Pertinax

Ive become absorbed in Pliny, some of his one liners' are priceless: and I dont mean this to denigrate him where it appears that "modern" science concludes he is mistaken in a thing. For some reason I was drawn to his writing on the Elephant , which he describes as second only to man in intellect and a thoughtful beast capable of offering homage to the Gods, and to its own Chief beasts.My favourite observation was "elephants mate in secret because of their modesty" what a quaint but elegant phrase :its impossible to stop smiling whilst reading because although you may for a while feel superior due to your modernity , what is startling is how close to modern thought the great man is throughout the books. Pompey of course suffered the curses of the Arena when Elephants provided by him for sport "played on the sympathy of the crowd ,entreating them with indescribable gestures", the curse worked of course as we know.Note: I was playing Rome total realism and found the Elephants seriously hard to kill. Under Agnus castus ,the herb,he expounds that the concentate of the plant is used to check "violent sexual desire" , and thus acts an antidote to the "genitalia stimulating bites" from poisinous spiders. This is interesting stuff,he is absolutely right of course in terms of male desire the "castus" is from the greek meaning chaste and in the middle ages monkish communities self medicated to diminish desires of the flesh.The spider bite interests me, obviously you had to watch where you sat in Rome. The herb fell out of use in Europe after 1700 to be rediscovered much later and is now freely available -though usually as a uterine tonic especially in menopause. Gallery pictures: hemlock,yarrow and wild carrot posted today all have a passing resemblance but Hemlock is the Virgil Sollozo of the group,look at the leaf structure. Im gratified at the number of visitors to the Herbal Gallery -I thought it would be far too abstruse for interest. beer report-Dark Star Brewery-Espresso, yes a coffee flavoured beer! and a glass of Timmermans Peche as dessert.

Sour is the word-as happens everyone just wanted to try a sip-but it was too lip puckering for them

Ok Marcellinus' is on the list-this shows my bias toward information from the Imperial period.

No-the Edict on Haggis is as follows: possibly originates in Greece, certainly consumed and prepared in Rome, exported elsewher-re-invented with local ingredients and re-named with local derivations.

Longbow informs me that the Haggis has been outed as a Roman invention on national television, my researches are incomplete but the essence of this splendid dish is that those parts of a beast not consumed after the hunt are not to be wasted-so salted or dessicated they are placed in that convenient receptacle , the stomach of thhe slain animal.The addittion of oatmeal is Scottish refinment reducing the fattiness and richness of the offal and adding slow release carbohydrates to the meal. The etymology of the word haggis is not Latin, it appears to be related to the Swedish word Hagga (as in Hagar the Horrible) meaning to chop or hew.This does not however prevent the dish being given a local name aftre its introduction.

Im with Trajen-but-Picts and Scotti as well.

excellent, you got my drift-and fine tuned!

Small item on Mistletoe in my blog and pic in gallery -refers to wreaths and kissing customs.

I can beat anything in this thread so far Roman or modern, lamb "sweetbreads " are cooking for dinner,( that being the "seminal vessels") In sympathy with the First Spear Centurion I add that Pheasant is planned for tomorrow. Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare

Welcome Ti Coruncanius, and well done with those nominations, given that our first rule was one nomination per member can you give a reason for either of these to take precedence over the other? if you find it too painful to decide I will make the call

Ridley Scott films Septimus Severus in Brittania, a reconstruction of Eboracum and the Romano-British culture.

As usual ive become involved in two books at the same time ( well three actually) , The Pompeiian Herbal, Galen and Pliny the Elder. this isnt helping me to review Galen too well but I just wished to say if you havn't looked at Pliny for a while, take him up again his style is so easy and he speaks directly to us today. If you know Pliny you will have recognised the discursion into bear-grease on my blog. I was just thinking aabout Panoramix the Druid from Asterix (or Getafix as He was known to the Britons)...alliterates q well with Pertinax id say.

"those who have swallowed quicksilver find a remedy in lard. Poisons-especially henbane, mistletoe,hemlock, sea-hare , and others-are neutralised by drinking ass's milk. " "Bear-grease mixed with laudunum and maidenhair, prevents baldness and cures mange and thin eyebrows if compounded with lamp -black from lamp wicks.Mixed with wine bear grease is a cure for dandruff" (complex fatty acid/lettuce/maidenhair/carbon -q a mix) Pliny might be a bit shaky in this area so dont shoot any bears,and certainly avoid drinking mercury ,the Maidenhair fern is certainly a good digestive aid and kidney tonic/gall bladder cleanser.. Henbane is a tricky plant, certainly the Romans used it for anasthesia (tropane alkoloids) but the Egyptian variety is much more potent than other species-so ift depends where the herb was supplied from. Mistletoe is a European parasite with a potent mythical background,it is a cardiac tonic but it requires only a very low dosage - it can be violently purgative.This was the sacred herb of the Druids, a protection from all Evil-and it survives with us today in Xmas wreaths, so positioned to ward off malign influences at the solstice. Like Poppaea you can bathe in ass's milk, though not for your skin-but to draw large roundworms out -hence I wondered if Cleopatra knew this trick as the Egyptians were keen on purging, and must have suffered with helminth infestation. Apollonius says that scraping a sore tooth and gums with the tooth of a man who has met a violent death is highly effective. Again avoid this one I think.Clove oil will help though. Foreign Beer Update:- and as promised-this evening we consumed-Duchesse De bourgogne (west flanders not Ned Flanders ), Cuvee Des Trolls (Scalsis), and Chimay (Blond), and Orval (Trappist). Pantagathus did you get that?

Prosciuto?Huh? How much do the Europeans like their cheese really and is wine still largely popular? The British are now the biggest wine drinkers in Europe, I do my best in this earnest endeavour, but frankly fermented mares' milk would be drunk here if it were available in pubs and clubs, mixed with vodka , coloured blue and called " horse sacrifice drink" ,( do descendants of the Huns still drink it I wonder?).