Chap. 9.] REMARKS ON THE PRACTICES OF MAGIC. 159 



most extraordinary degree. He disapproved also of the prac- 

 tice of administering internally potions tliat are naturally 

 injurious to the stomach, a thing that may truthfully be pro- 

 nounced of the greater part of them. Indeed it will be as well 

 to take an early opportunity of stating what are the medi- 

 caments which, act beneficially upon the stomach. 



CHAP. 9. (4). EEMARKS IN DISPRAISE OF THE PRACTICES OF MAGIC. 



But above all things, it was the follies of magic more par- 

 ticularly that contributed so essentially to his success — follies 

 which had been carried to such a pitch as to destroy all confi- 

 dence in the remedial virtues of plants. Thus, for instance, 

 it was stoutly maintained that by the agency of the plant aethi- 

 opis^^ rivers and standing waters could be dried up, and that by 

 the very touch^° * ^4 i?r- * ^11 bars and doors might be opened : 

 that if the plant achaemenis^^ were thrown into the ranks of the 

 enemy it would be certain to create a panic and put them to 

 flight : that latace^^ was given by the Persian kings to their 

 ambassadors, to ensure them an abundant supply of every- 

 thing wherever they might happen to be : with numerous 

 otlier reveries of a similar nature. Where, I should like to 

 know, were all these plants, when the Cimbri and Teutones 

 brought upon us the horrors of warfare with their terrific yells ? 

 or when Lucullus defeated, with a few legions, so many kings 

 who ruled over the Magi ?^^ Why is it too that the Roman 

 generals have always made it their first care in warfare to 

 make provision for the victualling of their troops ? And how 

 was it that atPharsalia the troops of Caesar were sufi'ering from 

 famine, if an abundance of everything could have been ensured 

 by the fortunate possession of a single plant ? Would it not have 

 been better too for Scipio ^milianus to have opened the gates 

 of Carthage by touching them with a herb, than to have taken 

 so many years to batter down its bulwarks with his engines of 

 Avar? 



Turning to the present moment, let them, by the agency of 

 the herb merois,'^^ dry up the Pomptine^^ Marshes, if they can, 



-9 See B. xxiv. c. 102. 



^^ We agree with Pintianus tliat the name of some plant here has been 

 lost, the word ''condiendis " making no sense. 



31 See B. xxiv. c. 102. 



32 Some plant as fictitious as the others here mentioned. 



33 See B. XXX. c. i. ^^ See B. xxiv. c. 102. -^ See B. iii. c. 9. 



