A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SORANUS. SORANUS. 879
Aurelianus rather as a predecessor than as a con- The fragment rIIepZl tefWov KI-ay'aLdrowv was
temporary; he lived at least as early as Archigenes, published with a Latin translation by Cocchi in
who used one of his medicines (ap. A~Lt. ii. 2. 55, his collection of " Graecorum Chirurgici Libri,"
p. 277); he was tutor to Attalus [ATTALUS, Vol. I. Florent. 1754, fol.; and the Greek text is inserted
p. 4121; and he was dead when Galen wrote his in Ideler's Phys. et Med. Gr. Min.
work' l)De Methodo Medendi," i. e. about A. D. The short piece fIlpl'E7rLo'eouwv is to be found
178. (Gal. De AlfetI. Med. i. 7. vol. x. p. 53.) in Greek and Latin in the twelfth volume of CharBut, after all, it must be confessed that the exact tier's edition of Hippocrates and Galen, Paris, 1679,
chronology of Soranus is not quite satisfactorily fol.
made out. He belonged to the sect of the Metho- The Bios'I7rorKpda'ovu is of little value in itself,
dici (Pseudo-Gal. Introd. c. 4, vol. xiv. p. 684), and but is interesting as being the only ancient account
was one of the most eminent physicians of that of that great physician that remains, except what
school. Besides the few particulars mentioned is told us by Suidas and John Tzetzes. It may
above, nothing is known of the events of his life, perhaps have formed part of the collection of meexcept that he passed some time in Aquitania for dical biographies mentioned by Suidas as being
the purpose of treating some skin diseases whlch written by the younger Soranus. It is published
were very prevalent there at that time. (Marcell. in several editions of the works of Hippocrates;
Empir. De Medicam. c. 19, p. 321.) The follow- and is inserted also in the old edition of Fabric.
ing medical works are still extant under the name Bibl. Gr. (vol. xii. p. 675), in Ideler's Phys. et
of Soranus: - 1. HIeFl rvvatcre[wv rla&Oo, De Arte Med. Gr. Min., and in A. Westermann's "Vitarum
Obstetricia Morbisque Mulierum; 2. IEple MjrTpas Scriptores Graeci Minores," Brunsv. 1845, 8vo.
fcal rvPvaLK'ov Aisoiov, De Utero et Pudendo Mu- The treatise entitled " In Artem Medendi Isaliebri; 3. IIEpl Z7Yeuwv KarayArcTWv, De Signis goge" is extant only in Latin, and is generally
Fracturarum; 4. rlepl'E7rsCe'aoo, De Fasciis; considered to be spurious. The author is called
5. Bios'I7r7ropcidrovs, Vita Hippocratis; 6. In " Soranus Ephesius, insignis Peripateticus et veArtemn Medendi Isagoge. The treatise nie/p ruvat- tustissimus Archiater." The only writers quoted
iEItcoV IaOce, was first published in Greek in 1838. in the work are Homer (c. 16), Hippocrates (c. 3,
Regim. Pruss. 8vo. It was partly prepared for the 4, 23), Erasistratus (c. 1), and Galen (c. 13); and
press by F. R. Dietz, and finished after his death it has been supposed to be rather an original Latin
by J. F. Lobeck. It is a valuable and interesting treatise than a translation from the Greek (see
work, consisting of one hundred and twenty-two Cagnati, Var. Observ. iv. 2). It is to be found in
chapters, with a few lines of the hundred and the collection of medical authors published by
twenty-third, and the titles of thirty-eight more.* Albanus Torinus, Basil. 1528, fol.; and also in the
As has been intimated above, the text is at present Aldine Collection, Venet. 1547 fol.
in a very corrupt state, and contains numerous in- Besides these works (if they were all written
terpolations. Dr. Ermerins has published some by the same person), Soranus was the author of
valuable "' Observationes Criticae in Sor. Eph. De several others, of which only the titles and some
Ar*te Obstetr. 3Morbisque Mul." at the end of his fragments have been preserved. Galen mentions
edition of Hippocr. De Vict. Rat. in Mlorb. Acut. two works on Pharmacy, from which he quotes
Lugd. Bat. 8vo. 1841; and a new edition of the some passages (De Comnpos. Medicam. sec. Loc. i.
work is at this present time (1848) being pre- 2, vi. 7, 8, vii. 2. vol. xii. pp. 414, 956, 987, xiii. 42);
pared by Dr. Bell of Paris. With respect to the one, consisting of at least four books, entitled fnepi
medical contents of the work the reader may con- P'ap.uatKefas, and the other Movoz6Lgos bapuaKevusult a dissertation by H. H1ser, "De Sorano T'KOoS. Caelius Aurelianus quotes "De Adjutoriis,"
Ephesio, ejusque rlfep rvv. lIaeOdv Libro nuper " De Febribus,"'" Libri Causarum, quos AiTlohoreperto," Jenae, 1840, 4to.; another by J. Pinoff, yovuevovs appellavit," and the second book " De
entitled "Artis Obstetriciae Sor. Eph. Doctrina Coenotetis" (De Morb. Acut. ii. 29, 33; De Morb.
ad ejus Librum nepl ruv. IaOecv nuper repertum Cihron. i. 3, iv. 1, pp. 143, 153, 289, 494), and
exposita," Vratisl. 1840, 8vo.; and four interesting says that part of his own work was merely a transarticles by the same Dr. Pinoff in the first and lation of one by Soranus (De oliorb. Acut. ii. I. p. 75).
second volumes of Henschel's "Janus," Breslau, Soranus himself refers to his works entitled rIpil
1846, 1847, 8vo. 7rp/la'ross (De Arte Obst. p. 10), rlep! Zwoyooiwas
The short piece IlepI M-rpas ial rvvatLKEtov As3oiov (p. 11), IEplp rv -7rapac "'urL (p. 20), Ilep' KoLrois, in fact, merely an extract from the preceding work TreTrv (p. 23), To'T'rytvov (p. 27), nrp! Noor7.
(of which it forms the fourth and fifth chapters), con- a'Trwv (p. 106), and loepl'O(E'w (p. 106). Tertaining one of the best anatomical descriptions of the tullian quotes a work by Soranus " De Anima," in
female organs of generation that have come down four books (De Anima, cc. 8, 15, 25, 44), in which
to us from antiquity. It has been preserved by he divided the soul into seven parts (ibid. c. 14),
Oribasius (Coll. Medic. xxiv. 31, 32), and is to and denied its immortality (ibid. c. 6). He is
be found in Greek in Goupyl's edition of Rufus quoted by Paulus Aegineta (iv. 59), as being one
Ephesius, Paris, 1554, 8vo., and in the first volume of the earliest Greek medical writers, who had
of Ideler's " Physici et Medici Graeci Minores," described the species of worm called Filaria AIediBerol. 1841, 8vo. There is a Latin translation in nensis, or Guinea Worm (see J. Weihe, De Filar.
different editions of Oribasius, in that of Theo- Medin. Comment. Berol. 1832, 8vo.); and he apphilus De Corp. Humn. Fabr. Paris, 1556, 8vo., and pears to have enjoyed a great reputation among
in F. Paulini " Universa Antiquorum Anatome," the ancients, as St. Augustine calls him " MeVenet. 1604. fol. dicinae auctor nobilissimus" (Cont. Julian. v. 51,
vol. x. p. 654, ed Bened.), and Tertullian, "Me* The chapters are not numbered regularly in thodicae Medicinae instructissimus auctor" (De
the Greek text. See Dr. Pinoff in Henschel's Anima, c. 6). See also St. Cyprian, Epist. 76, p.
" Janus," ol. i. p. 708, foll. 156, ed. Paris, 1726.) [W. A. G.I