The physician must have been in practice for some time
and attained eminence, before he was deemed worthy of the post of state
physician.
(7) Jowett: Dialogues of Plato, 3d ed., Statesman, Vol. IV,
p. 502 (Stephanus, II, 298 E)
"If you and I were physicians, and were advising one another that we
were competent to practice as state-physicians, should I not ask about
you, and would you not ask about me, Well, but how about Socrates
himself, has he good health? and was anyone else ever known to be cured
by him whether slave or freeman?"(7a)
(7a) Jowett: Dialogues of Plato, 3d ed., Gorgias, Vol. II,
p. 407 (Stephanus, I, 514 D).
All that is known of these state physicians has been collected by
Pohl,(8) who has traced their evolution into Roman times. That they were
secular, independent of the AEsculapian temples, that they were well
paid, that there was keen competition to get the most distinguished
men, that they were paid by a special tax and that they were much
esteemed--are facts to be gleaned from Herodotus and from the
inscriptions. The lapidary records, extending over 1000 years, collected
by Professor Oehler(8a) of Reina, throw an important light on the state
of medicine in Greece and Rome.
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