§2020.
20.
Λέγουσι δέ τινες καὶ ἰητροὶ καὶ σοφισταὶ ὡς οὐκ ἔνι δυνατὸν ἰητρικὴν εἰδέναι ὅστις μὴ οἶδεν ὅ τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο δεῖ καταμαθεῖν τὸν μέλλοντα ὀρθῶς θεραπεύσειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους.
Certain physicians and sophists say that it is impossible for anyone to know medicine who does not know what a human being is; but they say that he who is going to treat people correctly must thoroughly learn this.
Τείνει δὲ αὐτέοισιν ὁ λόγος ἐς φιλοσοφίην, καθάπερ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἢ ἄλλοι οἳ περὶ φύσιος γεγράφασιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὅ τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ὅπως ἐγένετο πρῶτον καὶ ὅπως ξυνεπάγη.
However, their discourse tends toward philosophy, just like Empedocles or others who have written about nature from the beginning, what a human being is, and how he first came to be, and how he was constructed.
Ἐγὼ δὲ τουτέων μὲν ὅσα τινὶ εἴρηται σοφιστῇ ἢ ἰητρῷ, ἢ γέγραπται περὶ φύσιος, ἧσσον νομίζω τῇ ἰητρικῇ τέχνῃ προσήκειν ἢ τῇ γραφικῇ.
But I consider that all these things said by some sophist or physician, or written about nature, belong less to the art of medicine than to the art of painting.
Νομίζω δὲ περὶ φύσιος γνῶναί τι σαφὲς οὐδαμόθεν ἄλλοθεν εἶναι ἢ ἐξ ἰητρικῆς.
And I consider that to know anything clear about nature is possible from no other source than from medicine.
Τοῦτο δὲ, οἷόν τε καταμαθεῖν, ὅταν αὐτέην τις τὴν ἰητρικὴν ὀρθῶς πᾶσαν περιλάβῃ· μέχρι δὲ τουτέου πολλοῦ μοι δοκέει δεῖν·
And this it is possible to thoroughly learn, when someone correctly and fully comprehends medicine itself; but until then, it seems to me to fall far short.
λέγω δὲ τὴν ἱστορίην ταύτην εἰδέναι ἄνθρωπος τί ἐστι, καὶ δι᾿ οἵας αἰτίας γίνεται, καὶ τἄλλα ἀκριβέως.
I mean by this knowing this inquiry: what a human being is, and through what causes he comes to be, and the other things accurately.
Ἐπεί τοί γέ μοι δοκέει ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι παντὶ ἰητρῷ περὶ φύσιος εἰδέναι, καὶ πάνυ σπουδάσαι ὡς εἴσεται, εἴπερ τι μέλλει τῶν δεόντων ποιήσειν, ὅ τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος πρὸς τὰ ἐσθιόμενα καὶ πινόμενα, καὶ ὅ τι πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα ἐπιτηδεύματα, καὶ ὅ τι ἀφ᾿ ἑκάστου ἑκάστῳ ξυμβήσεται.
For indeed, it seems to me to be necessary for every physician to know about nature, and to make every effort to know, if indeed he is going to do any of his duties, what a human being is in relation to what is eaten and drunk, and what he is in relation to other habits, and what will happen to each person from each thing.
Καὶ μὴ ἁπλῶς οὕτω δοκέειν ὅτι πονηρὸν βρῶμα τυρός· πὸνον γὰρ φέρει τῷ πληρωθέντι αὐτέου, ἀλλὰ τίνα τε πόνον καὶ διὰ τί καὶ τίνι τῶν ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐνεόντων ἀνεπιτήδειον.
And one should not simply think in this way, that "cheese is a bad food, for it brings pain to him who is filled with it," but rather what kind of pain, and why, and to which of the things present in a human being it is unsuitable.
Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ βρώματα καὶ πόματα φύσει πονηρὰ, καὶ διατίθησι τὸν ἄνθρωπον οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον.
For there are also many other foods and drinks bad by nature, and they affect a human being not in the same way.
Οὕτως οὖν μοι ἔστω τῷ λόγῳ οἷον οἶνος ἄκρητος πολὺς ποθεὶς, διατίθησί πως τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀσθενέα· καὶ ἅπαντες ἂν ἰδόντες τοῦτο γνοίησαν, ὅτι αὕτη ἡ δύναμις οἴνου καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν αἴτιος· καὶ οἷσί γε τῶν ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τοῦτο μάλιστά γε δύναται, οἴδαμεν.
Thus, then, let it be in my argument: for example, much unmixed wine being drunk affects a human being in some way as to make him weak; and everyone on seeing this would know that this is the power of wine, and that wine itself is the cause; and we know in which of the things in a human being this is most powerful.
Τοιαύτην δὴ βούλομαι ἀληθείην καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων φανῆναι.
I wish that such truth should be shown also concerning other things.
Τυρὸς γὰρ, ἐπειδὴ τουτέῳ σημείῳ ἐχρησάμην, οὐ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁμοίως λυμαίνεται, ἀλλ᾿ εἰσὶν οἵτινες αὐτέου πληρεύμενοι οὐδ᾿ ὁτιοῦν βλάπτονται· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἰσχὺν, οἷσιν ἂν ξυμφέρῃ, θαυμασίως παρέχεται· εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ χαλεπῶς ἀπαλλάσσουσι·
For cheese, since I have used this as an example, does not harm all human beings alike, but there are some who, being filled with it, are not harmed in the least; rather, it even provides strength wonderfully to those whom it suits, but there are others who come off badly.
διαφέρουσι δὲ τουτέων αἱ φύσιες· διαφέρουσι δὲ κατὰ τοῦτο· ὅπερ ἐν τῷ σώματι ἔνεστι πολέμιον τυρῷ, ὁπὸ τοιουτέου ἐγείρεταί τε καὶ κινέεται·
And their natures differ, and they differ in this: namely, that which exists in the body and is hostile to cheese is aroused and set in motion by such a thing.
οἷσιν ὁ τοιοῦτος χυμὸς τυγχάνει πλέον ἐνεὼν καὶ μᾶλλον ἐνδυναστεύων ἐν τῷ σώματι, τουτέους μᾶλλον καὶ κακοπαθέειν εἰκός.
Those in whom such a humor happens to be present in greater quantity and to be more dominant in the body are naturally more likely to suffer.
Εἰ δὲ πάσῃ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει ἦν κακὸν, πάντας ἂν ἐλυμαίνετο.
But if it were bad for all human nature, it would harm everyone.
Ταῦτα δὲ εἴ τις εἰδοίη, οὐκ ἂν πάσχοι.
If anyone should know these things, he would not suffer.
§2121.
21.
Τὰ δ᾿ ἐν τῇσιν ἀνακομιδῇσι τῇσιν ἐκ τῶν νούσων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇσι νούσοισι τῇσι μακρῇσι γίνονται πολλαὶ ξυνταράξιες, αἱ μὲν ἀπὸ ταυτομάτου, αἱ δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν προσενεχθέντων τῶν τυχόντων.
In the recoveries from diseases, and still more in long diseases, many disturbances occur, some of themselves, and others also from random things administered.
Οἶδα δὲ τοὺς ἰητροὺς τοὺς πολλοὺς, ὡς τοὺς ἰδιώτας, ἢν τύχωσι περὶ τὴν ἡμέρην ταύτην τι κεκαινουργηκότες, ὡς λουσάμενοι, ἢ περιπατήσαντες, ἢ φαγόντεςτι ἑτεροῖον, ταῦτα δὲ πάντα βελτίω προσενηνεγμένα ἢ μὴ, οὐδενὸς ἧσσον τὴν αἰτίην τουτέων τινὶ ἀνατιθέντας, τὸ μὲν αἴτιον ἀγνοεῦντας, τὸ δὲ ξυμφορώτατον, ἢν οὕτω τύχῃ, ἀφανίσαντας.
But I know that most physicians, like laymen, if they happen to have done something new on that day, such as taking a bath, or walking, or eating something different, all of which things were better to have been administered than not, nevertheless attribute the cause to one of these, being ignorant of the true cause, and ruining the most beneficial thing, if it so happens.
Δεῖ δὲ οὔ· ἀλλ᾿ εἰδέναι τί λουτρὸν ἀκαίρως προσγενόμενον ἐργάσεται, καὶ τί κόπος.
But one must not do so; rather, one must know what a bath administered at an unseasonable time will produce, and what fatigue will.
Οὐδέποτε γὰρ ἡ αὐτὴ κακοπαθίη τουτέων, οὐδ᾿ ἑτέρου, οὐδέ γε ἀπὸ πληρώσιος, οὐδέ γε ἀπὸ βρώματος τοίου ἢ τοίου.
For the suffering from these is never the same, nor from any other thing, nor indeed from fullness, nor indeed from this or that food.
Ὅστις οὖν ταῦτα μὴ εἴσεται ὡς ἕκαστα ἔχει πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὔτε γινώσκειν τὰ γινόμενα ἀπ᾿ αὐτέων δυνήσεται, οὔτε χρέεσθαι ὀρθῶς.
Whosoever therefore does not know how each of these things is in relation to a human being, will neither be able to recognize the things that happen from them, nor to use them correctly.