Nunc, Celtiber, in celtiberia terra
Quod quisque minxit, hoc solet sibi mane
Dentem, atque russam defricare gingivam.
Ut quo iste vester expolitior dens est,
Hoc te amplius bibisse prædicet lotii.”[155]
Strabo. From Strabo we learn 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![156]
In regard to this filthy custom, Joseph Linderer says[157] that the superstition 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 101 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 (Pistacia lentiscus), as may be deduced from the Epigram LXXIV of Book VI, in which the author ridicules the old dandy who, stretched at length on the triclinium, cleans with lentiski the toothless mouth, to give himself the air of a man not too far stricken in years.[158] 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.[159]