that even world history was governed by Fate, and that the fortunes of war
could be swayed by the intervention of the gods. Today there are still many
people who believe that God or some other mysterious power is steering the
course of history.
But at the same time as Greek philosophers were trying to find natural
explanations for the processes of nature, the first historians were beginning to
search for natural explanations for the course of history. When a country lost
a war, the vengeance of the gods was no longer an acceptable explanation to
them. The best known Greek historians were Herodotus (484-424 B.C.) and
Thucydides (460-400 B.C.).
The Greeks also believed that sickness could be ascribed to divine
intervention. On the other hand, the gods could make people well again if they
made the appropriate sacrifices.
This idea was in no way unique to the Greeks. Before the development
of modern medicine, the most widely accepted view was that sickness was
due to supernatural causes. The word “influenza” actually means a malign
influence from the stars.
Even today, there are a lot of people who believe that some diseases—
AIDS, for example—are God’s punishment. Many also believe that sick
people can be cured with the help of the supernatural.
Concurrently with the new directions in Greek philosophy, a Greek
medical science arose which tried to find natural explanations for sickness
and health. The founder of Greek medicine is said to have been Hippocrates,
who was born on the island of Cos around 460 B.C.
The most essential safeguards against sickness, according to the
Hippocratic medical tradition, were moderation and a healthy lifestyle. Health
is the natural condition. When sickness occurs, it is a sign that Nature has
gone off course because of physical or mental imbalance. The road to health
for everyone is through moderation, harmony, and a “sound mind in a sound
body.”
There is a lot of talk today about “medical ethics,” which is another way
of saying that a doctor must practice medicine according to certain ethical
rules. For instance, a doctor may not give healthy people a prescription for
narcotics. A doctor must also maintain professional secrecy, which means
that he is not allowed to reveal anything a patient has told him about his
illness. These ideas go back to Hippocrates. He required his pupils to take the
following oath:
I will follow that system or regimen which, according to my ability and
judgment, I consider to be for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from
whatever is deleterious and mischievous. 1 will give no deadly medicine to
anyone if asked nor suggest any such counsel, and in like manner I will not
give to a woman the means to produce an abortion. Whenever I go into a
house, I will go for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary
act of mischief and corruption, and further, from the seduction of females or
males, whether freemen or slaves.
Whatever, in connection with my professional practice, I see or hear
which ought not to be spoken abroad, I will keep secret. So long as I continue
to carry out this oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the
practice of the art, respected by all men in all times, but should I violate this
oath, may the reverse be my lot.