The lessons of ancient Rome’s dangerous doctors
"I died of a surfeit of doctors,” read one Roman funerary inscription. But where did this surfeit come from? Let Pliny the Elder (d. AD 79) explain. Pliny devoted book twenty-nine of his Natural History (a vast encyclopedia of Roman life) to the history of medicine. Claiming that no discipline “undergoes more frequent changes, and none is more profitable either,” Pliny pointed the finger at Greek doctors. These had been welcomed into Rome from the third century bc with their fancy philosophical ideas — all different — which their eloquence persuaded people immediately to adopt in place of the good old experience-based Roman herbal treatments, overseen by the trusty master of the house.
