22. GALEN
1 oon, one; phesyk, physic (medicine).
7 sextene, sixteen.
8 wole, will.
9 scole, school; good, wealth.
10 Ayse, Asia.
11 Alysaundyr, Alexandria; seche, seek.
12 gramer, grammar.
16 deyed nygh, died near; marches, borderlands.
17 connynge demonstratyf, demonstrative knowledge.
18 soore, sorely.
19 cesed, ceased.
24 evrous, fortunate.
26 ayel, uncle.
29-30 Danathomie, On Anatomy.
30 tretyes, treatises.
31 werne brente, were burned.
32 wreten, written.
33 Danaxogoras, Concerning Anaxagoras; Dandromachye, Concerning Andromachus.
34 tecches, blemishes.
35 valeyes, valleys; pleyne weyes, plain ways.
36-37 revers for to renne thurgh, rivers to run through.
38 wele, weal (benefit); hertes, hearts.
40 here, their; studyauntes, students.
42 phesycians, physicians; preef, examination.
43 preved, proven.
44 here, their.
45 seeke, sick; here heele, their healing.
46 proufyte, profit.
47-48 longeth, belongs.
50 curyouse, curious (desirous).
51 tecches, habits.
52 wonte, accustomed.
54 her, their; durste, dares.
55 anone, soon.
56 here, their.
59 holpen, helped.
60 attempred in here levynge, temperate in their living.
61 glotons, gluttonous.
62 boorde, board (table).
67 wene, believe.
69 discrete, discreet.
70 suffysaunt, sufficient.
73 leve, leave.
77 bare, bore.
22. GALEN: EXPLANATORY NOTES
ABBREVIATIONS: B = Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, ed. Bühler (1941); CA = Gower's Confessio Amantis; CT = Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; G = Pierpont Morgan Library MS G.66; MED = Middle English Dictionary; OED = Oxford English Dictionary; S = Scrope, Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, ed. Schofield (1936).
These explanatory notes cannot hope to provide a complete accounting for the source of every proverbial statement in Dicts and Sayings. That task would be a separate book in its own right. Instead, I have attempted to contextualize this rather heterogeneous body of lore by identifying the people and places named in the text, as well as noting points that may be of interest to students and general readers. Those interested in tracing the source of particular quotations should begin by consulting Whiting's Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases From English Writings Mainly Before 1500. Readers are also invited to consult the thorough notes to Knust's Bocados de Oro, the Spanish translation of the original Arabic ancestor of Dicts and Sayings.
1 Gallyene. Galen (c. 129-c. 200) was a Greek physician and proponent of the study of anatomy (he demonstrated, among other things, that arteries carry blood), and the most brilliant medical mind of his age. Galen wrote hundreds of works that spread across Europe and the Islamic world; his authority in medical matters was nearly unquestioned in the Middle Ages.
3 Esculapius. See the explanatory note for Zalquaquine, line 1.
Gorus. This may be Gorgias of Leontini (c. 485-c. 380 BC), the Greek Sophist who believed that there is no such thing as objective knowledge or truth. The Sophists were philosophers who traveled throughout Greece teaching rhetoric. They were harshly criticized by later thinkers for charging payment for their services and for teaching persuasive tactics instead of more "serious" pursuits; such criticism has led to the negative connotations of words like sophist and sophistry.
Myrus. Though the chronology would be off, this could be Marinus, an anatomist of the first century AD who was greatly admired by Galen.
Promenides. Parmenides (b. c. 515 BC), a Greek philosopher who founded the Eleatic School, which taught that change is not real and that motion is an illusion of the senses. Zeno of Elea (see the explanatory note for Zabyon, line 1) was one of his greatest disciples.
4 Platon. See the explanatory note for Plato, line 1.
Esculapius the secunde. A curious reference, most likely meant to be Asclepiades of Bithynia, a scholar of physiology who flourished in the first century BC.
Ypocras. See the explanatory note for Hippocrates, line 1.
6 Jhesu Cryste. This is the only overt reference to Jesus Christ in Dicts and Sayings.
10 Pergame. Pergamum, in western Asia Minor. Galen was born there in 129.
13 Cleupare. A woman named Cleopatra, "called ibn Abi Oseibi'a, a woman doctor from whom Galen learned much in medicine pertaining to women. She is mentioned in his works" (S, p. 213n95). Women physicians were, needless to say, out of the ordinary, but not without precedent; perhaps the most famous example from the Middle Ages was an eleventh-century doctor and medical professor named Trotula of Salerno, who wrote about women's health issues. There are doubts, however, about whether she was actually the author of the works attributed to her.
16 Descen. See the explanatory note for Alexander, line 102. Galen actually died sometime after 200 in Rome, where he spent much of his life as physician to the powerful (such as the emperor Marcus Aurelius).
28-29 at the begynnynge of the regne of Anthonye, that regned nexst aftir Adryan. That is, the Roman Emperor Antonius Pius (r. 138-61), who followed Hadrian (r. 117-38).
29-30 Danathomie. This is On Anatomy, or On Anatomical Procedures, a fifteen-volume work that ranks as one of Galen's most important contributions to the study of medicine.
33 Danaxogoras, Dandromachye. These references are obscure, but Danaxogoras clearly refers to Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (see the explanatory note to The Last Philosophers, line 256). In his Metaphysics, Aristotle critiques and revises Anaxagoras' conception of nous (Mind), the infinite, supreme, rational force that set in motion and guides the universe. Dandromachye probably refers to Andromachus, Nero's personal physician, who is frequently mentioned in Galen's writing.
a booke whiche oon Ruxus made of tecches. Rufus of Ephesus was a medical philosopher who flourished around the end of the first century AD. Presumably the book dealt with skin diseases and deformities.
22. GALEN: TEXTUAL NOTES
34 tecches. G: tecches and, followed by a gap of about one inch.
43 to kinges. B adds the after to.
78 The last part of Galen's section is missing, probably because G is so badly disarranged toward the end. These lines were most likely lost in the shuffle.