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,[1631] 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[1632] does not grow at a distance of more than forty[1633]

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;[1634] 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,[1635] 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[1636] neither in very cold

climates, nor yet in very hot ones. Virgil[1637] has mentioned three

varieties of the olive, the orchites,[1638] the radius,[1639] and the

posia;[1640] 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[1641] 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[1642]

olive before it has begun to ripen, is considered preferable to all

the others in flavour; in this kind, too, the first[1643] droppings

of the press are the most esteemed, diminishing gradually in goodness

and value; and this, whether the wicker-work[1644] 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.[1645] The

riper the berry, the more unctuous the juice, and the less agreeable

the taste.[1646] 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,[1647] 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,[1648] Italy holds the

highest rank among all countries,[1649] and more particularly the

territory of Venafrum,[1650] 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 development 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,[1651] 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:[1652]

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[1653] 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.[1654]

This oil continues on the increase up to the rising of Arcturus,[1655]

or in other words, the sixteenth day before the calends of

October;[1656] 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 proportionally 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,[1657] heat is the sole primary

cause of the oleaginous principle; for which reason it is, that in the

presses,[1658] 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.”[1659] 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,[1660] 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,”[1661] 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”[1662] olive, do not turn black

before the west winds prevail, or, in other words, before the sixth

day before[1663] 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 peculiar variety, 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[1664] 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;[1665] this berry being of the

very largest size, and yet yielding a minimum of juice. In Egypt,[1666]

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.[1667] 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[1668] 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,[1669] 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[1670] varieties, and the

posia is of a complexion approaching to black. Besides those already

mentioned, there are the superba[1671] 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[1672] in Lusitania.

The oil of the olive is prevented from getting[1673] thick and rancid

by the admixture of salt. By making an incision in the bark of the

tree, an aromatic odour may be imparted[1674] 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 making it minister to luxury, and

employing it commonly in the gymnasium: indeed, it is a well-known

fact that the governors of those establishments have sold the

scrapings[1675] 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;[1676] it is used, too, by the victor

in the minor triumphs of the ovation.[1677] At Athens, also, they are

in the habit of crowning the conqueror with olive; and at Olympia, the

Greeks employ the wild olive[1678] 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[1679] in

relation to this subject. Upon a warm, rich[1680] soil, he recommends

us to sow the greater radius, the Salentina, the orchites, the

posia, the Sergian, the Cominian, and the albicera;[1681] 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[1682] 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.[1683] 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.[1684] 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,[1685] 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,[1686] 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 cauldrons[1687] of lead, for

copper vessels will spoil it, he says. All these operations, however,

should be carried on with presses heated and tightly closed,[1688] 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,[1689] 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, subjecting 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,”[1690] while the

oil that flows out at the first pressure is called the “flos.”[1691]

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[1692] which are produced from trees, and among them more

particularly the wild olive.[1693] 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,[1694] 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,[1695] 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 sesamum: 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,”[1696] from the resemblance of the seed to that insect. It

is boiled in water,[1697] 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,”[1698] 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[1699]

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,[1700] with a black berry. The oil, too, of

the black myrtle is of a similar nature; that with the broad leaf[1701]

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,[1702] from its

strong resemblance to that plant, it being short and branching.

An oil is made, too, from the citrus,[1703] and from the cypress; also,

from the walnut,[1704] and known by the name of “caryinon,”[1705]

and from the fruit of the cedar, being generally known as

“pisselæon.”[1706] Oil is extracted from the grain of Cnidos,[1707]

the seed being first thoroughly cleaned, and then pounded; and from

mastich[1708] also. As to the oil called “cyprinum,”[1709] and that

extracted from the Egyptian[1710] 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,[1711] sesamum, and rice,[1712]

and the Ichthyophagi[1713] from fish. Scarcity of oil for the supply

of lamps sometimes compels us to make it from the berries[1714] of the

plane-tree, which are first steeped in salt and water.

Œnanthinum,[1715] again, is made from the œnanthe, as we have already

stated when speaking of perfumes. In making gleucinum,[1716] 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,[1717] from

calamus,[1718] balsamum,[1719] cardamum,[1720] melilot, Gallic nard,

panax,[1721] sampsuchum,[1722] helenium, and root of cinnamomum,[1723]

the plants being first left to steep in oil, and then pressed.

In a similar manner, too, rhodinum[1724] is made from roses, and

juncinum from the sweet rush, bearing a remarkable[1725] resemblance

to rose-oil: other oils, again, are extracted from henbane,[1726]

lupines,[1727] and narcissus. Great quantities of oil are made in

Egypt, too, of radish[1728] seed, or else of a common grass known there

as chortinon.[1729] Sesamum[1730] also yields an oil, and so does

the nettle,[1731] its oil being known as “cnidinum.”[1732] In other

countries, too, an oil is extracted from lilies[1733] 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,”[1734] remarkably

useful for strengthening the tendons, similar, in fact, to that of

Iguvium[1735] in Italy. From pitch an oil[1736] 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;”[1737] 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[1738] is of use for some

kinds of maladies; it is thought to be particularly useful, too, in

the preservation of ivory from decay:[1739] 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[1740] more particularly, that

Cato[1741] has enlarged. He recommends that vats and casks[1742] 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,[1743] 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 axle-trees used to be anointed with boiled

amurca; which was employed also to preserve copper vessels against

verdigrease,[1744] 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.[1745]

According to M. Varro,[1746] 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,[1747] 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,[1748] 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,[1749]” 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,[1750] and is remarkable

as a good specific for coughs. The kernels are sometimes boiled

in honey[1751] 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,”[1752]

by the Greeks “Cydonia,”[1753] 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[1754] 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,”[1755]

have a more pungent smell, but ripen later than the others; that

called the “musteum,”[1756] ripens the soonest of all. The cotoneum

engrafted[1757] on the strutheum, has produced a peculiar variety,

known as the “Mulvianum,” the only one of them all that is eaten

raw.[1758] At the present day all these varieties are kept shut up in

the antechambers of great men,[1759] where they receive the visits of

their courtiers; they are hung, too, upon the statues[1760] that pass

the night with us in our chambers.

There is a small wild[1761] 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,[1762] we include a variety of fruits,

although of an entirely different nature, such as the Persian[1763]

apple, for instance, and the pomegranate, of which, when speaking

of the tree, we have already enumerated[1764] 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,”[1765]

show, by their name, what a remarkable weight they attain.

(12.) Among the peaches the palm must be awarded to the

duracinus:[1766] 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[1767] 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”[1768] 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,[1769] the white,[1770] the barley[1771] 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,”[1772] from the little esteem in which it is

held. There are the onychina, too, the cerina,[1773]—more esteemed,

and the purple[1774] plum: the Armenian,[1775] 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.”[1776] Nut-prunes, as well

as the peach, the wild plum,[1777] 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,[1778] and “amygdalina,” the fruit of the plum engrafted

on the almond-tree,[1779] the kernel found in the stone of these last

being that of the almond;[1780] indeed, there is no specimen in which

two fruits have been more ingeniously combined in one.

Among the foreign trees we have already spoken[1781] of the

Damascene[1782] 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,[1783] 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,[1784] 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[1785] 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”[1786] that the more careful writers have

stated all this,[1787] 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[1788] 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.[1789]

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[1790] we have

already made mention when describing its tree; the Greeks gave it the

name of “Medica,”[1791] from its native country. The jujube[1792]-tree

and the tuber[1793] 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,[1794] 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[1795] 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,”[1796] 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.[1797] 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,[1798] Cestius, Mallius, and

Scandius.[1799] 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,[1800] 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[1801] adds the Quirinian and

the Scantian varieties, which last, he says, keep remarkably well in

large vessels.[1802] The latest kind of all, however, that has been

introduced is the small apple known as the Petisian,[1803] remarkable

for its delightful flavour: the Amerinian[1804] apple, too, and the

little Greek[1805] have conferred renown on their respective countries.

The remaining varieties have received their name from various

circumstances—the apples known as the “gemella”[1806] are always

found hanging in pairs upon one stalk, like twins, and never growing

singly. That known as the “syricum”[1807] is so called from its colour,

while the “melapium”[1808] has its name from its strong resemblance

to the pear. The “musteum”[1809] 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,”[1810] 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[1811] has that peculiar appellation from its resemblance

to a teat; and the “spadonium”[1812] of the Belgæ is so nicknamed from

the total absence of pips. The melofolium[1813] has one leaf, and

occasionally two, shooting from the middle of the fruit. That known as

the “pannuceum”[1814] shrivels with the greatest rapidity; while the

“pulmoneum”[1815] 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[1816] apples also,

remarkable for their fine flavour and the peculiar pungency of their

smell. Some, again, are so remarkably[1817] 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;”[1818] 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”[1819] 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[1820] pear; and next to it comes

the Falernian,[1821] so called from the drink[1822] 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.[1823] 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,”[1824] remarkable for the

length of its stalk, the Pomponian,[1825] surnamed the mammosum,[1826]

the Licerian, the Sevian, the Turranian, a variety of the Sevian,

but distinguished from it by the greater length of the stalk, the

Favonian,[1827] a red pear, rather larger than the superbum, together

with the Laterian[1828] 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,”[1829] 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,[1830] 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,[1831] by some called

“testaceum,” from its colour, like earthenware; a reason which has also

given their respective names to the “onychine”[1832] and the “purple”

kinds. Then, again, we have the “myrapium,”[1833] the “laureum,”

and the “nardinum,”[1834] so called from the odour they emit; the

“hordearium,”[1835] from the season at which it comes[1836] in; and

the “ampullaceum,”[1837] so called from its long narrow neck. Those,

again, that are known as the “Coriolanian”[1838] and the “Bruttian,”

owe their names to the places of their origin; added to which we have

the cucurbitinum,[1839] 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,”[1840] which last is known also as the “coloratum;”[1841]

the royal pear[1842] too, which has a remarkably short stalk, and

will stand on its end, as also the patricium, and the voconium,[1843]

a green oblong kind. In addition to these, Virgil[1844] has made

mention of a pear called the “volema,”[1845] a name which he has

borrowed from Cato,[1846] who makes mention also of kinds known as the

“sementivum”[1847] and the “musteum.”[1848]

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[1849] 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[1850]

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.[1851] Apples and pears have certain

vinous[1852] 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[1853] 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,[1854] 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[1855] or soaked in it. Pomegranates are made hard and firm by

being first put in boiling[1856] 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[1857] 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[1858] 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[1859] 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,[1860] 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 mallet-stalk, 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,[1861] taking care to fasten

either end of the branch in a bulb of squill.[1862] 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.[1863] 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.[1864]

When apples are thus prepared, they are always laid with the stalk

downwards.[1865] Some persons pluck the apple together with the branch,

the ends of which they thrust into the pith of elder,[1866] and then

bury it in the way already pointed out.[1867] There are some who

assign to each apple or pear its separate vessel of clay, and after

carefully 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,[1868] 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[1869] wax, and then plunge them in

honey.

Columella[1870] 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,[1871] 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[1872] 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 preparing

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,[1873] 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 covering for them as they hang

is the dust[1874] that naturally arises from the floor. Grapes are

effectually protected against the attacks of wasps by being sprinkled

with oil[1875] spirted from the mouth. Of palm-dates we have already

spoken.[1876]

CHAP. 19. (18.)—TWENTY-NINE VARIETIES OF THE FIG.

Of all the remaining fruits that are included under the name of

“pomes,” the fig[1877] 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[1878] in the

way of figs. The fig of Mount Ida[1879] 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,[1880] 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[1881] 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,”[1882]

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,[1883] it

is a black variety, with the cleft inclining to white; it has had the

name given to it of the “delicate”[1884] fig: the Rhodian fig, too, and

the Tiburtine,[1885] 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[1886] and the Pompeian[1887]

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,[1888] and the kind which has a leaf spotted all over like the

reed.[1889] There is also the Herculanean fig, the albicerata,[1890]

and the white aratia, a very large variety, with an extremely

diminutive stalk.

The earliest of them all is the porphyritis,[1891] which has a stalk

of remarkable length: it is closely followed by the popularis,[1892]

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[1893] is a kind

that ripens the last of all, and towards 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,[1894] 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,[1895] the winter fig and the black

Telanian[1896] 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[1897] 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,[1898] too, where

the greatest cold prevails.

CHAP. 20.—HISTORICAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH THE FIG.

[1899] 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[1900]—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[1901] 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[1902] of Rome,

a fig-tree is carefully cultivated, in memory of the consecration which

took place on the occasion of a thunderbolt[1903] 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[1904]

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.[1905]

There was another fig-tree also, before the temple of Saturn,[1906]

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,[1907] 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,[1908] 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[1909] 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,[1910]

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.[1911] 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.[1912] 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[1913] 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[1914]

the juices of the fig, and so absorbing the milky humours. There is

this superiority, however, in an advantageous 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[1915] 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[1916] like gum. Those that are more highly esteemed are kept

for drying, and the most approved kinds are put away for keeping in

baskets.[1917] The figs of the island of Ebusus[1918] are the best as

well as the largest, and next to them are those of Marrucinum.[1919]

Where figs are in great abundance, as in Asia, for instance, huge

jars[1920] are filled with them, and at Ruspina, a city of Africa, we

find casks[1921] used for a similar purpose: here, in a dry state,

they are extensively used instead of bread,[1922] and indeed as a

general article of provision.[1923] Cato,[1924] 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[1925] 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,[1926] the cottana and the carica, together

with the cavnea,[1927] which was productive of so bad an omen to M.

Crassus at the moment when he was embarking[1928] 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,[1929] introduced all these varieties from Syria at his

country-seat at Alba,[1930] 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[1931] ought in propriety to be ranked under

the head of the apple and the pear. Of the medlar[1932] there are

three varieties, the anthedon,[1933] the setania,[1934] and a third of

inferior quality, which bears a stronger resemblance to the anthedon,

and is known as the Gallic[1935] 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[1936]

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[1937] did not exist in Italy in

Cato’s time.

CHAP. 23. (21).—FOUR VARIETIES OF THE SORB.

There are four varieties of the sorb: there being some that have all

the roundness[1938] of the apple, while others are conical like the

pear,[1939] and a third sort are of an oval[1940] 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:”[1941] it is only employed, however, for remedial purposes.

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[1942] speaks of sorbs being preserved in

boiled wine.

CHAP. 24. (22.)—NINE VARIETIES OF THE NUT.

The walnut,[1943] which would almost claim precedence of the sorb in

size, yields the palm to it in reference to the esteem[1944] in which

they are respectively held; and this, although it is so favourite an

accompaniment of the Fescennine[1945] 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,[1946] 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.[1947] 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,”[1948]

and “basilicon;”[1949] 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,”[1950] from the headache which

it is apt to produce by the pungency[1951] of its smell.

The green shell of the walnut is used for dyeing[1952] wool, and the

nuts, while still small and just developing themselves, are employed

for giving a red hue to the hair:[1953] 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[1954] 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,[1955] and

another variety of the nut formerly known as “Abellina,”[1956] from the

name[1957] 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,[1958] but both the shell and the kernel are round, and

formed of a single piece: these nuts are sometimes roasted.[1959] In

the middle of the kernel we find a germen or navel.

A third class of nuts is the almond,[1960] 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,[1961] but there are some persons who think

that these belong to the walnut class. He makes mention, also, of the

hazel-nut, the calva,[1962] and the Prænestine[1963] nut, which last he

praises beyond all others, and says[1964] 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,[1965] brittle shell, and the other with a harder[1966]

one: these last are remarkably large, and of an oblong shape. There

is the almond known as the “mollusca,”[1967] 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 “juglans”

means the “glans,” 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[1968] crops in the year.

Of the pistachio, which belongs also to the nut class, we have already

spoken[1969] in its appropriate place: Vitellius introduced this tree

into Italy at the same time as the others that we mentioned;[1970]

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,[1971] 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[1972] 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:[1973] they are sometimes ground also, and are

eaten by women when fasting for religious scruples,[1974] as bearing

some resemblance to bread. It is from Sardes[1975] 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”[1976] 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;”[1977] it is very easily peeled, and springs clean out

of the shell, so to say, of its own accord. The Salarian[1978]

chesnut has a smooth outer shell, while that of Tarentum is not so

easily handled.[1979] 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.[1980]

This last has a red skin,[1981] which causes it to be preferred to the

three-cornered chesnut and our black common sorts, which are known

as “coctivæ.”[1982] Tarentum and Neapolis in Campania are the most

esteemed localities for the chesnut: other kinds, again, are grown to

feed pigs upon,[1983] 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,[1984] a fruit of remarkable sweetness, does not appear to be

so very dissimilar to the chesnut, except that the skin[1985] 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.[1986]

CHAP. 27.—THE 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,[1987] 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,[1988] the myxa plum, and the flesh of some berries,[1989]

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,[1990] 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[1991]

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.[1992]

CHAP. 28.—THE FRUIT OF THE ARBUTUS.

The flesh of the ground-strawberry[1993] is very different to that of

the arbute-tree,[1994] 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,”[1995] 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[1996] 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[1997]

and the elder;[1998] as also those in the pomegranate,[1999] 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[2000] fruits; the berry

of the olive being quite different from that of the laurel, the berry

of the lotus[2001] from that of the cornel, and that of the myrtle from

the berry of the lentisk. The berry, however, of the aquifolium[2002]

and the thorn[2003] is quite destitute of juice.

The cherry[2004] 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 Britannia even. The cherry, as we have already

stated,[2005] in spite of every care, it has been found impossible

to rear in Egypt. Of this fruit, that known as the “Apronian”[2006]

is the reddest variety, the Lutatian[2007] being the blackest, and

the Cæcilian[2008] perfectly round. The Junian[2009] 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[2010]

variety, known in Campania as the “Plinian”[2011] cherry, and in

Belgica to the Lusitanian[2012] cherry, as also to one that grows on

the banks of the Rhenus. This last kind has a third colour, being a

mixture[2013] 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[2014] upon the laurel.

The Macedonian cherry grows on a tree that is very small,[2015] and

rarely exceeds three cubits in height; while the chamæcerasus[2016] 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.[2017] 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[2018] and the lentisk;[2019] 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 together, 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[2020] 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[2021] belonging in common

to the fruits and the various juices: the sweet, the luscious, the

unctuous, the bitter, the rough, the acrid,[2022] 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,[2023] 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[2024] 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;[2025] but still, this very absence of flavour

is considered as constituting one of them, and forming a peculiar

class[2026] 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[2027] 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[2028] 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[2029] 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,[2030] 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[2031] 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[2032]

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,[2033] while in the

peach it is perfectly colourless, and this is the case, too, with the

duracinus,[2034] 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,[2035] and it is weak in the peach, while in the sweet[2036]

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.[2037] The odoriferous fruits

are not pleasing to the palate in the same degree, seeing that the

flavour[2038] of them does not come up to their smell: hence it is that

in the citron we find the smell so extremely penetrating,[2039] and

the taste sour in the highest degree. Sometimes the smell is of a more

delicate[2040] 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.[2041]

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.[2042]

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[2043] 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[2044]

either within or without, one variety of the date,[2045] 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.[2046] 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[2047] 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;[2048] the grape and the caryota date are esteemed for their

juice, the pear and the apple for their firmness, the melimelum[2049]

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,[2050] 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,[2051] the ferula,[2052] and the white

thorn[2053] the stalk itself constitutes the fruit, and the shoots of

the fig-tree[2054] are similarly employed.

Among the shrubs, the fruit of the caper[2055] is eaten along with the

stalk; and in the carob,[2056] 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[2057] of all the trees, the berries

of which produce two kinds of oil[2058] as well as of wine, besides

myrtidanum,[2059] of which we have already spoken. The berry of this

was also put to another use in ancient times, for before pepper[2060]

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.”[2061] 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,[2062] growing at

Circeii,[2063] near the tomb of Elpenor there:[2064] it still retains

its Greek[2065] 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;[2066] being

selected for that purpose, because Venus, who presides over all

unions, is the tutelary divinity of the tree.[2067] 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[2068] Marsic

War,[2069] 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[2070] also,

consecrated to Venus Myrtea, known at the present day by the name of

Murcia.

CHAP. 37.—ELEVEN VARIETIES OF THE MYRTLE.

Cato[2071] 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[2072]

myrtle, each of which includes a kind with a large leaf. The kind

known as “oxymyrsine,”[2073] belongs only to the wild variety:

ornamental gardeners classify several varieties of the cultivated

kind; the “Tarentine,”[2074] they speak of as a myrtle with a small

leaf, the myrtle of this country[2075] as having a broad leaf, and the

hexasticha[2076] 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[2077] 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[2078] 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 remarkable, this oil is possessed of a certain

vinous flavour, being, at the same time, of an unctuous nature, and

remarkably efficacious for improving[2079] wines. When this is done,

the wine strainer[2080] 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[2081] 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.[2082]

CHAP. 38.—THE MYRTLE USED AT ROME IN OVATIONS.

The myrtle has played[2083] its part, also, in the successes of war.

Posthumius Tubertus, who gained a victory over the Sabines in his

consulship,[2084] was the first person who entered the City enjoying

the honour of an ovation,[2085] 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[2086] 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,[2087] 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[2088]—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[2089] 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[2090]

and our pontiffs: there suspended alone, it graces the palace, and is

ever on guard before the threshold. Cato[2091] speaks of two varieties

of this tree, the Delphic[2092] 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”.[2093] 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[2094] 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[2095] edge, and crisped.

Since his time, however, the varieties have considerably augmented.

There is the tinus[2096] 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[2097] 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[2098]

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[2099] short leaf, and very rarely to be met with.

In ornamental gardening we also find the taxa[2100] employed, with

a small leaf sprouting from the middle of the leaf, and forming a

fringe, as it were, hanging from it; the spadonia,[2101] 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,[2102] also, a shrub that grows wild;

the Alexandrian[2103] laurel, by some known as the Idean, by others

as the “hypoglottion,”[2104] by others as the “carpophyllon,”[2105]

and by others, again, as the “hypelates.”[2106] 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,[2107] 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.[2108] 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:[2109] 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[2110] 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,[2111] so often as some new

victory has imparted universal 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.[2112] Perhaps, too, honour is more particularly paid

to this tree because it was there that Brutus[2113] 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.[2114]

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.[2115]

Indeed, it is very evident that the laurel protests against such usage

by crackling[2116] as it does in the fire, thus, in a manner, giving

expression 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.[2117]

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.[2118] 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.”[2119] 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.[2120] The laurel is the only one among the trees

that in the Latin language has given an appellation to a man,[2121]

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,”[2122]

where formerly a laurel-grove existed. The laurel is employed in

purifications, and we may here mention, incidentally, that it will grow

from slips[2123]—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,[2124] Fabianus,[2125] Virgil,[2126]

Corn. Valerianus,[2127] Celsus,[2128] Cato the Censor,[2129]

Saserna[2130] father and son, Scrofa,[2131] M. Varro,[2132] D.

Silanus,[2133] Fabius Pictor,[2134] Trogus,[2135] Hyginus,[2136]

Flaccus Verrius,[2137] Græcinus,[2138] Atticus Julius,[2139]

Columella,[2140] Massurius Sabinus,[2141] Tergilla,[2142] Cotta

Messalinus,[2143] L. Piso,[2144] Pompeius Lenæus,[2145] Maccius

Plautus,[2146] Flavius,[2147] Dossenus,[2148] Scævola,[2149]

Ælius,[2150] Ateius Capito,[2151] Sextius Niger,[2152] Vibius

Rufus.[2153]

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Aristotle,[2154] Democritus,[2155] King

Hiero,[2156] King Attalus Philometor,[2157] Archytas,[2158]

Xenophon,[2159] Amphilochus[2160] of Athens, Anaxipolis[2161] of

Thasos, Apollodorus[2162] of Lemnos, Aristophanes[2163] of Miletus,

Antigonus[2164] of Cymæ, Agathocles[2165] of Chios, Apollonius[2166]

of Pergamus, Aristander[2167] of Athens, Bacchius[2168] of Miletus,

Bion[2169] of Soli, Chæreas[2170] of Athens, Chæristus[2171] of Athens,

Diodorus[2172] of Priene, Dion[2173] of Colophon, Epigenes[2174]

of Rhodes, Euagon[2175] of Thasos, Euphronius[2176] of Athens,

Androtion[2177] who wrote on Agriculture, Æschrion[2178] who wrote on

Agriculture, Lysimachus[2179] who wrote on Agriculture, Dionysius[2180]

who translated Mago,[2181] Diophanes[2182] who made an Epitome of the

work of Dionysius, Asclepiades[2183] the Physician, Erasistratus[2184]

the Physician, Commiades[2185] who wrote on the preparation of Wines,

Aristomachus[2186] who wrote on the same subject, Hicesius[2187]

who wrote on the same subject, Themiso[2188] the Physician,

Onesicritus,[2189] King Juba.[2190]