Beside a fountain's sacred brink we raised Our verdant altars, and the victims blazed: 'Twas where the plane-tree spread its shades around, The altars heaved; and from the crumbling ground A mighty dragon shot, of dire portent; From Jove himself the dreadful sign was sent. Straight to the tree his sanguine spires he roll'd And curled around
The altars heaved ; and from the crumbling ground A mighty dragon shot, of dire portent; From Jove himself the dreadful sign was sent. Straight to the tree his sanguine spires he roll'd And curled around in many a winding fold. . . .
Iliad ii1
The small Greek island of Cos bears some of the most remarkable links between Hippocrates and the modern world. In addition to the ruins of a great temple of Aesculapius, there stands an ancient plane tree under whose shade Hippocrates may have sat and taught his students.