BOOK VI. XVII. 1-4 



upon vipers and lizards, which, provoked by its 

 weight, inflict a bite upon it. The shrew-mouse, 

 which the Greeks call mygale, though its teeth are 

 small, gives rise to a malady which is far from being 

 slight. A viper's poison can be expelled by scarify- 

 ing with a knife the part affected and applying to 

 it the herb called burdock, pounded up and mixed 

 with salt. The crushed root of the same plant is 2 

 even more beneficial, or the mountain trefoil, which 

 grows in rugged places and is most efficacious, if it can 

 be found ; it has a strong odour like that of bitumen, 

 whence the Greeks call it asphalteion, but our country- 

 folk call it " sharp trefoil " from its shape, for it 

 grows long, hairy leaves and forms a stouter stalk 

 than the meadow trefoil. The juice of this herb 3 

 mixed with wine is poured down the throat, and the 

 leaves themselves are pounded up with salt to form 

 a poultice. If the season of the year makes it im- 

 possible to obtain this herb in a green state, its seeds 

 are collected and pulverized and given with wine as 

 a potion, while the roots are pounded up with their 

 stalks and mixed with barley-flour and salt and, 

 after being dipped in honey-water, are applied to the 

 scarified part. A sovereign remedy is also provided 4 

 by crushing five pounds of tender tops of ash with 

 the same number of sextarii of wine and two of oil 

 and by pouring the juice which you have squeezed 

 out down the animal's throat. You should also apply 

 the tops of the same tree pounded up with salt to the 

 part affected. 



The bite of a lizard causes swelling and suppura- 

 tion, as also does that of a shrew-mouse, but the 

 injury caused by the former is cured if you puncture 

 the part affected with a brazen awl and anoint it with 



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