Chap. 6. 1 PEPONES. 211 



CHAP. 6. PEPONES I ELEVEN EEMEDIE8. 



The fruit known as pepones 27 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. 28 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 29 for smoothing the skin. The 

 rind, too, has the effect 30 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 " epi- 

 nyctis;" 31 steeped in wine, they are good, too, for the bites 

 of dogs and of multipedes, 32 insects known to the Greeks by 

 the name of " seps," 3:< of an elongated form, with hairy legs, 

 and noxious to cattle more particularly ; the sting being fol- 

 lowed by swelling, and the wound rapidly putrifying. 



The smell of the cucumber itself is a restorative 34 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 35 for it. 



27 As to the several varieties of the pumpkin or gourd, known under 

 this name, see B. xix. c. 24. 



28 Dioscorides states to the same effect, and, as Fee thinks, with a pro- 

 bability of being correct. 



29 " Smegmata." 



30 This assertion, Fee says, is utterly untrue. 



31 From fTri, "upon," and vv, "night/' These are red or whitish 

 pustules, accompanied with sharp pains, which appear on the skin at 

 night, and disappear in the day-time. Seec. 21. 



32 Or "many-legs." See B. xxix. c. 39. Probably one of our mille- 

 pedes or centipedes : though Fee suggests that it may have been a large 

 caterpillar 



33 From ffijirtir. " to rot." 



34 This, Fee says, is untrue : but it is hard to say on what grounds he 

 himself asserts that the smell of the cucumber is faint, and almosi nauseous. 



a5 This, probably, is not conformable to modern notions on the subject. 



P 2 



