LIBER VII · CAPUT 18
SOME REMARKABLE PROPERTIES OF THE BODY
Latine · Mayhoff 1906
Concretis quosdam ossibus ac sine medullis vivere accepimus. signum eorum esse nec sitim sentire nec sudorem emittere, quamquam et voluntate scimus sitim victam equitemque Romanum lulium Viatorem e Vocontiorum gente foederata in pupillaribus annis aquae subter cutem fusae morbo prohibitum umore a medicis naturam fecisse consuetudinem atque in senecta caruisse potu. nec non et alii multa sibi imperavere.
English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57
We find it stated, that there are some men whose bones are solid, and devoid of marrow, and that one mark of such persons is the fact that they are never thirsty, and emit no perspiration. At the same time, we know that by the exercise of a resolute determination, any one may resist the feeling of thirst; a fact which was especially exemplified in the case of Julius Viator, a Roman of equestrian rank, but by birth one of the Vocontii, a nation on terms of alliance with us. Having, in his youth, been attacked by dropsy, and forbidden the use of liquids by his physicians, use with him became a second nature, and so, in his old age, he never took any drink at all. Other persons also, have, by the exercise of a strong determination, laid similar restraints upon themselves.