Chapter XXXIV: Book XVII (9)

[2033] The juice is only foamy when the vinous fermentation is established. It has that appearance, however, when the fruit is bitten with the teeth.

[2034] The “hard-berry,” or nectarine.

[2035] In the sense of aromatic, or penetrating.

[2036] He probably means those of a luscious or sirupy nature, without any acidity whatever.

[2037] He seems to mean that the thick, luscious wines require longer keeping, before they will gain any aroma at all. This would be done, probably, at the expense of their sweetness.

[2038] Or he may mean, that a fine flavour and a fine smell cannot co-exist.

[2039] The reading here should be “acutissimus,” probably, instead of “acerrimus.” The odour exists in the rind of the citron and in the outer coat of the quince; if these are removed, the fruit becomes inodorous.

[2040] “Tenuis.” He may possibly mean “faint.”

[2041] The fruit of the ben, or myrobalanus, the Balanites Ægyptiaca. See B. xiii. cc. 17 and 19.

[2042] Vitium.

[2043] Hard-berry or nectarine. See c. 11.

[2044] Lignum: literally, “wood.” “There is no wood, either within or without.” He has one universal name for what we call shell, seed, stones, pips, grains, &c.

[2045] The “spado,” or “eunuch” date. See B. xiii. c. 8.

[2046] See B. xiii. c. 17. The fruit of the ben is alluded to, but, as Fée observes, Pliny is wrong in calling it an almond, as it is a pulpy fruit.

[2047] The Nymphæa nelumbo of Linnæus.

[2048] Or shell, which, as Fée remarks, participates but very little in the properties of the flesh.

[2049] Or “honey” apple; see c. 15 of this Book.

[2050] Or “Carian” fig. See c. 19 of this Book.

[2051] See B. xiii. c. 11.

[2052] See B. xiii. c. 42, and B. xx. cc. 9 and 23.

[2053] See B. xiii. c. 26, and B. xxiv. c. 66.

[2054] See B. xiii. c. 22. Fée remarks that it is singular how the ancients could eat the branches of the fig-tree, the juice being actually a poison.

[2055] See B. xiii. c. 44.

[2056] See c. 26 of this Book.

[2057] He is wrong: the same is the case with the berries of the laurel, and, indeed, many other kinds of berries.

[2058] See c. 7 of this Book.

[2059] See B. xiv. c. 9.

[2060] See B. xii. c. 14.

[2061] A kind of sausage, seasoned with myrtle. See also B. xxvii c. 49.

[2062] He means the Acroceraunian chain in Epirus, mentioned in B. iii.

[2063] See B. iii. c. 9.

[2064] He was one of the companions of Ulysses, fabled by Homer and Ovid to have been transformed by Circe into a swine.

[2065] Μυρσίνη was its Greek name.

[2066] See B. xxv. c. 59.

[2067] See B. xii. c. 2. Ovid, Fasti, B. iv. l. 15, _et seq._, says that Venus concealed herself from the gaze of the Satyrs behind this tree.

[2068] Either this story is untrue, or we have a right to suspect that some underhand agency was employed for the purpose of imposing on the superstitious credulity of the Roman people.

[2069] Or Social War. See B. ii c. 85.

[2070] Near the altar of Consus, close to the meta of the Circus.

[2071] De Re Rust. c. 8.

[2072] The so-called wild myrtle does not in reality belong to the genus Myrtus.

[2073] See B. xxiii. c. 83; the Ruscus aculeatus of the family of the Asparagea.

[2074] The common myrtle, Myrtus communis of the naturalists.

[2075] Or Roman myrtle, a variety of the Myrtus communis.

[2076] The “six row” myrtle. Fée thinks that it belongs to the Myrtus angustifolia Bœtica of Bauhin.

[2077] De Re Rust. 125.

[2078] See B. xxiii. c. 81.

[2079] A new proof, as Fée remarks, that the ancients had peculiar notions of their own, as to the flavour of wine; myrtle berries, he says, would impart to wine a detestable aromatic flavour.

[2080] “Saccis:” the strainer being made of cloth. See B. xiv. c. 28.

[2081] They would be of no assistance whatever, and this statement is entirely fictitious.

[2082] He may possibly mean hernia.

[2083] In addition to all those particulars, he might have stated that the Lares, or household gods, were crowned with myrtle, and that it was not allowed to enter the Temple of Bona Dea.

[2084] A.U.C. 251.

[2085] See the Notes to c. 35 of this Book.

[2086] Because the enemy would be less likely to envy us a bloodless triumph.

[2087] He disdained the more humble myrtle crown, and intrigued successfully with the Senate to allow him to wear a wreath of laurel.

[2088] The Senate refused him a triumph; and he accordingly celebrated one on the Alban Mount, B.C. 231. Paulus Diaconus says that his reason for wearing a myrtle crown was his victory over the Corsicans on the Myrtle Plains, though where they were, or what victory is alluded to, is not known.

[2089] The brother of Valerius Publicola.

[2090] We learn from two passages in Ovid that the laurel was suspended over the gates of the emperors. This, as Fée remarks, was done for two reasons: because it was looked upon as a protection against lightning, and because it was considered an emblem of immortality.

[2091] De Re Rust. 133.

[2092] Or “laurel of Apollo:” it was into this tree that Daphne was fabled to have been changed. See Ovid’s Met. B. i. l. 557, _et seq._

[2093] Cato, De Re Rust. c. 121, tells us that this cake was made of fine wheat, must, anise, cummin, suet, cheese, and scraped laurel sprigs. Laurel leaves were placed under it when baked. This mixture was considered a light food, good for the stomach!

[2094] At the Pythian Games celebrated there.

[2095] Meaning that it curves at the edge, something like a pent-house.

[2096] Or tine tree, the Viburnum tinus of Linnæus, one of the caprifolia. It is not reckoned as one of the laurels, though it has many of the same characteristics.

[2097] Regia.

[2098] The barren laurel of the triumphs was the Laurus nobilis of Linnæus, which has only male flowers.

[2099] The Laurus vulgaris folio undulato of the Parisian _Hortus_, Fée says.

[2100] Not a laurel, nor yet a dicotyledon, Fée says, but one of the Asparagea, probably the Ruscus hypoglossum of Linnæus, sometimes known, however, as the Alexandrian laurel.

[2101] Or “eunuch” laurel; a variety, probably, of the Laurus nobilis.

[2102] The “ground laurel:” according to Sprengel, this is the Ruscus racemosus of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. c. 81.

[2103] From Alexandria in Troas: the Ruscus hypophyllum of Linnæus, it is supposed.

[2104] “The tongue below.” This, Fée justly says, would appear to be a more appropriate name for the taxa, mentioned above.

[2105] From the berry being attached to the leaf.

[2106] “The thrower out from below,” perhaps.

[2107] Sprengel thinks that it is the Clematis vitalba of Linnæus. Fuchsius identities it with the Daphne laureola of Linnæus; and Fée thinks it may be either that or the Daphne mezereum of Linnæus.

[2108] “Crown of Alexander.”

[2109] Curiously enough, it is generally considered now more suggestive of war than of peace.

[2110] The despatches were wrapped in laurel leaves.

[2111] Optimus Maximus.

[2112] L. Junius Brutus, the nephew of Tarquin. Pliny alludes to the message sent to Delphi, for the purpose of consulting the oracle on a serpent being seen in the royal palace.

[2113] He alludes to the circumstance of the priestess being asked who should reign at Rome after Tarquin; upon which she answered, “He who first kisses his mother;” on which Brutus, the supposed idiot, stumbled to the ground, and kissed the earth, the mother of all.

[2114] A mere absurdity; the same has been said of the beech, and with equal veracity.

[2115] He makes a distinction between “altar” and “ara” here. The former was the altar of the superior Divinities, the latter of the superior and inferior as well.

[2116] The crackling of the laurel is caused by efforts of the essential oil to escape from the parenchyma or cellular tissue of the leaf, which it breaks with considerable violence when burning.

[2117] Nervorum. See B. xxiii. c. 80.

[2118] Suetonius, c. 66, confirms this. Fée says that the same superstition still exists in some parts of France. See B. ii. c. 56.

[2119] “The Poultry.”

[2120] See c. 39 of this Book.

[2121] See B. xxxi. c. 3. As Poinsinet remarks, this is not strictly true; the name “Vinucius” most probably came from “vinea,” a vineyard. Numerous names were derived also from seeds and vegetables; Piso, Cicero, and Lactuca, for instance, among a host of others. “Scipio,” too, means a “walking-stick.”

[2122] The “laurel-grove.”

[2123] See B. xvii. c. 11.

[2124] See end of B. viii.

[2125] See end of B. ii.

[2126] See end of B. vii.

[2127] See end of B. iii.

[2128] See end of B. vii.

[2129] See end of B. iii.

[2130] See end of B. x.

[2131] See end of B. xi.

[2132] See end of B. ii.

[2133] See end of B. xiv.

[2134] See end of B. x.

[2135] See end of B. vii.

[2136] See end of B. iii.

[2137] See end of B. iii.

[2138] See end of B. xiv.

[2139] See end of B. xiv.

[2140] See end of B. viii.

[2141] See end of B. vii.

[2142] See end of B. xiv.

[2143] See end of B. xiv.

[2144] See end of B. ii.

[2145] See end of B. xiv.

[2146] See end of B. xiv.

[2147] See end of B. xii.

[2148] See end of B. xiv.

[2149] See end of B. xiv.

[2150] See end of B. xiv.

[2151] See end of B. iii.

[2152] See end of B. xii.

[2153] See end of B. xiv.

[2154] See end of B. ii.

[2155] See end of B. ii.

[2156] See end of B. viii.

[2157] See end of B. viii.

[2158] See end of B. viii.

[2159] See end of B. iv.

[2160] See end of B. viii.

[2161] See end of B. viii.

[2162] See end of B. viii.

[2163] See end of B. viii.

[2164] See end of B. viii.

[2165] See end of B. viii.

[2166] See end of B. viii.

[2167] See end of B. viii.

[2168] See end of B. viii.

[2169] See end of B. vi.

[2170] See end of B. viii.

[2171] See end of B. xiv.

[2172] He is mentioned also by Varro and Columella, as a writer upon agriculture; but all further particulars of him are unknown.

[2173] See end of B. viii.

[2174] See end of B. ii.

[2175] See end of B. x.

[2176] See end of B. viii.

[2177] See end of B. viii.

[2178] See end of B. viii.

[2179] See end of B. viii.

[2180] See end of B. xii.

[2181] See end of B. viii.

[2182] See end of B. viii.

[2183] See end of B. vii.

[2184] See end of B. xi.

[2185] Beyond what Pliny here says, nothing is known of him.

[2186] See end of B. xi.

[2187] A physician who lived probably at the end of the first century B.C. He was a disciple of Erasistratus, and founded a medical school at Smyrna. He is quoted by Athenæus, and in B. xxvii. c. 14, Pliny calls him “a physician of no small authority.” He seems to have been a voluminous writer; but none of his works have survived.

[2188] See end of B. xi.

[2189] See end of B. ii.

[2190] See end of B. v.

[2191] The methods of grafting and inoculation.

[2192] B. xiii. c. 50. They dwelt between the Ems and the Elbe.

[2193] See B. iv. c. 29.

[2194] “Ulvâ.” This appears to be a general name for all kinds of aquatic fresh-water plants; as “alga” is that of the various sea-weeds.

[2195] He alludes to turf for firing; the Humus turfa of the naturalists.

[2196] Of course this applies only to those who dwelt near the sea-shore, and not those more inland.

[2197] Guichardin remarks, that Pliny does not here bear in mind the sweets of liberty.

[2198] So Laberius says, “Fortuna multis parcere in pœnam solet;” “Fortune is the saving of many, when she means to punish them.”

[2199] He alludes to the vicinity of the Zuyder Zee. See B. iv. c. 29. The spots where these forests once stood are now cultivated plains, covered with villages and other works of the industry of man.

[2200] “Quercus.” We shall see, in the course of this Book, that its identity has not been satisfactorily established.

[2201] See B. iv. c. 28, and the Note, Vol. i. p. 348. The village of Hercingen, near Waldsee, is supposed to retain the ancient name.

[2202] “Robora.” It will be seen in this Book that the robur has not been identified, any more than the quercus.

[2203] Fée treats this story as utterly fabulous. The branches of the Ficus Indica grow downwards, and so form arcades certainly; but such is not the case with any European tree.

[2204] Not only oaks, but a variety of other trees, were included under this name by the ancients; the “glans” embracing not only the acorn, but the mast of the beech, and the hard fruits of other trees

[2205] He alludes to the crown of oak-leaves, which was suspended on the gates before the palace of the emperors. A civic crown had been voted by the senate to Julius Cæsar, on the ground of having saved his country.

[2206] Given to the first man who scaled the wall of a besieged place. It was made of gold, and decorated with turrets.

[2207] Given to the first soldier who surmounted the vallum or entrenchments. It was made of gold, and ornamented with “valli,” or palisades.

[2208] One of the varieties of the triumphal crown was the “corona aurea,” or “golden crown.”

[2209] Made of gold, and decorated with the “rostra,” or “beaks” of ships.

[2210] See B. vii. c. 31.

[2211] The orator’s stage in the Forum was decorated with the “rostra,” or “beaks” of the ships of the Antiates; hence it received the name of “Rostrum.” The locality of the Rostra was changed by Julius Cæsar.

[2212] Alluding to the prostitution of the Rostra by the tribunes and others for the purposes of sedition, and the presentation by Augustus of the rostrate crown to Agrippa.

[2213] Which was suspended, as already mentioned, at the gate of his palace.

[2214] Athenæus and Fabius Pictor say that Janus was the first wearer of a crown; Pherecydes says it was Saturn, Diodorus Siculus Jupiter, and Leo Ægyptiacus Isis, who wore one of wheat.

[2215] Il. xiii, 736.

[2216] See cc. 34 and 35 of the present Book.

[2217] The Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemæan games.

[2218] See B. vii. c. 27.

[2219] He is called Tullus Hostilius by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the same as his grandson.

[2220] A.U.C. 411. The leaves of the holm-oak were employed by Romulus on the occasion above-mentioned.

[2221] These varieties of the oak will be considered in the next chapter.

[2222] At the Olympic games celebrated in honour of Jupiter. At Olympia there was a statue of that god, one of the master-pieces of Phidias.

[2223] Implying thereby, that the city that could produce a man who could so distinguish himself, stood in no need of walls.

[2224] In the Circus.

[2225] In B. vii. c. 29.

[2226] B. vii. c. 29.

[2227] Livy says eight. He saved the life of Servilius, the Master of the Horse.

[2228] “Glandes.” Under this name, for which we do not appear to have any English equivalent, were included, as already mentioned, not only the acorn of the oak, but the nut or mast of the beech, and probably most of the hard or kernel fruits. In the present instance Pliny probably alludes only to the fruit of the oak and the beech. Acorns are but little used as an article of food in these days. Roasted, they have been proposed as a substitute for coffee.

[2229] The acorn of the Quercus ballota of Linnæus is probably meant, which is still much used in the province of Salamanca, and forms an agreeable article of food. This acorn, Fée says, contains a considerable proportion of saccharine matter, and is better roasted in the ashes than boiled in water. It is not, however, used as a dessert, as in the time of the Romans. These acorns are sold at market in Andalusia in the month of October.

[2230] So far as it goes, the kernel of the mast or beech-nut is not unpalatable; but in the English beech it is very diminutive.

[2231] The word “quercus” is frequently used as a general name for the oak; but throughout the present Book it is most employed as meaning a distinct variety of the oak, one of the larger kinds, Fée says, and answering to the Quercus racemosa of Lamarck, the Quercus robur of Linnæus, and the Rouvre of the French.

[2232] This also has been much employed as a general name for the oak; but here, and in other parts of this Book, it is applied to one variety. Fée thinks that it answers to the Quercus sessiliflora of Smith, sometimes also called “rouvre” by the French.

[2233] The Quercus æsculus of Linnæus. It is not improbable that this oak is a different tree from the “Æsculus” of Horace and Virgil, which was perhaps either a walnut, or a variety of the beech.

[2234] It has been suggested that this is the same with the Quercus cerrus of Linnæus, and the Quercus crinita of Lamarck, the gland of which is placed in a prickly cupule. It is rarely found in France, but is often to be met with in Piedmont and the Apennines.

[2235] The Fagus silvatica of Lamarck. Its Latin name, “fagus,” is supposed to have been derived from the Greek φάγω, “to eat.” An oil is extracted from the acorns or nuts, that is much used in some parts of France.

[2236] He speaks probably of one of the galls which are found attached to the leaves of the forest trees.

[2237] “Ilex.” Fée thinks that the varieties known as the Prinos and the Ballota were often confounded by the ancients with the “ilex” or “holm-oak.” This tree, he says, bears no resemblance to the ordinary oak, except in the blossoms and the fruit. It is the Ilex of Linnæus, the “yeuse,” or “green oak,” of the French.

[2238] The Quercus suber of Linnæus; it is found more particularly in the department of the Landes in France.

[2239] As Fée remarks, Pliny is clearly in error here; one kind being the veritable ilex or holm oak, the other, the aquifolium or holly, quite a different tree.

[2240] The smilax or milax was a real holm oak, but the aquifolia was the holly.

[2241] Od. xi. 242. Fée remarks that the berry of the holly has no resemblance to the acorn whatever, and he says that this statement of Pliny almost leads him to think that the second variety here mentioned by him was not in reality the holly, but a variety of the quercus.

[2242] Fée observes that, properly speaking, there is no sex in the oak, the individuals being neither male nor female. The Flora Danica however, as he observes, gives the name of “Quercus fœmina” to the Quercus racemosa of Lamarck.

[2243] Or “broad-leaved” oak; one of the varieties of the Quercus sessiliflora of Smith—_Flor. Brit._

[2244] This statement is contrary to general experience in modern times, the flavour of the acorn being uniformly acrid and bitter throughout. It is not impossible, however, that the flavour may have been more palatable in ancient times.

[2245] A variety of the common oak, the Quercus racemosa of Lamarck; Sprengel takes it to be the Quercus ballota of Desfontaines.

[2246] The Quercus ægilops of Linnæus. It is a native of Piedmont, some parts of Italy, and the island of Crete.

[2247] Pliny’s account of making charcoal is derived from Theophrastus, B. iii. c. 10. Fée remarks that it differs little from the method adopted in France at the present day.

[2248] The Quercus Hispanica, probably, of Lamarck, of which Fée thinks the Quercus pseudo-suber of Desfontaines is a variety; it is found in Greece and on the shores of the Mediterranean, near Gibraltar. The Greek name signifies the “sea cork-tree.”

[2249] The statement here given as to the effect of beech-mast on swine, is destitute, Fée remarks, of all foundation. If fed upon it, their flesh will naturally be of a soft, spongy nature.

[2250] This assertion is perhaps too general; gall-nuts are produced in very small quantities by the holm-oak.

[2251] A variety of the Quercus racemosa, which produces the green gall-nut of Aleppo, considered in modern, as in ancient, times the choicest in quality.

[2252] Theophrastus says the end of June.

[2253] Its growth, in reality, is not so rapid as this.

[2254] Such a thing is never seen at the present day.

[2255] In Syria, we have mentioned the galls of Aleppo in Note [2251].

[2256] This is the case when the inside has been eaten away by the insect that breeds there; of course, in such case it is hollow, light, and worthless.

[2257] The ancients were not aware that the gall was produced from the eggs of the cynips, deposited upon the leaf or bark of the tree. Tan and gallic acid are its principal component parts.

[2258] A substance quite unknown now; but it is very doubtful if Pliny is rightly informed here.

[2259] A fungous gall, produced by the Cynips fungosa. It is not used for any domestic purpose at the present day.

[2260] This kind of gall is now unknown. Fée questions the assertion about its juice.

[2261] The Cynips quercus baccarum of Linnæus, one of the common galls.

[2262] The root cynips, the Cynips radicum of Fourcroi, produces these galls, which lie near the root, and have the appearance of ligneous nodosities. It is harder than wood, and contains cells, in which the larva of the insect lies coiled up.

[2263] This is a proof, as Fée remarks, that the ancients had observed the existence of the cynips; though, at the same time, it is equally evident that they did not know the important part it acts in the formation of the gall.

[2264] This word, as employed by Theophrastus, means a catkin, the Julus amentum of the botanists; but it is doubtful if Pliny attaches this meaning to the word, as the lime or linden-tree has no catkin, but an inflorescence of a different character. It is not improbable that, under this name, he alludes to some excrescence.

[2265] These were the “boletus” and the “suillus” the last of which seem only to have been recently introduced at table in the time of Pliny. See B. xxii. c. 47.

[2266] He alludes clearly to fungi of radically different qualities, as the nature of the trees beneath which they grow cannot possibly influence them, any further than by the various proportions of shade they afford. The soil, however, exercises great influence on the quality of the fungus; growing upon a hill, it may be innoxious, while in a wet soil it may be productive of death.

[2267] See cc. 93, 94, and 95, of this Book.

[2268] Works and Days, l. 230.

[2269] Pliny seems to have here taken in a literal sense, what has been said figuratively by Virgil, Ecl. iv. l. 26:

“Et duræ quercus sudabunt roscida mella;”

and by Ovid, in relation to the Golden Age, Met. i. 113:

“Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella.”

Fée remarks, that we find on the leaf of the lime-tree a thin, sugary deposit, left by insects, and that a species of manna exudes from the Coniferæ, as also the bark of the beech. This, however, is never the case with the oak.

[2270] B. xi. c. 12.

[2271] By this word, Fée observes, we must not understand the word “nitre,” in the modern sense, but the sub-carbonate of potash; while the ashes of trees growing on the shores of the sea produce a sub-carbonate of soda.

[2272] “Coccus.” This is not a gall, but the distended body of an insect, the kermes, which grows on a peculiar oak, the “Quercus coccifera,” found in the south of Europe.

[2273] We have previously mentioned, that he seems to have confounded the holly with the holm oak.

[2274] Poinsinet, rather absurdly, as it would appear, finds in this word the origin of our word “cochineal.”

[2275] The kermes berry is but little used in Spain, or, indeed, anywhere else, since the discovery of the cochineal of America.

[2276] B. ix. c. 65.

[2277] Not the white agaric, Fée says, of modern pharmacy; but, as no kind of agaric is found in the oak, it does not seem possible to identify it. See B. xxv. c. 57.

[2278] It is evident that no fungus would give out phosphoric light; but it may have resulted from old wood in a state of decomposition.

[2279] It is pretty clear that one of the lichens of the genus _usnea_ is here referred to. Amadue, or German tinder, seems somewhat similar.

[2280] B. xii. c. 50.

[2281] On the contrary, Fée says, the acorn of the Quercus suber is of a sweet and agreeable flavour, and is much sought as a food for pigs. The hams of Bayonne are said to owe their high reputation to the acorns of the cork-tree.

[2282] The word “cork” is clearly derived from the Latin “cortex,” “bark.” See Beckmann’s History of Inventions, V. i. p. 320, _et seq._, _Bohn’s Edition_, for a very interesting account of this tree.

[2283] This passage, the meaning of which is so obvious, is discussed at some length by Beckmann, Vol. i. pp. 321, 322.

[2284] It is still employed for making soles which are impervious to the wet.

[2285] It is doubtful whether this name was given to the shoes, or the females who wore them, and we have therefore preserved the doubt, in the ambiguous “them.” Beckmann also discusses this passage, p. 321. He informs us, p. 322, that the Roman ladies who wished to appear taller than they really were, were in the habit of putting plenty of cork under their soles.

[2286] At the present day, it grows in the greatest abundance in France, the Landes more particularly.

[2287] This is still the case in some of the poorer provinces of Spain.

[2288] As Fée remarks, Mars is no longer the Divinity in honour of whom characters are traced on the bark of trees.

[2289] On the contrary. Fée says, the resinous woods are the most proof of all against the action of the air.

[2290] Festus says that the Fagutal, a shrine of Jupiter, was so called from a beech tree (fagus) that stood there, and was sacred to that god.

[2291] Or osier.

[2292] Or “plantation of the æsculus.”

[2293] A.U.C. 367.

[2294] Fée regards this as an extremely doubtful assertion.

[2295] The Pinus pinea of Linnæus, the cultivated pine.

[2296] The Pinus silvestris of Linnæus, the wild pine; the Pinus maritima of Lamarck is a variety of it.

[2297] B. xv. c. 9.

[2298] In c. 23 of this Book.

[2299] A variety of the Pinus silvestris of Linnæus.

[2300] “Liburnicæ.” See B. ix. cc. 5 and 48.

[2301] The Abies excelsa of Decandolle—the _Pesse_ or _Faux sapin_ (false fir) of the French. This tree, however, has not the pectinated, or comb-like leaf, mentioned by Pliny in c. 38.

[2302] It is still known in commerce as “false incense;” and is often sold as incense for the rites of the Roman church: while sometimes it is purposely employed, as being cheaper.

[2303] A great street in Capua, which consisted entirely of the shops of sellers of unguents and perfumes.

[2304] It has the same pyramidal form as the pitch-tree. It is still much used in ship-building, both for its resinous and durable qualities and the lightness of the wood.

[2305] The presence of resin is _not_ looked upon as any defect in the fir at the present day. It produces what is known in commerce as “Strasbourg turpentine.”

[2306] The Abies larix of Linnæus, and the Larix Europæa, it is thought, of Decandolles.

[2307] It is the Venice turpentine of commerce. Each tree will furnish seven or eight pounds each year for half a century.

[2308] It is doubtful if the tæda, or torch-tree, has been identified. Some take it to be the Pinus mugho of Miller, the torch-pine of the French; others, again, suggest that it is the same as the Pinus cembro of the botanists.

[2309] So called from its resemblance to a fig. Fée says that there is little doubt that this pretended fruit was merely a resinous secretion, which hardens and assumes the form of a fig.

[2310] He somewhat mistranslates a passage of Theophrastus here, who, without transforming the larch into another tree, says that it is a sign of disease in the larch, when its secretions are augmented to such a degree that it seems to turn itself into resin.

[2311] The lamp-black of commerce is made from the soot of the pine.

[2312] This statement, though supported by that of Vitruvius, B. ii. c. 9, is quite erroneous. The wood of the larch gives out more heat than that of the fir, and produces more live coal in proportion.

[2313] This, Fée remarks, is the fact.

[2314] This description is inexact, and we should have some difficulty in recognizing here the larch as known to us.

[2315] Pliny is in error here, there being no distinction of sex in the coniferous trees. All that he relates relative to the differences between the male and female pine is consequently false. He has, however, in this instance, only perpetuated an erroneous opinion of Theophrastus.

[2316] This is an erroneous statement. The larch has its cone, as well as the rest. It is possible, however, that its small size may have caused it to be overlooked by Pliny.

[2317] Or “louse-bearing.” As Fée says, it is difficult to see the analogy.

[2318] The Taxus baccata of Linnæus. The account here given is in general very correct.

[2319] It is supposed that Pliny derives this notion as to the yew berry from Julius Cæsar, who says that “Cativulcus killed himself with the yew, a tree which grows in great abundance in Gaul and Germany.” It is, however, now known that the berry is quite innocuous; but the leaves and shoots are destructive of animal life.

[2320] “Viatoria;” probably not unlike our travelling flasks and pocket-pistols. This statement made by Pliny is not at all improbable.

[2321] This statement does not deserve a serious contradiction.

[2322] It is not improbable, however, that τόξον, an “arrow,” is of older date than “taxus,” as signifying the name of the yew.

[2323] Numerous varieties of the coniferæ supply us with tar, and Pliny is in error in deriving it solely from the torch-tree, the Pinus mugho of Linnæus.

[2324] See B. xxiv. c. 23.

[2325] It is still obtained in a similar way.

[2326] Fée remarks, that Pliny is in error here; this red, watery fluid formed in the extraction of tars, being quite a different thing from “cedrium,” the _alkitran_ or _kitran_ of the Arabs; which is not improbably made from a cedar, or perhaps the Juniperus Phœnicea, called “Cedrus” by the two Bauhins and Tournefort. He says that it is not likely that the Egyptians would use this red substance for the purpose of preserving the dead, charged as it is with empyreumatic oil, and destitute of all properties peculiar to resins.

[2327] See B. xxi. c. 3, and B. xxiv. c. 23.

[2328] This is impracticable; neither vinegar, wine, nor water, will mingle with pitch. These resins, however, if stirred up briskly in hot water, become of a paler colour, and acquire an additional suppleness.

[2329] Perhaps so called from Calabria, a country where the pine abounded, and part of which was called Bruttium.

[2330] Or wine-vats.

[2331] See c. 8 of the present Book.

[2332] Stillaticia.

[2333] See B. xiv. c. 25.

[2334] This operation removes from the pitch a great portion of its essential oil, and disengages it of any extraneous bodies that may have been mixed with it.

[2335] Fée remarks that there is no necessity for this selection, though no doubt rain-water is superior to spring or cistern water, for some purposes, from its holding no terreous salts in solution.

[2336] This would colour the resin more strongly, Fée says, and give it a greater degree of friability.

[2337] See B. xxxiv. c. 20.

[2338] See B. xiv. c. 25, and B. xxiv. c. 22.

[2339] “Sartago.” Generally understood to be the same as our frying-pan. Fée remarks that this method would most inevitably cause the mass infusion to ignite; and should such not be the case, a coloured resin would be the result, coloured with a large quantity of carbon, and destitute of all the essential oil that the resin originally contained.

[2340] See B. xiv. c. 20.

[2341] The terebinthine of the mastich, Fée says, is an oleo-resin, or in other words, composed of an essential oil and a resin.

[2342] Apparently meaning “boiled pitch.”

[2343] See B. xxiv. c. 26.

[2344] This account has been borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B ix. c. ii. The modern method of extracting the resin of the pine is very similar.

[2345] There is no foundation whatever for this statement.

[2346] The pith of the pine cannot be separated from the wood, and, indeed, is not easily distinguished from it. Fée says that in some of these trees masses of resin are found in the cavities which run longitudinally with the fibres, and queries whether this may not be the “marrow” or “pith” of the tree mentioned by Pliny.

[2347] As a torch or candle, probably.

[2348] This division of the larch into sexes, as previously mentioned, is only fanciful, and has no foundation in fact. The result of this operation, Fée says, would be only a sort of tar.

[2349] See B. xxxv. c. 51. He alludes to the bitumen known as asphalt, bitumen of Judæa, mineral pitch, mountain pitch, malthe, pissalphate.

[2350] These particulars, borrowed from Theophrastus, are in general correct.

[2351] This is not the fact; the essential oil in which the resin so greatly abounds, becomes volatile with remarkable facility.

[2352] Most probably one of the varieties of the pine; but the mode in which Pliny expresses himself renders it impossible to identify it with any precision.

[2353] B. xv. c. 9.

[2354] The name borne also by the torch-tree.

[2355] See c. 76 of this Book.

[2356] He does not speak in this place of the “ornus” or “mountain ash;” nor, as Fée observes, does he mention the use of the bark of the ash as a febrifuge, or of its leaves as a purgative. This ash is the Fraxinus excelsior of Decandolles.

[2357] Il. xxiv. 277.

[2358] Pliny makes a mistake here, in copying from Theophrastus, who says that it is the yew that bears so strong a resemblance to the cedar.

[2359] Or “bull’s-ash.” This variety does not seem to have been identified.

[2360] This statement results from his misinterpretation of the language of Theophrastus, who is really speaking of the yew, which Pliny mistakes for the ash.

[2361] Miller asserts that, if given to cows, this leaf will impart a bad flavour to the milk; a statement which; Fée says, is quite incorrect.

[2362] A merely fanciful notion, without apparently the slightest foundation: the same, too, may be said of the alleged antipathy of the serpent to the beech-tree, which is neither venomous nor odoriferous.

[2363] This story of Pliny has been corroborated by M. de Verone, and as strongly contradicted by Camerarius and Charras: with M. Fée, then, we must leave it to the reader to judge which is the most likely to be speaking the truth. It is not improbable that Pliny may have been imposed upon, as his credulity would not at all times preclude him from being duped.

[2364] There is no such distinction in the linden or lime, as the flowers are hermaphroditical. They are merely two varieties: the male of Pliny being the Tilia microphylla of Decandolles, and a variety of the Tilia Europæa of Linnæus; and the female being the Tilia platyphyllos, another variety of the Tilia Europæa of Linnæus.

[2365] Not at all singular, Fée says, the fruit being dry and insipid.

[2366] In France these cords are still made, and are used for well-ropes, wheat-sheafs, &c. In the north of France, too, brooms are made of the outer bark, and the same is the case in Westphalia.

[2367] See B. xxi. c. 4. Ovid, Fasti, B. v. l. 337, speaks of the revellers at drunken banquets binding their hair with the philyra.

[2368] “Teredo.” If he means under this name to include the tinea as well, the assertion is far too general, as this wood is eaten away by insects, though more slowly than the majority of the non-resinous woods. It is sometimes perforated quite through by the larvæ of the byrrhus, our death-watch.

[2369] This is incorrect. It attains a very considerable height, and sometimes an enormous size. The trunk is known to grow to as much as forty or fifty feet in circumference.

[2370] The maple is much less in size than what the lime or linden really is.

[2371] See B. xiii. c. 29.

[2372] Fée says there are but five varieties of the maple known in France. He doubts whether the common maple, the Acer campestre of Linnæus, was known to the ancients.

[2373] Fée identifies it with the Acer pseudo-platanus of Linnæus, the Acer montanum candidum of C. Bauhin. This tree is not uncommon in Italy.

[2374] “Acer pavonaceum:” “peacock maple.” He gives a similar account of the spots on the wood of the citrus, B. xiii. c. 19.

[2375] Or “thick-veined” maple.

[2376] Supposed by Fée to be the Acer Monspessulanus of Linnæus, also the Acer trilobum of Linnæus.

[2377] A variety of the Acer pseudo-platanus of Linnæus, according to Fée.

[2378] The Carpinus betulus of Linnæus; the horn-beam or yoke-elm.

[2379] “Silicios.” This word appears to be explained by the accompanying word “laminas;” but it is very doubtful what is the correct reading.

[2380] The Alnus glutinosa of Decandolles. In c. 38, Pliny says, very incorrectly, that the alder has a remarkably thick leaf; and in c. 45, with equal incorrectness, that it bears neither seed nor fruit.

[2381] Fée observes, that it is incorrect to say that the male tree blossoms before the female, if such is Pliny’s meaning here.

[2382] From the Greek, meaning “a tree with clusters.” It is the Staphylea pinnata of Linnæus, the wild or false pistachio of the French.

[2383] “Siliqua.” This term, Fée says, is very inappropriate to the fruit of this tree, which is contained in a membranous capsule. The kernel is oily, and has the taste of the almond more than the nut.

[2384] The Buxus sempervirens of Linnæus.

[2385] It is still extensively used for a similar purpose.

[2386] There are only two species now known: that previously mentioned, and the Buxus Balearica of Lamarck. The first is divided into the four varieties, arborescens, angustifolia, suffruticosa, and myrtifolia.

[2387] The Buxus sempervirens of Linnæus; very common in the south of France, and on the banks of the Loire.

[2388] It is doubtful if this is a box at all. The wild olive, mentioned in B. xv. c. 7, has the same name; all the varieties of the box emit a disagreeable smell.

[2389] A variety of the Buxus sempervirens, the same as the Buxus suffruticosa of Lamarck.

[2390] The Pyrenean box is mostly of the arborescent kind.

[2391] In Phrygia. See B. v. c. 29.

[2392] The arborescent variety.

[2393] This is doubted by Fée, but it is by no means impossible. In Pennsylvania the bees collect a poisonous honey from the Kalmia latifolia.

[2394] A very good charcoal might be made from it, but the wood is too valuable for such a purpose. It burns with a bright, clear flame, and throws out a considerable heat.

[2395] Although (in common, too, with other trees) it is used as a support for the vine, that does not any the more make it of the same nature as the fruit-trees.

[2396] The Ulmus effusa of Willdenow; the Ulmus montana of Smith: _Flor. Brit._

[2397] The Ulmus campestris of Linnæus; the Ulmus marita of other botanists.

[2398] The ordinary elm, Fée thinks.

[2399] A variety of the Ulmus campestris, probably.

[2400] This name is still preserved by botanists. Pliny is incorrect in saying that the large elm produces no seed, the only difference being that the seed is smaller than in the other kinds. Columella, B. v. c. 6, contradicts the statement here made by Pliny, but says that it _appears_ to be sterile, in comparison with the others.

[2401] The Pinus maritima of Linnæus, which produces the greater part of the resins used in France, is found, however, in great abundance in the flat country of the Landes.

[2402] On the contrary, the yoke-elm, or horn-beam, grows almost exclusively on the plains; and the same with the cornel and the poplar.

[2403] The Rhus cotinus of Linnæus, the fustic. See B. xiii. c. 41. This, however, imparts a yellow colour, while Pliny speaks of a purple. It has been asserted, however, that the roots of it produce a fine red. There is no tree in Europe that produces a purple for dyeing.

[2404] The maple, the ash, and the service-tree, are as often found in the plains as on the hills.

[2405] See c. 43, and B. xxiv. c. 43. The Cornus sanguinea of Linnæus, the blood-red cornel; the branches of which are red in the winter, and the fruit filled with a blood-red juice. This is probably the same shrub as the male cornel, mentioned further on by Pliny.

[2406] The Genista tinctoria of Linnæus, or “dyers’” broom.

[2407] Or “service-tree,” the Sorbus domestica of Linnæus. It thrives just as well in a warm locality as a cold one.

[2408] The Betula alba of Linnæus. It was an object of terror not only in the hands of the Roman lictor, but in those of the pedagogue also, and is still to some extent. Hence it was formerly nicknamed “Arbor sapientiæ,” the “tree of wisdom.”

[2409] This is no longer done in France, but it is in Russia, where they extract from it an empyreumatic oil, which is used in preparing Russia leather, and which imparts to it its agreeable smell.

[2410] Boys, both of whose parents were surviving, used to carry before the bride a torch of white thorn. This thorn was, not improbably, the “Cratægus oxyacantha” of Linnæus, which bears a white flower. See B. xxiv. c. 66.

[2411] The Cytisus laburnum of Linnæus, also known as “false ebony,” still a native of the Alps.

[2412] But blackish in the centre; whence its name of false ebony.

[2413] Meaning the clusters of the flowers.

[2414] The Anthyllis barba Jovis of modern botanists. The leaves have upon them a silvery down, whence the name “argyrophylla,” given to it by Mænch.

[2415] But in c. 30, he says that the poplar grows on hilly or mountainous declivities.

[2416] This tree has not been satisfactorily identified; but Fée is of opinion that it is probably a variety of the willow, the Salix vitellina of Linnæus. Sprengel thinks that it is the Salix capræa.

[2417] The Ligustrum vulgare of Linnæus. It has black fruit and a white flower, and is rendered famous by the lines of Virgil—Ecl. ii. 17:

“O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori;
Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur.”

It is evidently this juxtaposition that has prompted Pliny to mention the vaccinium in the succeeding passage. In B. xii. c. 51, and B. xxiv. c. 45, Pliny seems inclined to confound this shrub with the Cyprus, the Lawsonia inermis of Linnæus, the Henna of the east, a totally different plant.

[2418] Wooden tallies used by public officers in keeping their accounts. They were employed till the middle ages.

[2419] The Primus mahaleb, Desfontaines says; but Fée identifies it with the black heath-berry, or whortle-berry, still called “vaciet” in France. It does not, however, grow, as Pliny says, in watery places, but in woods and on shrubby hills.

[2420] See B. xxi. c. 97.

[2421] These observations, Fée says, are borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. iii. c. 4, and are founded on truth.

[2422] “Silvestres,” and “urbaniores.”

[2423] Urbanæ.

[2424] The Nerion oleander of Linnæus; the laurel-rose, or rose of St. Anthony of the French; it has some distant resemblance to the olive-tree, but its leaf is that of the laurel, and its flower very similar to that of the rose.

[2425] See B. xxiv. c. 61.

[2426] “Nerion” is the Greek name.

[2427] It has certain dangerous properties, which cause the herbivorous animals to avoid touching it. It acts strongly on the muscular system, and, as Fée remarks, used as an antidote to the stings of serpents, it is not improbable that its effect would be the worst of the two.

[2428] See B. xiii. c. 37. The tamarisk of the moderns is not an evergreen, which has caused writers to doubt if it is identical with the tamariscus of the ancients, and to be disposed to look for it among the larger ericæ or heaths. The leaves of the larch fall every year; those of the other evergreens mostly every two or three years.

[2429] See B. xiii. c. 40.

[2430] See B. xiii. c. 40. This assertion of Pliny is erroneous, as these trees are in reality evergreens, though all trees of that class are liable to lose their leaves through certain maladies.

[2431] “Quercus.” The ilex or holm-oak is an evergreen.

[2432] Pliny is in error here. Varro, De Re Rust. B. i. c. 7, has made mention of this tree.

[2433] The hot climates possess a greater number of evergreens than the temperate regions, but not of the same species or genus. The vine invariably loses its leaves each year.

[2434] This last assertion, Fée says, is far from true, in relation to the coniferous trees.

[2435] See B. xv. c. 7.

[2436] The Populus alba of Linnæus.

[2437] The Populus nigra of Linnæus.

[2438] The Populus tremula of Linnæus. This statement as to the leaves of the poplar is verified by modern experience.

[2439] This does not appear to be exactly correct as to the ivy. The leaves on the young suckers or the old and sterile branches are divided into three or five regular lobes, while those which grow on the branches destined to bear the blossoms are ovals or lanceolated ovals in shape.

[2440] It is not from the leaves, but from the fruit of the tree that this down falls; the seeds being enveloped with a cottony substance. This passage is hopelessly corrupt.

[2441] See B. xviii. c. 68, where he enlarges still further on this asserted peculiarity; he borrows his statement from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. i. c. 16.

[2442] These statements are quite conformable with the fact.

[2443] This statement is quite true, so far as the fact that the leaves have not the same position in the day-time as during the night: the changes of position vary greatly, however, in the different kinds. It is generally thought that an organic irritability is the cause of this phenomenon.

[2444] This seems to be the meaning of “In aliis gentium lana est.” He alludes, probably, to cotton or silk: see B. vi. c. 20. Thunberg tells us that at Roodesand, near the Cape of Good Hope, there grows so thick a down on the Buplevrum giganteum of Lamarck, that it is employed to imitate a sort of white velvet, and is used for bonnets, gloves, stockings, &c.

[2445] B. xiii. c. 7.

[2446] “Genere ilicum.” It is not improbable that he here refers to the variety of the holm-oak which he has previously called “aquifolia,” apparently confounding it with the holly. See c. 8 of this Book.

[2447] See B. xiii. c. 37.

[2448] This must be understood of the young leaf of the alder, which has a sort of thick gummy varnish on it.

[2449] B. xiii. c. 7.

[2450] B. xv. c. 15. Pliny is not correct here; the leaf of the pear is oval or lanceolated, while that of the apple is oval and somewhat angular, though not exactly “mucronata,” or sharply pointed.

[2451] Not exactly “divided,” but strongly lobed.

[2452] If this is the case, the pitch-tree can hardly be identical with the false fir, the Abies excelsa of Decandolles. See c. 18 of this Book, and the Note.

[2453] This passage would be apt to mislead, did we not know that the leaves of the coniferous trees here mentioned are not prickly, in the same sense as those of the holly, which are armed with very formidable weapons.

[2454] More particularly in the Populus tremula, the “quivering” poplar.

[2455] Crepitantia.

[2456] See B. xv. c. 15. Not a species, but an accidental monstrosity.

[2457] See B. xv. c. 37, where he speaks of the Hexastich myrtle.

[2458] The leaves of the elm and the tree supposed to be identical with the cytisus of the ancients have no characteristics in common. See B. xiii. c. 47, and the Notes.

[2459] De Re Rust. cc. 5, 30, 45.

[2460] Very inappropriate food for cattle, it would appear: the fig leaf being charged with a corrosive milky juice; the leaf of the holm oak, hard and leathery; and that of the ivy, bitter and nauseous in the highest degree.

[2461] Eighth of February.

[2462] See B. viii. c. 67.

[2463] Catlitio.

[2464] He alludes to the period of the rising of the sap; an entirely distinct process from germination.

[2465] This statement, as also that relative to the holm oak, and other trees previously mentioned, is quite incorrect. The blossoms of the fig-tree are very much concealed, however, from view in the involucre of the clinanthium.

[2466] This is not the fact, though the blossom of the juniper is of humble character, and not easily seen. Theophrastus, B. iii. c. 6, only says that it is a matter of doubt, what Pliny so positively affirms.

[2467] This is the fact; the male tree is sterile, but it fecundates the female.

[2468] These remarks, borrowed from Theophrastus, are generally consistent with our experience.

[2469] Fée remarks that Pliny here copies from Theophrastus, a writer of Greece, without making allowance for the difference of localities. Theophrastus, however, gives the laurel an earlier period for budding than Pliny does.

[2470] The Rhamnus paliurus of Linnæus.

[2471] This is entirely fanciful: though it is the case that in some trees, the ligneous ones, namely, there are two germinations in the year, one at the beginning of spring, which acts more particularly on the branches, and the other at the end of summer, which acts more upon the parts nearer the roots.

[2472] See B. xviii. c. 57.

[2473] There is no such thing as a third budding.

[2474] As already stated, there are never more than two germinations.

[2475] This rupture of the epidermis, caused by the formation beneath of new ligneous and conical layers, takes place not solely, as Pliny and Theophrastus state, at the time of germination, but slowly and continuously.

[2476] On the contrary, they are irregular both in their commencement and their duration.

[2477] This is not the case; each bud is independent of the one that has preceded it. A sucker, however, newly developed may give birth to buds not at the extremity, but throughout the whole length of it.

[2478] See B. xviii. c. 67. What Pliny says here is in general true, though its germination does not take place with such rapidity as he states.

[2479] A mere fable, of course.

[2480] In the last Chapter.

[2481] In Paris, Fée says, the almond does not blossom till March. If the tree should blossom too soon, it is often at the expense of the fruit.

[2482] Probably the apricot. See B. xv. c. 12.

[2483] See B. xv. c. 11.

[2484] See B. xxiv. c. 8.

[2485] This, of course, is not the fact. As to the succeeding statements, they are borrowed mostly from Theophrastus, and are in general correct.

[2486] The rising of the sap.

[2487] The Pleiades. See B. xviii. cc. 59, 60.

[2488] It was supposed in astrology that the stars exercised an effect equally upon animal and vegetable life.

[2489] 25th of July.

[2490] See B. xviii. c. 68.

[2491] The Cornus mas of botanists; probably the Frutex sanguineus mentioned in c. 30. See also B. xv. c. 31.

[2492] Probably the Lonicera Alpigena of Linnæus; the fruit of which resembles a cherry, but is of a sour flavour, and produces vomiting.

[2493] The wood is so durable, that a tree of this kind in the forest of Montmorency is said to be a thousand years old.

[2494] See B. xviii. cc. 59, 60.

[2495] See c. 6 of this Book.

[2496] See B. xii. c. 7.