Author, Argument and Exegesis: A Rhetorical Analysis of Galen's In Hippocratis de natura hominis commentaria tria.

Abstract

In a culture where philosophical and medical commentators turned to the corpora of their progenitors to uncover and demonstrate the principles of their professions, Galen thought it was extremely important that De natura hominis (Nat. Hom.) be perceived as having been written by Hippocrates.1 He argued that Nat. Hom. was the only text in which Hippocrates methodically investigated the primary substances of the human body, its φύσις, and therefore, it contained the ‘foundation’ (κρηπίς) of the whole art of Hippocrates.2 As will be seen in this chapter, Galen’s understanding of Nat. Hom. was derived from his perception that the venerable Hippocrates held similar theoretical views on the four elements and humors as Galen did.3