XIII

PREFACE.

He thought it would be useful for his purpose. Following this method, he transferred much from those of Galen's books which are titled On the Use of the Parts original: "Περὶ χρείας μορίων" into the twenty-second, twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth books of his own collection. In many places in Oribasius, the readings of better codices are confirmed, and sometimes errors are corrected, such as on pages 377, 7, 18; 378, 3; 461, 18; and 492, 20.

Three centuries later, a certain Theophilus, whom they call a protospatharius chief of the sword-bearers, a high Byzantine title and archiatrus chief physician, wrote a small book On the Construction of Man original: "Περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατασκευῆς" (ed. Greenhill. Oxon. 1842). It is, as it were, a compendium of Galen's great work, constructed by the author in such a way that he might confirm his own opinions on the structure of human limbs with the authority of the prince of physicians. Thus, he rendered Galen's words sometimes intact, and sometimes slightly changed. By following his traces, I was able to correct the text in several places, such as on pages 27, 24; 29, 7; 30, 15; 32, 9; 389, 1; and 433, 27.

The Latin version, which Nicolaus Calaber, born in the city of Reggio, produced in the fourteenth century, offers little help for restoring the text. It exists in the Dresden codices Db 92 and 93, the Munich codex 26, and the Vatican codex 2380, in which it is inscribed: Galen’s [work] On the Use of the Parts, translated from Greek into Latin by Nicolaus of Reggio in Calabria, in the year of our Lord 1317, on the penultimate day of the month of March, in the fifteenth indiction. This interpretation was printed in the Latin editions of Galen from Pavia, the Giunta press, and others. I used the Lyon edition of 1538. Since Nicolaus performed the office of interpreter by rendering word for word, "adding, diminishing, or changing nothing," as he says himself, it can easily be perceived from this what he read in each passage. But he seems to have used a codex from Urbino that was neither older nor better; thus, in many places, he agrees with the codices of inferior quality, and only in a few did he provide the true reading. He departs slightly further from the record of our codices in Book I, Chapter 12, near the end (p. 25, 2), where after the words "but it is easy to understand" original: "ἐννοῆσαι δὲ ῥᾴδιον" he added: for as that which is prolonged sufficiently, whatever fever extends to about 30 hours, and another further prolonged with these, reaching to 36, and as much as another in the greatest degree, whatever has extended to 40 and more: we cannot, however, determine each of the aforementioned with certain limits because of the accumulated question. Yet it is not necessary to seek such certainty of all, when it is possible for us, even without it, to show for those who are near us most certainly regarding each of the sick, both to cure correctly and to prognosticate the future. For let it be supposed now to have a fever for 15 hours, but to become without fever for 23 hours, and for this to meet him in order according to analogy. It is clear, therefore, that one will also know the time according to the proximity, and what the interval is of the time, and according to what is sought, even the total flexion, etc.