Title: Galen: On the Natural Faculties
Author: Galen
Translator: Arthur John Brock
Release date: August 2, 2013 [eBook #43383]
Language: English, Greek, Ancient
Credits: Produced by Eileen Gormly, Turgut Dincer, Ted Garvin and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
Transcribers Note: References to footnotes in text and footnotes following page numbers are the original footnote numbers while superscripted references refer to the reindexed footnote numbers. The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. |
GALEN
|
The text used is (with a few unimportant modifications) that of Kühn (Vol. II), as edited by Georg Helmreich; Teubner, Leipzig, 1893. The numbers of the pages of Kühn’s edition are printed at the side of the Greek text, a parallel mark (||) in the line indicating the exact point of division between Kühn’s pages.
Words in the English text which are enclosed in square brackets are supplementary or explanatory; practically all explanations, however, are relegated to the footnotes or introduction. In the footnotes, also, attention is drawn to words which are of particular philological interest from the point of view of modern medicine.
I have made the translation directly from the Greek; where passages of special difficulty occurred, I have been able to compare my own version with Linacre’s Latin translation (1523) and the French rendering of Charles Daremberg (1854-56); in this respect I am also peculiarly fortunate in having had the help of Mr. A. W. Pickard Cambridge of Balliol College, Oxford, who most kindly went through the Pg vi proofs and made many valuable suggestions from the point of view of exact scholarship.
My best thanks are due to the Editors for their courtesy and for the kindly interest they have taken in the work. I have also gratefully to acknowledge the receipt of much assistance and encouragement from Sir William Osler, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, and from Dr. J. D. Comrie, first lecturer on the History of Medicine at Edinburgh University. Professor D’Arcy W. Thompson of University College, Dundee, and Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, late director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, have very kindly helped me to identify several animals and plants mentioned by Galen.
I cannot conclude without expressing a word of gratitude to my former biological teachers, Professors Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson. The experience reared on the foundation of their teaching has gone far to help me in interpreting the great medical biologist of Greece.
I should be glad to think that the present work might help, however little, to hasten the coming reunion between the “humanities” and modern biological science; their present separation I believe to be against the best interest of both.
A. J. B.
22nd Stationary Hospital,
Aldershot.
March, 1916.
page | |
preface | v |
introduction | ix |
bibliography | xli |
synopsis of chapters | xliii |
book i | 1 |
book ii | 117 |
book iii | 223 |
index and glossary | 335 |
Hippocrates
and Galen. If the work of Hippocrates be taken as
representing the foundation upon which the edifice of historical
Greek medicine was reared, then the work of Galen, who lived some
six hundred years later, may be looked upon as the summit or apex
of the same edifice. Galen’s merit is to have crystallised or
brought to a focus all the best work of the Greek medical schools
which had preceded his own time. It is essentially in the form of
Galenism that Greek medicine was transmitted to after ages.
The Beginnings
of
Medicine
in Greece. The ancient Greeks referred the origins of
medicine to a god Asklepios (called in Latin Aesculapius), thereby
testifying to their appreciation of the truly divine function of
the healing art. The emblem of Aesculapius, familiar in medical
symbolism at the present day, was a staff with a serpent coiled
round it, the animal typifying wisdom in general, and more
particularly the wisdom of the medicine-man, with his
semi-miraculous powers over life and death.
Pg x “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
The Asclepiea
or
Health-Temples. The temples of Aesculapius were scattered
over the ancient Hellenic world. To them the sick and ailing
resorted in crowds. The treatment, which was in the hands of an
hereditary priesthood, combined the best of the methods carried on
at our present-day health-resorts, our hydropathics, sanatoriums,
and nursing-homes. Fresh air, water-cures, massage, gymnastics,
psychotherapy, and natural methods in general were chiefly relied
on.
Hippocrates
and the
Unity of the
Organism. Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” (5th to 4th
centuries, B.C.) was associated with the
Asclepieum of Cos, an island off the south-west coast of Asia
Minor, near Rhodes. He apparently revitalized the work of the
health-temples, which had before his time been showing a certain
decline in vigour, coupled with a corresponding excessive tendency
towards sophistry and priestcraft.
Celsus says: “Hippocrates Cous primus quidem ex omnibus memoria dignis ab studio sapientiae disciplinam hanc separavit.” He means that Hippocrates first gave the physician an independent standing, separating him from the cosmological speculator. Hippocrates confined the medical man to medicine. He did with medical thought what Socrates did with thought in general—he “brought it down from heaven to earth.” His watchword was “Back to Nature!”
At the same time, while assigning the physician his post, Hippocrates would not let him regard that post as sacrosanct. He set his face against any Pg xi tendency to mystery-mongering, to exclusiveness, to sacerdotalism. He was, in fact, opposed to the spirit of trade-unionism in medicine. His concern was rather with the physician’s duties than his “rights.”
At the dawn of recorded medical history Hippocrates stands for the fundamental and primary importance of seeing clearly—that is of clinical observation. And what he observed was that the human organism, when exposed to certain abnormal conditions—certain stresses—tends to behave in a certain way: that in other words, each “disease” tends to run a certain definite course. To him a disease was essentially a process, one and indivisible, and thus his practical problem was essentially one of prognosis—“what will be the natural course of this disease, if left to itself?” Here he found himself to no small extent in opposition with the teaching of the neighbouring medical school of Cnidus, where a more static view-point laid special emphasis upon the minutiae of diagnosis.
Observation taught Hippocrates to place unbounded faith in the recuperative powers of the living organism—in what we sometimes call nowadays the vis medicatrix Naturae. His observation was that even with a very considerable “abnormality” of environmental stress the organism, in the large majority of cases, manages eventually by its own inherent powers to adjust itself to the new conditions. “Merely give Nature a chance,” said the father of medicine in effect, “and most Pg xii diseases will cure themselves.” And accordingly his treatment was mainly directed towards “giving Nature a chance.”
His keen sense of the solidarity (or rather, of the constant interplay) between the organism and its environment (the “conditions” to which it is exposed) is instanced in his book, “Airs, Waters, and Places.” As we recognise, in our popular everyday psychology, that “it takes two to make a quarrel,” so Hippocrates recognised that in pathology, it takes two (organism and environment) to make a disease.
As an outstanding example of his power of clinical observation we may recall the facies Hippocratica, an accurate study of the countenance of a dying man.
His ideals for the profession are embodied in the “Hippocratic oath.”
Anatomy. Impressed by this view of the organism as a unity, the Hippocratic school tended in some degree to overlook the importance of its constituent parts. The balance was re-adjusted later on by the labours of the anatomical school of Alexandria, which, under the aegis of the enlightened Ptolemies, arose in the 3rd century B.C. Two prominent exponents of anatomy belonging to this school were Herophilus and Erasistratus, the latter of whom we shall frequently meet with in the following pages (v. p. 95 et seq.). Pg xiii
The Empirics. After the death of the Master, the Hippocratic school tended, as so often happens with the best of cultural movements, to show signs itself of diminishing vitality: the letter began to obscure and hamper the spirit. The comparatively small element of theory which existed in the Hippocratic physiology was made the groundwork of a somewhat over-elaborated “system.” Against this tendency on the part of the “Dogmatic” or “Rationalist” school there arose, also at Alexandria, the sect of the Empiricists. “It is not,” they said, “the cause but the cure of diseases that concerns us; not how we digest, but what is digestible.”
Greek
Medicine
in Rome. Horace said “Graecia capta ferum victorem
cepit.” Political domination, the occupation of territory by
armies, does not necessarily mean real conquest. Horace’s statement
applied to medicine as to other branches of culture.
The introducer of Greek medicine into Rome was Asclepiades (1st century B.C.). A man of forceful personality, and equipped with a fully developed philosophic system of health and disease which commended itself to the Roman savants of the day, he soon attained to the pinnacle of professional success in the Latin capital: he is indeed to all time the type of the fashionable (and somewhat “faddy”) West-end physician. His system was a purely mechanistic one, being based upon Pg xiv the atomic doctrine of Leucippus and Democritus, which had been completed by Epicurus and recently introduced to the Roman public in Lucretius’s great poem “De Rerum Natura.” The disbelief of Asclepiades in the self-maintaining powers of the living organism are exposed and refuted at considerable length by Galen in the volume before us.
The
Methodists. Out of the teaching of Asclepiades that
physiological processes depend upon the particular way in which the
ultimate indivisible molecules come together (ἐν τῇ ποίᾳ συνόδῳ τῶν
πρώτων ἐκείνων σωμάτων τῶν άπαθῶν) there was developed by his
pupil, Themison of Laodicea, a system of medicine characterised by
the most engaging simplicity both of diagnosis and treatment. This
so-called “Methodic” system was intended to strike a balance
between the excessive leaning to apriorism shown by the Rationalist
(Hippocratic) school and the opposite tendency of the Empiricists.
“A pathological theory we must have,” said the Methodists in
effect, “but let it be simple.” They held that the molecular groups
constituting the tissues were traversed by minute channels
(πόροι, “pores”); all diseases belonged
to one or other of two classes; if the channels were constricted
the disease was one of stasis
(στέγνωσις), and
if they were dilated the disease was one of flux
(ῥύσις). Flux and stasis were
indicated respectively by increase and diminution of the natural
secretions; Pg
xv treatment was of opposites by opposites—of
stasis by methods causing dilatation of the channels, and
conversely.
Wild as it may seem, this pathological theory of the Methodists contained an element of truth; in various guises it has cropped up once and again at different epochs of medical history; even to-day there are pathologists who tend to describe certain classes of disease in terms of vaso-constriction and vaso-dilatation. The vice of the Methodist teaching was that it looked on a disease too much as something fixed and finite, an independent entity, to be considered entirely apart from its particular setting. The Methodists illustrate for us the tyranny of names. In its defects as in its virtues this school has analogues at the present day; we are all acquainted with the medical man to whom a name (such, let us say, as “tuberculosis,” “gout,” or “intestinal auto-intoxication”) stands for an entity, one and indivisible, to be treated by a definite and unvarying formula.
To such an individual the old German saying “Jedermann hat am Ende ein Bischen Tuberkulose” is simply—incomprehensible.
Galen. All the medical schools which I have mentioned were still holding their ground in the 2nd century a.d., with more or less popular acceptance, when the great Galen made his entry into the world of Graeco-Roman medicine. Pg xvi
His Nature and Nurture. Claudius Galenus was born at Pergamos in Asia Minor in the year 131 a.d. His father was one Nicon, a well-to-do architect of that city. “I had the great good fortune,” says Galen,1 “to have as a father a highly amiable, just, good, and benevolent man. My mother, on the other hand, possessed a very bad temper; she used sometimes to bite her serving-maids, and she was perpetually shouting at my father and quarrelling with him—worse than Xanthippe with Socrates. When, therefore, I compared the excellence of my father’s disposition with the disgraceful passions of my mother, I resolved to embrace and love the former qualities, and to avoid and hate the latter.”
Nicon called his son Γαληνός, which means quiet, peaceable, and although the physician eventually turned out to be a man of elevated character, it is possible that his somewhat excessive leaning towards controversy (exemplified in the following pages) may have resulted from the fact that he was never quite able to throw off the worst side of the maternal inheritance.
His father, a man well schooled in mathematics and philosophy, saw to it that his son should not lack a liberal education. Pergamos itself was an ancient centre of civilisation, containing, among other culture-institutions, a library only second in importance to that of Alexandria itself; it also contained an Asclepieum.
Galen’s training was essentially eclectic: he studied all the chief philosophical systems of the time—Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, and Epicurean—and then, at the age of seventeen, entered on a course of medical studies; these he pursued under the best teachers at his own city, and afterwards, during a period of Wanderjahre, at Smyrna, Alexandria, and other leading medical centres.
Returning to Pergamos, he received his first professional appointment—that of surgeon to the gladiators. After four years here he was drawn by ambition to Rome, being at that time about thirty-one years of age. At Rome the young Pergamene attained a brilliant reputation both as a practitioner and as a public demonstrator of anatomy; among his patients he finally numbered even the Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself.
Medical practice in Rome at this time was at a low ebb, and Galen took no pains to conceal his contempt for the ignorance, charlatanism, and venality of his fellow-practitioners. Eventually, in spite of his social popularity, he raised up such odium against himself in medical circles, that he was forced to flee the city. This he did hurriedly and secretly in the year 168 a.d., when thirty-six years of age. He betook himself to his old home at Pergamos, where he settled down once more to a literary life.
His respite was short, however, for within a year he was summoned back to Italy by imperial mandate. Marcus Aurelius was about to undertake an Pg xviii expedition against the Germans, who at that time were threatening the northern frontiers of the Empire, and he was anxious that his consulting physician should accompany him to the front. “Patriotism” in this sense, however, seems to have had no charms for the Pergamene, and he pleaded vigorously to be excused. Eventually, the Emperor gave him permission to remain at home, entrusting to his care the young prince Commodus.
Thereafter we know little of Galen’s history, beyond the fact that he now entered upon a period of great literary activity. Probably he died about the end of the century.
Subsequent
History of
Galen’s
Works. Galen wrote extensively, not only on anatomy,
physiology, and medicine in general, but also on logic; his logical
proclivities, as will be shown later, are well exemplified in his
medical writings. A considerable number of undoubtedly genuine
works of his have come down to us. The full importance of his
contributions to medicine does not appear to have been recognized
till some time after his death, but eventually, as already pointed
out, the terms Galenism and Greek medicine became practically
synonymous.
A few words may be devoted to the subsequent history of his writings.
Byzantine
Medicine. During and after the final break-up of the Roman
Empire came times or confusion and of social reconstruction, which
left little opportunity for scientific Pg xix thought and
research. The Byzantine Empire, from the 4th century onwards, was
the scene of much internal turmoil, in which the militant
activities of the now State-established Christian church played a
not inconsiderable part. The Byzantine medical scholars were at
best compilers, and a typical compiler was Oribasius,
body-physician to the Emperor Julian (4th century, a.d.); his excellent Synopsis was written in
order to make the huge mass of the Galenic writings available for
the ordinary practitioner.
Arabian
Medicine. Greek medicine spread, with general Greek culture,
throughout Syria, and from thence was carried by the Nestorians, a
persecuted heretical sect, into Persia; here it became implanted,
and hence eventually spread to the Mohammedan world. Several of the
Prophet’s successors (such as the Caliphs Harun-al-Rashid and
Abdul-Rahman III) were great patrons of Greek learning, and
especially of medicine. The Arabian scholars imbibed Aristotle and
Galen with avidity. A partial assimilation, however, was the
farthest stage to which they could attain; with the exception of
pharmacology, the Arabians made practically no independent
additions to medicine. They were essentially systematizers and
commentators. “Averrois che il gran comento feo”2
Pg xx may
stand as the type par excellence of the Moslem sage.
Avicenna (Ebn Sina), (10th to 11th century) is the foremost name in Arabian medicine: his “Book of the Canon in Medicine,” when translated into Latin, even overshadowed the authority of Galen himself for some four centuries. Of this work the medical historian Max Neuburger says: “Avicenna, according to his lights, imparted to contemporary medical science the appearance of almost mathematical accuracy, whilst the art of therapeutics, although empiricism did not wholly lack recognition, was deduced as a logical sequence from theoretical (Galenic and Aristotelian) premises.”
Introduction
of
Arabian
Medicine
to the West.
Arabo-Scholastic
Period. Having arrived at such a condition in the hands of
the Mohammedans, Galenism was now destined to pass once more to the
West. From the 11th century onwards Latin translations of this
“Arabian” Medicine (being Greek medicine in oriental trappings)
began to make their way into Europe; here they helped to undermine
the authority of the one medical school of native growth which the
West produced during the Middle Ages—namely the School of
Salerno.
Blending with the Scholastic philosophy at the universities of Naples and Montpellier, the teachings of Aristotle and Galen now assumed a position of supreme authority: from their word, in matters Pg xxi scientific and medical, there was no appeal. In reference to this period the Pergamene was referred to in later times as the “Medical Pope of the Middle Ages.”
It was of course the logical side of Galenism which chiefly commended it to the mediaeval Schoolmen, as to the essentially speculative Moslems.
The
Renascence. The year 1453, when Constantinople fell into the
hands of the Turks, is often taken as marking the commencement of
the Renascence. Among the many factors which tended to stimulate
and awaken men’s minds during these spacious times was the
rediscovery of the Greek classics, which were brought to Europe by,
among others, the scholars who fled from Byzantium. The
Arabo-Scholastic versions of Aristotle and Galen were now
confronted by their Greek originals. A passion for Greek learning
was aroused. The freshness and truth of these old writings helped
to awaken men to a renewed sense of their own dignity and worth,
and to brace them in their own struggle for self-expression.
Prominent in this “Humanist” movement was the English physician, Thomas Linacre (c. 1460-1524) who, having gained in Italy an extraordinary zeal for the New Learning, devoted the rest of his life, after returning to England, to the promotion of the litterae humaniores, and especially to making Galen accessible to readers of Latin. Thus the “De Naturalibus Facultatibus” appeared in London in Pg xxii 1523, and was preceded and followed by several other translations, all marked by minute accuracy and elegant Latinity.
Two new parties now arose in the medical world—the so-called “Greeks” and the more conservative “Arabists.”
Paracelsus. But the swing of the pendulum did not cease with the creation of the liberal “Greek” party; the dazzling vision of freedom was to drive some to a yet more anarchical position. Paracelsus, who flourished in the first half of the 16th century, may be taken as typifying this extremist tendency. His one cry was, “Let us away with all authority whatsoever, and get back to Nature!” At his first lecture as professor at the medical school of Basle he symbolically burned the works of Galen and of his chief Arabian exponent, Avicenna.
The
Renascence
Anatomists. But the final collapse of authority in medicine
could not be brought about by mere negativism. It was the
constructive work of the Renascence anatomists, particularly those
of the Italian school, which finally brought Galenism to the
ground.
Vesalius (1514-64), the modern “Father of Anatomy,” for dissecting human bodies, was fiercely assailed by the hosts of orthodoxy, including that stout Galenist, his old teacher Jacques Dubois (Jacobus Sylvius). Vesalius held on his way, however, proving, inter alia, that Galen had been wrong Pg xxiii in saying that the interventricular septum of the heart was permeable (cf. present volume, p. 321).
Michael Servetus (1509-53) suggested that the blood, in order to get from the right to the left side of the heart, might have to pass through the lungs. For his heterodox opinions he was burned at the stake.
Another 16th-century anatomist, Andrea Cesalpino, is considered by the Italians to have been a discoverer of the circulation of the blood before Harvey; he certainly had a more or less clear idea of the circulation, but, as in the case of the “organic evolutionists before Darwin,” he failed to prove his point by conclusive demonstration.
William
Harvey
(1578-1657). William Harvey, the great Englishman who
founded modern experimental physiology and was the first to
establish not only the fact of the circulation but also the
physical laws governing it, is commonly reckoned the Father of
Modern Medicine. He owed his interest in the movements of the blood
to Fabricio of Acquapendente, his tutor at Padua, who drew his
attention to the valves in the veins, thus suggesting the idea of a
circular as opposed to a to-and-fro motion. Harvey’s great
generalisation, based upon a long series of experiments in
vivo, was considered to have given the coup de
grâce to the Galenic physiology, and hence threw
temporary discredit upon the whole system of medicine associated
therewith.
Modern medicine, based upon a painstaking Pg xxiv research into the details of physiological function, had begun.
Back to
Galen! While we cannot sufficiently commend the results of
the long modern period of research-work to which the labours of the
Renascence anatomists from Vesalius to Harvey form a fitting
prelude, we yet by no means allow that Galen’s general medical
outlook was so entirely invalidated as many imagine by the
conclusive demonstration of his anatomical errors. It is time for
us now to turn to Galen again after three hundred years of virtual
neglect: it may be that he will help us to see something
fundamentally important for medical practice which is beyond the
power even of our microscopes and X-rays to reveal. While
the value of his work undoubtedly lies mainly in its enabling us to
envisage one of the greatest of the early steps attained by man in
medical knowledge, it also has a very definite intrinsic value of
its own.
Galen’s
Debt to his
Precursors. No attempt can be made here to determine how
much of Galen’s work is, in the true sense of the word, original,
and how much is drawn from the labours of his predecessors. In any
case, there is no doubt that he was much more than a mere compiler
and systematizer of other men’s work: he was great enough to be
able not merely to collect, to digest, and to assimilate all the
best of the work done before his time, but, adding to this the
outcome of his own observations, experiments, and reflections, to
present Pg
xxv the whole in an articulated “system” showing that
perfect balance of parts which is the essential criterion of a work
of art. Constantly, however, in his writings we shall come across
traces of the influence of, among others, Plato, Aristotle, and
writers of the Stoic school.
Influence of
Hippocrates
on Galen. Although Galen is an eclectic in the best sense of
influence of the term, there is one name to which he pays a very
special tribute—that of his illustrious forerunner
Hippocrates. Him on quite a number of occasions he actually calls
“divine” (cf. p. 293).
“Hippocrates,” he says, “was the first known to us of all who have been both physicians and philosophers, in that he was the first to recognise what nature does.” Here is struck the keynote of the teaching of both Hippocrates and Galen; this is shown in the volume before us, which deals with “the natural faculties”—that is with the faculties of this same “Nature” or vital principle referred to in the quotation.
“The
Natural
Faculties.” If Galen be looked on as a crystallisation of
Greek medicine, then this book may be looked on as a
crystallisation of Galen. Within its comparatively short compass we
meet with instances illustrating perhaps most of the sides of this
many-sided writer. The “Natural Faculties” therefore forms an
excellent prelude to the study of his larger and more specialised
works. Pg
xxvi
Galen’s
“Physiology.” What, now, is this “Nature” or biological
principle upon which Galen, like Hippocrates, bases the whole of
his medical teaching, and which, we may add, is constantly
overlooked—if indeed ever properly apprehended—by many
physiologists of the present day? By using this term Galen meant
simply that, when we deal with a living thing, we are dealing
primarily with a unity, which, quâ living, is not
further divisible; all its parts can only be understood and dealt
with as being in relation to this principle of unity. Galen
was thus led to criticise with considerable severity many of the
medical and surgical specialists of his time, who acted on the
assumption (implicit if not explicit) that the whole was merely the
sum of its parts, and that if, in an ailing organism, these parts
were treated each in and for itself, the health of the whole
organism could in this way be eventually restored.
Galen expressed this idea of the unity of the organism by saying that it was governed by a Physis or Nature (ἡ φύσις ἥπερ διοικεῖ τὸ ζῷον), with whose “faculties” or powers it was the province of φυσιολογία (physiology, Nature-lore) to deal. It was because Hippocrates had a clear sense of this principle that Galen called him master. “Greatest,” say the Moslems, “is Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.” “Greatest,” said Galen, “is the Physis, and Hippocrates is its prophet.” Never did Mohammed more zealously maintain the unity of the Godhead than Hippocrates and Galen the unity of the organism. Pg xxvii
Galen’s
Physics. But we shall not have read far before we discover
that the term Physiology, as used by Galen, stands not
merely for what we understand by it nowadays, but also for a large
part of Physics as well. This is one of the chief sources of
confusion in his writings. Having grasped, for example, the
uniqueness of the process of specific selection
(ὁλκὴ τοῦ οἰκείου), by
which the tissues nourish themselves, he proceeds to apply this
principle in explanation of entirely different classes of
phenomena; thus he mixes it up with the physical phenomenon of the
attraction of the lodestone for iron, of dry grain for moisture,
etc. It is noteworthy, however, in these latter instances, that he
does not venture to follow out his comparison to its logical
conclusion; he certainly stops short of hinting that the lodestone
(like a living organ or tissue) assimilates the metal which
it has attracted!
Setting aside, however, these occasional half-hearted attempts to apply his principle of a φύσις in regions where it has no natural standing, we shall find that in the field of biology Galen moves with an assurance bred of first-hand experience.
The
Mechanical
Physicists. Against his attempt to “biologize” physics may
be set the converse attempt of the mechanical Atomist school. Thus
in Asclepiades he found a doughty defender of the view that
physiology was “merely” physics. Galen’s ire being roused, he is
not content with driving the enemy out of the biological camp, but
must needs attempt also to Pg xxviii dislodge him
from that of physics, in which he has every right to be.
The Anatomists. In defence of the universal validity of his principle, Galen also tends to excessive disparagement of morphological factors; witness his objection to the view of the anatomist Erasistratus that the calibre of vessels played a part in determining the secretion of fluids (p. 123), that digestion was caused by the mechanical action of the stomach walls (p. 243), and dropsy by induration of the liver (p. 171).
Characteristics
of the
Living
Organism. While combating the atomic explanation of physical
processes, Galen of course realised that there were many of these
which could only be explained according to what we should now call
“mechanical laws.” For example, non-living things could be
subjected to φορά (passive motion), they
answered to the laws of gravity (ταῖς τῶν ὑλῶν οἰακιζόμενα ῥοπαῖς, p. 126). Furthermore,
Galen did not fail to see that living things also were not entirely
exempted from the operation of these laws; they too may be at least
partly subject to gravity (loc. cit.); a hollow organ
exerts, by virtue of its cavity, an attraction similar to that of
dilating bellows, as well as, by virtue of the living tissue of its
walls, a specifically “vital” or selective kind of attraction (p.
325).
As a type of characteristically vital action we may take nutrition, in which occurs a phenomenon Pg xxix which Galen calls active motion (δραστικὴ κίνησις) or, more technically, alteration (ἀλλοίωσις). This active type of motion cannot be adequately stated in terms of the passive movements (groupings and re-groupings) of its constituent parts according to certain empirical “laws.” Alteration involves self-movement, a self-determination of the organism or organic part. Galen does not attempt to explain this fundamental characteristic of alteration any further; he contents himself with referring his opponents to Aristotle’s work on the “Complete Alteration of Substance” (p. 9).
The most important characteristic of the Physis or Nature is its τέχνη—its artistic creativeness. In other words, the living organism is a creative artist. This feature may be observed typically in its primary functions of growth and nutrition; these are dependent on the characteristic faculties or powers, by virtue of which each part draws to itself what is proper or appropriate to it (το οἰκεῖον) and rejects what is foreign (το ἀλλότριον), thereafter appropriating or assimilating the attracted material; this assimilation is an example of the alteration (or qualitative change) already alluded to; thus the food eaten is “altered” into the various tissues of the body, each of these having been provided by “Nature” with its own specific faculties of attraction and repulsion.
The Three Categories. Any of the operations of the living part may be looked on in three ways, either (a) as a δύναμις, Pg xxx faculty, potentiality; (b) as an ἐνέργεια, which is this δύναμις in operation; or (c) as an ἔργον, the product or effect of the ἐνέργεια.3
Pg xxxi Galen’s
Method. Like his master Hippocrates, Galen attached
fundamental importance to clinical observation—to the
evidence of the senses as the indispensable groundwork of all
medical knowledge. He had also, however, a forte for rapid
generalisation from observations, and his logical proclivities
disposed him Pg xxxii particularly to deductive
reasoning. Examples of an almost Euclidean method of argument may
be found in the Natural Faculties (e.g. Book III.
chap. i.). While this method undoubtedly gave him much help in his
search for truth, it also not unfrequently led him astray. This is
evidenced by his attempt, already noted, to apply the biological
principle of the φύσις in physics.
Characteristic examples of attempts to force facts to fit premises
will be found in Book II. chap. ix., where our author demonstrates
that yellow bile is “virtually” dry, and also, by a process of
exclusion, assigns to the spleen the function of clearing away
black bile. Strangest of all is his attempt to prove that the same
principle of specific attraction by which the ultimate tissues
nourish themselves (and the lodestone attracts iron!) accounts for
the reception of food into the stomach, of urine into the kidneys,
of bile into the gall-bladder, and of semen into the uterus.
These instances are given, however, without prejudice to the system of generalisation and deduction which, in Galen’s hands, often proved exceedingly fruitful. He is said to have tried “to unite professional and scientific medicine with a philosophic link.” He objected, however, to such extreme attempts at simplification of medical science as that of the Methodists, to whom diseases were isolated entities, without any relationships in time or space (v. p. xv. supra).
He based much of his pathological reasoning upon Pg xxxiii the “humoral theory” of Hippocrates, according to which certain diseases were caused by one or more of the four humours (blood, phlegm, black and yellow bile) being in excess—that is, by various dyscrasiae. Our modern conception of “hormone” action shows certain resemblances with this theory.
Besides observation and reasoning, Galen took his stand on experiment; he was one of the first of experimental physiologists, as is illustrated in the present book by his researches into the function of the kidneys (p. 59 et seq.). He also conducted a long series of experiments into the physiology of the spinal cord, to determine what parts controlled movement and what sensibility.
As a practitioner he modelled his work largely on the broad and simple lines laid down by Hippocrates. He had also at his disposal all the acquisitions of biological science dating from the time of Aristotle five hundred years earlier, and reinforced by the discoveries in anatomy made by the Alexandrian school. To these he added a large series of researches of his own.
Galen never confined himself to what one might call the academic or strictly orthodox sources of information; he roamed the world over for answers to his queries. For example, we find him on his journeys between Pergamos and Rome twice visiting the island of Lemnos in order to procure some of the terra sigillata, a kind of earth which had a reputation for healing the bites of serpents and Pg xxxiv other wounds. At other times he visited the copper-mines of Cyprus in search for copper, and Palestine for the resin called Balm of Gilead.
By inclination and training Galen was the reverse of a “party-man.” In the Natural Faculties (p. 55) he speaks of the bane of sectarian partizanship, “harder to heal than any itch.” He pours scorn upon the ignorant “Erasistrateans” and “Asclepiadeans,” who attempted to hide their own incompetence under the shield of some great man’s name (cf. p. 141).
Of the two chief objects of his censure in the Natural Faculties, Galen deals perhaps less rigorously with Erasistratus than with Asclepiades. Erasistratus did at least recognize the existence of a vital principle in the organism, albeit, with his eye on the structures which the scalpel displayed he tended frequently to forget it. The researches of the anatomical school of Alexandria had been naturally of the greatest service to surgery, but in medicine they sometimes had a tendency to check progress by diverting attention from the whole to the part.
The
Pneuma
or Spirit. Another novel conception frequently occurring in
Galen’s writings is that of the Pneuma (i.e. the
breath, spiritus). This word is used in two senses, as
meaning (1) the inspired air, which was drawn into the left side of
the heart and thence carried all over the body by the arteries;
this has not a few analogies with oxygen, particularly as its
action in the tissues Pg xxxv is attended with the appearance of
the so-called “innate heat.” (2) A vital principle, conceived as
being made up of matter in the most subtle imaginable state
(i.e. air). This vital principle became resolved into three
kinds: (a) πνεῦμα φυσικόν or spiritus
naturalis, carried by the veins, and presiding over the
subconscious vegetative life; this “natural spirit” is therefore
practically equivalent to the φῦσις or
“nature” itself. (b) The πνεῦμα ζωτικόν or spiritus
vitalis; here particularly is a source of error, since the air
already alluded to as being carried by the arteries tends to be
confused with this principle of “individuality” or relative
autonomy in the circulatory (including, perhaps, the vasomotor)
system. (c) The πνεῦμα ψυχικόν or spiritus
animalis (anima = ψυχή), carried by
longitudinal canals in the nerves; this corresponds to the
ψυχή.
This view of a “vital principle” as necessarily consisting of matter in a finely divided, fluid, or “etheric” state is not unknown even in our day. Belief in the fundamental importance of the Pneuma formed the basis of the teaching of another vitalist school in ancient Greece, that of the Pneumatists.
Galen and
the Circulation
of the
Blood. It is unnecessary to detail here the various ways in
which Galen’s physiological views differ from those of the Moderns,
as most of these are noticed in footnotes to the text of the
present translation. His ignorance of the circulation of the blood
does not lessen the force of his general physiological concluPg xxxvisions to the extent that might be
anticipated. In his opinion, the great bulk of the blood travelled
with a to-and-fro motion in the veins, while a little of it, mixed
with inspired air, moved in the same way along the arteries;
whereas we now know that all the blood goes outward by the arteries
and returns by the veins; in either case blood is carried to the
tissues by blood-vessels, and Galen’s ideas of tissue-nutrition
were wonderfully sound. The ingenious method by which (in ignorance
of the pulmonary circulation) he makes blood pass from the right to
the left ventricle, may be read in the present work (p. 321). As
will be seen, he was conversant with the “anastomoses” between the
ultimate branches of arteries and veins, although he imagined that
they were not used under “normal” conditions.
Galen’s
Character. Galen was not only a man of great intellectual
gifts, but one also of strong moral fibre. In his short treatise
“That the best Physician is also a Philosopher” he outlines his
professional ideals. It is necessary for the efficient healer to be
versed in the three branches of “philosophy,” viz.: (a)
logic, the science of how to think; (b)
physics, the science of what is—i.e. of
“Nature” in the widest sense; (c) ethics, the science
of what to do. The amount of toil which he who wishes to be a
physician must undergo—firstly, in mastering the work of his
predecessors and afterwards in studying disease at first
hand—makes it absolutely necessary that he should Pg
xxxvii possess perfect self-control, that he should scorn
money and the weak pleasures of the senses, and should live
laborious days.
Readers of the following pages will notice that Galen uses what we should call distinctly immoderate language towards those who ventured to differ from the views of his master Hippocrates (which were also his own). The employment of such language was one of the few weaknesses of his age which he did not transcend. Possibly also his mother’s choleric temper may have predisposed him to it.
The fact, too, that his vivisection experiments (e.g. pp. 59, 273) were carried out apparently without any kind of anaesthetisation being even thought of is abhorrent to the feelings of to-day, but must be excused also on the ground that callousness towards animals was then customary, men having probably never thought much about the subject.
Galen’s
Greek Style. Galen is a master of language, using a highly
polished variety of Attic prose with a precision which can be only
very imperfectly reproduced in another tongue. Every word he uses
has an exact and definite meaning attached to it. Translation is
particularly difficult when a word stands for a physiological
conception which is not now held; instances are the words
anadosis, prosthesis, and prosphysis,
indicating certain steps in the process by which nutriment is
conveyed from the alimentary canal to the tissues.
Readers will be surprised to find how many words are used by Galen which they would have thought had been expressly coined to fit modern conceptions; thus our author employs not merely such terms as physiology, phthisis, atrophy, anastomosis, but also haematopoietic, anaesthesia, and even aseptic! It is only fair, however, to remark that these terms, particularly the last, were not used by Galen in quite their modern significance.
Summary. To resume, then: What contribution can Galen bring to the art of healing at the present day? It was not, surely, for nothing that the great Pergamene gave laws to the medical world for over a thousand years!
Let us draw attention once more to:
(1) The high ideal which he set before the profession.
(2) His insistence on immediate contact with nature as the primary condition for arriving at an understanding of disease; on the need for due consideration of previous authorities; on the need also for reflection—for employment of the mind’s eye (ἡ λογικὴ θεωρία) as an aid to the physical eye.
(3) His essentially broad outlook, which often helped him in the comprehension of a phenomenon through his knowledge of an analogous phenomenon in another field of nature.
(4) His keen appreciation of the unity of the organism, and of the inter-dependence of its parts; his realisation that the vital phenomena (physiological and pathological) in a living organism can only be understood when considered in relation to the environment of that organism or part. This is the foundation for the war that Galen waged à outrance on the Methodists, to whom diseases were things without relation to anything. This dispute is, unfortunately, not touched upon in the present volume. What Galen combated was the tendency, familiar enough in our own day, to reduce medicine to the science of finding a label for each patient, and then treating not the patient, but the label. (This tendency, we may remark in parenthesis, is one which is obviously well suited for the standardising purposes of a State medical service, and is therefore one which all who have the weal of the profession at heart must most jealously watch in the difficult days that lie ahead.)
(5) His realisation of the inappropriateness and inadequacy of physical formulae in explaining physiological activities. Galen’s disputes with Asclepiades over τὰ πρῶτα ἐκεῖνα σώματα τὰ ἀπαθῆ, over the ἄναρμα στοιχεῖα καὶ ληρώδεις ὄγκοι, is but another aspect of his quarrel with the Methodists regarding their pathological “units,” whose primary characteristic was just this same ἀπάθεια (impassiveness to environment, “unimpressionability”). We have of course Pg xl our Physiatric or Iatromechanical school at the present day, to whom such processes as absorption from the alimentary canal, the respiratory interchange of gases, and the action of the renal epithelium are susceptible of a purely physical explanation.4
(6) His quarrel with the Anatomists, which was in essence the same as that with the Atomists, and which arose from his clear realisation that that primary and indispensable desideratum, a view of the whole, could never be obtained by a mere summation of partial views; hence, also, his sense of the dangers which would beset the medical art if it were allowed to fall into the hands of a mere crowd of competing specialists without any organising head to guide them.
1 On the Affections of the Mind, p. 41 (Kühn’s ed.).
2 “Averrhoës who made the great Commentary” (Dante). It was Averrhoës (Ebn Roshd) who, in the 12th century, introduced Aristotle to the Mohammedan world, and the “Commentary” referred to was on Aristotle.
3 What appear to me to be certain resemblances between the Galenical and the modern vitalistic views of Henri Bergson may perhaps be alluded to here. Galen’s vital principle, ἡ τεχνικὴ φύσις (“creative growth”), presents analogies with l’Evolution créatrice: both manifest their activity in producing qualitative change (ἀλλοίωσις, changement): in both, the creative change cannot be analysed into a series of static states, but is one and continuous. In Galen, however, it comes to an end with the development of the individual, whereas in Bergson it continues indefinitely as the evolution of life. The three aspects of organic life may be tabulated thus:—
δύναμις | ἐνέργεια | ἔργον |
Work to be done. | Work being done. | Work done, finished. |
Future aspect. | Present aspect. | Past aspect. |
Function. | Structure. | |
The élan vital. | A “thing.” | |
A changing which cannot be understood as a sum of static parts; a constant becoming, never stopping—at least till the ἔργον is reached. |
||
Bergson’s “teleological” aspect. |
Bergson’s “philosophical” aspect. |
Bergson’s “outlook of physical science.” |
Galen recognized “creativeness” (τέχνη) in the development of the individual and its parts (ontogeny) and in the maintenance of these, but he failed to appreciate the creative evolution of species (phylogeny), which is, of course, part of the same process. To the teleologist the possibilities (δυνάμεις) of the Physis are limited, to Bergson they are unlimited. Galen and Bergson agree in attaching most practical importance to the middle category—that of Function.
While it must be conceded that Galen, following Aristotle, had never seriously questioned the fixity of species, the following quotation from his work On Habits (chap. ii.) will show that he must have at least had occasional glimmerings of our modern point of view on the matter. Referring to assimilation, he says: “Just as everything we eat or drink becomes altered in quality, so of course also does the altering factor itself become altered.... A clear proof of the assimilation of things which are being nourished to that which is nourishing them is the change which occurs in plants and seeds; this often goes so far that what is highly noxious in one soil becomes, when transplanted into another soil, not merely harmless, but actually useful. This has been largely put to the test by those who compose memoirs on farming and on plants, as also by zoological authors who have written on the changes which occur according to the countries in which animals live. Since, therefore, not only is the nourishment altered by the creature nourished, but the latter itself also undergoes some slight alteration, this slight alteration must necessarily become considerable in the course of time, and thus properties resulting from prolonged habit must come to be on a par with natural properties.”
Galen fails to see the possibility that the “natural” properties themselves originated in this way, as activities which gradually became habitual—that is to say, that the effects of nurture may become a “second nature,” and so eventually nature itself.
The whole passage, however, may be commended to modern biologists—particularly, might one say, to those bacteriologists who have not yet realised how extraordinarily relative is the term “specificity” when applied to the subject-matter of their science.
4 In terms of filtration, diffusion, and osmosis.
Bibliothèque Nationale. Paris. No. 2267.
Library of St. Mark. Venice. No. 275.
Arabic translations by Honain in the Escurial Library, and in the Library at Leyden. Hebrew translation in the Library at Bonn. Latin translations in the Library of Gonville and Caius College (MSS.), No. 947; also by Linacre in editions published, London, 1523; Paris, 1528; Leyden, 1540, 1548, and 1550; also by C.G. Kühn, Leipzig, 1821.
Nic. de Anglia in Bib. Nat. Paris (MSS.), No. 7015; J. Rochon, ibidem, No. 7025; J. Segarra, 1528; J. Sylvius, 1550, 1560; L. Joubert, 1599; M. Sebitz, 1644, 1645; J.B. Pacuvius, 1554; J.C.G. Ackermann, 1821, in the introduction to Kühn’s translation, p. lxxx; Ilberg in articles on “Die Schriftstellerei des Klaudios Galenos,” in Rhein. Mus., Nos. 44, 47, 51, and 52 (years 1889, 1892, 1896 and 1897); I. von Mueller in Quæstiones Criticae de Galeni libris, Erlangen, 1871; Steinschneider in Virchow’s Archiv, No. cxxiv. for 1891; Wenrich in De auctorum graecorum versionibus et commentariis syriacis, arabicis, armiacis, persisque, Leipzig, 1842.
Distinction between the effects of (a) the organism’s psyche or soul (b) its physis or nature. The author proposes to confine himself to a consideration of the latter—the vegetative—aspect of life.
Definition of terms. Different kinds of motion. Alteration or qualitative change. Refutation of the Sophists’ objection that such change is only apparent, not real. The four fundamental qualities of Hippocrates (later Aristotle). Distinction between faculty, activity (function), and effect (work or product).
It is by virtue of the four qualities that each part functions. Some authorities subordinate the dry and the moist principles to the hot and the cold. Aristotle inconsistent here.
We must suppose that there are faculties corresponding in number to the visible effects (or products) with which we are familiar.
Genesis, growth, and nutrition. Genesis (embryogeny) sub-divided into histogenesis and organogenesis. Growth is a tridimensional expansion of the solid parts formed during genesis. Nutrition.
The process of genesis (embryogeny) from insemination onwards. Each of the simple, elementary, homogeneous parts (tissues) is produced by a special blend of the four primary alterative faculties (such secondary alterative faculties being ostopoietic, neuropoietic, etc.). A special function and use also corresponds to each of these special tissues. The bringing of these tissues together into organs and the disposal of these organs is performed by another faculty called diaplastic, moulding, or formative.
We now pass from genesis to growth. Growth essentially a post-natal process; it involves two factors, expansion and nutrition, explained by analogy of a familiar child’s game.
Nutrition.
These three primary faculties (genesis, growth, nutrition) have various others subservient to them.
Nutrition not a simple process. (1) Need of subsidiary organs for the various stages of alteration, e.g., of bread into blood, of that into bone, etc. (2) Need also of organs for excreting the non-utilizable portions of the food, e.g., much vegetable matter is superfluous. (3) Need of organs of a third kind, for distributing the pabulum through the body.
Nutrition analysed into the stages of application (prosthesis), adhesion (prosphysis), and assimilation. The stages illustrated by certain pathological conditions. Different shades of meaning of the term nutriment.
The two chief medico-philosophical schools—Atomist and Vitalist. Hippocrates an adherent of the latter school—his doctrine of an original principle or “nature” in every living thing (doctrine of the unity of the organism).
Failure of Asclepiades to understand the functions of kidneys and ureters. His hypothesis of vaporization of imbibed fluids is here refuted. A demonstration of urinary secretion in the living animal; the forethought and artistic skill of Nature vindicated. Refutation also of Asclepiades’s disbelief in the special selective action of purgative drugs.
While Asclepiades denies in toto the obvious fact of specific attraction, Epicurus grants the fact, although his attempt to explain it by the atomic hypothesis breaks down. Refutation of the Epicurean theory of magnetic attraction. Instances of specific attraction of thorns and animal poisons by medicaments, of moisture by corn, etc.
It now being granted that the urine is secreted by the kidneys, the rationale of this secretion is enquired into. The kidneys are not mechanical filters, but are by virtue of their nature possessed of a specific faculty of attraction.
Erasistratus, again, by his favourite principle of horror vacui could never explain the secretion of urine by the kidneys. While, however, he acknowledged that the kidneys do secrete urine, he makes no attempt to explain this; he ignores, but does not attempt to refute, the Hippocratic doctrine of specific attraction. “Servile” position taken up by Asclepiades and Erasistratus in regard to this function of urinary secretion.
Three other attempts (by adherents of the Erasistratean school and by Lycus of Macedonia) to explain how the kidneys come to separate out urine from the blood. All these ignore the obvious principle of attraction.
In order to explain dispersal of food from alimentary canal viâ the veins (anadosis) there is no need to invoke with Erasistratus, the horror vacui, since here again the principle of specific attraction is operative; moreover, blood is also driven forward by the compressing action of the stomach and the contractions of the veins. Possibility, however, of Erasistratus’s factor playing a certain minor rôle.
The Erasistratean idea that bile becomes separated out from the blood in the liver because, being the thinner fluid, it alone can enter the narrow stomata of the bile-ducts, while the thicker blood can only enter the wider mouths of the hepatic venules.
The morphological factors suggested by Erasistratus are quite inadequate to explain biological happenings. Erasistratus inconsistent with his own statements. The immanence of the physis or nature; her shaping is not merely external like that of a statuary, but involves the entire substance. In genesis (embryogeny) the semen is the active, and the menstrual blood the passive, principle. Attractive, alterative, and formative faculties of the semen. Embryogeny is naturally followed by growth; these two functions distinguished.
Unjustified claim by Erasistrateans that their founder had associations with the Peripatetic (Aristotelian) school. The characteristic physiological tenets of that school (which were all anticipated by Hippocrates) in no way agree with those of Erasistratus, save that both recognize the purposefulness of Nature; in practice, however, Erasistratus assumed numerous exceptions to this principle. Difficulty of understanding why he rejected the biological principle of attraction in favour of anatomical factors.
A further difficulty raised by Erasistratus’s statement regarding secretion of bile in the liver.
The same holds with nutrition. Even if we grant that veins may obtain their nutrient blood by virtue of the horror vacui (chap. i.), how could this explain the nutrition of nerves? Erasistratus’s hypothesis of minute elemental nerves and vessels within the ordinary visible nerves simply throws the difficulty further back. And is Erasistratus’s minute “simple” nerve susceptible of further analysis, as the Atomists would assume? If so, this is opposed to the conception of a constructive and artistic Nature which Erasistratus himself shares with Hippocrates and the writer. And if his minute nerve is really elementary and not further divisible, then it cannot, according to his own showing, contain a cavity; therefore the horror vacui does not apply to it. And how could this principle apply to the restoration to its original bulk of a part which had become thin through disease, where more matter must become attached than runs away? A quotation from Erasistratus shows that he did acknowledge an “attraction,” although not exactly in the Hippocratic sense.
In the last resort, the ultimate living elements (Erasistratus’s simple vessels) must draw in their food by virtue of an inherent attractive faculty like that which the lodestone exerts on iron. Thus the process of anadosis, from beginning to end, can be explained without assuming a horror vacui.
Erasistratus’s disregard for the humours. In
respect to excessive formation of bile, however, prevention is
better than cure: accordingly we must consider its pathology. Does
blood pre-exist in the food, or does it come into existence in the
body? Erasistratus’s purely anatomical explanation of
dropsy. He entirely avoids the question of the four
qualities (e.g. the importance of innate heat) in the
generation of the humours, etc. Yet the problem of blood-production
is no less important than that of gastric digestion. Proof that
bile does not pre-exist in the food. The four fundamental qualities
of Hippocrates and Aristotle. How the humours are formed from food
taken into the veins: when heat is in proportionate amount, blood
results; when in excess, bile; when deficient, phlegm. Various
conditions determining cold or warm temperaments. The four primary
diseases result each from excess of one of the four qualities.
Erasistratus unwillingly acknowledges this when he ascribes the
indigestion occurring in fever to impaired function of the
stomach. For what causes this functio laesa? Proof that it
is the fever (excess of innate heat).
If, then, heat plays so important a part in abnormal functioning,
so must it also in normal (i.e. causes of eucrasia involved
in those of dyscrasia, of physiology in those of pathology). A like
argument explains the genesis of the humours. Addition of
warmth to things already warm makes them bitter; thus honey turns
to bile in people who are already warm; where warmth deficient, as
in old people, it turns to useful blood. This is a proof that bile
does not pre-exist, as such, in the food.
The functions of organs also depend on
the way in which the four qualities are mixed—e.g. the
contracting function of the stomach. Treatment only possible when
we know the causes of errors of function. The Erasistrateans
practically Empiricists in this respect. On an appreciation of the
meaning of a dyscrasia follows naturally the Hippocratic
principle of treating opposites by opposites (e.g. cooling
the over-heated stomach, warming it when chilled, etc.). Useless in
treatment to know merely the function of each organ; we must know
the bodily condition which upsets this function. Blood is
warm and moist. Yellow bile is warm and (virtually, though not
apparently) dry. Phlegm is cold and moist. The fourth possible
combination (cold and dry) is represented by black bile. For
the clearing out of this humour from the blood, Nature has provided
the spleen—an organ which, according to Erasistratus, fulfils
no purpose. Proof of the importance of the spleen is the jaundice,
toxaemia, etc., occurring when it is diseased. Erasistratus’s
failure to mention the views of leading authorities on this organ
shows the hopelessness of his position. The Hippocratic view has
now been demonstrated deductively and inductively. The classical
view as to the generation of the humours. Normal and pathological
forms of yellow and black bile. Part played by the innate
heat in their production. Other kinds of bile are merely
transition-stages between these extreme types. Abnormal forms
removed by liver and spleen respectively. Phlegm, however, does not
need a special excretory organ, as it can undergo entire metabolism
in the body.
Need for studying the works of the Ancients carefully, in order to
reach a proper understanding of this subject.
A recapitulation of certain points previously demonstrated. Every part of the animal has an attractive and an alterative (assimilative) faculty; it attracts the nutrient juice which is proper to it. Assimilation is preceded by adhesion (prosphysis) and that again, by application (prosthesis). Application the goal of attraction. It would not, however, be followed by adhesion and assimilation if each part did not also possess a faculty for retaining in position the nutriment which has been applied. A priori necessity for this retentive faculty.
The same faculty to be proved a posteriori. Its corresponding function (i.e. the activation of this faculty or potentiality) well seen in the large hollow organs, notably the uterus and stomach.
Exercise of the retentive faculty particularly well seen in the uterus. Its object is to allow the embryo to attain full development; this being completed, a new faculty—the expulsive—hitherto quiescent, comes into play. Characteristic signs and symptoms of pregnancy. Tight grip of uterus on growing embryo, and accurate closure of os uteri during operation of the retentive faculty. Dilatation of os and expulsive activities of uterus at full term, or when foetus dies. Prolapse from undue exercise of this faculty. Rôle of the midwife. Accessory muscles in parturition.
Same two faculties seen in stomach. Gurglings or borborygmi show that this organ is weak and is not gripping its contents tightly enough. Undue delay of food in a weak Pg li stomach proved not to be due to narrowness of pylorus: length of stay depends on whether digestion (another instance of the characteristically vital process of alteration) has taken place or not. Erasistratus wrong in attributing digestion merely to the mechanical action of the stomach walls. When digestion completed, then pylorus opens and allows contents to pass downwards, just as os uteri when development of embyro completed.
If attraction and elimination always proceeded pari passu, the content of these hollow organs (including gall-bladder and urinary bladder) would never vary in amount. A retentive faculty, therefore, also logically needed. Its existence demonstrated. Expulsion determined by qualitative and quantitative changes of contents. “Diarrhoea” of stomach. Vomiting.
Every organic part has an appetite and aversion for the qualities which are appropriate and foreign to it respectively. Attraction necessarily leads to a certain benefit received. This again necessitates retention.
Interaction between two bodies; the stronger masters the weaker; a deleterious drug masters the forces of the body, whereas food is mastered by them; this mastery is an alteration, and the amount of alteration varies with the different organs; thus a partial alteration is effected in mouth by saliva, but much greater in stomach, where not only gastric juice, but also bile, pneuma, innate heat (i.e. oxidation?), and other powerful factors are brought to bear on it; need of considerable alteration in stomach Pg lii as a transition-stage between food and blood; appearance of faeces in intestine another proof of great alteration effected in stomach. Asclepiades’s denial of real qualitative change in stomach rebutted. Erasistratus’s denial that digestion in any way resembles a boiling process comes from his taking words too literally.
Erasistratus denies that the stomach exerts any pull in the act of swallowing. That he is wrong, however, is proved by the anatomical structure of the stomach—its inner coat with longitudinal fibres obviously acts as a vis a fronte (attraction), whilst its outer coat exercises through the contraction of its circular fibres a vis a tergo (propulsion); the latter also comes into play in vomiting. The stomach uses the oesophagus as a kind of hand, to draw in its food with. The functions of the two coats proved also by vivisection. Swallowing cannot be attributed merely to the force of gravity.
These four faculties which subserve nutrition are thus apparent in many different parts of the body.
Need for elaborating the statements of the ancient physicians. Superiority of Ancients to Moderns. This state of affairs can only be rectified by a really efficient education of youth. The chief requisites of such an education.
For the sake of the few who realty wish truth, the argument will be continued. A third kind of fibre—the oblique—subserves retention; the way in which this fibre is disposed in different coats.
The factor which brings the expulsive faculty into action is essentially a condition of the organ or its contents which is the reverse of that which determined attraction. Analogy between abortion and normal parturition. Whatever produces discomfort must be expelled. That discomfort also determines expulsion of contents from gall-bladder is not so evident as in the case of stomach, uterus, urinary bladder, etc., but can be logically demonstrated.
Expulsion takes place through the same channel as attraction (e.g., in stomach, gall-bladder, uterus). Similarly the delivery (anadosis) of nutriment to the liver from the food-canal viâ the mesenteric veins may have its direction reversed. Continuous give-and-take between different parts of the body; superior strength of certain parts is natural, of others acquired. When liver contains abundant food and stomach depleted, latter may draw on former; this occurs when animal can get nothing to eat, and so prevents starvation. Similarly, when one part becomes over-distended, it tends to deposit its excess in some weaker part near it; this passes it on to some still weaker part, which cannot get rid of it; hence deposits of various kinds. Further instances of reversal of the normal direction of anadosis from the food canal through the veins. Such reversal of functions would in any case be expected a priori. In the vomiting of intestinal obstruction, matter may be carried backwards all the way from the intestine to the mouth; not surprising, therefore, that, under certain circumstances, food-material might be driven right back from the skin-surface to the alimentary canal (e.g. in excessive chilling of surface); not much needed to determine this reversal of direction. Action of purgative drugs upon terminals of veins; one part draws from another until whole body participates; similarly in intestinal obstruction, each part passes on the irritating substance to its weaker Pg liv neighbour. Reversal of direction of flow occurs not merely on occasion but also constantly (as in arteries, lungs, heart, etc.). The various stages of normal nutrition described. Why the stomach sometimes draws back the nutriment it had passed on to portal veins and liver. A similar ebb and flow in relation to the spleen. Comparison of the parts of the body to a lot of animals at a feast. The valves of the heart are a provision of Nature to prevent this otherwise inevitable regurgitation, though even they are not quite efficient.
The superficial arteries, when they dilate, draw in air from the atmosphere, and the deeper ones a fine, vaporous blood from the veins and heart. Lighter matter such as air will always be drawn in preference to heavier; this is why the arteries in the food-canal draw in practically none of the nutrient matter contained in it.
The two kinds of attraction—the mechanical
attraction of dilating bellows and the “physical” (vital)
attraction by living tissue of nutrient matter which is
specifically allied or appropriate to it. The former
kind—that resulting from horror vacui—acts
primarily on light matter, whereas vital attraction has no
essential concern with such mechanical factors. A hollow organ
exercises, by virtue of its cavity, the former kind of attraction,
and by virtue of the living tissue of its walls, the second kind.
Application of this to question of contents of arteries;
anastomoses of arteries and veins. Foramina in
interventricular septum of heart, allowing some blood to pass
from right to left ventricle. Large size of aorta probably due to
fact that it not merely carries the pneuma received from the lungs,
but also some of the blood which percolates through septum from
right ventricle. Thus arteries carry not merely pneuma, but also
some light vaporous blood, which certain parts need more Pg lv
than the ordinary thick blood of the veins. The organic parts must
have their blood-supply sufficiently near to allow them to absorb
it; comparison with an irrigation system in a garden. Details of
the process of nutrition in the ultimate specific tissues; some are
nourished from the blood directly; in others a series of
intermediate stages must precede complete assimilation; for
example, marrow is an intermediate stage between blood and
bone.
From the generalisations arrived at in the present work we can
deduce the explanation of all kinds of particular phenomena; an
instance is given, showing the co-operation of various factors
previously discussed.
Since feeling and voluntary motion are peculiar to animals, whilst growth and nutrition are common to plants as well, we may look on the former as effects6 of the soul7 and the latter as effects of the nature.8 And if there be anyone who allows a share in soul to plants as well, and separates the two kinds of soul, naming the kind in question vegetative, and the other sensory, this person is not saying anything else, although his language is somewhat unusual. We, however, for our part, are convinced that the chief merit of language is clearness, and we know that nothing detracts so much from this as do unfamiliar terms; accordingly we employ those terms which the bulk of people are accustomed to use, and we say that animals are governed at once by their soul and by their nature, and plants by their nature alone, and that growth and nutrition are the effects of nature, not of soul.
Thus we shall enquire, in the course of this treatise, from what faculties these effects themselves, as well as any other effects of nature which there may be, take their origin.
First, however, we must distinguish and explain clearly the various terms which we are going to use in this treatise, and to what things we apply them; and this will prove to be not merely an explanation of terms but at the same time a demonstration of the effects of nature.
When, therefore, such and such a body undergoes no change from
its existing state, we say that it is at rest; but, if it
departs from this in any respect we then say that in this respect
it undergoes motion.9
Accordingly, when it departs in various ways from its pre-existing
state, it will be said to undergo various kinds of motion. Thus, if
that which is white becomes black, or what is black becomes white,
it undergoes motion in respect to colour; or if what was
previously sweet now becomes bitter, or, conversely, from being
bitter now becomes sweet, it will be said to undergo motion in
respect to flavour; to both of these instances, as well as
to those previously mentioned, we shall apply the term
qualitative motion. And further, it is not only things which
are altered in regard to colour and flavour which, we say, undergo
motion; when a warm thing becomes cold, and a cold warm, here, too
we speak Pg
7
Greek text of its undergoing motion;
similarly also when anything moist becomes dry, or dry moist. Now,
the common term which we apply to all these cases is
alteration.
This is one kind of motion. But there is another kind which occurs in bodies which change their position, or as we say, pass from one place to another; the name of this is transference.10
These two kinds of motion, then, are simple and primary, while compounded from them we have growth and decay,11 as when a small thing becomes bigger, or a big thing smaller, each retaining at the same time its particular form. And two other kinds of motion are genesis and destruction,12 genesis being a coming into existence,13 and destruction being the opposite.
Now, common to all kinds of motion is change from the
pre-existing state, while common to all conditions of rest is
retention of the pre-existing state. The Sophists, however,
while allowing that bread in turning into blood becomes changed as
regards sight, taste, and touch, will not agree that this change
occurs in reality. Thus some of them hold that all such phenomena
are tricks and illusions of our senses; the senses, they say, are
affected now in one way, now in another, whereas the underlying
substance does not admit of any of these changes to which the names
are given. Others (such as Anaxagoras)14 will have it that the qualities do exist in it,
but that they Pg 9
Greek text are unchangeable and
immutable from eternity to eternity, and that these apparent
alterations are brought about by separation and
combination.
Now, if I were to go out of my way to confute these people, my subsidiary task would be greater than my main one. Thus, if they do not know all that has been written, “On Complete Alteration of Substance”15 by Aristotle, and after him by Chrysippus,16 I must beg of them to make themselves familiar with these men’s writings. If, however, they know these, and yet willingly prefer the worse views to the better, they will doubtless consider my arguments foolish also. I have shown elsewhere that these opinions were shared by Hippocrates, who lived much earlier than Aristotle. In fact, of all those known to us who have been both physicians and philosophers Hippocrates was the first who took in hand to demonstrate that there are, in all, four mutually interacting qualities, and that to the operation of these is due the genesis and destruction of all things that come into and pass out of being. Nay, more; Hippocrates was also the first to recognise that all these qualities undergo an intimate mingling with one another; and at least the beginnings of the proofs to which Aristotle later set his hand are to be found first in the writings of Hippocrates.
As to whether we are to suppose that the substances as
well as their qualities undergo this intimate mingling, as
Zeno of Citium afterwards declared, I do not think it necessary to
go further into this question in the present treatise;17 for immediate purposes we only Pg 11
Greek text need to recognize the
complete alteration of substance. In this way, nobody will
suppose that bread represents a kind of meeting-place18 for bone, flesh, nerve, and all the other
parts, and that each of these subsequently becomes separated in the
body and goes to join its own kind;19 before any separation takes place, the whole of
the bread obviously becomes blood; (at any rate, if a man takes no
other food for a prolonged period, he will have blood enclosed in
his veins all the same).20 And clearly this disproves the view of those who
consider the elements21 unchangeable, as also, for that matter, does the
oil which is entirely used up in the flame of the lamp, or the
faggots which, in a somewhat longer time, turn into fire.
I said, however, that I was not going to enter into an argument with these people, and it was only because the example was drawn from the subject-matter of medicine, and because I need it for the present treatise, that I have mentioned it. We shall then, as I said, renounce our controversy with them, since those who wish may get a good grasp of the views of the ancients from our own personal investigations into these matters.
The discussion which follows we shall devote entirely, as we
originally proposed, to an enquiry into the number and character of
the faculties of Nature, and what is the effect which each
naturally Pg
13
Greek text produces. Now, of course,
I mean by an effect22 that which has already come into existence and
has been completed by the activity23 of these faculties—for example, blood,
flesh, or nerve. And activity is the name I give to the
active change or motion, and the cause of this I call
a faculty. Thus, when food turns into blood, the motion of
the food is passive, and that of the vein active. Similarly, when
the limbs have their position altered, it is the muscle which
produces, and the bones which undergo the motion. In these cases I
call the motion of the vein and of the muscle an activity,
and that of the food and the bones a symptom or
affection,24 since the first group undergoes alteration
and the second group is merely transported. One might,
therefore, also speak of the activity as an effect of
Nature25—for example,
digestion, absorption,26 blood-production; one could not, however, in
every case call the effect an activity; thus flesh is an effect of
Nature, but it is, of course, not an activity. It is, therefore,
clear that one of these terms is used in two senses, but not the
other.
It appears to me, then, that the vein, as well as each of the
other parts, functions in such and such a way according to the
manner in which the four qualities Pg 15
Greek text27 are mixed. There are, however, a considerable number
of not undistinguished men—philosophers and
physicians—who refer action to the Warm and the Cold, and who
subordinate to these, as passive, the Dry and the Moist; Aristotle,
in fact, was the first who attempted to bring back the causes of
the various special activities to these principles, and he was
followed later by the Stoic school. These latter, of course, could
logically make active principles of the Warm and Cold, since they
refer the change of the elements themselves into one another to
certain diffusions and condensations.28 This does not hold of Aristotle, however;
seeing that he employed the four qualities to explain the genesis
of the elements, he ought properly to have also referred the causes
of all the special activities to these. How is it that he uses the
four qualities in his book “On Genesis and Destruction,” whilst in
his “Meteorology,” his “Problems,” and many other works he uses the
two only? Of course, if anyone were to maintain that in the case of
animals and plants the Warm and Cold are more active, the
Dry and Moist less so, he might perhaps have even
Hippocrates on his side; but if he were to say that this happens in
all cases, he would, I imagine, lack support, not merely from
Hippocrates, but even from Aristotle himself—if, at least,
Aristotle chose to remember what he himself taught us in his work
“On Genesis and Destruction,” not as a matter of simple statement,
but with an accompanying demonstration. I have, however, also
investigated these questions, in so far as they are of value to a
physician, in my work “On Temperaments.”
The so-called blood-making29 faculty in the veins, then, as well as all the other faculties, fall within the category of relative concepts; primarily because the faculty is the cause of the activity, but also, accidentally, because it is the cause of the effect. But if the cause is relative to something—for it is the cause of what results from it, and of nothing else—it is obvious that the faculty also falls into the category of the relative; and so long as we are ignorant of the true essence of the cause which is operating, we call it a faculty. Thus we say that there exists in the veins a blood-making faculty, as also a digestive30 faculty in the stomach, a pulsatile31 faculty in the heart, and in each of the other parts a special faculty corresponding to the function or activity of that part. If, therefore, we are to investigate methodically the number and kinds of faculties, we must begin with the effects; for each of these effects comes from a certain activity, and each of these again is preceded by a cause.
The effects of Nature, then, while the animal is still being formed in the womb, are all the different parts of its body; and after it has been born, an effect in which all parts share is the progress of each to its full size, and thereafter its maintenance of itself as long as possible.
The activities corresponding to the three effects mentioned are
necessarily three—one to eachPg 19
Greek text—namely, Genesis,
Growth, and Nutrition. Genesis, however, is not a simple activity
of Nature, but is compounded of alteration and of
shaping.32 That is to say, in
order that bone, nerve, veins, and all other [tissues] may come
into existence, the underlying substance from which the
animal springs must be altered; and in order that the
substance so altered may acquire its appropriate shape and
position, its cavities, outgrowths, attachments, and so forth, it
has to undergo a shaping or formative process.33 One would be justified in
calling this substance which undergoes alteration the
material of the animal, just as wood is the material of a
ship, and wax of an image.
Growth is an increase and expansion in length, breadth, and thickness of the solid parts of the animal (those which have been subjected to the moulding or shaping process). Nutrition is an addition to these, without expansion.
Let us speak then, in the first place, of Genesis, which, as we have said, results from alteration together with shaping.
The seed having been cast into the womb or into the earth (for
there is no difference),34 then, after a certain definite period, a great
number of parts become constituted in the substance which is being
generated; these differ as regards moisture, dryness, coldness and
warmth,35 and in all the other
qualities Pg
21
Greek text which naturally derive
therefrom.36 These derivative
qualities, you are acquainted with, if you have given any sort of
scientific consideration to the question of genesis and
destruction. For, first and foremost after the qualities mentioned
come the other so-called tangible distinctions, and after
them those which appeal to taste, smell, and sight. Now, tangible
distinctions are hardness and softness, viscosity, friability,
lightness, heaviness, density, rarity, smoothness, roughness,
thickness and thinness; all of these have been duly mentioned by
Aristotle.37 And of course you know
those which appeal to taste, smell, and sight. Therefore, if you
wish to know which alterative faculties are primary and elementary,
they are moisture, dryness, coldness, and warmth, and if you wish
to know which ones arise from the combination of these, they will
be found to be in each animal of a number corresponding to its
sensible elements. The name sensible elements is
given to all the homogeneous38 parts of the body, and these are to be detected
not by any system, but by personal observation of dissections.39
Now Nature constructs bone, cartilage, nerve, membrane,
ligament, vein, and so forth, at the first stage of the animal’s
genesis,40 employing at this task a
faculty which is, in general terms, generative and alterative, and,
in more detail, warming, chilling, drying, or moistening; or such
as spring from the Pg 23
Greek text blending of these, for
example, the bone-producing, nerve-producing, and
cartilage-producing faculties41 (since for the sake of clearness these names must
be used as well).
Now the peculiar42 flesh of the liver is of this kind as well, also
that of the spleen, that of the kidneys, that of the lungs, and
that of the heart; so also the proper substance of the brain,
stomach, gullet, intestines, and uterus is a sensible
element, of similar parts all through, simple, and
uncompounded. That is to say, if you remove from each of the organs
mentioned its arteries, veins, and nerves,43 the substance remaining in each organ is, from
the point of view of the senses, simple and elementary. As regards
those organs consisting of two dissimilar coats,44 of which each is simple, of these organs
the coats are the elements—for example, the coats of the
stomach, oesophagus, intestines, and arteries; each of these two
coats has an alterative faculty peculiar to it, which has
engendered it from the menstrual blood of the mother. Thus the
special alterative faculties in each animal are of the same
number as the elementary parts45; and further, the activities must
necessarily correspond each to one of the special parts, just as
each part has its special use—for example, those ducts
which extend from the kidneys into the bladder, and which are
called ureters; for these are not arteries, since they do
not pulsate nor do they consist of two coats; and they Pg 25
Greek text are not veins, since they
neither contain blood, nor do their coats in any way resemble those
of veins; from nerves they differ still more than from the
structures mentioned.
“What, then, are they?” someone asks—as though every part must necessarily be either an artery, a vein, a nerve, or a complex of these,46 and as though the truth were not what I am now stating, namely, that every one of the various organs has its own particular substance. For in fact the two bladders—that which receives the urine, and that which receives the yellow bile—not only differ from all other organs, but also from one another. Further, the ducts which spring out like kinds of conduits from the gall-bladder and which pass into the liver have no resemblance either to arteries, veins or nerves. But these parts have been treated at a greater length in my work “On the Anatomy of Hippocrates,” as well as elsewhere.
As for the actual substance of the coats of the stomach,
intestine, and uterus, each of these has been rendered what it is
by a special alterative faculty of Nature; while the bringing of
these together,47 the combination
therewith of the structures which are inserted into them, the
outgrowth into the intestine,48 the shape of the inner cavities, and the like,
have all been determined by a faculty which we call the shaping or
formative faculty49; this faculty we also state to be
artistic—nay, the best and highest art—doing
everything for some purpose, so that Pg 27
Greek text there is nothing
ineffective or superfluous, or capable of being better disposed.
This, however, I shall demonstrate in my work “On the Use of
Parts.”
Passing now to the faculty of Growth50 let us first mention that this, too, is present in the foetus in utero as is also the nutritive faculty, but that at that stage these two faculties are, as it were, handmaids to those already mentioned,51 and do not possess in themselves supreme authority. When, however, the animal52 has attained its complete size, then, during the whole period following its birth and until the acme is reached, the faculty of growth is predominant, while the alterative and nutritive faculties are accessory—in fact, act as its handmaids. What, then, is the property of this faculty of growth? To extend in every direction that which has already come into existence—that is to say, the solid parts of the body, the arteries, veins, nerves, bones, cartilages, membranes, ligaments, and the various coats which we have just called elementary, homogeneous, and simple. And I shall state in what way they gain this extension in every direction, first giving an illustration for the sake of clearness.
Children take the bladders of pigs, fill them with air, and then
rub them on ashes near the fire, so as to warm, but not to injure
them. This is a common Pg 29
Greek text game in the district of
Ionia, and among not a few other nations. As they rub, they sing
songs, to a certain measure, time, and rhythm, and all their words
are an exhortation to the bladder to increase in size. When it
appears to them fairly well distended, they again blow air into it
and expand it further; then they rub it again. This they do several
times, until the bladder seems to them to have become large enough.
Now, clearly, in these doings of the children, the more the
interior cavity of the bladder increases in size, the thinner,
necessarily, does its substance become. But, if the children were
able to bring nourishment to this thin part, then they would make
the bladder big in the same way that Nature does. As it is,
however, they cannot do what Nature does, for to imitate this is
beyond the power not only of children, but of any one soever; it is
a property of Nature alone.
It will now, therefore, be clear to you that nutrition is a necessity for growing things. For if such bodies were distended, but not at the same time nourished, they would take on a false appearance of growth, not a true growth. And further, to be distended in all directions belongs only to bodies whose growth is directed by Nature; for those which are distended by us undergo this distension in one direction but grow less in the others; it is impossible to find a body which will remain entire and not be torn through whilst we stretch it in the three dimensions. Thus Nature alone has the power to expand a body in all directions so that it remains unruptured and preserves completely its previous form.
Pg
31
Greek text Such then is
growth, and it cannot occur without the nutriment which
flows to the part and is worked up into it.
We have, then, it seems, arrived at the subject of Nutrition, which is the third and remaining consideration which we proposed at the outset. For, when the matter which flows to each part of the body in the form of nutriment is being worked up into it, this activity is nutrition, and its cause is the nutritive faculty. Of course, the kind of activity here involved is also an alteration, but not an alteration like that occurring at the stage of genesis.53 For in the latter case something comes into existence which did not exist previously, while in nutrition the inflowing material becomes assimilated to that which has already come into existence. Therefore, the former kind of alteration has with reason been termed genesis, and the latter, assimilation.
Now, since the three faculties of Nature have been exhaustively
dealt with, and the animal would appear not to need any others
(being possessed of the means for growing, for attaining
completion, and for maintaining itself as long a time as possible),
this treatise might seem to be already complete, and to constitute
an exposition of all the faculties of Nature. If, however, one
considers that it has not Pg 33
Greek text yet touched upon any of
the parts of the animal (I mean the stomach, intestines,
liver, and the like), and that it has not dealt with the faculties
resident in these, it will seem as though merely a kind of
introduction had been given to the practical parts of our teaching.
For the whole matter is as follows: Genesis, growth, and nutrition
are the first, and, so to say, the principal effects of Nature;
similarly also the faculties which produce these effects—the
first faculties—are three in number, and are the most
dominating of all. But as has already been shown, these need the
service both of each other, and of yet different faculties. Now,
these which the faculties of generation and growth require have
been stated. I shall now say what ones the nutritive faculty
requires.
For I believe that I shall prove that the organs which have to
do with the disposal54 of the nutriment, as also their faculties, exist
for the sake of this nutritive faculty. For since the action
of this faculty55 is
assimilation, and it is impossible for anything to be
assimilated by, and to change into anything else unless they
already possess a certain community and affinity in their
qualities,56 therefore, in the first
place, any animal cannot naturally derive nourishment from any kind
of food, and secondly, even in the case of those from which it can
do so, it cannot do this at once. Therefore, by reason of Pg 35
Greek text this law,57 every animal needs several organs for
altering the nutriment. For in order that the yellow may
become red, and the red yellow, one simple process of alteration is
required, but in order that the white may become black, and the
black white, all the intermediate stages are needed.58 So also, a thing which is very soft cannot
all at once become very hard, nor vice versa; nor, similarly
can anything which has a very bad smell suddenly become quite
fragrant, nor again, can the converse happen.
How, then, could blood ever turn into bone, without having first become, as far as possible, thickened and white? And how could bread turn into blood without having gradually parted with its whiteness and gradually acquired redness? Thus it is quite easy for blood to become flesh; for, if Nature thicken it to such an extent that it acquires a certain consistency and ceases to be fluid, it thus becomes original newly-formed flesh; but in order that blood may turn into bone, much time is needed and much elaboration and transformation of the blood. Further, it is quite clear that bread, and, more particularly lettuce, beet, and the like, require a great deal of alteration in order to become blood.
This, then, is one reason why there are so many organs concerned
in the alteration of food. A second reason is the nature of the
superfluities.59 For, as we are unable to draw any nourishment
from grass, although this is possible for cattle, similarly we can
derive nourishment from radishes, albeit not Pg 37
Greek text to the same extent as from
meat; for almost the whole of the latter is mastered by our
natures60; it is transformed and
altered and constituted useful blood; but, in the radish, what is
appropriate61 and able of being
altered (and that only with difficulty, and with much labour) is
the very smallest part; almost the whole of it is surplus matter,
and passes through the digestive organs, only a very little being
taken up into the veins as blood—nor is this itself entirely
utilisable blood. Nature, therefore had need of a second process of
separation for the superfluities in the veins. Moreover, these
superfluities need, on the one hand, certain fresh routes to
conduct them to the outlets, so that they may not spoil the useful
substances, and they also need certain reservoirs, as it
were, in which they are collected till they reach a sufficient
quantity, and are then discharged.
Thus, then, you have discovered bodily parts of a second kind, consecrated in this case to the [removal of the] superfluities of the food. There is, however, also a third kind, for carrying the pabulum in every direction; these are like a number of roads intersecting the whole body.
Thus there is one entrance—that through the
mouth—for all the various articles of food. What receives
nourishment, however, is not one single part, but a great many
parts, and these widely separated; do not be surprised, therefore,
at the abundance of organs which Nature has created for the purpose
of nutrition. For those of them which have to do with Pg 39
Greek text alteration prepare the
nutriment suitable for each part; others separate out the
superfluities; some pass these along, others store them up, others
excrete them; some, again, are paths for the transit62 in all directions of the utilisable
juices. So, if you wish to gain a thorough acquaintance with all
the faculties of Nature,63 you will have to consider each one of these
organs.
Now in giving an account of these we must begin with those effects of Nature, together with their corresponding parts and faculties, which are closely connected with the purpose to be achieved.64
Let us once more, then, recall the actual purpose for which Nature has constructed all these parts. Its name, as previously stated, is nutrition, and the definition corresponding to the name is: an assimilation of that which nourishes to that which receives nourishments.65 And in order that this may come about, we must assume a preliminary process of adhesion,66 and for that, again, one of presentation.67 For whenever the juice which is destined to nourish any of the parts of the animal is emitted from the vessels, it is in the first place dispersed all through this part, next it is presented, and next it adheres, and becomes completely assimilated.
Pg
41
Greek text The so-called white
[leprosy] shows the difference between assimilation and adhesion,
in the same way that the kind of dropsy which some people call
anasarca clearly distinguishes presentation from adhesion.
For, of course, the genesis of such a dropsy does not come about as
do some of the conditions of atrophy and wasting,68 from an insufficient supply of moisture;
the flesh is obviously moist enough,—in fact it is thoroughly
saturated,—and each of the solid parts of the body is in a
similar condition. While, however, the nutriment conveyed to the
part does undergo presentation, it is still too watery, and is not
properly transformed into a juice,69 nor has it acquired that viscous and
agglutinative quality which results from the operation of innate
heat;70 therefore, adhesion
cannot come about, since, owing to this abundance of thin, crude
liquid, the pabulum runs off and easily slips away from the solid
parts of the body. In white [leprosy], again, there is adhesion of
the nutriment but no real assimilation. From this it is clear that
what I have just said is correct, namely, that in that part which
is to be nourished there must first occur presentation, next
adhesion, and finally assimilation proper.
Strictly speaking, then, nutriment is that which is
actually nourishing, while the quasi-nutriment which is not
yet nourishing (e.g. matter which is undergoing adhesion or
presentation) is not, strictly speaking, nutriment, but is so
called only by an equivocation. Pg 43
Greek text Also, that which is still
contained in the veins, and still more, that which is in the
stomach, from the fact that it is destined to nourish if properly
elaborated, has been called “nutriment.” Similarly we call the
various kinds of food “nutriment,” not because they are already
nourishing the animal, nor because they exist in the same state as
the material which actually is nourishing it, but because they are
able and destined to nourish it if they be properly elaborated.
This was also what Hippocrates said, viz., “Nutriment is what is engaged in nourishing, as also is quasi-nutriment, and what is destined to be nutriment.” For to that which is already being assimilated he gave the name of nutriment; to the similar material which is being presented or becoming adherent, the name of quasi-nutriment; and to everything else—that is, contained in the stomach and veins—the name of destined nutriment.
It is quite clear, therefore, that nutrition must necessarily be a process of assimilation of that which is nourishing to that which is being nourished. Some, however, say that this assimilation does not occur in reality, but is merely apparent; these are the people who think that Nature is not artistic, that she does not show forethought for the animal’s welfare, and that she has absolutely no native powers whereby she alters some substances, attracts others, and discharges others.
Now, speaking generally, there have arisen the following two
sects in medicine and philosophy Pg 45
Greek text among those who have made
any definite pronouncement regarding Nature. I speak, of course, of
such of them as know what they are talking about, and who realize
the logical sequence of their hypotheses, and stand by them; as for
those who cannot understand even this, but who simply talk any
nonsense that comes to their tongues, and who do not remain
definitely attached either to one sect or the other—such
people are not even worth mentioning.
What, then, are these sects, and what are the logical consequences of their hypotheses?71 The one class supposes that all substance which is subject to genesis and destruction is at once continuous72 and susceptible of alteration. The other school assumes substance to be unchangeable, unalterable, and sub-divided into fine particles, which are separated from one another by empty spaces.
All people, therefore, who can appreciate the logical sequence
of an hypothesis hold that, according to the second teaching, there
does not exist any substance or faculty peculiar either to Nature
or to Soul,73 but that these
result from the way in which the primary corpuscles,74 which are unaffected by change, come
together. According to the first-mentioned teaching, on the other
hand, Nature is not posterior to the corpuscles, but is a long way
prior to them and older than they; and therefore in their view it
is Nature which puts together the bodies both of plants and
animals; and this she does by virtue of certain faculties which she
possesses—these being, on the one hand, attractive and
assimilative of what is appropriate, and, on the other, expulsive
of Pg
47
Greek text what is foreign. Further,
she skilfully moulds everything during the stage of genesis; and
she also provides for the creatures after birth, employing here
other faculties again, namely, one of affection and forethought for
offspring, and one of sociability and friendship for kindred.
According to the other school, none of these things exist in the
natures75 [of living things], nor
is there in the soul any original innate idea, whether of agreement
or difference, of separation or synthesis, of justice or injustice,
of the beautiful or ugly; all such things, they say, arise in us
from sensation and through sensation, and animals are
steered by certain images and memories.
Some of these people have even expressly declared that the soul
possesses no reasoning faculty, but that we are led like cattle by
the impression of our senses, and are unable to refuse or dissent
from anything. In their view, obviously, courage, wisdom,
temperance, and self-control are all mere nonsense, we do not love
either each other or our offspring, nor do the gods care anything
for us. This school also despises dreams, birds, omens, and the
whole of astrology, subjects with which we have dealt at greater
length in another work,76 in which we discuss the views of Asclepiades the
physician.77 Those who wish to do so
may familiarize themselves with these arguments, and they may also
consider at this point which of the two roads lying before us is
the better one to take. Hippocrates took the first-mentioned.
According to this teaching, substance is one and is subject to
alteration; there is a consensus in the movements Pg 49
Greek text of air and fluid
throughout the whole body;78 Nature acts throughout in an artistic and
equitable manner, having certain faculties, by virtue of which each
part of the body draws to itself the juice which is proper to it,
and, having done so, attaches it to every portion of itself, and
completely assimilates it; while such part of the juice as has not
been mastered,79 and is not capable
of undergoing complete alteration and being assimilated to the part
which is being nourished, is got rid of by yet another (an
expulsive) faculty.
Now the extent of exactitude and truth in the doctrines of
Hippocrates may be gauged, not merely from the way in which his
opponents are at variance with obvious facts, but also from the
various subjects of natural research themselves—the functions
of animals, and the rest. For those people who do not believe that
there exists in any part of the animal a faculty for attracting
its own special quality80 are compelled repeatedly to deny obvious facts.81 For instance,
Asclepiades, the physician,82 did this in the case of the kidneys. That these
are organs for secreting [separating out] the urine, was the belief
not only of Hippocrates, Diocles, Pg 51
Greek text Erasistratus,
Praxagoras,83 and all other
physicians of eminence, but practically every butcher is aware of
this, from the fact that he daily observes both the position of the
kidneys and the duct (termed the ureter) which runs from each
kidney into the bladder, and from this arrangement he infers their
characteristic use and faculty. But, even leaving the butchers
aside, all people who suffer either from frequent dysuria or from
retention of urine call themselves “nephritics,”84 when they feel pain in the loins and pass
sandy matter in their water.
I do not suppose that Asclepiades ever saw a stone which had
been passed by one of these sufferers, or observed that this was
preceded by a sharp pain in the region between kidneys and bladder
as the stone traversed the ureter, or that, when the stone was
passed, both the pain and the retention at once ceased. It is worth
while, then, learning how his theory accounts for the presence of
urine in the bladder, and one is forced to marvel at the ingenuity
of a man who puts aside these broad, clearly visible routes,85 and postulates others
which are narrow, invisible—indeed, entirely imperceptible.
His view, in fact, is that the fluid which we drink passes into the
bladder by being resolved into vapours, and that, when these have
been again condensed, it thus regains its previous form, and turns
from vapour into fluid. He simply looks upon the bladder as a
sponge or a piece of wool, and not as the perfectly compact and
impervious body that it is, with two very Pg 53
Greek text strong coats. For if we
say that the vapours pass through these coats, why should they not
pass through the peritoneum86 and the diaphragm, thus filling the whole
abdominal cavity and thorax with water? “But,” says he, “of course
the peritoneal coat is more impervious than the bladder, and this
is why it keeps out the vapours, while the bladder admits them.”
Yet if he had ever practised anatomy, he might have known that the
outer coat of the bladder springs from the peritoneum and is
essentially the same as it, and that the inner coat, which is
peculiar to the bladder, is more than twice as thick as the
former.
Perhaps, however, it is not the thickness or thinness of the coats, but the situation of the bladder, which is the reason for the vapours being carried into it? On the contrary, even if it were probable for every other reason that the vapours accumulate there, yet the situation of the bladder would be enough in itself to prevent this. For the bladder is situated below, whereas vapours have a natural tendency to rise upwards; thus they would fill all the region of the thorax and lungs long before they came to the bladder.
But why do I mention the situation of the bladder, peritoneum,
and thorax? For surely, when the vapours have passed through the
coats of the stomach and intestines, it is in the space between
these and the peritoneum87 that they will collect and become liquefied (just
as in dropsical subjects it is in this region that most of the
water gathers).88 Otherwise the
vapours must necessarily pass straight forward Pg 55
Greek text through everything which
in any way comes in contact with them, and will never come to a
standstill. But, if this be assumed, then they will traverse not
merely the peritoneum but also the epigastrium, and will become
dispersed into the surrounding air; otherwise they will certainly
collect under the skin.
Even these considerations, however, our present-day Asclepiadeans attempt to answer, despite the fact that they always get soundly laughed at by all who happen to be present at their disputations on these subjects—so difficult an evil to get rid of is this sectarian partizanship, so excessively resistant to all cleansing processes, harder to heal than any itch!
Thus, one of our Sophists who is a thoroughly hardened disputer
and as skilful a master of language as there ever was, once got
into a discussion with me on this subject; so far from being put
out of countenance by any of the above-mentioned considerations, he
even expressed his surprise that I should try to overturn obvious
facts by ridiculous arguments! “For,” said he, “one may clearly
observe any day in the case of any bladder, that, if one fills it
with water or air and then ties up its neck and squeezes it all
round, it does not let anything out at any point, but accurately
retains all its contents. And surely,” said he, “if there were any
large and perceptible channels coming into it from the kidneys the
liquid would run out through these when the bladder was squeezed,
in the same way that it entered?”89 Having abruptly made these and Pg 57
Greek text similar remarks in precise
and clear tones, he concluded by jumping up and
departing—leaving me as though I were quite incapable of
finding any plausible answer!
The fact is that those who are enslaved to their sects are not
merely devoid of all sound knowledge, but they will not even stop
to learn! Instead of listening, as they ought, to the reason why
liquid can enter the bladder through the ureters, but is unable to
go back again the same way,—instead of admiring Nature’s
artistic skill90—they refuse to
learn; they even go so far as to scoff, and maintain that the
kidneys, as well as many other things, have been made by Nature
for no purpose!91 And some of them who had allowed themselves to be
shown the ureters coming from the kidneys and becoming implanted in
the bladder, even had the audacity to say that these also existed
for no purpose; and others said that they were spermatic ducts, and
that this was why they were inserted into the neck of the bladder
and not into its cavity. When, therefore, we had demonstrated to
them the real spermatic ducts92 entering the neck of the bladder lower down than
the ureters, we supposed that, if we had not done so before, we
would now at least draw them away from their false assumptions, and
convert them forthwith to the opposite view. But even this they
presumed to dispute, and said that it was not to be wondered at
that the semen should remain longer in these latter ducts, these
being more constricted, and that it should flow quickly down the
ducts which came from the kidneys, seeing that these were Pg 59
Greek text well dilated. We were,
therefore, further compelled to show them in a still living animal,
the urine plainly running out through the ureters into the bladder;
even thus we hardly hoped to check their nonsensical talk.
Now the method of demonstration is as follows. One has to divide the peritoneum in front of the ureters, then secure these with ligatures, and next, having bandaged up the animal, let him go (for he will not continue to urinate). After this one loosens the external bandages and shows the bladder empty and the ureters quite full and distended—in fact almost on the point of rupturing; on removing the ligature from them, one then plainly sees the bladder becoming filled with urine.
When this has been made quite clear, then, before the animal
urinates, one has to tie a ligature round his penis and then to
squeeze the bladder all over; still nothing goes back through the
ureters to the kidneys. Here, then, it becomes obvious that not
only in a dead animal, but in one which is still living, the
ureters are prevented from receiving back the urine from the
bladder. These observations having been made, one now loosens the
ligature from the animal’s penis and allows him to urinate, then
again ligatures one of the ureters and leaves the other to
discharge into the bladder. Allowing, then, some time to elapse,
one now demonstrates that the ureter which was ligatured is
obviously full and distended on the side next to the kidneys, while
the other one—that from which the ligature had been
taken—is itself flaccid, but has filled the bladder with
urine. Then, again, one must divide the full ureter, and
demonstrate how Pg 61
Greek text the urine spurts out of
it, like blood in the operation of venesection; and after this one
cuts through the other also, and both being thus divided, one
bandages up the animal externally. Then when enough time seems to
have elapsed, one takes off the bandages; the bladder will now be
found empty, and the whole region between the intestines and the
peritoneum full of urine, as if the animal were suffering from
dropsy. Now, if anyone will but test this for himself on an animal,
I think he will strongly condemn the rashness of Asclepiades, and
if he also learns the reason why nothing regurgitates from the
bladder into the ureters, I think he will be persuaded by this also
of the forethought and art shown by Nature in relation to
animals.93
Now Hippocrates, who was the first known to us of all those who
have been both physicians and philosophers inasmuch as he was the
first to recognize what Nature effects, expresses his admiration of
her, and is constantly singing her praises and calling her “just.”
Alone, he says, she suffices for the animal in every respect,
performing of her own accord and without any teaching all that is
required. Being such, she has, as he supposes, certain
faculties, one attractive of what is appropriate,94 and another eliminative of what is foreign,
and she nourishes the animal, makes it grow, and expels its
diseases by crisis.95 Therefore he says that there is in our bodies a
concordance in the movements of air and fluid, and that everything
is in sympathy. According to Asclepiades, however, nothing is Pg 63
Greek text naturally in sympathy with
anything else, all substance being divided and broken up into
inharmonious elements and absurd “molecules.” Necessarily, then,
besides making countless other statements in opposition to plain
fact, he was ignorant of Nature’s faculties, both that attracting
what is appropriate, and that expelling what is foreign. Thus he
invented some wretched nonsense to explain blood-production and
anadosis,96 and, being utterly
unable to find anything to say regarding the clearing-out97 of superfluities, he did not hesitate to
join issue with obvious facts, and, in this matter of urinary
secretion, to deprive both the kidneys and the ureters of their
activity, by assuming that there were certain invisible channels
opening into the bladder. It was, of course, a grand and impressive
thing to do, to mistrust the obvious, and to pin one’s faith in
things which could not be seen!
Also, in the matter of the yellow bile, he makes an even grander and more spirited venture; for he says this is actually generated in the bile-ducts, not merely separated out.
How comes it, then, that in cases of jaundice two things happen at the same time—that the dejections contain absolutely no bile, and that the whole body becomes full of it? He is forced here again to talk nonsense, just as he did in regard to the urine. He also talks no less nonsense about the black bile and the spleen, not understanding what was said by Hippocrates; and he attempts in stupid—I might say insane—language, to contradict what he knows nothing about.
Pg
65
Greek text And what profit did he
derive from these opinions from the point of view of treatment? He
neither was able to cure a kidney ailment, nor jaundice, nor a
disease of black bile, nor would he agree with the view held not
merely by Hippocrates but by all men regarding drugs—that
some of them purge away yellow bile, and others black, some again
phlegm, and others the thin and watery superfluity98; he held that all the substances
evacuated99 were produced by the
drugs themselves, just as yellow bile is produced by the
biliary passages! It matters nothing, according to this
extraordinary man, whether we give a hydragogue or a cholagogue in
a case of dropsy, for these all equally purge99 and dissolve the body,
and produce a solution having such and such an appearance, which
did not exist as such before!100
Must we not, therefore, suppose he was either mad, or entirely unacquainted with practical medicine? For who does not know that if a drug for attracting phlegm be given in a case of jaundice it will not even evacuate four cyathi101 of phlegm? Similarly also if one of the hydragogues be given. A cholagogue, on the other hand, clears away a great quantity of bile, and the skin of patients so treated at once becomes clear. I myself have, in many cases, after treating the liver condition, then removed the disease by means of a single purgation; whereas, if one had employed a drug for removing phlegm one would have done no good.
Pg
67
Greek text Nor is Hippocrates the
only one who knows this to be so, whilst those who take experience
alone as their starting-point102 know otherwise; they, as well as all physicians
who are engaged in the practice of medicine, are of this opinion.
Asclepiades, however is an exception; he would hold it a betrayal
of his assumed “elements”103 to confess the truth about such matters. For if
a single drug were to be discovered which attracted such and such a
humour only, there would obviously be danger of the opinion gaining
ground that there is in every body104 a faculty which attracts its own particular
quality. He therefore says that safflower,105 the Cnidian berry,106 and
Hippophaes,107 do not draw phlegm from the body, but actually
make it. Moreover, he holds that the flower and scales of bronze,
and burnt bronze itself, and germander,108 and wild mastich109 dissolve the body into water, and that dropsical
patients derive benefit from these substances, not because they are
purged by them, but because they are rid of substances which
actually help to increase the disease; for, if the medicine does
not evacuate110 the dropsical
fluid contained in the body, but generates it, it aggravates the
condition further. Moreover, scammony, according to the
Asclepiadean argument, not only fails to evacuate110 the bile from the
bodies of jaundiced subjects, but actually turns the useful blood
into bile, and dissolves the body; in fact it does all manner of
evil and increases the disease.
And yet this drug may be clearly seen to do good to numbers of
people! “Yes,” says he, “they derive Pg 69
Greek text benefit certainly, but
merely in proportion to the evacuation.” ... But if you give these
cases a drug which draws off phlegm they will not be benefited.
This is so obvious that even those who make experience alone their
starting-point111 are aware of it; and these people make it a
cardinal point of their teaching to trust to no arguments, but only
to what can be clearly seen. In this, then, they show good sense;
whereas Asclepiades goes far astray in bidding us distrust our
senses where obvious facts plainly overturn his hypotheses. Much
better would it have been for him not to assail obvious facts, but
rather to devote himself entirely to these.
Is it, then, these facts only which are plainly irreconcilable with the views of Asclepiades? Is not also the fact that in summer yellow bile is evacuated in greater quantity by the same drugs, and in winter phlegm, and that in a young man more bile is evacuated, and in an old man more phlegm? Obviously each drug attracts something which already exists, and does not generate something previously non-existent. Thus if you give in the summer season a drug which attracts phlegm to a young man of a lean and warm habit, who has lived neither idly nor too luxuriously, you will with great difficulty evacuate a very small quantity of this humour, and you will do the man the utmost harm. On the other hand, if you give him a cholagogue, you will produce an abundant evacuation and not injure him at all.
Do we still, then, disbelieve that each drug attracts that
humour which is proper to it?112 Possibly the Pg 71
Greek text adherents of Asclepiades
will assent to this—or rather, they will—not possibly,
but certainly—declare that they disbelieve it, lest they
should betray their darling prejudices.
Let us pass on, then, again to another piece of nonsense; for the sophists do not allow one to engage in enquiries that are of any worth, albeit there are many such; they compel one to spend one’s time in dissipating the fallacious arguments which they bring forward.
What, then, is this piece of nonsense? It has to do with the famous and far-renowned stone which draws iron [the lodestone]. It might be thought that this would draw113 their minds to a belief that there are in all bodies certain faculties by which they attract their own proper qualities.
Now Epicurus, despite the fact that he employs in his
Physics114 elements similar to those of Asclepiades,115 yet allows that iron
is attracted by the lodestone,116 and chaff by amber. He even tries to give the
cause of the phenomenon. His view is that the atoms which flow from
the stone are related in shape to those flowing from the iron, and
so they become easily interlocked with one another; thus it is
that, after colliding with each of the two compact masses (the
stone and the iron) they then rebound into the middle and so become
entangled with each other, Pg 73
Greek text and draw the iron after
them. So far, then, as his hypotheses regarding causation117 go, he is perfectly
unconvincing; nevertheless, he does grant that there is an
attraction. Further, he says that it is on similar principles that
there occur in the bodies of animals the dispersal of nutriment118 and the discharge of
waste matters, as also the actions of cathartic drugs.
Asclepiades, however, who viewed with suspicion the incredible character of the cause mentioned, and who saw no other credible cause on the basis of his supposed elements, shamelessly had recourse to the statement that nothing is in any way attracted by anything else. Now, if he was dissatisfied with what Epicurus said, and had nothing better to say himself, he ought to have refrained from making hypotheses, and should have said that Nature is a constructive artist and that the substance of things is always tending towards unity and also towards alteration because its own parts act upon and are acted upon by one another.119 For, if he had assumed this, it would not have been difficult to allow that this constructive nature has powers which attract appropriate and expel alien matter. For in no other way could she be constructive, preservative of the animal, and eliminative of its diseases,120 unless it be allowed that she conserves what is appropriate and discharges what is foreign.
But in this matter, too, Asclepiades realized the logical
sequence of the principles he had assumed; he showed no scruples,
however, in opposing plain fact; he joins issue in this matter
also, not merely with all physicians, but with everyone else, and
Pg
75
Greek text maintains that there is no
such thing as a crisis, or critical day,121 and that Nature does absolutely nothing for the
preservation of the animal. For his constant aim is to follow out
logical consequences and to upset obvious fact, in this respect
being opposed to Epicurus; for the latter always stated the
observed fact, although he gives an ineffective explanation of it.
For, that these small corpuscles belonging to the lodestone
rebound, and become entangled with other similar particles of the
iron, and that then, by means of this entanglement (which cannot be
seen anywhere) such a heavy substance as iron is attracted—I
fail to understand how anybody could believe this. Even if we admit
this, the same principle will not explain the fact that, when the
iron has another piece brought in contact with it, this becomes
attached to it.
For what are we to say? That, forsooth, some of the particles that flow from the lodestone collide with the iron and then rebound back, and that it is by these that the iron becomes suspended? that others penetrate into it, and rapidly pass through it by way of its empty channels?122 that these then collide with the second piece of iron and are not able to penetrate it although they penetrated the first piece? and that they then course back to the first piece, and produce entanglements like the former ones?
The hypothesis here becomes clearly refuted by its absurdity. As
a matter of fact, I have seen five writing-stylets of iron attached
to one another in a line, only the first one being in contact with
the Pg
77
Greek text lodestone, and the power123 being transmitted
through it to the others. Moreover, it cannot be said that if you
bring a second stylet into contact with the lower end of the first,
it becomes held, attached, and suspended, whereas, if you apply it
to any other part of the side it does not become attached. For the
power of the lodestone is distributed in all directions; it merely
needs to be in contact with the first stylet at any point; from
this stylet again the power flows, as quick as a thought, all
through the second, and from that again to the third. Now, if you
imagine a small lodestone hanging in a house, and in contact with
it all round a large number of pieces of iron, from them again
others, from these others, and so on,—all these pieces of
iron must surely become filled with the corpuscles which emanate
from the stone; therefore, this first little stone is likely to
become dissipated by disintegrating into these emanations.124 Further, even if there
be no iron in contact with it, it still disperses into the air,
particularly if this be also warm.
“Yes,” says Epicurus, “but these corpuscles must be looked on as exceedingly small, so that some of them are a ten-thousandth part of the size of the very smallest particles carried in the air.” Then do you venture to say that so great a weight of iron can be suspended by such small bodies? If each of them is a ten-thousandth part as large as the dust particles which are borne in the atmosphere, how big must we suppose the hook-like extremities by which they interlock with each other125 to be? For of course this is quite the smallest portion of the whole particle.
Pg
79
Greek text Then, again, when a small
body becomes entangled with another small body, or when a body in
motion becomes entangled with another also in motion, they do not
rebound at once. For, further, there will of course be others which
break in upon them from above, from below, from front and rear,
from right and left, and which shake and agitate them and never let
them rest. Moreover, we must perforce suppose that each of these
small bodies has a large number of these hook-like extremities. For
by one it attaches itself to its neighbours, by another—the
topmost one—to the lodestone, and by the bottom one to the
iron. For if it were attached to the stone above and not
interlocked with the iron below, this would be of no use.126 Thus, the upper part
of the superior extremity must hang from the lodestone, and the
iron must be attached to the lower end of the inferior extremity;
and, since they interlock with each other by their sides as well,
they must, of course, have hooks there too. Keep in mind also,
above everything, what small bodies these are which possess all
these different kinds of outgrowths. Still more, remember how, in
order that the second piece of iron may become attached to the
first, the third to the second, and to that the fourth, these
absurd little particles must both penetrate the passages in the
first piece of iron and at the same time rebound from the piece
coming next in the series, although this second piece is naturally
in every way similar to the first.
Such an hypothesis, once again, is certainly not lacking in
audacity; in fact, to tell the truth, it is far more shameless than
the previous ones; according Pg 81
Greek text to it, when five similar
pieces of iron are arranged in a line, the particles of the
lodestone which easily traverse the first piece of iron rebound
from the second, and do not pass readily through it in the same
way. Indeed, it is nonsense, whichever alternative is adopted. For,
if they do rebound, how then do they pass through into the third
piece? And if they do not rebound, how does the second piece become
suspended to the first? For Epicurus himself looked on the rebound
as the active agent in attraction.
But, as I have said, one is driven to talk nonsense whenever one
gets into discussion with such men. Having, therefore, given a
concise and summary statement of the matter, I wish to be done with
it. For if one diligently familiarizes oneself with the writings of
Asclepiades, one will see clearly their logical dependence on his
first principles, but also their disagreement with observed facts.
Thus, Epicurus, in his desire to adhere to the facts, cuts an
awkward figure by aspiring to show that these agree with his
principles, whereas Asclepiades safeguards the sequence of
principles, but pays no attention to the obvious fact. Whoever,
therefore, wishes to expose the absurdity of their hypotheses,
must, if the argument be in answer to Asclepiades, keep in mind his
disagreement with observed fact; or if in answer to Epicurus, his
discordance with his principles. Almost all the other sects
depending on similar principles are now entirely extinct, while
these alone maintain a respectable existence still. Yet the tenets
of Asclepiades have been unanswerably confuted by Menodotus the
Empiricist, who draws his attention to their opposition to
phenomena and to each other; Pg 83
Greek text and, again, those of
Epicurus have been confuted by Asclepiades, who adhered always to
logical sequence, about which Epicurus evidently cares little.
Now people of the present day do not begin by getting a clear comprehension of these sects, as well as of the better ones, thereafter devoting a long time to judging and testing the true and false in each of them; despite their ignorance, they style themselves, some “physicians” and others “philosophers.” No wonder, then, that they honour the false equally with the true. For everyone becomes like the first teacher that he comes across, without waiting to learn anything from anybody else. And there are some of them, who, even if they meet with more than one teacher, are yet so unintelligent and slow-witted that even by the time they have reached old age they are still incapable of understanding the steps of an argument.... In the old days such people used to be set to menial tasks.... What will be the end of it God knows!
Now, we usually refrain from arguing with people whose
principles are wrong from the outset. Still, having been compelled
by the natural course of events to enter into some kind of a
discussion with them, we must add this further to what was
said—that it is not only cathartic drugs which naturally
attract their special qualities,127 but also those which remove thorns and the
points of arrows such as sometimes become deeply embedded in the
flesh. Those drugs also which draw out animal poisons or poisons
applied to arrows all show the same faculty as does the lodestone.
Thus, I myself have seen a thorn which was embedded in a young
man’s foot fail to Pg 85
Greek text come out when we exerted
forcible traction with our fingers, and yet come away painlessly
and rapidly on the application of a medicament. Yet even to this
some people will object, asserting that when the inflammation is
dispersed from the part the thorn comes away of itself, without
being pulled out by anything. But these people seem, in the first
place, to be unaware that there are certain drugs for drawing out
inflammation and different ones for drawing out embedded
substances; and surely if it was on the cessation of an
inflammation that the abnormal matters were expelled, then all
drugs which disperse inflammations ought, ipso facto, to
possess the power of extracting these substances as well.128
And secondly, these people seem to be unaware of a still more surprising fact, namely, that not merely do certain medicaments draw out thorns and others poisons, but that of the latter there are some which attract the poison of the viper, others that of the sting-ray,129 and others that of some other animal; we can, in fact, plainly observe these poisons deposited on the medicaments. Here, then, we must praise Epicurus for the respect he shows towards obvious facts, but find fault with his views as to causation. For how can it be otherwise than extremely foolish to suppose that a thorn which we failed to remove by digital traction could be drawn out by these minute particles?
Have we now, therefore, convinced ourselves that everything which exists130 possesses a faculty by which it attracts its proper quality, and that some things do this more, and some less?
Or shall we also furnish our argument with the Pg 87
Greek text illustration afforded by
corn?131 For those who
refuse to admit that anything is attracted by anything else, will,
I imagine, be here proved more ignorant regarding Nature than the
very peasants. When, for my own part, I first learned of what
happens, I was surprised, and felt anxious to see it with my own
eyes. Afterwards, when experience also had confirmed its truth, I
sought long among the various sects for an explanation, and, with
the exception of that which gave the first place to
attraction, I could find none which even approached
plausibility, all the others being ridiculous and obviously quite
untenable.
What happens, then, is the following. When our peasants are
bringing corn from the country into the city in wagons, and wish to
filch some away without being detected, they fill earthen jars with
water and stand them among the corn; the corn then draws the
moisture into itself through the jar and acquires additional bulk
and weight, but the fact is never detected by the onlookers unless
someone who knew about the trick before makes a more careful
inspection. Yet, if you care to set down the same vessel in the
very hot sun, you will find the daily loss to be very little
indeed. Thus corn has a greater power than extreme solar heat of
drawing to itself the moisture in its neighbourhood.132 Thus the theory that
the water is carried towards the rarefied part of the air
surrounding us133 (particularly when that is distinctly warm) is
utter nonsense; for although it is Pg 89
Greek text much more rarefied there
than it is amongst the corn, yet it does not take up a tenth part
of the moisture which the corn does.
Since then, we have talked sufficient nonsense—not willingly, but because we were forced, as the proverb says, “to behave madly among madmen”—let us return again to the subject of urinary secretion. Here let us forget the absurdities of Asclepiades, and, in company with those who are persuaded that the urine does pass through the kidneys, let us consider what is the character of this function. For, most assuredly, either the urine is conveyed by its own motion to the kidneys, considering this the better course (as do we when we go off to market!134), or, if this be impossible, then some other reason for its conveyance must be found. What, then, is this? If we are not going to grant the kidneys a faculty for attracting this particular quality,135 as Hippocrates held, we shall discover no other reason. For, surely everyone sees that either the kidneys must attract the urine, or the veins must propel it—if, that is, it does not move of itself. But if the veins did exert a propulsive action when they contract, they would squeeze out into the kidneys not merely the urine, but along with it the whole of the blood which they contain.136 And if this is impossible, as we shall show, the remaining explanation is that the kidneys do exert traction.
Pg
91
Greek text And how is propulsion by
the veins impossible? The situation of the kidneys is against it.
They do not occupy a position beneath the hollow vein [vena cava]
as does the sieve-like [ethmoid] passage in the nose and palate in
relation to the surplus matter from the brain;137 they are situated on
both sides of it. Besides, if the kidneys are like sieves, and
readily let the thinner serous [whey-like] portion through, and
keep out the thicker portion, then the whole of the blood contained
in the vena cava must go to them, just as the whole of the wine is
thrown into the filters. Further, the example of milk being made
into cheese will show clearly what I mean. For this, too, although
it is all thrown into the wicker strainers, does not all percolate
through; such part of it as is too fine in proportion to the width
of the meshes passes downwards, and this is called whey
[serum]; the remaining thick portion which is destined to become
cheese cannot get down, since the pores of the strainers will not
admit it. Thus it is that, if the blood-serum has similarly to
percolate through the kidneys, the whole of the blood must come to
them, and not merely one part of it.
What, then, is the appearance as found on dissection?
One division of the vena cava is carried upwards138 to the heart, and the
other mounts upon the spine and extends along its whole length as
far as the legs; thus one division does not even come near the
Pg
93
Greek text kidneys, while the other
approaches them but is certainly not inserted into them. Now, if
the blood were destined to be purified by them as if they were
sieves, the whole of it would have to fall into them, the thin part
being thereafter conveyed downwards, and the thick part retained
above. But, as a matter of fact, this is not so. For the kidneys
lie on either side of the vena cava. They therefore do not act like
sieves, filtering fluid sent to them by the vena cava, and
themselves contributing no force. They obviously exert traction;
for this is the only remaining alternative.
How, then, do they exert this traction? If, as Epicurus thinks, all attraction takes place by virtue of the rebounds and entanglements of atoms, it would be certainly better to maintain that the kidneys have no attractive action at all; for his theory, when examined, would be found as it stands to be much more ridiculous even than the theory of the lodestone, mentioned a little while ago. Attraction occurs in the way that Hippocrates laid down; this will be stated more clearly as the discussion proceeds; for the present our task is not to demonstrate this, but to point out that no other cause of the secretion of urine can be given except that of attraction by the kidneys,139 and that this attraction does not take place in the way imagined by people who do not allow Nature a faculty of her own.140
For if it be granted that there is any attractive faculty at all in those things which are governed by Nature,141 a person who attempted to say anything else about the absorption of nutriment142 would be considered a fool.
Now, while Erasistratus[143] for some reason replied at great length to certain other foolish doctrines, he entirely passed over the view held by Hippocrates, not even thinking it worth while to mention it, as he did in his work “On Deglutition”; in that work, as may be seen, he did go so far as at least to make mention of the word attraction, writing somewhat as follows:
“Now, the stomach does not appear to exercise any attraction.”143 But when he is dealing with anadosis he does not mention the Hippocratic view even to the extent of a single syllable. Yet we should have been satisfied if he had even merely written this: “Hippocrates lies in saying ‘The flesh144 attracts both from the stomach and from without,’ for it cannot attract either from the stomach or from without.” Or if he had thought it worth while to state that Hippocrates was wrong in criticizing the weakness of the neck of the uterus, “seeing that the orifice of the uterus has no power of attracting semen,”145 or if he [Erasistratus] had thought proper to write any other similar opinion, then we in our turn would have defended ourselves in the following terms:
“My good sir, do not run us down in this rhetorical fashion
without some proof; state some definite objection to our view, in
order that either you may convince us by a brilliant refutation of
the ancient doctrine, or that, on the other hand, we may convert
you from your ignorance.” Yet why do I Pg 97
Greek text say “rhetorical”? For we
too are not to suppose that when certain rhetoricians pour ridicule
upon that which they are quite incapable of refuting, without any
attempt at argument, their words are really thereby constituted
rhetoric. For rhetoric proceeds by persuasive reasoning; words
without reasoning are buffoonery rather than rhetoric. Therefore,
the reply of Erasistratus in his treatise “On Deglutition” was
neither rhetoric nor logic. For what is it that he says? “Now, the
stomach does not appear to exercise any traction.” Let us testify
against him in return, and set our argument beside his in the same
form. Now, there appears to be no peristalsis146 of the gullet.
“And how does this appear?” one of his adherents may perchance ask.
“For is it not indicative of peristalsis that always when
the upper parts of the gullet contract the lower parts dilate?”
Again, then, we say, “And in what way does the attraction of the
stomach not appear? For is it not indicative of attraction
that always when the lower parts of the gullet dilate the upper
parts contract?” Now, if he would but be sensible and recognize
that this phenomenon is not more indicative of the one than of the
other view, but that it applies equally to both,147 we should then show
him without further delay the proper way to the discovery of
truth.
We will, however, speak about the stomach again. And the
dispersal of nutriment [anadosis] need not make us have recourse to
the theory regarding the Pg 99
Greek text natural tendency of a
vacuum to become refilled,148 when once we have granted the attractive faculty
of the kidneys. Now, although Erasistratus knew that this faculty
most certainly existed, he neither mentioned it nor denied it, nor
did he make any statement as to his views on the secretion of
urine.
Why did he give notice at the very beginning of his “General
Principles” that he was going to speak about natural
activities—firstly what they are, how they take place, and in
what situations—and then, in the case of urinary secretion,
declared that this took place through the kidneys, but left out its
method of occurrence? It must, then, have been for no purpose that
he told us how digestion occurs, or spends time upon the secretion
of biliary superfluities;149 for in these cases also it would have been
sufficient to have named the parts through which the function takes
place, and to have omitted the method. On the contrary, in these
cases he was able to tell us not merely through what organs, but
also in what way it occurs—as he also did, I think, in the
case of anadosis; for he was not satisfied with saying that
this took place through the veins, but he also considered fully the
method, which he held to be from the tendency of a vacuum to become
refilled. Concerning the secretion of urine, however, he writes
that this occurs through the kidneys, but does not add in what
way it occurs. I do not think he could say that this was
from the tendency of matter to fill a vacuum,150 for, if this were so,
nobody would have ever died of retention of urine, since no more
can Pg
101
Greek text flow into a vacuum than
has run out. For, if no other factor comes into operation151 save only this
tendency by which a vacuum becomes refilled, no more could ever
flow in than had been evacuated. Nor could he suggest any other
plausible cause, such, for example, as the expression of nutriment
by the stomach152 which occurs in the process of anadosis; this
had been entirely disproved in the case of blood in the vena
cava;153 it is excluded, not
merely owing to the long distance, but also from the fact that the
overlying heart, at each diastole, robs the vena cava by violence
of a considerable quantity of blood.
In relation to the lower part of the vena cava154 there would still
remain, solitary and abandoned, the specious theory concerning the
filling of a vacuum. This, however, is deprived of plausibility by
the fact that people die of retention of urine, and also, no less,
by the situation of the kidneys. For, if the whole of the blood
were carried to the kidneys, one might properly maintain that it
all undergoes purification there. But, as a matter of fact, the
whole of it does not go to them, but only so much as can be
contained in the veins going to the kidneys;155 this portion only,
therefore, will be purified. Further, the thin serous part of this
will pass through the kidneys as if through a sieve, while the
thick sanguineous portion remaining in the veins will obstruct the
blood flowing in from behind; this will first, therefore, have to
run back to the vena cava, and so to empty the veins going to the
kidneys; these veins will no longer be able to Pg 103
Greek text conduct a second quantity
of unpurified blood to the kidneys—occupied as they are by
the blood which had preceded, there is no passage left. What power
have we, then, which will draw back the purified blood from the
kidneys? And what power, in the next place, will bid this blood
retire to the lower part of the vena cava, and will enjoin on
another quantity coming from above not to proceed downwards before
turning off into the kidneys?
Now Erasistratus realized that all these ideas were open to many objections, and he could only find one idea which held good in all respects—namely, that of attraction. Since, therefore, he did not wish either to get into difficulties or to mention the view of Hippocrates, he deemed it better to say nothing at all as to the manner in which secretion occurs.
But even if he kept silence, I am not going to do so. For I know
that if one passes over the Hippocratic view and makes some other
pronouncement about the function of the kidneys, one cannot fail to
make oneself utterly ridiculous. It was for this reason that
Erasistratus kept silence and Asclepiades lied; they are like
slaves who have had plenty to say in the early part of their
career, and have managed by excessive rascality to escape many and
frequent accusations, but who, later, when caught in the act of
thieving, cannot find any excuse; the more modest one then keeps
silence, as though thunderstruck, whilst the more shameless
continues to hide the missing article beneath his arm and denies on
oath that he has ever seen it. For it was in this way also that
Asclepiades, when all subtle excuses had failed him and there was
no longer any room for nonsense about “conveyance towards the Pg 105
Greek text rarefied part [of the
air],”156 and when it was
impossible without incurring the greatest derision to say that this
superfluity [i.e. the urine] is generated by the kidneys as
is bile by the canals in the liver—he, then, I say, clearly
lied when he swore that the urine does not reach the kidneys, and
maintained that it passes, in the form of vapour, straight from the
region of the vena cava,157 to collect in the bladder.
Like slaves, then, caught in the act of stealing, these two are quite bewildered, and while the one says nothing, the other indulges in shameless lying.
Now such of the younger men as have dignified themselves with the names of these two authorities by taking the appellations “Erasistrateans” or “Asclepiadeans” are like the Davi and Getae—the slaves introduced by the excellent Menander into his comedies. As these slaves held that they had done nothing fine unless they had cheated their master three times, so also the men I am discussing have taken their time over the construction of impudent sophisms, the one party striving to prevent the lies of Asclepiades from ever being refuted, and the other saying stupidly what Erasistratus had the sense to keep silence about.
But enough about the Asclepiadeans. The Erasistrateans, in
attempting to say how the kidneys let the urine through, will do
anything or suffer anything Pg 107
Greek text or try any shift in order
to find some plausible explanation which does not demand the
principle of attraction.
Now those near the times of Erasistratus maintain that the parts above the kidneys receive pure blood, whilst the watery residue, being heavy, tends to run downwards; that this, after percolating through the kidneys themselves, is thus rendered serviceable, and is sent, as blood, to all the parts below the kidneys.
For a certain period at least this view also found favour and flourished, and was held to be true; after a time, however, it became suspect to the Erasistrateans themselves, and at last they abandoned it. For apparently the following two points were assumed, neither of which is conceded by anyone, nor is even capable of being proved. The first is the heaviness of the serous fluid, which was said to be produced in the vena cava, and which did not exist, apparently, at the beginning, when this fluid was being carried up from the stomach to the liver. Why, then, did it not at once run downwards when it was in these situations? And if the watery fluid is so heavy, what plausibility can anyone find in the statement that it assists in the process of anadosis?
In the second place there is this absurdity, that even if it be
agreed that all the watery fluid does fall downwards, and only when
it is in the vena cava,158 still it is difficult, or, rather, impossible,
to say through what means it is going to fall into the kidneys,
seeing that these are not situated below, but on either side of the
vena cava, and that the vena cava is not inserted into them, but
merely sends a branch159 Pg 109
Greek text into each of them, as it
also does into all the other parts.
What doctrine, then, took the place of this one when it was condemned? One which to me seems far more foolish than the first, although it also flourished at one time. For they say, that if oil be mixed with water and poured upon the ground, each will take a different route, the one flowing this way and the other that, and that, therefore, it is not surprising that the watery fluid runs into the kidneys, while the blood falls downwards along the vena cava. Now this doctrine also stands already condemned. For why, of the countless veins which spring from the vena cava, should blood flow into all the others, and the serous fluid be diverted to those going to the kidneys? They have not answered the question which was asked; they merely state what happens and imagine they have thereby assigned the reason.
Once again, then (the third cup to the Saviour!),160 let us now speak of
the worst doctrine of all, lately invented by Lycus of Macedonia,161 but which is popular
owing to its novelty. This Lycus, then, maintains, as though
uttering an oracle from the inner sanctuary, that urine is
residual matter from the nutrition of the kidneys!162 Now, the amount of
urine passed every day shows clearly that it is the whole of the
fluid drunk which becomes urine, except for that which comes away
with the dejections or passes off as sweat or insensible
perspiration. This is most easily recognized in winter in those who
are doing no work but are carousing, especially if the wine be thin
and diffusible; Pg 111
Greek text these people rapidly pass
almost the same quantity as they drink. And that even Erasistratus
was aware of this is known to those who have read the first book of
his “General Principles.”163 Thus Lycus is speaking neither good
Erasistratism, nor good Asclepiadism, far less good Hippocratism.
He is, therefore, as the saying is, like a white crow, which cannot
mix with the genuine crows owing to its colour, nor with the
pigeons owing to its size. For all this, however, he is not to be
disregarded; he may, perhaps, be stating some wonderful truth,
unknown to any of his predecessors.
Now it is agreed that all parts which are undergoing nutrition
produce a certain amount of residue, but it is neither agreed nor
is it likely, that the kidneys alone, small bodies as they are,
could hold four whole congii,164 and sometimes even more, of residual matter. For
this surplus must necessarily be greater in quantity in each of the
larger viscera; thus, for example, that of the lung, if it
corresponds in amount to the size of the viscus, will obviously be
many times more than that in the kidneys, and thus the whole of the
thorax will become filled, and the animal will be at once
suffocated. But if it be said that the residual matter is equal in
amount in each of the other parts, where are the bladders,
one may ask, through which it is excreted? For, if the kidneys
produce in drinkers three and sometimes four congii of
superfluous matter, that of each of the other viscera will be much
more, and thus an enormous barrel will be needed to contain the
waste products of them all. Pg 113-115
Greek text Yet one often urinates
practically the same quantity as one has drunk, which would show
that the whole of what one drinks goes to the kidneys.
Thus the author of this third piece of trickery would appear to have achieved nothing, but to have been at once detected, and there still remains the original difficulty which was insoluble by Erasistratus and by all others except Hippocrates. I dwell purposely on this topic, knowing well that nobody else has anything to say about the function of the kidneys, but that either we must prove more foolish than the very butchers165 if we do not agree that the urine passes through the kidneys; or, if one acknowledges this, that then one cannot possibly give any other reason for the secretion than the principle of attraction.
Now, if the movement of urine does not depend on the tendency of a vacuum to become refilled,166 it is clear that neither does that of the blood nor that of the bile; or if that of these latter does so, then so also does that of the former. For they must all be accomplished in one and the same way, even according to Erasistratus himself.
This matter, however, will be discussed more fully in the book following this.
5 That is, “On the Natural Powers,” the powers of the Physis or Nature. By that Galen practically means what we would call the physiological or biological powers, the characteristic faculties of the living organism; his Physis is the subconscious vital principle of the animal or plant. Like Aristotle, however, he also ascribes quasi-vital properties to inanimate things, cf. Introduction, p. xxvii.
6 Ergon, here rendered an effect, is literally a work or deed; strictly speaking, it is something done, completed, as distinguished from energeia, which is the actual doing, the activity which produces this ergon, cf. p. 13, and Introduction, p. xxx.
7 Gk. psyche, Lat. anima.
8 Gk. physis, Lat. natura.
9 Motion (kinesis) is Aristotle’s general term for what we would rather call change. It includes various kinds of change, as well as movement proper, cf. Introduction, p. xxix.
10 “Conveyance,” “transport,” “transit”; purely mechanical or passive motion, as distinguished from alteration (qualitative change).
11 “Waxing and waning,” the latter literally phthisis, a wasting or “decline;” cf. Scotch divining, Dutch verdwijnen.
12 Becoming and perishing: Latin, generatio et corruptio.
13 “Ad substantiam productio seu ad formam processus” (Linacre).
14 “Preformationist” doctrine of Anaxagoras. To him the apparent alteration in qualities took place when a number of minute pre-existing bodies, all bearing the same quality, came together in sufficient numbers to impress that quality on the senses. The factor which united the minute quality-bearers was Nous. “In the beginning,” says Anaxagoras, “all things existed together—then came Nous and brought them into order.”
15 “De ea alteratione quae per totam fit substantiam” (Linacre).
16 The systematizer of Stoicism and successor of Zeno.
17 Note characteristic impatience with metaphysics. To Galen, as to Hippocrates and Aristotle, it sufficed to look on the qualitative differences apprehended by the senses as fundamental. Zeno of Citium was the founder of the Stoic school; on the further analysis by this school of the qualities into bodies cf. p. 144, note 3.
18 A rallying-ground: lit. a place where two glens meet.
19 Thus according to Gomperz (Greek Thinkers), the hypothesis of Anaxagoras was that “the bread ... already contained the countless forms of matter as such which the human body displays. Their minuteness of size would withdraw them from our perception. For the defect or ‘weakness’ of the senses is the narrowness of their receptive area. These elusive particles are rendered visible and tangible by the process of nutrition, which combines them.”
20 Therefore the blood must have come from the bread. The food from the alimentary canal was supposed by Galen to be converted into blood in and by the portal veins, cf. p. 17.
21 By “elements” is meant all homogeneous, amorphous substances, such as metals, &c., as well as the elementary tissues.
23 Operation, activation, or functioning. Lat. actio. cf. loc. cit.
24 i.e. a concomitant (secondary) or passive affection. Galen is contrasting active and passive “motion.” cf. p. 6, note 1.
25 As already indicated, there is no exact English equivalent for the Greek term physis, which is a principle immanent in the animal itself, whereas our term “Nature” suggests something more transcendent; we are forced often, however, to employ it in default of a better word. cf. p. 2, note 1.
26 In Greek anadosis. This process includes two stages: (1) transmission of food from alimentary canal to liver (rather more than our “absorption”); (2) further transmission from liver to tissues. Anadosis is lit. a yielding-up, a “delivery;” it may sometimes be rendered “dispersal.” “Distribution” (diadosis) is a further stage; cf. p. 163, note 4.
28 Since heat and cold tend to cause diffusion and condensation respectively.
30 Lit. peptic.
31 Lit. sphygmic.
32 Genesis corresponds to the intrauterine life, or what we may call embryogeny. Alteration here means histogenesis or tissue-production; shaping or moulding (in Greek diaplasis) means the ordering of these tissues into organs (organogenesis).
34 Note inadequate analogy of semen with fertilised seeds of plants (i.e. of gamete with zygote). Strictly speaking, of course, semen corresponds to pollen. cf. p. 130, note 2.
36 Various secondary or derivative differences in the tissues. Note pre-eminence of sense of touch.
37 De Anima, ii. et seq.
38 Lit. homoeomerous = of similar parts throughout, “the same all through.” He refers to the elementary tissues, conceived as not being susceptible of further analysis.
39 That is, by the bodily eye, and not by the mind’s eye. The observer is here called an autoptes or “eye-witness.” Our medical term autopsy thus means literally a persona inspection of internal parts, ordinarily hidden.
40 i.e. “alteration” is the earlier of the two stages which constitute embryogeny or “genesis.” cf. p. 18, note 1.
41 The terms Galen actually uses are: ostopoietic, neuropoietic, chondropoietic.
42 As we should say, parenchyma (a term used by Erasistratus).
43 Those were all the elemental tissues that Aristotle, for example, had recognized; other tissues (e.g. flesh or muscle) he believed to be complexes of these.
44 Or tunics.
45 i.e. tissues.
46 As, for example, Aristotle had held; cf. p. 23, note 3. Galen added many new tissues to those described by Aristotle.
47 Lit. synthesis.
48 By this is meant the duodenum, considered as an outgrowth or prolongation of the stomach towards the intestines.
50 Lit. the auxetic or incremental faculty.
51 i.e. to the alterative and shaping faculties (histogenetic and organogenetic).
52 If the reading is correct we can only suppose that Galen meant the embryo.
54 Administration, lit. “economy.”
55 The activation or functioning of this faculty, the faculty in actual operation. cf. p. 3, note 2.
56 “Un rapport commun et une affinité” (Daremberg). “Societatem aliquam cognationemque in qualitatibus” (Linacre). cf. p. 36, note 2.
58 His point is that no great change, in colours or in anything else, can take place at one step.
59 Not quite our “waste products,” since these are considered as being partly synthetic, whereas the Greek perittomata were simply superfluous substances which could not be used and were thrown aside.
61 The term οἰκεῖος, here rendered appropriate, is explained on p. 33. cf. also footnote on same page. Linacre often translated it conveniens, and it may usually be rendered proper, peculiar, own special, or own particular in English. Sometimes it is almost equal to akin, cognate, related: cf. p. 319, note 2. With Galen’s οἰκεῖος and ἀλλότριος we may compare the German terms eigen and fremd used by Aberhalden in connection with his theory of defensive ferments in the blood-serum.
64 i.e. with nutrition.
65 We might perhaps say, more shortly, “assimilation of food to feeder,” or, “of food to fed”; Linacre renders, “nutrimenti cum nutrito assimilatio.”
66 Lit. prosphysis, i.e. attachment, implantation.
67 Lit. prosthesis, “apposition.” One is almost tempted to retain the terms prosthesis and prosphysis in translation, as they obviously correspond much more closely to Galen’s physiological conceptions than any English or semi-English words can.
69 More literally, “chymified.” In anasarca the subcutaneous tissue is soft, and pits on pressure. In the “white” disease referred to here (by which is probably meant nodular leprosy) the same tissues are indurated and “brawny.” The principle of certain diseases being best explained as cases of arrest at various stages of the metabolic path is recognized in modern pathology, although of course the instances given by Galen are too crude to stand.
70 The effects of oxidation attributed to the heat which accompanies it? cf. p. 141, note 1; p. 254, note 1.
72 A unity or continuum, an individuum.
73 Lit. to the physis or the psyche; that is, a denial of the autonomy of physiology and psychology.
74 Lit. somata.
75 For “natures” in the plural, involving the idea of a separate nature immanent in each individual, cf. p. 36, note 1.
76 A lost work.
78 “Le corps tout entier a unité de souffle (perspiration et expiration) et unité de flux (courants, circulation des liquides)” (Daremberg). “Conspirabile et confluxile corpus esse” (Linacre). Apparently Galen refers to the pneuma and the various humours. cf. p. 293, note 2.
79 i.e. “appropriated”; very nearly “assimilated.”
81 Lit. “obvious phenomena.”
82 Asclepiades of Bithynia, who flourished in the first half of the first century B.C., was an adherent of the atomistic philosophy of Democritus, and is the typical representative of the Mechanistic school in Graeco-Roman medicine; he disbelieved in any principle of individuality (“nature”) in the organism, and his methods of treatment, in accordance with his pathology, were mechano-therapeutical. cf. p. 64, note 3.
83 Diocles of Carystus was the chief representative of the Dogmatic or Hippocratic school in the first half of the fourth century B.C. Praxagoras was his disciple, and followed him in the leadership of the school. For Erasistratus, cf. p. 95 et seq.
84 Sufferers from kidney-trouble.
85 The ureters.
86 Unless otherwise stated, “peritoneum” stands for parietal peritoneum alone.
87 In the peritoneal cavity.
89 Regurgitation, however, is prevented by the fact that the ureter runs for nearly one inch obliquely through the bladder wall before opening into its cavity, and thus an efficient valve is produced.
90 On the τέχνη (artistic or creative skill) shown by the living organism (φύσις) v. pp. 25, 45, 47; Introduction, p. xxix.
91 Direct denial of Aristotle’s dictum that “Nature does nothing in vain.” We are reminded of the view of certain modern laboratory physicians and surgeons that the colon is a “useless” organ, cf. Erasistratus, p. 143.
92 The vasa deferentia.
93 “De l’habileté et de la prévoyance de la nature à l’égard des animaux” (Daremberg). cf. p. 56, note 1.
95 The morbid material passed successively through the stages of “crudity,” “coction” (pepsis), and “elimination” (crisis). For “critical days” cf. p. 74, note 1.
96 This was the process by which nutriment was taken up from the alimentary canal; “absorption,” “dispersal;” cf. p. 13, note 5. The subject is dealt with more fully in chap. xvi.
97 Lit. catharsis.
98 i.e. urine.
100 i.e. bile and phlegm had no existence as such before the drugs were given; they are the products of dissolved tissue. Asclepiades did not believe that diseases were due to a materia peccans, but to disturbances in the movements of the molecules (ὄγκοι) which constitute the body; thus, in opposition to the humoralists such as Galen, he had no use for drugs. cf. p. 49, note 5.
101 About 4 oz., or one-third of a pint.
103 His ὄγκοι or molecules.
104 He does not say “organized” or “living” body; inanimate things were also thought to possess “natures”; cf. p. 2, note 1.
105 Carthamus tinctorius.
106 Daphne Gnidium.
107 Euphorbia acanthothamnos.
108 Teucrium chamaedrys.
109 Atractylis gummifera.
111 Empiricist physicians.
113 Pun here.
115 The ultimate particle of Epicurus was the ἄτομος or atom (lit. “non-divisible”), of Asclepiades, the ὄγκος or molecule. Asclepiades took his atomic theory from Epicurus, and he again from Democritus; cf. p. 49, note 5.
116 Lit. Herculean stone.
117 Lit. aetiology.
120 The vis conservatrix et medicatrix Naturae.
121 cf. p. 61, note 3. The crisis or resolution in fevers was observed to take place with a certain regularity; hence arose the doctrine of “critical days.”
123 He means the specific drawing power or faculty of the lodestone.
124 cf. our modern “radium-emanations.”
125 cf. Ehrlich’s hypothesis of “receptors” in explanation of the “affinities” of animal cells.
126 i.e. from the point of view of the theory.
128 That is to say, the two properties should go together in all cases—which they do not.
129 Trygon pastinaca.
131 The way that corn can attract moisture.
134 Playful suggestion of free-will in the urine.
136 i.e. there would be no selective action.
137 Nasal mucus was supposed to be the non-utilizable part of the nutriment conveyed to the brain, cf. p. 214, note 3.
138 He means from its origin in the liver (i.e. in the three hepatic veins). His idea was that the upper division took nutriment to heart, lungs, head, etc., and the lower division to lower part of body. On the relation of right auricle to vena cava and right ventricle, cf. p. 321, notes 4 and 5.
139 We arrive at our belief by excluding other possibilities.
143 On Erasistratus v. Introd. p. xii. His view that the stomach exerts no holké, or attraction, is dealt with more fully in Book III., chap. viii.
144 i.e. the tissues.
145 cf. p. 291.
146 Peristalsis may be used here to translate Gk. peristolé, meaning the contraction and dilation of muscle-fibres circularly round a lumen, cf. p. 263, note 2.
147 For a demonstration that this phenomenon is a conclusive proof neither of peristolé nor of real vital attraction, but is found even in dead bodies v. p. 267.
148 This was Erasistratus’s favourite principle, known in Latin as the “horror vacui” and in English as “Nature’s abhorrence of a vacuum,” although these terms are not an exact translation of the Greek. τὸ κενούμενον probably means the vacuum, not the matter evacuated, although Galen elsewhere uses κενόω in the latter (non-classical) sense, e.g. pp. 67, 215. Akolouthia is a following-up, a sequence, almost a consequence.
151 Vital factor necessary over and above the mechanical.
155 Renal veins.
157 κοίλην: the usual reading is κοιλίαν, which would make it “from the region of the alimentary canal.” cf. p. 118, note 1.
158 Not at an earlier stage, when it is still on its way from the alimentary canal to the liver.
159 i.e. a renal vein.
160 In a toast, the third cup was drunk to Zeus Sôtêr (the Saviour).
161 An anatomist of the Alexandrian school.
163 “Sur l’Ensemble des Choses” (Daremberg).
164 About twelve quarts. This is about five times as much as the average daily excretion, and could only be passed if a very large amount of wine were drunk.
In the previous book we demonstrated that not only Erasistratus,
but also all others who would say anything to the purpose about
urinary secretion, must acknowledge that the kidneys possess some
faculty which attracts to them this particular quality existing in
the urine.167 Besides this we
drew attention to the fact that the urine is not carried through
the kidneys into the bladder by one method, the blood into parts of
the animal by another, and the yellow bile separated out on yet
another principle. For when once there has been demonstrated in any
one organ, the drawing, or so-called epispastic168 faculty, there is then
no difficulty in transferring it to the rest. Certainly Nature did
not give a power such as this to the kidneys without giving it also
to the vessels which abstract the biliary fluid,169 nor did she give it to
the latter without also giving it to each of the other parts. And,
assuredly, if this is true, we must marvel that Erasistratus should
make statements concerning the delivery of nutriment from the
food-canal170 which are Pg 119
Greek text so false as to be detected
even by Asclepiades. Now, Erasistratus considers it absolutely
certain that, if anything flows from the veins, one of two things
must happen: either a completely empty space will result, or the
contiguous quantum of fluid will run in and take the place of that
which has been evacuated. Asclepiades, however, holds that not one
of two, but one of three things must be said to result in the
emptied vessels: either there will be an entirely empty space, or
the contiguous portion will flow in, or the vessel will contract.
For whereas, in the case of reeds and tubes it is true to say that,
if these be submerged in water, and are emptied of the air which
they contain in their lumens, then either a completely empty space
will be left, or the contiguous portion will move onwards; in the
case of veins this no longer holds, since their coats can collapse
and so fall in upon the interior cavity. It may be seen, then, how
false this hypothesis—by Zeus, I cannot call it a
demonstration!—of Erasistratus is.
And, from another point of view, even if it were true, it is
superfluous, if the stomach171 has the power of compressing the veins, as he
himself supposed, and the veins again of contracting upon their
contents and propelling them forwards.172 For, apart from other considerations, no
plethora173 would ever take place in the body, if delivery
of nutriment resulted merely from the tendency of a vacuum to
become refilled. Now, if the compression of the stomach becomes
weaker the further it goes, and cannot reach to an Pg 121
Greek textindefinite distance, and
if, therefore, there is need of some other mechanism to explain why
the blood is conveyed in all directions, then the principle of the
refilling of a vacuum may be looked on as a necessary addition;174 there will not,
however, be a plethora in any of the parts coming after the
liver,175 or, if there be, it
will be in the region of the heart and lungs; for the heart alone
of the parts which come after the liver draws the nutriment into
its right ventricle, thereafter sending it through the arterioid
vein176 to the lungs (for
Erasistratus himself will have it that, owing to the membranous
excrescences,177 no other parts save the lungs receive
nourishment from the heart). If, however, in order to explain how
plethora comes about, we suppose the force of compression by the
stomach to persist indefinitely, we have no further need of the
principle of the refilling of a vacuum, especially if we assume
contraction of the veins in addition—as is, again, agreeable
to Erasistratus himself.
Let me draw his attention, then, once again, even if he does not
wish it, to the kidneys, and let me state that these confute in the
very clearest manner such people as object to the principle of
attraction. Nobody has ever said anything plausible, nor, as
we previously showed, has anyone been able to discover, Pg 123
Greek text by any means, any other
cause for the secretion of urine; we necessarily appear mad if we
maintain that the urine passes into the kidneys in the form of
vapour, and we certainly cut a poor figure when we talk about the
tendency of a vacuum to become refilled;178 this idea is foolish in the case of blood, and
impossible, nay, perfectly nonsensical, in the case of the urine.179
This, then, is one blunder made by those who dissociate themselves from the principle of attraction. Another is that which they make about the secretion of yellow bile. For in this case, too, it is not a fact that when the blood runs past the mouths [stomata] of the bile-ducts there will be a thorough separation out [secretion] of biliary waste-matter. “Well,” say they, “let us suppose that it is not secreted but carried with the blood all over the body.” But, you sapient folk, Erasistratus himself supposed that Nature took thought for the animals’ future, and was workmanlike in her method; and at the same time he maintained that the biliary fluid was useless in every way for the animals. Now these two things are incompatible. For how could Nature be still looked on as exercising forethought for the animal when she allowed a noxious humour such as this to be carried off and distributed with the blood?...
This, however, is a small matter. I shall again point out here
the greatest and most obvious error. For if the yellow bile adjusts
itself to the narrower vessels and stomata, and the blood to the
wider ones, for no other reason than that blood is thicker and bile
thinner, and that the stomata of the veins are Pg 125
Greek text wider and those of the
bile-ducts narrower,180 then it is clear that this watery and serous
superfluity,181 too, will run out
into the bile-ducts quicker than does the bile, exactly in
proportion as it is thinner than the bile! How is it, then, that it
does not run out? “Because,” it may be said, “urine is thicker than
bile!” This was what one of our Erasistrateans ventured to say,
herein clearly disregarding the evidence of his senses, although he
had trusted these in the case of the bile and blood. For, if it be
that we are to look on bile as thinner than blood because it runs
more, then, since the serous residue181 passes through fine linen or lint or a
sieve more easily even than does bile, by these tokens bile must
also be thicker than the watery fluid. For here, again, there is no
argument which will demonstrate that bile is thinner than the
serous superfluities.
But when a man shamelessly goes on using circumlocutions, and never acknowledges when he has had a fall, he is like the amateur wrestlers, who, when they have been overthrown by the experts and are lying on their backs on the ground, so far from recognizing their fall, actually seize their victorious adversaries by the necks and prevent them from getting away, thus supposing themselves to be the winners!
Thus, every hypothesis of channels182 as an explanation of natural functioning is perfect nonsense. For, if there were not an inborn faculty given by Nature to each one of the organs at the very beginning, then animals could not continue to live even for a few days, far less for the number of years which they actually do. For let us suppose they were under no guardianship, lacking in creative ingenuity183 and forethought; let us suppose they were steered only by material forces,184 and not by any special faculties (the one attracting what is proper to it, another rejecting what is foreign, and yet another causing alteration and adhesion of the matter destined to nourish it); if we suppose this, I am sure it would be ridiculous for us to discuss natural, or, still more, psychical, activities—or, in fact, life as a whole.185
For there is not a single animal which could live or endure for
the shortest time if, possessing within itself so many different
parts, it did not employ faculties which were attractive of what is
appropriate, eliminative of what is foreign, and alterative of what
is destined for nutrition. On the other hand, if we have these
faculties, we no longer need channels, little or big,
resting on an unproven hypothesis, for explaining the secretion of
urine and bile, and the conception of some favourable
situation (in which point alone Erasistratus shows some common
sense, since he does regard all the parts of the body as Pg 129
Greek text having been well and truly
placed and shaped by Nature).
But let us suppose he remained true to his own statement that
Nature is “artistic”—this Nature which, at the beginning,
well and truly shaped and disposed all the parts of the animal,186 and, after carrying
out this function (for she left nothing undone), brought it forward
to the light of day, endowed with certain faculties necessary for
its very existence, and, thereafter, gradually increased it until
it reached its due size. If he argued consistently on this
principle, I fail to see how he can continue to refer natural
functions to the smallness or largeness of canals, or to any other
similarly absurd hypothesis. For this Nature which shapes and
gradually adds to the parts is most certainly extended throughout
their whole substance. Yes indeed, she shapes and nourishes and
increases them through and through, not on the outside only. For
Praxiteles and Phidias and all the other statuaries used merely to
decorate their material on the outside, in so far as they were able
to touch it; but its inner parts they left unembellished,
unwrought, unaffected by art or forethought, since they were unable
to penetrate therein and to reach and handle all portions of the
material. It is not so, however, with Nature. Every part of a bone
she makes bone, every part of the flesh she makes flesh, and so
with fat and all the rest; there is no part which she has not
touched, elaborated, and embellished. Phidias, on the other hand,
could not turn wax into ivory and gold, nor yet gold into wax: for
each of these remains as it was at the commencement, and becomes a
perfect statue Pg 131
Greek text simply by being clothed
externally in a form and artificial shape. But Nature does not
preserve the original character of any kind of matter; if she did
so then all parts of the animal would be blood—that blood,
namely, which flows to the semen from the impregnated female and
which is, so to speak, like the statuary’s wax, a single uniform
matter, subjected to the artificer. From this blood there arises no
part of the animal which is as red and moist [as blood is], for
bone, artery, vein, nerve, cartilage, fat, gland, membrane, and
marrow are not blood, though they arise from it.
I would then ask Erasistratus himself to inform me what the altering, coagulating, and shaping agent is. He would doubtless say, “Either Nature or the semen,” meaning the same thing in both cases, but explaining it by different devices. For that which was previously semen, when it begins to procreate and to shape the animal, becomes, so to say, a special nature.187 For in the same way that Phidias possessed the faculties of his art even before touching his material, and then activated these in connection with this material (for every faculty remains inoperative in the absence of its proper material), so it is with the semen: its faculties it possessed from the beginning,188 while its activities it does not receive from its material, but it manifests them in connection therewith.
And, of course, if it were to be overwhelmed with a great
quantity of blood, it would perish, while if it were to be entirely
deprived of blood Pg 133
Greek text it would remain
inoperative and would not turn into a nature. Therefore, in
order that it may not perish, but may become a nature in
place of semen, there must be an afflux to it of a little
blood—or, rather, one should not say a little, but a quantity
commensurate with that of the semen. What is it then that measures
the quantity of this afflux? What prevents more from coming? What
ensures against a deficiency? What is this third overseer of animal
generation that we are to look for, which will furnish the semen
with a due amount of blood? What would Erasistratus have said if he
had been alive, and had been asked this question? Obviously, the
semen itself. This, in fact, is the artificer analogous with
Phidias, whilst the blood corresponds to the statuary’s wax.
Now, it is not for the wax to discover for itself how much of it is required; that is the business of Phidias. Accordingly the artificer will draw to itself as much blood as it needs. Here, however, we must pay attention and take care not unwittingly to credit the semen with reason and intelligence; if we were to do this, we would be making neither semen nor a nature, but an actual living animal.189 And if we retain these two principles—that of proportionate attraction190 and that of the non-participation of intelligence—we shall ascribe to the semen a faculty for attracting blood similar to that possessed by the lodestone for iron.191 Here, then, again, in the case of the semen, as in so many previous instances, we have been compelled to acknowledge some kind of attractive faculty.
Pg
135
Greek text And what is the semen?
Clearly the active principle of the animal, the material principle
being the menstrual blood.192 Next, seeing that the active principle employs
this faculty primarily, therefore, in order that any one of the
things fashioned by it may come into existence, it [the principle]
must necessarily be possessed of its own faculty. How, then, was
Erasistratus unaware of it, if the primary function of the semen be
to draw to itself a due proportion of blood? Now, this fluid would
be in due proportion if it were so thin and vaporous, that, as soon
as it was drawn like dew into every part of the semen, it would
everywhere cease to display its own particular character; for so
the semen will easily dominate and quickly assimilate it—in
fact, will use it as food. It will then, I imagine, draw to itself
a second and a third quantum, and thus by feeding it acquires for
itself considerable bulk and quantity.193 In fact, the alterative faculty has now
been discovered as well, although about this also Erasistratus has
not written a word. And, thirdly the shaping194 faculty will become
evident, by virtue of which the semen firstly surrounds itself with
a thin membrane like a kind of superficial condensation; this is
what was described by Hippocrates in the sixth-day birth, which,
according to his statement, fell from the singing-girl and
resembled the pellicle of an egg. And following this all the other
stages will occur, such as are described by him in his work “On the
Child’s Nature.”
But if each of the parts formed were to remain as small as when
it first came into existence, of what use would that be? They have,
then, to grow. Pg 137
Greek text Now, how will they grow?
By becoming extended in all directions and at the same time
receiving nourishment. And if you will recall what I previously
said about the bladder which the children blew up and rubbed,195 you will also
understand my meaning better as expressed in what I am now about to
say.
Imagine the heart to be, at the beginning, so small as to differ in no respect from a millet-seed, or, if you will, a bean; and consider how otherwise it is to become large than by being extended in all directions and acquiring nourishment throughout its whole substance, in the way that, as I showed a short while ago, the semen is nourished. But even this was unknown to Erasistratus—the man who sings the artistic skill of Nature! He imagines that animals grow like webs, ropes, sacks, or baskets, each of which has, woven on to its end or margin, other material similar to that of which it was originally composed.
But this, most sapient sir, is not growth, but genesis! For a
bag, sack, garment, house, ship, or the like is said to be still
coming into existence [undergoing genesis] so long as the
appropriate form for the sake of which it is being constructed by
the artificer is still incomplete. Then, when does it grow? Only
when the basket, being complete, with a bottom, a mouth, and a
belly, as it were, as well as the intermediate parts, now becomes
larger in all these respects. “And how can this happen?” someone
will ask. Only by our basket suddenly becoming an animal or a
plant; for growth belongs to living things alone. Possibly you
imagine that a house grows when it is being built, or a
basket when being Pg 139
Greek text plaited, or a garment when
being woven? It is not so however. Growth belongs to that which has
already been completed in respect to its form, whereas the process
by which that which is still becoming attains its form is
termed not growth but genesis. That which is, grows, while
that which is not, becomes.
This also was unknown to Erasistratus, whom nothing escaped, if
his followers speak in any way truly in maintaining that he was
familiar with the Peripatetic philosophers. Now, in so far as he
acclaims Nature as being an artist in construction, even I
recognize the Peripatetic teachings, but in other respects he does
not come near them. For if anyone will make himself acquainted with
the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus, these will appear to
him to consist of commentaries on the Nature-lore [physiology]196 of
Hippocrates—according to which the principles of heat, cold,
dryness and moisture act upon and are acted upon by one another,
the hot principle being the most active, and the cold coming next
to it in power; all this was stated in the first place by
Hippocrates and secondly by Aristotle.197 Further, it is at once the Hippocratic and the
Aristotelian teaching that the parts which are being nourished
receive that nourishment throughout their whole substance, and
that, similarly, processes of mingling and alteration
involve the entire substance.198 Moreover, that digestion is a species of Pg 141
Greek text alteration—a
transmutation of the nutriment into the proper quality of the thing
receiving it; that blood-production also is an alteration, and
nutrition as well; that growth results from extension in all
directions, combined with nutrition; that alteration is effected
mainly by the warm principle, and that therefore digestion,
nutrition, and the generation of the various humours, as well as
the qualities of the surplus substances, result from the innate
heat;199 all these and
many other points besides in regard to the aforesaid faculties, the
origin of diseases, and the discovery of remedies, were correctly
stated first by Hippocrates of all writers whom we know, and were
in the second place correctly expounded by Aristotle. Now, if all
these views meet with the approval of the Peripatetics, as they
undoubtedly do, and if none of them satisfy Erasistratus, what can
the Erasistrateans possibly mean by claiming that their leader was
associated with these philosophers? The fact is, they revere him as
a god, and think that everything he says is true. If this be so,
then we must suppose the Peripatetics to have strayed very far from
truth, since they approve of none of the ideas of Erasistratus.
And, indeed, the disciples of the latter produce his connection
with the Peripatetics in order to furnish his Nature-lore with a
respectable pedigree.
Now, let us reverse our argument and put it in a different way
from that which we have just employed. For if the Peripatetics were
correct in their teaching about Nature, there could be nothing more
absurd than the contentions of Erasistratus. And, I will leave it
to the Erasistrateans themselves to decide; Pg 143
Greek text they must either advance
the one proposition or the other. According to the former one the
Peripatetics had no accurate acquaintance with Nature, and
according to the second, Erasistratus. It is my task, then, to
point out the opposition between the two doctrines, and theirs to
make the choice....
But they certainly will not abandon their reverence for Erasistratus. Very well, then; let them stop talking about the Peripatetic philosophers. For among the numerous physiological teachings regarding the genesis and destruction of animals, their health, their diseases, and the methods of treating these, there will be found one only which is common to Erasistratus and the Peripatetics—namely, the view that Nature does everything for some purpose, and nothing in vain.
But even as regards this doctrine their agreement is only verbal; in practice Erasistratus makes havoc of it a thousand times over. For, according to him, the spleen was made for no purpose, as also the omentum; similarly, too, the arteries which are inserted into kidneys200—although these are practically the largest of all those that spring from the great artery [aorta]! And to judge by the Erasistratean argument, there must be countless other useless structures; for, if he knows nothing at all about these structures, he has little more anatomical knowledge than a butcher, while, if he is acquainted with them and yet does not state their use, he clearly imagines that they were made for no purpose, like the spleen. Why, however, should I discuss these structures fully, belonging as they do to the treatise “On the Use of Parts,” which I am personally about to complete?
Pg
145
Greek text Let us, then, sum up again
this same argument, and, having said a few words more in answer to
the Erasistrateans, proceed to our next topic. The fact is, these
people seem to me to have read none of Aristotle’s writings, but to
have heard from others how great an authority he was on “Nature,”
and that those of the Porch201 follow in the steps of his Nature-lore;
apparently they then discovered a single one of the current ideas
which is common to Aristotle and Erasistratus, and made up some
story of a connection between Erasistratus and these people.202 That Erasistratus,
however, has no share in the Nature-lore of Aristotle is shown by
an enumeration of the aforesaid doctrines, which emanated first
from Hippocrates, secondly from Aristotle, thirdly from the Stoics
(with a single modification, namely, that for them the
qualities are bodies).203
Perhaps, however, they will maintain that it was in the matter of logic that Erasistratus associated himself with the Peripatetic philosophers? Here they show ignorance of the fact that these philosophers never brought forward false or inconclusive arguments, while the Erasistratean books are full of them.
So perhaps somebody may already be asking, in some surprise,
what possessed Erasistratus that he turned so completely from the
doctrines of Hippocrates, and why it is that he takes away the
attractive faculty from the biliary204 passages in the liver—for we have
sufficiently discussed the kidneys—alleging [as the cause of
bile-secretion] a favourable situation, the narrowness of vessels,
and a Pg 147
Greek text common space into
which the veins from the gateway [of the liver]205 conduct the unpurified
blood, and from which, in the first place, the [biliary] passages
take over the bile, and secondly, the [branches] of the vena cava
take over the purified blood. For it would not only have done him
no harm to have mentioned the idea of attraction, but he
would thereby have been able to get rid of countless other disputed
questions.
At the actual moment, however, the Erasistrateans are engaged in
a considerable battle, not only with others but also amongst
themselves, and so they cannot explain the passage from the first
book of the “General Principles,” in which Erasistratus says,
“Since there are two kinds of vessels opening206 at the same place, the
one kind extending to the gall-bladder and the other to the vena
cava, the result is that, of the nutriment carried up from the
alimentary canal, that part which fits both kinds of stomata is
received into both kinds of vessels, some being carried into the
gall-bladder, and the rest passing over into the vena cava.” For it
is difficult to say what we are to understand by the words “opening
at the same place” which are written at the beginning of this
passage. Either they mean there is a junction207 between the
termination of the vein which is on the concave surface of the
liver208 and two other vascular
terminations (that of the vessel on the convex surface of the
liver209 Pg 149
Greek text and that of the
bile-duct), or, if not, then we must suppose that there is, as it
were, a common space for all three vessels, which becomes filled
from the lower vein,210 and empties itself both into the bile-duct and
into the branches of the vena cava. Now, there are many
difficulties in both of these explanations, but if I were to state
them all, I should find myself inadvertently writing an exposition
of the teaching of Erasistratus, instead of carrying out my
original undertaking. There is, however, one difficulty common to
both these explanations, namely, that the whole of the blood does
not become purified. For it ought to fall into the bile-duct as
into a kind of sieve, instead of going (running, in fact, rapidly)
past it, into the larger stoma, by virtue of the impulse of
anadosis.
Are these, then, the only inevitable difficulties in which the argument of Erasistratus becomes involved through his disinclination to make any use of the attractive faculty, or is it that the difficulty is greatest here, and also so obvious that even a child could not avoid seeing it?
And if one looks carefully into the matter one will find that
even Erasistratus’s reasoning on the subject of nutrition,
which he takes up in the second book of his “General Principles,”
fails to escape this same difficulty. For, having conceded one
premise to the principle that matter tends to fill a vacuum, as we
previously showed, he was only able to draw a conclusion in the
case of the veins and their contained blood.211 That is to say, when
Pg
151
Greek text blood is running away
through the stomata of the veins, and is being dispersed, then,
since an absolutely empty space cannot result, and the veins cannot
collapse (for this was what he overlooked), it was therefore shown
to be necessary that the adjoining quantum of fluid should flow in
and fill the place of the fluid evacuated. It is in this way that
we may suppose the veins to be nourished; they get the benefit of
the blood which they contain. But how about the nerves?212 For they do not also
contain blood. One might obviously say that they draw their supply
from the veins.213 But Erasistratus will not have it so. What
further contrivance, then, does he suppose? He says that a nerve
has within itself veins and arteries, like a rope woven by Nature
out of three different strands. By means of this hypothesis he
imagined that his theory would escape from the idea of
attraction. For if the nerve contain within itself a
blood-vessel it will no longer need the adventitious flow of other
blood from the real vein lying adjacent; this fictitious vessel,
perceptible only in theory,214 will suffice it for nourishment.
But this, again, is succeeded by another similar difficulty. For
this small vessel will nourish itself, but it will not be able to
nourish this adjacent simple nerve or artery, unless these possess
some innate proclivity for attracting nutriment. For how could the
nerve, being simple, attract its nourishment, as do the
composite veins, by virtue of the tendency Pg 153
Greek text of a vacuum to become
refilled? For, although according to Erasistratus, it contains
within itself a cavity of sorts, this is not occupied with blood,
but with psychic pneuma,215 and we are required to imagine the nutriment
introduced, not into this cavity, but into the vessel containing
it, whether it needs merely to be nourished, or to grow as well.
How, then, are we to imagine it introduced? For this simple vessel
[i.e. nerve] is so small—as are also the other
two—that if you prick it at any part with the finest needle
you will tear the whole three of them at once. Thus there could
never be in it a perceptible space entirely empty. And an emptied
space which merely existed in theory could not compel the adjacent
fluid to come and fill it.
At this point, again, I should like Erasistratus himself to
answer regarding this small elementary nerve, whether it is
actually one and definitely continuous, or whether it consists of
many small bodies, such as those assumed by Epicurus, Leucippus,
and Democritus.216 For I see that the Erasistrateans are at
variance on this subject. Some of them consider it one and
continuous, for otherwise, as they say, he would not have called it
simple; and some venture to resolve it into yet other
elementary bodies. But if it be one and continuous, then what is
evacuated from it in the so-called insensible transpiration
of the Pg
155
Greek text physicians will leave no
empty space in it; otherwise it would not be one body but many,
separated by empty spaces. But if it consists of many bodies, then
we have “escaped by the back door,” as the saying is, to
Asclepiades, seeing that we have postulated certain inharmonious
elements. Once again, then, we must call Nature “inartistic”;
for this necessarily follows the assumption of such elements.
For this reason some of the Erasistrateans seem to me to have
done very foolishly in reducing the simple vessels to elements such
as these. Yet it makes no difference to me, since the theory of
both parties regarding nutrition will be shown to be absurd. For in
these minute simple vessels constituting the large perceptible
nerves, it is impossible, according to the theory of those who
would keep the former continuous, that any “refilling of a vacuum”
should take place, since no vacuum can occur in a continuum even if
anything does run away; for the parts left come together (as is
seen in the case of water) and again become one, taking up the
whole space of that which previously separated them. Nor will any
“refilling” occur if we accept the argument of the other
Erasistrateans, since none of their elements need it. For
this principle only holds of things which are perceptible, and not
of those which exist merely in theory; this Erasistratus expressly
acknowledges, for he states that it is not a vacuum such as this,
interspersed in small portions among the corpuscles, that his
various treatises deal with, but a vacuum which is clear,
perceptible, complete in itself, large in size, evident, or however
else one cares to term it (for, what Erasistratus himself says is,
that “there cannot be a Pg 157
Greek text perceptible space which is
entirely empty”; while I, for my part, being abundantly equipped
with terms which are equally elucidatory, at least in relation to
the present topic of discussion, have added them as well).
Thus it seems to me better that we also should help the
Erasistrateans with some contribution, since we are on the subject,
and should advise those who reduce the vessel called primary
and simple by Erasistratus into other elementary bodies to
give up their opinion; for not only do they gain nothing by it, but
they are also at variance with Erasistratus in this matter. That
they gain nothing by it has been clearly demonstrated; for this
hypothesis could not escape the difficulty regarding
nutrition. And it also seems perfectly evident to me that
this hypothesis is not in consonance with the view of Erasistratus,
when it declares that what he calls simple and primary is
composite, and when it destroys the principle of Nature’s artistic
skill.217 For, if we do not
grant a certain unity of substance218 to these simple structures as well, and if we
arrive eventually at inharmonious and indivisible elements,219 we shall most
assuredly deprive Nature of her artistic skill, as do all the
physicians and philosophers who start from this hypothesis. For,
according to such a hypothesis, Nature does not precede, but is
secondary to the parts of the animal.220 Now, it is not the
province of what comes secondarily, but of what pre-exists, to
shape and to construct. Thus we must necessarily suppose that the
faculties of Nature, by which she Pg 159
Greek text shapes the animal, and
makes it grow and receive nourishment, are present from the seed
onwards; whereas none of these inharmonious and non-partite
corpuscles contains within itself any formative, incremental,221 nutritive, or, in a
word, any artistic power; it is, by hypothesis, unimpressionable
and untransformable,222 whereas, as we have previously shown,223 none of the processes
mentioned takes place without transformation, alteration, and
complete intermixture. And, owing to this necessity, those who
belong to these sects are unable to follow out the consequences of
their supposed elements, and they are all therefore forced to
declare Nature devoid of art. It is not from us, however, that the
Erasistrateans should have learnt this, but from those very
philosophers who lay most stress on a preliminary investigation
into the elements of all existing things.
Now, one can hardly be right in supposing that Erasistratus
could reach such a pitch of foolishness as to be incapable of
recognizing the logical consequences of this theory, and that,
while assuming Nature to be artistically creative, he would at the
same time break up substance into insensible, inharmonious, and
untransformable elements. If, however, he will grant that there
occurs in the elements a process of alteration and transformation,
and that there exists in them unity and continuity, then that
simple vessel of his (as he himself names it) will turn out
to be single and uncompounded. And the simple vein will receive
nourishment from itself, and the nerve and artery from the vein.
How, and in what Pg 161
Greek text way? For, when we were at
this point before, we drew attention to the disagreement among the
Erasistrateans,224 and we showed that the nutrition of these simple
vessels was impracticable according to the teachings of both
parties, although we did not hesitate to adjudicate in their
quarrel and to do Erasistratus the honour of placing him in the
better sect.225
Let our argument, then, be transferred again to the doctrine which assumes this elementary nerve226 to be a single, simple, and entirely unified structure, and let us consider how it is to be nourished; for what is discovered here will at once be found to be common also to the school of Hippocrates.
It seems to me that our enquiry can be most rigorously pursued
in subjects who are suffering from illness and have become very
emaciated, since in these people all parts of the body are
obviously atrophied and thin, and in need of additional substance
and feeding-up; for the same reason the ordinary perceptible
nerve, regarding which we originally began this discussion, has
become thin, and requires nourishment. Now, this contains within
itself various parts, namely, a great many of these primary,
invisible, minute nerves, a few simple arteries, and similarly also
veins. Thus, all its elementary nerves have themselves also
obviously become emaciated; for, if they had not, neither would the
nerve as a whole; and of course, in such a case, the whole nerve
cannot require nourishment without each of these requiring it too.
Now, if on the one hand they stand in need of feeding-up, and if on
the Pg
163
Greek text other the principle of the
refilling of a vacuum227 can give them no help—both by reason of
the difficulties previously mentioned and the actual thinness, as I
shall show—we must then seek another cause for nutrition.
How is it, then, that the tendency of a vacuum to become
refilled is unable to afford nourishment to one in such a
condition? Because its rule is that only so much of the contiguous
matter should succeed as has flowed away. Now this is sufficient
for nourishment in the case of those who are in good condition,
for, in them, what is presented228 must be equal to what has flowed away. But in
the case of those who are very emaciated and who need a great
restoration of nutrition, unless what was presented were many times
greater than what has been emptied out, they would never be able to
regain their original habit. It is clear, therefore, that these
parts will have to exert a greater amount of attraction, in
so far as their requirements are greater. And I fail to understand
how Erasistratus does not perceive that here again he is putting
the cart before the horse. Because, in the case of the sick, there
must be a large amount of presentation228 in order to feed them
up, he argues that the factor of “refilling”227 must play an equally
large part. And how could much presentation take place if it
were not preceded by an abundant delivery229 of nutriment? And if
he calls the conveyance of food through the veins delivery, and its
assumption by each of these simple and visible nerves and arteries
not delivery but distribution,230 as some people have thought fit to name it, and
then ascribes conveyance Pg 165
Greek text through the veins to the
principle of vacuum-refilling alone, let him explain to us the
assumption of food by the hypothetical elements.231 For it has been shown
that at least in relation to these there is no question of the
refilling of a vacuum being in operation, and especially where the
parts are very attenuated. It is worth while listening to what
Erasistratus says about these cases in the second book of his
“General Principles”: “In the ultimate simple [vessels], which are
thin and narrow, presentation takes place from the adjacent
vessels, the nutriment being attracted through the sides of the
vessels and deposited in the empty spaces left by the matter which
has been carried away.” Now, in this statement firstly I admit and
accept the words “through the sides.” For, if the simple nerve were
actually to take in the food through its mouth, it could not
distribute it through its whole substance; for the mouth is
dedicated to the psychic pneuma.232 It can, however, take it in through its sides
from the adjacent simple vein. Secondly, I also accept in
Erasistratus’s statement the expression which precedes “through the
sides.” What does this say? “The nutriment being attracted through
the sides of the vessels.” Now I, too, agree that it is attracted,
but it has been previously shown that this is not through the
tendency of evacuated matter to be replaced.
Let us, then, consider together how it is attracted. How else
than in the way that iron is attracted by Pg 167
Greek text the lodestone, the latter
having a faculty attractive of this particular quality [existing in
iron]?233 But if the beginning
of anadosis depends on the squeezing action of the stomach,234 and the whole movement
thereafter on the peristalsis and propulsive action of the veins,
as well as on the traction exerted by each of the parts which are
undergoing nourishment, then we can abandon the principle of
replacement of evacuated matter, as not being suitable for a man
who assumes Nature to be a skilled artist; thus we shall also have
avoided the contradiction of Asclepiades235 though we cannot refute it: for the disjunctive
argument used for the purposes of demonstration is, in reality,
disjunctive not of two but of three alternatives; now, if we treat
the disjunction as a disjunction of two alternatives, one of the
two propositions assumed in constructing our proof must be false;
and if as a disjunctive of three alternatives, no conclusion will
be arrived at.
Now Erasistratus ought not to have been ignorant of this if he
had ever had anything to do with the Peripatetics—even in a
dream. Nor, similarly, should he have been unacquainted with the
genesis of the humours, about which, not having even
anything moderately plausible to say, he thinks to deceive us by
the excuse that the consideration of such matters is not the least
useful. Then, in Heaven’s name, is it useful to know how food is
digested in the stomach, but unnecessary to know how bile
comes into existence Pg 169
Greek text in the veins? Are we to
pay attention merely to the evacuation of this humour, and not to
its genesis? As though it were not far better to prevent its
excessive development from the beginning than to give ourselves all
the trouble of expelling it!236 And it is a strange thing to be entirely unaware
as to whether its genesis is to be looked on as taking place in the
body, or whether it comes from without and is contained in the
food. For, if it was right to raise this problem, why should we not
make investigations concerning the blood as
well—whether it takes its origin in the body, or is
distributed through the food as is maintained by those who
postulate homœmeries?237 Assuredly it would be much more useful to
investigate what kinds of food are suited, and what kinds unsuited,
to the process of blood-production238 rather than to enquire into what articles of
diet are easily mastered by the activity of the stomach, and what
resist and contend with it. For the choice of the latter bears
reference merely to digestion, while that of the former is of
importance in regard to the generation of useful blood. For it is
not equally important whether the aliment be imperfectly
chylified239 in the stomach or
whether it fail to be turned into useful blood. Why is Erasistratus
not ashamed to distinguish all the various kinds of digestive
failure and all the occasions which give rise to them, whilst in
reference to the errors of blood-production he does not utter a
single word—nay, not a syllable? Now, there is certainly to
be found in the veins both thick and thin blood; in some people it
is redder, in others yellower, in some blacker, in others more of
the nature of phlegm. And one who realizes that it Pg 171
Greek text may smell offensively not
in one way only, but in a great many different respects (which
cannot be put into words, although perfectly appreciable to the
senses), would, I imagine, condemn in no measured terms the
carelessness of Erasistratus in omitting a consideration so
essential to the practice of our art.
Thus it is clear what errors in regard to the subject of
dropsies logically follow this carelessness. For, does it
not show the most extreme carelessness to suppose that the blood is
prevented from going forward into the liver owing to the
narrowness of the passages, and that dropsy can never occur
in any other way? For, to imagine that dropsy is never caused by
the spleen240 or any other
part, but always by induration of the liver,241 is the standpoint of a
man whose intelligence is perfectly torpid and who is quite out of
touch with things that happen every day. For, not merely once or
twice, but frequently, we have observed dropsy produced by chronic
haemorrhoids which have been suppressed,242 or which, through immoderate bleeding, have
given the patient a severe chill; similarly, in women, the complete
disappearance of the monthly discharge,243 or an undue evacuation such as is caused by
violent bleeding from the womb, often provoke dropsy; and in some
of them the so-called female flux ends in this disorder. I leave
out of account Pg 173
Greek text the dropsy which begins in
the flanks or in any other susceptible part; this clearly confutes
Erasistratus’s assumption, although not so obviously as does that
kind of dropsy which is brought about by an excessive chilling of
the whole constitution; this, which is the primary reason for the
occurrence of dropsy, results from a failure of blood-production,244 very much like the
diarrhoea which follows imperfect digestion of food; certainly in
this kind of dropsy neither the liver nor any other viscus becomes
indurated.
The learned Erasistratus, however, overlooks—nay, despises—what neither Hippocrates, Diocles, Praxagoras, nor Philistion245 despised, nor indeed any of the best philosophers, whether Plato, Aristotle, or Theophrastus; he passes by whole functions as though it were but a trifling and casual department of medicine which he was neglecting, without deigning to argue whether or not these authorities are right in saying that the bodily parts of all animals are governed by the Warm, the Cold, the Dry and the Moist, the one pair being active and the other passive, and that among these the Warm has most power in connection with all functions, but especially with the genesis of the humours.246 Now, one cannot be blamed for not agreeing with all these great men, nor for imagining that one knows more than they; but not to consider such distinguished teaching worthy either of contradiction or even mention shows an extraordinary arrogance.
Pg
175
Greek text Now, Erasistratus is
thoroughly small-minded and petty to the last degree in all his
disputations—when, for instance, in his treatise “On
Digestion,”247 he argues
jealously with those who consider that this is a process of
putrefaction of the food; and, in his work “On Anadosis,”248 with those who think
that the anadosis of blood through the veins results from the
contiguity of the arteries; also, in his work “On Respiration,”
with those who maintain that the air is forced along by
contraction. Nay, he did not even hesitate to contradict those who
maintain that the urine passes into the bladder in a vaporous
state,249 as also those who say
that imbibed fluids are carried into the lung. Thus he delights to
choose always the most valueless doctrines, and to spend his time
more and more in contradicting these; whereas on the subject of the
origin of blood (which is in no way less important than the
chylification250 of food in the stomach) he did not deign to
dispute with any of the ancients, nor did he himself venture to
bring forward any other opinion, despite the fact that at the
beginning of his treatise on “General Principles” he undertook to
say how all the various natural functions take place, and through
what parts of the animal! Now, is it possible that, when the
faculty which naturally digests food is weak, the animal’s
digestion fails, whereas the faculty which turns the digested food
into blood cannot suffer any kind of impairment?251 Are we to suppose this
latter faculty alone to be as tough as steel and unaffected by
circumstances? Or is it that weakness of this faculty will result
in something Pg 177
Greek text else than dropsy? The
fact, therefore, that Erasistratus, in regard to other matters, did
not hesitate to attack even the most trivial views, whilst in this
case he neither dared to contradict his predecessors nor to advance
any new view of his own, proves plainly that he recognized the
fallacy of his own way of thinking.252
For what could a man possibly say about blood who had no use for innate heat? What could he say about yellow or black bile, or phlegm? Well, of course, he might say that the bile could come directly from without, mingled with the food! Thus Erasistratus practically says so in the following words: “It is of no value in practical medicine to find out whether a fluid of this kind253 arises from the elaboration of food in the stomach-region, or whether it reaches the body because it is mixed with the food taken in from outside.” But, my very good Sir, you most certainly maintain also that this humour has to be evacuated from the animal, and that it causes great pain if it be not evacuated. How, then, if you suppose that no good comes from the bile, do you venture to say that an investigation into its origin is of no value in medicine?
Well, let us suppose that it is contained in the food, and not
specifically secreted in the liver (for you hold these two things
possible). In this case, it will certainly make a considerable
difference whether the ingested food contains a minimum or a
maximum of bile; for the one kind is harmless, whereas that
containing a large quantity of bile, owing to the fact that it
cannot be properly purified254 Pg 179
Greek text in the liver, will result
in the various affections—particularly jaundice—which
Erasistratus himself states to occur where there is much bile.
Surely, then, it is most essential for the physician to know in the
first place, that the bile is contained in the food itself from
outside, and, secondly, that for example, beet contains a great
deal of bile, and bread very little, while olive oil contains most,
and wine least of all, and all the other articles of diet different
quantities. Would it not be absurd for any one to choose
voluntarily those articles which contain more bile, rather than
those containing less?
What, however, if the bile is not contained in the food, but comes into existence in the animal’s body? Will it not also be useful to know what state of the body is followed by a greater, and what by a smaller occurrence of bile?255 For obviously it is in our power to alter and transmute morbid states of the body—in fact, to give them a turn for the better. But if we did not know in what respect they were morbid or in what way they diverged from the normal, how should we be able to ameliorate them?
Therefore it is not useless in treatment, as Erasistratus says,
to know the actual truth about the genesis of bile. Certainly it is
not impossible, or even difficult to discover that the reason why
honey produces yellow bile is not that it contains a large
quantity of this within itself, but because it [the honey]
undergoes change, becoming altered and transmuted into bile.
For it would be bitter to the taste if it contained bile from the
outset, and it would produce an equal quantity of bile Pg 181
Greek text in every person who took
it. The facts, however, are not so.256 For in those who are in the prime of life,
especially if they are warm by nature and are leading a life of
toil, the honey changes entirely into yellow bile. Old people,
however, it suits well enough, inasmuch as the alteration which it
undergoes is not into bile, but into blood. Erasistratus, however,
in addition to knowing nothing about this, shows no intelligence
even in the division of his argument; he says that it is of no
practical importance to investigate whether the bile is contained
in the food from the beginning or comes into existence as a result
of gastric digestion. He ought surely to have added something about
its genesis in liver and veins, seeing that the old physicians and
philosophers declare that it along with the blood is generated in
these organs. But it is inevitable that people who, from the very
outset, go astray, and wander from the right road, should talk such
nonsense, and should, over and above this, neglect to search for
the factors of most practical importance in medicine.
Having come to this point in the argument, I should like to ask
those who declare that Erasistratus was very familiar with the
Peripatetics, whether they know what Aristotle stated and
demonstrated with regard to our bodies being compounded out of the
Warm, the Cold, the Dry and the Moist, and how he says that among
these the Warm is the most active, and that those animals which are
by nature warmest have abundance of blood, whilst those that are
colder are entirely lacking in blood, and consequently in winter
lie idle and motionless, lurking Pg 183
Greek text in holes like corpses.
Further, the question of the colour of the blood has been dealt
with not only by Aristotle but also by Plato.257 Now I, for my part, as
I have already said, did not set before myself the task of stating
what has been so well demonstrated by the Ancients, since I cannot
surpass these men either in my views or in my method of giving them
expression. Doctrines, however, which they either stated without
demonstration, as being self-evident (since they never suspected
that there could be sophists so degraded as to contemn the truth in
these matters), or else which they actually omitted to mention at
all—these I propose to discover and prove.
Now in reference to the genesis of the humours, I do not
know that any one could add anything wiser than what has been said
by Hippocrates, Aristotle, Praxagoras, Philotimus258 and many other among
the Ancients. These men demonstrated that when the nutriment
becomes altered in the veins by the innate heat, blood is produced
when it is in moderation, and the other humours when it is not in
proper proportion. And all the observed facts259 agree with this
argument. Thus, those articles of food, which are by nature warmer
are more productive of bile, while those which are colder produce
more phlegm. Similarly of the periods of life, those which are
naturally warmer tend more to bile, and the colder more to phlegm.
Of occupations also, localities and seasons, and, above all, of
natures260 themselves, the
colder are more phlegmatic, and the warmer more Pg 185
Greek text bilious. Also cold
diseases result from phlegm, and warmer ones from yellow bile.
There is not a single thing to be found which does not bear witness
to the truth of this account. How could it be otherwise? For,
seeing that every part functions in its own special way because of
the manner in which the four qualities are compounded, it is
absolutely necessary that the function [activity] should be either
completely destroyed, or, at least hampered, by any damage to the
qualities, and that thus the animal should fall ill, either as a
whole, or in certain of its parts.
Also the diseases which are primary and most generic are four in number, and differ from each other in warmth, cold, dryness and moisture. Now, Erasistratus himself confesses this, albeit unintentionally;261 for when he says that the digestion of food becomes worse in fever, not because the innate heat has ceased to be in due proportion, as people previously supposed, but because the stomach, with its activity impaired, cannot contract and triturate as before—then, I say, one may justly ask him what it is that has impaired the activity of the stomach.
Thus, for example, when a bubo develops following an accidental
wound262 gastric digestion does
not become impaired until after the patient has become
fevered; neither the bubo nor the sore of itself impedes in any
way or damages the activity of the stomach. But if fever occurs,
the digestion at once deteriorates, and we are also right in saying
that the activity of the stomach at once becomes impaired. We must
add, however, by what Pg 187
Greek text it has been impaired. For
the wound was not capable of impairing it, nor yet the bubo, for,
if they had been, then they would have caused this damage before
the fever as well. If it was not these that caused it, then it was
the excess of heat263 (for these two symptoms occurred besides the
bubo—an alteration in the arterial and cardiac movements264 and an excessive
development of natural heat). Now the alteration of these movements
will not merely not impair the function of the stomach in any way:
it will actually prove an additional help among those animals in
which, according to Erasistratus, the pneuma, which is
propelled through the arteries and into the alimentary canal, is of
great service in digestion;265 there is only left, then, the disproportionate
heat to account for the damage to the gastric activity. For the
pneuma is driven in more vigorously and continuously, and in
greater quantity now than before; thus in this case, the animal
whose digestion is promoted by pneuma will digest more, whereas the
remaining factor—abnormal heat—will give them
indigestion. For to say, on the one hand, that the pneuma has a
certain property by virtue of which it promotes digestion, and then
to say that this property disappears in cases of fever, is simply
to admit the absurdity. For when they are again asked what it is
that has altered the pneuma, they will only be able to reply, “the
abnormal heat,” and particularly if it be the pneuma in the food
canal which is in Pg 189
Greek text question (since this does
not come in any way near the bubo).
Yet why do I mention those animals in which the property of the pneuma plays an important part, when it is possible to base one’s argument upon human beings, in whom it is either of no importance at all, or acts quite faintly and feebly?266 But Erasistratus himself agrees that human beings digest badly in fevers, adding as the cause that the activity of the stomach has been impaired. He cannot, however, advance any other cause of this impairment than abnormal heat. But if it is not by accident that the abnormal heat impairs this activity, but by virtue of its own essence and power, then this abnormal heat must belong to the primary diseases. But, indeed, if disproportion of heat belongs to the primary diseases, it cannot but be that a proportionate blending [eucrasia] of the qualities produces the normal activity.267 For a disproportionate blend [dyscrasia] can only become a cause of the primary diseases through derangement of the eucrasia. That is to say, it is because the [normal] activities arise from the eucrasia that the primary impairments of these activities necessarily arise from its derangement.
I think, then, it has been proved to the satisfaction of those
people who are capable of seeing logical consequences, that, even
according to Erasistratus’s own argument, the cause of the normal
functions is eucrasia of the Warm.268 Now, this being so, there is nothing further to
prevent us from saying Pg 191
Greek text that, in the case of each
function, eucrasia is followed by the more, and dyscrasia by the
less favourable alternative. And, therefore, if this be the case,
we must suppose blood to be the outcome of proportionate, and
yellow bile of disproportionate heat. So we naturally find yellow
bile appearing in greatest quantity in ourselves at the warm
periods of life, in warm countries, at warm seasons of the year,
and when we are in a warm condition; similarly in people of warm
temperaments, and in connection with warm occupations, modes of
life, or diseases.
And to be in doubt as to whether this humour has its genesis in
the human body or is contained in the food is what you would expect
from one who has—I will not say failed to see that, when
those who are perfectly healthy have, under the compulsion of
circumstances, to fast contrary to custom, their mouths become
bitter and their urine bile-coloured, while they suffer from
gnawing pains in the stomach—but has, as it were, just made a
sudden entrance into the world, and is not yet familiar with the
phenomena which occur there. Who, in fact, does not know that
anything which is overcooked grows at first salt and afterwards
bitter? And if you will boil honey itself, far the sweetest of all
things, you can demonstrate that even this becomes quite bitter.
For what may occur as a result of boiling in the case of other
articles which are not warm by nature, exists naturally in honey;
for this reason it does not become sweeter on being boiled, since
exactly the same quantity of heat as is needed for the production
of sweetness exists from beforehand in the honey. Therefore the
external heat, Pg 193
Greek text which would be useful for
insufficiently warm substances, becomes in the honey a source of
damage, in fact an excess; and it is for this reason that honey,
when boiled, can be demonstrated to become bitter sooner than the
others. For the same reason it is easily transmuted into bile in
those people who are naturally warm, or in their prime, since warm
when associated with warm becomes readily changed into a
disproportionate combination and turns into bile sooner than into
blood. Thus we need a cold temperament and a cold period of life if
we would have honey brought to the nature of blood.269 Therefore Hippocrates
not improperly advised those who were naturally bilious not to take
honey, since they were obviously of too warm a temperament. So
also, not only Hippocrates, but all physicians say that honey is
bad in bilious diseases but good in old age; some of them having
discovered this through the indications afforded by its nature, and
others simply through experiment,270 for the Empiricist physicians too have made
precisely the same observation, namely, that honey is good for an
old man and not for a young one, that it is harmful for those who
are naturally bilious, and serviceable for those who are
phlegmatic. In a word, in bodies which are warm either through
nature, disease, time of life, season of the year, locality, or
occupation, honey is productive of bile, whereas in opposite
circumstances it produces blood.
But surely it is impossible that the same article of diet can
produce in certain persons bile and in others blood, if it be not
that the genesis of these humours is Pg 195
Greek text accomplished in the
body. For if all articles of food contained bile from the
beginning and of themselves, and did not produce it by undergoing
change in the animal body, then they would produce it similarly in
all bodies; the food which was bitter to the taste would, I take
it, be productive of bile, while that which tasted good and sweet
would not generate even the smallest quantity of bile. Moreover,
not only honey but all other sweet substances are readily converted
into bile in the aforesaid bodies which are warm for any of the
reasons mentioned.
Well, I have somehow or other been led into this discussion,—not in accordance with my plan, but compelled by the course of the argument. This subject has been treated at great length by Aristotle and Praxagoras, who have correctly expounded the view of Hippocrates and Plato.
For this reason the things that we have said are not to be
looked upon as proofs but rather as indications of the dulness271 of those who think
differently, and who do not even recognise what is agreed on by
everyone and is a matter of daily observation. As for the
scientific proofs of all this, they are to be drawn from these
principles of which I have already spoken272—namely, that bodies act upon and are acted
upon by each other in virtue of the Warm, Cold, Moist and Dry. And
if one is Pg
197
Greek text speaking of any activity,
whether it be exercised by vein, liver, arteries, heart, alimentary
canal, or any part, one will be inevitably compelled to acknowledge
that this activity depends upon the way in which the four qualities
are blended. Thus I should like to ask the Erasistrateans why it is
that the stomach contracts upon the food, and why the veins
generate blood. There is no use in recognizing the mere fact of
contraction, without also knowing the cause; if we know
this, we shall also be able to rectify the failures of function.
“This is no concern of ours,” they say; “we do not occupy ourselves
with such causes as these; they are outside the sphere of the
practitioner,273 and belong to that of the scientific
investigator.”274 Are you, then, going to oppose those who
maintain that the cause of the function of every organ is a natural
eucrasia,275 that the
dyscrasia is itself known as a disease, and that it is
certainly by this that the activity becomes impaired? Or, on the
other hand, will you be convinced by the proofs which the ancient
writers furnished? Or will you take a midway course between these
two, neither perforce accepting these arguments as true nor
contradicting them as false, but suddenly becoming
sceptics—Pyrrhonists, in fact? But if you do this you will
have to shelter yourselves behind the Empiricist teaching. For how
are you going to be successful in treatment, if you do not
understand the real essence of each disease? Why, then, did you not
call yourselves Empiricists from the beginning? Why do you confuse
us by announcing that you are Pg 199
Greek text investigating natural
activities with a view to treatment? If the stomach is, in a
particular case, unable to exercise its peristaltic and grinding
functions, how are we going to bring it back to the normal if we do
not know the cause of its disability? What I say is276 that we must cool the
over-heated stomach and warm the chilled one; so also we must
moisten the one which has become dried up, and conversely; so, too,
in combinations of these conditions; if the stomach becomes at the
same time warmer and drier than normally, the first principle of
treatment is at once to chill and moisten it; and if it become
colder and moister, it must be warmed and dried; so also in other
cases. But how on earth are the followers of Erasistratus going to
act, confessing as they do that they make no sort of investigation
into the cause of disease? For the fruit of the enquiry into
activities is that by knowing the causes of the dyscrasiae one may
bring them back to the normal, since it is of no use for the
purposes of treatment merely to know what the activity of each
organ is.
Now, it seems to me that Erasistratus is unaware of this fact
also, that the actual disease is that condition of the body which,
not accidentally, but primarily and of itself, impairs the normal
function. How, then, is he going to diagnose or cure diseases if he
is entirely ignorant of what they are, and of what kind and number?
As regards the stomach, certainly, Erasistratus held that one
should at least Pg 201
Greek text investigate how it
digests the food. But why was not investigation also made as to the
primary originative cause of this? And, as regards the veins and
the blood, he omitted even to ask the question “how?”
Yet neither Hippocrates nor any of the other physicians or philosophers whom I mentioned a short while ago thought it right to omit this; they say that when the heat which exists naturally in every animal is well blended and moderately moist it generates blood; for this reason they also say that the blood is a virtually warm and moist humour, and similarly also that yellow bile is warm and dry, even though for the most part it appears moist. (For in them the apparently dry would seem to differ from the virtually dry.) Who does not know that brine and sea-water preserve meat and keep it uncorrupted,277 whilst all other water—the drinkable kind—readily spoils and rots it? And who does not know that when yellow bile is contained in large quantity in the stomach, we are troubled with an unquenchable thirst, and that when we vomit this up, we at once become much freer from thirst than if we had drunk very large quantities of fluid? Therefore this humour has been very properly termed warm, and also virtually dry. And, similarly, phlegm has been called cold and moist; for about this also clear proofs have been given by Hippocrates and the other Ancients.
Prodicus278 also, when in his
book “On the Nature of Man” he gives the name “phlegm” (from the
verb πεφλέχθαι)
to that element in the humours which has been burned or, as it
were, over-roasted, while using Pg 203
Greek text a different terminology,
still keeps to the fact just as the others do; this man’s
innovations in nomenclature have also been amply done justice to by
Plato.279 Thus, the
white-coloured substance which everyone else calls phlegm,
and which Prodicus calls blenna [mucus],280 is the well-known
cold, moist humour which collects mostly in old people and in those
who have been chilled281 in some way, and not even a lunatic could say
that this was anything else than cold and moist.
If, then, there is a warm and moist humour, and another which is warm and dry, and yet another which is moist and cold, is there none which is virtually cold and dry? Is the fourth combination of temperaments, which exists in all other things, non-existent in the humours alone? No; the black bile is such a humour. This, according to intelligent physicians and philosophers, tends to be in excess, as regards seasons, mainly in the fall of the year, and, as regards ages, mainly after the prime of life. And, similarly, also they say that there are cold and dry modes of life, regions, constitutions, and diseases. Nature, they suppose, is not defective in this single combination like the three other combinations, it extends everywhere.
At this point, also, I would gladly have been able to ask
Erasistratus whether his “artistic” Nature has not constructed any
organ for clearing away a Pg 205
Greek text humour such as this. For
whilst there are two organs for the excretion of urine, and another
of considerable size for that of yellow bile, does the humour which
is more pernicious than these wander about persistently in the
veins mingled with the blood? Yet Hippocrates says, “Dysentery is a
fatal condition if it proceeds from black bile”; while that
proceeding from yellow bile is by no means deadly, and most people
recover from it; this proves how much more pernicious and acrid in
its potentialities is black than yellow bile. Has Erasistratus,
then, not read the book, “On the Nature of Man,” any more than any
of the rest of Hippocrates’s writings, that he so carelessly passes
over the consideration of the humours? Or, does he know it, and yet
voluntarily neglect one of the finest studies282 in medicine? Thus he
ought not to have said anything about the spleen,283 nor have stultified
himself by holding that an artistic Nature would have prepared so
large an organ for no purpose. As a matter of fact, not only
Hippocrates and Plato—who are no less authorities on Nature
than is Erasistratus—say that this viscus also is one of
those which cleanse the blood, but there are thousands of the
ancient physicians and philosophers as well who are in agreement
with them. Now, all of these the high and mighty Erasistratus
affected to despise, and he neither contradicted them nor even so
much as mentioned their opinion. Hippocrates, indeed, says that the
spleen wastes in those people in whom the body is in good
condition, and all those physicians also who base themselves on
experience284 agree with this.
Again, in those cases in which the spleen is large and is
increasing from Pg 207
Greek text internal suppuration, it
destroys the body and fills it with evil humours;285 this again is agreed
on, not only by Hippocrates, but also by Plato and many others,
including the Empiric physicians. And the jaundice which occurs
when the spleen is out of order is darker in colour, and the
cicatrices of ulcers are dark. For, generally speaking, when the
spleen is drawing the atrabiliary286 humour into itself to a less degree than is
proper, the blood is unpurified, and the whole body takes on a bad
colour. And when does it draw this in to a less degree than proper?
Obviously, when it [the spleen] is in a bad condition. Thus, just
as the kidneys, whose function it is to attract the urine, do this
badly when they are out of order, so also the spleen, which has in
itself a native power of attracting an atrabiliary quality,287 if it ever happens to
be weak, must necessarily exercise this attraction badly, with the
result that the blood becomes thicker and darker.
Now all these points, affording as they do the greatest help in
the diagnosis and in the cure of disease were entirely passed over
by Erasistratus, and he pretended to despise these great
men—he who does not despise ordinary people, but always
jealously attacks the most absurd doctrines. Hence, it was clearly
because he had nothing to say against the statements made by the
ancients regarding the function and utility of the spleen, and also
because he could discover nothing new himself, that he ended by
saying nothing at all. I, however, for my part, have demonstrated,
firstly from the causes by which everything throughout
nature is governed (by Pg 209
Greek text the causes I mean the
Warm, Cold, Dry and Moist) and secondly, from obvious bodily
phenomena, that there must needs be a cold and dry humour.288 And having in the next
place drawn attention to the fact that this humour is black bile
[atrabiliary] and that the viscus which clears it away is the
spleen—having pointed this out by help of as few as possible
of the proofs given by ancient writers, I shall now proceed to what
remains of the subject in hand.
What else, then, remains but to explain clearly what it is that
happens in the generation of the humours, according to the belief
and demonstration of the Ancients? This will be more clearly
understood from a comparison. Imagine, then, some new wine which
has been not long ago pressed from the grape, and which is
fermenting and undergoing alteration through the agency of
its contained heat.289 Imagine next two residual substances produced
during this process of alteration, the one tending to be light and
air-like and the other to be heavy and more of the nature of earth;
of these the one, as I understand, they call the flower and
the other the lees. Now you may correctly compare yellow
bile to the first of these, and black bile to the latter, although
these humours have not the same appearance when the animal is in
normal health as that which they often show when it is not so; for
then the yellow bile becomes vitelline,290 being so termed
because it becomes like the yolk of an egg, both in colour and
density; and again, even the black bile itself becomes much more
malignant than when in Pg 211
Greek text its normal condition,291 but no particular name
has been given to [such a condition of] the humour, except that
some people have called it corrosive or acetose,
because it also becomes sharp like vinegar and corrodes the
animal’s body—as also the earth, if it be poured out upon
it—and it produces a kind of fermentation and seething,
accompanied by bubbles—an abnormal putrefaction having become
added to the natural condition of the black humour. It seems to me
also that most of the ancient physicians give the name black
humour and not black bile to the normal portion of this
humour, which is discharged from the bowel and which also
frequently rises to the top [of the stomach-contents]; and they
call black bile that part which, through a kind of
combustion and putrefaction, has had its quality changed to acid.
There is no need, however, to dispute about names, but we must
realise the facts, which are as follow:—
In the genesis of blood, everything in the nutriment292 which belongs
naturally to the thick and earth-like part of the food,292 and which does not
take on well the alteration produced by the innate heat—all
this the spleen draws into itself. On the other hand, that part of
the nutriment which is roasted, so to speak, or burnt (this will be
the warmest and sweetest part of it, like honey and fat), becomes
yellow bile, and is cleared away through the so-called
biliary293 vessels; now,
this is thin, moist, and fluid, not like what it is when, having
been roasted to an excessive degree, it becomes yellow,
fiery, and thick, like the yolk of Pg 213
Greek text eggs; for this latter is
already abnormal, while the previously mentioned state is natural.
Similarly with the black humour: that which does not yet produce,
as I say, this seething and fermentation on the ground, is natural,
while that which has taken over this character and faculty is
unnatural; it has assumed an acridity owing to the combustion
caused by abnormal heat, and has practically become transformed
into ashes.294 In somewhat the
same way burned lees differ from unburned. The former is a warm
substance, able to burn, dissolve, and destroy the flesh. The other
kind, which has not yet undergone combustion, one may find the
physicians employing for the same purposes that one uses the
so-called potter’s earth and other substances which have
naturally a combined drying and chilling action.
Now the vitelline bile also may take on the appearance of this
combusted black bile, if ever it chance to be roasted, so to say,
by fiery heat. And all the other forms of bile are produced, some
from a blending of those mentioned, others being, as it were,
transition-stages in the genesis of these or in their conversion
into one another. And they differ in that those first mentioned are
unmixed and unique, while the latter forms are diluted with various
kinds of serum. And all the serums in the humours are waste
substances, and the animal body needs to be purified from them.
There is, however, a natural use for the humours first mentioned,
both thick and thin; the blood is purified both by the spleen and
by the bladder beside the liver, and a part of each of the two
humours is put away, of such quantity and Pg 215
Greek text quality that, if it were
carried all over the body, it would do a certain amount of harm.
For that which is decidedly thick and earthy in nature, and has
entirely escaped alteration in the liver, is drawn by the spleen
into itself295; the other part
which is only moderately thick, after being elaborated [in the
liver], is carried all over the body. For the blood in many parts
of the body has need of a certain amount of thickening, as also, I
take it, of the fibres which it contains. And the use of
these has been discussed by Plato,296 and it will also be discussed by me in such of
my treatises as may deal with the use of parts. And the blood also
needs, not least, the yellow humour, which has as yet not reached
the extreme stage of combustion; in the treatises mentioned it will
be pointed out what purpose is subserved by this.
Now Nature has made no organ for clearing away phlegm,
this being cold and moist, and, as it were, half-digested
nutriment; such a substance, therefore, does not need to be
evacuated, but remains in the body and undergoes alteration
there. And perhaps one cannot properly give the name of
phlegm to the surplus-substance which runs down from the
brain,297 but one should call it
mucus [blenna] or coryza—as, in fact, it is
actually termed; in any case it will be pointed out, in the
treatise “On the Use of Parts,” how Nature has provided for the
evacuation of this substance. Further, the device provided by
Nature which ensures that the phlegm which forms in the stomach and
intestines may be evacuated in the most rapid and effective way
possible—this also will be described in that commentary.
Pg
217
Greek text As to that portion of the
phlegm which is carried in the veins, seeing that this is of
service to the animal it requires no evacuation. Here too, then, we
must pay attention and recognise that, just as in the case of each
of the two kinds of bile, there is one part which is useful to the
animal and in accordance with its nature, while the other part is
useless and contrary to nature, so also is it with the phlegm; such
of it as is sweet is useful to the animal and according to nature,
while, as to such of it as has become bitter or salt, that part
which is bitter is completely undigested, while that part which is
salt has undergone putrefaction. And the term “complete
indigestion” refers of course to the second
digestion—that which takes place in the veins; it is not a
failure of the first digestion—that in the alimentary
canal—for it would not have become a humour at the outset if
it had escaped this digestion also.
It seems to me that I have made enough reference to what has
been said regarding the genesis and destruction of humours by
Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Praxagoras, and Diocles, and many
others among the Ancients; I did not deem it right to transport the
whole of their final pronouncements into this treatise. I have said
only so much regarding each of the humours as will stir up the
reader, unless he be absolutely inept, to make himself familiar
with the writings of the Ancients, and will help him to gain more
easy access to them. In another treatise298 I have written on the humours according to
Praxagoras, son of Nicarchus; although this authority makes as many
as ten humours, not Pg 219
Greek text including the blood (the
blood itself being an eleventh), this is not a departure from the
teaching of Hippocrates; for Praxagoras divides into species and
varieties the humours which Hippocrates first mentioned, with the
demonstration proper to each.
Those, then, are to be praised who explain the points which have been duly mentioned, as also those who add what has been left out; for it is not possible for the same man to make both a beginning and an end. Those, on the other hand, deserve censure who are so impatient that they will not wait to learn any of the things which have been duly mentioned, as do also those who are so ambitious that, in their lust after novel doctrines, they are always attempting some fraudulent sophistry, either purposely neglecting certain subjects, as Erasistratus does in the case of the humours, or unscrupulously attacking other people, as does this same writer, as well as many of the more recent authorities.
But let this discussion come to an end here, and I shall add in the third book all that remains.
169 The radicles of the hepatic ducts in the liver were supposed to be the active agents in extracting bile from the blood. cf. pp. 145-149.
171 The term κοιλία is used both specifically for the stomach proper and also (as probably here) in a somewhat wider sense for the stomach region, including the adjacent part of the small intestine; this was the part of the alimentary canal from which nutriment was believed to be absorbed by the mesenteric veins; cf. p. 309, note 2.
173 A characteristic “lesion” in Erasistratus’s pathology.
174 A certain subordinate place allowed to the horror vacui.
175 i.e. the parts to which the veins convey blood after it leaves the liver—second stage of anadosis; cf. p. 91, note 2; p. 13, note 5.
176 What we now call the pulmonary artery. Galen believed that the right ventricle existed for the purpose of sending nutrient blood to the lungs.
177 Lit. owing to the ongrowth (epiphysis) of membranes; he means the tricuspid valve; cf. p. 314, note 2; p. 321, note 4.
178 Horror vacui.
180 This was the characteristically “anatomical” explanation of bile-secretion made by Erasistratus. cf. p. 170, note 2. Why, then, says Galen, does not urine, rather than bile, enter the bile-ducts?
181 Urine, or, more exactly, blood-serum.
182 Or ducts, canals, conduits, i.e. morphological factors.
185 Note how Galen, although he has not yet clearly differentiated physiological from physical processes (both are “natural”) yet separates them definitely from the psychical. cf. p. 2, footnote. A psychical function or activity is, in Latin, actio animalis (from anima = psyche).
187 The spermatozoon now becomes an “organism” proper.
188 Galen attributed to the sperma or semen what we should to the fertilized ovum: to him the maternal contribution is purely passive—mere food for the sperm. The epoch-making Ovum Theory was not developed till the seventeenth century. cf. p. 19, note 3.
191 He still tends either to biologize physics, or to physicize biology—whichever way we prefer to look at it. cf. Book I., chap. xiv.
192 Aristotelian and Stoic duality of an active and a passive principle.
193 Note that early embryonic development is described as a process of nutrition. cf. p. 130, note 2.
198 For definitions of alteration and mingling (crasis, “temperament”) cf. Book I., chaps. ii. and iii.
200 “Useless” organs; cf. p. 56, note 2. For fallacy of Erasistratus’s view on the spleen v. p. 205.
201 The Stoics.
202 The Peripatetics (Aristotelians).
203 Aristotle regarded the qualitative differences apprehended by our senses (the cold, the warm, the moist, and the dry) as fundamental, while the Stoics held the four corporeal elements (earth, air, fire, and water) to be still more fundamental. cf. p. 8, note 3.
204 Lit. bile-receiving (choledochous).
205 Jecoris portae, the transverse fissure, by which the portal vein enters the liver.
206 Lit. “anastomosing.”
207 More literally, “synapse.”
208 The portal vein.
209 The hepatic vein or veins.
210 The portal vein.
213 i.e. one might assume an attraction.
214 i.e. visible to the mind’s eye as distinguished from the bodily eye. cf. p. 21, note 4. Theoreton without qualification means merely visible, not theoretic. cf. p. 205, note 1.
215 According to the Pneumatist school, certain of whose ideas were accepted by Erasistratus, the air, breath, pneuma, or spirit was brought by inspiration into the left side of the heart, where it was converted into natural, vital, and psychic pneuma; the latter then went to the brain, whence it was distributed through the nervous system; practically this teaching involved the idea of a psyche, or conscious vital principle. “Psychic pneuma” is in Latin spiritus animalis (anima = psyche); cf. p. 126, note 4. Introduction, p. xxxiv.
216 Observe that Erasistratus’s “simple nerve” may be almost looked on as an anticipation of the cell. The question Galen now asks is whether this vessel is a “unit mass of living matter,” or merely an agglomeration of atoms subject to mechanical law. cf. Galen’s “fibres,” p. 329.
218 i.e. in biology we must begin with living substance—with something which is specifically alive—here with the “unit mass of living matter.” cf. p. 73, note 3.
219 “Ad elementa quae nec coalescere possunt nec in partes dividi” (Linacre). On the two contrasted schools cf. p. 45.
220 cf. loc. cit.
222 “At corporum quae nec una committi nec dividi possunt nullum in se formatricem, auctricem, nutricem, aut in summa artificem facultatem habet; quippe quod impatibile esse immutibileque praesumitur” (Linacre).
225 On account of his idea of a simple tissue not susceptible of further analysis.
227 The horror vacui.
230 Lit. diadosis.
231 i.e. let him explain the diadosis.
232 “Spiritus animalis”; cf. p. 152, note 1. The nutriment was for the walls of the vessels, not for their cavities. cf. p. 319, note 3.
236 Prevention better than cure.
238 Lit. haematosis.
241 Induration: Gk. skirros, Lat. scirrhus. The condition is now commonly known by Laënnec’s term cirrhosis, from Gk. kirros, meaning yellow or tawny. Here again we have an example of Erasistratus’s bias towards anatomical or structural rather than functional explanations of disease, cf. p. 124, note 1.
242 On the risks which were supposed to attend the checking of habitual bleeding from piles cf. Celsus (De Re Med. VI. xviii. 9), “Atque in quibusdam parum tuto supprimitur, qui sanguinis profluvio imbecilliores non fiunt; habent enim purgationem hanc, non morbum.” (i.e. the habit was to be looked on as a periodical cleansing, not as a disease.)
243 Lit. catharsis.
244 Apparently some form of anaemia.
245 Philistion of Locri, a contemporary of Plato, was one of the chief representatives of the Sicilian school of medicine. For Diocles and Praxagoras see p. 51, note 1.
247 Gk. pepsis; otherwise rendered coction.
249 e.g. Asclepiades.
251 That is to say, the haematopoietic function deserves consideration as much as the digestive processes which precede it.
252 i.e. Erasistratus could obviously say nothing about any of the humours or their origins, since he had not postulated the four qualities (particularly the Warm—that is, innate heat).
253 i.e. bile.
254 i.e. deprived of its bile.
255 Here it is rather the living organism we consider than the particular food that is put into it.
257 Aristotle, Hist. Animal., iii. xix.; Plato, Timaeus, 80 E.
258 Philotimus succeeded Diocles and Praxagoras, who were successive leaders of the Hippocratic school. cf. p. 51, note 1.
259 Lit. phenomena.
261 Erasistratus rejected the idea of innate heat; he held that the heat of the body was introduced from outside.
262 As a bubo is a swelling in the groin, we must suppose that the wound referred to would be in the leg or lower abdomen.
263 i.e. fever as a cause of disease.
264 As we should say, “circulatory” changes.
265 This is the “vital spirit” or pneuma which, according to Erasistratus and the Pneumatist school, was elaborated in the left ventricle, and thereafter carried by the arteries all over the body, there to subserve circulatory processes. It has some analogy with oxygen, but this is also the case with the “natural spirit” or pneuma, whose seat was the liver and which was distributed by the veins through the body; it presided over the more vegetative processes. cf. p. 152, note 1; Introduction, p. xxxiv.
266 Even leaving the pneuma out of account, Galen claims that he can still prove his thesis.
267 In other words: if dyscrasia is a first principle in pathology, then eucrasia must be a first principle in physiology.
268 The above is a good instance of Galen’s “logical” method as applied to medical questions; an appeal to those who are capable of following “logical sequence.” cf. p. 209, note 1.
269 The aim of dietetics always being the production of moderate heat—i.e. blood.
270 Note contrasted methods of Rationalists and Empiricists.
271 Lit. anaesthesia. Linacre renders it indocilitas.
272 p. 15.
273 Iatros: lit. “healer.”
275 That is, a blending of the four principles in their natural proportion; Lat. temperies. Dyscrasia = intemperies, “distemper.”
276 This is the orthodox Hippocratic treatment, that of opposites by opposites. Contrast the homoeopathic principle which is the basis of our modern methods of immunisation (similia similibus curentur, Hahnemann).
277 Lit. aseptic.
278 Prodicus of Ceos, a Sophist, contemporary of Socrates.
279 Plato, Timaeus, 83-86, passim.
280 cf. the term blennorrhoea, which is still used.
281 cf. the Scotch term “colded” for “affected with a cold”; Germ. erkältet.
282 The word theôria used here is not the same as our theory. It is rather a “contemplation,” the process by which a theory is arrived at. cf. p. 226, note 2.
285 Enlargement and suppuration (?) of spleen associated with toxaemia or “cacochymy.”
286 Lit. “melancholic.”
288 Thus Galen has demonstrated the functions of the spleen both deductively and inductively. For another example of the combined method cf. Book III., chaps, i. and ii.; cf. also Introd. p. xxxii.
289 i.e. its innate heat.
290 Lit. lecithoid.
291 Note that there can be “normal” black bile.
292 The term food here means the food as introduced into the stomach; the term nutriment (trophé) means the same food in the digested condition, as it is conveyed to the tissues. cf. pp. 41-43. Note idea of imperfectly oxidized material being absorbed by the spleen. cf. p. 214, note 1.
293 Lit. choledochous, bile-receiving.
294 Thus over-roasting—shall we say excessive oxidation?—produces the abnormal forms of both black and yellow bile.
296 Timaeus, 82 C-D.
297 cf. p. 90, note 1. The term “catarrh” refers to this “running down,” which was supposed to take place through the pores of the cribriform plate of the ethmoid into the nose.
298 Now lost.
It has been made clear in the preceding discussion that
nutrition occurs by an alteration or assimilation of
that which nourishes to that which receives nourishment,299 and that there exists
in every part of the animal a faculty which in view of its activity
we call, in general terms, alterative, or, more
specifically, assimilative and nutritive. It was also
shown that a sufficient supply of the matter which the part being
nourished makes into nutriment for itself is ensured by virtue of
another faculty which naturally attracts its proper juice
[humour] that that juice is proper to each part which is adapted
for assimilation, and that the faculty which attracts the juice is
called, by reason of its activity, attractive or
epispastic.300 It has also been shown that assimilation is
preceded by adhesion, and this, again, by
presentation,301 the latter stage being, as one might say, the
end or goal of the activity corresponding to the attractive
faculty. For the actual bringing up of nutriment from the veins
into each of the parts takes place through the activation of the
attractive faculty,302 whilst to Pg 225
Greek text have been finally brought
up and presented to the part is the actual end for which we desired
such an activity; it is attracted in order that it may be
presented. After this, considerable time is needed for the
nutrition of the animal; whilst a thing may be even rapidly
attracted, on the other hand to become adherent, altered, and
entirely assimilated to the part which is being nourished and to
become a part of it, cannot take place suddenly, but requires a
considerable amount of time. But if the nutritive juice, so
presented, does not remain in the part, but withdraws to another
one, and keeps flowing away, and constantly changing and shifting
its position, neither adhesion nor complete assimilation will take
place in any of them. Here too, then, the [animal’s] nature has
need of some other faculty for ensuring a prolonged stay of the
presented juice at the part, and this not a faculty which comes in
from somewhere outside but one which is resident in the part which
is to be nourished. This faculty, again, in view of its activity
our predecessors were obliged to call retentive.
Thus our argument has clearly shown303 the necessity for the genesis of such a faculty, and whoever has an appreciation of logical sequence must be firmly persuaded from what we have said that, if it be laid down and proved by previous demonstration that Nature is artistic and solicitous for the animal’s welfare, it necessarily follows that she must also possess a faculty of this kind.
Since, however, it is not our habit to employ this kind of demonstration304 alone, but to add thereto cogent and compelling proofs drawn from obvious facts, we will also proceed to the latter kind in the present instance: we will demonstrate that in certain parts of the body the retentive faculty is so obvious that its operation can be actually recognised by the senses, whilst in other parts it is less obvious to the senses, but is capable even here of being detected by the argument.305
Let us begin our exposition, then, by first dealing systematically for a while with certain definite parts of the body, in reference to which we may accurately test and enquire what sort of thing the retentive faculty is.
Now, could one begin the enquiry in any better way than with the largest and hollowest organs? Personally I do not think one could. It is to be expected that in these, owing to their size, the activities will show quite clearly, whereas with respect to the small organs, even if they possess a strong faculty of this kind, its activation will not at once be recognisable to sense.
Now those parts of the animal which are especially hollow and
large are the stomach and the organ which is called the womb or
uterus.306 What prevents us,
then, from taking up these first and considering their activities,
conducting the enquiry on our own Pg 229
Greek text persons in regard to those
activities which are obvious without dissection, and, in the case
of those which are more obscure, dissecting animals which are near
to man;307 not that even
animals unlike him will not show, in a general way, the faculty in
question, but because in this manner we may find out at once what
is common to all and what is peculiar to ourselves, and so may
become more resourceful in the diagnosis and treatment of
disease.
Now it is impossible to speak of both organs at once, so we shall deal with each in turn, beginning with the one which is capable of demonstrating the retentive faculty most plainly. For the stomach retains the food until it has quite digested it, and the uterus retains the embryo until it brings it to completion, but the time taken for the completion of the embryo is many times more than that for the digestion of food.
We may expect, then, to detect the retentive faculty in the
uterus more clearly in proportion to the longer duration of its
activity as compared with that of the stomach. For, as we know, it
takes nine months in most women for the foetus to attain maturity
in the womb, this organ having its neck quite closed, and entirely
surrounding the embryo together with the chorion. Further,
it is the utility of the function which determines the closure of
the os and the stay of the foetus in the uterus. For it is not
casually nor without reason that Nature has made Pg 231
Greek text the uterus capable of
contracting upon, and of retaining the embryo, but in order that
the latter may arrive at a proper size. When, therefore, the object
for which the uterus brought its retentive faculty into play has
been fulfilled, it then stops this faculty and brings it back to a
state of rest, and employs instead of it another faculty hitherto
quiescent—the propulsive faculty. In this case again
the quiescent and active states are both determined by utility;
when this calls, there is activity; when it does not, there is
rest.
Here, then, once more, we must observe well the Art [artistic tendency] of Nature—how she has not merely placed in each organ the capabilities of useful activities, but has also fore-ordained the times both of rest and movement. For when everything connected with the pregnancy proceeds properly, the eliminative faculty remains quiescent as though it did not exist, but if anything goes wrong in connection either with the chorion or any of the other membranes or with the foetus itself, and its completion is entirely despaired of, then the uterus no longer awaits the nine-months period, but the retentive faculty forthwith ceases and allows the heretofore inoperative faculty to come into action. Now it is that something is done—in fact, useful work effected—by the eliminative or propulsive faculty (for so it, too, has been called, receiving, like the rest, its names from the corresponding activities).
Further, our theory can, I think, demonstrate both together; for
seeing that they succeed each other, and that the one keeps giving
place to the other according as utility demands, it seems not
unreasonable Pg 233
Greek text to accept a common
demonstration also for both. Thus it is the work of the retentive
faculty to make the uterus contract upon the foetus at every point,
so that, naturally enough, when the midwives palpate it, the os is
found to be closed, whilst the pregnant women themselves, during
the first days—and particularly on that on which conception
takes place—experience a sensation as if the uterus were
moving and contracting upon itself. Now, if both of these things
occur—if the os closes apart from inflammation or any other
disease, and if this is accompanied by a feeling of movement in the
uterus—then the women believe that they have received the
semen which comes from the male, and that they are retaining
it.
Now we are not inventing this for ourselves: one may say the statement is based on prolonged experience of those who occupy themselves with such matters. Thus Herophilus308 does not hesitate to state in his writings that up to the time of labour the os uteri will not admit so much as the tip of a probe, that it no longer opens to the slightest degree if pregnancy has begun—that, in fact, it dilates more widely at the times of the menstrual flow. With him are in agreement all the others who have applied themselves to this subject; and particularly Hippocrates, who was the first of all physicians and philosophers to declare that the os uteri closes during pregnancy and inflammation, albeit in pregnancy it does not depart from its own nature, whilst in inflammation it becomes hard.
Pg
235
Greek text In the case of the
opposite (the eliminative) faculty, the os opens, whilst the whole
fundus approaches as near as possible to the os, expelling the
embryo as it does so; and along with the fundus the contiguous
parts—which form as it were a girdle round the whole
organ—co-operate in the work; they squeeze upon the embryo
and propel it bodily outwards. And, in many women who exercise such
a faculty immoderately, violent pains cause forcible prolapse of
the whole womb; here almost the same thing happens as frequently
occurs in wrestling-bouts and struggles, when in our eagerness to
overturn and throw others we are ourselves upset along with them;
for similarly when the uterus is forcing the embryo forward it
sometimes becomes entirely prolapsed, and particularly when the
ligaments connecting it with the spine happen to be naturally
lax.309
A wonderful device of Nature’s also is this—that, when the
foetus is alive, the os uteri is closed with perfect accuracy, but
if it dies, the os at once opens up to the extent which is
necessary for the foetus to make its exit. The midwife, however,
does not make the parturient woman get up at once and sit down on
the [obstetric] chair, but she begins by palpating the os as it
gradually dilates, and the first thing she says is that it has
dilated “enough to admit the little finger,” then that “it is
bigger now,” and as we make enquiries from time to time, she
answers that the size of the dilatation is increasing. And when it
is sufficient to allow of the transit of the foetus,310 she then makes the
patient get up from her bed and Pg 237
Greek text sit on the chair, and bids
her make every effort to expel the child. Now, this additional work
which the patient does of herself is no longer the work of the
uterus but of the epigastric muscles, which also help us in
defaecation and micturition.
Thus the two faculties are clearly to be seen in the case of the uterus; in the case of the stomach they appear as follows:—Firstly in the condition of gurgling, which physicians are persuaded, and with reason, to be a symptom of weakness of the stomach; for sometimes when the very smallest quantity of food has been ingested this does not occur, owing to the fact that the stomach is contracting accurately upon the food and constricting it at every point; sometimes when the stomach is full the gurglings yet make themselves heard as though it were empty. For if it be in a natural condition, employing its contractile faculty in the ordinary way, then, even if its contents be very small, it grasps the whole of them and does not leave any empty space. When it is weak, however, being unable to lay hold of its contents accurately, it produces a certain amount of vacant space, and allows the liquid contents to flow about in different directions in accordance with its changes of shape, and so to produce gurglings.
Thus those who are troubled with this symptom expect, with good
reason, that they will also be unable to digest adequately; proper
digestion cannot take place in a weak stomach. In such people also,
the mass of food may be plainly seen to remain Pg 239
Greek text an abnormally long time in
the stomach, as would be natural if their digestion were slow.
Indeed, the chief way in which these people will surprise one is in
the length of time that not food alone but even fluids will remain
in their stomachs. Now, the actual cause of this is not, as one
would imagine, that the lower outlet of the stomach,311 being fairly narrow,
will allow nothing to pass before being reduced to a fine state of
division. There are a great many people who frequently swallow
large quantities of big fruit-stones; one person, who was holding a
gold ring in his mouth, inadvertently swallowed it; another
swallowed a coin, and various people have swallowed various hard
and indigestible objects; yet all these people easily passed by the
bowel what they had swallowed, without there being any subsequent
symptoms. Now surely if narrowness of the gastric outlet were the
cause of untriturated food remaining for an abnormally long time,
none of these articles I have mentioned would ever have escaped.
Furthermore, the fact that it is liquids which remain longest in
these people’s stomachs is sufficient to put the idea of narrowness
of the outlet out of court. For, supposing a rapid descent were
dependent upon emulsification,312 then soups, milk, and barley-emulsion313 would at once pass
along in every case. But as a matter of fact this is not so. For in
people who are extremely asthenic it is just these fluids which
remain undigested, which accumulate and produce gurglings, and
which oppress and overload the stomach, whereas in strong persons
not merely do none of these things happen, but even a large
quantity of bread or meat passes rapidly down.
Pg
241
Greek text And it is not only because
the stomach is distended and loaded and because the fluid runs from
one part of it to another accompanied by gurglings—it is not
only for these reasons that one would judge that there was an
unduly long continuance of the food in it, in those people who are
so disposed, but also from the vomiting. Thus, there are
some who vomit up every particle of what they have eaten, not after
three or four hours, but actually in the middle of the night, a
lengthy period having elapsed since their meal.
Suppose you fill any animal whatsoever with liquid food—an
experiment I have often carried out in pigs, to whom I give a sort
of mess of wheaten flour and water, thereafter cutting them open
after three or four hours; if you will do this yourself, you will
find the food still in the stomach. For it is not
chylification314 which determines the length of its stay
here—since this can also be effected outside the stomach; the
determining factor is digestion315 which is a different thing from chylification,
as are blood-production and nutrition. For, just as it has been
shown316 that these two
processes depend upon a change of qualities, similarly also
the digestion of food in the stomach involves a transmutation of it
into the quality proper to that which is receiving nourishment.317 Then, when it is
completely digested, the lower outlet opens and the food is quickly
ejected through it, even if there should be amongst it abundance of
stones, bones, grape-pips, or other things which cannot be reduced
to chyle. And you may observe this Pg 243
Greek text yourself in an animal, if
you will try to hit upon the time at which the descent of food from
the stomach takes place. But even if you should fail to discover
the time, and nothing was yet passing down, and the food was still
undergoing digestion in the stomach, still even then you would find
dissection not without its uses. You will observe, as we have just
said, that the pylorus is accurately closed, and that the whole
stomach is in a state of contraction upon the food very much as the
womb contacts upon the foetus. For it is never possible to find a
vacant space in the uterus, the stomach, or in either of the two
bladders—that is, either in that called bile-receiving318 or in the other;
whether their contents be abundant or scanty, their cavities are
seen to be replete and full, owing to the fact that their coats
contract constantly upon the contents—so long, at least, as
the animal is in a natural condition.
Now Erasistratus for some reason declares that it is the contractions319 of the stomach which are the cause of everything—that is to say, of the softening of the food,320 the removal of waste matter, and the absorption of the food when chylified [emulsified].
Now I have personally, on countless occasions, divided the
peritoneum of a still living animal and have always found all
the intestines contracting peristaltically321 upon their contents.
The condition of the stomach, however, is found less simple;
as regards the substances freshly swallowed, it had grasped these
accurately both above and below, in fact at every point, and was as
devoid of movement Pg 245
Greek text as though it had grown
round and become united with the food.322 At the same time I found the pylorus
persistently closed and accurately shut, like the os uteri on the
foetus.
In the cases, however, where digestion had been completed the pylorus had opened, and the stomach was undergoing peristaltic movements, similar to those of the intestines.
Thus all these facts agree that the stomach, uterus, and
bladders possess certain inborn faculties which are retentive of
their own proper qualities and eliminative of those that are
foreign. For it has been already shown323 that the bladder by the liver draws bile into
itself, while it is also quite obvious that it eliminates this
daily into the stomach. Now, of course, if the eliminative were to
succeed the attractive faculty and there were not a
retentive faculty between the two, there would be found, on
every occasion that animals were dissected, an equal quantity of
bile in the gall-bladder. This however, we do not find. For the
bladder is sometimes observed to be very full, sometimes quite
empty, while at other times you find in it various intermediate
degrees of fulness, just as is the case with the other
bladder—that which receives the urine; for even without
resorting to anatomy we may observe that the urinary bladder
continues to collect urine up to the time that it becomes
uncomfortable through the increasing quantity of urine or the
irritation caused by its acidity—the presumption Pg 247
Greek text thus being that here, too,
there is a retentive faculty.
Similarly, too, the stomach, when, as often happens, it is irritated by acidity, gets rid of the food, although still undigested, earlier than proper; or again, when oppressed by the quantity of its contents, or disordered from the co-existence of both conditions, it is seized with diarrhoea. Vomiting also is an affection of the upper [part of the] stomach analogous to diarrhoea, and it occurs when the stomach is overloaded or is unable to stand the quality of the food or surplus substances which it contains. Thus, when such a condition develops in the lower parts of the stomach, while the parts about the inlet are normal, it ends in diarrhoea, whereas if this condition is in the upper stomach, the lower parts being normal, it ends in vomiting.
This may often be clearly observed in those who are disinclined for food; when obliged to eat, they have not the strength to swallow, and, even if they force themselves to do so, they cannot retain the food, but at once vomit it up. And those especially who have a dislike to some particular kind of food, sometimes take it under compulsion, and then promptly bring it up; or, if they force themselves to keep it down, they are nauseated and feel their stomach turned up, and endeavouring to relieve itself of its discomfort.
Thus, as was said at the beginning, all the observed facts
testify that there must exist in almost all parts of the animal a
certain inclination towards, or, so to Pg 249
Greek text speak; an appetite for
their own special quality, and an aversion to, or, as it were, a
hatred324 of the foreign
quality. And it is natural that when they feel an inclination they
should attract, and that when they feel aversion they should
expel.
From these facts, then, again, both the attractive and the propulsive faculties have been demonstrated to exist in everything.325
But if there be an inclination or attraction, there will also be some benefit derived; for no existing thing attracts anything else for the mere sake of attracting, but in order to benefit by what is acquired by the attraction. And of course it cannot benefit by it if it cannot retain it. Herein, then, again, the retentive faculty is shown to have its necessary origin: for the stomach obviously inclines towards its own proper qualities and turns away from those that are foreign to it.326
But if it aims at and attracts its food and benefits by it while retaining and contracting upon it, we may also expect that there will be some termination to the benefit received, and that thereafter will come the time for the exercise of the eliminative faculty.
But if the stomach both retains and benefits by its food, then
it employs it for the end for which it [the stomach] naturally
exists. And it exists to partake of that which is of a quality
befitting and proper to Pg 251
Greek text it. Thus it attracts all
the most useful parts of the food in a vaporous327 and finely divided
condition, storing this up in its own coats, and applying328 it to them. And when
it is sufficiently full it puts away from it, as one might
something troublesome, the rest of the food, this having itself
meanwhile obtained some profit from its association with the
stomach. For it is impossible for two bodies which are adapted for
acting and being acted upon to come together without either both
acting or being acted upon, or else one acting and the other being
acted upon. For if their forces are equal they will act and be
acted upon equally, and if the one be much superior in strength, it
will exert its activity upon its passive neighbour; thus, while
producing a great and appreciable effect, it will itself be acted
upon either little or not at all. But it is herein also that the
main difference lies between nourishing food and a deleterious
drug; the latter masters the forces of the body, whereas the former
is mastered by them.329
There cannot, then, be food which is suited for the animal which is not also correspondingly subdued by the qualities existing in the animal. And to be subdued means to undergo alteration.330 Now, some parts are stronger in power and others weaker; therefore, while all will subdue the nutriment which is proper to the animal, they will not all do so equally. Thus the stomach will subdue and alter its food, but not to the same extent as will the liver, veins, arteries, and heart.
We must therefore observe to what extent it does alter it. The
alteration is more than that which Pg 253
Greek text occurs in the mouth, but
less than that in the liver and veins. For the latter alteration
changes the nutriment into the substance of blood, whereas
that in the mouth obviously changes it into a new form, but
certainly does not completely transmute it. This you may discover
in the food which is left in the intervals between the teeth, and
which remains there all night; the bread is not exactly bread, nor
the meat, for they have a smell similar to that of the
animal’s mouth, and have been disintegrated and dissolved, and have
had the qualities of the animal’s flesh impressed upon them. And
you may observe the extent of the alteration which occurs to food
in the mouth if you will chew some corn and then apply it to an
unripe [undigested] boil: you will see it rapidly
transmuting—in fact entirely digesting—the boil, though
it cannot do anything of the kind if you mix it with water. And do
not let this surprise you; this phlegm [saliva] in the mouth is
also a cure for lichens331; it even rapidly destroys scorpions; while, as
regards the animals which emit venom, some it kills at once, and
others after an interval; to all of them in any case it does great
damage. Now, the masticated food is all, firstly, soaked in and
mixed up with this phlegm; and secondly, it is brought into contact
with the actual skin of the mouth; thus it undergoes more change
than the food which is wedged into the vacant spaces between the
teeth.
But just as masticated food is more altered than the latter
kind, so is food which has been swallowed more altered than that
which has been merely Pg 255
Greek textmasticated. Indeed, there
is no comparison between these two processes; we have only to
consider what the stomach contains—phlegm, bile, pneuma,
[innate] heat,332 and, indeed the whole substance of the stomach.
And if one considers along with this the adjacent viscera, like a
lot of burning hearths around a great cauldron—to the right
the liver, to the left the spleen, the heart above, and along with
it the diaphragm (suspended and in a state of constant movement),
and the omentum sheltering them all—you may believe what an
extraordinary alteration it is which occurs in the food taken into
the stomach.
How could it easily become blood if it were not previously
prepared by means of a change of this kind? It has already been
shown333 that nothing is
altered all at once from one quality to its opposite. How then
could bread, beef, beans, or any other food turn into blood if they
had not previously undergone some other alteration? And how could
the faeces be generated right away in the small intestine?334 For what is there in
this organ more potent in producing alteration than the factors in
the stomach? Is it the number of the coats, or the way it is
surrounded by neighbouring viscera, or the time that the food
remains in it, or some kind of innate heat which it contains? Most
assuredly the intestines have the advantage of the stomach in none
of these respects. For what possible reason, then, will objectors
have it that bread may often remain a whole night in the stomach
and still preserve its original qualities, whereas when once it is
projected into the Pg 257
Greek text intestines, it straightway
becomes ordure? For, if such a long period of time is incapable of
altering it, neither will the short period be sufficient, or, if
the latter is enough, surely the longer time will be much more so!
Well, then, can it be that, while the nutriment does undergo an
alteration in the stomach, this is a different kind of alteration
and one which is not dependent on the nature of the organ which
alters it? Or if it be an alteration of this latter kind, yet one
perhaps which is not proper to the body of the animal? This is
still more impossible. Digestion was shown to be nothing else than
an alteration to the quality proper to that which is receiving
nourishment.335 Since, then, this
is what digestion means and since the nutriment has been shown to
take on in the stomach a quality appropriate to the animal which is
about to be nourished by it, it has been demonstrated adequately
that nutriment does undergo digestion in the stomach.
And Asclepiades is absurd when he states that the quality of the digested food never shows itself either in eructations or in the vomited matter, or on dissection.336 For of course the mere fact that the food smells of the body shows that it has undergone gastric digestion. But this man is so foolish that, when he hears the Ancients saying that the food is converted in the stomach into something “good,” he thinks it proper to look out not for what is good in its possible effects, but for what is good to the taste: this is like saying that apples (for so one has to argue with him) become more apple-like [in flavour] in the stomach, or honey more honey-like!
Pg
259
Greek text Erasistratus, however, is
still more foolish and absurd, either through not perceiving in
what sense the Ancients said that digestion is similar to the
process of boiling, or because he purposely confused himself
with sophistries. It is, he says, inconceivable that digestion,
involving as it does such trifling warmth, should be related to the
boiling process. This is as if we were to suppose that it was
necessary to put the fires of Etna under the stomach before it
could manage to alter the food; or else that, while it was capable
of altering the food, it did not do this by virtue of its innate
heat, which of course was moist, so that the word boil was
used instead of bake.
What he ought to have done, if it was facts that he wished to
dispute about, was to have tried to show, first and foremost, that
the food is not transmuted or altered in quality by the stomach at
all, and secondly, if he could not be confident of this, he ought
to have tried to show that this alteration was not of any advantage
to the animal.337 If, again, he were unable even to make this
misrepresentation, he ought to have attempted to confute the
postulate concerning the active principles—to show, in
fact, that the functions taking place in the various parts do not
depend on the way in which the Warm, Cold, Dry, and Moist are
mixed, but on some other factor. And if he had not the audacity to
misrepresent facts even so far as this, still he should have tried
at least to show that the Warm is not the most active of all the
principles which play a part in things governed by Nature. But if
he was unable to demonstrate this any more than any of the previous
propositions, then he ought not to have made himself ridiculous by
quarrelling uselessly Pg 261
Greek text with a mere name—as
though Aristotle had not clearly stated in the fourth book of his
“Meteorology,” as well as in many other passages, in what way
digestion can be said to be allied to boiling, and also that the
latter expression is not used in its primitive or strict sense.
But, as has been frequently said already,338 the one starting-point of all this is a thoroughgoing enquiry into the question of the Warm, Cold, Dry and Moist; this Aristotle carried out in the second of his books “On Genesis and Destruction,” where he shows that all the transmutations and alterations throughout the body take place as a result of these principles. Erasistratus, however, advanced nothing against these or anything else that has been said above, but occupied himself merely with the word “boiling.”
Thus, as regards digestion, even though he neglected everything else, he did at least attempt to prove his point—namely, that digestion in animals differs from boiling carried on outside; in regard to the question of deglutition, however, he did not go even so far as this. What are his words?
“The stomach does not appear to exercise any traction.”339
Now the fact is that the stomach possesses two coats, which
certainly exist for some purpose; they extend as far as the mouth,
the internal one remaining throughout similar to what it is in the
stomach, and the other one tending to become of a more fleshy Pg 263
Greek text nature in the gullet. Now
simple observation will testify that these coats have their fibres
inserted in contrary directions.340 And, although Erasistratus did not attempt to
say for what reason they are like this, I am going to do so.
The inner coat has its fibres straight, since it exists for the
purpose of traction. The outer coat has its fibres transverse, for
the purpose of peristalsis.341 In fact, the movements of each of the
mobile organs of the body depend on the setting of the
fibres. Now please test this assertion first in the muscles
themselves; in these the fibres are most distinct, and their
movements visible owing to their vigour. And after the muscles,
pass to the physical organs,342 and you will see that they all move in
correspondence with their fibres. This is why the fibres throughout
the intestines are circular in both coats—they only contract
peristaltically, they do not exercise traction. The stomach, again,
has some of its fibres longitudinal for the purpose of traction and
the others transverse for the purpose of peristalsis.342 For just as the
movements in the muscles343 take place when each of the fibres becomes
tightened and drawn towards its origin, such also is what happens
in the stomach; when the transverse fibres tighten, the breadth of
Pg
265
Greek text the cavity contained by
them becomes less; and when the longitudinal fibres contract and
draw in upon themselves, the length must necessarily be curtailed.
This curtailment of length, indeed, is well seen in the act of
swallowing: the larynx is seen to rise upwards to exactly the same
degree that the gullet is drawn downwards; while, after the process
of swallowing has been completed and the gullet is released from
tension, the larynx can be clearly seen to sink down again. This is
because the inner coat of the stomach, which has the longitudinal
fibres and which also lines the gullet and the mouth, extends to
the interior of the larynx, and it is thus impossible for it to be
drawn down by the stomach without the larynx being involved in the
traction.
Further, it will be found acknowledged in Erasistratus’s own
writings that the circular fibres (by which the stomach as well as
other parts performs its contractions) do not curtail its length,
but contract and lessen its breadth. For he says that the stomach
contracts peristaltically round the food during the whole period of
digestion. But if it contracts, without in any way being diminished
in length, this is because downward traction of the gullet is not a
property of the movement of circular peristalsis. For what alone
happens, as Erasistratus himself said, is that when the upper parts
contract the lower ones dilate.344 And everyone knows that this can be plainly seen
happening even in a dead man, if water be poured down his throat;
this symptom345 results from the
passage of matter through a narrow Pg 267
Greek text channel; it would be
extraordinary it the channel did not dilate when a mass was passing
through it.346 Obviously then
the dilatation of the lower parts along with the contraction of the
upper is common both to dead bodies, when anything whatsoever is
passing through them, and to living ones, whether they contract
peristaltically round their contents or attract them.347
Curtailment of length, on the other hand, is peculiar to organs which possess longitudinal fibres for the purpose of attraction. But the gullet was shown to be pulled down; for otherwise it would not have drawn upon the larynx. It is therefore clear that the stomach attracts food by the gullet.
Further, in vomiting, the mere passive conveyance of rejected matter up to the mouth will certainly itself suffice to keep open those parts of the oesophagus which are distended by the returned food; as it occupies each part in front [above], it first dilates this, and of course leaves the part behind [below] contracted. Thus, in this respect at least, the condition of the gullet is precisely similar to what it is in the act of swallowing.348 But there being no traction, the whole length remains equal in such cases.
And for this reason it is easier to swallow than to vomit, for
deglutition results from both coats of the stomach being
brought into action, the inner one exerting a pull and the outer
one helping by peristalsis and propulsion, whereas emesis occurs
from the outer coat alone functioning, without there Pg 269
Greek text being any kind of pull
towards the mouth. For, although the swallowing of food is
ordinarily preceded by a feeling of desire on the part of the
stomach, there is in the case of vomiting no corresponding desire
from the mouth-parts for the experience; the two are opposite
dispositions of the stomach itself; it yearns after and tends
towards what is advantageous and proper to it, it loathes and rids
itself of what is foreign. Thus the actual process of swallowing
occurs very quickly in those who have a good appetite for such
foods as are proper to the stomach; this organ obviously draws them
in and down before they are masticated; whereas in the case of
those who are forced to take a medicinal draught or who take food
as medicine, the swallowing of these articles is accomplished with
distress and difficulty.
From what has been said, then, it is clear that the inner coat
of the stomach (that containing longitudinal fibres) exists for the
purpose of exerting a pull from mouth to stomach, and that it is
only in deglutition that it is active, whereas the external coat,
which contains transverse fibres, has been so constituted in order
that it may contract upon its contents and propel them forward;
this coat furthermore, functions in vomiting no less than in
swallowing. The truth of my statement is also borne out by what
happens in the case of the channae and synodonts349; the stomachs of these
animals are sometimes found in their mouths, as also Aristotle
writes in his History Pg 271
Greek text of Animals; he also
adds the cause of this: he says that it is owing to their
voracity.
The facts are as follows. In all animals, when the appetite is very intense, the stomach rises up, so that some people who have a clear perception of this condition say that their stomach “creeps out” of them; in others, who are still masticating their food and have not yet worked it up properly in the mouth, the stomach obviously snatches away the food from them against their will. In those animals, therefore, which are naturally voracious, in whom the mouth cavity is of generous proportions, and the stomach situated close to it (as in the case of the synodont and channa), it is in no way surprising that, when they are sufficiently hungry and are pursuing one of the smaller animals, and are just on the point of catching it, the stomach should, under the impulse of desire, spring into the mouth. And this cannot possibly take place in any other way than by the stomach drawing the food to itself by means of the gullet, as though by a hand. In fact, just as we ourselves, in our eagerness to grasp more quickly something lying before us, sometimes stretch out our whole bodies along with our hands, so also the stomach stretches itself forward along with the gullet, which is, as it were, its hand. And thus, in these animals in whom those three factors co-exist—an excessive propensity for food, a small gullet, and ample mouth proportions—in these, any slight tendency to movement forwards brings the whole stomach into the mouth.
Now the constitution of the organs might itself suffice to give
a naturalist an indication of their functions. For Nature would
never have purposelessly Pg 273
Greek text constructed the oesophagus
of two coats with contrary dispositions; they must also have each
been meant to have a different action. The Erasistratean school,
however, are capable of anything rather than of recognizing the
effects of Nature. Come, therefore, let us demonstrate to them by
animal dissection as well that each of the two coats does exercise
the activity which I have stated. Take an animal, then; lay bare
the structures surrounding the gullet, without severing any of the
nerves,350 arteries, or
veins which are there situated; next divide with vertical
incisions, from the lower jaw to the thorax, the outer coat of the
oesophagus (that containing transverse fibres); then give the
animal food and you will see that it still swallows although the
peristaltic function has been abolished. If, again, in another
animal, you cut through both coats351 with transverse incisions, you will observe that
this animal also swallows although the inner coat is no longer
functioning. From this it is clear that the animal can also swallow
by either of the two coats, although not so well as by both. For
the following also, in addition to other points, may be distinctly
observed in the dissection which I have described—that during
deglutition the gullet becomes slightly filled with air which is
swallowed along with the food, and that, when the outer coat is
contracting, this air is easily forced with the food into the
stomach, but that, when there only exists an inner coat, the air
impedes the conveyance of Pg 275
Greek text food, by distending this
coat and hindering its action.
But Erasistratus said nothing about this, nor did he point out that the oblique situation of the gullet clearly confutes the teaching of those who hold that it is simply by virtue of the impulse from above that food which is swallowed reaches the stomach. The only correct thing he said was that many of the long-necked animals bend down to swallow. Hence, clearly, the observed fact does not show how we swallow but how we do not swallow. For from this observation it is clear that swallowing is not due merely to the impulse from above; it is yet, however, not clear whether it results from the food being attracted by the stomach, or conducted by the gullet. For our part, however, having enumerated all the different considerations—those based on the constitution of the organs, as well as those based on the other symptoms which, as just mentioned, occur both before and after the gullet has been exposed—we have thus sufficiently proved that the inner coat exists for the purpose of attraction and the outer for the purpose of propulsion.
Now the original task we set before ourselves was to demonstrate that the retentive faculty exists in every one of the organs, just as in the previous book we proved the existence of the attractive, and, over and above this, the alterative faculty. Thus, in the natural course of our argument, we have demonstrated these four faculties existing in the stomach—the attractive faculty in connection with swallowing, the retentive with digestion, the expulsive with vomiting and with the descent of digested food into the small intestine—and digestion itself we have shown to be a process of alteration.
Concerning the spleen, also, we shall therefore have no further doubts352 as to whether it attracts what is proper to it, rejects what is foreign, and has a natural power of altering and retaining all that it attracts; nor shall we be in any doubt as to the liver, veins, arteries, heart, or any other organ. For these four faculties have been shown to be necessary for every part which is to be nourished; this is why we have called these faculties the handmaids of nutrition. For just as human faeces are most pleasing to dogs, so the residual matters from the liver are, some of them, proper to the spleen,353 others to the gall-bladder, and others to the kidneys.
I should not have cared to say anything further as to the origin of these [surplus substances] after Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diocles, Praxagoras, and Philotimus, nor indeed should I even have said anything about the faculties, if any of our predecessors had worked out this subject thoroughly.
While, however, the statements which the Ancients made on these
points were correct, they yet omitted to defend their arguments
with logical proofs; of course they never suspected that there
could be sophists so shameless as to try to contradict obvious
facts. More recent physicians, again, have been Pg 279
Greek text partly conquered by the
sophistries of these fellows and have given credence to them;
whilst others who attempted to argue with them appear to me to lack
to a great extent the power of the Ancients. For this reason I have
attempted to put together my arguments in the way in which it seems
to me the Ancients, had any of them been still alive, would have
done, in opposition to those who would overturn the finest
doctrines of our art.
I am not, however, unaware that I shall achieve either nothing at all or else very little. For I find that a great many things which have been conclusively demonstrated by the Ancients are unintelligible to the bulk of the Moderns owing to their ignorance—nay, that, by reason of their laziness, they will not even make an attempt to comprehend them; and even if any of them have understood them, they have not given them impartial examination.
The fact is that he whose purpose is to know anything better
than the multitude do must far surpass all others both as regards
his nature and his early training. And when he reaches early
adolescence he must become possessed with an ardent love for truth,
like one inspired; neither day nor night may he cease to urge and
strain himself in order to learn thoroughly all that has been said
by the most illustrious of the Ancients. And when he has learnt
this, then for a prolonged period he must test and prove it,
observing what part of it is in agreement, and what in disagreement
with obvious fact; thus he will choose this and turn away from
that. To such an one my hope has been that my treatise would prove
of the very greatest assistance.... Pg 281
Greek text Still, such people may be
expected to be quite few in number, while, as for the others, this
book will be as superfluous to them as a tale told to an ass.
For the sake, then, of those who are aiming at truth, we must complete this treatise by adding what is still wanting in it. Now, in people who are very hungry, the stomach obviously attracts or draws down the food before it has been thoroughly softened in the mouth, whilst in those who have no appetite or who are being forced to eat, the stomach is displeased and rejects the food.354 And in a similar way each of the other organs possesses both faculties—that of attracting what is proper to it, and that of rejecting what is foreign. Thus, even if there be any organ which consists of only one coat (such as the two bladders,355 the uterus, and the veins), it yet possesses both kinds of fibres, the longitudinal and the transverse.
But further, there are fibres of a third kind—the
oblique—which are much fewer in number than the two
kinds already spoken of. In the organs consisting of two coats this
kind of fibre is found in the one coat only, mixed with the
longitudinal fibres; but in the organs composed of one coat it is
found along with the other two kinds. Now, these are of the
greatest help to the action of the faculty which we have named
retentive. For during this period the part needs to be
tightly contracted and stretched over its contents at every
point—the Pg 283
Greek text stomach during the whole
period of digestion,356 and the uterus during that of gestation.
Thus too, the coat of a vein, being single, consists of various kinds of fibres; whilst the outer coat of an artery consists of circular fibres, and its inner coat mostly of longitudinal fibres, but with a few oblique ones also amongst them. Veins thus resemble the uterus or the bladder as regards the arrangement of their fibres, even though they are deficient in thickness; similarly arteries resemble the stomach. Alone of all organs the intestines consist of two coats of which both have their fibres transverse.357 Now the proof that it was for the best that all the organs should be naturally such as they are (that, for instance, the intestines should be composed of two coats) belongs to the subject of the use of parts358; thus we must not now desire to hear about matters of this kind nor why the anatomists are at variance regarding the number of coats in each organ. For these questions have been sufficiently discussed in the treatise “On Disagreement in Anatomy.” And the problem as to why each organ has such and such a character will be discussed in the treatise “On the Use of Parts.”
It is not, however, our business to discuss either of these
questions here, but to consider duly the natural faculties,
which, to the number of four, exist in each organ. Returning then,
to this point, let us Pg 285
Greek text recall what has already
been said, and set a crown to the whole subject by adding what is
still wanting. For when every part of the animal has been shewn to
draw into itself the juice which is proper to it (this being
practically the first of the natural faculties), the next
point to realise is that the part does not get rid either of this
attracted nutriment as a whole, or even of any superfluous portion
of it, until either the organ itself, or the major part of its
contents also have their condition reversed. Thus, when the stomach
is sufficiently filled with the food and has absorbed and stored
away the most useful part of it in its own coats, it then rejects
the rest like an alien burden. The same happens to the bladders,
when the matter attracted into them begins to give trouble either
because it distends them through its quantity or irritates them by
its quality.
And this also happens in the case of the uterus; for it is
either because it can no longer bear to be stretched that it
strives to relieve itself of its annoyance, or else because it is
irritated by the quality of the fluids poured out into it. Now both
of these conditions sometimes occur with actual violence, and then
miscarriage takes place. But for the most part they happen
in a normal way, this being then called not miscarriage but
delivery or parturition. Now abortifacient drugs or
certain other conditions which destroy the embryo or rupture
certain of its membranes are followed by abortion, and similarly
also when the uterus is in pain from being in a bad state of
tension; and, as has been well said by Hippocrates, excessive
movement on the part of the embryo itself brings on labour. Now
Pg
287
Greek text pain is common to
all these conditions, and of this there are three possible
causes—either excessive bulk, or weight, or irritation; bulk
when the uterus can no longer support the stretching, weight when
the contents surpass its strength, and irritation when the fluids
which had previously been pent up in the membranes, flow out, on
the rapture of these, into the uterus itself, or else when the
whole foetus perishes, putrefies, and is resolved into pernicious
ichors, and so irritates and bites the coat of the uterus.
In all organs, then, both their natural effects and their disorders and maladies plainly take place on analogous lines,359 some so clearly and manifestly as to need no demonstration, and others less plainly, although not entirely unrecognizable to those who are willing to pay attention.
Thus, to take the case of the stomach: the irritation is evident
here because this organ possesses most sensibility, and among its
other affections those producing nausea and the so-called heartburn
clearly demonstrate the eliminative faculty which expels foreign
matter. So also in the case of the uterus and the urinary bladder;
this latter also may be plainly observed to receive and accumulate
fluid until it is so stretched by the amount of this as to be
incapable of enduring the pain; or it may be the quality of the
urine which irritates it; for every superfluous substance which
lingers in the body must obviously putrefy, some in a shorter, and
some in a longer time, and thus it becomes pungent, acrid, and
burdensome to the organ which contains it. This Pg 289
Greek text does not apply, however,
in the case of the bladder alongside the liver, whence it is clear
that it possesses fewer nerves than do the other organs. Here too,
however, at least the physiologist360 must discover an analogy. For since it was shown
that the gall-bladder attracts its own special juice, so as to be
often found full, and that it discharges it soon after, this desire
to discharge must be either due to the fact that it is burdened by
the quantity or that the bile has changed in quality to pungent and
acrid. For while food does not change its original quality so fast
that it is already ordure as soon as it falls into the small
intestine, on the other hand the bile even more readily than the
urine becomes altered in quality as soon as ever it leaves the
veins, and rapidly undergoes change and putrefaction. Now, if there
be clear evidence in relation to the uterus, stomach, and
intestines, as well as to the urinary bladder, that there is either
some distention, irritation, or burden inciting each of these
organs to elimination, there is no difficulty in imagining this in
the case of the gall-bladder also, as well as in the other
organs,—to which obviously the arteries and veins also
belong.
Nor is there any further difficulty in ascertaining that it is
through the same channel that both attraction and discharge take
place at different times. For obviously the inlet to the stomach
does not merely Pg 291
Greek text conduct food and drink
into this organ, but in the condition of nausea it performs the
opposite service. Further, the neck of the bladder which is beside
the liver, albeit single, both fills and empties the bladder.
Similarly the canal of the uterus affords an entrance to the semen
and an exit to the foetus.
But in this latter case, again, whilst the eliminative faculty is evident, the attractive faculty is not so obvious to most people. It is, however, the cervix which Hippocrates blames for inertia of the uterus when he says:—“Its orifice has no power of attracting semen.”361
Erasistratus, however, and Asclepiades reached such heights of wisdom that they deprived not merely the stomach and the womb of this faculty but also the bladder by the liver, and the kidneys as well. I have, however, pointed out in the first book that it is impossible to assign any other cause for the secretion of urine or bile.362
Now, when we find that the uterus, the stomach and the bladder
by the liver carry out attraction and expulsion through one and the
same duct, we need no longer feel surprised that Nature should also
frequently discharge waste-substances into the stomach through the
veins. Still less need we be astonished if a certain amount of the
food should, during long fasts, be drawn back from the liver into
the stomach through the same veins363 by which it was yielded up to the liver during
absorption of nutriment.364 To disbelieve such things Pg 293
Greek text would of course be like
refusing to believe that purgative drugs draw their appropriate
humours from all over the body by the same stomata through which
absorption previously takes place, and to look for separate stomata
for absorption and purgation respectively. As a matter of fact one
and the same stoma subserves two distinct faculties, and these
exercise their pull at different times in opposite
directions—first it subserves the pull of the liver and,
during catharsis, that of the drug. What is there surprising, then,
in the fact that the veins situated between the liver and the
region of the stomach365 fulfil a double service or purpose? Thus, when
there is abundance of nutriment contained in the food-canal, it is
carried up to the liver by the veins mentioned; and when the canal
is empty and in need of nutriment, this is again attracted from the
liver by the same veins.
For everything appears to attract from and to go shares with everything else, and, as the most divine Hippocrates has said, there would seem to be a consensus in the movements of fluids and vapours.366 Thus the stronger draws and the weaker is evacuated.
Now, one part is weaker or stronger than another either
absolutely, by nature, and in all cases, or else it becomes so in
such and such a particular instance. Thus, by nature and in all men
alike, the heart is stronger than the liver at attracting what is
serviceable to it and rejecting what is not so; similarly the liver
is stronger than the intestines and stomach, and Pg 295
Greek text the arteries than the
veins. In each of us personally, however, the liver has stronger
drawing power at one time, and the stomach at another. For when
there is much nutriment contained in the alimentary canal and the
appetite and craving of the liver is violent, then the viscus367 exerts far the
strongest traction. Again, when the liver is full and distended and
the stomach empty and in need, then the force of the traction
shifts to the latter.
Suppose we had some food in our hands and were snatching it from one another; if we were equally in want, the stronger would be likely to prevail, but if he had satisfied his appetite, and was holding what was over carelessly, or was anxious to share it with somebody, and if the weaker was excessively desirous of it, there would be nothing to prevent the latter from getting it all. In a similar manner the stomach easily attracts nutriment from the liver when it [the stomach] has a sufficiently strong craving for it, and the appetite of the viscus is satisfied. And sometimes the surplusage of nutriment in the liver is a reason why the animal is not hungry; for when the stomach has better and more available food it requires nothing from extraneous sources, but if ever it is in need and is at a loss how to supply the need, it becomes filled with waste-matters; these are certain biliary, phlegmatic [mucous] and serous fluids, and are the only substances that the liver yields in response to the traction of the stomach, on the occasions when the latter too is in want of nutriment.
Now, just as the parts draw food from each other, so also they
sometimes deposit their excess substances Pg 297
Greek text in each other, and just as
the stronger prevailed when the two were exercising traction, so it
is also when they are depositing; this is the cause of the
so-called fluxions,368 for every part has a definite inborn tension, by
virtue of which it expels its superfluities, and, therefore, when
one of these parts,—owing, of course, to some special
condition—becomes weaker, there will necessarily be a
confluence into it of the superfluities from all the other parts.
The strongest part deposits its surplus matter in all the parts
near it; these again in other parts which are weaker; these next
into yet others; and this goes on for a long time, until the
superfluity, being driven from one part into another, comes to rest
in one of the weakest of all; it cannot flow from this into another
part, because none of the stronger ones will receive it, while the
affected part is unable to drive it away. When, however, we come to
deal again with the origin and cure of disease, it will be possible
to find there also abundant proofs of all that we have correctly
indicated in this book. For the present, however, let us resume
again the task that lay before us, i.e. to show that there
is nothing surprising in nutriment coming from the liver to the
intestines and stomach by way of the very veins through which it
had previously been yielded up from these organs into the liver.
And in many people who have suddenly and completely given up active
exercise, or who have had a limb cut off, there occurs at certain
periods an evacuation of blood by way of the intestines—as
Hippocrates has also pointed out somewhere. This causes no further
trouble but sharply purges the whole body and evacuates the
plethoras; Pg 299
Greek text the passage of the
superfluities is effected, of course, through the same veins by
which absorption took place.
Frequently also in disease Nature purges the animal through these same veins—although in this case the discharge is not sanguineous, but corresponds to the humour which is at fault. Thus in cholera the entire body is evacuated by way of the veins leading to the intestines and stomach.
To imagine that matter of different kinds is carried in one direction only would characterise a man who was entirely ignorant of all the natural faculties, and particularly of the eliminative faculty, which is the opposite of the attractive. For opposite movements of matter, active and passive, must necessarily follow opposite faculties; that is to say, every part, after it has attracted its special nutrient juice and has retained and taken the benefit of it hastens to get rid of all the surplusage as quickly and effectively as possible, and this it does in accordance with the mechanical tendency of this surplus matter.369
Hence the stomach clears away by vomiting those superfluities
which come to the surface of its contents,370 whilst the sediment it
clears away by diarrhœa. And when the animal becomes sick,
this means that the stomach is striving to be evacuated by
vomiting. And the expulsive faculty has in it so violent and
forcible an element that in cases of ileus [volvulus], when
the lower exit is completely closed, vomiting of faeces occurs; yet
such surplus matter could not be emitted from the mouth without
having first traversed the whole of the small intestine, the
jejunum, the pylorus, the stomach, and the oesophagus. What is
there to wonder at, then, if something Pg 301
Greek text should also be transferred
from the extreme skin-surface and so reach the intestines and
stomach? This also was pointed out to us by Hippocrates, who
maintained that not merely pneuma or excess-matter, but actual
nutriment is brought down from the outer surface to the original
place from which it was taken up. For the slightest mechanical
movements371 determine this
expulsive faculty, which apparently acts through the transverse
fibres, and which is very rapidly transmitted from the source of
motion to the opposite extremities. It is, therefore, neither
unlikely nor impossible that, when the part adjoining the skin
becomes suddenly oppressed by an unwonted cold, it should at once
be weakened and should find that the liquid previously deposited
beside it without discomfort had now become more of a burden than a
source of nutrition, and should therefore strive to put it away.
Finally, seeing that the passage outwards was shut off by the
condensation [of tissue], it would turn to the remaining exit and
would thus forcibly expel all the waste-matter at once into the
adjacent part; this would do the same to the part following it; and
the process would not cease until the transference finally
terminated at the inner ends of the veins.372
Now, movements like these come to an end fairly soon, but those
resulting from internal irritants (e.g., in the
administration of purgative drugs or in cholera) become much
stronger and more lasting; they persist as long as the condition of
things373 about the mouths of
the veins continues, that is, so long as Pg 303
Greek text these continue to attract
what is adjacent. For this condition374 causes evacuation of the contiguous part, and
that again of the part next to it, and this never stops until the
extreme surface is reached; thus, as each part keeps passing on
matter to its neighbour, the original affection375 very quickly arrives
at the extreme termination. Now this is also the case in
ileus; the inflamed intestine is unable to support either
the weight or the acridity of the waste substances and so does its
best to excrete them, in fact to drive them as far away as
possible. And, being prevented from effecting an expulsion
downwards when the severest part of the inflammation is there, it
expels the matter into the adjoining part of the intestines
situated above. Thus the tendency of the eliminative faculty is
step by step upwards, until the superfluities reach the mouth.
Now this will be also spoken of at greater length in my treatise
on disease. For the present, however, I think I have shewn clearly
that there is a universal conveyance or transference from one thing
into another, and that, as Hippocrates used to say, there exists in
everything a consensus in the movement of air and fluids. And I do
not think that anyone, however slow his intellect, will now be at a
loss to understand any of these points,—how, for instance,
the stomach or intestines get nourished, or in what manner anything
makes its way inwards from the outer surface of the body. Seeing
that all parts have the faculty of attracting what is suitable or
well-disposed and of eliminating what is troublesome or irritating,
it is not surprising that opposite movements should occur in them
consecutively—as may Pg 305
Greek text be clearly seen in the
case of the heart, in the various arteries, in the thorax, and
lungs. In all these376 the active movements of the organs and therewith
the passive movements of [their contained] matters may be seen
taking place almost every second in opposite directions. Now, you
are not astonished when the trachea-artery377 alternately draws air
into the lungs and gives it out, and when the nostrils and the
whole mouth act similarly; nor do you think it strange or
paradoxical that the air is dismissed through the very channel by
which it was admitted just before. Do you, then, feel a difficulty
in the case of the veins which pass down from the liver into the
stomach and intestines, and do you think it strange that nutriment
should at once be yielded up to the liver and drawn back from it
into the stomach by the same veins? You must define what you mean
by this expression “at once.” If you mean “at the same time” this
is not what we ourselves say; for just as we take in a breath at
one moment and give it out again at another, so at one time the
liver draws nutriment from the stomach, and at another the stomach
from the liver. But if your expression “at once” means that in one
and the same animal a single organ subserves the transport of
matter in opposite directions, and if it is this which disturbs
you, consider inspiration and expiration. For of course these also
take place through the same organs, albeit they differ in their
manner of movement, and in the way in which the matter is conveyed
through them.
Pg
307
Greek text Now the lungs, the thorax,
the arteries rough and smooth, the heart, the mouth, and the
nostrils reverse their movements at very short intervals and change
the direction of the matters they contain. On the other hand, the
veins which pass down from the liver to the intestines and stomach
reverse the direction of their movements not at such short
intervals, but sometimes once in many days.
The whole matter, in fact, is as follows:—Each of the
organs draws into itself the nutriment alongside it, and devours
all the useful fluid in it, until it is thoroughly satisfied; this
nutriment, as I have already shown, it stores up in itself,
afterwards making it adhere and then assimilating it—that is,
it becomes nourished by it. For it has been demonstrated with
sufficient clearness already378 that there is something which necessarily
precedes actual nutrition, namely adhesion, and that before
this again comes presentation. Thus as in the case of the
animals themselves the end of eating is that the stomach
should be filled, similarly in the case of each of the
parts, the end of presentation is the filling of this part
with its appropriate liquid. Since, therefore, every part has, like
the stomach, a craving379 to be nourished, it too envelops its nutriment
and clasps it all round as the stomach does. And this [action of
the stomach], as has been already said, is necessarily followed by
the digestion of the food, although it is not to make it suitable
for the other parts that the stomach contracts upon it; if it did
so, it would no longer be a physiological organ,380 but an animal
possessing reason Pg 309
Greek text and intelligence, with the
power of choosing the better [of two alternatives].
But while the stomach contracts for the reason that the whole body possesses a power of attracting and of utilising appropriate qualities, as has already been explained, it also happens that, in this process, the food undergoes alteration; further, when filled and saturated with the fluid pabulum from the food, it thereafter looks on the food as a burden; thus it at once gets rid of the excess—that is to say, drives it downwards—itself turning to another task, namely that of causing adhesion. And during this time, while the nutriment is passing along the whole length of the intestine, it is caught up by the vessels which pass into the intestine; as we shall shortly demonstrate,381 most of it is seized by the veins, but a little also by the arteries; at this stage also it becomes presented to the coats of the intestines.
Now imagine the whole economy of nutrition divided into three periods. Suppose that in the first period the nutriment remains in the stomach and is digested and presented to the stomach until satiety is reached, also that some of it is taken up from the stomach to the liver.382
During the second period it passes along the intestines and becomes presented both to them and to the liver—again until the stage of satiety—while a small part of it is carried all over the body.382 During this period, also imagine that what was presented to the stomach in the first period becomes now adherent to it.
During the third period the stomach has reached Pg 311
Greek text the stage of receiving
nourishment; it now entirely assimilates everything that had become
adherent to it: at the same time in the intestines and liver there
takes place adhesion of what had been before presented, while
dispersal [anadosis] is taking place to all parts of the body,383 as also presentation.
Now, if the animal takes food immediately after these [three
stages] then, during the time that the stomach is again digesting
and getting the benefit of this by presenting all the useful part
of it to its own coats, the intestines will be engaged in final
assimilation of the juices which have adhered to them, and so also
will the liver: while in the various parts of the body there will
be taking place adhesion of the portions of nutriment presented.
And if the stomach is forced to remain without food during this
time, it will draw its nutriment from the veins in the mesentery
and liver; for it will not do so from the actual body of the liver
(by body of the liver I mean first and foremost its flesh
proper, and after this all the vessels contained in it), for it is
irrational to suppose that one part would draw away from another
part the juice already contained in it, especially when adhesion
and final assimilation of that juice were already taking place; the
juice, however, that is in the cavity of the veins will be
abstracted by the part which is stronger and more in need.
It is in this way, therefore, that the stomach, when it is in
need of nourishment and the animal has nothing to eat, seizes it
from the veins in the liver. Also in the case of the spleen we have
shown in a former passage384 how it draws all material from Pg 313
Greek text the liver that tends to be
thick, and by working it up converts it into more useful matter.
There is nothing surprising, therefore, if, in the present instance
also, some of this should be drawn from the spleen into such organs
as communicate with it by veins, e.g. the omentum,
mesentery, small intestine, colon, and the stomach itself. Nor is
it surprising that the spleen should disgorge its surplus matters
into the stomach at one time, while at another time it should draw
some of its appropriate nutriment from the stomach.
For, as has already been said, speaking generally, everything has the power at different times of attracting from and of adding to everything else. What happens is just as if you might imagine a number of animals helping themselves at will to a plentiful common stock of food; some will naturally be eating when others have stopped, some will be on the point of stopping when others are beginning, some eating together, and others in succession. Yes, by Zeus! and one will often be plundering another, if he be in need while the other has an abundant supply ready to hand. Thus it is in no way surprising that matter should make its way back from the outer surface of the body to the interior, or should be carried from the liver and spleen into the stomach by the same vessels by which it was carried in the reverse direction.
In the case of the arteries385 this is clear enough, as also in the case of
heart, thorax, and lungs; for, since all of these dilate and
contract alternately, it must needs be that matter is subsequently
discharged back into the parts from which it was Pg 315
Greek text previously drawn. Now
Nature foresaw this necessity,386 and provided the cardiac openings of the vessels
with membranous attachments,387 to prevent their contents from being carried
backwards. How and in what manner this takes place will be stated
in my work “On the Use of Parts,” where among other things I show
that it is impossible for the openings of the vessels to be closed
so accurately that nothing at all can run back. Thus it is
inevitable that the reflux into the venous artery388 (as will also be made
clear in the work mentioned) should be much greater than through
the other openings. But what it is important for our present
purpose to recognise is that every thing possessing a large and
appreciable cavity must, when it dilates, abstract matter from all
its neighbours, and, when it contracts, must squeeze matter back
into them. This should all be clear from what has already been said
in this treatise and from what Erasistratus and I myself have
demonstrated elsewhere respecting the tendency of a vacuum to
become refilled.389
And further, it has been shown in other treatises that all the arteries possess a power which derives from the heart, and by virtue of which they dilate and contract.
Put together, therefore, the two facts—that the arteries
have this motion, and that everything, when Pg 317
Greek text it dilates, draws
neighbouring matter into itself—and you will find nothing
strange in the fact that those arteries which reach the skin draw
in the outer air when they dilate, while those which anastomose at
any point with the veins attract the thinnest and most vaporous
part of the blood which these contain, and as for those arteries
which are near the heart, it is on the heart itself that they exert
their traction. For, by virtue of the tendency by which a vacuum
becomes refilled, the lightest and thinnest part obeys the tendency
before that which is heavier and thicker. Now the lightest and
thinnest of anything in the body is firstly pneuma, secondly
vapour, and in the third place that part of the blood which has
been accurately elaborated and refined.
These, then, are what the arteries draw into themselves on every
side; those arteries which reach the skin draw in the outer air390 (this being near them
and one of the lightest of things); as to the other arteries, those
which pass up from the heart into the neck, and that which lies
along the spine, as also such arteries as are near these—draw
mostly from the heart itself; and those which are further from the
heart and skin necessarily draw the lightest part of the blood out
of the veins. So also the traction exercised by the diastole of the
arteries which go to the stomach and intestines takes place at the
expense of the heart itself and the numerous veins in its
neighbourhood; for these arteries cannot get anything worth
speaking of from the thick heavy nutriment contained in the
intestines and stomach,391 since they first become filled with lighter
elements. For if you let down a tube into a vessel Pg 319
Greek text full of water and sand,
and suck the air out of the tube with your mouth, the sand cannot
come up to you before the water, for in accordance with the
principle of the refilling of a vacuum the lighter matter is always
the first to succeed to the evacuation.
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that only a very little
[nutrient matter] such, namely, as has been accurately
elaborated—gets from the stomach into the arteries, since
these first become filled with lighter matter. We must understand
that there are two kinds of attraction, that by which a
vacuum becomes refilled and that caused by appropriateness of
quality;392 air is drawn into
bellows in one way, and iron by the lodestone in another. And we
must also understand that the traction which results from
evacuation acts primarily on what is light, whilst that from
appropriateness of quality acts frequently, it may be, on what is
heavier (if this should be naturally more nearly related393). Therefore, in the
case of the heart and the arteries, it is in so far as they are
hollow organs, capable of diastole, that they always attract the
lighter matter first, while, in so far as they require nourishment,
it is actually into their coats (which are the real
bodies of these organs) that the appropriate matter is
drawn.394 Of the blood, then,
which is taken into their cavities when they dilate, that part
which is most proper to them and Pg 321
Greek text most able to afford
nourishment is attracted by their actual coats.
Now, apart from what has been said,395 the following is sufficient proof that something is taken over from the veins into the arteries. If you will kill an animal by cutting through a number of its large arteries, you will find the veins becoming empty along with the arteries: now, this could never occur if there were not anastomoses between them. Similarly, also, in the heart itself, the thinnest portion of the blood is drawn from the right ventricle into the left, owing to there being perforations in the septum between them: these can be seen for a great part [of their length]; they are like a kind of fossae [pits] with wide mouths, and they get constantly narrower; it is not possible, however, actually to observe their extreme terminations, owing both to the smallness of these and to the fact that when the animal is dead all the parts are chilled and shrunken.396 Here, too, however, our argument,397 starting from the principle that nothing is done by Nature in vain, discovers these anastomoses between the ventricles of the heart; for it could not be at random and by chance that there occurred fossae ending thus in narrow terminations.
And secondly [the presence of these anastomoses has been
assumed] from the fact that, of the two orifices in the right
ventricle, the one conducting blood in and the other out, the
former398 is much the larger.
For, the fact that the insertion of the vena cava into the heart399 is larger than the
Pg
323
Greek text vein which is inserted
into the lungs400 suggests that not all the blood which the vena
cava gives to the heart is driven away again from the heart to the
lungs. Nor can it be said that any of the blood is expended in the
nourishment of the actual body of the heart, since there is another
vein401 which breaks up in it
and which does not take its origin nor get its share of blood from
the heart itself. And even if a certain amount is so expended,
still the vein leading to the lungs is not to such a slight extent
smaller than that inserted into the heart as to make it likely that
the blood is used as nutriment for the heart: the disparity is much
too great for such an explanation. It is, therefore, clear that
something is taken over into the left ventricle.402
Moreover, of the two vessels connected with it, that which brings pneuma into it from the lungs403 is much smaller than the great outgrowing artery404 from which the arteries all over the body originate; this would suggest that it not merely gets pneuma from the lungs, but that it also gets blood from the right ventricle through the anastomoses mentioned.
Now it belongs to the treatise “On the Use of Parts” to show
that it was best that some parts of the body should be nourished by
pure, thin, and vaporous blood, and others by thick, turbid blood,
and that in this matter also Nature has overlooked nothing. Thus it
is not desirable that these matters should be further discussed.
Having mentioned, Pg 325
Greek text however, that there are
two kinds of attraction, certain bodies exerting attraction along
wide channels during diastole (by virtue of the principle by which
a vacuum becomes refilled) and others exerting it by virtue of
their appropriateness of quality, we must next remark that the
former bodies can attract even from a distance, while the latter
can only do so from among things which are quite close to them; the
very longest tube let down into water can easily draw up the liquid
into the mouth, but if you withdraw iron to a distance from the
lodestone or corn from the jar (an instance of this kind has in
fact been already given405) no further attraction can take place.
This you can observe most clearly in connection with garden
conduits. For a certain amount of moisture is distributed from
these into every part lying close at hand but it cannot reach those
lying further off: therefore one has to arrange the flow of water
into all parts of the garden by cutting a number of small channels
leading from the large one. The intervening spaces between these
small channels are made of such a size as will, presumably, best
allow them [the spaces] to satisfy their needs by drawing from the
liquid which flows to them from every side. So also is it in the
bodies of animals. Numerous conduits distributed through the
various limbs bring them pure blood, much like the garden
water-supply, and, further, the intervals between these conduits
have been wonderfully arranged by Nature from the outset so that
the intervening parts should be plentifully provided for when
absorbing blood, and that they should never Pg 327
Greek text be deluged by a quantity
of superfluous fluid running in at unsuitable times.
For the way in which they obtain nourishment is somewhat as follows. In the body406 which is continuous throughout, such as Erasistratus supposes his simple vessel to be, it is the superficial parts which are the first to make use of the nutriment with which they are brought into contact; then the parts coming next draw their share from these by virtue of their contiguity; and again others from these; and this does not stop until the quality of the nutrient substance has been distributed among all parts of the corpuscle in question. And for such parts as need the humour which is destined to nourish them to be altered still further, Nature has provided a kind of storehouse, either in the form of a central cavity or else as separate caverns,407 or something analogous to caverns. Thus the flesh of the viscera and of the muscles is nourished from the blood directly, this having undergone merely a slight alteration; the bones, however, in order to be nourished, require very great change, and what blood is to flesh marrow is to bone; in the case of the small bones, which do not possess central cavities, this marrow is distributed in their caverns, whereas in the larger bones which do contain central cavities the marrow is all concentrated in these.
For, as was pointed out in the first book,408 things having a
similar substance can easily change into one another, whereas it is
impossible for those which are very different to be assimilated to
one another without intermediate stages. Such a one in respect to
Pg
329
Greek text cartilage is the myxoid
substance which surrounds it, and in respect to ligaments,
membranes, and nerves the viscous liquid dispersed inside them; for
each of these consists of numerous fibres, which are homogeneous409—in fact, actual
sensible elements; and in the intervals between these fibres
is dispersed the humour most suited for nutrition; this they have
drawn from the blood in the veins, choosing the most appropriate
possible, and now they are assimilating it step by step and
changing it into their own substance.
All these considerations, then, agree with one another, and bear
sufficient witness to the truth of what has been already
demonstrated; there is thus no need to prolong the discussion
further. For, from what has been said, anyone can readily discover
in what way all the particular [vital activities] come about. For
instance, we could in this way ascertain why it is that in the case
of many people who are partaking freely of wine, the fluid which
they have drunk is rapidly absorbed410 through the body and almost the whole of it is
passed by the kidneys within a very short time. For here, too, the
rapidity with which the fluid is absorbed depends on
appropriateness of quality, on the thinness of the fluid, on the
width of the vessels and their mouths, and on the efficiency of the
attractive faculty. The parts situated near the alimentary canal,
by virtue of their appropriateness of quality, draw in the imbibed
food for their own purposes, then the parts next to them Pg 331
Greek text in their turn snatch it
away, then those next again take it from these, until it reaches
the vena cava, whence finally the kidneys attract that part of it
which is proper to them. Thus it is in no way surprising that wine
is taken up more rapidly than water, owing to its appropriateness
of quality, and, further, that the white clear kind of wine is
absorbed more rapidly owing to its thinness, while black turbid
wine, is checked on the way and retarded because of its
thickness.
These facts, also, will afford abundant proof of what has already been said about the arteries; everywhere, in fact, such blood as is both specifically appropriate and at the same time thin in consistency answers more readily to their traction than does blood which is not so; this is why the arteries which, in their diastole, absorb vapour, pneuma, and thin blood attract either none at all or very little of the juices contained in the stomach and intestines.
302 Lit. “through the energizing (or functioning) of the attractive faculty”; the faculty (δύναμις) in operation is an activity (ἐνέργεια). cf. p. 3, note 2.
303 This chapter is an excellent example of Galen’s method of reasoning a priori. The complementary inductive method, however, is employed in the next chapter. cf. p. 209, note 1.
304 The deductive.
305 The logos is the argument or “theory” arrived at by the process of λογικὴ θεωρία or “theorizing”; cf. p. 151, note 3; p. 205, note 1.
306 The Greek words for the uterus (mêtrae and hysterae) probably owe their plural form to the belief that the organ was bicornuate in the human, as it is in some of the lower species.
307 Note this expression. For Galen’s views on the origin of species, cf. Introduction, p. xxxi., footnote.
308 Herophilus of Chalcedon (circa 300 B.C.) was, like Erasistratus, a representative of the anatomical school of Alexandria. His book on Midwifery was known for centuries. cf. Introduction, p. xii.
309 Relaxation of utero-sacral ligaments as an important predisposing cause of prolapsus uteri.
310 That is, at the end of the first stage of labour.
311 The pylorus.
313 Lit. barley-“chyle,” i.e. barley-water.
314 i.e. not the mere mechanical breaking down of food, but a distinctively vital action of “alteration.”
315 Pepsis.
318 Choledochous.
320 Neuburger says of Erasistratus that “dissection had taught him to think in terms of anatomy.” It was chiefly the gross movements or structure of organs with which he concerned himself. Where an organ had no obvious function, he dubbed it “useless”; e.g. the spleen (cf. p. 143).
326 Galen confuses the nutrition of organs with that of the ultimate living elements or cells; the stomach does not, of course, feed itself in the way a cell does. cf. Introduction, p. xxxii.
329 Mutual influence of organism and environment.
331 Apparently skin-diseases in which a superficial crust (resembling the lichen on a tree-trunk) forms—e.g. psoriasis.
332 Note especially pneuma and innate heat, which practically stand for oxygen and the heat generated in oxidation. cf. p. 41, note 3.
334 That is to say, faeces are obviously altered food. This alteration cannot have taken place entirely in the small intestine: therefore alteration of food must take place in the stomach.
336 Asclepiades held that there was no such thing as real qualitative change; the food was merely broken up into its constituent molecules, and absorbed unaltered. cf. p. 49, note 5.
337 i.e. denial of forethought in the Physis.
340 It appears to me, from comparison between this and other passages in Galen’s writings (notably Use of Parts, iv., 8), that he means by the “two coats” simply the mucous and the muscular coats. In this case the “straight” or “longitudinal” fibres of the inner coat would be the rugae; the “circular” fibres of the inner intestinal coat would be the valvulae conniventes.
341 The term here rendered peristalsis is peristolé in Greek; it is applied only to the intermittent movements of muscles placed circularly round a lumen or cavity, and comprehends systolé or contraction and diastolé or dilatation. In its modern significance, peristalsis, however, also includes the movements of longitudinal fibres. cf. p. 97, note 1.
342 i.e. those containing non-striped or “involuntary” muscle fibres; organs governed by the “natural” pneuma; cf. p. 186, note 3.
343 By this term is meant only what we should call the “voluntary” muscles.
345 For “symptom,” cf. p. 13, and p. 12, note 3. “Transitum namque materiae per angustum corpus id accidens consequitur” (Linacre). Less a “result” or “consequence” than an “accompaniment.”
346 i.e. this is a purely mechanical process.
348 Contraction and dilatation of course being reversed.
349 The channa is a kind of sea-perch; “a species of Serranus, either S. scriba or S. cabrilla” (D’Arcy W. Thompson). cf. Aristotle’s Nat. Hist. (D’Arcy Thompson’s edition, Oxford, 1910), IV., xi., 538 A, 20. The synodont “is not to be identified with certainty, but is supposed to be Dentex vulgaris,” that is, an edible Mediterranean perch. “It is not the stomach,” adds Prof. Thompson, “but the air-bladder that gets everted and hangs out of the mouth in fishes, especially when they are hauled in from a considerable depth.” cf. H. A., VIII., ii., 591 B, 5.
350 Under the term “neura,” tendons were often included as well as nerves. Similarly in modern Dutch the word zenuw (“sinew”) means both a tendon and a nerve; zenuwachtig = “nervous.”
351 Rather than the alternative reading, τὸν ἔσωθεν χιτῶνα. Galen apparently supposes that the outer coat will not be damaged, as the cuts will pass between its fibres. These cuts would be, presumably, short ones, at various levels, no single one of them involving the whole circumference of the gullet.
353 Thus Galen elsewhere calls the spleen a mere emunctory (ἐκμαγεῖον) of the liver. cf. p. 214, note 1.
355 The urinary bladders of pigs (such as Galen dissected) are thin, and appear to have only one coat.
357 My suggestion is that Galen refers to (1) the mucous coat, with its valvulae conniventes, and (2) the muscular coat, of which the chief layer is made up of circular fibres. cf. p. 262, note 1.
358 Or utility.
360 Or physicist—the investigator of the Physis or Nature. cf. p. 196, note 2. Note here the use of analogical reasoning. cf. p. 113, note 2.
363 Galen’s idea is that if reversal of the direction of flow can occur in the primae viae (in vomiting), it may also be expected to occur in the secundae viae or absorptive channels.
365 The mesenteric veins.
366 Linacre renders: “Una omnium confluxio ac conspiratio”; and he adds the marginal note “Totum corpus nostrum est conspirabile et confluxile per meatus communes.” cf. p. 48.
367 The alimentary canal, as not being edible, is not considered a splanchnon or viscus.
368 Lit. rheums; hence our term rheumatism.
369 Here Galen apparently indicates that vital functions are at least partly explicable in terms of mechanical law. cf. Introduction, p. xxviii.
372 The ends of the veins in the alimentary canal from which absorption or anadosis had originally taken place.
373 Diathesis.
374 Diathesis.
375 Pathos.
376 He means, not only under the stress of special circumstances, but also normally.
377 Lit. “rough artery.” The air-passages as well as the arteries proper were supposed by the Greeks to carry air (pneuma); diastole of arteries was, like expansion of the chest, a movement for drawing in air. cf. p. 317, note 1.
379 Lit. orexis.
380 Lit. a “physical” organ; that is, a mere instrument or organon of the Physis,—not one of the Psyche or conscious personality. cf. semen, p. 132, note 1.
382 Note that absorption takes place from the stomach as well as the intestines. cf. p. 118, note 1.
383 That is, among the ultimate tissues or cells.
388 Pulmonary vein, or rather, left auricle. Galen means a reflux through the mitral orifice; the left auricle was looked on rather as the termination of the pulmonary veins than as a part of the heart. cf. p. 323, note 4. He speaks here of a kind of “physiological” mitral incompetence.
389 Horror vacui.
392 The “mechanical” principle of horror vacui contrasted with the “physical” or semi-physiological principle of specific attraction. Appropriateness here might almost be rendered affinity or kinship. cf. note 2, infra.
396 These fossae were probably the recesses between the columnae carnae.
399 The right auricle was looked on less as a part of the heart than as an expansion or “insertion” of the vena cava.
400 This “vein” (really the pulmonary artery) was supposed to be the channel by which the lungs received nutriment from the right heart. cf. p. 121, note 3.
401 The coronary vein.
402 Galen’s conclusion, of course, is, so far, correct, but he has substituted an imaginary direct communication between the ventricles for the actual and more roundabout pulmonary circulation, of whose existence he apparently had no idea. His views were eventually corrected by the Renascence anatomists. cf. Introduction, pp. xxii.-xxiii.
403 He means the left auricle, considered as the termination of the pulmonary “arteries”; cf. p. 314, note 3.
404 The aorta, its orifice being circular, appears bigger than the slit-like mitral orifice.
405 p. 87.
407 cf. the term “cavernous tissue.”
408 I. x.
409 Lit. homoeomerous, i.e. “the same all through,” of similar structure throughout, the elements of living matter, cf. p. 20, note 3, and cf. also the “cell” of Erasistratus, p. 153.
Pg 2
Translation
Transliteration
K II.
p. 1 Ἐπειδὴ τὸ μὲν αἰσθάνεσθαί τε καὶ κινεῖσθαι κατὰ προαίρεσιν
ἴδια τῶν ζῴων ἐστί, τὸ δ' αὐξάνεσθαί τε καὶ τρέφεσθαι
κοινὰ καὶ τοῖς φυτοῖς, εἴη ἂν τὰ μὲν πρότερα τῆς ψυχῆς, τὰ
δὲ δεύτερα τῆς φύσεως ἔργα. εἰ δέ τις καὶ τοῖς φυτοῖς
ψυχῆς μεταδίδωσι καὶ διαιρούμενος αὐτὰς ὀνομάζει φυτικὴν
μὲν ταύτην, αἰσθητικὴν δὲ τὴν ἑτέραν, λέγει μὲν οὐδ' οὗτος
ἄλλα, τῇ λέξει δ' οὐ πάνυ τῇ συνήθει κέχρηται. ἀλλ'
ἡμεῖς γε μεγίστην λέξεως ἀρετὴν σαφήνειαν εἶναι
πεπεισμένοι καὶ ταύτην εἰδότες || 2 ὑπ' οὐδενὸς οὕτως ὡς ὑπὸ
τῶν ἀσυνήθων ὀνομάτων διαφθειρομένην, ὡς τοῖς πολλοῖς
ἔθος, οὕτως ὀνομάζοντες ὑπὸ μὲν ψυχῆς θ' ἅμα καὶ φύσεως τὰ
ζῷα διοικεῖσθαί φαμεν, ὑπὸ δὲ φύσεως μόνης τὰ φυτὰ καὶ τό
γ' αὐξάνεσθαί τε καὶ τρέφεσθαι φύσεως ἔργα φαμέν, οὐ
ψυχῆς.
Pg 4
Translation
Transliteration
Καὶ ζητήσομεν κατὰ τόνδε τὸν λόγον, ὑπὸ τίνων γίγνεται δυνάμεων αὐτὰ δὴ ταῦτα καὶ εἰ δή τι ἄλλο φύσεως ἔργον ἐστίν.
Ἀλλὰ πρότερόν γε διελέσθαι τε χρὴ καὶ μηνῦσαι σαφῶς ἕκαστον τῶν ὀνομάτων, οἷς χρησόμεθα κατὰ τόνδε τὸν λόγον, καὶ ἐφ' ὅ τι φέρομεν πρᾶγμα. γενήσεται δὲ τοῦτ' ἐυθὺς ἔργων φυσικῶν διδασκαλία σὺν ταῖς τῶν ὸνομάτων ἐξηγήσεσιν.
Ὅταν οὖν τι σῶμα κατὰ μηδὲν ἐξαλλάττηται
τῶν προϋπαρχόντων, ἡσυχάζειν αὐτό φαμεν· εἰ
δ' ἐξίσταιτό πῃ, κατ' ἐκεῖνο κινεῖσθαι. καὶ τοίνυν
ἐπεὶ πολυειδῶς ἐξίσταται, πολυειδῶς καὶ κινηθήσεται.
καὶ γὰρ εἰ λευκὸν ὑπάρχον μελαίνοιτο
καὶ εἰ μέλαν λευκαίνοιτο, κινεῖται κατὰ χρόαν,
καὶ εἰ γλυκὺ τέως ὑπάρχον αὖθις || 3 αὐστηρὸν ἢ
ἔμπαλιν ἐξ αὐστηροῦ γλυκὺ γένοιτο, καὶ τοῦτ' ἂν
κινεῖσθαι λέγοιτο κατὰ τὸν χυμόν. ἄμφω δε
ταῦτά τε καὶ τὰ προειρημένα κατὰ τὴν ποιότητα
κινεῖσθαι λεχθήσεται καὶ οὐ μόνον γε τὰ κατὰ
τὴν χρόαν ἢ τὸν χυμὸν ἐξαλλαττόμενα κινεῖσθαί
φαμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ θερμότερον ἐκ ψυχροτέρου
γενόμενον ἢ ψυχρότερον ἐκ θερμοτέρου κινεῖσθαι
καὶ τοῦτο λέγομεν, ὥσπερ γε καὶ εἴ τι ξηρὸν ἐξ
Pg 6
Translation
Transliteration
ὑγροῦ ἢ ὑγρὸν ἐκ ξηροῦ γίγνοιτο. κοινὸν δὲ κατὰ
τούτων ἁπάντων ὄνομα φέρομεν τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν.
Ἕν τι τοῦτο γένος κινήσεως. ἕτερον δὲ γένος ἐπὶ τοῖς τὰς χώρας ἀμείβουσι σώμασι καὶ τόπον ἐκ τόπου μεταλλάττειν λεγομένοις, ὄνομα δὲ καὶ τούτῳ φορά.
Αὗται μὲν οὖν αἱ δύο κινήσεις ἁπλαῖ καὶ πρῶται, σύνθετοι δ' ἐξ αὐτῶν αὔξησίς τε καὶ φθίσις, ὅταν ἐξ ἐλάττονός τι μεῖζον ἢ ἐκ μείζονος ἔλαττον γένηται φυλάττον τὸ οἰκεῖον εἶδος. ἕτεραι δὲ δύο κινήσεις γένεσις καὶ φθορά, γένεσις μὲν ἡ εἰς οὐσίαν ἀγωγή, φθορὰ δ' ἡ ἐναντία.
Πάσαις δὲ ταῖς κινήσεσι κοινὸν ἐξάλλαξις
τοῦ || 4 προϋπάρχοντος, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ταῖς ἡσυχίαις
ἡ φυλακὴ τῶν προϋπαρχόντων. ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν
ἐξαλλάττεται καὶ πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν καὶ πρὸς τὴν
γεῦσιν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἁφὴν αἷμα γιγνόμενα τὰ
σιτία, συγχωροῦσιν· ὅτι δὲ καὶ κατ' ἀλήθειαν,
οὐκέτι τοῦθ' ὁμολογοῦσιν οἱ σοφισταί. οἱ μὲν
γάρ τινες αὐτῶν ἅπαντα τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν ἡμετέρων
αἰσθήσεων ἀπάτας τινὰς καὶ παραγωγὰς νομίζουσιν
ἄλλοτ' ἄλλως πασχουσῶν, τῆς ὑποκειμένης
οὐσίας μηδὲν τούτων, οἷς ἐπονομάζεται,
δεχομένης· οἱ δέ τινες εἶναι μὲν ἐν αὐτῇ βούλονται
τὰς ποιότητας, ἀμεταβλήτους δὲ καὶ ἀτρέπτους
Pg 8
Translation
Transliteration
ἐξ αἰῶνος εἰς αἰῶνα καὶ τὰς φαινομένας ταύτας
ἀλλοιώσεις τῇ διακρίσει τε καὶ συγκρίσει γίγνεσθαί
φασιν ὡς Ἀναξαγόρας.
Εἰ δὴ τούτους ἐκτραπόμενος ἐξελέγχοιμι, μεῖζον ἄν μοι τὸ πάρεργον τοῦ ἔργου γένοιτο. εἰ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἴσασιν, ὅσα περὶ τῆς καθ' ὅλην τὴν οὐσίαν ἀλλοιώσεως Ἀριστοτέλει τε καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν Χρυσίππῳ γέγραπται, παρακαλέσαι χρὴ τοῖς ἐκείνων αὐτοὺς ὁμιλῆσαι γράμμασιν· εἰ δὲ γιγνώσκοντες ἔπειθ' ἑκόντες τὰ χείρω πρὸ τῶν βελτιόνων || 5 αἱροῦνται, μάταια δήπου καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα νομιοῦσιν. ὅτι δὲ καὶ Ἱπποκράτης οὕτως ἐγίγνωσκεν Ἀριστοτέλους ἔτι πρότερος ὤν, ἐν ἑτέροις ἡμῖν ἀποδέδεικται. πρῶτος γὰρ οὗτος ἁπάντων ὧν ἴσμεν ἰατρῶν τε καὶ φιλοσόφων ἀποδεικνύειν ἐπεχείρησε τέτταρας εἶναι τὰς πάσας δραστικὰς εἰς ἀλλήλας ποιότητας, ὑφ' ὧν γίγνεταί τε καὶ φθείρεται πάνθ', ὅσα γένεσίν τε καὶ φθορὰν ἐπιδέχεται. καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὸ κεράννυσθαι δι' ἀλλήλων αὐτὰς ὅλας δι' ὅλων Ἱπποκράτης ἁπάντων πρῶτος ἔγνω· καὶ τὰς ἀρχάς γε τῶν ἀποδείξεων, ὧν ὕστερον Ἀριστοτέλης μετεχειρίσατο, παρ' ἐκείνῳ πρώτῳ γεγραμμένας ἔστιν εὑρεῖν.
Εἰ δ' ὥσπερ τὰς ποιότητας οὕτω καὶ τὰς οὐσίας
δι' ὅλων κεράννυσθαι χρὴ νομίζειν, ὡς ὕστερον
ἀπεφήνατο Ζήνων ὁ Κιττιεύς, οὐχ ἡγοῦμαι δεῖν
ἔτι περὶ τούτου κατὰ τόνδε τὸν λόγον ἐπεξιέναι.
μόνην γὰρ εἰς τὰ παρόντα δέομαι γιγνώσκεσθαι
Pg 10
Translation
Transliteration
τὴν δι' ὅλης τῆς οὐσίας ἀλλοίωσιν, ἵνα μή τις
ὀστοῦ καὶ σαρκὸς καὶ νεύρου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων
ἑκάστου μορίων οἱονεὶ μισγάγκειάν τινα τῷ ἄρτῳ
νομίσῃ περιέχεσθαι κἄπειτ' ἐν || 6 τῷ σώματι
διακρινόμενον ὡς τὸ ὁμόφυλον ἕκαστον ἰέναι. καίτοι
πρό γε τῆς διακρίσεως αἷμα φαίνεται γιγνόμενος ὁ
πᾶς ἄρτος. εἰ γοῦν παμπόλλῳ τις χρόνῳ μηδὲν ἄλλ'
εἴη σιτίον προσφερόμενος, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐν ταῖς
φλεψὶν αἷμα περιεχόμενον ἕξει. καὶ φανερῶς τοῦτο
τὴν τῶν ἀμετάβλητα τὰ στοιχεῖα τιθεμένων ἐξελέγχει
δόξαν, ὥσπερ οἶμαι καὶ τοὔλαιον εἰς τὴν τοῦ λύχνου
φλόγα καταναλισκόμενον ἅπαν καὶ τὰ ξύλα πῦρ μικρὸν
ὕστερον γιγνόμενα.
Καίτοι τό γ' ἀντιλέγειν αὐτοῖς ἠρνησάμην, ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ τῆς ἰατρικῆς ὕλης ἦν τὸ παράδειγμα καὶ χρῄζω πρὸς τὸν παρόντα λόγον αὐτοῦ, διὰ τοῦτ' ἐμνημόνευσα. καταλιπόντες οὖν, ὡς ἔφην, τὴν πρὸς τούτους ἀντιλογίαν, <ἐνὸν> τοῖς βουλομένοις τὰ τῶν παλαιῶν ἐκμανθάνειν κἀξ ὧν ἡμεῖς ἰδίᾳ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐπεσκέμμεθα.
Τὸν ἐφεξῆς λόγον ἅπαντα ποιησόμεθα ζητοῦντες
ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προὐθέμεθα, πόσαι τε καὶ τίνες
εἰσὶν αἱ τῆς φύσεως δυνάμεις καὶ τί ποιεῖν ἔργον
Pg 12
Translation
Transliteration
ἑκάστη πέφυκεν. ἔργον δὲ δηλονότι καλῶ τὸ
γεγονὸς ἤδη καὶ συμπεπλη||7ρωμένον ὑπὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας
αὐτῶν, οἷον τὸ αἷμα, τὴν σάρκα, τὸ νεῦρον·
ἐνέργειαν δὲ τὴν δραστικὴν ὀνομάζω κίνησιν καὶ
τὴν ταύτης αἰτίαν δύναμιν. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ τὸ
σιτίον αἷμα γίγνεσθαι παθητικὴ μὲν ἡ τοῦ σιτίου,
δραστικὴ δ' ἡ τῆς φλεβὸς γίγνεται κίνησις, ὡσαύτως
δὲ κἀν τῷ μεταφέρειν τὰ κῶλα κινεῖ μὲν ὁ
μῦς, κινεῖται δὲ τὰ ὀστᾶ, τὴν μὲν τῆς φλεβὸς καὶ
τῶν μυῶν κίνησιν ἐνέργειαν εἶναί φημι, τὴν δὲ
τῶν σιτίων τε καὶ τῶν ὀστῶν σύμπτωμά τε καὶ
πάθημα· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀλλοιοῦται, τὰ δὲ φέρεται.
τὴν μὲν οὖν ἐνέργειαν ἐγχωρεῖ καλεῖν καὶ ἔργον
τῆς φύσεως, οἷον τὴν πέψιν, τὴν ἀνάδοσιν, τὴν
αἱμάτωσιν, οὐ μὴν τὸ γ' ἔργον ἐξ ἅπαντος ἐνέργειαν·
ἡ γάρ τοι σὰρξ ἔργον μέν ἐστι τῆς φύσεως,
οὐ μὴν ἐνέργειά γε. δῆλον οὖν, ὡς θάτερον μὲν
τῶν ὀνομάτων διχῶς λέγεται, θάτερον δ' οὔ.
Ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ φλὲψ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων
ἁπάντων ἕκαστον διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων ποιὰν
Pg 14
Translation
Transliteration
κρᾶσιν ὡδί πως ἐνεργεῖν δοκεῖ. εἰσὶ δέ γε μὴν οὐκ
ὀλίγοι τινὲς ἄνδρες || 8 οὐδ' ἄδοξοι, φιλόσοφοί τε
καὶ ἰατροί, τῷ μὲν θερμῷ καὶ τῷ ψυχρῷ τὸ δρᾶν
ἀναφέροντες, ὑποβάλλοντες δ' αὐτοῖς παθητικὰ
τὸ ξηρόν τε καὶ τὸ ὑγρόν. καὶ πρῶτός γ' Ἀριστοτέλης
τὰς τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἁπάντων αἰτίας εἰς
ταύτας ἀνάγειν πειρᾶται τὰς ἀρχάς, ἠκολούθησε
δ' ὕστερον αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ ἀπὸ τῆς στοᾶς χορός. καίτοι
τούτοις μὲν, ὡς ἂν καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν στοιχείων
τὴν εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβολὴν χύσεσί τέ τισι καὶ
πιλήσεσιν ἀναφέρουσιν, εὔλογον ἦν ἀρχὰς δραστικὰς
ποιήσασθαι τὸ θερμὸν καὶ τὸ ψυχρόν,
Ἀριστοτέλει δ' οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ ταῖς τέτταρσι
ποιότησιν εἰς τὴν τῶν στοιχείων γένεσιν χρωμένῳ
βέλτιον ἦν καὶ τὰς τῶν κατὰ μέρος αἰτίας ἁπάσας
εἰς ταύτας ἀνάγειν. τί δήποτ' οὖν ἐν μὲν τοῖς περὶ
γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς ταῖς τέτταρσι χρῆται, ἐν δὲ
τοῖς μετεωρολογικοῖς καὶ τοῖς προβλήμασι καὶ
ἄλλοθι πολλαχόθι ταῖς δύο μόναις; εἰ μὲν γὰρ
ὡς ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις τε καὶ τοῖς φυτοῖς μᾶλλον μὲν
δρᾷ τὸ θερμὸν καὶ τὸ ψυχρόν, ἧττον δὲ τὸ ξηρὸν
καὶ τὸ ὑγρὸν ἀποφαίνοιτό τις, ἴσως ἂν ἔχοι καὶ
τὸν Ἱπποκράτην σύμψηφον· εἰ δ' ὡσαύτως ἐν || 9
ἅπασιν, οὐκέτ' οἶμαι συγχωρήσειν τοῦτο μὴ ὅτι
τὸν Ἱπποκράτην ἀλλὰ μηδ' αὐτὸν τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην
μεμνῆσθαί γε βουλόμενον ὧν ἐν τοῖς περὶ
γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἀλλὰ μετ' ἀποδείξεως
αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν
τούτων κἀν τοῖς περὶ κράσεων, εἰς ὅσον ἰατρῷ
χρήσιμον, ἐπεσκεψάμεθα.
Pg 16
Translation
Transliteration
Ἡ δ' οὖν δύναμις ἡ ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶν ἡ αἱματοποιητικὴ προσαγορευομένη καὶ πᾶσα δ' ἄλλη δύναμις ἐν τῷ πρός τι νενόηται· πρώτως μὲν γὰρ τῆς ἐνεργείας αἰτία, ἤδη δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἔργου κατὰ συμβεβηκός. ἀλλ' εἴπερ ἡ αἰτία πρός τι, τοῦ γὰρ ὑπ' αὐτῆς γενομένου μόνου, τῶν δ' ἄλλων οὐδενός, εὔδηλον, ὅτι καὶ ἡ δύναμις ἐν τῷ πρός τι. καὶ μέχρι γ' ἂν ἀγνοῶμεν τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς ἐνεργούσης αἰτίας, δύναμιν αὐτὴν ὀνομάζομεν, εἶναί τινα λέγοντες ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶν αἱματοποιητικήν, ὡσαύτως δὲ κἀν τῇ κοιλίᾳ πεπτικὴν κἀν τῇ καρδίᾳ σφυγμικὴν καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν ἄλλων ἰδίαν τινὰ τῆς || 10 κατὰ τὸ μόριον ἐνεργείας. εἴπερ οὖν μεθόδῳ μέλλοιμεν ἐξευρήσειν, ὁπόσαι τε καὶ ὁποῖαί τινες αἱ δυνάμεις εἰσίν, ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν ἀρκτέον· ἕκαστον γὰρ αὐτῶν ὑπό τινος ἐνεργείας γίγνεται καὶ τούτων ἑκάστης προηγεῖταί τις αἰτία.
Ἔργα τοίνυν τῆς φύσεως ἔτι μὲν κυουμένου τε καὶ διαπλαττομένου τοῦ ζῴου τὰ σύμπαντ' ἐστὶ τοῦ σώματος μόρια, γεννηθέντος δὲ κοινὸν ἐφ' ἅπασιν ἔργον ἡ εἰς τὸ τέλειον ἑκάστῳ μέγεθος ἀγωγὴ καὶ μετὰ ταῦθ' ἡ μέχρι τοῦ δυνατοῦ διαμονή.
Ἐνέργειαι δ' ἐπὶ τρισὶ τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἔργοις
τρεῖς ἐξ ἀνάγκης, ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ μία, γένεσίς τε καὶ
Pg 18
Translation
Transliteration
αὔξησις καὶ θρέψις. ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν γένεσις οὐχ
ἁπλῆ τις ἐνέργεια τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀλλοιώσεώς
τε καὶ διαπλάσεώς ἐστι σύνθετος. ἵνα μὲν
γὰρ ὀστοῦν γένηται καὶ νεῦρον καὶ φλὲψ καὶ τῶν
ἄλλων ἕκαστον, ἀλλοιοῦσθαι χρὴ τὴν ὑποβεβλημένην
οὐσίαν, ἐξ ἧς γίγνεται τὸ ζῷον· ἵνα δὲ καὶ
σχῆμα τὸ δέον καὶ θέσιν καὶ κοιλότητάς τινας
καὶ ἀποφύσεις καὶ συμφύσεις καὶ τἆλλα || 11 τὰ
τοιαῦτα κτήσηται, διαπλάττεσθαι χρὴ τὴν ἀλλοιουμένην
οὐσίαν, ἣν δὴ καὶ ὕλην τοῦ ζῴου καλῶν,
ὡς τῆς νεὼς τὰ ξύλα καὶ τῆς εἰκόνος τὸν κηρόν,
οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις.
Ἡ δ' αὔξησις ἐπίδοσίς ἐστι καὶ διάστασις κατὰ μῆκος καὶ πλάτος καὶ βάθος τῶν στερεῶν τοῦ ζῴου μορίων, ὧνπερ καὶ ἡ διάπλασις ἦν, ἡ δὲ θρέψις πρόσθεσις τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἄνευ διαστάσεως.
Περὶ πρώτης οὖν τῆς γενέσεως εἴπωμεν, ἣν ἐξ ἀλλοιώσεώς θ' ἅμα καὶ διαπλάσεως ἐλέγομεν γίγνεσθαι.
Καταβληθέντος δὴ τοῦ σπέρματος εἰς τὴν
μήτραν ἢ εἰς τὴν γῆν, οὐδὲν γὰρ διαφέρει, χρόνοις
τισὶν ὡρισμένοις πάμπολλα συνίσταται μόρια
τῆς γεννωμένης οὐσίας ὑγρότητι καὶ ξηρότητι καὶ
ψυχρότητι καὶ θερμότητι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν,
Pg 20
Translation
Transliteration
ὅσα τούτοις ἕπεται, διαφέροντα. τὰ δ' ἑπόμενα
γιγνώσκεις, εἴπερ ὅλως ἐφιλοσόφησάς τι περὶ
γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς· αἱ λοιπαὶ γὰρ τῶν ἁπτῶν
ὀνομαζομένων διαφορῶν ταῖς εἰρημέναις ἕπονται
πρῶται καὶ μάλιστα, μετὰ δὲ ταύ||12 τας αἱ γευσταί
τε καὶ ὀσφρηταὶ καὶ ὁραταί. σκληρότης μὲν οὖν
καὶ μαλακότης καὶ γλισχρότης καὶ κραυρότης καὶ
κουφότης καὶ βαρύτης καὶ πυκνότης καὶ ἀραιότης
καὶ λειότης καὶ τραχύτης καὶ παχύτης καὶ λεπτότης
ἁπταὶ διαφοραὶ καὶ εἴρηται περὶ πασῶν
Ἀριστοτέλει καλῶς. οἶσθα δὲ δήπου καὶ τὰς
γευστάς τε καὶ ὀσφρητὰς καὶ ὁρατὰς διαφοράς.
ὥστ', εἰ μὲν τὰς πρώτας τε καὶ στοιχειώδεις
ἀλλοιωτικὰς δυνάμεις ζητοίης, ὑγρότης ἐστί καὶ
ξηρότης καὶ ψυχρότης καὶ θερμότης· εἰ δὲ τὰς ἐκ
τῆς τούτων κράσεως γενομένας, τοσαῦται καθ'
ἕκαστον ἔσονται ζῷον, ὅσαπερ ἂν αὐτοῦ τὰ
αἰσθητὰ στοιχεῖα ὑπάρχῃ· καλεῖται δ' αἰσθητὰ
στοιχεῖα τὰ ὁμοιομερῆ πάντα τοῦ σώματος μόρια·
καὶ ταῦτ' οὐκ ἐκ μεθόδου τινὸς ἀλλ' αὐτόπτην
γενόμενον ἐκμαθεῖν χρὴ διὰ τῶν ἀνατομῶν.
Ὀστοῦν δὴ καὶ χόνδρον καὶ νεῦρον καὶ ὑμένα
καὶ σύνδεσμον καὶ φλέβα καὶ πάνθ' ὅσα τοιαῦτα
κατὰ τὴν πρώτην τοῦ ζῴου γένεσιν ἡ φύσις
ἀπεργάζεται δυνάμει χρωμένη καθόλου μὲν
εἰπεῖν τῇ γεννητικῇ τε καὶ ἀλλοιω||13 τικῇ, κατὰ
μέρος δὲ θερμαντικῇ τε καὶ ψυκτικῇ καὶ ξηραντικῇ
Pg 22
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ ὑγραντικῇ καὶ ταῖς ἐκ τῆς τούτων
κράσεως γενομέναις, οἷον ὀστοποιητικῇ τε καὶ
νευροποιητικῇ καὶ χονδροποιητικῇ· σαφηνείας
γὰρ ἕνεκα καὶ τούτοις τοῖς ὀνόμασι χρηστέον.
Ἔστι γοῦν καὶ ἡ ἰδία σὰρξ τοῦ ἥπατος ἐκ
τούτου τοῦ γένους καὶ ἡ τοῦ σπληνὸς καὶ ἡ τῶν
νεφρῶν καὶ ἡ τοῦ πνεύμονος καὶ ἡ τῆς καρδίας
οὕτω δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα καὶ
τῆς γαστρὸς καὶ τοῦ στομάχου καὶ τῶν ἐντέρων
καὶ τῶν ὑστερῶν αἰσθητὸν στοιχεῖόν ἐστιν ὁμοιομερές
τε καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀσύνθετον· ἐὰν γὰρ
ἐξέλῃς ἑκάστου τῶν εἰρημένων τὰς ἀρτηρίας τε
καὶ τὰς φλέβας καὶ τὰ νεῦρα, τὸ ὑπόλοιπον
σῶμα τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον ὄργανον ἁπλοῦν ἐστι καὶ
στοιχειῶδες ὡς πρὸς αἴσθησιν. ὅσα δὲ τῶν
τοιούτων ὀργάνων ἐκ δυοῖν σύγκειται χιτώνων
οὐχ ὁμοίων μὲν ἀλλήλοις, ἁπλοῦ δ' ἑκατέρου,
τούτων οἱ χιτῶνές εἰσι τὰ στοιχεῖα καθάπερ τῆς
τε γαστρὸς καὶ τοῦ στομάχου καὶ τῶν ἐντέρων
καὶ τῶν ἀρτηριῶν, καὶ καθ' ἑκάτερόν γε τῶν
χιτώνων ἴδιος ἡ ἀλλοιωτικὴ δύναμις ἡ ἐκ τοῦ
παρὰ τῆς || 14 μητρὸς ἐπιμηνίου γεννήσασα τὸ
μόριον, ὥστε τὰς κατὰ μέρος ἀλλοιωτικὰς δυνάμεις
τοσαύτας εἶναι καθ' ἕκαστον ζῷον, ὅσαπερ
ἂν ἔχῃ τὰ στοιχειώδη μόρια. καὶ μέν γε καὶ
τὰς ἐνεργείας ἰδίας ἑκάστῳ τῶν κατὰ μέρος
ἀναγκαῖον ὑπάρχειν ὥσπερ καὶ τὰς χρείας, οἷον
καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῶν νεφρῶν εἰς τὴν κύστιν διηκόντων
πόρων, οἳ δὴ καὶ οὐρητῆρες καλοῦνται. οὗτοι
Pg 24
Translation
Transliteration
γὰρ οὔτ' ἀρτηρίαι εἰσίν, ὅτι μήτε σφύζουσι μήτ'
ἐκ δυοῖν χιτώνων συνεστήκασιν, οὔτε φλέβες, ὅτι
μήθ' αἵμα περιέχουσι μήτ' ἔοικεν αὐτῶν ὁ χιτὼν
κατά τι τῷ τῆς φλεβός· ἀλλὰ καὶ νεύρων ἐπὶ
πλέον ἀφεστήκασιν ἢ τῶν εἰρημένων.
Τί ποτ' οὖν εἰσιν; ἐρωτᾷ τις, ὥσπερ ἀναγκαῖον ὂν ἅπαν μόριον ἢ ἀρτηρίαν ἢ φλέβα ἢ νεῦρον ὑπάρχειν ἢ ἐκ τούτων πεπλέχθαι καὶ μὴ τοῦτ' αὐτὸ τὸ νῦν λεγόμενον, ὡς ἴδιος ἑκάστῳ τῶν κατὰ μέρος ὀργάνων ἐστὶν ἡ οὐσία. καὶ γὰρ καὶ αἱ κύστεις ἑκάτεραι ἥ τε τὸ οὖρον ὑποδεχομένη καὶ ἡ τὴν ξανθὴν χολὴν οὐ μόνον τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀλλήλων διαφέρουσι καὶ οἱ εἰς τὸ ἧπαρ ἀποφυόμενοι || 15 πόροι, καθάπερ στόμαχοί τινες ἀπὸ τῆς χοληδόχου κύστεως, οὐδὲν οὔτ' ἀρτηρίαις οὔτε φλεψὶν οὔτε νεύροις ἐοίκασιν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐπὶ πλέον ἐν ἄλλοις τέ τισι κἀν τοῖς περὶ τῆς Ἱπποκράτους ἀνατομῆς εἴρηται.
Αἱ δὲ κατὰ μέρος ἅπασαι δυνάμεις τῆς φύσεως
αἱ ἀλλοιωτικαὶ αὐτὴν μὲν τὴν οὐσίαν τῶν χιτώνων
τῆς κοιλίας καὶ τῶν ἐντέρων καὶ τῶν ὑστερῶν
ἀπετέλεσαν, οἵαπέρ ἐστι· τὴν δὲ σύνθεσιν αὐτῶν
καὶ τὴν τῶν ἐμφυομένων πλοκὴν καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ
ἔντερον ἔκφυσιν καὶ τὴν τῆς ἔνδον κοιλότητος
ἰδέαν καὶ τἆλλ' ὅσα τοιαῦτα δύναμίς τις ἑτέρα
διέπλασεν, ἣν διαπλαστικὴν ὀνομάζομεν, ἣν δὴ
καὶ τεχνικὴν εἶναι λέγομεν, μᾶλλον δ' ἀρίστην
καὶ ἄκραν τέχνην καὶ πάντα τινὸς ἕνεκα ποιοῦσαν,
ὡς μηδὲν ἀργὸν εἶναι μηδὲ περιττὸν μηδ' ὅλως
Pg 26
Translation
Transliteration
οὕτως ἔχον, ὡς δύνασθαι βέλτιον ἑτέρως ἔχειν.
ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἐν τοῖς περὶ χρείας μορίων
ἀποδείξομεν. ||
16 Ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν αὐξητικὴν ἤδη μεταβάντες δύναμιν αὐτὸ τοῦθ' ὑπομνήσωμεν πρῶτον, ὡς ὑπάρχει μὲν καὶ αὐτὴ τοῖς κυουμένοις ὥσπερ καὶ ἡ θρεπτική· ἀλλ' οἷον ὑπηρέτιδές τινές εἰσι τηνικαῦτα τῶν προειρημένων δυνάμεων, οὐκ ἐν αὑταῖς ἔχουσαι τὸ πᾶν κῦρος. ἐπειδὰν δὲ τὸ τέλειον ἀπολάβῃ μέγεθος τὸ ζῷον, ἐν τῷ μετὰ τὴν ἀποκύησιν χρόνῳ παντὶ μέχρι τῆς ἀκμῆς ἡ μὲν αὐξητικὴ τηνικαῦτα κρατεῖ· βοηθοὶ δ' αὐτῆς καὶ οἷον ὑπηρέτιδες ἥ τ' ἀλλοιωτικὴ δύναμίς ἐστι καὶ ἡ θρεπτική. τί οὖν τὸ ἴδιόν ἐστι τῆς αὐξητικῆς δυνάμεως; εἰς πᾶν μέρος ἐκτεῖναι τὰ πεφυκότα. καλεῖται δ' οὕτω τὰ στερεὰ μόρια τοῦ σώματος, ἀρτηρίαι καὶ φλέβες καὶ νεῦρα καὶ ὀστᾶ καὶ χόνδροι καὶ ὑμένες καὶ σύνδεσμοι καὶ οἱ χιτῶνες ἅπαντες, οὓς στοιχειώδεις τε καὶ ὁμοιομερεῖς καὶ ἁπλοῦς ὀλίγον ἔμπροσθεν ἐκαλοῦμεν. ὅτῳ δὲ τρόπῳ τὴν εἰς πᾶν μέρος ἔκτασιν ἴσχουσιν, ἐγὼ φράσω παράδειγμά τι πρότερον εἰπὼν ἕνεκα τοῦ σαφοῦς. ||
17 Τὰς κύστεις τῶν ὑῶν λαβόντες οἱ παῖδες
πληροῦσί τε πνεύματος καὶ τρίβουσιν ἐπὶ τῆς
τέφρας πλησίον τοῦ πυρός, ὡς ἀλεαίνεσθαι μέν,
βλάπτεσθαι δὲ μηδέν· καὶ πολλή γ' αὕτη ἡ
Pg 28
Translation
Transliteration
παιδιὰ περί τε τὴν Ἰωνίαν καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις ἔθνεσιν
οὐκ ὀλίγοις ἐστίν. ἐπιλέγουσι δὲ δὴ καί τιν' ἔπη
τρίβοντες ἐν μέτρῳ τέ τινι καὶ μέλει καὶ ῥυθμῷ
καὶ ἔστι πάντα τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα παρακέλευσις
τῇ κύστει πρὸς τὴν αὔξησιν. ἐπειδὰν δ' ἱκανῶς
αὐτοῖς διατετάσθαι δοκῇ, πάλιν ἐμφυσῶσί τε καὶ
ἐπιδιατείνουσι καὶ αὖθις τρίβουσι καὶ τοῦτο
πλεονάκις ποιοῦσιν, ἄχρις ἂν αὐτοῖς ἡ κύστις
ἱκανῶς ἔχειν δοκῇ τῆς αὐξήσεως. ἀλλ' ἐν τούτοις
γε τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν παίδων ἐναργῶς, ὅσον εἰς
μέγεθος ἐπιδίδωσιν ἡ ἐντὸς εὐρυχωρία τῆς
κύστεως, τοσοῦτον ἀναγκαῖον εἰς λεπτότητα
καθαιρεῖσθαι τὸ σῶμα καὶ εἴ γε τὴν λεπτότητα
ταύτην ἀνατρέφειν οἷοί τ' ἦσαν οἱ παῖδες, ὁμοίως
ἂν τῇ φύσει τὴν κύστιν ἐκ μικρᾶς μεγάλην
ἀπειργάζοντο. νυνὶ δὲ τοῦτ' αὐτοῖς ἐνδεῖ τὸ
ἔργον οὐδὲ καθ' ἕνα τρόπον εἰς μίμησιν ἐνδεχόμενον
ἀχθῆναι μὴ ὅτι τοῖς || 18 παισὶν ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἄλλῳ
τινί· μόνης γὰρ τῆς φύσεως ἴδιόν ἐστιν.
Ὥστ' ἤδη σοι δῆλον, ὡς ἀναγκαία τοῖς αὐξανομένοις ἡ θρέψις. εἰ γὰρ διατείνοιτο μέν, ἀνατρέφοιτο δὲ μή, φαντασίαν ψευδῆ μᾶλλον, οὐκ αὔξησιν ἀληθῆ τὰ τοιαῦτα σώματα κτήσεται. καίτοι καὶ τὸ διατείνεσθαι πάντη μόνοις τοῖς ὑπὸ φύσεως αὐξανομένοις ὑπάρχει. τὰ γὰρ ὑφ' ἡμῶν διατεινόμενα σώματα κατὰ μίαν τινὰ διάστασιν τοῦτο πάσχοντα μειοῦται ταῖς λοιπαῖς, οὐδ' ἔστιν εὑρεῖν οὐδέν, ὃ συνεχὲς ἔτι μένον καὶ ἀδιάσπαστον εἰς τὰς τρεῖς διαστάσεις ἐπεκτεῖναι δυνάμεθα. μόνης οὖν τῆς φύσεως τὸ πάντη διιστάναι συνεχὲς ἑαυτῷ μένον ἔτι καὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἅπασαν ἰδέαν φυλάττον τὸ σῶμα.
Pg 30
Translation
Transliteration
Καὶ τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἡ αὔξησις ἄνευ τῆς ἐπιρρεούσης
τε καὶ προσπλαττομένης τροφῆς μὴ δυναμένη
γενέσθαι.
Καὶ τοίνυν ὁ λόγος ἥκειν ἔοικεν ὁ περὶ τῆς θρέψεως, ὃς δὴ λοιπός ἐστι καὶ τρίτος ὧν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προὐθέμεθα. τοῦ γὰρ ἐπιρρέοντος ἐν εἴδει τροφῆς παντὶ || 19 μορίῳ τοῦ τρεφομένου σώματος προσπλαττομένου θρέψις μὲν ἡ ἐνέργεια, θρεπτικὴ δὲ δύναμις ἡ αἰτία. ἀλλοίωσις μὲν δὴ κἀνταῦθα τὸ γένος τῆς ἐνεργείας, ἀλλ' οὐχ οἵαπερ ἡ ἐν τῇ γενέσει. ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὂν πρότερον ὕστερον ἐγένετο, κατὰ δὲ τὴν θρέψιν τῷ ἤδη γεγονότι συνεξομοιοῦται τὸ ἐπιρρέον καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' εὐλόγως ἐκείνην μὲν τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν γένεσιν, ταύτην δ' ἐξομοίωσιν ὠνόμασαν.
Ἐπειδὴ δὲ περὶ τῶν τριῶν δυνάμεων τῆς φύσεως
αὐτάρκως εἴρηται καὶ φαίνεται μηδεμιᾶς ἄλλης
προσδεῖσθαι τὸ ζῷον, ἔχον γε καὶ ὅπως αὐξηθῇ
καὶ ὅπως τελειωθῇ καὶ ὅπως ἕως πλείστου διαφυλαχθῇ,
δόξειε μὲν ἂν ἴσως ἱκανῶς ἔχειν ὁ λόγος
οὗτος ἤδη καὶ πάσας ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὰς τῆς φύσεως
δυνάμεις. ἀλλ' εἴ τις πάλιν ἐννοήσειεν, ὡς οὐδενὸς
Pg 32
Translation
Transliteration
οὐδέπω τῶν τοῦ ζῴου μορίων ἐφήψατο,
κοιλίας λέγω καὶ ἐντέρων καὶ ἥπατος καὶ τῶν
ὁμοίων, οὐδ' ἐξηγήσατο τὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς δυνάμεις,
αὖθις δόξειεν ἂν οἷον προοίμιόν τι μόνον εἰρῆσθαι
τῆς χρησίμου διδασκαλίας. || 20 τὸ γὰρ σύμπαν ὧδ'
ἔχει. γένεσις καὶ αὔξησις καὶ θρέψις τὰ πρῶτα
καὶ οἷον κεφάλαια τῶν ἔργων ἐστὶ τῆς φύσεως·
ὥστε καὶ αἱ τούτων ἐργαστικαὶ δυνάμεις αἱ
πρῶται τρεῖς εἰσι καὶ κυριώταται· δέονται δ' εἰς
ὑπηρεσίαν, ὡς ἤδη δέδεικται, καὶ ἀλλήλων καὶ
ἄλλων. τίνων μὲν οὖν ἡ γεννητική τε καὶ αὐξητικὴ
δέονται, εἴρηται, τίνων δ' ἡ θρεπτική, νῦν
εἰρήσεται.
Δοκῶ γάρ μοι δείξειν τὰ περὶ τὴν τῆς τροφῆς
οἰκονομίαν ὄργανά τε καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις αὐτῶν
διὰ ταύτην γεγονότα. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ ἐνέργεια
ταύτης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξομοίωσίς ἐστιν, ὁμοιοῦσθαι
δὲ καὶ μεταβάλλειν εἰς ἄλληλα πᾶσι τοῖς
οὖσιν ἀδύνατον, εἰ μή τινα ἔχοι κοινωνίαν ἤδη
καὶ συγγένειαν ἐν ταῖς ποιότησι, διὰ τοῦτο
πρῶτον μὲν οὐκ ἐκ πάντων ἐδεσμάτων πᾶν ζῷον
τρέφεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἔπειτα δ' οὐδ' ἐξ ὧν οἷόν τ'
ἐστὶν οὐδ' ἐκ τούτων παραχρῆμα, καὶ διὰ ταύτην
Pg 34
Translation
Transliteration
τὴν ἀνάγκην πλειόνων ὀργάνων ἀλλοιωτικῶν τῆς
τροφῆς ἕκαστον || 21 τῶν ζῴων χρῄζει. ἵνα μὲν γὰρ
τὸ ξανθὸν ἐρυθρὸν γένηται καὶ τὸ ἐρυθρὸν ξανθόν,
ἁπλῆς καὶ μιᾶς δεῖται τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως· ἵνα δὲ τὸ
λευκὸν μέλαν καὶ τὸ μέλαν λευκόν, ἁπασῶν τῶν
μεταξύ. καὶ τοίνυν καὶ τὸ μαλακώτατον οὐκ ἂν
ἀθρόως σκληρότατον καὶ τὸ σκληρότατον οὐκ ἂν
ἀθρόως μαλακώτατον γένοιτο, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὸ
δυσωδέστατον εὐωδέστατον οὐδ' ἔμπαλιν τὸ εὐωδέστατον
δυσωδέστατον ἐξαίφνης γένοιτ' ἄν.
Πῶς οὖν ἐξ αἵματος ὀστοῦν ἄν ποτε γένοιτο μὴ παχυνθέντος γε πρότερον ἐπὶ πλεῖστον αὐτοῦ καὶ λευκανθέντος ἢ πῶς ἐξ ἄρτου τὸ αἵμα μὴ κατὰ βραχὺ μὲν ἀποθεμένου τὴν λευκότητα, κατὰ βραχὺ δὲ λαμβάνοντος τὴν ἐρυθρότητα; σάρκα μὲν γὰρ ἐξ αἵματος γενέσθαι ῥᾷστον· εἰ γὰρ εἰς τοσοῦτον αὐτὸ παχύνειεν ἡ φύσις, ὡς σύστασίν τινα σχεῖν καὶ μηκέτ' εἶναι ῥυτόν, ἡ πρώτη καὶ νεοπαγὴς οὕτως ἂν εἴη σάρξ· ὀστοῦν δ' ἵνα γένηται, πολλοῦ μὲν δεῖται χρόνου, πολλῆς δ' ἐργασίας καὶ μεταβολῆς τῷ αἵματι. ὅτι δὲ καὶ τῷ ἄρτῳ καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον θριδα||22 κίνῃ καὶ τεύτλῳ καὶ τοῖς ὁμοίοις παμπόλλης δεῖται τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως εἰς αἵματος γένεσιν, οὐδὲ τοῦτ' ἄδηλον.
Ἓν μὲν δὴ τοῦτ' αἴτιον τοῦ πολλὰ γενέσθαι τὰ
περὶ τὴν τῆς τροφῆς ἀλλοίωσιν ὄργανα. δεύτερον
δ' ἡ τῶν περιττωμάτων φύσις. ὡς γὰρ ὑπὸ
βοτανῶν οὐδ' ὅλως δυνάμεθα τρέφεσθαι, καίτοι
τῶν βοσκημάτων τρεφομένων, οὕτως ὑπὸ ῥαφανίδος
Pg 36
Translation
Transliteration
τρεφόμεθα μέν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ὑπὸ τῶν κρεῶν.
τούτων μὲν γὰρ ὀλίγου δεῖν ὅλων ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν
κρατεῖ καὶ μεταβάλλει καὶ ἀλλοιοῖ καὶ χρηστὸν
ἐξ αὐτῶν αἵμα συνίστησιν· ἐν δὲ τῇ ῥαφανίδι τὸ
μὲν οἰκεῖόν τε καὶ μεταβληθῆναι δυνάμενον, μόγις
καὶ τοῦτο καὶ σὺν πολλῇ τῇ κατεργασίᾳ, παντάπασιν
ἐλάχιστον· ὅλη δ' ὀλίγου δεῖν ἐστι περιττωματικὴ
καὶ διεξέρχεται τὰ τῆς πέψεως ὄργανα,
βραχέος ἐξ αὐτῆς εἰς τὰς φλέβας ἀναληφθέντος
αἵματος καὶ οὐδὲ τούτου τελέως χρηστοῦ. δευτέρας
οὖν αὖθις ἐδέησε διακρίσεως τῇ φύσει τῶν ἐν
ταῖς φλεψὶ περιττωμάτων. καὶ χρεία καὶ τούτοις
ὁδῶν τέ τινων ἑτέρων ἐπὶ τὰς ἐκ||23κρίσεις αὐτὰ
παραγουσῶν, ὡς μὴ λυμαίνοιτο τοῖς χρηστοῖς,
ὑποδοχῶν τέ τινων οἷον δεξαμενῶν, ἐν αἷς ὅταν
εἰς ἱκανὸν πλῆθος ἀφίκηται, τηνικαῦτ' ἐκκριθήσεται.
Δεύτερον δή σοι καὶ τοῦτο τὸ γένος τῶν ἐν τῷ σώματι μορίων ἐξεύρηται τοῖς περιττώμασι τῆς τροφῆς ἀνακείμενον. ἄλλο δὲ τρίτον ὑπὲρ τοῦ πάντη φέρεσθαι, καθάπερ τινὲς ὁδοὶ πολλαὶ διὰ τοῦ σώματος ὅλου κατατετμημέναι.
Μία μὲν γὰρ εἴσοδος ἡ διὰ τοῦ στόματος ἅπασι
τοῖς σιτίοις, οὐχ ἓν δὲ τὸ τρεφόμενον ἀλλὰ
πάμπολλά τε καὶ πάμπολυ διεστῶτα. μὴ τοίνυν
θαύμαζε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὀργάνων, ὅσα θρέψεως
ἕνεκεν ἡ φύσις ἐδημιούργησε. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀλλοιοῦντα
Pg 38
Translation
Transliteration
προπαρασκευάζει τὴν ἐπιτήδειον ἑκάστῳ
μορίῳ τροφήν, τὰ δὲ διακρίνει τὰ περιττώματα,
τὰ δὲ παραπέμπει, τὰ δ' ὑποδέχεται, τὰ δ' ἐκκρίνει, τὰ δ'
ὁδοὶ τῆς πάντη φορᾶς εἰσι τῶν
χρηστῶν χυμῶν, ὥστ', εἴπερ βούλει τὰς δυνάμεις
τῆς φύσεως ἁπάσας ἐκμαθεῖν, ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου
τούτων ἂν εἴη σοι τῶν ὀργάνων ἐπισκεπτέον.
Ἀρχὴ δ' αὐτῶν τῆς διδασκαλίας, ὅσα || 24 τοῦ τέλους ἐγγὺς ἔργα τε τῆς φύσεώς ἐστι καὶ μόρια καὶ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν.
Αὐτοῦ δὲ δὴ πάλιν ἀναμνηστέον ἡμῖν τοῦ τέλους, οὗπερ ἕνεκα τοσαῦτά τε καὶ τοιαῦτα τῇ φύσει δεδημιούργηται μόρια. τὸ μὲν οὖν ὄνομα τοῦ πράγματος, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον εἴρηται, θρέψις· ὁ δὲ κατὰ τοὔνομα λόγος ὁμοίωσις τοῦ τρέφοντος τῷ τρεφομένῳ. ἵνα δ' αὕτη γένηται, προηγήσασθαι χρὴ πρόσφυσιν, ἵνα δ' ἐκείνη, πρόσθεσιν. ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἐκπέσῃ τῶν ἀγγείων ὁ μέλλων θρέψειν ὁτιοῦν τῶν τοῦ ζῴου μορίων χυμός, εἰς ἅπαν αὐτὸ διασπείρεται πρῶτον, ἔπειτα προστίθεται κἄπειτα προσφύεται καὶ τελέως ὁμοιοῦται.
Pg 40
Translation
Transliteration
Δηλοῦσι δ' αἱ καλούμεναι λεῦκαι τὴν διαφορὰν ὁμοιώσεώς τε καὶ προσφύσεως, ὥσπερ τὸ γένος ἐκεῖνο τῶν ὑδέρων, ὅ τινες ὀνομάζουσιν ἀνὰ σάρκα, διορίζει σαφῶς πρόσθεσιν προσφύσεως. οὐ γὰρ ἐνδείᾳ δήπου τῆς ἐπιρρεοῦσης ὑγρότητος, ὡς ἔνιαι τῶν ἀτροφιῶν τε καὶ φθίσεων, ἡ τοῦ τοιούτου γένεσις ὑδέρου || 25 συντελεῖται. φαίνεται γὰρ ἱκανῶς ἥ τε σὰρξ ὑγρὰ καὶ διάβροχος ἕκαστόν τε τῶν στερεῶν τοῦ σώματος μορίων ὡσαύτως διακείμενον. ἀλλὰ πρόσθεσις μέν τις γίγνεται τῆς ἐπιφερομένης τροφῆς, ἅτε δ' ὑδατωδεστέρας οὔσης ἔτι καὶ μὴ πάνυ τι κεχυμωμένης μηδὲ τὸ γλίσχρον ἐκεῖνο καὶ κολλῶδες, ὃ δὴ τῆς ἐμφύτου θερμασίας οἰκονομίᾳ προσγίγνεται, κεκτημένης ἡ πρόσφυσις ἀδύνατός ἐστιν ἐπιτελεῖσθαι πλήθει λεπτῆς ὑγρότητος ἀπέπτου διαρρεούσης τε καὶ ῥᾳδίως ὀλισθαινούσης ἀπὸ τῶν στερεῶν τοῦ σώματος μορίων τῆς τροφῆς. ἐν δὲ ταῖς λεύκαις πρόσφυσις μέν τις γίγνεται τῆς τροφῆς, οὐ μὴν ἐξομοίωσίς γε. καὶ δῆλον ἐν τῷδε τὸ μικρῷ πρόσθεν ῥηθὲν ὡς ὀρθῶς ἐλέγετο τὸ δεῖν πρόσθεσιν μὲν πρῶτον, ἐφεξῆς δὲ πρόσφυσιν, ἔπειτ' ἐξομοίωσιν γενέσθαι τῷ μέλλοντι τρέφεσθαι.
Κυρίως μὲν οὖν τὸ τρέφον ἤδη τροφή, τὸ δ' οἷον
μὲν τροφή, οὔπω δὲ τρέφον, ὁποῖόν ἐστι τὸ
προσφυόμενον ἢ προστιθέμενον, τροφὴ μὲν οὐ
Pg 42
Translation
Transliteration
κυρίως, ὁμωνύμως δὲ τροφή· τὸ δ' ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶν
ἔτι περιεχόμενον || 26 καὶ τούτου μᾶλλον ἔτι τὸ κατὰ
τὴν γαστέρα τῷ μέλλειν ποτὲ θρέψειν, εἰ καλῶς
κατεργασθείη, κέκληται τροφή. κατὰ ταὐτὰ δὲ
καὶ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων ἕκαστον τροφὴν ὀνομάζομεν
οὔτε τῷ τρέφειν ἤδη τὸ ζῷον οὔτε τῷ τοιοῦτον
ὑπάρχειν οἷον τὸ τρέφον, ἀλλὰ τῷ δύνασθαί τε
καὶ μέλλειν τρέφειν, εἰ καλῶς κατεργασθείη.
Τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν καὶ τὸ πρὸς Ἱπποκράτους λεγόμενον· “Τροφὴ δὲ τὸ τρέφον, τροφὴ καὶ τὸ οἷον τροφὴ καὶ τὸ μέλλον.” τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὁμοιούμενον ἤδη τροφὴν ὠνόμασε, τὸ δ' οἷον μὲν ἐκεῖνο προστιθέμενον ἢ προσφυόμενον οἷον τροφήν· τὸ δ' ἄλλο πᾶν, ὅσον ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ καὶ ταῖς φλεψὶ περιέχεται, μέλλον.
Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἀναγκαῖον ὁμοίωσίν τιν' εἶναι τοῦ τρέφοντος τῷ τρεφομένῳ τὴν θρέψιν, ἄντικρυς δῆλον. οὐ μὴν ὑπάρχουσάν γε ταύτην τὴν ὁμοίωσιν, ἀλλὰ φαινομένην μόνον εἶναί φασιν οἱ μήτε τεχνικὴν οἰόμενοι τὴν φύσιν εἶναι μήτε προνοητικὴν τοῦ ζῴου μήθ' ὅλως τινὰς οἰκείας ἔχειν δυνάμεις, αἷς χρωμένη τὰ μὲν ἀλλοιοῖ, τὰ δ' ἕλκει, || 27 τὰ δ' ἐκκρίνει.
Καὶ αὗται δύο γεγόνασιν αἱρέσεις κατὰ γένος
ἐν ἰατρικῇ τε καὶ φιλοσοφίᾳ τῶν ἀποφηναμένων
Pg 44
Translation
Transliteration
τι περὶ φύσεως ἀνδρῶν, ὅσοι γ' αὐτῶν γιγνώσκουσιν,
ὅ τι λέγουσι, καὶ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ὧν
ὑπέθεντο θεωροῦσι θ' ἅμα καὶ διαφυλάττουσιν.
ὅσοι δὲ μηδ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο συνιᾶσιν, ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς,
ὅ τι ἂν ἐπὶ γλῶτταν ἔλθῃ, ληροῦσιν, ἐν οὐδετέρᾳ
τῶν αἱρέσεων ἀκριβῶς καταμένοντες, οὐδὲ μεμνῆσθαι
τῶν τοιούτων προσήκει.
Τίνες οὖν αἱ δύο αἱρέσεις αὗται καὶ τίς ἡ τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ὑποθέσεων ἀκολουθία; τὴν ὑποβεβλημένην οὐσίαν γενέσει καὶ φθορᾷ πᾶσαν ἡνωμένην θ' ἅμα καὶ ἀλλοιοῦσθαι δυναμένην ὑπέθετο θάτερον γένος τῆς αἱρέσεως, ἀμετάβλητον δὲ καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον καὶ κατατετμημένην εἰς λεπτὰ καὶ κεναῖς ταῖς μεταξὺ χώραις διειλημμένην ἡ λοιπή.
Καὶ τοίνυν ὅσοι γε τῆς ἀκολουθίας τῶν ὑποθέσεων
αἰσθάνονται, κατὰ μὲν τὴν δευτέραν
αἵρεσιν οὔτε φύσεως οὔτε ψυχῆς ἰδίαν τινὰ νομίζουσιν
οὐσίαν ἢ δύναμιν ὑπάρχειν, || 28 ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ
ποιᾷ συνόδῳ τῶν πρώτων ἐκείνων σωμάτων τῶν
ἀπαθῶν ἀποτελεῖσθαι. κατὰ δὲ τὴν προτέραν
εἰρημένην αἵρεσιν οὐχ ὑστέρα τῶν σωμάτων ἡ
φύσις, ἀλλὰ πολὺ προτέρα τε καὶ πρεσβυτέρα.
καὶ τοίνυν κατὰ μὲν τούτους αὕτη τὰ σώματα
τῶν τε φυτῶν καὶ τῶν ζῴων συνίστησι δυνάμεις
τινὰς ἔχουσα τὰς μὲν ἑλκτικάς θ' ἅμα καὶ
ὁμοιωτικὰς τῶν οἰκείων, τὰς δ' ἀποκριτικὰς τῶν
Pg 46
Translation
Transliteration
ἀλλοτρίων, καὶ τεχνικῶς ἅπαντα διαπλάττει τε
γεννῶσα καὶ προνοεῖται τῶν γεννωμένων ἑτέραις
αὖθίς τισι δυνάμεσι, στερκτικῇ μέν τινι καὶ
προνοητικῇ τῶν ἐγγόνων, κοινωνικῇ δὲ καὶ φιλικῇ
τῶν ὁμογενῶν. κατὰ δ' αὖ τοὺς ἑτέρους οὔτε
τούτων οὐδὲν ὑπάρχει ταῖς φύσεσιν οὔτ' ἔννοιά
τίς ἐστι τῇ ψυχῇ σύμφυτος ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ ἀκολουθίας
οὐ μάχης, οὐ διαιρέσεως οὐ συνθέσεως,
οὐ δικαίων οὐκ ἀδίκων, οὐ καλῶν οὐκ αἰσχρῶν,
ἀλλ' ἐξ αἰσθήσεώς τε καὶ δι' αἰσθήσεως ἅπαντα
τὰ τοιαῦθ' ἡμῖν ἐγγίγνεσθαί φασι καὶ φαντασίαις
τισὶ καὶ μνήμαις οἰακίζεσθαι τὰ ζῷα.
Ἔνιοι || 29 δ' αὐτῶν καὶ ῥητῶς ἀπεφήναντο μηδεμίαν
εἶναι τῆς ψυχῆς δύναμιν, ᾗ λογιζόμεθα, ἀλλ'
ὑπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἄγεσθαι παθῶν ἡμᾶς καθάπερ
βοσκήματα πρὸς μηδὲν ἀνανεῦσαι μηδ' ἀντειπεῖν
δυναμένους. καθ' οὓς δηλονότι καὶ ἀνδρεία καὶ
φρόνησις καὶ σωφροσύνη καὶ ἐγκράτεια λῆρός
ἐστι μακρὸς καὶ φιλοῦμεν οὔτ' ἀλλήλους οὔτε τὰ
ἔγγονα καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς οὐδὲν ἡμῶν μέλει. καταφρονοῦσι
δὲ καὶ τῶν ὀνειράτων καὶ τῶν οἰωνῶν
καὶ τῶν συμβόλων καὶ πάσης ἀστρολογίας, ὑπὲρ
ὧν ἡμεῖς μὲν ἰδίᾳ δι' ἑτέρων γραμμάτων ἐπὶ πλέον
ἐσκεψάμεθα περὶ τῶν Ἀσκληπιάδου τοῦ ἰατροῦ
σκοπούμενοι δογμάτων. ἔνεστι δὲ τοῖς βουλομένοις
κἀκείνοις μὲν ὁμιλῆσαι τοῖς λόγοις καὶ νῦν
δ' ἤδη σκοπεῖν, ὥσπερ τινῶν δυοῖν ὁδῶν ἡμῖν
προκειμένων, ὁποτέραν βέλτιόν ἐστι τρέπεσθαι.
Ἱπποκράτης μὲν γὰρ τὴν προτέραν ῥηθεῖσαν
ἐτράπετο, καθ' ἣν ἥνωται μὲν ἡ οὐσία καὶ ἀλλοιοῦται
καὶ σύμπνουν ὅλον ἐστὶ καὶ σύρρουν τὸ
Pg 48
Translation
Transliteration
σῶμα καὶ ἡ φύσις ἅπαντα τεχνικῶς καὶ δικαίως
πράττει δυνάμεις ἔχουσα, καθ' ἃς ἕκαστον τῶν
μορίων ἕλκει μὲν || 30 ἐφ' ἑαυτὸ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἑαυτῷ
χυμόν, ἕλξαν δὲ προσφύει τε παντὶ μέρει τῶν ἐν
αὑτῷ καὶ τελέως ἐξομοιοῖ, τὸ δὲ μὴ κρατηθὲν ἐν
τούτῳ μηδὲ τὴν παντελῆ δυνηθὲν ἀλλοίωσίν τε
καὶ ὁμοιότητα τοῦ τρεφομένου καταδέξασθαι δι'
ἑτέρας αὖ τινος ἐκκριτικῆς δυνάμεως ἀποτρίβεται.
Μαθεῖν δ' ἔνεστιν οὐ μόνον ἐξ ὧν οἱ τἀναντία
τιθέμενοι διαφέρονται τοῖς ἐναργῶς φαινομένοις,
εἰς ὅσον ὀρθότητός τε καὶ ἀληθείας ἥκει τὰ Ἱπποκράτους
δόγματα, ἀλλὰ κἀξ αὐτῶν τῶν κατὰ
μέρος ἐν τῇ φυσικῇ θεωρίᾳ ζητουμένων τῶν τ'
ἄλλων ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις ἐνεργειῶν.
ὅσοι γὰρ οὐδεμίαν οὐδενὶ μορίῳ νομίζουσιν ὑπάρχειν
ἑλκτικὴν τῆς οἰκείας ποιότητος δύναμιν,
ἀναγκάζονται πολλάκις ἐναντία λέγειν τοῖς ἐναργῶς
φαινομένοις, ὥσπερ καὶ Ἀσκληπιάδης ὁ
ἰατρὸς ἐπὶ τῶν νεφρῶν ἐποίησεν, οὓς οὐ μόνον
Ἱπποκράτης ἢ Διοκλῆς ἢ Ἐρασίστρατος ἢ
Pg 50
Translation
Transliteration
Πραξαγόρας ἤ τις ἄλλος ἰατρὸς ἄριστος ὄργανα
διακριτικὰ τῶν οὔρων πεπιστεύκασιν ὑπάρχειν,
ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ || 31 μάγειροι σχεδὸν ἅπαντες ἴσασιν,
ὁσημέραι θεώμενοι τήν τε θέσιν αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν
ἀφ' ἑκατέρου πόρον εἰς τὴν κύστιν ἐμβάλλοντα,
τὸν οὐρητῆρα καλούμενον, ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς κατασκευῆς
ἀναλογιζόμενοι τήν τε χρείαν αὐτῶν καὶ
τὴν δύναμιν. καὶ πρό γε τῶν μαγείρων ἅπαντες
ἄνθρωποι καὶ δυσουροῦντες πολλάκις καὶ παντάπασιν
ἰσχουροῦντες, ὅταν ἀλγῶσι μὲν τὰ κατὰ
τὰς ψόας, ψαμμώδη δ' ἐξουρῶσιν, νεφριτικοὺς
ὀνομάζουσι σφᾶς αὐτούς.
Ἀσκληπιάδην δ' οἶμαι μηδὲ λίθον οὐρηθέντα
ποτὲ θεάσασθαι πρὸς τῶν οὕτω πασχόντων μηδ'
ὡς προηγήσατο κατὰ τὴν μεταξὺ τῶν νεφρῶν
καὶ τῆς κύστεως χώραν ὀδύνη τις ὀξεῖα διερχομένου
τοῦ λίθου τὸν οὐρητῆρα μηδ' ὡς οὐρηθέντος
αὐτοῦ τά τε τῆς ὀδύνης καὶ τὰ τῆς ἰσχουρίας
ἐπαύσατο παραχρῆμα. πῶς οὖν εἰς τὴν κύστιν
τῷ λόγῳ παράγει τὸ οὖρον, ἄξιον ἀκοῦσαι καὶ
θαυμάσαι τἀνδρὸς τὴν σοφίαν, ὃς καταλιπὼν
οὕτως εὐρείας ὁδοὺς ἐναργῶς φαινομένας ἀφανεῖς
καὶ στενὰς καὶ παντάπασιν ἀναισθήτους || 32 ὑπέθετο.
βούλεται γὰρ εἰς ἀτμοὺς ἀναλυόμενον τὸ
πινόμενον ὑγρὸν εἰς τὴν κύστιν διαδίδοσθαι
κἄπειτ' ἐξ ἐκείνων αὖθις ἀλλήλοις συνιόντων
οὕτως ἀπολαμβάνειν αὐτὸ τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἰδέαν καὶ
γίγνεσθαι πάλιν ὑγρὸν ἐξ ἀτμῶν ἀτεχνῶς ὡς περὶ
σπογγιᾶς τινος ἢ ἐρίου τῆς κύστεως διανοούμενος,
ἀλλ' οὐ σώματος ἀκριβῶς πυκνοῦ καὶ
στεγανοῦ δύο χιτῶνας ἰσχυροτάτους κεκτημένου,
Pg 52
Translation
Transliteration
δι' ὧν εἴπερ διέρχεσθαι φήσομεν τοὺς ἀτμούς, τί
δήποτ' οὐχὶ διὰ τοῦ περιτοναίου καὶ τῶν φρενῶν
διελθόντες ἐνέπλησαν ὕδατος τό τ' ἐπιγάστριον
ἅπαν καὶ τὸν θώρακα; ἀλλὰ παχύτερος, φησίν,
ἐστὶ δηλαδὴ καὶ στεγανώτερος ὁ περιτόναιος
χιτὼν τῆς κύστεως καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν
ἀποστέγει τοὺς ἀτμούς, ἡ δὲ κύστις παραδέχεται.
ἀλλ' εἴπερ ἀνατετμήκει ποτέ, τάχ' ἂν ἠπίστατο
τὸν μὲν ἔξωθεν χιτῶνα τῆς κύστεως ἀπὸ τοῦ
περιτοναίου πεφυκότα τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνῳ φύσιν
ἔχειν, τὸν δ' ἔνδοθεν τὸν αὐτῆς τῆς κύστεως ἴδιον
πλέον ἢ διπλάσιον ἐκείνου τὸ πάχος ὑπάρχειν.
Ἀλλ' ἴσως οὔτε τὸ || 33 πάχος οὔθ' ἡ λεπτότης τῶν χιτώνων, ἀλλ' ἡ θέσις τῆς κύστεως αἰτία τοῦ φέρεσθαι τοὺς ἀτμοὺς εἰς αὐτήν. καὶ μὴν εἰ καὶ διὰ τἆλλα πάντα πιθανὸν ἦν αὐτούς ἐνταυθοῖ συναθροίζεσθαι, τό γε τῆς θέσεως μόνης αὔταρκες κωλῦσαι. κάτω μὲν γὰρ ἡ κύστις κεῖται, τοῖς δ' ἀτμοῖς σύμφυτος ἡ πρὸς τὸ μετέωρον φορά, ὥστε πολὺ πρότερον ἂν ἔπλησαν ἅπαντα τὰ κατὰ τὸν θώρακά τε καὶ τὸν πνεύμονα, πρὶν ἐπὶ τὴν κύστιν ἀφικέσθαι.
Καίτοι τί θέσεως κύστεως καὶ περιτοναίου καὶ
θώρακος μνημονεύω; διεκπεσόντες γὰρ δήπου
τούς τε τῆς κοιλίας καὶ τῶν ἐντέρων χιτῶνας οἱ
ἀτμοὶ κατὰ τὴν μεταξὺ χώραν αὐτῶν τε τούτων
καὶ τοῦ περιτοναίου συναθροισθήσονται καὶ ὑγρὸν
ἐνταυθοῖ γενήσονται, ὥσπερ καὶ τοῖς ὑδερικοῖς ἐν
τούτῳ τῷ χωρίῳ τὸ πλεῖστον ἀθροίζεται τοῦ
Pg 54
Translation
Transliteration
ὕδατος, ἢ πάντως αὐτοὺς χρὴ φέρεσθαι πρόσω
διὰ πάντων τῶν ὁπωσοῦν ὁμιλούντων καὶ μηδέποθ'
ἵστασθαι. ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ τοῦτό τις ὑπόθοιτο,
διεκπεσόντες ἂν οὕτως οὐ τὸ περιτόναιον μόνον
ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐπιγάστριον, εἰς τὸ περιέχον σκεδασθεῖεν
ἢ πάντως ἂν ὑπὸ τῷ δέρματι || 34 συναθροισθεῖεν.
Ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ταῦτ' ἀντιλέγειν οἱ νῦν Ἀσκληπιάδειοι πειρῶνται, καίτοι πρὸς ἁπάντων ἀεὶ τῶν παρατυγχανόντων αὐτοῖς, ὅταν περὶ τούτων ἐρίζωσι, καταγελώμενοι. οὕτως ἄρα δυσαπότριπτόν τι κακόν ἐστιν ἡ περὶ τὰς αἱρέσεις φιλοτιμία καὶ δυσέκνιπτον ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα καὶ ψώρας ἁπάσης δυσιατότερον.
Τῶν γοῦν καθ' ἡμᾶς τις σοφιστῶν τά τ' ἄλλα
καὶ περὶ τοὺς ἐριστικοὺς λόγους ἱκανῶς συγκεκροτημένος
καὶ δεινὸς εἰπεῖν, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος,
ἀφικόμενος ἐμοί ποθ' ὑπὲρ τούτων εἰς λόγους,
τοσοῦτον ἀπέδει τοῦ δυσωπεῖσθαι πρός τινος
τῶν εἰρημένων, ὥστε καὶ θαυμάζειν ἔφασκεν
ἐμοῦ τὰ σαφῶς φαινόμενα λόγοις ληρώδεσιν
ἀνατρέπειν ἐπιχειροῦντος. ἐναργῶς γὰρ ὁσημέραι
θεωρεῖσθαι τὰς κύστεις ἁπάσας, εἴ τις αὐτὰς
ἐμπλήσειεν ὕδατος ἢ ἀέρος, εἶτα δήσας τὸν
τράχηλον πιέζοι πανταχόθεν, οὐδαμόθεν μεθιείσας
οὐδέν, ἀλλ' ἀκριβῶς ἅπαν ἐντὸς ἑαυτῶν
στεγούσας. καίτοι γ' εἴπερ ἦσάν τινες ἐκ τῶν
νεφρῶν εἰς αὐτὰς ἥκοντες αἰσθητοὶ καὶ μεγάλοι
πόροι, πάντως ἄν, ἔφη, δι' ἐκείνων, ὥσπερ εἰσῄει
τὸ || 35 ὑγρὸν εἰς αὐτάς, οὕτω καὶ θλιβόντων
ἐξεκρίνετο. ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτ' εἰπὼν ἐξαίφνης
Pg 56
Translation
Transliteration
ἀπταίστῳ καὶ σαφεῖ τῷ στόματι τελευτῶν
ἀναπηδήσας ἀπῄει καταλιπὼν ἡμᾶς ὡς οὐδὲ
πιθανῆς τινος ἀντιλογίας εὐπορῆσαι δυναμένους.
Οὕτως οὐ μόνον ὑγιὲς οὐδὲν ἴσασιν οἱ ταῖς
αἱρέσεσι δουλεύοντες, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ μαθεῖν ὑπομένουσι.
δέον γὰρ ἀκοῦσαι τὴν αἰτίαν, δι' ἣν
εἰσιέναι μὲν δύναται διὰ τῶν οὐρητήρων εἰς τὴν
κύστιν τὸ ὑγρόν, ἐξιέναι δ' αὖθις ὀπίσω τὴν
αὐτὴν ὁδὸν οὐκέθ' οἷόν τε, καὶ θαυμάσαι τὴν
τέχνην τῆς φύσεως, οὔτε μαθεῖν ἐθέλουσι καὶ
λοιδοροῦνται προσέτι μάτην ὑπ' αὐτῆς ἄλλα τε
πολλὰ καὶ τοὺς νεφροὺς γεγονέναι φάσκοντες.
εἰσὶ δ' οἳ καὶ δειχθῆναι παρόντων αὐτῶν τοὺς
ἀπὸ τῶν νεφρῶν εἰς τὴν κύστιν ἐμφυομένους
οὐρητῆρας ὑπομείναντες ἐτόλμησαν εἰπεῖν οἱ μέν,
ὅτι μάτην καὶ οὗτοι γεγόνασιν, οἱ δ', ὅτι σπερματικοί
τινές εἰσι πόροι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατὰ τὸν
τράχηλον αὐτῆς, οὐκ εἰς τὸ κῦτος ἐμφύονται.
δείξαντες οὖν ἡμεῖς αὐτοῖς τοὺς ὡς ἀληθῶς
σπερματικοὺς πόρους κατωτέρω τῶν οὐρητήρων || 36
ἐμβάλλοντας εἰς τὸν τράχηλον, νῦν γοῦν, εἰ καὶ
μὴ πρότερον, ᾠήθημεν ἀπάξειν τε τῶν ψευδῶς
ὑπειλημμένων ἐπί τε τἀναντία μεταστήσειν
αὐτίκα. οἱ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοῦτ' ἀντιλέγειν ἐτόλμων
οὐδὲν εἶναι θαυμαστὸν εἰπόντες, ἐν ἐκείνοις μὲν
ὡς ἂν στεγανωτέροις οὖσιν ἐπὶ πλέον ὑπομένειν
τὸ σπέρμα, κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν νεφρῶν ὡς ἂν
ἱκανῶς ἀνευρυσμένους ἐκρεῖν διὰ ταχέων. ἡμεῖς
Pg 58
Translation
Transliteration
οὖν ἠναγκάσθημεν αὐτοῖς τοῦ λοιποῦ δεικνύειν
εἰσρέον τῇ κύστει διὰ τῶν οὐρητήρων τὸ οὖρον
ἐναργῶς ἐπὶ ζῶντος ἔτι τοῦ ζῴου, μόγις ἂν οὕτω
ποτὲ τὴν φλυαρίαν αὐτῶν ἐπισχήσειν ἐλπίζοντες.
Ὁ δὲ τρόπος τῆς δείξεώς ἐστι τοιόσδε. διελεῖν χρὴ τὸ πρὸ τῶν οὐρητήρων περιτόναιον, εἶτα βρόχοις αὐτοὺς ἐκλαβεῖν κἄπειτ' ἐπιδήσαντας ἐᾶσαι τὸ ζῷον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὐρήσειεν ἔτι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λύειν μὲν τοὺς ἔξωθεν δεσμούς, δεικνύναι δὲ κενὴν μὲν τὴν κύστιν, μεστοὺς δ' ἱκανῶς καὶ διατεταμένους τοὺς οὐρητῆρας καὶ κινδυνεύοντας ῥαγῆναι κἄπειτα τοὺς βρόχους αὐτῶν ἀφελόντας ἐναργῶς ὁρᾶν ἤδη πληρουμένην οὔρου τὴν κύστιν.
Ἐπὶ δὲ τούτῳ || 37 φανέντι, πρὶν οὐρήσαι τὸ
ζῷον, βρόχον αὐτοῦ περιβαλεῖν χρὴ τῷ αἰδοίῳ
κἄπειτα θλίβειν πανταχόθεν τὴν κύστιν. οὐδὲ
γὰρ ἂν οὐδὲν ἔτι διὰ τῶν οὐρητήρων ἐπανέλθοι
πρὸς τοὺς νεφρούς. κἀν τούτῳ δῆλον γίγνεται
τὸ μὴ μόνον ἐπὶ τεθνεῶτος ἀλλὰ καὶ περιόντος ἔτι
τοῦ ζῴου κωλύεσθαι μεταλαμβάνειν αὖθις ἐκ τῆς
κύστεως τοὺς οὐρητῆρας τὸ οὖρον. ἐπὶ τούτοις
ὀφθεῖσιν ἐπιτρέπειν ἤδη τὸ ζῷον οὐρεῖν λύοντας
αὐτοῦ τὸν ἐπὶ τῷ αἰδοίῳ βρόχον, εἶτ' αὖθις
ἐπιβαλεῖν μὲν θατέρῳ τῶν οὐρητήρων, ἐᾶσαι δὲ
τὸν ἕτερον εἰς τὴν κύστιν συρρεῖν καί τινα διαλιπόντας
χρόνον ἐπιδεικνύειν ἤδη, πῶς ὁ μὲν ἕτερος
αὐτῶν ὁ δεδεμένος μεστὸς καὶ διατεταμένος κατὰ
τὰ πρὸς τῶν νεφρῶν μέρη φαίνεται, ὁ δ' ἕτερος
ὁ λελυμένος αὐτὸς μὲν χαλαρός ἐστι, πεπλήρωκε
δ' οὔρου τὴν κύστιν. εἶτ' αὖθις διατεμεῖν πρῶτον
μὲν τὸν πλήρη καὶ δεῖξαι, πῶς ἐξακοντίζεται τὸ
Pg 60
Translation
Transliteration
οὖρον ἐξ αὐτοῦ, καθάπερ ἐν ταῖς φλεβοτομίαις
τὸ αἷμα, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ καὶ τὸν ἕτερον αὖθις
διατεμεῖν κἄπειτ' ἐπιδῆσαι τὸ ζῷον ἔξωθεν, ἀμφοτέρων
διῃρημενων, || 38 εἶθ' ὅταν ἱκανῶς ἔχειν
δοκῇ, λῦσαι τὸν δεσμόν. εὑρεθήσεται γὰρ ἡ μὲν
κύστις κενή, πλῆρες δ' οὔρου τὸ μεταξὺ τῶν
ἐντέρων τε καὶ τοῦ περιτοναίου χωρίον ἅπαν,
ὡς ἂν εἰ καὶ ὑδερικὸν ἦν τὸ ζῷον. ταῦτ' οὖν εἴ
τις αὐτὸς καθ' ἑαυτὸν βουληθείη βασανίζειν ἐπὶ
ζῴου, μεγάλως μοι δοκεῖ καταγνώσεσθαι τῆς
Ἀσκληπιάδου προπετείας. εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ τὴν
αἰτίαν μάθοι, δι' ἣν οὐδὲν ἐκ τῆς κύστεως εἰς
τοὺς οὐρητῆρας ἀντεκρεῖ, πεισθῆναι ἄν μοι δοκεῖ
καὶ διὰ τοῦδε τὴν εἰς τὰ ζῷα πρόνοιάν τε καὶ
τέχνην τῆς φύσεως.
Ἱπποκράτης μὲν οὖν ὧν ἴσμεν ἰατρῶν τε καὶ
φιλοσόφων πρῶτος ἁπάντων, ὡς ἂν καὶ πρῶτος
ἐπιγνοὺς τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἔργα, θαυμάζει τε καὶ
διὰ παντὸς αὐτὴν ὑμνεῖ δικαίαν ὀνομάζων καὶ
μόνην ἐξαρκεῖν εἰς ἅπαντα τοῖς ζῴοις φησίν,
αὐτὴν ἐξ αὑτῆς ἀδιδάκτως πράττουσαν ἅπαντα
τὰ δέοντα· τοιαύτην δ' οὖσαν αὐτὴν εὐθέως
καὶ δυνάμεις ὑπέλαβεν ἔχειν ἑλκτικὴν μὲν τῶν
οἰκείων, ἀποκριτικὴν δὲ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων καὶ
τρέφειν τε καὶ αὔξειν αὐ||τὴν 39 τὰ ζῷα καὶ κρίνειν
τὰ νοσήματα· καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν
ἡμῶν σύμπνοιάν τε μίαν εἶναί φησι καὶ σύρροιαν
καὶ πάντα συμπαθέα. κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀσκληπιάδην
Pg 62
Translation
Transliteration
οὐδὲν οὐδενὶ συμπαθές ἐστι φύσει, διῃρημένης τε
καὶ κατατεθραυσμένης εἰς ἄναρμα στοιχεῖα καὶ
ληρώδεις ὄγκους ἁπάσης τῆς οὐσίας. ἐξ ἀνάγκης
οὖν ἄλλα τε μυρία τοῖς ἐναργῶς φαινομένοις
ἐναντίως ἀπεφήνατο καὶ τῆς φύσεως ἠγνόησε
τήν τε τῶν οἰκείων ἐπισπαστικὴν δύναμιν καὶ
τὴν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἀποκριτικήν. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν
τῆς ἐξαιματώσεώς τε καὶ ἀναδόσεως ἐξεῦρέ τινα
ψυχρὰν ἀδολεσχίαν· εἰς δὲ τὴν τῶν περιττωμάτων
κάθαρσιν οὐδὲν ὅλως ἑυρὼν εἰπεῖν οὐκ ὤκνησεν
ὁμόσε χωρῆσαι τοῖς φαινομένοις, ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς
τῶν οὔρων διακρίσεως ἀποστερήσας μὲν τῶν τε
νεφρῶν καὶ τῶν οὐρητήρων τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἀδήλους
δέ τινας πόρους εἰς τὴν κύστιν ὑποθέμενος· τοῦτο
γὰρ ἦν δηλαδὴ μέγα καὶ σεμνὸν ἀπιστήσαντα
τοῖς φαινομένοις πιστεῦσαι τοῖς ἀδήλοις.
Ἐπὶ || 40 δὲ τῆς ξανθῆς χολῆς ἔτι μεῖζον αὐτῷ καὶ νεανικώτερόν ἐστι τὸ τόλμημα· γεννάσθαι γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐν τοῖς χοληδόχοις ἀγγείοις, οὐ διακρίνεσθαι λέγει.
Πῶς οὖν τοῖς ἰκτερικοῖς ἅμ' ἄμφω συμπίπτει, τὰ μὲν διαχωρήματα μηδὲν ὅλως ἐν αὑτοῖς ἔχοντα χολῆς, ἀνάπλεων δ' αὐτοῖς γιγνόμενον ὅλον τὸ σῶμα; ληρεῖν πάλιν ἐνταῦθ' ἀναγκάζεται τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν οὔρων εἰρημένοις παραπλησίως. ληρεῖ δ' οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ περὶ τῆς μελαίνης χολῆς καὶ τοῦ σπληνὸς οὔτε τί ποθ' ὑφ' Ἱπποκράτους εἴρηται συνιεὶς ἀντιλέγειν τ' ἐπιχειρῶν οἷς οὐκ οἶδεν ἐμπλήκτῳ τινὶ καὶ μανικῷ στόματι.
Pg 64
Translation
Transliteration
Τί δὴ τὸ κέρδος ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων δογμάτων εἰς
τὰς θεραπείας ἐκτήσατο; μήτε νεφριτικόν τι
νόσημα δύνασθαι θεραπεῦσαι μήτ' ἰκτερικὸν
μήτε μελαγχολικόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τοῦ πᾶσιν
ἀνθρώποις οὐχ Ἱπποκράτει μόνον ὁμολογουμένου
τοῦ καθαίρειν τῶν φαρμάκων ἔνια μὲν τὴν ξανθὴν
χολήν, ἔνια δὲ τὴν μέλαιναν, ἄλλα δέ τινα φλέγμα
καί τινα τὸ λεπτὸν καὶ ὑδατῶδες περίττωμα,
μηδὲ περὶ τούτων συγχωρεῖν, ἀλλ' ὑπ' αὐτῶν
τῶν φαρμάκων γίγνεσθαι λέγειν τοιοῦτον ἕκαστον
τῶν κενουμένων, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τῶν χολη||41δόχων
πόρων τὴν χολήν· καὶ μηδὲν διαφέρειν κατὰ τὸν
θαυμαστὸν Ἀσκληπιάδην ἢ ὑδραγωγὸν διδόναι
τοῖς ὑδεριῶσιν ἢ χολαγωγὸν φάρμακον· ἅπαντα
γὰρ ὁμοίως κενοῦν καὶ συντήκειν τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὸ
σύντηγμα τοιόνδε τι φαίνεσθαι ποιεῖν, μὴ πρότερον
ὑπάρχον τοιοῦτον.
Ἆρ' οὖν οὐ μαίνεσθαι νομιστέον αὐτὸν ἢ παντάπασιν ἄπειρον εἶναι τῶν ἔργων τῆς τέχνης; τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν, ὡς, εἰ μὲν φλέγματος ἀγωγὸν δοθείη φάρμακον τοῖς ἰκτεριῶσιν, οὐκ ἂν οὐδὲ τέτταρας κυάθους καθαρθεῖεν· οὕτω δ' οὐδ' εἰ τῶν ὑδραγωγῶν τι· χολαγωγῷ δὲ φαρμάκῳ πλεῖστον μὲν ἐκκενοῦται χολῆς, αὐτίκα δὲ καθαρὸς τοῖς οὕτω καθαρθεῖσιν ὁ χρὼς γίγνεται. πολλοὺς γοῦν ἡμεῖς μετὰ τὸ θεραπεῦσαι τὴν ἐν τῷ ἥπατι διάθεσιν ἅπαξ καθήραντες ἀπηλλάξαμεν τοῦ παθήματος. οὐ μὴν οὐδ' εἰ φλέγματος ἀγωγῷ καθαίροις φαρμάκῳ, πλέον ἄν τι διαπράξαιο.
Pg 66
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Transliteration
Καὶ ταῦτ' οὐχ Ἱπποκράτης μὲν οὕτως οἶδε γιγνόμενα, τοῖς δ' ἀπὸ τῆς ἐμπειρίας μόνης ὁρμωμένοις ἑτέρως ἔγνωσται, ἀλλὰ κἀκεί||42νοις ὡσαύτως καὶ πᾶσιν ἰατροῖς, οἷς μέλει τῶν ἔργων τῆς τέχνης, οὕτω δοκεῖ πλὴν Ἀσκληπιάδου. προδοσίαν γὰρ εἶναι νενόμικε τῶν στοιχείων ὧν ὑπέθετο τὴν ἀληθῆ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ὁμολογίαν. εἰ γὰρ ὅλως εὑρεθείη τι φάρμακον ἑλκτικὸν τοῦδέ τινος τοῦ χυμοῦ μόνου, κίνδυνος κρατεῖν δηλαδὴ τῷ λόγῳ τὸ ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν σωμάτων εἶναί τινα δύναμιν ἐπισπαστικὴν τῆς οἰκείας ποιότητος. διὰ τοῦτο κνῆκον μὲν καὶ κόκκον τὸν κνίδιον καὶ ἱπποφαὲς οὐχ ἕλκειν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἀλλὰ ποιεῖν τὸ φλέγμα φησίν· ἄνθος δὲ χαλκοῦ καὶ λεπίδα καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν κεκαυμένον χαλκὸν καὶ χαμαίδρυν καὶ χαμαιλέοντα εἰς ὕδωρ ἀναλύειν τὸ σῶμα καὶ τοὺς ὑδερικοὺς ὑπὸ τούτων οὐ καθαιρομένους ὀνίνασθαι ἀλλὰ κενουμένους συναυξόντων δηλαδὴ τὸ πάθος. εἰ γὰρ οὐ κενοῖ τὸ περιεχόμενον ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν ὑδατῶδες ὑγρὸν ἀλλ' αὐτὸ γεννᾷ, τῷ νοσήματι προστιμωρεῖται. καὶ μέν γε καὶ ἡ σκαμμωνία πρὸς τῷ μὴ κενοῦν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τῶν ἰκτερικῶν τὴν χολὴν ἔτι καὶ τὸ χρηστὸν αἷμα χολὴν ἐργαζομένη || 43 καὶ συντήκουσα τὸ σῶμα καὶ τηλικαῦτα κακὰ δρῶσα καὶ τὸ πάθος ἐπαύξουσα κατά γε τὸν Ἀσκληπιάδου λόγον.
Ὅμως ἐναργῶς ὁρᾶται πολλοὺς ὠφελοῦσα.
ναί, φησίν, ὀνίνανται μέν, ἀλλ' αὐτῷ μόνῳ τῷ
Pg 68
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Transliteration
λόγῳ τῆς κενώσεως. καὶ μὴν εἰ φλέγματος ἀγωγὸν
αὐτοῖς δοίης φάρμακον, οὐκ ὀνήσονται. καὶ
τοῦθ' οὕτως ἐναργές ἐστιν, ὥστε καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ μόνης
τῆς ἐμπειρίας ὁρμώμενοι γιγνώσκουσιν αὐτό.
καίτοι τούτοις γε τοῖς ἀνδράσιν αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτ'
ἐστί φιλοσόφημα, τὸ μηδενὶ λόγῳ πιστεύειν ἀλλὰ
μόνοις τοῖς ἐναργῶς φαινομένοις. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν
σωφρονοῦσιν· Ἀσκληπιάδης δὲ παραπαίει ταῖς
αἰσθήσεσιν ἡμᾶς ἀπιστεῖν κελεύων, ἔνθα τὸ φαινόμενον
ἀνατρέπει σαφῶς αὐτοῦ τὰς ὑποθέσεις.
καίτοι μακρῷ γ' ἦν ἄμεινον οὐχ ὁμόσε χωρεῖν
τοῖς φαινομένοις ἀλλ' ἐκείνοις ἀναθέσθαι τὸ πᾶν.
Ἆρ' οὖν ταῦτα μόνον ἐναργῶς μάχεται τοῖς Ἀσκληπιάδου δόγμασιν ἢ καὶ τὸ θέρους μὲν πλείονα κενοῦσθαι τὴν ξανθὴν χολὴν ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν φαρμάκων, χειμῶνος δὲ τὸ φλέγμα, καὶ νεανίσκῳ μὲν πλείονα τὴν χολήν, πρεσβύτῃ δὲ τὸ φλέγμα; φαίνεται || 44 γὰρ ἕκαστον ἕλκειν τὴν οὖσαν, οὐκ αὐτὸ γεννᾶν τὴν οὐκ οὖσαν. εἰ γοῦν ἐθελήσαις νεανίσκῳ τινὶ τῶν ἰσχνῶν καὶ θερμῶν ὥρᾳ θέρους μήτ' ἀργῶς βεβιωκότι μήτ' ἐν πλησμονῇ φλέγματος ἀγωγὸν δοῦναι φάρμακον, ὀλίγιστον μὲν καὶ μετὰ βίας πολλῆς ἐκκενώσεις τοῦ χυμοῦ, βλάψεις δ' ἐσχάτως τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἔμπαλιν δ' εἰ χολαγωγὸν δοίης, καὶ πάμπολυ κενώσεις καὶ βλάψεις οὐδέν.
Ἆρ' ἀπιστοῦμεν ἔτι τῷ μὴ οὐχ ἕκαστον τῶν
φαρμάκων ἐπάγεσθαι τὸν οἰκεῖον ἑαυτῷ χυμόν;
Pg 70
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Transliteration
ἴσως φήσουσιν οἱ ἀπ' Ἀσκληπιάδου, μᾶλλον δ'
οὐκ ἴσως, ἀλλὰ πάντως ἀπιστεῖν ἐροῦσιν, ἵνα μὴ
προδῶσι τὰ φίλτατα.
Πάλιν οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐφ' ἑτέραν μεταβῶμεν ἀδολεσχίαν· οὐ γὰρ ἐπιτρέπουσιν οἱ σοφισταὶ τῶν ἀξίων τι ζητημάτων προχειρίζεσθαι καίτοι παμπόλλων ὑπαρχόντων, ἀλλὰ κατατρίβειν ἀναγκάζουσι τὸν χρόνον εἰς τὴν τῶν σοφισμάτων, ὧν προβάλλουσι, λύσιν.
Τίς οὖν ἡ ἀδολεσχία; ἡ ἔνδοξος αὕτη καὶ πολυθρύλητος λίθος ἡ τὸν σίδηρον || 45 ἐπισπωμένη. τάχα γὰρ ἂν αὕτη ποτὲ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν ἐπισπάσαιτο πιστεύειν εἶναί τινας ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν σωμάτων ἑλκτικάς τῶν οἰκείων ποιοτήτων δυνάμεις.
Ἐπίκουρος μὲν οὖν καίτοι παραπλησίοις Ἀσκληπιάδῃ
στοιχείοις πρὸς τὴν φυσιολογίαν χρώμενος
ὅμως ὁμολογεῖ, πρὸς μὲν τῆς ἡρακλείας
λίθου τὸν σίδηρον ἕλκεσθαι, πρὸς δὲ τῶν ἠλέκτρων
τὰ κυρήβια καὶ πειρᾶταί γε καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν
ἀποδιδόναι τοῦ φαινομένου. τὰς γὰρ ἀπορρεούσας
ἀτόμους ἀπὸ τῆς λίθου ταῖς ἀπορρεούσαις ἀπὸ
τοῦ σιδήρου τοῖς σχήμασιν οἰκείας εἶναί φησιν,
ὥστε περιπλέκεσθαι ῥᾳδίως. προσκρουούσας οὖν
αὐτὰς τοῖς συγκρίμασιν ἑκατέροις τῆς τε λίθου
καὶ τοῦ σιδήρου κἄπειτ' εἰς τὸ μέσον ἀποπαλλομένας
οὕτως ἀλλήλαις τε περιπλέκεσθαι καὶ
Pg 72
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Transliteration
συνεπισπᾶσθαι τὸν σίδηρον. τὸ μὲν οὖν τῶν
ὑποθέσεων εἰς τὴν αἰτιολογίαν ἀπίθανον ἄντικρυς
δῆλον, ὅμως δ' οὖν ὁμολογεῖ τὴν ὁλκήν. καὶ οὕτω
γε καὶ κατὰ τὰ σώματα τῶν ζῴων φησὶ γίγνεσθαι
τάς τ' ἀναδόσεις καὶ τὰς διακρίσεις τῶν περιττωμάτων
καὶ τὰς τῶν καθαιρόντων φαρμάκων
ἐνεργείας.
Ἀσκληπιάδης δὴ τό τε τῆς ἐιρημένης αἰτίας ἀπίθανον || 46 ὑπιδόμενος καὶ μηδεμίαν ἄλλην ἐφ' οἷς ὑπέθετο στοιχείοις ἐξευρίσκων πιθανὴν ἐπὶ τὸ μηδ' ὅλως ἕλκεσθαι λέγειν ὑπὸ μηδενὸς μηδὲν ἀναισχυντήσας ἐτράπετο, δέον, εἰ μήθ' οἷς Ἐπίκουρος εἶπεν ἠρέσκετο μήτ' ἄλλα βελτίω λέγειν εἶχεν, ἀποστῆναι τῶν ὑποθέσεων καὶ τήν τε φύσιν εἰπεῖν τεχνικὴν καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν τῶν ὄντων ἑνουμένην τε πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἀεὶ καὶ ἀλλοιουμένην ὑπὸ τῶν ἑαυτὴς μορίων εἰς ἄλληλα δρώντων τε καὶ πασχόντων. εἰ γὰρ ταῦθ' ὑπέθετο, χαλεπὸν οὐδὲν ἦν τὴν τεχνικὴν ἐκείνην φύσιν ὁμολογῆσαι δύναμεις ἔχειν ἐπισπαστικὴν μὲν τῶν οἰκείων, ἀποκριτικὴν δὲ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων. οὐ γὰρ δι' ἄλλο τί γ' ἦν αὐτῇ τὸ τεχνικῇ τ' εἶναι καὶ τοῦ ζῴου διασωστικῇ καὶ τῶν νοσημάτων κριτικῇ παρὰ τὸ προσίεσθαι μὲν καὶ φυλάττειν τὸ οἰκεῖον, ἀποκρίνειν δὲ τὸ ἀλλότριον.
Ἀλλ' Ἀσκληπιάδης κἀνταῦθα τὸ μὲν ἀκόλουθον
ταῖς ἀρχαῖς αἷς ὑπέθετο συνεῖδεν, οὐ μὴν τήν
γε πρὸς τὸ φαινόμενον ἐναργῶς ᾐδέσθη μάχην,
ἀλλ' ὁμόσε || 47 χωρεῖ καὶ περὶ τούτου πᾶσιν οὐκ
ἰατροῖς μόνον ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις
Pg 74
Translation
Transliteration
οὔτε κρίσιν εἶναί τινα λέγων οὔθ' ἡμέραν κρίσιμον
οὔθ' ὅλως οὐδὲν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τοῦ ζῴου πραγματεύσασθαι
τὴν φύσιν. ἀεὶ γὰρ τὸ μὲν ἀκόλουθον
φυλάττειν βούλεται, τὸ δ' ἐναργῶς φαινόμενον
ἀνατρέπειν ἔμπαλιν Ἐπικούρῳ. τιθεὶς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος
ἀεὶ τὸ φαινόμενον αἰτίαν αὐτοῦ ψυχρὰν ἀποδίδωσι.
τὰ γὰρ ἀποπαλλόμενα σμικρὰ σώματα τῆς ἡρακλείας
λίθου τοιούτοις ἑτέροις περιπλέκεσθαι μορίοις
τοῦ σιδήρου κἄπειτα διὰ τῆς περιπλοκῆς
ταύτης μηδαμοῦ φαινομένης ἐπισπᾶσθαι βαρεῖαν
οὕτως οὐσίαν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἄν τις πεισθείη. καὶ
γὰρ εἰ τοῦτο συγχωρήσομεν, τό γε τῷ σιδήρῳ
πάλιν ἕτερον προστεθέν τι συνάπτεσθαι τὴν
αὐτὴν αἰτίαν οὐκέτι προσίεται.
Τί γὰρ ἐροῦμεν; ἢ δηλαδὴ τῶν ἀπορρεόντων τῆς λίθου μορίων ἔνια μὲν προσκρούσαντα τῷ σιδήρῳ πάλιν ἀποπάλλεσθαι καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἶναι, δι' ὧν κρεμάννυσθαι συμβαίνει τὸν σίδηρον, τὰ δ' εἰς αὐτὸν εἰσδυόμενα διὰ τῶν || 48 κενῶν πόρων διεξέρχεσθαι τάχιστα κἄπειτα τῷ παρακειμένῳ σιδήρῳ προσκρούοντα μήτ' ἐκεῖνον διαδῦναι δύνασθαι, καίτοι τόν γε πρῶτον διαδύντα, παλινδρομοῦντα δ' αὖθις ἐπὶ τὸν πρότερον ἑτέρας αὖθις ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς προτέραις ὁμοίας περιπλοκάς;
Ἐναργῶς γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὸ ληρῶδες τῆς αἰτίας
ἐλέγχεται. γραφεῖα γοῦν οἶδα ποτε σιδηρᾶ πέντε
κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ἀλλήλοις συναφθέντα, τοῦ πρώτου
μὲν μόνου τῆς λίθου ψαύσαντος, ἐξ ἐκείνου
Pg 76
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Transliteration
δ' εἰς τἆλλα τῆς δυνάμεως διαδοθείσης· καὶ οὐκ
ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὡς, εἰ μὲν τῷ κάτω τοῦ γραφείου
πέρατι προσάγοις ἕτερον, ἔχεταί τε καὶ συνάπτεται
καὶ κρέμαται τὸ προσενεχθέν· εἰ δ' ἄλλῳ τινὶ
μέρει τῶν πλαγίων προσθείης, οὐ συνάπτεται.
πάντη γὰρ ὁμοίως ἡ τῆς λίθου διαδίδοται δύναμις,
εἰ μόνον ἅψαιτο κατά τι τοῦ πρώτου γραφείου.
καὶ μέντοι κἀκ τούτου πάλιν εἰς τὸ δεύτερον ὅλον
ἡ δύναμις ἅμα νοήματι διαρρεῖ κἀξ ἐκείνου πάλιν
εἰς τὸ τρίτον ὅλον. εἰ δὴ νοήσαις σμικράν τινα
λίθον ἡρακλείαν ἐν οἴκῳ τινὶ κρεμαμένην, εἶτ' ἐν
κύκλῳ ψαύοντα πάμπολλα σιδήρια κἀκείνων
πάλιν ἑτέρα κἀκείνων ἄλλα καὶ τοῦτ' ἄχρι πλείονος,
ἅπαντα || 49 δήπου πίμπλασθαι δεῖ τὰ σιδήρια
τῶν ἀπορρεόντων τῆς λίθου σωμάτων. καὶ κινδυνεύει
διαφορηθῆναι τὸ σμικρὸν ἐκεῖνο λιθίδιον εἰς
τὰς ἀπορροὰς διαλυθέν. καίτοι, κἂν εἰ μηδὲν
παρακέοιτ' αὐτῷ σιδήριον, εἰς τὸν ἀέρα σκεδάννυται,
μάλιστ' εἰ καὶ θερμὸς ὑπάρχοι.
Ναί, φησί, σμικρὰ γὰρ αὐτὰ χρὴ πάνυ νοεῖν, ὥστε τῶν ἐμφερομένων τῷ ἀέρι ψηγμάτων τούτων δὴ τῶν σμικροτάτων ἐκείνων ἔνια μυριοστὸν εἶναι μέρος. εἶτ' ἐξ οὕτω σμικρῶν τολμᾶτε λέγειν κρεμάννυσθαι βάρη τηλικαῦτα σιδήρου; εἰ γὰρ ἕκαστον αὐτῶν μυριοστόν ἐστι μέρος τῶν ἐν τῷ ἀέρι φερομένων ψηγμάτων, πηλίκον χρὴ νοῆσαι τὸ πέρας αὐτῶν τὸ ἀγκιστροειδές, ᾧ περιπλέκεται πρὸς ἄλληλα; πάντως γὰρ δήπου τοῦτο σμικρότατόν ἐστιν ὅλου τοῦ ψήγματος.
Pg 78
Translation
Transliteration
Εἶτα μικρὸν μικρῷ, κινούμενον κινουμένῳ περιπλακὲν οὐκ εὐθὺς ἀποπάλλεται. καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἄλλ' ἄττα πάντως αὐτοῖς, τὰ μὲν ἄνωθεν, τὰ δὲ κάτωθεν, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἔμπροσθεν, τὰ δ' ὄπισθεν, τὰ δ' ἐκ τῶν δεξιῶν, τὰ δ' ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν || 50 ἐκρηγνύμενα σείει τε καὶ βράττει καὶ μένειν οὐκ ἐᾷ. καὶ μέντοι καὶ πολλὰ χρὴ νοεῖν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἕκαστον ἐκείνων τῶν σμικρῶν σωμάτων ἔχειν ἀγκιστρώδη πέρατα. δι' ἑνὸς μὲν γὰρ ἀλλήλοις συνάπτεται, δι' ἑτέρου δ' ἑνὸς τοῦ μὲν ὑπερκειμένου τῇ λίθῳ, τοῦ δ' ὑποκειμένου τῷ σιδήρῳ. εἰ γὰρ ἄνω μὲν ἐξαφθείη τῆς λίθου, κάτω δὲ τῷ σιδήρῳ μὴ συμπλακείη, πλέον οὐδέν. ὥστε τοῦ μὲν ὑπερκειμένου τὸ ἄνω μέρος ἐκκρέμασθαι χρὴ τῆς λίθου, τοῦ δ' ὑποκειμένου τῷ κάτω πέρατι συνῆφθαι τὸν σίδηρον. ἐπεὶ δὲ κἀκ τῶν πλαγίων ἀλλήλοις περιπλέκεται, πάντως που κἀνταῦθα ἔχει τὰ ἄγκιστρα. καὶ μέμνησό μοι πρὸ πάντων, ὅπως ὄντα σμικρὰ τὰς τοιαύτας καὶ τοσαύτας ἀποφύσεις ἔχει. καὶ τούτου μᾶλλον ἔτι, πῶς, ἵνα τὸ δεύτερον σιδήριον συναφθῇ τῷ πρώτῳ καὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ τὸ τρίτον κἀκείνῳ τὸ τέταρτον, ἅμα μὲν διεξέρχεσθαι χρὴ τοὺς πόρους ταυτὶ τὰ σμικρὰ καὶ ληρώδη ψήγματα, ἅμα δ' ἀποπάλλεσθαι τοῦ μετ' αὐτὸ || 51 τεταγμένου, καίτοι κατὰ πᾶν ὁμοίου τὴν φύσιν ὑπάρχοντος.
Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἡ τοιαύτη πάλιν ὑπόθεσις ἄτολμος,
ἀλλ', εἰ χρὴ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, μακρῷ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν
ἀναισχυντοτέρα, πέντε σιδηρίων ὁμοίων ἀλλήλοις
Pg 80
Translation
Transliteration
ἐφεξῆς τεταγμένων διὰ τοῦ πρώτου διαδυόμενα
ῥᾳδίως τῆς λίθου τὰ μόρια κατὰ τὸ δεύτερον
ἀποπάλλεσθαι καὶ μὴ διὰ τούτου κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν
τρόπον ἑτοίμως διεξέρχεσθαι. καὶ μὴν ἑκατέρως
ἄτοπον. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀποπάλλεται, πῶς εἰς τὸ
τρίτον ὠκέως διεξέρχεται; εἰ δ' οὐκ ἀποπάλλεται,
πῶς κρεμάννυται τὸ δεύτερον ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου; τὴν
γὰρ ἀπόπαλσιν αὐτὸς ὑπέθετο δημιουργὸν τῆς
ὁλκῆς.
Ἀλλ', ὅπερ ἔφην, εἰς ἀδολεσχίαν ἀναγκαῖον
ἐμπίπτειν, ἐπειδάν τις τοιούτοις ἀνδράσι διαλέγηται.
σύντομον οὖν τινα καὶ κεφαλαιώδη λόγον
εἰπὼν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι βούλομαι. τοῖς Ἀσκληπιάδου
γράμμασιν εἴ τις ἐπιμελῶς ὁμιλήσειε, τήν
τε πρὸς τὰς ἀρχὰς ἀκολουθίαν τῶν τοιούτων
δογμάτων ἀκριβῶς ἂν ἐκμάθοι καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ
φαινόμενα μάχην. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἐπίκουρος τὰ
φαινόμενα φυλάττειν βουλόμενος ἀσχημονεῖ || 52 φιλοτιμούμενος
ἐπιδεικνύειν αὐτὰ ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ὁμολογοῦντα·
ὁ δ' Ἀσκληπιάδης τὸ μὲν ἀκόλουθον
ταῖς ἀρχαῖς φυλάττει, τοῦ φαινομένου δ' οὐδὲν
αὐτῷ μέλει. ὅστις οὖν βούλεται τὴν ἀτοπίαν
ἐξελέγχειν τῶν ὑποθέσεων, εἰ μὲν πρὸς Ἀσκληπιάδην
ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ γίγνοιτο, τῆς πρὸς τὸ
φαινόμενον ὑπομιμνησκέτω μάχης· εἰ δὲ πρὸς
Ἐπίκουρον, τῆς πρὸς τὰς ἀρχὰς διαφωνίας. αἱ
δ' ἄλλαι σχεδὸν αἱρέσεις αἱ τῶν ὁμοίων ἀρχῶν
ἐχόμεναι τελέως ἀπέσβησαν, αὗται δ' ἔτι μόναι
διαρκοῦσιν οὐκ ἀγεννῶς. καίτοι τὰ μὲν Ἀσκληπιάδου
Μηνόδοτος ὁ ἐμπειρικὸς ἀφύκτως
ἐξελέγχει, τήν τε πρὸς τὰ φαινόμενα μάχην ὑπομιμνήσκων
αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα· τὰ δ'
Pg 82
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Transliteration
Ἐπικούρου πάλιν ὁ Ἀσκληπιάδης ἐχόμενος ἀεὶ
τῆς ἀκολουθίας, ἧς ἐκεῖνος οὐ πάνυ τι φαίνεται
φροντίζων.
Ἀλλ' οἱ νῦν ἄνθρωποι, πρὶν καὶ ταύτας ἐκμαθεῖν τὰς αἱρέσεις καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς βελτίους κἄπειτα χρόνῳ πολλῷ κρῖναί τε καὶ βασανίσαι τὸ καθ' ἑκάστην αὐτῶν ἀληθές τε καὶ ψεῦδος, οἱ μὲν ἰατροὺς ἑαυτούς, οἱ δὲ φιλοσόφους ὀνομάζουσι μηδὲν εἰδότες. || 53 οὐδὲν οὖν θαυμαστὸν ἐπίσης τοῖς ἀληθέσι τὰ ψευδῆ τετιμῆσθαι. ὅτῳ γὰρ ἂν ἕκαστος πρώτῳ περιτύχῃ διδασκάλῳ, τοιοῦτος ἐγένετο, μὴ περιμείνας μηδὲν ἔτι παρ' ἄλλου μαθεῖν. ἔνιοι δ' αὐτῶν, εἰ καὶ πλείοσιν ἐντύχοιεν, ἀλλ' οὕτω γ' εἰσὶν ἀσύνετοί τε καὶ βραδεῖς τὴν διάνοιαν, ὥστε καὶ γεγηρακότες οὔπω συνιᾶσιν ἀκολουθίαν λόγου. πάλαι δὲ τοὺς τοιούτους ἐπὶ τὰς βαναύσους ἀπέλυον τέχνας. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐς ὅ τι τελευτήσει θεὸς οἶδεν.
Ἡμεῖς δ' ἐπειδή, καίτοι φεύγοντες ἀντιλέγειν
τοῖς ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἀρχαῖς εὐθὺς ἐσφαλμένοις,
ὅμως ἠναγκάσθημεν ὑπ' αὐτῆς τῶν πραγμάτων
τῆς ἀκολουθίας εἰπεῖν τινα καὶ διαλεχθῆναι πρὸς
αὐτούς, ἔτι καὶ τοῦτο προσθήσομεν τοῖς εἰρημένοις,
ὡς οὐ μόνον τὰ καθαίροντα φάρμακα
πέφυκεν ἐπισπᾶσθαι τὰς οἰκείας ποιότητας ἀλλὰ
καὶ τὰ τοὺς σκόλοπας ἀνάγοντα καὶ τὰς τῶν
βελῶν ἀκίδας εἰς πολὺ βάθος σαρκὸς ἐμπεπαρμένας
ἐνίοτε. καὶ μέντοι καὶ ὅσα τοὺς ἰοὺς τῶν
θηρίων ἢ τοὺς ἐμπεφαρμαγμένους τοῖς βέλεσιν
ἀνέλκει, καὶ ταῦτα τὴν αὐτὴν ταῖς ἡρακλείαις
λίθοις ἐπὶ||54 δείκνυται δύναμιν. ἔγωγ' οὖν οἶδά ποτε
καταπεπαρμένον ἐν ποδὶ νεανίσκου σκόλοπα τοῖς
Pg 84
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Transliteration
μὲν δακτύλοις ἕλκουσιν ἡμῖν βιαίως οὐκ ἀκολουθήσαντα,
φαρμάκου δ' ἐπιτεθέντος ἀλύπως τε καὶ
διὰ ταχέων ἀνελθόντα. καίτοι καὶ πρὸς τοῦτό
τινες ἀντιλέγουσι φάσκοντες, ὅταν ἡ φλεγμονὴ
λυθῇ τοῦ μέρους, αὐτόματον ἐξιέναι τὸν σκόλοπα
πρὸς οὐδενὸς ἀνελκόμενον. ἀλλ' οὗτοί γε πρῶτον
μὲν ἀγνοεῖν ἐοίκασιν, ὡς ἄλλα μέν ἐστι
φλεγμονῆς, ἄλλα δὲ τῶν οὕτω καταπεπαρμένων
ἑλκτικὰ φάρμακα· καίτοι γ' εἴπερ ἀφλεγμάντων
γενομένων ἐξεκρίνετο τὰ παρὰ φύσιν, ὅσα φλεγμονῆς
ἐστι λυτικά, ταῦτ' εὐθὺς ἂν ἦν κἀκείνων
ἑλκτικά.
Δεύτερον δ', ὃ καὶ μᾶλλον ἄν τις θαυμάσειεν, ὡς οὐ μόνον ἄλλα μὲν τοὺς σκόλοπας, ἄλλα δὲ τοὺς ἰοὺς ἐξάγει φάρμακα, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν τοὺς ἰοὺς ἑλκόντων τὰ μὲν τὸν τῆς ἐχίδνης, τὰ δὲ τὸν τῆς τρυγόνος, τὰ δ' ἄλλου τινὸς ἐπισπᾶται καὶ σαφῶς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τοῖς φαρμάκοις ἐπικειμένους αὐτούς. ἐνταῦθ' οὖν Ἐπίκουρον μὲν ἐπαινεῖν χρὴ τῆς πρὸς || 55 τὸ φαινόμενον αἰδοῦς, μέμφεσθαι δὲ τὸν λόγον τῆς αἰτίας. ὃν γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἕλκοντες τοῖς δακτύλοις οὐκ ἀνηγάγομεν σκόλοπα, τοῦτον ὑπὸ τῶν σμικρῶν ἐκείνων ἀνέλκεσθαι ψηγμάτων, πῶς οὐ παντάπασιν ἄτοπον εἶναι χρὴ νομίζειν;
Ἆρ' οὖν ἤδη πεπείσμεθα τῶν ὄντων ἑκάστῳ δύναμίν τιν' ὑπάρχειν, ᾗ τὴν οἰκείαν ἕλκει ποιότητα, τὸ μὲν μᾶλλον, τὸ δ' ἧττον;
Ἢ καὶ τὸ τῶν πυρῶν ἔτι παράδειγμα προχειρισόμεθα
Pg 86
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Transliteration
τῷ λόγῳ; φανήσονται γὰρ οἶμαι
καὶ τῶν γεωργῶν αὐτῶν ἀμαθέστεροι περὶ τὴν
φύσιν οἱ μηδὲν ὅλως ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἕλκεσθαι
συγχωροῦντες· ὡς ἔγωγε πρῶτον μὲν ἀκούσας
τὸ γιγνόμενον ἐθαύμασα καὶ αὐτὸς ἠβουλήθην
αὐτόπτης αὐτοῦ καταστῆναι. μετὰ ταῦτα δέ,
ὡς καὶ τὰ τῆς πείρας ὡμολόγει, τὴν αἰτίαν
σκοπούμενος ἐν παμπόλλῳ χρόνῳ κατὰ πάσας
τὰς αἱρέσεις οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην εὑρεῖν οἷός τ' ἦν
οὐδ' ἄχρι τοῦ πιθανοῦ προϊοῦσαν ἀλλὰ καταγελάστους
τε καὶ σαφῶς ἐξελεγχομένας τὰς ἄλλας
ἁπάσας πλὴν τῆς τὴν ὁλκὴν πρεσβευούσης.
Ἔστι δὲ τὸ γιγνόμενον τοιόνδε. κατακομίζοντες
οἱ παρ' ἡμῖν γεωργοὶ τοὺς || 56 ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν
πυροὺς εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐν ἁμάξαις τισίν, ὅταν
ὑφελέσθαι βουληθῶσιν, ὥστε μὴ φωραθῆναι,
κεράμι' ἄττα πληρώσαντες ὕδατος μέσοις αὐτοῖς
ἐνιστᾶσιν. ἕλκοντες οὖν ἐκεῖνοι διὰ τοῦ κεραμίου
τὸ ὑγρὸν εἰς αὑτοὺς ὄγκον μὲν καὶ βάρος
προσκτῶνται, κατάδηλοι δ' οὐ πάνυ γίγνονται τοῖς
ὁρῶσιν, εἰ μή τις προπεπυσμένος ἤδη περιεργότερον
ἐπισκοποῖτο. καίτοι γ' εἰ βουληθείης ἐν
ἡλίῳ καταθεῖναι πάνυ θερμῷ ταὐτὸν ἀγγεῖον,
ἐλάχιστον παντελῶς εὑρήσεις τὸ δαπανώμενον
ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἡμέρας. οὕτως ἄρα καὶ τῆς ἡλιακῆς
θερμασίας τῆς σφοδρᾶς ἰσχυροτέραν οἱ πυροὶ
δύναμιν ἔχουσιν ἕλκειν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς τὴν πλησιάζουσαν
ὑγρότητα. λῆρος οὖν ἐνταῦθα μακρὸς
ἡ πρὸς τὸ λεπτομερὲς φορὰ τοῦ περιέχοντος
ἡμᾶς ἀέρος καὶ μάλισθ' ὅταν ἱκανῶς ᾖ θερμός,
Pg 88
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Transliteration
πολὺ μὲν ὑπάρχοντος ἢ κατὰ τοὺς πυροὺς λεπτομερεστέρου,
δεχομένου δ' οὐδὲ τὸ δέκατον μέρος
τῆς εἰς ἐκείνους μεταλαμβανομένης ὑγρότητος.
Ἐπεὶ δ' ἱκανῶς ἠδολεσχήσαμεν οὐχ ἑκόντες, ἀλλ', ὡς ἡ παροιμία φησί, μαινομένοις ἀναγκασθέντες συμ||57μανῆναι, πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν οὔρων ἐπανέλθωμεν διάκρισιν, ἐν ᾗ τῶν μὲν Ἀσκληπιάδου λήρων ἐπιλαθώμεθα, μετὰ δὲ τῶν πεπεισμένων διηθεῖσθαι τὰ οὖρα διὰ τῶν νεφρῶν, τίς ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἐνεργείας ἐστίν, ἐπισκεψώμεθα· πάντως γὰρ ἢ ἐξ αὑτῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς νεφροὺς φέρεται τὰ οὖρα τοῦτο βέλτιον εἶναι νομίζοντα, καθάπερ ἡμεῖς, ὁπόταν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἀπίωμεν· ἤ, εἰ τοῦτ' ἀδύνατον, ἕτερόν τι χρὴ τῆς φορᾶς αὐτῶν ἐξευρεῖν αἴτιον. τί δὴ τοῦτ' ἔστιν; εἰ γὰρ μὴ τοῖς νεφροῖς δώσομέν τινα δύναμιν ἑλκτικὴν τῆς τοιαύτης ποιότητος, ὡς Ἱπποκράτης ἐνόμιζεν, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἐξευρήσομεν. ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἤτοι τούτους ἕλκειν αὐτὸ προσῆκεν ἢ τὰς φλέβας πέμπειν, εἴπερ γε μὴ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ φέρεται, παντί που δῆλον. ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν αἱ φλέβες περιστελλόμεναι προωθοῖεν, οὐκ ἐκεῖνο μόνον, ἀλλὰ σὺν αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ πᾶν αἷμα τὸ περιεχόμενον ἐν ἑαυταῖς εἰς τοὺς νεφροὺς ἐκθλίψουσιν· εἰ δὲ τοῦτ' ἀδύνατον, ὡς δείξομεν, λείπεται τοὺς νεφροὺς ἕλκειν.
Pg 90
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Transliteration
Πῶς οὖν ἀδύνατον τοῦτο; τῶν νεφρῶν ἡ θέσις ἀντιβαίνει. οὐ γὰρ δὴ οὕτω γ' ὑπόκεινται τῇ κοίλῃ φλεβὶ || 58 καθάπερ τοῖς ἐξ ἐγκεφάλου περιττώμασιν ἔν τε τῇ ῥινὶ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὑπερῴαν οἱ τοῖς ἠθμοῖς ὅμοιοι πόροι, ἀλλ' ἑκατέρωθεν αὐτῇ παράκεινται. καὶ μήν, εἴπερ ὁμοίως τοῖς ἠθμοῖς ὅσον ἂν ᾖ λεπτότερον καὶ τελέως ὀρρῶδες, τοῦτο μὲν ἑτοίμως διαπέμπουσι, τὸ δὲ παχύτερον ἀποστέγουσιν, ἅπαν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἰέναι χρὴ τὸ αἷμα τὸ περιεχόμενον ἐν τῇ κοίλῃ φλεβί, καθάπερ εἰς τοὺς τρυγητοὺς ὁ πᾶς οἶνος ἐμβάλλεται. καὶ μέν γε καὶ τὸ τοῦ γάλακτος τοῦ τυρουμένου παράδειγμα σαφῶς ἄν, ὃ βούλομαι λέγειν, ἐνδείξαιτο. καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο πᾶν ἐμβληθὲν εἰς τοὺς ταλάρους οὐ πᾶν διηθεῖται, ἀλλ' ὅσον μὲν ἂν ᾖ λεπτότερον τῆς εὐρύτητος τῶν πλοκάμων, εἰς τὸ κατάντες φέρεται καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ὀρρὸς ἐπονομάζεται· τὸ λοιπὸν δὲ τὸ παχὺ τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι τυρός, ὡς ἂν οὐ παραδεχομένων αὐτὸ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ταλάροις πόρων, οὐ διεκπίπτει κάτω. καὶ τοίνυν, εἴπερ οὕτω μέλλει διηθεῖσθαι τῶν νεφρῶν ὁ τοῦ αἵματος ὀρρός, ἅπαν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἥκειν χρὴ τὸ αἷμα καὶ μὴ τὸ μὲν ναί, τὸ δ' οὔ. || 59
Πῶς οὖν ἔχει τὸ φαινόμενον ἐκ τῆς ἀνατομῆς;
Τὸ μὲν ἕτερον μέρος τῆς κοίλης ἄνω πρὸς τὴν
καρδίαν ἀναφέρεται, τὸ λοιπὸν δ' ἐπιβαίνει τῇ
ῥάχει καθ' ὅλης αὐτῆς ἐκτεινόμενον ἄχρι τῶν
σκελῶν, ὥστε τὸ μὲν ἕτερον οὐδ' ἐγγὺς ἀφικνεῖται
Pg 92
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Transliteration
τῶν νεφρῶν, τὸ λοιπὸν δὲ πλησιάζει μέν, οὐ μὴν
εἰς αὐτούς γε καταφύεται. ἐχρῆν δ', εἴπερ
ἔμελλεν ὡς δι' ἠθμῶν αὐτῶν καθαρθήσεσθαι τὸ
αἷμα, πᾶν ἐμπίπτειν εἰς αὐτοὺς κἄπειτα κάτω
μὲν φέρεσθαι τὸ λεπτόν, ἴσχεσθαι δ' ἄνω τὸ
παχύ. νυνὶ δ' οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει· πλάγιοι γὰρ
ἑκατέρωθεν τῆς κοίλης φλεβὸς οἱ νεφροὶ κεῖνται.
οὔκουν ὡς ἠθμοὶ διηθοῦσι, πεμπούσης μὲν ἐκείνης,
αὐτοὶ δ' οὐδεμίαν ἐισφερόμενοι δύναμιν, ἀλλ'
ἕλκουσι δηλονότι· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔτι λείπεται.
Πῶς οὖν ἕλκουσιν; εἰ μέν, ὡς Ἐπίκουρος οἴεται τὰς ὁλκὰς ἁπάσας γίγνεσθαι κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἀτόμων ἀποπάλσεις τε καὶ περιπλοκάς, ἄμεινον ἦν ὄντως εἰπεῖν αὐτοὺς μηδ' ἕλκειν ὅλως· πολὺ γὰρ ἂν οὕτω γε τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς ἡρακλείας λίθου μικρῷ πρόσθεν εἰρη||60μένων ὁ λόγος ἐξεταζόμενος εὑρεθείη γελοιότερος· ἀλλ' ὡς Ἱπποκράτης ἠβούλετο. λεχθήσεται δὲ σαφέστερον ἐπὶ προήκοντι τῷ λόγῳ. νυνὶ γὰρ οὐ τοῦτο πρόκειται διδάσκειν, ἀλλ' ὡς οὔτ' ἄλλο τι δυνατὸν εἰπεῖν αἴτιον εἶναι τῆς τῶν οὔρων διακρίσεως πλὴν τῆς ὁλκῆς τῶν νεφρῶν οὔθ' οὕτω γίγνεσθαι τὴν ὁλκήν, ὡς οἱ μηδεμίαν οἰκείαν διδόντες τῇ φύσει δύναμιν οἴονται γίγνεσθαι.
Τούτου γὰρ ὁμολογηθέντος, ὡς ἔστιν ὅλως τις ἐν τοῖς ὑπὸ φύσεως διοικουμένοις δύναμις ἑλκτική, ληρώδης νομίζοιτ' ἂν ὁ περὶ ἀναδόσεως τροφῆς ἄλλο τι λέγειν ἐπιχειρῶν.
Pg 94
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Transliteration
Ἐρασίστρατος δ' οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἑτέραις μέν τισι δόξαις εὐήθεσιν ἀντεῖπε διὰ μακρῶν, ὑπερέβη δὲ τελέως τὴν Ἱπποκράτους, οὐδ' ἄχρι τοῦ μνημονεῦσαι μόνον αὐτῆς, ὡς ἐν τοῖς περὶ καταπόσεως ἐποίησεν, ἀξιώσας. ἐν ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ ἄχρι τοσούτου φαίνεται μνημονεύων, ὡς τοὔνομ' εἰπεῖν τῆς ὁλκῆς μόνον ὥδέ πως γράφων·
“Ὁλκὴ μὲν οὖν τῆς κοιλίας οὐδεμία φαίνεται εἶναι”· περὶ δὲ τῆς || 61 ἀναδόσεως τὸν λόγον ποιούμενος οὐδ' ἄχρι συλλαβῆς μιᾶς ἐμνημόνευσε τῆς Ἱπποκρατείου δόξης. καίτοι γ' ἐπήρκεσεν ἂν ἡμῖν, εἰ καὶ τοῦτ' ἔγραψε μόνον, ὡς Ἱπποκράτης εἰπὼν “Σάρκες ὁλκοὶ καὶ ἐκ κοιλίης καὶ ἔξωθεν” ψεύδεται· οὔτε γὰρ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας οὔτ' ἔξωθεν ἕλκειν δύνανται. εἰ δὲ καὶ ὅτι μήτρας αἰτιώμενος ἄρρωστον αὐχένα κακῶς εἶπεν “Οὐ γὰρ δύναται αὐτέης ὁ στόμαχος εἰρύσαι τὴν γονήν,” ἢ εἰ καί τι τοιοῦτον ἄλλο γράφειν ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος ἠξίωσε, τότ' ἂν καὶ ἡμεῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπολογούμενοι εἴπομεν·
Ὦ γενναῖε, μὴ ῥητορικῶς ἡμῶν κατάτρεχε
χωρὶς ἀποδείξεως, ἀλλ' εἰπέ τινα κατηγορίαν
τοῦ δόγματος, ἵν' ἢ πεισθῶμέν σοι ὡς καλῶς
ἐξέλεγχοντι τὸν παλαιὸν λόγον ἢ μεταπείσωμεν
Pg 96
Translation
Transliteration
ὡς ἀγνοοῦντα. καίτοι τί λέγω ῥητορικῶς; μὴ
γάρ, ἐπειδή τινες τῶν ῥητόρων, ἃ μάλιστ' ἀδυνατοῦσι
διαλύεσθαι, ταῦτα διαγελάσαντες οὐδ'
ἐπιχειροῦσιν ἀντιλέγειν, ἤδη που τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς
ἡγώμεθ' εἶναι τὸ ῥητορικῶς· τὸ γὰρ διὰ λόγου
πιθανοῦ ἐστι τὸ || 62 ῥητορικῶς, τὸ δ' ἄνευ λόγου
βωμολοχικόν, οὐ ῥητορικόν. οὔκουν οὔτε ῥητορικῶς
οὔτε διαλεκτικῶς ἀντεῖπεν ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος
ἐν τῷ περὶ τῆς καταπόσεως λόγῳ. τί γάρ φησιν;
“Ὁλκὴ μὲν οὖν τῆς κοιλίας οὐδεμία φαίνεται
εἶναι.” πάλιν οὖν αὐτῷ παρ' ἡμῶν ἀντιμαρτυρῶν
ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος ἀντιπαραβαλλέσθω· περιστολὴ
μὲν οὖν τοῦ στομάχου οὐδεμία φαίνεται εἶναι.
καὶ πῶς οὐ φαίνεται; τάχ' ἂν ἴσως εἴποι τις τῶν
ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· τὸ γὰρ ἀεὶ τῶν ἄνωθεν αὐτοῦ μερῶν
συστελλομένων διαστέλλεσθαι τὰ κάτω πῶς οὐκ
ἔστι τῆς περιστολῆς ἐνδεικτικόν; αὖθις οὖν ἡμεῖς,
καὶ πῶς οὐ φαίνεται, φήσομεν, ἡ τῆς κοιλίας
ὁλκή; τὸ γὰρ ἀεὶ τῶν κάτωθεν μερῶν τοῦ
στομάχου διαστελλομένων συστέλλεσθαι τὰ ἄνω
πῶς οὐκ ἔστι τῆς ὁλκῆς ἐνδεικτικόν; εἰ δὲ
σωφρονήσειέ ποτε καὶ γνοίη τὸ φαινόμενον τοῦτο
μηδὲν μᾶλλον τῆς ἑτέρας τῶν δοξῶν ὑπάρχειν
ἐνδεικτικὸν ἀλλ' ἀμφοτέρων εἶναι κοινόν, οὕτως
ἂν ἤδη δείξαιμεν αὐτῷ τὴν ὀρθὴν ὁδὸν τῆς τοῦ
ἀληθοῦς ἑυρέσεως.
Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῆς κοιλίας αὖθις. ἡ δὲ τῆς
τροφῆς ἀνάδοσις οὐδὲν δεῖται || 63 τῆς πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον
ἀκολουθίας ἅπαξ γε τῆς ἑλκτικῆς δυνάμεως
Pg 98
Translation
Transliteration
ἐπὶ τῶν νεφρῶν ὡμολογημένης, ἣν καίτοι πάνυ
σαφῶς ἀληθῆ γιγνώσκων ὑπάρχειν ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος
οὔτ' ἐμνημόνευσεν οὔτ' ἀντεῖπεν οὔθ'
ὅλως ἀπεφήνατο, τίν' ἔχει δόξαν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν
οὔρων διακρίσεως.
Ἢ διὰ τί προειπὼν εὐθὺς κατ' ἀρχὰς τῶν καθ'
ὅλου λόγων, ὡς ὑπὲρ τῶν φυσικῶν ἐνεργειῶν ἐρεῖ,
πρῶτον τίνες τ' εἰσὶ καὶ πῶς γίγνονται καὶ διὰ
τίνων τόπων, ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν οὔρων διακρίσεως, ὅτι
μὲν διὰ νεφρῶν, ἀπεφήνατο, τὸ δ' ὅπως γίγνεται
παρέλιπε; μάτην οὖν ἡμᾶς καὶ περὶ τῆς πέψεως
ἐδίδαξεν, ὅπως γίγνεται, καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ χολώδους
περιττώματος διακρίσεως κατατρίβει. ἤρκει
γὰρ εἰπεῖν κἀνταῦθα τὰ μόρια, δι' ὧν γίγνεται, τὸ
δ' ὅπως παραλιπεῖν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν ἐκείνων εἶχε
λέγειν, οὐ μόνον δι' ὧν ὀργάνων ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ'
ὅντινα γίγνεται τρόπον, ὥσπερ οἶμαι καὶ περὶ τῆς
ἀναδόσεως· οὐ γὰρ ἤρκεσεν εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ μόνον,
ὅτι διὰ φλεβῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πῶς ἐπεξῆλθεν, ὅτι τῇ
πρὸς || 64 τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ· περὶ δὲ τῶν οὔρων τῆς διακρίσεως, ὅτι μὲν διὰ νεφρῶν γίγνεται,
γράφει, τὸ δ' ὅπως οὐκέτι προστίθησιν.
οὐδὲ γὰρ οἶμαι τῇ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ
ἦν εἰπεῖν· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν οὐδεὶς ὑπ' ἰσχουρίας
ἀπέθανεν οὐδέποτε μὴ δυναμένου πλείονος ἐπιρρυῆναί
Pg 100
Translation
Transliteration
ποτε παρὰ τὸ κενούμενον· ἄλλης γὰρ
αἰτίας μηδεμιᾶς προστεθείσης, ἀλλὰ μόνης τῆς
πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίας ποδηγούσης τὸ
συνεχές, οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ πλέον ἐπιρρυῆναί ποτε τοῦ
κενουμένου. ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἄλλην τινὰ προσθεῖναι
πιθανὴν αἰτίαν εἶχεν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀναδόσεως τὴν
ἔκθλιψιν τῆς γαστρός. ἀλλ' αὕτη γ' ἐπὶ τοῦ
κατὰ τὴν κοίλην αἵματος ἀπωλώλει τελέως, οὐ
τῷ μήκει μόνον τῆς ἀποστάσεως ἐκλυθεῖσα, ἀλλὰ
καὶ τῷ τὴν καρδίαν ὑπερκειμένην ἐξαρπάζειν
αὐτῆς σφοδρῶς καθ' ἑκάστην διαστολὴν οὐκ
ὀλίγον αἷμα.
Μόνη δή τις ἔτι καὶ πάντων ἔρημος ἀπελείπετο
τῶν σοφισμάτων ἐν τοῖς κάτω τῆς κοίλης ἡ πρὸς ||65 τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθία, διά τε τοὺς ἐπὶ ταῖς
ἰσχουρίαις ἀποθνήσκοντας ἀπολωλεκυῖα τὴν πιθανότητα
καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν νεφρῶν θέσιν οὐδὲν
ἧττον, εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἅπαν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἐφέρετο τὸ
αἷμα, δεόντως ἄν τις ἅπαν ἔφασκεν αὐτὸ καθαίρεσθαι.
νυνὶ δέ, οὐ γὰρ ὅλον ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον
αὐτοῦ μέρος, ὅσον αἱ μέχρι νεφρῶν δέχονται
φλέβες, ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἔρχεται, μόνον ἐκεῖνο καθαρθήσεται.
καὶ τὸ μὲν ὀρρῶδες αὐτοῦ καὶ λεπτὸν
οἷον δι' ἠθμῶν τινων τῶν νεφρῶν διαδύσεται· τὸ
δ' αἱματῶδές τε καὶ παχὺ κατὰ τὰς φλέβας ὑπομένον
ἐμποδὼν στήσεται τῷ κατόπιν ἐπιρρέοντι.
παλινδρομεῖν οὖν αὐτὸ πρότερον ἐπὶ τὴν κοίλην
ἀναγκαῖον καὶ κενὰς οὕτως ἐργάζεσθαι τὰς ἐπὶ
τοὺς νεφροὺς ἰούσας φλέβας, αἳ δεύτερον οὐκέτι
Pg 102
Translation
Transliteration
παρακομιοῦσιν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἀκάθαρτον αἷμα· κατειληφότος
γὰρ αὐτὰς τοῦ προτέρου πάροδος
οὐδεμία λέλειπται. τίς οὖν ἡμῖν ἡ δύναμις ἀπάξει
πάλιν ὀπίσω τῶν νεφρῶν τὸ καθαρὸν αἷμα;
τίς δὲ τοῦτο μὲν διαδεξαμένη κελεύσει πάλιν πρὸς
τὸ κάτω μέρος ἰέναι τῆς κοίλης, ἑτέρῳ δ' ἄνωθεν
ἐπιφερομένῳ προστάξει, πρὶν || 66 ἐπὶ τοὺς νεφροὺς ἀπελθεῖν, μὴ φέρεσθαι κάτω;
Ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα συνιδὼν ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος ἀποριῶν μεστὰ καὶ μίαν μόνην δόξαν εὔπορον εὑρὼν ἐν ἅπασι τὴν τῆς ὁλκῆς, οὔτ' ἀπορεῖσθαι βουλόμενος οὔτε τὴν Ἱπποκράτους ἐθέλων λέγειν ἄμεινον ὑπέλαβε σιωπητέον εἶναι περὶ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς διακρίσεως.
Ἀλλ' εἰ κἀκεῖνος ἐσίγησεν, ἡμεῖς οὐ σιωπήσομεν·
ἴσμεν γάρ, ὡς οὐκ ἐνδέχεται παρελθόντα
τὴν Ἱπποκράτειον δόξαν, εἶθ' ἕτερόν τι περὶ
νεφρῶν ἐνεργείας εἰπόντα μὴ οὐ καταγέλαστον
εἶναι παντάπασι. διὰ τοῦτ' Ἐρασίστρατος μὲν
ἐσιώπησεν, Ἀσκληπιάδης δ' ἐψεύσατο παραπλησίως
οἰκέταις λάλοις μὲν τὰ πρόσθεν τοῦ βίου
καὶ πολλὰ πολλάκις ἐγκλήματα διαλυσαμένοις
ὑπὸ περιττῆς πανουργίας, ἐπ' αὐτοφώρῳ δέ ποτε
κατειλημμένοις, εἶτ' οὐδὲν ἐξευρίσκουσι σόφισμα
κἄπειτ' ἐνταῦθα τοῦ μὲν αἰδημονεστέρου σιωπῶντος,
οἷον ἀποπληξίᾳ τινὶ κατειλημμένου, τοῦ δ'
ἀναισχυντοτέρου κρύπτοντος μὲν ἔθ' ὑπὸ μάλης
τὸ ζητούμενον, ἐξομνυμένου δὲ καὶ μηδ' ἑωρακέναι
πώποτε φάσκοντος. οὕτω γάρ τοι καὶ ὁ Ἀσκληπιάδης || 67 ἐπιλειπόντων αὐτὸν τῶν τῆς πανουργίας
σοφισμάτων καὶ μήτε τῆς πρὸς τὸ λεπτομερὲς
Pg 104
Translation
Transliteration
φορᾶς ἐχούσης ἔτι χώραν ἐνταυθοῖ ληρεῖσθαι
μήθ' ὡς ὑπὸ τῶν νεφρῶν γεννᾶται τουτὶ τὸ περίττωμα,
καθάπερ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν ἥπατι πόρων ἡ χολή,
δυνατὸν ὂν εἰπόντα μὴ οὐ μέγιστον ὀφλεῖν γέλωτα,
ἐξόμνυταί τε καὶ ψεύδεται φανερῶς, οὐ
διήκειν λέγων ἐπὶ τοὺς νεφροὺς τὸ οὖρον ἀλλ'
ἀτμοειδῶς εὐθὺς ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τὴν κοίλην μερῶν
εἰς τὴν κύστιν ἀθροίζεσθαι.
Οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τοῖς ἐπ' αὐτοφώρῳ κατειλημμένοις οἰκέταις ὁμοίως ἐκπλαγέντες ὁ μὲν ἐσιώπησεν, ὁ δ' ἀναισχύντως ψεύδεται.
Τῶν δὲ νεωτέρων ὅσοι τοῖς τούτων ὀνόμασιν ἑαυτοὺς ἐσέμνυναν Ἐρασιστρατείους τε καὶ Ἀσκληπιαδείους ἐπονομάσαντες, ὁμοίως τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ βελτίστου Μενάνδρου κατὰ τὰς κωμῳδίας εἰσαγομένοις οἰκέταις, Δάοις τέ τισι καὶ Γέταις, οὐδὲν ἡγουμένοις σφίσι πεπρᾶχθαι γενναῖον, εἰ μὴ τρὶς ἐξαπατήσειαν τὸν δεσπότην, οὕτω καὶ αὐτοὶ κατὰ πολλὴν σχολὴν ἀναίσχυντα σοφίσματα συνέθεσαν, οἱ μέν, ἵνα μηδ' ὅλως ἐξελεγχθείη ποτ' || 68 Ἀσκληπιάδης ψευδόμενος, οἱ δ', ἵνα κακῶς εἴπωσιν, ἃ καλῶς ἐσιώπησεν Ἐρασίστρατος.
Ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν Ἀσκληπιαδείων ἅλις. οἱ δ'
Ἐρασιστράτειοι λέγειν ἐπιχειροῦντες, ὅπως οἱ
νεφροὶ διηθοῦσι τὸ οὖρον, ἅπαντα δρῶσί τε καὶ
Pg 106
Translation
Transliteration
πάσχουσι καὶ παντοῖοι γίγνονται πιθανὸν ἐξευρεῖν
τι ζητοῦντες αἴτιον ὁλκῆς μὴ δεόμενον.
Οἱ μὲν δὴ πλησίον Ἐρασιστράτου τοῖς χρόνοις γενόμενοι τὰ μὲν ἄνω τῶν νεφρῶν μόρια καθαρὸν αἷμα λαμβάνειν φασί, τῷ δὲ βάρος ἔχειν τὸ ὑδατῶδες περίττωμα βρίθειν τε καὶ ὑπορρεῖν κάτω· διηθούμενον δ' ἐνταῦθα κατὰ τοὺς νεφροὺς αὐτοὺς χρηστὸν οὕτω γενόμενον ἅπασι τοῖς κάτω τῶν νεφρῶν ἐπιπέμπεσθαι τὸ αἷμα.
Καὶ μέχρι γέ τινος εὐδοκίμησεν ἥδε ἡ δόξα καὶ ἤκμασε καὶ ἀληθὴς ἐνομίσθη· χρόνῳ δ' ὕστερον καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς Ἐρασιστρατείοις ὕποπτος ἐφάνη καὶ τελευτῶντες ἀπέστησαν αὐτῆς. αἰτεῖσθαι γὰρ ἐδόκουν δύο ταῦτα μήτε συγχωρούμενα πρός τινος ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἀποδειχθῆναι δυνάμενα, πρῶτον μὲν τὸ βάρος τῆς ὀρρώδους ὑγρότητος ἐν τῇ κοίλῃ ||69 φλεβὶ γεννώμενον, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑπάρχον, ὁπότ' ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας εἰς ἧπαρ ἀνεφέρετο. τί δὴ οὖν οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς χωρίοις ὑπέρρει κάτω; πῶς δ' ἄν τῳ δόξειεν εὐλόγως εἰρῆσθαι συντελεῖν εἰς τὴν ἀνάδοσιν ἡ ὑδατώδης ὑγρότης, εἴπερ οὕτως ἐστὶ βαρεῖα;
Δεύτερον δ' ἄτοπον, ὅτι κἂν κάτω συγχωρηθῇ
φέρεσθαι πᾶσα καὶ μὴ κατ' ἄλλο χωρίον ἢ τὴν
κοίλην φλέβα, τίνα τρόπον εἰς τοὺς νεφροὺς
ἐμπεσεῖται, χαλεπόν, μᾶλλον δ' ἀδύνατον εἰπεῖν,
μήτ' ἐν τοῖς κάτω μέρεσι κειμένων αὐτῶν τῆς
φλεβὸς ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν πλαγίων μήτ' ἐμφυομένης
εἰς αὐτοὺς τῆς κοίλης ἀλλ' ἀπόφυσίν τινα μόνον
Pg 108
Translation
Transliteration
εἰς ἑκάτερον πεμπούσης, ὥσπερ καὶ εἰς τἆλλα
πάντα μόρια.
Τίς οὖν ἡ διαδεξαμένη ταύτην δόξα καταγνωσθεῖσαν; ἐμοὶ μὲν ἠλιθιωτέρα μακρῷ φαίνεται τῆς προτέρας. ἤκμασε δ' οὖν καὶ αὕτη ποτέ. φασὶ γάρ, εἰ κατὰ τῆς γῆς ἐκχυθείη μεμιγμένον ἔλαιον ὕδατι, διάφορον ἑκάτερον ὁδὸν βαδιεῖσθαι καὶ ῥυήσεσθαι τὸ μὲν τῇδε, τὸ δὲ τῇδε. θαυμαστὸν οὖν οὐδὲν εἶναί φασιν, εἰ τὸ μὲν ὑδατῶδες ὑγρὸν εἰς τοὺς νε||70φροὺς ῥεῖ, τὸ δ' αἷμα διὰ τῆς κοίλης φέρεται κάτω. κατέγνωσται οὖν ἤδη καὶ ἥδε ἡ δόξα. διὰ τί γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς κοίλης μυρίων ἐκπεφυκυιῶν φλεβῶν αἷμα μὲν εἰς τὰς ἄλλας ἁπάσας, ἡ δ' ὀρρώδης ὑγρότης εἰς τὰς ἐπὶ τοὺς νεφροὺς φερομένας ἐκτρέπεται; τοῦτ' αὐτὸ τὸ ζητούμενον οὐκ εἰρήκασιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ γιγνόμενον εἰπόντες μόνον οἴονται τὴν αἰτίαν ἀποδεδωκέναι.
Πάλιν οὖν, τὸ τρίτον τῷ σωτῆρι, τὴν χειρίστην
ἁπασῶν δόξαν ἐξευρημένην νῦν ὑπὸ Λύκου τοῦ
Μακεδόνος, εὐδοκιμοῦσαν δὲ διὰ τὸ καινὸν ἤδη
λέγωμεν. ἀπεφήνατο γὰρ δὴ ὁ Λύκος οὗτος,
ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀδύτου τινὸς χρησμὸν ἀποφθεγγόμενος,
περίττωμα τῆς τῶν νεφρῶν θρέψεως εἶναι τὸ
οὖρον. ὅτι μὲν οὖν αὐτὸ τὸ πινόμενον ἅπαν
οὖρον γίγνεται, πλὴν εἴ τι μετὰ τῶν διαχωρημάτων
ὑπῆλθεν ἢ εἰς ἱδρῶτας ἀπεχώρησεν ἢ εἰς
τὴν ἄδηλον διαπνοήν, ἐναργῶς ἐνδείκνυται τὸ
πλῆθος τῶν καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν οὐρουμένων.
ἐν χειμῶνι δὲ μάλιστα μαθεῖν ἔστιν ἐπὶ τῶν
ἀργούντων μέν, κωθωνιζομένων δέ, καὶ μάλιστ'
εἰ λεπτὸς ὁ οἶνος εἴη καὶ πόριμος. οὐροῦσι ||
71 γὰρ
Pg 110
Translation
Transliteration
οὗτοι διὰ ταχέων ὀλίγου δεῖν, ὅσονπερ καὶ
πίνουσιν. ὅτι δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος οὕτως
ἐγίγνωσκεν, οἱ τὸ πρῶτον ἀνεγνωκότες αὐτοῦ
σύγγραμμα τῶν καθόλου λόγων ἐπίστανται. ὥσθ'
ὁ Λύκος οὔτ' ἀληθῆ φαίνεται λέγων οὔτ' Ἐρασιστράτεια,
δῆλον δ' ὡς οὐδ' Ἀσκληπιάδεια, πολὺ
δὲ μᾶλλον οὐδ' Ἱπποκράτεια. λευκῷ τοίνυν κατὰ
τὴν παροιμίαν ἔοικε κόρακι μήτ' αὐτοῖς τοῖς κόραξιν
ἀναμιχθῆναι δυναμένῳ διὰ τὴν χρόαν μήτε
ταῖς περιστεραῖς διὰ τὸ μέγεθος, ἀλλ' οὔτι που
τούτου γ' ἕνεκα παροπτέος· ἴσως γάρ τι λέγει
θαυμαστόν, ὃ μηδεὶς τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἔγνω.
Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἅπαντα τὰ τρεφόμενα μόρια ποιεῖν
τι περίττωμα συγχωρούμενον, τὸ δὲ τοὺς νεφροὺς
μόνους, οὕτω σμικρὰ σώματα, χόας ὅλους τέτταρας
ἢ καὶ πλείους ἴσχειν ἐνίοτε περιττώματος
οὔθ' ὁμολογούμενον οὔτε λόγον ἔχον· τὸ γὰρ
ἑκάστου τῶν μειζόνων σπλάγχνων περίττωμα
πλεῖον ἀναγκαῖον ὑπάρχειν. οἷον αὐτίκα τὸ τοῦ
πνεύμονος, εἴπερ ἀνάλογον τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ
σπλάγχνου γίγνοιτο, πολλαπλα||72σιον ἔσται δήπου τοῦ κατὰ τοὺς νεφρούς, ὥσθ' ὅλος μὲν ὁ
θώραξ ἐμπλησθήσεται, πνιγήσεται δ' αὐτίκα τὸ
ζῷον. ἀλλ' εἰ ἴσον φήσει τις γίγνεσθαι τὸ καθ'
ἕκαστον τῶν ἄλλων μορίων περίττωμα, διὰ ποίων
κύστεων ἐκκρίνεται; εἰ γὰρ οἱ νεφροὶ τοῖς κωθωνιζομένοις
τρεῖς ἢ τέτταρας ἐνίοτε χόας ποιοῦσι
περιττώματος, ἑκάστου τῶν ἄλλων σπλάγχνων
πολλῷ πλείους ἔσονται καὶ πίθου τινὸς οὕτω
μεγίστου δεήσει τοῦ δεξομένου τὰ πάντων περιττώματα.
Pg 112-114
Translation
Transliteration
καίτοι πολλάκις, ὅσον ἔπιέ τις, ὀλίγου
δεῖν οὔρησεν ἅπαν, ὡς ἂν ἐπὶ τοὺς νεφροὺς φερομένου
τοῦ πόματος ἅπαντος.
Ἔοικεν οὖν ὁ τὸ τρίτον ἐξαπατῶν οὗτος οὐδὲν ἀνύειν ἀλλ' εὐθὺς γεγονέναι κατάφωρος καὶ μένειν ἔτι τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἄπορον Ἐρασιστράτῳ τε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι πλὴν Ἱπποκράτους. διατρίβω δ' ἑκὼν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ σαφῶς εἰδώς, ὅτι μηδὲν εἰπεῖν ἔχει μηδεὶς ἄλλος περὶ τῆς τῶν νεφρῶν ἐνεργείας, ἀλλ' ἀναγκαῖον ἢ τῶν μαγείρων ἀμαθεστέρους φαίνεσθαι μηδ' ὅτι διηθεῖται δι' αὐτῶν τὸ οὖρον ὁμολογοῦντας ἢ || 73 τοῦτο συγχωρήσαντας μηδὲν ἔτ' ἔχειν εἰπεῖν ἕτερον αἴτιον τῆς διακρίσεως πλὴν τῆς ὁλκης.
Ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ τῶν οὔρων ἡ φορὰ τῇ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ γίγνεται, δῆλον, ὡς οὐδ' ἡ τοῦ αἵματος οὐδ' ἡ τῆς χολῆς ἢ εἴπερ ἐκείνων καὶ τούτου· πάντα γὰρ ὡσαύτως ἀναγκαῖον ἐπιτελεῖσθαι καὶ κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν Ἐρασίστρατον.
Εἰρήσεται δ' ἐπὶ πλέον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα γράμματι.
Pg 114-116
Translation
Transliteration
74 Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν οὐκ Ἐρασιστράτῳ
μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν, ὅσοι
μέλλουσι περὶ διακρίσεως οὔρων ἐρεῖν τι χρηστόν,
ὁμολογῆσαι δύναμίν τιν' ὑπάρχειν τοῖς
νεφροῖς ἕλκουσαν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ποιότητα τοιαύτην,
οἵα ἐν τοῖς οὔροις ἐστί, διὰ τοῦ πρόσθεν ἐπιδέδεικται
γράμματος, ἀναμιμνησκόντων ἅμ' αὐτῷ
καὶ τοῦθ' ἡμῶν, ὡς οὐκ ἄλλως μὲν εἰς τὴν κύστιν
φέρεται τὰ οὖρα διὰ τῶν νεφρῶν, ἄλλως δ' εἰς
ἅπαντα τοῦ ζῴου τὰ μόρια τὸ αἷμα, κατ' ἄλλον
δέ τινα τρόπον ἡ ξανθὴ χολὴ διακρίνεται. δειχθείσης
γὰρ ἐναργῶς ἐφ' ἑνὸς || 75 οὑτινοσοῦν ὀργάνου
τῆς ἑλκτικῆς τε καὶ ἐπισπαστικῆς ὀνομαζομένης
δυνάμεως οὐδὲν ἔτι χαλεπὸν ἐπὶ τὰ λοιπὰ μεταφέρειν
αὐτήν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοῖς μὲν νεφροῖς ἡ φύσις
ἔδωκέ τινα τοιαύτην δύναμιν, οὐχὶ δέ γε καὶ τοῖς
τὸ χολῶδες ὑγρὸν ἕλκουσιν ἀγγείοις οὐδὲ τούτοις
μέν, οὐκέτι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μορίων ἑκάστῳ.
καὶ μὴν εἰ τοῦτ' ἀληθές ἐστι, θαυμάζειν χρὴ τοῦ
Ἐρασιστράτου ψευδεῖς οὕτω λόγους ὑπὲρ ἀναδόσεως
Pg 118
Translation
Transliteration
τροφῆς εἰπόντος, ὡς μηδ' Ἀσκληπιάδην
λαθεῖν. καίτοι γ' οἴεται παντὸς μᾶλλον ἀληθὲς
ὑπάρχειν, ὡς, εἴπερ ἐκ τῶν φλεβῶν ἀπορρέοι
τι, δυοῖν θάτερον ἢ κενὸς ἔσται τόπος ἀθρόως ἢ
τὸ συνεχὲς ἐπιρρυήσεται τὴν βάσιν ἀναπληροῦν
τοῦ κενουμένου. ἀλλ' ὅ γ' Ἀσκληπιάδης οὐ
δυοῖν θάτερόν φησιν, ἀλλὰ τριῶν ἕν τι χρῆναι
λέγειν ἐπὶ τοῖς κενουμένοις ἀγγείοις ἕπεσθαι ἢ
κενὸν ἀθρόως τόπον ἢ τὸ συνεχὲς ἀκολουθήσειν ἢ
συσταλήσεσθαι τὸ ἀγγεῖον. ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν
καλάμων καὶ τῶν αὐλίσκων τῶν εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ
καθιεμένων ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ὅτι κενουμένου τοῦ
περιεχομένου κατὰ τὴν || 76 εὐρυχωρίαν αὐτῶν ἀέρος
ἢ κενὸς ἀθρόως ἔσται τόπος ἢ ἀκολουθήσει τὸ
συνεχές· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν φλεβῶν οὐκέτ' ἐγχωρεῖ, δυναμένου
δὴ τοῦ χιτῶνος αὐτῶν εἰς ἑαυτὸν συνιζάνειν
καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καταπίπτειν εἰς τὴν ἐντὸς εὐρυχωρίαν.
οὕτω μὲν δὴ ψευδὴς ἡ περὶ τῆς πρὸς
τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίας οὐκ ἀπόδειξις μὰ Δί'
εἴποιμ' ἂν ἀλλ' ὑπόθεσις Ἐρασιστράτειος.
Καθ' ἕτερον δ' αὖ τρόπον, εἰ καὶ ἀληθὴς εἴη,
περιττή, τῆς μὲν κοιλίας ἐνθλίβειν ταῖς φλεψὶ
δυναμένης, ὡς αὐτὸς ὑπέθετο, τῶν φλεβῶν δ' αὖ
περιστέλλεσθαι τῷ ἐνυπάρχοντι καὶ προωθεῖν
αὐτό. τά τε γὰρ ἄλλα καὶ πλῆθος οὐκ ἂν ἐν τῷ
σώματι γένοιτο, τῇ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ
μόνῃ τῆς ἀναδόσεως ἐπιτελουμένης. εἰ μὲν οὖν
ἡ τῆς γαστρὸς ἔνθλιψις ἐκλύεται προϊοῦσα καὶ
Pg 120
Translation
Transliteration
μέχρι παντὸς ἀδύνατός ἐστιν ἐξικνεῖσθαι καὶ διὰ
τοῦτ' ἄλλης τινὸς δεῖ μηχανῆς εἰς τὴν πάντη
φορὰν τοῦ αἵματος, ἀναγκαία μὲν ἡ πρὸς τὸ
κενούμενον ἀκολουθία προσεξεύρηται· πλῆθος δ'
ἐν οὐδενὶ τῶν μεθ' ἧπαρ ἔσται || 77 μορίων, ἤ, εἴπερ
ἄρα, περὶ τὴν καρδίαν τε καὶ τὸν πνεύμονα. μόνη
γὰρ αὕτη τῶν μεθ' ἧπαρ εἰς τὴν δεξιὰν αὑτῆς
κοιλίαν ἕλκει τὴν τροφήν, εἶτα διὰ τῆς φλεβός
τῆς ἀρτηριώδους ἐκπέμπει τῷ πνεύμονι· τῶν γὰρ
ἄλλων οὐδὲν οὐδ' αὐτὸς ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος ἐκ καρδίας
βούλεται τρέφεσθαι διὰ τὴν τῶν ὑμένων
ἐπίφυσιν. εἰ δέ γ', ἵνα πλῆθος γένηται, φυλάξομεν
ἄχρι παντὸς τὴν ῥώμην τῆς κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν
ἐνθλίψεως, οὐδὲν ἔτι δεόμεθα τῆς πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον
ἀκολουθίας, μάλιστ' εἰ καὶ τὴν τῶν φλεβῶν
συνυποθοίμεθα περιστολήν, ὡς αὖ καὶ τοῦτ' αὐτῷ
πάλιν ἀρέσκει τῷ Ἐρασιστράτῳ.
Ἀναμνηστέον οὖν αὖθις αὐτόν, κἂν μὴ βούληται,
τῶν νεφρῶν καὶ λεκτέον, ὡς ἔλεγχος
οὗτοι φανερώτατος ἁπάντων τῶν ἀποχωρούντων
τῆς ὁλκῆς· οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὐδὲν οὔτ' εἶπε πιθανόν,
ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐξευρεῖν εἶχε κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον, ὡς
Pg 122
Translation
Transliteration
ἔμπροσθεν ἐδείκνυμεν, ἕτερον αἴτιον οὔρων διακρίσεως,
ἀλλ' ἀναγκαῖον ἢ μαίνεσθαι δοκεῖν, εἰ
φήσαιμεν ἀτμοει||78δῶς εἰς τὴν κύστιν ἰέναι τὸ οὖρον
ἢ ἀσχημονεῖν τῆς πρὸς τὸ κενουμένον ἀκολουθίας
μνημονεύοντας, ληρώδους μὲν οὔσης κἀπὶ τοῦ
αἵματος, ἀδυνάτου δὲ καὶ ἠλιθίου παντάπασιν
ἐπὶ τῶν οὔρων.
Ἓν μὲν δὴ τοῦτο σφάλμα τῶν ἀποστάντων τῆς ὁλκῆς· ἕτερον δὲ τὸ περὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ξανθὴν χολὴν διακρίσεως. οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδ' ἐκεῖ παραρρέοντος τοῦ αἵματος τὰ στόματα τῶν χοληδόχων ἀγγείων ἀκριβῶς διακριθήσεται τὸ χολῶδες περίττωμα. καὶ μὴ διακρινέσθω, φασιν, ἄλλα συναναφερέσθω τῷ αἵματι πάντη τοῦ σώματος. ἀλλ', ὦ σοφώτατοι, προνοητικὴν τοῦ ζώου καὶ τεχνικὴν αὐτὸς ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος ὑπέθετο τὴν φύσιν. ἄλλα καὶ τὸ χολῶδες ὑγρόν ἄχρηστον εἶναι παντάπασι τοῖς ζώοις ἔφασκεν. οὐ συμβαίνει δ' ἀλλήλοις ἄμφω ταῦτα. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἔτι προνοεῖσθαι τοῦ ζώου δόξειεν ἐπιτρέπουσα συναναφέρεσθαι τῷ αἵματι μοχθηρὸν οὕτω χυμόν;
Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν σμικρά· τὸ δὲ μέγιστον καὶ
σαφέστατον πάλιν ἐνταῦθ' ἁμάρτημα καὶ δὴ
φράσω. εἴπερ γὰρ δι' οὐδὲν ἄλλ' ἢ ὅτι παχύτερον
μέν ἐστι τὸ αἷμα, λεπτοτέρα δ' ἡ || 79 ξανθὴ χολὴ
καὶ τὰ μὲν τῶν φλεβῶν εὐρύτερα στόματα, τὰ
Pg 124
Translation
Transliteration
δὲ τῶν χοληδόχων ἀγγείων στενότερα, διὰ τοῦθ'
ἡ μὲν χολὴ τοῖς στενοτέροις ἀγγείοις τε καὶ
στόμασιν ἐναρμόττει, τὸ δ' αἷμα τοῖς εὐρυτέροις,
δῆλον, ὡς καὶ τὸ ὑδατῶδες τοῦτο καὶ ὀρρῶδες
περίττωμα τοσούτῳ πρότερον εἰσρυήσεται τοῖς
χοληδόχοις ἀγγείοις, ὅσῳ λεπτότερόν ἐστι τῆς
χολῆς. πῶς οὖν οὐκ εἰσρεῖ; ὅτι παχύτερόν ἐστι
νὴ Δία τὸ οὖρον τῆς χολῆς· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐτόλμησέ
τις εἰπεῖν τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς Ἐρασιστρατείων
ἀποστὰς δηλονότι τῶν αἰσθήσεων, αἷς ἐπίστευσεν
ἐπί τε τῆς χολῆς καὶ τοῦ αἵματος. εἴτε γὰρ
ὅτι μᾶλλον ἡ χολὴ τοῦ αἵματος ῥεῖ, διὰ τοῦτο
λεπτοτέραν αὐτὴν ἡμῖν ἐστι νομιστέον, εἴθ' ὅτι
δι' ὀθόνης ἢ ῥάκους ἤ τινος ἠθμοῦ ῥᾷον διεξέρχεται
καὶ ταύτης τὸ ὀρρῶδες περίττωμα, κατὰ ταῦτα
τὰ γνωρίσματα παχυτέρα τῆς ὑδατώδους ὑγρότητος
καὶ αὕτη γενήσεται. πάλιν γὰρ οὐδ'
ἐνταῦθα λόγος οὐδείς ἐστιν, ὃς ἀποδείξει λεπτοτέραν
τὴν χολὴν τῶν ὀρρωδῶν περιττωμάτων.
Ἀλλ' ὅταν τις ἀναισχυντῇ περιπλέκων τε καὶ μήπω καταπεπτωκέναι συγχωρῶν, || 80 ὅμοιος ἔσται τοῖς ἰδιώταις τῶν παλαιστῶν, οἳ καταβληθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιστρικῶν καὶ κατὰ τῆς γῆς ὕπτιοι κείμενοι τοσούτου δέουσι τὸ πτῶμα γνωρίζειν, ὥστε καὶ κρατοῦσι τῶν αὐχένων αὐτοὺς τοὺς καταβαλόντας οὐκ ἐῶντες ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, κἀν τούτῳ νικᾶν ὑπολαμβάνουσι.
Pg 126
Translation
Transliteration
Λῆρος οὖν μακρὸς ἅπασα πόρων ὑπόθεσις εἰς φυσικὴν ἐνέργειαν. εἰ μὴ γὰρ δύναμίς τις σύμφυτος ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὀργάνων ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς δοθείη, διαρκεῖν οὐ δυνήσεται τὰ ζῷα, μὴ ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἀριθμὸν ἐτῶν ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἡμερῶν ὀλιγίστων· ἀνεπιτρόπευτα γὰρ ἐάσαντες αὐτὰ καὶ τέχνης καὶ προνοίας ἔρημα μόναις ταῖς τῶν ὑλῶν οἰακιζόμενα ῥοπαῖς, οὐδαμοῦ δυνάμεως οὐδεμιᾶς τῆς μὲν ἑλκούσης τὸ προσῆκον ἑαυτῇ, τῆς δ' ἀπωθούσης τὸ ἀλλότριον, τῆς δ' ἀλλοιούσης τε καὶ προσφυούσης τὸ θρέψον, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως οὐκ ἂν εἴημεν καταγέλαστοι περί τε τῶν φυσικῶν ἐνεργειῶν διαλεγόμενοι καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἔτι περὶ τῶν ψυχικῶν καὶ || 81 συμπάσης γε τῆς ζωῆς.
Οὐδὲ γὰρ ζῆν οὐδὲ διαμένειν οὐδενὶ τῶν ζῴων
οὐδ' εἰς ἐλάχιστον χρόνον ἔσται δυνατόν, εἰ
τοσαῦτα κεκτημένον ἐν ἑαυτῷ μόρια καὶ οὕτω
διαφέροντα μήθ' ἑλκτικῇ τῶν οἰκείων χρήσεται
δυνάμει μήτ' ἀποκριτικῇ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων μήτ'
ἀλλοιωτικῇ τῶν θρεψόντων. καὶ μὴν εἰ ταύτας
ἔχοιμεν, οὐδὲν ἔτι πόρων μικρῶν ἢ μεγάλων ἐξ
ὑποθέσεως ἀναποδείκτου λαμβανομένων εἰς οὔρου
καὶ χολῆς διάκρισιν δεόμεθα καί τινος ἐπικαίρου
θέσεως, ἐν ᾧ μόνῳ σωφρονεῖν ἔοικεν ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος
ἅπαντα καλῶς τεθῆναί τε καὶ διαπλασθῆναι
Pg 128
Translation
Transliteration
τὰ μόρια τοῦ σώματος ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως
οἰόμενος.
Ἀλλ' εἰ παρακολουθήσειεν ἑαυτῷ φύσιν ὀνομάζοντι
τεχνικήν, εὐθὺς μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἅπαντα
καλῶς διαπλάσασάν τε καὶ διαθεῖσαν τοῦ ζῴου
τὰ μόρια, μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοιαύτην ἐνέργειαν, ὡς
οὐδὲν ἔλειπεν, ἔτι προαγαγοῦσαν εἰς φῶς αὐτὸ
σύν τισι δυνάμεσιν, ὧν ἄνευ ζῆν οὐκ ἠδύνατο, καὶ
μετὰ ταῦτα κατὰ βραχὺ προσαυξήσασαν ἄχρι
τοῦ πρέποντος μεγέθους, οὐκ οἶδα πῶς ὑπομένει
πόρων σμικρότησιν || 82 ἢ
μεγέθεσιν ἢ τισὶν ἄλλαις οὕτω ληρώδεσιν ὑποθέσεσι
φυσικὰς ἐνεργείας ἐπιτρέπειν. ἡ γὰρ διαπλάττουσα
τὰ μόρια φύσις ἐκείνη καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ προσαύξουσα
πάντως δήπου δι' ὅλων αὐτῶν ἐκτέταται· καὶ γὰρ ὅλα
δι' ὅλων οὐκ ἔξωθεν μόνον αὐτὰ διαπλάττει τε καὶ
τρέφει καὶ προσαύξει. Πραξιτέλης μὲν γὰρ ἢ Φειδίας
ἢ τις ἄλλος ἀγαλματοποιὸς ἔξωθεν μόνον ἐκόσμουν
τὰς ὕλας, καθὰ καὶ ψαύειν αὐτῶν ἠδύναντο, τὸ βάθος
δ' ἀκόσμητον καὶ ἀργὸν καὶ ἄτεχνον καὶ ἀπρονόητον
ἀπέλιπον, ὡς ἂν μὴ δυνάμενοι κατελθεῖν εἰς αὐτὸ
καὶ καταδῦναι καὶ θιγεῖν ἁπάντων τῆς ὕλης τῶν
μερῶν. ἡ φύσις δ' οὐχ οὕτως, ἄλλα τὸ μὲν ὀστοῦ
μέρος ἅπαν ὀστοῦν ἀποτελεῖ, τὸ δὲ σαρκὸς σάρκα, τὸ
δὲ πιμελῆς πιμελὴν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστον· οὐδὲν
γὰρ ἐστιν ἄψαυστον αὐτῇ μέρος οὐδ' ἀνεξέργαστον
οὐδ' ἀκόσμητον. ἄλλα τὸν μὲν κηρὸν ὁ Φειδίας οὐκ
ἠδύνατο ποιεῖν ἐλέφαντα καὶ χρυσόν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸν
χρυσὸν κηρόν· ἕκαστον γὰρ αὐτῶν μένον, οἷον ἦν ἐξ
ἀρχῆς, ἔξωθεν μόνον ἠμφιεσμένον εἶδός τι
Pg 130
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ σχῆμα τεχνικόν, ἄγαλμα τέλειον || 83 γέγονεν. ἡ
φύσις δ' οὐδεμιᾶς ἔτι φυλάττει τῶν ὑλῶν τὴν
ἀρχαίαν ἰδέαν· αἷμα γὰρ ἂν ἦν οὕτως ἅπαντα
τοῦ ζῴου τὰ μόρια, τὸ παρὰ τῆς κυούσης ἐπιρρέον
τῷ σπέρματι, δίκην κηροῦ τινος ὕλη μία καὶ
μονοειδὴς ὑποβεβλημένη τῷ τεχνίτῃ. γίγνεται
δ' ἐξ αὐτῆς οὐδὲν τῶν τοῦ ζῴου μορίων οὔτ' ἐρυθρὸν
οὕτως οὔθ' ὑγρόν. ὀστοῦν γὰρ καὶ ἀρτηρία
καὶ φλὲψ καὶ νεῦρον καὶ χόνδρος καὶ πιμελὴ καὶ
ἀδὴν καὶ ὑμὴν καὶ μυελὸς ἄναιμα μέν, ἐξ αἵματος
δὲ γέγονε.
Τίνος ἀλλοιώσαντος καὶ τίνος πήξαντος καὶ τίνος διαπλάσαντος ἐδεόμην ἄν μοι τὸν Ἐρασίστρατον αὐτὸν ἀποκρίνασθαι. πάντως γὰρ ἂν εἶπεν ἤτοι τὴν φύσιν ἢ τὸ σπέρμα, ταὐτὸν μὲν λέγων καθ' ἑκάτερον, διαφόροις δ' ἐπινοίαις ἑρμηνεύων· ὃ γὰρ ἦν πρότερον σπέρμα, τοῦθ', ὅταν ἄρξηται φύειν τε καὶ διαπλάττειν τὸ ζῷον, φύσις τις γίγνεται. καθάπερ γὰρ ὁ Φειδίας εἶχε μὲν τὰς δυνάμεις τῆς τέχνης καὶ πρὶν ψαύειν τῆς ὕλης, ἐνήργει δ' αὐταῖς περὶ τὴν ὕλην—ἅπασα γὰρ δύναμις ἀργεῖ ἀποροῦσα τῆς οἰκείας ὕλης—, οὕτω καὶ τὸ σπέρμα τὰς μὲν || 84 δυνάμεις οἴκοθεν ἐκέκτητο, τὰς δ' ἐνεργείας οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ὕλης ἔλαβεν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τὴν ὕλην ἐπεδείξατο.
Καὶ μὴν εἰ πολλῷ μὲν ἐπικλύζοιτο τῷ αἵματι
τὸ σπέρμα, διαφθείροιτ' ἄν· εἰ δ' ὅλως ἀποροίη
Pg 132
Translation
Transliteration
παντάπασιν ἀργοῦν, οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο φύσις. ἵν'
οὖν μήτε φθείρηται καὶ γίγνηται φύσις ἀντὶ
σπέρματος, ὀλίγον ἐπιρρεῖν ἀναγκαῖον αὐτῷ τοῦ
αἵματος, μᾶλλον δ' οὐκ ὀλίγον λέγειν χρή, ἀλλὰ
σύμμετρον τῷ πλήθει τοῦ σπέρματος. τίς οὖν
ὁ μετρῶν αὐτοῦ τὸ ποσὸν τῆς ἐπιρροῆς; τίς ὁ
κωλύων ἰέναι πλέον; τίς ὁ προτρέπων, ἵν' ἐνδεέστερον
μὴ ἴῃ; τίνα ζητήσομεν ἐνταῦθα τρίτον
ἐπιστάτην τοῦ ζῴου τῆς γενέσεως, ὃς χορηγήσει
τῷ σπέρματι τὸ σύμμετρον αἷμα; τί ἂν εἶπεν
Ἐρασίστρατος, εἰ ζῶν ταῦτ' ἠρωτήθη; τὸ σπέρμα
αὐτὸ δηλονότι· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τεχνίτης ὁ ἀναλογῶν
τῷ Φειδίᾳ, τὸ δ' αἷμα τῷ κηρῷ προσέοικεν.
Οὔκουν πρέπει τὸν κηρὸν αὐτὸν ἑαυτῷ τὸ μέτρον ἐξευρίσκειν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Φείδιαν. ἕλξει δὴ τοσοῦτον αἵματος ὁ τεχνίτης εἰς ἑαυτόν, ὁπόσου δεῖται. ἀλλ' ἐν||85ταῦθα χρὴ προσέχειν ἤδη τὸν νοῦν καὶ σκοπεῖν, μή πως λάθωμεν τῷ σπέρματι λογισμόν τινα καὶ νοῦν χαρισάμενοι· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν οὔτε σπέρμα ποιήσαιμεν οὔτε φύσιν ἀλλ' ἤδη ζῷον αὐτό. καὶ μὴν εἰ φυλάξομεν ἀμφότερα, τήν θ' ὁλκὴν τοῦ συμμέτρου καὶ τὸ χωρὶς λογισμοῦ, δύναμίν τινα, καθάπερ ἡ λίθος ἑλκτικὴν εἶχε τοῦ σιδήρου, καὶ τῷ σπέρματι φήσομεν ὑπάρχειν αἵματος ἐπισπαστικήν. ἠναγκάσθημεν οὖν πάλιν κἀνταῦθα, καθάπερ ἤδη πολλάκις ἔμπροσθεν, ἑλκτικήν τινα δύναμιν ὁμολογῆσαι κατὰ τὸ σπέρμα.
Pg 134
Translation
Transliteration
Τί δ' ἦν τὸ σπέρμα; ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ ζῴου δηλονότι ἡ δραστική· ἡ γὰρ ὑλικὴ τὸ καταμήνιόν ἐστιν. εἶτ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἀρχῆς πρώτῃ ταύτῃ τῇ δυνάμει χρωμένης, ἵνα γένηται τῶν ὑπ' αὐτῆς τι δεδημιουργημένων, ἄμοιρον εἶναι τῆς οἰκείας δυνάμεως οὐκ ἐνδέχεται. πῶς οὖν Ἐρασίστρατος αὐτὴν οὐκ οἶδεν, εἰ δὴ πρώτη μὲν αὕτη τοῦ σπέρματος ἐνέργεια τὸ σύμμετρον αἵματος ἐπισπᾶσθαι πρὸς ἑαυτό; σύμμετρον δ' ἂν εἴη τὸ λεπτὸν οὕτω καὶ ἀτμῶδες, ὥστ' εὐθὺς εἰς πᾶν μόριον ἑλκόμενον τοῦ σπέρματος δροσοειδῶς μηδαμοῦ τὴν || 86 ἑαυτοῦ παρεμφαίνειν ἰδέαν. οὕτω γὰρ αὐτοῦ καὶ κρατήσει ῥᾳδίως τὸ σπέρμα καὶ ταχέως ἐξομοιώσει καὶ τροφὴν ἑαυτῷ ποιήσεται κἄπειτ' οἶμαι δεύτερον ἐπισπάσεται καὶ τρίτον, ὡς ὄγκον ἑαυτῷ καὶ πλῆθος ἀξιόλογον ἐργάσασθαι τραφέντι. καὶ μὴν ἤδη καὶ ἡ ἀλλοιωτικὴ δύναμις ἐξεύρηται μηδ' αὐτὴ πρὸς Ἐρασιστράτου γεγραμμένη. τρίτη δ' ἂν ἡ διαπλαστικὴ φανείη, καθ' ἣν πρῶτον μὲν οἷον ἐπίπαγόν τινα λεπτὸν ὑμένα περιτίθησιν ἑαυτῷ τὸ σπέρμα, τὸν ὑφ' Ἱπποκράτους ἐπὶ τῆς ἑκταίας γονῆς, ἣν ἐκπεσεῖν ἔλεγε τῆς μουσουργοῦ, τῷ τῶν ὠῶν εἰκασθέντα χιτῶνι· μετὰ δὲ τούτον ἤδη καὶ τἆλλ', ὅσα πρὸς ἐκείνου λέγεται διὰ τοῦ περὶ φύσιος παιδίου συγγράμματος.
Ἀλλ' εἰ τῶν διαπλασθέντων ἕκαστον οὕτω
μείνειε σμικρόν, ὡς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐγένετο, τί ἂν εἴη
πλέον; αὐξάνεσθαι τοίνυν αὐτὰ χρή. πῶς οὖν
Pg 136
Translation
Transliteration
αὐξηθήσεται; πάντη διατεινόμενα θ' ἅμα καὶ
τρεφόμενα. καί μοι τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένων
ἐπὶ τῆς κύστεως, ἣν οἱ παῖδες ἐμφυσῶντες ἔτριβον,
ἀναμνησθεὶς μαθήσῃ μᾶλλον || 87 κἀκ τῶν νῦν
ῥηθησομένων.
Ἐννόησον γὰρ δὴ τὴν καρδίαν οὕτω μὲν μικρὰν εἶναι κατ' ἀρχάς, ὡς κέγχρου μηδὲν διαφέρειν ἢ, εἰ βούλει, κυάμου, καὶ ζήτησον, ὅπως ἂν ἄλλως αὕτη γένοιτο μεγάλη χωρὶς τοῦ πάντη διατεινομένην τρέφεσθαι δι' ὅλης ἑαυτὴς, ὡς ὀλίγῳ πρόσθεν ἐδείκνυτο τὸ σπέρμα τρεφόμενον. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτ' Ἐρασίστρατος οἶδεν ὁ τὴν τέχνην τῆς φύσεως ὑμνῶν, ἀλλ' οὕτως αὐξάνεσθαι τὰ ζῷα νομίζει καθάπερ τινὰ κρησέραν ἢ σειρὰν ἢ σάκκον ἢ τάλαρον, ὧν ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὸ πέρας ἐπιπλεκομένων ὁμοίων ἑτέρων τοῖς ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτὰ συντιθεῖσιν ἡ πρόσθεσις γίγνεται.
Ἀλλὰ τοῦτό γ' οὐκ αὔξησίς ἐστιν ἀλλὰ γένεσις,
ὦ σοφώτατε· γίγνεται γὰρ ὁ θύλακος ἔτι καὶ
ὁ σάκκος καὶ θοἰμάτιον καὶ ἡ οἰκία καὶ τὸ πλοῖον
καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστον, ὅταν μηδέπω τὸ προσῆκον
εἶδος, οὗ χάριν ὑπὸ τοῦ τεχνίτου δημιουργεῖται,
συμπεπληρωμένον ᾖ. πότ' οὖν αὐξάνεται;
ὅταν ἤδη τέλειος ὢν ὁ τάλαρος, ὡς ἔχειν πυθμένα
τέ τινα καὶ στόμα καὶ οἷον γαστέρα καὶ τὰ
τούτων μεταξύ, μείζων ἅπασι τούτοις γένηται.
καὶ πῶς || 88 ἔσται τοῦτο; φήσει τις. πῶς δ' ἄλλως
ἢ εἰ ζῷον ἐξαίφνης ἢ φυτὸν ὁ τάλαρος ἡμῖν
γένοιτο; μόνων γὰρ τῶν ζώντων ἡ αὔξησις. σὺ
δ' ἴσως οἴει τὴν οἰκίαν οἰκοδομουμένην αὐξάνεσθαι
Pg 138
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ τὸν τάλαρον πλεκόμενον καὶ θοἰμάτιον
ὑφαινόμενον. ἀλλ' οὐχ ὧδ' ἔχει· τοῦ μὲν γὰρ
ἤδη σύμπεπληρωμένου κατὰ τὸ εἶδος ἡ αὔξησις,
τοῦ δ' ἔτι γιγνομένου ἡ εἰς τὸ εἶδος ὁδὸς οὐκ
αὔξησις ἀλλὰ γένεσις ὀνομάζεται· αὐξάνεται μὲν
γὰρ τὸ ὄν, γίγνεται δὲ τὸ οὐκ ὄν.
Καὶ ταῦτ' Ἐρασίστρατος οὐκ οἶδεν, ὃν οὐδὲν
λανθάνει, εἴπερ ὅλως ἀληθεύουσιν οἱ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ
φάσκοντες ὡμιληκέναι τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ περιπάτου
φιλοσόφοις αὐτόν. ἄχρι μὲν οὖν τοῦ τὴν φύσιν
ὑμνεῖν ὡς τεχνικὴν κἀγὼ γνωρίζω τὰ τοῦ περιπάτου
δόγματα, τῶν δ' ἄλλων οὐδὲν οὐδ' ἐγγύς.
εἰ γάρ τις ὁμιλήσειε τοῖς Ἀριστοτέλους καὶ
Θεοφράστου γράμμασι, τῆς Ἱπποκράτους ἂν
αὐτὰ δόξειε φυσιολογίας ὑπομνήματα συγκεῖσθαι,
τὸ θερμὸν καὶ τὸ ψυχρὸν || 89 καὶ τὸ ξηρὸν καὶ τὸ
ὑγρὸν εἰς ἄλληλα δρῶντα καὶ πάσχοντα καὶ
τούτων αὐτῶν δραστικώτατον μὲν τὸ θερμόν,
δεύτερον δὲ τῇ δυνάμει τὸ ψυχρὸν Ἱπποκράτους
ταῦτα σύμπαντα πρώτου, δευτέρου δ' Ἀριστοτέλους
εἰπόντος. τρέφεσθαι δὲ δι' ὅλων αὑτῶν
τὰ τρεφόμενα καὶ κεράννυσθαι δι' ὅλων τὰ
κεραννύμενα καὶ ἀλλοιοῦσθαι δι' ὅλων τὰ ἀλλοιούμενα,
καὶ ταῦθ' Ἱπποκράτειά θ' ἅμα καὶ
Ἀριστοτέλεια. καὶ τὴν πέψιν ἀλλοίωσίν τιν'
Pg 140
Translation
Transliteration
ὑπάρχειν καὶ μεταβολὴν τοῦ
τρέφοντος εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν τοῦ τρεφομένου ποιότητα,
τὴν δ' ἐξαιμάτωσιν ἀλλοίωσιν εἶναι καὶ τὴν θρέψιν
ὡσαύτως καὶ τὴν αὔξησιν ἐκ τῆς πάντη διατάσεως καὶ
θρέψεως γίγνεσθαι, τὴν δ' ἀλλοίωσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ
μάλιστα συντελεῖσθαι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν πέψιν
καὶ τὴν θρέψιν καὶ τὴν τῶν χυμῶν ἁπάντων γένεσιν,
ἤδη δὲ καὶ τοῖς περιττώμασι τὰς ποιότητας ὑπὸ τῆς
ἐμφύτου θερμασίας ἐγγίγνεσθαί, ταῦτα σύμπαντα καὶ
πρὸς τούτοις ἑτέρα πολλὰ τὰ τε τῶν προειρημένων
δυνάμεων καὶ τὰ || 90 τῶν νοσημάτων τῆς γενέσεως καὶ τὰ τῶν
ἰαμάτων τῆς εὑρέσεως Ἱπποκράτης μὲν πρῶτος
ἁπάντων ὧν ἴσμεν ὀρθῶς εἶπεν, Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ
δεύτερος ὀρθῶς ἐξηγήσατο. καὶ μὴν εἰ ταῦτα
σύμπαντα τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ περιπάτου δοκεῖ, καθάπερ
οὖν δοκεῖ, μηδὲν δ' αὐτῶν ἀρέσκει τῷ Ἐρασιστράτῳ,
τί ποτε βούλεται τοῖς Ἐρασιστρατείοις ἡ
πρὸς τοὺς φιλοσόφους ἐκείνους τοῦ τῆς αἱρέσεως
αὐτῶν ἡγεμόνος ὁμιλία; θαυμάζουσι μὲν γὰρ
αὐτὸν ὡς θεὸν καὶ πάντ' ἀληθεύειν νομίζουσιν.
εἰ δ' οὕτως ἔχει ταῦτα, πάμπολυ δήπου τῆς
ἀληθείας ἐσφάλθαι χρὴ νομίζειν τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ
περιπάτου φιλοσόφους, οἷς μηδὲν ὧν Ἐρασίστρατος
ὑπελάμβανεν ἀρέσκει. καὶ μὴν ὥσπερ
τιν' εὐγένειαν αὐτῷ τῆς φυσιολογίας τὴν πρὸς
τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐκείνους συνουσίαν ἐκπορίζουσι.
Πάλιν οὖν ἀναστρέψωμεν τὸν λόγον ἑτέρως ἢ
ὡς ὀλίγῳ πρόσθεν ἐτύχομεν εἰπόντες. εἴπερ γὰρ
οἱ ἐκ τοῦ περιπάτου καλῶς ἐφυσιολόγησαν,
οὐδὲν ἂν εἴη ληρωδέστερον Ἐρασιστράτου καὶ
δίδωμι τοῖς Ἐρασιστρατείοις αὐτοῖς τὴν αἵρεσιν·
Pg 142
Translation
Transliteration
ἢ γὰρ τὸν πρότερον λόγον ἢ τοῦτον || 91 προσήσονται.
λέγει δ' ὁ μὲν πρότερος οὐδὲν ὀρθῶς ἐγνωκέναι
περὶ φύσεως τοὺς περιπατητικούς, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος
Ἐρασίστρατον. ἐμὸν μὲν οὖν ὑπομνῆσαι τῶν
δογμάτων τὴν μάχην, ἐκείνων δ' ἡ αἵρεσις.
Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἀποσταῖεν τοῦ θαυμάζειν Ἐρασίστρατον· οὐκοῦν σιωπάτωσαν περὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ περιπάτου φιλοσόφων. παμπόλλων γὰρ ὄντων δογμάτων φυσικῶν περί τε γένεσιν καὶ φθορὰν τῶν ζῴων καὶ ὑγίειαν καὶ νόσους καὶ τὰς θεραπείας αὐτῶν ἓν μόνον εὑρεθήσεται ταὐτὸν Ἐρασιστράτῳ κἀκείνοις τοῖς ἀνδράσι, τό τινος ἕνεκα πάντα ποιεῖν τὴν φύσιν καὶ μάτην μηδέν.
Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο μέχρι λόγου κοινόν, ἔργῳ δὲ μυριάκις Ἐρασίστρατος αὐτὸ διαφθείρει· μάτην μὲν γὰρ ὁ σπλὴν ἐγένετο, μάτην δὲ τὸ ἐπίπλοον, μάτην δ' αἱ εἰς τοὺς νεφροὺς ἀρτηρίαι καταφυόμεναι, σχεδὸν ἁπασῶν τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς μεγάλης ἀρτηρίας ἀποβλαστανουσῶν οὖσαι μέγισται, μάτην δ' ἄλλα μυρία κατά γε τὸν Ἐρασιστράτειον λόγον· ἅπερ εἰ μὲν οὐδ' ὅλως γιγνώσκει, βραχεῖ μαγείρου σοφώτερός ἐστιν ἐν ταῖς ἀνατομαῖς, εἰ δ' εἰδὼς οὐ λέγει τὴν χρείαν αὐτῶν, οἴεται || 92 δηλονότι παραπλησίως τῷ σπληνὶ μάτην αὐτὰ γεγονέναι. καίτοι τί ταῦτ' ἐπεξέρχομαι τῆς περὶ χρείας μορίων πραγματείας ὄντα μελλούσης ἡμῖν ἰδίᾳ περαίνεσθαι;
Pg 144
Translation
Transliteration
Πάλιν οὖν ἀναλάβωμεν τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον εἰπόντες τέ τι βραχὺ πρὸς τοὺς Ἐρασιστρατείους ἔτι τῶν ἐφεξῆς ἐχώμεθα. δοκοῦσι γάρ μοι μηδὲν ἀνεγνωκέναι τῶν Ἀριστοτέλους οὗτοι συγγραμμάτων, ἀλλ' ἄλλων ἀκούοντες, ὡς δεινὸς ἦν περὶ φύσιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὡς οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς στοᾶς κατ' ἴχνη τῆς ἐκείνου φυσιολογίας βαδίζουσιν, εἶθ' εὑρόντες ἕν τι τῶν περιφερομένων δογμάτων κοινὸν αὐτῷ πρὸς Ἐρασίστρατον ἀναπλάσαι τινὰ συνουσίαν αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἐκείνους τοὺς ἄνδρας. ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν τῆς Ἀριστοτέλους φυσιολογίας οὐδὲν Ἐρασιστράτῳ μέτεστιν, ὁ κατάλογος τῶν προειρημένων ἐνδείκνυται δογμάτων, ἃ πρώτου μὲν Ἱπποκράτους ἦν, δευτέρου δ' Ἀριστοτέλους, τρίτων δὲ τῶν Στωϊκῶν, ἑνὸς μόνου μετατιθεμένου τοῦ τὰς ποιότητας εἶναι σώματα.
Τάχα δ' ἂν τῆς λογικῆς ἕνεκα θεωρίας ὡμιληκέναι φαῖεν τὸν Ἐρασίστρατον τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ περιπάτου φιλοσόφοις, οὐκ εἰδότες, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ψευ||93δεῖς καὶ ἀπεράντους οὐκ ἔγραψαν λόγους, τὰ δ' Ἐρασιστράτεια βιβλία παμπόλλους ἔχει τοὺς τοιούτους.
Τάχ' ἂν οὖν ἤδη τις θαυμάζοι καὶ διαποροίη,
τί παθὼν ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος εἰς τοσοῦτον τῶν
Ἱπποκράτους δογμάτων ἀπετράπετο καὶ διὰ
τί τῶν ἐν ἥπατι πόρων τῶν χοληδόχων, ἅλις
γὰρ ἤδη νεφρῶν, ἀφελόμενος τὴν ἑλκτικὴν
δύναμιν ἐπίκαιρον αἰτιᾶται θέσιν καὶ στομάτων
Pg 146
Translation
Transliteration
στενότητα καὶ χώραν τινὰ κοινήν, εἰς ἣν παράγουσι
μὲν αἱ ἀπὸ τῶν πυλῶν τὸ ἀκάθαρτον αἷμα,
μεταλαμβάνουσι δὲ πρότεροι μὲν οἱ πόροι τὴν
χολήν, δεύτεραι δ' αἱ ἀπὸ τῆς κοίλης φλεβὸς
τὸ καθαρὸν αἷμα. πρὸς γὰρ τῷ μηδὲν ἂν βλαβῆναι
τὴν ὁλκὴν εἰπὼν ἄλλων μυρίων ἔμελλεν
ἀμφισβητουμένων ἀπαλλάξεσθαι λόγων.
Ὡς νῦν γε πόλεμος οὐ σμικρός ἐστι τοῖς
Ἐρασιστρατείοις οὐ πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους μόνον
ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους, οὐκ ἔχουσιν, ὅπως
ἐξηγήσωνται τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου τῶν καθόλου
λόγων λέξιν, ἐν ᾗ φησιν· “Εἰς τὸ || 94 αὐτὸ δ' ἀνεστομωμένων
ἑτέρων δύο ἀγγείων τῶν τ' ἐπὶ τὴν
χοληδόχον τεινόντων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κοίλην
φλέβα συμβαίνει τῆς ἀναφερομένης ἐκ τῆς
κοιλίας τροφῆς τὰ ἐναρμόζοντα ἑκατέροις τῶν
στομάτων εἰς ἑκάτερα τῶν ἀγγείων μεταλαμβάνεσθαι
καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν χοληδόχον
φέρεσθαι, τὰ δ' ἐπὶ τὴν κοίλην φλέβα περαιοῦσθαι.”
τὸ γὰρ “εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ ἀνεστομωμένων,”
ὃ κατ' ἀρχὰς τῆς λέξεως γέγραπται, τί ποτε χρὴ
νοῆσαι, χαλεπὸν εἰπεῖν. ἤτοι γὰρ οὕτως εἰς
ταὐτόν, ὥστε τῷ τῆς ἐν τοῖς σιμοῖς φλεβὸς
πέρατι συνάπτειν δύο ἕτερα πέρατα, τό τ' ἐν τοῖς
Pg 148
Translation
Transliteration
κυρτοῖς καὶ τὸ τοῦ χοληδόχου πόρου, ἤ, εἰ μὴ
οὕτω, χώραν τινὰ κοινὴν ἐπινοῆσαι χρὴ τῶν
τριῶν ἀγγείων οἷον δεξαμενήν τινα, πληρουμένην
μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς κάτω φλεβός, ἐκκενουμένην δ' εἴς τε
τοὺς χοληδόχους πόρους καὶ τὰς τῆς κοίλης
ἀποσχίδας· καθ' ἑκατέραν δὲ τῶν ἐξηγήσεων
ἄτοπα πολλά, περὶ ὧν εἰ πάντων λέγοιμι, λάθοιμ'
ἂν ἐμαυτὸν ἐξηγήσεις Ἐρασιστράτου γράφων,
οὐχ, ὅπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς προὐθέμην, περαίνων. κοινὸν
δ' ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς ἐξηγήσεσιν ἄτοπον τὸ μὴ
|| 95 καθαίρεσθαι πᾶν τὸ αἷμα. χρὴ γὰρ ὡς εἰς
ἠθμόν τινα τὸ χοληδόχον ἀγγεῖον ἐμπίπτειν
αὐτό, οὐ παρέρχεσθαι καὶ παραρρεῖν ὠκέως εἰς
τὸ μεῖζον στόμα τῇ ῥύμῃ τῆς ἀναδόσεως φερόμενον.
Ἆρ' οὖν ἐν τούτοις μόνον ἀπορίαις ἀφύκτοις ὁ Ἐρασιστράτου λόγος ἐνέχεται μὴ βουληθέντος χρήσασθαι ταῖς ἑλκτικαῖς δυνάμεσιν εἰς μηδέν, ἢ σφοδρότατα μὲν ἐν τούτοις καὶ σαφῶς οὕτως, ὡς ἂν μηδὲ παῖδα λαθεῖν;
Εἰ δ' ἐπισκοποῖτό τις ἐπιμελῶς, οὐδ' ὁ περὶ
θρέψεως αὐτοῦ λόγος, ὃν ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν
καθόλου λόγων διεξέρχεται, τὰς αὐτὰς ἀπορίας
ἐκφεύγει. τῇ γὰρ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ
συγχωρηθέντος ἑνὸς λήμματος, ὡς πρόσθεν
ἐδείκνυμεν, ἐπέραινέ τι περὶ φλεβῶν μόνων καὶ
τοῦ κατ' αὐτὰς αἵματος. ἐκρέοντος γάρ τινος
Pg 150
Translation
Transliteration
κατὰ τὰ στόματ' αὐτῶν καὶ διαφορουμένου καὶ
μήτ' ἀθρόως τόπου κενοῦ δυναμένου γενέσθαι
μήτε τῶν φλεβῶν συμπεσεῖν, τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τὸ
παραλειπόμενον, ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἕπεσθαι τὸ συνεχὲς
ἀναπληροῦν τοῦ κενου||96μένου τὴν βάσιν. αἱ μὲν
δὴ φλέβες ἡμῖν οὕτω θρέψονται τοῦ περιεχομένου
κατ' αὐτὰς αἵματος ἀπολαύουσαι· τὰ δὲ νεῦρα
πῶς; οὐ γὰρ δὴ κἀν τούτοις ἐστὶν αἷμα. πρόχειρον
μὲν γὰρ ἦν εἰπεῖν, ἕλκοντα παρὰ τῶν
φλεβῶν· ἀλλ' οὐ βούλεται. τί ποτ' οὖν κἀνταῦθα
ἐπιτεχνᾶται; φλέβας ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ
καὶ ἀρτηρίας τὸ νεῦρον ὥσπερ τινὰ σειρὰν ἐκ
τριῶν ἱμάντων διαφερόντων τῇ φύσει πεπλεγμένην.
ᾠήθη γὰρ ἐκ ταύτης τῆς ὑποθέσεως
ἐκφεύξεσθαι τῷ λόγῳ τὴν ὁλκήν· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἔτι
δεήσεσθαι τὸ νεῦρον ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιέχον αἵματος
ἀγγεῖον ἐπιρρύτου τινὸς ἔξωθεν ἐκ τῆς παρακειμένης
φλεβὸς τῆς ἀληθινῆς αἵματος ἑτέρου,
ἀλλ' ἱκανὸν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν θρέψιν ἔσεσθαι
τὸ κατεψευσμένον ἀγγεῖον ἐκεῖνο τὸ λόγῳ θεωρητόν.
Ἀλλὰ κἀνταῦθα πάλιν αὐτὸν ὁμοία τις ἀπορία
διεδέξατο. τουτὶ γὰρ τὸ σμικρὸν ἀγγεῖον ἑαυτὸ
μὲν θρέψει, τὸ παρακείμενον μέντοι νεῦρον ἐκεῖνο
τὸ ἁπλοῦν ἢ τὴν ἀρτηρίαν οὐχ οἷόν τ' ἔσται
τρέφειν ἄνευ τοῦ σύμφυτόν τιν' ὑπάρχειν αὐτοῖς
ὁλκὴν τῆς τροφῆς. || 97 τῇ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον
ἀκολουθίᾳ πῶς ἂν ἔτι δύναιτο τὴν τροφὴν
ἐπισπᾶσθαι τὸ ἁπλοῦν νεῦρον, ὥσπερ αἱ φλέβες
Pg 152
Translation
Transliteration
αἱ σύνθετοι; κοιλότης μὲν γάρ τίς ἐστιν ἐν αὐτῷ
κατ' αὐτόν, ἀλλ' οὐχ αἵματος αὕτη γ' ἀλλὰ
πνεύματος ψυχικοῦ μεστή. δεόμεθα δ' ἡμεῖς
οὐκ εἰς τὴν κοιλότητα ταύτην εἰσάγειν τῷ λόγῳ
τὴν τροφὴν ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ περιέχον αὐτὴν ἀγγεῖον,
εἴτ' οὖν τρέφεσθαι μόνον εἴτε καὶ αὔξεσθαι δέοιτο.
πῶς οὖν εἰσάξομεν; οὕτω γάρ ἐστι σμικρὸν ἐκεῖνο
τὸ ἁπλοῦν ἀγγεῖον καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων
ἑκάτερον, ὥστ', εἰ τῇ λεπτοτάτῃ βελόνῃ νύξειάς
τι μέρος, ἅμα διαιρήσεις τὰ τρία. τόπος οὖν
αἰσθητὸς ἀθρόως κενὸς οὐκ ἂν ποτ' ἐν αὐτῷ
γένοιτο· λόγῳ δὲ θεωρητὸς τόπος κενούμενος οὐκ
ἦν ἀναγκαστικὸς τῆς τοῦ συνεχοῦς ἀκολουθίας.
Ἠβουλόμην δ' αὖ πάλιν μοι κἀνταῦθα τὸν
Ἐρασίστρατον αὐτὸν ἀποκρίνασθαι περὶ τοῦ
στοιχειώδους ἐκείνου νεύρου τοῦ σμικροῦ, πότερον
ἕν τι καὶ συνεχὲς ἀκριβῶς ἐστιν ἢ ἐκ πολλῶν
καὶ σμικρῶν σωμάτων, ὧν Ἐπίκουρος καὶ Λεύκιππος
καὶ Δημόκριτος ὑπέθεντο, σύγ||98κειται.
καὶ γὰρ καὶ περὶ τούτου τοὺς Ἐρασιστρατείους
ὁρῶ διαφερομένους. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἕν τι καὶ συνεχὲς
αὐτὸ νομίζουσιν ἢ οὐκ ἂν ἁπλοῦν εἰρῆσθαι πρὸς
αὐτοῦ φασι· τινὲς δὲ καὶ τοῦτο διαλύειν εἰς ἕτερα
στοιχειώδη τολμῶσιν. ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἕν τι καὶ
συνεχές ἐστι, τὸ κενούμενον ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν
ἄδηλον ὑπὸ τῶν ἰατρῶν ὀνομαζομένην διαπνοὴν
Pg 154
Translation
Transliteration
οὐδεμίαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ καταλείψει χώραν κενήν.
οὕτω γὰρ οὐχ ἓν ἀλλὰ πολλὰ γενήσεται, διειργόμενα
δήπου ταῖς κεναῖς χώραις. εἰ δ' ἐκ πολλῶν
σύγκειται, τῇ κηπαίᾳ κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν πρὸς
Ἀσκληπιάδην ἀπεχωρήσαμεν ἄναρμά τινα στοιχεῖα
τιθέμενοι. πάλιν οὖν ἄτεχνος ἡμῖν ἡ φύσις
λεγέσθω· τοῖς γὰρ τοιούτοις στοιχείοις ἐξ ἀνάγκης
τοῦθ' ἕπεται.
Διὸ δή μοι καὶ δοκοῦσιν ἀμαθῶς πάνυ τὴν εἰς
τὰ τοιαῦτα στοιχεῖα τῶν ἁπλῶν ἀγγείων εἰσάγειν
διάλυσιν ἔνιοι τῶν Ἐρασιστρατείων. ἐμοὶ γοῦν
οὐδὲν διαφέρει. καθ' ἑκατέρους γὰρ ἄτοπος ὁ
τῆς θρέψεως ἔσται λόγος, ἐκείνοις τοῖς ἁπλοῖς
ἀγγείοις τοῖς σμικροῖς τοῖς συντιθεῖσι τὰ μεγάλα || 99 τε καὶ αἰσθητὰ νεῦρα κατὰ μὲν τοὺς συνεχῆ
φυλάττοντας αὐτὰ μὴ δυναμένης γενέσθαι τῆς
πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίας, ὅτι μηδὲν ἐν τῷ
συνεχεῖ γίγνεται κενόν, κἂν ἀπορρέῃ τι· συνέρχεται
γὰρ πρὸς ἄλληλα τὰ καταλειπόμενα μόρια,
καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος ὁρᾶται, καὶ πάλιν ἓν
γίγνεται πάντα τὴν χώραν τοῦ διαφορηθέντος
αὐτὰ καταλαμβάνοντα· κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ἑτέρους,
ὅτι τῶν στοιχείων ἐκείνων οὐδὲν δεῖται τῆς πρὸς
τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίας. ἐπὶ γὰρ τῶν αἰσθητῶν
μόνων, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν λόγῳ θεωρητῶν ἔχει δύναμιν,
ὡς αὐτὸς ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος ὁμολογεῖ διαρρήδην,
οὐ περὶ τοῦ τοιούτου κενοῦ φάσκων ἑκάστοτε
ποιεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον, ὃ κατὰ βραχὺ παρέσπαρται
τοῖς σώμασιν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ σαφοῦς καὶ αἰσθητοῦ
καὶ ἀθρόου καὶ μεγάλου καὶ ἐναργοῦς καὶ ὅπως
ἂν ἄλλως ὀνομάζειν ἐθέλῃς. Ἐρασίστρατος μὲν
γὰρ αὐτὸς αἰσθητὸν ἀθρόως οὔ φησι δύνασθαι
Pg 156
Translation
Transliteration
γενέσθαι κενόν· ἐγὼ δ' ἐκ περιουσίας εὐπορήσας
ὀνομάτων ταὐτὸν δηλοῦν ἔν γε τῷ νῦν προκειμένῳ
λόγῳ δυναμένων καὶ τἆλλα προσέθηκα.
Κάλλιον οὖν μοι δοκεῖ καὶ || 100 ἡμᾶς τι συνεισενέγκασθαι
τοῖς Ἐρασιστρατείοις, ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τοῦτο
γεγόναμεν, καὶ συμβουλεῦσαι τοῖς τὸ πρῶτον
ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἁπλοῦν ὑπ' Ἐρασιστράτου καλούμενον
ἀγγεῖον εἰς ἕτερ' ἄττα σώματα στοιχειώδη
διαλύουσιν ἀποστῆναι τῆς ὑπολήψεως, ὡς πρὸς
τῷ μηδὲν ἔχειν πλέον ἔτι καὶ διαφερομένοις
Ἐρασιστράτῳ. ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐδὲν ἔχει πλέον,
ἐπιδέδεικται σαφῶς· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἠδυνήθη διαφυγεῖν
τὴν περὶ τῆς θρέψεως ἀπορίαν ἡ ὑπόθεσις· ὅτι δ'
οὐδ' Ἐρασιστράτῳ σύμφωνός ἐστιν, ὃ ἐκεῖνος
ἁπλοῦν καὶ πρῶτον ὀνομάζει, σύνθετον ἀποφαίνουσα,
καὶ τὴν τῆς φύσεως τέχνην ἀναιροῦσα,
πρόδηλον καὶ τοῦτ' εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ. εἰ μὴ γὰρ
κἀν τοῖς ἁπλοῖς τούτοις ἕνωσίν τινα τῆς οὐσίας
ἀπολείψομεν, ἀλλ' εἰς ἄναρμα καὶ ἀμέριστα
καταβησόμεθα στοιχεῖα, παντάπασιν ἀναιρήσομεν
τῆς φύσεως τὴν τέχνην, ὥσπερ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐκ
ταύτης ὁρμώμενοι τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἰατροὶ καὶ
φιλόσοφοι. δευτέρα γὰρ τῶν τοῦ ζῴου μορίων
κατὰ τὴν τοιαύτην ὑπόθεσιν ἡ φύσις, οὐ πρώτη
γίγνεται. διαπλάττειν δὲ || 101
καὶ δημιουργεῖν οὐ
τοῦ δευτέρου γεγονότος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ προϋπάρχοντός
ἐστιν· ὥστ' ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν εὐθὺς ἐκ σπερμάτων
ὑποθέσθαι τὰς δυνάμεις τῆς φύσεως, αἷς διαπλάττει
Pg 158
Translation
Transliteration
τε καὶ αὐξάνει καὶ τρέφει τὸ ζῷον·
ἀλλ' ἐκείνων τῶν σωμάτων τῶν ἀνάρμων καὶ
ἀμερῶν οὐδὲν ἐν ἑαυτῷ διαπλαστικὴν ἔχει δύναμιν
ἢ αὐξητικὴν ἢ θρεπτικὴν ἢ ὅλως τεχνικήν·
ἀπαθὲς γὰρ καὶ ἀμετάβλητον ὑπόκειται. τῶν δ'
εἰρημένων οὐδὲν ἄνευ μεταβολῆς καὶ ἀλλοιώσεως
καὶ τῆς δι' ὅλων κράσεως γίγνεται, καθάπερ καὶ
διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐνεδειξάμεθα. καὶ διὰ ταύτην
τὴν ἀνάγκην οὐκ ἔχοντες, ὅπως τὰ ἀκόλουθα τοῖς
στοιχείοις, οἷς ὑπέθεντο, φυλάττοιεν, οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν
τοιούτων αἱρέσεων ἅπαντες ἄτεχνον ἠναγκάσθησαν
ἀποφήνασθαι τὴν φύσιν. καίτοι ταῦτα γ'
οὐ παρ' ἡμῶν ἐχρῆν μανθάνειν τοὺς Ἐρασιστρατείους,
ἀλλὰ παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν φιλοσόφων,
οἷς μάλιστα δοκεῖ πρῶτον ἐπισκοπεῖσθαι τὰ
στοιχεῖα τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων.
Οὔκουν οὐδ' Ἐρασίστρατον ἄν τις ὀρθῶς ἄχρι
τοσαύτης ἀμαθίας νομίζοι προήκειν, ὡς μηδὲ
ταύτην γνωρίσαι δυνηθῆναι τὴν ἀκολου||102θίαν,
ἀλλ' ἅμα μὲν ὑποθέσθαι τεχνικὴν τὴν φύσιν,
ἅμα δ' εἰς ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἄναρμα καὶ ἀμετάβλητα
στοιχεῖα καταθραῦσαι τὴν οὐσίαν. καὶ μὴν
εἰ δώσει τιν' ἐν τοῖς στοιχείοις ἀλλοίωσίν τε
καὶ μεταβολὴν καὶ ἕνωσιν καὶ συνέχειαν, ἓν
ἀσύνθετον αὐτῷ τὸ ἁπλοῦν ἀγγεῖον ἐκεῖνο,
καθάπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ὀνομάζει, γενήσεται. ἀλλ'
ἡ μὲν ἁπλῆ φλὲψ ἐξ αὑτῆς τραφήσεται, τὸ
νεῦρον δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀρτηρία παρὰ τῆς πλεβός.
Pg 160
Translation
Transliteration
πῶς καὶ τίνα τρόπον; ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ δὴ καὶ
πρόσθεν γενόμενοι τῷ λόγῳ τῆς τῶν Ἐρασιστρατείων
διαφωνίας ἐμνημονεύσαμεν, ἐπεδείξαμεν δὲ
καὶ καθ' ἑκατέρους μὲν ἄπορον εἶναι τὴν τῶν
ἁπλῶν ἐκείνων ἀγγείων θρέψιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κρῖναι
τὴν μάχην αὐτῶν οὐκ ὠκνήσαμεν καὶ τιμῆσαι τὸν
Ἐρασίστρατον εἰς τὴν βελτίονα μεταστήσαντες
αἵρεσιν.
Αὖθις οὖν ἐπὶ τὴν ἓν ἁπλοῦν ἡνωμένον ἑαυτῷ πάντη τὸ στοιχειῶδες ἐκεῖνο νεῦρον ὑποτιθεμένην αἵρεσιν ὁ λόγος μεταβὰς ἐπισκοπείσθω, πῶς τραφήσεται· τὸ γὰρ εὑρεθὲν ἐνταῦθα κοινὸν ἂν ἤδη καὶ τῆς Ἱπποκράτους αἱρέσεως γένοιτο.
Κάλλιον δ' ἄν μοι δοκῶ τὸ ζητού||103μενον ἐπὶ
τῶν νενοσηκότων καὶ σφόδρα καταλελεπτυσμένων
βασανισθῆναι. πάντα γὰρ τούτοις ἐναργῶς
φαίνεται τὰ μόρια τοῦ σώματος ἄτροφα
καὶ λεπτὰ καὶ πολλῆς προσθήκης τε καὶ ἀναθρέψεως
δεόμενα. καὶ τοίνυν καὶ τὸ νεῦρον τοῦτο
τὸ αἰσθητόν, ἐφ' οὗπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐποιησάμην
τὸν λόγον, ἰσχνὸν μὲν ἱκανῶς γέγονε, δεῖται δὲ
θρέψεως. ἔχει δ' ἐν ἑαυτῷ μέρη πάμπολλα
μὲν ἐκεῖνα τὰ πρῶτα καὶ ἀόρατα νεῦρα τὰ σμικρὰ
καί τινας ἀρτηρίας ἁπλᾶς ὀλίγας καὶ φλέβας
ὁμοίως. ἅπαντ' οὖν αὐτοῦ τὰ νεῦρα τὰ στοιχειώδη καταλελέπτυνται δηλονότι καὶ αὐτά, ἤ,
εἰ μηδ' ἐκεῖνα, οὐδὲ τὸ ὅλον. καὶ τοίνυν καὶ
θρέψεως οὐ τὸ μὲν ὅλον δεῖται νεῦρον, ἕκαστον δ'
ἐκείνων οὐ δεῖται. καὶ μὴν εἰ δεῖται μὲν ἀναθρέψεως,
οὐδὲν δ' ἡ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθία
Pg 162
Translation
Transliteration
βοηθεῖν αὐτοῖς δύναται διά τε τὰς ἔμπροσθεν
εἰρημένας ἀπορίας καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπόγυιον ἰσχνότητα,
καθάπερ δείξω, ζητητέον ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἑτέραν
αἰτίαν θρέψεως.
Πῶς οὖν ἡ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθία
τρέφειν ἀδύνατός ἐστι τὸν οὕτω διακείμενον;
ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἀκολουθεῖν || 104 ἀναγκάζει τῶν συνεχῶν,
ὅσον ἀπορρεῖ. τοῦτο δ' ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν
εὐεκτούντων ἱκανόν ἐστιν εἰς τὴν θρέψιν, ἴσα
γὰρ ἐπ' αὐτῶν εἶναι χρὴ τοῖς ἀπορρέουσι τὰ
προστιθέμενα· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἐσχάτως ἰσχνῶν καὶ
πολλῆς ἀναθρέψεως δεομένων εἰ μὴ πολλαπλάσιον
εἴη τὸ προστιθέμενον τοῦ κενουμένου, τὴν
ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἕξιν ἀναλαβεῖν οὐκ ἄν ποτε δύναιντο.
δῆλον οὖν, ὡς ἕλκειν αὐτὰ δεήσει τοσούτῳ
πλεῖον, ὅσῳ καὶ δεῖται πλείονος. Ἐρασίστρατος
δὲ κἀνταῦθα πρότερον ποιήσας τὸ δεύτερον οὐκ
οἶδ' ὅπως οὐκ αἰσθάνεται. διότι γάρ, φησί,
πολλὴ πρόσθεσις εἰς ἀνάθρεψιν γίγνεται τοῖς
νενοσηκόσι, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ πρὸς ταύτην ἀκολουθία
πολλή. πῶς δ' ἂν πολλὴ πρόσθεσις γένοιτο
μὴ προηγουμένης ἀναδόσεως δαψιλοῦς; εἰ δὲ
τὴν διὰ τῶν φλεβῶν φορὰν τῆς τροφῆς ἀνάδοσιν
καλεῖ, τὴν δ' εἰς ἕκαστον τῶν ἁπλῶν καὶ ἀοράτων
ἐκείνων νεύρων καὶ ἀρτηριῶν μετάληψιν οὐκ
ἀνάδοσιν ἀλλὰ διάδοσιν, ὥς τινες ὀνομάζειν
ἠξίωσαν, εἶτα || 105 τὴν διὰ τῶν φλεβῶν μόνῃ τῇ
Pg 164
Translation
Transliteration
πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ φησὶ γίγνεσθαι,
τὴν εἰς τὰ λόγῳ θεωρητὰ μετάληψιν ἡμῖν ἐξηγησάσθω.
ὅτι μὲν γὰρ οὐκέτ' ἐπὶ τούτων ἡ πρὸς
τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθία λέγεσθαι δύναται καὶ
μάλιστ' ἐπὶ τῶν ἐσχάτως ἰσχνῶν, ἀποδέδεικται.
τί δέ φησιν ἐπ' αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν
καθόλου λόγων ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος, ἄξιον ἐπακοῦσαι
τῆς λέξεως· “Τοῖς δ' ἐσχάτοις τε καὶ ἁπλοῖς,
λεπτοῖς τε καὶ στενοῖς οὖσιν, ἐκ τῶν παρακειμένων
ἀγγείων ἡ πρόσθεσις συμβαίνει εἰς τὰ
κενώματα τῶν ἀπενεχθέντων κατὰ τὰ πλάγια
τῶν ἀγγείων ἑλκομένης τῆς τροφῆς καὶ καταχωριζομένης.”
ἐκ ταύτης τῆς λέξεως πρῶτον
μὲν τὸ κατὰ τὰ πλάγια προσίεμαί τε καὶ
ἀποδέχομαι· κατὰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸ τὸ στόμα τὸ
ἁπλοῦν νεῦρον οὐκ ἂν δύναιτο δεχόμενον τὴν
τροφὴν οὕτως εἰς ὅλον ἑαυτὸ διανέμειν· ἀνάκειται
γὰρ ἐκεῖνο τῷ ψυχικῷ πνεύματι· κατὰ δὲ τὸ
πλάγιον ἐκ τῆς παρακειμένης φλεβὸς τῆς ἁπλῆς
ἐγχωρεῖ λαβεῖν αὐτό. δεύτερον δ' ἀποδέχομαι
τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἐρασιστράτου λέξεως ὀνομάτων τὸ
γεγραμμένον ἐφεξῆς τῷ κατὰ τὰ πλάγια. || 106 τί
γάρ φησι; “Κατὰ τὰ πλάγια τῶν ἀγγείων ἑλκομένης
τῆς τροφῆς.” ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἕλκεται, καὶ ἡμεῖς
ὁμολογοῦμεν, ὅτι δ' οὐ τῇ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον
ἀκολουθίᾳ, δέδεικται πρόσθεν.
Ἐξεύρωμεν οὖν κοινῇ, πῶς ἕλκεται. πῶς δ'
ἄλλως ἢ ὡς ὁ σίδηρος ὑπὸ τῆς ἡρακλείας λίθου
Pg 166
Translation
Transliteration
δύναμιν ἐχούσης ἑλκτικὴν τοιαύτης ποιότητος;
ἀλλ' εἰ τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἀναδόσεως ἡ τῆς
κοιλίας ἔνθλιψις παρέχεται, τὴν δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα
φορὰν ἅπασαν αἵ τε φλέβες περιστελλόμεναι καὶ
προωθοῦσαι καὶ τῶν τρεφομένων ἕκαστον ἐπισπώμενον
εἰς ἑαυτό, τῆς πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίας
ἀποστάντες, ὡς οὐ πρεπούσης ἀνδρὶ
τεχνικὴν ὑποθεμένῳ τὴν φύσιν, οὕτως ἂν ἤδη
καὶ τὴν ἀντιλογίαν εἴημεν πεφευγότες τὴν
Ἀσκληπιάδου μὴ δυνάμενοί γε λύειν αὐτήν. τὸ
γὰρ εἰς τὴν ἀπόδειξιν παραλαμβανόμενον λῆμμα
τὸ διεζευγμένον οὐκ ἐκ δυοῖν ἀλλ' ἐκ τριῶν ἐστι
κατά γε τὴν ἀλήθειαν διεζευγμένον. εἰ μὲν οὖν
ὡς ἐκ δυοῖν αὐτῷ χρη||107σαίμεθα, ψεῦδος ἔσται τι
τῶν εἰς τὴν ἀπόδειξιν παρειλημμένων· εἰ δ' ὡς ἐκ
τριῶν, ἀπέραντος ὁ λόγος γενήσεται.
Καὶ ταῦτ' οὐκ ἐχρῆν ἀγνοεῖν τὸν Ἐρασίστρατον,
εἴπερ κἂν ὄναρ ποτὲ τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ περιπάτου
συνέτυχεν, ὥσπερ οὖν οὐδὲ τὰ περὶ τῆς γενέσεως
τῶν χυμῶν, ὑπὲρ ὧν οὐδὲν ἔχων εἰπεῖν οὐδὲ
μέχρι τοῦ μετρίου πιθανὸν οἴεται παρακρούεσθαι
σκηπτόμενος, ὡς οὐδὲ χρήσιμος ὅλως ἐστὶν ἡ
τῶν τοιούτων ἐπίσκεψις. εἶτ', ὦ πρὸς θεῶν,
ὅπως μὲν τὰ σιτία κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα πέττεται
χρήσιμον ἐπίστασθαι, πῶς δ' ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶν ἡ
Pg 168
Translation
Transliteration
χολὴ γίγνεται, περιττόν; καὶ τῆς κενώσεως ἄρα
φροντιστέον αὐτῆς μόνης, ἀμελητέον δὲ τῆς
γενέσεως; ὥσπερ οὐκ ἄμεινον ὑπάρχον μακρῷ
τὸ κωλύειν εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς γεννᾶσθαι πλείονα
τοῦ πράγματ' ἔχειν ἐκκενοῦντας. θαυμαστὸν δὲ
καὶ τὸ διαπορεῖν, εἴτ' ἐν τῷ σώματι τὴν γένεσιν
αὐτῆς ὑποθετέον εἴτ' εὐθὺς ἔξωθεν ἐν τοῖς σιτίοις
περιέχεσθαι φατέον. εἰ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο καλῶς
ἠπόρηται, τί οὐχὶ καὶ περὶ τοῦ αἵματος ἐπισκεψόμεθα,
πότερον ἐν τῷ σώματι || 108 λαμβάνει τὴν
γένεσιν ἢ τοῖς σιτίοις παρέσπαρται, καθάπερ οἱ
τὰς ὁμοιομερείας ὑποτιθέμενοί φασι; καὶ μὴν
πολλῷ γ' ἦν χρησιμώτερον ζητεῖσθαι, ποῖα τῶν
σιτίων ὁμολογεῖ τῇ τῆς αἱματώσεως ἐνεργείᾳ καὶ
ποῖα διαφέρεται, τοῦ ζητεῖν, τίνα μὲν τῇ τῆς
γαστρὸς ἐνεργείᾳ νικᾶται ῥᾳδίως, τίνα δ' ἀντιβαίνει
καὶ μάχεται. τούτων μὲν γὰρ ἡ ἔκλεξις
εἰς πέψιν μόνην, ἐκείνων δ' εἰς αἵματος χρηστοῦ
διαφέρει γένεσιν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴσον ἐστὶν ἢ μὴ
καλῶς ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ χυλωθῆναι τὴν τροφὴν ἢ
μὴ χρηστὸν αἷμα γεννηθῆναι. πῶς δ' οὐκ αἰδεῖται
τὰς μὲν τῆς πέψεως ἀποτυχίας διαιρούμενος,
ὡς πολλαί τ' εἰσὶ καὶ κατὰ πολλὰς γίγνονται
προφάσεις, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν τῆς αἱματώσεως σφαλμάτων
οὐδ' ἄχρι ῥήματος ἑνὸς οὐδ' ἄχρι συλλαβῆς
μιᾶς φθεγξάμενος; καὶ μὴν εὑρίσκεταί γε καὶ
παχὺ καὶ λεπτὸν ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶν αἷμα καὶ τοῖς
μὲν ἐρυθρότερον, τοῖς δὲ ξανθότερον, τοῖς δὲ
μελάντερον, τοῖς δὲ φλεγματωδέστερον. εἰ δ' ὅτι
Pg 170
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ δυσῶδες οὐχ ἕνα τρόπον ἀλλ' ἐν πολλαῖς
πάνυ διαφοραῖς ἀρρήτοις μὲν λόγῳ, σα||109φεστάταις
δ' αἰσθήσεσι φαίνεται γιγνόμενον, εἰδείη τις, οὐκ
ἂν οἶμαι μετρίως ἔτι καταγνώσεσθαι τῆς Ἐρασιστράτου
ῥᾳθυμίας αὐτὸν οὕτω γ' ἀναγκαίαν
εἰς τὰ ἔργα τῆς τέχνης θεωρίαν παραλιπόντος.
Ἐναργῆ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ὑδέρων ἁμαρτήματα
τῇ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ ταύτῃ κατὰ λόγον ἠκολουθηκότα.
τό τε γὰρ τῇ στενοχωρίᾳ τῶν ὁδῶν
κωλύεσθαι νομίζειν πρόσω τοῦ ἥπατος ἰέναι τὸ
αἷμα καὶ μηδέποτ' ἂν ἄλλως ὕδερον δύνασθαι
συστῆναι πῶς οὐκ ἐσχάτην ἐνδείκνυται ῥᾳθυμίαν;
τό τε μὴ διὰ τὸν σπλῆνα μηδὲ δι' ἄλλο τι μόριον,
ἀλλ' ἀεὶ διὰ τὸν ἐν τῷ ἥπατι σκίρρον ὕδερον
οἴεσθαι γίγνεσθαι τελέως ἀργοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν
ἀνθρώπου καὶ μηδενὶ τῶν ὁσημέραι γιγνομένων
παρακολουθοῦντος. ἐπὶ μέν γε χρονίαις αἱμορροΐσιν
ἐπισχεθείσαις ἢ διὰ κένωσιν ἄμετρον εἰς
ψῦξιν ἐσχάτην ἀγαγούσαις τὸν ἄνθρωπον οὐχ
ἅπαξ οὐδὲ δὶς ἀλλὰ πολλάκις ἤδη τεθεάμεθα
συστάντας ὑδέρους, ὥσπερ γε καὶ γυναιξὶν ἥ τε
τῆς ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ μηνὶ καθάρσεως ἀπώλεια παντελὴς
καὶ ἄμετρος κένωσις, ὅταν αἱμορραγήσωσί
ποθ' αἱ μῆτραι σφοδρῶς, ἐπεκαλέσαντο πολ||110λάκις
ὕδερον καί τισιν αὐτῶν καὶ ὁ γυναικεῖος ὀνομαζόμενος
ῥοῦς εἰς τοῦτ' ἐτελεύτησε τὸ πάθος, ἵνα
Pg 172
Translation
Transliteration
τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν κενεώνων ἀρχομένους ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς
τῶν ἐπικαίρων μορίων ὑδέρους παραλίπω, σαφῶς
μὲν καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐξελέγχοντας τὴν Ἐρασιστράτειον
ὑπόληψιν, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἐναργῶς ὡς οἱ διὰ
κατάψυξιν σφοδρὰν τῆς ὅλης ἕξεως ἀποτελούμενοι.
πρώτη γὰρ αὕτη γενέσεως ὑδέρων αἰτία
διὰ τὴν ἀποτυχίαν τῆς αἱματώσεως γιγνομένη
τρόπον ὁμοιότατον ταῖς ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν σιτίων ἀπεψίᾳ
διαρροίαις. οὐ μὴν ἐσκίρρωταί γε κατὰ τοὺς
τοιούτους ὑδέρους οὐδ' ἄλλο τι σπλάγχνον οὐδὲ
τὸ ἧπαρ.
Ἀλλ' Ἐρασίστρατος ὁ σοφὸς ὑπεριδὼν καὶ καταφρονήσας, ὧν οὔθ' Ἱπποκράτης οὔτε Διοκλῆς οὔτε Πραξαγόρας οὔτε Φιλιστίων ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τῶν ἀρίστων φιλοσόφων οὐδεὶς κατεφρόνησεν οὔτε Πλάτων οὔτ' Ἀριστοτέλης οὔτε Θεόφραστος, ὅλας ἐνεργείας ὑπερβαίνει καθάπερ τι σμικρὸν καὶ τὸ τυχὸν τῆς τέχνης παραλιπὼν μέρος οὐδ' ἀντειπεῖν ἀξιώσας, εἴτ' ὀρθῶς εἴτε καὶ μὴ || 111 σύμπαντες οὗτοι θερμῷ καὶ ψυχρῷ καὶ ξηρῷ καὶ ὑγρῷ, τοῖς μὲν ὡς δρῶσι, τοῖς δ' ὡς πάσχουσι, τὰ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα τῶν ζῴων ἁπάντων διοικεῖσθαί φασι καὶ ὡς τὸ θερμὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς εἴς τε τὰς ἄλλας ἐνεργείας καὶ μάλιστ' εἰς τὴν τῶν χυμῶν γένεσιν τὸ πλεῖστον δύναται. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν μὴ πείθεσθαι τοσούτοις τε καὶ τηλικούτοις ἀνδράσι καὶ πλέον αὐτῶν οἴεσθαί τι γιγνώσκειν ἀνεμέσητον, τὸ δὲ μήτ' ἀντιλογίας ἀξιῶσαι μήτε μνήμης οὕτως ἔνδοξον δόγμα θαυμαστήν τινα τὴν ὑπεροψίαν ἐνδείκνυται.
Pg 174
Translation
Transliteration
Καὶ μὴν σμικρότατός ἐστι τὴν γνώμην καὶ
ταπεινὸς ἐσχάτως ἐν ἁπάσαις ταῖς ἀντιλογίαις ἐν
μὲν τοῖς περὶ τῆς πέψεως λόγοις τοῖς σήπεσθαι
τὰ σιτία νομίζουσι φιλοτίμως ἀντιλέγων, ἐν δὲ
τοῖς περὶ τῆς ἀναδόσεως τοῖς διὰ τὴν παράθεσιν
τῶν ἀρτηριῶν ἀναδίδοσθαι τὸ διὰ τῶν φλεβῶν
αἷμα νομίζουσιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς περὶ τῆς ἀναπνοῆς
τοῖς περιωθεῖσθαι τὸν ἀέρα φάσκουσιν. οὐκ
ὤκνησε δ' οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀτμοειδῶς εἰς τὴν κύστιν
ἰέναι τὰ οὖρα νομίζουσιν ἀντειπεῖν οὐδὲ τοῖς εἰς || 112
τὸν πνεύμονα φέρεσθαι τὸ ποτόν. οὕτως ἐν ἅπασι
τὰς χειρίστας ἐπιλεγόμενος δόξας ἀγάλλεται διατρίβων
ἐπὶ πλέον ἐν ταῖς ἀντιλογίαις· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς
τοῦ αἵματος γενέσεως οὐδὲν ἀτιμοτέρας οὔσης τῆς
ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ χυλώσεως τῶν σιτίων οὔτ' ἀντειπεῖν
τινι τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἠξίωσεν οὔτ' αὐτὸς εἰσηγήσασθαί
τιν' ἑτέραν γνώμην ἐτόλμησεν, ὁ περὶ
πασῶν τῶν φυσικῶν ἐνεργειῶν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῶν καθόλου
λόγων ὑποσχόμενος ἐρεῖν, ὅπως τε γίγνονται
καὶ δι' ὧντινων τοῦ ζῴου μορίων. ἢ τῆς μὲν
πέττειν τὰ σιτία πεφυκυίας δυνάμεως ἀρρωστούσης
ἀπεπτήσει τὸ ζῷον, τῆς δ' αἱματούσης τὰ
πεφθέντα οὐδὲν ἔσται πάθημα τὸ παράπαν, ἀλλ'
ἀδαμαντίνη τις ἡμῖν αὕτη μόνη καὶ ἀπαθής ἐστιν;
ἢ ἄλλο τι τῆς ἀρρωστίας αὐτῆς ἔκγονον ὑπάρξει
Pg 176
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ οὐχ ὕδερος; δῆλος οὖν ἐναργῶς ἐστιν ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος
ἐξ ὧν ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐδὲ ταῖς
φαυλοτάταις δόξαις ἀντιλέγειν ὤκνησεν, ἐνταυθοῖ
δ' οὔτ' ἀντειπεῖν τοῖς πρόσθεν οὔτ' αὐτὸς εἰπεῖν
τι καινὸν ἐτόλμησε, τὸ σφάλμα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γνωρίζων
αἱρέσεως.
Τί γὰρ ἂν καὶ λέγειν ἔσχεν ὑπὲρ αἵματος || 113 ἄνθρωπος εἰς μηδὲν τῷ συμφύτῳ θερμῷ χρώμενος; τί δὲ περὶ ξανθῆς χολῆς ἢ μελαίνης ἢ φλέγματος; ὅτι νὴ Δία δυνατόν ἐστιν ἀναμεμιγμένην τοῖς σιτίοις εὐθὺς ἔξωθεν παραγίγνεσθαι τὴν χολήν. λέγει γοῦν ὥδέ πως αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασι· “Πότερον δ' ἐν τῇ περὶ τὴν κοιλίαν κατεργασίᾳ τῆς τροφῆς γεννᾶται τοιαύτη ὑγρασία ἢ μεμιγμένη τοῖς ἔξωθεν προσφερομένοις παραγίγνεται, οὐδὲν χρήσιμον πρὸς ἰατρικὴν ἐπεσκέφθαι.” καὶ μήν, ὦ γενναιότατε, καὶ κενοῦσθαι χρῆναι φάσκεις ἐκ τοῦ ζῴου τὸν χυμὸν τοῦτον καὶ μεγάλως λυπεῖν, εἰ μὴ κενωθείη. πῶς οὖν οὐδὲν ἐξ αὐτοῦ χρηστὸν ὑπολαμβάνων γίγνεσθαι τολμᾷς ἄχρηστον λέγειν εἰς ἰατρικὴν εἶναι τὴν περὶ τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ σκέψιν;
Ὑποκείσθω γὰρ ἐν μὲν τοῖς σιτίοις περιέχεσθαι,
μὴ διακρίνεσθαι δ' ἀκριβῶς ἐν ἥπατι·
ταῦτα γὰρ ἀμφότερα νομίζεις εἶναι δυνατά. καὶ
μὴν οὐ σμικρὸν ἐνταῦθα τὸ διαφέρον ἢ ἐλαχίστην
ἢ παμπόλλην χολὴν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς περιέχοντα
προσάρασθαι σιτία. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀκίνδυνα, τὰ δὲ
παμπόλλην περιέχοντα τῷ μὴ δύνασθαι πᾶσαν
Pg 178
Translation
Transliteration
αὐτὴν ἐν || 114
ἥπατι καθαρθῆναι καλῶς αἰτία καταστήσεται
τῶν τ' ἄλλων παθῶν, ὧν αὐτὸς ὁ
Ἐρασίστρατος ἐπὶ πλήθει χολῆς γίγνεσθαί φησι,
καὶ τῶν ἰκτέρων οὐχ ἥκιστα. πῶς οὖν οὐκ
ἀναγκαιότατον ἰατρῷ γιγνώσκειν, πρῶτον μέν,
ὡς ἐν τοῖς σιτίοις αὐτοῖς ἔξωθεν ἡ χολὴ περιέχεται,
δεύτερον δ', ὡς τὸ μὲν τεῦτλον, εἰ τύχοι,
παμπόλλην, ὁ δ' ἄρτος ἐλαχίστην καὶ τὸ μὲν
ἔλαιον πλείστην, ὁ δ' οἶνος ὀλιγίστην ἕκαστόν
τε τῶν ἄλλων ἄνισον τῷ πλήθει περιέχει τὴν
χολήν; πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴη γελοιότατος, ὃς ἂν
ἑκὼν αἱρῆται τὰ πλείονα χολὴν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς περιέχοντα
πρὸ τῶν ἐναντίων;
Τί δ' εἰ μὴ περιέχεται μὲν ἐν τοῖς σιτίοις ἡ χολή, γίγνεται δ' ἐν τοῖς τῶν ζῴων σώμασιν; ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο χρήσιμον ἐπίστασθαι, τίνι μὲν καταστάσει σώματος ἕπεται πλείων αὐτῆς ἡ γένεσις, τίνι δ' ἐλάττων; ἀλλοιοῦν γὰρ δήπου καὶ μεταβάλλειν οἷοί τ' ἐσμὲν καὶ τρέπειν ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον ἀεὶ τὰς μοχθηρὰς καταστάσεις τοῦ σώματος. ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ γιγνώσκοιμεν, καθότι μοχθηραὶ καὶ ὅπῃ τῆς δεούσης ἐξίστανται, πῶς ἂν αὐτὰς ἐπανάγειν οἷοί τ' εἴημεν ἐπὶ τὸ || 115 κρεῖττον;
Οὔκουν ἄχρηστόν ἐστιν εἰς τὰς ἰάσεις, ὡς
Ἐρασίστρατός φησιν, ἐπίστασθαι τἀληθὲς αὐτὸ
περὶ γενέσεως χολῆς. οὐ μὴν οὐδ' ἀδύνατον οὐδ'
ἀσαφὲς ἐξευρεῖν, ὅτι μὴ τῷ πλείστην ἐν ἑαυτῷ
περιέχειν τὸ μέλι τὴν ξανθὴν χολὴν ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ
σώματι μεταβαλλόμενον εἰς αὐτὴν ἀλλοιοῦταί τε
καὶ τρέπεται. πικρόν τε γὰρ ἂν ἦν γευομένοις,
εἰ χολὴν ἔξωθεν εὐθὺς ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιεῖχεν ἅπασί
τ' ἂν ὡσαύτως τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἴσον αὐτῆς ἐγέννα
Pg 180
Translation
Transliteration
τὸ πλῆθος. ἀλλ' οὐχ ὧδ' ἔχει τἀληθές. ἐν μὲν
γὰρ τοῖς ἀκμάζουσι καὶ μάλιστ' εἰ φύσει θερμότεροι
καὶ βίον εἶεν βιοῦντες ταλαίπωρον, ἅπαν
εἰς ξανθὴν χολὴν μεταβάλλει τὸ μέλι· τοῖς
γέρουσι δ' ἱκανῶς ἐστιν ἐπιτήδειον, ὡς ἂν οὐκ εἰς
χολὴν ἀλλ' εἰς αἷμα τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν ἐν ἐκείνοις
λαμβάνον. Ἐρασίστρατος δὲ πρὸς τῷ μηδὲν
τούτων γιγνώσκειν οὐδὲ περὶ τὴν διαίρεσιν τοῦ
λόγου σωφρονεῖ, πότερον ἐν τοῖς σιτίοις ἡ χολὴ
περιέχεται εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ
κοιλίᾳ κατεργασίαν ἐγένετο, μηδὲν εἶναι χρήσιμον
εἰς ἰατρικὴν ἐπεσκέφθαι λέγων. ἐχρῆν || 116 γὰρ
δήπου προσθεῖναί τι καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐν ἥπατι καὶ
φλεψὶ γενέσεως αὐτῆς, ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς ὀργάνοις
γεννᾶσθαι τὴν χολὴν ἅμα τῷ αἵματι τῶν παλαιῶν
ἰατρῶν τε καὶ φιλοσόφων ἀποφηναμένων. ἀλλὰ
τοῖς εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς σφαλεῖσι καὶ διαμαρτάνουσι
τῆς ὀρθῆς ὁδοῦ τοιαῦτά τε ληρεῖν ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι
καὶ προσέτι τῶν χρησιμωτάτων εἰς τὴν τέχνην
παραλιπεῖν τὴν ζήτησιν.
Ἡδέως δ' ἂν ἐνταῦθα τοῦ λόγου γεγονὼς
ἠρόμην τοὺς ὁμιλῆσαι φάσκοντας αὐτὸν ἐπὶ
πλεῖστον τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ περιπάτου φιλοσόφοις, εἰ
γιγνώσκουσιν, ὅσα περὶ τοῦ κεκρᾶσθαι τὰ σώμαθ'
ἡμῶν ἐκ θερμοῦ καὶ ψυχροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ
πρὸς Ἀριστοτέλους εἴρηταί τε καὶ ἀποδέδεικται,
καὶ ὡς τὸ θερμὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐστι τὸ δραστικώτατον
καὶ ὡς τῶν ζῴων ὅσα μὲν θερμότερα φύσει, ταῦτα
πάντως ἔναιμα, τὰ δ' ἐπὶ πλέον ψυχρότερα
πάντως ἄναιμα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ χειμῶνος ἀργὰ
Pg 182
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ ἀκίνητα κεῖται φωλεύοντα δίκην νεκρῶν.
εἴρηται δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς χροιᾶς τοῦ αἵματος οὐκ
Ἀριστοτέλει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ Πλάτωνι. καὶ
ἡμεῖς νῦν, ὅπερ ἤδη καὶ πρόσθεν εἶπον, || 117 οὐ τὰ
καλῶς ἀποδεδειγμένα τοῖς παλαιοῖς λέγειν προὐθέμεθα,
μήτε τῇ γνώμῃ μήτε τῇ λέξει τοὺς ἄνδρας
ἐκείνους ὑπερβαλέσθαι δυνάμενοι· τὰ δ' ἤτοι
χωρὶς ἀποδείξεως ὡς ἐναργῆ πρὸς αὐτῶν εἰρημένα
διὰ τὸ μηδ' ὑπονοῆσαι μοχθηροὺς οὕτως ἔσεσθαί
τινας σοφιστάς, οἳ καταφρονήσουσι τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς
ἀληθείας, ἢ καὶ παραλελειμμένα τελέως ὑπ'
ἐκείνων ἀξιοῦμεν εὑρίσκειν τε καὶ ἀποδεικνύναι.
Περὶ δὲ τῆς τῶν χυμῶν γενέσεως οὐκ οἶδ', εἰ
ἔχει τις ἕτερον προσθεῖναι σοφώτερον ὧν Ἱπποκράτης
εἶπε καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ Πραξαγόρας
καὶ Φιλότιμος καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ τῶν παλαιῶν.
ἀποδέδεικται γὰρ ἐκείνοις τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἀλλοιουμένης
τῆς τροφῆς ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐμφύτου
θερμασίας αἷμα μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς συμμετρίας τῆς κατ'
αὐτήν, οἱ δ' ἄλλοι χυμοὶ διὰ τὰς ἀμετρίας γιγνόμενοι·
καὶ τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ πάνθ' ὁμολογεῖ τὰ
φαινόμενα. καὶ γὰρ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων ὅσα μέν ἐστι
θερμότερα φύσει, χολωδέστερα, τὰ δὲ ψυχρότερα
φλεγματικώτερα· καὶ τῶν ἡλικιῶν ὡσαύτως χολωδέστε||118ραι
μὲν αἱ θερμότεραι φύσει, φλεγματωδέστεραι
δ' αἱ ψυχρότεραι· καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων
δὲ καὶ τῶν χωρῶν καὶ τῶν ὡρῶν καὶ πολὺ
δὴ πρότερον ἔτι τῶν φύσεων αὐτῶν αἱ μὲν ψυχρότεραι
φλεγματωδέστεραι, χολωδέστεραι δ' αἱ
Pg 184
Translation
Transliteration
θερμότεραι· καὶ νοσημάτων τὰ μὲν ψυχρὰ τοῦ
φλέγματος ἔκγονα, τὰ δὲ θερμὰ τῆς ξανθῆς χολῆς·
καὶ ὅλως οὐδὲν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τῶν πάντων, ὃ μὴ τούτῳ
τῷ λόγῳ μαρτυρεῖ. πῶς δ' οὐ μέλλει; διὰ γὰρ τὴν
ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων ποιὰν κρᾶσιν ἑκάστου τῶν μορίων
ὡδί πως ἐνεργοῦντος ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ διὰ τὴν
βλάβην αὐτῶν ἢ διαφθείρεσθαι τελέως ἢ ἐμποδίζεσθαί
γε τὴν ἐνέργειαν καὶ οὕτω νοσεῖν τὸ
ζῷον ἢ ὅλον ἢ κατὰ τὰ μόρια.
Καὶ τὰ πρῶτά γε καὶ γενικώτατα νοσήματα τέτταρα τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὑπάρχει θερμότητι καὶ ψυχρότητι καὶ ξηρότητι καὶ ὑγρότητι διαφέροντα. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος ὁμολογεῖ καίτοι μὴ βουλόμενος. ὅταν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πυρετοῖς χείρους τῶν σιτίων τὰς πέψεις γίγνεσθαι λέγῃ, μὴ διότι τῆς ἐμφύτου || 119 θερμασίας ἡ συμμετρία διέφθαρται, καθάπερ οἱ πρόσθεν ὑπελάμβανον, ἀλλ' ὅτι περιστέλλεσθαι καὶ τρίβειν ἡ γαστὴρ οὐχ ὁμοίως δύναται βεβλαμμένη τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἐρέσθαι δίκαιον αὐτόν, ὑπὸ τίνος ἡ τῆς γαστρὸς ἐνέργεια βέβλαπται.
Γενομένου γάρ, εἰ τύχοι, βουβῶνος ἐπὶ προσπταίσματι,
πρὶν μὲν πυρέξαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον,
οὐκ ἂν χεῖρον ἡ γαστὴρ πέψειεν· οὐ γὰρ
ἱκανὸν ἦν οὐδέτερον αὐτῶν οὔθ' ὁ βουβὼν
οὔτε τὸ ἕλκος ἐμποδίσαι τι καὶ βλάψαι τὴν
ἐνέργειαν τῆς κοιλίας· εἰ δὲ πυρέξειεν, εὐθὺς μὲν
αἱ πέψεις γίγνονται χείρους, εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τὴν
ἐνέργειαν τῆς γαστρὸς βεβλάφθαι φαμὲν ὀρθῶς
λέγοντες. ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τίνος ἐβλάβη, προσθεῖναι
Pg 186
Translation
Transliteration
χρὴ τῷ λόγῳ. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἕλκος οὐχ οἷόν τ' ἦν
αὐτὴν βλάπτειν, ὥσπερ οὐδ' ὁ βουβών· ἦ γὰρ ἂν
ἔβλαψε καὶ πρὸ τοῦ πυρετοῦ. εἰ δὲ μὴ ταῦτα,
δῆλον, ὡς ἡ τῆς θερμασίας πλεονεξία. δύο γὰρ
ταῦτα προσεγένετο τῷ βουβῶνι, ἡ τῆς κατὰ τὰς
ἀρτηρίας τε καὶ τὴν καρδίαν κινήσεως ἀλλοίωσις
καὶ ἡ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν θερμασίας πλεονεξία.
ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν τῆς κινήσεως ἀλλοίωσις οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν
βλάψει τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῆς γα||120στρός, ἀλλὰ καὶ
προσωφελήσει κατ' ἐκεῖνα τῶν ζῴων, ἐν οἷς εἰς
τὴν πέψιν ὑπέθετο πλεῖστον δύνασθαι τὸ διὰ τῶν
ἀρτηριῶν εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν ἐμπῖπτον πνεῦμα. διὰ
λοιπὴν οὖν ἔτι καὶ μόνην τὴν ἄμετρον θερμασίαν
ἡ βλάβη τῆς ἐνεργείας τῇ γαστρί. τὸ μὲν γὰρ
πνεῦμα σφοδρότερόν τε καὶ συνεχέστερον καὶ
πλέον ἐμπίπτει νῦν ἢ πρότερον. ὥστε ταύτῃ
μὲν μᾶλλον πέψει τὰ διὰ τὸ πνεῦμα καλῶς
πέττοντα ζῷα, διὰ λοιπὴν δ' ἔτι τὴν παρὰ φύσιν
θερμασίαν ἀπεπτήσει. τὸ γὰρ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι
φάναι τιν' ὑπάρχειν ἰδιότητα, καθ' ἣν πέττει,
κἄπειτα ταύτην πυρεττόντων διαφθείρεσθαι καθ'
ἕτερον τρόπον ἐστὶν ὁμολογῆσαι τὸ ἄτοπον.
ἐρωτηθέντες γὰρ αὖθις, ὑπὸ τίνος ἠλλοιώθη τὸ
πνεῦμα, μόνην ἕξουσιν ἀποκρίνεσθαι τὴν παρὰ
φύσιν θερμασίαν καὶ μάλιστ' ἐπὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν
Pg 188
Translation
Transliteration
κοιλίαν· οὐδὲ γὰρ πλησιάζει κατ' οὐδὲν τοῦτο τῷ
βουβῶνι.
Καίτοι τί τῶν ζῴων ἐκείνων, ἐν οἷς ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος ἰδιότης μέγα δύναται, μνημονεύω, παρὸν ἐπ' ἀνθρώποις, ἐν οἷς ἢ οὐδὲν ἢ παντάπασιν ἀμυ||121δρόν τι καὶ μικρὸν ὠφελεῖ, ποιεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον; ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν ἐν τοῖς πυρετοῖς οὗτοι κακῶς πέττουσιν, ὁμολογεῖ καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ τήν γ' αἰτίαν προστιθεὶς βεβλάφθαι φησὶ τῆς γαστρὸς τὴν ἐνέργειαν. οὐ μὴν ἄλλην γέ τινα πρόφασιν τῆς βλάβης εἰπεῖν ἔχει πλὴν τῆς παρὰ φύσιν θερμασίας. ἀλλ' εἰ βλάπτει τὴν ἐνέργειαν ἡ παρὰ φύσιν θερμασία μὴ κατά τι συμβεβηκός, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν αὑτῆς οὐσίαν τε καὶ δύναμιν, ἐκ τῶν πρώτων ἂν εἴη νοσημάτων· καὶ μὴν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τῶν πρώτων μὲν εἶναι νοσημάτων τὴν ἀμετρίαν τῆς θερμασίας, τὴν δ' ἐνέργειαν ὑπὸ τῆς εὐκρασίας μὴ γίγνεσθαι. οὐδὲ γὰρ δι' ἄλλο τι δυνατὸν γίγνεσθαι τὴν δυσκρασίαν αἰτίαν τῶν πρώτων νοσημάτων ἀλλ' ἢ διὰ τὴν εὐκρασίαν διαφθειρομένην. τῷ γὰρ ὑπὸ ταύτης γίγνεσθαι τὰς ἐνεργείας ἀνάγκη καὶ τὰς πρώτας αὐτῶν βλάβας διαφθειρομένης γίγνεσθαι.
Ὅτι μὲν οὖν καὶ κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν Ἐρασίστρατον
ἡ εὐκρασία τοῦ θερμοῦ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν αἰτία,
τοῖς θεωρεῖν τὸ ἀκόλουθον δυναμένοις ἱκανῶς
ἀποδεδεῖχθαι νομίζω. τούτου δ' ὑπάρχοντος
ἡμῖν οὐδὲν ἔτι χαλεπὸν || 122 ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἐνεργείας
Pg 190
Translation
Transliteration
τῇ μὲν εὐκρασίᾳ τὸ βέλτιον ἕπεσθαι λέγειν, τῇ
δὲ δυσκρασίᾳ τὰ χείρω. καὶ τοίνυν εἴπερ ταῦθ'
οὕτως ἔχει, τὸ μὲν αἷμα τῆς συμμέτρου θερμασίας,
τὴν δὲ ξανθὴν χολὴν τῆς ἀμέτρου νομιστέον
ὑπάρχειν ἔγγονον. οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἡμῖν
ἔν τε ταῖς θερμαῖς ἡλικίαις καὶ τοῖς θερμοῖς
χωρίοις καὶ ταῖς ὥραις τοῦ ἔτους ταῖς θερμαῖς
καὶ ταῖς θερμαῖς καταστάσεσιν, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ
ταῖς θερμαῖς κράσεσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῖς
ἐπιτηδεύμασί τε καὶ τοῖς διαιτήμασι καὶ τοῖς
νοσήμασι τοῖς θερμοῖς εὐλόγως ἡ ξανθὴ χολὴ
πλείστη φαίνεται γιγνομένη.
Τὸ δ' ἀπορεῖν, εἴτ' ἐν τοῖς σώμασι τῶν ἀνθρώπων
ὁ χυμὸς οὗτος ἔχει τὴν γένεσιν εἴτ' ἐν τοῖς
σιτίοις περιέχεται, μηδ' ὅτι τοῖς ὑγιαίνουσιν
ἀμέμπτως, ὅταν ἀσιτήσωσι παρὰ τὸ ἔθος ὑπὸ
τινος περιστάσεως πραγμάτων ἀναγκασθέντες,
πικρὸν μὲν τὸ στόμα γίγνεται, χολώδη δὲ τὰ
οὖρα, δάκνεται δ' ἡ γαστήρ, ἑωρακότος ἐστὶν
ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐξαίφνης νῦν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐληλυθότος
καὶ μήπω τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν φαινόμενα
γιγνώσκοντος. ἐπεὶ τίς οὐκ οἶδεν, ὡς ἕκαστον
τῶν ἑψομένων ἐπὶ πλέον ἁλυκώτερον μὲν τὸ
πρῶτον, ὕστερον || 123 δὲ πικρότερον γίγνεται; κἂν
εἰ τὸ μέλι βουληθείης αὐτὸ τὸ πάντων γλυκύτατον
ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἕψειν, ἀποδείξεις καὶ τοῦτο
πικρότατον· ὃ γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὅσα μὴ φύσει
θερμά, παρὰ τῆς ἑψήσεως ἐγγίγνεται, τοῦτ' ἐκ
φύσεως ὑπάρχει τῷ μέλιτι. διὰ τοῦτ' οὖν ἑψόμενον
οὐ γίγνεται γλυκύτερον· ὅσον γὰρ ἐχρῆν
εἶναι θερμότητος εἰς γένεσιν γλυκύτητος, ἀκριβῶς
αὐτῷ τοῦτο πᾶν οἴκοθεν ὑπάρχει. ὃ τοίνυν
Pg 192
Translation
Transliteration
ἔξωθεν τοῖς ἐλλιπῶς θερμοῖς ἦν ὠφέλιμον, τοῦτ'
ἐκείνῳ βλάβη τε καὶ ἀμετρία γίγνεται καὶ διὰ
τοῦτο θᾶττον τῶν ἄλλων ἑψόμενον ἀποδείκνυται
πικρόν. δι' αὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς θερμοῖς
φύσει καὶ τοῖς ἀκμάζουσιν εἰς χολὴν ἑτοίμως
μεταβάλλεται. θερμῷ γὰρ θερμὸν πλησιάζον
εἰς ἀμετρίαν κράσεως ἑτοίμως ἐξίσταται καὶ
φθάνει χολὴ γιγνόμενον, οὐχ αἷμα. δεῖται τοίνυν
ψυχρᾶς μὲν κράσεως ἀνθρώπου, ψυχρᾶς δ'
ἡλικίας, ἵν' εἰς αἵματος ἄγηται φύσιν. οὔκουν
ἄπο τρόπου συνεβούλευσεν Ἱπποκράτης τοῖς
φύσει πικροχόλοις μὴ προσφέρειν τὸ μέλι, ὡς
ἂν θερμοτέρας || 124 δηλονότι κράσεως ὑπάρχουσιν.
οὕτω δὲ καὶ τοῖς νοσήμασι τοῖς πικροχόλοις
πολέμιον εἶναι τὸ μέλι καὶ τῇ τῶν γερόντων
ἡλικίᾳ φίλιον οὐχ Ἱπποκράτης μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ
πάντες ἰατροὶ λέγουσιν, οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῆς φύσεως
αὐτοῦ τὴν δύναμιν ἐνδειξαμένης εὑρόντες, οἱ δ'
ἐκ τῆς πείρας μόνης. οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀπὸ
τῆς ἐμπειρίας ἰατροῖς ἕτερόν τι παρὰ ταῦτα
τετήρηται γιγνόμενον, ἀλλὰ χρηστὸν μὲν γέροντι,
νέῳ δ' οὐ χρηστόν, καὶ τῷ μὲν φύσει πικροχόλῳ
βλαβερόν, ὠφέλιμον δὲ τῷ φλεγματώδει· καὶ
τῶν νοσημάτων ὡσαύτως τοῖς μὲν πικροχόλοις
ἐχθρόν, τοῖς δὲ φλεγματώδεσι φίλιον· ἑνὶ δὲ
λόγῳ τοῖς μὲν θερμοῖς σώμασιν ἢ διὰ φύσιν ἢ διὰ
νόσον ἢ δι' ἡλικίαν ἢ δι' ὥραν ἢ διὰ χώραν ἢ
δι' ἐπιτήδευμα χολῆς γεννητικόν, αἵματος δὲ τοῖς
ἐναντίοις.
Καὶ μὴν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ταὐτὸν ἔδεσμα τοῖς μὲν
χολὴν γεννᾶν, τοῖς δ' αἷμα μὴ οὐκ ἐν τῷ σώματι
Pg 194
Translation
Transliteration
τῆς γενέσεως αὐτῶν ἐπιτελουμένης. εἰ γὰρ δὴ
οἴκοθέν γε καὶ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων
ἕκαστον ἔχον καὶ οὐκ ἐν τοῖς τῶν ζῴων σώμασι || 125
μεταβαλλόμενον ἐγέννα τὴν χολήν, ἐν ἅπασιν
ἂν ὁμοίως αὐτὴν τοῖς σώμασιν ἐγέννα καὶ τὸ
μὲν πικρὸν ἔξω γευομένοις ἦν ἂν οἶμαι χολῆς
ποιητικόν, εἰ δέ τι γλυκὺ καὶ χρηστόν, οὐκ ἂν
οὐδὲ τὸ βραχύτατον ἐξ αὐτοῦ χολῆς ἐγεννᾶτο. καὶ
μὴν οὐ τὸ μέλι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστον
τῶν γλυκέων τοῖς προειρημένοις σώμασι τοῖς δι'
ὁτιοῦν τῶν εἰρημένων θερμοῖς οὖσιν εἰς χολὴν
ἑτοίμως ἐξίσταται.
Καίτοι ταῦτ' οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἐξηνέχθην εἰπεῖν οὐ προελόμενος ἀλλ' ὑπ' αὐτῆς τοῦ λόγου τῆς ἀκολουθίας ἀναγκασθείς. εἴρηται δ' ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν Ἀριστοτέλει τε καὶ Πραξαγόρᾳ τὴν Ἱπποκράτους καὶ Πλάτωνος γνώμην ὀρθῶς ἐξηγησαμένοις.
Μὴ τοίνυν ὡς ἀποδείξεις ὑφ' ἡμῶν εἰρῆσθαι
νομίζειν τὰ τοιαῦτα μᾶλλον ἢ περὶ τῆς τῶν
ἄλλως γιγνωσκόντων ἀναισθησίας ἐνδείξεις, οἳ
μηδὲ τὰ πρὸς ἁπάντων ὁμολογούμενα καὶ καθ'
ἑκάστην ἡμέραν φαινόμενα γιγνώσκουσιν· τὰς
δ' ἀποδείξεις αὐτῶν τὰς κατ' ἐπιστήμην ἐξ
ἐκείνων χρὴ λαμβάνειν τῶν ἀρχῶν, ὧν ἤδη
καὶ πρόσθεν || 126 εἴπομεν, ὡς τὸ δρᾶν καὶ πάσχειν
εἰς ἄλληλα τοῖς σώμασιν ὑπάρχει κατὰ τὸ
θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν καὶ ξηρὸν καὶ ὑγρόν. καὶ
Pg 196
Translation
Transliteration
εἴτε φλέβας εἴθ' ἧπαρ εἴτ' ἀρτηρίας εἴτε καρδίαν
εἴτε κοιλίαν εἴτ' ἄλλο τι μόριον ἐνεργεῖν τις
φήσειεν ἡντινοῦν ἐνέργειαν, ἀφύκτοις ἀνάγκαις
ἀναγκασθήσεται διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων ποιὰν
κρᾶσιν ὁμολογῆσαι τὴν ἐνέργειαν ὑπάρχειν αὐτῷ.
διὰ τί γὰρ ἡ γαστὴρ περιστέλλεται τοῖς σιτίοις,
διὰ τί δ' αἱ φλέβες αἷμα γεννῶσι, παρὰ τῶν
Ἐρασιστρατείων ἐδεόμην ἀκοῦσαι. τὸ γὰρ ὅτι
περιστέλλεται μόνον αὐτὸ καθ' ἑαυτὸ γιγνώσκειν
οὐδέπω χρηστόν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν εἰδείημεν·
οὕτω γὰρ ἂν οἶμαι καὶ τὰ σφάλματα θεραπεύσαιμεν.
οὐ μέλει, φασίν, ἡμῖν οὐδὲ πολυπραγμονοῦμεν
ἔτι τὰς τοιαύτας αἰτίας· ὑπὲρ
ἰατρὸν γάρ εἰσι καὶ τῷ φυσικῷ προσήκουσι.
πότερον οὖν οὐδ' ἀντερεῖτε τῷ φάσκοντι τὴν μὲν
εὐκρασίαν τὴν κατὰ φύσιν αἰτίαν εἶναι τῆς ἐνεργείας
ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὀργάνων, τὴν δ' αὖ δυσκρασίαν
νόσον τ ἤδη καλεῖσθαι καὶ πάντως ὑπ' αὐ||127τῆς
βλάπτεσθαι τὴν ἐνέργειαν; ἢ πεισθήσεσθε ταῖς
τῶν παλαιῶν ἀποδείξεσιν; ἢ τρίτον τι καὶ μέσον
ἑκατέρου τούτων πράξετε μήθ' ὡς ἀληθέσι τοῖς
λόγοις ἐξ ἀνάγκης πειθόμενοι μήτ' ἀντιλέγοντες
ὡς ψευδέσιν, ἀλλ' ἀπορητικοί τινες ἐξαίφνης καὶ
Πυρρώνειοι γενήσεσθε; καὶ μὴν εἰ τοῦτο δράσετε,
τὴν ἐμπειρίαν ἀναγκαῖον ὑμῖν προστήσασθαι. τῷ
γὰρ ἂν ἔτι τρόπῳ καὶ τῶν ἰαμάτων εὐποροίητε
τὴν οὐσίαν ἑκάστου τῶν νοσημάτων ἀγνοοῦντες;
τί οὖν οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐμπειρικοὺς ὑμᾶς αὐτοὺς
ἐκαλέσατε; τί δὲ πράγμαθ' ἡμῖν παρέχετε φυσικὰς
Pg 198
Translation
Transliteration
ἐνεργείας ἐπαγγελλόμενοι ζητεῖν ἰάσεως
ἕνεκεν; εἰ γὰρ ἀδύνατος ἡ γαστήρ ἐστί τινι
περιστέλλεσθαι καὶ τρίβειν, πῶς αὐτὴν εἰς τὸ
κατὰ φύσιν ἐπανάξομεν ἀγνοοῦντες τὴν αἰτίαν
τῆς ἀδυναμίας; ἐγὼ μέν φημι τὴν μὲν ὑπερτεθερμασμένην
ἐμψυκτέον ἡμῖν εἶναι, τὴν δ' ἐψυγμένην
θερμαντέον· οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐξηρασμένην
ὑγραντέον, τὴν δ' ὑγρασμένην ξηραντέον. ἀλλὰ
καὶ || 128 κατὰ συζυγίαν, εἰ θερμοτέρα τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν
ἅμα καὶ ξηροτέρα τύχοι γεγενημένη, κεφάλαιον
εἶναι τῆς ἰάσεως ἐμψύχειν θ' ἅμα καὶ ὑγραίνειν·
εἰ δ' αὖ ψυχροτέρα τε καὶ ὑγροτέρα, θερμαίνειν
τε καὶ ξηραίνειν κἀπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὡσαύτως· οἱ δ'
ἀπ' Ἐρασιστράτου τί ποτε καὶ πράξουσιν οὐδ'
ὅλως ζητεῖν τῶν ἐνεργειῶν τὰς αἰτίας ὁμολογοῦντες;
ὁ γάρ τοι καρπὸς τῆς περὶ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν
ζητήσεως οὗτός ἐστι, τὸ τὰς αἰτίας τῶν δυσκρασιῶν
εἰδότα εἰς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἐπανάγειν αὐτάς,
ὡς αὐτό γε μόνον τὸ γνῶναι τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν
ὀργάνων ἐνέργειαν ἥτις ἐστὶν οὔπω χρηστὸν εἰς
τὰς ἰάσεις.
Ἐρασίστρατος δέ μοι δοκεῖ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτ'
ἀγνοεῖν, ὡς, ἥτις ἂν ἐν τῷ σώματι διάθεσις βλάπτῃ
τὴν ἐνέργειαν μὴ κατά τι συμβεβηκὸς ἀλλὰ
πρώτως τε καὶ καθ' ἑαυτήν, αὕτη τὸ νόσημά
ἐστιν αὐτό. πῶς οὖν ἔτι διαγνωστικός τε καὶ
ἰατικὸς ἔσται τῶν νοσημάτων ἀγνοῶν ὅλως αὐτὰ
τίνα τ' ἐστὶ καὶ πόσα καὶ ποῖα; κατὰ μὲν δὴ τὴν
γαστέρα τό γε τοσοῦτον Ἐρασίστρατος ἠξίωσε
Pg 200
Translation
Transliteration
ζητεῖσθαι τὸ πῶς πέττεται τὰ σιτία· || 129 τὸ δ' ἥτις
πρώτη τε καὶ ἀρχηγὸς αἰτία τούτου, πῶς οὐκ
ἐπεσκέψατο; κατὰ δὲ τὰς φλέβας καὶ τὸ αἷμα
καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ πῶς παρέλιπεν.
Ἀλλ' οὔθ' Ἱπποκράτης οὔτ' ἄλλος τις ὧν ὀλίγῳ πρόσθεν ἐμνημόνευσα φιλοσόφων ἢ ἰατρῶν ἄξιον ᾤετ' εἶναι παραλιπεῖν· ἀλλὰ τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ἐν ἑκάστῳ ζῴῳ θερμασίαν εὔκρατόν τε καὶ μετρίως ὑγρὰν οὖσαν αἵματος εἶναί φασι γεννητικὴν καὶ δι' αὐτό γε τοῦτο καὶ τὸ αἷμα θερμὸν καὶ ὑγρὸν εἶναί φασι τῇ δυνάμει χυμόν, ὥσπερ τὴν ξανθὴν χολὴν θερμὴν καὶ ξηρὰν εἶναι, εἰ καὶ ὅτι μάλισθ' ὑγρὰ φαίνεται. διαφέρειν γὰρ αὐτοῖς δοκεῖ τὸ κατὰ φαντασίαν ὑγρόν τοῦ κατὰ δύναμιν. ἢ τίς οὐκ οἶδεν, ὡς ἅλμη μὲν καὶ θάλαττα ταριχεύει τὰ κρέα καὶ ἄσηπτα διαφυλάττει, τὸ δ' ἄλλο πᾶν ὕδωρ τὸ πότιμον ἑτοίμως διαφθείρει τε καὶ σήπει; τίς δ' οὐκ οἶδεν, ὡς ξανθῆς χολῆς ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ περιεχομένης πολλῆς ἀπαύστῳ δίψει συνεχόμεθα καὶ ὡς ἐμέσαντες αὐτὴν εὐθὺς ἄδιψοι γιγνόμεθα μᾶλλον ἢ εἰ πάμπολυ ποτὸν προσηράμεθα; || 130 θερμὸς οὖν εὐλόγως ὁ χυμὸς οὗτος εἴρηται καὶ ξηρὸς κατὰ δύναμιν, ὥσπερ γε καὶ τὸ φλέγμα ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρόν. ἐναργεῖς γὰρ καὶ περὶ τούτου πίστεις Ἱπποκράτει τε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις εἴρηνται παλαιοῖς.
Πρόδικος δ' ἐν τῷ περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου
γράμματι τὸ συγκεκαυμένον καὶ οἷον ὑπερωπτημένον
ἐν τοῖς χυμοῖς ὀνομάζων φλέγμα παρὰ τὸ
πεφλέχθαι τῇ λέξει μὲν ἑτέρως χρῆται, φυλάττει
Pg 202
Translation
Transliteration
μέντοι τὸ πρᾶγμα κατὰ ταὐτὸ τοῖς ἄλλοις. τὴν
δ' ἐν τοῖς ὀνόμασι τἀνδρὸς τούτου καινοτομίαν
ἱκανῶς ἐνδείκνυται καὶ Πλάτων. ἀλλὰ τοῦτό
γε τὸ πρὸς ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων ὀνομαζόμενον
φλέγμα τὸ λευκὸν τὴν χρόαν, ὃ βλένναν ὀνομάζει
Πρόδικος, ὁ ψυχρὸς καὶ ὑγρὸς χυμός ἐστιν οὗτος
καὶ πλεῖστος τοῖς τε γέρουσι καὶ τοῖς ὁπωσδήποτε
ψυγεῖσιν ἀθροίζεται καὶ οὐδεὶς οὐδὲ μαινόμενος
ἂν ἄλλο τι ἢ ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρὸν εἴποι ἂν
αὐτόν.
Ἆρ' οὖν θερμὸς μέν τίς ἐστι καὶ ὑγρὸς χυμὸς καὶ θερμὸς καὶ ξηρὸς ἕτερος καὶ ὑγρὸς καὶ ψυχρὸς ἄλλος, οὐδεὶς δ' ἐστὶ ψυχρὸς καὶ ξηρὸς τὴν δύναμιν, ἀλλ' ἡ τετάρτη συζυγία τῶν κράσεων || 131 ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑπάρχουσα μόνοις τοῖς χυμοῖς οὐχ ὑπάρχει; καὶ μὴν ἥ γε μέλαινα χολὴ τοιοῦτός ἐστι χυμός, ὃν οἱ σωφρονοῦντες ἰατροὶ καὶ φιλόσοφοι πλεονεκτεῖν ἔφασαν τῶν μὲν ὡρῶν τοῦ ἔτους ἐν φθινοπώρῳ μάλιστα, τῶν δ' ἡλικιῶν ἐν ταῖς μετὰ τὴν ἀκμήν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ διαιτήματα καὶ χωρία καὶ καταστάσεις καὶ νόσους τινὰς ψυχρὰς καὶ ξηρὰς εἶναί φασιν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ χωλὴν ἐν ταύτῃ μόνῃ τῇ συζυγίᾳ τὴν φύσιν εἶναι νομίζουσιν ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τὰς ἄλλας τρεῖς οὕτω καὶ τήνδε διὰ πάντων ἐκτετάσθαι.
Ηὐξάμην οὖν κἀνταῦθ' ἐρωτῆσαι δύνασθαι τὸν
Ἐρασίστρατον, εἰ μηδὲν ὄργανον ἡ τεχνικὴ φύσις
ἐδημιούργησε καθαρτικὸν τοῦ τοιούτου χυμοῦ,
ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν οὔρων ἄρα τῆς διακρίσεώς ἐστιν
ὄργανα δύο καὶ τῆς ξανθῆς χολῆς ἕτερον οὐ
Pg 204
Translation
Transliteration
σμικρόν, ὁ δὲ τούτων κακοηθέστερος χυμὸς
ἀλᾶται διὰ παντὸς ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶν ἀναμεμιγμένος
τῷ αἵματι. καίτοι “Δυσεντερίη,” φησί
που Ἱπποκράτης, “ἢν ἀπὸ χολῆς μελαίνης ἄρξηται,
θανάσιμον,” οὐ μὴν ἥ γ' ἀπὸ τῆς ξαν||132θῆς
χολῆς ἀρχομένη πάντως ὀλέθριος, ἀλλ' οἱ πλείους
ἐξ αὐτῆς διασῴζονται. τοσούτῳ κακοηθεστέρα
τε καὶ δριμυτέρα τὴν δύναμιν ἡ μέλαινα χολὴ
τῆς ξανθῆς ἐστιν. ἆρ' οὖν οὔτε τῶν ἄλλων
ἀνέγνω τι τῶν τοῦ Ἱπποκράτους γραμμάτων ὁ
Ἐρασίστρατος οὐδὲν οὔτε τὸ περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου
βιβλίον, ἵν' οὕτως ἀργῶς παρέλθοι τὴν περὶ
τῶν χυμῶν ἐπίσκεψιν, ἢ γιγνώσκει μέν, ἑκὼν
δὲ παραλείπει καλλίστην τῆς τέχνης θεωρίαν;
ἐχρῆν οὖν αὐτὸν μηδὲ περὶ τοῦ σπληνὸς εἰρηκέναι
τι μηδ' ἀσχημονεῖν ὑπὸ τῆς τεχνικῆς φύσεως
ὄργανον τηλικοῦτον μάτην ἡγούμενον κατεσκευάσθαι.
καὶ μὴν οὐχ Ἱπποκράτης μόνον
ἢ Πλάτων, οὐδέν τι χείρους Ἐρασιστράτου περὶ
φύσιν ἄνδρες, ἕν τι τῶν καθαιρόντων τὸ αἷμα
καὶ τοῦτ' εἶναί φασι τὸ σπλάγχνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ
μυρίοι σὺν αὐτοῖς ἄλλοι τῶν παλαιῶν ἰατρῶν
τε καὶ φιλοσόφων, ὧν ἁπάντων προσποιησάμενος
ὑπερφρονεῖν ὁ γενναῖος Ἐρασίστρατος οὔτ' ἀντεῖπεν
οὔθ' ὅλως τῆς δόξης αὐτῶν ἐμνημόνευσε.
καὶ μὴν ὅσοις γε τὸ σῶμα θάλλει, τούτοις ὁ
σπλὴν φθίνει, φησὶν Ἱπποκράτης, καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ
τῆς || 133 ἐμπειρίας ὁρμώμενοι πάντες ὁμολογοῦσιν
ἰατροί. καὶ ὅσοις γ' αὖ μέγας καὶ ὕπουλος
Pg 206
Translation
Transliteration
αὐξάνεται, τούτοις καταφθείρει τε καὶ κακόχυμα
τὰ σώματα τίθησιν, ὡς καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν οὐχ
Ἱπποκράτης μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ Πλάτων ἄλλοι τε
πολλοὶ καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐμπειρίας ὁμολογοῦσιν
ἰατροί. καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ σπληνὸς δὲ κακοπραγοῦντος
ἴκτεροι μελάντεροι καὶ τῶν ἑλκῶν αἱ οὐλαὶ
μέλαιναι. καθόλου γάρ, ὅταν ἐνδεέστερον ἢ
προσῆκεν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἕλκῃ τὸν μελαγχολικὸν
χυμόν, ἀκάθαρτον μὲν τὸ αἷμα, κακόχρουν δὲ
τὸ πᾶν γίγνεται σῶμα. πότε δ' ἐνδεέστερον
ἕλκει; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι κακῶς διακείμενος; ὥσπερ
οὖν τοῖς νεφροῖς ἐνεργείας οὔσης ἕλκειν τὰ
οὖρα κακῶς ἕλκειν ὑπάρχει κακοπραγοῦσιν,
οὕτω καὶ τῷ σπληνὶ ποιότητος μελαγχολικῆς
ἑλκτικὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ δύναμιν ἔχοντι σύμφυτον
ἀρρωστήσαντί ποτε ταύτην ἀναγκαῖον ἕλκειν
κακῶς κἀν τῷδε παχύτερον ἤδη καὶ μελάντερον
γίγνεσθαι τὸ αἷμα.
Ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα πρός τε τὰς διαγνώσεις
τῶν νοσημάτων καὶ τὰς ἰάσεις μεγίστην παρεχόμενα
χρείαν || 134 ὑπερεπήδησε τελέως ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος
καὶ καταφρονεῖν προσεποιήσατο τηλικούτων
ἀνδρῶν ὁ μηδὲ τῶν τυχόντων καταφρονῶν
ἀλλ' ἀεὶ φιλοτίμως ἀντιλέγων ταῖς ἠλιθιωτάταις
δόξαις. ᾧ καὶ δῆλον, ὡς οὐδὲν ἔχων οὔτ'
ἀντειπεῖν τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις ὑπὲρ ὧν ἀπεφήναντο
περὶ σπληνὸς ἐνεργείας τε καὶ χρείας οὔτ' αὐτὸς
ἐξευρίσκων τι καινὸν εἰς τὸ μηδὲν ὅλως εἰπεῖν
ἀφίκετο. ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς γε πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ τῶν
αἰτίων, οἷς ἅπαντα διοικεῖται τὰ κατὰ τὰς
Pg 208
Translation
Transliteration
φύσεις, τοῦ θερμοῦ λέγω καὶ ψυχροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ
καὶ ὑγροῦ, δεύτερον δ' ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐναργῶς
φαινομένων κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ψυχρὸν καὶ ξηρὸν
εἶναί τινα χρῆναι χυμὸν ἀπεδείξαμεν. ἑξῆς δ',
ὅτι καὶ μελαγχολικὸς οὗτος ὑπάρχει καὶ τὸ
καθαῖρον αὐτὸν σπλάγχνον ὁ σπλήν ἐστιν, διὰ
βραχέων ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα τῶν τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἀποδεδειγμένων
ἀναμνήσαντες ἐπὶ τὸ λεῖπον ἔτι τοῖς
παροῦσι λόγοις ἀφιξόμεθα.
Τί δ' ἂν εἴη λεῖπον ἄλλο γ' ἢ ἐξηγήσασθαι
σαφῶς, οἷόν τι βούλονταί τε || 135 καὶ ἀποδεικνύουσι
περὶ τὴν τῶν χυμῶν γένεσιν οἱ παλαιοὶ συμβαίνειν.
ἐναργέστερον δ' ἂν γνωσθείη διὰ παραδείγματος.
οἶνον δή μοι νόει γλεύκινον οὐ πρὸ
πολλοῦ τῶν σταφυλῶν ἐκτεθλιμμένον ζέοντά τε
καὶ ἀλλοιούμενον ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ θερμασίας·
ἔπειτα κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ μεταβολὴν δύο γεννώμενα
περιττώματα τὸ μὲν κουφότερόν τε καὶ ἀερωδέστερον,
τὸ δὲ βαρύτερόν τε καὶ γεωδέστερον,
ὧν τὸ μὲν ἄνθος, οἶμαι, τὸ δὲ τρύγα καλοῦσι.
τούτων τῷ μὲν ἑτέρῳ τὴν ξανθὴν χολήν, τῷ δ'
ἑτέρῳ τὴν μέλαιναν εἰκάζων οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις, οὐ
τὴν αὐτὴν ἐχόντων ἰδέαν τῶν χυμῶν τούτων ἐν
τῷ κατὰ φύσιν διοικεῖσθαι τὸ ζῷον, οἵαν καὶ
παρὰ φύσιν ἔχοντος ἐπιφαίνονται πολλάκις.
ἡ μὲν γὰρ ξανθὴ λεκιθώδης γίγνεται· καὶ γὰρ
ὀνομάζουσιν οὕτως αὐτήν, ὅτι ταῖς τῶν ὠῶν
λεκίθοις ὁμοιοῦται κατά τε χρόαν καὶ πάχος.
ἡ δ' αὖ μέλαινα κακοηθέστερα μὲν πολὺ καὶ
Pg 210
Translation
Transliteration
αὕτη τῆς κατὰ φύσιν· ὄνομα δ' οὐδὲν ἴδιον κεῖται
τῷ τοιούτῳ χυμῷ, πλὴν εἴ πού τινες ἢ ξυστικὸν
ἢ ὀξώδη κεκλήκασιν αὐτόν, ὅτι καὶ δριμὺς ὁμοίως
ὄξει γίγνεται καὶ || 136 ξύει γε τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ζῴου
καὶ τὴν γῆν, εἰ κατ' αὐτῆς ἐκχυθείη, καί τινα
μετὰ πομφολύγων οἷον ζύμωσίν τε καὶ ζέσιν
ἐργάζεται, σηπεδόνος ἐπικτήτου προσελθούσης
ἐκείνῳ τῷ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχοντι χυμῷ τῷ μέλανι.
καί μοι δοκοῦσιν οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν παλαιῶν
ἰατρῶν αὐτὸ μὲν τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχον τοῦ τοιούτου
χυμοῦ καὶ διαχωροῦν κάτω καὶ πολλάκις ἐπιπολάζον
ἄνω μέλανα καλεῖν χυμόν, οὐ μέλαιναν
χολήν, τὸ δ' ἐκ συγκαύσεώς τινος καὶ σηπεδόνος
εἰς τὴν ὀξεῖαν μεθιστάμενον ποιότητα μέλαιναν
ὀνομάζειν χολήν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν ὀνομάτων
οὐ χρὴ διαφέρεσθαι, τὸ δ' ἀληθὲς ὧδ' ἔχον
εἰδέναι.
Κατὰ τὴν τοῦ αἵματος γένεσιν ὅσον ἂν ἱκανῶς
παχὺ καὶ γεῶδες ἐκ τῆς τῶν σιτίων φύσεως
ἐμφερόμενον τῇ τροφῇ μὴ δέξηται καλῶς τὴν
ἐκ τῆς ἐμφύτου θερμασίας ἀλλοίωσιν, ὁ σπλὴν
εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἕλκει τοῦτο. τὸ δ' ὀπτηθέν, ὡς ἄν
τις εἴποι, καὶ συγκαυθὲν τῆς τροφῆς, εἴη δ' ἂν
τοῦτο τὸ θερμότατον ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ γλυκύτατον,
οἷον τό τε μέλι καὶ ἡ πιμελή, ξανθὴ γενόμενον
χολὴ διὰ τῶν χοληδόχων ὀνομαζομένων ἀγγείων
ἐκκαθαίρεται. || 137 λεπτὸν δ' ἐστὶ τοῦτο καὶ ὑγρὸν
καὶ ῥυτὸν οὐχ ὥσπερ ὅταν ὀπτηθὲν ἐσχάτως
ξανθὸν καὶ πυρῶδες καὶ παχὺ γένηται ταῖς τῶν
Pg 212
Translation
Transliteration
ὠῶν ὅμοιον λεκίθοις. τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ἤδη παρὰ
φύσιν· θάτερον δὲ τὸ πρότερον εἰρημένον κατὰ
φύσιν ἐστίν· ὥσπερ γε καὶ τοῦ μέλανος χυμοῦ
τὸ μὲν μήπω τὴν οἷον ζέσιν τε καὶ ζύμωσιν τῆς
γῆς ἐργαζόμενον κατὰ φύσιν ἐστί, τὸ δ' εἰς
τοιαύτην μεθιστάμενον ἰδέαν τε καὶ δύναμιν ἤδη
παρὰ φύσιν, ὡς ἂν τὴν ἐκ τῆς συγκαύσεως τοῦ
παρὰ φύσιν θερμοῦ προσειληφὸς δριμύτητα καὶ
οἷον τέφρα τις ἤδη γεγονός. ὧδέ πως καὶ ἡ
κεκαυμένη τρὺξ τῆς ἀκαύστου διήνεγκε. θερμὸν
γάρ τι χρῆμα αὕτη γ' ἱκανῶς ἐστιν, ὥστε καίειν
τε καὶ τήκειν καὶ διαφθείρειν τὴν σάρκα. τῇ δ'
ἑτέρᾳ τῇ μήπω κεκαυμένῃ τοὺς ἰατροὺς ἔστιν
εὑρεῖν χρωμένους εἰς ὅσαπερ καὶ τῇ γῇ τῇ καλουμένῃ
κεραμίτιδι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὅσα ξηραίνειν θ'
ἅμα καὶ ψύχειν πέφυκεν.
Εἰς τὴν τῆς οὕτω συγκαυθείσης μελαίνης
χολῆς ἰδέαν καὶ ἡ λεκιθώδης ἐκείνη μεθίσταται
πολλάκις, ὅταν καὶ αὐτή ποθ' οἷον ὀπτηθεῖσα
τύχῃ πυρώδει θερμασίᾳ. τὰ δ' ἄλλα || 138 τῶν χολῶν
εἴδη σύμπαντα τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῆς τῶν εἰρημένων
κράσεως γίγνεται, τὰ δ' οἷον ὁδοί τινές εἰσι τῆς
τούτων γενέσεώς τε καὶ εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβολῆς.
διαφέρουσι δὲ τῷ τὰς μὲν ἀκράτους εἶναι καὶ
μόνας, τὰ δ' οἷον ὀρροῖς τισιν ἐξυγρασμένας. ἀλλ'
οἱ μὲν ὀρροὶ τῶν χυμῶν ἅπαντες περιττώματα
καὶ καθαρὸν αὐτῶν εἶναι δεῖται τοῦ ζῴου τὸ σῶμα.
τῶν δ' εἰρημένων χυμῶν ἐστί τις χρεία τῇ φύσει
καὶ τοῦ παχέος καὶ τοῦ λεπτοῦ καὶ καθαίρεται
πρός τε τοῦ σπληνὸς καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ ἥπατι
κύστεως τὸ αἷμα καὶ ἀποτίθεται τοσοῦτόν τε καὶ
τοιοῦτον ἑκατέρου μέρος, ὅσον καὶ οἷον, εἴπερ εἰς
Pg 214
Translation
Transliteration
ὅλον ἠνέχθη τοῦ ζῴου τὸ σῶμα, βλάβην ἄν τιν'
εἰργάσατο. τὸ γὰρ ἱκανῶς παχὺ καὶ γεῶδες καὶ
τελέως διαπεφευγὸς τὴν ἐν τῷ ἥπατι μεταβολὴν
ὁ σπλὴν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἕλκει· τὸ δ' ἄλλο τὸ μετρίως
παχὺ σὺν τῷ κατειργάσθαι πάντη φέρεται. δεῖται
γὰρ ἐν πολλοῖς τοῦ ζῴου μορίοις παχύτητός τινος
τὸ αἷμα καθάπερ οἶμαι καὶ τῶν || 139
ἐμφερομένων ἰνῶν. καὶ εἴρηται μὲν καὶ Πλάτωνι περὶ τῆς
χρείας αὐτῶν, εἰρήσεται δὲ καὶ ἡμῖν ἐν ἐκείνοις
τοῖς γράμμασιν, ἐν οἷς ἂν τὰς χρείας τῶν μορίων
διερχώμεθα· δεῖται δ' οὐχ ἥκιστα καὶ τοῦ ξανθοῦ
χυμοῦ τοῦ μήπω πυρώδους ἐσχάτως γεγενημένου
τὸ αἷμα καὶ τίς αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ παρὰ τοῦδε χρεία,
δι' ἐκείνων εἰρήσεται.
Φλέγματος δ' οὐδὲν ἐποίησεν ἡ φύσις ὄργανον
καθαρτικόν, ὅτι ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρόν ἐστι καὶ οἷον
ἡμίπεπτός τις τροφή. δεῖται τοίνυν οὐ κενοῦσθαι
τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ σώματι μένον ἀλλοιοῦσθαι.
τὸ δ' ἐξ ἐγκεφάλου καταρρέον περίττωμα τάχα
μὲν ἂν οὐδὲ φλέγμα τις ὀρθῶς ἀλλὰ βλένναν τε
καὶ κόρυζαν, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ὀνομάζεται, καλοίη.
εἰ δὲ μή, ἀλλ' ὅτι γε τῆς τούτου κενώσεως ὀρθῶς
ἡ φύσις προὐνοήσατο, καὶ τοῦτ' ἐν τοῖς περὶ
χρείας μορίων εἰρήσεται. καὶ γὰρ οὖν καὶ τὸ
κατά τε τὴν γαστέρα καὶ τὰ ἔντερα συνιστάμενον
φλέγμα ὅπως ἂν ἐκκενωθῇ καὶ αὐτὸ τάχιστά τε
καὶ κάλλιστα, τὸ παρεσκευασμένον τῇ φύσει
μηχάνημα δι' ἐκείνων εἰρήσεται καὶ αὐτὸ τῶν
Pg 216
Translation
Transliteration
ὑπομνη||140μάτων. ὅσον οὖν ἐμφέρεται ταῖς φλεψὶ
φλέγμα χρήσιμον ὑπάρχον τοῖς ζῴοις, οὐδεμιᾶς
δεῖται κενώσεως. προσέχειν δὲ χρὴ κἀνταῦθα
τὸν νοῦν καὶ γιγνώσκειν, ὥσπερ τῶν χολῶν
ἑκατέρας τὸ μέν τι χρήσιμόν ἐστι καὶ κατὰ φύσιν
τοῖς ζῴοις, τὸ δ' ἄχρηστόν τε καὶ παρὰ φύσιν,
οὕτω καὶ τοῦ φλέγματος, ὅσον μὲν ἂν ᾖ γλυκύ,
χρηστὸν εἶναι τοῦτο τῷ ζῴῳ καὶ κατὰ φύσιν, ὅσον
δ' ὀξὺ καὶ ἁλμυρὸν ἐγένετο, τὸ μὲν ὀξὺ τελέως
ἠπεπτῆσθαι, τὸ δ' ἁλμυρὸν διασεσῆφθαι. τελείαν
δ' ἀπεψίαν φλέγματος ἀκούειν χρὴ τὴν τῆς
δευτέρας πέψεως δηλονότι τῆς ἐν φλεψίν· οὐ
γὰρ δὴ τῆς γε πρώτης τῆς κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν·
ἢ οὐδ' ἂν ἐγεγένητο τὴν ἀρχὴν χυμός, εἰ καὶ
ταύτην διεπεφεύγει.
Ταῦτ' ἀρκεῖν μοι δοκεῖ περὶ γενέσεώς τε καὶ
διαφθορᾶς χυμῶν ὑπομνήματ' εἶναι τῶν Ἱπποκράτει
τε καὶ Πλάτωνι καὶ Ἀριστοτέλει καὶ
Πραξαγόρᾳ καὶ Διοκλεῖ καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις τῶν
παλαιῶν εἰρημένων· οὐ γὰρ ἐδικαίωσα πάντα
μεταφέρειν εἰς τόνδε τὸν λόγον τὰ τελέως ἐκείνοις
γεγραμμένα. τοσοῦτον δὲ μόνον ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου
εἶπον, ὅσον ἐξορμήσει τε τοὺς
|| 141 ἐντυγχάνοντας,
εἰ μὴ παντάπασιν εἶεν σκαιοί, τοῖς τῶν παλαιῶν
ὁμιλῆσαι γράμμασι καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ ῥᾷον αὐτοῖς
συνεῖναι βοήθειαν παρέξει. γέγραπται δέ που
καὶ δι' ἑτέρου λόγου περὶ τῶν κατὰ Πραξαγόραν
τὸν Νικάρχου χυμῶν. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα
Pg 218
Translation
Transliteration
δέκα ποιεῖ χωρὶς τοῦ αἵματος, ἑνδέκατος γὰρ ἂν
εἴη χυμὸς αὐτὸ τὸ αἷμα, τῆς Ἱπποκράτους οὐκ
ἀποχωρεῖ διδασκαλίας. ἀλλ' εἰς εἴδη τινὰ καὶ
διαφορὰς τέμνει τοὺς ὑπ' ἐκείνου πρώτου πάντων
ἅμα ταῖς οἰκείαις ἀποδείξεσιν εἰρημένους χυμούς.
Ἐπαινεῖν μὲν οὖν χρὴ τούς τ' ἐξηγησαμένους τὰ καλῶς εἰρημένα καὶ τοὺς εἴ τι παραλέλειπται προστιθέντας· οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε τὸν αὐτὸν ἄρξασθαί τε καὶ τελειῶσαι· μέμφεσθαι δὲ τοὺς οὕτως ἀταλαιπώρους, ὡς μηδὲν ὑπομένειν μαθεῖν τῶν ὀρθῶς εἰρημένων, καὶ τοὺς εἰς τοσοῦτον φιλοτίμους, ὥστ' ἐπιθυμίᾳ νεωτέρων δογμάτων ἀεὶ πανουργεῖν τι καὶ σοφίζεσθαι, τὰ μὲν ἑκόντας παραλιπόντας, ὥσπερ Ἐρασίστρατος ἐπὶ τῶν χυμῶν ἐποίησε, τὰ δὲ πα||142νούργως ἀντιλέγοντας, ὥσπερ αὐτός θ' οὗτος καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ τῶν νεωτέρων.
Ἀλλ' οὗτος μὲν ὁ λόγος ἐνταυθοῖ τελευτάτω, τὸ δ' ὑπόλοιπον ἅπαν ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ προσθήσω.
Pg 222
Translation
Transliteration
143 Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἡ θρέψις ἀλλοιουμένου τε καὶ
ὁμοιουμένου γίγνεται τοῦ τρέφοντος τῷ τρεφομένῳ
καὶ ὡς ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν τοῦ ζῴου μορίων ἐστί τις
δύναμις, ἣν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας ἀλλοιωτικὴν μὲν κατὰ
γένος, ὁμοιωτικὴν δὲ καὶ θρεπτικὴν κατ' εἶδος
ὀνομάζομεν, ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν δεδήλωται λόγῳ. τὴν δ'
εὐπορίαν τῆς ὕλης, ἣν τροφὴν ἑαυτῷ ποιεῖται τὸ
τρεφόμενον, ἐξ ἑτέρας τινὸς ἔχειν ἐδείκνυτο
δυνάμεως ἐπισπᾶσθαι πεφυκυίας τὸν οἰκεῖον χυμόν,
εἶναι δ' οἰκεῖον ἑκάστῳ τῶν μορίων χυμόν, ὃς ἂν
|| 144 ἐπιτήδειος εἰς τὴν ἐξομοίωσιν ᾖ, καὶ τὴν
ἕλκουσαν αὐτὸν δύναμιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας ἑλκτικήν
τέ τινα καὶ ἐπισπαστικὴν ὀνομάζεσθαι. δέδεικται δὲ
καί, ὡς πρὸ μὲν τῆς ὁμοιώσεώς ἡ πρόσφυσίς ἐστιν,
ἐκείνης δ' ἔμπροσθεν ἡ πρόσθεσις γίγνεται, τέλος,
ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, οὖσα τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἐπισπαστικὴν
δύναμιν ἐνεργείας. αὐτὸ μὲν γὰρ τὸ παράγεσθαι τὴν
τροφὴν ἐκ τῶν φλεβῶν εἰς ἕκαστον τῶν μορίων τῆς
ἑλκτικῆς ἐνεργούσης γίγνεται δυνάμεως,
Pg 224
Translation
Transliteration
τὸ δ' ἤδη παρῆχθαί τε καὶ προστίθεσθαι τῷ μορίῳ τὸ
τέλος ἐστὶν αὐτὸ, δι' ὃ καὶ τῆς τοιαύτης ἐνεργείας
ἐδεήθημεν· ἵνα γὰρ προστεθῇ, διὰ τοῦθ' ἕλκεται.
χρόνου δ' ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη πλείονος εἰς τὴν θρέψιν τοῦ
ζῴου δεῖ· ἑλχθῆναι μὲν γὰρ καὶ διὰ ταχέων τι
δύναται, προσφῦναι δὲ καὶ ἀλλοιωθῆναι καὶ τελέως
ὁμοιωθῆναι τῷ τρεφομένῳ καὶ μέρος αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι
παραχρῆμα μὲν οὐχ οἷόν τε, χρόνῳ δ' ἂν πλείονι
συμβαίνοι καλῶς. ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ μένοι κατὰ τὸ μέρος ὁ
προστεθεὶς οὗτος χυμός, εἰς ἕτερον δέ τι
μεθίσταιτο καὶ παραρρέοι διὰ παντὸς ἀμείβων τε καὶ
ὑπαλλάττων τὰ χωρία, κατ' οὐδὲν αὐτῶν || 145 οὔτε
πρόσφυσις οὔτ' ἐξομοίωσίς ἔσται. δεῖ δὲ κἀνταῦθά
τινος τῇ φύσει δυνάμεως ἑτέρας εἰς πολυχρόνιον
μονὴν τοῦ προστεθέντος τῷ μορίῳ χυμοῦ καὶ ταύτης
οὐκ ἔξωθέν ποθεν ἐπιρρεούσης ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ
θρεψομένῳ κατῳκισμένης, ἣν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας
πάλιν οἱ πρὸ ἡμῶν ἠναγκάσθησαν ὀνομάσαι
καθεκτικήν.
Ὁ μὲν δὴ λόγος ἤδη σαφῶς ἐνεδείξατο τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς γενέσεως τῆς τοιαύτης δυνάμεως καὶ ὅστις ἀκολουθίας σύνεσιν ἔχει, πέπεισται βεβαίως ἐξ ὧν εἴπομεν, ὡς ὑποκειμένου τε καὶ προαποδεδειγμένου τοῦ τεχνικὴν εἶναι τὴν φύσιν καὶ τοῦ ζῴου κηδεμονικὴν ἀναγκαῖον ὑπάρχειν αὐτῇ καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην δύναμιν.
Pg 226
Translation
Transliteration
Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οὐ τούτῳ μόνῳ τῷ γένει τῆς ἀποδείξεως εἰθισμένοι χρῆσθαι, προστιθέντες δ' αὐτῷ καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἐναργῶς φαινομένων ἀναγκαζούσας τε καὶ βιαζομένας πίστεις ἐπὶ τὰς τοιαύτας καὶ νῦν ἀφιξόμεθα καὶ δείξομεν ἐπὶ μέν τινων μορίων τοῦ σώματος οὕτως ἐναργῆ τὴν καθεκτικὴν δύναμιν, ὡς αὐταῖς ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι || 146 διαγιγνώσκεσθαι τὴν ἐνέργειαν αὐτῆς, ἐπὶ δέ τινων ἧττον μὲν ἐναργῶς ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι, λόγῳ δὲ κἀνταῦθα φωραθῆναι δυναμένην.
Ἀρξώμεθ' οὖν τῆς διδασκαλίας ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ τέως πρῶτον μεθόδῳ τινὶ προχειρίσασθαι μόρι' ἄττα τοῦ σώματος, ἐφ' ὧν ἀκριβῶς ἐστι βασανίσαι τε καὶ ζητῆσαι τὴν καθεκτικὴν δύναμιν ὁποία ποτ' ἐστίν.
Ἆρ' οὖν ἄμεινον ἄν τις ἑτέρωθεν ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν μεγίστων τε καὶ κοιλοτάτων ὀργάνων ὑπάρξαιτο τῆς ζητήσεως; ἐμοί μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἂν δοκεῖ βέλτιον. ἐναργεῖς γοῦν εἰκὸς ἐπὶ τούτων φανῆναι τὰς ἐνεργείας διὰ τὸ μέγεθος· ὡς τὰ γε σμικρὰ τάχ' ἂν, εἰ καὶ σφοδρὰν ἔχει τὴν τοιαύτην δύναμιν, ἀλλ' οὐκ αἰσθήσει γ' ἑτοίμην διαγιγνώσκεσθαι τὴν ἐνέργειαν αὐτῆς.
Ἀλλ' ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα κοιλότατα καὶ μέγιστα
τῶν τοῦ ζῴου μορίων ἥ τε γαστὴρ καὶ <αἱ> μῆτραί
τε καὶ ὑστέραι καλούμεναι. τί οὖν κωλύει ταῦτα
πρῶτα προχειρισαμένους ἐπισκέψασθαι τὰς ἐνεργείας
αὐτῶν, ὅσαι μὲν καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἀνατομῆς
Pg 228
Translation
Transliteration
δῆλαι, τὴν ἐξέτασιν ἐφ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ποιουμένους,
ὅσαι δ' ἀμυδρότεραι, τὰ παραπλήσια διαιροῦντας
ἀνθρώπῳ ζῷα, || 147 οὐχ ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἱκανῶς τό γε
καθόλου περὶ τῆς ζητουμένης δυνάμεως καὶ τῶν
ἀνομοίων ἐνδειξομένων, ἀλλ' ὡς ἵν' ἅμα τῷ κοινῷ καὶ
τὸ ἴδιον ἐφ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἐγνωκότες εἴς τε τὰς
διαγνώσεις τῶν νοσημάτων καὶ τὰς ἰάσεις
εὐπορώτεροι γιγνώμεθα.
Περὶ μὲν οὖν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν ὀργάνων ἅμα λέγειν ἀδύνατον, ἐν μέρει δ' ὑπὲρ ἑκατέρου ποιησόμεθα τὸν λόγον ἀπὸ τοῦ σαφέστερον ἐνδείξασθαι δυναμένου τὴν καθεκτικὴν δύναμιν ἀρξάμενοι. κατέχει μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἡ γαστὴρ τὰ σιτία, μέχρι περ ἂν ἐκπέψῃ, κατέχουσι δὲ καὶ αἱ μῆτραι τὸ ἔμβρυον, ἔστ' ἂν τελειώσωσιν· ἀλλα πολλαπλάσιός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς τῶν ἐμβρύων τελειώσεως χρόνος τῆς τῶν σιτίων πέψεως.
Εἰκὸς οὖν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐναργέστερον ἐν ταῖς
μήτραις φωράσειν ἡμᾶς τὴν καθεκτικήν, ὅσῳ καὶ
πολυχρονιωτέραν τῆς γαστρὸς τὴν ἐνέργειαν
κέκτηται. μησὶ γὰρ ἐννέα που ταῖς πλείσταις τῶν
γυναικῶν ἐν αὐταῖς τελειοῦται τὰ κυήματα,
μεμυκυίαις μὲν ἅπαντι τῷ αὐχένι, περιεχούσαις δὲ
πανταχόθεν αὐτὰ σὺν τῷ χορίῳ. || 148 καὶ πέρας γε
τῆς τοῦ στόματος μύσεως καὶ τῆς τοῦ κυουμένου κατὰ
τὰς μήτρας μονῆς ἡ χρεία τῆς ἐνεργείας ἐστιν· οὐ
γὰρ ὡς ἔτυχεν οὐδ' ἀλόγως ἱκανὰς περιστέλλεσθαι
καὶ κατέχειν τὸ
Pg 230
Translation
Transliteration
ἔμβρυον ἡ φύσις
ἀπείργασατο τὰς ὑστέρας, ἀλλ' ἵν' εἰς τὸ πρέπον
ἀφίκηται μέγεθος τὸ κυούμενον. ὅταν οὖν, οὗ χάριν
ἐνήργουν τῇ καθεκτικῇ δυνάμει, συμπεπληρωμένον ᾖ,
ταύτην μὲν ἀνέπαυσάν τε καὶ εἰς ἠρεμίαν
ἐπανήγαγον, ἀντ' αὐτῆς δ' ἑτέρᾳ χρῶνται τῇ τέως
ἡσυχαζούσῃ, τῇ προωστικῇ. ἦν δ' ἄρα καὶ τῆς
ἐκείνης ἡσυχίας ὅρος ἡ χρεία καὶ τῆς γ' ἐνεργείας
ὡσαύτως ἡ χρεία· καλούσης μὲν γὰρ αὐτῆς ἐνεργεῖ,
μὴ καλούσης δ' ἡσυχάζει.
Καὶ χρὴ πάλιν κἀνταῦθα καταμαθεῖν τῆς φύσεως τὴν τέχνην, ὡς οὐ μόνον ένεργειῶν χρησίμων δυνάμεις ἐνέθηκεν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὀργάνων, ἀλλα καὶ τοῦ τῶν ἡσυχιῶν τε καὶ κινήσεων καὶροῦ προὐνοήσατο. καλῶς μὲν γὰρ ἁπάντων γιγνομένων τῶν κατὰ τὴν κύησιν ἡ ἀποκριτικὴ δύναμις ἡσυχάζει τελέως ὥσπερ οὐκ οὖσα, κακοπραγίας δὲ τινος γενομένης ἢ περὶ τὸ χορίον ἢ περί τινα τῶν ἄλλων || 149 ὑμένων ἢ περὶ τὸ κυούμενον αὐτὸ καὶ τῆς τελειώσεως αὐτοῦ παντάπασιν ἀπογνωσθέισης οὐκέτ' ἀναμένουσι τὸν ἐννεάμηνον αἱ μῆτραι χρόνον, ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν καθεκτικὴ δύναμις αὐτίκα δὴ πέπαυται καὶ παραχωρεῖ κινεῖσθαι τῇ πρότερον ἀργούσῃ, πράττει δ' ἤδη τι καὶ πραγματεύεται χρηστὸν ἡ ἀποκριτική τε καὶ προωστική· καὶ γὰρ οὖν καὶ ταύτην οὕτως ἐκάλεσαν ἀπὸ τῶν ένεργειῶν αὐτῇ τὰ ὀνόματα θέμενοι καθάπερ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις.
Καὶ πως ὁ λόγος ἔοικεν ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων ἀποδείξειν
ἅμα· καὶ γὰρ τοι καὶ διαδεχομένας αὐτὰς ἀλλήλας
καὶ παραχωροῦσαν ἀεὶ τὴν ἑτέραν τῇ λοιπῇ, καθότι
ἂν ἡ χρεία κελεύῃ, καὶ
Pg 232
Translation
Transliteration
τὴν διδασκαλίαν κοινὴν οὐκ ἀπεικός ἐστι δέχεσθαι. τῆς
μὲν οὖν καθεκτικῆς δυνάμεως ἔργον περιστεῖλαι τὰς
μήτρας τῷ κυουμένῳ πανταχόθεν, ὥστ' εὐλόγως
ἁπτομέναις μὲν ταῖς μαιευτρίαις τὸ στόμα μεμυκὸς
αὐτῶν φαίνεται, ταῖς κυούσαις δ' αὐταῖς κατὰ τὰς
πρώτας ἡμέρας καὶ μάλιστα κατ' αὐτὴν ἐκείνην, ἐν
ᾗπερ ἂν ἡ τῆς γονῆς σύλληψις γένηται, κινουμένων
τε καὶ συντρεχουσῶν εἰς ἑαυτὰς τῶν ὑστερῶν
αἴσθη||150σις γίγνεται καὶ ἦν ἄμφω ταῦτα συμβῇ,
μῦσαι μὲν τὸ στόμα χωρὶς φλεγμονῆς ἢ τινος ἄλλου
παθήματος, αἴσθησιν δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὰς μήτρας
κινήσεως ἀκολουθῆσαι, πρὸς αὑτὰς ἤδη τὸ σπέρμα τὸ
παρὰ τἀνδρὸς εἰληφέναι τε καὶ κατέχειν αἱ γυναῖκες
νομίζουσι.
Ταῦτα δ' οὐχ ἡμεῖς νῦν ἀναπλάττομεν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλ' ἐκ μακρᾶς πείρας δοκιμασθέντα πᾶσι γέγραπται σχεδὸν τι τοῖς περὶ τούτων πραγματευσαμένοις. Ἡρόφιλος μέν γε καὶ ὡς οὐδὲ πυρῆνα μήλης ἂν δέχοιτο τῶν μητρῶν τὸ στόμα, πρὶν ἀποκυεῖν τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ ὡς οὐδὲ τοὐλάχιστον ἔτι διέστηκεν, ἢν ὑπάρξηται κύειν, καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ πλέον ἀναστομοῦνται κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἐπιμηνίων φοράς, οὐκ ὤκνησε γράφειν· συνομολογοῦσι δ' αὐτῷ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες οἱ περὶ τούτων πραγματευσάμενοι καὶ πρῶτός γ' ἁπάντων ἰατρῶν τε καὶ φιλοσόφων Ἱπποκράτης ἀπεφήνατο μύειν τὸ στόμα τῶν ὑστερῶν ἔν τε ταῖς κυήσεσι καὶ ταῖς φλεγμοναῖς, ἀλλ' ἐν μὲν ταῖς κυήσεσιν οὐκ ἐξιστάμενον τῆς φύσεως, ἐν δὲ ταῖς φλεγμοναῖς σκληρὸν γιγνόμενον.
Pg 234
Translation
Transliteration
Ἐπὶ δέ γε τῆς ἐναντίας τῆς ἐκκριτικῆς ἀνοίγνυται μὲν τὸ στόμα, προέρχεται δ' ὁ πυθμὴν || 151 ἅπας ὅσον οἷον τ' ἐγγυτάτω τοῦ στόματος ἀπωθούμενος ἔξω τὸ ἔμβρυον, ἅμα δ' αὐτῷ καὶ τὰ συνεχῆ μέρη τὰ οἷον πλευρὰ τοῦ παντὸς ὀργάνου συνεπιλαμβανόμενα τοῦ ἔργου θλίβει τε καὶ προωθεῖ πᾶν ἔξω τὸ ἔμβρυον. καὶ πολλαῖς τῶν γυναικῶν ὠδῖνες βίαιοι τὰς μήτρας ὅλας ἐκπεσεῖν ἠνάγκασαν ἀμέτρως χρησαμέναις τῇ τοιαύτῃ δυνάμει, παραπλησίου τινὸς γιγνομένου τῷ πολλάκις ἐν πάλαις τισὶ καὶ φιλονεικίαις συμβαίνοντι, ὅταν ἀνατρέψαι τε καὶ καταβαλεῖν ἑτέρους σπεύδοντες αὐτοὶ συγκαταπέσωμεν. οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αἱ μῆτραι τὸ ἔμβρυον ὠθοῦσαι συνεξέπεσον ἐνίοτε καὶ μάλισθ', ὅταν οἱ πρὸς τὴν ῥάχιν αὐτῶν σύνδεσμοι χαλαροὶ φύσει τυγχάνωσιν ὄντες.
Ἔστι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο θαυμαστὸν τι τῆς φύσεως σόφισμα,
τὸ ζῶντος μὲν τοῦ κυήματος ἀκριβῶς πάνυ μεμυκέναι
τὸ στόμα τῶν μητρῶν, ἀποθανόντος δὲ παραχρῆμα
διανοίγεσθαι τοσοῦτον, ὅσον εἰς τὴν ἔξοδον αὐτοῦ
διαφέρει. καὶ μέντοι καὶ αἱ μαῖαι τὰς τικτούσας
οὐκ εὐθὺς ἀνιστᾶσιν οὐδ' ἐπὶ τὸν δίφρον
καθίζουσιν, ἀλλ' ἅπτονται πρότερον ἀνοιγομένου τοῦ
στόματος || 152 κατὰ βραχὺ καὶ πρῶτον μέν, ὥστε
τὸν μικρὸν δάκτυλον καθιέναι, διεστηκέναι φασίν,
ἔπειτ' ἤδη καὶ μεῖζον καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ δὴ
πυνθανομένοις ἡμῖν ἀποκρίνονται τὸ μέγεθος τῆς
διαστάσεως ἐπαυξανόμενον. ὅταν δ' ἱκανὸν ᾖ πρὸς
τὴν τοῦ κυουμένου δίοδον, ἀνιστᾶσιν αὐτὰς καὶ
καθίζουσι
Pg 236
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ προθυμεῖσθαι
κελεύουσιν ἀπώσασθαι τὸ παιδίον. ἐστι δ' ἤδη τοῦτο
τὸ ἔργον, ὃ παρ' ἑαυτῶν αἱ κύουσαι προστιθέασιν,
οὐκέτι τῶν ὑστερῶν, ἀλλα τῶν κατ' ἐπιγάστριον
μυῶν, οἳ πρὸς τὴν ἀποπάτησίν τε καὶ τὴν οὔρησιν
ἡμῖν συνεργοῦσιν.
Οὕτω μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν μητρῶν ἐναργῶς αἱ δύο φαίνονται δυνάμεις, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς γαστρὸς ὧδε. πρῶτον μὲν τοῖς κλύδωσιν, οἳ δὴ καὶ πεπίστευνται τοῖς ἰατροῖς ἀρρώστου κοιλίας εἶναι συμπτώματα καὶ κατὰ λόγον πεπίστευνται· ἐνίοτε μὲν γὰρ ἐλάχιστα προσενηνεγμένων οὐ γίγνονται περιστελλομένης ἀκριβῶς αὐτοῖς τῆς γαστρὸς καὶ σφιγγούσης πανταχόθεν, ἐνίοτε δὲ μεστὴ μὲν ἡ γαστήρ ἐστιν, οἱ κλύ||153δωνες δ' ὡς ἐπὶ κενῆς ἐξακούονται. κατὰ φύσιν μὲν γὰρ ἔχουσα καὶ χρωμένη καλῶς τῇ περισταλτικῇ δυνάμει, κἂν ὀλίγον ᾖ τὸ περιεχόμενον, ἅπαν αὐτὸ περιλαμβάνουσα χώραν οὐδεμίαν ἀπολείπει κενήν, ἀρρωστοῦσα δὲ, καθότι ἂν ἀδυνατήσῃ περιλαβεῖν ἀκριβῶς, ἐνταῦθ' εὐρυχωρίαν τιν' ἐργαζομένη συγχωρεῖ τοῖς περιεχομένοις ὑγροῖς κατὰ τὰς τῶν σχημάτων μεταλλαγὰς ἄλλοτ' ἀλλαχόσε μεταρρέουσι κλύδωνας ἀποτελεῖν.
Εὐλόγως οὖν, ὅτι μηδὲ πέψουσιν ἱκανῶς, οἱ ἐν τῷδε
τῷ συμπτώματι γενόμενοι προσδοκῶσιν· οὐ γὰρ
ἐνδέχεται πέψαι καλῶς ἄρρωστον γαστέρα. τοῖς
τοιούτοις δὲ καὶ μέχρι πλείονος ἐν αὐτῇ
Pg 238
Translation
Transliteration
φαίνεται παραμένον τὸ βάρος, ὡς ἂν καὶ βραδύτερον
πέττουσι. καὶ μὴν θαυμάσειεν ἂν τις ἐπ' αὐτῶν
τούτων μάλιστα τὸ πολυχρόνιον τῆς ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ
διατριβῆς οὐ τῶν σιτίων μόνον ἀλλα καὶ τοῦ
πόματος· οὐ γάρ, ὅπερ ἂν οἰηθείη τις, ὡς τὸ τῆς
γαστρὸς στόμα τὸ κάτω στενὸν ἱκανῶς ὑπάρχον οὐδὲν
παρίησι πρὶν ἀκριβῶς λειωθῆναι, τοῦτ' αἴτιον ὄντως
ἐστί. πολλὰ γοῦν πολλάκις ὀπωρῶν ὀστᾶ μέγιστα
καταπίνουσι || 154 πάμπολλοι καὶ τις δακτύλιον
χρυσοῦν ἐν τῷ στόματι φυλάττων ἄκων κατέπιε καὶ
ἄλλος τις νόμισμα καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλο τι σκληρὸν καὶ
δυσκατέργαστον, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἅπαντες οὗτοι ῥᾳδίως
ἀπεπάτησαν, ἃ κατέπιον, οὐδενὸς αὐτοῖς
ἀκολουθήσαντος συμπτώματος. εἰ δὲ γ' ἡ στενότης
τοῦ πόρου τῆς γαστρὸς αἰτία τοῦ μένειν ἐπὶ πλέον
ἦν τοῖς ἀτρίπτοις σιτίοις, οὐδὲν ἂν τούτων ποτὲ
διεχώρησεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τὰ πόματ' αὐτοῖς ἐν τῇ
γαστρὶ παραμένειν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἱκανὸν ἀπάγειν τὴν
ὑπόνοιαν τοῦ πόρου τῆς στενότητος· ὅλως γάρ, εἴπερ
ἦν ἐν τῷ κεχυλῶσθαι τὸ θᾶττον ὑπιέναι, τά τε
ῥοφήματ' ἂν οὕτω καὶ τὸ γάλα καὶ ὁ τῆς πτισάνης
χυλὸς αὐτίκα διεξῄει πᾶσιν. ἀλλ' οὐχ ὧδ' ἔχει·
τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἀσθενέσιν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐμπλεῖ ταῦτα
καὶ κλύδωνας ἐργάζεται παραμένοντα καὶ θλίβει καὶ
βαρύνει τὴν γαστέρα, τοῖς δ' ἰσχυροῖς οὐ μόνον
τούτων οὐδὲν συμβαίνει, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολὺ πλῆθος ἄρτων
καὶ κρεῶν ὑποχωρεῖ ταχέως.
Pg 240
Translation
Transliteration
Ὀυ μόνον δ' ἐκ τοῦ περιτετάσθαι τὴν γαστέρα καὶ βαρύνεσθαι || 155 καὶ μεταρρεῖν ἄλλοτ' εἰς ἄλλα μέρη μετὰ κλύδωνος τὸ παραμένειν ἐπὶ πλέον ἐν αὐτῇ πάντως τοῖς οὕτως ἔχουσι τεκμήραιτ' ἄν τις ἀλλα κἀκ τῶν ἐμέτων· ἔνιοι γὰρ οὐ μετὰ τρεῖς ὥρας ἢ τέτταρας ἀλλα νυκτῶν ἤδη μέσων παμπόλλου μεταξὺ χρόνου διελθόντος ἐπὶ ταῖς προσφοραῖς ἀνήμεσαν ἀκριβῶς ἅπαντα τὰ ἐδηδεσμένα.
Καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ ζῷον ὁτιοῦν ἐμπλήσας ὑγρᾶς τροφῆς,
ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς πολλάκις ἐπὶ συῶν ἐπειράθημεν ἐξ
ἀλεύρων μέθ' ὕδατος οἷον κυκεῶνά τινα δόντες
αὐτοῖς, ἔπειτα μετὰ τρεῖς που καὶ τέτταρας ὥρας
ἀνατεμόντες, εἰ οὕτω καὶ σὺ πράξειας, εὑρήσεις ἔτι
κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα τὰ ἐδηδεσμένα· πέρας γὰρ αὐτοῖς
ἐστι τῆς ἐνταῦθα μονῆς οὐχ ἡ χύλωσις, ἣν καὶ ἐκτὸς
ἔτι ὄντων μηχανήσασθαι δυνατόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ἡ
πέψις, ἕτερον τι τῆς χυλώσεως οὖσα, καθάπερ
ἁιμάτωσις τε καὶ θρέψις. ὡς γὰρ κἀκεῖνα δέδεικται
ποιοτήτων μεταβολῇ γιγνόμενα, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ
ἡ ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ πέψις τῶν σιτίων εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν
ἐστὶ τῷ τρεφομένῳ ποιότητα || 156 μεταβολὴ καὶ ὅταν
γε πεφθῇ τελέως, ἀνοίγνυται μὲν τηνικαῦτα τὸ κάτω
στόμα, διεκπίπτει δ' αὐτοῦ τὰ σιτία ῥᾳδίως, εἰ καὶ
πλῆθος τι μεθ' ἑαυτῶν ἔχοντα τύχοι λίθων ἢ ὀστῶν ἢ
γιγάρτων ἤ τινος ἄλλου χυλωθῆναι μὴ δυναμένου. καί
σοι τοῦτ' ἔνεστιν ἐπὶ ζῴου
Pg 242
Translation
Transliteration
θεάσασθαι στοχασαμένῳ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς κάτω
διεξόδου. καὶ μέν γε καὶ εἰ σφαλείης ποτὲ τοῦ
καιροῦ καὶ μηδὲν μήπω κάτω παρέρχοιτο πεττομένων
ἔτι κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα τῶν σιτίων, οὐδ' οὕτως
ἄκαρπος ἡ ἀνατομή σοι γενήσεται· θεάσῃ γὰρ ἐπ'
αὐτῶν, ὅπερ ὀλίγῳ πρόσθεν ἐλέγομεν, ἀκριβῶς μὲν
μεμυκότα τὸν πυλωρόν, ἅπασαν δὲ τὴν γαστέρα
περιεσταλμένην τοῖς σιτίοις τρόπον ὁμοιότατον,
οἷόνπερ καὶ αἱ μῆτραι τοῖς κυουμένοις. οὐ γὰρ
ἔστιν οὐδέποτε κενὴν εὑρεῖν χώραν οὔτε κατὰ τὰς
ὑστέρας οὔτε κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν οὔτε κατὰ τὰς
κύστεις ἀμφοτέρας οὔτε κατὰ τὴν χοληδόχον
ὀνομαζομένην οὔτε τὴν ἑτέραν· ἀλλ' εἴτ' ὀλίγον εἴη
τὸ περιεχόμενον ἐν αὐταῖς ἔιτε πολύ, μεσταὶ καὶ
πλήρεις αὐτῶν αἱ κοιλίαι φαίνονται περιστελλομένων
ἀεὶ τῶν χιτώνων τοῖς περιεχομένοις, ὅταν γε κατὰ
φύσιν ἔχῃ τὸ ζῷον. ||
157 Ἐρασίστρατος δ' οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως τὴν περιστολὴν τῆς γαστρὸς ἁπάντων αἰτίαν ἀποφαίνει καὶ τῆς λειώσεως τῶν σιτίων καὶ τῆς τῶν περιττωμάτων ὑποχωρήσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν κεχυλωμένων ἀναδόσεως.
Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ μυριάκις ἐπὶ ζῶντος ἔτι τοῦ ζῴου
διελὼν τὸ περιτόναιον εὗρον ἀεὶ τὰ μὲν ἔντερα
πάντα περιστελλόμενα τοῖς ἐνυπάρχουσι, τὴν κοιλίαν
δ' οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μὲν ταῖς ἐδωδαῖς ἄνωθέν τε
καὶ κάτωθεν αὐτὰ καὶ πανταχόθεν ἀκριβῶς
Pg 244
Translation
Transliteration
περιειληφυῖαν ἀκίνητον, ὡς δοκεῖν ἡνῶσθαι καὶ
περιπεφυκέναι τοῖς σιτίοις· ἐν δὲ τούτῳ καὶ τὸν
πυλωρὸν εὕρισκον ἀεὶ μεμυκότα καὶ κεκλεισμένον
ἀκριβῶς ὥσπερ τὸ τῶν ὑστερῶν στόμα ταῖς ἐγκύμοσιν.
Ἐπὶ μέντοι ταῖς πέψεσι συμπεπληρωμέναις ἀνέῳκτο μὲν ὁ πυλωρός, ἡ γαστὴρ δὲ περισταλτικῶς ἐκινεῖτο παραπλησίως τοῖς ἐντέροις.
Ἅπαντ' οὖν ἀλλήλοις ὁμολογεῖ ταῦτα καὶ τῇ γαστρὶ
καὶ ταῖς ὑστέραις καὶ ταῖς κύστεσιν εἶναι τινας
ἐμφύτους δυνάμεις καθεκτικὰς μὲν τῶν οἰκείων
ποιοτήτων, || 158 ἀποκριτικὰς δὲ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων. ὅτι
μὲν γὰρ ἕλκει τὴν χολὴν εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἡ ἐπὶ τῷ ἥπατι
κύστις, ἔμπροσθεν δέδεικται, ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἀποκρίνει
καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν εἰς τὴν γαστέρα, καὶ τοῦτ'
ἐναργῶς φαίνεται. καὶ μὴν εἰ διεδέχετο τὴν
ἑλκτικὴν δύναμιν ἡ ἐκκριτικὴ καὶ μὴ μέση τις
ἀμφοῖν ἦν ἡ καθεκτική, διὰ παντὸς ἐχρῆν
ἀνατεμνομένων τῶν ζῴων ἴσον πλῆθος χολῆς
εὑρίσκεσθαι κατὰ τὴν κύστιν· οὐ μὴν εὑρίσκεταί γε.
ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ πληρεστάτη, ποτὲ δὲ κενοτάτη, ποτὲ δὲ
τὰς ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ διαφορὰς ἔχουσα θεωρεῖται,
καθάπερ καὶ ἡ ἑτέρα κύστις ἡ τὸ οὖρον ὑποδεχομένη.
ταύτης μέν γε καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἀνατομῆς αἰσθανόμεθα,
πρὶν ἀνιαθῆναι τῷ πλήθει βαρυνθεῖσαν ἢ τῇ
δριμύτητι δηχθεῖσαν,
Pg 246
Translation
Transliteration
ἀθροιζούσης ἔτι τὸ οὖρον, ὡς οὔσης τινὸς κἀνταῦθα
δυνάμεως καθεκτικῆς.
Οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἡ γαστὴρ ὑπὸ δριμύτητος πολλάκις δηχθεῖσα πρωιαίτερον τοῦ δέοντος ἄπεπτον ἔτι τὴν τροφὴν ἀποτρίβεται. αὖθις δ' ἄν ποτε τῷ πλήθει βαρυνθεῖσα ἢ καὶ κατ' ἄμφω συνελθόντα κακῶς διατεθεῖσα διαρροίαις ἑάλω. καὶ μέν γε καὶ οἱ ἔμετοι, τῷ πλήθει βαρυνθείσης || 159 αὐτῆς ἢ τὴν ποιότητα τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ σιτίων τε καὶ περιττωμάτων μὴ φερούσης, ἀνάλογόν τι ταῖς διαρροίαις πάθημα τῆς ἄνω γαστρός ἐστιν. ὅταν μὲν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς κάτω μέρεσιν αὐτῆς ἡ τοιαύτη γένηται διάθεσις, ἐρρωμένων τῶν κατὰ τὸν στόμαχον, εἰς διαρροίας ἐτελεύτησεν, ὅταν δ' ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸ στόμα, τῶν ἄλλων εὐρωστούντων, εἰς ἐμέτους.
Ἔνεστι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πολλάκις ἐναργῶς ἰδεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀποσίτων· ἀναγκαζόμενοι γὰρ ἐσθίειν οὔτε καταπίνειν εὐσθενοῦσιν οὔτ', εἰ καὶ βιάσαιντο, κατέχουσιν, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ἀνεμοῦσι. καὶ οἱ ἄλλως δὲ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων πρὸς ὁτιοῦν δυσχεραίνοντες βιασθέντες ἐνίοτε προσάρασθαι ταχέως ἐξεμοῦσιν, ἢ εἰ κατάσχοιεν βιασάμενοι, ναυτιώδεις τ' εἰσὶ καὶ τῆς γαστρὸς ὑπτίας αἰσθάνονται καὶ σπευδούσης ἀποθέσθαι τὸ λυποῦν.
Οὕτως ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν φαινομένων, ὅπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς
ἐρρέθη, μαρτυρεῖται τὸ δεῖν ὑπάρχειν τοῖς τοῦ ζῴου
μορίοις σχεδὸν ἅπασιν ἔφεσιν μέν τινὰ
Pg 248
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ οἷον ὄρεξιν τῆς οἰκείας ποιότητος, ἀποστροφὴν
δὲ τινα || 160 καὶ οἷον μῖσός τι τῆς ἀλλοτρίας,
ἀλλ' ἐφιέμενα μὲν ἕλκειν εὔλογον, ἀποστρεφόμενα δ'
ἐκκρίνειν.
Κἀκ τούτων πάλιν ἥ θ' ἑλκτικὴ δύναμις ἀποδείκνυται καθ' ἅπαν ὑπάρχουσα καὶ ἡ προωστική.
Ἀλλ' εἴπερ ἔφεσίς τέ τίς ἐστι καὶ ἕλξις, εἴη ἄν τις καὶ ἀπόλαυσις· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν ὄντων ἕλκει τι δι' αὐτὸ τὸ ἕλκειν, ἀλλ' ἵν' ἀπολαύσῃ τοῦ διὰ τῆς ὁλκῆς εὐπορηθέντος. καὶ μὴν ἀπολαύειν οὐ δύναται μὴ κατασχόν. κἀν τούτῳ πάλιν ἡ καθεκτικὴ δύναμις ἀποδείκνυται τὴν γένεσιν ἀνανκαίαν ἔχουσα· σαφῶς γὰρ ἐφίεται μὲν τῶν οἰκείων ποιοτήτων ἡ γαστήρ, ἀποστρέφεται δὲ τὰς ἀλλοτρίας.
Ἀλλ' εἴπερ ἐφίεταί τε καὶ ἕλκει καὶ ἀπολαύει κατέχουσα καὶ περιστελλομένη, εἴη ἄν τι καὶ πέρας αὐτῇ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως κἀπὶ τῷδ' ὁ καιρὸς ἤδη τῆς ἐκκριτικῆς δυνάμεως ἐνεργούσης.
Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ κατέχει καὶ ἀπολαύει, καταχρῆται πρὸς
ὃ πέφυκε. πέφυκε δὲ τοῦ προσήκοντος ἑαυτῇ || 161
κατὰ ποιότητα καὶ οἰκείου
Pg 250
Translation
Transliteration
μεταλαμβάνειν· ὥσθ' ἕλκει τῶν σιτίων ὅσον
χρηστότατον ἀτμωδῶς τε καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ καὶ τοῦτο
τοῖς ἑαυτῆς χιτῶσιν ἐναποτίθεταί τε καὶ
προστίθησιν. ὅταν δ' ἱκανῶς ἐμπλησθῇ, καθάπερ
ἄχθος τι τὴν λοιπὴν ἀποτίθεται τροφὴν ἐσχηκυῖάν τι
χρηστὸν ἤδη καὶ αὐτὴν ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὴν γαστέρα
κοινωνίας· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐνδέχεται δύο σώματα δρᾶν καὶ
πάσχειν ἐπιτήδεια συνελθόντα μὴ οὐκ ἤτοι πάσχειν
θ' ἅμα καὶ δρᾶν ἢ θάτερον μὲν δρᾶν, θάτερον δὲ
πάσχειν. ἐὰν μὲν γὰρ ἰσάζῃ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν, ἐξ
ἴσου δράσει τε καὶ πείσεται, ἂν δ' ὑπερέχῃ πολὺ
καὶ κρατῇ θάτερον, ἐνεργήσει περὶ τὸ πάσχον· ὥστε
δράσει μέγα μέν τι καὶ αἰσθητόν, αὐτὸ δ' ἤτοι
σμικρόν τι καὶ οὐκ αἰσθητὸν ἢ παντάπασιν οὐδὲν
πείσεται. ἀλλ' ἐν τούτῳ δὴ καὶ μάλιστα διήνεγκε
φαρμάκου δηλητηρίου τροφή· τὸ μὲν γὰρ κρατεῖ τῆς
ἐν τῷ σώματι δυνάμεως, ἡ δὲ κρατεῖται.
Οὐκουν ἐνδέχεται τροφὴν μὲν εἶναί τι τῷ ζῴῳ προσήκουσαν, οὐ μὴν καὶ κρατεῖσθαί γ' ὁμοίως πρὸς τῶν || 162 ἐν τῷ ζῴῳ ποιοτήτων· τὸ κρατεῖσθαι δ' ἦν ἀλλοιοῦσθαι. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ τὰ μὲν ἰσχυρότερα ταῖς δυνάμεσίν ἐστι μόρια, τὰ δ' ἀσθενέστερα, κρατήσει μὲν πάντα τῆς οἰκείας τῷ ζῴῳ τροφῆς, οὐχ ὁμοίως δὲ πάντα· κρατήσει δ' ἄρα καὶ ἡ γαστὴρ καὶ ἀλλοιώσει μὲν τὴν τροφήν, οὐ μὴν ὁμοίως ἥπατι καὶ φλεψὶ καὶ ἀρτηρίαις καὶ καρδίᾳ.
Πόσον οὖν ἐστιν, ὃ ἀλλοιοῖ, καὶ δὴ θεασώμεθα·
πλέον μὲν ἢ κατὰ τὸ στόμα, μεῖον δ' ἢ κατὰ τὸ
Pg 252
Translation
Transliteration
ἧπάρ τε καὶ τὰς φλέβας. αὕτη
μὲν γὰρ ἡ ἀλλοίωσις εἰς αἵματος οὐσίαν ἄγει τὴν
τροφήν, ἡ δ' ἐν τῷ στόματι μεθίστησι μὲν αὐτὴν
ἐναργῶς εἰς ἕτερον εἶδος, οὐ μὴν εἰς τέλος γε
μετακοσμεῖ. μάθοις δ' ἂν ἐπὶ τῶν ἐγκαταλειφθέντων
ταῖς διαστάσεσι τῶν ὀδόντων σιτίων καὶ
καταμεινάντων δι' ὅλης νυκτός· οὔτε γὰρ ἄρτος
ἀκριβῶς ὁ ἄρτος οὔτε κρέας ἐστί τὸ κρέας, ἀλλ'
ὄζει μὲν τοιοῦτον, οἷόνπερ καὶ τοῦ ζῴου τὸ στόμα,
διαλέλυται δὲ καὶ διατέτηκε καὶ τὰς ἐν τῷ ζῴῳ τῆς
σαρκὸς ἀπομέμακται ποιότητας. ἔνεστι δέ σοι
θεάσασθαι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐν τῷ στόματι || 163 τῶν
σιτίων ἀλλοιώσεως, εἰ πυροὺς μασησάμενος ἐπιθείης
ἀπέπτοις δοθιῆσιν· ὄψει γὰρ αὐτοὺς τάχιστα
μεταβάλλοντάς τε καὶ συμπέττοντας, οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον,
ὅταν ὕδατι φυραθῶσιν, ἐργάσασθαι δυναμένους. καὶ
μὴ θαυμάσῃς· τὸ γὰρ τοι φλέγμα τουτὶ τὸ κατὰ τὸ
στόμα καὶ λειχήνων ἐστὶν ἄκος καὶ σκορπίους
ἀναιρεῖ παραχρῆμα καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἰοβόλων θηρίων τὰ
μὲν εὐθέως ἀποκτείνει, τὰ δ' ἐς ὕστερον· ἅπαντα
γοῦν βλάπτει μεγάλως. ἀλλα τὰ μεμασημένα σιτία
πρῶτον μὲν τούτῳ τῷ φλέγματι βέβρεκταί τε καὶ
πεφύραται, δεύτερον δὲ καὶ τῷ χρωτὶ τοῦ στόματος
ἅπαντα πεπλησίακεν, ὥστε πλείονα μεταβολὴν εἴληφε
τῶν ἐν ταῖς κεναῖς χώραις τῶν ὀδόντων ἐσφηνωμένων.
Ἀλλ' ὅσον τὰ μεμασημένα τούτων ἐπὶ πλέον
ἠλλοίωται, τοσοῦτον ἐκείνων τὰ καταποθέντα.
Pg 254
Translation
Transliteration
μὴ γὰρ οὐδὲ παραβλητὸν ᾖ τὸ τῆς ὑπερβολῆς, εἰ τὸ
κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν ἐννοήσαιμεν φλέγμα καὶ χολὴν καὶ
πνεῦμα καὶ θερμασίαν καὶ ὅλην τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς
γαστρός. εἰ δὲ καὶ συνεπινοήσαις αὐτῇ τὰ
παρακείμενα || 164 σπλάγχνα καθάπερ τινὶ λέβητι
μεγάλῳ πυρὸς ἑστίας πολλάς, ἐκ δεξιῶν μὲν τὸ
ἧπαρ, ἐξ ἀριστερῶν δὲ τὸν σπλῆνα, τὴν καρδίαν δ'
ἐκ τῶν ἄνω, σὺν αὐτῇ δὲ καὶ τὰς φρένας αἰωρουμένας
τε καὶ διὰ παντὸς κινουμένας, ἐφ' ἅπασι δὲ τούτοις
σκέπον τὸ ἐπίπλοον, ἐξαίσιόν τινα πεισθήσῃ τὴν
ἀλλοίωσιν γίγνεσθαι τῶν εἰς τὴν γαστέρα
καταποθέντων σιτίων.
Πῶς δ' ἂν ἠδύνατο ῥᾳδίως αἱματοῦσθαι μὴ
προπαρασκευασθέντα τῇ τοιαύτῃ μεταβολῇ;
δέδεικται γὰρ οὖν καὶ πρόσθεν, ὡς οὐδὲν εἰς τὴν
ἐναντίαν ἀθρόως μεθίσταται ποιότητα. πῶς οὖν ὁ
ἄρτος αἷμα γίγνεται, πῶς δὲ τὸ τεῦτλον ἢ ὁ κύαμος
ἢ τι τῶν ἄλλων, εἰ μὴ πρότερόν τιν' ἑτέραν
ἀλλοίωσιν ἐδέξατο; πῶς δ' ἡ κόπρος ἐν τοῖς λεπτοῖς
ἐντέροις ἀθρόως γεννηθήσεται; τι γὰρ ἐν τούτοις
σφοδρότερον εἰς ἀλλοίωσίν ἐστι τῶν κατὰ τὴν
γαστέρα; πότερα τῶν χιτώνων τὸ πλῆθος ἢ τῶν
γειτνιώντων σπλάγχνων ἡ περίθεσις ἢ τῆς μονῆς ὁ
χρόνος ἢ σύμφυτός τις ἐν τοῖς ὀργάνοις θερμασία;
καὶ μὴν κατ' οὐδὲν τούτων πλεονεκτεῖ τὰ ἔντερα τῆς
γαστρὸς. τί ποτ' οὖν ἐν μὲν τῇ γαστρὶ νυκτὸς ||
165 ὅλης πολλάκις μείναντα τὸν ἄρτον ἔτι
φυλάττεσθαι βούλονται τὰς ἀρχαίας διασῴζοντα
ποιότητας, ἐπειδὰν δ' ἅπαξ ἐμπέσῃ
Pg 256
Translation
Transliteration
τοῖς ἐντέροις, εὐθὺς γίγνεσθαι κόπρον; εἰ μὲν γὰρ
ὁ τοσοῦτος χρόνος ἀδύνατος ἀλλοιοῦν, οὐδ' ὁ βραχὺς
ἱκανός· εἰ δ' οὕτος αὐτάρκης, πῶς οὐ πολὺ μᾶλλον ὁ
μακρός; ἆρ' οὖν ἀλλοιοῦται μὲν ἡ τροφὴ κατὰ τὴν
κοιλίαν, ἄλλην δέ τιν' ἀλλοίωσιν καὶ οὐχ οἵαν ἐκ
τῆς φύσεως ἴσχει τοῦ μεταβάλλοντος ὀργάνου; ἢ
ταύτην μέν, οὐ μὴν τήν γ' οἰκείαν τῷ τοῦ ζῴου
σώματι; μακρῷ τοῦτ' ἀδυνατώτερόν ἐστι. καὶ μὴν οὐκ
ἄλλο γ' ἦν ἡ πέψις ἢ ἀλλοίωσις εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν τοῦ
τρεφομένου ποιότητα. εἴπερ οὖν ἡ πέψις τοῦτ' ἔστί
καὶ ἡ τροφὴ κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα δέδεικται δεχομένη
ποιότητα τῷ μέλλοντι πρὸς αὐτῆς θρέψεσθαι ζῴῳ
προσήκουσαν, ἱκανῶς ἀποδέδεικται τὸ πέττεσθαι κατὰ
τὴν γαστέρα τὴν τροφήν.
Καὶ γελοῖος μὲν Ἀσκληπιάδης οὔτ' ἐν ταῖς ἐρυγαῖς λέγων ἐμφαίνεσθαί ποτε τὴν ποιότητα τῶν πεφθέντων σιτίων οὔτ' ἐν τοῖς ἐμέτοις οὔτ' ἐν ταῖς ἀνα||166τομαῖς· αὐτὸ γὰρ δὴ τὸ τοῦ σώματος ἐξόζειν αὐτὰ τῆς κοιλίας ἐστὶ τὸ πεπέφθαι. ὁ δ' οὕτως ἐστὶν εὐήθης, ὥστ', ἐπειδὴ τῶν παλαιῶν ἀκούει λεγόντων ἐπὶ τὸ χρηστὸν ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ μεταβάλλειν τὰ σιτία, δοκιμάζει ζητεῖν οὐ τὸ κατὰ δύναμιν ἀλλα τὸ κατὰ γεῦσιν χρηστὸν, ὥσπερ ἢ τοῦ μήλου μηλωδεστέρου—χρὴ γὰρ οὕτως αὐτῷ διαλέγεσθαι—γιγνομένου κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν ἢ τοῦ μέλιτος μελιτωδεστέρου.
Pg 258
Translation
Transliteration
Πολὺ δ' εὐηθέστερός ἐστι καὶ γελοιότερος ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος ἢ μὴ νοῶν, ὅπως εἴρηται πρὸς τῶν παλαιῶν ἡ πέψις ἑψήσει παραπλήσιος ὑπάρχειν, ἢ ἑκὼν σοφιζόμενος ἑαυτόν. ἑψήσει μὲν οὖν, φησίν, οὕτως ἐλαφρὰν ἔχουσαν θερμασίαν οὐκ εἰκὸς εἶναι παραπλησίαν τὴν πέψιν, ὥσπερ ἢ τὴν Αἴτνην δέον ὑποθεῖναι τῇ γαστρὶ ἢ ἄλλως αὐτῆς ἀλλοιῶσαι τὰ σιτία μὴ δυναμένης ἢ δυναμένης μὲν ἀλλοιοῦν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἔμφυτον δὲ θερμασίαν, ὑγρὰν οὖσαν δηλονότι καὶ διὰ τοῦθ' ἕψειν οὐκ ὀπτᾶν εἰρημένην.
Ἐχρῆν δ' αὐτὸν, εἴπερ περὶ πραγμάτων ἀντιλέγειν
ἐβούλετο, πειραθῆναι δεῖξαι μάλιστα μὲν καὶ
|| 167 πρῶτον, ὡς οὐδὲ μεταβάλλει τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐδ'
ἀλλοιοῦται κατὰ ποιότητα πρὸς τῆς γαστρὸς τὰ
σιτία, δεύτερον δ', εἴπερ μὴ οἷός τ' ἦν τοῦτο
πιστώσασθαι, τὸ τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν αὐτῶν ἄχρηστον εἶναι
τῷ ζῴῳ· εἰ δὲ μηδὲ τοῦτ' εἶχε διαβάλλειν,
ἐξελέγξαι τὴν περὶ τὰς δραστικὰς ἀρχάς ὑπόληψιν
καὶ δεῖξαι τὰς ἐνεργείας ἐν τοῖς μορίοις οὐ διὰ
τὴν ἐκ θερμοῦ καὶ ψυχροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ ποιὰν
κρᾶσιν ὑπάρχειν ἄλλὰ δι' ἄλλο τι· εἰ δὲ μηδὲ τοῦτ'
ἐτόλμα διαβάλλειν, ἀλλ' ὅτι γε μὴ τὸ θερμὸν ἐστιν
ἐν τοῖς ὑπὸ φύσεως διοικουμένοις τὸ τῶν ἄλλων
δραστικώτατον. ἢ εἰ μήτε τοῦτο μήτε τῶν ἄλλων τι
τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἶχεν ἀποδεικνύναι, μὴ ληρεῖν
ὀνόματι προσπαλαίοντα
Pg 260
Translation
Transliteration
μάτην,
ὥσπερ οὐ σαφῶς Ἀριστοτέλους ἔν τ' ἄλλοις πολλοῖς
κἀν τῷ τετάρτῳ τῶν μετεωρολογικῶν ὅπως ἡ πέψις
ἑψήσει παραπλήσιος εἶναι λέγεται, καὶ ὅτι μὴ
πρώτως μηδὲ κυρίως ὀνομαζόντων, εἰρηκότος.
Ἀλλ', ὡς ἤδη λέλεκται πολλάκις, ἀρχὴ τούτων ἁπάντων ἐστὶ μία τὸ περὶ θερμοῦ καὶ ψυχροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ διασκέψασθαι, καθάπερ Ἀριστοτέλης ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς, ἀπο||168δείξας ἁπάσας τὰς κατὰ τὰ σώματα μεταβολὰς καὶ ἀλλοιώσεις ὑπὸ τούτων γίγνεσθαι. ἀλλ' Ἐρασίστρατος οὔτε τούτοις οὔτ' ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν προειρημένων ἀντειπὼν ἐπὶ τοὔνομα μόνον ἐτράπετο τῆς ἑψήσεως.
Ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς πέψεως, εἰ καὶ τἆλλα πάντα παρέλιπε, τὸ γοῦν ὅτι διαφέρει τῆς ἐκτὸς ἑψήσεως ἡ ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις πέψις, ἐπειράθη δεικνύναι, περὶ δὲ τῆς καταπόσεως οὐδ' ἄχρι τοσούτου. τί γὰρ φησιν;
“Ὁλκὴ μὲν οὖν τῆς κοιλίας οὐδεμία φαίνεται εἶναι.”
Καὶ μὴν δύο χιτῶνας ἡ γαστὴρ ἔχει πάντως ἕνεκα του
γεγονότας καὶ διήκουσιν οὗτοι μέχρι τοῦ στόματος,
ὁ μὲν ἔνδον, οἷός ἐστι κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα, τοιοῦτος
διαμένων, ὁ δ' ἕτερος ἐπὶ τὸ
Pg 262
Translation
Transliteration
σαρκωδέστερον ἐν τῷ στομάχῳ τρεπόμενος. ὅτι μὲν
οὖν ἐναντίας ἀλλήλαις τὰς ἐπιβολὰς τῶν ἰνῶν
ἔχουσιν οἱ χιτῶνες οὗτοι, τὸ φαινόμενον αὐτὸ
μαρτυρεῖ. τινὸς δ' ἕνεκα τοιοῦτοι γεγόνασιν,
Ἐρασίστρατος μὲν οὐδ' ἐπεχείρησεν εἰπεῖν, ἡμεῖς δ'
ἐροῦμεν.
Ὁ μὲν ἔνδον εὐθείας ἔχει τὰς ἶνας, ὁλκῆς γὰρ ἕνεκα
γέ||169γονεν· ὁ δ' ἔξωθεν ἐγκαρσίας ὑπὲρ τοῦ κατὰ
κύκλον περιστέλλεσθαι· ἑκάστῳ γὰρ τῶν κινουμένων
ὀργάνων ἐν τοῖς σώμασι κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἰνῶν θέσεις αἱ
κινήσεις εἰσίν. ἐπ' αὐτῶν δὲ πρῶτον τῶν μυῶν, εἰ
βούλει, βασάνισον τὸν λόγον, ἐφ' ὧν καὶ αἱ ἶνες
ἐναργέσταται καὶ αἱ κινήσεις αὐτῶν ὁρῶνται διὰ
σφοδρότητα. μετὰ δὲ τοὺς μῦς ἐπὶ τὰ φυσικὰ τῶν
ὀργάνων ἴθι καὶ πάντ' ὄψει κατὰ τὰς ἶνας κινούμενα
καὶ διὰ τοῦθ' ἑκάστῳ μὲν τῶν ἐντέρων στρογγύλαι
καθ' ἑκάτερον τῶν χιτώνων αἱ ἶνές εἰσι·
περιστέλλονται γὰρ μόνον, ἕλκουσι δ' οὐδὲν. ἡ
γαστὴρ δὲ τῶν ἰνῶν τὰς μὲν εὐθείας ἔχει χάριν
ὁλκῆς, τὰς δ' ἐγκαρσίας ἕνεκα περιστολῆς· ὥσπερ
γὰρ ἐν τοῖς μυσὶν ἑκάστης τῶν ἰνῶν τεινομένης τε
καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἑλκομένης αἱ κινήσεις
γίγνονται, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον κἀν τῇ γαστρί· τῶν
μὲν οὖν ἐγκαρσίων ἰνῶν τεινομένων ἔλαττον ἀνάγκη
γίγνεσθαι
Pg 264
Translation
Transliteration
τὸ εὖρος τῆς
περιεχομένης ὑπ' αὐτῶν κοιλότητος, τῶν δ' εὐθειῶν
ἑλκομένων τε καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὰς συναγομὲνων οὐκ
ἐνδέχεται μὴ οὐ συναιρεῖσθαι τὸ μῆκος. ἄλλα μὴν
|| 170 ἐναργῶς γε φαίνεται καταπινόντων
συναιρούμενον καὶ τοσοῦτον ὁ λάρυγξ ἀνατρέχων,
ὅσον ὁ στόμαχος κατασπᾶται, καὶ ὅταν γε
συμπληρωθείσης τῆς ἐν τῷ καταπίνειν ἐνεργείας
ἀφεθῇ τῆς τάσεως ὁ στόμαχος, ἐναργῶς πάλιν
φαίνεται καταφερόμενος ὁ λάρυγξ· ὁ γὰρ ἔνδον χιτὼν
τῆς γαστρὸς ὁ τὰς εὐθείας ἶνας ἔχων ὁ καὶ τὸν
στόμαχον ὑπαλείφων καὶ τὸ στόμα τοῖς ἐντὸς μέρεσιν
ἐπεκτείνεται τοῦ λάρυγγος, ὥστ' οὐκ ἐνδέχεται
κατασπώμενον αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῆς κοιλίας μὴ οὐ
συνεπισπᾶσθαι καὶ τὸν λάρυγγα.
Ὅτι δ' αἱ περιφερεῖς ἶνες, αἷς περιστέλλεται τὰ τ'
ἄλλα μόρια καὶ ἡ γαστήρ, οὐ συναιροῦσι τὸ μῆκος,
ἀλλα συστέλλουσι καὶ στενοῦσι τὴν εὐρύτητα, καὶ
παρ' αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν ἔστιν ὁμολογούμενον
Ἐρασιστράτου· περιστέλλεσθαι γὰρ φησι τοῖς σιτίοις
τὴν γαστέρα κατὰ τὸν τῆς πέψεως ἅπαντα χρόνον.
ἀλλ' εἰ περιστέλλεται μέν, οὐδὲν δὲ τοῦ μήκους
ἀφαιρεῖται τῆς κοιλίας, οὐκ ἔστί τῆς περισταλτικῆς
κινήσεως ἴδιον τὸ κατασπᾶν κάτω τὸν στόμαχον. ὅπερ
γὰρ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος εἶπέ, τοῦτο μόνον αὐτὸ
συμβήσεται τὸ τῶν ἄνω συστελ||171λομένων
διαστέλλεσθαι τὰ κάτω. τοῦτο δ' ὅτι, κἂν εἰς
νεκροῦ τὸν στόμαχον ὕδατος ἐγχέῃς, φαίνεται
γιγνόμενον, οὐδεὶς ἀγνοεῖ. ταῖς γὰρ τῶν ὑλῶν διὰ
στενοῦ
Pg 266
Translation
Transliteration
σώματος ὁδοιπορίαις
ἀκόλουθον ἐστι τὸ σύμπτωμά· θαυμαστὸν γάρ, εἰ
διερχομένου τινὸς αὐτὸν ὄγκου μὴ διασταλήσεται.
οὐκοῦν τὸ μὲν τῶν ἄνω συστελλομένων διαστέλλεσθαι
τὰ κάτω κοινόν ἐστι καὶ τοῖς νεκροῖς σώμασι, δι'
ὧν ὁπωσοῦν τι διεξέρχεται, καὶ τοῖς ζῶσιν, εἴτε
περιστέλλοιτο τοῖς διερχομένοις εἴθ' ἕλκοιτο.
Τὸ δὲ τῆς τοῦ μήκους συναιρέσεως ἴδιον τῶν τὰς εὐθείας ἶνας ἐχόντων ὀργάνων, ἵν' ἐπισπάσωνταί τι. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐδείχθη κατασπώμενος ὁ στόμαχος, οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἕιλκε τὸν λάρυγγα· δῆλον οὖν, ὡς ἡ γαστὴρ ἕλκει τὰ σιτία διὰ τοῦ στομάχου.
Καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὸν ἔμετον δὲ τῶν ἐμουμένων ἄχρι τοῦ στόματος φορὰ πάντως μέν που καὶ αὐτὴ τὰ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀναφερομένων διατεινόμενα μέρη τοῦ στομάχου διεστῶτα κέκτηται, τῶν πρόσω δ' ὁ τι ἂν ἑκάστοτ' ἐπιλαμβάνηται, τοῦτ' ἀρχόμενον διαστέλλεται, τὸ δ' || 172 ὄπισθεν καταλείπει δηλονότι συστελλόμενον, ὥσθ' ὁμοίαν εἶναι πάντη τὴν διάθεσιν τοῦ στομάχου κατά γε τοῦτο τῇ τῶν καταπινόντων· ἀλλα τῆς ὁλκῆς μὴ παρούσης τὸ μῆκος ὅλον ἴσον ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις συμπτώμασι διαφυλάττεται.
Διὰ τοῦτο δὲ καὶ καταπίνειν ῥᾷον ἐστιν ἢ ἐμεῖν,
ὅτι καταπίνεται μὲν ἀμφοῖν τῆς γαστρὸς τῶν χιτώνων
ἐνεργούντων, τοῦ μὲν ἐντὸς ἕλκοντος, τοῦ δ' ἐκτὸς
περιστελλομένου τε καὶ συνεπωθοῦντος, ἐμεῖται δὲ
θατέρου μόνου τοῦ ἔξωθεν ἐνεργοῦντος,
Pg 268
Translation
Transliteration
οὐδενὸς ἕλκοντος εἰς
τὸ στόμα. οὐ γὰρ δὴ ὥσπερ ἡ τῆς γαστρὸς ὄρεξις
προηγεῖτο τοῦ καταπίνειν τὰ σιτία, τὸν αὐτὸν
τρόπον κἀν τοῖς ἐμέτοις ἐπιθυμεῖ τι τῶν κατὰ τὸ
στόμα μορίων τοῦ γιγνομένου παθήματος, ἀλλ' ἄμφω
τῆς γαστρὸς αὐτῆς εἰσιν ἐναντίαι διαθέσεις,
ὀρεγομένης μὲν καὶ προσιεμένης τὰ χρήσιμά τε καὶ
οἰκεῖα, δυσχεραινούσης δὲ καὶ ἀποτριβομένης τὰ
ἀλλότρια. διὸ καὶ τὸ καταπίνειν αὐτὸ τοῖς μὲν
ἱκανῶς ὀρεγομένοις τῶν οἰκείων ἐδεσμάτων τῇ γαστρὶ
τάχιστα γίγνεται, σαφῶς ἑλκούσης αὐτὰ καὶ
κατασπώσης πρὶν ἢ μασηθῆναι, τοῖς δ' ἤτοι φάρμακόν
τι κατ' ἀνάν||173κην πίνουσιν ἢ σιτίον ἐν χώρᾳ
φαρμάκου προσφερομένοις ἀνιαρὰ καὶ μόγις ἡ
κατάποσις αὐτῶν ἐπιτελεῖται.
Δῆλος οὖν ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν είρημένων ὁ μὲν ἔνδον χιτὼν
τῆς γαστρὸς ὁ τὰς εὐθείας ἔχων ἶνας τῆς ἐκ τοῦ
στόματος εἰς αὐτὴν ὁλκῆς ἕνεκα γεγονὼς καὶ διὰ
τοῦτ' ἐν ταῖς καταπόσεσι μόναις ἐνεργῶν, ὁ δ'
ἔξωθεν ὁ τὰς ἐγκαρσίας ἔχων ἕνεκα μὲν τοῦ
περιστέλλεσθαι τοῖς ἐνυπάρχουσι καὶ προωθεῖν αὐτὰ
τοιοῦτος ἀποτελεσθείς, ἐνεργῶν δ' οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐν
τοῖς ἐμέτοις ἢ ταῖς καταπόσεσιν. ἐναργέστατα δὲ
μαρτυρεῖ τῷ λεγομένῳ καὶ τὸ κατὰ τὰς χάννας τε
καὶ τοὺς συνόδοντας γιγνόμενον· ἑυρίσκεται γὰρ
ἐνίοτε τούτων ἡ γαστὴρ ἐν τῷ στόματι καθάπερ καὶ ὁ
Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν ταῖς περὶ
Pg 270
Translation
Transliteration
ζῴων ἔγραψεν ἱστορίαις καὶ προστίθησί γε τὴν
αἰτίαν ὑπὸ λαιμαργίας αὐτοῖς τοῦτο συμβαίνειν
φάσκων.
Ἔχει γὰρ ὧδε· κατὰ τὰς σφοδροτέρας ὀρέξεις ἄνω προστρέχει πᾶσι τοῖς ζῴοις ἡ γαστήρ, ὥστε τινὲς τοῦ πάθους αἴσθησιν ἐναργῆ σχόντες ἐξέρπειν αὑτοῖς φασι τὴν κοιλίαν, ἐνίων δὲ μασωμένων ἔτι καὶ μήπω || 174 καλῶς ἐν τῷ στόματι τὰ σιτία κατεργασαμένων ἐξαρπάζει φανερῶς ἀκόντων. ἐφ' ὧν οὖν ζῴων φύσει λαιμάργων ὑπαρχόντων ἥ τ' εὐρυχωρία τοῦ στόματος ἐστι δαψιλὴς ἥ τε τῆς γαστρὸς θέσις ἐγγύς, ὡς ἐπὶ συνόδοντός τε καὶ χάννης, οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν, ὅταν ἱκανῶς πεινάσαντα διώκῃ τι τῶν μικροτέρων ζῴων, εἶτ' ἤδη πλησίον ᾖ τοῦ συλλαβεῖν, ἀνατρέχειν ἐπειγούσης τῆς ἐπιθυμίας εἰς τὸ στόμα τὴν γαστέρα. γενέσθαι δ' ἄλλως ἀμήχανον τοῦτο μὴ οὐχ ὥσπερ διὰ χειρὸς τοῦ στομάχου τῆς γαστρὸς ἐπισπωμένης εἰς ἑαυτὴν τὰ σιτία. καθάπερ γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑπὸ προθυμίας ἐνίοτε τῇ χειρὶ συνεπεκτείνομεν ὅλους ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἕνεκα τοῦ θᾶττον ἐπιδράξασθαι τοῦ προκειμένου σώματος, οὕτω καὶ ἡ γαστὴρ οἷον χειρὶ τῷ στομάχῳ συνεπεκτείνεται. καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' ἐφ' ὧν ζῴων ἅμα τὰ τρία ταυτὶ συνέπεσεν, ἔφεσίς τε σφοδρὰ τῆς τροφῆς ὅ τε στόμαχος μικρὸς ἥ τ' εὐρυχωρία τοῦ στόματος δαψιλής, ἐπὶ τούτων ὀλίγη ῥοπὴ τῆς ἐπεκτάσεως εἰς τὸ στόμα τὴν κοιλίαν ὅλην ἀναφέρει.
Ἤρκει μὲν οὖν ἴσως ἀνδρὶ φυσικῷ παρ' αὐτῆς μόνης
τῆς κατασκευῆς τῶν ὀργά||175νων τὴν ἔνδειξιν τῆς
ἐνεργείας λαμβάνειν. οὐ γὰρ δὴ μάτην γ'
Pg 272
Translation
Transliteration
ἂν ἡ φύσις ἐκ δυοῖν χιτώνων ἐναντίως ἀλλήλοις ἐχόντων
ἀπειργάσατο τὸν οἰσοφάγον, εἰ μὴ καὶ διαφόρως
ἑκάτερος αὐτῶν ἐνεργεῖν ἔμελλεν. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ πάντα
μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἔργα διαγιγνώσκειν οἱ περὶ
τὸν Ἐρασίστρατόν εἰσιν ἱκανοί, φέρε κἀκ τῆς τῶν
ζῴων ἀνατομῆς ἐπιδείξωμεν αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἑκάτερος τῶν
χιτώνων ἐνεργεῖ τὴν εἰρημένην ἐνέργειαν. εἰ δή τι
λαβὼν ζῷον, εἶτα γυμνώσας αὐτοῦ τὰ περικείμενα τῷ
στομάχῳ σώματα χωρὶς τοῦ διατεμεῖν τινα τῶν
νεύρων ἢ τῶν ἀρτηριῶν ἢ τῶν φλεβῶν τῶν αὐτόθι
τεταγμένων ἐθέλοις ἀπὸ τῆς γένυος ἕως τοῦ θώρακος
εὐθείαις τομαῖς διελεῖν τὸν ἔξω χιτῶνα τὸν τὰς
ἐγκαρσίας ἶνας ἔχοντα κἄπειτα τῷ ζῴῳ τροφὴν
προσενέγκοις, ὄψει καταπῖνον αὐτὸ καίτοι τῆς
περισταλτικῆς ἐνεργείας ἀπολωλυίας. εἰ δ' αὖ πάλιν
ἐφ' ἑτέρου ζῴου διατέμοις ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς χιτῶνας
τομαῖς ἐγκαρσίαις, θεάσῃ καὶ τοῦτο καταπῖνον
οὐκέτ' ἐνεργοῦντος τοῦ ἐντὸς. ᾧ δῆλον, ὅτι καὶ διὰ
θατέρου μὲν αὐτῶν καταπίνειν οἷόν τ' ἐστίν,
|| 176 ἀλλὰ χεῖρον ἢ δι' ἀμφοτέρων. πρὸς γὰρ αὖ
τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τοῦτ' ἔστι θεάσασθαι σαφῶς ἐπὶ τῆς
εἰρημένης ἀνατομῆς, ὡς ἐν τῷ καταπίνειν
ὑποπίμπλαται πνεύματος ὁ στόμαχος τοῦ
συγκαταπινομένου τοῖς σιτίοις, ὃ περιστελλομένου
μὲν τοῦ ἔξωθεν χιτῶνος ὠθεῖται ῥᾳδίως εἰς τὴν
γαστέρα σὺν τοῖς ἐδέσμασι, μόνου δὲ τοῦ ἔνδον
ὑπάρχοντος ἐμποδὼν ἵσταται τῇ φορᾷ τῶν
Pg 274
Translation
Transliteration
σιτίων διατεῖνον τ' αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν
ἐμποδίζον.
Ἀλλ' οὔτε τούτων οὐδὲν Ἐρασίστρατος εἶπεν ὄυθ' ὡς ἡ σκολιὰ θέσις τοῦ στομάχου διαβάλλει σαφῶς τὸ δόγμα τῶν νομιζόντων ὑπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν βολῆς μόνης ποδηγούμενα μέχρι τῆς γαστρὸς ἰέναι τὰ καταπινόμενα. μόνον δ' ὅτι πολλὰ τῶν μακροτραχήλων ζῴων ἐπικεκυφότα καταπίνει, καλῶς εἶπεν. ᾧ δῆλον, ὅτι τὸ φαινόμενον οὐ τὸ πῶς καταπίνομεν ἀποδείκνυσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πῶς οὐ καταπίνομεν· ὅτι γὰρ μὴ διὰ μόνης τῆς ἄνωθεν βολῆς, ἐκ τούτου δῆλον· οὐ μὴν εἴθ' ἑλκούσης τῆς κοιλίας ἔιτε παράγοντος αὐτὰ τοῦ στομάχου, δῆλον ἤδη πω. ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς γε || 177 πάντας τοὺς λογισμοὺς εἰπόντες τούς τ' ἐκ τῆς κατασκευῆς τῶν ὀργάνων ὁρμωμένους καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων συμπτωμάτων τῶν τε πρὸ τοῦ γυμνωθῆναι τὸν στόμαχον καὶ γυμνωθέντος, ὡς ὀλίγῳ πρόσθεν ἐλέγομεν, ἱκανῶς ἐνεδειξάμεθα τοῦ μὲν ἕλκειν ἕνεκα τὸν ἐντὸς χιτῶνα, τοῦ δ' ἀπωθεῖν τὸν ἐκτὸς γεγονέναι.
Προὐθέμεθα μὲν οὖν ἀποδεῖξαι τὴν καθεκτικὴν δύναμιν ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὀργάνων οὖσαν, ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν λόγῳ τὴν ἑλκτικήν τε καὶ προσέτι τὴν ἀλλοιωτικήν. ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς ἀκολουθίας τοῦ λόγου τὰς τέτταρας ἀπεδείξαμεν ὑπαρχούσας τῇ γαστρὶ, τὴν ἑλκτικὴν μὲν ἐν τῷ καταπίνειν, τὴν καθεκτικὴν δ' ἐν τῷ πέττειν, τὴν ἀπωστικὴν δ' ἐν τοῖς ἐμέτοις καὶ ταῖς τῶν πεπεμμένων σιτίων εἰς τὸ λεπτὸν ἔντερον ὑποχωρήσεσιν, αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν πέψιν ἀλλοίωσιν ὑπάρχειν.
Pg 276
Translation
Transliteration
Οὔκουν ἔτ' ἀπορήσομεν οὐδὲ περὶ τοῦ σπληνός, εἰ ἕλκει μὲν τὸ οἰκεῖον, ἀποκρίνει δὲ τὸ ἀλλότριον, ἀλλοιοῦν δὲ καὶ κατέχειν, ὅσον ἂν ἐπισπάσηται, πέφυκεν, οὐδὲ περὶ ἥπατος ἢ φλεβός ἢ ἀρτηρίας ἢ καρδίας ἢ τῶν || 178 ἄλλων τινός· ἀνανκαῖαι γὰρ ἐδείχθησαν αἱ τέτταρες αὗται δυνάμεις ἅπαντι μορίῳ τῷ μέλλοντι θρέψεσθαι καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' αὐτὰς ὑπηρέτιδας εἶναι θρέψεως ἔφαμεν· ὡς γὰρ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀποπάτημα τοῖς κυσὶν ἥδιστον, οὕτω καὶ τὰ τοῦ ἥπατος περιττώματα τὸ μὲν τῷ σπληνί, τὸ δὲ τῇ χοληδόχῳ κύστει, τὸ δὲ τοῖς νεφροῖς οἰκεῖόν.
Καὶ λέγειν ἔτι περὶ τῆς τούτων γενέσεως οὐκ ἂν ἐθέλοιμι μεθ' Ἱπποκράτην καὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ Ἀριστοτέλην καὶ Διοκλέα καὶ Πραξαγόραν καὶ Φιλότιμον· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν δυνάμεων εἶπον ἄν, εἴ τις τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἀκριβῶς ἐξειργάσατο τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν λόγον.
Ἐπει δ' οἱ μὲν παλαιοὶ καλῶς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν
ἀποφηνάμενοι παρέλιπον ἀγωνίσασθαι τῷ λόγῳ, μηδ'
ὑπονοήσαντες ἔσεσθαί τινας εἰς τοσοῦτον
ἀναισχύντους σοφιστάς, ὡς ἀντιλέγειν ἐπιχειρῆσαι
τοῖς ἐναργέσιν, οἱ νεώτεροι δὲ τὸ μὲν τι
Pg 278
Translation
Transliteration
νικηθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν σοφισμάτων ἐπείσθησαν αὐτοῖς,
τὸ δὲ τι καὶ ἀντιλέγειν ἐπιχειρήσαντες ἀποδεῖν μοι
πολὺ τῆς τῶν παλαιῶν ἔδοξαν δυνάμεως, || 179 διὰ τοῦθ', ὡς ἂν
ἐκείνων αὐτῶν, εἴπερ ἔτ' ἦν τις, ἀγωνίσασθαί μοι
δοκεῖ πρὸς τοὺς ἀνατρέποντας τῆς τέχνης τὰ
κάλλιστα, καὶ αὐτὸς οὕτως ἐπειράθην συνθεῖναι τοὺς
λόγους.
Ὅτι δ' ἢ οὐδὲν ἢ παντάπασιν ἀνύσω τι σμικρὸν, οὐκ ἀγνοῶ· πάμπολλα γὰρ εὑρίσκω τελέως μὲν ἀποδεδειγμένα τοῖς παλαιοῖς, οὔτε δὲ συνετὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς τῶν νῦν δι' ἀμαθίαν ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐπιχειρούμενα γιγνώσκεσθαι διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν, οὔτ', εἰ καὶ γνωσθείη τινί, δικαίως ἐξεταζόμενα.
Χρὴ γὰρ τὸν μέλλοντα γνώσεσθαί τι τῶν πολλῶν
ἄμεινον εὐθὺς μὲν καὶ τῇ φύσει καὶ τῇ πρώτη
διδασκαλίᾳ πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων διενεγκεῖν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ
γένηται μειράκιον, ἀληθείας τινὰ σχεῖν ἐρωτικὴν
μανίαν, ὥσπερ ἐνθουσιῶντα καὶ μήθ' ἡμέρας μήτε
νυκτὸς διαλείπειν σπεύδοντά τε καὶ συντεταμένον
ἐκμαθεῖν, ὅσα τοῖς ἐνδοξοτάτοις εἴρηται τῶν
παλαιῶν· ἐπειδὰν δ' ἐκμάθῃ, κρίνειν αὐτὰ καὶ
βασανίζειν χρόνῳ παμπόλλῳ καὶ σκοπεῖν, πόσα μὲν
ὁμολογεῖ τοῖς ἐναργῶς φαινομένοις, πόσα δὲ
διαφέρεται, || 180 καὶ οὕτω τὰ μὲν αἱρεῖσθαι, τὰ
δ' ἀποστρέφεσθαι. τῷ μὲν δὴ τοιούτῳ πάνυ σφόδρα
χρησίμους ἤλπικα τοὺς ἡμετέρους ἔσεσθαι
Pg 280
Translation
Transliteration
λόγους· εἶεν δ' ἂν ὀλίγοι παντάπασιν οὗτοι· τοῖς
δ' ἄλλοις οὕτω γενήσεται τὸ γράμμα περιττὸν, ὡς εἰ
καὶ μῦθον ὄνῳ τις λέγοι.
Συμπεραντέον οὖν ἡμῖν τὸν λόγον ἕνεκα τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐφιεμένων ὅσα λείπει κατ' αὐτὸν ἔτι προσθεῖσιν. ὡς γὰρ ἡ γαστὴρ ἕλκει μὲν ἐναργῶς καὶ κατασπᾷ τὰ σιτία τοῖς σφόδρα πεινώδεσι, πρὶν ἀκριβῶς ἐν τῷ στόματι λειωθῆναι, δυσχεραίνει δὲ καὶ ἀπωθεῖται τοῖς ἀποσίτοις τε καὶ πρὸς ἀνάγκην ἐσθίουσιν, οὕτω καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὀργάνων ἕκαστον ἀμφοτέρας ἔχει τὰς δυνάμεις, τήν τε τῶν οἰκείων ἑλκτικὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἀποκριτικήν. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, κἂν ἐξ ἑνὸς ᾖ χιτῶνος ὄργανον τι συνεστώς, ὥσπερ καὶ αἱ κύστεις ἀμφότεραι καὶ αἱ μῆτραι καὶ αἱ φλέβες, ἀμφότερα τῶν ἰνῶν ἔχει τὰ γένη, τῶν εὐθειῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἐγκαρσίων.
Καὶ μὲν γε καὶ τρίτον τι || 181 γένος ἰνῶν ἐστι <τῶν>
λοξῶν, ἔλαττον πολὺ τῷ πλήθει τῶν προειρημένων δύο
γενῶν. εὑρίσκεται δ' ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἐκ δυοῖν χιτώνων
συνεστηκόσιν ὀργάνοις ἐν θατέρῳ μόνῳ ταῖς
εὐθείαις ἰσὶν ἀναμεμιγμένον, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐξ ἑνὸς
ἅμα τοῖς ἄλλοις δύο γένεσι. συνεπιλαμβάνουσι δ'
αὗται μέγιστον τῇ τῆς καθεκτικῆς ὀνομασθείσης
δυνάμεως ἐνεργείᾳ· δεῖται γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ
πανταχόθεν ἐσφίγχθαι καὶ περιτετάσθαι τοῖς
ἐνυπάρχουσι τὸ μόριον, ἡ
Pg 282
Translation
Transliteration
μὲν
γαστήρ ἐν τῷ τῆς πέψεως, αἱ μῆτραι δ' ἐν τῷ τῆς
κυήσεως χρόνῳ παντί.
Ταῦτ' ἄρα καὶ ὁ τῆς φλεβός χιτὼν εἷς ὢν ἐκ πολυειδῶν ἰνῶν ἐγένετο καὶ τῶν τῆς ἀρτηρίας ὁ μὲν ἔξωθεν ἐκ τῶν στρογγύλων, ὁ δ' ἔσωθεν ἐκ μὲν τῶν εὐθειῶν πλείστων, ὀλίγων δέ τινων σὺν αὐταῖς καὶ τῶν λοξῶν, ὥστε τὰς μὲν φλέβας ταῖς μήτραις καὶ ταῖς κύστεσιν ἐοικέναι κατά γε τὴν τῶν ἰνῶν σύνθεσιν, εἰ καὶ τῷ πάχει λείπονται, τὰς δ' ἀρτηρίας τῇ γαστρί. μόνα δὲ πάντων ὀργάνων ἐκ δυοῖν θ' ἅμα καὶ ἀμφοτέρων ἐγκαρσίας ἐχόντων τὰς ἶνας ἐγένετο τὰ ἔντερα. τὸ δ' ὅτι βέλτιον ἦν || 182 τῶν τ' ἄλλων ἑκαστῳ τοιούτῳ τὴν φύσιν ὑπάρχειν, οἷόνπερ καὶ νῦν ἐστι, τοῖς τ' ἐντέροις ἐκ δυοῖν ὁμοίων χιτώνων συγκεῖσθαι, τῆς περὶ χρείας μορίων πραγματείας ἐστίν. οὔκουν νῦν χρὴ ποθεῖν ἀκούειν περὶ τῶν τοιούτων, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ διὰ τί περὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν χιτώνων ἑκάστου τῶν ὀργάνων διαπεφώνηται τοῖς ἀνατομικοῖς ἀνδράσιν. ὑπὲρ μὲν γὰρ τούτων αὺτάρκως ἐν τοῖς περὶ τῆς ἀνατομικῆς διαφωνίας εἴρηται· περὶ δὲ τοῦ διότι τοιοῦτον ἕκαστον ἐγένετο τῶν ὀργάνων, ἐν τοῖς περὶ χρείας μορίων εἰρήσεται.
Νυνὶ δ' οὐδέτερον τούτων πρόκειται λέγειν, ἀλλα
τὰς φυσικὰς δυνάμεις μόνας ἀποδεικνύειν ἐν ἑκάστῳ
τῶν ὀργάνων τέτταρας ὑπαρχούσας. ἐπὶ τοῦτ' οὖν
πάλιν ἐπανελθόντες ἀναμνήσωμέν τε
Pg 284
Translation
Transliteration
τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένων ἐπιθῶμέν τε κεφαλὴν ἤδη τῷ
λόγῳ παντὶ τὸ λεῖπον ἔτι προσθέντες. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ
ἕκαστον τῶν ἐν τῷ ζῴῳ μορίων ἕλκειν εἰς ἑαυτὸ τὸν
οἰκεῖον χυμὸν ἀποδέδεικται καὶ πρώτη σχεδὸν αὕτη
τῶν φυσικῶν ἐστι δυνάμεων, ἐφεξῆς || 183 ἐκείνῳ
γνωστέον, ὡς οὐ πρότερον ἀποτρίβεται τὴν ἑλχθεῖσαν
<τροφὴν> ἤτοι σύμπασαν ἢ καί τι περίττωμα αὐτῆς,
πρὶν ἂν εἰς ἐναντίαν μεταπέσῃ διάθεσιν ἢ αὐτὸ τὸ
ὄργανον ἢ καὶ τῶν περιεχομένων ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ πλεῖστα.
ἡ μὲν οὖν γαστήρ, ἐπειδὰν μὲν ἱκανῶς ἐμπλησθῇ τῶν
σιτίων καὶ τὸ χρηστότατον αὐτῶν εἰς τοὺς ἑαυτῆς
χιτῶνας ἐναπόθηται βδάλλουσα, τηνικαῦτ' ἤδη τὸ
λοιπὸν ἀποτρίβεται καθάπερ ἄχθος ἀλλότριον· αἱ
κύστεις δ', ἐπειδὰν ἕκαστον τῶν ἑλχθέντων ἢ τῷ
πλήθει διατεῖνον ἢ τῇ ποιότητι δάκνον ἀνιαρὸν
γένηται.
Τῷ δ' αὐτῷ τρόπῳ καὶ αἱ μῆτραι· ἤτοι γάρ, ἐπειδὰν
μηκέτι φέρωσι διατεινόμεναι, τὸ λυποῦν ἀποθέσθαι
σπεύδουσιν ἢ τῇ ποιότητι δακνόμεναι τῶν ἐκχυθέντων
εἰς αὐτὰς ὑγρῶν. ἑκάτερόν δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων γίγνεται
μὲν καὶ βιαίως ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ ἀμβλώσκουσι
τηνικαῦτα, γίγνεται δ' ὡς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ
προσηκόντως, ὅπερ οὐκ ἀμβλώσκειν ἀλλ' ἀποκυΐσκειν
τε καὶ τίκτειν ὀνομάζεται. τοῖς μὲν οὖν
ἀμβλωθριδίοις φαρμάκοις ἤ τισιν ἄλλοις παθήμασι
διαφθεί||184ρουσι τὸ ἔμβρυον ἤ τινας τῶν ὑμένων
αὐτοῦ ῥηγνύουσιν αἱ ἀμβλώσεις ἕπονται, οὕτω δὲ
κἀπειδὰν ἀνιαθῶσί ποθ' αἱ μῆτραι κακῶς ἔχουσαι τῇ
διατάσει, ταῖς δὲ τῶν ἐμβρύων αὐτῶν κινήσεσι ταῖς
σφοδροτάταις οἱ τόκοι, καθάπερ καὶ τοῦθ'
Ἱπποκράτει καλῶς εἴρηται. κοινὸν δ'
Pg 286
Translation
Transliteration
ἁπασῶν τῶν διαθέσεων ἡ ἀνία καὶ ταύτης αἴτιον
τριττὸν ἢ ὄγκος περιττὸς ἤ τι βάρος ἢ δῆξις· ὄγκος
μὲν, ἐπειδὰν μηκέτι φέρωσι διατεινόμεναι, βάρος
δ', ἐπειδὰν ὑπὲρ τὴν ῥώμην αὐτῶν ᾖ τὸ
περιεχόμενον, δῆξις δ', ἐπειδὰν ἤτοι τὰ πρότερον
ἐν τοῖς ὑμέσιν ὑγρὰ στεγόμενα ῥαγέντων αὐτῶν εἰς
αὐτὰς ἐκχυθῇ τὰς μήτρας ἢ καὶ σύμπαν ἀποφθαρὲν τὸ
κύημα σηπόμενόν τε καὶ διαλυόμενον εἰς μοχθηροὺς
ἰχῶρας οὕτως ἐρεθίζῃ τε καὶ δάκνῃ τὸν χιτῶνα τῶν
ὑστερῶν.
Ἀνάλογον οὖν ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς ὀργάνοις ἕκαστα τῶν τ' ἔργων αὐτῶν τῶν φυσικῶν καὶ μέντοι τῶν παθημάτων τε καὶ νοσημάτων φαίνεται γιγνόμενα, τὰ μὲν ἐναργῶς καὶ σαφῶς οὕτως, ὡς ἀποδείξεως δεῖσθαι μηδέν, τὰ δ' ἧττον μὲν ἐναργῶς, οὐ μὴν ἄγνωστα γε παντάπασι τοῖς || 185 ἐθέλουσι προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν.
Ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς γαστρὸς αἵ τε δήξεις ἐναργεῖς,
διότι πλείστης αἰσθήσεως μετέχει, τά τ' ἄλλα
παθήματα τά τε ναυτίαν ἐμποιοῦντα καὶ οἱ
καλούμενοι καρδιωγμοὶ σαφῶς ἐνδείκνυνται τὴν
ἀποκριτικήν τε καὶ ἀπωστικὴν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων
δύναμιν, οὕτω δὲ κἀπὶ τῶν ὑστερῶν τε καὶ τῆς
κύστεως τῆς τὸ οὖρον ὑποδεχομένης· ἐναργῶς γὰρ οὖν
καὶ αὕτη φαίνεται μέχρι τοσούτου τὸ ὑγρόν
ὑποδεχομένη τε καὶ ἀθροίζουσα, ἄχρις ἂν ἤτοι πρὸς
τοῦ πλήθους αὐτοῦ διατεινομένη μηκέτι φέρῃ τὴν
ἀνίαν ἢ πρὸς τῆς ποιότητος δακνομένη· χρονίζον γὰρ
ἕκαστον τῶν περιττωμάτων ἐν τῷ σώματι σήπεται
δηλονότι, τὸ μὲν ἐλάττονι, τὸ δὲ πλείονι χρόνῳ,
καὶ οὕτω δακνῶδές τε καὶ δριμὺ καὶ ἀνιαρὸν τοῖς
περιέχουσι γίγνεται. οὐ μὴν
Pg 288
Translation
Transliteration
ἐπὶ γε τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ ἥπατι κύστεως ὁμοίως ἔχει· ᾧ δῆλον,
ὅτι νεύρων ἥκιστα μετέχει. χρὴ δὲ κἀνταῦθα τὸν γε
φυσικὸν ἄνδρα τὸ ἀνάλογον ἐξευρίσκειν. εἰ γὰρ
ἕλκειν τε τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀπεδείχθη χυμόν, ὡς
φαίνεσθαι πολλάκις μεστήν, ἀποκρί||186νειν τε τὸν
αὐτὸν τούτον οὐκ εἰς μακράν, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν αὐτὴν
ἢ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος βαρυνομένην ἢ τῆς ποιότητος
μεταβαλλούσης ἐπὶ τὸ δακνῶδές τε καὶ δριμὺ τῆς
ἀποκρίσεως ἐφίεσθαι. οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὰ μὲν σιτία τὴν
ἀρχαίαν ὑπαλλάττει ποιότητα ταχέως οὕτως, ὥστ',
ἐπειδὰν ἐμπέσῃ τοῖς λεπτοῖς ἐντέροις, εὐθὺς εἶναι
κόπρον, ἡ χολὴ δ' οὐ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ οὖρον,
ἐπειδὰν ἅπαξ ἐκπέσῃ τῶν φλεβῶν, ἐξαλλάττει τὴν
ποιότητα, τάχιστα μεταβάλλοντα καὶ σηπόμενα. καὶ
μὴν εἴπερ ἐπί τε τῶν κατὰ τὰς ὑστέρας καὶ τὴν
κοιλίαν καὶ τὰ ἔντερα καὶ προσέτι τὴν τὸ οὖρον
ὑποδεχομένην κύστιν ἐναργῶς φαίνεται διάτασίς τις
ἢ δῆξις ἢ ἄχθος ἐπεγεῖρον ἕκαστον τῶν ὀργάνων εἰς
ἀπόκρισιν, οὐδὲν χαλεπὸν κἀπὶ τῆς χοληδόχου
κύστεως ταὐτὸ τοῦτ' ἐννοεῖν ἐπὶ τε τῶν ἄλλων
ἁπάντων ὀργάνων, ἐξ ὧν δηλονότι καὶ αἱ ἀρτηρίαι
καὶ αἱ φλέβες εἰσίν.
Οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὸ διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πόρου τήν θ' ὁλκὴν
γίγνεσθαι καὶ τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ἐν διαφέρουσι || 187
χρόνοις οὐδὲν ἔτι χαλεπὸν ἐξευρεῖν, εἴ γε καὶ τῆς
γαστρὸς ὁ στόμαχος οὐ μόνον ἐδέσματα
Pg 290
Translation
Transliteration
καὶ πόματα παράγων εἰς αὐτήν, ἀλλὰ κἀν ταῖς
ναυτίαις τὴν ἐναντίαν ὑπηρεσίαν ὑπηρετῶν ἐναργῶς
φαίνεται, καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ ἥπατι κύστεως ὁ αὐχὴν εἷς
ὢν ἅμα μὲν πληροῖ δι' αὑτοῦ τὴν κύστιν, ἅμα δ'
ἐκκενοῖ, καὶ τῶν μητρῶν ὁ στόμαχος ὡσαύτως ὁδός
ἐστιν εἴσω μὲν τοῦ σπέρματος, ἔξω δὲ τοῦ κυήματος.
Ἀλλὰ κἀνταῦθα πάλιν ἡ μὲν ἐκκριτικὴ δύναμις ἐναργής, οὐ μὴν ὁμοίως γ' αὐτῇ σαφὴς τοῖς πολλοῖς ἡ ἑλκτική· ἀλλ' Ἱπποκράτης μὲν ἀρρώστου μήτρας αἰτιώμενος αὐχένα φησί· “Οὐ γὰρ δύναται αὐτέης ὁ στόμαχος εἰρύσαι τὴν γονήν.”
Ἐρασίστρατος δὲ καὶ Ἀσκληπιάδης εἰς τοσοῦτον ἥκουσι σοφίας, ὥστ' οὐ μόνον τὴν κοιλίαν καὶ τὰς μήτρας ἀποστεροῦσι τῆς τοιαύτης δυνάμεως ἀλλα καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ ἥπατι κύστιν ἅμα τοῖς νεφροῖς. καὶτοι γ' ὅτι μηδ' εἰπεῖν δυνατὸν ἕτερον αἴτιον ἢ οὔρων ἢ χολῆς διακρίσεως, ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ δέδεικται λόγῳ.
Καὶ μήτραν οὖν καὶ γαστέρα καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ ἥπατι
κύστιν δι' ἑνὸς καὶ ταὐτοῦ στο||188μάχου τήν θ'
ὁλκὴν καὶ τὴν ἀπόκρισιν εὑρίσκοντες ποιουμένας
μηκέτι θαυμάζωμεν, εἰ καὶ διὰ τῶν φλεβῶν ἡ φύσις
ἐκκρίνει πολλάκις εἰς τὴν γαστέρα περιττώματα.
τούτου δ' ἔτι μᾶλλον οὐ χρὴ θαυμάζειν, εἰ, δι' ὧν
εἰς ἧπαρ ἀνεδόθη φλεβῶν ἐκ γαστρὸς, αὖθις εἰς
αὐτὴν ἐξ ἥπατος ἐν ταῖς μακροτέραις ἀσιτίαις
ἕλκεσθαί τις δύναται τροφή. τὸ γὰρ τοῖς τοιούτοις
ἀπιστεῖν
Pg 292
Translation
Transliteration
ὅμοιον ἐστί δήπου τῷ
μηκέτι πιστεύειν μηδ' ὅτι τὰ καθαίροντα φάρμακα
διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν στομάτων ἐξ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος εἰς τὴν
γαστέρα τοὺς οἰκείους ἐπισπᾶται χυμούς, δι' ὧν
ἔμπροσθεν ἡ ἀνάδοσις ἐγένετο, ἀλλ' ἕτέρα μὲν
ζητεῖν ἀναδόσεως, ἕτέρα δὲ καθάρσεως στόματα. καὶ
μὴν εἴπερ ἓν καὶ ταὐτὸ στόμα διτταῖς ὑπηρετεῖ
δυνάμεσιν, ἐν διαφόροις χρόνοις εἰς τἀναντία τὴν
ὁλκὴν ποιουμέναις, ἔμπροσθεν μὲν τῇ κατὰ τὸ ἧπαρ,
ἐν δὲ τῷ τῆς καθάρσεως καιρῷ τῇ τοῦ φαρμάκου, τί
θαυμαστὸν ἐστι διττὴν ὑπηρεσίαν τε καὶ χρείαν
εἶναι ταῖς φλεψὶ ταῖς ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τεταγμέναις
ἥπατος τε καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν, ὥσθ', ὁπότε
μὲν ἐν τούτοις ἄφθονος εἴη περιεχομένη τροφή, διὰ
τῶν εἰρημένων εἰς || 189 ἧπαρ ἀναφέρεσθαι φλεβῶν,
ὁπότε δ' ἔιη κενὰ καὶ δεόμενα τρέφεσθαι, διὰ τῶν
αὐτῶν αὖθις ἐξ ἥπατος ἕλκεσθαι;
Πᾶν γὰρ ἐκ παντὸς ἕλκειν φαίνεται καὶ παντὶ μεταδιδόναι καὶ μία τις εἶναι σύρροια καὶ σύμπνοια πάντων, καθάπερ καὶ τοῦθ' ὁ θειότατος Ἱπποκράτης εἶπεν. ἕλκει μὲν οὖν τὸ ἰσχυρότερον, ἐκκενοῦται δὲ τὸ ἀσθενέστερον.
Ἰσχυρότερον δὲ καὶ ἀσθενέστερον ἕτερον ἑτέρου
μόριον ἢ ἁπλῶς καὶ φύσει καὶ κοινῇ πᾶσίν ἐστιν ἢ
ἰδίως τῷδε τινι γίγνεται. φύσει μὲν καὶ κοινῇ
πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις θ' ἅμα καὶ ζῴοις ἡ μὲν καρδία τοῦ
ἥπατος, τὸ δ' ἧπαρ τῶν ἐντέρων τε καὶ τῆς γαστρός,
αἱ δ' ἀρτηρίαι τῶν φλεβῶν ἑλκύσαι τε τὸ χρήσιμον
ἑαυταῖς ἀποκρῖναί τε τὸ μὴ τοιοῦτον
Pg 294
Translation
Transliteration
ἰσχυρότεραι. καθ' ἕκαστον δ' ἡμῶν ἰδίως ἐν μὲν
τῷδε τῷ καιρῷ τὸ ἧπαρ ἰσχυρότερον ἕλκειν, ἡ
γαστὴρ δ' ἐν τῷδε. πολλῆς μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ
περιεχομένης τροφῆς καὶ σφοδρῶς ὀρεγομένου τε καὶ
χρῇζοντος τοῦ ἥπατος, πάντως ἰσχυρότερον ἕλκει τὸ
σπλάγχνον· ἔμπαλιν δὲ τοῦ μὲν ἥπατος ἐμπεπλησμένου
τε καὶ δια||τεταμένου, 190 τῆς γαστρὸς δ'
ὀρεγομένης καὶ κενῆς ὑπαρχούσης ἡ τῆς ὁλκῆς ἰσχὺς
εἰς ἐκείνην μεθίσταται.
Ὡς γάρ, εἰ κἂν ταῖς χερσί τινα σιτία κατέχοντες ἀλλήλων ἁρπάζοιμεν, εἰ μὲν ὁμοίως ἔιημεν δεόμενοι, περιγίγνεσθαι τὸν ἰσχυρότερον ἐικός, εἰ δ' οὗτος μὲν ἐμπεπλησμένος εἴη καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' ἀμελῶς κατέχων τὰ περιττὰ ἢ καὶ τινι μεταδοῦναι ποθῶν, ὁ δ' ἀσθενέστερος ὀρέγοιτο δεινῶς, οὐδὲν ἂν εἴη κώλυμα τοῦ μὴ πάντα λαβεῖν αὐτὸν, οὕτω καὶ ἡ γαστήρ ἐκ τοῦ ἥπατος ἐπισπᾶται ῥᾳδίως, ὅταν αὐτὴ μὲν ἱκανῶς ὀρέγηται τροφῆς, ἐμπεπλησμένον δ' ᾖ τὸ σπλάγχνον. καὶ τοῦ γε μὴ πεινῆν ἐνίοτε τὸ ζῷον ἡ περιουσία τῆς ἐν ἥπατι τροφῆς αἰτία· κρείττονα γὰρ ἔχουσα καὶ ἑτοιμοτέραν ἡ γαστὴρ τροφὴν οὐδὲν δεῖται τῆς ἔξωθεν· εἰ δέ γέ ποτε δέοιτο μέν, ἀποροίη δέ, πληροῦται περιττωμάτων. ἰχῶρες δέ τινές εἰσι ταῦτα χολώδεις τε καὶ φλεγματώδεις καὶ ὀρρώδεις, οὓς μόνους ἑλκούσῃ μεθίησιν αὐτῇ τὸ ἧπαρ, ὅταν ποτὲ καὶ αὐτὴ δέηται τροφῆς.
Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐξ ἀλλήλων ἕλκει τὰ μόρια || 191 τροφήν,
οὕτω καὶ ἀποτίθεταί ποτ' εἰς ἄλληλα
Pg 296
Translation
Transliteration
τὸ περιττὸν καὶ ὥσπερ ἑλκόντων ἐπλεονέκτει τὸ
ἰσχυρότερον, οὕτω καὶ ἀποτιθεμένων καὶ τῶν γε
καλουμένων ῥευμάτων ἥδε ἡ πρόφασις. ἕκαστον γὰρ
τῶν μορίων ἔχει τινὰ τόνον σύμφυτον, ᾧ διωθεῖται
τὸ περιττὸν. ὅταν οὖν ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀρρωστότερον
γένηται κατὰ δή τινα διάθεσιν, ἐξ ἁπάντων εἰς
ἐκεῖνο συρρεῖν ἀνάγκη τὰ περιττώματα. τὸ μὲν γὰρ
ἰσχυρότατον ἐναποτίθεται τοῖς πλησίον ἅπασιν,
ἐκείνων δ' αὖ πάλιν ἕκαστον εἰς ἕτερ' ἄττα τῶν
ἀσθενεστέρων, εἶτ' αὖθις ἐκείνων ἕκαστον εἰς ἄλλα
καὶ τοῦτ' ἐπὶ πλεῖστον γίγνεται, μέχρι περ ἂν ἐξ
ἁπάντων ἐλαυνόμενον τὸ περίττωμα καθ' ἕν τι μείνη
τῶν ἀσθενεστάτων· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ οὐκέτ' εἰς ἄλλο
δύναται μεταρρεῖν, ὡς ἂν μήτε δεχομένου τινὸς αὐτὸ
τῶν ἰσχυροτέρων μήτ' ἀπώσασθαι δυναμένου τοῦ
πεπονθότος.
Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν παθῶν τῆς γενέσεως καὶ τῆς
ἰάσεως αὖθις ἡμῶν ἐπιδεικνύντων ἱκανὰ κἀξ ἐκείνων
ἔσται λαβεῖν μαρτύρια τῶν ἐν τῷδε τῷ λόγῳ παντὶ
|| 192 δεδειγμένων ὀρθῶς. ὁ δ' ἐν τῷ παρόντι δεῖξαι
προὔκειτο, πάλιν ἀναλάβωμεν, ὡς οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν ἐξ
ἥπατος ἥκειν τινὰ τροφὴν ἐντέροις τε καὶ γαστρὶ
διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν φλεβῶν, δι' ὧν ἔμπροσθεν ἐξ ἐκείνων
εἰς ἧπαρ ἀνεδίδοτο. καὶ πολλοῖς ἀθρόως τε καὶ
τελέως ἀποστᾶσιν ἰσχυρῶν γυμνασίων ἤ τι κῶλον
ἀποκοπεῖσιν αἵματος διὰ τῶν ἐντέρων γίγνεται
κένωσις ἔκ τινων περιόδων, ὥς που καὶ Ἱπποκράτης
ἔλεγεν, οὐδὲν μὲν ἄλλο λυποῦσα, καθαίρουσα δ'
ὀξέως τὸ πᾶν σῶμα καὶ τὰς πλησμονὰς ἐκκενοῦσα, διὰ
τῶν
Pg 298
Translation
Transliteration
αὐτῶν δήπου φλεβῶν τῆς
φορᾶς τῶν περιττῶν ἐπιτελουμένης, δι' ὧν ἔμπροσθεν
ἡ ἀνάδοσις ἐγίγνετο.
Πολλάκις δ' ἐν νόσοις ἡ φύσις διὰ μὲν τῶν αὐτῶν δήπου φλεβῶν τὸ πᾶν ἐκκαθαίρει ζῷον, οὐ μὴν αἱματώδης γ' ἡ κένωσις αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν λυποῦντα γίγνεται χυμόν. οὕτω δὲ κἀν ταῖς χολέραις ἐκκενοῦται τὸ πᾶν σῶμα διὰ τῶν εἰς ἔντερά τε καὶ γαστέρα καθηκουσῶν φλεβῶν.
Τὸ δ' οἴεσθαι μίαν εἶναι ταῖς ὕλαις φορὰν τελέως ἀγνοοῦντός ἐστι τὰς φυσικὰς || 193 δυνάμεις τὰς τ' ἄλλας καὶ τὴν ἐκκριτικὴν ἐναντίαν οὖσαν τῇ ἑλκτικτῇ· ταῖς γὰρ ἐναντίαις δυνάμεσιν ἐναντίας κινήσεις τε καὶ φορὰς τῶν ὑλῶν ἀναγκαῖον ἀκολουθεῖν. ἕκαστον γὰρ τῶν μορίων, ὅταν ἑλκύσῃ τὸν οἰκεῖον χυμόν, ἔπειτα κατάσχῃ καὶ ἀπολαύσῃ, τὸ περιττὸν ἅπαν ἀποθέσθαι σπεύδει, καθότι μάλιστα δύναται τάχιστα θ' ἅμα καὶ κάλλιστα, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ περιττοῦ ῥοπήν.
Ὅθεν ἡ γαστὴρ τὰ μὲν ἐπιπολάζοντα τῶν περιττωμάτων
ἐμέτοις ἐκκαθαίρει, τὰ δ' ὑφιστάμενα διαρροίαις.
καὶ τὸ γε ναυτιῶδες γίγνεσθαι τὸ ζῷον τοῦτ' ἔστιν
ὁρμῆσαι τὴν γαστέρα κενωθῆναι δι' ἐμέτου. οὕτω δὲ
δή τι βίαιον καὶ σφοδρὸν ἡ ἐκκριτικὴ δύναμις ἔχει,
ὥστ' ἐν τοῖς εἰλεοῖς, ὅταν ἀποκλεισθῇ τελέως ἡ
κάτω διέξοδος, ἐμεῖται κόπρος. καίτοι πρὶν
διελθεῖν τὸ τε λεπτὸν ἔντερον ἅπαν καὶ τὴν νῆστιν
καὶ τὸν πυλωρὸν καὶ τὴν γαστέρα καὶ τὸν οἰσοφάγον
οὐχ οἷόν τε διὰ τοῦ στόματος ἐκπεσεῖν οὐδενὶ
τοιούτῳ περιττώματι. τί δὴ θαυμαστόν, εἰ κἀκ τῆς
ἐσχάτης
Pg 300
Translation
Transliteration
ἐπιφανείας τῆς κατὰ τὸ
δέρμα μέχρι τῶν ἐντέρων τε καὶ τῆς γαστρὸς
ἀφικνοῖτό τι || 194 μεταλαμβανόμενον, ὡς καὶ τοῦθ'
Ἱπποκράτης ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν, οὐ πνεῦμα μόνον ἢ
περίττωμα φάσκων ἀλλα καὶ τὴν τροφὴν αὐτὴν ἐκ τῆς
ἐσχάτης ἐπιφανείας αὖθις ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχήν, ὅθεν
ἀνηνέχθη, καταφέρεσθαι. ἐλάχισται γὰρ ῥοπαὶ
κινήσεων τὴν ἐκκριτικὴν ταύτην οἰακίζουσι δύναμιν,
ὡς ἂν διὰ τῶν ἐγκαρσίων μὲν ἰνῶν γιγνομένην,
ὠκύτατα δὲ διαδιδομένην ἀπὸ τῆς κινησάσης ἀρχῆς
ἐπὶ τὰ καταντικρὺ πέρατα. οὔκουν ἀπεικὸς οὐδ'
ἀδύνατον ἀήθει ποτὲ ψύξει τὸ πρὸς τῷ δέρματι
μόριον ἐξαίφνης πιληθὲν ἅμα μὲν ἀρρωστότερον αὐτὸ
γενόμενον, ἅμα δ' οἷον ἄχθος τι μᾶλλον ἢ
παρασκευὴν θρέψεως ἔχον τὴν ἔμπροσθεν ἀλύπως αὐτῷ
παρεσπαρμένην ὑγρότητα καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' ἀπωθεῖσθαι
σπεῦδον, ἅμα δὲ τῆς ἔξω φορᾶς ἀποκεκλεισμένης τῇ
πυκνώσει, πρὸς τὴν λοιπὴν ἐπιστραφῆναι καὶ οὕτω
βιασάμενον εἰς τὸ παρακείμενον αὐτῷ μόριον ἀθρόως
ἀπώσασθαι τὸ περιττόν, ἐκεῖνο δ' αὖ πάλιν εἰς τὸ
μετ' αὐτὸ, || 195 καὶ τοῦτο μὴ παύσασθαι γιγνόμενον,
ἄχρις ἂν ἡ μετάληψις ἐπὶ τὰ ἐντὸς πέρατα τῶν
φλεβῶν τελευτήσῃ.
Αἱ μὲν δὴ τοιαῦται κινήσεις θᾶττον ἀποπαύονται, αἱ
δ' ἀπὸ τῶν ἔνδοθεν διερεθιζόντων, ὡς ἔν τε τοῖς
καθαίρουσι φαρμάκοις καὶ ταῖς χολέραις ἰσχυρότεραι
τε πολὺ καὶ μονιμώτεραι γίγνονται καὶ διαμένουσιν,
ἔστ' ἂν καὶ ἡ περὶ τοῖς στόμασι τῶν ἀγγείων
διάθεσις, ἡ τὸ πλησίον
Pg 302
Translation
Transliteration
ἕλκουσα,
παραμένῃ. αὕτη μὲν γὰρ τὸ συνεχὲς ἐκκενοῖ μόριον,
ἐκεῖνο δ' αὖ τὸ μετ' αὐτὸ καὶ τοῦτ' οὐ παύεται
μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἐπιφανείας, ὥστε διαδιδόντων τῶν
ἐφεξῆς ἀεὶ μορίων ἑτέρων ἑτέροις τὸ πρῶτον πάθος
ὠκύτατα διικνεῖσθαι μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων. οὕτως οὖν
ἔχει κἀπὶ τῶν εἰλεῶν. αὐτὸ μὲν γὰρ τὸ φλεγμαῖνον
ἔντερον οὔτε τοῦ βάρους οὔτε τῆς δριμύτητος
ἀνέχεται τῶν περιττωμάτων καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' ἐκκρίνειν
αὐτὰ σπεύδει καὶ ἀπωθεῖσθαι πορρωτάτω. κωλυόμενον
δὲ κάτω ποιεῖσθαι τὴν δίωσιν, ὅταν ἐνταυθοῖ ποτε
τὸ σφοδρότατον ᾖ τῆς φλεγμονῆς, εἰς τὰ πλησιάζοντα
τῶν ὑπερκειμένων ἐντέρων ἀπωθεῖται. καὶ οὕτως ἤδη
κατὰ || 196 τὸ συνεχὲς τὴν ῥοπὴν τῆς ἐκκριτικῆς
δυνάμεως ἄνω ποιησαμένης ἄχρι τοῦ στόματος
ἐπανέρχεται τὰ περιττώματα.
Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν δὴ κἀν τοῖς τῶν νοσημάτων λογισμοῖς
ἐπὶ πλέον εἰρήσεται. τὸ δ' ἐκ παντὸς εἰς πᾶν
φέρεσθαί τι καὶ μεταλαμβάνεσθαι καὶ μίαν ἁπάντων
εἶναι σύμπνοιάν τε καὶ σύρροιαν, ὡς Ἱπποκράτης
ἔλεγεν, ἤδη μοι δοκῶ δεδεῖχθαι σαφῶς καὶ μηκέτ' ἂν
τινα, μηδ' εἰ βραδὺς αὐτῷ νοῦς ἐνείη, περὶ τῶν
τοιούτων ἀπορῆσαι μηδενός, οἷον ὅπως ἡ γαστὴρ ἢ τὰ
ἔντερα τρέφεται καὶ τίνα τρόπον ἐκ τῆς ἐσχάτης
ἐπιφανείας ἔισω τι διικνεῖται. πάντων γὰρ τῶν
μορίων ἕλκειν μὲν τὸ προσῆκόν τε καὶ φίλιον,
ἀποκρίνειν δὲ τὸ βαρῦνον ἢ δάκνον ἐχόντων δύναμιν
οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν ἐναντίας συνεχῶς γίγνεσθαι
κινήσεις ἐν
Pg 304
Translation
Transliteration
αὐτοῖς, ὥσπερ ἐπί
τε τῆς καρδίας ὁρᾶταί σαφῶς καὶ τῶν ἀρτηριῶν
ἁπασῶν καὶ τοῦ θώρακος καὶ τοῦ πνεύμονος. ἐπὶ μέν
γε τούτων ἁπάντων μόνον οὐ καθ' ἑκάστην καιροῦ
ῥοπὴν τὰς ἐναντίας κινήσεις θ' ἅμα τῶν ὀργάνων καὶ
φορὰς τῶν ὑλῶν || 197 ἐναργῶς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν
γιγνομένας. εἶτ' ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς τραχείας ἀρτηρίας οὐκ
ἀπορεῖς ἐναλλὰξ ποτὲ μὲν εἴσω παραγούσης εἰς τὸν
πνεύμονα τὸ πνεῦμα, ποτὲ δ' ἔξω, καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὰς
ῥῖνας πόρων καὶ ὅλου τοῦ στόματος ὡσαύτως οὐδ'
εἶναί σοι δοκεῖ θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲ παράδοξον, εἰ, δι'
οὗ μικρῷ πρόσθεν ἔισω παρεκομίζετο τὸ πνεῦμα, διὰ
τούτου νῦν ἐκπέμπεται, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐξ ἥπατος εἰς
ἔντερά τε καὶ γαστέρα καθηκουσῶν φλεβῶν ἀπορεῖς
καὶ σοι θαυμαστὸν εἶναι φαίνεται, διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν
ἀναδίδοσθαί θ' ἅμα τὴν τροφὴν εἰς ἧπαρ ἕλκεσθαί τ'
ἐξ ἐκείνου πάλιν εἰς γαστέρα; διόρισαι δὴ τὸ ἅμα
τοῦτο ποτέρως λέγεις. εἰ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν
χρόνον, οὐδ' ἡμεῖς τοῦτό γέ φαμεν. ὥσπερ γὰρ
ἐισπνέομεν ἐν ἑτέρῳ χρόνῳ καὶ αὖθις πάλιν ἐν
ἑτέρῳ ἀντεκπνέομεν, οὕτω καὶ τροφὴν ἐν ἑτέρῳ μὲν
χρόνῳ τὸ ἧπαρ ἐκ τῆς γαστρός, ἐν ἑτέρῳ δ' ἡ
γαστὴρ ἐκ τοῦ ἥπατος ἐπισπᾶται. εἰ δ' ὅτι καθ' ἓν
καὶ ταὐτὸ ζῷον ἓν ὄργανον ἐναντίαις φοραῖς ὑλῶν
ὑπηρετεῖ, τοῦτό σοι βούλεται δηλοῦν τὸ ἅμα καὶ
τοῦτό σε ταράττει, τήν τ' || 198 ἐισπνοὴν ἰδὲ καὶ
τὴν ἐκπνοήν. πάντως που καὶ αὗται διὰ μὲν τῶν
αὐτῶν ὀργάνων γίγνονται, τρόπῳ δὲ κινήσεώς τε καὶ
φορᾶς τῶν ὑλῶν διαφέρουσιν.
Pg 306
Translation
Transliteration
Ὁ πνεύμων μὲν οὖν καὶ ὁ θώραξ καὶ ἀρτηρίαι αἱ τραχεῖαι καὶ αἱ λεῖαι καὶ καρδία καὶ στόμα καὶ ῥῖνες ἐν ἐλαχίσταις χρόνου ῥοπαις εἰς ἐναντίας κινήσεις αὐτά τε μεταβάλλει καὶ τὰς ὕλας μεθίστησιν. αἱ δ' ἐξ ἥπατος εἰς ἔντερα καὶ γαστέρα καθήκουσαι φλέβες οὐκ ἐν οὕτω βραχέσι χρόνου μορίοις ἀλλ' ἐν πολλαῖς ἡμέραις ἅπαξ ἐνίοτε τὴν ἐναντίαν κινοῦνται κίνησιν.
Ἔχει γὰρ ὧδε τὸ σύμπαν. ἕκαστον τῶν ὀργάνων εἰς
ἑαυτὸ τὴν πλησιάζουσαν ἐπισπᾶται τροφὴν
ἐκβοσκόμενον αὐτῆς ἅπασαν τὴν χρηστὴν νοτίδα,
μέχρις ἂν ἱκανῶς κορεσθῇ, καὶ ταύτην, ὡς καὶ
πρόσθεν ἐδείκνυμεν, ἐναποτίθεται ἑαυτῷ καὶ μετὰ
ταῦτα προσφύει τε καὶ ὁμοιοῖ, τουτέστι τρέφεται.
διώρισται γὰρ ἱκανῶς ἔμπροσθεν ἕτερον τι τῆς
θρέψεως ἐξ ἀνάγκης αὐτῆς προηγούμενον ἡ πρόσφυσις
ὑπάρχειν, ἐκείνης δ' ἔτι πρότερον ἡ πρόσθεσις.
ὥσπερ οὖν || 199 τοῖς ζῴοις αὐτοῖς ὅρος ἐστὶ τῆς
ἐδωδῆς τὸ πληρῶσαι τὴν γαστέρα, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν
τρόπον ἑκάστῳ τῶν μορίων ὅρος ἐστὶ τῆς προσθέσεως
ἡ πλήρωσις τῆς οἰκείας ὑγρότητος. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἅπαν
μόριον τῇ γαστρὶ ὁμοίως ὀρέγεται τρέφεσθαι, καὶ
περιπτύσσεται τῇ τροφῇ καὶ οὕτω σφίγγει πανταχόθεν
αὐτὴν ὡς ἡ γαστήρ. ἕπεται δ' ἐξ ἀνάγκης τούτῳ,
καθάπερ καὶ πρόσθεν ἐρρέθη, τὸ πέττεσθαι τοῖς
σιτίοις, τῆς γαστρὸς οὐ διὰ τοῦτο περιστελλομένης
αὐτοῖς, ἵν' ἐπιτήδεια τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐργάσηται
μορίοις· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν οὐκέτι φυσικὸν
Pg 308
Translation
Transliteration
ὄργανον ἀλλὰ ζῷόν τι γίγνοιτο λογισμόν τε καὶ νοῦν
ἔχον, ὡς αἱρεῖσθαι τὸ βέλτιον.
Ἀλλ' αὕτη μὲν περιστέλλεται τῷ τὸ πᾶν σῶμα δύναμιν ἑλκτικήν τινα καὶ ἀπολαυστικὴν κεκτῆσθαι τῶν οἰκείων ποιοτήτων, ὡς ἔμπροσθεν ἐδείκνυτο· συμβαίνει δ' ἐν τούτῳ τοῖς σιτίοις ἀλλοιοῦσθαι. καὶ μέντοι καὶ πληρωθεῖσα τῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν ὑγρότητος καὶ κορεσθεῖσα βάρος ἡγεῖται τὸ λοιπὸν αὐτά. τὸ περιττὸν οὖν εὐθὺς ἀποτρίβεται τε καὶ ὠθεῖ κάτω πρὸς || 200 ἕτερον ἔργον αὐτὴ τρεπομένη, τὴν πρόσφυσιν. ἐν δὲ τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ διερχομένη τὸ ἔντερον ἅπαν ἡ τροφὴ διὰ τῶν εἰς αὐτὸ καθηκόντων ἀγγείων ἀναρπάζεται, πλείστη μὲν εἰς τὰς φλέβας, ὀλίγη δὲ τις εἰς τὰς ἀρτηρίας, ὡς μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀποδείξομεν. ἐν τούτῳ δ' αὖ τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἐντέρων χιτῶσι προστίθεται.
Καί μοι τεμὼν ἤδη τῷ λογισμῷ τὴν τῆς τροφῆς οἰκονομίαν ἅπασαν εἰς τρεῖς μοίρας χρόνων, ἐν μὲν τῇ πρώτῃ νόει μένουσάν θ' ἅμα κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν αὐτὴν καὶ πεττομένην καὶ προστιθεμένην εἰς κόρον τῇ γαστρὶ καὶ τι καὶ τῷ ἥπατι παρ' αὐτῆς ἀναφερόμενον.
Ἐν δὲ τῇ δευτέρα, διερχομένην τά τ' ἔντερα καὶ προστιθεμένην εἰς κόρον αὐτοῖς τε τούτοις καὶ τῷ ἥπατι καὶ τι βραχὺ μέρος αὐτῆς πάντη τοῦ σώματος φερόμενον· ἐν δὲ δὴ τούτῳ τῷ καὶρῷ τὸ προστεθὲν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ χρόνῳ προσφύεσθαι νόει τῇ γαστρί.
Κατὰ δὲ τὴν τρίτην μοῖραν τοῦ χρόνου τρέφεσθαι
Pg 310
Translation
Transliteration
μὲν ἤδη τὴν κοιλίαν ὁμοιώσασαν
ἑαυτῇ τελέως τὰ προσφύντα, πρόσφυσιν δὲ τοῖς
ἐντέροις καὶ τῷ ἥπατι γίγνεσθαι τῶν προστεθέντων,
ἀνά||201δοσιν δὲ πάντη τοῦ σώματος καὶ πρόσθεσιν.
εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις εὐθέως τὸ ζῷον λαμβάνοι
τροφήν, ἐν ᾧ πάλιν ἡ γαστὴρ χρόνῳ πέττει τε
ταύτην καὶ ἀπολαύει προστιθεῖσα πᾶν ἐξ αὐτῆς τὸ
χρηστὸν τοῖς ἑαυτῆς χιτῶσι, τὰ μὲν ἔντερα τελέως
ὁμοιώσει τὸν προσφύντα χυμόν, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ
ἧπαρ. ἐν ὅλῳ δὲ τῷ σώματι πρόσφυσις τῶν
προστεθέντων τῆς τροφῆς ἔσται μορίων. εἰ δ' ἄσιτος
ἀναγκάζοιτο μένειν ἡ γαστὴρ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ,
παρὰ τῶν ἐν μεσεντερίῳ τε καὶ ἥπατι φλεβῶν ἕλξει
τὴν τροφήν· οὐ γὰρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γε τοῦ σώματος τοῦ
ἥπατος. λέγω δὲ σῶμα τοῦ ἥπατος αὐτήν τε τὴν ἰδίαν
αὐτοῦ σάρκα πρώτην καὶ μάλιστα, μετὰ δὲ τήνδε καὶ
τῶν ἀγγείων ἕκαστον τῶν κατ' αὐτό. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἐν
ἑκάστῳ τῶν μορίων ἤδη περιεχόμενον χυμὸν οὐκέτ'
εὔλογον ἀντισπᾶν ἑτέρῳ μορίῳ καὶ μάλισθ' ὅταν ἤδη
πρόσφυσις ἢ ἐξομοίωσις αὐτοῦ γίγνηται. τὸν δ' ἐν
ταῖς ἐυρυχωρίαις τῶν φλεβῶν τὸ μᾶλλον ἰσχύον θ'
ἅμα καὶ δεόμενον ἀντισπᾷ μόριον.
Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἡ γαστὴρ ἐν || 202 ᾧ χρόνῳ δεῖται μὲν
αὐτὴ τροφῆς, ἐσθίει δ' οὐδέπω τὸ ζῷον, ἐν τούτῳ
τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἧπαρ ἐξαρπάζει φλεβῶν. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὸν
σπλῆνα διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐδείκνυμεν ὅσον ἐν ἥπατι
παχύτερον ἕλκοντα
Pg 312
Translation
Transliteration
κατεργάζεσθαί
τε καὶ μεταβάλλειν ἐπὶ τὸ χρηστότερον, οὐδὲν οὐδ'
ἐνταῦθα θαυμαστὸν ἕλκεσθαί τι κἀκ τοῦ σπληνὸς εἰς
ἕκαστον τῶν κοινωνούντων αὐτῷ κατὰ τὰς φλέβας
ὀργάνων, οἷον εἰς ἐπίπλοον καὶ μεσεντέριον καὶ
λεπτὸν ἔντερον καὶ κῶλον καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν γαστέρα·
κατὰ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐξερεύγεσθαι μὲν εἰς τὴν
γαστέρα τὸ περίττωμα καθ' ἕτερον χρόνον, αὐτὸν δ'
αὖθις ἐκ τῆς γαστρὸς ἕλκειν τι τῆς οἰκείας τροφῆς
ἐν ἑτέρῳ καιρῷ.
Καθόλου δ' εἰπεῖν, ὃ καὶ πρόσθεν ἤδη λέλεκται, πᾶν ἐκ παντὸς ἕλκειν τε καὶ πέμπειν ἐγχωρεῖ κατὰ διαφέροντας χρόνους, ὁμοιοτάτου γιγνομένου τοῦ συμβαίνοντος, ὡς εἰ καὶ ζῷα νοήσαις πολλὰ τροφὴν ἄφθονον ἐν κοινῷ κατακειμένην, εἰς ὅσον βούλεται, προσφερόμενα. καθ' ὃν γὰρ ἤδη πέπαυται χρόνον ἕτέρα, κατὰ τούτον ἐικὸς ἐσθίειν ἕτέρα, καὶ μέλλειν γε τὰ μὲν || 203 παύεσθαι, τὰ δ' ἄρχεσθαι, καὶ τινα μὲν συνεσθίοντα, τὰ δ' ἀνὰ μέρος ἐσθίοντα καὶ ναὶ μὰ Δία γε τὸ ἕτερον ἁρπάζειν θατέρου πολλάκις, εἰ τὸ μὲν ἕτερον ἐπιδέοιτο, τῷ δ' ἀφθόνως παρακέοιτο. καὶ οὕτως οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν οὔτ' ἐκ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἐπιφανείας ἔισω τι πάλιν ὑποστρέφειν οὔτε διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀγγείων ἐξ ἥπατος τε καὶ σπληνὸς εἰς κοιλίαν ἀνενεχθῆναι τι, δι' ὧν ἐκ ταύτης εἰς ἐκεῖνα πρότερον ἀνηνέχθη.
Κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὰς ἀρτηρίας ἱκανῶς ἐναργὲς τὸ
τοιοῦτον, ὥσπερ καὶ κατὰ τὴν καρδίαν τε καὶ τὸν
θώρακα καὶ τὸν πνεύμονα. τούτων γὰρ ἁπάντων
διαστελλομένων τε καὶ συστελλομένων ἐναλλὰξ
ἀναγκαῖον, ἐξ ὧν εἱλκύσθη τι πρότερον, εἰς ταῦθ'
Pg 314
Translation
Transliteration
ὕστερον ἐκπέμπεσθαι. καὶ ταύτην
ἄρα τὴν ἀνάγκην ἡ φύσις προγιγνώσκουσα τοῖς ἐν τῇ
καρδίᾳ στόμασι τῶν ἀγγείων ὑμένας ἐπέφυσε
κωλύσοντας εἰς τοὐπίσω φέρεσθαι τὰς ὕλας. ἀλλ'
ὅπως μὲν τοῦτο γίγνεται καὶ καθ' ὅντινα τρόπον, ἐν
τοῖς περὶ χρείας μορίων εἰρήσεται δεικνύντων ἡμῶν
τά τ' ἄλλα καὶ ὡς ἀδύνατον οὕτως ἀκριβῶς κλείεσθαι
τὰ στόματα τῶν ἀγγείων, ὡς || 204 μηδὲν
παλινδρομεῖν. εἰς μὲν γὰρ τὴν ἀρτηρίαν τὴν
φλεβώδη, καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτ' ἐν ἐκείνοις
δειχθήσεται, πολὺ πλέον ἢ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων στομάτων
εἰς τοὐπίσω πάλιν ἀναγκαῖον ἐπανέρχεσθαι. τὸ δ'
εἰς τὰ παρόντα χρήσιμον, ὡς οὐκ ἐνδέχεταί τι τῶν
ἀισθητὴν καὶ μεγάλην ἐχόντων εὐρύτητα μὴ οὐκ ἤτοι
διαστελλόμενον ἕλκειν ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν πλησίον ἢ
ἐκθλίβειν αὖθις εἰς ταῦτα συστελλόμενον ἔκ τε τῶν
ἤδη προειρημένων ἐν τῷδε τῷ λόγῳ σαφὲς ἂν εἴη κἀξ
ὧν Ἐρασίστρατός τε καὶ ἡμεῖς ἑτέρωθι περὶ τῆς πρὸς
τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίας ἐδείξαμεν.
Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ὡς ἐν ἑκάστῃ τῶν ἀρτηριῶν ἐστί τις δύναμις ἐκ τῆς καρδίας ἐπιρρέουσα, καθ' ἣν διαστέλλονταί τε καὶ συστέλλονται, δέδεικται δι' ἑτέρων.
Εἴπερ οὖν συνθείης ἄμφω τό τε ταύτην εἶναι τὴν
κίνησιν αὐταῖς τὸ τε πᾶν τὸ διαστελλόμενον
Pg 316
Translation
Transliteration
ἕλκειν ἐκ τῶν πλησίον εἰς ἑαυτό, θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν
σοι φανεῖται τὰς ἀρτηρίας, ὅσαι μὲν εἰς τὸ δέρμα
περαίνουσιν αὐτῶν, ἐπισπᾶσθαι τὸν ἔξωθεν ἀέρα
διαστελλομένας, ὅσαι δὲ κατά τι πρὸς τὰς || 205
φλέβας ἀνεστόμωνται, τὸ λεπτότατον ἐν αὐταῖς καὶ
ἀτμωδέστατον ἐπισπᾶσθαι τοῦ αἵματος, ὅσαι δ' ἐγγὺς
τῆς καρδίας εἰσίν, ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐκείνης ποιεῖσθαι τὴν
ὁλκήν. ἐν γὰρ τῇ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ τὸ
κουφότατόν τε καὶ λεπτότατον ἕπεται πρῶτον τοῦ
βαρυτέρου τε καὶ παχυτέρου· κουφότατον δ' ἐστὶ καὶ
λεπτότατον ἁπάντων τῶν κατὰ τὸ σῶμα πρῶτον μὲν τὸ
πνεῦμα, δεύτερον δ' ὁ ἀτμός, ἐπὶ τούτῳ δὲ τρίτον,
ὅσον ἂν ἀκριβῶς ᾖ κατειργασμένον τε καὶ
λελεπτυσμένον αἷμα.
Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰς ἑαυτὰς ἕλκουσιν αἱ ἀρτηρίαι
πανταχόθεν, αἱ μὲν εἰς τὸ δέρμα καθήκουσαι τὸν
ἔξωθεν ἀέρα· πλησίον τε γὰρ αὐταῖς οὗτός ἐστι καὶ
κουφότατος ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα· τῶν δ' ἄλλων ἡ μὲν ἐπὶ
τὸν τράχηλον ἐκ τῆς καρδίας ἀνιοῦσα καὶ ἡ κατὰ
ῥάχιν, ἤδη δὲ καὶ ὅσαι τούτων ἐγγὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς
μάλιστα τῆς καρδίας· ὅσαι δὲ καὶ τῆς καρδίας
πορρωτέρω καὶ τοῦ δέρματος, ἕλκειν ταύταις
ἀναγκαῖον ἐκ τῶν φλεβῶν τὸ κουφότατον τοῦ αἵματος·
ὥστε καὶ τῶν εἰς τὴν γαστέρα τε καὶ τὰ ἔντερα
καθηκουσῶν ἀρτηριῶν τὴν ὁλκὴν ἐν τῷ διαστέλλεσθαι
γίγνεσθαι παρά τε τῆς || 206 καρδίας αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν
παρακειμένων αὐτῇ φλεβῶν παμπόλλων οὐσῶν. οὐ γὰρ
δὴ ἔκ γε τῶν ἐντέρων καὶ τῆς κοιλίας τροφὴν οὕτω
παχεῖάν τε καὶ βαρεῖαν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐχόντων δύνανταί
τι μεταλαμβάνειν, ὅ τι καὶ ἄξιον λόγου, φθάνουσαι
πληροῦσθαι τοῖς κουφοτέροις. οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰ καθεὶς
Pg 318
Translation
Transliteration
αὐλίσκον εἰς ἀγγεῖον ὕδατός τε
καὶ ψάμμου πλῆρες ἐπισπάσαιο τῷ στόματι τὸν ἐκ τοῦ
αὐλίσκου ἀέρα, δύναιτ' ἂν ἀκολουθῆσαι σοι πρὸ τοῦ
ὕδατος ἡ ψάμμος· ἀεὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον
ἀκολουθίᾳ τὸ κουφότερον ἕπεται πρότερον.
Οὔκουν χρὴ θαυμάζειν, εἰ παντελῶς ὀλίγον ἐκ τῆς
κοιλίας, ὅσον ἂν ἀκριβῶς ᾖ κατειργασμένον, εἰς τὰς
ἀρτηρίας παραγίγνεται φθανούσας πληροῦσθαι τῶν
κουφοτέρων, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο γιγνώσκειν, ὡς δύ' ἐστὸν
ὁλκῆς εἴδη, τὸ μὲν τῇ πρὸς τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ,
τὸ δ' οἰκειότητι ποιότητος γιγνόμενον· ἑτέρως μὲν
γὰρ εἰς τὰς φύσας ὁ ἀήρ, ἑτέρως δ' ὁ σίδηρος ὑπὸ
τῆς ἡρακλείας ἐπισπᾶται λίθου· καὶ ὡς ἡ μὲν πρὸς
τὸ κενούμενον ἀκολουθία || 207 τὸ κουφότερον ἕλκει
πρότερον, ἡ δὲ κατὰ τὴν τῆς ποιότητος οἰκειότητα
πολλάκις, εἰ οὕτως ἔτυχε, τὸ βαρύτερον, ἂν τῇ
φύσει συγγενέστερον ὑπάρχῃ. καὶ τοίνυν καὶ ταῖς
ἀρτηρίαις τε καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὡς μὲν κοίλοις τε καὶ
διαστέλλεσθαι δυναμένοις ὀργάνοις, ἀεὶ τὸ
κουφότερον ἀκολουθεῖ πρότερον, ὡς δὲ τρέφεσθαι
δεομένοις, εἰς αὐτοὺς τοὺς χιτῶνας, οἳ δὴ τὰ
σώματα τῶν ὀργάνων εἰσίν, ἕλκεται τὸ οἰκεῖον. ὅσον
ἂν οὖν εἰς τὴν κοιλότητα διαστελλομένων αὐτῶν
αἵματος μεταληφθῇ, τούτου τὸ οἰκειότατόν
Pg 320
Translation
Transliteration
τε καὶ μάλιστα τρέφειν δυνάμενον οἱ χιτῶνες αὐτοὶ
τῶν ἀγγείων ἐπισπῶνται.
Τοῦ δ' ἐκ τῶν φλεβῶν εἰς τὰς ἀρτηρίας μεταλαμβάνεσθαί τι πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἱκανὸν καὶ τοῦτο γε τεκμήριον. εἰ πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας ἀρτηρίας διατεμὼν ἀποκτεῖναι τὸ ζῷον βουληθείης, εὑρήσεις αὐτοῦ τὰς φλέβας ὁμοίως ταῖς ἀρτηρίας ἐκκενουμένας, οὐκ ἂν τούτου ποτὲ γενομένου χωρὶς τῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλας αὐταῖς ἀναστομώσεων. ὡσαύτος δὲ καὶ κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν καρδίαν ἐκ τῆς δεξιᾶς κοιλίας εἰς τὴν ἀριστερὰν ἕλκεται τὸ λεπτό||208τατον ἔχοντός τινα τρήματα τοῦ μέσου διαφράγματος αὐτῶν, ἃ μέχρι μὲν πλείστου δυνατόν ἐστιν ἰδεῖν, οἷον βοθύνους τινὰς ἐξ εὐρυτέρου στόματος ἀεὶ καὶ μᾶλλον εἰς στενότερον προϊόντας. οὐ μὴν αὐτά γε τὰ ἔσχατα πέρατα δυνατὸν ἔτι θεάσασθαι διά τε σμικρότητα καὶ ὅτι τεθνεῶτος ἤδη τοῦ ζῴου κατέψυκταί τε καὶ πεπύκνωται πάντα. ἀλλ' ὁ λόγος κἀνταῦθα πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ τοῦ μηδὲν ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως γίγνεσθαι μάτην ὁρμώμενος ἐξευρίσκει τὰς ἀναστομώσεις ταύτας τῶν κοιλιῶν τῆς καρδίας· οὐ γὰρ δὴ εἰκῇ γε καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν οἱ ἐς στενὸν οὕτω τελευτῶντες ἐγένοντο βόθυνοι.
Δεύτερον δὲ κἀκ τοῦ δυοῖν ὄντοιν στομάτοιν ἐν τῇ
δεξιᾷ τῆς καρδίας κοιλίᾳ τοῦ μὲν ἐισάγοντος τὸ
αἷμα, τοῦ δ' ἐξάγοντος πολὺ μεῖζον εἶναι τὸ
εἰσάγον. ὡς γὰρ οὐ παντὸς τοῦ αἵματος, ὅσον ἡ
κοίλη φλὲψ δίδωσι τῇ καρδίᾳ, πάλιν ἐξ ἐκείνης
Pg 322
Translation
Transliteration
ἐκπεμπομένου τῷ πνεύμονι,
μείζων ἐστὶν ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς κοίλης εἰς αὐτὴν ἔμφυσις
τῆς ἐμφυομένης εἰς τὸν πνεύμονα φλεβός. οὐδὲ
|| 209 γὰρ τοῦτ' ἐστιν εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἐδαπανήθη τι τοῦ
αἵματος εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος τῆς καρδίας
θρέψιν. ἑτέρα γάρ ἐστι φλὲψ ἡ εἰς ἐκεῖνο
κατασχιζομένη μήτε τὴν γένεσιν ἐκ τῆς καρδίας
αὐτῆς μήτε τὴν τοῦ αἵματος ἔχουσα μετάληψιν. εἰ δὲ
καὶ δαπανᾶταί τι, ἀλλ' οὐ τοσοῦτον γε μείων ἐστὶν
ἡ εἰς τὸν πνεύμονα φλὲψ ἄγουσα τῆς εἰς τὴν καρδίαν
ἐμφυομένης, ὅσον ἐικὸς εἰς τὴν τροφὴν ἀνηλῶσθαι
τῆς καρδίας, ἀλλὰ πλέον πολλῷ. δῆλον οὖν, ὡς εἰς
τὴν ἀριστεράν τι μεταλαμβάνεται κοιλίαν.
Καὶ γὰρ οὖν καὶ τῶν κατ' ἐκείνην ἀγγείων δυοῖν ὄντων ἔλαττόν ἐστι πολλῷ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ πνεύμονος εἰς αὐτὴν ἐισάγον τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἐκφυομένης ἀρτηρίας τῆς μεγάλης, ἀφ' ἧς αἱ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα σύμπασαι πεφύκασιν, ὡς ἂν μὴ μόνον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύμονος πνεῦμα μεταλαμβανούσης αὐτῆς, ἀλλὰ κἀκ τῆς δεξιᾶς κοιλίας αἵμα διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀναστομώσεων.
Ὅτι δ' ἄμεινον ἦν τοῖς τοῦ σώματος μορίοις τοῖς
μὲν ὑπὸ καθαροῦ καὶ λεπτοῦ καὶ ἀτμώδους αἵματος
τρέφεσθαι, τοῖς δ' ὑπὸ παχέος καὶ θολεροῦ καὶ ὡς
οὐδ' ἐνταῦθά τι παρεώραται τῇ φύσει, τῆς || 210
περὶ χρείας μορίων πραγματείας ἐστίν, ὥστ' οὐ χρὴ
νῦν ὑπὲρ τούτων ἔτι λέγειν,
Pg 324
Translation
Transliteration
ἀλλ' ὑπομνήσαντας, ὡς δύο ἐστὸν ὁλκῆς ἔιδη, τῶν
μὲν εὐρείαις ὁδοῖς ἐν τῷ διαστέλλεσθαι τῇ πρὸς τὸ
κενούμενον ἀκολουθίᾳ τὴν ἕλξιν ποιουμένων, τῶν δ'
οἰκειότητι ποιότητος, ἐφεξῆς λέγειν, ὡς τὰ μὲν
πρότερα καὶ πόρρωθεν ἕλκειν τι δύναται, τὰ δὲ
δεύτερα ἐκ τῶν ἐγγυτάτω μόνων. αὐλίσκον μὲν γὰρ
ὅτι μήκιστον εἰς ὕδωρ ἔνεστι καθέντα ῥᾳδίως
ἀνασπᾶν εἰς τὸ στόμα δι' αὐτοῦ τὸ ὑγρόν· οὐ μὴν εἴ
γ' ἐπὶ πλέον ἀπαγάγοις τῆς ἡρακλείας λίθου τὸν
σίδηρον ἢ τοὺς πυροὺς τοῦ κεραμίου—καὶ γὰρ καὶ
τοιοῦτόν τι πρόσθεν ἐλέγετο παράδειγμα—δύναιτ' ἂν
ἔτι γενέσθαι τις ὁλκή.
Σαφέστατα δ' ἂν αὐτὸ μάθοις ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς κήποις
ὀχετῶν· ἐκ τούτων γὰρ εἰς μὲν τὰ παρακείμενα καὶ
πλησίον ἅπαντα διαδίδοταί τις ἰκμάς, εἰς δὲ τὰ
πορρωτέρω προσελθεῖν οὐκέτι δύναται, καὶ διὰ τοῦτ'
ἀναγκάζονται πολλοῖς ὀχετοῖς μικροῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ
μεγάλου τετμημένοις εἰς ἕκαστον μέρος τοῦ κήπου
τὴν ἐπίρρυσιν τοῦ ὕδατος ἐπιτεχνάσθαι· καὶ
τηλικαῦτά γε τὰ || 211 μεταξύ διαστήματα τούτων τῶν
μικρῶν ὀχετῶν ποιοῦσιν, ἡλίκα μάλιστα νομίζουσιν
ἀρκεῖν εἰς τὸ ἱκανῶς ἀπολαύειν ἕλκοντα τῆς
ἑκατέρωθεν αὐτοῖς ἐπιρρεούσης ὑγρότητος. οὕτως οὖν
ἔχει κἀν τοῖς τῶν ζῴων σώμασιν. ὀχετοὶ πολλοὶ
κατὰ πάντα τὰ μέλη διεσπαρμένοι παράγουσιν αὐτοῖς
αἵμα καθάπερ ἐν κήποις ὑδρείαν τινά. καὶ τούτων
τῶν ὀχετῶν τὰ μεταξὺ διαστήματα θαυμαστῶς ὑπὸ τῆς
φύσεως εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς διατέτακται πρὸς τὸ μήτ'
ἐνδεῶς χορηγεῖσθαι τοῖς μεταξὺ μορίοις ἕλκουσιν
εἰς ἑαυτὰ τὸ αἵμα μήτε κατακλύζεσθαί
Pg 326
Translation
Transliteration
ποτ' αὐτὰ πλήθει περιττῆς ὑγρότητος ἀκαίρως
ἐπιρρεούσης.
Ὁ γὰρ δὴ τρόπος τῆς θρέψεως αὐτῶν τοιόσδε τις ἐστι. τοῦ συνεχοῦς ἑαυτῷ σώματος, οἷόνπερ τὸ ἁπλοῦν ἀγγεῖον Ἐρασίστρατος ὑποτίθεται, τὰ μὲν ἐπιπολῆς μέρη πρῶτα τῆς ὁμιλούσης ἀπολαύει τροφῆς· ἐκ δὲ τούτων αὖ μεταλαμβάνει κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ἕλκοντα τὰ τούτων ἑξῆς, εἶτ' ἐξ ἐκείνων αὖθις ἑτέρα καὶ τοῦτ' οὐ παύεται γιγνόμενον, ἄχρις ἂν εἰς ἅπαντ' αὐτοῦ διαδοθῇ τὰ μόρια τῆς τρεφούσης οὐσίας ἡ ποιότης. ὅσα δὲ τῶν μορίων ἐπὶ πλέον || 212 ἀλλοιουμένου δεῖται τοῦ μέλλοντος αὐτὰ θρέψειν χυμοῦ, τούτοις ὥσπερ τι ταμιεῖον ἡ φύσις παρεσκεύασεν ἤτοι κοιλίας ἢ σήραγγας ἤ τι ταῖς σήραγξιν ἀνάλογον. αἱ μὲν γὰρ σάρκες αἵ τε τῶν σπλάγχνων ἁπάντων αἵ τε τῶν μυῶν ἐξ αἵματος αὐτοῦ τρέφονται βραχεῖαν ἀλλοίωσιν δεξαμένου. τὰ δ' ὀστᾶ παμπόλλης ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ δεῖται τῆς μεταβολῆς, ἵνα τραφῇ, καὶ ἔστιν οἷόνπερ τὸ αἷμα ταῖς σαρξί, τοιοῦτος ὁ μυελὸς τοῖς ὀστοῖς ἐν μὲν τοῖς μικροῖς τε καὶ ἀκοιλίοις κατὰ τὰς σήραγγας αὐτῶν διεσπαρμένος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς μείζοσί τε καὶ κοιλίας ἔχουσιν ἐν ἐκείναις ἠθροισμένος.
Ὡς γὰρ καὶ διὰ τοῦ πρώτου γράμματος ἐδείκνυτο,
τοῖς μὲν ὁμοίαν ἔχουσι τὴν οὐσίαν εἰς ἄλληλα
μεταβάλλειν ἐγχωρεῖ, τοῖς δὲ πάμπολυ διεστῶσιν
ἀμήχανον ἀλλήλοις ὁμοιωθῆναι χωρὶς τῶν ἐν μέσῳ
μεταβολῶν. τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ τοῖς
Pg 328
Translation
Transliteration
χόνδροις ἐστί τὸ περικεχυμένον μυξῶδες καὶ τοῖς
συνδέσμοις καὶ τοῖς ὑμέσι καὶ τοῖς νεύροις τὸ
παρεσπαρμένον ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑγρὸν γλίσχρον· ἕκαστον
γὰρ || 213 τούτων ἐξ ἰνῶν σύγκειται πολλῶν, αἵπερ
ὁμοιομερεῖς τ' εἰσὶ καὶ ὄντως αἰσθητὰ στοιχεῖα.
κατὰ δὲ τὰς μεταξὺ χώρας αὐτῶν ὁ οἰκειότατος εἰς
θρέψιν παρέσπαρται χυμός, ὃν εἵλκυσαν μὲν ἐκ τῶν
φλεβῶν τοῦ αἵματος, ὅσον οἷόν τ' ἦν ἐκλεξάμεναι
τὸν ἐπιτηδειότατον, ἐξομοιοῦσι δὲ κατὰ βραχὺ καὶ
μεταβάλλουσιν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν οὐσίαν.
Ἅπαντ' οὖν ταῦτα καὶ ἀλλήλοις ὁμολογεῖ καὶ τοῖς
ἔμπροσθεν ἀποδεδειγμένοις ἱκανῶς μαρτυρεῖ καὶ οὐ
χρὴ μηκύνειν ἔτι τὸν λόγον· ἐκ γὰρ τῶν εἰρημένων
ἔνεστιν ἑκάστῳ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἅπαντα καθ' ὅντινα
γίγνεται τρόπον ἐξευρίσκειν ἑτοίμως, ὥσπερ καὶ διὰ
τι πολλοῖς κωθωνιζομένοις πάμπολυ τάχιστα μὲν
ἀναδίδοται τὸ ποθέν, οὐρεῖται δ' ὀλίγου δεῖν ἅπαν
ἐντὸς οὐ πολλοῦ χρόνου. καὶ γὰρ κἀνταῦθα τῇ τε τῆς
ποιότητος οἰκειότητι καὶ τῇ τῆς ὑγρότητος
λεπτότητι καὶ τῇ τῶν ἀγγείων τε καὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτὰ
στομάτων ἐυρύτητι καὶ τῇ τῆς ἑλκτικῆς δυνάμεως
εὐρωστίᾳ τὸ τάχος συντελεῖται τῆς ἀναδόσεως, τῶν
μὲν πλησίον τῆς κοιλίας τεταγμένων μορίων
οἰκειότητι ποιότητος || 214 ἑαυτῶν ἕνεκα ἑλκόντων
τὸ πόμα, τῶν δ'
Pg 330
Translation
Transliteration
ἑξῆς τούτοις
ἐξαρπαζόντων καὶ αὐτῶν εἰς ἑαυτὰ κἄπειτα τῶν
ἐφεξῆς πάλιν ἐκ τούτων μεταλαμβανόντων, ἄχρις ἂν
εἰς τὴν κοίλην ἀφίκηται φλέβα, τοὐντεῦθεν δ' ἤδη
τῶν νεφρῶν τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐπισπωμένων. ὥστ' οὐδὲν
θαυμαστὸν οἶνον μὲν ὕδατος ἀναλαμβάνεσθαι θᾶττον
οἰκειότητι ποιότητος, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν οἶνον τὸν μὲν
λευκὸν καὶ καθαρὸν ἑτοίμως ἀναδίδοσθαι διὰ
λεπτότητα, τὸν δ' αὖ μέλανα καὶ θολερὸν ἴσχεσθαί
τε κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ βραδύνειν ὑπὸ πάχους.
Εἴη δ' ἂν ταῦτα καὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀρτηριῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένων οὐ σμικρὰ μαρτύρια. πανταχοῦ γὰρ ὅσον οἰκεῖόν τε καὶ λεπτὸν αἵμα τοῦ μὴ τοιούτου ῥᾷον ἕπεται τοῖς ἕλκουσιν. ἀτμὸν οὖν ἕλκουσαι καὶ πνεῦμα καὶ λεπτὸν αἷμα κατὰ τὰς διαστάσεις αἱ ἀρτηρίαι τῶν κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν καὶ τὰ ἔντερα περιεχομένων χυμῶν ἢ οὐδ' ὅλως ἢ παντάπασιν ἐπισπῶνται βραχύ.
K II.
p. 1
Epeidê to men aisthanesthai te kai kineisthai
kata proairesin idia tôn zôôn esti, to d'
auxanesthai te kai trephesthai koina kai tois
phytois, eiê an ta men protera tês psychês, ta de
deutera tês physeôs erga. ei de tis kai tois
phytois psychês metadidôsi kai diairoumenos autas
onomazei phytikên men tautên, aisthêtikên de tên
heteran, legei men oud' houtos alla, tê lexei d'
ou pany tê synêthei kechrêtai. all' hêmeis ge
megistên lexeôs aretên saphêneian einai pepeismenoi
kai tautên eidotes || 2 hyp' oudenos houtôs
hôs hypo tôn asynêthôn onomatôn diaphtheiromenên,
hôs tois pollois ethos, houtôs onomazontes hypo men
psychês th' hama kai physeôs ta zôa dioikeisthai
phamen, hypo de physeôs monês ta phyta kai to g'
auxanesthai te kai trephesthai physeôs erga phamen,
ou psychês.
Kai zêtêsomen kata tonde ton logon, hypo tinôn gignetai dynameôn auta dê tauta kai ei dê ti allo physeôs ergon estin.
Alla proteron ge dielesthai te chrê kai mênysai saphôs hekaston tôn onomatôn, hois chrêsometha kata tonde ton logon, kai eph' ho ti pheromen pragma. genêsetai de tout' euthys ergôn physikôn didaskalia syn tais tôn onomatôn exêgêsesin.
Hotan oun ti sôma kata mêden exallattêtai
tôn proÿparchontôn, hêsychazein auto phamen; ei
d' existaito pê, kat' ekeino kineisthai. kai toinyn
epei polyeidôs existatai, polyeidôs kai kinêthêsetai.
kai gar ei leukon hyparchon melainoito
kai ei melan leukainoito, kineitai kata chroan,
kai ei glyky teôs hyparchon authis || 3 austêron ê
empalin ex austêrou glyky genoito, kai tout' an
kineisthai legoito kata ton chymon. amphô de
tauta te kai ta proeirêmena kata tên poiotêta
kineisthai lechthêsetai kai ou monon ge ta kata
tên chroan ê ton chymon exallattomena kineisthai
phamen, alla kai to thermoteron ek psychroterou
genomenon ê psychroteron ek thermoterou kineisthai
kai touto legomen, hôsper ge kai ei ti xêron ex
Pg 6
Greek text
hygrou ê hygron ek xêrou gignoito. koinon de kata
toutôn hapantôn onoma pheromen tên alloiôsin.
Hen ti touto genos kinêseôs. heteron de genos epi tois tas chôras ameibousi sômasi kai topon ek topou metallattein legomenois, onoma de kai toutô phora.
Hautai men oun hai dyo kinêseis haplai kai prôtai, synthetoi d' ex autôn auxêsis te kai phthisis, hotan ex elattonos ti meizon ê ek meizonos elatton genêtai phylatton to oikeion eidos. heterai de dyo kinêseis genesis kai phthora, genesis men hê eis ousian agôgê, phthora d' hê enantia.
Pasais de tais kinêsesi koinon exallaxis
tou || 4 proÿparchontos, hôsper oun kai tais hêsychiais
hê phylakê tôn proÿparchontôn. all' hoti men
exallattetai kai pros tên opsin kai pros tên
geusin kai pros tên haphên haima gignomena ta
sitia, synchôrousin; hoti de kai kat' alêtheian,
ouketi touth' homologousin hoi sophistai. hoi men
gar tines autôn hapanta ta toiauta tôn hêmeterôn
aisthêseôn apatas tinas kai paragôgas nomizousin
allot' allôs paschousôn, tês hypokeimenês
ousias mêden toutôn, hois eponomazetai,
dechomenês; hoi de tines einai men en autê boulontai
tas poiotêtas, ametablêtous de kai atreptous
Pg 8
Greek text
ex aiônos eis aiôna kai tas phainomenas tautas
alloiôseis tê diakrisei te kai synkrisei gignesthai
phasin hôs Anaxagoras.
Ei dê toutous ektrapomenos exelenchoimi, meizon an moi to parergon tou ergou genoito. ei men gar ouk isasin, hosa peri tês kath' holên tên ousian alloiôseôs Aristotelei te kai met' auton Chrysippô gegraptai, parakalesai chrê tois ekeinôn autous homilêsai grammasin; ei de gignôskontes epeith' hekontes ta cheirô pro tôn beltionôn || 5 hairountai, mataia dêpou kai ta hêmetera nomiousin. hoti de kai Hippokratês houtôs egignôsken Aristotelous eti proteros ôn, en heterois hêmin apodedeiktai. prôtos gar houtos hapantôn hôn ismen iatrôn te kai philosophôn apodeiknyein epecheirêse tettaras einai tas pasas drastikas eis allêlas poiotêtas, hyph' hôn gignetai te kai phtheiretai panth', hosa genesin te kai phthoran epidechetai. kai mentoi kai to kerannysthai di' allêlôn autas holas di' holôn Hippokratês hapantôn prôtos egnô; kai tas archas ge tôn apodeixeôn, hôn hysteron Aristotelês metecheirisato, par' ekeinô prôtô gegrammenas estin heurein.
Ei d' hôsper tas poiotêtas houtô kai tas ousias
di' holôn kerannysthai chrê nomizein, hôs hysteron
apephênato Zênôn ho Kittieus, ouch hêgoumai dein
eti peri toutou kata tonde ton logon epexienai.
monên gar eis ta paronta deomai gignôskesthai
Pg 10
Greek text
tên di' holês tês ousias alloiôsin, hina mê tis
ostou kai sarkos kai neurou kai tôn allôn
hekastou moriôn hoionei misgankeian tina tô artô
nomisê periechesthai kapeit' en || 6 tô sômati diakrinomenon
hôs to homophylon hekaston ienai. kaitoi
pro ge tês diakriseôs haima phainetai gignomenos
ho pas artos. ei goun pampollô tis chronô mêden
all' eiê sition prospheromenos, ouden hêtton en
tais phlepsin haima periechomenon hexei. kai phanerôs
touto tên tôn ametablêta ta stoicheia tithemenôn
exelenchei doxan, hôsper oimai kai toulaion eis
tên tou lychnou phloga katanaliskomenon hapan
kai ta xyla pyr mikron hysteron gignomena.
Kaitoi to g' antilegein autois êrnêsamên, all' epei tês iatrikês hylês ên to paradeigma kai chrêzô pros ton paronta logon autou, dia tout' emnêmoneusa. katalipontes oun, hôs ephên, tên pros toutous antilogian, <enon> tois boulomenois ta tôn palaiôn ekmanthanein kax hôn hêmeis idia peri autôn epeskemmetha.
Ton ephexês logon hapanta poiêsometha zêtountes
hyper hôn ex archês prouthemetha, posai te kai tines
eisin hai tês physeôs dynameis kai ti poiein ergon
Pg 12
Greek text
hekastê pephyken. ergon de dêlonoti kalô to
gegonos êdê kai sympeplê||7rômenon hypo tês energeias
autôn, hoion to haima, tên sarka, to neuron;
energeian de tên drastikên onomazô kinêsin kai
tên tautês aitian dynamin. epei gar en tô to
sition haima gignesthai pathêtikê men hê tou sitiou,
drastikê d' hê tês phlebos gignetai kinêsis, hôsautôs
de kan tô metapherein ta kôla kinei men ho
mys, kineitai de ta osta, tên men tês phlebos kai
tôn myôn kinêsin energeian einai phêmi, tên de
tôn sitiôn te kai tôn ostôn symptôma te kai
pathêma; ta men gar alloioutai, ta de pheretai.
tên men oun energeian enchôrei kalein kai ergon
tês physeôs, hoion tên pepsin, tên anadosin, tên
haimatôsin, ou mên to g' ergon ex hapantos energeian;
hê gar toi sarx ergon men esti tês physeôs,
ou mên energeia ge. dêlon oun, hôs thateron men
tôn onomatôn dichôs legetai, thateron d' ou.
Emoi men oun kai hê phleps kai tôn allôn
hapantôn hekaston dia tên ek tôn tettarôn poian
Pg 14
Greek text
krasin hôdi pôs energein dokei. eisi de ge mên ouk
oligoi tines andres || 8 oud' adoxoi, philosophoi te
kai iatroi, tô men thermô kai tô psychrô to dran
anapherontes, hypoballontes d' autois pathêtika
to xêron te kai to hygron. kai prôtos g' Aristotelês
tas tôn kata meros hapantôn aitias eis
tautas anagein peiratai tas archas, êkolouthêse
d' hysteron autô kai ho apo tês stoas choros. kaitoi
toutois men, hôs an kai autôn tôn stoicheiôn
tên eis allêla metabolên chysesi te tisi kai
pilêsesin anapherousin, eulogon ên archas drastikas
poiêsasthai to thermon kai to psychron,
Aristotelei d' ouch houtôs, alla tais tettarsi
poiotêsin eis tên tôn stoicheiôn genesin chrômenô
beltion ên kai tas tôn kata meros aitias hapasas
eis tautas anagein. ti dêpot' oun en men tois peri
geneseôs kai phthoras tais tettarsi chrêtai, en de
tois meteôrologikois kai tois problêmasi kai
allothi pollachothi tais dyo monais? ei men gar
hôs en tois zôois te kai tois phytois mallon men
dra to thermon kai to psychron, hêtton de to xêron
kai to hygron apophainoito tis, isôs an echoi kai
ton Hippokratên sympsêphon; ei d' hôsautôs en || 9
hapasin, ouket' oimai synchôrêsein touto mê hoti
ton Hippokratên alla mêd' auton ton Aristotelên
memnêsthai ge boulomenon hôn en tois peri
geneseôs kai phthoras ouch haplôs alla met' apodeixeôs
autos hêmas edidaxen. alla peri men
toutôn kan tois peri kraseôn, eis hoson iatrô
chrêsimon, epeskepsametha.
Hê d' oun dynamis hê en tais phlepsin hê haimatopoiêtikê prosagoreuomenê kai pasa d' allê dynamis en tô pros ti nenoêtai; prôtôs men gar tês energeias aitia, êdê de kai tou ergou kata symbebêkos. all' eiper hê aitia pros ti, tou gar hyp' autês genomenou monou, tôn d' allôn oudenos, eudêlon, hoti kai hê dynamis en tô pros ti. kai mechri g' an agnoômen tên ousian tês energousês aitias, dynamin autên onomazomen, einai tina legontes en tais phlepsin haimatopoiêtikên, hôsautôs de kan tê koilia peptikên kan tê kardia sphygmikên kai kath' hekaston tôn allôn idian tina tês || 10 kata to morion energeias. eiper oun methodô melloimen exeurêsein, hoposai te kai hopoiai tines hai dynameis eisin, apo tôn ergôn autôn arkteon; hekaston gar autôn hypo tinos energeias gignetai kai toutôn hekastês proêgeitai tis aitia.
Erga toinyn tês physeôs eti men kyoumenou te kai diaplattomenou tou zôou ta sympant' esti tou sômatos moria, gennêthentos de koinon eph' hapasin ergon hê eis to teleion hekastô megethos agôgê kai meta tauth' hê mechri tou dynatou diamonê.
Energeiai d' epi trisi tois eirêmenois ergois
treis ex anankês, eph' hekastô mia, genesis te kai
Pg 18
Greek text
auxêsis kai threpsis. all' hê men genesis ouch
haplê tis energeia tês physeôs, all' ex alloiôseôs
te kai diaplaseôs esti synthetos. hina men
gar ostoun genêtai kai neuron kai phleps kai tôn
allôn hekaston, alloiousthai chrê tên hypobeblêmenên
ousian, ex hês gignetai to zôon; hina de kai
schêma to deon kai thesin kai koilotêtas tinas
kai apophyseis kai symphyseis kai talla || 11 ta
toiauta ktêsêtai, diaplattesthai chrê tên alloioumenên
ousian, hên dê kai hylên tou zôou kalôn,
hôs tês neôs ta xyla kai tês eikonos ton kêron,
ouk an hamartois.
Hê d' auxêsis epidosis esti kai diastasis kata mêkos kai platos kai bathos tôn stereôn tou zôou moriôn, hônper kai hê diaplasis ên, hê de threpsis prosthesis tois autois aneu diastaseôs.
Peri prôtês oun tês geneseôs eipômen, hên ex alloiôseôs th' hama kai diaplaseôs elegomen gignesthai.
Katablêthentos dê tou spermatos eis tên
mêtran ê eis tên gên, ouden gar diapherei, chronois
tisin hôrismenois pampolla synistatai moria
tês gennômenês ousias hygrotêti kai xêrotêti kai
psychrotêti kai thermotêti kai tois allois hapasin,
Pg 20
Greek text
hosa toutois hepetai, diapheronta. ta d' hepomena
gignôskeis, eiper holôs ephilosophêsas ti peri
geneseôs kai phthoras; hai loipai gar tôn haptôn
onomazomenôn diaphorôn tais eirêmenais hepontai
prôtai kai malista, meta de tau||12tas hai geustai
te kai osphrêtai kai horatai. sklêrotês men oun
kai malakotês kai glischrotês kai kraurotês kai
kouphotês kai barytês kai pyknotês kai araiotês
kai leiotês kai trachytês kai pachytês kai leptotês
haptai diaphorai kai eirêtai peri pasôn
Aristotelei kalôs. oistha de dêpou kai tas
geustas te kai osphrêtas kai horatas diaphoras.
hôst', ei men tas prôtas te kai stoicheiôdeis
alloiôtikas dynameis zêtoiês, hygrotês esti kai
xêrotês kai psychrotês kai thermotês; ei de tas ek
tês toutôn kraseôs genomenas, tosautai kath'
hekaston esontai zôon, hosaper an autou ta
aisthêta stoicheia hyparchê; kaleitai d' aisthêta
stoicheia ta homoiomerê panta tou sômatos moria;
kai taut' ouk ek methodou tinos all' autoptên
genomenon ekmathein chrê dia tôn anatomôn.
Ostoun dê kai chondron kai neuron kai hymena
kai syndesmon kai phleba kai panth' hosa toiauta
kata tên prôtên tou zôou genesin hê physis
apergazetai dynamei chrômenê katholou men
eipein tê gennêtikê te kai alloiô||13tikê, kata
meros de thermantikê te kai psyktikê kai xêrantikê
Pg 22
Greek text
kai hygrantikê kai tais ek tês toutôn
kraseôs genomenais, hoion ostopoiêtikê te kai
neuropoiêtikê kai chondropoiêtikê; saphêneias
gar heneka kai toutois tois onomasi chrêsteon.
Esti goun kai hê idia sarx tou hêpatos ek
toutou tou genous kai hê tou splênos kai hê tôn
nephrôn kai hê tou pneumonos kai hê tês kardias
houtô de kai tou enkephalou to idion sôma kai
tês gastros kai tou stomachou kai tôn enterôn
kai tôn hysterôn aisthêton stoicheion estin homoiomeres
te kai haploun kai asyntheton; ean gar
exelês hekastou tôn eirêmenôn tas artêrias te
kai tas phlebas kai ta neura, to hypoloipon
sôma to kath' hekaston organon haploun esti kai
stoicheiôdes hôs pros aisthêsin. hosa de tôn
toioutôn organôn ek dyoin synkeitai chitônôn
ouch homoiôn men allêlois, haplou d' hekaterou,
toutôn hoi chitônes eisi ta stoicheia kathaper tês
te gastros kai tou stomachou kai tôn enterôn
kai tôn artêriôn, kai kath' hekateron ge tôn
chitônôn idios hê alloiôtikê dynamis hê ek tou
para tês || 14 mêtros epimêniou gennêsasa to
morion, hôste tas kata meros alloiôtikas dynameis
tosautas einai kath' hekaston zôon, hosaper
an echê ta stoicheiôdê moria. kai men ge kai
tas energeias idias hekastô tôn kata meros
anankaion hyparchein hôsper kai tas chreias, hoion
kai tôn apo tôn nephrôn eis tên kystin diêkontôn
porôn, hoi dê kai ourêtêres kalountai. houtoi
Pg 24
Greek text
gar out' artêriai eisin, hoti mête sphyzousi mêt'
ek dyoin chitônôn synestêkasin, oute phlebes, hoti
mêth' haima periechousi mêt' eoiken autôn ho chitôn
kata ti tô tês phlebos; alla kai neurôn epi
pleon aphestêkasin ê tôn eirêmenôn.
Ti pot' oun eisin? erôta tis, hôsper anankaion on hapan morion ê artêrian ê phleba ê neuron hyparchein ê ek toutôn peplechthai kai mê tout' auto to nyn legomenon, hôs idios hekastô tôn kata meros organôn estin hê ousia. kai gar kai hai kysteis hekaterai hê te to ouron hypodechomenê kai hê tên xanthên cholên ou monon tôn allôn hapantôn alla kai allêlôn diapherousi kai hoi eis to hêpar apophyomenoi || 15 poroi, kathaper stomachoi tines apo tês cholêdochou kysteôs, ouden out' artêriais oute phlepsin oute neurois eoikasin. alla peri men toutôn epi pleon en allois te tisi kan tois peri tês Hippokratous anatomês eirêtai.
Hai de kata meros hapasai dynameis tês physeôs
hai alloiôtikai autên men tên ousian tôn chitônôn
tês koilias kai tôn enterôn kai tôn hysterôn
apetelesan, hoiaper esti; tên de synthesin autôn
kai tên tôn emphyomenôn plokên kai tên eis to
enteron ekphysin kai tên tês endon koilotêtos
idean kai tall' hosa toiauta dynamis tis hetera
dieplasen, hên diaplastikên onomazomen, hên dê
kai technikên einai legomen, mallon d' aristên
kai akran technên kai panta tinos heneka poiousan,
hôs mêden argon einai mêde peritton mêd' holôs
Pg 26
Greek text
houtôs echon, hôs dynasthai beltion heterôs echein.
alla touto men en tois peri chreias moriôn
apodeixomen. ||
16 Epi de tên auxêtikên êdê metabantes dynamin auto touth' hypomnêsômen prôton, hôs hyparchei men kai autê tois kyoumenois hôsper kai hê threptikê; all' hoion hypêretides tines eisi tênikauta tôn proeirêmenôn dynameôn, ouk en hautais echousai to pan kyros. epeidan de to teleion apolabê megethos to zôon, en tô meta tên apokyêsin chronô panti mechri tês akmês hê men auxêtikê tênikauta kratei; boêthoi d' autês kai hoion hypêretides hê t' alloiôtikê dynamis esti kai hê threptikê. ti oun to idion esti tês auxêtikês dynameôs? eis pan meros ekteinai ta pephykota. kaleitai d' houtô ta sterea moria tou sômatos, artêriai kai phlebes kai neura kai osta kai chondroi kai hymenes kai syndesmoi kai hoi chitônes hapantes, hous stoicheiôdeis te kai homoiomereis kai haplous oligon emprosthen ekaloumen. hotô de tropô tên eis pan meros ektasin ischousin, egô phrasô paradeigma ti proteron eipôn heneka tou saphous. ||
17 Tas kysteis tôn hyôn labontes hoi paides
plêrousi te pneumatos kai tribousin epi tês
tephras plêsion tou pyros, hôs aleainesthai men,
blaptesthai de mêden; kai pollê g' hautê hê
Pg 28
Greek text
paidia peri te tên Iônian kai en allois ethnesin
ouk oligois estin. epilegousi de dê kai tin' epê
tribontes en metrô te tini kai melei kai rhythmô
kai esti panta ta rhêmata tauta parakeleusis
tê kystei pros tên auxêsin. epeidan d' hikanôs
autois diatetasthai dokê, palin emphysôsi te kai
epidiateinousi kai authis tribousi kai touto
pleonakis poiousin, achris an autois hê kystis
hikanôs echein dokê tês auxêseôs. all' en toutois
ge tois ergois tôn paidôn enargôs, hoson eis
megethos epididôsin hê entos eurychôria tês
kysteôs, tosouton anankaion eis leptotêta
kathaireisthai to sôma kai ei ge tên leptotêta
tautên anatrephein hoioi t' êsan hoi paides, homoiôs
an tê physei tên kystin ek mikras megalên
apeirgazonto. nyni de tout' autois endei to
ergon oude kath' hena tropon eis mimêsin endechomenon
achthênai mê hoti tois || 18 paisin all' oud' allô
tini; monês gar tês physeôs idion estin.
Hôst' êdê soi dêlon, hôs anankaia tois auxanomenois hê threpsis. ei gar diateinoito men, anatrephoito de mê, phantasian pseudê mallon, ouk auxêsin alêthê ta toiauta sômata ktêsetai. kaitoi kai to diateinesthai pantê monois tois hypo physeôs auxanomenois hyparchei. ta gar hyph' hêmôn diateinomena sômata kata mian tina diastasin touto paschonta meioutai tais loipais, oud' estin heurein ouden, ho syneches eti menon kai adiaspaston eis tas treis diastaseis epekteinai dynametha. monês oun tês physeôs to pantê diistanai syneches heautô menon eti kai tên archaian hapasan idean phylatton to sôma.
Pg 30
Greek text
Kai tout' estin hê auxêsis aneu tês epirrheousês
te kai prosplattomenês trophês mê dynamenê
genesthai.
Kai toinyn ho logos hêkein eoiken ho peri tês threpseôs, hos dê loipos esti kai tritos hôn ex archês prouthemetha. tou gar epirrheontos en eidei trophês panti || 19 moriô tou trephomenou sômatos prosplattomenou threpsis men hê energeia, threptikê de dynamis hê aitia. alloiôsis men dê kantautha to genos tês energeias, all' ouch hoiaper hê en tê genesei. ekei men gar ouk on proteron hysteron egeneto, kata de tên threpsin tô êdê gegonoti synexomoioutai to epirrheon kai dia tout' eulogôs ekeinên men tên alloiôsin genesin, tautên d' exomoiôsin ônomasan.
Epeidê de peri tôn triôn dynameôn tês physeôs
autarkôs eirêtai kai phainetai mêdemias allês
prosdeisthai to zôon, echon ge kai hopôs auxêthê
kai hopôs teleiôthê kai hopôs heôs pleistou diaphylachthê,
doxeie men an isôs hikanôs echein ho logos
houtos êdê kai pasas exêgeisthai tas tês physeôs
dynameis. all' ei tis palin ennoêseien, hôs oudenos
Pg 32
Greek text
oudepô tôn tou zôou moriôn ephêpsato,
koilias legô kai enterôn kai hêpatos kai tôn
homoiôn, oud' exêgêsato tas en autois dynameis,
authis doxeien an hoion prooimion ti monon eirêsthai
tês chrêsimou didaskalias. || 20 to gar sympan hôd'
echei. genesis kai auxêsis kai threpsis ta prôta
kai hoion kephalaia tôn ergôn esti tês physeôs;
hôste kai hai toutôn ergastikai dynameis hai
prôtai treis eisi kai kyriôtatai; deontai d' eis
hypêresian, hôs êdê dedeiktai, kai allêlôn kai
allôn. tinôn men oun hê gennêtikê te kai auxêtikê
deontai, eirêtai, tinôn d' hê threptikê, nyn
eirêsetai.
Dokô gar moi deixein ta peri tên tês trophês
oikonomian organa te kai tas dynameis autôn
dia tautên gegonota. epeidê gar hê energeia
tautês tês dynameôs exomoiôsis estin, homoiousthai
de kai metaballein eis allêla pasi tois
ousin adynaton, ei mê tina echoi koinônian êdê
kai syngeneian en tais poiotêsi, dia touto
prôton men ouk ek pantôn edesmatôn pan zôon
trephesthai pephyken, epeita d' oud' ex hôn hoion t'
estin oud' ek toutôn parachrêma, kai dia tautên
Pg 34
Greek text
tên anankên pleionôn organôn alloiôtikôn tês
trophês hekaston || 21 tôn zôôn chrêzei. hina men gar
to xanthon erythron genêtai kai to erythron xanthon,
haplês kai mias deitai tês alloiôseôs; hina de to
leukon melan kai to melan leukon, hapasôn tôn
metaxy. kai toinyn kai to malakôtaton ouk an
athroôs sklêrotaton kai to sklêrotaton ouk an
athroôs malakôtaton genoito, hôsper oude to
dysôdestaton euôdestaton oud' empalin to euôdestaton
dysôdestaton exaiphnês genoit' an.
Pôs oun ex haimatos ostoun an pote genoito mê pachynthentos ge proteron epi pleiston autou kai leukanthentos ê pôs ex artou to haima mê kata brachy men apothemenou tên leukotêta, kata brachy de lambanontos tên erythrotêta? sarka men gar ex haimatos genesthai rhaston; ei gar eis tosouton auto pachyneien hê physis, hôs systasin tina schein kai mêket' einai rhyton, hê prôtê kai neopagês houtôs an eiê sarx; ostoun d' hina genêtai, pollou men deitai chronou, pollês d' ergasias kai metabolês tô haimati. hoti de kai tô artô kai poly mallon thrida||22kinê kai teutlô kai tois homoiois pampollês deitai tês alloiôseôs eis haimatos genesin, oude tout' adêlon.
Hen men dê tout' aition tou polla genesthai ta
peri tên tês trophês alloiôsin organa. deuteron
d' hê tôn perittômatôn physis. hôs gar hypo
botanôn oud' holôs dynametha trephesthai, kaitoi
tôn boskêmatôn trephomenôn, houtôs hypo rhaphanidos
Pg 36
Greek text
trephometha men, all' ouch hôs hypo tôn kreôn.
toutôn men gar oligou dein holôn hê physis hêmôn
kratei kai metaballei kai alloioi kai chrêston
ex autôn haima synistêsin; en de tê rhaphanidi to
men oikeion te kai metablêthênai dynamenon, mogis
kai touto kai syn pollê tê katergasia, pantapasin
elachiston; holê d' oligou dein esti perittômatikê
kai diexerchetai ta tês pepseôs organa,
bracheos ex autês eis tas phlebas analêphthentos
haimatos kai oude toutou teleôs chrêstou. deuteras
oun authis edeêse diakriseôs tê physei tôn en
tais phlepsi perittômatôn. kai chreia kai toutois
hodôn te tinôn heterôn epi tas ek||23kriseis auta
paragousôn, hôs mê lymainoito tois chrêstois,
hypodochôn te tinôn hoion dexamenôn, en hais hotan
eis hikanon plêthos aphikêtai, tênikaut' ekkrithêsetai.
Deuteron dê soi kai touto to genos tôn en tô sômati moriôn exeurêtai tois perittômasi tês trophês anakeimenon. allo de triton hyper tou pantê pheresthai, kathaper tines hodoi pollai dia tou sômatos holou katatetmêmenai.
Mia men gar eisodos hê dia tou stomatos hapasi
tois sitiois, ouch hen de to trephomenon alla
pampolla te kai pampoly diestôta. mê toinyn
thaumaze to plêthos tôn organôn, hosa threpseôs
heneken hê physis edêmiourgêse. ta men gar alloiounta
Pg 38
Greek text
proparaskeuazei tên epitêdeion hekastô
moriô trophên, ta de diakrinei ta perittômata,
ta de parapempei, ta d' hypodechetai, ta d'
ekkrinei, ta d' hodoi tês pantê phoras eisi tôn
chrêstôn chymôn, hôst', eiper boulei tas dynameis
tês physeôs hapasas ekmathein, hyper hekastou
toutôn an eiê soi tôn organôn episkepteon.
Archê d' autôn tês didaskalias, hosa || 24 tou telous engys erga te tês physeôs esti kai moria kai dynameis autôn.
Autou de dê palin anamnêsteon hêmin tou telous, houper heneka tosauta te kai toiauta tê physei dedêmiourgêtai moria. to men oun onoma tou pragmatos, hôsper kai proteron eirêtai, threpsis; ho de kata tounoma logos homoiôsis tou trephontos tô trephomenô. hina d' hautê genêtai, proêgêsasthai chrê prosphysin, hina d' ekeinê, prosthesin. epeidan gar ekpesê tôn angeiôn ho mellôn threpsein hotioun tôn tou zôou moriôn chymos, eis hapan auto diaspeiretai prôton, epeita prostithetai kapeita prosphyetai kai teleôs homoioutai.
Pg 40
Greek text
Dêlousi d' hai kaloumenai leukai tên diaphoran
homoiôseôs te kai prosphyseôs, hôsper to genos
ekeino tôn hyderôn, ho tines onomazousin ana
sarka, diorizei saphôs prosthesin prosphyseôs.
ou gar endeia dêpou tês epirrheousês hygrotêtos,
hôs eniai tôn atrophiôn te kai phthiseôn, hê tou
toioutou genesis hyderou || 25 synteleitai. phainetai
gar hikanôs hê te sarx hygra kai diabrochos
hekaston te tôn stereôn tou sômatos moriôn
hôsautôs diakeimenon. alla prosthesis men tis
gignetai tês epipheromenês trophês, hate d' hydatôdesteras
ousês eti kai mê pany ti kechymômenês
mêde to glischron ekeino kai kollôdes, ho dê
tês emphytou thermasias oikonomia prosgignetai,
kektêmenês hê prosphysis adynatos estin epiteleisthai
plêthei leptês hygrotêtos apeptou
diarrheousês te kai rhadiôs olisthainousês apo
tôn stereôn tou sômatos moriôn tês trophês.
en de tais leukais prosphysis men tis gignetai
tês trophês, ou mên exomoiôsis ge. kai dêlon en
tôde to mikrô prosthen rhêthen hôs orthôs elegeto
to dein prosthesin men prôton, ephexês de prosphysin,
epeit' exomoiôsin genesthai tô mellonti
trephesthai.
Kyriôs men oun to trephon êdê trophê, to d' hoion
men trophê, oupô de trephon, hopoion esti to
prosphyomenon ê prostithemenon, trophê men ou
Pg 42
Greek text
kyriôs, homônymôs de trophê; to d' en tais phlepsin
eti periechomenon || 26 kai toutou mallon eti to kata
tên gastera tô mellein pote threpsein, ei kalôs
katergastheiê, keklêtai trophê. kata tauta de
kai tôn edesmatôn hekaston trophên onomazomen
oute tô trephein êdê to zôon oute tô toiouton
hyparchein hoion to trephon, alla tô dynasthai te
kai mellein trephein, ei kalôs katergastheiê.
Touto gar ên kai to pros Hippokratous legomenon; “Trophê de to trephon, trophê kai to hoion trophê kai to mellon.” to men gar homoioumenon êdê trophên ônomase, to d' hoion men ekeino prostithemenon ê prosphyomenon hoion trophên; to d' allo pan, hoson en tê gastri kai tais phlepsi periechetai, mellon.
Hoti men oun anankaion homoiôsin tin' einai tou trephontos tô trephomenô tên threpsin, antikrys dêlon. ou mên hyparchousan ge tautên tên homoiôsin, alla phainomenên monon einai phasin hoi mête technikên oiomenoi tên physin einai mête pronoêtikên tou zôou mêth' holôs tinas oikeias echein dynameis, hais chrômenê ta men alloioi, ta d' helkei, || 27 ta d' ekkrinei.
Kai hautai dyo gegonasin haireseis kata genos
en iatrikê te kai philosophia tôn apophênamenôn
Pg 44
Greek text
ti peri physeôs andrôn, hosoi g' autôn gignôskousin,
ho ti legousi, kai tên akolouthian hôn
hypethento theôrousi th' hama kai diaphylattousin.
hosoi de mêd' auto touto syniasin, all' haplôs,
ho ti an epi glôttan elthê, lêrousin, en oudetera
tôn haireseôn akribôs katamenontes, oude memnêsthai
tôn toioutôn prosêkei.
Tines oun hai dyo haireseis hautai kai tis hê tôn en autais hypotheseôn akolouthia? tên hypobeblêmenên ousian genesei kai phthora pasan hênômenên th' hama kai alloiousthai dynamenên hypetheto thateron genos tês haireseôs, ametablêton de kai analloiôton kai katatetmêmenên eis lepta kai kenais tais metaxy chôrais dieilêmmenên hê loipê.
Kai toinyn hosoi ge tês akolouthias tôn hypotheseôn
aisthanontai, kata men tên deuteran
hairesin oute physeôs oute psychês idian tina nomizousin
ousian ê dynamin hyparchein, || 28 all' en tê
poia synodô tôn prôtôn ekeinôn sômatôn tôn
apathôn apoteleisthai. kata de tên proteran
eirêmenên hairesin ouch hystera tôn sômatôn hê
physis, alla poly protera te kai presbytera.
kai toinyn kata men toutous hautê ta sômata
tôn te phytôn kai tôn zôôn synistêsi dynameis
tinas echousa tas men helktikas th' hama kai
homoiôtikas tôn oikeiôn, tas d' apokritikas tôn
Pg 46
Greek text
allotriôn, kai technikôs hapanta diaplattei te
gennôsa kai pronoeitai tôn gennômenôn heterais
authis tisi dynamesi, sterktikê men tini kai
pronoêtikê tôn engonôn, koinônikê de kai philikê
tôn homogenôn. kata d' au tous heterous oute
toutôn ouden hyparchei tais physesin out' ennoia
tis esti tê psychê symphytos ex archês ouk akolouthias
ou machês, ou diaireseôs ou syntheseôs,
ou dikaiôn ouk adikôn, ou kalôn ouk aischrôn,
all' ex aisthêseôs te kai di' aisthêseôs hapanta
ta toiauth' hêmin engignesthai phasi kai phantasiais
tisi kai mnêmais oiakizesthai ta zôa.
Enioi || 29 d' autôn kai rhêtôs apephênanto mêdemian
einai tês psychês dynamin, hê logizometha, all'
hypo tôn aisthêtôn agesthai pathôn hêmas kathaper
boskêmata pros mêden ananeusai mêd' anteipein
dynamenous. kath' hous dêlonoti kai andreia kai
phronêsis kai sôphrosynê kai enkrateia lêros
esti makros kai philoumen out' allêlous oute ta
engona kai tois theois ouden hêmôn melei. kataphronousi
de kai tôn oneiratôn kai tôn oiônôn
kai tôn symbolôn kai pasês astrologias, hyper
hôn hêmeis men idia di' heterôn grammatôn epi pleon
eskepsametha peri tôn Asklêpiadou tou iatrou
skopoumenoi dogmatôn. enesti de tois boulomenois
kakeinois men homilêsai tois logois kai nyn
d' êdê skopein, hôsper tinôn dyoin hodôn hêmin
prokeimenôn, hopoteran beltion esti trepesthai.
Hippokratês men gar tên proteran rhêtheisan
etrapeto, kath' hên hênôtai men hê ousia kai alloioutai
kai sympnoun holon esti kai syrrhoun to
Pg 48
Greek text
sôma kai hê physis hapanta technikôs kai dikaiôs
prattei dynameis echousa, kath' has hekaston tôn
moriôn helkei men || 30 eph' heauto ton oikeion heautô
chymon, helxan de prosphyei te panti merei tôn en
hautô kai teleôs exomoioi, to de mê kratêthen en
toutô mêde tên pantelê dynêthen alloiôsin te
kai homoiotêta tou trephomenou katadexasthai di'
heteras au tinos ekkritikês dynameôs apotribetai.
Mathein d' enestin ou monon ex hôn hoi tanantia
tithemenoi diapherontai tois enargôs phainomenois,
eis hoson orthotêtos te kai alêtheias hêkei ta Hippokratous
dogmata, alla kax autôn tôn kata
meros en tê physikê theôria zêtoumenôn tôn t'
allôn hapantôn kai tôn en tois zôois energeiôn.
hosoi gar oudemian oudeni moriô nomizousin hyparchein
helktikên tês oikeias poiotêtos dynamin,
anankazontai pollakis enantia legein tois enargôs
phainomenois, hôsper kai Asklêpiadês ho
iatros epi tôn nephrôn epoiêsen, hous ou monon
Hippokratês ê Dioklês ê Erasistratos ê
Pg 50
Greek text
Praxagoras ê tis allos iatros aristos organa
diakritika tôn ourôn pepisteukasin hyparchein,
alla kai hoi || 31 mageiroi schedon hapantes isasin,
hosêmerai theômenoi tên te thesin autôn kai ton
aph' hekaterou poron eis tên kystin emballonta,
ton ourêtêra kaloumenon, ex autês tês kataskeuês
analogizomenoi tên te chreian autôn kai
tên dynamin. kai pro ge tôn mageirôn hapantes
anthrôpoi kai dysourountes pollakis kai pantapasin
ischourountes, hotan algôsi men ta kata
tas psoas, psammôdê d' exourôsin, nephritikous
onomazousi sphas autous.
Asklêpiadên d' oimai mêde lithon ourêthenta
pote theasasthai pros tôn houtô paschontôn mêd'
hôs proêgêsato kata tên metaxy tôn nephrôn
kai tês kysteôs chôran odynê tis oxeia dierchomenou
tou lithou ton ourêtêra mêd' hôs ourêthentos
autou ta te tês odynês kai ta tês ischourias
epausato parachrêma. pôs oun eis tên kystin
tô logô paragei to ouron, axion akousai kai
thaumasai tandros tên sophian, hos katalipôn
houtôs eureias hodous enargôs phainomenas aphaneis
kai stenas kai pantapasin anaisthêtous || 32 hypetheto.
bouletai gar eis atmous analyomenon to
pinomenon hygron eis tên kystin diadidosthai
kapeit' ex ekeinôn authis allêlois syniontôn
houtôs apolambanein auto tên archaian idean kai
gignesthai palin hygron ex atmôn atechnôs hôs peri
spongias tinos ê eriou tês kysteôs dianooumenos,
all' ou sômatos akribôs pyknou kai
steganou dyo chitônas ischyrotatous kektêmenou,
Pg 52
Greek text
di' hôn eiper dierchesthai phêsomen tous atmous, ti
dêpot' ouchi dia tou peritonaiou kai tôn phrenôn
dielthontes eneplêsan hydatos to t' epigastrion
hapan kai ton thôraka? alla pachyteros, phêsin,
esti dêladê kai steganôteros ho peritonaios
chitôn tês kysteôs kai dia tout' ekeinos men
apostegei tous atmous, hê de kystis paradechetai.
all' eiper anatetmêkei pote, tach' an êpistato
ton men exôthen chitôna tês kysteôs apo tou
peritonaiou pephykota tên autên ekeinô physin
echein, ton d' endothen ton autês tês kysteôs idion
pleon ê diplasion ekeinou to pachos hyparchein.
All' isôs oute to || 33 pachos outh' hê leptotês tôn chitônôn, all' hê thesis tês kysteôs aitia tou pheresthai tous atmous eis autên. kai mên ei kai dia talla panta pithanon ên autous entauthoi synathroizesthai, to ge tês theseôs monês autarkes kôlysai. katô men gar hê kystis keitai, tois d' atmois symphytos hê pros to meteôron phora, hôste poly proteron an eplêsan hapanta ta kata ton thôraka te kai ton pneumona, prin epi tên kystin aphikesthai.
Kaitoi ti theseôs kysteôs kai peritonaiou kai
thôrakos mnêmoneuô? diekpesontes gar dêpou
tous te tês koilias kai tôn enterôn chitônas hoi
atmoi kata tên metaxy chôran autôn te toutôn
kai tou peritonaiou synathroisthêsontai kai hygron
entauthoi genêsontai, hôsper kai tois hyderikois en
toutô tô chôriô to pleiston athroizetai tou
Pg 54
Greek text
hydatos, ê pantôs autous chrê pheresthai prosô
dia pantôn tôn hopôsoun homilountôn kai mêdepoth'
histasthai. all' ei kai touto tis hypothoito,
diekpesontes an houtôs ou to peritonaion monon
alla kai to epigastrion, eis to periechon skedastheien
ê pantôs an hypo tô dermati || 34 synathroistheien.
Alla kai pros taut' antilegein hoi nyn Asklêpiadeioi peirôntai, kaitoi pros hapantôn aei tôn paratynchanontôn autois, hotan peri toutôn erizôsi, katagelômenoi. houtôs ara dysapotripton ti kakon estin hê peri tas haireseis philotimia kai dyseknipton en tois malista kai psôras hapasês dysiatoteron.
Tôn goun kath' hêmas tis sophistôn ta t' alla
kai peri tous eristikous logous hikanôs synkekrotêmenos
kai deinos eipein, eiper tis allos,
aphikomenos emoi poth' hyper toutôn eis logous,
tosouton apedei tou dysôpeisthai pros tinos
tôn eirêmenôn, hôste kai thaumazein ephasken
emou ta saphôs phainomena logois lêrôdesin
anatrepein epicheirountos. enargôs gar hosêmerai
theôreisthai tas kysteis hapasas, ei tis autas
emplêseien hydatos ê aeros, eita dêsas ton
trachêlon piezoi pantachothen, oudamothen methieisas
ouden, all' akribôs hapan entos heautôn
stegousas. kaitoi g' eiper êsan tines ek tôn
nephrôn eis autas hêkontes aisthêtoi kai megaloi
poroi, pantôs an, ephê, di' ekeinôn, hôsper eisêei
to || 35 hygron eis autas, houtô kai thlibontôn
exekrineto. tauta kai ta toiaut' eipôn exaiphnês
Pg 56
Greek text
aptaistô kai saphei tô stomati teleutôn
anapêdêsas apêei katalipôn hêmas hôs oude
pithanês tinos antilogias euporêsai dynamenous.
Houtôs ou monon hygies ouden isasin hoi tais
hairesesi douleuontes, all' oude mathein hypomenousi.
deon gar akousai tên aitian, di' hên
eisienai men dynatai dia tôn ourêtêrôn eis tên
kystin to hygron, exienai d' authis opisô tên
autên hodon ouketh' hoion te, kai thaumasai tên
technên tês physeôs, oute mathein ethelousi kai
loidorountai proseti matên hyp' autês alla te
polla kai tous nephrous gegonenai phaskontes.
eisi d' hoi kai deichthênai parontôn autôn tous
apo tôn nephrôn eis tên kystin emphyomenous
ourêtêras hypomeinantes etolmêsan eipein hoi men,
hoti matên kai houtoi gegonasin, hoi d', hoti spermatikoi
tines eisi poroi kai dia touto kata ton
trachêlon autês, ouk eis to kytos emphyontai.
deixantes oun hêmeis autois tous hôs alêthôs
spermatikous porous katôterô tôn ourêtêrôn || 36
emballontas eis ton trachêlon, nyn goun, ei kai
mê proteron, ôêthêmen apaxein te tôn pseudôs
hypeilêmmenôn epi te tanantia metastêsein
autika. hoi de kai pros tout' antilegein etolmôn
ouden einai thaumaston eipontes, en ekeinois men
hôs an steganôterois ousin epi pleon hypomenein
to sperma, kata de tous apo tôn nephrôn hôs an
hikanôs aneurysmenous ekrein dia tacheôn. hêmeis
Pg 58
Greek text
oun ênankasthêmen autois tou loipou deiknyein
eisreon tê kystei dia tôn ourêtêrôn to ouron
enargôs epi zôntos eti tou zôou, mogis an houtô
pote tên phlyarian autôn epischêsein elpizontes.
Ho de tropos tês deixeôs esti toiosde. dielein chrê to pro tôn ourêtêrôn peritonaion, eita brochois autous eklabein kapeit' epidêsantas easai to zôon; ou gar an ourêseien eti. meta de tauta lyein men tous exôthen desmous, deiknynai de kenên men tên kystin, mestous d' hikanôs kai diatetamenous tous ourêtêras kai kindyneuontas rhagênai kapeita tous brochous autôn aphelontas enargôs horan êdê plêroumenên ourou tên kystin.
Epi de toutô || 37 phanenti, prin ourêsai to
zôon, brochon autou peribalein chrê tô aidoiô
kapeita thlibein pantachothen tên kystin. oude
gar an ouden eti dia tôn ourêtêrôn epanelthoi
pros tous nephrous. kan toutô dêlon gignetai
to mê monon epi tethneôtos alla kai periontos eti
tou zôou kôlyesthai metalambanein authis ek tês
kysteôs tous ourêtêras to ouron. epi toutois
ophtheisin epitrepein êdê to zôon ourein lyontas
autou ton epi tô aidoiô brochon, eit' authis
epibalein men thaterô tôn ourêtêrôn, easai de
ton heteron eis tên kystin syrrhein kai tina dialipontas
chronon epideiknyein êdê, pôs ho men heteros
autôn ho dedemenos mestos kai diatetamenos kata
ta pros tôn nephrôn merê phainetai, ho d' heteros
ho lelymenos autos men chalaros esti, peplêrôke
d' ourou tên kystin. eit' authis diatemein prôton
men ton plêrê kai deixai, pôs exakontizetai to
Pg 60
Greek text
ouron ex autou, kathaper en tais phlebotomiais
to haima, meta tauta de kai ton heteron authis
diatemein kapeit' epidêsai to zôon exôthen, amphoterôn
diêrêmenôn, || 38 eith' hotan hikanôs echein
dokê, lysai ton desmon. heurethêsetai gar hê men
kystis kenê, plêres d' ourou to metaxy tôn
enterôn te kai tou peritonaiou chôrion hapan,
hôs an ei kai hyderikon ên to zôon. taut' oun ei
tis autos kath' heauton boulêtheiê basanizein epi
zôou, megalôs moi dokei katagnôsesthai tês
Asklêpiadou propeteias. ei de dê kai tên
aitian mathoi, di' hên ouden ek tês kysteôs eis
tous ourêtêras antekrei, peisthênai an moi dokei
kai dia toude tên eis ta zôa pronoian te kai
technên tês physeôs.
Hippokratês men oun hôn ismen iatrôn te kai
philosophôn prôtos hapantôn, hôs an kai prôtos
epignous ta tês physeôs erga, thaumazei te kai
dia pantos autên hymnei dikaian onomazôn kai
monên exarkein eis hapanta tois zôois phêsin,
autên ex hautês adidaktôs prattousan hapanta
ta deonta; toiautên d' ousan autên eutheôs
kai dynameis hypelaben echein helktikên men tôn
oikeiôn, apokritikên de tôn allotriôn kai
trephein te kai auxein au||39tên ta zôa kai krinein
ta nosêmata; kai dia tout' en tois sômasin
hêmôn sympnoian te mian einai phêsi kai syrrhoian
kai panta sympathea. kata de ton Asklêpiadên
Pg 62
Greek text
ouden oudeni sympathes esti physei, diêrêmenês te
kai katatethrausmenês eis anarma stoicheia kai
lêrôdeis onkous hapasês tês ousias. ex anankês
oun alla te myria tois enargôs phainomenois
enantiôs apephênato kai tês physeôs êgnoêse
tên te tôn oikeiôn epispastikên dynamin kai
tên tôn allotriôn apokritikên. epi men oun
tês exaimatôseôs te kai anadoseôs exeure tina
psychran adoleschian; eis de tên tôn perittômatôn
katharsin ouden holôs heurôn eipein ouk ôknêsen
homose chôrêsai tois phainomenois, epi men tês
tôn ourôn diakriseôs aposterêsas men tôn te
nephrôn kai tôn ourêtêrôn tên energeian, adêlous
de tinas porous eis tên kystin hypothemenos; touto
gar ên dêladê mega kai semnon apistêsanta
tois phainomenois pisteusai tois adêlois.
Epi || 40 de tês xanthês cholês eti meizon autô kai neanikôteron esti to tolmêma; gennasthai gar autên en tois cholêdochois angeiois, ou diakrinesthai legei.
Pôs oun tois ikterikois ham' amphô sympiptei, ta men diachôrêmata mêden holôs en hautois echonta cholês, anapleôn d' autois gignomenon holon to sôma? lêrein palin entauth' anankazetai tois epi tôn ourôn eirêmenois paraplêsiôs. lêrei d' ouden hêtton kai peri tês melainês cholês kai tou splênos oute ti poth' hyph' Hippokratous eirêtai synieis antilegein t' epicheirôn hois ouk oiden emplêktô tini kai manikô stomati.
Pg 64
Greek text
Ti dê to kerdos ek tôn toioutôn dogmatôn eis
tas therapeias ektêsato? mête nephritikon ti
nosêma dynasthai therapeusai mêt' ikterikon
mête melancholikon, alla kai peri tou pasin
anthrôpois ouch Hippokratei monon homologoumenou
tou kathairein tôn pharmakôn enia men tên xanthên
cholên, enia de tên melainan, alla de tina phlegma
kai tina to lepton kai hydatôdes perittôma,
mêde peri toutôn synchôrein, all' hyp' autôn
tôn pharmakôn gignesthai legein toiouton hekaston
tôn kenoumenôn, hôsper hypo tôn cholê||41dochôn
porôn tên cholên; kai mêden diapherein kata ton
thaumaston Asklêpiadên ê hydragôgon didonai
tois hyderiôsin ê cholagôgon pharmakon; hapanta
gar homoiôs kenoun kai syntêkein to sôma kai to
syntêgma toionde ti phainesthai poiein, mê proteron
hyparchon toiouton.
Ar' oun ou mainesthai nomisteon auton ê pantapasin apeiron einai tôn ergôn tês technês? tis gar ouk oiden, hôs, ei men phlegmatos agôgon dotheiê pharmakon tois ikteriôsin, ouk an oude tettaras kyathous kathartheien; houtô d' oud' ei tôn hydragôgôn ti; cholagôgô de pharmakô pleiston men ekkenoutai cholês, autika de katharos tois houtô kathartheisin ho chrôs gignetai. pollous goun hêmeis meta to therapeusai tên en tô hêpati diathesin hapax kathêrantes apêllaxamen tou pathêmatos. ou mên oud' ei phlegmatos agôgô kathairois pharmakô, pleon an ti diapraxaio.
Pg 66
Greek text
Kai taut' ouch Hippokratês men houtôs oide
gignomena, tois d' apo tês empeirias monês hormômenois
heterôs egnôstai, alla kakei||42nois hôsautôs
kai pasin iatrois, hois melei tôn ergôn tês technês,
houtô dokei plên Asklêpiadou. prodosian
gar einai nenomike tôn stoicheiôn hôn hypetheto tên
alêthê peri tôn toioutôn homologian. ei gar
holôs heuretheiê ti pharmakon helktikon toude tinos
tou chymou monou, kindynos kratein dêladê tô
logô to en hekastô tôn sômatôn einai tina
dynamin epispastikên tês oikeias poiotêtos. dia
touto knêkon men kai kokkon ton knidion kai
hippophaes ouch helkein ek tou sômatos alla poiein
to phlegma phêsin; anthos de chalkou kai lepida
kai auton ton kekaumenon chalkon kai chamaidryn
kai chamaileonta eis hydôr analyein to sôma kai
tous hyderikous hypo toutôn ou kathairomenous oninasthai
alla kenoumenous synauxontôn dêladê to
pathos. ei gar ou kenoi to periechomenon en tois
sômasin hydatôdes hygron all' auto genna, tô
nosêmati prostimôreitai. kai men ge kai hê
skammônia pros tô mê kenoun ek tou sômatos
tôn ikterikôn tên cholên eti kai to chrêston haima
cholên ergazomenê || 43 kai syntêkousa to sôma kai
têlikauta kaka drôsa kai to pathos epauxousa
kata ge ton Asklêpiadou logon.
Pg 68
Greek text
Homôs enargôs horatai pollous ôphelousa.
nai, phêsin, oninantai men, all' autô monô tô
logô tês kenôseôs. kai mên ei phlegmatos agôgon
autois doiês pharmakon, ouk onêsontai. kai
touth' houtôs enarges estin, hôste kai hoi apo monês
tês empeirias hormômenoi gignôskousin auto.
kaitoi toutois ge tois andrasin auto dê tout'
esti philosophêma, to mêdeni logô pisteuein alla
monois tois enargôs phainomenois. ekeinoi men oun
sôphronousin; Asklêpiadês de parapaiei tais
aisthêsesin hêmas apistein keleuôn, entha to phainomenon
anatrepei saphôs autou tas hypotheseis.
kaitoi makrô g' ên ameinon ouch homose chôrein
tois phainomenois all' ekeinois anathesthai to pan.
Ar' oun tauta monon enargôs machetai tois Asklêpiadou dogmasin ê kai to therous men pleiona kenousthai tên xanthên cholên hypo tôn autôn pharmakôn, cheimônos de to phlegma, kai neaniskô men pleiona tên cholên, presbytê de to phlegma? phainetai || 44 gar hekaston helkein tên ousan, ouk auto gennan tên ouk ousan. ei goun ethelêsais neaniskô tini tôn ischnôn kai thermôn hôra therous mêt' argôs bebiôkoti mêt' en plêsmonê phlegmatos agôgon dounai pharmakon, oligiston men kai meta bias pollês ekkenôseis tou chymou, blapseis d' eschatôs ton anthrôpon; empalin d' ei cholagôgon doiês, kai pampoly kenôseis kai blapseis ouden.
Ar' apistoumen eti tô mê ouch hekaston tôn
pharmakôn epagesthai ton oikeion heautô chymon?
Pg 70
Greek text
isôs phêsousin hoi ap' Asklêpiadou, mallon d'
ouk isôs, alla pantôs apistein erousin, hina mê
prodôsi ta philtata.
Palin oun kai hêmeis eph' heteran metabômen adoleschian; ou gar epitrepousin hoi sophistai tôn axiôn ti zêtêmatôn procheirizesthai kaitoi pampollôn hyparchontôn, alla katatribein anankazousi ton chronon eis tên tôn sophismatôn, hôn proballousi, lysin.
Tis oun hê adoleschia? hê endoxos hautê kai polythrylêtos lithos hê ton sidêron || 45 epispômenê. tacha gar an hautê pote tên psychên autôn epispasaito pisteuein einai tinas en hekastô tôn sômatôn helktikas tôn oikeiôn poiotêtôn dynameis.
Epikouros men oun kaitoi paraplêsiois Asklêpiadê
stoicheiois pros tên physiologian chrômenos
homôs homologei, pros men tês hêrakleias
lithou ton sidêron helkesthai, pros de tôn êlektrôn
ta kyrêbia kai peiratai ge kai tên aitian
apodidonai tou phainomenou. tas gar aporrheousas
atomous apo tês lithou tais aporrheousais apo
tou sidêrou tois schêmasin oikeias einai phêsin,
hôste periplekesthai rhadiôs. proskrouousas oun
autas tois synkrimasin hekaterois tês te lithou
kai tou sidêrou kapeit' eis to meson apopallomenas
houtôs allêlais te periplekesthai kai
Pg 72
Greek text
synepispasthai ton sidêron. to men oun tôn
hypotheseôn eis tên aitiologian apithanon antikrys
dêlon, homôs d' oun homologei tên holkên. kai houtô
ge kai kata ta sômata tôn zôôn phêsi gignesthai
tas t' anadoseis kai tas diakriseis tôn perittômatôn
kai tas tôn kathairontôn pharmakôn
energeias.
Asklêpiadês dê to te tês eirêmenês aitias apithanon || 46 hypidomenos kai mêdemian allên eph' hois hypetheto stoicheiois exeuriskôn pithanên epi to mêd' holôs helkesthai legein hypo mêdenos mêden anaischyntêsas etrapeto, deon, ei mêth' hois Epikouros eipen êresketo mêt' alla beltiô legein eichen, apostênai tôn hypotheseôn kai tên te physin eipein technikên kai tên ousian tôn ontôn henoumenên te pros heautên aei kai alloioumenên hypo tôn heautês moriôn eis allêla drôntôn te kai paschontôn. ei gar tauth' hypetheto, chalepon ouden ên tên technikên ekeinên physin homologêsai dynameis echein epispastikên men tôn oikeiôn, apokritikên de tôn allotriôn. ou gar di' allo ti g' ên autê to technikê t' einai kai tou zôou diasôstikê kai tôn nosêmatôn kritikê para to prosiesthai men kai phylattein to oikeion, apokrinein de to allotrion.
All' Asklêpiadês kantautha to men akolouthon
tais archais hais hypetheto syneiden, ou mên tên
ge pros to phainomenon enargôs êdesthê machên,
all' homose || 47 chôrei kai peri toutou pasin ouk
iatrois monon all' êdê kai tois allois anthrôpois
Pg 74
Greek text
oute krisin einai tina legôn outh' hêmeran krisimon
outh' holôs ouden epi sôtêria tou zôou pragmateusasthai
tên physin. aei gar to men akolouthon
phylattein bouletai, to d' enargôs phainomenon
anatrepein empalin Epikourô. titheis gar ekeinos
aei to phainomenon aitian autou psychran apodidôsi.
ta gar apopallomena smikra sômata tês hêrakleias
lithou toioutois heterois periplekesthai moriois
tou sidêrou kapeita dia tês periplokês
tautês mêdamou phainomenês epispasthai bareian
houtôs ousian ouk oid' hopôs an tis peistheiê. kai
gar ei touto synchôrêsomen, to ge tô sidêrô
palin heteron prostethen ti synaptesthai tên
autên aitian ouketi prosietai.
Ti gar eroumen? ê dêladê tôn aporrheontôn tês lithou moriôn enia men proskrousanta tô sidêrô palin apopallesthai kai tauta men einai, di' hôn kremannysthai symbainei ton sidêron, ta d' eis auton eisdyomena dia tôn || 48 kenôn porôn diexerchesthai tachista kapeita tô parakeimenô sidêrô proskrouonta mêt' ekeinon diadynai dynasthai, kaitoi ton ge prôton diadynta, palindromounta d' authis epi ton proteron heteras authis ergazesthai tais proterais homoias periplokas?
Enargôs gar entautha to lêrôdes tês aitias
elenchetai. grapheia goun oida pote sidêra pente
kata to syneches allêlois synaphthenta, tou prôtou
men monou tês lithou psausantos, ex ekeinou
Pg 76
Greek text
d' eis talla tês dynameôs diadotheisês; kai ouk
estin eipein, hôs, ei men tô katô tou grapheiou
perati prosagois heteron, echetai te kai synaptetai
kai krematai to prosenechthen; ei d' allô tini
merei tôn plagiôn prostheiês, ou synaptetai.
pantê gar homoiôs hê tês lithou diadidotai dynamis,
ei monon hapsaito kata ti tou prôtou grapheiou.
kai mentoi kak toutou palin eis to deuteron holon
hê dynamis hama noêmati diarrhei kax ekeinou palin
eis to triton holon. ei dê noêsais smikran tina
lithon hêrakleian en oikô tini kremamenên, eit' en
kyklô psauonta pampolla sidêria kakeinôn
palin hetera kakeinôn alla kai tout' achri pleionos,
hapanta || 49 dêpou pimplasthai dei ta sidêria
tôn aporrheontôn tês lithou sômatôn. kai kindyneuei
diaphorêthênai to smikron ekeino lithidion eis
tas aporrhoas dialythen. kaitoi, kan ei mêden
parakeoit' autô sidêrion, eis ton aera skedannytai,
malist' ei kai thermos hyparchoi.
Nai, phêsi, smikra gar auta chrê pany noein, hôste tôn empheromenôn tô aeri psêgmatôn toutôn dê tôn smikrotatôn ekeinôn enia myrioston einai meros. eit' ex houtô smikrôn tolmate legein kremannysthai barê têlikauta sidêrou? ei gar hekaston autôn myrioston esti meros tôn en tô aeri pheromenôn psêgmatôn, pêlikon chrê noêsai to peras autôn to ankistroeides, hô peripleketai pros allêla? pantôs gar dêpou touto smikrotaton estin holou tou psêgmatos.
Pg 78
Greek text
Eita mikron mikrô, kinoumenon kinoumenô periplaken
ouk euthys apopalletai. kai gar dê kai
all' atta pantôs autois, ta men anôthen, ta de
katôthen, kai ta men emprosthen, ta d' opisthen,
ta d' ek tôn dexiôn, ta d' ek tôn aristerôn || 50
ekrêgnymena seiei te kai brattei kai menein ouk
ea. kai mentoi kai polla chrê noein ex anankês
hekaston ekeinôn tôn smikrôn sômatôn echein
ankistrôdê perata. di' henos men gar allêlois
synaptetai, di' heterou d' henos tou men hyperkeimenou
tê lithô, tou d' hypokeimenou tô sidêrô.
ei gar anô men exaphtheiê tês lithou, katô de tô
sidêrô mê symplakeiê, pleon ouden. hôste tou
men hyperkeimenou to anô meros ekkremasthai chrê
tês lithou, tou d' hypokeimenou tô katô perati
synêphthai ton sidêron. epei de kak tôn plagiôn
allêlois peripleketai, pantôs pou kantautha
echei ta ankistra. kai memnêso moi pro pantôn,
hopôs onta smikra tas toiautas kai tosautas
apophyseis echei. kai toutou mallon eti, pôs, hina
to deuteron sidêrion synaphthê tô prôtô kai tô
deuterô to triton kakeinô to tetarton, hama men
diexerchesthai chrê tous porous tauti ta smikra
kai lêrôdê psêgmata, hama d' apopallesthai tou
met' auto || 51 tetagmenou, kaitoi kata pan homoiou
tên physin hyparchontos.
Oude gar hê toiautê palin hypothesis atolmos,
all', ei chrê talêthes eipein, makrô tôn emprosthen
anaischyntotera, pente sidêriôn homoiôn allêlois
Pg 80
Greek text
ephexês tetagmenôn dia tou prôtou diadyomena
rhadiôs tês lithou ta moria kata to deuteron
apopallesthai kai mê dia toutou kata ton auton
tropon hetoimôs diexerchesthai. kai mên hekaterôs
atopon. ei men gar apopalletai, pôs eis to
triton ôkeôs diexerchetai? ei d' ouk apopalletai,
pôs kremannytai to deuteron ek tou prôtou? tên
gar apopalsin autos hypetheto dêmiourgon tês
holkês.
All', hoper ephên, eis adoleschian anankaion
empiptein, epeidan tis toioutois andrasi dialegêtai.
syntomon oun tina kai kephalaiôdê logon
eipôn apallattesthai boulomai. tois Asklêpiadou
grammasin ei tis epimelôs homilêseie, tên
te pros tas archas akolouthian tôn toioutôn
dogmatôn akribôs an ekmathoi kai tên pros ta
phainomena machên. ho men oun Epikouros ta
phainomena phylattein boulomenos aschêmonei || 52 philotimoumenos
epideiknyein auta tais archais homologounta;
ho d' Asklêpiadês to men akolouthon
tais archais phylattei, tou phainomenou d' ouden
autô melei. hostis oun bouletai tên atopian
exelenchein tôn hypotheseôn, ei men pros Asklêpiadên
ho logos autô gignoito, tês pros to
phainomenon hypomimnêsketô machês; ei de pros
Epikouron, tês pros tas archas diaphônias. hai
d' allai schedon haireseis hai tôn homoiôn archôn
echomenai teleôs apesbêsan, hautai d' eti monai
diarkousin ouk agennôs. kaitoi ta men Asklêpiadou
Mênodotos ho empeirikos aphyktôs
exelenchei, tên te pros ta phainomena machên hypomimnêskôn
auton kai tên pros allêla; ta d'
Pg 82
Greek text
Epikourou palin ho Asklêpiadês echomenos aei
tês akolouthias, hês ekeinos ou pany ti phainetai
phrontizôn.
All' hoi nyn anthrôpoi, prin kai tautas ekmathein tas haireseis kai tas allas tas beltious kapeita chronô pollô krinai te kai basanisai to kath' hekastên autôn alêthes te kai pseudos, hoi men iatrous heautous, hoi de philosophous onomazousi mêden eidotes. || 53 ouden oun thaumaston episês tois alêthesi ta pseudê tetimêsthai. hotô gar an hekastos prôtô peritychê didaskalô, toioutos egeneto, mê perimeinas mêden eti par' allou mathein. enioi d' autôn, ei kai pleiosin entychoien, all' houtô g' eisin asynetoi te kai bradeis tên dianoian, hôste kai gegêrakotes oupô syniasin akolouthian logou. palai de tous toioutous epi tas banausous apelyon technas. alla tauta men es ho ti teleutêsei theos oiden.
Hêmeis d' epeidê, kaitoi pheugontes antilegein
tois en autais tais archais euthys esphalmenois,
homôs ênankasthêmen hyp' autês tôn pragmatôn
tês akolouthias eipein tina kai dialechthênai pros
autous, eti kai touto prosthêsomen tois eirêmenois,
hôs ou monon ta kathaironta pharmaka
pephyken epispasthai tas oikeias poiotêtas alla
kai ta tous skolopas anagonta kai tas tôn
belôn akidas eis poly bathos sarkos empeparmenas
eniote. kai mentoi kai hosa tous ious tôn
thêriôn ê tous empepharmagmenous tois belesin
anelkei, kai tauta tên autên tais hêrakleiais
lithois epi||54deiknytai dynamin. egôg' oun oida pote
katapeparmenon en podi neaniskou skolopa tois
Pg 84
Greek text
men daktylois helkousin hêmin biaiôs ouk akolouthêsanta,
pharmakou d' epitethentos alypôs te kai
dia tacheôn anelthonta. kaitoi kai pros touto
tines antilegousi phaskontes, hotan hê phlegmonê
lythê tou merous, automaton exienai ton skolopa
pros oudenos anelkomenon. all' houtoi ge prôton
men agnoein eoikasin, hôs alla men esti
phlegmonês, alla de tôn houtô katapeparmenôn
helktika pharmaka; kaitoi g' eiper aphlegmantôn
genomenôn exekrineto ta para physin, hosa phlegmonês
esti lytika, taut' euthys an ên kakeinôn
helktika.
Deuteron d', ho kai mallon an tis thaumaseien, hôs ou monon alla men tous skolopas, alla de tous ious exagei pharmaka, alla kai autôn tôn tous ious helkontôn ta men ton tês echidnês, ta de ton tês trygonos, ta d' allou tinos epispatai kai saphôs estin idein tois pharmakois epikeimenous autous. entauth' oun Epikouron men epainein chrê tês pros || 55 to phainomenon aidous, memphesthai de ton logon tês aitias. hon gar hêmeis helkontes tois daktylois ouk anêgagomen skolopa, touton hypo tôn smikrôn ekeinôn anelkesthai psêgmatôn, pôs ou pantapasin atopon einai chrê nomizein?
Ar' oun êdê pepeismetha tôn ontôn hekastô dynamin tin' hyparchein, hê tên oikeian helkei poiotêta, to men mallon, to d' hêtton?
Ê kai to tôn pyrôn eti paradeigma procheirisometha
Pg 86
Greek text
tô logô? phanêsontai gar oimai
kai tôn geôrgôn autôn amathesteroi peri tên
physin hoi mêden holôs hypo mêdenos helkesthai
synchôrountes; hôs egôge prôton men akousas
to gignomenon ethaumasa kai autos êboulêthên
autoptês autou katastênai. meta tauta de,
hôs kai ta tês peiras hômologei, tên aitian
skopoumenos en pampollô chronô kata pasas
tas haireseis oudemian allên heurein hoios t' ên
oud' achri tou pithanou proïousan alla katagelastous
te kai saphôs exelenchomenas tas allas
hapasas plên tês tên holkên presbeuousês.
Esti de to gignomenon toionde. katakomizontes
hoi par' hêmin geôrgoi tous || 56 ek tôn agrôn
pyrous eis tên polin en hamaxais tisin, hotan
hyphelesthai boulêthôsin, hôste mê phôrathênai,
kerami' atta plêrôsantes hydatos mesois autois
enistasin. helkontes oun ekeinoi dia tou keramiou
to hygron eis hautous onkon men kai baros
prosktôntai, katadêloi d' ou pany gignontai tois
horôsin, ei mê tis propepysmenos êdê periergoteron
episkopoito. kaitoi g' ei boulêtheiês en
hêliô katatheinai pany thermô tauton angeion,
elachiston pantelôs heurêseis to dapanômenon
eph' hekastês hêmeras. houtôs ara kai tês hêliakês
thermasias tês sphodras ischyroteran hoi pyroi
dynamin echousin helkein eis heautous tên plêsiazousan
hygrotêta. lêros oun entautha makros
hê pros to leptomeres phora tou periechontos
hêmas aeros kai malisth' hotan hikanôs ê thermos,
Pg 88
Greek text
poly men hyparchontos ê kata tous pyrous leptomeresterou,
dechomenou d' oude to dekaton meros
tês eis ekeinous metalambanomenês hygrotêtos.
Epei d' hikanôs êdoleschêsamen ouch hekontes, all', hôs hê paroimia phêsi, mainomenois anankasthentes sym||57manênai, palin epi tên tôn ourôn epanelthômen diakrisin, en hê tôn men Asklêpiadou lêrôn epilathômetha, meta de tôn pepeismenôn diêtheisthai ta oura dia tôn nephrôn, tis ho tropos tês energeias estin, episkepsômetha; pantôs gar ê ex hautôn epi tous nephrous pheretai ta oura touto beltion einai nomizonta, kathaper hêmeis, hopotan eis tên agoran apiômen; ê, ei tout' adynaton, heteron ti chrê tês phoras autôn exeurein aition. ti dê tout' estin? ei gar mê tois nephrois dôsomen tina dynamin helktikên tês toiautês poiotêtos, hôs Hippokratês enomizen, ouden heteron exeurêsomen. hoti men gar êtoi toutous helkein auto prosêken ê tas phlebas pempein, eiper ge mê ex heautou pheretai, panti pou dêlon. all' ei men hai phlebes peristellomenai proôthoien, ouk ekeino monon, alla syn autô kai to pan haima to periechomenon en heautais eis tous nephrous ekthlipsousin; ei de tout' adynaton, hôs deixomen, leipetai tous nephrous helkein.
Pg 90
Greek text
Pôs oun adynaton touto? tôn nephrôn hê thesis
antibainei. ou gar dê houtô g' hypokeintai tê
koilê phlebi || 58 kathaper tois ex enkephalou
perittômasin en te tê rhini kai kata tên hyperôan
hoi tois êthmois homoioi poroi, all' hekaterôthen
autê parakeintai. kai mên, eiper homoiôs tois
êthmois hoson an ê leptoteron kai teleôs orrhôdes,
touto men hetoimôs diapempousi, to de pachyteron
apostegousin, hapan ep' autous ienai chrê to
haima to periechomenon en tê koilê phlebi, kathaper
eis tous trygêtous ho pas oinos emballetai. kai
men ge kai to tou galaktos tou tyroumenou
paradeigma saphôs an, ho boulomai legein,
endeixaito. kai gar kai touto pan emblêthen
eis tous talarous ou pan diêtheitai, all' hoson
men an ê leptoteron tês eurytêtos tôn plokamôn,
eis to katantes pheretai kai touto men
orrhos eponomazetai; to loipon de to pachy to
mellon esesthai tyros, hôs an ou paradechomenôn
auto tôn en tois talarois porôn, ou diekpiptei
katô. kai toinyn, eiper houtô mellei diêtheisthai
tôn nephrôn ho tou haimatos orrhos, hapan ep'
autous hêkein chrê to haima kai mê to men nai, to
d' ou. ||
59 Pôs oun echei to phainomenon ek tês anatomês?
To men heteron meros tês koilês anô pros tên
kardian anapheretai, to loipon d' epibainei tê
rhachei kath' holês autês ekteinomenon achri tôn
skelôn, hôste to men heteron oud' engys aphikneitai
Pg 92
Greek text
tôn nephrôn, to loipon de plêsiazei men, ou mên
eis autous ge kataphyetai. echrên d', eiper
emellen hôs di' êthmôn autôn katharthêsesthai to
haima, pan empiptein eis autous kapeita katô
men pheresthai to lepton, ischesthai d' anô to
pachy. nyni d' ouch houtôs echei; plagioi gar
hekaterôthen tês koilês phlebos hoi nephroi keintai.
oukoun hôs êthmoi diêthousi, pempousês men ekeinês,
autoi d' oudemian eispheromenoi dynamin, all'
helkousi dêlonoti; touto gar eti leipetai.
Pôs oun helkousin? ei men, hôs Epikouros oietai tas holkas hapasas gignesthai kata tas tôn atomôn apopalseis te kai periplokas, ameinon ên ontôs eipein autous mêd' helkein holôs; poly gar an houtô ge tôn epi tês hêrakleias lithou mikrô prosthen eirê||60menôn ho logos exetazomenos heuretheiê geloioteros; all' hôs Hippokratês êbouleto. lechthêsetai de saphesteron epi proêkonti tô logô. nyni gar ou touto prokeitai didaskein, all' hôs out' allo ti dynaton eipein aition einai tês tôn ourôn diakriseôs plên tês holkês tôn nephrôn outh' houtô gignesthai tên holkên, hôs hoi mêdemian oikeian didontes tê physei dynamin oiontai gignesthai.
Toutou gar homologêthentos, hôs estin holôs tis en tois hypo physeôs dioikoumenois dynamis helktikê, lêrôdês nomizoit' an ho peri anadoseôs trophês allo ti legein epicheirôn.
Erasistratos d' ouk oid' hopôs heterais men tisi doxais euêthesin anteipe dia makrôn, hyperebê de teleôs tên Hippokratous, oud' achri tou mnêmoneusai monon autês, hôs en tois peri kataposeôs epoiêsen, axiôsas. en ekeinois men gar achri tosoutou phainetai mnêmoneuôn, hôs tounom' eipein tês holkês monon hôde pôs graphôn;
“Holkê men oun tês koilias oudemia phainetai einai”; peri de tês || 61 anadoseôs ton logon poioumenos oud' achri syllabês mias emnêmoneuse tês Hippokrateiou doxês. kaitoi g' epêrkesen an hêmin, ei kai tout' egrapse monon, hôs Hippokratês eipôn “Sarkes holkoi kai ek koiliês kai exôthen” pseudetai; oute gar ek tês koilias out' exôthen helkein dynantai. ei de kai hoti mêtras aitiômenos arrhôston auchena kakôs eipen “Ou gar dynatai auteês ho stomachos eirysai tên gonên,” ê ei kai ti toiouton allo graphein ho Erasistratos êxiôse, tot' an kai hêmeis pros auton apologoumenoi eipomen;
Ô gennaie, mê rhêtorikôs hêmôn katatreche
chôris apodeixeôs, all' eipe tina katêgorian
tou dogmatos, hin' ê peisthômen soi hôs kalôs
exelenchonti ton palaion logon ê metapeisômen
Pg 96
Greek text
hôs agnoounta. kaitoi ti legô rhêtorikôs? mê
gar, epeidê tines tôn rhêtorôn, ha malist' adynatousi
dialyesthai, tauta diagelasantes oud'
epicheirousin antilegein, êdê pou touto kai hêmeis
hêgômeth' einai to rhêtorikôs; to gar dia logou
pithanou esti to || 62 rhêtorikôs, to d' aneu logou
bômolochikon, ou rhêtorikon. oukoun oute rhêtorikôs
oute dialektikôs anteipen ho Erasistratos
en tô peri tês kataposeôs logô. ti gar phêsin?
“Holkê men oun tês koilias oudemia phainetai
einai.” palin oun autô par' hêmôn antimartyrôn
ho autos logos antiparaballesthô; peristolê
men oun tou stomachou oudemia phainetai einai.
kai pôs ou phainetai? tach' an isôs eipoi tis tôn
ap' autou; to gar aei tôn anôthen autou merôn
systellomenôn diastellesthai ta katô pôs ouk
esti tês peristolês endeiktikon? authis oun hêmeis,
kai pôs ou phainetai, phêsomen, hê tês koilias
holkê? to gar aei tôn katôthen merôn tou
stomachou diastellomenôn systellesthai ta anô
pôs ouk esti tês holkês endeiktikon? ei de
sôphronêseie pote kai gnoiê to phainomenon touto
mêden mallon tês heteras tôn doxôn hyparchein
endeiktikon all' amphoterôn einai koinon, houtôs
an êdê deixaimen autô tên orthên hodon tês tou
alêthous heureseôs.
Alla peri men tês koilias authis. hê de tês
trophês anadosis ouden deitai || 63 tês pros to kenoumenon
akolouthias hapax ge tês helktikês dynameôs
Pg 98
Greek text
epi tôn nephrôn hômologêmenês, hên kaitoi pany
saphôs alêthê gignôskôn hyparchein ho Erasistratos
out' emnêmoneusen out' anteipen outh'
holôs apephênato, tin' echei doxan hyper tês tôn
ourôn diakriseôs.
Ê dia ti proeipôn euthys kat' archas tôn kath'
holou logôn, hôs hyper tôn physikôn energeiôn erei,
prôton tines t' eisi kai pôs gignontai kai dia
tinôn topôn, epi tês tôn ourôn diakriseôs, hoti
men dia nephrôn, apephênato, to d' hopôs gignetai
parelipe? matên oun hêmas kai peri tês pepseôs
edidaxen, hopôs gignetai, kai peri tês tou cholôdous
perittômatos diakriseôs katatribei. êrkei
gar eipein kantautha ta moria, di' hôn gignetai, to
d' hopôs paralipein. alla peri men ekeinôn eiche
legein, ou monon di' hôn organôn alla kai kath'
hontina gignetai tropon, hôsper oimai kai peri tês
anadoseôs; ou gar êrkesen eipein autô monon,
hoti dia phlebôn, alla kai pôs epexêlthen, hoti tê
pros || 64 to kenoumenon akolouthia; peri de tôn
ourôn tês diakriseôs, hoti men dia nephrôn gignetai,
graphei, to d' hopôs ouketi prostithêsin.
oude gar oimai tê pros to kenoumenon akolouthia
ên eipein; houtô gar an oudeis hyp' ischourias
apethanen oudepote mê dynamenou pleionos epirrhyênai
Pg 100
Greek text
pote para to kenoumenon; allês gar
aitias mêdemias prostetheisês, alla monês tês
pros to kenoumenon akolouthias podêgousês to
syneches, ouk enchôrei pleon epirrhyênai pote tou
kenoumenou. all' oud' allên tina prostheinai
pithanên aitian eichen, hôs epi tês anadoseôs tên
ekthlipsin tês gastros. all' hautê g' epi tou
kata tên koilên haimatos apôlôlei teleôs, ou
tô mêkei monon tês apostaseôs eklytheisa, alla
kai tô tên kardian hyperkeimenên exarpazein
autês sphodrôs kath' hekastên diastolên ouk
oligon haima.
Monê dê tis eti kai pantôn erêmos apeleipeto
tôn sophismatôn en tois katô tês koilês hê pros || 65
to kenoumenon akolouthia, dia te tous epi tais
ischouriais apothnêskontas apolôlekuia tên pithanotêta
kai dia tên tôn nephrôn thesin ouden
hêtton, ei men gar hapan ep' autous ephereto to
haima, deontôs an tis hapan ephasken auto kathairesthai.
nyni de, ou gar holon alla tosouton
autou meros, hoson hai mechri nephrôn dechontai
phlebes, ep' autous erchetai, monon ekeino katharthêsetai.
kai to men orrhôdes autou kai lepton
hoion di' êthmôn tinôn tôn nephrôn diadysetai; to
d' haimatôdes te kai pachy kata tas phlebas hypomenon
empodôn stêsetai tô katopin epirrheonti.
palindromein oun auto proteron epi tên koilên
anankaion kai kenas houtôs ergazesthai tas epi
tous nephrous iousas phlebas, hai deuteron ouketi
Pg 102
Greek text
parakomiousin ep' autous akatharton haima; kateilêphotos
gar autas tou proterou parodos
oudemia leleiptai. tis oun hêmin hê dynamis apaxei
palin opisô tôn nephrôn to katharon haima?
tis de touto men diadexamenê keleusei palin pros
to katô meros ienai tês koilês, heterô d' anôthen
epipheromenô prostaxei, prin || 66 epi tous nephrous
apelthein, mê pheresthai katô?
Taut' oun hapanta synidôn ho Erasistratos aporiôn mesta kai mian monên doxan euporon heurôn en hapasi tên tês holkês, out' aporeisthai boulomenos oute tên Hippokratous ethelôn legein ameinon hypelabe siôpêteon einai peri tou tropou tês diakriseôs.
All' ei kakeinos esigêsen, hêmeis ou siôpêsomen;
ismen gar, hôs ouk endechetai parelthonta
tên Hippokrateion doxan, eith' heteron ti peri
nephrôn energeias eiponta mê ou katagelaston
einai pantapasi. dia tout' Erasistratos men
esiôpêsen, Asklêpiadês d' epseusato paraplêsiôs
oiketais lalois men ta prosthen tou biou
kai polla pollakis enklêmata dialysamenois
hypo perittês panourgias, ep' autophôrô de pote
kateilêmmenois, eit' ouden exeuriskousi sophisma
kapeit' entautha tou men aidêmonesterou siôpôntos,
hoion apoplêxia tini kateilêmmenou, tou d'
anaischyntoterou kryptontos men eth' hypo malês
to zêtoumenon, exomnymenou de kai mêd' heôrakenai
pôpote phaskontos. houtô gar toi kai ho Asklêpiadês || 67
epileipontôn auton tôn tês panourgias
sophismatôn kai mête tês pros to leptomeres
Pg 104
Greek text
phoras echousês eti chôran entauthoi lêreisthai
mêth' hôs hypo tôn nephrôn gennatai touti to perittôma,
kathaper hypo tôn en hêpati porôn hê cholê,
dynaton on eiponta mê ou megiston ophlein gelôta,
exomnytai te kai pseudetai phanerôs, ou
diêkein legôn epi tous nephrous to ouron all'
atmoeidôs euthys ek tôn kata tên koilên merôn
eis tên kystin athroizesthai.
Houtoi men oun tois ep' autophôrô kateilêmmenois oiketais homoiôs ekplagentes ho men esiôpêsen, ho d' anaischyntôs pseudetai.
Tôn de neôterôn hosoi tois toutôn onomasin heautous esemnynan Erasistrateious te kai Asklêpiadeious eponomasantes, homoiôs tois hypo tou beltistou Menandrou kata tas kômôdias eisagomenois oiketais, Daois te tisi kai Getais, ouden hêgoumenois sphisi peprachthai gennaion, ei mê tris exapatêseian ton despotên, houtô kai autoi kata pollên scholên anaischynta sophismata synethesan, hoi men, hina mêd' holôs exelenchtheiê pot' || 68 Asklêpiadês pseudomenos, hoi d', hina kakôs eipôsin, ha kalôs esiôpêsen Erasistratos.
Alla tôn men Asklêpiadeiôn halis. hoi d'
Erasistrateioi legein epicheirountes, hopôs hoi
nephroi diêthousi to ouron, hapanta drôsi te kai
Pg 106
Greek text
paschousi kai pantoioi gignontai pithanon exeurein
ti zêtountes aition holkês mê deomenon.
Hoi men dê plêsion Erasistratou tois chronois genomenoi ta men anô tôn nephrôn moria katharon haima lambanein phasi, tô de baros echein to hydatôdes perittôma brithein te kai hyporrhein katô; diêthoumenon d' entautha kata tous nephrous autous chrêston houtô genomenon hapasi tois katô tôn nephrôn epipempesthai to haima.
Kai mechri ge tinos eudokimêsen hêde hê doxa kai êkmase kai alêthês enomisthê; chronô d' hysteron kai autois tois Erasistrateiois hypoptos ephanê kai teleutôntes apestêsan autês. aiteisthai gar edokoun dyo tauta mête synchôroumena pros tinos all' oud' apodeichthênai dynamena, prôton men to baros tês orrhôdous hygrotêtos en tê koilê || 69 phlebi gennômenon, hôsper ouk ex archês hyparchon, hopot' ek tês koilias eis hêpar anephereto. ti dê oun ouk euthys en ekeinois tois chôriois hyperrhei katô? pôs d' an tô doxeien eulogôs eirêsthai syntelein eis tên anadosin hê hydatôdês hygrotês, eiper houtôs esti bareia?
Deuteron d' atopon, hoti kan katô synchôrêthê
pheresthai pasa kai mê kat' allo chôrion ê tên
koilên phleba, tina tropon eis tous nephrous
empeseitai, chalepon, mallon d' adynaton eipein,
mêt' en tois katô meresi keimenôn autôn tês
phlebos all' ek tôn plagiôn mêt' emphyomenês
eis autous tês koilês all' apophysin tina monon
Pg 108
Greek text
eis hekateron pempousês, hôsper kai eis talla
panta moria.
Tis oun hê diadexamenê tautên doxa katagnôstheisan? emoi men êlithiôtera makrô phainetai tês proteras. êkmase d' oun kai hautê pote. phasi gar, ei kata tês gês ekchytheiê memigmenon elaion hydati, diaphoron hekateron hodon badieisthai kai rhyêsesthai to men têde, to de têde. thaumaston oun ouden einai phasin, ei to men hydatôdes hygron eis tous ne||70phrous rhei, to d' haima dia tês koilês pheretai katô. kategnôstai oun êdê kai hêde hê doxa. dia ti gar apo tês koilês myriôn ekpephykuiôn phlebôn haima men eis tas allas hapasas, hê d' orrhôdês hygrotês eis tas epi tous nephrous pheromenas ektrepetai? tout' auto to zêtoumenon ouk eirêkasin, alla to gignomenon eipontes monon oiontai tên aitian apodedôkenai.
Palin oun, to triton tô sôtêri, tên cheiristên
hapasôn doxan exeurêmenên nyn hypo Lykou tou
Makedonos, eudokimousan de dia to kainon êdê
legômen. apephênato gar dê ho Lykos houtos,
hôsper ex adytou tinos chrêsmon apophthengomenos,
perittôma tês tôn nephrôn threpseôs einai to
ouron. hoti men oun auto to pinomenon hapan
ouron gignetai, plên ei ti meta tôn diachôrêmatôn
hypêlthen ê eis hidrôtas apechôrêsen ê eis
tên adêlon diapnoên, enargôs endeiknytai to
plêthos tôn kath' hekastên hêmeran ouroumenôn.
en cheimôni de malista mathein estin epi tôn
argountôn men, kôthônizomenôn de, kai malist'
ei leptos ho oinos eiê kai porimos. ourousi || 71 gar
Pg 110
Greek text
houtoi dia tacheôn oligou dein, hosonper kai
pinousin. hoti de kai ho Erasistratos houtôs
egignôsken, hoi to prôton anegnôkotes autou
syngramma tôn katholou logôn epistantai. hôsth'
ho Lykos out' alêthê phainetai legôn out' Erasistrateia,
dêlon d' hôs oud' Asklêpiadeia, poly
de mallon oud' Hippokrateia. leukô toinyn kata
tên paroimian eoike koraki mêt' autois tois koraxin
anamichthênai dynamenô dia tên chroan mête
tais peristerais dia to megethos, all' outi pou
toutou g' heneka paropteos; isôs gar ti legei
thaumaston, ho mêdeis tôn emprosthen egnô.
To men oun hapanta ta trephomena moria poiein
ti perittôma synchôroumenon, to de tous nephrous
monous, houtô smikra sômata, choas holous tettaras
ê kai pleious ischein eniote perittômatos
outh' homologoumenon oute logon echon; to gar
hekastou tôn meizonôn splanchnôn perittôma
pleion anankaion hyparchein. hoion autika to tou
pneumonos, eiper analogon tô megethei tou
splanchnou gignoito, pollapla||72sion estai dêpou
tou kata tous nephrous, hôsth' holos men ho
thôrax emplêsthêsetai, pnigêsetai d' autika to
zôon. all' ei ison phêsei tis gignesthai to kath'
hekaston tôn allôn moriôn perittôma, dia poiôn
kysteôn ekkrinetai? ei gar hoi nephroi tois kôthônizomenois
treis ê tettaras eniote choas poiousi
perittômatos, hekastou tôn allôn splanchnôn
pollô pleious esontai kai pithou tinos houtô
megistou deêsei tou dexomenou ta pantôn perittômata.
Pg 112
Greek text
kaitoi pollakis, hoson epie tis, oligou
dein ourêsen hapan, hôs an epi tous nephrous pheromenou
tou pomatos hapantos.
Eoiken oun ho to triton exapatôn houtos ouden anyein all' euthys gegonenai kataphôros kai menein eti to ex archês aporon Erasistratô te kai tois allois hapasi plên Hippokratous. diatribô d' hekôn en tô topô saphôs eidôs, hoti mêden eipein echei mêdeis allos peri tês tôn nephrôn energeias, all' anankaion ê tôn mageirôn amathesterous phainesthai mêd' hoti diêtheitai di' autôn to ouron homologountas ê || 73 touto synchôrêsantas mêden et' echein eipein heteron aition tês diakriseôs plên tês holkês.
All' ei mê tôn ourôn hê phora tê pros to kenoumenon akolouthia gignetai, dêlon, hôs oud' hê tou haimatos oud' hê tês cholês ê eiper ekeinôn kai toutou; panta gar hôsautôs anankaion epiteleisthai kai kat' auton ton Erasistraton.
Eirêsetai d' epi pleon hyper autôn en tô meta tauta grammati.
74 Hoti men oun anankaion estin ouk Erasistratô
monon alla kai tois allois hapasin, hosoi
mellousi peri diakriseôs ourôn erein ti chrêston,
homologêsai dynamin tin' hyparchein tois
nephrois helkousan eis heautous poiotêta toiautên,
hoia en tois ourois esti, dia tou prosthen epidedeiktai
grammatos, anamimnêskontôn ham' autô
kai touth' hêmôn, hôs ouk allôs men eis tên kystin
pheretai ta oura dia tôn nephrôn, allôs d' eis
hapanta tou zôou ta moria to haima, kat' allon
de tina tropon hê xanthê cholê diakrinetai. deichtheisês
gar enargôs eph' henos || 75 houtinosoun organou
tês helktikês te kai epispastikês onomazomenês
dynameôs ouden eti chalepon epi ta loipa metapherein
autên; ou gar dê tois men nephrois hê physis
edôke tina toiautên dynamin, ouchi de ge kai tois
to cholôdes hygron helkousin angeiois oude toutois
men, ouketi de kai tôn allôn moriôn hekastô.
kai mên ei tout' alêthes esti, thaumazein chrê tou
Erasistratou pseudeis houtô logous hyper anadoseôs
Pg 118
Greek text
trophês eipontos, hôs mêd' Asklêpiadên
lathein. kaitoi g' oietai pantos mallon alêthes
hyparchein, hôs, eiper ek tôn phlebôn aporrheoi
ti, dyoin thateron ê kenos estai topos athroôs ê
to syneches epirrhyêsetai tên basin anaplêroun
tou kenoumenou. all' ho g' Asklêpiadês ou
dyoin thateron phêsin, alla triôn hen ti chrênai
legein epi tois kenoumenois angeiois hepesthai ê
kenon athroôs topon ê to syneches akolouthêsein ê
systalêsesthai to angeion. epi men gar tôn
kalamôn kai tôn auliskôn tôn eis to hydôr
kathiemenôn alêthes eipein, hoti kenoumenou tou
periechomenou kata tên || 76 eurychôrian autôn aeros
ê kenos athroôs estai topos ê akolouthêsei to
syneches; epi de tôn phlebôn ouket' enchôrei, dynamenou
dê tou chitônos autôn eis heauton synizanein
kai dia touto katapiptein eis tên entos eurychôrian.
houtô men dê pseudês hê peri tês pros
to kenoumenon akolouthias ouk apodeixis ma Di'
eipoim' an all' hypothesis Erasistrateios.
Kath' heteron d' au tropon, ei kai alêthês eiê,
perittê, tês men koilias enthlibein tais phlepsi
dynamenês, hôs autos hypetheto, tôn phlebôn d' au
peristellesthai tô enyparchonti kai proôthein
auto. ta te gar alla kai plêthos ouk an en tô
sômati genoito, tê pros to kenoumenon akolouthia
monê tês anadoseôs epiteloumenês. ei men oun
hê tês gastros enthlipsis eklyetai proïousa kai
Pg 120
Greek text
mechri pantos adynatos estin exikneisthai kai dia
tout' allês tinos dei mêchanês eis tên pantê
phoran tou haimatos, anankaia men hê pros to
kenoumenon akolouthia prosexeurêtai; plêthos d'
en oudeni tôn meth' hêpar estai || 77 moriôn, ê, eiper
ara, peri tên kardian te kai ton pneumona. monê
gar hautê tôn meth' hêpar eis tên dexian hautês
koilian helkei tên trophên, eita dia tês phlebos
tês artêriôdous ekpempei tô pneumoni; tôn gar
allôn ouden oud' autos ho Erasistratos ek kardias
bouletai trephesthai dia tên tôn hymenôn
epiphysin. ei de g', hina plêthos genêtai, phylaxomen
achri pantos tên rhômên tês kata tên koilian
enthlipseôs, ouden eti deometha tês pros to kenoumenon
akolouthias, malist' ei kai tên tôn phlebôn
synypothoimetha peristolên, hôs au kai tout' autô
palin areskei tô Erasistratô.
Anamnêsteon oun authis auton, kan mê boulêtai,
tôn nephrôn kai lekteon, hôs elenchos
houtoi phanerôtatos hapantôn tôn apochôrountôn
tês holkês; oudeis gar ouden out' eipe pithanon,
all' oud' exeurein eiche kat' oudena tropon, hôs
Pg 122
Greek text
emprosthen edeiknymen, heteron aition ourôn diakriseôs,
all' anankaion ê mainesthai dokein, ei
phêsaimen atmoei||78dôs eis tên kystin ienai to ouron
ê aschêmonein tês pros to kenoumenon akolouthias
mnêmoneuontas, lêrôdous men ousês kapi tou
haimatos, adynatou de kai êlithiou pantapasin
epi tôn ourôn.
Hen men dê touto sphalma tôn apostantôn tês holkês; heteron de to peri tês kata tên xanthên cholên diakriseôs. oude gar oud' ekei pararrheontos tou haimatos ta stomata tôn cholêdochôn angeiôn akribôs diakrithêsetai to cholôdes perittôma. kai mê diakrinesthô, phasin, alla synanapheresthô tô haimati pantê tou sômatos. all', ô sophôtatoi, pronoêtikên tou zôou kai technikên autos ho Erasistratos hypetheto tên physin. alla kai to cholôdes hygron achrêston einai pantapasi tois zôois ephasken. ou symbainei d' allêlois amphô tauta. pôs gar an eti pronoeisthai tou zôou doxeien epitrepousa synanapheresthai tô haimati mochthêron houtô chymon?
Alla tauta men smikra; to de megiston kai
saphestaton palin entauth' hamartêma kai dê
phrasô. eiper gar di' ouden all' ê hoti pachyteron
men esti to haima, leptotera d' hê || 79 xanthê cholê
kai ta men tôn phlebôn eurytera stomata, ta
Pg 124
Greek text
de tôn cholêdochôn angeiôn stenotera, dia touth'
hê men cholê tois stenoterois angeiois te kai
stomasin enarmottei, to d' haima tois euryterois,
dêlon, hôs kai to hydatôdes touto kai orrhôdes
perittôma tosoutô proteron eisryêsetai tois
cholêdochois angeiois, hosô leptoteron esti tês
cholês. pôs oun ouk eisrei? hoti pachyteron esti
nê Dia to ouron tês cholês; touto gar etolmêse
tis eipein tôn kath' hêmas Erasistrateiôn
apostas dêlonoti tôn aisthêseôn, hais episteusen
epi te tês cholês kai tou haimatos. eite gar
hoti mallon hê cholê tou haimatos rhei, dia touto
leptoteran autên hêmin esti nomisteon, eith' hoti
di' othonês ê rhakous ê tinos êthmou rhaon diexerchetai
kai tautês to orrhôdes perittôma, kata tauta
ta gnôrismata pachytera tês hydatôdous hygrotêtos
kai hautê genêsetai. palin gar oud'
entautha logos oudeis estin, hos apodeixei leptoteran
tên cholên tôn orrhôdôn perittômatôn.
All' hotan tis anaischyntê periplekôn te kai mêpô katapeptôkenai synchôrôn, || 80 homoios estai tois idiôtais tôn palaistôn, hoi katablêthentes hypo tôn palaistrikôn kai kata tês gês hyptioi keimenoi tosoutou deousi to ptôma gnôrizein, hôste kai kratousi tôn auchenôn autous tous katabalontas ouk eôntes apallattesthai, kan toutô nikan hypolambanousi.
Lêros oun makros hapasa porôn hypothesis eis physikên energeian. ei mê gar dynamis tis symphytos hekastô tôn organôn hypo tês physeôs euthys ex archês dotheiê, diarkein ou dynêsetai ta zôa, mê hoti tosouton arithmon etôn all' oud' hêmerôn oligistôn; anepitropeuta gar easantes auta kai technês kai pronoias erêma monais tais tôn hylôn oiakizomena rhopais, oudamou dynameôs oudemias tês men helkousês to prosêkon heautê, tês d' apôthousês to allotrion, tês d' alloiousês te kai prosphyousês to threpson, ouk oid' hopôs ouk an eiêmen katagelastoi peri te tôn physikôn energeiôn dialegomenoi kai poly mallon eti peri tôn psychikôn kai || 81 sympasês ge tês zôês.
Oude gar zên oude diamenein oudeni tôn zôôn
oud' eis elachiston chronon estai dynaton, ei
tosauta kektêmenon en heautô moria kai houtô
diapheronta mêth' helktikê tôn oikeiôn chrêsetai
dynamei mêt' apokritikê tôn allotriôn mêt'
alloiôtikê tôn threpsontôn. kai mên ei tautas
echoimen, ouden eti porôn mikrôn ê megalôn ex
hypotheseôs anapodeiktou lambanomenôn eis ourou
kai cholês diakrisin deometha kai tinos epikairou
theseôs, en hô monô sôphronein eoiken ho Erasistratos
hapanta kalôs tethênai te kai diaplasthênai
Pg 128
Greek text
ta moria tou sômatos hypo tês physeôs
oiomenos.
All' ei parakolouthêseien heautô physin onomazonti
technikên, euthys men ex archês hapanta
kalôs diaplasasan te kai diatheisan tou zôou
ta moria, meta de tên toiautên energeian, hôs
ouden eleipen, eti proagagousan eis phôs auto
syn tisi dynamesin, hôn aneu zên ouk êdynato, kai
meta tauta kata brachy prosauxêsasan achri
tou prepontos megethous, ouk oida pôs hypomenei
porôn smikrotêsin || 82 ê megethesin ê tisin allais
houtô lêrôdesin hypothesesi physikas energeias
epitrepein. hê gar diaplattousa ta moria physis
ekeinê kai kata brachy prosauxousa pantôs
dêpou di' holôn autôn ektetatai; kai gar hola di'
holôn ouk exôthen monon auta diaplattei te kai
trephei kai prosauxei. Praxitelês men gar ê
Pheidias ê tis allos agalmatopoios exôthen monon
ekosmoun tas hylas, katha kai psauein autôn êdynanto,
to bathos d' akosmêton kai argon kai
atechnon kai apronoêton apelipon, hôs an mê
dynamenoi katelthein eis auto kai katadynai kai
thigein hapantôn tês hylês tôn merôn. hê physis d'
ouch houtôs, alla to men ostou meros hapan ostoun
apotelei, to de sarkos sarka, to de pimelês
pimelên kai tôn allôn hekaston; ouden gar estin
apsauston autê meros oud' anexergaston oud'
akosmêton. alla ton men kêron ho Pheidias ouk
êdynato poiein elephanta kai chryson, all' oude
ton chryson kêron; hekaston gar autôn menon, hoion
ên ex archês, exôthen monon êmphiesmenon eidos ti
kai schêma technikon, agalma teleion || 83
Pg 130
Greek text
gegonen. hê
physis d' oudemias eti phylattei tôn hylôn tên
archaian idean; haima gar an ên houtôs hapanta
tou zôou ta moria, to para tês kyousês epirrheon
tô spermati, dikên kêrou tinos hylê mia kai
monoeidês hypobeblêmenê tô technitê. gignetai
d' ex autês ouden tôn tou zôou moriôn out' erythron
houtôs outh' hygron. ostoun gar kai artêria
kai phleps kai neuron kai chondros kai pimelê kai
adên kai hymên kai myelos anaima men, ex haimatos
de gegone.
Tinos alloiôsantos kai tinos pêxantos kai tinos diaplasantos edeomên an moi ton Erasistraton auton apokrinasthai. pantôs gar an eipen êtoi tên physin ê to sperma, tauton men legôn kath' hekateron, diaphorois d' epinoiais hermêneuôn; ho gar ên proteron sperma, touth', hotan arxêtai phyein te kai diaplattein to zôon, physis tis gignetai. kathaper gar ho Pheidias eiche men tas dynameis tês technês kai prin psauein tês hylês, enêrgei d' autais peri tên hylên—hapasa gar dynamis argei aporousa tês oikei