BOOK XXIII. xxvii. 58-.\xix. 60 



M. Agrippa was afflicted with grievous gout, and 

 could not endure the pain. Guided by the wonder- 

 ful skill of one of his physicians, and without 

 informing the late Augustus — so strong the urge to 

 be rid of that pain even at the price of losing all 

 power to use his feet and all sensation in theni — he 

 plunged his legs into hot vinegar when a paroxysm 

 of the disease was at its worst." 



XXVIII. Squill vinegar is supposed to improve sqinii 

 with age. Besides the uses I have mentioned,'' it is ''^"'^^ar 

 good when foods turn sour on the stomach, a mere 

 taste dispersing that inconvenience, and for those 

 who vomit fasting, for it makes hard the skin of the 

 throat and gullet ; it removes ofFensive breath, 

 braces the gums, strengthens the teeth and improves 



the complexion. By its use as a gargle it clears 

 hardness of hearing, opening the ear passages. 

 Incidentally it sharpens the eyesight, and is very 

 beneficial for epilepsy, melancholia, giddiness, 

 hysterical suffocations, blows or falls with clotted 

 blood in consequence, weakness of the sinews, and 

 aflfections of the kidneys — but it must be avoided 

 when there is ulceration. 



XXIX. The ancients, as Dieuches tells us, prepared oxymei. 

 oxymel in the following manner.'^ Ten minae of 

 honey, five heminae of old vinegar, a pound and a 

 quarter by weight of sea salt and five sextarii of 

 water, were boiled together in a cauldron, but taken 



off the boil ten times, when it was poured off and put 



" See XX. § 98 foll. 



* See Dioscorides V. 14: XaPdiv o^ouy KOTvXag irivTe Koi aAos 

 daXaaaiov ixvdv fiiav, /u.e'AtToy /ivd? oeKa, vBaro^ KOTvXas 8cVa, 

 /Liei^as' eip^qoov, o-XP'-^ ^^ *'*' SeKOiKis ava^pdar], Kal ipv^as 

 KaTdyyiaov . 



455 



VOL, VI. Q 



