§55.
5.
Ἐρεῖ δὴ ἐνταῦθα ὁ τἀναντία λέγων, ὅτι πολλοὶ ἤδη καὶ οὐ χρησάμενοι ἰητρῷ νοσέοντες ὑγιάσθησαν, καὶ ἐγὼ τῷ λόγῳ οὐκ ἀπιστέω·
Here the opponent will say that many people already, even without employing a physician, have been cured of sickness, and I myself do not disbelieve this statement.
δοκέει δέ μοι οἷόν τε εἶναι καὶ ἰητρῷ μὴ χρωμένους ἰητρικῇ περιτυχεῖν, οὐ μὴν ὥστε εἰδέναι ὅ τι ὀρθὸν ἐν αὐτῇ ἐνείη, καὶ ὅ τι μὴ ὀρθὸν, ἄλλ’ ὥστ’ ἂν ἐπιτύχοιεν τοιαῦτα θεραπεύσαντες ἑωυτοὺς, ὁποῖά περ ἂν ἐθεραπεύθησαν, εἰ καὶ ἰητροῖσιν ἐχρῶντο.
But it seems to me that it is possible, even for those who do not employ a physician, to hit upon medicine, not indeed so as to know what is correct in it and what is incorrect, but in such a way that they would hit upon treating themselves in just such a manner as they would have been treated if they had actually employed physicians.
Καὶ τοῦτό γε τεκμήριον μέγα τῇ οὐσίῃ τῆς τέχνης, ὅτι ἐοῦσά τέ ἐστι καὶ μεγάλη, ὅπου γε φαίνονται καὶ οἱ μὴ νομίζοντες αὐτὴν εἶναι, σωζόμενοι δι’ αὐτήν·
And this is indeed a great proof of the reality of the art, that it exists and is great, seeing that even those who do not believe it exists are clearly saved through it.
πολλὴ γὰρ ἀνάγκη καὶ τοὺς μὴ χρωμένους ἰητροῖσι, νοσήσαντας δὲ καὶ ὑγιασθέντας εἰδέναι, ὅτι ἢ δρῶντές τι ἢ μὴ δρῶντες ὑγιάσθησαν·
For it is absolutely necessary that those who do not employ physicians, but have fallen ill and recovered, should know that they recovered either by doing something or by not doing something.
ἢ γὰρ ἀσιτίῃ, ἢ πολυφαγίῃ, ἢ ποτῷ πλείονι, ἢ δίψῃ, ἢ λουτροῖσιν, ἢ ἀλουσίῃ, ἢ πόνοισιν, ἢ ἡσυχίῃ, ἢ ὕπνοισιν, ἢ ἀγρυπνίῃ, ἢ τῇ ἁπάντων τούτων ταραχῇ χρώμενοι, ὑγιάνθησαν·
For they recovered by employing either abstinence from food, or excess of food, or more drink, or thirst, or baths, or abstinence from baths, or labors, or rest, or sleep, or wakefulness, or a mixture of all these.
καὶ τῷ ὠφελῆσθαι πολλὴ ἀνάγκη αὐτούς ἐστιν ἐγνωκέναι, ὅ τι ἦν τὸ ὠφελῆσαν, καὶ, ὅτε ἐβλάβησαν, τῷ βλαβῆναι, ὅ τι ἦν τι τὸ βλάψαν.
And it is absolutely necessary for them to have recognized, by being benefited, what it was that benefited them, and, when they were harmed, by being harmed, what it was that harmed them.
Τὰ γὰρ τῷ ὠφελῆσθαι καὶ τὰ τῷ βεβλάφθαι ὡρισμένα οὐ πᾶς ἱκανὸς γνῶναι·
For not everyone is capable of knowing the things that are defined by being benefited and by being harmed.
εἰ τοίνυν ἐπιστήσεται ἢ ἐπαινέειν ἢ ψέγειν ὁ νοσήσας τῶν διαιτημάτων τι οἷσιν ὑγιάσθη, πάντα ταῦτα τῆς ἰητρικῆς ὄντα εὑρήσει·
If, then, the one who has been sick knows how to praise or blame any of the regimens by which he was cured, he will find that all these belong to medicine.
καί ἐστιν οὐδὲν ἧσσον τὰ ἁμαρτηθέντα τῶν ὠφελησάντων μαρτύρια τῇ τέχνῃ ἐς τὸ εἶναι·
And the errors committed are no less testimonies to the existence of the art than the benefits.
τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὠφελήσαντα τῷ ὀρθῶς προσενεχθῆναι ὠφέλησαν· τὰ δὲ βλάψαντα τῷ μηκέτι ὀρθῶς προσενεχθῆναι ἔβλαψαν.
For the things that benefited did so by being applied correctly, while the things that harmed did so by being no longer applied correctly.
Καί τοι ὅπου τό τε ὀρθὸν καὶ τὸ μὴ ὀρθὸν ὅρον ἔχει ἑκάτερον, πῶς τοῦτο οὐκ ἂν τέχνη εἴη;
And indeed, where both the correct and the incorrect have each its own boundary, how could this not be an art?
τοῦτο γὰρ ἔγωγέ φημι ἀτεχνίην εἶναι, ὅπου μήτε ὀρθὸν ἔνι μηδὲν, μήτε οὐκ ὀρθόν·
For this is what I declare to be a lack of art: where there is nothing correct and nothing incorrect.
ὅπου δὲ τούτων ἔνεστιν ἑκάτερον, οὐκ ἔτ’ ἂν τοῦτο ἔργον ἀτεχνίης εἴη.
But where each of these is present, this could no longer be the work of a lack of art.
§66.
6.
Ἔτι τοίνυν εἰ μὲν ὑπὸ φαρμάκων τῶν τε καθαιρόντων καὶ τῶν ἱστάντων ἡ ἴησις τῇ τε ἰητρικῇ καὶ τοῖσιν ἰητροῖσι μοῦνον ἐγίνετο, ἀσθενὴς ἦν ἂν ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος·
Furthermore, if curing were effected only by drugs, both purging and astringent, by medicine and by physicians alone, my argument would be weak.
νῦν δὲ δὴ φαίνονται τῶν ἰητρῶν οἱ μάλιστα ἐπαινεόμενοι καὶ διαιτήμασιν ἰώμενοι καὶ ἄλλοισί γε εἴδεσιν, ἃ οὐκ ἄν τις φαίη, μὴ ὅτι ἰητρὸς, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ ἰδιώτης ἀνεπιστήμων ἀκούσας, μὴ οὐ τῆς τέχνης εἶναι.
But as it is, the most highly praised of physicians are clearly seen curing by regimens and by other methods, which no one—not to say a physician, but not even an unlearned layman—upon hearing of them, would deny to belong to the art.
Ὅπου οὖν οὐδὲν οὔτε ἐν τοῖς ἀγαθοῖσι τῶν ἰητρῶν οὔτε ἐν τῇ ἰητρικῇ αὐτῇ ἀχρεῖόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ’ ἐν τοῖσι πλείστοισι τῶν τε φυομένων καὶ τῶν ποιευμένων ἔνεστι τὰ εἴδεα τῶν θεραπειῶν καὶ τῶν φαρμάκων, οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι οὐδενὶ τῶν ἄνευ ἰητροῦ ὑγιαζομένων τὸ αὐτόματον αἰτιήσασθαι ὀρθῷ λόγῳ·
Since, then, there is nothing useless either among good physicians or in medicine itself, but the forms of treatments and of drugs are present in most of things that grow and are made, it is no longer possible for anyone who is cured without a physician to attribute it to the spontaneous with correct reason.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ αὐτόματον οὐδὲν φαίνεται ἐὸν ἐλεγχόμενον· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ γινόμενον διά τι εὑρίσκοιτ’ ἂν γινόμενον, καὶ ἐν τῷ διά τι τὸ αὐτόματον οὐ φαίνεται οὐσίην ἔχον οὐδεμίην, ἀλλ’ ἢ οὔνομα μοῦνον·
For the spontaneous, when examined, is clearly seen to be nothing; for everything that comes to be would be found to come to be through something, and in this "through something" the spontaneous is seen to have no reality at all, but is only a name.
ἡ δὲ ἰητρικὴ καὶ ἐν τοῖσι διά τι καὶ ἐν τοῖσι προνοουμένοισι φαίνεταί τε καὶ φανεῖται αἰεὶ οὐσίην ἔχουσα.
But medicine is clearly seen, and will always be seen, to have reality both in things that happen through something and in things that are provided with foresight.