concept
Physician, Heal Thyself (allusion)
physician, heal thyself
also: врачу исцелися сам, врачу! изцели самого себя
The proverb Christ quotes and applies to himself in Luke 4:23 ("Physician, heal thyself"), in its Church Slavonic/Synodal Russian form "врачу исцелися сам." Chekhov, a physician by training, invokes it self-mockingly at after rising from his own sickbed to go treat his friend Suvorin and returning home worse off for the trouble.
Reading notes
- To A. I. Urusov, 9 November 1891. Moscow. §3 physician, heal thyself
Translates "врачу исцелися сам," the Church Slavonic/Russian form of the proverb Christ quotes and applies to himself in Luke 4:23 ("врачу! изцели самого себя" in the Synodal/Elizabeth text -- "Physician, heal thyself"). Chekhov, a practicing physician by training, turns the line on himself with wry self-mockery: having gone out sick to treat his friend Suvorin, he comes home worse off than before, having failed to heed the proverb's implicit warning against neglecting one's own health while ministering to others. See the allusions apparatus for the passage in full context.