535 



" By admitting the view of the subject here advocated, we 

 reconcile another liistorical confliction whicli has been ineffec- 

 tually attempted to be explained. The Athenians had a law 

 which declared that ' no slave or female should learn the art 

 of medicine.' But abundant proof has been adduced that 

 slave-physicians were not uncommon in Greece. The law did 

 not prohibit slaves from being the assistants of physicians, and 

 therefore could not prevent their casually acquiring whatever 

 medical knowledge might fall in their way. As reported by 

 Hyginus, the edict enjoined that ' ne qius servus disceret 

 artem mcdicam ;' the meaning probably being that the slave 

 should not imdergo the regular course of study and discipline 

 of the art, and thus put himself on a footing of equality with 

 the rank of the regularly qualified physician. An edict pro- 

 fessing to restrain a slave from leai-ning, that is, hearing and 

 remembering what he heard, would be as impossible in its 

 administration as absurd in its conception. 



" On the whole, I conceive that all historic records concur 

 in showing that the real profession of medicine was never one 

 of slavery ; and that it has never been otherwise than honom-a- 

 ble and elevated, being studied by poets, philosophers, holy 

 persons, monarchs, and men of learning. 



" Perhaps Apuleius places the slave-physician in his true 

 position, when he says, ' Themisson noster servus' (not the 

 pupil of Asclepiades) ' medicinaj non ignarus,' qu. die. not 

 altogether ignorant of medicine." 



VOL. IV. 2 R 



