§9#3αἱ γὰρ κρίσεις τῶν νοσημάτων ὧδέ πως γίνονται.
For the crises of diseases occur in some such way.
καὶ παρίημι τὰς λοιπὰς τῶν κενουμένων αἰτίας· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἰσχομένων ἴσας τὸν ἀριθμὸν, ἐναντίας ταύταις οὔσας.
And I pass over the remaining causes of things being evacuated, and likewise those of things being retained, which are equal in number and contrary to them.
οὐ γάρ ἐστι τῶν ἐκείνων ἀκοῶν ὁ τοιοῦτος λόγος ἄκουσμα.
For such a discussion is not something that their ears can tolerate to hear.
ὃ δέ μοι δοκοῦσι τάχα ἄν ποτε συνήσειν, ἐπὶ τοῦτ’ αὖθις ἐπάνειμι. τὸ δύνασθαί ποτε ῥευματίζεσθαι τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν, ἢ πολλοῦ τοῦ ῥεύματος, ἢ λεπτοῦ γεγονότος, ἢ ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως διὰ τοῦδε τοῦ μέρους ἀπωθουμένου, μηδὲν αὐτῶν τῶν σωμάτων παρὰ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἀλλοιότερον ἐχόντων, καὶ χρή δηλονότι τὸ μὲν λεπτὸν·
But I will return again to that which they seem to me likely to understand eventually: the possibility of the eye sometimes suffering from a flux, either because the flux is abundant, or because it has become thin, or because it is pushed away by nature through this part, while their bodies themselves have nothing changed from their natural state; and it is obviously necessary to thicken the thin flux, and to evacuate the abundant one.
ῥεῦμα παχύνειν, τὸ δὲ πολὺ κενοῦν. τὴν δὲ ὁρμὴν τῆς φύσεως, ἂν ἐν καιρῷ γένηται, δέχεσθαι, μηδὲν περὶ τὰ σώματα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτὰ πραγματευόμενον, ἅτε μηδὲ τῆς ῥύσεως ἦν αἴτια.
And one must accept the impulse of nature, if it occurs at the proper time, without busybodying about the bodies of the eyes themselves, since they were not the cause of the flow.
τὸ δ’ οἴεσθαί τινα μὲν φλεγμονὴν στεγνὸν εἶναι πάθος, ἑτέραν δὲ ἐπιπεπλεγμένην, οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅπως σωφρονούντων ἐστί.
But to think that one inflammation is a constricted affection, and another is complicated, I do not know how this belongs to those who are sane.
πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἐπελάθοντο τῶν σφετέρων λόγων, ὡς οὐ τῇ κενώσει κριτέον τὸ ῥοῶδες, ἢ ταῖς ἐπισχέσεσι τὸ στεγνὸν, ἀλλ’ εἰς αὐτὰς τῶν σωμάτων τὰς διαθέσεις χρὴ βλέπειν.
For first, they have forgotten their own arguments, namely that one should not judge the flowing state by evacuation, nor the constricted state by retention, but must look to the dispositions of the bodies themselves.
ὅταν οὖν καθ’ ἅπαν ὅμοιαι τυγχάνωσιν αὗται, καὶ μηδενὶ φαίνηται διαφέρειν ἡ νῦν φλεγμονὴ τῶν πρόσθεν, ἄλλῳ γε, ἢ τῷ τὸ μὲν ἀποῤῥεῖν τι, τὸ δὲ οὔ· πῶς οὐ δεινὸν ἄτοπον, ἐπιπεπλεγμένην μὲν ταύτην, στεγνὴν δ’ ἐκείνην εἶναι νομίζειν;
Therefore, when these are entirely similar, and the current inflammation does not seem to differ from the previous one in anything else except that in the one case something flows out and in the other it does not, how is it not terribly absurd to think that this one is complicated and that one is constricted?
ἔπειτα δὲ, πῶς οὐδὲ τοῦθ’, ὅπερ ἦν προχειρότατον, ἐπῆλθεν αὐτοῖς λογίσασθαι, ὅτι μήτε ἐν χειρὶ, μήτ’ ἐν ποδὶ, μήτ’ ἐν πήχει, μήτ’ ἐν βραχίονι, μήτ’ ἐν κνήμη, μήτ’ ἐν μηρῷ, μήτ’ ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ μέρει τοῦ σώματος ὤφθη ποτὲ φλεγμονῆς εἶδος τοιοῦτον, οἷον ἐκτὸς ἀποχεῖν τι·
Furthermore, how did it not occur to them to consider even this, which was most obvious, that neither in the hand, nor in the foot, nor in the forearm, nor in the upper arm, nor in the shin, nor in the thigh, nor in any other part of the body was such a kind of inflammation ever seen as to pour out anything externally?
μόναις δὲ ταῖς ἐν τῷ στόματι, καὶ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, καὶ ταῖς ῥισὶν ὑπάρχειν τοῦτο;
But that this is present only in the inflammations in the mouth, the eyes, and the nose?
πότερον ὁ Ζεὺς προσέταξε ταῖς κοινότησιν ἁπάσαις ταῖς ἐπιπεπλεγμέναις, ὥστε μηδὲ πώποτε μηδεμίαν αὐτῶν εἰς ἄλλο μηδὲν τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἀφικνεῖσθαι μορίων, ἀλλ’ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς μόνον, καὶ ῥινὶ, καὶ στόματι πολεμεῖν;
Did Zeus command all the complicated status, so that not even once should any of them reach any other part of the body, but make war only in the eyes, the nose, and the mouth?
ἡ φλεγμονὴ μὲν γὰρ ἅπαντα δύναται καταλαμβάνειν, ὅσα γε τὰ τῆς γενέσεως αὐτῆς αἴτια δέχεσθαι πέφυκεν.
For inflammation indeed can occupy all parts that are by nature capable of receiving the causes of its generation.
τῷ δὲ εἶναι τὰ μὲν ἀραιὰ τὴν φύσιν, τὰ δὲ πυκνά· τῶν μὲν ἀποχεῖταί τι τοῦ ῥεύματος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἴσχεται.
But because some parts are rare by nature, and others dense, from some a part of the flux is poured out, while in others it is retained.
καὶ γὰρ εἰ πληρώσειας ἀσκὸν ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν οὕτως στεγανῶν ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας, οὐδὲν ἀποῤῥεῖ· σπογγίαν δὲ καὶ τῶν οὕτως ἀραιῶν εὐθὺς ἅπαν τὸ περιττὸν ἀποχεῖται.
For if you should fill a leather bag or any other of such tight containers with a liquid substance, nothing flows out; but from a sponge and such rare things, immediately all the excess is poured out.
τί δὴ οὖν χαλεπὸν ἦν, ἐννοήσαντας αὐτοὺς, ὅσον γε τὸ ἄλλο δέρμα πᾶν στεγνότερόν ἐστι τοῦ κατὰ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ τοὺς μυκτῆρας, καὶ τὸ στόμα, τῇ τῶν μορίων φύσει τὴν αἰτίαν ἀναθεῖναι, παρέντας ἐπιπλοκὴν καὶ λήρους μακρούς;
What difficulty was there then, when they had considered how much more constricted all the other skin is than that of the eyes, the nostrils, and the mouth, to attribute the cause to the nature of the parts, leaving aside complication and long nonsense?
ὅτι γὰρ οὕτω τοῦτ’ ἔχει, δηλοῦσιν αἱ μεθ’ ἑλκώσεως ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις μορίοις γινόμεναι φλεγμοναί· καὶ γὰρ κἀκείνων ἀποῤῥεῖ τὸ λεπτομερὲς, ὥσπερ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς, καὶ ῥινὶ, καὶ στόματι· ἕως δ’ ἂν ἀπαθὲς ᾖ, καὶ πάντως στεγνὸν τὸ δέρμα, τοῦ μηδὲν ἀποχεῖσθαι τοῦτο αἴτιον, οὐ τὸ τῆς φλεγμονῆς εἶδος.
For that this is so is shown by the inflammations occurring with ulceration in the other parts; for from them too the thin part flows out, just as in the eyes, the nose, and the mouth; but as long as the skin is unaffected and completely tight, this is the cause of nothing being poured out, not the kind of inflammation.
ὥσπερ αὖ πάλιν, εἰ μέλιτι δεύσειας ἢ ὑγρᾷ πίττῃ πάνυ τὸ πλῆθος ἀμέτρῳ σπογγίαν ἢ ἔριον, οὐδὲν ἀποῤῥεῖ διὰ τὸ τῆς ὑγρότητος πάχος, ἢ ὕδατι μὲν, ἤ τινι τῶν οὕτω λεπτῶν, ἀλλ’ ἐλαχίστῳ τούτῳ· κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν, οἶμαι, λόγον οὐ διὰ παντὸς ἐκχεῖταί τινι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, ἢ διὰ τὸ πάχος τῆς ὑγρότητος, ἢ τῷ μὴ περιττεύειν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἐχόντων.
Just as, on the other hand, if you should thoroughly soak a sponge or wool with honey or liquid pitch in an immeasurably large quantity, nothing flows out due to the thickness of the liquid, or with water or some of such thin liquids, but in a very small amount; in the same way, I think, it does not always flow out of anyone's eyes, either due to the thickness of the liquid or because it is not in excess, just as in the case of those who are in a natural state.
ὥστ’ ἐνδέχεται ταὐτὸν εἶδος τῆς φλεγμονῆς, μηδενὶ διαφέρον ἄλλῳ γε, πλὴν τῷ πάχει τῆς ἐπιῤῥεούσης οὐσίας, ὀφθαλμίαν ἐργάσασθαι χωρὶς ῥεύματος, ἣν οἱ σοφώτατοι Μεθοδικοὶ στεγνὴν ὀνομάζουσι, καὶ διαφέρειν οἴονται τῆς ἐπιπεπλεγμένης, ἐπιλανθανόμενοι τῶν ἰδίων λόγων, οὓς ἄνω καὶ κάτω μεταφέρουσι, σωματικὰς ἀξιοῦντες εἶναι τὰς κατασκευὰς τῶν παθῶν, οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ὑγροῖς συνίστασθαι.
Thus it is possible for the same kind of inflammation, differing in nothing else except the thickness of the inflowing substance, to produce ophthalmia without flux, which the most wise Methodists call constricted, and think that it differs from the complicated one, forgetting their own arguments which they toss up and down, claiming that the constitutions of affections are bodily and do not consist in the liquids.
πῶς οὖν, ὅταν εἰ μὲν ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν ἡ αὐτὴ διάθεσις ᾖ, οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ γε διαφέρουσα, μόνῃ δὲ τῇ τῶν ὑγρῶν φύσει λεπτῶν ἢ παχέων ὄντων, ἕπηται, ποτὲ μὲν ἀποῤῥεῖν τι, ποτὲ δὲ ἴσχεσθαι, διαφερούσας ὑπολαμβάνετε εἶναι τὰς κοινότητας;
How then, when the same disposition is in the bodies, differing in nothing else, but it follows solely from the nature of the liquids being thin or thick, that sometimes something flows out and sometimes it is retained, do you suppose that the commonplaces are different?
οὕτω μὲν δὴ καὶ τὸ ἐπιπεπλεγμένον ὑμῶν ἀδιανόητόν ἐστι.
Thus indeed even your complicated is inconceivable.
τὰ δὲ ἄλλα κατὰ μέρος, οὐκ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ δίαιταν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ χειρουργίαν τε καὶ φαρμακείαν, ὅσα σφάλλεσθε, τάχα ἂν αὖθις μαθήσετε, εἰ μηδέπω διὰ τούτων ἐπείσθητε.
And the other details in part, not only in matters of regimen, but also in surgery and pharmacology, in how many things you err, you will perhaps learn again, if you have not yet been convinced by these.
νυνὶ δὲ, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῖς εἰσαγομένοις ἱκανὰ ταῦτα, καταπαύσω τῇδε τὸν παρόντα λόγον.
But now, since these are sufficient also for beginners, I will conclude the present discourse here.