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Galen and Medical Autobiography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2018

V. Nutton
V. Nutton*
Affiliation:
Selwyn College, Cambridge
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Extract

The twenty-two volumes of the last edition of the collected works of Galen occupy a smaller place in the affections of classical scholars than on the library shelf. The reputation of Galen as a great physician is sufficient to ensure a respectful neglect of his writings that is as undeserved as it is effective and that hampers a reassessment of his aims and abilities. Even though recent scholarship has done much to show him as a recognizable product of and participant in the Second Sophistic movement with strong claims to be regarded as a universal scholar, Wilamowitz's dismissal of him as a ‘Seichbeutel’ still remains a typical verdict. Not that the epithet was entirely unjust, for Galen's prolixity, his frequent polemics, his repetitions and recapitulations, and the inelegance of much of his prose style are all obstacles to his readers, few of whom have had the stamina and enthusiasm, to say nothing of the linguistic competence, to read all of his works preserved in Greek, Latin, Arabic and Syriac. Thus it is not surprising that the finest contemporary account of society in Rome during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, which lies buried deep in the fourteenth volume of Kuhn's edition, has only rarely been utilized in a discussion of that period. Πɛρὶ τΞῦ πρΞγινώσκɛιν, ‘On prognosis’, whose title, given by Galen himself, disguises the variety of its contents, has remained unread and its absence from the three volumes of the Scripta Minora Galeni and, as yet, from the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum has placed it beyond the ken of most historians. It is my intention in this paper to present a description of this treatise and a discussion of its position within literary genres as a contribution to the history of autobiography.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society (Second Series) , Volume 18: New Series , 1972 , pp. 50 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

page 50 note 1 von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U., Philologische Untersuchungen ix (1886), 122 Google Scholar n. 12. A copious bibliography by K. Schubring of writings on Galen will be found in Kühn, C. G. (ed.), Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia (repr. 1965), xx, v–lxii Google Scholar. Where no other indication is given Galen is cited by the pages of this edition. SM refers to the three volumes of the Scripta Minora Galeni; CMG to those of the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum. The biography of Galen by Sarton, G., Galen of Pergamum (Lawrence, Kansas, 1954)Google Scholar and the preliminary notice by Siegel, R. E., Galens system of physiology and medicine (Basle, New York, 1968), pp. 4–18 Google Scholar, are extremely unreliable guides. Better are PIR2 , G. 24, and Bowersock, G. W., Greek sophists in the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1969), pp. 59–75 Google Scholar.

page 50 note 2 14. 599-673. An edition with translation and commentary is being prepared by me for publication as part of CMG. The words πρὸς Έπιγένην, which do not appear in Galen's own references, CMG v. 9. 2. 219 and 369, v. 10. 1. 208, v. 10. 2. 2. 495, were added by Diomedes Bonardus in his Latin edition of 1490 and were taken over into Greek only with the Basle edition of 1538 to distinguish it from the homonymous tract, 19. 497-511. They rest upon no manuscript authority.

page 51 note 1 ‘Martianus’ is given by all the Greek MSS and by the MSS of Niccolò's Latin translation, Martialius by the unique MS of ‘On his own books’, SM 2. 94-5. Neither reading is conclusive; Deichgräber's attempt at compromise, Martilianus ( AAW M III (1970), 38 Google Scholar) is unacceptable.

page 52 note 1 Misch, G., A History of autobiography in antiquity, 3rd ed. (London, 1950), pp. 328-32Google Scholar.

page 53 note 1 Dodas, E. R., Pagan and Christian in an age of anxiety (Cambridge, 1965)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bowersock, op. cit. p. 75; Millar, F. G. B., JRS LIX (1969), 12 Google Scholar; Bowie, E. L., ‘Greeks and their past in the second sophistic’ Past and Present XVI (1970), 3–41 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Note also Herbst, W., Galeni de Atticissantium studiis testimonia (Leipzig, 1911)Google Scholar.

page 53 note 2 O. Regenbogen, R.E. 20. 2. 1408-52: Pfeiffer, R., History of classical scholarship (Oxford, 1968), pp. 127-34Google Scholar.

page 53 note 3 They are most easily accessible in SM 2. 91-124 and 80-90 respectively.

page 54 note 1 Kalbfleisch, K., ‘Parthenios bei Galen’, Hermes LXXVII (1942), 376-9Google Scholar; other references to this tract will be found at Schubring, op. cit. p. xxxix. The Dresden MS Db. 92 which contains this tract was severely damaged by water during the last war and is now almost illegible.

page 55 note 1 Oribasius, 2. 182 (Daremberg); Largus, Scribonius, Comp. 171 Google Scholar and Preface, passim, with the comments of Deichgräber, K., AAW M IX (1950), 853-79Google Scholar; Dioscorides, 1. 4 (Wellmann); Marcellus, 1. 8-10.

page 55 note 2 1. 343, 8. 213 (= 8. 56?); CMG Suppl. 1. 33; CMG v. 10. 2. 2. 486. 19 and 27; 2. 299; 18 A. 346 ff.

page 56 note 1 F. Jacoby, F. Gr. Hist. III. c. 1 n. 688 (Ctesias); II. B. 3 n. 198 (Olympus); Procopius, 5. 1. 38. The whole section in Jacoby, 11. B. 3. c. 955-91 is of interest.

page 56 note 2 Ibid. II. 3 n. 200 (Criton); Lucian, , Quomodo historia 16. 24-5Google Scholar, with the emendation of Cichorius, C., R.E. I. 1239 Google Scholar.

page 56 note 3 Galen, 10. 5-7, 10, 22, part of a uniformly hostile tradition, see Edelstein, L., Ancient Medicine (Baltimore, 1967), pp. 173-9Google Scholar; the statements of Alexander are found in the oriental tradition, e.g. Barhebraeus, , Chronography p. 54 Google Scholar (ed. Budge) and al-Shahrazūrī, Kitāb rawḍat al-afraḥ wa-nuzhat al-arwāh, MS Berlin Landberg 430 fo. 4v. (a reference I owe to Dr G. Strohmaier).

page 57 note 1 A selection of references includes SM 2. 88-9, 121-4; Athenaeus, 1.2; Eusebius, H.E. 5. 28. 6; Damascius, , Vita Isidori 201. 1 (ed. Zintzen, )Google Scholar; and in addition to the works cited by Schubring, op. cit. pp. lvi-lix, K. Deichgräber, SDAW III (1956), 33-6; Rosenthal, E. I. J., Averroes' commentary on Plato's Republic (Cambridge, 1966), pp. 12, 152, 168-70Google Scholar; escher, N. R, Journal of the History of Philosophy III (1965), 27–41 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Galen and the Syllogism (Pittsburgh, 1966)Google Scholar.

page 57 note 2 SM I. 31-2 and 2. 97; 6. 749 and 755; 11. 336; 14. 413.

page 57 note 3 Walzer, R. R., Galen on Jews and Christians (Oxford, 1944), pp. 15 and 65–74 Google Scholar.

page 57 note 4 Wenkebach, E., ‘Der hippokratische Arzt als das Ideal Galens’, Quellen u. Studien z. Geschichte d. Naturwissenschaften u. Medizin III, 4 (1935), 155-75Google Scholar, is a re-edition, not entirely satisfactory, of SM 2. 1-8. The Arabic version of this treatise has been recently edited by Bachmann, P., NGG (1965), pp. 1–67 Google Scholar.

page 57 note 5 Iskander, A. Z., BHM xxxvi (1962), 362-5Google Scholar, provides an English translation of some of the Arabic fragments of the second tract, which is lost in Greek, , and Dietrich, A., ‘Medicinalia Arabica’, AAWG (1966), pp. 190-5Google Scholar, offers new MS evidence.

page 58 note 1 Lucian, De morte Peregrini, passim, Galen, 10. 909 f. with the comments of Schöne, H., Hermes LII (1917), 105-11Google Scholar, and Benedum, J., Med. Hist. Journ. vi (1971), 263-77Google Scholar.

page 59 note 1 Bompaire, J., Lucien, écrivain, imitation et création (Paris, 1958), pp. 508 f. and 512 Google Scholar; Hall, J. A., ‘Lucian's Satire’ (Cambridge Ph.D. Diss, unpubl. 1967), pp. 118-21, 214 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 59 note 2 Many parallels will be found in J. E. B. Mayor's edition of Juvenal (Cambridge, 1880).

page 59 note 3 Hippocrates IX. 226 ff. L; Dio, Or. 33. 6; Lucian, , Adv. Indoctum 3. 29 Google Scholar. Cf. Plut., fr. 147.

page 60 note 1 On the varied forms of biography see the remarks of Momigliano, A. D., Quarto contributo alla storia degli studi classici (Rome, 1969), pp. 78–87 Google Scholar. The closest parallel I have so far found is the tract of Rhazes, ‘De mirabilibus quae ei acciderunt in medicina’, whose title corresponds to one of the Arabic names for ‘On prognosis’ (see Burgel, J. C., GGA ccxx (1968), 218 Google Scholar) and which is edited in Arabic, English and Latin by Meyerhof, M., Isis XXIII (1935), 321-72CrossRefGoogle Scholar and by Temkin, O., BHM XII (1942), 102-17Google Scholar.

page 60 note 2 L. Edelstein, op. cit. pp. 65-85 (= Problemata 4 (1931), pp. 60–88 Google Scholar).

page 61 note 1 14. 630-3; 635-41. The story of Erasistratus is found also at Val. Max. 5. 7, Rufus, 608 (ed. Daremberg) and in Galen, CMG v. 9. 2. 206 where further references are given. The historical and literary aspects of the story are discussed by Rohde, E., Der griechische Roman2 (Leipzig, 1900), pp. 55-9Google Scholar; Wellmann, M., R.E. 6. 1. 333 f.Google Scholar; and Mesk, J., RhM LXVIII (1913), 366-94Google Scholar.

page 61 note 2 Below, K. H., Der Arzt im römischen Recht (Munich, 1953), pp. 108-34Google Scholar; the arguments of Kudlien, F., Clio Medica V (1970), 97–107 Google Scholar, obscure the legal points at issue. On magic, CJ 9. 16 and 9. 18. 2; Isis xxxv (1944), 281-4Google Scholar; Galen, 14. 602. The general background from the standpoint of the doctor is given by Edelstein, op. cit. pp. 205-46 (= BHM v (1937), 201-46Google Scholar).

page 62 note 1 Galen, 14. 3 and 650; SM 2. 98 ff. Bardong, K., NGG (1942), 609-10Google Scholar, fixed the date of ‘On prognosis’ as early 177 on the evidence of 14. 630. 10-12, but there is no convincing argument against placing it later in the same year.

page 62 note 2 It is quoted, although not by title, by Oribasius, , Synopsis ad Eustathium 3. 11 Google Scholar (= CMG VI. 3. 306. 7-11), which is itself copied by Paulus, , CMG IX. 1. 278 Google Scholar. It was translated into Arabic, although no complete manuscript survives: see Ullmann, M., Die Medizin im Islam (Leyden, 1970), p. 69 Google Scholar, to which add the citations in Maimonides, Moses, Aphorisms 15. 28 Google Scholar (ed. Basle, 1579, pp. 356-8). There is no trace of it in the West until the early fourteenth century, for the earlier Prognostica Galieni derive from a Hippocratic source, Medical History XIV (1970), 96–100 Google Scholar.