Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

  Foreign Authors Quoted. — Theophrastus, Democritus, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Mago, Menander who wrote the Biochresta, Nicander, Homer, Hesiod, Musmæus, Sophocles, Anaxilaüs.

  Medical Authors Quoted. — Mnesitheus who wrote on Chaplets, Callimachus who wrote on Chaplets, Phanias the physician, Simus, Timaristus, Hippocrates, Chrysippus, Diocles, Ophelion, Hieraclides, Hicesius, Dionysius, Apollodorus of Citium, Apollodorus of Tarentum, Praxagoras, Plistonicus, Medius, Dieuches, Cleophantus, Philistio, Asclepiades, Crateaus, Petronius Diodotus, Iollas, Erasistratus, Diagoras, Andreas, Mnesides, Epicharmus, Da- mion, Dalion, Sosimenes, Tlepolemus, Metrodorus, Solo, Lyeus, Olympias of Thebes, Phlilinus, Petrichus Micton, Glaucias, Xenocrates.

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  BOOK XXII. THE PROPERTIES OF PLANTS AND FRUITS.

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  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.

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  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 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 their bodies. There is a plant in Gaul, similar to the plantago in appearance, and known there by the name of “glastum:” with it both matrons and girls among the people of Britain are in tile habit of staining the body all over, when taking part in the performance of certain sacred rites; rivalling hereby tile swarthy hue of the Æthiopianls, they go in a state of nature.

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  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 of Galatia, Africa, and Lusitania, which furnish the coccus, a dye reserved for the military costume of our generals, the people of Gaul beyond the Alps produce the Tyrian colours, the conchyliated, and all the other hues, by the agency of plants alone. They have not there to seek the murex at tine 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 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. 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 arts. Meantime, I shall be actuated by higher considerations, and shall proceed to show in what esteem we are bound to hold the mute 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,” 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 demanding restitution of property that had been carried off, one of these officers was always known as the “verbenarius.”

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  CHAP. 4. (3.)

  THE GRASS GROWN: 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. The crowns 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 green grass, 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 their na- tive 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.

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  CHAP. 5. (5.)

  THE ONLY PERSONS THAT HAVE BEEN PRESENTED WITH THIS CROWN.

  L. Siccius Dentatus 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, the military tribune, for example, who received one from his own army, and another from the troops which he had rescued 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 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 existenc
e more glorious — to that same Fabius who restored the fortunes of Rome by avoiding a battle; not, however, on the occasion when he preserved the master of the horse 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.

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  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, 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 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, in presence of the then consuls, 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 com- memorated 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,” 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, 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. Au- gustus himself was also presented by the senate with the obsidional crown, upon the ides of September, in the consulship 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.

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  CHAP. 7.

  REMEDIES DERIVED FROM OTHER CHAPLET PLANTS.

  No plant 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 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. As for ourselves, we go on enjoying our pleasures, and are con- tent to live — a thing that in my opinion reflects the highest possible disgrace — by putting faith in others.

  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 reme- dies 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, the wondrous providence displayed by Nature. She had given us, as already 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, how- ever, 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.

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  CHAP. 8. (7.)

  THE ERYNGE OR ERYNGIUM.

  In the first rank of the plants armed with prickles, the erynge, or eryngion stands pre-eminent, a vegetable production held in high esteem as an antidote formed for the poison of ser- pents 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 lini- ment, 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 and other poisons. 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, the root of it being odoriferous. It is cultivated in gardens, but it is frequently to be found growing 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.

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  CHAP. 9. (8.)

  THE ERYNGIUM, CALLED CENTUM CAPITA: THIRTY REMEDIES.

  The white variety of the eryngium is known in our lan- guage as the “centum capita.” It has all the properties above- mentioned, and the Greeks employ both the stalk and the root as an article of food, either boiled or raw. There are some marvellous facts related in connexion with this plant; the root 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 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 thorac
ic 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, im- posthumes 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 combi- nation 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.

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  CHAP. 10. (9.)

  THE ACANOS; ONE REMEDY.

  There are some authors, too, who make the acanos 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.

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  CHAP. 11.

  THE GLYCYRRHIZA OR ADIPSOS: FIFTEEN REMEDIES.

  Other authors, again, have erroneously taken the glycyrrhiza 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, 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 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, the root of it being long, like that of the vine. 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 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.