Tag: Galen

Πάλιν δ’ ἐπὶ τὴν πρώτην τοῦ ζῴου σύστασιν ἐπανάγωμεν τὸν λόγον· καὶ ὅπως γε ἡμῖν εὔτακτός τε ἅμα καὶ σαφὴς γίγνοιτο, διελώμεθα τέτταρσι χρόνοις τὴν σύμπασαν τῶν κυουμένων δημιουργίαν. πρῶτος μέν, ἐν ᾧ κατὰ τὰς ἀμβλώσεις τε καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἀνατομὰς ἡ τοῦ σπέρματος ἰδέα κρατεῖ. κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον οὐδ’ Ἱπποκράτης ὁ πάντα θαυμάσιος ἤδη που κύημα καλεῖ τὴν τοῦ ζῴου σύστασιν, ἀλλ’, ὡς ἀρτίως ἠκούσαμεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἑκταίας ἐκπεσούσης, ἔτι γονήν. ἐπειδὰν δὲ πληρωθῇ μὲν τοῦ αἵματος, ἡ καρδία δὲ καὶ ὁ ἐγκέφαλος καὶ τὸ ἧπαρ ἀδιάρθρωτα μὲν ᾖ καὶ ἀμόρφωτα, πῆξιν δ’ ἠδη τινὰ καὶ μέγεθος ἀξιόλογον ἕχῃ, δεύτερος μὲν οὗτος ὁ χρόνος ἐστί, σαρκοειδὴς δὲ καὶ οὐκέτι γονοειδής ἐστιν ἡ οὐσία τοῦ κυήματος. οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ γονὴν ἔτι προσαγορεύοντα τὸν Ἱπποκράτην τοιαύτην ἰδέαν εὕροις ἄν, ἀλλ’, ὡς εἴρηται, κύημα. τρίτος ἐπὶ τῷδε χρόνος, ἡνίκα, ὡς εἴρηται, τὰς μὲν τρεῖς ἀρχὰς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐναργῶς, ὑπογραφὴν δὲ τινα καὶ οἷον σκιαγραφίαν ἁπάντων τῶν ἄλλων μορίων. ἐναργεστέραν μὲν γὰρ ὄψει τὴν περὶ τὰς τρεῖς ἀρχὰς διάπλασιν, ἀμυδροτέραν δὲ τὴν τῶν κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα μορίων, καὶ πολὺ δὴ τούτων ἔτι τὴν κατὰ τὰ κῶλα. ταῦτα γάρ ὕστερον, ὡς Ἱπποκράτης ὠνόμαζεν, ὀζοῦται, τὴν πρὸς τοὺς κλάδους ἀναλογίαν ἐνδεικνύμενος τῇ προσηγορίᾳ. τέταρτος δ’ οὗτός ἐστι καὶ τελευταῖος χρόνος, ἡνίκα ἤδη τά τ’ ἐν τοῖς κώλοις ἅπαντα διήρθρωται, καὶ οὐδ’ ἔμβρυον ἐτι μόνον, ἀλλ’ ἤδη καὶ παιδίον ὀνομάζει τὸ κυούμενον ὁ θαυμάσιος Ἱπποκράτης, ὅτε καὶ ἀσκαρίζειν καὶ κινεῖσθαί φησιν, ὡς ζῷον ἤδη τέλειον.
(Galen, De semine 1.8.9)

But let us take the account back again to the first conformation of the animal, and in order to make our account orderly and clear, let us divide the creation of the foetus overall into four periods of time. The first is that in which, as is seen both in abortions and in dissection, the form of the semen prevails. At this time, Hippocrates too, the all-marvelous,does not yet call the conformation of the animal a foetus; as we heard just now in the case of semen voided in the sixth day, he still calls it semen. But when it has been filled with blood, and heart, brain and liver are still unarticulated and unshaped yet have by now a certain solidarity and considerable size, this is the second period; the substance of the foetus has the form of flesh and no longer the form of semen. Accordingly you would find that Hippocrates, too no longer calls such a form semen but, as was said, foetus. The third period follows on this, when, as was said, it is possible to see the three ruling parts clearly and a kind of outline, a silhouette, as it were, of all the other parts. You will see the conformation of the three ruling parts more clearly, that of the parts of the stomach more dimly, and much more still, that of the limbs. Later on they form “twigs”, as Hippocrates expressed it, indicating by the term their similarity to branches. The fourth and final period is at the stage when all the parts in the limbs have been differentiated; and at this part Hippocrates the marvellous no longer calls the foetus an embryo only, but already a child, too, when he says that it jerks and moves as an animal now fully formed. (tr. Phillip de Lacy)

Οἱ συνεχῶς ἐτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγων ἐφεξῆς γενόμενοι λιμοὶ κατὰ πολλὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίοις ὑπακουόντων ἐθνῶν ἐναργῶς ἐπεδείξαντο τοῖς γε μὴ παντάπασιν ἀνοήτοις, ἡλίκην ἔχει κακοχυμία δύναμιν εἰς νόσων γένεσιν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὰς πόλεις οἰκοῦντες, ὥσπερ ἦν ἔθος αὐτοῖς παρασκευάζεσθαι κατὰ τὸ θέρος εὐθέως σῖτον αὐτάρκη πρὸς ὅλον τὸν ἐφεξῆς ἐνιαυτὸν, ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν πάντα τὸν πυρὸν αἴροντες ἅμα ταῖς κριθαῖς τε καὶ τοῖς κυάμοις καὶ φακοῖς, ἀπέλιπον τοῖς ἀγροίκοις τοὺς ἄλλους Δημητρίους καρποὺς, οὕς ὀνομάζουσιν ὄσπριά τε καὶ χέδροπα, μετὰ τοῦ καὶ τούτων αὐτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγα κομίζειν εἰς ἄστυ. τὰ γοῦν ὑπολειφθέντα διὰ τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐκδαπανῶντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἄνθρωποι τροφαῖς κακοχύμοις ἠναγκάζοντο χρῆσθαι δι’ ὅλου τοῦ ἦρος, ἐσθίοντες ἀκρέμονάς τε καὶ βλάστας δένδρων καὶ θάμνων, καὶ βολβοὺς, καὶ ῥίζας κακοχύμων φυτῶν, ἐμφορούμενοι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀγρίων ὀνομαζομένων λαχάνων, ὅτου τις ἔτυχεν εὐπορήσας, ἀφειδῶς ἄχρι κόρου, καθάπερ καὶ πόας χλωρὰς ὅλας ἕψοντες ἤσθιον, ὧν πρότερον οὐδ’ ἄχρι πείρας ἐγεύσαντο πώποτε. παρῆν οὖν ὁρᾶν ἐνίους μὲν αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις τοῦ ἦρος, ἅπαντας δ’ ὀλίγου δεῖν ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ θέρους ἁλισκομένους ἕλκεσι παμπόλλοις κατὰ τὸ δέρμα συνισταμένοις, οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν ἰδέαν ἅπασιν ἴσχουσι· τὰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἦν ἐρυσιπελατώδη, τὰ δὲ φλεγμονώδη, τὰ δ’ ἑρπυστικὰ, τὰ δὲ λειχηνώδη, καὶ ψωρώδη, καὶ λεπρώδη. τούτων μὲν ὅσα πρᾳότατα, διὰ τοῦ δέρματος ἐξανθήσαντα τὴν κακοχυμίαν ἐκ τῶν σπλάγχνων τε καὶ τοῦ βάθους ἐκένωσεν· ἐνίοις δέ τισιν ἀνθρακώδη τε καὶ φαγεδαινικὰ γενόμενα μετὰ τῶν πυρετῶν, ἀπέκτεινε πολλοὺς ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ μόλις ὀλιγίστων σωθέντων. ἄνευ δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὸ δέρμα παθημάτων πυρετοὶ πάμπολλοι ἐγένοντο, διαχωρήσεις γαστρὸς ἐπιφέροντες δυσώδεις καὶ δακνώδεις, εἰς τεινεσμοὺς καὶ δυσεντερίας τελευτώσας, οὖρά τε δριμέα, καὶ αὐτὰ δυσώδη, τὴν κύστιν ἐνίων ἑλκώσαντα. τινὲς δ’ αὐτῶν ἐκρίθησαν ἱδρῶσι, καὶ τούτοις δυσώδεσιν, ἢ ἀποστήμασι σηπεδονώδεσιν. οἷς δ’ οὐδὲν τούτων ἐγένετο, πάντες ἀπέθανον ἢ μετὰ φανερᾶς φλεγμονῆς ἑνός γέ τινος τῶν σπλάγχνων, ἢ διὰ τὸ μέγεθός τε καὶ τὴν κακοήθειαν τῶν πυρετῶν. ὀλιγίστων δὲ φλέβα τεμεῖν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς νόσου τολμησάντων ἐνίων ἰατρῶν, (ἐδεδίεσαν γὰρ εἰκότως χρῆσθαι τῷ βοηθήματι διὰ τὸ προκαταλελῦσθαι τὴν δύναμιν,) οὐδενὸς εἶδον αἷμα χρηστὸν ἐκκριθὲν, ὁποῖον ἐκ τῶν ὑγιεινῶν σωμάτων ὁρᾶται κενούμενον, ἀλλ’ ἤτοι πυρρότερον, ἢ μελάντερον, ἢ ὀῤῥωδέστερον, ἢ δριμὺ καὶ δάκνον αὐτὴν τὴν διαιρεθεῖσαν φλέβα κατὰ τὴν ἐκροὴν, ὡς δυσεπούλωτον γενέσθαι τὸ ἕλκος. ἐνίοις δὲ καὶ συμπτώματα μετὰ τῶν πυρετῶν, καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς ἀποθανοῦσιν, ἐγένοντο βλάβην τῆς διανοίας ἐπιφέροντα σὺν ἀγρυπνίαις καὶ καταφοραῖς. οὐδὲν δὲ θαυμαστὸν, ἐναντίοις ἁλῶναι νοσήμασί τε καὶ συμπτώμασι τοὺς τότε νοσήσαντας, αὐτούς τε διαφέροντας ἀλλήλοις οὐ ταῖς φύσεσι μόνον ἢ ταῖς ἡλικίαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς ἔμπροσθεν διαίταις, ἐναντίαν τε δύναμιν ἐχούσας ἐδηδοκότας ἐν τῷ λιμῷ τροφάς. ἤσθιον μὲν γὰρ ἅπαντες ὧν ηὐπόρουν· ἀνομοίου δὲ τῆς εὐπορίας οὔσης, ἔνιοι μὲν ὀξεῖς, ἢ δριμεῖς, ἢ ἁλυκοὺς, ἢ πικροὺς ἔχοντα χυμοὺς ἐδέσματα προσηνέγκαντο, τινὲς δ’ αὐστηροὺς, ἢ στρυφνοὺς, ἢ ψύχοντας σαφῶς, ἢ ὑγροὺς ἱκανῶς, ἢ γλίσχρους, ἢ φαρμακώδεις. οἶδα γοῦν ἐνίους μὲν αὐτίκα διὰ μυκήτων ἐδωδὴν ἀποθανόντας, ἐνίους δὲ διὰ κωνείων, ἢ ναρθήκων, ὀλίγους δ’ ἐξ αὐτῶν μόγις διασωθέντας.
(Galen, De rebus boni malique suci 6.749-752K = C.M.G. 5.4.2.389-391)

The famines that occurred continuously, many years in a row, in many peoples subject to the Romans have shown to those who aren’t completely without understanding what great power bad juices have in the generation of diseases. Now the inhabitants of the cities have the habit of providing for themselves, right after summer, sufficient grain for the entire following year, taking all wheat from the fields, along with the barley, beans and lentils, and leaving for the country people the other fruits of Demeter, the ones we call pulses and legumes, after having taken a sizable portion to town from those as well. So, having exhausted what remained during the winter, the people in the country were forced to use unwholesome foods throughout springtime, eating twigs and shoots of trees and bushes, and bulbs, and roots of indigestible plants. They also filled themselves with so-called wild herbs, whichever ones there happened to be large quantities of, and they used them freely and to satiety, as they also cooked and ate all sorts of green grasses that previously they had never so much as tasted even to try. As a result one could see some of these people by the end of spring, and virtually all of them at the beginning of summer, victim to numerous ulcers that formed on the skin; and they did not all have the same look, for some were similar to erysipelas, others to phlegmon, others to herpes, and yet others to lichen, scabies or lepra. The most benign ones, when breaking through the skin, purged the bad juices from the entrails and from deep within the body; but in others these turned into anthrax and gangreen, accompanied by fevers, and they killed many, only a very few being narrowly saved, and only after a long time. As for those whose skin was not affected, they too were gripped by numerous fevers, inflicting malodorous, pungent evacuations of the bowels, ending in tenesmus and dysentery, and acrid urination, also malodorous, and causing ulcerations of the bladder in some. For some the sickness took the form of sweats, these too malodorous, or putrid abscesses. As to those who had none of these things, they all died either due to noticeable inflammation of some organ or other, or because of the intensity and virulence of the fevers. In those very rare cases where a doctor had dared to open a vein in the early stages of the illness (a remedy which they were afraid to use, with reason, given the weakened condition of the patients), they never saw good blood being secreted, such as can be seen flowing from healthy bodies, but either yellowish blood, or blackish, or whey-like, or acidic and corroding the incised vein itself when flowing out, making it hard for the wound to scar over. In some, especially in those who were dying, the fevers were accompanied by symptoms that involved loss of the mental faculties along with insomnia and lethargy. And we shouldn’t be surprised that the people who were sick in those days fell prey to different diseases and conflicting symptoms, as they differed from each other not only in constitution and age, but also by their previous diets, since during the famine they had eaten food with contrasting properties. For everyone ate that which he had in abundance; but since this abundance varied, the juices of the food that some fed on were acrid, sour, salty, or bitter, while those of others’ were dry, or astringent, or had a clear cooling effect, or were too liquid, or viscous, or medicinal. I know for instance that some died straight away from eating mushrooms, others from hemlock or wild fennel, and just a few of them only barely recovered. (tr. David Bauwens)

Ὅτι μὲν τὸν κυρτὸν ἡ γαῦσος φωνὴ δηλοῖ πρόδηλον ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πράγματος. ὁ γὰρ μηρὸς οὐκ ἀκριβῶς ἐστιν εὐθὺς, ἀλλὰ εἴς τε τὸ ἔξω κυρτότερος, ὥσπερ καὶ κατ’ ἐναντία μέρη κοιλότερος. εἴτε δ’ ὀξύνειν χρὴ τοὔνομα τὸ γαυσὸς εἴτε προπερισπᾷν γαῦσος ἄδηλον. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἐν ἔθει τῷ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡ φωνή. κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν ἔνιοι μὲν προπερισπᾶσθαι κελεύουσιν αὐτὸ παραπλησίως τῷ καῦσος καὶ μαῦρος καὶ γαῦρος, ἔνιοι δὲ ὀξυτονεῖσθαι. δηλονότι πάντα πάθη δηλοῦντα δισύλλαβα τῇ ὀξείᾳ φαίνεται κεχρημένα τάσει, χωλὸς, λορδὸς, στρεβλὸς, κυρτὸς, βλαυσὸς, ῥαιβός. οὐ μόνον δὲ τὰ δισύλλαβα, ἀλλὰ καὶ σχεδὸν ἅπαντα τὰ κατὰ πάθη λεγόμενα, ἀρθριτικὸς, πλευριτικὸς, ἡπατικός. ὁποτέρως οὖν τις θέλει φθέγγεσθαι συγχωρεῖ κἂν ποτέ σοι καὶ τὴν ὀξεῖαν τάσιν εἰπόντι γαυσός. ἐπὶ τοῦτο γὰρ μόνον ἐπειράθην ῥεπόντων τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων τὸ βιβλίον, ἄν τ’ εἴπῃ τις  ξιῶν προπερισπᾷν, ὡς ἂν ἐκεῖνος ἐθελήσῃ καὶ σὺ φθέγγου, καὶ πάλιν ἂν ἑτέρῳ συντύχῃς ὀξυτονεῖν ἐθέλοντι, καὶ αὐτὸς οὕτως πρᾶττε καταφρονῶν καὶ τόνων καὶ ὀνομάτων, ὡς οὔτε πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν συντελούντων, πολύ γε μᾶλλον οὔτε πρὸς γεωμετρίαν ἢ  ριθμητικὴν ἢ μουσικὴν ἢ ἀστρονομικὴν, ὥστε εἰ μηδεμία τέχνη δέεται πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτῆς τέλος τῆς τῶν ἐπιτρίπτων τούτων ὀνομάτων μακρολογίας, οὐ μόνον οὐ χρὴ προσίεσθαι τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα τῶν ἀνδρῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ καταγελᾷν ὡς μάλιστα.
(Galen, In Hippocratis de fracturis librum commentarius secundus 18.2.517-519)

That the word γαῦσος means ‘curved’ is made very clear by the thing itself, for the thigh bone is not totally straight, but rather curved on the outside, as it is hollow on the opposite side. Whether the word is to be pronounced γαυσός, with an acute accent on the last syllable, or γαῦσος, is unclear, because the word isn’t used often in the Greek language. For reasons of analogy some say it should have a circumflex on the penultimate syllable like καῦσος, μαῦρος and γαῦρος, but others say it should be an acute accent on the last syllable since it is clear that all two syllable words for bodily symptoms have an acute pitch: χωλός, λορδός, στρεβλός, κυρτός, βλαυσός, ῥαιβός; and not only the two syllable words, but almost all terms for symptoms, such as ἀρθριτικός, πλευριτικός, ἡπατικός. Defer to whichever way somebody wants to pronounce the word. If you say γαυσός with acute pitch (for this is the only pronunciation I’ve actually seen people who read the book incline to), and someone speaks up and they think it right to pronounce it γαῦσος (as a perispomenon), then just pronounce the word the way they prefer. Then if again you come across someone else who wants to pronounce it γαυσός, do you do likewise and think nothing of word-accentuation, since it contributes nothing to philosophy and still less to geometry, arithmetic, music or astronomy. Since there is no practical craft which requires for its goal a drawn-out discussion of these damn words, one must not only not buy into people’s concern with such things, but ridicule it as much as possible. (tr. Alex Foreman, revised and expanded by David Bauwens)

Ἔργον δέ σοι γενέσθω καὶ σπούδασμα, μὴ μόνον ἐκ τοῦ βιβλίου τήν ἰδέαν ἑκάστου τῶν ὀστῶν ἀκριβῶς ἐκμαθεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων σύντονον αὐτόπτην αὑτὸν ἐργάσασθαι τῶν ἀνθρωπείων ὀστῶν. ἔστι δ’ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ μὲν τοῦτο πάνυ ῥᾴδιον, ὥστε καὶ τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτῶν τοῖς φοιτηταῖς, οἱ κατ’ ἐκεῖνο τὸ χωρίον ἰατροὶ μετὰ τῆς αὐτοψἰας πορίζονται. καὶ πειρατέον ἐστί σοι, κἄν μὴ δι’ ἄλλο τι, διὰ τοῦτο γοῦν αὐτὸ μόνον ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ γενέσθαι. μὴ δυνηθέντι δὲ τούτου τυχεῖν, οὐκ ἀδύνατον οὐδ’ οὕτως ἀνθρώπων ὀστᾶ θεάσασθαι. ἐγώ γε οὖν ἐθεασάμην πάνυ πολλάκις, ἤτοι τάφων τινῶν, ἢ μνημάτων διαλυθέντων. ἀλλὰ καὶ ποταμὸς ἐπαναβάς ποτε τάφῳ πρὸ μηνῶν ὀλίγων αὐτοσχεδίως γεγενημένῳ διέλυσέ τε ῥᾳδίως αὐτὸν, ἐπισυράμενός τε τῇ ῥύμῃ τῆς φορᾶς ὅλον τοῦ νεκροῦ τὸ σῶμα, τῶν μὲν σαρκῶν ἤδη σεσηπυιῶν, ἀκριβῶς δ’ ἀλλήλοις ἔτι συνεχομένων τῶν ὀστῶν, ἄχρι μὲν σταδίου κάταντες συρόμενον ἐπηνέγκατο· λιμνώδους δὲ αὐτὸ ἐκδεξαμένου χωρίου, τοῖς χείλεσιν ὑπτίου, πρὸς τοῦτο ἀπεκρούσθη τὸ τοῦ νεκροῦ σῶμα, καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν καὶ τοῦτο τοιοῦτο, οἶόν περ ἂν ἐπίτηδες αὐτὸ παρεσκεύασεν ἰατρὸς εἰς διδασκαλίαν μειρακίου. ἐθεασάμεθα δέ ποτε καὶ λῃστοῦ σκελετὸν ἐν ὄρει κείμενον ὀλίγον ἐξωτέρω τῆς ὁδοῦ, ὃν ἀπέκτεινε μέν τις ὁδοιπόρος ἐπεγχειροῦντα πρότερον ὁμόσε χωρήσας, οὐκ ἔμελλε δὲ θάψειν οὐδεὶς τῶν οἰκητόρων τῆς χώρας ἐκείνης, ἀλλ’ ὑπὸ μίσους ἐπέχαιρον ἐσθιομένῳ τῷ σώματι πρὸς τῶν οἰωνῶν, οἵτινες ἐν δυσὶν ἡμέραις αὐτοῦ καταφαγόντες τὰς σάρκας ἀπέλιπον ὡς εἰς διδασκαλίαν τῷ βουληθέντι θεάσασθαι τὸν σκελετόν.
(Galen, De Anatomicis Administrationibus 2)

Make it rather your serious endeavour not only to acquire accurate book-knowledge of each bone but also to examine assiduously with your own eyes the human bones themselves. This is quite easy at Alexandria because the physicians there employ ocular demonstration in teaching osteology to students. For this reason, if for no other, try to visit Alexandria. But if you cannot, it is still possible to see something of human bones. I, at least, have done so often on the breaking open of a grave or tomb. Thus once a river, inundating a recent hastily made grave, broke it up, washing away the body. The flesh had putrefied, though the bones still held together in their proper relations. It was carried down a stadium and, reaching marshy ground, drifted ashore. This skeleton was as though deliberately prepared for such elementary teaching. And on another occasion we saw the skeleton of a brigand, lying on rising ground a little off the road. He had been killed by some traveller repelling his attack. The inhabitants would not bury him, glad enough to see his body consumed by the birds which, in a couple of days, ate his flesh, leaving the skeleton as if for demonstration. (tr. Charles Singer)

Καί τινι φίλῳ προελομένῳ παρὰ τὸ πρόσθεν ἔθος ἀποσχέσθαι τελέως ἀφροδισίων εἰς ὄγκον ἐπεδίδω τὸ αἰδοῖον ἐμφυσώμενον, ὡς ἀναγκασθῆναι ἀνακοινώσασθαί μοι περὶ τοῦ συμπτώματος. ἔφη γὰρ θαυμάζειν, ὅπως τῶδε μὲν τῷ ἀθλητῇ ῥυσσὸν καὶ προσεσταλμένον ἐστὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον ἐκ τῆς εὐταξίας, ἑαυτῷ δ’ ἀφ’ οὗ τοῦτ’ ἐνεστήσατο, τοὐναντίον συμβαίνει. τότε μὲν οὖν αὐτῷ συνεβούλευσα τὸ ἠθροισμένον ἐκκρῖναι σπέρμα, τοῦ λοιποῦ δὲ καὶ θεαμάτων καὶ διηγήσεως καὶ μνήμης ἐπεγείρειν δυναμένης εἰς ἀφροδίσια παντάπασιν εἴργειν ἑαυτόν. ὅσοι δ’ εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἢ ἀθλοῦντες ἢ φωνασκοῦντες ἄπειροι τῶν ἀφροδισίων διετέλεσαν, εἴρξαντες παντάπασιν ἑαυτοὺς ἁπάσης ἐννοίας τε καὶ φαντασίας τοιαύτης, ἰσχνὰ καὶ ῥυσσὰ τοῖς τῶν γερόντων ὁμοίως αὐτοῖς γίνεται τὰ αἰδοῖα. πρὸς γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις κᾀκεῖνο συμβαίνει τοῖς ἐν νέοτητι κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον χρόνον ἀφροδισίοις πολλοῖς χρησαμένοις, εὐρυνομένων τῶν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις ἀγγείων, εὔρουν τε γίγνεσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸ τὸ αἷμα καὶ τὴν ὀρεκτικὴν δύναμιν τῶν ἀφροδισίων αὐξάνεσθαι, κατὰ τὸν κοινὸν λόγον ἁπασῶν τῶν δυνάμεων, ὃν καὶ Πλάτων ἔγραψε, τὴν μὲν ἡσυχίαν ἐκλύειν λέγων, τὴν δ’ ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις ἔργοις διατριβὴν αὐξάνειν τὴν ῥώμην. οὕτως μὲν οὖν καὶ οἱ τιτθοὶ ταῖς μὲν μηδέποτε κυησάσαις προσεσταλμένοι διαμένουσι, ταῖς δὲ μετὰ τὸ κυῆσαι θηλαζούσαις παιδία μέγιστοι γίγνονται, καὶ διαμένουσί γε γάλα παρέχοντες, ἄχρις ἂν θηλάζωσιν, παυομέναις δὲ τοῦ θηλάζειν τὰ παιδία καὶ ἡ τοῦ γάλακτος ἐν τοῖς τιτθοῖς γένεσις οὐ μετὰ πολὺ παύεται.
(Galenus, De Locis Affectis 8.450-452K)

A friend of mine who decided, contrary to his previous habit, to abstain completely from sex, saw his penis grow and swell to such an extent that he was forced to consult me on the matter. He said he was surprised that athletes had a shriveled, contracted member because of their temperance, whereas he, since he had adopted this regime, experienced the opposite. So I advised him to ejaculate the accumulated sperm, and from then on to avoid any spectacles, stories or memories whatsoever that might cause his arousal. With those who have been strangers to sexual pleasure from the start, be they athletes or singers, and who steer clear of all thoughts and phantasies of that kind, the penis grows thin and shriveled, similar to the genitals of old men; because, apart from other consequences, what happens to those who from the earliest days of their youth have had lots of sex, is that the blood vessels in those regions are extended, the blood flows more easily to the penis, and the desire for intercourse accumulates in force. The same thing happens to all faculties, as Plato too proclaimed when he wrote that rest weakens the body’s strength, while the exercise of its proper functions increases it. That’s why the chest of women who have never given birth remains flat and flaccid, whereas women who, having delivered, suckle their children, develop very large breasts which continue to provide milk for as long as they breastfeed, and stop producing it very soon after this period is concluded. (tr. David Bauwens)

Καθάπερ οὖν ἄνθρωπος ἁπάντων ζῴων ἐστὶ τὸ τελεώτατον, οὕτως ἐν αὐτῷ τούτῳ πάλιν ἀνὴρ γυναικὸς <τελεώτερος>. ἡ δ’ αἰτία τῆς τελειότητος ἡ τῆς θερμότητος ὑπεροχὴ, τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι πρῶτον ὄργανον τῆς φύσεως. ἐν οἷς οὖν ἐλλιπέστερον, ἐν τούτοις ἀναγκαῖον ἀτελέστερον εἶναι καὶ τὸ δημιούργημα. οὔκουν θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲν, εἰ τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄῤῥενος εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀτελέστερον, εἰς ὅσον ψυχρότερον. ὥσπερ οὖν ἀτελεῖς ἔσχεν ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ ἀσπάλαξ, οὐ μὴν οὕτω γε ἀτελεῖς, ὡς οἷς οὐδ’ ὅλως ἐστὶ ζώοις οὐδ’ ὑπογραφή τις αὐτῶν, οὕτω καὶ γυνὴ τοῖς γεννητικοῖς μορίοις ἀνδρὸς ἀτελεστέρα· διεπλάσθη μὲν γὰρ ἔνδον, αὐτῆς ἔτι κυουμένης, τὰ μόρια, προκύψαι δὲ καὶ ἀνατεῖλαι πρὸς τοὐκτὸς ἀῤῥωστίᾳ θερμότητος οὐ δυνάμενα τὸ μὲν διαπλαττόμενον αὐτὸ ζῶον ἀτελέστερον ἀπειργάσατο τοῦ πάντη τελείου, τῷ δ’ ὅλῳ γένει χρείαν οὐ σμικρὰν παρέσχεν, ἔδει γὰρ εἶναί τι καὶ θῆλυ. μὴ γὰρ δὴ νομίσῃς, ὡς ἑκὼν ἄν ποτε τὸ ἥμισυ μέρος ὅλου τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν ὁ δημιουργὸς ἀτελὲς ἀπειργάσατο καὶ οἷον ἀνάπηρον, εἰ μή τις κᾀκ τούτου τοῦ πηρώματος ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι χρεία μεγάλη.
(Galen, De Usu Partium 14.6)

Now just as mankind is the most perfect of all animals, so within mankind the man is more perfect than the woman, and the reason for his perfection is his excess of heat, for heat is Nature’s primary instrument. Hence in those animals that have less of it, her workmanship is necessarily more imperfect, and so it is no wonder that the female is less perfect than the male by as much as she is colder than he. In fact, just as the mole has imperfect eyes, though certainly not so imperfect as they are in those animals that do not have any trace of them at all, so too woman is less perfect than the man in respect of the generative parts. For the parts were formed within her when she was still a foetus, but could not because of the defect in the heat emerge and project on the outside, and this, though making the animal itself that was being formed less perfect than one that is complete in all respects, provided no small advantage for the race; for there needs must be a female. Indeed, you ought not to think that our Creator would purposely make half the whole race imperfect and, as it were, mutilated, unless there was to be some great advantage in such a mutilation. (tr. Margaret Tallmadge May)

Ταύτας, ἔφην, ἐγὼ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς λαβὼν τὰς ἐντολὰς ἄχρι δεῦρο διαφυλάττω, μήτ’ ἀφ’ αἱρέσεώς τινος ἐμαυτὸν ἀναγορεύσας, ὧν σπουδῇ πάσῃ ἀκριβῆ τὴν ἐξέτασιν ἔχω, ἀνέκπληκτός τε πρὸς τὰ κατὰ τὸν βίον ὁσημέραι συμπίπτοντα διαμένων, ὥσπερ ἑώρων τὸν πατέρα. οὔτ’ οὖν ἀπώλειά τινος ἱκανὴ λυπῆσαί με, πλὴν εἰ παντελῶς ἀπολέσαιμι τὰ κτήματα (τοῦτο γὰρ οὐδέπω πεπείραμαι), δόξης τε καὶ τιμῆς ὁ πατὴρ εἴθισέ με καταφρονεῖν ἀλήθειαν μόνην τιμῶντα. λυπουμένους δ’ ὁρῶ τοὺς πολλούς, ὅταν ἠτιμάσθαι δοκῶσιν ὑπό τινος, ἢ χρημάτων ἀπωλείᾳ. κατὰ τοῦτ’ οὖν, ἔφην, οὐδὲ λυπούμενον εἰδές μέ ποτε, <εἴ γε> μήτε χρημάτων ἀπώλεια συνέπεσέ μοι μέχρι δεῦρο τηλικαύτη τὸ μέγεθος, ὡς μηκέτ’ ἔχειν ἐκ τῶν ὑπολοίπων ἐπιμελεῖσθαι τοῦ σώματος ὑγιεινῶς, μήτ’ ἀτιμία τις, <ὡς> ὁρῶ <τοὺς> τοῦ συνεδρίου τῆς τιμῆς ἀφαιρεθέντας. εἰ δέ τινας ἀκούσαιμι ψέγειν με, τούς μ’ ἐπαινοῦντας αὐτοῖς ἀντιτίθημι καὶ νομίζω τὸ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐπαινοῦντας ἐπιθυμεῖν ἔχειν ἐοικέναι τῷ τὰ πάντα ἔχειν ἐθέλειν κτήματα.
(Galen, De Propriorum Animi Cuiuslibet Affectuum Dignotione et Curatione 8.8-9)

These, I said, were the injunctions I received from my father, and I have observed them up to the present day. I did not proclaim myself a member of any of those sects of which, with all earnestness, I made a careful examination, but I continued undaunted in the face of day by day occurrences throughout my life, just as I had seen my father do. No loss was enough to cause me grief. I do not know if I would grieve if I should lose all my possessions, for I have never yet experienced such a large loss. My father also accustomed me to look with scorn on glory and honor and to hold only the truth in esteem. But I see many men grieving when they think that someone has dishonored them or because of the loss of money. In a matter of this sort, you would never see me grieving, unless I incurred a loss of money so great that I was no longer able with what was left to take care of my bodily health, or unless I incurred some dishonor such as I see in the case of those who have been deprived of the honor of their seats in the Council. If I should hear that some men find fault with me, I oppose to them those who praise me, and I consider that the desire to have all men praise me is like the desire to possess all things. (tr. Paul W. Harkins)