Book Reviews tions of medical plants (124.1-6). It would have been clearer if these illustrative references had been separated from the testimonia proper and collected under the translation on the facing page. In the apparatus criticus the testimonia receive inconsistent and at times misleading treatment. Often an emendation is recorded as made "after Aetius and [Galen]"; yet without their actual words, it is impossible to tell where they offer a direct quota- tion or a paraphrase reintegrated by the editor. Elsewhere the evidence of later cita- tions is omitted (e.g. 112.1; 122.5, where the reading of Aetius and [Galen] is pre- ferable to that adopted in the text and, at worst, provided the inspiration for Sideras' emendation). Daremberg's transposition of the title to "kidneys and bladder" may be further supported by the fact that the Arabs referred to it similarly and not, as the Greek Mss. have it, to "bladder and kidneys", yet of this the apparatus gives not a word and the introduction, p. 69f., is misleading. As a result, this edition, which is likely to remain standard for at least as long as Daremberg's, is less comprehensive than it at first appears, and can only be properly used with other texts open at hand and with Sideras' 1971 Mainz Abhandlung available as a constant defence of emenda- tions and disputed readings. [FIRMICUS MATERNUS], Ancient astrology, theory and practice. The Mathesis of Firmicus Maternus, translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Park Ridge, N.J., Noyes Press, 1975, pp. xi, 336, illus., $10.00. The hopes and fears of the average man in classical antiquity are better studied from the predictions of an astrologer than from the chronicles of a historian. "What career shall I choose?" "Shall I recover from my illness?" "Whom should I marry?" The answers to such questions were found in the stars, not the archives. Even Galen believed in the influence of astral periodicities, if suitably rationalized (1.54; IX.911 K.; CMG V.10.2.2.244, 485) and Firmicus Maternus' handbook, written C. A.D. 334, contains plenty of advice for the star-dominated invalid: Mars in Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces or Cancer, if in opposition to the Moon, brings on impetigo, leprosy and jaundice (7.20.10). Professor Bram has performed a useful service by making this fascinating work available in English, although the translation is not always fluent. 'Malefic' and 'benefic' are ugly and unnecessary alternatives to 'male-' and 'beneficent'; 'regularly elected consuls' (3.3.10; 5.2; 13.9) requires more elucidation than the note on p. 304; and campi doctores (8.28.1) should be translated 'drill instructors', not 'army doctors'. Emperors might try to ban astrology, and philosophers despise it: Firmicus' clients, whether high-born consuls or sweaty sewer-cleaners, knew better. Readers of Medical History should therefore be warned that (8.25.10) those who have the ascendant in the 30th degree of Libra will be verbose liars, inflated with fluent speech; or, if benefient planets are conjoined, great physicians who travel much and die a violent death. EBERHARD HERMES (translator and editor), The 'Disciplina clericalis' of Petrus Alfonsi, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977, 8vo, pp. x, 203, £5.95. In 1106 a Jewish physician and theologian from Huesca in Aragon embraced the 208 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025727300032361 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Carnegie Mellon University, on 06 Apr 2021 at 01:07:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025727300032361 https://www.cambridge.org/core Book Reviews Christian faith and took the name of Petrus Alfonsi. His Disciplina clericalis was widely known throughout medieval Europe in Latin and in translations, and consists of proverbs, poetry, fables, anecdotes, and tales of men's fates. A translation by Eberhard Hermes into German appeared in 1970 and Mr. P. R. Quarrie has now prepared an English version ofthe original Latin text, with reference to Hermes' work. He has also translated Hermes' lengthy introduction (pp. 3-99), which describes 'The author and his times', and also the position of Jews in medieval Spanish society. Of interest to historians of medicine and science is the part dealing with medieval attitudes to scientific investigations, and there are also a number of references in the text to medicine, which supplement our limited knowledge of it in this period. In view of this and of its wide influence Dr. Quarrie's excellent and scholarly translation should be carefully studied by all those concerned with medieval medicine and science. ARTEMIDORUS, The interpretation of dreams. Oneirocritica, with translation and commentary by Robert J. White, Park Ridge, N. J., Noyes Press, 1975, 8vo, pp. ix, 259, $15.00. Written in the second century A.D. by a professional dream-interpreter, this book appears here in English for the first time. There is a lengthy introduction to the five constituent books, each with lengthy commentaries. Literally hundreds of dreams are related and interpreted, and no doubt the psycho- analyst will find all these data of overwhelming interest. Its value to the less romantic is not so obvious, and the statement on the dustjacket that interest in dreams and their meaning "is one of the hallmarks of the intellectual life of this century" can hardly be taken seriously. However, as far as classical studies are concerned, it is important to have an accurate and scholarly translation of a well-known author's writings on a theme of interest and concern to the Ancient World. Thus, the great significance of the dream in the Classical and pre-Classical era makes this a note- worthy contribution, and it opens up a new area for the non-Greek reader. On these grounds it can be warmly recommended. PETER SHARRATT (editor), French Renaissance studies, 1540-70. Humanism and the encyclopedia, Edinburgh University Press, 1976, 8vo, pp. ix, 976, £8.00. In this collection there are fourteen essays, three in French, on highly specialized topics, all presented at a conference in Edinburgh in 1974. Each is a scholarly produc- tion and together they illustrate a variety of approaches and attitudes to the central theme of the meeting, which was French Renaissance education, 1540 to 1570. Historians of medicine and science will be particularly interested in the papers by M. A. Screech on 'Medicine and literature: aspects of Rabelais and Montaigne (with a glance at the law)' and by W. P. D. Wightman on 'Cosmological and technological trends in the French Renaissance'. Others on meteorology and French poetry, the scientific poetry of Guy Lef6vre de la Boderie, and on the teaching of mathematics in France, 1540 to 1570, will also be found useful, as will be the remainder, to those studying Renaissance medicine or science. These are concerned mainly with the liberal arts, but also with the encyclopedia, ethics, and law. 209 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025727300032361 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Carnegie Mellon University, on 06 Apr 2021 at 01:07:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025727300032361 https://www.cambridge.org/core