Natural History, Vol. 3

Which Latin authors have written on herbs, and when knowledge of them reached the Romans, and which of the Greeks were the first to write about them, and on the discovery of herbs, and ancient medicine, and why their remedies are less practiced, and on the dog-rose and the dragon-wort of the Midlands. Chap. II.

m

Our countrymen, most rapacious for all utilities and virtues, have celebrated this subject less than they ought. The first, and for a long time the only one, was that very M. Cato, master of all good arts, who touched upon it only sparingly. He did not omit remedies for oxen either. After him, one of the illustrious men, C. Valgius, a man of remarkable learning, attempted the subject in a volume left unfinished for the deified Augustus, even with a religious preface begun, so that the majesty of that prince might especially heal all human ills. Before him, as far as I have discovered, Pompeius Lenaeus, a freedman of Pompey the Great, had been the only one among us to compile such a work, and it is at this time that I notice this science first reached our people. For Mithridates, the greatest of the kings of his age, whom Pompey defeated, is understood to have been more diligent in the proofs of life than all who were born before him, apart from his renown. It was devised by him alone to drink poison daily, having taken remedies beforehand, so that by habit itself it might become harmless. He was the first to invent types of antidotes, of which one even retains his name. They claim it was his invention to mix the blood of Pontic ducks with antidotes, since they lived on poison. Volumes composed for him by Asclepiades, who was illustrious in the art of healing, are still extant, sent by him after he was solicited from the city of Rome. He was the only one of mortals