The authors I usually work on tend to admire “the ancients” — an important part of their scholastic game is figuring out ways of interpreting them charitably (i.e. in a way that the ancient view is strikingly like their own).

This bit attributed to Soranus’ Gynaecology shows a bit of the opposite tendency, criticizing the ancients for thinking the uterus was like a wild animal that flees foul odours and chases sweet ones.

Most of the ancients, and nearly all the heterodox, used bad-smelling substances, like burnt hair, extinguished lamp-wicks, deer horn burned as incense, burnt wool, burnt tow [with liquid pitch, cedar oil, sphondylion, and peucedanum], leather and rags smearing the nostrils and ears with castoreum, pitch, cedar oil, asphalt, crushed bugs, and everything else reputed to have a heavy smell, on the assumption that the womb flees foul odors. Hence they also applied sweet-smelling fumigants below and used pessaries of spikenard and styrax, so that the womb, fleeing some things and pursuing others, might be shifted from the upper regions to the lower.

Beyond these measures, Hippocrates gave some women a drink of cabbage decoction and others donkey's milk; and when the womb was contorting as in ileus, he inserted the nozzle of a smith's bellows into the vaginal passage and blew into it, attempting to produce dilation. Diocles, in the third book of his Gynecology, pinches the nostrils shut, opens the mouth, employs a sternutatory, presses the womb down into the lower regions with the hand by pressure on the hypochondrium, and pours warm water over the legs. Mantias gives castoreum and asphalt in wine; and when the hysterical episode is imminent, he uses flute-playing and drums. Xenophon also brings in lamplight and contrives various sounds by scraping and striking bronze vessels. Asclepiades uses a sternutatory, tightly binds the hypochondria with straps and cords, shouts loudly, blows vinegar into the nostrils, and in the intervals recommends sexual intercourse, copious drinking of water, and the pouring of cold water over the head.

We blame them all for immediately striking inflamed parts and inducing drowsiness through the repellent action of bad smells. For it is not as if the womb creeps out of its lair like a wild animal, turning towards what smells nice and away from what smells bad. It is drawn together by the constriction arising from inflammation. It is likewise harmful to damage the stomach, which is inflamed by sympathy, with medicinal and acrid drinks.

The compression produced by the smith’s bellows toward the genital region further distends the womb by inflation, though it is already sufficiently stretched by the inflammation itself. The use of sternutatories, through the shaking and the acridity of the drugs, produces metasyncrisis (rearrangement of the bodily mixture) in chronic conditions; it therefore exacerbates the state when it is already under tension and requires soothing, not force. Noises too, and the sounds of bronze vessels, are jarring and irritating to parts made sensitive by inflammation; indeed, many even healthy women have developed headaches from such noises.

The vinegar blown in is likewise harmful, for just as with external inflammations, so also with internal ones, every astringent intensifies them. It is also harmful to compress the inflamed womb externally with cords or straps, since it cannot even bear a poultice without aggravation from the pressure. Drinking large quantities of water is not merely unhelpful but in some cases positively harmful, since the patient requires strengthening, not metasyncrisis (which is also brought about by transition to a different mixture). Sexual intercourse produces weakness in every respect; it is therefore not beneficial, since it worsens the swelling into atony without producing any improvement.

As for pouring cold water on the head in order to stop the aphonia: this is plainly contrary to method; for when the body is condensed by cooling, the hysterical episode must become still harder to resolve because of the intensification of the inflammation.

<οἱ πλεῖστοι δὲ τῶν ἀρχαίων καὶ οἱ μικροῦ δεῖν πάντες ἑτερόδοξοι> δυσώδεσιν ὀσφραντοῖς ἐχρῶντο (οἷον θριξὶ κεκαυμέναις καὶ ἐλλυχνίοις ἀπεσβεσμένοις ἐλαφείῳ τε κέρατι τεθυμιαμένῳ, ἐρίῳ κεκαυμένῳ, κναφάλλοις κεκαυμένοις [πίσσῃ ὑγρᾷ, κεδρίᾳ, σφονδυλίῳ, πευκεδάνῳ] δέρματί τε καὶ ῥάκεσι, καστορίῳ διαχρίοντες τὰς ῥῖνας καὶ τὰ ὦτα, πίσσῃ, κεδρίᾳ, ἀσφάλτῳ, κόρεσι τεθλασμέναις καὶ πᾶσιν ἤδη τοῖς βαρυόσμοις εἶναι νομιζομένοις) ὡς τῆς ὑστέρας ἀπὸ τῶν δυσωδῶν φευγούσης· ἔνθεν καὶ κάτωθεν ἐπεθυμίασαν τὰ εὐώδη καὶ πεσσοὺς παρέλαβον διὰ νάρδου στάχυος <καὶ> στύρακος πρὸς τὸ τὴν μήτραν ἃ μὲν φεύγουσαν, ἃ δὲ διώκουσαν ἐκ τῶν ὑπερκειμένων τόπων εἰς τοὺς ὑποκειμένους μεταστῆναι.

ἔξωθεν δὲ τούτων Ἱπποκράτης τὰς μὲν ἀφεψήματι κράμβης ἐπότισε, τὰς δὲ ὀνείῳ γάλακτι, καὶ ὡς εἰλεωδῶς στροφουμένης τῆς μήτρας αὐλίσκον ἐνθεὶς χαλκευτικῆς φύσης εἰς τὸν γυναι|κεῖον κόλπον ἐφύσα διαστολὴν ἐπιτηδεύων. Διοκλῆς δὲ ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ τῶν Γυναικείων συνάγει μὲν τὰ πτερύγια τῆς ῥινός, ἀνοίγει δὲ τὸ στόμα καὶ πταρμικῷ χρῆται καὶ τῇ χειρὶ τὴν ὑστέραν εἰς τοὺς ὑποκειμένους ἀποθλίβει τόπους διὰ τῆς εἰς τὸ ὑποχόνδριον ἐπερείσεως καὶ τὰ σκέλη θερμῷ καταντλεῖ. Μαντίας δὲ καστορίῳ καὶ ἀσφάλτῳ ποτίζει δι' οἴνου, μελλούσης δὲ τῆς καταφορᾶς καταυλήσει χρῆται καὶ τυμπάνοις. Ξενοφῶν δὲ καὶ φῶς τὸ ἀπὸ λαμπτήρων εἰσφέρει καὶ ἤχους ἐπιτηδεύει πλείονας ἀκονῶν καὶ τύπτων χαλκώματα. Ἀσκληπιάδης δὲ πταρμικῷ χρῆται καὶ τὰ ὑποχόνδρια τελαμῶσι καὶ χορδαῖς διασφίγγει καὶ ἐμβοᾷ καὶ ταῖς ῥισὶν ὄξος ἐμφυσᾷ, κατὰ δὲ τὸ διάλειμμα συνουσίαν δοκιμάζει καὶ ὑδροποσίαν <καὶ διὰ τοῦ ψυχροῦ τῆς κεφαλῆς καταιόνησιν>.

μεμφόμεθα δὲ πάντας εὐθέως πλήσσοντας τὰ φλεγμαίνοντα καὶ κάρους κατασκευάζοντας [τῆς] διὰ τῆς ἐκ τῶν δυσωδῶν ἀποφορᾶς. οὐ γὰρ ὡς θηρίον ἐκ φωλεῶν ἡ μήτρα προέρπει, τερπομένη μὲν τοῖς εὐώδεσι, φεύγουσα δὲ <τὰ> δυσώδη, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῆς φλεγμονῆς σφίγξιν συνολκοῦται. χαλεπὸν δὲ καὶ τὸ φλεγμαίνοντα κατὰ συμπάθειαν τὸν στόμαχον ποτήμασιν κακοῦν φαρμακώδεσι καὶ δριμέσιν.

ἡ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς χαλκευτικῆς φύσης ἔκθλιψις εἰς τὸ αἰδοῖον τῇ πνευματώσει προσδιατείνει τὴν ὑστέραν ἱκανῶς ἤδη τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φλεγμονῆς διατεταμένην. ἡ δὲ τῶν πταρμικῶν χρῆσις τῷ τιναγμῷ καὶ τῇ δριμύτητι τῶν φαρμάκων μετασυγκρίνει τὰ χρονίσαντα, διόπερ παροξύνει τῆς ἐν ἐπιτάσει τὴν διάθεσιν οὐ βίας δεομένης, ἀλλὰ πραϋσμοῦ. πληκτικοὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ ψόφοι καὶ οἱ τῶν χαλκωμάτων ἦχοι καὶ τῶν διὰ τὴν φλεγμονὴν εὐπαθῶν ἐρεθιστικοί· πολλαὶ γοῦν καὶ τῶν ὑγιαινουσῶν ἀπὸ τοιούτων ψόφων ἐκεφαλάργησαν.

ἐπιβλαβὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐμφυσηθὲν ὄξος· ὡς γὰρ τὰς ἔξωθεν φλεγμονάς, οὕτω καὶ τὰς ἔνδοθεν πᾶν τὸ στῦφον ἐπιτείνει. βλαβερὸν δὲ καὶ τὸ διὰ χορδῶν ἢ τελαμώνων περισφίγγειν φλεγμαίνουσαν ἔξωθεν τὴν ὑστέραν οὐδὲ κατάπλασμα φέρειν ἀβαρῶς δυναμένην διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς περιθλάσεως ἐπίτασιν. τὸ δὲ ὑδροποτεῖν οὐκ ἀσύμφορον <μόνον>, ἔσθ' ὅπου δὲ καὶ βλαβερόν ἐστι, ῥώσεως δεομένης τῆς καμνούσης, οὐ μετασυγκρίσεως, <ἣ> γίνεται καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κρᾶμα μετελεύσεως. συνουσία δὲ παρασκευαστικὴ πᾶσιν ἀτονίας, διὰ τοῦτο οὐ συμφέρει μηδενὸς προσγινομένου βελτίονος κακοῦσα τὸν ὄγκον εἰς ἀτονίαν.

ἡ μέντοι διὰ τοῦ ψυχροῦ τῆς [δὲ] κεφαλῆς καταιόνησις ἕνεκα τοῦ παύσασθαι τὴν ἀφωνίαν καταφανῶς ἐστιν ἄτεχνος· τῇ ψύξει γὰρ ἐπιπυκνουμένου τοῦ σώματος διὰ τὴν ἐπίτασιν τῆς φλεγμονῆς δυσανακλητοτέραν δεῖ γίνεσθαι τὴν καταφοράν.

Soranus, Gynaecology, 3.29.1.1–3.29.11.5 (112,4-113,27 Ilberg)

Musical therapy has been shown to be effective at reducing pain. That might not be surprising, but it's nice that people are researching ways of dealing with pain that are not just pharmacological. What's curious to me about the passages and the debate below isn't so much that they talk about music (particularly flute music) as a way of curing the pain, or that others would deny it. I'm curious (a) why Theophrastus would have talked about musical therapy in a text on enthusiasm (a kind of frenzy of divine possession normally associated with ritual cults); and (b) whether it suggests there was a discussion going on among people like Theophrastus and Democritus (or a pseudo-Democritus - here is a great article by Matteo Martelli) about whether music causes enthusiasm, how enthusiasm is related to pain, and what it suggests about the affinity of mind and body. It'd also be nice to know why you have to play the flute right over the part of the body that's in pain.

"It is worth mentioning the treatment <which> Theophrastus talks about in his book On Enthusiasm. He says that music cures many of the illnesses that occur in the soul and the body, like swooning, fear and long-term mental derangement. He says flute playing in particular cures sciatica and epilepsy, just like it did for the person who went to see Aristoxenus the musician..."

Ἄξια δ' ἐστὶν ἐπιστάσεως [τὰ εἰρημένα.] <ἃ> Θεόφραστος ἐν τῷ περὶ ἐνθουσιασμοῦ ἐξεῖπεν. φησὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος τὴν μουσικὴν πολλὰ τῶν ἐπὶ ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα γιγνομένων παθῶν ἰατρεύειν, καθάπερ λιποθυμίαν, φόβους καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ μακρὸν γιγνομένας τῆς διανοίας ἐκστάσεις. ἰᾶται γάρ, φησίν, ἡ καταύλησις καὶ ἰσχιάδα καὶ ἐπιληψίαν· καθάπερ πρὸς Ἀριστόξενον τὸν μουσικὸν ἐλθόντα [text is corrupt after this point]...

Apollonius Paradoxographus, Historiae Mirabiles c. 49.

"That music cures diseases, Theophrastus discusses in his book On Enthusiasm, where he says that those suffering from sciatica become free of the disease when someone plays a Phrygian arrangement on the flute over the affected place."

ὅτι δὲ καὶ νόσους ἰᾶται μουσικὴ Θεόφραστος ἱστόρησεν ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἐνθουσιασμοῦ ἰσχιακοὺς φάσκων ἀνόσους διατελεῖν, εἰ καταυλήσοι τις τοῦ τόπου τῇ Φρυγιστὶ ἁρμονίᾳ.

Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae 14.18

"I recently found a passage in a book of Theophrastus, which says that many people believe and have written down that when sciatica is especially painful, their pains are diminished if a flute-player plays a gentle melody. That flute playing, when done with skill and measure, also cures snake bites is mentioned in a book by Democritus, which is called [there's a lacuna], in which he shows that music from flutes is a cure for many human diseases. There is so great an affinity between people's bodies and minds, and for this reason as well between the illnesses and also remedies of the soul and the body."

Creditum hoc a plerisque esse et memoriae mandatum, ischia cum maxime doleant, tum, si modulis lenibus tibicen incinat, minui dolores, ego nuperrime in libro Theophrasti scriptum inveni. Viperarum morsibus tibicinium scite modulateque adhibitum mederi refert etiam Democriti liber, qui inscribitur . . ., in quo docet plurimis hominum morbidis medicinae fuisse incentiones tibiarum. Tanta prosus adfinitas est corporibus hominum mentibusque et propterea vitiis quoque aut medellis animorum et corporum.

Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, 4.13

"Some doctors prescribe the use of music [for sciatica], as the brother of Philistion also mentions in Book 22 of On Remedies. He writes that there was a piper who would play songs over the part that was in pain, which would begin to pulse and palpitate, relieving and freeing him from the pain. Some say Pythagoras discovered this kind of remedy. But in Soranus' opinion, whoever believes that a powerful disease is removed by music and song suffers from a vain delusion."

"item alii cantelenas adhibendas probaverunt, ut etiam Philistionis frater idem memorat libro XXII De adiutoriis, scribens quendam fistulatorem loca dolentia decantasse, quae cum saltum sumerent palpitando discusso dolore mitescerent. alii denique hoc adiutorii genus Pithagoram memorant invenisse. sed Sorani iudicio videntur hi mentis vanitate iactari qui modulis et cantilena passionis robur excludi crediderunt."

Caelius Aurelianus, On Chronic Diseases, 5.23 (pp.918-20 Drabkin)

“It is not as if the womb creeps out of its lair like a wild animal” — Soranus on the ancients on scented materials and women's medicine

An ancient debate on music therapy