The glory of the Epidaurian Oracle was not short-lived. In the year 292 B.C., the time when the Roman embassy paid the historic visit, it was very great; and five centuries later—that is, in the time of Pausanias—it had not passed away; the worship of the serpentine divinity had not then ceased.
With years the oracle accumulated riches, so that it became noted for its treasures. When, in the year 167 B.C., it was visited by L. Æmilius Paulus, after his conquest of Macedonia, it was rich in gifts presented by those who had obtained relief there from their afflictions. A century and a half later many of the valuable offerings had disappeared.
The visitors to the great oracle in search of health placed themselves under the care of the asclepiades, or disciples of the god. A special course of regimen (treatment) was followed. It is said that it was directed by Æsculapius, through dreams,—not necessarily a truth. The plan pursued was more or less scientific and free from superstition. Mr. Leake rather ungraciously remarks that the advisors, being “equally dexterous as priests and physicians, provided themselves with resources in either capacity, which they could turn to the benefit of their patients’ infirmities and their own profit.”[57] The rules were decidedly strict. Records of patients were preserved, and the tablets on which they were placed were hung up in the temple and elsewhere. Some of those surviving from the stelæ, mentioned by Pausanias,[58] have been unearthed recently by Mr. Kavvadias. They are mostly statements of miraculous cures.[59]
Famous and immensely popular as the Epidaurian Oracle was, it cannot be said to have had notable natural advantages in its favor. The site was not one of the best, being low and hill-bounded,—conditions closely related to unhealthy states of humidity and heat of the atmosphere. The supply of water was not good, dependence having to be placed at times on cisterns. The locations of many other, but less noted, asclepia, were certainly far more sanatory. At Cos there was pure, mild sea-air; and, of those in the mountains or by fountains, each had one or more special natural attractions. Indeed, there could seemingly be few much worse sites than this close little Epidaurian valley, without even a mineral spring, or, in fact, a good spring of ordinary water to recommend it. But, greater than any one, or all climatic or other influences in power to attract the multitude, was the belief that at his birthplace and primary seat and oracle the influence of the god of medicine could be most effectively brought to bear to remove disease and restore health. As in this case, a pleasing superstition may work wonders.
CHAPTER V.
ASCLEPIA AND THE ASCLEPIADES.
Many asclepia, or temples of health, were in time established throughout Greece and her colonies and elsewhere. A recent writer states that at least three hundred and twenty are known “to have existed in antiquity; so that every town of importance must have had its sanctuary.”[60] In success and length of existence they, of course, varied greatly. The one at Epidaurus has been spoken of, and others of great celebrity were those of Tricca, Cnidus, and Cos, to say nothing of some only a little less deserving of mention, such as those at Rhodes, Pergamus, Carthage, Athens,[61] and Rome.
The asclepion at Tricca, in Thessaly, was probably started by the sons of Æsculapius, Machaon and Podalirius. At any rate, according to Homer, they were attendants there. This was enough to bring it into repute, but its situation in the mountains was much in its favor as a popular sanatory resort.
The Coan and Cnidian asclepia were favorably located; the former on the island of the name, which Pliny speaks of as “flourishing and powerful in the highest degree and consecrated to Æsculapius,”[62] and the latter not far distant, on a site decidedly maritime, in Asia Minor. These temples were both very distinguished, and a degree of rivalry prevailed between them. In them there was undoubtedly much highly creditable medical knowledge in exercise. The same was probably the case in most, or perhaps all, others, especially in later times; but it is in respect to those only that we have indubitable evidence of the fact. Of the two schools, the adherents of the Cnidian paid special attention to the symptoms of individual cases, and avoided, as much as possible, powerful cathartics, bleeding, and other active means of cure.
Whatever may have been the success of the various asclepia, institutions which were finally blotted out in the early part of the fourth century by Constantine, the first Christian emperor,[63] that of Cos was destined to make the greatest impress on the medicine of the future. It was the good fortune of this institution to have in connection with it, at the acme of its career, a great author as well as physician. Hippocrates, a native of the island, rendered the fame of the Coan school imperishable, and gave to his fellow-men throughout the world, in all time to come, a legacy of incalculable value. Through this early and great medical writer his alma mater has been made, in a manner, that of the medical man of all ages. From Cos sprang forth at the touch of a humble man, afterward called appreciatively “the divine old man,” a mass of medical knowledge, wonderfully pure and good, which constitutes the main body of the real medical science of our own day.