DCLP Transcription [xml]
Introduction
Text mentioning the Hippocratic Oath. It is an excerpt (17 x 6.4 cm) written against the fibres on the back of a land register, which was cut just for suiting to these few lines of text; only the right edge is not intact. On the left, the first letter of the last line is bisected by an incision, suggesting that the papyrus was presumably cut after been written, while on the right two strips are projected outwards. This fact might indicate an eventual loss on the right, that can be estimated no more than 2 cm. The hand is describe by the editor as a "somewhat ill-formed rounded hand", characterized by some hooks. Remarkable letters are epsilon, theta, sigma, hypsilon; in general the handwriting resembles the third hand of GMAW2 68 and GMAW2 22, dating back to the 2nd cent. AD. There is a case of itacism at l. 3 and two diaeresis at ll. 1 and 6. The text, characterized by textual difficulties, refers to Hippocrates’ Oath, and it is likely to belong to a prooemium of a medical treatise. A comparison is possible with PSI 12.1275 (probably both texts were excerpted for medical education) and Scrib.Larg. Compositiones pref. 5; the papyrus can be regarded as a witness of the importance of the Hippocratic Oath in ancient medical teaching, probably connected with the rnedical teaching in Alexandria.
(This papyrus has been digitally edited by Andrea Bernini as part of the Project "DIGMEDTEXT - Online Humanities Scholarship: A Digital Medical Library based on Ancient Texts" (ERC-AdG-2013, Grant Agreement no. 339828) funded by the European Research Council at the University of Parma (Principal Investigator: Prof. Isabella Andorlini). The digital edition is mostly based on the previous edition (D. Leith, P.Oxy. LXXIV 4970).)
θεωρήματα, π[ρο]σ̣ῆκόν ἐστιν, ὡς ἔγωγαι(*) διαλαμβάνω̣, [ -ca.?- ]
ἐν πρώτοις ἀπὸ̣ τοῦ Ἱπποκρατίου(*) ὅρκου τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς̣ [ -ca.?- ]
μαθήσεως ποιε[ῖ]σ̣θαι, ὥσπερ νόμου δικαιοτάτου κα[ὶ]
5σφόδρα βιωφελο[ῦ]ς̣ καθεστῶτος. τοῖς γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο(*) μ[υ-]
σταγωγηθεῖσ<ι> ἄ[π]τ̣αιστον ἅμα τὸν ἐν τῷ ἰ(*)ατρεύειν̣ [ -ca.?- ]
Apparatus
Notes
- 1.
Such formulae refer to beginning students of medicine, see e.g. ps.-Gal. Dif. med. pref. [19.346 K.]. τοῖ[ς κ]ατὰ λόγον: see Manfredi's emendation at PSI 12.1275.1. The phrase refers to a particular form of medical education, based on reason.
- 2.
θεωρήματα: see ps.-Gal. Dif. med. pref [19.346 K.]. The word raises textual problems, and it may suggest that the lacuna on the right was more consistent: in this case, θεωρήματα may be the object of a lost verb construed with π[ρο]σ̣ῆκoν or that the beginning of the sentence is missing. Andorlini emends ἔγωγαι in ε⟨ἰσα⟩γωγαί, followed by διαλαμβάνε̣[ιν. Otherwise, θεωρήματα may be interpreted as a corruption of the name of the work's addressee (e.g. Θέωρε).
- 3.
τῆς̣ is presumably the article of μαθήσεως in l. 4.
- 5.
τοῖς: sigma corrected from gamma.
- 5-6.
μ[υ]σταγωγηθεῖσι: the metaphor of religious initiation within a context of medical education recurs at Hp. Lex 5. 6 ἄ[π]τ̣αιστον: probably the author refers to the conduct in medical practice; the following line may begin with βίον. The phrase is not complete, however the author may refer to the infallible conduct deriving from the adherence to the Oath.