_Karion._ Through my old cloak; for, by Zeus, it had holes not a few. First of all, he took in hand to pound a plaster for Neokleides, and he threw in three cloves of Tenian garlic. Then he bruised them in the mortar, mixing therewith the acid juice of the fig-tree and squill; then, having diluted it with Sphettian vinegar, he turned his eyelids inside out that he might feel more pain, and then applied the mixture. But he, squalling and bawling, jumped up and was running away, when the god said with a laugh:--“Sit down there now, smeared with thy plaster, that I may stop thee from going to the Assembly, having for once a real excuse.” _Wife._ What a patriot and sage the god is! _Karion._ After that he sat down by the side of Ploutos, and first he touched his head, and then, taking a clean towel, he wiped his eyelids all round, and Panakeia covered his head and all his face with a cloth of purple dye; and the god then whistled. Thereupon two snakes of monstrous size darted forth from the temple. _Wife._ Dear Gods! _Karion._ And these two (snakes) having quietly glided under the crimson cloth, licked his eyelids all around, methought. And before you could drink ten cups of wine, my mistress, Ploutos stood up and was able to see: and I clapped my hands with delight and awoke my master. And the god suddenly took himself off from our view with the snakes into the temple. If one examines carefully the facts connected with the Aesculapian temple treatment, so far as they are known to us, one cannot fail to be impressed with their strong resemblance to what has been the experience of similar semi-religious movements in more recent times, not only in European countries but also in the United States. In all of them there may be found a kernel of true religious belief, and no candid observer can deny the fact that many persons have been benefited thereby both in body and in mind. But, sooner or later, the method has fallen into disrepute, either because it was employed in the vain hope that it might accomplish a cure which surgical means alone could effect, or else because unscrupulous persons, taking advantage of the credulousness of those associated with the movement, utilized it for their own selfish advantage. CHAPTER V THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SERPENT IN THE STATUES AND VOTIVE OFFERINGS EXPOSED TO VIEW IN THE AESCULAPIAN TEMPLES