The Aphorisms were written by the Greek physician Hippocrates (c. 460–370 BC) around 400 BC. An aphorism is a truth conveyed in a short and pithy sentence, such as ‘Life is short, art is long’. Hippocrates’ Aphorisms were translated, commented upon, and copied throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14^th and 15^th centuries, his writings were studied for degrees in medicine at the Universities of Paris, Oxford, Montpellier, and Bologna.

This Italian commentary on the Aphorisms was written by the Italian physician and philosopher Jacopo da Forlì (c. 1364–1414), who taught at the Universities of Bologna and Padua. Jacopo’s commentary later appeared in print, and circulated widely. The beginning of each section of the manuscript is clearly marked by a large initial in red and blue, followed by a line of large text. Notes in an untidy English hand indicate that the manuscript was in England by the early 16^th century. The beginning and the end of the text are missing.

 

Literature: Edward Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae in unum collecti, Vol. 2 (Oxford, 1697), p. 31, no. 1376; Neil R. Ker and Alan J. Piper, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Volume IV: Paisley–York (Oxford, 1969), pp. 604–05; Paul Yeats-Edwards, Winchester College (Warden and Fellows’ Library) Medieval Manuscript Collection: Brief History and Catalogue (London, 1978), p. 3; James M. W. Willoughby, The Libraries of Collegiate Churches, Vol. 2 (London, 2013), p. 850.

Provenance: Unknown, at Winchester College by 1609.

Location: Fellows’ Library