BOOK XXIII. Li. 97-Liii. 99 



are not. so far as can be seen, beneficial to the 

 stoniach. 1 hey reUeve " a cough and are flesh- 

 forming food. The juice of boiled dates used to be 

 given by the ancients to invahds instead of hydromel 

 to restore their strength and to assuage thirst ; for 

 this purpose they used to prefer Thebaic dates, which 

 are also useful, especially in food, for the spitting 

 of blood. The dates called caryotae are applied with 

 quinces, wax, and saffron to the stomach, bladder, 

 belly and intestines. Thev heal bruises. The 

 kernels of dates, if they are burnt in a new earthen 

 vessel and the ashes washed, take the place of 

 spodium, are an ingredient of eye-salves, and with 

 the addition of nard make lotions for the eyebrows. 



LII. The palm which bears ** the myrobalanum, 

 found in Egypt, is very highly esteemed.*' It has 

 no stone in its dates, as other date-palms have. 

 Taken in a dry wine it checks diarrhoea and 

 excessive menstruation, and unites wounds.** 



LIII. The palm called elate or spathe gives to 

 medicine its buds, leaves, and bark. Its leaves are 



TTepiKdXvfiiJ.d eoTL tov Kapnov twv (f>oiinKcov aKfiriv dvdovvTcuv. 

 Pliny on tlie othcr hand speaks of " the palm which bears the 

 myrobalanum," giving it (or its fruit) the properties attributed 

 by Dioscorides to the Egyptian date. He goes on to say that 

 the spalhe was a palm with medicinal properties in its sprigs, 

 lcaves and bark. 



Among Pliny's mistakes seems to be the confusion of ben 

 nut (myrobalanum) with what is called by Dioscorides 

 (f>oiviKoPdXavo;. Cf. Pliny XII. § 103. The conjecture of 

 Hardouin (refert) clears away one discrepancy between 

 Dioscorides and Pliny if we take jxdma in the first sentenee of 

 § 98 to mean " date," but then the words in bahmis becorae 

 oddly otiose. No emendation, however, can make spathe in 

 § 99 mean anything but a tree ; it certainly cannot mean the 

 TT€piKdXvp.p.a rov Kap-nov of Dioscorides. 



479 



