Chapter XXXI.--Method of Poisoning Goats.
And if one smear 1 the ears of goats over with cerate, they say that they expire a little afterwards, by having their breathing obstructed. For this to them is the way--as these affirm--of their drawing their breath in an act of respiration. And a ram, they assert, dies, 2 if one bends back (its neck) 3 opposite the sun. And they accomplish the burning of a house, by daubing it over with the juice of a certain fish called dactylus. And this effect, which it has by reason of the sea-water, is very useful. Likewise foam of the ocean is boiled in an earthen jar along with some sweet ingredients; and if you apply a lighted candle to this while in a seething state, it catches the fire and is consumed; and (yet though the mixture) be poured upon the head, it does not burn it at all. If, however, you also smear it over with heated resin, 4 it is consumed far more effectually. But he accomplishes his object better still, if also he takes some sulphur.
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Or, "close up." ↩
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The words "death of a goat" occur on the margin of the ms. ↩
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A similar statement is made, on the authority of Alcmaeon, by Aristotle in his Histor. Animal., i. 2. ↩
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Manne is the word in the text. But manna in the ordinary acceptation of the term can scarcely be intended. Pliny, however, mentions it as a proper name of grains of incense and resin. The Abbe Cruice suggests the very probable emendation of malthe, which signifies a mixture of wax and resin for caulking ships. ↩
