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MOSES MAIMONIDES' TWO TREATISES ON THE REGIMEN OF HEALTHFi Tadbir al-Sihhah* * *

andMaqalah fi Bayan Ba'd al-A'rad wa-al-Jawab 'anha

Translatedfrom the Arabic and edited in accordancewith the Hebrewand Latin versions byARIEL BAR-SELA, M.D., HEBBEL E. HOFF, M.D., and ELIAS FARIS

CONTENTSPAGEIntroduction .......................................... 3References ........................................... 14The Regimen of Health ................................ 16Chapter I .......................................... 16Chapter I I ........................ 20Chapter II I........................................ 23

Chapter IV ......................................... 27The Treatise on Accidents .............................. 32G ossary ............................................. 4 1Index ................................................ 45INTRODUCTION

From Asia Minor, Greek medicine was carried bythe Nestorians to the East where it was taken upby the Arabs surging out of the desert under thebanners of Islam. The conquering Arabs were willingstudents; the medical works of Hippocrates and Galenwere translated into Arabic along with the works ofPlato and Aristotle. Blending the knowledge ofGreece with the wisdom of the East, the Arabs furtherdeveloped the arts and the sciences; under their rulemedicine attained a status in some aspects unsurpasseduntil modern times.Toward the second half of the eighth century, theArab world was divided by schism and personalrivalries to form the Eastern Caliphate of the Abassidswith Baghdad as its capital, and the Western Cali-phate of the Umayyads with Cordova as its capital.Two schools of philosophy and medicine subsequentlydeveloped; the Eastern School of Rhazes and Avi-cenna, and the Western School of Avenzoar andAverroes.With the decline of both Caliphates, the seat oflearning moved centrally to Egypt, then under theenlightened rule of the Ayyubites. It was in thisperiod that one of the most celebrated physicians ofold, Moses ben Maimon, came from the Maghrib toEgypt. Embodying the best in Arabic medicine ofboth East and West, he contributed to its propagation,and played an important role in its introduction toEurope.Moses ben Maimon ha-Sefardi (the Spaniard) iscommonly referred to as the Rambam, an abbreviationof Rabbi Moses ben Maimon. He is also known as

theMaimoni, hence the name Maimonides. In Arabic,the language he employed in most of his writings, heis known as Abfu 'Imran Mfisa ibn 'Ubayd Allah ibnMaymfin. This name poses a question; the nameAbu 'Imran is obviously a kunya, a nickname, whileibn 'Ubayd Allah, the Arabic equivalent of Obadiah,appears to be the nisba, or patronymic name. IbnAbi Usaybi'ah does not list ibn 'Ubayd Allah in hisdiscussion of Maimonides (21),* whereas some Jewishmedieval scribes list its Hebrew transliteration 'evedelohim as an honorific title (43, 45, 46) while othersmaintain the original form (43); such is the case alsowith Latin manuscripts. Considering the usual formof Arabic names, this is rather unusual, but all authors,accept Maymun (Maimon) as the name of thefather.The earliest known biography of Maimonides waswritten by the noted medical biographer Ibn AbiU~aybi'ah (1203-1270), himself a physician and anacquaintance of Maimonides' son Abraham. His ac-count of the life of Maimonides and his son Abraham,translated from the Arabic edition of his work (21),is as follows:

al-Ra'is Musa is al-Ra'is Abu 'Imran Mfsa ibn May-mun, the Cordovan,a Jew. He was learned in the Lawsof the Jews, and wascountedamongtheirlearnedand theirsages. He was their head (Ra'is) in the Province ofEgypt. He was uniquein his time in the Art of Medicineand its practice,versed in the sciencesand possessedof anexcellent knowledge of philosophy. al-Sultan al-Malikal-Nasir $alah al-Din saw him and consulted him, andlikewise his son al-Malik al-Afdal 'Ali. It is said thatal-Ra'is Mfsa became a Moslem in the Maghrib,memo-rized the Koran and was occupied in its studies. Then,once he arrived in the Province of Egypt and settled inFustat, Cairo, he recanted. Said al-Qadi al-Sa'id ibnSanaa' al-Mulk in praiseof al-Ra'is Musa:I deem Galen's Medicinefit for the body alone,But Abu 'Imran's for both body and mind.Had the Medicine of the Time on him come to call,Throughknowledgehe would have cured it ofignorance's lls.Had the ripeningmoonhis counsel required,She could attain the perfectionto which she aspired.The day of the full-moon he would cure her of spots,And save her from waningat the end of her month.* Numbersin parentheses ndicate references isted on page 14.

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BAR-SELA, HOFF, FARIS: MOSES MAIMONIDESThe books of al-Ra'is Musa are the extracts of thesixteen books of Galen,a treatise on hemorrhoids nd theirtreatment, a treatise on the regimen of health compiledfor al-Malik al-Afdal 'Ali ibn al-Malik al-Ndair$alab al-Din Yfisufibn Ayyfub,a treatise on poisonsand protectionagainst lethal drugs,a book in explanationof drugs,and alarge book on the religionof the Jews.Ibrahimibn al-Ra'is Misa is Abf al-Mani Ibrahimibnal-Ra'is Miusa bn Maymun, born in Fustat, Egypt. Hewas a famous physician, knowledgeable in the Art ofMedicineand excellent in its practice. He was in attend-ance on al-Malik al-Kamil Muhammad bn Abi Bakr ibnAyyfub. He also went frequently from the palace to thehospital in Cairo,and treated the sick there. I met himin the year six hundred and thirty one or thirty two(1233-4) when I was practicing in the hospital there.I found him a tall old man, thin of body, handsome inappearance, pleasant-spoken,and discriminating n medi-cine. Ibrahim ibn al-Ra'is Mfisa died in Egypt in theyear six hundred thirty . . . (missing).Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah's narrative, wanting in bothdetails and scope, leaves much to be desired, and in theabsence of better contemporary biographies, informa-tion about Maimonides' life had to be drawn fromother sources such as his correspondence with hisstudents and followers, and the writings of others whoknew him. Many of these sources, though written bycontemporaries, are questionable. Typical of theseis a narrative, found in MS. Opp. Add. 8?36 of theBritish Museum, written by an unknown person whoidentifies himself as follows: "I, who write this letter,am from Tulitula and my birthplace is Spain; I alsoescaped . . . and left Tulitula in the year 4946 (1186). . .and went to the land of Fez." Thus this authoris a Spaniard who sought refuge from persecution inFez, only twenty-five years after Maimonides did thesame. His narrative contains only a few biographical

details about Maimonides, and these are often in con-flict with well-established facts, while most of the workis devoted to a description of a fanciful and chimericalletter, said to have been written by Maimonides to acertain Isaac, son of Nathan, which appears to be bothapocalyptic and apocryphal.It is apparent that even in his own lifetime, legendsand fables obscured the image of Maimonides the man,and made it difficult to understand him and hiscontributions in terms of his personality; too manyquestions remain unanswered if not unanswerable.This is even more apparent with respect to Maimon-ides the physician; in fact, in the eyes of later genera-tions his religious and philosophical contributionsoutshone those in medicine to such an extent thatmany students of his works, while aware of his fameas a physician, were totally unfamiliar with the natureand the scope of his medical contributions.Rabbi Moses Maimonides was born in Cordova,Spain, the seat of the Western Caliphate, on March 30,1135; his father and mentor was a well-known scholarand author in the Jewish community that flourishedthere (53). It is believed, though not proven, thatthe Maimon family were descendents of the House of

David (53, 55). Little is known of Maimonides' earlylife and education, but, judging by his later works, hewas thoroughly tutored in mathematics, astronomyand astrology, medicine, philosophy, theology, andJewish studies. Undoubtedly, it was the latter sub-ject which captured young Maimonides' fancy, and tothis he devoted most of his time and energy.It is not clear where and with whom Maimonidesstudied medicine, although there is no doubt that heacquired the foundation of his art in the West. In hisRegimen of Health he states, in support of a prescrip-tion, "this is what we have received from the Eldersof the Art," and, again, in his Treatise on Accidentshe states, "thus we have seen the outstanding Eldersdo in the land of Andalusia," but he does not mentionthese Elders by name. Some authors claim him as astudent of Abu Marwan ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar; 1091-1162), who lived in Spain, while others place him as astudent of Ibn Rushd (Averroes; 1126-1198), himselfa Cordovan and only ten years older than Maimonides.Maimonides himself, however, claims neither as histeacher. He frequently refers to the venerable ibnZuhr, but he makes little mention of Ibn Rushd. Inhis treatise on asthma (44), he records an incidentinvolving Ibn Zuhr, but he states that he heard itfrom his son Abu Bakr with whom he was acquainted.Thus, while there is no doubt that Maimonides waswell acquainted with the works of these two mastersof the school of medicine of the Western Caliphate,the exact source of his medical education is not yetestablished (17, 41, 57).In 1148 Cordova, along with the rest of MoorishSpain, was conquered by the al-Muw'ahhidin (Almo-hades), a sect of unitarian Moslem zealots. An era

of religious intolerance and persecution ensued, andthe Jews were often given the choice of conversion toIslam or exile. Choosing the latter, Maimon's familyescaped in 1160 to the city of Fez, Morocco, and spenta few years there, apparently disguised as Moslems.There is no evidence whatsoever supporting Ibn AbiUsaybi'ah's claim that Maimonides ever acceptedIslam. In fact, it was during that time that he en-dangered his own life by publishing his Iggeret ha-SHemad, the Epistle on Apostasy, following which hisfamily fled Fez and in 1165 arrived in Acre, Pales-tine (53). According to the British Museum manu-script cited above, Moses' father voluntarily left forFez so that his children might study under the greatRabbi Judah ha-Kohen; then, when Rabbi Judah dieda martyr's death, they fled to Palestine.Their sojourn in Palestine was brief, and theyfinally sought refuge in Egypt. Maimon, the father,died on the last stage of their journey, and in 1165Moses and his brother David settled in Fustat (oldCairo). According to the above-mentioned manu-script, the father died in Jerusalem, while accordingto others he died in Fustat (18, 53, 57).While David turned to commerce, Maimonides con-

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TWO TREATISES ON THE REGIMEN OF HEALTHtinued to devote his time to his studies, and in 1168he published his first major religious work, Kitdb al-Siraj, a commentary on the Mishnah. By that timehe was already known through his treatises on theArt of Logic and the Jewish Calendar (published in1151 and 1158, respectively), and was recognized inEgypt as an authority on Jewish subjects. When hisbrother David perished in the Indian Ocean not longafter the settlement in Cairo, Maimonides had to earnhis livelihood in order to sustain himself and hisbrother's family. Refusing to accept remunerationfor rabbinical duties, he turned to the only otherprofession he knew-medicine (15, 18).Maimonides' endeavors in his new occupationproved successful, and within a short time he attractedthe attention of the Vizier al-Qadi al-Falil al-Baysani,who obtained his services and introduced him to thecourt of al-'Adid, the last of the Fatimid Imams ofEgypt. When the latter was deposed in 1171, thecapable Vizier, who retained his high office, introducedMaimonides to the court of the new Sultan, $aldabal-Din (Saladin) (38, 41). The details of Maimonides'rise to medical fame are not altogether clear. Frieden-wald (18) fixes his appointment to Saladin's court ata much later date, while Zeitlin (65) maintains thatMaimonides lingered a few years in Alexandria and didnot settle in Fustat until 1171, which appears to pre-clude the possibility of his appointment to the courtof al-'Adid.Maimonides' fame as a physician had spread, andhe was now occupied from morning till night attendingthe court of Saladin, and catering to a wide clientele.In addition to his practice, he was appointed bySaladin a Nagid over the Jewish community of Egypt,a position similar to that of the Exilarch in Babyloniawho was a direct descendant of the House of David (21,38). So heavy was the burden on his shoulders, thatin a letter to his friend and translator Ibn Tibbon, hewrote, in order to dissuade him from coming for a visit,"I converse with and prescribe for them while lyingdown from sheer fatigue, and when night falls I am soexhausted that I can scarcely speak" (18).The reputation of Maimonides was apparently sogreat that he received an invitation to become thepersonal physician of a "Sovereign of the Franks inAscalon," thought to be Richard Coeur de Lion, whoheard of him from Saladin's brother al-'Adil (41).Maimonides must have declined the invitation, for itis known that he never again left Egypt. Nonethe-less, it has been suggested that the portrayal of theHakim in Scott's Talisman was drawn after Mai-monides (11).His medical practice notwithstanding, Maimonidescontinued to pursue his religious and philosophicalstudies, and in 1180, he published his major religiouswork, the Mishneh Torah, in which he organized,edited, summarized, and codified the immense collec-tion of laws, customs, opinions, and regulations found

in the Talmud. This was no minor task, and by thiscontribution alone, Maimonides earned himself im-mortality. The proverb still prevails, "from Mosesto Moses there was no one like Moses." Composed offourteen books, the Mishneh Torah is often referredto as Yad ha-.Iazaqah, The Mighty Hand, since theHebrew letters yod and dalet which made up the wordyad (hand) have the numerical value of fourteen.Maimonides himself was called Ba'al Yad ha-Hazaqah,Master of the Mighty Hand, in allusion to the verylast sentence of the Torah (Deuteronomy 34: 12),"And in all the mighty hand and in all the great terrorwhich Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel."In 1190 he published the Daldlat al-.Hayrin, TheGuide to the Perplexed, the crown of his philosophicalachievements. This was an attempt to reconcileJewish thought and Aristotelian philosophy, a phil-osophical feat that was greatly acclaimed and oftenquoted by Christian scholastics, as well as by Jewishand Moslem scholars, and the influence of whichreached into the age of Spinoza and Kant as well asinto our own age (7, 55, 56).As his reputation as a physician and a healer spread,Maimonides had to devote more and more time to hispractice at the expense of what he considered his primeinterest. In a letter to Rabbi Jonathan of Lunel hewrote:Before I was formedin the belly the Torah knew me, andere I came forth from the womb she had sanctifiedme forits studies, and ordained me to spread wide its fountain.She is my beloved doe, and the wife of my youth whoselove I have followed ever since. Nevertheless, manyforeign women became her rivals . . . and God knowsthat at firstthey werenot taken except to be heranointers,cooks and bakers, to show the people and the nobles herbeauty . . . now I have becomeremissin my duty to thismarriage, for my heart is divided among the varioussciences . . . (MS. Add. 27, 129, fol. 117-8; BritishMuseum).Among these "foreign women" medicine was the fore-most, and the one most demanding of his time. Hewas now ailing; in that same letter he noted:my illness lingeredfor nearlya year, and now that I haverecovered,I am like a sick man nolonger n danger. Mostof the day I recline in bed with the burden of the peopleupon my neck, regardingmatters of medicine,weakeningmy strength. They do not leave me alone for an hour,neither in the day nor at night, and what can I do nowthat my reputationhas spreadin many countries . . . ?Apparently, he was never in sound health, and hadalways been weak and ailing. In his letter to al-Afdal,the second treatise in this translation, he noted that"the badness of his original temperament and theweakness of his natural build-if when young howmuch more so in old age-stood between him andmany pleasures."It was only during the last two decades of his lifethat Maimonides devoted time to medical writing.Not only was he well read and familiar with the works

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BAR-SELA, HOFF, FARIS: MOSES MAIMONIDESof the leading Greek and Arabic physicians andphilosophers, but he must have had a phenomenalmemory if we are to consider his mastery of thevoluminous Talmud together with the abundance ofquotations found in his medical writings. As notedby Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah, Maimonides was known notonly for his vast knowledge of theory, but for hismastery of the practical art as well. It is with thisin mind that his writings should be viewed, for Mai-monides has provided us with the very best of Arabicmedicine, both in theory and in practice, and with aselective view of Greek medicine through its Arabictransformation, "tempered with rational criticismbased on direct observation" (57).In essence, Maimonides was an adherent of Hip-pocrates and especially Galen, and it is only withinthe framework of Galenical physiology and medicinethat his works can be properly evaluated and ap-preciated. He was not, however, a mere discipleechoing the voice of his masters, but a critical studentwho carefully examined and evaluated whatever helearned in theory and in practice, and who did nothesitate to offer and present constructive criticism,even of Galen, a virtue not too well appreciated inthose days (15, 39, 57). In view of his mastery of theTalmud, the absence of references to Talmudicmedicine in Maimonides' medical compositions ap-pears to be a convincing proof that he was a funda-mental Galenist.Unlike most of his contemporaries and predecessors,Maimonides had no respect for magic and superstition,and had no use whatever for astrology, which he hadstudied himself (52). In his celebrated letter to theRabbis of Montpellier (MS. Add. 14,763, fol. 160-2;British Museum) he stated that, "it seems to me thatthere is not a thing on this subject left in the worldwritten in Arabic or translated from other languagesbut that I read it, understood its subjects and fath-omed its meaning." Maimonides distinguished clearlybetween astronomy and astrology. "Know ye mymasters," he stated in this letter, "that the science ofthe stars [i.e., astronomy] is a true science." As-trology, on the other hand, was "not a matter ofscience, but sheer stupidity." He further noted that"the sages of Greece and the philosophers . . . andalso the sages of Persia realized and understood thatall this . . . was folly and deceit." "It behoovesman," wrote Maimonides,to believe only in one of three things. The first is that forwhich there is a clear proof from man's reason such asmathematics . . . ; the second is that which is perceivedby man through one of the five senses, such as knowingwith certainty that something is black or red . . . ; thethird is that which is received by man from the prophetsor the sages. .... It is said of him who believes in any-thing which is not one of these three, "a fool believesanything."

One can only conjecture whether it was the phi-losopher that dominated over the physician, or the

physician-scientist who guided the philosopher, butthere is no doubt that there was no compartmentationin his life; he preached what he believed to be true, andhe practiced what he preached. Medicine, religion,and philosophy were always closely interwoven in hisworks (20, 54, 56). This unified approach is wellexemplified in his major religious work, the MishnehTorah, wherein he states (Book 1, Chap. 4, A):"Whereas by keeping the body in sound health onewalks in the ways of God, for a man knows not norunderstands when ill, a man must remove himselfaway from those things that destroy the body...."On the twentieth of Tevet, 1204, Moshe ben Mai-mon died in Fustat. Having left no instructions forhis burial, so the legend goes, his coffin was put on acamel and the animal was let loose while the mournersfollowed. The camel went without stopping for food,water, or rest for seven days and seven nights, throughthe desert, from Egypt to Palestine. The camel atlast stopped on the shores of the Lake of Galilee out-side the city of Tiberias, and there Maimoides wasburied. His grave still stands there, and pilgrimsstill come to pay homage to the great teacher. Forthree days, the people of Egypt and Palestine mournedthe death of Maimonides. In recognition of hisstature and authority, a passage from the Prophets(1 Samuel 4) was read in public (53), concluding withthe words, "the glory is departed from Israel, for theArk of God is taken."All the medical works of Maimonides were writtenin Arabic. In view of his mastery of the Hebrew, asseen in the Mishneh Torah, this can only be explainedon the basis of the role of Arabic as the language ofscience and philosophy of his age. Ibn Abi Usaybi'ahlists only five medical works of Maimonides: (a) ex-tracts from Galen; (b) on hemorrhoids; (c) on theregimen of health; (d) on poisons; and (e) a workin explanation of drugs. Steinschneider (61) enu-merates eight compositions; Macht (32, 33), on theother hand, lists sixteen works, while Rabbinowicz (35)lists seventeen.The authenticity of some of the works attributed toMaimonides is open to question. Such is the briefcollection of fifty aphorisms, said to have been writtenby the author for his son, which was published inHebrew by Grossberg (34). These are actuallyexcerpts from the Regimen which are appended in MS.Add. 27,089 of the British Museum to what purportsto be Maimonides' will; the authenticity of this willis doubtful and its contents are questionable. An-other work attributed to Maimonides which is oftencited, is the Tractatusde Causis et Indiciis Morborum,claimed to be an Arabic translation of a work whichhad been originally written in Hebrew. The at-tribution of this work to Maimonides, long underquestion (15, 16), has finally been proven false byLevy (30). Nor has the authorship of the nowfamous Maimonides' Daily Prayer of a Physician been



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TWO TREATISES ON THE REGIMEN OF HEALTH 7satisfactorily established (6, 23). The only thing re-sembling a "physician's prayer" which we could find,was a poetical hodge-podge found in the UniversityLibrary of Leiden (MS. Or. 4479, fol. 150). This"prayer," entitled The Prayer of the Rabbi Moses, islargely made up of phrases and sentences drawn fromseveral compositions by Maimonides, but is obviouslynot what it claims to be.Excluding the medical subjects discussed in theMishneh Torah and his other religious and philo-sophical compositions, only ten works have been wellpreserved and authenticated. These ten, known tobe those of Maimonides, are the following:1. al-Mukhtasardt-The Extracts

This is a carefully selected collection compiled fromthe various works of Galen. Of the extracts of thesixteen books reported by Ibn Abi Usaybi' ah only afew are extant and only in Arabic. Three of thesebooks are found in MS. Arab. 6231 in Ttibingen.Several other fragments are contained in MS. Casiri798 at the Escorial, and in MS. Hebreux 1203 of theBibliotheque Nationale, Paris. The fragments in thelatter manuscript are written in Hebrew script andare bound randomly with other medical works.According to Barzel (4), the content of the Paris andEscorial manuscripts is the same, and they appear tobe segments of a larger composition, parts of whichare lost. The excerpts translated and published byBarzel under the title The Art of Cure, give theimpression that this is Maimonides' own work andnot extracts from Galen. Careful examination ofthese manuscripts, however, revealed that except forthe extracts of the Art of Cure, which are found inboth, they contain different parts of the Mukhtasarat.IWflatl-Bard', the Art of Cure, is in fact the title ofthe Arabic translation of a book by Galen which wasalso abundantly quoted by Maimonides in his MedicalAphorisms. The Extracts were apparently verypopular and much used as a "digest" of Galen'swork (48), but no translation into either Hebrew orLatin is known.2. Fusul Mzusa al-.Tibb-The Medical Aphorisms ofMoses

This book, composed between 1187 and 1190, wasperhaps the most popular of Maimonides' medicalcompositions, as attested by the numerous copies ofthe Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin versions found in manyEuropean libraries. The book was translated twiceinto Hebrew; by Zeralb.yahben Yiz4laq ben ShealtielHen (Gracian) in Rome in 1277, and by NatanHameati, again in Rome, in 1280. An edited versionof these translations was published by Muntner in1959 (46). The Latin translation entitled AphorismiSecundum Doctrinam Galeni was made by John deCapua toward the end of the thirteenth century. This

composition contains over 1,500 aphorisms, most ofwhich are drawn from Galen. Muntner (49) lists 87works of Galen quoted in the Aphorisms. In addition,Maimonides quotes several Arab writers such as IbnZuhr, al-Tamimi, Ibn Wafid, Ibn Ridwan and al-Farabi. These aphorisms, to which Maimonidesadded his own as well as commentary and interpreta-tions, are edited, systemized and combined intotwenty-five chapters. Of these the most interestingare the last two. Chapter 24 deals with unusual oc-currences, and with subjects considered by the authorto be without foundation, while the last chapter,revised and rewritten just before its author's death in1204, is devoted in toto to the author's doubts andcriticism of Galen (39).3. Shar. Fusul Abuqrdt-A Commentary on theAphorisms of Hippocrates

Divided into seven books, this work contains Mai-monides' commentary on the Aphorisms of Hip-pocrates as they were translated into Arabic byHIunayn ibn Isbaq. Written after the Aphorisms ofMoses, the work exists in only two known Arabicmanuscripts, both of which are incomplete. Accord-ing to Muntner (47) and Steinschneider (60), there aretwo Hebrew translations, one made by Moses ibnTibbon in 1257 and the other by an unknown person.Having examined several Hebrew manuscripts we wereable to identify three distinctly independent trans-lations, and not two, all made from the Arabic (3).It was not translated into any European languageexcept the introduction and the commentary on thefirst aphorism, which were translated into German (48)and English (3), respectively. An edited version ofthe Hebrew translation was published in 1961 byMuntner (47).4. Fi al-Jim2'a-On Coitus

Two treatises on sexual hygiene and aphrodisiacremedies are attributed to Maimonides. The longerof the two was written at the request of al-Muzaffaribn Ayyfub, Sultan (1179-1192) of Hama, Syria; noHebrew or Latin translations of this work are known.The second treatise, written apparently for anothernobleman (60), was translated into Hebrew, once byZ. Hen and the second time by an anonymous trans-lator; a Latin translation, titled De Coitu, was ap-parently made from the Hebrew. The Arabic textof the first treatise and the two Hebrew versions of thesecond, together with a German translation, werepublished by Kroner in 1906 (43). An inaccurate andunreliable English translation, made from Kroner'swork, was published in 1961 by Gorlin (19).5. Fl al-Bawasir-On Hemorrhoids

This brief treatise on the management and treat-ment of hemorrhoids was composed ca. 1187 at the

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BAR-SELA, HOFF, FARIS: MOSES MAIMONIDESrequest of an unidentified youth of prominent andrenowned descent (10). The book was translated intoHebrew, Latin, and Spanish; the identities of thetranslators are not known. A German translationwas made by Kroner and an English translation fromthe German was published by Bragman (10).6. Maqalahfi al-Rabi--A Discourse on AsthmaThis treatise includes not only a consideration ofasthma, its symptoms, treatment and prevention, buta general discussion of the regimen of the body andsoul as well. Written ca. 1190, it was translated to theLatin by Armengaud Blasius of Montpellier in 1302,and some twenty years later, from the Latin to theHebrew, by Rabbi Samuel Benvenishti. AnotherHebrew translation, apparently made toward the endof the fourteenth century directly from the Arabic, isattributed to Joshua Schatibi (44, 56). An editedversion of the Benvenishti translation was publishedin 1940 by Muntner (41).7. Kitdb al-Sumzumwa-al-Muta.harrizmin al-Adwiyahal-Qittdlah-A Book on Poisons and the ProtectionAgainst Lethal Drugs

Written in 1198 at the request of Maimonides' bene-factor, the above mentioned Vizier al-Fadil, thistreatise contains a discussion of organic and inorganicpoisons, their toxicity, antidotes, and remedies, as wellas general advice for emergency measures. The bookwas translated into Hebrew, first by Ibn Tibbon andthe second time by an anonymous translator (59). ALatin translation, titled De Venenis, was made byJohn de Capua, and not by Blasius as reported byMuntner (48). It was translated into French byRabbinowicz (35), and into German by Stein-schneider (59). An English translation from theGerman was published by Bragman (9).8. Sharh Asmd' al-'Uqqdr-A Commentary on theNames of Drugs

This work, cited by Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah, was longthought to be lost or apocryphal until its recent dis-covery by Ritter in the library of the Aya Sofiamosque of Istanbul (41). Curiously enough, thismanuscript was copied by the very hand of the notedArabic pharmacist, Ibn al-Baitar, a contemporary ofMaimonides' son Abraham (38, 41). The Arabic text,together with a French translation, was published in1940 by Meyerhof (40). This composition containssome 2,000 names of drugs in an alphabetical listcomposed of 405 paragraphs. The drug names aregiven in Arabic, Greek, Persian, Berber, and Spanishwith brief definitions, descriptions, or comments bythe author. Meyerhof (41) considers it puzzling thatMaimonides did not include Hebrew terms in thisglossary, since this practice was not uncommon amongArabic pharmacists.

9. Fl Tadblr al-.SiMah-On the Regimen of HealthThe subject of the present translation, this work waswritten at the behest of al-Malik al-Afdal Nfir al-Din'All, the ill-fated son of the illustrious Salah al-Din(Saladin). The exact date of its composition is notclear, but it was certainly written sometime between

1193, the year of Saladin's death and 1198, whenal-Afdal was dethroned by his uncle al-'Adil Sayfal-Din, the Saphadin of the Crusades. The nature ofthis work and the circumstances of its composition arebest explained by the author himself in his ownintroduction.10. Maqalahfi Baydn Ba'd al-A 'rddwa-al-Jawdb'anhd-A Treatise in Elucidation of Some Accidentsand the Response to it.

This treatise, also the subject of the present trans-lation, was written, like the Regimen, at the requestof al-Afdal. Unlike the Regimen it is not a discourseon a general topic such as the regimen of health, butrather a compilation of detailed and often elaborateanswers to specific questions posed by the ailing princeto his trustworthy and famous physician.The title of this treatise is in doubt, as neither of thetwo extant Arabic manuscripts bears an original title.A later hand titled one of them (MS. A2) maqalah fibaydn ba'd al-a'rdd wa-al-jawdb 'anhd-a treatise inelucidation of some accidents and the response to it.As can be seen in the introductory paragraph of thetext, this title is misleading since the treatise does notcontain an elucidation of accidents, but rather theresponse of the author to a letter containing such anelucidation. The misleading title has resulted in acertain confusion in the literature regarding the properidentification of this work and its contents. Onlyrecently, in a review of the Hebrew edition of two ofMaimonides' medical works, Levey (29) mistook theArabic title of this treatise for that of the Regimen,and consequently confused Kroner's German trans-lation of this work with the translation of the Regimen.The Hebrew manuscript (MS. H6) bears a title cor-rectly identifying this work as teshuvot 'al she'lotperatiot-answers to personal questions. Time, how-ever, has sanctioned the misleading Arabic title andthe equally misleading Latin title De Causis Acci-dentium, and we had no recourse but to keep the titleso often cited in the literature.The date of the composition of the treatise onAccidents has not been established, but the numerousreferences to the Regimen contained in the text leaveno doubt that it was written after the Regimen. Thelack of any references to royalty or any acknowledg-ment of al-Afd. l as king, as in the Regimen, stronglysuggests that this work was written after the deposi-tion of al-Afd. l by his uncle al-'Adil. Thus it appearsthat this work was composed after 1199; indeed, itmay well have been the last medical work written by



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TWO TREATISES ON THE REGIMEN OF HEALTHMaimonides, with the exception of the last chapter ofhis Aphorisms, which he revised and rewrote just priorto his death in 1204 (41, 48). The statements ofKroner (27), Steinschneider (60), and Muntner (48)identifying al-Afdal as king of Riqqah, and thespeculations of these authors about the presumablelocation of this place are interesting and amusing inthat they are based upon a misreading of the Arabictext. The expressions malik riqqihl (MS. Al) andmalik al-riqq (MS. A2), meaning the holder of hisbondage,are honorific acknowledgments. To identifythese phrases as meaning malik al-riqqah, the king ofRiqqah, is inadmissible for two reasons. First, theword is malik (holder), and not malik (king); second,the scribe of MS. Al has made it very clear that thesecond word does not designate a place called riqqah,by adding vowels which definitely establish the wordas riqqihi (his bondage). The expression malik al-riqq(MS. A2) is merely a variation of malik riqqihi.Like all of Maimonides' medical compositions, bothtreatises were written in Arabic, the language ofscience and medicine of his age. Together, they arepreserved in toto in only two known manuscripts, bothof which are at the Bodleian Library, Oxford:Al: MS. Pocock 313 (Regimen:fol. 3r-33v; Accidents:fol. 33v-53v)

This manuscript was written in 1340 in clear largeArabic script, 17 lines to the page, and is very wellpreserved. Of interest is the flowery epilogue of thescribe: ". . . Muhammed ibn 'Ali ibn Abfi al-Qasmiribn Khalil, born in Damietta and of the Shafiite sect.May God forgive him, his parents, and him whostudies this book, and may he be blessed for the re-pentance of transgressions and the fear of the Day heis called for reckoning. The completion of the trans-cription coincides with the morning of Monday thetwelfth of al-Muharram, of the months of the yearforty one and seven hundreds (1340). May Godrender good its conclusion, and may we end it ingoodness."A2: MS. Hunt 427 (Regimen: fol. 62r-80r; Accidents:fol. 80-91v)

This manuscript was written in the second half ofthe fourteenth century in a clear and precise Arabicscript, 19 lines to the page. The manuscript is com-plete and very well preserved. A later hand titledthe Regimen as maqalahfi habs al-tabi'ah-A Treatiseon Constipation, and gave the Accidents the abovementioned lengthy and misleading title. This manu-script contains an interesting postscript added by thescribe: "This is the writing of the slave, destitute forthe mercy of his Lord, Abii al-Hasan-be there dignityto the writer, may God pardon him and forgive hisparents-completed by transcription from, and by

comparison with, the original." The last statementis indeed intriguing, since this manuscript appears tobe more accurate than the preceding one.The other two Arabic manuscripts utilized in thiswork were written in Hebrew script, a practice not:uncommon among Jewish scribes copying Arabicworks. Both of these manuscripts contain only theRegimen.A3: MS. EMC 789 (fol. lr-18r), of the Library of theJewish Theological Seminary of America, NewYork.

Bound alone in a thin volume of nineteen folios, thismanuscript is believed to have been written ca. 1490.It is well preserved, but the script is small, 21 to 25lines to the page, often not clear, and not well executed.There are numerous corrections and omissions andmany sentences and phrases are condensed. Thetenth and the thirteenth chapters of the fourth tractare inserted in the midst of the third tract precedingthe discussion of the passions of the psyche, while thefifth chapter of the fourth tract is omitted altogether.The work is introduced by a statement composed ofHebrew and Arabic phrases: "In the name of the Lord,God of the Universe. An Epistle on Medicine by ourRabbi Moses ben Maimon, blessed is the memory ofthe righteous."A4: MS. Hebreux 1202 (fol. 80v-121r) of the Biblio-thWque ationale, Paris.

This manuscript was written in 1466 in large andclear Hebrew script, 17 lines to the page. It is theonly one of the Arabic texts that is clearly divided intoparagraphs, the first word of each being written inlarge letters. The work is introduced by the state-ment: "In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Com-passionate; by Him we are aided, Amen. This is themost excellent treatise of our lord and master Mfusaibn Maymuin on medicine." Here, too, the fifthchapter of the fourth tract was omitted, and manyphrases and sentences were condensed or altered.Edited versions of the Arabic texts of both treatiseswere published by Kroner together with a Germantranslation; the Regimen in 1923-1925 (26), and theAccidents in 1928 (27). Unfortunately, Kroner hadaccess to only one Arabic manuscript (Al), which, inthe case of the Regimen, he edited in accordance withthe Hebrew translation, several versions of which wereavailable in Germany. For this reason, both theedition of the Arabic text of the Regimen and itssubsequent German translation were strongly in-fluenced by the Hebrew version.The Regimen was translated into Hebrew in Prov-ence, in 1244, by Moses ibn Tibbon of the famousfamily of physicians, scholars and translators, allnamed Ibn Tibbon. Six Hebrew manuscripts con-

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BAR-SELA, HOFF, FARIS: MOSES MAIMONIDEStaining this translation were utilized:HI: MS. Opp. 685 (fol. 142r-178r) of the BodleianLibrary, Oxford.

This manuscript was written in 5135 (1375) in aclear and large rabbinical script, 17-19 lines to thepage, and is well preserved except for a few placeswhere the ink has partially faded.H2: MS. Opp. Add. 4? 108 (fol. 185r-198v)of the samelibrary.

Written in 5244 (1484) in clear rabbinical script,29 lines to the page, the manuscript is well preservedexcept for the last 3 folios which were damaged bymoisture.H3: MS. Or. Quat. 545 (fol. 33r-41v) of the Uni-versitdtsbibliothek,Tiibingen.

This manuscript written early in the fourteenthcentury, is beautifully executed with clear scripturalwriting, 37 lines to the page. It is well preserved, butthe ink has faded considerably although it is stilllegible.H4: MS. Or. Quat. 836 (fol. 52r-65v) of the samelibrary.

This manuscript was written in the fifteenth centuryin German rabbinical (Rashi) script, 24-26 lines to thepage. It differs from all other manuscripts in that itis divided into twenty tracts instead of the customaryfour; the 17 chapters of the fourth tract were listedas independent tracts.H5: Cod. Hebr. I11 (fol. 84r-93r) of the BayerischenStaatsbibliothek,Munich.

Written in 5090 (1330) in a beautiful Spanishrabbinical script, 38-40 lines to the page, this oldmanuscript is very well preserved.H6: MS. Hebreux 1191 (fol. 73r-88v) of the Biblio-thUqueNationale, Paris.

Written in the fifteenth century in a clear rabbinicalscript, 31 lines to the page, this manuscript is wellpreserved.All these manuscripts contain the translation of IbnTibbon, and are essentially the same. The Hebrewversion is a relatively free translation replete withinaccuracies, deletions, confusing statements, andexplanatory comments that are not found in theArabic texts. Of special interest is the epilogue foundin three of the Hebrew manuscripts (H2, 4, 5):This is the treatise composed by the great Rabbi,teacherof righteousness,our master Moses, the ServantofGod, ibn Maimon-blessed is the memoryof the righteous

-for a certain king of the Ishmaelites. And I, Moses sonof Samuel son of Judah ibn Tibbon, have translated it inthe year 5004 (1244) froma bookso inaccuratethat I wasobligedto add words n variousplacesin orderto completethe contents; I was so besought by one of my honorablefriends to translate it, that I could not refuse him. If Iam not worthyin one of the two tongues, especiallyhavingtranslatedit froman inaccuratebook,may the Lordatonefor me. Amen.The scribe who copied MS. H4 commented caus-tically at the conclusion of the treatise: "Completedis the treatise composed by Rambam, of blessedmemory, for one of the Kings of the Ishmaelites. Itwas translated by the Sage Rabbi Moses son of RabbiSamuel ben Tibbon, of blessed memory, who said whatis said by unworthy translators who find inaccuratebooks; the Lord knows the truth of their thoughts."A later hand added Ibn Tibbon's epilogue on the

margin.The Hebrew translation, edited by S. Muntner, waspublished in 1957 (45). This text is profusely edited,but almost completely without any indication of thesource or basis for the many additions, deletions,interpretations, and interpolations. We were there-fore unable to utilize this text because it is impossibleto distinguish textual variations from editorial inter-polations without resort to the original manuscripts.Upon completion of the preliminary translation, wechanced upon an English version of the Regimen byH. L. Gordon, under the misleading title, The Pres-ervationof Youth (Philosophical Library, N. Y., 1958).This work is claimed to be a translation "from theoriginal Arabic." To expound the exact nature ofthis free, indiscriminate, and inaccurate translationand its source, it is sufficient to point out that aprinter's error, through which lines 9 and 10 of page 54of Muntner's book (45) were transposed, renderingthis passage incomprehensible, was perpetuated onpage 53 of Gordon's product.The treatise on Accidents was translated intoHebrew by an unknown person, and only a few frag-ments have survived in a single manuscript, found inthe Universitatsbibliothek, Tiibingen:H4: MS. Orient. Quat. 836 (fol. 116v-119r)

This manuscript, which contains the Regimen, aswell as several other medical works by Maimonides,was described above. The treatise on Accidents isintroduced with the following statement: "These aregreatly beneficial answers of Rambam, of blessedmemory, to personal questions asked of him by oneof the kings in order to decide among the opinionsof the physicians who were in disagreement; some ofthem are written here with the aid of God." Awarethat these were only fragments of a larger work, thescribe added a postscript stating: "Behold, this I havefound of the great Rabbi, the Ram (i.e., Rabbi Moses)of blessed memory; whatever else my soul has sought,I have not found."



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TWO TREATISES ON THE REGIMEN OF HEALTHBoth the Regimen and the treatise on Accidentswere translated into Latin, in which language theyare usually titled De Regimine Sanitatis and De CausisAccidentium, respectively, with the latter often ap-pended to the Regimen as a continuation thereof.The translation was made by John de Capua, anapostate Jew, at the behest of a certain Guilhelmus de

Brixia who is identified by the translator as a physicianto the Pope (MS. L2, fol. 206v).The date of the translation is not certain. Stein-schneider (60) states that the various translations ofJohn de Capua were made between 1262 and 1278,but there is no doubt that this translation wasexecuted considerably later, since Pope B. VIII,mentioned in De Capua's introduction which is citedbelow, could only be Boniface VIII who reigned from1294 to 1303. A note, in honor Bened. VIII, addedby a later hand on the margin of MS. L4 is obviouslyincorrect, since it can hardly refer to BenedettoGaetano, the given name of Boniface VIII, and it can-not possibly refer to Benedict VIII who was pope from1012 to 1024. A further clue to the identity of thepope in question is provided by the illumination ofthe first page of the translation, contained in MS. L3,which shows a figure in full regalia seated upon athrone. This appears to suggest the legend that whenthe Vice-chancellor of France, acting on behalf ofPhilip the Fair, came on the night of September 7,1303, to arrest Pope Boniface VIII in Angani, he foundhim seated on the throne in full regalia. Thus it canbe affirmed that the translation was made sometimebetween 1294 and 1303.

Four Latin manuscripts and one printed versioncontaining the translation of John de Capua wereutilized:LI: MS. Fr. 571-6 (Regimen: fol. 186r-195v; Acci-dents:fol. 195v-199r) of the Friedenwald Collection,the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

This manuscript, the work of two scribes, waswritten ca. 1450, two columns to the page, 44-50 linesto the column, and is very well preserved.L2: MS. Palatine-Latin 1298 (Regimen: fol. 189r-195v; Accidents: fol. 195v-199r) of the BibliotecaApostolica Vaticana.

Written in the fourteenth century, the manuscriptis very well preserved and is the most legible and theleast abbreviated of all the Latin texts. There aretwo columns to the page, 60 lines to the column. Thework bears no original title, but a later hand added:Rabi Moyses de regimine sanitatis ad regem hyspania(or hyspalis; i.e., Seville). Amusingly enough, thescribe himself identifies this work, composed foral-Afdlal, as that, quem regi castelle composuit.

L3: MS. Cod.Latin 2280 (Regimen:fol. 89r-93r; Acci-dents: fol. 93r-95r) of the Osterreich-National-bibliothek, Vienna.This manuscript was written early in the fourteenthcentury, two columns to the page, 71 lines to thecolumn. The statement in the catalogue that it waswritten in the thirteenth century cannot be acceptedin view of the date of the translation discussed above.The text begins with the rubricated illuminationdescribed above, and the first letter of each paragraphis decorated. The script is beautifully executed, butthe abundance of abbreviations and the style of thescribe, who often does not allow for space betweenwords, render reading difficult. The work is intro-duced with the statement: tractatus rabi moysi aben-mynon quem domino et magnifico soldatis transmitunt(sic).

L4: MS. Cod. Latin 5306 (Regimen: fol. 1-1lP; Acci-dents: fol. 11-17r), of the same library.Written in the fifteenth century, two columns to thepage, 48 lines to the column, the manuscript is legibleand well preserved. A later hand added above thefirst column: a Iudaeco converso lohanne traduct; thesame hand also inscribed the marginal note in honorBened. VIII. The treatise on Accidents is identifiedby the scribe in a postscript as de preservatione amelancolia passione.Of some interest is the apologetic introduction ofJohn de Capua contained in the manuscripts citedabove. Freely translated, it reads as follows:Says the translator:I turn away fromdarkness, ed from

Jewish depravity into the serene splendorof the CatholicFaith by the sole mercy of the OmnipotentFather to me;the inflowingof His special grace, that Christ is the trueGod's only begotten, I formerly refused to confess for along time. The hand of the Same, wrought graciouslyupon me, not only taught me in a sufficient tongue thewhole volume of the OldTestament of the early patriarchsand prophets, and other books that are unto this day inthe possession of the Jews, but also that language of theLatins in which are written the various volumes of thesaints and many sciences that are so innumerable. It in-structed my intellect, finally,to translate from this to thatwhat is contained in both, according to the capacity ofmy mind, in a manner clear, refulgent and convenient.Thus directing my studies upon those things speciallywritten in Hebrew, I have found them in diverse volumesto be many, great and useful in no small degree. But,passingover these things for the time being,it is my inten-tion for the present to translate that work which isdesignated by the title On the Regimen of Health. For,in it, sufficientlyand learnedly,the conservation of humanhealth is taught. By considering, therefore, the greatpurposeof this work, many perils in the course of humanlife mightbe avoided,and healthinduced,to the honorandpraise of the most holy Divine Trinity, and to the praise,health, prolongation of days, fortitude of spirit andstrength of body of the most holy Father, the Lord PopeB. VIII, whose divine person be ever protected by divineaid and mercy, and whose goodand holy life be prolonged

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BAR-SELA, HOFF, FARIS: MOSES MAIMONIDESfor his own, and for the common good of the entire holyChristianChurch.I, John, humble in Christ, though my ability is limitedas mentioned above, have tried, putting forth my hand,to translate the above work from the Hebrewtongue intoLatin. Therefore, most holy Father and Lord, deign toaccept this little work from the hand of a new Christian,especially dedicated though unworthy, and deposit it inthe papal archives to accompany the number of othermedicalbooks.

With the advent of printing, the Latin translation ofDe Regimine Sanitatis appeared in several editions in-dicating the measure of its popularity. Muntner (45,48) and Steinschneider (60) report no less than sixeditions published between 1477 and 1535. Havingexamined these editions, we agree with Muntner thatthey are identical. The following printed versionwas utilized:L5: The Latin translation printed in the Consilium ofFerrari di Gradi entitled Consilia Secundum ViamAvicen Ordinata. Additis Antiquissimi MediciRabbi Moysi . . . , Lugduni, 1535.

This printed version occupies nine pages, twocolumns to the page, 77 lines to the column. Thework is titled tractatus Rabbi Moysi quem domino etmagnifico soldano Babilonie transmisit. There is nomention of the translator's introduction contained inthe manuscripts. Only the first part of De CausisAccidentium appears in the printed version, and it isincorporated as the fifth chapter of the Regimen.The first half of the first tract of the printed versionof the Regimen differs radically from the translationof John de Capua, but beginning with the sentence

Nos vero adducemus, at the end of the paragraphinitiating the discussion of the quality of the goodnutrients, all Latin versions coincide. This first partof the printed version was undoubtedly translatedfrom the Hebrew, and it is more than likely the work ofa translator possessing a copy of De Capua's versionfrom which the beginning was lost.Some aspects of this difference give rise to interest-ing speculations. Intriguing is the difference in thetranslation of the dictum of Hippocrates cited in thevery beginning of the first chapter. The Arabic textquotes Hippocrates' statement "that the conservationof health lies in abstaining from repletion and forsak-ing the disinclination to exertion." The Hebrewrenders the latter phrase "avoiding collapse from over-exertion." This error in translation, due perhaps toan overzealous transliteration from the Arabic, iscarried into the next sentence where the same idea isparaphrased as "that a man should not surfeit himselfand should not neglect exercise." Here the Hebrewfurther corrupts the sentence by adding, "that a manshould not surfeit himself nor over-exert himself sothat he would not corrupt the benefit of exercise." The

printed Latin version adheres closely to the Hebrewrendition, but the manuscript version of John deCapua corresponds exactly to the correct Arabic text.Since there is no evidence that De Capua's translationwas edited in accordance with the Arabic text, thesource of his version remains puzzling. We canprovide only two possible explanations. Either theHebrew translation available to John de Capua wasmore accurate, and the presently available versionswere altered by scribes who did not grasp the meaningof the text, or, John de Capua understood the textcorrectly in terms of the contemporary usage of theHebrew. The possibility that there was another,more accurate, Hebrew translation which remains un-known cannot be accepted in view of the fact that inmost places the Latin corresponds exactly to theversion of Ibn Tibbon.It is apparently this variation in the first tract thatgave rise to the mistaken notion reported repeatedly inthe literature that there exists a second Latin trans-lation attributed by some to Armengaud Blasius ofMontpellier. This translation was supposed to befound in MS. 178/211 of the library of Gonville andCaius College, Cambridge, England. Having ex-amined a microfilm of this manuscript, which indeedcontains translations by Blasius, it can be affirmedthat it does not contain Maimonides' De RegimineSanitatis but rather his treatise on asthma.The Latin texts of De Causis Accidentium,in general,are in agreement with the Arabic text, allowing forerrors attributable to the scribes. Since John deCapua translated from Hebrew and not from Arabic,it is evident that there existed at one time a completeand accurate Hebrew translation of this treatise, andthat it was made from the Arabic. The fragmentarynature of the presently available Hebrew text, how-ever, makes it difficult to establish whether these aresections from the original version, or from anothertranslation, or possibly from a later rendition from theLatin; the usefulness of the Hebrew text to us wastherefore greatly restricted.In comparing our translation of the Arabic with theHebrew and Latin versions, we have sought to clarifydifficult passages, and to ascertain that our under-standing of the text corresponds to the medical con-cepts prevailing at the time of its composition. Withrespect to the latter, we have relied heavily upon theLatin in selecting an English terminology stemmingfrom a contemporary source, although reliance onLatin stems is often restricted to a considerable extentby the gradual change in meaning and usage that havetaken place with time. Thus, for instance, we couldnot use such phrases as "comfort the vigor," althoughthe word comfort stems from the Latin comfortare-tostrengthen, since to the modern reader the termcomfort conveys the idea of consolation rather thanstrengthening. The term "accident" (Arabic: a'arad)



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TWO TREATISES ON THE REGIMEN OF HEALTHposes a different problem. Although the word"event" or "symptom" can at times substitute for"accident," neither conveys accurately the exactmeaning of the latter. In its medieval medico-philosophical usage, the term "accident" connotes aphenomenon, change, or quality which, unlike "es-sence," is present by chance, and is therefore notessential to our conception of a given substance orobject. While some accidents can therefore be classi-fied as symptoms, others could not possibly be con-sidered symptoms in the usual medical sense of theword. Hence, we often had to retain the term acci-dent even though it might convey to the casual readera somewhat different meaning.In translating passages containing physiologicalexplanations, we have resorted to terminology whichwould best preserve the Galenical concepts prevailingin Maimonides' days. The three pneumas have beenrendered as "natural," "vital," and "psychic," be-cause the Latin rendition of the latter as "animal,"although acceptable in its archaic meaning and insuch English terms as "animate," might mislead themodern reader to whom "animal spirit" conveys aquite different meaning. Furthermore, although theArabic nafs and the Hebrew nefesh usually correspondto the English "soul," we have preferred the Greekpsyche because of the accepted philosophical and theo-logical attributes of "soul" which do not necessarilyreflect the original meaning of such terms as psycheor "animal spirit."The weights listed in the text were translated when-ever possible. Thus the Arabic ratl, awqiyyah,dirham, and mithqal,were rendered "pound," "ounce,""dram," and "miskal," respectively. The readershould bear in mind that these are Troy weights com-prising twelve drams to the ounce, and twelve ouncesto the pound. The dram is equivalent to seven-tenths of a miskal. The miskal, identical in weightto the dinar, corresponds, more or less, to the Atticdrachma. The daniq, which has no English equiv-alent, is one sixth of a dram. In summary, there aresix daniqs to the dram, approximately one and a halfdrams to the miskal, twelve drams to the ounce, andtwelve ounces to the pound. The monetary dramand daniq are nine-tenths of the ponderal dram anddaniq, respectively.Since the present work was not meant to be a criticalpresentation of the text, grammatical annotations arenot included, and footnotes appear only where wedeemed them necessary for the understanding of thetext or whenever the differences among the Arabictexts and among the various translations should bebrought to the attention of the reader. For the sakeof brevity, the manuscripts are designated in the foot-

notes by a letter indicating their language and theserial number appearing before the description of eachmanuscript above. The designation of the manu-script is as follows:AlA2A3A4H1H2H3H4H5H6L1L2L3L4L5

PocockHuntEMCHebreuxOpp.Opp. Add. 4?Or. Quat.Or. Quat.Cod. Hebr.HebreuxFr. 571-6Palatine-LatinCod. LatinCod. Latin

31342778912026851085458361111191

129822805306The Printed Latin

(Oxford)(Oxford)(N. Y.)(Paris)(Oxford)(Oxford)(Tiibingen)(Tuibingen)(Munich)(Paris)(Jerusalem)(Vatican)(Vienna)(Vienna)(Washington)The transliteration of Arabic and Hebrew words isin accordance with the rules approved by the Libraryof Congress (Bulletin 49, Nov. 1958, and rule 43, Feb.1923). The sections of the treatise on Accidentswhich are extant in the Hebrew (H4) are designatedby (H) at the end of the appropriate paragraphs.A glossary of drugs, vegetables, fruits, and animalslisted in this text is provided for the reader's con-venience at the end of the text.We are gratefully indebted to the various librariescited, for the permission to examine the manuscriptsmentioned and for the microfilms and photostats

provided for our work, and to the U. S. National Li-brary of Medicine for lending us the volume of Feraridi Gradi's Consilium and the works of Kroner (26, 27).In the absence of al-Afd. l's letters, both thesetreatises appear to be incomplete; nonetheless, theseunique works provide us a source of information which,however indirectly, illustrates the medical problemspresented before the physicians of that age. Theyalso provide a record of the opinions held by this greatphysician-philosopher who was obviously so esteemedin his own age that he was called upon to referee theconflicting opinions of his colleagues-at no time anunenviable role.In presenting these works to the English-speakingreader, we have attempted to achieve two goals: toprovide an accurate and sound translation, and topreserve as much as possible the flavor of the medievalArabic text, its terminology, expressions, and syntax.We hope that thus we have done justice both to theauthor and the reader.

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REFERENCES1. ARONSTAM, N. E. 1936. "Maimonides the Physician, HisMedical Career and Works." Med. Records 144: 196-197.2. BARON,S. W. 1958. A Social and Religious History of theJews (Phila., Jewish Pub. Soc. of America), pp. 222-266.3. BAR-SELA, A., and H. E. HOFF. 1963. "Maimonides'Interpretation of the First Aphorism of Hippocrates."Bull. Hist. Med. 37: 347-354.4. BARZEL,U. 1955. "The Art of Cure-a Non-publishedMedical Book by Maimonides." Harofe Haivri 2: 82-93(Heb.); 175-165 (Eng.).5. BLOCKSTEIN, W. L. 1954. "Moses Maimonides, a Reviewof his Life and Contributions to Medicine." Amer. Jour.Pharm. 126: 238-244.6. BOGEN, E. 1929. "The Daily Prayer of a Physician."Jour. Amer. Med. Assn. 92: 2128.7. BOKSER, B. 1950. The Legacy of Maimonides (NY.,Philosophical Lib.).8. BRAGMAN,L.J. 1925. "Maimonides on Physical Hygiene."Ann. Med. Hist. 7: 140-143.9. 1926. "Maimonides' Treatise on Poisons." Med.Jour. & Record 124: 103-107; 169-171.10. - 1927. "Maimonides'treatise on hemorrhoids." N. Y.

State Jour. Med. 27: 598-601.11. 1928. "Maimonides as Portrayed in Scott's 'Talis-man.'" Med. Jour. &6Record 127: 95-96.12. CONRAD, R. 1955. "Moses Maimonides." Ohio StateMed. Jour. 51: 243-246.13. EDELMAN, R. 1952. "Maimonides on Medicine." ActaMed. Scand. Supp. 266 142: 49-54.14. EINHORN, M. 1954. "Maimonides, a Short BiographicalSketch." Harofe Haivri 2: 172-168.15. Feldman, W. M. 1935. "Maimonides as Physician andScientist." Moses Maimonides, Anglo-Jewish papers inconnection with the Eighth Centenary of his birth, I. Epstein,ed. (London, The Soncino Press), pp. 107-134.16. 1935. "The Life and Medical Work of Maimonides."Proc. Roy. Soc. Med. 28: 1161-1164.17. FRIEDENWALD, . 1935. "Moses Maimonides the Physi-cian." Bull. Inst. Hist. Med. 3: 555-584.18. 1944. The Jews and Medicine (Baltimore, The JohnsHopkins Press), pp. 193-216.19. GORLIN,M. 1961. Maimonides "On Sexual Intercourse"(New York, Rambash Pub. Co.).20. GOTTHEIL, R. 1941. "Maimonides the Scientist." Essayson Maimonides, S. W. Baron, ed., (N. Y., Columbia Univ.Press), pp. 8-12.21. IBN ABI USEIBIA. 1884. 'Uyun al Anbd' ft Tabaqdt alAtibbd' (Sources of Information on the Classes of the Physi-cians), A. Miiller, ed. (K6nigsberg, 1884), Book II: pp.117-118.22. ILLIEVITZ,A. B. 1935. "Maimonides the Physician."Canad. Med. Assoc. Jour. 32: 440-442.23. KAGAN,S. R. 1938. "Maimonides' Prayer." Ann. Med.Hist. 10: 429-432.24. KAHN, M. 1913. "Maimonides the Physician." N. Y.Med. Jour. 97: 383-388.25. KHAIRALLAH, A. A. 1946. Outline of Arabic Contributionsto Medicine (Beirut, The American Press), p. 228.26. KRONER,H. 1923-1925. "Fi Tadbir As-Sihhat, Gesund-heitsanleitung des Maimonides ftir den Sultan al-Malikal-Afdal." Janus 27: 101-116, 286-300; 28: 61-74, 143-152, 199-217, 408-419; 455-472; 29: 235-258.27. 1928. "Der medizinische Schwanengesang des Mai-monides." Janus 32: 12-116.28. LEIBOWITZ, J. 0. 1957. "Maimonides on medical practice."Bull. Hist. Med. 31: 309-317.

29. LEVEY, M. 1962. "Review of Moses ben Maimon'sMedical Works, edited by S. Muntner." Jour. Hist. Med.17: 208-210.30. LEVY, R. 1955. "The 'Tractatus De Causis et IndiciisMorborum' attributed to Maimonides." Studies in theHistory and Method of Science, C. Singer, ed. (London,William Dawson and Sons Ltd.), pp. 225-234.31. LIBRACH, I. M. 1955. "Moses ben Maimon, Scholar-physician." The Practitioner 175: 716-718.32. MACHT, D. I. 1906. "Moses Maimonides." Johns HopkinsHosp. Bull. 17: 332-337.33. 1935. "Moses Maimonides, Physician and Scientist."Bull. Inst. Hist. Med. 3: 585-598.34. MAIMONIDES. 1900. Sefer Refu'ot (the Book of Medicine),M. Grossberg, ed. (London, P. Meczyk & Co.), pp. 1-23.35. 1935. Traite des poisons, translated by I. M. Rab-binowicz (Paris, Librarie Lipschutz).36. MARGOLITH, D. 1954. "The Impact of Maimonides uponMedieval Writers in the Field of Medicine." Harofe Haivri2: 134-143 (Heb.); 160-159 (Eng.).37. MENDELSON,W. 1923. "Maimonides, a Twelfth CenturyPhysician." Ann. Med. Hist. 5: 250-262.38. MEYERHOF,M. 1938. "Medieval Jewish Physicians in theNear East, from Arabic Sources. Isis 28: 432-460.39. - 1940. "Maimonides Criticizes Galen." Med. Leaves3: 141-146.40. - 1940. "Un Glossaire de Matiere Medicale compose parMaimonide." Memoires de L'Institute D'Egyptee 41(Cairo).41. 1941. "The medical works of Maimonides," Essays onMaimonides, S. W. Baron, ed. (New York, Columbia Univ.Press), pp. 265-299.42. MINKIN, JACOBS. 1957. The World of Moses Maimonides(N. Y., Thomas Yoseloff).43. MOSEs BEN MAIMON. 1906. Shnei Ma'marei ha-Mishgal(two treatises on coitus), H. Kroner, ed. (Berlin, ItskowskyPress).44. 1940. Sefer ha-Qa.zeret(the book on Asthma), S. Munt-ner, ed. (Jerusalem, Reuben Mass Pub.).45. - 1957. be-Hanhagat ha-Beri'ut (on the regimen of health),S. Muntner, ed. (Jerusalem, Mossad Harav Kook).46. 1959. Pirqey Moshe bi-Refu'ah (Moses' medicalaphorisms), S. Muntner, ed. (Jerusalem, Mossad HaravKook).47. 1961. Perush le-Pirqey Abuqrat (commentary on theaphorisms of Hippocrates), S. Muntner, ed. (Jerusalem,Mossad Harav Kook).48. MUNTNER, S. 1940. le-Qorot ha-Safah ha-'Ivrit ki-Sefatha-Limmud be-Hokhmat ha-Refu'ah (contribution to thehistory of the Hebrew language in medical instruction;appendix: Maimonides' medical works) (Jerusalem, GenizaPub.), pp. 71-107.49. 1954. "Re-examination of Galen's Books Listed byMaimonides in 'pirke Moshe.'" Harofe Haivri 2: 120-133(Heb.); 161-160 (Eng.).50. MUNZ, J. 1935. Maimonides, the Story of his Life andGenius, trans. by H. T. Schnittkind (Boston, Winchell-Thomas).51. NEMOY,L. 1940. "The Sketches of Maimonides and hisSon Abraham in Ibn Abi Usaibia's Dictionary of ArabPhysicians." Harofe Haivri 2: 78-81 (Heb.); 173-171(Eng.).52. 1954-1955. "Maimonides' Opposition to Occultism."Harofe Haivri 2: 102-109 (Heb.); 167-163 (Eng.), 1954(part I); 1: 147-139 (Eng.), 1955 (part II).53. ORYAN, M. 1956. ha-Moreh le-Dorot (a teacher untogenerations) (Jerusalem, Mossad Harav Kook).

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REFERENCES54. RABIN, J. 1954. "The Influenceof ReligionandPhilosophyupon Maimonides as a Physician." HarofeHaivri 2: 110-119 (Heb.); 163-161 (Eng.).55. RADIN, . H. 1936. "MosesMaimonides,GreatPhysician,Scientist and Philosopher." Calif.and West.Med.44:192-196.56. ROSENBLATT,. 1935. "The Position of Maimonides in theHistory of Philosophy." Bull. Inst. Hist. Med.3: 545-555.57. SARTON, G. 1931. Introductionto the History of Science(Baltimore,William & Wilkins Co.) 2: 369-380.58. SAVITZ, . A. 1932. "Maimonides'Hygiene of the Soul."Ann. Med. Hist. 4: 80-86.59. STEINSCHNEIDER, M. 1873. "Gifte und ihre Heilung."VirchowArchiv57: 62-120.

1560. - 1893. Die HebraeischenUbersetzungenes Mittelaltersund die Juden als Dolmetscher (Graz, AcademischeDruck-U.Verlagsanstalt;Reprinted,1956).61. 1894. "Die Vorrede des Maimonideszu seinem Com-mentar uber die Aphorismen des Hippokrates." Zeit-schriftderDeutscheMorgenlandische esellschaft8: 218-234.62. 1904. Die Europaischen Obersetzungenaus demArabischen is mittedes17. JahrhundertsGraz,AcademischeDruck-U.Verlagsanstalt;Reprinted,1956).63. VAINSTEIN,. 1955. "History of Medicine: Maimonidesthe Physician." S. AfricanMed.Jour. 29: 750-753.64. YELLIN,D., and A. Israel. 1903. Maimonides (Phila.,Jewish Pub. Soc. of America).65. ZEITLIN,S. 1935. Maimonides, a Biography (New York,Block Pub. Co.).

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FI TADBIR AL-SIHJjAHThe Treatise Sent to the King al-Afdal, son of Saladin, concerning

THE REGIMEN OF HEALTHIn the Name of God, Merciful and Compassionate

The high command of the royal al-Afdal, may Godelevate and sustain him, has reached this minorServant Muisa ibn 'Ubayd Allah 1 the Israelite ofCordova. Sent by the hand of a messenger, it re-quests of him a regimen to be relied upon in curing theailments that occur in our Master, may God keepailments afar from his high abode, and may health andpeace accompany him forever. The messenger bring-ing this exalted command relates that our Mastercomplains of the dryness of his stools 2 which are oftenso hard that they cannot be moved except with effort.3He also mentions the occasional occurrence of melan-choly, evil thoughts, desire for solitude,4 and fore-boding of death. In addition, he has had much indi-gestion and most of the time his digestion is feeble.5This is what he mentions.6This Servant has thus seen fit to include in thisdiscourse four chapters:The first chapter is on the regimen of health ingeneral, applicable to all men, in a few words.The second chapter is on the regimen of the sickin general, when a physician cannot be found, orwhen the physician available is deficient and hisknowledge is not to be trusted.The third chapter is on the Regimen of our Masterin particular, according to the symptoms of which hecomplains.

1'Ubayd Allah-literally, "the Servant of God"-a variant of'Abdallah; most Hebrew and Latin versions translate this namein its separate form, rendering it 'eved elohim and servus deirespectively.2 Arabic: fabi'-literally, "nature"-a euphemism for feces.All Arabic, Hebrew and the Latin versions use the term "nature."Since there is no such usage in English, where this word hasindeed quite another connotation, we chose the term "stools," aeuphemism approached closely by assellare, a term which is alsoemployed in the Latin text.3L-"he cannot go to the stool except with the greatest trialand labor."4 L-"he wishes to be alone."6 L-"his stomach is debilitated so much that food corruptsin it without complete digestion."6 Preoccupation with the bowel as a source of numerous symp-toms and disorders dates back to antiquity. In fact, the earliestattempts at a rational explanation of the etiology of diseaseascribed the origin of disease to the ascending products of de-composition and putrefaction of residues in the bowel-theWHDW of Ancient Egypt, and the Aristoletian concept ofPerittoma. It is interesting, if not altogether amusing, that theseconcepts and ideas are still much in evidence, and that it iscommonly believed, even in this day and age, that residues re-tained in the bowel can generate such symptoms as headache,malaise, depression, and melancholy.

The fourth chapter consists of sections in the formof advice that is beneficial in general and in particular,for the healthy and for the sick, and in all places at alltimes.Let whoever examines this treatise and all that wehave composed, not censure us because we havealready mentioned some of the topics of this discoursein other treatises which we have composed earlier, foreach treatise was written to comply with the requestof an individual, not as a composition intended toteach the Art of Healing to all men.God is implored for success in what is rightTHE FIRST CHAPTER

On the Regimen of Health in General, Applicableto all Men, in a few WordsOur intention in this chapter is to set forth rulesthat are easy to follow, and which are of great value inthe regimen of health. These are universal preceptsof the great physicians. Among these is the state-ment of Hippocrates that the conservation of healthlies in abstaining from repletion and forsaking thedisinclination to exertion.7 Note how Hippocratesembraces the entire regimen of health in two dicta,that is, that a man should not surfeit himself and

should not negelct exercise.8 This is because reple-tion, that is, eating until the appetite departs andrepugnance commences, requires filling the stomach tothe utmost of its capacity, and distending it. Whenany organ becomes distended, its connections areloosened and its vigor is necessarily weakened. Thestomach will in no wise digest such a meal adequately;indolence,9 feebleness of movement and heaviness ofthe meal will occur, and even more so when muchwater is drunk after the satiating meal. This isnecessarily required in repletion, for nature requireswater to float the meal and ease the stomach.Perforce, there is no escape from the occurrence ofone of two things: either an indigestion, a severe onecausing death or a mild one causing illness, or corrup-tion of the digestion. The kinds of corruption vary?H-"in guarding against satiety and avoiding the collapsefrom exertion"; L5-"avoidance of great repletion and super-fluous labor."8 H--"a man should not overeat and should not overwork sothat he would not lose the benefit of the exercise." L5 rendersit in accordance with the Hebrew. Both thus modify the text toavoid contradicting their version of the preceding statement.9L-dolor, pain.

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THE REGIMEN OF HEALTHgreatly according to the various kinds of food eaten,according to the various temperaments, and accordingto the various predispositions of the organs to disease.When the meal is digested poorly in the stomach, itssecond digestion in the liver is bound also to be bad,and its third digestion in all the organs will perforcebe worst of all.10 This is the cause of all kinds ofdiseases in great variety. Galen has said in thesewords: He who wishes to avoid all illness should takecare to avoid indigestion, and should not move aboutafter the meal. Because of this grave danger, allphysicians have cautioned against eating to repletionand ordered one to withdraw his hand from the mealwhile appetite still remains, before it departs, and toabstain from distending the stomach 11 and over-filling it.Physicians all agree, that taking a little food of badquality is less harmful than taking much good andlaudable food. This is because when a man takesbad foods and does not overeat, they are digested well,and the organs derive from them all that is beneficial.The expulsive faculty 12 is strengthened and expelstheir evil superfluities, and no damage at all occurs,or if any occurs, it is not serious. But in repletion,even if it is with well prepared bread and laudablemeat, the digestion will in no wise progress well; wehave already mentioned the cause of this.To guard against repletion, physicians have warnedagainst eating many dishes and recommended limitingeach meal to one dish, so that one does not overeat,and the appetite subsides before surfeit occurs. Hewill also be saved from a diversity of digestions, fordifferent dishes are digested in different digestions,each dish according to its nature.13The view of this Servant regarding the determina-tion of the quantity 14 of food for anyone who wishesto conserve his health, is to take in the temperateseason 15 an amount that does not distend the stomach,or burden it and impede the digestion. When it be-comes clear that this is a good measure,16inasmuch

10Galen explained the physiology of nutrition in terms of threeorders of digestion: the first concoction taking place in thestomach, the second in the liver-the major nutritive organ wherethe food is turned into blood-and the third in the rest of theorgans which the nutriments reach via the veins.1A3-members.12Galenical physiology ascribed to the bowel four faculties, orpowers: the "attractive" and the "repulsive" which, together,account for selective absorption, the "retentive" which holds theresidues inside the gut, and the "expulsive" which expels thesuperfluities, in this case the feces, to the outside.13The belief, dating back to Hippocrates, that different foods re-quire different "digestions" and produce different "superfluities,"accounts for the great emphasis which the ancient physiciansplaced on proper and selective diet.14Al-"quality."16 Arabic: fi .n i'tidal al-hawa, literally, "at the time of thetemperance of the air." The Hebrew and the Latin render it"hour" rather than "season."16The Hebrew adds here, "he should choose food that is goodfor his stools," as does the Latin.

as it does not cause evil eructation or arouse thirst,but is pleasant and light, making the stools moderate,continuous and tending slightly toward softness, thenthis is the proper measure to keep on taking.When the weather becomes warmer, one should re-duce the amount of food, since in the summer thedigestions are feeble because of the dispersal of thenatural heat.17 When the weather turns cooler, theamount should be increased, for in the winter thedigestions are strong because of the increase 18of thenatural heat in the interior of the body, owing to theconstriction of the pores, and satiety will not bereached.This Servant says: If man were to conduct himselfas he manages the animal he rides, he would be safe-guarded from many ailments. That is, you find noone who throws fodder to his animal haphazardly, butrather he measures it out to her according to hertolerance. Yet he himself eats indiscriminately, with-out measure. Moreover, he takes into considerationthe activity of his animal and exercises her, so that shedoes not stand still forever and be ruined. Yet hedoes not do this for himself, or pay attention to theexercise of his own body, which is the cornerstone ofthe conservation of health and the repulsion of mostailments.Long before us, Hippocrates stated that the main-tenance of health lies in forsaking the disinclination toexertion.'9 Nothing is to be found that can substitutefor exercise in any way, because in exercise the naturalheat flames up and all the superfluities are expelled,while at rest the flame of the natural heat subsides andsuperfluities are engendered in the body, even thoughthe food is of the very best quality and is moderatein quantity. And exercise will expel the harm doneby most of the bad regimens that most men follow.Not all motion is exercise to the physicians. Whatis termed exercise is powerful or rapid 20 motion or acombination of both, that is, vigorous motion withwhich the respiration alters, and one begins to heavesighs.21 Whatever exceeds this is exertion, that is tosay that very strong exercise is called exertion. Al-though not everyone can endure exertion, or needs it,it is nonetheless better in the conservation of healththan the omission of exercise.22 It is not advisable

17 L5 adds here the explanatory phrase "to the exterior."8 A3 & A4-"kindling."19Here L5 cannot avoid translating "he who wishes to conservehis health should employ exercise" but in order to be consistentwith its previous rendition of this statement it further adds: "butin such a way that he would not perceive pain in his members orsuperfluous heaviness."20 H-"strong or weak." L3 & L4-"strong or debilitating."21 H & L-"to multiply his breaths"; interestingly enough, allversions are correct. We recognize today increases in both rate(polypnea) and depth as components of hyperpnea, the re-spiratory response in exercise.22H & L-"but it is better for the conservation of health toshorten the exercise."

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BAR-SELA, HOFF, FARIS: MOSES MAIMONIDESto exercise except upon an empty stomach and after ex-pulsion of the superfluities, that is, the urine and thefeces.23 Nor should one exercise in the intense heat orin the intense cold. The best time for exercise is at thebeginning of the day, upon awakening from sleep,and after the expulsion of the superfluities, as we havementioned.

Among the sayings of Galen, embracing the regimenof health, it is said: Just as motion before the meal isall good, so motion after the meal is all evil. Youshould know that any movement after the meal is mostharmful; by that I mean no strenuous movement,24nocoitus, and no bath, because these are very harmful,especially to those whose veins are by nature narrowand thin.25 To them the danger is grave. But it ispermissible after the meal to walk a little from one sideof the room to another, so that the meal will settle tothe bottom of the stomach and remain there until it isdigested.26 Sleep aids the digestion, and especially inthose who are accustomed to sleep during the day.It is one of the rules of the regimen of health not tointroduce one meal upon another, and not to eat exceptafter true hunger, when the stomach is empty, thesaliva is drawn into the mouth, and the hunger isjustified. This is the time when a meal is beneficial.One should not drink water except after genuinethirst; that is to say, that should one be hungry orthirsty, he should wait a while since a false hunger andalso a false thirst can arise from an evil and mordicanthumor vexing the mouth of the stomach.27 Shouldthese subside, one should not take anything, but if thishunger or thirst increases, one should then eat ordrink. Drinking water following a meal is bad, cor-rupting the digestion, except when one is accustomedto it. One should not drink anything with the meal,or after it, as long as it is in the stomach, except pure,cold water; it should not be mixed with anything.It is one of the rules of the regimen of health not toretain 28 the superfluities in any way; rather, whenthere is need to expel them, one should hasten to do so.It is not proper to take food, or enter a bath, orcopulate, or sleep, or exercise, until one takes accountof himself and tries to expel the superfluities; followingthese five things one should also take account ofhimself.Another rule in the regimen of health is to payattention to the quality of the food. This is a very

23The Latin rendersthis "superfluitiesof the first and seconddigestions,namely, the feces and the urine,"in accordancewithGalenicalphysiology.24H & L-"local movement"; Kroner-"stretching move-ments."25L-"narrow veins and tight nerves"; (L5-"narrow anddry.")26H & L-"warm up until it is digested."27The Latin adds here "and generate hungerthat cannot besatisfied."28Kroner-"one should not use the clyster on residues...."

broad topic, requiring a knowledge of the nature of allthe foods, of each and every kind. The physicianshave already compiled lengthy books on this subject,and they are justified, for it is a very important matter.But considering the intention of this discourse, andtaking into account the foods that are customaryamong us, and in great abundance, I shall offer somebeneficial generalizations.One of these is that the good foods, that ought to beadopted by every one who desires the continuation ofhis health, are wheaten bread properly prepared, themeat of sheep 29 that are one or two years old, themeat of the chicken, the francolin, the grouse, theturtle dove and the partridge, and the yolk of thehen's egg. What I mean by properly prepared breadis that is should be made from fully ripened wheat,dried of its superfluous moisture, in which spoilage 30from age has not begun. The bread should be made ofcoarse flour; that is to say, the husk should not beremoved and the bran should not be refined by sift-ing.31 It should be well raised and noticeably salty.It should be well worked during kneading, and shouldbe baked in the oven. This is the bread that to thephysicians is properly prepared; it is the best of foods.You ought to know that all that is made fromwheat except this bread is in no wise good food. Onthe contrary, very bad foods are made from it, suchas unleavened bread, dough cooked like noodles andvermicelli-that which the Persians call tutmaj, flourthat is cooked like pap and porridge,32dough that isfried like a pancake, and bread that is kneaded inolive oil or in any other oil. All these are very badnutrients for all men.33 Likewise, white bread, breadmade of semolina, and the harisah,34are not goodnutrients. Although they are good once they aredigested, they require a stomach with a powerfuldigestion, and only then do they nourish well andabundantly.Those meats that we have mentioned are not all ofthe same nature, and are not equally laudable. Thebest meat of cattle 35is that of the sheep 36 that graze

29H-"the kid and the lamb"; MSS. L3 & LI read "kidsandyoung cattle" while MS. L4 surprisinglyreads "kids and youngpigs" (see note 36.)30Al-"spoilage and sprouting."31This statement is intriguing n view of our knowledgeof thenutritive virtues of bran, which present-day bakers of highlyrefined bread reintroduce by "enriching"their product withvitamins, etc. It would be interestingto find out whether thisinjunctionwas based upon empiricalobservationsor was due tothe less sophisticateduniversalconcept that the crude and theunrefinedconnotestrengthand health.32The Hebrewand the Latin identify this as "farina."33A4 adds "except for him who becomesaccustomedto it, orwas raised on it."34Harisah-a dish of boiledcrushedwheat to which oil, butter,meat, spices, and aromaticherbsare added.35Cattle-in the archaicsense of the term. The Hebrewandthe Latin renderit "meat of quadripeds."36LI & L3 render this carnes pecorum,while L2, L4 & L5



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THE REGIMEN OF HEALTHon the foothills, are one or two years old, and aremoderately fat.37 The best of this meat is the fore-quarter,38 and that which adheres to the bone. Allthat is in the abdomen is bad. Fat is all bad; it sur-feits, corrupts the digestion, suppresses the appetiteand generates phlegmy humor. Likewise, the head ofall animals has more superfluities than the rest of theirmembers. The extremities of animals, by that Imean the shanks,39are devoid of superfluities and theirnutritive quality is not bad. Lamb has many super-fluities, and there is no good in it, but the suckling kidis a good nutrient and is rapidly digested. The meatof the fowl in general is lighter than the meat of cattle,and is digested faster. The best of the meat of thefowl is that which we have mentioned.Freshly drawn milk is a good nutrient for those inwhom it does not sour in the stomach, or resolve intoflatus, or give rise to ventosity in the loins. Oneought to add to it a little honey with a grain of salt,as Galen has mentioned, so that it will not curdle inthe stomach. The best of all milk is the thinnest,such as goat's milk; 40 the milk of the she-camel 41 isalso good.All that is made from milk or mixed with it is verybad, that is to say, the curdled, the mixed, and thestrained; 42 similarly, all that is cooked from milk orcooked in it are bad foods. As for cheese, it is a verybad and heavy nutrient, excepting the cheese that isfresh, white in color, sweet of taste and light in fat.Galen says that its nourishment is good, and praisesit, but all that is similar to it is very bad, and par-ticularly aged cheese rich in fat. As for butter andclarified butter, there is no evil in their nourishment;they are permissible to all men.Bees' honey is good nourishment for the old, but iscontraindicated for the young, and especially for thoseof hot temperament, for it will change into yellowbile.43Most fish are bad nutrients, especially for those ofhumid temperament and for the aged. The large ofbody among them, the salted, those that congregatein bad water, and those that abound in fat andsurprisingly render it carnes porcorum (L4-porcorum juvenum).Is this a scribe's error for pecorum or did the Latin translatorfollow Galen's recommendation of the pig, iam vero suillae carnisusus ex omni animalium quae pedibus fidunt numero saluberrimusest. (Galenus, Claudius. De Euchymia et Cacochymia, seu deBonis Malisque Succis Generandis. Paris, Apud SimonemColinaeum, 1530, 46 II).37H & L add here castrates of medium fatness.38Kroner surprisingly rendered this "superficial."39L-"feet and privates."

40A3 & A4-"the best of the milks and the thinnest is the milkof the goat." The Hebrew is similar.41H & L-"cow."42 Arabic: shiraz, a special preparation of strained curdled milk;also, a special kind of cheese.43H & L-"for, it will quickly change to red bile."

viscidity are particularly bad.44 But the fish that aresmall of body, white and frangible of flesh, sweet oftaste, from the sea or running waters, like those calledmullet or pilchard, are not bad nutriments; nonethe-less, one should restrict them.45It is known among all physicians, that the best ofall nutriments is that which was prohibited in Islam.46It combines the laudable qualities of all foods, becauseit nourishes with good, abundant, and delicate nourish-ment, it is quick to be digested, and at the same timeit aids the digestion, expels the superfluities from thepores, and pours forth the urine and the sweat. Ithas other virtues besides these, and many advantagesalready enumerated by the physicians. But wordsabout that which is illicit are futile, and therefore wehave omitted mentioning its varieties and the mannerof its consumption from the standpoint of the regimenof health.Those vegetables that are generally bad for allpeople, are garlic, onion, leek, radish, cabbage, andeggplant; these are very bad for whoever wishes toconserve his health. The cucumber and the gourd areless harmful. As for the yellow melon, if it is eatenalone at the beginning of the day on an emptystomach, and there is no evil humor present in thestomach nor is there a bad temperament in it, then itwill be digested well, and it will cool the body a little,pour forth the urine, cleanse the veins, and emptywhat is in them.47 On such occasions its nourishmentwill not be bad; I have mentioned this only becausepeople eat much of it.As to fresh fruits, it should be known that all thatthe trees produce are generally bad

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