lesbiassparrow: (Default)
lesbiassparrow ([personal profile] lesbiassparrow) wrote2011-04-02 11:19 am

A quick note on mules in Rome

(Other post coming soon, but mules weren't getting enough love.)

Pliny the Elder thought you could break mules by feedng them a lot of wine. I guess that's one way of doing it.

Also he has a hilarious recipe for a love charm that involves plucking three hairs from a female mule's tail. While she is, um, having sex. I suspect that one didn't do this more than once.

ETA: As hyenas and Cicero are currently even, the next post will be on hyenas. With possibly crocodile dung tossed in for good measure. No word on whether Cicero ever used it, but as it was used in rouge and Cicero doesn't strike me as a man to use rouge (though as there is a little evidence that some orators used to paint their faces for court, perhaps he did).

[identity profile] nutmeg3.livejournal.com 2011-04-02 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I think a drunken mule would be relatively easy to control, at least as long as it was still standing.

And yay! Upcoming hyena (and croc) info!

[identity profile] lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com 2011-04-02 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Easy to control, but not very usable. At least for the uses you usually require a mule for.