A fabricated saying of contemporaries who attribute it to Hippocrates. But this phrase is true to the spirit, attributed to Hippocrates. However, this saying is not essentially Hippocratic.
Origin of the Phrase
This idea, known in Western medicine as "prevention is better than cycle", is probably of more recent origin. It is believed to have originated as a saying in Europe in the 17th or 18th century and was simply later (incorrectly) attributed to ancient sources, such as Hippocrates, to give it weight.
Desiderius Erasmus
(c. 1466 – 1536)
This is the most direct and famous rendering. Erasmus included the phrase in his collection of Proverbs. (Adagiorum Collectanea), which he began publishing in 1500.
The Quote: The original Latin phrase is "Praestat cautela quam medela". This directly translates as “"Precaution is better than cure."
Significance: Erasmus' Proverbs were extremely popular and influential throughout Renaissance Europe. His collection and dissemination of this proverb is the main reason it entered the common language in many languages.
Poplilios Syros- Publilius Syrus (1st century BC): A very similar sentiment is attributed to this Latin writer of proverbs: “It is too late to protect ourselves from disease when it has gained its strength with great delay.” This captures exactly the same logic as "Prevention is better than cure."
The original Latin is:
“Aegroto dum anima est, spes esse dicitur
Benjamin Franklin- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) said so well: Although he was not the originator, Franklin was a master at inventing and disseminating practical proverbs. He expressed a similar idea in his famous saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," which is the most common American English version of the proverb. This appeared in his book "Poor Richard's Almanack" in 1735.
The Hippocratic Basis of the Idea
Although this particular saying is not Hippocratic, the idea which it expresses is deeply rooted in Hippocratic philosophy. Hippocrates and his students emphasized the prevention as the most important role of the physician. This is seen in various parts of the Hippocratic Code:
About Air, Water, Places (De Aere, Water, Locis): This entire work is dedicated to how the physician, by studying the climate, waters and environment of a city, can predict and yes catch up the diseases that will appear among the inhabitants. This is the act of "to foresee".
About Diet (De Victu): It constantly emphasizes the importance of nutrition and lifestyle (diet) for maintaining health and the prevention of disease. The concept is that the physician should guide the healthy in prevention, not just treat the sick.
"The art is to keep you healthy, not to cure you when you are sick."
This phrase comes from a pseudo-authored work included in the Hippocratic Code, entitled:
"LETTERS" (Letters)
Hippocratic Letters, Letter 9
"And Hippocrates said: 'Men of Abdera, you do not rightly think about your star Democritus. He has no mind but wisdom. For such jokes are based on wisdom, not on folly. For Democritus praises human things, not like many who are jealous of glory or money or anything else of the kind, but wisely laughs at folly.
For it is not the physician's business to make the sick healthy—for this is God's work—but to keep the healthy from getting sick. "The art is to keep you healthy, not to cure you when you are sick."
"And the Abderaites marveled at the wisdom of Hippocrates."
Performance
Hippocrates said: "Men of Abdera, you do not think rightly about Democritus, your star. He does not suffer from any disease, but only from wisdom. For such laughter possesses him because of right wisdom, not because of stupidity. Democritus mystifies about human things, not like many who envy glory or money or anything else from the toiutotropes, but laughs wisely at stupidity.
"For it is not the business of medicine to make the sick healthy—that is the work of God—but to prevent the healthy from getting sick. The mission of art is to preserve the healthy, not to cure the sick."
The people of Abdera admired the wisdom of Hippocrates.
Source:
The above quote follows the most well-known critical version, Hippocrates, Works complètes (The Complete Works of Hippocrates), edition Émile Littré, volume 9, Paris, 1861, pages 334-335Littré included the Letters as part of the Hippocratic Code.
Context: The phrase was uttered in the context of the defense of Democritus. Hippocrates uses the essence of medicine as an analogy to show that true wisdom (and true medicine) lies in prevention (φυλάξαι ὑγιεῖς) and not in restoring a lost state (θεραπεῦσαι νοσοῦντας), which is like a miracle ("ἔργον θεοῦ").
Hippocrates
Prognostic.Paragraph 1.
The physician accepts me as an excellent providence, for he foresees and foretells, besides which the present, the past, and the future are ill, Whatever the sick people omit, he believes that he rather knows the things of the sick, so that he dares to allow people to come to the doctor. But he would cure them excellently if he did, foreseeing what is to come from present sufferings. For he does not make all the sick healthy, for it is impossible to foresee the future, and if it were so, because people die, those before calling the doctor, under the power of the mind, and those
And those who climbed the mountain passed away prematurely, those who lived for one day, and those who lived a little longer than the doctor, competed with the art of each disease to know the use of the sufferings of such natures, since they were beyond the power of the bodies, and if there was any divine power in this disease, they would also understand its providence. For thus it is rightly to be admired, and a good physician, and for whomsoever he may be visited, he is more likely to be able to rightly preserve them, having foreordained for each one from a long time, and foreknowing and foretelling both the dead and the saved, he is blameless.
Sources:
Hippocrates: Prognostic. Paragraph 1.
Hippocrates: On Diet
Hippocrates' Letters. Demetrius Them. Sakali. Ioannina 1989. University of Ioannina Medical School
Hippocrates, Oeuvres Complètes (The Complete Works of Hippocrates), edited by Émile Littré, volume 9, Paris, 1861, pages 334-335
Hippocrates On Air, Water, and Places
Dictionary of Latin proverbs
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790 :Poor Richard's Almanack in 1735.
Desiderius Erasmus: Adagiorum Collectanea)
photo Anestiev, https://pixabay.com
