Oath — First Draft Translation

OATH. I swear by Apollo the healer, and by Asclepius, and by Hygieia, and by Panakeia, and by all gods and goddesses, making them witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this written covenant: to hold the one who taught me this art equal to my own parents, and to share my livelihood with him, and to make a portion available when in need, and to judge his offspring equal to my own brothers among males, and to teach them this art, if they wish to learn it, without fee and without written covenant; and to impart precept, oral hearing, and all other learning to my own sons, and to the sons of the one who taught me, and to students who have signed the written covenant and have taken the oath according to the custom of the healing art, but to no one else. I will use diaita for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment, and will keep them free from harm and wrongdoing. I will not give a deadly drug to anyone, even if asked, nor will I counsel anyone toward this; likewise I will not give a destructive pessary to any woman. In purity and in holiness I will guard my life and my art. I will not cut — nor those with the stone — but I will yield this deed to men who practice it. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go for the benefit of the sick, keeping myself free from all voluntary injustice and corruption, and above all from the acts of Aphrodite, whether upon the bodies of women or of men, whether free or slave. Whatever I see or hear in the course of treatment, or even apart from treatment in the life of human beings, what must never be spoken outside, I will keep silent about, holding such things to be things not to be spoken. If I carry out this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy my life and my art, held in good repute among all people for all time; but if I transgress and swear falsely, may the opposite of this be my lot.