PLINY : NATURAL HISTORY 



cenet. nam si ex horto petantur, aut herba vel 

 frutex quaeratur, nulla artium vilior fiat. ita est 

 profecto, magnitudine populi R. periit ritus, vin- 

 cendoque victi sumus. paremus externis, et una 

 artium imperatoribus quoque imperaverunt. verum 

 de his alias plura. 



II. Loton herbam itemque Aegyptiam eodem 

 nomine alias et Syrticam arborem diximus suis locis. 

 haec lotos, quae faba Graeca appellatur a nostris, 

 alvum bacis sistit, ramenta Ugni decocta in vino 

 prosunt dysintericis, menstruis, vertigini, comitia- 

 libus, cohibent et capillum. mirum his ramentis 

 nihil esse amarius fructuque dulcius. fit et e scobe 

 eius medicamentum ex aqua myrti decocta, subacta 

 et divisa in pastillos, dvsintericis utilissimum pondere 

 victoriati cum aquae cyathis tribus. 



III. Glans intrita duritias quas cacoethe vocant 

 cum salsa axungia sanat. vehementiores ilignae ^ et 

 in omnibus cortex ipse corticique tunica subiecta. 

 haec decocta iuvat coeliacos. dysintericis et inlinitur 



^ ilignae Detlefsen : iligna Sillig, MayJioff : ligna aut 

 lichenas codd. 



" The ordinary meaning of nam would make good sense, but 

 the Plinian usage fits better the logic of the passage. 



» See XXI. § 103 and XIII. §§ 104 ff. Perhaps Syriacam, 

 referring to the faba Sj/riaca, should be read for Syrticam. 



' This weight and coin is first mentioned by Pliny in XX. 

 § 264. It was half a denarius, that is, half a drachma. 



^ This chapter is difficult to translate, or even to under- 

 stand, because Pliny, after beginning with the medicinal uses of 

 glans, proceeds, without telling the reader that he has passed 

 on to the oak, to talk of folia et bacae. Accordingly, it is 

 imcertain whether cortex means the peel of the acom or the 

 bark of the tree. Dioscorides is quite clear. Under 8pvs he 

 says (I. 106, Wellmann) : fxdXiara Be avTi]s aTv<fm t6 ^era^i) 

 rov ^Aoiou Kai tov TrpefjLVOv vfxevoeiSes, opLOLOJS Kal t6 nepl TJj 



