Commentary on Hippocrates' Regimen for Health

​The statement made at the end of the passage, namely, “for in this way they would be filled from the very least food,” some say is spoken of all the aforementioned things, but others say of the side-dishes alone, which he commands to prepare with sesame and similar things, and many other such things. And the aforementioned things are both exercising while fasting (for this clearly empties, just as that after food fills) and, in addition to these, eating while still panting from exercises, when the heat from them has not yet been dissipated in them, nor has the body cooled down. That this indeed becomes a cause of being quickly filled clearly appears; but if the author of the book wishes to thin them by some other reasoning, this is unclear to us. However, that this has become a cause of many obstructions in the internal organs, and especially of those in the liver, I know accurately, just as indeed do sharp exercises after food. And indeed, baths also produce obstructions for those who have narrow passages for food in the liver. These things have been discussed by me along with their proper distinctions in the treatise On Hygiene. And it would remain to consider the phrase itself, according to which he says, “and having previously drunk wine that is not very cold.” For as though commanding it to be cold, but not very cold, he constructed his argument in this way; but on the whole, he does not think it right to drink wine immediately after exercises, but rather water first, just as athletes do, having been taught these things by experience. For wine affects the head if it is drunk immediately after the bath, prior to all other foods and drinks. Yet neither is the drinking of cold water after exercises harmless without having previously drunk something warm. For it also clearly harms both the stomach and the liver, and in some people, even the nerves. And indeed, cold wine tightens the constitutions. But the one who wrote these things wishes to loosen them. Could it be then that it was written otherwise, but the copyist made an error? For many such things are seen happening even now, and although one ought to have written “not too cold” instead of writing “not at all warm.” For he who thinks it right to give food to those still panting, when the body is full of many vapors, will also wish to fill them more through the drinking of warm wine. But since the very hot has a natural tendency, similarly to the cold, to contract and tighten the stomach, he avoids doing this. “But also to eat once a day, to abstain from bathing, to sleep on a hard bed, and to walk naked as much as possible.” [q.1] It would have been better to have been said by him not to eat once a day, but to eat little. For some of those who eat once a day consume much more than those who eat twice. And just as the bath, by warming the body and especially the outside, contributes to the distribution of food and the addition of what has been distributed, so by the same reasoning the lack of bathing cooperates in the opposite things. And sleeping on a hard bed also distresses, constricts, and tightens the body, and because of this prevents its growth in every part. And by the same reasoning, walking naked cools all the parts inward from the skin, but drives the heat into the depth and the internal organs, so that while the food is well digested, its transport everywhere is prevented. “And as many as are lean and wish to become fatter, should do all other things opposite to those I have said, and perform no labor while fasting.” [q.2] The opposite of what was said to the fat is neither to set to their food while panting, but when they already breathe naturally, nor to eat once a day, but either twice or even thrice. And so, doing the opposite of the lack of bathing, he will bathe twice, taking the second bath in any case after food, and sometimes even the first. And so he will also perform exercises that are both short and slow, and after food. And by the same reasoning, sleeping softly and not interacting naked with the surrounding air is useful for them. For this reason, at any rate, the trainers also include those exercises involving touching and body-fighting—for so they themselves name certain exercises that take place—for those whom they wish to make fleshy, taking care to avoid exercising their body naked and without grappling. Conversely, those whom they wish to make lean they exercise with quick movement and without the first grappling. “And as for vomits and enemas of the belly, one should use them as follows: during the six winter months, vomit; for this time is more phlegmatic than the summer, and diseases occur around the head and around this region above the diaphragm. But when there is heat, use enemas.” [q.3]