Galen on the Death of Aristotle of Mytilene
Not much is known about Aristotle of Mytilene, a peripatetic from Lesbos. Galen talked to some of the people who were there when he died, which suggests he and Galen were rough contemporaries. This probably puts this Aristotle in the second half of the second century C.E. Moraux (1967) has suggested Aristotle of Mytilene was the teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias. Galen’s testimony suggests it is at least temporally possible.
“Aristotle of Mytilene, a man who ranked first in Peripatetic speculation, when he was struck by a disease that could be cured by a cold drink, because he had never taken such a drink before, fended off those counseling him to drink it, saying he knew that he would surely suffer a seizure if he drank something cold. For he said he saw this happen to someone else who had a similar bodily condition and temperament to himself and who had become habituated to drinking hot drinks. If he were habituated to drinking [cold] drinks, as some people are, he would certainly not have been afraid of taking it. But since he was also affected by this illness, the attending doctors together compelled him to take it. That is, as I learned, how he died. Those who were there at his end asked me: since I have risked administering cold to some patients when other doctors were cautious—to some patients [I did it] during the entire course of their illness, to others at some appropriate moment—would I have risked doing it in his case, too, or was the man right to keep his sights on his own nature? To them I replied that he was right to keep it in his sights.”
Ἀριστοτέλης γοῦν ὁ Μιτυληναῖος, ἀνὴρ πρωτεύσας ἐν τῇ Περιπατητικῇ θεωρίᾳ, νοσήματι περιπεσὼν ὑπὸ ψυχροῦ πόσεως ὠφεληθῆναι δυνάμενῳ, διότι μηδέποτε τοιοῦτον προσενήνεγκτο πόμα, διεκώλυσε τοὺς συμβουλεύοντας αὐτῷ πιεῖν, ἐπίστασθαι σαφῶς εἰπών, ὅτι σπασθήσοιτο γευσάμενος ψυχροῦ· καὶ γὰρ ἐπ' ἄλλου τοῦτ' ἔφασκεν ἑωρακέναι τήν τε τοῦ σώματος ἕξιν καὶ κρᾶσιν ὁμοίαν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τὸ τῆς θερμοποσίας ἔθος ἐσχηκότος· ‖ εἰ δ' ἦν ἔθος ὥσπερ ἐνίοις πόματος τοιούτου, μάλιστα μὲν ἂν οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἔδεισεν αὐτοῦ τὴν προσφοράν· εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῦτ' ἔπαθεν, ἠνάγκασαν οἱ παρόντες ἰατροὶ πάντως αὐτόν. ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἀπέθανεν, ὡς ἐπυθόμην· ἐρομένων δέ με τῶν παραγενομένων αὐτῷ τελευτῶντι, πότερον, ὡς ἐπ' ἄλλων ἐτόλμησα τοῖς μὲν δι' ὅλης τῆς νόσου, τοῖς δ' ἔν τινι καιρῷ δοῦναι ψυχρὸν εὐλαβουμένων τῶν ἰατρῶν, οὕτως <ἂν> ἐτόλμησα καὶ ἐπ' ἐκείνου ἢ καλῶς ἐστοχάσατο τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως ὁ ἀνήρ, ἀπεκρινάμην αὐτοῖς ἀκριβῶς αὐτὸν ἐστοχάσθαι.
Galen, De consuetudnibus 1, 4,16–6,6 Schmutte (CMG Suppl. III)
