§4#1Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν τὸ προκείμενον ἱκανῶς ἀποδέδεικται, τί κωλύει προσθεῖναί τινα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀτόπων;
Since, therefore, the proposed topic has been sufficiently demonstrated, what prevents us from adding some of the other absurdities?
ἅπαντα μὲν γὰρ διελθεῖν ἀδύνατον, οὕτω πολὺ πλῆθος αὐτῶν ἐστιν.
For it is impossible to go through them all, so great is their number.
ἓν μὲν δὴ καὶ πρῶτον ἄτοπον τὸ δεῖν πάντα ἐπὶ πάσῃ τρώσει, κᾂν τὸ δέρμα μόνον ᾖ τετρωμένον ὑπὸ τῆς λεπτοτάτης βελόνης, ἁπάσας μὲν τὰς ἀρτηρίας αἵματος πληροῦσθαι, πυρετὸν δ’ ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἕπεσθαι.
Now, one and indeed the first absurdity is that, upon every wound, even if only the skin has been wounded by the finest needle, it is necessary that always all the arteries be filled with blood, and that fever of necessity follows.
φανερὸν δ’ ἔσται τὸ λεγόμενον, ἁρμοζομένης ἡμῶν τῆς ἀποδείξεως ἐπ’ αὐτῶν τῶν κατὰ τὰς ἀρτηρίας τρώσεων.
And what is being said will become clear if we adapt our demonstration to the wounds in the arteries themselves.
καὶ μὲν δή μοι νόει βελόνην λεπτὴν διὰ τῆς μασχάλης εἰς ὅλην τὴν χεῖρα νενεμημένην ἀρτηρίαν.
Now, imagine for me a fine needle [wounding] an artery distributed through the armpit into the whole arm.
τί τοίνυν συμβήσεται κατὰ τὸν Ἐρασίστρατον;
What, then, will happen according to Erasistratus?
ἐκκενοῦσθαι μὲν δηλονότι τὸ κατ’ αὐτὴν πνεῦμα, συγκενοῦσθαι δ’ αὐτῇ καὶ τὸ τῶν πλησίων ἀρτηριῶν.
Clearly, the pneuma in it is emptied, and along with it, that of the neighboring arteries is also emptied.
πλησίον δ’ εἰσὶ τῆς εἰρημένης αἵ τ’ ἀπ’ αὐτῆς εἰς τὴν χεῖρα νεμόμεναι καὶ ἡ μεγάλη ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας, ἀφ’ ἧς αὐτὴ πέφυκεν.
And near the aforementioned artery are both those distributed from it into the arm, and the great one from the heart, from which this artery itself originates.
ἀλλ’ εἴπερ αὕτη κενωθήσεται, πᾶσα δήπουθεν ἀνάγκη, πλησίον οὖσαν αὐτῆς τὴν ἀριστερὰν κοιλίαν τῆς καρδίας συνεκκενοῦσθαι, τήν τ’ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀνιοῦσαν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὴν ῥάχιν καταφερομένην.
But if this great artery is to be emptied, it is surely of absolute necessity that the left cavity of the heart, being near it, is emptied along with it, as well as the artery ascending to the head and the one descending to the spine.
εἰ γὰρ ἅπαντι τῷ κενουμένῳ μέρει τῆς ἀρτηρίας τὰ πλησιάζοντα συνεκκενοῦται, πλησιάζει δὲ ἀεὶ τὰ ἀπ’ αὐτῆς πεφυκότα, καὶ ἀφ’ ὧν αὐτὴ πέφυκεν, εὔδηλον, ὡς ἥ τ’ ἀριστερὰ κοιλία τῆς καρδίας καὶ τῶν εἰρημένων ἑκατέρα συνεκκενωθήσεται τῇ κατὰ τὴν μασχάλην.
For if, for every part of the artery that is being emptied, the adjacent parts are emptied along with it, and those originating from it, as well as those from which it originates, are always adjacent, it is completely clear that both the left cavity of the heart and each of the two aforementioned arteries will be emptied together with the one at the armpit.
ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἑτέρας αὐτῶν αἱ κατὰ τὸν τράχηλόν τε καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἅπασαι πεφύκασιν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἑτέρας αἱ καθ’ ὅλον τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα, δῆλον, ὡς καὶ ταύτην ἀνάγκη συνεκκενοῦσθαι μέχρι τῶν περάτων.
Since, therefore, from one of them all the arteries of the neck and head originate, and from the other all those in the rest of the whole body, it is clear that these too must of necessity be emptied together up to their ends.
ἀλλ’ ὅταν πρῶτον ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα τῶν ἀρτηριῶν ἡ κένωσις τοῦ πνεύματος ἐξικνῆται, μεταχεῖσθαι συμβήσεται κατὰ τὰς ἀναστομώσεις ἐκ τῶν φλεβῶν εἰς αὐτὰς τὰς ἀρτηρίας αἷμα, καὶ τοῦτο μόνον τῷ κενουμένῳ πνεύματι, τὸ μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν κάτω μερῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ ῥάχιν ἀρτηρίαν καὶ τὴν καρδίαν ἀφικνεῖσθαι, κᾄπειθ’ οὕτως ἐπὶ τὴν μασχάλην, τὸ δ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐπὶ μὲν τὴν ἄνω φερομένην, τὴν προτέραν, ἑξῆς δ’ ἐπὶ τὸν τράχηλον καὶ τὴν τετρωμένην.
But as soon as the emptying of the pneuma reaches the ends of the arteries, it will happen that blood is transfused through the anastomoses from the veins into the arteries themselves, and this blood, following only the pneuma being emptied, will on the one hand arrive from the lower parts of the body at the artery along the spine and the heart, and then thus at the armpit, and on the other hand arrive from the head at the artery carrying upward, the former one, and next at the neck and the wounded artery.
οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸ διὰ τῶν κατὰ τὴν χεῖρα πασῶν ἀρτηριῶν μεταληφθὲν αἷμα, τῷ πνεύματι συνακολουθοῦν, ἐπὶ τὴν διῃρημένην ἀρτηρίαν ἐγχυθήσεται, καὶ πᾶν οὕτω τὸ καθ’ ὅλον τὸν ὄγκον αἷμα ῥυήσεται πρὸς τὴν διαίρεσιν.
In this way also, the blood transferred through all the arteries in the arm, following along with the pneuma, will be poured into the divided artery, and thus all the blood in the whole bulk of the body will flow toward the division.
ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν καὶ πάνυ ἀληθές. φαίνεται δὲ διὰ μιᾶς ἀρτηρίας ἡστινοσοῦν τῶν ἀξιολόγων, εἰ μὴ κωλύσειας αὐτῶν τὴν ῥύσιν, ἅπαν ἐκκενούμενον τὸ καθ’ ὅλον τὸν ὄγκον αἷμα.
But this indeed is entirely true; for it is seen that through any one of the notable arteries, if you do not prevent their flow, all the blood in the whole bulk is emptied.
μάχεται δ’, ὡς ἐδείξαμεν, οὐ τοῖς κατὰ τὰς ἀρτηρίας αἷμα περιέχειν φάσκουσιν, ἀλλ’ Ἐρασιστράτῳ τε καὶ τοῖς οἰκείοις, ὄργανα τοῦ ζωτικοῦ πνεύματος ὑπάρχειν αὐτάς.
And this, as we have shown, does not conflict with those who say that the arteries contain blood, but with Erasistratus and his followers, who hold that they exist as organs of the vital pneuma.