In our day it is difficult to understand how persons of a fair degree of intelligence could for so long a period have continued to believe in the efficacious interference of the deified Aesculapius in their behalf. But that this belief really did exist is well known, and it was only after the lapse of many centuries that the faith of the public began to weaken, doubtless through the influence of several factors. Perhaps the most important of these was the discovery of an increasing number of instances of humbuggery or trickery, of which the officiating priests, in some of the temples, had been guilty. The satirical writer, Aristophanes, who flourished in Athens about 400 B. C., describes an incident of this nature in his play entitled "Ploutos." The following extracts furnish an account of the doings observed by the slave Karion on the occasion of his passing a night in the temple enclosure at Athens:—
The Scene throughout is laid at Athens, in front of the
house of Chremulos.
Blepsidemos: Ought n't we then to bring in some doctor?
Chremulos: Prythee, what doctor is there now in the city? For their pay is no longer anything worth, nor their art.
Blep.: Let us cast about.
Chrem.: Nay, there is not one.
Blep.: I believe there is not.
Chrem.: Nay, by Zeus, the best plan is to do what I have been long preparing—(to conduct him [Ploutos]) to the temple of Asklepios [and] make him lie down [there].
Chrem.: Karion, my man, you must bring out the bed-clothes and lead Ploutos himself in the usual way, and carry everything else that is ready within.
(Exeunt omnes.)
Chorus of Farmers. What is the matter, Oh thou best friend of—thyself? For you seem to have come as a messenger of some good news.
