BOOK XV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT-TREES.
CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE OLIVE.—HOW LONG IT EXISTED ONLY IN GREECE.
AT WHAT PERIOD IT WAS FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY, SPAIN,
AND AFRICA.
THEOPHRASTUS,
1 one of the most famous among the Greek
writers, who flourished about the year 440 of the City of
Rome, has asserted that the olive
2 does not grow at a distance
of more than forty
3 miles from the sea. Fenestella tells us
that in the year of Rome 173, being the reign of Tarquinius
Priscus, it did not exist in Italy, Spain, or Africa;
4 whereas
at the present day it has crossed the Alps even, and has been
introduced into the two provinces of Gaul and the middle of
Spain. In the year of Rome 505, Appius Claudius, grandson
of Appius Claudius Cæcus, and L. Junius being consuls, twelve
pounds of oil sold for an as; and at a later period, in the year
680, M. Seius, son of Lucius, the curule ædile, regulated the
price of olive oil at Rome, at the rate of ten pounds for the as,
for the whole year. A person will be the less surprised at
this, when he learns that twenty-two years after, in the third
consulship of Cn. Pompeius, Italy was able to export olive oil
to the provinces.
Hesiod,
5 who looked upon an acquaintance with agriculture
as conducive in the very highest degree to the comforts of life,
has declared that there was no one who had ever gathered fruit
from the olive-tree that had been sown by his own hands, so
slow was it in reaching maturity in those times; whereas, now
at the present day, it is sown in nurseries even, and if transplanted will bear fruit the following year.
CHAP. 2.—THE NATURE OF THE OLIVE, AND OF NEW OLIVE OIL.
Fabianus maintains that the olive will grow
6 neither in
very cold climates, nor yet in very hot ones. Virgil
7 has
mentioned three varieties of the olive, the orchites,
8 the
radius,
9 and the posia;
10 and says that they require no raking
or pruning, nor, in fact, any attention whatever. There is no
doubt that in the case of these plants, soil and climate are the
things of primary importance; but still, it is usual to prune
them at the same time as the vine, and they are improved by
lopping between them every here and there. The gathering of
the olive follows that of the grape, and there is even a greater
degree of skill required in preparing
11 oil than in making
wine; for the very same olives will frequently give quite
different results. The first oil of all, produced from the raw
12
olive before it has begun to ripen, is considered preferable
to all the others in flavour; in this kind, too, the first
13 droppings of the press are the most esteemed, diminishing gradually
in goodness and value; and this, whether the wicker-work
14
basket is used in making it, or whether, following the more
recent plan, the pulp is put in a stick strainer, with narrow
spikes and interstices.
15 The riper the berry, the more unctuous the juice, and the less agreeable the taste.
16 To obtain a
result both abundant and of excellent flavour, the best time to
gather it is when the berry is just on the point of turning
black. In this state it is called "druppa" by us, by the
Greeks, "drypetis."
In addition to these distinctions, it is of importance to
observe whether the berry ripens in the press or while on the
branch; whether the tree has been watered, or whether the
fruit has been nurtured solely by its own juices, and has
imbibed nothing else but the dews of heaven.
CHAP. 3. (2.)—OLIVE OIL: THE COUNTRIES IN WHICH IT IS
PRODUCED, AND ITS VARIOUS QUALITIES.
It is not with olive oil as it is with wine, for by age it acquires a bad flavour,
17 and at the end of a year it is already
old. This, if rightly understood, is a wise provision on the
part of Nature: wine, which is only produced for the drunkard,
she has seen no necessity for us to use when new; indeed,
by the fine flavour which it acquires with age, she rather
invites us to keep it; but, on the other hand, she has not willed
that we should be thus sparing of oil, and so has rendered its
use common and universal by the very necessity there is of using
it while fresh.
In the production of this blessing as well,
18 Italy holds the
highest rank among all countries,
19 and more particularly the
territory of Venafrum,
20 that part of it in especial which
produces the Licinian oil; the qualities of which have conferred
upon the Licinian olive the very highest renown. It is our
unguents which have brought this oil into such great esteem,
the peculiar odour of it adapting itself so well to the full
developement of their qualities; at the same time its delicate flavour equally enlists the palate in its behalf. In addition to
this, birds will never touch the berry of the Licinian olive.
Next to Italy, the contest is maintained, and on very equal
terms, between the territories of Istria and of Bætica. The
next rank for excellence is claimed by the other provinces of
our Empire, with the exception of Africa,
21 the soil of which
is better adapted for grain. That country Nature has given
exclusively to the cereals; of oil and wine she has all but
deprived it, securing it a sufficient share of renown by its
abundant harvests. As to the remaining particulars connected
with the olive, they are replete with erroneous notions, and I
shall have occasion to show that there is no part of our agricultural economy upon which people have been more generally mistaken.
(3.) The olive is composed of a stone, oil, flesh, and
amurca:
22 the last being a bitter liquid, principally composed
of water; hence it is that in seasons of drought it is less plentiful, and more abundant when rains
23 have prevailed. The
oil is a juice peculiar to the olive, a fact more particularly
stated in reference to its unripe state, as we have already
mentioned when speaking of omphacium.
24 This oil continues
on the increase up to the rising of Arcturus,
25 or in other
words, the sixteenth day before the calends of October;
26 after
which the increase is in the stone and the flesh. When drought
has been followed by abundant rains, the oil is spoilt, and
turns to amurca. It is the colour of this amurca that makes
the olive turn black; hence, when the berry is just beginning
to turn that colour, there is but little amurca in it, and before
that period none at all. It is an error then, on the part of
persons, to suppose that that is the commencement of maturity,
which is in reality only the near approach of corruption. A
second error, too, is the supposition that the oil increases proportionably to the flesh of the berry, it being the fact that the
oil is all the time undergoing a change into flesh, and the stone
is growing larger and larger within. It is for this reason
more particularly, that care is taken to water the tree at this
period; the real result of all this care and attention, as well as
of the fall of copious rains, being, that the oil in reality is
absorbed as the berry increases in size, unless fine dry weather
should happen to set in, which naturally tends to contract the
volume of the fruit. According to Theophrastus,
27 heat is the
sole primary cause of the oleaginous principle; for which reason
it is, that in the presses,
28 and in the cellars even, great fires
are lighted to improve the quality of the oil.
A third error arises from misplaced economy: to spare the
expense of gathering, people are in the habit of waiting till the
berry falls from the tree. Others, again, who wish to follow a
middle course in this respect, beat the fruit off with poles, and
so inflict injury on the tree and ensure loss in the succeeding
year; indeed, there was a very ancient regulation in existence
relative to the gathering of the olive-" Neither pull nor
beat the olive-tree."
29 Those who would observe a still greater
degree of precaution, strike the branches lightly with a reed on
one side of them; but even then the tree is reduced to bearing
fruit but once in two years,
30 in consequence of the injury done
to the buds. Not less injurious, however, are the results of
waiting till the berries fall from the tree; for, by remaining on
it beyond the proper time, they deprive the crop that is coming
on of its due share of nutriment, by occupying its place: a
clear proof of which is, that if they are not gathered before the
west winds prevail, they are found to have acquired renewed
strength, and are all the later before they fall.
CHAP. 4.—FIFTEEN VARIETIES OF OLIVES.
The first olive that is gathered after the autumn is that
known as the "posia,"
31 the berry of which, owing to a vicious
method of cultivation, and not any fault on the part of Nature, has the most flesh upon it. Next to this is the orchites,
which contains the greatest quantity of oil, and then, after
that, the radius. As these are of a peculiarly delicate nature,
the heat very rapidly takes effect upon them, and the amurca
they contain causes them to fall. On the other hand, the
gathering of the tough, hard-skinned olive is put off so late as
the month of March, it being well able to resist the effects of
moisture, and, consequently, very small. Those varieties known
as the Licinian, the Cominian, the Contian, and the Sergian,
by the Sabines called the "royal"
32 olive, do not turn black
before the west winds prevail, or, in other words, before the
sixth day before
33 the ides of February. At this period it is
generally thought that they begin to ripen, and as a most excellent oil is extracted from them, experience would seem to
give its support to a theory which, in reality, is altogether
wrong. The growers say that in the same degree that cold
diminishes the oil, the ripeness of the berry augments it;
whereas, in reality, the goodness of the oil is owing, not to
the period at which the olives are gathered, but to the natural
properties of this peculiarvariety, in which the oil is remarkably slow in turning to amurca.
A similar error, too, is committed by those who keep the
olives, when gathered, upon a layer of boards, and do not
press the fruit till it has thrown out a sweat; it being the
fact that every hour lost tends to diminish the oil and increase
the amurca: the consequence is, that, according to the ordinary computation, a modius of olives yields no more than six
pounds of oil. No one, however, ever takes account of the
quantity of amurca to ascertain, in reference to the same
kind of berry, to what extent it increases daily in amount.
Then, again, it is a very general error
34 among practical persons to suppose that the oil increases proportionably to the
increased size of the berry; and more particularly so when it
is so clearly proved that such is not the case, with reference to
the variety known as the royal olive, by some called majorina,
and by others phaulia;
35 this berry being of the very largest
size, and yet yielding a minimum of juice. In Egypt,
36 too,
the berries, which are remarkably meaty, are found to produce
but very little oil; while those of Decapolis, in Syria, are so
extremely small, that they are no bigger than a caper; and
yet they are highly esteemed for their flesh.
37 It is for this
reason that the olives from the parts beyond sea are preferred
for table to those of Italy, though, at the same time, they are
very inferior to them for making oil.
In Italy, those of Picenum and of Sidicina
38 are considered
the best for table. These are kept apart from the others and
steeped in salt, after which, like other olives, they are put in
amurca, or else boiled wine; indeed, some of them are left to
float solely in their own oil,
39 without any adventitious mode
of preparation, and are then known as colymbades: sometimes
the berry is crushed, and then seasoned with green herbs to
flavour it. Even in an unripe state the olive is rendered fit
for eating by being sprinkled with boiling water; it is quite
surprising, too, how readily it will imbibe sweet juices, and
retain an adventitious flavour from foreign substances. With
this fruit, as with the grape, there are purple
40 varieties, and
the posia is of a complexion approaching to black. Besides
those already mentioned, there are the superba
41 and a remarkably luscious kind, which dries of itself, and is even sweeter
than the raisin: this last variety is extremely rare, and is to
be found in Africa and in the vicinity of Emerita
42 in Lusi-
tania.
The oil of the olive is prevented from getting
43 thick and
rancid by the admixture of salt. By making an incision in
the bark of the tree, an aromatic odour may be imparted
44 to
the oil. Any other mode of seasoning, such, for instance, as
those used with reference to wine, is not at all gratifying to
the palate; nor do we find so many varieties in oil as there
are in the produce of the grape, there being, in general, but
three different degrees of goodness. In fine oil the odour is
more penetrating, but even in the very best it is but short-
lived.
CHAP. 5. (4.)—THE NATURE OF OLIVE OIL.
It is one of the properties of oil to impart warmth to the
body, and to protect it against the action of cold; while at
the same time it promotes coolness in the head when heated.
The Greeks, those parents of all vices, have abused it by mak-
ing it minister to luxury, and employing it commonly in the
gymnasium: indeed, it is a well-known fact that the gover-
nors of those establishments have sold the scrapings
45 of the
oil used there for a sum of eighty thousand sesterces. The
majesty of the Roman sway has conferred high honour upon
the olive: crowned with it, the troops of the Equestrian order
are wont to defile upon the ides of July;
46 it is used, too, by
the victor in the minor triumphs of the ovation.
47 At Athens,
also, they are in the habit of crowning the conqueror with
olive; and at Olympia, the Greeks employ the wild olive
48 for
a similar purpose.
CHAP. 6. (5.)—THE CULTURE OF THE OLIVE: ITS MODE OF PRESERVATION. THE METHOD OF MAKING OLIVE OIL.
We will now proceed to mention the precepts given by Cato
49
in relation to this subject. Upon a warm, rich
50 soil, he
recommends us to sow the greater radius, the Salentina, the
orehites, the posia, the Sergian, the Cominian, and the albicera;
51 but with a remarkable degree of prudence he adds,
that those varieties ought to be planted in preference which
are considered to thrive best in the neighbouring localities. In
a cold
52 and meagre soil he says that the Licinian olive should
be planted; and he informs us that a rich or hot soil has the
effect, in this last variety, of spoiling the oil, while the tree
becomes exhausted by its own fertility, and is liable to be
attacked by a sort of red moss.
53 He states it as his opinion
that the olive grounds ought to have a western aspect, and,
indeed, he approves of no other.
(6.) According to him, the best method of preserving olives
is to put the orchites and the posia, while green, in a strong
brine, or else to bruise them first, and preserve them in mastich
oil.
54 The more bitter the olive, he says, the better the oil;
but they should be gathered from the ground the very moment
they fall, and washed if they are dirty. He says that three
days will be quite sufficient for drying them, and that if it
is frosty weather, they should be pressed on the fourth, care
being taken to sprinkle them with salt. Olives, he informs
us,
55 lose oil by being kept in a boarded store-room, and deteriorate in quality; the same being the case, too, if the oil is
left with the amurca and the pulp,
56 or, in other words, the flesh
of the olive that forms the residue and becomes the dregs.
For this reason, he recommends that the oil should be poured
off several times in the day, and then put into vessels or caul-
drons
57 of lead, for copper vessels will spoil it, he says. All
these operations, however, should be carried on with presses
heated and tightly closed,
58 and exposed to the air as little as
possible—for which reason he recommends that wood should
never be cut there, the most convenient fuel for the fires being
the stones of the berries. From the cauldron the oil should
be poured into vats,
59 in order that the pulp and the amurca
may be disengaged in a solidified form: to effect which object
the vessels should be changed as often as convenient, while at
the same time the osier baskets should be carefully cleaned with
a sponge, that the oil may run out in as clean and pure a state
as possible.
In later times, the plan has been adopted of invariably
crushing the olives in boiling water, and at once putting them
whole in the press—a method of effectually extracting the
amurca—and then, after crushing them in the oil-press, sub-
jecting them to pressure once more. It is recommended, that
not more than one hundred modii should be pressed at one
time: the name given to this quantity is "factus,"
60 while the
oil that flows out at the first pressure is called the "flos."
61
Four men, working at two presses day and night, ought to
be able to press out three factuses of olives.
CHAP. 7. (7.)—FORTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL OILS. THE CICUS-TREE OR CROTON, OR SILI, OR SESAMUM.
In those times artificial oils had not been introduced, and
hence it is, I suppose, that we find no mention made of them
by Cato; at the present day the varieties are very numerous.
We will first speak of those
62 which are produced from trees,
and among them more particularly the wild olive.
63 This
olive is small, and much more bitter than the cultivated one,
and hence its oil is only used in medicinal preparations: the
oil that bears the closest resemblance to it is that extracted
from the chamelæa,
64 a shrub which grows among the rocks,
and not more than a palm in height; the leaves and berries
being similar to those of the wild olive. A third oil is that
made of the fruit of the cicus,
65 a tree which grows in Egypt
in great abundance; by some it is known as croton, by others
as sili, and by others, again, as wild sesamumn: it is not so very
long since this tree was first introduced here. In Spain, too,
it shoots up with great rapidity to the size of the olive-tree,
having a stem like that of the ferula, the leaf of the vine,
and a seed that bears a resemblance to a small pale grape.
Our people are in the habit of calling it "ricinus,"
66 from the
resemblance of the seed to that insect. It is boiled in water,
67
and the oil that swims on the surface is then skimmed off:
but in Egypt, where it grows in a greater abundance, the oil is
extracted without employing either fire or water for the purpose, the seed being first sprinkled with salt, and then subjected to pressure: eaten with food this oil is repulsive, but it
is very useful for burning in lamps.
Amygdalinum, by some persons known as "metopium,"
68
is made of bitter almonds dried and beaten into a cake, after
which they are steeped in water, and then beaten again. An
oil is extracted from the laurel also, with the aid of olive oil.
Some persons use the berries only for this purpose, while
others, again, employ the leaves
69 and the outer skin of the
berries: some add storax also, and other odoriferous substances. The best kind for this purpose is the broad-leaved or
wild laurel,
70 with a black berry. The oil, too, of the black
myrtle is of a similar nature; that with the broad leaf
71 is
reckoned also the best. The berries are first sprinkled with
warm water, and then beaten, after which they are boiled:
some persons take the more tender leaves, and boil them in
olive oil, and then subject them to pressure, while others, again,
steep them in oil, and leave the mixture to ripen in the sun.
The same method is also adopted with the cultivated myrtle,
but the wild variety with small berries is generally preferred;
by some it is known as the oxymyrsine, by others as the chamæmyrsine, and by others, again, as the acoron,
72 from its
strong resemblance to that plant, it being short and branching.
An oil is made, too, from the citrus,
73 and from the cypress;
also, from the walnut,
74 and known by the name of "caryinon,"
75 and from the fruit of the cedar, being generally
known as "pisselæon."
76 Oil is extracted from the grain of
Cnidos,
77 the seed being first thoroughly cleaned, and then
pounded; and from mastich
78 also. As to the oil called
"cyprinum,"
79 and that extracted from the Egyptian
80 berry,
we have already mentioned the mode in which they are prepared as perfumes. The Indians, too, are said to extract oils
from the chesnut,
81 sesamum, and rice,
82 and the Ichthyophagi
83 from fish. Scarcity of oil for the supply of lamps
sometimes compels us to make it from the berries
84 of the planetree, which are first steeped in salt and water.
Œnanthinum,
85 again, is made from the œnanthe, as we have
already stated when speaking of perfumes. In making gleucinum,
86 must is boiled with olive-oil at a slow heat; some
persons, however, do not employ fire in making it, but leave a
vessel, filled with oil and must, surrounded with grape husks,
for two and twenty days, taking care to stir it twice a day:
by the end of that period the whole of the must is imbibed
by the oil. Some persons mix with this not only sampsuchum, but perfumes of still greater price: that, too, which is
used in the gymnasia is scented with perfumes as well, but
those of the very lowest quality. Oils are made, too, from aspalathus,
87 from calamus,
88 balsamum,
89 cardamum,
90 melilot,
Gallic nard, panax,
91 sampsuchum,
92 helenium, and root of
cinnamomum,
93 the plants being first left to steep in oil, and
then pressed. In a similar manner, too, rhodinum
94 is made
from roses, and juncinum from the sweet rush, bearing a remarkable
95 resemblance to rose-oil: other oils, again, are extracted
from henbane,
96 lupines,
97 and narcissus. Great quantities of
oil are made in Egypt, too, of radish
98 seed, or else of a
common grass known there as chortinon.
99 Sesamum
100 also
yields an oil, and so does the nettle,
101 its oil being known as
"enidinum."
102 In other countries, too, an oil is extracted
from lilies
103 left to steep in the open air, and subjected to the
influence of the sun, moon, and frosts. On the borders of
Cappadocia and Galatia, they make an oil from the herbs of
the country, known as "Selgicum,"
104 remarkably useful for
strengthening the tendons, similar, in fact, to that of Iguvium
105
in Italy. From pitch an oil
106 is extracted, that is known as
pissinum;" it is made by boiling the pitch, and spreading
fleeces over the vessels to catch the steam, and then wringing them out: the most approved kind is that which comes
from Bruttium, the pitch of that country being remarkably
rich and resinous: the colour of this oil is yellow.
There is an oil that grows spontaneously in the maritime
parts of Syria, known to us as "elæomeli;"
107 it is an unctuous
substance which distils from certain trees, of a thicker consistency than honey, but somewhat thinner than resin; it has a
sweet flavour, and is employed for medicinal purposes. Old
olive oil
108 is of use for some kinds of maladies; it is thought to
be particularly useful, too, in the preservation of ivory from
decay:
109 at all events, the statue of Saturn, at Rome, is filled
with oil in the interior.
CHAP. 8. (8.)—AMURCA.
But it is upon the praises of amurca
110 more particularly, that
Cato
111 has enlarged. He recommends that vats and casks
112
for keeping oil should be first seasoned with it, to prevent
them from soaking up the oil; and he tells us that threshing-floors should be well rubbed with it, to keep away ants,
113
and to prevent any chinks or crannies from being left.
The mortar, too, of walls, he says, ought to be seasoned with
it, as well as the roofs and floors of granaries; and he recommends that wardrobes should be sprinkled with amurca as a
preservative against wood-worms and other noxious insects.
He says, too, that all grain of the cereals should be steeped in
it, and speaks of it as efficacious for the cure of maladies in
cattle as well as trees, and as useful even for ulcerations in
the inside and upon the face of man. We learn from him, also,
that thongs, all articles made of leather, sandals, and axletrees used to be anointed with boiled amurca; which was
employed also to preserve copper vessels against verdigrease,
114
and to give them a better colour; as also for the seasoning of
all utensils made of wood, as well as the earthen jars in which
dried figs were kept, or of sprigs of myrtle with the leaves
and berries on, or any other articles of a similar nature: in
addition to which, he asserts that wood which has been steeped
in amurca will burn without producing a stifling smoke.
115
According to M. Varro,
116 an olive-tree which has been
licked by the tongue of the she-goat, or upon which she has
browsed when it was first budding,
117 is sure to be barren.
Thus much in reference to the olive and the oils.
CHAP. 9. (9.)—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF FRUIT-TREES AND THEIR
NATURES. FOUR VARIETIES OF PINE-NUTS.
The other fruits found on trees can hardly be enumerated,
from their diversity in shape and figure, without reference to
their different flavours and juices, which have again been
modified by repeated combinations and graftings.
(10.) The largest fruit, and, indeed, the one that hangs at
the greatest height, is the pine-nut. It contains within a
number of small kernels, enclosed in arched beds, and covered
with a coat of their own of rusty iron-colour; Nature thus manifesting a marvellous degree of care in providing its seeds with
a soft receptacle. Another variety of this nut is the terentina,
118 the shell of which may be broken with the fingers; and
hence it becomes a prey to the birds while still on the tree. A
third, again, is known as the "sappinia,"
119 being the produce
of the cultivated pitch-tree: the kernels are enclosed in a
skin more than a shell, which is so remarkably soft that it is
eaten together with the fruit. A fourth variety is that known
as the "pityis;" it is the produce of the pinaster,
120 and is
remarkable as a good specific for coughs. The kernels are
sometimes boiled in honey
121 among the Taurini, who then call
them "aquiceli." The conquerors at the Isthmian games are
crowned with a wreath of pine-leaves.
CHAP. 10. (11.)—THE QUINCE. FOUR KINDS OF CYDONIA, AND
FOUR VARIETIES OF THE STRUTHEA.
Next in size after these are the fruit called by us "cotonea,"
122 by the Greeks "Cydonia,"
123 and first introduced
from the island of Crete. These fruit bend the branches with
their weight, and so tend to impede the growth of the parent
tree. The varieties are numerous. The chrysomelum
124 is
marked with indentations down it, and has a colour inclining
to gold; the one that is known as the "Italian" quince, is of a
paler complexion, and has a most exquisite smell: the quinces
of Neapolis, too, are held in high esteem. The smaller varieties of the quince which are known as the "struthea,"
125 have
a more pungent smell, but ripen later than the others; that
called the "musteum,"
126 ripens the soonest of all. The cotoneum engrafted
127 on the strutheum, has produced a peculiar
variety, known as the "Mulvianum," the only one of them
all that is eaten raw.
128 At the present day all these varieties
are kept shut up in the antechambers of great men,
129 where they
receive the visits of their courtiers; they are hung, too, upon
the statues
130 that pass the night with us in our chambers.
There is a small wild
131 quince also, the smell of which, next
to that of the strutheum, is the most powerful; it grows in
the hedges.
CHAP. 11.—SIX VARIETIES OF THE PEACH.
Under the head of apples,
132 we include a variety of fruits,
although of an entirely different nature, such as the Persian
133
apple, for instance, and the pomegranate, of which, when
speaking of the tree, we have already enumerated
134 nine varieties. The pomegranate has a seed within, enclosed in a
skin; the peach has a stone inside. Some among the pears,
also, known as "libralia,"
135 show, by their name, what a
remarkable weight they attain.
(12.) Among the peaches the palm must be awarded to the
duracinus:
136 the Gallic and the Asiatic peach are distinguished
respectively by the names of the countries of their origin.
They ripen at the end of autumn, though some of the early.
137
kinds are ripe in the summer. It is only within the last thirty
years that these last have been introduced; originally they
were sold at the price of a denarius a piece. Those known as
the "supernatia"
138 come from the country of the Sabines, but
the "popularia" grow everywhere. This is a very harmless
fruit, and a particular favourite with invalids: some, in fact,
have sold before this as high as thirty sesterces apiece, a price
that has never been exceeded by any other fruit. This, too, is
the more to be wondered at, as there is none that is a worse
keeper: for, when it is once plucked, the longest time that it
will keep is a couple of days; and so sold it must be, fetch
what it may.
CHAP. 12. (13).—TWELVE KINDS OF PLUMS.
Next comes a vast number of varieties of the plum, the
parti-coloured, the black,
139 the white,
140 the barley
141 plum—so called, because it is ripe at barley-harvest—and another of
the same colour as the last, but which ripens later, and is of a
larger size, generally known as the "asinina,"
142 from the little
esteem in which it is held. There are the onychina, too, the
cerina,
143—more esteemed, and the purple
144 plum: the Armenian,
145 also an exotic from foreign parts, the only one among the
plums that recommends itself by its smell. The plum-tree
grafted on the nut exhibits what we may call a piece of impudence quite its own, for it produces a fruit that has all the appearance of the parent stock, together with the juice of the
adopted fruit: in consequence of its being thus compounded of
both, it is known by the name of "nuci-pruna."
146 Nut-prunes,
as well as the peach, the wild plum,
147 and the cerina, are often
put in casks, and so kept till the crop comes of the following
year. All the other varieties ripen with the greatest rapidity,
and pass off just as quickly. More recently, in Bætica, they have
begun to introduce what they call "malina," or the fruit of
the plum engrafted on the apple-tree,
148 and "amygdalina," the
fruit of the plum engrafted on the almond-tree,
149 the kernel
found in the stone of these last being that of the almond;
150 indeed, there is no specimen in which two fruits have been more
ingeniously combined in one.
Among the foreign trees we have already spoken
151 of the
Damascene
152 plum, so called from Damascus, in Syria, but
introduced long since into Italy; though the stone of this plum
is larger than usual, and the flesh smaller in quantity. This
plum will never dry so far as to wrinkle; to effect that, it
needs the sun of its own native country. The myxa,
153 too,
may be mentioned, as being the fellow-countryman of the
Damascene: it has of late been introduced into Rome, and
has been grown engrafted upon the sorb.
CHAP. 13.—THE PEACH.
The name of "Persica," or "Persian apple," given to this
fruit, fully proves that it is an exotic in both Greece as well
as Asia,
154 and that it was first introduced from Persis. As to
the wild plum, it is a well-known fact that it will grow anywhere; and I am, therefore, the more surprised that no mention has been made of it by Cato, more particularly as he has
pointed out the method of preserving several of the wild
fruits as well. As to the peach-tree, it has been only introduced of late years, and with considerable difficulty; so much
so, that it is perfectly barren in the Isle of Rhodes, the first
resting-place
155 that it found after leaving Egypt.
It is quite untrue that the peach which grows in Persia is
poisonous, and produces dreadful tortures, or that the kings
of that country, from motives of revenge, had it transplanted
in Egypt, where, through the nature of the soil, it lost all its
evil properties—for we find that it is of the "persea"
156 that
the more careful writers have stated all this,
157 a totally different
tree, the fruit of which resembles the red myxa, and, indeed,
cannot be successfully cultivated anywhere but in the East.
The learned have also maintained that it was not introduced
from Persis into Egypt with the view of inflicting punishment,
but say that it was planted at Memphis by Perseus; for
which reason it was that Alexander gave orders that the victors should be crowned with it in the games which he instituted there in honour of his
158 ancestor: indeed, this tree has
always leaves and fruit upon it, growing immediately upon the
others. It must be quite evident to every one that all our
plums have been introduced since the time of Cato.
159
CHAP. 14. (14.)—THIRTY DIFFERENT KINDS OF POMES. AT WHAT
PERIOD FOREIGN FRUITS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY,
AND WHENCE.
There are numerous varieties of pomes. Of the citron
160 we
have already made mention when describing its tree; the
Greeks gave it the name of "Medica,"
161 from its native country. The jujube
162-tree and the tuber
163 are equally exotics;
indeed, they have, both of them, been introduced only of late
years into Italy; the latter from Africa, the former from Syria.
Sextus Papinius, whom we have seen consul,
164 introduced them
both in the latter years of the reign of Augustus, produced
from slips which he had grown within his camp. The fruit
of the jujube more nearly resembles a berry than an apple:
the tree sets off a terrace
165 remarkably well, and it is not uncommon to see whole woods of it climbing up to the very roofs
of the houses.
Of the tuber there are two varieties; the white, and the one
called "syricum,"
166 from its colour. Those fruits, too, may
be almost pronounced exotic which grow nowhere in Italy but
in the territory of Verona, and are known as the wool-fruit.
167
They are covered with a woolly down; this is found, it is true,
to a very considerable extent, on both the strutheum variety of
quince and the peach, but still it has given its name to this
particular fruit, which is recommended to us by no other
remarkable quality.
CHAP. 15.—THE FRUITS THAT HAVE BEEN MOST RECENTLY
INTRODUCED.
Why should I hesitate to make some mention, too, of other
varieties by name, seeing that they have conferred everlasting
remembrance on those who were the first to introduce them,
as having rendered some service to their fellow-men? Unless
I am very much mistaken, an enumeration of them will tend
to throw some light upon the ingenuity that is displayed in the
art of grafting, and it will be the more easily understood that
there is nothing so trifling in itself from which a certain
amount of celebrity cannot be ensured. Hence it is that we
have fruits which derive their names from Matius,
168 Cestius,
Mallius, and Scandius.
169 Appius, too, a member of the
Claudian family, grafted the quince on the Scandian fruit, in
consequence of which the produce is known as the Appian.
This fruit has the smell of the quince, and is of the same size
as the Scandian apple, and of a ruddy colour. Let no one,
however, imagine that this name was merely given in a spirit
of flattery to an illustrious family, for there is an apple known
as the Sceptian,
170 which owes its name to the son of a freedman, who was the first to introduce it: it is remarkable for
the roundness of its shape. To those already mentioned,
Cato
171 adds the Quirinian and the Scantian varieties, which
last, he says, keep remarkably well in large vessels.
172 The
latest kind of all, however, that has been introduced is the
small apple known as the Petisian,
173 remarkable for its delightful flavour: the Amerinian
174 apple, too, and the little Greek
175
have conferred renown on their respective countries.
The remaining varieties have received their name from
various circumstances—the apples known as the "gemella"
176
are always found hanging in pairs upon one stalk, like twins,
and never growing singly. That known as the "syricum"
177
is so called from its colour, while the "melapium"
178 has its
name from its strong resemblance to the pear. The "musteum"
179 was so called from the rapidity with which it ripens;
it is the melimelum of the present day, which derives its appellation from its flavour, being like that of honey. The
"orbiculatum,"
180 again, is so called from its shape, which is
exactly spherical—the circumstance of the Greeks having called
it the "epiroticum" proves that it came originally from
Epirus. The orthomastium
181 has that peculiar appellation
from its resemblance to a teat; and the "spadonium"
182 of the
Belgæ is so nicknamed from the total absence of pips. The
melofolium
183 has one leaf, and occasionally two, shooting from
the middle of the fruit. That known as the "pannuceum"
184
shrivels with the greatest rapidity; while the "pulmoneum"
185
has a lumpish, swollen appearance.
Some apples are just the colour of blood, owing to an original
graft of the mulberry; but they are all of them red on the
side which is turned towards the sun. There are some small
wild
186 apples also, remarkable for their fine flavour and the
peculiar pungency of their smell. Some, again, are so remarkably
187 sour, that they are held in disesteem; indeed their
acidity is so extreme, that it will even take the edge from off
a knife. The worst apples of all are those which from their
mealiness have received the name of "farinacea;"
188 they are
the first, however, to ripen, and ought to be gathered as soon
as possible.
CHAP. 16. (15.)—FORTY-ONE VARIETIES OF THE PEAR.
A similar degree of precocity has caused the appellation of
"superbum"
189 to be given to one species of the pear: it is a
small fruit, but ripens with remarkable rapidity. All the
world are extremely partial to the Crustumian
190 pear; and next
to it comes the Falernian,
191 so called from the drink
192 which
it affords, so abundant is its juice. This juice is known by
the name of "milk" in the variety which, of a black colour,
is by some called the pear of Syria.
193 The denominations
given to the others vary according to the respective localities of
their growth. Among the pears, the names of which have been
adopted in our city, the Decimian pear, and the Pseudo-
Decimian—an offshoot from it—have conferred considerable
renown upon the name of those who introduced them. The
same is the case, too, with the variety known as the "Dolabellian,"
194 remarkable for the length of its stalk, the Pomponian,
195 surnamed the mammosum,
196 the Licerian, the
Sevian, the Turranian, a variety of the Sevian, but distinguished from it by the greater length of the stalk, the Favonian,
197 a red pear, rather larger than the superbum,together
with the Laterian
198 and the Anician, which come at the end
of autumn, and are pleasant for the acidity of their flavour.
One variety is known as the "Tiberian,"
199 from its having
been a particular favourite with the Emperor Tiberius; it is
more coloured by the sun, and grows to a larger size, otherwise
it would be identical with the Licerian variety.
The following kinds receive their respective names from
their native countries: the Amerinian,
200 the latest pear of all,
the Picentine, the Numantine, the Alexandrian, the Numidian, the Greek, a variety of which is the Tarentine, and the
Signine,
201 by some called "testaceum," from its colour, like
earthenware; a reason which has also given their respective
names to the "onychine"
202 and the "purple" kinds. Then,
again, we have the "myrapium,"
203 the "laureum," and the
"nardinum,"
204 so called from the odour they emit; the "hordearium,"
205 from the season at which it comes
206 in; and the
"ampullaceum,"
207 so called from its long narrow neck. Those,
again, that are known as the "Coriolanian"
208 and the "Brut.
tian," owe their names to the places of their origin; added to
which we have the cucurbitinum,
209 and the "acidulum," so
named from the acidity of its juice. It is quite uncertain for
what reason their respective names were given to the varieties
known as the "barbaricum" and the "Venerium,"
210 which last
is known also as the "coloratum;"
211 the royal pear
212 too, which
has a remarkably short stalk, and will stand on its end, as also
the patricium, and the voconium,
213 a green oblong kind. In
addition to these, Virgil
214 has made mention of a pear called the
"volema,"
215 a name which he has borrowed from Cato,
216 who
makes mention also of kinds known as the "sementivum"
217
and the "musteum."
218
CHAP. 17.—VARIOUS METHODS OF GRAFTING TREES. EXPIATIONS FOR LIGHTNING.
This branch of civilized life has long since been brought to
the very highest pitch of perfection, for man has left nothing
untried here. Hence it is that we find Virgil
219 speaking of
grafting the nut-tree on the arbutus, the apple on the plane,
and the cherry on the elm. Indeed, there is nothing further
in this department that can possibly be devised, and it is a
long time since any new variety of fruit has been discovered.
Religious scruples, too, will not allow of indiscriminate grafting; thus, for instance, it is not permitted to graft upon the
thorn, for it is not easy, by any mode of expiation, to avoid
the disastrous effects of lightning; and we are told
220 that as
many as are the kinds of trees that have been engrafted on the
thorn, so many are the thunderbolts that will be hurled against
that spot in a single flash.
The form of the pear is turbinated; the later kinds remain
on the parent tree till winter, when they ripen with the frost;
such, for instance, as the Greek variety, the ampullaceum, and
the laureum; the same, too, with apples of the Amerinian
and the Scandian kinds. Apples and pears are prepared for
keeping just like grapes, and in as many different ways; but,
with the exception of plums, they are the only fruit that are
stored in casks.
221 Apples and pears have certain vinous
222
properties, and like wine these drinks are forbidden to invalids by
the physicians. These fruits are sometimes boiled up with wine
and water, and, so make a preserve
223 that is eaten with bread;
a preparation which is never made of any other fruit, with the
exception of the quinces, known as the "cotoneum" and the
"strutheum."
CHAP. 18. (16.)—THE MODE OF KEEPING VARIOUS FRUITS AND
GRAPES.
For the better preserving of fruits it is universally recommended that the storeroom should be situate in a cool, dry
spot, with a well-boarded floor, and windows looking towards
the north; which in fine weather ought to be kept open. Care
should also be taken to keep out the south wind by window
panes,
224 while at the same time it should be borne in mind that
a north-east wind will shrivel fruit and make it unsightly. Apples are gathered after the autumnal equinox; but the gathering should never begin before the sixteenth day of the moon,
or before the first hour of the day. Windfalls should always
be kept separate, and there ought to be a layer of straw, or
else mats or chaff, placed beneath. They should, also, be
placed apart from each other, in rows, so that the air may circulate freely between them, and they may equally gain the
benefit of it. The Amerinian apple is the best keeper, the
melimelum the very worst of all.
(17.) Quinces ought to be stored in a place kept perfectly
closed, so as to exclude all draughts; or else they should be
boiled in honey
225 or soaked in it. Pomegranates are made
hard and firm by being first put in boiling
226 sea-water, and
then left to dry for three days in the sun, care being taken that
the dews of the night do not touch them; after which they
are hung up, and when wanted for use, washed with fresh
water. M. Varro
227 recommends that they should be kept in
large vessels filled with sand: if they are not ripe, he says
that they should be put in pots with the bottom broken out,
and then buried
228 in the earth, all access to the air being carefully shut, and care being first taken to cover the stalk with
pitch. By this mode of treatment, he assures us, they will
attain a larger size than they would if left to ripen on the tree.
As for the other kinds of pomes, he says that they should be
wrapped up separately in fig-leaves, the windfalls being carefully excluded, and then stored in baskets of osier, or else
covered over with potters' earth.
Pears are kept in earthen vessels pitched inside; when
filled, the vessels are reversed and then buried in pits. The
Tarentine pear, Varro says, is gathered very late, while the
Anician keeps very well in raisin wine. Sorb apples, too, are
similarly kept in holes in the ground, the vessel being turned
upside down, and a layer of plaster placed on the lid: it should be
buried two feet deep, in a sunny spot; sorbs
229 are also hung, like
grapes, in the inside of large vessels, together with the branches.
Some of the more recent authors are found to pay a more
scrupulous degree of attention to these various particulars, and
recommend that the gathering of grapes or pomes, which are
intended for keeping, should take place while the moon is on
the wane,
230 after the third hour of the day, and while the
weather is clear, or dry winds prevail. In a similar manner,
the selection, they say, ought to be made from a dry spot, and
the fruit should be plucked before it is fully ripe, a moment
being chosen while the moon is below the horizon. Grapes,
they say, should be selected that have a strong, hard mallets-talk, and after the decayed berries have been carefully removed with a pair of scissors, they should be hung up inside of
a large vessel which has just been pitched, care being taken to
close all access to the south wind, by covering the lid with a
coat of plaster. The same method, they say, should be adopted
for keeping sorb apples and pears, the stalks being carefully
covered with pitch; care should be taken, too, that the vessels are kept at a distance from water.
There are some persons who adopt the following method for
preserving grapes. They take them off together with the
branch, and place them, while still upon it, in a layer of
plaster,
231 taking care to fasten either end of the branch in a
bulb of squill.
232 Others, again, go so far as to place them
within vessels containing wine, taking care, however, that the
grapes, as they hang, do not touch it. Some persons put
apples in plates of earth, and then leave them to float in wine,
a method by which it is thought that a vinous flavour is imparted to them: while some think it a better plan to preserve all
these kinds of fruit in millet. Most people, however, content
themselves with first digging a hole in the ground, a couple of
feet in depth; a layer of sand is then placed at the bottom,
and the fruit is arranged upon it, and covered with an earthen
lid, over which the earth is thrown. Some persons again even
go so far as to give their grapes a coating of potters' chalk, and
then hang them up when dried in the sun; when required for
use, the chalk is removed with water.
233 Apples are also preserved in a similar manner; but with them wine is employed
for getting off the chalk. Indeed, we find a very similar plan
pursued with apples of the finest quality; they have a coating
laid upon them of either plaster or wax; but they are apt, if
not quite ripe when this was done, by the increase in their
size to break their casing.
234 When apples are thus prepared,
they are always laid with the stalk downwards.
235 Some
persons pluck the apple together with the branch, the ends of
which they thrust into the pith of elder,
236 and then bury it in
the way already pointed out.
237 There are some who assign to
each apple or pear its separate vessel of clay, and after care-
fully pitching the cover, enclose it again in a larger vessel:
occasionally, too, the fruit is placed on a layer of flocks of
wool, or else in baskets,
238 with a lining of chaff and clay.
Other persons follow a similar plan, but use earthen plates for
the purpose; while others, again, employ the same method,
but dig a hole in the earth, and after placing a layer of sand,
lay the fruit on top of it, and then cover the whole with dry
earth. Persons, too, are sometimes known to give quinces a
coating of Pontic
239 wax, and then plunge them in honey.
Columella
240 informs us, that fruit is kept by being carefully
put in earthen vessels, which then receive a coating of pitch, and
are placed in wells or cisterns to sink to the bottom. The people
of maritime Liguria, in the vicinity of the Alps, first dry their
grapes in the sun,
241 and wrap them up in bundles of rushes,
which are then covered with plaster. The Greeks follow a
similar plan, but substitute for rushes the leaves of the plane-
tree, or of the vine itself, or else of the fig, which they dry
for a single day in the shade, and then place in a cask in
alternate layers with husks
242 of grapes. It is by this method
that they preserve the grapes of Cos and Berytus, which are
inferior to none in sweetness. Some persons, when thus pre-
paring them, plunge the grapes into lie-ashes the moment they
take them from the vine, and then dry them in the sun; they
then steep them in warm water, after which they put them to
dry again in the sun: and last of all, as already mentioned,
wrap them up in bundles formed of layers of leaves and grape
husks. There are some who prefer keeping their grapes in
sawdust,
243 or else in shavings of the fir-tree, poplar, and ash:
while others think it the best plan to hang them up in the
granary, at a careful distance from the apples, directly after the
gathering, being under the impression that the very best cover-
ing for them as they hang is the dust
244 that naturally arises
from the floor. Grapes are effectually protected against the
attacks of wasps by being sprinkled with oil
245 spirted from the
mouth. Of palm-dates we have already spoken.
246
CHAP. 19. (18.)—TWENTY-NINE VARIETIES OF THE FIG.
Of all the remaining fruits that are included under the
name of "pomes," the fig
247 is the largest: some, indeed, equal
the pear, even, in size. We have already mentioned, while
treating of the exotic fruits, the miraculous productions of
Egypt and Cyprus
248 in the way of figs. The fig of Mount
Ida
249 is red, and the size of an olive, rounder however, and
like a medlar in flavour; they give it the name of Alexandrian in those parts. The stem is a cubit in thickness; it is
branchy, has a tough, pliant wood, is entirely destitute of all
milky juice,
250 and has a green bark, and leaves like those of the
linden tree, but soft to the touch. Onesicritus states that in
Hyrcania the figs are much sweeter than with us, and that the
trees are more prolific, seeing that a single tree will bear as
much as two hundred and seventy modii
251 of fruit. The fig
has been introduced into Italy from other countries, Chalcis
and Chios, for instance, the varieties being very numerous:
there are those from Lydia also, which are of a purple colour,
and the kind known as the "mamillana,"
252 which is very
similar to the Lydian. The callistruthiæ are very little superior to the last in flavour; they are the coldest by nature of
all the figs. As to the African fig, by many people preferred
to any other, it has been made the subject of very considerable discussion, as it is a kind that has been introduced very
recently into Africa, though it bears the name of that country.
As to the fig of Alexandria,
253 it is a black variety, with the
cleft inclining to white; it has had the name given to it of
the "delicate"
254 fig: the Rhodian fig, too, and the Tiburtine,
255
one of the early kinds, are black. Some of them, again, bear
the name of the persons who were the first to introduce them,
such, for instance, as the Livian
256 and the Pompeian
257 figs: this
last variety is the best for drying in the sun and keeping for
use, from year to year; the same is the case, too, with the
marisca,
258 and the kind which has a leaf spotted all over like
the reed.
259 There is also the Herculanean fig, the albicerata,
260
and the white aratia, a very large variety, with an extremely
diminutive stalk.
The earliest of them all is the porphyritis,
261 which has a
stalk of remarkable length: it is closely followed by the popularis,
262 one of the very smallest of the figs, and so called from
the low esteem in which it is held: on the other hand, the
chelidonia
263 is a kind that ripens the last of all, and to-
wards the beginning of winter. In addition to these, there are
figs that are at the same time both late and early, as they bear
two crops in the year, one white and the other black,
264 ripening at harvest-time and vintage respectively. There is another
late fig also, that has received its name from the singular
hardness of its skin; one of the Chalcidian varieties bears as
many as three times in the year. It is at Tarentum only that
the remarkably sweet fig is grown which is known by the
name of "ona."
Speaking of figs, Cato has the following remarks: "Plant
the fig called the 'marisca' on a chalky or open site, but for
the African variety, the Herculanean, the Saguntine,
265 the
winter fig and the black Telanian
266 with a long stalk, you
must select a richer soil, or else a ground well manured."
Since his day there have so many names and kinds come up,
that even on taking this subject into consideration, it must be
apparent to every one how great are the changes which have
taken place in civilized life.
There are winter figs, too, in some of the provinces, the
Mœsian, for instance; but they are made so by artificial means,
such not being in reality their nature. Being a small
variety of the fig-tree, they cover it up with manure at the end
of autumn, by which means the fruit on it is overtaken by
winter while still in a green state: then when the weather,
becomes milder the fruit is uncovered along with the tree, and
so restored to light. Just as though it had come into birth
afresh, the fruit imbibes the heat of the new sun with the
greatest avidity—a different sun, in fact, to that
267 which originally gave it life—and so ripens along with the blossom of
the coming crop; thus attaining maturity in a year not its
own, and this in a country,
268 too, where the greatest cold
prevails.
CHAP. 20.—HISTORICAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH THE FIG.
269 The mention by Cato of the variety which bears the name
of the African fig, strongly recalls to my mind a remarkable
fact connected with it and the country from which it takes
its name.
Burning with a mortal hatred to Carthage, anxious, too, for the
safety of his posterity, and exclaiming at every sitting of the
senate that Carthage must be destroyed, Cato one day brought
with him into the Senate-house a ripe fig, the produce of that
country. Exhibiting it to the assembled senators, "I ask you,"
said he, "when, do you suppose, this fruit was plucked from the
tree?" All being of opinion that it had been but lately gathered,
—Know then," was his reply, "that this fig was plucked at
Carthage but the day before yesterday
270—so near is the enemy
to our walls." It was immediately after this occurrence that
the third Punic war commenced, in which Carthage was
destroyed, though Cato had breathed his last, the year after this
event. In this trait which are we the most to admire? was it
ingenuity
271 and foresight on his part, or was it an accident that
was thus aptly turned to advantage? which, too, is the most
surprising, the extraordinary quickness of the passage which
must have been made, or the bold daring of the man? The
thing, however, that is the most astonishing of all—indeed, I
can conceive nothing more truly marvellous—is the fact that a
city thus mighty, the rival of Rome for the sovereignty of the
world during a period of one hundred and twenty years, owed
its fall at last to an illustration drawn from a single fig!
Thus did this fig effect that which neither Trebia nor Thrasimenus, not Cannæ itself, graced with the entombment of the
Roman renown, not the Punic camp entrenched within three
miles of the city, not even the disgrace of seeing Hannibal
riding up to the Colline Gate, could suggest the means of
accomplishing. It was left for a fig, in the hand of Cato, to
show how near was Carthage to the gates of Rome!
In the Forum even, and in the very midst of the Comitium
272
of Rome, a fig-tree is carefully cultivated, in memory of the
consecration which took place on the occasion of a thunderbolt
273 which once fell on that spot; and still more, as a memorial of the fig-tree which in former days overshadowed
Romulus and Remus, the founders of our empire, in the Lupercal Cave. This tree received the name of "ruminalis,"
from the circumstance that under it the wolf was found giving
the breast—
rumis it was called in those days—to the two
infants. A group in bronze was afterwards erected to consecrate the remembrance of this miraculous event, as, through
the agency of Attus Navius the augur, the tree itself had
passed spontaneously from its original locality
274 to the Comitium in the Forum. And not without some direful presage is
it that that tree has withered away, though, thanks to the
care of the priesthood, it has been since replaced.
275
There was another fig-tree also, before the temple of Saturn,
276 which was removed on the occasion of a sacrifice made
by the Vestal Virgins, it being found that its roots were gradually undermining the statue of the god Silvanus. Another
one, accidentally planted there, flourished in the middle of the
Forum,
277 upon the very spot, too, in which, when from a direful presage it had been foreboded that the growing empire
was about to sink to its very foundations, Curtius, at the price
of an inestimable treasure—in other words, by the sacrifice of
such unbounded virtue and piety—redeemed his country by a
glorious death. By a like accident, too, a vine and an olive-tree have sprung up in the same spot,
278 which have ever since
been carefully tended by the populace for the agreeable shade
which they afford. The altar that once stood there was afterwards removed by order of the deified Julius Cæsar, upon the
occasion of the last spectacle of gladiatorial combats
279 which
he gave in the Forum.
CHAP. 21.—CAPRIFICATION.
The fig, the only one among all the pomes, hastens to maturity
by the aid of a remarkable provision of Nature. (19.) The
wild-fig,
280 known by the name of "caprificus," never ripens
itself, though it is able to impart to the others the principle
of which it is thus destitute; for we occasionally find Nature
making a transfer of what are primary causes, and being generated from decay. To effect this purpose the wild fig-tree
produces a kind of gnat.
281 These insects, deprived of all sustenance from their parent tree, at the moment that it is hastening to rottenness and decay, wing their flight to others of
kindred though cultivated kind. There feeding with avidity
upon the fig, they penetrate it in numerous places, and by
thus making their way to the inside, open the pores of the
fruit.
282 The moment they effect their entrance, the heat of
the sun finds admission too, and through the inlets thus made
the fecundating air is introduced. These insects speedily
consume the milky juice that constitutes the chief support
of the fruit in its infant
283 state, a result which would otherwise be spontaneously effected by absorption: and hence it is
that in the plantations of figs a wild fig is usually allowed to
grow, being placed to the windward of the other trees in
order that the breezes may bear from it upon them. Improving
upon this discovery, branches of the wild fig are sometimes
brought from a distance, and bundles tied together are placed
upon the cultivated tree. This method, however, is not necessary when the trees are growing on a thin soil, or on a site
exposed to the north-east wind; for in these cases the figs will
dry spontaneously, and the clefts which are made in the fruit
effect the same ripening process which in other instances is
brought about by the agency of these insects. Nor is it requisite
to adopt this plan on spots which are liable to dust, such, for
instance, as is generally the case with fig-trees planted by the
side of much-frequented roads: the dust having the property
of drying up
284 the juices of the fig, and so absorbing the
milky humours. There is this superiority, however, in an ad.
vantageous site over the methods of ripening by the agency of
dust or by caprification, that the fruit is not so apt to fall; for
the secretion of the juices being thus prevented, the fig is not
so heavy as it would otherwise be, and the branches are less
brittle.
All figs are soft to the touch, and when ripe contain grains
285
in the interior. The juice, when the fruit is ripening, has the
taste of milk, and when dead ripe, that of honey. If left on
the tree they will grow old; and when in that state, they
distil a liquid that flows in tears
286 like gum. Those that are
more highly esteemed are kept for drying, and the most approved kinds are put away for keeping in baskets.
287 The figs
of the island of Ebusus
288 are the best as well as the largest,
and next to them are those of Marrucinum.
289 Where figs are
in great abundance, as in Asia, for instance, huge jars
290
are filled with them, and at Ruspina, a city of Africa, we find
casks
291 used for a similar purpose: here, in a dry state, they
are extensively used instead of bread,
292 and indeed as a general
article of provision.
293 Cato,
294 when laying down certain definite regulations for the support of labourers employed in agriculture, recommends that their supply of food should be
lessened just at the time
295 when the fig is ripening: it has
been a plan adopted in more recent times, to find a substitute
for salt with cheese, by eating fresh figs. To this class of
fruit belong, as we have already mentioned,
296 the cottana and
the carica, together with the cavnea,
297 which was productive of
so bad an omen to M. Crassus at the moment when he was
embarking
298 for his expedition against the Parthians, a dealer
happening to be crying them just at that very moment. L.
Vitellius, who was more recently appointed to the censorship,
299 introduced all these varieties from Syria at his country-
seat at Alba,
300 having acted as legatus in that province in the
latter years of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar.
CHAP. 22. (20.)—THREE VARIETIES OF THE MEDLAR.
The medlar and the sorb
301 ought in propriety to be ranked
under the head of the apple and the pear. Of the medlar
302
there are three varieties, the anthedon,
303 the setania,
304 and a
third of inferior quality, which bears a stronger resemblance
to the anthedon, and is known as the Gallic
305 kind. The setania is the largest fruit, and the palest in colour; the woody seed
in the inside of it is softer, too, than in the others, which are of
smaller size than the setania, but superior to it in the fragrance
of their smell, and in being better keepers. The tree itself is
one of very ample
306 dimensions: the leaves turn red before they
fall: the roots are numerous, and penetrate remarkably deep,
which renders it almost impossible to grub it up. This tree
307
did not exist in Italy in Cato's time.
CHAP. 23. (21).—FOR VARIETIES OF THE SORB.
There are four varieties of the sorb: there being some that
have all the roundness
308 of the apple, while others are conical
like the pear,
309 and a third sort are of an oval
310 shape, like
some of the apples: these last, however, are apt to be remarkably acid. The round kind is the best for fragrance and
sweetness, the others having a vinous flavour; the finest,
however, are those which have the stalk surrounded with
tender leaves. A fourth kind is known by the name of "torminalis:"
311 it is only employed, however, for remedial pur-
poses. The tree is a good bearer, but does not resemble the
other kinds, the leaf being nearly that of the plane-tree; the
fruit, too, is particularly small. Cato
312 speaks of sorbs being
preserved in boiled wine.
CHAP. 24. (22.)—NINE VARIETIES OF THE NUT.
The walnut,
313 which would almost claim precedence of the
sorb in size, yields the palm to it in reference to the esteem
314
in which they are respectively held; and this, although it is
so favourite an accompaniment of the Fescennine
315 songs at
nuptials. This nut, taken as a whole, is very considerably
smaller than the pine nut, but the kernel is larger in proportion. Nature, too, has conferred upon it a peculiar honour, in
protecting it with a two-fold covering, the first of which forms
a hollowed cushion for it to rest upon, and the second is a
woody shell. It is for this reason that this fruit has been
looked upon as a symbol consecrated to marriage,
316 its offspring being thus protected in such manifold ways: an explanation which bears a much greater air of probability than that
which would derive it from the rattling which it makes when
it bounds from the floor.
317 The Greek names that have been
given to this fruit fully prove that it, like many others, has
been originally introduced from Persis; the best kinds being
known in that language by the names of "Persicum,"
318 and
"basilicon;,
319 these, in fact, being the names by which they
were first known to us. It is generally agreed, too, that one
peculiar variety has derived its name of "caryon,"
320 from the
headache which it is apt to produce by the pungency
321 of
its smell.
The green shell of the walnut is used for dyeing
322 wool, and
the nuts, while still small and just developing themselves, are
employed for giving a red hue to the hair:
323 a discovery owing
to the stains which they leave upon the hands. When old,
the nut becomes more oleaginous. The only difference in the
several varieties consists in the relative hardness or brittleness
of the shell, it being thin or thick, full of compartments or
smooth and uniform. This is the only fruit that Nature has
enclosed in a covering formed of pieces soldered together; the
shell, in fact, forming a couple of boats, while the kernel is
divided into four separate compartments
324 by the intervention
of a ligneous membrane.
In all the other kinds, the fruit and the shell respectively
are of one solid piece, as we find the case with the hazel—nut,
325
and another variety of the nut formerly known as "Abellina,"
326 from the name
327 of the district in which it was first
produced: it was first introduced into Asia and Greece from
Pontus, whence the name that is sometimes given to it—the
"Pontic nut." This nut, too, is protected by a soft beard,
328
but both the shell and the kernel are round, and formed of a
single piece: these nuts are sometimes roasted.
329 In the
middle of the kernel we find a germen or navel.
A third class of nuts is the almond,
330 which has an outer
covering, similar to that of the walnut, but thinner, with a
second coat in the shape of a shell. The kernel, however, is
unlike that of the walnut, in respect of its broad, flat shape,
its firmness, and the superior tastiness of its flavour. It is a
matter of doubt whether this tree was in existence in Italy in
the time of Cato; we find him speaking of Greek nuts,
331 but
there are some persons who think that these belong to the
walnut class. He makes mention, also, of the hazel-nut, the
calva,
332 and the Prænestine
333 nut, which last he praises beyond
all others, and says
334 that, put in pots, they may be kept fresh
and green by burying them in the earth.
At the present day, the almonds of Thasos and those of
Alba are held in the highest esteem, as also two kinds that
are grown at Tarentum, one with a thin,
335 brittle shell, and the
other with a harder
336 one: these last are remarkably large,
and of an oblong shape. There is the almond known as
the "mollusk,"
337 also, which breaks the shell of itself. There
are some who would concede a highly honourable interpretation to the name given to the walnut, and say that "juggles"
means the "glens," or" acorn of Jove." It is only very lately
that I heard a man of consular rank declare, that he then
had in his possession walnut-trees that bore two
338 crops in
the year.
Of the pistachio, which belongs also to the nut class, we
have already spoken
339 in its appropriate place: Vitellius introduced this tree into Italy at the same time as the others that
we mentioned;
340 and Flaccus Pompeius, a Roman of Equestrian rank, who served with him, introduced it at the same
period into Spain.
CHAP. 25. (23.)—EIGHTEEN VARIETIES OF THE CHESNUT.
We give the name of nut, too, to the chesnut,
341 although it
would seem more properly to belong to the acorn tribe. The
chesnut has its armour of defence in a shell bristling with
prickles like the hedge-hog, an envelope which in the acorn
is only partially developed. It is really surprising, however,
that Nature should have taken such pains thus to conceal an
object of so little value. We sometimes find as many as
three nuts beneath a single outer shell. The skin
342 of the nut
is limp and flexible: there is a membrane, too, which lies
next to the body of the fruit, and which, both in this and in
the walnut, spoils the flavour if not taken off, Chesnuts are
the most pleasant eating when roasted:
343 they are sometimes
ground also, and are eaten by women when fasting for religious scruples,
344 as bearing some resemblance to bread. It is
from Sardes
345 that the chesnut was first introduced, and hence
it is that the Greeks have given it the name of the "Sardian
acorn;" for the name "Dios balanon"
346 was given at a later
period, after it had been considerably improved by cultivation.
At the present day there are numerous varieties of the
chesnut. Those of Tarentum are a light food, and by no
means difficult of digestion; they are of a flat shape. There
is a rounder variety, known as the "balanitis;"
347 it is very
easily peeled, and springs clean out of the shell, so to say, of
its own accord. The Salarian
348 chesnut has a smooth outer
shell, while that of Tarentum is not so easily handled.
349 The
Corellian is more highly esteemed, as is the Etereian, which is
an offshoot from it produced by a method upon which we shall
have to enlarge when we come to speak of grafting.
350 This
last has a red skin,
351 which causes it to be preferred to the
three-cornered chesnut and our black common sorts, which
are known as "coctivæ."
352 Tarentum and Neapolis in Campania are the most esteemed localities for the chesnut: other
kinds, again, are grown to feed pigs upon,
353 the skin of which
is rough and folded inwards, so as to penetrate to the heart of
the kernel.
CHAP. 26. (24.)—THE CAROB.
The carob,
354 a fruit of remarkable sweetness, does not ap-
pear to be so very dissimilar to the chesnut, except that the
skin
355 is eaten as well as the inside. It is just the length of
a finger, and about the thickness of the thumb, being sometimes of a curved shape, like a sickle. The acorn cannot be
reckoned in the number of the fruits; we shall, therefore,
speak of it along with the trees of that class.
356
CHAP. 27.—TE FLESHY FRUITS. THE MULBERRY.
The other fruits belong to the fleshy kind, and differ both
in the shape and the flesh. The flesh of the various berries,
357 of the mulberry, and of the arbute, are quite different from one another—and then what a difference, too,
between the grape, which is only skin and juice,
358 the myxa
plum, and the flesh of some berries,
359 such as the olive, for
instance! In the flesh of the mulberry there is a juice of a
vinous flavour, and the fruit assumes three different colours,
being at first white, then red, and ripe when black. The
mulberry blossoms one of the very last,
360 and yet is among
the first to ripen: the juice of the fruit, when ripe, will stain
the hands, but that of the unripe fruit will remove the marks.
It is in this tree that human ingenuity has effected the least
Improvement
361 of all; there are no varieties here, no modifications effected by grafting, nor, in fact, any other improvement
except that the size of the fruit, by careful management, has
been increased. At Rome, there is a distinction made between
the mulberries of Ostia and those of Tusculum. A variety
grows also on brambles, but the flesh of the fruit is of a very
different nature.
362
CHAP. 28.—THE FRUIT OF THE ARBUTUS.
The flesh of the ground-strawberry
363 is very different to
that of the arbute-tree,
364 which is of a kindred kind: indeed,
this is the only instance in which we find a similar fruit growing upon a tree and on the ground. The tree is tufted and
bushy; the fruit takes a year to ripen, the blossoms of the
young fruit flowering while that of the preceding year is
arriving at maturity. Whether it is the male tree or the
female that is unproductive, authors are not generally agreed.
This is a fruit held in no esteem, in proof of which it has
gained its name of "unedo,"
365 people being generally content with eating but one. The Greeks, however, have found
for it two names—"comaron" and "memecylon," from which
it would appear
366 that there are two varieties. It has also
with us another name besides that of "unedo," being known
also as the "arbutus." Juba states that in Arabia this tree
attains the height of fifty cubits.
CHAP. 29.—THE RELATIVE NATURES OF BERRY FRUITS.
There is a great difference also among the various acinus
fruits. First of all, among the grapes, we find considerable
difference in respect to their firmness, the thinness or thickness of the skin, and the stone inside the fruit, which in some
varieties is remarkably small, and in others even double in
number: these last producing but very little juice. Very different, again, are the berries of the ivy
367 and the elder;
368 as
also those in the pomegranate,
369 these being the only ones that
are of an angular shape. These last, also, have not a membrane for each individual grain, but one to cover them all in
common, and of a pale colour. All these fruits consist, too,
of juice and flesh, and those more particularly which have but
small seeds inside.
There are great varieties, too, among the berry
370 fruits;
the berry of the olive being quite different from that of the
laurel, the berry of the lotus
371 from that of the cornel, and
that of the myrtle from the berry of the lentisk. The berry,
however, of the aquifolium
372 and the thorn
373 is quite destitute
of juice.
The cherry
374 occupies a middle place between the berry and
the acinus fruit: it is white at first, which is the case also
with nearly all the berries. From white, some of the berries
pass to green, the olive and the laurel, for instance; while in
the mulberry, the cherry, and the cornel, the change is to red;
and then in some to black, as with the mulberry, the cherry,
and the olive, for instance.
CHAP. 30. (25.)—NINE VARIETIES OF THE CHERRY.
The cherry did not exist in Italy before the period of the
victory gained over Mithridates by L. Lucullus, in the year
of the City 680. He was the first to introduce this tree from
Pontus, and now, in the course of one hundred and twenty
years, it has travelled beyond the Ocean, and arrived in Bri-
tannia even. The cherry, as we have already stated,
375 in spite
of every care, it has been found impossible to rear in Egypt.
Of this fruit, that known as the "Apronian
376 is the reddest
variety, the Lutatian
377 being the blackest, and the Cæcilian
378
perfectly round. The Junian
379 cherry has an agreeable flavour,
but only, so to say, when eaten beneath the tree, as they are
so remarkably delicate that they will not bear carrying. The
highest rank, however, has been awarded to the duracinus
380
variety, known in Campania as the "Plinian"
381 cherry, and in
Belgica to the Lusitanian
382 cherry, as also to one that grows
on the banks of the Rhenus. This last kind has a third
colour, being a mixture
383 of black, red, and green, and has
always the appearance of being just on the turn to ripening.
It is less than five years since the kind known as the "laurel-
cherry" was introduced, of a bitter but not unpleasant flavour,
the produce of a graft
384 upon the laurel. The Macedonian
cherry grows on a tree that is very small,
385 and rarely exceeds
three cubits in height; while the chamæcerasus
386 is still smaller,
being but a mere shrub. The cherry is one of the first trees
to recompense the cultivator with its yearly growth; it loves
cold localities and a site exposed to the north.
387 The fruit
are sometimes dried in the sun, and preserved, like olives, in
casks.
CHAP. 31. (26.)—THE CORNEL. THE LENTISK.
The same degree of care is expended also on the cultivation
of the cornel
388 and the lentisk;
389 that it may not be thought,
forsooth, that there is anything that was not made for the
craving appetite of man! Various flavours are blended to-
gether, and one is compelled to please our palates by the aid
of another—hence it is that the produce of different lands
and various climates are so often mingled with one another.
For one kind of food it is India that we summon to our
aid, and then for another we lay Egypt under contribution,
or else Crete, or Cyrene, every country, in fact: no, nor does
man stick at poisons
390 even, if he can only gratify his longing
to devour everything: a thing that will be still more evident
when we come to treat of the nature of herbs.
CHAP. 32. (27.)—THIRTEEN DIFFERENT FLAVOURS OF JUICES.
While upon this subject, it may be as well to state that
there are no less than thirteen different flavours
391 belonging
in common to the fruits and the various juices: the sweet, the
luscious, the unctuous, the bitter, the rough, the acrid,
392 the
pungent, the sharp, the sour, and the salt; in addition to
which, there are three other kinds of flavours of a nature that is
truly singular. The first of these last kinds is that flavour in
which several other flavours are united, as in wine, for instance; for in it we are sensible of the rough, the pungent,
393
and the luscious, all at the same moment, and all of them
flavours that belong to other substances. The second of these
flavours is that in which we are sensible at the same instant
of a flavour that belongs to another substance, and yet of one
that is peculiar to the individual object of which we are tasting, such as that of milk, for instance: indeed, in milk we
cannot correctly say that there is any pronounced flavour that
is either sweet, or unctuous, or luscious, a sort of smooth taste
394
in the mouth being predominant, which holds the place of a
more decided flavour. The third instance is that of water,
which has no flavour whatever, nor, indeed, any flavouring
principle;
395 but still, this very absence of flavour is considered
as constituting one of them, and forming a peculiar class
396 of
itself; so much so, indeed, that if in water any taste or flavouring principle is detected, it is looked upon as impure.
In the perception of all these various flavours the smell
plays a very considerable
397 part, there being a very great
affinity between them. Water, however, is properly quite inodorous: and if the least smell is to be perceived, it is not
pure water. It is a singular thing that three of the principal
elements
398 of Nature—water, air, and fire—should have neither
taste nor smell, nor, indeed, any flavouring principle whatever.
CHAP. 33. (28.)—THE COLOUR AND SMELL OF JUICES.
Among the juices, those of a vinous
399 flavour belong to the
pear, the mulberry, and the myrtle, and not to the grape, a
very singular fact. An unctuous taste is detected in the olive,
400
the laurel, the walnut, and the almond; sweetness exists in
the grape, the fig, and the date; while in the plum class we
find a watery
401 juice. There is a considerable difference, too,
in the colours assumed by the various juices. That of the
mulberry, the cherry, the cornel, and the black grape resembles the colour of blood, while in the white grape the juice is
white. The humour found in the summit of the fig
402 is of a
milky nature, but not so with the juice found in the body of
the fruit. In the apple it is the colour of foam,
403 while in the
peach it is perfectly colourless, and this is the case, too, with
the duracinus,
404 which abounds in juice; for who can say that
he has ever detected any colour in it?
Smell, too, presents its own peculiar marvels; in the apple
it is pungent,
405 and it is weak in the peach, while in the sweet
406
fruits we perceive none at all: so, too, the sweet wines are
inodorous, while the thinner ones have more aroma, and are
much sooner fit for use than those of a thicker nature.
407 The
odoriferous fruits are not pleasing to the palate in the same
degree, seeing that the flavour
408 of them does not come up to
their smell: hence it is that in the citron we find the smell
so extremely penetrating,
409 and the taste sour in the highest
degree. Sometimes the smell is of a more delicate
410 nature,
as in the quince, for instance; while the fig has no odour
whatever.
CHAP. 34.—THE VARIOUS NATURES OF FRUIT.
Thus much, then, for the various classes and kinds of fruit:
it will be as well now to classify their various natures within
a more limited scope. Some fruits grow in a pod which is
sweet itself, and contains a bitter seed: whereas in most kinds
of fruit the seed is agreeable to the palate, those which grow
in a pod are condemned. Other fruits are berries, with the
stone within and the flesh without, as in the olive and the
cherry: others, again, have the berry within and the stone
without, the case, as we have already stated, with the berries
that grow in Egypt.
411
Those fruits, known as "pomes," have the same characteristics as the berry fruits; in some of them we find the body of
the fruit within and the shell without, as in the nut, for example; others, again, have the meat of the fruit without and
the shell within, the peach and the plum, for instance: the
refuse part being thus surrounded with the flesh, while in
other fruits the flesh is surrounded by the refuse part.
412
nuts are enclosed in a shell, chesnuts in a skin; in chesnuts
the skin is taken off, but in medlars it is eaten with the rest.
Acorns are covered with a crust, grapes with a husk, and
pomegranates with a skin and an inner membrane. The mulberry is composed of flesh and juice, while the cherry consists
of juice and skin. In some fruits the flesh separates easily
from the woody part, the walnut and the date, for instance;
in others it adheres, as in the case of the olive and the laurel
berry: some kinds, again, partake of both natures, the peach,
for example; for in the duracinus
413 kind the flesh adheres to
the stone, and cannot be torn away from it, while in the other
sorts they are easily separated. In some fruits there is no
stone or shell
414 either within or without, one variety of the
date,
415 for instance. In some kinds, again, the shell is eaten,
just the same as the fruit; this we have already mentioned as
being the case with a variety of the almond found in Egypt.
416
Some fruits have on the outside a twofold refuse covering, the
chesnut, the almond, and the walnut, for example. Some,
again, are composed of three separate parts—the body of the
fruit, then a woody shell, and inside of that a kernel, as in the
peach.
Some fruits grow closely packed together, such as grapes
and sorbs: these last, just like so many grapes in a cluster,
cling round the branch and bend it downwards with their
weight. On the other hand, some fruits grow separately, at a
distance from one another; this is the case with the peach.
Some fruits are enclosed in a sort of matrix, as with the grains
of the pomegranate: some hang down from a stalk, such as
the pear, for instance: others hang in clusters, grapes and
dates, for example. Others, again, grow upon stalks and
bunches united: this we find the case with the berries of the
ivy and the elder. Some adhere close to the branches, like
the laurel berry, while other varieties lie close to the branch
or hang from it, as the case may be: thus we find in the olive
some fruit with short stalks, and others with long. Some fruits
grow with a little calyx at the top, the pomegranate, for example, the medlar, and the lotus
417 of Egypt and the Euphrates.
Then, too, as to the various parts of fruit, they are held in
different degrees of esteem according to their respective recommendations. In the date it is the flesh that is usually
liked, in those of Thebais it is the crust;
418 the grape and the
caryota date are esteemed for their juice, the pear and the
apple for their firmness, the melimelum
419 for its soft meat,
the mulberry for its cartilaginous consistency, and nuts for
their kernels. Some fruits in Egypt are esteemed for their
skin; the carica,
420 for instance. This skin, which in the
green fig is thrown away as so much refuse peeling, when the
fig is dried is very highly esteemed. In the papyrus,
421
the ferula,
422 and the white thorn
423 the stalk itself constitutes
the fruit, and the shoots of the fig-tree
424 are similarly
employed.
Among the shrubs, the fruit of the caper
425 is eaten along
with the stalk; and in the carob,
426 what is the part that is
eaten but so much wood? Nor ought we to omit one peculiarity that exists in the seed of this fruit—it can be called
neither flesh, wood, nor cartilage, and yet no other name has
been found for it.
CHAP. 35. (29).—THE MYRTLE.
The nature of the juices that are found in the myrtle are
particularly remarkable, for it is the only one
427 of all the trees, the
berries of which produce two kinds of oil
428 as well as of wine,
besides myrtidanum,
429 of which we have already spoken. The
berry of this was also put to another use in ancient times, for
before pepper
430 was known it was employed in place of it as a
seasoning; so much so, indeed, that a name has been derived
from it for the highly-seasoned dish which to this day is known
by the name of "myrtatum."
431 It is by the aid of these berries, too, that the flavour of the flesh of the wild boar is
improved, and they generally form one of the ingredients in
the flavouring of our sauces.
CHAP. 36.—HISTORICAL ANECDOTES RELATIVE TO THE MYRTLE.
This tree was seen for the first time in the regions of
Europe, which commence on this side of the Ceraunian mountains,
432 growing at Circeii,
433 near the tomb of Elpenor there:
434
it still retains its Greek
435 name, which clearly proves it to be
an exotic. There were myrtles growing on the site now occupied by Rome, at the time of its foundation; for a tradition
exists to the effect that the Romans and the Sabines, after
they had intended fighting, on account of the virgins who had
been ravished by the former, purified themselves, first laying
down their arms, with sprigs of myrtle, on the very same spot
which is now occupied by the statues of Venus Cluacina; for
in the ancient language "cluere" means to purify.
This tree is employed, too, for a species of fumigation;
436 being
selected for that purpose, because Venus, who presides over all
unions, is the tutelary divinity of the tree.
437 I am not quite
sure, too, whether this tree was not the very first that was
planted in the public places of Rome, the result of some ominous presage by the augurs of wondrous import. For at the
Temple of Quirinus, or, in other words, of Romulus himself,
one of the most ancient in Rome, there were formerly two
myrtle-trees, which grew for a long period just in front of
the temple; one of these was called the Patrician tree, the
other the Plebeian. The Patrician myrtle was for many years
the superior tree, full of sap and vigour; indeed, so long as the
Senate maintained its superiority, so did the tree, being of
large growth, while the Plebeian tree presented a meagre,
shrivelled appearance. In later times, however, the latter tree
gained the superiority, and the Patrician myrtle began to fail
just at the period of the
438 Marsic War,
439 when the power of
the Senate was so greatly weakened: and little by little did
this once majestic tree sink into a state of utter exhaustion
and sterility. There was an ancient altar
440 also, consecrated'
to Venus Myrtea, known at the present day by the name of
Murcia.
CHAP. 37.—ELEVEN VARIETIES OF THE MYRTLE.
Cato
441 makes mention of three varieties of the myrtle, the
black, white, and the conjugula, perhaps so called from
its reference to conjugal unions, and belonging to the same
species as that which grew where Cluacina's statues now
stand: at the present day the varieties are differently distinguished into the cultivated and the wild
442 myrtle, each of
which includes a kind with a large leaf. The kind known as
"oxymyrsine,"
443 belongs only to the wild variety: ornamental
gardeners classify several varieties of the cultivated kind; the
"Tarentine,"
444 they speak of as a myrtle with a small leaf,
the myrtle of this country
445 as having a broad leaf, and the
hexasticha
446 as being very thickly covered with leaves, growing
in rows of six: it is not, however, made any use of. There
are two other kinds, that are branchy and well covered. In
my opinion, the conjugula is the same that is now called the
Roman myrtle. It is in Egypt that the myrtle is most
odoriferous.
Cato
447 has taught us how to make a wine from the black
myrtle, by drying it thoroughly in the shade, and then putting
it in must: he says, also, that if the berries are not quite dry,
it will produce an oil. Since his time a method has been discovered of making a pale wine from the white variety; two
sextarii of pounded myrtle are steeped in three semi-sextarii of
wine, and the mixture is then subjected to pressure.
The leaves
448 also are dried by themselves till they are capable of being reduced to a powder, which is used for the treatment of sores on the human body: this powder is of a slightly
corrosive nature, and is employed also for the purpose of
checking the perspiration. A thing that is still more re-
markable, this oil is possessed of a certain vinous flavour,
being, at the same time, of an unctuous nature, and remarkably
efficacious for improving
449 wines. When this is done, the
wine strainer
450 is dipped in the oil before it is used, the result
of which is that it retains the lees of the wine, and allows
nothing but the pure liquor to escape, while at the same time
it accompanies the wine and causes a marked improvement in
its flavour.
Sprigs of myrtle, if carried by a person when travelling on
foot, are found to be very refreshing
451 on a long journey.
Rings, too, made of myrtle which has never been touched by
iron, are an excellent specific for swellings in the groin.
452
CHAP. 38.—THE MYRTLE USED AT ROME IN OVATIONS.
The myrtle has played
453 its part, also, in the successes of
war. Posthumius Tubertus, who gained a victory over the
Sabines in his consulship,
454 was the first person who entered
the City enjoying the honour of an ovation,
455 for having
achieved this success with ease and without bloodshed; upon
which occasion he made his entry crowned with the myrtle of
Venus Victrix, and thereby rendered her tree an object of
regard
456 to our enemies even. Ever since this occasion, the
wreath of those who have enjoyed an ovation has been made
of myrtle, with the exception of M. Crassus,
457 who, on his victory over the fugitive slaves and Spartacus, made his entry
crowned with laurels. Massurius informs us, also, that some
generals, on the occasion of a triumph even, have worn a
wreath of myrtle in the triumphal car. L. Piso states that
Papirius Maso, who was the first to enjoy a triumph for a
victory over the Marsi—it was on the Alban Mount
458—was
in the habit of attending at the games of the Circus, wearing
a wreath of myrtle: he was the maternal grandfather of the
second Scipio Africanus. Marcus Valerius
459 wore two wreaths,
one of laurel, the other of myrtle; it was in consequence of
a vow which he had made to that effect.
CHAP. 39. (30.)—THE LAUREL; THIRTEEN VARIETIES OF IT.
The laurel is especially consecrated to triumphs, is remarkably
ornamental to houses, and guards the portals of our emperors
460
and our pontiffs: there suspended alone, it graces the palace, and
is ever on guard before the threshold. Cato
461 speaks of two
varieties of this tree, the Delphic
462 and the Cyprian. Pompeius
Lenæus has added another, to which he has given the name of
"mustax," from the circumstance of its being used for putting
under the cake known by the name of "mustaceum."
463 He
says that this variety has a very large leaf, flaccid, and of a
whitish hue; that the Delphic laurel is of one uniform colour,
greener than the other, with berries of very large size, and of
a red tint approaching to green. He says, too, that it is with
this laurel that the victors at Delphi
464 are crowned, and warriors
who enjoy the honours of a triumph at Rome. The Cyprian
laurel, he says, has a short leaf, is of a blackish colour, with
an imbricated
465 edge, and crisped.
Since his time, however, the varieties have considerably
augmented. There is the tinus
466 for instance, by some considered as a species of wild laurel, while others, again, regard
it as a tree of a separate class; indeed, it does differ from the
laurel as to the colour, the berry being of an azure blue. The
royal
467 laurel, too, has since been added, which has of late
begun to be known as the "Augustan:" both the tree, as
well as the leaf, are of remarkable size, and the berries have
not the usual rough taste. Some say, however, that the royal
laurel and the Augustan are not the same tree, and make out
the former to be a peculiar kind, with a leaf both longer and
broader than that of the Augustan. The same authors, also,
make a peculiar species of the bacalia the commonest laurel
of all, and the one that bears the greatest number of berries.
With them, too, the barren laurel
468 is the laurel of the triumphs, and they say that this is the one that is used by warriors when enjoying a triumph—a thing that surprises me
very much; unless, indeed, the use of it was first introduced
by the late Emperor Augustus, and it is to be considered as
the progeny of that laurel, which, as we shall just now have
occasion to mention, was sent to him from heaven; it being the
smallest of them all, with a crisped
469 short leaf; and very rarely
to be met with.
In ornamental gardening we also find the taxa
470 employed,
with a small leaf sprouting from the middle of the leaf, and
forming a fringe, as it were, hanging from it; the spadonia,
471
too, without this fringe, a tree that thrives remarkably well
in the shade: indeed, however dense the shade may be, it will
soon cover the spot with its shoots. There is the chamædaphne,
472 also, a shrub that grows wild; the Alexandrian
473
laurel, by some known as the Idean, by others as the "hypoglottion,"
474 by others as the "carpophyllon,"
475 and by others,
again, as the "hypelates."
476 From the root it throws out
branches three quarters of a foot in length; it is much used
in ornamental gardening, and for making wreaths, and it has
a more pointed leaf than that of the myrtle, and superior to it
in softness, whiteness, and size: the seed, which lies between
the leaves, is red. This last kind grows in great abundance
on Mount Ida and in the vicinity of Heraclea in Pontus: it is
only found, however, in mountainous districts.
The laurel, too, known as the daphnoides,
477 is a variety that
has received many different names: by some it is called the
Pelasgian laurel, by others the euthalon, and by others the
stephanon Alexandri.
478 This is also a branchy shrub, with a
thicker and softer leaf than that of the ordinary laurel: if
tasted, it leaves a burning sensation in the mouth and throat:
the berries are red, inclining to black. The ancient writers
have remarked, that in their time there was no species of
laurel in the island of Corsica. Since then, however, it has been
planted there, and has thrived well.
CHAP. 40.—HISTORICAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH THE LAUREL.
This tree is emblematical of peace:
479 when a branch of it
is extended, it is to denote a truce between enemies in arms.
For the Romans more particularly it is the messenger of joyful
tidings, and of victory: it accompanies the despatches
480 of the
general, and it decorates the lances and javelins of the soldiers
and the fasces which precede their chief. It is of this tree
that branches are deposited on the lap of Jupiter All-good and
All-great,
481 so often as some new victory has imparted uni-
versal gladness. This is done, not because it is always green,
nor yet because it is an emblem of peace—for in both of those
respects the olive would take the precedence of it—but because
it is the most beauteous tree on Mount Parnassus, and was
pleasing for its gracefulness to Apollo even; a deity to whom
the kings of Rome sent offerings at an early period, as we
learn from the case of L. Brutus.
482 Perhaps, too, honour is
more particularly paid to this tree because it was there that
Brutus
483 earned the glory of asserting his country's liberties,
when, by the direction of the oracle, he kissed that laurel-bearing soil. Another reason, too, may be the fact, that of all
the shrubs that are planted and received in our houses, this is
the only one that is never struck by lightning.
484 It is for
these reasons, in my opinion, that the post of honour has been
awarded to the laurel more particularly in triumphs, and not,
as Massurius says, because it was used for the purposes of
fumigation and purification from the blood of the enemy.
In addition to the above particulars, it is not permitted to
defile the laurel and the olive by applying them to profane
uses; so much so, indeed, that, not even for the propitiation of
the divinities, should a fire be lighted with them at either
altar or shrine.
485 Indeed, it is very evident that the laurel protests against such usage by crackling
486 as it does in the fire,
thus, in a manner, giving expresssion to its abhorrence of such
treatment. The wood of this tree when eaten is good as a
specific for internal maladies and affections of the sinews.
487
It is said that when it thundered, the Emperor Tiberius was
in the habit of putting on a wreath of laurel to allay his apprehensions of disastrous effects from the lightning.
488 There
are also some remarkable facts connected with the laurel in
the history of the late Emperor Augustus: once while Livia
Drusilla, who afterwards on her marriage with the Emperor
assumed the name of Augusta, at the time that she was
affianced to him, was seated, there fell into her lap a hen of
remarkable whiteness, which an eagle let fall from aloft without its receiving the slightest injury: on Livia viewing it
without any symptoms of alarm, it was discovered that miracle
was added to miracle, and that it held in its beak a branch of
laurel covered with berries. The aruspices gave orders that
the hen and her progeny should be carefully preserved, and
the branch planted and tended with religious care. This was
accordingly done at the country-house belonging to the Cæsars,
on the Flaminian Way, near the banks of the Tiber, eight
miles from the City; from which circumstance that road has
since received the title "Ad gallinas."
489 From the branch
there has now arisen, wondrous to relate, quite a grove: and
Augustus Cæsar afterwards, when celebrating a triumph, held
a branch of it in his hand and wore a wreath of this laurel on
his head; since which time all the succeeding emperors have
followed his example. Hence, too, has originated the custom of
planting the branches which they have held on these occasions,
and we thus see groves of laurel still existing which owe their
respective names to this circumstance. It was on the above
occasion, too, that not improbably a change was effected in
the usual laurel of the triumph.
490 The laurel is the only one
among the trees that in the Latin language has given an
appellation to a man,
491 and it is the only one the leaf of which
has a distinct name of its own,—it being known by the name
of "laurea." The name of this tree is still retained by one
place in the city of Rome, for we find a spot on the Aventine
Mount still known by the name of "Loretum,"
492 where formerly a laurel-grove existed. The laurel is employed in
purifications, and we may here mention, incidentally, that it
will grow from slips
493—though Democritus and Theophrastus
have expressed their doubts as to that fact.
We shall now proceed to speak of the forest trees.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations,
one hundred and twenty.
ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Fenestella,
494 Fabianus,
495 Virgil,
496
Corn. Valerianus,
497 Celsus,
498 Cato the Censor,
499 Saserna
500 father
and son, Scrofa,
501 M. Varro,
502 D. Silanus,
503 Fabius Pictor,
504 Trogus,
505 Hyginus,
506 Flaccus Verrius,
507 Græcinus,
508 Atticus Julius,
509
Columella,
510 Massurius Sabinus,
511 Tergilla,
512 Cotta Messalinus,
513
L. Piso,
514 Pompeius Lenæus,
515 Maccius Plautus,
516 Flavius,
517
Dossenus,
518 Scævola,
519 Ælius,
520 Ateius Capito,
521 Sextius Niger,
522
Vibius Rufus.
523
FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Aristotle,
524 Democritus,
525 King
Hiero,
526 King Attalus Philometor,
527 Archytas,
528 Xenophon,
529
Amphilochus
530 of Athens, Anaxipolis
531 of Thasos, Apollodorus
532
of Lemnos, Aristophanes
533 of Miletus, Antigonus
534 of Cymæ,
Agathocles
535 of Chios, Apollonius
536 of Pergamus, Aristander
537
of Athens, Bacchius
538 of Miletus, Bion
539 of Soli, Chæreas
540 of
Athens, Chæristus
541 of Athens, Diodorus
542 of Priene, Dion
543
of Colophon, Epigenes
544 of Rhodes, Euagon
545 of Thasos, Euphronius
546 of Athens, Androtion
547 who wrote on Agriculture,
Æschrion
548 who wrote on Agriculture, Lysimachus
549 who wrote
on Agriculture, Dionysius
550 who translated Mago,
551 Diophanes
552
who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades
553
the Physician, Erasistratus
554 the Physician, Commiades
555 who
wrote on the preparation of Wines, Aristomachus
556 who wrote
on the same subject, Hicesius
557 who wrote on the same subject,
Themiso
558 the Physician, Onesicritus,
559 King Juba.
560
