ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, V. IX. 8
whose sap is of an oily character; and this is why statues are sometimes said to 'sweat'; for they are made of such woods. That which seers call the menses of Eileithuia,'[1] and for the appearance of which they make atonement,[2] forms on the wood of the silver-fir when some moisture gathers on it: the formation is round[3] in shape, and in size about as large as a pear, or a little larger or smaller. Olive-wood is more apt than other woods to produce shoots even when lying idle or made into manufactured articles; this it often does, if it obtains moisture and lies in a damp place; thus the socket of a door-'hinge'[4] has been known to shoot, and also an oar which was standing in damp earth in an earthenware vessel.[5]
- ↑ cf. C.P. 5. 4. 4. οἱ μάντεις … ἐλατίνοις conj. Lobeck.; οἱ λεἲαν … τοῖς ἑκατίνοις U; οἰλείαν … τοὺς ἐκατίνοις V; οἱ λεῖαν τῆς εἰληθήας … τοῖς ἐκματίνοις M; οἱ λεῖαν τῆς ἀληθυίας ἔφἁιδρον … τοὺς ἑκατίνους P2; ἰλεῖαν τῆς εἰληθυίας ἔφυδρον … τοὺς ἑκατίνους Ald.
- ↑ i.e. as a portent. cf. Char. 16. 2.
- ↑ στρόγγυλον conj. Sch.; στρογγύλης UMVP2Ald.
- ↑ cf. 5. 6. 4; Plin. 16. 230.
- ↑ πλινθ. τεθ. κώπη ἐν πήλῳ conj. Spr.; πλίνθινον τεθεὶς τῇ κώπῃ πηλός P2Ald. H.
475