Gripla - 20.12.2018, Qupperneq 56

GRIPLA56
Discussion
It has been demonstrated that manuscripts containing writings on this top-
ic often have considerable variation in how they describe the character and
moods accompanying each humour, as well as their exits and location.86
the Pseudo-Soranus text, for instance, locates the humours somewhat dif-
ferently in the body (see notes to item 7), and Bede assigns sleepiness and
forgetfulness to the phlegmatic character – the opposite of the alert dispo-
sition that the two texts discussed here agree upon.87 no such contradic-
tions are found between the old norse text and Vindician’s Letter – on the
contrary, the old norse text follows the Letter quite closely. furthermore,
where the Letter differs from Pseudo-Soranus, the old norse text follows
the Letter.88 Considering the relationship between the Letter and Pseudo-
Soranus as depicted by Jouanna,89 the source text for Af natturu mannzins
ok bloði seems to derive from a different branch of Vindician’s Letter than
Pseudo-Soranus.
It is not, however, a word-for-word translation. as is often the case
in Hauksbók, the old norse text is shorter than the corresponding Latin
edition (about 14%) in addition to three items in the Letter being missing
86 See, e.g., Jouanna, “Legacy of the Hippocratic treatise,” 355; Klibansky, Panofsky and Saxl
print a table juxtaposing nine different texts that communicate the characterology of the
humours to a different degree in Saturn and Melancholy, 62–63.
87 Bede, De temporum ratione, 35 (392–93). Vindician’s Letter is considered to be the ultimate
source of this chapter in Bede; see Wallis, “Introduction/Commentary,” lxxxiii.
88 the relevant variants vary in their importance, with those that include an omission in
Pseudo-Soranus weighing heaviest. omissions include: In item 5, on black bile, Pseudo-
Soranus omits hasty temper, which both Vindician (iracundia) and the Old Norse text
include (styggr). Item 6, on phlegm, Pseudo-Soranus omits the lack of courage, which is
in both Vindician (minus audaces) and the old norse text (udiarfr). As for item 7, the Old
norse text agrees with Vindician that blood has its seat in the liver, while Pseudo-Soranus
does not mention the liver in connection with the blood. as for item 10, instead of red bile
dominating up to twenty-five years of age as in the other two texts, Pseudo-Soranus has
red bile dominating up to thirty-four or thirty-five. furthermore, it gives no specific age for
the next transition. Lastly, Pseudo-Soranus omits the comparison of old age and infancy,
which is found in both the other texts. as for additions, in item 8, on the exits of the four
humours, the two texts compared here conform, while Pseudo-Soranus adds the nose as
an exit for phlegm. In item 4, on blood, Pseudo-Soranus adds the characteristic formosus
(beautiful), which is neither in Vindician nor Um natturu mannzins ok bloði.
89 Stemma in Jouanna, “La théorie des quatre humeurs,” 153.