title: And to end on a poetic note: Galen's authorial strategies in the pharmacological books.
abstract: This paper examines the authorial strategies deployed by Galen in his two main pharmacological treatises devoted to compound remedies: Composition of Medicines according to Types and Composition of Medicines according to Places. Some of Galen's methods of self assertion (use of the first person; writing of prefaces) are conventional. Others have not received much attention from scholars. Thus, here, I examine Galen's borrowing of his sources' 'I'; his use of the phrase 'in these words'; and his recourse to Damocrates' verse to conclude pharmacological books. I argue that Galen's authorial persona is very different from that of the modern author as defined by Roland Barthes. Galen imitates and impersonates his pharmacological sources. This re-enactment becomes a way to gain experience (peira) of remedies and guarantees their efficacy.
authors: School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, Humanities Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, UK. TotelinLM@cardiff.ac.uk
authors: Laurence M V
authors: LM
authors: Totelin
mesh_terms: D049690:History, Ancient; D010600:Pharmacology / Q000266:history*