The first appellation the Grecians gave to those who exercised the art of
healing was _iatros_. Originally it merely signified a man possessed of
the power of relieving accidents, either by manual exertions, or the
hidden virtues of some amulet or charm. Sextus tells us that in ancient
times it applied to an extractor of arrows, _sagittarum extractor_. No
doubt, this operation constituted the chief business of the surgeon in the
infancy of the art; and warriors and heroes themselves performed it on the
field of battle, as fully exemplified in Homer.
The primitive title of _iatros_ gradually descended to surgical
practitioners. We find that Nebrus and Heraclides were the chief _iaters_
of Cos, the birthplace of Hippocrates. To this day the same name is given
to medical men in Greece, where, until lately, they were in the habit of
perambulating the streets, and seeking occupation by crying out at certain
distances, _Callos iatros!_ (The good doctor!) Balsamo, a celebrated
mountebank, being at Cairo, where he died, one of his disciples repaired
to Europe, and, anxious to bear a singular name, assumed this cry, and
called himself _Calloiatro_, or, according to the corrupt pronunciation,
_Cagliostro_: his history is well known, and he certainly excelled in
impudence and industry all his predecessors. These Greek _iaters_, when
going over to Italy to practise, called themselves _medici_, which Cato
wanted to change into _mendici_, for, said he, "These creatures, (_Illi
Graeculi_,) quit their native country, where they were starving, to seek
their fortune in Rome (_ut fortunam sibi mendicent_)." Under this austere
censor few of these emigrants dared to settle in the Roman territories,
but after his demise they inundated the country to such an extent, that it
was said that Rome had more physicians than patients who needed their
attendance. This influx of practitioners occasioned constant competition,
and each _iater_ endeavoured to obtain fame and emolument by underrating
his opponents, and endeavouring to introduce novel doctrines, seeking a
livelihood, as Pliny observed, _inter mortes et mendacia_. It was on these
adventurers that the following epigram was written:
Fingunt se cuncti medicos,--idiota, sacerdos,
Judaeus, monachus, histrio, rasor, anus.
The quackery of these candidates for popularity became the subject of
bitter satire; and Martial thus speaks of the _Iatre_ Symmachus:
Languebam, sed tu comitatus protinus ad me
Venisti centum, Symmache, discipulis;
Centum me tetigere manus, aquilone gelatae,
Non habui febrem, Symmache; nunc habeo.[7]
This Symmachus, it appears, invariably moved abroad surrounded by hundreds
of his disciples, whose cold investigating hands produced upon their
patients the effects to which Martial alludes.