24 DIVI BOTANICI. 



Antonius Musa appears first on the page of Biography, as the 

 freed-man of Augustus, and the physician who instituted a new 

 kind of treatment for the recovery of that potentate, from a danger- 

 ous sickness. Pliny " flourished," not many years after the demise 

 of Augustus, about the middle of the first century ; and, from his 

 rank as a soldier, a senator, an augur and a provincial governor, in 

 which the " admirable naturalist" was engaged during his short but 

 meritorious life, he had access to accurate information regarding his 

 statements of circumstances connected with the imperial court and 

 its most distinguished members. He particularizes two occasions* 

 whereon the " servile physician" prescribed remedies which pro- 

 duced the happiest results. Speaking of the Lettuces, their virtues 

 and kinds, he says in Dr. Holland's English, to " say a truth, all 

 Lectucest are by nature refrigerative, and do cool the bodie, and 



• When speaking of " Vetches and Eruile," another illness of the Em- 

 peror is mentioned by Pliny, besides those which were treated by Musa with 

 Lettuces and cold applications. " As touching Eruile," he says, " it asketh 

 no great hand or trauell about it : yet thus much more attendance it re- 

 quireth than Vetches, for that it must, be weeded and grubbed about the 

 roots. Besides, this kind of Pulse is of great vse in Physick ; for Augustus 

 Caesar was cured of a disease that he had, and recouered his health by means 

 of Eruile, as himselfe reporteth in some of his letters now extant. More- 

 ouer, fiue pecks of Eruile sown, is sufficient to maintain and find a yoke of 

 oxen : as for that which is sowne in March, it is hurtfull forage for kine and 

 oxen, as also that which is sowne in Autumne maketh beastes heauie and 

 stuffed in the head, but that which is pvt into the ground in the beginning 



of Springe is harmless Holland's Ptinivs, I, 572. " As touching Eruile and 



the properties thereof," Pliny recapitulates and enlarges his account of them 

 at vol. ii. p. 143, and his very curious description concludes with the remark 



that " the green cods of Eruile before they waxe hard, if they be stamped 



with their stalkes and leaves together, do colour and die the hairs of the head 

 blacke ;" ' for that colour,' it is added by Dr. Holland, quoting Alexander ab 

 Alexandro, ' in old time, was best esteemed, and thereby chaste matrons 

 were knowne from wanton harlots, who affected yellowe haire." — Genialium 

 Dierum Libri Se.r ; lib. v, cap. 18; folio, Roma?, 1522; 8vo. 2 vols., Lugd. 



Bat. 1675 This Ervum, Ervilla or Ervilia is a vegetable of the Vetch 



kind, in the Leguminous family of plants. It contains the nutritive principle 

 for animals, in a valuable proportion ; and it appears to be the herb to which 

 Virgil refers, when he makes his poetical herdsman exclaim — " Eheu ! quam 

 pingui macer est mihi taunts in ervo," where the Bull represents a herd of cat- 

 tle, and the Vetch stands as the symbol of a pasture-field rich in nutrient 

 herbage. — Bucolica ,• Ecloga iii, v. 100. 



■f The Historie of the World, commonly called the Natvral Historie of Caivs 

 Plinh-s Secundvs; translated into English by Philemon Holland, M. D. folio, 

 2 vols. London, 1634 ; Tome the second, p. 24. Caii Plinii Secundi His- 

 toria Naturalix : folio, 3 vols. Parisiis, 1723, cum commentariis Harduini ; 



