BOOK XXV. XX. 45-xxi- 4« 



thin, rush-like twigs with small leaves, grows on 

 rough localities, has a harsh taste, never flowers and 

 never produces seed. It is a cure for splenic troubles, 

 a property discovered," as is well known, in the 

 following way ; they say that when sacrificial entrails 

 had been thrown on the plant, this stuck to the 

 spleen and coiisumed it. On account of this the plant 

 is called by some splenion. It is said that pigs 

 which eat its root are found to be without a spleen. 

 There are some who call by the same name a ligneous 

 phint with branches like those of hyssop and leaves 

 like those of the bean, and recommend it to be 

 gathered when it is in flower — so these certainly hold 

 that the plant has a flower — and they praise most 

 highly the sort that comes from the mountains of 

 CiHcia and Pisidia. 



XXI. Melampus is well known for his skill in the iteiampo- 

 arts of divination. From him one kind of hellebore '^"^"" 

 is called melampodion. Some hold that the dis- 

 covery is due to a shepherd called Melampus, who 

 noticed that his she-goats were purged after browsing 

 upon the plant, and by administering the milk of 

 these goats cured the daughters of Proetus of their 

 madness.* Wherefore it is well to give here to- 

 gether an account of every kind of hellebore. 



The chief kinds are two, the white and the black. Kinds of 

 This difference, most authorities say, applies only to ''^"^'"^^- 

 the roots, others say that the leaves of black hellebore 

 are Hke those of the plane but smaller, darker and 

 with more indentations ; that the leaves of white 

 hellebore are Hke those of sprouting beet, but also 

 darker and turning to red on the under side of its 

 grooves, and that both have a stem a span high, 

 resembling that of fennel-giant, wrapped up in skins 



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