CHAP. 11.—THE PANACES ASCLEPION: TWO REMEDIES.
The panaces, by its very name,564 gives assurance of a remedy for all diseases: there are numerous kinds of it, and the discovery of its properties has been attributed to the gods. One of these kinds is known by the additional name of “asclepion,”565 in commemoration of the circumstance that Æsculapius gave the name of Panacia566 to his daughter. The juice of it, as we have had occasion to remark already,567 coagulates like that of fennel-giant; the root is covered with a thick rind of a salt flavour.
After this plant has been taken up, it is a point religiously observed to fill the hole with various kinds of grain, a sort of expiation, as it were, to the earth. We have already568 stated, when speaking of the exotic productions, where and in what manner this juice is prepared, and what kind is the most esteemed. That which is imported from Macedonia is known as “bucolicon,” from the fact that the neatherds there are in the habit of collecting it as it spontaneously exudes: it evaporates, however, with the greatest rapidity. As to the other kinds, that more particularly is held in disesteem which is black and soft, such being a proof, in fact, that it has been adulterated with wax.