Chap. 8.] EYILS FROM THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. 3/7 



^Esculapius, even after he was received as a divinity, was built 

 without the City, and afterwards on an island ; 37 for this rea- 

 son, too, it was, that when, long after the time of Cato, the 

 Greeks were expelled from Italy, the physicians were not 38 

 exempted from the decree. And here I will 39 improve upon 

 the foresight displayed by them. Medicine is the only one of 

 the arts of Greece, that, lucrative as it is, the Roman gravity 

 has hitherto refused to cultivate. It is but very few of our 

 fellow-citizens that have even attempted it, and so soon as ever 

 they have done so, they have become deserters to the Greeks 

 forthwith. 40 Nay, even more than this, if they attempt to treat 

 of it in any other language than Greek, they are sure to lose 

 all credit, with the most ignorant even, and those who do not 

 understand a word of Greek ; there being all the less confidence 

 felt by our people in that which so nearly concerns their wel- 

 fare, if it happens to be intelligible to them. In fact, this is 

 the only one of all the arts, by Hercules ! in which the moment 

 a man declares 41 himself to be an adept, he is at once believed, 

 there being at the same time no imposture, the results of which 

 are more fraught with peril. To all this, however, we give 

 no attention, so seductive is the sweet influence of the hope 

 entertained of his ultimate recovery by each. 



And then besides, there is no law in existence whereby 

 to punish the ignorance of physicians, no instance before us 

 of capital punishment inflicted. It is at the expense of our 

 perils that they learn, and they experimentalize by putting us 

 to death, a physician being the only person that can kill an- 

 other with sovereign impunity. Nay, even more than this, all 

 the blame is thrown upon the sick man only ; he is accused of 

 disobedience forthwith, and it is the person who is dead and 

 gone that is put upon his trial. It is the usage at Home for 

 the decuries 42 to pass examination under the censorship of the 



37 Formed by the river Tiber. See the Quaest. Rom. of Plutarch, on 

 this subject. 



38 We have adopted Sillig's suggestion, and read "nee " for "et" here. 

 The meaning, however, is very doubtful. 



39 Augebo providentiam illorum." The meaning of this passage also 

 is doubtful. 



40 By adopting that language instead of the Latin ; Sextius Niger, for in- 

 stance. 



41 Diplomas seem to have been less cared for in those times than at the 

 present day even, when quackery lias so free a range. 



42 See B. iii. c. 26, and B. xxxiii. cc. 7, 8. 



