BOOK XXIV. Lxiii. 104-LXIV. 106 



by fasting persons to keep ofF the diseases of swine 

 and oxen. As one gathers it one must not look 

 at it, nor place the plant anywhere except in the 

 trough, where it should be crushed for the animals 

 to drink. 



LXIV. I have raentioned ^* the different kinds of Gnms. 

 gums. The better the sort of each kind the more 

 potent its effect. Gums are injurious to the teeth, 

 coagulate blood and therefore benefit those who spit 

 blood ; they are also good for burns though bad for 

 affections of the trachea ; they promote urine and 

 lessen the bitter taste in things. Gums generally are 

 acrid,* but the gum that comes from bitter almonds, 

 and is more efficacious for giving astringency to 

 the internal organs, possesses heating properties. 

 The gums from plums, cherries and vines are less 

 esteemed. An application of gum has drying and 

 astringent pi-operties, in vinegar moreover it cures 

 lichens on babies, and four oboU taken in must "^ are 

 good for a chronic cough. Gums are beUeved to 

 improve the complexion and also the appetite ; they 



Oepnaivei, shows that the bitter almond is referred to, but 

 the riin of the sentence makes us expect a nominative adjective 

 to be joined to efficacior. Perhaps — it is only a guess — the 

 sentence should run : adstriclis celeris, qiiae ex amygdala amara 

 (excipitur amaray est spissandisque visceribus efficacior ; habet 

 excalfactorias vires. The logic of the passage would be that 

 other gums lessen bitter tastes, but gum from bitter almonds 

 is itself bitter. 



' It is difRcult to make sense here of in mixto, " in a mix- 

 ture." Moreover, in is not the usual preposition in such 

 phrases, but ex or citm. This objection, of course, applies to 

 mnsto as much as to mixto. Musto, however, is probably right, 

 although immixtarum, " four oboli of mixed gums " would suit 

 the sense of the passage and avoid the difficulty of in. But 

 were immixtaru the original reading, it is hard to understand 

 why it was altered to in mixto. 



77 



