Do you think the disowned son was right to refuse treatment to his stepmother, or should he have at least tried to
administer
a remedy, in the hope that it might work?
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome_nodrm
Jones.
Hippocrates (11, 12).
LCL, 1924.
]
AFTERMATH
The impact of Hippocrates's work is well summarized by the entry in the Oxford Classical Dictionary (s. v. Hippocrates): "If one asks what Hippocrates meant to the Greeks, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, what he means even today, the answer is that by a complicated historical process he has become the embodiment of the ideal physician. "
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Apollo Physician, Asclepius, Health [Hygiea], Panacea: An invocation to the family of "healer deities" of Greek mythology: Apollo, the father of Asclepius, who was the god of medicine. Hygiea and Panacea, whose names mean "health" and "all-curing" respec- tively, were daughters of Asclepius.
indenture: The exact application or meaning of this word in the medical context is uncertain. The Greek word syngraphia (here translated as "indenture") literally means "a writ- ing together," and is generally understood to refer to a contract. It may here denote an agreement between teacher and student: the student's main responsibilities are to respect the teacher and to be will- ing to share his medical knowledge with other students; the teacher's responsibility is to instruct the stu- dent, possibly free of charge.
partner: This probably refers to a con- tinued sharing of knowledge and expertise, rather than a more nar- rowly defined, shared professional medical practice.
stone: Presumably bladder or kidney stones.
And whatsoever I shall see or hear:
The translator of the passage, W. H. S. Jones, comments: "This remarkable addition is worthy of a passing notice. The physician must not gossip, no matter how or where the subject matter for gossip may have been acquired; whether it be in practice or in private life makes no difference. "
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Hippocrates and the Ethics of the Medical Profession
? ? ? ? HIPPOCRATES WAS NOT THE ONLY NOTABLE GREEK PHYSICIAN
The fifth-century BCE historian Herodotus relates a story about the powerful and much-feared (by the Greeks) Persian king Darius (sixth century BCE). It seems that Darius was out hunting one day, when he dismounted awkwardly from his horse and badly sprained his ankle. The Egyptian physicians who were called in to treat him only made matters worse by their inept methods. But someone in the royal entourage knew of a Greek cap- tive by the name of Democedes, from the city of Croton, and that this Democedes was a skilled medical practi- tioner. Democedes was summoned, and, after some cajoling, he agreed to attend to the king, who soon recovered, thanks to the care he had received from his Greek doctor. According to Herodotus, "it was chiefly because of Democedes' success [not only in treating Darius, but in his medical practice on the islands of Aegina and Samos] that Crotoniate doctors came to have such a high reputation. Darius' accident happened during the period when the physicians of Croton were considered the best in Greece, and those of Cyrene the next best. " [Herodotus. The Histories 3. 131; tr. de Selincourt. ] An interesting side note: Democedes married the daughter of Milo of Croton, who was the finest Olympic athlete of his era and one of the best in all of ancient Olympic history.
? ? ? ASK YOURSELF
1. What differences do you notice between the ways in which ancient and modern physicians viewed the practice of medicine?
2. Why do you think there seemed to be such a strong link between medicine and reli- gion in the ancient Greek world?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e AlthoughtheHippocraticOathisveryshort,itcontainsafairlylargenum- ber of principles relating to the practice of medicine. Which of these prin- ciples would still be doable by modern physicians? Which ones do you think that many modern physicians might avoid or even outwardly oppose?
e How many medical schools today still require graduating students to take the Hippocratic Oath? If this information is not readily available, try doing a random survey of select medical schools to see which ones require it.
e ItwasmentionedintheintroductionthatHippocratesmaynothavewrit- ten all of the entries in the Hippocratic Corpus, and that he perhaps did not author any of them. What evidence leads modern scholars to these conclu- sions? Does it seem likely that there never existed an ancient physician named Hippocrates, and that the medical texts bearing his name were actually written by a consortium of now-unknown doctors?
e The document contains fairly straightforward condemnations of both euthanasia and abortion. What were the attitudes of other ancient physi- cians and philosophers about these issues? In particular, find out what Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle might have written.
Further Information
Cantor, David, ed. Reinventing Hippocrates. Burlington, VT, 2002. Jouanna, Jacques. Hippocrates. Baltimore, 1999.
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Levine, Edwin Burton. Hippocrates. New York, 1971. Smith, Wesley D. Hippocratic Tradition. Ithaca, NY, 1979.
Website
Hippocrates. http://www. notablebiographies. com/He-Ho/Hippocrates. html
Bibliography for Document
de Selincourt, Aubrey (tr. ); revised by A. R. Burn. Herodotus: The Histories. Baltimore, 1954. Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Pliny: Natural History. Volume VIII. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge,
1963.
Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Hippocrates. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1923.
19. A MEDICAL MIRACLE MAN WHO DECLINED TO GIVE AN ENCORE PERFORMANCE
INTRODUCTION
This document comes to us by way of the second-century CE Greek satirist and essayist Lucian, who authored works on rhetoric, literature, and philosophy, as well as numerous satirical dialogues. He was born in Syria, but as a young man, he immigrated to the Greco-Roman world, where he traveled widely, both in Greece and Italy. Eventually, he gave up his travels, settled in Athens, and focused on his literary career.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. Lucian wrote over 60 dialogues and sketches; The Disowned Son is one of these. The narrator is a young man who, after being disowned by his father, studied medicine and became a physician. Meanwhile, his father fell ill with a mental disease that puzzled the doctors who were summoned to treat him. The disowned son, however, was able to cure his father, who, in gratitude, revoked his son's expulsion from the family. But in a cruel twist of fate, the young man's stepmother (his father's wife) was also victimized by some sort of mental ailment. When the father commanded his son to work another miracle cure, the son refused, saying that in his medical opinion, his stepmother's illness was different than the one suffered by his father, and likely incurable. For that refusal, the father disowned his son a second time.
2. This fictitious sketch is cast in the form of a legal action, with the son pleading his case in court that his disownment is unjust. As far as is known, no formal disown- ment case ever reached Athenian law courts, but the philosopher Plato writes that provisions for such an action did exist: "Between fathers and their children, and children and their fathers, there arise differences greater than is right, in the course of which fathers, on the one hand, are liable to suppose that the lawgiver should give them legal permission to proclaim publicly by herald, if they so wish, that their sons have legally ceased to be their sons . . . " [Plato. Laws 11. 928D; tr. Bury. ]
3. In the modern world, the mantra to which the medical profession seems to pay homage is "medicine by template": each disease has certain symptoms, courses, and outcomes and must be treated in much the same way, regardless of the specific circumstances of the individual patient. The disowned son refused to be bound by such restrictions. He realized that there were subtle differences in the afflictions of
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his father and stepmother, and that the remedies that worked in his father's case would be ineffectual in treating his stepmother.
Document: No Physician--Not Even a Miracle
Worker--Can Cure All Ills
There is . . . something of a novelty in my present plight [i. e. , his second disown- ment], in that I am under no personal charge, but am in jeopardy of punishment on behalf of my profession because it cannot in every particular obey [my father's demands]. But what could be more absurd than to give treatment under orders, in accordance, not with the powers of the profession, but with the desires of my father? I could wish, to be sure, that medical science had a remedy of such sort that it could check not only insanity but unjust anger, in order that I might cure my father of this disorder also. As things are, his madness has been completely assuaged, but his anger is growing worse, and (what is hardest of all) he is sane to everyone and insane towards me alone, his physician. You see, therefore, what fee I receive for my attendance. I am disowned by him once more and put away from my family a second time, as if I had been taken back for a brief space merely that I might be more disgraced by being turned out of the household repeatedly.
For my part, in cases which can be cured, I do not wait to be summoned. On the previous occasion, for instance, I came to his relief uncalled. But when a case is perfectly desperate, I am unwilling even to [take it on]. And in respect to this woman I am with good reason even less venturesome, since I take into consider- ation how I should be treated by my father if I were to fail, when without having so much as begun treating her, I am disowned. I am indeed pained . . . at my stepmother's serious condition (for she was a good woman), at my father's dis- tress on her account, and most of all at my own apparent disobedience and real inability to do the service which is enjoined upon me, both because of the extraordinary violence of the illness and the ineffectiveness of the art of healing. I do not think, however, that it is just to disown a man who declines at the outset to promise what he cannot perform . . .
In the case of the medical profession, the more distinguished it is and the more serviceable to the world, the more unrestricted it should be for those who practice it. It is only just that the art of healing should carry with it some privilege
in respect to the liberty of practicing it; that no compul- sion and no commands should be put upon a holy call- ing, taught by the gods and exercised by men of learning; that it should not be subject to enslavement by the law, or to voting and judicial punishment, or to fear and a father's threats and a layman's wrath . . . The physician ought to be persuaded, not ordered. He ought to be willing, not fearful. He ought not to be hailed to the bedside, but to take pleasure in coming of his own accord. Surely his calling is exempt from paternal com- pulsion in view of the fact that physicians have honors, precedence, immunities, and privileges publicly
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? a holy calling, taught by the gods:
According to the Roman natural scientist Pliny the Elder, "to its pioneers, medicine [is] assigned a place among the gods and a home in heaven, and even today medical aid is in many ways sought from the oracle. " [Pliny the Elder. Natural History 29. 1; tr. Jones. ]
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A Medical Miracle Man Who Declined to Give an Encore Performance
bestowed on them by states. [Tr. A. M. Harmon. Lucian. (1-2; 23. ) Volume V. LCL, 1936. Page numbers: 477, 479, 511, 513. ]
AFTERMATH
The son concludes his case by stating that there is no cure on the horizon for his stepmother, not even if "she takes medicine a thousand times," and that therefore, it is imprudent to embark upon a course of treatment. He also pledges that if his father should have a relapse, that he (the son) would once again attempt to effect a cure, despite the one, and possibly two, disownments inflicted upon him by his father. Further, he reminds his father that it was through shouting, arguments, anger, and hatred that his first bout of insanity was trig- gered, and by continuing to display those maladaptive character traits, he might well bring on a second one.
Lucian does not reveal whether the disownment action was upheld by the court.
ASK YOURSELF
1.
Do you think the disowned son was right to refuse treatment to his stepmother, or should he have at least tried to administer a remedy, in the hope that it might work?
2. If you were sitting on the jury in this case, would you have supported or denied the
father's case for disownment? Why?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e Inthemodernworld,itmightbeconsideredinappropriateorevenuneth- ical for a physician to deliver health care services to an immediate family
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? DIVINE HEALING FOR A BATTLE WOUND
The connection between the gods and the art of medicine is illustrated by the two physicians who accompanied the Greek forces during the Trojan War: Machaon and Podalirius, both sons of Asclepius, god of medicine. In Book 4 of the Iliad, the Greek warrior-king Menelaus has been shot by an arrow and is bleeding profusely; Machaon is hurriedly summoned:
And gaining the place where red-haired Menelaus nursed his wound and a growing ring of warlords pressed around him, striding into their midst
the godsent healer reached the captain's side
and quickly drew the shaft from his buckled belt -
he pulled it clear, the sharp barbs broke back.
He loosed the glittering belt and slipped it off
and the loin-piece and the plated guard below it,
gear the bronzesmiths made. When he saw the wound
where the tearing arrow hit, he sucked out the blood
and deftly applied the healing salves that Chiron,
friend of Asclepius, gave his father long ago. [Homer. Iliad 4; tr. Fagles. ]
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96
member. This does not appear to have been the case in the ancient world.
Why not, do you suppose?
e Weknowverylittleaboutwhatmighthaveconstitutedmedicalmalpractice
in the ancient world, but there seems to have been a tradition to hold physi- cians blameless in the event that their treatments failed. The disowned son apparently hints at that idea when he proclaims that the practice of medi- cine "should not be subject to enslavement by the law, or to voting and judicial punishment [i. e. , no medical malpractice lawsuits should be allowed! ], or to fear a father's threats and a layman's wrath. " In the same sec- tion, the son argues that the medical profession should be "unrestricted . . . for those who practice it. " Research ancient Greek law and judicial pro- cedure, to see if you can find any examples of the prosecution of physicians for real or perceived incompetence.
Further Information
Baldwin, Barry. Studies in Lucian. Toronto, 1973.
Branham, Bracht. Unruly Eloquence: Lucian and the Comedy of Traditions. Cambridge, MA,
1989.
Jones, Christopher P. Culture and Society in Lucian. Cambridge, MA, 1986.
Website
Bibliography to Lucian: A Select and Evolving Guide. http://classics. uc. edu/~johnson/ Lucian/bibliography. htm
Bibliography for Document
Bury. R. G. (tr. ). Plato. Laws. Volume II. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1926.
Fagles, Robert (tr. ). Homer: The Iliad. New York, 1990.
Harmon, A. M. (tr. ). Lucian. Volume V. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1936.
Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Pliny: Natural History. Volume VIII. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge,
1963.
20. HOW TO OBTAIN GOOD HEALTH, AND KEEP IT
INTRODUCTION
Aulus Cornelius Celsus (first century CE) wrote an encyclopedic work covering agriculture, medicine, military matters, oratory, and philosophy. But only the portion on medicine (De Medicina) survives intact. The treatise was so highly regarded that it earned its author such laudatory epithets as the "Roman Hippocrates" and the "Cicero of Physicians. "
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. The document is excerpted from portions of Book 1 of De Medicina; the material presented is introductory. In later chapters, the author covers more detailed and specific topics concerning the practice of medicine, including an overview of the major organs of the body and remedies for ailments that afflict them; a description of various kinds of drugs and antidotes; treatments for wounds and injuries; surgical procedures; and a general description of fractures and dislocations.
2. The Roman essayist Quintilian reveals that Celsus did not confine his writings to medicine, but also wrote treatises on agriculture and military matters. Quintilian considers Celsus to have been a reliable authority on all topics on which he wrote.
Document: Good Health . . . and How
to Maintain It
A man in health, who is both vigorous and his own master, should be under no obligatory rules, and have no need, either for a medical attendant, or for a [masseuse] and anointer. His kind of life should afford him variety; he should now be in the country, now in town, and more often about the farm. He should sail, hunt, rest sometimes, but more often take exercise. For while inaction weakens the body, work strengthens it. The former brings on premature old age, the latter prolongs youth.
It is well also at times to go to the bath, at times to make use of cold waters; to undergo sometimes [anointing], sometimes to neglect that same; to avoid no
? ? ? ? ? 97
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
kind of food in common use; to attend at times a ban- quet, at times to hold aloof; to eat more than sufficient at one time, at another no more; to take food twice rather than once a day, and always as much as one wants, provided one digests it. But while exercise and food of this sort are necessaries, those of the athletes are redundant. For in the one class [i. e. , the exercise regimen] any break in the routine of exercise, owing to necessities of civil life, affects the body injuriously, and in the other [i. e. , the dietary regimen], bodies thus fed up in their fashion age very quickly and become infirm. . .
On waking, one should lie still for a while, then, except in winter time, bathe the face freely with cold water. When the days are long, the siesta should be taken before the midday meal, when short, after it. In winter, it is best to rest in bed the whole night long; if there must be study by lamplight, it should not be immediately after taking food, but after digestion. He who has been engaged in the day, whether in domestic or on public affairs, ought to keep some portion of the day for the care of the body. The primary care in this respect is exercise, which should always precede the taking of food. The exercise should be ampler in the case of one who has labored less and digested well. It should be lighter in the case of one who is fatigued and has digested less well.
Useful exercises are: reading aloud, drill [a` la sol- diers], handball, running, walking, but this is not by any means most useful on the level, since walking up and down hill varies the movement of the body, unless indeed the body is thoroughly weak. But it is better to walk in the open air than under cover; better, when the head allows of it, in the sun than in the shade; better under the shade of a wall or of trees than under a roof; better a straight than a winding walk. But the exercise ought to come to an end with sweating, or at any rate [tiredness], which should be well this side of fatigue . . . But in these matters, as before, the example of athletes should not be followed, with their fixed rules and immoderate labor. [Tr. W. G. Spencer. Celsus: De Medicina. (1. 2. 1,4-7. ) Volume I. LCL, 1935. Page numbers: 43, 47, 49. ]
AFTERMATH
Topics covered in the remainder of Book 1 include advice on the kinds and amounts of food that ought to be consumed; how to deal with the various changes in life, such as occupation, place of residence, and the aging process; how to gain or lose
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? handball: Various kinds of throwing, catching, and bouncing ball games were popular with the Romans, perhaps none more so than trigon, apparently similar to three-sided catch, in which the players threw the ball to one another. Points could be earned or lost with catches or drops, respectively.
lamplight: Pliny the Younger informs us that his famous uncle, the natu- ral scientist--and prolific author-- Pliny the Elder, often worked at night, by lamplight, not with any view toward getting a head start on the next day's agenda, but simply to gain time for additional research. Sometimes, he would arise at mid- night, or one or two o'clock in the morning, to study and write.
[masseuse] and anointer: The Latin term iatralipta ("masseuse/anointer") covers both procedures. In one of his subsequent chapters, Celsus details the role of massage in medical care, noting that it should be used when- ever a weak body needs toning, or one that is too hard requires soften- ing, or when a thin or sickly body needs nourishment.
redundant: In a famous passage from his now-fragmentary play Autolycus, Euripides lambasts overfed athletes: "Although there are myriads of evils throughout Greece, there is nothing worse than the race of athletes. First of all, they neither learn how to live a good life, nor could they possibly do so. For how could a man who is a slave to his jaw and obedient to his belly acquire wealth to surpass than of his father? " [tr. Robinson]
? ? ? ? ? 98
weight; purging and vomiting; lifestyle choices that should be made depending on age and time of year; instructions for people who are susceptible to various and specific kinds of ail- ments (such as headaches, stomach pains, muscular aches and pains); and how to remain healthy during epidemics.
W. G. Spencer, the translator of the document, proclaims that Celsus's work has been highly regarded by scholars and historians of all subsequent time periods, and that Celsus richly deserves to be favorably compared with Cicero.
ASK YOURSELF
1. What parts of Celsus's "prescriptions" for good health sound contemporary? Does he articulate any advice that seems injurious or outdated?
2. What do you think of Euripides's harsh assessment of overfed athletes? Can you think of any modern examples of the kind of athletes described by Euripides?
3. Why do you suppose Celsus recommends reading aloud as a "useful exercise"?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e Would it be possible to draw a parallel between the dietary excesses of ancient athletes (i. e. , the sort of excesses about which both Celsus and Euripides complain) and the stories of steroid abuse by modern athletes? In other words, could the food overindulgences of ancient athletes have long-term consequences similar to those suffered by modern steroid users? (Euripides goes on to say that "in their prime, [the athletes] make a brilliant spectacle as they go about and are the pride of the state; but when bitter old age comes upon them, they are gone like coarse cloaks which have lost their nap. ")
e DelvefurtherintothewritingsofHippocratesandCelsus,(mostlikely)the two most notable Greek and Roman physicians, respectively. Which of the two authors seems more authoritative? Which one covers the various areas of medical practice more thoroughly?
Further Information
Garrison, Fielding. An Introduction to the History of Medicine. Philadelphia, 1929. Langslow, D. R. Medical Latin in the Roman Empire. Oxford, 2000. Scarborough, John. Roman Medicine. Ithaca, NY, 1969.
Website
Celsus on Medicine. http://penelope. uchicago. edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Celsus/ Introduction*. html
Bibliography for Document
Robinson, Rachel Sargent. Sources for the History of Greek Athletics. Ann Arbor, MI, 1927. Spencer, W. G. (tr. ).
AFTERMATH
The impact of Hippocrates's work is well summarized by the entry in the Oxford Classical Dictionary (s. v. Hippocrates): "If one asks what Hippocrates meant to the Greeks, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, what he means even today, the answer is that by a complicated historical process he has become the embodiment of the ideal physician. "
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Apollo Physician, Asclepius, Health [Hygiea], Panacea: An invocation to the family of "healer deities" of Greek mythology: Apollo, the father of Asclepius, who was the god of medicine. Hygiea and Panacea, whose names mean "health" and "all-curing" respec- tively, were daughters of Asclepius.
indenture: The exact application or meaning of this word in the medical context is uncertain. The Greek word syngraphia (here translated as "indenture") literally means "a writ- ing together," and is generally understood to refer to a contract. It may here denote an agreement between teacher and student: the student's main responsibilities are to respect the teacher and to be will- ing to share his medical knowledge with other students; the teacher's responsibility is to instruct the stu- dent, possibly free of charge.
partner: This probably refers to a con- tinued sharing of knowledge and expertise, rather than a more nar- rowly defined, shared professional medical practice.
stone: Presumably bladder or kidney stones.
And whatsoever I shall see or hear:
The translator of the passage, W. H. S. Jones, comments: "This remarkable addition is worthy of a passing notice. The physician must not gossip, no matter how or where the subject matter for gossip may have been acquired; whether it be in practice or in private life makes no difference. "
? ? ? ? ? 90
Hippocrates and the Ethics of the Medical Profession
? ? ? ? HIPPOCRATES WAS NOT THE ONLY NOTABLE GREEK PHYSICIAN
The fifth-century BCE historian Herodotus relates a story about the powerful and much-feared (by the Greeks) Persian king Darius (sixth century BCE). It seems that Darius was out hunting one day, when he dismounted awkwardly from his horse and badly sprained his ankle. The Egyptian physicians who were called in to treat him only made matters worse by their inept methods. But someone in the royal entourage knew of a Greek cap- tive by the name of Democedes, from the city of Croton, and that this Democedes was a skilled medical practi- tioner. Democedes was summoned, and, after some cajoling, he agreed to attend to the king, who soon recovered, thanks to the care he had received from his Greek doctor. According to Herodotus, "it was chiefly because of Democedes' success [not only in treating Darius, but in his medical practice on the islands of Aegina and Samos] that Crotoniate doctors came to have such a high reputation. Darius' accident happened during the period when the physicians of Croton were considered the best in Greece, and those of Cyrene the next best. " [Herodotus. The Histories 3. 131; tr. de Selincourt. ] An interesting side note: Democedes married the daughter of Milo of Croton, who was the finest Olympic athlete of his era and one of the best in all of ancient Olympic history.
? ? ? ASK YOURSELF
1. What differences do you notice between the ways in which ancient and modern physicians viewed the practice of medicine?
2. Why do you think there seemed to be such a strong link between medicine and reli- gion in the ancient Greek world?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e AlthoughtheHippocraticOathisveryshort,itcontainsafairlylargenum- ber of principles relating to the practice of medicine. Which of these prin- ciples would still be doable by modern physicians? Which ones do you think that many modern physicians might avoid or even outwardly oppose?
e How many medical schools today still require graduating students to take the Hippocratic Oath? If this information is not readily available, try doing a random survey of select medical schools to see which ones require it.
e ItwasmentionedintheintroductionthatHippocratesmaynothavewrit- ten all of the entries in the Hippocratic Corpus, and that he perhaps did not author any of them. What evidence leads modern scholars to these conclu- sions? Does it seem likely that there never existed an ancient physician named Hippocrates, and that the medical texts bearing his name were actually written by a consortium of now-unknown doctors?
e The document contains fairly straightforward condemnations of both euthanasia and abortion. What were the attitudes of other ancient physi- cians and philosophers about these issues? In particular, find out what Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle might have written.
Further Information
Cantor, David, ed. Reinventing Hippocrates. Burlington, VT, 2002. Jouanna, Jacques. Hippocrates. Baltimore, 1999.
? ? ? 91
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
92
Levine, Edwin Burton. Hippocrates. New York, 1971. Smith, Wesley D. Hippocratic Tradition. Ithaca, NY, 1979.
Website
Hippocrates. http://www. notablebiographies. com/He-Ho/Hippocrates. html
Bibliography for Document
de Selincourt, Aubrey (tr. ); revised by A. R. Burn. Herodotus: The Histories. Baltimore, 1954. Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Pliny: Natural History. Volume VIII. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge,
1963.
Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Hippocrates. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1923.
19. A MEDICAL MIRACLE MAN WHO DECLINED TO GIVE AN ENCORE PERFORMANCE
INTRODUCTION
This document comes to us by way of the second-century CE Greek satirist and essayist Lucian, who authored works on rhetoric, literature, and philosophy, as well as numerous satirical dialogues. He was born in Syria, but as a young man, he immigrated to the Greco-Roman world, where he traveled widely, both in Greece and Italy. Eventually, he gave up his travels, settled in Athens, and focused on his literary career.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. Lucian wrote over 60 dialogues and sketches; The Disowned Son is one of these. The narrator is a young man who, after being disowned by his father, studied medicine and became a physician. Meanwhile, his father fell ill with a mental disease that puzzled the doctors who were summoned to treat him. The disowned son, however, was able to cure his father, who, in gratitude, revoked his son's expulsion from the family. But in a cruel twist of fate, the young man's stepmother (his father's wife) was also victimized by some sort of mental ailment. When the father commanded his son to work another miracle cure, the son refused, saying that in his medical opinion, his stepmother's illness was different than the one suffered by his father, and likely incurable. For that refusal, the father disowned his son a second time.
2. This fictitious sketch is cast in the form of a legal action, with the son pleading his case in court that his disownment is unjust. As far as is known, no formal disown- ment case ever reached Athenian law courts, but the philosopher Plato writes that provisions for such an action did exist: "Between fathers and their children, and children and their fathers, there arise differences greater than is right, in the course of which fathers, on the one hand, are liable to suppose that the lawgiver should give them legal permission to proclaim publicly by herald, if they so wish, that their sons have legally ceased to be their sons . . . " [Plato. Laws 11. 928D; tr. Bury. ]
3. In the modern world, the mantra to which the medical profession seems to pay homage is "medicine by template": each disease has certain symptoms, courses, and outcomes and must be treated in much the same way, regardless of the specific circumstances of the individual patient. The disowned son refused to be bound by such restrictions. He realized that there were subtle differences in the afflictions of
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Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
his father and stepmother, and that the remedies that worked in his father's case would be ineffectual in treating his stepmother.
Document: No Physician--Not Even a Miracle
Worker--Can Cure All Ills
There is . . . something of a novelty in my present plight [i. e. , his second disown- ment], in that I am under no personal charge, but am in jeopardy of punishment on behalf of my profession because it cannot in every particular obey [my father's demands]. But what could be more absurd than to give treatment under orders, in accordance, not with the powers of the profession, but with the desires of my father? I could wish, to be sure, that medical science had a remedy of such sort that it could check not only insanity but unjust anger, in order that I might cure my father of this disorder also. As things are, his madness has been completely assuaged, but his anger is growing worse, and (what is hardest of all) he is sane to everyone and insane towards me alone, his physician. You see, therefore, what fee I receive for my attendance. I am disowned by him once more and put away from my family a second time, as if I had been taken back for a brief space merely that I might be more disgraced by being turned out of the household repeatedly.
For my part, in cases which can be cured, I do not wait to be summoned. On the previous occasion, for instance, I came to his relief uncalled. But when a case is perfectly desperate, I am unwilling even to [take it on]. And in respect to this woman I am with good reason even less venturesome, since I take into consider- ation how I should be treated by my father if I were to fail, when without having so much as begun treating her, I am disowned. I am indeed pained . . . at my stepmother's serious condition (for she was a good woman), at my father's dis- tress on her account, and most of all at my own apparent disobedience and real inability to do the service which is enjoined upon me, both because of the extraordinary violence of the illness and the ineffectiveness of the art of healing. I do not think, however, that it is just to disown a man who declines at the outset to promise what he cannot perform . . .
In the case of the medical profession, the more distinguished it is and the more serviceable to the world, the more unrestricted it should be for those who practice it. It is only just that the art of healing should carry with it some privilege
in respect to the liberty of practicing it; that no compul- sion and no commands should be put upon a holy call- ing, taught by the gods and exercised by men of learning; that it should not be subject to enslavement by the law, or to voting and judicial punishment, or to fear and a father's threats and a layman's wrath . . . The physician ought to be persuaded, not ordered. He ought to be willing, not fearful. He ought not to be hailed to the bedside, but to take pleasure in coming of his own accord. Surely his calling is exempt from paternal com- pulsion in view of the fact that physicians have honors, precedence, immunities, and privileges publicly
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? a holy calling, taught by the gods:
According to the Roman natural scientist Pliny the Elder, "to its pioneers, medicine [is] assigned a place among the gods and a home in heaven, and even today medical aid is in many ways sought from the oracle. " [Pliny the Elder. Natural History 29. 1; tr. Jones. ]
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A Medical Miracle Man Who Declined to Give an Encore Performance
bestowed on them by states. [Tr. A. M. Harmon. Lucian. (1-2; 23. ) Volume V. LCL, 1936. Page numbers: 477, 479, 511, 513. ]
AFTERMATH
The son concludes his case by stating that there is no cure on the horizon for his stepmother, not even if "she takes medicine a thousand times," and that therefore, it is imprudent to embark upon a course of treatment. He also pledges that if his father should have a relapse, that he (the son) would once again attempt to effect a cure, despite the one, and possibly two, disownments inflicted upon him by his father. Further, he reminds his father that it was through shouting, arguments, anger, and hatred that his first bout of insanity was trig- gered, and by continuing to display those maladaptive character traits, he might well bring on a second one.
Lucian does not reveal whether the disownment action was upheld by the court.
ASK YOURSELF
1.
Do you think the disowned son was right to refuse treatment to his stepmother, or should he have at least tried to administer a remedy, in the hope that it might work?
2. If you were sitting on the jury in this case, would you have supported or denied the
father's case for disownment? Why?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e Inthemodernworld,itmightbeconsideredinappropriateorevenuneth- ical for a physician to deliver health care services to an immediate family
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? DIVINE HEALING FOR A BATTLE WOUND
The connection between the gods and the art of medicine is illustrated by the two physicians who accompanied the Greek forces during the Trojan War: Machaon and Podalirius, both sons of Asclepius, god of medicine. In Book 4 of the Iliad, the Greek warrior-king Menelaus has been shot by an arrow and is bleeding profusely; Machaon is hurriedly summoned:
And gaining the place where red-haired Menelaus nursed his wound and a growing ring of warlords pressed around him, striding into their midst
the godsent healer reached the captain's side
and quickly drew the shaft from his buckled belt -
he pulled it clear, the sharp barbs broke back.
He loosed the glittering belt and slipped it off
and the loin-piece and the plated guard below it,
gear the bronzesmiths made. When he saw the wound
where the tearing arrow hit, he sucked out the blood
and deftly applied the healing salves that Chiron,
friend of Asclepius, gave his father long ago. [Homer. Iliad 4; tr. Fagles. ]
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Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
96
member. This does not appear to have been the case in the ancient world.
Why not, do you suppose?
e Weknowverylittleaboutwhatmighthaveconstitutedmedicalmalpractice
in the ancient world, but there seems to have been a tradition to hold physi- cians blameless in the event that their treatments failed. The disowned son apparently hints at that idea when he proclaims that the practice of medi- cine "should not be subject to enslavement by the law, or to voting and judicial punishment [i. e. , no medical malpractice lawsuits should be allowed! ], or to fear a father's threats and a layman's wrath. " In the same sec- tion, the son argues that the medical profession should be "unrestricted . . . for those who practice it. " Research ancient Greek law and judicial pro- cedure, to see if you can find any examples of the prosecution of physicians for real or perceived incompetence.
Further Information
Baldwin, Barry. Studies in Lucian. Toronto, 1973.
Branham, Bracht. Unruly Eloquence: Lucian and the Comedy of Traditions. Cambridge, MA,
1989.
Jones, Christopher P. Culture and Society in Lucian. Cambridge, MA, 1986.
Website
Bibliography to Lucian: A Select and Evolving Guide. http://classics. uc. edu/~johnson/ Lucian/bibliography. htm
Bibliography for Document
Bury. R. G. (tr. ). Plato. Laws. Volume II. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1926.
Fagles, Robert (tr. ). Homer: The Iliad. New York, 1990.
Harmon, A. M. (tr. ). Lucian. Volume V. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1936.
Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Pliny: Natural History. Volume VIII. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge,
1963.
20. HOW TO OBTAIN GOOD HEALTH, AND KEEP IT
INTRODUCTION
Aulus Cornelius Celsus (first century CE) wrote an encyclopedic work covering agriculture, medicine, military matters, oratory, and philosophy. But only the portion on medicine (De Medicina) survives intact. The treatise was so highly regarded that it earned its author such laudatory epithets as the "Roman Hippocrates" and the "Cicero of Physicians. "
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. The document is excerpted from portions of Book 1 of De Medicina; the material presented is introductory. In later chapters, the author covers more detailed and specific topics concerning the practice of medicine, including an overview of the major organs of the body and remedies for ailments that afflict them; a description of various kinds of drugs and antidotes; treatments for wounds and injuries; surgical procedures; and a general description of fractures and dislocations.
2. The Roman essayist Quintilian reveals that Celsus did not confine his writings to medicine, but also wrote treatises on agriculture and military matters. Quintilian considers Celsus to have been a reliable authority on all topics on which he wrote.
Document: Good Health . . . and How
to Maintain It
A man in health, who is both vigorous and his own master, should be under no obligatory rules, and have no need, either for a medical attendant, or for a [masseuse] and anointer. His kind of life should afford him variety; he should now be in the country, now in town, and more often about the farm. He should sail, hunt, rest sometimes, but more often take exercise. For while inaction weakens the body, work strengthens it. The former brings on premature old age, the latter prolongs youth.
It is well also at times to go to the bath, at times to make use of cold waters; to undergo sometimes [anointing], sometimes to neglect that same; to avoid no
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Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
kind of food in common use; to attend at times a ban- quet, at times to hold aloof; to eat more than sufficient at one time, at another no more; to take food twice rather than once a day, and always as much as one wants, provided one digests it. But while exercise and food of this sort are necessaries, those of the athletes are redundant. For in the one class [i. e. , the exercise regimen] any break in the routine of exercise, owing to necessities of civil life, affects the body injuriously, and in the other [i. e. , the dietary regimen], bodies thus fed up in their fashion age very quickly and become infirm. . .
On waking, one should lie still for a while, then, except in winter time, bathe the face freely with cold water. When the days are long, the siesta should be taken before the midday meal, when short, after it. In winter, it is best to rest in bed the whole night long; if there must be study by lamplight, it should not be immediately after taking food, but after digestion. He who has been engaged in the day, whether in domestic or on public affairs, ought to keep some portion of the day for the care of the body. The primary care in this respect is exercise, which should always precede the taking of food. The exercise should be ampler in the case of one who has labored less and digested well. It should be lighter in the case of one who is fatigued and has digested less well.
Useful exercises are: reading aloud, drill [a` la sol- diers], handball, running, walking, but this is not by any means most useful on the level, since walking up and down hill varies the movement of the body, unless indeed the body is thoroughly weak. But it is better to walk in the open air than under cover; better, when the head allows of it, in the sun than in the shade; better under the shade of a wall or of trees than under a roof; better a straight than a winding walk. But the exercise ought to come to an end with sweating, or at any rate [tiredness], which should be well this side of fatigue . . . But in these matters, as before, the example of athletes should not be followed, with their fixed rules and immoderate labor. [Tr. W. G. Spencer. Celsus: De Medicina. (1. 2. 1,4-7. ) Volume I. LCL, 1935. Page numbers: 43, 47, 49. ]
AFTERMATH
Topics covered in the remainder of Book 1 include advice on the kinds and amounts of food that ought to be consumed; how to deal with the various changes in life, such as occupation, place of residence, and the aging process; how to gain or lose
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? handball: Various kinds of throwing, catching, and bouncing ball games were popular with the Romans, perhaps none more so than trigon, apparently similar to three-sided catch, in which the players threw the ball to one another. Points could be earned or lost with catches or drops, respectively.
lamplight: Pliny the Younger informs us that his famous uncle, the natu- ral scientist--and prolific author-- Pliny the Elder, often worked at night, by lamplight, not with any view toward getting a head start on the next day's agenda, but simply to gain time for additional research. Sometimes, he would arise at mid- night, or one or two o'clock in the morning, to study and write.
[masseuse] and anointer: The Latin term iatralipta ("masseuse/anointer") covers both procedures. In one of his subsequent chapters, Celsus details the role of massage in medical care, noting that it should be used when- ever a weak body needs toning, or one that is too hard requires soften- ing, or when a thin or sickly body needs nourishment.
redundant: In a famous passage from his now-fragmentary play Autolycus, Euripides lambasts overfed athletes: "Although there are myriads of evils throughout Greece, there is nothing worse than the race of athletes. First of all, they neither learn how to live a good life, nor could they possibly do so. For how could a man who is a slave to his jaw and obedient to his belly acquire wealth to surpass than of his father? " [tr. Robinson]
? ? ? ? ? 98
weight; purging and vomiting; lifestyle choices that should be made depending on age and time of year; instructions for people who are susceptible to various and specific kinds of ail- ments (such as headaches, stomach pains, muscular aches and pains); and how to remain healthy during epidemics.
W. G. Spencer, the translator of the document, proclaims that Celsus's work has been highly regarded by scholars and historians of all subsequent time periods, and that Celsus richly deserves to be favorably compared with Cicero.
ASK YOURSELF
1. What parts of Celsus's "prescriptions" for good health sound contemporary? Does he articulate any advice that seems injurious or outdated?
2. What do you think of Euripides's harsh assessment of overfed athletes? Can you think of any modern examples of the kind of athletes described by Euripides?
3. Why do you suppose Celsus recommends reading aloud as a "useful exercise"?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e Would it be possible to draw a parallel between the dietary excesses of ancient athletes (i. e. , the sort of excesses about which both Celsus and Euripides complain) and the stories of steroid abuse by modern athletes? In other words, could the food overindulgences of ancient athletes have long-term consequences similar to those suffered by modern steroid users? (Euripides goes on to say that "in their prime, [the athletes] make a brilliant spectacle as they go about and are the pride of the state; but when bitter old age comes upon them, they are gone like coarse cloaks which have lost their nap. ")
e DelvefurtherintothewritingsofHippocratesandCelsus,(mostlikely)the two most notable Greek and Roman physicians, respectively. Which of the two authors seems more authoritative? Which one covers the various areas of medical practice more thoroughly?
Further Information
Garrison, Fielding. An Introduction to the History of Medicine. Philadelphia, 1929. Langslow, D. R. Medical Latin in the Roman Empire. Oxford, 2000. Scarborough, John. Roman Medicine. Ithaca, NY, 1969.
Website
Celsus on Medicine. http://penelope. uchicago. edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Celsus/ Introduction*. html
Bibliography for Document
Robinson, Rachel Sargent. Sources for the History of Greek Athletics. Ann Arbor, MI, 1927. Spencer, W. G. (tr. ).
