CHAP. 21.—THE POLIUM, OR TEUTHRION.
It is the same, too, with the polium,1997 a herb employed for a similar purpose among the Greeks, and highly extolled by Musæus and Hesiod, who assert that it is useful for every purpose, and more particularly for the acquisition of fame and honour;1998 indeed, it is a truly marvellous production, if it is the fact, as they state, that its leaves are white in the morning, a purple at midday, and azure1999 at sunset. There are two varieties of it, the field polium, which is larger, and the wild,2000 which is more diminutive. Some persons give it the name of “teuthrion.”2001 The leaves resemble the white hairs of a human being; they take their rise immediately from the root, and never exceed a palm in height.