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[4] and he so far excelled former lawgivers who had required that private citizens when ill should enjoy the service of physicians at state expense that, whereas those legislators judged men's bodies to be worthy of healing, he gave healing to the souls which were in distress through want of education,1 and whereas it is our prayer that we may never have need of those physicians, it is our heart's desire that all our time may be spent in the company of teachers of knowledge.

1 One wonders whether Diodorus, as he wrote these words, was recalling the inscription "Healing-place of the Soul," which, he told us, stood on the library of the Egyptian Pharaoh Osymandyas (Book 1.49.3).

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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