First draft. This English translation was generated by
Claude Sonnet 4.6, critiqued by Claude Haiku 4.5, and adjudicated/corrected
once by Claude Sonnet 4.6. It is published for reading and review, not as a
final scholarly edition. Hippocratic medical recipes and treatments are
historical text, not medical advice.
ON THE NATURE OF WOMEN. Concerning the nature of women and their diseases I say the following: the divine is above all the cause among human beings; then come the natures of women and their complexions. Those who are very pale are more moist and more given to flux; those who are dark are harder and more astringent; those who are wine-colored have something in between both.
1. So it falls out likewise with ages: the young are for the most part more moist and richly blooded, the elderly are drier and thin-blooded, and those in the middle have something in between both. The one who handles these matters rightly must first begin from the divine, then distinguish the natures of women, their ages, the seasons, and the places where they are. For some places are cold and given to flux, others are warm, dry, and still. I begin my teaching from the moist state according to nature. If dropsy arises within the womb, the monthly flows become scantier and worse, then suddenly they fail; the belly swells up, the breasts become dry, everything else goes badly, and she appears to have something in her belly — by these signs you will know she has dropsy.
2. It shows also at the mouth of the womb: when you touch it, it appears shrunken. She is seized by alternating heat and chill; and as time goes on, pain grips the lower belly, the loins, and the flanks. This disease arises most often from miscarriage, but it also comes on from other causes. When she is in this state, she must be bathed with warm water, and warm applications placed wherever the pain holds. She must be given a purging medicine by the lower way. After the medicine, the womb must be fomented with dung-steam; then apply the suppository with cantharis; after an interval of three days, that with bile; after leaving off one day, let her be douched with vinegar — after another three days' interval. If the belly becomes soft, the fevers have ceased, and the monthly flow returns, let her lie with her husband. If not, repeat the same things until the monthly flow comes, and use some vaginal applications; meanwhile on the intervening days let her drink, fasting, the bark of sea-fennel and the black berries of glycyside, and the fruit of elder in wine; let her eat as much mercury-plant as possible, and garlic both boiled and raw; let her use soft foods, and eat polyps and the other soft-bodied sea-creatures. If she conceives, she is cured. If the womb moves toward the liver, she suddenly loses the power of speech, clenches her teeth, and her color becomes dark; she suffers these things suddenly while she was well. Such an affection occurs most often in old maids who have remained unmarried for a long time, and in widows who were young and had borne children when they were widowed.
3. When she is in this state, push down with the hand from the liver, bind with a strip of cloth below the hypochondria, then opening her mouth pour in the most fragrant wine; bring fragrant things to the nostrils, and apply foul-smelling fumigations below the womb and fragrant ones beneath it. When she recovers consciousness, give her a purging medicine by the lower way, and afterward asses' milk to drink; then fumigate the womb with fragrant things, and apply the suppository with blister-beetle; on the following day, nardion ointment; after an interval of two days, douche the womb with fragrant preparations; on the next day apply pennyroyal; after an interval of one day, fumigate with spices. These things are to be done for the widow, and the best remedy is for her to become pregnant; for the unmarried girl, persuade her to live with a husband. Apply nothing to the womb, nor let her drink the medicine; give konjza and castor in wine on an empty stomach, and let her not anoint her head with fragrant things nor inhale them. If the womb advances and prolapses outward, burning heat seizes the genitals and the anus, urine drips out little by little and causes stinging — she suffers these things if she lies with her husband while she is fresh from childbirth.
4. When she is in this state, boil myrtle berries and shavings of lotus-wood in water, set it out in the open air, and pour it as cold as possible over the genitals, rubbing it on in a smooth paste; then, drinking water of lentils and honey and vinegar, let her vomit until the womb is lifted back; let the foot of the bed be raised higher, and apply fragrant fumigations below the genitals and foul-smelling ones below the nostrils; let her use foods as soft and cold as possible, and drink dilute white wine; let her not bathe nor lie with her husband. If the womb falls entirely out through the genitals, it hangs down like a scrotum, and pain seizes the lower belly and the loins; and when time passes, they are not willing to return to their place. The disease strikes when, fresh from childbirth, she strains the womb or lies with her husband during the time of postpartum discharge.
5. When she is in this state, apply cold compresses to the genitals; clean what is protruding, boil pomegranate rind in dark wine, wash with this, and push inward; then mix honey and resin and pour in. Let her lie on her back with her legs extended and raised; then apply sponges and bind them from the loins. When she is in this state, let her abstain from food and use as little drink as possible until seven days have passed. If in this way they are willing to go in — if not, shave and warm the rim of the prolapsed part, wash and anoint it; bind the woman to a ladder, shake the ladder at the head-end, and push the womb in with the hand; then bind her legs crosswise, and leave her thus a day and a night, giving her a little cold barley-water gruel and nothing else. On the next day, lay her down and apply the largest possible cupping vessel to the hip and leave it to draw for a long time; when you remove it, do not scarify, but lay her down and leave her. Give nothing else but the gruel until seven days have passed; if she is thirsty, give cold water, as little as possible. When the seven days have passed, let her use foods as soft and as little as possible. If she wishes to defecate, let her do so lying on her back until forty days have passed; then let her get up and move about as little as possible, not bathe, use foul-smelling fumigations below, and eat little. If the womb has adhered, it lies pressed against something; and if you touch it, you will find something hard below the flank, and pain seizes the lower belly, the flanks, and the loins, and pain falls into the leg and they are unable to extend it; often such cases also suppurate, when the womb becomes packed with lint, and they die from the flux, unless you cauterize or cut.
6. When she is in this state, she must be given a purging medicine by the lower way, bathed with much warm water and fomented; and when she has just been bathed or just been fomented, instruct an attendant pulling to draw the mouth of the womb open, and fumigate below with calamus, myrrh, and rose oil poured around. Let her drink five of the black berries of glycyside, mixing in castor in fragrant wine; let her lie on the healthy hip; apply bakkaris or white oil toward the healthy hip; let her eat as much garlic as possible both raw and boiled, and drink the broth, and use soft foods. When the pain stops, you will bring her onto the healthy hip; then fumigate with urine, sprinkling laurel over it, and after the fumigation apply the cyclamen suppository; on the next day, after bathing, let her fumigate with spices. Women most often become childless from this disease. If the mouth of the womb is folded inward, the monthly flows no longer occur; but if they do come, they are scant and bad; and when she comes together with her husband she suffers pain, and pain holds the lower belly and the loins; and if you probe with the finger and examine the mouth, it is not apparent.
7. When she is in this state, fumigate with human urine; after the fumigation, let her wash from lentil-water; then after washing let her fumigate the womb with Egyptian myrrh, and if the scent rises to the nostrils, there is hope of her becoming well. And when she is about to sleep, let her apply the Egyptian oil in wool; on the next day, examine whether there is any more straightening; then fumigate with fragrant substances and apply suppositories that will purge without biting, and douche after the suppositories, mixing equal parts of vinegar; when the monthly flows come, let her fast and avoid bathing and fumigate, then come together with her husband. Most often from this disease women become barren. If the womb runs out toward the hip, the monthly flows no longer occur, and pain makes its way to the lower belly and the flank; and if you touch with the finger, you will see the mouth displaced toward the hip.
8. When she is in this state, bathe with warm water; give garlic to eat as much as possible; let her drink sheep's milk unmixed after eating the garlic raw; then after fumigating give the medicine by the lower way; when she has been purged, again fumigate the womb, mixing fennel and wormwood; when she has just been fomented, draw the mouth with the finger; then apply the squill suppository, and after this with the narcissus preparation, leaving an interval; if it seems to you that she is purged, apply nardion ointment; on the next day rose myrrh; she should stop applying it the day before the monthly flow; begin again the next day, when it has stopped. During the monthly flows, if the blood bursts out — if not, let her drink four blister-beetles, having cut off their legs, wings, and head, and five black berries of glycyside, and cuttlefish eggs, a little celery seed in wine; if there is pain present and if she has strangury, let her sit in warm water and drink dilute honey-water; if she is not purged by the first dose, let her drink again until it comes; when it comes, let her fast and come together with her husband; during the purging let her eat mercury-plant and boiled polyps, and use soft foods. She is freed from the disease if she becomes pregnant. If she is not purged after childbirth, the belly and the legs swell, shivering and pain hold the lower belly and the loins; sometimes it rises even toward the viscera, and she swoons; she suffers these things at the onset of the disease; when time goes on, the cheekbones of the face grow flushed.
9. When she is in this state, after fumigating the womb apply the cyclamen suppository; let her drink the preparation with the pine-torch, until the flux is set in motion; anoint within the mouth of the womb with goose fat, myrrh, and warm resin, and let these be packed in as fully as possible; before food let her eat, after boiling, mercury-plant, and garlic, and leeks; let her drink the broth of cabbage; use soft foods, the sea-foods especially; let her bathe in warm water; abstain from rich and sweet things until she is well. If the womb becomes inflamed and swollen, wind forms within, and the monthly discharges come as white, phlegm-like flows; sometimes too they are full of blood and thin membranes; because of the moisture she is unwilling to mingle with her husband, and she becomes pale and thin.
10. One must ask her about the discharge — whether it bites and ulcerates; if it does not bite, say the flux originates from the brain; if it does, from the gut. If it is from the gut, let her vomit with lentil-water; then purge with hellebore; then put it into the nostrils; when you judge the upper gut to be purged, give medicine to purge by the lower way; let her abstain from rich and sweet foods; the sharp foods are to be offered as helpful, unless the genitals are ulcerated; cold things are better; let her bathe sparingly, but not with warm water, and not the head; let her drink fasting: hyperikon, linseed, sage in dilute wine; when the flux has stopped, douche with the juice of wild figs, and follow-up-douche with astringents. The disease is difficult. If the womb becomes inflamed, the monthly flows do not occur at all, or are bad and scant; and when she is fasting, vomiting seizes her; when she eats something, she vomits her food; pain holds the lower belly and the loins, and fainting fits come on; the belly is at times hard, at times soft, and it is distended with wind and becomes large, and she appears to have something in her belly; but if you press on it, the fullness turns out to be empty. In this case, the swelling increases little by little up to ten months, as in a woman who is with child; when the ten months have passed, the belly fills with water also, the navel protrudes, and if you insert your finger, you will find the mouth of the womb shrunken and collapsed; yet the monthly flows have appeared — scanty and bad — and she grows thin in the collar-bones and the neck, and the feet swell.
11. When she is in this state, give medicine to drink by the lower way, apply to the womb whatever purges without biting, and after the application douche the womb, mixing in an equal part of the sharpest vinegar; let her eat mercury-plant and its broth — when it has been boiled, adding meal, let her drink it as gruel. The disease is dangerous. If erysipelas arises in the womb, swelling comes on beginning from the feet up into the legs and the lower back; as more time passes the belly too swells, and shivering and fever and weakness seize her; from the pain she is unable to keep still, but throws herself about.
12. The pain rises from the lower belly to the loins; then upward it goes to the hypochondria, the chest, and the head, and she thinks she will die; when it subsides, numbness seizes the hands; sometimes also the groins, the legs, and the hollows of the knees; lividity occurs; and for a brief time she seems to be better, then she suffers the same things again; the skin fills with blisters, the face breaks out in redness, she has strong thirst, and the throat is dry. This disease, if it comes on a woman who is pregnant, she dies; if she is not pregnant, she escapes by nursing care. When she is in this state, if the suffering holds, apply cold compresses and disturb the belly. If she is pregnant, use foods and drinks so that the embryo is not destroyed; if she does not pass anything, douche; if she is not pregnant, give medicine to drink, and use as little food as possible and the softest and coldest, and let her eat mercury-plant and elder, and nothing salty, rich, or sharp, such as marjoram, thyme, or rue. When the fever releases and the choking feeling, and if the swelling does not subside, give a stronger medicine to drink by the lower way. Few escape this disease. If the womb gapes open beyond what is natural, the monthly flows come in excess of what is needed and are stickier and more frequent, and the seed does not remain; and if you probe with the finger, you will find the mouth standing open; and heat, shivering, and pain seize the lower belly and the loins.
13. This disease comes from a bloody flux; it occurs when the monthly flows, having suddenly stopped, break out again. When the pain is at its worst, apply warm applications, fumigate the womb, give medicine to drink by the lower way, apply suppositories that will not bite, and douche with astringents after the applications; let her bathe as little as possible; let her use foods as dry as possible. If she does not become well doing these things, give her medicine to drink which will purge both upward and downward; when the monthly flows stir, and when they stop, manage her diaita in the same way. The disease is deadly. If the womb is pressed into the middle of the loins, pain holds the lower belly and then the legs; when she defecates, sharper pains come on, the stool comes out forcibly, urine drips, and she swoons.
14. When she is in this state, attach a small tube to the bladder, inflate the womb, fumigate or bathe with much warm water, and apply foul-smelling fumigations below the genitals and fragrant ones below the nostrils; when the pain has stopped, give lentil-water to drink first, then give medicine to drink by the upper way, by which the gut will not be moved. When the womb has settled back into its place, give medicine to drink by the lower way and follow it with milk to drink; then after fumigating the womb with wine, throw in those preparations with laurel, and apply suppositories that will not bite, mixing in vinegar; then fumigate with spices. Women become barren and lame from this disease. When a white flux arises that looks like donkey's urine, and pain holds the lower belly, the loins, and the flanks, and swellings of the legs and the hands occur, and the cheekbones are raised, and the eyes are moist, and the complexion becomes jaundiced and white, and when she walks she pants —
15. the disease arises if she is by nature phlegmatic and develops fever, and the bile, once stirred, is not purged; if the gut is acute, diarrheas occur; if it turns toward the womb, a flux arises. For this woman when flux holds her: grind the husk of white poppy, equal part of the reddish, grind the fruit of the acanthus in diluted wine, sprinkle in fresh barley-meal and let her drink; if you prefer, hide pomegranate rind in ashes, let her drink it in wine, adding equal parts of barley-meal and wheat-flour; let her bathe as little as possible; let her use foods as dry and as cold as possible; when the flux has stopped, give her medicine to drink which purges the upper parts, and let her drink asses' milk; when the lower parts have been purged, let her drink cow's milk for forty days if she is able — first exposed in the open air unmixed, then mixing in a quarter part of water; in the evening when she has drunk it, let her take a gruel of groats; when she reaches the tenth day, remove a tenth part of the milk and the water; and for as much as you remove, let her drink that portion of warm milk freshly drawn; on the next day two portions — so that in the ten portions, instead of mixed it is unmixed; and drink for ten days removing the tenth part; and let more be added to the gruel; when she comes to the twentieth day — [removing a portion of the unmixed for ten days; when she comes to the thirtieth day,] drinking the tenth portion of the milk, pouring under a third portion of water, let her drink for ten days, and use solid foods; and thus the total days come to forty. Another flux: when a woman who is by nature good at bearing has run through the births, first the monthly flows fail or become scantier and exceed the time at which they used to come; then suddenly they become copious and clear and strong; and if this happens to her only once, the rest of the time she conceives normally; if not, it comes the first, second, and third time of the month; then the flux will come to an end of itself, and she becomes pale and thin.
16. When this happens, give medicine to drink both upward and downward, and give asses' milk or whey to drink after; then after this, after fumigating, purge the womb with a medicine that will not bite, then douche with the one with vinegar; then fumigate with spices. Do these things so that they are done on the day before the monthly flows; and let her come to it fasting and without bathing, drinking an unsalted thick kykeon; let her fumigate with spices, pouring on nardion and rose myrrh; then let her come together with her husband. If the cup-like hollows become filled full of phlegm, the monthly flows do occur, and she conceives, but she miscarries when the embryo becomes stronger, for she is unable to hold it, and it breaks away.
17. You would know it thus: she becomes moist, and there flows from her something mucous and viscous, which does not bite; and with the monthly flows, when the flux has stopped, mucus comes from the womb for two and three days. This woman must be douched with the preparation from wild figs, and after douching two or three times with astringents, for the rest apply suppositories by which phlegm is purged, and fumigate with gentle applications, and douche after the suppositories mixing in equal vinegar, and fumigate with spices during the monthly flows; then, fasting and without bathing, let her lie with her husband. When the monthly flows are suppressed, pain holds the lower belly, and it appears a weight lies upon her, and she suffers in the loins and the flanks; when they press up toward the hypochondria, they cause choking, and she vomits frequently sharp things, and after she vomits she is easier for a little while; the pain also travels to the head and the neck.
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Whenever the condition has presented intensely, apply warm fomentations, and fumigate below with foul-smelling substances, and give castor and fleabane to drink. Whenever it is low down, fumigate below with foul-smelling things, and hold sweet-smelling things under the nostrils. When the pains cease, give a purging drug to drink, and follow it with a drink of ass's milk; then give a chymos (juice / fluid) from which vomiting is induced, and apply it to the nostrils as well. When you have purged her, apply a steam-bath to the womb with the preparations containing laurel, and then insert the suppository containing narcissus; leaving an interval of three steam-baths, insert the one containing the blister-beetle; on the following day, goose fat; then after leaving an interval of three days, douche with the preparation containing vinegar. During the purgations, let her eat mercury-herb before meals, and use the most gentle foods, and eat pungent things, and bathe in warm water twice a day. If, after doing these things at the proper time, the monthly discharge still does not occur, give blister-beetles to drink; and when it comes on, let her go to her husband after fasting and abstaining from bathing and after fumigation below.
Whenever a woman with child loses the embryo at one month or two months, and is unable to expel it, and becomes unnaturally thin, one must purge her and fatten the body together with the womb; for she will not be able to carry a child to term before her womb becomes thick and strong.
20 [5]
If she becomes unnaturally fat, she does not conceive; for the omentum lying upon the womb, being thick and abundant, presses the womb down, and it does not receive the seed. One must thin her down, give a purging drug by the lower route, and apply to the womb something that cleanses it and does not produce flatulence. If the mouth of the womb becomes hard, or the neck, you will know by introducing a finger, and also when the wombs are turned aside toward the hip.
21 [5]
When it is in this condition, apply nothing harsh; for if you ulcerate the mouth—when it becomes inflamed—there is danger of its becoming altogether barren. Rather, apply things that do not bite but by which it is cleansed. If you wish to purge a woman who is unable to bear children, and she is either bilious or phlegmatic in character, you will know by this method which she is more so: place sand beneath her, and when the monthly discharge comes, pour the blood on it in the sun and let it dry; and if she is bilious, the blood on the surface of the sand will be pale yellow, but if phlegmatic, it will be like mucus; and having purged whichever it is downward, apply suppositories to the womb.
23 [5]
If the monthly discharge does not come at all: if it is due to pain, first purge the bowel downward, then apply a suppository by which blood is drawn from the womb; then, leaving an interval of one or two days, apply one by which blood is drawn; and for the rest of the time let her drink the bark of sea-fennel ground in wine. If the mouth of the womb is moister than is fitting, apply sharp things so that it is bitten, and being inflamed becomes firm.
24 [5]
If it is indurated, apply sharp things; for by biting they dissolve the ichor [corrupted fluid]; then apply soft suppositories; and for the other diseases use suppositories as little as possible. If the womb settles firmly against the hip in a woman who has recently given birth, or against the flank, one must apply to the healthy hip white Egyptian oil or bakkaris, and let her lie on the healthy hip, and let her drink five black berries of licorice-root, and elder fruit as much as a small hollow, and beaver-castoreum as much as a bean, in wine; then after bathing let her be fumigated, and let her use gentle drinks and foods, and mercury-herb, and all pungent things except radish and onions.
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Whenever the womb suffocates, one must fumigate below the nostrils with all foul-smelling things: bitumen, sulfur, horn, lamp-wick, seal oil, castoreum; and below the genitals with sweet-smelling things. If the womb becomes inflamed in a woman who has recently given birth, it burns and suffocation takes hold.
27 [5]
Whenever it is in this condition: stretch out a linen cloth—thin sea-mosses upon it—apply as a poultice; then take unprocessed grain, vine-shoot ash, and linseed, pour on vinegar and oil, and boil until it becomes like paste; then poultice the lower belly if she can bear it tolerably warm. If the womb is congealed, boil lentils in vinegar with much mint, and draw the steam into the mouth and hold it to the nostrils, and fumigate below with foul-smelling things, and eat mercury-herb; and let her sip boiled flour in the broth; and as quickly as possible, and before the pain takes hold, one must first administer the drugs that relieve the womb of pain; and let easily evacuating foods be brought; and if the belly heats up, administer a clyster.
29 [5]
If the womb becomes inflamed after childbirth, pour in juice of nightshade to the genitals, and when this becomes warm, pour in another; if it is not available, use mastic or buckthorn or beet. Another: squeeze out the juice of gourd and pour it in, and scrape out the softest part from the middle of it into a long piece and insert. Afterwards, rubbing white-lead with water, sponge it up in wool and apply; if she shivers, remove it. If a woman is debilitated from the womb, and bile suffocates her, and she needs to be purged gently and have her pain stopped, give three cyathos of peucedanum juice to drink. If the womb is in the loin or in the flank, and you wish to move it, grind sulfur and bitumen, add in boiled honey, and making a thick suppository insert it in the rectum; and if the womb becomes dry, apply the same things as quickly as possible.
31 [5]
When in a woman the womb becomes hard and protrudes into the genitals and the groin becomes hard, and there is burning heat in the genitals, a crab-like condition is beginning. When it is thus, one must grind the inside of a cucumber and honeycomb, pour in a kotyle of water, inject into the rectum, and let it purge. Whenever you give a drug to a woman, mix into it whatever things cleanse the womb and whatever drives things out.
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Other drinks and suppositories capable of expelling the afterbirth and drawing down the monthly discharge: take five blister-beetles with wings, feet, and head removed; then grind sea-tribulus with the root, as much as a konche, and an equal amount of ground fresh anthemis, an equal amount of celery seed, and fifteen cuttlefish eggs; give to drink in diluted sweet wine. And when pain takes hold, let her sit in warm water and drink diluted hydromel. Another: leaves and flower of ranunculus, ground as much as an Aeginetan stater, in sweet wine to drink; when the pain takes hold, boil white chickpeas and raisins in water, cool, and give to drink; and whenever strangury occurs, let her sit in tepid water. Another: maiden-hair fern as much as an Aeginetan stater, mixed in equal parts with white wine, give to drink. Another: take the fruit of white violet as much as one can take between three fingers, mix in white wine in the same way, and give to drink. Another: use the root of black white-violet in wine in the same way. Another: give to drink in the same way the lily-flower that grows on houses. Another: two drachmai of alkanet leaves, mixed in boiled wine with an equal amount of water, give to drink. Another: the root of chameleon thistle scraped as much as a dose of hellebore, mixed in boiled wine with water, give to drink. Another: juice of cabbage and leek, equal parts mixed; juice of silphium as much as three half-obols, mixed with an equal amount of white wine, give to drink. Another: white olives before they yield oil, grate and dry; then pound and sieve, add in wine, and give to drink. This also draws down the monthly discharge and will expel the afterbirth. Cretan dittany as much as an obol, to drink in water. If you cannot expel the afterbirth by giving drinks, after pre-steaming with elder, put it in boiled juice for steaming, and apply the blister-beetle as a suppository; this also drives out the embryo; when it bites, remove it, dip it in rose perfume, and reinsert until the discharge escapes. Another: grind nine berries of Cretan black-poplar in wine and give to drink; this also serves for relief if labor is difficult. Another: a handful of fleabane, soaked in leek juice, and nard-oil mixed in as much as a small hollow, give these in wine to drink. Draws down the monthly discharge. Give peucedanum, all-heal, and licorice-root to drink in wine. Expels a dead embryo and the afterbirth. Fruit of violet and purslane, mix these, pound fine, give in old white wine. Draws down the monthly discharge. Fruit of white-violet as much as three fingers can hold, and five or six goat droppings mixed in most fragrant wine; pre-steam, put the steam into water and oil, and steam on a stool; after steaming, give to drink, and bathe as quickly as possible and lay down; give cabbage to eat and let her sip the broth. Another: fruit of white-violet as much as three fingers can hold, in wine, give to drink, and let her sit in warm water; if there is none, break fennel roots, steep in tepid hydromel, and give. Another: give ten berries of ash-tree in wine to drink. This is good for every pain of the womb, and strongly promotes urination. Another: juice of silphium as much as a bitter vetch, and cress fruit, ground fine and mixed in wine, or in dog's milk, give to drink. This also drives out the embryo. An abortive: ranunculus and a little elaterium mixed in well-blended vinegar, give to drink.
32 (50) [95]
For the same purpose: the tender stalk of cabbage, with the tip smeared with nard-oil, insert. If the monthly discharge does not come: grind terebinth fruit in wine and water, strain, and give to a fasting person to drink, and let her bathe in warm water. To move the menses: give date-palm berries in wine to a fasting person to drink. To purge lochia: give fennel fruit and sea-fennel bark and frankincense in wine to drink. Another: boil the fattest torch-pine in wine, and grind five berries of licorice-root in wine, as much as a quarter-kotyle, give to drink. Another: give the fruit and leaves of mercury-herb in wine to drink. Another: give five black berries of licorice-root and cuttlefish eggs in wine to drink. For every woman who has recently given birth: hedgemustard and barley-groats, pour over oil, when it is boiled let her sip it, and let her use the most gentle foods. Another: grind scammony in woman's milk, sponge it up in wool, and apply as a suppository. Another: grind leaves of mercury-herb, apply in a cloth. Another: grind the herb artemisia and moisten with rose perfume and apply. Another: pound the white root fine and moisten with rose perfume and apply. Another: moisten licorice-root with honey and rose perfume and Egyptian perfume, apply in wool. Another: unwashed flour, apply in the same way. Another: darnel flour and wheat flour mixed together with honey, apply in wool. A purgative for monthly discharges and lochia that also drives out water: ground pounded root of soapwort as much as three fingers can hold, moisten with honey and apply; it grows on the shores of Andros. Another: to purge the womb thoroughly — ground mercury-herb and a little cucumber ground, moistened in wine and honey, apply. Another: burn hare's hair, grind it, moisten in boiled wine and honey and water, give to drink, and let her bathe in the warm. A purgative for childbirth: crush barley, as much as half a hemichoinix, boil in four kotylai of water; when it boils, give to sip two or three times. To purge lochia: boil leaves of elder, pour over oil, give to drink; let her also eat boiled cabbages and leeks. A purgative of the womb: give the leaves and fruit of sumac in wine to drink, and pound hedgemustard fine in wine, add barley-groats, give to drink. Another: grind two obols of copper ore in wine and work it together as a suppository. Another: grind linseed in wine and work it together as a suppository. Another: give the fruit of clover in wine to drink. If the womb settles firmly against the loin, let her eat boiled and roasted octopus, and let her drink dark fragrant wine undiluted as much as possible. Other purgative drinks and suppositories: boil red sumac and grape-pulp in water, add wheat-meal to the water, give to drink. Another: add flour to water, give to drink. Another: dry and grind fine the berries of the bramble, mix with fresh barley-groats, as much as an oxybaphon of each, drink in fragrant and diluted wine. Another: grind black Samian earth in water as much as a knuckle-bone, give to drink. Another: give hypocistis in wine to drink. Another: press out the juice of wine-dark pomegranates, mix barley-groats into the juice, dry; then grind fine in wine, give to drink. Another: grind the fruit of black myrtle, dissolve in water, add barley-groats, give to drink. Another: roast a sweet pomegranate, grind a drachma-weight in wine, give to drink.
32 (100) [145]
Another: grind wheat and parched grain, roast them and make into flour, give to drink in dark wine. Another: mix the inside of a sweet pomegranate with an equal amount of water, give to drink. Another: hemlock as much as three fingers can hold, in water, give to drink. Another: equal parts of wheat-meal and gypsum mixed in water, give to drink. Another: the rind and inner membranes of sweet pomegranate in wine, give to drink. If blood flows from the womb, give chaste-tree leaves to drink in dark wine. For flux and pain: give the root of parched grain in wine to drink. Other womb drinks: cedar berries, seseli, Ethiopian cumin, cassia fruit, juniper berries, millet, hedgehog-fruit, black cumin, carrot root and fruit; and aromatic things — thyme, savory, heather, St. John's wort, white poppy, sea-fennel roots and fruit, mallow roots, mercury-herb fruit and leaves, nettle fruit, sage, black-poplar, dittany, false dittany, amomum, cardamom, elecampane, birthwort, castoreum, maiden-hair fern, dragon-wort, peucedanum, rue leaves and fruit, celery fruit, fennel fruit, horse-celery and its fruit and roots, horse-fennel fruit and roots, soapwort fruit and roots, Cilician hyssop, hedgemustard, licorice-root, all-heal — whichever of these you wish, both mixing them and boiling each by itself in water or in wine as you see fit, give to drink. Good, purging, and pain-relieving: give mallow root in water. For the womb: mix licorice-root fruit and a little cedar-oil, give to drink in wine, and you will stop the pains of the womb. When the womb suffocates: give castoreum and fleabane in white wine to drink; if it is drawn up toward the nose, mix the white inside of a berry with honey and anoint the nose. Another for stopping pain: give mallow root and fennel bark and sea-fennel in water to drink. Another: black sea-stars and cabbage, mixed in fragrant wine, give to drink. Another: myrrh as much as three obols, a little coriander, resin, licorice root, Ethiopian cumin — grind these fine, dissolve in white wine, make it just warm, and give to drink. Drives the womb down: give the root of the castor-oil plant to drink. If the womb falls against the heart region and suffocates, give the fruit of chaste-tree and licorice-root in wine to drink. Sharp suppositories that bring down blood: mix five blister-beetles with frankincense and myrrh, make the size of a gall-nut, fashion it oblong, wrap in wool and bind round with thin linen, moisten with white Egyptian perfume or rose perfume, and apply. Another: a cow-bane beetle — if it is small, use the whole; if large, half — mix with the said things and apply in the same way. If they wish to use something softer, throw the cow-bane beetles into wine, adding Ethiopian cumin, seseli, and anise, bring to a boil; for ten cow-bane beetles mix in an oil-measure of olive oil, and equal amounts of each of all the other things; mix in myrrh and a little frankincense; take as much as a drachma of this and apply, as in the previous suppository. Another: grind black cumin with honey, moisten with wine, make a suppository with a wick, and apply. Another: make philistion in the same way and apply. Another: make the fruit of orpine in the same way and apply. Another: grind anemone leaves, place in a cloth, add a little myrrh, and use in the same way. Brings down blood: grind Egyptian acorn and Susian earth — which is Egyptian clay — dissolve in water, wrap in wool, and apply.
32 (150) [195]
Another purging bile: grind the inner flesh of cucumber fine, work with honey, make into a suppository, and apply. Another: make the inside of wild gourd fine, work with honey, apply in the same way. Another: four doses of elaterium, mixing goose fat and goat fat and copper ore, make a suppository, and apply in a cloth. Another: make shepherd's purse fine, work with honey, and apply. Another: scrape the fat inner flesh of a dried fig, mix with two doses of elaterium and nitron as much as the elaterium, moisten with honey, and apply. Another if there is inflammation: red nitron, the fat inner flesh of a fig, equal parts of each, grind fine, make as much as a gall-nut, and apply. Another: grind cumin leaves in wine, apply in a cloth. Another: grind the white root fine, pour on honey and bring to a boil, make a suppository, and apply. Another: mix juice of silphium and a fig, make a suppository, and apply. Another: grind cucumber seed and apply in the same way. Another: bull's bile, red nitron, nard-oil, cyclamen — grind these as much as a gall-nut, the cyclamen most of all, mix with honey, and apply. Another: clean an onion head, grind in water, bind in a cloth, and apply. Another: myrrh, salt, cumin, bull's bile, work these with honey, and apply as inserts in a cloth. Another: select about thirty berries, and scrapings of the Median drug for the eyes called pepper, and of what is called the round one [name missing in text] — grind these three in old wine, dissolve fine, work up with sweet oil, place round the wool, let her apply, and let her wash with urine. Another: work tithymallus juice with honey, place in a cloth, and apply. Another: wrap six fingers' length of squill root around two fingers' width, apply with wool. Other softening preparations by which water and blood are purged, and monthly discharges are brought on if not of long standing, and the mouth is softened: narcissus-oil, Ethiopian cumin, frankincense, wormwood, galingale — equal amounts of each of the others, but four parts of narcissus-oil — mix in raw carded linen; grind these, make a suppository, and apply. Another: cyclamen the size of a knuckle-bone, and copper flower as much as a bean, ground and moistened with honey, make carefully into a suppository, and apply. Another: pennyroyal, myrrh, frankincense, pig's bile, work with honey, make a suppository, and apply. Other astringent ones: work sumac with dark wine and apply. Another: make safflower in the same way and apply. Another: make lotus shavings in the same way. Another: mix sumac with honey and apply. Other softening preparations: sulfur, fat, egg-yolk, flour, work with honey, and warming these, apply what drips off in wool. Another: goose oil and apple fat, white wax, resin, rose perfume — pull a thin cloth through and apply. Another: melt deer marrow and fat and apply in wool. Another: sheep or goat fat and egg-white worked up with rose perfume, sponged up in wool, apply. Douches: throw in winter unripe figs, boil in water with a slow fire, then strain off, pour over oil, and douche; follow with a douche using pomegranate arils, gall-nuts, and lotus shavings, boiling in astringent wine, strain off and douche.
33 [45]
Another: burn wine-lees, cast into water, then douche with the water; follow with a douche of pomegranate rinds, myrtle berries, and sumac leaves, boiled in wine. Another: boil leaves of mastic-shrub, sage, and St. John's wort in dark wine; if any part of the womb becomes ulcerated, use butter, frankincense, myrrh, and a little resin for the douche. Another: boil leeks in water, pour off the water, mix with wine, and douche. Fruit of elder-tree, anise, frankincense, myrrh, wine — douche with the juice of these. Another: boil cabbage in water, then in the cabbage-juice boil the mercury-herb, adding a little linseed; then pour off and douche. Another: myrrh, as much as an oxybaphon-measure, frankincense, seseli, anise, linseed, netepon-oil, resin, honey, goose oil, white vinegar — the Egyptian — equal parts of each, ground fine, dissolved in two kotylai of white wine; then douche while lukewarm. Another: boil mercury-herb in water, strain off, mix equal parts of myrrh, an oxybaphon-measure, frankincense, netepon-oil, and douche while lukewarm. Another: boil sage and St. John's wort in water, douche with the water. Another: fruit of elder-tree and laurel berries, equal parts of each, boil in wine, then douche with the wine. Another: boil pennyroyal in water, pour oil over it, and douche with water. Another: melt together goose oil and resin, and douche. Another: butter and a little cedar oil, melted together with honey, douche while lukewarm. Another: galingale, rush, reed — these are mixed in equal measure with myrrh; boil water-mint in wine and douche. Another: boil fruit of celery, anise, seed of seseli, black cumin in wine, and douche. Another: boil Cretan cedar in wine and douche. Another: dissolve echethrosin and myrrh in water and douche. Another: douche with flower of silver in wine and water. Another: dissolve elaterion, as much as two doses, in water and douche. Another: soak two wild gourds in wine or boiled milk, about four kotylai-worth, strain off, and douche. Another: boil the inner pith of cucumber, a palm's length, in four kotylai of water, pour over honey and oil, and douche. Another: about two doses of the root of thapsia, and honey and oil, dissolved in two kotylai of water, douche. Another: dissolve hellebore, about two doses, in sweet wine, about two kotylai, and douche while lukewarm. Another: thlaspi, about an oxybaphon-measure, mixed with honey, dissolved in about two kotylai of water, douche while lukewarm. Another: boil cucumber, a palm's length, in five kotylai of water, mix in oil, and douche. Another: dissolve about sixty cnidian berries under a little honey and oil, and douche. Another: if the woman is by nature phlegmatic — grind an amount of cneoron, dissolve in one Aeginetan kotyle of mead, and douche with this; but if she is bilious, use as much as one dose of laurel, as much as one drachm of the edible kind. Another: grind as much as one dose of scammony, dissolve in mead or water from raisins, about one Attic kotyle. Another: one dose of daphne-plant, by the same reckoning — if she is bilious by nature, douche with this; but if phlegmatic, douche likewise with selected berries and as much as one dose of the juice of tithymalos; use cneoron and poppy-juice likewise, one dose of each. Douche, if needed, with more than two kotylai of douching-fluid.
34 [45]
Fumigations from below: these are the ground ingredients. Fumigate with oak-gall. Mix sawdust of lotus-wood with crushed dry olive leaves, knead with oil, and fumigate from below. Place charcoals underneath, throw on damp barley-chaff, and fumigate from below. Take the lid of an oil-amphora, burn the stuffing beneath it, place cypress sawdust underneath, and fumigate. Sprinkle scammony, myrrh, frankincense, and perfume over it, and fumigate from below. Mix asphalt and barley-chaff and fumigate from below. Mix sulphur with seal-oil and fumigate from below. Sprinkle perfume on ash-wood, cypress sawdust, galingale root, and rose-ointment, and fumigate. Mix reed, galingale, bryony, sea-moss, and celery-seed with anise together, moisten with rose-ointment, and fumigate from below. Place dry resin on ash and fumigate from below. Cinnamon, myrrh, cassia, equal parts of each, mixing in saffron. Myrrh and sea-moss, equal to the saffron. Reed, cneoron, saffron, red rose petals with sweet fragrance — grind and dry them, mix in with the saffron, and add half as much storax as saffron; mix all these fine and dry, moisten with as little cooked honey as possible; of all these mixed together, let the fumigation be one Attic obol in weight; fumigate these over dung-cake; shape the dung-cake like an oil-vinegar-cup; let it have a thin base; let it be dry; let the fire be of vine-wood, on which the dung-cake will rest; let the woman straddle the vessel and be fumigated. Moisten galbanum, resin, manna with rose-ointment, and fumigate from below. Moisten sawdust of all-heal and cypress with white Egyptian ointment, and fumigate. Moisten cinnamon, spikenard, and myrrh with rose-ointment and fumigate from below. Knead the fruit of white violet, cedar sawdust, and galbanum with honey, and fumigate from below. Moisten goat-dung pellets and hare-fur with seal-oil, and fumigate from below. Pound the hide of the pitch-pine seal fine, and mix sea-moss and sea-weed together pounded fine, work with seal-oil, and fumigate from below. Fumigate from below with goat-dung pellets, lung of seal, and cedar sawdust. Fumigate from below with dung-cake, sawdust of horn, and asphalt. Pound the fruit of Egyptian thorn, cedar sawdust, and dry myrtle leaves fine, moisten with balsam-juice ointment, and fumigate from below. Fumigate from below with spices cast into ointment. Pound grape-seeds fine, and mix cedar-berries and pine-resin together, moisten with cooked sweet wine, and fumigate from below. For steam-treatments: cast into a dome-shaped sifted dung-cake half vinegar and half bitter-vetch juice, and steam-treat gently; when the steam-treatment is done, give lentil-water to drink and make her vomit, give gruel to take, and give wine to drink after; on the following day give a berry as a bolus to swallow, and on the day after that give a diuretic. Grind two white chick-peas, and a third part raisins, pour over half water, boil together, then pour off, set out in the open air, and give to drink the next day; and mix with the remainder sage and linseed, with both of these and barley-meal, give twice a day in four kotylai of mixed wine. Three half-kotylai of oil, a handful of elder leaves — boil these poured into a warm mixing-bowl, steam-treat with hot potsherds, seating her on a stool and covering her with garments. A handful of elder leaves, and an equal amount of myrtle, cast into water, boil and pour off the water, add barley-chaff, boil, cast into a cloth, then steam-treat with this as hot as can be endured. Mix vinegar, oil, water, honey, bring to a vigorous boil, then take a bladder holding about a chous, or a wineskin as thin-skinned as possible, pour in the mixture, wrap in a woollen cloth, and steam-treat; when the cloth becomes wet, wrap on another.
34 (50) [70]
Cast in the bark of pine and the leaves of sumac, boil vigorously, pour off the water, and boil barley-chaff, pouring in oil; when boiled together, cast into a cloth and steam-treat. Sawdust of lotus-wood and cypress — pour in water and oil and boil until boiled together; then cast into a cloth and steam-treat. Boil a choinix-worth of spices cast into water, and boil wheat-bran in the water, and steam-treat in the same way. Pound oak-gall and the bark of buckthorn and boil down vigorously; knead wheat-bran in the water and mix in oil; then make a half-baked loaf, about two choinikes in size, bind it in a cloth, and steam-treat. Boil cabbage and skirret together and in the same way make the steam-treatment with the juice. Boil barley-chaff together, pour in oil, bind in a cloth, and steam-treat. Boil nightshade and olive leaves, do the same. And for all these: if you wish to use them wet, steam-treat as written; if you wish to use them dry, make loaves, well-baked and half-baked, and steam-treat; also steam-treat with potsherds wrapped in a cloth, or by heating with the cloths themselves, or with earthenware lentil-dishes, pouring boiling water in. Apply also to the feet the root of iris, pounding and boiling and steam-treating in the same way. If water accumulates in the womb, the monthly periods become less, worse, and further apart, and she conceives each time for a little more than two months; but when that time passes, she miscarries too, and much water forms in her.
35 [25]
This woman should be made to drink milk and given poppy-drinks, in the expectation that the embryo will begin to move; but for the most part she miscarries and aborts before that point, and the womb flows with blood; and she suffers these things no more from exertion than otherwise. You would know that dropsy is present by probing with the finger; for you will see the mouth of the womb thin and becoming effaced, engulfed in moisture. But if she miscarries and the embryo is suffocated not at the beginning but when it is already moving, the lower belly swells up, and it is painful to touch, like an ulcer, and fever and grinding take hold of her, and sharp and urgent pain grips the genitals themselves, and the lower belly, and the flanks, and the hollows of the groin, and the loins. When she is in this state, one must bathe her in warm water, and wherever the pain grips her, test which of the warming applications she best tolerates and apply it, and give her a purging drug to work downward; after leaving an interval of time that seems to you fitting, and having steam-treated, apply; tie up a sufficient amount of cyclamen, place it in a cloth moistened with honey, and apply it to the mouth of the womb; and scrape off cypress and soak in water, and apply in the same way, but for less time and at greater intervals, in proportion as it bites and ulcerates more; and make a probe of tin and insert it, and likewise with the finger; and try the drinks, giving whatever she best tolerates; and let her sleep with her husband as much as the fitting moments allow; for if she takes in the seed and conceives and gives birth, she is purged out, along with what was previously within her, and in this way she would most come to health. If the womb becomes indurated, the mouth grows rough and the monthly periods are hidden; when they do appear, it is as though sand, and conception does not occur at that time; and if you probe with the finger, you will find the mouth of the womb rough.
36 [5]
When she is in this state, one must grind cyclamen and mix in salt and raw fig and work it up with honey and apply it as a pessary, and having steam-treated, douche with purging agents; let her eat mercury-herb and boiled cabbages, and take the juice as a drink, and bathe in warm water. If the womb becomes indurated, the monthly periods are hidden, and the mouth closes up, and she does not conceive.
37 [5]
While she is in this state, if you probe with the finger, you will see the mouth rough, and it does not admit the finger, and fever and grinding take hold of her, and pain grips the lower belly, the hollow of the groin, and the flanks. She suffers these things if the embryo has been destroyed within her and has rotted; it happens to some also after childbirth; and often otherwise too. When she is in this state, one must bathe her with much warm water and steam-treat; when she is freshly bathed or freshly steam-treated, insert the probe and open up the mouth, and dilate it, and likewise with the finger; and apply as written for the preceding case, and likewise give the drinks, and treat in the same way as before. If the womb falls against the ribs, coughing grips her, and pain under the side like a ball, and it is painful to touch, like an ulcer, and she wastes away, and she appears to have pneumonia, and she goes into spasm, and becomes stooped, and the monthly periods do not appear at all, or when they do appear they pass off quickly, and what does come is weak, scanty, or worse than before, and conception does not occur at that time.
38 [5]
When she is in this state, one must give elaterion as a purging drug to work downward, and bathe her with much warm water, and apply whichever of the warming applications she best tolerates, and apply those by which blood is purged; and toast linseed, pound, and sift it, and white poppy with fine barley-meal, and goat cheese, scraping off the mould and brine — mix these, two parts cheese to one of the others, one part of stale salt-free barley-meal; give to drink on an empty stomach in wine; in the evening give a thick kykeon poured with honey; and give to drink whichever of the drinks she best tolerates; and steam-treat frequently, and foment with warmth; and with the wax-salve, gently softening the affected area, push the displaced womb back away from the side, and bind the side with a broad bandage; and let her drink milk, as much bovine milk as possible, for forty days; let her take the most soft foods possible. The disease is urgent and deadly, and few women escape it, even with care. If the mouth closes shut, it becomes hard like a wild fig-tree, and if you probe with the finger, you will see it hard and contracted, and the finger is not admitted, and the monthly periods are hidden, and it does not receive seed at that time, and pain grips the lower belly, the loins, and the hollow of the groin; and sometimes it rises upward and causes suffocation.
39 [5]
When she is in this state, give a drug to purge downward, and bathe with much warm water, and apply those things which soften the mouth, and insert the probe, and open up the mouth, and likewise with the finger, and foment. When it is soft, apply whatever purges blood; and try the drinks, giving whatever she best tolerates; and let her eat cabbage and take the juice as a drink.
If the womb becomes displaced sideways, its mouth too becomes angled, and the monthly periods are sometimes hidden, sometimes appear and then pass off, and are not the same but worse and less than before, and conception does not occur at that time, and pain grips the lower belly, the flanks, the loins, and the hip, and draws it.
40 [5]
When she is in this state, one must give elaterion as a drug to drink, and bathe in warm water, and steam-treat; when she has been freshly steam-treated or freshly bathed, let her probe with the finger, straightening and aligning the mouth of the womb, and let her be fumigated from below with sweet-smelling things, and try the drinks, giving whatever she best tolerates; let her take soft foods, and eat boiled and raw garlic, and sleep with her husband, and lie on the healthy hip; let the other affected side be steam-treated. The disease is hard to be rid of. If the womb becomes distended, the belly rises and fills with wind, the feet swell, and the hollows of the face; the complexion becomes unseemly, and the monthly periods are hidden, and conception does not occur at that time, and she grows weak and is restless, and when she stands up or goes out, orthopnoia grips her, and whatever she eats or drinks distresses her, and she groans and is more despairing than before she ate; and often she is suffocated too.
41 [10]
When she is in this state, give a purging drug to work downward, and bathe with warmth and steam-treat; after leaving some interval, apply those things that purge her and bite; steam-treat the whole body as frequently as possible; then let her be fumigated from below at the genitals with sweet-smelling things, and at the nostrils with foul-smelling things; and give drinks that purge the womb; and let her eat mercury-herb and drink milk, as described for the case of the side. The disease is prolonged. If the womb becomes clotted, its mouth becomes as though full of bitter-vetch seeds, and if you probe, you will see it in this state, and the monthly periods do not occur, nor is seed retained.
42 [5]
When she is in this state, peel the outer skin of cyclamen, and grind garlic, salt, fig, and a little honey, mix together, make a pessary and apply to the mouth of the womb, together with those other suppositories for the womb that are clearly biting and erosive, and those by which blood is purged; and give the drinks that purge the womb; and wrapping vulture's skin or membrane around a scraper, scrape the mouth of the womb. If the womb becomes rotated, the monthly periods do not occur, and conception does not take place, and pain grips the lower belly, the flanks, and the hollows of the groin; and if she probes with the finger, she cannot touch the mouth of the womb, for it has withdrawn strongly.
43 [5]
When she is in this state, one must give a drug to purge both upward and downward, but downward more; and steam-treat the body and the womb as much as possible; and bathe in warm water twice a day; and try the drinks, giving whatever she best tolerates; and let her sleep with her husband as frequently as possible, and eat cabbage. If the womb, once moved, does not stay in place but falls here and there, it causes pain and becomes invisible, but sometimes it protrudes like a seat; and when she happens to be lying on her back, it stays in place; but when she stands up or bends forward or moves in some other way, it comes out; and often even when she is at rest.
44 [5]
This woman must rest as much as possible and not move, and the bed must be set higher at the foot, and the same treatments used as described above, and foment with astringent agents, and fumigate from below with foul-smelling things, and under the nostrils with sweet-smelling things; and piercing a pomegranate through the middle at the navel of the fruit, warming it in wine, whichever fits best and does not press too hard, apply it as far in as possible; when you apply it, bind it up from the loins, taking it with a broad bandage, so that it does not slip out but stays and does its work; and give poppy-juice to drink with the cheese and barley-meal, as written for the case of the side; and try the drinks, giving whatever she best tolerates; let her take the softest possible food. If the mouth of the womb gapes more than is natural, the monthly periods become more abundant, worse, more fluid, and further apart, and seed does not take hold in her nor remain, but pours out again; and if you probe the mouth of the womb with the finger, you will find it abnormally dilated, and weakness takes hold of her from the monthly periods, and fever, and chills, and pain grips the lower belly, the hollows of the groin, and the flanks.
45 [5]
She suffers these things especially if something poured into her has been destroyed and rotted; but women suffer them also after childbirths, and some otherwise too. When she is in this state, one must give a purging drug that purges upward; and when the pain grips her, apply the warming applications, and bathe with warmth, and after an interval douche, as written for the preceding case, and give whatever drink she best tolerates, and fumigate from below with those things that dry, and let her eat polyps, and mercury-herb. If the womb becomes too smooth, the monthly periods become more abundant, worse, more fluid, and more frequent, and seed does not remain but comes out again, and if you probe with the finger, you will see the mouth smooth, and weakness takes hold of her from the monthly periods, and fever, and chills, and pain in the lower belly, and the flanks, and the hollows of the groin — especially if something within her has been destroyed and rotted, and after childbirth, and otherwise; when she is in this state, treat wherever the pain grips her, as written for the preceding case.
47 [5]
If the womb inclines toward the left, sharp and urgent pain grips the hip and the flanks and the hollows of the groin, and the leg limps. When she is in this state, one must give elaterion as a drug to drink, and on the following day fumigate from below; two choinikes of barley, and olive leaves grated small, and oak-gall pounded and sifted, and a third of a choinix of henbane — mix these together, work with about a half-kotyle of oil in a pot, and fumigate for four days, three times a day; at night let her drink cow's milk, honey, and water, and bathe in warm water. If the womb turns toward the head, the sign is this: she says the veins in her nostrils and those below her eyes are painful.
48 [5]
This woman must be bathed with much warm water, including over the head, boiling laurel and myrtle in the water, and let the head be anointed with rose-ointment, and let her be fumigated from below with sweet-smelling things, and let her eat cabbage and drink the juice. If the womb turns toward the legs and feet, you will know it by this: the great toes are drawn into spasm below the nails, and pain grips the legs and the thighs.
49 [5]
When she is in this state, one must bathe her with much warm water, and steam-treat with whatever she best tolerates, and fumigate from below with foul-smelling things, and anoint with rose-ointment. If a woman with a painful womb is seized by want of appetite, fever, and chills, take a fifth part of a half-choinix of white poppy, and an equal amount of nettle seed, and a half-choinix measure of goat cheese scraped down, mix together, dissolve in old wine, then boil and give to take as gruel.
51
If after childbirth flux takes hold of her and food does not remain in the belly, one must grind black raisins and the inner part of sweet pomegranate, and pine-resin of a kid, dissolve in dark-coloured wine, grate goat cheese over it, add parched wheat barley-meal, mix to a well-tempered drink, and give to drink. If she vomits blood after childbirth, the canal of the liver has been pierced, and pain frequents the viscera and the heart, and she goes into spasm.
52 [5]
This woman must be bathed with much warm water, and whatever warming applications she most tolerates must be applied, and she must be given donkey's milk to drink for five days; after this, switch to giving her the milk of a black cow to drink, she fasting from food for forty days, and toward evening give her ground sesame to drink. The illness is dangerous. If a woman has not conceived for a long time, though her monthly flux is appearing, when it is the third or fourth day, grind alum smooth, dissolve it in ointment, and using wool as a sponge, apply it; let her keep it in while lying down for three days; on the third day, shave ox bile, lay it on a piece of cloth, dissolve the shavings in oil and work them together, and apply; let her keep it in for three days; on the next day let her remove it and come together with her husband.
53 [15]
Take split flax with its own stalk, about a drachma's weight, chop it fine, soak it overnight in the most pleasant white wine, then strain it off, warm it in a small pot, dip the softest possible wool in it, and apply one piece while removing another. If you wish to purge the womb, first fumigate with barley soaked in oil on coals; on the next day, boil sheep's meat in a small pot that has been exposed to the open air — let the pot hold about a chous — and boil thoroughly; when it is cooked, let her eat it just warm and drink the broth; on the following day, grind frankincense and pennyroyal smooth, work them together with honey, and applying on wool as a sponge, insert for three days. If the womb turns toward the rectum and obstructs the passage of stools, pains grip the loins, the lower belly, and the flanks.
54 [5]
When this condition holds, one must bathe her with warm water, apply fomentation to the loins, fumigate with foul-smelling substances, and insert whatever purges and drives the womb, and give her to drink whatever she most tolerates. If the mouth of the womb becomes ulcerated or inflamed, mix myrrh, goose fat, white wax, and frankincense with the hairs from under the belly of a hare, grind smooth, and let it be applied in the softest possible wool.
56
If the afterbirth cannot be expelled, she must fast straightaway; grind the leaves of chaste-tree smooth in wine and honey, pour oil over, warm, and give to drink, about a cotyle's worth. If the womb becomes inflamed, boil the softest possible leaves of elder in fine wheaten groats, and give lukewarm to drink as a gruel.
58 [5]
If the womb is displaced, grind ivy as dry as possible into a smooth powder, bind it in a cloth, and apply; bring nothing fatty near; give to drink: hulled wheat of prokonia, roasted poppy, sage, galingale, and anise — grind these smooth, dissolve in wine, and add the sievings from barley — give twice a day, a half-cotyle for each dose. If the monthly flux does not occur at the accustomed time, grind smooth the leaves of cabbage and rue, then soak about a choinix of barley chaff until it is moistened, dry it in the open air; in the morning make about a cotyle's worth, dissolve the cabbage and the rue in it, pour on oil, stir it together, and give to drink; then smother an octopus in white wine, give it to eat and the wine to drink; or if you wish, boil the cheapest small fish and give them to eat and the broth to drink.
60 [5]
If the genitals become ulcerated, boil myrtle berries in wine and let her rinse the genitals with it; then boil the rinds of sweet pomegranate in wine, mix myrrh and resin together, dissolve in wine, dip a cloth in it, and apply. If strangury takes hold, cut off the mouth and bottom of a gourd, set charcoal beneath it, set the gourd around it, sprinkle dry pounded myrrh onto the fire, seat her over the gourd, and insert the tip of the gourd into the genitals as far as possible, so that as much vapor as possible may be sent into the genitals; also give diuretic drinks on an empty stomach.
62
If the womb, positioned toward the heart region, brings on suffocation and does not withdraw, grind the fruit of leek and pennyroyal, dissolve in three cyaths of water and one cyath of white vinegar and a third part of a cyath of honey, warm, and give to drink as a gruel on an empty stomach. If shivering takes hold after childbirth or miscarriage, grind juniper berries and sage together, dissolve in one cyath of white vinegar, pour over a cup of diluted white wine, mix together, and let it stand; in the morning strain it off, warm it, and give to drink.
64 [5]
If the womb is inflated with wind, or if wind arises in the belly and there is pain, pound sage and galingale, soak overnight, strain in the morning, pour the clear liquid into a pot, throw in wheat groats, pour over about a cyath of white vinegar, add a bean-sized piece of silphium juice, boil rather underdone, and give to drink as gruel. If a foul smell or a uvula-like growth arises in the genitals and pain grips, the fruit of celery given in wine on an empty stomach will relieve the pain; anise given in the same manner will relieve the foul smell; the uvula-like growth must be cut off.
66 [5]
If sores arise in the genitals and itching takes hold, grind smooth leaves of olive, ivy, bramble, and sweet pomegranate, dissolve in old wine, then take fresh meat, apply it, poultice with the leaves, and let her keep it on through the night; in the morning, let her remove it, boil myrtle in wine, and rinse the genitals with the wine. If she does not receive seed, though her monthly flux is occurring normally, a membrane comes to lie in front; this happens from other causes too; you will recognize it thus: if you press in with a finger, you will touch the obstruction.
67 [5]
For this woman one must make an application: dissolve resin and flower of copper in honey, smear a cloth with it, insert as far in as possible, tying a thread from the end; when it is withdrawn, boil myrtle in wine and let her rinse with the warm wine. If a woman is seized with breathlessness, grind smooth sulfur about the size of a bean, and the same amount of cardamom, and rue, and Ethiopian cumin; dissolve in wine and give to drink on an empty stomach; she must also abstain from food and not eat frequently.
69
If she is afflicted with wind during labor, bury the liver of a sheep or goat in ashes, give it to eat with rather undiluted wine for four days, and let her drink old wine. If she has pain in the flanks, let her drink anise and Ethiopian cumin, bathe in warm water, and drink from warm water.
71 [5]
If the monthly flux does not occur, burn a thick potsherd, grind smooth, boil origanum, work smooth in goose oil, mix with the potsherd, and apply warm in a cloth. If the womb closes up and the monthly flux does not appear, take wild cucumber-gourd and its leaf, Ethiopian cumin, natron, Theban salt, a small kidney, meal, myrrh, and resin; boil all these together, mix smooth, form into a suppository, and insert.
73
If the womb turns toward the viscera and causes suffocation, let her drink cedar wine and Ethiopian cumin, bathe in warm water, and drink from warm things. If the monthly flux does not occur, let the woman mix goose oil, nētopon, and resin, and apply by sponging on with wool.
74
If it appears more than is fitting, apply susinum and bramble leaf in wool. If the womb is displaced and falls somewhere, pound barley smooth with its chaff, and add paliurus and deer horn, soak in wine, and fumigate the womb.
76
If the afterbirth cannot be expelled, boil fennel in wine and oil and honey, and give to drink. If the monthly flux does not appear and you wish to draw it down, boil wheat groats and garlic cloves, pour oil over, then give to eat.
78
If the womb is inflamed, boil the leaves of navelwort and leeks in wheat groats, pour oil over, and give to eat. If the womb is displaced and falls somewhere and causes pain, boil olive-tree scurf and sawdust of laurel and cypress in water, put in a cloth, and apply.
80 [5]
If she has pain in the womb and the pain is toward the bladder, grind leek fruit in water and give to drink to a fasting woman, and apply warm compresses. If the womb protrudes, wash it with lukewarm water and anoint with oil and wine, push it back in, bind it up from the flanks, fumigate with foul-smelling substances, and if she cannot urinate, bathe with warm water, foment, fumigate with cypress sawdust, and give diuretic drinks to drink.
82
If a flux occurs, fumigate with astringent substances, scrape an onos all around, bind it in wool, and apply; let the onos be dry. If sores arise in the genitals, smear on beef fat and apply, and boil myrtle in wine and rinse with it.
84
If the mouth of the womb becomes ulcerated after childbirth, grind rose petals smooth, soak in wine, apply in hare's hairs, and let her rinse with astringent substances. If she has pain in the womb, grind smooth the inner skin of garlic, roasted natron, and cumin, soak in honey, and apply; let her bathe in warm water and drink from warm things.
86
If the genitals become ulcerated, mix beef fat, butter, goose oil, and susinum, and anoint the genitals with these; let her also rinse with lukewarm water. If the womb pressing close causes suffocation, light a wick, extinguish it, hold it under the nose so that she draws in the smoke; then dissolve myrrh in ointment, soak wool in it, and apply; also give resin dissolved in oil to drink.
88 [5]
If the placenta does not come away, grind fleabane, make a pessary in wool, apply it, and grinding in a mortar with wine, give to drink. If she has pain in the head and the lower belly and the flanks, there is bile in the womb; one must give this woman a drug capable of purging both upward and downward, and bathe in warm water, and apply whatever purges bile, and give anise and black cumin dissolved in wine to drink.
90 [5]
If a flux arises, smother river crabs in wine, give the wine to drink, and fumigate with whatever dries, and apply. If a flux arises, grind about a bundle of leeks in wine and give to drink, and let her use dry and astringent things. If a flux arises, burn a mule-fern, pound it smooth, sift it, dissolve in wine, and give to drink; for the rest, use the same method. If a flux arises and is already of long standing, burn a sponge, grind smooth, dissolve in fragrant wine, give to drink; fumigate to dry, and apply whatever is astringent. If you wish to purge the womb, grind natron, cumin, garlic, and figs smooth, soak in honey, apply, let her bathe in warm water, and drink from warm things.
92 [5]
If she has pain in the womb, give the root of cyclamen in white wine to drink on an empty stomach; let her bathe in warm water and drink from warm things. If milk is suppressed, treat otherwise in the same manner; give the fruit of fennel to drink, and hulled barley and butter, boiled together; when it is cooked, let it cool and give to drink; horse-fennel and horse-celery boiled together are also good.
93 [5]
If milk is suppressed, grind leeks, dissolve in water, and give to drink; let her bathe in warm water; let her eat leeks and cabbages, boiling together the leaves of cytisus, and drink the juice. If milk is suppressed, grind leeks, dissolve in water, and give to drink; let her bathe in warm water; boil sage and add cedar berries or juniper berries, pour off the chymos and pour wine over, and let her drink; for the rest, add meal and bulb, pour a little oil over, and let her eat; let her abstain from all sharp, sour, salty, and raw vegetables; drinking cress in wine is good, and it purges the milk; let her bathe in warm water and drink from warm things. If you wish a woman to conceive, purge her and her womb; then give her fine-ground meal to eat on an empty stomach, and give unmixed wine to drink on top, and apply red natron; soak cumin and resin in honey, put in a cloth, and apply; and when the water flows off, let her apply the black softening pessaries, and sleep with her husband.
94 [10]
If you wish to make a woman pregnant, purge her and her womb; apply to the womb a piece of cloth dried as thin as possible, soaked in honey, made into suppositories, dipping them in fig-tree juice, and apply until the mouth opens; then push further in; when the water flows off, let her wash herself with wine and oil, and sleep with her husband; let her also drink, whenever she is about to go to sleep, pennyroyal on cedar wine. An abortifacient for the embryo and womb: smear the juice of wild cucumber, enough for a dose, into a cake and apply, the woman having fasted for two days beforehand.
95
Give two drachmas of wild stavesacre dissolved in melikraton to drink. A test: shave off the inner skin of a garlic clove, insert toward the womb; on the next day press in with a finger and examine; if the mouth smells of it, things are well; if not, let her apply it again.
96 [5]
Another test: wrap a little nētopon in wool, insert, and observe from where the mouth smells. Applications: wrap the bile of a sea-scorpion in wool, dry in the shade, and apply.
97 [15]
Grind dry pennyroyal smooth, soak in honey, and apply in wool. Burn cucumber seed and potsherd, soak in wine, and apply in hare's hairs and in wool. Wrap Egyptian alum in wool and apply. Soak blister-beetles in wine and apply in wool. Soak the herb artemisia in wine and apply. Grind black cumin in white wine and apply in wool. For a newly delivered woman: apply rose ointment and wax in wool. Grind the dung-ball from wheat, soak in wine, and apply in wool. Burn the lees of old white wine, soak in white wine, grind, and apply in wool. Apply galbanum, nētopon, and misy in rose ointment in a cloth. Apply elaterion about two doses' worth and honeycomb in wine in a cloth. Soak butter and alum in honey and apply in a cloth. Mix scammony juice and fat in a barley-cake, soak in wine, and apply in a cloth. If she does not wish to conceive, give a bean-sized piece of misy dissolved in water to drink, and for a year she will not conceive.
99
If you wish to test a woman whether she is capable of bearing children or not, anoint her eyes with the red stone, and if the drug enters, she is capable of bearing children; if not, she is not. If a child's genitals become ulcerated, grind almonds smooth and ox marrow, boil in water, add a little fine-ground meal, anoint the genitals, and rinse with the water from myrtle berries.
101
If a virgin suffers from stone, give the leaf of the Ethiopian root by weight, giving it in old wine for ten days, and for the remainder strain in water for twenty days, and bathe twice a day with much warm water. Poultices: mix garlic, purslane, celery, sawdust of lotus and cedar smooth together, dissolve in melikraton, make a poultice, and apply as a poultice.
102 [5]
Leaves of bramble, leaves of myrtle — grind smooth together, dissolve in melikraton, blend with barley groats, and poultice. Leaves of elder, leaves of myrtle, the most tender parts of terebinth — poultice in the same manner. Mix sawdust of lotus and leaves of mulberry smooth together, dissolve in raisin-water, and poultice. Fumigations: pound dry goat's wool-grease, and parched and winnowed barley, soak in oil, and fumigate.
103 [10]
Mix deer horn and olives that do not yet have oil smooth together, and fumigate. Soak red sumac and parched barley groats in oil, and fumigate. Soak meal, ox-dung, and chaff in oil, and fumigate. Soak sawdust of lotus, leaves of sumac, and sawdust of dry cypress in harsh dark wine, and fumigate. Soak galbanum, manna, and resin in ointment, and fumigate. Soak goat horn, oak-gall, and swine fat in cedar oil, and fumigate. Scrape the soil from the foot of an ass and soak the scrapings and onides in dark wine, and fumigate. Rinses: rinse with leaves of myrtle, laurel, and ivy in lukewarm water.
104 [10]
Boil leaves of sumac and of sweet pomegranate and of bramble in melikraton, pour off, and rinse. Boil the leaves of elder and of mastic-tree in water, pour off, and rinse lukewarm. Pound the root of fennel, boil in water, and add cabbage, pour on oil, then pour off, and rinse. Boil wild vine-flower, galingale, and raisins in melikraton, and rinse. Boil some emollient in water, pour off the water, and rinse lukewarm. Boil cypress sawdust and marjoram in sweet water diluted, and rinse. Boil thyme and the root of white violet in melikraton, and rinse. Boil St. John's wort, mastic, and cedar berries in water, and rinse lukewarm. Boil honeycomb, butter, resin, and goose oil in water, and rinse. Fomentations: parch darnel and grind it, boil in rather undiluted oxycraton; when boiled, bind in a cloth and foment.
105 [20]
Parch lentils and hull them, make rather coarse flour, boil in water, bind in a cloth, and apply. Prepare bitter vetches in the same manner and foment; sage prepared in the same manner is also good. Boil sage and St. John's wort in water, boil barley chaff in the decoction, bind in a cloth, and foment. Boil sawdust of lotus and cypress in the steeping-water of raisins, bind in a cloth, and foment. Boil leaves of olive, myrtle, ivy, and laurel in water, pour off the decoction, boil barley chaff in it, then bind in a cloth and foment. Mix cypress sawdust and cedar sawdust and barley bran together in the steeping-water of raisins, knead, make a loaf, bake, and while hot bind in a cloth and foment. Boil the fruit or roots of white violet in water, knead wheat bran with the water, make a loaf, while hot wrap in a cloth, and foment. Boil thyme in water, throw wheat bran into the decoction, and foment in the same manner. Also foment by warming a sponge and applying, and with soft wools, and with woolen cloths, and by pouring water over earthen vessels, and with small bags in the same manner, and by pouring in decoctions, and foment. Purging preparation: if you wish to make a woman who cannot give birth conceive, you must examine at her monthly periods whether her discharge is bile-like or phlegm-like in nature.
106 [5]
You will recognize it thus: first put fine dry sand out in the sun, and when the monthly flux comes, pour some of the blood onto it in the sun and let it dry; if her discharge is bile-like, the blood as it dries on the sand becomes greenish-yellow; if phlegm-like, it is like mucus. Whichever of these it is, purge the belly — whether upward or downward seems to you to be needed — then after waiting a few days, purge the womb. Fomentations of the womb: if the womb is hard and she is not conceiving, mix the most pleasant possible wine in equal parts, about three Attic half-choes' worth, and fennel roots, and a quarter portion of fennel fruit, and a half-cotyle of rose ointment; pour these into a new hedgehog-vessel, pour the wine over, pierce the lid of the vessel, insert a reed, and foment; remove the reed together with the lid, for if it is removed without the lid, she will be burned.
107 [5]
When she has been fomented, apply squill, as written below; keep applying until she says the mouth is soft and wide. And if there is ulceration and there are blisters in the course of the purging, if only the very edges of the lips are ulcerated, grind anise and goose oil in rose oil, wrap in wool, take a piece of beef somewhat thicker than a large toe, six fingers in length, smear it with the drug, wrap it with the wool, sponge on the drug, bind the end of the flesh that is to remain outside with a thread, and insert the bare part of the flesh into the womb where the sore is.
109 [45]
Purgatives for women: if the cleansing does not flow, take the pith of a gourd, about three obols' worth, and artemisia herb and an obol of frankincense; grind them, mix in honey, wrap in wool, and apply to the mouth of the womb, doing this five times during the day. Grind the fresh vine-tendril in honey, wrap in wool, and apply in the same way. Grind the fruit of the cypress and the pith of squill-cucumber and frankincense together, dissolve with rose-perfume and honey, wrap in wool, and apply in the same way. Grind the fruit of the cypress and frankincense together, dissolve with rose-perfume and honey, wrap in wool, and apply. Grind southernwood, about three obols' worth, in honey, wrap in wool, and apply. Grind one obol of elaterium and one obol of myrrh, mix with honey into wool, and apply. If a woman does not conceive, a purgative: collect bull's urine, about three kotylai; then take artemisia herb, or parthenion, or maidenhair fern, and fresh bay-laurel and cedar sawdust, pound them fine in a mortar; then dig a pit, kindle coals in it, and set a pot over it; pour in the bull's urine and throw in what has been pounded in the mortar. Then place a seat around it, lay over it some artemisia herb, or hyssop, or marjoram; then seat the woman and apply the vapor-bath until she sweats. When she sweats, wash her with warm water; into the bath put the artemisia and bay-laurel. Then make a suppository either of artemisia, or of bulb-onion ground in white wine and wrapped in wool; let her apply it. Do this for three days; then let her sleep beside her husband. A suppository to promote conception: make a suppository from nitre and frankincense in honey and apply it. A softening purgative suppository: take a dried fig, boil it until it loses its seeds, press it out, grind it as smooth as possible, and let her apply it in wool with rose-perfume. Another, sharper: take equal parts of cabbage and rue, grind them, and use in the same way. Another suppository, both softening and purgative: take marrow of goose, or ox, or deer, about the size of a bean; pouring over it rose-perfume and woman's milk, grind it as a softening medicament is ground; then anoint the mouth of the womb with this. Another, a warm purgative: take goose marrow the size of a walnut, and mastic or terebinth resin the size of a walnut; melt these in rose-perfume over a gentle fire, and having made something like a wax-salve, then with this, warm, anoint the mouth of the womb and moisten the pubic region. Take three or four of the red berries of glykyside, grind them in wine, and give to drink; but if you wish to draw down more forcefully, grind the dark berries of glykyside in the same way and give to drink. Another purgative and drawing-down remedy: grind twenty of the largest bay-berries and half an oxybaphon of seseli with wine, and let her drink. Grind bull's bile, about three half-obols Attic, and give to drink in wine on an empty stomach; also make pills by coating it and give. Wheat flour, myrrh about three obols' worth, the same of saffron, an obol of castoreum; grind these in rose-perfume, and let her apply as a suppository. Another purgative: grind the fruit of nettle and the juice of mallow in goose fat, and apply as a suppository. If she is not purged, boil the powder of a castrated animal, as much as three fingers can hold, in honey, pour it in, and knead the powder together and give to drink. An opener of the womb, which also acts as a purgative: grind five blister-beetles, pouring in white vinegar; do not make it too moist, but such that a finger can be wiped clean; take a fat white fig, without the seeds and the skin, mix in double the portion of the blister-beetle preparation, make it smooth, wrap in fine wool, and let her apply it.
109 (50) [80]
A purgative: if after childbirth she is not cleansed, let her drink clover in white wine; this also causes the monthly flow to burst forth and expels the embryo. A purgative of the womb-chambers: when, after the death of a child within, blood remains inside, grind wild gourd in honey, and let her lick it or apply it as a suppository. Something to cleanse blood, to drive blood out of the womb-chambers: grind the fruit of white violet smooth, dissolve in wine, and give to drink. You will likewise drive blood out of the womb-chambers in this way: grind thirty fresh berries of sumac when it is red, and the red rosehips of the dog-rose, gathering the red part; give to drink in wine, until the blood bursts forth. A purgative suppository: if the monthly flow does not appear, grind storax and marjoram fine and mix them together, pour over goose oil, and then let her apply it as a suppository. A cleansing suppository, to purge and empty the womb-chambers: grind a root of wormwood smooth, mix with honey, and apply together with oil. Suppositories that are purgative for the womb-chambers, that open the mouth, and that draw out fluid: take squill of six fingers' length and the thickness of the little finger; scrape the outer part to about two fingers' depth, making it smooth; wrap the remaining portion in unwashed wool, and let the scraped end be placed against the mouth of the womb-chambers for a day and a night. After washing and removing it, let her rinse with fragrant water. A mild cleansing preparation, which draws out fluid and phlegmatic matters, causes the monthly flow—whether greenish or somewhat blood-tinged—to flow down, so long as the condition is not of long standing, and softens the mouth: narcissus-perfume, cumin such as we eat, myrrh and frankincense, wormwood, cypress, salt, rose ointment—of each of the others a chous, of the narcissus-perfume four portions—mix in hackled flax fibres and raw unspun linen; grind all together, make into a suppository; wrap a thin rag around the quill, tie it off, dip it in white Egyptian oil, apply it, and allow it to remain in place the whole day; then after washing and removing it, let her rinse in fragrant water.