Note 361 — Chapter IX · RAGUSA AND EPIDAURUS.
Reading edition
Munera diva patris, qui solus Apollinis artes Invenit medicas per secula quinque sepultas, Et docuit gramen quod ad usum quodque valeret, Hic Esculapius celatus, gloria nostra, Ragusii genitus, voluit quem grata relatum Esse deos inter veterum Sapientia patrum, Humanas laudes superaret nata quod omnes: Quo melius toti nemo quasi profuit orbi.
According to De Diversis (as cited by Signor Skurla) the conceit which originally identified the sculpture of the alchemist with Æsculapius is due to a Cremonese noble, Niccolò Lazziri, to whom the above lines are also attributed.