The Fragments on Hippiatric Medicine is a lost veterinary treatise attributed to Simon of Athens. Known solely through nine brief passages preserved within later Byzantine compilations on horse medicine, the work represents a technical and empirical guide to the practical identification and treatment of equine ailments. The extant fragments offer specific veterinary guidance, including a method for examining a horse's mouth by having it bite on wood to detect pain or loose teeth, and recipes for medicinal preparations such as a warm poultice made from linseed and barley meal. The original treatise is lost, and its content survives only as excerpts embedded in encyclopedic Byzantine manuscripts, where they were copied alongside material from other hippiatric authors. The preservation of Simon's fragments within this later tradition indicates his work was considered a useful and authoritative source, contributing to the continuity of specialized technical knowledge on equine medicine from antiquity into the Byzantine period.
ΑΛΛΑ ΣΙΜΩΝΟΣ ΑΠΟΣΠΑΣΜΑΤΑ.
Σοῦδα τρίλλη: Γέγραπται ἐν τῷ τοῦ Ἀθηναίου Σίμωνος ἱππιατρικῷ περὶ γνωρισμάτων φλεβῶν, ὅτι καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς τρίλλης εἰσὶ φλέβες δύο.
Ἰούλιος Πολυδεύκης ὁ Ναυκρατίτης Ὅθεν καὶ Σίμων τοὔνειδος τῆς ἀμαθίας Μίκωνι παρένεγκεν, ὅτι καὶ τὰς κάτω βλεφαρίδας προσέγραψεν ἵππου γραφῇ.
Ἱεροκλῆς Καίτοι πολλοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἠγνοήθη, ὥσπερ Μίκωνι τῷ παλαιῷ, ὃς ᾤετο ἵππου καὶ τὸ κάτω βλέφαρον ἔχειν τρίχας, ἃς καλοῦσιν Ἕλληνες βλεφαρίδας· καθάπτεται γοῦν αὐτοῦ Σίμων τὴν ἄγνοιαν ταύτην αἰτιώμενος.
Ξενοφῶν ὁ Ἀθηναῖος Ἃ μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἵππος ἀναγκαζόμενος ποιεῖ, ὥσπερ καὶ Σίμων λέγει, οὔτʼ ἐπίσταται οὔτε καλά ἐστιν.
Ἰούλιος Πολυδεύκης ὁ Ναυκρατίτης Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ Σίμωνος· εὔδρομος ὁ ἵππος ὁ ὀλίγον αἴρων ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἐν τῷ τρέχειν τὰ σκέλη.
Ἰούλιος Πολυδεύκης ὁ Ναυκρατίτης ἐλαυνέτω δὲ τοῦτον κατʼ ἀρχὰς ὁ ἐπιβάτης εἰς τὰ ἄπεδα καὶ λεῖα, τὰς δὲ προσβάσεις καὶ τὰς ἐκεῖθεν καθόδους μὴ αὐτίκα ποιείσθω, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἵππον πλαγιασάτω· οὕτω γὰρ ὁ Σίμων ὠνόμασεν.
Ἰούλιος Πολυδεύκης ὁ Ναυκρατίτης ἀποδεέστερος· Σίμωνος τὸ ὄνομα.
