To help, or to do no harm 113
distinguishes between treatment by drugs, venesection and clystering,^35
and elsewhere between regimen, fomentations and drugs;^36 and the author
ofOn Internal Affectionsdistinguishes on one occasion between treatment
by fomentations, drugs, foods and exercises,^37 and on another occasion
between treatment by drugs, drink, food and exercises.^38
With dietetics, matters seem to be more complicated. The verbdiaitan
(
+) is often used by Hippocratic authors to describe a treatment
consisting of measures characteristic of what we would call dietetics, such
as foods and drinks, walking, baths, exercise and sleep. But sometimes it
just seems to be equivalent to ‘treatment’, as in a well-known statement of
the doctor’s primary requirements inEpidemics 3. 16 ;^39 and indeed in the
treatiseOn Ancient Medicinedietetics seems to be just what medicine is
all about – although even here a brief reference to cupping instruments
indicates that, to this author, medicine is not entirely a matter of food,
drink and exercise.^40 At the same time this work, as well as the explicitly
dietetic writings such asOn RegimenandOn Regimen in Acute Diseases,
make it clear that dietetics is not only used for therapeutic purposes, that
is, for the treatment of diseases, but also for the preservation and promotion
of health (H
) and the prevention of disease.^41
This raises the question whether it is correct to regard dietetics as a part
or branch of therapeutics. It could be argued that it should rather be defined
more generally as a care for the bodyboth– and perhaps predominantly –
in healthy states as well as (perhaps secondarily) in unhealthy states, or on
the interface between the two, as seems to be the position of the author of
On Regimen.^42 More importantly, as far as unhealthy states are concerned,
dietetics seems to be a care for the body which does not necessarily aim
(^35) Appendix 4 ( 2. 400 L.): -
> > > < # > > > !.
(^36) Appendix 56 – 7 ( 2. 508 – 10 L.):` > > > "
>>>
, "
(*C>
#C 1
(3 #C
> > > -
$
.
(^37) Int. Aff. 50 ( 7. 292 L.): + > > > #C
)#C
.
(^38) Int. Aff. 24 ( 7. 228 L.):
<)
)#C
. Cf. the well-
known HippocraticAphorism 7. 87 ( 4. 608 L.): ‘Diseases that are not cured by drugs, the iron will
cure; and those that are not cured by the iron, fire will cure; and those that are not cured by fire one
should consider incurable.’
(^39) Epidemics 3. 16 ( 3. 102 L.): ‘To know about these things means to know whom one should treat by
regimen and when and how’ (
!
-)
i P
+).
(^40) On Ancient Medicine 22 ( 1. 626 L.): ‘On the other hand, cupping instruments, which are broad and
tapering, have been designed for this purpose, that they withdraw and attract [material] from the
flesh, and there are many other instruments of a similar kind’ ($ .
-
< !
D ( ! #
3 $
3 3 4
3
+
0 ' 1
!). On this see Festugi`ere ( 1948 ) 66 – 7. See also, in the
same treatise, ch. 12 ( 1. 596 L.), where the mention of ‘many species of medicine’ ( 1 A 5
#
) seems to envisage different parts of medicine.
(^41) On Ancient Medicine 3 , 5 and 7 ( 1. 574 , 580 and 584 L.).
(^42) On Regimen 1. 2 ( 6. 470 – 2 L.); 3. 67 ( 6. 592 L.); 3. 69 ( 6. 606 L.).