27.  Again, the healers of our bodies will have their labours and vigils and cares, of which we are aware; and will reap a harvest of pain for themselves from the distresses of others, as one of their wise men73    One of their wise men, the author of the treatise περὶ φυσῶν, ascribed to Hippocrates. said; and will provide for the use of those who need them, both the results of their own labours and investigations, and what they have been able to borrow from others:  and they consider none, even of the minutest details, which they discover, or which elude their search, as having other than an important influence upon health or danger.  And what is the object of all this?  That a man may live some days longer on the earth, though he is possibly not a good man, but one of the most depraved, for whom it had perhaps been better, because of his badness, to have died long ago, in order to be set free from vice, the most serious of sicknesses.  But, suppose he is a good man, how long will he be able to live?  Forever?  Or what will he gain from life here, from which it is the greatest of blessings, if a man be sane and sensible, to seek to be set free?

ΚΖʹ. Εἶτα οἱ μὲν τῶν σωμάτων θεραπευταὶ πόνους τε καὶ ἀγρυπνίας καὶ φροντίδας, ἃς ἴσμεν, ἕξουσι: καὶ τὸ ἐπ' ἀλλοτρίαις συμφοραῖς ἰδίας καρποῦσθαι λύπας, ὡς ἔφη τις τῶν παρ' ἐκείνοις σοφῶν: καὶ τὰ μὲν αὐτοὶ μοχθοῦντες καὶ ἀνευρίσκοντες, τὰ δὲ παρ' ἄλλων ἐρανιζόμενοι καὶ συνεισφέροντες προσοίσουσι τοῖς δεομένοις: καὶ οὐδὲν οὕτω μικρὸν αὐτοῖς ἢ εὑρεθὲν ἢ διαφυγὸν, οὐδὲ τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ὡς μὴ μέγα πρὸς τὴν τῆς ὑγιείας ῥοπὴν, ἢ τοῦ κινδύνου τοὐναντίον ὑποληφθῆναι: καὶ ταῦτα ὑπὲρ τίνος; ἵν' ἄνθρωπος ζήσῃ πλείους τὰς ἐπὶ γῆν ἡμέρας, καὶ οὗτος οὐδὲ τῶν ἐπιεικῶν ἴσως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν μοχθηροτάτων, ᾧ τὸ πάλαι τεθνάναι ἴσως ἄμεινον ἦν, ὄντι κακῷ, ἵνα τοῦ μεγίστου τῶν ἀῤῥωστημάτων, τῆς κακίας, ἀπαλλαγῇ: εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν καλῶν θείημεν, ἐπὶ πόσον βιωσομένῳ; τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον; ἢ τί τῆς ἐνταῦθα κερδανοῦντι ζωῆς, ἧς τὸ λυθῆναι ζητεῖν, τῶν καλῶν τὸ πρῶτον καὶ ἀσφαλέστατον, καὶ ἀνδρὸς ὄντως ὑγιοῦς καὶ νοῦν ἔχοντος;