The physician must have been in practice for some time and attained eminence, before he was deemed worthy of the post of state physician.
(7) Jowett: Dialogues of Plato, 3d ed., Statesman, Vol.

IV, p.

502 (Stephanus, II, 298 E) "If you and I were physicians, and were advising one another that we were competent to practice as state-physicians, should I not ask about you, and would you not ask about me, Well, but how about Socrates himself, has he good health?
and was anyone else ever known to be cured by him whether slave or freeman ?"( 7a) (7a) Jowett: Dialogues of Plato, 3d ed., Gorgias, Vol.

II, p.

407 (Stephanus, I, 514 D).
All that is known of these state physicians has been collected by Pohl,( 8) who has traced their evolution into Roman times.