Such was his proficiency
in medical skill, that he was generally esteemed the god of physic.
In the city of Tetrapolis, which belonged to the Ionians, Aesculapius
had a temple full of rare cures, dedicated to him by those who ascribed
their recovery to him; and its walls were covered and hung with
memorials of the miracles he had performed.
Cicero reckons up three of the names of Aesculapius. The first the son
of Apollo, worshipped in Arcadia, who invented the probe and bandages
for wounds; the second the brother of Mercury, killed by lightning; and
the third the son of Arsippus Arsione, who first taught the art of
tooth-drawing and purging. Others make Aesculapius an Egyptian, King of
Memphis, antecedent by a thousand years to the Aesculapius of the
Greeks. The Romans numbered him among the Dii Adcititii, of such as were
raised to heaven by their merit, as Hercules, Castor and Pollux. The
Greeks received their knowledge of Aesculapius from the Phoenicians and
Egyptians. His chief temples were at Pergamus, Smyrna, and Trica, a city
of Ionia, and the isle of Coos, or Cos; in which all votive tablets were
hung up,[33] shewing the diseases cured by his assistance: but his most
famous shrine was at Epidaurus, where every five years in the spring,
solemn games were instituted to him nine days after the Isthmian games
at Corinth.
Pages:
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129