Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/57

Rh ORIBASIUS. four children when Eunapius inserted the account of his life in his " Vitae Philosophorum et So- phistarum," that is, at least as late as the year 395. (See Clinton's Fasti Rom.) Of the per- sonal character of Oribasius we know little or nothing, but it is clear that he was much attached to paganism and to the heathen philosophy. He was an intimate friend of Eunapius, who praises him very highly, and wrote an account of his life. He attended the philosopher Chrysanthius on his death-bed (Eunap. I. c. p. 197) ; and there is a short letter addressed to him by Isidorus of Pelu- sium {Epist. i. 437, ed. Paris, 1038), and two epigrams written in his honour in the Greek An- thology (ix. ] 9^^ and A?ithoL Planud. iv. 274, vol. ii. p. 106, iii. 295, ed. Tauchn.). He is several times quoted by Aetius and Paulus Aegineta. Some of his works were translated into Arabic (see Wenrich, De Auctor. Graecor. Versio?i. Syriac. Arab. &c. p. 295) ; and an abridgement of them was made by Theophanes at the com- mand of the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. (See Lambec. Biblioth. Vindob. vi. pp. 261, 264, 266, ed. KoUar.) We possess at present three works of Ori- basius, which are generally considered to be ge- nuine. The first of these is called ^vvayoyyaX ^larpiKai, Colleda Mediclnalia., or sometimes 'E§5ofxr)KovTd§L§Aos, Hebdomecontabiblos (Paul. Aegin. lib. i. Praef.), and is the work that was compiled (as was said above) at the command of Julian, when Oribasius was still a young man. Tt would be impossible to give here an analysis of its contents. It contains but little original matter, but is very valuable on account of the numerous extracts from writers whose works are no longer extant. This work had become scarce, on account of its bulk, as early as the time of Paulus Aegineta (Paul. Aegin. /. c.) ; it was translated into Syriac in the ninth century by Honain Ibn Ishak and Isa Ibn Yahya, with the title " Collectionis Medi- cinalis Libri Septuaginta" (Wenrich, I.e.); but in the following century, though Haly Abbas was aware of its existence, he says he had never seen more than one book out of the seventy. {Theor. i. 1, p. 5, ed. 1523.) More than half of this Avork is now lost, and what remains is in some confusion, so that it is not easy to specify exactly how many books are at present actually in existence ; it is, however, believed that we possess twenty-five (viz. 1—15, 21, 22, 24, 25, 44—49), with frag- ments of two others (viz. 50 and 51). The first fifteen books were first published in a Latin trans- lation by J. Bapt. Ra sarins (together with the 24th and 25th), Venet. 8vo. without date, but before 1555. They were published in Greek and Latin by C. F. Matthaei, Mosqu. J 808, 4to., but with the omission of all the extracts from Galen, Rufus Ephesius, and Dioscorides. This edition, which is very scarce, is entitled " XXI. Veterum et Clarorum Medicorum Graecorum varia Opus- cula." The first and second books had been previously published in Greek and Latin by C. G. Gruner, Jenae, 1782, 4to. Books 21 and 22 were discovered in MS. by Dietz about fifteen years ago, but have not hitherto been published, either in Greek or Latin. (See Dietz, ScJtol. in Hippocr. et Gal. vol. i. praef. ; Daremberg, Rapport adresse a M. le Ministre de V Instruction Piibliquey Paris, Bvo. 1845, p. 7.) Books 24 and 25 treat of anatomy, and may perhaps be the work translated ORIBASIUS. 45 into Arabic with the title " De Membrorum Ana- tomia." (Wenrich, /. c.) They were translated into Latin by J. Bapt. Rasarius, and published together with the first fifteen books. A Greek edition appeared at Paris, 1556, 8vo, ap. Guil. Morelium, with the title " Collectaneonira Artis Medicae Liber," &c. ; and W. Dundass published them in Greek and Latin in 1735, 4to. Lugd. Bat., with the title " Oribasii Anatomica ex Li- bris Galeni." Book 44 was published in Greek and Latin, with copious notes, by U. C. Bussemaker, Groning. 1835, 8vo. ; having previously appeared in Greek, together with books 45, 48, and 49, and parts of 50 and 51 (but with the omission of all the extracts from Galen and Hippocrates), in the fourth volume of Angelo Mai's " Classic! Auctores e Vaticanis Codicibus editi." Rom. 1831, 8vo. Books 46 and 47 were published by Ant. Cocchi at Florence, 1754, fol. in Greek and Latin, with the title "■ Graecorum Chirurgici Libri," &c. Books 48 and 49 were first published in Latin by Vidus Vidius in his " Chirurgia e Graeco in Latinum a se conversa," &c. ; and are to be found in Greek, together with fragments of books 50 and 51, in Angelo Mai's collection mentioned above. It will appear at once, from the above list of the editions of the different parts of this work, how much we are in want of a critical and uniform edition of those books which still remain; a want which (as we learn from M. Daremberg's Rapport., quoted above) is likely to be supplied by Dr. Basse- maker. The second work of Oribasius, that is still extant, was written probably about thirty years after the above, of which it is an abridgment {'Zvvoi^iis). It consists of nine books, and is addressed to hia son Eustathius, for whose use and at whose request it was composed. This work was translated into Arabic by Honain Ibn Ishak, with the title " Ad Filium suum Eustathium Libri Novem " ( Wen- rich, I. c), and was known to Haly Abbas, who, as well as Paulus Aegineta (/. c), notices the omission of several topics which he considered ought to have found a place in it. It has never been published in Greek, but was translated into Latin by J. Bapt. Rasarius, and printed at Venice, 1554, 8vo. The third work of Oribasius is entitled Ew- wSpicTTa^ Euporista or De facile Parabilibus, and consists of four books. It is addressed to Eu- napius, probably his friend and biographer, who requested Oribasius to imdertake the work, though Photius says (/. c.) that in his time some copies were ascribed to a person of the name of Eu- genius. Sprengel doubts (Hist, de la Med.) the genuineness of this work, but probably without sufficient reason: it appears to be the "smaller" work of Oribasius mentioned by Haly Abbas (I. c), and is probably the treatise that was trans- lated into Arabic by Stephanus with the title " De Medicamentis Usitatis " (Wenrich, I. c). Both this and the preceding work were intended as manuals of the practice of medicine, and are in a great measure made up of extracts from his " Col- lecta Medicinalia." The Greek text has never been printed. The first Latin translation was published by J. Sichard, Basil. 1529, fol. at the end of his edition of Caelius Aurelianus ; tlie next edition is that by J. Bapt. Rasarius, Venet- 1558, 8vo., Avhich is more complete than the preceding. Rasarius united the "Synopsis ad Eustathium,'*