04-08-2018, 07:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-16-2018, 11:42 AM by Michael Kerr.)
Was the writer Flavius Vegetius Renatus who wrote the Epitoma Rei Militaris the same person as Publius Vegetius Renatus the author of Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae? Vegetius always seems to create a lot of discussion in RAT mainly over dating of his works and military terminology but going back on some of the old threads he still comes across as a mysterious person who we really don't know too much about.
Whether the two are the same person will probably never be able to be comprehensively proved or disproved but there is a little bit of information on the Vegetius who wrote the Mulomedicina?
Was he a veterinarian himself or a wealthy landowner, maybe an owner or trainer of chariot horses for the various circuses of the time of which there were many throughout the empire? In the sixth chapter of the third book of his Mulomedicina, he proclaims himself qualified to pronounce on the characteristics and merits of various breeds of horses because he has detailed personal knowledge of them, gained from his extensive travels throughout the empire and keeping horses in his own stables so being a veteran traveler who paid particular attention to the health of his mounts, he would have remembered the beneficial characteristics of the various breeds he encountered, and offered practical advice. Could he have been a wealthy bureaucrat charged with procuring military and civil mounts or as S. H. Rosenbaum suggested in his paper Who was Vegetius?, available on Academia, that Vegetius was a high ranking official with the cursus publicus ?
The late Dr Margaret Mezzabotta who was tragically killed in a car accident in South Africa in 2000 before she was able to complete a translation of Vegetius’s Mulomedicina wrote that Vegetius appeared to be a wealthy land owner who wrote the Mulomedicina for others and he said that he felt obliged to write the book for several reasons. Prominent among his motives were his own love for horses which he kept from a young age, his concern that contempt for veterinary medicine had led to its practice by poor-quality individuals; and because he thought that the books available were badly written. Veterinarians were not held in high esteem for their work in those days except maybe for the army or for chariot horse racing, farmers and landholders were left to their own devices when it came to treating their animals and livestock and it was probably for them that he wrote this book. His main sources were Columella’s De Re Rustica, who Vegetius mentioned seemed only to cover farm management with not much information on cures, Apsyrtus a Greek who apparently was a late 3rd or early 4th century military veterinarian from Prousa or Nicomedia, and a soldier who served on the Danube under Constantine. Apsyrtus mentions Sarmatian and Thracian horses but does not say whether these Sarmatians were fighting for the Romans or against them and wrote that while campaigning with the legions he was stationed on the Danube, "I learned about the accidents that befall horses, and those in which they die and have gathered these, and the remedies for them". but Vegetius thought he showed poor Latinity in his writing, another source was the mid Fourth Century Ars veterinaria of Pelagonius which seemed to concentrate on race horses and Vegetius complained that Pelagonius seemed to be addressing himself to experts with a lack of basic information and the Mulomedicina Chironis, the author Chiron probably being a pseudonym from around the same period which was a compilation in 10 books, the first eight of which deal with horses and include references to donkeys and mules as well, while prescriptions and remedies for cattle, sheep, goats and pigs are found in the last two. Like Apsyrtus Vegetius thought Chiron’s book while technically superior was written in poor Latin. Other sources he may have used are The Curae Boum of Gargilius Martialis, an agricultural writer of the third century dealing with treatments for horses, mules and bovines also the De veterinaria medicina of Palladius which consisted of excerpts from Columella.
Vegetius wrote in his prologue for his Mulomedicina “Since from my earliest days I have been fired with enthusiasm for keeping horses – I have seized on this task eagerly, to collect together into a single work all the Latin writers, at least, consulting the veterinary authors also and not omitting the medical writers (for veterinary scholarship does not differ in so many respects from the art of medicine but in most instances agrees with it) and, in so far as my mediocre ability allows, to set out all the essentials fully and concisely and to make known the causes and symptoms of diseases”.
Vegetius’s Mulomedicina consisted of four books, the first three devoted to horses and mules while the fourth, evidently added later at the request of friends, covers the diseases of cattle.
Vegetius seemed to have a genuine concern about the treatment of animals and was dissatisfied with the state of veterinary medicine in his day, with low fees paid for those who treat animals and with the neglectful and miserly attitude of owners. Similar to the author of the Epitome he complains about the influence of barbarians and he laments, “even the practice of the art itself has died, under the influence of the model offered by the Huns of not stabling their horses, or of other barbarian races, while people shrinking from spending money pretend that they are following the practice of barbarians and consign their animals, untreated, to winter pastures and to the accidents that arise from negligence”. Barbarian horses differ significantly in physique and upbringing. The horses of the barbarians are hardier than the Roman horses and from the time they are foals they are accustomed to manage without medication. They thrive in winter pastures and suffer no ill effects from the cold and frosts. Roman mounts, on the other hand, are more delicate. They are used to shelter and to warm stables (Vegetius presumably had their winter care specifically in mind). If they were to be left out in the open in winter to fend for themselves, any minor ailment might cause them to develop a serious disease immediately.
But while he complains about the barbarians on one hand he does offer praise on some of their treatment methods such as fixing hip-dislocations on their horses. “After warming and relaxing the afflicted area by placing the animal in the sun and massaging the joint, they try to make the hip snap back into place. One man leads the horse while another follows, holding a longish rope tied to the upper part of the femur. The horse is encouraged to run and the man with the rope jerks it back towards himself. A clicking sound indicates that the dislocation has been corrected.” He never mentioned which barbarians treated their horses injuries like this but maybe Huns or Alans.
Whether the two are the same person will probably never be able to be comprehensively proved or disproved but there is a little bit of information on the Vegetius who wrote the Mulomedicina?
Was he a veterinarian himself or a wealthy landowner, maybe an owner or trainer of chariot horses for the various circuses of the time of which there were many throughout the empire? In the sixth chapter of the third book of his Mulomedicina, he proclaims himself qualified to pronounce on the characteristics and merits of various breeds of horses because he has detailed personal knowledge of them, gained from his extensive travels throughout the empire and keeping horses in his own stables so being a veteran traveler who paid particular attention to the health of his mounts, he would have remembered the beneficial characteristics of the various breeds he encountered, and offered practical advice. Could he have been a wealthy bureaucrat charged with procuring military and civil mounts or as S. H. Rosenbaum suggested in his paper Who was Vegetius?, available on Academia, that Vegetius was a high ranking official with the cursus publicus ?
The late Dr Margaret Mezzabotta who was tragically killed in a car accident in South Africa in 2000 before she was able to complete a translation of Vegetius’s Mulomedicina wrote that Vegetius appeared to be a wealthy land owner who wrote the Mulomedicina for others and he said that he felt obliged to write the book for several reasons. Prominent among his motives were his own love for horses which he kept from a young age, his concern that contempt for veterinary medicine had led to its practice by poor-quality individuals; and because he thought that the books available were badly written. Veterinarians were not held in high esteem for their work in those days except maybe for the army or for chariot horse racing, farmers and landholders were left to their own devices when it came to treating their animals and livestock and it was probably for them that he wrote this book. His main sources were Columella’s De Re Rustica, who Vegetius mentioned seemed only to cover farm management with not much information on cures, Apsyrtus a Greek who apparently was a late 3rd or early 4th century military veterinarian from Prousa or Nicomedia, and a soldier who served on the Danube under Constantine. Apsyrtus mentions Sarmatian and Thracian horses but does not say whether these Sarmatians were fighting for the Romans or against them and wrote that while campaigning with the legions he was stationed on the Danube, "I learned about the accidents that befall horses, and those in which they die and have gathered these, and the remedies for them". but Vegetius thought he showed poor Latinity in his writing, another source was the mid Fourth Century Ars veterinaria of Pelagonius which seemed to concentrate on race horses and Vegetius complained that Pelagonius seemed to be addressing himself to experts with a lack of basic information and the Mulomedicina Chironis, the author Chiron probably being a pseudonym from around the same period which was a compilation in 10 books, the first eight of which deal with horses and include references to donkeys and mules as well, while prescriptions and remedies for cattle, sheep, goats and pigs are found in the last two. Like Apsyrtus Vegetius thought Chiron’s book while technically superior was written in poor Latin. Other sources he may have used are The Curae Boum of Gargilius Martialis, an agricultural writer of the third century dealing with treatments for horses, mules and bovines also the De veterinaria medicina of Palladius which consisted of excerpts from Columella.
Vegetius wrote in his prologue for his Mulomedicina “Since from my earliest days I have been fired with enthusiasm for keeping horses – I have seized on this task eagerly, to collect together into a single work all the Latin writers, at least, consulting the veterinary authors also and not omitting the medical writers (for veterinary scholarship does not differ in so many respects from the art of medicine but in most instances agrees with it) and, in so far as my mediocre ability allows, to set out all the essentials fully and concisely and to make known the causes and symptoms of diseases”.
Vegetius’s Mulomedicina consisted of four books, the first three devoted to horses and mules while the fourth, evidently added later at the request of friends, covers the diseases of cattle.
Vegetius seemed to have a genuine concern about the treatment of animals and was dissatisfied with the state of veterinary medicine in his day, with low fees paid for those who treat animals and with the neglectful and miserly attitude of owners. Similar to the author of the Epitome he complains about the influence of barbarians and he laments, “even the practice of the art itself has died, under the influence of the model offered by the Huns of not stabling their horses, or of other barbarian races, while people shrinking from spending money pretend that they are following the practice of barbarians and consign their animals, untreated, to winter pastures and to the accidents that arise from negligence”. Barbarian horses differ significantly in physique and upbringing. The horses of the barbarians are hardier than the Roman horses and from the time they are foals they are accustomed to manage without medication. They thrive in winter pastures and suffer no ill effects from the cold and frosts. Roman mounts, on the other hand, are more delicate. They are used to shelter and to warm stables (Vegetius presumably had their winter care specifically in mind). If they were to be left out in the open in winter to fend for themselves, any minor ailment might cause them to develop a serious disease immediately.
But while he complains about the barbarians on one hand he does offer praise on some of their treatment methods such as fixing hip-dislocations on their horses. “After warming and relaxing the afflicted area by placing the animal in the sun and massaging the joint, they try to make the hip snap back into place. One man leads the horse while another follows, holding a longish rope tied to the upper part of the femur. The horse is encouraged to run and the man with the rope jerks it back towards himself. A clicking sound indicates that the dislocation has been corrected.” He never mentioned which barbarians treated their horses injuries like this but maybe Huns or Alans.
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
