BOOK XXII.

THE PROPERTIES OF PLANTS AND FRUITS.

CHAP. 1.—THE PROPERTIES OF PLANTS.

Nature and the earth might have well filled the measure of our

admiration, if we had nothing else to do but to consider the properties

enumerated in the preceding Book, and the numerous varieties of plants

that we find created for the wants or the enjoyment of mankind. And

yet, how much is there still left for us to describe, and how many

discoveries of a still more astonishing nature! The greater part, in

fact, of the plants there mentioned recommend themselves to us by

their taste, their fragrance, or their beauty, and so invite us to

make repeated trials of their virtues: but, on the other hand, the

properties of those which remain to be described, furnish us with

abundant proof that nothing has been created by Nature without some

purpose to fulfil, unrevealed to us though it may be.

CHAP. 2. (1.)—PLANTS USED BY NATIONS FOR THE ADORNMENT OF THE PERSON.

I remark, in the first place, that there are some foreign nations

which, in obedience to long-established usage, employ certain plants

for the embellishment of the person. That, among some barbarous

peoples, the females[2452] stain the face by means of various plants,

there can be little doubt, and among the Daci and the Sarmatæ we find

the men even marking[2453] their bodies. There is a plant in Gaul,

similar to the plantago in appearance, and known there by the name of

“glastum:”[2454] with it both matrons and girls[2455] among the people

of Britain are in the habit of staining the body all over, when taking

part in the performance of certain sacred rites; rivalling hereby the

swarthy hue of the Æthiopians, they go in a state of nature.

CHAP. 3. (2.)—EMPLOYMENT OF PLANTS FOR DYEING. EXPLANATION OF THE TERMS

SAGMEN, VERBENA, AND CLARIGATIO.

We know, too, that from plants are extracted admirable colours for

dyeing; and, not to mention the berries[2456] of Galatia,[2457] Africa,

and Lusitania, which furnish the coccus, a dye reserved for the

military costume[2458] of our generals, the people of Gaul beyond the

Alps produce the Tyrian colours, the conchyliated,[2459] and all the

other hues, by the agency of plants[2460] alone. They have not there

to seek the murex at the bottom of the sea, or to expose themselves to

be the prey of the monsters of the deep, while tearing it from their

jaws, nor have they to go searching in depths to which no anchor has

penetrated—and all this for the purpose of finding the means whereby

some mother of a family may appear more charming in the eyes of her

paramour, or the seducer may make himself more captivating to the wife

of another man. Standing on dry land, the people there gather in their

dyes just as we do our crops of corn—though one great fault in them

is, that they wash[2461] out; were it not for which, luxury would have

the means of bedecking itself with far greater magnificence, or, at all

events, at the price of far less danger.

It is not my purpose, however, here to enter further into these

details, nor shall I make the attempt, by substituting resources

attended with fewer risks, to circumscribe luxury within the limits of

frugality; though, at the same time, I shall have to speak on another

occasion how that vegetable productions are employed for staining stone

and imparting their colours to walls.[2462] Still, however, I should

not have omitted to enlarge upon the art of dyeing, had I found that

it had ever been looked upon as forming one of our liberal[2463] arts.

Meantime, I shall be actuated by higher considerations, and shall

proceed to show in what esteem we are bound to hold the mute[2464]

plants even, or in other words, the plants of little note. For, indeed,

the authors and founders of the Roman sway have derived from these very

plants even almost boundless results; as it was these same plants,

and no others, that afforded them the “sagmen,”[2465] employed in

seasons of public calamity, and the “verbena” of our sacred rites and

embassies. These two names, no doubt, originally signified the same

thing,—a green turf torn up from the citadel with the earth attached to

it; and hence, when envoys were dispatched to the enemy for the purpose

of clarigation, or, in other words, with the object of _clearly_[2466]

demanding restitution of property that had been carried off, one of

these officers was always known as the “verbenarius.”[2467]

CHAP. 4. (3.)—THE GRASS CROWN: HOW RARELY IT HAS BEEN AWARDED.

Of all the crowns with which, in the days of its majesty, the

all-sovereign people, the ruler of the earth, recompensed the valour

of its citizens, there was none attended with higher glory than the

crown of grass.[2468] The crowns[2469] bedecked with gems of gold, the

vallar, mural, rostrate, civic, and triumphal crowns, were, all of

them, inferior to this: great, indeed, was the difference between them,

and far in the background were they thrown by it. As to all the rest,

a single individual could confer them, a general or commander on his

soldiers for instance, or, as on some occasions, on his colleague: the

senate, too, exempt from the cares and anxieties of war, and the people

in the enjoyment of repose, could award them, together with the honours

of a triumph.

(4.) But as for the crown of grass, it was never conferred except at a

crisis of extreme desperation, never voted except by the acclamation

of the whole army, and never to any one but to him who had been its

preserver. Other crowns were awarded by the generals to the soldiers,

this alone by the soldiers, and to the general. This crown is known

also as the “obsidional” crown, from the circumstance of a beleaguered

army being delivered, and so preserved from fearful disaster. If we

are to regard as a glorious and a hallowed reward the civic crown,

presented for preserving the life of a single citizen, and him,

perhaps, of the very humblest rank, what, pray, ought to be thought

of a whole army being saved, and indebted for its preservation to the

valour of a single individual?

The crown thus presented was made of green grass,[2470] gathered on the

spot where the troops so rescued had been beleaguered. Indeed, in early

times, it was the usual token of victory for the vanquished to present

to the conqueror a handful of grass; signifying thereby that they

surrendered[2471] their native soil, the land that had nurtured them,

and the very right even there to be interred—a usage which, to my own

knowledge, still exists among the nations of Germany.[2472]

CHAP. 5. (5.)—THE ONLY PERSONS THAT HAVE BEEN PRESENTED WITH THIS CROWN.

L. Siccius Dentatus[2473] was presented with this crown but once,

though he gained as many as fourteen civic crowns, and fought one

hundred and twenty battles, in all of which he was victorious—so rarely

is it that an army has to thank a single individual only for its

preservation! Some generals, however, have been presented with more

than one of these crowns, P. Decius Mus,[2474] the military tribune,

for example, who received one from his own army, and another from the

troops which he had rescued[2475] when surrounded. He testified by an

act of devoutness in what high esteem he held such an honour as this,

for, adorned with these insignia, he sacrificed a white ox to Mars,

together with one hundred red oxen, which had been presented to him by

the beleaguered troops as the recompense of his valour: it was this

same Decius, who afterwards, when consul, with Imperiosus[2476] for his

colleague, devoted his life to secure victory to his fellow-citizens.

This crown was presented also by the senate and people of Rome—a

distinction than which I know of nothing in existence more glorious—to

that same Fabius[2477] who restored the fortunes of Rome by avoiding

a battle; not, however, on the occasion when he preserved the master

of the horse[2478] and his army; for then it was deemed preferable

by those who were indebted to him for their preservation to present

him with a crown under a new title, that of “father.” The crown of

grass was, however, awarded to him, with that unanimity which I have

mentioned, after Hannibal had been expelled from Italy; being the

only crown, in fact, that has hitherto been placed upon the head of

a citizen by the hands of the state itself, and, another remarkable

distinction, the only one that has ever been conferred by the whole of

Italy united.

CHAP. 6. (6.)—THE ONLY CENTURION THAT HAS BEEN THUS HONOURED.

In addition to the persons already mentioned, the honour of this

crown has been awarded to M. Calpurnius Flamma,[2479] then a military

tribune in Sicily; but up to the present time it has been given to a

single centurion only, Cneius Petreius Atinas, during the war with the

Cimbri. This soldier, while acting as primipilus[2480] under Catulus,

on finding all retreat for his legion cut off by the enemy, harangued

the troops, and after slaying his tribune who hesitated to cut a way

through the encampment of the enemy, brought away the legion in safety.

I find it stated also by some authors, that, in addition to this

honour, this same Petreius, clad in the prætexta, offered sacrifice

at the altar, to the sound of the pipe,[2481] in presence of the then

consuls,[2482] Marius and Catulus.

The Dictator Sylla has also stated in his memoirs, that when legatus

in the Marsic War he was presented with this crown by the army, at

Nola; an event which he caused to be commemorated in a painting at his

Tusculan villa, which afterwards became the property of Cicero. If

there is any truth in this statement, I can only say that it renders

his memory all the more execrable, and that, by his proscriptions,

with his own hand he tore this crown from his brow, for few indeed

were the citizens whom he thus preserved, in comparison with those

he slaughtered at a later period. And let him even add to this high

honour his proud surname of “Felix,”[2483] if he will; all the glories

of this crown he surrendered to Sertorius, from the moment that he put

his proscribed fellow-citizens in a stage of siege throughout the whole

world.

Varro, too, relates that Scipio Æmilianus was awarded the obsidional

crown in Africa, under the consul Manilius,[2484] for the preservation

of three cohorts, by bringing as many to their rescue; an event

commemorated by an inscription upon the base of the statue erected in

honour of him by the now deified Emperor Augustus, in the Forum which

bears his name. Augustus himself was also presented by the senate

with the obsidional crown, upon the ides[2485] of September, in the

consulship[2486] of M. Cicero the Younger, the civic crown being looked

upon as not commensurate with his deserts. Beyond these, I do not find

any one mentioned as having been rewarded with this honour.

CHAP. 7.—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM OTHER CHAPLET PLANTS.

No plant[2487] in particular was employed in the composition of this

crown, such only being used as were found growing on the spot so

imperilled; and thus did they become the means, however humble and

unnoted themselves, of conferring high honour and renown. All this,

however, is but little known among us at the present day; a fact which

I am the less surprised at, when I reflect that those plants even

are treated with the same indifference, the purpose of which it is

to preserve our health, to allay our bodily pains, and to repel the

advances of death! And who is there that would not visit with censure,

and justly visit, the manners of the present day? Luxury and effeminacy

have augmented the price at which we live, and never was life more

hankered after, or worse cared[2488] for, than it is at present. This,

however, we look upon as the business of others, forsooth; other

persons must see to it, without our troubling ourselves to request

them, and the physicians must exercise the necessary providence in our

behalves.[2489] As for ourselves, we go on enjoying our pleasures, and

are content to live—a thing that in my opinion reflects the highest

possible disgrace—by putting faith in others.[2490]

Nay, even more than this, we ourselves are held in derision by many,

for undertaking these researches, and are charged with busying

ourselves with mere frivolities! It is some solace, however, in

the prosecution of these our boundless labours, to have Nature as

our sharer in this contempt: Nature who, as we will prove beyond a

doubt, has never failed in coming to the assistance of man, and has

implanted[2491] remedies for our use in the most despised even of the

vegetable productions, medicaments in plants which repel us with their

thorns.

It is of these, in fact, that it remains for us now to speak, as next

in succession to those which we have mentioned in the preceding Book;

and here we cannot sufficiently admire, and, indeed, adore,[2492]

the wondrous providence displayed by Nature. She had given us, as

already[2493] shewn, plants soft to the touch, and agreeable to the

palate; in the flowers she had painted the remedies for our diseases

with her varied tints, and, while commingling the useful with the

delicious, had attracted our attention by means of the pleasures of the

eye. Here, however, she has devised another class of plants, bristling

and repulsive to the sight, and dangerous to the touch; so much so,

indeed, that we fancy we all but hear the voice of her who made them as

she reveals to us her motives for so doing. It is her wish, she says,

that no ravening cattle may browse upon them, that no wanton hand may

tear them up, that no heedless footstep may tread them down, that no

bird, perching there, may break them: and in thus fortifying them with

thorns, and arming them with weapons, it has been her grand object to

save and protect the remedies which they afford to man. Thus we see,

the very qualities even which we hold in such aversion, have been

devised by Nature for the benefit and advantage of mankind.

CHAP. 8. (7.)—THE ERYNGE OR ERYNGIUM.

In the first rank of the plants armed with prickles, the erynge[2494]

or eryngion stands pre-eminent, a vegetable production held in high

esteem as an antidote formed for the poison of serpents and all

venomous substances. For stings and bites of this nature, the root is

taken in wine in doses of one drachma, or if, as generally is the case,

the wound is attended with fever, in water. It is employed also, in

the form of a liniment, for wounds, and is found to be particularly

efficacious for those inflicted by water-snakes or frogs. The physician

Heraclides states it as his opinion that, boiled in goose-broth, it

is a more valuable remedy than any other known, for aconite[2495]

and other poisons.[2496] Apollodorus recommends that, in cases of

poisoning, it should be boiled with a frog, and other authorities,

in water only. It is a hardy plant, having much the appearance of a

shrub, with prickly leaves and a jointed stem; it grows a cubit or more

in height. Sometimes it is found of a whitish colour, and sometimes

black,[2497] the root of it being odoriferous. It is cultivated in

gardens, but it is frequently to be found growing[2498] spontaneously

in rugged and craggy localities. It grows, too, on the sea-shore, in

which case it is tougher and darker than usual, the leaf resembling

that of parsley.[2499]

CHAP. 9. (8.)—THE ERYNGIUM, CALLED CENTUM CAPITA: THIRTY REMEDIES.

The white variety of the eryngium is known in our language as the

“centum capita.”[2500] It has all the properties above-mentioned,

and the Greeks employ both the stalk and the root as an article of

food,[2501] either boiled or raw. There are some marvellous facts

related in connexion with this plant; the root[2502] of it, it is

said, bears a strong resemblance to the organs of either sex; it is but

rarely found, but if a root resembling the male organs should happen

to fall in the way of a man, it will ensure him woman’s love; hence it

is that Phaon the Lesbian was so passionately beloved[2503] by Sappho.

Upon this subject, too, there have been numerous other reveries, not

only on the part of the Magi, but of Pythagorean philosophers even as

well.

So far as its medicinal properties are concerned, in addition to

those already mentioned, this plant, taken in hydromel, is good for

flatulency, gripings of the bowels, diseases of the heart, stomach,

liver, and thoracic organs, and, taken in oxycrate, for affections of

the spleen. Mixed with hydromel, it is recommended also for diseases of

the kidneys, strangury, opisthotony, spasms, lumbago, dropsy, epilepsy,

suppression or excess of the catamenia, and all maladies of the uterus.

Applied with honey, it extracts foreign substances from the body, and,

with salted axle-grease and cerate, it disperses scrofulous sores,

imposthumes of the parotid glands, inflamed tumours, denudations of the

bones, and fractures. Taken before drinking, it prevents the fumes of

wine from rising to the head, and it arrests looseness of the bowels.

Some of our authors have recommended that this plant should be gathered

at the period of the summer solstice, and that it should be applied,

in combination with rain water, for all kinds of maladies of the neck.

They say too, that, attached as an amulet to the person, it is a cure

for albugo.[2504]

CHAP. 10. (9.)—THE ACANOS; ONE REMEDY.

There are some authors, too, who make the acanos[2505] to be a

species of eryngium. It is a thorny plant, stunted, and spreading,

with prickles of a considerable size. Applied topically, they say, it

arrests hæmorrhage in a most remarkable degree.

CHAP. 11.—THE GLYCYRRHIZA OR ADIPSOS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

Other authors, again, have erroneously taken the glycyrrhiza[2506] to

be a kind of eryngium: it will, therefore, be as well to take this

opportunity of making some further mention of it. There can be no

doubt, however, that this is one of the thorny plants, the leaves of it

being covered with prickles,[2507] substantial, and viscous and gummy

to the touch: it has much the appearance of a shrub, is a couple of

cubits in height, and bears a flower like that of the hyacinth, and a

fruit the size of the little round balls[2508] of the plane. The best

kind is that grown in Cilicia, and the next best that of Pontus; the

root of it is sweet, and this is the only part that is used. It is

gathered at the setting of the Vergiliæ,[2509] the root of it being

long, like that of the vine.[2510] That which is yellow, the colour

of boxwood in fact, is superior to the darker kind, and the flexible

is better than the brittle. Boiled down to one-third, it is employed

for pessaries; but, for general purposes, a decoction is made of it of

the consistency of honey. Sometimes, also, it is used pounded, and it

is in this form that it is applied as a liniment for wounds and all

affections of the throat. The juice[2511] of it is also very good for

the voice, for which purpose it is thickened and then placed beneath

the tongue: it is good, too, for the chest and liver.

We have already stated[2512] that this plant has the effect of

allaying hunger and thirst: hence it is that some authors have given

it the name of “adipsos,”[2513] and have prescribed it for dropsical

patients, to allay thirst. It is for this reason, too, that it is

chewed as a stomatic,[2514] and that the powder of it is often

sprinkled on ulcerous sores of the mouth and films[2515] on the eyes:

it heals, too, excrescences[2516] of the bladder, pains in the kidneys,

condylomata,[2517] and ulcerous sores of the genitals. Some persons

have given it in potions for quartan fevers, the doses being two

drachmæ, mixed with pepper in one hemina of water. Chewed, and applied

to wounds, it arrests hæmorrhage:[2518] some authors have asserted,

also, that it expels calculi of the bladder.

CHAP. 12. (10.)—TWO VARIETIES OF THE TRIBULUS; TWELVE REMEDIES.

Of the two[2519] kinds of tribulus, the one is a garden plant, the

other grows in rivers only. There is a juice extracted from them which

is employed for diseases of the eyes, it being of a cool and refreshing

nature, and, consequently, useful for inflammations and abscesses. Used

with honey, this juice is curative of spontaneous ulcerations, those of

the mouth in particular; it is good also for affections of the tonsils.

Taken in a potion, it breaks calculi of the bladder.

The Thracians who dwell on the banks of the river Strymon feed their

horses[2520] on the leaves of the tribulus, and employ the kernels

as an article of food, making of them a very agreeable kind of

bread, which acts astringently[2521] upon the bowels. The root, if

gathered by persons in a state of chastity and purity,[2522] disperses

scrofulous sores: and the seed, used as an amulet, allays the pains

attendant upon varicose veins: pounded and mixed with water, it

destroys fleas.

CHAP. 13. (11.)—THE STŒBE OR PHEOS.

The stœbe,[2523] by some persons known as the “pheos,” boiled in wine,

is particularly good for the cure of suppurations of the ears, and for

extravasations of blood in the eyes from the effects of a blow. It is

employed also in injections for hæmorrhage and dysentery.

CHAP. 14. (12.)—TWO VARIETIES OF THE HIPPOPHAES: TWO REMEDIES.

The hippophaes[2524] grows in sandy soils, and on the sea-shore. It

is a plant with white thorns, and covered with clusters, like the

ivy, the berries being white, and partly red. The root of it is full

of a juice which is either used by itself, or else is made up into

lozenges with meal of fitches: taken in doses of one obolus, it carries

off bile, and it is extremely beneficial if used with honied wine.

There is another[2525] hippophaes, without either stalk or flowers,

and consisting only of diminutive leaves: the juice of this also is

wonderfully useful for dropsy.

These plants would appear, too, to be remarkably well adapted to the

constitution of the horse, as it can be for no other reason than this

that they have received their name.[2526] For, in fact, there are

certain plants which have been created as remedies for the diseases

of animals, the Divinity being bounteously lavish of his succours and

resources; so much so, indeed, that we cannot sufficiently admire the

wisdom with which he has arranged them according to the classes of

animated beings which they are to serve, the causes which give rise to

their various maladies, and the times at which they are likely to be in

requisition: hence it is that there is no class of beings, no season,

and, so to speak, no day, that is without its remedy.

CHAP. 15. (13.)—THE NETTLE: SIXTY-ONE REMEDIES.

What plant can there possibly be that is more an object of our aversion

than the nettle?[2527] And yet, in addition to the oil which we have

already mentioned[2528] as being extracted from it in Egypt, it abounds

in medicinal properties. The seed of it, according to Nicander,

is an antidote to the poison of hemlock,[2529] of fungi, and of

quicksilver.[2530] Apollodorus prescribes it, too, taken in the broth

of a boiled tortoise,[2531] for the bite of the salamander,[2532] and

as an antidote for the poison of henbane, serpents, and scorpions.

The stinging pungency even of the nettle has its uses; for, by its

contact, it braces the uvula, and effects the cure of prolapsus of the

uterus, and of procidence of the anus in infants. By touching the legs

of persons in a lethargy, and the forehead more particularly, with

nettles, they are awakened.[2533] Applied with salt, the nettle is

used to heal the bites of dogs, and beaten up and applied topically,

it arrests bleeding[2534] at the nostrils, the root in particular.

Mixed with salt, also, it is employed for the cure of cancers and foul

ulcers; and, applied in a similar manner, it cures sprains and inflamed

tumours, as well as imposthumes of the parotid glands and denudations

of the bones. The seed of it, taken with boiled must, dispels

hysterical suffocations, and, applied topically, it arrests mucous

discharges of the nostrils. Taken with hydromel, after dinner, in doses

of two oboli, the seed produces a gentle vomit;[2535] and a dose of

one obolus, taken in wine, has the effect of dispelling lassitude.

The seed is prescribed also, parched, and in doses of one acetabulum,

for affections of the uterus; and, taken in boiled[2536] must, it is

a remedy for flatulency of the stomach. Taken in an electuary, with

honey, it gives relief in hardness of breathing, and clears the chest

by expectoration: applied with linseed, it is a cure for pains in

the side, with the addition of some hyssop and a little pepper. The

seed is employed also in the form of a liniment for affections of the

spleen, and, parched and taken with the food, it acts as a laxative in

constipation of the bowels. Hippocrates[2537] says that the seed, taken

in drink, acts as a purgative upon the uterus; and that taken, parched,

with sweet wine, in doses of one acetabulum, or applied externally with

juice of mallows, it alleviates pains in that organ. He states also

that, used with hydromel and salt, it expels intestinal worms, and

that a liniment made of the seed will restore the hair when falling

off. Many persons, too, employ the seed topically, with old oil, for

diseases of the joints, and for gout, or else the leaves beaten up with

bears’-grease: the root, too, pounded in vinegar, is no less useful for

the same purposes, as also for affections of the spleen. Boiled in

wine, and applied with stale axle-grease and salt, the root disperses

inflamed tumours, and, dried, it is used as a depilatory.

Phanias, the physician, has enlarged upon the praises of the nettle,

and he assures us that, taken with the food, either boiled or

preserved, it is extremely beneficial for affections of the trachea,

cough, fluxes of the bowels, stomachic complaints, inflamed tumours,

imposthumes of the parotid glands, and chilblains; that, taken with

oil, it acts as a sudorific; and that, boiled with shell-fish, it

relaxes the bowels. He says, too, that taken with a ptisan,[2538] it

facilitates expectoration and acts as an emmenagogue, and that, applied

with salt, it prevents ulcers from spreading. The juice of the nettle

is also used: applied to the forehead, it arrests bleeding at the nose,

taken in drink it acts as a diuretic and breaks calculi in the bladder,

and, used as a gargle, it braces the uvula when relaxed.

Nettle-seed should be gathered at harvest-time: that of Alexandria

is the most highly esteemed. For all these different purposes the

milder and more tender plants are the best, the wild nettle[2539] in

particular: this last, taken in wine, has the additional property of

removing leprous spots on the face. When animals refuse to couple, it

is recommended to rub the sexual organs with nettles.[2540]

CHAP. 16. (14.)—THE LAMIUM: SEVEN REMEDIES.

The variety of nettle, too, which we have already[2541] spoken of under

the name of “lamium,”[2542] the most innoxious of them all, the leaves

not having the property of stinging, is used for the cure of bruises

and contusions, with a sprinkling[2543] of salt, as also for burns and

scrofulous sores, tumours, gout, and wounds. The middle of the leaf

is white, and is used for the cure of erysipelas. Some of our authors

have distinguished the various species of this plant according to their

respective seasons; thus, for instance, the root of the autumn nettle,

they say, carried on the person as an amulet, is a cure for tertian

fevers, if due care is taken, when pulling up the root, to mention the

patient’s name, and to state who he is and who are his parents. They

say, too, that this plant is productive of similar results in quartan

fever: and they pretend that the root of the nettle, with the addition

of salt, will extract foreign substances from the body; and that the

leaves, mixed with stale axle-grease, will disperse scrofulous sores,

or if they suppurate, cauterize them and cause them to fill up with new

flesh.

CHAP. 17. (15.)—THE SCORPIO, TWO KINDS OF IT: ONE REMEDY.

The scorpio[2544] has received its appellation from the animal of that

name, in consequence of the resemblance of its seeds to a scorpion’s

tail. The leaves of it are few in number, and it is efficacious for

the sting[2545] of the animal from which it derives its name. There

is also another plant[2546] known by the same name, and possessed of

similar properties; it is destitute of leaves, has a stem like that of

asparagus,[2547] and a sharp point at the top, to which it owes its

appellation.

CHAP. 18. (16.)—THE LEUCACANTHA, PHYLLOS, ISCHIAS, OR POLYGONATOS: FOUR

REMEDIES.

The leucacantha,[2548] known also as the phyllos, ischias, or

polygonatos,[2549] has a root like that of the cypirus, which, when

chewed, has the effect of curing[2550] tooth-ache; as also pains in the

sides and loins, according to Hicesius, the seed or juice being taken

in drink, in doses of eight drachmæ.—This plant is employed also for

the cure of ruptures and convulsions.

CHAP. 19. (17).—THE HELXINE: TWELVE REMEDIES.

The helxine[2551] is called by some, “perdicium,” from the circumstance

of its forming the principal food of partridges.[2552] Other persons,

however, give it the name of “sideritis,” and to some it is known as

“parthenium.” It has leaves, the shape of which is a mixture of those

of the plantago and the marrubium;[2553] the stalks are slight and

closely packed, and are of a light red colour. The seeds, enclosed in

heads resembling those of the lappa,[2554] adhere to the clothes, a

circumstance, it is said, to which it owes its name[2555] of “helxine.”

We have already stated in the preceding Book[2556] what are the

characteristics of the plant properly so called.

The one of which we are now speaking is used for dyeing[2557] wool,

and is employed for the cure of erysipelas, tumours, all kinds of

abscesses, and burns. The juice of it, taken in doses of one cyathus

with white lead, is a cure for inflamed tumours, incipient swellings

of the throat, and inveterate coughs.[2558] It is good, too, for all

maladies of the humid parts of the body, the tonsillary glands, for

instance; and, in combination with rose oil, it is useful for varicose

veins. It is employed topically for the gout, with goat suet and

Cyprian wax.

CHAP. 20.—THE PERDICIUM, PARTHENIUM, URCEOLARIS, OR ASTERCUM: ELEVEN

REMEDIES.

The perdicium or parthenium[2559]—for[2560] the sideritis is, in

reality, a different plant—is known to the people of our country as

the herb urceolaris,[2561] and to some persons as the “astercum.” The

leaf of it is similar to that of ocimum, but darker, and it is found

growing on tiled roofs and walls. Beaten up with a sprinkling of

salt, it has all the medicinal properties of the lamium,[2562] and is

used in a similar manner. The juice of it, taken warm, is good, too,

for suppurated abscesses; but for the cure of convulsions, ruptures,

bruises, and the effects of falls from a height, or of the overturning

of vehicles, it is possessed of singular virtues.

A slave, who was held in high esteem by Pericles,[2563] the ruler of

the Athenians, being engaged upon the buildings of a temple in the

citadel, while creeping along the top of the roof, happened to fall;

from the effects of which he was relieved, it is said, by this plant,

the virtues whereof had been disclosed to Pericles by Minerva in a

dream. Hence it is that it was first called “parthenium,”[2564] and was

consecrated to that goddess. It is this slave of whom there is a famous

statue in molten bronze, well known as the Splanchnoptes.[2565]

CHAP. 21. (18.)—THE CHAMÆLEON, IXIAS, ULOPHONON, OR CYNOZOLON; TWO

VARIETIES OF IT: TWELVE REMEDIES.

The chamæleon[2566] is spoken of as the “ixias,” by some authors. There

are two species of this plant; the white kind has a rougher leaf than

the other, and creeps along the ground, erecting its prickles like the

quills of a hedgehog; the root of it is sweet, and the odour very

powerful. In some places it secretes, just as they say incense[2567] is

produced, a white viscous substance beneath the axils of the leaves,

about the rising of the Dog-star more particularly. To this viscous

nature it owes its name of “ixias;”[2568] females[2569] make use of it

as a substitute for mastich. As to its name of “chamæleon,”[2570] that

is given to it from the varying tints of the leaves; for it changes its

colours, in fact, just according to the soil, being black in one place,

green in another, blue in a third, yellow elsewhere, and of various

other colours as well.

A decoction of the root of the white chamæleon is employed for the

cure[2571] of dropsy, being taken in doses of one drachma in raisin

wine. This decoction, taken in doses of one acetabulum, in astringent

wine, with some sprigs of origanum in it, has the effect of expelling

intestinal worms: it is good, too, as a diuretic. Mixed with polenta,

the juice of it will kill dogs and swine; with the addition of water

and oil, it will attract mice to it and destroy[2572] them, unless

they immediately drink water to counteract its effects. Some persons

recommend the root of it to be kept, cut in small pieces, and suspended

from the ceiling; when wanted, it must be boiled and taken with the

food, for the cure of those fluxes to which the Greeks have given the

name of “rheumatismi.”[2573]

In reference to the dark kind, some writers say that the one which

bears a purple flower is the male, and that with a violet flower, the

female. They grow together, upon a stem, a cubit in length, and a

finger in thickness. The root of these plants, boiled with sulphur and

bitumen, is employed for the cure of lichens; and they are chewed, or

a decoction of them made in vinegar, to fasten loose teeth. The juice

of them is employed for the cure of scab in animals, and it has the

property of killing ticks upon dogs. Upon steers it takes effect like

a sort of quinsy; from which circumstance it has received the name of

“ulophonon”[2574] from some, as also that of cynozolon[2575] from its

offensive smell. These plants produce also a viscus, which is a most

excellent remedy for ulcers. The roots of all the different kinds are

an antidote to the sting of the scorpion.

CHAP. 22. (19.)—THE CORONOPUS.

The coronopus[2576] is an elongated plant, with fissures in the leaves.

It is sometimes cultivated, as the root, roasted in hot ashes, is found

to be an excellent remedy for cœliac complaints.

CHAP. 23. (20.)—THE ANCHUSA: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.

The root of the anchusa,[2577] too, is made use of, a plant a finger in

thickness. It is split into leaves like the papyrus, and when touched

it stains the hands the colour of blood; it is used for imparting rich

colours to wool. Applied with cerate it heals ulcerous sores, those of

aged people in particular: it is employed also for the cure of burns.

It is insoluble in water, but dissolves in oil, this being, in fact,

the test of its genuineness. It is administered also, in doses of one

drachma, in wine, for nephretic pains, or else, if there is fever, in a

decoction of balanus;[2578] it is employed in a similar manner, also,

for affections of the liver and spleen, and for enlarged secretions of

the bile. Applied with vinegar, it is used for the cure of leprosy and

the removal of freckles. The leaves, beaten up with honey and meal, are

applied topically for sprains; and taken in honied wine, in doses of

two drachmæ, they arrest looseness of the bowels.[2579] A decoction of

the root in water, it is said, kills fleas.

CHAP. 24.—THE PSEUDOANCHUSA, ECHIS, OR DORIS: THREE REMEDIES.

There is another plant, similar to the preceding one, and hence

known as the “pseudoanchusa,”[2580] though by some it is called

“echis,”[2581] or “doris,” as well as by many other names. It is more

downy than the other plant, however, and not so substantial; the

leaves, too, are thinner, and more drooping. The root of it, treated

with oil, does not give out any red juice, a sign by which it is

distinguished from the genuine anchusa. The leaves of this plant, or

the seed, taken in drink, are extremely efficacious for the stings of

serpents; the leaves, too, are applied topically to the wound; and the

powerful smell of them will keep serpents at a distance. A preparation

of this plant is taken, also, as a potion, for affections of the

vertebræ. The Magi recommend that the leaves of it should be plucked

with the left hand, it being mentioned at the same time for whom they

are being gathered: after which, they are to be worn as an amulet,

attached to the person, for the cure of tertian fevers.[2582]

CHAP. 25. (21.)—THE ONOCHILON, ARCHEBION, ONOCHELIS, RHEXIA, OR

ENCHRYSA: THIRTY REMEDIES.

There is another plant, too, the proper name of which is

“onochilon,”[2583] but which some people call “anchusa,” others

“archebion,” and others, again, “onochelis,” or “rhexia,” and, more

universally, “enchrysa.” This plant has a diminutive stem, a purple

flower, rough leaves and branches, and a root the colour of blood

at harvest-time, though dark and swarthy at other times. It grows

in sandy soils, and is extremely efficacious for the stings of

serpents, vipers in particular, the roots or leaves of it being taken

indifferently with the food, or in the drink. It developes its virtues

at harvest-time, more especially: the leaves of it, when bruised, have

just the smell of a cucumber. This plant is prescribed, in doses of

three cyathi, for prolapsus of the uterus, and, taken with hyssop, it

expels tape-worms. For pains in the liver or kidneys, it is taken in

hydromel, if the patient shows symptoms of fever, but if not, in wine.

With the root of it a liniment is made, for the removal of freckles

and leprous sores; and it is asserted that persons who carry this root

about them will never be attacked by serpents.

There is another[2584] plant, again, very similar to this, with a red

flower, and somewhat smaller. It is applied to the same uses as the

other; it is asserted, too, that if it is chewed, and then spit out

upon a serpent, it will cause its instantaneous death.

CHAP. 26.—THE ANTHEMIS, LEUCANTHEMIS, LEUCANTHEMUM, CHAMÆMELUM, OR

MELANTHIUM; THREE VARIETIES OF IT: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

The anthemis has been highly extolled by Asclepiades. Some persons

call it “leucanthemis,”[2585] some leucanthemum, others, again,

“eranthemis,”[2586] from its flowering in spring, and others

“chamæmelon,”[2587] because it has a smell like that of an apple:

sometimes, too, it is called “melanthion.”[2588] There are three

varieties of this plant, which only differ from one another in the

flower; they do not exceed a palm in height, and they bear small

blossoms like those of rue, white, yellow,[2589] or purple.

This plant is mostly found in thin, poor soils, or growing near

foot-paths. It is usually gathered in spring, and put by for the

purpose of making chaplets. At the same season, too, medical men

pound the leaves, and make them up into lozenges, the same being done

with the flowers also, and the root. All the parts of this plant are

administered together, in doses of one drachma, for the stings of

serpents of all kinds. Taken in drink, too, they bring away the dead

fœtus, act as an emmenagogue and diuretic, and disperse calculi of the

bladder. The anthemis is employed, also, for the cure of flatulency,

affections of the liver, excessive secretions of the bile, and fistulas

of the eye; chewed, it heals running sores. Of all the different

varieties, the one that is most efficacious for the treatment of

calculi is that with the purple flower,[2590] the leaves and stem[2591]

of which are somewhat larger than those of the other kinds. Some

persons, and with strict propriety, give to this last the name of

“eranthemis.”

CHAP. 27.—THE LOTUS PLANT: FOUR REMEDIES.

Those who think that the lotus is nothing but a tree only, can easily

be refuted, if upon the authority of Homer[2592] only; for that poet

names the lotus first of all among the herbs which grow to administer

to the pleasures of the gods. The leaves of this plant,[2593] mixed

with honey, disperse the marks of sores, argema,[2594] and films upon

the eyes.

CHAP. 28.—THE LOTOMETRA: TWO REMEDIES.

The lotometra[2595] is a cultivated lotus; with the seed of it, which

resembles millet, the shepherds in Egypt make a coarse bread, which

they mostly knead with water or milk. It is said, however, that there

is nothing lighter or more wholesome than this bread, so long as it

is eaten warm; but that when it gets cold, it becomes heavy and more

difficult of digestion. It is a well-known fact, that persons who use

it as a diet are never attacked by dysentery, tenesmus, or other

affections of the bowels; hence it is, that this plant is reckoned

among the remedies for that class of diseases.

CHAP. 29.—THE HELIOTROPIUM, HELIOSCOPIUM, OR VERRUCARIA: TWELVE

REMEDIES. THE HELIOTROPIUM, TRICOCCUM, OR SCORPIURON: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.

We have spoken more than once[2596] of the marvels of the heliotropium,

which turns[2597] with the sun, in cloudy weather even, so great is its

sympathy with that luminary. At night, as though in regret, it closes

its blue flower.

There are two species of heliotropium, the tricoccum[2598] and the

helioscopium,[2599] the latter being the taller of the two, though they

neither of them exceed half[2600] a foot in height. The helioscopium

throws out branches from the root, and the seed of it, enclosed in

follicules,[2601] is gathered at harvest-time. It grows nowhere

but in a rich soil, a highly-cultivated one more particularly; the

tricoccum, on the other hand, is to be found growing everywhere.

I find it stated, that the helioscopium, boiled, is considered an

agreeable food, and that taken in milk, it is gently laxative[2602] to

the bowels; while, again, a decoction of it, taken as a potion, acts

as a most effectual purgative. The juice of this plant is collected

in summer, at the sixth[2603] hour of the day; it is usually mixed

with wine, which makes[2604] it keep all the better. Combined with

rose-oil, it alleviates head-ache. The juice extracted from the leaves,

combined with salt, removes warts; from which circumstance our people

have given this plant the name of “verrucaria,”[2605] although, from

its various properties, it fully merits a better name. For, taken

in wine or hydromel, it is an antidote to the venom of serpents and

scorpions,[2606] as Apollophanes and Apollodorus state. The leaves,

too, employed topically, are a cure for the cerebral affections of

infants, known as “siriasis,”[2607] as also for convulsions, even when

they are epileptic. It is very wholesome, too, to gargle the mouth

with a decoction of this plant. Taken in drink, it expels tapeworm and

gravel, and, with the addition of cummin, it will disperse calculi. A

decoction of the plant with the root, mixed with the leaves and some

suet of a he-goat, is applied topically for the cure of gout.

The other kind, which we have spoken[2608] of as being called the

“tricoccum,” and which also bears the name of “scorpiuron,”[2609]

has leaves that are not only smaller than those of the other kind,

but droop downwards towards the ground: the seed of it resembles a

scorpion’s tail, to which, in fact, it owes its latter appellation. It

is of great efficacy for injuries received from all kinds of venomous

insects and the spider known as the “phalangium,” but more particularly

for the stings of scorpions, if applied topically.[2610] Those who

carry it about their person are never stung by a scorpion, and it is

said that if a circle is traced on the ground around a scorpion with

a sprig of this plant, the animal will never move out of it, and that

if a scorpion is covered with it, or even sprinkled with the water

in which it has been steeped, it will die that instant. Four grains

of the seed, taken in drink, are said to be a cure for the quartan

fever, and three for the tertian; a similar effect being produced by

carrying the plant three times round the patient, and then laying it

under his head. The seed, too, acts as an aphrodisiac, and, applied

with honey, it disperses inflamed tumours. This kind of heliotropium,

as well as the other, extracts warts radically,[2611] and excrescences

of the anus. Applied topically, the seed draws off corrupt blood from

the vertebræ and loins; and a similar effect is produced by taking

a decoction of it in chicken broth, or with beet and lentils. The

husks[2612] of the seed restore the natural colour to lividities of the

skin. According to the Magi, the patient himself should make four knots

in the heliotropium for a quartan, and three for a tertian fever, at

the same time offering a prayer that he may recover to untie them, the

plant being left in the ground meanwhile.

CHAP. 30.—THE ADIANTUM, CALLITRICHOS, TRICHOMANES, POLYTRICHOS, OR

SAXIFRAGUM; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: TWENTY-EIGHT REMEDIES.

Equally marvellous, too, in other respects, is the adiantum;[2613] it

is green in summer, never dies in the winter, manifests an aversion

to water, and, when sprinkled with water or dipped in it, has all the

appearance of having been dried, so great is its antipathy to moisture;

a circumstance to which it owes the name of “adiantum,”[2614] given

to it by the Greeks. In other respects, it is a shrub which might be

well employed in ornamental gardening.[2615] Some persons give it the

name of “callitrichos,”[2616] and others of “polytrichos,” both of

them bearing reference to its property of imparting colour to the hair.

For this purpose, a decoction of it is made in wine with parsley-seed,

large quantities of oil being added, if it is desired to make the hair

thick and curly as well: it has also the property of preventing the

hair from coming off.

There are two kinds of this plant, one being whiter than the other,

which last is swarthy and more stunted. It is the larger kind that is

known as the “polytrichos,” or, as some call it, the “trichomanes.”

Both plants have tiny branches of a bright black colour, and leaves

like those of fern, the lower ones being rough and tawny, and all

of them lying close together and attached to footstalks arranged on

either side of the stem: of root, so to say, there is nothing.[2617]

This plant frequents umbrageous rocks, walls sprinkled with the spray

of running water, grottoes of fountains more particularly, and crags

surrounded with streamlets, a fact that is all the more remarkable in a

plant which derives no benefit from water.

The adiantum is of singular efficacy in expelling and breaking calculi

of the bladder, the dark kind in particular; and it is for this reason,

in my opinion, rather than because it grows upon stones, that it has

received from the people of our country its name of “saxifragum.”[2618]

It is taken in wine, the usual dose being a pinch of it in three

fingers. Both these plants are diuretics, and act as an antidote to

the venom of serpents and spiders: a decoction of them in wine arrests

looseness of the bowels. A wreath of them, worn on the head, alleviates

head-ache. For the bite of the scolopendra they are applied topically,

but they must be removed every now and then, to prevent them from

cauterizing the flesh:[2619] they are employed in a similar manner also

for alopecy.[2620] They disperse scrofulous sores, scurf on the face,

and running ulcers of the head. A decoction of them is useful also for

asthma, affections of the liver and spleen, enlarged secretions of the

gall, and dropsy. In combination with wormwood, they form a liniment

for strangury and affections of the kidneys; they have the effect also

of bringing away the after-birth, and act as an emmenagogue. Taken

with vinegar or juice of bramble-berries, they arrest hæmorrhage.

Combined with rose-oil they are employed as a liniment for excoriations

on infants, the parts affected being first fomented with wine. The

leaves, steeped in the urine of a youth who has not arrived at puberty,

and beaten up with saltpetre, compose a liniment which, it is said,

prevents wrinkles from forming on the abdomen in females. It is a

general belief that partridges and cocks are rendered more pugnacious

if this plant is mixed with their food; and it is looked upon as

particularly beneficial for cattle.

CHAP. 31. (22.)—THE PICRIS; ONE REMEDY. THE THESION; ONE REMEDY.

The picris[2621] derives its name from its intense bitterness, as we

have previously stated. The leaf of it is round; it is remarkably

efficacious for the removal of warts.

The thesium,[2622] too, has a bitterness not unlike it: it is a

powerful purgative, for which purpose it is employed bruised in water.

CHAP. 32.—THE ASPHODEL; FIFTY-ONE REMEDIES.

The asphodel[2623] is one of the most celebrated of all the plants,

so much so, indeed, that by some persons it has been called

“heroum.”[2624] Hesiod has mentioned the fact of its growing in

rivers, and Dionysius distinguishes it into male and female.[2625]

It has been observed that the bulbs of it, boiled with a ptisan,

are remarkably good for consumption and phthisis,[2626] and that

bread in which they have been kneaded up with the meal, is extremely

wholesome. Nicander[2627] recommends also, for the stings of serpents

and scorpions, either the stalk, which we have already[2628] spoken

of under the name of “anthericus,” or else the seed or bulbs, to be

taken in wine, in doses of three drachmæ; and he says that these

should be strewed beneath the bed, if there is any apprehension of

their presence. The asphodel is prescribed also for wounds inflicted

by marine animals of a venomous nature, and the bite of the land

scolopendra. It is quite wonderful how the snails, in Campania, seek

the stalk of this plant, and dry it by extracting the inside. The

leaves, too, are applied with wine to wounds made by venomous animals,

and the bulbs are beaten up with polenta and similarly used for

affections of the sinews and joints. It is also a very good plan to rub

lichens with them chopped up and mixed with vinegar, and to apply them

in water to putrid sores, as also to inflammations of the testes or

mamillæ. Boiled in lees of wine, and applied in a linen pledget, they

are used for the cure of defluxions of the eyes.

Whatever the malady may happen to be, it is generally in a boiled[2629]

state that the bulbs are employed; but for foul ulcers of the legs

and for chaps upon any part of the body, they are dried and reduced

to powder. The bulbs are usually gathered in autumn,[2630] a period

when their medicinal properties are most fully developed. The juice

extracted from them pounded, or else a decoction of them, is good,

mixed with honey, for pains in the body: it is employed also with

dried iris and a little salt by those who wish to impart an agreeable

odour to the person. The leaves are used for the cure of the various

maladies above mentioned, as also, boiled in wine, for scrofulous

sores, inflamed tumours, and ulcers of the face. The ashes of the root

are a remedy for alopecy and chaps on the feet; and an extract of the

root, boiled in oil, is good for burns and chilblains. It is injected

also into the ears for deafness, and, for tooth-ache, it is poured into

the ear opposite to the part affected. A moderate dose of the root,

taken in drink, acts as a diuretic and emmenagogue; it is good also

for pains in the sides, ruptures, convulsions, and coughs, in doses of

one drachma, taken in wine. Chewed, the root promotes vomiting, but the

seed, taken internally, disorders the bowels.

Chrysermus used to employ a decoction of the root, in wine, for

imposthumes of the parotid glands; and he has prescribed it, in

combination with cachrys,[2631] in wine, for the cure of scrofulous

sores. Some persons say that if, after applying the root to the sores,

a part of it is hung up in the smoke to dry, and not taken down till

the end of four days, the sores will gradually dry up with this portion

of the root. Sophocles[2632] used to employ it both ways, boiled and

raw, for the cure of gout; and he prescribes it, boiled in oil, for

chilblains, and, in vinegar, for jaundice and dropsy. It has been

stated, also, that, used as a friction with wine and honey, or taken

in drink, it acts as an aphrodisiac. Xenocrates assures us, too, that

a decoction of the root in vinegar removes lichens, itch-scabs, and

leprous sores; and that a decoction of it, with henbane and tar, has a

similar effect, and is good also for the removal of bad odours[2633]

of the armpits and thighs: he states, also, that if the head is well

rubbed with the root, being first shaved, the hair will curl all the

better for it. Simus prescribes a decoction of it, in wine, to be

taken for calculi in the kidneys; and Hippocrates recommends the seed

for obstructions of the spleen. The root, or else a decoction of it,

applied topically, restores the hair in beasts of burden, where it has

been lost by ulcerations or scab. It has the effect, too, of driving

away rats and mice, and of exterminating them, if placed before their

holes.

CHAP. 33.—THE HALIMON: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.

Some authors have thought that it is the asphodel that is called

“halimon” by Hesiod, an opinion which appears to me ill-founded;

halimon[2634] being the name of a distinct plant, which has been the

occasion of no few mistakes committed by writers. According to some,

it is a tufted shrub, white, destitute of thorns, and with leaves

like those of the olive, only softer; which eaten boiled, are an

agreeable food. The root, they say, taken in doses of one drachma in

hydromel, allays gripings of the bowels, and is a cure for ruptures

and convulsions. Others, again, pronounce it to be a vegetable growing

near the sea-shore,[2635] of a salt taste—to which, in fact, it owes

its name—with leaves somewhat round but elongated, and much esteemed as

an article of food. They say, too, that there are two species of it,

the wild and the cultivated,[2636] and that, mixed with bread, they

are good, both of them, for dysentery, even if ulceration should have

supervened, and are useful for stomachic affections, in combination

with vinegar. They state, also, that this plant is applied raw to

ulcers of long standing, and that it modifies the inflammation of

recent wounds, and the pain attendant upon sprains of the feet and

affections of the bladder. The wild halimon, they tell us, has thinner

leaves than the other, but is more effectual as a medicament in all the

above cases, as also for the cure of itch, whether in man or beast.

The root, too, according to them, employed as a friction, renders the

skin more clear, and the teeth whiter; and they assert that if the seed

of it is put beneath the tongue, no thirst will be experienced. They

state, also, that this kind is eaten as well as the other, and that

they are, both of them, preserved.

Crateuas has spoken of a third[2637] kind also, with longer leaves than

the others, and more hairy: it has the smell of the cypress, he says,

and grows beneath the ivy more particularly. He states that this plant

is extremely good for opisthotony and contractions of the sinews, taken

in doses of three oboli to one sextarius of water.

CHAP. 34.—THE ACANTHUS, PÆDEROS, OR MELAMPHYLLOS: FIVE REMEDIES.

The acanthus[2638] is a plant that grows in cities, and is used in

ornamental gardening. It has a broad, long leaf, and is used as

a covering for the margins of ornamental waters and of parterres

in gardens.[2639] There are two varieties of it; the one that is

thorny[2640] and crisped is the shorter of the two; the other, which

is smooth,[2641] is by some persons called “pæderos,”[2642] and by

others “melamphyllos.”[2643] The root of this last is remarkably

good for burns and sprains; and, boiled with the food, a ptisan more

particularly, it is equally good for ruptures, spasms, and patients who

are in apprehension of phthisis. The root is also beaten up and applied

warm for hot gout.

CHAP. 35.—THE BUPLEURON: FIVE REMEDIES.

The bupleuron[2644] is reckoned by the Greeks in the number of the

leguminous plants which grow spontaneously. The stem of it is a cubit

in height, the leaves are long and numerous, and the head resembles

that of dill. It has been extolled as an aliment by Hippocrates, and

for its medicinal properties by Glaucon and Nicander. The seed of

it is good for the stings of serpents; and the leaves, or else the

juice, applied as a liniment with wine, bring away the after-birth.

The leaves, also, in combination with salt and wine, are applied to

scrofulous sores. The root is prescribed in wine for the stings of

serpents, and as a diuretic.

CHAP. 36.—THE BUPRESTIS: ONE REMEDY.

With a remarkable degree of inconsistency, the Greek writers, while

praising the buprestis[2645] as an aliment, point out certain

antidotes[2646] to it, as though it were a poison. The very name,

however, proves to a certainty that it is poisonous to cattle, and it

is generally admitted that, on tasting it, they burst[2647] asunder: we

shall, therefore, say no more about it. Is there any reason, in fact,

why, when we are speaking of the materials employed in making our grass

crowns, we should describe a poison? or really ought we to enlarge upon

it only to please the libidinous fancies of those who imagine that

there is not a more powerful aphrodisiac in existence than this, when

taken in drink?

CHAP. 37.—THE ELAPHOBOSCON: NINE REMEDIES.

The elaphoboscon[2648] is a ferulaceous plant, articulated, and about

a finger in thickness. The seed of it is like that of dill, hanging in

umbels resembling those of hart-wort in appearance, but not bitter.

The leaves are very like those of olusatrum.[2649] This plant, too, is

highly spoken of as an article of food; in addition to which, it is

preserved and kept as a diuretic[2650] and for the purpose of assuaging

pains in the sides, curing ruptures and convulsions, and dispelling

flatulency and colic. It is used, too, for the cure of wounds

inflicted by serpents and all kinds of animals that sting; so much

so, indeed, that, as the story goes, stags, by eating of it, fortify

themselves against the attacks of serpents. The root, too, applied

topically, with the addition of nitre, is a cure for fistula, but, when

wanted for this purpose, it must be dried first, so as to retain none

of the juice; though, on the other hand, this juice does not at all

impair its efficacy as an antidote to the poison of serpents.

CHAP. 38.—THE SCANDIX: NINE REMEDIES. THE ANTHRISCUM: TWO REMEDIES.

The scandix,[2651] too, is reckoned by the Greeks in the number of the

wild vegetables, as we learn from Opion and Erasistratus. Boiled, it

arrests[2652] looseness of the bowels; and the seed of it, administered

with vinegar, immediately stops hiccup. It is employed topically for

burns, and acts as a diuretic; a decoction of it is good, too, for

affections of the stomach, liver, kidneys, and bladder. It is this

plant that furnished Aristophanes with his joke[2653] against the poet

Euripides, that his mother used to sell not real vegetables, but only

scandix.

The anthriscum[2654] would be exactly the same plant as the scandix, if

its leaves were somewhat thinner and more odoriferous. Its principal

virtue is that it reinvigorates the body when exhausted by sexual

excesses, and acts as a stimulant upon the enfeebled powers of old age.

It arrests leucorrhœa in females.

CHAP. 39.—THE IASIONE: FOUR REMEDIES.

The iasione,[2655] which is also looked upon as a wild vegetable, is a

creeping plant, full of a milky juice: it bears a white flower, the

name given to which is “concilium.” The chief recommendation of this

plant, too, is that it acts as an aphrodisiac. Eaten with the food,

raw, in vinegar, it promotes the secretion of the milk in nursing

women. It is salutary also for patients who are apprehensive of

phthisis; and, applied to the head of infants, it makes the hair grow,

and renders the scalp more firm.

CHAP. 40.—THE CAUCALIS: TWELVE REMEDIES.

The caucalis,[2656] too, is an edible plant. It resembles fennel in

appearance, and has a short stem with a white flower;[2657] it is

usually considered a good cordial.[2658] The juice, too, of this plant

is taken as a potion, being particularly recommended as a stomachic,

a diuretic, an expellent of calculi and gravel, and for the cure of

irritations of the bladder. It has the effect, also, of attenuating

morbid secretions[2659] of the spleen, liver, and kidneys. The seed of

it acts as an emmenagogue, and dispels the bilious secretions after

child-birth: it is prescribed also, for males, in cases of seminal

weakness. Chrysippus is of opinion that this plant promotes conception;

for which purpose it is taken by women in wine, fasting. It is employed

in the form of a liniment, for wounds inflicted by marine animals of

a venomous nature, at least we find it so stated by Petrichus in his

poem.[2660]

CHAP. 41.—THE SIUM: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

Among these plants there is reckoned also the sium:[2661] it grows in

the water, has a leaf broader than that of parsley, thicker, and of a

more swarthy colour, bears a considerable quantity of seed, and has the

taste of nasturtium. It is an active diuretic, is very good for the

kidneys and spleen, and acts as an emmenagogue, either eaten by itself

as an aliment,[2662] or taken in the form of a decoction; the seed of

it is taken in wine, in doses of two drachmæ. It disperses calculi in

the bladder, and neutralizes the action of water which tends to their

formation. Used in the form of an injection, it is good for dysentery,

and applied topically, for the removal of freckles. It is applied by

females, at night, for the removal of spots on the face, a result which

it produces almost instantaneously. It has the effect also of assuaging

hernia, and is good for the scab in horses.

CHAP. 42.—THE SILLYBUM.

The sillybum[2663] resembles the white chamæleon, and is a plant quite

as prickly. In Cilicia, Syria, and Phœnicia, the countries where it

grows, it is not thought worth while to boil it, the cooking of it

being so extremely troublesome, it is said. It is of no use whatever in

medicine.

CHAP. 43.—THE SCOLYMOS OR LIMONIA: FIVE REMEDIES.

The scolymos,[2664] too, is used as an aliment[2665] in the East, where

it has also the name of “limonia.”[2666] This is a shrub-like plant,

which never exceeds a cubit in height, with tufted leaves and a black

root, but sweet. Eratosthenes speaks highly of it as a diet used by

the poor. It is said to possess diuretic properties in a very high

degree, and to heal lichens and leprous sores, applied with vinegar.

Taken in wine it acts as an aphrodisiac, according to the testimony

of Hesiod[2667] and Alcæus; who have stated in their writings, that

while it is in blossom, the song of the grasshopper is louder than at

other times, women more inflamed with desire, and men less inclined

to amorous intercourse; and that it is by a kind of foresight on the

part of Nature that this powerful stimulant is then in its greatest

perfection. The root, too, used without the pith, corrects the noisome

odour of the armpits, in doses of one ounce to two heminæ of Falernian

wine; the mixture being boiled down to one third, and taken fasting

after the bath, as also after meals, a cyathus at a time. It is a

remarkable thing, but Xenocrates assures us that he has ascertained it

experimentally, that these bad odours are carried off by the urine.

CHAP. 44.—THE SONCHOS; TWO VARIETIES: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

The sonchos,[2668] too, is edible—at least, it was this that, according

to Callimachus, Hecale[2669] set before Theseus. There are two kinds,

the white[2670] and the black:[2671] they are, both of them, similar

to the lettuce, except that they are prickly, with a stem a cubit in

height, angular, and hollow within; when broken, the stem gives out

an abundance of milky juice. The white kind, which derives its colour

from the milk it contains, is good for hardness of breathing, if eaten

dressed with seasoning like the lettuce. Erasistratus says that it

carries off calculi by the urine, and that, chewed, it is a corrective

of bad breath. The juice of it, taken warm in doses of three cyathi,

with white wine and oil, facilitates delivery, but the patient must be

careful to walk about immediately after drinking it: it is also given

in broth.

A decoction of the stalk renders the milk more abundant in nursing

women, and improves the complexion of the infants suckled by them; it

is also remarkably beneficial for females when the milk coagulates. The

juice of it is used as an injection for the ears, and is taken warm in

doses of one cyathus, for strangury, as also for gnawing pains of the

stomach, with cucumber seed and pine nuts. It is employed topically

for abscesses of the rectum, and is taken in drink for the stings of

serpents and scorpions, the root also being applied to the wounds. The

root, boiled in oil, with the rind of a pomegranate, is a remedy for

diseases of the ears—all these remedies, however, be it remembered, are

derived from the white kind.

As to the black sonchos, Cleemporus forbids it to be eaten, as being

productive of diseases, but at the same time he approves of the use

of the white. Agathocles, however, goes so far as to assert that the

juice of the black kind is an antidote for poisoning by bulls’ blood;

and, indeed, it is generally agreed that the black sonchos has certain

refreshing properties; for which reason cataplasms of it may be

advantageously applied with polenta. Zeno recommends the root of the

white kind for strangury.

CHAP. 45.—THE CONDRION OR CHONDRYLLA: SIX REMEDIES.

The condrion,[2672] or chondrylla, has leaves, eaten away, as it were,

at the edges, and similar to those of endive, a stalk less than a foot

in length and full of a bitter juice, and a root resembling that of the

bean, and occasionally very ramified. It produces, near the surface

of the earth, a sort of mastich,[2673] in a tubercular form, the size

of a bean; this mastich, it is said, employed as a pessary, promotes

the menstrual discharge. This plant, pounded whole with the roots, is

divided into lozenges, which are employed for the stings of serpents,

and probably with good effect; for field mice, it is said, when injured

by those reptiles, are in the habit of eating this plant. A decoction

of it in wine arrests looseness of the bowels, and makes a most

excellent substitute for gum, as a bandoline for the eye-lashes,[2674]

even when the hairs are most stubborn. Dorotheus says, in his poems,

that it is extremely good for the stomach and the digestive organs.

Some persons, however, have been of opinion that it is unwholesome for

females, bad for the eyesight, and productive of impotence in the male

sex.

CHAP. 46.—MUSHROOMS: PECULIARITIES OF THEIR GROWTH.

Among those vegetable productions which are eaten with risk, I shall,

with good reason, include mushrooms;[2675] a very dainty food, it

is true, but deservedly held in disesteem since the notorious crime

committed by Agrippina, who, through their agency, poisoned her

husband, the Emperor Claudius, and at the same moment, in the person of

his son Nero, inflicted another poisonous curse upon the whole world,

herself[2676] in particular.

Some of the poisonous mushrooms are easily known, being of a rank,

unwholesome look, light red without and livid within, with the

clefts[2677] considerably enlarged, and a pale, sickly margin to the

head.[2678] These characteristics, however, are not presented by others

of the poisonous kinds; but being dry to all appearance and strongly

resembling the genuine ones, they present white spots upon the head,

on the surface of the outer coat. The earth, in fact, first produces

the uterus[2679] or receptacle for the mushroom, and then the mushroom

within, like the yolk in the egg. Nor is this envelope less conducive

to the nutrition of the young mushroom [than is the albumen of the

egg to that of the chicken.] Bursting forth from the envelope at the

moment of its first appearance, as it gradually increases it becomes

transformed into a substantial stalk; it is but very rarely, too, that

we find two growing from a single foot-stalk. The generative[2680]

principle of the mushroom is in the slime and the fermenting juices

of the damp earth, or of the roots of most of the glandiferous trees.

It appears at first in the shape of a sort of viscous foam, and then

assumes a more substantial but membranous form, after which, as already

stated, the young mushroom appears.

In general, these plants are of a pernicious nature, and the use

of them should be altogether rejected; for if by chance they should

happen to grow near a hob-nail,[2681] a piece of rusty iron, or a

bit of rotten cloth, they will immediately imbibe all these foreign

emanations and flavours, and transform them into poison. Who, in fact,

is able to distinguish them, except those who dwell in the country, or

the persons[2682] that are in the habit of gathering them? There are

other circumstances, too, which render them noxious; if they grow near

the hole of a serpent,[2683] for instance, or if they should happen to

have been breathed upon by one when just beginning to open; being all

the more disposed to imbibe the venom from their natural affinity to

poisonous substances.

It will therefore be as well to be on our guard during the season at

which the serpents have not as yet retired to their holes for the

winter. The best sign to know this by is a multitude of herbs, of

trees, and of shrubs, which remain green from the time that these

reptiles leave their holes till their return; indeed, the ash alone

will be quite sufficient for the purpose, the leaves of it never coming

out after the serpents have made their appearance, or beginning to

fall before they have retired to their holes. The entire existence of

the mushroom, from its birth to its death, is never more than seven

days.[2684]

CHAP. 47. (23.)—FUNGI; SIGNS BY WHICH THE VENOMOUS KINDS MAY BE

RECOGNIZED: NINE REMEDIES.

Fungi are of a more humid nature than the last, and are divided into

numerous kinds, all of which are derived solely from the pituitous

humours[2685] of trees. The safest are those, the flesh of which is

red,[2686] the colour being more pronounced than that of the mushroom.

The next best are the white[2687] ones, the stems of which have a head

very similar to the apex[2688] worn by the Flamens; and a third kind

are the suilli,[2689] very conveniently adapted for poisoning. Indeed,

it is but very recently that they have carried off whole families, and

all the guests at a banquet; Annæus Serenus,[2690] for instance, the

prefect of Nero’s guard, together with all the tribunes and centurions.

What great pleasure, then, can there be in partaking of a dish of so

doubtful[2691] a character as this? Some persons have classified these

fungi according to the trees to which they are indebted for their

formation, the fig, for instance, the fennel-giant, and the gummiferous

trees; those belonging to the beech, the robur, and the cypress, not

being edible, as already mentioned.[2692] But who is there to give us a

guarantee when they come to market, that these distinctions have been

observed?

All the poisonous fungi are of a livid colour; and the degree of

similarity borne by the sap of the tree itself to that of the fig will

afford an additional indication whether they are venomous or not. We

have already mentioned[2693] various remedies for the poison of fungi,

and shall have occasion to make mention of others; but in the mean

time, it will be as well to observe that they themselves also have some

medicinal[2694] uses. Glaucias is of opinion that mushrooms are good

for the stomach. The suilli are dried and strung upon a rush, as we see

done with those brought from Bithynia. They are employed as a remedy

for the fluxes known as “rheumatismi,”[2695] and for excrescences of

the fundament, which they diminish and gradually consume. They are

used, also, for freckles and spots on women’s faces. A wash, too, is

made of them, as is done with lead,[2696] for maladies of the eyes.

Steeped in water, they are applied topically to foul ulcers, eruptions

of the head, and bites inflicted by dogs.

I would here also give some general directions for the cooking of

mushrooms, as this is the only article of food that the voluptuaries

of the present day are in the habit of dressing with their own

hands, and so feeding upon it in anticipation, being provided with

amber-handled[2697] knives and silver plates and dishes for the

purpose. Those fungi may be looked upon as bad which become hard in

cooking; while those, on the other hand, are comparatively innoxious,

which admit of being thoroughly boiled, with the addition of some

nitre. They will be all the safer if they are boiled with some meat or

the stalks of pears: it is a very good plan, too, to eat pears directly

after them. Vinegar, too, being of a nature diametrically opposed to

them, neutralizes[2698] their dangerous qualities.

CHAP. 48.—SILPHIUM: SEVEN REMEDIES.

All these productions owe their origin to rain,[2699] and by rain is

silphium produced. It originally came from Cyrenæ, as already[2700]

stated: at the present day, it is mostly imported from Syria, the

produce of which country, though better than that of Media, is inferior

to the Parthian kind. As already observed,[2701] the silphium of Cyrenæ

no longer exists. It is of considerable use in medicine, the leaves

of it being employed to purge the uterus, and as an expellent of the

dead fœtus; for which purposes a decoction of them is made in white

aromatic wine, and taken in doses of one acetabulum, immediately after

the bath. The root of it is good for irritations of the trachea, and

is employed topically for extravasated blood; but, used as an aliment,

it is difficult of digestion, being productive of flatulency and

eructations: it is injurious, also, to the urinary secretions. Combined

with wine and oil, it is extremely good for bruises, and, with wax, for

the cure of scrofulous sores. Repeated fumigations with the root cause

excrescences of the anus to subside.

CHAP. 49.—LASER: THIRTY-NINE REMEDIES.

Laser, a juice which distils from silphium, as we have already[2702]

stated, and reckoned among the most precious gifts presented to us by

Nature, is made use of in numerous medicinal preparations. Employed by

itself, it warms and revives persons benumbed with cold, and, taken

in drink, it alleviates affections of the sinews. It is given to

females in wine, and is used with soft wool as a pessary to promote

the menstrual discharge. Mixed with wax, it extracts corns on the

feet, after they have been first loosened with the knife: a piece of

it, the size of a chick-pea, melted in water, acts as a diuretic.

Andreas assures us that, taken in considerable doses even, it is never

productive of flatulency, and that it greatly promotes the digestion,

both in aged people and females; he says, too, that it is better used

in winter than in summer, and that even then, it is best suited for

those whose beverage is water: but due care must be taken that there is

no internal ulceration. Taken with the food, it is very refreshing for

patients just recovering from an illness; indeed, if it is used at the

proper time, it has all the virtues of a desiccatory,[2703] though it

is more wholesome for persons who are in the habit of using it than for

those who do not ordinarily employ it.

As to external maladies, the undoubted virtues of this medicament are

universally acknowledged: taken in drink, it has the effect, also,

of neutralizing the venom of serpents and of poisoned weapons, and,

applied with water, it is in general use for the cure of wounds. In

combination with oil, it is only used as a liniment for the stings

of scorpions, and with barley-meal or dried figs, for the cure of

ulcers that have not come to a head. It is applied topically, also, to

carbuncles, with rue or honey, or else by itself, with some viscous

substance to make it adhere; for the bites of dogs, also, it is

similarly employed. A decoction of it in vinegar, with pomegranate

rind, is used for excrescences[2704] of the fundament, and, mixed with

nitre, for the corns commonly known as “morticini.”[2705] In cases of

alopecy which have been first treated with nitre, it makes the hair

grow again, applied with wine and saffron, or else pepper or mouse-dung

and vinegar. For chilblains, fomentations are made of it with wine,

or liniments with oil; as also for callosities and indurations. For

corns on the feet, if pared first, it is particularly useful, as also

as a preservative against the effects of bad water, and of unhealthy

climates or weather. It is prescribed for cough, too, affections of

the uvula, jaundice of long standing, dropsy, and hoarseness, having

the effect of instantly clearing the throat and restoring the voice.

Diluted in oxycrate, and applied with a sponge, it assuages the pains

in gout.

It is given also in broth[2706] to patients suffering from pleurisy,

when about to take wine; and it is prescribed for convulsions and

opisthotony, in pills about as large as a chick-pea, coated with wax.

For quinsy, it is used as a gargle, and to patients troubled with

asthma or inveterate cough, it is given with leeks in vinegar; it is

prescribed, also, with vinegar, after drinking butter-milk.[2707] It

is recommended with wine for consumptive affections of the viscera

and epilepsy, and with hydromel for paralysis of the tongue; with a

decoction of honey, it forms a liniment for sciatica and lumbago.

For my own part, I should not recommend,[2708] what some authors

advise, to insert a pill of laser, covered with wax, in a hollow tooth,

for tooth-ache; being warned to the contrary by a remarkable case of

a man, who, after doing so, threw himself headlong from the top of a

house. Besides, it is a well-known fact, that if it is rubbed on the

muzzle of a bull, it irritates him to an extraordinary degree; and

that if it is mixed with wine, it will cause serpents to burst—those

reptiles being extremely fond of wine. In addition to this, I should

not advise any one to rub the gums with Attic honey, although that

practice is recommended by some.

It would be an endless task to enumerate all the uses to which laser is

put, in combination with other substances; and the more so, as it is

only our object to treat of simple remedies, it being these in which

Nature displays her resources. In the compound remedies, too, we often

find our judgment deceived, and quite at fault, from our comparative

inattention to the sympathy or antipathy which naturally exists between

the ingredients employed—on this subject, however, we shall have to

enlarge on a future occasion.[2709]

CHAP. 50. (24.)—PROPOLIS: FIVE REMEDIES.

Honey would be held in no less esteem than laser, were it not for

the fact that nearly every country produces it.[2710] Laser is the

production of Nature herself; but, for the formation of honey, she

has created an insect, as already described.[2711] The uses to which

honey is put are quite innumerable, if we only consider the vast number

of compositions in which it forms an ingredient. First of all, there

is the propolis,[2712] which we find in the hives, as already[2713]

mentioned. This substance has the property of extracting stings and

all foreign bodies from the flesh, dispersing tumours, ripening

indurations, allaying pains of the sinews, and cicatrizing ulcers of

the most obstinate nature.

As to honey itself, it is of so peculiar a nature, that it prevents

putrefaction[2714] from supervening, by reason of its sweetness

solely, and not any inherent acridity, its natural properties being

altogether different from those of salt. It is employed with the

greatest success for affections[2715] of the throat and tonsils, for

quinsy and all ailments of the mouth, as also in fever, when the

tongue is parched. Decoctions of it are used also for peripneumony

and pleurisy, for wounds inflicted by serpents, and for the poison of

fungi. For paralysis, it is prescribed in honied wine, though that

liquor also has its own peculiar virtues. Honey is used with rose-oil,

as an injection for the ears; it has the effect also of exterminating

nits and foul vermin of the head. It is the best plan always to skim it

before using it.

Still, however, honey has a tendency to inflate[2716] the stomach; it

increases the bilious secretions also, produces qualmishness, and,

according to some, if employed by itself, is injurious[2717] to the

sight: though, on the other hand, there are persons who recommend

ulcerations at the corners of the eyes to be touched with honey.

As to the elementary principles of honey, the different varieties of

it, the countries where it is found, and its characteristic features,

we have enlarged upon them on previous occasions: first,[2718] when

treating of the nature of bees, and secondly, when speaking[2719]

of that of flowers; the plan of this work compelling us to separate

subjects which ought properly to be united, if we would arrive at a

thorough knowledge of the operations of Nature.

CHAP. 51.—THE VARIOUS INFLUENCES OF DIFFERENT ALIMENTS UPON THE

DISPOSITION.

While speaking of the uses of honey, we ought also to treat of the

properties of hydromel.[2720] There are two kinds of hydromel, one

of which is prepared at the moment, and taken while fresh,[2721] the

other being kept to ripen. The first, which is made of skimmed honey,

is an extremely wholesome beverage for invalids who take nothing but

a light diet, such as strained alica for instance: it reinvigorates

the body, is soothing to the mouth and stomach, and by its refreshing

properties allays feverish heats. I find it stated,[2722] too, by some

authors, that to relax the bowels it should be taken cold, and that it

is particularly well-suited for persons of a chilly temperament, or of

a weak and pusillanimous[2723] constitution, such as the Greeks, for

instance, call “micropsychi.”

For there is a theory,[2724] remarkable for its extreme ingenuity,

first established by Plato, according to which the primary atoms of

bodies, as they happen to be smooth or rough, angular or round, are

more or less adapted to the various temperaments of individuals: and

hence it is, that the same substances are not universally sweet or

bitter to all. So, when affected with lassitude or thirst, we are more

prone to anger than at other times.[2725] These asperities, however, of

the disposition, or rather I should say of the mind,[2726] are capable

of being modified by the sweeter beverages; as they tend to lubricate

the passages for the respiration, and to mollify the channels, the work

of inhalation and exhalation being thereby unimpeded by any rigidities.

Every person must be sensible of this experimentally, in his own

case: there is no one in whom anger, affliction, sadness, and all the

emotions of the mind may not, in some degree, be modified by diet.

It will therefore be worth our while to observe what aliments they

are which exercise a physical effect, not only upon the body, but the

disposition as well.

CHAP. 52.—HYDROMEL: EIGHTEEN REMEDIES.

Hydromel is recommended, too, as very good for a cough: taken warm,

it promotes vomiting. With the addition of oil it counteracts the

poison of white lead;[2727] of henbane, also, and of the halicacabum,

as already stated,[2728] if taken in milk, asses’ milk in particular.

It is used as an injection for diseases of the ears, and in cases of

fistula of the generative organs. With crumb of bread it is applied as

a poultice to the uterus, as also to tumours suddenly formed, sprains,

and all affections which require soothing applications. The more recent

writers have condemned the use of fermented hydromel, as being not so

harmless as water, and less strengthening than wine. After it has been

kept a considerable time, it becomes transformed into a wine,[2729]

which, it is universally agreed, is extremely prejudicial to the

stomach, and injurious to the nerves.[2730]

CHAP. 53.—HONIED WINE: SIX REMEDIES.

As to honied[2731] wine, that is always the best which has been made

with old wine: honey, too, incorporates with it very readily, which is

never the case with sweet[2732] wine. When made with astringent wine,

it does not clog the stomach, nor has it that effect when the honey

has been boiled: in this last case, too, it causes less flatulency,

an inconvenience generally incidental to this beverage. It acts as

a stimulant also upon a failing appetite; taken cold it relaxes the

bowels, but used warm it acts astringently, in most cases, at least.

It has a tendency also to make flesh. Many persons have attained an

extreme old age, by taking bread soaked in honied wine, and no other

diet—the famous instance of Pollio Romilius, for example. This man was

more than one hundred years old when the late Emperor Augustus, who

was then his host,[2733] asked him by what means in particular he had

retained such remarkable vigour of mind and body.—“Honied wine within,

oil without,”[2734] was his answer. According to Varro, the jaundice

has the name of “royal disease”[2735] given to it, because its cure is

effected with honied wine.[2736]

CHAP. 54.—MELITITES: THREE REMEDIES.

We have already described how melitites[2737] is prepared, of must and

honey, when speaking on the subject of wines. It is, I think, some

ages, however, since this kind of beverage was made, so extremely

productive as it was found to be of flatulency. It used, however, to

be given in fever, to relieve inveterate costiveness of the bowels, as

also for gout and affections of the sinews. It was prescribed also for

females who were not in the habit of taking wine.

CHAP. 55.—WAX: EIGHT REMEDIES.

To an account of honey, that of wax is naturally appended, of the

origin, qualities, and different kinds of which, we have previously

made mention[2738] on the appropriate occasions. Every kind of wax is

emollient and warming, and tends to the formation of new flesh; fresh

wax is, however, the best. It is given in broth to persons troubled

with dysentery, and the combs themselves are sometimes used in a

pottage made of parched alica. Wax counteracts the bad effects[2739] of

milk; and ten pills of wax, the size of a grain of millet, will prevent

milk from coagulating in the stomach. For swellings in the groin, it is

found beneficial to apply a plaster of white wax to the pubes.

CHAP. 56.—REMARKS IN DISPARAGEMENT OF MEDICINAL COMPOSITIONS.

As to the different uses to which wax is applied, in combination with

other substances in medicine, we could no more make an enumeration of

them than we could of all the other ingredients which form part of our

medicinal compositions. These preparations, as we have already[2740]

observed, are the results of human invention. Cerates, poultices,[2741]

plasters, eye-salves, antidotes,—none of these have been formed by

Nature, that parent and divine framer of the universe; they are merely

the inventions of the laboratory, or rather, to say the truth, of human

avarice.[2742] The works of Nature are brought into existence complete

and perfect in every respect, her ingredients being but few in number,

selected as they are from a due appreciation of cause and effect,

and not from mere guesswork; thus, for instance, if a dry substance

is wanted to assume a liquefied form, a liquid, of course, must be

employed as a vehicle, while liquids, on the other hand, must be united

with a dry substance to render them consistent. But as for man, when he

pretends, with balance in[2743] hand, to unite and combine the various

elementary substances, he employs himself not merely upon guesswork,

but proves himself guilty of downright impudence.

It is not my intention to touch upon the medicaments afforded by

the drugs of India, or Arabia and other foreign climates: I have no

liking for drugs that come from so great a distance;[2744] they are

not produced for us, no, nor yet for the natives of those countries,

or else they would not be so ready to sell them to us. Let people

buy them if they please, as ingredients in perfumes, unguents, and

other appliances of luxury; let them buy them as adjuncts to their

superstitions even, if incense and costus we must have to propitiate

the gods; but as to health, we can enjoy that blessing without their

assistance, as we can easily prove—the greater reason then has luxury

to blush at its excesses.

CHAP. 57.—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM GRAIN. SILIGO: ONE REMEDY. WHEAT: ONE

REMEDY. CHAFF: TWO REMEDIES. SPELT: ONE REMEDY. BRAN: ONE REMEDY.

OLYRA, OR ARINCA: TWO REMEDIES.

Having now described the remedies derived from flowers, both those

which enter into the composition of garlands, and the ordinary garden

ones, as well as from the vegetable productions, how could we possibly

omit those which are derived from the cereals?

(25.) It will be only proper then, to make some mention of these as

well. In the first place, however, let us remark that it is a fact

universally acknowledged, that it is the most intelligent of the

animated beings that derive their subsistence from grain. The grain of

siligo[2745] highly roasted and pounded in Aminean[2746] wine, applied

to the eyes, heals defluxions of those organs;[2747] and the grain

of wheat, parched on a plate of iron, is an instantaneous remedy for

frost-bite in various parts of the body. Wheat-meal, boiled in vinegar,

is good for contractions of the sinews, and bran,[2748] mixed with

rose-oil, dried figs, and myxa[2749] plums boiled down together, forms

an excellent gargle[2750] for the tonsillary glands and throat.

Sextus Pomponius, who had a son prætor, and who was himself the first

citizen of Nearer Spain, was on one occasion attacked with gout,

while superintending the winnowing in his granaries; upon which, he

immediately thrust his legs, to above the knees, in a heap of wheat.

He found himself relieved, the swelling in the legs subsided in a

most surprising degree, and from that time he always employed this

remedy: indeed, the action of grain in masses is so extremely powerful

as to cause the entire evaporation of the liquor in a cask. Men of

experience in these matters recommend warm chaff of wheat or barley,

as an application for hernia, and fomentations with the water in

which it has been boiled. In the grain known[2751] as spelt, there is

a small worm found, similar in appearance to the teredo:[2752] if this

is put with wax into the hollow of carious teeth, they will come out,

it is said, or, indeed, if the teeth are only rubbed with it. Another

name given to olyra, as already[2753] mentioned, is “arinca:” with a

decoction of it a medicament is made, known in Egypt as “athera,” and

extremely good for infants. For adult persons it is employed in the

form of a liniment.

CHAP. 58.—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MEAL: TWENTY-EIGHT REMEDIES.

Barley[2754]-meal, raw or boiled, disperses, softens, or ripens

gatherings and inflammatory tumours; and for other purposes a decoction

of it is made in hydromel, or with dried figs. If required for pains

in the liver, it must be boiled with oxycrate in wine. When it is a

matter of doubt whether an abscess should be made to suppurate or be

dispersed, it is a better plan to boil the meal in vinegar, or lees of

vinegar, or else with a decoction of quinces or pears. For the bite

of the millepede,[2755] it is employed with honey, and for the stings

of serpents, and to prevent suppurations, with vinegar. To promote

suppuration, it should be used with oxycrate, with the addition of

Gallic resin. For gatherings, also, that have come to a head, and

ulcers of long standing, it must be employed in combination with resin,

and for indurations, with pigeons’ dung, dried figs, or ashes. For

inflammation of the tendons, or of the intestines and sides, or for

pains in the male organs and denudations of the bones, it is used with

poppies, or melilote; and for scrofulous sores, it is used with pitch

and oil, mixed with the urine of a youth who has not reached the years

of puberty. It is employed also with fenugreek for tumours of the

thoracic organs, and in fevers, with honey, or stale grease.

For suppurations, however, wheat-meal is much more soothing;[2756] it

is applied topically also for affections of the sinews, mixed with the

juice of henbane, and for the cure of freckles, with vinegar and honey.

The meal of zea,[2757] from which, as already[2758] stated, an alica

is made, appears to be more efficacious than that of barley even; but

that of the three month[2759] kind is the most emollient. It is applied

warm, in red wine, to the stings of scorpions, as also for affections

of the trachea, and spitting of blood: for coughs, it is employed in

combination with goat suet or butter.

The meal of fenugreek,[2760] however, is the most soothing of them

all: boiled with wine and nitre, it heals running ulcers, eruptions on

the body, and diseases of the feet and mamillæ. The meal of æra[2761]

is more detergent than the other kinds, for inveterate ulcers and

gangrenes: in combination with radishes, salt, and vinegar, it heals

lichens, and with virgin sulphur, leprosy: for head-ache, it is applied

to the forehead with goose-grease. Boiled in wine, with pigeons’ dung

and linseed, it ripens inflamed tumours and scrofulous sores.

CHAP. 59.—POLENTA: EIGHT REMEDIES.

Of the various kinds of polenta we have already treated

sufficiently[2762] at length, when speaking of the places where it is

made. It differs from barley meal, in being parched, a process which

renders it more wholesome for the stomach. It arrests looseness of

the bowels, and heals inflammatory eruptions; and it is employed as

a liniment for the eyes, and for head-ache, combined with mint or

some other refreshing herb. It is used in a similar manner also for

chilblains and wounds inflicted by serpents; and with wine, for burns.

It has the effect also of checking pustular eruptions.

CHAP. 60.—FINE FLOUR: FIVE REMEDIES. PULS: ONE REMEDY. MEAL USED FOR

PASTING PAPYRUS: ONE REMEDY.

The flour[2763] of bolted meal, kneaded into a paste, has the property

of drawing[2764] out the humours of the body: hence it is applied to

bruises gorged with blood, to extract the corrupt matter, even to

soaking the bandages[2765] employed: used with boiled must, it is still

more efficacious. It is used as an application also for callosities

of the feet and corns; boiled with old oil and pitch, and applied as

hot as possible, it cures condylomata and all other maladies of the

fundament in a most surprising manner. Puls[2766] is a very feeding

diet. The meal[2767] used for pasting the sheets of papyrus is given

warm to patients for spitting of blood, and is found to be an effectual

cure.

CHAP. 61.—ALICA: SIX REMEDIES.

Alica is quite a Roman invention, and not a very ancient one: for

otherwise[2768] the Greeks would never have written in such high terms

of the praises of ptisan in preference. I do not think that it was

yet in use in the days of Pompeius Magnus, a circumstance which will

explain why hardly any mention has been made of it in the works of the

school of Asclepiades. That it is a most excellent preparation no one

can have a doubt, whether it is used strained in hydromel, or whether

it is boiled and taken in the form of broth or puls. To arrest flux

of the bowels, it is first parched and then boiled with honeycomb, as

already mentioned:[2769] but it is more particularly useful when there

is a tendency to phthisis after a long illness, the proper proportions

being three cyathi of it to one sextarius of water. This mixture is

boiled till all the water has gone off by evaporation, after which one

sextarius of sheep’ or goats’ milk is added: it is then taken by the

patient daily, and after a time some honey is added. By this kind of

nutriment a deep decline may be cured.

CHAP. 62.—MILLET: SIX REMEDIES.

Millet[2770] arrests looseness of the bowels and dispels gripings of

the stomach, for which purposes it is first parched. For pains in the

sinews, and of various other descriptions, it is applied hot, in a bag,

to the part affected. Indeed, there is no better topical application

known, as it is extremely light and emollient, and retains heat for

a very long time: hence it is that it is so much employed in all

those cases in which the application of heat is necessary. The meal

of it, mixed with tar, is applied to wounds inflicted by serpents and

millepedes.

CHAP. 63.—PANIC: FOUR REMEDIES.

Diocles, the physician, has given to panic[2771] the name of “honey of

corn.”[2772] It has the same properties as millet, and, taken in wine,

it is good for dysentery. In a similar manner, too, it is applied to

such parts of the body as require to be treated with heat. Boiled in

goats’-milk, and taken twice a-day, it arrests looseness of the bowels;

and, used in a similar manner, it is very good for gripings of the

stomach.

CHAP. 64.—SESAME: SEVEN REMEDIES. SESAMOIDES: THREE REMEDIES.

ANTICYRICUM: THREE REMEDIES.

Sesame,[2773] pounded and taken in wine, arrests vomiting: it is

applied also topically to inflammations of the ears, and burns. It

has a similar effect even while in the blade; and in that state, a

decoction of it in wine is used as a liniment for the eyes. As an

aliment it is injurious to the stomach, and imparts a bad odour to the

breath. It is an antidote to the bite of the spotted lizard, and heals

the cancerous sore known as “cacoethes.”[2774] The oil made from it, as

already[2775] mentioned, is good for the ears.

Sesamoïdes[2776] owes its name to its resemblance to sesame; the

grain[2777] of it, however, is bitter, and the leaf more diminutive:

it is found growing in sandy soils. Taken in water, it carries off

bile, and, with the seed, a liniment is made for erysipelas: it

disperses inflamed swellings also. Besides this, there is another[2778]

sesamoïdes, which grows at Anticyra, and, for that reason, is known by

some as “anticyricon.” In other respects, it is similar to the plant

erigeron, of which we shall have to speak[2779] on a future occasion;

but the seed of it is like that of sesame. It is given in sweet wine

as an evacuant, in doses of a pinch in three fingers, mixed with an

obolus and a half of white hellebore; this preparation being employed

principally as a purgative, in cases of insanity, melancholy, epilepsy,

and gout. Taken alone, in doses of one drachma, it purges by stool.

CHAP. 65.—BARLEY: NINE REMEDIES. MOUSE-BARLEY, BY THE GREEKS CALLED

PHŒNICE: ONE REMEDY.

The whitest barley is the best. Boiled[2780] in rain-water, the pulp

of it is divided into lozenges, which are used in injections for

ulcerations of the intestines and the uterus. The ashes of barley are

applied to burns, to bones denuded of the flesh, to purulent eruptions,

and to the bite of the shrew-mouse: sprinkled with salt and honey they

impart whiteness to the teeth, and sweetness to the breath. It is

alleged that persons who are in the habit of eating barley-bread are

never troubled with gout in the feet: they say, too, that if a person

takes nine grains of barley, and traces three times round a boil, with

each of them in the left hand, and then throws them all into the fire,

he will experience an immediate cure. There is another plant, too,

known as “phœnice” by the Greeks, and as “mouse-barley”[2781] by us:

pounded and taken in wine, it acts remarkably well as an emmenagogue.

CHAP. 66.—PTISAN: FOUR REMEDIES.

To ptisan,[2782] which is a preparation of barley, Hippocrates[2783]

has devoted a whole treatise; praises, however, which at the present

day are all transferred to “alica,” being, as it is, a much more

wholesome preparation. Hippocrates, however, recommends it as a

pottage, for the comparative ease with which, from its lubricous

nature, it is swallowed; as also, because it allays thirst, never

swells in the stomach, passes easily through the intestines, and is

the only food that admits of being given twice a-day in fever, at

least to patients who are in the habit of taking two meals—so opposed

is his method to that of those physicians who are for famishing their

patients. He forbids it to be given, however, without being first

strained; for no part, he says, of the ptisan, except the water,[2784]

should be used. He says, too, that it must never be taken while the

feet are cold, and, indeed, that no drink of any kind should be taken

then. With wheat a more viscous kind of ptisan is made, which is found

to be still more efficacious for ulcerations of the trachea.

CHAP. 67.—AMYLUM: EIGHT REMEDIES. OATS: ONE REMEDY.

Amylum[2785] weakens the eyesight,[2786] and is bad for the throat,

whatever opinions may be held to the contrary. It has the effect

also of arresting looseness of the bowels, and curing defluxions and

ulcerations of the eyes, as also pustules and congestions of the

blood. It mollifies indurations of the eyelids, and is given with

egg to persons when they vomit blood. For pains of the bladder, half

an ounce of it is prescribed with an egg, and as much raisin wine as

three egg-shells will hold, the mixture to be made lukewarm and taken

immediately after the bath. Oatmeal, boiled in vinegar, removes moles.

CHAP. 68.—BREAD: TWENTY-ONE REMEDIES.

Bread,[2787] too, which forms our ordinary nutriment, possesses

medicinal properties, almost without number. Applied with water and

oil, or else rose-oil, it softens abscesses; and, with hydromel, it

is remarkably soothing for indurations. It is prescribed with wine

to produce delitescence, or when a defluxion requires to be checked;

or, if additional activity is required, with vinegar. It is employed

also for the morbid defluxions of rheum, known to the Greeks as

“rheumatismi,” and for bruises and sprains. For all these purposes,

however, bread made with leaven, and known as “autopyrus,”[2788] is the

best.

It is applied also to whitlows, in vinegar, and to callosities of the

feet. Stale bread, or sailors’-bread,[2789] beaten up and baked again,

arrests looseness of the bowels. For persons who wish to improve the

voice, dry bread is very good, taken fasting; it is useful also as

a preservative against catarrhs. The bread called “sitanius,” and

which is made of three-month[2790] wheat, applied with honey, is a

very efficient cure for contusions of the face and scaly eruptions.

White bread, steeped in hot or cold water, furnishes a very light

and wholesome aliment for patients. Soaked in wine, it is applied as

a poultice for swellings of the eyes, and used in a similar manner,

or with the addition of dried myrtle, it is good for pustules on the

head. Persons troubled with palsy are recommended to take bread soaked

in water, fasting, immediately after the bath. Burnt bread modifies

the close smell of bedrooms, and, used in the strainers,[2791] it

neutralizes bad odours in wine.

CHAP. 69.—BEANS: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.

Beans,[2792] too, furnish us with some remedies. Parched whole, and

thrown hot into strong vinegar, they are a cure for gripings of the

bowels. Bruised, and boiled with garlic, they are taken with the daily

food for inveterate coughs, and for suppurations of the chest. Chewed

by a person fasting, they are applied topically to ripen boils, or to

disperse them; and, boiled in wine, they are employed for swellings of

the testes and diseases of the genitals. Bean-meal, boiled in vinegar,

ripens tumours and breaks them, and heals contusions and burns. M.

Varro assures us that beans are very good for the voice. The ashes of

bean stalks and shells, with stale hogs’-lard, are good for sciatica

and inveterate pains of the sinews. The husks, too, boiled down, by

themselves, to one-third, arrest looseness of the bowels.

CHAP. 70.—LENTILS: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.

Those lentils[2793] are the best which boil the most easily, and

those in particular which absorb the most water. They injure the

eye-sight,[2794] no doubt, and inflate the stomach; but taken with the

food, they act astringently upon the bowels, more particularly if they

are thoroughly boiled in rain-water: if, on the other hand, they are

lightly boiled, they are laxative.[2795] They break purulent ulcers,

and they cleanse and cicatrize ulcerations of the mouth. Applied

topically, they allay all kinds of abscesses, when ulcerated and

chapped more particularly; with melilote or quinces they are applied to

defluxions of the eyes, and with polenta they are employed topically

for suppurations. A decoction of them is used for ulcerations of the

mouth and genitals, and, with rose-oil or quinces, for diseases of the

fundament. For affections which demand a more active remedy, they are

used with pomegranate rind, and the addition of a little honey; to

prevent the composition from drying too quickly, beet leaves are added.

They are applied topically, also, to scrofulous sores, and to tumours,

whether ripe or only coming to a head, being thoroughly boiled first in

vinegar. Mixed with hydromel they are employed for the cure of chaps,

and with pomegranate rind for gangrenes. With polenta they are used for

gout, for diseases of the uterus and kidneys, for chilblains, and for

ulcerations which cicatrize with difficulty. For a disordered stomach,

thirty grains should be eaten.

For cholera,[2796] however, and dysentery, it is the best plan to

boil the lentils in three waters, in which case they should always

be parched first, and then pounded as fine as possible, either by

themselves, or else with quinces, pears, myrtle, wild endive, black

beet, or plantago. Lentils are bad for the lungs, head-ache, all

nervous affections, and bile, and are very apt to cause restlessness

at night. They are useful, however, for pustules, erysipelas, and

affections of the mamillæ, boiled in sea-water; and, applied with

vinegar, they disperse indurations and scrofulous sores. As a

stomachic, they are mixed, like polenta, with the drink given to

patients. Parboiled in water, and then pounded and bolted through

a sieve to disengage the bran, they are good for burns, care being

taken to add a little honey as they heal: they are boiled, also, with

oxycrate for diseases of the throat.[2797]

There is a marsh-lentil[2798] also, which grows spontaneously in

stagnant waters. It is of a cooling nature, for which reason it is

employed topically for abscesses, and for gout in particular, either

by itself or with polenta. Its glutinous properties render it a good

medicine for intestinal hernia.

CHAP. 71.—THE ELELISPHACOS, SPHACOS, OR SALVIA: THIRTEEN REMEDIES.

The plant called by the Greeks “elelisphacos,”[2799] or “sphacos,” is

a species of wild lentil, lighter than the cultivated one, and with a

leaf, smaller, drier, and more odoriferous. There is also another[2800]

kind of it, of a wilder nature, and possessed of a powerful smell,

the other one being milder. It[2801] has leaves the shape of a quince,

but white and smaller: they are generally boiled with the branches.

This plant acts as an emmenagogue and a diuretic: and it affords a

remedy for wounds inflicted by the sting-ray,[2802] having the property

of benumbing the part affected. It is taken in drink with wormwood

for dysentery: employed with wine it accelerates the catamenia when

retarded, a decoction of it having the effect of arresting them when in

excess: the plant, applied by itself, stanches the blood of wounds. It

is a cure, too, for the stings of serpents, and a decoction of it in

wine allays prurigo of the testes.

Our herbalists of the present day take for the “elelisphacos” of the

Greeks the “salvia”[2803] of the Latins, a plant similar in appearance

to mint, white and aromatic. Applied externally, it expels the dead

fœtus, as also worms which breed in ulcers and in the ears.

CHAP. 72.—THE CHICKPEA AND THE CHICHELING VETCH: TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES.

There is a wild chickpea also, which resembles in its leaf the

cultivated kind,[2804] and has a powerful smell. Taken in considerable

quantities, it relaxes the bowels, and produces griping pains and

flatulency; parched, however, it is looked upon as more wholesome.

The chicheling vetch,[2805] again, acts more beneficially upon the

bowels. The meal of both kinds heals running sores of the head—that of

the wild sort being the more efficacious of the two—as also epilepsy,

swellings of the liver, and stings inflicted by serpents. It acts as

an emmenagogue and a diuretic, used in the grain more particularly,

and it is a cure for lichens, inflammations of the testes, jaundice,

and dropsy. All these kinds, however, exercise an injurious effect

upon ulcerations of the bladder and kidneys: but in combination with

honey they are very good for gangrenous sores, and the cancer known as

“cacoethes.” The following is a method adopted for the cure of all

kinds of warts: on the first day of the moon, each wart must be touched

with a single chickpea, after which, the party must tie up the pease in

a linen cloth, and throw it behind him; by adopting this plan, it is

thought, the warts will be made to disappear.

Our authors recommend the plant known as the “arietinum”[2806] to

be boiled in water with salt, and two cyathi of the decoction to be

taken for strangury. Employed in a similar manner, it expels calculi,

and cures jaundice. The water in which the leaves and stalks of this

plant have been boiled, applied as a fomentation as hot as possible,

allays gout in the feet, an effect equally produced by the plant

itself, beaten up and applied warm. A decoction of the columbine[2807]

chickpea, it is thought, moderates the shivering fits in tertian or

quartan fevers; and the black kind, beaten up with half a nut-gall, and

applied with raisin wine, is a cure for ulcers of the eyes.

CHAP. 73.—THE FITCH: TWENTY REMEDIES.

In speaking of the fitch,[2808] we have mentioned certain properties

belonging to it; and, indeed, the ancients have attributed to it

no fewer virtues than they have to the cabbage. For the stings of

serpents, it is employed with vinegar; as also for bites inflicted by

crocodiles and human beings. If a person eats of it, fasting, every

day, according to authors of the very highest authority, the spleen

will gradually diminish. The meal of it removes spots on the face and

other parts of the body. It prevents ulcers from spreading also, and is

extremely efficacious for affections of the mamillæ: mixed with wine,

it makes carbuncles break. Parched, and taken with a piece of honey the

size of a hazel nut, it cures dysuria, flatulency, affections of the

liver, tenesmus, and that state of the body in which no nourishment

is derived from the food, generally known as “atrophy.” For cutaneous

eruptions, plasters are made of it boiled with honey, being left to

remain four days on the part affected. Applied with honey, it prevents

inflamed tumours from suppurating. A decoction of it, employed as a

fomentation, cures chilblains and prurigo; and it is thought by some,

that if it is taken daily, fasting, it will improve the complexion of

all parts of the body.

Used as an aliment, this pulse is far from wholesome,[2809] being

apt to produce vomiting, disorder the bowels, and stuff the head and

stomach. It weakens the knees also; but the effects of it may be

modified by keeping it in soak for several days, in which case it is

remarkably beneficial for oxen and beasts of burden. The pods of it,

beaten up green with the stalks and leaves, before they harden, stain

the hair black.

CHAP. 74.—LUPINES: THIRTY-FIVE REMEDIES.

There are wild lupines,[2810] also, inferior in every respect to the

cultivated kinds, except in their bitterness. Of all the alimentary

substances, there are none which are less heavy or more useful[2811]

than dried lupines. Their bitterness is considerably modified by

cooking them on hot ashes, or steeping them in hot water. Employed

frequently as an article of food, they impart freshness to the colour;

the bitter lupine, too, is good for the sting of the asp. Dried

lupines, stripped of the husk and pounded, are applied in a linen cloth

to black ulcers, in which they make new flesh: boiled in vinegar,

they disperse scrofulous sores and imposthumes of the parotid glands.

A decoction of them, with rue and pepper, is given in fever even,

as an expellent of intestinal worms,[2812] to patients under thirty

years of age. For children, also, they are applied to the stomach as

a vermifuge, the patient fasting in the meantime: and, according to

another mode of treatment, they are parched and taken in boiled must or

in honey.

Lupines have the effect of stimulating the appetite, and of dispelling

nausea. The meal of them, kneaded up with vinegar, and applied in

the bath, removes pimples and prurigo; employed alone, it dries up

ulcerous sores. It cures bruises also, and, used with polenta, allays

inflammations. The wild lupine is found to be the most efficacious

for debility of the hips and loins. A decoction of them, used as a

fomentation, removes freckles and improves the skin; and lupines,

either wild or cultivated, boiled down to the consistency of honey, are

a cure for black eruptions and leprosy. An application of cultivated

lupines causes carbuncles to break, and reduces inflamed tumours and

scrofulous sores, or else brings them to a head: boiled in vinegar,

they restore the flesh when cicatrized to its proper colour. Thoroughly

boiled in rain-water, the decoction of them furnishes a detersive

medicine, of which fomentations are made for gangrenes, purulent

eruptions, and running ulcers. This decoction is very good, taken in

drink, for affections of the spleen, and with honey, for retardations

of the catamenia. Beaten up raw, with dried figs, lupines are applied

externally to the spleen. A decoction of the root acts as a diuretic.

The herb chamæleon,[2813] also, is boiled with lupines, and the water

of it strained off, to be used as a potion for cattle. Lupines boiled

in amurca,[2814] or a decoction of them mixed with amurca, heals the

itch in beasts. The smoke of lupines kills[2815] gnats.

CHAP. 75.—IRIO, OR ERYSIMUM, BY THE GAULS CALLED VELA: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

When treating of the cereals, we have already stated[2816] that the

irio, which strongly resembles sesame, is also called “erysimon” by the

Greeks: the Gauls give it the name of “vela.” It is a branchy plant,

with leaves like those of rocket, but a little narrower, and a seed

similar to that of nasturtium. With honey, it is extremely good for

cough and purulent expectorations: it is given, also, for jaundice and

affections of the loins, pleurisy, gripings of the bowels, and cœliac

affections, and is used in liniments for imposthumes of the parotid

glands and carcinomatous affections. Employed with water, or with

honey, it is useful for inflammations of the testes, and is extremely

beneficial for the diseases of infants. Mixed with honey and figs, it

is good for affections of the fundament and diseases of the joints;

and taken in drink, it is an excellent antidote to poisons. It is used,

also, for asthma,[2817] and with stale axle-grease for fistulas; but it

must not be allowed to touch the interior of them.

CHAP. 76.—HORMINUM: SIX REMEDIES.

Horminum resembles cummin, as already stated,[2818] in its seed; but in

other respects, it is like the leek.[2819] It grows to some nine inches

in height, and there are two varieties of it. In one of these the seed

is oblong, and darker than that of the other, and the plant itself is

in request as an aphrodisiac, and for the cure of argema and albugo in

the eyes: of the other kind the seed is whiter, and of a rounder form.

Both kinds, pounded and applied with water, are used for the extraction

of thorns from the body. The leaves, steeped in vinegar, disperse

tumours, either used by themselves, or in combination with honey; they

are employed, also, to disperse boils, before they have come to a head,

and other collections of acrid humours.

CHAP. 77.—DARNEL: FIVE REMEDIES.

Even more than this—the very plants which are the bane of the

corn-field are not without their medicinal uses. Darnel[2820] has

received from Virgil[2821] the epithet of “unhappy;” and yet, ground

and boiled with vinegar, it is used as an application for the cure

of impetigo, which is the more speedily effected the oftener the

application is renewed. It is employed, also, with oxymel, for the

cure of gout and other painful diseases. The following is the mode

of treatment: for one sextarius of vinegar, two ounces of honey is

the right proportion; three sextarii having been thus prepared, two

sextarii of darnel meal are boiled down in it to a proper consistency,

the mixture being applied warm to the part affected. This meal, too, is

used for the extraction of splinters of broken bones.

CHAP. 78.—THE PLANT MILIARIA: ONE REMEDY.

“Miliaria”[2822] is the name given to a plant which kills millet: this

plant, it is said, is a cure for gout in beasts of burden, beaten up

and administered in wine, with the aid of a horn.

CHAP. 79.—BROMOS: ONE REMEDY.

Bromos[2823] is the seed also of a plant which bears an ear. It is

a kind of oat which grows among corn, to which it is injurious; the

leaves and stalk of it resemble those of wheat, and at the extremity

it bears seeds, hanging down, something like small locusts[2824] in

appearance. The seed of this plant is useful for plasters, like barley

and other grain of a similar nature. A decoction of it is good for

coughs.

CHAP. 80.—OROBANCHE, OR CYNOMORION: ONE REMEDY.

We have mentioned[2825] orobanche as the name of a plant which kills

the fitch and other leguminous plants. Some persons have called it

“cynomorion,” from the resemblance which it bears to the genitals of

a dog. The stem of it is leafless, thick, and red. It is eaten either

raw, or boiled in the saucepan, while young and tender.

CHAP. 81.—REMEDIES FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY INSECTS WHICH BREED AMONG

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.

There are some venomous insects also, of the solipuga[2826] kind,

which breed upon leguminous plants, and which, by stinging the hands,

endanger life. For these stings all those remedies are efficacious

which have been mentioned for the bite of the spider and the

phalangium.[2827] Such, then, are the medicinal properties for which

the cereals are employed.

CHAP. 82.—THE USE MADE OF THE YEAST OF ZYTHUM.

Different beverages, too, are made from the cereals, zythum in Egypt,

cælia and cerea in Spain, cervesia[2828] and numerous liquors in Gaul

and other provinces. The yeast[2829] of all of these is used by women

as a cosmetic for the face.—But as we are now speaking of beverages,

it will be the best plan to pass on to the various uses of wine, and

to make a beginning with the vine of our account of the medicinal

properties of the trees.

SUMMARY.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, nine hundred and six.

AUTHORS QUOTED.—All those mentioned in the preceding Book; and,

in addition to them, Chrysermus,[2830] Eratosthenes,[2831] and

Alcæus.[2832]