BOOK XXI. Lxix. 114116 



niore useful than others. Some botanists also dis- 

 tinguish as a separate class a triangular rush, which 

 they call cyperos, though many do not recognize a 

 distinction because of the resemblance of the name 

 to cypiros. I however shall keep each distinct. 

 Cypiros is, as I have said," the same as gladiolus, ij'''f,'f]'j^j" 

 and has a bulbous root. The most esteemed grows m« 

 in the island of Crete, the next in Naxos and then 

 comes that of Phoenicia. The Cretan is white, with 

 a smell Hke that of nard ; the Naxian has a more 

 pungent smell, the Phoenician a faint one, and the 

 Egyptian (for it grows there also) none at alL Cypiros 

 dispels hard formations of the body, for we must 

 now speak of remedies, as there is a wide ^ use in 

 medicine of flowers and perfumes '^ generally .'* As for 

 cypiros, I shall foUow Apollodorus who said that it 

 should never be taken in di-ink ; yet he maintained 

 its great efficacy for stones in the bladder, which by 

 this means he tries to remove.*' He has no doubt 

 that it causes miscarriage in women, and records 

 the following strange account of it. Some foreign 

 people, he says, take into the mouth smoke from this 

 plant and thereby reduce the spleen, asserting that 

 they do not leave their homes without inhaUng this 

 smoke, as the habit produces, even from day to day, 

 increased briskness and greater strength. He adds 



"^ Unguents are included among odores. 



"^ The addition of generi, which at first sight seems otiose, 

 means that the class as a whole is of great use. 



* Mayhoff's text : " He uses it as a fomentation for the 

 face." We expect, however, a contrast to negabat bibendum, 

 and some reading, similar to Mayhoffs conjecture et poin, 

 bringing out the inconsistency of Apollodorus, should prob- 

 ably be adopted. But, as Mayhoff remarks, " omnia 

 dubia." 



245 



