1. The dating of these texts varies widely.Decorumis a very late work (first to second century AD).Law, which was held in antiquity to be a corollary of the Oath, is of fourth century BC composition.Physicianis probably from the late Hellenistic or early Christian period, and it discusses the doctor's sexual probity in terms similar to that of the Oath.Preceptsis a late work, probably from the Hellenistic period. Cf. J. Jouanna,Hippocrates, translated by M.B. DeBevoise (Baltimore and London, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), Appendix III. Ludwig Edelstein's thesis, that the text is a Pythagorean document, is no longer tenable. “The Hippocratic Oath: text, translation and interpretation” (1943)Bulletin of the History of Medicine Supplement1, 3–63. Reprinted in O. Temkin and C.L. Temkin (eds),Ancient Medicine. Selected Papers of Ludwig Edelstein(Baltimore and London, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967).
2. A succinct review of what is known of the historical Hippocrates is by H. King, “Hippocrates of Cos” in W.F. Bynum and Helen Bynum (eds),Dictionary of Medical Biography(Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, 2007), Volume 3, 646–50.