Letter 74: When I told the philosopher I would write to him, Andronicus said, "And will you not write to the doctor?
**To Hygienus** (359)
When I told Andronicus that I would write to the philosopher, he said, "And will you not write to the physician?" He added, too, how fond you are of me — though he was telling this to one who knows that affection perfectly well. For just as parents love their children because they brought them into the world, so too do those who have saved a life love the one they have saved, because they restored him to health.
Your memory lives on among us for as long as there are sick people in our midst — and in a city as great as this, there is never a shortage of the ailing. Whenever physicians come to attend us, your name enters with them on both counts: whether those doctors prove equal to the task or not. For in the one case it is said, "This would have been resolved sooner had Hygienus been the one treating it," and in the other, "This would never have happened had Hygienus been in charge of the care."
And this refrain has been especially loud just now on account of my uncle, who escaped a violent fever but has been unable to recover the full use of his body.
As for me, having learned well from the many times you restored me to my feet, I now presume to argue with our local physicians.
Related Letters
I did not forget the agreement we had about exchanging letters.
There is nothing strange about discussing insomnia with a doctor -- explaining the trouble it causes and asking him...
[Fragment] (362?)
This Philoxenus has proven himself splendid in every way -- in stature, in voice, in his sense of propriety, and in...
You could easily obtain a favor from Cyrillus, both as his friend and as the governor of Tyre.