Note 285 — ON THE THEORY AND ART OF PRESCRIBING. (continued 2)
Reading edition
The word “Venenum,” was employed by the ancients to signify both a poison and a medicine; in the former of these acceptations it is used by Virgil in the following passage:
“Picus equum domitor, quem capta cupidine conjunx
Aurea percussum virga, versumque VENENIS,
Fecit avem Circe, sparsitque coloribus alas.”
Æneid. Lib. vii.
In the latter sense it is used by Plautus—
“Quia sorbitione faciam ego te hodie mea
Item, ut Medea Peliam concoxit senem,
Quem medicamentis, et suis VENENIS dicitur
Fecisse rursus ex sene adolescentulum
Item ego te faciam.”