400 BC

ON THE SACRED DISEASE

by Hippocrates

translated by Francis Adams

ON THE SACRED DISEASE

It is thus with regard to the disease called Sacred: it appears to

me to be nowise more divine nor more sacred than other diseases, but

has a natural cause from the originates like other affections. Men

regard its nature and cause as divine from ignorance and wonder,

because it is not at all like to other diseases. And this notion of

its divinity is kept up by their inability to comprehend it, and the

simplicity of the mode by which it is cured, for men are freed from it

by purifications and incantations. But if it is reckoned divine

because it is wonderful, instead of one there are many diseases

which would be sacred; for, as I will show, there are others no less

wonderful and prodigious, which nobody imagines to be sacred. The

quotidian, tertian, and quartan fevers, seem to me no less sacred

and divine in their origin than this disease, although they are not

reckoned so wonderful. And I see men become mad and demented from no

manifest cause, and at the same time doing many things out of place;

and I have known many persons in sleep groaning and crying out, some

in a state of suffocation, some jumping up and fleeing out of doors,

and deprived of their reason until they awaken, and afterward becoming

well and rational as before, although they be pale and weak; and

this will happen not once but frequently. And there are many and

various things of the like kind, which it would be tedious to state

particularly.

They who first referred this malady to the gods appear to me to have

been just such persons as the conjurors, purificators, mountebanks,

and charlatans now are, who give themselves out for being

excessively religious, and as knowing more than other people. Such

persons, then, using the divinity as a pretext and screen of their own

inability to of their own inability to afford any assistance, have

given out that the disease is sacred, adding suitable reasons for this

opinion, they have instituted a mode of treatment which is safe for

themselves, namely, by applying purifications and incantations, and

enforcing abstinence from baths and many articles of food which are

unwholesome to men in diseases. Of sea substances, the surmullet,

the blacktail, the mullet, and the eel; for these are the fishes

most to be guarded against. And of fleshes, those of the goat, the

stag, the sow, and the dog: for these are the kinds of flesh which are

aptest to disorder the bowels. Of fowls, the cock, the turtle, and the

bustard, and such others as are reckoned to be particularly strong.

And of potherbs, mint, garlic, and onions; for what is acrid does

not agree with a weak person. And they forbid to have a black robe,

because black is expressive of death; and to sleep on a goat's skin,

or to wear it, and to put one foot upon another, or one hand upon

another; for all these things are held to be hindrances to the cure.

All these they enjoin with reference to its divinity, as if

possessed of more knowledge, and announcing beforehand other causes so

that if the person should recover, theirs would be the honor and

credit; and if he should die, they would have a certain defense, as if

the gods, and not they, were to blame, seeing they had administered

nothing either to eat or drink as medicines, nor had overheated him

with baths, so as to prove the cause of what had happened. But I am of

opinion that (if this were true) none of the Libyans, who live in

the interior, would be free from this disease, since they all sleep on

goats' skins, and live upon goats' flesh; neither have they couch,

robe, nor shoe that is not made of goat's skin, for they have no other

herds but goats and oxen. But if these things, when administered in

food, aggravate the disease, and if it be cured by abstinence from

them, godhead is not the cause at all; nor will purifications be of

any avail, but it is the food which is beneficial and prejudicial, and

the influence of the divinity vanishes.

Thus, they who try to cure these maladies in this way, appear to

me neither to reckon them sacred nor divine. For when they are removed

by such purifications, and this method of cure, what is to prevent

them from being brought upon men and induced by other devices

similar to these? So that the cause is no longer divine, but human.

For whoever is able, by purifications conjurations, to drive away such

an affection, will be able, by other practices, to excite it; and,

according to this view, its divine nature is entirely done away

with. By such sayings and doings, they profess to be possessed of

superior knowledge, and deceive mankind by enjoining lustrations and

purifications upon them, while their discourse turns upon the divinity

and the godhead. And yet it would appear to me that their discourse

savors not of piety, as they suppose, but rather of impiety, and as if

there were no gods, and that what they hold to be holy and divine,

were impious and unholy. This I will now explain.

For, if they profess to know how to bring down the moon, darken

the sun, induce storms and fine weather, and rains and droughts, and

make the sea and land unproductive, and so forth, whether they

arrogate this power as being derived from mysteries or any other

knowledge or consideration, they appear to me to practice impiety, and

either to fancy that there are no gods, or, if there are, that they

have no ability to ward off any of the greatest evils. How, then,

are they not enemies to the gods? For if a man by magical arts and

sacrifices will bring down the moon, and darken the sun, and induce

storms, or fine weather, I should not believe that there was

anything divine, but human, in these things, provided the power of the

divine were overpowered by human knowledge and subjected to it. But

perhaps it will be said, these things are not so, but, not

withstanding, men being in want of the means of life, invent many

and various things, and devise many contrivances for all other things,

and for this disease, in every phase of the disease, assigning the

cause to a god. Nor do they remember the same things once, but

frequently. For, if they imitate a goat, or grind their teeth, or if

their right side be convulsed, they say that the mother of the gods is

the cause. But if they speak in a sharper and more intense tone,

they resemble this state to a horse, and say that Poseidon is the

cause. Or if any excrement be passed, which is often the case, owing

to the violence of the disease, the appellation of Enodia is

adhibited; or, if it be passed in smaller and denser masses, like

bird's, it is said to be from Apollo Nomius. But if foam be emitted by

the mouth, and the patient kick with his feet, Ares then gets the

blame. But terrors which happen during the night, and fevers, and

delirium, and jumpings out of bed, and frightful apparitions, and

fleeing away,-all these they hold to be the plots of Hecate, and the

invasions the and use purifications and incantations, and, as

appears to me, make the divinity to be most wicked and most impious.

For they purify those laboring under this disease, with the same sorts

of blood and the other means that are used in the case of those who

are stained with crimes, and of malefactors, or who have been

enchanted by men, or who have done any wicked act; who ought to do the

very reverse, namely, sacrifice and pray, and, bringing gifts to the

temples, supplicate the gods. But now they do none of these things,

but purify; and some of the purifications they conceal in the earth,

and some they throw into the sea, and some they carry to the mountains

where no one can touch or tread upon them. But these they ought to

take to the temples and present to the god, if a god be the cause of

the disease. Neither truly do I count it a worthy opinion to hold that

the body of man is polluted by god, the most impure by the most

holy; for were it defiled, or did it suffer from any other thing, it

would be like to be purified and sanctified rather than polluted by

god. For it is the divinity which purifies and sanctifies the greatest

of offenses and the most wicked, and which proves our protection

from them. And we mark out the boundaries of the temples and the

groves of the gods, so that no one may pass them unless he be pure,

and when we enter them we are sprinkled with holy water, not as

being polluted, but as laying aside any other pollution which we

formerly had. And thus it appears to me to hold, with regard to

purifications.

But this disease seems to me to be no more divine than others; but

it has its nature such as other diseases have, and a cause whence it

originates, and its nature and cause are divine only just as much as

all others are, and it is curable no less than the others, unless

when, the from of time, it is confirmed, and has became stronger

than the remedies applied. Its origin is hereditary, like that of

other diseases. For if a phlegmatic person be born of a phlegmatic,

and a bilious of a bilious, and a phthisical of a phthisical, and

one having spleen disease, of another having disease of the spleen,

what is to hinder it from happening that where the father and mother

were subject to this disease, certain of their offspring should be

so affected also? As the semen comes from all parts of the body,

healthy particles will come from healthy parts, and unhealthy from

unhealthy parts. And another great proof that it is in nothing more

divine than other diseases is, that it occurs in those who are of a

phlegmatic constitution, but does not attack the bilious. Yet, if it

were more divine than the others, this disease ought to befall all

alike, and make no distinction between the bilious and phlegmatic.

But the brain is the cause of this affection, as it is of other very

great diseases, and in what manner and from what cause it is formed, I

will now plainly declare. The brain of man, as in all other animals,

is double, and a thin membrane divides it through the middle, and

therefore the pain is not always in the same part of the head; for

sometimes it is situated on either side, and sometimes the whole is

affected; and veins run toward it from all parts of the body, many

of which are small, but two are thick, the one from the liver, and the

other from the spleen. And it is thus with regard to the one from

the liver: a portion of it runs downward through the parts on the

side, near the kidneys and the psoas muscles, to the inner part of the

thigh, and extends to the foot. It is called vena cava. The other runs

upward by the right veins and the lungs, and divides into branches for

the heart and the right arm. The remaining part of it rises upward

across the clavicle to the right side of the neck, and is

superficial so as to be seen; near the ear it is concealed, and

there it divides; its thickest, largest, and most hollow part ends

in the brain; another small vein goes to the right ear, another to the

right eye, and another to the nostril. Such are the distributions of

the hepatic vein. And a vein from the spleen is distributed on the

left side, upward and downward, like that from the liver, but more

slender and feeble.

By these veins we draw in much breath, since they are the

spiracles of our bodies inhaling air to themselves and distributing it

to the rest of the body, and to the smaller veins, and they and

afterwards exhale it. For the breath cannot be stationary, but it

passes upward and downward, for if stopped and intercepted, the part

where it is stopped becomes powerless. In proof of this, when, in

sitting or lying, the small veins are compressed, so that the breath

from the larger vein does not pass into them, the part is

immediately seized with numbness; and it is so likewise with regard to

the other veins.

This malady, then, affects phlegmatic people, but not bilious. It

begins to be formed while the foetus is still in utero. For the brain,

like the other organs, is depurated and grows before birth. If,

then, in this purgation it be properly and moderately depurated, and

neither more nor less than what is proper be secreted from it, the

head is thus in the most healthy condition. If the secretion (melting)

the from the brain be greater than natural, the person, when he

grows up, will have his head diseased, and full of noises, and will

neither be able to endure the sun nor cold. Or, if the melting take

place from any one part, either from the eye or ear, or if a vein

has become slender, that part will be deranged in proportion to the

melting. Or, should depuration not take place, but congestion

accumulate in the brain, it necessarily becomes phlegmatic. And such

children as have an eruption of ulcers on the head, on the ears, and

along the rest of the body, with copious discharges of saliva and

mucus,-these, in after life, enjoy best health; for in this way the

phlegm which ought to have been purged off in the womb, is

discharged and cleared away, and persons so purged, for the most part,

are not subject to attacks of this disease. But such as have had their

skin free from eruptions, and have had no discharge of saliva or

mucus, nor have undergone the proper purgation in the womb, these

persons run the risk of being seized with this disease.

But should the defluxion make its way to the heart, the person is

seized with palpitation and asthma, the chest becomes diseased, and

some also have curvature of the spine. For when a defluxion of cold

phlegm takes place on the lungs and heart, the blood is chilled, and

the veins, being violently chilled, palpitate in the lungs and

heart, and the heart palpitates, so that from this necessity asthma

and orthopnoea supervene. For it does not receive the spirits as

much breath as he needs until the defluxion of phlegm be mastered, and

being heated is distributed to the veins, then it ceases from its

palpitation and difficulty of breathing, and this takes place as

soon as it obtains an abundant supply; and this will be more slowly,

provided the defluxion be more abundant, or if it be less, more

quickly. And if the defluxions be more condensed, the epileptic

attacks will be more frequent, but otherwise if it be rarer. Such

are the symptoms when the defluxion is upon the lungs and heart; but

if it be upon the bowels, the person is attacked with diarrhoea.

And if, being shut out from all these outlets, its defluxion be

determined to the veins I have formerly mentioned, the patient loses

his speech, and chokes, and foam issues by the mouth, the teeth are

fixed, the hands are contracted, the eyes distorted, he becomes

insensible, and in some cases the bowels are evacuated. And these

symptoms occur sometimes on the left side, sometimes on the right, and

sometimes in both. The cause of everyone of these symptoms I will

now explain. The man becomes speechless when the phlegm, suddenly

descending into the veins, shuts out the air, and does not admit it

either to the brain or to the vena cava, or to the ventricles, but

interrupts the inspiration. For when a person draws in air by the

mouth and nostrils, the breath goes first to the brain, then the

greater part of it to the internal cavity, and part to the lungs,

and part to the veins, and from them it is distributed to the other

parts of the body along the veins; and whatever passes to the

stomach cools, and does nothing more; and so also with regard to the

lungs. But the air which enters the veins is of use (to the body) by

entering the brain and its ventricles, and thus it imparts sensibility

and motion to all the members, so that when the veins are excluded

from the air by the phlegm and do not receive it, the man loses his

speech and intellect, and the hands become powerless, and are

contracted, the blood stopping and not being diffused, as it was wont;

and the eyes are distorted owing to the veins being excluded from

the air; and they palpitate; and froth from the lungs issues by the

mouth. For when the breath does not find entrance to him, he foams and

sputters like a dying person. And the bowels are evacuated in

consequence of the violent suffocation; and the suffocation is

produced when the liver and stomach ascend to the diaphragm, and the

mouth of the stomach is shut up; this takes place when the breath does

not enter by the mouth, as it is wont. The patient kicks with his feet

when the air is shut up in the lungs and cannot find an outlet,

owing to the phlegm; and rushing by the blood upward and downward,

it occasions convulsions and pain, and therefore he kicks with his

feet. All these symptoms he endures when the cold phlegm passes into

the warm blood, for it congeals and stops the blood. And if the

deflexion be copious and thick, it immediately proves fatal to him,

for by its cold it prevails over the blood and congeals it; or, if

it be less, it in the first place obtains the mastery, and stops the

respiration; and then in the course of time, when it is diffused along

the veins and mixed with much warm blood, it is thus overpowered,

the veins receive the air, and the patient recovers his senses.

Of little children who are seized with this disease, the greater

part die, provided the defluxion be copious and humid, for the veins

being slender cannot admit the phlegm, owing to its thickness and

abundance; but the blood is cooled and congealed, and the child

immediately dies. But if the phlegm be in small quantity, and make a

defluxion into both the veins, or to those on either side, the

children survive, but exhibit notable marks of the disorder; for

either the mouth is drawn aside, or an eye, the neck, or a hand,

wherever a vein being filled with phlegm loses its tone, and is

attenuated, and the part of the body connected with this vein is

necessarily rendered weaker and defective. But for the most it affords

relief for a longer interval; for the child is no longer seized with

these attacks, if once it has contracted this impress of the

disease, in consequence of which the other veins are necessarily

affected, and to a certain degree attenuated, so as just to admit

the air, but no longer to permit the influx of phlegm. However, the

parts are proportionally enfeebled whenever the veins are in an

unhealthy state. When in striplings the defluxion is small and to

the right side, they recover without leaving any marks of the disease,

but there is danger of its becoming habitual, and even increasing if

not treated by suitable remedies. Thus, or very nearly so, is the case

when it attacks children.

To persons of a more advanced age, it neither proves fatal, nor

produces distortions. For their veins are capacious and are filled

with hot blood; and therefore the phlegm can neither prevail nor

cool the blood, so as to coagulate it, but it is quickly overpowered

and mixed with the blood, and thus the veins receive the air, and

sensibility remains; and, owing to their strength, the aforesaid

symptoms are less likely to seize them. But when this disease

attacks very old people, it therefore proves fatal, or induces

paraplegia, because the veins are empty, and the blood scanty, thin,

and watery. When, therefore, the defluxion is copious, and the

season winter, it proves fatal; for it chokes up the exhalents, and

coagulates the blood if the defluxion be to both sides; but if to

either, it merely induces paraplegia. For the blood being thin,

cold, and scanty, cannot prevail over the but being itself

overpowered, it is coagulated, so that those parts in which the

blood is corrupted, lose their strength.

The flux is to the right rather than to the left because the veins

there are more capacious and numerous than on the left side, for on

the one side they spring from the liver, and on the other from the

spleen. The defluxion and melting down take place most especially in

the case of children in whom the head is heated either by the sun or

by fire, or if the brain suddenly contract a rigor, and then the

phlegm is excreted. For it is melted down by the heat and diffusion of

the but it is excreted by the congealing and contracting of it, and

thus a defluxion takes place. And in some this is the cause of the

disease, and in others, when the south wind quickly succeeds to

northern breezes, it suddenly unbinds and relaxes the brain, which

is contracted and weak, so that there is an inundation of phlegm,

and thus the defluxion takes place. The defluxion also takes place

in consequence of fear, from any hidden cause, if we are the at any

person's calling aloud, or while crying, when one cannot quickly

recover one's breath, such as often happens to children. When any of

these things occur, the body immediately shivers, the person

becoming speechless cannot draw his breath, but the breath (pneuma)

stops, the brain is contracted, the blood stands still, and thus the

excretion and defluxion of the phlegm take place. In children, these

are the causes of the attack at first. But to old persons winter is

most inimical. For when the head and brain have been heated at a great

fire, and then the person is brought into cold and has a rigor, or

when from cold he comes into warmth, and sits at the fire, he is apt

to suffer in the same way, and thus he is seized in the manner

described above. And there is much danger of the same thing occurring,

if his head be exposed to the sun, but less so in summer, as the

changes are not sudden. When a person has passed the twentieth year of

his life, this disease is not apt to seize him, unless it has become

habitual from childhood, or at least this is rarely or never the case.

For the veins are filled with blood, and the brain consistent and

firm, so that it does not run down into the veins, or if it do, it

does not master the blood, which is copious and hot.

But when it has gained strength from one's childhood, and become

habitual, such a person usually suffers attacks, and is seized with

them in changes of the winds, especially in south winds, and it is

difficult of removal. For the brain becomes more humid than natural,

and is inundated with phlegm, so that the defluxions become more

frequent, and the phlegm can no longer be the nor the brain be dried

up, but it becomes wet and humid. This you may ascertain in

particular, from beasts of the flock which are seized with this

disease, and more especially goats, for they are most frequently

attacked with it. If you will cut open the head, you will find the

brain humid, full of sweat, and having a bad smell. And in this way

truly you may see that it is not a god that injures the body, but

disease. And so it is with man. For when the disease has prevailed for

a length of time, it is no longer curable, as the brain is corroded by

the phlegm, and melted, and what is melted down becomes water, and

surrounds the brain externally, and overflows it; wherefore they are

more frequently and readily seized with the disease. And therefore the

disease is protracted, because the influx is thin, owing to its

quantity, and is immediately overpowered by the blood and heated all

through.

But such persons as are habituated to the disease know beforehand

when they are about to be seized and flee from men; if their own house

be at hand, they run home, but if not, to a deserted place, where as

few persons as possible will see them falling, and they immediately

cover themselves up. This they do from shame of the affection, and not

from fear of the divinity, as many suppose. And little children at

first fall down wherever they may happen to be, from inexperience. But

when they have been often seized, and feel its approach beforehand,

they flee to their mothers, or to any other person they are acquainted

with, from terror and dread of the affection, for being still

infants they do not know yet what it is to be ashamed.

Therefore, they are attacked during changes of the winds, and

especially south winds, then also with north winds, and afterwards

also with the others. These are the strongest winds, and the most

opposed to one another, both as to direction and power. For, the north

wind condenses the air, and separates from it whatever is muddy and

nebulous, and renders it clearer and brighter, and so in like manner

also, all the winds which arise from the sea and other waters; for

they extract the humidity and nebulosity from all objects, and from

men themselves, and therefore it (the north wind) is the most

wholesome of the winds. But the effects of the south are the very

reverse. For in the first place it begins by melting and diffusing the

condensed air, and therefore it does not blow strong at first, but

is gentle at the commencement, because it is not able at once to

overcome the and compacted air, which yet in a while it dissolves.

It produces the same effects upon the land, the sea, the fountains,

the wells, and on every production which contains humidity, and

this, there is in all things, some more, some less. For all these feel

the effects of this wind, and from clear they become cloudy, from

cold, hot; from dry, moist; and whatever ear then vessels are placed

upon the ground, filled with wine or any other fluid, are affected

with the south wind, and undergo a change. And the a change. And the

sun, and the moon, it renders blunter appearance than they naturally

are. When, then, it possesses such powers over things so great and

strong, and the body is made to feel and undergo changes in the

changes of the winds, it necessarily follows that the brain should

be disolved and overpowered with moisture, and that the veins should

become more relaxed by the south winds, and that by the north the

healthiest portion of the brain should become contracted, while the

most morbid and humid is secreted, and overflows externally, and

that catarrhs should thus take place in the changes of these winds.

Thus is this disease formed and prevails from those things which enter

into and go out of the body, and it is not more difficult to

understand or to cure than the others, neither is it more divine

than other diseases.

Men ought to know that from nothing else but the brain come joys,

delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and

lamentations. And by this, in an especial manner, we acquire wisdom

and knowledge, and see and hear, and know what are foul and what are

fair, what are bad and what are good, what are sweet, and what

unsavory; some we discriminate by habit, and some we perceive by their

utility. By this we distinguish objects of relish and disrelish,

according to the seasons; and the same things do not always please us.

And by the same organ we become mad and delirious, and fears and

terrors assail us, some by night, and some by day, and dreams and

untimely wanderings, and cares that are not suitable, and ignorance of

present circumstances, desuetude, and unskilfulness. All these

things we endure from the brain, when it is not healthy, but is more

hot, more cold, more moist, or more dry than natural, or when it

suffers any other preternatural and unusual affection. And we become

mad from its humidity. For when it is more moist than natural, it is

necessarily put into motion, and the affection being moved, neither

the sight nor hearing can be at rest, and the tongue speaks in

accordance with the sight and hearing.

As long as the brain is at rest, the man enjoys his reason, but

the depravement of the brain arises from phlegm and bile, either of

which you may recognize in this manner: Those who are mad from

phlegm are quiet, and do not cry out nor make a noise; but those

from bile are vociferous, malignant, and will not be quiet, but are

always doing something improper. If the madness be constant, these are

the causes thereof. But if terrors and fears assail, they are

connected with derangement of the brain, and derangement is owing to

its being heated. And it is heated by bile when it is determined to

the brain along the bloodvessels running from the trunk; and fear is

present until it returns again to the veins and trunk, when it ceases.

He is grieved and troubled when the brain is unseasonably cooled and

contracted beyond its wont. This it suffers from phlegm, and from

the same affection the patient becomes oblivious. He calls out and

screams at night when the brain is suddenly heated. The bilious endure

this. But the phlegmatic are not heated, except when much blood goes

to the brain, and creates an ebullition. Much blood passes along the

aforesaid veins. But when the man happens to see a frightful dream and

is in fear as if awake, then his face is in a greater glow, and the

eyes are red when the patient is in fear. And the understanding

meditates doing some mischief, and thus it is affected in sleep. But

if, when awakened, he returns to himself, and the blood is again

distributed along the veins, it ceases.

In these ways I am of the opinion that the brain exercises the

greatest power in the man. This is the interpreter to us of those

things which emanate from the air, when the brain happens to be in a

sound state. But the air supplies sense to it. And the eyes, the ears,

the tongue and the feet, administer such things as the brain

cogitates. For in as much as it is supplied with air, does it impart

sense to the body. It is the brain which is the messenger to the

understanding. For when the man draws the breath into himself, it

passes first to the brain, and thus the air is distributed to the rest

of the body, leaving in the brain its acme, and whatever has sense and

understanding. For if it passed first to the body and last to the

brain, then having left in the flesh and veins the judgment, when it

reached the brain it would be hot, and not at all pure, but mixed with

the humidity from flesh and blood, so as to be no longer pure.

Wherefore, I say, that it is the brain which interprets the

understanding. But the diaphragm has obtained its name (frenes) from

accident and usage, and not from reality or nature, for I know no

power which it possesses, either as to sense or understanding,

except that when the man is affected with unexpected joy or sorrow, it

throbs and produces palpitations, owing to its thinness, and as having

no belly to receive anything good or bad that may present themselves

to it, but it is thrown into commotion by both these, from its natural

weakness. It then perceives beforehand none of those things which

occur in the body, but has received its name vaguely and without any

proper reason, like the parts about the heart, which are called

auricles, but which contribute nothing towards hearing. Some say

that we think with the heart, and that this is the part which is

grieved, and experiences care. But it is not so; only it contracts

like the diaphragm, and still more so for the same causes. For veins

from all parts of the body run to it, and it has valves, so as to as

to perceive if any pain or pleasurable emotion befall the man. For

when grieved the body necessarily shudders, and is contracted, and

from excessive joy it is affected in like manner. Wherefore the

heart and the diaphragm are particularly sensitive, they have

nothing to do, however, with the operations of the understanding,

but of all but of all these the brain is the cause. Since, then, the

brain, as being the primary seat of sense and of the spirits,

perceives whatever occurs in the body, if any change more powerful

than usual take place in the air, owing to the seasons, the brain

becomes changed by the state of the air. For, on this account, the

brain first perceives, because, I say, all the most acute, most

powerful, and most deadly diseases, and those which are most difficult

to be understood by the inexperienced, fall upon the brain.

And the disease called the Sacred arises from causes as the

others, namely, those things which enter and quit the body, such as

cold, the sun, and the winds, which are ever changing and are never at

rest. And these things are divine, so that there is no necessity for

making a distinction, and holding this disease to be more divine

than the others, but all are divine, and all human. And each has its

own peculiar nature and power, and none is of an ambiguous nature,

or irremediable. And the most of them are curable by the same means as

those by which any other thing is food to one, and injurious to

another. Thus, then, the physician should understand and distinguish

the season of each, so that at one time he may attend to the

nourishment and increase, and at another to abstraction and

diminution. And in this disease as in all others, he must strive not

to feed the disease, but endeavor to wear it out by administering

whatever is most opposed to each disease, and not that which favors

and is allied to it. For by that which is allied to it, it gains vigor

and increase, but it wears out and disappears under the use of that

which is opposed to it. But whoever is acquainted with such a change

in men, and can render a man humid and dry, hot and cold by regimen,

could also cure this disease, if he recognizes the proper season for

administering his remedies, without minding purifications, spells, and

all other illiberal practices of a like kind.

THE END