112 Hippocratic Corpus and Diocles of Carystus
this division is nowhere stated explicitly in either the texts of the Hip-
pocratic writers^27 or the fragments of Diocles, Praxagoras or any other of
the physicians mentioned,^28 nevertheless there is evidence that Hippocratic
doctors regarded pharmacology and surgery as special types of treatment
separate from the more regular dietetic measures.
As for pharmacology, the treatiseOn Affections(Aff.) frequently refers
for further details about the drugs to be administered to a (lost) work
entitledPharmakitisorPharmaka.^29 Judging from these references, this
work not only dealt with the preparation of drugs,^30 but also with their
workings and the conditions under which they were to be administered.^31
Furthermore, the author ofOn Regimen in Acute Diseasesrefers to a separate
(not extant) discussion of composite drugs (- ).^32 Again,
in other nosological works, such asOn Internal Affections(Int. Aff.) and
Appendix to On Regimen in Acute Diseases, it is frequently stated that in
addition to a number of measures ‘a drug ( ) should be given’ or
‘a treatment with drugs’ ( -
) should, or should not, be adopted.^33
Similarly, surgical measures are frequently referred to in a way suggesting
that they are considered to belong to a separate category. ThusOn Diseases
1. 14 distinguishes between ‘letting blood from the vessels of the arms’ and
‘a regimen’.^34 The author ofAppendix to On Regimen in Acute Diseases
(^27) The formulations that come closest areOath:
( ) . (. 9
> > > ( )(‘I will use dietetic measures... I will not give a drug... nor will I use the knife’),
andOn the Art of Medicine 6 ( 6. 10 L.) and 8 ( 6. 14 L.): >>>
> > >
#
C
!) > > > $ > > > ' ) C
#
C (‘drugs... dietetic measures... medical
instruments that burn... fire... all other instruments of the medical art’).
(^28) For the dubious evidence in the case of Diocles see the discussion in van der Eijk ( 2001 a) 6 n. 15 and
80 – 1.
(^29) E.g. in chs. 4 ( 6. 212 L.), 9 ( 6. 216 L.), 15 ( 6. 224 L.) and 18 ( 6. 226 L.).
(^30) Aff. 4 ( 6. 212 L.): ‘one should at once give gargles, preparing them as has been described in the books
on drugs’ ( .
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g
).
(^31) Aff. 27 ( 6. 238 L.): ‘In the case of cholera, if the patient has pain, one should give what has been
described in the books on drugs as stopping pain’ (C . #C
0 B . S-# #C0
!
h
g
- S-#).
(^32) On Regimen in Acute Diseases 64 ( 2. 364 L.): ‘this [i.e. the use of drinks and the correct time of their
usage] will be described in relation to this disease, as will be done with the other composite drugs’
( :
5 (C C
) ' ) )).
(^33) E.g.Int. Aff. 15 ( 7. 204 L.); 17 ( 7. 208 L.).Appendix to On Regimen in Acute Diseases 8 ( 2. 408 L.), 12
( 2. 418 L.), 27 ( 2. 448 L.), 32 ( 2. 462 L.);Aff. 20 ( 6. 230 L.). Cf.Aphorisms 1. 20 and 1. 14 ( 4. 464 – 6 L.). On
Hippocratic pharmacology see Stannard ( 1961 ) 497 – 518. For the special status of drugs over dietetic
measures cf. also Diocles, frs. 153 , 2 – 3 and fr. 183 a, lines 25 , 48 and 62 – 3 (although this fragment is of
dubious authenticity); and Plato,Timaeus 89 b 3 – 4.
(^34) On Diseases 1. 14 ( 6. 164 L.): ‘It benefits such patients [i.e. those suffering from suppuration of the
lung], when one undertakes to treat them in the beginning, to let blood from the vessels in the hands,
and to give them a regimen that is most drying and bloodless’ (D
.
-
0 B
5 "1 <#C ? -
0 < D
*
H 5 6
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