“Slightly Out of Focus”. La prova della gallina nella diagnosi della rabbia nell’Herbarius dello Ps.-Apuleio

In the description concerning the properties of verbena (3,9) Ps.-Apuleius’ Herbarius presents a peculiar method for diagnosing rabies: applying grains of wheat on the wound inflicted by a rabid dog; once these grains become saturated with the wound’s fluids, they are given to a hen to eat. Whether the hen eats them or not serves as a crucial indicator in determining the potential contraction of rabies by the patient. However, the complex manuscript tradition of the Herbarius notably diverges in depicting the hen’s response to the offered food. This paper, therefore, aims to provide greater clarity by systematically examining the available textual witnesses, with the ultimate goal of elucidating the state of the tradition and establishing the text present in the archetype, and more hypothetically, in the “original”.