BOOK XX. xcv. 254-xcvi. 257 



It is also made from fresh seed and from incisions 

 in the root when germination has first begun. 



XCVI. There is in tliis class of plant a wild 

 variety called hippomarathum, by some myrsineum, 

 with larger leaves and a sharper taste, taller, as 

 thick as a walking-stick, and with a white root. It 

 grows in warm and rocky soils. Diocles has spoken 

 of yet another kind of hippomarathum, with a long, 

 narrow leaf, and a seed Hke that of coriander. The 

 cultivated kind is used in medicine for the wounds 

 of scorpions and serpents, the seed being taken in 

 wine. The juice is also dropped into the ears, where 

 it kills the worms infesting them. The plant itself 

 is an ingredient of nearly all condiments, being 

 especially suited for digestives. Moreover, it is 

 placed under the crusts of loaves." The seed braces 

 a relaxed stomach, even if taken in fevers, relieves 

 nausea if pounded and taken in water, and is a 

 highly praised remedy for complaints of the lungs 

 and liver. It stays looseness of the bowels, if a 

 moderate amount be taken ; when taken for griping 

 it is diuretic, and a decoction drunk when milk fails 

 fills the breasts again. The root cleanses the 

 kidneys when taken with barley water, or if the 

 juice of the boiled-down root be drunk with wine. 

 Taken in wine the root is also good for dropsy, Uke- 

 wise for spasms. The leaves are applied in vinegar 

 to inflamed * tumours, and they expel stones in the 

 bladder. In whatever way it is taken it creates an 

 abundance of seed, being very soothing to the 

 privates, whether the root be boiled down with wine 

 for a fomentation, or the plant be pounded up and 



* If ardente be read : " in strong vinegar " ; if anlentes, 

 " burning gall-stones." 



