1 88 PHYSICAL SCIENCE BK. iv 



whole world to drink, this that she has shed forth 

 with lavish prodigality for the service alike of man 

 and of beasts and birds and the very laziest of the 

 animal creation upon this, luxury, with ill-conceived 



4 ingenuity, has managed to put a price. In fact, 

 nothing can please luxury unless it is expensive. 

 Water was the one thing that used to bring down 

 the rich to the level of the common herd, in which 

 the wealthy could not surpass the very poorest. 

 Those who found their riches a burden have devised 

 a plan whereby water should become a luxury. 



How it has come about that no running water 

 should be thought cool enough, I will now explain. 

 As long as the stomach is healthy and is able to 

 relish wholesome food, with which it is satisfied and 

 not overloaded, it is quite content with the natural 



5 stimulants. But when through daily indigestion it 

 suffers from the heat not of the season but of its 

 own indulgence, when habitual drunkenness has 

 taken firm hold on the organs of life, and turns into 

 bile which parches the intestines, then it becomes 

 necessary to seek out some means of quenching the 

 internal heat. Water merely inflames it, the disease 

 is aggravated by the remedies. Therefore, for 

 this purpose they use snow for drink, not only in 

 summer, but even in the depths of winter. The 

 cause can be no other than the internal complaint. 

 Digestion is spoiled through indulgence ; respite is 

 never given it in which to rest. Breakfast is 

 heaped upon a supper prolonged till daylight. 

 While the revellers are literally bursting with the 

 lavishness and variety of the courses, heavy 

 drinking plunges them still deeper in the mire. 



6 Then the continuous excess causes heartburn 

 from the food previously consumed, and inflames 



