0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

MEDICINE IN ROME. 85
The increased demands which were made upon the
knowledge and skill of those who professed the art of heal­
ing and the great advances made in political and social con­
ditions justified the education of a distinct medical class.
Unfortunately historical information fails us as to how
this process was brought about. May we not suppose that
the want of assured medical assistance which was ex­
perienced in the frequent military expeditions of the
Romans, exerted an influence in this direction ? In the
most ancient times the soldiers used to dress each other's
wounds and carried with them bandages for this purpose.
Each took his share in caring for the wounded * but the
medical help which they received appears to have been
inadequate, so much so that after the battle of Sutrium
(309 B.C.) more warriors were lost by dying subsequently
of wounds than were killed in action by the enemy.f
Yet it is certain that at that time the healing art was prac­
tised as a profession in Rome. This is demonstrated not
only by the testimony of the authors of antiquity,^ who on
various occasions make mention of doctors, but also in a
convincing manner by numerous other facts. The Lex
Aquilia made the doctor who had neglected a slave after
an operation responsible if he met his death in conse­
quence^ PLUTARCH || relates, that among the persons
attached to the Embassy which the Romans sent to
Bithynia there was a man on whom the operation of tre­
phining had been successfully performed, and even in the
twelve law-tables of Numa mention is made of teeth
artificially bound together with gold thread.^! On the other
hand PLINY** plainly affirms that Rome for many centuries
did without doctors though not without medicine (sine
* TACITUS: Annal. iv, 63.
f LIVIUS viii, 36. ix, 32. x, 35. xxx, 34.
J DION. HALICARN. i, 79. x, 53.— LIVIUSXXV, 26.
§ Institut. iv, tit. 3. § 6 and 7.
|| Cato major, c. 9.
% CICERO: de leg. ii, 24.
** PLINIUS: Hist. nat. xxix, 5.