Commentary on Hippocrates' Regimen for Health

GALEN’S COMMENTARY ON HIPPOCRATES’ OR POLYBUS’ “ON THE HEALTHY REGIMEN OF PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS.” Prologue of Galen. This is a single book having its own specific purpose, just like the first part of the entire work under discussion, in which he discourses on the nature of man. For in that former part, what was promised has been completed, requiring no further explanation. In this book, on the other hand, he teaches what he proposed throughout the entire book; and for this reason, once the things situated between these two books are removed, the whole work obtained an appropriate title of its own, which some inscribed on it as “On the Nature of Man and Regimen.” Just as “On the Nature of Man” is entirely blameless, while the passages interpolated between the two books are entirely blameworthy, so “On the Healthy Regimen” is for the most part blameless, holding fast always to Hippocrates’ elemental principles. Although in some very few points one might find fault with it; and let it be assumed to be by Polybus, as it has seemed to many. “Private individuals ought to regulate their lives in the following manner.” [q.1] But who these “private individuals” are has been omitted by those who commented on the book, at least in the commentaries that I happened to encounter. Nor indeed did I myself ever inquire about this during the reading of the book with my teachers. But now, having proposed to write a commentary on it, I have come to realize that it was a bad omission on the part of our teachers and commentators not to examine what kind of “private individuals” he is speaking of. For it is indeed clear that Polybus recommended the regimen written below not to all human beings, but only to private individuals. Moreover, if he wrote these instructions only for private individuals, those who commented on the book did not understand correctly when they took them without distinction, as if they had been spoken commonly to all human beings. For we find that among the Greeks those called “private individuals” are not named so absolutely, but in relation to something. For they say that one person is a layman in this particular art, and another in that particular occupation. Sometimes, by contrast with those who govern a nation or a city, or who engage generally in some public business, they call those who manage their own private affairs “private citizens.” As I was examining, then, which of these private individuals Polybus is now speaking of, it seemed to me that he was outright excluding the athletes from the rest of mankind, since they have a single, fixed regimen consisting in the eating of bread and meat. Next to these, all those who are at war, or are on a journey, or are actively fighting. For these people too are not in a position to select which foods they ought or ought not to consume. For they must of necessity make use of whatever each happens to find available; and perhaps it is also impossible for those who are on journeys of any degree of haste, and in general for those engaged in civic business or in the so-called “circumstantial life,” to regulate their lives as Polybus commands. Therefore, the regimen about to be described is appropriate only for those who manage their own private affairs, whom they call “private practitioners.” “In winter, eat as much as possible, and drink as little as possible. The drink should be wine as undiluted as possible; and the solid food should be bread, and the relishes all roasted. Use as few vegetables as possible in this season. For in this way, the body would be warmest and driest.” [q.2] Having stated the main point of the entire regimen, he did well to add at the end of the passage the reason why he chooses each of the things mentioned. For he deems it right to warm and dry the body because of the imbalance of the mixture in that season. Whereas, if indeed it were balanced, as it is in spring, he would have commanded that the regimen also be made balanced. For it is proper to preserve what is in a balanced state, but to alter what is in an imbalanced state. And alteration would not occur otherwise than by means of opposite imbalances. For it is proper to cool a body that is excessively heated or becoming hot, and to warm one that has been cooled or is becoming cold. In the same way also regarding the imbalance of wetness and dryness, we must reduce the diseased excesses by applying opposites, introducing the opposite imbalance, which is as far removed from the mean and balanced state as the diseased state itself is removed from it. According to this principle, at least, in winter, which is cold and wet in its mixture, it is beneficial to eat as much as possible, and to drink as little as possible. But “as much as possible” must be understood not in relation to one’s capacity, but in comparison with the other seasons. In the same way, “to drink as little as possible” must also be understood by referring the comparison to the other seasons. Likewise, the statement that the wine must be as undiluted as possible is also made in comparison with its mixture in the other seasons. However, by always paying attention to the measure relative to one’s capacity and that relative to the present benefit, you will always administer the proper, balanced amount of wine and food, just as you would indeed of sleep, exercise, and absolutely all of what are called by physicians “daily regimens.”