246 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XX. 



oboli respectively. A decoction of asparagus juice is given 

 also for the stings of serpents ; and the root of it, mixed with 

 that of marathrum, 19 is reckoned in the number of the most 

 valuable remedies we are acquainted with. 



In cases of hseinaturia, Chrysippus recommends a mixture 

 of asparagus, parsley, and cummin seed, to be given to the 

 patient every five days, in doses of three oboli, mixed with 

 two cyathi of wine. He says, however, that though employed 

 this way, it is a good diuretic, it is bad for dropsy, and 

 acts as an antaphrodisiac ; and that it is injurious to the 

 bladder, unless it is boiled first. 21 He states also, that if the 

 water in which it is boiled is given to dogs, it will kill them ; 22 

 and that the juice of the root boiled in wine, kept in the mouth, 

 is an effectual cure for tooth-ache. 



CHAP. 44. (11.) PAESLEY ; SEVENTEEN REMEDIES. 



Parsley 23 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 

 upx)n it among the learned, there is not a single production 

 dug out of the earth in reference to which a greater diversity 

 exists. 



19 Or fennel. Fee says that, till very recently, the roots of asparagus 

 and of fennel were combined in medicine, forming part of the five " major 

 aperitive " roots. The sirop of the five aperitive roots is still used, he says, 

 in medicine. 



21 Chrysippus and Dioscorides were of opinion, that a decoction of as- 

 paragus root causes sterility in women ; a false notion, which, as Fee re- 

 marks, prevailed very generally in Greece. 



23 This is not consistent with fact. 



22 See B. xix. c. 37. Parsley, though possessed of marked properties, 

 is but little employed in medicine. What Pliny here states respecting it, 

 Fee says, is a tissue of fables : but it is still used for the cure of sores, and 

 even as an ophthalmic. 



