L’Arte de la medicina de le bestie (anonymous Tuscan translation of Publius Vegetius Renatus, Mulomedicina or Digesta artis mulomedicinalis, The Art of Medicine for Beasts)

L’Arte de la medicina de le bestie (anonymous Tuscan translation of Publius Vegetius Renatus, Mulomedicina or Digesta artis mulomedicinalis, The Art of Medicine for Beasts)

Publius Vegetius Renatus (ca. 383–450 AD) is principally known as the author of two surviving works: the Epitomata rei militaris, whose influence on military tactics endured in the post-Classical world; and the Mulomedicina, a concise summary of ancient veterinary science derived in part from two earlier works. As a high-ranking Roman official, Vegetius traveled extensively throughout the Roman Empire, learning from the Barbarians and the Huns he encountered, and acquiring a working knowledge of horses and bovines, including the different breeds and the various equine diseases and their remedies. Veterinary activity chiefly dealt with the health of beasts of burden: horses, mules, donkeys, and cattle, for much economic and military activity depended on their wellbeing. The Mulomedicina maintained its popularity in the later Middle Ages, and four distinct dialectal Italian translations of the text appeared in the Renaissance. The present manuscript contains the first vernacular adaptation in a Tuscan dialect.

Author: Publius Vegetius Renatus; Translator: Anonymous

ca. 1450–75

Manuscript on parchment, 92 fols.

University of Pennsylvania, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, LJS 484

Ferrara (?), Italy