De tuenda sanitate praecepta

ZEUXIPPUS. and as the Spartans give to the cook vinegar and salt only,

bidding him seek whatever else he needs in the slaughtered animal itself,[*](A humorous turn is given to this custom in the anecdote related by Plutarch, Moralia, 995 B.) so in the body are the best of sauces for whatever is served, if so be that it is served to a body which is healthy and clean. For everything of this sort is sweet or costly irrespectively of the user and by itself, but Nature decrees that it becomes pleasant only in and in connexion with the person that is pleased and is in harmony with Nature; but in those who are captious or suffering from a debauch, or are in a bad way, all things lose their intrinsic agreeableness and freshness. Therefore there is no need to look to see whether the fish be fresh, the bread white, the bath warm, or the girl shapely, but a man should look to himself to see whether he be not nauseated, feculent, stale, or in any way upset. Otherwise, just as drunken revellers who force their way into a house of mourning provide no cheerfulness or pleasure, but only cause weeping and wailing, so in a body that is in a bad condition and out of harmony with Nature, the pleasures of love, elaborate food, baths and wine, when combined with such elements in the body as are unsettled and tainted, set up phlegm and bile and bring on an upset, besides being unduly exciting, while they yield no pleasure to speak of, nor any enjoyment like what we expected.

ZEUXIPPUS. The very exact mode of living, exact to a hair’s breadth, to use the popular expression,[*](See the note on 86 A in Vol. I.) puts the body in a timorous and precarious state, and abridges the self-respect of the soul itself, so that it comes to look askance at every activity, and to no less

a degree at spending any time or participating at all in pleasures or labours, and goes at no undertaking with readiness and confidence. A man ought to handle his body like the sail of a ship, and neither lower and reduce it much when no cloud is in sight, nor be slack and careless in managing it when he comes to suspect something is wrong, but he should rather ease the body off and lighten its load, as has already been said, and not wait for indigestions and diarrhoeas, nor heightened temperatures nor fits of drowsiness. And yet some people wait until a fever is already at their doors and then, being as excited as if a message or a summons to court had come, just manage to restrict themselves; whereas they ought, while these things are still afar off, to be cautious

Before the storm, as though along the strand The North wind blew.[*](Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, ii. p. 88.)

ZEUXIPPUS. For it is absurd to give careful heed to the croaking of ravens, the clucking of hens, and swine m their wild excitement over bedding,b as Democritusc put it, making signs of winds and rains out of these, and at the same time not to forestall nor take precaution against the stirrings, the ups and downs, and the premonitory symptoms in the body, and not to hold these to be signs of a storm that is going to take place in one’s self, and is just about to break. Wherefore not merely in the matter of food and exercise do we need to keep watch of our body, to see whether, contrary to its habits, it takes to these reluctantly and without zest, or at another time is thirsty and hungry in an unnatural way, but also, in the matter of sleep, to beware of lack of

continuity and of evenness, marked by irregularities and sharp interruptions, and to beware also of the abnormal in dreams, which, if so be that our visions are improper or unwonted, argues an over-abundance or concretion of humours, or a disturbance of spirit within us. And also the emotions of the soul have often given warning that the body is perilously near disease. For instance, irrational discouragements and fears take possession of people oftentimes from no apparent cause, and suddenly extinguish their hopes; in temper they become irascible, sharp, and pained at trifles, and they are tearful and dismayed whenever bad vapours and bitter exhalations encounter and unite with the rotations of the soul, as Plato [*](Timaeus, p. 47 D.) has it. Therefore those to whom such things happen have need to consider and to remember that, if the cause is not one which concerns the spirit, it is one which concerns the body, and that it needs reducing or toning down.

ZEUXIPPUS. It is very profitable when visiting sick friends to inquire of them the causes of their illness, not by talking pedantically and officiously about stoppages, irruptions, and trite generalities, and incidentally displaying some acquaintance with medical terminology and literature, but by listening in no perfunctory way to these homely and common details of overeating, exposure to the sun, fatigue, sleeplessness, and especially the manner of living which the man was following when he fell sick of the fever. Then, like Plato, who, on his way home, was accustomed to say on the subject of others’ faults, Am not I too possibly like them? [*](Cf.Moralia, 40 D, 88 E, and 463 E.) a man ought to correct in himself the faults he observes in his neighbours, and be watchful and mindful not to become involved in

the same difficulties, and be himself compelled to take to his bed, and there give voice to his yearnings for precious health, but rather, when another is undergoing this experience, he will impress upon himself how valuable a thing is health, and that he ought to try to preserve this by giving heed to himself, and by being frugal. It is not a bad thing, either, to take a look at our own way of living; for if we have been engaged in a bout of drinking and eating, or in some hardships and other irregularities, and the body presents no suspicious or premonitory symptoms, nevertheless we ought to be watchful of ourselves and forestall any trouble by means of rest and quiet when fresh from the pleasures of love, or when fatigued; also by drinking water after the free use of wine and after social gaiety, and especially, after indulging in a heavy diet of meat or multifarious foods, to eat lightly, and leave no mass of superfluous residue in the body. For these very things are of themselves the causes of many diseases, and they add material and potency to the other causes.[*](Cf.Moralia, 732 E.) Wherefore it has been very well said, Eating not unto satiety, labouring not unto weariness, and observance of chastity, are the most healthful things. [*](Probably based on Hippocrates: cf. Hippocrates, Epidemics, vi. 4. 20 (ed. Chartier, 9, 500, Kühn, iii. p. 605).) For incontinence, by undermining especially the powers by which the food is assimilated, causes further superfluity and overcrowding.