lines : — 



ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORDS CROCUS AND SAFFRON. XIX 



In the Culex (attributed to Virgil) 399 , in a description of a garden, are the 



hie est et Spartica myrtus 

 Atque hyacinthus, et hie Cilici crocus editus arvo. 



Of course the Cilici editus arvo is merely an allusion to the celebrity of Cilician 

 Saffron and cannot be taken as evidence that the Crocus had been introduced 

 from Cihcia. 



Ipsa crocos tames, liliaque alba legit. Ovid, Fasti, iv, 443. 



Liha deciderant, violas arere videres 



Filaque punicei languida facta croci. Id. id., v, 317. 



In the first of these passages the Crocus is called "slender'; in the second 

 purple that ,s to say, the colour of the shell-fish dye. This epithet cannot, like 

 the rubens of V,r gl l, be explained of the stigmata or of the Saffron dye so we 

 must suppose either that Ovid used the word quite at random for the sake of its 

 prettmess, or that he meant the colour of the flower itself. This explanation is 

 adopted by Uddell and Scott in their Greek Lexicon {sub voce, K po KO /3.^), not 

 only lor pumceus here, but for rubens in Virgil, G iv, 182. 



More commonly Crocus signifies Saffron used' for" various purposes as a 

 colouring matter or a scent, often in the form of a liquid essence. Owinc to the 

 special celebrity of the Cilician growth, Saffron is sometimes called spica Cilissa 

 the word spica probably referring to some form in which it came into the market' 

 lor it is hardly applicable to the plant itself, or any part of it. 



Et cum scena croco Cilici perfusa recens est. Lucretius, ii, 416. 



Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores mittit? Virgil, Georg., i, 56. 



Vobis picta croco et fulgent i murice vest is. Virgil, Aen., ix, 614. 

 Crocum fioresque perambulet AttcB Tabula. Horace, Ep., i'i, 1, 79. 

 Fulpita sollemnes non oluere crocos. Prospertius, IV, v 1 16. 

 Terque lavet nostras spica Cilissa comas. Id., IV, v, 6, 76. 

 Nee fuerunt liquido pulpita rubra croco. Ovid, A. A. i, 104. 

 Nee fuerant rubri cognita fila croci. Ovid, Tasti, i, 341'. 

 Et sonel accensis spica Cilissa focis. Ovid, Fasti, i, 76. 

 Effuso permaduisse Croco. Martial, v, 25. 



In Ovid we find some brief allusions to the metamorphosis of the youth Crocos 

 into the flower Crocus : — 



Quid Crocon aut Attin referam. Fasti, v, 227. 

 Et Crocon in parvos versum cum Smilace f/ores. M., iv, 2 S3. 

 Smilax was the maiden whom Crocos loves. This legend personifying the 

 Crocus was unknown to older Greek poetry, although mentioned by Galen ix 4 

 and was very possibly invented by Ovid himself. ' 



