§1## ΓΑΛΗΝΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΔΙΑΓΝΩΣΕΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΘΕΡΑΠΕΙΑΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΕΚΑΣΤΟΥ ΨΥΧΗ ΑΜΑΡΤΗΜΑΤΩΝ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ.
Ἡ μὲν δὴ τῶν παθῶν ἐν ἑκάστου ψυχῇ διάγνωσίς τε καὶ θεραπεία κατὰ τὴν εἰρημένην ὁδὸν ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου γράμματι λέλεκται, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐφεξῆς ἂν εἴη ῥητέον.
## GALEN'S BOOK ON THE DIAGNOSIS AND CURE OF THE ERRORS IN EACH PERSON'S SOUL. While the diagnosis and cure of the passions in each person's soul has been spoken of in the preceding treatise according to the path described, we must next speak in order of errors.
ἄρχομαι οὖν καὶ νῦν ἀρχὴν ἀρίστην, ἣν ἅπαντες ὁμολογοῦσιν, εἰ καὶ μὴ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐπιδείκνυνται, τί ποτε λέγουσιν ἁμάρτημα, λόγῳ διελθὼν, ὅπως ἡμῖν ἀμφιβολία μηδεμία κατὰ τὸν ἑξῆς λόγον ὑπολείποιτο, δεικνὺς, ὥς γε εἰώθασι χρῆσθαι τῇ φωνῇ ταύτῃ πάντες οἱ Ἕλληνες.
I therefore begin now also from the best starting point, which all agree upon even if they do not demonstrate it through their actions, by defining in discourse what on earth they call "error," so that no ambiguity may be left to us in the subsequent discourse, showing how all Greeks are accustomed to use this word.
ἐνίοτε μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ κρίσιν οὐκ ὀρθῶς γιγνομένων, ὡς εἶναι τοῦ λογιστικοῦ μόνου τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐνίοτε δὲ κοινῇ, ὡς καὶ τῆς ἀλόγου δυνάμεως ἅπτεσθαι * * * * * τί συγκατάθεσις ἁμαρτήματος, συνωμολόγηται πᾶσι· τί δὲ καὶ ἀσθενὴς, οὐκ ἔτι·
For sometimes it is said of things not rightly done according to judgment, as being of the rational part of the soul alone, and sometimes more generally, as touching also the irrational power... [lacuna]... what "assent to an error" is, is agreed upon by all; but what a "weak assent" is, is no longer agreed.
μεταξὺ γὰρ δοκεῖ τισιν ἄμεινον εἶναι τίθεσθαι τὴν ἀσθενῆ συγκατάθεσιν ἀρετῆς τε καὶ κακίας.
For it seems to some better to place weak assent between virtue and vice.
ἀσθενῆ δὲ λέγουσι συγκατάθεσιν, ὅταν μηδέπω πεπεικότες ὦμεν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς, οὕτως ἀληθῆ τήνδε τινὰ δόξαν ὑπάρχειν, ὥστε πέντε δακτύλους ἔχειν, εἰ τύχοι, καθ’ ἑκατέραν χεῖρα, καὶ τὰ δὶς δύο τέτταρα εἶναι.
And they call that assent "weak" when we have not yet persuaded ourselves that some particular opinion is so true as, for instance, to have five fingers on each hand, or that twice two is four.
ἴσως μὲν ἐπὶ πρεσβύτου δι’ ὅλου τοῦ βίου σχολάσαντος εὑρήσεις τῶν ἀληθῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἢ συγκαταθέσθαι τινὶ τῶν ἀπόδειξιν ἐπιστημονικὴν ἐχόντων ἀσθενῶς.
Perhaps in the case of an elder who has spent his whole life in study, you will [scarcely] find [any] of true errors, or [only] that he assents weakly to something that has scientific demonstration.
ἐπιστήμη γοῦν ἐστι τοῦ γεωμετρικοῦ τοιαύτη περὶ τὰ δεδειγμένα διὰ τῶν Εὐκλείδου στοιχείων, ὁποία τῶν μορίων ἐστὶ τοῦ τὰ δὶς δύο τέτταρα εἶναι.
At any rate, the knowledge that a geometer has about the things demonstrated through Euclid's Elements is such as that of the elements of twice two being four.
τὴν δ’ αὐτὴν ἐπιστήμην ἔχει καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐφεξῆς τούτοις διδασκομένων σφαιρικῶν θεωρημάτων, ὥσπερ γε καὶ τῶν κατ’ αὐτὰ ἀναλυομένων ἁπάντων τῶν κωνικῶν καὶ τῶν γνωμονικῶν.
And he has the same knowledge about the spherical theorems taught next to these as well as all the conic and gnomonic theorems analyzed according to them.
ἐὰν οὖν ἀμφιβάληται βραχὺ, καὶ μήτ’ ἰδίαν ἑαυτοῖς ἔχῃ συγκατάθεσιν, ἣν κατάληψιν ὀνομάζουσί τινες, ἁμάρτημα εἶναι τοῦτο συγχωρήσειεν ἄν τις, ὡς γεωμετρικοῦ δηλονότι τἀνθρώπου.
If, therefore, he should doubt even a little, and have no firm assent of his own—which some call "comprehension"—one might concede this to be an error, obviously of that man as a geometer.
τοῦ μέντοι κατὰ τὸν βίον ἁμαρτάνοντος ἐν τοῖς περὶ ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ κακῶν γνώσεώς τε καὶ κτήσεως καὶ φυγῆς αἱ μοχθηραὶ δόξαι συνίστανται καὶ ψευδεῖς, συγκατάθεσις ἢ προπετὴς, ἢ ἀσθενής.
However, in the case of one who errs in life regarding the knowledge, acquisition, and avoidance of goods and evils, bad and false opinions are formed, being an assent either hasty or weak.
ἐνταῦθα οὖν ἤδη κίνδυνος, ὡς σμικρὸν ἅμα ἁμάρτημα καὶ μέγιστον, ἐὰν ψευδῶς συγκατατιθώμεθα τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ κακῶν δόξῃ.
Here, then, is the danger: that it is at once a small and a great error if we assent falsely to the opinion of goods and evils.
κατὰ μὲν τοὺς Ἀκαδημαϊκούς τε καὶ Πυῤῥωνείους, οὐ συγχωροῦντας ὧν ζητοῦμεν ἀπόδειξιν ἐπιστημονικὴν ἔχειν ἡμᾶς, ἅπασαι συγκαταθέσεις ἐξ ἀνάγκης μέν εἰσι προπετεῖς, ἐνδέχεται δὲ αὐτὴν εἶναι καὶ ψευδῆ.
According to the Academics and Pyrrhonists, who do not concede that we have scientific demonstration of the things we seek, all assents are of necessity hasty, and it is possible for assent to be also false.
καὶ τῶν ἀποφηναμένων φιλοσόφων ὑπὲρ ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ κακῶν ἀλλήλαις μαχομένας δόξας οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ, φασὶν, ἁπάσας ἀληθεῖς εἶναι, δύνασθαί γε μὴν ἴσως εἶναι ψευδεῖς ἁπάσας, ὡς μήτε ἡδονὴν τὸ ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, μήτε ἀοχλησίαν, μήτ’ ἀρετὴν, ἢ τὴν κατ’ αὐτὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἢ ὅλως ὁτιοῦν ἄλλο τῶν εἰρημένων τοῖς φιλοσόφοις.
And they say that the conflicting opinions of the philosophers who have declared concerning goods and evils cannot all be true, but indeed it is possible that they are all false, so that neither pleasure is the good, nor freedom from trouble, nor virtue, nor the activity according to it, nor in general anything else of what has been said by the philosophers.
πρῶτον οὖν ἐπισκέψασθαι δεῖ τὸν ἀναμάρτητον εἶναι βουλόμενον, εἰ ἔστιν ἀπόδειξις ἀδήλου πράγματος, ὅταν εὕρῃ, ζητῆσαι, μὴ κατὰ τὸ πάρεργον αὐτῶν μόνον, ἀλλ’ ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ συχνῷ μετὰ τῶν ἀληθεστάτων ἀνδρῶν, καὶ φύσιν συνετῶν, καὶ γεγυμνασμένων ἐν θεωρίαις λογικαῖς, ὁποία τίς ἐστιν ἡ ἀποδεικτικὴ μέθοδος, εἶθ’, ὅταν πεισθῇ τις αὐτὴν εὑρηκέναι, μετὰ τοῦτο χρόνῳ πολλῷ πάλιν ἀσκηθῆναι, πρὶν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν μεγίστων ἰέναι ζήτησιν, ἣ διὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν (ὅπερ δὴ καὶ τέλος ὀνομάζουσι τοῦ βίου) κτηθὲν εὐδαίμονας ἡμᾶς, ἢ μακαρίους, ἢ ὅπως ἂν ἄλλως ὀνομάζειν ἐθέλῃ τις, ἐργάζεται.
First, then, he who wishes to be free from error must examine whether there is a demonstration of an unapparent thing, and when he finds it, he must seek, not as a byproduct but over a long time with men who are most truthful, naturally intelligent, and trained in logical theorems, what kind of thing the demonstrative method is; then, when one is persuaded that he has found it, after this he must again be trained for a long time before going to the inquiry of the greatest things, which, through the acquired good (which indeed they also call the end of life), makes us happy, or blessed, or however else one might wish to name it.