BOOK XXV. XXIX. 65-xxxi. 68 



useless, but the seed taken in wine is a sovereign 

 remedy in cases of dysentery. 



XXX. Centaury is said to have been the treat- Centaury. 

 ment " given to Chiron when an arrow fell 011 his foot 



as he was handling the arms of Hercides, who was his 

 guest ; for which reason some call it chironion. Its 

 leaves are broad and longish, serrated all round the 

 edge ; thickly from the root grow jointed stems 

 three cubits high. On these are heads Hke those of 

 poppies. The root is enormous and reddish, soft and 

 easily broken, up to two cubits in size, streaming with 

 juice and bitter with something of sweetness in it. It 

 grows on hills \\-ith a rich soil, the most esteemed in 

 Arcadia, EHs, Messenia, Pholoe and on mount 

 Lycaeus ; on the Alps too and in very many other 

 places. In Lycia indeed they also make a lycium ^* 

 from it. Its pow'er to cure wounds is so strong that 

 even pieces of meat, they say, coalesce if they are 

 boiled with it. The part used is the root, the dose 

 being for the patients for whom it will be prescribed 

 two drachmae only. It should be pounded and 

 taken in water if fever be present ; those without 

 fever should take it pounded but in wine. The 

 juice of the decoction cures also the diseases of 

 sheep." 



XXXI. There is a second centaury, surnamed Another 

 lepton,"* a plant with small leaves ; some call it '^^"'"'"■^- 

 Ubadion,* because it grow's along the side of springs. 



remedies in the sense of " preventive," although obviani and 

 obviare are used to make up phrases containing the idea of 

 " preventing," the indirect objects being infecunditali, timori, 

 dedecori and vermibus. 8ee Serenus VII. cura obvia morbis. 



^ Greek AeTTTos = smaU, fine. 



' Greek Ai^ds = spring, fount. 



185 



