Papyrus Ebers
XLVIII
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LX
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LXXIX
Plinius
Bok 14:8
Bok 20:51
Of the other traditions about rue a remarkable one is that, although it is agreed that rue is by nature hot, yet a bunch of rue boiled in rose oil with one ounce of aloes checks the perspiration of those who have rubbed themselves with it, and that its use as food hinders the generative powers. Accordingly it is prescribed for spermatorrhoea and for frequent amorous dreams.
Bok 21:43
It is a fact, however, that honey wine made with poisionous honey is, after maturing, quite harmless, and that there is nothing better than this honey, mixed with costum, for improving the skin of women, or, mixed with aloes, for the treatment of bruises.
Bok 26:38
It is by relaxing the stomach that scamonium too brings away bile and loosens the bowels, unless indeed to two oboli of it are added two drachmae of aloes.
Bok 26:38
The bastard kind [of scamonium] is detected by the taste, for the genuine burns the tongue. It is to be used when two years old, being of no use either before or after. It has been prescribed by itself in water or in hydromel and salt, the dose being four oboli, but most effective with aloes, though honey wine must be taken as soon as purging begins.
Bok 27:3
The aloe bears a recemblance to the squill, but it is larger, and has more fleshy leaves, and with slanting streaks. Its stem is tender, red in the centre, and not unlike anthericus; the root is single, as it were a stake sunk into the ground. It has an oppressive smell, and a bitter taste. The most valued kind is imported from India, but it also grows in the province of Asia. This kind is used only for wounds, the freshly gathered leaves, or the juice, having a wonderful power of uniting. For this reason it is planted in conical jars, as is the greater aizoüm. Some, before the seed ripens, make an incision in the stem to get the juice; some do so in the leaves as well. Drops too form spontaneously on it, and adhere. Some therefore recommend that the ground where the aloe has been planted should be beaten down hard, so as to prevent absorption. Some have reported that in Judaea beyond Jerusalem can be found mineral aloes. This however is the most inferior kind of all, and no other is darker or more moist. So the best aloes will be fatty and shiny, of a ruddy colour, friable, compact like liver, and easily melted. The kind to be rejected is dark and hard, gritty, and adultered with gum and acacia, the adulteration being easily detected by the taste. The nature of an aloe is bracing, astringent, and gently warming. There are many uses for it, but the chief is to relax the bowels, for it is almost the only laxative that is also a stomach tonic, no ill effects whatever resulting from its use. A drachma is taken in drink, but for fluxes of the stomach a spoonful in two cyathi of warm or cold water is taken twice or three times a day at intervals, as circumstances require; but for purging the bowels the maximum dose is three drachmae, which is more effective if food is taken after the draught. With a dry wine it prevents the hair from falling out, the head being thoroughly rubbed in the contrary way to the hair. It relieves headache if it is applied in vinegar and rose oil to the temples and forehead, or a more dilute solution may be poured over them. All eye troubles, it is agreed, are cured by the aloe, but it is specific for itch and scaliness of the eyelids; it is also good, applied with honey, especially with Pontic honey, for marks and bruises; for diseased tonsils or gums, for all sores in the mouth, and for spitting of blood, the dose is a drachma, taken in water if the spitting is not excessive, and in vinegar if it is. Haemorrhage due to wounds also, or to any other cause, it arrests if used by itself or in vinegar. In other ways too it is very useful for wounds, as it promotes cicitrization. It is also sprinkled on ulcerated male genitals, condylomata and chaps of the anus, sometimes in wine, in raisin wine, or else dry by itself, accordning as the treatment may need mild measures or coercive. It also gently arrests exsessive bleeding from haemorrhoids. For dysentery it is injected, and for indigestion it is taken in drink shortly after the evening meal. For jaundice the dose is three oboli in water; for internal purgings pills also are swallowed made up with boiled honey or turpentine resin. It removes hangnails; for eye preparations it is roasted in an earthen vessel and occasionally stirred with a feather so that the roasting may be even throughout.