Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder
Page 219
Where erst thou bad’st it rise, is verdant now;
Thy villa, from fair Academia nam’d,
From Vetus now its finish’d graces takes.
Here, too, fair streams burst forth, unknown before,
Which with their spray the languid eves relieve.
The land, I ween, these bounteous springs reveal’d,
To honour Cicero, its ancient lord.
Throughout the world his works by eyes are scann’d;
May eyes unnunber’d by these streams be heal’d.
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CHAP. 4.
WATERS PRODUCTIVE OF FECUNDITY. WATERS CURATIVE OF INSANITY.
In Campania, too, are the waters of Sinuessa, remedial, it is said, for sterility in females, and curative of insanity in men.
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CHAP. 5.
WATERS REMEDIAL FOR URINARY CALCULI.
The waters of the island of Ænaria are curative of urinary calculi, it is said; and the same is the case with the cold spring of Acidula, four miles distant from Teanum Sidici- num, the waters at Stabiæ, known as the Dimidiæ, and those in the territory of Venafrum, which take their rise in the spring of Acidula. Patients suffering from these complaints may be cured also by drinking the waters of Lake Velia; the same effects being produced by those of a spring in Syria, near Mount Taurus, M. Varro says, and by those of the river Gallus in Phrygia, as we learn from Callimachus. In taking the waters, however, of this last, the greatest moderation is necessary, as they are apt to cause delirium; an effect equally produced, Ctesias tells us, by the waters of the Red Fountain in Æthiopia.
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CHAP. 6.
WATERS CURATIVE OF WOUNDS.
The tepid waters of Albula, near Rome, have a healing effect upon wounds. Those of Cutilia, again, in the Sabine territory, are intensely cold, and by a kind of suction penetrate the body to such a degree as to have the effect of a mordent almost. They are remarkably beneficial for affections of the stomach, sinews, and all parts of the body, in fact.
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CHAP. 7.
WATERS PREVENTIVE OF ABORTION.
The waters of Thespiæ ensure conception to females; the same, too, with those of the river Elatus in Arcadia. The spring Linus, also in Arcadia, acts as a preservative of the fœtus, and effectually prevents abortion. The waters of the river Aphrodisius, on the other hand, in the territory of Pyrrhsæa, are productive of sterility.
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CHAP. 8.
WATERS WHICH REMOVE MORPHEW.
The waters of Lake Alphius remove white morphew, Varro tells us; who also mentions the fact that one Titius, a personage who had held the prætorship, had a face to all appearance like that of a marble statue, in consequence of this disease. The waters of the river Cydnus, in Cilicia, are curative of gout, as would appear from a letter addressed by Cassius of Parma to Marcus Antonius. At Trœzen, on the contrary, all the inhabitants are subject to diseases of the feet, owing to the bad quality of the water there. The state of the Tungri, in Gaul, has a spring of great renown, which sparkles as it bursts forth with bubbles innumerable, and has a certain ferruginous taste, only to be perceived after it has been drunk. This water is strongly purgative, is curative of tertian fevers, and disperses urinary calculi: upon the application of fire it assumes a turbid appearance, and finally turns red. The springs of Leucogæa, between Puteoli and Neapolis, are curative of eye diseases and of wounds. Cicero, in his work entitled “Admiranda,” has remarked that it is only by the waters of the marshes of Reate that the hoofs of beasts of burden are hardened.
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CHAP. 9.
WATERS WITCH COLOUR THE HAIR.
Eudicus informs us that in Hestiæotis there are two springs; one of which, Cerona, renders sheep black that drink of it, while the other, called Neleus, turns them white: if, again, a sheep should happen to drink their waters mixed, its fleece will be mottled. According to Theophrastus, the water of the Crathis, a river of Thurii, makes sheep and cattle white, while that of the river Sybaris turns them black.
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CHAP. 10.
WATERS WHICH COLOUR THE HUMAN BODY.
And not only this, but human beings even, Theophrastus tells us, are sensible of this difference: for persons who drink the water of the Sybaris, he says, become more swarthy and more hardy, the hair inclining to curl: while those, again, who drink of the Crathis become fair and more soft-skinned, with the hair growing straight and long. So, too, in Macedonia, persons who wish the produce to be white, drive their cattle to the river Haliacmon, while those who desire a black or tawny colour, take them to water at the Axius. Upon the same authority, too, we learn that in certain localities, as in the country of the Messapii, for instance, all the productions, the cereals even, grow of a tawny colour; and that at Lusi, in Arcadia, there is a certain fountain in which land-mice live and dwell. The river Aleos, which passes through Erythræ, promotes the growth of hair upon the body.
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CHAP. 11.
WATERS WHICH AID THE MEMORY, OR ARE PRODUCTIVE OF FORGETFULNESS.
At the Temple of the god Trophonius, in Bœotia, near the river Hercynnus, there are two fountains, one of which aids the memory, while the other is productive of forgetfulness: hence the names which they respectively bear.
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CHAP. 12.
WATERS WHICH SHARPEN OR DULL THE SENSES. WATERS WHICH IMPROVE THE VOICE.
Near the town of Cescum, in Cilicia, runs the river Nus, the waters of which, according to Varro, sharpen the intellect; while those of a certain spring in the island of Cea dull the senses. At Zama, in Africa, there is a spring, the waters of which render the voice more musical.
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CHAP. 13.
WATERS WHICH CAUSE A DISTASTE FOR WINE. WATERS WHICH PRODUCE INEBRIETY.
Eudoxus says that persons who drink the water of Lake Clitorius take a distaste for wine, and Theopompus asserts that the waters of the springs already named are productive of inebriety. According to Mucianus, there is a fountain at Andros, consecrated to Father Liber, from which wine flows during the seven days appointed for the yearly festival of that god, the taste of which becomes like that of water the moment it is taken out of sight of the temple.
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CHAP. 14.
WATERS WHICH SERVE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR OIL.
Polyclitus says, that the water of the river Liparis, near Soli, in Cilicia, is used as a substitute for oil, and Theophrastus mentions a spring of that name in Æthiopia, which is possessed of similar properties. Lycus says, that at Tasitia there is a fountain of it, the water of which emits light: the same is asserted, too, of a spring at Eebatana. According to Theopompus, there is a lake at Scotussa, the waters of which heal wounds.
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CHAP. 15.
SALT AND BITTER WATERS.
Juba says, that in the country of the Troglodytæ there is a lake, called the “Lake of Insanity,” from its highly noxious properties: thrice a day it becomes salt and bitter, and then again fresh, the same taking place as many times during the night. It is full, he says, of white serpents, twenty cubits long. He mentions, also, a certain spring in Arabia, which rises from the ground with such remarkable force, as to throw back any object pressed down upon it, however weighty.
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CHAP. 16.
WATERS WHICH THROW UP STONES. WATERS WHICH CAUSE LAUGHTER AND WEEPING. WATERS WHICH ARE SAID TO BF CURATIVE OF LOVE.
Theophrastus makes mention of the fountain of Marsyas, near the city of Cellenæ, in Phrygia, which throws up masses of stone. Not far from it are two other springs, called Clæon and Gelon by the Greeks, from the effects which they respectively produce. At Cyzicus is a fountain known as that of Cupido, the wat
ers of which, Mucianus believes, cure those who drink thereof of love.
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CHAP. 17.
WATERS WHICH PRESERVE THEIR WARMTH FOR THREE DAYS.
At Crannon there are certain hot springs, though not at boiling heat, the water of which, mixed with wine, preserves it warm in the vessels for a period of three days. The same is the case, too, with the springs of Mattiacum in Germany, beyond the river Rhenus, the water of which retains its boiling heat three days. The margin of these springs is covered with pumice, formed by the action of the water.
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CHAP. 18.
OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH WATER. WATERS IN WHICH EVERYTHING WILL SINK. WATERS IN WHICH NOTHING WILL SINK.
If any of the above-mentioned facts have the appearance of being incredible to a person, I would have him know that there is no department of Nature which presents greater marvels than this, independently of the numerous peculiarities which have been already mentioned in an earlier part of this work. Ctesias informs us that, in India, there is a lake of standing water, upon which nothing will float, every object instantly sinking to the bottom. Cælius says that in the waters of Lake Avernus, in our own part of the world, the very leaves of the trees even will sink; and, according to Varro, these waters are fatal to such birds as fly towards them.
On the other hand, again, in the waters of Lake Apuscidamus, in Africa, nothing will sink; the same, too, Apion tells us, with the fountain of Plinthia in Sicily, as also a certain lake in Media, and the well of Saturn. The spring of Limyra not unfrequently makes its way through the neighbouring localities, and when it does so, is always portentous of some coming event. It is a singular thing too, that the fish always accompany its waters on these occasions; the inhabitants of the adjoining districts being in the habit of consulting them by offering them food. When the fishes seize it with avidity, the answer is supposed to be favourable; but if, on the other hand, they reject the food, by flapping it with their tails, the response is considered to be unfavourable. The river Holcas, in Bithynia, runs close to Bryazus, the name of a temple and of a divinity there worshipped; persons guilty of perjury, it is said, cannot endure contact with its waters, which burn like flame.
The sources, too, of the Tamaricus, a river of Cantabria, are considered to possess certain powers of presaging future events: they are three in number, and, separated solely by an interval of eight feet, unite in one channel, and so form a mighty stream. These springs are often dry a dozen times in the day, sometimes as many as twenty, without there being the slightest trace of water there: while, on the other hand, a spring close at hand is flowing abundantly and without intermission. It is considered an evil presage when persons who wish to see these springs find them dry: a circumstance which happened very recently, for example, to Lartius Licinius, who held the office of legatus after his prætorship; for at the end of seven days after his visit he died.
In Judæa there is a river that is dry every Sabbath day.
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CHAP. 19.
DEADLY WATERS. POISONOUS FISHES.
There are other marvels again, connected with water, but of a more fatal nature. Ctesias states in his writings, that there is a spring in Armenia, the fishes in which are black, and, if used as food, productive of instantaneous death. I have heard the same, too, with reference to the waters near the sources of the river Danuvius, until a spring is reached which is near its main channel, and beyond which this poisonous kind of fish is not to be found. Hence it is that this spot is generally looked upon as the source of the river. The same, too, is reported of the Lake of the Nymphs, in Lydia. Near the river Pheneus, in Achaia, there flows from the rocks a spring known as the Styx, the waters of which, as already stated, are instantly fatal. And not only this, but there are also small fish in it, Theophrastus says, which are as deadly as the water, a thing that is not the case with the fish of any other poisonous springs. Theopompus says, that at the town of Cychri, in Thrace, the waters are deadly; and Lycus states, that at Leontium there is a spring, the waters of which are fatal at the end of a couple of days to those who drink thereof. Varro speaks also of a spring upon Mount Soracte, some four feet in breadth, the waters of which bubble forth at sunrise, as though they were boiling; birds, he says, which only taste thereof, fall dead close by.
And then, besides, we meet with this insidious circumstance, that in some cases, waters of this nature are inviting even in their appearance; those at Nonacris, in Arcadia, for example, the water of which fountain possesses no apparent quality to excite mistrust, though, owing to its intense coldness, it is generally looked upon as highly injurious, seeing that it petrifies as it flows. It is otherwise with the waters of Tempe, in Thessaly, their baneful properties inspiring universal terror, and possessing the property of corroding copper even and iron, it is said. This stream runs a short distance only, as already stated; and it is truly marvellous that, according to general report, the banks of its source are surrounded with the roots of a wild carob, always covered with purple flowers, while the margin is clothed with a green herbaceous plant of a peculiar species. In Macedonia, not far from the tomb of the Poet Euripides, is the confluence of two streams, the water of one of which is extremely wholesome, that of the other fatal.
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CHAP. 20.
WATERS WHICH PETRIFY, THEMSELVES, OR CAUSE OTHER OBJECTS TO PETRIFY.
At Perperena, there is a spring which petrifies the ground wherever it flows, the same being the case also, with the hot waters at Ædepsus, in Eubœa; for there, wherever the stream falls, the rocks are continually increasing in height. At Eury- mente, chaplets, when thrown into the waters of a certain fountain there, are turned to stone. At Colossæ there is a river, into the water of which if bricks are thrown, when taken out they are found changed into stone. In the mines of Scyros, the trees petrify that are watered by the river, branches and all. In the caverns of Mount Corycus, the drops of water that trickle down the rocks become hard in the form of a stone. At Mieza, too, in Macedonia, the water petrifies as it hangs from the vaulted roofs of the rocks; but at Corycus it is only when it has fallen that it becomes hard.
In other caverns, again, the water petrifies both ways, and so forms columns; as we find the case in a vast grotto at Phlan- sia, a town of the Chersonesus of the Rhodians, the columns of which are tinted with various colours. These instances will suffice for the present.
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CHAP. 21. (3.)
THE WHOLESOMIENESS OF WATERS.
It is a subject of enquiry among medical men, which kind of water is the most beneficial. They condemn, and with justice, all stagnant, sluggish, waters, and are of opinion that running water is the best, being rendered lighter and more salubrious by its current and its continuous agitation. Hence it is that I am much surprised that persons should be found to set so high a value as they do, upon cistern water. These last give as their reason, however, that rain-water must be the lightest water of all, seeing that it has been able to rise aloft and remain suspended in the air. Hence it is, too, that they prefer snow-water to rain-water, and ice, again, to snow, as being water subtilized to the highest possible degree; on the ground that snow-water and ice-water must be lighter thin ordinary water, and ice, of necessity, considerably lighter. It is for the general interest, however, of mankind, that these notions should be refuted. For, in the first place, this comparative lightness which they speak of, could hardly be ascertained in any other way than by the sensation, there being pretty nearly no difference at all in weight between the kinds of water. Nor yet, in the case of rain-water, is it any proof of its lightness that it has made its way upwards into the air, seeing that stones, it is quite evident, do the same: and then. besides, this water, while falling, must of necessity become tainted with the vapours which rise from the earth; a circumstance owing to which it is, that such numerous impurities are to be detected in r
ain-water, and that it ferments with such extreme rapidity.
I am, surprised, too, that snow and ice should be regarded as the most subtilized states of this element, in juxtaposition with the proofs supplied us by hail, the water of which, it is generally agreed, is the most pernicious of all to drink. And then, besides, there are not a few among the medical men themselves, who assert that the use of ice-water and snow-water is highly injurious, from the circumstance that all the more refined parts thereof have been expelled by congelation. At all events, it is a well-ascertained fact that the volume of every liquid is diminished by congelation; as also that exces- sive dews a reproductive of blight in corn, and that hoar- trosts result in blast; of a kindred nature, both of them, to snow. It is generally agreed, too, that rain-water putrefies with the greatest rapidity, and that it keeps but very badly on a voyage. Epigenes, however, assures us that water which has putrefied seven times and as often purified itself, will no longer be liable to putrefaction. As to cistern-water, medical men assure us that, owing to its harshness, it is bad for the bowels and throat: and it is generally admitted by them that ,there is no kind of water that contains more slime or more numerous insects of a disgusting nature. But it does not, therefore, follow that river water is the best of all, or that, in fact, of any running stream, the water of many lakes being found to be wholesome in the very highest degree.