On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato, Vol. I

For my part, I neither wished to pursue an infinite hope nor to attack an immense work. Therefore, from the works of Galen, I undertook to treat only one, and indeed one which I judged to pertain not only to physicians but also to philosophers and philologists, and to possess no less pleasure than utility. I applied myself with whatever effort I could to the books which are commonly inscribed in Latin de Placitis Hippocratis et Platonis On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato, about which Galen himself says they are discussed περὶ τῶν μεγίστην δύναμιν ἐχόντων εἰς ἰατρικήν τε καὶ φιλοσοφίαν concerning those things which have the greatest power for medicine and philosophy (p. 720 K). And truly, it has been sufficiently understood in our age that they pertain no less to the history of the philosophy of the ancients, especially the Stoics, than to medicine and physics31. But having recognized that after the Aldine edition they lay entirely neglected and never acquired a proper emender or commentator, I thought it would be worth my effort if, first, using as many critical resources as were available to me, I purged the text, which was polluted with infinite stains and vices, and then compiled commentaries which would bring some light to the rather obscure passages, of which there are not a few. Let us be allowed to explain how it happened that today we have a text covered in so much filth, before we discuss the resources themselves by which it seems it might be able to be emended and recover its original luster. For, as Celsus says (de med. I Prooem. p. 5, 8 D.), that which is sick cannot be cured by one who is ignorant of what it is. Therefore, having left behind the customary order of arguing, we judged that we must first discuss the editions, and then the manuscripts, in such a way, however, that we would take these into account where necessary, even in the first part of the discussion.

Those who oversaw the Editio Aldina Aldine Edition (A), in reviewing the books On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato, which are contained in Vol. I between folios 119 and 167, seem to have used one manuscript and to have followed it in such a way that, with few exceptions, they printed with great accuracy whatever they found written there. This is evident even from the fact that they retained the same orthography and vocalization which is wont to be found in the manuscripts of the 14th and 15th centuries; they are accustomed to omit the iota subscript, they treat the accents of enclitics in the way that such examples teach: ἠξίουν τὲ, δοῦναι τὲ, ἐπιθυμεῖν τὶς (instead of τις), ὁποία τὶς ἐστὶν, ἀπόφασις ἐστὶ, ἀναγκαῖον ἐστὶ, πολλοῖς ἐστὶ. They have letters erroneously interchanged, whether because the similarity of the strokes deceived the eyes or because faulty pronunciation was the cause, as when they write εὐτροφίαν instead of ἀτροφίαν, ἂν οὕτως τύχει instead of τύχῃ, i.e., τύχῃ, ἀτονίσαντος instead of ἀτονήσαντος, εἰ δὲ instead of οἱ δέ32; not rarely...

27) Oeuvres d'Oribase Works of Oribasius, Greek text and French translation, with an Introduction and notes by Bussemaker and Daremberg. Paris 1851—1862, volumes I to IV.
28) Fragments du commentaire de Galien sur le Timée de Platon Fragments of Galen's Commentary on Plato's Timaeus, published for the first time in Greek and French, with an Introduction and notes. Paris 1848.
29) Oeuvres anatomiques, physiologiques et médicales de Galien Anatomical, Physiological, and Medical Works of Galen, translated into French, with notes. Paris 1854—1856. 2 vols. It is to be lamented that Daremberg did not publish the two remaining volumes, in one of which he was going to discuss the life and writings of Galen.
30) Cf. in Henschel's Janus Vol. I (1846) p. 625 ff.; ibid. p. 439.
31) Daremberg discussed this matter in the booklet titled Essai sur Galien considéré comme philosophe Essay on Galen Considered as a Philosopher (Chap. VIII) and in the Preface to the edition of Oribasius, pp. XI and XII.
32) Quaest. Critic. de Gal. Critical Questions on Galen l. I. Spec. alt. p. 17.