"for he subjoins an account of the medical prescriptions by the aid of which he had ensured to himself and his wife a ripe old age."1 It appears that the first physician who exercised his profession at Rome was "Archagathus, the son of Lysanias, who came over from Peloponnessus in the year of the city 335." He was kindly welcomed, and, from his special line of practice, was called "Vulnerarius;" but, from cruelty displayed "in cutting and searing his patients, he brought the art and physicians into disrepute. "2 It is this experience to which Pliny refers in the foregoing quotation. There is reason to believe that the Romans never regarded medicine as an art appreciatively. They have transmitted to posterity little that is original and valuable. Besides what is found in Pliny's work, the production of Celsus 3 is about all that calls for special mention, and it is possible that the latter, as well as the former, was only a compiler. Pliny significantly says: "The art of medicine at the present time even teaches us in numerous instances to have recourse to the oracles for aid." 4 He lived from 23 to 79 A.D. The Roman people had no special god of medicine until the year 292 B.C. In the preceding year, the prevalence of a pestilence caused much consternation. This led to a consultation of the Delphian Oracle, or, according to Livy (see page 9), the Sibylline Books, as to what should be done, and the command of "the Delphic Oracle, or of the Sibylline Books," to use the language of an authoritative work,5 was given, to send an embassy to procure the aid of the Grecian god of healing, Esculapius. Natural History, xxix, 8. 2 Ibid. Natural History, xxix, 1. 'Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. The story of the bringing of Esculapius to Rome, like that of the bringing of Cybele from Pessinus in Galatia, is an interesting one, and must be known if one would fully appreciate the fact of the god being given the serpentine form, the serpent being generally regarded as only an attribute of him at his chief seat, the great Epidaurian Asclepion, or Temple of Health. It is graphically told by Ovid. Ovid begins his poem1 with an invocation to the "melodious maids of Pindus;" and, addressing them, continues: "Say, whence the isle which Tiber flows around, Its altars with a heavenly stranger grac'd, We are then told that * * * * * * * * The reply of the Oracle is this :— "Relief must be implor'd and succour won My son to Latium borne shall bring redress; "" The Senate appointed an embassy to carry out the order : "Who sail to Epidaurus' neighbouring land." To it the god (Esculapius) is represented as saying: "I come and leave my shrine. This serpent view, that with ambitious play My staff encircles, mark him every way; His form, though larger, nobler, I'll assume, And, changed as gods should be, bring aid to Rome." 'Metamorphosis, xv. Translation by Mr. Welsted. 1 In due time "the salutary serpent, the god, reached the Island of the Tiber and assumed "again his form divine : "And now no more the drooping city mourns; Joy is again restor❜d and health returns." There is little or no reason to doubt that there was really a formal bringing of Esculapius to Rome, a cosmopolitan city which, indeed, as Gibbon states without much exaggeration, bestowed its freedom "on all the gods of mankind." 2 Livy, the historian, speaks of the matter as follows: "The many prosperous events of the year (459) were scarcely sufficient to afford consolation for one calamity, a pestilence, which afflicted both the city and country and caused a prodigious mortality. To discover what end or what remedy was appointed by the gods for that calamity, the Books were consulted, and there it was found that Esculapius must be brought to Rome from Epidaurus. However, as the Consuls had full employment in the wars, no farther steps were taken in that business during this year, except the performing of a supplication to Esculapius of one day's continence."3 Elsewhere he says that the god was brought the following year,—that is, A.U.c. 460, or 292 B.C. The Island of the Tiber (Insula Tiberina, now Isola Tiberina), the "inter duos pontes" of the early centuries of our era, where Esculapius was worshipped, and which was sometimes called by his name (Insula Esculapii), is within the limits of the city of Rome. According to 'Although there is little evidence to show that serpent-worship was indigenous in Rome, Fergusson holds that "such an embassy being sent on the occasion in question indicates a degree of faith on the part of the people which could only have arisen from previous familiarity." Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 19. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. ii. • Ibid., xxix, 11. tradition, it originated from alluvial accumulations within the period of Roman history. It is rather remarkable that, excepting the one at the mouth (Insula Sacra, now Isola Sacra), there is no other along the whole course of the famous river. It is ship-shaped, and quite small in size, being only about a quarter of a mile in length,2 and has been called "San Bartolomeo," from the church which has long occupied the site of the ancient Temple of Health.3 Mr. Davies speaks of it at length in his interesting book. After an account of the origin of the worship of Esculapius on it, he says:— "It was in commemoration of this event that the island was fashioned in the form of a ship. Huge blocks of travertine and peperino still remain about the prow (pointing down the stream), imitating on a grand scale the forms of the planks, upon which are chiseled the figure of a serpent twined around a rod, and, farther down, the head of an OX. A temple was raised to Esculapius, in which his statue was placed, which probably stood in the fore part of the simulated vessel, hospitals for the sick occupying the sides, a tall column or obelisk rising in the midst to represent a mast. Temples were also dedicated to Jupiter and Faunus.* To these were added a prison in the days of Tiberius." In his Life of Publicola, Plutarch gives an interesting account of its origin. The sacrifice of corn and trees on a field belonging to the Tarquins, in the Campus Martius, had much to do with it. These being cast into the river, found lodgment at shallows where the island is, which favored alluvial accumulations. See also Livy, ii, 5. It is stated by Sir George Head that it is twelve hundred feet in length and four hundred in breadth. Rome-A Tour of Many Days, vol. iii, p. 106. London, 1849. A hospital established by Gregory XIII in 1581 and several residences are also on the island. ◄ God of fields and shepherds. The Temple of Esculapius was the most ancient, having been dedicated A.U.C. 462. 'Pilgrimage of the Tiber, p. 63. London, 1875. Tiberius ascended the throne, A.D. 14. Plutarch, writing half a century later, says of the island: Whether the establishment of the worship of the healing divinity on the island at Rome was brought about by chance, or deliberately, is not very clear. Pliny would seem to think that it was elsewhere at first when he says, "The Temple of Esculapius, even after he was received as a divinity, was built without the city and afterward on an island." The abhorrence of the people for physicians is given as the reason for isolating the institution. The noble Romans had no love for a class that made a trade of curing the sick, enriching themselves off the misfortunes of their fellow-men; they were shocked, says Pliny, "more particularly that man should. pay so dear for the enjoyment of life."2 There may have been other and better reasons. The Greeks themselves placed their asclepia in rural and often insular places. Thus, the great Epidaurian Asclepion was in a secluded vale, and two very celebrated ones, those of Cos and Rhodes, were, as the names indicate, on islands. It is needless to say that there are excellent sanitary reasons for placing sanatory institutions in the country, and especially on insular sites. It will be a long step in the right direction when we somewhat unwise moderns cease to have our medical institutions within the builtup parts of our cities and towns, and treat the sick, especially those affected with contagious diseases, at a distance from the well. Devotion to the serpentine healer appears to have lingered long in sunny Italy.3 A bronze serpent in the "It is now sacred to religious uses.' Life of Publicola. He states that several temples and porticoes had been built on it, but makes no reference to a prison. Natural History, xxix, 8. 2 Ibid. The Very Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Donovan states, in his learned work, that "the temple (of Esculapius) being recorded by the Regionaries must have existed in the fifth century." Rome, Ancient and Modern, and its Environs, vol. iv, p. 431. Rome, 1842. |