CHap. 2.] 
UNatJENTS. 
165 
cinnamon is quite enormous ; to cinnamon tliere is added oil 
of balanus, xylobalsamum, calamus, sweet-rush, seeds of 
balsamum, myrrh, and perfumed honey : it is the thickest in 
consistency of all the unguents ; the price at which it sells 
ranges from thirty-five to three hundred denarii per pound. 
Unguent of nard,^ or foliatum, is composed of omphacium or 
else oil of balanus, sweet-rush, costus,^"^ nard, amomum,^ 
myrrh, and balsamum. 
While speaking on this subject, it will be as well to bear in 
mind that there are nine dilferent kinds of plants of a similar 
kind, of which we have already made mention as being em- 
ployed for the purpose of imitating Indian nard ; so abun- 
dant are the materials that are afforded for adulteration. All 
these perfumes are rendered still more pungent by the addi- 
tion of costus and amomum, which have a particularly power- 
ful effect on the olfactory organs ; while myrrh gives them 
greater consistency and additional sweetness, and saffron makes 
them better adapted for medicinal purposes. They are most 
pungent, however, v/hen mixed with amomum alone, which 
will often produce head-ache even. There are some persons who 
content themselves with sprinkling the more precious ingre- 
dients upon the others after boiling them down, for the pur- 
pose of economy ; but the strength of the unguent is not so 
great as when the ingredients have been boiled together. 
Myrrh used by itself, and without the mixture of oil, forms 
an unguent, but it is stacte only that must be used, for other- 
wise it will be productive of too great bitterness. Unguent of 
Cyprus turns other unguents green, while lily unguent makes 
them more unctuous : the unguent of Mendes turns them 
black, rose unguent makes them white, and that of myrrh 
of a pallid hue. 
Such are the particulars of the ancient inventions, and the 
various falsifications of the shops in later times ; we will now 
pass on to make mention of what is the very height of refine- 
ment in these articles of luxury, indeed, I may say, the beau 
ideaP^ of them all. 
65 Nardinum. 
^ Or leaf unguent, so called from being made of leaves of nard. See 
B. xii. c. 27. 
6^ See B, xii. c. 25. See B. xii. c. 28. 
6^ See B. xii. c. 26, 27, where the list is given. 
See B. xii. c. 35. Susinum. See p. 163. 
'''^ Summa auctoritas rei. 
