BOOK VII. XVI. 67-70 



a baby if she has become pregnant again from the 

 same male.) It is statcd, however, that the casiest 

 conceptions are when this condition is beginning or 

 ceasing. We have it recorded as a sure sign of 

 fertiUty in women if when the eyes have been 

 anointed with a drug the saliva contains traces 

 ofit. 



Moreover, it is known that children cut their first nentition 

 teeth when six months old, the upper ones mostly ' '^*"' 

 coming first, and that the first teeth fall out and are 

 replaced by others when they are six years old ; 

 and that some children are born having teeth — two 

 distinguished instances are Manius Curius, who 

 received the surname Dentatus in consequence, and 

 Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. In the regal pcriod this 

 occurrence was considered a sign of bad luck in 

 females : Valeria was born with teeth, and the 

 soothsayers in reply to inquiry prophesied that she 

 would bring disaster to any community to which 

 she was taken ; she was deported to Suessa Pometia," 

 at that period a very flourishing place, the eventual 

 result verifying the oracle. (Some females are born 

 with the genitals closed ; this is proved by the case 

 of Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi to be a sign 

 of bad luck.) Some infants are born with a ridge 

 of bone instead of teeth ; this was the case as regards 

 the upper jaw with the son of Prusias, King of 

 Bithynia. The teeth are so far indestructible by 

 fire as not to burn when the rest of the body is 

 cremated, but although they resist fire they are 

 corroded bv a morbid stateof the saliva. A certain 

 drug gives them whiteness. Use wears them down, 

 and in some people they decay much before this. 

 Nor are they only necessary for food and nourish- 



551 



