its title alludes to C. colocynthis.. Like Wasson, we hold 
that the translation **Pumpkinification’’, respectively 
‘*Verkiirbissung’’ is wrong. It is wrong because it super- 
ficially focuses attention on the botanical meaning of the 
word. If, however, ‘Azoxohokt’vrwars alludes to the Greek 
generic name for Cucurbitaceae, every educated Roman 
of the time knew that the Greek word stood for the Latin 
‘cucurbita’, which was a commonly used metaphor for 
‘fool’ or ‘madman’. This view is supported by C. F. 
Russo: 
**F se poniamo mente al fatto che anche presso gli antichi KoAoxvvrac 
e cucurbitae venivano dette le teste piutosto dure ed insulse, . . 
(Russo, p. 17) 
s5 
Russo, in his footnote no. 28, gives proof of this, refer- 
ring to the use made of the word by Greek and Latin 
writers. He says ‘‘anche presso gli antichi’’, forin Italian 
the expression ‘‘zuccone’’, from ‘‘zucea’’—‘Kiirbis’— 
‘cucurbita’, is still in use today, signifying ‘fool’. (8) 
The title “AvoxodokvvT@ots appears only in the work 
of Dio Cassius Cocceianus. The text reads: 
**ouvebee bev yep KQL o Sevexas ovyypapua arroKkoAoKUvT wow auto OoTEp 
Twa dbavatirw dvouacas,’? (Dio Cassius, LXI, 35, 3) 
‘“For Seneca published a paper which he called A pocolocyntosis as 
if to allude with it to a person’s immortality.’’ (Transl. Deltgen/ 
Kauer) 
Russo, basing his argument mainly on this passage, 
does not interpret the title as ‘‘trasformazione in una 
zucca’’, but rather as ‘‘deificazione di una zucca, di uno 
zuccone’’ or ‘‘zucconeria divinizzata’’, which is ‘idiotism 
deified” or ‘madness deified’. He tries to find an equiva- 
lent to Apocolocyntosis in Italian: 
‘Nel termine dzoxodoktvtwots @’% lo stesso scherzo che ricorre per 
Claudio in 7, 3 e 8, 3, ove al formulare Geos & sostituito wepos, idiota 
(...). Non disse dunque drobéwors (né poteva dirlo bene, perché 
nella satira non v’@ un’apoteosi) ma do , , , “wpwots o meglio aro, , 
[ 232 ] 
