De Medicina |
Translator: Walter George Spencer
|
|
| 97 |
Est autem aliud leuius omnibus proximis , de quibus supra dictum est , quod tenesmon Graeci uocant . Id neque acutis neque longis morbis adnumerari debet , cum et facile tollatur neque umquam per se iugulet . In hoc aeque atque in torminibus frequens desidendi cupiditas est , aeque dolor , ubi aliquid excernitur . Descendunt autem pituitae muccisque similia , interdum etiam le uiter subcruenta : sed his interponuntur nonnumquam ex cibo quoque recte coacta . —Desidere oportet in aqua calida saepiusque ipsum anu m nutrire . Cui plura medicamenta idonea sunt : butyrum cum rosa ; a cacia ex aceto liquata ; e mplastrum id , quod ΤΕΤΡΑΦΑΡΜΑΚΟΝ Graeci uocant , rosa liquatum ; alumen lana circumdatum et ita adpositum , eademque ex inferiore parte indita , quae torminum auxilia sunt ; eadem * * uerbenae decoctae , ut inferiores partes foueantur . Alternis uero diebus aqua , alternis leue et austerum uinum bibendum est . Potio esse debet egelida et frigida e pro pior ; ratio uictus talis , qualem in tormin ibus supra praecepimus .
|
25 There is, again, another affection which the Greeks call tenesmos, slighter than all those last spoken of. It should be counted neither with acute nor with chronic diseases, since it is readily relieved, and never by itself fatal. As in the case of dysentery, there is equally the frequent desire for stool, and equally the pain when anything is passed. There is a discharge resembling phlegm and mucus; sometimes it is even slightly bloodstained; but mingled with properly formed faeces derived from food. The patient should sit in hot water, and make application frequently to his anus. For this there are several suitable medicaments; butter in rose oil, gum acacia dissolved in vinegar; that wax-salve which the Greeks call tetrapharmacon, made liquid with rose oil; alum wrapped up in wool and so applied; the same clysters as are beneficial in dysentery; the same decoction of vervains to foment the lower parts. He should drink on alternate days water and a thin dry wine lukewarm or better cold. The diet should be the same as prescribed above 922) for dysentery. |
| 98 |
Leuior etiam , dum recens , deiectio est , ubi et liquida aluus et saepius quam ex consuetudine fertur ; atque interdum tolerabilis dolor est , interdum grauissimus , idque peius est . Sed uno die fluere aluum saepe pro ualetudine est , atque etiam pluribus , dum febris absit et intra septimum diem id conquiescat . Purgatur enim corpus , et quod intus laesurum erat , utiliter effunditur . Verum spatium periculosum est : interdum enim tormina ac febriculas excitat uiresque consumit . —Primo die quiescere satis est , neque impetum uentris prohibere . Si per se desiit , balneo uti , paulum cibi capere ; si mansit , abstinere non solum a cibo sed etiam a potione . Postero die si nihilo minus liquida aluus est , aeque conquiescere , paulum astringentis cibi sumere . Tertio die in balneum ire ; uehementer omnia praeter uentrem perfricare , ad ignem lumbos scapulasque admouere ; cibis uti , sed uentrem contrahentibus , uino non multo mera co. Si postero quoque die fluet , plus esse , sed uomere et , ex toto donec conquiescat , contra siti , fame , uomitu niti : uix enim fieri potest , ut post hanc animaduersionem aluus non contrahatur . Alia uia est , ubi uelis subprimere , cenare , deinde uomere ; postero die in lecto conquiescere , uespere ungi , sed leniter ; deinde panis circa selibram ex uino Aminaeo mero sumere ; tum assum aliquid , maximeque auem , et postea uinum idem bibere aqua pluuiali mixtum , idque usque quintum diem facere , iterumque uomere . Frigidam autem adsidue potionem esse debere contra priores auctores Asclepiades affirmauit , et quidem quam frigidissimam . E go experimentis quemque in se credere debere existimo , calida potius an frigida utatur . Interdum autem euenit , ut id pluribus diebus neglectum curari difficilius possit . A uomitu oportet incipere ; deinde postero die uespere tepido loco ungi ; cibum modicum adsumere , uinum mera cum quam asperrimum ; impositam super uentrem habere cum cerato rutam . In hoc autem affectu corporis neque ambulatione neque frictione opus est : uehiculo sedisse uel magis etiam equo prodest : neque enim ulla res magis intestina confirmat . Si uero etiam medicamentis utendum , aptissimum est id , quod ex pomis fit . Vindemiae tempore in grande uas coicienda sunt pira atque mala siluestria : si ea non sunt , pira Tarentina uiridia uel Signina , mala Scaudiana uel Amerina , myrapia ; hisque adicienda sunt Cotonea , et cum ipsis corticibus suis Punica , sorba , et , quibus magis utimur , torminalia , sic ut haec tertiam ollae partem teneant ; tum deinde ea musto implenda est , coquendumque id , donec omnia , quae indita sunt , liquata in unitatem quandam coeant . Id gust u non insuaue est , et , quandocumque opus est , adsumptum , leniter sine ulla stomachi noxa uentrem tenet . Duo aut tria coclearia uno die sumpsisse sat is est . Alterum ualentius genus est : murtae bacas legere , ex his uinum exprimere , id decoquere , ut decima pars remaneat , eiusque cyathum sorbere . Tertium , quod quandocumque fieri potest : malum Punicum excauare , exemptisque omnibus seminibus , membranas , quae inter ea fuerunt , iterum * * coicere ; tum infundere cruda oua , rudiculaque miscere ; dein malum ipsum super prunam imponere , quod , dum umor intus est , non aduritur : ubi siccum esse coepit , remouere oportet , extractumque cocleari quod intus est e sse. Aliquibus * adiectis maius momentum habet ; itaque etiam in piperatum coicitur misceturque cum sale et pipere †Est quid ex his edendum est . Pulticula etiam , cum qua paulum ex fauo uetere cocti sit , et lenticula cum malicorio cocta , rubique cacumina in aqua decocta , et ex oleo atque aceto adsumpta , efficacia sunt , atque ea aqua , in qua uel palmulae uel malum Cotoneum uel arida sorba uel rubi decocti sunt , potata . Quod genus significo , quotiens potionem dandam esse dico , quae astringat . Tritici quoque hemina in uino Aminaeo austero decoquitur , idque triticum ieiuno ac sitienti datur , superque id uinum id sorbetur ; quod iure ualentissimis medicamentis adnumerari potest . Atque etiam potui datur uinum Signinum uel resinatum austerum uel quodlibet austerum . Contunditurque cum corticibus seminibusque suis Punicum malum uinoque tali miscetur ; idque uel merum sorbet aliquis uel bibit mixtum . Sed medicamentis uti nisi in uehementibus malis superuacuum est .
|
26 Even slighter, while recent, is diarrhoea, in which the stool is liquid and more frequent than ordinary; and sometimes the pain is bearable, at times very severe, when it is a worse affair. But a flux from the bowel for one day is often salutary, and even for several days, provided that fever is absent and it subsides within seven days. For the body is purged, and whatever is about to cause a complaint inside is evacuated with advantage. But persistence is the danger; for it excites at times dysentery and feverishness and exhausts strength. It is sufficient on the first day to rest, and not to check the movement of the bowels. If it stops of itself, the patient should make use of the bath, and take a little food; if it persists, he should abstain, not only from for, but even from drink. If on the day following, in spite of all, the stool is still liquid, he should rest as before and take a little astringent food. On the third day he should go to the bath; be rubbed all over vigorously except the abdomen, sit with his loins and shoulder-blades before a fire; take food of an astringent kind, and a little undiluted wine. If on the fourth day the flux persists, he should eat more but provoke a vomit afterwards, and counter in a general way the diarrhoea by thirst, hunger and vomiting, until it subsides for it is scarcely possible that after so attending to it, the bowel will not be controlled. Another method to suppress the diarrhoea is to dine and then vomit; the next day to rest in bed, in the evening to be anointed, but lightly, then to eat about half a pound of bread soaked in undiluted Aminaean wine; after that something roasted, poultry in par= ticular, and lastly to drink the same wine mixed with rain-water; and to do so until the fifth day, then vomit again. Now Asclepiades, against the opinion of previous writers, affirmed that the drink should be kept constantly cold, indeed as cold as possible. I myself hold that each should trust in his own experiences, whether hot than cold drink should be made us of. It sometimes happens also that this disorder, having been neglected for several days, is more difficult to relieve. Such a patient should commence with an emetic; then the following day at evening be anointed in a warm room; take food in moderation, and the sourest wine undiluted; a wax-salve with rue should be applied to the abdomen. In this affection neither walking nor rubbing is of benefit; sitting in a carriage and even more riding on horseback is advantageous; for nothing strengthens the intestines more. But if use is to be made of medicaments as well, the most suitable is that made from orchard fruit. At the time of the vintage, pears and crab apples are thrown into a large vessel; and if the latter are not to be had, green Tarentine or Signine pears, Scaudian, or Amerian apples, sweet-scented. To these are added quinces and pomegranates with their rind, service fruit, and those that are called torminalia, which we use by preference, so that these occupy one-third of the jar; then this is next to be fille up with must, and boiled until all the ingredients have become resolved into a uniform mass. It is not unpleasant to the taste, and taken as needed, it controls the bowel gently, without any harm to the stomach. It is enough to take in one day two or three spoonfuls. Another composition is stronger: myrtle berries are gathered, and wine expressed from them is boiled down to one-tenth, of which a cup is sipped. A third can be prepared at any time by scooping out the inside of a pomegranate, removing all the seeds, and returning the pulp into the cavity, than raw eggs are pounded in, and stirred round with a small rod; next the fruit itself is heated over charcoal, for it does not burn so long as the inside is liquid; when the inside begins to dry the pomegranate is taken off the brazier and with a spoon the inside is scooped out and eaten. By certain acrid additions this remedy can be made more active; thus also it may be stirred up in peppered wine and mixed with salt and pepper, and so eaten. Pease porridge, with which a little of an old honeycomb has been boiled, also lentil porridge boiled with pomegranate rind, also a decoction of bramble tops eaten with oil and vinegar, are efficacious, as also draughts of a decoction of dates or quinces or dried service fruits or brambles. Such are the kind I refer to whenever I say an astringent draught should be administered. Also a half-pint of wheat is boiled in dry Aminaean wine, and first the wheat is eaten on a stomach empty both of food and drink, afterwards the wine itself is drunk and can be justly counted amongst the most active remedies. Also there can be given to drink Signian wine, or dry and resinated wine, or any other dry wine. And a pomegranate may be pounded up along with its rind and seeds, and mixed with wine of the above sort; the patient either sips it undiluted, or drinks it mixed with water. But it is superfluous except in bad cases to make use of medicaments. |
| 99 |
Ex uulua quoque feminis uehemens malum nascitur proximeque a stomacho uel adficitur haec uel corpus adficit . Interdum etiam sic exanimat , ut tamquam comitiali morbo prosternat . Distat tamen hic casus eo , quod neque oculi uertuntur nec spumae profluunt nec nerui distenduntur : sopor tantum est . Idque quibusdam feminis crebro reuertens perpetuum est .—Vbi incidit , si satis uirium est , sanguis missus adiuuat ; si parum est , cucurbitulae tamen defigendae sunt in inguinibus . Si diutius aut iacet aut alioqui iacere consueuit , admouere oportet naribus extinctum ex lucerna li namentum , uel aliud ex is , quae foedioris odoris esse rettuli , quod mulierem excitet . Idemque aquae quoque frigidae perfusio efficit . Adiuuatque ruta contrita cum melle , uel ex cyprino ceratum , uel quodlibet calidum et umidum cataplasma naturalibus pube tenus impositum . Inter haec etiam perfricare coxas et poplites oportet . Deinde ubi ad se redit , circumcidendum uinum est in totum annum , etiamsi casus idem non reuertitur . Frictione cottidie utendum totius quidem corporis , praecipue uero uentris et poplitum . Cibus ex media materia dandus ; sinap i super imum uentrem tertio quoque aut quarto die imponendum , donec corpus rubeat . Si durities manet , mollire commode uidetur solanum in lac demissum , deinde contritum , et cera alba atque medulla ceruina cum irino , aut sebum taurinum uel caprinum cum rosa mixtum . Dandum etiam potui uel castoreum est uel git uel anetum . Si parum pura est , purgatur iunco quadrato . Si uero uulua exulcerata est , ceratum ex rosa fiet , e i recens suilla adeps et ex ouis album misceatur , idque adponatur ; uel album ex ouo cum rosa mixtum , adiecto , quo facilius consistat , contritae rosae puluere . Dolens uero ea sulpure suffumigari debet . At si purgatio nimia mulieri nocet , remedio sunt cucurbitulae cute incisa inguinibus uel etiam sub mammis admotae . " si maligna purgatio est , subicienda sunt medicamenta quae euocent , ut costus , pule ium, albae uiolae flos , nepeta , satureia , hysopum : ex quibus , quae cibo apta sunt , etiam cum illo assumpta proficiunt et praetuta porrum , ruta , omne acre holus . Si sanguis , qui infra erumpere debuit , per nares erumpit , incisis inguinibus admovendae cucurbitulae sunt idque per tres aut quattuor menses tricesimo quoque die repetitum huic quoque uitio medetur . Si nusquam sanguis se ostendit , ideoque graves capitis dolores urgent , e x brachio ille mittendus est . " " Vesica autem uariis et interdum acutis , interdum longis morbis obnoxia est . Communis omnium est urinae difficultas . Discrimina tamen in hac ipsa non sunt mediocria . Vnum genus est quo subinde urinae desiderium est , sed paulum eius emittitur . Totius tamen diei noctisque spatio plus quam sat est redditur . Id cum inueterauerit , tabe quadam hominem consumit . Huic accedit ipsius naturalis dolor maximeque urina et incipiente desinente . Nonnumquam uero idem dolor etiam uentrem imum coxasque etiam latera complectitur . Solent enim uesicae uitiis affici renes sicut illorum magis haec quoque afficitur . Alius morbus est tormento crudelior , ubi urina uix et non nisi magna ui exprimitur . Sed hoc ipso cruciat quod urina continetur . Accedit calor quidam ruborque et circa pubem cum dolore tumor atque durities ; nonnumquam uomitus . Interdum etia m tenuis urina in ipsa crura destillat . Saepe quod descendit purulentum est . Quae omnia quibusdam ulceribus natis oriri uidentur . Interdum autem aeque ulceribus ceterisque isdem obstantibus , urina tenuis est et aut nigra aut pallida aut cruenta simulque quaedam concreta prorumpunt . Ac si scabies uesicam occupauit , multa et mali odoris urina est , eaque bullat et quaedam muccis furfuribusue similia ostendit . Subestque ut in prioribus , iunctarum quoque partium dolor simulque naturalis ipsius maxime dum urina descendit . " " Praeter haec , calculi quoque in uesica nascuntur , urinae difficultate et magno dolore aeque accedentibus . Rursus ubi etiam sine dolore praeter modum urina descendit , contrario modo tabes hominem consumit . Atque ex ea quoque modo tenuis profluit , modo turbida et crassa . Et haec quidem fere in hac parte incidere consuerunt . Commune uero ad urinae difficultatem remedium est his cibis uti : qui boni suci sunt , acria salsa , uinum uetus austerum uitare , leni ambulatione uti . Item leni frictione citra sudorem . Rursus alia diuersorum malorum diuersa remedia sunt . Ergo quibus et multa et nimis crebra inter dolores urina destillat , eos oportet in balneum ire . Ibi multa aqua calida fouere inguina , calida omnia adsumere , deinde uomere . Postero die ratio est lauari eadem , deinde dimidio minus quam consuetudine cibi capere atque inuicem altero die hoc , altero , illo modo se curare . Si longius malum factum est , fouere inferiores cotidie partes aqua calida in qua lini semen decoctum sit , in eadem residere umbilico tenus . Ceratum ex oleo uetere facere eoque pubem proximasque partes circumdare . Abstinere ab omnibus quibus urinae mouendae sunt , potionem quoque qua m parcissime adsumere , cibos capere ex media materia uel etiam imbellicissima , saepe sorbitiones quoque , at nihil frigidi neque edere neque bibere . Vomitus interponere , aluum , si aliter non respondet , uel ducere uel aliquo medicamento mouere . Si uero ulcera uel scabies uesicam occupauit , lacte uenter soluendus est . Demittendus homo in aquam calidam oleo mixtam , potui danda aqua quae comprimat . Mel quoque et dulcia omnia uidentur utilia . Imponendum super ceratum est ex irino uel cyprino factum . Longe pericul osissima in calculis res est . Calculi modo integra , modo scabra uesica nascuntur . Integra nati aut semper in ea mouentur —quos ab innatando πλωτοῦσ Graeci uocant —, aut in ipsa uesicae ceruice orti ubi primo , conquiescunt . Postea , magnitudine adsumpta , pondere in uesicam prolabuntur . Hi uero qui ulceribus innati sunt , primum his quasi crestae inhaerent ; deinde , quia i nnatuerunt, non continentur ; inde quoque pondere decidunt . Vtrique ex immobilibus mobiles fiunt . Solutique calculi qui prius ulceri inhaeserat , signum est contra morem sanguis profusus et eo plus quo is asperior est . Carunculaeque tenues subalbidae cartilagini similes secutae in quibusdam etiam plenior . Omnis autem calculus qui uel a principio uagus natus uel postea factus est modo uesicae ceruicem urget , modo ab ea recedit . Initium est eo delapsi , dolor auctus et urina difficilior . Ac nisi inde retro redit et tortus exstet , febriculas excitat . Igitur ubi prima esse nota calculi coepit , experienda sunt remedia quae nonnumquam citra scalpelli curationem , si maxime coneris , is uitium discutiunt ieiunoque cotidie paulum quod deuoret resinae terebinthinae dandum est . Id enim et calculos discutit et quaedam arenosa coeuntia . " Idem faciunt etiam albae oliuae , et nigrum papauer cum melle adsumptum , et cummis cum contrito semine apii liquatum et cum cyatho passi datum . Praeter haec in omnibus uesicae doloribus idoneae potiones sunt , quae ex odoribus fiunt , id est spica nardi , croco , cinnamo , casia , similibusque . Idemque etiam decocta lentiscus praestat . Si tamen intolerabilis dolor est et sanguis profluit , etiam sanguinis detractio apta est , aut certe coxis admotae cucurbitulae cute incisa . At cum urina super potionum modum etiam sine dolore profluens maciem et periculum * facit , si tenuis est , opus est exercitatione et frictione , maximeque in sole uel ad ignem . Balneum rarum esse debet , neque longa in eo mora , cibus conprimens , uinum austerum meracum , per aestatem frigidum , per hiemem egelidum , sed tantum , quantum minimum siti m fini at . Aluus quoque uel ducenda uel lacte purganda est . Si crassa urina est , uehementior esse debet et exercitatio et frictio , longior i n balneo mora ; cibis opus est teneri oribus , uin o eodem . In utroque morbo uitanda omnia sunt , quae urinam mouere consuerunt .
|
27 From the womb of a woman, also, there arises a violent malady; and next to the stomach this organ is affected the most by the body, and has the most influence upon it. At times it makes the woman so insensible that it prostrates her as if by epilepsy. The case, however, differs from epilepsy, in that the eyes are not turned nor is there foaming at the mouth nor spasm of sinews; there is merely stupor. In some women this attack recurs at frequent intervals and lasts throughout life. When this happens, if there is sufficient strength, blood-letting is beneficial; if too little, yet cups should be applied to the groins. If she lies prostrate for a long while, or if she has done so at other times, hold to her nostrils an extinguished lamp wick, or some other of these materials which I have referred to as having a specially foetid odour (III.20, 1), to arouse the woman. For the same end, affusion with cold water is also effectual. And there is benefit from rue pounded up with honey, or from a wax-salve made up with cyprus oil or from hot moist plasters of some sort applied to the external genitals as far as the pubes. At the same time also the hips and the backs of the knees should be rubbed. Then when she has come to herself, she should be cut off from wine for a whole year, even if a similar attack does not recur. Friction should be applied daily to the whole body, but particularly to the abdomen and behind the knees. Food of the middle class should be given: every third or fourth day mustard is to be applied over the hypogastrium until the skin is reddened. If induration persists, a convenient emollient appears to be bitter sweet steeped in milk, then pounded and mixed with white wax and deer marrow in iris oil, or suet of beef or goat mixed with rose oil. Also there should be given in draught either castory, or git, or dill. If the womb is not healthy, it is cleaned with square rushes; but if it is actually ulcerated a wax-salve is made with rose oil, with pounded rose-leaves added to give it consistence. When painful the womb should be fumigated from below with sulphur. But if excessive menstruation is doing harm to the woman, the remedy is to scarify and cup the groins, or even to apply cups under the breasts. If the menstrual discharge is bad, the following medicaments are to be applied to evoke blood: costmary, pennyroyal, white violet, parsley, catmint and savory and hyssop. Let her include what is suitable in her diet: leeks, rue, cummin, onion, mustard, or any other acrid vegetable. If blood bursts out from the nose at a time when it should do so from the genitals, the groins are to be scarified and cupped, repeating this every thirtieth day for three or four months, then you may be sure that this affection has been cured. But if there is no show of blood, you may be sure that there are pains coming in the head. Then blood is to be let from the arms, and you have given relief at once. . . . constricting remedies. White olives also produce the same effect, also black poppy seeds, taken with honey, and liquid gum, mixed with pounded celery seeds, and given in a cupful of raisin wine. Besides the above, draughts suited for all bladder pains are made from aromatics, such as spikenard, saffron, cinnamon, cassia, and such like, also decoction of mastic does good. If in spite of these pain becomes intolerable and there is blood in the urine, venesection is proper, or at any rate wet cupping over the hips. But when the urine exceeds in quantity the fluid taken, even if it is passed without pain, it gives rise to wasting and danger of consumption; if it is thin, there is need for exercise and rubbing, particularly in the sun and before a fire. The baths should be taken but seldom, and the patient should not stay in it for long; the food should be astringent, the wine dry and undiluted, cold in summer, lukewarm in winter, and in quantity the monument required to allay thirst. The bowels also are to be moved by a clyster or by taking milk. If the urine is thick, exercise and rubbing should be more though, and the patient should stay longer in the bath; food and wine should be of the lighter kind. In both affections, everything that promotes urine should be avoided. |
| 100 |
Est etiam circa naturalia uitium , nimia profusio seminis ; quod sine uenere , sine nocturnis imaginibus sic fertur , ut interposito spatio tabe hominem consumat .—In hoc adfectu salutares sunt uehementes frictiones , perfusiones natationesque quam frigidissimae , neque cibi nec potio nisi frigida adsumpta . Vitare autem oportet cruditates , omnia infla ntia; nihil ex is adsumere , quae contrahere semen uidentur , qualia sunt siligo , simila , oua , halica , amylum , omnis caro glutinosa , piper , eruca , bulbi , nuclei pinei . Neque alienum est fouere inferiores partes aqua decocta ex uerbenis comprimentibus , ex isdem aliqua cataplasmata imo uentri inguinibusque circumdare , praecipueque ex aceto rutam ; uitare et iam , ne supinus obdormiat .
|
28 There is also a complaint about the genitals, an excessive outflow of semen; which is produced without coition, without nocturnal apparitions, so that in course of time the man is consumed by wasting. Salutary remedies in this affection are: vigorous rubbings, affusions, swimming in quite cold water; no food and drink taken unless cold. He should, moreover, avoid everything indigestible, everything flatulent; nothing should be taken of those things which appear to collect the semen, such things are siligo, simila, eggs, spelt, starch, all glutinous flesh, pepper, colewort, bulbs, pine kernels. It is not inexpedient to bathe the lower extremities in a decoction of astringent vervains, to cover the hypogastrium and groins with plasters prepared from the same decoction, and in particular from rue preserved in vinegar: also the patient should avoid sleeping on his back. |