Plutarch's Romane Questions · Plutarch
94.
_Why stands the temple of_ Aesculapius _without the citie of_ Rome? IS it because they thought the abode without the citie more holesome, than that within? For in this regard the Greekes ordinarily built the temples of _Aesculapius_ upon high ground, wherein the aire is more pure and cleere. Or in this respect, that this god _Aesculapius_ was sent for out of the citie _Epidaurus_. And true it is that the Epidaurians founded his temple; not within the walles of their city, but a good way from it. Or lastly, for that the serpent when it was landed out of the galley in the Isle, and then vanished out of sight, seemed thereby to tell them where he would that they should build the place of his abode.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.