Whether the establishment of the worship of the healing divinity on the island at Rome was brought about by chance, or deliberately, is not very clear. Pliny would seem to think that it was elsewhere at first when he says, “The Temple of Æsculapius, even after he was received as a divinity, was built without the city and afterward on an island.”[31] The abhorrence of the people for physicians is given as the reason for isolating the institution. The noble Romans had no love for a class that made a trade of curing the sick, enriching themselves off the misfortunes of their fellow-men; they were shocked, says Pliny, “more particularly that man should pay so dear for the enjoyment of life.”[32] There may have been other and better reasons. The Greeks themselves placed their asclepia in rural and often insular places. Thus, the great Epidaurian Asclepion was in a secluded vale, and two very celebrated ones, those of Cos and Rhodes, were, as the names indicate, on islands. It is needless to say that there are excellent sanitary reasons for placing sanatory institutions in the country, and especially on insular sites. It will be a long step in the right direction when we somewhat unwise moderns cease to have our medical institutions within the built-up parts of our cities and towns, and treat the sick, especially those affected with contagious diseases, at a distance from the well. Devotion to the serpentine healer appears to have lingered long in sunny Italy.[33] A bronze serpent in the basilica of St. Ambrose was worshipped as late as the year 1001, but the precise import of it is not known. Referring to it, De Gubernatis says: “Some say that it was the serpent of Æsculapius, others that of Moses, others that it was an image of Christ. For us it is enough to remark here that it was a mythical serpent before which Milanese mothers brought their children when they suffered from worms in order to relieve them, as we learn from the depositions of the visit of San Carlo Borromeo to this basilica.”[34] San Carlo suppressed the superstitious practice.[35] CHAPTER III. THE ÆSCULAPIAN SERPENT. It is not to be presumed that many in our day would seriously believe that Æsculapius assumed the form of a large serpent, in the famous legendary voyage to Rome; but it is hardly to be doubted, as I have already remarked, that there was actually a serpent brought from Epidaurus on the occasion. It is very probable that the Roman embassy deliberately brought one with them; still, the coming of the reptile on board the ship may have been accidental.[36] The latter was the case, according to one tradition. At any rate, there was sufficient ground on which a superstitious people could easily construct a mythical superstructure to please their fancy.