Chap. 18 ] REMARKABLE PROPERTIES OP THE BODY. 159 
face downwards ; as if, even after death, nature were desirous 
of sparing their modesty. ^''^ 
(18.) We find it stated, that there are some men whose 
bones are solid, and devoid of marrow, and that one mark of 
such persons is the fact that they are never thirsty, and emit 
no perspiration. At the same time, we know that by the ex- 
ercise of a resolute determination, any one may resist the 
feeling of thirst ; a fact which was especially exemplified in the 
case of Julius Tiator, a Eoman of equestrian rank, but by birth 
one of the Yocontii, a nation on terms of alliance with us. 
Having, in his yonth, been attacked by dropsy, and forbidden 
the use of liquids by his physicians,-^ use with him became a 
second nature, and so, in his old age, he never took any drink 
at all. Other persons also, have, by the exercise of a strong 
determination, laid similar restraints upon themselves. 
(19.) It is said that Crassus, the grandfather of Crassus, who 
was slain by the Parthians, was never known to laugh ; from 
which circumstance he obtained the name of Agelastus.^^ There 
are other persons again, who have never been seen to weep. 
Socrates, who was so famous for his wisdom, always appeared 
with the same countenance, and was never known to appear 
either more gay or more sad than ordinary. This even tenor 
of the mind, however, sometimes degenerates into a sort of 
harshness, and a rigorous and inflexible sternness of nature, 
entirely effacing all the human affections. The Greeks, among 
whom there have been many persons of this description, are in 
27 This is incorrect ; the human body, after death, does not float until 
decomposition has commenced, when it becomes more or less buoyant, in 
consequence of the formation of gases, which partially distend the cavities ; 
but we do net observe any difference in the two sexes in this respect. — B. 
28 This statement is altogether incorrect. — B. 
29 The total abstinence from liquids in dropsy, was a point much insisted 
upon by medical practitioners, even in modern times ; but it is now gene- 
rally conceived to have been derived from a false theory, and not to be 
essential to the cure of the disease, while it imposes upon the patient a most 
severe privation. A moderate use of fluids is even favourable to the ope- 
ration of the remedies that are employed in this disease. — B. 
From the Greek ayeXaffrdgj " one who does not laugh.'' Cicero re- 
fers to this peculiarity in the character of Crassus, in his treatise De Fini- 
bus, B. V. c. 92 ; and in the Tusc. Quest. B. iii. c. 3, he informs us, on the 
authority of Lucilius, that Crassus never laughed but once in his life. — B. 
And. then, on seeing a donkey eating thistles ; upon which he exclaimed, 
Similem habent labia lactucam," " Like lips, like lettuce." 
