Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/891

Rh SORANUS. Aurelianiis rather as a predecessor than as a con- temporary ; he lived at least as early as Archigenes, who used one of liis medicines (ap. Act, ii. 2. 55, p. 277) ; he was tutor to Attains [Attalus, Vol. I. p. 412] ; and he was dead when Galen wrote his work " Ue Methodo Medendi," i. e. about a. d. 178. (Gal. De Meth. Med. i. 7. vol. x. p. 53.) But, after all, it must be confessed that the exact chronology of Soranus is not quite satisfactorily made out. He belonged to the sect of the Metho- dici (Pseudo-Gal. Intrud. c. 4, vol. xiv. p. 684), and was one of the most eminent physicians of that school. Besides the few particulars mentioned above, nothing is known of the events of his life, except that he passed some time in Aquitania for the purpose of treating some skin diseases which were very prevalent there at that time. (Marcell. Empir. be Medicam. c. 19, p. 321.) The follow- ing medical works are still extant under the name of Soranus: — 1. Ile^l TvvaiKdwv HaQwv^ De Arte Ohstetricia Morblsque Mulierum ; 2. Ilepi M^frpas K(x Tvi/aiKeiov AtSoiou, De Utero et Pudendo Mu- liehri; 3. ITepi 'S,T]fj.duiV KaToyixotTwv, De Signis Fracturarum ; 4. li^pX 'Eirideaixcoy, De Fasciis ; 5. Bfos 'iTTTTo/cpaTous, Vita Hippocratis ; 6. /« Artem Medeyidi Isagoge. The treatise ne/;i Tvuai- Keiwv Uadwu was first published in Greek in 1838. Regim. Pruss. 8vo. It was partly prepared for the press by F. R. Dietz, and finished after his death by J. F. Lobeck. It is a valuable and interesting work, consisting of one hundred and twenty-two chapters, with a few lines of the hundred and twenty-third, and the titles of thirty-eight more.* As has been intimated above, the text is at present in a very corrupt state, and contains numerous in- terpolations. Dr. Ermerins has published some valuable " Observationes Criticae in Sor. Eph. De Arte Obsteir. Morbisque MuV at the end of his edition of Hippocr. De Vict. Rat. in Morb. Acut. Lugd. Bat. 8vo. 1841 ; and a new edition of the work is at this present time (1848) being pre- pared hy Dr. Bell of Paris. With respect to the medical contents of the work the reader may con- sult a dissertation by H. Haser, " De Sorano Ephesio, ejusque Tlepl Tuv. IlaOwu Libro nuper reperto," Jenae, 1840, 4to.; another by J. Pinoff, entitled " Artis Obstetriciae Sor. Eph. Doctrina ad ejus Librura riepl Tw. TlaBccv nuper repertum exposita," Vratisl. 1840, 8vo.; and four interesting articles by the same Dr. Pinoif in the first and second volumes of Henschel's "Janus," Breslau, 1846, 1847, 8 vo. The short piece TLepl MTjrpas kol rvfaiKeiou Aldoiov is, in fact, merely an extract from the preceding work (of which it forms the fourth and fifth chapters), con- taining one of the best anatomical descriptions of the female organs of generation that have come down to us from antiquity. It has been preserved by Oribasius (Coll. Medic, xxiv. 31, 32), and is to be found in Greek in Goupyl's edition of Rufus Ephesius, Paris, 1554, 8vo., and in the first volume of Ideler's " Physici et Medici Graeci Minores," Berol. 1841, 8vo. There is a Latin translation in different editions of Oribasius, in that of Theo- philus De Corp. Hum. Fabr. Paris, 1556, 8vo., and in F. Paulini " Universa Antiquorum Anatome," Venet. 1604. fol. the Greek text. See Dr. Pinoff in Henschere " Janus," vol. i. p. 708, foil. SORANUS. P7.q The fragment Tlepl 'Zrjixeiwv KarayfjuxTuu was published with a Latin translation by Cocchi in his collection of " Graecorum Chirurgici Libri," Florent. 1754, fol. ; and the Greek text is inserted in Ideler's Pki/s. et Med. Gr. Min. The short piece Ilepi 'Eivi^^criiwv is to be found in Greek and Latin in the twelfth volume of Char- tier's edition of Hippocrates and Galen, Paris, 1679, fol. The Bios 'iTTTTOKpaTovs is of little value in itself, but is interesting as being the only ancient account of that great physician that remains, except what is told us by Suidas and John Tzetzes. It may perhaps have formed part of the collection of me- dical biographies mentioned by Suidas as being Avritten by the younger Soranus. It is published in several editions of the works of Hippocrates ; and is inserted also in the old edition of Fabric. Bihl. Gr. (vol. xii. p. 675), in Ideler's Phys. et Med. Gr. Min.., and in A. Westermann's " Vitarum Scriptores Graeci Minores," Biunsv. 1845, 8vo. Tiie treatise entitled " In Artem Medendi Isa- goge " is extant only in Latin, and is generally considered to be spurious. The author is called " Soranus Ephesius, insignis Peripateticus et ve- tustissimus Archiater." The only writers quoted in the work are Homer (c. 16), Hippocrates (c. 3, 4, 23), Erasistratus (c. 1), and Galen (c. 13) ; and it has been supposed to be rather an original Latin treatise than a translation from the Greek (see Cagnati, Var. Observ. iv. 2). It is to be found iu the collection of medical authors published by Albanus Torinus, Basil. 1528, fol. ; and also in the Aldine Collection, Venet. 1547 foL Besides these works (if they were all written by the same person), Soranus was the author of several others, of which only the titles and some fragments have been preserved. Galen mentions two works on Pharmacy, from which he quotes some passages {De Compos. Medicam. sec, Loc. i. 2, vi. 7, 8, vii. 2. vol. xii. pp. 4l4, 956, 987, xiii. 42) ; one, consisting of at least four books, entitled Tlipl 4}ixpfxaKelas, and the other Mov66l§os ^ap/xaKev- TiKos. Caelius Aurelianus quotes " De Adjutoriis," " De Febribus," " Libri Causarum, quos AirioAo- yovp.^vovs appellavit," and the second book " De Coenotetis " {De Morb. Acut. ii. 29, 33 ; De Morb. Chron. i. 3, iv. 1, pp. 143, 153, 289, 494), and says that part of his own work was merely a trans- lation of one by Soranus {De Morb. Acut. ii. 1. p. 75). Soranus himself refers to his works entitled UipX ^.TvepfiaTos {De Arte Obst. p. 10), U^pX Zwoyovias (p. 11), riepl -Twv napd ^vaiv (p. 20), Ile^l Koivo- Tr,T<t}U (p. 23), To "Tyiiivov (p. 27), nepi Noo"?;- ixdroov (p. 106), and UepX 'O^eov (p. 106). Ter- tullian quotes a work by Soranus " De Anima," in four books {De Anima, cc. 8, 15, 25, 44), in which he divided the soul into seven parts {ibid. c. 14), and denied its immortality {ibid. c. 6). He is quoted by Paulus Aegineta (iv. 59), as being one of the earliest Greek medical writers, who had described the species of worm called Filaria Medi- Ticnsis, or Guinea Worm (see J. Weihe, De Filar. Mediu. Comment. Berol. 1832, 8vo.) ; and he ap- pears to have enjoyed a great reputation among the ancients, as St. Augustine calls him " Me- dicinae auctor nobilissimus " {Cont. Julian, v. 51, vol. X. p. 654, ed Bened.), and Tertullian, ** Me- thodicae Medicinae instructissimus auctor" {De Anima, c. 6). See also St. Cyprian, Epist. 76, p. 156, ed. Paris, 1726.) [W. A. G.]
 * The chapters are not numbered regularly in