De diaeta acutorum

A burning fever (causus) arises when, the small blood-vessels having been dried up in the season of summer, they draw into themselves acrid and bilious humours; and a great fever takes hold, and the body, as though gripped by fatigue, is wearied and pained. It commonly arises also from a long journey and prolonged thirst, when the dried-up vessels draw to themselves acrid and hot fluxes. The tongue becomes rough and dry and very black; and the patient suffers, being gnawed about the belly; the stools become quite liquid and pale, and violent thirsts are present, and sleeplessness, and sometimes derangements of the mind as well. To such a one give to drink water and boiled hydromel, diluted, as much as he wishes; and if the mouth becomes bitter, it is of advantage to make him vomit and to wash out the lower belly with a clyster. But if it is not relieved by these means, boil ass's milk and purge with it. Offer nothing salt or acrid, for he will not bear it; and do not give gruels until he has passed beyond the critical days. And if blood flows from the nostrils, the disease is resolved; and if there come on sweats that are critical and genuine, with white urine in which there are thick and smooth sediments, and if an abscess forms somewhere. But if it is resolved without these, there will be a relapse of the sickness again, or a pain of the hips or legs will follow, and he will spit up thick matter, if he is to become healthy. Another kind of burning fever. The belly is loose, full of thirst, the tongue rough, dry, salty; suppression of urine; sleeplessness; the extremities chilled. To such a one, unless blood flows from the nostrils, or an abscess forms about the neck, or a pain of the legs comes on, and he spit up thick sputa (these things come about when the belly is constipated), or a pain of the hip, or a livid colour of the privy parts, there is no crisis; and a retracted testicle is critical. Give attractive gruels.

In acute diseases you will let blood, if the disease appears severe, and those who have it are in the prime of life, and their strength is present. If, then, it be quinsy, clear it out with electuaries, or any other of the affections of the chest; but if they appear weaker, or if you have taken away too much of the blood, use a clyster upon the belly every third day, until the patient is in safety, and starvation, if there be need.

When the hypochondria are inflamed without suppression of the breath, there are tensions of the diaphragm, or stoppages of the breath, of dry orthopnoea, in those in whom there is no pus beneath, but these affections arise from a suppression of the breath—and especially severe pains of the liver, and heavy distress of the spleen, and other inflammations and severe pains above the diaphragm, and concentrations of diseases—these cannot be resolved if one first attempts to purge with drugs; but bloodletting is the chief remedy of such cases. Then one may proceed to a clyster, unless the disease be great and severe; but if it is, there is need also afterward of purging; bloodletting before purging, however, needs safety and moderation. Those who at the beginning of the diseases at once attempt to resolve the inflamed parts by purging take away nothing of the tense and inflamed part—for the affection, being raw, does not yield—but they melt down the healthy parts that resist the disease; and the body becoming weak, the disease prevails; and whenever the disease prevails over the body, such a case is incurable.

As for one becoming suddenly speechless, suppressions of the vessels cause it, if this befall a healthy man without an occasion or any other strong cause. One must therefore open the inner vein of the right arm and take away of the blood, reckoning by the habit and the age the more or the less. These things befall the most of them: rednesses of the face, fixity of the eyes, partings of the hands, gnashings of the teeth, throbbings, drawing together of the jaws, and chilling of the extremities, suppressions of the breath along the vessels.

Whenever pains have come on beforehand, inflowings of black bile and of acrid fluxes occur; and the patient suffers, being gnawed within; and the vessels, being bitten and become exceedingly dry, are stretched, and, growing inflamed, draw to themselves the things that flow in; whence, the blood being corrupted, and the breaths not being able to travel in it along their natural paths, chillings come about from the stagnation, and dizzinesses, and loss of voice, and heaviness of the head, and convulsions, if it has now come to the heart or the liver or to the great vessel; whence men become epileptic or paralyzed, if the fluxes fall into the surrounding parts, and, the breaths not being able to pass through, are dried up. But one must, in such cases, first apply hot fomentations and then let blood at the very beginning, while all the offending breaths and fluxes are still raised up—for they are then more easily helped—and, after restoring the patient and watching the crises, purge upward, if he be not relieved; but the lower belly, if it does not respond to a clyster, give boiled ass's milk, and let him drink not less than twelve cotylae; and if his strength holds out, more than sixteen.

Quinsy (synanche) arises when from the head a copious and gluey flux flows down, in the winter or spring season, into the jugular veins, and they draw in the more flux on account of their width; and when, being cold and gluey, it is impacted, blocking the passages of the breath and of the blood, it congeals the blood near it and makes it motionless and stagnant, being by nature cold and apt to block. On this account men are choked, the tongue becoming livid and rounded and bent back, on account of the veins beneath the tongue; for, the uvula being cut beneath—which they call the little pillar—on either side there is a thick vein. When, therefore, these, being full, rest upon the tongue, which is spongy and loose, the tongue, receiving by force, through its dryness, the moisture from the vessels, from flat becomes round, from well-coloured livid, from soft hard, from flexible inflexible, so that the patient is quickly choked, unless one give swift help: by performing bloodletting from the arms, and cutting the veins beneath the tongue, and purging with electuaries, and gargling with hot things, and shaving the head, and putting a wax-salve about the head and neck, and wrapping it round with wool, and with soft sponges, squeezed out in hot water, foment it; and let him drink water and hydromel, not cold; and offer thin gruel when he is now in safety after the crisis. When, in the summer or autumn season, a hot flux runs down from the head, and is nitrous, inasmuch as it has been made acrid and hot by the season, being of this kind it gnaws and ulcerates, and fills the part with wind, and orthopnoea comes on, and much dryness, and the parts that are looked at appear thin, and the tendons at the back in the neck are drawn tight, and a tetanus seems to be stretched in him, and the voice is broken off, and the breath is short, and the drawing-in of the breath comes frequent and forced. Such persons ulcerate the windpipe and inflame the lung, not being able to draw in the breath from without. To such patients, unless it is carried off of itself to the outer parts of the neck, the affection is more terrible and more inescapable, both on account of the season and because it comes from hot and acrid things.

If a fever take hold when there is old dung remaining, the patient having lately eaten, whether with pain of the side or not, let him keep quiet until the food first descends into the lower belly; and let him use oxymel as a drink. When a heaviness comes into the loins, wash out below with a clyster, or purge with a drug; and when he has been purged, regulate his diet first with gruel and a drink of hydromel; then with solid food and boiled fish and watered wine, a little toward night; and by day, diluted hydromel. When the breakings of wind are evil-smelling, do so either with a suppository or a clyster; if not, hold back, giving oxymel to drink, until it descends into the lower belly, and then so draw it down with a clyster. But if a burning fever come on when he is empty in the belly, if it seem to you fitting to purge, do not purge within three days, but on the fourth. When you have purged, use gruels, watching the paroxysms of the fevers, so that you never offer them when the fevers are about to come on, but when they are abating, when they have ceased, and as far as possible from the beginning. When the feet are cold, give neither drink nor gruel nor any other such thing, but reckon this the greatest matter to be guarded—until they become thoroughly warm—and then so offer what is fitting. For coldness of the feet is for the most part a sign that the fever is about to be aggravated; and if at such a moment you offer anything, you will commit the greatest of all errors; for you will increase the disease not a little. When the fever abates, on the contrary the feet become warmer than the rest of the body; for it increases by chilling the feet, being kindled from the chest and sending up the flame to the head; but when all the heat has run together upward and is exhaled to the head, naturally the feet become cold, being fleshless and sinewy by nature; and besides, being far distant from the hottest places, they are chilled while the heat gathers into the chest; and again, correspondingly, the fever being resolved and broken up small, it descends to the feet; and at this time the head and the chest are chilled. And for this reason one must take heed, that, whenever the feet are cold, of necessity the belly is hot and full of much distress, and is somewhat disordered. Most such patients pluck at flocks and pick at their noses, and answer briefly what is asked, but of themselves say nothing collected; such cases seem to me to be melancholic. But if, things being so, the belly be moist and melting down, it seems to me that one should offer gruels colder and thicker, and drinks that are styptic and more vinous, or even more astringent. As for those fevers in which from the beginning there are dizziness and throbbings of the head and thin urine, in these expect that the fever will be aggravated toward the crises; and I should not wonder if they became delirious. But those in whom at the beginning the urine is cloudy and thick—such persons purge mildly, if the other signs too agree; but those in whom at the beginning the urine is thin, do not purge such, but, if it seem good, give a clyster. It is of advantage to these to be treated thus, keeping the body at rest, anointing and wrapping it evenly; and to use as drink diluted hydromel, and as gruel the juice of barley-water toward evening; and at the beginning draw down the belly with a clyster; but do not apply drugs to these; for if you move anything in the belly, the urine is not concocted, but the fever will be without sweat and without crisis for a long time. As for the gruels, when the crisis is near, do not give them if the patient is in confusion, but if he relaxes and improves for the better; and one must watch also the crises of the other fevers, and withhold the gruels at this season. These fevers have learned to become long and to bring abscessions—if the lower parts are cold, about the ears and neck; but if they be not cold, to bring other changes; and blood flows from the nostrils, and the bellies of such persons are disturbed. As for those whose fevers are full of nausea, and whose hypochondria are drawn tight, and who, lying down, cannot endure in the same posture, and whose extremities are all chilled, these need the most care and watching; one must keep them, offering nothing else than diluted oxymel; and offer no gruel until it abates and the urine is concocted; and lay them down in shaded chambers, and let them lie on the softest possible bedding, enduring a long time in the same posture, and tossing as little as possible; for this above all helps such patients. And on the hypochondrium lay linseed, smearing it on, taking care that it does not make him shiver when applied; let it be lukewarm at the surface, boiled in water and oil. One must infer the future from the urine: for if it be thicker and paler, it is better; if thinner and blacker, worse; and if it have changes, it signifies length of time, and it is necessary for the patient to change the unevenness both for the worse and for the better. As for the fevers that are not settled, leave them until they settle; and when they settle, meet them with the diet and treatment that is fitting, observing according to nature.

There are many aspects of the sick; wherefore the healer must take heed that he be not unaware of any of the occasions, neither those that go by reasoning, nor of how many things ought to appear in an even or an odd number; above all, then, one must be on guard for the odd number, since these days make the sick incline one way or the other. One must therefore mark the first day on which the patient began to be ill, observing the beginning, from what and on account of what; for it is best to know this first. And when you have questioned him and examined all these things—first, how the head is, whether it is free from pain and has no heaviness in it; then the hypochondria and the sides, whether they are painless; for the hypochondrium, if it is painful or raised or has any crookedness or fullness, or if there is a pain of the side, and along with the pain either a little cough or a griping or a pain of the belly. When any of these is present, especially in the hypochondrium, loosen the belly with clysters; and let him drink hot, well-boiled hydromel. Mark also, in his risings up, whether he faints, and whether ease of breathing holds him; and look at the passage, whether anything has been passed of a strongly black colour, and whether it is clean, such as would be the discharges of a healthy man; and whether the fever is aggravated toward the third day. Having well observed such cases as become triad-fevers in these diseases, then look also to the rest with reference to this; and if the fourth day has something like the same as the third day, the disease becomes dangerous. The signs: the black discharge signifies death; that like a healthy man's, when it appears on all the days, is salutary; but when it does not respond to the suppository, but ease of breathing is present, and on rising up to the chair, or in the bed itself, if a fainting comes on—when these things are present in the patient, man or woman, at the beginning, judge that delirium will follow. One must attend also to the hands; for if they be tremulous, expect in such a one a dripping of blood from the nostrils. One must look also at the nostrils; if the breath be drawn equally through both, and if much be borne from the nostrils, a convulsion is wont to come; and if a convulsion come on in such a one, death is to be expected, and it is well to foretell it.

If, in a winter fever, the tongue become rough and faintings be present, in such a one there is wont also to be a remission of the fever; but nevertheless watch such a one by starvation and water-drinking and the drinking of hydromel; and watch him with gruels too, putting no faith in the remission of the fevers, since those who have such signs are in danger of dying. When you understand these things, foretell thus, if it please you, having observed very well. When something fearful happens in fevers on the fifth day, the belly suddenly passing liquid, and a fainting come, or a loss of voice take hold, or he become convulsive or affected with hiccup, upon these there are wont to be nausea, and sweats about the under-part of the nose and the forehead and the nape behind the head; those who suffer these things die before long, becoming windy. As for those in whose fevers the legs become full of tubercles, and these, lingering, are not concocted while still in the fevers—if also there come on a choking in the throat, the parts about the throat being thin, and it is not concocted but quenched—in such a one blood is wont to flow from the nostrils; and if much flows, it signifies a resolution of the disease; but if not, length; and the less that flows, by so much the worse and the more prolonged. But if the other things become easiest, expect in such a one pains in the feet; and if it lay hold of the foot, and, having become painful, remain on fire and not be resolved, little by little there will come pains also to the neck and to the collar-bone and to the shoulder and to the chest and to a joint, and this will have to become tubercular; and as these are quenched, if the hands be drawn up or become tremulous, a convulsion lays hold of such a one and delirium; and besides, pustules form on the brow, and rednesses, and one eyelid grows alongside the other, and a hard inflammation holds, and the eye swells strongly, and the delirium greatly increases; the nights signify more than the days the matters concerning the delirium. The signs come about for the most part on the odd number rather than on the even; but in whichever of these numbers they come about, deaths follow. Such persons, if you choose to purge from the beginning, before the fifth day, if the belly rumbles; if not, leave them unpurged; but if it rumbles through, and the stools are bilious, purge mildly downward with scammony; and as for the other treatment, offer as few drinks and gruels as possible, so that he be in better case, unless they have passed the fourteenth day and remitted. When loss of voice comes upon a patient on the fourteenth day, a quick resolution is not wont to come, nor a riddance of the disease, but it signifies length to such a one; and when it appears on this day, it falls out longer. When, in a patient on the fourth day, the tongue speaks confusedly, and the belly passes bilious liquid matter, such a one is wont to be delirious; but one must watch, following upon what comes out. In the summer and autumn season, in acute diseases, a sudden dripping of blood shows tension and great treatment along the vessels, and on the following day appearances of thin urine; and if the patient be in the prime of life and have the body in good flesh from exercises, or be melancholic, or have tremulous hands from drinking, it is well to foretell delirium or convulsion; and if it come on the even days, it is better, but on the critical days, deadly. If much blood gushes out all at once and makes its outlets, the excess being filled through the nostrils or through the seat, there is an abscession, or pains in the hypochondrium, or to the testicles, or to the legs; and when these are resolved, there come outlets of thick sputa, of smooth, white urine. For a fever attended with hiccup, give to drink the juice of silphium, oxymel, daucus pounded, and galbanum in honey, and cumin as an electuary, and on these to sup the juice of barley-water; such a one is inescapable, unless critical sweats and even sleep come on, and thick and acrid urine run down, or it fix itself in an abscession. A coccalus (pine-kernel) and myrrh as an electuary; give these to drink oxymel as little as possible; but if they be very thirsty, of barley-water.

As for the peripneumonic and pleuritic affections, one must observe thus: if the fever be acute, and there be pains of one side or of both, and the breath, as it is drawn up, be painful, and coughs be present, and he spit sputa yellow or livid, or even thin and frothy and florid, and if it have anything else different from the accustomed signs, in these cases one must proceed thus: if the pain reach upward toward the collar-bone, or about the breast, or about the arm, one must cut the inner vein in the arm, on whichever of the parts it be in this respect; and take away the more, according to the habit of the body and the season and the age and the colour; and, taking courage, if the pain be acute, lead him to fainting; then afterward give a clyster. But if the pain be below the chest, and it draw the parts too tight, purge the belly of the pleuritic patient mildly; and in the midst of the purging give nothing; after the purging, oxymel; and purge on the fourth day; the first three days give clysters, and, if it does not relieve, then purge thus. Let watching continue until he is free of fever and to the seventh day; then, if he appear to be in safety, so give him at first a little thin juice, mixed with honey; and if he bring up phlegm easily, and breathe well, and be free of pain in the sides, and free of fever, little by little give it thicker and more abundant, and twice a day. But if he be not easily relieved, give the drink less, and the gruel little—thin juice—and once, at whichever hour he passes the better; you will know from the urine. One must offer gruel to those recovering from diseases not before you see the urine or the sputa become concocted (but if, having been purged, he be much cleared out, it is necessary to give it, but less and thinner; for he will not be able, through emptiness of the vessels, to sleep, nor to concoct as he should, nor to bear the crises); but when meltings-down of raw matter occur, and he throws off the parts that resist, nothing will hold out. The sputa are concocted whenever they become like pus; the urine when it has reddish sediments, like those of vetches. Nothing hinders, against the other pains of the sides, to apply warm fomentations and wax-salves; and to anoint the legs and the loins with a warm thing, and to rub in grease; and on the hypochondria to plaster linseed as far as the breasts. When the peripneumonia is at its height, it is past help if the patient is not cleared out; and it is bad if he is short of breath, and the urine is thin and acrid, and sweats come about the neck and head; such sweats are bad, the diseases prevailing through choking and rupture and force, unless much and thick urine sets in, and concocted sputa come; and whichever of these comes of itself will resolve the disease. An electuary for peripneumonia: galbanum and pine-kernel in Attic honey; and southernwood in oxymel, pepper; having boiled up black hellebore, give it to a pleuritic patient in severe pain at the beginning; and it is good too to give the all-heal (panaces), boiled up in oxymel and strained, to drink, and to those with liver-trouble and the severe pains from the diaphragm, and whatever things are needed for the belly and for urination, in wine and honey; but for the belly, give more to drink with diluted hydromel.

Dysentery, when it has ceased, will make an abscess or some swelling, unless it pass off into fevers, or sweats and thick white urine appear, or it fix itself into tertian fevers, or into a varix, or into a testicle, or into the legs, or a pain settle into the hips.

In a bilious fever, jaundice coming on before the seventh day with a rigor resolves the fever; but if it come on without a rigor, outside the proper seasons, it is deadly.

In tetanus of the loins, and when from melancholic causes there are suppressions of the breaths through the vessels, bloodletting delivers the patient. But when they are strongly drawn forward from the tendons, and there are sweats about the neck and face, the urinary tendons being gnawed and dried by the pain—those thickest tendons that hold the spine together, where the greatest ligaments, taking root, end at the feet—in such a one, unless fever and sleep come on, and the urine that follows come having concoction, and critical sweats, let him drink Cretan wine, vinous, and eat boiled meal, and anoint and smear with wax-salve; and wrap the legs as far as the feet, soaking them first in warm water in a tub, and bind up the arms as far as the fingers, and the loins from the neck to the hips, having waxed a woolly cloth, so that it may cover the outer parts as well; and at intervals foment with bladders, pouring in hot water, and, stretching a fine linen cloth over it, lay him back. Do not loosen the belly, unless with a suppository, if it has long been without a passage; and if he improve at all for you, for the better; if not, pounding the root of the moly in fragrant wine, and of the daucus, give it to drink early, fasting, before the soaking, and quickly upon these let him eat boiled meal, lukewarm, as much as possible, and let him drink upon it well-tempered wine whenever he wishes; and if he improve for you, for the better; if not, foretell the outcome.

All diseases are resolved either by the mouth, or by the belly, or by the bladder, or by some other such passage; and the form of sweat is common to all of them.

One must give hellebore to those from whose head a flux is borne; but as for those who become purulent from abscesses, or from rupture of a vessel, or through intemperance, or through some other strong cause, do not give hellebore to such; for it will do no good, and if anything happen to him, the hellebore will seem to be the cause. But if the body be dissolved, or there be a pain in the head, or the ears or the nose be stopped up, or there be salivation, or heaviness of the knees, or a swelling of the body beyond the usual—whatever comes about neither from drinks, nor from sexual indulgence, nor from grief, nor from cares, nor from sleeplessness—if any of these have a cause, direct the treatment toward that.

As for the pains from a journey—of the sides, the back, the loins, the hips, and all those things in which men suffer pain in breathing, having an occasion—for pains have often learned to come, from surfeits and flatulent foods, to the loins and to the hips; and those of them in whom such things are, pass urine with difficulty: of these a journey is the cause, and of catarrhs and hoarsenesses.

As for those things that come from regimen, for the most part each man is most affected as he is fed contrary to his custom. For those who, not having been accustomed to take a midday meal, do take one, have much fullness of the belly, and drowsiness, and a sense of repletion; and if they take supper besides, the belly is disturbed; it is of advantage to such to sleep after bathing; and, having slept, to walk slowly a long round; and if the belly be emptied, to sup and to drink wine, less in quantity and less diluted; but if it be not emptied, to anoint the body with a warm thing, and, if he be thirsty, having drunk diluted white or sweet wine, to rest; but if he do not fall asleep, to rest the longer; and for the rest let him be dieted like those suffering from surfeit. As for the things that come from drinks: those that are watery are slower to pass, and roll about, and float about the hypochondria, and do not run down to urination; and one who is filled with such drink should accomplish no work briskly, all those that the body, being strained, by force or speed comes to labour at; but let him keep especially quiet, until it is concocted with the foods. Those of the drinks that are less diluted or more austere produce a quivering in the body and a throbbing in the head; for these it is well to sleep upon them and to sup something warm, of whatever kind they have it most pleasantly; fasting is bad for the headache and the surfeit. As for those who take but one meal a day, they are empty and weak, and pass hot urine, being unaccustomed to having their vessels empty; and the mouth becomes salt and bitter, and they tremble at every task, and feel a tension at the temples, and cannot concoct their supper as they would if they had taken a midday meal. These must sup less than they are accustomed, and have a softer barley-cake instead of bread, and of vegetables sorrel, or mallow, or barley-gruel, or beet; and to drink with the food wine, as much as is moderate, and rather diluted; and after supper to walk a little, until urine runs down and they make water; and let them use boiled fish too. As for foods, they are most significant: garlic produces wind and heat about the chest, and heaviness of the head, and distress, and if there were any other pain accustomed before, it would aggravate it; but it is diuretic, and this it has good; and it is best to eat it when about to go to drinking, or when drunk. Cheese produces wind and constipation and burning of the food, the raw and unconcocted kind; and it is worst to eat it in drinking when the men are full. Pulses are all flatulent, whether raw, or boiled, or roasted; least so when soaked and green; one should not use these, unless with food. Each of them too has its own particular faults. The chickpea produces wind, raw and roasted, and brings on pain. The lentil is astringent, and produces unrest, if it be with the husk. The lupine has the fewest of these evils. Silphium and its juice are agreeable to some most of all, but in those unaccustomed to it it does not pass through the belly, but is called a dry cholera; and it especially happens if it be mixed with much cheese or with the eating of beef. For melancholic affections would be aggravated by beef; for the nature of it is unsurpassable, and it is not for the chance belly to concoct it; men would come off best if they used it well-boiled and as old as possible. Goat's flesh has all the evils that are in beef—the indigestibility—and is more flatulent and apt to cause belching, and generative of cholera; but the most fragrant kinds, firm and most pleasant, these are best, well-boiled and cold; the most unpleasant, ill-smelling and hard, these are worst, and the fresh ones; they are best in the summer season, in autumn worst. The flesh of the young pig is bad whenever it is rather raw or scorched; it would be apt to cause cholera and disorder. Pork is best of all meats; the strongest is that which is neither very fat nor again very lean, nor bears the age of an old victim; let it be eaten without the rind and somewhat cold.

In dry cholera the belly is distended with wind, and there are rumblings, and pain of the sides and loins, but nothing passes downward, but it is constipated. Watch such a one, that he do not vomit, but that the belly go down. Give a clyster, then, as quickly as possible, hot and as oily as possible; and, having anointed him with as much as possible, set him in water, laying him down hot in a tub, and pour the hot water over little by little; and if, as he is warmed, the belly goes down, it is resolved. It is of advantage for such a one to sleep upon it, and to drink thin and old and rather strong wine, and give oil, so that, with quiet, the belly may go down, and it is resolved. Let him abstain from food and the rest. But if the pain do not relax, give ass's milk to drink until he is purged. But if the belly be liquid, and bile pass down, and gripings, and vomitings, and chokings, and gnawings, for these it is best to keep still; and to drink hydromel, and not to vomit it up.

There are two kinds of dropsy, of which the one under the flesh, when one undertakes it, is inescapable; the other, with windy swellings, needs much good fortune; and above all, hard labour, and fomentation, and self-restraint; let him eat dry and acrid things; for thus he would be most diuretic and have most strength. But if he be short of breath, and the season chance to be summer, and the age be in its prime, and strength be present, take away blood from the arm; then let him eat hot loaves dipped in black wine and oil; and, drinking as little as possible, let him labour as much as possible, and eat fleshy pork boiled with vinegar, that he may hold out against the uphill walks.

As for those who have the lower bellies hot, and acrid and irregular stools pass through them from a melting-down, if they be strong, draw it the other way with hellebore; if not, the thick juice of this year's wheat, cold, and lentil-soup, and ash-baked loaves, and fish—boiled if he has fever, but roasted if he be free of fever—and black wine if free of fever; if not, water from medlars or myrtle-berries or apples or service-berries, or from dates, or from the blossom of the vine. But if there be no fever, and there be gripings, ass's milk, warm, a little at first, then by degrees more, and linseed, and wheaten barley-meal, and, of the Egyptian beans, having taken out the bitter parts, ground up, let him sprinkle them in and drink; and let him eat half-set eggs, roasted, and fine wheat-flour, and millet, and groats boiled in milk, eating them boiled and cold, and let him offer drinks and foods like to these.

Of dietetics the greatest thing is to observe and watch, in long sicknesses, both the intensifications of the fevers and the remissions, so that the times have been well marked when one ought not to offer food, and to know safely when one ought to offer it; and this is when they are farthest from the intensification.

One must know those who are headachy from exercises or races or journeys or hunts or some other unseasonable toil, or from sexual indulgence; those who are off-colour; the hoarse; those with spleen-trouble; those poor in blood; the windy; those with a dry cough and thirsty; the flatulent; suppressions of the vessels; those tense in the hypochondria and sides and back; the benumbed; those who see dimly; those into whom ringings of the ears fall; those who are incontinent of the urethra; the jaundiced; those whose bellies cast out raw matter; and those who hemorrhage strongly from the nose or from the seat, if they be in windy swellings, or a strong pain run over them, and they do not prevail; purge none of such persons; for it will be a danger, and you will do no good, and you will take away the spontaneous riddances and crises.

But if it be of advantage to take away blood from someone, first make the belly firm, and so take it away, and starve him, and take away wine from them; then with the fitting diet treat what remains of them, and with moist fomentations. But if the belly seem to you to be very costive, give an injection below with a soft clyster.

But if it seem good to purge, purge upward safely with hellebore; but downward purge none of such persons. It is best to lead it off to urination and to sweats and to walks; and use gentle rubbing, that you may not thicken the habit; but if he be bedridden, let others rub him; and if the affection trouble him in the chest above the diaphragm, let him sit upright as often as possible, and let them lean him back as little as possible, to such time as they are able, and, as he sits, rub him a long time with much warmth; but if the pains be in the lower belly beneath the diaphragm, it is of advantage to lie down, and to make no motion; to such a body offer nothing except the rubbing. As for those things from the lower belly resolved through urine and sweats, if it slip away moderately, the small ones are resolved by spontaneity; but the violent ones are bad; for such persons either perish, or do not become healthy without other evils, but it fixes itself, and the like.

A drink for one with dropsy: three cantharides; having taken off the head of each, and the feet and wings, pound the bodies in three cyathi of water; and when the one who has drunk it is in pain, let him be soaked with warm water, having first anointed himself, and let him drink fasting; and let him eat hot loaves with oil.

A styptic to stop bleeding: apply the juice of the fig-tree in wool within against the vein; or, rolling up rennet, insert it into the nostril; or sprinkle copper-ore on with the finger and press; and press the cartilages outside on either side; and loosen the belly with boiled ass's milk; and, shaving the head, apply cooling things, if it be in the hot season.

Sesamoides purges upward: the dose, a drachm and a half, pounded in oxymel; it is mixed also with the hellebores, and the third part of the dose chokes less.

For ingrowing eyelashes (trichiasis): passing the thread under with the needle that has the eye, at the sharp part of the upper tension of the eyelid pierce through to the lower part and draw it through, and another beneath this; and, stretching up the threads, sew and bind them down until it falls off; and if it be sufficient, well; if not, if it be lacking, do the same things behind. And hemorrhoids you will pass through in the same manner with the needle, having tied on a thread of woolly grease-wool as thick as possible and as large as possible, for so the treatment becomes safer; then, having squeezed it out, use the caustic, and do not soak it before it falls off, and always leave one behind, and after this, taking him up, give hellebore. Then let him exercise and sweat; of exercise, rubbing and wrestling from dawn; let him abstain from running, and from drunkenness, and from acrid things except marjoram; and let him vomit every seven days, or three times in the month; for thus the body would be in best condition; and let him drink tawny austere wine, diluted, and a little drink.

For the purulent (empyemic): having cut squill into small rings, boil it in water, and, having boiled it well, pour off, and, pouring on other water, boil it until, on touching, it appear well-boiled and soft; then, having pounded it smooth, mix in roasted cumin, and white sesame, and fresh almonds pounded in honey, and give it as an electuary, and upon it sweet wine. As gruels: having pounded of the white poppy as much as a small dish, dissolving it in water with the washing of this year's wheat-flour, boiling it, pouring on honey, sipping it lukewarm, let him so pass the day; then, reckoning by the outcome, give the supper.

For dysentery: a quarter-measure of clean beans, and twelve sprigs of madder, smooth, having mixed and boiled them, give them, rich, to lick up.

For the eyes: ash, washed, mixed with grease, like dough not too moist, having pounded it smooth, having moistened it with the verjuice of the bitter unripe grape, and dried it in the sun, moisten it so as to be applicable; and when it becomes dry, anoint the eyes with the smooth dry pounded matter, and sprinkle it on the corners.

For moist eyes: one drachm of ebony, nine obols of burnt copper rubbed on a whetstone, three obols of saffron; having pounded these smooth, pour on an Attic cotyle of sweet wine, and then, setting it in the sun, having covered it; when it is boiled together, use this.

For severe eye-pains: a drachm of copper-ore, of grape; when it has been concocted for two days, having squeezed it out, having pounded myrrh and saffron, and mixed in the must, boil it in the sun, and with this anoint those in severe pain; let it be in a copper vessel.

Recognition of those choked by hysterical affections: press with the fingers; and if she feel it, these are hysterical; but if not, convulsive.

For sleep-inducing: poppy-juice (meconium), an Attic round dish-measure, as a drink.

Three flakes of copper-scale by breadth, and of this year's meal as a binding; having pounded these smooth, rolling them into pills, give them; it purges water downward.

It clears out the belly: drip the juice of the spurge into dried figs, seven times into each, then, putting them together in a fresh vessel, store them; give before the food.

. . .