Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Private Life 165
sonification of recovery from sickness] and all the gods and goddesses,
who are my witnesses, that I will keep this oath and this promise to the
best of my ability and judgement.
I will regard the person who taught me this art in equal honor to my
parents and I will share my livelihood with him and make him a partner
in my wealth when he is in financial need. I will esteem his family as I do
my own brothers and I will teach them this art if they so desire to learn
it, without accepting any fee or contract. I will pass on precepts, lectures,
and all other instruction to my sons and to the sons of my teacher, as well
as to apprenticed pupils who have taken the physician’s oath, and to no
others.
I will employ treatments for the relief of suffering to the best of my
ability and judgement, but I will abstain from using them for the purpose
of causing injury or harm. I will not give lethal poison to anyone who
requests it, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give a
pessary to a woman that would induce an abortion. I will keep my life
and my art pure and holy. I will not use surgery even on those who suffer
from stone but I will make way for those who are adept in that procedure.
Whatever houses I enter, I will do so in order to relieve sickness. I will
refrain from all manner of intentional injury or harm. In particular I will
not sexually abuse women or men, whether servile or free.
Whatsoever I see or hear in the course of my duties, or outside the
course of my duties in my dealings with my fellow men, I will not divulge
if it be matters that should not be gossiped abroad, but I will regard such
matters as not to be spoken of. If I keep this oath and do not break it, may
I prosper both in regard to my life and my art for all time. But if I violate it
and break my oath, may the opposite fate befall me.
Epidemics
The most famous epidemic in Greek history was the plague that
afflicted Athens from 430 to 426 b.c.e. The direct result of Perikles’
controversial decision to crowd the entire population of Athens
within the city walls, the plague carried off perhaps as much as
one-third of the entire population. Although its identity continues
to be disputed, typhus and smallpox are the most likely candidates.
Thukydides, who was himself afflicted by the plague, has left us a
description of its effects upon the body that is a masterpiece of succinct
clinical analysis:
People who were quite healthy for no particular reason suddenly began
to experience violent fevers in the head together with redness and inflammation
of the eyes. The throat and the tongue became bloody, and they
emitted a breath that was foul and unnatural. After these symptoms came
sneezing and hoarseness. Soon afterwards the disease descended to the