Book 1
5
In the attack, the person lies insensible; the hands are clasped together by the spasm; the legs not only plaited together, but also dashed about hither and thither by the tendons. The calamity bears a resemblance to slaughtered bulls; the neck bent, the head variously distorted, for sometimes it is arched, as it were, forwards, so that the chin rests upon the breast; and sometimes it is retracted to the back, as if forcibly drawn thither by the hair, when it rests on this shoulder or on that. They gape wide, the mouth is dry; the tongue protrudes, so as to incur the risk of a great wound, or of a piece of it being cut off, should the teeth come forcibly together with the spasm; the eyes rolled inwards, the eyelids for the most part are separated, and affected with palpitation; but should they wish to shut the lids they cannot bring them together, insomuch that the white of the eyes can be seen from below. The eyebrows sometimes relaxed towards the mesal space, as in those who are frowning, and sometimes retracted to the temples abnormally, so that the skin about the forehead is greatly stretched, and the wrinkles in the intersuperciliary space disappear: the cheeks are ruddy and quivering; the lips sometimes compressed together to a sharp point, and sometimes separated towards the sides, when they are stretched over the teeth, like as in persons smiling.
