Unit 1 · poem · hexameter · 42 lines
Latin
Source text
Eruida pulegii vis ſiccaqꝫ dicitur eſſe
Tertiꝰ a medicis datus eſt gradꝰ in vtroqꝫ
Sepius hanc herbam ſi pregnans ſumit abortit
Meſtrua deducit cum vino ſumpta tepenti
Hocqꝫ modo tardas hec extrahet herba ſecundas
Hoc nomen quia non notum reor eſſe quibuſdam
Exponam tali quid nomine ſignificetur
Vt nondum natus teſta circundatur oui
Pullus ſic infans matris veſtitus in aluo
Quadam pellicula matris de ſemine facta
Quam naſcens rupit quaſi teſtam pullulus oui
Iſtas pelliculas medici dixere ſecundas
Que mox expoſitos nature iure ſequuntur
He plus ſi iuſto vicio cogente morantur
Aut mors ſubſequitur dolor aut quiuis tolleratur
Iſtas pulegium predicto more repellit
Cum ſale contritam melli ſi iunxeris illam
Vnguine contractis potes hac ſuccurrere membris
Illius puluis ſumptus cum melle vel hauſtus
Pectoris humores viſcoſos extenuare
Et per ſputa potes illos educere mire
Nauſea vel morſus ſtomachi curabitur illa
Cum ipſa ſumpta vel aceto qui ſit aquoſus
Cum vino nigram coleram potata repellit
Sicqꝫ venenatis ſerpentum morſibus obſtat
Sic per vim febris nimio ve fluore cruoris
Aut aliquo caſu ſubito defecerit eger
Quod ſolet a medicis doctis malefactio dici
Pulegium valido tritum iungatur aceto
Naribus egroti ſic apponatur odore
Solo confeſtim dicūt eleuare iacentem
Gigniuas ſiccet puluis: confirmat: & vſti
Appoſitam veterem dicunt ſedare podagram
Et quoſuis alios ſolet emendare tumores
Si ſuperaddatur tepide permiſce polente
Addita cerotis:papulas de corpore tollit
Spleneticis eadem ſuperaddita cum ſale prodeſt
Elixatura ſi quis aqua ſepe tepenti
Illius abluitur pruritum non patietur
Et ſic matricis poterit curare tumorem
Tuſſim compeſcit cum vino ſumpta tepenti
Et ſic vrinam compellit reddere largam
English text
The power of pennyroyal is said to be hot and dry.
The third degree in both is given by physicians.
If a pregnant woman takes this herb too often, she aborts.
Taken with warm wine, it brings down the menses.
And in this way, this herb will extract delayed *secundas*.
Because I think this name is not known to some,
I will explain what is meant by such a name:
As, not yet born, it is surrounded by the shell of the egg,
the chick, so an infant is clothed in the mother's womb
by a certain membrane made from the mother's seed,
which it breaks when being born, just as a little chick breaks the eggshell.
Physicians have called these membranes the *secundas*,
which soon follow the delivered ones by the law of nature.
If, compelled by some defect, these are delayed more than is right,
either death follows, or any pain is endured.
Pennyroyal drives these out in the aforesaid manner.
If you join it, ground with salt, to honey,
you can help contracted limbs with this ointment.
With its powder taken or drunk with honey,
you can thin out the viscous humors of the chest,
and draw them out marvelously through sputum.
Nausea or a gnawing of the stomach will be cured by it,
taken with it itself, or with vinegar that is watery.
Drunk with wine, it repels black bile.
And thus it opposes the venomous bites of serpents.
Thus, should a sick person faint through the force of a fever, or an excessive flow of blood,
Or by some sudden mischance,
Which is usually called *malefactio* by learned physicians:
Let crushed pennyroyal be joined with strong vinegar,
And so let it be applied to the sick person's nostrils: by the odor
Alone they say it immediately revives the prostrate person.
Its powder dries the gums, strengthens them; and they say
Applied, [the powder] of the burnt [herb] soothes chronic gout,
And is accustomed to cure any other swellings
If it is added on top, mix it with warm pearl barley.
Added to cerates, it removes pustules from the body.
The same applied with salt is useful for splenetics.
If anyone is washed often with its decoction
In warm water, he will not suffer from itching;
And thus it will be able to cure a swelling of the womb.
Taken with warm wine, it checks a cough,
And thus it compels one to pass abundant urine.