Theophrastus

Τὸ δὲ σίλφιον ἔχει ῥίζαν μὲν πολλὴν καὶ παχεῖαν, τὸν δὲ καυλὸν ἡλίκον νάρθηξ, σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ τῷ πάχει παραπλήσιον, τὸ δὲ φύλλον, ὃ καλοῦσι μάσπετον, ὅμοιον τῷ σελίνῳ· σπέρμα δ’ ἔχει πλατύ, οἷον φυλλῶδες, τὸ λεγόμενον φύλλον. ἐπετειόκαυλον δ’ ἐστίν, ὥσπερ ὁ νάρθηξ. ἅμα μὲν οὖν τῷ ἦρι τὸ μάσπετον τοῦτο ἀφίησιν, ὃ καθαίρει τὰ πρόβατα καὶ παχύνει σφόδρα καὶ τὰ κρέα θαυμαστὰ ποιεῖ τῇ ἡδονῇ· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καυλόν, 〈ὃν〉 ἐσθίεσθαι πάντα τρόπον ἑφθὸν ὀπτόν, καθαίρειν δὲ καὶ τοῦτόν φασι τὰ σώματα τετταράκοντα ἡμέραις.

ὀπὸν δὲ διττὸν ἔχει, τὸν μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ καυλοῦ τὸν δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ῥίζης, δι’ ὃ καλοῦσι τὸν μὲν καυλίαν τὸν δὲ ῥιζίαν. ἡ δὲ ῥίζα τὸν φλοιὸν ἔχει μέλανα, καὶ τοῦτον περιαιροῦσιν. ἔστι δὲ ὥσπερ μέταλλα τῶν ῥιζοτομιῶν αὐτοῖς, ἐξ ὧν ὁπόσον ἂν δοκῇ συμφέρειν ταμιευόμενοι πρὸς τὰς τομὰς καὶ τὸ προϋπάρχον τέμνουσιν· οὐκ ἔξεστι γὰρ οὔτε παρατέμνειν οὔτε πλεῖον τῶν τεταγμένων· καὶ γὰρ διαφθείρεται καὶ σήπεται τὸ ἀργὸν ἐὰν χρονίζῃ.

κατεργάζονται δὲ ἄγοντες εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον· ὅταν βάλωσι εἰς ἀγγεῖα καὶ ἄλευρα μίξωσι, σείουσι χρόνον συχνόν, ὅθεν καὶ τὸ χρῶμα λαμβάνει καὶ ἐργασθὲν ἄσηπτον ἤδη διαμένει. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν ἐργασίαν καὶ τομὴν οὕτως ἔχει. Τόπον δὲ πολὺν ἐπέχει τῆς Λιβύης· πλείω γάρ φασιν ἢ τετρακισχίλια στάδια· πλεῖστα δὲ γίνεσθαι περὶ τὴν σύρτιν ἀπὸ τῶν Εὐεσπερίδων.

ἴδιον δὲ τὸ φεύγειν τὴν ἐργαζομένην καὶ ἀεὶ συνεργαζομένης καὶ συνημερουμένης ἐξαναχωρεῖν, ὡς οὐ δεομένου δῆλον ὅτι θεραπείας ἀλλ’ ὄντος ἀγρίου. φασὶ δ’ οἱ Κυρηναῖοι φανῆναι τὸ σίλφιον ἔτεσι πρότερον ἢ αὐτοὶ τὴν πόλιν ᾤκησαν ἑπτά· οἰκοῦσι δὲ μάλιστα περὶ τριακόσια εἰς Σιμωνίδην ἄρχοντα Ἀθήνῃσιν. Οἱ μὲν οὖν οὕτω λέγουσιν.

Silphium has a large, thick root.¹ Its stalk is about the size and thickness of ferula, and its leaf, called maspeton, resembles celery. Its broad, leaf-like seed is called phyllon. Like ferula, it puts up a new stalk each year. In spring it sends out leaves that purge sheep, fatten them greatly, and make their meat remarkably pleasant. Later comes the stalk, which people eat boiled or roasted; this too is said to purge the body over forty days.

It yields two kinds of juice: one from the stalk, called kaulias, and one from the root, called rhizias. The root has a black bark that is stripped away. They allot places for digging roots as if they were mines, regulating how much may be cut in light of previous harvests and the available supply. Cutting beyond the appointed amount is forbidden; unused juice spoils if kept too long.

When they bring it to Piraeus, they put it in vessels, mix it with meal, and shake it for a long time. This gives it its color, and after this treatment it keeps without decaying. The plant occupies a great stretch of Libya, more than four thousand stadia according to the report, and is most abundant around the Syrtis from Euesperides.

It is peculiar in avoiding cultivated ground. As the land is worked and domesticated, the plant withdraws: it is wild and needs no tending. The Cyreneans say that silphium appeared seven years before they founded their city, which had been settled for about three hundred years by the archonship of Simonides at Athens. That is their account.