Galen's De indolentia (in Greek Peri alupias, henceforth PA) was a long-forgotten piece from his many reputedly lost works when Antoine Pietrobelli, then a Ph.D. candidate in Paris, first examined the Vlatadon 14 manuscript in Thessaloniki; his supervisor, Véronique Boudon-Millot, a leading specialist of Galen, then identified the text: this is how the story of Galen's PA began, back in 2005. Since then, ten years on following the discovery, a large amount of publications have come out about the new text, the most significant of which have appeared in the form of specialist articles about the manuscript itself, textual problems and questions of literal interpretation. More importantly, two different editions have been published, one in the Budé series (by V. Boudon-Millot and J. Jouanna, with the collaboration of A. Pietrobelli) and one in the Hellenica journal (by †P. Kotzia and P. Sotiroudis), both published in 2010. Given the difficulty of the text, poorly transmitted in a single, late manuscript marred with errors and physically damaged, it is likely that more attempts at establishing the text will arise in the near future and both editions can be seen as editiones majores.
The volume under consideration is one of the latest additions to the quickly expanding literature on Galen's PA. It builds on an earlier publication by the same two researchers, in the form of a provisional English translation (in Early Christianity [2011], 110–29); it is also the first volume to include so many papers on this topic (the volume edited by D. Manetti, Studi sul De indolentia di Galeno [2012], only has five). Although both editors have published on PA before, they are not known as Galen specialists, but rather as students of Christian literature: this illustrates the growing popularity of Galen among a wider range of specialists of antiquity, well beyond the usual small circles of keen readers. This phenomenon is also due to the remarkably rich nature and contents of Galen's PA, a text well made to appeal to many kinds of readers: a highly skilled rhetorical piece, PA can be seen as a ‘letter’ (the perspective adopted in R. & T.) or a ‘consolatio’, as a philosophical treatise on sorrow, as medical advice on how to overcome grief and as a mine of information about Roman history, especially the reign of Commodus, the great fire of a.d. 192, Galen's collections and, more generally, the book trade in the Roman Empire. It has become a widely appreciated source from historical, medical, philosophical and literary perspectives. Any attempt at shedding more light on its contents and significance should be received with excitement – but readers should remain alert to the quality of new studies and use their critical judgement, for with every new topic comes the temptation to write anything about it, in order to keep up with novelty.
As the collection comprises an English translation and twelve studies of the text, as well as introductory and ‘ancillary material’, it is difficult to do justice to all the components within the limits of this review. I shall focus on the more significant contributions and begin with the translation, which happened to come out shortly after V. Nutton's attempt (in P.N. Singer [ed.], Galen's Psychological Writings [2013]), with no prior knowledge of it. The translation is a revision of the editors’ earlier rendering (2011); it is based on Boudon-Millot & Jouanna's text, but claims to have made use of Kotzia & Soutiroudis’s edition as well and to ‘interact’ with Garofalo & Lami's Greek and Italian pocket edition of 2012. Naturally, a 2015 reader feels enticed to compare Nutton's translation with the one under review. It appears that they will not necessarily serve the same readership. R. & T.'s style is clear and readily accessible, especially for students; the translation is usually correct, but does not attempt at emending or even discussing the meaning of the most difficult parts of the text (which are many and significant). That is a problem with such a difficult text. The footnotes, moreover, are few and superficial. By contrast, Nutton's translation contains many attempts to clarify the text (especially in the form of annexes) and provides substantial information and references for the reader, specialist or not. Overall, his translation aims higher, and will reach a wider readership, inclusive of specialists and of keen classicists and historians eager to find reliable information and background to the text. R. & T.'s translation, therefore, seems better suited for the general public than for classicists and historians.
Part 2, ‘Interpretive Essays’, displays uneven efforts from the contributors, ranging from a mere list of quotations of the text in later (especially Arabic) authors, with no attempt whatsoever to contextualise them (Davies), to more elaborate studies: for example, Boudon-Millot delves into Greek manuscripts, suggesting a comparison between Vlat. 14 and Ambros. Q 3 sup. Nicholls embarks on a journey to explore the consequences of a library in Antium, based on controversial textual evidence at PA 16–18. Rosen convincingly highlights Galen's playfulness and irony in the PA. Touwaide argues that Galen's method of acquiring knowledge is based on books, in contrast with Dioscorides’ method. Downie's essay on Galen's self-portrait demonstrates literary flair, but provides few references to Galen's other autobiographical works and texts. White proposes a reading of PA in the light of Stoic thought, which remains at a general level and rather introductory, but may appeal to students. These are just a few of the twelve studies of variable length and ambition; while it is difficult to highlight all the complexity of their contents here, it is striking that several chapters seem to aim at an undergraduate readership.
The ‘ancillary material’ turns out to be of little convenience (see below), a pity for such a pricey volume. The book is, however, carefully produced and of pleasant use. The introduction, short and to the point, will provide fairly adequate context to readers who are totally unfamiliar with the text and the context of its discovery.
R. & T. have done a good job in terms of making Galen's PA more widely accessible in English, both with their previous translation and with this volume. They have painstakingly compiled any available scholarship (especially the most recent editions of Galenic texts instead of Kühn's poor edition) at their disposal to help build a successful book. But, unfortunately for R. & T., chances are specialists will now turn to Nutton's more exciting (and authoritative) translation. They were also unable to benefit from yet another translation (in German) by K. Brodersen (under the main title Die verbrannte Bibliothek), and they barely quote Garofalo & Lami's effort in Italian (apart from the ‘collation’ at the end of the book). In terms of ‘interpretation’, the papers offer varying depth and quality, and will leave many readers disappointed at what is overall a missed opportunity to provide scholars and students with a proper research instrument: the more recognised specialists of Galen among the contributors nevertheless help, providing some context for Galen's PA. Among the missing useful appendices that one could have expected feature a global bibliography and additional indexes, such as notions, Greek terms and ancient authors – the index of modern authors being of little use, and the index locorum incomplete (the edition from which each text is taken is not specified). The comparative collation of all three Greek texts available (as it stands) is awkward and difficult to read: it should have been more selective and omitted any insignificant accent variations. It is not as useful as Nutton's discussion (in an annexe) of the most tricky passages of the text, even though much more must be done to illuminate its difficulties. Brodersen, on the other hand, simply listed the points where he departed from Boudon–Jouanna's text at the end of his translation: this route is the best available for the sake of clarity, and could easily have been followed by R. & T. This book will certainly find an audience among the general public of classicists but, apart from some of the studies included, may not reach out to the more seasoned readers of Galen.
