On Airs, Waters, and Places (By Hippocrates)

 

PART 1

Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceed thus:
in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and what effects
each of them produces for they are not at all alike, but differ much
from themselves in regard to their changes. Then the winds, the hot
and the cold, especially such as are common to all countries, and
then such as are peculiar to each locality. We must also consider
the qualities of the waters, for as they differ from one another in
taste and weight, so also do they differ much in their qualities.
In the same manner, when one comes into a city to which he is a stranger,
he ought to consider its situation, how it lies as to the winds and
the rising of the sun; for its influence is not the same whether it
lies to the north or the south, to the rising or to the setting sun.
These things one ought to consider most attentively, and concerning
the waters which the inhabitants use, whether they be marshy and soft,
or hard, and running from elevated and rocky situations, and then
if saltish and unfit for cooking; and the ground, whether it be naked
and deficient in water, or wooded and well watered, and whether it
lies in a hollow, confined situation, or is elevated and cold; and
the mode in which the inhabitants live, and what are their pursuits,
whether they are fond of drinking and eating to excess, and given
to indolence, or are fond of exercise and labor, and not given to
excess in eating and drinking. 

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PART 2

From these things he must proceed to investigate everything else.
For if one knows all these things well, or at least the greater part
of them, he cannot miss knowing, when he comes into a strange city,
either the diseases peculiar to the place, or the particular nature
of common diseases, so that he will not be in doubt as to the treatment
of the diseases, or commit mistakes, as is likely to be the case provided
one had not previously considered these matters. And in particular,
as the season and the year advances, he can tell what epidemic diseases
will attack the city, either in summer or in winter, and what each
individual will be in danger of experiencing from the change of regimen.
For knowing the changes of the seasons, the risings and settings of
the stars, how each of them takes place, he will be able to know beforehand
what sort of a year is going to ensue. Having made these investigations,
and knowing beforehand the seasons, such a one must be acquainted
with each particular, and must succeed in the preservation of health,
and be by no means unsuccessful in the practice of his art. And if
it shall be thought that these things belong rather to meteorology,
it will be admitted, on second thoughts, that astronomy contributes
not a little, but a very great deal, indeed, to medicine. For with
the seasons the digestive organs of men undergo a change.

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PART 3

But how of the aforementioned things should be investigated and explained,
I will now declare in a clear manner. A city that is exposed to hot
winds (these are between the wintry rising, and the wintry setting
of the sun), and to which these are peculiar, but which is sheltered
from the north winds; in such a city the waters will be plenteous
and saltish, and as they run from an elevated source, they are necessarily
hot in summer, and cold in winter; the heads of the inhabitants are
of a humid and pituitous constitution, and their bellies subject to
frequent disorders, owing to the phlegm running down from the head;
the forms of their bodies, for the most part, are rather flabby; they
do not eat nor drink much; drinking wine in particular, and more especially
if carried to intoxication, is oppressive to them; and the following
diseases are peculiar to the district: in the first place, the women
are sickly and subject to excessive menstruation; then many are unfruitful
from disease, and not from nature, and they have frequent miscarriages;
infants are subject to attacks of convulsions and asthma, which they
consider to be connected with infancy, and hold to be a sacred disease
(epilepsy). The men are subject to attacks of dysentery, diarrhea,
hepialus, chronic fevers in winter, of epinyctis, frequently, and
of hemorrhoids about the anus. Pleurisies, peripneumonies, ardent
fevers, and whatever diseases are reckoned acute, do not often occur,
for such diseases are not apt to prevail where the bowels are loose.
Ophthalmies occur of a humid character, but not of a serious nature,
and of short duration, unless they attack epidemically from the change
of the seasons. And when they pass their fiftieth year, defluxions
supervening from the brain, render them paralytic when exposed suddently
to strokes of the sun, or to cold. These diseases are endemic to them,
and, moreover, if any epidemic disease connected with the change of
the seasons, prevail, they are also liable to it. 

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PART 4

But the following is the condition of cities which have the opposite
exposure, namely, to cold winds, between the summer settings and the
summer risings of the sun, and to which these winds are peculiar,
and which are sheltered from the south and the hot breezes. In the
first place the waters are, for the most part, hard cold. The men
must necessarily be well braced and slender, and they must have the
discharges downwards of the alimentary canal hard, and of difficult
evacuation, while those upwards are more fluid, and rather bilious
than pituitous. Their heads are sound and hard, and they are liable
to burstings (of vessels?) for the most part. The diseases which prevail
epidemically with them, are pleurisies, and those which are called
acute diseases. This must be the case when the bowels are bound; and
from any causes, many become affected with suppurations in the lungs,
the cause of which is the tension of the body, and hardness of the
bowels; for their dryness and the coldness of the water dispose them
to ruptures (of vessels?). Such constitutions must be given to excess
of eating, but not of drinking; for it is not possible to be gourmands
and drunkards at the same time. Ophthalmies, too, at length supervene;
these being of a hard and violent nature, and soon ending in rupture
of the eyes; persons under thirty years of age are liable to severe
bleedings at the nose in summer; attacks of epilepsy are rare but
severe. Such people are likely to be rather long-lived; their ulcers
are not attended with serious discharges, nor of a malignant character;
in disposition they are rather ferocious than gentle. The diseases
I have mentioned are peculiar to the men, and besides they are liable
to any common complaint which may be prevailing from the changes of
the seasons. But the women, in the first place, are of a hard constitution,
from the waters being hard, indigestible, and cold; and their menstrual
discharges are not regular, but in small quantity, and painful. Then
they have difficult parturition, but are not very subject to abortions.
And when they do bring forth children, they are unable to nurse them;
for the hardness and indigestable nature of the water puts away their
milk. Phthisis frequently supervenes after childbirth, for the efforts
of it frequently bring on ruptures and strains. Children while still
little are subject to dropsies in the testicle, which disappear as
they grow older; in such a town they are late in attaining manhood.
It is, as I have now stated, with regard to hot and cold winds and
cities thus exposed. 

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PART 5

Cities that are exposed to winds between the summer and the winter
risings of the sun, and those the opposite to them, have the following
characters:- Those which lie to the rising of the sun are all likely
to be more healthy than such as are turned to the North, or those
exposed to the hot winds, even if there should not be a furlong between
them. In the first place, both the heat and cold are more moderate.
Then such waters as flow to the rising sun, must necessarily be clear,
fragrant, soft, and delightful to drink, in such a city. For the sun
in rising and shining upon them purifies them, by dispelling the vapors
which generally prevail in the morning. The persons of the inhabitants
are, for the most part, well colored and blooming, unless some disease
counteract. The inhabitants have clear voices, and in temper and intellect
are superior to those which are exposed to the north, and all the
productions of the country in like manner are better. A city so situated
resembles the spring as to moderation between heat and cold, and the
diseases are few in number, and of a feeble kind, and bear a resemblance
to the diseases which prevail in regions exposed to hot winds. The
women there are very prolific, and have easy deliveries. Thus it is
with regard to them. 

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PART 6

But such cities as lie to the west, and which are sheltered from winds
blowing from the east, and which the hot winds and the cold winds
of the north scarcely touch, must necessarily be in a very unhealthy
situation: in the first place the waters are not clear, the cause
of which is, because the mist prevails commonly in the morning, and
it is mixed up with the water and destroys its clearness, for the
sun does not shine upon the water until he be considerably raised
above the horizon. And in summer, cold breezes from the east blow
and dews fall; and in the latter part of the day the setting sun particularly
scorches the inhabitants, and therefore they are pale and enfeebled,
and are partly subject to all the aforesaid diseases, but no one is
peculiar to them. Their voices are rough and hoarse owing to the state
of the air, which in such a situation is generally impure and unwholesome,
for they have not the northern winds to purify it; and these winds
they have are of a very humid character, such being the nature of
the evening breezes. Such a situation of a city bears a great resemblance
to autumn as regards the changes of the day, inasmuch as the difference
between morning and evening is great. So it is with regard to the
winds that are conducive to health, or the contrary. 

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PART 7

And I wish to give an account of the other kinds of waters, namely,
of such as are wholesome and such as are unwholesome, and what bad
and what good effects may be derived from water; for water contributes
much towards health. Such waters then as are marshy, stagnant, and
belong to lakes, are necessarily hot in summer, thick, and have a
strong smell, since they have no current; but being constantly supplied
by rain-water, and the sun heating them, they necessarily want their
proper color, are unwholesome and form bile; in winter, they become
congealed, cold, and muddy with the snow and ice, so that they are
most apt to engender phlegm, and bring on hoarseness; those who drink
them have large and obstructed spleens, their bellies are hard, emaciated,
and hot; and their shoulders, collar-bones, and faces are emaciated;
for their flesh is melted down and taken up by the spleen, and hence
they are slender; such persons then are voracious and thirsty; their
bellies are very dry both above and below, so that they require the
strongest medicines. This disease is habitual to them both in summer
and in winter, and in addition they are very subject to dropsies of
a most fatal character; and in summer dysenteries, diarrheas, and
protracted quartan fevers frequently seize them, and these diseases
when prolonged dispose such constitutions to dropsies, and thus prove
fatal. These are the diseases which attack them in summer; but in
winter younger persons are liable to pneumonia, and maniacal affections;
and older persons to ardent fevers, from hardness of the belly. Women
are subject to oedema and leucophlegmasiae; when pregnant they have
difficult deliveries; their infants are large and swelled, and then
during nursing they become wasted and sickly, and the lochial discharge
after parturition does not proceed properly with the women. The children
are particularly subject to hernia, and adults to varices and ulcers
on their legs, so that persons with such constitutions cannot be long-lived,
but before the usual period they fall into a state of premature old
age. And further, the women appear to be with child, and when the
time of parturition arrives, the fulness of the belly disappears,
and this happens from dropsy of the uterus. Such waters then I reckon
bad for every purpose. The next to them in badness are those which
have their fountains in rocks, so that they must necessarily be hard,
or come from a soil which produces thermal waters, such as those having
iron, copper, silver, gold, sulphur, alum, bitumen, or nitre (soda)
in them; for all these are formed by the force of heat. Good waters
cannot proceed from such a soil, but those that are hard and of a
heating nature, difficult to pass by urine, and of difficult evacuation
by the bowels. The best are those which flow from elevated grounds,
and hills of earth; these are sweet, clear, and can bear a little
wine; they are hot in summer and cold in winter, for such necessarily
must be the waters from deep wells. But those are most to be commended
which run to the rising of the sun, and especially to the summer sun;
for such are necessarily more clear, fragrant, and light. But all
such as are salty, crude, and harsh, are not good for drink. But there
are certain constitutions and diseases with which such waters agree
when drunk, as I will explain presently. Their characters are as follows:
the best are such as have their fountains to the east; the next, those
between the summer risings and settings of the sun, and especially
those to the risings; and third, those between the summer and winter
settings; but the worst are those to the south, and the parts between
the winter rising and setting, and those to the south are very bad,
but those to the north are better. They are to be used as follows:
whoever is in good health and strength need not mind, but may always
drink whatever is at hand. But whoever wishes to drink the most suitable
for any disease, may accomplish his purpose by attending to the following
directions: To persons whose bellies are hard and easily burnt up,
the sweetest, the lightest, and the most limpid waters will be proper;
but those persons whose bellies are soft, loose, and pituitous, should
choose the hardest, those kinds that are most crude, and the saltiest,
for thus will they be most readily dried up; for such waters as are
adapted for boiling, and are of a very solvent nature, naturally loosen
readily and melt down the bowels; but such as are intractable, hard,
and by no means proper for boiling, these rather bind and dry up the
bowels. People have deceived themselves with regard to salt waters,
from inexperience, for they think these waters purgative, whereas
they are the very reverse; for such waters are crude, and ill adapted
for boiling, so that the belly is more likely to be bound up than
loosened by them. And thus it is with regard to the waters of springs.

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PART 8

I will now tell how it is with respect to rain-water, and water from
snow. Rain waters, then, are the lightest, the sweetest, the thinnest,
and the clearest; for originally the sun raises and attracts the thinnest
and lightest part of the water, as is obvious from the nature of salts;
for the saltish part is left behind owing to its thickness and weight,
and forms salts; but the sun attracts the thinnest part, owing to
its lightness, and he abstracts this not only from the lakes, but
also from the sea, and from all things which contain humidity, and
there is humidity in everything; and from man himself the sun draws
off the thinnest and lightest part of the juices. As a strong proof
of this, when a man walks in the sun, or sits down having a garment
on, whatever parts of the body the sun shines upon do not sweat, for
the sun carries off whatever sweat makes its appearance; but those
parts which are covered by the garment, or anything else, sweat, for
the particles of sweat are drawn and forced out by the sun, and are
preserved by the cover so as not to be dissipated by the sun; but
when the person comes into the shade the whole body equally perspires,
because the sun no longer shines upon it. Wherefore, of all kinds
of water, these spoil the soonest; and rain water has a bad spot smell,
because its particles are collected and mixed together from most objects,
so as to spoil the soonest. And in addition to this, when attracted
and raised up, being carried about and mixed with the air, whatever
part of it is turbid and darkish is separated and removed from the
other, and becomes cloud and mist, but the most attenuated and lightest
part is left, and becomes sweet, being heated and concocted by the
sun, for all other things when concocted become sweet. While dissipated
then and not in a state of consistence it is carried aloft. But when
collected and condensed by contrary winds, it falls down wherever
it happens to be most condensed. For this is likely to happen when
the clouds being carried along and moving with a wind which does not
allow them to rest, suddenly encounters another wind and other clouds
from the opposite direction: there it is first condensed, and what
is behind is carried up to the spot, and thus it thickens, blackens,
and is conglomerated, and by its weight it falls down and becomes
rain. Such, to all appearance, are the best of waters, but they require
to be boiled and strained; for otherwise they have a bad smell, and
occasion hoarseness and thickness of the voice to those who drink
them. Those from snow and ice are all bad, for when once congealed,
they never again recover their former nature; for whatever is clear,
light, and sweet in them, is separated and disappears; but the most
turbid and weightiest part is left behind. You may ascertain this
in the following manner: If in winter you will pour water by measure
into a vessel and expose it to the open air until it is all frozen,
and then on the following day bring it into a warm situation where
the ice will thaw, if you will measure the water again when dissolved
you will find it much less in quantity. This is a proof that the lightest
and thinnest part is dissipated and dried up by the congelation, and
not the heaviest and thickest, for that is impossible: wherefore I
hold that waters from snow and ice, and those allied to them, are
the worst of any for all purposes whatever. Such are the characters
of rain-water, and those from ice and snow. 

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PART 9

Men become affected with the stone, and are seized with diseases of
the kidneys, strangury, sciatica, and become ruptured, when they drink
all sorts of waters, and those from great rivers into which other
rivulets run, or from a lake into which many streams of all sorts
flow, and such as are brought from a considerable distance. For it
is impossible that such waters can resemble one another, but one kind
is sweet, another saltish and aluminous, and some flow from thermal
springs; and these being all mixed up together disagree, and the strongest
part always prevails; but the same kind is not always the strongest,
but sometimes one and sometimes another, according to the winds, for
the north wind imparts strength to this water, and the south to that,
and so also with regard to the others. There must be deposits of mud
and sand in the vessels from such waters, and the aforesaid diseases
must be engendered by them when drunk, but why not to all I will now
explain. When the bowels are loose and in a healthy state, and when
the bladder is not hot, nor the neck of the bladder very contracted,
all such persons pass water freely, and no concretion forms in the
bladder; but those in whom the belly is hot, the bladder must be in
the same condition; and when preternaturally heated, its neck becomes
inflamed; and when these things happen, the bladder does not expel
the urine, but raises its heat excessively. And the thinnest part
of it is secreted, and the purest part is passed off in the form of
urine, but the thickest and most turbid part is condensed and concreted,
at first in small quantity, but afterwards in greater; for being rolled
about in the urine, whatever is of a thick consistence it assimilates
to itself, and thus it increases and becomes indurated. And when such
persons make water, the stone forced down by the urine falls into
the neck of the bladder and stops the urine, and occasions intense
pain; so that calculous children rub their privy parts and tear at
them, as supposing that the obstruction to the urine is situated there.
As a proof that it is as I say, persons affected with calculus have
very limpid urine, because the thickest and foulest part remains and
is concreted. Thus it generally is in cases of calculus. It forms
also in children from milk, when it is not wholesome, but very hot
and bilious, for it heats the bowels and bladder, so that the urine
being also heated undergoes the same change. And I hold that it is
better to give children only the most diluted wine, for such will
least burn up and dry the veins. Calculi do not form so readily in
women, for in them the urethra is short and wide, so that in them
the urine is easily expelled; neither do they rub the pudendum with
their hands, nor handle the passage like males; for the urethra in
women opens direct into the pudendum, which is not the case with men,
neither in them is the urethra so wide, and they drink more than children
do. Thus, or nearly so, is it with regard to them. 

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PART 10

And respecting the seasons, one may judge whether the year will prove
sickly or healthy from the following observations:- If the appearances
connected with the rising and setting stars be as they should be;
if there be rains in autumn; if the winter be mild, neither very tepid
nor unseasonably cold, and if in spring the rains be seasonable, and
so also in summer, the year is likely to prove healthy. But if the
winter be dry and northerly, and the spring showery and southerly,
the summer will necessarily be of a febrile character, and give rise
to ophthalmies and dysenteries. For when suffocating heat sets in
all of a sudden, while the earth is moistened by the vernal showers,
and by the south wind, the heat is necessarily doubled from the earth,
which is thus soaked by rain and heated by a burning sun, while, at
the same time, men's bellies are not in an orderly state, nor the
brain properly dried; for it is impossible, after such a spring, but
that the body and its flesh must be loaded with humors, so that very
acute fevers will attack all, but especially those of a phlegmatic
constitution. Dysenteries are also likely to occur to women and those
of a very humid temperament. And if at the rising of the Dogstar rain
and wintery storms supervene, and if the etesian winds blow, there
is reason to hope that these diseases will cease, and that the autumn
will be healthy; but if not, it is likely to be a fatal season to
children and women, but least of all to old men; and that convalescents
will pass into quartans, and from quartans into dropsies; but if the
winter be southerly, showery and mild, but the spring northerly, dry,
and of a wintry character, in the first place women who happen to
be with child, and whose accouchement should take place in spring,
are apt to miscarry; and such as bring forth, have feeble and sickly
children, so that they either die presently or are tender, feeble,
and sickly, if they live. Such is the case with the women. The others
are subject to dysenteries and dry ophthalmies, and some have catarrhs
beginning in the head and descending to the lungs. Men of a phlegmatic
temperament are likely to have dysenteries; and women, also, from
the humidity of their nature, the phlegm descending downwards from
the brain; those who are bilious, too, have dry ophthalmies from the
heat and dryness of their flesh; the aged, too, have catarrhs from
their flabbiness and melting of the veins, so that some of them die
suddenly and some become paralytic on the right side or the left.
For when, the winter being southerly and the body hot, the blood and
veins are not properly constringed; a spring that is northerly, dry,
and cold, having come on, the brain when it should have been expanded
and purged, by the coryza and hoarseness is then constringed and contracted,
so that the summer and the heat occurring suddenly, and a change supervening,
these diseases fall out. And such cities as lie well to the sun and
winds, and use good waters, feel these changes less, but such as use
marshy and pooly waters, and lie well both as regards the winds and
the sun, these all feel it more. And if the summer be dry, those diseases
soon cease, but if rainy, they are protracted; and there is danger
of any sore that there is becoming phagedenic from any cause; and
lienteries and dropsies supervene at the conclusion of diseases; for
the bowels are not readily dried up. And if the summer be rainy and
southerly, and next the autumn, the winter must, of necessity, be
sickly, and ardent fevers are likely to attack those that are phlegmatic,
and more elderly than forty years, and pleurisies and peripneumonies
those that are bilious. But if the summer is parched and northerly,
but the autumn rainy and southerly, headache and sphacelus of the
brain are likely to occur; and in addition hoarseness, coryza, coughs,
and in some cases, consumption. But if the season is northerly and
without water, there being no rain, neither after the Dogstar nor
Arcturus; this state agrees best with those who are naturally phlegmatic,
with those who are of a humid temperament, and with women; but it
is most inimical to the bilious; for they become much parched up,
and ophthalmies of a dry nature supervene, fevers both acute and chronic,
and in some cases melancholy; for the most humid and watery part of
the bile being consumed, the thickest and most acrid portion is left,
and of the blood likewise, when these diseases came upon them. But
all these are beneficial to the phlegmatic, for they are thereby dried
up, and reach winter not oppressed with humors, but with them dried
up. 

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PART 11

Whoever studies and observes these things may be able to foresee most
of the effects which will result from the changes of the seasons;
and one ought to be particularly guarded during the greatest changes
of the seasons, and neither willingly give medicines, nor apply the
cautery to the belly, nor make incisions there until ten or more days
be past. Now, the greatest and most dangerous are the two solstices,
and especially the summer, and also the two equinoxes, but especially
the autumnal. One ought also to be guarded about the rising of the
stars, especially of the Dogstar, then of Arcturus, and then the setting
of the Pleiades; for diseases are especially apt to prove critical
in those days, and some prove fatal, some pass off, and all others
change to another form and another constitution. So it is with regard
to them. 

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PART 12

I wish to show, respecting Asia and Europe, how, in all respects,
they differ from one another, and concerning the figure of the inhabitants,
for they are different, and do not at all resemble one another. To
treat of all would be a long story, but I will tell you how I think
it is with regard to the greatest and most marked differences. I say,
then, that Asia differs very much from Europe as to the nature of
all things, both With regard to the productions of the earth and the
inhabitants, for everything is produced much more beautiful and large
in Asia; the country is milder, and the dispositions of the inhabitants
also are more gentle and affectionate. The cause of this is the temperature
of the seasons, because it lies in the middle of the risings of the
sun towards the east, and removed from the cold (and heat), for nothing
tends to growth and mildness so much as when the climate has no predominant
quality, but a general equality of temperature prevails. It is not
everywhere the same with regard to Asia, but such parts of the country
as lie intermediate between the heat and the cold, are the best supplied
with fruits and trees, and have the most genial climate, and enjoy
the purest waters, both celestial and terrestrial. For neither are
they much burnt up by the heat, nor dried up by the drought and want
of rain, nor do they suffer from the cold; since they are well watered
from abundant showers and snow, and the fruits of the season, as might
be supposed, grow in abundance, both such as are raised from seed
that has been sown, and such plants as the earth produces of its own
accord, the fruits of which the inhabitants make use of, training
them from their wild state and transplanting them to a suitable soil;
the cattle also which are reared there are vigorous, particularly
prolific, and bring up young of the fairest description; the inhabitants
too, are well fed, most beautiful in shape, of large stature, and
differ little from one another either as to figure or size; and the
country itself, both as regards its constitution and mildness of the
seasons, may be said to bear a close resemblance to the spring. Manly
courage, endurance of suffering, laborious enterprise, and high spirit,
could not be produced in such a state of things either among the native
inhabitants or those of a different country, for there pleasure necessarily
reigns. For this reason, also, the forms of wild beasts there are
much varied. Thus it is, as I think, with the Egyptians and Libyans.

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PART 13

But concerning those on the right hand of the summer risings of the
sun as far as the Palus Maeotis (for this is the boundary of Europe
and Asia), it is with them as follows: the inhabitants there differ
far more from one another than those I have treated of above, owing
to the differences of the seasons and the nature of the soil. But
with regard to the country itself, matters are the same there as among
all other men; for where the seasons undergo the greatest and most
rapid changes, there the country is the wildest and most unequal;
and you will find the greatest variety of mountains, forests, plains,
and meadows; but where the seasons do not change much there the country
is the most even; and, if one will consider it, so is it also with
regard to the inhabitants; for the nature of some is like to a country
covered with trees and well watered; of some, to a thin soil deficient
in water; of others, to fenny and marshy places; and of some again,
to a plain of bare and parched land. For the seasons which modify
their natural frame of body are varied, and the greater the varieties
of them the greater also will be the differences of their shapes.

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PART 14

I will pass over the smaller differences among the nations, but will
now treat of such as are great either from nature, or custom; and,
first, concerning the Macrocephali. There is no other race of men
which have heads in the least resembling theirs. At first, usage was
the principal cause of the length of their head, but now nature cooperates
with usage. They think those the most noble who have the longest heads.
It is thus with regard to the usage: immediately after the child is
born, and while its head is still tender, they fashion it with their
hands, and constrain it to assume a lengthened shape by applying bandages
and other suitable contrivances whereby the spherical form of the
head is destroyed, and it is made to increase in length. Thus, at
first, usage operated, so that this constitution was the result of
force: but, in the course of time, it was formed naturally; so that
usage had nothing to do with it; for the semen comes from all parts
of the body, sound from the sound parts, and unhealthy from the unhealthy
parts. If, then, children with bald heads are born to parents with
bald heads; and children with blue eves to parents who have blue eyes;
and if the children of parents having distorted eyes squint also for
the most part; and if the same may be said of other forms of the body,
what is to prevent it from happening that a child with a long head
should be produced by a parent having a long head? But now these things
do not happen as they did formerly, for the custom no longer prevails
owing to their intercourse with other men. Thus it appears to me to
be with regard to them. 

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PART 15

As to the inhabitants of Phasis, their country is fenny, warm, humid,
and wooded; copious and severe rains occur there at all seasons; and
the life of the inhabitants is spent among the fens; for their dwellings
are constructed of wood and reeds, and are erected amidst the waters;
they seldom practice walking either to the city or the market, but
sail about, up and down, in canoes constructed out of single trees,
for there are many canals there. They drink the hot and stagnant waters,
both when rendered putrid by the sun, and when swollen with rains.
The Phasis itself is the most stagnant of all rivers, and runs the
smoothest; all the fruits which spring there are unwholesome, feeble
and imperfect growth, owing to the redundance of water, and on this
account they do not ripen, for much vapor from the waters overspreads
the country. For these reasons the Phasians have shapes different
from those of all other men; for they are large in stature, and of
a very gross habit of body, so that not a joint nor vein is visible;
in color they are sallow, as if affected with jaundice. Of all men
they have the roughest voices, from their breathing an atmosphere
which is not clear, but misty and humid; they are naturally rather
languid in supporting bodily fatigue. The seasons undergo but little
change either as to heat or cold; their winds for the most part are
southerly, with the exception of one peculiar to the country, which
sometimes blows strong, is violent and hot, and is called by them
the wind cenchron. The north wind scarcely reaches them, and when
it does blow it is weak and gentle. Thus it is with regard to the
different nature and shape of the inhabitants of Asia and Europe.

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PART 16

And with regard to the pusillanimity and cowardice of the inhabitants,
the principal reason the Asiatics are more unwarlike and of gentler
disposition than the Europeans is, the nature of the seasons, which
do not undergo any great changes either to heat or cold, or the like;
for there is neither excitement of the understanding nor any strong
change of the body whereby the temper might be ruffled and they be
roused to inconsiderate emotion and passion, rather than living as
they do always in the state. It is changes of all kinds which arouse
understanding of mankind, and do not allow them to get into a torpid
condition. For these reasons, it appears to me, the Asiatic race is
feeble, and further, owing to their laws; for monarchy prevails in
the greater part of Asia, and where men are not their own masters
nor independent, but are the slaves of others, it is not a matter
of consideration with them how they may acquire military discipline,
but how they may seem not to be warlike, for the dangers are not equally
shared, since they must serve as soldiers, perhaps endure fatigue,
and die for their masters, far from their children, their wives, and
other friends; and whatever noble and manly actions they may perform
lead only to the aggrandizement of their masters, whilst the fruits
which they reap are dangers and death; and, in addition to all this,
the lands of such persons must be laid waste by the enemy and want
of culture. Thus, then, if any one be naturally warlike and courageous,
his disposition will be changed by the institutions. As a strong proof
of all this, such Greeks or barbarians in Asia as are not under a
despotic form of government, but are independent, and enjoy the fruits
of their own labors, are of all others the most warlike; for these
encounter dangers on their own account, bear the prizes of their own
valor, and in like manner endure the punishment of their own cowardice.
And you will find the Asiatics differing from one another, for some
are better and others more dastardly; of these differences, as I stated
before, the changes of the seasons are the cause. Thus it is with
Asia. 

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PART 17

In Europe there is a Scythian race, called Sauromatae, which inhabits
the confines of the Palus Maeotis, and is different from all other
races. Their women mount on horseback, use the bow, and throw the
javelin from their horses, and fight with their enemies as long as
they are virgins; and they do not lay aside their virginity until
they kill three of their enemies, nor have any connection with men
until they perform the sacrifices according to law. Whoever takes
to herself a husband, gives up riding on horseback unless the necessity
of a general expedition obliges her. They have no right breast; for
while still of a tender age their mothers heat strongly a copper instrument
constructed for this very purpose, and apply it to the right breast,
which is burnt up, and its development being arrested, all the strength
and fullness are determined to the right shoulder and arm.

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PART 18

As the other Scythians have a peculiarity of shape, and do not resemble
any other, the same observation applies to the Egyptians, only that
the latter are oppressed by heat and the former by cold. What is called
the Scythian desert is a prairie, rich in meadows, high-lying, and
well watered; for the rivers which carry off the water from the plains
are large. There live those Scythians which are called Nomades, because
they have no houses, but live in wagons. The smallest of these wagons
have four wheels, but some have six; they are covered in with felt,
and they are constructed in the manner of houses, some having but
a single apartment, and some three; they are proof against rain, snow,
and winds. The wagons are drawn by yokes of oxen, some of two and
others of three, and all without horns, for they have no horns, owing
to the cold. In these wagons the women live, but the men are carried
about on horses, and the sheep, oxen, and horses accompany them; and
they remain on any spot as long as there is provender for their cattle,
and when that fails they migrate to some other place. They eat boiled
meat, and drink the milk of mares, and also eat hippace, which is
cheese prepared from the milk of the mare. Such is their mode of life
and their customs. 

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PART 19

In respect of the seasons and figure of body, the Scythian race, like
the Egyptian, have a uniformity of resemblance, different from all
other nations; they are by no means prolific, and the wild beasts
which are indigenous there are small in size and few in number, for
the country lies under the Northern Bears, and the Rhiphaean mountains,
whence the north wind blows; the sun comes very near to them only
when in the summer solstice, and warms them but for a short period,
and not strongly; and the winds blowing from the hot regions of the
earth do not reach them, or but seldom, and with little force; but
the winds from the north always blow, congealed, as they are, by the
snow, ice, and much water, for these never leave the mountains, which
are thereby rendered uninhabitable. A thick fog covers the plains
during the day, and amidst it they live, so that winter may be said
to be always present with them; or, if they have summer, it is only
for a few days, and the heat is not very strong. Their plains are
high-lying and naked, not crowned with mountains, but extending upwards
under the Northern Bears. The wild beasts there are not large, but
such as can be sheltered underground; for the cold of winter and the
barrenness of the country prevent their growth, and because they have
no covert nor shelter. The changes of the seasons, too, are not great
nor violent, for, in fact, they change gradually; and therefore their
figures resemble one another, as they all equally use the same food,
and the same clothing summer and winter, respiring a humid and dense
atmosphere, and drinking water from snow and ice; neither do they
make any laborious exertions, for neither body nor mind is capable
of enduring fatigue when the changes of the seasons are not great.
For these reasons their shapes are gross and fleshy, with ill-marked
joints, of a humid temperament, and deficient in tone: the internal
cavities, and especially those of the intestines, are full of humors;
for the belly cannot possibly be dry in such a country, with such
a constitution and in such a climate; but owing to their fat, and
the absence of hairs from their bodies, their shapes resemble one
another, the males being all alike, and so also with the women; for
the seasons being of a uniform temperature, no corruption or deterioration
takes place in the concretion of the semen, unless from some violent
cause, or from disease. 

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PART 20

I Will give you a strong proof of the humidity (laxity?) of their
constitutions. You will find the greater part of the Scythians, and
all the Nomades, with marks of the cautery on their shoulders, arms,
wrists, breasts, hip-joints, and loins, and that for no other reason
but the humidity and flabbiness of their constitution, for they can
neither strain with their bows, nor launch the javelin from their
shoulder owing to their humidity and atony: but when they are burnt,
much of the humidity in their joints is dried up, and they become
better braced, better fed, and their joints get into a more suitable
condition. They are flabby and squat at first, because, as in Egypt,
they are not swathed (?); and then they pay no attention to horsemanship,
so that they may be adepts at it; and because of their sedentary mode
of life; for the males, when they cannot be carried about on horseback,
sit the most of their time in the wagon, and rarely practise walking,
because of their frequent migrations and shiftings of situation; and
as to the women, it is amazing how flabby and sluggish they are. The
Scythian race are tawny from the cold, and not from the intense heat
of the sun, for the whiteness of the skin is parched by the cold,
and becomes tawny. 

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PART 21

It is impossible that persons of such a constitution could be prolific,
for, with the man, the sexual desires are not strong, owing to the
laxity of his constitution, the softness and coldness of his belly,
from all which causes it is little likely that a man should be given
to venery; and besides, from being jaded by exercise on horseback,
the men become weak in their desires. On the part of the men these
are the causes; but on that of the women, they are embonpoint and
humidity; for the womb cannot take in the semen, nor is the menstrual
discharge such as it should be, but scanty and at too long intervals;
and the mouth of the womb is shut up by fat and does not admit the
semen; and, moreover, they themselves are indolent and fat, and their
bellies cold and soft. From these causes the Scythian race is not
prolific. Their female servants furnish a strong proof of this; for
they no sooner have connection with a man than they prove with child,
owing to their active course of life and the slenderness of body.

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PART 22

And, in addition to these, there are many eunuchs among the Scythians,
who perform female work, and speak like women. Such persons are called
effeminates. The inhabitants of the country attribute the cause of
their impotence to a god, and venerate and worship such persons, every
one dreading that the like might befall himself; but to me it appears
that such affections are just as much divine as all others are, and
that no one disease is either more divine or more human than another,
but that all are alike divine, for that each has its own nature, and
that no one arises without a natural cause. But I will explain how
I think that the affection takes its rise. From continued exercise
on horseback they are seized with chronic defluxions in their joints
owing to their legs always hanging down below their horses; they afterwards
become lame and stiff at the hip-joint, such of them, at least, as
are severely attacked with it. They treat themselves in this way:
when the disease is commencing, they open the vein behind either ear,
and when the blood flows, sleep, from feebleness, seizes them, and
afterwards they awaken, some in good health and others not. To me
it appears that the semen is altered by this treatment, for there
are veins behind the ears which, if cut, induce impotence; now, these
veins would appear to me to be cut. Such persons afterwards, when
they go in to women and cannot have connection with them, at first
do not think much about it, but remain quiet; but when, after making
the attempt two, three, or more times, they succeed no better, fancying
they have committed some offence against the god whom they blame for
the affection, they put on female attire, reproach themselves for
effeminacy, play the part of women, and perform the same work as women
do. This the rich among the Scythians endure, not the basest, but
the most noble and powerful, owing to their riding on horseback; for
the poor are less affected, as they do not ride on horses. And yet,
if this disease had been more divine than the others, it ought not
to have befallen the most noble and the richest of the Scythians alone,
but all alike, or rather those who have little, as not being able
to pay honors to the gods, if, indeed, they delight in being thus
rewarded by men, and grant favors in return; for it is likely that
the rich sacrifice more to the gods, and dedicate more votive offerings,
inasmuch as they have wealth, and worship the gods; whereas the poor,
from want, do less in this way, and, moreover, upbraid the gods for
not giving them wealth, so that those who have few possessions were
more likely to bear the punishments of these offences than the rich.
But, as I formerly said, these affections are divine just as much
as others, for each springs from a natural cause, and this disease
arises among the Scythians from such a cause as I have stated. But
it attacks other men in like manner, for whenever men ride much and
very frequently on horseback, then many are affected with rheums in
the joints, sciatica, and gout, and they are inept at venery. But
these complaints befall the Scythians, and they are the most impotent
of men for the aforesaid causes, and because they always wear breeches,
and spend the most of their time on horseback, so as not to touch
their privy parts with the hands, and from the cold and fatigue they
forget the sexual desire, and do not make the attempt until after
they have lost their virility. Thus it is with the race of the Scythians.

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PART 23

The other races in Europe differ from one another, both as to stature
and shape, owing to the changes of the seasons, which are very great
and frequent, and because the heat is strong, the winters severe,
and there are frequent rains, and again protracted droughts, and winds,
from which many and diversified changes are induced. These changes
are likely to have an effect upon generation in the coagulation of
the semen, as this process cannot be the same in summer as in winter,
nor in rainy as in dry weather; wherefore, I think, that the figures
of Europeans differ more than those of Asiatics; and they differ very
much from one another as to stature in the same city; for vitiations
of the semen occur in its coagulation more frequently during frequent
changes of the seasons, than where they are alike and equable. And
the same may be said of their dispositions, for the wild, and unsociable,
and the passionate occur in such a constitution; for frequent excitement
of the mind induces wildness, and extinguishes sociableness and mildness
of disposition, and therefore I think the inhabitants of Europe more
courageous than those of Asia; for a climate which is always the same
induces indolence, but a changeable climate, laborious exertions both
of body and mind; and from rest and indolence cowardice is engendered,
and from laborious exertions and pains, courage. On this account the
inhabitants of Europe are than the Asiatics, and also owing to their
institutions, because they are not governed by kings like the latter,
for where men are governed by kings there they must be very cowardly,
as I have stated before; for their souls are enslaved, and they will
not willingly, or readily undergo dangers in order to promote the
power of another; but those that are free undertake dangers on their
own account, and not for the sake of others; they court hazard and
go out to meet it, for they themselves bear off the rewards of victory,
and thus their institutions contribute not a little to their courage.

Such is the general character of Europe and Asia. 

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PART 24

And there are in Europe other tribes, differing from one another in
stature, shape, and courage: the differences are those I formerly
mentioned, and will now explain more clearly. Such as inhabit a country
which is mountainous, rugged, elevated, and well watered, and where
the changes of the seasons are very great, are likely to have great
variety of shapes among them, and to be naturally of an enterprising
and warlike disposition; and such persons are apt to have no little
of the savage and ferocious in their nature; but such as dwell in
places which are low-lying, abounding in meadows and ill ventilated,
and who have a larger proportion of hot than of cold winds, and who
make use of warm waters- these are not likely to be of large stature
nor well proportioned, but are of a broad make, fleshy, and have black
hair; and they are rather of a dark than of a light complexion, and
are less likely to be phlegmatic than bilious; courage and laborious
enterprise are not naturally in them, but may be engendered in them
by means of their institutions. And if there be rivers in the country
which carry off the stagnant and rain water from it, these may be
wholesome and clear; but if there be no rivers, but the inhabitants
drink the waters of fountains, and such as are stagnant and marshy,
they must necessarily have prominent bellies and enlarged spleens.
But such as inhabit a high country, and one that is level, windy,
and well-watered, will be large of stature, and like to one another;
but their minds will be rather unmanly and gentle. Those who live
on thin, ill-watered, and bare soils, and not well attempered in the
changes of the seasons, in such a country they are likely to be in
their persons rather hard and well braced, rather of a blond than
a dark complexion, and in disposition and passions haughty and self-willed.
For, where the changes of the seasons are most frequent, and where
they differ most from one another, there you will find their forms,
dispositions, and nature the most varied. These are the strongest
of the natural causes of difference, and next the country in which
one lives, and the waters; for, in general, you will find the forms
and dispositions of mankind to correspond with the nature of the country;
for where the land is fertile, soft, and well-watered, and supplied
with waters from very elevated situations, so as to be hot in summer
and cold in winter, and where the seasons are fine, there the men
are fleshy, have ill-formed joints, and are of a humid temperament;
they are not disposed to endure labor, and, for the most part, are
base in spirit; indolence and sluggishness are visible in them, and
to the arts they are dull, and not clever nor acute. When the country
is bare, not fenced, and rugged, blasted by the winter and scorched
by the sun, there you may see the hardy, hardy, slender, with well-shaped
joints, well-braced, and shaggy; sharp, industry and vigilance accompany
such a constitution; in morals and passions they are haughty and opinionative,
inclining rather to the fierce than to the mild; and you will find
them acute and ingenious as regards the arts, and excelling in military
affairs; and likewise all the other productions of the earth corresponding
to the earth itself. Thus it is with regard to the most opposite natures
and shapes; drawing conclusions from them, you may judge of the rest
without any risk of error.