BOOK XXI. XX. 43-xxii. 46 



sunny regions of Noricum and of the Alps, and, of 

 the cities, Eporedia ; such is its sweetness that it 

 has begun to be " a gold mine." " ^ ery pleasant is 

 it for this nard to be sprinkled between clothes, 

 (XXI) as the Greeks do with hulwort, a plant ex- 

 tolled in the praises of Musaeus and Hesiod, who 

 proclaim it to be useful for all things, and especially 

 for winning reputation and honours, in fact as truly 

 marvellous, if only it be true, as they assert, that its 

 leaves are white to the eye in the morning, bright- 

 red at mid-day, and sea-blue at sunset. There are 

 two kinds of it: field hulwort, which is the larger, 

 and wild hulwort, whicli is smaller. Some call the 

 plant teutrion. The leaves are like the white hairs 

 of a man, spring up straight from the root, and are 

 never taller than a palm in height. 



XXII. Enough has been said about scented flowers. 

 In this sphere luxury, glad to have conquered nature 

 with its unguents, has with its dyed fabrics gone on 

 to challenge those flowers that are commended for 

 their colour. I note that the principal colours are 

 the tln-ee foUowing : (1) red, as of the kermes-insect, 

 which, from the loveUness of the dark rose, shades, if 

 you look up at it in a bright Hght,* into Tyrian 

 purple, double-dyed purple and Laconian purple ; 

 (2) amethyst, which from violet itself passes into 

 purple, and which I have called ianthine. I am dis- 

 cussing general types of colour, which shade off into 

 inany kinds. (-3) The third belongs properly to the 

 purple of the murex, but inchides many kindred 

 shades. One is the colour of the hehotrope, some- 

 times of a Hght, though usually of a deeper, tint ; 

 another is that of the mallow, sliading into a purple ; 

 vet a third, seen in the late violet, is the most vivid of 



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