Page 96 - My FlipBook

98 FIRST PERIOD—ANTIOUITT

Strabo. From Strabo we learii that the Cantabri and other peoples
of Spain used to clean their teeth and sometimes even to wash their
face not with fresh, but with old urine, which, so it seems, was kept for
the purpose, in suitable cisterns!^
In regard to this filthy custom, Joseph Linderer says" that the super-
stition has reached even to our times, although not widely diffused, that,
to beautify the face, it is useful to wash it with urine. He relates that
he knew a girl who, to become beautiful, had recourse to this heroic
method, but, unfortunately, without at all obtaining the desired end!
Martial. In the epigrams of Martial (about 40 to loi a.d.) allusions
of great value with regard to several points concerning the subject we
are treating of are found.
Toothpicks {dentiscalpia) are mentioned by this poet several times;
from which we may argue that they were in great use. They were
ordinarily made of lentisk wood {Pisiacia lenttscus), as may be deduced
from the Epigram LXXIV of Book VI, in which the author ridicules the
old dand\' who, stretched at length on the triclinium, cleans w^ith lentiski

Fig. 28

An ancient toothpick and ear-picker of gold, found in Crimea.

the toothless mouth, to give himself the air of a man not too far stricken
in years.'' Besides, in Book XIV, containing, for the greater part, saws
and sayings on objects of common use, there is an epigram bearing the
title of " Dentiscalpium," in which the author says that toothpicks of
lentisk are to be preferred, but that, in their absence, quill toothpicks
may be used.^
From other sources we learn that in those days metal toothpicks
were also made use of. So in a satire of Petronius, it is said that Trimal-
chiones made use of a silver toothpick {spina argentea). Objects of this
kuid, both Roman and of other origin, are even now in existence, and

' Rerum licographicaruni lihri. Lutetiae Parisiorum, 1620. Lib. iii, p. 164; quippe
qui urina in cisternis inveterata laventur, eaque cum ipsi, tum eorum uxores dentes tergant;
(|uod Cantabros facere et eorum confines ajunt (Carabelli, Systematisches Handbuch der
Zahnheilkunde, Wien, 1844, i, 12).
Ilandbuch der Zabnbeilkunde, Berlin, 1.S4S, ii, 412.
Medio recumbit imus ille (jui lecto,
Calvam trifilem segmenratus unguento,
l'odit(|ue tonsis era laxa lentiscis;
.VIentitur, Flsculane; non babet dentes.
* Lenriscum melius; sed si tibi frondea cuspis
Defuerit, dentes penna levare potest.