§1## ΓΑΛΗΝΟΥ ΤΩΙ ΕΠΙΛΗΠΤΩΙ ΠΑΙΔΙ ΥΠΟΘΗΚΗ.
Ἐγὼ μὲν ὤμην, ὦ Καικιλιανὲ, μηδὲν δεήσεσθαί σε τῶν ἡμετέρων ὑποθηκῶν εἰς τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς νόσον.
ADVICE OF GALEN TO THE EPILEPTIC CHILD. I indeed thought, O Caecilianus, that you would have no need of our advice for the child’s disease.
ὁ γὰρ τεθεαμένος αὐτὸν ἤδη καὶ μέλλων ἅμα σοι πλευσεῖσθαι πάλιν ἐς Ἀθήνας, Διονύσιος, ἱκανός ἐστι καὶ πρᾶξαι παρὼν τὰ δέοντα καὶ χωριζόμενος, αὖθις ὑποθήκας διδόναι τῇ τοῦ νοσήματος ἕξει προσηκούσας.
For Dionysius, who has already seen him and is moreover about to sail back with you to Athens, is competent both to do what is necessary while present and, when departed, to give again advice suitable to the condition of the disease.
ἐγὼ δὲ μηδέπω ποτὲ τεθεαμένος τὸν παῖδα τάχ’ ἂν πολὺ καὶ σφαλείην, οὔθ’ ὅπως ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡ φύσις αὐτῷ πρὸ τοῦ νοσήματος οὔθ’ ὅπως νῦν ὑπὸ τοῦ νοσήματος γινώσκων, ἀλλ’ ἢ μόνον αὐτὸ παρ’ ὑμῶν ἀκούων, ἐπιληπτικοὺς αὐτῷ γίνεσθαι παροξυσμούς.
But I, who have never yet seen the child, might perhaps err in many things, knowing neither what his nature was from the beginning before the disease, nor how it is now under the disease, but only hearing this from you, that epileptic paroxysms occur to him.
ἐπεὶ δὲ ὀλιγωροῦντά με μᾶλλον ἢ ἀληθεύοντα νομίζεις ἀποδιδράσκειν τὴν γραφὴν, ὃ μηδέποτε πρότερον ἔπραξα, τοῦτο νῦν ὑπομένω πρᾶξαι σοὶ χαριζόμενος, ὑποθήκας τινὰς γράψαι θεραπείας ἐπιλήπτου παιδός.
But since you think that I, out of neglect rather than telling the truth, am trying to escape the writing—which I have never done before—I now submit to do this to gratify you, to write some advice for the treatment of an epileptic child.
ἐν αἷς ἀνάγκη τι καὶ παρακοῦσαι τὸν ἰδιώτην καὶ σφαλῆναι περὶ τὸ μέτρον ἢ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς χρήσεως.
In these, it is necessary that a layman should both misunderstand something and err concerning the measure or the proper time of use.
ἀποδέδεικται γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐν ἑτέροις ὡς οὐκ ἐνδέχεται χωρὶς τοῦ μέθοδόν τινα ἐκμαθεῖν θεραπευτικὴν ἰάσασθαί τι καλῶς οὐδὲ τῶν σμικροτάτων νοσημάτων, μή τί γε τῶν οὕτω μεγάλων ἡλίκον καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐπιληψίας ἐστί.
For it has been demonstrated by us in other works that it is not possible to treat anything well, even of the smallest diseases, without learning a certain therapeutic method, let alone one of those so great as epilepsy is.
καὶ ὅ γε Διονύσιος ἔφθανεν ἤδη κεκοινῶσθαί τε ἐμοὶ καὶ συνδιεσκέφθαι περὶ τῆς ὅλης θεραπείας τοῦ παιδὸς, πρὶν καί σε κελεῦσαι γράψαι τὰς ὑποθήκας τάσδε.
And Dionysius had already communicated with me and joined in deliberating about the whole treatment of the child, even before you ordered me to write these instructions.
ἀλλ’ ἐκείνῳ μὲν ῥᾳδίως τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ γνώμην ἐδήλωσα, συνιέναι τε τῶν λεγομένων δυναμένῳ καὶ παρακοῦσαι μηδενὸς, ὡς ἱκανῶς ἠσκημένῳ περὶ τὴν θεραπευτικὴν μέθοδον.
But to him I easily declared my own opinion, since he was able to understand what was said and to misunderstand nothing, as one sufficiently trained in the therapeutic method.
σοὶ δὲ οὐδ’ ὅπως διέλθω τὸν λόγον οἶδα.
But to you, I do not even know how to set forth the discourse.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀκριβὲς ὲν αὐτῷ διορισμῶν τε δεῖται πολλῶν καὶ ἀσαφέστερον ἢ κατὰ ἰδιώτην ἐστὶ, τὸ δ’ αὖ σύντομόν τε καὶ σαφὲς οὐκ ἀκριβὲς ὑπάρχει.
For what is precise in it both requires many definitions and is too obscure for a layman while what is concise and clear lacks precision.
ταῦτά τοι καὶ γράφειν ὤκνουν τὰς ὑποθήκας, καίτοι πάνυ χαρίζεσθαί σοι προῃρημένος, ὅμοιόν τι πείσεσθαι προσδοκῶν, οἷον ἂν ἔπαθε καὶ Φειδίας, εἰ μετὰ τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἄγαλμα πλάττειν ἠναγκάζετο δάκτυλον μὲν ἰδίᾳ, ἰδίᾳ δὲ αὖ βραχίονα καὶ πόδα καὶ ῥῖνα καὶ οὖς, ἕκαστόν τε τῶν ἄλλων μορίων.
For these very reasons I was reluctant to write the advice, although entirely resolved to gratify you, expecting to experience something similar to what Phidias would have experienced if, after fashioning the statue of Athena, he had been forced to shape a finger separately, and again separately an arm, a foot, a nose, an ear, and each of the other parts.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ οἷον ἄγαλμά τι γεγράφθαι νομίζω τὴν θεραπευτικὴν μέθοδον, ἐν ὑπομνήμασι πλείοσιν οὐχ ὅπως ἰδιώτας ὠφελεῖν δυναμένην, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τοὺς ἐπιτυχόντας τῶν ἰατρῶν.
For I think the therapeutic method has been written by me like a statue, in several treatises, capable of benefiting not only not laymen, but not even ordinary physicians.
ἐπεὶ δὲ σὺ βιάζεις με περὶ μορίου ἑνὸς τῆς τέχνης ποιήσασθαι τὸν λόγον, ἄνευ τῆς ἄλλης ἁρμονίας, εἴκω τῇ βίᾳ καὶ πείθομαι, καὶ γράφω σοὶ μὲν αὐτάρκεις ὑποθήκας, ἱκανὸν γὰρ ἰδιώτῃ μὴ μέγα τι καὶ ἀνήκεστον ἐξαμαρτεῖν ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἰατρῶν καὶ μάλιστα τῷ νομίμως μεμαθηκότι τοιούτοις ὁμιλεῖν ὑπομνήμασιν.
But since you force me to make a discourse about one part of the art, without the harmony of the rest, I yield to the force and obey, and I write for you instructions that are sufficient; for it is enough for a layman not to err in some great and incurable way in treatises of physicians, especially for one who has lawfully learned to associate with such treatises.
ἐκείνοις μὲν οὖν ἡ τῆς θεραπευτικῆς μεθόδου πραγματεία γέγραπται, σοὶ δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὅσοι τεχνῶν μὲν τινῶν ἐστὲ λογικῶν ἐπιστήμονες, ἰδιῶται δὲ τῆς ἰατρικῆς, γένοιτ’ ἂν ἴσως, οἶμαι, καὶ παρὰ τοῦδε τοῦ γράμματος ὠφέλεια.
For those, indeed, the treatise on the therapeutic method has been written, but for you and the others who, while skilled in some rational arts, are laymen in medicine, some benefit might perhaps, I think, come also from this writing.
§2Πειράσομαι δὲ ὡς οἷόν τε σαφέστατα διελθεῖν, ᾧ χρώμενος ὁ παῖς τρόπῳ τῆς διαίτης ὀνίναιτό τε ἂν οὐ σμικρὰ καὶ ἥκιστα βλάπτοιτο πρὸς τῶν ἐφ’ ἡμέρᾳ συμπιπτόντων ἀδοκήτως αὐτῷ.
And I will try to set forth as clearly as possible in what way of life the child, by using it, might both benefit not a little and be least harmed by those things that happen to him unexpectedly day by day.
φυλάττεσθαι μὲν οὖν καὶ ταῦτα προσήκει, καθ’ ὅσον ἐγχωρεῖ.
It is indeed proper to guard against these things as far as possible.
περιπίπτειν γε μὴν ἀναγκαῖον ἐνίοτε καὶ κρύει καὶ θάλπει σφοδρῷ καὶ ἀνέμοις ἰσχυροῖς καὶ λουτροῖς μοχθηροῖς καὶ τροφαῖς ἐκπληκτικαῖς καὶ τροχοῖς περιδινουμένοις καὶ ἀστραπαῖς καὶ βρονταῖς, ἀγρυπνίαις τε καὶ ἀπεψίαις καὶ λύπῃ καὶ θυμῷ καὶ κόπῳ καὶ ἄλλοις τοιούτοις, ὧν τὸ κεφάλαιόν ἐστι, σφοδρῶς κινῆσαι καὶ ταράξαι τὸ σῶμα καὶ τοῦ πάθους ἀναμνῆσαι καὶ παροξυσμὸν γεννῆσαι.
Nevertheless, it is necessary sometimes to fall in with both severe cold and heat, strong winds, bad baths, startling foods, spinning wheels, lightning and thunder, sleeplessness, indigestion, grief, anger, fatigue, and other such things, the sum of which is to move and disturb the body violently, to remind it of the disease, and to generate a paroxysm.
ταῦτα δὲ οὖν ἐκ πολλοῦ φυλάττεσθαι προσήκει, καὶ εἴποτε γεγεννημένων αὐτῶν παρακολουθήσει παροξυσμὸς, ἀποσχέσθαι μὲν τελέως τηνικαῦτα πάσης κινήσεως, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς οἰκίας διατρῖψαι καὶ πάνυ λεπτῶς διαιτηθῆναι, μέχρι περ ἂν ἀπόθηται τὸ σῶμα τὸν ἐκ τοῦ παροξυσμοῦ κάματον.
At all events, it is proper to guard against these from afar, and if ever a paroxysm should follow after they have occurred, to abstain completely at that time from all movement, and to stay at home and live on a very light diet, until the body casts off the fatigue from the paroxysm.
ἥτις δὲ ἡ λεπτὴ δίαιτα καὶ γνώσκειν μὲν οἶμαί σε καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐφεξῆς ἀναγνοὺς, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἀκούσει τί περὶ αὐτῆς.
What this light diet is, I think you will know also by reading the following parts, but nonetheless you shall hear what it is.
ἄρξασθαι γὰρ οὖν ἤδη μοι τῶν ὑποθηκῶν καιρός.
For it is already time for me to begin the advice.