[96] There are no winged scorpions. Cuvier thinks that he may possibly
allude to the panorpis, or scorpion-fly, the abdomen of which
terminates in a forceps, which resembles the tail of the scorpion.

[97] Probably the panorpis.

[98] See B. xxix. c. 29.

[99] The starred or spotted lizard.

[100] The stellio of the Romans is the “ascalabos” or “ascalabotes” of
the Greeks, the lizard into which Ascalabus was changed by Ceres: see
Ovid, Met. B. v. l. 450, _et seq._ Pliny also mentions this in B. xxix.
c. 4, though he speaks of some difference in their appearance. It is
a species of gecko, the tarentola of Italy, the tarente of Provence,
and the geckotta, probably, of Lacepède. The gecko, Cuvier says, is
not venomous; but it causes small blisters to rise on the skin when it
walks over it, the result, probably, of the extreme sharpness of its
nails.

[101] See c. 28 of this Book, and B. viii. c. 95; B. xxx. c. 27.

[102] A general name for the grasshopper. Cuvier remarks, that Pliny is
less clear on this subject than Aristotle, the author from whom he has
borrowed.

[103] “Correptis” seems a preferable reading to “conrupti,” that
adopted by Sillig.

[104] The female has this, and employs it for piercing dead branches in
which to deposit its eggs.

[105] The “mother of the grasshopper.”

[106] The trunk of the grasshopper, Cuvier says, is situate so low
down, that it seems to be attached to the breast. With it the insect
extracts the juices of leaves and stalks.

[107] Or “twig-grasshopper.”

[108] Or “corn-grasshopper.”

[109] Or “oat-grasshopper.”

[110] The river Cæcina. See B. iii. c. 15. This river is by Strabo,
B. vi. c. 260, called the Alex. Ælian has the story that the Locrian
grasshoppers become silent in the territory of Rhegium, and those of
Rhegium in the territory of Locri, thereby implying that they each have
a note in its own respective country.

[111] Cuvier says that the observations in this Chapter, derived from
Aristotle, are remarkable for their exactness, and show that that
philosopher had studied insects with the greatest attention.

[112] Or sheath; the Coleoptera of the naturalists.

[113] The flying stag-beetle, the Lucanus cervus of Linnæus.

[114] The dung-beetle, the Scarabæus pilularius of Linnæus.

[115] Various kinds of crickets.

[116] Cuvier says that it is on the two sides of the abdomen that the
male carries its light, while the whole posterior part of the female is
shining.

[117] In the glow-worm of France, the Lampyris noctiluca of Linnæus,
the female is without wings, while the male gives but little light. In
that of Italy, the Lampyris Italica, both sexes are winged.

[118] “Blattæ.” See B. xxix. c. 39, where three kinds are specified.

[119] This beetle appears to be unknown. Cuvier suggests that the
Scarabæus nasicornis of Linnæus, which haunts dead bark, or the
Scarabæus auratus may be the insect referred to.

[120] “Fatal to the beetle.”

[121] Cuvier remarks that this assertion, borrowed from Aristotle, is
incorrect. The wings of many of the Coleoptera are articulated in the
middle, and so double, one part on the other, to enter the sheath.

[122] Cuvier remarks, that the panorpis has a tail very like that of
the scorpion; and that the ephemera, the ichneumons and others, have
tails also. Aristotle, in the corresponding place, only says that the
insects do not use the tail to direct their flight.

[123] These are merely the feelers of the jaws.

[124] Not instead of, but in addition to, the tongue, by the aid of
which they suck.

[125] Evidently meaning the trunk.

[126] See B. xxix. c. 39.

[127] It is not true that the young locusts are destitute of feet.

[128] 7th May.

[129] 18th July.

[130] 11th May.

[131] Cuvier treats this story as purely imaginary.

[132] Cuvier says that some have been known nearly a foot long, but not
more.

[133] He alludes to the ravages committed by the swarms of the
migratory locust, Grillus migratorius of Linnæus.

[134] Julius Obsequens speaks of a pestilence there, created by the
dead bodies of the locusts, which caused the death of 8000 persons.

[135] See also B. vi. c. 35.

[136] What are commonly called ants’ eggs, are in reality their larvæ
and nymphæ. Enveloped in a sort of tunic, these last, Cuvier says,
are like grains of corn, and from this probably has arisen the story
that they lay up grains against the winter, a period through which in
reality they do not eat.

[137] They stow away bits of meat and detached portions of fruit, to
nourish their larvæ with their juices.

[138] It is in reality their larvæ that they thus bring out to dry. The
working ants, or neutrals, are the ones on which these labours devolve:
the males and females are winged, the working ants are without wings.

[139] “Ad recognitionem mutuam.”

[140] Some modern writers express an opinion that when they meet, they
converse and encourage one another by the medium of touch and smell.

[141] See B. v. c. 31.

[142] M. de Veltheim thinks that by this is really meant the Canis
corsac, the small fox of India, but that by some mistake it was
represented by travellers as an ant. It is not improbable, Cuvier
says, that some quadruped, in making holes in the ground, may have
occasionally thrown up some grains of the precious metal. The story
is derived from the narratives of Clearchus and Megasthenes. Another
interpretation of this story has also been suggested. We find from
some remarks of Mr. Wilson, in the _Transactions of the Asiatic
Society_, on the Mahabharata, a Sanscrit poem, that various tribes on
the mountains Meru and Mandara (supposed to lie between Hindostan and
Tibet) used to sell grains of gold, which they called _paippilaka_, or
“ant-gold,” which, they said, was thrown up by ants, in Sanscrit called
_pippilaka_. In travelling westward, this story, in itself, no doubt,
untrue, may very probably have been magnified to its present dimensions.

[143] Cuvier observes, that this is a very correct account of the
cabbage or radish butterfly, the Papilio brassicæ or Papilio raphani of
Linnæus.

[144] Cossi. See B. xvii. c. 37.

[145] Tæniæ.

[146] He alludes to the Morbus pediculosus.

[147] Aristotle says, in the corresponding passage, Hist. Anim. B.
v. c. 26, that the animals which are affected by lice, are more
particularly exposed to them when they change the water in which they
wash.

[148] Or “leapers.”

[149] He alludes to dog-ticks and ox-ticks, the Acarus ricinus of
Linnæus, and the Acarus reduvius of Schrank.

[150] In c. 32 he has said the same of the grasshopper; in relation to
its drink.

[151] A variety of the Cynips of Linnæus, which in vast numbers will
sometimes adhere to the ears of dogs.

[152] These are really the larvæ of night-moths. His account here is
purely imaginary.

[153] He speaks of the Cynips psenes of Linnæus, which breeds on the
blossom of the fig-tree, and aids in its fecundation. See B. xv. c. 21.

[154] He alludes to various coleopterous insects, which are not
included among the Cantharides of the modern naturalists. They are
first an egg, then a larva, then a nympha, and then the insect fully
developed.

[155] See B. xxix. c. 30.

[156] The redness sometimes observed on the snow of the Alps and the
Pyrenees, is supposed by De Lamarck to be produced by animalculæ: other
naturalists, however, suppose it to arise from vegetable or mineral
causes.

[157] Cuvier thinks that he alludes to a variety of the ephemera or
the phryganea of Linnæus, the case-wing flies, many of which are
particularly short-lived. These are by no means peculiar to the river
Bog or Hypanis.

[158] “Living for a day.”

[159] They only _appear_ to be so, from the peculiar streaks on the
eyes. Linnæus has hence called one variety, the Tabanus cæcutiens.

[160] Or with pounded chalk or whitening. Ælian adds, “if they are
placed in the sun,” which appears necessary for the full success of the
experiment. Life appears to be suspended in such cases for a period of
surprising length.

[161] Probably the golden pheasant, as already mentioned.

[162] Some kind of heron or crane, Cuvier thinks.

[163] The Alauda cristata of Linnæus, so called from “galera,” a
pointed cap like a helmet.

[164] The fifth legion.

[165] The hoopoe, B. x. c. 44.

[166] Savigny and Cuvier take this to be the Ardea virgo of Linnæus, a
native of Numidia.

[167] The suddenness of their appearance, no doubt, was fabulous; but
we have well-authenticated cases in recent times of substances growing
on the human head, to all appearance resembling horns, and arising from
a disordered secretion of the hair. Witness the case of Mary Davies,
a so-called horn from whose head is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum
at Oxford. The story of Genucius Cippus, the Roman prætor, is told by
Ovid, Met. B. xv. l. 565, _et seq._

[168] A spitter, or second year stag, according to Cuvier.

[169] “Broad-horned.” The Cervus dama of Linnæus.

[170] “Dama.” The Antelope redunca of Linnæus, Cuvier thinks.

[171] No doubt a kind of antelope.

[172] “Lyras” seems preferable to “liras.”

[173] There are several varieties of oxen, in which the horns adhere to
the skin, and not to the cranium.

[174] B. viii. cc. 29-31.

[175] The Coluber cerastes of Linnæus. See B. viii. c. 35.

[176] The drinking-horns of our Saxon ancestors are well known to the
antiquarian.

[177] The “urna” was half an “amphora,” or nearly three gallons.

[178] See B. xxxv. c. 41.

[179] The rhinoceros. See B. viii. c. 39.

[180] He surely must except the Phrygian oxen with the moveable horns,
which he has previously mentioned.

[181] Or “long-haired.” See B. iii. c. 7.

[182] See B. iv. c. 31.

[183] See B. iv. c. 22.

[184] See B. v. c. 29.

[185] Φαλακροκόραξ. See B. x. c. 68.

[186] He borrows this from Aristotle.

[187] B. viii. c. 54, and B. x. c. 58. The skull of the bear is not
thinner or weaker than that of other animals of its own size; but
the skull of the parrot, in proportion to those of other birds, is
remarkably hard.

[188] See B. vii. c. 1.

[189] Cuvier says that these are the larvæ of the œstrus, which are
deposited on the lips of quadrupeds, and so make their way to various
cavities.

[190] B. ix. c. 40.

[191] Or razor-sheath. See B. x. c. 88.

[192] Aristotle was of this opinion, but Galen maintained that the mole
_can_ see. Its eye is extremely small, and hard on the surface.

[193] Or “white” heron. As Cuvier remarks, this is probably a mere
augur’s fable.

[194] It is almost needless to remark, that both snails, as well as
locusts and grasshoppers, _have_ eyes.

[195] Lumbricus.

[196] B. vii. c. 2.

[197] “Cæsii.”

[198] The same has been said also of Cardan, the elder Scaliger,
Theodore Beza, the French physician Mairan, and the republican Camille
Desmoulins.

[199] Caligula.

[200] Hardouin with justice doubts the soundness of this alleged reason.

[201] He alludes, probably, to some method of curing cataract; perhaps
somewhat similar to that mentioned by him in B. xx. c. 20.

[202] This was done by the nearest relatives. This usage still prevails
in this country, the eyelids being pressed down with pieces of gold or
silver.

[203] Or “squint-eyed.”

[204] Or “cock-eyed.”

[205] B. viii. c. 45.

[206] B. viii, c. 51.

[207] See B. xxv. c. 50.

[208] Or crustaceous covering.

[209] Kohl is still used in the east for the same purpose.

[210] Aristotle says so, Hist. Anim. B. iii. c. 10.

[211] “The eyebrows.”

[212] This is not the fact.

[213] With their nails when mourning for the dead.

[214] Hence the word “nasutus,” a sneering, captious, or sarcastic man.

[215] “Flat-nosed,” and “snub-nosed.”

[216] A Roman family—the reading of this word seems doubtful.

[217] In reality, the under one only.

[218] He is incorrect in speaking of dogs as having serrated teeth.

[219] In the dugong also, babiroussa, muntjac, and others.

[220] The morse and the dugong are instances to the contrary.

[221] The females of the elephant, morse, dugong, chevrotin, and
muntjac have them, and they are equally as useful as with the male,
only, perhaps, not so strong.

[222] This is incorrect, unless he merely means ranged in one
continuous line; and even then he is in error.

[223] See B. ix. c. 29. This is called the parrot-fish, from the
resemblance of its upper and lower jaws to the beak of a parrot.

[224] They present this appearance from being worn away at the surface.

[225] Rondelet would read “gula,” the throat. This, though repudiated
by Hardouin, is approved of by Cuvier, who justly looks upon the
ordinary reading as an absurdity. Many fish, he says, and more
especially the osseous ones, have teeth in the pharynx.

[226] There is always one fang, at least, ready to supply the place of
the one in front, if lost by any accident.

[227] Like the jugglers of the East at the present day. But it is very
doubtful whether the poison fang is in _all_ instances previously
extracted from the serpents which they handle.

[228] But the camel, as well as the lama, has an incisive bone,
provided with an incisive tooth on each side, and has canine and molar
teeth as well.

[229] If by this term he means teeth separated from each other,
the assertion is incorrect, as in these animals we find the molars
separated from the lower incisives by a very considerable space.

[230] Cuvier says, as far as the sea-urchin is concerned, very simply,
and merely by looking at it, as its five teeth are very apparent.

[231] The incisors are in number, and very nearly in appearance, like
those of man. The canines are different in shape, though similar in
number. What he says about the elephant, is peculiar to that of India.

[232] See B. ix. c. 88.

[233] Very few other animals are born with teeth, in their natural
state. Apes, dogs, and cats are not born with teeth.

[234] From the fourth to the eighth month in reality, during which the
four central incisors appear.

[235] The only ones that do not change are those which have three
molars on each side of the jaw.

[236] This is erroneous: they change the incisors and molars as well.

[237] See B. xxviii. c. 78.

[238] By us known as the “wisdom” teeth.

[239] This is not the fact: they have usually the same number, but
there are exceptions on both sides. The same is also the case with
sheep, goats, and swine.

[240] This is not very uncommon.

[241] Not at all an uncommon occurrence.

[242] Of the second set.

[243] It is only in the horse and the ass that these indications can be
relied upon.

[244] Columellares.

[245] This has no such effect.

[246] The contrary is the case: it will be more prolific.

[247] Swine change them just the same as other animals.

[248] By certain appearances in the incisors, the age of a horse up to
its twenty-fourth year, or even beyond, may be judged of: the other
signs cannot be so positively relied upon.

[249] B. viii. c. 15.

[250] “Sævissima dentibus,” seems to be a preferable reading to
“sævissime dentiunt.”

[251] Only two-forked in reality.

[252] It is _not_ covered with hair.

[253] It is _not_ bifurcate.

[254] These are horny, conical papillæ, the summits of which point
backwards.

[255] See B. ix. c. 60.

[256] “Criers.”

[257] One of the titles of the goddess Fortuna.

[258] “Uva,” or “grape.”

[259] More generally “epiglottis.” It is found in some few reptiles.
This passage is omitted by Sillig.

[260] Gullet, or pharynx.

[261] Stomachum.

[262] All these animals, on the contrary, have seven vertebræ.

[263] This is not the fact. The spinal marrow, even, may be wounded,
without death being the immediate result.

[264] Snow-water, we know, is apt to produce goitre.

[265] “Stomachus.” More properly, the œsophagus, or ventricle.

[266] Lacunæ modo.

[267] Or turtle. It has a tongue, and though it has no teeth, the jaws
are edged with a horny substance like the bills of birds.

[268] “Crenis” is read for “renis:” otherwise the passage is
unintelligible: it is still most probably in a corrupt state.

[269] Among all the mammiferæ and the birds, the heart has four
cavities, two on each side.

[270] Mens.

[271] This is a mistake. The heart is subject to disease, equally with
other parts of the body.

[272] In spite of what Schenkius says in confirmation of Pliny, this
is very doubtful. Of course it must increase from childhood, but the
increase surely does not continue till the fiftieth year.

[273] See an account of him in the Messeniaca of Pausanias.

[274] In this part of the story may have originated that of the escape
of Sindbad the Sailor, when buried in the vault with the body of his
wife.—See the “Arabian Nights.”

[275] “Rex Sacrorum.” This was a priest elected from the patricians, on
whom the priestly duties devolved, which had been originally performed
by the kings of Rome. He ranked above the Pontifex Maximus, but was
possessed of little or no political influence.

[276] No doubt there was trickery in this.

[277] By supernatural agency.

[278] This was P. Vitellius, who served under Germanicus in Germany.
He was one of the accusers of Cn. Piso, who was charged with having
poisoned Germanicus.

[279] The cardiac disease, as alleged.

[280] B. ix. c. 6.

[281] But see B. viii. c. 51, and B. xxviii. c. 29.

[282] Plutarch says that it was the “caput,” or “head” of the liver
that was wanting. M. Marcellus was slain while reconnoitring the
Carthaginian camp by night.

[283] Caligula.

[284] 1st of January.

[285] By his niece and wife, Agrippina, the mother of Nero.

[286] See B. iv. c. 11. Tharne does not seem to be known. Of course,
this story about the hares is fabulous.

[287] There must be some corrupt reading here; for, as Sillig remarks,
who ever heard of a siege which lasted a hundred years?

[288] Or diaphragm; from “præ,” “before,” and “cor,” the “heart.”

[289] With Sardonic laughter, as Hardouin remarks.

[290] Or small guts.

[291] Or front intestines.

[292] The coot, probably.

[293] He alludes to the papillæ of the mucous gland.

[294] The colic.

[295] “Lupus cervarius.” Probably the lynx.

[296] The belly of the elephant presents five transversal folds.

[297] See B. xxviii. c. 77. This substance, known by the name of
egagropile, consists of the hair which the animal has swallowed when
licking itself. It assumes a round form, in consequence of the action
of the intestines.

[298] Perhaps the godwit, or stone-plover, the Scolopax ægocephala of
Linnæus.

[299] See also B. xxvi. c. 83.

[300] This may be done with safety in dogs or other animals.

[301] See B. v. c. 32.

[302] See p. 68.

[303] This is not the case. Birds have kidneys, but of an irregular
form.

[304] This is a mistake. It _does_ cicatrize.

[305] Or bag.

[306] “The (principal) place.”

[307] Ajasson renders this passage: “The effects are fatal when this
organ, becoming displaced, absorbs the air.” The text is probably
corrupt.

[308] Varro, De Re Rust. B. ii. c. 4, says that he saw an instance of
this in Arcadia.

[309] This is not the case.

[310] There is no similarity whatever between the spinal marrow and
that which is found in the other bones.

[311] The hare and the partridge, for instance.

[312] There is considerable doubt what the ancients exactly meant
by the “nervi;” and whether, in fact, they had any definite idea of
“nerves,” in our acceptation of the word. Pliny here expresses the
opinions entertained by Aristotle. “Tendons,” or “sinews,” would almost
appear to be the proper translation of the word.

[313] See B. xxviii. c. 41.

[314] In allusion, probably, to hæmorrhoids, or piles.

[315] See B. vii. c. 12.

[316] Bears, dormice, serpents, &c.

[317] The polypus and the chameleon.

[318] See B. viii. cc. 51, 52.

[319] Walking-sticks are still made of it.

[320] As already mentioned, this is not the fact.

[321] See B. ix. c. 43.

[322] It is not improbable that, under this name, some kind of large
vampire bat was meant; but, as Pliny says, it is impossible to arrive
at any certain knowledge on the subject. The best account given of the
strix is that in Ovid’s Fasti, B. vi. The name was given opprobriously
to supposed witches, the “foul and midnight hags” of Shakspeare.

[323] This assertion is borrowed from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c.
14.

[324] Or biestings.

[325] See B. xxviii. c. 12. Poppæa Sabina, first the mistress, then the
wife, of the Emperor Nero.

[326] “Spuma.” He calls it so, because it floats on the surface. See B.
xxviii. c. 35. The “acor,” or acrid liquid, which he speaks of, is, no
doubt, butter-milk.

[327] Or whey.

[328] Nismes, in France. Hardouin speaks of goats’-milk cheeses made in
its neighbourhood, and known as _fromages de Baux_.

[329] Probably the modern Losere and Gevaudan. See B. iv. c. 19.

[330] For the Docleatæ, see B. iii. c. 26.

[331] For the Centrones, see B. iii. c. 24. He perhaps refers to the
modern _fromage de Passi_.

[332] The modern Marquisat de Cive, which still produces excellent
cheese.

[333] See B. xiv. c. 8.

[334] And more especially at Salona in Bithynia.

[335] “Etiam ubi non videtur major.” This is probably corrupt.

[336] He wrote a poem, in which the principal Latin dramatists are
enumerated, in the order of merit. A. Gellius, B. xv. c. 24, has
preserved a portion of it.

[337] Germanicus.

[338] This seems to be the meaning of “imbricatus.”

[339] Though wounds in the knee are highly dangerous, death does not
_necessarily_ ensue.

[340] Of another person, who had thus forfeited his bail. It was the
custom to touch the ear of the attesting witness.

[341] The goddess of retribution. See B. xxviii. c. 5, where he makes
further mention of her statue in the Capitol.

[342] The frog is, in some measure, an exception.

[343] Or “flat-foot,” “splay-foot,” “large-foot,” and “club-footed.”

[344] Words meaning “knock-kneed,” “bow-legged,” and “wry-legged.”

[345] The rhinoceros.

[346] Or wryneck.

[347] See B. x. c. 5.

[348] Supposed to be the Hirundo apus of Linnæus. Of the “oce” nothing
is known; indeed, the reading is very doubtful.

[349] B. ix. c. 44.

[350] He evidently means insects of the centipede class. See B. xxix.
c. 39.

[351] B. x. c. 83.

[352] Such as circumcision among the Jews.

[353] See B. xxxv. c. 46.

[354] Probably the buzzard; from this story also called the “triorchis.”

[355] Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 9.

[356] See B. ix. c. 52.

[357] “Aper.”

[358] B. ix. c. 7.

[359] See c. 65 of the present Book.

[360] Not the dumb son mentioned by Herodotus, who saved his father’s
life at the taking of Sardes.

[361] Like the whispering gallery of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

[362] “Non aliter quam oculis.” On this, few will be found to agree
with Pliny.

[363] And not to “conceal” them, according to the opinion of some
modern politicians.

[364] But they are borrowed from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 9.

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

[366] B. vii. c. 2.

[367] See B. xxix. c. 23.

[368] See c. 21 of the present Book.

[369] B. ix. c. 33.

[370] Or Fish-eaters.

[371] Or bulimia.

[372] See end of B. ii.

[373] See end of B. ii.

[374] C. Tremellius Scrofa, a friend of M. Varro, and one of the early
writers on agriculture.

[375] See end of B. x.

[376] See end of B. vii.

[377] See end of B. ix.

[378] See end of B. vii.

[379] See end of B. viii.

[380] See end of B. ii.

[381] See end of B. ii.

[382] See end of B. x.

[383] See end of B. iii.

[384] Nothing seems to be known of this writer.

[385] See end of B. vii.

[386] See end of B. vii.

[387] See end of B. ii.

[388] See end of B. ii.

[389] See end of B. vi.

[390] See end of B. x.

[391] C. Oppius, one of the most intimate friends of Julius Cæsar, for
whom, with Balbus, he acted in Spain. Of his numerous biographical and
historical works, none have survived to our time.

[392] See end of B. ii.

[393] See end of B. ii.

[394] Probably Neoptolemus of Paros, who wrote a book of Epigrams, a
treatise on Languages, and other works.

[395] Of Soli, an observer of the habits of bees. His portrait is said
still to exist, on a cornelian, attentively observing a swarm of bees.
He wrote upon bees, honey, and the art of mixing wines.

[396] Probably a different writer from the one mentioned at the end of
B. viii.; nothing seems to be known of him.

[397] See end of B. viii.

[398] See end of B. viii.

[399] See end of B. x.

[400] A philosopher of Agrigentum, and disciple of Pythagoras. He is
said to have perished in the crater of Mount Etna. He wrote numerous
works, of which only some fragments exist.

[401] See end of B. iv.

[402] Apparently the same as the King Philometor, mentioned below. See
end of B. viii.

[403] Of this writer nothing seems to be known.

[404] See end of B. vii.

[405] Of Chalcedon, one of the most famous physicians of antiquity.
He was physician to Phalaris, the tyrant of Sicily, and is said to
have dissected criminals alive. He was the first that paid particular
attention to the nervous system.

[406] A native of Iulis, in Cos, or else Ceos, grandson of Aristotle,
and disciple of Theophrastus. He acquired great reputation as a
physician, at the court of Seleucus Nicator, king of Syria, where he
discovered the supposed disease of Prince Antiochus, who had fallen in
love with his step-mother, Stratonice. Of his numerous medical works,
only the titles and a few fragments exist.

[407] See end of B. vii.

[408] A physician of Laodicæa, founder of the school of the Methodici.
He was a pupil of Asclepiades, and died about B.C. 43. Of his medical
works only a few fragments survive.

[409] See end of B. ii.

[410] See end of B. viii.

[411] See end of B. viii.

[412] See end of B. viii.

[413] See end of B. iii.

[414] See end of B. vii.

[415] See King Attalus, above.

[416] “Animâ.” The notion that plants are possessed of a soul or
spirit, is derived from the Greek philosophers, who attributed to them
intellect also, and sense.

[417] Vitruvius mentions the people of Gaul, Hispania, Lusitania, and
Aquitania, as living in his day in dwellings covered with oak shingles,
or with straw.

[418] See B. vi. c. 20, and B. xi. c. 26.

[419] Desfontaines remarks, that we may still trace vestiges of
this custom in the fine trees that grow near church porches, and
in church-yards. Of course, his remark will apply to France more
particularly.

[420] It is doubtful whether the æsculus of the Romans was the same as
the bay-oak, the holm-oak, or the beech. See B. xvi. c. 4.

[421] See further on this subject in Phædrus’s Fables, B. iii. f. 17.

[422] Reckoning the promulsis, antecæna, or gustatio, not as a course,
but only a prelude, the bellaria, or dessert, at the Roman banquets,
formed the second course, or mensa. It consisted of fruits uncooked,
sweetmeats, and pastry.

[423] He alludes to the pursuit of the elephant, for the purpose of
obtaining ivory, which was extensively used in his day, in making the
statues of the divinities.

[424] A sarcastic antithesis. And yet Dalechamps would read “hominum”
instead of “numinum”!

[425] Præmissa. The exact meaning of this word does not appear. Though
all the MSS. agree in it, it is probably a corrupt reading. Plutarch,
in his Life of Camillus, says that the wine of Italy was first
introduced in Gaul by Aruns, the Etruscan.

[426] The Platanus orientalis of Linnæus. It received its name from the
Greek πλάτος, “breadth,” by reason of its wide-spreading branches.

[427] For further mention of this island, now Tremiti, see B. iii. c.
30.

[428] He alludes, probably, to the “vectigal solarium,” a sort of
ground-rent which the tributary nations paid to the Roman treasury.
Virgil and Homer speak of the shade of the plane-tree, as a pleasant
resort for festive parties.

[429] It is not improbable that Pliny, in copying from Theophrastus,
has here committed an error. That author, B. ix. c. 7, says: ἐν μὲν
γὰρ τῷ Ἀδρίᾳ πλάτανον οὔ φασιν εἶναι, πλὴν περὶ τὸ Διομήδους ἱερόν·
σπανίαν δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ πάσῃ. “They say that in Adria there are no
plane-trees, except about the temple of Diomedes: and that they are
extremely rare in Italy.” Pliny, probably, when his secretary was
reading to him, mistook the word σπανίαν, “rare,” for Ἱσπανίᾳ “in
Spain.”

[430] It has been remarked that, in reality, this process would only
tend to impede its growth. Macrobius tells us, that Hortensius was
guilty of this singular folly.

[431] Situate near the sea-shore. It was here that Plato taught. See B.
xxxi. c. 3.

[432] Caligula.

[433] It is supposed that he here alludes sarcastically to the extreme
corpulence of Caligula.

[434] M. Fée, the learned editor of the botanical books in Ajasson’s
translation, remarks, that this cannot have been the Platanus of the
botanists, and that there is no tree of Europe, which does not lose its
leaves, that at all resembles it.

[435] The tendency, namely, to lose their leaves.

[436] Grandson of Asinius Pollio. Tacitus tells us, that he was one of
those whom Piso requested to undertake his defence, when charged with
having poisoned Germanicus; but he declined the office.

[437] Or “ground plane-trees.” It is by no means uncommon to see dwarf
varieties of the larger trees, which are thus reduced to the dimensions
of mere shrubs.

[438] C. Matius Calvena, the friend of Julius and Augustus Cæsar, as
also of Cicero. He is supposed to have translated the Iliad into Latin
verse, and to have written a work on cookery.

[439] See B. xxiii. c. 55. Fée remarks, that the ancients confounded
the citron with the orange-tree.

[440] Fée remarks, that this is not the case. The arbute is described
in B. xv. c. 28.

[441] In the time of Plutarch, it had begun to be somewhat more used.
It makes one of the very finest preserves.

[442] At the present day, it is cultivated all over India, in China,
South America, and the southern parts of Europe. Fée says, that they
grow even in the open air in the gardens of Malmaison.

[443] B. xi. c. 115. Virgil says the same, Georg. B. ii. ll. 134, 135.
Theophrastus seems to say, that it was the outer rind that was so used.

[444] See B. vi. c. 20.

[445] See B. vii. c. 2. The tree to which he alludes is unknown.

[446] Georg. B. ii. ll. 116, 117.

[447] B. iii. c. 97. There is little doubt that, under the general name
of “ebony,” the wood of many kinds of trees was, and is still, imported
into the western world, so that both Herodotus and Virgil may have been
correct in representing ebony as the product of both India and Æthiopia.

[448] Herodotus says two hundred.

[449] In Italy, whither he had retired from the hostile attacks of his
fellow-citizens. It is supposed by Le Vayer and others, that Pliny is
wrong in his assertion, that Herodotus wrote to this effect while at
Thurii; though Dr. Schmitz is inclined to be of opinion that he is
right in his statement.

[450] B. iii. c. 115.

[451] B. vi. c. 35.

[452] Fée remarks, that the words of Pliny do not afford us any means
of judging precisely what tree it was that he understood by the name of
ebony. He borrows his account mainly from Theophrastus.

[453] It is not known to what tree he alludes.

[454] This account of the Ficus Indica, or religiosa, known to us as
the banian-tree, is borrowed entirely from Theophrastus. Fée remarks,
however, that he is wrong in some of his statements, for that the
leaves are not crescent-shaped, but oblong and pointed, and that the
fruit has not a pleasant flavour, and is only eaten by the birds.

[455] See B. vi. c. 23.

[456] Sprengel and Bauhin are of opinion that the banana is the tree
meant here; Dodonæus thinks that it is the pomegranate. Thevet says
that the pala is the paquovera of India, the fruit of which is called
pacona. The account is borrowed from Theophrastus.

[457] The Gymnosophists, or Brahmins.

[458] Called Syndraci in B. vi. c. 25.

[459] It is not improbable that the Tamarindus Indica of Linnæus is the
tree here alluded to: though M. Fée combats that opinion.

[460] See Theophrastus, B. iv. c. 5.

[461] Dalechamps and Desfontaines are of opinion, that the pistachio,
or Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus, is here alluded to; but Fée
considers that there are no indications to lead to such a conclusion.

[462] It is not improbable that he may here allude to the cotton-tree,
of which further mention is made in c. xxi. of the present Book.

[463] Fée is of opinion that Cynorrhodon here means, not the dog-rose,
but the gall which is formed on the tree by the sting of the Cynips
bedeguar.

[464] Fée expresses himself at a loss to conjecture what trees are here
meant by Pliny.

[465] Fée remarks, that there are many inaccuracies in the account
here given by Pliny of the pepper-tree, and that it does not bear any
resemblance to the juniper-tree. The grains, he says, grow in clusters,
and not in a husk or pod; and he remarks, that the long pepper and the
black pepper, of which the white is only a variety divested of the
outer coat, are distinct species. He also observes, that the real long
pepper, the Piper longum of Linnæus, was not known to the ancients.

[466] Fée remarks, that this is not a correct description of ginger,
the Amomum zingiber of Linnæus. Dioscorides was one of those who
thought that ginger was the root of the pepper-tree.

[467] It is very doubtful what tree is here alluded to by Pliny, though
certain that it is not one of the pepper-trees. Sprengel takes it to be
the Daphne Thymelæa.

[468] It has been suggested that under this name the clove is meant,
though Fée and Desfontaines express a contrary opinion. Sprengel thinks
that it is the Vitex trifolia of Linnæus, and Bauhin suggests the
cubeb, the Piper cubeba of Linnæus. Fée thinks it may have possibly
been the Myrtus caryophyllata of Ceylon, the fruit of which corresponds
to the description here given by Pliny.

[469] See c. 52 of the present Book.

[470] Or “Lycium.” It is impossible to say with exactness what the
medical liquid called “Lycion” was. Catechu, an extract from the tan of
the acacia, has been suggested; though the fruit of that tree does not
answer the present description.

[471] Fée suggests that this may possibly be the Lycium Europæum of
Linnæus, a shrub not uncommonly found in the south of Europe.

[472] The Rhamnus Lycioides of Linnæus, known to us as buckthorn. The
berries of many varieties of the Rhamnus are violent purgatives.

[473] What he means under this head is not known. Fée speaks of a tree
which the Brahmins call macre, and which the Portuguese called arvore
de las camaras, arvore sancto, arvore de sancto Thome, but of which
they have given no further particulars. Acosta, Clusius, and Bauhin
have also professed to give accounts of it, but they do not lead to its
identification. De Jussieu thinks that either the Soulamea, the Rex
amaroris of Rumphius, or else the Polycardia of Commerson is meant. It
seems by no means impossible that mace, the covering of the nutmeg, is
the substance alluded to, an opinion that is supported by Gerard and
Desfontaines.

[474] “Saccharon.” Fée suggests that Pliny alludes to a peculiar kind
of crystallized sugar, that is found in the bamboo cane, though, at
the same time, he thinks it not improbable that he may have heard of
the genuine sugar-cane; as Strabo, B. xv., speaks of a honey found in
India, prepared without the aid of bees, and Lucan has the line—

  “Quique bibunt tenerâ dulces ab arundine succos,”

evidently referring to a sugar in the form of a syrup, and not of
crystal, like that of the Bambos arundinacea. It is by no means
improbable, that Pliny, or rather Dioscorides, from whom he copies,
confuses the two kinds of sugar; as it is well known that the Saccharum
officinarum, or sugar-cane, has been cultivated from a very early
period in Arabia Felix.

[475] It is unknown what plant is here alluded to by Pliny, but
Sprengel suggests that it is the Acacia latronum.

[476] From the description, this would appear to be a sort of poisonous
horse-radish.

[477] There is a tree in India, as we are informed by Fée, which is
known as the Excæcaria Agallochum, the juice of which is remarkably
acrid. Sailors, on striking it with a hatchet, and causing the juice to
spirt into their eyes, have been in danger of losing their sight. It is
possible that this may be the tree here alluded to by Pliny.

[478] He borrows the account of this marvellous shrub from
Theophrastus. No such plant is likely to have ever existed; though
small, and even large, snakes may occasionally take refuge among shrubs
and hollow trees.

[479] There is little doubt that the Hedysarum Alhagi of Linnæus
is here meant, from which a kind of honey or manna flows, known as
“Eastern” manna, or tereniabin. It is not so high as the fig-tree, and
is found in Khorasan, Syria, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere. The manna
distils principally in the morning.

[480] Fée remarks, that it is singular that a resinous gum, such as
bdellium, should have been used in commerce for now two thousand years,
and yet its origin remain unknown. Kæmpfer and Rumphus are of opinion,
that the tree which produces it is the one known to naturalists as the
Borassus flabelliformis of Linnæus, or the Lontarus of others. It is
imported into Europe from Arabia and India, and is often found mixed
with gum Arabic.

[481] Περατικὸν; from περατὰ γῆς, “the remotest parts of the earth,”
from which it was brought.

[482] The modern name of this tree is unknown.

[483] B. vi. c. 28.

[484] It is supposed that the Rhizophora Mangle of Linnæus is the tree
that is here described. It grows on all the coasts of India, from Siam
to the entrance of the Persian Gulf. It takes root on spots which have
been inundated by the sea, and its boughs bend downwards, and taking
root in the earth, advance gradually towards the sea. The leaf and
fruit have the characteristics of those of the arbute and almond as
here mentioned.

[485] B. vi. c. 32.

[486] Fée suggests that some kind of mangrove is probably alluded to,
of the kind known as avicennia, or bruguiera.

[487] See B. vi. c. 20.

[488] “Cotonei.” To this resemblance of its fruit to the quince, the
cotton-tree, which is here alluded to, not improbably owes its modern
name.

[489] The cotton-tree, or Gossypium arboreum of Linnæus. It is worthy
of remark, that Pliny copies here almost literally from Theophrastus.
According to Philostratus, the byssus, or fine tissues worn by the
Egyptian priests, were made of cotton.

[490] The Malthiola incana.

[491] Fée suggests that this may be a Magnolia; but, as he remarks,
most plants open and shut at certain hours; consequently, this cannot
be regarded as any peculiar characteristic, sufficient to lead with
certainty to its identification.

[492] Theophrastus, from whom our author is copying, says that this is
the case only with the fig-tree there.

[493] According to most commentators, this is the Costus Arabicus of
Linnæus. Dioscorides mentions three varieties of costus: the Arabian,
which is of the best quality, and is white and odoriferous; the Indian,
which is black and smooth; and the Syrian, which is of the colour
of wax, dusky, and strong smelling. Fée, however, doubts whether
the modern costus is the same thing as that of the ancients; for,
as he says, although it has a sweet odour, it does not deserve the
appellation of a “precious aromatic,” which we find constantly given to
it by the ancients.

[494] See B. vi. c. 23.

[495] It is probable that the nard of the ancients, from which they
extracted the famous nard-oil, was not the same plant which we know as
the Indian nard, or Andropogon nardus of Linnæus. Indeed, it has been
pretty conclusively established by Sir William Jones, in his “Asiatic
Researches,” that the Valeriana Jatamansi is the plant from which they
obtained the oil. Among the Hindoos, it is known as djatâmansi, and by
the Arabs under the name of sombul, or “spike,” from the fact of the
base being surrounded with ears or spikes, whence, probably, the Roman
appellation. This species of valerian grows in the more distant and
mountainous parts of India, Bootan and Nepaul, for instance.

[496] From the Greek, ὄζαινα, “a putrid sore.” Fée suggests that this
may have been the Nardus hadrosphærum of the moderns.

[497] Fée supposes that this is not lavender, as some have thought, but
the Allium victorialis of modern naturalists, which is still mixed with
the nard from the Andropogon. He doubts the possibility of its having
been adulterated with substances of such a different nature as those
mentioned here by Pliny.

[498] Fée is of opinion, that the Greek writers, from whom Pliny copied
this passage, intended to speak of the ears of nard, or spikenard.

[499] According to Dioscorides, this appellation only means such nard
as is cultivated in certain mountains of India which look toward
Syria, and which, according to that author, was the best nard of all.
Dalechamps and Hardouin, however, ridicule this explanation of the term.

[500] Generally supposed to be the Valeriana Celtica of modern
naturalists. See B. xxi. c. 79.

[501] Probably the Valeriana Italica of modern naturalists.

[502] See B. xix. c. 48.

[503] Known in this country as fox-glove, our Lady’s gloves, sage of
Jerusalem, or clown’s spikenard. See B. xxi. c. 16.

[504] Not always, but very seldom, Brotier says. Clusius has
established, from observation, that this plant is only a variety of the
Valeriana Celtica.

[505] Fée remarks, that the name “baccara,” in Greek, properly belonged
to this plant, but that it was transferred by the Romans to the field
nard, with which the Asarum had become confounded. It is the same as
the Asarum Europæum of modern naturalists; but it does not, as Pliny
asserts, flower twice in the year.

[506] It is by no means settled among naturalists, what plant the
Amomum of the ancients was; indeed, there has been the greatest
divergence of opinion. Tragus takes it to be a kind of bindweed:
Matthioli, the Piper Æthiopicum of Linnæus: Cordus and Scaliger,
the rose of Jericho, the Anastatica hierocuntica of Linnæus. Gesner
thinks it to have been the garden pepper, the Solanum bacciferum of
Tournefort: Cæsalpinus the cubeb, the Piper cubeba of Linnæus: Plukenet
and Sprengel the Cissus vitiginea, while Fée and Paulet look upon it as
not improbably identical with the Amomum racemosum of Linnæus. The name
is probably derived from the Arabic hahmâma, the Arabians having first
introduced it to the notice of the Greeks.

[507] Supposed to have been only the Amomum, in an unripe state, as
Pliny himself suggests.

[508] Still known in pharmacy as “cardamum.” It is not, however, as
Pliny says, found in Arabia, but in India; from which it probably
reached the Greeks and Romans by way of the Red Sea. There are three
kinds known in modern commerce, the large, the middle size, and the
small. M. Bonastre, “Journal de Pharmacie,” May, 1828, is of opinion,
that the word cardamomum signifies “amomum in pods,” the Egyptian kardh
meaning “pod,” or “husk.” It is, however, more generally supposed, that
the Greek word, καρδία, “heart,” enters into its composition.

[509] “Verus” seems a preferable reading here to “vero,” which has been
adopted by Sillig.

[510] See c. 42 of the present Book.

[511] Virgil, Georg. B. ii. l. 139, mentions Panchaia, in Arabia,
as being more especially the country of frankincense. That region
corresponds with the modern Yemen. It is, however, a well-ascertained
fact, that it grows in India as well, and it is supposed that the
greater part of it used by the ancients was in reality imported from
that country. The Indian incense is the product of a tree belonging
to the terebinth class, named by Roxburgh, who first discovered it,
Boswellia thurifera. It is more especially found in the mountainous
parts of India. On the other hand, it has been asserted that the
Arabian incense was the product of a coniferous tree, either the
Juniperus Lycia, the Juniperus Phœnicea, or the Juniperus thurifera of
Linnæus. But, as Fée justly remarks, it would appear more reasonable
to look among the terebinths of Arabia for the incense tree, if one
of that class produces it in India, and more especially because the
coniferous trees produce only resins, while the terebinths produce gum
resins, to which class of vegetable products frankincense evidently
belonged. In commerce, the gum resin, Olibanum, the produce of the
Boswellia serrata, and imported from the Levant, bears the name of
frankincense.

[512] See B. vi. c. 32. Their name is still preserved in the modern
Hadramaut, to the east of Aden.

[513] See B. vi. cc. 31 and 32. He was the son of Agrippa and Julia,
the daughter of Augustus, by whom he was adopted.

[514] This seems the most probable among these various surmises and
conjectures.

[515] These words are said by some to be derived from the Greek,
καρφὸς, “a hollow stalk,” on account of its lightness, and δᾳδίον, “a
torch,” on account of its resinous and inflammable qualities. It is,
however, much more probable that they were derived from the Arabic, and
not from the Celto-Scythic, as Poinsinet conjectures.

[516] Fée is probably right in his conjecture, that it was so called
solely in consequence of its superior strength.

[517] Meaning “drop” incense.

[518] “Undivided” incense.

[519] From their being the size of an ὄροβος, or “chick-pea.”

[520] There is some doubt as to the correctness of this reading. The
“manna” here mentioned is quite a different substance to the manna of
modern commerce, obtained from the Fraxinus ornus of naturalists.

[521] He was a kinsman of Olympias, the mother of Alexander, and a man
of very austere habits. Plutarch says, that on this occasion Alexander
sent to Leonidas 600 talents’ weight of incense and myrrh.

[522] See B. vi. c. 32.

[523] Probably the same as the deity, Assabinus, mentioned by Pliny in
c. 42 of the present Book. Theophrastus mentions him as identical with
the sun, others, again, with Jupiter. Theophrastus says that the god
received not a tenth part, but a third.

[524] As to this place and the Gebanitæ, see B. vi. c. 32.

[525] There must surely be some mistake in these numbers.

[526] The Mediterranean.

[527] In c. 19 of the present Book.

[528] It is supposed to be the product of an amyris, but is not now
esteemed as a perfume; but is used in medicine as a tonic. Forskhal
has attributed to the Amyris kataf, or kafal, the production of myrrh.
According to Ehrenberg, a very similar tree, though constituting a
different species, the Balsamodendrum myrrha, also produces this
substance. It is imported into Europe from both Abyssinia and Arabia.
It was much used by the ancients, to flavour their wines.

[529] See B. vi. c. 32.

[530] Theophrastus says the terebinth.

[531] From the Greek στάζω, “to drop.” Fée observes, that the moderns
know nothing positive as to the mode of extracting myrrh from the
tree. See the account given by Ovid, Met. B. x. l. 500 _et seq._ of
the transformation of Myrrha into this tree,—“The warm drops fall from
the tree. The tears, even, have their own honour; and the myrrh that
distils from the bark bears the name of its mistress, and in no age
will remain unknown.”

[532] Fée remarks, that at the present day we are acquainted only with
one kind of myrrh; the fragments which bear an impression like those
of nails being not a distinct kind, but a simple variety in appearance
only. He thinks, also, that Pliny may very possibly be describing
several distinct resinous products, under the one name of myrrh. An
account of these various districts will be found in B. vi. c. 32.

[533] Hardouin suggests that it may be so called from the island of
Dia, mentioned by Strabo, B. xvi.

[534] “Collatitia.” The reading, however, is very doubtful.

[535] What this was is now unknown. Fée suggests that it may have been
bdellium, which is found in considerable quantities in the myrrh that
is imported at the present day.

[536] This is most probably the meaning of Pliny’s expression—“Ergo
transit in mastichen;” though Hardouin reads it as meaning that myrrh
sometimes degenerates to mastich: and Fée, understanding the passage in
the same sense, remarks that the statement is purely fabulous. Mastich,
he says, is the produce of the Pistacia lentiscus of Linnæus, which
abounds in Greece and the other parts of southern Europe. The greater
part of the mastich of commerce comes from the island of Chio. It is
impossible to conjecture to what plant Pliny here alludes, with the
head of a thistle.

[537] This kind, Fée says, is quite unknown to the moderns.

[538] This substance is still gathered from the Cistus creticus of
Linnæus, which is supposed to be the same as the plant leda, mentioned
by Pliny. It is also most probably the same as the Cisthon, mentioned
by Pliny in B. xxiv. c. 48. It is very commonly found in Spain. The
substance is gathered from off the leaves, not by the aid of goats,
but with whips furnished with several thongs, with which the shrubs
are beaten. There are two sorts of ladanum known in commerce; the
one friable, and mixed with earthy substances, and known as “ladanum
in tortis;” the other black, and soft to the fingers, the only
adventitious substances in which are a little sand and a few hairs.

[539] See B. vi. c. 32.

[540] For some further account of this substance, see B. xxix. c. 10.
Filthy as it was, the œsypum, or sweat and grease of sheep, was used by
the Roman ladies as one of their most choice cosmetics. Ovid, in his
“Art of Love,” more than once inveighs against the use of it.

[541] From the Greek ἔναιμον, “styptic,” or “blood-stopping.” It is at
the present day called gum “de lecce” in Italy. Fée says that it is not
often procured from the olive-trees of France, though it is found very
commonly on those of Naples and Calabria. It has no active powers, he
says, as a medicine.

[542] Hardouin suggests that they may be the pelagiæ, mentioned again
in B. xiii. c. 51.

[543] See B. vi. c. 31.

[544] Although the savin shrub, the Juniperus Sabina of Linnæus, bears
this name in Greek, it is evident, as Fée says, that Pliny does not
allude to it, but to a coniferous tree, as it is that family which
produces a resinous wood with a balsamic odour when ignited. Bauhin
and others would make the tree meant to be the Thuya occidentalis
of Linnæus; but, as Fée observes, that tree is in reality a native
originally of Canada, while the Thuya orientalis is a native of Japan.
He suggests, however, that the Thuya articulata of Mount Atlas may have
possibly been the citrus of Pliny.

[545] See end of B. v.

[546] All these are mentioned in B. vi. c. 31.

[547] It is not known what wood is meant under this name. Aloe, and
some other woods, when ignited are slightly narcotic.

[548] See B. v. c. 21.

[549] See B. vi. c. 30.

[550] See c. 55 of the present Book.

[551] Because its perfumes were held in such high esteem, for burning
on the piles of the dead. This, of course, was done primarily to avoid
the offensive smell.

[552] The bark of the Cinnamomum Zeylanicum of the modern naturalists,
the cinnamon-tree of Ceylon.

[553] B. iii.

[554] See B. vi. c. 34.

[555] See B. vi. c. 26.

[556] As Fée observes, this description does not at all resemble
that of the cinnamon-tree of Ceylon, as known to us. M. Bonastre is
of opinion that the nutmeg-tree was known to the ancients under this
name; but, as Fée observes, the nutmeg could never have been taken for
a bark, and cinnamon is described as such in the ancient writers. He
inclines to think that their cinnamon was really the bark of a species
of amyris.

[557] See c. 33 of the present Book, and the Note.

[558] Or “wood of cinnamon.”

[559] “Interrasili.” Gold partly embossed, and partly left plain, was
thus called.

[560] The Empress Livia.

[561] There has been considerable doubt what plant it was that produced
the cassia of the ancients. Fée, after diligently enquiring into the
subject, inclines to think that it was the Laurus cassia of Linnæus,
the same tree that produces the cassia of the present day.

[562] There is little doubt that all this is fabulous.

[563] Or, “smelling like balsam.”

[564] “Looking like laurel.”

[565] “Equal to cinnamon.” Fée thinks that it is a variety of the
Laurus cassia.

[566] He probably alludes to the Daphne Cnidium of Linnæus, which, as
Fée remarks, is altogether different from the Laurus cassia, or genuine
cassia.

[567] A gum resin of some unknown species, but not improbably, Fée
thinks, the produce of some of the Amyrides. Sprengel thinks that it
was produced from the Gardenia gummifera.

[568] Aloe-wood.

[569] According to Poinsinet, these Arabic words derive their
origin from the Slavonic; the first signifying a “cordial drug,”
or “alexipharmic,” and the other a drug “which divides itself into
tablets.” It is impossible to divine what drugs are meant by these
names.

[570] Signifying the “unguent acorn,” or “nut.” There is little doubt
that the behen or ben nut of the Arabians is meant, of which there
are several sorts. It is used by the Hindoos for calico printing and
pharmacy, and was formerly employed in Europe in the arts, and for
medical purposes. It is no longer used as a perfume. The “oil of ben”
used in commerce is extracted from the fruit of the Moringa oleifera
of naturalists. It is inodorous; for which reason, Fée is of opinion
that the name signifies “the oily nut,” and quotes Dioscorides, who
says, B. iv., that an oil is extracted from this balanus, which is used
as an ingredient in unguents, in place of other oils. Fée also says
that at the present day it is used by perfumers, to fix or arrest the
evanescent odours of such flowers as the jasmine and the lily.

[571] This Æthiopian variety is quite unknown, and is, as Fée remarks,
most probably of a different species from the genuine myrobalanus.

[572] See B. vi. c. 32.

[573] “Curing thirst.” Dioscorides, B. i. c. 148, says that it was so
called from, being full of juice, which quenched thirst like water.

[574] “Palm-nut.” Fée thinks it not improbable that one of the
date-palms is meant, if we may judge from the name. He suggests that
possibly the Elais or avoira of Guinea, the Elais Guineensis, which
is found as far as Upper Egypt, and which produces a fine oil known
as palm-oil, is meant, or possibly the Douma Thebaica, a palm-tree
frequently met with in Egypt. On fermentation, a vinous drink is
extracted from the last, which is capable of producing intoxication.

[575] Fée remarks, that this must not be confounded with the Calamus
aromaticus of the moderns, of which Pliny speaks in B. xxv. c. 100,
with sufficient accuracy to enable us to identify it with the Acorus
calamus of Linnæus. It is not ascertained by naturalists what plant is
meant by Pliny in the present instance, though Fée is of opinion that
a gramineous plant of the genus Andropogon is meant. M. Guibourt has
suggested that the Indian Gentiana chirayta is the plant. From what
Pliny says in B. xiii. c. 21, it appears that this calamus grew in
Syria, which is also the native country of the Andropogon schœnanthus.

[576] See B. xxiv. c. 14. The gum resin ammoniacum is still imported
into Europe from Africa and the East, in the form of drops or cakes. It
is a mildly stimulating expectorant, and is said to be the produce of
the Dorema ammoniacum. There are still two sorts in commerce: the first
in large masses of a yellow, dirty colour, mingled with heterogeneous
substances, and of a plastic consistency. This is the phyrama of
Pliny, or mixed ammoniac. The other is in tears, of irregular form
and a whitish colour, brittle and vitreous when broken. This is the
thrauston, or “friable” ammoniac of Pliny. Jackson says, that the
plant which produces it is common in Morocco, and is called feskouk,
resembling a large stalk of fennel. The ammoniac of Morocco is not,
however, imported into this country, being too much impregnated with
sand, in consequence of not being gathered till it falls to the ground.

[577] Solinus tells us, that the tree itself is called Metops.

[578] It is clear that, under this name, certain lichens of a hairy or
filamentary nature are meant. They adhere, Dioscorides tells us, to the
cedar, the white poplar, and the oak. The white ones belong, probably,
to the Usnea florida of Linnæus, the red ones to the Usnea barbata, and
the black ones to the Alectoria jubata, an almost inodorous lichen.

[579] Probably the Roccella tinctoria of Linnæus, a lichen most
commonly found upon rocks.

[580] The henné, the Lawsonia inermis of the modern naturalists, a
shrub found in Egypt, Syria, and Barbary. From this tree the henna is
made with which the women of the East stain the skin of their hands and
feet.

[581] The jujube-tree. See B. xv. c. 14.

[582] See B. xx. c. 82.

[583] Or privet.

[584] But in B. xxiv. c. 68, he says that this plant grows in the
island of Rhodes.

[585] According to Fée, this is the same as the Lignum Rhodianum, or
wood of Rhodes, of commerce, sometimes also called, but incorrectly,
wood of roses. It is, probably, the same as the Convolvulus scoparius
of Linnæus.

[586] Or “red sceptre,” probably so called from the flowers clustering
along the whole length of the branches.

[587] A liquid matter extracted from the beaver.

[588] Generally regarded as identical with the Teucrium Marum of
Linnæus, a sweet-smelling shrub found in the south of Europe and the
East, by us commonly known as “herb mastich,” somewhat similar to
marjoram. Fée says that the marum of Egypt is a kind of sage, the
Salvia Æthiopis of Linnæus.

[589] Balsam (or balm of Mecca, as it is sometimes called) is the
produce of two trees, probably varieties of one another, of the
terebinth family, belonging to the genus Amyris. So far from being a
native solely of Judæa, Bruce assures us that its original country was
that which produces myrrh, in the vicinity of Babelmandel, and that the
inhabitants use the wood solely for fuel. In Judæa it appears to have
been cultivated solely in gardens; and it was this tree which produced
the famous balm of Gilead of Scripture. The balsam trees known to us do
not at all correspond with Pliny’s description, as they do not resemble
either the vine or myrtle, nor are their leaves at all like those of
rue.

[590] “Malleolis.” So called when the new shoot of the tree springing
from a branch of the former year, is cut off for the sake of planting,
with a bit of the old wood on each side of it, in the form of a mallet.

[591] “Easily cut.” This and the other kinds, the names of which mean
“rough barked,” and “good length,” are probably only varieties of the
same tree, in different states.

[592] This is said, probably, in allusion to the smell, and not the
taste. Fée remarks, that Pliny speaks with a considerable degree of
exaggeration, as its odour is very inferior to that of several balsams
which contain benzoic acid. The balsam obtained by incision, as
mentioned by Pliny, is not brought to Europe, but only that obtained
by the process of decoction; which is known as “balm of Mecca,” or
of Judæa. It is difficult to believe, according to Fée, that it was
adulterated with the substances here mentioned by Pliny; oil of roses
having been always a very precious commodity, wax being likely to
change its nature entirely, and gums not being of a nature to combine
with it. Its asserted effects upon milk he states to be entirely
fabulous; the statement is derived from Dioscorides.

[593] The concha, or “shell,” was a Greek and Roman liquid measure, of
which there were two sizes. The smaller was half a cyathus, .0412 of an
English pint; the larger was about three times the size of the former,
and was known also as the oxybaphum.

[594] Or “wood of balsam.” It is still known in European commerce by
its ancient name. The fruit is called Carpobalsamum.

[595] See B. xxvi. cc. 53, 54.

[596] These localities are mentioned in B. v.

[597] The Storax officinalis of Linnæus, a tree found in the south of
Europe and the Levant. The variety found in France, and known as the
Aliboufier, produces no storax, or at least a very small proportion.
The storax of commerce appears in three states—grain storax, with which
Pliny does not appear to have been acquainted; amygdalite, which is
perhaps the sort which he speaks of as adulterated with bitter almonds;
and lump storax, of reddish brown colour, which is frequently mixed
with wood dust, or worm dust, as mentioned by Pliny, and is but little
esteemed. The tree is also called Liquidambar styraciflua.

[598] A shrub of the family of Ombelliferæ, belonging to the genus
bubon. It is a native of Asia Minor and Syria.

[599] See B. xix. c. 52, and B. xx. c. 75.

[600] This was a common notion with the Romans. Virgil, Georg. B. iii.
l. 415, says:—

  “Galbaneoque agitare graves nidore chelydros.”

Though considered to produce a pleasant perfume by the ancients, it is
no longer held in estimation for that quality, and is only employed in
some slight degree for medical purposes.

[601] The produce of the Pastinaca opopanax of Linnæus, or the Panax
Copticum of Bauhin, an umbelliferous plant which abounds in the East,
and is not uncommon in the south of France. The gum called Opopanax
was formerly used, and its supposed virtues are indicated by its name,
which signifies “the juice which is the universal remedy.”

[602] The umbelliferous plant known as the Heracleum spondylium
of Linnæus. It is commonly found in France, where it is called
Berce-branc-ursine. It received its name from the resemblance of its
smell to that of the sphondyle, a fetid kind of wood-beetle.

[603] Some suppose this tree to be the Laurus cassia of Linnæus,
or wild cinnamon; others take it for the betel, the Piper betel of
Linnæus. Clusius thinks that the name is derived from the Indian
Tamalpatra, the name given from time immemorial to the leaf of a
tree known by the Arabs as the Cadegi-indi, possibly the same as the
Katou-carua of the Malabars.

[604] From the Greek ὀμφάκιον, being made of unripe grapes. As Fée
remarks, that made from the olive is correctly described as a kind
of oil, but that made from the grape must have been a rob, or pure
verjuice. These two liquids must have had totally different qualities,
and resembled each other in nothing but the name. That extracted from
the olive is mentioned again in B. xxiii. c. 4, in reference to its
medicinal properties.

[605] These grapes are described in B. xiv. c. 4 and c. 11.

[606] “Reliquum corpus.” It is not clear what is the meaning of this.
The passage is either in a corrupt state, or defective.

[607] A singular metal, one would think, for keeping verjuice in.

[608] From the Greek βρύον, “moss.” He speaks again of these grapes
of the white poplar in B. xxiv. c. 34; also in c. 51 of the present
Book. Hardouin thinks that he is speaking of moss. Fée is of opinion,
that the blossoms or buds of the tree are meant, which have a fragrant
smell. This is the more probable, as we find Pliny here speaking of
the œnanthe, or vine-flower, by which Fée supposes that he means the
blossom of the Vitis vinifera of Linnæus, which exhales a delightful
perfume.

[609] The bud, probably, of the Juniperus Lycia.

[610] See B. vi. c. 31.

[611] Said to have been a surname given by some nations to the god
Bacchus.

[612] It is generally supposed by the commentators, that Pliny makes
a mistake here, and that the elate or spathe was not a tree, but the
envelope or capsule, containing the flowers and fruit of a tree, which
is supposed by some to have been really the Phœnix dactylifera, or
date-palm. There can be little doubt that he is mistaken in his mention
of the abies or fir-tree here. See B. xxiii. c. 53.

[613] Bauhin thinks that this juice or oil was extracted from the
nutmeg, the Myristica moschata of Thunberg, and Bonastre is of the
same opinion. But, as Fée observes, the nutmeg is a native of India,
and Pliny speaks of the Comacum as coming from Syria. Some authors, he
adds, who are of this opinion, think also that the other cinnamomum
mentioned by Pliny was no other than the nutmeg, which they take to be
the same as the chrysobalanos, or “golden nut,” of Galen.

[614] See end of B. ii.

[615] See end of B. ii.

[616] See end of B. vii.

[617] Fabianus Papirius: see end of B. ii.

[618] See end of B. ii.

[619] See end of B. iii.

[620] The son of a freedman; some further particulars are given of him
by Pliny in B. xxxiii. c. 1. By his talents and eloquence, he attained
considerable distinction at Rome. He was made a senator by Appius
Claudius, and was curule ædile B.C. 303. He published a collection of
legal rules, entitled the “Jus Flavianum.”

[621] See end of B. viii.

[622] See end of B. iii.

[623] See end of B. vii.

[624] See end of B. v.

[625] See end of B. ii.

[626] Probably the same as the Niger mentioned by Dioscorides as a
writer on Materia Medica. He is also mentioned by Epiphanius and Galen;
but Dioscorides charges him with numerous blunders in his accounts of
vegetable productions.

[627] A compiler of Roman history, who wrote at the beginning of the
second century before Christ. He wrote Annals of Rome from the earliest
to his own times: only a few fragments of his work have survived.

[628] See end of B. ii.

[629] C. Sempronius Tuditanus, consul of Rome, B.C. 129. He wrote a
book of historical Commentaries. He was maternal grandfather of the
orator Hortensius.

[630] See end of B. ii.

[631] See end of B. iii.

[632] See end of B. ii.

[633] A native of Olynthus. His mother, Hero, was a cousin of the
philosopher Aristotle, under whose tutelage he was educated. It is
generally supposed that he was put to death by order of Alexander
the Great, but in what manner is a matter of uncertainty. He wrote a
History of Greece, and numerous other learned works. Some MSS. are
still extant, professing to be his writings; but they are generally
looked upon as spurious.

[634] See end of B. vii.

[635] See end of B. vii.

[636] A native of Lampsacus, and disciple of Diogenes the Cynic. He
accompanied Alexander the Great in his Asiatic expedition. He wrote a
history of the reigns of Philip and Alexander, and a history of Greece,
in twelve books. Only a few fragments of his works are left.

[637] See end of B. vii.

[638] See end of B. vi.

[639] See end of B. ii.

[640] There was a native of Mendæ, in Sicily, of this name, who wrote
a history of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse. It was, probably, a
different person of this name who wrote a work on the East; if such is
the case, Pliny most probably quotes from the work of the latter.

[641] Nothing seems to be known of this writer; but it is suggested
that he may have accompanied Nearchus and Onesicritus in the East.

[642] See end of B. vi.

[643] Nothing is known of him; but Hardouin suggests that he may have
accompanied Alexander the Great in his Eastern expedition.

[644] See end of B. iv.

[645] An officer at the court of Alexander the Great, who wrote a
collection of anecdotes respecting the private life and reign of that
emperor, some fragments of which are preserved by Athenæus.

[646] See end of B. iv.

[647] He is supposed to have been the same with the person of that name
who wrote a history of Alexander the Great; but nothing further is
known of him.

[648] A physician of Neapolis, who is supposed to have lived in the
early part of the first century after Christ.

[649] A writer on medicine, of whom all further particulars have
perished.

[650] Possibly Ephippus of Olynthus, a Greek historian of the reign of
Alexander the Great.

[651] See end of B. viii.

[652] An ancient Greek historian, mentioned also by Strabo; but no
further particulars are known of him.

[653] The founder of the dynasty of the Egyptian Ptolemies, which ended
in Cleopatra, B.C. 38: he wrote a narrative of the wars of Alexander,
which is frequently quoted by the later writers, and served as the
groundwork for Arrian’s history.

[654] A native of Pella, who wrote a history of Macedonia down to the
wars of Alexander the Great. There was another writer of the same name,
a native of Philippi, who also wrote a treatise, either geographical or
historical, relative to Macedonia.

[655] A native of Amphipolis, though some make him to have been an
Ephesian. The age in which he lived is not exactly known. He attacked
the writings of Homer with such uncalled-for asperity, that his name
has been proverbial for a snarling, captious critic. He is said to have
met with a violent death. His literary productions were numerous, but
none of them have come down to us.

[656] See end of B. ii.

[657] See end of B. viii.

[658] See end of B. xi.

[659] See end of B. iii.

[660] See end of B. v.

[661] See end of B. xi.

[662] A physician of Heraclea, near Ephesus. He wrote commentaries on
the works of Hippocrates.

[663] Nothing is known of him; but it has been suggested that he may
have been the author of a few fragments on veterinary surgery which
still exist.

[664] There were many physicians and surgeons of this name, but
probably Dionysius of Samos is meant, or else Sallustius Dionysius,
quoted by Pliny, B. xxxii. c. 26.

[665] Also called Democedes, a physician of Crotona, who practised at
Ægina. He was afterwards physician to Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos,
and King Darius, whose foot he cured. His work on medicine has perished.

[666] Nothing whatever is known of this writer.

[667] Nothing is known relative to this writer.

[668] Nothing is known of him.

[669] Or Iölaus, a native of Bithynia, who wrote a work on Materia
Medica. He was probably a contemporary of Heraclides of Tarentum, in
the third century B.C.

[670] A physician of Tarentum, who belonged to the Empiric sect. He
wrote several medical works, and is highly commended by Galen. Only a
few fragments of his writings remain.

[671] An historical and geographical writer, frequently quoted by
Pliny. From the mention made of him in B. xxxvii. c. 2, it would appear
that he flourished during the time of Pliny, or very shortly before.

[672] See end of B. ii.

[673] Fée remarks, that most of the unguents and perfumes of which
Pliny here speaks would find but little favour at the present day.

[674] This does not appear to be exactly the case, for in the
twenty-third Book of the Iliad, l. 186, we find “rose-scented” oil
mentioned, indeed, Pliny himself alludes to it a little further on.

[675] “Nidorem.” This term was used in reference to the smell of burnt
or roasted animal substances. It is not improbable that he alludes to
the stench arising from the burnt sacrifices.

[676] The “Thuya articulata.” See c. 29 of the present Book.

[677] “Scrinium.” See B. vii. c. 30.

[678] The use of perfumes more probably originated in India, than among
the Persians.

[679] But of seeds or plants.

[680] The perfumes of Delos themselves had nothing in particular to
recommend them; but as it was the centre of the worship of Apollo, it
is not improbable that exquisite perfumes formed a large proportion of
the offerings brought thither from all parts of the world.

[681] In Egypt. See B. v. c. 11. The unguents of Mendes are again
mentioned in the present Chapter.

[682] Or flower-de-luce. This perfume was called Irinum. The Iris
Florentina of the botanists, Fée says, has the smell of the violet. For
the composition of this perfume, see Dioscorides, B. i. c. 67.

[683] Rhodinum.

[684] See B. v. c. 26.

[685] Crocinum; made from the Crocus sativus of naturalists.

[686] See B. xii. c. 62. It was made from the flowers of the vine,
mixed with omphacium.

[687] Amaracinum. The amaracus is supposed to have been the Origanum
majoranoides of the moderns. Dioscorides, B. i. c. 59, says that the
best was made at Cyzicus.

[688] Melinum. See B. xxiii. c. 54.

[689] Cyprinum. See B. xii. c. 51. The cyprus was the modern Lawsonia
inermis.

[690] Made from the oil of bitter almonds. See B. xv. c. 7.

[691] Or “all Athenian.” We find in Athenæus, B. xv. c. 15, the
composition of this unguent.

[692] From what is said by Apollonius in the passage of Athenæus last
quoted, it has been thought that this was the same as the unguent
called nardinum. It is very doubtful, however.

[693] Narcissinum. See B. xxi. c. 75. Dioscorides gives the composition
of this unguent, B. i. c. 54.

[694] Among the stymmata, Dioscorides ranges the sweet-rush, the
sweet-scented calamus and xylo-balsamum; and among the hedysmata
amomum, nard, myrrh, balsam, costus, and marjoram. The latter
constituted the _base_ of unguents, the former were only added
occasionally.

[695] Cinnabar is never used to colour cosmetics at the present day,
from its tendency to excoriate the skin. See B. xxiii. c. 39.

[696] This is still used for colouring cosmetics at the present day.
See B. xxii. c. 23.

[697] Fée remarks, that salt can be of no use; but by falling to the
bottom without dissolving, would rather tend to spoil the unguent.

[698] See B. xii. c. 60. The name “bryon” seems also to have been
extended to the buds of various trees of the Conifera class and of the
white poplar. It is probably to the buds of the last tree that Pliny
here alludes.

[699] Oil of ben. See B. xii. c. 48.

[700] Or metopium. See Note [690] above.

[701] Made from olives. See B. xii. c. 60.

[702] See B. xii. c. 29.

[703] The modern Andropogon schœnanthus. See B. xii. c. 48.

[704] See B. xii. c. 48.

[705] Carpobalsamum. See. B. xii. c. 54.

[706] See B. xii. c. 56.

[707] Fluid resin of coniferous trees of Europe.

[708] See B. xv. c. 35.

[709] Cupressus semper-virens. He does not say what part of the tree
was employed.

[710] See B. xii. c. 36.

[711] See c. 34 of the present Book.

[712] The alkanet and cinnabar were only used for colouring.

[713] “Sampsuchinum.” It is generally supposed that the sampsuchum, and
the amaracus were the same, the sweet marjoram, or Origanum marjorana
of Linnæus. Fée, however, is of a contrary opinion. See B. xxi. c.
35. In Dioscorides, B. i. c. 59, there is a difference made between
sampsuchinum and amaracinum, though but a very slight one.

[714] The bark of the Cassia lignea of the pharmacopœa, the Laurus
cassia of botany. See B. xii. c. 43.

[715] See B. xii. c. 26. The Andropogon nardus of Linnæus.

[716] See B. xii. c. 41.

[717] See B. xxiii. c. 54, also B. xv. c. 10. The Malum struthium, or
“sparrow quince,” was an oblong variety of the fruit.

[718] Sesamum orientale of Linnæus. See B. xviii. c. 22, and B. xxii.
c. 54.

[719] Balm of Gilead. See B. xii. c. 54.

[720] Southernwood. The Artemisia abrotonum of Linnæus.

[721] Or lily unguent, made of the lily of Susa, which had probably
a more powerful smell than that of Europe. Dioscorides gives its
composition, B. i. c. 63.

[722] The Crocus sativus of Linnæus.

[723] Cyprinum. It has been previously mentioned in this Chapter.

[724] See B. xii. c. 52.

[725] The gum resin of the Pastinaca opopanax of Linnæus. See B. xii.
c. 57.

[726] Or unguent of fenugreek, from the Greek τῆλις, meaning that
plant, the Trigonella fœnum Græcum of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. c. 120.

[727] See B. ii. c. 26, and B. xxi. c. 68-70.

[728] The Trifolium melilotus of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 30.

[729] See B. xii. c. 53.

[730] He would imply that it was so called from the Greek μεγὰς,
“great;” but it was more generally said that it received its name from
its inventor, Megalus.

[731] See B. xii. c. 5.

[732] Fée does not appear to credit this statement. By the use of the
word “ventiletur,” “fanned” may be possibly implied.

[733] See B. xii. c. 59.

[734] The Agnus castus of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. c. 38. The leaves are
quite inodorous, though the fruit of this plant is slightly aromatic.

[735] “Externa.” The reading is doubtful, and it is difficult to say
what is the exact meaning of the word.

[736] Cinnamomino.

[737] Nardinum.

[738] Or leaf unguent, so called from being made of leaves of nard. See
B. xii. c. 27.

[739] See B. xii. c. 25.

[740] See B. xii. c. 28.

[741] See B. xii. c. 26, 27, where the list is given.

[742] See B. xii. c. 35.

[743] Susinum. See p. 163.

[744] Summa auctoritas rei.

[745] See B. xii. c. 46.

[746] See B. xii. c. 53.

[747] See B. xii. c. 55.

[748] See B. xii. c. 37.

[749] See B. xii. c. 48.

[750] See B. xii. c. 48.

[751] See B. xii. c. 45.

[752] Fée suggests that this may be the Nymphæa cœrulea of Savigny, a
plant that is common in the Nile, and the flowers of which exhale a
sweet odour.

[753] The diapasmata were dry, odoriferous powders, similar to those
used at the present day in sachets and scent-bags.

[754] “Fæcem unguenti.”

[755] This word is still used in pharmacy to denote the husks or
residuary matter left after the extraction of the juice.

[756] See B. xxxvi. c. 12. See also Mark xiv. 7, and John xii. 3.
Leaden boxes were also used for a similar purpose.

[757] Odores.

[758] “Heres.” The person was so called who succeeded to the property,
whether real or personal, of an intestate.

[759] See B. xvii. c. 3, where he quotes this passage from Cicero at
length. It appears to be from De Orat. B. iii. c. 69. Both Cicero
and Pliny profess to find a smell that arises from the earth itself,
through the agency of the sun. But, as Fée remarks, pure earth is
perfectly inodorous. He suggests, however, that this odour attributed
by the ancients to the earth, may in reality have proceeded from the
fibrous roots of thyme and other plants. If such is not the real
solution, it seems impossible to suggest any other.

[760] By giving preference to the more simple odours.

[761] “Crassitudo.”

[762] Or “thick” unguent.

[763] We learn from Athenæus, and a passage in the Aulularia of
Plautus, that this was done long before Nero’s time, among the Greeks.

[764] Who succeeded Galba. He was one of Nero’s favourite companions in
his debaucheries.

[765] Caligula.

[766] Solium.

[767] After victories, for instance, or when marching orders were given.

[768] This is said in bitter irony.

[769] Sub casside.

[770] Asia Minor more particularly.

[771] Exotica.

[772] The organs of taste and of smell.

[773] We have this fact alluded to in the works of Plautus, Juvenal,
Martial, and Ælian. The Greeks were particularly fond of mixing myrrh
with their wine. Nard wine is also mentioned by Plautus. Miles Gl. iii.
2, 11.

[774] Or Lucius Plautius Plancus. He was proscribed by the triumvirs,
with the sanction of his brother. In consequence of his use of
perfumes, the place of his concealment “got wind;” and in order to save
his slaves, who were being tortured to death because they would not
betray him, he voluntarily surrendered himself.

[775] Attaching to the triumvirate.

[776] Capua, its capital, was the great seat of the unguent and perfume
manufacture in Italy.

[777] The Phœnix dactylifera of Linnæus. See also B. xii. c. 62, where
he seems also to allude to this tree.

[778] At the present day this is not the fact. The village of La
Bordighiera, situate on an eminence of the Apennines, grows great
quantities of dates, of good quality. At Hieres, Nice, San Remo, and
Genoa, they are also grown.

[779] This, too, is not the fact. The dates of Valencia, Seville, and
other provinces of Spain, are sweet, and of excellent quality.

[780] Pliny is wrong again in this statement. The date of Barbary,
Tunis, Algiers, and Bildulgerid, the “land of dates,” is superior in
every respect to that of the East.

[781] The Æthiopians, as we learn from Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8.

[782] Or in a wild state.

[783] “Tectorii vicem.” They were probably planted in rows, close to
the wall.

[784] This mode of ascending the date-palm is still practised in the
East.

[785] See B. xvi. c. 37.

[786] “Umbracula.” The fibres of the leaves were probably platted or
woven, and the “umbracula” made in much the same manner as the straw
and fibre hats of the present day.

[787] Most of this is borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. ii. 9.

[788] Fée remarks, that this account is quite erroneous.

[789] This he copies also from Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8.

[790] Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8, mentions this as a kind of date
peculiar to Cyprus.

[791] This is said solely in relation to the date of Cyprus.

[792] Or “dwellers in tents;” similar to the modern Bedouins.

[793] Fée remarks, that in these words we find the first germs of
the sexual system that has been established by the modern botanists.
He thinks that it is clearly shown by this account, that Pliny was
acquainted with the fecundation of plants by the agency of the pollen.

[794] In allusion to the pollen, possibly. See the last Note.

[795] “Lanugine.” It is possible that in the use of this word, also, he
may allude to the pollen. Under the term “pulvis,” “dust,” he probably
alludes in exaggerated terms to the same theory.

[796] The same methods of propagating the palm are still followed in
the East, and in the countries near the tropics.

[797] In c. 7 of the present Book. See also B. xvii. c. 3.

[798] Fée mentions one near Elvas in Spain, which shot up into seven
distinct trees, as it were, from a single trunk. The Douma Thebaica, he
says, of Syria and Egypt, a peculiar kind of palm, is also bifurcated.
The fruit of it, he thinks, are very probably the Phænico-balanus of B.
xii. c. 47.

[799] “Spado.” Represented by the Greek εὔνουχος and ἔνορχος.

[800] “Cæduæ.” Though this is the fact as to some palm-trees, the
greater part perish after being cut; the vital bud occupying the
summit, and the trunk not being susceptible of any increase.

[801] Cerebrum.

[802] The Chamæreps humilis of the modern botanists. It is found, among
other countries, in Spain, Morocco, and Arabia.

[803] Vitilia.

[804] “Vivaces.” Perhaps it may mean that the wood retains the fire for
a long time, when it burns.

[805] Fée suggests that Pliny may possibly have confounded the fruit of
other palms with the date.

[806] This seems to have been a general name, as Pliny says, meaning an
eunuch; but it is evident that it was also used as a proper name, as in
the case of the eunuch who slew Artaxerxes, Ochus, B.C. 338, by poison,
and of another eunuch who belonged to Darius, but afterwards fell into
the hands of Alexander, of whom he became an especial favourite. The
name is sometimes written “Bagoüs,” and sometimes “Bagoas.”

[807] Dominantis in aula.

[808] From the Greek σύαγρος, “a wild boar,” as Pliny afterwards
states; they being so called from their peculiar wild taste.

[809] See B. vi. c. 39.

[810] Said to have been so called from the Greek κάρη, “the head,” and
ὑωδία, “stupidity,” owing to the heady nature of the wine extracted
from the fruit.

[811] See B. vi. c. 32, and B. xiv. c. 19.

[812] The Jericho of Scripture.

[813] Athenæus, B. xiv. c. 22, tells us that these dates were thus
called from Nicolaus of Damascus, a Peripatetic philosopher, who,
when visiting Rome with Herod the Great, made Augustus a present of
the finest fruit of the palm-tree that could be procured. This fruit
retained its name of “Nicolaän,” down to the middle ages.

[814] Pliny would imply that they are so called from the Greek ἀδέλφια,
“a sister,” as being of sister quality to the caryotæ; but it is much
more probable, as Fée remarks, that they got this name from being
attached in pairs to the same pedicle or stalk.

[815] Pliny certainly seems to imply that they are so called from the
Greek πατέω, “to tread under foot,” and Hardouin is of that opinion.
Fée, however, thinks the name is from the Hebrew or Syriac “patach,”
“to expand,” or “open,” or else from the Hebrew “pathah,” the name of
the first vowel, from some fancied resemblance in the form.

[816] From the Greek χυδαῖος, “vulgar,” or “common,” it is supposed.
The Jews probably called them so, as being common, or offered by the
Gentiles to their idols and divinities. Pliny evidently considers that
in the name given to them no compliment was intended to the deities of
the heathen mythology.

[817] From its extreme driness, and its shrivelled appearance.

[818] From Theophrastus, B. i. c. 16.

[819] Κύκως in the Greek. It is supposed by Sprengel to be the same as
the Cycas circinnalis of Linnæus; but, as Fée remarks, that is only
found in India.

[820] From the Greek, meaning “sweetmeats,” or “dessert fruit:” he
probably means that in Syria and some parts of Phœnicia they were thus
called.

[821] This story, which is borrowed from Theophrastus, B. iv. c. 5,
is doubted by Fée, who says that in the green state they are so hard
and nauseous, that it is next to impossible to eat sufficient to be
materially incommoded by them.

[822] The Pistacia vera of Linnæus. It was introduced into Rome in the
reign of Tiberius. The kernel is of no use whatever in a medical point
of view, and what Pliny says about its curing the bite of serpents is
perfectly fabulous.

[823] See B. xv. c. 19. The “carica” was properly the “Carian” fig.
“Ficus carica” is, however, the name given to the common fig by the
modern botanists.

[824] The parent of our Damascenes, or damsons. See B. xv. c. 13.

[825] Supposed to be the Corda myxa of Linnæus. See B. xv. c. 15.

[826] The Juniperus communis of Linnæus.

[827] The Juniperus Lycia, and the Juniperus Phœnicia, probably, of
Linnæus. It has been supposed by some, that it is these trees that
produce the frankincense of Africa; but, as Fée observes, the subject
is enveloped in considerable obscurity.

[828] The “sharp-leaved” cedar. The Juniperus oxycedrus of Linnæus.

[829] The “Pinus cedrus” of Linnæus. The name “cedrus” was given by the
ancients not only to the cedar of Lebanon, but to many others of the
Coniferæ as well, and more particularly to several varieties of the
juniper.

[830] See B. xxxvi. c. 4.

[831] Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus.

[832] These varieties, Fée says, are not observed by modern naturalists.

[833] Garidel has remarked, that the trunk of this tree produces
coriaceous vesicles, filled with a clear and odoriferous terebinthine,
in which pucerons, or aphides, are to be seen floating.

[834] “Rhus.” The Rhus coriaria of Linnæus. Pliny is wrong in
distinguishing this tree into sexes, as all the flowers are
hermaphroditical, and therefore fruitful.

[835] It is still used by curriers in preparing leather.

[836] See B. xxiv. c. 79. The fruit, which has a pleasant acidity, was
used for culinary purposes by the ancients, as it is by the Turks at
the present day.

[837] The Ficus sycamorus of Linnæus. It receives its name from being
a fig-tree that bears a considerable resemblance to the “morus,” or
mulberry-tree.

[838] This is not the case.

[839] This appears to be doubtful, although, as Fée says, the fruit
ripens but very slowly.

[840] This, Fée says, is a fallacy.

[841] “Aliam omnem.” This reading seems to be very doubtful.

[842] This wood was very extensively used in Egypt for making the outer
cases, or coffins, in which the mummies were enclosed.

[843] This account is borrowed almost entirely from Theophrastus, Hist.
Plant. B. iv. c. 2. A variety of the sycamore is probably meant. It is
still found in the Isle of Crete.

[844] He seems to mean that the buds do not shoot forth into leaves;
the reading, however, varies in the editions, and is extremely doubtful.

[845] Grossus.

[846] The Ceratonia siliqua of Linnæus. It is of the same size as the
sycamore, but resembles it in no other respect. It is still common in
the localities mentioned by Pliny, and in the south of Spain.

[847] Theophrastus in the number, Hist. Plant. i. 23, and iv. 2.
It bears no resemblance to the fig-tree, and the fruit is totally
different from the fig. Pliny, too, is wrong in saying that it does not
grow in Egypt; the fact being that it is found there in great abundance.

[848] See B. xviii. c. 74.

[849] Fée identifies it with the Egyptian almond, mentioned by Pliny
in B. xv. c. 28; the Myrobalanus chebulus of Wesling, the Balanites
Ægyptiaca of Delille, and the Xymenia Ægyptiaca of Linnæus. Schreber
and Sprengel take it to be the Cordia Sebestana of Linnæus; but that
is a tree peculiar to the Antilles. The fruit is in shape like a date,
enclosing a large stone with five sides, and covered with a little
viscous flesh, of somewhat bitter, though not disagreeable flavour. It
is found in the vicinity of Sennaar, and near the Red Sea. The Arabs
call it the “date of the Desert.”

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

[851] See B. xv. c. 34.

[852] Or ben. See B. xii. cc. 46, 47.

[853] Many have taken this to be the cocoa-nut tree; but, as Fée
remarks, that is a tree of India, and this of Egypt. There is little
doubt that it is the _doum_ of the Arabs, the Cucifera Thebaica of
Delille. The timber of the trunk is much used in Egypt, and of the
leaves carpets, bags, and panniers are made. In fact, the description
of it and its fruit is almost identical with that here given by Pliny.

[854] The seed or stone of the doum is still used in Egypt for making
the beads of chaplets: it admits of a very high polish.

[855] Materies crispioris elegantiæ.

[856] See B. xxiv. c. 67. This is, no doubt, the Acacia Nilotica of
Linnæus, which produces the gum Arabic of modern commerce.

[857] This is from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. iv. c. 3. Fée suggests
that it may have been a kind of myrobalanus. Sprengel identifies it
with the Cordia sebestana of the botanists.

[858] “Fuit.” From the use of this word he seems uncertain as to its
existence in his time; the account is copied from Theophrastus, Hist.
Plant. B. iv. c. 3. Fée suggests that he may here allude to the Baobab,
the Adansonia digitata, which grows in Senegal and Sennaar to an
enormous size. Prosper Alpinus speaks of it as existing in Egypt. The
Arabs call it El-omarah, and the fruit El-kongles.

[859] The Mimosa polyacanthe, probably. Fée says that the mimosæ,
respectively known as casta, pudibunda, viva, and sensitiva, with many
of the inga, and other leguminous trees, are irritable in the highest
degree. The tree here spoken of he considers to be one of the acacias.
The passage in Theophrastus speaks of the leaf as shrinking, and not
falling, and then as simply reviving.

[860] The Acacia Nilotica of Linnæus, from which we derive the gum
Arabic of commerce; and of which a considerable portion is still
derived from Egypt.

[861] These gums are chemically different from gum Arabic, and they are
used for different purposes in the arts.

[862] The vine does not produce a gum; but when the sap ascends, a
juice is secreted, which sometimes becomes solid on the evaporation
of the aqueous particles. This substance contains acetate of potassa,
which, by the decomposition of that salt, becomes a carbonate of the
same base.

[863] This is not a gum, but a resinous product of a peculiar nature.
It is known to the moderns by the name of “olivine.”

[864] The sap of the elm leaves a saline deposit on the bark,
principally formed of carbonate of potassa. Fée is at a loss to
know whether Pliny here alludes to this or to the manna which is
incidentally formed by certain insects on some trees and reeds. But,
as he justly says, would Pliny say of the latter that it is “ad nihil
utile”—“good for nothing”?

[865] A resinous product, no doubt. The frankincense of Africa has been
attributed by some to the Juniperus Lycia and Phœnicia.

[866] The Penæa Sarcocolla of Linnæus. The gum resin of this tree is
still brought from Abyssinia, but it is not used in medicine. This
account is from Dioscorides, B. iii. c. 99. The name is from the Greek
σὰρξ, “flesh,” and κόλλα, “glue.”

[867] See B. xxiv. c. 78.

[868] Three denarii per pound.

[869] It is hardly necessary to state that this is not the fact. This
plant is the Cyperus papyrus of Linnæus, the “berd” of the modern
Egyptians.

[870] Il. B. vi. l. 168. See B. xxxiii. c. 4, where the tablets which
are here called “pugillares,” are styled “codicilli” by Pliny.

[871] His argument is, that paper made from the papyrus could not
be known in the time of Homer, as that plant only grew in certain
districts which had been rescued from the sea since the time of the
poet.

[872] Od. B. iv. l. 355.

[873] See B. ii. c. 87.

[874] There is little doubt that parchment was really known many years
before the time of Eumenes II., king of Pontus. It is most probable
that this king introduced extensive improvements in the manufacture
of parchment, for Herodotus mentions writing on skins as common in
his time; and in B. v. c. 58, he states that the Ionians had been
accustomed to give the name of skins, διφθέραι, to books.

[875] Brachiali radicis obliquæ crassitudine.

[876] This was a pole represented as being carried by Bacchus and his
Bacchanalian train. It was mostly terminated by the fir cone, that tree
being dedicated to Bacchus, in consequence of the use of its cones and
turpentine in making wine. Sometimes it is surmounted by vine or fig
leaves, with grapes or berries arranged in form of a cone.

[877] This is not the fact: it has seed in it, though not very easily
perceptible. The description here given is otherwise very correct.

[878] Among the ancients the term papyrus was used as a general
appellation for all the different plants of the genus Cyperus, which
was used for making mats, boats, baskets, and numerous other articles:
but one species only was employed for making paper, the Cyperus
papyrus, or Byblos. Fée states that the papyrus is no longer to be
found in the Delta, where it formerly abounded.

[879] See B. xii. c. 48.

[880] Sometimes translated _hemp_. A description will be given of it in
B. xix. c. 7.

[881] “Intexere.” This would almost appear to mean that they
embroidered or interwove the characters. The Persians still write on a
stuff made of white silk, gummed and duly prepared for the purpose.

[882] Or “holy” paper. The priests would not allow it to be sold,
lest it might be used for profane writing; but after it was once
written upon, it was easily procurable. The Romans were in the habit
of purchasing it largely in the latter state, and then washing off
the writing, and using it as paper of the finest quality. Hence it
received the name of “Augustus,” as representing in Latin its Greek
name “hieraticus,” or “sacred.” In length of time it became the common
impression, as here mentioned, that this name was given to it in honour
of Augustus Cæsar.

[883] Near the amphitheatre, probably, of Alexandria.

[884] He alludes to Q. Remmius Fannius Palæmon, a famous grammarian
of Rome, though originally a slave. Being manumitted, he opened a
school at Rome, which was resorted to by great numbers of pupils,
notwithstanding his notoriously bad character. He appears to have
established, also, a manufactory for paper at Rome. Suetonius, in his
treatise on Illustrious Grammarians, gives a long account of him. He is
supposed to have been the preceptor of Quintilian.

[885] Fanniana.

[886] In Lower Egypt.

[887] Ex vilioribus ramentis.

[888] Of Alexandria, probably.

[889] “Shop-paper,” or “paper of commerce.”

[890] Otherwise, probably, the rope would not long hold together.

[891] Fée remarks, that this is by no means the fact. With M. Poiret,
he questions the accuracy of Pliny’s account of preparing the papyrus,
and is of opinion that it refers more probably to the treatment of some
other vegetable substance from which paper was made.

[892] Primo supinâ tabulæ schedâ.

[893] “Scapus.” This was, properly, the cylinder on which the paper was
rolled.

[894] Augustan.

[895] Or “long glued” paper: the breadth probably consisted of that of
two or more sheets glued or pasted at the edges, the seam running down
the roll.

[896] Scheda. One of the leaves of the papyrus, of which the roll of
twenty, joined side by side, was formed.

[897] This passage is difficult to be understood, and various attempts
have been made to explain it. It is not unlikely that his meaning is
that the breadth being doubled, the tearing of one leaf or half breadth
entailed of necessity the spoiling of another, making the corresponding
half breadth.

[898] He perhaps means a portion of an elephant’s tusk.

[899] Meaning a damp, musty smell.

[900] See B. vii. c. 18, and B. xiv. c. 6. Also the Life of Pliny, in
the Introduction to Vol. i. p. vii.

[901] This story, no doubt, deserves to be rejected as totally
fabulous, even though we have Hemina’s word for it.

[902] See B. xvi. c. 70.

[903] B. xii. c. 7, and B. xiii. c. 31. It was thought that the leaves
and juices of the cedar and the citrus preserved books and linen from
the attacks of noxious insects.

[904] And because, as Livy says, their doctrines were inimical to the
then existing religion.

[905] Val. Maximus says that there were some books written in Latin, on
the pontifical rights, and others in Greek on philosophical subjects.

[906] Humanæ Antiquitates.

[907] See B. xxxiv. c. 11.

[908] See B. xxxiii. c. 5.

[909] He implies that it could not have been written upon paper, as the
papyrus and the districts which produced it were not in existence in
the time of Homer. No doubt this so-called letter, if shown at all, was
a forgery, a “pia fraus.” See c. 21 of the present Book.

[910] Il. B. vi. l. 168.

[911] “Codicillos,” as meaning characters written on a surface of wood.
πίναξ, as Homer calls it.

[912] It was probably then that the supply of it first began to fail;
in the sixth century it was still used, but by the twelfth it had
wholly fallen into disuse.

[913] The cotton-tree, Gossypium arboreum of Linnæus.

[914] See B. xii. c. 21, 22.

[915] In c. 9 of the present Book.

[916] See B. vi. c. 36, 37.

[917] Desfontaines observed in the vicinity of Atlas, several trees
peculiar to that district. Among others of this nature, he names the
Pistacia Atlantica, and the Thuya articulata.

[918] See B. v. c. 1.

[919] Generally supposed to be the Thuya articulata of Desfontaines,
the Cedrus Atlantica of other botanists.

[920] This rage for fine tables made of the citrus is alluded to, among
others, by Martial and Petronius Arbiter. See also Lucan, A. ix. B.
426, _et seq._

[921] It is a rather curious fact that it is in Cicero’s works that
we find the earliest mention made of citrus tables, 2nd Oration ag.
Verres, s. 4:—“You deprived Q. Lutatius Diodorus of Lilybæum of a
citrus table of remarkable age and beauty.”

[922] Somewhere about £9000.

[923] This is considered nothing remarkable at the present day, such is
the skill displayed by our cabinet-makers.

[924] Called “Nomiana.”

[925] Tuber.

[926] The European Cyprus, the Cupressus sempervirens of Linnæus.

[927] These veins were nothing in reality but the lines of the layers
or strata lignea, running perpendicularly in the trunk, and the number
of which denotes the age of the tree.

[928] “Tigrinæ.”

[929] “Pantherinæ.” The former tables were probably made of small
pieces from the trunk, the latter from the sections of the tubers or
knots.

[930] “Crispis.”

[931] Or “parsley-seed” tables. It has also been suggested that the
word comes from “apis,” a bee; the wood presenting the appearance of
being covered with swarms of bees.

[932] “Mulsum.” This mixture will be found frequently mentioned in the
next Book.

[933] Lignum.

[934] Fée remarks that this is incorrect, and that this statement
betrays an entire ignorance of the vegetable physiology.

[935] Θύον, “wood of sacrifice.”

[936] Od. B. v. l. 60. Pliny makes a mistake in saying “Circe;” it
should be “Calypso.”

[937] Θύον.

[938] Crispius.

[939] He alludes to the citron, the Citrus Medica of Linnæus. See B.
xii. c. 7.

[940] The Rhamnus lotus of Linnæus; the Zizyphus lotus of Desfontaines.

[941] The Celtis australis of Linnæus. Fée remarks that Pliny is in
error in giving the name of Celtis to the lotus of Africa.

[942] The Lotophagi. See B. v. c. 7.

[943] A kind of grain diet. See B. xviii. c. 29, and B. xxii. c. 61.

[944] The Melilotus officinalis of Linnæus.

[945] The Nymphæa Nelumbo of Linnæus, or Egyptian bean.

[946] He speaks of the indentations on the surface of the poppy-head.

[947] See B. xxii. c. 28.

[948] Fée remarks that there is nothing singular about it, the sun more
or less exercising a similar influence on all plants.

[949] The same as the Nymphæa Nelumbo of the Nile, according to Fée.

[950] Probably the Rhamnus paliurus of Linnæus; the Spina Christi of
other botanists.

[951] The pomegranate, the Punica granatum of botanists.

[952] Or “grained apple.”

[953] From the Greek ἀπύρηνον, “without kernel.” This Fée would not
translate literally, but as meaning that by cultivation the grains had
been reduced to a very diminutive size. See B. xxiii. c. 57.

[954] This variety appears to be extinct. Fée doubts if it ever existed.

[955] See B. xxiii. c. 57.

[956] See B. xxiii. c. 60.

[957] “Puniceus,” namely, a kind of purple.

[958] See B. xxvii. c. 52. Sprengel thinks that this is the Neottia
spiralis of Schwartz; but Fée is of opinion that it has not hitherto
been identified.

[959] Probably the Erica arborea of Linnæus, or “heath” in its several
varieties.

[960] Granum Cnidium. The shrub is the Daphne Cnidium of Linnæus.

[961] The “thyme-olive.”

[962] The “ground olive,” or “small olive.” Dioscorides makes a
distinction between these two last; and Sprengel has followed it,
naming the last Daphne Cnidium, and the first Daphne Cneorum.

[963] See B. xxvii. c. 115.

[964] He says elsewhere that it is like the juniper, which, however,
is not the case. Guettard thinks that the tragion is the Androsæmon
fetidum, the Hyperium hircinum of the modern botanists. Sprengel also
adopts the same opinion. Fée is inclined to think that it was a variety
of the Pistacia lentiscus.

[965] Goat’s thorn. The Astragalus Creticus of Linnæus.

[966] He speaks of gum tragacanth.

[967] See B. xxvii. c. 116. Sprengel identifies it with the Salsola
tragus of Linnæus.

[968] Probably the Tamarix Gallica of Linnæus. Fée says, in relation
to the myrica, that it would seem that the ancients united in one
collective name, several plants which resembled each other, not in
their botanical characteristics, but in outward appearance. To this,
he says, is owing the fact that Dioscorides calls the myrica a tree,
Favorinus a herb; Dioscorides says that it is fruitful, Nicander and
Pliny call it barren; Virgil calls it small, and Theophrastus says that
it is large.

[969] Fée thinks that it is the Tamarix orientalis of Delille.

[970] “Infelix,” meaning “sterile.” He seems to say this more
particularly in reference to the brya, which Egypt produces. As to this
use of the word “infelix,” see B. xvi. c. 46.

[971] Sprengel and Fée identify this with the Ostrya vulgaris of
Willdenow, the Carpinus ostrya of Linnæus.

[972] Or the “luckily named.” It grew on Mount Ordymnus in Lesbos. See
Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 31.

[973] The Evonymus Europæus, or else the Evonymus latifolius of
botanists, is probably intended to be indicated; but it is a mistake
to say that it is poisonous to animals. On the contrary, Fée says that
sheep will fatten on its leaves very speedily.

[974] “Statim pestem denuntians.” Pliny appears to be in error here. In
copying from Theophrastus, he seems to have found the word φόνος used,
really in reference to a blood-red juice which distils from the plant;
but as the same word also means slaughter, or death, he seems to have
thought that it really bears reference to the noxious qualities of the
plant.

[975] Fée censures the use of the word “siliqua,” as inappropriate,
although the seed does resemble that of sesamum, the Sesamum orientale
of Linnæus.

[976] Or eonis. Fée suggests that in this story, which probably belongs
to the region of Fable, some kind of oak may possibly be alluded to.

[977] In the former editions, “adrachne”—the Arbutus integrifolia, Fée
says, and not the Arbutus andrachne of Linnæus, as Sprengel thinks.

[978] “Porcillaca.” The Portulaca oleracea of Linnæus.

[979] The Rhus cotinus of Linnæus, a sort of sumach.

[980] This is not the fact; the seeds when ripe are merely lost to view
in the large tufts of down which grow on the stems.

[981] Generally supposed to be the same as the alaternus, mentioned in
B. xvi. c. 45. Some writers identify it with the Phyllirea angustifolia
of Linnæus.

[982] Probably the Ferula communis of Linnæus, the herb or shrub known
as “fennel giant.”

[983] The Ferula glauca of Linnæus.

[984] The Ferula nodiflora of Linnæus.

[985] It is still used for that purpose in the south of Europe. The
Roman schoolmasters, as we learn from Juvenal, Martial, and others,
employed it for the chastisement of their scholars. Pliny is in error
in reckoning it among the trees, it really having no pretensions to be
considered such. It is said to have received its name from “ferio,” to
“beat.”

[986] Sprengel thinks that this is the Thapsia asclepium of the
moderns; but Fée takes it to be the Thapsia villosa of Linnæus.

[987] It was valued, Dioscorides says, for its cathartic properties.

[988] Either the Thapsia garganica of Willdenow, or the Thapsia
villosa, found in Africa and the south of Europe, though, as Pliny
says, the thapsia of Europe is mild in its effects compared with that
of Africa. It is common on the coast of Barbary.

[989] Pastillos.

[990] Nocturnis grassationibus.

[991] It is still used in Barbary for the cure of tetter and ringworm.

[992] The story was, that Prometheus, when he stole the heavenly fire
from Jupiter, concealed it in a stalk of narthex.

[993] The “caper-tree,” the Capparis spinosa of Linnæus. Fée
suggests that Pliny may possibly allude, in some of the features
which he describes, to kinds less known; such, for instance, as the
Capparis inermis of Forskhal, found in Arabia; the Capparis ovata of
Desfontaines, found in Barbary; the Capparis Sinaica, found on Mount
Sinai, and remarkable for the size of its fruit; and the Capparis
Ægyptiaca of Lamarck, commonly found in Egypt.

[994] The stalk and seed were salted or pickled. The buds or unexpanded
flowers of this shrub are admired as a pickle or sauce of delicate
flavour.

[995] Fée remarks that this is not the truth, all the kinds possessing
the same qualities. There may, however, have been some difference
in the mode of salting or pickling them, and possibly productive of
noxious effects.

[996] Probably from its thorns, that being the name of the sweet-briar,
or dog-rose.

[997] “Serpent grapes.”

[998] Sprengel and Fée take this to be the Cyperus fastigiatus of
Linnæus, which Forskhal found in the river Nile.

[999] Spina regia. Some writers have considered this to be the same
with the Centaurea solstitialis of Linnæus. Sprengel takes it to be the
Cassyta filiformis of Linnæus, a parasitical plant of India. We must
conclude, however, with Fée, that both the thorn and the parasite have
not hitherto been identified.

[1000] The Makron Teichos. See B. iv. c. 11.

[1001] From the various statements of ancient authors, Fée has come
to the conclusion that this name was given to two totally different
productions. The cytisus which the poets speak of as grateful to bees
and goats, and sheep, he takes to be the Medicago arborea of Linnæus,
known to us as Medic trefoil, or lucerne; while the other, a tree with
a black wood, he considers identical with the Cytisus laburnum of
Linnæus, the laburnum, or false ebony tree.

[1002] A kind of vetch or tare. See B. xviii.

[1003] “Frutex.” When speaking of it as a shrub, he seems to be
confounding the tree with the plant.

[1004] Evidently in allusion to the tree.

[1005] He alludes to various kinds of fucus or sea-weed, which grows to
a much larger size in the Eastern seas.

[1006] The Mediterranean.

[1007] Whence the word “fucus” of the naturalists.

[1008] Fée suggests that this may be the Laminaria saccharina of
Linnæus, being one of the “ulvæ” often thrown up on the coasts of
Europe.

[1009] The “green” plant.

[1010] The “girdle” plant.

[1011] The Fucus barbatus, probably, of Linnæus, or else the Fucus
eroïdes.

[1012] They are in reality more long-lived than this.

[1013] Fée suggests that it is the Roccella tinctoria of Linnæus.

[1014] The Zostera marina of Linnæus, according to Fée.

[1015] The Ulva lactuca of the moderns, a very common sea-weed.

[1016] The Fucus ericoïdes, Fée suggests, not unlike a fir in
appearance.

[1017] Quercus. According to Gmellin, this is the Fucus vesiculosus of
Linnæus. Its leaves are indented, somewhat similarly to those of the
oak.

[1018] Polybius, as quoted by Athenæus, says that in the Lusitanian Sea
there are oaks that bear acorns, on which the thunnies feed and grow
fat.

[1019] On the contrary, Theophrastus says, B. iv. c. 7, that the
sea-vine grows _near_ the sea, from which Fée is disposed to consider
it a phanerogamous plant. If, on the other hand, it is really a fucus,
he thinks that the Fucus uvarius may be meant, the vesicles of which
resemble a grape in shape.

[1020] He speaks of a madrepore, Fée thinks, the identity of which it
is difficult to determine. Professor Pallas speaks of an Alcyonidium
ficus, which lives in the Mediterranean and in the ocean, and which
resembles a fig, and has no leaves, but its exterior is not red.

[1021] Fée queries whether this may not be the Gorgonia palma of
Linnæus, which has received its name from its resemblance to a small
palm-tree.

[1022] These three, Fée thinks, are madrepores or zoophytes, which it
would be vain to attempt to identify.

[1023] That is, they dry up to the consistency of pumice.

[1024] “Sitiens.” Delille considers this as identical with his Acacia
seyal, a thorny tree, often to be seen in the deserts of Africa.

[1025] Probably zoophytes now unknown.

[1026] Fée suggests that he may allude to the Madrepora fungites of
Linnæus, the Fungus lapideus of Bauhin. These are found in the Red Sea
and the Indian Ocean; but, of course, the story of their appearance
during rain is fabulous.

[1027] Sharks; see B. ix. c. 70.

[1028] The companions of Onesicritus and Nearchus.

[1029] Fée hazards a conjecture that this may be the Gorgonia scirpea
of Pallas, found in the Indian Seas.

[1030] One of the Gorgoniæ, Fée thinks; but its characteristics are not
sufficiently stated to enable us to identify it.

[1031] A fable worthy of Sinbad the Sailor!

[1032] “Isidis crinem.” Fée says that this is evidently black coral,
the Gorgonia antipathes of Linnæus.

[1033] “The eyelid of the Graces.” Fée is almost tempted to think that
he means red coral.

[1034] Amatoriis.

[1035] Spatalia. Armlets or bracelets.

[1036] By this apparently fabulous story, one would be almost inclined
to think that he is speaking of a zoophyte.

[1037] See end of B. ii.

[1038] See end of B. ii.

[1039] See end of B vii.

[1040] Papirius Fabianus. See end of B. ii.

[1041] See end of B. ii.

[1042] See end of B. iii.

[1043] Fabius Pictor. See end of B. x.

[1044] See end of B. viii.

[1045] See end of B. iii.

[1046] Trogus Pompeius. See end of B. vii.

[1047] See end of B. v.

[1048] See end of B. ii.

[1049] See end of B. xii.

[1050] See end of B. xii.

[1051] See end of B. ii.

[1052] See end of B. xii.

[1053] See end of B. ii.

[1054] See end of B. iii.

[1055] See end of B. ii.

[1056] See end of B. xii.

[1057] See end of B. vii.

[1058] See end of B. vi.

[1059] See end of B. xii.

[1060] See end of B. vii.

[1061] See end of B. vi.

[1062] See end of B. ii.

[1063] See end of B. xii.

[1064] See end of B. xii.

[1065] See end of B. vi.

[1066] See end of B. iv.

[1067] See end of B. iv.

[1068] See end of B. xii.

[1069] See end of B. iv.

[1070] See end of B. viii.

[1071] See end of B. xii.

[1072] See end of B. xii.

[1073] See end of B. xii.

[1074] See end of B. viii.

[1075] Nothing certain is known of him; but he appears to be the
geographer, a native of Lampsacus, mentioned by Strabo in B. xiii.

[1076] See end of B. xii.

[1077] See end of B. xii.

[1078] See end of B. xii.

[1079] See end of B. ii.

[1080] See end of B. viii.

[1081] See end of B. iii.

[1082] A writer on Agriculture, or domestic economy; but nothing
further is known of him.

[1083] See end of B. v.

[1084] Perhaps the same writer that is mentioned at the end of B. xi.

[1085] For two physicians of this name, see end of B. xii.

[1086] One of his prescriptions is preserved in the works of Galen.
Nothing else is known of him.

[1087] See end of B. xii.

[1088] See end of B. xii.

[1089] See end of B. xii.

[1090] See end of B. xii.

[1091] See end of B. xii.

[1092] See end of B. xii.

[1093] See end of B. xii.

[1094] See end of B. xii.

[1095] See end of B. xii.

[1096] This must be understood with considerable modification—many
of the tropical trees and plants have been naturalized, and those of
America more particularly, in Europe.

[1097] He is probably wrong in looking upon the vine as indigenous
to Italy. It was known in very early times in Egypt and Greece, and
it is now generally considered that it is indigenous throughout the
tract that stretches to the south, from the mountains of Mazandiran on
the Caspian to the shores of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Sea, and
eastward through Khorassan and Cabul to the base of the Himalayas.

[1098] The art of printing, Fée remarks, utterly precludes the
recurrence of such a fact as this.

[1099] In allusion to his poem, the “Works and Days,” the prototype of
Virgil’s Georgics.

[1100] He alludes to the legacy-hunters with which Rome abounded in his
time. They are spoken of by Seneca, Tacitus, and Juvenal, in terms of
severe reprobation.

[1101] This seems to be the meaning of “captatio;” much like what we
call “toadying,” or “toad-eating.”

[1102] The “liberales artes,” were those, the pursuit of which was not
considered derogatory to the dignity of a free man.

[1103] Vita ipsa desiit.

[1104] Humilitas.

[1105] In the Georgics.

[1106] Theophrastus reckons it among the trees; Columella, B. ii.,
considers it to occupy a middle position between a tree and a shrub.
Horace, B. i. Ode 18, calls it a tree, “arbor.”

[1107] Or “layers,” “propagines.”

[1108] Nubunt, properly “marry.” This is still done in Naples, and
other parts of Italy. The use of vine stays there are unknown.

[1109] “Mustum.” Pure, unfermented juice of the grape.

[1110] See B. vii. c. 24.

[1111] Italia Transpadana.

[1112] See B. xxiv. c. 112. The Bauhins are of opinion that this is the
Acer opulus of Willdenow, common in Italy, and very branchy.

[1113] “Tabulata in orbem patula.” He probably alludes to the branches
extending horizontally from the trunk.

[1114] “In palmam ejus.”

[1115] There is no doubt that the whole of this passage is in a most
corrupt state, and we can only guess at its meaning. Sillig suggests
a new reading, which, unsupported as it is by any of the MSS., can
only be regarded as fanciful, and perhaps as a very slight improvement
on the attempts to obtain a solution of the difficulty. Pliny’s main
object seems to be to contrast the vines that entwine round poles and
rise perpendicularly with those that creep horizontally.

[1116] By throwing out fresh shoots every here and there. Fée, however,
seems to think that he means that the grapes themselves, as they trail
along the ground, suck up the juices with their pores. These are known
in France as “running vines,” and are found in Berry and Anjou.

[1117] He must evidently be speaking of the size of the _bunches_. See
the account of the grapes of Canaan, in Numbers xiii. 24.

[1118] “Durus acinus,” or, according to some readings, “duracinus.”

[1119] From the Greek βουμαστὸς, a cow’s teat, mentioned by Virgil,
Georg. ii. 102.

[1120] Or finger-grape.

[1121] From the Greek λεπτορᾶγες, “small-berried.”

[1122] Pensili concamaratæ nodo.

[1123] We have no corresponding word for the Latin “dolium.” It was an
oblong earthen vessel, used for much the same purpose as our vats; new
wine was generally placed in it. In times later than that of Pliny the
dolia were made of wood.

[1124] Hardouin speaks of these grapes as still growing in his time in
the Valtelline, and remarkable for their excellence.

[1125] “A patientia.” Because they have _suffered_ from the action of
the heat.

[1126] From the thinness of the skin.

[1127] See c. 24, also B. xxiii. c. 24.

[1128] See B. iii. c. 5, and B. xxxiii. c. 24.

[1129] He died in the year B.C. 19.

[1130] A vine sapling was the chief mark of the centurion’s authority.

[1131] The reading “elatas,” has been adopted. If “lentas” is retained,
it may mean, “promotion, slow though it be,” for the word “aquila” was
often used to denote the rank of the “primipilus,” who had the charge
of the eagle of the legion.

[1132] Because it was the privilege solely of those soldiers who were
Roman citizens to be beaten with the vine sapling.

[1133] He alludes to the “vinea” used in besieging towns; the first
notion of which was derived from the leafy roof afforded by the vines
when creeping on the trellis over-head. It was a moveable machine,
affording a roof under which the besiegers protected themselves against
darts, stones, fire, and other missiles. Raw hides or wet cloths
constituted the uppermost layer.

[1134] See B. xxiii. c. 19.

[1135] Many years ago, there were in the gardens of the Luxembourg one
thousand four hundred varieties of the French grape, and even then
there were many not to be found there; while, at the same time, it was
considered that the French kinds did not form more than one-twentieth
part of the species known in Europe.

[1136] This vine was said to be of Grecian origin, and to have been
conveyed by a Thessalian tribe to Italy, where it was grown at Aminea,
a village in the Falernian district of Campania. It is supposed to
have been the same as the _gros plant_ of the French. The varieties
mentioned by Pliny seem not to have been recognized by the moderns.

[1137] Fée does not give credit to this statement.

[1138] In allusion to the cotton-tree, or else the mulberry leaves
covered with the cocoons of the silkworm. See B. vi. c. 20, and B. xii.
c. 21. Virgil, in the Georgics, has the well-known line:

  “Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres.”

[1139] See B. iii. c. 9, There are many vines, the wood of which is
red, but this species has not been identified.

[1140] From “apis,” a “bee.” He alludes, it is thought, to the muscatel
grape, said to have had its name from “musca,” a “fly;” an insect which
is greatly attracted by its sweetness.

[1141] Græcula.

[1142] Fée is inclined to think that he alludes to the vine of Corinth,
the dried fruit of which are the currants of commerce.

[1143] From the Greek εὐγένεια.

[1144] How Taormina, in Sicily, where, Fée says, it is still to be
found. The grapes are red, similar to those of Mascoli near Etna, and
much esteemed.

[1145] Picata. See p. 221.

[1146] _I. e._, pale straw colour.

[1147] It has been supposed that this vine received its name from
“fæx;” the wine depositing an unusually large quantity of lees.

[1148] It is doubtful whether this vine had its name from being grown
in the district now called Bourges, or that of Bourdeaux. Dalechamps
identifies it with the _plant d’Orleans_.

[1149] The origin of its name is unknown. The text is evidently
defective.

[1150] By this name it would be understood that they were of an
intermediate colour between rose and white, a not uncommon colour in
the grape. Pliny, however, says otherwise, and he is supported by
Columella.

[1151] C. Bauhin took this to mean one of the garden currant trees,
the Ribes uva crispa of Linnæus, called by Bauhin Grossularia simplici
acino, or else Spinosa agrestis. But, as Fée observes, the ancients
were not so ignorant as to confound a vine with a currant-bush.

[1152] Like the Portuguese grapes of the present day.

[1153] Crisped and indented.

[1154] This variety, according to Christian de la Vega, was cultivated
abundantly in Grenada. The word _cocolab_, according to some, meant
cock’s comb. It is mentioned as a Spanish word by Columella.

[1155] Dalechamps says, that a similar wine was made at Montpellier,
and that it was called “piquardant.”

[1156] See B. xxiii. cc. 20, 21.

[1157] Probably from “albus,” “white.” Poinsinet thinks that it may
have been so called from the Celtic word _alb_, or _alp_, a mountain,
and that it grew on elevated spots. This, however, is probably fanciful.

[1158] Called by the Greeks ἀμέθυστον, from its comparatively harmless
qualities.

[1159] Or “sober” vine.

[1160] Hardouin says that in his time it was still cultivated about
Macerata, in the Roman States. Fée thinks that it may be one of the
climbing vines, supported by forks, cultivated in the central provinces
of France. See also B. xxiii. c. 19, as to the effects produced by its
wine.

[1161] Poinsinet gives a Celto-Scythian origin to this word, and says
that it means “injured by fogs.” This appears to be supported in some
measure by what is stated below.

[1162] See B. xvii. c. 37.

[1163] Or “thorny” vine. Fée queries why it should be thus called.

[1164] This humid, marshy locality was noted for the badness of its
grapes, and consequently of its wine.

[1165] Hardouin thinks that this is the “Marze mina” of the Venetians:
whence, perhaps, its ancient name.

[1166] “Testis.” See B. xxxv. c. 46.

[1167] From Murgentum, in Sicily. See B. iii. c. 14.

[1168] From Pompeii, afterwards destroyed. See B. iii c. 9.

[1169] Hardouin, as Fée thinks, without good reason, identifies this
with the “Arelaca” of Columella.

[1170] Georgics, ii. 99.

[1171] This seems to be the meaning of “ultro solum lætius facit.”
These two lines have been introduced by Sillig, from one of the MSS.,
for the first time.

[1172] Hardouin thinks that it is so called from Tuder, a town of
Etruria. See B. iii. c. 19.

[1173] Sillig suggests that the reading here is corrupt, and that Pliny
means to say that the vine called Florentia is particularly excellent,
and merely to state that the talpona, &c., are peculiar to Arretium:
for, as he says, speaking directly afterwards in disparagement of
them, it is not likely he would pronounce them “opima,” of “first-rate
quality.”

[1174] From “talpa,” a “mole,” in consequence of its black colour.

[1175] “Album.”

[1176] Probably so called from the Etesian winds, which improved its
growth.

[1177] Perhaps meaning “double-seeded.” We may here remark, that the
wines of Tuscany, though held in little esteem in ancient times, are
highly esteemed at the present day.

[1178] The leaves of most varieties turn red just before the fall.

[1179] And Baccius thinks that this is the kind from which the raisins
of the sun, common in Italy, and more particularly in the Valley of
Bevagna, the Mevania of Pliny, are made.

[1180] Perhaps from “pumilio,” a dwarf.

[1181] The “royal” vine, according to Poinsinet, who would derive it
from the Sclavonic “ban.”

[1182] Previously mentioned, p. 228.

[1183] The residence of Horace, now Tivoli.

[1184] Baccius says that the wine of this grape was thin like water,
and that the vine was trained on lofty trees, a mode of cultivation
still followed in the vicinity of Rome. Laurentum was situate within a
short distance of it, near Ostia.

[1185] See B. iii. c. 9.

[1186] So called from the smoky or intermediate colour of its grapes.
Fée suggests that this may be the slow-ripening grape of France, called
the “verjus,” or “rognon de coq.”

[1187] Possibly meaning the “mouthful.”

[1188] Perhaps so called from Prusa in Bithynia, a district which bore
excellent grapes.

[1189] Or the “turning” grape. A fabulous story no doubt, originating
in the name, probably. Fée suggests that it may have originated in the
not uncommon practice of letting the bunches hang after they were ripe,
and then twisting them, which was thought to increase the juice.

[1190] In the modern Marches of Ancona.

[1191] Georgics, ii. 91, _et seq._

  Sunt Thasiæ vites, sunt et Mareotides albæ:
  Et passo Psithia utilior, tenuisque Lageos,
  Tentatura pedes olim, vincturaque linguam,
  Purpuræ, Preciæque——

[1192] A muscatel, Fée thinks.

[1193] Or “hard-berried.” Fée thinks that the maroquin, or Morocco
grape, called the “pied de poule” (or fowl’s foot), at Montpellier, may
be the duracinus.

[1194] Or “upright vine.” In Anjou and Herault the vines are of similar
character.

[1195] The “finger-like” vine.

[1196] The “pigeon” vine.

[1197] Though very fruitful, it does not bear in large clusters
(racemi), but only in small bunches (uvæ).

[1198] The “three-foot” vine.

[1199] Perhaps meaning the “rush” grape, from its shrivelled appearance.

[1200] See c. 3 of this Book.

[1201] The ordinary number of pips or stones is five. It is seldom that
we find but one. Virgil mentions this grape, Georg. ii. 95.

[1202] “Chium.” This reading is doubtful. Fée says that between Narni
and Terni, eight leagues from Spoleto, a small grape is found, without
stones. It is called “uva passa,” or “passerina.” So, too, the Sultana
raisin of commerce.

[1203] “Grown for the table.”

[1204] Or “hard-berry.”

[1205] Mentioned by Virgil, Georg. ii. 101.

[1206] Or pitch-grape.

[1207] Perhaps the “noirant,” or “teinturier” of the French.

[1208] Or “garland-clustered” vine.

[1209] Fée says that this is sometimes accidentally the case, but is
not the characteristic of any variety now known.

[1210] Or “market-grapes.”

[1211] The “ash-coloured.”

[1212] The “russet-coloured.”

[1213] Probably so called from its grey colour, like that of the ass.

[1214] Or “fox” vine. This variety is unknown.

[1215] So called from Alexandria, in Troas, not in Egypt. Phalacra was
in the vicinity of Mount Ida.

[1216] As the leaves of the vine are universally divided, it has been
considered by many of the commentators that this is not in reality a
vine, but the Arbutus uva ursi of Linnæus. The fruit, however, of that
ericaceous plant is remarkably acrid, and not sweet, as Pliny states.
Fée rejects this solution.

[1217] Aubenas, in the Vivarais, according to Hardouin; Alps, according
to Brotier. We must reject this assertion as fabulous.

[1218] In B.C. 194, for his successes in Spain.

[1219] Mode of culture, locality, climate, and other extraneous
circumstances, work, no doubt, an entire change in the nature of the
vine.

[1220] Probably the first of the five that he has mentioned in c. 4.

[1221] He has only mentioned one sort in c. 4.

[1222] See c. 4.

[1223] See c. 4.

[1224] We have no corresponding word for this beverage in the English
language—a thin, poor liquor, made by pouring water on the husks and
stalks after being fully pressed, allowing them to soak, pressing
them again, and then fermenting the liquor. It was also called “vinum
operarium,” or “labourer’s wine.” As stated in the present instance,
grapes were sometimes stored in it for keeping.

[1225] A variety of the Aminean, as stated below.

[1226] See B. iii. c. 9.

[1227] The elder Africanus. He retired in voluntary exile to his
country-seat at Liternum, where he died.

[1228] Mercis.

[1229] The suggestion of Sillig has been adopted, for the ordinary
reading is evidently corrupt, and absurd as well—“not in the very worst
part of a favourite locality”—just the converse of the whole tenor of
the story.

[1230] The philosopher, and tutor of Nero.

[1231] Said to have been so called from Maron, a king of Thrace, who
dwelt in the vicinity of the Thracian Ismarus. See B. iv. c. 18. Homer
mentions this wine in the Odyssey, B. ix. c. 197, _et seq._ It was red,
honey-sweet, fragrant. The place is still called Marogna, in Roumelia,
a country the wines of which are still much esteemed.

[1232] See B. vii. c. 57.

[1233] Thus making “mulsum.”

[1234] B. ix. c. 208.

[1235] Indomitus.

[1236] By “black” wines he means those that had the same colour as our
port.

[1237] Il. xi. 638. Od. x. 234.

[1238] Cybele. A wine called “Pramnian” was also grown in the island
of Icaria, in Lesbos, and in the territory of Ephesus. The scholiast
on Nicander says that the grape of the psythia was used in making it.
Dioscorides says that it was a “protropum,” first-class wine, made of
the juice that voluntarily flowed from the grapes, in consequence of
their own pressure.

[1239] B.C. 121.

[1240] “Cooking,” literally, or “boiling.”

[1241] The wines of Burgundy, in particular, become bitter when
extremely old.