3
Therefore professional physicians desire, in the first place that a man should not be ill; and next, if he is ill, that he should not be unaware that he is ill cf.Moralia, 102 d; Cicero, Tusc. Disp., iii. 6. 12. - which is the case with all the maladies which affect the soul. For when men act foolishly cf. Moralia, 81 f. or licentiously or unjustly, they do not think that they are doing wrong, but some even think that they are doing right. For although no one has ever called a fever health, nor consumption excellent condition, nor gout swiftness of foot, nor sallowness a fresh complexion, yet many call hot temper cf. 462 f, supra. manliness, and love friendship, Si on juge de l’amour par la plupart de ses effets, il ressemble plus a la haine qu’a l’amitie. - De la Rochefoucauld. and envy emulation, and cowardice caution. Again, while men sick in body send for a doctor, since they perceive whom they need to counteract their ailments, yet those that are sick in soul avoid philosophers, for they think that they are doing well in those very matters where they are at fault. The fact is that, if we follow on this line of reasoning, we maintain that defective eyesight is easier to bear than madness and gout than inflammation of the brain! For a man that is sick in body perceives it and calls loudly for a physician, and when he comes, allows him to anoint the eyes or open the veins; but you hear the maddened Agave say,Euripides, Bacchaem 1169-1171; cf.Life of Crassus, xxxiii. (564 f): Agave, bearing the head of her son Pentheus, was a commonplace of philosophical rhetoric; see, for example, Horace, Sermones, ii. 3. 303. not recognizing her dearest by reason of her affliction: From the mountain we bring To the palace a fresh-cut tendril, A fortunate capture.
