Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

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  CHAP. 62.

  PIPERITIS, LIBANOTIS, AND SMYRNIUM.

  To come to a full understanding, too, both here as elsewhere, how unfounded are the notions which are generally entertained, I shall take this opportunity of remarking that panax has the flavour of pepper, and siliquastrum even more so, a circum- stance to which it owes its name of piperitis: libanotis again, has just the odour of frankincense, and smyrnium of myrrh. As to panax, we have spoken of it at sufficient length already. Libanotis grows in a thin, crumbly soil, and is generally sown in spots exposed to the falling dews; the root, which is just like that of olusatrum, has a smell in no way differing from that of frankincense; when a year old, it is extremely wholesome for the stomach; some persons give it the name of rosmarinum. Smyrnium is a garden herb that grows in similar soils, and has a root which smells like myrrh: siliquastrum, too, is grown in a similar manner.

  Other plants, again, differ from the preceding ones, both in smell and taste, anise for example; indeed, so great is the difference in this respect, and in their relative virtues, that not only are the properties of each modified by the other, but quite neutralized even. It is in this way that our cooks correct the flavour of vinegar in their dishes with parsley, and our butlers employ the same plant, enclosed in sachets, for removing a bad odour in wine.

  Thus far, then, we have treated of the garden plants, viewed as articles of food only; it remains for us now (for up to the present we have only spoken of their various methods of culti- vation, with some succinct details relative thereto), to enlarge upon the more elaborate operations of Nature in this respect; it being quite impossible to come to a full understanding as to the true characteristics of each individual plant, without a knowledge of its medicinal effects, a sublime and truly mysterious manifestation of the wisdom of the Deity, than which nothing can possibly be found of a nature more elevated. It is upon principle that we have thought proper not to enlarge upon the medicinal properties of each plant when treating of it; for it is a quite different class of persons that is interested in knowing their curative properties, and there is no doubt that both classes of readers would have been inconvenienced in a very material degree, if these two points of view had engaged our attention at the same moment. As it is, each class will have its own portion to refer to, while those who desire to do so, will experience no difficulty in uniting them, with reference to any subject of which we may happen to treat.

  SUMMARY. — Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, one thousand one hundred and forty-four.

  ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED. — Maccius Plautus,. M. Varro, D. Silanus, Cato the Censor, Hyginus, Virgil, Mucianus, Celsus, Columella, Calpurnius Bassus, Mamilius Sura, Sabinus Tiro, Licinius Macer, Quintus Hirtius, Vibius Rufus, Cæsennius who wrote the Cepurica, Castritius who wrote on the same subject, Firmus who wrote on the same subject, Petrichus who wrote on the same subject.

  FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED. — Herodotus, Theophrastus, Democritus, Aristomachus, Menander who wrote the Biochresta, Anaxiläus.

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  BOOK XX. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE GARDEN PLANTS.

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  CHAP. 1.

  INTRODUCTION.

  WE are now about to enter upon an examination of the greatest of all the operations of Nature — we are about to discourse to man upon his aliments, and to compel him to admit that he is ignorant by what means he exists. And let no one, misled by the apparent triviality of the names which we shall have to employ, regard this subject as one that is frivolous or contemptible: for we shall here have to set forth the state of peace or of war which exists between the various departments of Nature, the hatreds or friendships which are maintained by objects dumb and destitute of sense, and all, too, created — a wonderful subject for our contemplation! — for the sake of man alone. To these states, known to the Greeks by the respective appellations “sympathia” and “antipathia,” we are indebted for the first principles of all things; for hence it is that water has the property of extinguishing fire, that the sun absorbs water, that the moon produces it, and that each of those heavenly bodies is from time to time eclipsed by the other.

  Hence it is, too, descending from the contemplation of a loftier sphere, that the loadstone possesses the property of at- tracting iron, and another stone, again, that of repelling it: and that the diamond, that pride of luxury and opulence, though infrangible by every other object, and presenting a resistance that cannot be overcome, is broken asunder by a he-goat’s blood — in addition to numerous other marvels of which we shall have to speak on more appropriate occasions, equal to this or still more wonderful even. My only request is that pardon may be accorded me for beginning with objects of a more humble nature, though still so greatly conducive to our health — I mean the garden plants, of which I shall now proceed to speak.

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  CHAP. 2. (1.)

  THE WILD CUCUMBER; TWENTY-SIX REMEDIES.

  We have already stated that there is a wild cucumber, considerably smaller than the cultivated one. From this cucumber the medicament known as “elaterium” is prepared, being the juice extracted from the seed. To obtain this juice the fruit is cut before it is ripe — indeed, if this precaution is not taken at an early period, the seed is apt to spirt out and be productive of danger to the eyes. After it is gathered, the fruit is kept whole for a night, and on the following day an incision is made in it with a reed. The seed, too, is generally sprinkled with ashes, with the view of retaining in it as large a quantity of the juice as possible. When the juice is extracted, it is received in rain water, where it falls to the bottom; after which it is thickened in the sun, and then divided into lozenges, which are of singular utility to mankind for healing dimness of sight, diseases of the eyes, and ulcerations of the eyelids. It is said that if the roots of a vine are touched with this juice, the grapes of it will be sure never to be attacked by birds.

  The root, too, of the wild cucumber, boiled in vinegar, is employed in fomentations for the gout, and the juice of it is used as a remedy for tooth-ache. Dried and mixed with resin, the root is a cure for impetigo and the skin diseases known as “psora” and “lichen:” it is good, too, for imposthumes of the parotid glands and inflammatory tumours, and restores the natural colour to the skin when a cicatrix has formed. — The juice of the leaves, mixed with vinegar, is used as an injection for the ears, in cases of deafness.

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  CHAP. 3.

  ELATERIUM; TWENTY-SEVEN REMEDIES.

  The proper season for making elaterium is the autumn; and there is no medicament known that will keep longer than this. It begins to be fit for use when three years old; but if it is found desirable to make use of it at an earlier period than this, the acridity of the lozenges may be modified by putting them with vinegar upon a slow fire, in a new earthen pot. The older it is the better, and before now, as we learn from Theophrastus, it has been known to keep so long as two hundred years. Even after it has been kept so long as fifty years, it retains its property of extinguishing a light; indeed, it is the proper way of testing the genuineness of the drug to hold it to the flame and make it scintillate above and below, before finally extinguishing it. The elaterium which is pale, smooth, and slightly bitter, is superior to that which has a grass-green appearance and is rough to the touch.

  It is generally thought that the seed of this plant will facilitate conception if a woman carries it attached to her person, before it has touched the ground; and that it has the effect of aiding parturition, if it is first wrapped in ram’s wool, and then tied round the woman’s loins, without her knowing it, care being taken to carry it out of the house the instant she is delivered.

  Those persons who magnify the praises of the wild cucumber say that the very best is that of Arabia, the next being that of Arcadia, and then that of Cyrenæ: it bears a resemblance to the heliotropium, they say, and the fruit, about the size o
f a walnut, grows between the leaves and branches. The seed, it is said, is very similar in appearance to the tail of a scorpion thrown back, but is of a whitish hue. Indeed, there are some persons who give to this cucumber the name of “scorpionium,” and say that its seed, as well as the elaterium, is remarkably efficacious as a cure for the sting of the scorpion. As a purgative, the proper dose of either is from half an obolus to an obolus, according to the strength of the patient, a larger dose than this being fatal. It is in the same proportions, too, that it is taken in drink for phthiriasis and dropsy; applied externally with honey or old olive oil, it is used for the cure of quinsy and affections of the trachea.

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  CHAP. 4. (2.)

  THE ANGUINE OR ERRATIC CUCUMBER: FIVE REMEDIES.

  Many authors are of opinion that the wild cucumber is identical with the plant known among us as the “anguine,” and by some persons as the “erratic” cucumber. Objects sprinkled with a decoction of this plant will never be touched by mice. The same authors say, too, that a decoction of it in vinegar, externally applied, gives instantaneous relief in cases of gout and diseases of the joints. As a remedy, too, for lumbago, the seed of it is dried in the sun and pounded, being given in doses of twenty denarii to half a sextarius of water. Mixed with woman’s milk and applied as a liniment, it is a cure for tumours which have suddenly formed.

  Elaterium promotes the menstrual discharge; but if taken by females when pregnant, it is productive of abortion. It is good, also, for asthma, and, injected into the nostrils, for the jaundice. Rubbed upon the face in the sun, it removes freckles and spots upon the skin.

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  CHAP. 5.

  THE CULTIVATED CUCUMBER: NINE REMEDIES.

  Many persons attribute all these properties to the cultivated cucumber as well, a plant which even without them would be of very considerable importance, in a medicinal point of view. A pinch of the seed, for instance, in three fingers, beaten up with cummin and taken in wine, is extremely beneficial for a cough: for phrenitis, also, doses of it are administered in woman’s milk, and doses of one acetabulum for dysentery. As a remedy for purulent expectorations, it is taken with an equal quantity of cummin; and it is used with hydromel for diseases of the liver. Taken in sweet wine, it is a diuretic; and, in combination with cummin, it is used as an injection for affections of the kidneys.

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  CHAP. 6.

  PEPONES: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

  The fruit known as pepones are a cool and refreshing diet, and are slightly relaxing to the stomach. Applications are used of the pulpy flesh in defluxions or pains of the eyes. The root, too, of this plant cures the hard ulcers known to us as “ceria,” from their resemblance to a honeycomb, and it acts as an emetic. Dried and reduced to a powder, it is given in doses of four oboli in hydromel, the patient, immediately after taking it, being made to walk half a mile. This powder is employed also in cosmetics for smoothing the skin. The rind, too, has the effect of promoting vomiting, and, when applied to the face, of clearing the skin; a result which is equally produced by an external application of the leaves of all the cultivated cucumbers. These leaves, mixed with honey, are employed for the cure of the pustules known as “epinyctis;” steeped in wine, they are good, too, for the bites of dogs and of multipedes, insects known to the Greeks by the name of “seps,” of an elongated form, with hairy legs, and noxious to cattle more particularly; the sting being followed by swelling, and the wound rapidly putrifying.

  The smell of the cucumber itself is a restorative in fainting fits. It is a well-known fact, that if cucumbers are peeled and then boiled in oil, vinegar, and honey, they are all the more pleasant eating for it.

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  CHAP. 7. (3.)

  THE GOURD: SEVENTEEN REMEDIES. THE SOMPHUS: ONE REMEDY.

  There is found also a wild gourd, called “somphos” by the Greeks, empty within (to which circumstance it owes its name), and long and thick in shape, like the finger: it grows nowhere except upon stony spots. The juice of this gourd, when chewed, is very beneficial to the stomach.

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  CHAP. 8.

  THE COLOCYNTHIS: TEN REMEDIES.

  There is another variety of the wild gourd, known as the “colocynthis:” this kind is full of seeds, but not so large as the cultivated one. The pale colocynthis is better than those of a grass-green colour. Employed by itself when dried, it acts as a very powerful purgative; used as an injection, it is a remedy for all diseases of the intestines, the kidneys, and the loins, as well as for paralysis. The seed being first removed, it is boiled down in hydromel to one half; after which it is used as an injection, with perfect safety, in doses of four oboli. It is good, too, for the stomach, taken in pills composed of the dried powder and boiled honey. In jaundice seven seeds of it may be taken with beneficial effects, with a draught of hydromel immediately after.

  The pulp of this fruit, taken with wormwood and salt, is a remedy for toothache, and the juice of it, warmed with vinegar, has the effect of strengthening loose teeth. Rubbed in with oil, it removes pains of the spine, loins, and hips: in addition to which, really a marvellous thing to speak of! the seeds of it, in even numbers, attached to the body in a linen cloth, will cure, it is said, the fevers to which the Greeks have given the name of “periodic.” The juice, too, of the cultivated gourd shred in pieces, applied warm, is good for ear-ache, and the flesh of the inside, used without the seed, for corns on the feet and the suppurations known to the Greeks as “apostemata.” When the pulp and seeds are boiled together, the decoction is good for strengthening loose teeth, and for preventing toothache; wine, too, boiled with this plant, is curative of defluxions of the eyes. The leaves of it, bruised with fresh cypress-leaves, or the leaves alone, boiled in a vessel of potters’ clay and beaten up with goose-grease, and then applied to the part affected, are an excellent cure for wounds. Fresh shavings of the rind are used as a cooling application for gout, and burning pains in the head, in infants more particularly; they are good, too, for erysipelas, whether it is the shavings of the rind or the seeds of the plant that are applied to the part affected. The juice of the scrapings, employed as a liniment with rose-oil and vinegar, moderates the burning heats of fevers; and the ashes of the dried fruit applied to burns are efficacious in a most remarkable degree.

  Chrysippus, the physician, condemned the use of the gourd as a food: it is generally agreed, however, that it is extremely good for the stomach, and for ulcerations of the intestines and of the bladder.

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  CHAP. 9.

  RAPE; NINE REMEDIES.

  Rape, too, has its medicinal properties. Warmed, it is used as an application for the cure of chilblains, in addition to which, it has the effect of protecting the feet from cold. A hot decoction of rape is employed for the cure of cold gout; and raw rape, beaten up with salt, is good for all maladies of the feet. Rape-seed, used as a liniment, and taken in drink, with wine, is said to have a salutary effect against the stings of serpents, and various narcotic poisons; and there are many persons who attribute to it the properties of an antidote, when taken with wine and oil.

  Democritus has entirely repudiated the use of rape as an article of food, in consequence of the flatulence which it produces; while Diocles, on the other hand, has greatly extolled it, and has even gone so far as to say that it acts as an aphrodisiac. Dionysius, too, says the same of rape, and more particularly if it is seasoned with rocket; he adds, also, that roasted, and then applied with grease, it is excellent for pains in the joints.

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  CHAP. 10.

  WILD RAPE: ONE REMEDY.

  Wild rape is mostly found growing in the fields; it has a tufted top, with a white seed, twice as large as that of the poppy. This plant is often employed for smoothing the skin of the face and the body generally, meal of fitches, barley, wheat, and lupines, being mi
xed with it in equal proportions.

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

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  CHAP. 11. (4.)

  TURNIPS; THOSE KNOWN AS BUNION AND BUNIAS: FIVE REMEDIES.

  The Greeks distinguish two kinds of turnips, also, as em- ployed in medicine. The turnip with angular stalks and a flower like that of anise, and known by them as “bunion,” is good for promoting the menstrual discharge in females and for affections of the bladder; it acts, also, as a diuretic. For these purposes, a decoction of it is taken with hydromel, or else one drachma of the juice of the plant. The seed, parched, and then beaten up, and taken in warm water, in doses of four cyathi, is a good remedy for dysentery; it will stop the passage of the urine, however, if linseed is not taken with it.

  The other kind of turnip is known by the name of “bunias,” and bears a considerable resemblance to the radish and the rape united, the seed of it enjoying the reputation of being a remedy for poisons; hence it is that we find it employed in antidotes.