I would be interested in views on the plants in the following from Eclogue IV:
Errantis hederas passim cum baccare tellus Mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho Hedera and Acanthus were, I imagine, the same as the plants (ivy and bear's breeches) that bear those Latin names today. Colocasia and baccar, however, seem to present some difficulties. One translator suggests sowbreads and lotuses, another gipsy lilies and wild woodbine, my dictionary indicates Celtic valerian (whatever that was)and Egyptian bean while Dryden bags them all up as 'fragrant herbs'. Do people just have a guess at what these words might have meant? Patrick Roper ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub