XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT TREES…

XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT TREES

CHAPS. 1 & 2. (1.)—THE NATURE OF THE VINE. ITS MODE OF FRUCTIFICATION.

Those which have been hitherto mentioned, are, nearly all of them, exotic trees, which it is impossible to rear in any other than their native soil, and which are not to be naturalized in strange countries.[1096] It is now for us to speak of the more ordinary kinds, of all of which Italy may be looked upon as more particularly the parent.[1097] Those who are well acquainted with the subject, must only bear in mind that for the present we content ourselves with merely stating the different varieties of these trees, and not the mode of cultivating them, although there is no doubt that the characteristics of a tree depend very considerably upon its cultivation. At this fact I cannot sufficiently express my astonishment, that of some trees all memory has utterly perished, and that the very names of some, of which we find various authors making mention, have wholly disappeared.[1098] And yet who does not readily admit that now, when intercommunications have been opened between all parts of the world, thanks to the majestic sway of the Roman empire, civilization and the arts of life have made a rapid progress, owing to the interchange of commodities and the common enjoyment by all of the blessings of peace, while at the same time a multitude of objects which formerly lay concealed, are now revealed for our indiscriminate use?

Still, by Hercules! at the present day there are none to be found who have any acquaintance with much that has been handed down to us by the ancient writers; so much more comprehensive was the diligent research of our forefathers, or else so much more happily employed was their industry. It is a thousand years ago since Hesiod,[1099] at the very dawn, so to say, of literature, first gave precepts for the guidance of the agriculturist, an example which has since been followed by no small number of writers. Hence have originated considerable labours for ourselves, seeing that we have not only to enquire into the discoveries of modern times, but to ascertain as well what was known to the ancients, and this, too, in the very midst of that oblivion which the heedlessness of the present day has so greatly tended to generate. What causes then are we to assign for this lethargy, other than those feelings which we find actuating the public in general throughout all the world? New manners and usages, no doubt, have now come into vogue, and the minds of men are occupied with subjects of a totally different nature; the arts of avarice, in fact, are the only ones that are now cultivated.

In days gone by, the sway and the destinies of states were bounded by their own narrow limits, and consequently the genius of the people was similarly circumscribed as well, through a sort of niggardliness that was thus displayed by Fortune: hence it became with them a matter of absolute necessity to employ the advantages of the understanding: kings innumerable received the homage of the arts, and in making a display of the extent of their resources, gave the highest rank to those arts, entertaining the opinion that it was through them that they should ensure immortality. Hence it was that due rewards, and the various works of civilization, were displayed in such vast abundance in those times. For these later ages, the enlarged boundaries of the habitable world, and the vast extent of our empire, have been a positive injury. Since the Censor has been chosen for the extent of his property, since the judge has been selected according to the magnitude of his fortune, since it has become the fashion to consider that nothing reflects a higher merit upon the magistrate and the general than a large estate, since the being destitute of heirs[1100] has begun to confer upon persons the very highest power and influence, since legacy-hunting[1101] has become the most lucrative of all professions, and since it has been considered that the only real pleasures are those of possessing, all the true enjoyments of life have been utterly lost sight of, and all those arts which have derived the name of liberal, from liberty,[1102] that greatest blessing of life, have come to deserve the contrary appellation, servility alone being the passport to profit.

This servility each one has his own peculiar way of making most agreeable, and of putting in practice in reference to others, the motives and the hopes of all tending to the one great object, the acquisition of wealth: indeed, we may everywhere behold men even of naturally excellent qualities preferring to foster the vicious inclinations of others rather than cultivate their own talents. We may therefore conclude, by Hercules! that pleasure has now begun to live, and that life, truly so called, has ceased to be.[1103] As to ourselves, however, we shall continue our researches into matters now lost in oblivion, nor shall we be deterred from pursuing our task by the trivial nature[1104] of some of our details, a consideration which has in no way influenced us in our description of the animal world. And yet we find that Virgil, that most admirable poet, has allowed this to influence him, in his omission to enlarge upon the beauties of the garden; for, happy and graceful poet as he is, he has only culled what we may call the flower of his subject: indeed, we find that he has only named[1105] in all some fifteen varieties of the grape, three of the olive, the same number of the pear, and the citron of Assyria, and has passed over the rest in silence altogether.

(2). With what then ought we to begin in preference to the vine, the superiority in which has been so peculiarly conceded to Italy, that in this one blessing we may pronounce her to have surpassed those of all other nations of the earth, with the sole exception of those that bear the various perfumes? and even there, when the vine is in flower, there is not a perfume known which in exquisite sweetness can surpass it. The vine has been justly reckoned[1106] by the ancients among the trees, on account of its remarkable size. In the city of Populonium, we see a statue of Jupiter formed of the trunk of a single vine, which has for ages remained proof against all decay; and at Massilia, there is a patera made of the same wood. At Metapontum, the temple of Juno has long stood supported by pillars formed of the like material; and even at the present day we ascend to the roof of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, by stairs constructed, it is said, of the trunk of a single vine, that was brought from Cyprus; the vines of that island often attaining a most remarkable size. There is not a wood in existence of a more lasting nature than this; I am strongly inclined, however, to be of opinion that the material of which these various articles were constructed was the wild vine.

CHAP. 3.—THE NATURE OF THE GRAPE, AND THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

The cultivated vine is kept down by pruning every year, and all the strength of the tree is drawn as much as possible into the shoots, or else thrown downwards to the sets;[1107] indeed, it is only allowed to expand with the view of ensuring an abundant supply of juice, a result which is obtained in various modes according to the peculiarities of the climate and the nature of the soil. In Campania they attach[1108] the vine to the poplar: embracing the tree to which it is thus wedded, the vine grasps the branches with its amorous arms, and as it climbs, holds on with its knotted trunk, till it has reached the very summit; the height being sometimes so stupendous that the vintager when hired is wont to stipulate for his funeral pile and a grave at the owner’s expense. The vine keeps continually on the increase, and it is quite impossible to separate the two, or rather, I may say, to tear them asunder. Valerianus Cornelius has regarded it as one of the most remarkable facts that could be transmitted to posterity, that single vines have been known to surround villas and country-houses with their shoots and creeping tendrils ever on the stretch. At Rome, in the porticoes of Livia, a single vine, with its leaf-clad trellises, protects with its shade the walks in the open air; the fruit of it yields twelve amphoræ of must.[1109]

Everywhere we find the vine overtopping the elm even, and we read that Cineas,[1110] the ambassador of King Pyrrhus, when admiring the great height of the vines at Aricia, wittily making allusion to the peculiar rough taste of wine, remarked that it was with very good reason that they had hung the parent of it on so lofty a gibbet. There is a tree in that part of Italy which lies beyond the Padus,[1111] known as the “rumpotinus,”[1112] or sometimes by the name of “opulus,” the broad circular[1113] storeys of which are covered with vines, whose branches wind upwards in a serpentine form to the part where the boughs finally divide,[1114] and then, throwing out their tendrils, disperse them in every direction among the straight and finger-like twigs which project from the branches. There are vines also, about as tall as a man of moderate height, which are supported by props, and, as they throw out their bristling tendrils, form whole vineyards: while others, again, in their inordinate love for climbing, combined with skill on the part of the proprietor, will cover even the very centre[1115] of the court-yard with their shoots and foliage. So numerous are the varieties of the vine which even Italy alone presents.

In some of the provinces the vine is able to stand of itself without anything to support it, drawing in its bending branches, and making up in its thickness for its stunted size. In other places, again, the winds will not allow of this mode of culture, as in Africa, for instance, and various parts of the province of Gallia Narbonensis. These vines, being prevented from growing beyond the first branches, and hence always retaining a resemblance to those plants which stand in need of the hoe, trail along the ground just like them, and every here and there suck[1116] up the juices from the earth to fill their grapes: it is in consequence of this, that in the interior of Africa the clusters[1117] are known to exceed the body of an infant in size. The wine of no country is more acid than those of Africa, but there is nowhere to be found a grape that is more agreeable for its firmness, a circumstance which may very probably have given rise to its name of the “hard grape.”[1118] As to the varieties of the grape, although they are rendered innumerable by the size, the colour, and the flavour of the berry, they are multiplied even still more by the wines that they produce. In one part they are lustrous with a rich purple colour, while in another, again, they glow with a rosy tint, or else are glossy with their verdant hue. The grapes that are merely white or black are the common sorts. The bumastus[1119] swells out in form like a breast, while that known as the “dactylus,”[1120] has a berry of remarkable length. Nature, too, displays such varieties in these productions of hers, that small grapes are often to be found adhering to the largest vines, but of surpassing sweetness; they are known by the name of “leptorragæ.”[1121] Some, again, will keep throughout the winter, if care is taken to hang them to the ceiling[1122] with a string; while others, again, will keep by virtue of their own natural freshness and vigour, if put into earthen jars, which are then enclosed in dolia,[1123] and covered up with the fermenting husks of grapes. Some grapes receive from the smoke of the blacksmith’s forge that remarkable flavour which it is also known to impart to wines: it was the high name of the Emperor Tiberius that brought into such great repute the grapes that had been smoked in the smithies of Africa. Before his time the highest rank at table was assigned to the grapes of Rhætia,[1124] and to those growing in the territory of Verona.

Raisins of the sun have the name of “passi,” from having been submitted[1125] to the influence of the sun. It is not uncommon to preserve grapes in must, and so make them drunk with their own juices; while there are some that are all the sweeter for being placed in must after it has been boiled; others, again, are left to hang on the parent tree till a new crop has made its appearance, by which time they have become as clear and as transparent[1126] as glass. Astringent pitch, if poured upon the footstalk of the grape, will impart to it all that body and that firmness which, when placed in dolia or amphoræ, it gives to wine. More recently, too, there has been discovered a vine which produces a fruit that imparts to its wine a strong flavour of pitch: it is the famous grape that confers such celebrity on the territory of Vienne,[1127] and of which several varieties have recently enriched the territories of the Arverni, the Sequani, and the Helvii:[1128] it was unknown in the time of the poet Virgil, who has now been dead these ninety years.[1129]

In addition to these particulars, need I make mention of the fact that the vine[1130] has been introduced into the camp and placed in the centurion’s hand for the preservation of the supreme authority and command? that this is the high reward which summons the lagging ranks to the eagles raised aloft,[1131] and that even in chastisement for faults it tends to reflect honour upon the punishment?[1132] It was the vineyard, too, that first afforded a notion,[1133] the practical utility of which has been experienced in many a siege. Among the medicinal preparations, too, the vine holds so high a place, that its very wines taken by themselves are efficacious as remedies for disease.[1134]

CHAP. 4. (2.)—NINETY-ONE VARIETIES OF THE VINE.

Democritus, who has declared that he was acquainted with every variety of the grape known in Greece, is the only person who has been of opinion that every kind could be enumerated; but, on the other hand, the rest of the authors have stated that they are quite innumerable[1135] and of infinite extent, an assertion the truth of which will be more evident, if we only consider the vast number of wines. I shall not attempt, then, to speak of every kind of vine, but only of those that are the most remarkable, seeing that the varieties are very nearly as numberless as the districts in which they grow. It will suffice, then, to point out those which are the most remarkable among the vines, or else are peculiar for some wonderful property.

The very highest rank is given to the Aminean[1136] grape, on account of the body and durability of its wine, which improves with old age. There are five varieties of the Aminean grape; of these, the smaller germana, or “sister” grape, has a smaller berry than the rest, and flowers more strongly, being able to bear up against rain and tempestuous weather; a thing that is not the case with the larger germana, though it is less exposed to danger when attached to a tree than when supported only by a trellis. Another kind, again, has obtained the name of the “gemella,” or “twin” grape, because the clusters always grow[1137] in couples: the flavour of the wine is extremely rough, but it is remarkable for its strength. Of these several varieties the smaller one suffers from the south wind, but receives nutriment from all the others, upon Mount Vesuvius, for instance, and the hills of Surrentum: in the other parts of Italy it is never grown except attached to trees. The fifth kind is that known as the lanata, or “woolly” grape; so that we need not be surprised at the wool-bearing trees[1138] of the Seres or the Indians, for this grape is covered with a woolly down of remarkable thickness. It is the first of the Aminean vines that ripens, but the grape decays with remarkable rapidity.

The second rank belongs to the vines of Nomentum,[1139] the wood of which is red, from which circumstance the vines have received from some the name of “rubellæ.” The grapes of this vine produce less wine than usual, in consequence of the extraordinary quantity of husk and lees they throw off: but the vine is remarkably strong, is well able to stand the frost, and is apt to receive more detriment from drought than from rain, from heat than from cold; hence it is that those are looked upon as the best that are grown in cold and moist localities. That variety which has the smallest grape is considered the most fruitful: the one which has a jagged leaf is less productive.

The vine known as the “apiana,”[1140] has received that name from the bee, an insect which is remarkably fond of it: there are two varieties of this vine. This grape, too, is covered in its young state with a kind of down; the main difference between the two varieties is, that the one ripens more rapidly than the other, though this last ripens with considerable quickness. A cold locality is not at all hurtful to them, although there is no grape that ripens sooner: these grapes, however, very soon rot in the rain. The wines produced by this grape are sweet at first, but contract a rough flavour in the course of years. This vine is cultivated more than any other in Etruria. Thus far we have made mention of the more celebrated vines among those which are peculiar and indigenous to Italy; the rest have been introduced from Chios or Thasos.

The small Greek[1141] grape is not inferior to the Aminean for the excellence of its quality: the berry is remarkably thin-skinned, and the cluster so extremely small,[1142] that it is not worth while cultivating it, except on a soil of remarkable richness. The eugenia,[1143] so called from its high qualities, has been introduced into the Alban territory from the hills of Tauromenium:[1144] it is found, however, to thrive only there, for if transplanted elsewhere it degenerates immediately: in fact, there is in some vines so strong an attachment to their native soil, that they leave behind them all their high repute, and are never transplanted in their full entirety. This is the case, too, with the Rhætian and the Allobrogian grapes, of which we have made mention above as the pitch-flavoured[1145] grape; these are justly deemed excellent in their own country, while elsewhere they are held in no esteem at all. Still, however, in consequence of their remarkable fertility, they make up for quality by abundance: the eugenia thrives in spots which are scorching hot, the Rhætian vine in places of a more moderate temperature, and the Allobrogian in cold, exposed situations, the fruit being of a black colour, and ripened by the agency of frost.

The wines produced from the vines of which we have hitherto made mention, even though the grapes are black, become, all of them, when old, of a white[1146] complexion. The other vines are of no note in particular, though sometimes, thanks to some peculiarity either in the climate or the soil, the wines produced from them attain a mature old age; such, for instance, as the Fecenian[1147] vine, and the Biturigian,[1148] which blossoms at the same time with it, but has not so many grapes. The blossoms of these last-mentioned vines are not liable to receive injury, both because they are naturally but transitory, and have the power of resisting the action of both wind and storm; still, however, those that grow in cold spots are considered superior to those produced in a warm site, and those found in moist places superior to those grown in dry, thirsty localities.

The vine known as the “visula”[1149] * * * * more than abundance of fruit, being unable to endure the extreme variations of the atmosphere, though it is very well able to stand a continuation of either cold or heat. Of this last kind the smaller one is the best, but difficult to please in its choice; in a rich earth it is apt to rot, while in a thin soil it will come to nothing at all: in its fastidiousness it requires a soil of middling quality, and hence it is that it is so commonly found on the hills of the Sabine territory. Its grape is unsightly in appearance, but has a very pleasant flavour: if it is not gathered at the very moment that it is ripe, it will fall, even before it decays. The extreme size of the leaves, and its natural hardiness, are its great protection against the disastrous effects of hail.

The grapes known as “helvolæ”[1150] are remarkable for the peculiarity of their colour, which is a sort of midway between purple and black, but varies so frequently that it has made some persons give them the name of “varianæ.” Of the two sorts of helvolæ, the black is the one generally preferred: they both of them produce every other year, but the wine is best when the vintage has been less abundant.

The vine that is known as the “precia”[1151] is also divided into two varieties, distinguished by the size of the grape. These vines produce a vast quantity of wood, and the grape is very good for preserving in jars;[1152] the leaves are similar in appearance to that of parsley.[1153] The people of Dyrrhachium hold in high esteem the vine known as the “basilica,” the same which in Spain is called the “cocolobis.”[1154] The grapes of this vine grow in thin clusters, and it can stand great heat, and the south winds. The wine produced from it is apt to fly to the head:[1155] the produce of the vine is very large. The people in Spain distinguish two kinds of this vine, the one with the oblong, the other with the round grape; they gather this fruit the very last of all. The sweeter the cocolobis is, the more it is valued; but even if it has a rough taste, the wine will become sweet by keeping, while, on the other hand, that which was sweet at first, will acquire a certain roughness; it is in this last state that the wine is thought to rival that of Alba.[1156] It is said that the juice of this grape is remarkably efficacious when drunk as a specific for diseases of the bladder.

The “albuelis”[1157] produces most of its fruit at the top of the tree, the visula at the bottom; hence, when planted around the same tree, in consequence of these peculiarities in their nature, they bear between them a two-fold crop. One of the black grape vines has been called the “inerticula,”[1158] though it might with more propriety have been styled the “sobria;”[1159] the wine from it is remarkably good, and more particularly when old; but though strong, it is productive of no ill effects, and, indeed, is the only wine that will not cause intoxication.

The abundance of their produce again recommends other vines to us, and, in the first place, that known as the “helvennaca.”[1160] Of this vine there are two kinds; the larger, which is by some called the “long” helvennaca, and the smaller kind, which is known as the “emarcum,”[1161] not so prolific as the first, but producing a wine of more agreeable flavour; it is distinguished by its rounded leaf, but they are both of them of slender make. It is requisite to place forks beneath these vines for the support of their branches, as otherwise it would be quite impossible for them to support the weight of their produce: they receive nutriment from the breezes that blow from the sea, and foggy weather is injurious to them. There is not one among the vines that manifests a greater aversion to Italy, for there it becomes comparatively leafless and stunted, and soon decays, while the wine which it produces there will not keep beyond the summer: no vine, however, thrives better in a poor soil. Græcinus, who has copied from the works of Cornelius Celsus, gives it as his opinion that it is not that the nature of this vine is repugnant to the climate of Italy, but that it is the mode of cultivating it that is wrong, and the anxiety to force it to put forth its shoots; a mode of treatment, he thinks, which absorbs all its fertility, unless the soil in which it is planted happens to be remarkably rich, and by its support prevents it from being exhausted. It is said that this vine is never carbuncled,[1162] a remarkable quality, if, indeed, it really is the fact that there is any vine in existence that is exempt from the natural influences of the climate.

The spionia, by some called the “spinea,”[1163] is able to bear heat very well, and thrives in the autumn and rainy weather: indeed, it is the only one among all the vines that does well amid fogs, for which reason it is peculiar to the territory of Ravenna.[1164] The venicula[1165] is one of those that blossom the strongest, and its grapes are particularly well adapted for preserving in jars. The Campanians, however, prefer to give it the name of “scircula,” while others, again, call it “stacula.” Tarracina has a vine known as the “numisiana;” it has no qualities of its own, but has characteristics just according to the nature of the soil in which it is planted: the wine, however, if kept in the earthen casks[1166] of Surrentum, is remarkable for its goodness, that is to say, as far south as Vesuvius. On arriving in that district, we find the Murgentina,[1167] the very best among all those that come from Sicily. Some, indeed, call the vine “Pompeiana”[1168] and it is more particularly fruitful when grown in Latium, just as the “horconia”[1169] is productive nowhere but in Campania. Of a contrary nature is the vine known as the “argeica,” and by Virgil called “argitis:”[1170] it makes the ground all the more[1171] productive, and is remarkably stout in its resistance to rain and the effects of old age, though it will hardly produce wine every year; it is remarkable for the abundant crops which it bears, though the grapes are held but in small esteem for eating. The vine known as the “metica” lasts well for years, and offers a successful resistance to all changes of weather; the grape is black, and the wine assumes a tawny hue when old.

(3.) The varieties that have been mentioned thus far are those that are generally known; the others belong to peculiar countries or individual localities, or else are of a mixed nature, the produce of grafting. Thus the vine known as the “Tudernis,”[1172] is peculiar to the districts of Etruria, and so too is the vine that bears the name of “Florentia.” At Arretium the talpona, the etesiaca, and the consemina, are particularly excellent.[1173] The talpona,[1174] which is a black grape, produces a pale, straw-coloured[1175] must: the etesiaca[1176] is apt to deceive; the more the wine it produces the better the quality, but it is a remarkable fact, that just as it has reached that point its fecundity ceases altogether. The consemina[1177] bears a black grape, but its wine will not keep, though the grape itself is a most excellent keeper; it is gathered fifteen days later than any other kind of grape: this vine is very fruitful, but its grape is only good for eating. The leaves of this tree, like those of the wild vine, turn the colour of blood just before the fall: the same is the case also with some[1178] other varieties, but it is a proof that they are of very inferior quality.

The irtiola[1179] is a vine peculiar to Umbria and the territories of Mevania and Picenum, while the pumula[1180] belongs to Amiternum. In the same districts we find the vine called bannanica,[1181] which is very deceptive, though the people are remarkably fond of its fruit. The municipal town of Pompeii has given its name to the Pompeia,[1182] although it is to be found in greater abundance in the territory of Clusium. The Tiburina, also, is so called from the municipal town of Tibûr[1183], although it is in this district that they have lately discovered the grape known as the “oleaginea,” from its strong resemblance to an olive: this being the very last kind of grape that has been introduced. The Sabines and the Laurentes are the only people acquainted with the vinaciola.[1184] As to the vines of Mount Gaurus,[1185] I am aware that, as they have been transplanted from the Falernian territory, they bear the name of “Falernian;” but it is a fact that the Falernian vine, when transplanted, rapidly degenerates. Some persons, too, have made out a Tarentine variety, with a grape of remarkable sweetness: the grapes of the “capnios,”[1186] the “bucconiatis,”[1187] and the “tarrupia,” grow on the hills of Thurii, and are never gathered till after the frost commences. Pisæ enjoys the Parian vine, and Mutina the prusinian,[1188] with a black grape, the wine of which turns pale within four years. It is a very remarkable thing, but there is a grape here that turns round with the sun, in its diurnal motion, a circumstance from which it has received the name of “streptos.”[1189] In Italy, the Gallic vine is a great favourite, while beyond the Alps that of Picenum[1190] is preferred. Virgil has made mention[1191] of the Thasian vine, the Mareotis, the lagea, and several other foreign varieties, which are not to be found in Italy.

There are some vines, again, that are remarkable, not for their wine, but for their grapes, such, for instance, as the ambrosia,[1192] one of the “duracinus,”[1193] kind, a grape which requires no potting, but will keep perfectly well if left on the vine, so remarkable is the strength with which it is endowed for withstanding the effects of cold, heat, and stormy weather. The “orthampelos,”[1194] too, is a vine that requires neither tree nor stay, as it is well able to sustain its own weight. This, however, is not the case with the “dactylis,”[1195] the stem of which is no thicker than the finger. The “columbina”[1196] is one of those with the finest clusters, and still more so is the purple “bimammia;” it does not bear in clusters,[1197] but only secondary bunches. There is the tripedanea,[1198] too, a name which it owes to the length of its clusters, and the scirpula,[1199] with its shrivelled berry; the Rhætica,[1200] too, so called in the Maritime Alps, though very different from the grape of that name which is so highly esteemed, and of which we have previously spoken; for in this variety the clusters are small, the grapes lie closely packed, and it produces but a poor wine. It has, however, the thinnest skin of all the grapes, and a single stone,[1201] of very diminutive size, which is known as the “Chian;”[1202] one or two of the grapes on the cluster are remarkably large. There is also the black Aminean, to which the name of Syriaca is given: the Spanish vine, too, the very best of all those of inferior quality.

The grapes that are known as escariæ,[1203] are grown on trellises. Of the duracinus[1204] kind, there are those known as the white and the black varieties; the bumastus, too, is similarly distinguished in colour. Among the vines too, that have not as yet been mentioned, there are the Ægian and the Rhodian[1205] kinds, as also the uncialis, so called, it would seem, from its grape being an ounce in weight. There is the picina[1206] too, the blackest[1207] grape known, and the stephanitis,[1208] the clusters of which Nature, in a sportive mood, has arranged in the form of a garland, the leaves being interspersed[1209] among the grapes; there are the grapes, too, known as the “forenses,”[1210] and which quickly come to maturity, recommend themselves to the buyer by their good looks, and are easily carried from place to place.

On the other hand, those known as the “cinerea”[1211] are condemned by their very looks, and so are the rabuscula[1212] and the asinusca;[1213] the produce of the alopecis,[1214] which resembles in colour a fox’s tail, is held in less disesteem. The Alexandrina[1215] is the name of a vine that grows in the vicinity of Phalacra: it is of stunted growth, and has branches a cubit in length; the grape is black, about the size of a bean, with a berry that is soft, and remarkably small: the clusters hang in a slanting direction, and are remarkably sweet; the leaves are small and round, without any division.[1216] Within the last seven years there has been introduced at Alba Helvia,[1217] in the province of Gallia Narbonensis, a vine which blossoms but a single day, and is consequently proof against all accidents: the name given to it is “Narbonica,” and it is now planted throughout the whole of that province.

CHAP. 5. (4.)—REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE CULTURE OF THE VINE.

The elder Cato, who was rendered more particularly illustrious by his triumph[1218] and the censorship, and even more so by his literary fame, and the precepts which he has given to the Roman people upon every subject of utility, and the proper methods of cultivation in particular; a man who, by the universal confession, was the first husbandman of his age and without a rival—has mentioned a few varieties only of the vine, the very names of some of which are by this utterly forgotten.[1219] His statement on this subject deserves our separate consideration, and requires to be quoted at length, in order that we may make ourselves acquainted with the different varieties of this tree that were held in the highest esteem in the year of the City of Rome 600, about the time of the capture of Carthage and Corinth, the period of his death: it will show too, what great advances civilization has made in the last two hundred and thirty years. The following are the remarks which he has made on the subject of the vine and the grape.

“Where the site is considered to be most favourable to the growth of the vine, and exposed to the warmth of the sun, you will do well to plant the small[1220] Aminean, as well as the two eugenia,[1221] and the smaller helvia.[1222] On the other hand, where the soil is of a denser nature or more exposed to fogs, the greater Aminean should be planted, or else the Murgentine,[1223] or the Apician of Lucania. The other varieties of the grape are, for the most part, adapted to any kind of soil; they are best preserved in a lora.[1224] The best for keeping by hanging, are the duracinus kind, the greater Aminean, and the Scantian;[1225] these, too, will make excellent raisins for keeping if dried at the blacksmith’s forge.” There are no precepts in the Latin language on this subject more ancient than these, so near are we to the very commencement of all our practical knowledge! The Aminean grape, of which mention has been made above, is by Varro called the “Scantian.”

In our own times we have but few instances of any consummate skill that has been manifested in reference to this subject: the less excuse then should we have for omitting any particular which may tend to throw a light upon the profits that may be derived from the culture of the vine, a point which on all occasions is regarded as one of primary importance. Acilius Sthenelus, a man of plebeian rank, and the son of a freedman, acquired very considerable repute from the cultivation of a vineyard in the territory of Nomentum, not more than sixty jugera in extent, and which he finally sold for four hundred thousand sesterces. Vetulenus Ægialus too, a freedman as well, acquired very considerable note in the district of Liternum,[1226] in Campania, and, indeed, received a more extensive share of the public favour, from the fact that he cultivated the spot which had been the place of exile of Scipio Africanus.[1227] The greatest celebrity of all, however, was that which, by the agency of the same Sthenelus, was accorded to Rhemmius Palæmon, who was also equally famous as a learned grammarian. This person bought, some twenty years ago, an estate at the price of six hundred thousand sesterces in the same district of Nomentum, about ten miles distant from the City of Rome. The low price of property[1228] in the suburbs, on every side of the City, is well known; but in that quarter in particular, it had declined to a most remarkable extent; for the estate which he purchased had become deteriorated by long-continued neglect, in addition to which it was situate in the very worst part of a by no means favourite locality.[1229] Such was the nature of the property of which he thus undertook the cultivation, not, indeed, with any commendable views or intentions at first, but merely in that spirit of vanity for which he was notorious in so remarkable a degree. The vineyards were all duly dressed afresh, and hoed, under the superintendence of Sthenelus; the result of which was that Palæmon, while thus playing the husbandman, brought this estate to such an almost incredible pitch of perfection, that at the end of eight years the vintage, as it hung on the trees, was knocked down to a purchaser for the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces; while all the world was running to behold the heaps upon heaps of grapes to be seen in these vineyards. The neighbours, by way of finding some excuse for their own indolence, gave all the credit of this remarkable success to Palæmon’s profound erudition; and at last Annæus Seneca,[1230] who both held the highest rank in the learned world, and an amount of power and influence which at last proved too much for him—this same Seneca, who was far from being an admirer of frivolity, was seized with such vast admiration of this estate, as not to feel ashamed at conceding this victory to a man who was otherwise the object of his hatred, and who would be sure to make the very most of it, by giving him four times the original cost for those very vineyards, and that within ten years from the time that he had taken them under his management. This was an example of good husbandry worthy to be put in practice upon the lands of Cæcuba and of Setia; for since then these same lands have many a time produced as much as seven culei to the jugerum, or in other words, one hundred and forty amphoræ of must. That no one, however, may entertain the belief that ancient times were surpassed on this occasion, I would remark that the same Cato has stated in his writings, that the proper return was seven culei to the jugerum: all of them so many instances only tending most convincingly to prove that the sea, which in our rashness we trespass upon, does not make a more bounteous return to the merchant, no, not even the merchandize that we seek on the shores of the Red and the Indian Seas, than does a well-tilled homestead to the agriculturist.

CHAP. 6.—THE MOST ANCIENT WINES.

The wine of Maronea,[1231] on the coast of Thrace, appears to have been the most celebrated in ancient times, as we learn from the writings of Homer. I dismiss, however, all the fabulous stories and various traditions which we find relative to its origin, except, indeed, the one which states that Aristæus,[1232] a native of the same country, was the first person that mixed honey[1233] with wine, natural productions, both of them, of the highest degree of excellence. Homer[1234] has stated that the Maronean wine was mixed with water in the proportion of twenty measures of water to one of wine. The wine that is still produced in the same district retains all its former strength, and a degree of vigour that is quite insuperable.[1235] Mucianus, who thrice held the consulship, and one of our most recent authors, when in that part of the world was witness himself to the fact, that with one sextarius of this wine it was the custom to mix no less than eighty sextarii of water: he states, also, that this wine is black,[1236] has a strong bouquet, and is all the richer for being old.

The Pramnian wine, too, which Homer[1237] has also similarly eulogized, still retains its ancient fame: it is grown in the territory of Smyrna, in the vicinity of the shrine of the Mother[1238] of the Gods.

Among the other wines now known, we do not find any that enjoyed a high reputation in ancient times. In the year of the consulship of L. Opimius, when C. Gracchus,[1239] the tribune of the people, engaging in sedition, was slain, the growth of every wine was of the very highest quality. In that year, the weather was remarkable for its sereneness, and the ripening of the grape, the “coctura,”[1240] as they call it, was fully effected by the heat of the sun. This was in the year of the City 633. There are wines still preserved of this year’s growth, nearly two hundred years ago; they have assumed the consistency of honey, with a rough taste; for such, in fact, is the nature of wines, that, when extremely old, it is impossible to drink them in a pure state; and they require to be mixed with water, as long keeping renders them intolerably bitter.[1241] A very small quantity of the Opimian wine, mixed with them, will suffice for the seasoning of other wines. Let us suppose, according to the estimated value of these wines in those days, that the original price of them was one hundred sesterces per amphora: if we add to this six per cent. per annum, a legal and moderate interest, we shall then be able to ascertain what was the exact price of the twelfth part of an amphora at the beginning of the reign of Caius Cæsar, the son of Germanicus, one hundred and sixty years after that consulship. In relation to this fact, we have a remarkable instance,[1242] when we call to mind the life of Pomponius Secundus, the poet, and the banquet which he gave to that prince[1243]—so enormous is the capital that lies buried in our cellars of wine! Indeed, there is no one thing, the value of which more sensibly increases up to the twentieth year, or which decreases with greater rapidity after that period, supposing that the value of it is not by that time greatly enhanced.[1244] Very rarely, indeed, up to the present day, has it been known for a single[1245] piece of wine to cost a thousand sesterces, except, indeed, when such a sum may have been paid in a fit of extravagance and debauchery. The people of Vienne, it is said, are the only ones who have set a higher price than this upon their “picata,” wines, the various kinds of which we have already mentioned;[1246] and this, it is thought, they only do, vying with each other, and influenced by a sort of national self-esteem. This wine, drunk in a cool state, is generally thought to be of a colder[1247] temperature than any other.

CHAP. 7. (5.)—THE NATURE OF WINES.

It is the property of wine, when drunk, to cause a feeling of warmth in the interior of the viscera, and, when poured upon the exterior of the body, to be cool and refreshing. It will not be foreign to my purpose on the present occasion to state the advice which Androcydes, a man famous for his wisdom, wrote to Alexander the Great, with the view of putting a check on his intemperance: “When you are about to drink wine, O king!” said he, “remember that you are about to drink the blood of the earth: hemlock is a poison to man, wine a poison[1248] to hemlock.” And if Alexander had only followed this advice, he certainly would not have had to answer for slaying his friends[1249] in his drunken fits. In fact, we may feel ourselves quite justified in saying that there is nothing more useful than wine for strengthening the body, while, at the same time, there is nothing more pernicious as a luxury, if we are not on our guard against excess.

CHAP. 8. (6.)—FIFTY KINDS OF GENEROUS WINES.

Who can entertain a doubt that some kinds of wine are more agreeable to the palate than others, or that even out of the very same vat[1250] there are occasionally produced wines that are by no means of equal goodness, the one being much superior to the other, whether it is that it is owing to the cask,[1251] or to some other fortuitous circumstance? Let each person, therefore, constitute himself his own judge as to which kind it is that occupies the pre-eminence. Livia[1252] Augusta, who lived to her eighty-second year,[1253] attributed her longevity to the wine of Pucinum,[1254] as she never drank any other. This wine is grown near a bay of the Adriatic, not far from Mount Timavus, upon a piece of elevated rocky ground, where the sea-breeze ripens a few grapes, the produce of which supplies a few amphoræ: there is not a wine that is deemed superior to this for medicinal purposes. I am strongly of opinion that this is the same wine, the produce of the Adriatic Gulf, upon which the Greeks have bestowed such wonderful encomiums, under the name of Prætetianum.

The late Emperor Augustus preferred the Setinum to all others, and nearly all the emperors that have succeeded him have followed his example, having learnt from actual experience that there is no danger of indigestion and flatulence resulting from the use of this liquor: this wine is grown in the country[1255] that lies just above Forum Appii.[1256] In former times the Cæcubum enjoyed the reputation of being the most generous of all the wines; it was grown in some marshy swamps, planted with poplars, in the vicinity[1257] of the Gulf of Amyclæ. This vineyard has, however, now disappeared, the result of the carelessness of the cultivator, combined with its own limited extent, and the works on the canal which Nero commenced, in order to provide a navigation from Lake Avernus to Ostia.

The second rank belonged to the wine of the Falernian territory, of which the Faustianum was the most choice variety; the result of the care and skill employed upon its cultivation. This, however, has also degenerated very considerably, in consequence of the growers being more solicitous about quantity[1258] than quality. The Falernian[1259] vineyards begin at the bridge of Campania, on the left-hand as you journey towards the Urbana Colonia of Sylla, which was lately a township of the city of Capua. As to the Faustian vineyards, they extend about four miles from a village near Cædiciæ,[1260] the same village being six miles from Sinuessa. There is now no wine known that ranks higher than the Falernian; it is the only one, too, among all the wines that takes fire on the application of flame.[1261] There are three varieties of it—the rough, the sweet, and the thin. Some persons make the following distinctions: the Caucinum, they say, grows on the summit of this range of hills, the Faustianum on the middle slopes, and the Falernum at the foot: the fact, too, should not be omitted, that none of the grapes that produce these more famous wines have by any means an agreeable flavour.

To the third[1262] rank belonged the various wines of Alba, in the vicinity of the City, remarkable for their sweetness, and sometimes, though rarely, rough[1263] as well: the Surrentine[1264] wines, also, the growth of only stayed vines, which are especially recommended to invalids for their thinness and their wholesomeness. Tiberius Cæsar used to say that the physicians had conspired thus to dignify the Surrentinum, which was, in fact, only another name for generous vinegar; while Caius Cæsar, who succeeded him, gave it the name of “noble vappa.”[1265] Vying in reputation with these are the Massic wines, from the spots which look from Mount Gaurus towards Puteoli and Baiæ.[1266] As to the wines of Stata, in the vicinity of Falernum, there is no doubt that they formerly held the very highest rank, a fact which proves very clearly that every district has its own peculiar epochs, just as all other things have their rise and their decadence. The Calenian[1267] wines, too, from the same neighbourhood, used to be preferred to those last mentioned, as also the Fundanian,[1268] the produce of vines grown on stays, or else attached to shrubs. The wines, too, of Veliternum[1269] and Priverna,[1270] which were grown in the vicinity of the City, used to be highly esteemed. As to that produced at Signia,[1271] it is by far too rough to be used as a wine, but is very useful as an astringent, and is consequently reckoned among the medicines for that purpose.

The fourth rank, at the public banquets, was given by the late Emperor Julius—he was the first, in fact, that brought them into favour, as we find stated in his Letters[1272]—to the Mamertine wines, the produce of the country in the vicinity of Messana,[1273] in Sicily. The finest of these was the Potulanum,[1274] so called from its original cultivator, and grown on the spots that lie nearest to the mainland of Italy. The Tauromenitanum also, a wine of Sicily, enjoys a high repute, and flaggons[1275] of it are occasionally passed off for Mamertinum.

Among the other wines, we find mentioned upon the Upper Sea those of Prætutia and Ancona, as also those known as the “Palmensia,”[1276] not improbably because the cluster springs from a single shoot.[1277] In the interior we find the wines of Cæsena[1278] and that known as the Mæcenatian,[1279] while in the territory of Verona there are the Rhætian wines, only inferior, in the estimation of Virgil, to the Falernian.[1280] Then, too, at the bottom of the Gulf[1281] we find the wines of Adria.[1282] On the shores of the Lower Sea there are the Latiniensian[1283] wines, the Graviscan,[1284] and the Statonian:[1285] in Etruria, the wines of Luna bear away the palm, and those of Genua[1286] in Liguria. Massilia, which lies between the Pyrenees and the Alps, produces two varieties of wine, one of which is richer and thicker than the other, and is used for seasoning other wines, being generally known as “succosum.”[1287] The reputation of the wine of Beterræ[1288] does not extend beyond the Gallic territories;[1289] and as for the others that are produced in Gallia Narbonensis, nothing can be positively stated, for the growers of that country have absolutely established manufactories for the purposes of adulteration, where they give a dark hue to their wines by the agency of smoke; I only wish I could say, too, that they do not employ various herbs and noxious drugs for the same purpose;[1290] indeed, these dealers are even known to use aloes for the purpose of heightening the flavour and improving the colour of their wines.

The regions of Italy that are at a greater distance from the Ausonian Sea, are not without their wines of note, such as those of Tarentum,[1291] Servitia,[1292] and Consentia,[1293] and those, again, of Tempsa, Babia, and Lucania, among which the wines of Thurii hold the pre-eminence. But the most celebrated of all of them, owing to the fact that Messala[1294] used to drink it, and was indebted to it for his excellent health, was the wine of Lagara,[1295] which was grown not far from Grumentum.[1296] In Campania, more recently, new growths under new names have gained considerable credit, either owing to careful cultivation, or else to some other fortuitous circumstances: thus, for instance, we find four miles from Neapolis the Trebellian,[1297] near Capua the Cauline,[1298] wine, and the wine of Trebula[1299] grown in the territory so called, though but of a common sort: Campania boasts of all these, as well as of her Trifoline[1300] wines. As to the wines of Pompeii,[1301] they have arrived at their full perfection in ten years, after which they gain nothing by age: they are found also to be productive of headache, which often lasts so long as the sixth hour[1302] of the next day.

These illustrations, if I am not greatly mistaken, will go far to prove that it is the land and the soil that is of primary importance, and not the grape, and that it is quite superfluous to attempt to enumerate all the varieties of every kind, seeing that the same vine, transplanted to several places, is productive of features and characteristics of quite opposite natures. The vineyards of Laletanum[1303] in Spain[1304] are remarkable for the abundance of wine they produce, while those of Tarraco[1305] and of Lauron[1306] are esteemed for the choice qualities of their wines: those, too, of the Balearic Isles[1307] are often put in comparison with the very choicest growths of Italy.

I am by no means unaware that most of my readers will be of opinion that I have omitted a vast number of wines, seeing that every one has his own peculiar choice; so much so, that wherever we go, we hear the same story told, to the effect that one of the freedmen of the late Emperor Augustus, who was remarkable for his judgment and his refined taste in wines, while employed in tasting for his master’s table, made this observation to the master of the house where the emperor was staying, in reference to some wine the growth of that particular country: “The taste of this wine,” said he, “is new to me, and it is by no means of first-rate quality; the emperor, however, you will see, will drink of no other.”[1308] Indeed I have no wish to deny that there may be other wines deserving of a very high reputation, but those which I have already enumerated are the varieties upon the excellence of which the world is at present agreed.

CHAP. 9. (7.)—THIRTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF FOREIGN WINES.

We will now, in a similar manner, give a description of the varieties found in the parts beyond sea. After the wines mentioned by Homer, and of which we have already spoken,[1309] those held in the highest esteem were the wines of Thasos and Chios,[1310] and of the latter more particularly the sort known as “Arvisium.”[1311] By the side of these has been placed the wine of Lesbos,[1312] upon the authority of Erasistratus, a famous physician, who flourished about the year of the City of Rome 450. At the present day, the most esteemed of all is the wine of Clazomenæ,[1313] since they have learned to season it more sparingly with sea-water. The wine of Lesbos has naturally a taste of sea-water. That from Mount Tmolus[1314] is not so much esteemed by itself[1315] for its qualities as a wine, as for its peculiar sweetness. It is on account of this that it is mixed with other wines, for the purpose of modifying their harsh flavour, by imparting to them a portion of its own sweetness; while at the same time it gives them age, for immediately after the mixture they appear to be much older than they really are. Next in esteem after these are the wines of Sicyon,[1316] Cyprus,[1317] Telmessus,[1318] Tripolis,[1319] Berytus,[1320] Tyre,[1321] and Sebennys; this last is grown in Egypt, being the produce of three varieties of grape of the very highest quality, known as the Thasian,[1322] the æthalus,[1323] and the peuce.[1324] Next in rank are the hippodamantian[1325] wine, the Mystic,[1326] the cantharite,[1327] the protropum[1328] of Cnidos, the wine of the catacecaumene,[1329] the Petritan,[1330] and the Myconian;[1331] as to the Mesogitic,[1332] it has been found to give head-ache, while that of Ephesus is far from wholesome, being seasoned with sea-water and defrutum.[1333] It is said that the wine of Apamea[1334] is remarkably well adapted for making mulsum,[1335] like that of Prætutia in Italy: for this is a quality peculiar to only certain kinds of wine, the mixture of two sweet liquids being in general not attended with good results. The protagion[1336] is quite gone out of date, a wine which the school of Asclepiades has reckoned as next in merit to those of Italy. The physician Apollodorus, in the work which he wrote recommending King Ptolemy what wines in particular to drink—for in his time the wines of Italy were not generally known—has spoken in high terms of that of Naspercene in Pontus, next to which he places the Oretic,[1337] and then the Œneatian,[1338] the Leucadian,[1339] the Ambraciotic,[1340] and the Peparethian,[1341] to which last he gives the preference over all the rest, though he states that it enjoyed an inferior reputation, from the fact of its not being considered fit for drinking until it had been kept six years.

CHAP. 10. (8.)—SEVEN KINDS OF SALTED WINES.

Thus far we have treated of wines, the goodness of which is due to the country of their growth. In Greece the wine that is known by the name of “bion,” and which is administered for its curative qualities in several maladies (as we shall have occasion to remark when we come to speak on the subject of Medicine[1342]), has been justly held in the very highest esteem. This wine is made in the following manner: the grapes are plucked before they are quite ripe, and then dried in a hot sun: for three days they are turned three times a day, and on the fourth day they are pressed, after which the juice is put in casks,[1343] and left to acquire age in the heat of the sun.[1344]

The people of Cos mix sea-water in large quantities with their wines, an invention which they first learned from a slave, who adopted this method of supplying the deficiency that had been caused by his thievish propensities. When this is mixed with white must, the mixture receives the name of “leucocoum.”[1345] In other countries again, they follow a similar plan in making a wine called “tethalassomenon.”[1346] They make a wine also known as “thalassites,”[1347] by placing vessels full of must in the sea, a method which quickly imparts to the wine all the qualities of old age.[1348] In our own country too, Cato has shown the method of making Italian wine into Coan: in addition to the modes of preparation above stated, he tells us that it must be left exposed four years to the heat of the sun, in order to bring it to maturity. The Rhodian[1349] wine is similar to that of Cos, and the Phorinean is of a still salter flavour. It is generally thought that all the wines from beyond sea arrive at their middle state of maturity in the course of six[1350] or seven years.

CHAP. 11. (9.)—EIGHTEEN VARIETIES OF SWEET WINE. RAISIN-WINE AND HEPSEMA.

All the luscious wines have but little[1351] aroma: the thinner the wine the more aroma it has. The colours of wines are four, white,[1352] brown,[1353] blood-coloured,[1354] and black.[1355] Psythium[1356] and melampsythium[1357] are varieties of raisin-wine which have the peculiar flavour of the grape, and not that of wine. Scybelites[1358] is a wine grown in Galatia, and Aluntium[1359] is a wine of Sicily, both of which have the flavour of mulsum.[1360] As to siræum, by some known as “hepsema,” and which in our language is called “sapa,”[1361] it is a product of art and not of Nature, being prepared from must boiled down to one-third: when must is boiled down to one-half only, we give it the name of “defrutum.” All these mixtures have been devised for the adulteration of honey.[1362] As to those varieties which we have previously mentioned, their merits depend upon the grape, and the soil in which it is grown. Next after the raisin-wine of Crete,[1363] those of Cilicia and Africa are held in the highest esteem, both in Italy as well as the adjoining provinces. It is well known that it is made of a grape to which the Greeks have given the name of “stica,” and which by us is called “apiana:”[1364] it is also made of the scirpula.[1365] The grapes are left on the vine to dry in the sun, or else are boiled in the dolium.[1366] Some persons make this wine of the sweet and early white[1367] grape: they leave the grapes to dry in the sun, until they have lost pretty nearly half their weight, after which they crush them and subject them to a gentle pressure. They then draw off the juice, and add to the pulp that is left an equal quantity of well-water, the product of which is raisin-wine of second quality.[1368] The more careful makers not only do this, but take care also after drying the grapes to remove the stalks, and then steep the raisins in wine of good quality until they swell, after which they press them. This kind of raisin-wine is preferred to all others: with the addition of water, they follow the same plan in making the wine of second quality.

The liquor to which the Greeks give the name of “aigleucos,”[1369] is of middle quality, between the sirops and what is properly called wine; with us it is called “semper mustum.”[1370] It is only made by using great precaution, and taking care that the must does not ferment;[1371] such being the state of the must in its transformation into wine. To attain this object, the must is taken from the vat and put into casks, which are immediately plunged into water, and there left to remain until the winter solstice is past, and frosty weather has made its appearance. There is another kind, again, of natural aigleucos, which is known in the province of Narbonensis by the name of “dulce,”[1372] and more particularly in the district of the Vocontii. In order to make it, they keep the grape hanging on the tree for a considerable time, taking care to twist the stalk. Some, again, make an incision in the bearing shoot, as deep as the pith, while others leave the grapes to dry on tiles. The only grape, however, that is used in these various processes is that of the vine known as the “helvennaca.”[1373]

Some persons add to the list of these sweet wines that known as “diachyton.”[1374] It is made by drying grapes in the sun, and then placing them for seven days in a closed place upon hurdles, some seven feet from the ground, care being taken to protect them at night from the dews: on the eighth day they are trodden out: this method, it is said, produces a liquor of exquisite bouquet and flavour. The liquor known as melitites[1375] is also one of the sweet wines: it differs from mulsum, in being made of must; to five congii of rough-flavoured must they put one congius of honey, and one cyathus of salt, and they are then brought to a gentle boil: this mixture is of a rough flavour. Among these varieties, I ought to place what is known as “protropum;”[1376] such being the name given by some to the must that runs spontaneously from the grapes before they are trodden out. Directly it flows it is put into flaggons, and allowed to ferment; after which it is left to ripen for forty days in a summer sun, about the rising of the Dog-star.

CHAP. 12. (10.)—THREE VARIETIES OF SECOND-RATE WINE.

Those cannot properly be termed wines, which by the Greeks are known under the name of “deuteria,”[1377] and to which, in common with Cato, we in Italy give the name of “lora,”[1378] being made from the husks of grapes steeped in water. Still, however, this beverage is reckoned as making one of the “labourers’”[1379] wines. There are three varieties of it: the first[1380] is made in the following manner:—After the must is drawn off, one-tenth of its amount in water is added to the husks, which are then left to soak a day and a night, and then are again subjected to pressure. A second kind, that which the Greeks are in the habit of making, is prepared by adding one-third in water of the quantity of must that has been drawn off, and after submitting the pulp to pressure, the result is reduced by boiling to one-third of its original quantity. A third kind, again, is pressed out from the wine-lees; Cato gives it the name of “fæcatum.”[1381] None of these beverages, however, will keep for more than a single year.

CHAP. 13. (11.)—AT WHAT PERIOD GENEROUS WINES WERE FIRST COMMONLY MADE IN ITALY.

While treating of these various details, it occurs to me to mention that of the eighty different kinds throughout the whole earth, which may with propriety be reckoned in the class of generous[1382] wines, fully two-thirds[1383] are the produce of Italy, which consequently in this respect far surpasses any other country: and on tracing this subject somewhat higher up, the fact suggests itself, that the wines of Italy have not been in any great favour from an early period, their high repute having only been acquired since the six hundredth year of the City.

CHAP. 14. (12.)—THE INSPECTION OF WINE ORDERED BY KING ROMULUS.

Romulus made libations, not with wine but with milk; a fact which is fully established by the religious rites which owe their foundation to him, and are observed even to the present day. The Posthumian Law, promulgated by King Numa, has an injunction to the following effect:—“Sprinkle not the funeral pyre with wine;” a law to which he gave his sanction, no doubt, in consequence of the remarkable scarcity of that commodity in those days. By the same law, he also pronounced it illegal to make a libation to the gods of wine that was the produce of an unpruned vine, his object being to compel the husbandmen to prune their vines; a duty which they showed themselves reluctant to perform, in consequence of the danger which attended climbing the trees.[1384] M. Varro informs us, that Mezentius, the king of Etruria, succoured the Rutuli against the Latini, upon condition that he should receive all the wine that was then in the territory of Latium.

(13.) At Rome it was not lawful for women to drink wine. Among the various anecdotes connected with this subject, we find that the wife of Egnatius Mecenius[1385] was slain by her husband with a stick, because she had drunk some wine from the vat, and that he was absolved from the murder by Romulus. Fabius Pictor, in his Book of Annals, has stated that a certain lady, for having opened a purse in which the keys of the wine-cellar were kept, was starved to death by her family: and Cato tells us, that it was the usage for the male relatives to give the females a kiss, in order to ascertain whether they smelt of “temetum;” for it was by that name that wine was then known, whence our word “temulentia,” signifying drunkenness. Cn. Domitius, the judge, once gave it as his opinion, that a certain woman appeared to him to have drunk more wine than was requisite for her health, and without the knowledge of her husband, for which reason he condemned her to lose her dower. For a very long time there was the greatest economy manifested at Rome in the use of this article. L. Papirius,[1386] the general, who, on one occasion, commanded against the Samnites, when about to engage, vowed an offering to Jupiter of a small cupfull of wine, if he should gain the victory. In fact, among the gifts presented to the gods, we find mention made of offerings of sextarii of milk, but never of wine.

The same Cato, while on his voyage to Spain, from which he afterwards returned triumphant,[1387] would drink of no other wine but that which was served out to the rowers—very different, indeed, to the conduct of those who are in the habit of giving to their guests even inferior wine[1388] to that which they drink themselves, or else contrive to substitute inferior in the course of the repast.[1389]

CHAP. 15.—WINES DRUNK BY THE ANCIENT ROMANS.

The wines that were the most esteemed among the ancient Romans were those perfumed with myrrh,[1390] as mentioned in the play of Plautus, entitled the “Persian,”[1391] though we find it there stated that calamus[1392] ought to be added to it. Hence it is, that some persons are of opinion that they were particularly fond of aromatites:[1393] but Fabius Dossennus quite decides the question, in the following line:—“I sent them good wine, myrrh-wine;”[1394] and in his play called “Acharistio,” we find these words—“Bread and pearled barley, myrrh-wine too.” I find, too, that Scævola and L. Ælius, and Ateius Capito, were of the same opinion; and then we read in the play known as the “Pseudolus:”[1395]—“But if it is requisite for him to draw forth what is sweet from the place, has he aught of that?” to which Charinus makes answer, “Do you ask the question? He has myrrh wine, raisin wine, defrutum,[1396] and honey;” from which it would appear that myrrh wine was not only reckoned among the wines, but among the sweet wines too.

CHAP. 16. (14.)—SOME REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH WINE-LOFTS. THE OPIMIAN WINE.

The fact of the existence of the Opimian wine gives undoubted proof that there were wine-lofts,[1397] and that wine was racked off in the year of Rome 633, Italy being already alive to the blessings she enjoyed. Still, however, the several varieties that are now so celebrated were not so in those days; and hence it is that all the wines that were grown at that period have only the one general name of “Opimian” wines, from the then consul Opimius. So, too, for a long time afterwards, and, indeed, so late as the times of our grandfathers, the wines from beyond sea were held in the highest esteem, even though Falernian was already known, a fact which we learn from the line of the Comic writer,[1398] “I shall draw five cups of Thasian and two of Falernian.”

P. Licinius Crassus, and L. Julius Cæsar, who were Censors in the year from the Building of the City 665, issued an edict forbidding the sale of either Greek or Aminean wine at a higher price than eight asses the quadrantal[1399]—for such, in fact, are the exact words of the edict. Indeed, the Greek wines were so highly valued, that not more than a single cup was served to a guest during the repast.

CHAP. 17.—AT WHAT PERIOD FOUR KINDS OF WINE WERE FIRST SERVED AT TABLE.

M. Varro gives us the following statement as to the wines that were held in the highest esteem at table in his day: “L. Lucullus, when a boy, never saw an entertainment at his father’s house, however sumptuous it might be, at which Greek wine was handed round more than once during the repast: whereas he himself, when he returned from Asia, distributed as a largess among the people more than a hundred thousand congiaria[1400] of the same wine. C. Sentius, whom we have seen Prætor, used to say that Chian wine never entered his house until his physician prescribed it to him for the cardiac[1401] disease. On the other hand, Hortensius left ten thousand casks of it to his heir.” Such is the statement made by Varro.

(15.) And besides, is it not a well-known fact that Cæsar, when Dictator, at the banquet given on the occasion of his triumph, allotted to each table an amphora of Falernian and a cadus of Chian? On the occasion, too, of his triumph for his victories in Spain, he put before the guests both Chian as well as Falernian; and again, at the banquet given on his third consulship,[1402] he gave Falernian, Chian, Lesbian, and Mamertine; indeed, it is generally agreed that this was the first occasion on which four different kinds of wine were served at table. It was after this, then, that all the other sorts came into such very high repute, somewhere about the year of the City 700.

CHAP. 18. (16.)—THE USES OF THE WILD VINE. WHAT JUICES ARE NATURALLY THE COLDEST OF ALL.

I am not surprised, then, that for these many ages there have been invented almost innumerable varieties of artificial wines, of which I shall now make some mention; they are all of them employed for medicinal purposes. We have already stated in a former Book how omphacium,[1403] which is used for unguents, is made. The liquor known as “œnanthinum” is made from the wild vine,[1404] two pounds of the flowers of which are steeped in a cadus of must, and are then changed at the end of thirty days. In addition to this, the root and the husks of the grapes are employed in dressing leather. The grapes, too, a little after the blossom has gone off, are singularly efficacious as a specific for cooling the feverish heat of the body in certain maladies, being, it is said, of a nature remarkable for extreme coldness. A portion of these grapes wither away, in consequence of the heat, before the rest, which are thence called solstitial[1405] grapes; indeed, the whole of them never attain maturity; if one of these grapes, in an unripe state, is given to a barn-door fowl to eat, it is productive of a dislike to grapes for the future.[1406]

CHAP. 19.—SIXTY-SIX VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL WINE.

The first of the artificial wines has wine for its basis; it is called “adynamon,”[1407] and is made in the following manner. Twenty sextarii of white must are boiled down with half that quantity of water, until the amount of the water is lost by evaporation. Some persons mix with the must ten sextarii of sea-water and an equal quantity of rain-water, and leave the whole to evaporate in the sun for forty days. This beverage is given to invalids to whom it is apprehended that wine may prove injurious.

The next kind of artificial wine is that made of the ripe grain of millet;[1408] a pound and a quarter of it with the straw is steeped in two congii of must, and the mixture is poured off at the end of six months. We have already stated[1409] how various kinds of wine are made from the tree, the shrub, and the herb, respectively known as the lotus.

From fruit, too, the following wines are made, to the list of which we shall only add some necessary explanations:—First of all, we find the fruit of the palm[1410] employed for this purpose by the Parthians as well as the Indians, and, indeed, throughout all the countries of the East. A modius of the kind of ripe date called “chydææ”[1411] is added to three congii of water, and after being steeped for some time, they are subjected to pressure. Sycites[1412] is a preparation similarly made from figs: some persons call it “palmiprimum,”[1413] others, again, “catorchites:” if sweetness is not the maker’s object, instead of water there is added the same quantity of husk juice[1414] of grapes. Of the Cyprian fig[1415] a very excellent vinegar, too, is made, and of that of Alexandria[1416] a still superior.

A wine is made, too, of the pods of the Syrian carob,[1417] of pears, and of all kinds of apples. That known as “rhoites”[1418] is made from pomegranates, and other varieties are prepared from cornels, medlars, sorb apples, dried mulberries, and pine-nuts[1419] these last are left to steep in must, and are then pressed; the others produce a sweet liquor of themselves. We shall have occasion before long to show how Cato[1420] has pointed out the method of making myrtites:[1421] the Greeks, however, adopt a different method in making it. They first boil tender sprigs of myrtle with the leaves on in white must, and after pounding them, boil down one pound of the mixture in three congii of must, until it is reduced to a couple of congii. The beverage that is prepared in this manner with the berries of wild myrtle is known as “myrtidanum;”[1422] it will stain the hands.

Among the garden plants we find wines made of the following kinds: the radish, asparagus, cunila, origanum, parsley-seed, abrotonum,[1423] wild mint, rue,[1424] catmint,[1425] wild thyme,[1426] and horehound.[1427] A couple of handfuls of these ingredients are put into a cadus of must, as also one sextarius of sapa,[1428] and half a sextarius of sea-water. A wine is made of the naphew[1429] turnip by adding two drachms of naphew to two sextarii of must. A wine is made also from the roots of squills.[1430] Among the flowers, that of the rose furnishes a wine: the leaves are put in a linen cloth and then pounded, after which they are thrown into must with a small weight attached to make them sink to the bottom, the proportion being forty drachms of leaves to twenty sextarii of must; the vessel in which it is kept must not be opened before the end of three months. A wine, too, is made of Gallic nard,[1431] and another kind of the wild[1432] variety of that plant.

I find, also, that various kinds of aromatites[1433] are prepared, differing but very little in their mode of composition from that of the unguents, being made in the first instance, as I have already stated,[1434] of myrrh, and then at a later period of Celtic nard,[1435] calamus, and aspalathus,[1436] of which cakes are made, and are then thrown into either must or sweet wine. Others, again, make these wines of calamus, scented rush,[1437] costus,[1438] Syrian nard,[1439] amomum,[1440] cassia,[1441] cinnamon, saffron,[1442] palm-dates, and foal-foot,[1443] all of which are made up into cakes in a similar manner. Other persons, again, put half a pound of nard and malobathrum[1444] to two congii of must; and it is in this manner that at the present day, with the addition of pepper and honey, the wines are made by some known as confection wines,[1445] and by others as peppered[1446] wines. We find mention made of nectarites also, a beverage extracted from a herb known to some as “helenion,”[1447] to others as “Medica,”[1448] and to others, again, as symphyton,[1449] Idæa, Orestion, or nectaria, the root of which is added in the proportion of forty drachms to six sextarii of must, being first similarly placed in a linen cloth.

As to other kinds of herbs, we find wormwood wine,[1450] made of Pontic wormwood in the proportion of one pound to forty sextarii of must, which is then boiled down until it is reduced to one third, or else of slips of wormwood put in wine. In a similar manner, hyssop wine[1451] is made of Cilician hyssop,[1452] by adding three ounces of it to two congii of must, or else by pounding three ounces of hyssop, and adding them to one congius of must. Both of these wines may be made also in another method, by sowing these plants around the roots of vines. It is in this manner, too, that Cato tells us how to make hellebore[1453] wine from black hellebore; and a similar method is used for making scammony[1454] wine. The vine has a remarkable propensity[1455] of contracting the flavour of any plant that may happen to be growing near it; and hence it is that in the marshy lands of Patavium, the grape has the peculiar flavour of the willow. So, in like manner, we find at Thasos hellebore planted among the vines, or else wild cucumber, or scammony; the wine that is produced from these vines is known by the name of “phthorium,” it being productive of abortion.

Wines are made, too, of other herbs, the nature of which will be mentioned in their respective places, the stœchas[1456] for instance, the root of gentian,[1457] tragoriganum,[1458] dittany,[1459] foal-foot,[1460] daucus,[1461] elelisphacus,[1462] panax,[1463] acorus,[1464] conyza,[1465] thyme,[1466] mandragore,[1467] and sweet rush.[1468] We find the names mentioned, also, of scyzinum,[1469] itæomelis, and lectisphagites, compounds of which the receipt is now lost.

The wines that are made from the shrubs are mostly extracted from the two kinds of cedar,[1470] the cypress,[1471] the laurel,[1472] the juniper,[1473] the terebinth,[1474] and in Gaul the lentisk.[1475] To make these wines, they boil either the berries or the new wood of the shrub in must. They employ, also, the wood of the dwarf olive,[1476] the ground-pine,[1477] and the germander[1478] for a similar purpose, adding at the same time ten drachms of the flower to a congius of must.

CHAP. 20. (17.)—HYDROMELI, OR MELICRATON.

There is a wine also made solely of honey and water.[1479] For this purpose it is recommended that rain-water[1480] should be kept for a period of five years. Those who shew greater skill, content themselves with taking the water just after it has fallen, and boiling it down to one third, to which they then add one third in quantity of old honey, and keep the mixture exposed to the rays of a hot sun[1481] for forty days after the rising of the Dog-star; others, however, rack it off in the course of ten days, and tightly cork the vessels in which it is kept. This beverage is known as “hydromeli,” and with age acquires the flavour of wine. It is nowhere more highly esteemed than in Phrygia.[1482]

CHAP. 21.—OXYMELI.

Vinegar[1483] even has been mixed with honey; nothing, in fact, has been left untried by man. To this mixture the name of oxymeli has been given; it is compounded of ten pounds of honey, five semi-sextarii of old vinegar, one pound of sea-salt, and five sextarii of rain-water. This is boiled gently till the mixture has bubbled in the pot some ten times,[1484] after which it is drawn off, and kept till it is old;[1485] all these wines, however, are condemned[1486] by Themison, an author of high authority. And really, by Hercules! the use of them does appear to be somewhat forced,[1487] unless, indeed, we are ready to maintain that these aromatic wines are so many compounds taught us by Nature, as well as those that are manufactured of perfumes, or that shrubs and plants have been generated only for the purpose of being swallowed in drink. However, all these particulars, when known, are curious and interesting, and show how successfully the human intellect has pried into every secret.

None of these wines, however, will keep beyond a year,[1488] with the sole exception of those which we have spoken of as requiring age; many of these, indeed, there can be no doubt, do not improve after being kept so little as thirty days.

CHAP. 22. (18.)—TWELVE KINDS OF WINE WITH MIRACULOUS PROPERTIES.

There are some miraculous properties, too, in certain wines. It is said that in Arcadia there is a wine grown which is productive of fruitfulness[1489] in women, and of madness in men; while in Achaia, and more especially in the vicinity of Carynia, there is a wine which causes abortion; an effect which is equally produced if a woman in a state of pregnancy happens only to eat a grape of the vine from which it is grown, although in taste it is in no way different from ordinary grapes: again, it is confidently asserted that those who drink the wine of Trœzen never bear children. Thasos, it is said, produces two varieties of wine with quite opposite properties. By one kind sleep is produced,[1490] by the other it is prevented. There is also in the same island a vine known as the “theriaca,”[1491] the wine and grapes of which are a cure for the bites of serpents. The libanian vine[1492] also produces a wine with the smell of frankincense, with which they make libations to the gods, while, on the other hand, the produce of that known as “aspendios,”[1493] is banished from all the altars: it is said, too, that this last vine is never touched by any bird.

The Egyptians call by the name of “Thasian,”[1494] a certain grape of that country, remarkable for its sweetness and its laxative qualities. On the other hand, there is in Lycia a certain grape which proves astringent to the stomach when relaxed. Egypt has a wine, too, known as “ecbolas,”[1495] which is productive of abortion. There are some wines, which at the rising of the Dog-star change their nature in the wine-lofts[1496] where they are kept, and afterwards recover[1497] their original quality. The same is the case, too, with wines when carried across the seas: those that are able to withstand the motion of the waves, appear afterwards to be twice as old[1498] as they really are.

CHAP. 23. (19.)—WHAT WINES IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO USE IN THE SACRED RITES.

As religion is the great basis of the ordinary usages of life, I shall here remark that it is considered improper to offer libations to the gods with any wines which are the produce of an unpruned vine, or of one that has been struck by lightning, or near to which a dead man has been hung, or of grapes that have been trodden out by sore feet, or made of must from husks that have been cut,[1499] or from grapes that have been polluted by the fall of any unclean thing upon them. The Greek wines are excluded also from the sacred ministrations, because they contain a portion of water.

The vine itself is sometimes eaten; the tops of the shoots[1500] are taken off and boiled, and are then pickled in vinegar[1501] and brine.

CHAP. 24.—HOW MUST IS USUALLY PREPARED.

It will be as well now to make some mention of the methods used in preparing wines; indeed, several of the Greeks have written separate treatises on this subject, and have made a complete art of it, such, for instance, as Euphronius, Aristomachus, Commiades, and Hicesius. The people of Africa are in the habit of neutralizing such acidity[1502] as may be found with gypsum, and in some parts with lime. The people of Greece, on the other hand, impart briskness to their wines when too flat, with potters’ earth, pounded marble, salt, or sea-water; while in Italy, again, brown pitch is used for that purpose in some parts, and it is the universal practice both there as well as in the adjoining provinces to season their new wines with resin: sometimes, too, they season them with old wine-lees or vinegar.[1503] They make various medicaments, also, for this purpose with the must itself. They boil it down till it becomes quite sweet, and has lost a considerable portion of its strength; though thus prepared, they say it will never last beyond a single year. In some places they boil down the must till it becomes sapa,[1504] and then mix it with their wines for the purpose of modifying their harshness. Both for these kinds of wines, as, indeed, all others, they always employ vessels which have themselves received an inner coat of pitch; the method of preparing them will be set forth in a succeeding Book.[1505]

CHAP. 25. (20.)—PITCH AND RESIN.

Of the trees from which pitch and resin distil, there are some which grow in the East, and others in Europe: the province of Asia,[1506] which lies between the two, has also some of both kinds. In the East, the very best commodity of this kind, and of the finest quality, is that produced by the terebinth,[1507] and, next to it, that from the lentisk,[1508] which is also known as the mastich. The next in quality to these is the juice of the cypress,[1509] being of a more acrid flavour than any other. All the above juices are liquid and of a resinous nature only, but that of the cedar[1510] is comparatively thick, and of a proper consistency for making pitch. The Arabian resin[1511] is of a pale colour, has an acrid smell, and its fumes are stifling to those employed in boiling it. That of Judæa is of a harder nature, and has a stronger smell than that from the terebinth[1512] even. The Syrian[1513] resin has all the appearance of Attic honey, but that of Cyprus is superior to any other; it is the colour of honey, and is of a soft, fleshy nature. The resin of Colophon[1514] is yellower than the other varieties, but when pounded it turns white; it has a stifling smell, for which reason the perfumers do not employ it. That prepared in Asia from the produce of the pitch-tree is very white, and is known by the name of “spagas.”

All the resins are soluble in oil;[1515] some persons are of opinion also that potters’ chalk may be so dissolved:[1516] I feel ashamed[1517] to avow that the principal esteem in which the resins are held among us is as depilatories for taking the hair off men’s bodies.

The method used for seasoning wines is to sprinkle pitch in the must during the first fermentation, which never lasts beyond nine days at the most, so that a bouquet is imparted to the wine,[1518] with, in some degree, its own peculiar piquancy of flavour. It is generally considered, that this is done most effectually by the use of raw flower[1519] of resin, which imparts a considerable degree of briskness to wine: while, on the other hand, it is thought that crapula[1520] itself, if mixed, tends to mitigate the harshness of the wine and subdue its asperity, and when the wine is thin and flat, to give it additional strength and body. It is in Liguria more particularly, and the districts in the vicinity of the Padus, that the utility is recognized of mixing crapula with the must, in doing which the following rule is adopted: with wines of a strong and generous nature they mix a larger quantity, while with those that are poor and thin they use it more sparingly. There are some who would have the wine seasoned with both crapula and flower of resin at the same time.[1521] Pitch too, when used for this purpose, has much the same properties as must when so employed.

In some places, the must is subject to a spontaneous fermentation a second time: when this unfortunately happens it loses all its flavour, and then receives the name of “vappa,”[1522] a word which is applied as an opprobrious appellation even to worthless men of degenerate spirit: in vinegar, on the other hand, notwithstanding its tart and acrid taste, there are very considerable virtues, and without it we should miss many of the comforts[1523] of civilized life.

In addition to what we have already stated, the treatment and preparation of wines are the object of such remarkable attention, that we find some persons employing ashes, and others gypsum and other substances of which we have already[1524] spoken, for the purpose of improving its condition: the ashes,[1525] however, of the shoots of vines or of the wood of the quercus, are in general preferred for this purpose. It is recommended also, to take sea-water far out at sea, and to keep it in reserve,[1526] to be employed for this purpose: at all events, it ought to be taken up in the night and during the summer solstice, while the north-east wind is blowing; but if taken at the time of the vintage, it should be boiled before being used.

The pitch most highly esteemed in Italy for preparing vessels for storing wine, is that which comes from Bruttium. It is made from the resin that distils from the pitch-tree; that which is used in Spain is held in but little esteem, being the produce of the wild pine; it is bitter, dry, and of a disagreeable smell. While speaking of the wild trees in a succeeding Book,[1527] we shall make mention of the different varieties of pitch, and the methods used in preparing it. The defects in resin, besides those which[1528] we have already mentioned, are a certain degree of acridity, or a peculiar smoky flavour, while the great fault in pitch is the being over-burnt. The ordinary test of its goodness is a certain luminous appearance when broken to pieces; it ought to stick, too, to the teeth, with a pleasant, tart flavour.

In Asia, the pitch which is most esteemed is that of Mount Ida, in Greece of Pieria; but Virgil[1529] gives the preference to the Narycian[1530] pitch. The more careful makers mix with the wine black mastich, which comes from Pontus,[1531] and resembles bitumen in appearance, as also iris[1532]-root and oil. As to coating the vessels with wax, it has been found that the wine is apt to turn acid:[1533] it is a better plan to put wine in vessels that have held vinegar, than in those which have previously contained sweet wine or mulsum. Cato[1534] recommends that wines should be got up—concinnari is his word—by putting of lie-ashes boiled down with defrutum, one-fortieth part to the culeus, or else a pound and a half of salt, with pounded marble as well: he makes mention of sulphur also, but only gives the very last place to resin. When the fermentation of the wine is coming to an end, he recommends the addition of the must to which he gives the name of “tortivum,”[1535] meaning that which is pressed out the very last of all. For the purpose of colouring wine we also add certain substances as a sort of pigment, and these have a tendency to give it a body as well. By such poisonous sophistications is this beverage compelled to suit our tastes, and then we are surprised that it is injurious in its effects!

It is a proof that wine is beginning to turn bad, if a plate of lead, on being put in it, changes its colour.[1536]

CHAP. 26.—VINEGAR—LEES OF WINE.

It is a peculiarity of wine, among the liquids, to become mouldy, or else to turn to vinegar. There are whole volumes which treat of the various methods of preventing this.

The lees of wine when dried will take fire and burn without the addition of fuel: the ashes so produced have very much the nature of nitre,[1537] and similar virtues; the more so, indeed, the more unctuous they are to the touch.

CHAP. 27. (21.)—WINE-VESSELS—WINE-CELLARS.

The various methods of keeping and storing wines in the cellar are very different. In the vicinity of the Alps, they put their wines in wooden vessels hooped around;[1538] during their cold winters, they even keep lighted fires, to protect the wines from the effects of the cold. It is a singular thing to mention, but still it has been occasionally seen, that these vessels have burst asunder, and there has stood the wine in frozen masses; a miracle almost, as it is not ordinarily the nature of wine to freeze, cold having only the effect of benumbing it. In more temperate climates, they place their wines in dolia,[1539] which they bury in the earth, either covering them entirely or in part, according to the temperature. Sometimes, again, they expose their wines in the open air, while at others they are placed beneath sheds for protection from the atmosphere.

The following are among the rules given for the proper management of wines:—One side of the wine-cellar, or, at all events, the windows, ought to face the north-east, or at least due east. All dunghills and roots of trees, and everything of a repulsive smell, ought to be kept at as great a distance as possible, wine being very apt to contract an odour. Fig-trees too, either wild or cultivated, ought not to be planted in the vicinity. Intervals should also be left between the vessels, in order to prevent infection, in case of any of them turning bad, wine being remarkably apt to become tainted. The shape, too, of the vessels is of considerable importance: those that are broad and bellying[1540] are not so good.[1541] We find it recommended too, to pitch them immediately after the rising of the Dog-star, and then to wash them either with sea or salt water, after which they should be sprinkled with the ashes of tree-shoots or else with potters’ earth; they ought then to be cleaned out, and perfumed with myrrh, a thing which ought to be frequently done to the wine-cellars as well. Weak, thin wines should be kept[1542] in dolia sunk in the ground, while those in which the stronger ones are kept should be more exposed to the air. The vessels ought on no account to be entirely filled, room being left for seasoning, by mixing either raisin wine or else defrutum flavoured with saffron; old pitch and sapa are sometimes used for the same purpose. The lids, too, of the dolia ought to be seasoned in a similar manner, with the addition of mastich and Bruttian pitch.

It is strongly recommended never to open the vessels, except in fine weather; nor yet while a south wind is blowing, or at a full moon.

The flower[1543] of wine when white is looked upon as a good sign; but when it is red, it is bad, unless that should happen to be the colour of the wine. The vessels, too, should not be hot to the touch, nor should the covers throw out a sort of sweat. When wine very soon flowers on the surface and emits an odour, it is a sign that it will not keep.

As to defrutum and sapa, it is recommended to commence boiling them when there is no moon to be seen, or, in other words, at the conjunction of that planet, and at no other time. Leaden[1544] vessels should be used for this purpose, and not copper[1545] ones, and walnuts are generally thrown into them, from a notion that they absorb[1546] the smoke. In Campania they expose the very finest wines in casks in the open air, it being the opinion that it tends to improve the wine if it is exposed to the action of the sun and moon, the rain and the winds.

CHAP. 28. (22.)—DRUNKENNESS.

If any one will take the trouble duly to consider the matter, he will find that upon no one subject is the industry of man kept more constantly on the alert than upon the making of wine; as if Nature had not given us water as a beverage, the one, in fact, of which all other animals make use. We, on the other hand, even go so far as to make our very beasts of burden drink[1547] wine: so vast are our efforts, so vast our labours, and so boundless the cost which we thus lavish upon a liquid which deprives man of his reason and drives him to frenzy and to the commission of a thousand crimes! So great, however, are its attractions, that a great part of mankind are of opinion that there is nothing else in life worth living for. Nay, what is even more than this, that we may be enabled to swallow all the more, we have adopted the plan of diminishing its strength by pressing it through[1548] filters of cloth, and have devised numerous inventions whereby to create an artificial thirst. To promote drinking, we find that even poisonous mixtures have been invented, and some men are known to take a dose of hemlock before they begin to drink, that they may have the fear of death before them to make them take their wine:[1549] others, again, take powdered pumice[1550] for the same purpose, and various other mixtures, which I should feel quite ashamed any further to enlarge upon.

We see the more prudent among those who are given to this habit have themselves parboiled in hot-baths, from whence they are carried away half dead. Others there are, again, who cannot wait till they have got to the banqueting couch,[1551] no, not so much as till they have got their shirt on,[1552] but all naked and panting as they are, the instant they leave the bath they seize hold of large vessels filled with wine, to show off, as it were, their mighty powers, and so gulp down the whole of the contents only to vomit them up again the very next moment. This they will repeat, too, a second and even a third time, just as though they had only been begotten for the purpose of wasting wine, and as if that liquor could not be thrown away without having first passed through the human body. It is to encourage habits such as these that we have introduced the athletic exercises[1553] of other countries, such as rolling in the mud, for instance, and throwing the arms back to show off a brawny neck and chest. Of all these exercises, thirst, it is said, is the chief and primary object.

And then, too, what vessels are employed for holding wine! carved all over with the representations of adulterous intrigues, as if, in fact, drunkenness itself was not sufficiently capable of teaching us lessons of lustfulness. Thus we see wines quaffed out of impurities, and inebriety invited even by the hope of a reward,—invited, did I say?—may the gods forgive me for saying so, purchased outright. We find one person induced to drink upon the condition that he shall have as much to eat as he has previously drunk, while another has to quaff as many cups as he has thrown points on the dice. Then it is that the roving, insatiate eyes are setting a price upon the matron’s chastity; and yet, heavy as they are with wine, they do not fail to betray their designs to her husband. Then it is that all the secrets of the mind are revealed; one man is heard to disclose the provisions of his will, another lets fall some expression of fatal import, and so fails to keep to himself words which will be sure to come home to him with a cut throat. And how many a man has met his death in this fashion! Indeed, it has become quite a common proverb, that “in wine[1554] there is truth.”

Should he, however, fortunately escape all these dangers, the drunkard never beholds the rising sun, by which his life of drinking is made all the shorter. From wine, too, comes that pallid hue,[1555] those drooping eyelids, those sore eyes, those tremulous hands, unable to hold with steadiness the overflowing vessel, condign punishment in the shape of sleep agitated by Furies during the restless night, and, the supreme reward of inebriety, those dreams of monstrous lustfulness and of forbidden delights. Then on the next day there is the breath reeking of the wine-cask, and a nearly total obliviousness of everything, from the annihilation of the powers of the memory. And this, too, is what they call “seizing the moments of life!”[1556] whereas, in reality, while other men lose the day that has gone before, the drinker has already lost the one that is to come.

They first began, in the reign of Tiberius Claudius, some forty years ago, to drink fasting, and to take whets of wine before meals; an outlandish[1557] fashion, however, and only patronized by physicians who wished to recommend themselves by the introduction of some novelty or other.

It is in the exercise of their drinking powers that the Parthians look for their share of fame, and it was in this that Alcibiades among the Greeks earned his great repute. Among ourselves, too, Novellius Torquatus of Mediolanum, a man who held all the honours of the state from the prefecture to the pro-consulate, could drink off three congii[1558] at a single draught, a feat from which he obtained the surname of “Tricongius:” this he did before the eyes of the Emperor Tiberius, and to his extreme surprise and astonishment, a man who in his old age was very morose,[1559] and indeed very cruel in general; though in his younger days he himself had been too much addicted to wine. Indeed it was owing to that recommendation that it was generally thought that L. Piso was selected by him to have the charge and custody[1560] of the City of Rome; he having kept up a drinking-bout at the residence of Tiberius, just after he had become emperor, two days and two nights without intermission. In no point, too, was it generally said that Drusus Cæsar took after his father Tiberius more than this.[1561] Torquatus had the rather uncommon glory—for this science, too, is regulated by peculiar laws of its own—of never being known to stammer in his speech, or to relieve the stomach by vomiting or urine, while engaged in drinking. He was always on duty at the morning guard, was able to empty the largest vessel at a single draught, and yet to take more ordinary cups in addition than any one else; he was always to be implicitly depended upon, too, for being able to drink without taking breath and without ever spitting, or so much as leaving enough at the bottom of the cup to make a plash upon the pavement;[1562] thus showing himself an exact observer of the regulations which have been made to prevent all shirking on the part of drinkers.

Tergilla reproaches Cicero, the son of Marcus Cicero, with being in the habit of taking off a couple of congii at a single draught, and with having thrown a cup, when in a state of drunkenness, at M. Agrippa;[1563] such, in fact, being the ordinary results of intoxication. But it is not to be wondered at that Cicero was desirous in this respect to eclipse the fame of M. Antonius, the murderer of his father; a man who had, before the time of the younger Cicero, shown himself so extremely anxious to maintain the superiority in this kind of qualification, that he had even gone so far as to publish a book upon the subject of his own drunkenness.[1564] Daring in this work to speak in his own defence, he has proved very satisfactorily, to my thinking, how many were the evils he had inflicted upon the world through this same vice of drunkenness. It was but a short time before the battle of Actium that he vomited forth this book of his, from which we have no great difficulty in coming to the conclusion, that drunk as he already was with the blood of his fellow-citizens, the only result was that he thirsted for it all the more. For, in fact, such is the infallible characteristic of drunkenness, the more a person is in the habit of drinking, the more eager he is for drink; and the remark of the Scythian ambassador is as true as it is well known—the more the Parthians drank, the thirstier they were for it.

CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.

The people of the Western world have also their intoxicating drinks, made from corn steeped in water.[1565] These beverages are prepared in different ways throughout Gaul and the provinces of Spain; under different names, too, though in their results they are the same. The Spanish provinces have even taught us the fact that these liquors are capable of being kept till they have attained a considerable age. Egypt,[1566] too, has invented for its use a very similar beverage made from corn; indeed, in no part of the world is drunkenness ever at a loss. And then, besides, they take these drinks unmixed, and do not dilute them with water, the way that wine is modified; and yet, by Hercules! one really might have supposed that there the earth produced nothing but corn for the people’s use. Alas! what wondrous skill, and yet how misplaced! means have absolutely been discovered for getting drunk upon water even.

There are two liquids that are peculiarly grateful to the human body, wine within and oil without; both of them the produce of trees, and most excellent in their respective kinds. Oil, indeed, we may pronounce an absolute necessary, nor has mankind been slow to employ all the arts of invention in the manufacture of it. How much more ingenious, however, man has shown himself in devising various kinds of drink will be evident from the fact, that there are no less than one hundred and ninety-five different kinds of it; indeed, if all the varieties are reckoned, they will amount to nearly double that number. The various kinds of oil are much less numerous—we shall proceed to give an account of them in the following Book.

SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, five hundred and ten.

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Cornelius Valerianus,[1567] Virgil,[1568] Celsus,[1569] Cato the Censor,[1570] Saserna,[1571] father and son, Scrofa,[1572] M. Varro,[1573] D. Silanus,[1574] Fabius Pictor,[1575] Trogus,[1576] Hyginus,[1577] Flaccus Verrius,[1578] Græcinus,[1579] Julius Atticus,[1580] Columella,[1581] Massurius Sabinus,[1582] Fenestella,[1583] Tergilla,[1584] Maccius Plautus,[1585] Flavius,[1586] Dossennus,[1587] Scævola,[1588] Ælius,[1589] Ateius Capito,[1590] Cotta Messalinus,[1591] L. Piso,[1592] Pompeius Lenæus,[1593] Fabianus,[1594] Sextius Niger,[1595] Vibius Rufus.[1596]

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Hesiod,[1597] Theophrastus,[1598] Aristotle,[1599] Democritus,[1600] King Hiero,[1601] King Attalus Philometor,[1602] Archytas,[1603] Xenophon,[1604] Amphilochus[1605] of Athens, Anaxipolis[1606] of Thasos, Apollodorus[1607] of Lemnos, Aristophanes[1608] of Miletus, Antigonus[1609] of Cymæ, Agathocles[1610] of Chios, Apollonius[1611] of Pergamus, Aristander[1612] of Athens, Botrys[1613] of Athens, Bacchius[1614] of Miletus, Bion[1615] of Soli, Chærea[1616] of Athens, Chæristus[1617] of Athens, Diodorus[1618] of Priene, Dion[1619] of Colophon, Epigenes[1620] of Rhodes, Euagon[1621] of Thasos, Euphronius[1622] of Athens, Androtion[1623] who wrote on agriculture, Æschrion[1624] who wrote on agriculture, Lysimachus[1625] who wrote on agriculture, Dionysius[1626] who translated Mago, Diophanes[1627] who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades[1628] the Physician, Onesicritus,[1629] King Juba.[1630]

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]