great plague which devastated Athens at the beginning of the
Peloponnesian war. He died at Larissa between 380 and 360 B. C.

The works attributed to Hippocrates are the earliest extant Greek
medical writings, but very many of them are certainly not his.
Some five or six, however, are generally granted to be genuine,
and among these is the famous "Oath." This interesting document
shows that in his time physicians were already organized into a
corporation or guild, with regulations for the training of
disciples, and with an esprit de corps and a professional ideal
which, with slight exceptions, can hardly yet be regarded as out
of date.

One saying occurring in the words of Hippocrates has achieved
universal currency, though few who quote it to-day are aware that
it originally referred to the art of the physician. It is the
first of his "Aphorisms": "Life is short, and the Art long; the
occasion fleeting; experience fallacious, and judgment difficult.
The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right
himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and
externals cooperate."




THE OATH OF HIPPOCRATES

I swear by Apollo the physician and AEsculapius, and Health, and
All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my
ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation