312 Late antiquity
And even if this were hidden in the parts, this would pose no problem for the
Methodists, who have proposed general treatments appropriate to diseases, even
medicaments with which particularly the hidden parts are to be treated. One should
know, then, that this disease [sc. catalepsy] originates from the same antecedent
causes by which the other diseases are brought about, indigestion, drunkenness, the
eating of meat and things similar to these.
here, which we have humbly intended to put into Latin, tells that he has seen many
young children being laid low by this disease as a result of untimely or excessive
eating. Yet he says that it is not necessary to take account of a difference in preceding
causes for the treatment, as it is the present Methodists ought to observe.
( 13 ) nos autem superfluum fuisse causas passionis dicere iudicamus, cum sit nec-
essarium id, quod ex causis conficitur, edocere. multo autem ac magis superfluum
dicimus etiam causas antecedentes diffinitionibus adiungi. (Acut. 3. 19. 190 )
We however judge that it was superfluous to state the causes of a disease, when it
is necessary to set forth what is brought about by [these] causes. Yet even much
more superfluous we consider the inclusion of preceding causes in the definitions.
( 14 ) una est enim atque eadem passio ex qualibet veniens causa, quae una atque
eadem indigeat curatione. (Acut. 2. 13. 87 )
For the disease is one and the same, from whatever cause it comes, and it calls for
one and the same treatment.
( 15 ) sed non secundum has differentias erit efficacia curationis mutanda, siqui-
dem antecedentes causae, quamquam diuersae, unam facere passionem uideantur.
(Chron. 2. 14. 196 )
But the effectiveness of the treatment ought not to be changed in accordance with
these differences, as preceding causes, diverse though they are, seem to bring about
one [and the same] disease.
( 16 ) sunt autem passionis [sc. sanguinis fluoris] antecedentes causae, ut saepe appro-
batum est, percussio uel casus... sed non erit secundum has differentias curationis
regula commutanda. (Chron. 2. 9. 118 )
The preceding causes of this disease [sc. haemorrhage] are, as has often been
established, a blow, a fall... but the mode of treatment ought not to be changed
according to these differences.
All these passages (and there are several more in Caelius’ work making the
same point)^58 are in unison and confirm the disregard for causal explana-
tions of diseases which seems so characteristic of Methodism.
However, we frequently find Caelius engaged in the causal explanation
of a disease without any explicit reservation, usually in thesignificatioof the
disease, where he lists the antecedent causes of the disease (in the majority
(^58) E.g.Acut. 1. 1. 23 ; 3. 6. 64 ; 3. 22. 221.