Such power it hath to make thee hate the vine,
E’er since my fount did Prœtus’ daughters heal;—
For here Melampus bathed them, here he cast
A spell to purge their madness off, and hold
The secret taint; what time from Argos old
To rough Arcadia’s mountain heights he past.
[21] There was a fountain in Arcadia, which had the reputation of creating an aversion to wine in whoever happened to bathe in it, although the water was innocent and wholesome to drink: and the tradition was, that it had received this singular property from Melampus, a celebrated physician of antiquity, when he made use of it to cure certain Arcadian princesses, the daughters of Prœtus, of a strange species of madness. These young ladies fancied themselves to be changed into cows. The story is frequently alluded to by the poets; both Ovid and Virgil mention it.
FROM LUCRETIUS.
sæpius olim