On Nourishment — First Draft Translation

ON NOURISHMENT. 1 Nourishment and the kinds of nourishment: one and many. One in that the genus is one; kinds differ by wetness and dryness. And within these, forms — both how much there is, and to what, and to how many. 2 It increases, strengthens, builds up flesh, makes like and makes unlike the things in each part according to each part's nature and its original capacity. It makes like in respect of capacity: when the incoming gains dominance, the pre-existing then holds sway in turn. 4 And fading also occurs: sometimes the former, released in time or added on top; sometimes the latter, released in time or added on top. What dims both of them, in time and after time, is the continuous outside element that has been blended in and has been interwoven solidly through all the members over a long time. 6 And it has put forth its own particular form; it also alters the original form and carries it downward. It nourishes by undergoing pepsis (concoction). It changes the prior form, and sometimes it has dimmed the prior forms. The capacity of nourishment reaches even to bone and all its parts, and to sinew, vein, artery, muscle, membrane, flesh, fat, blood, phlegm, marrow, brain, spinal cord, the viscera, and all their parts — and indeed also to warmth, pneuma (breath / vital air), and moisture. 8 Nourishment is that which nourishes; nourishment is that which is of such a kind; nourishment is that which is going to nourish. The beginning of all things is one, and the end of all things is one, and the same end is a beginning. 10 And insofar as things in nourishment are managed well and badly in particular — well are those stated above, badly are those that hold the opposite ordering. Chymoi (bodily juices) are many-formed, both in colors and in capacities, in their harm and in their benefit — and in neither harming nor benefiting — and by quantity, excess, deficiency, and interweavings, in some cases and not in others. 12 And in all things, with respect to warmth: it harms and benefits. With respect to cooling: it harms and benefits. With respect to capacity: it harms and benefits. The natures of capacity are many-formed. 14 Chymoi that destroy — the whole and the part, from outside and from inside — spontaneous and not spontaneous: spontaneous to us, but not spontaneous in terms of cause. Of the causes, some are manifest, some non-manifest; some possible, some impossible. Nature suffices for everything in everything. 16 In relation to this — from outside: a poultice, an ointment-application, a rubbing-on, nakedness of the whole or of a part, covering of the whole or of a part, warmth and cooling by the same principle, astringency, ulceration, gnawing, and oiling. From inside: some of the things mentioned, and in addition to these, a cause non-manifest to the part and to the whole, to some and to none. Separations according to nature: from the belly, from urine, from sweat, from spittle, from mucus, from the womb, by way of hemorrhoid, warty growth, scaly eruption, swelling, carcinoma — from the nostrils, from the lung, from the belly, from the seat, from the penis — according to nature and contrary to nature. The distinctions among these are for different persons in relation to different principles, at different times and in different ways. 17 These are all one nature and not one; these are all many natures and one. Purging upward and downward, and neither upward nor downward. 19 Purging by means of nourishment: at its best. Purging by means of nourishment: poor. Poor and best relative to something. Ulcer, eschar, blood, pus, ichor, scaly eruption, bran-like scaling, scurf, lichen, alphos, freckle — sometimes it harms, sometimes it benefits, sometimes it neither harms nor benefits. 21 Nourishment is not nourishment if it cannot nourish. What is not nourishment is nourishment if it can nourish. In name nourishment, but not in work. In work nourishment, but not in name. To the hairs nourishment reaches, and to the nails and to the outermost surface from within. From outside, nourishment from the outermost surface reaches inward to the deepest part. 23 One confluence, one co-breathing, all things in sympathy — according to the wholeness of the body all things, and according to part, the parts in each part in relation to their work. The great beginning reaches to the outermost part; from the outermost part it reaches back to the great beginning. One nature: to be and not to be. 25 Differences of diseases: in nourishment, in pneuma, in warmth, in blood, in phlegm, in bile, in chymoi, in flesh, in fat, in vein, in artery, in sinew, in muscle, in membrane, in bone, in brain, in spinal marrow, in the mouth, in the tongue, in the esophagus, in the belly, in the intestines, in the midriff, in the peritoneum, in the liver, in the spleen, in the kidneys, in the bladder, in the womb, in the skin. All these, both singly and in part. Their magnitude: great and not great. Signs: tickling, pain, rupture, thought, sweat, sediment in urine, stillness, tossing, fixations of sight, visions, jaundice, hiccup, seizure, whole blood, sleep — and from these and from the other things according to nature, and all others of such a kind that tend toward harm and toward benefit. Labors of the whole and of the part. Signs of magnitude: of one, tending to the greater; of the other, tending to the lesser; and from both toward the greater, and from both toward the lesser. 27 Sweet not sweet: sweet in capacity, as water; sweet to taste, as honey. Signs of each: ulcers, eyes, and tastes — and among these, the more and the less. Sweet to sight — in colors and in other mixings — sweet more and less. Porousness of body for transpiration: those in whom more excess matter is removed remain healthy. Denseness of body for transpiration: those in whom less diseased matter is removed are prone to illness. Those who transpire well are weaker and healthier and easily restored. Those who transpire badly are stronger before falling ill, but once ill, are hard to restore. And this holds for the whole and for the part. 29 The lung draws nourishment by a route opposite to the body; all the rest draw nourishment the same way. The beginning of nourishment of pneuma: nostrils, mouth, throat, lung, and the rest of transpiration. The beginning of both liquid and dry nourishment: mouth, esophagus, belly. The more ancient nourishment passes through the epigastrium, by way of the navel. 31 The rooting of the veins: the liver. The rooting of the arteries: the heart. From these, blood and pneuma wander out to all things, and warmth moves through them. Capacity is one and not one — by which all these and the other kinds of things are managed: one toward life of the whole and of the part, the other toward perception of the whole and of the part. 33 Milk is nourishment for those for whom milk is nourishment according to nature; for others, not. For others, wine is nourishment; and for others, not. Flesh too, and many other kinds of nourishment, differ according to region and habit. Things are nourished: some toward growth and toward being; some toward being alone, as the aged; some, in addition to these, toward strength. 34 The athletic constitution is not by nature. A healthy bodily condition is superior in all respects. Of great importance is the quantity, accurately fitted to capacity. 36 Milk and blood are surplus of nourishment. The cycles are consonant for many things — for the embryo and for its nourishment. Again it inclines upward, toward milk and toward nourishment of the infant. 38 Things not alive are made alive; things alive are made alive; the parts of living things are made alive. The natures of all things are untaught. 40 Another's blood beneficial; one's own blood beneficial; another's blood harmful; one's own blood harmful. Chymoi of one's own harmful; chymoi of another harmful; chymoi of another beneficial; chymoi of one's own beneficial. What is in harmony is in discord; what is in discord is in harmony. Another's milk wholesome; one's own milk harmful; another's milk harmful; one's own milk beneficial. Food for the young: barely corrupted. For the old: changed to the end. For the prime of life: unchanged. 42 For formation: 35 days; for movement: 70; for completion: 210. Others: for taking form, 45; for movement, 90; for departure, 270. Others: 50 for form; for the first leap, 100; for completion, 300. For differentiation: 40; for transition: 80; for delivery: 240. [The schemes vary and are inconsistent with one another.] It is and is not. Within these, both more and less occur, both as a whole and in part — not much more is more and less is less, such and however many other things are like these. Nourishment of bones from a fracture: for the nose, twice five days; for the jaw, collarbone, and ribs, double that; for the forearm, triple; for the shin and upper arm, quadruple; for the thigh, quintuple — and whether anything in these cases can be more or less. 44 Blood liquid and blood solid. Liquid blood: wholesome; liquid blood: poor. Solid blood: wholesome; solid blood: poor. In relation to something: all things are poor and all things are wholesome. The road upward-downward is one. 46 The capacity of nourishment is stronger than its bulk; the bulk of nourishment is stronger than its capacity — both in moist things and in dry. What is removed and what is added are not the same thing: from one it removes; to another it adds the same. 48 The pulsations of the veins and the inbreathing of pneuma according to age — both consonant and dissonant — are signs of disease and of health, of health more than disease and of disease more than health; for nourishment and pneuma are at work. Liquid nourishment is more easily changed than dry. Dry nourishment is more easily changed than liquid. [These two claims stand in apparent contradiction; the text preserves both without resolution.] What is hard to alter is hard to use up; what is easily added to is easily used up. 50 For those who need swift addition, a liquid remedy is most powerful for the recovery of capacity. For those who need still swifter, by way of smell. For those who need slower addition, by solid nourishment. Muscles, being more solid, are harder to melt away than the other parts, apart from bone and sinew. What has been exercised is hard to alter — being stronger than the rest of its own kind, and for this reason harder to dissolve than the rest of its kind. 52 Pus: what comes from flesh. Pus-like matter: what comes from blood and from other moisture. Pus is nourishment of an ulcer. Pus-like matter is nourishment of a vein, of an artery. Marrow is nourishment of bone — and for this reason bone forms a callus over it. 54 Capacity increases all things, nourishes, and makes them grow. Moisture is the vehicle of nourishment.