Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

144 Aristotle and his schoolbut not divine. 23 To prove the truth of this conclusion Aristotle argues thatquite common people have vivid and prophetic dreams The only explanation for this is that these dreams arenot sent by a god, but it is in the nature (phusis) of garrulous and melancholicpeople to see all kinds of images (in their dreams), as these people are subjectto a large number and variety of movements, which cause them to chanceupon ‘images similar to events’ ( ). Their good fortunein this respect can be compared to that of people who in a game of chancehave a better chance of winning because they just keep trying.Aristotle speaks here of people with a ‘garrulous and melancholic nature’( ), 24 who apparently serve as an example ofthe general rule that ‘quite common’ people ( )have prophetic dreams. This is used to prove that prophetic dreams are notsent by the gods. Melancholics are therefore implicitly contrasted with thegroup of ‘the best and most intelligent’ (see 462 b 21–2), for these wouldtypically be expected to be the recipients of divine provision, if any suchthing exists. 25 The ability to foresee the future in sleep is particularly strongin people whose abilities to apply reason and rational thought are for somereason weak or impaired. Aristotle explains the euthuoneiria of melancholics(463 b 18ff.) here as a combination of their natural (physiological) sensitivityto a large number and variety of movements or images (phantasmata), anda kind of statistical probability: the more images one sees, the greater thechance of seeing an image that resembles a future event.Later on in the text (464 a 32ff.) there is one further mention of melancholics,this time not in a polemical context but as part of a discussion ofvarious groups of people with special prophetic powers. This rather obscurepassage is made even more difficult to interpret, as the explanation it givesfor the prophetic dreams of melancholics seems to differ considerably fromthe one given in 463 b 17ff. 26 A determining factor for the divination ofmelancholics is said to be not only the number of images that they areconfronted with, but also a certain ability for making connections by associationbetween objects that are far apart. This ability is based on a similarity(homoiotēs) between the objects concerned. A further factor is the strengthand intensity (sphodrotēs) of their imagination, which prevents the process23 For a discussion of the numerous difficulties involved in the interpretation of this paragraph see vander Eijk (1994) 289–301 [see also ch. 6 below]. For other interpretations of this passage see Barra(1957) 75–84; Boyancé(1936) 192; Croissant (1932) 36;Détienne (1963) 140–69; Effe (1970) 82 n. 41;A. Mansion (1946) 268 n. 46; Nolte (1940) 92–3; Verdenius (1960) 61.24 Cf. Pr. 954 a 34, in which garrulousness (lalia) is considered to be caused by a heating of black bile.25 For the background to this argumentation see ch. 6, below.26 See Pigeaud (1978) 28–9 and Croissant (1932) 38–40.