Phytognomonica

...joining both sexes, and that the back of the male ought to face toward the West Wind original: Fauonium; Favonius was the Roman name for the West Wind, associated with spring and fertility.. This same Empedocles A Greek pre-Socratic philosopher who theorized that all matter is composed of four elements. attributed to them not only natural inclinations, but even sensation. The Pythagoreans Followers of Pythagoras who believed in the transmigration of souls and the interconnectedness of all living things. judged that the perfections of plants were nearly equal to those of the more "perfect" animals; indeed, there are very many who would categorize many plants as belonging to either the genus of shrubs or of animals, for they saw them flourish with such understanding that they seemed to have obtained a nature midway between both. The ancient Greeks recorded for the memory of posterity that palm trees pursue each other with a violent love; so great is their understanding of passion original: veneris intellectus; literally "understanding of Venus," the goddess of love. that one pines for the other, and the desire is not relieved until the beloved male consoles the female. Indeed, one may see her leaning forward with her foliage, languishing like a widow in sterility. But so that the farmers may clearly recognize for whose love she burns, they touch the plants sown there with their hands and then, returning to the one wasting away with love, they touch her with those same hands. Then, gently stroking the "bride" original: manum blandè demulgens; implies a physical stroking of the tree to transfer pollen., she confesses her love; stimulated by the desire for him, she brings forth remedies for this madness by which the love is satisfied. He then takes the male flowers, plucked from the trunk, and places them around the head of his "beloved"; then the lover, cheered by this pledge of love, is made fruitful with a rich harvest. Zoroaster writes in the Geoponica A 10th-century collection of ancient agricultural lore attributed to various figures, including the legendary Persian prophet Zoroaster. that trees are strong in their senses; for if a certain tree has been sterile for many years, and a farmer comes girt with a sharp axe to cut it down, if a friend pleads for it and guarantees that it will bear fruit the following year, and the farmer departs persuaded by the friend's words, the tree will thereafter bear a great deal of fruit. Nor should it be thought that our ancestors wrote that so many men were transformed into trees for any other reason than the great similarity they have with them. Nor do we read that many trees were dedicated to the Gods for any other reason: to Jupiter the beech and the oak, to Apollo the laurel and the lotus, to Bacchus the ivy, the giant fennel, and the pitch-pine, to Minerva the olive, to Venus the myrtle, roses, and the linden tree, to Dis Pluto, god of the Underworld. the cypress, to Cybele the pine, to Hercules the poplar, to Mercury the pomegranate, and to Harpocrates the persea. Nor did the religion of the ancients teach that trees themselves gave oracles for any other reason; and the Druids of the Gauls held nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grew, because they suspected a divine and more-than-human nature dwelt within them. The philosophers Trogus and Philemon declared that the works of the "nutritive soul" could be gathered from the signs of plants; since the vegetative power is common to all living things, they gathered signs of longevity from plants. Thus, those who had long, firm hair were considered long-lived by referring back to plants that bloom with eternal foliage: such as the pine, the holm-oak, and the medica likely Alfalfa or a similar hardy perennial..

HOW THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS

The order of our work demands and requires that we say what those great philosophers, in their musings on the powers of plants, observed and handed down to us; thereafter, we promise to teach the method by which they are to be investigated. Hippocrates, the prince of physicians, and after him Theophrastus, then Dioscorides, Galen, and other distinguished physicians of the Moorish school original: mauritanæ factionis; referring to Arabic physicians like Avicenna and Averroes who dominated medical theory in the Middle Ages. attempted to teach the "primary qualities" The four basic states: Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry. based on the signs of their tastes. From these, they derived the "secondary" and "tertiary" powers as if by a chain, leaving aside those powers they called "occult" hidden properties that could not be explained by the four basic qualities. and which flow from the very property of nature. The first of the tastes is the harsh original: acerbus; an astringent or "puckering" taste., which constricts the tongue most intensely upon contact, and it is cold and earthy. If this harshness is slightly relaxed and does not contract the tongue as much as before, it becomes austere, being more cold than moist. If more moisture is mixed with it, it becomes acidic, and this is more moist than cold, consisting of subtle parts. All these were called "medicines." The sweet taste uplifts the worn parts of the tongue and charms it with an evident pleasantness, as it arises from tempered moisture and heat; our foods are of this kind. The fatty or oily taste, which brings a less clear pleasure than the sweet, excels less in heat and seems to participate in the sharp original: acrem; acrid or pungent.. The salty taste, if the heat grows stronger, because...