See on Scythian slow poison, Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 15. 2. Among the Romans the lepus marinus (the aplysia depilens of Linnæus) was sometimes used as a secret poison, as we find from the example of Domitian, who employed it in removing his brother Titus. Δυοὶν δὲ ἐτοῖν μετὰ τὸν πατέρα τὴν ἀρχὴν κατασχόντα, ὑπὸ τοῦ θαλαττίου λαγὼ ἀποθανεῖν. τὸν δὲ ἰχθὺν τοῦτον, παρέχεσθαι χυμοὺς ἀποῤῥήτους, ὑπὲρ πάντα τὰ ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ καὶ γῇ ἀνδροφόνα. καὶ Νέρωνα μὲν ἐμποιῆσαι τοῖς ἐαυτου ὄψοις τὸν λαγὼν τοῦτον ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμιωτάτους, Δομετιανὸν δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Τῖτον, οὐ τὸ ξὺν ἀδελφῷ ἄρχειν δεινὸν ἡγούμενον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ξὺν πράῳ τε καὶ χρηστῷ. Philost. Vit. Apoll. Tyan. vi. 32, p. 271. The baneful qualities of this fish are noticed, likewise, by Dioscorides, Alexipharm. 30; by Ælian. de Nat. Animal. ii. 45. xvi. 19, and by Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 72. xxxii. 3. Footnote 1268: Cf. Beckmann, i. 82. Footnote 1269: Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 16. 7. Footnote 1270: Dioscor. iii. 175. Footnote 1271: Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 16. 6. Footnote 1272: Dioscor. iv. 144. Footnote 1273: Id. iii. 43. Footnote 1274: Athen. iii. 56. There appears to be no other authority for this custom. Cf. Meurs. Græc. Feriat. iv. p. 183. The poison of a mad dog’s bite was exhausted by the cupping-glass. Celsus, v. 27. 2. ----- Among the more remarkable of the materia medica was the cedar gum, generally transparent, and of a most pungent odour. It was esteemed destructive of living bodies, but formed, doubtless, an important ingredient among the embalmer’s materials, since it completely preserved corpses from corruption, on which account it was sometimes called the Life of the Dead.[1275] It entered, moreover, into preparation designed to sharpen the sight. ----- Footnote 1275: Δύναμιν δὲ ἔχει σηπτικὴν μὲν τῶν ἐμψύχων, φυλακτικὴν δὲ τῶν νεκρῶν σωμάτων. ὄθεν καὶ νεκροῦ ζωήν τινες αὐτὴν ἐκάλεσαν. Dioscor. i. 105. -----