wounds. 3.33 Of Africanus: To prevent cattle from being harmed by a toad that lurks by night or in a dark place, by it puffing on them The toad is accustomed to puff most grievously upon cattle, if it should hide somewhere in a stable by night or in a dark place, and from this pestilential diseases follow for the animals and swellings that are hard to heal, so that all aid is useless against the terrible thing. Therefore, to prevent it from ever doing such a thing, one must light a continuous fire in the stables; for this animal fears the fire as its own exposure. 3.34 Of Africanus: To soothe <inflammations of the feet> and of other parts Having first soaked 7 dates in sweet wine until they become soft, grind them with sufficient rose oil as smoothly as possible. Then having boiled equal parts of wax and fresh pork fat and bread crumbs with rose oil for a little while, pour it over the ground dates and having combined them in a mortar, make a liquid of plaster-like consistency and by applying it you will immediately remove the inflammation. 3.35 Of Africanus: For <the same thing> The right testicle of a swan, worn as an amulet, stops the disease. 3.36 Of Africanus: The removal of brands on horses. This is a theft of valuable horses, changing their brands to remove the letters burned into their bodies and to make the previous mark disappear with another color and make it unrecognizable to its former master. It is done thus: a legume, whose form is inscribed at the end on a seventh hexagon on the first day of the moon at the third hour, being boiled, apply it to whatever part [of the brand] you wish to remove. For having ulcerated the brand, it brings forth white hair; and if you apply it in many places, the horse that was formerly of a single color will be multicolored. The technique works against all other colors, except for white ones only, because the hair naturally grows back the same color; it will cut out the letter, but will preserve the original color. 4.1 From the <Kestoi> of Africanus: concerning weights and measures Since in many places I have made mention of weights and measures, and there is a need for their exact proportion, so that some people, being mistaken in the quantity, may not disparage the remedies composed from them, I have judged it necessary to declare which and what sort one must use and to set out their differences in relation to one another. So then, in use by many are the Attic and the Italic, and by some the Syrian and Egyptian, which are also called “Ptolemaic.” These must be compared with one another. Every talent, for the most part, has 60 of its own minas. and every mina (that is, of those aforementioned) has 25 staters; and the stater has drachmas which are 4 in weight; therefore every talent has 60 minas, 1500 staters, and drachmas. The drachma has 6 obols, and the obol has 8 chalkoi. and so the drachma has 48 chalkoi. But the Attic talent is equal in weight to the Ptolemaic and the Antiochene and equal in number in all respects, but in value it is four times the Ptolemaic in coinage, one and a third times the Syrian and Antiochene, and equal to the Tyrian. And consistently with the difference stated concerning the talent, the other measures will also be taken; for a mina will differ from a mina, and a stater from a stater, and a drachma from a drachma by the same amount as the difference concerning the talent. I also know of another "wood" talent in Antioch which has 60 of its own minas, but is almost six times the weight of the monetary one; and the "wood" talent in Alexandria differs by a fifth from the aforementioned local one, being larger. The talent in Homer was equal in value to the later daric, as is clear from the prizes in the funeral games for Patroclus. For to the first he offered as a prize a woman and a huge cauldron, and to the second a pregnant mare, and to the third a cauldron of 4 measures; and to the fourth he offered two talents of gold; <which> would not be able to be more valuable than the first prizes, † nor to place ahead the footstool for access of the fifth † which was the "two-handled cup" <...>. The gold piece, the Homeric talent here, amounts to 2 Attic drachmas, 6 grammata, that is, four quarters. But it does not escape my notice that there are several differences among drachmas; for the Delian and Aeginetan, and the Rhodian and <...> are five times the Ptolemaic, and the "islander," so-called, is six times. One must therefore use the Attic for weight and coinage, since it is equivalent and
πληγάς. 3.33 Ἀφρικανοῦ· πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀδικεῖσθαι κτήνη ὑπὸ φρύνου νύκτωρ ἢ ἐν ζοφερῷ τόπῳ ἐμφωλεύοντος προσφυσώμενα Ὁ φρῦνος προσφυσᾶν εἴωθεν τοῖς κτήνεσι χαλεπώτατα, ἤν που ἐν ἱπποστασίῳ νύκτωρ λάθῃ ἢ ἐν ζοφώδει τόπῳ, καὶ νόσοι παρακολουθοῦσιν ἐκ τούτου λοιμικαὶ τοῖς ζῴοις καὶ οἰδήματα δυσίατα, ὡς ἀργεῖν πᾶσαν ἐπικουρίαν πρὸς τὸ δεινόν. Χρὴ οὖν πρὸς τὸ μηδέποτε αὐτὸν τοιοῦτον δρᾶσαι πῦρ ἐν τοῖς ἱπποστασίοις διαρκὲς ὑφάπτειν· τουτὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῷον ὡς ἔλεγχον αὑτοῦ φοβεῖται τὸ πῦρ. 3.34 Ἀφρικανοῦ· εἰς τὸ πραῦναι <φλεγμονὰς ποδῶν> καὶ ἄλλων μερῶν Φοίνικας ζʹ προβρέξας ἐν οἴνῳ γλυκεῖ ἕως ἁπαλοὶ γένωνται τρῖβε σὺν ἀρκοῦντι ῥοδίνῳ ὡς λειότατα. Εἶτα κηροῦ καὶ στέατος χοιρείου προσφάτου καὶ ψιχῶν ἄρτου ἴσα σὺν ῥοδίνῳ ἑψήσας μικρὸν κατὰ τῶν λελειωμένων φοινίκων ἐπίχει καὶ ἑνώσας ἐν θυίᾳ ποίει ὑγρὸν ὡς ἐμπλαστρῶδες καὶ ἐπιθεὶς τὴν φλεγμονὴν εὐθὺς ἀρεῖς. 3.35 Ἀφρικανοῦ· πρὸς <αὐτό> Κύκνου δεξιὸς ὄρχις περιαπτόμενος παύει τὴν νόσον. 3.36 Ἀφρικανοῦ· χαρακτήρων ἵππων ἀφανισμός. Ἵππων δὲ αὕτη σπουδαίων κλοπὴ χαρακτῆρας ἀλλάξασα τὰ ἐκκαυθέντα τοῖς σώμασι γράμματα ἐξελεῖν καὶ ἀφανίσαι τὸ πρόσθεν σύμβολον ἑτέρῳ χρώματι καὶ ἀνεπίγνωστον ποιῆσαι τῷ πρώην δεσπότῃ. Τὸ δὲ οὕτω γίνεται· ὄσπριον, οὗ τὸ εἶδος ἐπὶ τέλει ἑξαγώνῳ ἑβδόμῳ ἐπιγέγραπται πρώτῃ σελήνῃ ὥρᾳ τρίτῃ δίεφθον ὂν ὅτῳπερ ἀφανίσαι θέλῃς μέρει [βάτον] ἐπίπλασσε. Ἑλκῶσαν γὰρ τῇ καύσει λευκὴν ἀναφέρει τρίχα· εἰ δὲ καὶ πολλαχοῦ ἐμπλάσαις, ὁ πρόσθεν μονόχρωμος ἔσται ποίκιλος. Κατὰ πάντων ἡ τέχνη τῶν ἄλλων χρωμάτων, λευκῶν μόνων χωρὶς διὰ τὸ ὁμοφυὲς τῆς τῶν τριχῶν ἀναφυῆς, τὸ μὲν γράμμα ἐκκόψει, τὸ δὲ ἀρχαῖον χρῶμα τηρήσει. 4.1 Ἐκ τῶν Ἀφρικανοῦ <Κεστῶν>· περὶ σταθμῶν καὶ μέτρων Ἐπειδὴ πολλαχοῦ σταθμῶν τε καὶ μέτρων ἐπεμνήσθην δεῖ δὲ τῆς τούτων συμμετρίας ἀκριβοῦς, ὡς ἂν μή τινες τῇ ποσότητι σφαλλόμενοι διαβάλλοιεν τὰ ἐκ τῶνδε συνιστάμενα βοηθήματα, ἀναγκαίως ἔκρινα δηλῶσαι τίσι καὶ ποταποῖς χρήσασθαι δεῖ καὶ τὰς πρὸς ἄλληλα αὐτῶν διαφορὰς ἐκθέσθαι. Ἔστιν μὲν οὖν ἐν χρήσει πολλοῖς τά τε Ἀττικὰ καὶ τὰ Ἰταλικά, τισὶ δὲ Σύρια τε καὶ Αἰγύπτια τὰ καὶ «Πτολεμαϊκὰ» καλούμενα. Ταῦτα δὴ συγκριτέον ἀλλήλοις. Πᾶν τάλαντον ὡς ἐπίπαν ἰδίας ἔχει μνᾶς ξʹ. πᾶσα δὲ μνᾶ (δηλαδὴ τῶν προειρημένων) στατῆρας ἔχει κεʹ; ὁ δὲ στατὴρ δραχμὰς αἵ εἰσιν ὁλκαὶ δʹ· ἔχει οὖν πᾶν τάλαντον μνᾶς ξʹ, στατῆρας αφʹ, δραχμὰς δὲ . Ἡ δραχμὴ ὀβολοὺς ἔχει ʹ ὁ δὲ ὀβολὸς χαλκοὺς ηʹ. καὶ ἡ δραχμὴ ἄρα ἔχει χαλκοὺς μηʹ. Ἀλλὰ τὸ Ἀττικὸν τάλαντον ἰσοστάσιον μέν ἐστιν τῷ Πτολεμαϊκῷ καὶ Ἀντιοχικῷ καὶ ἰσάριθμον ἐν πᾶσιν, δυνάμει δὲ τοῦ μὲν Πτολεμαϊκοῦ κατὰ τὸ νόμισμα τετραπλοῦν, ἐπίτριτον δὲ τοῦ Συρίου καὶ Ἀντιοχικοῦ, τῷ δὲ Τυρίῳ ἴσον. Ἀκολούθως δὲ τῇ περὶ τὸ τάλαντον εἰρημένῃ διαφορᾷ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα παραληφθήσεται· μνᾶ τε γὰρ μνᾶς καὶ στατὴρ στατῆρος καὶ δραχμὴ δραχμῆς ταὐτὸν διοίσει ὡς ἡ περὶ τοῦ ταλάντου διαφορά. Οἶδα δὲ καὶ ξυλικὸν τάλαντον ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ ἕτερον ὃ μνᾶς μὲν ἰδίας ἔχει ξʹ, ἑξαπλασίας δὲ σχεδὸν τῷ τοῦ νομίσματος σταθμῷ· τὸ δὲ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ ξυλικὸν τῷ πέμπτῳ διαφέρει πρὸς τὸ προειρημένον ἐπιχώριον περιττεῦον. Τὸ δὲ παρ' Ὁμήρῳ τάλαντον ἴσον ἐδύνατο τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα δαρεικῷ, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἐναγωνίων ἐπὶ Πατρόκλῳ θεμάτων. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ πρώτῳ γυναῖκα καὶ λέβητα πάμμεγαν δευτέρῳ δὲ ἵππον ἐγκύμονα ἔπαθλον ἔθηκε καὶ τῷ τρίτῳ μέτρων δʹ λέβητα· τῷ δὲ τετάρτῳ ἔθηκε δύο χρυσεοτάλαντα· <ἃ> οὐκ ἂν εἰ τιμιώτερα τῶν πρώτων δύναιτο † δὲ τοῦ πέμπτου προῦχον προσβάσεως ὑποκάτιον θεῖναι † ὅπερ ἦν ἡ «ἀμφίθετος φιάλη» <...>. Ὁ δὲ χρυσοῦς, τὸ ὁμηρικὸν ἐνταῦθα τάλαντον, Ἀττικὰς ἄγει δραχμὰς βʹ, γράμματα ʹ, τετάρτας δηλαδὴ τέτταρας. Οὐ λανθάνει δέ με καὶ τὸ τῶν δραχμῶν πλείους εἶναι διαφοράς· τήν τε γὰρ ∆ηλίαν καὶ Αἰγιναίαν, Ῥοδίαν τε καὶ <...> τῆς Πτολεμαϊκῆς εἶναι πενταπλασίαν ἑξαπλασίαν δὲ τὴν «νησιωτικὴν» οὕτω προσαγορευομένην. Τῇ οὖν Ἀττικῇ χρηστέον πρὸς σταθμὸν καὶ νόμισμα, ἐπείπερ ἰσοδύναμός ἐστιν καὶ