BOOK XXIV. Lxxxviii. 138-XC1. 142 



pounded and taken in doses of one denarius by weight 

 to five cyathi of oxymel or warm water ; this prescrip- 

 tion also helps the after-birth. 



LXXXIX. But the Greeks have also other kinds 

 of clematis, one of which some call aetites, others 

 lagine, and others the " slender scammony." It has 

 branches two feet long, leafy, and not unlike those of 

 scammony, except that the leaves are darker and 

 smaller. It is found in vineyards and cultivated 

 fields, is eaten as salad with oil and salt, and relaxes 

 tlie bowels. With linseed it is also drunk in a dr)'^ wine 

 by sufiTerers from dysentery. The leaves with pearl 

 barley are applied to fluxes from the eyes, a damp rag 

 being first placed underneath. An application draws 

 scrofulous sores to suppuration, and then a further 

 application with axle-grease completes the cure. 

 With green oil also they are beneficial for haemor- 

 rhoids, and with honey for consumptives. Taken 

 as a food they also promote an abundant supply of 

 human milk, applied to the heads of babies they 

 stimulate the growth of hair, and eaten with vinegar 

 they act as an aphrodisiac. 



XC. There is another clematis, called also the 

 Egyptian, by some daphnoides and by others poly- 

 gonoides, with a leaf Hke that of the bay ; it is long 

 and slender, and taken in vinegar is efficacious against 

 the bite of serpents, being specific for that of asps. 



XCI. It is Egypt especially that produces this Aron, dm- 

 clematis, and also the aron, which I have mentioned " 'drMunXiHs. 

 in my section on bulbs ; about it and dracontium 

 there has been sharp controversy, for some have 

 asserted that the two are the same. Glaucias 

 distinguished them by their mode of reproduction,* 

 declaring that dracontium is wild aron. Some have 



