white poppy in wine

Original passage

We have already stated that there are three varieties of the cultivated poppy, and, on the same occasion, we promised to describe the wild kinds. With reference to the cultivated varieties, the calyx of the white poppy¹ is pounded, and is taken in wine³ as a soporific; the seed of it is a cure, also, for elephantiasis. The black poppy acts as a soporific, by the juice which exudes from incisions made in the stalk—at the time when the plant is beginning to flower, Diagoras says; but when the blossom has gone off, according to Iollas. This is done at the third hour, in a clear, still, day, or, in other words, when the dew has thoroughly dried upon the poppy. It is recommended to make the incision just beneath the head and calyx of the plant; this being the only kind, in fact, into the head of which the incision is made. This juice, like that of any other plant, is received in wool; or else, if it is in very minute quantities, it is scraped off with the thumb nail just as it is from the lettuce, and so again on the following day, with the portion that has since dried there. If obtained from the poppy in sufficiently large quantities, this juice thickens, after which it is kneaded out into lozenges, and dried in the shade. This juice is possessed not only of certain soporific qualities, but, if taken in too large quantities, is productive of sleep unto death even: the name given to it is “opium.” It was in this way, we learn, that the father of P. Licinius Cæcina, a man of Prætorian rank, put an end to his life at Bavilum in Spain, an incurable malady having rendered existence quite intolerable to him. Many other persons, too, have ended their lives in a similar way. It is for this reason that opium has been so strongly exclaimed against by Diagoras and Erasistratus; for they have altogether condemned it as a deadly poison, forbidding it to be used for infusions even, as being injurious to the sight. Andreas says, in addition to this, that the only reason why it does not cause instantaneous blindness, is the fact that they adulterate it at Alexandria. In later times, however, the use of it has not been disapproved of—witness the celebrated preparation known as “diacodion.” Lozenges are also made of ground poppy-seed, which are taken in milk as a soporific. The seed is employed, too, with rose-oil for head-ache; and, in combination with that oil, is injected into the ears for ear-ache. Mixed with woman’s milk, this seed is used as a liniment for gout: the leaves, too, are employed in a similar manner. Taken in vinegar, the seed is prescribed as a cure for erysipelas and wounds.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 4 (of 6): Books XVIII–XXIII, translated by John Bostock; H. T. Riley (1856 edition) · Book 20, chapter 76 · THE WHITE POPPY: THREE REMEDIES. THE BLACK POPPY: EIGHT REMEDIES. REMARKS ON SLEEP. OPIUM. REMARKS IN DISFAVOUR OF THE POTIONS KNOWN AS “ANODYNES, FEBRIFUGES, DIGESTIVES, AND CŒLIACS.” IN WHAT WAY THE JUICES OF THESE PLANTS ARE TO BE COLLECTED. · lines 10696–10735 · passage pliny-nh:b20:c076:001