ΠΕΡΙ ΔΙΑΙΤΗΣ
50γυμναζόμενον, ὥστε1 φυλάσσειν ὑγιαίνοντα, τῶν μὲν ἀφαιρέων, τοῖσι δὲ προστιθείς· μὴ παρεόντι δὲ ἀδύνατον ὑποθέσθαι ἐς ἀκριβείην σῖτα καὶ πόνους· ἐπεὶ ὁκόσον γε δυνατὸν εὑρεῖν ἐμοὶ εἴρηται. ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἰ καὶ πάνυ μικρὸν ἐνδεέστερα2 τῶν ἑτέρων γίνοιτο, ἀνάγκη κρατηθῆναι ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ τὸ σῶμα ὑπὸ τῆς ὑπερβολῆς καὶ ἐς νοῦσον ἀφικέσθαι. τοῖσι μὲν οὖν ἄλλοισι μέχρι τούτου ἐπικεχείρηται ζητηθῆναι· εἴρηται3 δὲ οὐδὲ ταῦτα· ἐμοὶ δὲ ταῦτα ἐξεύρηται, καὶ πρὸ 60τοῦ κάμνειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπερβολῆς, ἐφ᾿ ὁκότερον4 ἂν γένηται, προδιάγνωσις. οὐ γὰρ εὐθέως αἱ νοῦσοι τοῖσιν ἀνθρώποισι γίνονται, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μικρὸν συλλεγόμεναι ἀθρόως5 ἐκφαίνονται. πρὶν οὖν κρατεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ ὑγιὲς ὑπὸ τοῦ νοσεροῦ, ἃ πάσχουσιν ἐξεύρηταί μοι, καὶ ὅκως χρὴ ταῦτα καθιστάναι ἐς τὴν ὑγείην. τούτου δὲ προσγενομένου πρὸς τοῖσι γεγραμμένοισι, τελευτᾷ6 τὸ ἐπιχείρημα τῶν 69διανοημάτων.
III. Συνίσταται μὲν οὖν τὰ ζῷα τά τε ἄλλα πάντα καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀπὸ δυοῖν, διαφόροιν μὲν τὴν δύναμιν, συμφόροιν δὲ τὴν χρῆσιν, πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος. ταῦτα δὲ συναμφότερα αὐτάρκεά ἐστι τοῖσί τε ἄλλοισι πᾶσι καὶ ἀλλήλοισιν, ἑκάτερον δὲ χωρὶς οὔτε αὐτὸ ἑωυτῷ οὔτε ἄλλῳ οὐδενί. τὴν μὲν οὖν δύναμιν αὐτῶν ἑκάτερον
- 1Diels (after Ermerins) puts γινώσκοι ἂν after γυμναζόμενον, reading ὡς δεῖ φυλάσσειν. θ has ὥστε διαφυλάσσειν.
- 2After ἐνδεέστερα Diels (perhaps rightly) adds τὰ ἕτερα.
- 3εἴρηται θ M: εὕρηται has been suggested.
- 4ἀφ᾿ ὁκοτέρων Diels, from the de qua provenit of P.
- 5ἀθρόον θ.
- 6τελευτὰ θ: τελέεται M: finem accipit P.
Regimen
practised his exercises, so as to keep him in health by taking away here and adding there. But without being present it is impossible to prescribe the exact amount of food and exercise, since how far it is possible to make discoveries I have already set forth. In fact, if there occur even a small deficiency of one or the other, in course of time the body must be overpowered by the excess and fall sick. Now the other investigators have attempted to carry their researches to this point, but they have not gone on to set them forth.1 But I have discovered these things, as well as the forecasting of an illness before the patient falls sick, based upon the direction in which is the excess. For diseases do not arise among men all at once; they gather themselves together gradually before appearing with a sudden spring. So I have discovered the symptoms shown in a patient before health is mastered by disease, and how these are to be replaced by a state of health. When to the things already written this also has been added, the task I have set before myself will be accomplished.
III. Now all animals, including man, are composed of two things, different in power but working together in their use, namely, fire and water. Both together these are sufficient for one another and for everything else, but each by itself suffices neither for itself nor for anything else. Now the power that