A Treatise in Elucidation of Some Symptoms and the Response to Them

A letter has reached this minor Servant containing a list of all those accidents that have befallen our Master, may God perpetuate his days, along with an explanation of the causes of all those accidents and the times of their occurrence, information on all the particulars that a physician needs to inquire about, a description of his thoughts at each time about each accident, and an outline of what the physicians advised, and wherein they agreed or disagreed. This minor Servant knows with certainty that this letter was dictated by our Master, without a doubt. This Servant swears by God the Most High, that accomplished physicians in our times lack the knowledge essential for systematizing such complaints, let alone explaining and organizing them in such a fashion. [ . . . ]

Our Master has mentioned that the physicians advised taking apricots, pears, and quinces after the meal, and grapes, melons, and pomegranates before it. This Servant does not understand the intent of this advice. If there was need to induce appetite, or a habit of taking fruits, the intent is correct, and thus one should take before the meal whatever softens the stools and after the meal those fruits in which there is astringence, like pear, quince, and apple. But if they advised that taking these fruits is beneficial in this disease, this is an error, for all the fresh fruits are bad for everyone, healthy or sick, if taken as nutrients, and especially the melon and the apricot, because of the rapidity of their change into whatever evil humor there is in the body. The peach is also very evil and it is the substance of the evil malignant fevers. Galen has already mentioned that since he stopped eating all fresh fruits, he had not had a fever to the end of his life; he dilated on this story of his as an admonition to everyone, as expressed in his treatise. Therefore, it behooves our Master to avoid fresh fruits all he can. [ . . . ]

There is no doubt that this tract will reach our Master at the approach of winter, and therefore this Servant thought he should begin with the kind of regimen which he should follow in cold weather. [ . . . ] This Servant does not know the habits of our Master in the state of health, whether he eats but once a day or whether he takes breakfast and supper. On this account, he will mention the regimen appropriate for both conditions.

I declare that one should always aim to awaken from sleep at sunrise or a little before that. Two or three ounces of the syrup of hydromel should be taken at that time. He should wait thereafter for an hour and then go riding. He should ride leisurely, and then, without stopping, gradually quicken the pace until the members are warmed and the respiration alters. Then he should dismount, and rest until none of the changes caused by exercise remain on the skin of the body or in the respiration. After that, he should partake of one of the dishes mentioned previously. He should take some of the astringent fruits as has already been said, or kernels of pistachio and currants, or a little of the dry sweetmeats, or a little of rose preserves, depending upon what he is now using. Then he should recline for sleep, and the chanter should intone with the strings and raise his voice and continue his melodies for an hour. Then, the chanter should lower his voice gradually, loosen his strings and soften his melody until he sleeps deeply, whereupon he should stop. Physicians and philosophers have already mentioned that sleep in this manner, when the melody of the strings induces sleep, endows the psyche with good nature and dilates it greatly, thereby improving its management of the body. Upon awakening, he may be engaged for the rest of his day in reading whatever he wishes, or be attended by someone whose company he chooses. The best is the attendance of someone whose company is desirable because of his virtues, or the delight in beholding him, or his lightheartedness. All these dilate the psyche and remove evil thoughts from it. [ . . . ]

Let not our Master censure his minor Servant for what he has mentioned in this his treatise about the use of wine and song, both of which the Law abhors, because this Servant has not commanded that this ought to be done, but mentioned what his Art determines. The lawgivers have already known, as the physicians have known, that wine can be of benefit to mankind. The physician, because he is a physician, must give information on the conduct of a beneficial regimen, be it unlawful or permissible, and the sick have the option to act or not to act. If the physician refrains from prescribing all that is of benefit, whether it be prohibited or permissible, he deceives, and does not deliver his true counsel. It is manifest that the Law commands whatever is of benefit and prohibits whatever is harmful in the next world, while the physician gives information about what benefits the body and warns against whatever harms it in this world. The difference between the edicts of the Law and the counsels of Medicine is that the Law commands compliance with what benefits in the next world and compels it, and forbids that which harms in the next world and punishes for it, while Medicine recommends what is beneficial and warns against what is harmful, and does not compel this or punish for that, but leaves the matter to the sick in the form of consultation; it is they who have the choice.

The reason for this is manifest. In Medicine, the harm of what is harmful and the benefit of what is beneficial, are tangible, immediate, and require neither compulsion nor punishment, while neither the harm nor the benefit of these commands and prohibitions of the Law can be ascertained in this world. The ignorant might well imagine that all that is said to be harmful will not harm, and whatever is said to be beneficial will not benefit, because he does not see it at hand. Therefore, the Law compels the performance of the good and punishes for the evil that cannot be ascertained, be it good or evil, except in the next world.