Chapter 464

2122The “laurel-grove.”

2123See B. xvii. c.11.

2124See end of B. viii.

2125See end of B. ii.

2126See end of B. vii.

2127See end of B. iii.

2128See end of B. vii.

2129See end of B. iii.

2130See end of B. x.

2131See end of B.xi.

2132See end of B. ii.

2133See end of B.xiv.

2134See end of B. x.

2135See end of B. vii.

2136See end of B. iii.

2137See end of B. iii.

2138See end of B.xiv.

2139See end of B.xiv.

2140See end of B. viii.

2141See end of B. vii.

2142See end of B.xiv.

2143See end of B.xiv.

2144See end of B. ii.

2145See end of B.xiv.

2146See end of B.xiv.

2147See end of B.xii.

2148See end of B.xiv.

2149See end of B.xiv.

2150See end of B.xiv.

2151See end of B. iii.

2152See end of B.xii.

2153See end of B.xiv.

2154See end of B. ii.

2155See end of B. ii.

2156See end of B. viii.

2157See end of B. viii.

2158See end of B. viii.

2159See end of B. iv.

2160See end of B. viii.

2161See end of B. viii.

2162See end of B. viii.

2163See end of B. viii.

2164See end of B. viii.

2165See end of B. viii.

2166See end of B. viii.

2167See end of B. viii.

2168See end of B. viii.

2169See end of B. vi.

2170See end of B. viii.

2171See end of B.xiv.

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

2173See end of B. viii.

2174See end of B. ii.

2175See end of B. x.

2176See end of B. viii.

2177See end of B. viii.

2178See end of B. viii.

2179See end of B. viii.

2180See end of B.xii.

2181See end of B. viii.

2182See end of B. viii.

2183See end of B. vii.

2184See end of B.xi.

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

2186See end of B.xi.

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

2188See end of B.xi.

2189See end of B. ii.

2190See end of B. v.

2191The methods of grafting and inoculation.

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

2193See B. iv. c. 29.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2210See B. vii. c. 31.

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

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

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

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

2215Il. xiii, 736.

2216See cc.34and35of the present Book.

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

2218See B. vii. c. 27.

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

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

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

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

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

2224In the Circus.

2225In B. vii. c. 29.

2226B. vii. c. 29.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2243Or “broad-leaved” oak; one of the varieties of the Quercus sessiliflora of Smith—Flor. Brit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2252Theophrastus says the end of June.

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

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

2255In Syria, we have mentioned the galls of Aleppo in Note2251.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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