Of those black fumes which make it smart;
To clear the brain of misty fogs,
Which dull our senses, and soul clogs;
The best medicine that e’er God made
For this malady, if well assaid.”
Hellebore formerly grew in great abundance on the Island of Anticyra, in the Gulf of Corinth: hence Naviga ad Anticyram was a common proverb applied to hypochondriacal persons.——Pausanias tells us that when the Cirrhæans besieged Athens, Solon recommended that Hellebore should be thrown in the river Plistus: this was done, and the Cirrhæans, from drinking the water, were so powerfully attacked with dysentery, that they were forced to abandon the siege.——The Hellebore has long been considered a plant of evil omen, growing in dark and lonely places. Thus Campbell says of it:—
“By the witches’ tower,
Where Hellebore and Hemlock seem to weave
Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower
For spirits of the dead at night’s enchanted hour.”