(p. 125) and of the fable
about garlic. But on p. 530 of the same work he ridicules Plutarch for
recording this very matter.

[42] PAGE 7, LINE 20. Page 7, line 27. _Marbodaeus Gallus_.--This rare
little book is entitled _Marbodei Galli Poetae vetustissimi de lapidibus
pretiosis Enchiridion_. It was printed at Paris in 1531. The Freiburg
edition, also of 1531, has the commentaries of Pictorius. The poem is in
Latin hexameters. After a preface of twenty-one lines the virtues of stones
are dealt with, the paragraph beginning with a statement that Evax, king of
the Arabs, is said to have written to Nero an account of the species, names
and colours of stones, their place of origin and their potencies; and that
this work formed the basis of the poem. The alleged magical powers of the
magnet are recited in Caput I., _Adamas_. Caput XLIII., _Magnes_, gives
further myths. {19} The commentary of Pictorius gives references to earlier
writers, Pliny, Dioscorides, Bartholomaeus Anglicus, Solinus, Serapio, and
to the book _de lapidibus_ erroneously ascribed to Aristotle.

The following is a specimen of the poem of Marbodeus:

_Magnetes lapis est inuentus apud Trogloditas,_
_Qu[=e] lapid[=a] genetrix nihilominus India mittit._
_Hic ferruginei cognoscitur esse coloris,_
_Et ui naturae uicinum tollere ferrum._
_Ededon magus hoc primum fere dic[=i]tur usus,_
_Conscius in magica nihil esse potentius arte._
_Post illum fertur famosa uenefica Circe_
_Hoc in praestigijs magicis specialiter usa._

This poem was reprinted (1854) in Migne's _Patrologia_. In 1799 Johann
Beckmann issued an annotated variorum edition of Marbodeus (_Marbodi Liber
Lapidvm sev de Gemmis_..., Goettingae, 1799), in which there is a
bibliography of the poem, the first edition of which appears to have been
publisht in 1511, at Vienna, thirteen other editions being described.
Beckmann adds many illustrative notes, and a notice of the Arabian Evax,
who is supposed to have written the treatise _de lapidibus_. Not the least
curious part is a French translation alleged to have been written in 1096,
of which Chap. XIX. on the Magnet begins thus:

Magnete trovent Trogodite,
En Inde e precieus est ditte.
Fer resemble e si le trait,
Altresi cum laimant fait.
Dendor lama mult durement.
Qi lusoit a enchantement.
Circe lus a dot mult chere,
Cele merveillose forciere, &c.

[43] PAGE 7, LINE 21. Page 7, line 28. _echeneidis._--The _echeneis