De Medicina |
Translator: Walter George Spencer
|
|
| 5 |
Proximum est , ut de iis dicam , qui PARTES aliquas corporis inbecillas habent . Cui caput infirmum est , is si bene concoxit , leniter perfricare id mane manibus suis debet ; numquam id , si fieri potest , ueste uelare ; ad cutem tonderi . Vtileque lunam uitare , maximeque ante ipsum lunae solisque concursum ; sed nusquam post cibum * * . Si cui capilli sunt , cottidie pectere , multum ambulare , sed , si licet , neque sub tecto neque in sole ; ubique autem uitare solis ardorem , maximeque post cibum et uinum ; potius ungui quam lauari , numquam ad flammam ungui , interdum ad prunam . Si in balineum uenit , sub ueste primum paulum in tepidario insudare , ibi ungui ; tum transire in caldarium ; ubi sudauit , in solium non descendere , sed multa calida aqua per caput se totum perfundere , tum tepida , deinde frigida . diutiusque ea caput quam ceteras partes perfundere ; deinde id aliquamdiu perfricare , nouissime detergere et unguere . Capiti nihil aeque prodest atque aqua frigida : itaque is , cui hoc infirmum est , per aestatem id bene largo canali cotidie debet aliquamdiu subicere . Semper autem , etiamsi sine balineo unctus est neque totum corpus refrigerare sustinet , caput tamen aqua frigida perfundere : sed cum ceteras partes adtingi nolit , demittere id , ne ad ceruices aqua descendat ; eamque , ne quid oculis aliisue partibus noceat , defluentem subinde manibus regere re . Huic modicus cibus necessarius est , quem facile concoquat ; isque , si ieiuno caput laeditur , adsumendus etiam medio die est ; si non laeditur , semel potius . Bibere huic adsidue uinum dilutum leue quam aquam magis expedit , ut , cum caput grauius esse coeperit , sit quo confugiat . Eique ex toto neque uinum neque aqua semper utilia sunt : medicamentum utrumque est , cum in uicem adsumitur . Scribere , legere , uoce contendere huic opus non est , utique post cenam ; post quam ne cogitatio quidem ei satis tuta est ; maxime tamen uomitus alienus est .
|
4 I have next to speak of those who have some parts of the body weak. He whose head is infirm ought, after he has digested well, to rub it gently in the morning with his own hands; never if possible cover it with a wrap; have it shaved to the skin. It is well to avoid moonlight, and especially before the actual conjunction of the moon and sun, and to walk nowhere after dinner. If he has retained his hair, he should comb it every day, walk much, but, if possible, not under cover nor in the sun; everywhere, however, he should avoid the sun's blaze, especially after taking food and wine; undergo anointing rather than affusion, but that never before a flaming fire, on occasion before a brazier. If he goes owing to the bath he should first sweat for a while, in the tepidarium, wrapped up, and then undergo anointing there; next pass into the calidarium; after a further sweat he should not go down into the hot bath, but have himself sluiced freely from the head downwards, first with hot, next with tepid, then with cold water, which should be poured for longer on the head than upon other parts, after which it should be rubbed for a while, lastly wiped dry and anointed. Nothing is so beneficial to the head as cold water, and so he who has a weak head every day throughout the summer hold it for a while under the stream from a large conduit. But even if he undergoes anointing without going into the bath, and cannot bear cooling of the whole body, he should always nevertheless douche his head with cold water; but since he does not want the rest of his body wetted, he bends forward for the water not to run down his neck, and with his hands directs the flow to his face, that his eyes or other parts may not be irritated. He must take food in moderation and such as he can easily digest; and if fasting affects his head, he should take a meal at midday; if it does not so suffer, the single meal is preferable. It is more expedient for him to drink a light wine, well diluted, rather than water, in order that he may have something in reserve when his head begins to become heavier; and to him, on the whole, neither wine nor water is proper always; each constitutes a remedy when taken in its turn. To write, to read, to argue, is not beneficial to him, particularly after dinner; after which, indeed, even cogitation is not sufficiently safe; worst of all, however, is a vomit. |
| 6 |
Neque uero iis solis , quos capitis inbecillitas torquet , usus aquae frigidae prodest , sed iis etiam , quos adsiduae lippitudines , grauidines , destillationes tonsillaeque male habent . His autem non caput tantum cottidie perfundendum est , sed os quoque multa frigida aqua fouendum est ; praecipueque omnibus , quibus hoc utile auxilium est , eo utendum est , ubi grauius caelum austri reddiderunt . Cumque omnibus inutilis sit post cibum aut contentio aut agitatio animi , tum iis praecipue , qui uel capitis uel arteriae dolores habere consuerunt , uel quoslibet alios oris adfectus . Vitari etiam grauedines destillationesque possunt , si quam minime qui his oportunus est loca aquasque mutet ; si caput in sole protegit , ne incendatur , neu subito ex repentino nubilo frigus id moueat ; si post concoctionem ieiunus caput radit ; si post cibum neque legit neque scribit .
|
5 Nor indeed is it only those who are troubled by a weakness of the head that find the use of cold water beneficial, but also those who suffer with persistent running from the eyes, choked nostrils and running from the nose, and tonsillar maladies. In these cases, not only is the head to be douched every day, but also the face bathed with abundance of cold water; especially should this be carried out by all those benefited by it, whenever the south wind renders the weather more oppressive. And whereas after dinner either wrangling or mental worry is injurious to everybody, it is especially so to those who are disposed to pains in the head or windpipe, or to other forms of oral affections. Choked nostrils and running from the nose can be also avoided, or minimized, if one who is liable to these makes as little change as possible in respect to residence and water; if he protects the head, that it may not be scorched by the sun, or be chilled by a passing cloud; if the head be shaved after digestion and the stomach empty; if there be no reading or writing after a meal. |
| 7 |
Quem uero frequenter cita aluus exercet , huic opus est pila similibusque superiores partes exercere ; dum ieiunus est , ambulare ; uitare solem , continua balinea ; ungi citra sudorem ; non uti cibis uariis , minimeque iurulentis , aut leguminibus holeribusque , iisque , quae celeriter descendunt ; omnia denique fugere , quae tarde concocuntur . Venatio durique pisces et ex domesticis animalibus assa caro maxime iuuant . Numquam uinum salsum bibere expedit , ne tenue quidem aut dulce , sed austerum et plenius , neque id ipsum peruetus . Si mulso uti uolet , id ex decocto melle faciendum est . Si frigidae potiones uentrem eius non turbant , his utendum potissimum est . Si quid offensae in cena sensit , uomere debet , idque postero quoque die facere ; tertio modici ponderis panem ex uino esse , adiecta uua ex olla uel ex defruto similibusque aliis ; deinde ad consuetudinem redire . Semper autem post cibum conquiescere , ac neque intendere animum , neque ambulatione quamuis leui dimoueri .
|
6 But one who is often troubled by an urgent motion should exercise his upper parts at handball and the like; walk on an empty stomach, avoid the sun and continual bathing; undergo anointing even without sweating, not make use of multifarious foods, least of all stews or pulse or greens, and of those things which pass through quickly; in a word, to avoid all things which are digested slowly. Especially advantageous are: venison and hard fish and meat of domestic animals roasted. It is never expedient to drink wine treated with sea-water, nor indeed thin or sweet wine, but that which is dry and fuller-bodied, and not too old. If one desires to use honeyed wine, it should be made from boiled honey. Cold drinks are to be used whenever possible, so long as they do not disturb the bowels. When anything in the dinner is felt to disagree, he should provoke a vomit, repeating it the next day; on the third day should be eaten a small quantity of bread soaked in wine with the addition of grapes preserved in a jar or in must which has been boiled down and such like; then he should return to his accustomed habit; but he must always rest after the meal, there must be no tension of mind, no moving about in a walk however short. |
| 8 |
At si laxius intestinum dolere consueuit , quod colum nominant , cum id nihil nisi genus inflationis sit , id agendum est , ut concoquat aliquis ; ut lectione aliisque generibus exerceatur ; utatur balineo calido , cibis quoque et potionibus calidis , denique omni modo frigus uitet , item dulcia omnia leguminaque et quicquid inflare consueuit .
|
7 When the more lax intestine, which they name colon, tends to be painful, and when it is nothing more than an inflation of a sort, the aim should be to promote digestion; to practise reading aloud and other exercises; to use a hot bath, also hot food and drink, and in short, to avoid all manner of cold, all sweets and pulse, and whatever else tends to flatulence. |