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than is right, man thrives].68 the ultimate source text for the desirability of
the proper blend of humours is, however, Nature of Man69 – and eukrasia,
proper balance, was the fundamental definition of health in Galen’s writ-
ings, which describe the best-balanced man as “good-spirited, affectionate,
generous, and wise.”70
Comparison of Af natturu mannzins ok bloði and Vindician’s Letter
We now come to items 3–10, which seem to be a translation of a manu-
script of Vindician’s Letter. the published editions of both texts are pre-
sented here in parallel columns, followed by a discussion.
another text, relevant to our discussion, is Isagoge Saluberrima, a Latin
medical treatise wrongly attributed to Soranus of Ephesius.71 the source
for the Pseudo-Soranus work’s chapter on the humours seems to be
Vindician’s Letter, but there are marked differences between the two.72 The
origins, transmission and medieval dissemination of the Isagoge are quite
obscure, but fischer has argued that it seems to date, in its complete form,
to the Carolingian period at the earliest.73 Because of the close relationship
68 Pseudo-Bede, De mundi constitutione, 18. trans. Burnett, ibid., 19. Compare also Isidore of
Seville, Etym. iv. 6. 7.
69 “ὑγιαίνει μὲν οὖν μάλιστα, ὅταν μετρίως ἔχῃ ταῦτα τῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα κρήσιος καὶ δυνάμιος
καὶ τοῦ πλήθεος, καὶ μάλιστα μεμιγμένα ᾖ.” Nature of Man, iv. 4–5. [now he enjoys the
most perfect health when these elements (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) are
duly proportioned to one another in respect of compounding, power and bulk, and when
they are perfectly mingled.] trans. Jones, ibid., 11.
70 Galen, Selected Works, ed. and trans. by Peter n. Singer (oxford: oxford university Press,
1997), 576. on proper balance, see, e.g., Ian Johnston, Galen: On Diseases and Symptoms
(Cambridge: Cambridge university Press, 2006), 43; robert J. Penella and thomas S.
Hall, “Galen’s “on the Best Constitution of our Body”: Introduction, translation, and
notes,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 47 (1973): 283.
71 Published in Soranus Ephesius [Pseudo-Soranus], Isagoge Saluberrima, ed. by Alban Thorer,
Medici antiqui omnes... (Venice: aldus, 1547), folios 158v–163r. the parallel to Vindician’s
Letter is in the fifth chapter, folios 159v–160v.
72 for a thorough comparison of Vindician’s Letter and Pseudo-Soranus and arguments, see
Jouanna, “La théorie des quatre humeurs.” Jouanna prints a stemma describing the relation-
ship on 153. See also fischer, “the “Isagoge” of Pseudo-Soranus,” 9.
73 for an overview of the contents, attribution, manuscripts and transmission of the Pseudo-
Soranus Isagoge, see fischer, “the “Isagoge” of Pseudo-Soranus”; for the dating see ibid.,
19–20. Jouanna argues that Vindician’s Letter and Pseudo-Soranos are presumably derived
from the same Latin translation of a Greek text, which is different from the source of
Bede’s Chapter 35 of De temporum ratione; see “La théorie des quatre humeurs,” 150.
74 A note on the English translation of “rauða bloð” and “suarta bloð”: It is clear that “bloð” [blood]
HUMORAL THEORY IN THE MEDIEVAL NORTH