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For the same reason as that suggested by Calmet, Columella calls the mandrake semihomo: "Quamvis semihominis vesano gramine fœta Mandragoræ pariat flores." "Let it not vex thee if thy teeming field The half-man Mandrake's madd'ning seed should yield;"
But the fact is, their irresistible charm outweighs all the exceptions of criticism. While we read we become like Virgil's own shepherd; we cannot choose but surrender ourselves to the magic influence: "Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta, Quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per herbam Dulcis aquae saliente sitim restinguere rivo."
How aptly does Horace's description of the young man apply to the people! Imberbis juvenis, tandem custode remoto Gaudet equis, canibusque et aprici gramine campi; Cereus in vitium flecti, monitoribus asper, Utilium tardus provisor, prodigus æris, Sublimis, cupidusque et amata relinquere pernix.
'Imberbus juvenis, tandem custode remoto, Gaudet equis canibusque, et aprici gramine campi. 'The youth, whose will no froward tutor bounds, Joys in the sunny field, his horse and hounds. FRANCIS. Horace, Ars Poet. 1. 161. Henry VI, act i. sc. 2. See ante, i. 468, and iii. 306.
"softening and concealing; and busy with a hand of healing." Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta, Quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per æstum Dulcis aquæ saliente sitim restinguere rivo. But with the advent of babies poetry declined, and the sympathetic wife became more and more motherly. The father retired sadly into the dreamland of books. He will not emerge again.
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