De Senetione.

There are reported to be twin species of Celedonia.

By physicians: the first species is called the greater.

The other is called the lesser: both heal the eyes.

With this, the mother swallow restores the eyes to her blinded chicks,

As Pliny writes: she restores them even if they have been plucked out.

He says this grows when those birds arrive,

And dries up as they depart in their usual manner.

And from this it has the name celidonia, for chelidon

Is what this bird is said to be called in the custom of the Greeks.

Let the juice of the flowering plant be cooked with honey in bronze

Over a light fire until it casts off all its foam,

And the decoction takes on a thickness like that of honey;

They say no medicine is more useful for the eyes,

Which darkness oppresses, if they are often anointed with this.

Its root is crushed, with vinegar added to it,

And thus it is taken with white wine by the jaundiced.

Crushed, it prevents the pain of their teeth;

If a poultice from its crushed leaves

Is made with wine: they say it wipes away spots.

Erigeron in Greek, we call seniclum,

Because in its flower it seems similar to hoary hairs.

It grows on walls and in gardens and on tiled roofs.

The power of that herb is said to be cold.

Its root is not put to medicinal use.

Plucking the flowers with the leaves, pour them into a little

Sweet wine, and thus warmed, apply these together to a tumor

Of the anus or of the testicles.

With frankincense added to these, you will easily cure the sinews and any wounds

With such a poultice applied.

Its little heads, ground up, do these same things.

They forbid it to be drunk because certain men affirm

That it suffocates the drinker; but on the contrary, the authority Pliny

Says that he once gave a wholesome drink to the jaundiced

With wine; only with such a medicine,

For diseases of the bladder, he says he has proven it on many,

And that he gave it for defects of the heart and liver,

And that a potion with raisin wine helped the gripes.

These various diseases which the inwards suffer,

This green herb treats, if it is swallowed dipped in vinegar.

Ground with salt, it is accustomed to scatter hard scrofulous tumors.

If someone digs this up without iron, having drawn a line around it,

And touches an aching tooth with it three times,

Spitting on each occasion, and afterwards puts it back in the same