308 Late antiquity
thepneumato reside and to originate in the body and to play a major part
in physiological processes such as digestion and muscular movement.
From some passages it appears that thispneumais to be regarded as an
inheritance of Asclepiadean physiology:
( 6 ) neque ullam digestionem in nobis esse [sc. dicit Asclepiades], sed solutionem
ciborum in uentre fieri crudam et per singulas particulas corporis ire, ut per omnes
tenuis uias penetrare uideatur, quod appellauit leptomeres, sed nos intelligimus
spiritum; et neque inquit feruentis qualitatis neque frigidae esse nimiae suae tenu-
itatis causa neque alium quemlibet sensum tactus habere, sed per uias receptacu-
lorum nutrimenti nunc arteriam, nunc neruum uel uenam uel carnem fieri. (Acut.
- 113 )
And [Asclepiades says that] there is no digestion in us, but a crude dissolution of
foods takes place in the stomach, and it moves through each individual part of
the body, so that it looks as if it penetrates through all narrow passages; this he
callsleptomeres(‘of fine parts’), which is what we mean bypneuma; this (he says)
has neither the quality of hot nor that of cold because of its extreme thinness, nor
does it have any other tangible quality, but as it passes through the passages of the
parts that receive nourishment, it becomes now artery, now sinew, now vein, now
flesh.
( 7 ) Item aliqui Asclepiadis sectatores gestationes et lauacra et uaporationes cat-
aplasmatum atque malagmatum excluserunt in iecorosis suspicantes tenuissimo-
rum corpusculorum fore consensum, hoc est spiritus, quem leptomerian eorum
princeps appellauit, atque in egestorum constrictione falsitate causarum adiutoria
magna recusantes. (Chron. 3. 4. 65 )
Again, some followers of Asclepiades have excluded passive exercise, bathing, and
fomentations by means of poultices and emollient plasters in the case of peo-
ple suffering from disease of the liver, because they suspected that there would
be a sympathetic affection of the finest particles, that is, ofpneuma, which
their master calledleptomereia, and in a situation of congestion of matter they
refuse to employ important remedies because of their false assumptions about
causes.
From these passages it emerges thatspiritusis the Methodist term for Ascle-
piades’ notion of theleptomeres.^49 However, it is not clear that this is true
in all cases, and even if it is, whether this is a satisfactory solution to our
paradox. For passage ( 7 ) shows that the Methodists were not only critical
of Asclepiades’ therapeutics, but also of the physiological justification he
offered for it. This raises the question why certain parts of Asclepiades’
physiology were acceptable to Methodists while certain others met with
(^49) For a discussion of this notion in Asclepiades, see Vallance ( 1990 ) 50 – 79.