The Textual Traditions of Isaac Israeli's Book on Fevers in Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, and Spanish

Isaac Israeli's Book on Fevers enjoyed a considerable reputation in the Middle Ages. As a result it was translated into several languages. The textual tradition of the Old Spanish translation poses a problem. It corresponds neither to the Arabic nor to the Latin text. Most scholars conjecture that its Vorlage was one of the Hebrew translations. Our main aim here is to examine this possibility by comparing a sample of paragraphs from the different versions. Because Constantine the African, in his Latin translation, and the anonymous Spanish translator of the Book on Fevers both interfered with the text quite freely, we will ask whether the Hebrew translations are literal or not.

Isaac Israeli: Life and Work

Except for the fact that Isaac Israeli (Isḥāq ibn Sulaymān al-Isrāʾīlī) served as court physician first for the Aġlabids-originally governors for the Abbasid caliph, but who soon became independent from Baghdad-and then for the Fatimids-initially a secret movement of Sevener Shiites who later established a Shiite caliphate in rivalry to the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad-we know very little about his life.¹ Isaac was born in Egypt in the middle of the ninth century² but spent most of his life in Kairouan, one of the intellectual centers of the Islamic world during the tenth century. Earlier literature stated that he died between 320 (932) and 344 (955/6); scholars favored the later date, because his student Ibn al-Jazzār died in 395 (1004/5). Because al-Jazzār's death date has been corrected to 369 (979),³ however, there is no longer any reason to doubt the earliest testimony, which states that Isaac died circa 320 (932).⁴

Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa provides a list of treatises ascribed to Isaac,⁵ including philosophical and medical texts.⁶ Isaac, considered to be the first Jewish Neoplatonist,⁷ composed four philosophical treatises: Book of Definitions and Descriptions (Kitāb al-ḥudūd wa-l-rusūm), Book of Substances (Kitāb al-jawāhir), Book on Spirit and Soul (Kitāb fī l-rūḥ wa-l-nafs) and Book of the Elements (Kitāb al-usṭuqussāt). His medical works include On Urine (Kitāb al-baul) and On Dietetics (Kitāb aġḏiya),⁸ which were important not only in Arabic but also in Western medicine, principally in their Latin translations,⁹ but also in Hebrew, German, and Catalan versions.¹⁰ Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa lists three more works of Isaac's that have been lost: Introduction into the Art of Medicine (Kitāb al-mudḫal ilā ṣināʿat al-ṭibb), On the Pulse (Kitāb fī l-nabḍ) and a book on the all-round remedy Theriac (Kitāb fī l-tiryāq).¹¹ In addition, a treatise on antimony (Maqāla fī l-kuḥl) circulated under Isaac's name.¹² Isaac may also be the author of a treatise on medical ethics, which survives only in Hebrew (Musar ha-rofeʾim).¹³

This article focuses on Isaac's Book on Fevers (Kitāb al-ḥummayāt), which is considered the most influential medical book written in Arabic on this subject.¹⁴ Certainly Isaac himself attached great importance to it: according to Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, when asked if he regretted being heirless, he responded that his name would survive thanks to his Book on Fevers.¹⁵ The famous Egyptian physician ʿAlī ibn Riḍwān (388 [998]-ca. 453 [1061]) praised Isaac's treatise, writing that he used this book often in practice and had not found a better one on fevers.¹⁶ [Begin Page 312]

There may have been a short version prepared by ʿAbd al-Laṭīf (557 [1162]-629 [1231]), but it has been lost.¹⁷

Isaac divided this work into five parts, dealing respectively with the nature of fever, one-day (ephemeral) fever, hectic fever (tuberculosis), acute fever, and putrid fever. The sources on which Isaac drew still need to be examined systematically. Isaac...