According to a peculiar strain of ancient Roman folklore, it was believed that supernatural hags and nefarious witches treasured for their potions a suspicious substance known as hippomanes, which can be translated to horse-frenzy or “mare madness.” As the words of horse and mare give away, hippomanes was, indeed, said to have been harvested from horses. The incredibly awkward origin of this ingredient was graphically described by the famous Roman poet, Virgil (c. 70-19 BCE), in his Georgics. It should be warned, the poet’s description is very blunt and devoid of any obscurative euphemisms, and it could be unsettling to some readers to learn exactly where the supposedly magical substance of “mare madness” allegedly came from. That warning aside, Virgil wrote:
“…a viscous fluid, which herdsmen have good cause
to call ‘mare madness’, oozes out of their vaginas,
a mucus hags crave to collect to mix with herbs and hexes
and so concoct their wicked potions”
(Georgics, 3.280-283)
Specifics on what kinds of potions were supposedly brewed with hippomanes is vague, but a semblance of an idea can be gleaned by the characteristics commonly ascribed to mares within Greek and Roman myths. In ancient Mediterranean mythology, mares were often portrayed as potentially violent and wild animals, prone to be driven mad by desire—such attributes could be what the ingredient was meant to contribute in magical potions. Whatever the case and purpose of the substance, Roman folklore held the belief that hippomanes (or horse frenzy or mare madness) was an ingredient utilized by malicious forces such as witches and prisoners.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (Cropped horse from Ovid among the Scythians, by Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).
Sources:
- Georgics by Virgil, translated by Peter Fallon. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2004, 2006, 2009.
