Hippocrates, Vol. IV (Loeb Classical Library)

followed his example. Perhaps it was thought that a “dark” subject required a “dark” medium of expression. The writer of Nutriment, who was striving to wed Heracleiteanism and physiology, succeeds in producing a result that is not altogether incongruous. But Heracleitean obscurity is sadly out of place in a work entirely free from philosophy, whether Heracleitean or otherwise, and the modern reader is repelled by it. The ancients, however, appear to have been attracted, for Humours is often referred to, and commentators upon it were numerous. It is interesting to note that the author, or compiler, of Aphorisms, who was a truly great scientific thinker, while adopting the oracular aphorism as a medium of expression and keeping the lofty style appropriate to it, makes no use of intentional obscurity, realizing, consciously or unconsciously, how unsuitable it is in a work intended to instruct medical students and practicing physicians.