BOOK XXVI. xxviii. 45-xxx. 47 



is applied locally in the way I have desciibed." For 

 tenesmus the root of nymphaea heraclia is taken in 

 wine, psyllium in water, or a decoction of root of 

 acoron. The juice of aizoiim checks looseness of 

 the bowels and dysentery, and expels round worms. 

 Root of symphytum taken in wine checks looseness 

 of the bowels and dysentery, as does the root of 

 daucum. Leaves of aizoiim thoroughly beaten up 

 in wine arrest griping pains, as does dried alcima 

 powdered and taken with wine.'' 



XXIX. Astragalus has long leaves with many AsiraguUis 

 slanting incisions, around the root three or four 

 stems covered with leaves, blossom like that of 



the hyacinthus, and roots that are hairy, matted, red 

 and very hard. It grows on stony ground that is 

 exposed to sunshine and also to falls of snow, Hke the 

 ground around Pheneus in Arcadia. Its property is 

 to brace the body. Its root, taken in wine, checks 

 looseness of the bowels, a result of which is that it is 

 diuretic by fox'cing back their fluid, as most things do 

 that check looseness. It cures dysentery also when 

 ground in Ught-red '^ wine, but it is ground only with 

 difficulty. Fomentation with the same plant is very 

 good for gum-boils. It is gathered at the end of 

 autumn, when it has lost its leaves, and is dried in the 

 shade. 



XXX. Looseness of the bowels is also checked by Ladanum. 

 both kinds of ladanum ; the one that grows in corn- 



fields must be first crushed and passed through a 

 sieve. It is taken in hydromel, or in wine of a good 

 vintage. The name of ledon is given to a plant from 

 which in Cyprus is made the ladanum that cHngs to the 

 beards of goats ; a finer sort is prepared in Arabia. 

 Today a kind is also found in Syria and in Africa, called 



299 



