by Hippocrates

This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Ancient Greek text of Hippocrates, Airs, Waters, Places 17-22.

Airs, Waters, Places is an early Greek medical treatise that explains human bodies, customs, and diseases through climate, water, wind, and way of life. Its Scythian section is one of the oldest Greek attempts to interpret steppe nomad life through environmental medicine.

This source-unit includes the Sauromatae, Scythian wagon-nomads, mare's milk and hippake, the cold northern climate, cautery, theories of fertility, and the Anarieis. The passage preserves ancient Greek medical reasoning and ethnographic judgment; it is translated here as evidence, not as modern medicine.

The English translation was made from the Ancient Greek text in the Perseus Digital Library, with the public-domain Adams/Jones English rendering consulted only as a control.

Translation

17

So much, then, for the peoples in Asia. In Europe there is a Scythian people who live around Lake Maeotis and differ from the other nations. They are called Sauromatae.

Their women ride horses, shoot with the bow, throw javelins from horseback, and fight their enemies as long as they are unmarried. They do not cease to be maidens until they have killed three enemies, and they do not live with husbands before they have offered the lawful sacrifices.

When a woman takes a husband for herself, she stops riding, unless the need of a general expedition overtakes her. They do not have the right breast. While they are still little infants, their mothers make a bronze instrument, fashioned for this very purpose, red-hot, set it against the right breast, and burn it, so that its growth is destroyed and all its strength and fullness pass into the right shoulder and arm.

18

As for the bodily form of the rest of the Scythians, the same account applies to them as to the Egyptians: they resemble one another and no one else. The difference is that the Egyptians are forced into their shape by heat, while the Scythians are forced by cold.

The place called the Scythian wilderness is a plain, meadowy, bare of trees, and moderately supplied with water. Large rivers carry the water out of the plains. There the Scythians live. They are called Nomads because they have no houses, but live in wagons.

The smallest wagons have four wheels, and others have six. They are enclosed with felt and fashioned like houses, some with two rooms and others with three. They keep out water, snow, and winds. Two or three yokes of hornless cattle draw the wagons; the cattle have no horns because of the cold.

In these wagons the women live. The men themselves travel on horseback. Their sheep, cattle, and horses follow them. They stay in the same place as long as there is enough grass for their animals; when there is no longer enough, they go to another land.

They themselves eat boiled meat and drink mare's milk. They also eat hippake, which is horse cheese.

19

So it stands with their way of life and customs. As for the seasons and their bodily form: the Scythian race is very different from other human beings, and like the Egyptian race it resembles itself. It is least fertile, and the land nourishes the fewest wild animals, both in size and in number.

The country lies under the very Bears and the Rhipaean mountains, from which the north wind blows. When the sun reaches its summer turning, it comes nearest at the end of its circuit; even then it warms them only a little, and not strongly. Winds blowing from warm regions do not arrive there, except rarely and weakly. From the Bears, cold winds are always blowing from snow, ice, and many waters. The mountains never lose these things, and because of them they are hard to inhabit.

A thick mist holds the plains for much of the day, and the people live in it. Winter is always there; summer lasts only a few days, and those not very warm. The plains are high, bare, and not encircled by mountains, but sloping up from the north. There the wild animals do not grow large, but are such as can hide under the earth. Winter prevents them, and so does the bareness of the land, because there is no warmth and no shelter.

The changes of the seasons are neither great nor strong, but alike and only slightly different. Because of this the people's forms are alike among themselves. They always use similar food and the same clothing in summer and winter; they draw in moist, thick air; they drink water from snow and frost; and they keep away from hardship. For the body and the soul cannot endure hardship where the changes are not strong.

Because of these necessities, their forms are thick, fleshy, indistinct in the joints, moist, and without tone. Their lower bellies are the moistest of all bellies. It is not possible for the belly to dry out in such a land, with such a nature and such a state of the seasons. Because of fat and smooth flesh, their forms resemble one another: males resemble males, and females resemble females. Since the seasons are nearly alike, no corruptions or injuries enter into the setting of the seed, unless some violent necessity or disease occurs.

20

I will give a strong proof of their moistness. Among the Scythians, most of them, all who are Nomads, will be found burned on the shoulders, arms, wrists, chest, hips, and lower back, for no other reason than the moistness and softness of their nature. Because of moistness and lack of tone, they cannot draw the bows strongly or drive the javelin from the shoulder.

When they are burned, much of the moisture dries out from the joints, and their bodies become more tense, better nourished, and better articulated. They become loose and broad: first, because they are not swaddled like the Egyptians, and do not use that custom because of riding, so that they may sit well; and second, because of sitting.

The males, until they are able to travel on horseback, sit most of the time in the wagon and make little use of walking, because of their migrations and circling movements. The females are wonderfully loose and slow in form.

The Scythian race is ruddy because of the cold, not because the sun becomes sharp. Their whiteness is burned by the cold and becomes red.

21

Such a nature cannot be fertile. In the man, desire for intercourse does not become great because of the moistness of his nature and the softness and coldness of his belly; from these conditions a man is least likely to be capable of sexual vigor. And because they are always being struck by the horses, they become weak for intercourse.

For the men, these are the causes. For the women, the causes are the fatness and moistness of the flesh. The wombs can no longer seize the seed. Their monthly cleansing does not happen as it should, but is scant and after long intervals; the mouth of the womb is closed by fat and does not receive the seed. The women themselves are unused to hardship and fat, and their bellies are cold and soft.

Because of these necessities, the Scythian race is not fertile. The slave-women give strong proof: as soon as they come to a man, they conceive, because of hardship and leanness of flesh.

22

Besides these things, eunuch-like conditions arise among most of the Scythians. They do women's work, live like women, and speak in the same way. Such people are called Anarieis.

The local people assign the cause to a god, and they revere these people and bow before them, each fearing for himself. I myself also think these afflictions are divine, and all others too: none is more divine or more human than another, but all are alike and all divine. Each has its own nature, and nothing happens without nature.

I will explain how this affliction seems to me to arise. From riding, swellings take hold of them, since their feet are always hanging down from the horses. Then, if they become very ill, they become lame and their hips ulcerate. They treat themselves in this way: when the disease begins, they cut the vein behind each ear. When the blood has flowed away, sleep takes them because of weakness, and they sleep. Then they wake, some healthy and some not.

In my view, the seed is destroyed in this treatment. There are veins beside the ears which, if someone cuts them, make those who are cut barren. These, I think, are the veins they cut.

Afterward, when they come to women and are not able to have intercourse with them, at first they do not take it to heart, but remain quiet. When they try twice, three times, and more often, and nothing different comes of it, they think they have committed some offense against the god whom they blame. They put on women's clothing, condemn their own loss of manhood, take on a woman's manner, and do with the women the work that women do.

This affliction happens to the wealthy among the Scythians: not the lowest people, but the noblest and those who possess the greatest strength, because of riding. It happens less to the poor, because they do not ride.

Yet if this disease were more divine than the others, it ought not to fall only upon the noblest and wealthiest Scythians, but upon all alike, and especially upon those who possess little, if indeed the gods rejoice when they are honored and admired by human beings and repay favors in return. For it is likely that the rich, since they have much wealth, sacrifice many things to the gods, dedicate offerings, and honor them, while the poor do less because they do not have the means, and then blame the gods because they do not give them wealth. So the penalties for such offenses should fall more on those who possess little than on the rich.

But, as I said before, these things too are divine in the same way as the others, and each thing happens according to nature. This kind of disease arises among the Scythians from the kind of cause I have described. It is the same among other human beings. Wherever men ride most and most frequently, there most are taken by swellings, hip pains, and gout, and they are weakest in sexual vigor.

These things belong to the Scythians, and for these causes they are the most eunuch-like of human beings: because they always wear trousers and are on their horses for most of the time, so that they do not touch the genitals with the hand; because from cold and fatigue they forget desire and intercourse; and because they do nothing to stir themselves before their manhood has failed.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the Ancient Greek of Hippocrates, Airs, Waters, Places 17-22. The English is independently derived from the Greek source text. The working source was the Greek text in the Perseus Digital Library; the public-domain Adams/Jones English rendering in Perseus was consulted only as a control.

This passage is a Greek medical-ethnographic witness, not a neutral description of Scythian life. It is valuable because it records how an early medical writer connected climate, nomadism, riding, gender, fertility, and disease in the northern Black Sea world.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Περὶ ἀέρων ὑδάτων τόπων 17-22

Ancient Greek source text from the Perseus Digital Library's Hippocrates, Airs, Waters, Places 17-22. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Hippocrates, Airs Waters Places 17

καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίῃ οὕτως ἔχει. ἐν δὲ τῇ Εὐρώπῃ ἔστιν ἔθνος Σκυθικόν, ὃ περὶ τὴν λίμνην οἰκεῖ τὴν Μαιῶτιν διαφέρον τῶν ἐθνέων τῶν ἄλλων. Σαυρομάται καλεῦνται. τούτων αἱ γυναῖκες ἱππάζονταί τε καὶ τοξεύουσι καὶ ἀκοντίζουσιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἵππων καὶ μάχονται τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἕως ἂν παρθένοι ἔωσιν. οὐκ ἀποπαρθενεύονται δέ, μέχρι ἂν τῶν πολεμίων τρεῖς ἀποκτείνωσι, καὶ οὐ πρότερον συνοικέουσιν ἤπερ τὰ ἱερὰ θύσωσιν τὰ ἔννομα. ἣ δ᾽ ἂν ἄνδρα ἑωυτῇ ἄρηται, παύεται ἱππαζομένη, ἕως ἂν μὴ ἀνάγκη καταλάβῃ παγκοίνου στρατείης. τὸν δεξιὸν δὲ μαζὸν οὐκ ἔχουσι. παιδίοις γὰρ ἐοῦσιν ἔτι νηπίοις αἱ μητέρες χαλκίον τετεχνημένον ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ τούτῳ διάπυρον ποιέουσαι πρὸς τὸν μαζὸν τιθέασι τὸν δεξιὸν καὶ ἐπικαίεται, ὥστε τὴν αὔξησιν φθείρεσθαι, ἐς δὲ τὸν δεξιὸν ὦμον καὶ βραχίονα πᾶσαν τὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος ἐκδιδόναι.

Hippocrates, Airs Waters Places 18

περὶ δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν Σκυθέων τῆς μορφῆς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ αὐτοῖσιν ἐοίκασι καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἄλλοις, ωὑτὸς λόγος καὶ περὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, πλὴν ὅτι οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ εἰσι βεβιασμένοι, οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ. ἡ δὲ Σκυθέων ἐρημίη καλευμένη πεδιάς ἐστι καὶ λειμακώδης καὶ ψιλὴ καὶ ἔνυδρος μετρίως. ποταμοὶ γάρ εἰσι μεγάλοι, οἳ ἐξοχετεύουσι τὸ ὕδωρ ἐκ τῶν πεδίων. ἐνταῦθα καὶ οἱ Σκύθαι διαιτεῦνται, Νομάδες δὲ καλεῦνται, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν οἰκήματα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἁμάξῃσιν οἰκεῦσιν. αἱ δὲ ἅμαξαί εἰσιν αἱ μὲν ἐλάχισται τετράκυκλοι, αἱ δὲ ἑξάκυκλοι: αὗται δὲ πίλοις περιπεφραγμέναι: εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ τετεχνασμέναι ὥσπερ οἰκήματα τὰ μὲν διπλᾶ, τὰ δὲ τριπλᾶ. ταῦτα δὲ καὶ στεγνὰ πρὸς ὕδωρ καὶ πρὸς χιόνα καὶ πρὸς τὰ πνεύματα. τὰς δὲ ἁμάξας ἕλκουσι ζεύγεα τὰς μὲν δύο, τὰς δὲ τρία βοῶν κέρως ἄτερ. οὐ γὰρ ἔχουσι κέρατα ὑπὸ τοῦ ψύχεος. ἐν ταύτῃσι μὲν οὖν τῇσιν ἁμάξῃσιν αἱ γυναῖκες διαιτεῦνται. αὐτοὶ δ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἵππων ὀχεῦνται οἱ ἄνδρες. ἕπονται δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἐόντα καὶ αἱ βόες καὶ οἱ ἵπποι. μένουσι δ᾽ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τοσοῦτον χρόνον, ὅσον ἂν ἀποχρῇ αὐτοῖσι τοῖς κτήνεσιν ὁ χόρτος: ὁκόταν δὲ μηκέτι, ἐς ἑτέρην χώρην ἔρχονται. αὐτοὶ δ᾽ ἐσθίουσι κρέα ἑφθὰ καὶ πίνουσι γάλα ἵππων. καὶ ἱππάκην τρώγουσι: τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶ τυρὸς ἵππων.

Hippocrates, Airs Waters Places 19

τὰ μὲν ἐς τὴν δίαιταν αὐτῶν οὕτως ἔχει καὶ τοὺς νόμους: περὶ δὲ τῶν ὡρέων καὶ τῆς μορφῆς, ὅτι πολὺ ἀπήλλακται τῶν λοιπῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ Σκυθικὸν γένος καὶ ἔοικεν αὐτὸ ἑωυτῷ ὥσπερ τὸ Αἰγύπτιον καὶ ἥκιστα πολύγονόν ἐστι, καὶ ἡ χώρη ἐλάχιστα θηρία τρέφει κατὰ μέγεθος καὶ πλῆθος. κεῖται γὰρ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῇσι τῇσιν ἄρκτοις καὶ τοῖς ὄρεσι τοῖς Ῥιπαίοισιν, ὅθεν ὁ βορέης πνεῖ. ὅ τε ἥλιος τελευτῶν ἐγγύτατα γίνεται, ὁκόταν ἐπὶ τὰς θερινὰς ἔλθῃ περιόδους, καὶ τότε ὀλίγον χρόνον θερμαίνει καὶ οὐ σφόδρα: τὰ δὲ πνεύματα τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν θερμῶν πνέοντα οὐκ ἀφικνεῖται, ἢν μὴ ὀλιγάκις καὶ ἀσθενέα, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρκτων αἰεὶ πνέουσι πνεύματα ψυχρὰ ἀπό τε χιόνος καὶ κρυστάλλου καὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν. οὐδέποτε δὲ τὰ ὄρεα ἐκλείπει: ἀπὸ τούτων δὲ δυσοίκητά ἐστιν. ἠήρ τε κατέχει πολὺς τῆς ἡμέρης τὰ πεδία, καὶ ἐν τούτοισι διαιτεῦνται: ὥστε τὸν μὲν χειμῶνα αἰεὶ εἶναι, τὸ δὲ θέρος ὀλίγας ἡμέρας καὶ ταύτας μὴ λίην. μετέωρα γὰρ τὰ πεδία καὶ ψιλὰ καὶ οὐκ ἐστεφάνωνται ὄρεσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ ἀνάντεα ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρκτων: αὐτόθι καὶ τὰ θηρία οὐ γίνεται μεγάλα, ἀλλ᾽ οἷά τέ ἐστιν ὑπὸ γῆν σκεπάζεσθαι. ὁ γὰρ χειμὼν κωλύει καὶ τῆς γῆς ἡ ψιλότης, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀλέη οὐδὲ σκέπη. αἱ δὲ μεταβολαὶ τῶν ὡρέων οὔκ εἰσι μεγάλαι οὐδὲ ἰσχυραί, ἀλλ᾽ ὁμοῖαι καὶ ὀλίγον μεταλλάσσουσαι: διότι καὶ τὰ εἴδεα ὁμοῖοι αὐτοὶ ἑωυτοῖς εἰσι σίτῳ τε χρεώμενοι αἰεὶ ὁμοίῳ ἐσθῆτί τε τῇ αὐτῇ καὶ θέρεος καὶ χειμῶνος, τόν τε ἠέρα ὑδατεινὸν ἕλκοντες καὶ παχύν, τά τε ὕδατα πίνοντες ἀπὸ χιόνος καὶ παγετῶν, τοῦ τε ταλαιπώρου ἀπεόντες. οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε τὸ σῶμα ταλαιπωρεῖσθαι οὐδὲ τὴν ψυχήν, ὅκου μεταβολαὶ μὴ γίνονται ἰσχυραί. διὰ ταύτας τὰς ἀνάγκας τὰ εἴδεα αὐτῶν παχέα ἐστὶ καὶ σαρκώδεα καὶ ἄναρθρα καὶ ὑγρὰ καὶ ἄτονα, αἵ τε κοιλίαι ὑγρόταται πασέων κοιλιῶν αἱ κάτω. οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε νηδὺν ἀναξηραίνεσθαι ἐν τοιαύτῃ χώρῃ καὶ φύσει καὶ ὥρης καταστάσει, ἀλλὰ διὰ πιμελήν τε καὶ ψιλὴν τὴν σάρκα τά † τε † εἴδεα ἔοικεν ἀλλήλοισι τά τε ἄρσενα τοῖς ἄρσεσι καὶ τὰ θήλεα τοῖς θήλεσι. τῶν γὰρ ὡρέων παραπλησίων ἐουσέων φθοραὶ οὐκ ἐγγίνονται οὐδὲ κακώσιες ἐν τῇ τοῦ γόνου συμπήξει, ἢν μή τινος ἀνάγκης βιαίου τύχῃ ἢ νούσου.

Hippocrates, Airs Waters Places 20

μέγα δὲ τεκμήριον ἐς τὴν ὑγρότητα παρέξομαι. Σκυθέων γὰρ τοὺς πολλούς, ἅπαντας ὅσοι Νομάδες, εὑρήσεις κεκαυμένους τούς τε ὤμους καὶ τοὺς βραχίονας καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς τῶν χειρῶν καὶ τὰ στήθεα καὶ τὰ ἰσχία καὶ τὴν ὀσφῦν δι᾽ ἄλλ᾽ οὐδὲν ἢ διὰ τὴν ὑγρότητα τῆς φύσιος καὶ τὴν μαλακίην. οὐ γὰρ δύνανται οὔτε τοῖς τόξοις συντείνειν οὔτε τῷ ἀκοντίῳ ἐμπίπτειν τῷ ὤμῳ ὑπὸ ὑγρότητος καὶ ἀτονίης. ὁκόταν δὲ καυθέωσιν, ἀναξηραίνεται ἐκ τῶν ἄρθρων τὸ πολὺ τοῦ ὑγροῦ, καὶ ἐντονώτερα μάλλον γίνεται καὶ τροφιμώτερα καὶ ἠρθρωμένα τὰ σώματα μᾶλλον. ῥοϊκὰ δὲ γίνεται καὶ πλατέα, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι οὐ σπαργανοῦνται ὥσπερ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ οὐδὲ νομίζουσι διὰ τὴν ἱππασιην, ὅκως ἂν εὔεδροι ἔωσιν: ἔπειτα δὲ διὰ τὴν ἕδρην: τά τε γὰρ ἄρσενα, ἕως ἂν οὐχ οἷά τε ἐφ᾽ ἵππου ὀχεῖσθαι, τὸ πολὺ τοῦ χρόνου κάθηνται ἐν τῇ ἁμάξῃ καὶ βραχὺ τῇ βαδίσει χρέονται διὰ τὰς μεταναστάσιας καὶ περιελάσιας: τὰ δὲ θήλεα θαυμαστὸν οἷον ῥοϊκά ἑστι τε καὶ βραδέα τὰ εἴδεα. πυρρὸν δὲ τὸ γένος ἐστὶ τὸ Σκυθικὸν διὰ τὸ ψῦχος, οὐκ ἐπιγινομένου ὀξέος τοῦ ἡλίου. ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ ψύχεος ἡ λευκότης ἐπικαίεται καὶ γίνεται πυρρή.

Hippocrates, Airs Waters Places 21

πολύγονον δὲ οὐχ οἷόν τε εἶναι φύσιν τοιαύτην. οὔτε γὰρ τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμίη τῆς μείξιος γίνεται πολλὴ διὰ τὴν ὑγρότητα τῆς φύσιος καὶ τῆς κοιλίης τὴν μαλθακότητά τε καὶ τὴν ψυχρότητα, ἀφ᾽ ὅτων ἥκιστα εἰκὸς ἄνδρα οἷόν τε λαγνεύειν: καὶ ἔτι ὑπὸ τῶν ἵππων αἰεὶ κοπτόμενοι ἀσθενέες γίνονται ἐς τὴν μεῖξιν. τοῖσι μὲν ἀνδράσιν αὗται αἱ προφάσιες γίνονται, τῇσι δὲ γυναιξὶν ἥ τε πιότης τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ὑγρότης: οὐ γὰρ δύνανται ἔτι συναρπάζειν αἱ μῆτραι τὸν γόνον: οὔτε γὰρ ἐπιμήνιος κάθαρσις αὐτῇσι γίνεται ὡς χρεών ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὀλίγον καὶ διὰ χρόνου, τό τε στόμα τῶν μητρέων ὑπὸ πιμελῆς συγκλείεται καὶ οὐχ ὑποδέχεται τὸν γόνον: αὐταί τε ἀταλαίπωροι καὶ πίεραι καὶ αἱ κοιλίαι ψυχραὶ καὶ μαλθακαί. ὑπὸ τούτων τῶν ἀναγκέων οὐ πολύγονόν ἐστι τὸ γένος τὸ Σκυθικόν. μέγα δὲ τεκμήριον αἱ οἰκέτιδες ποιέουσιν: οὐ γὰρ φθάνουσι παρὰ ἄνδρα ἀφικνεύμεναι καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἴσχουσιν διὰ τὴν ταλαιπωρίην καὶ ἰσχνότητα τῆς σαρκός.

Hippocrates, Airs Waters Places 22

ἔτι τε πρὸς τούτοισιν εὐνουχίαι γίνονται οἱ πλεῖστοι ἐν Σκύθῃσι καὶ γυναικεῖα ἐργάζονται καὶ ὡς αἱ γυναῖκες διαιτεῦνται διαλέγονταί τε ὁμοίως: καλεῦνταί τε οἱ τοιοῦτοι Ἀναριεῖς. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐπιχώριοι τὴν αἰτίην προστιθέασι θεῷ καὶ σέβονται τούτους τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ προσκυνέουσι, δεδοικότες περὶ ἑωυτῶν ἕκαστοι. ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ δοκεῖ ταῦτα τὰ πάθεα θεῖα εἶναι καὶ τἄλλα πάντα καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἑτέρου θειότερον οὐδὲ ἀνθρωπινώτερον, ἀλλὰ πάντα ὁμοῖα καὶ πάντα θεῖα. ἕκαστον δὲ αὐτῶν ἔχει φύσιν τὴν ἑωυτοῦ καὶ οὐδὲν ἄνευ φύσιος γίνεται. καὶ τοῦτο τὸ πάθος ὥς μοι δοκεῖ γίνεσθαι φράσω: ὑπὸ τῆς ἱππασίης αὐτοὺς κέδματα λαμβάνει, ἅτε αἰεὶ κρεμαμένων ἀπὸ τῶν ἵππων τοῖς ποσίν: ἔπειτα ἀποχωλοῦνται καὶ ἑλκοῦνται τὰ ἰσχία, οἳ ἂν σφόδρα νοσήσωσιν. ἰῶνται δὲ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. ὁκόταν γὰρ ἄρχηται ἡ νοῦσος, ὄπισθεν τοῦ ὠτὸς ἑκατέρου φλέβα τάμνουσιν. ὁκόταν δὲ ἀπορρυῇ τὸ αἷμα, ὕπνος ὑπολαμβάνει ὑπὸ ἀσθενείης καὶ καθεύδουσιν. ἔπειτα ἀνεγείρονται, οἱ μέν τινες ὑγιέες ἐόντες, οἱ δ᾽ οὔ. ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν δοκεῖ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἰήσει διαφθείρεσθαι ὁ γόνος. εἰσὶ γὰρ παρὰ τὰ ὦτα φλέβες, ἃς ἐάν τις ἐπιτάμῃ, ἄγονοι γίνονται οἱ ἐπιτμηθέντες. ταύτας τοίνυν μοι δοκέουσι τὰς φλέβας ἐπιτάμνειν. οἱ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπειδὰν ἀφίκωνται παρὰ γυναῖκας καὶ μὴ οἷοί τ᾽ ἔωσι χρῆσθαί σφισιν, τὸ πρῶτον οὐκ ἐνθυμεῦνται, ἀλλ᾽ ἡσυχίην ἔχουσι. ὁκόταν δὲ δὶς καὶ τρὶς καὶ πλεονάκις αὐτοῖσι πειρωμένοισι μηδὲν ἀλλοιότερον ἀποβαίνῃ, νομίσαντές τι ἡμαρτηκέναι τῷ θεῷ, ὃν ἐπαιτιῶνται, ἐνδύονται στολὴν γυναικείην καταγνόντες ἑωυτῶν ἀνανδρείην. γυναικίζουσί τε καὶ ἐργάζονται μετὰ τῶν γυναικῶν ἃ καὶ ἐκεῖναι. τοῦτο δὲ πάσχουσι Σκυθέων οἱ πλούσιοι, οὐχ οἱ κάκιστοι ἀλλ᾽ οἱ εὐγενέστατοι καὶ ἰσχὺν πλείστην κεκτημένοι, διὰ τὴν ἱππασίην, οἱ δὲ πένητες ἧσσον: οὐ γὰρ ἱππάζονται. καίτοι ἐχρῆν, ἐπεὶ θειότερον τοῦτο τὸ νόσευμα τῶν λοιπῶν ἐστιν, οὐ τοῖς γενναιοτάτοις τῶν Σκυθέων καὶ τοῖς πλουσιωτάτοις προσπίπτειν μούνοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἅπασιν ὁμοίως, καὶ μᾶλλον τοῖσιν ὀλίγα κεκτημένοισιν, εἰ δὴ τιμώμενοι χαίρουσιν οἱ θεοὶ καί θαυμαζόμενοι ὑπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀντὶ τούτων χάριτας ἀποδιδόασιν. εἰκὸς γὰρ τοὺς μὲν πλουσίους θύειν πολλὰ τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ ἀνατιθέναι ἀναθήματα ἐόντων χρημάτων πολλῶν καὶ τιμᾶν, τοὺς δὲ πένητας ἧσσον διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν, ἔπειτα καὶ ἐπιμεμφομένους ὅτι οὐ διδόασι χρήματα αὐτοῖσιν, ὥστε τῶν τοιούτων ἁμαρτιῶν τὰς ζημίας τοὺς ὀλίγα κεκτημένους φέρειν μᾶλλον ἢ τοὺς πλουσίους. ἀλλὰ γάρ, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον ἔλεξα, θεῖα μὲν καὶ ταῦτά ἐστιν ὁμοίως τοῖς ἄλλοις: γίνεται δὲ κατὰ φύσιν ἕκαστα. καὶ ἡ τοιαύτη νοῦσος ἀπὸ τοιαύτης προφάσιος τοῖς Σκύθῃσι γίνεται οἵην εἴρηκα. ἔχει δὲ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀνθρώπους ὁμοίως. ὅκου γὰρ ἱππάζονται μάλιστα καὶ πυκνότατα, ἐκεῖ πλεῖστοι ὑπὸ κεδμάτων καὶ ἰσχιάδων καὶ ποδαγριῶν ἁλίσκονται καὶ λαγνεύειν κάκιστοί εἰσι. ταῦτα δὲ τοῖσι Σκύθῃσι πρόσεστι, καὶ εὐνουχοειδέστατοί εἰσιν ἀνθρώπων διὰ ταύτας τε τὰς προφάσιας καὶ ὅτι ἀναξυρίδας ἔχουσιν αἰεὶ καί εἰσιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἵππων τὸ πλεῖστον τοῦ χρόνου, ὥστε μήτε χειρὶ ἅπτεσθαι τοῦ αἰδοίου, ὑπό τε τοῦ ψύχεος καὶ τοῦ κόπου ἐπιλήθεσθαι τοῦ ἱμέρου καὶ τῆς μείξιος, καὶ μηδὲν παρακινεῖν πρότερον ἢ ἀνανδρωθῆναι.

Source Colophon

The Greek source text was extracted from the Perseus Digital Library's Hippocrates, Airs, Waters, Places pages, sections 17-22, beginning at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0249:text=Aer.:section=17. The section text was cleaned of Perseus navigation, page markers, line markers, and linked morphology markup. The daggered crux in section 19 is retained from the Perseus Greek text.

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