502 PROCEEDINGS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



A reference to the belief in its aphrodisiac properties is doubtless to 

 be recognized in the remark of Theophrastus quoted above, that when 

 mandragora was dug it was customary to repeat aphrodisiac formulas ; 

 and in the mention by Hesychius of Mav^payoptTis as an epithet of 

 Aphrodite.* 



A passage in a letter of Julian the Apostate to the priestess Callixena 

 also appears to refer to this belief: 



Epist. 23: Who can prefer in a woman conjugal love to piety, without 

 being thought to have taken large draughts of mandragora ? f 



A striking indication of the belief in the plant's aphrodisiac powers is 

 taken from the so-called Physiologus, a work of uncertain date, but prob- 

 ably compiled during the early centuries of the Christian era.| In the 

 fourth chapter, which treats of the elephant, we read : 



The female seeks out the so-called mandragora plant, and partakes of it ; 

 straightway she is inflamed, and, going to the male, gives him the plant ; he 

 partakes of it, and straightway is inflamed, and cohabits with the female. § 



mandragora was the magic lierb with which Circe bewitciied the companions of 

 Odysseus. Odys., 10. 235 f : 



(pdpfiaKa \vyp\ 'Iva irayxv Kadoiaro 'rra.TptSos alris. 



It may be, indeed, that we liave in the name cirraea a reminiscence of some lost 

 story in which the plant was brought into connection with tiiis famous incident; 

 and the note of Suidas on mandragora, A^0»;s ttoijjtjko's, may possibly be another. 



* Hesych., s. v. Maj'5po7op7T£s. 



t This passage mirikt be interpreted as referring to the mandragora's power to 

 induce madness (" Who but a madman would phice conjugal love before piety ? "), 

 or lethargy (" Who but a dullard," etc.). But the context is against this ; Julian 

 is contrasting Penelope's persevering fidelity to Odysseus with Callixena's long and 

 faithful service in religion. 



According to Gesner's note on Colum., 10. 19, Aetius, 13.45, says that mandra- 

 gora induces madness. I have not been able to gain access to an edition of Aetius 

 properly arranged for reference. 



X This book, a favorite in the middle ages, is the source of many well-known 

 wonder stories from the realm of nature, such as the rising of the phoenix from 

 its ashes, the pelican nourishing its brood from its own blood, and others of the 

 sort. On its date and authorship see Christ, Gr. Litt.^, p. 911 ; Krumbacher, Byz. 

 Litt., p. 874 f. 



§ Here follows, as regularly throughout the work, a symbolical interpretation, 

 by which the story is brought into connection with tlie Bible: the male and feniale 

 elephant represent Adam and Eve, and the mandragora represents the forbidden 



