§1## ΓΑΛΗΝΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΠΑΡΑ ΦΥΣΙΝ ΟΓΚΩΝ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ.
Ἕν τι τῶν συμβεβηκότων τοῖς σώμασιν ὑπάρχει τὸ δηλούμενον πρᾶγμα πρὸς τῆς ὄγκου φωνῆς.
## GALEN'S BOOK ON TUMORS CONTRARY TO NATURE. The thing signified by the word 'onkos' is one of the accidents belonging to bodies.
τὴν γὰρ εἰς μῆκος καὶ πλάτος καὶ βάθος διάστασιν οὕτως ὀνομάζουσιν Ἕλληνες.
For Greeks thus name the extension into length, width, and depth.
ἔστι δ’ ὅτε καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν αὔξησιν ὄγκον καλοῦσιν, ὅπερ οὐ τοῖς νοσοῦσι μόνον καθ’ ὁτιοῦν μόριον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ὑγιαίνουσιν ὑπάρχει.
And sometimes they also call the increase beyond what is natural 'onkos', which belongs not only to those who are sick in any part whatsoever, but also to those who are healthy.
καὶ γὰρ καὶ οἱ παχεῖς ηὔξηνται μὲν ὑπὲρ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν εἰς βάθος καὶ πλάτος, οὐ μὴν ἤδη γέ πω παρὰ φύσιν ἔχουσιν.
For indeed, those who are fat have increased beyond what is natural in depth and width, yet they do not thereby already have a condition contrary to nature.
ὡς γὰρ πολλάκις εἴρηται, τρίτη τίς ἐστι κατάστασις ἡ τῶν οὐ φύσει διακειμένων σωμάτων, ἐν μέσῳ πως ὑπάρχουσα τῶν κατὰ φύσιν τε καὶ παρὰ φύσιν ἐχόντων.
For as has often been said, there is a certain third condition, that of bodies not naturally disposed, existing somehow in the middle between those that are in a natural state and those contrary to nature.
ὁ μὲν οὖν παχὺς ἢ ἰσχνὸς οὐ παρὰ φύσιν, ἀλλ’ ἁπλῶς μόνον ὁ μὲν ὑπὲρ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν, ὁ δὲ ἐνδεέστερον ἔχει τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν, οὐ φύσει δὲ ἑκάτερος.
Therefore, the fat or lean person is not contrary to nature, but simply, the one has a condition beyond what is natural, and the other has one more deficient than what is natural, but neither is naturally disposed.
ὁ δὲ ἐξ ὑδέρου τὸν ὄγκον ἐπικτησάμενος, ἢ ἐκ φθόης τὴν λεπτότητα, παρὰ φύσιν ἄμφω διάκεινται.
But he who has acquired his bulk from dropsy, or his thinness from consumption, are both disposed contrary to nature.
πρόκειται δὲ ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ νῦν ἐνεστῶτι λόγῳ σκέψασθαι περὶ τῶν παρὰ φύσιν ὄγκων, ὅλον τε καταλαμβανόντων τὸ σῶμα, καὶ μόριον ὁτιοῦν αὐτοῦ, τοσοῦτον ἐπιδιορισαμένοις, ὡς τῶν οὐ φύσει διαθέσεων αἱ ὑπερβολαὶ παρὰ φύσιν εἰσίν.
And it is proposed for us in the present discourse to consider those tumors contrary to nature, which occupy both the whole body and any part of it, having further defined this much, that the excesses of conditions not naturally disposed are contrary to nature.
ὅρος δὲ τῆς ὑπερβολῆς ἐστιν αὐτῶν ἡ βλάβη τῆς ἐνεργείας.
And the limit of their excess is the impairment of function.
ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων τῶν ὄγκων οὐ δεῖ μακροτέρου λόγου.
But concerning these bulks there is no need of a longer discourse.
γινώσκεται γὰρ ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, οὐ μόνον τῶν ἰατρῶν, σαρκὸς καὶ πιμελῆς ἀμετρία τὴν γένεσιν αὐτῶν ἐργαζομένη·
For it is known by all people, not only by physicians, that an immoderate amount of flesh and fat causes their generation.
τοὺς δ’ ἄλλους ὄγκους, ὅσοι κατὰ τὴν διάθεσιν αὐτῶν τῶν σωμάτων, οὐ μόνον τὴν ποσότητα πρώτην, τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἐξεστήκασιν, ἤδη σκοπῶμεν, ἀπὸ φλεγμονῆς ἀρξάμενοι.
Let us now examine the other tumors, as many as have departed from what is natural according to the disposition of the bodies themselves, and not only in their primary quantity, beginning with inflammation.