and its Alkaloid Conia. 405 



in the Lyceum ; yet he is altogether silent on the point. Every 

 commentator has adduced, the following remarkable passage from 

 this author. " Thrasyas, the Mantinean, said, that by making 

 use of the juices of the Kemiov, the poppy, and such other things, 

 he had discovered a substance which occasioned death easily and 

 without pain, and so portable and minute, that the weight of a 

 drachm was sufficient, and absolutely without a remedy, and ca- 

 pable of being preserved any length of time without alteration."* 

 It has been supposed by some that Theophrastus has here de- 

 scribed the state-poison of the Athenians ; but there is no evi- 

 dence to this effect ; and his silence on the point would rather 

 tend to shew that the state-poison was a different substance. 



Leaving these vague inquiries, however, let us see what has 

 been said of the effects of the Athenian poison in those who were 

 put to death with it ; and we may then be able to settle, indepen- 

 dently of either the assumptions or omissions of classic authors, 

 whether it was the zaveiov of the Greek physicians or the conium 

 of the moderns, or what else it may have been. 



So far as I am aware, there is but one account extant of the 

 effects of the Athenian state-poison, but it is clear and precise. 

 I allude to the familiar and pathetic narrative by Plato of the 

 last hours of Socrates. Having first stated that the executioner 

 told the philosopher that nothing could be spared from the dose 

 for a libation to the Gods, and that he was to walk about till he 

 should feel his legs becoming heavy, — Plato goes on to say that 

 Socrates drained the cup with tranquillity, upbraided his friends 

 for their weakness when they burst into tears, and proceeded to 

 walk as he had been directed. " At length," continues the nar- 

 rative, " when he felt his limbs grow heavy, he lay down on his 

 back ; for so the man had told him to do. And at the same 



* Qpaa-vxi 5s o MotvTtvivs sv^Ktvai it lotmov ucnn^ Ihiyiv. aim 'gxe>tot,v itotav xui u7tovovtt)v uttoXvo-iv, 

 iot$ airnic, wufAivos k&ivuh x.xi fMtumos, x.at niQav latmuv. an; n ivoyy-ov uvou 7ru.vv y.xt ptiKgov otrov its 

 '&£»■%(*■*$ oXtcw. a(icn&nrov di wami kxi ovvtzfiivoii ott&ftiviiv tnrortivxv %%ovov, k.ou 8§sv uXXotvptvot. Theo- 



phrastus, Lib. ix. I. xviii. Editio Amstelodami 1644. 



3f 2 



