§1## ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΛΙ. ΔΟΓΜΑ. ΕΠΙΒΩΜΙΟΣ. ΠΡΕΣΒΕΥΤΙΚΟΣ.
1.
1.
Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων μέγας Ἀρταξέρξης Παίτῳ χαίρειν.
Artaxerxes, the great king of kings, to Paetus, greeting.
Νοῦσος προσεπέλασεν ἡ καλεομένη λοιμικὴ τοῖς στρατεύμασιν ἡμῶν, καὶ πολλὰ ποιησάντων ἡμῶν, ἔνδοσιν οὐκ ἔδωκεν.
The disease called pestilence has fallen upon our armies, and though we have done much, it has given no mitigation.
Ὅθεν ἀξιῶ παντοίως καὶ πάσαις ταῖς παρ’ ἐμοῦ διδομέναις δωρεαῖς, ἤ τι τῶν ἐκ φύσεώς σου ἐπινοημάτων, ἤ τι τῶν ἐκ τῆς τέχνης πρήξεων, ἤ τινος ἑτέρου ἀνδρὸς ἑρμηνείην δυναμένου ἰήσασθαι, πέμπε τάχος·
Therefore I request you: by all means and with all the gifts bestowed by me, send quickly either some invention from your own nature, or some practice from your art, or the instruction of some other man who is able to cure.
μάστιξον, ἀξιῶ, τὸ πάθος·
Scourge, I pray, this suffering.
ἀλύκη γὰρ κατὰ τὸν ὄχλον καὶ πολὺς ἄλυς πνεῦμα μέγα καὶ πυκνὸν ἔχων.
For there is distress among the multitude, and much anxiety accompanied by heavy and rapid breathing.
Οὐ πολεμοῦντες πολεμούμεθα, ἐχθρὸν ἔχοντες τὸν θῆρα λυμαινόμενον τὰ ποίμνια·
Though not waging war, we are waged war upon, having as our enemy that wild beast which ravages the flocks.
τέτρωκε πολλοὺς, δυσιάτους ἐποίησε, πικρὰ βέλη βελῶν καταπέμπει·
It has wounded many, made them hard to cure, and discharges bitter arrows of arrows.
οὐ φέρω· γνώμην οὐκ ἔτι ἔχω μετ’ ἀνδρῶν γονίμων βουλεύσασθαι.
I cannot bear it; I no longer have the heart to deliberate with capable men.
Λῦε ταῦτα πάντα μὴ διαλείψας ἀγαθῇ συνειδήσει.
Resolve all these things without delay, in good conscience.
Ἔῤῥωσο.
Farewell.
§22.
2.
Παῖτος βασιλεῖ βασιλέων τῷ μεγάλῳ Ἀρταξέρξῃ χαίρειν.
Paetus to Artaxerxes, the great king of kings, greeting.
Τὰ φυσικὰ βοηθήματα οὐ λύει τὴν ἐπιδημίην λοιμικοῦ πάθους·
Natural remedies do not resolve the epidemic of a pestilential disease.
ἃ δὲ ἐκ φύσιος γίγνεται νοσήματα, αὐτὴ ἡ φύσις ἰᾶται κρίνουσα· ὅσα δὲ ἐξ ἐπιδημίης, τέχνη τεχνικῶς κρίνουσα τὴν τροπὴν τῶν σωμάτων.
As for the diseases that arise from nature, nature itself cures them by making a judgment; but as for those that come from an epidemic, art cures them, skillfully judging the turn of the bodies.
Ἱπποκράτης δὲ ἰητρὸς ἰῆται τοῦτο τὸ πάθος·
And Hippocrates the physician cures this suffering.
τῷ γένει μὲν οὖν ἐστὶ Δωριεὺς, πόλιος δὲ Κῶ, πατρὸς δὲ Ἡρακλείδα τοῦ Ἱπποκράτους τοῦ Γνωσιδίκου τοῦ Νέβρου τοῦ Σωστράτου τοῦ Θεοδώρου τοῦ Κλεομυττάδα τοῦ Κρισάμιδος.
By race, then, he is a Dorian, and of the city of Cos; his father was Heraclides, son of Hippocrates, son of Gnosidicus, son of Nebrus, son of Sostratus, son of Theodorus, son of Cleomyttades, son of Crisamis.
Οὗτος θείᾳ φύσει κέχρηνται, καὶ ἐκ μικρῶν καὶ ἰδιωτικῶν ἐς μεγάλα καὶ τεχνικὰ προήγαγε τὴν ἰητρικήν.
He possesses a divine nature, and from small and amateurish beginnings he has advanced medicine to great and professional heights.
Γίνεται μὲν οὖν ὁ θεῖος Ἱπποκράτης, ἔνατος μὲν ἀπὸ Κρισάμιδος τοῦ βασιλέως, ὀκτωκαιδέκατος δὲ ἀπὸ Ἀσκληπιοῦ, εἰκοστὸς δὲ ἀπὸ Διὸς, μητρὸς δὲ Πραξιθέας τῆς Φαιναρέτης ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν·
Thus the divine Hippocrates is born the ninth from King Crisamis, the eighteenth from Asclepius, and the twentieth from Zeus, and on his mother's side, Praxithea the daughter of Phaenarete, from the house of the Heraclidae.
ὥστε κατ’ ἀμφότερα τὰ σπέρματα θεῶν ἀπόγονός ἐστιν ὁ θεῖος Ἱπποκράτης, πρὸς μὲν πατρὸς Ἀσκληπιάδης ὢν, πρὸς δὲ μητρὸς Ἡρακλείδης.
So that by both seeds the divine Hippocrates is a descendant of the gods, being an Asclepiad on his father's side, and a Heraclid on his mother's side.
Ἔμαθε δὲ τὴν τέχνην παρά τε τῷ πατρὶ Ἡρακλείδῃ καὶ παρὰ τῷ πάππῳ Ἱπποκράτει.
He learned the art both from his father Heraclides and from his grandfather Hippocrates.
Ἀλλὰ παρὰ μὲν τούτοις, ὡς εἰκὸς, τὰ πρῶτα ἐμυήθη τῆς ἰητρικῆς ὅσα πιθανὸν ἦν καὶ τούτους εἰδέναι, τὴν δὲ σύμπασαν τέχνην αὐτὸς ἑωυτὸν ἐδιδάξατο, θείᾳ φύσει κεχρημένος, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὑπερβεβηκὼς τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς εὐφυΐᾳ τοὺς προγόνους, ὅσον διενήνοχεν αὐτῶν καὶ τῇ τῆς τέχνης ἀρετῇ.
But from them, as is natural, he was initiated only into the first elements of medicine, such as they too were likely to know, whereas he taught himself the whole art, employing his divine nature, and surpassing his ancestors in the excellence of his soul as much as he differed from them in the virtue of his art.
Καθαίρει δὲ οὐ θηρίων μὲν γένος, θηριωδῶν δὲ νοσημάτων καὶ ἀγρίων πολλὴν γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν, διασπείρων πανταχόθεν, ὥσπερ ὁ Τριπτόλεμος τὰ τῆς Δήμητρος σπέρματα, τὰ τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ βοηθήματα.
And he purges not the race of wild beasts, but much of the land and sea from beast-like and wild diseases, scattering everywhere the remedies of Asclepius, just as Triptolemus scattered the seeds of Demeter.
Τοιγαροῦν ἐνδικώτατα καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνιέρωται πολλαχοῦ τῆς γῆς, ἠξίωταί τε τῶν αὐτῶν Ἡρακλεῖ τε καὶ Ἀσκληπιῷ ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων δωρεῶν.
Therefore, most justly, he himself has been consecrated in many parts of the earth, and has been deemed worthy by the Athenians of the same gifts as Heracles and Asclepius.
Αὐτὸν μετάπεμψαι κελεύων ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον ὅσον ἂν βούληται δώσειν αὐτῷ.
Send for him, ordering that as much silver and gold as he wishes be given to him.
Οὗτος γὰρ ἐπίσταται οὐχ ἕνα τρόπον τῆς ἰήσιος τοῦ πάθεος, οὗτος πατὴρ ὑγιείης, οὗτος σωτὴρ, οὗτος ἀκεσώδυνος, οὗτος ἁπλῶς ἡγεμὼν τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ἐπιστήμης.
For this man knows not just one way of curing the disease; this man is the father of health, this man is the savior, this man is the averter of pain, this man is simply the leader of the science worthy of the gods.
Ἔῤῥωσο.
Farewell.