response: 'Draw near, take pine apples from off the
altar, and eat them with wine for three days. And the man got well, and
came and gave thanks in the presence of the people."

4. "A blind soldier, Valerius Asper by name, received this answer from
the god: that he should mix the blood of a white cock with milk, make an
eye ointment therewith, and rub his eyes with it for three days. And lo!
the blind recovered his sight, and came, and publicly gave thanks to the
god."

The success with which the Priests of Aesculapius carried on their
impostures, and the popularity which their dexterous management, no less
than the vulgar credulity obtained for them, will cease to surprise us
on maturer consideration. It could not be a difficult task for them to
give the minds of their patients whatever bias was best adapted to their
purposes. These credulous beings passed several days and nights in the
temple, and their imagination could not fail to be powerfully impressed
with what was diligently told them of the prescriptions and cures of
Aesculapius; nor to retain during their slumbers many lively impressions
of their meditations by day; their priestly nurses too were neither so
blind to their own interests, nor so careless of their reputations as to
omit the prescribing of such modes of diet and medical remedies as were
calculated to appease their patients' sufferings. Besides which, however
delusive and empirical their outward ceremonials and bold pretensions
might have been, we should remember, that priests, having some
acquaintance with the science of medicine, were generally selected to
officiate on those spots where the incubitary process[109] was the order
of the day. To this acquaintance were added the results of daily
experience, and the frequent opportunities which the incessant demands
of the infirm upon their skill afforded them of correcting previous
errors and improving their practical knowledge: of gradually
ascertaining the various kinds and appearances of human disorders; and
of digesting such data as would enable them, with the least possible
chance of failure, to prescribe the modes of cure and treatment suitable
to the various stages and species of the applicant's maladies. With such
means, it would have been not a little singular if the priests of
Aesculapius had failed in converting the popular veneration to his
credit and their own emolument.

FOOTNOTES:

[89] The Priestess of Apollo, by whom he delive