INTRODUCTION. XV 



same as the rhetorician of Madaura, the 

 author of the Golden Ass, though the works 

 of the two have been repeatedly edited 

 together. His work is founded upon 

 Dioscorides and Pliny, and he is thought 

 to have lived in the fourth century. His 

 book is a compendium without any original 

 merit, but it has a particular interest 

 for this inquiry, because it represents the 

 sort of manual through which Dioscorides 

 was chiefly known for centuries. It is in 

 fact our earliest example of that family of 

 Herbals or books of simples whereof we 

 shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 

 There exists a translation of this book in 

 Anglo-Saxon, and it has been edited by 

 Mr. Cockavne in the Rolls Series under 

 the title of Leechdoms. It is evidence of 

 the popularity of Apuleius that among the 

 diminished relics of Anglo-Saxon hterature 

 there should exist (as the Editor tells us, 

 p. Ixxxviii) no less than four manuscripts 

 of this translation. • 



If we would realise to ourselves the 

 course of ancient Botany we must mentally 

 sever two things which we have inherited 



