Here’s another text where Galen talks about a Peripatetic philosopher from Mytilene, Lesbos (Aristotle of Mytilene, possibly a teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias, is here). This one’s name is Primigenes and Galen claims he gets a fever every time he misses his bath. He also tells us Primigenes is constantly reading and writing and doesn’t sweat very much. We’re left to infer he doesn’t get much exercise because he’s always at home doing philosophy. Seems to be a common trope that the kind of philosophy they do is rather solitary (compare with Apuleius when he describes his fish dissections following Aristotle at Apologia 25–28).

I haven’t found Primigenes mentioned anywhere else. Galen seems to have met with him when he was younger, so he would have lived in the mid-to-late second century. He also says Primigenes was second to none among the Peripatetics, which is pretty much the same thing he says about Aristotle of Mytilene. I wonder if this is just something Galen says about people he knows (you know, to make himself seem important) or if it implies the latter was dead by the time he met Primigenes. Could be both, I suppose.

“Experience certainly shows that in some cases people are harmed and benefited by the same things, in others by opposites. I know some people for example become sick right away when they don’t exercise for three days; others never exercise and always stay healthy; and of them some never bathe, while others immediately become feverish when they do not bathe, like Primigenes of Mytilene.

“Well then, it seems that this is how things are even to those who assemble the medical art by experience alone—except none of them has written down indications (like they do in the case of diseases) to which we might pay attention and discover the kind of daily routine each person needs. For it is possible in a few cases to discover what is referred to by the Empiricists as ‘precise syndromes’, as in peripneumonia and pleuritis; most diseases however involve a conjectural diagnosis, since they do not arise from an assemblage of defined symptoms, but require someone who knows the disposition of the body precisely and is competent enough to discover all the particulars that are in harmony with it. I discovered the following guided by reason itself when I was still a young man, from which it’s clear that long experience without reason is not able to discover such things.

“In the case of Primigenes, hearing that he always became feverish when he didn’t bathe, I reasoned that smoky residues were being generated in him which needed to be transpired but that because his skin was too thick to allow them to be evacuated and so caused them all to gather beneath the skin, they generated heat. That’s why baths are extremely useful for natures like his, not only for evacuating the smoky residue, but also for moisturizing with fresh water. I therefore thought it was a good idea to examine fully the quality of whatever kind of heat it was by placing my hand flat on Primigenes’ chest. As it was discovered to be acrid and biting (similar to eating a large quantity of onions), I was even more convinced that I had discovered the cause of what was happening. I asked whether he became sweaty when he didn’t bathe and when he said he did not, I was sure I had a firm grasp of his disposition. And yet I have also known others who likewise had a biting heat but did not become feverish because of a single missed bath since the residue in their case was evacuated by sweating. For Primigenes, in addition to his natural constitution, his typical daily routine was also responsible for him becoming feverish when he missed a single bath, as he spent most of the day at home where he was continually writing or reading because of his devotion to Peripatetic speculation—of those in his time he was second to none in the field.”

ἥ γε μὴν πεῖρα δείκνυσιν ὑπό τε τῶν αὐτῶν ἐνίους βλαπτομένους τε καὶ ὠφελουμένους, ὑπό τε τῶν ἐναντίων ὡσαύτως. οἶδα γοῦν τινας, οἳ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀγύμναστοι μείναντες εὐθέως νοσοῦσιν, ἀγυμνάστους τε ἑτέρους ἀεὶ διατελοῦντας, ὑγιαίνοντας δέ, καὶ τούτων ἐνίους μὲν ἀλούτους, ἐνίους δέ, εἰ μὴ λούσαιντο, πυρέττοντας αὐτίκα, καθάπερ ὁ Μιτυληναῖος Πριμιγένης.

ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὕτω φαίνεται ταῦτα γινόμενα, καὶ οἱ τῇ πείρᾳ μόνῃ τὴν τέχνην ἀθροίζοντες ἴσασιν. οὐ μὴν ἔγραψέ γέ τις αὐτῶν γνωρίσματα, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν νοσημάτων, οἷς προσέχοντες εὑρήσομεν, ὁποίας ἕκαστος δεῖται διαίτης. ἐπ' ὀλίγων γὰρ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τὰς καλουμένας ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμπειρικῶν συνδρομὰς ἠκριβωμένας, ὡς ἐν περιπνευμονίᾳ καὶ πλευρίτιδι· τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα νοσήματα στοχαστικὴν ἔχει τὴν διάγνωσιν, ὡς οὐκ ἐξ ἀθροίσματος ὡρισμένων συμπτωμάτων γινομένην, ἀλλ' ἀνδρὸς δεομένην ἀκριβῶς μὲν ἐπισταμένου τὴν διάθεσιν τοῦ σώματος, εὑρίσκειν δ' ἱκανοῦ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἅπαντα τὰ τῇ τοιαύτῃ συμφωνοῦντα. τὸ γοῦν προκείμενον αὐτῷ τῷ λόγῳ ποδηγηθέντες ἡμεῖς εὕρομεν ἔτι νέοι τὴν ἡλικίαν ὄντες. ᾧ καὶ δῆλον, ὡς ἡ μακρὰ πεῖρα χωρὶς λόγου τὰ τοιαῦθ' εὑρίσκειν ἀδυνατεῖ.

ἐπὶ γοῦν τοῦ Πριμιγένους ἀκούσας, ὅτι πάντως πυρέττοι μὴ λουσάμενος, ἐλογισάμην αὐτῷ καπνώδη περιττώματα γεννᾶσθαι διαπνεῖσθαι δεόμενα, πυκνοτέρου δὲ τοῦ δέρματος ὄντος ἢ ὡς ἐπιτρέπειν αὐτοῖς κενοῦσθαι πᾶσιν ἀθροιζομένοις ὑπὸ τῷ δέρματι θερμασίαν γεννᾶν. διὸ καὶ τὰ λουτρὰ χρησιμώτατα ταῖς τοιαύταις φύσεσιν, οὐ μόνον τῷ κενοῦν τὸ καπνῶδες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τέγγειν ὑγρότητι γλυκείᾳ. καταμαθεῖν οὖν ἔδοξέ μοι πλατεῖαν ἐπιβαλόντι τὴν χεῖρα τῷ θώρακι τοῦ Πριμιγένους, ὁποία τίς ἐστιν ἡ τῆς θερμασίας ποιότης. ὡς δὲ δριμεῖα καὶ δακνώδης εὑρέθη παραπλησίως τοῖς κρόμμυα προσενηνεγμένοις δαψιλῆ, πολὺ δὴ μᾶλλον ἔτι τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ γινομένου καλῶς εὑρῆσθαί μοι πεισθείς, ἐπυθόμην, εἴ τινες ἱδρῶτες αὐτῷ γίνοιντο χωρὶς τοῦ λουτροῦ, καὶ φάντος μὴ γίνεσθαι, βεβαιοτέραν γνῶσιν ἐπείσθην ἔχειν τῆς διαθέσεως αὐτοῦ. καὶ μὴν δὴ καὶ ἄλλους τινὰς εἶδον, ὁμοίως μὲν ἐκείνῳ δακνῶδες ἔχοντας τὸ θερμόν, οὐ μὴν ἐπ' ἀλουσίᾳ γε μιᾷ πυρέττοντας, ἐπειδὴ δι' ἱδρώτων αὐτοῖς ἐκενοῦτο τὸ περίττωμα. τῷ Πριμιγένει δὲ πρὸς τῇ φυσικῇ κατασκευῇ καὶ ὁ τρόπος τῆς διαίτης αἴτιος ἦν τοῦ πυρέττειν ἐπ' ἀλουσίᾳ μιᾷ, διατρίβοντι τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας, ἐν ᾗ γράφων ἢ ἀναγινώσκων διετέλει διὰ τὸ προσκεῖσθαι θεωρίᾳ Περιπατητικῇ, καθ' ἣν οὐδενὸς ἦν δεύτερος τῶν κατ' αὐτόν.

Galen, On Matters of Health 5.11.6–20 (6.364–367 K. = 160,24–163,4 Koch)