There was also a very ignorant class of oculists in Rome in the time of Nero, but at Marseilles Demosthenes Philalethes was deservedly celebrated, and his book on diseases of the eye was in use for several centuries. The eye doctors of Rome employed ointments almost entirely, and about two hundred seals have been discovered which had been attached to pots of eye salves, each seal bearing the inventor's and proprietor's name. In the time of Galen, these quack oculists were very numerous, and Galen inveighs against them. Martial satirized them: "Now you are a gladiator who once were an ophthalmist; you did as a doctor what you do as a gladiator." "The blear-eyed Hylas would have paid you sixpence, O Quintus; one eye is gone, he will still pay threepence; make haste and take it, brief is your chance; when he is blind, he will pay you nothing." The oculists of Alexandria were very proficient, and some of their followers, at various times throughout the period of the Roman Empire, were remarkably skilful. Their literature has perished, but it is believed that they were able to operate on cataract. With the death of Nero in A.D. 68, the direct line of the Cæsars became extinct. FOOTNOTES: [18] Suetonius: "Lives of the Cæsars," lxxxii. [19] Seneca "De Benefic.," vi. CHAPTER VII. PHYSICIANS FROM THE TIME OF AUGUSTUS TO THE DEATH OF NERO. Celsus--His life and works--His influence on Medicine--Meges of Sidon--Apollonius of Tyana--Alleged miracles--Vettius Valleus--Scribonius Longus--Andromachus--Thessalus of Tralles--Pliny.