I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood so cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue
Under the moon, can save the thing from death
That is but scratched withal. I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
It may be death.
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Void of all honor, avaricious, rash,
The daring tribe compound their boasted trash--
Tincture of syrup, lotion, read more
Void of all honor, avaricious, rash,
The daring tribe compound their boasted trash--
Tincture of syrup, lotion, drop, or pill;
All tempt the sick to trust the lying bill.
Out, you impostors!
Quack salving, cheating mountebanks! your skill
Is to make sound men sick, and sick read more
Out, you impostors!
Quack salving, cheating mountebanks! your skill
Is to make sound men sick, and sick men kill.
It requires a great deal of faith for a man to be cured by his own placebos.
It requires a great deal of faith for a man to be cured by his own placebos.
It is infinitely better to transplant a heart than to bury it so it can be devoured by worms.
It is infinitely better to transplant a heart than to bury it so it can be devoured by worms.
Trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays
More than you rob.
Trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays
More than you rob.
Medicine can only cure curable diseases, and then not always.
Medicine can only cure curable diseases, and then not always.
Who shall decide when doctors disagree,
And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?
Who shall decide when doctors disagree,
And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?
The miserable hath no other medicine but only hope
The miserable hath no other medicine but only hope
The rich Physician, honor'd Lawyers ride,
Whilst the poor Scholar foots it by their side.
[Lat., Dat read more
The rich Physician, honor'd Lawyers ride,
Whilst the poor Scholar foots it by their side.
[Lat., Dat Galenus opes, dat Justinianus honores,
Sed genus species cogitur ire pedes.]
