STAMP NO. X.—FOUND AT KENCHESTER.
In the Journal of the British Archæological Association for 1849, Mr.
Roach Smith has described a medicine-stamp found at Kenchester, in
Herefordshire, and communicated to him by Mr. Johnson. I myself am
indebted to the kindness of Mr. Johnson for both a model and drawings of
this medicine-stamp, which is quadrilateral, and engraved on its four
sides. It has, besides, the word SENIOR inscribed on one of its flat
surfaces; and the four first letters of the same word are repeated on
the opposite surface. I shall afterwards have occasion to re-advert to
this curious point.
Mr. Smith has published a sketch of the stamp; but the more correct
drawings of it in Plate III., No. X., have been kindly furnished to me
by Mr. Johnson. The six lowest figures in this plate represent, first,
the two flat surfaces of the stone, with the retrograde inscriptions
upon its four sides; and, secondly, these four inscriptions as they
appear when impressed upon wax.
The inscriptions on the four sides of this stamp read as follows:—
1. F.VINDAC.ARIO
VISTIANICET
2. T.VINDACIAR
(_i_)OVISTINARD
3. (T) VINDAC. ARI
OVISTI CHLORON
4. T. VINDAC . ARIO
VISTI ... RINM
The name of the oculist or proprietor, T. VINDAC ARIOVISTUS, _Titus (?)
Vindacius_ or _Vindex Ariovistus_, is singular; the name ARIOVISTUS
being the same as that of the celebrated German king and general that
plays so interesting and important a part in the Commentaries of Cæsar,
and the reputed valour and prowess of whose troops daunted for a time,
and almost created a mutiny in, Cæsar’s army.
On this stamp there are no names of any specific eye-diseases given; but
the four sides contain the designation of four collyria that we have not
met with on any of the previous medicine-stamps which we have had
occasion to describe. These are the collyria _Anicetum_, _Nardinum_,
_Chloron_, and _Thurinum_.
1. T. VINDAC_ii_ ARIOVISTI ANICETUM.—_The Anicetum_ or _infallible
Collyrium of T. Vindacius Ariovistus_.
The collyrium _Anicetum_, or Ανικητον, is, as far as I know, described
by Oribasius alone. It was composed of red copper, combined with
henbane, hemlock, spikenard, frankincense, etc. Oribasius enters it as a
collyrium “ad carbunculos aptum.”[555]
Mr. Roach Smith supposes that the collyrium _Anicetum_ of this stamp
derives its name from being a preparation containing aniseed. But the
formula given by Oribasius does not present this ingredient; and the
origin of the term is, we believe, very different. Galen presents us
with a clue to its true meaning, when discussing the subject of
plasters, in the sixth book of his work, _De Compositione
Medicamentorum_. One, bearing the name of ANICETUM, is (he observes)
called so in consequence of its many and wonderful effects (vocatum est
insuperabilis (ΑΝΙΚΗΤΟΝ) propter miranda et multa ipsius opera).[556]
The term itself is, no doubt, derived from the Greek participle νικητος
“conquered,” with the prefix of the privative α. Among his own list of
collyria, Galen enters the one known in his time under the name of
Collyrium Aster,[557] as unsurpassed (Αστερ Ανικητον[558]).
2. T. VINDAC.—ARIOVISTI NARDINUM.—_T. Vindacius Ariovistus’ Nardinum_
or _Spikenard Collyrium_.
The ancient authorities on the Materia Medica describe several kinds of
spikenard, according to the localities in which it is procured, as the
Indian, Syrian, Celtic, etc. It was used by the Romans in many of their
ointments and perfumes,[559] and sometimes added to their wines.[560]
The nard, or spikenard, was used principally to perfume various
medicines, etc. But high medicinal properties were also attributed to it
in various diseases, and, amongst others, in diseases of the eye. (See
Dioscorides, lib. i. cap. vi.) It entered into the composition of many
of the ancient collyria, and several were named from it in consequence
of its forming their leading ingredient. Aetius has a long chapter on
formulæ for “Collyria Nardina et Theodotia,”[561] and bestows the most
extravagant praises upon some varieties of the spikenard
eye-applications. Speaking of one of them, he observes, “It is not easy
to relate the powers and efficiency of this medicine; indeed my readers
would scarcely credit it, for under the most desperate affections it
recalls the eye to its natural state.”[562]
3. T. VINDAC. ARIOVISTI CHLORON.—_The Chloron_ or _green Collyrium of
T. Vindax Ariovistus_.
Already I have had occasion to allude to the collyrium _Chloron_, as one
of those which derive their particular appellation from the tint or
colour of the preparation. The green collyrium, or _Chloron_, is
mentioned in many of the old treatises upon affections of the eye. For
example, Galen gives several such collyria in succession, as, vol. xii.
pp. 763 and 768, the “_Chloron_ ad diatheses;” and again, two forms of
_Chloron_ used by Zoilus the oculist.
4. T. VINDAC. ARIOVISTI _Tu_RINUM. _The Frankincense Collyrium of T.
Vindacius Ariovistus._
The designation of the collyrium on this fourth side of the Kenchester
stone is so very much destroyed as to render the deciphering of it
extremely difficult and problematical.
Mr. Roach Smith has not attempted to read it; but has contented himself
by giving N as the last letter of the collyrium, and the only one
capable of being deciphered, printing the whole legend on this side
thus:—
T VINDAC. ARIO
VISTI ... N.[563]
But certainly the terminal letter is not N. Mr. Johnson has kindly
supplied me with two wax impressions of the legend on this side. One of
these is faithfully copied in Plate III., No. X., lowest figure. The
examination of it will show that the terminal letter is not an N; for
the supposed middle or oblique line of the letter descends downwards
from left to right, and not, as it should do, provided the letter were
N, from right to left. The two first letters of the name of the
collyrium are entirely obliterated. In the position of the third letter
there is the head of a letter which may stand for R, B, or P. The
following letter is apparently an I; and the next an N. In reading it, I
have supposed these three consecutive letters to be RIN, and the
terminal letter to be an M, or rather a V and M braced together. An
instance of a similar bracing or conjunction of two letters is seen in
the legend of the second side of this stone, where the terminal two
letters TI of “_Ariovisti_” are conjoined into one. Further, I have
ventured to suggest the two initial letters as TU, and the whole name as
consequently TURINUM.
The collyrium _Thurinum_, or _Turinum_, is inscribed on three Roman
medicine-stamps that have been discovered in France,—the first in
Paris, the second at Cessi-sur-Tille, and the third at Solangei. The
two last are both described by M. Fevret de Saint-Mesmin.[564] The
collyrium evidently derived its specific name from its principal
ingredient frankincense, or _thus_, this latter Roman noun being
sometimes spelt with, and sometimes without, the _h_. In the Solangei
stamp the collyrium is written THURINUM; but in the stamps of Paris and
Cessi-sur-Tille it appears without the H, or as TURINUM.
The collyrium _Turinum_ is, it is scarcely necessary to add, merely a
latinised form for the Greek collyrium _Dialibanum_, the composition and
virtues of which we have considered in the previous pages (see pp. 269
and 283). The Latin translators of Oribasius and Paulus Ægineta render
the collyrium Dialibanum as written by these Greek authors by the term
“_Collyrium ex thure_.”[565] In the same way the κολλουριον το δια
λιβανου γινομενον of Galen is rendered by Kühn, and his other
translators, as “Collyrium quod fit ex THURE.”[566]