The way it was told to me was, back in the day all the doctors in Rome were Greek. I’m talking about 2,500 years ago when a plague hit. People were dying left and right and the doctors didn’t know what to do, so they sent a delegation back to Greece to consult the oracle. After much consultation and consideration the oracle gave the doctors a snake to bring back to Rome. Not questioning why, the doctors returned with the snake. Just before landing in Rome, the snake slithered off the boat and went ashore on the small island of Tiberina in the middle of the Tiber River adjacent to the city.
The doctors took the snake’s action as a sign that Tiberina Island must be a special place. They erected a temple on the island and ushered all the sick people from the city to the temple. The doctors were then better able to feed and wash the sick (noting that both of these acts have miraculous curative properties), and effectively quarantined the illness away from the greater population. Amazingly, to this day Tiberina is still primarily a hospital, now faced with a different kind of human illness. You’d think with all this experience, we’d have been better prepared. Which oracle should we consult now?
