Chap. 102.] 
THE THE AN a ELI S. 
65 
kings of Persia, he says, are in the habit of taking it in their 
food or drink, for all maladies of the body, and derangements of 
the mind. It has the additional name of semnion,^*^ from the 
nse thus made of it by majesty. 
He next tells ns of the adamantis,^^ a plant grown in 
Armenia and Cappadocia : presented to alien, he says, the beast 
will fall upon its back, and drop its jaws. Its name originates 
in the fact that it is impossible to bruise it. The arianis,^^ 
he says, is found in the country of the Ariani ; it is of a fiery 
colour, and is gathered when the sun is in Leo. Wood rubbed 
with oil will take fire on coming in contact with this plant. The 
therionarca,^^ he tells us, grows in Cappadocia and Mysia ; it 
has the effect of striking wild beasts of all kinds w^ith a torpor 
which can only be dispelled by sprinkling them with the urine 
of the hyaena. He speaks too of the sethiopis,^^ a plant which 
grows in Meroe ; for which reason it is also known as the 
**merois." In leaf it resembles the lettuce, and, taken with 
honied wine, it is yerj good for dropsy. The ophiusa,^^ which 
is found in Elephantine, an island also of ^Ethiopia, is a 
plant of a livid colour, and hideous to the sight. Taken by a 
person in drink, he says, it inspires such a horror of serpents, 
which his imagination continually represents as menacing him, 
that he commits suicide at last ; hence it is that persons guilty 
of sacrilege are compelled to drink an infusion of it. Palm 
wine, he tells us, is the only thing that neutralizes its effects. 
The thalasssegle^^ he speaks of as being found on the banks 
of the river Indus, from which circumstance it is also known 
as tlie potamaugis.^-^ Taken in drink it produces a delirium,^^ 
whiSh presents to the fancy visions of a most extraordinary 
nature. The theangelis,^^ he says, grows upon Mount Li- 
"Venerable or " majestic." Hard as a diamond.'* 
The Spina Ariana is mentioned in B. xii. c. 18. 
®^ See B. XX. c. 65, where a plant is mentioned by this name. 
Dalechamps thinks that an Euphorbia is meant under this name. 
" Serpent-plant." Fee thinks that a hemlock ma^ possibly be meant, 
or perhaps the Arum serpentaria ; see c. 93 of this Book. 
" Brightness of the sea." A narcotic plant. Fee thinks, probably a 
night-shade. 
Hardouin suggests "potamitis," river-plant. 
It is not impossible that this may in reality be an^ allusion to the 
effects of opium, or of hasheesh. 
2^ " Messenger of the gods," apparently. 
VOL. T. ^ 
