From the book
Lysis
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordIatros means doctor; a practitioner believed competent to treat an illness.
- In LysisSocrates asks whether the Great King would let his son touch his own ailing eyes without regarding him as a doctor.
- Reading contextThe doctor is a person, whereas ἰατρική names medical practice; the movement between them does not establish reciprocal affection.
- A place to readThe Greek example means “not regarding him as a doctor.”
- English renderings
- Doctor; a practitioner believed competent to treat an illness
Meaning
Doctor; a practitioner believed competent to treat an illness.
Grammatical category: noun, masculine.
Use in the book
Socrates asks whether the Great King would let his son touch his own ailing eyes without regarding him as a doctor. The expected answer is no. By contrast, outsiders thought skilled in medicine would be allowed even to open the eyes and sprinkle ash into them.
The passage tests trust in expertise, not the merits of a particular remedy. The edition prints ἰατρόν here, with an adjectival variant recorded in its apparatus; the following ἰατρικούς is itself an adjective meaning medically skilled.
At 215d the sick person and doctor illustrate complementary need. At 217a and 218e their relation becomes the example of attachment because of disease and for the sake of health. The doctor is a person, whereas ἰατρική names medical practice; the movement between them does not establish reciprocal affection.