190 PLINY' 8 NATUBAL HISTORY. [Book XXVI. 



those of the leek, a stem a palm in height, a purple flower, 

 and a twofold root, formed of tuberosities which resemble the 

 testes in appearance. The larger of these tuberosities, or, as 

 some say, the harder of the two, taken in water, is provocative 

 of lust ; while the smaller, or, in other words, the softer one, 

 taken in goat's milk, acts as an antaphrodisiac. Some persons 

 describe this plant as having a leaf like that of the squill, 

 only smoother and softer, and a prickly stem. The roots heal 

 ulcerations of the mouth, and are curative of pituitous dis- 

 charges from the chest ; taken in wine they act astringently 

 upon the bowels. 



Satyrion is also a powerful stimulant. There are two kinds 

 of it : the first 6 has leaves like those of the olive, but longer, 

 a stem four fingers in length, a purple flower, and a double 

 root, resembling the human testes in shape. This root swells 

 and increases in volume one year, and resumes its original 

 size the next. The other kind is known as the " satyrios or- 

 chis/' 7 and is supposed to be the female plant. It is dis- 

 tinguished from the former one by the distance between its 

 joints, and its more branchy and shrublike form. The root is 

 employed in philtres : it is mostly found growing near the 

 sea. Beaten up and applied with polenta, 8 or by itself, it 

 heals tumours and various other affections of the generative 

 organs. The root of the first kind, administered in the milk 

 of a colonic 9 sheep, causes tentigo ; taken in water it produces 

 a contrary effect. 



CHAP. 63. SATYRION : THKEE MEDICINAL PKOPEKTIES. SATY- 



KION EKYTHRA1CON I FOTJE MEDICINAL PKOPEKTIES. 



The Greeks give the name of "satyrion" 10 to a plant with 



cattle. It is the name, no doubt, signifying " testicle," which originally 

 procured for it the repute of being an aphrodisiac. 



6 Identified by Desfontaines with the Orchis pyramidalis, and by Fee 

 with the 0. papilionacea of Linnaeus. Littre gives the Limodorum abor- 

 tivum. 



7 He is probably speaking of the Cratsegonon of B. xxvii. c. 40, which 

 Fee identifies with the Thelygonon of c. 91 of this Book. He remarks 

 that from the description, the Satyrios orchis cannot have been a Mono- 

 cotyledon. 



8 See B. xviii. c. 14. 9 See B. viii. c. 72. 



10 Littre identifies it with the Aceras anthropophora of Linnaeus ; Des- 

 fontaines with the Orchis bifolia, the Butterfly orchis. The Iris ftorentina 



