REMEDIES FOR EVILS WHICH ARE LIABLE TO AFFECT THE WHOLE BODY

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Nunc praevertemur ad ea, quae totis corporibus metuenda sunt.

Fel canis nigri masculi amuletum esse dicunt Magi domus totius suffitae eo purificataeve contra omnia mala medicamenta, item sanguinem canis respersis parietibus genitaleque eius sub limine ianuae defossum. minus mirentur hoc qui sciunt, foedissimum animalium in quantum magnificent, ricinum, quoniam uni nullus sit exitus saginae nec finis alia quam morte, diutius in fame viventi: septenis ita diebus durare tradunt, at in satietate paucioribus dehiscere; hunc ex aure sinistra canis omnes dolores sedare adalligatum. et indicium in augurio vitalium habent, nam si aeger initio respondeat ei, qui intulerit, a pedibus stanti interrogantique de morbo, spem vitae certam esse, moriturum nihil respondere. adiciunt ut evellatur ex aure laeva canis, cui non sit alius quam niger colos. Nigidius fugere toto die canes conspectum eius, qui e sue id animal evellerit, scriptum reliquit. rursus Magi tradunt lymphatos sanguinis talpae adspersu resipiscere, eos vero, qui a nocturnis diis Faunisque agitentur, draconis lingua et oculis et felle intestinisque in vino et oleo decoctis ac sub diu nocte refrigeratis perunctionibus matutinis vespertinisque liberari.

Perfrictionibus remedio esse tradit Nicander amphisbaenam serpentem mortuam adalligatam vel pellem tantum eius, quin immo arbori, quae caedatur, adalligata non algere caedentes, faciliusque succedere ita. quae sola serpentium frigori se committit, prima omnium procedens et ante cuculi cantum. aliud est ccuulo miraculum: quo quis loco primum audiat alitem illam, si dexter pes circumscribatur ac vestigium id effodiatur, non gigni pulices, ubicumque spargatur.

Paralysim caventibus pinguia glirium decoctorum et soricum utilissima tradunt esse, milipedas ut in angina diximus potas; phthisim sentientibus lacertam viridem de- coctam in vini sextariis III ad cyathum unum, singulis coclearibus sumptis per dies, donec convalescant, coclearum cinerem potum in vino; comitialibus morbis oesypum cum murrae momento et vini cyathis II dilutum magnitudine nucis abellanae, a balineo potum, testiculos arietinos inveteratos tritosque dimidio denarii pondere in aquae vel lactis asinini hemina. interdicitur vini potus quinis diebus ante et postea. magnifice laudatur et sanguis pecudum potus, item fel cum melle, praecipue agninum, catulus lactens sumptus absciso capite pedibusque ex vino et murra, lichen mulae potus in oxymelite cyathis III, stelionis transmarini cinis potus in aceto, tunicula stelionis, quam eodem modo ut anguis exuit, in potu. quidam et ipsum harundine exinteratum inveteratumque bibendum dederunt, alii in cibo ligneis veribus inassatum. operae pretium est scire, quo modo praeripiatur, cum exuerit, membrana hiberna alias devoranti eam, quoniam nullum animal fraudulentius invidere homini tradunt, inde stelionum nomine in maledictum translato. observant cubile eius aestatibus; est autem in loricis ostiorum fenestrarumque aut camaris sepulchrisve. ibi vere incipiente fissis harundinibus textas opponunt ceu nassas, quarum angustiis etiam gaudet, eo facilius exuens circumdatum torporem; sed relicto non potest remeare. nihil ei remedio in comitialibus morbis praefertur. prodest et cerebrum mustelae inveteratum potumque et iocur eius, testiculi quoque volvaque aut ventriculus inveteratus cum coriandro, ut diximus, item cinis, silvestris vero tota in cibo sumpta. eadem omnia praedicantur ex viverra. lacerta viridis cum condimentis, quae fastidium abstergeant, ablatis pedibus ac capite, coclearum cinis addito semine lini et urticae cum melle inlitu sanant. Magis placet draconis cauda in pelle dorcadis adalligata cervinis nervis vel lapilli e ventre hirundinum pullorum sinistro lacerto adnexi; dicuntur enim excluso pullo lapillum dare. quod si pullus is detur in cibo, quem primum pepererit, cum quis primum temptatus sit, liberatur eo malo; postea medetur hirundinum sanguis cum ture vel cor recens devoratum. quin et e nido earum lapillus inpositus recreare dicitur confestim, adalligatus in perpetuum tueri. praedicatur et iocur milui devoratum et senectus serpentium, iocur vulturis tritum cum suo sanguine ter septenis diebus potum, cor pulli vulturini adalligatum. sed et ipsum vulturem in cibo dari iubent et quidem satiatum humano cadavere. quidam pectus eius bibendum censent in cerrino calice, aut testes gallinacei ex aqua et lacte, antecedente v dierum abstinentia vini; ob id inveterant. fuere et qui muscas XXI rufas, et quidem a mortuo, in potu darent, infirmioribus pauciores.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

We will now turn our attention to those evils which are a cause of apprehension, as affecting the whole body. According to what the magicians say, the gall of a male black dog is a counter-charm for the whole of a house; and it will be quite sufficient to make fumigations with it, or to use it as a purification, to ensure its preservation against all noxious drugs and preparations. They say the same, too, with reference to a dog’s blood, if the walls are sprinkled with it; and the genitals of that animal, if buried beneath the threshold. This will surprise persons the less who are aware how highly these same magicians extol that most abominable insect, the tick, and all because it is the only one that has no passage for the evacuations, its eating ending only in its death, and it living all the longer for fasting: in this latter state it has been known to live so long as seven days, they say, but when it gorges to satiety it will burst in a much shorter period. According to these authorities, a tick from a dog’s left ear, worn as an amulet, will allay all kinds of pains. They presage, too, from it on matters of life and death; for if the patient, they say, gives an answer to a person who has a tick about him, and, standing at the foot of the bed, asks how he is, it is an infallible sign that he will survive; while, on the other hand, if he makes no answer, he will be sure to die. They add, also, that the dog from whose left ear the tick is taken, must be entirely black. Nigidius has stated in his writings that dogs will avoid the presence all day of a person who has taken a tick from off a hog.

The magicians likewise assure us that patients suffering from delirium will recover their reason on being sprinkled with a mole’s blood; and that persons who are apt to be troubled by the gods of the night and by Fauni, will experience relief by rubbing themselves morning and evening with the tongue, eyes, gall, and intestines of a dragon, boiled in oil, and cooled in the open air at night.

A remedy for cold shiverings, according to Nicander, is a dead amphisbæna, or its skin only, attached to the body: in addition to which, he informs us that if one of these reptiles is attached to a tree that is being felled, the persons hewing it will never feel cold, and will fell it all the more easily. For so it is, that this is the only one among all the serpents that faces the cold, making its appearance the first of all, and even before the cuckoo’s note is heard. There is another marvellous fact also mentioned, with reference to the cuckoo: if, upon the spot where a person hears this bird for the first time, he traces round the space occupied by his right foot and then digs up the earth, it will effectually prevent fleas from breeding, wherever it is thrown.

For persons apprehensive of paralysis the fat of dormice and of field-mice, they say, is very useful, boiled: and for patients threatened with phthisis, millepedes are good, taken in drink, in manner already mentioned for the cure of quinzy. The same, too, with a green lizard, boiled down to one cyathus in three sextarii of wine, and taken in doses of one spoonful daily, until the patient is perfectly cured; the ashes also of burnt snails, taken in wine.

For the cure of epilepsy wool-grease is used, with a modicum of myrrh, a piece about the size of a hazel-nut being dissolved and taken after the bath, in two cyathi of wine: a ram’s testes, also, dried and pounded, and taken in doses of half a denarius, in water, or in a semi-sextarius of asses’ milk; the patient being forbidden wine five days before and after using the remedy. Sheep’s blood, too, is mightily praised, taken in drink; sheep’s gall, also, and lambs’ gall in particular, mixed with honey; the flesh of a sucking puppy, taken with wine and myrrh, the head and feet being first removed; the callosities from a mule’s legs, taken in three cyathi of oxymel; the ashes of a spotted lizard from beyond seas, taken in vinegar; the thin coat of a spotted lizard, which it casts like a snake, taken in drink—indeed some persons recommend the lizard itself, gutted with a reed and dried and taken in drink; while others, again, are for roasting it on a wooden spit and taking it with the food.

It is worth while knowing how the winter slough of this lizard is obtained when it casts it off, before it has had the opportunity of devouring it; there being no creature, it is said, that resorts in its spite to more cunning devices for the deception of man; a circumstance owing to which, the name of “stellio” has been borrowed as a name of reproach. The place to which it retires in summer is carefully observed, being generally some spot beneath the projecting parts of doors or windows, or else in vaults or tombs. In the early days of spring, cages made of split reeds are placed before these spots; and the narrower the interstices the more delighted is the animal with them, it being all the better enabled thereby to disengage itself of the coat which adheres to its body and impedes its freedom of action: when, however, it has once quitted it, the construction of the cage prevents its return. There is nothing whatever preferred to this lizard as a remedy for epilepsy. The brains of a weasel are also considered very good, dried and taken in drink; the liver, too, of that animal, or the testes, uterus, or paunch, dried and taken with coriander, in manner already mentioned; the ashes also of a burnt weasel; or a wild weasel, eaten whole with the food. All these properties are equally attributed to the ferret. A green lizard is sometimes eaten, dressed with seasonings to stimulate the appetite, the feet and head being first removed; the ashes, too, of burnt snails are used, as an ointment, with linseed, nettle-seed, and honey.

The magicians think highly of a dragon’s tail, attached to the body, with a deer’s sinews, in the skin of a gazelle; as also the small grits found in the crops of young swallows, tied to the left arm of the patient; for swallows, it is said, give small stones to their young the moment they are hatched. If, at the commencement of the first paroxysm, an epileptic patient eats the first of a swallow’s brood that has been hatched, he will experience a perfect cure: but at a later period the disease is treated by using swallow’s blood with frankincense, or by eating the heart of the bird quite fresh. Nay, even more than this, a small stone taken from a swallow’s nest will relieve the patient the moment it is applied, they say; worn, too, as an amulet, it will always act as a preservative against the malady. A kite’s liver, too, eaten by the patient, is highly vaunted; the slough also of a serpent; a vulture’s liver, beaten up with the blood of the bird, and taken thrice seven days in drink; or the heart of a young vulture, worn attached to the body.

And not only this, but the vulture itself is recommended as a food for the patient, and that, too, when it has been glutted with human flesh. Some recommend the breast of this bird to be taken in drink from a cup made of cerrus wood, or the testes of a dunghill cock to be taken in milk and water; the patient abstaining from wine the five preceding days, and the testes being dried for the purpose. There have been authorities found to recommend one-and-twenty red flies—and those found dead, too!—taken in drink, the number being reduced where the patient is of a feeble habit.