§4Καί τοι χαλεπώτερον ἐμαυτὸν τὸν λόγον ἐπίσταμαι ποιεῖν.
And yet I know that I am making my own argument more difficult.
διωρισμένης γὰρ τῆς ὑπνώδους καταφορᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς οὐχ ὑπνώδους φρενίτιδος, οὐκ ἂν ἔτι δεόντως ἀπορῶν φαίνοιτο καὶ μὴ βεβαίως ἀποφαινόμενος φρενιτικοὺς εἶναι τοὺς τοιούτους.
For once sleepy coma has been distinguished from non-sleepy phrenitis, he would no longer seem to be properly in doubt and not declaring firmly that such people are phrenetic.
ἀλλ’ ἧττον γὰρ ἐμοὶ μέλει τῆς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις χαλεπότητος ἢ τῆς ἀληθείας, ὅτι τε ἀπορητικός ἐστιν ὁ σύνδεσμος, ὁμολογῶ, καὶ δείξω τὴν αἰτίαν, δι’ ἣν οὐκ ἐτόλμησε φρενιτικοὺς εἶναι τοὺς τοιούτους ἀποφήνασθαι ὁ Ἱπποκράτης, ἀλλ’ ἔτ’ ἀπορεῖ.
But since I care less for the difficulty in arguments than for the truth, I admit that the conjunction is dubitative, and I will show the reason why Hippocrates did not venture to declare such people to be phrenetic, but is still in doubt.
τὸ γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇσι προσκείμενον τὴν πάσαν ἔχει τοῦ λόγου δύναμιν, ὃ παραλείπουσιν οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἐξηγητῶν, ὥσπερ μάτην προσγεγραμμένον.
For the phrase 'in the beginning' (ἐν ἀρχῇσι), being added, holds the entire force of the statement, which most of the commentators pass over, as if it had been written in vain.
παραπλήσιον γάρ τι συμβαίνει πολλῶν ἀρχομένοις νοσημάτων, οἷον ἔν τισι τῶν μεθυσθέντων ἔστιν ἰδεῖν γιγνόμενον.
For something very similar happens to those who are at the beginning of many diseases, as one can see happening in some of those who are drunk.
ὅταν μὲν κωματώδεις ὦσι, καὶ σφάλλονται, καὶ βαρῶσι τὴν κεφαλὴν, καὶ μηδ’ εἰ βιάζοιντο διαίρειν δύνανται τὰ βλέφαρα· δι’ αὐτὸ δ’ αὖ πάλιν τοῦτο τὸ βάρος ὑπνοῦν ἀδυνατοῦσιν ἀσώμενοι, καὶ στρεφόμενοι, καὶ ῥιπτοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς, καὶ μεταβάλλοντες ἄλλοτ’ εἰς ἄλλο σχῆμα.
When they are comatose, they stagger, and have heavy heads, and cannot open their eyelids even if they force themselves; but again, because of this very heaviness they are unable to sleep, being distressed, tossing and turning, throwing themselves about, and changing from one posture to another.
ταῦτα γὰρ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν πολλάκις ἐπὶ τῶν μεθυσθέντων γιγνόμενα, πληρωθείσης αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ μέθῃ τῆς κεφαλῆς, εἶθ’ ὑπὸ τοῦ βάρους ἅμα τ’ εἰς κῶμα κατασπώσης ἅμα τε ὕπνον κωλυούσης.
For one can often see these things happening to those who are drunk, when their head is filled in drunkenness, and then, because of the heaviness, it both drags them down into a coma and at the same time prevents sleep.
οὕτως οὖν καὶ πλήθους ἀπέπτου τὴν κεφαλὴν κατειληφότος, ἄγρυπνοί τε ἅμα καὶ κωματώδεις εἰσίν.
Thus, then, when an undigested abundance has occupied the head, they are at once sleepless and comatose.
καὶ τοῦτο κατ’ ἀρχὰς γενόμενον, ἔστιν ὅτε μὲν πεφθῇ καλῶς, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐξ οἴνου τοιοῦτο εἴη γεγονός· ἀλλ’ οὕτω μὲν οὔτε λήθαργος, οὔτε φρενῖτις ἠκολούθησεν·
And when this happens in the beginning, sometimes it is well digested, just as if such a thing had arisen from wine; but in this case, neither lethargy nor phrenitis follows.
ἔστιν ὅτε δὲ δριμὺ γενόμενον εἰς φρενίτιδα ἐτελεύτησε.
But sometimes, having become acrid, it ends in phrenitis.
πολλοῖς δ’ αὖ τὸ μὲν λεπτότερον ἢ πεφθὲν ἢ διαφορηθὲν ἐκενώθη, ὑπέμεινε δὲ τὸ παχύτερον, καὶ οὕτω λήθαργος ἐπεγένετο.
And in many people, on the other hand, the thinner part is either digested or dispersed and evacuated, while the thicker part remains, and thus lethargy supervenes.
προεληλυθότος μὲν τοῦ τοιούτου νοσήματος, ἡ τοιαύτη διάθεσις, ὡς μὲν ἡμεῖς ἐδείξαμεν, ἐγγὺς ἤδη φρενίτιδος· ὡς δ’ οἱ τὸ μικτὸν πάθος ἐκ ληθάργου καὶ φρενίτιδος εἰσάγοντες ὑπολαμβάνουσιν, ἐκείνῳ δόξειεν ἂν εἶναι συγγενεστέρα.
When such a disease has progressed, this kind of disposition is already near phrenitis, as we have shown; but as those who introduce the mixed disease from lethargy and phrenitis suppose, it would seem to be more akin to that.
πότερον δ’ ἤδη τοὺς οὕτως ἔχοντας ὀνομάζειν χρὴ φρενιτικοὺς, ἢ ὀλίγου ὕστερον ἔσεσθαι προσδοκᾷν, τοῦθ’ ἑτέρας ἂν εἴη σκέψεως, οὔτ’ ὠφελούσης τι τὰ νῦν προκείμενα, καὶ ἄλλως διὰ τοῦ εἰσίν, ὃ καί τινες προσγράφουσι τῷ ἆρα φρενιτικοὶ, τινὲς δ’ οὔ.
But whether one ought to call those in this condition phrenetic already, or to expect that they will be so a little later, this would be a matter for another investigation, which is of no help to the things now before us, and especially because of the word εἰσίν, which some add to ἆρα φρενιτικοί, and others do not.