BOOK XX. xxxiv. 89-xxxvi. 93 



away the after-birth and ciires the bite of the shrew- 

 inouse. The dried leaves vvhen powdered purge 

 by voniit or by stool. 



XXXV. Of all the varieties of cabbage the most cyma 

 pleasant-tasted is cyma, altliough it is thought to 5''^'^''"* 

 be unwholesome, being difficult of digestion and bad 



for the kidneys. Further, we must not forget that 

 the water in which it has been boiled, though praised 

 for its many uses, has a fuul sniell when poured out 

 on the ground. The ash of dried cabbage-stalks is 

 understood to be caustic, and with stale grease is 

 used for sciatica, but with silphium and vinegar, 

 appHed as a depilatory, it prevents the growth of 

 other hair in phice of that puUed out. It is also 

 taken lukewarm in oil, or boiled in water by itself, 

 for convulsions, internal ruptures, and falls from a 

 height. Has cabbage then no faults to be charged 

 with ? Nay, we find in the same authors that it makes 

 the breath foul and harms teeth and gums. In 

 Egypt too, because of its bitterness, it is not eaten. 



XXXVI. Cato gives vastly higher praise to the ^na 

 wild, or stray, cabbage, so much so that he asserts '^" "^*' 

 that the mere powder of the dried vegetable, col- 

 lected in a smelling-bottle, or the scent only, snuifed 



up the nostrils, removes nose-troubles and any 

 offensive odour. Some call this variety rock-cabbage ; 

 it is strongly antipathetic to wine, so that the vine 

 tries very hard to avoid it, or, if it cannot do so. dies. 

 It has thin " leaves, round, small, and smooth ; though 

 rather like the ordinary vegetable, it is both whiter and 

 more hairy than the cultivated kind. Chrysippus tells 

 us tliat it heals Hatulence, biHousness,* and fresh 



Bee p. 40. Here, from the remedy, it appeais to be some 

 local pain iiear the liver. 



55 



