Chap. 63.] 
SATTRION. 
191 
red leaves like those of the lily, but smaller, not more than 
three of them making their appearance above ground. The 
stem, they say, is smooth and bare and a cubit in length, and 
the root double ; the lower part, which is also the larger, pro- 
moting the conception of male issue, the upper or smaller part, 
that of female. 
They distinguish also another kind of satyrion, by the 
name of erythraicon it has seed like that of the vitex,^^ 
only larger, smooth, and hard ; the root, they say, is covered 
with a red rind, and is white within and of a sweetish taste : 
it is mostly found in mountainous districts. The root, we are 
told, if only held in the hand, acts as a powerful aphrodisiac, 
and even more so, if it is taken in rough, astringent wine. It 
is administered in drink, they say, to rams and he-goats when 
inactive and sluggish ; and the people of Sarmatia are in the 
habit of giving it to their stallions when fatigued with cover- 
ing, a defect to which they give the name of prosedamum/' 
The effects of this plant are neutralized by the use of hydro- 
mel or lettuces. 
The Greeks, however, give the general name of satyrion" 
to all substances of a stimulating tendency, to the cratoegis^* 
for example, the thelygonon,^^ and the arrenogonon, plants, 
the seed of which bears a resemblance to the testes.^^ Persons 
who carry the pith of branches of tithymalos about them, 
are rendered more amorous thereby, it is said. The statements 
are really incredible, which Theophrastus,^^ in most cases an 
author of high authority, makes in relation to this subject ; 
thus, for instance, he says that by the contact only of a cer- 
of Linnaeus has also been named ; but, though with some doubt, Fee is 
inclined to prefer the Tulipa Clusiana, or some other kind of tulip. 
1^ Mostly identified with the Erythronium dens canis of Linnaeus, the 
Dog's tooth violet. M. Fraas, however, in his Synopsis^ p. 279, remarks 
that the E. dens canis is not to be found in Greece, and is of opinion that 
the Fritillaria Pyrenaica, the Pyrenean lily, or Fritillary, is meant. The 
Serapias cordigera of Linnaeus has been suggested, and Fee thinks that 
it is as likely to be the plant meant by Fiiny as any other that has been 
named. 
1- See B. xxiv. c. 38. is gee B. xix. c. 38. 
1^ " Cratsegonon " is most probably the correct reading. See B. xvi. 
c. 52, and B. xxvii. c. 40. i3 See c. 91 of this Book. 
Of the three plants named; the Thelygonon is the only one to which 
this assertion will apply. See c. 91 of this Book, and B. xxvii. c. 40, 
See B, xxvi. c. 39. is Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 20. 
