Sources of Ancient Healing Thermalism

Cicero ad Familiares 177.5

Way of Transmission
Literature
Datation
April the 22th, 46 BCE
Language
Latin
Literary Genre
Epistolography
Canonical Reference
Fam. 177.5
Thermal Spa Related
Baiae

te vero nolo,nisi ipse rumor iam raucus erit factus, ad Baias venire, erit enim nobis honestius, etiam cum hinc discesserimus, videri venisse in ilia loca ploratum potius quam natatum.

No, I don’t think you ought to go to Baiae, unless rumour itself grows hoarse. Even when we go away from here, it will be more seemly to appear to have chosen that part of the world for weeping rather than for bathing.

En cuanto a ti, no quiero que viajes a Bayas, a no ser que el rumor se haya quedado afónico espontáneamente. Pues nos resultará más honroso, incluso cuando salgamos de aquí, dar la impresión de que hemos ido a estos sitios más para llorar que para nadar.

Commentary

Cicero advises Varro not to go to Baiae.

Related Sources

Plinius Naturalis historia 31.4

Pliny the Elder indicates the importance of mineral and thermal springs were for humans, and how in some occassions, these springs caused the creation of some urbes because the value of these waters for health. In this case, he includes the examples of some of those cities: Puteolos (Puteoli, Italy), (Aquae) Statiellas (Acqui Terme, Italy) and (Aquae) Sextias (Aix-en-Provence, in France)

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Related Sources

Cicero ad Atticum 362.1

Cicero promises Atticus to inquire and tell him “about the bussiness from Baiae”, that is, about Hircio, Pansa and Balbo, who were in Baiae. He will do so in the

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