Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants

Ἔτι δὲ ὅσα οἱ φαρμακοπῶλαι καὶ οἱ ῥιζοτόμοι τὰ μὲν ἴσως οἰκείως τὰ δὲ καὶ ἐπιτραγωδοῦντες λέγουσι. κελεύουσι γὰρ τὰς μὲν κατ᾿ ἄνεμον ἱσταμένους τέμνειν, ὥσπερ ἑτέρας τέ τινας καὶ τὴν θαψίαν, ἀλειψάμενον λίπα· τὸ γὰρ σῶμα ἀνοιδεῖν ἐὰν ἐξ ἐναντίας. κατ᾿ ἄνεμον δὲ καὶ τοῦ κυνοσβάτου τὸν καρπὸν συλλέγειν, εἰ δὲ μὴ κίνδυνον εἶναι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν. τὰς δὲ νύκτωρ τὰς δὲ μεθ᾿ ἡμέραν, ἐνίας δὲ πρὶν τὸν ἥλιον ἐπιβάλλειν, οἷον καὶ τὸ καλούμενον κλύμενον.

Further, there are the things the drug-sellers and root-cutters say, some perhaps to the point, but others with theatrical exaggeration. For they bid one cut some [roots] standing with the wind [behind], as with certain others and with thapsia [deadly carrot], after anointing oneself with oil; for the body swells up if one stands facing [the wind]. With the wind [behind], too, [they say] one should gather the fruit of the kynosbatos [dog-rose?], or else there is danger to the eyes. Some [they say should be cut] by night, some by day, and some before the sun strikes [them], such as the plant called klymenon.

Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ τοιαῦτα πλείω. περιγράφειν δὲ καὶ τὸν μανδραγόραν εἰς τρὶς ξίφει, τέμνειν δὲ πρὸς ἑσπέραν βλέποντα. τὸν δ᾿ ἕτερον κύκλῳ περιορχεῖσθαι καὶ λέγειν ὡς πλεῖστα περὶ ἀφροδισίων. τοῦτο δ᾿ ὅμοιον ἔοικε τῷ περὶ τοῦ κυμίνου λεγομένῳ κατὰ τὴν βλασφημίαν ὅταν σπείρωσι. περιγράφειν δὲ καὶ τὸν ἐλλέβορον τὸν μέλανα καὶ τέμνειν ἱστάμενον πρὸς ἕω καὶ κατευχόμενον· ἀετὸν δὲ φυλάττεσθαι καὶ ἐκ δεξιᾶς καὶ ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς· κίνδυνον γὰρ εἶναι τοῖς τέμνουσιν, ἐάνπερ ἐγγὺς ἐπιγένηται ὁ ἀετός, ἀποθνήσκειν ἐνιαυτῷ. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπιθέτοις ἔοικεν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται. τρόποι δ᾿ οὐκ εἰσὶ τῶν ῥιζοτομιῶν πλὴν οὓς εἴπομεν.

And there are many other such things. [They say] one should also draw a circle three times round the mandrake with a sword, and cut it facing west; and that a second man should dance round it in a circle and say as much as possible about sex. This seems similar to what is said about cumin, about the cursing when they sow it. One should also draw a circle round black hellebore and cut it standing facing east and praying; and watch out for an eagle both on the right and on the left; for there is danger for those cutting, if the eagle comes near, that they will die within the year. These things, then, seem to be additions, as has been said. But there are no methods of root-cutting besides those we have described.

Τοῦ δὲ κυκλαμίνου ἡ μὲν ῥίζα πρός τε τὰς ἐκπυήσεις τῶν φλεγμονῶν καὶ πρόσθετον γυναιξὶ καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἕλκη ἐν μέλιτι· ὁ δὲ ὀπὸς πρὸς τὰς ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς καθάρσεις ἐν μέλιτι ἐγχεόμενος, καὶ πρὸς τὸ μεθύσκειν, ἐὰν ἐν οἴνῳ διαβρέχων διδῷ τις πίνειν. ἀγαθὴν δὲ τὴν ῥίζαν καὶ ὠκυτόκιον περίαπτον καὶ εἰς φίλτρα· ὅταν δὲ ὀρύξωσι, κατακαίουσιν εἶτ᾿ οἴνῳ δεύσαντες τροχίσκους ποιοῦσιν, ὥσπερ τῆς τρυγὸς ᾗ ῥυπτόμεθα.

Of the cyclamen, the root [is used] for bringing inflammations to suppuration, as a pessary for women, and, in honey, for sores; the juice, poured in [through the nose] with honey, for purging the head, and for making [people] drunk, if one steeps it in wine and gives it to drink. [They say] the root is also good as an amulet to speed childbirth, and for love charms. When they have dug it up, they burn it, then moisten it with wine and make it into lozenges, as with the [wine-]lees with which we clean ourselves.

Καλοῦσι δὲ τὸν μέλανά τινες ἔκτομον Μελαμπόδιον, ὡς ἐκείνου πρῶτον τεμόντος καὶ ἀνευρόντος. καθαίρουσι δὲ καὶ οἰκίας αὐτῷ καὶ πρόβατα συνεπᾴδοντές τινα ἐπῳδὴν καὶ εἰς ἄλλα δὲ πλείω χρῶνται.

Some call the black [hellebore] ektomon Melampodion (the 'cutting of Melampus'), since he was the first to cut and discover it. They also purify houses and flocks with it, chanting an incantation at the same time, and they use it for several other purposes as well.

XV. Φαρμακώδεις δὲ δοκοῦσιν εἶναι τόποι μάλιστα τῶν μὲν ἔξω τῆς Ἑλλάδος οἱ περὶ τὴν Τυρρηνίαν καὶ τὴν Λατίνην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὴν Κίρκην εἶναι λέγουσιν· καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλόν γε, ὡς Ὅμηρός φησι, τὰ περὶ Αἴγυπτον· ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ τὴν Ἑλένην φησὶ λαβεῖν “ἐσθλὰ τά οἱ Πολύδαμνα πόρεν Θῶνος παράκοιτις Αἰγυπτίη· τόθι πλεῖστα φύει ζείδωρος ἄρουρα φάρμακα, πολλὰ μὲν ἐσθλὰ τετυγμένα πολλὰ δὲ λυγρά.” ᾧν δὴ καὶ τὸ νηπενθὲς ἐκεῖνό φησιν εἶναι καὶ ἄχολον, ὥστε λήθην ποιεῖν καὶ ἀπάθειαν τῶν κακῶν. καὶ σχεδὸν αὗται μὲν ἐοίκασιν ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τῶν ποιητῶν ὑποδεδεῖχθαι. καὶ γὰρ Αἰσχύλος ἐν ταῖς ἐλεγείαις ὡς πολυφάρμακον λέγει τὴν Τυρρηνίαν· “Τυρρηνὸν γενεάν, φαρμακοποιὸν ἔθνος.”

XV. The places that seem richest in drugs are, among those outside Greece, especially those around Tyrrhenia and Latium, where they say Circe also lives; and even more, as Homer says, the region of Egypt. For he says Helen got from there 'fine [drugs], which Polydamna, wife of Thon, gave her, an Egyptian woman; there the grain-giving soil bears drugs in greatest number, many good when mixed, and many baneful.' Among these, he says, was that famous nēpenthes and acholon [banisher of grief and of anger], so as to produce forgetfulness and freedom from feeling one's troubles. And these [places], roughly, seem to have been pointed out, as it were, by the poets. For Aeschylus too, in his elegies, speaks of Tyrrhenia as rich in drugs: 'the Tyrrhenian race, a drug-making people.'

Ἡ δὲ πανάκεια γίνεται κατὰ τὸ πετραῖον περὶ Ψωφίδα καὶ πλείστη καὶ ἀρίστη. τὸ δὲ μῶλυ περὶ Φενεὸν καὶ ἐν τῇ Κυλλήνῃ. φασὶ δ᾿ εἶναι καὶ ὅμοιον ᾧ ὁ Ὅμηρος εἴρηκε, τὴν μὲν ῥίζαν ἔχον στρογγύλην προσεμφερῆ κρομύῳ τὸ δὲ φύλλον ὅμοιον σκίλλῃ· χρῆσθαι δὲ αὐτῷ πρός τε τὰ ἀλεξιφάρμακα καὶ τὰς μαγείας· οὐ μὴν ὀρύττειν γ᾿ εἶναι χαλεπόν, ὡς Ὅμηρός φησι.

Panakeia [all-heal] grows in the rocky country around Psophis, both most abundant and best. Moly [grows] around Pheneus and on Cyllene. They say it is also like the one Homer spoke of, having a round root resembling an onion and a leaf like the squill; and that they use it for protective remedies and for magic; it is not, however, hard to dig up, as Homer says [it is].

Θρασύας δ᾿ ὁ Μαντινεὺς εὑρήκει τι τοιοῦτον, ὥσπερ ἔλεγεν, ὥστε ῥᾳδίαν ποιεῖν καὶ ἄπονον τὴν ἀπόλυσιν τοῖς ὀποῖς χρώμενος κωνείου τε καὶ μήκωνος καὶ ἑτέρων τοιούτων, ὥστε εὔογκον εἶναι σφόδρα καὶ μικρὸν ὅσον εἰς δραχμῆς ὁλκήν. ἀβοήθητον δὲ πάντη καὶ δυνάμενον διαμένειν ὁποσονοῦν χρόνον καὶ οὐδὲν ἀλλοιούμενον. ἐλάμβανε δὲ τὸ κώνειον οὐχ ὅθεν ἐτύγχανεν ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ Σούσων καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τόπος ψυχρὸς καὶ παλίσκιος· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τἆλλα. συνετίθει δὲ καὶ ἕτερα φάρμακα πολλὰ καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν. δεινὸς δὲ καὶ Ἀλεξίας ὁ μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐχ ἧττον ἔντεχνος ἐκείνου· καὶ γὰρ τῆς ἄλλης ἰατρικῆς ἔμπειρος.

Thrasyas of Mantinea had discovered, as he said, something of this kind, which made release [from life] easy and painless, using the juices of hemlock, poppy and other such plants, so that it was very compact and small, about a drachm's weight. It was entirely beyond remedy and able to keep for any length of time without changing at all. He took the hemlock not from wherever it happened [to grow], but from Sousa and any other place that was cold and shady; and the other [ingredients] likewise. He also compounded many other drugs, and from many [ingredients]. His pupil Alexias was also clever, and no less skilled than he; for he was experienced in the rest of medicine as well.

Κινδυνεύει γὰρ ἔνια τῶν φαρμάκων τῇ ἀσυνηθείᾳ φάρμακα γίνεσθαι, τάχα δὲ ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν ὡς τῇ συνηθείᾳ οὐ φάρμακα· προσδεξαμένης γὰρ τῆς φύσεως καὶ κατακρατούσης οὐκέτι φάρμακα, καθάπερ καὶ Θρασ ύας ἔλεγεν· ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἔφη τὸ αὐτὸ τοῖς μὲν φάρμακον εἶναι τοῖς δ᾿ οὐ φάρμακον, διαιρῶν τὰς φύσεις ἑκάστων· ᾤετο γὰρ δεῖν καὶ ἦν δεινὸς διαγνῶναι. ποιεῖ δέ τι δῆλον ὅτι πρὸς τῇ φύσει καὶ τὸ ἔθος. Εὔδημος γοῦν ὁ φαρμακοπώλης εὐδοκιμῶν σφόδρα κατὰ τὴν τέχνην συνθέμενος μηδὲν πείσεσθαι πρὸ ἡλίου δύναντος κατέφαγε μέτριον πάνυ καὶ οὐ κατέσχεν οὐδ᾿ ἐκράτησεν.

For it seems that some drugs are drugs [only] through lack of habituation, or perhaps it is truer to say that through habituation they are not drugs; for when the [body's] nature has accepted them and masters them, they are no longer drugs, as Thrasyas too used to say. For he said that the same thing is a drug for some and not a drug for others, distinguishing the natures of each; for he thought one ought to [do so], and he was skilled at discerning [them]. But clearly habit too does something, in addition to nature. At any rate Eudemus the drug-seller, who was highly regarded in his craft, having wagered that he would suffer nothing before sunset, ate a quite moderate amount, and could not contain it or master it.

Τὸ δὲ θηλύφονον, οἱ δὲ σκορπίον καλοῦσι διὰ τὸ τὴν ῥίζαν ὁμοίαν ἔχειν τῷ σκορπίῳ, ἐπιξυόμενον ἀποκτείνει τὸν σκορπίον· ἐὰν δέ τις ἐλλέβορον λευκὸν καταπάσῃ, πάλιν ἀνίστασθαί φασιν· ἀπόλλυσι δὲ καὶ βοῦς καὶ πρόβατα καὶ ὑποζύγια καὶ ἀπλῶς πᾶν τετράπουν ἐὰν εἰς τὰ αἰδοῖα τεθῇ ἡ ῥίζα ἡ τὰ φύλλα αὐθήμερον· χρήσιμον δὲ πρὸς σκορπίου πληγὴν πινόμενον. ἔχει δὲ τὸ μὲν φύλλον ὅμοιον κυκλαμίνῳ τὴν δὲ ῥίζαν, ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη, σκορπίῳ. φύεται δὲ ὥσπερ ἡ ἄγρωστις καὶ γόνατα ἔχει· φιλεῖ δὲ χωρία σκιώδη. εἰ δὲ ἀληθῆ τὰ περὶ τὸν σκορπίον ἤδη καὶ τἆλλα, οὐκ ἀπίθανα τὰ τοιαῦτα. καὶ τὰ μυθώδη δὲ οὐκ ἀλόγως συγκεῖται.

Thēlyphonon ['female-killer'], which some call 'scorpion' because it has a root like a scorpion, kills the scorpion when scraped on [it]; and if one sprinkles white hellebore on [it], they say it comes back to life. It also kills cattle, sheep, draught animals and, in short, every four-footed animal on the same day, if the root or the leaves are put into the genitals; but it is useful against a scorpion's sting when drunk. It has a leaf like cyclamen, and a root, as was said, like a scorpion. It grows like agrōstis [couch grass] and has joints; it likes shady places. If what is said about the scorpion is true, then the other such things are also not incredible. And the fabulous tales too are not put together without reason.

Ἀλλὰ τάδε εὐηθέστερα καὶ ἀπιθανώτερα τά τε τῶν περιάπτων καὶ ὅλως τῶν ἀλεξιφαρμάκων λεγομένων τοῖς τε σώμασι καὶ ταῖς οἰκίαις. καὶ ὡς δή φασι τὸ τριπόλιον καθ᾿ Ἡσίοδον καὶ Μουσαῖον εἰς πᾶν πρᾶγμα σπουδαῖον χρήσιμον εἶναι, φι᾿ ὃ καὶ ὀρύττουσιν αὐτὸ νύκτωρ σκηνὴν πηξάμενοι. καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς εὐκλείας δὲ καὶ εὐδοξίας ὁμοίως ἡ καὶ μᾶλλον· εὔκλειαν γάρ φασι ποιεῖν τὸ ἀντίρρινον καλούμενον· τοῦτο δ᾿ ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῇ ἀπαρίνῃ· ῥίζα δὲ οὐχ ὕπεστιν· ὁ δὲ καρπὸς ὥσπερ μόσχου ῥῖνας ἔχει. τὸν δ᾿ ἀπὸ τούτου ἀλειφόμενον εὐδοξεῖν.

But the following are sillier and less credible: the things said about amulets and in general about the so-called protective charms for bodies and for houses; and how they say that tripolion, according to Hesiod and Musaeus, is useful for every serious undertaking, which is why they dig it up by night after pitching a tent. So too, or even more so, with what is said about fame and good repute; for they say that the plant called antirrhinon [snapdragon?] produces fame. It is like cleavers, but has no root beneath, and its fruit has, as it were, a calf's nostrils. And [they say] that one anointed with it gains good repute.