CHAP. 8. (4.)—MOLY: THREE REMEDIES.
According to Homer,[549] the most celebrated of all plants is that, which, according to him, is known as moly[550] among the gods. The discovery of it he attributes to Mercury, who was also the first to point out its uses as neutralizing the most potent spells of sorcery. At the present day, it is said, it grows in the vicinity of Lake Pheneus, and in Cyllene; a district of Arcadia. It answers the description given of it by Homer, having a round black root, about as large as an onion, and a leaf like that of the squill: there is no[551] difficulty experienced in taking it up. The Greek writers have delineated[552] it as having a yellow flower, while Homer,[553] on the other hand, has spoken of it as white. I once met with a physician, a person extremely well acquainted with plants, who assured me that it is found growing in Italy as well, and that he would send me in a few days a specimen which had been dug up in Campania, with the greatest difficulty, from a rocky soil. The root of it was thirty[554] feet in length, and even then it was not entire, having been broken in the getting up.
CHAP. 9.—THE DODECATHEOS: ONE REMEDY.
The plant next in esteem to moly, is that called dodecatheos,[555] it being looked upon as under the especial tutelage of all the superior gods.[556] Taken in water, it is a cure, they say, for maladies of every kind. The leaves of it, seven in number, and very similar to those of the lettuce, spring from a yellow root.
CHAP. 10.—THE PÆONIA, PENTOROBUS, OR GLYCYSIDE: ONE REMEDY.
The plant known as “pæonia”[557] is the most ancient of them all. It still retains the name[558] of him who was the first to discover it, being known also as the “pentorobus”[559] by some, and the “glycyside”[560] by others; indeed, this is one of the great difficulties attendant on forming an accurate knowledge of plants, that the same object has different names in different districts. It grows in umbrageous mountain localities, and puts forth a stem amid the leaves, some four fingers in height, at the summit of which are four or five heads resembling Greek nuts[561] in appearance; enclosed in which, there is a considerable quantity of seed of a red or black colour. This plant is a preservative against the illusions[562] practised by the Fauni in sleep. It is generally recommended to take it up at night; for if the wood-pecker[563] of Mars should perceive a person doing so, it will immediately attack his eyes in defence of the plant.
CHAP. 11.—THE PANACES ASCLEPION: TWO REMEDIES.
The panaces, by its very name,[564] gives assurance of a remedy for all diseases: there are numerous kinds of it, and the discovery of its properties has been attributed to the gods. One of these kinds is known by the additional name of “asclepion,”[565] in commemoration of the circumstance that Æsculapius gave the name of Panacia[566] to his daughter. The juice of it, as we have had occasion to remark already,[567] coagulates like that of fennel-giant; the root is covered with a thick rind of a salt flavour.
After this plant has been taken up, it is a point religiously observed to fill the hole with various kinds of grain, a sort of expiation, as it were, to the earth. We have already[568] stated, when speaking of the exotic productions, where and in what manner this juice is prepared, and what kind is the most esteemed. That which is imported from Macedonia is known as “bucolicon,” from the fact that the neatherds there are in the habit of collecting it as it spontaneously exudes: it evaporates, however, with the greatest rapidity. As to the other kinds, that more particularly is held in disesteem which is black and soft, such being a proof, in fact, that it has been adulterated with wax.