Ancient Roman Medicine

Roman Medicine: We, in our overmedicated and over-modified world, have visions of primitive medical practices in "ancient" Europe. We think of unsanitary curbside surgeries by traveling barbers, poisons distributed as medicines (and vice versa, if you had enemies), herbs and simples with minimal value, bleeding and purging, superstition. There was some of that in the Roman world, but most of the excesses actually came later, when Roman knowledge had been lost.