Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/121

 102 those who are held in most honour are called the Hylobioi.|| They live in the woods, where they subsist on leaves of trees and wild fruits, and wear garments made from the bark of trees. They abstain from sexual intercourse and from wine. They communicate with the kings, who consult them by messengers regard- ing the causes of things, and who through them worship and supplicate the deity. Next in honour to the Hylobioi are the physicians, since they are engaged in the study of the nature of man. They are simple in their habits, but do not live in the fields. Their food consists of rice and barley-meal, which they can always get for the mere asking, or receive from those who enter- tain them as guests in their houses. By their knowledge of pharmacy they can make mar- riages fruitful, and determine the sex of the oflfepring. They effect cures rather by regulat- ing diet than by the use of medicines. The remedies most esteemed are ointments and plas- ters. All others they consider to be in a great measure pernicious in their nature.^ This class and the other class practise fortitude, both by undergoing active toil, and by the endurance of pain, so that they remain for a whole day mo- tionless in one fixed attitude.* 11 ScMB note* |Mige^98. „ " The habits of the physicians," Elphinstone remarks, stage." • << It is indeed," says the same authority, " a remarlcable Digitized by Google
 * seem to correspond with those of BrStunans of the fourth