MEDICINE AND PHILOSOPHY IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY

(Ron) #1
254 Aristotle and his school

to -)  )  *   

8 
,oritcan


be connected zeugmatically with"< (‘distinguish’),^54 which has

often, though unnecessarily, been changed intoH< (‘suppose’); in

that case the infinitive

(‘use’) also depends on"< .


Who are ‘those who are intelligent and wise’ (-)  ) 

*)? Several interpreters (Woods ( 1982 ); D ́ecarie ( 1978 ); During ( ̈ 1966 ))

suppose that the ‘irrational people’ (the'

) are meant, that is, the for-


tunate people ( ( ) who were the subject of

 
(‘they


hit the mark without reasoning’) in line 34.^55 But it is very unlikely that

Aristotle should call these people ‘intelligent and wise’ (!





). It seems better (with Dirlmeier ( 1962 a) and von Fragstein ( 1974 ))

to identify these ‘intelligent and wise’ people withs in line 33 , the peo-

ple who possess reason. Aristotle asserts that these people too, just like the

irrational people, have a prophetic capacity which is swift, but in them it

actuallyisdue to reason.^56

The next sentence is taken by nearly all interpreters^57 as if it read(

!, ‘not only’, but ! (means ‘very nearly’, ‘almost’: the construc-

tion ! (p"1qexpresses that we may almost saypbut in any case

q.^58 Aristotle does not want to go so far as to say that there exists such a thing

as rational divination founded on reason, but he does recognise the fact that

some people, by means of experience or habit, perform divination,^59 and

that this kind of divination is different from the irrational process by which

the lucky people foresee the future. Given this interpretation, Dirlmeier’s

( 1962 a) emendation of !into !#can be discarded. is deleted

by all interpreters, but it might be connected with

1 
: ‘others


also by habit’. In any caseshould certainly be retained, for the object of



(‘use’) is not*C  (‘observation’), which is linguistically an


awkward combination, but 

C(‘divination’; cf.% "3 $ !


sc. 

): ‘they use divination by habituation in observing’.


(^54) I do not see how Dirlmeier can translate"< as ‘als abgesonderte (einfach) abtun’, for
" < 
means ‘to take apart, to distinguish’ (see LSJ s.v.).
(^55) See Woods ( 1982 ) 43 , 183 ;D ́ecarie ( 1978 ) 215 ;During ( ̈ 1966 ) 453.
(^56) See Dirlmeier ( 1962 a) 481 ; Effe ( 1970 ) 84 ; von Fragstein ( 1974 ) 376 – 7. The distinction between
rational and irrational divination is made by Plato,Phaedrus 244 a–d; rational divination is referred
to by Aristotle inMem. 449 b 10 and inPol. 1274 a 28.
(^57) Except Jackson ( 1913 ) 198 – 9 , who translates: ‘and it may almost be said that they should put a check
upon the divination which depends on reason. The fact is that some by experience, and others by
habit, have this power.’ However, Jackson’s translation of"< as ‘put a check upon’ is certainly
incorrect (see n. 54 above).
(^58) For this use of ! ( > > > "1cf. Aristophanes,Wasps 515 – 17 :   . G (
t
 H5 "*0 2 R ! (   "1  -) #.
(^59) Cf. Aristotle’s cautious reference to the idea, expressed by others, that divination is an
 #


(Mem. 449 b 12 : A# 5 J  
 # 
 

0    
 
%

).

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