_Heben_ sad,
Dead sleeping _Poppy_, and blacke _Hellebore_,
4 Cold _Coloquintida_, and _Tetra_ mad,
Mortall _Samnitis_, and _Cicuta_ bad,
6 +Which with+ +th'vniust+ _Atheniens_ made to dy
Wise _Socrates_, who thereof quaffing glad
8 Pourd out his life, and last Philosophy
To the faire _Critias_ his dearest Belamy.

6 Which with > Which-with _1609;_ With which _sugg. most editors_
6 th'vniust > th vniust _1596_

1 There mournful cypress grew in greatest store,

cypress > (_Cupressus_ spp., _C. sempervirens_ in classical
mythology, trees associated with death and grief. Cf. 201.60:3,
106.17:2)

2 And trees of bitter gall, and ebon sad,

gall > (Gall is another name for bile, the intensely bitter
secretion of the liver: by transference applied to any poison or
venom; the gall-nut or oak-apple is an excrescence caused on oak
trees by insects of the family _Cynipidae_. Hence "trees of
bitter _Gall_" might be intended to mean "oaks")
ebon > {Ebony, made of ebony, a tree of the family _Ebenaceae_, esp.
_Diospyros ebenus_, producing hard black wood}

3 Dead sleeping poppy, and black hellebore,

sleeping > (Because it produces opium)
black hellebore > (Probably _Helleborus foetidus_ (colloquially
called the stinking hellebore) rather than the green hellebore
_H. viridis_. Both are highly poisonous plants found growing in
England, and were formerly used officinally as violent cathartics
and emetics, though they are so dangerous that their use was
abandoned)

4 Cold coloquintida, and tetra mad,

coloquintida > (The colocynth or bitter-apple, _Citrullus
colocynthis_, a plant of the gourd family. The fruit has a very
bitter pulp, producing a purgative drug. The colocynth is the
gourd referred to in _2 Kings_ 4.38-41; see also _Othello_ I iii
345)
tetra > (The deadly nightshade, _Atropa bella-donna_)

5 Mortal samnitis, and cicuta bad,

Mortal > Lethal
samnitis > (Conjectured by Upton to be the savin, _Junipera sabina_,
the dried tops of which are abortifacient: hence "Mortall". Cf.
302.49:5)
cicuta > hemlock (_Conium maculatum_, a deadly poison)

6 With which the unjust Athenians made to die
7 Wise Socrates who, thereof quaffing glad,

Socrates > (The Greek philosopher, c. 470-399, who was obliged to
drink hemlock)

8 Poured out his life and last philosophy
9 To the fair Critias, his dearest belamy.

Critias > (Socrates's former pupil and enemy, one