The Methodism of Caelius Aurelianus 307
It would have been better if he [i.e. Asclepiades] had described the disease in clear
and consistent terms and not with reference to an obscure stoppage which results
in inconsistency and which, perhaps, could be shown not even to be present at all,
as we shall point out in the books we will write Against the Sects.^45
At the same time, we frequently find Caelius referring to hidden entities
without any reservation. These passages fall into three categories:
(i) reference to entities of which it may seem difficult to non-experts to
accept that they are observable, but which Methodists may claim to
be observable to the expert’s eye, such as the generalities or common
conditions,^46 as in the following passage:
( 4 ) interiorum uero eruptionum diuisuras urgente solutionis coenoteta[m] ipsam
magis cogimur iudicare, siquidem prior oculis occurrat solutio. (Chron. 2. 12. 147 )
Yet as for the wounds that occur as a result of haemorrhage in the inner parts,
since the generality of looseness prevails, we must judge it rather as just that, as it
presents itself first to the eyes as a looseness.
(ii) reference to entities of which it is unclear whether the Methodists
regard them as observable or not, such asspiritus(orpneuma), in, for
example:
( 5 ) cordis enim motus tarditate quadam defecti spiritumotu torpescit, ut post
factum saltum ad semet ex residuo corpore praerogatum spiritum trahat, difficulter
alium faciat saltum, siquidem non possit spiritus usque ad articulorum finem uel
omnium membrorum peruenire summitatem. (Acut. 1. 11. 87 )
For the motion of the heart is paralysed by the movement of the pneuma which,
as a result of a slowness, is not present in sufficient measure, so that after making
a beat it draws to itself from the rest of the body the pneuma that had previously
been distributed; then it makes another beat with difficulty, as the pneuma cannot
reach the end of the limbs or the extremities of any of the parts.
There are about a dozen references to thispneumain Caelius,^47 and although
in some of these cases he is clearly just thinking of the air that is inhaled or
exhaled via respiration,^48 the majority of these passages show that he believes
(^45) See alsoAcut. 1. 15. 121 ; 2. 1. 8 ;Chron. 1. 4. 129 ; 5. 10. 103.
(^46) Although there may also be generalities that are hidden, even to the expert’s eye, asChron. 3. 2. 19
shows: ‘but if the loose state is hidden, which the Greeks calladelos, or if the signs are perceived by
the mind, which the Greeks calllogotheoretos...’ (sin uero occulta fuerit solutio, quam Graeci adelon
appellant, aut mente sensa signa uideantur, quae Graeci logotheoreta uocauerunt.. .) On this passage
see below.
(^47) E.g.Acut. 1. 14. 113 ; 1. 15. 119 ; 1. 15. 124 ; 1. 15. 127 ; 1. 15. 150 ; 2. 9. 48 ; 2. 14. 93 ; 2. 34. 180 ; 3. 17. 138 ;Chron. 1. 1. 30 ;
- 33 ; 1. 4. 84 ; 1. 4. 101 ; 2. 1. 32 ; 2. 1. 39 ; 3. 4. 65. The concept ofpneumaalso occurs in Soranus, e.g.Gyn.
- 34 ; 1. 38 ; 2. 11.
(^48) E.g.Chron. 1. 1. 33 ; 2. 1. 39.