Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/222

Rh 208 GALEN US. his contemporaries as to form altogether a tolerably- circumstantial account of his life. He was a native of Pergamus in ^lysia (Gal. De Simpl. Medic. Temper, ac Facult. x. 2. § 9. vol. xii. p. •272), and it can be proved from various passages in his works that he was born about the autumn of a. d. 1 30. His father's name was Nicon (Suid. s. v. TaT)v6s), who was, as Suidas tells us, an architect and geometrician, and whom Galen praises several times, not only for his knowledge of astronomy, grammar, arithmetic, and various other branches of philosophy, but also for his patience, justice, be- nevolence, and other virtues. (Be Diynos. et Cur. An. Morb. c. 8. vol. v. p. 4 1, &c. ; De Prob. et Prav. Alim. Succ. c. i. vol. vi. p. 755, &c. ; De Ord. Libr. suor. vol. xix. p. 59.) His mother, on the other hand, was a passionate and scolding woman, who would sometimes even bite her maids, and used to quarrel with her husband "more than Xantippe with Socrates." He received his first instruction from his father, and in his fifteenth year, A. d. 144-5, began to learn logic and to study philo- sophy under a pupil of Philopator the Stoic, under Caius the Platonist, (or, more probably, one of his pupils,) under a pupil of Aspasius the Peripatetic, and also under an Epicurean. {De Dignos. et Cur. A?i. Morh.c. 8. vol. v. p. 41.) In his seventeenth year, A. D. 146-7, his father, who had hitherto destined him to be a philosopher, altered his in- tentions, and, in consequence of a dream, chose for him the profession of Medicine. {De Meth. Med. ix. 4. vol. X. p. 609 ; Comment, in Hippocr. " De Humor. ii. 2. vol. xvi. p. 223 ; De Ord. Libr. suor. vol. xix. p. 59.) No expense was spared in his education, and the names of several of his medical tutors have been preserved. His first tutors were probably Aeschrion {De Simpl. Medic. Temper, ae Facult. xi. 1. § 34. vol. xii. p. 356), Satyrus {Comment, in Hippocr. '"'• Praedid. /." i. 5. vol. xvi. p. 524 ; De Ord. Libr. suor. vol. xix. p. 57), and Stratonicus, in his own country {De Atra Bile, c. 4. vol. v. p. 119). In his twentieth year, A. D. 149-50, he lost his father {De Prob. et Prav. Alim. Succ. c. 1. vol. vi. p. 756), and it was pro- bably about the same time that he went to Smyrna for the purpose of studying under Pelops the phy- sician, and Albinus the Platonic philosopher, as he says he was still a youth {fieipaKiov). {De Anat. Admin.i. 1. vol.ii. p. 217 ; De Libris Propr. c. ii. vol. xix. p. 16.) He also went to Corinth to attend the lectures of ^Jumesianus {De Anat. Ad- min. 1. c), and to Alexandria for those of Heracli- anus {Commetii. in Hippocr. " De Nat. //o?n," ii. 6. vol. xvi. 136.); and studied under Aelianus Meccius {De Ther. ad Pamph. vol. xiv. p. 298-9), and Iphicianus {Comment, in Hippocr. " De Hu- mor. iii. 34. vol. xvi. p. 484, where the name is corruptly called ^Tjicior/oy). It was perhaps at this time that he visited various other countries, of which mention is made in his works, as e. g. Ci- licia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Scyros, Crete {Com- ment, in Hi}ypcr. " De Victu Acut.^ iii. 8. vol. xv. p. 648), and Cyprus {De Simpl. Medic. Temper, ac Facult. ix. 1. § 2. vol. xii. p. 171). He returned to Pergamus from Alexandria, when he had just entered on his twenty-ninth year, a.d. 158 {De Compos. Medic. sec.Gen. iii. 2. vol. xiii. p. 599), and was immediately appointed by the high-priest of the city physician to the school of gladiators, an office which he filled with great reputation and success. {Comment, in Hippocr. " De Fract.'' iii. GALENUS. 21. vol. xviii. pt. 2. p. 567, &c. ; De Compon. Medic- sec. Gen. iii. 2. vol. xiii. p. 574.) In his thirty-fourth year, a.d. 163-4, (lalen quitted his native country on account of some popular commotions, and went to Rome for the first time. {De Libris Propr. c. i. vol. xix. p. 15.) Here he stayed about four years, and gained such reputation from his skill in anatomy and medicine tliat he got acquainted with some of the principal persons at Rome, and was to have been recom- mended to the emperor, but that he declined that honour. {De Praeiiot. ad Epiy. c. 8. vol. xiv. p. 647.) It was during his first visit to Rome that he wrote his work De Hippoaratis et Plato?iis De- cretis. the first edition of his work De Anatomicis Admi?nstratio?iibus, and some of his other treat- ises {De Anat. Admin, i. 1. vol, ii. p. 215); and excited so much envy and ill-will among the physicians there by his constant and successful disputing, lecturing, writing, and practising, that he was actually afraid of being poisoned by them. {De Praenot. ad Epig. c. 4. vol. xiv. p. 623, &c.) A full account of his first visit to Rome*, and of some of his most remarkable cures, is given in the early chapters of his work De Praenotione ad Kpi- genem, where he mentions that he was at last called, not only 7rapa5o,JoAo'7os, "the wonder-speaker," but also 7rapaSo|o7roios, "the wonder-worker." (c. 8. p. 641.) It is often stated that Galen fled from Rome in order to avoid the danger of a very severe pestilence, which had first broken out in the parts about Antioch, A.D. 166, and, after ravaging various parts of the empire, at last reached the capital (see GreswelPs Dissertations, ^c, vol. iv. p. 552) ; but he does not appear to be justly open to this charge, which the whole of his life and character would incline us to disbelieve. He had been for some time wishing to leave Rome as soon as the tumults at Pergamus should be at an end {De Praenot. ad Epig. c. 4. vol. xiv. p. 622 ), and evaded the proposed introduction to the emperor M. Aurelius for fear lest his return to Asia should be thereby hindered {ibid. pp. 647, 648). This reso- lution may have been somewhat hastened by the breaking out of the pestilence at Rome, A. D. 167 ( De Libr. Propr. c.. vol. xix. p.l5),and accordingly he left the city privately, and set sail at Brundu- sium. {De Praenot. ad Plpig. c. 9. vol. xiv. p. 648.) He reached his native country in his thirty- eighth year, a. d 167-8 {De Libr. Propr. c. 2. vol. xix. p. 16), and resumed his ordinary course of life ; but had scarcely done so, when there ar- rived a summons from the emperors M. Aurelius and L. Verus to attend them at Aquileia in Ve- netia, the chief bulwark of Italy on its north-east- ern frontier, whither they had both gone in person to make preparations for the war with the northern tribes {De Libr. Propr. 1. c. p. 17, 18 ; De Prae- not. ad Epig. c. 9. vol. xiv. p. 649, 650), and where they intended to pass the winter. He travelled through Thrace and Macedonia, perform- ing part of the journey on foot {De Simplic. Medi- Rome took place a.d. 161-2, and that therefore he was there twice before his visit a.d. 170 ; but Galen himself never speaks of this as his tliird visit, and the writer is inclined to think that all the passages in his works that seem to imply that he was at Rome A. d. 161-2, may be easily re- conciled with the other hypothesis.
 * Some persons think that Galen's first visit to