Unusual By Today's Standards!

[sullafelix]

and this gem from Cato which I will give in the original Latin because I am sure some kind soul will translate it pretty quickly...

 

Intertrigini remedium: In viam cum ibis, apsinthi Pontici surculum sub anulo habeto

 

"To prevent chafing: When you set out on a journey, keep a small branch of Pontic wormwood under the anus."

 

Cato the Elder was a real hoot, no? Rustic as they come, possibly mean as they get too, but always a hoot.

 

Personally, and no flattery intended here, he remains the favourite of all my research sources. There's something so jolly about his slave keeping practices and his recipes.

 

[M. Porcius Cato]

Personally, and no flattery intended here, he remains the favourite of all my research sources. There's something so jolly about his slave keeping practices and his recipes.

 

I've the same impression. And no flattery taken--my namesake is Cato Uticensis not his great-grandfather.

[Lost_Warrior]

(sullafelix @ Feb 22 2006, 03:22 PM) *

 

and this gem from Cato which I will give in the original Latin because I am sure some kind soul will translate it pretty quickly...

 

Intertrigini remedium: In viam cum ibis, apsinthi Pontici surculum sub anulo habeto

 

 

"To prevent chafing: When you set out on a journey, keep a small branch of Pontic wormwood under the anus."

 

Cato the Elder was a real hoot, no? Rustic as they come, possibly mean as they get too, but always a hoot

 

LMAO!!! Oh, wow, you can't be serious?

[M. Porcius Cato]

LMAO!!! Oh, wow, you can't be serious?

 

I am. He makes me laugh. This had me in stiches:

Of the medicinal value of the cabbage: It is the cabbage which surpasses all other vegetables. It may be eaten either cooked or raw; if you eat it raw, dip it into vinegar. It promotes digestion marvellously and is an excellent laxative, and the urine is wholesome for everything.114 If you wish to drink deep at a banquet and to enjoy your dinner, eat as much raw cabbage as you wish, seasoned with vinegar, before dinner, and likewise after dinner eat some half a dozen leaves; it will make you feel as if you had not dined, and you can drink as much as you please.

[Lost_Warrior]

Actually, I adore cabbage and I see nothing really funny about that. I don't know how well it works, however maybe i'll let you know on my 21st birthday.

[Pertinax]

Either eat cabbage-or buy very expensive L-Methionine capsules to clear your blood of homocysteine acid (precursor to PMS and in very severe cases heart attacks). Cabbage has remarkable anti ulcerative properties also, and is used to detoxify persons with lead poisoning.

[Sextus Roscius]

Hmmm..... another wierd roman practice.....I'd definately say the uses of the byproduct of being strigiled.

 

When one was being strigiled, the oil and sweat and dirt and general muck would be flicked onto the floor creating a disgusting dog doo like substance with tons of sicking bacteria that (this is so typicaly Roman) would be picked up by doctors at the end of the day and mixed into medicines and ointments, sometimes even given to people directly (usualy only in the case of quack doctors)

[Lost_Warrior]

EWWW that is so disgusting!

 

How about using the sweat of gladiators as an aphrodisiac? The blood of gladiators was also used in various medicines.

[Pertinax]

Hmmm..... another wierd roman practice.....I'd definately say the uses of the byproduct of being strigiled.

 

When one was being strigiled, the oil and sweat and dirt and general muck would be flicked onto the floor creating a disgusting dog doo like substance with tons of sicking bacteria that (this is so typicaly Roman) would be picked up by doctors at the end of the day and mixed into medicines and ointments, sometimes even given to people directly (usualy only in the case of quack doctors)

 

 

immunisation! If you had an innoculation for polio in the last 30 or 40 years its pretty similar-pus in effect.Same goes for a lot of other vaccines

 

Dr Cass Ingram has written a number of books related to the problems of immunisation by using "toxic" materials-gulf war syndrome being a case in point.

Edited February 26, 2006 by Pertinax

[Lost_Warrior]

That does make sense, in a way. In India when a baby is born the first thing they do is spit in it's mouth. Though there are DEFINITELY better ways of immunizing ::shudders:: then that.

[Pertinax]

That does make sense, in a way. In India when a baby is born the first thing they do is spit in it's mouth. Though there are DEFINITELY better ways of immunizing ::shudders:: then that.

That might be more the idea of the "breath of life" (perhaps) , I wonder if when people spit (or pretend to ) on their hands prior to a tricky task this is some sort of "offering of substance"(pneuma) to the gods-certainly in Kenya the reflex of offering ones own spittle ,(on the open hands ) to the rising sun is a survival of an old belief system.

Human beings can take a tremendous amount of antagonistic bacteria and shrug them off-but intravenous medication does not fill me with either hope or faith. The product of the Bath floor might not be too far removed from some "modern" ideas, ie the culture of bacteria in a supporting matrix. In the UK the government has only just announced that children will not be innoculated with substances in a mercury carrier, I didnt even know anyone could be insane enough to contemplate it as a medium for injections! If you google you will find it is banned in many countries, and has been for many years due to its gross toxicity.

 

http://www.noamalgam.com/ heres an example.

Edited February 26, 2006 by Pertinax

[Lost_Warrior]

I didn't think of that spitting in your hands thing...I honestly hadn't paid much attention to that old tradition...it's something I never did.

 

I'm not surprised that mercury was once used for innoculations, I'm a bit surprised that in some places it is still done. I would think people would know better.

[Furius Venator]

Infanticide was almost certainly common during the entire Roman period, especially in rural areas. In fact it was still practised in remote rural areas of the UK in the early twentieth century. It is a natural, if repugnant, method of 'birth control' and has almost certainly been used in every human society. Of course in a sense we still practise infanticide today but in a tightly regulated way (abortion).

[Gaius Octavius]

no pizza !

 

 

Nope! Roman soldiers campaigning in the Middle East would put a slice of dough with olive oil, onions and garlic on it, onto a hot rock to cook. Viola! Pizza! No tomato sauce or pineapples. Pity!

[Gaius Octavius]

Are you fellows reclining on your stomachs, no the Romans would be lying on one side while doing this, it allowed them to have a spare arm while reclining on the other, and just to let you folks know, don't use any forks or what not. Romans ate with hands... Therefore any Roman food was bite size so to speak, making sure that one didn't have too much in one bite. So to point out, there way of eating works perfectly well when mixed with other aspects of culture.

 

Must have been tough on the elbows.

When on their stomachs, hope no one was under them! :wub: