480 PLINY'S NATUKAL HISTOEY. [Book XXIII. 



and nothing else, that persons rinse the mouth after sucking 

 the poison from a wound. This liquid, in fact, exercises a 

 predominance not only upon various articles of food, but upon 

 many other substances as well. Poured upon rocks in con- 

 siderable quantities, it has the effect of splitting 24 them, when 

 the action of fire alone has been unable to produce any effect 

 thereon. As a seasoning, too, there is no kind that is more 

 agreeable than vinegar, or that has a greater tendency to 

 heighten the flavour of food. When it is employed for this 

 purpose, its extreme tartness is modified with burnt bread or 

 wine, or else it is heightened by the addition of pepper, and of 

 laser ; 25 in all cases, too, salt modifies its strength. 



While speaking of vinegar, we must not omit to mention a 

 very remarkable case in connexion with it : in the latter years 

 of his life, M. Agrippa was dreadfully afflicted with gout, so 

 much so, in fact, that he was quite unable to endure the tor- 

 ments to which he was subjected. Upon this, guided by the 

 ominous advice of one of his medical attendants, though un- 

 known to Augustus, at the moment of an extremely severe 

 attack he plunged his legs into hot vinegar, content to pur- 

 chase exemption from such cruel torments as he suffered, if 

 even at the price of all use and sensation in those limbs, 



CHAP. 28. (2.) SQUILL VINEGAB: SEVENTEEN KEMEDIES. 



Squill vinegar is the metre esteemed, the older it is. In 

 addition to the properties which we have already 27 mentioned, 

 it is useful in cases where the food turns sour upon the sto- 

 mach, a mere taste of it being sufficient to act as a corrective. 

 It is good, too, when persons are seized with vomiting, while 



24 See B. xxx, c. 21. From Livyand Plutarch, we learn that Hannihal 

 employed this method of splitting the rocks when making his way across 

 the Alps. Fee, at considerable length, disputes the credibility of this 

 account, and thinks it only a wonderful story invented by the Romans to 

 account for their defeat by Hannibal. 



25 See B. xix. c. 5. 



25 Sillig has little doubt that this passage is incomplete, and that the 

 end of it should be to the effect, " the result of which was, that he was 

 effectually cured." A very similar story is related of Servius Clodius, a 

 lloman knight, in B. xxv. c. 7. 



27 In B. xx. c. 39. It is still employed in medicine ; but the statements 

 here made, as Fee says, do not merit a serious discussion. 



