Chapter 460

1546A mere puerility, as Fée remarks.

1547He does not state the reason, nor does it appear to be known. At the present day warmed wine is sometimes given to a jaded horse, to put him on his legs again.

1548Though practised by those who wished to drink largely, this was considered to diminish the flavour of delicate wines.

1549See B. xxii. c. 23, and B. xxv. c. 95; also c.7of the present Book. Wine is no longer considered an antidote to cicuta or hemlock.

1550See B. xxxvi. c. 42.

1551This seems to be the meaning of “lectum;” but the passage is obscure.

1552Tunicam.

1553He satirizes, probably, some kind of gymnastic exercises that had been introduced to promote the speedy passage of the wine through the body.

1554“In vino veritas.”

1555Fée remarks that this is one proof that the wine of the ancients was essentially different in its nature from ours. In our day wine gives anything but a “pallid” hue.

1556“Rapere vitam.”

1557See B. xxiii. c. 23.

1558Three gallons and three pints!! There must have been some jugglery in this performance.

1559Probably towards those guilty of excesses in wine.

1560As Præfectus Urbis.

1561Love of drinking.

1562The mode of testing whether any “heeltaps” were left or not. It was this custom, probably, that gave rise to the favourite game of the cottabus.

1563Dr. Middleton, in his Life of Cicero, in his unlimited partiality for the family, quotes this as an instance of courage and high spirit.

1564According to Paterculus, he was fond of driving about in a chariot, crowned with ivy, a golden goblet in his hand, and dressed like Bacchus, by which title he ordered himself to be addressed.

1565He alludes to beer, or rather sweet wort, for hops were not used till the latter part, probably, of the middle ages. Lupines were sometimes used for flavouring beer.

1566Diodorus Siculus says that the Egyptian beer was nearly equal to wine in strength and flavour.

1567See end of B. iii.

1568See end of B. vii.

1569See end of B. vii.

1570See end of B. iii.

1571See end of B. x.

1572See end of B.xi.

1573See end of B. ii.

1574Decimus Junius Silanus. He was commissioned by the senate, aboutB.C.146, to translate into Latin the twenty-eight books of Mago, the Carthaginian, on Agriculture. See B. xviii. c.5.

1575See end of B. x.

1576See end of B. vii.

1577See end of B. iii.

1578See end of B. iii.

1579Julius Græcinus. He was one of the most distinguished orators of his time. Having refused to accuse M. Julius Silanus, he was put to deathA.D.39. He wrote a work, in two books, on the culture of the vine.

1580He was a contemporary of Celsus and Columella, the latter of whom states that he wrote a work on a peculiar method of cultivating the vine. See also B. xvii. c.18.

1581See end of B. viii.

1582See end of B. vii.

1583See end of B. viii.

1584Nothing is known of him. He may possibly have written on Husbandry, and seems to have spoken in dispraise of the son of Cicero. See c.28of the present Book.

1585The famous Roman Comic poet, bornB.C.184. Twenty of his comedies are still in existence.

1586For Alfius Flavius, see end of B. ix.; for Cneius Flavius, see end of B.xii.

1587Or Dorsenus Fabius, an ancient Comic dramatist, censured by Horace for the buffoonery of his characters, and the carelessness of his productions. In the 15th Chapter of this Book, Pliny quotes a line from hisAcharistio.

1588Q. Mutius Scævola, consulB.C.95, and assassinated by C. Flavius Fimbria, having been proscribed by the Marian faction. He wrote several works on the Roman law, and Cicero was in the number of his disciples.

1589Sextus Ælius Pætus Catus, a celebrated jurisconsult, and consulB.C.198. He wrote a work on the Twelve Tables.

1590See end of B. iii.

1591Son of Corvinus Messala. He appears to have been a man of bad repute: of his writings nothing seems to be known.

1592See end of B. ii.

1593A freedman of Pompey, by whose command he translated into Latin the work of Mithridates on Poisons. After Pompey’s death, he maintained himself by keeping a school at Rome.

1594For Fabianus Papirius, see end of B. ii. Fabianus Sabinus is supposed to have been the same person.

1595See end of B.xii.

1596He is mentioned by the elder Seneca, but nothing whatever is known of him.

1597See end of B. vii.

1598See end of B. iii.

1599See end of B. ii.

1600See end of B. ii.

1601See end of B. viii.

1602See end of B. viii.

1603See end of B. viii.

1604See end of B. iv.

1605See end of B. viii.

1606See end of B. viii.

1607See end of B. viii.

1608See end of B. viii.

1609See end of B. viii.

1610See end of B. viii.

1611See end of B. viii.

1612See end of B. viii.

1613See end of B.xiii.

1614See end of B. viii.

1615See end of B. vi.

1616See end of B. viii.

1617Supposed to have been a writer on Agriculture, but nothing further is known of him.

1618See end of B. viii.

1619See end of B. viii.

1620See end of B. ii.

1621See end of B. x.

1622See end of B. viii.

1623See end of B. viii.

1624See end of B. viii.

1625See end of B. viii.

1626See end of B.xii.

1627See end of B. viii.

1628See end of B vii.

1629See end of B. ii.

1630See end of B. v.

1631Hist. Plant. iv. c.

1632The Olea Europæa of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 31.

1633This has not been observed to be the fact. It has been known to grow in ancient Mesopotamia, more than one hundred leagues from the sea.

1634It is supposed that it is indigenous to Asia, whence it was introduced into Africa and the South of Europe. There is little doubt that long before the period mentioned by Pliny, it was grown in Africa by the Carthaginians, and in the South of Gaul, at the colony of Massilia.

1635This work of Hesiod is no longer in existence; but the assertion is exaggerated, even if he alludes to the growth of the tree from seed. Fée remarks that a man who has sown the olive at twenty, may gather excellent fruit before he arrives at old age. It is more generally propagated by slips or sets. If the trunk is destroyed by accident, the roots will throw out fresh suckers.

1636This is the case. We may remark that the tree will grow in this country, but the fruit never comes to maturity.

1637Georg. ii. 85, also ii. 420.

1638Probably the Olea maximo fructu of Tournefort. It has its name from the Greekὄρχιςthe “testis,” a name by which it is still known in some parts of Provence.

1639Or “shuttle” olive. Probably the modern pickoline, or long olive.

1640Probably the Olea media rotunda præcox of Tournefort. It is slightly bitter.

1641This is so much the case, that though the olives of Spain and Portugal are among the finest, their oils are of the very worst quality.

1642It does not appear that the method of preparing oil by the use of boiling water was known to the ancients. Unripe olives produce an excellent oil, but in very small quantities. Hence they are rarely used for the purpose.

1643Called “virgin,” or “native” oil in France, and very highly esteemed.

1644Sporta.

1645“Exilibus regulis.” A kind of wooden strainer, apparently invented to supersede the wicker, or basket strainer.

1646It is more insipid the riper the fruit, and the less odorous.

1647By absorbing the oxygen of the air. It may be preserved two or three years even, in vessels hermetically closed. The oil of France keeps better than any other.

1648As well as the grape.

1649In consequence of the faulty mode of manufacture, the oil of Italy is now inferior to that of France. The oil of Aix is particularly esteemed.

1650In Campania. See B. xvii. c.3. Horace and Martial speak in praise of the Venafran olive. Hardouin suggests that Licinius Crassus may have introduced the Licinian olive.

1651The heat of Africa is unfavourable to the olive.

1652The fæces, marc, or lees. This is a crude juice contained in the cellular tissue of the fruit, known asviridineorchlorophylle.

1653This is owing, Fée says, to a sort of fermentation, which alters the tissue of the cells containing the oil, displaces the constituent elements, and forms others, such as mucus, sugar, acetic acid, ammoniac, &c. When ripe, the olive contains four oils; that of the skin, the flesh, the stone, and the kernel.

1654In B. xii. c.60.

1655See B. xviii. c. 74.

165616th of September.

1657De Causis, B. i. c. 23.

1658This cannot possiblyincreasethe oil, but it would render it more fluid, and thereby facilitate its escape from the cells of the berry.

1659But Cato, Re Rust. c. 144, adds the very significant words, “injussu domini aut custodis.” “Without the leave of the owner or the keeper.”

1660It is found that the olive, after an abundant season, will not bear in the following year; probably the result of exhaustion.

1661More commonly spelt “pausia.”

1662“Regia.” It is impossible to identify these varieties.

16638th of February.

1664This assertion of Pliny is not generally true. The large olives of Spain yield oil very plentifully.

1665Probably a member of the variety known to naturalists as the Olea fructu majori, carne crassâ, of Tournefort, the royal olive or “triparde” of the French. The name is thought to be from the Greekφαῦλος, the fruit being considered valueless from its paucity of oil.

1666There are but few olive-trees in either Egypt or Decapolis at the present day, and no attempts are made to extract oil from them.

1667“Carnis.” He gives this name to the solid part, or pericarp.

1668See B. iii. c. 9.

1669These methods are not now adopted for preserving the olive. The fruit are first washed in an alkaline solution, and then placed in salt and water. The colymbas was so called fromκολυμβάω, “to swim,” in its own oil, namely. Dioscorides descants on the medicinal properties of the colymbades. B. i. c. 140.

1670There are several varieties known of this colour, and more particularly the fruit of the Olea atro-rubens of Gouan.

1671The Spanish olive, Hardouin says. Fée thinks that the name “superba,” “haughty,” is given figuratively, as meaning rough and austere.

1672The olives of the present Merida, in Spain, are of a rough, disagreeable flavour.

1673This seems to be the meaning of “pinguis;” but, as Fée observes, salt would have no such effect as here stated, but would impart a disagreeable flavour to the oil.

1674Fée regards this assertion as quite fabulous.

1675It will be stated in B. xxviii. c. 13, to what purposes this abominable collection of filth was applied.

167615th of July. He alludes to the inspection of the Equites, which originally belonged to the Censors, but afterwards to the Emperors. On this occasion there was “recognitio,” or “review,” and then a “transvectio,” or “procession” of the horsemen.

1677The ovation was a lesser triumph, at which the general entered the city not in a chariot, but on foot. In later times, however, the victor entered on horseback: and a wreath of myrtle, sometimes laurel, was worn by him. For further particulars as to the ovation, see c.38of the present Book.

1678Or “oleaster.”

1679De Re Rust. c. 6.

1680A middling or even poor soil is chosen for the olive at the present day.

1681Apparently meaning the “white wax” olive.

1682In warm countries, a site exposed to the north is chosen: in colder ones, a site which faces the south.

1683See B. xvii. c.37. This moss has not been identified with precision; but the leaf of the olive is often attacked by anerysiphus, known to naturalists as the Alphitomorpha communis; but it is white, not of a red colour.

1684Fée queries how any one could possibly eat olives that had been steeped in a solution of mastich. They must have been nauseous in the extreme.

1685De Re Rust. c. 64.

1686“Fracibus.” The opinion of Pliny, that olives deteriorate by being left in the store-room, is considered to be well founded; the olives being apt to ferment, to the deterioration of the oil: at the same time, he is wrong in supposing that the amount of oil diminishes by keeping the berries.

1687“Cortinas.” If we may judge from the name, these vessels were three-footed, like a tripod.

1688There are no good grounds for this recommendation, which is based on the erroneous supposition that heat increases the oil in the berry. The free circulation of the air also ought not to be restricted, as nothing is gained by it. In general, the method of extracting the oil is the same with the moderns as with the ancients, though these last did not employ the aid of boiling water.

1689Labra.

1690A “making,” or “batch.”

1691Or “flower.”

1692It may be remarked, that in this Chapter Pliny totally confounds fixed oils, volatile oils, and medicinal oils. Those in the list which he here gives, and which are not otherwise noticed in the Notes, may be considered to belong to this last class.

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