LIBER XXVI 



1 I. Sensit facies hominum et novos omnique aevo 

 priore incognitos non Italiae modo verura etiam uni- 

 versae prope Europae morbos, tunc quoque non tota 

 Italia nec per Illyricum Galliasve aut Hispanias 

 magno opere vagatos, aut alibi quam Romae circa- 

 que, sine dolore quidem illos ac sine pernicie vitae, 

 sed tanta foeditate ut quaecumque mors prae- 

 ferenda esset. 



2 II. Gravissimum ex his Hchenas appellavere 

 Graeco nomine, Latine, quoniam a mento fere 

 oriebatur, ioculari primum lascivia, ut est procax 

 multorum natura in alienis miseriis, mox et usurpato 

 vocabulo mentagram, occupantem multis et totos ^ 

 utique voltus, ocuhs tantum inmunibus, descenden- 

 tem vero et in colla pectusque ac manus foedo cutis 

 furfure. 



^ et totos vulg., Detlefsen : et latius totos Mayhoff : pro 

 latius in codd. invenimus intus VRdTf, intuitus E cod. Dal., 

 intutus V^. JJ a yhoff inteutius coni. : ego intensius malim. 



" Lichen, from the Greek XeiXTjv, is in its medical sense the 

 despair of the medical historian. Skin diseases are even today 

 hard to diagnose ; in ancient times it was still harder; hardest 

 of all is it to understand now ancient diagnosis. Lichen 

 included ringworm and many kinds of eczema, especially when 



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