PLINY : NATURAL HISTORY 



siccae, nec, quantuni videtur, utiles stomacho. 

 tussim exasperant, corpus alunt. sucum decoctarum 

 antiqui pro hydromelite dabant aegris ad vires 

 recrcandas, sitim sedandam, in quo usu praeferebant 

 Thebaicas, sanguinem quoque excreantibus utiles, 

 in cibo maxime. inlinuntur caryotae stomacho, 

 vesicae, ventri, intestinis cum cotoneis et cera et 

 croco. suggillata emendant. nuclei palmarum 

 cremati in tictili novo cinere loto spodi vicem efficiunt 

 miscenturque collyriis et calHblephara faciunt addito 

 nardo. 



i'8 LII. Palma quae fert ^ myrobalanum probatissima 

 in Aegypto. ossa non habet reliquarum modo in 

 balanis, alvum et menses sistit ^ in vino austero et 

 vulnera conglutinat. 



1'9 LIII. Palma elate sive spathe medicinae confert 

 germina, folia, corticem. folia inponuntur prae- 



* fert Dellefsen, Marjhoff, codd. : refert coni. Hard. Cf. 

 Diosc. I. 109 Trapeii<f>(pojv ttj 'Apa^iKrj fivpoPaXdvu). 



^ sistit Hermolaiix Barbarns ex Diosc. : ciet Detlefsen, 

 Mayhoff, codd. Diosc. I. 109 ■ni.vopifvo'; ovv olvw avoTrjpui 

 (^TTOiei add. W ellmann^ rrpos hLappoiav Kal povv yvvaiKtiov 

 lOTTjoi 8e Kai ainoppotbas Kal Tpavp,aTa /foAAa KaTanXaoOeLs. 



" The verb exasperare is here used in an unusual sense, " to 

 take away the roughness " from a cough. This is shown by the 

 parallel passage in Dioscorides (I. 109 Wellmann) : dpTTjpiwv 

 TpaxvTTjTas iwvTai. 



^ With the reading refert : " The date resembling myro- 

 balanum." 



•^ Or : " the Egyptian variety being most esteemed." 



<* In chapters LII and LIIl PHny seems to have compietely 

 misunderstood and confused liis authorities. Dioscorides 

 says that the date is Egyptian, and resembles the Arabian 

 myrobalanum. According to him the spathe is "the covering 

 of the fruit of palms when these are at their prime ( ?) : " 



478 



