"As a matter of fact, this is not difficult to understand!": the addresses to the reader in Greek and Latin pharmacological poetry.

Abstract

Once written down, every pharmacological text becomes open to all kinds of distortion of its content. It may have been inaccurately copied, for example, or its dosages may have been intentionally altered. The transcription in verse of pharmacological preparations was supposed to protect the text against any distortion, for metrical demands of verse do not easily allow for the substitution of the specified quantities of a remedy's ingredients. Furthermore, rhythmical poetry can facilitate memorization of the prescriptions. Beside its very practical functions, this production was not alien to inspiration from the Muses, and physicians shared with poets the right to invoke the gods' favour for their lines. The present paper focuses on the addresses to the readers in Greek and Latin pharmacological poetry; it shows how the practical function of preserving and transmitting information was interwoven with the author's own literary ambitions.