BOOK XXIII. XXXVII. 74-xxxviii. 77 



boiled down. This is done to the consistency of 

 honey in a copper vessel. They are used, with 

 vinegar, old wine, or honey wine, as the particular 

 case requires, for the treatment of the mouth, teeth, 

 ears, running sores, the genitals and chaps. To 

 wounds they are applied on hnen cloth, to sprains on 

 wool. Used thus they are of great value, par- 

 ticularly when old, as a medicament, curing fistula. 

 Thev are injected for ulceration of the anus, genitals, 

 and uterus, but applied as liniment for incipient gout 

 and diseases of the joints. If moreover they are 

 reboiled with omphacium to the consistency of 

 honey, they extract diseased teeth, and with a 

 decoction of lupins and the plant chamaeleon are a 

 wonderful healer of itch scab in beasts of burden. 

 The crude lees are very beneficial as a fomentation 

 for gout. 



XXXVIII. Wild-olive leaves have the same wmoUv 

 qualities. Spodium from the young branches act 

 as a powerful check on catarrhs, reduce inflam- 

 mations of the eyes, cleanse sores that have eaten 

 into the flesh and restore it, while they gently 

 cauterize those that swell outwaids, dry them up 

 and promote cicatrization. In other respects the 

 properties of wild and of cultivated oHve are the 

 same, except that the wild variety has this virtue 

 of its own : a decoction of the leaves in honey is 

 given in doses of three spoonfuls " for spitting of 

 blood. Only,** wild-oUve oil is shai-per and more 

 powerful, for which reason it is used to rinse the 

 mouth in order to strengthen the teeth. The leaves 



' Professor R. A. B. Mynors has answered a query about 

 this strange tantum. He quotes as a near parallel Virgil, 

 Eclogues II. 3 : tantum inter densas umhrosa mcumina jagos. 



465 



