Note 378 — WAS THE ROMAN ARMY PROVIDED WITH MEDICAL OFFICERS?
Reading edition
It has been suggested by some authorities, but without sufficient grounds, that in practice Machaon exercised only the art of surgery, while Podalirius followed the art of medicine. Hence, it is argued, Agamemnon, when Menelaus was wounded, did not send for Podalirius, but Machaon. Arctinus, one of the early cyclic poets, takes this view.—See Welcker’s Cyclus Epicus: “Ilii Excidium Arctini,” xiii. 2.