ON HIS OWN BOOKS

PAGE 13

...arrival in Rome. [37] Some other works written for friends remained in my possession as copies because they were fully finished. Among these are the two books On the Causes of Breathing and the four books On the Voice. I dedicated these to a man of consular rank A "consular" was a high-ranking Roman official who had previously served as a consul, the highest elected office in the Roman Republic and Empire. named Boethus, who followed the philosophy of Aristotle. I also dedicated the works On the Anatomy of Hippocrates and, later, On the Anatomy of Erasistratus Erasistratus was a famous Greek physician and anatomist from the third century BCE known for his studies on the nervous and circulatory systems. to him.

I wrote these with more effort because of Martialis This is Martialis the anatomist, a contemporary of Galen, not to be confused with Martial the famous Roman poet.. Two of his books on anatomy are still preserved by many people today. At that time, his works were very highly regarded. This man was quite envious and argumentative, even though he was over seventy years old.

(362) He heard that my public demonstrations and my arguments regarding an anatomical problem were being greatly praised by everyone who attended. He then asked one of my friends which school original: "haireseis," often translated as "sect" or "choice of doctrine." I belonged to. When he heard that I call those people "slaves" who declare themselves Hippocratics or Praxagoreans Followers of Praxagoras of Cos, a famous physician and teacher of Herophilus., or who name themselves after any man at all, and that I choose what is good from each school, he asked a second question.