64 
plii^y's itatueal history. 
[Book XXIV. 
CHAP. 102. THE AGLAOPHOTIS OR MARMARITIS. THE ACHJS- 
MENIS OR HIPPOPHOBAS. THE THEOBROTION OR SEMNION. THE 
ADAMAIS^TIS. THE ARIANIS. THE THEEIOIirARCA. THE JSTHIOPIS 
OR MEROIS. THE OPHIUSA. THE THALASSEGLE OR POTAM- 
AUGIS. THE THEATOELIS. THE GELOTOPHYLLIS. THE HESTI- 
ATORIS OR PROTOMEDIA. THE CASIGNETES OR DIONYSONYMPHAS. 
THE HELIANTHES OR HELIOCALLIS. HERMESIAS. THE ^SCHY- 
FOMENE. THE CROCIS. THE (ENOTHERIS. THE ANACAMPS- 
EROS. 
As to Democritus, there can be no doubt that the work 
called Ohirocmeta"^^ belongs to him. How very much more 
maryellous too are the accounts given in this book by the 
philosopher who, next to Pythagoras, has acquired the most in- 
timate knowledge of the learning of the Magi ! According 
to him, the plant aglaophotis,^^ which owes its name to the 
admiration in which its beauteous tints are held by man, is 
found growing among the marble quarries of Arabia, on the 
side of Persia, a circumstance which has given it the additional 
name of marmaritis." By means of this plant, he says, the 
Magi can summon the deities into their presence when they 
please. 
The achgsmenis,^'^ he says, a plant the colour of amber, 
and destitute of leaves, grows in the country of the Tradastili, an 
Indian race. The root of it, divided into lozenges and taken 
in wine in the day time, torments the guilty to such a degree 
during the night by the various forms of avenging deities pre- 
sented to the imagination, as to extort from them a confession 
of their crimes. He gives it the name also of hippophobas,'^ 
it being an especial object of terror to mares. 
The theobrotion^^ is a plant found at a distance of thirty 
schoeni^^ from the river Choaspes ; it represents the varied tints 
of the peacock, and the odour of it is remarkably fine. The 
" The work of his own hands," according to Hesychius. 
86 *' Admiration of man." It is impossible to say what plant is meant 
under this name, but the paeony, Pseonia officinalis, has been suggested ; 
also the Tropseolum majus. Desfontaines queries whether it may not be 
the Csesalpinia pulcherrima, a native of the East. Some authors, Fee 
says, have identified it with the ^' Moly " of Homer. 
^" So called from Achsemenes, the ancestor of the Persian kings. Fee 
thinks that it was a variety of the Euphorbia antiquorum, or else a night- 
shade. ^'^ " Food for the gods." 
^'•^ See B. xii. c. 30 ; also the Introduction to Vol. 111. 
