.	7th century.
α	L	Lucca, Bibliotheka Governativa, MS. 296	9th century.
α	Hal	Halberstadt, Domschatz, Inv.-Nr. 465–466 fol. Ir–IIv, Palimpsest.	7th century.
α	Be	Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Fragmentum Berolinense Ms. Lat. fol. 381 no. 1	8th century.
α	Ha	London, British Library, Harley MS 4986	12th century.
α	V	Vienna, Codex Vindobonensis 187	12th century.
α	A	London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius C III	11th century.
β	Hil	Hildesheim, Beverinsche Bibliothek, MS. 658	8th century.
β	Vr	Bratislava, Codex Vratislaviensis Bibl. univ. III F 19	9th century.
β	Bodley 130	Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 130	11th century.
β	He	Herten, Codicis medici Hertensis, destroyed by fire	9th century.
β	B	Bamberg, Codex Bambergensis med 8	13th century.
β	Laur. 7341	Florence, Bibliotheca Laurenziana, MS. 73,41	9th century.
β	Va	Vatican, Codex Vaticanus Barberinus 160	11th century.
β	Vat. Lat. 6337	Vatican, Codex Vaticanus lat. 6337	15th century.
β	Laur. 7316	Florence, Bibliotheca Laurenziana, MS. 73,16	13th century.
β	Vi	Codex Vindobonensis 93	13th century.
β	Arsenal 1031	Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Codex 1031	15th century.
β	Paris 6862	Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. lat. 6862	10th century.
β	Ber	Berlin, Codex Berolinensis Hamil. 307	15th century.
γ	E	Fragmentum Epporigiense	7th century.
γ	Vo	Leiden, Universitätsbibliothek, MS. Voss. Lat. Q. 9	6th century.
γ	C	Kassel, Landesbibliothek, 2° MS. phys. et hist. nat. 10	10th century.

Singer, Grape-Albers and Collins cited more manuscripts:

St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 217, 9th century.
London, British Library, Harley MS 585, 11th – 12th century.
London, British Library, Harley MS 1585, 12th century.
London, British Library, Harley MS 5294, 12th century.
London, British Library, Harley MS 6258 B, 12th century.
London, British Library, Sloane MS 1975, 12th century.
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1431, 11th century.
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1462, 12th century.
Turin, Bibliotheca Universitaria, MS. K IV 3, 11th century, destroyed by fire.

Several more manuscripts can be added :

Leiden, University Library, MS BPL 1283, c 1300
Leiden, University Library, MS Voss.Lat.Qu. 13, 10th century
Leiden, University Library, MS Voss.Lat.Qu. 40, 11th century
Montpellier, Bibliothèque de l'Ecole de Médecine, MS 277, 15th century
The Hague, Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum MS 10 D 7, 10th century

Translation: the ''Old English Herbarium''

A version of the Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius was translated into Old English, surviving now in four manuscripts:

London, British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius C III
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Hatton 76
London, British Library, Harley MS 585
London, British Library, Harley MS 6258 B

Like many of the Latin manuscripts, it includes the Herbarium of Pseudo-Apuleius, De herba vetonica, De taxone, medicina de quadrupedibus, and the Liber medicinae ex herbis feminis. It was first edited and translated by Oswald Cockayne, re-edited in 1984 by Jan de Vriend, re-translated in 2002 by Anne Van Arsdall, and again re-edited and re-translated in 2023 by John D. Niles and Maria A. D'Aronco. A variety of dates and places have been suggested for the production of this translation, ranging from eighth-century Northumbria to late-tenth-century Winchester, with recent scholarship tending towards tenth-century Wessex.

Incunabula and early printings

Based on a 9th-century manuscript of Monte Cassino the first incunable of Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius was printed in Rome in 1481.
The first printing in northern Europe was done in 1537 in Zürich.

Editions

de Vriend, Hubert Jan, The Old English Herbarium and Medicina de Quadrupedibus, The Early English Text Society, 286.
Kai Brodersen. Apuleius, Heilkräuterbuch / Herbarius, Latin and German. Marix, Wiesbaden.
Niles, John D. and Maria A. D'Aronco, Medical Writings from Early Medieval England, Volume I: The Old English Herbal, Lacnunga, and Other Texts, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 81. Old English and Modern English translation.