B) The gathering of the samolus

‘spina et appendix appellata, quoniam bacae puniceo colore in ea appendices vocantur. hae crudae per se et aridae decoctae in vino alvum citam ac tormina conpescunt. pyracanthae bacae contra serpentium ictus bibuntur.²⁴⁷³

The Druids, also, have given the name of ‘samolus’ to a certain plant which grows in humid localities. This too, they say, must be gathered fasting with the left hand, as a preservative against the maladies to which swine and cattle are subject. The person, too, who gathers it must be careful not to look behind him, nor must it be laid anywhere but in the troughs from which the cattle drink.²⁴⁷⁴ ’