CHAP. 12. (10.)—TWO VARIETIES OF THE TRIBULUS; TWELVE REMEDIES.
Of the two[2519] kinds of tribulus, the one is a garden plant, the other grows in rivers only. There is a juice extracted from them which is employed for diseases of the eyes, it being of a cool and refreshing nature, and, consequently, useful for inflammations and abscesses. Used with honey, this juice is curative of spontaneous ulcerations, those of the mouth in particular; it is good also for affections of the tonsils. Taken in a potion, it breaks calculi of the bladder.
The Thracians who dwell on the banks of the river Strymon feed their horses[2520] on the leaves of the tribulus, and employ the kernels as an article of food, making of them a very agreeable kind of bread, which acts astringently[2521] upon the bowels. The root, if gathered by persons in a state of chastity and purity,[2522] disperses scrofulous sores: and the seed, used as an amulet, allays the pains attendant upon varicose veins: pounded and mixed with water, it destroys fleas.