BOOK XXV. VII. 24-viii. 27 



from sensation as it was from pain. But what excuse 

 was there to point out the means of deranging the 

 mind, of causing abortion, and of many similar crimes ? 

 I personally do not mention abortives, nor even love- 

 philtres, remembering as I do that the famous 

 general Lucullus was killed by a love-philtre, nor 

 yet any other unholy magic, unless it be by way of 

 warning or denunciation, especially as I have utterly 

 condemned all faith in such practices. Enough 

 pains, and more than enough, will have been taken 

 if I point out plants healthful to hfe and discovered 

 in order to preserve it. 



VIII. The most renowned of plants is, according 

 to Homer, the one that he thinks is called by the gods 

 moly, assigning to Mercury its discovery and the Moii/. 

 teaching of its power over the most potent sorceries. 

 Report says it grows today in Arcadia round 

 Pheneus and on Cyllene ; it is said to be hke the 

 description in Homer, with a round, dark root, of the 

 size of an onion and with the leaves of a squill, and 

 not " difticult to dig up. Greek authorities have 

 painted its blossom yellow, though Homer describes 

 it as white. I have met a herbaUst physician \vho 

 said that the plant was also to be found in Italy, 

 and that one could * be brought for me from Campania 

 within a few days, as it had been dug out there in 

 spite of the difficulties of rocky ground, with a root 



These make the present tense of adferri easier to understand, 

 but leave untouohed the main difficulty — that in the first 

 clause of the sentence a general statement is made, while in 

 the second the reference is to a particular specimen. So I 

 propose to keep mihi, but to add posse before effossam : it 

 might easily be omitted. Perhaps the sentence could be 

 construed (without any emendation) : " and that one was being 

 brought for me from Campania etc." But a root of 30 feet ! 



