The Oath of Hippocrates
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1. i. I swear ii. by Apollo the Physician and by Health and Panacea and by all the gods as well as goddesses, making them judges [witnesses], iii. to bring the following oath and written covenant to fulfillment, in accordance with my power and my judgment; 2. i. to regard him who has taught me this technique as equal to my parents, and ii. to share, in partnership, my livelihood with him and to give him a share when he is in need of necessities, and iii. to judge the offspring [coming] from him equal to [my] male siblings, and iv. to teach them this technique, should they desire to learn [it], without fee and written covenant, and to give a share both of rules and of lectures, and of all the rest of learning, to my sons and to the [sons] of him who has taught me and to the pupils who have both made a written contract and sworn by a medical convention but by no other. 3. i. And I will use regimens for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from [what is] to their harm or injustice I will keep [them]. 4. i. And I will not give a drug that is deadly to anyone if asked [for it], ii. nor will I suggest the way to such a counsel. And likewise I will not give a woman a destructive pessary [a stone to induce abortion]. 5. i. And in a pure and holy way ii. I will guard my life and my technique. 6. i. I will not cut, and certainly not those suffering from stone, but I will cede [this] to men [who are] practitioners of this activity. 7. i. Into as many houses as I may enter, I will go for the benefit of the ill, ii. while being far from all voluntary and destructive injustice, especially from sexual acts both upon women's bodies and upon men's, both of the free and of the slaves. 8. i. And about whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings -- things that should not ever be blurted out outside --I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable [sacred, not to be divulged], i. a. If I render this oath fulfilled, and if I do not blur and confound it [making it to no effect] b. may it be [granted] to me to enjoy the benefits both of life and of technique. c. being held in good repute among all human beings for time eternal. ii. a. If, however, I transgress and perjure myself, b. the opposite of these.* *Translation by Heinrich Von Staden, "In a pure and holy way: Personal and Professional Conduct in the Hippocratic Oath," Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 51, (1996), pp. 406-408. |
