Good day, Fulvia. My brother is suffering from severe headache, colic and sleeplessness. You know the best cure for such ills: cabbage. Macerated in water, poured into hot water and boiled until soft. Pour off the water, add salt, a bit of cummin, barley flour dust, and oil, and boil again, then allow to cool. He has fever as well, so wine is out of the question. The dose is to be repeated every morning in small quantities.

And so that his two children don’t come down with the same malady, I'm going next door for some spices. They’ll eat their cabbage raw instead of boiled.

Marcus Cato, On Agriculture 157.