The “Cicero” of medicine: Aulus Cornelius Celsus / 中华疾病控制杂志

ABSTRACT

Aulus Cornelius Celsus (BC 25-AD 50), an ancient Roman Latin writer and compiler of encyclopedias, has been known as the “Cicero of medicine”. Celsus spread a lot of Greek scientific knowledge in beautiful Latin, published a treatise on medicine in a popular and concise way. Celsus published a book called De Medicina, which opened the history of modern pathology. This book had strong practicability and made a clear distinction between food therapy, drug therapy and surgery, which had a systematic influence on the development of western medicine. Celsus put forword primary prevention and held the view of that diet was the definitive treatment. He also discussed the empiricism and rationalism of medicine, which focused on individualized treatment to achieve the best results.