Given the silence of the sources, it is an arduous task, in History, to understand where the myth begins and ends. The tradition has often been shown to be closer to historical truth than supposed, as in the case of the myths about the founding of Rome.
This truly applies to the history of medicine and to one of its most prominent names, Hippocrates. Just as today's philological research tends to refute the theses that attribute a single authorship to the Homeric poems Iliad and Odyssey, so the Hippocratic corpus, made up of about seven works, is not generally attributed to a single author with this name, originally from the Greek island of Kos.
It is true that tradition has credited him with the foundations of medical rationalism and, when in medical schools around the world, students read for the first time a version of his oath with minor adaptations to the original text, they also pay homage to the Greek genius.
Along with the famous oath, the Hippocratic aphorisms were particularly popularized in modern times, when medical teachings and ethical and philosophical judgments interpenetrate. Doctors were expected - and still are - to have an integral culture, as opposed to being mere technicians.
For this edition of the Newsletter, we chose a Portuguese edition of the Hippocratic aphorisms of 1762, with the text of the Portuguese and Latin versions side by side by side. Although the medical student from the eighteenth century studied Latin, in practice the author's note on the title page is fully justified: «… and especially for surgeons who ignore the Latin language; because they will read in their own language in a clear way, and succinctly, those same texts, which their Author wrote in Greek».
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HYPOCRATES, ca 460-ca 375 BC
Hyppocrates Luzitano, ou aforismos de / Hyppocrates. - faithfully translated from Latin into the Portuguese language... [by] Francisco Daniel Nogueira. – Lisboa : na Off. de Pedro Ferreira, 1762. - [16], 248 p. ; 15 cm. - Inocêncio 2, p. 369
Library and DIC of FML Reference: RES. 2119
André Silva
Library and Information Centre