Medical Writing in the Late Roman West

After Galen, the Latin literary output of the medical sciences in the Latin West consisted of translations of earlier Greek works; new books based on Greek texts, and a large group of anonymous or pseudonymous texts. Elite western Roman society was essentially bilingual through ca 200 ce. The two chief translation centers of the era were North Africa and Ravenna. The most important authors in this period are Vindicianus, around 400 ce, his student Theodorus Priscianus, and Caelius Aurelianus, around 425 ce, who composed works largely based on Soranus the Methodist: each wrote works of recipes for general use, or specifically for female ailments. Cassius Felix, around 450 ce, wrote his Latin treatise for the use of medical students. The author Mustio composed a work of gynecology around 550 ce, for midwives, based on Soranus. Other regions produced writers, such as Marcellus of Bordeaux and Agnellus of Ravenna.