CHAP. 32.—THE ASPHODEL; FIFTY-ONE REMEDIES.
The asphodel
1 is one of the most celebrated of all the plants,
so much so, indeed, that by some persons it has been called
"heroum."
2 Hesiod has mentioned the fact of its growing in
rivers, and Dionysius distinguishes it into male and female.
3
It has been observed that the bulbs of it, boiled with a ptisan,
are remarkably good for consumption and phthisis,
4 and that
bread in which they have been kneaded up with the meal, is
extremely wholesome. Nicander
5 recommends also, for the
stings of serpents and scorpions, either the stalk, which we
have already
6 spoken of under the name of "anthericus," or
else the seed or bulbs, to be taken in wine, in doses of three
drachmæ; and he says that these should be strewed beneath
the bed, if there is any apprehension of their presence. The
asphodel is prescribed also for wounds inflicted by marine
animals of a venomous nature, and the bite of the land scolopendra. It is quite wonderful how the snails, in Campania,
seek the stalk of this plant, and dry it by extracting the
inside. The leaves, too, are applied with wine to wounds
made by venomous animals, and the bulbs are beaten up with
polenta and similarly used for affections of the sinews and
joints. It is also a very good plan to rub lichens with them
chopped up and mixed with vinegar, and to apply them in
water to putrid sores, as also to inflammations of the tests or
mamillæ. Boiled in lees of wine, and applied in a linen pledged,
they are used for the cure of defluxions of the eyes.
Whatever the malady may happen to be, it is generally in
a boiled
7 state that the bulbs are employed; but for foul
ulcers of the legs and for chaps upon any part of the body,
they are dried and reduced to powder. The bulbs are usually
gathered in autumn,
8 a period when their medicinal properties
are most fully developed. The juice extracted from them
pounded, or else a decoction of them, is good, mixed with honey,
for pains in the body: it is employed also with dried iris and a
little salt by those who wish to impart an agreeable odour to
the person. The leaves are used for the cure of the various
maladies above mentioned, as also, boiled in wine, for scrofu-
lous sores, inflamed tumours, and ulcers of the face. The ashes
of the root are a remedy for alopecy and chaps on the feet;
and an extract of the root, boiled in oil, is good for burns and
chilblains. It is injected also into the ears for deafness, and,
for tooth-ache, it is poured into the ear opposite to the part
affected. A moderate dose of the root, taken in drink, acts as
a diuretic and emmenagogue; it is good also for pains in the
sides, ruptures, convulsions, and coughs, in doses of one drachma,
taken in wine. Chewed, the root promotes vomiting, but the
seed, taken internally, disorders the bowels.
Chrysermus used to employ a decoction of the root, in wine,
for imposthumes of the parotid glands; and he has prescribed
it, in combination with cachrys,
9 in wine, for the cure of
scrofulous sores. Some persons say that if, after applying the
root to the sores, a part of it is hung up in the smoke to dry,
and not taken down till the end of four days, the sores
will gradually dry up with this portion of the root. Sophocles
10
used to employ it both ways, boiled and raw, for the cure of
gout; and he prescribes it, boiled in oil, for chilblains, and,
in vinegar, for jaundice and dropsy. It has been stated,
also, that, used as a friction with wine and honey, or taken in
drink, it acts as an aphrodisiac. Xenocrates assures us, too,
that a decoction of the root in vinegar removes lichens, itchscabs, and leprous sores; and that a decoction of it, with henbane and tar, has a similar effect, and is good also for the removal of bad odours
11 of the armpits and thighs: he states,
also, that if the head is well rubbed with the root, being first
shaved, the hair will curl all the better for it. Simus prescribes a decoction of it, in wine, to be taken for calculi in
the kidneys; and Hippocrates recommends the seed for obstructions of the spleen. The root, or else a decoction of it,
applied topically, restores the hair in beasts of burden, where it
has been lost by ulcerations or scab. It has the effect, too, of
driving away rats and mice, and of exterminating them, if
placed before their holes.