BOOK XX. L. 129-L1. 133 



ears ; and that dandrufF and sores on the head are 

 removed if the juice be applicd with goose grease. 

 Boils it brings to a head if appHed with leaven. It 

 makes carbuncles suppurate and break, and with 

 honey it cleanses phagedaenic ulcers. With pearl 

 barley it is applied in vinegar for sciatica and lum- 

 iiago, likewise for lichcn and rough nails, because its 

 tiature is caustic. The best kind, however, is the 

 Babylonian ; the wikl variety for all the purposes 

 mentioned is the more efficacious. 



LI. But among our chief medicinal plants is rue. 

 The cultivated kind has the wider leaves and the 

 more bushy branches ; the wikl variety is harsh in 

 its elfects and sharper in all respects. The juice is 

 extracted by pounding with a moderate sprinkling 

 of water, and is kept in a copper box. An overdose 

 of this juice possesses poisonous quahties, especially 

 in Macedonia near the river AHacmon. Strangely 

 enough, it is neutraHzed by the juice of hemlock ; 

 so there are actuahy poisons of poisons, and hemk>ck 

 juice is good for the hands and face of those who 

 gather rue. Further, rue, especially the Gallie 

 variety, is one of the chief ingredients of antidotes. 

 Any sort of rue, however, is even by itself a powerful 

 antidote, the pounded leaves being taken in wine, 

 especiahy against aconite and mistletoe ; Hkewise, 

 whether given in drink or in food, against poisonous 

 fungi. In Hke manner it covmteracts the bites of 

 serpents, seeing that weasels, when about to fight 

 with them, first protect themselves by eating rue. 

 Rue is good for stings of scorpions and for those of 

 spiders, bees, hornets and wasps, for injuries caused 

 by cantharides "■ and saLamanders, and for the bites 

 of mad dogs. The juice is drunk in wine in doses of 



77 



