§6#1Ἐπεὶ δ’ ἠνάγκασαν ἡμᾶς ἐάσαντας χρήσιμα τὸν χρόνον εἰς τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀντιλογίαν ἀναλίσκειν, ἐπιδείξωμεν αὐτοῖς, εἰς ὅσον ἀναισθησίας ἥκουσιν αὐτοί τε καὶ οἱ προσέχοντες αὐτοῖς, ὥς τι διδάσκουσι χρήσιμον.
But since they have forced us, leaving aside useful things, to consume our time on the contradiction against them, let us show them to what extent of insensibility they themselves and those who pay attention to them have come, as if they were teaching something useful.
ὁμολογήσαντες γὰρ αὐτοὶ περὶ πράγματος ἀδυνάτου γίγνεσθαι σφίσι τοὺς λόγους, ὅμως ὥς τι γυμνάσιον αὐτοὺς μεταχειριζόμενοι, τί δή ποτε τῆς ὅλης θεραπείας οὐδ’ αὐτῷ χιλιοστῷ μέρει γυμνάζονται, πρὸς τῷ καὶ μάχεσθαι τὰς ὑποθέσεις αὐτῶν ἀλλήλαις, ἃς καὶ πρώτας σοι δίειμι;
For although they themselves have agreed that their discussions are about an impossible matter, yet treating them as if they were some kind of exercise, why on earth do they not train themselves in even a thousandth part of the whole treatment, besides their hypotheses fighting with one another, which I shall first go through for you?
τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν ἄχρι τῶν ε΄ καὶ ι΄ ἡμερῶν τύπων ὑποτίθενται προέρχεσθαι τὰς περιόδους· ἔνιοι δὲ μέχρι τῶν μηνιαίων· εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ οἵ μέχρι δυοῖν ἢ τριοῖν μηνοῖν.
Some of them assume that the types proceed up to types of fifteen days; and some up to monthly ones; and there are also those who [assume they proceed] up to two or three months.
ἐγὼ δὲ τίνα μὲν ἔχω γνώμην ὑπὲρ ὧν Ἱπποκράτης εἶπεν ἐξωτέρω τῆς τοῦ τεταρταίου περιόδου, ἐν ἑτέροις ἐδήλωσα, δι’ ὧν ἐδίδασκον, ὡς ἐμαυτὸν πείθω, θεωρίαν χρήσιμον τῇ τέχνῃ· νυνὶ δὲ, οὐ γὰρ διδάξαι μοί τι πρόκειται κατὰ τόνδε τὸν λόγον, ἀλλ’ ἐξελέγξαι τοὺς μήτε τὰ χρήσιμα γράφοντας ἐπαινοῦντάς τε θεωρίαν ἀχρηστοτάτην, ἐπὶ πρώτους τρέψομαι τοὺς ἄχρι τοῦ πεντεκαιδεκαταίου τύπου γυμνασίας ἕνεκα προϊέναι φάσκοντας.
But as for me, what opinion I hold concerning what Hippocrates said beyond the period of the quartan, I have shown in other works, through which I taught, as I persuade myself, a theory useful for the medical art; but now—for my purpose in this discourse is not to teach anything, but to refute those who neither write useful things and yet praise a most useless theory—I shall turn first to those who claim to advance up to the fifteenth type for the sake of exercise.
ἀνατρέποντες γάρ οὗτοι τὴν ἑαυτῶν ὑπόθεσιν ἑτέραις ὑποθέσεσιν, ἃς προστιθέασιν, οὐκ αἰσθάνονται.
For they do not perceive that they overturn their own hypothesis by other hypotheses which they add.
εἰ γὰρ ὁ διὰ κ΄ καὶ γ΄ ὡρῶν παροξυνόμενος πυρετὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀμφημερινὸς προληπτικὸς, ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὸν εἶναι τέτταρας καὶ εἴκοσιν εἰκοστοτεταρταίους· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τὸν ὑστεροῦντα μίαν ὥραν εἰκοστοεκταίους εἶναι καὶ τοῦτο κ΄ τε καὶ τέτταρας.
For if the fever that paroxysms every 23 hours is not an anticipating quotidian, it must be twenty-four twenty-fourth-day fevers; just as indeed also the one lagging by one hour must be twenty-six-day fevers, and this too twenty-four [in number].
οὔκουν ἀληθεύουσιν εἰς ε΄ καὶ ι΄ ἡμέρας ἐκτείνεσθαι τοὺς τύπους ὑποτιθέμενοι.
Therefore they do not speak the truth when they assume that the types extend to fifteen days.
πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ὅταν ἤτοι τριταίαν ἢ τεταρταίαν ἢ δὴ πεμπταίαν περίοδον, ὥραις ἤτοι δυοῖν, ἢ τρισὶν ὑστερίζουσαν, ἢ προλαμβάνουσαν, εἰς ἐπιπλοκὰς τύπων ἄγωσιν ὁμοίως τοῖς εἰκοσιτέσσαρσιν εἰκοσιεκταίοις.
And much more so when they bring either a tertian or a quartan or indeed a quintan period, lagging or anticipating by either two or three hours, into complications of types, similarly to the twenty-four twenty-six-day fevers.
ἵνα γὰρ ἐάσας τὴν πεντεκαίδεχ’ ἡμερῶν αὐτῶν περίοδον, ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ πεμπταίου παραγένωμαι, κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τύπον, ἐὰν μὲν προλάβῃ μίαν ὥραν ὁ παροξυσμὸς, εἴκοσι καὶ τέτταρες ἐννενηκονθεκταῖοι γενήσονται· ἐὰν δὲ ὑστερίζῃ, ἐννενηκοστοογδαῖοι πάλιν κδ΄, εἰ δ΄ αὐτὰ δὴ ὑποτίθενταί τινας ἤδη προλαμβάνοντας καὶ ὑστερίζοντας, ἀναιροῦσιν ἄρδην ἑαυτῶν τὴν ὑπόθεσιν.
For to leave aside their period of fifteen days and come to that of the quintan: according to this type, if the paroxysm anticipates by one hour, there will be twenty-four ninety-sixth-day fevers; and if it lags, again twenty-four ninety-eighth-day fevers; and if they assume these very things are already anticipating and lagging, they completely destroy their own hypothesis.
ὥστε τὸ μὲν ὁλοκλήροις ἡμέραις τε καὶ νυξὶ περιγράφεσθαι τοὺς τύπους ἀναγκαῖον αὐτοὺς ὑποτίθεσθαι, ἢ οὐκ ἔστιν τί ληροῦσιν· ὑποκειμένου δ’ αὐτοῦ, προήξουσιν εἰς μακρὸν ἀριθμὸν ἡμερῶν οἱ τύποι, κᾂν ἐκεῖνοι μὴ θέλωσι.
So that they must either assume that the types are limited by complete days and nights, or what they babble is nothing; but when this is assumed, the types will advance to a long number of days, even if they do not wish it.
κάλλιον οὖν ἴσως ποιοῦσιν οἱ κατ’ ἀρχὰς εὐθέως ὑποτιθέμενοι τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν κατὰ τύπους ἡμερῶν ἀπερίληπτον ὑπάρχειν.
So perhaps those do better who assume straight from the beginning that the number of days according to types is unlimited.
εἰ γὰρ καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλο λέγουσι, καλῶς γε ἐκφεύγουσι τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀντιλογίαν, οὐχ ὥσπερ οἱ πρόσθεν ὑπὸ σφῶν αὐτῶν καταβάλλονται, μέχρι πεντεκαίδεχ’ ἡμερῶν ὑποτιθέμενοι προϊέναι τοὺς τύπους, ἀναγκαζόμενοι δὲ χρῆσθαι μὴ μόνοις τοῖς ἐκ πολλῶν δεκάδων συγκειμένοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐξ ἑκατοντάδων.
For even if they say nothing else, they at least well escape the contradiction against them, not like those before who are overthrown by themselves, assuming that the types proceed up to fifteen days, but being forced to use not only those composed of many tens, but also those of hundreds.
ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν αὐτοῖς φυγεῖν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν τύπων, ἀδύνατον δήπου καὶ τὰς ἐπιπλοκὰς ἀλλήλοις ἐπιπλέκοντας φεύγειν· ἀλλὰ καθάπερ οἱ τοὺς τρεῖς τύπους ὑποθέμενοι μόνους ὑπάρχειν, ἀμφημερινὸν καὶ τριταῖον καὶ τεταρταῖον, ὅμως ἐκ τῆς ἐπιπλοκῆς αὐτῶν συζυγίας ἀποτελοῦσι πολλὰς, οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον ἔσται καὶ τούτοις ἐπιπλέκειν ἀλλήλοις ἅπαντας τοὺς τύπους.
Since, then, it is impossible for them to escape the multitude of types, it is indeed also impossible to escape weaving the complications with one another; but just as those who assume that only three types exist—quotidian, tertian, and quartan—nevertheless produce many pairings from their complication, so it will be necessary for these also to complicate all the types with one another.
ὡς οὖν ἐπιπλέκουσι τοὺς τρεῖς, λέγοντες ἑαυτῷ μὲν πρῶτον ἕκαστον, ἔπειτ’ ἀλλήλοις, οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον ἔσται καὶ τούτους ἐπιπλέκειν.
Just as, then, they complicate the three, saying each first with itself, then with one another, so it will be necessary to complicate these too.
ἀρξώμεθα οὖν ἀπὸ τοῦ πεμπταίου, καὶ δείξωμεν αὐτοῖς, ὅπως ἐπιπλεκόμενος τῷδε παμπόλλας ποιήσει συζυγίας, οὐδὲν διαφέροντος, εἰ μὴ συζυγίας, ἀλλ’ ἐπιπλοκὰς ὀνομάζοι τις αὐτάς. μία μὲν γὰρ ἡ συζυγία τοιαύτη·
Let us begin, then, from the quintan, and let us show them how, when complicated with itself, it will make very many pairings, it making no difference if one should call them complications instead of pairings.
τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἀρχέσθω πεμπταῖος, εἶθ’ ἡ τρίτη τε καὶ τετάρτη καθαρευέτω πυρετοῦ παντός· ἡ πέμπτη μὲν τοῦ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν ἀρξαμένου πεμπταίου τὸν δεύτερον ἐχέτω παροξυσμὸν, ἡ δ’ ἕκτη τοῦ κατὰ τὴν δευτέραν· εἶτα τῆς ζ΄ καὶ τῆς η΄ καθαρευουσῶν, ἡ μὲν ἐννάτη τὸν τρίτον ἐχέτω παροξυσμὸν τοῦ πρώτου τῶν πεμπταίων, ἡ δὲ δεκάτη τοῦ δευτέρου καὶ αὐτὴ τὸν τρίτον ἐφεξῆς· καὶ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀναλογίαν ὁ τέταρτος πεμπταῖος προερχέσθω, διαφέροντος οὐδὲν εἰς τὰ παρόντα, διπλοῦν πεμπταῖον ἢ δύο πεμπταίους λέγειν, ὅπερ οὐδ’ αὐτὸ συγχωροῦσιν ἅπαντες.
For one pairing is of this kind: on the first of the days let a quintan begin, then let both the third and the fourth be free from any fever; let the fifth have the second paroxysm of the quintan that began on the first day, and the sixth [have that] of the one [that began] on the second; then, with the 7th and 8th being free, let the ninth have the third paroxysm of the first of the quintans, and the tenth [have] that of the second, itself also the third in succession; and according to the same proportion let the fourth [paroxysm] of the quintan proceed—it making no difference for the present to say a "double quintan" or "two quintans", which not even everyone agrees on.
ἑτέρα συζυγία δυοῖν πεμπταίων. ἡ πρώτη τῶν ἡμερῶν ἕνα παροξυσμὸν ἑνὸς ἐχέτω πεμπταίου (μέθοδον), δευτέρα δὲ καθαρευέτω, κᾄπειθ’ ἡ τρίτη τὸν ἕτερον πεμπταῖον ἀρχόμενον ἐχέτω, σωζομένης τῆς ἀναλογίας ἐν ταῖς ἐφεξῆς ἡμέραις.
Another pairing of two quintans: let the first of the days have one paroxysm of one quintan, let the second be free, and then let the third have the other quintan beginning, the proportion being preserved in the following days.
ἄλλη συζυγία δυοῖν πεμπταίοιν. ἡ μὲν πρώτη τῶν ἡμερῶν τὸν ἕτερον αὐτῶν, ἡ δὲ τετάρτη τὸν ἕτερον ἀρχόμενον ἐχέτω, τῶν ἑξῆς ἡμερῶν τὴν ἀναλογίαν φυλαττουσῶν.
Another pairing of two quintans: let the first of the days have one of them, and the fourth have the other beginning, with the following days keeping the proportion.
τετάρτη συζυγία δυοῖν πεμπταίοιν. ὁ μὲν ἕτερος αὐτῶν εἰσβαλλέτω κατὰ τὴν πρώτην νύκτα.
A fourth pairing of two quintans: let one of them attack during the first night.
πέμπτη συζυγία δυοῖν πεμπταίοιν.
A fifth pairing of two quintans.