Note 1228 — PERSIUS.
Lewis Evans translation
Ilias Acci. Cf. ad v., 4. The effusion not of true genius, but of the besotting influence of drugs. "The poet," as Casaubon says, "has not reached the inspiring heights of Hippocrene, but muddled himself with the hellebore that grows on the way thither." The ancients were not unacquainted with the use of this artificial stimulant to genius. Cf. Plin., xxv., 5, "Quondam terribile, postea tam promiscuum, ut plerique studiorum gratia ad providenda acrius quæ commentabantur sumpsitaverint."