Arestolobius

arestolobius

Arestolobius is doubtless for Aristobulus, one if the several Hasmonean monarchs of that name mentioned by Josephus in his Jewish War, of which there are Latin versions of the sixth century. His remedies should perhaps be classed with those of Elias of Jerusalem.
Anglo-Saxon Magic and Medicine - Grattan & Singer, 1977

For translations of the plant names, I have used the most excellent website (Dictionary of Old English Plant Names) found here. (It is free to register). Where a plant has been definitively identified the name will be written in regular text; where there is some discussion or confusion of the name, it will be highlighted and further notes will be underneath the entry. There are many issues around plant identification because of scribal error, foreign plants, etc...

Arestolobius wæs haten an cing he wæs wis &

læcecræftig he þa gesette forþon godne morgen

drænc wið eallum untrumnessum þe mannes lichoman

iond styriað innan oððe utan se drænc is god

wið heafod ece & wið brægenes hwyrfnesse & weallunge

wið seondre exe - wið lungenadle & liferwerce -

wið seondum geallan & þære geolwan adle wið eagena

dimnessa wið earena swinsunge & ungehyrnesse & wið

breosta hefignesse & hrifes aþundennesse wið miltan

wærce & smæl þearma & wið ornum utgange

& wið þon þe mon gemigan ne mæge wið þeor

ece & sina getoge wið cneowwærce & fot

geswelle wið ðam micclan lice & wið

oþrum giccendum blece & þeorgeride & æghwylcum attre wið ælcre untrumnesse & ælcre feondes costunge -

Arestolobius was called a king, he was wise and

medicine-skilled, he put together also a good morning

draught for all infirmnesses which mens bodies

throughout stir-ath, inside or out. The draught is good

for head ache, and for brain's giddiness and agitation,

for oozing cerebrum - for lung disease and liver wrack -

for oozing bile and the yellow disease, for eyes

dimness, for ears sound-singing and deafness, and for

breast heaviness and belly inflation; for spleen

wrack and small intestines, and for harmful 'out goings',

and in case a man to pass water not may, for theor

ache and sinew spasm, for knee wrack and foot

swelling, for the 'great body' [elephantiasis] and for

other itching blotches and theor-fever and every

poison, for each infirmness and every fiends

trial -

gewyrc þe dust genoh on hærfeste & nytta þonne þe þearf sy

work thyself dust enough at harvest and use when the need be

Wyrc þonne drænce of þyssum wyrtum nim

merces sæd drige & finoles sæd & petersylian

sæd & feldmoran sæd & felterran sæd - $ is

eorðgeallan diles sæd & rudan sæd cawel sæd &

cyllelendran sæd - & feferfuigan sæd & twa mintan

$ is tun minte & hors minte & betonican sæd

& luuestices sæd & alexandrian sæd & saluian

sæd & slarian sæd & wermodes sæd & sæþerian

sæd & biscopwyrte sæd - & hors elenan

sæd & beolonan sæd $ is hænnebelle acrimonian

sæd - $ is garcliue & stancroppes sæd -

marubian sæd $ is harehune &

neptan sæd & wuduhrofan sæd & wudu merces

sæd - eoforþrotan sæd - do ealra þyssa wyrta efenfela nim þonne þyssa wyrta ælcra anre swa

micel swa þara oþra twa $ is cymen & cost &

piper & gingifra & hwit cudu wyrc þas

wyrta ealle to swiþan smalan duste & do þæs dustes

godne cucelere fulne on ane scænce cuppan fulle cealdes wines & syle drincan on niht nyhstig nytta þys drænces þonne þe þearf sy.

Work then a draught of these plants - take

march's seed (dried) and fennel seed, and parsley's seed, and parsnip's seed, and felterran's seed - that is

earthbile; dill's seed and rue's seed, cole seed and

coriander's seed - and feverfew's seed and two mints - that is town mint, and horse mint, and betony's seed, and lovage's seed, and alexanders seed, and sage's

seed, and clary seed, and wormwoods seed and basil's

seed and bishop-plant seed - and horse elecampane's

seed and henbane's seed that is henbell; agrimony's seed - that is 'spear-cleave' and 'stone-sprout' seed -

white horehound's seed - that is 'hare-sickness' and

nep's seed and woodruff's seed and wood march's seed - boar-throat's seed - take of all these plants

even amounts, take then of these plants of each one as

much as the other two - that is cumin and cost and pepper and ginger and white cud [mastic] work these

plants all to very small dust and put of this dust

a good ?spoon full into a shank cup full

of cold wine and give to drink at night fasting use

this draught when the need is.

felterran - Centaurium erythraea is suggested; it literally translates as 'foul/bad tar', which sits well with earth-gall's bitterness.

Eft is oþer wise - gif þam wife bið $

hrif upastigen heo cenneð cnyht - gif hit byþ

nyþer asigen heo cenneþ mæden.

Again is another method - if the woman be-eth that

belly upwards she birtheth a boy - if it be-eth

downwards she birtheth a girl.

Eft oþer wise gif wif biþ bearn eacen

feower monoð oþþe fife 7 heo þonne gelome

eteð hnyte oþþe æceran oþþe ænige niwe bléda þonne gelimpeð hit hwilum þurh þæt þæt þa cild biþ

disig

Again another method if a woman be child enlarged

four months or five and she thence often eats nuts or acorns or any fresh fruits, thence

happeneth it sometimes through that that the child be

stupid.

Eft is oþer wise be þon gef

eteð fearres flæsc oððe rammes oððe buccan oððe bæres oððe hanan oððe ganran oððe æniges þara neata þe strynan mæg þonne gelimpeð hit hwilum þurh þæt þæt þæt cild bið hoforode 7

healede

Again is another method about when goeth

eating bulls flesh or rams or bucks or

boars or cocks or ganders or any of the

beasts that beget strongly then happens it sometimes

through that that the child be humpbacked and

ruptured.

Sources:

Monk-bishops and the English Benedictine Reform Movement
Reading London, BL, Cotton Tiberius A. Iii in Its Manuscript Context
By Tracey-Anne Cooper · 2015
Cockayne, 1864. Leechdoms, etc. Vol 3, pg 144/5.