1. Their gods. Though Æsculapius lived so near to the time of the Trojan war, yet the Greeks knew very little about him. The superstition of those times gave him a place among the gods: and as he was adored under the character of the genius of physick, it came at last to be doubted whether he was ever a mortal. This blind devotion, however, produced one happy consequence: his priests were obliged, for their own interest, to make themselves masters of all the physic that was known in that country, that they might be qualified to give advice to the people, who applied to them. Their prescriptions passed for the suggestions of the god; their cures for miraculous. But both diseases and remedies were carefully recorded.——Strabo tells us, that from these registers in the temple of Æsculapius at Cos, Hippocrates formed his plan for a proper diet.——Strabon. Geograph. lib. 14. p.657. Edit. Casaub.

2. Immortal gods.) That this was really the opinion of the ancients, may be seen by many passages in Homer’s poems, where he mentions Jupiter punishing wicked nations by diseases, as well as famine, wars, and other calamities.

3. Principles.) Some of the ancient philosophers maintained, that the human body, as well as the whole material system, was composed of four principles or elements, viz. fire, air, earth, and water.

4. Vessels, in the original, vena; which is used by our author as a general term for arteries and veins. In this place it is evident he means arteries; for mentioning the same opinion again, page16, he says, At si sanguis in arterias transfusus; and he often speaks of the motion of the veins, where, it is plain, he intends the pulsation of the arteries. Arteria he uses to signify the wind-pipe, and likewise the sanguiferous arteries, as in chap. 1. of book 4. Circa guttur venae grandes, quae sphagitides nominantur; item arteriÆ, quas carotidas vocant.

5. Distribution of the same.) The word in the original is digero, which, by the modern physicians, is generally applied to the digestion of the aliment in the stomach. But that is what our author never intends by it. Digero he uses in three different senses; 1st, for the distribution of the aliment from the stomach (after its concoction) to all the other parts of the body, which appears to be his meaning here: 2dly, for any evacuation made by the pores of the skin, as sudore digerit in the end of the ninth chapter of this book: 3dly, for discussing any collection of humour, so as to prevent its coming to suppuration; vel avertenda concurrens eo materia, vel digerenda, vel ad maturitatem perducenda est: si priora contigerunt, nihil praeterea necessarium est. Lib. vii. c. 2. ad fin. p.408. Unless we restrain the meaning of this last passage to discussing by the skin, which would bring it under the second sense.

6. Asperity.) Ten of the most ancient editions mentioned by Morgagni[ ID ] read contactum; but as that seems to convey no convenient sense, others prefer contractum, which is found in one of the manuscripts, and suppose it to mean asperity, a sense which it is not found to bear elsewhere; and therefore, Constantine boldly enough substitutes confractum, which he thinks agreeable to this interpretation. The same reason may, perhaps, have led him to that alteration, as induced the others to explain contractum by asperity, that it might stand in opposition to smoothness. For my own part, though confractus is not found in any other classic, yet I have given this translation, because I can find no other sense of the place, as it now stands. If I durst offer my own conjecture, ?p????? ?ast??I would rather chuse to read anfractum, which, I think, is applicable to the windings of some of the internal parts.

7. Lippitudo is used by Celsus, and the more ancient Latins in the same sense as the Greek term Ophthalmia.

8. Abdomen.) The word in the original is uterus, which our author generally uses for the cavity of the abdomen.

9. Indeed may be opened.) The text in Almeloveen and Linden runs thus, Nam ne uterum quidem ut nihilominus aerem contineat, &c. The particle ne is not in the older copies or the MS. of Morgagni[ IE ], and as it spoils the sense, I have omitted it. The same older copies read qui minus ad rem pertineat, instead of ut nihilominus aerem contineat; but as the first can bear no sense at all in this place, and the other has not the elegance of Celsus, I have taken no notice of either; and as the connection is perfect without any addition, I suspect both to have crept in from the margin.

10. Praecordia.) This word frequently occurs in Celsus; and he seems to use it in two senses: 1st, For the cavity of the thorax, as lib. 4. c. 1. At sub corde atque pulmone transversum ex valida membrana est septum, quod È praecordiis uterum diducit. 2dly, For the hypochondria; for which see several passages in the first eight chapters of the second book, where he considers the symptoms of distempers from the external appearance of the prÆcordia; by which word, in those passages, he translates the Greek term ?p????d???? in Hippocrates; the derivation of which demonstrates it to be below the Cartilago Xiphoides.

11. Quantity of flesh.) I shall not trouble the reader with several various and opposite opinions of this case, by different commentators; it will be sufficient to recite the opinion of Morgagni[ IF ] (which appears the only probable one) and the reasons with which he supports it. In his anatomical lectures he explained it as an inverted uterus, which he says resembles nothing more than flesh, and is quickly seized with a gangrene, for the reasons given by Ruysch. Observ. Anat. Chir. 10. and thus[ IG ] Celsus, in the description of a gangrene, mentions siccam et aridam carnem; and Boerhaave says, an inverted uterus is seized with a gangrene in three hours after its inversion, which agrees with intra paueas horas in this place.——The ingenious author, first mentioned, confirms this explanation by a case that occurred to a surgeon, who, struck with the novelty of it, came immediately to ask his opinion: upon his shewing the surgeon Ruysch’s delineation of an inverted uterus, he confessed it to be perfectly similar.——Morgagni advised him to run back and replace it immediately, which he did in an hour after its inversion, and the lady was cured.

12. Nervus.) Though it might be doubted, whether the ancients comprehended under this word, what is now properly called a nerve, yet, it is certain they used it for a tendon, or ligament; which so evidently appears in many passages of Celsus, particularly the eighth book, that it is quite superfluous to instance any single example. And this is agreeable to the signification of the Greek word ?e?~???, a chord or string; and thus Hippocrates says, “The nerves are dry and void of any cavity, and grow to the bone, and have most of their nourishment from thence; they are nourished also from the flesh, and their colour and strength is in a middle degree between bone and flesh.” Hippocrat. Opera, sect. 4: lib. de loc. in homin. p.409. ad finem. That I might not seem to determine, what may be thought doubtful, I have generally retained the author’s term nerve, and left the application to the reader’s judgment; but in some places, particularly in the eighth book, where the meaning was very evident, and the word ?e?~???nerve would have been harsh to an English reader, I have rendered it tendon, or ligament, as the connection appeared to require.

13. Another loose.) The word in the original is fluens, that is a disorder attended with some discharge.

14. Our author means here the ??? of a disease, after which it increases no more.

15. A dinner also.) Mercurialis conjectures that the custom among the Romans of making but one set meal in the day, arose from their spending so much time in cleaning their bodies, and going through the several processes at the baths, that they had hardly time left even for one meal; considering that besides all these operations, they had each his own private business to transact, and their bathing was too sacred to be omitted. Hieron. Mercurial. de Art. Gymnast. lib. i. cap. 11.

16. Iatroalipta.) This is a Greek word, and signifies a physician that anoints. There was always one or more of these attending a gymnasium, to whose province belonged every thing that related to unction. To their care was committed the strength and complexion of the body; thus Cicero in an epistle to Lentulus, says, Sed vellem non solum salutis meae, quemadmodum medici, sed etiam ut aliptae, virium et coloris rationem babere voluissent. It is probable, that at their first institution, they were acquainted with the nature and effects of their operations on human bodies; and according to Plato, de Legibus, lib. xi. they were either physicians, or in many things equal to them. But Galen complains, that in his time they were ignorant. For a more particular account, see Mercurial. de Art. Gymnast. lib. i. cap. 12.

17. Sometimes the warm bath, &c.) No practice was ever more universally followed, than that of bathing among the ancients. The first design of it was certainly the preservation of health; but, as riches and luxury increased among both Greeks and Romans, the edifices for this purpose grew proportionably more elegant and sumptuous. The construction of baths and their several appurtenances must have been so well known, when in use, that it is not to be wondered we have so imperfect accounts of them transmitted to us. Without entering into any of the disputes about the form or use of several of their parts, I shall subjoin what seems to be generally agreed to by all, and may serve to explain any passages in our author which have relation to them.

In the baths there were five apartments—One, called Tepidarium, was a room close all round, and rendered tepid by dry vapours from a fire. Persons staid here so long as to rarify their humours, that they might not go unprepared into the hotter rooms. The Calidarium, or Laconicum, was in all things similar to the foregoing, only the heat was greater. Some affirm, that in both these apartments there were vessels of water, of the same temperature with their air. Next followed the Solium, where was the hot bath. People sat here, sometimes, without going into the bath, and had water poured over them, as Celsus in several places prescribes. The Baptisterium, or Piscina, was the receptacle for cold water, for bathing and swimming in. There was also an apartment called Frigidarium, concerning which there is a dispute, whether it contained water or not; Mercurialis says, ‘Some have imagined there was water here for those who were fond of swimming; but there is no mention of water in authors.’—He adds, ‘that it was contrived for those that came immediately from the Tepidarium and Calidarium, and wanted to enjoy a cool air.’ Pliny[ IH ] the younger mentions a Frigidarium in a bath at his villa, where there was water for swimming in; but this may have been a new mode, and not known in Celsus’s time. Whether this apartment contained water or not, I shall not determine; but it would appear from authors, that either the air or water here was of a mild temperature, not quite cold, nor yet so warm as the Tepidarium. To[ II ] these several parts were subservient; the Aquarium, in which a large reservoir was built for holding water brought from the aqueducts and elsewhere.—The Vasarium, where the necessary vessels were placed, and where the water was heated; this stood above the Hypocaustum, or stove.

Seneca[ IJ ] has shown us of how great importance the Romans esteemed the baths in the time of the republic, when he observes, ‘What pleasure there would be in going into the baths, which a person knew to be tempered by the hand of Cato in his edileship, or Fabius Maximus, or one of the Cornelii—for, says he, this function the most noble ediles performed, of inspecting those places frequented by the people, and requiring cleanliness and a convenient and salutary temperature; not such as has been lately brought into use, in which the heat is so violent, that one would imagine a slave convicted of some crime were condemned to that punishment.’

These several parts of the baths were variously used, according to the case of the person, and the intention pursued. Where no epithet is added to the bath in the text, it will appear from the connection, generally, that the hot bath is to be understood. For any further particulars relating to the baths, see Mercurial. de Art. Gymnast. lib. i. c. 10.

18. Gravedoes.) I have here retained the original word, because we have no one English term which will answer to it. See its symptoms enumerated, lib. iv. c. 4.

19. In one that has laboured little.) According to the reading of Almeloveen and Linden, which is, In eo, qui minus laboravit, et bene concoxit, remissior: in eo, qui assuetus est, et minus concoxit, amplior, Celsus gives a precept contrary to what he had directed before, p.22. l. 2. Qui parum concoxit, quiescere debet. In justice, therefore, to our author, I restore with Morgagni[ IK ] the old reading, In eo, qui minus laboravit, et bene concoxit, amplior: in eo, qui fatigatus est, et minus concoxit, remissior.

20. Salt fish, salsamentum.) By this is generally understood fish salted and dried (resembling our dried ling), for in several ancient authors it is ordered to be macerated before boiling; and it is often mentioned as made of fish: but it would appear from Strabo[ IL ], that the same name was also given to flesh cured in like manner; for he mentions a ta??e?a, or salsamentum, made of pork, amongst the Sequani, which was brought to the Roman market.

21. Sexes.) Our author here proposes the difference arising from the sexes, as one of the subjects to be treated of, but no notice is taken of it in the subsequent part of the chapter: so that this word must either have been interpolated, or, as Constantine observes, Celsus must have forgot it, (which is not probable,) or his observations upon that article may be lost, by the carelessness of transcribers.

22. Frequent yawning.) As this whole paragraph relates to people that are fatigued, it renders the old reading more probable, fatigatio, instead of oscitatio, especially as it follows, that a change of labour relieves from fatigue; unless we reckon yawning as one of the symptoms of lassitude; Morgagni[ IM ] prefers fatigatio: but as the difference is of small importance, I have not departed from Almeloveen.

23. Warm water.) It appears a little doubtful, why our author should mention this, as he adds the bath immediately after: unless by balneum he means all the processes at the bath; and by the other, bathing in warm water alone.

24. Mulse was made of two parts of wine, and one of honey. Dios. lib. v. cap. 790. But from Celsus, it would appear that the proportions were arbitrary: for he says, Mulse is more nourishing the more honey it contains. Lib. ii. cap. 18.

25. Hyssop.) Hippocrates thus prescribes it for a vomit to corpulent men; let about a gill of powdered hyssop be given to drink in a gallon of water, adding a little vinegar and salt, to make it as pleasant as possible; and let this be drunk at first gradually, and afterwards more quickly. Lib. de Salub. Vict. Rat. p.338. Edit. Gen. 1657.

26. Lotus.) There are several species of this mentioned by ancient authors; but the particular kind intended here seems to be the lotus Ægyptius, growing in the water, with a stalk resembling the cyamus. It has a root like a quince, and is eaten both raw and boiled, and in the last way, in quality, it is like the white of an egg. The Egyptians make bread of its head, which resembles poppy.—See Dioscorid. lib. iv. cap. 696. and Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xiii. cap. 17 and 18.

27. The body is rendered humid.) Lommius asserts the copies to be every one corrupted in this place. From the moisteners he strikes out the following,—continuing awake, long and brisk walking, morning exercise without eating after it,—as unworthy of our author. And for the same reason, in the list of dryers, inserts watching and unction, without bathing in cold water. This I thought proper to mention in a note, but did not chuse to take so great liberties with the text against the authority of all the other copies, but leave it to the judgment of the learned reader, though I rather incline to the alteration proposed. Vide Lomm. Comment. de Sanitat. tuend. p.218 and 219.

28. Apples, Poma.) Under this Celsus includes all the apple-kind; and he elsewhere comprehends in this genus, cherries, mulberries, &c. so that he seems to take in all the pulpy fruits, whether they have stones or not. Wherever he intends what we particularly call apples, he makes a distinction, as QuÆque propriÈ poma nominantur, lib. ii. cap. 18.

29. Salt wine.) “Wines are prepared with sea water in different ways; for some, immediately after gleaning the grapes, mix sea-water with them; others expose them to the sun, and thus tread them, adding sea-water. Others again, make the grapes into raisins, and macerate them in vessels with sea-water, and thus tread and press them. Wine made in this way is sweet: but there are others prepared of a more austere taste[ IN ].”

Pliny tells us, That the properties of this wine were first accidentally discovered by a servant stealing some wine, and filling up the vessel with sea-water[ IO ].

30. Defrutum is sweet must, boiled to one half its quantity, done to imitate honey. Plin. lib. xiv. cap. 9. Columella says to one-third, which Pliny calls sapa. Ibid.