BOOK XXV. XIV. 33-xvii. 35 



shade, and adds a pleasing taste to wine. Some 

 hold that there are two other kinds of panaces, 

 one with a broad, the other with a slender, leaf." 



XV. Heracleon siderion (" ironwoi't ") is yet another Heradeon 

 discovery of Hercules. It has a slender stem about " ^"'^' 

 four fingers high, a flower of a deep red and leaves 



like those of coriander. It is found near ponds and 

 rivers, and heals very thoroughly all wounds inflicted 

 by iron.** 



XVI. A discovery of Chii'on's was the vine called 

 chironia, which I have mentioned in my section on 

 the vines ; "^ I have also mentioned a plant, the 

 discovery of which is attributed to Minerva.*^ 



XVII. To Hercules too they ascribe the plant ApoiHnaru 

 which is called apollinaris by some, altercum by us 1 

 Ronians,* but by the Greeks hyoscyamos (" pig's 



bean "). There are several kinds of it: one has 

 black seed, \vith flowers that are ahiiost purple, and a 



I would insert it before aliqui and not after adicit, and agree 

 with Detlefsen that huius should be changed to eius orpanacis. 

 My other emendations are based on folio, the reading of the 

 MSS. V and R, and on the XeTTT6(f>vXXov of Theophrastus. 



* Hence the name siderion, derived from the Greek atSTjpoy, 

 iron. 



" See XXIII. § 27. 



" See XXII. § 43. 



' I have adopted here the emendation of UrUchs, omitting, 

 however, his a rabulis. Pseudo-Dioscorides, IV. RV 68 (WeU- 

 mann), has twenty names for hyoscyamos, inclucUng iix^aves, 

 'ATroXXtvdpis and ivadva. A copyist or commentator might be 

 tempted to add a few of these, and perhaps the vulgate text 

 arose in this way. To see in the corrupt arabilis or arbilis of 

 three MSS. a reference to the madness supposed to be caused 

 by hyoscyamos is natural ; hence the a rabie of Mayhoff. But 

 the variations in the MSS. have the appearance of corrupt 

 glosses. The curious a rabulis of UrUchs supposes a connection 

 between altercum and altercor. 



161 

 VOL. VII. O 



