The Methodism of Caelius Aurelianus 309
vehement criticism.^50 This problem presents itself even more clearly when
we get to a third category,
(iii) passages in which Caelius refers to parts of the body, or processes
within the body, of which he explicitly states that they are invisible,
such as the following:
( 8 ) in quibusdam etiam sine sudore uires soluuntur et naturalis uigordisiectione
occulta, quam Graeci'#
φ!#
uocant, exstinguitur, cum omnis corporis
habitudo laxior atque dimissa et friabilis fuerit facta. (Acut. 2. 32. 172 )
In some people their physical strength simply dissolves without sweating and their
natural vigour is destroyed because of an invisible dissolution, which the Greeks
callad ̄elos diaphor ̄esis, which happens when the whole normal state of the body has
become flabby and dissolved and fallen into decay.
( 9 ) at si omnes partes fuerint solutione laxatae, similiter haec omnibus
sunt adhibenda, in illis etiam,quae occulta diaphoresi contabescunt. differentia
etenim accidentium mutata uidetur, genus autem passionis idem manet. (Acut.
- 217 )
But if all parts are relaxed because of a state of looseness, these [measures] have to
be applied similarly to all [parts of the body], also to those that decay as a result of
an invisible dissolution. For although there seems to have occurred a difference in
concomitant characteristics, the kind of the disease remains the same.
( 10 ) plena igitur de his [sc. uomicis] tradenda est ratio. haec enim sunt,quae in
occultis natae collectiones nuncupantur, ut in splanchnis ac membrana, quae latera
cingit, uel in pulmone aut discrimine thoracis ac uentris, quod Graeci diaphragma
uocant, item stomacho uel uentre, iecore, liene, intestinis, renibus, uesica aut
mictuali uia uel matrice aut peritoneo... usum chirurgiae non exigunt,siquidem
sint occultis in locis et plurimis superpositis membris.(Chron. 5. 10. 91 – 2 )
We must give a full account of these [i.e. abscesses]. For these are the gatherings
that are said to originate in invisible parts, for example in the intestines and in
the membrane that surrounds the sides or in the lung or in the membrane that
divides the chest and the abdomen, which the Greeks call the diaphragm, and also
in the oesophagus or the stomach, the liver, the spleen, the intestines, the kidneys,
the bladder or urinary passage, or the uterus or the peritoneum... [These] do not
require the use of surgical measures, as they are located in invisible places and have
many structures lying on top of them.
( 11 ) Interiorum uero eruptionum diuisuras urgente solutionis coenoteta[m] ipsam
magis cogimur iudicare, siquidem prior oculis occurrat solutio ac deinde diuisura
ratione atque intellectu mentis apprehendi uideatur.(Chron. 2. 12. 147 , partly quoted
before as no. 4 )
(^50) This question is ignored in discussions of Asclepiades’ influence on Methodism by Vallance ( 1990 )
131 ff., and Frede ( 1987 a) 272 f.