ComeJisyo Project

ヘンリー E. シゲリスト(Henry E. Sigerist)著


偉大な医師たち:伝記による医学史
The Great Doctors:A Biographical History of Medicine 1933
(Grosse Ärzte: Eine Geschichte der Heilkunde in Lebensbildern 1932 )

04 Herophilus(Ca 300 BC) and Erasistratus(Ca 260 BC) 04 ヘロピロス (Ca 300 BC) と エラシストラトス (Ca 260 BC)
 Alexander the Great had conquered the world as known to the West. The Persians' realm had been shattered into fragments. Babylonian and Egyptian dominion were things of the past. The armies of "Iskander" had crossed the Indus and had overrun the Punjab. Wherever he wandered, he spread the Greek language, Greek art, Greek culture, far and wide. But the Greeks took, besides giving. Rival civilizations clashed and replaced one another. Hellenism was tinctured, fertilised, and disturbed by oriental knowledge, achievements, and views.  アレキサンドロス大王は西洋が知っていた世界を征服した。ペルシャの国土はバラバラになった。バビロニアおよびエジプトの支配は過去のものになった。「イスカンデル」(=アレクサンドロス)の軍隊はインダス川を渡りパンジャブを席巻した。アレクサンドロスが行く所、ギリシア語、ギリシア芸術、ギリシア文化が、遠くまで広範囲に広がった。ギリシアは与えただけでなく受け取った。競争相手の文化は崩壊し互いに置き換えた。ヘレニズムはアジアの知識、行為、考え方、によって色づけられ、肥沃にされ、かき乱された。
 Alexander died prematurely in the year 323, when he was no more than 32 years of age. Though his realm was partitioned, the spiritual conquest remained intact. The viceroys became independent, but they continued the work of Hellenisation, each in his own sphere; in Macedonia, Bithynia, Pergamus, Syria; above all, in Egypt.  アレキサンダーは323年にまだ32歳にならないうちに死去した。領土は分割されたが精神的な征服は無傷であった。副王たちは独立したがヘレニズム化はそれぞれの領土で続けられた。マケドニア、ビチュニア、ペルガモン、シリア、とくにエジプトにおいて。
 When, ten years before his death, Alaxander had invaded Egypt, he had been welcomed as a liberator. A new city was founded on the Mediterranean coast at the western end of the delta of the Nile and was named after the conqueror. For many centuries thereafter, this town of Alexandria was to remain the acropolis of classical knowledge. It was the capital of the Ptolemies, the Greek kings of Egypt. An astronomical observatory was built; a library was founded; all the literature of the Hellenes was to be assembled within its walls. For milleniums Egypt had been famous as the source of papyrus, the best ancient variety of paper. Now, therefore Alexandria became the center of book-making and the book-trade. Intellectuals and artists were summoned to the new Egyptian court from various parts of the world. The Ptolemies, who were free-handed, enabled them to pursue their calling without material anxiety.  死ぬ10年前エジプトに侵入したときにアレキサンドロスは解放者として歓迎された。ナイル川デルタの西側の地中海沿岸に新しい都市がつくられ征服者の名をつけられた。数世紀にわたってこの都市アレクサンドリアは古典知識の城砦であった。ギリシア人のエジプト王たちであるプトレマイオス朝の首都であった。天文台が作られ図書館が創設された。ギリシアのすべての文書はこの壁の内に集められた。エジプトは数千年にわたって古代の最良の紙であったパピルスの産地として知られていた。したがってアレキサンドリアは書籍の製作および取引の中心地となった。学者や芸術家は世界の種々の場所からエジプト宮廷に呼び寄せられた。プトレマイオス朝の王たちは気前よく物質的な心配無しに彼らに仕事を行わせた。
 Among the learned men who answered the summons to Alexandria were two physicians, Herophilus and Erasistratus, whose writings were of considerable note. Mainly thanks to their influence, the science of medicine underwent a transformation, becoming, in fact, a true science, the incorporation of expert knowledge, whereas hitherto it had been mainly a handicraft. In a word, medical theory grew to much greater importance. The Hippocratic writings could be understood by any well-educated reader, but henceforward medical literature became a specialty for the understanding of which ordinary culture did not suffice. The body of medical knowledge increased from century to century. Through contact with the East, new morbid phenomena and new methods of cure became know to the West.  アレクサンドリアに呼ばれた学者の中に2人の医師が居た。ヘロピロスとエラスシストラトスで彼らの著作は重要であった。主として彼らの影響によって医学は変貌しそれまでは手仕事であったものが本当の知識を取り込んで本当に真の科学になった。一言で言うと医学の理論が重要になった。ヒポクラテス集典は教育のある人なら理解できたが、この後になると医学文献を理解するには普通の教養では不充分な専門的なものになった。医学知識の量は世紀を経るとともに増加した。東との接触によって新しい病的現象と新しい治療法が西洋にも知られるようになった。
 We know little more of the life of Herophillus than that he was born in the last third of the fourth century before Christ, at Chalcedon in Bithynia; that he learned the science and practice of medicine under a notable teacher Praxagoras of Cos; and that he rose to fame in Alexandria both as a physician and as a teacher. His name has lived on in the modern anatomical nomenclature, the depression in the occipital bone at the confluence of a number of venous sinuses being known as the torcular Herophili. He was, in fact, a remarkably able anatomist for his day, having written a treatise on anatomy in at least three books which were greatly prized in antiquity. Whereas earlier anatomists had been mainly content to describe the anatomy of the lower animals, Herophilus gave detailed accounts of the organs of human beings, comparing them from time to time with those of other animals. We do not know for certain whether he systematically dissected human bodies; and we may reject as presumably fabulous an assertion which was current many centuries later that the Alexandrian physician vivisected criminals. But in Egypt, where the practice of embalming persisted, and where, as a preliminary, the viscera were removed, there must have been considerable opportunity of becoming acquainted with the anatomy of the internal organs.  我々はヘロピロスについて殆ど何も知らない。判っているのはビチュニアのカルケドンに紀元前4世紀の最後の1/3に生まれ、科学と医業を有名なコス島の教師プラクサゴラスに習ったこと、アレクサンドリアで医師および教師として有名になったことぐらいである。彼の名前は静脈洞が集まってできた後頭骨にある窪みの「ヘロフィルスのぶどう酒搾り器」で現在に知られている。当時の有能な解剖学者で古代に高く評価された解剖の本を少なくとも3冊は書いている。古代の解剖学者は下等動物の解剖について書いて満足していたが彼は人間の臓器を詳細に記載し他の動物と比較している。彼が人体を系統的に解剖を行ったかどうかは確かでない。アレキサンドリア医師たちが犯罪人の生体解剖を行ったという数世紀後の嘘くさい話は無視することにしよう。しかしエジプトでは屍体の防腐処理が行われ前処置として臓器を取り除いていたので、内臓の解剖学に習熟するかなりの機会があったに違いない。
 The fragments of Herophilus' anatomical writings which have been preserved show that he was a careful observer. His description of the eye, the membranes of the brain, and the genital organs are excellent. It was he who gave the duodenum its name. His greatest discovery, however, was that he recognised the true nature of the nerves. Whereas Aristotle had failed to distinguish nerves from tendons, the Greek word "neuron" applying indifferently to both, Herophilus knew that the brain was the central organ of the nervous system, and that the peripheral nerves were the organs of sensation.  解剖学的著作の断片で残っているものはヘロピロスが注意深い観察者であったことを示している。眼球、脳膜、性器についての記載は素晴らしい。十二指腸の命名者は彼であった。しかしもっとも重要な発見は神経の本態についてであった。アリストテレスは神経と腱を区別することが出来ず、ギリシア語のニューロンは区別しないで両方に使われていたが、ヘロピロスは脳が神経系の中心的な臓器であり末梢神経は感覚を伝える臓器であることを知っていた。
 As far as medical theory and practice were concerned, Herophilus did not advance beyond the tradition of his day. He accepted the dominant humoral pathology, and wrote commentaries on some of the Hippocratic writings. According to him life was regulated by four energies; that of nutrition, that of warmth, that of sensation, and that of thought.  医学の理論および技術に関するかぎり、ヘロピロスはこれまでの慣習以上には進まなかった。彼は支配的であった体液学説を受け入れヒポクラテス集典の幾つかについて解説を行った。生命は栄養、熱、感覚、思考の4つのエネルギーによって調節されるとした。
 He held, however, that the traditional teaching must be further developed. Prognosis must be based upon the symptoms. For this reason, symptoms must be studied as carefully as possible and must be clearly defined. The manifestations of the pulse were among the most important symptoms, and, taking this view, Herophilus elaborated a far-reaching doctrine of the pulse. What is the essential phenomenon in the pulse? Rhythm, as in music. To understand the pulse, then, we must study the theory of music. Such was the course taken by Herophilus, who was guided, in this matter, chiefly by the musical theories of Aristoxenus of Tarentum, a peripatetic philosopher and a musician, a pupil of Aristotle. By following the route, the doctrine of the pulse became so complicated that no one but a skilled musician could possibly understand it. Necessarily, therefore, the theory was stillborn, in chief outcome being that posterity was inclined to charge Herophillus with sophistry and hair-splitting.  しかしこれまでの学説はさらに発展させなければならないと考えていた。予後は症状に基づかなければならない。従って症状を出来るだけ注意深く研究し、はっきりと定義する必要があった。脈拍はもっとも重要な症状であり、この観点からヘロピロスは脈拍についての重要な学説を考え出した。脈拍の本質的な現象は何であろうか?音楽と同じようにリズムである。従って脈拍を理解するには音楽理論を勉強しなければならなかった。これはヘロピロスがとった道筋であり、ペリパトス(逍遥)学派の哲学者で音楽家でありアリストテレスの弟子であったタラントのアリストクセノスの音楽理論によって導かれた。このようにして脈拍理論は複雑となり優れた音楽者でなければ理解できないようになった。従ってこの理論は死産であり、後世の人たちはヘロピロスを屁理屈屋で重箱の隅をほじくると非難した。
 Health, he declared, is a precious possession. In his treatise on dietetics he wrote: "Wisdom and art, strength and wealth, are of no avail if health be lacking." The physician must, therefore, strive to maintain or to restore his patient's health. Experience is of the utmost value here, but limits are imposed upon medical skill. "The best physician is he who can distinguish the possible from the impossible."  健康は貴重な財産であると彼は宣言した。食養生の本で彼は書いた。「もしも健康でなければ、賢明も芸術も権力も富も、何の役にも立たない」と。従って医師は患者の健康を保ち快復させることに努力しなければならない。ここでは経験がもっとも価値があり医術の熟練が限界となる。「最良の医師は可能なことと不可能なことを区別できる者である」と。
 What are the chief implement of therapeutics? Dietetics come first, then drugs. If the physician prescribes a drug it is as if the deity were interfering with the course of an illness. Herophilus, in fact, termed medicaments "the hands of the gods," and he prescribed them in all diseases.  治療学において主な技術は何か?食養生が第一であり次が薬品である。医師が薬を処方するのは神が病気の流れに介入するのと同じである。実際にヘロピロスは医薬を「神の手」と名付けすべての病気において処方した。
 Medicine was not yet sufficiently advanced for surgery and midwifery to have become separate branches. Such knowledge as was available was at the command of a single individual, and therefore Herophilus was interested in surgery and midwifery as well as in medicine pure and simple. Indeed he wrote a treatise of midwifery which was widely circulated and greatly extended. Practical aid in childbirth was given chiefly by women, the services of the physician being called upon in grave cases; and it was of great importance that trustworthy instructions should be at the disposal of the midwife. There is an anecdote which shows Herophilus' decisive importance as regards the art of midwifery. In ancient Athens, we are told, there were as yet no midwives, since women were forbidden by law to practice any sort of healing activity. However, a noble-hearted woman, Agnodice by name, eager to help her sisters in the pangs of childbirth, dressed herself up as a man and, in this disguise, studied under Herophilus. Having thus acquired an extensive knowledge of the art of midwifery, she was of the utmost help to many women in labour. Thereupon the physicians became jealous of her, and laid an accusation against her before the Areopagus. Her Women patients, however, most whom were Athenians, came to bear witness in her behalf. She was acquired, and the foolish law was repealed.  外科や助産術が独立の部門になるほど医学は充分に発達していなかった。これらの部門で得られる知識は一個人のものなのでヘロピロスは純粋で単純な医学だけでなく外科と助産術にも興味を持っていた。事実、彼は助産術についての本を書き広く流通し影響を与えた。出産を助ける実務は主として女性によってなされ医師は重篤な場合だけ呼ばれた。したがって頼ることができ信頼できる技術書は助産婦にとって非常に重要であった。助産術におけるヘロピロスの決定的な重要性を示す挿話がある。古代アテナイでは女性が医療に関与することは禁止されていたので助産婦は居なかったと言われている。しかしアグノディケと呼ばれる高貴な心を持つ女性が姉妹の出産に伴う激痛を救うために男性に変装してヘロピロスに教えを受けた。このように助産術を詳しく学んで陣痛女性たちの大きな助けとなった。これによって医師たちは彼女を妬んでアレオパゴス(アテナイの最高法廷)に訴えた。しかし彼女の患者たちの多くはアテナイ人であり彼女のための証人となった。彼女は許可を取得し馬鹿げた法律は廃止された。
 It need hardly be said that, as a matter of fact, midwives had practiced in Athens long before the days of Herophilus. The only importance of the tale is to show that this man, whose name has come down to us above all as a skilled anatomist, was likewise a distinguished accoucheur.  言う必要の無いことであるがヘロピロスの時代以前にもアテナイで実際は助産婦が業務を行っていた。この話で重要なのは、主として有能な解剖学者として知られている男が優れた産科医でもあったことである。
 Well on into the Christian era, many doctors looked back to Herophilus as the supreme master of their art. キリスト教の時代になっても多くの医師たちはヘロピロスが医学の優れた教師であったことを思い返した。
 Erasistratus, the second great Alexandrian physician, flourished about a generation later than Herophilus. They are commonly spoken of in the same breath, since their lives overlapped, they practised in the same city, and were both founders of schools. They differed greatly, however, in their medical theories.  エラシストラトスはヘロピロスより一世代後に活躍した第二の偉大なアレクサンドリア医師であった。二人の生涯は重なり同じ都市に開業しそれぞれ学派を創設したので、ふつう同時に語られる。しかし二人の医学理論は大きく異なっていた。
 Erasistratus sprang from a family of doctors. His mother was a sister of a doctor; his father, Cleombrotus, was probably physician-in-ordinary to Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria. Born at Iulis on the island of Ceos towards the close of the fourth century B.C., Erasistratus grew to manhood in Antioch. Having made up his mind to be a doctor he went, as the custom then was, to Athens as a student. His teacher was Metrodorus, who had married a daughter of Aristotle; and he is also said to have studied under Theophrastus, Aristotle's favourite pupil. In this way Erasistratus entered into close contact with the Peripatetic school, and also became acquainted with the philosophy of Democritus, which exercised a considerable influence upon his mind.From Athens he went to Cos, to study in the school of Praxagoras. But his most important impressions in medical matters were derived from the younger Chrysippus, a physician who had come from Cnidus to settle in Alexandria.  エラシストラトスは医師の家系に生まれた。母親は医師の姉妹であった。父親クレオムブロトスはシリア王セレウコスI世ニカトールの侍医であった。エラシストラトスは紀元前4世紀末にケオス島のイウリスに生まれアンティオキアで育った。医師になる決心をしその頃の習慣に従ってアテナイに行って学生となった。教師はアリストテレスの娘と結婚していたメトロドロスであった。アリストテレスの愛弟子テオフラストスにも学んだと言われている。このようにエラシストラトスはアリストテレスのペリパトス(逍遥)学派と密接に関連しデモクリトスの哲学も勉強して強い影響を受けた。アテナイからコス島に行ってプラクサゴラス学派で学んだ。しかし医学について最も重要な影響を与えたのはクニドス島出身者でアレキサンドリアに住むようになったクリュシッポスであった。
 Whereas Herophilus, accepting the Hippocratic tradition, had gone no farther than to attempt to develop it a little more fully, Erasistratus, who (as we have seen) had studied medicine in a number of different schools, soon took a line of his own.  ヘロピロスはヒポクラテス学派に属してある程度の発展を試みた以上のことはしなかったがエラシストラトスは幾つもの学派の医学を勉強したので間もなく自己独自の線を進んだ。
 Like Herophilus, however, Erasistratus was a student of nature. "Nature is the great artist who, in her care for living being, has perfected all parts of the body and has organised them purposively." The ways of nature must, therefore, be explored. Erasistratus dissected animals, and some of the organs of human beings. He wrote two anatomical works. The fragments that are known to us contain excellent descriptions of the heart with its valves, of the upper air-passages with the epiglottis, of the liver and the bile-ducts, and of the brain. The nerves, he taught, do not only subserve the purposes of sensation; they likewise conduct voluntary impulses and arouse movement. He recognised, therefore, that there were two kinds of nerves, sensory and motor.  しかしエラシストラトスはヘロピロスと同じように自然の弟子であった。「自然は大芸術家であって生き物のことを考えるに当たり、身体のすべての部分を完成させ目的をもって作り上げる」と。したがって自然のやり方を探究すべきであった。エラシストラトスは動物や人間の臓器のあるものを解剖した。2冊の解剖学の著作を書いた。我々に伝わっている断片には心臓とその弁、喉頭蓋を含む上気道、肝臓、胆管、脳、の優れた記載が含まれている。彼は教えた。神経は感覚を伝えるだけではない。随意の信号を送って運動も起こしている、と。従って、彼は感覚と運動の2種の神経があることを知っていた。
 What more did he teach? That three sorts of conduit, veins, arteries, and nerves, traversed the whole body. They were intertwined to form organs as yarn in twisted into a rope. The ultimate parts of the organism, however, were the atoms. They were inalterable, and were animated by warmth from without. They were surrounded by empty space, which had an attractive force. This force drew the blood, the nutriment, out of the veins; the pneuma (air) out of the arteries; and the spiritual pneuma out of the nerves. The arteries did not contain blood, but only conveyed air, which was renovated by the breathing. If none the less, a severed artery bled, it was because the pneuma (air) which issued from it drew with it blood by connecting channels with the veins.  これ以上に何を教えていたのだろうか?静脈、動脈、神経の3種類の導管が全身に張り巡らされていた。これらはロープのより糸のように編みあわせられて臓器を形成していた。しかし、生体の終局的な部品は原子であった。原子は不変で外からの熱によって生命を吹き込まれていた。周囲に空間がありこれは引力を持っていた。この力は血液、栄養素を静脈から、プネウマ(空気)を動脈から、精神的プネウマを神経から、引き込んでいた。動脈には血液が無く空気だけを運び、空気は呼吸によって新しくされる、と。それにも拘わらず傷ついた動脈から血液が出るのはそれから出たプネウマ(空気)が静脈と繋がって血液を引き込むためであった。
 Making post-mortem examination, Erasistratus found organs which had manifestly been changed by disease. For instance, in a man who had died of dropsy he found the liver as hard as a stone. On the other hand, in the body of a patient who had died of snake-bite, the liver, the large intestine, and the bladder were softened. It was obvious, then, that illness exhibited local manifestations, in the form of changes in the organs. We could learn about it from a study of these diseased organs. Illness was not a vague "corruption of the humours." How, then, did it arise? To what mechanisms was it due?  エラシストラトスは死体解剖をしていて病気によって臓器に明らかな変化のあることを認めた。例えば、腹水で死んだ男の肝臓が石のようになっていること(*肝硬変)を見た。他方、ヘビに噛まれて死んだ患者の身体で、肝臓、大腸、膀胱が柔らかくなっていた。病気によって臓器に局所変化が起きたことは明らかであった。これらの病気の臓器を学ぶことによって病気について知ることができた。病気は曖昧な「体液の腐敗」ではない。それではどのようにして起きたのだろうか?どんなメカニズムによるのだろうか?
 Erasistratus wrote a book upon the causes of disease. The organism, he reiterated, was built up out of an interweaving of three sorts of tubes. The proper condition of these passages and their normal functioning were indispensable to health. The most important morbid process was plethora, a distension of the vessels with blood and nutritive materials. Thereby the veins were stretched and torn. Blood made its way into the arteries and blocked their passages, with the result that the pneuma could no longer move through them unhindered. Stagnation of the pneuma gave rise to inflammation. The arteries began to beat too vigorously, and fever ensued.  エラシストラトスは病気の原因についての本を書いた。生体は3種の管が編みあわせられていると、彼は繰り返した。これらの導管の状態が適当であって正常の機能を果たすのが健康に必須であった。もっとも重要な病的過程は多血、すなわち血液および栄養物質による血管の拡張であった。これによって静脈は引き延ばされ破壊された。血液は動脈に入り込んで通りを塞いで、プネウマの動きは邪魔された。プネウマがよどむと炎症が起きた。動脈の拍子は激しくなり発熱が起きた。
 As regards particular diseases, they were determined by the particular regions or organs in which plethora occurred. According as the site varied, we had to do with pneumonia, pleurisy, epilepsy, disease of the stomach or the liver or the spleen, and so on.  個々の病気は、多血が起きる特定部位または臓器によって決まった。部位が変わると、肺炎、胸膜炎、てんかん、胃、肝臓、脾臓の病気、などなど、となった。
 Whilst plethora was the immediate cause of the symptoms of disease, it was incumbent upon the physician to look for the remoter causes which had given rise to the plethora, inasmuch as successful treatment depended upon the removal of these original causes. For the rest, treatment mus be adapted to the individual case; and, in especial, Erasistratus was opposed to violent methods. There was no sense, he declared, in bleeding all the sick without distinction. The best way of counteracting the plethora was to see to it that only a small quantity of nutritive material should be ingested -- in a word, fasting was useful. If blood were withdrawn from a fasting man or woman, this caused too much weakness, and thereby the cure was delayed. Dietetic treatment must take the first place. It was assisted by physical therapeutics: vapour baths, bodily exercises, poultices, frictions, etc. Drugs were also of use, although Erasistrats did not administer then so liberally as Herophilus. In many instances it was necessary to have recourse to the knife.  多血は病気の症状の直接な原因であったが、医師としてはこの多血を起こした遠い原因を求めるのが差し迫ったことであった。治療の成功はこれら最初の原因を除くことに依存したからであった。他の点で治療は個々の例に適応させなければならなかった。特にエラシストラトスは激しい方法に反対した。彼は宣言した。区別なしにすべての病人を瀉血するのは意味が無い。多血を打ち消す最良の方法は少量の栄養物だけを摂ることであった。一言で言うと断食であった。断食している男女から瀉血すると衰弱が激しくなり、治癒が遅くなった。食養生がもっとも重要であった。蒸気浴、運動、湿布、マッサージ、などの物理療法は助けとなった。薬も使われた。しかしヘロピロスのように多くは使わなかった。多くの場合、メスに頼ることも必要であった。
 Prophylaxis, preventive treatment, however, was more important than remedial methods.Prevention was better than cure. If he could, a wise steersman would circumvent a storm, instead of exposing his ship to its fury. A shrewd physician would adopt a like measure. Erasistratus, therefore, wrote two books upon hygiene.  しかし、予防は治療よりも重要であった。予防は治療よりも良かった。もしも可能なら賢い舵取りは船を嵐には曝さないで嵐を避けた。賢い医師は同じ方法をとった。従ってエラシストラトスは衛生についての2冊の本を書いた。
 Let me repeat that Erasistratus was an innovator. He forsook the humoral pathology. Being a materialist, he considered disease from a mechanical standpoint. Not only did he dissect the human body, but he applied the data of his anatomical observations to pathology. Advancing along the lines already laid down by his teachers in Cnidus, he was on the way towards a pathology based upon a localised, an anatomical conception of illness. Naturally, therefore, a considerable proportion of his writings were monographs upon particular diseases or groups of diseases. For instance, he wrote books on fever, upon abdominal diseases, upon paralysis, gout, and dropsy. Still, as we have already noted, Greek medical science was predestined to follow another course. Erasistratus' teaching was thrust aside, and Galen, to whom the victory of Hippocratic theories was largely due, could not find invectives sufficiently strong for the expression of his contempt for the great Alexandrian physician.  繰り返そう。エラシストラトスは革新者であった。彼は体液学説を見捨てた。唯物主義者だったので機械主義の観点で病気を見た。人体の解剖を行っただけでなく観察結果を病理学に応用した。クニドス島の教師たちが用意した線上を彼は局所についての解剖学的な病気の概念に基づいて病理学に進んだ。従って彼の著作のかなりな部分は自然に個々の病気または病気群についてのモノグラフであった。例えば、発熱、腹部疾患、麻痺、痛風、浮腫、についての本を書いた。しかし前に述べたようにギリシア医学は他のコース(*ヒポクラテス学説)を通るように運命づけられていた。ガレノスはエラシストラトスの教えを脇に押しやってこの偉大なアレクサンドリア医師をこれ以上無いほど強く非難しヒポクラテス学説勝利の原因を作った。
 There are many interesting anecdotes concerning Erasistratus. One of the best of these relates to the keenness of his medical insight. Antiochus, son of Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria, was dangerously ill, and, when other physicians had failed to help him, Erasistratus was called in. While he was examining the patient, Stratonice, a young woman, one of the elderly king's wives, entered the room. From the quickening of the sick man's pulse and from the flush which spread over his cheeks, the doctor recognised that the illness was mental rather than bodily -- that a passion for his inaccessible stepmother was at the root of the trouble. The cause having been discovered, the road to a cure had been opened. Seleucus, in order to save the life of his deeply enamoured son, divorced Stratonice, and gave her in marriage to young Antiochus, whereupon the prince recovered.  エラシストラトスについては多くの興味深い挿話がある。そのうちで有名なのは彼の医学的観察が鋭かったことに関連している。シリア王セレウコスI世ニカトールの息子アンティオコスが重病にかかり、他の医師たちが匙を投げたのでエラシストラトスが呼ばれた。彼が患者を診察していたときに、父王の妻たちの一人である若い女性ストラトニケが部屋に入った。患者の脈が速くなり頬に赤さが増したので、病気は身体ではなく精神的なものであり近づくことができない継母への熱情が病気の基本にあることをこの医師は知った。原因が発見されたので、治癒への路は開かれた。セレウコスは魅惑されている息子の命を救うためにストラトニケを離婚し若いアンティオコスに結婚させ王子は快復した。
 If there is any truth in the story, for chronological reasons we must infer that the physician who worked this cure cannot have been Erasistratus, but must have been (as Pliny maintains) his father Cleombrotus. The anecdote was transferred from the comparatively unknown father to the much more celebrated son. Presumably, however, the story is mythical, being a fable which turns up again and again in many parts of the East, and which in the West likewise has not infrequently secured pictorial expression.  この話が本当であるとしても年代の理由でこの治療を行った医師はエラシストラトスではなく大プリニウスが言っているように父親のクレオムブロトスであったに違いない。この挿話は比較的に知られていない父親から有名な息子に移された。しかし多分この話は伝説であろう。東洋の多くの場所で繰り返して語られ西洋においても同じようにしばしば画に描かれている。
 According to another ancient tradition, Erasistratus presented the temple of the Pythian Apollo at Delphi with a pair of dental forceps made out of lead -- as a hint that doctors would do well to extract only such teeth as were loose in their sockets.  他の古代の慣習によってエラスシストラトスはデルポイのアポロン神殿に鉛で作った抜歯鉗子を奉納した。医師は鉛製の鉗子で抜けるようなぐらぐらになった歯だけを抜くようにとのヒントであった。
 At an advanced age he is supposed to have retired to Samos, and, having been attacked by an incurable disease, to have died a voluntary death, saying: "I die happy in that I have served my country." He had founded a school of medicine which was to endure for five hundred years.  歳を取って彼はサモスに引退し不治の病気に罹って自殺した。彼は言った。「私は国に奉仕して心静かに死ぬ」と。彼が創設した学派は500年にわたって続いた。