Chap. 102,] THE THEAN(^ELIS. 65 



kings of Persia, he says, are in the habit of taking it in their 

 food or drink, for all maladies of the body, and derangements of 

 the mind. It has the additional name of semnion,^° from the 

 use thus made of it by majesty. 



He next tells us of the adamantis,*^ a plant grown in 

 Armenia and Cappadocia : presented to a lion, he says, the beast 

 will fall upon its back, and drop its jaws. Its name originates 

 in the fact that it is impossible to bruise it. The arianis,^ 

 he says, is found in the country of the Ariani ; it is of a fiery 

 colour, and is gathered when the sun is in Leo. Wood rubbed 

 with oil will take fire on coming in contact with this plant. The 

 therionarca,^^ he tells us, grows in Cappadocia and Mysia ; it 

 has the effect of striking wild beasts of all kinds with a torpor 

 which can only be dispelled by sprinkling them with the urine 

 of the hyaena. He speaks too of the sethiopis,^^ a plant which 

 grows in Meroe ; for which reason it is also known as the 

 *'merois." In leaf it resembles the lettuce, and, taken with 

 honied wine, it is very good for dropsy. The ophiusa,^^ which 

 is found in Elephantine, an island also of Ethiopia, is a 

 plant of a livid colour, and hideous to the sight. Taken by a 

 person in drink, he says, it inspires such a horror of serpents, 

 which his imagination continually represents as menacing him, 

 that he commits suicide at last ; hence it is that persons guilty 

 of sacrilege are compelled to drink an infusion of it. Palm 

 wine, he tells us, is the only thing that neutralizes its effects. 



The thalassaegle^*^ he speaks of as being found on the banks 

 of the river Indus, from which circumstance it is also known 

 as the potamaugis.^^ Taken in drink it produces a delirium, ^^ 

 which presents to the fancy visions of a most extraordinary 

 nature. The theangelis,^^ he says, grows upon Mount Li- 



^° "Venerable " or *' majestic." ^^ " Hard as a diamond." 



^' The Spina Ariana is mentioned in B. xii. c. 18. 



^^ See B. XX. c. 65, where a plant is mentioned by this name. 



'* Dalechamps thinks that an Euphorbia is meant imder this name. 



35 " Serpent-plant." Fee thinlvs that a hemU)ck may possibly be meant, 

 or perhaps the Arum serpentaria ; see c. 93 of this Book. 



96 n Brightness of the sea." A narcotic plant. Fee thinks, probably a 

 night-shade. 



^'' Hardouin suggests "potamitis," river-plnnt. 



s^ It is not impossible that this may in reality be an allusion to the 

 effects of opium, or of hasheesh, 



^3 " Messenger of the gods," apparently. 



VOL, V. " "B 



