26 DXVI BOTANICI. 



and liis brother, who " instituere a balineis frigida multa corpora 

 adstringi," enjoined the bodies of invalids to be braced with copious 

 applications of cold water, in or at the baths. Under this discipline, 

 the case was conducted to a favourable termination, and the fruits 

 of the doctor's " heroic remedy" were — the emperor's favour with 

 munificent largesses, and honours in profusion. 



As sketched by Suetonius,* this " medical transaction" and its 

 results are instructive. He relates — that, throughout a long life, 

 Augustus was subject to frequent and dangerous accessions of ill- 

 ness which often occurred annually, on his birth-day. His constitu- 

 tion became, in consequence, so greatly shattered as to require un- 

 ceasing attention to his health, by suitable arrangements of diet, 

 exercise, dress and regulated temperature. At his return from a 

 Cantabrian expedition, he was afflicted with a disorder of the liver 

 depending on congestion ; and, on his despairing of recovery, he 

 submitted to be treated by the system of Antonius Musa, which was 

 then reckoned both hazardous and extraordinary. Hot fomenta- 

 tionst " calida foment a," having been used without advantage, by 



its being felt an uncomfortable remedy, by the luxurious and degenerating 

 citizens. Pliny's chapter on " Physicke and Physitians among the ancient 

 Romanes" includes a lively sketch of this " medical gentleman," as one of 

 " these new commers that can venditate and vaunt their owne cvnning with 

 braue words." Thus, says the Natural Historian, while the astrological doc- 

 tors seemed to command the destinies and to have men's lives at their dispo- 

 sal, " all on a sudden, one Charmis, a Marsilian, pvt himself forward and 

 entred the citie of Rome, who not onely condemned the former proceedings 

 of the ancient Physitians, but also pvt downe the baines and hot houses : hee 

 brought in the bathing in cold water, and persuaded folke to vse the same 

 euen in the middest of winter : nay, he feared not to give direction vnto his 

 sicke patients for to sit hi tvbs of cold water: and I assvre you my selfe haiie 

 seen ancient senatovrs, such as had been Consuls of Rome, all chilling and 

 quaking, yea and starke againe for cold, in these kind of baines ; and yet they 

 would seeme to endvre the same, to shew how hardie they were : and uerilie 

 there is a treatise extant of Seneca where he approues highly of this covrse. 

 Neither is it to be doubted, but such Physitians as these, who hauing won 

 credit and estimation by svch nouelties and strange deuises, shoot at no other 

 marke bvt to make merchandize and enrich themselues euen at the hazard of 

 our Hues, and herevpon come these lamentable and wofull consultations of 

 theirs abovt their patients." — lb, Book xxix, chap, i, Tome ii, p. 345. 



" Cans Svetonh's TranquiUvs, ex recensions Iohannis Georgii Gr<cvii, cum 

 notis Isaac'' Casaaboni, Lcevini Torrentii, Theodori Marcilii et aliorum : Ato. 

 Trajeeti ad Rhenum, 1691; Lib. ii. sect. 59, 81 ; p. 215, 249. 



f Fomentations, /omenta, consist in quickly repeated applications of a 

 fluid to a circumscribed portion of the invalid's person. Anciently, as now, 

 they were warm in most instances ; but Suetonius here, and Pliny also, are 



