HERB - "Hortulus" - "Wormwood"

[RAISYA@aol.com]

Here's today's installment of Strabo.  Wormwood is no longer considered safe
to take internally, I believe.  The "Mother of Herbs" in the second line
refers to common mugwort. - Raisya

"IX.  Wormwood

	The next bed grows bushes of bitter wormwood.  Its supple stems
Resembles the Mother of Herbs, but the leaves have a different color.
The smell of its downy branches is different too, and the brew
It makes has a bitterer taste by far.
									Its powers are famous,
Its effectiveness proven.  It tames a raging thirst; fever
It banishes.  If, besides, your head should suddenly start to
Throb and throb with pain, if fits of fainting worry you,
Seek its help:
				Boil the bitter stem of a plant
In leaf, tip the brew into an ample basin
And pour it over the top of your head.  Then having bathed
Your soft hair with the liquid make a garland of leaves
(Do not forget this) and put it on, so that the bandage
Gently binds your hair and holds the warmth in it.
A few hours later - not many - you will be marvelling
At this yet further proof of the healing powers of wormwood."
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