“Bene[1] hercle nūntiās,” inquit Cornēlius. “Perge modo.”[2]
Interim Anna ad Lūcium redierat, ac cēterī, morae impatientēs, in triclīniō sedēbant medicum exspectantēs, quī brevī advēnit. Et Cornēlius: “Salvē, medice,” inquit. “Fīlius meus parvulus minus bene[3] sē habet. Rōmam iter facimus. Celeriter eum sānārī volō.”
“Id quidem perfacile est,” inquit medicus. “Omnia ego facere possum. Modo crūs frāctum Aesculāpiō[4] obligāvī, et bracchium Apollinī. Quīn etiam mortuōs ex īnferīs excitāre soleō.”
At Cornēlius: “Crēdō.[5] Sed nunc expōne quid nōbīs faciendum sit.”
Dum haec fīunt, Anna arcessīta adiit, in gremiō Lūcium fovēns.[6] Quō vīsō, medicus: “Fac ut eius pedēs appāreant,” inquit. Quōs cum pertractāsset,[7] “Aquā gelidā,” inquit, “pedēs lavātō.”[8]
“Tē obsecrō, medice,” inquit Drūsilla. “Febris[9] modo in eum incidit. Male metuō nē gravēdō[10] sequātur, sī aquā gelidā pedēs perfūsī erunt.”
“Sīc faciendum est,” inquit medicus, “sī fīlium salvum optās. Ac interim fac ut hoc medicāmentum tertiā quāque hōrā abundē[11] hauriat.”
Quae cum dīceret, ex amphorā medicāmentum ātrum, picī[12] simile, in pateram[13] effundēbat. “Haec omnia,” inquit, “sī ad[14] praescrīptum[15] fīent, crās puer aut sānātus aut mortuus erit. Tum redībō. Iam valēte.” Quō dictō, domum sē recēpit.
- ↑ Bene, etc.: cf. VIII, 6.
- ↑ modo, only.
- ↑ minus bene, etc., is not very well.
- ↑ Aesculāpiō: the god of physicians. Being a quack, the doctor makes up in boasting what he lacks in skill.
- ↑ Crēdō, ironical, very good.
- ↑ foveō, fovēre, fōvī, fōtus, tr., nurse.
- ↑ pertractō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus, tr., feel of.
- ↑ lavātō: fut. imper.
- ↑ febris, -is, f., fever.
- ↑ gravēdō, -inis, f., cold.
- ↑ abundē, adv., copiously.
- ↑ pix, picis, f., pitch.
- ↑ patera, -ae, f., dish.
- ↑ ad, according to.
- ↑ praescrīptum, -ī, n., orders.
