THE ANGLO-SAXON HERBALS 11 



the figure stand out beyond the petals and look like rays of 

 light, with a general effect that is curiously pleasing. One of 

 the most interesting figures is that of the mandrake (painted in 

 a deep madder), which embodies the old legend that it was 

 death to dig up the root, and that therefore a dog was tied to 

 a rope and made to drag it up. It is the opinion of some 

 authorities that these figures show the influence of the school 

 represented by the two splendid Vienna manuscripts of 

 Dioscorides dating from the fifth and seventh centuries. There 

 is no definite evidence of this, and though the illustrations in 

 the Saxon manuscript show the influence of the classical 

 tradition, they are poor compared with those in the Vienna 

 manuscript. To some extent at least the drawings in this 

 herbal must necessarily have been copies, for many of the 

 plants are species unknown in this country. 



The Saxon translation of the Uepl AtSa^icov (Harl. 6258) is 

 a thin volume badly mutilated in parts. Herr Max Lowenbeck ^ 

 has shown that this is in part translated from a treatise by an 

 eleventh-century writer, Petrocellus or Petronius, of the School 

 of Salerno — the original treatise being entitled Practica Petrocelli 

 Salernitani? As has been pointed out by many eminent 

 authorities, the School of Salerno, being a survival of Greek 

 medicine, was uncontaminated by superstitious medicine. Con- 

 sequently there are striking differences between this and the 

 other Saxon manuscripts. The large majority of the herbs 

 mentioned are those of Southern Europe, and the pharmacy is 

 very simple compared with the number of herbs in prescriptions 

 of native origin. As Dr. J. F. Payne ^ has pointed out, Herr 

 Lowenbeck's important discovery does not account for the whole 

 of the Enghsh book. The order of the chapters differs from 

 that of the Salernitan writer; there are passages not to be 

 found in the Practica, and in some places the English text gives 



^ Erlanger, Beiirdge zur englischen Philologie, No. XII. (TrcpJ StSa^ewi'), 

 eine Sammlung von Rezepten in englischer Sprache. 



2 Printed by De Renzi in Collectio Salernitana, Vol. IV. (Naples, 1S56). 



3 English Medicme in the Anglo-Saxon Times. 



