CHAP. 33. (9).—THE CABBAGE: EIGHTY-SEVEN REMEDIES. RE-
CIPES MENTIONED BY CATO.
It would be too lengthy a task to enumerate all the praises
of the cabbage, more particularly as the physician Chrysippus
has devoted a whole volume to the subject, in which its virtues are described in reference to each individual part of the
human body. Dieuches has done the same, and Pythagoras
too, in particular. Cato, too, has not been more sparing in its
praises than the others; and it will be only right to examine
the opinions which he expresses in relation to it, if for no
other purpose than to learn what medicines the Roman people
made use of for six hundred years.
The most ancient Greek writers have distinguished three
1
varieties of the cabbage; the curly
2 cabbage, to which they
have given the name of "selinoïdes,"
3 from the resemblance
of its leaf to that of parsley, beneficial to the stomach, and
moderately relaxing to the bowels; the "helia," with broad
leaves running out from the stalk—a circumstance, owing to
which some persons have given it the name of "caulodes"—
of no use whatever in a medicinal point of view; and a third,
the name of which is properly "crambe," with thinner leaves,
of simple form, and closely packed, more bitter than the others,
but extremely efficacious in medicine.
4
Cato
5 esteems the curly cabbage the most highly of all,
and next to it, the smooth cabbage with large leaves and
a thick stalk. He says that it is a good thing for headache, dimness of the sight, and dazzling
6 of the eyes, the
spleen, stomach, and thoracic organs, taken raw in the morning, in doses of two acetabula, with oxymel, coriander, rue,
mint, and root of silphium.
7 He says, too, that the virtue of
it is so great that the very person even who beats up this mixture feels himself all the stronger for it; for which reason he
recommends it to be taken mixed with these condiments, or,
at all events, dressed with a sauce compounded of them. For
the gout, too, and diseases of the joints, a liniment of it should
be used, he says, with a little rue and coriander, a sprinkling
of salt, and some barley meal: the very water even in which
it has been boiled is wonderfully efficacious, according to him,
for the sinews and joints. For wounds, either recent or of
long standing, as also for carcinoma,
8 which is incurable by
any other mode of treatment, he recommends fomentations to
be made with warm water, and, after that, an application of
cabbage, beaten up, to the parts affected, twice a-day. He says,
also, that fistulas and sprains should be treated in a similar
way, as well as all humours which it may be desirable to bring
to a head and disperse; and he states that this vegetable,
boiled and eaten fasting, in considerable quantities, with oil
and salt, has the effect of preventing dreams and wakefulness;
also, that if, after one boiling, it is boiled a second time, with
the addition of oil, salt, cummin, and polenta, it will relieve
gripings
9 in the stomach; and that, if eaten in this way with-
out bread, it is more beneficial still. Among various other particulars, he says, that if taken in drink with black wine, it has
the effect of carrying off the bilious secretions; and he recom-
mends the urine of a person who has been living on a cabbage
diet to be preserved, as, when warmed, it is a good remedy for
diseases of the sinews. I will, however, here give the identical words in which Cato expresses himself upon this point:
"If you wash little children with this urine," says he, "they
will never be weak and puny."
He recommends, also, the warm juice of cabbage to be injected into the ears, in combination with wine, and assures us
that it is a capital remedy for deafness: and he says that the
cabbage is a cure for impetigo
10 without the formation of
ulcers.