BOOK XX.

REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE GARDEN PLANTS.

CHAP. 1.—INTRODUCTION.

We are now about to enter upon an examination of the greatest of

all the operations of Nature—we are about to discourse to man upon

his aliments,[1291] and to compel him to admit that he is ignorant

by what means he exists. And let no one, misled by the apparent

triviality of the names which we shall have to employ, regard this

subject as one that is frivolous or contemptible: for we shall here

have to set forth the state of peace or of war which exists between

the various departments of Nature, the hatreds or friendships which

are maintained by objects dumb and destitute of sense, and all, too,

created—a wonderful subject for our contemplation!—for the sake of

man alone. To these states, known to the Greeks by the respective

appellations “sympathia” and “antipathia,” we are indebted for the

first principles[1292] of all things; for hence it is that water has

the property of extinguishing fire, that the sun absorbs water, that

the moon produces it, and that each of those heavenly bodies is from

time to time eclipsed by the other.

Hence it is, too, descending from the contemplation of a loftier

sphere, that the loadstone[1293] possesses the property of attracting

iron, and another stone,[1294] again, that of repelling it; and that

the diamond, that pride of luxury and opulence, though infrangible

by every other object, and presenting a resistance that cannot be

overcome, is broken asunder by a he-goat’s blood[1295]—in addition

to numerous other marvels of which we shall have to speak on more

appropriate occasions, equal to this or still more wonderful even.

My only request is that pardon may be accorded me for beginning with

objects of a more humble nature, though still so greatly conducive to

our health—I mean the garden plants, of which I shall now proceed to

speak.

CHAP. 2. (1.)—THE WILD CUCUMBER; TWENTY-SIX REMEDIES.

We have already stated[1296] that there is a wild cucumber,

considerably smaller than the cultivated one. From this cucumber the

medicament known as “elaterium” is prepared, being the juice extracted

from the seed.[1297] To obtain this juice the fruit is cut before it is

ripe—indeed, if this precaution is not taken at an early period, the

seed is apt to spirt[1298] out and be productive of danger to the eyes.

After it is gathered, the fruit is kept whole for a night, and on the

following day an incision is made in it with a reed. The seed, too, is

generally sprinkled with ashes, with the view of retaining in it as

large a quantity of the juice as possible. When the juice is extracted,

it is received in rain water, where it falls to the bottom; after which

it is thickened in the sun, and then divided into lozenges, which are

of singular utility to mankind for healing dimness[1299] of sight,

diseases of the eyes, and ulcerations of the eyelids. It is said that

if the roots of a vine are touched with this juice, the grapes of it

will be sure never to be attacked by birds.

The root,[1300] too, of the wild cucumber, boiled in vinegar, is

employed in fomentations for the gout, and the juice of it is used as a

remedy for tooth-ache. Dried and mixed with resin, the root is a cure

for impetigo[1301] and the skin diseases known as “psora”[1302] and

“lichen:”[1303] it is good, too, for imposthumes of the parotid glands

and inflammatory tumours,[1304] and restores the natural colour to the

skin when a cicatrix has formed.—The juice of the leaves, mixed with

vinegar, is used as an injection for the ears, in cases of deafness.

CHAP. 3.—ELATERIUM; TWENTY-SEVEN REMEDIES.

The proper season for making elaterium is the autumn; and there is no

medicament known that will keep longer than this.[1305] It begins to

be fit for use when three years old; but if it is found desirable to

make use of it at an earlier period than this, the acridity of the

lozenges may be modified by putting them with vinegar upon a slow fire,

in a new earthen pot. The older it is the better, and before now, as

we learn from Theophrastus, it has been known to keep[1305] so long as

two hundred years. Even after it has been kept so long as fifty[1306]

years, it retains its property of extinguishing a light; indeed, it

is the proper way of testing the genuineness of the drug to hold it

to the flame and make it scintillate above and below, before finally

extinguishing it. The elaterium which is pale, smooth, and slightly

bitter, is superior[1307] to that which has a grass-green appearance

and is rough to the touch.

It is generally thought that the seed of this plant will facilitate

conception if a woman carries it attached to her person, before it has

touched the ground; and that it has the effect of aiding parturition,

if it is first wrapped in ram’s wool, and then tied round the woman’s

loins, without her knowing it, care being taken to carry it out of the

house the instant she is delivered.

Those persons who magnify the praises of the wild cucumber say that

the very best is that of Arabia, the next being that of Arcadia, and

then that of Cyrenæ: it bears a resemblance to the heliotropium,[1308]

they say, and the fruit, about the size of a walnut, grows between

the leaves and branches. The seed, it is said, is very similar in

appearance to the tail of a scorpion thrown back, but is of a whitish

hue. Indeed, there are some persons who give to this cucumber the name

of “scorpionium,” and say that its seed, as well as the elaterium, is

remarkably efficacious as a cure for the sting of the scorpion. As

a purgative, the proper dose of either is from half an obolus to an

obolus, according to the strength of the patient, a larger dose than

this being fatal.[1309] It is in the same proportions, too, that it is

taken in drink for phthiriasis[1310] and dropsy; applied externally

with honey or old olive oil, it is used for the cure of quinsy and

affections of the trachea.

CHAP. 4. (2.)—THE ANGUINE OR ERRATIC CUCUMBER: FIVE REMEDIES.

Many authors are of opinion that the wild cucumber is identical with

the plant known among us as the “anguine,” and by some persons as

the “erratic”[1311] cucumber. Objects sprinkled with a decoction of

this plant will never be touched by mice. The same authors[1312] say,

too, that a decoction of it in vinegar, externally applied, gives

instantaneous relief in cases of gout and diseases of the joints. As

a remedy, too, for lumbago, the seed of it is dried in the sun and

pounded, being given in doses of twenty denarii to half a sextarius of

water. Mixed with woman’s milk and applied as a liniment, it is a cure

for tumours which have suddenly formed.

Elaterium promotes the menstrual discharge; but if taken by females

when pregnant, it is productive of abortion. It is good, also, for

asthma, and, injected into the nostrils, for the jaundice.[1313] Rubbed

upon the face in the sun, it removes freckles[1314] and spots upon the

skin.

CHAP. 5.—THE CULTIVATED CUCUMBER: NINE REMEDIES.

Many persons attribute all these properties to the cultivated

cucumber[1315] as well, a plant which even without them would be of

very considerable importance, in a medicinal point of view. A pinch of

the seed, for instance, in three fingers, beaten up with cummin and

taken in wine, is extremely beneficial for a cough: for phrenitis,

also, doses of it are administered in woman’s milk, and doses of one

acetabulum for dysentery. As a remedy for purulent expectorations,

it is taken with an equal quantity of cummin;[1316] and it is used

with hydromel for diseases of the liver. Taken in sweet wine, it is

a diuretic; and, in combination with cummin,[1316] it is used as an

injection for affections of the kidneys.

CHAP. 6.—PEPONES: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

The fruit known as pepones[1317] are a cool and refreshing diet, and

are slightly relaxing to the stomach. Applications are used of the

pulpy flesh in defluxions or pains of the eyes. The root, too, of

this plant cures the hard ulcers known to us as “ceria,” from their

resemblance to a honeycomb, and it acts as an emetic.[1318] Dried and

reduced to a powder, it is given in doses of four oboli in hydromel,

the patient, immediately after taking it, being made to walk half a

mile. This powder is employed also in cosmetics[1319] for smoothing

the skin. The rind, too, has the effect[1320] of promoting vomiting,

and, when applied to the face, of clearing the skin; a result which is

equally produced by an external application of the leaves of all the

cultivated cucumbers. These leaves, mixed with honey, are employed for

the cure of the pustules known as “epinyctis;”[1321] steeped in wine,

they are good, too, for the bites of dogs and of multipedes,[1322]

insects known to the Greeks by the name of “seps,”[1323] of an

elongated form, with hairy legs, and noxious to cattle more

particularly; the sting being followed by swelling, and the wound

rapidly putrifying.

The smell of the cucumber itself is a restorative[1324] in fainting

fits. It is a well-known fact, that if cucumbers are peeled and then

boiled in oil, vinegar, and honey, they are all the more pleasant

eating[1325] for it.

CHAP. 7. (3.)—THE GOURD: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES. THE SOMPHUS: ONE REMEDY.

There is found also a wild gourd, called “somphos” by the Greeks, empty

within (to which circumstance it owes its name),[1326] and long and

thick in shape, like the finger: it grows nowhere except upon stony

spots. The juice of this gourd, when chewed, is very beneficial to the

stomach.[1327]

CHAP. 8.—THE COLOCYNTHIS: TEN REMEDIES.

There is another variety of the wild gourd, known as the

“colocynthis:”[1328] this kind is full of seeds, but not so large as

the cultivated one. The pale colocynthis is better than those of a

grass-green colour. Employed by itself when dried, it acts as a very

powerful[1329] purgative; used as an injection, it is a remedy for all

diseases of the intestines, the kidneys, and the loins, as well as for

paralysis. The seed being first removed, it is boiled down in hydromel

to one half; after which it is used as an injection, with perfect

safety, in doses of four oboli. It is good, too, for the stomach, taken

in pills composed of the dried powder and boiled honey. In jaundice

seven seeds of it may be taken with beneficial effects, with a draught

of hydromel immediately after.

The pulp of this fruit, taken with wormwood and salt, is a remedy for

toothache, and the juice of it, warmed with vinegar, has the effect

of strengthening loose teeth. Rubbed in with oil, it removes pains of

the spine, loins, and hips: in addition to which, really a marvellous

thing to speak of! the seeds of it, in even numbers, attached to the

body in a linen cloth, will cure, it is said, the fevers to which the

Greeks have given the name of “periodic.”[1330] The juice, too, of

the cultivated gourd[1331] shred in pieces, applied warm, is good

for ear-ache, and the flesh of the inside, used without the seed,

for corns on the feet and the suppurations known to the Greeks as

“apostemata.”[1332] When the pulp and seeds are boiled together, the

decoction is good for strengthening loose teeth, and for preventing

toothache; wine, too, boiled with this plant, is curative of defluxions

of the eyes. The leaves of it, bruised with fresh cypress-leaves,

or the leaves alone, boiled in a vessel of potters’ clay and beaten

up with goose-grease, and then applied to the part affected, are an

excellent cure for wounds. Fresh shavings of the rind are used as a

cooling application for gout, and burning pains in the head, in infants

more particularly; they are good, too, for erysipelas,[1333] whether

it is the shavings of the rind or the seeds of the plant that are

applied to the part affected. The juice of the scrapings, employed

as a liniment with rose-oil and vinegar, moderates the burning heats

of fevers; and the ashes of the dried fruit applied to burns are

efficacious in a most remarkable degree.

Chrysippus, the physician, condemned the use of the gourd as a food: it

is generally agreed, however, that it is extremely good[1334] for the

stomach, and for ulcerations of the intestines and of the bladder.

CHAP. 9.—RAPE; NINE REMEDIES.

Rape, too, has its medicinal properties. Warmed, it is used as an

application for the cure of chilblains,[1335] in addition to which, it

has the effect of protecting the feet from cold. A hot decoction of

rape is employed for the cure of cold gout; and raw rape, beaten up

with salt, is good for all maladies of the feet. Rape-seed, used as a

liniment, and taken in drink, with wine, is said to have a salutary

effect[1336] against the stings of serpents, and various narcotic

poisons; and there are many persons who attribute to it the properties

of an antidote, when taken with wine and oil.

Democritus has entirely repudiated the use of rape as an article of

food, in consequence of the flatulence[1337] which it produces; while

Diocles, on the other hand, has greatly extolled it, and has even gone

so far as to say that it acts as an aphrodisiac.[1338] Dionysius,

too, says the same of rape, and more particularly if it is seasoned

with rocket;[1339] he adds, also, that roasted, and then applied with

grease, it is excellent for pains in the joints.

CHAP. 10.—WILD RAPE: ONE REMEDY.

Wild rape[1340] is mostly found growing in the fields; it has a tufted

top, with a white[1341] seed, twice as large as that of the poppy. This

plant is often employed for smoothing the skin of the face and the body

generally, meal of fitches,[1342] barley, wheat, and lupines, being

mixed with it in equal proportions.

The root of the wild rape is applied to no useful purpose whatever.

CHAP. 11. (4.)—TURNIPS; THOSE KNOWN AS BUNION AND BUNIAS: FIVE REMEDIES.

The Greeks distinguish two kinds of turnips,[1343] also, as employed

in medicine. The turnip with angular stalks and a flower like that of

anise, and known by them as “bunion,”[1344] is good for promoting

the menstrual discharge in females and for affections[1345] of the

bladder; it acts, also, as a diuretic. For these purposes, a decoction

of it is taken with hydromel, or else one drachma of the juice of the

plant.[1346] The seed, parched, and then beaten up, and taken in warm

water, in doses of four cyathi, is a good remedy for dysentery; it will

stop the passage of the urine, however, if linseed is not taken with it.

The other kind of turnip is known by the name of “bunias,”[1347] and

bears a considerable resemblance to the radish and the rape united, the

seed of it enjoying the reputation of being a remedy for poisons; hence

it is that we find it employed in antidotes.

CHAP. 12.—THE WILD RADISH, OR ARMORACIA: ONE REMEDY.

We have already said,[1348] that there is also a wild radish.[1349] The

most esteemed is that of Arcadia, though it is also found growing in

other countries as well. It is only efficacious as a diuretic, being in

other respects of a heating nature. In Italy, it is known also by the

name of “armoracia.”

CHAP. 13.—THE CULTIVATED RADISH: FORTY-THREE REMEDIES.

The cultivated radish, too, in addition to what we have already

said[1350] of it, purges the stomach, attenuates the phlegm, acts as a

diuretic, and detaches the bilious secretions. A decoction of the rind

of radishes in wine, taken in the morning in doses of three cyathi,

has the effect of breaking and expelling calculi of the bladder. A

decoction, too, of this rind in vinegar and water, is employed as a

liniment for the stings of serpents. Taken fasting in the morning

with honey, radishes are good[1351] for a cough. Parched radish-seed,

as well as radishes themselves, chewed, is useful for pains in the

sides.[1352] A decoction of the leaves, taken in drink, or else the

juice of the plant taken in doses of two cyathi, is an excellent remedy

for phthiriasis. Pounded radishes, too, are employed as a liniment for

inflammations[1353] under the skin, and the rind, mixed with honey, for

bruises of recent date. Lethargic persons[1354] are recommended to eat

them as hot as possible, and the seed, parched and then pounded with

honey, will give relief to asthmatic patients.

Radishes, too, are useful as a remedy for poisons, and are employed

to counteract the effects of the sting of the cerastes[1355] and the

scorpion: indeed, after having rubbed the hands with radishes or

radish-seed, we may handle[1356] those reptiles with impunity. If a

radish is placed upon a scorpion, it will cause its death. Radishes

are useful, too, in cases of poisoning by fungi[1357] or henbane; and

according to Nicander,[1358] they are salutary against the effects of

bullock’s blood,[1359] when drunk. The two physicians of the name of

Apollodorus, prescribe radishes to be given in cases of poisoning by

mistletoe; but whereas Apollodorus of Citium recommends radish-seed

pounded in water, Apollodorus of Tarentum speaks of the juice. Radishes

diminish the volume of the spleen, and are beneficial for maladies of

the liver and pains in the loins: taken, too, with vinegar or mustard,

they are good for dropsy and lethargy, as well as epilepsy[1360] and

melancholy.[1361] Praxagoras recommends that radishes should be given

for the iliac passion, and Plistonicus for the cœliac[1362] disease.

Radishes are good, too, for curing ulcerations of the intestines and

suppurations of the thoracic organs,[1363] if eaten with honey. Some

persons say, however, that for this purpose they should be boiled in

earth and water; a decoction which, according to them, promotes the

menstrual discharge. Taken with vinegar or honey, radishes expel worms

from the intestines; and a decoction of them boiled down to one-third,

taken in wine, is good for intestinal hernia.[1364] Employed in this

way, too, they have the effect of drawing off the superfluous blood.

Medius recommends them to be given boiled to persons troubled with

spitting of blood, and to women who are suckling, for the purpose of

increasing the milk. Hippocrates[1365] recommends females whose hair

falls off, to rub the head with radishes, and he says that for pains of

the uterus, they should be applied to the navel.

Radishes have the effect, too, of restoring the skin, when scarred,

to its proper colour; and the seed, steeped in water, and applied

topically, arrests the progress of ulcers known as phagedænic.[1366]

Democritus regards them, taken with the food, as an aphrodisiac; and it

is for this reason, perhaps, that some persons have spoken of them as

being injurious to the voice. The leaves, but only those of the long

radish, are said to have the effect of improving the eye-sight.

When radishes, employed as a remedy, act too powerfully, it is

recommended that hyssop should be given immediately; there being an

antipathy[1367] between these two plants. For dulness of hearing,

too, radish-juice is injected into the ear. To promote vomiting, it is

extremely beneficial to eat radishes fasting.

CHAP. 14.—THE PARSNIP: FIVE REMEDIES. THE HIBISCUM, WILD MALLOW, OR

PLISTOLOCHIA: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

The hibiscum, by some persons known as the wild mallow,[1368] and

by others as the “plistolochia,” bears a strong resemblance to the

parsnip;[1369] it is good for ulcerations of the cartilages, and is

employed for the cure of fractured bones. The leaves of it, taken in

water, relax the stomach; they have the effect, also, of keeping away

serpents, and, employed as a liniment, are a cure for the stings of

bees, wasps, and hornets. The root, pulled up before sunrise, and

wrapped in wool of the colour known as “native,”[1370] taken from a

sheep which has just dropped a ewe lamb, is employed as a bandage for

scrofulous swellings, even after they have suppurated. Some persons are

of opinion, that for this purpose the root should be dug up with an

implement of gold, and that care should be taken not to let it touch

the ground.

Celsus,[1371] too, recommends this root to be boiled in wine, and

applied in cases of gout unattended with swelling.

CHAP. 15. (5.)—THE STAPHYLINOS, OR WILD PARSNIP: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.

The staphylinos, or, as some persons call it, “erratic[1372] parsnip,”

is another kind. The seed[1373] of this plant, pounded and taken in

wine, reduces swelling of the abdomen, and alleviates hysterical

suffocations and pains, to such a degree as to restore the uterus to

its natural condition. Used as a liniment, also, with raisin wine, it

is good for pains of the bowels in females; for men, too, beaten up

with an equal proportion of bread, and taken in wine, it may be found

beneficial for similar pains. It is a diuretic also, and it will

arrest the progress of phagedænic ulcers, if applied fresh with honey,

or else dried and sprinkled on them with meal.

Dieuches recommends the root of it to be given, with hydromel, for

affections of the liver and spleen, as also the sides, loins, and

kidneys; and Cleophantus prescribes it for dysentery of long standing.

Philistio says that it should be boiled in milk, and for strangury he

prescribes four ounces of the root. Taken in water, he recommends it

for dropsy, as well as in cases of opisthotony,[1374] pleurisy, and

epilepsy. Persons, it is said, who carry this plant about them, will

never be stung by serpents, and those who have just eaten of it will

receive no hurt from them. Mixed with axle-grease,[1375] it is applied

to parts of the body stung by reptiles; and the leaves of it are eaten

as a remedy for indigestion.

Orpheus has stated that the staphylinos acts as a philtre,[1376]

most probably because, a very-well-established fact, when employed

as a food, it is an aphrodisiac; a circumstance which has led some

persons to state that it promotes conception. In other respects the

cultivated parsnip has similar properties; though the wild kind is

more powerful in its operation, and that which grows in stony soils

more particularly. The seed, too, of the cultivated parsnip, taken in

wine, or vinegar and water,[1377] is salutary for stings inflicted by

scorpions. By rubbing the teeth with the root of this plant, tooth-ache

is removed.

CHAP. 16.—GINGIDION: ONE REMEDY.

The Syrians devote themselves particularly to the cultivation of the

garden, a circumstance to which we owe the Greek proverb, “There is

plenty of vegetables in Syria.”[1378]

Among other vegetables, that country produces one very similar to the

staphylinos, and known to some persons as “gingidion,”[1379] only that

it is smaller than the staphylinos and more bitter, though it has just

the same properties. Eaten either raw or boiled, it is very beneficial

to the stomach, as it entirely absorbs all humours with which it may

happen to be surcharged.

CHAP. 17.—THE SKIRRET: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

The wild[1380] skirret, too, is very similar to the cultivated

kind,[1381] and is productive of similar effects. It sharpens[1382]

the stomach, and, taken with vinegar flavoured with silphium, or with

pepper and hydromel, or else with garum, it promotes the appetite.

According to Opion, it is a diuretic, and acts as an aphrodisiac.[1383]

Diocles is also of the same opinion; in addition to which, he says

that it possesses cordial virtues for convalescents, and is extremely

beneficial after frequent vomitings.

Heraclides has prescribed it against the effects of mercury,[1384]

and for occasional impotence, as also generally for patients when

convalescent. Hicesius says that skirrets would appear to be

prejudicial[1385] to the stomach, because no one is able to eat three

of them following; still, however, he looks upon them as beneficial

to patients who are just resuming the use of wine. The juice of the

cultivated skirret, taken in goats’-milk, arrests looseness of the

stomach.

CHAP. 18.—SILE, OR HARTWORT: TWELVE REMEDIES.

As the similitude which exists between their Greek names[1386] has

caused most persons to mistake the one for the other, we have thought

it as well to give some account here of sile or hartwort,[1387] though

it is a plant which is very generally known. The best hartwort is that

of Massilia,[1388] the seed of it being broad and yellow; and the

next best is that of Æthiopia, the seed of which is of a darker hue.

The Cretan hartwort is the most odoriferous of the several kinds. The

root of this plant has a pleasant smell; the seed of it is eaten by

vultures, it is said.[1389] Hartwort is useful to man for inveterate

coughs, ruptures, and convulsions, being usually taken in white wine;

it is employed also in cases of opisthotony, and for diseases of the

liver, as well as for griping pains in the bowels and for strangury, in

doses of two or three spoonfuls at a time.

The leaves of this plant are useful also, and have the effect of

aiding parturition—in animals even: indeed, it is generally said that

roes,[1390] when about to bring forth, are in the habit of eating these

leaves in particular. They are topically applied, also, in erysipelas;

and either the leaves or the seed, taken fasting in the morning, are

very beneficial to the digestion. Hartwort has the effect, too, of

arresting looseness in cattle, either bruised and put into their drink,

or else eaten by them after it has been chewed with salt. When oxen are

in a diseased state, it is beaten up and poured into their food.

CHAP. 19.—ELECAMPANE: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

Elecampane,[1391] too, chewed fasting, has the effect of strengthening

the teeth, if, from the moment that it is plucked, it is not allowed to

touch the ground: a confection of it is a cure for cough. The juice of

the root boiled is an expellent of intestinal tapeworm; and dried in

the shade and reduced to powder, the root[1392] is curative in cases of

cough, convulsions, flatulency, and affections of the trachea. It is

useful too, for the bites of venomous animals; and the leaves steeped

in wine are applied topically for pains in the loins.

CHAP. 20.—ONIONS: TWENTY-SEVEN REMEDIES.

There are no such things in existence as wild onions. The cultivated

onion is employed for the cure of dimness[1393] of sight, the

patient being made to smell at it till tears come into the eyes: it

is still better even if the eyes are rubbed with the juice. It is

said, too, that onions are soporific,[1394] and that they are a cure

for ulcerations of the mouth, if chewed with bread. Fresh onions in

vinegar, applied topically, or dried onions with wine and honey, are

good for the bites of dogs, care being taken not to remove the bandage

till the end of a couple of days. Applied, too, in the same way, they

are good for healing excoriations. Roasted in hot ashes, many persons

have applied them topically, with barley meal, for defluxions of the

eyes and ulcerations of the genitals. The juice, too, is employed as an

ointment for sores of the eyes, albugo,[1395] and argema.[1396] Mixed

with honey, it is used as a liniment for the stings[1397] of serpents

and all kinds of ulcerous sores. In combination with woman’s milk, it

is employed for affections of the ears; and in cases of singing in

the ears and hardness of hearing, it is injected into those organs

with goose-grease or honey. In cases where persons have been suddenly

struck dumb, it has been administered to them to drink, mixed with

water. In cases, too, of toothache, it is sometimes introduced into the

mouth as a gargle for the teeth; it is an excellent remedy also for all

kinds of wounds made by animals, scorpions more particularly.

In cases of alopecy[1398] and itch-scab, bruised onions are rubbed on

the parts affected: they are also given boiled to persons afflicted

with dysentery or lumbago. Onion peelings, burnt to ashes and mixed

with vinegar, are employed topically for stings of serpents and

multipedes.[1399]

In other respects, there are remarkable differences of opinion among

medical men. The more modern writers have stated that onions are good

for the thoracic organs and the digestion, but that they are productive

of flatulency and thirst. The school of Asclepiades maintains that,

used as an aliment, onions impart a florid[1400] colour to the

complexion, and that, taken fasting every day, they are promoters of

robustness and health; that as a diet, too, they are good for the

stomach by acting upon the spirits, and have the effect of relaxing the

bowels. He says, too, that, employed as a suppository, onions disperse

piles, and that the juice of them, taken in combination with juice of

fennel, is wonderfully beneficial in cases of incipient dropsy. It

is said, too, that the juice, taken with rue and honey, is good for

quinsy, and has the effect of dispelling lethargy.[1401] Varro assures

us that onions, pounded with salt and vinegar and then dried, will

never be attacked by worms.[1402]

CHAP. 21. (6.)—CUTLEEK: THIRTY-TWO REMEDIES.

Cutleek[1403] has the effect of stanching bleeding at the nose, the

nostrils being plugged with the plant, pounded, or else mixed with

nut-galls or mint. The juice of it, taken with woman’s milk, arrests

floodings after a miscarriage; and it is remedial in cases even of

inveterate cough, and of affections of the chest[1404] and lungs. The

leaves, applied topically, are employed for the cure of pimples, burns,

and epinyctis[1405]—this last being the name given to an ulcer, known

also as “syce,”[1406] situate in the corner of the eye, from which

there is a continual running: some persons, however, give this name

to livid pustules, which cause great restlessness in the night. Other

kinds of ulcers, too, are treated with leeks beaten up with honey: used

with vinegar, they are extensively employed also for the bites of wild

beasts, as well as of serpents and other venomous creatures. Mixed

with goats’ gall, or else honied wine in equal proportions, they are

used for affections of the ears, and, combined with woman’s milk, for

singing in the ears. In cases of head-ache, the juice is injected into

the nostrils, or else into the ear at bed-time, two spoonfuls of juice

to one of honey.

This juice is taken too with pure wine,[1407] for the stings of

serpents and scorpions, and, mixed with a semi-sextarius of wine,

for lumbago. The juice, or the leek itself, eaten as a food, is very

beneficial to persons troubled with spitting of blood, phthisis,

or inveterate catarrhs; in cases also of jaundice or dropsy, and

for nephretic pains, it is taken in barley-water, in doses of one

acetabulum of juice. The same dose, too, mixed with honey, effectually

purges the uterus. Leeks are eaten, too, in cases of poisoning by

fungi,[1408] and are applied topically to wounds: they act also as an

aphrodisiac,[1409] allay thirst, and dispel the effects of drunkenness;

but they have the effect of weakening the sight and causing flatulency,

it is said, though, at the same time, they are not injurious to the

stomach, and act as an aperient. Leeks impart a remarkable clearness to

the voice.[1410]

CHAP. 22.—BULBED LEEK: THIRTY-NINE REMEDIES.

Bulbed leek[1411] produces the same effects as cut-leek,[1412] but in a

more powerful degree. To persons troubled with spitting of blood, the

juice of it is given, with powdered nut-galls[1413] or frankincense,

or else gum acacia.[1414] Hippocrates,[1415] however, prescribes it

without being mixed with anything else, and expressed himself of

opinion that it has the property of opening the uterus when contracted,

and that taken as an aliment by females, it is a great promoter of

fecundity. Beaten up and mixed with honey, it cleanses ulcerous sores.

It is good for the cure of coughs, catarrhs, and all affections of the

lungs and of the trachea, whether given in the form of a ptisan, or

eaten raw, the head excepted: it must be taken, however, without bread,

and upon alternate days, and this even if there should be purulent

expectorations.

Taken in this form, it greatly improves the voice, and acts as an

aphrodisiac, and as a promoter of sleep. The heads, boiled in a couple

of waters, arrest looseness of the bowels, and fluxes of long standing;

and a decoction of the outer coat acts as a dye upon grey hair.[1416]

CHAP. 23.—GARLIC: SIXTY-ONE REMEDIES.

Garlic[1417] has very powerful[1418] properties, and is of great

utility to persons on changes of water or locality. The very smell of

it drives away serpents and scorpions, and, according to what some

persons say, it is a cure for wounds made by every kind of wild beast,

whether taken with the drink or food, or applied topically. Taken

in wine, it is a remedy for the sting of the hæmorrhoïs[1419] more

particularly, acting as an emetic. We shall not be surprised too, that

it acts as a powerful remedy for the bite of the shrew-mouse, when we

find that it has the property of neutralizing aconite, otherwise known

as “pardalianches.”[1420] It neutralizes henbane, also, and cures the

bites of dogs, when applied with honey to the wound. It is taken in

drink also for the stings of serpents; and of its leaves, mixed with

oil, a most valuable liniment is made for bruises on the body, even

when they have swelled and formed blisters.

Hippocrates[1421] is of opinion also, that fumigations made with garlic

have the effect of bringing away the after-birth; and he used to employ

the ashes of garlic, mixed with oil, for the cure of running ulcers

of the head. Some persons have prescribed boiled garlic for asthmatic

patients; while others, again, have given it raw. Diocles prescribes

it, in combination with centaury, for dropsy, and to be taken in a

split fig, to promote the alvine evacuations: taken fresh, however, in

unmixed wine, with coriander, it is still more efficacious for that

purpose. Some persons have given it, beaten up in milk, for asthma.

Praxagoras used to prescribe garlic, mixed with wine, for jaundice, and

with oil and pottage for the iliac passion: he employed it also in a

similar form, as a liniment for scrofulous swellings of the neck.

The ancients used to give raw garlic in cases of madness, and Diocles

administered it boiled for phrenitis. Beaten up, and taken in vinegar

and water, it is very useful as a gargle for quinsy. Three heads of

garlic, beaten up in vinegar, give relief in toothache: and a similar

result is obtained by rinsing the mouth with a decoction of garlic,

and inserting pieces of it in the hollow teeth. Juice of garlic is

sometimes injected into the ears with goose-grease,[1422] and, taken

in drink, or similarly injected, in combination with vinegar and

nitre, it arrests phthiriasis[1423] and porrigo.[1424] Boiled with

milk, or else beaten up and mixed with soft cheese, it is a cure for

catarrhs. Employed in a similar manner, and taken with pease or beans,

it is good for hoarseness, but in general it is found to be more

serviceable cooked than raw, and boiled than roasted: in this last

state, however, it is more beneficial to the voice. Boiled in oxymel,

it has the effect of expelling tape-worm and other intestinal worms;

and a pottage made of it is a cure for tenesmus. A decoction of garlic

is applied topically for pains in the temples; and first boiled and

then beaten up with honey, it is good for blisters. A decoction of

it, with stale grease, or milk, is excellent for a cough; and where

persons are troubled with spitting of blood or purulent matter, it may

be roasted in hot ashes, and taken with honey in equal proportions.

For convulsions and ruptures it is administered in combination with

salt and oil; and, mixed with grease, it is employed for the cure of

suspected tumours.

Mixed with sulphur and resin, garlic draws out the humours from

fistulous sores, and employed with pitch, it will extract an arrow

even[1425] from the wound. In cases of leprosy, lichen, and eruptions

of the skin, it acts as a detergent, and effects a cure, in combination

with wild marjoram, or else reduced to ashes, and applied as a liniment

with oil and garum.[1426] It is employed in a similar manner, too, for

erysipelas; and, reduced to ashes, and mixed with honey, it restores

contused or livid spots on the skin to their proper colour. It is

generally believed, too, that taken in the food and drink, garlic is a

cure for epilepsy, and that a clove of it, taken in astringent wine,

with an obolus’ weight of silphium,[1427] will have the effect of

dispelling quartan fever. Garlic cures coughs also, and suppurations

of the chest, however violent they may be; to obtain which result,

another method is followed, it being boiled with broken beans, and

employed as a diet till the cure is fully effected. It is a soporific

also, and in general imparts to the body an additional ruddiness of

colour.

Garlic acts as an aphrodisiac, beaten up with fresh coriander, and

taken in pure wine. The inconveniences which result from the use of

it, are dimness of the sight and flatulency; and if taken in too large

quantities, it does injury to the stomach, and creates thirst. In

addition to these particulars, mixed with spelt flour, and given to

poultry in their food, it preserves them from attacks of the pip.[1428]

Beasts of burden, it is said, will void their urine all the more

easily, and without any pain, if the genitals are rubbed with garlic.

CHAP. 24.—THE LETTUCE: FORTY-TWO REMEDIES. THE GOAT-LETTUCE: FOUR

REMEDIES.

The first kind of lettuce which grows spontaneously, is the one that

is generally known as “goat[1429]-lettuce;” thrown into the sea, this

vegetable has the property of instantaneously killing all the fish that

come into its vicinity. The milky juice of this lettuce,[1430] left to

thicken and then put into vinegar, is given in doses of two oboli, with

the addition of one cyathus of water, to patients for dropsy. The stalk

and leaves, bruised and sprinkled with salt, are used for the cure of

wounds of the sinews. Pounded with vinegar, and employed as a gargle in

the morning twice a month, they act as a preventive of tooth-ache.

CHAP. 25.—CÆSAPON: ONE REMEDY. ISATIS: ONE REMEDY. THE WILD LETTUCE:

SEVEN REMEDIES.

There is a second kind of wild lettuce, known by the Greeks is

“cæsapon.”[1431] The leaves of this lettuce, applied as a liniment with

polenta,[1432] are used for the cure of ulcerous sores. This plant is

found growing in the fields. A third kind, again, grows in the woods;

the name given to it is “isatis.”[1433] The leaves of this last, beaten

up and applied with polenta, are very useful for the cure of wounds. A

fourth kind is used by dyers of wool; in the leaves it would resemble

wild lapathum, were it not that they are more numerous and darker.

This lettuce has the property of stanching blood, and of healing

phagedænic sores and putrid spreading ulcers, as well as tumours

before suppuration. Both the root as well as the leaves are good, too,

for erysipelas; and a decoction of it is drunk for affections of the

spleen. Such are the properties peculiar to each of these varieties.

CHAP. 26.—HAWK-WEED: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.

The properties which are common to all the wild varieties[1434] are

whiteness, a stem sometimes as much as a cubit in length, and a

roughness upon the stalk and leaves. Among these plants there is one

with round, short leaves, known to some persons as “hieracion;”[1435]

from the circumstance that the hawk tears it open and sprinkles[1436]

its eyes with the juice, and so dispels any dimness of sight of which

it is apprehensive. The juice of all these plants is white, and in

its properties resembles that of the poppy.[1437] It is collected

at harvest-time, by making incisions in the stalk, and is kept

in new earthen vessels, being renowned as a remedy for numerous

maladies.[1438] Mixed with woman’s milk, it is a cure for all diseases

of the eyes, such as argema for instance, films on the eyes, scars

and inflammations[1439] of all kinds, and dimness of the sight more

particularly. It is applied to the eyes, too, in wool, as a remedy for

defluxions of those organs.

This juice also purges the bowels, taken in doses of two oboli in

vinegar and water. Drunk in wine it is a cure for the stings of

serpents, and the leaves and stalk of the plant are pounded and taken

in vinegar. They are employed also as a liniment for wounds, the sting

of the scorpion more particularly; combined, too, with oil and vinegar,

they are similarly applied for the bite of the phalangium.[1440]

They have the effect, also, of neutralizing other poisons, with the

exception of those which kill by suffocation or by attacking the

bladder, as also with the exception of white lead. Steeped in oxymel,

they are applied to the abdomen for the purpose of drawing out vicious

humours of the intestines. The juice is found good, also, in cases of

retention of the urine. Crateuas prescribes it to be given to dropsical

patients, in doses of two oboli, with vinegar and one cyathus of wine.

Some persons collect the juice of the cultivated lettuce as well,

but it is not so efficacious[1441] as the other. We have already

made mention,[1442] to some extent, of the peculiar properties

of the cultivated lettuce, such as promoting sleep, allaying the

sexual passions, cooling the body when heated, purging[1443] the

stomach, and making blood. In addition to these, it possesses no few

properties besides; for it has the effect of removing flatulency, and

of dispelling eructations, while at the same time it promotes the

digestion, without ever being indigestible itself. Indeed, there is no

article of diet known that is a greater stimulant to the appetite, or

which tends in a greater degree to modify it; it being the extent,

either way, to which it is eaten that promotes these opposite results.

In the same way, too, lettuces eaten in too large quantities are

laxative, but taken in moderation they are binding. They have the

effect, also, of attenuating the tough, viscous, phlegm, and, according

to what some persons say, of sharpening the senses. They are extremely

serviceable, too, to debilitated stomachs; for which purpose * *[1444]

oboli of sour sauce[1445] is added to them, the sharpness of which

is modified by the application of sweet wine, to make it of the same

strength as vinegar-sauce.[1446] If, again, the phlegm with which the

patient is troubled is extremely tough and viscous, wine of squills or

of wormwood is employed; and if there is any cough perceptible, hyssop

wine is mixed as well.

Lettuces are given with wild endive for cœliac affections, and

for obstructions of the thoracic organs. White lettuces, too, are

prescribed in large quantities for melancholy and affections of the

bladder. Praxagoras recommends them for dysentery. Lettuces are good,

also, for recent burns, before blisters have made their appearance: in

such cases they are applied with salt. They arrest spreading ulcers,

being applied at first with saltpetre, and afterwards with wine.

Beaten up, they are applied topically for erysipelas; and the stalks,

beaten up with polenta, and applied with cold water, are soothing for

luxations of the limbs and spasmodic contractions; used, too, with

wine and polenta, they are good for pimples and eruptions. For cholera

lettuces have been given, cooked in the saucepan, in which case it is

those with the largest stalk and bitter that are the best: some persons

administer them, also, as an injection, in milk. These stalks boiled,

are remarkably good, it is said, for the stomach: the summer lettuce,

too, more particularly, and the bitter, milky lettuce, of which we have

already[1447] made mention as the “meconis,” have a soporific effect.

This juice, in combination with woman’s milk, is said to be extremely

beneficial to the eyesight, if applied to the head in good time; it is

a remedy, too, for such maladies of the eyes as result from the action

of cold.

I find other marvellous praises lavished upon the lettuce, such, for

instance, as that, mixed with Attic honey, it is no less beneficial

for affections of the chest than abrotonum;[1448] that the menstrual

discharge is promoted in females by using it as a diet; that the seed,

too, Of the cultivated lettuce is administered as a remedy for the

stings of scorpions, and that pounded, and taken in wine, it arrests

all libidinous dreams and imaginations during sleep; that water, too,

which affects[1449] the brain will have no injurious effects upon those

who eat lettuce. Some persons have stated, however, that if lettuces

are eaten too frequently they will prove injurious to the eyesight.

CHAP. 27. (8.)—BEET: TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES.

Nor are the two varieties of the beet without their remedial

properties.[1450] The root of either white or black beet, if hung

by a string, fresh-gathered, and softened with water, is said to be

efficacious for the stings of serpents. White beet, boiled and eaten

with raw garlic, is taken for tapeworm; the root, too, of the black

kind, similarly boiled in water, removes porrigo; indeed, it is

generally stated, that the black beet is the more efficacious[1451] of

the two. The juice of black beet is good for inveterate head-aches and

vertigo, and injected into the ears, it stops singing in those organs.

It is a diuretic, also, and employed in injections is a cure for

dysentery and jaundice.

This juice, used as a liniment, allays tooth-ache, and is good for the

stings of serpents; but due care must be taken that it is extracted

from this root only. A decoction, too, of beet-root is a remedy for

chilblains.

A liniment of white beet-root applied to the forehead, arrests

defluxions of the eyes, and mixed with a little alum it is an excellent

remedy for erysipelas. Beaten up, and applied without oil, it is a

cure for excoriations. In the same way, too, it is good for pimples

and eruptions. Boiled, it is applied topically to spreading ulcers,

and in a raw state it is employed in cases of alopecy, and running

ulcers of the head. The juice, injected with honey into the nostrils,

has the effect of clearing the head. Beet-root is boiled with lentils

and vinegar, for the purpose of relaxing the bowels; if it is boiled,

however, some time longer, it will have the effect of arresting fluxes

of the stomach and bowels.

CHAP. 28.—LIMONION, OR NEUROIDES: THREE REMEDIES.

There is a wild beet, too, known by some persons as “limonion,”[1452]

and by others as “neuroides;” it has leaves much smaller and thinner

than the cultivated kind, and lying closer together. These leaves

amount often to eleven[1453] in number, the stalk resembling that of

the lily.[1454] The leaves of this plant are very useful for burns,

and have an astringent taste in the mouth: the seed, taken in doses of

one acetabulum, is good for dysentery. It is said that a decoction of

beet with the root has the property of taking stains out of cloths and

parchment.

CHAP. 29.—ENDIVE: THREE REMEDIES.

Endive,[1455] too, is not without its medicinal uses. The juice of

it, employed with rose oil and vinegar, has the effect of allaying

headache; and taken with wine, it is good for pains in the liver and

bladder: it is used, also, topically, for defluxions of the eyes. The

spreading endive has received from some persons among us the name of

“ambula.” In Egypt, the wild endive is known as “cichorium,”[1456] the

cultivated kind being called “seris.” This last is smaller than the

other, and the leaves of it more full of veins.

CHAP. 30.—CICHORIUM OR CHRESTON, OTHERWISE CALLED PANCRATION, OR

AMBULA: TWELVE REMEDIES.

Wild endive or cichorium has certain refreshing qualities,[1457] used

as an aliment. Applied by way of liniment, it disperses abscesses,

and a decoction of it loosens the bowels. It is also very beneficial

to the liver, kidneys, and stomach. A decoction of it in vinegar has

the effect of dispelling the pains of strangury; and, taken in honied

wine, it is a cure for the jaundice, if unattended with fever. It

is beneficial, also, to the bladder, and a decoction of it in water

promotes the menstrual discharge to such an extent as to bring away the

dead fœtus even.

In addition to these qualities, the magicians[1458] state that persons

who rub themselves with the juice of the entire plant, mixed with

oil, are sure to find more favour with others, and to obtain with

greater facility anything they may desire. This plant, in consequence

of its numerous salutary virtues, has been called by some persons

“chreston,”[1459] and “pancration”[1460] by others.

CHAP. 31.—HEDYPNOÏS: FOUR REMEDIES.

There is a sort of wild endive, too, with a broader leaf, known to some

persons as “hedypnoïs.”[1461] Boiled, it acts as an astringent upon a

relaxed stomach, and eaten raw, it is productive of constipation. It is

good, too, for dysentery, when eaten with lentils more particularly.

This variety, as well as the preceding one, is useful for ruptures and

spasmodic contractions, and relieves persons who are suffering from

spermatorrhœa.

CHAP. 32.—SERIS, THREE VARIETIES OF IT: SEVEN REMEDIES BORROWED FROM IT.

The vegetable, too, called “seris,”[1462] which bears a considerable

resemblance to the lettuce, consists of two kinds. The wild, which is

of a swarthy colour, and grows in summer, is the best of the two; the

winter kind, which is whiter than the other, being inferior. They are

both of them bitter, but are extremely beneficial to the stomach, when

distressed by humours more particularly. Used as food with vinegar,

they are cooling, and, employed as a liniment, they dispel other

humours besides those of the stomach. The roots of the wild variety

are eaten with polenta for the stomach: and in cardiac diseases they

are applied topically above the left breast. Boiled in vinegar, all

these vegetables are good for the gout, and for patients troubled

with spitting of blood or spermatorrhœa; the decoction being taken on

alternate days.

Petronius Diodotus, who has written a medical Anthology,[1463] utterly

condemns seris, and employs a multitude of arguments to support his

views: this opinion of his is opposed, however, to that of all other

writers on the subject.

CHAP. 33. (9).—THE CABBAGE: EIGHTY-SEVEN REMEDIES. RECIPES MENTIONED BY

CATO.

It would be too lengthy a task to enumerate all the praises of the

cabbage, more particularly as the physician Chrysippus has devoted a

whole volume to the subject, in which its virtues are described in

reference to each individual part of the human body. Dieuches has done

the same, and Pythagoras too, in particular. Cato, too, has not been

more sparing in its praises than the others; and it will be only right

to examine the opinions which he expresses in relation to it, if for no

other purpose than to learn what medicines the Roman people made use of

for six hundred years.

The most ancient Greek writers have distinguished three[1464] varieties

of the cabbage: the curly[1465] cabbage, to which they have given the

name of “selinoïdes,”[1466] from the resemblance of its leaf to that

of parsley, beneficial to the stomach, and moderately relaxing to the

bowels; the “helia,” with broad leaves running out from the stalk—a

circumstance, owing to which some persons have given it the name of

“caulodes”—of no use whatever in a medicinal point of view; and a

third, the name of which is properly “crambe,” with thinner leaves,

of simple form, and closely packed, more bitter than the others, but

extremely efficacious in medicine.[1467]

Cato[1468] esteems the curly cabbage the most highly of all, and next

to it, the smooth cabbage with large leaves and a thick stalk. He

says that it is a good thing for headache, dimness of the sight, and

dazzling[1469] of the eyes, the spleen, stomach, and thoracic organs,

taken raw in the morning, in doses of two acetabula, with oxymel,

coriander, rue, mint, and root of silphium.[1470] He says, too, that

the virtue of it is so great that the very person even who beats up

this mixture feels himself all the stronger for it; for which reason

he recommends it to be taken mixed with these condiments, or, at all

events, dressed with a sauce compounded of them. For the gout, too,

and diseases of the joints, a liniment of it should be used, he says,

with a little rue and coriander, a sprinkling of salt, and some barley

meal: the very water even in which it has been boiled is wonderfully

efficacious, according to him, for the sinews and joints. For wounds,

either recent or of long standing, as also for carcinoma,[1471] which

is incurable by any other mode of treatment, he recommends fomentations

to be made with warm water, and, after that, an application of cabbage,

beaten up, to the parts affected, twice a-day. He says, also, that

fistulas and sprains should be treated in a similar way, as well

as all humours which it may be desirable to bring to a head and

disperse; and he states that this vegetable, boiled and eaten fasting,

in considerable quantities, with oil and salt, has the effect of

preventing dreams and wakefulness; also, that if, after one boiling,

it is boiled a second time, with the addition of oil, salt, cummin,

and polenta, it will relieve gripings[1472] in the stomach; and that,

if eaten in this way without bread, it is more beneficial still. Among

various other particulars, he says, that if taken in drink with black

wine, it has the effect of carrying off the bilious secretions; and he

recommends the urine of a person who has been living on a cabbage diet

to be preserved, as, when warmed, it is a good remedy for diseases of

the sinews. I will, however, here give the identical words in which

Cato expresses himself upon this point: “If you wash little children

with this urine,” says he, “they will never be weak and puny.”

He recommends, also, the warm juice of cabbage to be injected into the

ears, in combination with wine, and assures us that it is a capital

remedy for deafness: and he says that the cabbage is a cure for

impetigo[1473] without the formation of ulcers.

CHAP. 34.—OPINIONS OF THE GREEKS RELATIVE THERETO.

As we have already given those of Cato, it will be as well to set forth

the opinions entertained by the Greek writers on this subject, only in

relation, however, to those points upon which he has omitted to touch.

They are of opinion that cabbage, not thoroughly boiled, carries off

the bile, and has the effect of loosening the bowels; while, on the

other hand, if it is boiled twice over, it will act as an astringent.

They say, too, that as there is a natural[1474] enmity between it

and the vine, it combats the effects of wine; that, if eaten before

drinking, it is sure to prevent[1475] drunkenness, being equally a

dispellent of crapulence[1476] if taken after drinking: that cabbage

is a food very beneficial to the eyesight, and that the juice of it

raw is even more so, if the corners of the eyes are only touched with

a mixture of it with Attic honey. Cabbage, too, according to the same

testimony, is extremely easy of digestion,[1477] and, as an aliment,

greatly tends to clear the senses.

The school of Erasistratus proclaims that there is nothing more

beneficial to the stomach and the sinews than cabbage; for which

reason, he says, it ought to be given to the paralytic and nervous,

as well as to persons affected with spitting of blood. Hippocrates

prescribes it, twice boiled, and eaten with salt, for dysentery and

cœliac affections, as also for tenesmus and diseases of the kidneys; he

is of opinion, too, that, as an aliment, it increases the quantity of

the milk in women who are nursing, and that it promotes the menstrual

discharge.[1478] The stalk, too, eaten raw, is efficacious in expelling

the dead fœtus. Apollodorus prescribes the seed or else the juice of

the cabbage to be taken in cases of poisoning by fungi; and Philistion

recommends the juice for persons affected with opisthotony, in

goats’-milk, with salt and honey.

I find, too, that persons have been cured of the gout by eating cabbage

and drinking a decoction of that plant. This decoction has been given,

also, to persons afflicted with the cardiac disease and epilepsy, with

the addition of salt; and it has been administered in white wine, for

affections of the spleen, for a period of forty days.

According to Philistion, the juice of the raw root should be given as

a gargle to persons afflicted with icterus[1479] or phrenitis, and

for hiccup he prescribes a mixture of it, in vinegar, with coriander,

anise, honey, and pepper. Used as a liniment, cabbage, he says, is

beneficial for inflations of the stomach; and the very water, even, in

which it has been boiled, mixed with barley-meal, is a remedy for the

stings of serpents[1480] and foul ulcers of long standing; a result

which is equally effected by a mixture of cabbage-juice with vinegar

or fenugreek. It is in this manner, too, that some persons employ

it topically, for affections of the joints and for gout. Applied

topically, cabbage is a cure for epinyctis, and all kinds of spreading

eruptions on the body, as also for sudden[1481] attacks of dimness;

indeed, if eaten with vinegar, it has the effect of curing the last.

Applied by itself, it heals contusions and other livid spots; and mixed

with a ball of alum in vinegar, it is good as a liniment for leprosy

and itch-scabs: used in this way, too, it prevents the hair from

falling off.

Epicharmus assures us that, applied topically, cabbage is extremely

beneficial for diseases of the testes and genitals, and even better

still when employed with bruised beans; he says, too, that it is a

cure for convulsions; that, in combination with rue, it is good for

the burning heats of fever and maladies of the stomach; and that, with

rue-seed, it brings away the after-birth. It is of use, also, for the

bite of the shrew-mouse. Dried cabbage-leaves, reduced to a powder, are

a cathartic both by vomit and by stool.

CHAP. 35.—CABBAGE-SPROUTS.

In all varieties of the cabbage, the part most agreeable to the taste

is the cyma,[1482] although no use is made of it in medicine, as it

is difficult to digest, and by no means beneficial to the kidneys. At

the same time, too, it should not be omitted, that the water in which

it has been boiled,[1483] and which is so highly praised for many

purposes, gives out a very bad smell when poured upon the ground. The

ashes of dried cabbage-stalks are generally reckoned among the caustic

substances: mixed with stale grease, they are employed for sciatica,

and, used as a liniment, in the form of a depilatory, together with

silphium[1484] and vinegar, they prevent hair that has been once

removed from growing again. These ashes, too, are taken lukewarm in

oil, or else by themselves, for convulsions, internal ruptures, and the

effects of falls with violence.

And are we to say then that the cabbage is possessed of no evil

qualities whatever? Certainly not, for the same authors tell us, that

it is apt to make the breath smell, and that it is injurious to the

teeth and gums. In Egypt, too, it is never eaten, on account of its

extreme bitterness.[1485]

CHAP. 36.—THE WILD CABBAGE: THIRTY-SEVEN REMEDIES.

Cato[1486] extols infinitely more highly the properties of wild or

erratic cabbage;[1487] so much so, indeed, as to affirm that the very

powder of it, dried and collected in a scent-box, has the property, on

merely smelling at it, of removing maladies of the nostrils and the

bad smells resulting therefrom. Some persons call this wild cabbage

“petræa:”[1488] it has an extreme antipathy to wine, so much so,

indeed, that the vine invariably[1489] avoids it, and if it cannot make

its escape, will be sure to die. This vegetable has leaves of uniform

shape, small, rounded, and smooth: bearing a strong resemblance to the

cultivated cabbage, it is whiter, and has a more downy[1490] leaf.

According to Chrysippus, this plant is a remedy for flatulency,

melancholy, and recent wounds, if applied with honey, and not taken off

before the end of six days: beaten up in water, it is good also for

scrofula and fistula. Other writers, again, say that it is an effectual

cure for spreading sores on the body, known as “nomæ;” that it has the

property, also, of removing excrescences, and of reducing the scars

of wounds and sores; that if chewed raw with honey, it is a cure for

ulcers of the mouth and tonsils; and that a decoction of it used as a

gargle with honey, is productive of the same effect. They say, too,

that, mixed in strong vinegar with alum, in the proportion of three

parts to two of alum, and then applied as a liniment, it is a cure

for itch scabs and leprous sores of long standing. Epicharmus informs

us, that for the bite of a mad dog, it is quite sufficient to apply

it topically to the part affected, but that if used with silphium and

strong vinegar, it is better still: he says, too, that it will kill a

dog, if given to it with flesh to eat.

The seed of this plant, parched, is remedial in cases of poisoning, by

the stings of serpents, eating fungi, and drinking bulls’ blood. The

leaves of it, either boiled and taken in the food or else eaten raw, or

applied with a liniment of sulphur and nitre, are good for affections

of the spleen, as well as hard tumours of the mamillæ. In swelling of

the uvula, if the parts affected are only touched with the ashes of the

root, a cure will be the result; and applied topically with honey, they

are equally beneficial for reducing swellings of the parotid glands,

and curing the stings of serpents. We will add only one more proof of

the virtues of the cabbage, and that a truly marvellous one—in all

vessels in which water is boiled, the incrustations which adhere with

such tenacity that it is otherwise impossible to detach them, will fall

off immediately if a cabbage is boiled therein.

CHAP. 37.—THE LAPSANA: ONE REMEDY.

Among the wild cabbages, we find also the lapsana,[1491] a plant which

grows a foot in height, has a hairy leaf, and strongly resembles

mustard, were it not that the blossom is whiter. It is eaten cooked,

and has the property of soothing and gently relaxing the bowels.

CHAP. 38.—THE SEA-CABBAGE: ONE REMEDY.

Sea-cabbage[1492] is the most strongly purgative of all these plants.

It is cooked, in consequence of its extreme pungency, with fat meat,

and is extremely detrimental to the stomach.

CHAP. 39.—THE SQUILL: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.

In medicine, we give the name of white squill to the male plant, and

of black[1493] to the female: the whiter the squill, the better it is

for medicinal[1494] purposes. The dry coats being first taken off of

it, the remaining part, or so much of it as retains life, is cut into

pieces, which are then strung and suspended on a string, at short

distances from each other. After these pieces are thoroughly dried,

they are thrown into a jar of the very strongest vinegar, suspended in

such a way, however, as not to touch any portion of the vessel. This is

done forty-eight days before the summer solstice. The mouth of the jar

is then tightly sealed with plaster; after which it is placed beneath

some tiles which receive the rays of the sun the whole day through.

At the end of forty-eight days the vessel is removed, the squills are

taken out of it, and the vinegar poured into another jar.

This vinegar has the effect of sharpening the eyesight, and, taken

every other day, is good for pains in the stomach and sides: the

strength of it, however, is so great, that if taken in too large a

quantity, it will for some moments produce all the appearance of death.

Squills, too, if chewed by themselves even, are good for the gums and

teeth; and taken in vinegar and honey they expel tapeworm and other

intestinal worms. Put fresh beneath the tongue, they prevent persons

afflicted with dropsy from experiencing thirst.

Squills are cooked in various ways; either in a pot with a lining of

clay or grease, which is put into an oven or furnace, or else cut into

pieces and stewed in a saucepan. They are dried also in a raw state,

and then cut into pieces and boiled with vinegar; in which case, they

are employed as a liniment for the stings of serpents. Sometimes,

again, they are roasted and then cleaned; after which, the middle of

the bulb is boiled again in water.

When thus boiled, they are used for dropsy, as a diuretic, being

taken in doses of three oboli, with oxymel: they are employed also in

a similar manner for affections of the spleen, and of the stomach,

when it is too weak to digest the food, provided no ulcerations have

made their appearance; also for gripings of the bowels, jaundice,

and inveterate cough, accompanied with asthma. A cataplasm of squill

leaves, taken off at the end of four days, has the effect of dispersing

scrofulous swellings of the neck; and a decoction of squills in oil,

applied as a liniment, is a cure for dandriff and running ulcers of the

head.

Squills are boiled with honey also for the table, with the view of

aiding the digestion more particularly; used in this way, too, they

act upon the inside as a purgative. Boiled with oil, and then mixed

with resin, they are a cure for chaps on the feet; and the seed, mixed

with honey, is applied topically, for the cure of lumbago. Pythagoras

says that a squill, suspended at the threshold of the door, effectually

shuts all access to evil spells and incantations.[1495]

CHAP. 40.—BULBS: THIRTY REMEDIES.

Bulbs,[1496] steeped in vinegar and sulphur, are good for the cure of

wounds in the face;[1497] beaten up and used alone, they are beneficial

for contractions of the sinews, mixed with wine, for porrigo, and

used with honey, for the bites of dogs; in this last case, however,

Erasistratus says that they ought to be mixed with pitch. The same

author states that, applied topically with honey, they stanch the

flowing of blood; other writers say, however, that in cases of bleeding

at the nose, coriander and meal should be employed in combination with

them. Theodorus prescribes bulbs in vinegar for the cure of lichens,

and for eruptions in the head he recommends bulbs mixed with astringent

wine, or an egg beaten up; he treats defluxions of the eyes also with

bulbs, applied topically, and uses a similar method for the cure of

ophthalmia. The red bulbs more particularly, will cause spots in the

face to disappear, if rubbed upon them with honey and nitre in the sun;

and applied with wine or boiled cucumber they will remove freckles.

Used either by themselves, or as Damion recommends, in combination with

honied wine, they are remarkably efficacious for the cure of wounds,

care being taken, however, not to remove the application till the end

of four days. The same author prescribes them, too, for the cure of

fractured ears, and collections of crude humours in the testes.[1498]

For pains in the joints, bulbs are used with meal; boiled in wine, and

applied to the abdomen, they reduce hard swellings of the viscera.

In dysentery, they are given in wine mixed with rain water; and for

convulsions of the intestines they are employed, in combination with

silphium, in pills the size of a bean: bruised, they are employed

externally, for the purpose of checking perspirations. Bulbs are good,

too, for the sinews, for which reason it is that they are given to

paralytic patients. The red bulb, mixed with honey and salt, heals

sprains of the feet with great rapidity. The bulbs of Megara[1499] act

as a strong aphrodisiac, and garden bulbs, taken with boiled must or

raisin wine, aid delivery.

Wild bulbs, made up into pills with silphium, effect the cure of

wounds and other affections of the intestines. The seed, too, of

the cultivated kinds is taken in wine as a cure for the bite of the

phalangium,[1500] and the bulbs themselves are applied in vinegar

for the cure of the stings of serpents. The ancients used to give

bulb-seed to persons afflicted with madness, in drink. The blossom,

beaten up, removes spots upon the legs, as well as scorches produced

by fire. Diocles is of opinion that the sight is impaired by the use

of bulbs; he adds, too, that when boiled they are not so wholesome as

roasted, and that, of whatever nature they may be, they are difficult

of digestion.

CHAP. 41.—BULBINE; ONE REMEDY. BULB EMETIC.

The Greeks give the name bulbine[1501] to a plant with leaves

resembling those of the leek, and a red bulbous root. This plant, it is

said, is marvellously good for wounds, but only when they are of recent

date. The bulbous plant known as the “emetic” bulb,[1502] from the

effects which it produces, has dark leaves,[1503] and longer than those

of the other kinds.

CHAP. 42. (10.)—GARDEN ASPARAGUS; WITH THE NEXT TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES.

Asparagus[1504] is said to be extremely wholesome as an aliment to

the stomach. With the addition of cummin, it dispels flatulency of

the stomach and colon; it sharpens the eyesight also, acts as a mild

aperient upon the stomach, and, boiled with wine, is good for pains

in the chest and spine, and diseases of the intestines. For pains in

the loins and kidneys asparagus-seed[1505] is administered in doses of

three oboli, taken with an equal proportion of cummin-seed. It acts as

an aphrodisiac, and is an extremely useful diuretic, except that it has

a tendency to ulcerate the bladder.[1506]

The root, also, pounded and taken in white wine, is highly extolled

by some writers, as having the effect of disengaging calculi, and

of soothing pains in the loins and kidneys; there are some persons,

too, who administer this root with sweet wine for pains in the

uterus. Boiled in vinegar the root is very beneficial in cases of

elephantiasis. It is said that if a person is rubbed with asparagus

beaten up in oil, he will never be stung by bees.

CHAP. 43.—CORRUDA, LIBYCUM, OR ORMINUM.

Wild asparagus is by some persons called “corruda,” by others

“libycum,” and by the people of Attica “orminus.”[1507] For all the

affections above enumerated it is more efficacious even than the

cultivated kind, that which is white[1508] more particularly. This

vegetable has the effect of dispelling the jaundice, and a decoction of

it, in doses of one hemina, is recommended as an aphrodisiac; a similar

effect is produced also by a mixture of asparagus seed and dill in

doses of three oboli respectively. A decoction of asparagus juice is

given also for the stings of serpents; and the root of it, mixed with

that of marathrum,[1509] is reckoned in the number of the most valuable

remedies we are acquainted with.

In cases of hæmaturia, Chrysippus recommends a mixture of asparagus,

parsley, and cummin seed, to be given to the patient every five days,

in doses of three oboli, mixed with two cyathi of wine. He says,

however, that though employed this way, it is a good diuretic, it is

bad for dropsy, and acts as an antaphrodisiac; and that it is injurious

to the bladder, unless it is boiled first.[1510] He states also, that

if the water in which it is boiled is given to dogs, it will kill

them;[1511] and that the juice of the root boiled in wine, kept in the

mouth, is an effectual cure for tooth-ache.

CHAP. 44. (11.)—PARSLEY; SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.

Parsley[1512] is held in universal esteem; for we find sprigs of it

swimming in the draughts of milk given us to drink in country-places;

and we know that as a seasoning for sauces, it is looked upon with

peculiar favour. Applied to the eyes with honey, which must also be

fomented from time to time with a warm decoction of it, it has a most

marvellous efficacy in cases of defluxion of those organs or of other

parts of the body; as also when beaten up and applied by itself, or in

combination with bread or with polenta. Fish, too, when found to be

in an ailing state in the preserves, are greatly refreshed by giving

them green parsley. As to the opinions entertained upon it among the

learned, there is not a single production dug out of the earth in

reference to which a greater diversity exists.

Parsley is distinguished as male and female:[1513] according to

Chrysippus, the female plant has a hard leaf and more curled than the

other, a thick stem, and an acrid, hot taste. Dionysius says, that the

female is darker than the other kind, has a shorter root, and engenders

small worms.[1514] Both of these writers, however, agree in saying

that neither kind of parsley should be admitted into the number of our

aliments; indeed, they look upon it as nothing less than sacrilege

to do so, seeing that parsley is consecrated to the funereal feasts

in honour of the dead. They say, too, that it is injurious to the

eyesight, that the stalk of the female plant engenders small worms,

for which reason it is that those who eat of it become barren—males as

well as females; and that children suckled by females who live on a

parsley diet, are sure to be epileptic. They agree, however, in stating

that the male plant is not so injurious in its effects as the female,

and that it is for this reason that it is not absolutely condemned and

classed among the forbidden plants. The leaves of it, employed as a

cataplasm, are used for dispersing hard tumours[1515] in the mamillæ;

and when boiled in water, it makes it more agreeable to drink. The

juice of the root more particularly, mixed with wine, allays the pains

of lumbago, and, injected into the ears, it diminishes hardness of

hearing. The seed of it acts as a diuretic, promotes the menstrual

discharge, and brings away the after-birth.

Bruises and livid spots, if fomented with a decoction of parsley-seed,

will resume their natural colour. Applied topically, with the white of

egg, or boiled in water, and then drunk, it is remedial for affections

of the kidneys; and beaten up in cold water it is a cure for ulcers of

the mouth. The seed, mixed with wine, or the root, taken with old wine,

has the effect of breaking calculi in the bladder. The seed, too, is

given in white wine, to persons afflicted with the jaundice.

CHAP. 45.—APIASTRUM, OR MELISSOPHYLLUM.

Hyginus gave the name of “apiastrum” to melissophyllum:[1516] but that

which grows in Sardinia is poisonous, and universally condemned. I

speak here of this plant, because I feel it my duty to place before the

reader every object which has been classified, among the Greeks, under

the same name.

CHAP. 46.—OLUSATRUM OR HIPPOSELINON: ELEVEN REMEDIES. OREOSELINON; TWO

REMEDIES. HELIOSELINON; ONE REMEDY.

Olusatrum,[1517] usually known as hipposelinon,[1518] is particularly

repulsive to scorpions. The seed of it, taken in drink, is a cure for

gripings in the stomach and intestinal complaints, and a decoction of

the seed, drunk in honied wine, is curative in cases of dysuria.[1519]

The root of the plant, boiled in wine, expels calculi of the bladder,

and is a cure for lumbago and pains in the sides. Taken in drink and

applied topically, it is a cure for the bite of a mad dog, and the

juice of it, when drunk, is warming for persons benumbed with cold.

Some persons make out oreoselinon[1520] to be a fourth species of

parsley: it is a shrub about a palm in height, with an elongated seed,

bearing a strong resemblance to that of cummin, and efficacious for the

urine and the catamenia. Helioselinon[1521] is possessed of peculiar

virtues against the bites of spiders: and oreoselinon is used with wine

for promoting the menstrual discharge.

CHAP. 47. (12.)—PETROSELINON; ONE REMEDY. BUSELINON; ONE REMEDY.

Another kind again, which grows in rocky places, is known by some

persons as “petroselinon:”[1522] it is particularly good for abscesses,

taken in doses of two spoonfuls of the juice to one cyathus of juice

of horehound, mixed with three cyathi of warm water. Some writers

have added buselinon[1523] to the list, which differs only from the

cultivated kind in the shortness of the stalk and the red colour of the

root, the medicinal properties being just the same. Taken in drink or

applied topically, it is an excellent remedy for the stings of serpents.

CHAP. 48.—OCIMUM; THIRTY-FIVE REMEDIES.

Chrysippus has exclaimed as strongly, too, against ocimum[1524] as he

has against parsley, declaring that it is prejudicial to the stomach

and the free discharge of the urine, and is injurious to the sight;

that it produces insanity, too, and lethargy, as well as diseases of

the liver; and that it is for this reason that goats refuse to touch

it. Hence he comes to the conclusion, that the use of it ought to be

avoided by man. Some persons go so far as to say, that if beaten up,

and then placed beneath a stone, a scorpion will breed there;[1525]

and that if chewed, and then placed in the sun, worms will breed in

it. The people of Africa maintain, too, that if a person is stung by

a scorpion the same day on which he has eaten ocimum, his life cannot

possibly be saved. Even more than this, there are some who assert, that

if a handful of ocimum is beaten up with ten sea or river crabs, all

the scorpions in the vicinity will be attracted to it. Diodotus, too,

in his Book of Recipes,[1526] says, that ocimum, used as an article of

food, breeds lice.

Succeeding ages, again, have warmly defended this plant; it has been

maintained, for instance, that goats do eat it, that the mind of no

one who has eaten of it is at all affected, and, that mixed with wine,

with the addition of a little vinegar, it is a cure for the stings of

land scorpions, and the venom of those found in the sea. Experience

has proved, too, that the smell of this plant in vinegar is good for

fainting fits and lethargy, as well as inflammations; that employed as

a cooling liniment, with rose oil, myrtle oil, or vinegar, it is good

for head-ache; and that applied topically with wine, it is beneficial

for defluxions of the eyes. It has been found also, that it is good for

the stomach; that taken with vinegar, it dispels flatulent eructations;

that applications of it arrest fluxes of the bowels; that it acts as a

diuretic, and that in this way it is good for jaundice and dropsy, as

well as cholera and looseness of the bowels.

Hence it is that Philistio has prescribed it even for cœliac

affections, and boiled, for dysentery. Some persons, too, though

contrary to the opinion of Plistonicus, have given it in wine for

tenesmus and spitting of blood, as also for obstructions of the

viscera. It is employed, too, as a liniment for the mamillæ, and has

the effect of arresting the secretion of the milk. It is very good

also for the ears of infants, when applied with goose-grease more

particularly. The seed of it, beaten up, and inhaled into the nostrils,

is provocative of sneezing, and applied as a liniment to the head,

of running at the nostrils: taken in the food, too, with vinegar, it

purges the uterus. Mixed with copperas[1527] it removes warts. It acts,

also, as an aphrodisiac, for which reason it is given to horses and

asses at the season for covering.

(13.) Wild ocimum has exactly the same properties in every respect,

though in a more active degree. It is particularly good, too, for the

various affections produced by excessive vomiting, and for abscesses of

the womb. The root, mixed with wine, is extremely efficacious for bites

inflicted by wild beasts.

CHAP. 49.—ROCKET: TWELVE REMEDIES.

The seed of rocket[1528] is remedial for the venom of the scorpion and

the shrew-mouse: it repels, too, all parasitical insects which breed

on the human body, and applied to the face, as a liniment, with honey,

removes[1529] spots upon the skin. Used with vinegar, too, it is a cure

for freckles; and mixed with ox-gall it restores the livid marks left

by wounds to their natural colour. It is said that if this plant is

taken in wine by persons who are about to undergo a flogging, it will

impart a certain degree of insensibility to the body. So agreeable

is its flavour as a savouring for food, that the Greeks have given

it the name of “euzomon.”[1530] It is generally thought that rocket,

lightly bruised, and employed as a fomentation for the eyes, will

restore the sight to its original goodness, and that it allays coughs

in young infants. The root of it, boiled in water, has the property of

extracting the splinters of broken bones.

As to the properties of rocket as an aphrodisiac, we have mentioned

them already.[1531] Three leaves of wild rocket plucked with the left

hand, beaten up in hydromel, and then taken in drink, are productive of

a similar effect.

CHAP. 50.—NASTURTIUM: FORTY-TWO REMEDIES.

Nasturtium,[1532] on the other hand, is an antiaphrodisiac;[1533] it

has the effect also of sharpening the senses, as already stated.[1534]

There are two[1535] varieties of this plant: one of them is purgative,

and, taken in doses of one denarius to seven of water, carries off

the bilious secretions. Applied as a liniment to scrofulous sores,

with bean-meal, and then covered with a cabbage-leaf, it is a most

excellent remedy. The other kind, which is darker than the first, has

the effect of carrying off vicious humours of the head, and sharpening

the sight: taken in vinegar it calms the troubled spirits, and, drunk

with wine or taken in a fig, it is good for affections of the spleen;

taken in honey, too, fasting daily, it is good for a cough. The seed

of it, taken in wine, expels all kinds of intestinal worms, and with

the addition of wild mint, it acts more efficaciously still. It is

good, too, for asthma and cough, in combination with wild marjoram and

sweet wine; and a decoction of it in goats’ milk is used for pains in

the chest. Mixed with pitch it disperses tumours, and extracts thorns

from the body; and, employed as a liniment, with vinegar, it removes

spots upon the body. When used for the cure of carcinoma, white of eggs

is added to it. With vinegar it is employed also as a liniment for

affections of the spleen, and with honey it is found to be very useful

for the complaints of infants.

Sextius adds, that the smell of burnt nasturtium drives away serpents,

neutralizes the venom of scorpions, and gives relief in head-ache;

with the addition too, of mustard, he says, it is a cure for alopecy,

and applied to the ears with a fig, it is a remedy for hardness of

hearing. The juice of it, he says, if injected into the ears, will

effect the cure of tooth-ache, and employed with goose-grease it is

a remedy for porrigo and ulcerous sores of the head. Applied with

leaven it brings boils[1536] to a head, and makes carbuncles suppurate

and break: used with honey, too, it is good for cleansing phagedænic

ulcers. Topical applications are made of it, combined with vinegar and

polenta, in cases of sciatica and lumbago: it is similarly employed,

too, for lichens and malformed[1537] nails, its qualities being

naturally caustic. The best nasturtium of all is that of Babylonia; the

wild[1538] variety possesses the same qualities as the cultivated in

every respect, but in a more powerful degree.

CHAP. 51.—RUE: EIGHTY-FOUR REMEDIES.

One of the most active, however, of all the medicinal plants, is

rue.[1539] The cultivated kind has broader leaves and more numerous

branches than the other. Wild rue is more violent in its effects, and

more active in every respect. The juice of it is extracted by beating

it up, and moistening it moderately with water; after which it is kept

for use in boxes of Cyprian copper. Given in large doses, this juice

has all the baneful effects of poison,[1540] and that of Macedonia more

particularly, which grows on the banks of the river Aliacmon.[1541] It

is a truly wonderful thing, but the juice of hemlock has the property

of neutralizing its effects. Thus do we find one thing acting as the

poison of another poison, for the juice of hemlock is very beneficial,

rubbed upon the hands and [face][1542] of persons employed in gathering

rue.

In other respects, rue is one of the principal ingredients employed

in antidotes, that of Galatia more particularly. Every species of

rue, employed by itself, has the effect also of an antidote, if the

leaves are bruised and taken in wine. It is good more particularly

in cases of poisoning by wolf’sbane[1543] and mistletoe, as well as

by fungi, whether administered in the drink or the food. Employed

in a similar manner, it is good for the stings of serpents; so much

so, in fact, that weasels,[1544] when about to attack them, take the

precaution first of protecting themselves by eating rue. Rue is good,

too, for the injuries by scorpions and spiders, the stings of bees,

hornets, and wasps, the noxious effects produced by cantharides and

salamanders,[1545] and the bites of mad dogs. The juice is taken in

doses of one acetabulum, in wine; and the leaves, beaten up or else

chewed, are applied topically, with honey and salt, or boiled with

vinegar and pitch. It is said that people rubbed with the juice of rue,

or even having it on their person, are never attacked by these noxious

creatures, and that serpents are driven away by the stench of burning

rue. The most efficacious, however, of all, is the root of wild rue,

taken with wine; this too, it is said, is more beneficial still, if

drunk in the open air.