Now these signs, though even in the absence of fever, they afford indications of latent or oncoming affections, do so with much more certainty when there is fever in addition; and then signs of other diseases besides may develop. Thus madness is to be apprehended immediately: when a patient speaks more hurriedly than he did when well, and of a sudden becomes loquacious, and that with more audacity than was his wont; or when he breathes slowly and forcibly, and has dilated blood-vessels, while the parts below the ribs are hard and swollen. Further signs of madness are: frequent movement of the eyes, and, in cases of headache, shadows passing before the eyes; or loss of sleep in the absence of pain, the wakefulness persisting night and day; or lying on the belly contrary to habit without being obliged to do so by abdominal pain; or, while the body is still vigorous, an unaccustomed grinding of the teeth. If also there has been congestion which has subsided without the formation of pus, whilst fever persists, there is brought about danger first of delirium, then of death. Acute pain in ear with continuous severe fever also often disturbs the mind; from which affection younger patients die at times within seven days; older ones later, for they experience neither such high fever, nor are equally delirious, hence they hold out until this condition is converted into pus. The breasts of a woman, when they become suffused with blood, also indicate that delirium is about to supervene. But in those in whom fevers are prolonged, there will be an abscess somewhere or pains in the joints. When during fever the breathing in the throat becomes impeded, spasms are impending. If angina subsides suddenly, the malady has passed into the lung; and it is then often fatal within seven days. If that does not happen, it follows that somewhere there is suppuration. Again after a prolonged looseness of the bowels there arise dysenteries, and after these intestinal lubricity; phthisis after excessive runnings from the nose; lung diseases after pain in the side; and from these madness; after ardent fevers rigor or spasm of sinews; after a head wound, delirium; when wakefulness tortures, spasms of sinews; when in wounds blood-vessels throb violently, haemorrhage. But suppuration is induced by many diseases; for if fever continues for a long while without pain and without evident cause, suppuration is developing in some part — in younger patients, however; for generally in the elderly from a self-same malady a quartan fever is developed. Suppuration is likewise being produced if the parts below the ribs are hard and painful, and have not carried off the patient by the twentieth day, or nose-bleeding has not occurred, and this chiefly in the case of adolescents, especially if from the commencement there has been dimness of vision, or headache; but in these cases something is abscessing in the lower parts of the abdomen. Or if the parts below the ribs present a soft swelling which persists and does not subside within sixty days, and fever holds all that time; but in these cases an abscess is being produced in the upper parts of the abdomen. And if it is not produced in the actual viscera, it breaks out around the ears. Whilst every swelling of long standing is generally an expectant abscess, it tends more to this in the region in front of the heart, than in the abdomen, and in the abdomen rather above than below the navel. Something is abscessing, either in the jaws or in the joints, if there is with the fever also a feeling of lassitude. At times too the urine remains thin and unconcocted for so long that other signs are salutary, and from this condition an abscess often occurs below the transverse membrane which the Greeks call diaphragma. Pain in the lung again, when not terminated by expectoration or by blood-letting, or by regulation of the diet, may excite some abscesses in it about the twentieth, thirtieth, fortieth, occasionally sixtieth day. But we will count from the day when there is first fever or shivering or sense of weight in that part. These abscesses originate sometimes from the lung, sometimes from the opposite side. Whichever side is affected the suppuration gives rise to pain in inflammation; it is hotter there, and if the patient lies on the sound side he seems to oppress it by some weight. Further, any suppuration, not yet evident to the eye, can be detected as follows: if the fever does not remit, but whilst diminishing by day, increases at night, there is profuse sweating, a desire to cough, yet hardly anything is expectorated in coughing; the eyes are sunken, the cheeks flushed, the veins under the tongue pale; the finger nails become curved, the fingers hot, especially at their tips; there are swellings in the feet; there is greater difficulty in breathing, and distaste for food; pustules spring up all over the body. But if there was pain from the commencement with cough and difficult breathing, the abscess will burst before or about the twentieth day; if these signs happen later they necessarily have to develop, but the less quickly they come to a head, the later the relief. In a grave disease the feet, toes and nails also tend to blacken; and when death does not follow, and the rest of the body recovers, nevertheless the feet fall off.
Haec uero, cum sine febre quoque uel latentium uel futurarum rerum notas habeant, multo certiora sunt, ubi febris accessit, atque etiam aliorum morborum tum signa nascuntur. Ergo protinus insania timenda est, ubi expeditior alicuius, quam sani fuit, sermo subitaque loquacitas orta est, et haec ipsa solito audacior; aut ubi raro quis et uehementer spirat, uenasque concitatas habet praecordiis duris et tumentibus. Oculorum quoque frequens motus, et in capitis dolore offusae oculis tenebrae, uel nullo dolore substante somnus ereptus, continuataque nocte et die uigilia, uel prostratum contra consuetudinem corpus in uentrem, sic ut ipsius alui dolor id non coegerit, item robusto adhuc corpore insolitus dentium stridor insaniae signa sunt. Si quid etiam abscessit, et antequam suppuraret manente adhuc febre subsedit, periculum adfert primum furoris, deinde interitus. Auris quoque dolor acutus cum febre continua uehementique saepe mentem turbat; ex eo casu iuueniores interdum intra septimum diem moriuntur, seniores tardius, quoniam neque aeque magnas febres experiuntur, neque aeque insaniunt: ita sustinent, dum is adfectus in ⟨p⟩us uer⟨t⟩atur. Suffusae quoque sanguine mulieris mammae furorem uenturum esse testantur. Quibus autem longae febres sunt, iis aut abscessus aliqui aut articulorum dolores erunt. Quorum faucibus in febre inliditur spiritus, instat his neruorum distentio. Si angina subito finita est, in pulmone⟨m⟩ id malum transit; idque saepe intra septimum diem occidit. Quod nisi incidat, sequitur, ut aliqua parte suppuret. Deinde post alui longam resolutionem tormina, post haec intestinorum leuitas oritur; post nimias destillationes tabes, post lateris dolorem uitia pulmonum, post haec insania; post magnos feruores corporis neruorum rigor aut distentio; ubi caput uulneratum est, delirium; ubi uigilia torsit, neruorum distentio; ubi uehementer uenae super ulcera mouentur, sanguinis profluuium. Suppuratio uero pluribus morbis excitatur: nam si longae febres sine dolore, sine manifesta causa remanent, in aliquam partem id malum incumbit, in iuuenioribus tamen: nam senioribus ex eiusmodi morbo quartana fere nascitur. Eadem suppuratio fit, si praecordia dura, dolentia ante uicensimum diem hominem non sustulerunt, neque sanguis ex naribus fluxit, maximeque in adulescentibus, utique si inter principia aut oculorum caligo aut capitis dolores fuerunt: sed tum ⟨in⟩ inferioribus partibus aliquid abscedit. Aut si praecordia tumorem mollem habent, neque habere intra sexaginta dies desinunt, haeretque per omne id tempus febris; sed tum in superioribus partibus fit abscessus; ac si inter ipsa uiscera non f⟨i⟩t, circa aures erumpit. Quo⟨m⟩que omnis longus tumor ad suppurationem fere spectet, magis eo tendit is, qui in praecordiis quam is, qui in uentre est; is, qui supra umbilicum quam is, qui infra est. Si lassitudinis etiam sensus in febre est, uel in maxillis uel in articulis aliquid abscedit. Interdum quoque urina tenuis et cruda sic diu fertur, ut alia salutaria signa sint, exque eo casu plerumque infra transuersum septum, quod ΔΙΑΦΡΑΓΜΑ Graeci uocant, fit abcessus. Dolor etiam pulmonis, si neque etiam per sputa neque per sanguinis detractionem neque per uictus rationem finitus est, uomicas aliquas intus excitat aut circa uicesimum diem ⟨aut circa tricesimum⟩ aut circa quadragesimum, nonnumquam etiam circa sexagensimum. Numerabimus autem ab eo die, quo primum febricitauit aliquis aut inhorruit aut grauitatem eius partis sensit. Sed hae uomicae modo a pulmone modo a contraria parte nascuntur. Quod suppurat, ab ea parte, quam adficit, dolorem inflammationemque concitat: ipsum calidius est ⟨et,⟩ si in partem sanam aliquis decubuit, onerare eam ex pondere aliquo uidetur. Omnis etiam suppuratio, quae nondum oculis patet, sic deprehendi potest: si febris non dimittit, eaque interdiu leuior est, noctu increscit, multus sudor oritur, cupiditas tussiendi est, et paene nihil in tussi excreatur, oculi caui sunt, malae rubent, uenae sub lingua inalbescunt, in manibus fiunt adunci ungues, digiti maximeque summi ⟨ca⟩lent, in pedibus tumores sunt, spiritus difficilius trahitur, cibi fastidium est, pustulae toto corpore oriuntur. Quod si protinus initio dolor et tussis fuit et spiritus difficultas, uomica uel ante uel circa uicesimum diem erumpet: si serius ista coeperint, necesse est quidem increscant, sed quo minus cito adfecerint, eo tardius soluentur. Solent etiam in graui morbo pedes cum digitis unguibusque nigrescere: quod si non est mors consecuta et reliquum corpus inualuit, pedes tamen decidunt.
8. 8 It follows now that I have to explain the special signs which in any particular affection indicate either hope or danger.
8. Sequitur, ut in quoque morbi genere proprias notas explicem, quae uel spem uel periculum ostendant.
When there is pain in the bladder, if purulent urine is discharged which has in it a sediment slimy and white, it allays apprehension.
Ex uesica dolenti si purulenta urina processit, inque ea leue et album subsedit, metum detrahit.
In pulmonary disease a patient may possibly regain health, if expectoration, although purulent, relieves pain, so long as he breathes and expectorates freely, and bears the disease without difficulty. Nor is there cause for alarm at an early stage, if the expectoration is mixed with something reddish and with blood, so long as it is expectorated at once.
In pulmonis morbo si sputo ipso leuatur dolor, quamuis id purulentum est tamen aeger facile spirat, facile excreat, morbum ipsum non difficulter fert, potest ei secunda ualetudo contingere. Neque inter initia terreri conuenit, si protinus sputum mixtum est rufo quodam et sanguine, dummodo statim edatur.
Pain in the side ends if the suppuration which has arisen is cleared off within forty days.
Laterum dolores suppuratione facta, deinde intra quadragesimum diem purgata, finiuntur.
If there is an abscess in the liver, and the pus let out is uniform and white, in that case recovery is easy, because the mischief is enclosed in a capsule.
Si in iocinere uomica est, et ex ea fertur pus purum et album, salus facilis est: id enim malum in tunica est.
Among suppurations too those are tolerable which point and discharge outwards. And of those which move inwards, those are the most favourable which do not affect the overlying skin, but leave it free from pain, and of the same colour as the surroundings. Pus indeed causes no fear, wherever it breaks out, when slimy and uniformly white, and if the fever subsides at once upon its discharge, and distaste for food and thirst cease to be troublesome. Also whenever suppuration descends into the legs, and the patient's expectoration from being reddish becomes purulent, there is less danger. But in phthisis, he that is to recover should have his expectoration white, uniform in consistency and colour, unmixed with phlegm;
Ex suppurationibus uero eae tolerabiles sunt, quae in exteriorem partem feruntur et acuuntur. At ex iis, quae intus procedunt, eae leuiores, quae contra se cutem non adficiunt, eamque et sine dolore esse et eiusdem coloris, cuius reliquae partes sunt, sinunt esse. Pus quoque, quacumque parte erumpit, si est leue, album, unius coloris, sine ullo metu est, et quo effuso febris protinus conquieuit desieruntque urguere cibi fastidium et potionis desiderium. Si quando etiam suppuratio descendit in crura, sputumque eiusdem factum pro rufo purulentum est, periculi minus est.
and that which drips into the nose from the head should have similar characters. It is the best by far for there to be no fever; second best when the fever is so slight as not to impair the appetite or cause frequent thirst. In this affection the patient's state is favourable: when the bowels are moved once a day, the motions being formed and in amount corresponding to the food consumed; the body least attenuated, the chest most broad and hairy; its cartilages small, and covered with flesh. If supervening on phthisis, a woman's menses also become suppressed and pain is continuous over her chest and shoulders, a sudden eruption of blood customarily relieves the disease; for the cough becomes less, and the thirst and slight fever subside. But generally in these cases, unless the haemorrhage recurs, an abscess bursts, and the more blood comes from it the better. Dropsy is the least alarming when it has commenced without being preceded by any disease;
At in tabe eius, qui saluus futurus est, sputum esse debet album, aequale totum, eiusdemque coloris, sine pituita; eique etiam simile esse oportet, si quid in nares a capite destillat. Longe optimum est febrem omnino non esse; secundum est tantulam esse, ut neque cibum inpediat neque crebram sitim faciat. Aluus in hac ualetudine ea tuta est, quae cotidie, quae coacta, quae conuenientia iis, quae adsumuntur, reddit; corpus id, quod minime tenue maximeque lati pectoris atque saetosi est, cuiusque cartilago exigua et carnosa est. Super tabem si mulieri suppressa quoque menstrua fuerunt, et circa pectus atque scapulas dolor mansit subitoque sanguis erupit, leuari morbus solet: nam et tussis minuitur, et sitis atque febricula desinunt. Sed isdem fere, nisi redit sanguis, uomica erumpit; quae quo cruentior, eo melior est.
next when it has supervened upon a long illness, certainly if the viscera are sound, if the breathing is easy, if there is no pain, if the body is not hot, and the extremities are wasted uniformly, if the abdomen is soft, if there is no cough, no thirst, if the tongue is not much parched even after sleep; if there is desire for food, if the bowels are moved by medicaments, if the motions when spontaneous are soft and formed, if the size of the abdomen are reduced; if the urine is altered both by a change of the wine and of certain medicinal draughts; if there is no lassitude and the disorder is easily borne: a patient who presents all these signs is thoroughly safe, and that case is hopeful which exhibits the greater number of them.
Aqua autem inter cutem minime terribilis est, quae nullo antecedente morbo coepit; deinde, quae longo morbo superuenit, utique si firma uiscera sunt, si spiritus facilis, si nullus dolor, si sine calore corpus est, aequaliterque in extremis partibus macrum est, si mollis uenter, si nulla tussis, nulla sitis, si lingua ne ⟨su⟩per somnum quidem inarescit; si cibi cupiditas est, si uenter medicamentis mouetur, si per se excernit mollia et figurata, si extenuatur; si urina et uini mutatione et epotis aliquibus medicamentis mutatur; si corpus sine lassitudine est et morbum facile sustinet: siquidem in quo omnia haec sunt, is ex toto tutus est; in quo plura ex his sunt, is in bona spe est.
Joint-disorders, too, such as foot and hand aches, if they attack young people and have not induced callosities, can be resolved; for the most part they are removed by dysenteries and fluid motions, whatever the sort.
Articulorum uero uitia, ut podagrae cheragraeque, si iuuenes temptarunt neque callum induxerunt, solui possunt; maximeque torminibus leniuntur et quocumque modo uenter fluit.
Epileptic fits again are not difficult to bring to an end, when they have commenced before puberty, and whenever the sensation of the coming fit begins in some one part of the body. It is best for it to begin from the hands or feet, next from the flanks, worst of all from the head.
Item morbus comitialis ante pubertatem ortus non aegre finitur; et in quo ab una parte corporis uenientis accessionis sensus incipit, optimum est a manibus pedibusue initium fieri, deinde a lateribus; pessimum inter haec ⟨a⟩ capite.
In such patients, also, the most favourable signs are when the disease can be discharged in the stools. Diarrhoea is itself harmless, when there is no fever, if it is quickly over, if on touching the abdomen no movements are to be felt, if wind follows the last of the motion.
Atque in his quoque ea maxime prosunt, quae per deiectiones excernuntur. Ipsa autem deiectio sine ulla noxa est, quae sine febre est, si celeriter desinit, si cont⟨a⟩cto uentre nullus motus eius sentitur, si extremam aluum spiritus sequitur.
Even dysenteries are not a danger although blood or shreds are passed, as long as fever and other accessories of this malady are absent, so that even a pregnant woman can not only be preserved herself, but the foetus preserved also. It is helpful in this malady if the patient's age is already mature. Intestinal lubricity on the other hand is more easy got rid of in childhood, certainly if urine begins to be passed and the body to be nourished by the food.
Ac ne tormina quidem periculosa sunt, si sanguis et strigmenta descendunt, dum febris ceteraeque accessiones huius morbi absint, adeo ut etiam grauida mulier non solum reseruari possit, sed etiam partum reseruare; prodestque in hoc morbo, si iam aetate aliquis processit.
The same age has the advantage in cases both of hip and shoulder pains, and of all forms of para-lysis;
Contra intestinorum leuitas facilius a teneris aetatibus depellitur, utique si ferri urina et ali cibo corpus incipit.
in such the hip may be cured easily and early, if it is not numbed, if slightly cool, even though the pains are severe, and a paralysed limb can be restored if its nutrition is not at all impaired. Paralysis of the face may be even ended by a quick motion; and any purging benefits runnings of the eyes. But madness is relieved rather by the formation of varicose veins or by a sudden effusion of blood from haemorrhoids or by dysentery. Shoulder pains spreading to the shoulder-blades or hands are relieved by a vomit of black bile;
Eadem aetas prodest ⟨et⟩ in coxae dolore et umerorum et omni resolutione neruorum; ex quibus coxa, si sine torpore est, si leuiter friget, quamuis magnos dolores habet, tamen et facile et mature sanatur, resolutumque membrum, si nihilo minus alit⟨ur⟩, fieri sanum potest. Oris resolutio etiam aluo cita finitur; omnisque deiectio lippienti prodest. At uarix ortus uel per ora uenarum subita profusio sanguinis uel tormina insaniam tollunt.
and pain of any kind which moves downwards is the more curable. Sneezing puts an end to hiccough.
Vmerorum dolores, qui ad scapulas uel manus tendunt, uomitu atrae bilis soluuntur; et quisquis dolor deorsum tendit, sanabilior est.
Prolonged diarrhoeas are suppressed by vomiting.
Singultus sternumento finitur.
In a woman a vomiting of blood is relieved by menstruation;
Longas deiectiones supprimit uomitus.
when not cleared up by menstruation, nose-bleeding removes all danger. A woman in trouble with her womb or labour difficulty is relieved by sneezing. Quartan fever in summer is mostly short. In a case of ardent fever with a tremor, delirium is salutary.
Mulier sanguinem uomens profusis menstruis liberatur. Quae menstruis non purgatur, si sanguinem ex naribus fudit, omni periculo uacat. Quae locis laborat aut difficulter partum edit, sternumento leuatur.
For enlargement of the spleen dysenteries are good. Then again fever itself is in the end often a protection, which may appear very strange.
Aestiua quartana fere breuis est. Cui calor et tremor est, saluti delirium est. Lienosis bono tormina sunt.
For it brings to an end pains over the heart if there is no inflammation; and it also relieves a painful liver; and if it begins after spasm and rigor, it gives entire relief; and it removes the disease of the small intestine arising from urinary difficulty, if by its heat it promotes urination.
Denique ipsa febris, quod maxime mirum uideri potest, saepe praesidio est. Nam et praecordiorum dolores, si sine inflammatione sunt, finit; et iocineris dolori succurrit; et neruorum distentionem rigoremque, si postea coepit, ex toto tollit; et ex difficultate urinae morbum tenuioris intestini ortum, si urinam per calorem mouet, leuat.
Now pains in the head, accompanied by dimness of vision and redness of the eyes, along with some itching of the forehead, may be relieved by a haemorrhage, whether fortuitous or procured. Pains in the head and forehead due to wind or to cold or to heat are terminated by running from the nose and sneezings. The ardent fever, however, which the Greeks call causodes, is got rid of by a sudden shivering.
At dolores capitis, quibus oculorum caligo et rubor cum quadam frontis prurigine accedunt, sanguinis profusione uel fortuita uel etiam petita summouentur. Si capitis ac frontis dolores ex uento uel frigore aut aestu sunt, grauedine et sternumentis finiuntur.
During a fever, if the ears have become dulled, that trouble is entirely removed by a flux of blood from the nose, or by loose motions from the bowel. Against deafness nothing can be more efficacious than a bilious stool. Those who have begun to suffer from the smaller kinds of abscesses in the urethra which they call phumata, get well when pus has come away from that part.... and since they mostly arise of themselves, we may know that even where the resources of art are applied, nature can do the most.
Febrem autem ardentem, quam Graeci causoden uocant, subitus horror exsoluit. Si in febre aures obtunsae sunt, si sanguis naribus fluxit, aut uenter resolutus est, illud malum desinit ex toto. Nihil plus aduersus surditatem quam biliosa aluus potest. Quibus in fistula urinae ⟨uel⟩uti minutiores abscessus, quos ΦΥΜΑΤΑ uocant, esse coeperunt, is, ubi pus ea parte profluxit, sanitas redditur.
On the other hand, pain in the bladder with persistent fever, when nothing is passed by the bowel, is a fatal evil;
* * * Ex quibus cum pleraque per se proueniant, scire licet inter ea quoque, quae ars adhibet, naturam plurimum posse.
the danger is greatest in boys from the seventh to the fourteenth year. In pulmonary disease, if there was no expectoration during the first days, if it then begins from the seventh day and persists beyond a further seven days, it is dangerous.
Contra si ue⟨si⟩ca ⟨cum⟩ febre continenti dolet, neque ⟨uenter⟩ quicquam reddit, malum atque mortiferum est; maximeque id periculum est pueris a septimo anno ad quartum decimum.
And the more the sputum has an undistinguishable admixture of colours, the worse it is. But nevertheless nothing is worse than for the expectoration emitted to be homogeneous, whether reddish, or clotted, or white, or glutinous, or pallid, or frothy; worst of all, however, is the black. In this same disease the following are signs of danger: cough, catarrh, and even sneezing, which in other maladies is held salutary; and a sudden diarrhoea following upon the above is a most dangerous sign. Generally too the same signs hold good for pain in the side as for that in the lung, both the more favourable as well as the graver signs.
In pulmonis morbo, si sputum primis diebus non fuit, deinde a septimo die coepit et ultra septimum mansit, periculosum est; quantoque magis mixtos neque inter se diductos colores habet, tanto deterius. Et tamen nihil peius est quam sincerum id edi, siue rufum est siue cruentum siue album siue glutinosum siue pallidum siue spumans; nigrum tamen pessimum est. In eodem morbo periculosa sunt tussis, destillatio, etiam quod alias salutare habetur, sternumentum; periculosissimumque est, si haec secuta subita deiectio est.
If the pus discharged from the liver is bloody, it is a deadly sign.
Fere uero quae in pulmonis, eadem in lateris dolore et mitiora signa et asperiora esse consuerunt.Ex iocinere si pus cruentum exit, mortiferum est.
Now of suppurations the worst are those which tend inwards, whilst also discolouring the overlying skin: of those again which burst externally, the worst are those which are largest and most widespread. But even after the abscess has ruptured, or the pus has been let outwards, there is danger for certain if the fever does not subside, or although it subsides, nevertheless recurs; or further if there is thirst, if distaste for food, if liquid motions, if the pus is livid and pallid, if the patient expectorates nothing but frothy phlegm. And of such suppurations, old people die mostly of those excited by lung diseases; younger people of other kinds.
At ex suppurationibus eae pessimae sunt, quae intus tendunt, sic ut exteriorem quoque cutem decolorent: ex is deinde, quae in exteriorem partem prorumpunt, eae pessimae, quae maximae quaeque planissimae sunt. Quod si, ne rupta quidem uomica uel pure extrinsecus emisso, febris quieuit, aut quamuis quierit, tamen repetit, item si sitis est, si cibi fastidium, si uenter liquidus, si pus est liuidum et pallidum, si nihil aeger excreat nisi pituitam spumantem, periculum certum est. Atque ex is quidem suppurationibus, quas pulmonum morbi concitarunt, fere senes moriuntur: ex ceteris iuniores.
But that in phthisis danger threatens a thin man is signified as follows: the expectoration is purulent with admixtures, a persistent fever robs him of his appetite at meal-times and afflicts him with thirst. Death is at hand if, after the patient has dragged on for a long while, the hair falls out, the urine exhibits sediment like cobwebs and has a foul odour, and most of all when upon the above diarrhoea supervenes; especially if it is the autumn season, when patients who have lasted through the rest of the year are generally undone. Moreover, in this disease, after pus has been expectorated, it is fatal for there to be an entire cessation of spitting. In the course of phthisis, even in adolescents, abscesses followed by fistulae arise in the lung; and unless numerous signs of convalescence follow, they do not readily heal. But as regards others, the least easily cured are girls, or those women in whom suppression of menses has supervened upon the phthisis. When again in a man who has been healthy there arises suddenly pain in the head, next he is so overcome by sleep that he snores and cannot be awaked, he will die by the seventh day; the more so, if a loose motion has not preceded, if the eyelids of the sleeper are unclosed and the whites of the eyes show. And in these cases death follows except if the malady has been dispersed by fever.
At in tabe sputum mixtum, purulentum, febris adsidua, quae et cibi tempora eripit et siti adfligit, in corpore tenui subesse periculum testantur. Si quis etiam in eo morbo diutius traxit, ubi capilli fluunt, ubi urina quaedam araneis similia subsidentia ostendit, atque in iis odor foedus est, maximeque ubi post haec orta deiectio est, protinus moritur, utique si tempus autumni est, quo fere qui cetera parte anni traxerunt, resoluuntur. Item pus expuisse in hoc morbo, deinde ex toto spuere desisse mortiferum est. Solent etiam in adulescentibus ex eo morbo uomicae fistulaeque oriri; quae non facile sanescunt, nisi si multa signa bonae ualetudinis subsecuta sunt. Ex reliquis uero minime facile sanantur uirgines aut eae mulieres, quibus super tabem menstrua suppressa sunt. Cui uero sano subitus dolor capitis ortus est, dein somnus oppressit, sic ut stertat neque expergiscatur, intra septimum diem pereundum est; magis si eum aluus cita non antecesserit, si palpebrae dormientis non coeunt, si album oculorum apparet. Quos tamen ita mors sequitur, si id malum non est febre discussum.
Again dropsy, if caused by an acute disease, is seldom conducted to a cure, at any rate when signs supervene the reverse of those noted above. Likewise too in this disease a cough takes away hope as is also the case if there is an outburst of blood whether upwards or downwards and water fills the middle of the body. In some also in this disease swellings arise, then subside, and again recur: such patients are in a somewhat safer state than those mentioned above, if they give attention; but generally they are undone by over-confidence in their health. Here we may wonder with good reason why there should be occurrences which cause our bodies harm, and yet at the same time in a measure are beneficial: for whether it is dropsical fluid which has filled a patient up, or whether it is a quantity of pus which has collected in a large abscess, evacuation all at once is as fatal to him, as if a healthy man loses blood by a wound.
At aqua inter cutem, si ex acuto morbo coepit, ad sanitatem raro perducitur, utique si contraria iis, quae supra posita sunt, subsecuntur. Aeque in ea quoque tussis spem tollit, item, si sanguis sursum deorsumque erupit et aqua medium corpus inplevit. Quibusdam etiam in hoc morbo tumores oriuntur, deinde desinunt, deinde rursus adsurgunt: hi tutiores quidem sunt, quam qui supra conprehensi sunt, si adtendun⟨t⟩; sed fere fiducia secundae ualetudinis opprimuntur. Illud iure aliquis mirabitur, quomodo quaedam simul et adfligant nostra corpora, et parte aliqua tueantur: nam siue aqua inter cutem quem impleuit, siue in magno abscessu multum puris coit, simul id omne effudisse aeque mortiferum est, ac si quis sani corporis uulnere factus exsanguis est.
Those too who suffer in their joints, so that growths of hard stuff are formed upon them, are never relieved entirely: all these damages, whether they have begun in old age, or have lasted from youth up to old age, although there is a possibility of some alleviation, are never entirely cured.
Articulis uero qui sic dolent, ut super eos ex callo quaedam tubercula innata sint, numquam liberantur: quaeque eorum uitia uel in senectute coeperunt, uel ad senectutem ab adulescentia pervenerunt, ut aliquando leniri possunt, sic numquam ex toto finiuntur.
Also fits which have arisen after the twenty-fifth year are hard to relieve, much harder when they begin after the fortieth; hence at this age, whilst there may be some hope from nature, there is scarcely any from the Art of Medicine. In this affection, if the whole body is affected all together, and there has not been beforehand in any part some feeling of an oncoming ill, but the patient falls down unexpectedly, he scarcely ever gets well, be his age what it may: further, if either the mind is diseased, or paralysis has been set up, there is no opportunity for the Art of Medicine.
Morbus quoque comitialis post annum XXV ortus aegre curatur, multoque aegrius is, qui post XL annum coepit, adeo ut in ea aetate aliquid in natu⟨ra⟩ spei, uix quicquam in medicina sit. In eodem morbo si simul totum corpus adficitur, neque ante in partibus aliquis uenientis mali sensus est, sed homo inprouiso concidit, cuiuscumque is aetatis est, uix sanescit: si uero aut mens laesa est, aut neruorum facta resolutio, medicinae locus non est.
Again in cases of diarrhoea, danger of death is at hand: if there is fever in addition, if there is inflammation of the liver or of the parts over the heart or of the stomach, if excessive thirst, if the affection is prolonged; if the stools are varied and passed with pain, and especially if with these signs true dysenteries set in; and this disease carries off mostly children up to the age of ten; other ages bear it more easily. Also a pregnant woman can be swept away by such an event, and even if she herself recovers, yet she loses the child. Dysenteries are fatal, moreover, when originated by black bile, or if a black motion suddenly issues from a body already wasted by dysentery.
Deiectionibus quoque si febris accessit, si inflammatio iocineris aut praecordiorum aut uentris, si inmodica sitis, si longius tempus, si aluus uaria, si cum dolore est, etiam periculum mortis subest, maximeque si inter haec tormina ue⟨r⟩a esse coeperunt; isque morbus maxime pueros absumit usque ad annum decimum: ceterae aetates facilius sustinent. Mulier quoque gravida eiusmodi casu rapi potest; atque, etiamsi ipsa conualuit, tamen partum perdit. Quin etiam tormina ab atra bile orsa mortifera sunt, aut si sub his extenuato iam corpore subito nigra aluus profluxit.
Now intestinal lubricity is the more dangerous, if there is a frequent motion, if there is a flux from the bowel at all hours, with or without noise, if the same condition continues by night and in the day-time, if what is passed is either undigested or black, and besides that also slimy and foul; if there is urgent thirst, if urine is not passed after a drink (which happens because then all fluid passes down, not into the bladder, but into the intestine); if the mouth becomes ulcerated, the face reddened and marked as if by kinds of spots of all colours; if the belly is as though in a state of fermentation, fatty and wrinkled, also if there is no desire for food...; while death is imminent in these circumstances, it is much more imminent if also this disease has already lasted a long while, especially if it be in an old patient.
At intestinorum leuitas periculosior est, si frequens deiectio est, si uenter omnibus horis et cum so⟨n⟩o et sine hoc profluit; si similiter noctu et interdiu, si, quod excernitur, aut crudum est aut nigrum et praeter id etiam leue et mali odoris; si sitis urget, si post potionem urina non redditur (quod euenit, quia tunc liquor omnis non in uesicam sed intestina descendit); si os exulceratur, rubet facies et quasi maculis quibusdam colorum omnium distinguitur; si uenter est quasi fermentatus, pinguis atque rugosus, si cibi et * * cupiditas non est; inter quae cum euidens mors sit, multo euidentior est, si iam longum quoque id uitium est, id maxime etiam, si in corpore senili est.
If again there is disease in the smaller intestine, vomiting, hiccough, spasm, delirium are bad signs.
Si uero in tenuiore intestino morbus est, uomitus, singultus, neruorum distentio, delirium mala sunt.
In jaundice again it is most pernicious for the liver to become hard.
At in morbo arquato durum fieri iecur perniciosissimum est.
If dysentery has seized upon those with disease of the spleen which has then turned into dropsy or into leientery, scarcely any medical treatment can save them from danger.
Quos lienis male habet, si tormina prenderunt, deinde inuersa sunt uel in aquam inter cutem uel intestinorum leuitatem, uix ulla medicina periculo subtrahit.