BOOK XXIV. xcvii. 154-C1. 158 



face or head are cured by its juice obtained by 

 steeping the plant in water for three days. 



XCVIII. The oenobreches has leaves hke those oi oenobreches. 

 the lentil, but a Uttle longer, a red flower and a small, 

 slender root. It grows round spi-ings. Dried till it 

 is Uke flour, and sprinkled in white wine, it stops 

 strangury and checks looseness of the bowels. 

 Rubbing with its juice mixed with oil causes per- 

 spiration. 



XCIX. My proposed task of discussing wonderful 

 plants suggests that I also say a few ^vords about 

 those that are magical. For what plants are more Magkai 

 wonderful than they ? These were first brought to '''^""■'^- 

 the notice of our part of the world by Py thagoras and 

 Deniocritus, who followed as their authority the 

 Magi. Pythagoras declares that water is congealed 

 by the plants coracesia and cahcia ; " but I find no 

 mention of them in other authorities, nor does 

 Pythagoras tell us anything else about them. 



C. The same authority gives the name of minyas, 

 or corinthia,*to a plant of which, he says,the decocted 

 juice, used as a fomentation, immediately heals the 

 bites of serpents. He adds that if it is poured on 

 the grass and a person happens to tread on it, or if 

 by chance it is sprinkled on the body, inevitable I 



death ensues ; so absolutely devilish is the poison of 

 this plant, except that it counteracts other poisons. 



CI. The same Pythagoras caUs aproxis a plant -^proxis. 

 whose root catches fire at a distance Uke naphtha ; ' 



I have spoken about it in my section on the marvels 

 of the earth." He also informs us that the symptoms 



Medea ? The Minyae were the companions of Jason ; Corinth 

 was the scene of Euripides' Medea. 

 ' See Book II. § 235. 



III 



