Such draughts, however, had then more sinister applications as well, and not infrequently they were considered injurious physiologically. This was, in fact, the considered view of the Roman poet Ovid, of the first century B.C. In contrast to such a potion, he asserts, there are quite innocuous aphrodisiac stimulants, among them: eggs, wild cabbage, stone-pine apples, and honey. To discover a plant that, unexpectedly and arousingly, ‘kindles the flame of love,’ must have been a revelation to the ancient Greeks. Such a plant was pyrethron, so named because it was such an inflammatory stimulant. It was also known as pyrethrum parthenium, and was largely used for medicinal purposes. In modern terminology, this plant is identified with pellitory. In Arab countries pyrethrum was pounded and mixed with lilac ointment and ginger: and the resultant compound served to produce erotic stimulation in the genital area. * * * * * In his determined search for amatory satisfactions, man has probed deeply into the material world and also into conceptual zones. Thus erotic stimulation may be produced by an inspired dream. This is the situation in a comedy by the Greek poet Aristophanes, who flourished in the fifth century B.C. The play has survived in fragments only, but may be pieced together into some degree of cohesion, the theme being the problem of an old man who has a young wife. The aged husband makes a pilgrimage to the oracle of Amphiaraus. As a result of his visit, the solution of the marital perplexity is revealed in a dream, and the virility of the elder is restored. In the scattered fragments, there is a suggestion of the means adopted by the husband. It took the form of a dish of lentils. * * * * * A visual spectacle may virtually act as a potion. This is the view of a physician named Theodorus Priscianus. He flourished in the fourth century A.D., and was the author of a medical handbook, still extant, in which he gives realistic advice for a cure of incapacity. Let the patient, he counsels, in Book 2, be surrounded by beautiful girls or boys. Also, give him books to read that arouse lust and in which love stories are insinuatingly treated. Virtually, such treatment approximates a visual love-potion. * * * * * Physical therapy may be as affective as a potion. Hence local massage, in the inguinal area, was often performed as an aid in inducing virility. This was a highly popular manipulation. It is alluded to in ancient writers, and particularly so in the Greek comic poet Aristophanes. Petronius, too, the author of the Latin novel entitled the _Satyricon_, describes such an operation performed by an old beldam on one of the characters, named Encolpius. * * * * *