ples of AEsculapius, and his healing of
the sick and alleged triumph over the laws of Nature. He was also
credited with raising the dead, casting out devils and other
miracle-working that appears to have been borrowed from the life of
Christ. No doubt he was a genuine philosopher and follower of
Pythagoras. His history is, on the whole, worthy of belief, except the
part relating to miracles. It is noteworthy that he did not claim for
himself miraculous power. Newman in his "Life of Apollonius" takes the
view that the account of the miracles of Apollonius is derived from the
narrative of Christ's miracles, and has been concocted by people
anxious to degrade the character of the Saviour. The attempt to make him
appear as a pagan Christ has been renewed in recent years.

In the realm of medical practice he succeeded by imposture probably, but
also in a genuine way by means of suggestion, and no doubt he had also
acquired medical knowledge from study and travelling among people who
had healing powers and items of medical knowledge perhaps unknown at the
present day.

_Vettius (or Vectius) Valleus_, was of equestrian rank but he did not
confer any honour on the medical profession. He was one of the lewd
companions of Messalina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius, and was put
to death in A.D. 48. He was a believer in Themison's doctrines, and is
said by Pliny[20] to have founded a new medical sect, but nearly all the
Methodici attempted to create a new sect by adding to, or subtracting a
little from, the tenets of Methodism.

_Scribonius Largus_ (about A.D. 45) was physician to Claudius and
accompanied him to Britain. He wrote several medical books, and is
reputed to have used electricity for the relief of headaches.

_Andromachus_, the elder, was physician to Nero, and the first
archiater. He was born in Crete. He was the inventor of a compound
medicine called after himself, "Theriaca Andromachi." He gave
directions for making it in a poem of 174 lines. This poem is quoted by
Galen, who explains that Andromachus gave his instructions a poetical
form to assist memory, and to prevent the likelihood of alteration.

_Andromachus_, the younger, was the son of the first archiater, and was,
like his father, physician to Nero. He wrote a book on Pharmacy, in
three volumes.

_Thessalus of Tralles_, in Lydia, lived in Rome in the reign of Nero,
and dedicated one of his books to the Emperor. He was a charlatan with
no medical know