Nor is fenugreek held in less esteem. By some it is known as “telis,” by others as “carphos,” and by others again as “buceras,” or “ægoceras,”446 the produce of it bearing some resemblance to horns. Among us it is known as “silicia.” The mode of sowing it we have already447 described on the appropriate occasion. Its properties are desiccative,448 emollient, and resolvent. A decoction of it is useful for many female maladies, indurations for instance, tumours, and contractions of the uterus; in all which cases it is employed as a fomentation or used for a sitting-bath: it is serviceable also as an injection. It removes cutaneous eruptions on the face; and a decoction of it, applied topically with nitre or vinegar, cures diseases of the spleen or liver. In cases of difficult labour, Diodes recommends the seed pounded, in doses of one acetabulum, mixed with boiled449 must. After taking one third of the mixture, the patient must use a warm bath, and then, while in a perspiration, she must take another third, and, immediately after leaving the bath, the remainder—this, he says, will prove a most effectual means of obtaining relief.

The same authority recommends fenugreek boiled, with barley or linseed, in hydromel, as a pessary for violent pains in the uterus: he prescribes it also as an external application for the lower regions of the abdomen. He speaks also of treating leprous sores and freckles with a mixture composed of equal proportions of sulphur and meal of fenugreek, recommending it to be applied repeatedly in the course of the day, due care being taken not to rub the part affected.

For the cure of leprosy, Theodorus prescribes a mixture of fenugreek, and one fourth part of cleaned nasturtium, the whole to be steeped in the strongest vinegar. Damion used to give a potion by way of emmenagogue, consisting of half an acetabulum of fenugreek seed in nine cyathi of boiled must450 and water. There is no doubt too, that a decoction of it is remarkably useful for diseases of the uterus and for ulcerations of the intestines, and that the seed is beneficial for affections of the joints and chest. Boiled with mallows and then taken in honied wine, fenugreek is extolled in the highest terms, as serviceable for affections of the uterus and intestines. Indeed, the very steam that arises from the decoction may be productive of considerable benefit. A decoction too of fenugreek seed is a corrective of the rank odours of the armpits. Meal of fenugreek, with wine and nitre, speedily removes ring-worm and dandriff of the head; and a decoction of it in hydromel, with the addition of axle-grease, is used for the cure of diseases of the generative organs, inflamed tumours, imposthumes of the parotid glands, gout in the feet and hands, maladies of the joints, and denudations of the bones. Kneaded with vinegar, it effects the cure of sprains, and, boiled in oxymel only, it is used as a liniment for affections of the spleen. Kneaded with wine, it acts as a detergent upon carcinomatous sores; after which, applied with honey, it effects a perfect cure. A pottage too is made of this meal, which is taken for ulcerations of the chest and chronic coughs; it is kept boiling a considerable time, in order to remove the bitterness,451 after which honey is added.

We shall now proceed to speak of the plants which have gained a higher degree of reputation.

Summary.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, eleven hundred and seventy-six.

Roman authors quoted.—C. Valgius,452 Pompeius Lenæus,453 Sextius Niger454 who wrote in Greek, Julius Bassus455 who wrote in Greek, Antonius Castor,456 Cornelius Celsus.457

Foreign authors quoted.—Theophrastus,458 Apollodorus,459 Democritus,460 Orpheus,461 Pythagoras,462 Mago,463 Menander464 who wrote the “Biochresta,” Nicander,465 Homer, Hesiod,466 Musæus,467 Sophocles,468 Anaxilaüs.469

Medical authors quoted.—Mnesitheus,470 Callimachus,471 Phanias472 the physician, Timaristus,473 Simus,474 Hippocrates,475 Chrysippus,476 Diocles,477 Ophelion,478 Heraclides,479 Hicesius,480 Dionysius,481 Apollodorus482 of Citium, Apollodorus483 of Tarentum, Praxagoras,484 Plistonicus,485 Medius,486 Dieuches,487 Cleophantus,488 Philistion,489 Asclepiades,490 Crateuas,491 Petronius Diodotus,492 Iollas,493 Erasistratus,494 Diagoras,495 Andreas, Mnesides,496 Epicharmus,497 Damion,498 Sosimenes,499 Tlepolemus,500 Metrodorus,501 Solon,502 Lycus,503 Olympias504 of Thebes, Philinus,505 Petrichus,506 Micton,507 Glaucias,508 Xenocrates.509