BOOK XX. xcvi. 257-xcvin. 260 



applied in oii. Many also apply it with wax to 

 l)riiises, and use the root in the juice or with honey 

 for dog bites, and in wine for the sting of the mul 

 tipede. Hippomarathum is for all purposes more 

 drastic, expelHng stone particularly well, and with a 

 soft wine doing good to the bladder and to retarded " 

 menstruation. In this the seed is more efficacious 

 than the root. The dose of either is a two-finger 

 pinch, ground and added to drink. Petrichus who 

 wrote Serpent-lore and Miccion, author of Pre- 

 scriptions from Roots, thought nothing more efficacious 

 than hippomarathum for serpent bites. Nicander* 

 indecd also has placed it far from hist in his hst of 

 antidotes. 



XC\'II. Kenip at first grew in woods, with a Uemp. 

 darker and rougher leaf. Its seed is said to make 

 ihe genitals impotent. The juice from it drives out 

 of the ears the worms and any other creature that 

 has entered them, but at tlie cost of a headache ; so 

 potent is its nature that when poured into water it 

 is said to make it coagulate. And so, drunk in their 

 water, it regulates the bowels of beasts of burden. 

 The root boiled in water eases cramped joints, 

 gout too and similar violent pains.'^ It is applied raw 

 to burns, but is often changed before it gets dry. 



XCVIII. Fennel-giant has a seed similar to that Fennei-giam 

 of dill. The kind with one stem divided at the top 

 is supposed to be female. The stems are eaten 

 boiled, and are made tasty* with brine and honey, 

 being good for the stomach. \^ however too many 

 are eaten they cause headache. One dcnarius of 

 the root in two cyathi of wine is taken for serpent 

 bites, and the root itself is applied to them. So 

 administered it also cures griping, and in oil and 



153 



