84 Hippocratic Corpus and Diocles of Carystus
all, a question of elementary physics or pharmacology), but this does not
contribute anything to our understanding of why honey produces certain
dietetic effects. On the level of its nature and with regard to the effect it
produces, a foodstuff ‘resembles’ (
) a genuine undemonstrable starting-
point – although it is not a starting-point in the absolute sense: the words
‘in some way’ serve the purpose of qualifying the resemblance that exists
between a genuine starting-point and a foodstuff which, from a certain
point of view, behaves like a starting-point. To say it with some exaggeration
(which goes beyond what is in the text): there is a causal ‘gap’ between the
nature of a foodstuff as being causallyresponsiblefor certain dietetic effects
on the one hand, and the nature of the foodstuff as being theresultof a
certain sum of elements or qualities.
In section 9 Diocles states additional criticism. Since no subject of ‘make
mistakes’ (
) is specified, it seems that he is still referring
to the same group as in section 8 (but see below). These people, he says,
miss the truth (note the similarity to the wording at the end of section 7 ),
because their explanations are ill-founded. ‘Accept’ ( <
)istobe
taken in the sense of ‘postulate’, ‘take as a starting-point’.^22 It is not quite
clear whether ‘things that are not known’ ("- ) should be taken
in the sense of ‘invisibles’ (the'# ), namely things unknown to human
perception^23 (which, of course, would please those who read the fragment
as an anticipation of Empiricism) or in the sense of ‘not known to them’,
in which case Diocles means something like ‘they do not know what they
are talking about’.^24 The second objection is obvious: disputed things do
not serve as an appropriate starting-point; apart from being wrong perhaps,
they are unconvincing. The third objection of ‘implausibility’ introduces
the notion of persuasiveness of the doctor’s statements – an element which
is also reflected in section 11 in the words ‘more reliable’ (
! ) and
which is familiar from the Hippocratic writings.^25
In sections 10 – 11 Diocles summarises his criticism and states his own
alternative. It is important to note the use of ‘rather’ ( + ), and
to see to what exactly the habit of putting more trust in the results of
long-term experience is said to be preferable: the ill-founded and undue
(^22) Cf. Aristotle,Mete. 357 b 23 – 4 :8 . ) "% <! % (% [ ! (‘let
us discuss this adopting the same starting-point as we have adopted before’) andPol. 1290 b 22 – 3 :
!
. *
# )
1 ) "% <! %
# # !
(‘And because there are more [sc. forms of constitution] than those mentioned, let us discuss what
they are and why they are different, adopting as starting-point the one we have mentioned earlier’).
For other linguistic resemblances to Aristotle see n. 42 below.
(^23) On Ancient Medicine 1. 3 (p. 119 , 5 Jouanna, 1. 572 L.):1 " " ! (‘the things that
are invisible and difficult to know’). For Diocles’ views on ‘invisibles’ see frs. 177 and 56 b.
(^24) In view of the use of)
in section 11 , the latter is perhaps more likely.
(^25) Cf.Prognostic 1 ( 2. 110 L.) and Langholf ( 1996 ).