ASPHODEL. 37 



persons, or those whose lungs are affected. 

 He adds, that no bread is so wholesome as 

 that which is made of these roots and the 

 flour of grain mixed together. The same 

 author tells us, that the roots of the asphodel 

 were generally roasted under the embers, 

 and then eaten with salt and oil ; but when 

 mashed with figs, they were thought a most 

 excellent dish. Hesiod, the first poet who 

 wrote on agriculture, mentions the latter 

 method as the only way to dress asphodels. 

 Homer has also noticed this plant. The as- 

 phodel appears to have been highly esteemed 

 by Pythagoras, who has been styled by an- 

 cient authors the prince of philosophers. 

 He lived upon the purest and most innocent 

 food, and was so averse to the shedding of 

 blood, that it is said, when he made offerings 

 at the temples of the gods, it was of animals 

 made of wax : he forbade his disciples to 

 eat flesh. Theophrastus particularly de- 

 scribes the asphodel and its virtues ; and 

 Mago, the celebrated Carthaginian writer on 

 husbandry, gave minute directions for its cul- 

 tivation. Dionysius also wrote on this vege- 

 table, one species of which he considered the 

 male, and the other the female plant. Pliny 

 tells us that these plants were so productive, 



