- Tho’ lofty Maro (whose immortal muse
- Distant I follow, and, submiss, adore)
- Hath sung its properties, to counteract
- Dire spells, slow-mutter’d o’er the baneful bowl, [135]
- Where cruel stepdames poisonous drugs have brewed;
- Can vie with these low tenants of the vale,
- In driving poisons from the infected frame:
- For here, alas! (ye sons of luxury mark!)
- The sea, tho’ on its bosom Halcyons1 sleep, [140]
- Abounds with poison’d fish;2 whose crimson fins,
- Whose eyes, whose scales, bedropt with azure, gold,
- Purple, and green, in all gay Summer’s pride,
- Amuse the sight; whose taste the palate charms;
- Yet death, in ambush, on the banquet waits, [145]
- Unless these antidotes be timely given.
- But, say what strains, what numbers can recite,
- Thy praises, vervain3; or wild liquorice, thine?
- For not the costly root, the gift of God,
should. However, we have this comfort on our side, that our not knowing it is of no detriment to us; for as spells cannot affect us, we are at no loss for antidotes to guard against them.
VER. 149. For not the costly root,] Some medical writers have bestowed the high appellation of Donum Dei on rhubarb.4
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Mythical birds usually identified with kingfishers (genus Halcyon) that were believed to calm the seas in order to breed in floating nests. The phrase “Halcyon days” previously designated a fourteen-day period around the winter solstice that supposedly was the time when the ocean was becalmed by the birds. It now designates more generally a period of time in the past that was idyllic and peaceful. ↩︎
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Grainger is probably not referring to a specific species of fish but rather to ciguatera, a disease long associated with the consumption of predatory fish in the Caribbean. Ciguatera is a toxin produced by a marine microalgae called Gambierdiscus toxicus, and, like mercury, it becomes more concentrated in fish as they rise in the food chain. Symptoms of ciguatera include nausea, vomiting, and tingling fingers or toes. Symptoms usually go away in days or weeks but can last for years. ↩︎
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Also known as verbena (Verbena officinalis), an herbal shrub whose native range is the Old World to Australia. ↩︎
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Rheum rhabarbarum, a plant whose native range includes southern Siberia and northern and central China. Traditionally used for indigestion and bowel complaints; now commonly used as a fruit. Donum Dei means the gift of God. ↩︎