The study of Galen on Problematical Movements does not survive in the Greek original, but we have three translations of it, two Latin and one Arabic. The Latin translation of Niccolò da Reggio was made directly from the Greek, while the Latin translation of Mark of Toledo is second or maybe third generation, based on an Arabic translation of Hunayn, perhaps based on a Syriac original by the same scholar. Niccolò's translation is superior but was virtually unknown, while Mark's translation was a very widespread manual that educated generations of medical students for centuries and survives in many manuscripts. In this elegant and erudite volume, Vivian Nutton has collaborated with Gerrit Bos to bring to modern readers all three versions of this study. For the most part, Nutton has prepared the Latin versions and Bos the Arabic, but both editors have collaborated to clarify matters of textual criticism, especially in the versions of Hunayn and Mark. The vivid narrative of the introduction conveys some of the enthusiasm of the editors for the entire project, and especially for the challenging task of hunting through libraries all over Europe for the manuscripts of Mark's version. The editors offer a detailed account of the history of the text, which no doubt will prove useful for readers unfamiliar with the historical circumstances surrounding these translations.

The introduction opens with a discussion on the authenticity of the treatise. The debate on the authenticity goes back to the medieval period, when some prominent Galenic scholars considered the work to be spurious. Nutton and Bos rightly consider the work to be authentic, as it is cross-referenced by Galen himself in several of his authentic works. The [End Page 300] editors date this study to the late 190s or even the early third century and consider it to be one of Galen's last works on anatomy, the product of a lifetime's work in this field. After those preliminaries, a thorough discussion of Galen's anatomical reasoning offers the reader sufficient background to understand the purpose and context of this work, followed by an excellent account of the textual tradition of this study. Especially the section on the manuscripts of Mark, which includes a stemma codicum, will make this volume indispensable to any future students of this work and its transmission. In a sensible arrangement, the English translation faces the text of Niccolò , which is the closest to the Galenic original, while the text of Mark faces that of Hunayn. The reader will find the right page footnotes under the English translation helpful, which contain the most significant differences between Niccolò and the Mark/Hunayn versions. Nutton states that he has allocated more space than his predecessors in this series to matters of text and vocabulary. Still, one would have hoped for a note, even a brief one, in all places where an emendation is proposed, explaining to those readers who are less familiar with textual criticism why the transmitted text has been changed and how the proposed text improves the meaning (as, for example, in 1.15, where despite a fairly lengthy note dedicated to textual matters, some readers will have a hard time trying to extrapolate the reason why the emendation nervos in Niccolò is better than nervis of Vp). This is particularly significant in places where an emendation, let us say, in Niccolò is based on the text of Mark or Hunayn or both, as in this instance, the emendation would not be mere divinatio, but something more trustworthy, a reconstruction based upon the other versions of the text, with a higher degree of probability to be correct. For example, Nutton's proposal ab aliqua particula superius, instead of the reading of Vp ab obliqua illa particula superius in Niccolò 1.13 is undoubtedly inspired by Mark's ab alio membro eo superiori. And what makes this comparison even more interesting is that Mark's eo seems to support the retention of illa in the text of Niccolò (perhaps an odd rendering of something like ἀφ ἑτέρου ἐκείνου μέλους). But minor objections aside, the text of Nutton/Boss is superior and there are many truly inspired moments in the notes (as, for example, the rejection of Larrain's proposal y<g>emonico (1.19) in favor of yemonico of Vp, on the grounds that the transmitted reading is a closer transliteration of the original , pronounced as iyemonikon in later antiquity and the Byzantine period).

The commentary is informative and thorough. The reader will find excellent discussions on a wide range of topics related to anatomy, Galenic thought, and Greek medical theory. The actual production of the volume is almost flawless with only sporadic misdemeanors (as, for [End Page 301] example, the Greek title of the work, twice cited as Περὶ τῶν ἀπορῶν κινήσεων [1, 253]; it ought to be Περὶ τῶν ἀπόρων κινήσεων [see, for example, the title as cited by Galen himself in De anatomicis administrationibus 2.433, 443, and De usu partium 3.808]).

Future readers of Galen, medical historians, students of ancient Greek and medieval medicine, philosophy, and those interested in the reception of ancient science will often visit this erudite volume, while the edition of the three translations will probably remain standard for a long time.