§1.44Διὰ τί τὰς αὐτὰς φλεγμασίας οἱ μὲν ψύχοντες ὑγιάζουσιν, οἱ δὲ θερμαίνοντες πέττουσιν;
Why do some cure the same inflammations by cooling, while others bring them to coction by warming?
ἀλλ’ οἱ μὲν ἀλλοτρίᾳ θερμότητι, οἱ δὲ καταψύχοντες τὴν οἰκείαν συνάγουσιν.
Rather, the latter do so with external heat, while those who cool concentrate their own natural heat.
§1.45Διὰ τί μεταβάλλειν δεῖ τὰ καταπλάσματα;
Why must poultices be changed?
ἢ ὅτι ὡς μᾶλλον αἰσθάνηται;
Is it so that they may be felt more?
τὰ γὰρ συνήθη ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων οὐκέτι φάρμακα, ἀλλὰ τροφὴ γίνεται, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων.
For just as in the case of food, things that are customary are no longer drugs but become nourishment, so it is also with such things.
§1.46Διὰ τί ὑγιεινὸν τὸ τῆς τροφῆς μὲν ὑποστέλλεσθαι, πονεῖν δὲ πλείω;
Why is it healthy to reduce food, and to exercise more?
ἢ ὅτι τοῦ νοσεῖν αἴτιον περιττώματος πλῆθος· τοῦτο δὲ γίνεται, ἡνίκα τροφῆς ὑπερβολὴ ᾖ ἢ πόνων ἔνδεια.
Is it because the cause of disease is an abundance of residue; and this occurs when there is an excess of food or a lack of exercise?
§1.47Διὰ τί τὰ φάρμακα καὶ τὰ πικρὰ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ καὶ τὰ δυσώδη καθαίρει;
Why do drugs, and for the most part both bitter and bad-smelling things, purge?
ἢ ὅτι ἅπαντα τὰ δυσώδη καὶ πικρὰ ἄπεπτά ἐστι;
Is it because all bad-smelling and bitter things are indigestible?
διὸ καὶ τὰ φάρμακα πικρὰ καὶ δυσώδη· τῷ γὰρ ἄπεπτα εἶναι καὶ κινητικὰ μετὰ πικρότητος φάρμακόν ἐστιν.
Wherefore drugs also are bitter and bad-smelling; for by being indigestible and motive, along with bitterness, a thing is a drug.
καὶ ἐὰν δοθῇ πλείω, διαφθείρει.
And if it is given in greater quantity, it destroys.
ὅσα δέ, κἂν μικρὰ δοθῇ, διαφθαρτικά, ταῦτα οὐ φάρμακα λέγεται εἶναι, ἀλλὰ θανατηφόρα.
But those things which, even if given in small quantity, are destructive, these are not called drugs, but deadly.
οὐδ’ ὅσα μὴ τῷ ποιῷ καθαίρει, οὐκ ἔστι φάρμακα.
Nor are those which do not purge by their quality drugs.
καὶ γὰρ τῆς τροφῆς πολλὰ μὲν ταὐτὸ ποιεῖ, ἐὰν ποσὰ δοθῇ, οἷον γάλα, ἔλαιον, γλεῦκος· ἅπαντα δὲ ταῦτα διὰ τὸ μὴ εἶναι εὔπεπτα καθαίρει, καὶ τούτοις οἷς μὴ εὔπεπτα καθαίρει, καὶ τούτους.
For indeed many kinds of food do the same thing, if they are given in certain quantities, such as milk, oil, and sweet wine; and all these purge because they are not easily digested, and they purge those people for whom they are not easily digested.
ἔστι γὰρ ἄλλα ἄλλοις εὔπεπτα καὶ δύσπεπτα.
For some things are easily digested and others difficult of digestion for different people.
διὸ οὐ πᾶσι ταὐτὰ φαρμακώδη, ἀλλ’ ἐνίοις ἴδια.
Wherefore the same things are not medicinal for all, but are peculiar to some.
ὅλως γὰρ τὸ φάρμακον δεῖ οὐ μόνον μὴ πέττεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ κινητικὸν εἶναι, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ γυμνάσιον ἔξωθεν ἧκον ἢ ἔσωθεν τῇ κινήσει ἐκκρίνει τὰ ἀλλότρια.
For on the whole, a drug must not only be undigested, but also be motive, just as exercise, coming from without or from within, by its motion excretes foreign matters.
§1.48Διὰ τί τὰ μὲν εὐώδη οὐρητικὰ καὶ σπέρματα καὶ φυτά;
Why are sweet-smelling seeds and plants diuretic?
ἢ ὅτι θερμὰ καὶ εὔπεπτα, τὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα οὐρητικά·
Is it because they are warm and easily digested, and such things are diuretic?
ταχὺ γὰρ λεπτύνει ἡ ἐνοῦσα θερμότης, καὶ ἡ ὀσμὴ οὐ σωματώδης, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ ὀσμώδη, οἷον σκόροδα, διὰ τὴν θερμότητα οὐρητικά, μᾶλλον μέντοι συντηκτικά· θερμὰ δὲ τὰ εὐώδη σπέρματα.
For the inherent heat quickly thins them, and the smell is not corporeal; since even strong-smelling things, such as garlic, are diuretic because of their warmth, though they are rather dissolvent; and sweet-smelling seeds are warm.
§1.49Διὰ τί δεῖ πρὸς μὲν τὰ μὴ καθαρὰ καὶ φαῦλα τῶν ἑλκῶν ξηροῖς καὶ δριμέσι καὶ στρυφνοῖς χρῆσθαι φαρμάκοις, πρὸς δὲ τὰ καθαρὰ καὶ ὑγιαζόμενα ὑγροῖς καὶ μόνοις;
Why must one use dry, pungent, and astringent drugs for unclean and bad ulcers, but for clean and healing ones only moist drugs?
ἢ διότι ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν μὴ καθαρῶν δεῖ ἀφαιρεῖν τι;
Is it because from the unclean ones something must be removed?
τοῦτο δ’ ἐστὶν ὑγρότης ἀλλοτρία, ἥν ἀφαιρεῖν δεῖ.
And this is foreign moisture, which must be removed.
τὰ δηκτικὰ δὲ καὶ δριμέα καὶ στρυφνὰ τοιαῦτα, καὶ τὸ ξηρὸν μᾶλλον τοῦ ὑγροῦ.
Now biting, pungent, and astringent things are of this nature, and the dry is more so than the moist.
τὰ δὲ καθαρὰ συνεπουλώσεως δεῖται μόνον.
But clean ulcers need only cicatrization.
§1.50Διὰ τί συμφέρει πρὸς τὸ ἀπὸ φλέγματος νοσήματα λαγνεία;
Why is sexual intercourse beneficial for diseases arising from phlegm?
ἢ ὅτι τὸ σπέρμα περιττώματος ἀπόκρισις καὶ φύσει ὅμοιον φλέγματι, ὥστε ἀφαιροῦσα πολὺ φλεγματῶδες ὠφελεῖ ἡ συνουσία.
Is it because semen is an excretion of residue and by nature similar to phlegm, so that by removing much phlegmatic matter intercourse is beneficial?
πότερον δὲ τροφὴν προσφέρειν ἀρχομένῳ βέλτιον ἢ ὕστερον;
Is it better to administer food at the beginning of an illness or later?
ἢ ἀρχομένῳ, ὅπως μὴ προεξησθενηκότι ἡ φλεγμασία ἐπιπίπτῃ;
Is it at the beginning, so that the inflammation does not fall upon a patient who is already weakened beforehand?
ἢ οὖν ἀπισχναντέον εὐθύς, ἢ οὕτω προσοιστέον· ἀναλαμβάνειν χρὴ πρῶτον τοῖς ῥοφήμασι· πραότερα γὰρ καὶ λειότερα καὶ εὐτηκτότερα, καὶ ἐκδέξασθαι τὴν τροφὴν ἐκ τούτου ῥᾴδιόν ἐστιν ἀσθενεῖ σώματι.
Should one, therefore, either make the patient thin at once, or administer food in this way: one must first restore him with gruels; for they are milder, smoother, and more easily dissolved, and from this it is easy for a weak body to receive nourishment.
οὐ γὰρ ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ δεῖ παθεῖν τὰ σῖτα πρῶτον, διαχυθῆναί τε καὶ θερμανθῆναι μετὰ πόνου τῷ σώματι ταῦτα πέπονθεν.
For food does not first have to undergo change in the bowel, to be dispersed and warmed with labor to the body; these things the gruel has already undergone.
§1.51Διὰ τί δεῖ σκοπεῖν τὰ περὶ τὸ οὖρον σημεῖα, ἀπολαμβάνοντα τὴν οὔρησιν, εἰ ἤδη πέπεπται, ἢ μὴ μᾶλλον καὶ συνεχῶς οὐροῦντα;
Why must one examine the signs regarding urine, by intercepting the urination, to see if digestion has already taken place, rather than when urinating continuously?
ἢ διότι σημεῖον μὲν τοῦ πεπέφθαι, ἐὰν ᾖ πυρρόν;
Is it because it is a sign of digestion if it is reddish-yellow?
τοῦτο δὲ γίνεται μᾶλλον διαλαμβάνουσιν.
And this happens more to those who intercept it.
ἢ διότι ἔνοπτρον γίνεται ἅπαν μᾶλλον ὑγρὸν χρόας ὀλίγον ἢ πολὺ ὄν; ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ πολλῷ ὑγρῷ τὰ σχήματα ἐνορᾶται, ἐν δὲ τῷ ὀλίγῳ τὰ χρώματα, οἷον καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς δρόσου καὶ τῶν ῥανίδων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν δακρύων τῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς βλεφαρίσιν·
Or is it because any liquid becomes more of a mirror of color when it is in small quantity rather than large?
συνεχῶς μὲν οὖν ἀφιέμενον γίνεται πλεῖον, διασπώμενον δὲ δέχεται μᾶλλον· ὥστε κἂν ᾖ αὐτὸ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἤδη διὰ τὴν πέψιν, καὶ φαίνεται μᾶλλον τῆς ἀνακλάσεως γινομένης καὶ ἐνόπτρου ἔνοπτον διὰ τὴν διαίρεσιν.
For in a large quantity of liquid shapes are observed, but in a small quantity colors, as also in the case of dew, drops, and tears upon the eyelashes; thus, continually discharged, it becomes greater in quantity, but when divided it admits color more; so that even if the urine itself is already of such a quality through digestion, it is also more visible, because reflection takes place and it is seen like a mirror through the division.