Source edition
Galen. Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia, Volume 4. Kühn, Karl Gottlob, editor. Leipzig: Knobloch, 1822.
Source data
A Digital Corpus for Graeco-Arabic Studies · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
In this medical and philosophical work, the ancient physician Galen explores and defines what constitutes the best constitution of our bodies. He begins by raising the question of whether this ideal state consists merely in the optimal mixture of the four elements or if it also encompasses the formation and arrangement of bodily parts. To answer this, Galen links the best constitution to the common concepts of health and robustness, building his argument upon his established theories of the mixture (krasis) of homogeneous parts and the construction of organs. He explains how a body with this optimal constitution possesses high resistance to both external harmful factors and internal food residues. Ultimately, Galen argues that health should be understood as a spectrum rather than a single point, incorporating not only the perfect body (exemplified by Polykleitos' Canon) but also various practical degrees of healthy bodies, highlighting the vital importance of proper mixture and harmony in maintaining health.