[2191] He is mentioned also by Varro, but nothing is known of him.
[2192] He is often referred to by Varro and Columella. He is also supposed to have been the writer of a History of Thebes, mentioned by the Scholiast and Apollonius Rhodius, B. iii.
[2193] Cassius Dionysius of Utica. He translated into Greek the twenty-eight Books on Husbandry written by Mago the Carthaginian, in the Punic language. Of Mago nothing further is known.
[2194] Diophanes of Bithynia made an epitome of the same work in Greek, and dedicated it to King Deiotarus. Columella styles Mago the Father of Agriculture.
[2195] Made king of Cappadocia by Antony, B.C. 34. He died at Rome, at an advanced age, A.D. 17. Plutarch attributes to King Archelaus—if, indeed, this was the same—a treatise on Minerals.
[2196] A native of Claros, near Colophon, in Ionia. It is not a matter of certainty, but it is most probable, that he lived in the reign of Ptolemy V., who died B.C. 181. He was a poet, grammarian, and physician. His “Theriaca,” a poem on the wounds inflicted by venomous animals, still exists, as also another called “Alexipharmia.”
[2197] He has already said, in B. ii. c. 3, that “the seeds of all bodies fall down from the heavens, principally into the ocean, and being mixed together, we find that a variety of monstrous forms are in this way frequently produced.”
[2198] Hardouin has the following remark on this passage. “Rondelet and Aldrovandus only waste their time and pains in making their minute inquiries into the present names of these fish, which took their names from grapes, the wood, the saw, and the cucumber; for by no other writer do we find them mentioned even.” Cuvier, however, does not seem to be of Hardouin’s opinion, that such investigations are a waste of time, and has suggested that the eggs of the Sepia officinalis may be alluded to, the eggs of which are in clusters of a dark colour, and bearing a strong resemblance to black grapes. This resemblance to a bunch of grapes is noticed by Pliny himself, in c. 74 of the present Book.
[2199] He alludes, most probably, to what we call the “sword-fish,” the “Xiphias gladius” of Linnæus.
[2200] Probably, in allusion to the “Squalus pristis” of Linnæus.