On Avoiding Distress and On My Own Opinions

The discovery of the fifteenth-century codex Vlatadon 14 in 2005 was an extraordinary moment for scholars of Graeco Roman antiquity, as it brought to light a new witness to a large collection of Galens medical and philosophical works. Among them is the moral essay De indolentia (On Avoiding Distress), a text long deemed lost, and the De propriis placitis (On My Own Opinions), a doxographical piece with a complex textual tradition, up to that point known only through a corrupt medieval Latin translation and some passages preserved in Greek. This volume provides a new critical edition of the two Galenic treatises, which represents a significant improvement on earlier editorial attempts by offering more accurate readings of the codex, including supplementation of previously unrestored lacunae, and many emendations to thorny passages owed to physical damage in the manuscript as well as perhaps careless scribes and/or the poor quality of their model. The more authoritative version of the two texts is accompanied by fresh English translations and brief introductions, making both works widely accessible not just to Classicists but also to scholars and students of ancient medicine, ancient philosophy and Roman Imperial literary culture.