PART 5
Let us inquire then regarding what is admitted to be Medicine; namely,
that which was invented for the sake of the sick, which possesses
a name and practitioners, whether it also seeks to accomplish the
same objects, and whence it derived its origin. To me, then, it appears,
as I said at the commencement, that nobody would have sought for medicine
at all, provided the same kinds of diet had suited with men in sickness
as in good health. Wherefore, even yet, such races of men as make
no use of medicine, namely, barbarians, and even certain of the Greeks,
live in the same way when sick as when in health; that is to say,
they take what suits their appetite, and neither abstain from, nor
restrict themselves in anything for which they have a desire. But
those who have cultivated and invented medicine, having the same object
in view as those of whom I formerly spoke, in the first place, I suppose,
diminished the quantity of the articles of food which they used, and
this alone would be sufficient for certain of the sick, and be manifestly
beneficial to them, although not to all, for there would be some so
affected as not to be able to manage even small quantities of their
usual food, and as such persons would seem to require something weaker,
they invented soups, by mixing a few strong things with much water,
and thus abstracting that which was strong in them by dilution and
boiling. But such as could not manage even soups, laid them aside,
and had recourse to drinks, and so regulated them as to mixture and
quantity, that they were administered neither stronger nor weaker
than what was required.
