36 A Short History of Nursing state they paid some attention to the problems of poverty. There was state relief for orphans, vagrants, defectives, etc., at public cost, and the poor were attended in sickness by state physicians. Brotherhoods of Hospitality provided inns and resting places for travellers, and mutual help asso- ciations were common. The early history of Rome only begins when Greece was at the height of her civilization and me icine ^^^^ ^£ Abruzzi, which they took with them to Rome, preceded the stage of wor- ship of the goddesses of fever, of drains, of the evil eye, and of microbes. It is supposed that Rome applied to Greece for advanced medical teaching. In the third century B.C. during a severe plague, the Sibylline books were consulted, and the Oracle counselled the Romans to bring As- klepios from Greece. A mission was sent and a staff of physicians and attendants came and settled in the little island in the Tiber. One of the sacred serpents was said to have chosen the spot by jump- ing out of the galley on the island. This has been a hospital site ever since. Rome, more eminent in sanitation than in medicine was dotted with health resorts and medical schools. The older Etruscan civilization is dim with mystery, and the simple medical art of the old peas-
