§2Ἀναμνήσω δ’ αὐτῶν τὰ κεφάλαια.
I will remind them of their main principles.
κατὰ μὲν τοὺς Ἀσκληπιάδας ἁπάντων τῶν ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶ χυμῶν ὁμότιμός ἐστιν ἡ ἐν ταῖς φλεβοτομίαις κένωσις, οὐχ ὁμότιμος δ’ ἡ ἐν ταῖς καθάρσεσιν, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀφαίρεσις, ὡς καθαρὸν ἀποφῆναι τὸ αἷμα.
According to the Asclepiadeans, the evacuation of all humors in the veins is equal in phlebotomies, but not equal in purgations; rather, it is a removal of the other substances so as to render the blood pure.
κατὰ δὲ τοὺς περὶ Ἐρασίστρατον ὁμότιμος ἁπάντων ἐστὶν ὥσπερ ἐν ταῖς φλεβοτομίαις, οὕτω κᾀν ταῖς καθάρσεσιν ἡ κένωσις, ἃς οὐδὲ καθάρσεις ὄντως, ἀλλὰ κενώσεις ἅμα διαφθορᾷ καὶ ἀλλοιώσει τῶν κενουμένων ὑπάρχειν ἐροῦσιν.
According to the followers of Erasistratus, the evacuation is equal for all humors, just as in phlebotomies, so also in purgations, which they will say are not truly purgations, but evacuations accompanied by the destruction and alteration of the evacuated substances.
ἥκοντες τοίνυν ἐπὶ τὸν ἆθλον οἵ τε μετρίως ἀναίσχυντοι τῶν σοφιστῶν οἵ τε ἐσχάτως ἀγωνιζέσθωσαν ὥσπερ ἐν σταδίῳ μὴ λόγοις πρός με μηδὲ λήροις μακροῖς, ἀλλ’ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἔργοις εἰς ἃ προσκαλοῦμαι κατὰ τὴν πολυανθρωποτάτην πόλιν τήνδε, μυρίων ὁσημέραι μὲν κατ’ αὐτὴν ἰκτεριώντων εὑρεθῆναι δυναμένων, μυρίων δὲ ὑδερικῶν.
Let, therefore, those of the sophists who are moderately shameless, and those who are extremely so, come to the contest and fight, as if in a stadium, not with words against me, nor with long nonsense, but with the very deeds to which I challenge them in this most populous city, where thousands of jaundiced persons can be found every day, and thousands of dropsical ones.
ἀρκεῖ γάρ μοι περὶ τούτων πρῶτον ποιήσασθαι λόγον.
For it is enough for me to make my argument first concerning these.
ἀγέτω τις πρός με τούτων δή τινα χωρὶς πυρετοῦ μεστὸν ἔχων τῆς πικρᾶς χολῆς τὸ σύμπαν σῶμα, καὶ θεασάσθω πῶς μετὰ τὸ παρασκευάσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἡμέραις τισὶν, ὅταν ἤδη μοι καιρὸς εἶναι δοκῇ, δοὺς ὑπήλατόν τι τῶν χολαγωγῶν, εἰς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης καθάρσεως ἐπανάγω τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὐδὲν ὅλως ἔτι περὶ τὸ σῶμα πραγματευσάμενος.
Let someone bring to me any one of these who is without fever, having his whole body full of bitter bile, and let him witness how, after preparing the man for some days, when it seems to me to be the right moment, by giving one of the bile-attracting purgatives, I bring the man back to his natural state as a result of such a purging, without having busyed myself with the rest of his body at all.
ἀλλὰ τοῦθ’ ἡμεῖς οὐχ ἅπαξ ἢ δὶς, ἀλλὰ πάνυ πολλάκις ἐπεδειξάμεθα τοῖς ἡμιμοχθήροις αὐτῶν, καὶ πολλοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ βέλτια μετεστήσαμεν.
Indeed, we have demonstrated this not once or twice, but very many times to those of them who are half-wicked, and we have converted many to better views.
οὐ μὴν τούτου γε ἕνεκεν, ὦ σοφιστὰ, πιστεύειν σε κελεύω τοῖς μαρτυροῦσιν, ἀλλὰ σαυτὸν, ὅτε βούλει, θεάσασθαι μιᾷ καθάρσει τὸν ἰκτεριῶντα, τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ἀπολαμβάνοντα χρόαν.
Yet, it is not on this account, O sophist, that I bid you believe those who bear witness, but to witness yourself, whenever you wish, the jaundiced person recovering his natural color by a single purging.
ὅταν οὖν ἴδῃς τοῦτο γινόμενον, ὦ γενναῖε, τολμήσῃς ἐν τῷ μέσῳ καταστὰς λαμπρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ, κήρυκος γοῦν δίκην αἴρων αὐτὴν, ἀποτεῖναι λόγον μακρὸν, οἷον πολλάκις τοῖς μαθηταῖς, ὡς οὐχ ἕλκεται τὸ οἰκεῖον ὑφ’ ἑκάστου τῶν καθαιρόντων, ἀλλὰ τὸ περιεχόμενον ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶν ἅπαν, ὁποῖον ἂν εἴη, μεταβάλλεται πρὸς ὅπερ ἂν ἡ τοῦ φαρμάκου δύναμις ἀλλοιοῦν αὐτὸ φύσιν ἔχῃ.
When, therefore, you see this happening, O noble sir, would you dare, standing in the midst of people, raising your voice in a clear tone like a herald indeed, to deliver a long discourse, such as you often do to your disciples, to the effect that the proper substance is not attracted by each of the purgatives, but that the entirety of what is contained in the veins, of whatever kind it may be, is changed into that which the power of the drug has a nature to alter it?
καὶ νῦν οὗτος ὁ θεραπευθεὶς τὸν ἴκτερον οὐ τῷ κενωθῆναι τὸν χυμὸν, ἀλλὰ τῷ κοινῷ λόγῳ τῆς κενώσεως ὤνητο.
And that now this man who has been cured of jaundice has benefited not by the evacuation of the humor, but by the general principle of evacuation?
θεάσασθε γοῦν ὅπως ἐγὼ τῶν οὕτως ἐχόντων ἕτερον ἤτοι φλεβοτομήσας, ἢ δοὺς ἄλλο τι τῶν ὑπηλάτων ὁμοίως ὠφελήσω.
Let us see, at any rate, how I, by performing phlebotomy on another of those in this condition, or by giving some other of the purgatives, will benefit him in like manner.
ταῦτ’ εἰπὼν ἐφεξῆς μοι δύο τῶν ἰκτεριώντων, τὸν μὲν φλεβοτόμησον, τὸν δὲ διά τινος τῶν τοιούτων ὑπηλάτων ἐκκένωσον, ὃ σύμπαντες μὲν ἄνθρωποι τὴν μέλαιναν χολὴν κενοῦν, σὺ δὲ οὐ κενοῦν, ἀλλὰ γεννᾷν πέπεισαι.
Having said this, bring to me in succession two jaundiced patients, perform phlebotomy on one, and on the other, evacuate through one of such purgatives—which all men are convinced evacuates black bile, but you are convinced does not evacuate but generates it.
κᾄπειτ’ ἐὰν ὠφελήσῃς αὐτὸν, εὔχρουν ἀποφήνας τὸ σῶμα, πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἂν ἐθελήσας με παθεῖν, συγχωρήσω σοι, μηδὲν μέντοι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὀνήσας, ἀλλ’ εἰς τὸ ἔσχατον ἀγαγὼν βλάβης, ἐπὶ τὰ βελτίω μετάστηθι καὶ τὴν Ἱπποκράτους ζήλωσον τέχνην.
And then, if you benefit him, rendering his body healthy in color, I will agree to suffer whatever you wish me to suffer; if, however, you benefit the man in no way, but bring him to the extreme of harm, then convert to better views and emulate the art of Hippocrates.
ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν ἰκτεριώντων ἅλις.
But enough concerning the jaundiced.
ἐπὶ δὲ τὸν ὑδεριῶντα μεταβὰς θέασαι πάλιν καὶ τοῦτον οὐχ ὁμοίως ὑπό τε φλεβοτομίας διατιθέμενον καὶ φαρμάκου τινὸς τῶν ὑδραγωγῶν.
Moving on to the dropsical, witness again that this man too is not affected in like manner by phlebotomy and by one of the water-attracting drugs.
εἰ γὰρ μὴ δείξαιμι τὸ κατὰ τὸ ἦτρον ὑδατῶδες ἐκκενούμενον ὑπὸ φαρμάκου, τότ’ ἔνεστί σοι καταγνῶναι μὲν τοῦ παλαιοῦ λόγου νομίζοντος οὐ γεννᾶσθαι τὸν τοιοῦτον χυμὸν, ὡς σὺ φῂς, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἕλκεσθαι πρὸς τοῦ φαρμάκου.
For if I do not show that the watery fluid in the abdomen is evacuated by the drug, then it is open to you to condemn the ancient doctrine which believes that such a humor is not generated, as you say, but is attracted from the body by the drug.
καθ’ ἡμῶν δ’ ὅ τι βούλει πράξαι, καὶ μὴν εἰ μελαίνης χολῆς ἢ ξανθῆς ἀγωγὸν δοίης φάρμακον, οὐ κενώσεις τὸν ὄγκον, καὶ οὕτως ἕκαστον τῶν φαρμάκων οἰκείου τινὸς ἑλκτικόν ἐστι χυμοῦ.
And do against us whatever you wish; and indeed, if you should give a drug that attracts black or yellow bile, you will not evacuate the swelling, and thus each of the drugs is attractive of some proper humor.
σὺ δ’ εἰ νομίζεις ἅπαντας ὁμοίως ἀλλοιοῦσθαι καὶ κένωσιν εἶναι κοινὴν, οὐ κάθαρσιν, τὸ γινόμενον, ἔξεστί σοι τέμνειν τὴν φλέβα.
But if you believe that all things are altered in like manner, and that what happens is a common evacuation, not a purging, you may cut the vein.
ταῦτα εἰ μὲν ἐν Ἰνδοῖς τις ὢν γράφων προσεκαλεῖτο, χαλεπὸν ἦν ἐξελέγχειν αὐτόν.
If someone being in India had written these things and challenged us, it would have been difficult to refute him.
ἐπεὶ δ’ ἄνθρωπος ἑκάστης μὲν ἡμέρας ὑφ’ ἡμῶν βλεπόμενος, ἐπ’ αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἔλεγχον προσκαλούμενος, οὐκ οἶδα πῶς οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθε φλυαροῦντας.
But since it is a man who is seen by us every day, and who challenges you to the refutation through deeds themselves, I do not know how you are not ashamed of talking nonsense.
οὐ μέλλω λέγειν, ὅτι παμπόλλων ἰκτεριώντων ἐξεκάθηρα τὸ σῶμα τοῦ χολώδους χυμοῦ καθάρσει μιᾷ· καὶ γὰρ μυρίοι περὶ τούτου μαρτυροῦσιν· εἰ δὲ οἱ ἀναισχυντότατοι σοφισταὶ προσποιήσονται πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἀπιστεῖν, θεασάσθωσαν αὐτοὶ γιγνόμενον αὐτὸ τὸ ἔργον, ὁποσάκις ἂν βουληθῶσι.
I do not mean to say that I have purged the body of very many jaundiced persons of the bilious humor by a single purging—for thousands bear witness to this—but if the most shameless sophists pretend to distrust all men, let them witness the deed itself happening as many times as they wish.