Chap. 18.] BEMARKABLE PBOPEBTIES OF THE BODY. 159 



face downwards ; as if, even after death, nature were desirous 

 of sparing their modesty. 27 



(18.) We find it stated, that there are some men whose 

 bones are solid, and devoid of marrow, 28 and that one mark of 

 such persons is the fact that they are never thirsty, and emit 

 no perspiration. At the same time, we know that by the ex- 

 ercise of a resolute determination, any one may resist the 

 feeling of thirst ; a fact which was especially exemplified in the 

 case of Julius Yiator, a Roman of equestrian rank, but by birth 

 one of the Yocontii, a nation on terms of alliance with us. 

 Having, in his youth, been attacked by dropsy, and forbidden 

 the use of liquids by his physicians, 29 use with him became a 

 second nature, and so, in his old age, he never took any drink 

 at all. Other persons also, have, by the exercise of a strong 

 determination, laid similar restraints upon themselves. 



(19.) It is said that Crassus, the grandfather of Crassus, who 

 was slain by the Parthians, was never known to laugh ; from 

 which circumstance he obtained the name of Agelastus. 30 There 

 are other persons again, who have never been seen to weep. 

 Socrates, who was so famous for his wisdom, always appeared 

 with the same countenance, and was never known to appear 

 either more gay or more sad than ordinary. This even tenor 

 of the mind, however, sometimes degenerates into a sort of 

 harshness, and a rigorous and inflexible sternness of nature, 

 entirely effacing all the human affections. The Greeks, among 

 whom there have been many persons of this description, are in 



27 This is incorrect ; the human hody, after death, does not float until 

 decomposition has commenced, when it becomes more or less buoyant, in 

 consequence of the formation of gases, which partially distend the cavities ; 

 but we do net observe any difference in the two sexes in this respect. B. 



28 This statement is altogether incorrect. B. 



29 The total abstinence from liquids in dropsy, was a point much insisted 

 upon by medical practitioners, even in modern times ; but it is now gene- 

 rally conceived to have been derived from a false theory, and not to be 

 essential to the cure of the disease, while it imposes upon the patient a most 

 severe privation. A moderate use of fluids is even favourable ^to the ope- 

 ration of the remedies that are employed in this disease. B. 



30 From the Greek ayfXaorog, "one who does not laugh." Cicero re- 

 fers to this peculiarity in the character of Crassus, in his treatise De Fini- 

 bus, B. v. c. 92 ; and in the Tusc. Quest. B. iii. c. 3, he informs us, on the 

 authority of Lucilius, that Crassus never laughed but once in his life. B. 

 And then, on seeing a donkey eating thistles' ; upon which he exclaimed, 

 ** Similem habent labia lactucam," " Like lips, like lettuce." 



