BOOK XXIII. Lxxi. 136-138 



LXXI. There is made from the mulberry a mouth- a mniherry 

 wash" called panchrestos, or arteriace, in the foUowing "'""'''-"''"''• 

 way. Three sextai-ii of the juice from the fruit ai-e 

 reduced by a gentle heat to the consistency of 

 honey ; tlien are added two denarii of dried 

 omphacium, or one of myrrh, and one denarius of 

 saffron. These are beaten up together and mixed 

 with the decoction. There is no other remedy more 

 pleasant for the mouth, the trachea, the uvula or 

 the gullet. It is also prepared in another way. 

 Two sextarii of the juice and one sextarius of Attic 

 honey are boiled down in the manner I have described 

 above. 



There are besides marvels related of the mulberry. 

 When it begins to bud, but before the leaves unfold, 

 the fruit-to-be is plucked with the left hand. Tlie 

 Greeks call them ricini.* These, if they have not 

 touched the ground, when worn as an amulet stay 

 a flow of bkwd, whether it flows froni a wound, the 

 mouth, the nostrils, or from haemorrhoids. For tliis 

 purpose they are stored away and kept. The same 

 effect is said to be produced if there be broken off 

 at a full moon a branch beginning to bear ; it must 

 not touch the ground, and is specially useful when 

 tied on the upper arm of a woman to prevent 

 excessive menstruation. It is thought that the 

 same result is obtained if the woman herself breaks 

 off a branch at any tirne, provided that it does not 

 touch the ground before it is used as an amulet. 

 Mulberry leaves pounded, or a decoction of dried 

 leaves, are used as an application for snake bite, and 

 it is of some "^ benefit to take them in drink. The 



' Or, with the reading of Mayhoff , " equally beneficial." 



