0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

MEDICINE IN ROME. 9$
ments, GALEN turned his steps back to his home and undertook
the, professional treatment of gladiators and prizefighters.
But the mean and petty circumstances of his
native town, and an insurrection which broke out there,
induced him after some years to settle in Rome. In order
to become known there he gave public lectures on the
structure and functions of the human body. The interest
of the subject and the practical knowledge of the lecturer
soon attracted a numerous audience composed of representatives
of the most distinguished circles of the capital.
Amongst his hearers were men in influential positions
such as the philosophers EUDEMUS and ALEXANDER of
Damascus, the prefect SERGIUS, the consuls BOETHUS
and SEVERUS, who afterwards mounted the throne, and
BARBARUS the uncle of the Emperor Lucius. In this way
GALEN succeeded, within a short time, in obtaining a
profitable medical practice. But the envy and jealousy of
his colleagues and other adverse circumstances disgusted
him with residence in Rome. He on that account took to
travelling and visited various parts of Italy and Greece, the
island of Cyprus, Palestine, and Pergamos, his home. A
year later he was called by the Emperors Lucius VERUS
and A. MARCUS AURELIUS to Aquileia to accompany them
in their campaign against the Germans. The death of the
former changed his destination : he remained in Rome and
was appointed body-physician to the young heir to the
throne, COMMODUS* How long he held this office,
whether he returned to his home and if he did at what
period, is unknown. As little do we know when and where
he died. As SuiDAS points out he must have reached his
70th year, for his death did not take place before 201 A.D.
If the life of GALEN has been fully described here, the
justification lies not only in the extraordinary importance
which he acquired in reference to the healing art but that
at the same time a prominent example is given of the
method employed in the training of able doctors at that
* GALEN xiv, 648 et seq.