ἰατρεῖα
were both dispensaries and consulting-rooms etc. See
Laws 646 C and other references in Blümner l.c. p. 359. In some
ἰατρεῖα patients were also housed and treated by doctors (Häser
Lehrbuch d. Gesch. d. Med. etc. I pp. 86 ff.), so that in certain cases they resembled a sort of private hospital. For the remedial conception of punishment prevailing in the whole of this section see II 380 B note
δικανική
. Cobet calls for
δικαστική, and at first sight
δικαστῶν just below seems to favour his view. But Plato deliberately selects the less reputable word, meaning by it the arts by which men try to lead the true
δικαστής (cf.
Ap. 40 A
) astray: see infra B, C. In his own city there is no
δικανική, but only
δικαστική (409 E, 410 A). It appears from
Laws IV 720 C ff. that a doctor's assistants were usually slaves, and that slaves for the most part treated slaves, and freemen freemen, but the rule was not universal (see Blümner l. c. p. 359 note 1). Plato holds that the increase of citizen doctors points to the spread of self-indulgence among the free-born population.
καὶ ἀπορίᾳ οἰκείων
has suffered severely at the hands of critics, who have bracketed
καί (Ast and others), or read
καὶ ἀπορία οἰκείων (Hermann), or
δικαίων ἀπορίᾳ οἰκείων (Madvig), or finally denounced the words as a ‘futile interpretamentum.’ Schneider explains
καί as “idque” (“und zwar” in his translation), and so also Prantl, and Shilleto (on Dem.
F. L. § 101). This interpretation appears to me forced and unnatural. It is simplest to make
ἀπορίᾳ as well as
τῷ δικαίῳ depend on
χρῆσθαι, and regard
χρῆσθαι ἀπορίᾳ as equivalent to
εἶναι ἄποροι, just as
χρῆσθαι ἀμαθίᾳ (for example) means no more than
εἶναι ἀμαθεῖς. The plural
οἰκείων does not refer to
δεσποτῶν, but is the genitive of
οἰκεῖα, which means ‘resources of one's own,’ ‘personal resources’) (
ἐπακτῷ παρ’ ἄλλων. Cf. the use of
τὰ οἰκεῖα in the literal sense for
res familiaris I 343 E al.
ἦ δοκεῖ κτλ.
Glauco has said that
χρῆσθαι ἐπακτῷ τῷ δικαίῳ is the
most disgraceful thing of all. Socrates asks him whether it (
τοῦτο) is more disgraceful than the other case (
τούτου) which he is about to mention; and Glauco's reply is ‘no: this other case is even more disgraceful than the first’ (infra C). The meaning was missed by the critic who (see
Rev. de Philol. XV p. 83) ingeniously suggested the insertion of
ἢ οὔ; after
δικαστοῦ just before Glauco's reply. In what follows the litigiousness of the Athenian nature is satirised.
ἀποστραφῆναι
: an expressive and epigrammatic condensation for
ἀπολυθῆναι στρεφόμενος. λυγιζόμενος is rightly explained by the Scholiast as
στρεφόμενος, καμπτόμενος, ἀπὸ τῶν λύγων· λύγος δέ ἐστι φυτὸν ἱμαντῶδες. The corruption
λογιζόμενος (found in all MSS except A and—according to Rostagno —M) was easy and almost inevitable.
παρασχεῖν δίκην
. The same phrase appears in
Eur.
Hipp. 49
, 50, and Herwerden should not have proposed
ὑποσχεῖν. Plato's view in the
Gorgias is that the guilty should denounce themselves to the judge and be cured by suffering punishment: see II 380 B note
φύσας τε καὶ κατάρρους
. The order is chiastic,
φύσας referring to
πνευμάτων, and
κατάρρους to
ῥευμάτων. Plato clearly indicates that the medical use of these words was only beginning in his day, and it is the application of these words to diseases which he derides, not the words themselves when used of bellows, blasts, and torrents (see the
Lexica). The experiment in language is better preserved by rendering ‘blasts and torrents’ than ‘flatulence and catarrh.’ For
φῦσα cf. (with Poschenrieder l. c. p. 47) [Hippocr.]
de flatibus VI p. 94 c. 3 Littré
πνεύματα δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐν τοῖσι σώμασι φῦσαι καλέονται, τὰ δὲ ἔξω τῶν σωμάτων ἀήρ, and ib. c. 7
ὅταν οὖν τὸ σῶμα σιτίων πλησθῇ, καὶ πνεύματος πλησμονὴ ἐπὶ πλέον γίγνεται τῶν σιτίων χρονιζομένων· χρονίζεται δὲ τὰ σιτία διὰ τὸ πλῆθος οὐ δυνάμενα διελθεῖν· ἐμφραχθείσης δὲ τῆς κάτω κοιλίης, ἐς ὅλον τὸ σῶμα διέδραμον αἱ φῦσαι. Other examples of the use of the term in the Hippocratean corpus are cited by Stephanus-Hase
Thes. s.v. With
κατάρρους cf.
Crat. 440 C
ἀτεχνῶς ὥσπερ οἱ κατάρρῳ νοσοῦντες ἄνθρωποι. The word is found in the Hippocratean writings, and denotes “defluxionem aut omnem humoris ex capite ad os et asperam arteriam, atque per eam ad pulmonem, delationem ac descensum” (StephanusHase s. v., where examples are quoted).
τοὺς κομψοὺς Ἀσκληπιάδας
. The epithets
κομψοί and
χαρίεντες were often applied to the more advanced and scientific sort of physicians (Blümner
Privatalt. p. 358 note 2). The
Ἀσκληπιάδαι were a well-recognised sect or college of physicians, with schools in Cyrene, Rhodes, Cos and Cnidos. See Günther in Iwan Müller's
Handbuch V 1 p. 103, and Hug on
Symp. 186 E
.
καὶ μάλ) ‐‐ ὀνόματα
: ‘Yes, indeed, these are truly’ etc. Glauco does not reply to
οὐκ αἰσχρὸν δοκεῖ, but simply corroborates what Socrates has said about the new medical terminology. This is simpler than to place (with Schneider) a colon after
ἔφη, and take
καὶ μάλα with
αἰσχρόν. The asyndeton on Schneider's view is too harsh, and would almost require the insertion of
καί before
ὡς, or (if
ὡς ἀληθῶς were taken as
ὡς ἀληθῶς αἰσχρόν) before
καινά; neither of which alternatives is satisfying. For similar inexactness in replies see V 465 E note
οἱ ὑεῖς ‐‐ ἐπετίμησαν
. In themselves these words can only mean that Machaon and Podalirius (the two chief army doctors to the Greek host,
Il. XI 833) found no fault with the damsel who gave the wounded Eurypylus an inflammatory potion, or with Patroclus, who was curing him, for directing or permitting her to do so. In our Homer, however, the potion is given, not to Eurypylus but to the wounded Machaon, by Hecamede, Nestor's slave (
Il. XI 624); and this is correctly related in
Ion 538 B. The inconsistency led Ast to suspect the genuineness both of
Εὐρυπύλῳ—see however 408 A—and of
οὐδὲ Πατρόκλῳ τῷ ἰωμένῳ; but there can be little doubt that the text is sound. We must suppose either that Plato is confused, or else that in his text of Homer such a potion was administered, not only to the wounded Machaon (as in the
Ion l.c.), but also to the wounded Eurupylus, with Patroclus' sanction. The first alternative is possible, and approved by Howes (
Harvard Studies etc. VI p. 198): but as it is clear from the
Ion— if the
Ion is genuine—that Plato was familiar with the story of Machaon's treatment, I think it more likely that Plato's Homer related a similar incident in connexion with the treatment of Eurypylus also. For the healing of Eurypylus see
Il. XI 844 ff., XV 394.
οἶνον Πράμνειον
. Athenaeus, alluding to this passage, informs us that Pramneian wine was
παχὺς καὶ πολυτρόφος (I 10 B).
φλεγματώδη
: ‘inflammatory.’ Cf. [Hippocr.]
περὶ νούσων IV c. 35 (VII p. 548 Littré)
ἐπήν τις φάγῃ τυρὸν ἢ ὅ τι ἐστὶ δριμύ, ἢ ἄλλο τι φάγῃ ἢ πίῃ ὅ τι ἐστὶ φλεγματῶδες, αὐτίκα οἱ ἐπιθέει ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα καὶ τὰς ῥῖνας (Poschenrieder l.c. p. 49).
τῇ παιδαγωγικῇ ‐‐ ἰατρικῇ
. Cf.
Tim. 89 C
παιδαγωγεῖν δεῖ διαίταις πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα—ἀλλ’ οὐ φαρμακεύοντα κακὸν δύσκολον ἐρεθιστέον.
Ἡρόδικον
. Herodicus, a native of Megara, and afterwards a citizen of Selymbria, is mentioned by Plato again in
Prot. 316 E
and
Phaedr. 227 D
. He was one of the earliest to study scientifically the therapeutics of exercise and diet, and particularly recommended long walks, according to Plato (
Phaedr. l.c.
τὸν περίπατον Μέγαράδε. Cf. Häser
Lehrb. d. Gesch. d. Med. etc. I p. 94). The description of his health given here is confirmed by Aristotle
Rhet. I 5. 1361^{b} 4—6
πολλοὶ—ὑγιαίνουσιν ὥσπερ Ἠρόδικος λέγεται, οὓς οὐδεὶς ἂν εὐδαιμονίσειε τῆς ὑγιείας διὰ τὸ πάντων ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἢ τῶν πλείστων (a passage curiously misunderstood by J. and C., who seem to take
λέγεται for
λέγει). Plato himself thoroughly appreciates the connexion between
γυμναστική and
ἰατρική: see for example
Gorg. 452 A
ff., 464 B ff.,
Soph. 228 E
,
Pol. 295 C
.
νοσώδης γενόμενος
. εἰς φθίσιν ἀνήκεστον πάθος ἐμπεσών, says Plutarch (
de his qui sero etc. 554 C).
μακρὸν ‐‐ τὸν θάνατον κτλ.
Cf.
Eur.
Suppl. 1109
—1113
μισῶ δ’ ὅσοι χρῄζουσιν ἐκτείνειν βίον |
βρωτοῖσι καὶ ποτοῖσι καὶ μαγεύμασι |
παρεκτρέποντες ὀχετὸν ὥστε μὴ θανεῖν· |
οὓς χρῆν, ἐπειδὰν μηδὲν ὠφελῶσι γῆν, |
θανόντας ἔρρειν κἀκποδὼν εἶναι νέοις, and
Aesch.
Fr. 395
,
Soph.
Fr. 689
.
δυσθανατῶν
: not “dum malam obit mortem” (Stallbaum), but ‘dying hard’ like
δυσθνῄσκων.
καλόν
. Because he was the first to profit by his own invention. The assonance
γῆρας—γέρας is quite in Plato's manner: cf. IV 439 C, VI 487 C, VIII 557 C notes
οὐδενὶ σχολὴ κτλ.
Steinhart (
Platon's Werke V p. 172) thinks it strange that so idealistic a thinker as Plato should not recognise the power of spiritual strength to rise superior to bodily weakness. This truth was not ignored by Plato (see infra 408 E and VI 496 B), although here, perhaps, he forgets that conspicuous examples of fortitude and resignation have a political as well as a private value: “they also serve who only stand and wait.”
καύσει ἢ τομῇ
. The two methods of ancient surgery: see Blümner
Privatalt. p. 353 note
μακρὰν
has less authority than
μικράν (see cr. n.), but is probably right. The contrast with the immediate remedies just described seems to require an allusion to the duration of the regimen: cf. also
μακρὸν—τὸν θάνατον in B above.
μικράν is not sufficiently defended by a reference to
κατὰ σμικρόν in 407 D, nor by the allusion to
πιλίδια καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἑπόμενα. Moreover
σμικρός, and not
μικρός, is the prevailing form throughout the
Republic.
μικρός appears to occur only in V 453 D and VI 498 D. On the inscriptional usage see Meisterhans^{3} p. 89.
πιλίδια
. Felt caps were worn by the sick and delicate (see the references in Blümner l.c. p. 180 note 5); but as artisans and sailors usually wore felt caps too (
Dict. Ant. II p. 427), Plato perhaps alludes to some special coverings for the head prescribed by doctors from time to time in a course of medical treatment. The plural also points to this. If not, he uses the expression quite generally, as an example of the treatment he condemns. Well-to-do Greeks generally went bareheaded.
εἶπεν
. The ‘momentary’ aorist well expresses the carpenter's decided businesslike tone. His view of life resembles that of the ‘meditative skipper’ in
Gorg. 511 D
ff.
ὑγιὴς ‐‐ ἀπηλλάγη
. He regains his health on losing his doctor, or if he dies, dies without help. Cf. Plut.
Apophth. Lac. 231 A
τοῦ δὲ ἰατροῦ εἰπόντος
αὐτῷ, Γέρων γέγονας, Διότι, εἶπεν, οὐκ ἐχρησάμην σοι ἰατρῷ. (The anecdote is told of Pausanias the Spartan king.)
ἦν
. The carpenter is now dismissed: hence the imperfect
ἦν, which should be retained in translating. Stallbaum (followed by J. and C.) explains
ἦν as the ‘philosophic’ imperfect=
ἐστίν, ὡς ἄρτι ἐλέγομεν (in 406 C). This is much less simple and lively. “Wohl weil er ein Geschäft hatte, bei dessen Unterlassung es ihm nicht erspriesslich war zu leben?” Schneider, rightly. Cf. II 361 C note
