Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/109

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attempt to capture Democedes and carry him off by main force, but the citizens of Crotona thwarted the attempt and compelled the men to return to Asia. Democedes then married the daughter of Milo, the athlete, and history furnishes no information regarding the subsequent career of this extraordinary man.


Daremberg calls attention to certain excellent proverbs which may be found in the writings of the Greek poets and which are of some interest to physicians. The following may serve as examples of those most widely known:—[1]


Joy is the best physician for fatigue.

(Pindar, 522-442 B. C.)


The good physician is he who knows how to employ the right remedies at the proper time; the poor one, he who, in the presence of a serious illness, loses his courage, becomes flustered, and is unable to devise any helpful method of treatment.

(Aeschylus, 525-456 B. C.)


Physician, heal thyself.

(Euripides, 400-406 B. C.)


Advice given to Phaedra by her nurse:—


If thou hast some ailment which thou dost not care to reveal to men, here are women who are competent to treat the condition properly.

(Euripides.)


Sleep is the physician of pain, and
Death is the supreme healer of maladies.

(Sophocles, 495-406 B. C.)

In Plato's writings there are to be found a few passages in which this philosopher gives his views in regard to certain matters that are not without interest to modern physicians. The following extracts are of this nature:—


There is not then, my friend, any office among the whole inhabitants of the city peculiar to the woman, considered as a woman,

  1. All of these are translations from the French.