Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXIX. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM LIVING CREATURES., CHAP. 6.—WHO FIRST PRACTISED AS A PHYSICIAN AT ROME, AND AT WHAT PERIOD.

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CHAP. 6.—WHO FIRST PRACTISED AS A PHYSICIAN AT ROME, AND AT WHAT PERIOD.

And, indeed, it appears to me not amiss to take the present opportunity of reviewing some remarkable facts in the days of our forefathers connected with this subject. Cassius Hemina,¹ one of our most ancient writers, says that the first physician that visited Rome was Archagathus, the son of Lysanias, who came over from Peloponnesus, in the year of the City 535, L. Æmilius and M. Livius being consuls. He states also, that the right of free citizenship² was granted him, and that he had a shop³ provided for his practice at the public expense in the Acilian Cross-way;⁴ that from his practice he received the name of "Vulnerarius;"⁵ that on his arrival he was greatly welcomed at first, but that soon afterwards, from the cruelty displayed by him in cutting and searing his patients, he acquired the new name of "Carnifex,"⁶ and brought his art and physicians in general into considerable disrepute.

That such was the fact, we may readily understand from the words of M. Cato, a man whose authority stands so high of itself, that but little weight is added to it by the triumph⁷ which he gained, and the Censorship which he held. I shall, therefore, give his own words in reference to this subject.

1 See end of B. xii.

2 "Jus Quiritium."

3 "Tabernam." A surgery, in fact, the same as the "iatreion" of the Greeks.

4 Or "carrefour"—"compitum." The Acilian Gens pretended to be under the especial tutelage of the gods of medicine.

5 The "Wound-curer," from "vulnus," a wound.

6 "Executioner," or "hangman."

7 For his conquests in Spain.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 6.—WHO FIRST PRACTISED AS A PHYSICIAN AT ROME, AND AT WHAT PERIOD.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

This text is part of:

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Table of Contents:

CHAP. 6.—WHO FIRST PRACTISED AS A PHYSICIAN AT ROME, AND AT WHAT PERIOD.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.