conciled
with the other hypothesis.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
609; Comment.
in Hippocr.
“ De parts about Antioch, A.
D.
166, and, after ravaging
Humor. " i. 2. vol. xvi. p. 223; De Ord. Libr. suor. various parts of the empire, at last reached the
vol. xix. p. 59. ) No expense was spared in his capital (see Greswell's Dissertations, &c. , vol. iv.
education, and the names of several of his medical p. 552); but he does not appear to be justly open
tutors have been preserved. His first tutors were to this charge, which the whole of his life and
probably Aeschrion (De Simpl. Medic. Temper. ac character would incline us to disbelieve. He had
Facult. xi. 1. § 34. vol. xii
. p. 356), Satyrus been for some time wishing to leave Rome as soon
(Comment. in Hippocr. “ Praedict. I. " i. 5. vol. as the tumults at Pergamus should be at an end
xvi. p. 524 ; De Ord. Libr. suor. vol. xix. p. 57), (De Praenot. ad Epig. c. 4. vol. xiv. p. 622), and
and Stratonicus, in his own country (De Atra Bile, evaded the proposed introduction to the emperor M.
c. 4. vol. v. p. 119). In his twentieth year, A. D. Aurelius for fear lest his return to Asia should be
149-50, he lost his father (De Prob. et Prav. thereby hindered (ibid. pp. 647, 648). This reso-
Alim. Succ. c. I. vol. vi. p. 756), and it was pro- lution may have been somewhat hastened by the
bably about the same time that he went to Smyrna breaking out of the pestilence at Rome, A. D. 167
for the purpose
studying under Pelops the phy-|(De Libr. Propr. c. 1. vol. xix. p. 15), and accordingly
sician, and Albinus the Platonic philosopher, as he left the city privately, and set sail at Brundu-
he says he was still a youth (uespákuov). (De sium. (De Praenot. ad Epig. c. 9. vol. xiv. p.
Anat. Admin. i. 1. vol. ii. p. 217; De Libris Propr. 648. ) He reached his native country in his thirty-
c. ii. vol. xix. p. 16. ) He also went to Corinth to eighth year, a. D. 167–8 (De Libr. Propr. c. 2.
attend the lectures of Numesianus (De Anat. Ad- vol. xix. p. 16), and resumed his ordinary course
min. I. c. ), and to Alexandria for those of Heracli- of life ; but had scarcely done so, when there ar-
anus (Comment, in Hippocr. “ De Nat. Hom," rived a summons from the emperors M. Aurelius
6. vol. xvi. 136. ); and studied under Aelianus and L. Verus to attend them at Aquileia in Ven
Meccius (De Ther. ad Pamph. vol. xiv. p. 298-9), netia, the chief bulwark of Italy on its north-east-
and Iphicianus (Comment. in Hippocr. * De Hu- ern frontier, whither they had both gone in person
mor. " iii. 34. vol
. xvi. p. 484, where the name is to make preparations for the war with the northern
corruptly called on klavós). It was perhaps at this tribes (De Libr. Propr. 1. c. p. 17, 18; De Prae-
time that he visited various other countries, of not. ad Epig. c. 9. vol. xiv. p. 649, 650), and
which mention is made in his works, as e. g. Ci- where they intended to pass the winter. He
licia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Scytos, Crete (Com- travelled through Thrace and Macedonia perform-
ment. in Hippocr. “ De Victu Acut. ” iii. 8. vol. xv. ing part of the journey on foot (De Simplic. Medi-
p. 648), and Cyprus (De Simpl. Medic. Temper, ac
Facult
. ix. 1. $ 2. vol. xii. p. 171). He returned to Some persons think that Galen's first visit to
Pergamus from Alexandria, when he had just Rome took place A. D. 161-2, and that therefore
entered on his twenty-ninth year, A. D. 1 58 (De he was there twice before his visit A. D. 170 ; but
Compos. Medic. sec. Gen. iii. 2. vol. xiii. p. 599), and Galen himself never speaks of this as his third
.
was immediately appointed by the high-priest of visit, and the writer is inclined to think that all
the city physician to the school of gladiators, an the passages in his works that seem to imply that
office which he filled with great reputation and he was at Rome A. D. 161-2, may be easily re-
success. (Comment, in Hippocr. “ De Fract. ” iii.
conciled with the other hypothesis.
## p. 209 (#225) ############################################
· GALENUS.
209
GALENUS.
cam. Tenper. ac Facult. ix. 1. & 2. vol. xii. p. 171), I was at Rome about the end of the second cen.
and reached Aquileia towards the end of the year tury, when he was employed to compound The-
169, shortly before the pestilence broke out in the riaca for the emperor Severus. The place of
camp with redoubled violence. (De Libr. Propr. and his death is not mentioned by any Greek
De Praenot. ad Epig. 1. c. ) The two emperors, author, but Abú-l-faraj states that he died in
with their court and a few of the soldiers, set off Sicily. (Hist. Dynast. p. 78. ) The age at which
precipitately towards Rome, and while they were he died and the date is also somewhat uncertain.
on their way Verus died of apoplexy, between Suidas says he died at the age of seventy, which
Concordia and Altinum in the Venetian territory, statement is generally followed, and, as he was
in the month of December. (See Greswell's Dis- born in the autumn of the year 130, places his
sertations, fc. , vol. iv. p. 595, 596. ) Galen fol- death in the year 200 or 201. He certainly was
lowed M. Aurelius to Rome, and, upon the em- alive about the year 199, as he mentions his pre-
peror's return, after the apothcosis of L. Verus, to paring Theriaca for the emperor Scverus about that
conduct the war on the Danube, with difficulty date, and his work De Antidotis
, in which the
obtained permission to be left behind at Rome, account is given (i
. 13. vol xiv. p. 65), was pro-
alleging that such was the will of Aesculapius. bably written in or before that year, when Cara-
(De Libr. Propr. 1. c. ) Whether he really had a calla was associated with his father in the empire,
dream to this effect, which he believed to have as Galen speaks of only one emperor as reigning at
come from Aesculapius, or whether he merely in the time it was composed. If, however, the work
vented such a story as an excuse for not sharing in De Theriaca ad Pisonem be genuine, which seems
the dangers and hardships of the campaign, it is to be at least as probable as the contrary suppo
impossible to determine ; it is, however, certain sition (see below, Sect. VII. § 75. ), he must have
that he more than once mentions his receiving lived some years later, which would agree with
(what he conceived to be) divine communications the statements of his Arabic biographers, one of
during sleep, in cases where no self-interested mo whom says he lived more than eighty years (apud
tive can be discovered. The emperor about this Casiri, l. c. ), while Abú-l-faraj says that he died at
time lost his son, Annius Verus Caesar, and ac- the age of eighty-eight. Some European autho.
cordingly on his departure from Rome, he com- rities place his death at about the same age (Acker-
mitted to the medical care of Galen his son L. mann, Hist. Liter. , in vol. i. of Kühn's edition of
Aurelius Commodus, who was then nine years of Galen, p. xli. ), and John Tzetzes says that he lived
age, and who afterwards succeeded his father as under the emperor Caracalla (Chiliad. xii. hist.
emperor. (De Libr. Propr. and De Praenot. ad 397); so that, upon the whole, there seems to be
Epig. 1. c. ) It was probably in the same year, quite sufficient reason for not implicitly receiving
A. D. 170, that Galen, on the death of Demetrius, the statement of Suidas.
was commissioned by M. Aurelius to prepare for him Galen's personal character, as it appears in his
the celebrated compound medicine called Theriaca, works, places him among the brightest ornaments
of which the emperor was accustomed to take a of the heathen world. Perhaps his chief faults were
small quantity daily (De Antid. i. 1. vol. xiv. p. 3, too high an opinion of his own merits, and too
&c. ); and about thirty years afterwards he was much bitterness and contempt for some of his
employed to make up the same medicine for adversaries,-for each of which failings the circum-
the emperor Septimus Severus (ibid. i. 13. p. 63, stances of the times afforded great, if not suffi.
65).
cient, excuse. He was also one of the most learned
How long Galen stayed at Rome is not known, and accomplished men of his age, as is proved not
but it was probably for some years, during which only by his extant writings, but also by the long
time he employed himself, as before, in lecturing, list of his works on various branches of philosophy
writing, and practising, with great success. He which are now lost. All this may make us the
finished during this visit at Rome two of his prin- more regret that he was so little brought into con-
cipal treatises, which he had begun when he was tact with Christianity, of which he appears to
at Rome before, viz. that De Usu Partium Cor- have known nothing more than might be learned
poris Humani, and that De Hippocratis et Pla- from the popular conversation of the day during a
lonis Decretis ( De Libr. Propr. c. 2. vol. xix. time of persecution : yet in one of his lost works,
p. 19, 20); and among other instances which he of which a fragment is quoted by his Arabian bio
records of his medical skill, he gives an account of graphers (Abu-l-faraj, Casiri, loc. ), he speaks of the
his attending the emperor M. Aurelius (De Prae- Christians in higher terms, and praises their tem-
not. ad Epig. c. ll. vol. xiv. p. 657, &c. ), and his perance and chastity, their blameless lives, and love
two sons, Commodus (ibid. c. 12. p. 661, &c. ) and of virtue, in which they equalled or surpassed the
Sextus (ibid. c. 10. p. 65), &c. ). Of the events of philosophers of the age. A few absurd errors and
the rest of his life few particulars are known. On fables are connected with his name, which may be
his way back to Pergamus, he visited the island of seen in Ackermann's Hist. Liter. (pp. xxxix. xlii. ),
Lemnos for the second time (having been disap- but which, as they are neither so amusing in
pointed on a former occasion), for the purpose of themselves, nor so interesting in a literary point of
learning the mode of preparing a celebrated medi- view as those which concern Hippocrates, need not
cine called "Terra Lemnia,” or “ Terra Sigillata ;” be here mentioned. If Galen suffered during his
of which he gives a full account. (De Simplic. Me- lifetime from the jealousy and misrepresentation of
dicam. Temper, ac Pacult. ix. 1. & 2. vol. xii. p. his medical contemporaries, his worth seems to have
172. ) It does not appear certain that he visited been soon acknowledged after his death ; medals
Rome again, and one of his Arabic biographers ex- were struck in his honoar by his native city, Per-
pressly says he was there only twice (Anon. gamus (Montfaucon, L'Antiquité Expliquée, &c. ,
Arab. Philosoph. Billioth. apud Casiri, Biblioth. vol. iii. p. 1. pl. xv. and Suppl. vol. i. pl. lxviii. ),
Arabico-Hisp. Escur. vol. i. p. 253); but it cer- and in the course of a few centuries he began to be
tainly seems more natural to suppose that he called Savudonos (Simplic. Comment. in Aristot.
1
VOL. II.
P
## p. 210 (#226) ############################################
210
GALENUS.
GALENUS.
“ Phys. Anscult. ” iv. 3. p. 167. ed. Ald. ), “Medi- | basis of all medical reasoning. In this fundamental
corum dissertissimus atque doctissimus," (S. Hieron. point, therefore, the method pursued by Galen ap-
Comment. in Aoms, c. 5. vol. vi. p. 283), and even pears to have been directly the reverse of that
Sezótatos. (Alex. Trall. De Med. v. 4. p. 77. ed. which we now consider as the correct method of
Lutet. Par. )
scientific investigation ; and yeh, such is the force
of natural genius, that in most instances he at-
11. General History of Galen's WRITINGS, indirect path.
Humor. " i. 2. vol. xvi. p. 223; De Ord. Libr. suor. various parts of the empire, at last reached the
vol. xix. p. 59. ) No expense was spared in his capital (see Greswell's Dissertations, &c. , vol. iv.
education, and the names of several of his medical p. 552); but he does not appear to be justly open
tutors have been preserved. His first tutors were to this charge, which the whole of his life and
probably Aeschrion (De Simpl. Medic. Temper. ac character would incline us to disbelieve. He had
Facult. xi. 1. § 34. vol. xii
. p. 356), Satyrus been for some time wishing to leave Rome as soon
(Comment. in Hippocr. “ Praedict. I. " i. 5. vol. as the tumults at Pergamus should be at an end
xvi. p. 524 ; De Ord. Libr. suor. vol. xix. p. 57), (De Praenot. ad Epig. c. 4. vol. xiv. p. 622), and
and Stratonicus, in his own country (De Atra Bile, evaded the proposed introduction to the emperor M.
c. 4. vol. v. p. 119). In his twentieth year, A. D. Aurelius for fear lest his return to Asia should be
149-50, he lost his father (De Prob. et Prav. thereby hindered (ibid. pp. 647, 648). This reso-
Alim. Succ. c. I. vol. vi. p. 756), and it was pro- lution may have been somewhat hastened by the
bably about the same time that he went to Smyrna breaking out of the pestilence at Rome, A. D. 167
for the purpose
studying under Pelops the phy-|(De Libr. Propr. c. 1. vol. xix. p. 15), and accordingly
sician, and Albinus the Platonic philosopher, as he left the city privately, and set sail at Brundu-
he says he was still a youth (uespákuov). (De sium. (De Praenot. ad Epig. c. 9. vol. xiv. p.
Anat. Admin. i. 1. vol. ii. p. 217; De Libris Propr. 648. ) He reached his native country in his thirty-
c. ii. vol. xix. p. 16. ) He also went to Corinth to eighth year, a. D. 167–8 (De Libr. Propr. c. 2.
attend the lectures of Numesianus (De Anat. Ad- vol. xix. p. 16), and resumed his ordinary course
min. I. c. ), and to Alexandria for those of Heracli- of life ; but had scarcely done so, when there ar-
anus (Comment, in Hippocr. “ De Nat. Hom," rived a summons from the emperors M. Aurelius
6. vol. xvi. 136. ); and studied under Aelianus and L. Verus to attend them at Aquileia in Ven
Meccius (De Ther. ad Pamph. vol. xiv. p. 298-9), netia, the chief bulwark of Italy on its north-east-
and Iphicianus (Comment. in Hippocr. * De Hu- ern frontier, whither they had both gone in person
mor. " iii. 34. vol
. xvi. p. 484, where the name is to make preparations for the war with the northern
corruptly called on klavós). It was perhaps at this tribes (De Libr. Propr. 1. c. p. 17, 18; De Prae-
time that he visited various other countries, of not. ad Epig. c. 9. vol. xiv. p. 649, 650), and
which mention is made in his works, as e. g. Ci- where they intended to pass the winter. He
licia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Scytos, Crete (Com- travelled through Thrace and Macedonia perform-
ment. in Hippocr. “ De Victu Acut. ” iii. 8. vol. xv. ing part of the journey on foot (De Simplic. Medi-
p. 648), and Cyprus (De Simpl. Medic. Temper, ac
Facult
. ix. 1. $ 2. vol. xii. p. 171). He returned to Some persons think that Galen's first visit to
Pergamus from Alexandria, when he had just Rome took place A. D. 161-2, and that therefore
entered on his twenty-ninth year, A. D. 1 58 (De he was there twice before his visit A. D. 170 ; but
Compos. Medic. sec. Gen. iii. 2. vol. xiii. p. 599), and Galen himself never speaks of this as his third
.
was immediately appointed by the high-priest of visit, and the writer is inclined to think that all
the city physician to the school of gladiators, an the passages in his works that seem to imply that
office which he filled with great reputation and he was at Rome A. D. 161-2, may be easily re-
success. (Comment, in Hippocr. “ De Fract. ” iii.
conciled with the other hypothesis.
## p. 209 (#225) ############################################
· GALENUS.
209
GALENUS.
cam. Tenper. ac Facult. ix. 1. & 2. vol. xii. p. 171), I was at Rome about the end of the second cen.
and reached Aquileia towards the end of the year tury, when he was employed to compound The-
169, shortly before the pestilence broke out in the riaca for the emperor Severus. The place of
camp with redoubled violence. (De Libr. Propr. and his death is not mentioned by any Greek
De Praenot. ad Epig. 1. c. ) The two emperors, author, but Abú-l-faraj states that he died in
with their court and a few of the soldiers, set off Sicily. (Hist. Dynast. p. 78. ) The age at which
precipitately towards Rome, and while they were he died and the date is also somewhat uncertain.
on their way Verus died of apoplexy, between Suidas says he died at the age of seventy, which
Concordia and Altinum in the Venetian territory, statement is generally followed, and, as he was
in the month of December. (See Greswell's Dis- born in the autumn of the year 130, places his
sertations, fc. , vol. iv. p. 595, 596. ) Galen fol- death in the year 200 or 201. He certainly was
lowed M. Aurelius to Rome, and, upon the em- alive about the year 199, as he mentions his pre-
peror's return, after the apothcosis of L. Verus, to paring Theriaca for the emperor Scverus about that
conduct the war on the Danube, with difficulty date, and his work De Antidotis
, in which the
obtained permission to be left behind at Rome, account is given (i
. 13. vol xiv. p. 65), was pro-
alleging that such was the will of Aesculapius. bably written in or before that year, when Cara-
(De Libr. Propr. 1. c. ) Whether he really had a calla was associated with his father in the empire,
dream to this effect, which he believed to have as Galen speaks of only one emperor as reigning at
come from Aesculapius, or whether he merely in the time it was composed. If, however, the work
vented such a story as an excuse for not sharing in De Theriaca ad Pisonem be genuine, which seems
the dangers and hardships of the campaign, it is to be at least as probable as the contrary suppo
impossible to determine ; it is, however, certain sition (see below, Sect. VII. § 75. ), he must have
that he more than once mentions his receiving lived some years later, which would agree with
(what he conceived to be) divine communications the statements of his Arabic biographers, one of
during sleep, in cases where no self-interested mo whom says he lived more than eighty years (apud
tive can be discovered. The emperor about this Casiri, l. c. ), while Abú-l-faraj says that he died at
time lost his son, Annius Verus Caesar, and ac- the age of eighty-eight. Some European autho.
cordingly on his departure from Rome, he com- rities place his death at about the same age (Acker-
mitted to the medical care of Galen his son L. mann, Hist. Liter. , in vol. i. of Kühn's edition of
Aurelius Commodus, who was then nine years of Galen, p. xli. ), and John Tzetzes says that he lived
age, and who afterwards succeeded his father as under the emperor Caracalla (Chiliad. xii. hist.
emperor. (De Libr. Propr. and De Praenot. ad 397); so that, upon the whole, there seems to be
Epig. 1. c. ) It was probably in the same year, quite sufficient reason for not implicitly receiving
A. D. 170, that Galen, on the death of Demetrius, the statement of Suidas.
was commissioned by M. Aurelius to prepare for him Galen's personal character, as it appears in his
the celebrated compound medicine called Theriaca, works, places him among the brightest ornaments
of which the emperor was accustomed to take a of the heathen world. Perhaps his chief faults were
small quantity daily (De Antid. i. 1. vol. xiv. p. 3, too high an opinion of his own merits, and too
&c. ); and about thirty years afterwards he was much bitterness and contempt for some of his
employed to make up the same medicine for adversaries,-for each of which failings the circum-
the emperor Septimus Severus (ibid. i. 13. p. 63, stances of the times afforded great, if not suffi.
65).
cient, excuse. He was also one of the most learned
How long Galen stayed at Rome is not known, and accomplished men of his age, as is proved not
but it was probably for some years, during which only by his extant writings, but also by the long
time he employed himself, as before, in lecturing, list of his works on various branches of philosophy
writing, and practising, with great success. He which are now lost. All this may make us the
finished during this visit at Rome two of his prin- more regret that he was so little brought into con-
cipal treatises, which he had begun when he was tact with Christianity, of which he appears to
at Rome before, viz. that De Usu Partium Cor- have known nothing more than might be learned
poris Humani, and that De Hippocratis et Pla- from the popular conversation of the day during a
lonis Decretis ( De Libr. Propr. c. 2. vol. xix. time of persecution : yet in one of his lost works,
p. 19, 20); and among other instances which he of which a fragment is quoted by his Arabian bio
records of his medical skill, he gives an account of graphers (Abu-l-faraj, Casiri, loc. ), he speaks of the
his attending the emperor M. Aurelius (De Prae- Christians in higher terms, and praises their tem-
not. ad Epig. c. ll. vol. xiv. p. 657, &c. ), and his perance and chastity, their blameless lives, and love
two sons, Commodus (ibid. c. 12. p. 661, &c. ) and of virtue, in which they equalled or surpassed the
Sextus (ibid. c. 10. p. 65), &c. ). Of the events of philosophers of the age. A few absurd errors and
the rest of his life few particulars are known. On fables are connected with his name, which may be
his way back to Pergamus, he visited the island of seen in Ackermann's Hist. Liter. (pp. xxxix. xlii. ),
Lemnos for the second time (having been disap- but which, as they are neither so amusing in
pointed on a former occasion), for the purpose of themselves, nor so interesting in a literary point of
learning the mode of preparing a celebrated medi- view as those which concern Hippocrates, need not
cine called "Terra Lemnia,” or “ Terra Sigillata ;” be here mentioned. If Galen suffered during his
of which he gives a full account. (De Simplic. Me- lifetime from the jealousy and misrepresentation of
dicam. Temper, ac Pacult. ix. 1. & 2. vol. xii. p. his medical contemporaries, his worth seems to have
172. ) It does not appear certain that he visited been soon acknowledged after his death ; medals
Rome again, and one of his Arabic biographers ex- were struck in his honoar by his native city, Per-
pressly says he was there only twice (Anon. gamus (Montfaucon, L'Antiquité Expliquée, &c. ,
Arab. Philosoph. Billioth. apud Casiri, Biblioth. vol. iii. p. 1. pl. xv. and Suppl. vol. i. pl. lxviii. ),
Arabico-Hisp. Escur. vol. i. p. 253); but it cer- and in the course of a few centuries he began to be
tainly seems more natural to suppose that he called Savudonos (Simplic. Comment. in Aristot.
1
VOL. II.
P
## p. 210 (#226) ############################################
210
GALENUS.
GALENUS.
“ Phys. Anscult. ” iv. 3. p. 167. ed. Ald. ), “Medi- | basis of all medical reasoning. In this fundamental
corum dissertissimus atque doctissimus," (S. Hieron. point, therefore, the method pursued by Galen ap-
Comment. in Aoms, c. 5. vol. vi. p. 283), and even pears to have been directly the reverse of that
Sezótatos. (Alex. Trall. De Med. v. 4. p. 77. ed. which we now consider as the correct method of
Lutet. Par. )
scientific investigation ; and yeh, such is the force
of natural genius, that in most instances he at-
11. General History of Galen's WRITINGS, indirect path.
