Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

748 MIED ICUS. MEDIX TUTICUS.
by him to have received one hundred talents for from the emperor 500,000 sesterces per annum
curing king Antiochus, which (if we suppose the (or 39061. 5s.), as he might have made 600,000
Attic talents of the standard of Alexander's coin- sesterces (or 46871. lOs.) by his private practice -
age to be meant, which, according to Hussec, was and that he and his brother, who received the
worth 2431. 15s.) would amount to 24,3751.* It same annual income from the emperor Claudins,
seems to have been not uncommon among the left between them at their death, notwithstanding
GTreeks in those times (as afterwards in the later large sums that they had spent in beautifying the
Roman empire, see ARtcHIATER) for states to city of Naples, the sum of thirty millions of sesmaintain physicians, who were paid at the public terces (or 234,3751.).
cost (Xen. Mele. iv. 2. ~ 5; Plato, Gori. ~ 23; Of the previous medical education necessary to
Strabo, iv. p. 125; Died. Sic. xii. 13); and these qualify a physician at Rome for the legal practice
again had attendants, for the most part slaves, who of his profession in the early times, we know noexercised their calling among people of low condi- thing; afterwards, however, this was under the
tion. (Plato, De Leg. iv. p. 720, ed. Steph.) superintendence of the archiatri. [ARcIiIATEt.]
The Romans derived their knowledge of me- Two other medical titles that we meet with
dicine at first from the Etruscans, and afterwards under the emperors were IatrosoV7ista (see the
from the Greeks. One of the most ancient cus- word) and Actuarius,'AKTovUdpos. The latter wAas
toms at Rome in order to ward off epidemic dis- a title at the court of Constantinople, given appaeases, and to appease the anger of the gods, was rently only to physicians, and quite distinct frosm
the interrogating the books bought by Tarquin of the use of the word found in the earlier Latin
the Sibyl. In the earlier times of the Roman authors. (See Du Cange, Gloss. Graec. vol. i.
republic physicians are said by Pliny to have been p. 46, and Possini, Gloss. ad Pac7/1eer. Hist. 4nunknown (IH. N. xxix. 5); and for some time dronici, vol. i. p. 366, &c. and vol. ii. pp. 468, 46.9.)
afterwards the exercise of the profession was in a Besides Joannes the son of Zacharias, who is better
great measure confined to persons of servile rank; known by his title of Actuarius than by his real
fbr the richer families having slaves who were name, several other physicians are recorded as
skilled in all sorts of trades, &c., generally pos- having arrived at this dignity. [W. A. G.]
sessed one or more that understood medicine and MEDIMNUS (aLU'eos or EoIvOS evr-?pbis),
surgery. (Middleton's Essay, De lledicorzmn aped the principal dry measure of the Greeks. It was
Romcoanos degentiunm Conditione, Cantab. 1726, 4to. used especially for measuring corn. It contained
and the various answers to it that appeared on its 6 /hectes, 12 hemniecta, 48 clhoenices, 96 xestae (sex,publication.) To this practice, however, there tarii), 192 cot?/lae, and 1152 cyethi. The Attic
were many exceptions, e.g. the physician who was medimnus was equal to six Roman modii, or two
taken prisoner with Julius Caesar by the pirates amphorae (Nepos, Att. 2; Cic. in Verr. iii. 45, 4(;,
at the island of Pharmacusa (Sueton. J. Caes. 4), 49; Suidas, s. v.; Rhemn. Fann. v. 64.)
and who is called his friend by Plutarch (see Suidas makes the medirnnus= 108 litrae, conCasaubon's note on Sueton.); Archagathus, who founding it apparently with the metretes, the chief
being the first foreign surgeon that settled at Greek fluid measure, which was three quarters of
Rome, had a shop bought for him at the public the medimnus. The medimnus contained nearly
expense, and was presented with the Jus Quiritium 12 imperial gallons, or 1- bushel. This was the
B. c. 219 (Cassius Hemina, ap. Plin. 1. N. xxix. Attic medimnus; the Aeginetan and Ptolemaic was
6); Artorius, who is known to have been a phy- half as much again, or in the ratio of 3: 2 to the
sician (Cael. Aurel. De Morh. Acat. iii. 14. p. 224), Attic. For the values of the subdivisions of the
and who is called the friend of Augustus (Plut. medimnus see the Tables. (BIckh, AlMetrol. Ulte'rBrazt. 41), where, however, it should be noticed sace. pp. 202-204.) [P. S.]
that some editions read'APrvi'mos instead of MEDITRINA'LIA was one of the festivals'Aprcipos); Asclapo, whom Cicero calls his friend connected with the cultivation of vineyards. It
(ad Easn. xiii. 20); Asclepiades, the friend of took place on the eleventh of October, on which
Crassus the orator (Cic. de Orat. i. 14); Eude- day the people of Latium began to taste their new
mus, who is called by Tacitus (Annal. iv. 3) the wine (smustuzn), and to offer libations of it to the
friend and physician of Livia; and others. The (rods. In drinking the new wine it was customary
hatred borne by Cato the Censor against the Greek to pronounce the words: "vetus novum vinuml
physicians as well as the Greek philosophers at bibo, novo veteri morbo medeor." (Varro, de Lihl.
Rome is well known; but it is not true that he Lat. vi. 21; Festus, s. v. Meditrinalia.) Valro
caused themn to be expelled from Rome. (See derives the name of the festival from the healing
Sprengel, Hist. de la k/lid.) With respect to the power of the new wine, but Festus speaks of a
income made by eminent physicians in the early goddess Meditrina. [L. S.]
times of Rome, the writer is not aware of any MEDIX TUTICUS, the name of the supreme
data for ascertaining it; at the beginning of the magistrate among the Oscan people. Medix apempire, we learn from Pliny (Hl. N. xxix. 5) that pears to have signified a magistrate of any kind
Albutius, Arruntius, Calp'etanus, Cassius, and Ru- (szeddixr apud Oscos aomen s nayistralts est, Festus,
brius gained 250,000 sesterces per annum, i. e. s. v. p. 123, ed. Miiller), and tuticus to have been
(reckoning with Hussey the mille nummi (sestes- equivalent to snuagnus or summus. Livy, therefore,
tihm) to be worth, after the reign of Augustus, in calling the medix tuticus the sumzomus mncais71. 16s. 3d.) 19531. 2s. 6d.; that Q. Stertinius tratuss, gives a literal translation of the word. In
made it a favour that he was content to receive the time of the second Punic war, the Campanians
were governed by the medix tuticus, who seenls
" If, however, the Alexandrian standard, which to have been elected annually (Liv. xxiii. 35, xxiv.
is found in the coins of the Ptolemies, be meant, it 19, xxvi. 6); and we may infer from a line of
would amount (reckoning the drachma as Is. 3ld.) Ennitus (apucd Fest. s. v.), "Summus ibi capitur
to 39,3751.; an almost incredible sum. meddix, occiditur alter," that there was another