Palla'dius
（
*Palla/dios), a Greek medical writer, some of whose works are still extant. Nothing is known of the events of his life, but, as he is commonly called
Ἰατροσοφιστής, he is supposed to have gained that title by having been a professor of medicine at Alexandria. His date is also very uncertain; Choulant places him in the fourth century after Christ (
Handb. der Bücherkunde für die Aeltere Medicin), but most other writers in the seventh or eighth. All that can be pronounced with certainty is that he quotes Galen, and is himself quoted by Rhazes, and must therefore have lived between the third and ninth centuries.
Works
We possess three works that are commonly attributed to Palladius, viz.
Two Commentaries on Hippocrates
Palladius' Commentaries on Hippocrates are in a great measure abridged from Galen, and of no particular interest or value; they appear to have been known to the Arabian writers, as he is mentioned among the Commentators on Hippocrates by the unknown author of the "Philosophorum Bibliotheca," quoted by Casiri,
Biblioth. Arabico-Hisp. Escur. vol. i. p. 237. They have both of them come down to us imperfect.
Editions
Palladius' commentary on the work
De Fracturis was translated into Latin by Jac. Santalbinus, and first published by
Foesius (Gr. and Lat.) in his edition of Hippocrates, Francof. 1595, fol. (sect. vi. p. 196, &c.); it is also to be found (Gr. and Lat.) in the twelfth volume of
Chartier's Hippocrates and Galen, Paris, 1679, fol.
Editions
The commentary on the sixth book of the Epidemics was translated into Latin by J. P. Crassus, and published after his death by his son in the collection entitled "Medici Antiqui Graeci," &c. Basil. 1581, 4to.;
the Greek text was published for the first time by F. R. Dietz in the second volume of his "Scholia in Hippocratem et Galenum," Regim. Pruss. 1834, 8vo.
Editions
The treatise on Fevers is a short work, consisting of thirty chapters. and treats of the causes, symptoms, and treatment of the different kinds of fever.
It is taken chiefly from Galen, and does not require any more special notice here.
In most MSS. this work is attributed to Stephanus Alexandrinus or Theophilus ; but, as it is probably the treatise referred to in the Commentary on the Epidemics (6.6, p. 164, ed. Dietz), it is tolerably certain that Palladius was the author.
It was first published in Greek and Latin by J. Chartier, Paris, 1646, 4to.;
an improved edition, Gr. and Lat., with notes, was published by J. S. Bernard, Lugd. Bat. 1745, 8vo.; and
the Greek text alone is inserted in the first volume of J. L. Ideler's "Physici et Medici Graeci Minores," Berol. 1841, 8vo.
Further Information
Bernard's Preface; Freind's
Hist. of Physic; Sprengel's
Hist. de la Méd. Haller's
Biblioth. Medic. Pract.; Dietz's Preface; Choulant's
Handb. der Bücherkue für die Aeltere Medicin.[
W.A.G]
