PLINY: NATURAL HISTORY 



earum cum polenta inlita sedat vel per se trita. 

 superioris radix in lacte ovis colonicae data nervos 

 intendit, eadem ex aqua remittit. 



97 LXIII. Graeci satyrion foliis lilii rubris, minoribus 

 et tribus non amplius e terra exeuntibus tradunt, 

 caule levi, cubitali, nudo, radice gemina, cuius 

 inferior pars et maior mares gignat, superior ac minor 

 feminas. et aliud genus satyrii erythraicon appel- 

 lant, semine viticis maiore, levi, duro, radicis cortice 

 rufo ; intus album includi sapore subdulce. fere ^ in 



98 montuosis inveniri. venerem, etiam si omnino manu 

 teneatur radix, stimulari, adeo ^ si bibatur in vino 

 austero, arietibus quoque et hircis segnioribus in potu 

 dari, et a Sarmatia ^ equis ob adsiduum laborem 

 pigrioribus in coitu, quod vitium prosedamum vocant. 

 restinguit vim eius aqua mulsa aut lactuca sumpta. 



99 in totum quidem Graeci, cum concitationem hanc 

 volunt significare, satyrion appellant, sic et cra- 

 taegin cognominantes et thelygonon et arreno- 

 gonon, quarum semen testium simile est. tithy- 

 malH quoque ramorum medullam habentes ad 



1 fere VRd, Mayhoff : fertur E, Detlefsen. 



* adeo codd. : magis adeo vulg. : at eo magis coni. Mayhoff. 

 ^ Sarmatia lanus, Detlefsen, Mayhoff : Sarmata aut Sarmat 



codd. : Sarmatis vulg. 



fused by the fact that Greeks gave the name satyrion to all 

 plants supposed to be aphrodisiac. See § 99 : in totum 

 quidem Graeci . . . testium simile est. Indeed the whole of 

 § 96, concitatricem . . . remittit, reads like a hasty after- 

 thought, and contains two ungrammatical phrases, if we can 

 trust our best MSS. 



" The punctuation of the Latin text is that of MayhofiF; it 

 is based on the Greek of Dioscorides. 



* The reading is very uncertain. We should certainly 

 expect the vulgate a Sarmatis, " by the Sarmatians," but a 



