§1#1## ΓΑΛΗΝΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΕΘΩΝ.
Τῶν θεραπευτικῶν σκοπῶν ἕνα καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθῶν ἡγουμένων ὑπάρχειν οὐ μόνον τῶν ἀρίστων ἰατρῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἔνιοι τῶν ἅπασι τοῖς καλοῖς λυμαινομένων ἐπιχειροῦσι διαβάλλειν ἐρωτῶντες ἡμᾶς, διὰ τί βλαβείς τις, εἰ οὕτως ἔτυχε, κατὰ τὴν πρώτην χρῆσιν ὑπὸ βοείων κρεῶν ἐδωδῆς, εἶτ’ ἀναγκασθεὶς καθ’ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐσθίειν ταῦτα δι’ ὅλου τοῦ ἔτους ἢ οὐδὲν οὐκέτι βλάπτοιτ’ ἂν ἢ τῶν ἀήθων ἧττον·
GALEN ON HABITS. While all people, not only the best physicians but indeed all men, hold that the indication derived from habits is one of the therapeutic indicators, some of those who defile all good things attempt to disparage it by asking us why a person, if it so happens, is harmed upon the first consumption of beef, but then, being forced to eat it every day throughout the entire year, is either no longer harmed at all or is harmed less than those who are unaccustomed to it.
εἶθ’, ὅ τι ἂν εἴπωμεν, ἀνατρέποντες λόγῳ νομίζουσιν ἅμα τούτῳ καὶ τὴν τοῦ πράγματος ὕπαρξιν ἀνῃρηκέναι, καθάπερ εἴ τις ἁπάσαις ἀντειπὼν ταῖς περὶ τοῦ πῶς ὁρῶμεν δόξαις οὐδ’ ὁρᾶν ἡμᾶς συγχωροίη.
And then, whatever we may say, by overturning it in argument they think they have thereby destroyed the very existence of the fact itself, just as if someone, by arguing against all opinions about how we see, should not even concede that we see.
ὅτι μὲν οὖν μεγίστη μοῖρα πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἰαμάτων εὕρεσιν ἡ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθῶν ἐστιν, ἐναργῶς φαίνεται καὶ διὰ τοῦθ’ Ἱπποκράτης μὲν ἐν ἀφορισμοῖς ἔγραψεν,,οἱ εἰθισμένοι τοὺς ξυνήθεας πόνους φέρειν, κἢν ὦσιν ἀσθενέες ἢ γέροντες, τῶν ἀξυνηθέων ἰσχυρῶν τε καὶ νέων ῥᾷον φέρουσιν“ἐπὶ πλέον τε διῆλθεν ἐν τῷ περὶ διαίτης ὀξέων τάς τ’ ἐκ τῆς ἀήθους διαίτης βλάβας καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῆς συνήθους ὠφελείας, Ἐρασίστρατος δ’ ὁμοίως ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ περὶ παραλύσεως ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ἐθῶν ὡσαύτως Ἱπποκράτει φαίνεται γινώσκων. . .
Now, that the indication derived from habits plays the greatest part in the discovery of remedies is clearly apparent. For this reason, Hippocrates wrote in his Aphorisms: "Those who are accustomed to bear their customary labors, even if they are weak or old, bear them more easily than the unaccustomed, even if they are strong and young." He also went into greater detail in his *On Regimen in Acute Diseases* regarding the harms resulting from an unaccustomed regimen and the benefits from a customary one. Likewise, Erasistratus, in the second book of his *On Paralysis*, appears to hold the same view as Hippocrates concerning all habits...
καὶ πρὸς τούτοις γε τῶν παλαιῶν ἰατρῶν οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις ὁμολογουμένην τε καὶ ἀναντίλεκτον αἰτίαν [οὔτε τούτων τις οὔτε τῶν ἄλλων] εἰρηκέναι δοκεῖ.
And in addition to these, there is not one of the ancient physicians who seems to have stated an agreed and indisputable cause [neither any of them nor of the others].
καὶ γὰρ οἱ πιθανὴν δόξαντες εὑρηκέναι κατὰ μίαν ὕλην ἄλλοι ἄλλην εὑρήκασιν, ἔνιοι μὲν ἐπ’ ἐδεσμάτων μόνων, ἔνιοι δ’ ἐπὶ γυμνασίων ἢ ἐπιτηδευμάτων, ἐπὶ πασῶν δὲ τῶν ὑλῶν οὐδείς.
For even those who seemed to have found a plausible opinion found it for one material or another—some only for foods, others for exercises or occupations—but no one for all materials.
ἀμέλει καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ ψυχροῦ δόσεως, ἢν ἐπὶ τῶν ὀξέως νοσούντων ποιούμεθα πολλάκις, ἀντιπράττουσιν ἡμῖν ἔνιοι κωλύοντες μὲν διδόναι τοῖς πυρέττουσι, κελεύοντες δ’ ἡμᾶς ἀρκεῖσθαι ταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων σκοπῶν ἐνδείξεσιν, ὡς ἀπό τε τῶν πεπονθότων τόπων καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς διαθέσεως ἡλικίας τε καὶ χώρας καὶ ὥρας ἔτι τε τῆς τοῦ κάμνοντος αὐτοῦ κράσεως καὶ δυνάμεως, αἷς εἰώθαμεν χρῆσθαι, γελοῖον εἶναι φάσκοντες, εἰ φλεγμαίνοντος ἥπατος ἢ πνεύμονος ἢ γαστρὸς ἤ τινος ἑτέρου τῶν οὕτως ἐπικαίρων μορίων ἐπιτρέψομεν τῷ ψυχροπότῃ ψυχρὸν προσφέρεσθαι πόμα δι’ οὐδὲν ἄλλ’ ἢ τὸ ἔθος (ὅμοιον γὰρ τοῦτ’ εἶναί φασιν ὡς εἰ ἐπιτρέποιμεν λούεσθαι ψυχρῷ τοὺς οὕτως εἰθικότας, εἰ πυρέττοιεν), ὥσπερ ἂν ἡμῶν ἅπασι τοῖς ὁπωσοῦν νοσοῦσι τὰ συνήθη πάντα πράττειν ἐπιτρεπόντων, ἀλλ’ οὐχὶ πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι σκοποῖς καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθῶν παραλαμβανόντων.
Indeed, regarding the administration of cold drink, which we often perform in the case of those who are acutely ill, some oppose us, forbidding its administration to those with fever, and ordering us to be content with the indications from other indicators, such as from the affected parts and the disposition in them, age, region, season, and furthermore, the temperament and strength of the sick person himself, which we are accustomed to use. They claim it is ridiculous if, when the liver, lungs, stomach, or any other of such vital parts is inflamed, we permit the cold-drinker to take a cold drink for no other reason than habit (for they say this is similar to our permitting those who are accustomed to bathe in cold water to do so if they have a fever), as if we permitted those who are sick in any way whatsoever to do all their customary things, rather than employing the indicator from habits in addition to all the other indicators.
Ἀριστοτέλης γοῦν ὁ Μιτυληναῖος, ἀνὴρ πρωτεύσας ἐν τῇ Περιπατητικῇ θεωρίᾳ, νοσήματι περιπεσὼν ὑπὸ ψυχροῦ πόσεως ὠφεληθῆναι δυναμένῳ, διότι μηδέποτε τοιοῦτο προσενήνεγκτο πόμα, διεκώλυσε τοὺς συμβουλεύοντας αὐτῷ πιεῖν ἐπίστασθαι σαφῶς εἰπών, ὅτι σπασθήσοιτο γευσάμενος ψυχροῦ·
Aristotle of Mitylene, at any rate, a man who held the first rank in Peripatetic theory, having fallen into an illness that could be helped by cold drink, because he had never taken such a drink, prevented those advising him to drink, saying clearly with full knowledge that he would be seized with spasms if he tasted cold drink.
καὶ γὰρ ἐπ’ ἄλλου τοῦτ’ ἔφασκεν ἑωρακέναι τήν τε τοῦ σώματος ἕξιν καὶ κρᾶσιν ὁμοίαν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τὸ τῆς θερμοποσίας ἔθος ἐσχηκότος·
For he said he had seen this in another person who had a bodily habitus and temperament similar to his own and who had the habit of warm-drinking.
εἰ δ’ ἦν ἔθος ὥσπερ ἐνίοις πόματος τοιούτου, μάλιστα μὲν ἂν οὐδ’ αὐτὸς ἔδεισεν αὐτοῦ τὴν προσφοράν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τοῦτ’ ἔπαθεν, ἐασάτωσαν οἱ παρόντες ἰατροὶ πάντως αὐτόν.
If, however, he had a habit of such a drink, as some do, he himself would certainly not have feared its administration; but since he was in this condition, the physicians present should by all means have let him alone.
ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἀπέθανεν, ὡς ἐπυθόμην·
He, then, died in this manner, as I learned.
ἐρομένων δέ με τῶν παραγενομένων αὐτῷ τελευτῶντι, πότερον, ὡς ἐπ’ ἄλλων ἐτόλμησα τοῖς μὲν δι’ ὅλης τῆς νόσον, τοῖς δ’ ἔν τινι καιρῷ δοῦναι ψυχρὸν εὐλαβουμένων τῶν ἰατρῶν, οὕτως ἂν ἐτόλμησα καὶ ἐπ’ ἐκείνου ἢ καλῶς ἐστοχάσατο τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως ὁ ἀνήρ, ἀπεκρινάμην αὐτοῖς ἀκριβῶς αὐτὸν ἐστοχάσθαι.
When those who had been present at his death asked me whether, as I had dared in the case of others—giving cold drink to some throughout the entire illness, and to others at a certain critical moment, while the other physicians were cautious—I would have dared so in his case too, or whether the man had guessed his own nature well, I replied to them that he had guessed it accurately.
πάνυ γὰρ ἦν ἰσχνὸς καὶ τὸ στόμα τῆς κοιλίας ψυχρότατον εἶχεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ὡς λύζειν εὐθέως, εἴ ποτε βραχέως ψυχθείη.
For he was extremely thin and had the mouth of his stomach very cold from the beginning, so that he would immediately hiccup if he was chilled even slightly.
ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ οὗτος οὐκ ἂν ἤνεγκε τὸ ψυχρὸν πόμα διά τε τὸ ἔθος καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν καίτοι τοῦ νοσήματος ἐνδεικνυμένου, οὕτως ἑτέροις ἔδωκα πάνυ θαρρῶν, εἰ καὶ καυσούμενος ἀκριβῶς ὁ πιὼν εἴη, μηδενὸς ἐπιφανῶς σπλάγχνου φλεγμήναντος, οὐ πάνυ δ’ ἔτι θαρρῶν.
But just as this man would not have tolerated the cold drink due to both habit and the nature of his body, even though the disease indicated it, so I have given it to others with absolute confidence, even if the drinker was suffering from a severe burning fever, provided no vital organ was visibly inflamed, though no longer with such confidence...