De Medicina

6 But one who is often troubled by an urgent motion should exercise his upper parts at handball and the like; walk on an empty stomach, avoid the sun and continual bathing; undergo anointing even without sweating, not make use of multifarious foods, least of all stews or pulse or greens, and of those things which pass through quickly; in a word, to avoid all things which are digested slowly. Especially advantageous are: venison and hard fish and meat of domestic animals roasted. It is never expedient to drink wine treated with sea-water, nor indeed thin or sweet wine, but that which is dry and fuller-bodied, and not too old. If one desires to use honeyed wine, it should be made from boiled honey. Cold drinks are to be used whenever possible, so long as they do not disturb the bowels. When anything in the dinner is felt to disagree, he should provoke a vomit, repeating it the next day; on the third day should be eaten a small quantity of bread soaked in wine with the addition of grapes preserved in a jar or in must which has been boiled down and such like; then he should return to his accustomed habit; but he must always rest after the meal,

7 When the more lax intestine, which they name colon, tends to be painful, and when it is nothing more than an inflation of a sort, the aim should be to promote digestion; to practise reading aloud and other exercises; to use a hot bath, also hot food and drink, and in short, to avoid all manner of cold, all sweets and pulse, and whatever else tends to flatulence.