§8#2τοῦτον ἐγὼ τὸν πυρετὸν ἕνεκα συντόμου καὶ σαφοῦς διδασκαλίας ἑνὶ προσαγορεύειν βουλόμενος ὀνόματι, τέθεικα κατ’ αὐτοῦ κλῆσιν ἡμιτριταῖον. εἰ μὲν οὖν καὶ Ἱπποκράτης τὸν τοιοῦτον πυρετὸν ἡμιτριταῖον ἐκάλει, καθάπερ ἐγὼ πείθομαι, δύο ἂν ἐκ τοῦ λόγου κερδαίνοις, ὅτι τε πρᾶγμα μανθάνεις ἰατρικὸν, ὅτι τε τοὔνομα παλαιὸν ἐπιφέρεις αὐτῷ·
Wishing to address this fever by a single name for the sake of brief and clear instruction, I have applied to it the designation "semitertian." If, therefore, Hippocrates also called such a fever semitertian, as I am convinced, you would gain two things from this discourse: both that you learn a medical matter, and that you apply an ancient name to it.
εἰ δ’ ἡγεῖταί τις ἕτερόν τινα πυρετὸν ὑφ’ Ἱπποκράτους ἡμιτριταῖον καλεῖσθαι, σφάλλεσθαί με νομίσας ἐν τῇ προσηγορίᾳ, τὸ πρᾶγμα αὐτὸ μανθανέτω.
But if anyone thinks that some other fever is called semitertian by Hippocrates, believing that I am mistaken in the designation, let him learn the thing itself.
ὅτι γὰρ καὶ τοιοῦτός τις γίνεται πυρετὸς, ὁποῖον εἶπον, οὐκέτ’ ἐν τῷδε μάρτυρος οὔθ’ Ἱπποκράτους οὔτε ἄλλου τινὸς ὁ λόγος χρῄζει, μόνον οὐ καθ’ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὁρώντων ἡμῶν αὐτὸν, καὶ μάλιστ’ ἐν Ῥώμῃ.
For that indeed such a fever as I described occurs, in this matter our account no longer needs a witness, neither Hippocrates nor anyone else, since we see it almost daily, and especially in Rome.
ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν ἄλλοις ἄλλα χωρίοις, οὕτως ἐν τῇδε πόλει πλεονάζει τὸ κακὸν τοῦτο.
For just as different evils abound in other places, so in this city does this evil abound.
παράκειται δ’ αὐτῷ τις ἄλλος, οὔτε τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἕτερον φέρων παροξυσμὸν, οὔτε κατὰ τὴν πρώτην καὶ τὴν τρίτην τὰς ἐπαναλήψεις. ἔστι δ’ οὐχ εἷς οὐδ’ ὁ τοῦδε τρόπος·
And adjacent to it is another fever, which neither brings another paroxysm on the second day, nor the re-initiations on the first and the third.
ἐνίοτε μὲν γὰρ ἄνευ φρίκης, ἐνίοτε δὲ σὺν φρίκῃ ποιεῖται τὴν εἰσβολὴν, ἔστι δ’ ὅτε καὶ μετὰ καταψύξεως τῶν ἄκρων σαφῶς· ὦπται δὲ ἐνίοτε καὶ χωρὶς αἰσθητῆς περιψύξεως οὗτος ὁ πυρετὸς ἔχειν τοὺς πέντε καιροὺς, ἀρχὴν, ἀνωμαλίαν, ἐπίδοσιν, ἀκμὴν καὶ παρακμήν.
And the character of this one is not single either; for sometimes it makes its invasion without chill, sometimes with chill, and sometimes clearly with cooling of the extremities; and sometimes this fever has been observed, even without perceptible cooling, to have the five periods: beginning, irregularity, increase, height, and decline.
τοῖς δὲ χρόνοις ἤδη διῃρημένοις ὀλιγοχρόνιος μὲν ἡ ἀρχὴ, ὀλιγοχρόνιος δέ ἐστιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀνωμαλία· τὰ δὲ τῆς ἀναβάσεως οὐχ ὁμοίως ἅπασιν, ἀλλ’ ἐνίοις μὲν (οὐκ) ὀλιγοχρόνια, ἐνίοις δὲ χρόνῳ πλείονι· καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ ὁ τῆς ἀκμῆς καιρὸς ἐν χρόνῳ μὲν πάντως αἰσθητῷ καὶ πλατεῖ, διαφέρει δ’ οὐκ ὀλίγον ἐν τῷ μᾶλλόν τε καὶ ἧττον.
And as for the times as now divided, its beginning is short-lived, and its irregularity is also short-lived; but the matters of the ascent are not similar in all, but for some indeed not short-lived, and for others in longer time; and indeed also the period of the height is in any case in a perceptible and extended time, but it differs not a little in the more and the less.
οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὰ τῆς παρακμῆς ἐν χρόνῳ μὲν ἅπασι μακρῷ, διαφέρει δ’ ἐν τῷ τισὶ μὲν αἰσθητῶς ἀφαιρεῖν καὶ παρέχειν ἐλπίδα τοῦ διὰ ταχέων παύσασθαι, μετὰ ταῦτά θ’ ἵσταται φυλάσσων ἴσον τὸ ὑπόλοιπον μέγεθος τῆς παρακμῆς· τισὶ δὲ ὅλην ποιεῖται τὴν παρακμὴν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς ἄχρι τῆς τελευτῆς βραδεῖαν, ὥστε καὶ ἐκ διαστημάτων χρόνου μακροτέρων ἁπτομένῳ σοι δόξει μὲν ἀφῃρηκέναι τι πάντως, ὀλίγιστον μέντοι τουτί.
And likewise the matters of the decline are in a long time for all, but differ in that for some it decreases perceptibly and provides hope of ceasing quickly, but after this it stands keeping the remaining magnitude of the decline equal; while for others it makes the entire decline slow from beginning to end, so that even if you touch them at longer intervals of time, it will seem to have decreased something in any case, but this only very slightly.
τοιαῦταί τινες καὶ ἄλλαι μερικαὶ διαφοραὶ τῶν διὰ τρίτης ἡμέρας παροξυνομένων πυρετῶν, οὓς ἅπαντας ὀνομάζω τριταιοφυεῖς, εἰς μὲν τὴν τῆς διαθέσεως, ὅθεν ἐξάπτονται, γνῶσιν χρησιμώταται, πρὸς δὲ τὴν νῦν ἐνεστῶσαν πραγματείαν ἄχρηστοι.
Such are certain other partial differences of the fevers that have paroxysms every third day, all of which I call "tertian-like," which are very useful for the knowledge of the disposition from which they are kindled, but useless for the present treatise.
πρόκειται γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐνταῦθα τούς τε ἐν ταῖς περιόδοις διορίσασθαι καιροὺς καὶ τοὺς ὅλου τοῦ νοσήματος, ἕνεκα τῆς τῶν βοηθημάτων εὐκαίρου χρήσεως, ἣν οὐδὲν ὀνίνησιν ἡ τοιαύτη ποικιλία, καθάπερ οὐδὲ ἡ τῶν ἐν ἀμφημερινοῦ σχήματι πεποικιλμένων· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τούτων οὐκ ὀλίγοι καθ’ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν παροξυνόμενοι διάλειμμα οὐδὲν ἴσχουσιν· ἐρῶ δ’ αὐτῶν ὅμως ἕνεκα παραδείγματος ὀλίγας διαφορὰς, οὐχ ὡς χρησίμους εἰς τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ὑπόθεσιν, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τῶν ἰατρῶν ἔνιοι παντάπασι φυσῶνται ἐξ ὧν ἀλόγως φλυαροῦσι, καὶ δόξαν ἀποφέρονται παρὰ τοῖς ἀσυνέτοις, ὡς ἐπιμελεῖς τε καὶ πονητικοὶ καί τι σοφώτερον ἐπιστάμενοι τῶν μόνα τὰ χρήσιμα γραφόντων.
For our purpose here is to distinguish both the periods within the cycles and those of the whole disease, for the sake of the timely use of remedies, which such variety does not benefit at all, just as neither does that of those varied in the form of a quotidian; for indeed not a few of these, having paroxysms every day, have no intermission; nevertheless, for the sake of an example, I shall speak of a few differences among them, not as being useful for the present subject, but because some physicians puff themselves up completely on account of what they senselessly babble about, and carry off a reputation among the unintelligent as being diligent and industrious and knowing something wiser than those who write only what is useful.