was
accompanied by a solemn service of prayer and sacrifice, whose symbolism
tended highly to excite the imagination."(14)

(13) Caton: Temples and Ritual of Asklepios, 2d ed.,
London, 1900.

(14) Max Neuburger: History of Medicine, English
translation, Oxford, 1910, p. 94.

The temples were in charge of members of the guild or fraternity, the
head of which was often, though not necessarily, a physician. The Chief
was appointed annually. From Caton's excellent sketch(15) you can get a
good idea of the ritual, but still better is the delightful description
given in the "Plutus" of Aristophanes. After offering honey-cakes and
baked meats on the altar, the suppliants arranged themselves on the
pallets.

(15) Caton: Temples and Ritual of Asklepios, 2d ed.,
London, 1900.

Soon the Temple servitor
Put out the lights and bade us fall asleep,
Nor stir, nor speak, whatever noise we heard.
So down we lay in orderly repose.
And I could catch no slumber, not one wink,
Struck by a nice tureen of broth which stood
A little distance from an old wife's head,
Whereto I marvellously longed to creep.
Then, glancing upwards, I beheld the priest
Whipping the cheese-cakes and figs from off
The holy table; thence he coasted round
To every altar spying what was left.
And everything he found he consecrated
Into a sort of sack--(16)

a procedure which reminds one of the story of "Bel and the Dragon." Then
the god came, in the person of the priest, and scanned each patient.
He did not neglect physical measures, as he brayed in a mortar cloves,
Tenian garlic, verjuice, squills and Sphettian vinegar, with which he
made application to the eyes of the patient.

(16) Aristophanes: B. B. Roger's translation, London, Bell
& Sons, 1907, Vol. VI, ll. 668, etc., 732 ff.

Then the God clucked,
And out there issued from the holy shrine
Two great, enormous serpents....
And underneath the scarlet cloth they crept,
And licked his eyelids, as it seemed to me;
And, mistress dear, before you could have drunk
Of wine ten goblets, Wealth arose and saw.(17)

(17) Ibid.

The incubation sleep, in which indications of cure were divinely sent,
formed an important part of the ritual.

The Asklepieion, or Health Temple of Cos, recently excavated, is of
special interest, as being at the birthpla