Bailey James E
Internal Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, USA.
Cureus. 2018 Dec 28;10(12):e3789. doi: 10.7759/cureus.3789.
Socrates's last words have remained enigmatic despite over two millennia of philosophical, literary, and historical interpretations. This paper suggests that Socrates was executed for questioning the imperialistic actions of Athens in the Peloponnesian War by elevating the emerging cult of Asklepios and advocating for Asklepian ideals. Plato's dialogues show that Socrates saw Asklepios as more worthy of emulation than the warlike gods of the state-supported Greek pantheon. While dying from the executioner's hemlock, Socrates asks his friend Crito to pay the traditional thank offering given to the physician-god: a cock symbolizing rebirth. He looks to the only god then known to revive the dead to help his ideas and spirit live on. Socrates's last words thwart Athenian authorities' attempts to silence him, issue a call for Asklepian ideals to prevail in the city of Athens, and identify the selfless caring for others exemplified by Asklepios as the highest duty for all humans. Socrates calls us from the past to remember timeless Asklepian physician duties to self, patients, and community. Socrates reminds modern physicians of their personal duty to make their own spiritual health their first priority, their professional duty to comfort the sick and alleviate suffering, and their societal duty to advocate for the vulnerable, sick, and suffering and the health of the public.
尽管历经两千多年的哲学、文学和历史解读，苏格拉底的临终遗言依然晦涩难懂。本文认为，苏格拉底因质疑雅典在伯罗奔尼撒战争中的帝国主义行径而被处决，他推崇新兴的阿斯克勒庇俄斯崇拜，并倡导阿斯克勒庇俄斯的理念。柏拉图的对话表明，苏格拉底认为阿斯克勒庇俄斯比国家支持的希腊万神殿中好战的诸神更值得效仿。在死于行刑者的毒芹汁时，苏格拉底让他的朋友克里托支付给医神的传统感恩祭品：一只象征重生的公鸡。他寄望于当时唯一已知能使死者复生的神，来帮助他的思想和精神得以延续。苏格拉底的临终遗言挫败了雅典当局让他闭嘴的企图，呼吁阿斯克勒庇俄斯的理念在雅典城盛行，并将阿斯克勒庇俄斯所体现的对他人的无私关怀确定为所有人的最高职责。苏格拉底从过去召唤我们，要铭记阿斯克勒庇俄斯医生对自己、患者和社区的永恒职责。苏格拉底提醒现代医生，他们的个人职责是将自身的精神健康置于首位，他们的职业职责是安慰病人并减轻痛苦，以及他们的社会职责是为弱势群体、病人和受苦者以及公众健康发声。
