RANDOLPn. — MANDRAGORA IN FOLK-LORE AND MEDICINE. 501 



Athenaeus gives five fragments of a play of Alexis* called r] Mai'Spa- 

 ynpi(oy.evr). There are thirty-two verses in all, but unfortunately none 

 of them explains the name of the comedy. The only possible inter- 

 pretation seems to be to take this name as the passive participle of /jluv- 

 hfyayopL^o), understood as aljove, i. e., "The Mandragora-d rugged Lady." 

 Whether the drug was represented as a love-charm or as causing mad- 

 ness it is impossible to determine. 



There is a possible reference to madness induced by mandragora in 

 Columella : f 



Quamvis semihominis vesauo gramine foeta 

 Mandragorae pariat Acres. 



Plere some have understood that gramen means plant,X and that the 

 "mad plant" (vesanum gramen) is the mandragora, translating "al- 

 though, rich in the mad plant, it brings forth the flowers of the half- 

 human mandragora." § Others explain vesanum gramen as luxuriously 

 growing grass, translating " although, rich in luxuriously growing grass, 

 it brings forth the flowers of the half- human mandragora." || It seems 

 impossible to determine which view is the correct one. 

 In Aretaeus we read : 



De Cans, et Sign. Diut. Morb., 1.6. init. : Certain edibles, such as mandra- 

 gora and hyoscyamus, induce madness, but these affections have never been 

 called mania. 



That mandragora was used in philtres, and that it was believed to 

 have aphrodisiac properties^ is not directly affirmed by any ancient 

 writer, but it appears from a number of passages that it had this repu- 

 tation to a greater or less extent. 



Theophrastus and Dioscorides report its use in philtres on hearsay : 



Theophr., 9. 9. 1 : They say ((f)a(ri) that the root is useful for philtres. 

 Diosc, 1.570: Some call it circaea,^ because the root appears (SoKei) to 

 be useful for making philtres. 



* Kock, Com. Att., vol. 2, p. 347 ff. (Athen., 3. 12.3 f ; 8. 340 c ; 8. 365 d; 12. 

 552 e f ; 14. 621 d e). 



t De Re Rust, 10. 19 f. I have given the Latin text because of tlie uncertainty 

 as to the correct translation. 



t On rjrnmen in this sense compare Verg., Georg., 4. 63, Aen., 12. 415 ; Ovid, 

 Met, 7. 137. 



§ See Lemaire, Poetae Lat. .Min. (Paris, 182G), vol. 7, p. 30. 



II See Barth, in Oesner'-s Script. Rei Rust (Lips., 1735), voh 1, p. 602. 



1 Tiie name refers to Circe. Dierbach, Flor. Myth. (1833), p. 204, thinks that 



