‹‹‹ Vitr. 8.3.22 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 8.3.24 ›››
23At Susa, the capital of Persia, there is a fountain, at which those who drink lose their teeth. On this also is written an epigram, stating that the water was excellent for washing, but that if drank it caused the teeth to fall out of their sockets. The verses are as follow:
A dreaded spring you see,
Yet if their hands, good stranger,
Folks choose to wash, they’re free
To do so without danger;
But if from your long lip,
Or only from its tip
Into your hollow venter,
This liquor pure should enter,
Your tools for munching meat
Straight on the ground will tumble,
And leave their empty seat
For toothless jaws to mumble.
23At Susa, the capital of the Persian kingdom, there is a little spring, those who drink of which lose their teeth. An epigram is written there, the significance of which is to this effect, that the water is excellent for bathing, but that taken as drink, it knocks out the teeth by the roots. The verses of this epigram are, in Greek, as follows:
Stranger, you see the waters of a spring
In which ‘t is safe for men their hands to lave;
But if the weedy basin entering
You drink of its unpalatable wave,
Your grinders tumble out that self-same day
From jaws that orphaned sockets will display.