In suam alvum congerere

Latin Construction

in suum alvum congerere.

1. ‘To pile up in one's belly;’ to stuff oneself with.

Loci

• αʹ Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.650:

Īpsĕ sĕ|dēns sŏlĭ|ō Tē|rēus sūb|līmĭs ă|vītō vēscĭtŭr | īnquĕ sŭ|ām sŭă | vīscĕră | cōngĕrĭt | ālvūm

Seating himself on his ancestral throne, the majestic Tereus feasts, and stuffs his belly with his own flesh and blood.

• βʹ Plautus, Pseudolus 3.2:

hōc hīc | quĭdem hŏmĭ|nēs tām | brĕvēm | vītām | cŏlūnt qu(om) hāsc(e) hēr|bās hūj(u)s | mŏd(i) īn | sŭ(om) āl|vōm cōn|gĕrūnt, fōrmī|dŭlō|sās dīc|tū, nōn | ēssū | mŏdō.

It's because of this, in fact, that the people here live such short lives, because they stuff their bellies with vegetables like this—they're scary to talk about, much less eat.