Chapter 683

2488Marked by their supereminent absurdity, as Fée remarks.

2489Formed by the river Tiber. See the Quæst. Rom. of Plutarch, on this subject.

2490We have adopted Sillig’s suggestion, and read “nec” for “et” here. The meaning, however, is very doubtful.

2491“Augebo providentiam illorum.” The meaning of this passage also is doubtful.

2492By adopting that language instead of the Latin; Sextius Niger, for instance.

2493Diplomas seem to have been less cared for in those times than at the present day even, when quackery has so free a range.

2494See B. iii. c. 26, and B. xxxiii. cc. 7, 8.

2495“Inquisitio per parietes.” The reading is doubtful, but he not improbably alludes to the employment of spies.

2496Hardouin thinks that he alludes to Cornelius Balbus here, a native of Gades. See B. v. c. 5, and B. vii. 44.

2497“Electis viris datur tabula.” He alludes to the three tablets delivered to the Judices, one of which had inscribed on it “Acquitted,” another “Not proven,” and a third “Guilty”—Absolvatur,Non liquet, andCondemno.

2498“In this place he casteth in the Romans’ teeth, theirLecticarii,Anagnostæ, andNomenclatores.”—Holland. Letter-bearers, readers, and prompters as to the names of the persons addressed.

2499He alludes to the resources of medicine.

2500A physician at Rome, who was afterwards put to the torture for this crime. Livia was the daughter of Drusus Nero, the brother of Tiberius.

2501Messalina, mentioned in c. 5 of this Book.

2502Nothing could possibly be more remote from his republican notions, than “reginæ” at Rome.

2503“Emovendam.” In order that a future job may be ensured.

2504In c. 5 of this Book.

2505“Vulnerum medico.”

2506“Ejus turbæ.”

2507See B. xxiv. c. 1.

2508The origin of our word “treacle.” See B. xx. c. 100, and Note 97.

2509Used as a round number, like our expression “ten thousand.”

2510See B. xxiii. c. 77, and B. xxv. c. 26.

2511“Minium.” This red lead had the name of “cinnabaris nativa,” whence the error.

2512In B. xxxiii. c. 38.

2513As tending to effeminacy, or undermining the constitution.

2514See B. xxviii. c. 13.

2515“Lucifugis congesta cubilia blattis.” Georg. I. 184, IV. 243.

2516Il. xvii. 670,et seq.

2517He certainly does notalwayskeep this object in view.

2518See B. x. c. 2, and B. xii. c. 42.

2519A form of fever, Littré remarks, that is known by the moderns as “pseudo-continuous.”

2520See B. xvi. c. 19.

2521“Smectica” is suggested by Gesner, Hist. Anim., as a better reading than “septica.”

2522“Œsypum” is often mentioned by Ovid as a favourite cosmetic with the Roman ladies.

2523See B. xix. c. 1, B. xxiv. c. 58, and B. xxv. c. 21.

2524See B. xviii. c. 17.

2525See B. xx. c. 23.

2526Hermolaüs suggests “schista,” “divided,” and Dalechamps proposes “synchyta,” “mixed.” The reading is very doubtful.

2527Or Sowbread. See B. xxv. c. 67.

2528See B. xviii. c. 17.

2529In B. x. c. 80.

2530See B. xxiv. c. 54.

2531This is the fact, and it is similarly used for mending china. White of egg, mixed with whiskey or spirits of wine, will answer the purpose equally well.

2532Ajasson remarks that there is some slight truth in this assertion.

2533Pliny alludes here to the beads or rings of glass which were used by the Druids as charms to impose on the credulity of their devotees, under the name ofGlain naidr, or “the Adder gem.” Mr. Luyd (in Rowland’s Mona Antiqua, p. 342) says that the genuineOvum anguinumcan be no other than a shell of the kind calledechinus marinus, and that Dr. Borlase observes that, instead of the naturalanguinum, artificial rings of stone, glass, and sometimes baked clay, were substituted as of equal validity. The belief in these charms very recently existed in Cornwall and Wales, if indeed it does not at the present day. The subject is very fully discussed in Brand’sPopular Antiquities, Vol. III. p. 286,et seq., and p. 369,et seq.,Bohn’s Edition. These gems and beads are not uncommonly found in tumuli of the early British period.

2534A similar belief in its origin was prevalent in Cornwall and Wales, and whoever found it was supposed to ensure success in all his undertakings.

2535“The snake’s egg”—ovumbeing understood.

2536“The vulgar opinion in Cornwall and most parts of Wales is that these are produced through all Cornwall by snakes joining their heads together and hissing, which forms a kind of bubble like a ring about the head of one of them, which the rest, by continual hissing, blow on till it comes off at the tail, when it immediately hardens and resembles a glass ring.”—Gough’s Camden, Vol II. p. 571, Ed. 1789.

2537The shell of a sea urchin most probably. See Note 81 above.

2538See Note 82 above.

2539A nation of Gaul. See B. iii. cc. 5, 21.

2540The wand held by heralds, and generally represented as being carried by Mercury in his character of messenger of the gods.

2541And therefore not portentous of war.

2542See B. v. cc. 13, 20.

2543See B. xii. c. 43.

2544See B. x. c. 28. Generally supposed to be Syrian nard; though some identify it with theComacumof Theophrastus.

2545See B. xxiii. cc. 45, 80.

2546In B. xxviii. c. 38.

2547See B. xxiv. c. 69.

2548See B. xii. c. 54.

2549See B. xii. c. 62.

2550No MS., it would appear, gives “corvis” here, the reading being “capris,” “goats.” Ajasson, however, is most probably right in his suggestion that “corvis” is the correct reading.

2551See B. x. c. 15.

2552In B. x. c. 26.

2553Or Youth, in the Eighth Region of the City.

2554See B. ii. c. 53.

2555An ancient divinity, who is supposed to have presided over childbirth. See Plutarch, Quæst. Rom. 52.

2556In theSaturioprobably, quoted by Festus, and now lost. The aborigines of Canada, and the people of China and Tartary, hold whelps’ flesh in esteem as a great delicacy.

2557“Toxica.”

2558Of remedies classified according to the different maladies.

2559In B. xi. c. 76.

2560The ferret, most probably.

2561See c. 33 of this Book.

2562The common weasel.

2563Probably in his work entitled “Admiranda,” now lost. Holland says “some take these for our cats.”

2564Guettard, a French commentator on Pliny, recommends bugs to be taken internally for hysteria!

2565Perhaps the Cimex pratensis is meant here. Neither this nor the Cimex juniperinus, the Cimex brassicæ, or the Lygæus hyoscami has the offensive smell of the house bug.

2566An excellent method, Ajasson remarks, of adding to the tortures of the patient.

2567This is the fact.

2568See B. viii. c. 33.

2569The Magi of the East, probably.

2570Some serpent of the boa species, probably. See B. viii. cc. 13, 14, 22, 41, and B. x. cc. 5, 92, 95, 96.

2571By leading them to confound truth with fiction.

2572See B. viii. c. 35.

2573This isperhapsthe meaning of “præcanere.” Sillig suggests “recanere.”

2574Which was said to act as an antidote to the poison, applied to the wound.

2575“Antidotes to serpents’ poison.”

2576“Pastilli.”

2577The god of Medicine.

2578A favourite reverie with the learned of the East. Dupont de Nemours, Ajasson informs us, has left several Essays on this subject.

2579In Peloponnesus, the principal seat of his worship. A very full account of his introduction, under the form of a huge serpent, into the city of Rome, is given by Ovid, Met. B. xv. l. 544,et seq.This took placeB.C.293.

2580Among the snakes that are tamed, Ajasson enumerates the Coluber flagelliformis of Dandin, or American coach-whip snake; the Coluber constructor of Linnæus, or Black snake; and the Coluber viridiflavus of Lacepede. The Æsculapian serpent is still found in Italy.

2581Or “chersydri,” “amphibious.”

2582Or “starred lizard”—“stellio.” In reality it is not poisonous.

2583See B. x. c. 86. Some kind of starred lizard, or an eft or newt perhaps, was thus called: but in most respects it appears to be entirely a fabulous animal.

2584See B ii. c. 63.

2585He probably alludes to the Magi of Persia here, as most of the stories about the salamander appear to bear the aspect of an Eastern origin.

2586See B. xxii. c. 33.

2587“Cybium.” See B. ix. c. 18. Dioscorides says the plantcnecos, described by Pliny in B. xxi. c. 107.

2588See B. xxv. c. 18, and B. xxvii. c. 77.

2589See B. xvi. c. 92, and B. xxvi. cc. 37, 66.

2590“Hereupon peradventure it is that in collices and cockbroths we use to seeth pieces of gold, with an opinion to make them thereby more restorative.”—Holland.

2591See B. xxv. c. 97.

2592The same is said of a frog’s tongue, in B. xxxii. c. 18.

2593That is no reason, as Ajasson remarks, why the egg should not be found, it being easy to take it from the nest at night, when, the bird being absent, no ill omen will arise from seeing it.

2594We still see bats nailed upon and over stable doors in various parts of this country.

2595“Carduus.”

2596A sort of spider. See B. xi. cc. 24, 28, 29.

2597In c. 16 of this Book.

2598“Lupus.” See B. xi. c. 28.

2599The Tarantula has been suggested, but that is a native of Italy.

2600“Atocium.”

2601“Plena liberis.”

2602Fromῥάξ, a “grape.”

2603Or “starred” spider. Nicander describes all these varieties of the Phalangium.

2604Fromμυρμὴξ, “an ant.”

2605The “four-jawed” spider.

2606In c. 16 of this Book.

2607See B. viii. c. 83.

2608See B. xix. c. 22. For further particulars as to the Stellio, see B. xi. c. 31, and the Note.

2609This is probably an error; see the Note to B. xi. c. 31.

2610See B. x. cc. 18, 41, 44, and 50.

2611See B. viii. c. 43. Ajasson remarks that this is a mere fabulous story, in reference to the venom of the ants.

2612In B. xxix. c. 23.

2613See B. xxvi. c. 2.

2614See B. xxiii. c. 14.

2615It has been ascertained by experiment that the vesicatory principle resides in the wings more particularly. Ajasson remarks, that it is possible that the ancients may not have known the genuine Cantharides, the Canth. vesicatoria of modern medicine.

2616See B. xxiv. c. 74.

2617“Pityocampæ.” See B. xxiii. cc. 30, 40, and B. xxviii. c. 33.

2618See B. xxviii. cc. 21, 33, 42, and B. xxx. c. 10.

2619At the sale, under his supervision, of the property of Ptolemy, king of Cyprus.

2620In B. xxi. c. 34.

2621This is still the vulgar notion; but in reality there is no worm, but certain white pustules beneath the tongue, which break spontaneously at the end of twelve days after birth. Puppies are still “wormed,” as it is called, as a preventive of hydrophobia, it is said, and of a propensity to gnaw objects which come in their way. The “worming” consists in the breaking of these pustules.

2622“Rage” or “madness.”

2623“For the manner of a dog is to bee angrie with the stone that is thrown at him, without regard to the partie that flung it, whereupon grew the proverb in Greeke,κύων εἰς τὸν λίθον ἀγανακτοῦσα(‘A dog venting his rage upon a stone.’)”—Holland.

2624See B. xx. cc. 6, 20. It is somewhat doubtful what the “seps” really was; whether, in fact, it was a lizard at all. Littré suggests the Tridactylus saurius.

2625Or Ferret, probably. See c. 16 of this Book.

2626In c. 16 of this Book.

2627From the circumstance that that country was covered with herbs and plants of a medicinal nature.

2628So called fromἀλωπὴξ, “a fox,” an animal very subject to the loss of its hair.

2629See B. xii. c. 51.

2630So swine’s dung was called “sucerda,” and cowdung “bucerda.”

2631Or Maagrus, the “fly catcher,” the name of a hero, invoked at Aliphera, at the festivals of Athena, as the protector against flies. It was also a surname of Hercules. See B. x. c. 40.

2632See B. viii. c. 53.

2633In c. 32 of this Book.

2634A recipe well understood in the restaurants of the French provinces, Ajasson says, but it is doubtful whether with the object named by our author.

2635He means slugs probably.

2636He does not appear to state this on hearsay only!

2637Cobwebs are still used for this purpose, as also the fur from articles made of beaver. Ajasson mentions English taffeta.

2638See c. 13 of this Book.

2639See B. xxvi. c. 39.

2640A disease of the crystalline humours of the eye.

2641See B. x. c. 33.

2642“Stibium.” See B. xxxiii. c. 33.

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