52 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



The oysters were fine, but so few, so very easily counted 

 they were just three times his ten fingers, or Gorgon's 

 heads if you multiply them by ten, or 



" Twice fifteen and nothing more, 

 Bakers' dozens two, and four, 

 Twenty-two plus eight, and then 

 Two full scores, deducting ten." 



Martial ridicules Papilus for dining so niggardly him- 

 self, and yet making expensive presents to friends for the 

 sake of ostentation. Oysters are enumerated amongst the 

 dainties :- 



" For thyself if the tail of a pilchard thou broil, 

 And on festivals swill a bean soup without oil ; 

 Teat, boar, hare, champinions and oysters and mullet 

 Thou bestow'st my poor Pap has nor palate nor gullet." 



(Epigram 7, 78.) 

 In another place he speaks of the dark beards of oysters, 



" Et ostreorum rap ere lividos cirros " (Ep. 7, 20), 



as one of the dishes which the gluttonous Sanctra was fond 

 of pilfering off the table. % 



Oyster-shells were used by the ancient Romans in 

 medicine and as a cement ; cuttle-fish bones and oyster- 

 shells finely reduced to powder to cure wounds and ulcers, 

 eruptions on infants' skins, chilblains, and as tooth-powder. 

 Palladius (20) recommends a cement made of figs, pitch, 

 and powdered oyster-shells for repairing baths. 



(w) De Re Rust I, 41. 



