Introduction
Herod.Med. apud Orib. Coll.Med. 5.30.6-7 (1, 148.1-8 Raed.). Fragment (10.3 x 8.4 cm) of a papyrus roll written on the verso of some 2nd cent. AD accounts. Col. I contains 21 lines, separated by a paragraphos between ll. 3-4; of the second column no more remains than the first letter or two of a few lines. The text preserves a fragment of a lost medical treatise by Herodotus (maybe Περὶ βοηθημάτων, see Wellmann, Die pneumatische Schule bis auf Archigenes in ihrer Entwicklung dargestellt, Berlin, 1895, 14-6) and it is also transmitted – with minor differences – by Oribasius (Coll.Med. 5.30.6-7; chapter: Περὶ ποτοῦ, ἐκ τῶν Ἡροδότου ‘On drinking, from the works of Herodotus’). The subject of the first column is the treatment of thirst in cases of increasing fever. The hand is a small uncial assignable to the late 2nd cent. AD.
DCLP transcription: 60048 [xml]
[ ̣ ̣] χάριν ἀλλὰ καὶ [τ]ῆς διαθέσε-
[ω]ς· γένοιτο γὰρ ἄν πως ἐντεῦθεν
[ἐπ]ὶ̣ π̣ολὺ̣ ἕως ἂν μεταβάλη· ἐν δὲ
——
[τοῖ]ς τῆς ἐπιδόσεως χρόνοις πλεί-
5[ου]ς̣ αἰτίαι(*) τῆς προσφορᾶς(*) εἰσιν· εἰ
[γο]ῦ̣ν(*) τισιν ἐν τοῖς παροξυσμοῖς δί-
[ψο]ς συνεισβάλοι σφοδρὸν καὶ δύσ-
[⟦ ̣ ⟧ ̣ ⟧οιστ⟦α̣⟧ον οὐ διὰ ⟦α⟧ πονηρίαν καὶ σ̣υν-
[αύ]ξ̣ησιν(*) τῶν νόσων, ἀλλὰ διὰ τι-
10[ν]α τοῦ πάθους ἰδιότητα, πᾶσα
[ἀ]νάγκη ὡς σύμπτωμα ἀποδε-
[ξ]αμένους παρηγορεῖν κἂν̣(*) τὴν
[τ]οιαύτην θεράπειαν μὴ ἀπαι-
[τ]ῶσι οἱ καιροί· κριθήσεται δὲ
15[ο]ὕτως ἔχον ἐὰν τοῦ κατὰ τὸν
[π]υρετὸν μεγέθους μᾶλλον
[π]αραύξηται τὸ δίψος. Δεῖ δὲ καὶ
[τ]ὴν φύσιν τοῦ νοσο[ῦ]ντος ἐπιθε-
[ω]ρεῖν· εἰ γὰρ ἀνεξ[ί]κακος ἐν τοῖ̣ς̣
20[λ]ο̣ιποῖς ὢν μὴ ὑ̣π̣ο̣μ̣ένοι τὸ διψ[εῖν]
[ἐπιτήδειος ἂν εἴη πρὸ]ς [τὸ] πί[νειν].(*)
Editorial History; All History; (detailed)
© Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Notes
- 1-3.
The first lines before the paragraphos belong to the preceding section and are not transmitted by Oribasius.
- 5.
προσφοράς does not mean “increase” (Grenfell & Hunt 1907 [P.Tebt. 2.272], 21), but “l’administration de boisson” (M.-H. Marganne 1980, 76). The correction (or alternative reading) τῶν προσφορῶν pro τῆς προσφοράς has been inserted by the original scribe; the alternation between singular and plural is not attested in the manuscript tradition of Oribasius (M.-H. Marganne 1980, 77).
- 6-7.
Orib. Coll.Med. 5.30.6 (1, 148.2-3 Raed.): δίψος σφοδρὸν συνεισβάλλοι καὶ δύσοιστον.
- 10-4.
Orib. Coll.Med. 5.30.6 (1, 148.4-5 Raed.) omitted both the participle ἀποδε[ξα]μένους and the concessive sentence κἂν̣ τὴν [τ]οιαύτην θεράπειαν μὴ ἀπαι[τ]ῶσι οἱ καιροί.
- 11.
Contrary to what the editors principes had thought (Grenfell & Hunt 1907 [P.Tebt. 2.272], 21), σύμπτωμα has a strictly technical value (‘symptoms’, see M.-H. Marganne 1980, 77).
- 14-5.
εἰ οὕτως ἔχοι (but AC1N1[apud Raed.] om. εἰ).
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APIS Translation (English)
� Not only on account of � but also the state of health; for it would in some way spread greatly from this point, until a change comes. At the times of aggravation there are many causes of increase. If during the paroxysms the patient is also attacked by severe and unbearable thirst, not because of the malignity or complication of the diseases but owing to some peculiarity of the affection, this must of necessity be taken as a mischance and relieved even if such a treatment is not required by the stage of the illness. Such will be judged to be the case if the increase of thirst is out of proportion to the height of the fever. The constitution of the patient must also be taken into consideration; for if he has general endurance but is nevertheless unable to bear the thirst � (Here the papyrus breaks off)