REGIMEN II The way to discern the situation and nature of various districts is, broadly speaking, as follows : The southern countries are hotter and drier than the northern ; because they are very near the sun. The races of men and plants in these countries must of necessity be drier, hotter and stronger than those which are in the opposite countries. For example, compare the Libyan race with the Pontic, and also the races nearest to each. Countries considered by themselves have the following characters. Places which are high and scorched and are situated to the south are drier than plains though so situated, because they have less moisture ; for they do not retain the rain that falls, but the others do. Marshy and boggy places moisten and heat. They heat because they are hollow and encompassed about, and there is no current of air. They moisten, because the things that grow there, on which the inhabitants feed, are more moist, while the air which is breathed is thicker, because the water there stagnates. Hollows that are without water dry and heat. They heat because they are hollow and en- compassed ; they dry both by reason of the dryness of the food, and by reason that the air which is breathed, being dry, attracts the moisture from our bodies for its own nourishment, having nothing moister to assail in order to nourish itself therefrom. In places where mountains are situated to the south, the south winds that blow are parching and unhealthy ; where the mountains are situated to the north, there northern winds occasion disorders and sickness. Where there are hollows on the north side of a town, or where it is faced by an island to the north, such a district becomes hot and sickly with the summer winds, because no north wind blows across to bring a pure current of air, nor is the land cooled by the summer winds. Islands which are near the mainland have very severe winters ; but those which are further out to sea are milder in winter. The reason is because the snow and ice on the mainland remain, and send cold winds to the neighbouring islands ; but islands situated in mid-ocean have no snow remaining in the winter. XXXVIII. You may distinguish the nature and power of every particular wind in the following way. All winds have a power of moistening and cooling both animal and vegetable bodies for this reason ; because all these winds must come either from snow or ice or places severely frozen, or from rivers or lakes, or from moist and cold land. The stronger winds come from these conditions when widely extended and strongly intensified, weaker winds from these conditions less widely extended and less intensified. As there is breath in the animals, so there is in everything else : some have less, some more accord- ing to size. Now all winds have a cooling and moistening nature. But winds differ from one another according to the situation of the counti- ies and places through which they come to the various regions, heing colder, hotter, moister, drier, sicklier or healthier. You may know the cause of each in the following way. The north wind blows cold and moist, because it blows from such countries, and passes through places which the sun does not approach to drv the air and consume the moisture, so that it comes to the habitable earth with its own power, unless this be destroyed by the situation of the place. It is most cold to those who dwell nearest to these places and least to those who are farthest from them. The south blows sometimes from places that are of the same nature as the north ; for when it blows from the south pole and starts from much snow, ice and severe frosts, it must of necessity blow to those who dwell there near it after the same manner as the north does to us. But it does not come the same to every country ; for instance, when it blows through the approaches of the sun under the south, the moisture is absorbed by the sun. As it dries it becomes rare, and therefore of necessity it must reach here hot and dry. Therefore in the most adjacent countries it must impart such a hot and drv qualitv, as it does in Libya, where it parches the plants, and insensibly dries up the inhabitants. For as it cannot get any moisture either from sea or river, it drinks up the moisture of animals and plants. But when the wind, being hot and rare, has passed the ocean, it fills the country where it strikes with much moisture. The south wind must necessarily be hot and moist, where the situation of the countries does not cause it to be otherwise. The powers of other winds too are similarly conditioned. The properties of winds due to varieties of region are as follow. The winds which strike regions from off the sea, or from snow, frost, lakes or rivers, all moisten and cool both plants and animals, and are healthy unless they be cold to an excess, when they are hurtful by reason of the great changes of cold and heat which they make in bodies. Those are subject to these changes who inhabit marshy and hot places near great rivers. All other winds which blow from the foresaid places are beneficial, as they afford a pure and serene air, and a moisture to temper the heat of the soul. The winds which come by land must necessarily be drier, being dried both by the sun and the earth. These winds, not having a place whence to draw nourish- ment, and attracting moisture from living creatures, hurt both plants and animals. The winds which pass over mountains to reach cities do not only dry, but also disturb the air which we breathe, and the bodies of men, so as to engender diseases. This is the way to judge of the nature and power of various winds. I will show in the subsequent dis- course how we must provide against each. XXXIX. The power of various foods and drinks, both what they are by nature and what by art, you should judge of thus. Those who have undertaken to treat in general either of sweet, or fat, or salt things, or about the power of any other such thing, are mistaken. The same power does not belong to all sweet things, nor to all fat things, nor to all particulars of any other class. For many sweet things are laxative, many binding, many drying, many moistening. It is the same with all other kinds; some are astringent or laxative, some diuretic ; there are some that are neither. It is the same with things which are heating and with all other things, one has one power, another, another. Since therefore it is impossible to set forth these things in general, I will show what power each one has in particular. XL. Bailey in its own nature is cold, moist and drying, but it has something purgative from the juice of the husks. This is proved by boiling un- winnowed barley, the decoction of which is very purgative ; but if it be winnowed, it is more cooling and astringent. When it is parched, the moist and purgative quality is removed by the fire, and that which is left is cool and dry. When, therefore, it is necessary to cool and dry, barley meal thus used will do it, no matter how the cake is prepared ; such, in fact, is the power of the barley cake. 1 The meal together with the bran has less nourishment, but passes better by stool. That which is cleaned from the bran is more nourishing, but does not pass so well by stool. Barley cake made into a paste betimes,3 sprinkled with water but not well kneaded, is light, passes easily by stool, and cools. It cools because it is moistened with cold water ; it passes by stool because that it is soon digested, and it is light because that a great part of the nourishment is secreted outside with the breath. For the passages, being too narrow for the nourishment, will not receive a new addition, and part of it is attenuated and secreted outside with the breath, while a part remains and causes flatulence; of this some is belched upwards, and some passes out downwards. A great part, therefore, of the nourishment passes out of the body. If you will give the barley cake as soon as it is mixed, it is drying, for the barley meal, being dry, and moist only by the water which is mixed with it, coming into the belly attracts its moisture as being hot ; for it is natural for the hot to attract the cold, and the cold the hot. The moisture of the belly being consumed it must necessarily grow dry, and when the water mixed with the barley cake has entered the belly it must grow cool. 2 So when it is necessary to cool or to dry a sufferer from diarrhoea or from any sort of inflammation, barley cake of this sort serves well. Barley cake that is dry and well kneaded does not dry so much, by reason that it is more tightly compressed, but it is very nourishing', because as it gently dissolves the passages admit the nourishment ; so it passes slowly without occasioning wind either downwards or upwards. That which has been mixed beforehand and well kneaded nourishes less, but passes by stool and causes more wind. XLI. Cyceon made with barley only 1 added to water cools and nourishes, with wine it heats, nourishes and is astringent. With honey it heats and nourishes less, but is more laxative unless the honey be unmixed ; 2 with unmixed honey it is astringent. With milk all cyceons are nourishing ; made with sheep's milk they are astringent, with goats' milk they are more laxative, with cows' milk less, but with mares' or asses' milk they are more laxative. XLI I. Wheat is stronger and more nourishing than barley, but both it and its gruel are less laxative. Bread made of it without separating the bran dries and passes ; when cleaned 3 from the bran it nourishes more, but is less laxative. Of the various breads themselves the fermented is light and passes. It is light because the moisture is quickly used up owing to the acid of the leaven, and this is the nourishment. 4 It passes, because it is soon digested; but that which is not fermented does not pass so well, but nourishes more. That which is mixed with wheat gruel is lightest, affords good nourishment, and passes. It nourishes because it is made of pure wheat. It is light because it is tempered with what is most light, and is fermented by it and baked. It passes because it is mixed with the sweet and laxative part of the wheat. Of loaves themselves the largest are the most nourishing, because the moisture of these is least consumed by the fire. Those which are baked in an oven are more nourishing than those which are baked on the hearth or on a spit, because that they are less burnt by the fire. Those which are baked in a pan or under the ashes are the most dry ; the latter by reason of the ashes, the former by reason of the earthen pan which imbibes their moisture. The bread made of finest flour called similasro is the most strengthening of all, except that which is made of groats, which is very nourishing, but does not pass so well by stool. Fine flour mixed with water and drunk is refreshing, and so is the water wherein flour of spelt has been washed over a fire. A decoction of bran when boiled is light and passes well by stool. Meal boiled in milk passes better by stool than that boiled in water by reason of the whey, and especially if it is mixed with laxatives. All foods from meals boiled or fried with honey and oil are heating and windy ; windy because they are very nourishing and do not pass by stool, heating because in one place are fat, sweet and ill-assorted ingredients, which should not be cooked in the same way. Similago and groats boiled are strengthening and very nourishing, but do not pass by stool. XLIII. The spelts x are lighter than wheat, and preparations therefrom are as light as 2 those from wheat, and more laxative. Oats, whether eaten or drunk as a decoction, moisten and cool. XLIV. Freshly cooked meal and flour are drier than those which are stale, because they are nearer the fire with which they were prepared ; for as they grow stale the heat exhales and the cold succeeds. Hot bread dries, cold dries less, yesterday's bread somewhat less, and causes a certain amount of leanness. XLV. Beans afford an astringent and flatulent nourishment ; flatulent because that the passages do not admit the abundant nourishment which is brought, astringent because that it has only a small residue from its nourishment. Peas are less windy and pass better by stool. The chick-pea, called ochrus, and the bean called dolichus pass better by stool than these, and are less windy but nourishing. The white chick-pea passes by stool and urine, and nourishes. The substantial part nourishes, the sweet passes by urine, and the saline passes by stool. Millet groats and husks are dry and binding ; with figs they are strong nourishment for hard workers. Whole millet by itself boiled is nourishing, but it does not pass by stool. Lentils are heating and trouble the bowels ; they are neither laxative nor astringent. Bitter vetches are binding, strengthening, fattening, rilling, and give a person a good colour. Linseed is nourishing, astringent, and somewhat refreshing. Clary seed is much of the same nature as linseed. Lupins are in their nature strengthening and heating, but by preparation they become more light and cooling than they are naturally, and pass by stool. Hedge-mustard seed moistens and passes by stool. Cucumber seeds pass better by urine than by stool. Unwashed sesame seeds pass by stool, fill and fatten ; they pass by stool by reason of their outward skins, they are fattening by reason of their substance ; when washed they pass less by stool, but they fatten and fill more ; they dry and heat because they are fat and oily. Wild saffron passes by stool. Poppy is binding, the black more than the white, but the white also. It is nourishing, however, and strengthening. Of all these seeds the juices are more laxative than their substance. When, therefore, you have a mind to dry, you must take care in preparation to remove their juices, and to make use of their substance; when you have a mind to loosen, to make use of more of their juices, less of their substance, and only of those that are very succulent. XLVI. As to animals which are eatable, you must know that beef is strong and binding, and hard of digestion, because this animal abounds with a gross thick blood. The meat is heavy to the body, the flesh itself, the milk and the blood. Those animals which have a thin milk, and the blood the same, have flesh too of the like nature. Goats' flesh is lighter than these, and passes better by stool. Swine's flesh affords more strength to the body than these and passes well by stool, because this animal has small anaemic veins, but much flesh. Lambs' flesh is lighter than sheep's, and kids' than goats', because they do not abound with so much blood, and are more moist. For animals too which are naturally dry and strong, when tender, pass by stool ; but when they are grown up, not so much ; it is just the same with veal compared to beef. But young pigs' flesh is heavier than pork ; for this animal, abounding naturally in flesh and not in blood, has excess of moisture whilst young ; so when the passages refuse the entering nourishment, it remains, grows hot, and deranges the belly. The flesh of asses passes by stool, and that of their foals still better, though horseflesh is somewhat lighter. Dogs' flesh dries, heats, and affords strength, but does not pass by stool. The flesh of puppies moistens and passes by stool, still more by urine. Wild boars' flesh is drying and strengthening, and passes by stool. Deer's Hesh is drying and passes not so well by stool, but better by urine. Hares' flesh is dry and constipating, but is somewhat diuretic. Foxes' flesh is moister, and passes by urine. Hedgehogs' is diuretic and moistens. XLV1I. With birds it is as follows. All birds almost are drier than beasts, for those creatures which have no bladder neither make urine nor have spittle, by reason of the heat of the belly. For the moisture of the body is consumed to nourish the heat ; wherefore they neither urinate nor spit. Therefore that which wants such moisture must necessarily be dry. The flesh of ringdoves is the driest, secondly partridges, thirdly pigeons, cocks and turtles. The flesh of geese is the most moist. Those which feed on seed are drier than the others. Ducks and other fowls that feed on marshes or waters are all moist. XLVIII. As to the flesh of fish, these are the driest. The scorpion fish, dragon fish, 1 the fish called callionvmos, the piper, the grey fish, the perch, the fish called thrissa. The fish that frequent stony places are almost all light, as the thrush fish, the hake, the gudgeon and elephitis. These are lighter than those which move from place to place, for these remaining quiet have a rare and light flesh, but those which wander and are wavetossed have a more solid and deeper flesh, being much battered by the toil. The torpedo, skate, turbot and such-Hke are light. All those fish that feed in muddy and marshy places, as mullet, cestreus, eels and the like are heavier (of digestion), because they feed upon muddy water and other things which grow therein. The air of which also, entering a person, hurts and oppresses him. The fish of rivers and ponds are heavier than these. The polypus, cuttle and the like are neither light, as they are thought to be, nor do they pass by stool, but they dull the eyes. The broth of them, however, passes by stool. Shell-fish, as the pinna, limpet, purple fish, trumpet and oysters, have a flesh that dries, but their broths pass by stool. Mussels, cockles and tellines pass better than these by stool; sea-nettles do so especially; fish that are cartilaginous moisten and pass by stool. The spawn of urchins and the juice of spiny lobsters pass by stool ; arcos too and crabs, the river variety more than others, but also sea-crabs ; they are also diuretic. Pickled fish are drying and attenuating ; oily ones are gently laxative. The driest of pickled fish are those of the sea, the next those of the rivers, while the moistest are those of the lakes. Of pickled fish considered by themselves those are driest which are made from the driest fish. XLIX. As to animals which are tamed, those which feed in the woods and fields are drier than those fed within doors, because their labours in the sun and the cold dry them, while they breathe an air that is drier. Wild beasts are drier than tame ; small eaters than great eaters ; hay eaters than grass eaters ; * fruit eaters than non-fruit eaters ; small drinkers than great drinkers ; those which abound in blood than those which have little or no blood ; those which are in their vigour than those which are very old or young ; males than females ; entire than gelded ; the black than the white ; the hairy than those which have little or no hair. The opposite to these are more moist. As to the flesh of animals as a class, that is the strongest which labours most, abounds most in blood, and on which they lie. Those are lightest which have laboured least, have least blood, are most in the shade, and are placed most inwardly in the animal. Of the bloodless parts the brain and the marrow are the strongest ; the lightest parts are the head, the feet, the region of the genitals and those that are tendinous.1 Of fish, the driest parts are the upper, the lightest those below the stomach ; the head is more moist by reason of the fat and brain. L. Birds' eggs are strong, nourishing and windy. An egg is strong because it is the origin of an animal ; nourishing because it is the milk of the animal ; windy, because from small bulk it expands to a great one. LI. Cheese is strong, heating, nourishing and binding ; it is strong because it is nearest to a creature's origin ; it is nourishing because the fleshy part of the milk remains in it ; it is heating because it is fat ; binding, because it is coagulated by fig juice or rennet. LI I. Water is cooling and moist. Wine is hot and dry, and it has something purgative from its original substance. Dark and harsh wines are more dry, and they pass well neither by stool nor by urine, nor by spittle. They dry by reason of their heat, con- suming the moisture out of the body. Soft dark wines are moister ; they are flatulent and pass better by stool. The sweet dark wines are moister and weaker ; they cause flatulence because they produce moisture. Harsh white wines heat without drying, and they pass better by urine than by stool. New wines pass by stool better than other wines because they are nearer the must, and more nourishing ; of wines of the same age, those with bouquet pass better by stool than those without, because they are riper, and the thicker wines better than the thin. Thin wines pass better by urine. White wines and thin sweet wines pass better by urine than by stool ; they cool, attenuate and moisten the body, but make the blood weak, increasing in the body that which is opposed to the blood. Must causes wind, disturbs the bowels and empties them. It causes wind because it heats ; it empties the body because it purges ; it disturbs by fermenting in the bowels and passing by stool. Acid wines cool, moisten and attenuate ; they cool and attenuate by emptying the body of its moisture ; they moisten from the water that enters with the wine. Vinegar is refreshing, because it dissolves and consumes the moisture in the body ; it is binding rather than laxative because it affords no nourishment and is sharp. Boiled-down wine warms, moistens and sends to stool. It warms because it is vinous, moistens because it is nutritious, and sends to stool because it is sweet and moreover boiled-down. Wine from grape-husks moistens, sends to stool and fills with wind, because must also does the same. LI 1 1. Honey unmixed warms and dries ; mixed with water it moistens, sends to stool those of bilious temperament, but binds those who are phlegmatic. But sweet wine tends to send the phlegmatic to stool. LIV. The qualities of vegetables are as follow. Garlic warms, passes well by stool and by urine, and is good for the body though bad for the eyes. For making a considerable purgation of the body it dulls the sight. It promotes stools and urine because of the purgative qualities it possesses. When boiled it is weaker than when raw. It causes flatulence be- cause it causes stoppage of wind. The onion is good for sight, but bad for the body, because it is hot and burning, and does not lead to stool ; for without giving nourishment or help to the body it warms and dries on account of its juice. The leek warms less, but passes well by urine and by stool ; it has also a certain purgative quality. It moistens and it stops heartburn, but you must eat it last. The radish moistens through melting the phlegm by its sharpness, but the leaves do so less. The root is bad for arthritis, and it repeats and is hard to digest. Cress is heating and melts the flesh ; it congeals white phlegm, so as to produce strangury. Mustard is hot and passes well by stool ; it too passes hardly by urine. Rocket also has effects like those of mustard. Coriander is hot and astringent ; it stops heartburn, and when eaten last also causes sleep. Lettuce is rather cooling before it has its juice, but sometimes it produces weakness in the body. Anise is hot and astringent, and the smell of it stops sneezing. Celery passes better by urine than by stool, and the root passes by stool better than does the stalk. Basil is dry, hot and astringent. Rue passes better by urine than by stool, and it has a certain congealing quality, while if drunk beforehand it is a prophylactic against poisons. Asparagus is dry and astringent. Sage is dry and astringent. Night-shade cools and prevents nightly pollutions. Purslane when fresh cools, when preserved it warms. Nettles purge. Catmint warms and purges. Mint warms, passes easily by urine, and stops vomiting; if eaten often it melts the seed and makes it run, preventing erections and weakening the body. Sorrel warms and passes well by stool. Orach is moist without passing well by stool. Blite is warm without passing well by stool. Cabbage warms, passes well by stool and evacuates bilious matters. Beet juice passes well by stool, though the vegetable itself is astringent ; the roots of beet are rather more aperient. The pumpkin warms, 1 moistens, and passes easily by stool though not by urine. The turnip is heating, moistening, and disturbing to the body ; but it does not pass easily, either by stool or by urine.2 Pennyroyal warms and passes easily by stool. Marjoram warms, and also evacuates bilious matters. Savory acts in a similar way. Thyme is hot, passes easily by stool and urine, and evacuates phlegmatic humours. Hyssop is warming and expels phlegmatic humours. Of wild vegetables, those that are warming in the mouth, and of a sweet smell, warm and pass more readily by urine than by stool ; those that have a moist, cold and sluggish nature, or a strong smell, pass more easily by stool than by urine ; those that are rough or harsh, are binding ; those that are sharp and of a sweet smell pass easily by urine ; those that are sharp and dry in the mouth are drying ; those that are acid are cooling. Diuretic juices are those of samphire, celery, garlic (in infusions), clover, fennel, leek, maiden-hair, nightshade. Cooling are hart's tongue, mint, seseli, endive, bur-parsley, hypericum, nettles. Juices that send to stool or purge are those of chick-pea, lentils, barley, beet, cabbage, mercury, elder, carthamus. These help stools rather than urine. LV. The following are the qualities of fruits. Fruit generally 1 is rather relaxing, more so when fresh than when dry. The properties of fruits shall now be given. Mulberries warm, moisten and pass easily by stool. Pears when ripe warm, moisten and pass easily by stool, but when hard they are binding. Wild winter pears when ripe pass easily by stool and purge the bowels ; when unripe they are binding. Sweet apples are indigestible, but acid apples when ripe are less so. Quinces are astringent, and do not pass easily by stool. Apple juice stops vomiting and promotes urine. The smell too of apples is good for vomiting. Wild apples are astringent, but when cooked they pass more easily by stool. For orthopncea their juice, and the apples themselves when a draught is made of them, are beneficial. Service berries, medlars, cornel berries and such fruit generally are binding and astringent. The juice of the sweet pomegranate is laxative, but has a certain burning quality. Vinous pomegranates are flatulent. 2 The acid are more cooling. The seeds of all 3 are astringent. Unripe gourds 4 are indigestible; ripe gourds 5 pass easily by urine and stool, but are flatulent. Grapes are warming and moist, passing easily by stool ; white grapes are especially so. Sweet grapes are very heating, because by the time they are sweet they have absorbed much heat. Unripe grapes are less warming, but a draught made from them is purgative. Raisins are burning, but pass well by stool. The green fig moistens, passes well by stool and warms ; it moistens because it is juicy, warms and passes well because of its sweet juice. The first crop of figs is the worst, because such figs have most juice ; the latest are the best. Dry figs are burning, but pass well by stool. Almonds are burning but nutritious ; burning because they are oily, and nutritious because they are fleshy. Round nuts 1 are similar. Flat nuts 2 are nutritious when ripe, pass easily by stool when peeled, and cause flatulence. Their skins, however, are binding. Ilex nuts and acorns are binding when raw, but less so when boiled. LVI. Rich meats are burning, but pass well by stool. Meats preserved in wine are drying and nutritious ; drying because of the wine, and nourish- ing because of the flesh. When preserved in vinegar they are less warming because of the vinegar, but they are quite nutritious. Meats preserved in salt are less nutritious, because the brine has deprived them of their moisture, but they attenuate, dry, and pass by stool quite well. The powers of foods severally ought to be diminished or increased in the following way, as it is known that out of fire and water are composed all things, both animal and vegetable, and that through them all things grow, and into them they are dissolved. Take away their power from strong foods by boiling and cooling many times ; remove moisture from moist things by grilling and roasting them ; soak and moisten dry things, soak and boil salt things, bitter and sharp things mix with sweet, and astringent things mix with oily. All other cases judge in accordance with what has been already said. Foods grilled or roasted are more binding than raw, because the fire has taken away the moisture, the juice and the fat. So when they fall into the belly they drag to themselves the moisture from the belly, burning up the mouths of the veins, drying and heating them so as to shut up the passages for liquids. Things coming from waterless, dry and torrid regions are all drier and warmer, and provide the body with more strength, because, bulk for bulk, they are heavier, more compact and more nutritioua 1 than those from moist regions that are well-watered and cold, the latter foods being moister, lighter and colder. Accordingly, it is necessary to know the property, not only of foods themselves, whether of corn, drink or meat, but also of the country from which they come. So those who wish to give the body a stronger nourish- ment, without increasing the bulk of the food, must use corn, drink and meat from waterless regions. When they need lighter and moister nourishment, they must use things from well-watered regions. Things sweet, or sharp, or salt, or bitter, or harsh, or fleshy are naturally heating, whether they are dry or moist. Things that have in themselves a greater portion of the dry, these warm and dry ; those that have a greater portion of the moist in all cases warm, moisten and pass by stool better than things that are dry ; for being more nourishing to the body they cause a revulsion to the belly, and, moistening, pass readily by stool. Such foods or drinks as warm and dry, producing neither spittle nor urine nor stools, dry the body for the following reasons. The body growing warm is emptied of its moisture, partly by the foods themselves, while part is consumed in giving nourishment to the warmth of the soul, while yet another part, growing warm and thin, forces its way through the skin. Things sweet, or fat, or oily are filling, because though of small bulk they are capable of wide diffusion. Growing warm and melt- ing they fill up the warmth in the body and make it calm. Things acid, sharp, harsh, astringent, f —f and dry are not filling, seeing that they open and thoroughly cleanse the mouths of the veins ; and some by drying, others by stinging, others by contracting, make the moisture in the flesh shiver and compress itself into a small bulk, and so the void in the body becomes great. So when you wish to fill with little food, or empty with more, use foods of this kind. Fresh foods in all cases give more strength than others, just because they are nearer to the living creature. But stale and putrid things pass more readily by stool than do fresh because they are nearer to corruption. Raw things cause colic and belching, because what ought to be digested by the fire is dealt with by the belly, which is too weak for the substances that enter it. Meats prepared in sauces * are burning and moist, because there are united in one place things oily, fiery, warm, and with mutually opposite properties. Preparations in brine or vinegar are better and are not burning. LVII. As to baths, their properties are these. Drinkable 2 water moistens and cools, as it gives moisture to the body. A salt bath warms and dries, as having a natural heat it draws the moisture from the body. Hot baths, when taken fasting, reduce and cool, for they carry the moisture from the body owing to their warmth, while as the flesh is emptied of its moisture the body is cooled. Taken after a meal they warm and moisten, as they expand to a greater bulk the moisture already existing in the bodv. Cold baths have an opposite effect. To an empty body they give a certain amount of heat ; after a meal they take away moisture and fill with their dryness, which is cold. 1 To refrain from baths dries, as the moisture is used up, and so does to refrain from oiling. LVIII. Oiling warms, moistens and softens. The sun and fire dry for the following reason. Being warm and dry, they draw the moisture from the body. Shade and moderate cold moisten, for they give more than they receive. All sweats on their departure both dry and reduce, as the moisture of the body leaves it. Sexual intercourse reduces, moistens and warms. It warms owing to the fatigue and the excretion of moisture ; it reduces owing to the evacuation ; it moistens because of the remnant in the body of the matters melted by the fatigue. LIX. Vomitings reduce through the evacuation of the nourishment. They do not, however, dry, unless appropriate treatment be applied on the following day ; they tend rather to moisten through the repletion 2 and through the melting of flesh caused by the fatigue. But if on the morrow one lets the moisture be consumed by the warmth for its nourishment, and increase nourishment gradually, vomitings dry. Constipated bowels are relaxed by vomiting, and too relaxed bowels are bound thereby ; it moistens the former and dries the latter. When, therefore, you wish to bind the bowels, take a meal and administer an emetic as quickly as possible, before the food can be moistened and drawn downwards ; the food used should by preference be astringent and dry. But when you wish to loosen the bowels, it is beneficial to keep the food as long as possible, and to take food and drink that are sharp, salt, greasy and sweet. LX. Sleep when fasting reduces and cools, if it be not prolonged, as it empties the body of the existing moisture ; if, however, it be pro- longed, it heats and melts the flesh, dissolves the body and enfeebles it. After a meal sleep warms and moistens, spreading the nourishment over the body. It is especially after early-morning walks that sleep is drying. Want of sleep, after a meal, is injurious, as it prevents the food from dissolving ; to a fasting person it is less injurious, while it tends to reduce flesh. Inaction moistens and weakens the body ; for the soul, being at rest, does not consume the moisture out of the body. But labour dries and strengthens the body. Taking one meal x a day reduces, dries and binds the bowels, because, through the warmth of the soul the moisture is consumed from out the belly and the flesh. To take lunch has effects opposite to those of taking one meal only. Hot water as a diink is a general reducer of flesh, and cold water likewise. But excessive cold, whether of breath, food or drink, congeals the moisture in the body, and binds the bowels by the congealing and the cold ; for it overpowers the moisture of the soul. Then again excess of heat too causes congealing, to such an extent as to prevent diffusion. Such things as warm the body without affording nourishment, and empty the flesh of its moisture, even when there is no excess, in all cases cause chill in a man ; for, the existing moisture being emptied out, the body is rilled with breath from outside and grows cold. LXI. I will now discuss the properties of exercises. 1 Some exercises are natural and some violent. Natural exercises are those of sight, hearing, voice and thought. The nature 2 of sight is as follows. The soul, applying itself to what it can see, is moved and warmed. As it warms it dries, the moisture having been emptied out. Through hearing, when noise strikes the soul, the latter is shaken and exercised, and as it is exercised it is warmed and dried. By all the thoughts that come to a man the and violent corresponds to no modern division, as is proved by the enumeration of "natural" exercises, while by "violent" exercise we mean "excessive" exercise, but ol fiia #i7)i ir6voi means rather exercises that are artificial, the result of conscious and forced effort. Apparently all muscular exercises are " violent." 2 The word Suva/xis means much the same thing as Sivafiiv in the first sentence. The essential qualities are referred to in both cases, but it seems preferable to use different equivalents in the translation, as Swa^ti/ refers mostly to the qualities and Svvapis to the essence of exercises. soul is warmed and dried ; consuming the moisture it is exercised, it empties the flesh and it makes a man thin. Exercises of the voice, whether speech, reading or singing, all these move the soul. And as it moves it grows warm and dry, and consumes the moisture. LXII. Walking is a natural exercise, much more so than the other exercises, hut there is something violent about it. The properties of the several kinds of walking are as follow. A walk after dinner dries the belly and body ; it prevents the stomach be- coming fat for the following reasons. As the man moves, the food and his body grow warm. So the flesh draws the moisture, and prevents it accumulating about the belly. So the body is filled while the belly grows thin. The drying is caused thus. As the body moves and grows warm, the finest part of the nourishment is either consumed by the innate heat, or secreted out with the breath or by the urine. What is left behind in the body is the driest part from the food, so that the belly and the flesh dry up. Early-morning walks too reduce [the body], and render the parts about the head light, bright and of good hearing, while they relax the bowels. They reduce because the body as it moves grows hot, and the moisture is thinned and purged, partly by the breath, partly when the nose is blown and the throat cleared, partly being consumed by the heat of the soul for the nourishment thereof. They relax the bowels because, cold breath rushing into them from above while they are hot, the heat gives way before the cold. It makes light the parts about the head for the following reasons. When the bowels have been emptied, being hot they draw to themselves the moisture from the body generally, and especially from the head ; when the head is emptied sight and hearing are purged, and the man becomes bright. 1 Walks after gymnastics render the body pure and thin, prevent the flesh melted by exercise from collecting together, and purge it away. LXIII. Of running exercises, such as are not double 2 and long, if increased gradually, have the power to heat, concoct and dissolve the flesh ; they di- gest the power of the foods that is in the flesh, making the body slower and more gross than do circular runnings, but they are more beneficial to big eaters, and in winter rather than in summer. Running in a cloak has the same power, but heating more rapidly it makes the body more moist but less tanned, because this is not cleansed by meeting the rush of pure air, but remains in the same air while it is exercised. So this kind of running is beneficial to those who have a dry body, to those who have excess of flesh which they wish to reduce, and, because of the coldness of their bodies, to those who are getting on in years. The double course, with the body exposed to the air, dissolves the flesh less, but reduces the body more, 1 because the exercises, being concerned with the inner parts 2 of the soul, draw by revulsion the moisture out of the flesh, and render the body thin and dry. Running in a circle dissolves the flesh least, but reduces and contracts the flesh and the belly most, because, as it causes the most rapid respiration, it is the quickest to draw the moisture to itself. LXIV. Swinging the arms, for persons of dry flesh, and when jerky, is inexpedient, as it causes sprains, in the following way. The body having been warmed,3 this swinging makes the skin considerably thinner, but contracts the flesh less than run- ning in a circle, and empties the flesh of its moisture. Sparring and raising the body x heat the flesh least, but they stimulate both body and soul, while they empty the body of breath. Wrestling and rubbing give exercise more to the exterior pai'ts of the body, but they warm the flesh, harden it and make it grow, for the following reason. Parts that are naturally hard are compressed by rubbing, while hollow parts grow, such as are veins. For the flesh, growing warm and dry, draws to itself the nourish- ment through the passages, and then it grows. Wrestling in the dust has effects like to those of ordinary wrestling, but it dries more because of the dust, and it increases flesh less. Wrestling with the fingers reduces and draws the flesh upwards ; the punch-ball and arm exercises have like effects. Holding the breath has the property of forcing open the passages, of thinning the skin, and of expelling therefrom the moisture. LXV. Exercises in dust differ from those in oil thus. Dust is cold, oil is warm. In winter oil promotes growth more, because it prevents the cold from being carried from the body. In summer, oil, producing excess of heat, melts the flesh, when the latter is heated by the season, by the oil and by the exercise. In summer it is exercise in dust that promotes growth more, for by cooling the body it prevents its being heated to excess. But in winter dust is chilling, or even freezing. To remain in the dust after exei*cise in summer benefits by its cooling property, if it be for a short time ; if it be for long, it dries the body to excess and renders it hard as wood. Rubbing with oil and water softens the body, and prevents its becoming over-heated. LXVI. The fatigue pains that arise in the body are as follow. Men out of training suffer these pains after the slightest exercise, as no part of their body has been inured to any exercise ; but trained bodies feel fatigue pains after unusual exercises, some even after usual exercises if they be excessive. These are the various kinds of fatigue pains ; their properties are as follow. Untrained people, whose flesh is moist, after exercise undergo a considerable melting, as the body grows warm. Now whatever of this melted substance passes out as sweat, or is purged away with the breath, causes pain only to the part of the body that has been emptied contrary to custom ; but such part of it as remains behind causes pain not only to the part of the body emptied contrary to custom, but also to the part that has received the moisture, as it is not congenial to the body but hostile to it. It tends to gather, not at the fleshless, but at the fleshy parts of the body, in such a way as to cause them pain until it has passed out. Now as it has no circulation, it remains still and grows hot, as do also the things that touch it. Now if the secretion prove abundant it overpowers even that which is healthy, so that the whole body is heated and a high fever follows. For when the blood has been attracted and heated, the things in the body set up a rapid circulation, and the body generally is cleansed by the breath, while the col- lected moisture, becoming warm, is thinned and forced outwards from the flesh to the skin, and is called "hot sweat." When the secretion of this is over, the blood is restored to its natural motion,1 the fever subsides, and the fatigue pains cease about the third day. Pains of this sort should be treated thus. Break up the collected humour by vapour baths, and by hot baths, and make firm the reduced flesh 2 by gentle walks, in order to effect purgation, by restricted diet and by practices that cause leanness ; it is beneficial to apply oil gently to the body for a long time, that the heating be not violent, to use sudorific unguents, and to lie on a soft bed. Those in training suffer fatigue pains from unac- customed exercises for the following reasons. Any unexercised part of the body must of necessity have its flesh rnoist, just as persons out of training are moist generally throughout. 1 So the flesh must of necessity melt, secrete itself and collect itself, as in the former case. Beneficial treatment of such cases is as follows. Accustomed exercises should be practised, so that the collected humour may grow warm, become thin, and purge itself away, while the body generally may become neither moist nor yet unexercised. It is beneficial to employ hot baths in these cases also, with rubbing as before. But there is no need of vapour baths, as the exercises, being warming, are sufficient to thin and purge away the humour that has collected. Fatigue pains from accustomed exercises arise in the following way. Moderate toil is not followed by pain ; but when immoderate it dries the flesh overmuch, and this flesh, being emptied of its moisture, grows hot, painful and shivery, and falls into a longish fever, unless proper treatment be applied. First the patient should be washed in a bath not too copious nor yet over-hot ; then after the bath give him to drink a soft wine ; he should eat as heartily as possible of a many-coursed dinner, and drink copiously of a soft wine, well diluted ; then he should let a longish interval pass, until the veins become filled and inflated. Then let him vomit, and, having gone a short stroll, sleep on a soft bed. Then increase gradually his food and usual 1 exercises for six days, in which you must restore him to his usual food and drink. The treatment has the property of moistening without excess the body which has been dried to excess. Now if it were possible to discover the amount of the excess and cure it by an appropriate amount of food, all would be well thus. But as it is, this is impossible, but the other course is easy. For the body, in a state of dryness, after the entrance of all sorts of food, draws to itself what is beneficial from the several foods for the several parts of the body; on being filled and moistened, the belly having been emptied by the emetic, it casts away the excess, while the belly, being empty, exercises a revulsion. So the flesh rejects the excessive moisture, but it does not cast away that which is of an appropriate amount, unless it be under the constraint of drugs, of exercises,2 or of some revulsion. By employing gradation, you will restore the body gently to its old regimen.