Commentary on Hippocrates' Regimen for Health

”For the season is hot, and the body is more bilious, and heaviness in the loins and in the knees occurs, and they become hot, and griping occurs in the belly. It is necessary, therefore, to cool the body and to draw down what is raised up from these regions.” [q.1] What he calls enemas he himself has clarified in what follows, mentioning those made from milk, and water boiled with chickpeas, brine, and sea-water. For purging drugs are different from these, being evacuants of the whole body. Just as, therefore, the bath-attendants say they wash down the baths, washing away the mud and dirt from the stones in them, so also the enemas of the stomach and the intestines wash away their phlegm and bile. Since, then, in the winter phlegm is generated in the belly, he advises to evacuate it through vomits; but in the summer, to draw down the bile that floats upward. If, however, you wish to purge the entire body, you must administer medicine in summer through the upper cavity, and in winter through the lower cavity, as has been said in the Aphorisms. For purging cures those things that are already in excess, by performing the purging through the places to which they incline. For they must be led to where they incline, through the appropriate regions. But whatever things you wish to prevent from increasing, it is fitting to draw them away through the opposite regions. “And let the enemas be, for those who are thicker and moister, saltier and thinner, but for those who are drier, more constricted, and weaker, fatter and thicker. And of the enemas, the fat and thick ones are those from milks and water boiled with chickpeas and other such things, while the thin and salty ones are brine, sea-water, and the like.” [q.2] He thinks it right to apply the more cutting to the thicker, for these are more phlegmatic; and the smoother to the lean, as being more bilious. Of what kind the materials of each are, he has shown through the following passage, which needs no explanation; therefore, omitting it, I shall turn to what follows. “And vomits should be performed as follows: those of men who are fat and not lean, let them vomit while fasting, after running or walking quickly around midday.” [q.3] He wishes the body to be thoroughly warmed for the fat when they are about to vomit, for the sake of the dissolution of the phlegmatic humors, which the fat possess in greater quantity. But also the opening of the vessels and the dilation of all the fine pores would especially occur in this way. And all these things are useful for the vomit to take place easily and without distress. “And let there be a half-kotyle of ground hyssop in a chous of water, and let him drink this up, pouring in vinegar and adding salt, so that it may be as palatable as possible.” [q.4] That he wishes the drink to be cutting, and for what reason, is not unclear. For since fat men have their humors generally thick and cold, and some of them even sticky, for this reason he commands their drink to be cutting. But how great a quantity he gives of the drink he compounds, I cannot say accurately, because sometimes the measure which they call chous does not have the same size among all. But if he commands to drink the Attic chous, I do not quite agree with the practice, for it seems to me to be a lot. Yet it was customary for the ancients, whether they chose to use whey of milk or some such enema, to give a very great quantity. “And let him drink at first more quietly, and then more quickly.” [q.5] If, therefore, he drinks greedily at the beginning, he will vomit immediately, before he drinks the whole, and before washing away the humors in the stomach, with which those in the primary veins are also evacuated together. But if he drinks at first more quietly, and later drinks more in any case, in this way he will be able to retain it for a proportionate time, and will be impelled to vomit at the right moment because of drinking more copiously later. “But let the leaner and weaker perform the vomit after food in the following way: having bathed in warm water, let them first drink a kotyle of unmixed wine, then let them eat all kinds of food, and let them not drink during the food, nor after the food, but let them wait as long as it takes to walk four stades. Then, having mixed three wines—dry, sweet, and sour—give them to drink. First more unmixed, in small amounts, and at long intervals; then more diluted, more quickly, and in large amounts.” [q.6] He thinks it right for one who has bathed in warm water to drink beforehand a more unmixed drink, employing some such reasoning, as one might guess. From the warm bath, the entire body is warmed, the humors melt, and the vessels become relaxed; and the more unmixed wine also produces these very same things, together with...