§8Ὥσθ’, ὅταν ἀπορῶσι, πῶς εἰς ὅλον τὸ σῶμα παρὰ τῆς καρδίας κομισθήσεται τὸ πνεῦμα πεπληρωμένων αἵματος τῶν ἀρτηριῶν, οὐ χαλεπὸν ἐπιλύσασθαι τὴν ἀπορίαν αὐτῶν, μὴ πέμπεσθαι φάντας, ἀλλ’ ἕλκεσθαι, μήτ’ ἐκ καρδίας μόνης, ἀλλὰ πανταχόθεν, ὡς Ἡροφίλῳ τε καὶ πρὸ τούτου Πραξαγόρᾳ, καὶ Φιλοτίμῳ, καὶ Διοκλεῖ, καὶ Πλειστονίκῳ, καὶ Ἱπποκράτει, καὶ μυρίοις ἑτέροις ἀρέσκει.
Therefore, when they are at a loss as to how the pneuma will be conveyed from the heart to the whole body when the arteries are full of blood, it is not difficult to resolve their difficulty by claiming that it is not sent but drawn, and not from the heart alone but from everywhere, as is pleasing to Herophilus and, before him, to Praxagoras, Phylotimus, Diocles, Pleistonicus, Hippocrates, and countless others.
ὅτι μέντοι τῆς διαστελλούσης τὰς ἀρτηρίας δυνάμεως οἷον πηγή τίς ἐστιν ἡ καρδία, καὶ τοῦθ’ ἑτέρωθι πρὸς ἡμῶν ἐπιδέδεικται, καὶ τοῖς προειρημένοις ἅπασιν ἀνδράσιν ὡμολόγηται, καὶ πολλῷ φυσικώτερόν ἐστιν οὕτω δοξάζειν, ἢ ὡς διά τινων ἀψύχων σωμάτων ἡγεῖσθαι φέρεσθαι δι’ αὐτῶν τὸ πνεῦμα.
However, that the heart is as it were a source of the power that dilates the arteries has been demonstrated by us elsewhere and is agreed by all the aforementioned men, and it is much more natural to think in this way than to believe that the pneuma is carried through them as if through some inanimate bodies.
δυνάμεως γὰρ μεταλήψει τὸ ζῶον τοῦ μὴ ζῶντος, οὐκ οὐσίας περιοχῇ διαφέρει.
For the living creature differs from the non-living by the participation of power, not by the containment of substance.
ἀλλ’ οὐ νῦν περί γε τούτου πρόκειται λέγειν, οὐδ’ ἵν’ ἐπεξέλθοιμι τελέως τὸν λόγον, ὑπηρξάμην αὐτοῦ.
But it is not our purpose now to speak of this, nor did I begin this discussion in order to go through it completely.
δέδεικται γὰρ ἐν ἑτέροις ἱκανῶς περὶ τούτων, καὶ μάλιστ’ ἐν τοῖς περὶ τῶν Ἱπποκράτους καὶ Πλάτωνος δογμάτων ὑπομνήμασιν, ἀλλ’ ὑπὲρ τοῦ δεῖξαι, τίσιν ἀπατηθέντες οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἐρασίστρατον οὕτως ἄτοπον δόξαν προσήκαντο, καὶ τούτων τῶν δογμάτων ἠναγκάσθην μνημονεῦσαι.
For these things have been sufficiently demonstrated in other works, and especially in the commentaries on the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato; rather, I was forced to mention these doctrines for the sake of showing by what things the followers of Erasistratus were deceived when they accepted such an absurd opinion.
καὶ νῦν ἔτι προσθεὶς αὐτοῖς ἕν τι τῶν ἐξ ἀνατομῆς φαινομένων, ἐνταῦθά που καταπαύσω τὸν λόγον.
And now, adding to them one more of the phenomena from dissection, I will stop the argument somewhere here.
ἔστι δὲ τὸ φαινόμενον τόδε.
The phenomenon is this.
τῶν προφανῶν τε ἅμα καὶ μεγάλων ἀρτηριῶν εἰ ἐθελήσεις ἡντιναοῦν γυμνῶσαι, πρῶτον μὲν τοῦ δέρματος, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τῶν ὑποκειμένων τε καὶ παρακειμένων σωμάτων, ὡς περιβάλλειν αὐτῇ δύνασθαι βρόχον, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα κατὰ μῆκος χαλάσας κοῖλον ἐνθεῖναι κάλαμον ἤ τινα χαλκοῦν αὐλίσκον εἴσω τῆς ἀρτηρίας διὰ τοῦ χαλάσματος, ὡς ἐπιφράττεσθαι πρὸς αὐτοῦ τό τραῦμα καὶ κωλύεσθαι τὴν αἱμοῤῥαγίαν, ἄχρι μὲν ἂν οὕτως ἔχουσαν ἐπισκέπτῃς, θεάσῃ σφύζουσαν ὅλην, ἐπειδὰν δὲ βρόχον περιβαλὼν σφίγξῃς τὸν χιτῶνα τῆς ἀρτηρίας πρὸς τὸν κάλαμον, οὐκ ἔτ’ ὄψει τὰ μετὰ τὸν βρόχον ἐπισφύζοντα, καίτοι ἡ τοῦ αἵματος τε καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος φορὰ διὰ τῆς τοῦ καλάμου κοιλότητος ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα τῆς ἀρτηρίας ὡσαύτως ἐπιγίγνεται.
If you wish to expose any of the obvious and large arteries, first from the skin, then also from the underlying and adjacent tissues, so that you can cast a ligature around it, and after this, having made a longitudinal incision, insert a hollow reed or some bronze tube inside the artery through the incision, so that the wound is closed by it and the hemorrhage is prevented—as long as you examine it in this condition, you will see it all pulsating; but when, having cast a ligature around it, you tighten the coat of the artery against the tube, you will no longer see the parts after the ligature pulsating, although the flow of blood and pneuma occurs in the same way through the cavity of the tube to the ends of the artery.
καὶ εἴπερ οὕτως εἶχον ἀρτηρίαι τὸ σφύζειν, ἔσφυζον ἂν καὶ νυνὶ τὰ πρὸς τοῖς πέρασιν αὐτοῖς μόρια τὰ μετὰ τὸν βρόχον· οὐ μὴν γίγνεται·
And if the arteries had their pulsation in this way, the parts near the very ends after the ligature would still pulsate now; but indeed they do not.
δῆλον οὖν, ὡς εἰ μὲν δύναμις ἀτρεμοίη, οὐ κινεῖσθαι παρὰ τῆς καρδίας αὐτὰς, διὰ δὲ τῶν χιτώνων αὐτὴν ἐπιπέμπεσθαι.
Therefore, it is clear that if the power is stopped, they are not moved from the heart, but it is sent through their coats.
τὰ δὲ ὑπὸ Ἐρασιστράτου περὶ κινήσεως τῶν ἀρτηριῶν εἰρημένα ψευδῆ παντελῶς ἐστιν.
What was said by Erasistratus about the movement of the arteries is completely false.
πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ παύσασθαι τῆς γεγυμνωμένης ἀρτηρίας τὴν κίνησιν ἐν τοῖς μετὰ τὸν βρόχον μέρεσιν, ὅπερ οὐκ ἐχρῆν γίγνεσθαι πρὸ τοῦ βρόχον αὐτῇ περιβαλεῖν, ἔνεστι θεάσασθαι πᾶσαν ἑνὶ χρόνῳ κινουμένην, οὐ τὸ μὲν αὐτῶν πρότερον μόριον, τὸ δ’ ὕστερον, ὅπερ Ἐρασίστρατος βούλεται.
For before the movement of the exposed artery stops in the parts after the ligature, which ought not to happen before casting the ligature around it, it is possible to see it all moving at one time, not one part of them earlier and another later, which is what Erasistratus wants.
καίτοι καὶ ταῦτ’ αὐτῷ δεινῶς ἄτοπα.
And yet these things are also terribly absurd for him.
πρὶν μὲν γὰρ αἷμα περιέχειν αὐτὴν, ἴσως ἄν τις οὕτως ὠκεῖαν εἶναι τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος φορὰν συνεχώρησεν, ὡς λανθάνειν τὴν αἴσθησιν, ποῖά ποτ’ ἐστὶ μόρια τῆς ἀρτηρίας τὰ διαστελλόμενα πρότερα· πεπληρωμένης δὲ αἵματος, οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ τὸ πνεῦμα τάχα οὕτως ὡς πρόσθεν ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα τῆς ἀρτηρίας διεξέρχεσθαι.
For before it contained blood, someone might perhaps have conceded that the flow of the pneuma was so swift as to escape perception as to which parts of the artery dilated first; but when it is full of blood, it is not possible for the pneuma to pass through from the heart to the ends of the artery so quickly as before.
ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔφην, ἴσως οὐ συγχωρήσειεν ἥ γε μετὰ τὸ καταστῆναι τὸν κοῖλον κάλαμον εἰς τὴν ἀρτηρίαν τῶν κάτω μερῶν αὐτῆς κίνησις, πρὶν περιβληθῆναι τὸν βρόχον.
But even if I spoke of this in this way, perhaps the movement of its lower parts after the hollow tube is placed in the artery, before the ligature is cast around, would not be conceded.
ἀκινησία δὲ, περιβληθέντων, ἐναργῶς ἐνδείκνυται δύναμιν ἀπὸ καρδίας ἐπιπέμπεσθαι τοῖς χιτῶσι τῶν ἀρτηριῶν τὴν διαστέλλουσαν αὐτὰς, οὐχ ὕλην διὰ τῆς κοιλότητος.
But the lack of motion, once they are tied, clearly shows that a power from the heart is sent to the coats of the arteries, which dilates them, and not substance through the cavity.
ὡς γὰρ καὶ τὸν τοῦ ποδὸς δάκτυλον κινῆσαι προελόμενοι παραχρῆμα κινοῦμεν αὐτὸν, οὐ τὸν λογισμὸν ἔχοντες ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ μορίῳ, διαδοθείσης δέ τινος ἐπ’ αὐτὸν ἐν ἀκαρεῖ χρόνῳ δυνάμεως, οὕτω κᾀπὶ τῆς καρδίας καὶ τῶν ἀρτηριῶν γίγνεται.
For just as when we purpose to move the toe of the foot, we move it immediately, not because we have our reasoning power in that very part, but because some power is transmitted to it in an instant, so it happens also in the case of the heart and the arteries.
ταῖς μὲν γὰρ δυνάμεσι τὸ τάχος τῆς κινήσεως ὁμολογεῖ, ταῖς δ’ ὕλαις ἀντιμαρτυρεῖ.
For the speed of movement agrees with powers, but bears witness against substances.
ταῦτ’ εἴ τις φυλάττοιτο θέσιν, ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης εἴωθε λέγειν, οἶδ’ ὅτι βεβαίως ἀποδεικνύναι τὸ προκείμενον αὐτοῦ δόξει, μὴ φυλάττοντι δὲ φιλονίκως ἅπερ ἔθετο, μήθ’ ὑπὸ τούτου πείθεσθαι μήθ’ ὑφ’ ἑτέρας ἀποδείξεως ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοῖς φαινομένοις ἐξ ἀνατομῶν καταψεύδεσθαι.
If someone should guard his position, as Aristotle is accustomed to say, I know that he will seem to demonstrate firmly his proposed thesis; but for one who does not guard it, but contentiously [guards] what he has posited, it is necessary neither to be persuaded by this nor by any other demonstration, but to lie against the phenomena of dissections.
καὶ γράφουσι μὲν πολλοὶ τρόπους τινὰς ἀνατομῶν, ὡς δείξειν ἐπαγγέλλονται κενὰς αἵματος εἶναι τὰς ἀρτηρίας, εἶτ’ οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀληθής ἐστιν.
And indeed many write certain methods of dissections, promising that they will show the arteries to be empty of blood, and yet not one of them is true.
εἴρηται γὰρ δή που καὶ πρὸς Ἐρασιστράτου πολὺ μείζονα.
For indeed much greater things have been said by Erasistratus.
τούτων τοίνυν ἀναισχύντως ψευδόμενος ἐν ταῖς ἀνατομαῖς, ἐξ ὧν πεπορισμένος, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἦν εἰς τοσοῦτο Ἐρασίστρατος ἀναίσχυντος, ὡς γράφειν ἐπιχειρεῖν, ἃ δὴ ἰδεῖν ἦν ἀδύνατον.
Therefore, lying shamelessly in these dissections, from which he has provided... but Erasistratus was not so shameless as to attempt to write what was indeed impossible to see.