Chap. 21.] REMEDIES JOB UUINABT CALCULI. 443 
and it will die.^ Gripings of the bowels are treated also with 
boiled honey in which the bees have died. 
Colic is most effectually cured by taking a roasted lark with 
the food. Some recommend, however, that it should be burnt 
to ashes in a new vessel, feathers and all, and then pounded 
and taken for four consecutive days, in doses of three spoonfuls, 
in water. Some say that the heart of this bird should be 
attached to the thigh, and, according to others, the heart should 
be swallowed fresh, quite warm, in fact. There is a family 
of consular dignity, known as the Asprenates,^ two brothers, 
members of which, were cured of colic; the one by eating a' 
lark and wearing its heart in a golden bracelet ; the other, by 
performing a certain sacrifice in a chapel built of raw bricks, 
in form of a furnace, and then blocking up the edifice the mo- 
ment the sacrifice was concluded. The ossifrage has a single 
intestine only, which has the marvellous property of digesting 
all that the bird has swallowed : the extremity of this intes- 
tine, it is well known, worn as an amulet, is an excellent 
remedy for colic. 
There are certain concealed maladies incident to the intes- 
tines, in relation to which there are some marvellous statements 
made. If to the stomach and chest, more particularly, blind 
puppies are applied, and suckled with milk from the patient's 
mouth,^ the virulence of the malady, it is said, will be trans- 
ferred to them, and in the end they will die : on opening 
them, too, the causes of the malady will be sure to be dis- 
covered. In all such cases, however, the puppies must be 
allowed to die, and must be buried in the earth. According 
to what the magicians say, if the abdomen is touched with a 
bat's blood, the person will be proof against colic for a whole 
year : when a patient, too, is attacked with the pains of colic, 
if he can bring himself to drink the water in which he has 
washed his feet, he will experience a cure. 
CHAP. 21. (8.) REMEDIES FOR TRINART CALCULI AND 
AFFECTIONS OF THE BLADDER. 
For the cure of urinary calculi, it is a good plan to rub 
^ See c. 14 of this Book, where a similar notion is mentioned. 
- There were three consuls of this name, L, Nonius Asprenas, a.d. 7 ; 
L. Nonius Asprenas, a.d. 29 ; and P. Nonius Asprenas, a.d. 38. They 
are mentioned also by Suetonius, Tacitus, Bion Cassius, Erontinus, and 
Seneca. 3 g^e c. 14 of this Eook. 
