BOOK XXII. VIII. 19-1X. 22 



only. The plant itself is hardy," bushy, with prickly 

 leaves and jointed stem, a cubit high or occasionally 

 taller, partly palish in colour, partly dark, and with 

 a fragrant root. While it is a cultivated plant it 

 also grows wild on rough, stony ground and on the 

 sea shore, when it is more hardy and darker, with a 

 leaf Uke that of celery. 



IX. Of these the pale variety is called " hundred 

 heads " by our countrymen. All kinds have the 

 same properties, and the Greeks make a food of the 

 stem and the root, served in either way you Hke, 

 boiled or eaten raw. Marvellous is the charac- 

 teristic reported of it, that its root grows into the 

 likeness of the organs of one sex or the other ; it is 

 rarely so found,'' but shoukl the male form come into 

 the possession of men, they become lovable in the 

 eyes of women. This, it is said, is how Phaon ^" of 

 Lesbos too won the love of Sappho, there being much 

 idle trifling on this subject not only among the Magi 

 but also among the Pythagoreans.'^ When used in 

 medicine,however, besides the advantages mentioned 

 above, it reheves flatulence, cohc, affections of the 

 heart, stomach, Uver and hypochondria, if taken in 

 hydromel, and the spleen if taken in vinegar and 

 water. With hydromel again it helps the kidneys, 

 strangury, opisthotonic tetanus,'' cramp, hmibago, 

 dropsy, epilepsy, deficiency or excess in menstrua- 

 tion, and all affections of the uterus. With honey it 

 draws out substances embedded in the flesh. Applied 



** As is suggested by the punctuation of Detlefsen and 

 Mayhoff, this sentence is taken to be part of the indirect 

 speech, with multa ablative. With a full stop at Sappho, it 

 could be taken as a comment of PUny, with mulla neuter 

 pliiral. 



See pp. xi-xii and p. 368, n. a. 



