CHAP. 6.—WHO FIRST PRACTISED AS A PHYSICIAN AT ROME, AND AT WHAT PERIOD.
And, indeed, it appears to me not amiss to take the present opportunity of reviewing some remarkable facts in the days of our forefathers connected with this subject. Cassius Hemina,2478 one of our most ancient writers, says that the first physician that visited Rome was Archagathus, the son of Lysanias, who came over from Peloponnesus, in the year of the City 535, L. Æmilius and M. Livius being consuls. He states also, that the right of free citizenship2479 was granted him, and that he had a shop2480 provided for his practice at the public expense in the Acilian Cross-way;2481 that from his practice he received the name of “Vulnerarius;”2482 that on his arrival he was greatly welcomed at first, but that soon afterwards, from the cruelty displayed by him in cutting and searing his patients, he acquired the new name of “Carnifex,”2483 and brought his art and physicians in general into considerable disrepute.
That such was the fact, we may readily understand from the words of M. Cato, a man whose authority stands so high of itself, that but little weight is added to it by the triumph2484 which he gained, and the Censorship which he held. I shall, therefore, give his own words in reference to this subject.