Vivisection, Medicine, and Bioethics: A Case Study from Ancient Rome

Abstract

This paper will first give an overview of ancient approaches towards vivisection and its ethical implications; then it will focus on a fictive plea entitled The Sick Twins, falsely ascribed to Quintilian, the celebrated Roman rhetorician. That speech revolves around a delicate issue: a father of two sick twins is formally charged by his wife with illtreatment, since he hired a doctor to find a cure and save at least one of the twins by vivisecting— and consequently killing— the other son. A closer look at this rhetorical piece will afford a better insight into human anatomization in GrecoRoman antiquity and the ethical issues involved therein.