196 DIVI BOTANICI. 



mends the "herb which hinds and herdsmen call MsA^t/AAon, m\irr«tm, 

 and zukurtroetiTVM because the bees, allured by its honied fragrance, 

 are wont to buzz around its blossoms." Amid the excellencies that 

 adorn the delightful disquisition of Virgil* on the admiranda levium 

 spectacula rerum, " with their heavenly honey and ambrosial dews," 

 his picture of the unforgotten artifices employed immemorially by 

 the peasants for the allurement of swarming bees to their destined 

 hives, is extremely instructive and exceedingly beautiful. Into 

 this, the Mellifluous Bard introduces the charm of Balm ; and thus 

 it stands, in his descriptive song : — 



''Lo ! from their cells when swarms through ether stream, 



And float at noon along the liquid beam, 



And on the breeze that rings beneath their flight, 



Draw out in darkling clouds their airy height, 



Mark, where they seek dark grove or crystal spring, 



There the bruis'd Balm and wild cei inthe fling ; 



And tinklings raise, till echo rings around, 



And the great Mother's clashing cymbals sound : 



Soon shall they haunt the medicated seat, 



And to their chamber's inmost cells retreat." 



M.D. (ipud ejusdem Gorrai Opera ; folio, Parisiis, 1622, pp. 9, 11, 27, 44. 

 Nicandri Thcriaca ct Alcxipharmaca, grace, latini, et italice, curanle A. M. 

 Bandinio ; 8vo, Florenlice, 1764; pp. 83, 97, 163, 186.— Nicander of Colophon 

 was a grammarian and physician, and ultimately a priest of Apollo, at 

 Claros where that god had a famous oracle. In his Theriaca, the poet 

 describes the venomous animals, and the remedies for the effects of their 

 bites; and, in his Alcxipharmaca, he treats of poisons and their antidotes. 

 His poems were first printed ; folio, grace, Venetiis, 1499: they afterwards 

 passed into a Latin version by Adam Lonicer ; 4to, Colonics, 1531 ; into ano- 

 ther by Jean de Gorris, M.D. 8vo, Parisiis, 1549 ; into another by James 

 P. Estev^, M.D. 8ro. Valeniias, 1552; and into another by Euricius Cordus, 

 M.D. 8ro, Frnncof. ad Mamum, 1552. They were translated under the name 

 of Cordus, into German ; 8co, Marburgh, 1532 ; and Jaques Grevin, M.D. 

 rendered them into French verse; 4to, Anvcrs, 1568.— At verse 677 of the 

 Theriaca, the word /nWnro-oSoi-oio is adopted by Nicander, for the sake of his 

 metre: the Nicandra, a South American bitter, belonging to the GenHa/iaan 

 family of vegetables, is dedicated to his memory. 



" Virgil describes the proceedings usually adopted for the security of 

 swarming bees, in his fourth Georgic, verses 58 — 66. See the English ver- 

 sions of Mart yn, Warton, Stawell and Sotheby, with their notes and illus- 

 trations. Melisphyllum is used in this description instead of Melissophyllum, 

 by contraction and from metrical necessity. Cerinthe is the honey-wort, "an 

 herb in which the bees do take great delight, because of the sweetness of its 

 flowers." — The Magna Mater, the Great Mother, called also Bona Dea, was 

 C vbele the mother of the gods, at whose rites her priests used to make loud 

 noises with brazen drums, cymbals, and other high-sounding instruments. 



