On Cucumbers

"First of all, the force and nature of the cucumber should be explained.... The most harmful of all cucumbers is the serpentine, which rightly receives its name from the snake. Columella explains its force in these lines of verse:

The dark cucumber which is born with a distended middle,
Rough and like a snake sheltered in tangled grass,
Lies on its curved belly, always curled in a coil
And inflicting dangerous illness in the harmful summer."

—Platina, On Right Pleasure and Good Health