destruction, to avoid the plague I have anticipated the cure by setting it forth in the parchments before this. Themistocles, while commanding the naval battle, promised in advance that the victory against the Medes would be his by surrounding them with sleeplessness, this also being a great advantage over the enemy, to snatch away their sleep. And the ancient emperors of the Romans made use of this matter more openly and more effectively, by leading at night against the enemy's camp very light-armed footsoldiers and with them mounted trumpeters, by whom they accomplished one of two things: for either, finding the outposts and guards more careless, they would destroy those in their way, or they would inflict a panic; with some shooting arrows and throwing javelins, and of the things being shot from slings, whenever they missed, falling against a tent or a horse or a weapon, the noise accomplished more than wounding, always terrifying the one nearby with fear; and the trumpeters riding around would sound a warlike tune, so as to always give the impression to those arrayed in that place that the enemies were just about to attack. Then during the day they would lead out the army, contriving in every way not to engage in battle, and making the coming night similar to the one past, with their own men resting at full leisure during the day, or by sending in others, while the same enemies were always forced by the plots to remain awake. Who does not know how many misfortunes result from this? Headache, loss of appetite, weakness of body from the desire to sleep even in any way, as the same situation followed night and day. Having done this in succession, we will capture the adversaries with a mere shout, as they have been unmanned by sleeplessness. 1.3 For contests All the experts in these matters praise the stones found in the stomachs of noble roosters, as contributors to valor and victory; for when worn either in leather pouches, or carried under the tongue, they keep soldiers and athletes and gladiators steadfast, enduring, and thirstless. Others describe a different form and color of them, some saying they are crystal-like and rough, others—those who speak the truth—that they are black; and that it is to be found in the one that has won after it is sacrificed, as if the cause of prevailing was not the valor of the bird, but the nature of the stone. Since, therefore, whether carried under the mouth or around the arm, the stone either falls out or is cut away by an opponent, one must use an unsuspected and very powerful covering. Let the winning rooster, having been prepared as is customary, be eaten whole by the combatant, in such a way that all the flesh is stripped off, but the bones are kept whole and unbroken; then after the meal let it be cleansed with fire. The bird, no longer a messenger of the day but of the victory to come, making the one who ate it a successor of its own invincibility, moves into the man with its valor. The son of Neocles used the stone and the food while fighting the Persians; and from that he legislated the rooster fights in a roused Athens, and the Athenians held victory celebrations with roosters after the Median victory. 1.4 For the incision of one who has been struck Since many are cowardly towards necessary treatments by iron, fearing the pain from the cure more than the future harm from not being treated, come, let us somehow soothe the hesitation from pain, making the sick more courageous to undergo the cure. Let the one healing have a light hand, so that he may perform the incision easily, and let him bring a sharp edge; for bluntness is painful. And let the helper, being ready for everything, also sprinkle on the tablet which lies in the fourth pentagon, in which, in the pyramidal shape, lie the signs of both speech and the striking of the enharmonic hypaton, an upsilon-like alpha and a gamma turned backwards having a line behind it. 1.5 For a wound from iron And for one wounded by iron, this is the cure for pain: it is proper to anoint the iron that wounded, then to tap it on the wound; let us say <but> "ta ta" thrice, while also spitting a certain Roman saying which lies in the exposed fifth pentagon by the signs of the chromatic, an alpha upsilon-like having a line behind it and a gamma turned backwards having two lines behind it. The pain, therefore, will cease; but the
φθορά, εἰς ἀποφυγὴν τοῦ λοιμοῦ τὴν θεραπείαν προὔλαβον ἐκθέμενος ἐν ταῖς πρὸ τούτου διφθέραις. Προϋπέσχετο τὴν κατὰ Μήδων νίκην ἑαυτῷ τῷ γίνεσθαι τὴν ναυμαχίαν Θεμιστοκλῆς στρατηγῶν περιπλευσουμένων ἀγρυπνίᾳ, μέγα καὶ τοῦτο ὂν πλεονέκτημα τῶν πολεμίων τὸ ὕπνον ἁρπάσαι. Καὶ Ῥωμαίων δὲ αὐτοκράτορες παλαιοὶ γυμνότερον καὶ δραστικώτερον ἐχρήσαντο τῷ πράγματι, νύκτωρ ἐπάγοντες τῷ στρατοπέδῳ τῶν ἐναντίων κουφοτάτους τε πεζοὺς καὶ μετ' αὐτῶν σαλπιγκτὰς ἱππέας δι' ὧν κατώρθουν δυοῖν θάτερον· ἢ γὰρ ἀμελεστέρας τὰς προφυλακὰς καὶ φυλακὰς καταλαβόντες, ἀνήλισκον τοὺς ἐμποδών, ἢ πανικὸν ἐπενέβαλλον· τῶν μὲν καὶ τοξευόντων καὶ ἀκοντιζόντων, καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ σφενδόνης δὲ ἀφιεμένων φερομένων, ὁπότε ἀστοχοῖεν, κατὰ σκηνῆς ἢ ἵππου ἢ ὅπλου, ἦν ὁ κτύπος πλεῖον τοῦ τρῶσαι κατορθῶν, ἐκπλήσσων δὲ ἀεὶ τὸν πλησίον τῷ φόβῳ· περιϊππεύοντες δὲ οἱ σαλπιγκταὶ πολεμικὸν ἐνηχοῦντο, ὡς ἀεὶ φαντασίαν τοῖς κατ' αὐτὸ τεταγμένοις παρέχειν ἐπιπεσεῖσθαι ὅσον οὐδέπω τοὺς πολεμίους. Εἶτα μεθ' ἡμέραν ἐξήγοντο τὸ στρατόπεδον, παντὶ τρόπῳ τὸ μὴ συμβάλλειν μηχανώμενοι, τήν τε ἐπιοῦσαν νύκτα ὁμοίαν ἐκτιθέντες τῇ παρελθούσῃ, τῶν μὲν οἰκείων διαναπαυομένων ὅλῃ σχολῇ ἡμέρας, ἢ ἄλλων ἐπιπομπῇ, τῶν δὲ αὐτῶν αἰεὶ ἐπιβουλευομένων ἀγρυπνεῖν. Ὅσα δὲ ἐκ τούτου δυστράπελα τίς οὐκ οἶδεν; ἄλγημα κεφαλῆς, κακοσιτίας, σώματος ἀτονίαν τοῦ ὑπνῶσαι κἂν ὁπωσοῦν ἐπιθυμίᾳ, τὴν αὐτὴν περίστασιν διαδεχομένων νυκτός τε καὶ ἡμέρας. Τοῦτο ἑξῆς δράσαντες, αὐτοβοεὶ τοὺς ἀντιπάλους αἱρήσομεν ἀγρυπνίᾳ τεθηλυμμένους. 1.3 Ἀγωνιστικόν Τοὺς δὲ εὑρισκομένους ἐν ταῖς γαστράσι τῶν γενναίων ἀλεκτρυόνων λίθους ἐπαινοῦσι μὲν ἅπαντες οἱ περὶ ταῦτα δεινοί, ὡς ἀρετῆς τε καὶ νίκης συνεργούς· φορουμένους γὰρ ἤτοι ἐν σκυτίσιν, ἢ ὑπὸ τῇ γλώττῃ φερομένους, εὐϋποστάτους καὶ διαρκεῖς καὶ ἀδίψους φυλάττειν στρατιώτας καὶ ἀθλητὰς καὶ μονομάχους. Ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλο εἶδος καὶ χρόαν αὐτῶν διηγοῦνται, οἳ μὲν κρυσταλλοειδεῖς καὶ τραχεῖς, οἳ δὲ μέλανας, οἱ ἀληθεύοντες· εὑρίσκεσθαι δὲ ἐν κατατυθέντι τῷ νικήσαντι, ὡς οὐχὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς τοῦ ὄρνιθος, ἀλλὰ τῆς φύσεως τοῦ λίθου αἰτίας τοῦ κρατεῖν γεγενημένης. Ἐπεὶ οὖν, ἤτοι ὑπὸ στόματι ἢ περὶ βραχίονι φορούμενος, ὁ λίθος ἢ ἐκπίπτει ἢ ὑπ' ἀνταγωνιστοῦ περιτέμνεται, ἀνυπόπτῳ καὶ πολλῆς δυνάμεως χρηστέον περιβολῇ. Ἀλεκτρυὼν ὁ νικήσας, ὥσπερ ἔθος σκευασθείς, ἐσθιέσθω πᾶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀγωνιῶντος, ὡς περιλέπεσθαι τὰς σάρκας καὶ πάσας, ὁλόκληρα δὲ φυλαχθῆναι ἄθραυστα τὰ ὀστέα· εἶτα μετὰ τὴν τράπεζαν καθαριζέσθω πυρί. Ὁ ὄρνις, οὐκ ἔθ' ἡμέρας ἀλλὰ νίκης ἐσομένης ἄγγελος, διάδοχον ἀηττησίας τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τὸν φαγόντα ποιῶν, ἐς τὸν ἄνδρα ᾗ ἀρετῇ μετοικεῖ. Ἐχρήσατο Πέρσαις μαχόμενος ὁ Νεοκλέους τῷ λίθῳ καὶ τῇ τροφῇ· κἀκεῖθεν ἐνομοθέτησε τοὺς ἀλεκτρυόνων ἀγῶνας ἐν Ἀθήναις ἐγηγερμέναις, καὶ ἤγαγον Ἀθηναῖοι μετὰ νίκην τὴν Μηδικὴν ἀλεκτρυόνων ἐπινίκια. 1.4 Πρὸς τομὴν πληγέντοσ Ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ πρὸς τὰς ἀναγκαίας ἀπὸ σιδήρου θεραπείας εἰσὶ δειλοί, φοβούμενοι μᾶλλον τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰάσεως ἀλγηδόνα τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐκ τοῦ μὴ θεραπευθῆναι βλάβους, φέρε πως παραμυθησώμεθα τὸν τῆς ὀδύνης ὄκνον, εὐθαρσεστέρους τοὺς κάμνοντας εἰς τὸ ὑποστῆναι τὴν ἴασιν καθιστάντες. Κούφην ἐχέτω ὁ ἰώμενος χεῖρα, ἵνα εὐκόλως τὴν τομὴν ἐπιδράμῃ, ὀξεῖαν δὲ φερέτω τὴν ἀκμήν· ὀδυνηρὸν γὰρ ἡ ἀμβλύτης. Εὐτρεπὴς δὲ ἐς πάντα ὢν ὁ βοηθῶν, καὶ ἐπιπασάτω τῇ πλίνθῳ ἥπερ ἐν πεντα γώνῳ δʹ κεῖται, ᾧ κατὰ τὸ πυραμοειδὲς ἔγκειται σημεῖα λέξεώς τε καὶ κρούσεως ὑπάτων ἐναρμονίου, ἄλφα ὕπτιον καὶ γάμμα ἀπεστραμμένον ὄπισθεν γραμμὴν ἔχον. 1.5 Πρὸς τὴν ἀπὸ σιδήρου πληγήν Καὶ τῷ πληγέντι δὲ ἀπὸ σιδήρου τόδε ὀδύνης ἄκος· τὸν τρώσαντα σίδηρον ἀλεῖψαι προσήκει, εἶτ' ἐπικροῦσαι αὐτὸν τῷ τραύματι· λέγωμεν <δὲ> «τὰ τὰ» τρίς, ἅμα τε ἐπιπτύοντες Ῥωμαῖαν τινὰ ῥῆσιν ἣ ἐν τῷ ἐκκειμένῳ πενταγώνῳ <εʹ> ἔγκειται πρὸς τὰ σημεῖα χρωματικῆς, ἄλφα <ὕπτιον ὄπισθε γραμμὴν ἔχον καὶ γάμμα> ἀπεστραμμένον ὄπισθε βʹ γραμμὰς ἔχον. Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀλγηδὼν παύσεται· τὸ δὲ