But those whose study has been in a spurious culture do not even follow the example of the physicians who treat the body which is the servitor of the soul, though they claim to be healing the mistress. For those physicians of the body, when a man favoured by fortune is sick, even though he be the Great King himself, take no notice of the colonnades, of the men’s apartments, of the ladies’ bowers, of the pictures, of the silver and gold whether coined or uncoined, of the accumulation of goblets or tapestry work and the rest of the magnificence which adorns kingship. They care not for the multitude of serving men or the friends or kinsmen or subjects in high positions who are in attendance, but make their way to his bed and taking no account of the surroundings of the body itself nor noting with admiration that the beds are inlaid with jewels and of pure gold and that the bedding is of spider-web silk or brocaded, or the coverlets of different kinds of beauty, they go farther and strip the wrappings off him and take hold of his hands and squeezing the veins mark carefully the pulsations to see whether they are healthy. And often they draw up the undervest and make an examination to see whether the belly is over-loaded or the chest inflamed, or the heartbeats irregular, and then they apply the appropriate treatment.
On Providence 24
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