This text is part of:
Click on a word to bring up parses, dictionary entries, and frequency statistics
[p. 64] εἰς χιασμὸν σχήματος: ἀθρόον δὲ εἰρῆσθαι, εἴτε ξύμπαντα ὁμοῦ, εἴτε μέρεα παρίεται, ... ἢ ξυναμφοτέρων, νεῦρα δὲ ἄλλοτε μὲν τὰ ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς πάσχει: τάδε μέντοι ἐς ἀναισθησίην τρέπονται, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν: οὐ γὰρ Ρ῾ηϊδίως ἐς ἀκινησίην ἐξ ὡυτέων Ρ῾έπει τάδε: κἢν μὲν τοῖσι κινευμένοισι ξυμπαθήσῃ, πάσχει καὶ τάδε σμικρὴν ἀκινησίην: ἴσχει γὰρ καὶ τὴν κίνησιν ἐξ ὡυτέων, εἰ καὶ ἐπὶ ἧσσον φύσι: ἄλλοτε δὲ τὰ ἀπὸ μυῶν1 ἐς μύας περαιούμενα, τάδε τὸ κῦρος τῆς κινήσιος ἴσχει, καὶ τοῖσι ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς προσδιδοῖ. καὶ γὰρ αὐτὰ ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνων τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς κινήσιος ἴσχει:2 ἴσχει δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἑωυτέων καὶ ἔλαττον : τάδε μέντοι ἀκινησίην πάσχει μᾶλλον: σπάνιον δὲ εἴ κοτε ἐξ ἑωυτέων εἰς ἀναισθησίην τρέποντα ι, δοκεῖ καὶ μὴ εἰς τὸ πάμπαν: ἢν δὲ ξύνδεσμός τις νεύρων λυθῇ τῶν ἐξ ὀστέων πεφυκότων τινὸς, καὶ κραινόν των ἐς ὀστέα, ἢ Ρ῾αγέντος,3 ἀκρατέα τὰ μέρεα καὶ ἐπισυρόμενα, οὐκ ἀναίσθητα, γίγνεται. εἴδεα δὲ παραπληκτικὰ τάδε. ἄλλοτε μὲν ἐς ἔκτασιν λέλυται τὰ μέλεα, οὐδὲ παλινδρομέει ἐς κάμψιν, εὖτε μήκιστα κῶλα φαίνεται: ἄλλοτε δὲ κυλλὰ γίγνεται, οὐδὲ ἐς μῆκος ἀποτείνεται: εἰ δὲ ἐκτανύσαι βιᾶται, ὅκως ξύλα ἐς κανόνα4 καταξέω ν, τὰ μέλεα βραχύτερα ἑωυτέων γίγνεται: τάδε πάσχει ἄμφω τὰ εἴδεα, καὶ ἡ ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖσι παρθένος.
1 although I have not ventured to alter the reading, it appears to me, from the distinction which our author makes above between the cerebral and spinal nerves, that he refers here to the latter, and that we ought to read, νωτιαίου μυελοῦ; or, perhaps, the former word might be dispensed with.
2 Ermerins does not hesitate to substitute αἰσθήσιος in place of κινήσιος, as fancying that the sense requires this change.
3 this can scarcely be the true reading. Should it not be Ρ῾αγῇ ?
4 The common reading is ἱκανὰ, which appears to have no meaning. The emendation is due to Ermerins. I have adopted it; although I must be permitted to say, it is far from satisfactory. The translation given by Ermerins is: “Quasi ligna ad regulam dolaret”; but it does not seem at all appropriate to the passage.
The Extant Works of Aretaeus, The Cappadocian. Aretaeus. Francis Adams LL.D. Boston. Milford House Inc. 1972 (Republication of the 1856 edition).
National Library of Medicine History of Medicine Division provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by Data Entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.