BOOK XXVI. IX. 19-X. 22 



good and lucky children, did it ever give such 

 ofrspring to any Persian king ? It would certainly 

 be wonderful that the creduUty of our forefathers, 

 though it arose from most sound beginnings, reached 

 the lieight it did, if in any matter man's wit knew 

 moderation, and I were not about to show," in the 

 appropriate place, that this very system of medicine 

 invented by Asclepiades has surpassed even Magian 

 nonsense. It is without exception the nature of the 

 human mind that what begins with necessities is 

 finally can-ied to excess. I shall therefore go on to 

 describe the omitted properties of the plants I dealt 

 with in the preceding book, adding any other plants 

 that my judgment will suggest. 



X. But of lichen, which is so disfiguring a disease, Hchen. 

 I shall amass from all sources a greater number of 

 remedies, although not a few have been noticed 

 ah-eady. Remedies, then, are pounded plaintain, 

 cinquefoil, i-oot of asphodel in vinegar, shoots of the 

 fig-tree boiled down in vinegar, and the root of 

 hibiscus with bee-glue and strong vinegar boiled 

 down to one quarter. The aftected part is also 

 rubbed with pumice, as a preparation for the appH- 

 cation of rumex root pounded in vinegar, or of 

 mistletoe scum ^ kneaded with hme. A decoction 

 too of tithj-malhis with resin is highly recommended ; 

 the plant Hchen however is considered a better 

 remedy than all these, a fact which has given the 

 plant its name. It grows among rocks, has one broad 

 leaf near the root, and one small stem with long leaves 

 hanging down from it. This plant removes also 

 marks of scars ; it is pounded with honey. There is 

 another kind of lichen, entii-ely cHnging, as does moss, 

 to rocks ; this too is used by itself as a local appHca- 



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