PERIAUTOLOGY TECHNIQUES IN GALEN’S TREATISE “DE METHODO MEDENDI”

Abstract

The article analyzes the rhetorical devices of “periautology”, that is, self-praise, of one of the most outstanding physicians of Antiquity, Galen of Pergamon (129–210/217 AD), which he uses in his main work on therapy, the treatise “De methodo medendi”. The problem of speaking about oneself without irritating the audience was noted by many ancient authors, who developed technical methods for expressing self-praise. In the medical literature of the Second Sophistic period, the transmission of personal experience and confirmation of one’s own status as a qualified physician in the conditions of high competition for Roman clientele were of primary importance, so Galen used not only traditional rhetorical techniques of talking about himself, which he had developed since his school days and which were practiced in compiling organic declarations, but also resorted to conveying the opinions of authoritative and high-ranking friends about himself, using the offer of the court physician. The research is interdisciplinary, helping to resolve the problem concerning the relationship between science and literature and lying at the intersection of classical philology and the history of ancient medicine.