Note 280 — LETTER IV. (continued 2)

This MS. was purchased by the Emperor, and is still preserved at Vienna. It is one of the most ancient and remarkable MSS. in existence. It was written at Constantinople, towards the end of the fifth century, for Juliana Anicia, daughter of the Emperor Olybrius, who died A.D. 472. On the second and third pages are two miniatures, each representing seven famous botanists and physicians assembled in consultation. Among those represented in the second are Dioscorides himself and Cratevas. On the fifth page is a picture of Dioscorides engaged in the composition of his work. Visconti considers that the resemblance of the two portraits of Dioscorides proves that they were taken from a real original, and are not imaginary. On the sixth page is a picture of Juliana Anicia seated on a throne between two allegorical figures of Wisdom and Magnanimity. A winged Cupid, above whom is written ‘The Love of the Creator of Wisdom,’ is presenting her with an open book, while a kneeling figure entitled Gratitude is kissing the feet of the princess. Engravings of these pictures, which, apart from their antiquity, are remarkable as works of art, are given by Visconti, Iconographie Grecque, vol. i. ch. 7, and by Montfaucon, Palæographia Græca, bk. iii. ch. 2. Throughout the MS. the description of each plant is illustrated by a figure.

Dioscorides was a famous botanist and physician, who wrote a celebrated treatise on Materia Medica. Cratevas was a Greek herbalist, who is supposed to have lived about the beginning of the first century B.C. The great work of Busbecq’s friend, Mattioli (see note 1 page 415), was his edition of Dioscorides.