De Aſaro.

Whomever you wish to purge, [consider] what time of year it is,

And whether the region is very hot or cold,

Or whether it holds a middle temperature between both.

For to old men and children it will be permitted to give a little;

Those of middle age and youths require more than these;

More must be given to the fat and strong than to the thin,

And to weak men; more must be given in a cold region

Than in a hot one; to those hardened by any labor

You will assign more than to those whom leisure renders soft.

Observing these things and considering other such matters,

You will safely give not only this, but any herbs

Which purge the stomach by vomiting and loosen the belly.

But since I have spoken concerning all the herbs that are drawn,

I will teach in what proper, common manner it should be given.

Taking thirty of its fresh leaves,

Add so much unmixed wine that they can be covered when cooked;

Have them macerate a whole night in that wine;

In the morning, grinding them, dissolve them in the wine in which they were macerated.

Then give a vegetable thoroughly cooked with fresh, fat pork

To the sick person beforehand in sufficient quantity,

And let him take as much strong, white wine as he wishes;

Thus the strained juice of the asarum is to be drunk slowly.

This number of leaves is sufficient for the strong and large;

For the rest, as we have said, it must be reduced

According to what strength, age, and other things demand.

It is called *asarum* in Greek, *vulgago* in Latin.

It is said to be of a hot and dry virtue;

its degree is the third in both, as they say.

It provokes urine, and drunk, it purges the menses.

And taken in this manner it heals pain of the liver,

and helps dropsical people: swallowed frequently, it puts sciatica to flight.

And a decoction of it comes to the aid of diseases of the womb.

Drunk, it is said to drive away the jaundiced disease.

Swallowed, it cleanses the inward parts like the vomit of hellebore,

but its purgation is not as violent

nor indeed to be feared: if it is done in such a way,

first observe his age and strength,