GRICE ED ORIBASIO

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘Grice e Oribasio: la ragione conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale di Marte, o la scuola di Giuliano – Roma Oribasio (Roma, Lazio): la ragione conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale di Marte, o la scuola di Giuliano -- Giuliano’s personal philosopher. He shares Giuliano’s enthusiasm for paganism. His treatises survive, as does paganism – “Only you shouldn’t use that vulgar adjective,” as Cicerone says!” – Grice.  GRICEVS: Salve, Oribasi. Audio te Iuliani esse philosophum domesticum: Martem laudatis, aras instauratis, et paganos deos tam studiose colitis ut etiam implicatura sacrificet. ORIBASIVS: Salve, Grice. Ita est: in schola Iuliani non tantum dicimus, sed significamus. Cum princeps “Martem” nominat, subintelligitur “virtutem”; cum ego taceo, intellegitur “consilium.” GRICEVS: Bene; sed moneo te de stilo. De paganismo tuo dicis “superstitionem splendidam” (ut audivi). Cicero—immo ego, Ciceronem imitans—dicerem: “Tolle illud adiectivum volgare: ‘splendidam’.” Non omnia quae sonant bene, decent. ORIBASIVS: Accipio correptionem: dicam potius “pietatem veterem.” Nam apud Iulianum hoc est ludus urbanus: tu me doces quid dicendum sit; ego te doceo quid non dicendum—ut paganismus maneat, et adiectiva pereant. This Oribasio was definitely Greek, right? His treatise survives -- in Greek, one assumes? Yes.  was definitely a Greek, more exactly a Greek physician from  in Asia Minor, active in the late Roman Empire and closely associated with Emperor. He is not best described as “Giuliano’s personal philosopher,” but as his personal physician and learned medical adviser, though in late antiquity that role could carry a good deal of wider intellectual and courtly weight. [en.wikipedia.org] [worldhistory.org] [en.wikipedia.org], [worldhistory.org] And yes, his surviving treatises are in Greek. His major extant work is the huge medical compilation commonly called the, in Greek, and other surviving works such as the  and the  also belong to the Greek medical tradition. Modern manuscripts and catalogues explicitly list the language of the surviving texts as Greek, and they are edited in the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum. [en.wikipedia.org] [ebsco.com] [en.wikipedia.org], [cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk], [wellcomeco...ection.org] So the driest answer is this.  was a Greek physician from, not a Roman philosopher in the stricter ethnic or linguistic sense. He moved in the imperial Roman world, but as a member of the Greek-speaking eastern intellectual elite. His surviving works are Greek medical compilations, not Latin philosophical treatises. [en.wikipedia.org] [worldhistory.org] [en.wikipedia.org], [worldhistory.org], [cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk] One small correction to the passage’s colour. His surviving writings are chiefly medical rather than straightforwardly philosophical or theological. Of course, a learned late-antique physician in Julian’s circle could be philosophically educated and religiously aligned with pagan revival, but the works by which he survives are medical compilations, summaries, and handbooks. [en.wikipedia.org], [ebsco.com] So if Speranza wants a clean line, it would be: Greek by origin and language, Roman imperial by political world, pagan-friendly by Julianic association, and extant above all as a Greek medical writer. [en.wikipedia.org], [worldhistory.org], [ebsco.com] If you like, I can next give you a compact note on the difference between: Greek in the Roman Empire, Roman in citizenship or office, and Latin-speaking Roman, using  as the example. [en.wikipedia.org]