Æsculapius, son of Apollo and Coronis, had a more immediate connection
with medicine than his father. He was taught its mysteries by Chiron
the Centaur, another of the legendary inventors of the art, who
also taught Achilles and others. Æsculapius became so skilful that
Castor and Pollux insisted on his accompanying the expedition of the
Argonauts. Ultimately he acquired the power of restoring the dead to
life. But this perfection of his art was his ruin.
[Illustration: ÆSCULAPIUS.
From the Casalius Collection of Medals, &c. (17th century).
From the Louvre Statue, Paris.
]
Pluto, alarmed for the future of his own dominions, complained to
Jupiter, and the Olympian ruler slew Æsculapius with a thunderbolt.
Apollo was so incensed at this cruel judgment that he killed the
Cyclops who had forged the thunderbolt. For this act of rebellion
Apollo was banished from Olympia and spent nine years on earth, for
some time as a shepherd in the service of the king of Thessaly. It was
during this period that the story of his adventure with Daphne, told
by Ovid, and from which the quotation on