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[220] ἔνθεν, refers back to “οἶνον”. In later Greek we should find “ὅθεν” used in its place. Commentators have puzzled over the φάρμακον here mentioned. The reference to “ἄρουρα” (229) suggests that the substance was a vegetable, and the use of βάλε rather than “χέε” seems to point to a solid and not to a liquid. Dioscorides (4. 28) ascribes a similar efficacy to the bugloss or borage, “ὅπερ καθιέμενον ἐς τὸν οἶνον εὐφρόσυνον δοκεῖ εἶναι”. Sprengel and others understand it to be opium, and Mure (Hist. Gk. Lit. 1. 436) inclines to the same view. Dr. Hayman (ad loc.) quotes the opinion of Sir H. Halford that it is the hyoscyamus or henbane, still in use in Greece and Turkey under the name Nebensch. Older writers, as Plutarch (Symp. 1. 1. 4) and Macrobius (Sat. 7. 1), allegorised the story, understanding by the “φάρμακον” the bewitching eloquence of Helen.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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