Sententiae Antique put up a lovely translation of Galen recently that I would like to share with you. Galen was a doctor and medical researcher who lived from 129 to around 216 CE. He studied medicine by dissecting apes and made some important discoveries, among them that arteries do not carry air, but blood. His work remained influential into the Middle Ages. Of course, like most ancient Hellenes who wrote things down, he was also a bit of a philosopher, including this beautiful bit on keeping the door open (but, you know, mentally and emotionally).


“Always be on guard against the matter which is greatest in this, once you choose to honor yourself. For it is possible always to keep at hand the memory of the hideousness of the soul of those who get angry and the beauty of those who are untroubled by rage.

For whoever, thanks to being accustomed to a mistaken behavior over time, has developed a stain of emotions which cannot be washed away,  must for as great an amount of time attend to each of those beliefs by which a man might become noble and good, should he heed them. We lose sight of a thing that falls easily from our minds because they have been previously filled by these emotions.

Therefore this must be pursued by each of those who want to be saved as if there were no proper season for taking it easy; and all of us must turn toward accusing ourselves, and we must listen to [others] gently, not for the sake of castigating them but for shaping them in turn.

Keep the door of your home open all the time and permit those who understand to enter at every opportune moment. If you are prepared in this way, be bold enough to be discovered as overcome by any of the major mistakes by none of those who enter. Just as it is possible to banish a bad feeling for one who is unwilling, it is easy to banish great ones for one who has made this decision.

When your door is open all the time, as I said, then let there be plenty of time for people who understand to enter. As all the other people who enter a public space attempt to act properly, so too act in the same way in your private home. But those who are ashamed before others only because they might be caught, do not feel shame before themselves alone: but you, feel shame before yourself especially, if you follow this precept.”

[Affections 5.25–26]