Hippocrates latinus: repertorium of Hippocratic writings in the Latin Middle Ages. (VI).

Abstract

The Repertorium of Hippocratic Latin texts in the Middle Ages, begun in Traditio 31 (1975) 99–126 and continued in the issues following, here resumes with a number of tracts clearly labelled as by Hippocrates in medieval Latin manuscripts. In general, these texts contain traditional or characteristic features of Hippocratic medical theory and practice, particularly the emphasis upon the relation of climate and seasons to health, upon the four humors and the importance of maintaining a harmonious relation between food and exercise. They also, especially in the Oath (Iusiurandum) and the Law (Lex), reveal the importance placed on ethics and the moral and correct professional conduct of the physician. The fact that most of these treatises were available in the Latin West before the close of the fourteenth century should serve to modify traditional views regarding the lack of direct knowledge of Hippocrates before the so-called Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.