1. Those things, &c.) See book ii. chap. 2.

2. Digested.) See note lib. i. p.6.

3. From the inguen.) Almeloveen would rather read ingluvie, or sanguine, than inguine. But these cannot be reckoned among the external causes. There is no reason to question the authority of the text, if we remember what Hippocrates has said, aph. 55. sect. 4. ‘All fevers proceeding from buboes are bad, except a diary.’

4. For these reasons others defer it.) The translation is agreeable to the reading of Linden and Almeloveen. But Morgagni[ IV ] informs us, that all the editions in his possession, and the MS. too, read thus: Ob hÆc ad mediam noctem decurro, id est, finito jam gravissimo tempore, eodemque longissime distante, secuturis vero antelucanis horis, quibus onmes fere maxime dormiunt, deinde matutino tempore, quod sua natura levissima est. That is, ‘for these reasons I defer it till midnight, that is, when the most severe time is over, and the return of it is at the greatest distance, this being succeeded by the hours before day-light, when every body generally sleeps most quietly, and these followed by the morning, which is naturally the easiest period of all.’—He adds, beside the impropriety of the prescription, as it now stands in Almeloveen, when Celsus meant quite otherwise; the place is the more worthy of notice, that it shews Celsus, although not for common, yet to have practised medicine.

5. Apply his hand to his wrist, ejus carpo manum admovere.) The word carpus appears suspicious, as it no where else occurs in Celsus. On the contrary, in describing this part he says, In manu vero, prima palmÆ[ IW ] pars, &c. and Morgagni[ IX ] observes the old reading was corpori, and carpo only Constantine’s explication.

6. Intrita.) We have no particular description of this food in any of the ancients, as far as I remember. By comparing their several applications of this word, I take it to be a general term for several species of compositions, the ingredients of which were rubbed small in a mortar, or softer materials macerated in liquids, as bread in wine, mentioned by Pliny, Intrita panis e vino, lib. ix. cap. 8.—By our author’s use of it here, it plainly appears to be something light, soft, and simple, probably very like, if not the same with our panada.

7. But if one in such a fever coughs gently, &c.) Siquis autem in hujus modi febre leniter tussit, is neque vehmenti siti conflictari, neque bibere aquam frigidam debet; sed eo modo curandus est, quo in cÆteris febribus prÆcipitur.—All this is omitted in Morgagni’s MS.—Ronsseus suspected it to be interpolated, and it is not to be found in the Pinzian edition, nor the Juntine, nor Florentine.—Ronsseus’s suspicion arose from considering aph. 54. sect. 4.—‘Those that are troubled with dry and gentle coughs in ardent fevers, are not very thirsty.’ Morgagni, Ep. 5. p.140.—But perhaps this objection might be removed by only reading conflictatur, instead of conflictari.

8. To twenty-four hours.) Linden and after him Almeloveen have followed Constantine in rejecting the preposition inter. But the old reading seems preferable, which was this,—Inter horas viginti quatuor et triginta sex: that is, The fit takes up between twenty-four hours and thirty-six.

9. Cleanse his belly, vomendo ventrem purgaret.) It is probable by venter here our author means the stomach.

10. And apply that, et id ingerere.) I cannot help agreeing with Scaliger, that these words are interpolated. For supposing them to mean the application of the medicine here mentioned, yet that is particularly directed a few lines after. Besides I do not remember any instance of ingero bearing a sense that would answer in this place.

11. Greeks call zesis. Et jactationem, fervoremque corporis, quem ??s?? GrÆci vocant.)—All Morgagni’s[ IY ] editions and his MS. agree in reading thus, FÆtoremque quendam odoris, quem ???? GrÆci vocant. Which word from this single passage of Celsus has a place in Stephens’s Thesaur. Ling. GrÆc. But as the sense, according to this last reading, is not near so proper, and as Linden, no doubt, had some authority for his reading, I have abode by it.

12. Former regimen strictly.) After the words, to which these answer in the original, there follows in Linden and Almeloveen, Et aqua tantummodo calida, si sitis est, uti: ac tum ita nono die balneo frigus prÆvenire, et. Which must appear manifestly corrupt; for this would be making the paroxysm of a quartan fever return after one day’s interval: so that though the other words were retained, yet nono should be undoubtedly changed into decimo. But I have chosen rather to follow the reading of Pinzi and Junta, which is perfectly consonant with the context. Septimo die balneo frigus prÆvenire, abstinere, continere se debet; si febris redierit, ducere alvum; ubi ex eo corpus conquieverit, inunctione vehementer perfricari, eodem modo sumere cibum et vinum, biduo proximo se abstinere, frictione servata. Decimo die rursus balneum experiri, &c. This makes the directions which follow nono die, to belong to the seventh; and decimo die for decimo tertio die still preserves the regular succession of the fits. This reading is confirmed by what our author adds in the next paragraph, where he prescribes a new method to be pursued, if the fever should return upon the thirteenth day. ‘Wherefore, if the distemper shall continue upon the thirteenth day, the bath must neither be tried before the fever nor after it, &c.’ For if we allow the reading of Linden, &c. decimo tertio die, in the first paragraph, he orders bathing on this day; and in the next he absolutely forbids it.

13. Laser.) This was the juice or gum of a plant like the ferula, by the Latins called laserpitium, by the Greeks silphium. That kind, which was most esteemed, came from Cyrene, where it seems it was worn out in Pliny’s time, for he tells us only one stalk was found in his memory, which was sent to Nero; he adds, that for a long time they had no other imported to them, but what came from Persia, Media, and Armenia, where it grew in abundance, but much inferior to the Cyrenean, and adulterated with gum, sagapenum, or bean-meal.—See Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xix. cap. 3.—Some of the moderns take this for assa-foetida; others, among whom is Dr Lister, think it a different thing, and absolutely unknown now. I have therefore chosen to retain the original word.—See the description of it Dioscorid. lib. iii. cap. 500.

14. Happened in the beginning.) Cum id initio inciderit; thus Linden and Almeloveen read it; some older editions have vitio, when that has happened by some mismanagement; which agrees with what our author says in the end of the 15th chapter. Perhaps it might be Initio, cum id inciderit, that is, upon its first appearance, &c.

15. That cannot be assigned. Certis partibus assignari possunt.) Constantine, and after him Linden and Almeloveen, have thought fit to omit non, which will appear to any, who considers the sense to be manifestly wrong. Our author himself determines it in the beginning of the fourth book, where with reference to this part of his work he says, Hactenus reperiuntur ea genera morborum, quÆ in totis corporibus ita sunt, ut iis certÆ sedes assignari non possint. See Morgagni, Ep. 1. p.25.

16. There may be the same reason, &c. Nec minus dubitari potest, an alvus ducenda sit.) The connection of this sentence with the context has an obscurity very uncommon in our author. We must observe that he is here maintaining the necessity of taking blood in phrenitic cases against Asclepiades: and after general reasons drawn from the nature of the disease, he adds an argument from the practice of that physician. He prescribed clysters in this distemper, though, as CÆlius Aurelianus[ IZ ] observes, that was directly contrary to a principle of his own. Celsus therefore insists, that there is no reason against bleeding, that is not equally strong against clysters, which are however approved by Asclepiades. According to the exact method every where observed by our author, this argument would naturally have followed what he said of friction ordered by Asclepiades: and as it now stands after the conclusion drawn, it seems to be an after-thought. If this explication be thought unnatural, it may be otherwise paraphrased, and connected with the following paragraph thus: The doubt is the same with regard to clysters, as to the letting of blood, and the resolution is also the same. But after either of these, intermitting a day, &c.

17. Ointment of saffron.) In preparing this they first inspissated the oil by boiling it with calamus and myrrh, and then infusing saffron in it for five days, and stirring it frequently; and on the sixth the oil was poured off clear. Others added the myrrh in powder, after the oil was poured off the other ingredients.

18. Ajax or Orestes.) These cases are best illustrated by the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, which our author seems to have had in view. Ajax enraged to see Ulysses preferred to him in the competition for the arms of Achilles, falls into madness. He resolved to revenge this affront upon the whole army. And in the night ran into the fields, where their flocks and herds were grazing, murdered the shepherds and laid about him among the cattle, taking them for men; slew numbers of them, which he imagined to be Agamemnon, Menelaus, and others, that were accessary to his dishonour. Then bound and led prisoners to his tent many more oxen and sheep to be reserved for tortures, and flogged unmercifully a great ram for his adversary Ulysses, before he put him to death. Orestes was affected in the same manner. After the murder of his mother, he fancied himself haunted by the furies, and her amongst them. He is represented as terrified by their frightful looks, sometimes reasoning, sometimes beseeching, and at other times drawing his sword to fight them. In one of these fits, like Ajax, he falls upon the cattle. See Sophocl. Ajax flagell. et Euripid. Orest. et Iphigen. in Taur. Such are the figures presented to the imagination in this species of madness.

19. Purged in the inferior parts.) The whole sentence, which runs thus, Ubi ab inferiore parte purgandus aliquis est, ventrem ejus ante solvendum esse: ubi À superiore, comprimendum esse, is taken from aph. 66. sect. 7. And after comparing them together, I conceive our author’s meaning to be, that when the intention is to purge, the belly should first be moistened by diluent liquors taken inwardly, or perhaps a laxative clyster administered to facilitate the operation. On the contrary, when a vomit is intended, the belly should be bound.

20. Polenta is made from barley in several ways. The Greeks pour warm water upon the grain, dry it for one night, and the day following, toast it, and then grind it. Others toast it more, and sprinkle it again with a little water, and dry it before they grind it. Others again shaking out the recent barley from the green ears, bruise it, while moist, in a mortar, and wash it in baskets, dry it in the sun, beat it again, and after it is cleansed, grind it. In whatever way it is prepared, they first of all toast three pounds of lintseed, and half a pound of coriander, with an acetabulum of salt, and mix it in the mill, with twenty pounds of barley. Those that have a mind to preserve it for a longer time, put it into earthen vessels with its own flour and bran. In Italy it is ground fine after toasting, without pouring any water upon it, and mixed up with the ingredients abovenamed and millet. Plin. b. xviii. cap. 7.

21. Vomit spontaneously. Sponte vomere.) That is, vomit without any emetic medicine being given.

22. Bulbous roots.) AretÆus mentions nothing of rubbing these over the whole body; but he recommends the small red kind, crude with pepper, and the powdered lees of vinegar, as the best cataplasm for the feet in this disorder. To which he adds this caution, that they must be frequently removed, for fear of ulcerating the parts. Lib. ii. de Curat. Acut. Morb. cap. 3.

23. Inject by way of clyster.) Celsus here shews that he knew it was possible to nourish by clysters, and that it was sometimes practised—CÆlius Aurelianus mentions the use of clysters in this disorder, particularly acrid ones, as prescribed by the followers of Serapion, Heraclides, and Herophilus, and also by Asclepiades and Themison. But he does not give the least hint, as if any of these authors directed an injection with a view to nourishment, but only to make a derivation of the humour from the skin to the belly. CÆl. Aurelian. de Acut. Morb. lib. ii. cap. 38.

24. Malagmas.) These cannot according to the present division of compositions admit of a literal translation, and therefore the original word is retained. By turning to the fifth book, chap. 17. and 18. will be seen their difference from plaisters, &c. and that they consist of various ingredients, but compounded without any heat.

25. Catapotia.) Most of the moderns translate this word pills. But our author does not limit their consistence nor form; for we find him sometimes ordering them to be diluted, sometimes of the consistence of sordes, and sometimes swallowed about the bigness of a bean, and at other times dry powders given in some kind of liquor. See lib. v. cap. 25.—Scribonius Largus defines a catapotium as a medicine, that is swallowed without being diluted, cap. 22. comp. 87. Upon which Rhodius will have them to be much the same with the bolusses now in use.

26. Attempt that by diet.) The reading in Almeloveen and Linden is Alvum moliri cibo melius est, &c. But as there was no mention of the belly before, and no proper sense can be assigned to molior, as it there stands, I have followed the old reading, Sed id ipsum moliri cibo melius est, and the rather, as Celsus immediately subjoins proper medicines for that purpose. This reading is approved by Morgagni, Ep. 6. p.149.

27. Nard.) It is generally agreed, that what we now have under the name of nard, is not the ancient kind. Dioscorides says, it resembles the cyperus in its smell, has a small head, is bitter to the taste, and drying to the tongue, retaining its fragrancy for a long time. There were two species of it, one called Indian, and the other Syrian. Dioscorid. lib. i. cap. 6.

28. Balsam.) Our author does not distinguish what part of the balsam-tree he intends. The ancients called the juice opobalsam, the wood xylobalsam, and the fruit carpobalsam; which distinction Celsus himself elsewhere uses. Dioscorid. lib. i. cap. 18.

29. Panaces, or panax.) Dioscorides mentions three kinds of this, which are still retained by modern botanists. Considering the virtues he ascribes to each, I think it probable our author intends the panax Heracleum, or Hercules’s all heal, from whence the opopanax is produced. Though it is to be observed, that Pliny affirms the opopanax to be obtained from the panax Asdepium. Lib. xxv. cap. 4. P. Ægineta from the Heracleum lib. vii.

30. Cardamom.) It neither appears from Celsus nor Dioscorides, that the seed was in use among the ancients. Some affirm it to be the same with the modern greater cardamom. Dioscorides[ JA ] says, the best comes from Comagene, Armenia and Bosphorus. It grows also in Arabia and India. The best is firm, large, compact, and pungent to the smell, acrid and bitterish to the taste; it has a heating quality. By this it would seem they made use of the root.

31. Acorum according to Dioscorides has leaves likes the iris, but narrower, and roots not unlike to it, not growing straight, but oblique and creeping on the surface of the earth, whitish, divided by joints, acrid to the taste, and smelling not unpleasant. Lib. i. cap. 2.

32. The flower of long and round cyperus.) In the original Juncus quadratus et juncus rotundus. I shall not determine, whether what we now call cyperus longus, et rotundus, are the same as here mentioned. However, they certainly belong to the same class, and the virtues ascribed to the present, agree pretty nearly with those attributed to the ancient by Dioscorid. lib. i. cap. 4. and 16.—See also Dale and Schroder.

33. Bound upon the skin.) This seems a very odd way of using squils; the old reading appears much more just. Utiliter etiam scilla cocta delinitur cutis. It does good also to rub boiled squils over the skin. The same variety recurs at the end of the following paragraph, Sicut supra dixi delinitur, instead of Simul super ventrem deligatur.

34. Frequent pimples.) That is the smoothness or continuity of the skin is interrupted by pimples and ulcers.

35. Takes its rise from the head.) From a catarrh, which the ancients imagined to be a discharge from the brain through the os ethmoides.

36. Mild as gruel.) I have here departed from Linden and Almeloveen, who have it thus, Deinde lenis sorbitio, &c. Afterwards mild gruel, because the more ancient reading, Dein lenis, ut sorbitio, besides being more elegant, is confirmed by the following words of our author.

37. And especially brains.) I have taken no notice of the words ex prima in the reading of Linden and Almeloveen, which manifestly spoil the sense, otherwise complete without them. [ JB ]Morgagni observes, that all the other editions read, either ex pruna, or ex aprugna; but this last is not probable, because he said, that a boar was of the strongest class of food, lib. ii. but the whole head of a lamb or kid in the middle kind; and the former seems to be superfluous.

38. Comitial, so called from the comitia or assemblies of the people being adjourned, when any person was taken with one of these fits.

39. Arquatus.) The obscurity of this name gives room to the conjectures of critics. Some tell us it was so called, because the colour in the jaundice resembles the greenness of the rainbow; others because it bends the bodies of those afflicted with it like a bow.

40. Suppurations.) Ronsseus think this paragraph wrong placed here, as having no connection with what goes before; and suspects its proper place to be at the end of the twenty second chapter of this same book; because the author there treats of consumptive people, and suppurations of the lungs. Morgagni also believes it to be improperly placed, Ep. 1. p.32.