{"id":126682,"date":"2024-12-29T13:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T18:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=126682"},"modified":"2024-12-29T13:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T18:01:05","slug":"doctor-curmudgeon-the-quality-of-mercy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=126682","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Curmudgeon \u201cThe Quality of Mercy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=126682\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=126682\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-126683 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-8.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"193\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist\/cardiologist<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was somewhere between 1596 and 1599 that William Shakespeare wrote his play, The Merchant of Venice. In those days, late 16th to early 17th centuries, it was almost impossible for a woman to be a lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>Portia, the female protagonist, had to disguise herself as a man in order to present herself as a lawyer.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Things have been tough for centuries for women lawyers.<\/p>\n<p>Way back around 264 BC, around the time of the first Punic War (fights between Rome and the ancient city, Carthage), women had no commercial, political, or legal rights.<\/p>\n<p>So many Roman men died in the Punic Wars that women were able to take advantage of the shortage of men and enter professions from which they had previously been barred.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere around the second half of the first century BC, Caia Afrania became known for her skills of oration. She was not officially a lawyer, and not allowed to attend law school. But she defended several women successfully in front of Roman courts.<\/p>\n<p>The prejudicial gossip of the time simply labelled her as \u201cquarrelsome,\u201d \u201cimpudent,\u201d and erroneously described her as sounding like a barking dog.<\/p>\n<p>March 15, 44 BC and Julius Caesar is assassinated.<\/p>\n<p>It was a messy time of political turmoil in Rome. The Empire was declining. A brand new government formed and, in their infinite wisdom, decided to impose a tax on women. This was to fund the cost of civil war that occurred after Caesar\u2019s assassination.<\/p>\n<p>The new political leaders of Rome, Octavius, Mark Anthony, and Lepidus, decided that the properties of the 1400 richest women should be taxed to pay for these wars.<\/p>\n<p>Then along came a roman matron, Hortensia. She was born into a wealthy family and benefitted from an education that most women of her time could not receive. And with the influence of her father, who was a famed orator, she was able to plead her case before the Roman Senate. That speech is one of the earliest recorded speeches ever made by a woman.<\/p>\n<p>Her brilliant oratory made such a convincing argument that the Senate repealed the tax on women.<\/p>\n<p>In her speech, she said, \u201cYou\u2019ve never allowed us power and now you want to tax us when we don\u2019t have a say? You tell us we\u2019re at war? When have we not been?&#8230;We could give you our jewels out of the kindness of our hearts as our mothers before us when we had to defend out land from enemies, but the capital you want to take from us, you\u2019ll use it just to go to war with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Portia is one of the first fictional female lawyers. Shakespeare wrote of her living in Venice, a city in northeastern Italy. She was known as a symbol of wisdom and said:<br \/>\n\u201cThe quality of mercy is not strained.<\/p>\n<p>It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven<br \/>\nUpon the place beneath. It I twice blest:<br \/>\nIt blesseth him that vies and him that takes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Curmudgeon suggests &#8220;Bitter Medicine\u201d, Dr. Eugene Eisman&#8217;s story of his experiences&#8211;from the humorous to the intense&#8212;as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.<br \/>\nBitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. &#8211;on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bitter-Medicine-Doctors-Year-Vietnam\/dp\/0615874347\">Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Doctor Curmudgeon\u00ae is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.<br \/>\nSERMO <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sermo.com\">www.sermo.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full\" id=\"wpforms-126533\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-126533\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"126533\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F126682\" data-token=\"201e7a18895d13754140dece89c9da62\" data-token-time=\"1775447232\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\"><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-name\" data-field-id=\"1\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\">Name <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><div class=\"wpforms-field-row wpforms-field-medium\"><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-first wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-first wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][first]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">First<\/label><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-last wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][last]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">Last<\/label><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" spellcheck=\"false\" required><\/div>\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"4\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" >Email Message Name<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][4]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-textarea\" data-field-id=\"3\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\">Comment or Message<\/label><textarea id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][3]\" ><\/textarea><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-126533-field_4-container { position: absolute !important; 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In those days, late 16th to early 17th centuries, it was almost impossible for a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32578],"class_list":["post-126682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-doctor-curmudgeon-the-quality-of-mercy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126682"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/126683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}