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Again, without referring to numerous other places of less repute, there is reason to believe that a school of medicine was still associated with that most ancient of all the Asclepions, the temple of Epidaurus; which is said to haye stood on the spot upon which Esculapius was born, a promontory on the coast of Argolis nearly opposite the island of Ægina. The school here may have been dispersed when Sylla ravaged the temple, and appropriated the wealth of its shrine to the maintenance of his army during the Mithridatic war. But so late as the reign of Antoninus Pius, the temple of Epidaurus was still a place of great resort. By the bounty of this ruler its accommodations for the sick were increased, and a new edifice was erected in its. vicinity for the accommodation of such patients as were about to die, and by the rules of the temple no longer permitted to remain within the hallowed bounds. This new edifice was also in part appropriated to parturient women, and as a lying-in asylum, sacred to the services of Lucina.*

* Le Clerc, part i, liv. i. chap. xx. p. 63; and Schulze, p. 127, after Pausanias.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SCHOOLS OF ROME.

SECTION I.-From their Origin to the Rise of the Eclectics.

AFTER the Romans had acquired the mastery of the East, many adventurers from the Grecian provinces resorted to the capital in pursuit of occupation as teachers and physicians; at first, with small encouragement. The people of Rome were slow in relinquishing their prejudices against Greek scholars, and were indisposed to forget the humble position of those amongst themselves who were devoted to the healing art.* Cato the Censor, as already intimated, rejecting the sciences not of native growth, trusted for medical assistance, to the untutored skill of servants, to a few simple preparations from domestic plants, and even to charms and incantations. For curing a luxation at the hip, take, says he, a green divining rod four or five feet long, split it in the middle, and let two men hold it at the hip and begin to sing: "In alio, s. f. motas vata daries dardaries astataries dissunapiter," until the injured parts are again united. The luxation being reduced, or the fracture set and properly adjusted in splints, repeat the incantation every day as at first, or the

* Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. xxix. chap. viii.

following: "Huat hanat huat ista pista sista dominabo damnaustra," or after this manner: "Huat haut haut ista sis tar sis ardannabon dunnaustra.”*

We have already alluded to the earliest temple, of Esculapius among the Romans, that upon the Island of the Tiber. Others were afterwards erected in the city; one of these, according to Serenus Sammonicus,† was situated on the Tarpeian rock.

But indications of a more enlightened spirit, are apparent. towards the decline of the republic. As early as the time of Caius Marius, the city was well supplied with hardy and enterprising practitioners. This veteran warrior, who had been six times consul, underwent at the hands of one of these, an operation for the cure of varices; and after the diseased veins had been forcibly wrenched from beneath the skin of one leg, he refused to present the other limb, judging from what he had already experienced, that the proposed relief could hardly compensate for the suffering.

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Still nearer the close of the republic, the Greek physicians of the city had risen to the confidence and friendship of the Patricians. Cæsar on his voyage to Rhodes, when taken prisoner by the pirates near the island of Pharmaceusa, was accompanied,; among other friends, by his physician.§ Cicero declares it to be the duty of all men a duty particularly incumbent on himself to support the dignity of the healing art. Licet enim omnibus, licet enim

* M. Porcius Cato de Re Rustica, cap. clx. Pliny, lib. xi. cap. 104.

+ Verse 10th.

§ Suetonius, cap. iv.

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mihi, dignitatem medico artis tueri." And to Asclepiades, then the most popular physician of the city, he alludes as his personal friend, celebrated as much for his refined eloquence as for his skill in physic.*.

In the time of Cicero, the study of philosophy had already become essential to what was considered an accomplished education. This study implied an acquaintance with the Greek language, and was imperceptibly attracting attention to medicine, from which the teachers of philosophy were in the habit of deriving their aptest illustrations, and with which their own doctrines were inseparably united. The statesmen and orators of the nation, becoming in youth familiar with medicine as a department of philosophy, began at length to respect it as an art, and to give to its professors their protection and encouragement. Hence the various laws introduced soon after the organization of the empire, for the benefit of the profession.

Cæsar, after reaching the summit of his power, in order to attract men of science to the capital, and to improve the condition of those already there, decreed that all who practiced physic at Rome, and all the masters of the liberal arts therein residing, 'should enjoy the privilege of citizenship. And Augustus, after having been relieved of a dangerous illness by his freed-man, Antonius Musa, loaded this physician with wealth; raised him, by consent of the Senate, to the equestrian rank; erected a bronze statue to his honor near that of Esculapius;

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*De Oratore.

Suetonius, Julius Cæsar, cap. xlii.

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and, at his instigation, conferred important privileges on the whole body of the profession then residing in the city.*. These privileges were afterwards confirmed and extended by Vespasian, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, Domitian, Alexander Severus, and other later emperors.

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Asclepiades, the friend of Cicero already mentioned, was a native of Prussa in Bithynia. To him, more than to any other individual, belongs the credit of having first raised the medical profession in Rome to the confidence and respect of the people. Educated under Cleophantus at Alexandria, he had practiced medicine, and been employed as a teacher of elocution at Athens, and other parts of Greece, before taking up his abode, in Rome. Ŏf an acute and discerning mind, he soon discovered that the principal source of mistrust towards those who who had preceded him, lay in their crude and unfeeling practice. And though at this time perhaps not deeply versed in the principles of his art, he saw the advantage of instituting an entirely different course. Accordingly, rejecting most internal medicines as liable to offend the stomach, he confined himself principally to hygienic measures, and to regulating the diet. To enforce his own views, he turned his eloquence to good account as a public teacher, and originated the first school of medicine in the city. He was the author of a treatise on General Remedies, in which he dwelt mainly on friction of the skin, and beyond this, only on pas

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*Seutonius, Octav. August., cap. lix,

+ See Cassius, Celsus, Calius Aurelianus, Pliny, Apuleius Madaurensis.

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