BOOK XIII. II. 13-17 



boiling until it ceases to have any odour, and when 

 it becomes cold it recovers its scent. 



There are also some juices which separately produce 

 famous perfumes — in the first place cinnamon-leaf, 

 then the Illyrian iris and the sweet marjoram of 

 Cyzicus, both of the herb class. Some few other in- 

 gredients are united with these, different ones by 

 different makers, those who use the most mixing with 

 one or the other honey, flower of salt, omphacium, 

 leaves of the agnus castus, all-heal, and all sorts of 

 foreign substances." Also unguent of cinnamon 

 fetches enormous prices ; to cinnamon is added behen- 

 nut oil, wood-balsam, reed, seeds of rush and balsam, 

 myrrh and scented honey. This is the thickest in 

 consistency of all the unguents ; its prices range 

 from 35 to 300 denarii. Spikenard or leaf-unguent 

 is made of omphacium or else behen-nut oil, rush, 

 costus, nard, amomum, myrrh and balsam. 



Under this heading it will be suitable to recall that 

 we mentioned nine species of plants that resemble xii. 43f. 

 the Indian nard : such a large supply of material is 

 available for purposes of adulteration. They can all 

 be rendered more pungent by the addition of costus 

 and amomum, which have an extremely powerful 

 scent, and thicker in consistency and sweeter by 

 means of myrrh, while their utihty for medicine is 

 increased by adding saffron ; but they will be ren- 

 dered extremely penetrating in themselves by means 

 of amomum — this actually causes headache. Some 

 people hold it enough to add a sprinkle of the 

 most expensive ingredients to the others after boiling 

 them down, as an economy, but the mixture has not 

 the same strength unless they are all boiled down 

 together. Myrrh even when used by itself ^vithout 



107 



