Abstract

Getting drunk regularly is a recommendation we find expressed both in the work of the 4th century B.C. physician Mnesitheos and in a commentary on Constantine the African’s Viaticum by a 13th century university teacher, Magister Bona Fortuna, evidently under the influence of Avicenna. The article provides German translations of the source texts and briefly comments on their content. An outline is given of the way Mnesitheos’ writings were handed down to later centuries, showing the great renown this important writer on dietetics enjoyed even in Imperial times, possibly influencing writers whose works were translated into Arabic. An excerpt from Magister Bona Fortuna’s commentary is published in the Appendix.