A Long Lost Text: Galen’s Περὶ Ἀλυπίας (original) (raw)
Related papers
A New Distress: Galen's Ethics in Περὶ Ἀλυπίας and Beyond
Galen's Περὶ ἀλυπίας (De indolentia) in Context: A Tale of Resilience, ed. C. Petit, 2018
In this chapter I consider how the new material from the περὶ ἀλυπίας (Ind.) contributes to our understanding of Galen's ethics. As is the case with Galen's discussions of his own books, I here suggest that helpful results are derived from the laying of the new text alongside the most relevant previously-known ones.
New Light and Old Texts: Galen on His Own Books
Galen's Περὶ ἀλυπίας (De indolentia) in Context: A Tale of Resilience, ed. C. Petit, 2018
My aim in this chapter is to show how the new material from the περὶ ἀλυπίας (Ind.) contributes to our understanding of Galen's attitude, practices and intentions in relation to the composition and distribution of his own books. The new text, I suggest, not only provides fresh perspectives but, perhaps more importantly, assists us to evaluate and see more clearly the evidence which was already available in the other most relevant texts in this area, especially My Own Books (Lib. Prop.) and The Order of My Own Books (Ord. Lib. Prop.) The 'new light' is thus shed in a process of mutual illumination between περὶ ἀλυπίας and other texts, rather than by the sudden availability of radically new and divergent information.
The discovery of the fifteenth-century codex Vlatadon 14 in 2005 was an extraordinary moment for scholars of Graeco Roman antiquity, as it brought to light a new witness to a large collection of Galen’s medical and philosophical works. Among them is the moral essay De indolentia (On Avoiding Distress), a text long deemed lost, and the De propriis placitis (On My Own Opinions), a doxographical piece with a complex textual tradition, up to that point known only through a corrupt medieval Latin translation and some passages preserved in Greek. This volume provides a new critical edition of the two Galenic treatises, which represents a significant improvement on earlier editorial attempts by offering more accurate readings of the codex, including supplementation of previously unrestored lacunae, and many emendations to thorny passages owed to physical damage in the manuscript as well as perhaps careless scribes and/or the poor quality of their model. The more authoritative version of the two texts is accompanied by fresh English translations and brief introductions, making both works widely accessible not just to Classicists but also to scholars and students of ancient medicine, ancient philosophy and Roman Imperial literary culture.