Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

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  CHAP. 44. (11.)

  PARSLEY; SEVENTEEN REMEDIES.

  Parsley is held in universal esteem; for we find sprigs of it swimming in the draughts of milk given us to drink in country-places; and we know that as a seasoning for sauces, it is looked upon with peculiar favour. Applied to the eyes with honey, which must also be fomented from time to time with a warm decoction of it, it has a most marvellous efficacy in cases of defluxion of those organs or of other parts of the body; as also when beaten up and applied by itself, or in combination with bread or with polenta. Fish, too, when found to be in an ailing state in the preserves, are greatly refreshed by giving them green parsley. As to the opinions entertained upon it among the learned, there is not a single production dug out of the earth in reference to which a greater diversity exists.

  Parsley is distinguished as male and female: according to Chrysippus, the female plant has a hard leaf and more curled than the other, a thick stem, and an acrid, hot taste. Dionysius says, that the female is darker than the other kind, has a shorter root, and engenders small worms. Both of these writers, however, agree in saying that neither kind of parsley should be admitted into the number of our aliments; indeed, they look upon it as nothing less than sacrilege to do so, seeing that parsley is consecrated to the funereal feasts in honour of the dead. They say, too, that it is injurious to the eyesight, that the stalk of the female plant engenders small worms, for which reason it is that those who eat of it become barren — males as well as females; and that children suckled by females who live on a parsley diet, are sure to be epileptic. They agree, however, in stating that the male plant is not so injurious in its effects as the female, and that it is for this reason that it is not absolutely condemned and classed among the forbidden plants. The leaves of it, employed as a cataplasm, are used for dispersing hard tumours in the mamillæ; and when boiled in water, it makes it more agreeable to drink. The juice of the root more particularly, mixed with wine, allays the pains of lumbago, and, injected into the ears, it diminishes hardness of hearing. The seed of it acts as a diuretic, promotes the menstrual discharge, and brings away the afterbirth.

  Bruises and livid spots, if fomented with a decoction of parsley-seeed, will resume their natural colour. Applied topically, with the white of egg, or boiled in water, and then drunk, it is remedial for affections of the kidneys; and beaten up in cold water it is a cure for ulcers of the mouth. The seed, mixed with wine, or the root, taken with old wine, has the effect of breaking calculi in the bladder. The seed, too, is given in white wine, to persons afflicted with the jaundice.

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  CHAP. 45.

  APIASTRUM, OR MELISSOPHYLLUM.

  Hyginus gave the name of “apiastrum” to melissophyl- lum: but that which grows in Sardinia is poisonous, and universally condemned. I speak here of this plant, because I feel it my duty to place before the reader every object which has been classified, among the Greeks, under the same name.

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  CHAP. 46.

  OLUSATRUM OR HIPPOSELINON: ELEVEN REMEDIES. OREOSELINON; TWO REMEDIES. HELIOSELINON; ONE REMEDY.

  Olusatrum, usually known as hipposelinon, is particularly repulsive to scorpions. The seed of it, taken in drink, is a cure for gripings in the stomach and intestinal complaints, and a decoction of the seed, drunk in honied wine, is curative in cases of dysuria. The root of the plant, boiled in wine, expels calculi of the bladder, and is a cure for lumbago and pains in the sides. Taken in drink and applied topically, it is a cure for the bite of a mad dog, and the juice of it, when drunk, is warming for persons benumbed with cold.

  Some persons make out oreoselinon to be a fourth species of parsley: it is a shrub about a palm in height, with an elongated seed, bearing a strong resemblance to that of cummin, and efficacious for the urine and the catamenia. Helioselinon is possessed of peculiar virtues against the bites of spiders: and oreoselinon is used with wine for promoting the menstrual discharge.

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  CHAP. 47. (12.)

  PETROSELINON; ONE REMEDY. BUSELINON; ONE REMEDY.

  Another kind again, which grows in rocky places, is known by some persons as “petroselinon:” it is particularly good for abscesses, taken in doses of two spoonfuls of the juice to one cyathus of juice of horehound, mixed with three cyathi of warm water. Some writers have added buselinon to the list, which differs only from the cultivated kind in the shortness of the stalk and the red colour of the root, the medicinal properties being just the same. Taken in drink or applied topically, it is an excellent remedy for the stings of serpents.

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  CHAP. 48.

  OCIMUM; THIRTY-FIVE REMEDIES.

  Chrysippus has exclaimed as strongly, too, against ocimum as he has against parsley, declaring that it is prejudicial to the stomach and the free discharge of the urine, and is injurious to the sight; that it produces insanity, too, and lethargy, as well as diseases of the liver; and that it is for this reason that goats refuse to touch it. Hence he comes to the conclusion, that the use of it ought to be avoided by man. Some persons go so far as to say, that if beaten up, and then placed beneath a stone, a scorpion will breed there; and that if chewed, and then placed in the sun, worms will breed in it. The people of Africa maintain, too, that if a person is stung by a scorpion the same day on which he has eaten ocimum, his life cannot possibly be saved. Even more than this, there are some who assert, that if a handful of ocimum is beaten up with ten sea or river crabs, all the scorpions in the vicinity will be attracted to it. Diodotus, too, in his Book of Recipes, says, that ocimum, used as an article of food, breeds lice.

  Succeeding ages, again, have warmly defended this plant; it has been maintained, for instance, that goats do eat it, that the mind of no one who has eaten of it is at all affected, and, that mixed with wine, with the addition of a little vinegar, it is a cure for the stings of land scorpions, and the venom of those found in the sea. Experience has proved, too, that the smell of this plant in vinegar is good for fainting fits and lethargy, as well as inflammations; that employed as a cooling liniment, with rose oil, myrtle oil, or vinegar, it is good for headache; and that applied topically with wine, it is beneficial for defluxions of the eyes. It has been found also, that it is good for the stomach; that taken with vinegar, it dispels flatulent eructations; that applications of it arrest fluxes of the bowels; that it acts as a diuretic, and that in this way it is good for jaundice and dropsy, as well as cholera and looseness of the bowels.

  Hence it is that Philistio has prescribed it even for cœliac affections, and boiled, for dysentery. Some persons, too, though contrary to the opinion of Plistonicus, have given it in wine for tenesmus and spitting of blood, as also for obstructions of the viscera. It is employed, too, as a liniment for the mamillæ, and has the effect of arresting the secretion of the milk. It is very good also for the ears of infants, when applied with goose-grease more particularly. The seed of it, beaten up, and inhaled into the nostrils, is provocative of sneezing, and applied as a liniment to the head, of running at the nostrils: taken in the food, too, with vinegar, it purges the uterus. Mixed with copperas it removes warts. It acts, also, as an aphrodisiac, for which reason it is given to horses and asses at the season for covering.

  (13.) Wild ocimum has exactly the same properties in every respect, though in a more active degree. It is particularly good, too, for the various affections produced by excessive vo- miting, and for abscesses of the womb. The root, mixed with wine, is extremely efficacious for bites inflicted by wild beasts.

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  CHAP. 49.

  ROCKET: TWELVE REMEDIES.

  The seed of rocket is remedial for the venom of the scorpion and the shrew-mouse: it repels, too, all parasitical insects which breed on the human body, and applied to the face, as a liniment, with honey, removes spots upon the skin. Used with vinegar, too, it is a cure for
freckles; and mixed with ox-gall it restores the livid marks left by wounds to their natural colour. It is said that if this plant is taken in wine by persons who are about to undergo a flogging, it will impart a certain degree of insensibility to the body. So agreeable is its flavour as a savouring for food, that the Greeks have given it the name of “euzomon.” It is generally thought that rocket, lightly bruised, and employed as a fomentation for the eyes, will restore the sight to its original goodness, and that it allays coughs in young infants. The root of it, boiled in water, has the property of extracting the splinters of broken bones.

  As to the properties of rocket as an aphrodisiac, we have mentioned them already. Three leaves of wild rocket plucked with the left hand, beaten up in hydromel, and then taken in drink, are productive of a similar effect.

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  CHAP. 50.

  NASTURTIUM: FORTY-TWO REMEDIES.

  Nasturtium, on the other hand, is an antiaphrodisiac; it has the effect also of sharpening the senses, as already stated. There are two varieties of this plant: one of them is purgative, and, taken in doses of one denarius to seven of water, carries off the bilious secretions. Applied as a liniment to scrofulous sores, with bean-meal, and then covered with a cabbage-leaf, it is a most excellent remedy. The other kind, which is darker than the first, has the effect of carrying off vicious humours of the head, and sharpening the sight: taken in vinegar it calms the troubled spirits, and, drunk with wine or taken in a fig, it is good for affections of the spleen; taken in honey, too, fasting daily, it is good for a cough. The seed of it, taken in wine, expels all kinds of intestinal worms, and with the addition of wild mint, it acts more efficaciously still. It is good, too, for asthma and cough, in combination with wild marjoram and sweet wine; and a decoction of it in goats’ milk is used for pains in the chest. Mixed with pitch it disperses tumours, and extracts thorns from the body; and, employed as a liniment, with vinegar, it removes spots upon the body. When used for the cure of carcinoma, white of eggs is added to it. With vinegar it is employed also as a liniment for affections of the spleen, and with honey it is found to be very useful for the complaints of infants.

  Sextius adds, that the smell of burnt nasturtium drives away serpents, neutralizes the venom of scorpions, and gives relief in head-ache; with the addition too, of mustard, he says, it is a cure for alopecy, and applied to the ears with a fig, it is a remedy for hardness of hearing. The juice of it, he says, if injected into the ears, will effect the cure of tooth-ache, and employed with goose-grease it is a remedy for porrigo and ulcerous sores of the head. Applied with leaven it brings boils to a head, and makes carbuncles suppurate and break: used with honey, too, it is good for cleansing phagedænic ulcers. Topical applications are made of it, combined with vinegar and polenta, in cases of sciatica aud lumbago: it is similarly employed, too, for lichens and malformed nails, its qualities being naturally caustic. The best nasturtium of all is that of Babylonia; the wild variety possesses the same qualities as the cultivated in every respect, but in a more powerful degree.

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  CHAP. 51.

  RUE: EIGHTY-FOUR REMEDIES.

  One of the most active, however, of all the medicinal plants, is rue. The cultivated kind has broader leaves and more numerous branches than the other. Wild rue is more violent in its effects, and more active in every respect. The juice of it is extracted by beating it up, and moistening it moderately with water; after which it is kept for use in boxes of Cyprian copper. Given in large doses, this juice has all the baneful effects of poison, and that of Macedonia more particularly, which grows on the banks of the river Aliac- mon. It is a truly wonderful thing, but the juice of hemlock has the property of neutralizing its effects. Thus do we find one thing acting as the poison of another poison, for the juice of hemlock is very beneficial, rubbed upon the hands and [face] of persons employed in gathering rue.

  In other respects, rue is one of the principal ingredients employed in antidotes, that of Galatia more particularly. Every species of rue, employed by itself, has the effect also of an antidote, if the leaves are bruised and taken in wine. It is good more particularly in cases of poisoning by wolf’s bane and mistletoe, as well as by fungi, whether administered in the drink or the food. Employed in a similar manner, it is good for the stings of serpents; so much so, in fact, that weasels, when about to attack them, take the precaution first of protecting themselves by eating rue. Rue is good, too, for the injuries by scorpions and spiders, the stings of bees, hornets, and wasps, the noxious effects produced by cantharides and salamanders, and the bites of mad dogs. The juice is taken in doses of one acetabulum, in wine; and the leaves, beaten up or else chewed, are applied topically, with honey and salt, or boiled with vinegar and pitch. It is said that people rubbed with the juice of rue, or even having it on their person, are never attacked by these noxious creatures, and that serpents are driven away by the stench of burning rue. The most efficacious, however, of all, is the root of wild rue, taken with wine; this too, it is said, is more beneficial still, if drunk in the open air.

  Pythagoras has distinguished this plant also into male and female, the former having smaller leaves than the other, and of a grass-green colour; the female plant, he says, has leaves of a larger size and a more vivid hue. The same author, too, has considered rue to be injurious to the eyes; but this is an error, for engravers and painters are in the habit of eating it with bread, or else nasturtium, for the benefit of the sight; wild goats, too, eat it for the sight, they say. Many persons have dispersed films on the eyes by rubbing them with a mixture of the juice of rue with Attic honey, or the milk of a woman just delivered of a male child: the same result has been produced also by touching the corners of the eyes with the pure juice of the plant. Applied topiclly, with polenta, rue carries off defluxions of the eyes; and, taken with wine, or applied topically with vinegar and rose oil, it is a cure for head-ache. If, however, the pain attacks the whole of the head, the rue should be applied with barley-meal and vin- egar. This plant has the effect also of dispelling crudities, flatulency, and inveterate pains of the stomach; it opens the uterus, too, and restores it when displaced; for which purpose it is applied as a liniment, with honey, to the whole of the abdomen and chest. Mixed with figs, and boiled down to one half, it is administered in wine for dropsy; and it is taken in a similar manner for pains of the chest, sides, and loins, as well as for coughs, asthma, and affections of the lungs, liver, and kidneys, and for shivering fits. Persons about to indulge in wine, take a decoction of the leaves, to prevent head-ache and surfeit. Taken in food, too, it is wholesome, whether eaten raw or boiled, or used as a confection: boiled with hyssop, and taken with wine, it is good for gripings of the stomach. Employed in the same way, it arrests internal hæmorrhage, and, applied to the nostrils, bleeding at the nose: it is beneficial also to the teeth if rinsed with it. In cases of ear-ache, this juice is injected into the ears, care being taken to moderate the dose, as already stated, if wild rue is employed. For hardness of hearing, too, and singing in the ears, it is similarly employed in combination with oil of roses, or oil of laurel, or else cummin and honey.

  Juice of rue pounded ill vinegar, is applied also to the temples and the region of the brain in persons affected with phrenitis; some persons, however, have added to this mixture wild thyme and laurel leaves, rubbing the head and neck as well with the liniment. It has been given in vinegar to lethargic patients to smell at, and a decoction of it is administered for epilepsy, in doses of four cyathi, as also just before the attacks in fever of intolerable chills. It is likewise given raw to persons for shivering fits Rue is a provocative of the urine to bleeding even: it promotes the menstrual discharge, also, and brings away the after-birth, as well as the dead fœtus even, according to Hippocrates, if taken in sweet red wine. The same author, also, recommends applications of it, as well as fumigations, for affections of the uterus.

  For cardiac diseases, Diocles prescribes applications of
rue, in combination with vinegar, honey, and barley-meal: and for the iliac passion, he says that it should be mixed with meal, boiled in oil, and spread upon the wool of a sheep’s fleece. Many persons recommend, for purulent expectorations, two drachmæ of dried rue to one and a half of sulphur; and, for spitting of blood, a decoction of three sprigs in wine. It is given also in dysentery, with cheese, the rue being first beaten up in wine; and it has been prescribed, pounded with bitumen, as a potion for habitual shortness of breath. For persons suffering from violent falls, three ounces of the seed is recommended. A pound of oil, in which rue leaves have been boiled, added to one sextarius of wine, forms a liniment for parts of the body which are frost-bitten. If rue really is a diuretic, as Hippocrates thinks, it is a singular thing that some persons should give it, as being an anti-diuretic, for the suppression of incontinence of urine.

  Applied topically, with honey and alum, it cures itch-scabs, and leprous sores; and, in combination with nightshade and hogs’-lard, or beef-suet, it is good for morphew, warts, scrofula, and maladies of a similar nature. Used with vinegar and oil, or else white lead, it is good for erysipelas; and, applied with vinegar, for carbuncles. Some persons prescribe silphium also as an ingredient in the liniment; but it is not employed by them for the cure of the pustules known as epinyctis. Boiled rue is recommended, also, as a cataplasm for swellings of the mamillæ, and, combined with wax, for eruptions of pituitous matter. It is applied with tender sprigs of laurel, in cases of defluxion of the testes; and it exercises so peculiar an effect upon those organs, that old rue, it is said, employed in a liniment, with axle-grease, is a cure for hernia. The seed pounded, and applied with wax, is remedial also for broken limbs. The root of this plant, applied topically, is a cure for effusion of blood in the eyes, and, employed as a liniment, it removes scars or spots on all parts of the body.