It was not the thing itself that the ancients condemned, but it was the art as then practised, and they were shocked, more particularly, that man should pay so dear for the enjoyment of life. For this reason it was, they say, that the Temple of Æsculapius even after he was received as a divinity, was built without the City, and afterwards on an island;[2489] for this reason, too, it was, that when, long after the time of Cato, the Greeks were expelled from Italy, the physicians were not[2490] exempted from the decree. And here I will[2491] improve upon the foresight displayed by them. Medicine is the only one of the arts of Greece, that, lucrative as it is, the Roman gravity has hitherto refused to cultivate. It is but very few of our fellow-citizens that have even attempted it, and so soon as ever they have done so, they have become deserters to the Greeks forthwith.[2492] Nay, even more than this, if they attempt to treat of it in any other language than Greek, they are sure to lose all credit, with the most ignorant even, and those who do not understand a word of Greek; there being all the less confidence felt by our people in that which so nearly concerns their welfare, if it happens to be intelligible to them. In fact, this is the only one of all the arts, by Hercules! in which the moment a man declares[2493] himself to be an adept, he is at once believed, there being at the same time no imposture, the results of which are more fraught with peril. To all this, however, we give no attention, so seductive is the sweet influence of the hope entertained of his ultimate recovery by each. And then besides, there is no law in existence whereby to punish the ignorance of physicians, no instance before us of capital punishment inflicted. It is at the expense of our perils that they learn, and they experimentalize by putting us to death, a physician being the only person that can kill another with sovereign impunity. Nay, even more than this, all the blame is thrown upon the sick man only; he is accused of disobedience forthwith, and it is the person who is dead and gone that is put upon his trial. It is the usage at Rome for the decuries[2494] to pass examination under the censorship of the emperor, and for inquisitions to be made at our party-walls[2495] even: persons who are to sit in judgment on our monetary matters are sent for to Gades[2496] and the very Pillars of Hercules; while a question of exile is never entertained without a panel of forty-five men selected for the purpose.[2497] But when it is the judge’s own life that is at stake, who are the persons that are to hold council upon it, but those who the very next moment are about to take it!