"[Plin. Nat. 25.21.] - MELAMPODIUM, HELLEBORE, OR VERATRUM: THREE VARIETIES OF IT. THE WAY IN WHICH IT IS GATHERED, AND HOW THE QUALITY OF IT IS TESTED.
The repute of Melampus, as being highly skilled in the arts of divination, is universally known. This personage has given a name to one species of hellebore, known as the “melampodion.” Some persons, however, attribute the discovery of this plant to a shepherd of that name, who remarked that his she-goats were violently purged after browsing upon it, and afterwards cured the daughters of Prœtus of madness, by giving them the milk of these goats. It will be the best plan, therefore, to take this opportunity of treating of the several varieties of hellebore. The two principal kinds are the white and the black; though, according to most authorities, this difference exists in the root only. There are some authors, however, who assure us that the leaves of the black hellebore are similar to those of the plane-tree, only darker, more diminutive, and more jagged at the edges: and who say, that the white hellebore has leaves like those of beet when first shooting, though at the same time of a more swarthy colour, with reddish veins on the under side. The stem, in both kinds, is ferulaceous, a palm in height, and covered with coats like those of the bulbs, the root, too, being fibrous like that of the onion.
The black hellebore kills horses, oxen, and swine; hence it is that those animals avoid it, while they eat the white kind. The proper time, they say, for gathering this last, is harvest. It grows upon Mount Œta in great abundance; and the best of all is that found upon one spot on that mountain, in the vicinity of Pyra. The black hellebore is found growing everywhere, but the best is that of Mount Helicon; which is also equally celebrated for the qualities of its other plants. The white hellebore of Mount Œta is the most highly esteemed, that of Pontus occupying the second place, and the produce of Elea the third; which last, it is generally said, grows in the vineyards there. The fourth rank is held by the white hellebore of Mount Parnassus, though it is often, adulterated with that of the neighbouring districts of Ætolia.
Of these kinds it is the black hellebore that is known as the “melampodium:” it is used in fumigations, and for the purpose of purifying houses; cattle, too, are sprinkled with it, a certain form of prayer being repeated. This last plant, too, is gathered with more numerous ceremonies than the other: a circle is first traced around it with a sword, after which, the person about to cut it turns towards the East, and offers up a prayer, entreating permission of the gods to do so. At the same time he observes whether an eagle is in sight—for mostly while the plant is being gathered that bird is near at hand—and if one should chance to fly close at hand, it is looked upon as a presage that he will die within the year. The white hellebore, too, is gathered not without difficulty, as it is very oppressive to the head; more particularly if the precaution has not been used of eating garlic first, and of drinking wine every now and then, care being taken to dig up the plant as speedily as possible.
Some persons call the black hellebore “ectomon,” and others “polyrrhizon:” it purges by stool, while the white hellebore acts as an emetic, and so carries off what might otherwise have given rise to disease. In former days hellebore was regarded with horror, but more recently the use of it has become so familiar, that numbers of studious men are in the habit of taking it for the purpose of sharpening the intellectual powers required by their literary investigations. Carneades, for instance, made use of hellebore when about to answer the treatises of Zeno; Drusus too, among us, the most famous of all the tribunes of the people, and whom in particular the public, rising from their seats, greeted with loud applause—to whom also the patricians imputed the Marsic war—is well known to have been cured of epilepsy in the island of Anticyra; a place at which it is taken with more safety than elsewhere, from the fact of sesamoïdes being combined with it, as already stated. In Italy the name given to it is “veratrum.”
These kinds of hellebore, reduced to powder and taken alone, or else in combination with radicula, a plant used, as already mentioned, for washing wool, act as a sternutatory, and are both of them productive of narcotic effects. The thinnest and shortest roots are selected, and among them the lower parts in particular, which have all the appearance of having been cut short; for, as to the upper part, which is the thickest, and bears a resemblance to an onion, it is given to dogs only, as a purgative. The ancients used to select those roots the rind of which was the most fleshy, from an idea that the pith extracted therefrom was of a more refined nature. This substance they covered with wet sponges, and, when it began to swell, used to split it longitudinally with a needle; which done, the filaments were dried in the shade, for future use. At the present day, however, the fibres of the root with the thickest rind are selected, and given to the patient just as they are. The best hellebore is that which has an acrid, burning taste, and when broken, emits a sort of dust. It retains its efficacy, they say, so long as thirty years.”
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)

"[Plin. Nat. 25.22.] - TWENTY-FOUR REMEDIES DERIVED FROM BLACK HELLEBORE. HOW IT SHOULD BE TAKEN.
Black hellebore is administered for the cure of paralysis, insanity, dropsy—provided there is no fever—chronic gout, and diseases of the joints: it has the effect too, of carrying off the bilious secretions and morbid humours by stool. It is given also in water as a gentle aperient, the proportion being one drachma at the very utmost, and four oboli for a moderate dose. Some authorities have recommended mixing scammony with it, but salt is looked upon as more safe. If given in any considerable quantity in combination with a sweet substance, it is highly dangerous: used in the form of a fomentation, it disperses films upon the eyes; and hence it is that some medical men have pounded it and used it for an eye-salve. It ripens and acts detergently upon scrofulous sores, suppurations, and indurated tumours, as also upon fistulas, but in this latter case it must be removed at the end of a couple of days. In combination with copper filings and sandarach, it removes warts; and it is applied to the abdominal regions, with barley-meal and wine, in cases of dropsy.
This plant is employed for the cure of pituitous defluxions in cattle and beasts of burden, a slip of it being passed through the ear, and removed at the same hour on the following day. With frankincense also, wax, and pitch, or else pisselæon, it is used for the cure of itch in quadrupeds.”
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)

"[Plin. Nat. 25.23.] - TWENTY-THREE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM WHITE HELLEBORE.
The best white hellebore is that which acts most speedily as a sternutatory; but it would seem to be a much more formidable plant than the black kind; more particularly if we read in the ancient authors the precautions used by those about to take it, against cold shiverings, suffocation, unnatural drowsiness, continuous hiccup or sneezing, derangements of the stomach, and vomitings, either retarded or prolonged, too sparing or in excess. Indeed, it was generally the practice to administer other substances to promote vomiting, and to carry off the hellebore by the aid of purgatives or clysters, while bleeding even was frequently had recourse to. In addition to all this, however successful the results may prove, the symptoms by which it is attended are really most alarming, by reason of the various colours which the matter vomited presents: besides which, after the vomiting has subsided, the physician has to pay the greatest attention to the nature of the alvine evacuations, the due and proper use of the bath, and the general regimen adopted by the patient; all of them inconveniences in themselves, and preceded by the terrors naturally inspired by the character of the drug; for one story is, that it has the property of consuming flesh, if boiled with it.
The great error, however, on the part of the ancients was, that in consequence of these fears, they used to give it too sparingly, the fact being, that the larger the dose, the more speedily it passes through the body. Themison used to give no more than two drachmæ, but at a later period as much as four drachmæ was administered; in conformity with the celebrated eulogium passed upon it by Herophilus, who was in the habit of comparing hellebore to a valiant general, and saying, that after it has set in motion all within, it is the first to sally forth and show the way. In addition to these particulars, there has been a singular discovery made: the hellebore which, as we have already stated, has been cut with a small pair of scissors, is passed through a sieve, upon which the pith makes its way through, while the outer coat remains behind. The latter acts as a purgative, while the former is used for the purpose of arresting vomiting when that evacuation is in excess.”
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)