The herbal section of the Voynich Manuscript is the historical part.

[Jorge_Stolfi]

It seems to me that in trying to correct someone else’s statement, you ended up introducing several inaccuracies yourself

Oh my, I did not expect the Spanish Greco-Roman Inquisition!...

First, you write that the expression “ab ovo” “refers to Horace.” It does not. In its idiomatic sense, it was popularized by Horace in the Ars Poetica, but the phrase itself is not his invention.

Well, when *I* used the expression, *I* was referring to Horace's praise of Homer etc.  

Just curious, who used that expression before Horace?

Second, you claim that Horace was “praising Homer.” This is also an oversimplification. Horace presents Homer as a model of epic composition, pointing out that he does not begin his narrative from the furthest origins of the myth. This is not a simple act of praise, but part of a broader discussion on the principles of poetics.

This criticism reads like "Booth did not shoot Lincoln. That is an oversimplification.  Booth fired a bullet at Lincoln with a loaded gun in a theater because he wanted to kill him."

The biggest issue, however, appears later. You write about “the birth of Helen from one of two eggs.” Horace says nothing of the sort. In the original text we find the phrase nec gemino bellum Troianum orditur ab ovo — “he does not begin the Trojan War from the double egg.” There is no mention of Helen, nor of “one of two eggs. That is your own reconstruction, based on one of several versions of the myth of Leda. You are therefore presenting an interpretative expansion as if it were part of Horace’s text. Additionally, you omit the word gemino (“double”), which is crucial for understanding the allusion. This may seem like a minor detail, but it is precisely what links the passage to the myth of Leda.

Well, why did he mention twins and eggs at all in that context?  You admit that he is referring to  the myth of Leda.  Now, what connection is there between that myth and the Trojan war? 

Stylistically, your wording is also questionable. The phrase “interaction between Leda and Zeus” sounds more like a sociological experiment than a mythological narrative, while “Zeus materialized as a swan” is simply unnatural phrasing. In classical mythology, Zeus is said to have taken the form of a swan, not to have been “materialized” as one.

So you mean that, if Horace were reading this forum, he would not praise my style as a model to be followed?

In short: you intended to clarify the etymology of ab ovo, but instead introduced elements that are not present in Horace’s text.

Gee, I only intended to clarify where I got the expression "ab ovo" from...

All the best, --stolfi.