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For in time it has become easily despised, and the knowledge of the work has taken away the good reputation of its inventors. But if someone should wish to examine each thing precisely, he would greatly admire this art as well. For the wool, being shorn and cleansed with water, is first carded and divided into fine strands, then the carded wool becomes a roving; then, the art of spinning takes it and separates the purest part, which has fibers as it were straight, from the rest; and putting the rest together, it prepares the woof for the warp. Then women’s hands, taking them, spin the fine threads, and having first stretched these in order like strings on the looms, they throw in the woof, and separating the warp threads with the shuttles, and of the inserted threads, loosening some and tightening others, then with instruments designed for this purpose, as if pushing and felting the woof, they thus complete the fabric. Who could worthily admire the wisdom given to this creature? How, upon a single color of the underlying material, of woollen or silken threads, are woven figures of all kinds of animals, and images of men, some hunting, others praying, and pictures of trees, and countless other things. Truly 83.620 praise the Lord, all you nations, who have been deemed worthy of so much wisdom, who delight in so many good things. Who revealed the sea-fish as a dye for wool? Who again became the inventor of this art, and transforms the appearance of wool into countless kinds of colors? But perhaps, suffering from ingratitude, you will say that even worms spin finer threads than men. But this too is a work of divine providence. For so that you might not be proud of the wisdom of all kinds of arts, nor boast in the abundance of wealth, the guardian instructs you through worms, that these things are not of your own power, but are the gifts of divine philanthropy. And so, instructing you, he comforts you again, so that you might not be grieved at being surpassed by them, by offering those threads to you, and subjecting their worker to your yokes. You alone of all living things have built cities for beauty, and fortified them with towers and walls, and you have constructed the beauties of lodgings and dwellings, and with harbors you have joined the sea to the mainland. And since the Creator made you mortal in this present life, He knew you would also fall into illnesses (for what is mortal is allotted sufferings), and He taught you the medical art, and set this science as a counter-campaign against sufferings. From this you have learned to know the difference of unseen afflictions, and by the movement of the pulse, to recognize the intensifications and remissions of fevers, and to discern the time of onset, crisis, and decline, and to foresee the signs of death, and to recognize the nature of the troubling substance, and to apply to it things naturally suited to fight it, and to dry the moist, to cool the hot, to heat and warm the chilled, and to expel the overflowing, either with emetics, or purgative drugs, or by the cutting of veins. And what account could reach either the multitude of afflictions, or the multitude of remedies? For many are the things that war against the nature of the body, but many times more are the antidotes for them. For art has invented many things naturally suited to fight each affliction. For this reason the Creator commanded many herbs, not only edible ones, but also those useless for food, to sprout from the earth, since we humans are in need not only of nourishment, but also of healing. Of these, therefore, some we prepare as food, others the grazing animals eat, and others the students of physicians, collecting them, prepare antidotes, and that which is deadly for food, becomes an antidote. Let not these things, therefore, move you to an accusation against Providence. For each of these things for the praise of the grateful the tongue

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χρόνῳ μὲν γὰρ εὐκαταφρόνητον γέγονε, καὶ ἡ γνῶσις τῆς ἐργασίας ἀφῄρηται τῶν εὑρηκότων τὴν εὐφημίαν. Εἰ δέ τις ἀκριβῶς ἕκαστον σκοπῆσαι θελήσειε, σφόδρα ἂν καὶ ταύτην τὴν τέχνην θαυμάσειεν. Τὰ γὰρ ἔρια κειρόμενα, καὶ τοῖς ὕδασι καθαιρόμενα, διαξαίνεται μὲν πρῶτον, καὶ εἰς λεπτὰ διαιρεῖται, εἶτα τὸ κάταγμα μήρυμα γίνεται· ἔπειτα, ἡ ταλασιουργία λαβοῦσα, τὸ μὲν ἀκραιφνὲς καὶ οἱονεὶ εὐθείας ἔχον τὰς ἶνας, τῶν λοιπῶν ἀποκρίνει· καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ δὲ συντιθεῖσα, κρόκην κατασκευάζει τῷ στήμονι. Εἶτα γυναικῶν χεῖρες λαβοῦσαι, τὰ λεπτὰ νήθουσι νήματα, καὶ ταῦτα πρότερον, οἷόν τινας χορδὰς, κατὰ τάξιν ἐν τοῖς ἱστοῖς διατείνασαι, ἐμβάλλουσι μὲν τὴν κρόκην, ταῖς δὲ κερκίσι τοὺς στήμονας διακρίνασαι, καὶ τῶν ἐμβεβλημένων μηρίνθων, τὰς μὲν χαλῶσαι, τὰς δὲ τείνουσαι, εἶτα τοῖς εἰς τοῦτο συντεθημένοις ὀργάνοις οἷον ὠθοῦ σαι καὶ πιλοῦσαι τὴν κρόκην, οὕτως ἀποτελοῦσι τὸ ὕφασμα. Τίς ἂν πρὸς ἀξίαν τὴν δοθεῖσαν σοφίαν τῷ ζώῳ θαυμάσειε; Πῶς ἑνὶ χρώματι τῶν ὑποκειμέ νων, ἐρίων ἢ σηρικῶν νημάτων, παντοδαπῶν ζώων ἐνυφαίνονται τύποι, καὶ ἀνθρώπων ἰνδάλ ματα, τῶν μὲν θηρευόντων, τῶν δὲ προσευχομένων, καὶ δένδρων εἰκόνες, καὶ ἕτερα ἄλλα μυρία. Ἀλη 83.620 θῶς αἰνεῖτε τὸν Κύριον, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, τὰ το σαύτης ἀξιωθέντα σοφίας, τὰ τοσούτοις ἀγαθοῖς ἐν τρυφῶντα. Τίς τὸν θαλάττιον ἰχθὺν βαφὴν τοῖς ἐρίοις ἀπέφηνε; τίς πάλιν ταύτης τῆς τέχνης εὑρετὴς ἐγένετο, καὶ εἰς μυρία χρωμάτων εἴδη μεταμφιέν νυσι τῶν ἐρίων τὸ εἶδος; Ἀλλ' ἴσως ἀχαριστίαν νοσῶν φήσεις, λεπτότερα νήθειν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ σκώληκας νήματα. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς θείας ἔρ γον κηδεμονίας. Ἵνα γὰρ μὴ μεγαλοφρονῇς ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν παντοδαπῶν τεχνῶν σοφίᾳ, μηδὲ νεανιεύῃ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πλούτου, διὰ σκωλήκων ὁ κηδεμών σε παιδεύει, ὡς οὐ τῆς σῆς ἐστι ταῦτα δυνάμεως, ἀλλὰ τῆς θείας φιλανθρωπίας τὰ δῶρα. Οὕτω δέ σε παιδ αγωγῶν, παραμυθεῖται πάλιν, ἵνα μὴ ἀλγῇς ὑπ' ἐκείνων νικώμενος, σοὶ προσφέρων ἐκεῖνα τὰ νή ματα, καὶ τοῖς σοῖς ὑποτάττων ζυγοῖς τὸν ἐκείνων ἐργάτην. Σὺ μόνος ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν ζώων πόλεις εἰς κάλλος ᾠκοδόμησας, καὶ πύργοις, καὶ περιβόλοις ὠχύρωσας, καταγωγίων δὲ καὶ οἰκητηρίων ἐδο μήσω κάλλη, καὶ τοῖς λιμέσι θάλατταν τῇ ἠπεί ρῳ συνέζευξας. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ θνητὸν ὁ Ποιητής σε κατὰ τὸν παρόν τα βίον πεποιηκὼς, ᾔδει σε καὶ ἀῤῥωστίαις περιπε σούμενον (τὸ γὰρ θνητὸν πάθεσι συγκεκλήρωται), ἐδίδαξέ σε καὶ τέχνην ἰατρικὴν, καὶ τήνδε τὴν ἐπι στήμην τοῖς πάθεσιν ἀντεστράτευσεν. Ἐντεῦθεν μεμάθηκας τῶν μὴ φαινομένων παθημάτων εἰδέναι διαφορὰν, καὶ τῇ κινήσει τῶν σφυγμῶν, πυρετῶν ἐπιτάσεις καὶ ἀνέσεις γνωρίζειν, καὶ εἰσβολῆς, καὶ ἀκμῆς, καὶ παρακμῆς ἐπιγινώσκειν καιρὸν, καὶ θανάτου προορᾷν γνωρίσματα, καὶ τῆς ἐνοχλούσης ὕλης τὸ εἶδος γνωρίζειν, καὶ ταύτῃ προσφέρειν τὰ πολεμεῖν πεφυκότα, καὶ τὴν μὲν ὑγρὰν ξηραίνειν, τὴν δὲ θερμὴν καταψύχειν, ἐκπυροῦν δὲ καὶ ἐκθερ μαίνειν τὴν ἐψυγμένην, ἐκφορεῖν δὲ τὴν πλημμυ ροῦσαν, ἢ ἐμετικοῖς, ἢ προωστικοῖς φαρμάκοις, ἢ τῇ τομῇ τῶν φλεβῶν. Καὶ τίς ἂν ἐφίκοιτο λόγος, ἢ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν παθημάτων, ἢ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἰαμάτων; Πολλὰ μὲν γὰρ τὰ τῇ φύσει τοῦ σώματος πολεμοῦντα, πολλαπλάσια δὲ τὰ τούτων ἀλεξιφάρ μακα. Πολλὰ γὰρ ἐφεῦρεν ἡ τέχνη ἑκάστῳ πάθει πολεμεῖν πεφυκότα. Τούτου χάριν ὁ Ποιητὴς, καὶ βοτάνας πολλὰς, οὐκ ἐδωδίμους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀχρήστους εἰς ἐδωδὴν, τῇ γῇ βλαστῆσαι προσέταξεν, ἐπειδήπερ οὐ μόνης τροφῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεραπείας ἐνδεεῖς ἐσμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Τούτων τοιγαροῦν τὰς μὲν ἡμεῖς ὀψοποιούμεθα, τὰς δὲ τῶν ἀλόγων ἐσθίει τὰ ποηφάγα, τὰς δὲ ἰατρῶν συλλέγοντες παῖδες, τὰ ἀλεξίκακα κατασκευάζουσι φάρμακα, καὶ τὸ εἰς ἐδωδὴν ὀλέθριον, ἀλεξίκακον γίνεται φάρ μακον. Μηδὲ ταῦτά σε τοιγαροῦν εἰς κατηγορίαν τῆς Προνοίας κινείτω. Τούτων γὰρ ἕκαστον εἰς εὐ φημίαν τῶν εὐγνωμόνων τὴν γλῶτταν