BOOK XXVII. XXVIII. 46-49 



employed ; rarely too the extracted" juice. It is 

 extracted, however, as soon as the seed begins to 

 swell, the plant * being soaked in water for three 

 days when fresh and for seven when dried ; it is then 

 boiled dovvn to one third in a bronze vessel, ten 

 heminae to forty-iive sextarii of water ; and after 

 being strained to remove the soUd pieces it is boiled 

 down again to the thickness of honey, just Uke juice 

 obtained from the lesser centaury. But this juice is 

 injurious to the stomach and head, while the decoc- 

 tion I mentioned is very wholesome. For it is 

 astringent to the stomach, and with sil, GalHc nard 

 and a Httle vinegar, brings away bile, promotes urine, 

 soothes the bowels, curing them when in pain, drives 

 out worms from the belly, and removes nausea and 

 flatulence. With rue, pepper and salt, it takes 

 away the distaste for food, and aids digestion, bringing 

 away undigested food. As a purge, the old custom 

 was to give six drachmae of the seed, three of salt, 

 and a cyathus of honey, in a sextarius of sea water 

 kept for a time, the pui-ge being more efficacious if 

 the amount of salt is doubled. The pounding 

 however must be carefully done, as it is a difficult 

 task. Some have also given the aforesaid weight in 

 pearl barley with the addition of pennyroyal ; some 

 the leaves in a dried fig to chikh'en, so that the 

 bitter taste is not noticed. Taken with iris it pui'ges 

 the thorax. For jaundice it is taken raw in drink 

 vvith celery or adiantum. For flatulence it is slowly 

 sipped hot in water ; for the hver it is taken with 



* Littre and the Bohn translators say the seecl. This is 

 possible with their reading lente coquihir, but scarcely so with 

 herba electa, which I think must mean that the plant, and not 

 the seed only, is used for the decoction. 



419 



