28 A Gentleman’s Health: Plutarch and the “Age of Hypochondria”
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Abstract
As the “most Greek of Greeks,” Plutarch had a keen interest in the world of medicine, which was by far the most Greek of Greek arts. Throughout his oeuvre, Plutarch quotes past doctors in support of his own arguments and stages contemporary physicians as interlocutors in his dialogues. As the evidence shows, there seems to have been something of a trend towards medical “popularization” in the high Roman empire, with certain theories, concepts and beliefs relating to health and healing becoming increasingly “popular”—to the extent that some scholars contemptuously speak of an “Age of Hypochondria.” Numerous other eminent literary authors also wrote extensively about medicine and health related topics, and expected their readers to share that interest. The existence of such learned lay individuals, including amateur doctors (