BOOK X. XXVII. 52-xxviii. 55 



bird with food makes the Hver grow to a great 

 size, and also when it has been removed it is made 

 larger by being soaked in milk sweetened with 

 honey. Not without reason is it a matter of enquiry 

 who was the discoverer of so great a boon — was it 

 Scipio Metellus the consular, or his contemporary 

 Marcus Seius, Knight of Rome ? But it is an accepted 

 fact that Messahnus Cotta, son of the orator Messala, 

 invented the recipe for taking from geese the soles 

 of the feet and griUing them and pickhng them 

 in dishes with the combs of domestic cocks ; for I 

 will award the pahn scrupulously to each man's 

 culinary achievement. A remarkable feat in the 

 case of this bird is its coming on foot all the way to 

 Rome from the Morini in Gaul : the geese that get 

 tired are advanced to the front rank, and so all the 

 rest drive them on by instinctively pressing forward 

 in their rear. 



White geese yield a second profit in their feathers. '^'"'w 

 In some places they are plucked twice a year, and 

 clothe themselves again with a feather coat. The 

 plumage closest to the body is softer, and that 

 from Germany is most esteemed. The geese there 

 are a bright white, but smaller; the German word 

 for this bird is Gans ; the price of their feathers is five- 

 pence per pound. And owing to this officers in 

 command of auxiliary troops frequently get into 

 trouble for having sent whole cohoi-ts away from 

 outpost sentry duty to capture these fowls ; and 

 luxury has advanced to such a pitch that now not 

 even the male neck can endure to be without goose- 

 feather bedding. 



XXVIII. The part of Syria called Commagene Ooose-fat foi 

 has made another discovery, goose-fat mixed with "** *'^'"*' 



327 



