Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

The Methodism of Caelius Aurelianus 307It would have been better if he [i.e. Asclepiades] had described the disease in clearand consistent terms and not with reference to an obscure stoppage which resultsin inconsistency and which, perhaps, could be shown not even to be present at all,as we shall point out in the books we will write Against the Sects. 45At the same time, we frequently find Caelius referring to hidden entitieswithout any reservation. These passages fall into three categories:(i) reference to entities of which it may seem difficult to non-experts toaccept that they are observable, but which Methodists may claim tobe observable to the expert’s eye, such as the generalities or commonconditions, 46 as in the following passage:(4) interiorum uero eruptionum diuisuras urgente solutionis coenoteta[m] ipsammagis cogimur iudicare, siquidem prior oculis occurrat solutio. (Chron. 2.12.147)Yet as for the wounds that occur as a result of haemorrhage in the inner parts,since the generality of looseness prevails, we must judge it rather as just that, as itpresents itself first to the eyes as a looseness.(ii) reference to entities of which it is unclear whether the Methodistsregard them as observable or not, such as spiritus (or pneuma), in, forexample:(5) cordis enim motus tarditate quadam defecti spiritu motu torpescit, ut postfactum saltum ad semet ex residuo corpore praerogatum spiritum trahat, difficulteralium faciat saltum, siquidem non possit spiritus usque ad articulorum finem uelomnium membrorum peruenire summitatem. (Acut. 1.11.87)For the motion of the heart is paralysed by the movement of the pneuma which,as a result of a slowness, is not present in sufficient measure, so that after makinga beat it draws to itself from the rest of the body the pneuma that had previouslybeen distributed; then it makes another beat with difficulty, as the pneuma cannotreach the end of the limbs or the extremities of any of the parts.There are about a dozen references to this pneuma in Caelius, 47 and althoughin some of these cases he is clearly just thinking of the air that is inhaled orexhaled via respiration, 48 the majority of these passages show that he believes45 See also Acut. 1.15.121; 2.1.8; Chron. 1.4.129; 5.10.103.46 Although there may also be generalities that are hidden, even to the expert’s eye, as Chron. 3.2.19shows: ‘but if the loose state is hidden, which the Greeks call adelos, or if the signs are perceived bythe mind, which the Greeks call logotheoretos ...’(sin uero occulta fuerit solutio, quam Graeci adelonappellant, aut mente sensa signa uideantur, quae Graeci logotheoreta uocauerunt . . . ) On this passagesee below.47 E.g. Acut. 1.14.113; 1.15.119; 1.15.124; 1.15.127; 1.15.150; 2.9.48; 2.14.93; 2.34.180; 3.17.138; Chron. 1.1.30;1.1.33; 1.4.84; 1.4.101; 2.1.32; 2.1.39; 3.4.65. The concept of pneuma also occurs in Soranus, e.g. Gyn.1.34; 1.38; 2.11.48 E.g. Chron. 1.1.33; 2.1.39.