Galen (whose beloved _Sallet_ it was)
from its _pinguid, subdulcid_ and agreeable Nature, says it breeds the
most laudable Blood. No marvel then that they were by the Ancients
called _Sana_, by way of eminency, and so highly valu'd by the great
[20]_Augustus_, that attributing his Recovery of a dangerous Sickness
to them, 'tis reported, he erected a _Statue_, and built an _Altar_ to
this noble Plant. And that the most abstemious and excellent Emperor
[21]_Tacitus_ (spending almost nothing at his frugal Table in other
Dainties) was yet so great a Friend to _Lettuce_, that he was us'd to
say of his Prodigality, _Somnum se mercari illa sumptus effusione_.
How it was celebrated by _Galen_ we have heard; how he us'd it he tells
himself; namely, beginning with _Lettuce_ in his younger Days, and
concluding with it when he grew old, and that to his great advantage. In
a word, we meet with nothing among all our crude Materials and _Sallet_
store, so proper to mingle with any of the rest, nor so wholsome
to be eaten alone, or in Composition, moderately, and with the usual
_Oxeloeum_ of _Vinegar, Pepper_, and _Oyl_, &c.
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