Latin Texts & Translations

Hemlock, ^[Note] too, is a poisonous plant, rendered odious by the use made of it by the Athenian people, as an instrument of capital punishment: still, ^[Note] however, as it is employed for many useful purposes, it must not be omitted. It is the seed that is noxious, the stalk being eaten by many people, either green, or cooked ^[Note] in the saucepan. This stem is smooth, jointed like a reed, of a swarthy hue, often as much as two cubits in height, and branchy at the top. The leaves are like those of coriander, only softer, and possessed of a powerful odour. The seed is more substantial than that of anise, and the root is hollow and never used. The seed and leaves are possessed of refrigerating properties; indeed, it is owing to these properties that it is so fatal, the cold chills with which it is attended commencing at the extremities. The great remedy ^[Note] for it, provided it has not reached the vitals, is wine, which is naturally of a warming tendency; but if it is taken in wine. it is irremediably fatal.

A juice is extracted from the leaves and flowers; for it is at the time of its blossoming that it is in its full vigour. The seed is crushed, and the juice extracted from it is left to thicken in the sun, and then divided into lozenges. This

preparation proves fatal by coagulating the blood—another deadly property which belongs to it; and hence it is that the bodies of those who have been poisoned by it are covered with spots. It is sometimes used in combination with water as a medium for diluting certain medicaments. An emollient poultice is also prepared from this juice, for the purpose of cooling the stomach; but the principal use made of it is as a topical application, to check defluxions of the eyes in summer, and to allay pains in those organs. It is employed also as an ingre- dient in eyesalves, and is used for arresting fluxes in other parts of the body: the leaves, too, have a soothing effect upon all kinds of pains and tumours, and upon defluxions of the eyes.

Anaxilaüs makes a statement to the effect, that if the mamillæ ^[Note] are rubbed with hemlock (luring virginity, they will always be hard and firm: but a better-ascertained fact is, that applied ^[Note] to the mamillæ, it dries up the mill in women re- cetntly delivered; as also that, applied to the testes at the age of puberty, it acts most effectually as an antaphrodisiac. ^[Note] As to those cases in which it is recommended to take it internally as a remedy, I shall, for my own part, decline to mention them. The most powerful hemlock is that grown at Susa, in Parthia, the next best being the produce of Laconia, Crete, and Asia. ^[Note] In Greece, the hemlock of the finest quality is that of Megara, and next to it, that of Attica.