BOOK XXIII. LXIII. I20-I22 



than the first ; doctored" figs, however, are never 

 Nvholesome. Figs increase the strength of youth ; 

 to age they give improved health and fewer wrinkles. 

 They reUeve thirst and cool the heat of the body ; 

 for this reason they are not to be rejected in the 

 constrictive fevers ealled stegnae.'' Dried figs are 

 injurious to the stomach, but wonderfully beneficial 

 to the throat and pharynx. The nature of these is 

 heating, and they cause thirst. They relax the 

 bowels, but are injurious to bowel catarrhs and to the 

 stomach. On all occasions they are beneficial for 

 the bladder, for difficult breathing and for asthma. 

 I.ikewise for complaints of the Hver, kidneys and 

 spleen. They are fiesh-forming and strengthening, 

 and therefoi-e the earUer athletes used them as a 

 staple food. It was the trainer Pythagoras '^ who 

 was the first to change their diet of figs for one of 

 meat. A convalescent after a long ilhiess finds them 

 very beneficial, as do sufferers from epilepsy and 

 dropsy. They are appUed to all gatherings that 

 need bringing to a head or dispersing, more effectively 

 if combined with Ume, soda or iris. Boiled with 

 hyssop they clear the chest of phlegm and chronic 

 cough ; boiled with wine they clear away trouble at the 

 anus and sweUings of the jaws. A decoction of tliem 

 makes an ointment for boils, superficial abscesses 

 and parotid swelUngs. This decoction makes a use- 

 ful fomentation for female complaints, and the same 

 decoction, combined with fenugreek, is useful in 



" This adjective (" constricted," " costive ") was applied to 

 fevers in wliich the pores of the body were closed. It was also 

 used by Galen to describe ea quae sensibile^ excrelioms prohibent 

 (Delphin editor). 



" Pythagoras of Samos, apparently, boxing victor at Olympia 

 in Olympiad 48 (.588 b.c). 



495 



