In 2005, a French doctoral student discovered Galen's long-lost treatise, De indolentia or On the Avoidance of Distress in a monastic library in Thessalonica. De indolentia is a letter to an unspecified addressee in which Galen describes how he responded to the fire that destroyed much of his library and medicines in 192 CE. The manuscript, catalogued in the Vlatadon monastery as codex 14, is of unspeakable value to scholars of antiquity. Classified with Galen's writings on moral philosophy, De indolentia provides important evidence for second-century literary culture, including ancient library culture. It also addresses topics of interest to scholars in the field of ancient Christianity. The volume includes a brand new English translation of the text, a collation of all discrepancies among the leading critical editions of the Greek text, and essays by eminent scholars on different aspects of the text.
