ΠΕΡΙ ΔΙΑΙΤΗΣ
20ἐσθίων ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὑγιαίνειν, ἢν μὴ καὶ πονῇ. ὑπεναντίας μὲν γὰρ ἀλλήλοισιν ἔχει τὰς δυνάμιας σῖτα καὶ πόνοι, συμφέρονται δὲ πρὸς ἄλληλα πρὸς ὑγείην· πόνοι μὲν γὰρ πεφύκασιν ἀναλῶσαι τὰ ὑπάρχοντα· σῖτα1 δὲ καὶ ποτὰ ἐκπληρῶσαι τὰ κενωθέντα. δεῖ δὲ, ὡς ἔοικε, τῶν πόνων διαγινώσκειν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν καὶ τῶν διὰ βίης γινομένων, καὶ τίνες αὐτῶν αὔξησιν παρασκευάζουσιν ἐς σάρκας καὶ τίνες ἔλλειψιν, καὶ οὐ μόνον ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς συμμετρίας 30τῶν πόνων πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν σίτων καὶ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ τὰς ἡλικίας τῶν σωμάτων, καὶ πρὸς τὰς ὥρας τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ καὶ πρὸς τὰς μεταβολὰς τῶν πνεύματων, πρὸς τε τὰς θέσεις τῶν χωρίων2 ἐν οἷσι διαιτέονται, πρός τε τὴν κατάστασιν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ. ἄστρων τε ἐπιτολὰς καὶ δύσιας γινώσκειν δεῖ, ὅκως ἐπίστηται τὰς μεταβολὰς καὶ ὑπερβολὰς φυλάσσειν καὶ σίτων καὶ ποτῶν καὶ πνευμάτων καὶ τοῦ ὅλου κόσμου, ἐξ ὧνπερ τοῖσιν ἀνθρώποισι 40αἱ νοῦσοι εἰσίν.3 ταῦτα δὲ πάντα διαγνόντι οὔπω αὔταρκες τὸ εὕρεμά ἐστιν· εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν εὑρετὸν ἐπὶ τούτοισι πρὸς ἑκάστου4 φύσιν σίτου μέτρον καὶ πόνων ἀριθμὸς σύμμετρος μὴ ἔχων ὑπερβολὴν μήτε ἐπὶ τὸ πλέον μήτε ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλασσον, εὕρητο ἂν ὑγείη τοῖσιν ἀνθρώποισιν ἀκριβῶς. νῦν δὲ τὰ μὲν προειρημένα πάντα εὕρηται, ὁκοῖά ἐστι, τοῦτο δὲ ἀδύνατον εὑρεῖν. εἰ μὲν οὖν παρείη τις καὶ ὁρῴη, γινώσκοι ἂν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκδύνοντά τε καὶ ἐν τοῖσι γυμνασίοισι
Regimen I
eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise. For food and exercise, while possessing opposite qualities, yet work together to produce health. For it is the nature of exercise to use up material, but of food and drink to make good deficiencies. And it is necessary, as it appears, to discern the power of the various exercises, both natural exercises and artificial, to know which of them tends to increase flesh and which to lessen it; and not only this, but also to proportion exercise to bulk of food, to the constitution of the patient, to the age of the individual, to the season of the year, to the changes of the winds, to the situation of the region in which the patient resides, and to the constitution of the year. A man must observe the risings and settings of stars, that he may know how to watch for change and excess in food, drink, wind and the whole universe, from which diseases exist among men. But even when all this is discerned, the discovery is not complete. If indeed in addition to these things it were possible to discover for the constitution of each individual a due proportion of food to exercise, with no inaccuracy either of excess or of defect, an exact discovery of health for men would have been made. But as it is, although all the things previously mentioned have been discovered, this last discovery cannot be made. Now if one were present and saw, he would have knowledge1 of the patient as he stripped and