GALEN

Ed. Chart. I. [37.] $\qquad$ Ed. Bas. IV. (362.)
...asked again which of the ancients I would most praise.

* These matters, as well as his other skills, show Erasistratus to be a wonderful physician. Because of him, I wrote with great ambition six books on the anatomy of Hippocrates and three books on the anatomy of Erasistratus. Once, while I was lecturing publicly on the books of the ancient physicians, a copy of Erasistratus' work On the Raising of Blood original: "peri haimatos anagōgēs." This work by Erasistratus likely concerned the coughing up or vomiting of blood. was brought to me. Following the custom, a stylus was inserted into the book to choose a passage at random. The book was opened to the part where Erasistratus rejects the use of bloodletting venesection: the surgical opening of a vein to withdraw blood, a standard but controversial treatment in antiquity. I spoke at length against his view, specifically to irritate Martialis, who pretended to be a devoted follower of Erasistratus.

Since my speech was very well received, a friend of mine who had a grudge against Martialis asked me to dictate what I had said. He brought a person trained in writing quickly with shorthand signs notarius: a scribe or clerk trained in "notes," an early form of shorthand used to record speeches in real time so that my words could be recorded. My friend wanted these notes so that, if he left the city to go home, he could use my arguments against Martialis during his visits to the sick. Later, I do not know how it happened, but when I returned to Rome for the second time after being summoned by the emperors This refers to the joint emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, who summoned Galen to Aquileia in 168 CE and then to Rome., the man who had kept these notes...