Pliny the Elder 23 - 79 66
Natural History
  
About Me
Education
Philos
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Travel
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1 Dedication 1 13.2 11.
2 World & Elements 113 131.7 6:50.
3 Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances & Peoples who exist or did 30 72.5 1:00:25.
4 Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances & Peoples who exist or did 37 62.3 51:55.
5 Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances & Peoples who exist or did 44 67.2 56.
6 Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances & Peoples who exist or did 39 112.4 1:33:40.
7 Man: Birth, Organization, Invention of Arts 60 107 1:29:10.
8 Nature of Terrestial Animals 84 115.5 1:36:15.
9 History of Fish 88 98.9 1:22:45.
10 Natural History of Birds 98 105.1 1:27:35.
11 Various kinds of Insects 119 140.5 1:57:05.
12 History of Trees 63 70.1 58:25.
13 History of Exotic Trees & an account of Unguents 52 65.1 54:15.
14 History of Fruit Trees 1 29 73.4 61:10.
15 History of Fruit Trees 2 40 71.8 59:50.
16 History of Forest Trees 95 123.2 1:42:40.
17 History of Cultivated Trees 47 142.8 1:59.
18 History of Grain 90 175.4 2:26:10.
19 Nature & Cultivation of Flax & Account of various Garden Plants 62 93.6 78.
20 Remedies from Garden Plants 100 117.9 1:38:15.
Menu 1 Pages 1.5 Time 1:15
Menu 2 Pages 71.4 Time 1:00
Body Pages 573,000 3,575.8 Time 49:40:00
Menu to Body 1/48 1/32
Books/Chapters 37/2,602
Pages per book/chapter 62/1.13
Views PHP Hits Count
Visitors PHP Hits Count
21 Flowers & Those used for Chaplets particularly 109 94.1 1:18:25.
22 Properties of Plants & Fruits 82 81.5 1:07:55.
23 Remedies from Cultivatedrees 83 80.2 1:06:50.
24 Remediesfrom Forestrees 120 104.2 1:26:50.
25 History of Wild Plant 110 88.3 1:13:35.
26 Remedies from Plants classified by Diseases 93 77.7 1:04:45.
27 Description of Plants & Rmds fromhem 120 65.8 54:50.
28 Rmds from Living Creatures 1 81 138.4 1:55:20.
29 Rmds from Living Creatures 2 39 71.7 59:45.
30 Rmds from Living Creatures 3 53 70.5 58:35.
31 Rmds from Aquatic Production 47 65.5 54:35.
32 Rmds from Aquatic Animals 54 77.8 64:30.
33 History of Metals 58 85 1:10:50.
34 History of Metals 56 80.4 1:07.
35 Paintings & Colors 59 97.9 1:21:35.
36 History of Stones 70 96.7 1:20:35.
37 History of Precious Stones 77 100.7 1:23:55.
1 Dedication 1 13.2 11.
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 2:40		 2.6
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 3:05		 1.2
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71
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6.1
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 1:10		 .8
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 3:20		 1.3
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 1
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 1
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:35		 .8
:40		 2.3 1:55 1.2
1		 24.8 0 3.8
 0		 .6
:30		 .5
:25		 11
0
.4
:20		 .9
:45		 1.3 1:05 .6
:30		 2.1 1:45 3.6
3		 1.4 1:10 .6
:30		 2 1:40 2.3 1:55
2.4
 2		 4.3 3:25 .6
:30		 .4
:20		 .4
:20		 .8
 :40		 2.1 1:45 1.4 1:10 .7
 :35
1.8
1:30		 1.5
1:15		 1
:50		 16.3
 0		 1.4
1:10		 .4
:20		 .7
 :35		 1.1
 :55		 1.6
1:20		 .3
:15.
2.3
1:55		 1.2
1		 1
 :50		 3.6
3		 1.6
1:20		 1.1
:55		 2.6
2:10		 .7
:35		 4.2
3:30		 .4
:20
1.6
1:20		 .4
:20		 1
 :50		 12.5
0		 2.6
2:10		 .2
:10		 .4
:20		 1.1
:55		 .8
:40		 1.5
1:15
.4
:20		 .2
:10		 .3
:15		 .8
:40		 .2
 :10		 .3
:15		 .8
:40		 1.3
1:05		 1.5
1:15		 .6
:30
.2
:10		 1.3
1:05		 1
:50		 .7
:35		 1.7
1:25		 .6
:30		 .8
:40		 .9
:45		 .8
:40		 .4
:20
.7
:35		 .4
:20		 .5
:25		 .4
:20		 1.1
:55		 .9
:45		 .4
:20		 .3
:15		 .9
:45		 .6
:30
.5
:25		 1
:50		 .5
:25		 .8
:40		 1.1
 :55		 1.9
1:35		 1.8
1:30		 1
:50		 .7
:35		 .9
:45
1.1
:55		 1
:50		 1.4
1:10		 1.4
1:10		 .5
:25		 2.7
2:15		 1.6
1:20		 1.1
:55		 1.7
1:25		 1.6
1:20
8.2
6:50		 2.7
2:15		 1
:50		 .5
:25		 3.6
3		 1.4
1:10		 1.4
1:10		 3.3
2:45		 1
:50		 1.9
1:35
1.3
1:05		 1.2
1		 2.6
 2:10		 1.2
1		 2.8
2:20		 .6
:30		 .5
:25		 1.5
1:15		 .6
:30		 .6
:30
1.2
1		 1.3
1:05		 1.7
1:25		 .4
:20		 .4
:20		 .3
:15		 2.4
2		 .6
:30		 .4
:20		 2.2
1:50
.4
:20		 .7
:35		 .5
:25		 .4
 :20		 .3
:15		 1.3
1:05		 .5
:25		 .6
:30		 .2
:10		 .2
:10
.9
:45		 1.2
1		 .2
:10		 4.8
4		 1.3
1:05		 2.9
2:25		 .9
:45		 1.2
1		 1.3
1:05		 2.4
2
.8
:40		 .6
:30		 1.1
:55		 .3
:15		 1
:50		 1.1
:55		 1.2
1		 .7
:35		 .2
:10		 .4
:20
.5
:25		 .8
:40		 2.1
1:45		 1.6
1:20		 1
:50		 1.3
1:05		 3.4
2:50		  
     
1 Whether world be finite, if there is more than one 1.3 1:05.
2 Form of World .5 :25.
3 It's Nature, When name derived 1.3 1:05.
4 Elements & Planets 1.4 1:10.
5 God 5.1 4:15.
6 Nature of Stars, motion of planets 6.7 5:35.
7 Eclipses of Moon & Sun 1.1 :55.
8 Magnitude of Stars 1.8 1:30.
9 Observations made on heavens by many individuals 1.8 1:30.
10 Recurrence of eclipses of sun & moon 1.2 1.
11 Motion of moon .6 :30.
12 Motions of Planets 1.4 1:10.
13 Why same stars appear at some times more lofty & at other times more near 5.2 4:20.
14 Why same stars have different motions 2.2 1:50.
15 General laws of planets 1 :50.
16 Reason why stars are of different colours 1.3 1:05.
17 Of motion of sun & cause of irregularity of days .6 :30.
18 Why thunder is ascribed to Jupiter .8 :40.
19 Distance of stars 1.1 :55.
20 Harmony of stars .6 :30.
21 Dimensions of world 2 1:40.
22 Stars which appear suddenly, or of comets 1.4 1:10.
23 Their nature, situation & species 2.5 2:05.
24 Doctrine of Hipparchus about stars .7 :35.
25 Examples from history of celestial prodigie .5 :25.
26 Of colours of sky & of celestial flame 52W :13.
27 Colours of sky of celestial flame .6 :30.
28 Celestial coronae .3 :15.
29 Sudden circles 50W :13.
30 Unusually long eclipses of sun 46W :11.
31 Many suns .6 :30.
32 Many moons 31W :08.
33 Daylight in night 51W :13.
34 Burning shields 28W :07.
35 Ominous appearance in heaven, that was seen only once 79W :20.
36 stars which move about in various directions 33W :08.
37 stars which are named Castor & Pollux .7 :35.
38 On air & on cause of showers of stones 1.7 1:25.
39 Stated seasons 1.2 1.
40 Rising of dog-star .5 :25.
41 Regular influence of different seasotz 1:15.
42 Uncertain states of weather .4 :20.
43 Thunder & lightining 1.3 1:05.
44 Origin of winds 1.2 1.
45 Various observations respecting winds 1.9 1:35.
46 Different kinds of winds 1.7 1:25.
47 Periods of winds 1.9 1:35.
48 Nature of winds 2.3 1:55.
49 Ecnephias & Typhon 1 :50.
50 Tornadoes, Blasting winds, Whirlwinds & other wonderful kinds of tempests 1 :50.
51 Thunder: Countries it does not fall & for what reason .9 :45.
52 Different kinds of lightining & their wonderful effects .6 :30.
53 Etrurian & Roman observations on this point 1.4 1:10.
54 Conjuring up thunder 1.1 :55.
55 General laws of lightning 2.3 1:55.
56 Objects which are never struck .5 :25.
57 Showers of milk, blood, flesh, iron, wool & baked tiles .7 :35.
58 Rattling of arms & sound of trumpets heard in sky .5 :25.
59 Of stones that have fallen from clouds & Anaxagoras' opinion about them 1 :50.
60 Rainbow 1 :50.
61 nature of hail, snow, hoar, mist, dew, forms of clouds .6 :30.
62 Peculiarities of weather in different places .3 :15.
63 Nature of earth 3.3 2:45.
64 Form of earth .7 :35.
65 Whether there be antipodes 3.2 2:40.
66 How water is connected with earth, navigation of sea & rivers .8 :40.
67 Whether Ocean surrounds Earth 2.3 1:55.
68 What part of world is inhabited 2.4 2.
69 That earth is in middle of world .5 :25.
70 Obliquity of zones 71W :17.
71 Inequality of climates 1.7 1:25.
72 In what places eclipses are invisible, & why this is case .9 :45.
73 What regulates daylight on earth .9 :45.
74 remarks on dials as connected to this subject .4 :20.
75 When & where there are no shadows 1.4 1:10.
76 Where this takes place twice in year & where shadows fall in opposite direction 41W :12.
77 Where days are longest & where shortest .7 :35.
78 1st dial 45W :12.
79 Of mode in which days are computed .4 :20.
80 Difference of nations as depending on nature of world 1.1 :55.
81 Earthquakes 1.3 1:05.
82 Clefts of earth 1.5 1:15.
83 Signs of an approaching earthquake .5 :25.
84 Preservatives against future earthquakes 1 :50.
85 Prodigies of earth which have occurred once only .8 :40.
86 Wonderful circumstances attending earthquakes .7 :35.
87 In what places sea has receded .8 :40.
88 mode in which islands rise up 44W :12.
89 What islands have been formed, & at what periods 1.1 :55.
90 Lands which have been separated by sea 52W :13.
91 Islands which have been united to main land .3 :15.
92 Lands which have been totally changed into seas .3 :15.
93 Lands which have been swallowed up .4 :20.
94 Cities which have been absorbed by sea .3 :15.
95 Vents in earth 1.3 1:05.
96 certain lands which are always shaking, & of floating islands .9 :45.
97 Places in which it never rains 55W :13.
98 wonders of various countries collected together .9 :45.
99 Concerning cause of fowing and ebbing of sea 3.4 2:50.
100 Where tides rise & fall in an unusual manner .8 :40.
101 Wonders of sea .4 :20.
102 power of moon over land & sea .5 :25.
103 power of sun 30W :08.
104 Why sea is salt 1.1 :55.
105 Where sea is deepest 60W :13.
106 wonders of fountains & rivers 6.2 5:10.
107 Summary wonders of fire & water united 37W :08.
108 Maltha 82W :20.
109 Naphtha 75W :18.
110 Places which are always burning 1.7 1:25.
111 Wonders of fire alone 1.9 1:35.
112 dimensions of earth 3.7 3:05.
113 harmonical proportions of universe .6 :30.
       
3 Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances & Peoples who exist or did
30 72.5 1:00:25.
0 Introduction 2.3 1:55.
1 boundaries & gulfs of Europe 1st set forth in a general way .8 :40.
2 Spain generally .7 :35.
3 Baetica 5.6 4:40.
4 Nearer Spain 5.6 4:40.
5 province of Gallia Narbonensis 3.1 2:35.
6 Italy 4.5 2:45.
7 9th region of Italy 1.1 :55.
8 7th region of Italy 1.4 1:10.
9 1st region of Italy, Tiber, Rome 8.5 7:05.
10 3rd region of Italy 2.3 1:55.
11 islands, among which are Baleares 1.5 1:15.
12 Corsica 1.2 1.
13 Sardinia 1.2 1.
14 Sicily 3.6 3.
15 Magna Graecia, beginning at Locri 1.9 1:35.
16 2nd region of Italy 3.4 2:50.
17 4th region of Italy 1.9 1:35.
18 5th region of Italy .9 :45.
19 6th region of Italy 1.5 1:15.
20 8th region of Italy, Padus 4 3:20.
21 11th region of Italy, Italia Transpadana 1.4 1:10.
22 10th region of Italy 1.3 1:05.
23 Summary Istria, its people & locality 2.3 1:55.
24 Alps & Alpine nations 2.8 2:20.
25 Liburnia & Illyricum 1 :50.
26 Dalmatia 2.3 1:55.
27 Norici 76W :17.
28 Pannonia 1.2 1.
29 Moesia .7 :35.
30 Islands of Ionic Sea & Adriatic 1.9 1:35.
1 Epirus 1.8 1:30.
2 Acarnania .7 :35.
3 Aetolia .7 :35.
4 Locris & Phocis .8 :40.
5 Peloponnesus 1.7 1:25.
6 Achaia 1.3 1:05.
7 Messenia .5 :25.
8 Laconia .4 :20.
9 Argolis 1.2 1.
10 Arcadia 1.1 :55.
11 Attica 1.1 :55.
12 Boeotia 1.3 1:05.
13 Doris 21W :05.
14 Phthiotis .5 :25.
15 Thessaly Proper 1.5 1:15.
16 Magnesia .4 :20.
17 Macedonia 2.8 2:20.
18 Thrace, Aegean Sea 6.2 5:10.
19 islands which lie before lands already mentioned 2.5 2:05.
20 Crete 2.2 1:50.
21 Euboeia 1 :50.
22 Cyclades 1.8 1:30.
23 Sporades 3.6 3.
24 Hellespont - lake Maeotis 3.1 2:35.
25 Dacia, Sarmatia 1 :50.
26 Scythia 6.4 5:20.
27 Islands of Euxine, Islands of northern ocean 3.7 3:05.
28 Germany 1.3 1:05.
29 islands of Gallic Ocean .4 :20.
30 Britannia 1.8 1:30.
31 Gallia Belgica 1.2 1.
32 Gallia Lugdunensis .6 :30.
33 Gallia Aquitanica .9 :45.
34 Nearer Spain, its coast along Gallic Ocean 1.7 1:25.
35 Lusitania 2.8 2:20.
36 islands in Atlantic Ocean 1.1 :55.
37 general measurement of Europe 1.2 1.
 
5 Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances & Peoples who exist or did
44 67.2 56.
1 2 Mauritanias .4 :20.
2 Numidia .6 :30.
3 Africa 1.3 1:05.
4 Syrtes 2.2 1:50.
5 Cyrenaica 4.1 3:25.
6 Libya Mareotis .7 :35.
7 Islands in vicinity of Africa 1.1 :55.
8 Countries on other side of Africa 2 1:40.
9 Egypt & Thebais 2.2 1:50.
10 River Nile 6.5 5:25.
11 cities of Egypt 2.5 2:05.
12 coasts of Arabia, situate on Egyptian sea .7 :35.
13 Syria .9 :45.
14 Idumaea, Palaestina & Samaria 1.1 :55.
15 Judaea 2.4 2.
16 Decapolis .7 :35.
17 Phoenice 1.8 1:30.
18 Syria Antiochia 1 :50.
19 Remaining parts of Syria .8 :40.
20 Euphrates 1.5 1:15.
21 Syria upon Euphrates 2.3 1:55.
22 Cilicia & adjoining nations 1.2 1.
23 Isauria and Homonades .4 :20.
24 Pisidia 36W :08.
25 Lycaonia .4 :20.
26 Pamphylia .3 :15.
27 Mount Taurus 1.7 1:25.
28 Lycia 1.4 1:10.
29 Caria 3 2:40.
30 Lydia .7 :35.
31 Ionia 4.1 3:25.
32 Aeolis 1.4 1:10.
33 Troas & adjoining nations 2 1:40.
34 Islands which lie in front of Asia .8 :40.
35 Cyprus 1.4 1:10.
36 Rhodes 1.5 1:15.
37 Samos .5 :25.
38 Chios 1.1 :55.
39 Lesbos .9 :45.
40 Summary Hellespont & Mysia 1.8 1:30.
41 Phrygia .4 :20.
42 Galatia & adjoining nations .9 :45.
43 Bithynia 1.8 1:30.
44 Islands of Propontis 2.8 2:20.
6 Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances & Peoples who exist or did
39 112.4 1:33:40.
1 Euxine & Maryandini 2.2 1:50.
2 Paphlagonia 1.3 1:05.
3 Cappadocia .8 :40.
4 Region of Themiscyra & nations therein 2.6 2:10.
5 Region of Colica, nations of Achaei & other nations in same parts 1.6 1:20.
6 Cimmerian Bosporus .5 :25.
7 Lake Maeotis & adjoining nations 1.7 1:25.
8 Situation of Cappadocia 1 :50.
9 Lesser & Greater Armenia .7 :35.
10 Rivers Cyrus & Araxes 1.2 1.
11 Albania, Iberia & adjoining nations .8 :40.
12 passes of Caucasus 1.3 1:05.
13 Islands of Euxine .3 :15.
14 nations in vicinity of Scythian Ocean 1.4 1:10.
15 Caspian & Hyrcanean sea 2.9 2:25.
16 Adiabene 1.1 :55.
17 Media & Caspian Gates 1.9 1:35.
18 Nations situated around Hyrcanian sea 2.3 1:55.
19 nations of Scythia & countries on Eastern Ocean 1.4 1:10.
20 Seres 1.9 1:35.
21 Nations of India 5 4:10.
22 Ganges 3.5 2:55.
23 Indus 5.5 4:35.
24 Taprobane 6.4 5:20.
25 Ariani & adjoining nations 2.1 1:45.
26 voyages to India 6.3 5:15.
27 Carmania 79W :20.
28 Persian & Arabian Gulfs 2 1:40.
29 Parthian Empire 2 1:40.
30 Mesopotamia 4.4 3:40.
31 Tigris 4.4 3:40.
32 Arabia 9.9 8:15.
33 gulfs of Red Sea 2.7 2:15.
34 Troglodytice 4.4 3:40.
35 Aethiopia 9.4 7:50.
36 Islands of Aethiopian Sea 2 1:40.
37 Fortunate Islands 1.9 1:35.
38 Comparative distances of places on face of earth 2.4 2.
39 division of earth into parallels & shadows of equal length 5.5 4:35.
 
  7 Man: Birth, Organization, Invention of Arts 60 107 1:29:10.  
1 Man 4.8 4.
2 Wonderful forms of different nations 11.8 9:50.
3 Marvellous births 2.6 2:10.
4 generation of man, unusual duration of pregnancy, instances of it from 7 to months 1.4 1:10.
5 Indications of sex of child during pregnancy of mother 2 1:40.
6 Monstrous births 1.1 :55.
7 Those cut out of womb .3 :15.
8 Vopisci people .3 :15.
9 Conception & generation of man .9 :45.
10 Striking instances of resemblance 4 3:20.
11 what men are suited for generation, Instances of very numerous offspring 1.3 1:05.
12 What age generation ceases .7 :35.
13 Remarkables circumstances connected with menstrual discharge 2.1 1:45.
14 Theory of generation 57W :14.
15 Account of teeth & some facts concerning infants 2.3 1:55.
16 Examples of unusual size 1.8 1:30.
17 ChIldren remarkable for their precocity .9 :45.
18 some remarkable properties of body 1.8 1:30.
19 Instances of extraordinary strength 1.3 1:05.
20 Instances of remarkable agility .7 :35.
21 Instances of acuteness of sight .7 :35.
22 Instances of remarkable acuteness in hearing .3 :15.
23 Instances of endurance of pain .4 :20.
24 Memory 1.4 1:10.
25 Vigour of mind 1 :50.
26 Clemency & greatness of mind .7 :35.
27 Heroic exploits 2.4 2.
28 Union in same person of three of highest qualities with greatest purity .6 :30.
29 Instances of extreme courage 2.8 2:20.
30 Men of remarkable genius 1.3 1:05.
31 Men who have been remarkable for wisdom 4.1 3:25.
32 Precepts most useful in life .4 :20.
33 Divination 38W 0.
34 Man who was pronounced to be most excellent .4 :20.
35 Most chaste matrons .3 :15.
36 Instances of highest degree of affection 1.3 1:05.
37 Men who have excelled in arts, astrology, grammar & medicine 1.3 1:05.
38 Geometry & architecture .7 :35.
39 Painting, engraving on bronze, marble & ivory, carving .9 :45.
40 slaves for which a high price has been given .9 :45.
41 Supreme happiness 1.9 1:35.
42 Rare instances of good fortune continuing in same family .4 :20.
43 Remarkable example of vicissitudes .4 :20.
44 Remarkable examples of honours 1.9 1:35.
45 very fortunate circumstances which have happened to same person 3.9 3:15.
46 Misfortunes of Augustus 1.9 1:35.
47 Men whom gods have pronounced to be most happy .7 :35.
48 Man whom gods ordered to be worshipped during his life-time, Remarkable flash of lightning .6 :30.
49 Greatest length of life 3.7 3:05.
50 Variety of destinies at birth of man 2.6 2:10.
51 Various instances of diseases 2.4 2.
52 Death 1 :50.
53 Persons who have come to life again after being laid out for burial 3.8 0.
54 Instances of sudden death 3.9 3:15.
55 Burial .5 :25.
56 Manes, or departed spirits of soul 2 1:40.
58 Things about which mankind 1st of all agreed, ancient letters .4 :20.
59 When barbers 1st employed .4 :20.
60 When 1st time-pieces were made 1.9 1:35.
   
8 Nature of Terrestial Animals 84 115.5 1:36:15.
1 Elephants: their capacity 1.2 1.
2 When elephants were first put into harness .8 :40.
3 Docility of elephant .7 :35.
4 wonderful things which have been done by elephant 1.1 :55.
5 instinct of wild animals when perceiving danger 4.1 3:25.
6 When elephants were 1st seen in Italy .9 :45.
7 Combats of elephants 2.8 2:20.
8 Way in which elephants are caught 1.6 1:20.
9 Method by which they are tamed .9 :45.
10 Birth of elephant & other particulars respecting it 2.2 1:50.
11 What countries elephant is found, antipathy of elephant & dragon .4 :20.
12 Sagacity of these animals 1.5 1:15.
13 Dragons .4 :20.
14 Serpents of remarkable size .9 :45.
15 Animals of Scythis; bison .4 :20.
16 Animals of north: elk, achlis & bonasus 1 :50.
17 Lions: how they are produced 2.5 2:05.
18 Different species of lions 1 :50.
19 Peculiar character of lion 3.1 2:35.
20 Who 1st introduced combats of lions at Rome .4 :20.
21 Wonderful feats performed by lions 4.1 3:25.
22 Man recognized & saved by a dragon .7 :35.
23 Panthers .8 :40.
24 Decree of Senate, & laws respecting African animals, who brough them to Rome & who brought most .4 :20.
25 Tigers: when 1st seen at Rome, their nature .9 :45.
26 Camels: different kinds 1 :50.
27 Cameleopard: when it was 1st seen at Rome .5 :25.
28 Chama & cepus .5 :25.
29 Rhinoceros .5 :25.
30 Lynx, sphynx, crocotta & monkey .5 :25.
31 Terrestrial animals of India .6 :30.
32 Animals of Aethiopia, wild beast which kills with its eye .5 :25.
33 Serpents called basilisks 1 :50.
34 Wolves, origin of story of Versipellis 2.3 1:55.
35 different kinds of serpents 1.5 1:15.
36 Ichneumon .4 :20.
37 Crocodile 1.2 1.
38 Seincus 2 1:40.
39 Hippopotamus .5 :25.
40 Who 1st exhibited hippopotamus & crocodile at Rome .6 :30.
61 Qualities of dog, examples of its attachment to its master, nations which have kept dogs for purpose of war 4.5 2:45.
62 Generation of dog .7 :35.
63 Rmds against canine madness .8 :40.
64 Nature of horse 2.3 1:55.
65 Disposition of horse, remarkable facts concerning chariot horses 1.9 1:35.
66 Generation of horse 1.5 1:15.
67 Mares impregnated by wind .7 :35.
68 Ass: its generation 2.5 2:05.
69 Nature of mules & other beasts of burden 2.4 2.
70 Oxen: their generation 4 3:20.
71 Egyptian Apis 1.6 1:20.
72 Sheep & their propagation 1.7 1:25.
73 Different kinds of wool & their colours 2.2 1:50.
74 Different kinds of cloth 1.8 1:30.
75 Different shapes of sheep, Musmon 1 :50.
76 Goats & their propagation 2.4 2.
77 Hog 2.9 2:25.
78 Wild boar, who was 1st to establish parks for wild animals 1.3 1:05.
79 Animals in a half-wild state 1.1 :55.
80 Apes 1 :50.
81 Different species of hares 1.5 1:15.
82 Animals tamed in part only 1.9 1:35.
83 Places in which certain animals are not to be found 1.8 1:30.
84 animals which injure strangers only, as also animals which injure natives of country only, & where they are found 1.4 1:10.
 
9 History of Fish 88 98.9 1:22:45.
1 Why largest animals are found in sea 1.4 1:10.
2 Sea monsters of Indian Ocean 1.7 1:25.
3 Largest animals that are found in each ocean .5 :25.
4 Forms of Tritons & Nereids, Forms of sea-elephants 1.7 1:25.
5 Balaena & Orca 2.1 1:45.
6 Whether fishes respire & whether they sleep 2.1 1:45.
7 Dolphins 1.8 1:30.
8 Human beings who have been beloved by dolphins 3.2 2:40.
9 Places where dolphins help men to fish 2.1 1:45.
10 Other wonderful things relating to dolphins .9 :45.
11 Tursio 52W :13.
12 Turtles: various kinds of turtles & where they are caught 2.4 2.
13 Who 1st invented art of cutting tortoise shell 46W :11.
14 Distribution of aquatic animals into various species .5 :25.
15 Those which are covered with hair,or have none, & how they bring forth, sea-calves or phocae 1.1 :55.
16 How many kinds of fish there are 56W :13.
18 Tunnies, cordyla & pelamides & various parts of them that are salted, melandrya, apolecti & cybia .9 :45.
19 Aurias & Scomber .5 :25.
20 Fishes which are never found in Euxine. Those which enter it & return 2.3 1:55.
21 Why fishes leap above surface of water .5 :25.
22 That auguries are derived from fishes .4 :20.
23 What kinds of fishes have no males .8 :40.
24 Fishes which have a stone in their head. Those which keep themselves concealed during winter .9 :45.
25 Fishes which conceal themselves during summer. Influenced by stars .7 :35.
26 mullet .5 :25.
27 Acipenser 72W :17.
28 Lupus, Asellus .5 :25.
29 Scarus, Mustella .9 :45.
30 Various kinds of mullets & sargus that attends them 1.5 1:15.
31 Enormous prices of some fish .8 :40.
32 Same kinds are not everywhere equally esteemed .4 :20.
33 Gills & Scales .5 :25.
34 Fishes which have a voice, fishes without gills 60W :13.
35 Fishes which come on land, proper time for catching fish .7 :35.
36 Classification of fishes, according to shape of body 69W :17.
37 Fins of fish, & their mode of swimming .7 :35.
38 Eels .8 :40.
39 Murena 1.2 1.
40 Various kinds of flat fish .6 :30.
41 Echeneis & its uses in enchantments 1.2 1.
42 Fishes which change their colour 59W :16.
43 Fishes which fly above water, Sea swallow, fish that shines in night, horned fish, sea-dragon 59W :14.
44 Fishes which have no blood, fishes known as soft fish 59W :14.
45 Saepia, Loligo, Scallop .4 :20.
46 Polypus 1.5 1:15.
47 Nautilus, or sailing polypus .7 :35.
48 Various kinds of polypi, their shrewdness 3.3 2:45.
49 Sailing nauplius .9 :45.
50 Sea-animals which are enclosed with a crust, cray-fish 1.1 :55.
51 Various kinds of crabs, pinnotheres, sea urchin, cockles & scallops 2.2 1:50.
52 Various kinds of shell-fish .9 :45.
53 What numerous appliances of luxury are found in sea 1.2 1.
55 How pearls are found 1 :50.
56 Various kinds of pearls 2.2 1:50.
57 Remarkable facts connected with pearls - their nature .6 :30.
58 Instances of use of pearls 3 2:40.
59 How pearls 1st came into use at Rome 1 :50.
60 Nature of murex & purple 2.1 1:45.
61 Different kinds of purples 2 1:40.
62 How wools are dyed with juices of purple 2.1 1:45.
63 When purple was 1st used at Rome, Laticlave Vestment & Praetexta 1st worn 1 :50.
64 Fabrics called conchyliated .6 :30.
65 Amethyst, Tyrian, hysgnian & crimson tints 1.7 1:25.
66 Pinna & Pinnotheres .6 :30.
67 Sponges: Various kinds & where they are produced: Proofs that they are gifted with life by nature 1.7 1:25.
68 Bodies which have a 3rd nature, that of animal & vegetable combined, sea-nettle 1.1 :55.
69 Sponges: various kinds of them, & where they are produced, proofs that they are gifted with life by nature 1.7 1:25.
70 Dog-fish 2 1:40.
71 Fishes which are enclosed in a stony-shell, sea-animals which have no sensation, other animals which live in mud .7 :35.
72 Venomous sea-animals 1.7 1:25.
73 Maladies of fishes 68W :15.
74 Generation of fishes 4.3 3:25.
75 Fishes which are both oviparous & viviparous .6 :30.
76 Fishes belly of which opens in spawning, & then closes again .4 :20.
77 Fishes that have a womb. Those which impregnate themselves 52W :13.
78 Longest lives known among fishes .4 :20.
79 1st person that formed artificial oyster-beds 1.1 :55.
80 Who was 1st inventor of preserves for other fish .5 :25.
81 Who invented preserves for murenae .7 :35.
82 Who invented preserves for sea-snails .6 :30.
83 Land-fishes 1.9 1:35.
84 Mice of Nile .3 :15.
85 How fish called anthias is taken 2.3 1:55.
86 Sea-stars .5 :25.
87 Marvellous properties of dactylus .5 :25.
88 Anthipaties & sympathies that exist between aquatic animals 1.1 :55.
10 Natural History of Birds 98 105.1 1:27:35.
1 Ostrich .8 :40.
2 Phoenix 1.9 1:35.
3 Different kinds of eagles 3.3 2:45.
4 Natural characteristics of eagle 1.8 1:30.
5 When eagle was 1st used as standard of Roman legions 1.1 :55.
6 An eagle which precipitated itself on funeral pile of a girl .4 :20.
7 Vulture .5 :25.
8 Birds called sangualis & immusulus .5 :25.
9 Hawks, Buteo 1.1 :55.
10 Places hawks & men pursue chase in company with each other .8 :40.
11 Only bird that is killed by those of its own kind. Bird that lays only 1 egg 1.8 1:30.
12 Kite .6 :30.
13 Classification of birds 61W 0.
14 Crows, Birds of ill omen, What season they are not inauspicious .7 :35.
15 Raven 1.3 1:05.
16 Horned owl .8 :40.
17 Birds, race of which is extinct or of which all knowledge has been lost 1 :50.
18 Birds which are born with tail 1st .4 :20.
19 Owlet .4 :20.
20 Wood-pecker of Mars 1.1 :55.
21 Birds which have hooked talons .5 :25.
22 Peacock 1.2 1.
23 Who was 1st to kill peacock for food. Who 1st taught art of cramming them .3 :15.
24 Dunghill cock 2.2 1:50.
25 How cocks are castrated. Cock that once spoke .5 :25.
26 Goose .7 :35.
27 Who 1st taught us to use liver of goose for food 1.5 1:15.
28 Commagenian medicament 74W :17.
29 Chenalopex, cheneros, tetrao & oris .8 :40.
30 Cranes 1.4 1:10.
31 Storks 1.2 1.
32 Swans .7 :35.
33 Foreign birds which visit us, Quail, Glottis, Cychramus, Lotus 2.6 2:10.
34 Swallows .9 :45.
35 Birds that take their departure from us, & whither they go: Thrush, Blackburd, Starling, who lose feathers during retirement. Turtle Dove. Ring Dove. Flight of Starlings & Swallows .9 :45.
36 Birds which remains with us throughout year. Birds that remain with us only 6 or 3 months. Witwalls & Hoopoes .3 :15.
37 Memnonides 70W :17.
38 Meleagrides 65W :16.
39 Seleucides 66W :16.
40 Ibis 46W :11.
41 Places in which certain birds are never found 1.9 1:35.
42 Various kinds of birds which afford omens by their note. Birds which change their colour & their voice .6 :30.
43 Nightingale 2.6 2:10.
44 Melancoryphus, Erithacus & Phoenicurus .4 :20.
45 Oenanthe, chlorion, blackbird & ibis .5 :25.
46 Times of Incubation of birds 60W :13.
47 Halcyones: halcyon days that are favourable to navigation 1.2 1.
48 Other kinds of aquatic birds 41W :12.
49 Instinctive cleverness displayed by birds in construction of their nests, Wonderful works of swallow, Bank Swallow 2 1:40.
50 Acanthyllis & other birds 1.4 1:10.
51 Merops - Partidges 2.6 2:10.
52 Pigeons 3.3 2:45.
53 Wonderful things done by them. Prices at which they have been sold .7 :35.
54 Different modes of flight & progression in birds 1.8 1:30.
55 Birds called Apodes or Cypseli .5 :25.
56 Respecting food of birds - caprimulgus, platea .7 :35.
57 Instinct of birds - carduelis, taurus, anthus .6 :30.
58 Birds which speak - parrot .7 :35.
59 Pie which feeds on acorns 1.6 1:20.
60 Sedition that arose among Roman people in consequence of a raven speaking 2.6 2:10.
61 Birds of Diomedes 1.1 :55.
62 Animals that can learn nothing 66W :15.
63 Mode of drinking with birds, Porphyrio .5 :25.
64 Haematopous 54W :14.
65 Food of birds 39W :13.
66 Pelican .5 :25.
67 Foreign birds: phalerides, pheasant & numidicae .5 :25.
68 Phoenicopterus, attagen, phalacrocorax, pyrrhocorax & lagopus .9 :45.
69 New Birds, Vipio .4 :20.
70 Fabulous birds 1.3 1:05.
71 Who 1st invented art of cramming poultry: why 1st Censors forbade this practice 1.1 :55.
72 Who 1st invented aviaries, dish of Aesopus 1 :50.
73 Generation of birds: other oviparous animals .6 :30.
74 Various kinds of eggs & their nature 3.1 2:35.
75 Defects in brood-hens & their Rmds 1.3 1:05.
76 An augury derived from eggs by an empress 1.3 1:05.
77 Best kinds of fowls .5 :25.
78 Diseases of fowls & their Rmds .5 :25.
79 When birds lay & how many eggs, various kinds of herons 3.2 2:40.
80 What eggs are called hypenemia & what cynosura, how eggs are best kept .8 :40.
81 Only winged animal that is viviparous & nurtures its young with milk .4 :20.
82 Terrestrial animals that are oviparous. Various kinds of serpents .8 :40.
83 Generation of all kinds of terrestrial animals 6 5.
84 Position of animals in uterus .8 :40.
85 Animals whose origin is still unknown 1.3 1:05.
86 Salamanders .5 :25.
87 Animals which are born of beings that have not been born themselves - animals which are born themselves, but are not reproductive - animals which are of neither sex 1 :50.
88 Senses of animals - that all have senses of touch & taste - those which are more remarkable for their sight, smell or hearing - moles - whether oysters have sense of hearing .8 :40.
89 Which fishes have best hearing .5 :25.
90 Which fishes have finest sense of smell 1.2 1.
91 Diversities in feeding of animals .6 :30.
92 Animals which live on poisons .6 :30.
93 Animals which live on earth - animals which will not die of hunger or thirst 1.5 1:15.
94 Diversities in drinking of animals 1 :50.
95 Antipathies of animals, proofs that they are sensible of frienship & other affections 2.4 2.
96 Instances of affection shown by serpents .8 :40.
97 Sleep of animals .9 :45.
98 What animals are subject to dreams 1.1 :55.
11 Kinds of Insects 119 140.5 1:57:05.
2 Whether insects respire & whether they have blood 1.9 1:35.
3 Bodies of insects 1 :50.
4 Bees 1.1 :55.
5 Order displayed in work of bees 1.2 1.
6 Meaning of terms commosis, Pissoceros & Propolis .7 :35.
7 Meaning of Erithace, Sandaraca or Cerinthos .6 :30.
8 Flowers used by Bees in their work .8 :40.
9 People who have made Bees their study 66W :15.
10 Mode in which bees work 3.1 2:35.
11 Drones .9 :45.
12 Qualities of honey 1.4 1:10.
13 Where Honey is best produced .5 :25.
14 Kinds of Honey peculiar to various places 2.3 1:55.
15 How Honey is tested, Ericaeum. Tetralix or Sisirum 3.2 2:40.
16 Reproduction of bees 2.9 2:25.
17 Mode of government by bees 1.6 1:20.
18 Happy omens sometimes afforded by a swarm of bees 1.9 1:35.
19 Various kinds of Bees 1.9 1:35.
20 Diseases of Bees .8 :40.
21 Things that are Noxious Bees 1.5 1:15.
22 How to keep Bees to hive .7 :35.
23 Methods of renewing swarm .4 :20.
24 Wasps & Hornets: Who take what belongs to others 1.8 1:30.
25 Bombyx of Assyria .4 :20.
26 Larvae of Silk-Worm & who invented silk cloths 4.6 0.
27 Silk-Worm of Cos-How Coan Vestments are made 1.2 1.
28 Spiders, kinds that make webs, materials used in so doing 3.3 2:45.
29 Generation of spiders .6 :30.
30 Scorpions 2.7 2:15.
31 Stelio 31W :08.
32 Grasshopper: Neither mouth or outlet for food 1.6 1:20.
33 Wings of insects .4 :20.
34 Beetle, glow-worm, other kinds of beetles 2.1 1:45.
35 Locusts 3.5 2:55.
36 Ants 2 1:40.
37 Chrysalis .5 :25.
38 Animals which breed in wood 68W :15.
39 Insects that are parasites of man. Which is smallest animal? Animals found in wax .9 :45.
40 Animal which has no passage for evacuations .7 :35.
41 Moths, cantharides, gnats, insects that breed in snow .9 :45.
42 Animal found in fire - Pyrallis or Pyrausta .4 :20.
43 Animal called Hemeroboin .7 :35.
44 Nature and characteristics of all animals considered limb by limb. Those which have tufts and crests 1.2 1.
45 Various kinds of horns. Animals in which they are moveable 3.4 2:50.
46 Heads of animals. Those which have none 74W :17.
47 Hair 1 :50.
48 Bones of Head .3 :15.
49 Brain 1.4 1:10.
50 Ears. Animals which hear without ears or aperatures 1.2 1.
51 Face, Forehead, Eyebrows .7 :35.
52 Eyes. Animals with 1 eye or no eyes .9 :45.
53 Diversity of color of eyes .4 :20.
54 Theory of sight. Person who can see by night 2.8 2:20.
55 Nature of pupil. Eyes that don't shut 3.1 2:35.
56 hair of eyelids .9 :45.
57 animals which have no eyelids .6 :30.
58 cheeks 58W :14.
59 nostrils .4 :20.
60 mouth, lips, chin, Jaw Bone .7 :35.
61 TEETH; VARIOUS KINDS OF TEETH; WHAT ANIMALS THEY ARE NOT ON BOTH SIDES: ANIMALS WITH HOLLOW TEETH 1.6 1:20.
62 TEETH OF SERPENTS; THEIR POISON. BIRD WITH NO TEETH 1.8 1:30.
63 WONDERFUL CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH TEETH 1.2 1.
64 HOW ESTIMATE IS FORMED OF AGE OF ANIMALS FROM THEIR TEETH 1.2 1.
65 TONGUE; ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO TONGUE. NOISE MADE BY FROGS. PALATE 2.4 2.
66 TONSILS; UVA; EPIGLOSSIS; ARTERY; GULLET .9 :45.
67 NECK; THROAT; DORSAL SPINE .8 :40.
68 THROAT; GULLET; STOMACH .7 :35.
69 HEART; BLOOD; VITAL SPIRIT 1.2 1.
70 ANIMALS WITH LARGEST & SMALLEST HEART, ANIMALS WITH 2 HEARTS 1.3 1:05.
71 WHEN CUSTOM WAS 1ST ADOPTED OF EXAMINING HEART IN INSPECTION OF ENTRAILS 1.1 :55.
72 LUNGS: WHAT ANIMALS HAVE LARGEST SMALLEST. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NOTHING BUT LUNGS INSIDE. CAUSES OF EXTRAORDINARY SWIFTNESS IN ANIMALS .8 :40.
73 LIVER: IN WHAT ANIMALS, & IN WHAT PART THERE ARE 2 LIVERS FOUND 1.2 1.
74 GALL; WHERE SITUATE, & WHAT ANIMALS IT IS DOUBLE. ANIMALS WITH NO GALL, & OTHERS IN WHICH IT IS NOT SITUATE IN LIVER 1 :50.
75 PROPERTIES OF GALL 1.2 1.
76 WHAT ANIMALS LIVER INCREASES & DECREASES WITH MOON. OBSERVATIONS OF ARUSPICES RELATIVE THERETO, & REMARKABLE PRODIGIES .5 :25.
77 DIAPHRAGM. NATURE OF LAUGHTER 1.2 1.
78 BELLY: ANIMALS WITH NO BELLY. ONLY ANIMALS THAT VOMIT .7 :35.
79 SMALL GUTS, FRONT INTESTINES, ANUS, COLON. CAUSES OF INSATIATE VORACITY OF CERTAIN ANIMALS 2 1:40.
80 OMENTUM: SPLEEN; ANIMALS WHICH ABE WITHOUT IT 1 :50.
81 KIDNEYS: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE 4 KIDNEYS. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NONE .7 :35.
82 BREAST: RIBS .4 :20.
83 BLADDER: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO BLADDER .6 :30.
84 WOMB: WOMB OF SOW: TEARS 1.4 1:10.
85 ANIMALS WHICH HAVE SUET: ANIMALS WHICH DO NOT GROW FAT .9 :45.
86 MARROW: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO MARROW .6 :30.
87 BONES AND FISH-BONES: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NEITHER. CARTILAGES .9 :45.
88 NERVE: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NONE 1.2 1.
89 ARTERIES; VEINS: ANIMALS WITHOUT ARTERIES OR VEINS. BLOOD & SWEAT .6 :30.
90 ANIMALS W/ BLOOD THAT COAGULATES FASTEST & WHICH DOES NOT COAGULATE. ANIMALS WITH THICKEST & THINNEST BLOOD: ANIMALS WITH NO BLOOD 1.3 1:05.
91 ANIMALS WHICH ARE WITHOUT BLOOD AT CERTAIN PERIODS OF YEAR .9 :45.
92 WHETHER BLOOD IS PRINCIPLE OF LIFE .6 :30.
93 HIDE OF ANIMALS .4 :20.
94 HAIR & COVERING OF SKIN 1.9 1:35.
95 PAPS: BIRDS W/ PAPS. REMARKABLE FACT'S CONNECTED WITH DUGS OF ANIMALS 2 1:40.
96 MILK: BIESTINGS. CHEESE; OF WHAT MILK CHEESE CANNOT BE MADE. RENNET; VARIOUS KINDS OF ALIMENT IN MILK 2.2 1:50.
97 VARIOUS KINDS OF CHEESE 1.3 1:05.
98 DIFFERENCES OF MEMBERS OF MAN FROM THOSE OF OTHER ANIMALS 80W 0.
99 FINGERS, ARMS 1 :50.
100 RESEMBLANCE OF APE TO MAN .5 :25.
101 NAILS .8 :40.
102 KNEES & HAMS .5 :25.
103 PARTS OF HUMAN BODY TO WHICH CERTAIN RELIGIOUS IDEAS ARE ATTACHED 1 :50.
104 VARICOSE VEINS 47W :14.
105 GAIT, FEET, LEGS 1.1 :55.
106 HOOFS .7 :35.
107 FEET OF BIRDS .9 :45.
108 ANIMAL FEET, THOSE W/ 2 FEET TO 100. DWARFS 1.3 1:05.
109 SEXUAL PARTS. HERMAPHRODITES .9 :45.
110 TESTES: 3 CLASSES OF EUNUCHS .7 :35.
111 TAILS OF ANIMALS .9 :45.
112 DIFFERENT VOICES OF ANIMALS 3.7 3:05.
113 SUPERFLUOUS LIMBS 58W :14.
114 SIGNS OF VITALITY & MORAL DISPOSITION OF MAN, FROM LIMBS 1.6 1:20.
115 RESPIRATION & NUTRIMENT 1.5 1:15.
116 ANIMALS IMMUNE TO POISON, & FLESH OF WHICH IS POISONOUS .8 :40.
117 REASONS FOR INDIGESTION. Rmds FOR CRUDITY .4 :20.
118 FROM WHAT CAUSES CORPULENCE ARISES; HOW IT MAY BE REDUCED .6 :30.
119 WHAT THINGS, BY MERELY TASTING OF THEM, ALLAY HUNGER & THIRST .9 :45.
12 History of Trees 63 70.1 58:25.
1 honourable place occupied by trees in system of nature 1.3 1:05.
2 early history of trees 1.9 1:35.
3 exotic trees, When & where plane-tree came from .8 :40.
4 Nature of Plane Tree 67W :16.
5 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH PLANE-TREE 2.4 2.
6 CHAMÆPLATANUS. 1ST TO CLIP GREEN SHRUBS .4 :20.
7 HOW CITRON IS PLANTED 1.3 1:05.
8 trees of India 1.3 1:05.
9 WHEN EBONY WAS FIRST SEEN AT ROME. VARIOUS KINDS OF EBONY .4 :20.
10 INDIAN THORN 76W :17.
11 INDIAN FIG 1.1 :55.
12 PALA: FRUIT CALLED ARIENA .6 :30.
13 Indian trees, names of which are unknown, Indian trees which bear flax .6 :30.
14 pepper-tree 2.4 2.
15 CARYOPHYLLON, LYCION, & CHIRONIAN PYXACANTHUS .9 :45.
16 macir 66W 0.
17 sugar .7 :35.
18 TREES OF ABIANA, GEDROSIA, AND HYRCANIA .8 :40.
19 TREES OF BACTRIANA, BDELLIUM, OR BROCHON, OTHERWISE MALACHA, OR MALDACON, SCORDASTUM. ADULTERATIONS USED IN ALL SPICES & AROMATICS; VARIOUS TESTS OF THEM & THEIR RESPECTIVE VALUES 1.4 1:10.
20 trees of Persis .7 :35.
21 trees of islands of Persian sea, cotton tree .7 :35.
22 CYNA TREE. TREES FROM WHICH FABRICS FOR CLOTHING ARE MADE IN EAST .5 :25.
23 COUNTRY WHERE TREES NEVER LOSE THEIR LEAVES .4 :20.
24 VARIOUS USEFUL PRODUCTS OF TREES 63W :16.
25 COSTUS .4 :20.
26 NARD. VARIETIES 2.7 2:15.
27 ASARUM, OR FOAL-FOOT .9 :45.
28 AMOMUM.—AMOMIS 1 :50.
29 CARDAMOMUM .5 :25.
30 country of frankincense 2 1:40.
31 trees that bear frankincense 1.5 1:15.
32 various kinds of frankincense 4.7 0.
33 Myrrh .5 :25.
34 Trees that produce myrrh .6 :30.
35 nature & various kinds of myrrh 2.4 2.
36 mastich .7 :35.
37 ladanum & stobolon 2.6 2:10.
38 enhaemon .6 :30.
39 TREE CALLED BRATUS .5 :25.
40 TREE CALLED STOBRUM 1.5 1:15.
41 why Arabia was called happy 1.3 1:05.
42 cinnamomum, xylocinnamum 4.4 3:40.
43 Cassia 2 1:40.
44 cancamum & tarum 37W :08.
45 serichatum & gabalium .3 :15.
46 myrobalanum 1.4 1:10.
47 phoenicobalanus .5 :25.
48 sweet-scented calamus 1.2 1.
49 hammoniacum .7 :35.
50 sphagnos .7 :35.
51 cypros .4 :20.
52 asphalatos .5 :25.
53 maron 38W :13.
54 balsamum 5.4 4:30.
55 storax 1.1 :55.
56 galbanum .4 :20.
57 panax .6 :30.
58 spondylium 61W :16.
59 malobathrum .6 :30.
60 omphacion 1 :50.
61 BRYON, ŒNANTHE, & MASSARIS .9 :45.
62 elate or sphate .4 :20.
63 cinnamon or Comacum .7 :35.
 
13 History of Exotic Trees & an account of Unguents 52 65.1 54:15.
1 at what period they were 1st introduced 1.3 1:05.
2 various kinds of unguents 6.3 5:15.
3 diaspa, magma, modes of testing unguents .6 :30.
4 excess to which luxury has run in unguents 2 1:40.
5 when unguents were 1st used by Romans .9 :45.
6 palm tree .8 :40.
7 nature of palm tree 3.8 3:10.
8 how palm tree is planted 1.5 1:15.
9 different varieties of palm trees & their characteristics 5.4 4:30.
10 trees of Syria: pistacia, cottana, damascena & myxa .5 :25.
11 CEDAR. TREES WHICH HAVE ON THEM FRUIT OF THREE YEARS AT ONCE 1 :50.
12 TEREBINTH .6 :30.
13 SUMACH-TREE .4 :20.
14 trees of Egypt, fig-tree of Alexandria 1.1 :55.
15 fig tree of Cyprus .6 :30.
16 carob tree .7 :35.
17 PERSIAN TREE. IN WHAT TREES FRUITS GERMINATE 1 BELOW OTHER .8 :40.
18 Cucus .6 :30.
19 Egyptian thorn 1.4 1:10.
20 nine kinds of gum, sarcocolla .8 :40.
21 papyrus, use of paper, when it was 1st invented 1.3 1:05.
22 mode of making paper 1.1 :55.
23 9 different kinds of paper 1.9 1:35.
24 mode of testing goodness of paper 1.3 1:05.
25 peculiar defects in paper .7 :35.
26 paste used in preparation of paper .9 :45.
27 books of Numa 2.4 2.
28 trees of Aethiopia .5 :25.
29 trees of Mount Atlas, citrus & tables made of wood there of 2.3 1:55.
30 points that are desirable or otherwise in these tables 3.1 2:35.
31 citron-tree 62W :16.
32 lotus 3 2:40.
33 trees of Cyrenaica, paliurus .5 :25.
34 9 varieties of Punic apple, balaustium .8 :40.
35 TREES OF ASIA & GREECE; EPIPACTIS, ERICA, CNIDIAN GRAIN OR THYMELÆA, PYROSACHNE, CNESTRON, OR CNEORON .8 :40.
36 tragion, tragacanthe .3 :15.
37 tragos or scorpio .8 :40.
38 euonymos .5 :25.
39 tree called eon 82W :20.
40 ANDRACHLE .4 :20.
41 COCCYGIA; APHARCE .4 :20.
42 FERULA .8 :40.
43 THAPSIA 1.7 1:25.
44 CAPPARIS OR CYNOSBATON, OTHERWISE OPHIOSTAPHYLE .4 :20.
45 SARIPHA 67W :17.
46 royal thorn .5 :25.
47 CYTISUS 2.3 1:55.
48 TREES & SHRUBS OF MEDITER- RANEAN. PHYCOS, PRASON, OR ZOSTER .9 :45.
49 sea bryon .7 :35.
50 plants of red sea .6 :30.
51 plants of Indian sea 1.1 :55.
52 PLANTS OF TROGLODYTIC SEA; HAIR OF ISIS: CHARITO-BLEPHARON 1.1 :55.
   
14 History of Fruit Trees 29 73.4 61:10.
1 Nature of Vine, its mode of fructification 3.8 3:10.
2 Nature of Vine, its mode of fructification 1 :50.
3 nature of grape & cultivation of vine 4.8 4.
4 varieties of vine 12.8 10:40.
5 Remarkable facts connected with culture of vine 4.2 0.
6 most ancient wines 2.7 2:15.
7 nature of wines .6 :30.
8 kinds of generous wines 6.4 5:20.
9 varieties of foreign wines 1.9 1:35.
10 7 kinds of salted wines 1.3 1:05.
11 varieties of sweet wines 3.1 2:35.
12 at what period generous wines were 1st commonly made in Italy .8 :40.
13 inspection of wine ordered by king Romulus .4 :20.
14 wines drunk by ancient Romans 2 1:40.
15 some remarkable facts connected with wine-lofts .7 :35.
16 Opimian wine .9 :45.
17 at what period 4 kinds of wine were 1st served at table 1.1 :55.
18 uses of wild vine .9 :45.
19 varieties of artificial wine 4.7 3:55.
20 hydromeli or melicraton .5 :25.
21 OXYMELI .9 :45.
22 kinds of wines with miraculous properties 1.3 1:05.
23 what wines it is not lawful to use in sacred rites .6 :30.
24 How must is usually prepared 1 :50.
25 pitch & resin 4.5 2:45.
26 vinegar-less of wine 78W :17.
27 wine vessels, wine cellars 2.5 2:05.
28 drunkenness 5.8 4:50.
29 liquors with strength of wine made from water & corn 1.8 1:30.
 
 
 
15 HISTORY OF FRUIT-TREES 40 71.8 59:50.
1 OLIVE: HOW LONG IT EXISTED ONLY IN GREECE. When 1st brought to ITALY, SPAIN, & AFRICA 1.1 :55.
2 nature of olive & of new olive oil 1.3 1:05.
3 olive oil: countries in which it is produced & its various qualities 3.6 3.
4 varieties of olives 3.2 2:40.
5 nature of olive oil .7 :35.
6 culture of olive: its mode of preservation, method of making olive oil 2.3 1:55.
7 VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL OILS. CICUS-TREE OR CROTON, OR SILI, OR SESAMUM 4.3 3:25.
8 amurca 1.2 1.
9 various kinds of fruit-trees & their natures, 4 varieties of pine nuts .9 :45.
10 QUINCE. FOUR KINDS OF CYDONIA, AND FOUR VARIETIES OF STRUTHEA .9 :45.
11 6 varieties of peach 1 :50.
12 kinds of plums 1.4 1:10.
13 peach 1.2 1.
14 DIFFERENT KINDS OF POMES. AT WHAT PERIOD FOREIGN FRUITS WERE 1ST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY, AND WHENCE 1 :50.
15 fruits that have been most recently introduced 2.3 1:55.
16 varieties of pear 2 1:40.
17 VARIOUS METHODS OF GRAFTING TREES. EXPIATIONS FOR LIGHTNING 1.2 1.
18 mode of keeping various fruits & grapes 5.6 4:40.
19 varieties of fig 3.2 2:40.
20 historical anecdotes connected with fig 2.8 2:20.
21 caprification 2.9 2:25.
22 3 varieties of medlar .6 :30.
23 4 varieties of sorb .6 :30.
24 9 varieties of nut 3.1 2:35.
25 varieties of chestnut 1.5 1:15.
26 Carob 81W :17.
27 fleshy fruits, mulberry .9 :45.
28 fruit of arbutus .7 :35.
29 relative natures of berry fruits 1.1 :55.
30 9 varieties of cherry 1.2 1.
31 Cornel, lentisk .6 :30.
32 different flavours of juices 1.4 1:10.
33 COLOUR & SMELL OF JUICES 1.2 1.
34 various natures of fruit 3.2 2:40.
35 myrtle .6 :30.
36 HISTORICAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH MYRTLE 1.4 1:10.
37 varieties of myrtle 1.7 1:25.
38 myrtle used at home in ovations .9 :45.
39 Laurel, varieties 2.9 2:25.
40 HISTORICAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH LAUREL 3.9 3:15.
     
16 HISTORY OF FOREST TREES 95 123.2 1:42:40.
1 COUNTRIES THAT HAVE NO TREES 2 1:40.
2 WONDERS CONNECTED WITH TREES IN NORTHERN REGIONS 1.2 1.
3 ACORN OAK. CIVIC CROWN 1.1 :55.
4 ORIGIN OF PRESENTATION OF CROWNS 1 :50.
5 PERSONS PRESENTED WITH A CROWN OF LEAVES 2 1:40.
6 VARIETIES OF ACORN 1.4 1:10.
7 BEECH .5 :25.
8 OTHER ACORNS-WOOD FOR FUEL 4.2 3:30.
9 GALL-NUT .8 :40.
10 OTHER PRODUCTIONS ON THESE TREES BESIDES ACORN 1.2 1.
11 CACHRYS .9 :45.
12 KERMES BERRY .4 :20.
13 AGARIC 1.3 1:05.
14 9 VARIETIES OF NUT .5 :25.
15 SHINGLES .8 :40.
16 PINE .6 :30.
17 PINASTER .5 :25.
18 PITCH-TREE: FIR 1.2 1.
19 LARCH: TORCH-TREE 3.1 2:35.
20 YEW .8 :40.
21 METHODS OF MAKING TAR—HOW CEDRIUM IS MADE .4 :20.
22 METHODS BY WHICH THICK PITCH IS PREPARED 1.6 1:20.
23 HOW RESIN CALLED ZOPISSA IS PREPARED 2.7 2:15.
24 TREES WOOD OF WHICH IS HIGHLY VALUED. 4 VARIETIES OF ASH 1.6 1:20.
25 2 VARIETIES OF LINDEN-TREE .7 :35.
26 VARIETIES OF MAPLE 1 :50.
27 BERUSCUM: MOLLUSCUM; STAPHYLODENDRON .9 :45.
28 3 VARIETIES OF BOX-TREE 1.1 :55.
29 4 VARIETIES OF ELM .7 :35.
30 NATURES OF VARIOUS TREES ACCORDING TO THEIR LOCALITIES: MOUNTAIN TREES, & TREES OF PLAIN 1.5 1:15.
31 TREES WHICH GROW ON A DRY SOIL: THOSE WHICH ARE FOUND IN WET LOCALITIES: THOSE WHICH ARE FOUND IN BOTH INDIFFERENTLY .8 :40.
32 DIVISION OF TREES INTO VARIOUS SPECIES .4 :20.
33 TREES WHICH DO NOT LOSE THEIR FOLIAGE. RHODODOENDRON. TREES WHICH DO NOT LOSE WHOLE OF THEIR FOLIAGE. PLACES IN WHICH THERE ARE NO TREES 1.3 1:05.
34 NATURE OF LEAVES WHICH WITHER AND FALL 1.5 1:15.
35 TREES WHICH HAVE LEAVES OF VARIOUS COLOURS; TREES WITH LEAVES OF VARIOUS SHAPES. THREE VARIETIES OF POPLAR .8 :40.
36 LEAVES WHICH TURN ROUND EVERY YEAR .8 :40.
37 CARE BESTOWED ON LEAVES OF PALM, & USES TO WHICH THEY ARE APPLIED .5 :25.
38 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH LEAVES 1.9 1:35.
39 NATURAL ORDER OF PRODUCTION OF PLANTS 1 :50.
40 TREES WHICH NEVER BLOSSOM. JUNIPER 1.1 :55.
41 FECUNDATION OF TREES. GERMINATION: APPEARANCE OF FRUIT 2.9 2:25.
42 IN WHAT ORDER TREES BLOSSOM 1 :50.
43 AT WHAT PERIOD EACH TREE BEARS FRUIT. CORNEL .9 :45.
44 TREES WHICH BEAR WHOLE YEAR. TREES WHICH HAVE ON THEM FRUIT OF 3 YEARS .7 :35.
45 TREES WHICH BEAR NO FRUIT: TREES LOOKED UPON AS ILL-OMENED .5 :25.
46 TREES WHICH LOSE THEIR FRUIT OR FLOWERS MOST READILY 1.2 1.
47 TREES WHICH ARE UNPRODUCTIVE IN CERTAIN PLACES .4 :20.
48 MODE IN WHICH TREES BEAR .4 :20.
49 TREES IN WHICH FRUIT APPEARS BEFORE LEAVES .6 :30.
50 Acanthyllis & other birds 1.6 1:20.
51 WHICH TREES BECOME OLD WITH GREATEST RAPIDITY, & WHICH MOST SLOWLY 1.2 1.
52 TREES WHICH BEAR VARIOUS PRODUCTS. CRATÆGUM .6 :30.
53 DIFFERENCES IN TREES IN RESPECT OF TRUNKS & BRANCHES 2 1:40.
54 BRANCHES OF TREES .6 :30.
55 BARK OF TREES .6 :30.
56 ROOTS OF TREES 1.8 1:30.
57 TREES WHICH HAVE GROWN SPONTANEOUSLY FROM GROUND 1.3 1:05.
58 HOW TREES GROW SPONTANEOUSLY—DIVERSITIES IN THEIR NATURE, SAME TREES NOT GROWING EVERYWHERE .6 :30.
59 PLANTS THAT WILL NOT GROW IN CERTAIN PLACES 1.9 1:35.
60 CYPRESS 2 1:40.
61 EARTH OFTEN BEARS PRODUCTIONS WHICH IT HAS NEVER BORNE BEFORE .5 :25.
62 IVY: VARIETIES 3.8 3:10.
63 SMILAX 1.1 :55.
64 WATER PLANTS: RUSH: VARIETIES OF REED 1.1 :55.
65 REEDS USED FOR ARROWS, & FOR PURPOSE OF WRITING 2.4 2.
66 FLUTE REEDS: TET REEDOF ORCHOMENTFS; REEDS USED FOR FOWLING & FISHING 4.3 3:25.
67 VINE-DRESSERS' REED .7 :35.
68 WILLOW: EIGHT VARIETIES OF IT 1 :50.
69 TREES IN ADDITION TO WILLOW, WHICH ARE OF USE IN MAKING WITHES 1.2 1.
70 RUSHES: CANDLE-RUSHES: RUSHES FOR THATCHING .7 :35.
71 ELDER: BRAMBLE .8 :40.
72 JUICES OF TREES 1.6 1:20.
73 VEINS & FIBRES OF TREES 2.3 1:55.
74 FELLING OF TREES 2.4 2.
75 OPINION OF CATO ON FELLING OF TIMBER .9 :45.
76 SIZE OF TREES: NATURE OF WOOD: SAPPINUS 6.3 5:15.
77 METHODS OF OBTAINING FIRE FROM WOOD 1.8 1:30.
78 TREES WHICH ARE PROOF AGAINST DECAY: TREES WHICH NEVER SPLIT .3 :15.
79 HISTORICAL FACTS CONNECTED WITH DURABILITY OF WOOD 3.6 3.
80 VARIETIES OF TEREDO 1.2 1.
81 WOODS USED IN BUILDING 1.1 :55.
82 CARPENTERS' WOODS .4 :20.
83 WOODS UNITED WITH GLUE 1.4 1:10.
84 VENEERING 2.4 2.
85 AGE OF TREES. TREE PLANTED BY 1ST SCIPIO AFRICANUS. TREE AT ROME 500 YEARS OLD .9 :45.
86 TREES AS OLD AS CITY .4 :20.
87 TREES IN SUBURBAN DISTRICTS OLDER THAN CITY .5 :25.
88 TREES PLANTED BY AGAMEMNON 1ST YEAR OF TROJAN WAR: OTHER TREES WHICH DATE FROM TIME THAT PLACE WAS CALLED ILIUM, ANTERIOR TO TROJAN WAR .6 :30.
89 TREES PLANTED AT ARGOS BY HERCULES: OTHERS PLANTED BY APOLLO. A TREE MORE ANCIENT THAN ATHENS ITSELF 1 :50.
90 TREES WHICH ARE MOST SHORT-LIVED .6 :30.
91 TREES THAT HAVE BEEN RENDERED FAMOUS BY REMARKABLE EVENTS .7 :35.
92 PLANTS THAT HAVE NO PECULIAR SPOT FOR THEIR GROWTH: OTHERS THAT GROW UPON TREES, & WILL NOT GROW IN GROUND. 9 VARIETIES OF THEM: CADYTAS, POLYPODION, PHAULIAS, HIPPOPHÆSTON .9 :45.
93 3 VARIETIES OF MISTLETOE. NATURE OF MISTLETOE & SIMILAR PLANTS 1.3 1:05.
94 METHOD OF MAKING BIRDLIME .6 :30.
95 HISTORICAL FACTS CONNECTED WITH MISTLETOE 1.7 1:25.
17 HISTORY OF CULTIVATED TREES 47 142.8 1:59.
1 TREES WHICH HAVE BEEN SOLD AT ENORMOUS PRICES 4.6 3:50.
2 INFLUENCE OF WEATHER UPON TREES: WHAT IS PROPER SITUATION FOR VINE 7.5 6:15.
3 WHAT SOILS ARE TO BE CONSIDERED BEST 9.3 0.
4 8 KINDS OF EARTH BOASTED OF BY GAULS & GREEKS 4.1 3:25.
5 EMPLOYMENT OF ASHES .7 :35.
6 MANURE 3.4 2:50.
7 CROPS WHICH TEND TO IMPROVE LAND: CROPS WHICH EXHAUST IT .5 :25.
8 PROPER MODE OF USING MANURE .8 :40.
9 MODES IN WHICH TREES BEAR .6 :30.
10 PLANTS WHICH ARE PROPAGATED BY SEED .7 :35.
11 TREES WHICH NEVER DEGENERATE 2.5 2:05.
12 PROPAGATION BY SUCKERS 1 :50.
13 PROPAGATION BY SLIPS AND CUTTINGS .8 :40.
14 SEED-PLOTS 3.5 2:55.
15 MODE OF PROPAGATING ELM 1.6 1:20.
16 HOLES FOR TRANSPLANTING 5.2 4:20.
17 INTERVALS TO BE LEFT BETWEEN TREES .7 :35.
18 NATURE OF SAD THROWN BY TREES 1.8 1:30.
19 DROPPINGS OF WATER FROM LEAVES 1.5 1:15.
20 TREES WHICH GROW BUT SLOWLY: THOSE WHICH GROW WITH RAPIDITY .6 :30.
21 TREES PROPAGATED FROM LAYERS 1.8 1:30.
22 GRAFTING: FIRST DISCOVERY OF IT .6 :30.
23 INOCULATION OR BUDDING .5 :25.
24 VARIOUS KINDS OF GRAFTING 7.2 0.
25 GRAFTING VINE 1.6 1:20.
26 GRAFTING BY SUTCHEONS 2.7 2:15.
27 PLANTS WHICH GROW FROM A BRANCH .8 :40.
28 TREES WHICH GROW FROM CUTTINGS; MODE OF PLANTING THEM .6 :30.
29 CULTIVATION OF OLIVE 1.2 1.
30 TRANSPLANTING OPERATIONS AS DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT VARIOUS SEASONS OF YEAR 6.3 5:15.
31 CLEANING & BARING ROOTS, & MOULDING THEM 1.1 :55.
32 WILLOW-BEDS 1.4 1:10.
33 REED-BEDS 1.2 1.
34 OTHER PLANTS THAT ARE CUT FOR POLES & STAKES 2.7 2:15.
35 CULTURE OF VINE & VARIOUS SHRUBS WHICH SUPPORT IT 35 0.
36 HOW GRAPES ARE PROTECTED FROM RAVAGES OF INSECTS .6 :30.
37 DISEASES OF TREES 11.9 0.
38 PRODIGIES CONNECTED WITH TREES 2.5 2:05.
39 TREATMENT OF DISEASES OF TREES 1.5 1:15.
40 METHODS OF IRRIGATION .7 :35.
41 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH IRRIGATION .5 :25.
42 INCISIONS MADE IN TREES .5 :25.
43 OTHER Rmds FOR DISEASES OF TREES 1.3 1:05.
44 CAPRIFICATION, & PARTICULARS CONNECTED WITH FIG .9 :45.
45 ERRORS THAT MAY BE COMMITTED IN PRUNING .6 :30.
46 PROPER MODE OF MANURING TREES .5 :25.
47 MEDICAMENTS FOR TREES 5.2 4:20.
   
18 HISTORY OF GRAIN 90 175.4 2:26:10.
1 TASTE OF ANCIENTS FOR AGRICULTURE 3.4 2:50.
2 WHEN 1ST WREATHS OF CORN WERE USED AT ROME 1.6 1:20.
3 JUGERUM OF LAND 3.2 2:40.
4 HOW OFTEN & ON WHAT OCCASIONS CORN HAS SOLD AT REMARKABLY LOW PRICE 3.1 2:35.
5 ILLUSTRIOUS MEN WHO HAVE WRITTEN UPON AGRICULTURE 1.7 1:25.
6 POINTS TO BE OBSERVED IN BUYING LAND 3.3 2:45.
7 PROPER ARRANGEMENTS FOR A FARM-HOUSE 3.9 3:15.
8 MAXIMS OF ANCIENTS ON AGRICULTURE 4.6 0.
9 DIFFERENT KINDS OF GRAIN 71W :17.
10 HISTORY OF VARIOUS KINDS OF GRAIN 6.3 5:15.
11 SPELT .5 :25.
12 WHEAT 4.3 3:25.
13 BARLEY: RICE .5 :25.
14 POLENTA 1.1 :55.
15 PTISAN .5 :25.
16 TRAGUM 20W :12.
17 AMYLUM .9 :45.
18 NATURE OF BARLEY 1.4 1:10.
19 ARINCA, & OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN THAT ARE GROWN IN EAST 1.7 1:25.
20 WINTER WHEAT. SIMILAGO, OR FINE FLOUR 3.9 3:15.
21 FRUITFULNESS OF AFRICA IN WHEAT .7 :35.
22 SESAME. ERYSIMUM, OR IRIO. HORMINUTM .5 :25.
23 MODE OF GRINDING CORN 1.8 1:30.
24 MILLET 68W :16.
25 PANIC .4 :20.
26 VARIOUS KINDS OF LEAVEN 1.6 1:20.
27 METHOD OF MAKING BREAD: ORIGIN OF ART 1.2 1.
28 WHEN BAKERS WERE 1ST INTRODUCED AT ROME .8 :40.
29 ALTCA 3.8 3:10.
30 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS: BEAN 2.8 2:20.
31 LENTILS. PEASE .6 :30.
32 SEVERAL KINDS OF CHICK-PEASE .7 :35.
33 KIDNEY-BEAN .6 :30.
34 RAPE 2.1 1:45.
35 TURNIP .8 :40.
36 LUPINE 2.4 2.
37 VETCH .7 :35.
38 FITCH .5 :25.
39 SILICIA .5 :25.
40 SECALE OR ASIA .4 :20.
41 FARRAGO: CRACCA .3 :15.
42 OCINUM: ERVILIA .6 :30.
43 LUCERNE 2.2 1:50.
44 DISEASES OF GRAIN: OAT 3.3 2:45.
45 BEST Rmds FOR DISEASES OF GRAIN 3.2 2:40.
46 CROPS THAT SHOULD BE SOWN IN DIFFERENT SOILS 1.7 1:25.
47 DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF CULTIVATION EMPLOYED BY VARIOUS NATIONS 1.9 1:35.
48 VARIOUS KINDS OF PLOUGHS 1.1 :55.
49 MODE OF PLOUGHING 4.6 0.
50 METHODS OF HARROWING, STUBBING, & HOEING, EMPLOYED FOR EACH DESCRIPTION OF GRAIN. USE OF HARROW 1.9 1:35.
51 EXTREME FERTILITY OF SOIL 1.4 1:10.
52 METHOD OF SOWING MORE THAN ONCE IN YEAR .8 :40.
53 MANURING OF LAND 1.5 1:15.
54 HOW TO ASCERTAIN QUALITY OF SEED 1.6 1:20.
55 WHAT QUANTITY OF EACH KIND OF GRAIN IS REQUISlTE FOR SOWING A JUGEBRUM 1.3 1:05.
56 PROPER TIMES FOR SOWING 3.3 2:45.
57 ARRANGEMENT OF STARS ACCORDING TO TERRESTRIAL DAYS AND NIGHTS 5.1 4:15.
58 RISING & SETTING OF STARS .8 :40.
59 EPOCHS OF SEASONS 1.7 1:25.
60 PROPER TIME FOR WINTER SOWING 2 1:40.
61 WHEN TO SOW LEGUMINOUS PLANTS & POPPY 1 :50.
62 WORK TO BE DONE IN COUNTRY IN EACH MONTH RESPECTIVELY 1.1 :55.
63 WORK TO BE DONE AT WINTER SOLSTICE .9 :45.
64 WORK TO BE DONE BETWEEN WINTER SOLSTICE & PREVALENCE OF WEST WINDS 1.1 :55.
65 WORK TO BE DONE BETWEEN PREVALENCE OF WEST WINDS & VERNAL EQUINOX 4.5 2:45.
66 WORK TO BE DONE AFTER VERNAL EQUINOX 2.8 2:20.
67 WORK TO BE DONE AFTER RISING OF VERGILIÆ: HAY-MAKING 5.9 4:55.
68 SUMMER SOLSTICE 7.1 5:55.
69 CAUSES OF STERILITY 6.8 5:40.
70 Rmds AGAINST THESE NOXIOUS INFLUENCES .8 :40.
71 WORK TO BE DONE AFTER SUMMER SOLSTICE .6 :30.
72 HARVEST 2.1 1:45.
73 METHODS OF STORING CORN 3.4 2:50.
74 VINTAGE, & WORKS OF AUTUMN 6.2 5:10.
75 REVOLUTIONS OF MOON 2.6 2:10.
76 THEORY OF WINDS 2.6 2:10.
77 LAYING OUT OF LANDS ACCORDING TO POINTS OF WIND 4.1 3:25.
78 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM SUN 2.9 2:25.
79 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM MOON 2.2 1:50.
80 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM STARS 1.3 1:05.
81 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM THUNDER .6 :30.
82 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM CLOUDS .8 :40.
83 WOODS UNITED WITH GLUE 27W :12.
84 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM MISTS .6 :30.
85 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM WATER .6 :30.
86 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM TEMPESTS THEMSELVES .9 :45.
87 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS, & BIRDS 1.4 1:10.
88 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM QUADRUPEDS .5 :25.
89 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 26W 0.
90 PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM FOOD .9 :45.
19 Nature & Cultivation of Flax & Account of various Garden Plants 62 93.6 78.
1 NATURE OF FLAX—MARVELLOUS FACTS RELATIVE THERETO 3.4 2:50.
2 HOW FLAX IS SOWN: 27 PRINCIPAL VARIETIES OF IT 4.6 0.
3 MODE OF PREPARING FLAX 1.7 1:25.
4 LINEN MADE OF ASBESTOS 1.6 1:20.
5 AT WHAT PERIOD LINEN WAS FIRST DYED .5 :25.
6 WHEN COLOURED AWNINGS 1ST EMPLOYED IN THEATRES 1.6 1:20.
7 NATURE OF SPARTUM 1.2 1.
8 MODE OF PREPARING SPARTUM 1.4 1:10.
9 WHEN SPARTUM 1ST EMPLOYED .4 :20.
10 BULB ERIOPHORUS .6 :30.
11 PLANTS WHICH SPRING UP & GROW WITHOUT A ROOT—PLANTS WHICH GROW, BUT CANNOT BE REPRODUCED FROM SEED 1.6 1:20.
12 MISY; ITON; AND GERANION 58W :16.
13 PARTICULARS CONNECTED WITH TRUFFLE .5 :25.
14 PEZICA 29W :12.
15 LASERPITIUM, LASER, & MASPETUM 3.6 3.
16 MAGYDARIS .6 :30.
17 MADDER .5 :25.
18 RADICULA .8 :40.
19 PLEASURES OF GARDEN 6.3 5:15.
20 LAYING OUT OF GARDEN GROUND .7 :35.
21 PLANTS OTHER THAN GRAIN & SHRUBS .3 :15.
22 HISTORY OF KINDS OF PLANTS WHICH GROW IN GARDENS— PROPER METHODS TO BE FOLLOWED IN SOWING THEM RESPECTIVELY 1.5 1:15.
23 VEGETABLES OF A CARTILAGINOUS NATURE—CUCUMBERS. PEPONES 2.6 2:10.
24 GOURDS 3.2 2:40.
25 RAPE. TURNIPS 1.3 1:05.
26 RADISHES 4.5 2:45.
27 PARSNIPS 1 :50.
28 SKIRRET 1.6 1:20.
29 ELECAMPANE 1 :50.
30 BULBS, SQUILLS, & ARUM 2.2 1:50.
31 ROOTS, FLOWERS, & LEAVES OF ALL THESE PLANTS. GARDEN PLANTS WHICH LOSE THEIR LEAVES 1.3 1:05.
32 VARIETIES OF ONION 3.1 2:35.
33 LEEK 1.6 1:20.
34 GARLIC 3 2:40.
35 NUMBER OF DAYS REQUIRED FOR RESPECTIVE PLANTS TO MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE ABOVE GROUND 1.2 1.
36 NATURE OF VARIOUS SEEDS 1.9 1:35.
37 PLANTS OF WHICH THERE IS BUT A SINGLE KIND PLANTS OF WHICH THERE ARE SEVERAL KINDS 1 :50.
38 NATURE & VARIETIES OF GARDEN PLANTS. LETTUCE; ITS DIFFERENT VARIETIES 2.4 2.
39 ENDIVE 1.4 1:10.
40 BEET: 4 VARIETIES OF IT 1.7 1:25.
41 CABBAGES; SEVERAL VARIETIES 4.7 0.
42 WILD & CULTIVATED ASPARAGUS 3 2:40.
43 THISTLES .9 :45.
44 OTHER PLANTS THAT ARE SOWN IN GARDEN: OCIMUM; ROCKET; & NASTURTIUM .8 :40.
45 RUE 1 :50.
46 PARSLEY 84W :17.
47 MINT 1.3 1:05.
48 OLUSATRUM .9 :45.
49 CARAWAY 69W :16.
50 LOVAGE .6 :30.
51 DITTANDER .4 :20.
52 GITH 36W :08.
53 POPPY 1.1 :55.
54 OTHER PLANTS WHICH REQUIRE TO BE SOWN AT AUTUMNAL EQUINOX .8 :40.
55 WILD THYME; SISYMBRIUM .3 :15.
56 4 KINDS OF FERULACEOUS PLANTS. HEMP 1.2 1.
57 MALADIES OF GARDEN PLANTS .9 :45.
58 PROPER Rmds FOR THESE MALADIES. HOW ANTS ARE BEST DESTROYED. BEST Rmds AGAINST CATER- PILLARS & FLIES 1.7 1:25.
59 WHAT PLANTS ARE BENEFITTED BY SALT WATER .5 :25.
60 PROPER METHOD OF WATERING GARDENS 1.4 1:10.
61 JUICES & FLAVOURS OF GARDEN HERBS .5 :25.
62 PIPERITIS, LIBANOTIS, & SMYRNIUM 2.2 1:50.
 
20 Remedies FROM GARDEN PLANTS 100 117.9 1:38:15.
1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 1.
2 WILD CUCUMBER; Rmds 1.2 1.
3 ELATERIUM; Rmds 1.7 1:25.
4 ANGUINE OR ERRATIC CUCUMBER: 5 Rmds .7 :35.
5 CULTIVATED CUCUMBER: 9 Rmds .5 :25.
6 PEPONES: Rmds 1 :50.
7 GOURD: Rmds. SOMPHUS: 1 Rmd 59W 0.
8 COLOCYNTHIS: Rmds 1.8 1:30.
9 RAPE; 9 Rmds .8 :40.
10 WILD RAPE: 1 Rmd 75W :18.
11 TURNIPS; THOSE KNOWN AS BUNION AND BUNIAS: 5 Rmds .7 :35.
12 WILD RADISH, OR ARMORACIA: 1 Rmd 63W 0.
13 CULTIVATED RADISH: Rmds 2.6 2:10.
14 PARSNIP: 5 Rmds. HIBISCUM, WILD MALLOW, OR PLISTOLOCHIA: ELEVEN Rmds .7 :35.
15 STAPHYLINOS, OR WILD PARSNIP: Rmds 1.4 1:10.
16 GINGIDION: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
17 SKIRRET: Rmds .6 :30.
18 SILE, OR HARTWORT: Rmds 1.1 :55.
19 ELECAMPANE: Rmds .4 :20.
20 ONIONS: Rmds 1.9 1:35.
21 CUTLEEK: Rmds 1.4 1:10.
22 BULBED LEEK: Rmds .8 :40.
23 GARLIC: 61Rmds 3.5 2:55.
24 LETTUCE: Rmds. GOAT- LETTUCE: 4 Rmds .5 :25.
25 CÆSAPON: 1 Rmd. ISATIS: 1 Rmd. WILD LETTUCE: 7 Rmds .7 :35.
26 HAWK-WEED: Rmds 3.7 3:05.
27 BEET: Rmds 1.2 1.
28 LIMONION, OR NEUROIDES: THREE Rmds .4 :20.
29 ENDIVE: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
30 CICHORIUM OR CHRESTON, OTHERWISE CALLED PANCRATION, OK AMBULA: Rmds .7 :35.
31 HEDYPNOÏS: FOUR Rmds .3 :15.
32 SERIS, 3 VARIETIES OF IT: 7 Rmds BORROWED FROM IT .8 :40.
33 CABBAGE: Rmds. RE- CIPES MENTIONED BY CATO 2.7 2:15.
34 PINIONS OF GREEKS RELATIVE THERETO 2.7 2:15.
35 CABBAGE-SPROUTS .8 :40.
36 WILD CABBAGE: Rmds 1.9 1:35.
37 LAPSANA: 1 Rmd 53W 0.
38 SEA-CABBAGE: 1 Rmd 34W :12.
39 SQUILL: Rmds 2.2 1:50.
40 BULBS: Rmds 2 1:40.
41 BULBINE; 1 Rmd. BULB EMETIC 71W :17.
42 GARDEN ASPARAGUS; Rmds .8 :40.
43 CORRUDA, LIBYCUM, OR ORMINUM .9 :45.
44 PARSLEY; Rmds 2 1:40.
45 APIASTRUM, OR MELISSOPHYLLUM 55W :13.
46 OLUSATRUM OR HIPPOSELINON: Rmds. OREOSELINON; 2 Rmds. HELIOSELINON; 1 Rmd .7 :35.
47 PETROSELINON; 1 Rmd. BUSELINON; 1 Rmd .4 :20.
48 OCIMUM; Rmds 2.3 1:55.
49 ROCKET: Rmds .8 :40.
50 NASTURTIUM: Rmds .7 :35.
51 RUE: Rmds 6.1 5:05.
52 WILD MINT: Rmds 1.2 1.
53 MINT: Rmds 2.2 1:50.
54 PENNYROYAL: Rmds 1.9 1:35.
55 WILD PENNYROYAL: Rmds 1.1 :55.
56 NEP: 9 Rmds .6 :30.
57 CUMMIN: Rmds. WILD CUMMIN: Rmds 2 1:40.
58 AMMI: Rmds 1 :50.
59 CAPPARIS OR CAPER: Rmds 1.2 1.
60 LIGUSTICUM, OR LOVAGE: 4 Rmds 51W :13.
61 CUNILA BUBULA: 5 Rmds .7 :35.
62 CUNILA GALLINACEA, OR ORIGANUM: 5 Rmds 78W 0.
63 CUNILAGO: 8 Rmds .5 :25.
64 SOFT CUNILA: 3 Rmds. LIBANOTIS: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
65 CULTIVATED CUNILA; 3 Rmds. MOUNTAIN CUNILA; 7 Rmds .6 :30.
66 PIPERITIS, OR SILIQUASTRUM: 5 Rmds .4 :20.
67 ORIGANUM, ONITIS, OR PRASION: 6 Rmds .4 :20.
68 TRAGORIGANUM: 9 Rmds 66W 0.
69 3 VARIETIES OF HERACLEOTIC ORIGANUM: Rmds 1.9 1:35.
70 DITTANDER: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
71 GITH, OR MELANTHION: Rmds 1.4 1:10.
72 ANISE: Rmds .8 :40.
73 WHERE BEST ANISE IS FOUND: VARIOUS Rmds DERIVED FROM THIS PLANT 3.5 2:55.
74 DILL: 9 Rmds .3 :15.
75 SACOPENIUM, OR SAGAPENON: Rmds .5 :25.
76 WHITE POPPY: 3 Rmds. BLACK POPPY: 8 Rmds. REMARKS ON SLEEP. OPIUM. REMARKS IN DISFAVOUR OF POTIONS KNOWN AS "ANODYNES, FEBRIFUGES, DIGESTIVES, & CŒLIACS." IN WHAT WAY JUICES OF THESE PLANTS ARE TO BE COLLECTED 3.4 2:50.
77 POPPY CALLED RHŒAS: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
78 WILD POPPY CALLED CERATITIS, GLAUCIUM, OR PARALIUM: 6 Rmds .8 :40.
79 WILD POPPY CALLED HERACLIUM, OR APHRON: 4 Rmds. DIACODION .9 :45.
80 POPPY CALLED TITHYMALON, OR PARALION: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
81 PORCILLACA OR PURSLAIN, OTHERWISE CALLED PEPLIS: Rmds 2.4 2.
82 CORIANDER: Rmds 1.2 1.
83 ORAGE: Rmds 1.1 :55.
84 MALLOW CALLED MALOPE: Rmds. MALLOW CALLED MALACHE: 1 Rmd. MALLOW CALLED ALTHÆA, OR PLISTOLOCHIA: Rmds 4 3:20.
85 WILD LAPATHUM OR OXALIS, OTHERWISE CALLED LAPATHUM CANTHERINUM, OR RUMEX: 1 Rmd. HYDROLAPATHUM: 2 Rmds. HIPPOLAPATHUM: 6 Rmds. OXYLAPATHUM: 4 Rmds 1.3 1:05.
86 CULTIVATED LAPATHUM: Rmds. BULAPATHUM: 1 Rmd .8 :40.
87 MUSTARD, 3 KINDS OF IT: Rmds 2.2 1:50.
88 ADACA: Rmds 48W 0.
89 MARRUBIUM OR PRASION, OTHERWISE LINOSTROPHON, PHILOPAIS, OR PHILOCHARES: Rmds 1.9 1:35.
90 WILD THYME: Rmds .9 :45.
91 SISYMBRIUM OR THYMBRÆUM: Rmds .9 :45.
92 LINSEED: Rmds 1.2 1.
93 BLITE: 6 Rmds .5 :25.
94 MEUM, & MEUM ATHAMANTICUM: 7 Rmds .7 :35.
95 FENNEL: Rmds .6 :30.
96 HIPPOMARATHRON, OR MYRSINEUM: 5 Rmds 1.8 1:30.
97 HEMP: 9 Rmds .5 :25.
98 FENNEL-GIANT: 8 Rmds 1 :50.
99 THISTLE OR SCOLYMOS: 6 Rmds .9 :45.
100 COMPOSITION OF THERIACA 1 :50.
21 FLOWERS. & THOSE USED FOR CHAPLETS MORE PARTICULARLY 109 94.1 1:18:25.
1 NATURE OF FLOWERS & GARLANDS .9 :45.
2 GARLANDS & CHAPLETS .4 :20.
3 WHO INVENTED ART OF MAKING GARLANDS: WHEN THEY 1ST RECEIVED NAME OF "COROLLÆ," & FOR WHAT REASON 1.1 :55.
4 WHO WAS 1ST TO GIVE CHAPLETS WITH LEAVES OF SILVER & GOLD. LEMNISCI: WHO WAS 1ST TO EMBOSS THEM .4 :20.
5 GREAT HONOUR IN WHICH CHAPLETS WERE HELD BY ANCIENTS .8 :40.
6 SEVERITY OF ANCIENTS IN REFERENCE TO CHAPLETS .8 :40.
7 CITIZEN DECKED WITH FLOWERS BY ROMAN PEOPLE .4 :20.
8 PLAITED CHAPLETS. NEEDLE-WORK CHAPLETS. NARD-LEAF CHAPLETS. SILKEN CHAPLETS .7 :35.
9 AUTHORS WHO HAVE WRITTEN ON FLOWERS. AN ANECDOTE RELATIVE TO QUEEN CLEOPATRA & CHAPLETS 1.5 1:15.
10 ROSE: VARIETIES OF IT 4.4 3:40.
11 LILY: 4 VARIETIES 1.6 1:20.
12 NARCISSUS: 3 VARIETIES .6 :30.
13 HOW SEED IS STAINED TO PRODUCE TINTED FLOWERS .5 :25.
14 HOW SEVERAL VARIETIES OF VIOLET ARE RESPECTIVELY PRODUCED, GROWN, & CULTIVATED. 3 DIFFERENT COLOURS OF VIOLET. 5 VARIETIES OF YELLOW VIOLET .7 :35.
15 CALTHA. SCOPA REGIA .4 :20.
16 BACCHAR. COMBRETUM. ASARUM .9 :45.
17 SAFFRON: IN WHAT PLACES IT GROWS BEST. WHAT FLOWERS WERE KNOWN AT TIME OF TROJAN WAR 2.1 1:45.
18 NATURE OF ODOURS 2.2 1:50.
19 IRIS 1.5 1:15.
20 SALIUNCA .5 :25.
21 POLIUM, OR TEUTHRION .5 :25.
22 FABRICS WHICH RIVAL COLOURS OF FLOWERS 1 :50.
23 AMARANTH .6 :30.
24 CYANOS: HOLOCHRYSOS .4 :20.
25 PETILIUM: BELLIO .6 :30.
26 CHRYSOCOME, OR CHRYSITIS 51W :13.
27 SHRUBS, BLOSSOMS OF WHICH ARE USED FOR CHAPLETS .5 :25.
28 SHRUBS, LEAVES OF WHICH ARE USED FOR CHAPLETS .5 :25.
29 MELOTHRON, SPIRÆA, & ORIGANUM. CNEORUM OR CASSIA; 2 VARIETIES OF IT. MELISSOPHYLLUM OR MELITTÆNA. MELILOTE, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS CAMPANIAN GARLAND .6 :30.
30 3 VARIETIES OF TREFOIL: MYOPHONUM .7 :35.
31 2 VARIETIES OF THYME. PLANTS PRODUCED FROM BLOSSOMS & NOT FROM SEED 1.4 1:10.
32 CONYZA .7 :35.
33 FLOWER OF JOVE. HEMEROCALLES. HELENIUM. PHLOX. PLANTS IN WHICH BRANCHES & ROOTS ARE ODORIFEROUS .7 :35.
34 ABROTONUM. ADONIUM: 2 VARIETIES OF IT. PLANTS WHICH REPRODUCE THEMSELVES. LEUCANTHEMUM .7 :35.
2 VARIETIES OF AMARACUS .5 :25.
36 NYCTEGRETON, CHENOMYCHE, OR NYCTALOPS .6 :30.
37 WHERE MELILOTE IS FOUND 65W :16.
38 SUCCESSION IN WHICH FLOWERS BLOSSOM: SPRING FLOWERS. VIOLET. CHAPLET ANEMONE. ŒNANTHE. MELANION. HELICHRYSOS. GLADIOLUS. HYACINTH 1.7 1:25.
39 SUMMER FLOWERS— LYCHNIS: TIPHYON. 2 VARIETIES OF POTHOS. 2 VARIETIES OF ORSI- NUM. VINCAPERIVINCA OR CHAMÆDAPHNE— PLANT WHICH IS AN EVER-GREEN 1.2 1.
40 DURATION OF LIFE IN VARIOUS KINDS OF FLOWERS .7 :35.
41 PLANTS WHICH SHOULD BE SOWN AMONG FLOWERS FOR BEES. CERINTHA .9 :45.
42 MALADIES OF BEES, & Rmds FOR THEM .4 :20.
43 FOOD OF BEES .6 :30.
44 POISONED HONEY, & Rmds TO BE EMPLOYED BY THOSE WHO HAVE EATEN OF IT 1.5 1:15.
45 MADDENING HONEY 1.6 1:20.
46 HONEY THAT FLIES WILL NOT TOUCH 73W 0.
47 BEEHIVES, & ATTENTION WHICH SHOULD BE PAID TO THEM 1.1 :55.
48 THAT BEES ARE SENSIBLE OF HUNGER .6 :30.
49 METHOD OF PREPARING WAX. BEST KINDS OF WAX. PUNIC WAX 2 1:40.
50 PLANTS WHICH GROW SPONTANEOUSLY: USE MADE OF THEM BY VARIOUS NATIONS, THEIR NATURE, & REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH THEM. STRAW- BERRY, TAMNUS, & BUTCHER'S BROOM. BATIS, 2 VARIETIES OF IT. MEADOW PARSNIP. HOP .7 :35.
51 COLOCASIA .6 :30.
52 CICHORIUM. ANTHALIUM OR ANTICELLIUM, OR ANTHYLLUM. ŒTUM. ARACHIDNA. ARACOS. CANDRYALA. HYPOCHŒRIS. CAUCALIS. ANTHRISCUM. SCANDIX. TRAGOPOGON. PAR- THENIUM OR LEUCANTHES, AMARACUS, PERDICIUM, OR MURALIS. TRYCHNUM OR STRYCHNUM, HALICACABUM, CALLIAS, DOR- YCNION, MANICON, PERITTON, NEURAS, MORIO, OR MOLY. CORCHORUS. APHACE. ACYNOPOS. EPIPETRON. PLANTS WHICH NEVER FLOWER. PLANTS WHICH ARE ALWAYS IN FLOWER 1.3 1:05.
53 4 VARIETIES OF CNECOS .7 :35.
54 PLANTS OF A PRICKLY NATURE: ERYNGE, GLYCYRRIZA, TRIBULUS, ANONIS, PHEOS OR STŒBE, & HIPPOPHAES .6 :30.
55 4 VARIETIES OF NETTLE. LAMIUM & SCORPIO 1.3 1:05.
56 CARDUUS, ACORNA, PHONOS, LEUCACANTHOS, CHALCEOS, CNECOS, POLYACANTHOS, ONOPYXOS, HELXINE, SCOLYMOS, CHAMÆLEON, TETRALIX, & ACANTHICE MASTICHE 1.4 1:10.
57 CACTOS; PIERNIX, PAPPUS, & ASCALIAS .5 :25.
58 TRIBULUS: ANONIS .8 :40.
59 PLANTS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THEIR STEMS: CORONOPUS, ANCHUSA, ANTHEMIS, PHYLLANTHES, CREPIS, & LOTUS .4 :20.
60 PLANTS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THEIR LEAVES. PLANTS WHICH NEVER LOSE THEIR LEAVES: PLANTS WHICH BLOSSOM A LITTLE AT A TIME: HELIOTROPIUM & ADIANTUM, Rmds DERIVED FROM WHICH WILL BE MENTIONED IN FOLLOWING BOOK .6 :30.
61 VARIOUS KINDS OF EARED PLANTS: STAN- YOPS; ALOPECUROS; STELEPHUROS, ORTYX, OR PLAN- TAGO; THRYALLIS .5 :25.
62 PERDICIUM. ORNITHOGALE 80W :17.
63 PLANTS WHICH ONLY MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE AT END OF A YEAR. PLANTS WHICH BEGIN TO BLOSSOM AT TOP. PLANTS WHICH BEGIN TO BLOSSOM AT LOWER PART .4 :20.
64 LAPPA, A PLANT WHICH PRODUCES WITHIN ITSELF. OPUNTIA, WHICH THROWS OUT A ROOT FROM LEAF .4 :20.
65 IASIONE. CHONDRYLLA. PICRIS, WHICH REMAINS IN FLOWER WHOLE YEAR THROUGH .3 :15.
66 PLANTS IN WHICH BLOSSOM MAKES ITS APPEARANCE BEFORE STEM. PLANTS IN WHICH STEM APPEARS BEFORE BLOSSOM. PLANTS WHICH BLOSSOM THREE TIMES IN YEAR .4 :20.
67 CYPIROS. THESION 66W :16.
68 ASPHODEL, OR ROYAL SPEAR. ANTHERICUS OR ALBUCUS 1.8 1:30.
69 6 VARIETIES OF RUSH: 4 Rmds DERIVED FROM CYPIROS 2.6 2:10.
70 CYPEROS: Rmds. CYPERIS. CYPIRA 1.3 1:05.
71 HOLOSCHŒNUS .4 :20.
72 Rmds DERIVED FROM SWEET-SCENTED RUSH, OR TEUCHITES .4 :20.
73 Rmds DERIVED FROM FLOWERS BEFORE MENTIONED: Rmds DERIVED FROM ROSE 2.7 2:15.
74 Rmds DERIVED FROM LILY 1 :50.
75 Rmds DERIVED FROM NARCISSUS .9 :45.
76 Rmds DERIVED FROM VIOLET 1 :50.
77 Rmds DERIVED FROM BACCHAR. 1 Rmd DERIVED FROM COMBRETUM .7 :35.
78 8 Rmds DERIVED FROM ASARUM .4 :20.
79 8 Rmds DERIVED FROM GALLIC NARD .5 :25.
80 4 Rmds DERIVED FROM PLANT CALLED "PHU." 59W :16.
81 Rmds DERIVED FROM SAFFRON .7 :35.
82 SYRIAN CROCOMAGNA: 2 Rmds 77W :17.
83 Rmds DERIVED FROM IRIS: 2 Rmds DERIVED FROM SALIUNCA 2.1 1:45.
84 Rmds DERIVED FROM POLIUM 1.3 1:05.
85 3 Rmds DERIVED FROM HOLOCHRYSOS.
6 Rmds DERIVED FROM CHRYSOCOME .5 :25.
86 Rmds DERIVED FROM MELISSOPHYLLUM .8 :40.
87 Rmds DERIVED FROM MELILOTE .6 :30.
88 4 Rmds DERIVED FROM TREFOIL 1.1 :55.
89 Rmds DERIVED FROM THYME 1.6 1:20.
90 4 Rmds DERIVED FROM HEMEROCALLES 57W :16.
91 5 Rmds DERIVED FROM HELENIUM .7 :35.
92 Rmds DERIVED FROM ABROTONUM 1.2 1.
93 1 Rmd DERIVED FROM LEUCANTHEMUM. 9 Rmds DERIVED FROM AMARACUS .7 :35.
94 Rmds DERIVED FROM ANEMONE OR PHRENION 1.8 1:30.
95 6 Rmds DERIVED FROM ŒNANTHE 79W :20.
96 Rmds DERIVED FROM HELICHRYSOS .7 :35.
97 8 Rmds DERIVED FROM HYACINTH .4 :20.
98 7 Rmds DERIVED FROM LYCHNIS .5 :25.
99 4 Rmds DERIVED FROM VINCAPERVINCA .3 :15.
100 3 Rmds DERIVED FROM BUTCHER'S BROOM .4 :20.
101 2 Rmds DERIVED FROM BATIS 79W :20.
102 2 Rmds DERIVED FROM COLOCASIA 26W :12.
103 6 Rmds DERIVED FROM ANTHYLLIUM OR ANTHYLLUM .7 :35.
104 8 Rmds DERIVED FROM PARTHENIUM, LEUCANTHES, OR AMARACUS .7 :35.
105 8 Rmds DERIVED FROM STRYCHNUM OR STRYCHNUM, HALICACABUM, CALLIAS, DORCYNION, MANICON, NEURAS, MORIO, OR MOLY 2.7 2:15.
106 6 MEDICINES DERIVED FROM CORCHORUS .4 :20.
107 3 Rmds DERIVED FROM CNECOS 82W :20.
108 1 Rmd DERIVED FROM PESOLUTA 53W :16.
109 EXPLANATION OF GREEK TERMS RELATIVE TO WEIGHTS & MEASURES 1 :50.
22 PROPERTIES OF PLANTS & FRUITS 82 81.5 1:07:55.
1 PROPERTIES OF PLANTS .6 :30.
2 PLANTS USED BY NATIONS FOR ADORNMENT OF PERSON .6 :30.
3 EMPLOYMENT OF PLANTS FOR DYEING. EXPLANATION OF TERMS SAGMEN, VERBENA, & CLARIGATIO 1.8 1:30.
4 GRASS GROWN: HOW RARELY IT HAS BEEN AWARDED 1.5 1:15.
5 ONLY PERSONS THAT HAVE BEEN PRESENTED WITH THIS CROWN 1.3 1:05.
6 ONLY CENTURION THAT HAS BEEN THUS HONOURED 1.6 1:20.
7 Rmds DERIVED FROM OTHER CHAPLET PLANTS 2.2 1:50.
8 ERYNGE OR ERYNGIUM .9 :45.
9 ERYNGIUM, CALLED CENTUM CAPITA: Rmds 1.3 1:05.
10 ACANOS; 1 Rmd 46W :11.
11 GLYCYRRHIZA OR ADIPSOS: Rmds 1.6 1:20.
12 2 VARIETIES OF TRIBULUS; Rmds .7 :35.
13 STŒBE OR PHEOS 52W :13.
14 2 VARIETIES OF HIPPOPHAES: 2 Rmds 1 :50.
15 NETTLE: Rmds 2.9 2:25.
16 LAMIUM: 7 Rmds .8 :40.
17 SCORPIO, 2 KINDS OF IT: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
18 LEUCACANTHA, PHYLLOS, ISCHIAS, OR POLYGONATOS: 4 Rmds 71W :17.
19 HELXINE: Rmds .9 :45.
20 PERDICIUM, PARTHENIUM, URCEOLARIS, OR ASTERCUM: Rmds .9 :45.
21 CHASMÆLEON, IXIAS, ULOPRONON, OR CYNOZOLON; 2 VARIEIES OF IT: Rmds 1.9 1:35.
22 CORONOPUS 36W :08.
23 ANCHUSA: Rmds .8 :40.
24 PSEUDOANCHUSA, ECHIS, OR DORIS: 3 Rmds .8 :40.
25 ONOCHILON, ARCHEBION, ONOCHELIS, RHEXIA, OR ENCHRYSA: Rmds 1 :50.
26 ANTHEMIS, LEUCANTHEMIS, LEUCANTHEMUM, CHAMÆXMELUM, OR MELANTHIUM; 3 VARIETIES OF IT: Rmds 1.1 :55.
27 LOTUS PLANT: 4 Rmds 70W 0.
28 LOTOMETRA: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
29 HELIOTROPIUM, HELIOSCOPIUM, OR VERRUCARIA: Rmds. HELIOTROPIUM, TRICOCCUM, OR SCORPIURON: Rmds 2.7 2:15.
30 ADIANTUM, CALLITRICHOS, TRICHOMANES, POLYTRICHOS, OR SAXIFRAGUM; 2 VARIETIES OF IT: Rmds 2.4 2.
31 PICRIS; 1 Rmd. THESION; 1 Rmd 60W :13.
32 ASPHODEL; Rmds 3.2 2:40.
33 HALIMON: Rmds 1.5 1:15.
34 ACANTHUS, PÆDEROS, OR MELAMPHYLLOS: 5 Rmds .5 :25.
35 BUPLEURON: 5 Rmds .5 :25.
36 BUPRESTIS: 1 Rmd .5 :25.
37 ELAPHOBOSCON: 9 Rmds .7 :35.
38 SCANDIX: 9 Rmds. ANTHRISCUM: 2 Rmds .6 :30.
39 IASIONE; 4 Rmds .4 :20.
40 CAUCALIS: Rmds .6 :30.
41 SIUM: Rmds .7 :35.
42 SILLYBUM 54W :16.
43 SCOLYMOS OR LIMONIA: 5 Rmds .9 :45.
44 SONCHOS; 2 VARIETIES: Rmds 1.5 1:15.
45 CONDRION OR CHONDRYLLA: SIX Rmds .8 :40.
46 MUSHROOMS: PECULIARITIES OF THEIR GROWTH 2.2 1:50.
47 FUNGI; SIGNS BY WHICH VENOMOUS KINDS MAY BE RECOGNIZED: 9 Rmds 2.1 1:45.
48 SULPHUR: 7 Rmds .8 :40.
49 LASER: Rmds 3.2 2:40.
50 PROPOLIS: 5 Rmds 1.6 1:20.
51 VARIOUS INFLUENCES OF DIFFERENT ALIMENTS UPON DISPOSITION 1.3 1:05.
52 HYDROMEL: Rmds .6 :30.
53 HONIED WINE: 6 Rmds .8 :40.
54 MELITITES: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
55 WAX: 8 Rmds .5 :25.
56 REMARKS IN DISPARAGEMENT OF MEDICINAL COMPOSITIONS 1.4 1:10.
57 Rmds DERIVED FROM GRAIN. SILIGO: 1 Rmd. WHEAT: 1 Rmd. CHAFF: 2 Rmds. SPELT: 1 Rmd. BRAN: 1 Rmd. OLYRA, OR ARINCA: 2 Rmds 1.6 1:20.
58 VARIOUS KINDS OF MEAL: Rmds 1.7 1:25.
59 POLENTA: 8 Rmds .4 :20.
60 FLOUR: 5 Rmds. PULS: 1 Rmd. MEAL USED FOR PASTING PAPYRUS: 1 Rmd .5 :25.
61 ALICA: 6 Rmds .9 :45.
62 MILLET: 6 Rmds .5 :25.
63 PANIC: 4 Rmds .4 :20.
64 SESAME: 7 Rmds. SESAMOIDES: 3 Rmds. ANTICYRICUM: 3 Rmds 1.1 :55.
65 BARLEY: 9 Rmds. MOUSE-BARLEY, BY GREEKS CALLED PHŒNICE: 1 Rmd .7 :35.
66 PTISAN: 4 Rmds .8 :40.
67 AMYLUM: 8 Rmds. OATS: 1 Rmd .5 :25.
68 BREAD: Rmds 1.1 :55.
69 BEANS: Rmds .6 :30.
70 LENTILS: Rmds 1.8 1:30.
71 ELELISPHACOS, SPHACOS, OR SALVIA: Rmds .9 :45.
72 CHICKPEA & CHICHELING VETCH: Rmds 1.4 1:10.
73 FITCH: Rmds 1.2 1.
74 LUPINES: Rmds 1.7 1:25.
75 IRIO, OR ERYSIMUM, BY GAULS CALLED VELA: Rmds .8 :40.
76 HORMINUM: 6 Rmds .6 :30.
77 DARNEL: 5 Rmds .6 :30.
78 PLANT MILIARIA: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
79 BROMOS: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
80 OROBANCHE, OR CYNOMORION: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
81 ELELISPHACOS, SPHACOS, OR SALVIA: Rmds .9 :45.
82 CHICKPEA & CHICHELING VETCH: Rmds 1.4 1:10.
81 Rmds FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY INSECTS WHICH BREED AMONG LEGUMINOUS PLANTS .3 :15.
82 USE MADE OF YEAST OF ZYTHUM .5 :25.
23 Remedies FROM CULTIVATED TREES 83 80.2 1:06:50.
1 INTRODUCTION .8 :40.
2 VINE .9 :45.
3 LEAVES & SHOOTS OF VINE: 7 Rmds 1.8 1:30.
4 OMPHACIUM EXTRACTED FROM VINE: Rmds .5 :25.
5 ŒNANTHE: Rmds 1.1 :55.
6 GRAPES, FRESH GATHERED .6 :30.
7 VARIOUS KINDS OF PRESERVED GRAPES: Rmds .9 :45.
8 CUTTINGS OF VINE: 1 Rmd 29W :12.
9 GRAPE-STONES: 6 Rmds .3 :15.
10 GRAPE-HUSKS: 8 Rmds 55W :13.
11 GRAPES OF THERIACA: 4 Rmds 66W :16.
12 RAISINS, OR ASTAPHIS: Rmds .8 :40.
13 ASTAPHISAGRIA, OTHERWISE CALLED STAPHIS OR TAMINIA: Rmds 1.2 1.
14 LABRUSCA, OR WILD VINE: Rmds .8 :40.
15 SALICASTRUM: Rmds 65W :16.
16 WHITE VINE, OTHERWISE CALLED AMPELOLEUCE, STAPHYLE, MELOTHRON, PSILOTRUM, ARCHEZOSTIS, CEDROSTIS, OR MADON: Rmds 2.4 2.
17 BLACK VINE, OTHERWISE CALLED BRYONA, CHIRONIA, GYNÆCANTHE, OR APRONIA: Rmds .9 :45.
18 MUST: Rmds 1 :50.
19 PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO WINE 1 :50.
20 SURRENTINE WINES: 3 Rmds. ALBAN WINES: 2 Rmds. FALERNIAN WINES: 6 Rmds 1.7 1:25.
21 SETINE WINES; 1 OBSERVATION UPON THEM. STATAN WINES; 1 OBSERVATION UPON THEM. SIGNIAN WINES; 1 Rmd .3 :15.
22 OTHER WINES: Rmds 2.5 2:05.
23 OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO WINE 1.7 1:25.
24 IN WHAT MALADIES WINE SHOULD BE ADMINISTERED; HOW IT SHOULD BE ADMINISTERED, & AT WHAT TIMES 3.3 2:45.
25 OBSERVATIONS WITH REFERENCE TO WINE 1.1 :55.
26 ARTIFICIAL WINES 1.1 :55.
27 VINEGAR: Rmds 2.9 2:25.
28 SQUILL VINEGAR: Rmds .7 :35.
29 OXYMELI: 7 Rmds .7 :35.
30 SAPA: 7 Rmds .8 :40.
31 LEES OF WINE: Rmds 1.2 1.
32 LEES OF VINEGAR: Rmds .8 :40.
33 LEES OF SAPA: 4 Rmds 70W 0.
34 LEAVES OF OLIVE: Rmds .8 :40.
35 BLOSSOM OF OLIVE: 4 Rmds .9 :45.
36 WHITE OLIVES: 4 Rmds. BLACK OLIVES: 3 Rmds 2.5 2:05.
37 AMURCA OF OLIVES: Rmds 1.2 1.
38 LEAVES OF WILD OLIVE: Rmds 1.2 1.
39 OMPHACIUM: 3 Rmds .6 :30.
40 OIL OF ŒNANTHE: Rmds 1.3 1:05.
41 CASTOR OIL: Rmds .8 :40.
42 OIL OF ALMONDS: Rmds .5 :25.
43 OIL OF LAUREL: 9 Rmds 54W :16.
44 OIL OF MYRTLE: Rmds .4 :20.
45 OIL OF CHAMÆMYRSINE OR OXYMYRSINE; OIL OF CYPRESS; OIL OF CITRUS; OIL OF WALNUTS; OIL OF CNIDIUM: OIL OF MASTICH; OIL OF BALANUS; VARIOUS Rmds .9 :45.
46 CYPRUS, & OIL EXTRACTED FROM IT; Rmds. GLEUCINUM: 1 Rmd .7 :35.
47 OIL OF BALSAMUM: FIFTEEN Rmds .6 :30.
48 MALOBATHRUM: 5 Rmds .4 :20.
49 OIL OF HENBANE: 2 Rmds. OIL OF LUPINES: 1 Rmd. OIL OF NARCISSUS: 1 Rmd. OIL OF RADISHES: 5 Rmds. OIL OF SESAME: 3 Rmds. OIL OF LILIES: 3 Rmds. OIL OF SELGA: 1 Rmd. OIL OF IGUVIUM: 1 Rmd .9 :45.
50 ELÆOMELI: 2 Rmds. OIL OF PITCH: 2 Rmds .5 :25.
51 PALM: 9 Rmds .7 :35.
52 PALM WHICH PRODUCES MYROBALANUM: 3 Rmds 52W :13.
53 PALM CALLED ELATE: SIXTEEN Rmds .6 :30.
54 Rmds DERIVED FROM BLOSSOMS, LEAVES, FRUIT, BRANCHES, BARK, JUICES, WOOD, ROOTS, & ASHES OF VARIOUS KINDS OF TREES. 6 OBSERVATIONS UPON APPLES. OBSERVATIONS UPON QUINCES. 1 OBSERVATION UPON STRUTHEA 1.9 1:35.
55 SWEET APPLES CALLED MELIMELA: 6 OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM. SOUR APPLES: 4 OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM .3 :15.
56 CITRONS: 5 OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM 83W :17.
57 PUNIC APPLES OR POMEGRANATES: Rmds 1.2 1.
58 COMPOSITION CALLED STOMATICE: Rmds 1.1 :55.
59 CYTINUS: 8 Rmds .8 :40.
60 BALAUSTIUM: Rmds 1 :50.
61 WILD POMEGRANATE 68W :17.
62 PEARS: OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM .8 :40.
63 FIGS: 1OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM 4.2 3:30.
64 WILD FIG: OBSERVATIONS UPON IT 2.3 1:55.
65 HERB ERINEON: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
66 PLUMS: 4 OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM 66W 0.
67 PEACHES: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
68 WILD PLUMS: 2 Rmds 48W :14.
69 LICHEN ON PLUM-TREES: 2 Rmds 39W :13.
70 MULBERRIES: Rmds 1.2 1.
71 MEDICAMENT CALLED STOMATICE, ARTERIACE, OR PANCHRESTOS. 4 Rmds 2.4 2.
72 CHERRIES: 5 OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM 71W :17.
73 MEDLARS: 2 Rmds. SORBS: 2 Rmds 60W :13.
74 PINE-NUTS: Rmds .7 :35.
75 ALMONDS: Rmds 1.2 1.
76 GREEK NUTS: 1 Rmd 47W :14.
77 WALNUTS: Rmds. MITHRIDATIC ANTIDOTE 1.5 1:15.
78 8HAZEL-NUTS:
3 OBSERVATIONS PISTACHIO-NUTS: 8 OBSERVATIONS CHESNUTS: 5 OBSERVATIONS .5 :25.
79 CAROBS: 5 OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM. CORNEL; 1 Rmd. FRUIT OF ARBUTUS .5 :25.
80 LAUREL; OBSERVATIONS UPON IT 3.2 2:40.
81 MYRTLE; OBSERVATIONS UPON IT 2.1 1:45.
82 MYRTIDANUM: Rmds .5 :25.
83 WILD MYRTLE, OTHERWISE CALLED OXYMYRSINE, OR CHAMÆMYRSINE, & RUSCUS: 6 Rmds 1.2 1.
24 Remedies DERIVED FROM FOREST TREES 120 104.2 1:26:50.
1 ANTIPATHIES & SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST AMONG TREES & PLANTS 3 2:40.
2 LOTUS OF ITALY: 6 Rmds .6 :30.
3 ACORNS: REMEDTES .6 :30.
4 TIE KERMES-BERRY OF HOLM-OAK: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
5 ALL-NUTS: Rmds .8 :40.
6 MISTLETOE: Rmds 1.1 :55.
7 EXCRESCENCES WHICH GROW ON ROBUR: 1 Rmd. CHRRUS: 8 Rmds .4 :20.
8 CORK TREE: 2 Rmds 43W :16.
9 BEECUH: 4 Rmds 39W :15.
10 CYPRESS: Rmds 1.1 :55.
11 DRONES .9 :45.
12 CEDRIDES: Rmds .3 :15.
13 GALBANUM: Rmds 1.1 :55.
14 KINDS OF HONEY PECULIAR TO VARIOUS PLACES 2.3 1:55.
15 STORAX: Rmds .6 :30.
16 SPONDYLIUM: Rmds .8 :40.
17 MODE OF GOVERNMENT OF BEES 1.6 1:20.
18 TEREBINTH: 6 Rmds 53W :16.
19 PITCH-TREE & LARCH: 8 Rmds .7 :35.
20 DISEASES OF BEES 1 :50.
21 PITYUSA: 6 Rmds .5 :25.
22 RESINS: Rmds 2.4 2.
23 METHODS OF RENEWING SWARM .4 :20.
24 PISSELÆON & PALIMPISSA: Rmds .4 :20.
25 PISSASPHALTOS: 2 Rmds 68W 0.
26 LARVÆ OF SILK-WORM-WHO 1ST INVENTED SILK CLOTHS .6 :30.
27 TORCH-TREE: 1 Rmd 22W :12.
28 LENTISK: Rmds 1.3 1:05.
29 GENERATION OF SPIDERS .6 :30.
30 ASH: 5 Rmds .6 :30.
31 MAPLE: 1 Rmd 26W 0.
32 GRASSHOPPER: THAT IT HAS NEITHER MOUTH NOR OUTLET FOR FOOD 2.2 1:50.
33 ELM: Rmds .9 :45.
34 LINDEN-TREE: 5 Rmds 76W :17.
35 LOCUSTS 3.5 2:55.
36 JUNIPER: Rmds .8 :40.
37 WILLOW: Rmds. WILLOW OF AMLERIA: 1 Rmd 1.2 1.
38 ANIMALS WHICH BREED IN WOOD 68W 0.
39 ERICA; 1 Rmd 43W :15.
40 BROOM; 5 Rmds 1 :50.
41 MOTHS, CANTHARIDES, GNATS–AN INSECT THAT BREEDS IN SNOW .9 :45.
42 BBYA: Rmds 1.6 1:20.
43 BLOOD-RED SHRUB: 1 Rmd 37W :08.
44 NATURE & CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL ANIMALS CONSIDERED LIMB BY LIMB. THOSE WHICH HAVE TUFTS & CRESTS 1.2 1.
45 PRIVATE: 8 Rmds .4 :20.
46 ALDER: 1 KEMEDY 20W :12.
47 HAIR 1 :50.
48 CISTHOS: 5 Rmds .6 :30.
49 CISSOS ERYTIRANOS: 2 Rmds. CHAMÆCISSOS:
2 REMIEDIES. SMILAX: 3 Rmds. CLEMATIS: Rmds 1.3 1:05.
50 EARS. ANIMALS WHICH HEAR WITHOUT EARS OR APERTURES 1.2 1.
51 PAPYRUS & PAPER MADE FROM IT: 3 Rmds .3 :15.
52 EBONY: 5 Rmds .5 :25.
53 DIVERSITY OF COLOUR OF EYES .4 :20.
54 RHUS OR SUMACH TREE; 2 VARIETIES: 8 Rmds. STOMATICE .7 :35.
55 RHUS ERYTHROS: 9 Rmds .4 :20.
56 HAIR OF EYE-LIDS: WHAT ANIMALS ARE WITHOUT THEM. ANIMALS WHICH CAN SEE ON 1 SIDE ONLY .9 :45.
57 ALYSSON: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
58 RADICULT OR STRUTHION: Rmds. APOCYNUMI: 2 OBSERVATIONS UPON IT 1 :50.
59 NOSTRILS .4 :20.
60 SEED CALLED CACHRYS 63W :16.
61 HERB SAVIN: 7 Rmds .6 :30.
62 TEETH OF SERPENTS; THEIR POISON. A BIRD WHICH HAS TEETH 1.8 1:30.
63 SAMOLUS: 2 Rmds 77W :17.
64 GUM: Rmds .7 :35.
65 TONGUE; ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO TONGUE. NOISE MADE BY FROGS. PALATE 2.4 2.
66 WHITE THORN: 2 Rmds. ACANTHION; 1 Rmd .4 :20.
67 GUM ACACIA: Rmds 1.4 1:10.
68 THROAT; GULLET; STOMACH .7 :35.
69 ERYSISCEPTRUM, ADIPSATHEON, OR DIAXYLON: 8 Rmds .7 :35.
70 THORN CALLED APPENDIX: 2 Rmds. PYRACANTHA: 1 Rmd 71W :17.
71 WHEN CUSTOM WAS 1ST ADOPTED OF EXAMINING HEART IN INSPECTION OF ENTRAILS 1.1 :55.
72 AGRIFOLIA. AQUIFOLIA: 1 Rmd. YEW: 1 PROPERTY BELONGING TO IT .6 :30.
73 BRAMBLE: Rmds 1.8 1:30.
74 GALL; WHERE SITUATE, & IN WHAT ANIMALS IT IS DOUBLE. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO GALL, & OTHERS IN WHICH IT IS NOT SITUATE IN LIVER 1 :50.
75 IDÆAN BRAMBLE .4 :20.
76 RHAMNOS; 2 VARIETIES OF IT: 5 Rmds .6 :30.
77 LYCIIUM: Rmds 1.2 1.
78 SARCOCOLLA: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
79 SMALL GUTS, FRONT INTESTINES, ANUS, COLON. CAUSES OF INSATIATE VORACITY OF CERTAIN ANIMALS 2 1:40.
80 TRIXAGO, CHAMÆDRYS, CHAMÆDROPS, OR TECRIA: Rmds 1.1 :55.
81 CHAMÆDAPHNE: 5 Rmds .4 :20.
82 BREAST: RIBS .4 :20.
83 CHAMÆSYCE: 8 Rmds .4 :20.
84 CHAMÆCISSOS: 1 Rmd 69W :17.
85 ANIMALS WHICH HAVE SUET: ANIMALS WHICH DO NOT GROW FAT .9 :45.
86 CHAMÆPEUCE: 5 Rmds. CHAMCYPARISSOS: 2 Rmds. AMPELOPRASON; 6 RE- MEDIES. STACHYS: 1 Rmd .6 :30.
87 CLINOPODION, CLEONICION, ZOPYRON, OR OCIMOÏDES: 3 Rmds .3 :15.
88 NERVE: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NONE 1.2 1.
89 CLEMATIS ECHITES, OR LAIINE .8 :40.
90 EGYPTIAN CLEMATIS, DAPHNODES, OR POLYGONOÏDES: 2 Rmds 56W :16.
91 ANIMALS WHICH ARE WITHOUT BLOOD AT CERTAIN PERIODS OF YEAR .9 :45.
92 AON: Rmds 2.4 2.
93 DRACUNCLUS; 2 Rmds 1.1 :55.
94 HAIR & COVERING OF SKIN 1.9 1:35.
95 MILLEFOIJUM OR MYRIOPHYLLON; 7 Rmds .5 :25.
96 PSEUDOBUNION: 4 Rmds 54W :16.
97 VARIOUS KINDS OF CHEESE 1.3 1:05.
98 ONOBRYCHIS: 3 Rmds 71W :17.
99 CORACESTA & CALLICIA .4 :20.
100 RESEMBLANCE OF APE TO MAN .5 :25.
101APROXIS: 6 Rmds .8 :40.
102 AGLAOPHOTIS OR MARMARITIS. ACHLEMENIS OR HIPPOPHOBAS. THEOBROTION OR SEMNION. ADAMANTIS. ARIANIS. THŒRIONARCA. ÆTHIOPIS OR MEROIS. OPHIUSA. THALASSEGLE OR POTAMAUGIS. THEANGELIS. GELOTOPHYLLIS. HESTIATORIS OR PROTOMEDIA. CASIGNETES OR DIONYSONYMPHAS. HELIANTHES OR HELIOCALLIS. HERMESIAS. ÆSCHYNOMENE. CROCIS. ŒNOTHERIS. ANACAMPISEROS 4.5 2:45.
103 PARTS OF HUMAN BODY TO WHICH CERTAIN RELIGIOUS IDEAS ARE ATTACHED 1 :50.
104 WOOL PLANT: 1 Rmd. LACTORIS: 1 Rmd. MILlTARIS: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
105 STRATIOTES: 5 Rmds .3 :15.
106 HOOFS .7 :35.
107 PLANT GROWING ON BANKS OF A RIVER: 1 Rmd 55W :13.
108 HERB CALLED IJNGUA: 1 Rmd 53W :16.
109 SEXUAL PARTS. HERMAPHRODITES .9 :45.
110 PLANTS GROWING UPONDUNGHILLS: 1 Rmd 29W 0.
111 PLANTS THAT HAVE BEEN MOISTENED WITH URINE OF A DOG: 1 Rmd 39W :13.
112 DIFFERENT VOICES OF ANIMALS 3.7 3:05.
113 PLANT CALLED IMPIA: 2 Rmds .7 :35.
114 PLANT CALLED VENUS' COMB: 1 Rmd 40W :14.
115 RESPIRATION & NUTRIMENT. 1.5 1:15.
116 PHILANTHROPOS: 1 Rmd. LAPPA CANARIA: 2 Rmds .5 :25.
117 TORDYLON OR SYREON: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
118 FROM WHAT CAUSES CORPULENCE ARISES; HOW IT MAY BE REDUCED .6 :30.
119 DACTYLOS; 5 Rmds .6 :30.
120 FENUGREEK OR SILICIA: Rmds 2.7 2:15.
       
25 HISTORY OF WILD PLANT 110 88.3 1:13:35.
1 WHEN WILD PLANTS WERE 1ST BROUGHT INTO USE 1.6 1:20.
2 LATIN AUTHORS WHO HAVE WRITTEN UPON THESE PLANTS .7 :35.
3 AT WHAT PERIOD ROMANS ACQUIRED SOME KNOW- LEDGE OF THIS SUBJECT 1.7 1:25.
4 GREEK AUTHORS WHO HAVE DELINEATED PLANTS IN COLOURS .7 :35.
5 1ST GREEK AUTHORS WHO WROTE UPON PLANTS 3.9 3:15.
6 WHY A FEW OF PLANTS ONLY HAVE BEEN USED MEDICINALLY. PLANTS, MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF WHICH HAVE BEEN MIRACULOUSLY DISCOVERED. CYNORRHODOS: 2 Rmds. PLANT CALLED DRACUNCULUS: 1 Rmd. BRITANNICA: 5 Rmds 4 3:20.
7 WHAT DISEASES ARE ATTENDED WITH GREATEST PAIN. NAMES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE DISCOVERED FAMOUS PLANTS 2.4 2.
8 MOLY: 3 Rmds .8 :40.
9 DODECATHEOS: 1 Rmd 64W :16.
10 PÆONIA, PENTOROBUS, OR GLYCYSIDE: 1 Rmd .7 :35.
11 PANACES ASCLEPION: 2 Rmds .9 :45.
12 PANACES HERACLEON: 3 Rmds 59W :16.
13 PANACES CHIRONION: 4 Rmds 76W :17.
14 PANACES CENTAURION OR PHARNACION: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
15 HERACLEON SIDERION: 4 Rmds 58W 0.
16 AMPELOS CHIRONIA: 1 Rmd 45W :12.
17 HYOSCYAMOS, KNOWN ALSO AS APOLLINARIS OR ALTERCUM; 5 VARIETIES OF IT: 3 Rmds 1.5 1:15.
18 LINOZOSTIS, PARTHENION, HERMUPOA, OR MERCURIALIS; 2 VARIETIES OF IT: Rmds 2.4 2.
19 ACIIILLEOS, SIDERITIS, PANACES HERACLEON, MILLEFOLIUM, OR SCOPÆ REGLÆ; 6 VARIETIES OF IT: 3 Rmds 1.5 1:15.
20 TEUCRION, HEMIONION, OR SPLENION: 2 Rmds .8 :40.
21 MELAMIPODIUM, HELLEBORE, OR VERATRUM: 3 VARIETES OF IT. WAY IN WHICH IT IS GATHERED, & HOW THES QUALITY OF IT IS TESTED 3.8 3:10.
22 Rmds DERIVED FROM BLACK HELLEBORE. HOW IT SHOULD BE TAKEN 1 :50.
23 Rmds DERIVED FROM WHITE HELLEBORE 1.6 1:20.
24 OBSERVATIONS UPON 2 KINDS OF HELLEBORE .9 :45.
25 TO WHAT PERSONS HELLEBORE SHOULD NEVER BE ADMINISTERED .7 :35.
26 MITHRIDATIA 47W :15.
27 SCORDOTIS OR SCORDION: 4 Rmds .4 :20.
28 POLEMONIA, PHILETÆRIA, OR CHILIODYNAMUS: 6 Rmds .3 :15.
29 EUPATORIA: 1 Rmd 73W :17.
30 CENTAURION OR CHIRONION: Rmds .9 :45.
31 CENTAURION LEPTON, OR LIBATION, KNOWN ALSO AS FELL TERRÆ: Rmds .7 :35.
32 CENTAURIS TRIORCHIS: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
33 CLYMENUS: 2 Rmds .6 :30.
34 GENTIAN: Rmds .5 :25.
35 LYSIMACHIA: 8 Rmds .4 :20.
36 ARTEMISIA, PARTHENIS, BOTRYS, OR AMBROSIA: 5 Rmds .8 :40.
37 NYMPHÆA, HERACLEON, RHOPALON, OR MADON; 2 VARIETIES OF IT: 4 Rmds .8 :40.
38 2 VARIETIES OF EUPHORBIA: 4 Rmds. CHAMELÆA 1.5 1:15.
39 2 VARIETIES OF PLANTAGO: Rmds .7 :35.
40 BUGLOSSOS: 3 Rmds 53W :15.
41 CYNOGLOSSOS: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
42 BUPHTALMOS OR CACHLA: 1 Rmd 64W :16.
43 PLANTS WHICH HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED BY CERTAIN NATIONS. SCYTHICE: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
44 HIPPACE: 3 Rmds 57W :16.
45 ISCHÆMON: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
46 CESTROS, PSYCHOTROPEION, VETTONICA, OR SERRATULA: Rmds .6 :30.
47 CANTABRICA: 2 Rmds .7 :35.
48 DOG-PLANT: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
49 ELAPHOBOSCON 41W :12.
50 PLANTS DISCOVERED BY CERTAIN ANIMALS. CHELIDONIA: 6 Rmds .9 :45.
51 DOG-PLANT: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
52 ELAPHOBOSCON 41W :12.
53 DICTAMNON: 8 Rmds. PSEUDODICTAMNON OR CHONDRIS. IN WHAT PLACES MOST POWERFUL PLANTS ARE FOUND. HOW THAT MILK IS DRUNK IN ARCADIA FOR BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF PLANTS UPON WHICH CATTLE FEED 2 1:40.
54 ARISTOLOCHIA, CLEMATITIS, CRETICA, PLISTOTOCHIA, LOCHIA POLYRRHIZOS, OR APPLE OF EARTH: Rmds 2.1 1:45.
55 EMPLOYMENT OF THESE PLANTS FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY SERPENTS 1.6 1:20.
56 ARIGEMONIA: 4 Rmds .7 :35.
57 AGARIC: Rmds .4 :20.
58 ECHIOS; 3 VARIETIES OF IT: 2 Rmds .5 :25.
59 HIERABOTANE, PERISTEREON, OR VERBENACA; 2 VARIETIES OF IT: Rmds 1.5 1:15.
60 BLATTARIA: 1 Rmd 64W :16.
61 LEMONIUM : 1 Rmd 31W :08.
62 QUINQUEFOLIUM, KNOWN ALSO AS PENTAPETES, PENTAPHYLLON, OR CHAMÆZELON: Rmds .4 :20.
63 SPARGANION: 1 Rmd 28W :07.
64 4 VARIETIES OF DAUCUS: Rmds 1.3 1:05.
65 THERIONARCA: 2 Rmds 59W :15.
66 PERSOLATA OR ARCION; 8 Rmds 54W :15.
67 CYCLAMINOS OR TUBER TERRÆ: Rmds .8 :40.
68 CYCLAMINOS CISSANTHEMOS: 4 Rmds .4 :20.
69 CYCLAMINOS CHAMÆCISSOS: 3 Rmds 40W 0.
70 PEUCEDANUM: Rmds 1 :50.
71 EBULUM: 6 Rmds 21W :05.
72 POLEMONIA: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
73 PHLOMOS OR VERBASCUM: Rmds .5 :25.
74 PHLOMIS: 1 Rmd. LYCHNITIS OR THRYALLIS .6 :30.
75 THELYPHONON OR SCORPIO: 1 Rmd .5 :25.
76 PHLYNION, NEURAS, OR POTERION; 1 Rmd .3 :15.
77 ALISMA, DAMASONION, OR LYRON: Rmds .9 :45.
78 PERISTEREOS: 6 Rmds 56W :15.
79 Rmds AGAINST CERTAIN POISONS .8 :40.
80 ANTIRREHINUM, ANARRHlNON, OR LYCHNIS AGRIA: 3 REMDIES .3 :15.
81 EUCLEA: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
82 PERICARPUM; 2 VARIETIES OF IT: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
83 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF HEAD. NYMPHÆA HERACLIA: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
84 LINGULACA: 1 Rmd .8 :40.
85 CACALIA OR LEONTICE: 3 Rmds 60W :13.
86 CALLITRICHOS: 1 Rmd 50W :13.
87 HYSSOP: Rmds .3 :15.
88 LONCHITIS : 4 Rmds .4 :20.
89 XIPHION OR PHASGANION: 4 Rmds .7 :35.
90 PSYLLION, CYNOÏDES, CRYSTALLION, SICELICON, OR CYNOMYIA; Rmds. TIRYSELINUM: 1 Rmd .9 :45.
91 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF EYES 1.1 :55.
92 ANAGALLIS, OR CORCHORON; 2 VARIETIES OF IT: 6 Rmds 1.3 1:05.
93 ÆGILOPS: 2 Rmds 78W :17.
94 MANDRAGORA, CIRCÆON, MORION, OR HIPPOPHLOMOS; 2 VARIETIES OF IT: Rmds 2.4 2.
95 HEMLOCK: Rmds 2 1:40.
96 CRETHMOS AGRIOS : 1 Rmd 25W :12.
97 MOLYBDÆNA: 1 Rmd 50W :13.
98 1ST KIND OF CAPNOS, KNOWN ALSO AS CHICKEN'S FOOT: 1 Rmd 73W :17.
99 ARBORESCENT CAPNOS: THREE Rmds .4 :20.
100 ACORON OR AGRION: FOURTEEN Rmds .8 :40.
101 COTYLEDON: 2 VARIETIES OF IT: REMEDIES .6 :30.
102 GREATER AIZOÜM, ALSO CALLED BUPHTHALMOS, ZOÖPHTHALMOS, STERGETHRON, HYPOGESON, AMBROSION, AME- RIMNON, SEDTUM MAGNUM, OR DIGITELLUS: REMEDIES. SMALLER AIZOÜM, ALSO CALLED ERITHALES, TRITHALES, CHRYSOTHALES, ISOETES OR SEDUM: REMEDIES 1.1 :55.
103 ANDRACHLE AGRIA OR ILLECEBRA: REMEDIES 1.3 1:05.
104 REMEDY FOR DISEASES OF NOSTRILS  18W :05.
105 REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF TEETH 1 :50.
106 ERIGERON, PAPPUS, ACANTHIS, OR SENECIO: 8 REMEDIES 1 :50.
107 EPHEMERON: 2 REMEDIES .6 :30.
108  LABRUM VENEREUM: 1 REMEDY  .3 :15.
109  BATRACHION, RANUNCULUS, OR STRUMUS; 4 VARIETIES OF IT: REMEDIES .4 :20.
110 REMEDIAL PREPARATIONS FOR OFFENSIVE BREATH: 2 KINDS OF THEM 8 6:40.
26 Remedies from Plants classified by Diseases 93 77.7 1:04:45.
1 NEW FORMS OF DISEASE .5 :25.
2 NATURE OF LICHEN .5 :25.
3 AT WHAT PERIOD LICHEN FIRST MADE ITS APPEARANCE IN ITALY 1.5 1:15.
4 CARBUNCLE .9 :45.
5 ELEPHANTIASIS 1.1 :55.
6 COLIC 1.6 1:20.
7 NEW SYSTEM OF MEDICINE: ASCLEPIADES PHYSICIAN 1.1 :55.
8 TIE CHANGES EFFECTED BY ASCLEPIADES IN PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 2.5 2:05.
9 REMARKS IN DISPRAISE OF PRACTICES OF MAGIC 2.1 1:45.
10 LICHEN: 5 Rmds 1.2 1.
11 QUINZY .4 :20.
12 SCROFULA .8 :40.
13 PLANT CALLED BELLIS: 2 Rmds .2 :10.
14 CONDURDUM .3 :15.
15 COUGH 1.2 1.
16 BECHION, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS ARCION, CHAMÆ LEUCE OR TUSSILAGO: 3 Rmds .7 :35.
17 BECHION, KNOWN ALSO AS SALVIA: 4 Rmds .5 :25.
18 AFFECTIONS OF SIDE, CHEST, & STOMACH .6 :30.
19 MOLON OR SYRON. AMOMUM 1.3 1:05.
20 EPHEDRA OR ANABASIS; THREE Rmds .5 :25.
21 GEUM: THREE Rmds .8 :40.
22 TRIPOLIUM : THREE Rmds .4 :20.
23 GROMPHÆNA .2 :10.
24 MALUNDRUM : 2 Rmds .2 :10.
25 CHALCETUM; 2 Rmds. MOLEMONIUM; 1 Rmd .9 :45.
26 HALUS OR COTONEA: 5 Rmds .3 :15.
27 CHAMSHOPS: 1 Rmd. STŒCHAS: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
28 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF BELLY 1.8 1:30.
29 ASTRAGALUS: 6 Rmds .8 :40.
30 LADANUM: Rmds 1.1 :55.
31 CHONDRIS OR PSEUDODICTAMNON: 1 Rmd. HYPOCISTHIS OR OROBETHRON; 2 VARIETIES: 8 Rmds .7 :35.
32 LAVER OR SION: 2 Rmds .2 :10.
33 POTAMOGITON: 8 Rmds. STATICE: 3 Rmds .7 :35.
34 CERATIA: 2 Rmds. LEONTOPODION, LEUCEORON, DORIPETRON, OR THORYBETHRON. LAGOPUS: 3 Rmds 1.4 1:10.
EPITHYMON OR HIPPOPHEOS: 8 Rmds .9 :45.
36 PYCNOCOMON; 4 Rmds .5 :25.
37 POLYPODION: 3 Rmds .6 :30.
38 SCAMMONY; 8 Rmds 1.5 1:15.
39 TITHYMALOS CHARACIAS 2 1:40.
40 TITHYMALOS MYRTITES, OR CARYITES; Rmds .9 :45.
41 TITHYMALOS PARALIOS, OR TITHYMALIS: 4 Rmds .3 :15.
42 TITHYMALOS HELIOSCOPIOS: Rmds .5 :25.
43 TITHYMALOS CYPARISSIAS : Rmds .3 :15.
44 TITHYMALOS PLATYPHYLLOS, CORYMBITES, OR AMYGDALITES: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
45 TITHYMALOS DENDROÏDES, COBIOS, OR LEPTOPHYLLOS: Rmds .3 :15.
46 APIOS ISCHAS, OR RAPHANOS AGRIA: 2 Rmds .8 :40.
47 Rmds FOR GRIPING PAINS IN BOWELS .8 :40.
48 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF SPLEEN 1.3 1:05.
49 Rmds FOR CALCULI & DISEASES OF BLADDER 1.5 1:15.
50 CRETHMOS: Rmds. CACHRY 1.2 1.
51 ANTHYLLION; 1 Rmds ANTHYLLIS: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
52 CEPÆA: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
53 HYPERICON, CHAMÆPITYS, OR CORISON: 9 Rmds .4 :20.
54 CAROS OR HYPERICON: Rmds .4 :20.
55 CALLITHRIX: 1 Rmd. PERPRESSA: 1 Rmd. CHRYSANTHEMUM: 1 Rmd. ANTHEMIS: 1 Rmd .6 :30.
56 SILAUS: 1 Rmd .6 :30.
57 PLANT OF FULVIUS .2 :10.
58 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF TESTES & FUNDAMENT 1.3 1:05.
59 INGUINALIS OR ARGEMO .2 :10.
60 Rmds FOR INFLAMED TUMOURS. CHRYSIPPIOS: 1 Rmd .8 :40.
61 APHRODISIACS & ANT APHRODISIACS .6 :30.
62 ORCHIDS OR SERAPES: 5 MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. SATYR ION 1.2 1.
63 SATYRION: 3 MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. SATYRION ERYTHRAÏCON: 4 MEDICINAL PROPERTIES 1.4 1:10.
64 Rmds FOR GOUT & DISEASES OF FEET 1 :50.
65 LAPPAGO OR MOLLUGO: 1 Rmd. ASPERUGO: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
66 PHYCOS THALASSION OR SEA-WEED: 3 VARIETIES OF IT. LAPPA BOARIA 1.6 1:20.
67 MALADIES WHICH ATTACK WHOLE OF BODY .6 :30.
68 GERANION, MYRRHIS, OR MYRTIS; 3 VARIETIES OF IT: 6 Rmds 1.4 1:10.
69 ONOTHERAS OR ONEAR: 3 Rmds .9 :45.
70 Rmds FOR EPILEPSY .8 :40.
71 Rmds FOR FEVERS 1.3 1:05.
72 Rmds FOR PHRENITIS, LETHARGY, & CARBUNCLES .7 :35.
73 Rmds FOR DROPSY. ACTE OR EBULUM. CHAMÆACTE 1.1 :55.
74 Rmds FOR ERYSIPELAS .7 :35.
75 Rmds FOR SPRAINS .3 :15.
76 Rmds FOR JAUNDICE 1 :50.
77 Rmds FOR BOILS .3 :15.
78 Rmds FOR FISTULA .4 :20.
79 EMEDIES FOR ABSCESSES & HARD TUMOURS .7 :35.
80 Rmds FOR BURNS .3 :15.
81 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF SINEWS & JOINTS .7 :35.
82 Rmds FOR HÆMORRHAGE .5 :25.
83 HIPPURIS, OTHERWISE CALLED EPHEDRON, ANABASIS, OR EQUISÆTUM; 3 KINDS OF IT: Rmds 1.9 1:35.
84 STEPHANOMELIS .3 :15.
85 Rmds FOR RUPTURES & CONVULSIONS. ERYSITHALES: 1 Rmd .6 :30.
86 Rmds FOR PHTHIRIASIS .3 :15.
87 Rmds FOR ULCERS & WOUNDS 3.8 3:10.
88 POLYCNEMON: 1 Rmd .7 :35.
89 Rmds FOR WARTS & APPLICATIONS FOR REMOVAL OF SCARS .4 :20.
90 Rmds FOR FEMALE DISEASES 4.8 4.
91 ARSENOGONON: 1 MEDICINAL PROPERTY. THELYGONON: 1 MEDICINAL PROPERTY .5 :25.
92 MASTOS: 1 Rmd .5 :25.
93 APPLICATIONS FOR HAIR. LYSIMACHIA. OPHRYS 1 :50.
27 Description of Plants & Remedes from them 120 65.8 54:50.
1 RESEARCHES OF ANCIENTS UPON THIS SUBJECT 1.6 1:20.
2 ACONITE, OTHERWISE CALLED THELYPHONON, CAMMARON, PARDALIANCHES, OR SCORPIO; 4 Rmds 3.7 3:05.
3 ÆTHIOPIS: 4 Rmds .7 :35.
4 AGERATON: 4 Rmds .3 :15.
5 ALOE; Rmds 3 0.
6 ALCEA: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
7 ALYPON: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
8 ALSINE, A PLANT USED FOR SAME PURPOSES AS HELXINE: 5 Rmds .8 :40.
9 ANDROSACES: 6 Rmds .4 :20.
10 ANDROSÆMON OR ASCYRON: 6 Rmds .9 :45.
11 AMBROSIA, BOTRYS, OR ARTEMISTA: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
12 ADONIS OR ONONIS: 5 Rmds .4 :20.
13 ANAGYROS OR ACOPON: 3 Rmds .7 :35.
14 ANONYMOS: 2 Rmds .5 :25.
15 APARINE, OMPHIALOCARPOS, OR PHILANTHROPOS: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
16 ARCTION OR ARCTURUM: 5 Rmds .5 :25.
17 ASPLENON OR HEMIONION: 2 Rmds .5 :25.
18 ASCLEPIAS: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
19 ASTER OR BUBONION: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
20 ASCYRON & ASCYROÏDES: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
21 APHACA: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
22 ALCIBIUM: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
23 ALECTOROSLOPHOS OR CRISTA: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
24 ALUM, ALSO CALLED SYMPHYTON PETRÆON: Rmds 1 :50.
25 ALGA RUFA OR RED SEA-WEED: 1 Rmd 1 :50.
26 ACTÆA: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
27 AMPELOS AGRIA, OR WILD VINE: 4 Rmds .6 :30.
28 ABSINTHIUM OR WORMWOOD; 4 VARIETIES: Rmds 4 3:20.
29 ABSINTHIUM: MARINUM OR SERIPHUM .5 :25.
30 BALLOTES, MELAMPRASION, OR BLACK LEEK: 3 Rmds .4 :20.
31 BOTRYS, AMBROSIA, OR ARTEMISIA: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
32 BRABYLA: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
33 BRYON MARITIMUM: 5 Rmds .4 :20.
34 BUPLEURON: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
35 CATANANCE; 1 OBSERVATION. CEMOS: 1 OBSERVATION .4 :20.
36 CALYX: 3 Rmds .3 :15.
37 CALYX, KNOWN ALSO AS ANCHUSA OR ONOCLIA: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
38 CIRCÆA: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
39 CIRSION: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
40 CRATÆGONON; 2 KINDS OF IT: 8 Rmds .9 :45.
41 CROCODILEON: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
42 CYNOSORCHIS OR ORCHIS: 4 Rmds .5 :25.
43 CHRYSOLACHANUM; 2 VARIETIES: 3 Rmds. COAGULUM: TERAÆ: 2 Rmds .8 :40.
44 CUCUBALUS, STRUMUS, OR STRYCHNON: 6 Rmds .4 :20.
45 CONFERVA: 2 Rmds .6 :30.
46 COCCUS CNIDIUS, OR GRAIN OF CNIDOS: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
47 DIPSACOS: 2 Rmds .7 :35.
48 DRYOPTERIS: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
49 DRYOPHONON .3 :15.
50 ELATINE: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
51 EMPETROS. BY OUR PEOPLE CALLED CALCIFRAGA: 4 Rmds .6 :30.
52 EPIPACTIS OR ELLEBORINE: 2 Rmds .2 :10.
53 EPIMEDION: 3 Rmds .3 :15.
54 ENNEAPHYLLON: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
55 2 VARIETIES OF FILIX OR FERN, KNOWN TO GREEKS AS PTERIS, OR BLACHNON, & AS THELYPTERIS, OR NYMPHÆ PTERIS: Rmds 1.7 1:25.
56 FEMUR BUBULUM, OR OX THIGH .2 :10.
57 GALEOPSIS, GALEOBDOLON, OR GALION: 6 Rmds .5 :25.
58 GLAUX: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
59 GLAUCION: 3 Rmds. DIAGLAUCIA: 2 Rmds .6 :30.
60 GLYCYSIDE, PÆONIA, OR PENTOROBOS: Rmds 1.8 1:30.
61 GNAPHALIUM OR CHAMÆZELON: 6 Rmds .3 :15.
62 GALLIDRAGA: 1 Rmd .5 :25.
63 HOLCUS OR ARISTIS .3 :15.
64 HYOSERIS: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
65 HOLOSTEON: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
66 HIPPOPHÆSTON: 8 Rmds .4 :20.
67 HYPOGLOSSA: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
68 HYPECOÖN .2 :10.
69 IDÆA HERBA, OR PLANT OF IDA: 4 Rmds .3 :15.
70 ISOPYRON OR PHASIOLON: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
71 LATHYRIS: 2 Rmds .5 :25.
72 LEONTOPETALON OR PARDALION: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
73 LYCAPSOS: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
74 LITHOSPERMUM, EXONYCHON, DIOSPYRON, OR HERACLEOS: 2 Rmds 1.2 1.
75 LAPIDIS MUSCUS, OR STONE MOSS: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
76 LIMEUM: 1 Rmd .5 :25.
77 LEUCE, MESOLEUCON, OR LEUCAS: 3 Rmds .5 :25.
78 LEUCOGRAPHIS: 5 Rmds .4 :20.
79 MEDION: TREE Rmds .4 :20.
80 MYOSOTA OR MYOSOTIS: 3 Rmds .7 :35.
81 MYAGROS: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
82 NYMA: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
83 NATRIX: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
84 ODONTITIS: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
85 OTHONNA: 1 Rmd .4 :20.
86 ONOSMA: 1 PROPERTY .3 :15.
87 ONOPORDON: 5 Rmds .2 :10.
88 OSYRIS: 4 Rmds .5 :25.
89 OXYS: 2 Rmds .2 :10.
90 POLYANTHEMUM OR BATRACHION: 3 Rmds .2 :10.
91 POLYGONOS, POLYGONATOS, TEUTHALIS, CARCI- NETHRON, CLEMA, OR MYRTOPETALOS, OTHERWISE KNOW AS SANGUINARIA OR ORIOS; 4 VARIETIES OF IT: Rmds 2.3 1:55.
92 PANCRATIUM: Rmds .7 :35.
93 PEPLIS, SYCE, MECONION, OR MECON APHRODES: 3 Rmds .6 :30.
94 PERICLYMENOS: 5 Rmds .6 :30.
95 PELECINON: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
96 POLYGALA: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
97 POTERION, PHRYNION, OR NEURAS: 4 Rmds .7 :35.
98 PHALANGITIS, PHALANGION, OR LEUCACANTHA: 4 Rmds .5 :25.
99 PHYTEUMA: 1 PROPERTY .2 :10.
100 PHYLLON: 1 PROPERTY .4 :20.
         
101 PHELLANDRION: 2 Rmds .2 :10.
102 PHALARIS: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
103 POLYRRHIZON: 5 Rmds .2 :10.
104 PROSERPINACA: 5 Rmds .4 :20.
105 RHACOMA: Rmds 1.1 :55.
106 RESEDA: 2 Rmds .3 :15.
107 STŒCHAS: 3 Rmds .2 :10.
108 SOLANUM, BY GREEKS CALLED STRYCHNON: 2 REMEDIAL PROPERTIES .2 :10.
109 SMYRNION: Rmds. SINON: 2 Rmds 1.7 1:25.
110 TELEPHION: 4 Rmds .4 :20.
111 TRICHOMANES: 5 Rmds .5 :25.
112 THALICTRUM: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
113 THLASPI & PERSICON NAPY: 4 Rmds 1 :50.
114 TRACHINIA: 1 PROPERTY .3 :15.
115 TRAGONIS OR TRAGION: 4 Rmds .4 :20.
116 TRAGOS OR SCORPION: 4 Rmds .3 :15.
117 TRAGOPOGON OR COME .2 :10.
118 AGES OF PLANTS .6 :30.
119 HOW GREATEST EFFICACY IN PLANTS MAY BE ENSURED .5 :25.
120 MALADIES PECULIAR TO VARIOUS NATIONS 3.4 2:50.
       
28 Rmds from Living Creatures 81 138.4 1:55:20.
1 INTRODUCTION 1.6 1:20.
2 Rmds DERIVED FROM MAN 3.1 2:35.
3 WHETHER WORDS ARE POSSESSED OF ANY HEALING EFFICACY 2.5 2:05.
4 THAT PRODIGIES & PORTENTS MAY BE CONFIRMED, OR MADE OF NO EFFECT 3.4 2:50.
5 DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS USAGES 2 1:40.
6 2OBSERVATIONS ON Rmds DERIVED FROM MAN. 8 Rmds FROM CHILDREN 3 2:40.
7 PROPERTIES OF HUMAN SPITTLE 2.9 2:25.
8 Rmds DERIVED FROM WAX OF HUMAN EAR .5 :25.
9 Rmds DERIVED FROM HUMAN HAIR, TEETH, ETC 1.3 1:05.
10 Rmds DERIVED FROM HUMAN BLOOD, SEXUAL CONGRESS, ETC. 1.1 :55.
11 Rmds DERIVED FROM DEAD 1.3 1:05.
12 VARIOUS REVERIES & DEVICES OF MAGICIANS 1.5 1:15.
13 Rmds DERIVED FROM HUMAN EXCRETIONS 1.3 1:05.
14 Rmds DEPENDING UPON HUMAN WILL 2.6 2:10.
15 Rmds DERIVED FROM SNEEZING .4 :20.
16 Rmds DERIVED FROM SEXUAL CONGRESS .4 :20.
17 VARIOUS OTHER Rmds 3 2:40.
18 Rmds DERIVED FROM URINE 2 1:40.
19 INDICATIONS OF HEALTH DERIVED FROM URINE 1.1 :55.
20 Rmds DERIVED FROM FEMALE SEX .8 :40.
21 Rmds DERIVED FROM WOMAN'S MILK 2.2 1:50.
22 Rmds DERIVED FROM SPITTLE OF FEMALES .4 :20.
23 FACTS CONNECTED WITH MENSTRUAL DISCHARGE 5.9 0.
24 Rmds DERIVED FROM FOREIGN ANIMALS: ELEPHANT, 8 Rmds .8 :40.
25 Rmds DERIVED FROM LION 1 :50.
26 Rmds DERIVED FROM CAMEL .7 :35.
27 Rmds DERIVED FROM HYÆNA 8 6:40.
28 Rmds DERIVED FROM CROCODILE 2.6 2:10.
29 Rmds DERIVED FROM CHAMÆLEON 3.8 0.
30 4 Rmds DERIVED FROM SCINCUS 1.1 :55.
31 SEEN Rmds DERIVED FROM HIPPOPOTAMUS .8 :40.
32 5 Rmds DERIVED FROM LYNX .7 :35.
33 Rmds FURNISHED IN COMMON BY ANIMALS OF SAME CLASS, WHETHER WILD OR TAME. MEDICINAL USES OF MILK, WITH OBSERVATIONS THEREON 4 3:20.
34 Rmds DERIVED FROM CHEESE 1 :50.
35 Rmds DERIVED FROM BUTTER .9 :45.
36 OXYGALA: 1 Rmd .2 :10.
37 VARIOUS USES OF FAT & OBSERVATIONS 4 3:20.
38 SUET .9 :45.
39 MARROW .4 :20.
40 GALL .9 :45.
41 BLOOD .9 :45.
42 PECULIAR Rmds DERIVED FROM VARIOUS ANIMALS, & CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO MALADIES. Rmds AGAINST POISON OF SERPENTS, DERIVED FROM STAG, FAWN, OPHION, SHE-GOAT, KID, & ASS 3.8 0.
43 Rmds FOR BITE OF MAD DOG. Rmds DERIVED FROM CALF, HE-GOAT, & VARIOUS OTHER ANIMALS .7 :35.
44 Rmds TO BE ADOPTED AGAINST ENCHANTMENTS .4 :20.
45 Rmds FOR POISONS 2.5 2:05.
46 Rmds FOR DIEASES OF HEAD, & FOR ALOPECY 2 1:40.
47 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF EYES 3.1 2:35.
48 Rmds FOR DISEASES & AFFECTIONS OF EARS 2.6 2:10.
49 Rmds FOR TOOTH-ACHE 2.4 2.
50 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF FACE 2.6 2:10.
51 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF TONSILLARY GLANDS, & FOR SCROFULA 1.4 1:10.
52 Rmds FOR PAINS IN NECK .6 :30.
53 Rmds FOR COUGH & FOR SPITTING OF BLOOD 1.3 1:05.
54 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF STOMACH .4 :20.
55 Rmds FOR LIVER COMPLAINTS & FOR ASTHMA .6 :30.
56 Rmds FOR PAINS IN LOINS 1.3 1:05.
57 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF SPLEEN 1.3 1:05.
58 Rmds FOR BOWEL COMPLAINTS 4 3:20.
59 REMEDES FOR TENESMUS, TAPEWORM, & AFFECTIONS OF COLON .6 :30.
60 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF BLADDER, & FOR URINARY CALCULI 2.4 2.
61 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF GENERATIVE ORGANS & FUNDAMENT 1.7 1:25.
62 Rmds FOR GOUT & FOR DISEASES OF FEET 2.4 2.
63 Rmds FOR EPILEPSY 1.6 1:20.
64 Rmds FOR JAUNDICE .3 :15.
65 Rmds FOR BROKEN BONES .3 :15.
66 Rmds FOR FEVERS 1.1 :55.
67 Rmds FOR MELANCHOLY, LETHARGY, & PHTHSIS 1.2 1.
68 Rmds FOR DROPSY .8 :40.
69 Rmds FOR ERYSIPELAS, & FOR PURULENT ERUPTIONS .6 :30.
70 Rmds FOR SPRAINS, INDURATIONS & BOILS .6 :30.
71 Rmds FOR BURNS. METHOD OF TESTING BULL-GLUE; 7 Rmds .8 :40.
72 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF SINEWS & CONTUSIONS .8 :40.
73 Rmds FOR HÆMORRHAGE .8 :40.
74 Rmds FOR ULCERS & CARACINOMATOUS SORES 1.5 1:15.
75 Rmds FOR ITCH .5 :25.
76 METHODS OF EXTRACTING FOREIGN SUBSTANCES WHICH ADHERE TO, BODY, & RESTORING SCARS TO THEIR NATURAL COLOUR .5 :25.
77 Rmds FOR FEMALE DISEASES 5.5 4:35.
78 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF INFANTS 1.3 1:05.
79 ROVOCATIVES OF SLEEP .5 :25.
80 STIMLANTS FOR SEXUAL PASSIONS 1 :50.
81 REMARKABLE FACTS RELATIVE TO ANIMALS 2.7 2:15.
29 Remedies from Living Creatures 39 71.7 59:45.
1 ORIGIN OF MEDICAL ART 1.3 1:05.
2 PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO HIPPOCRATES. DATE OF ORIGIN OF CLINICAL PRACTICE & OF THAT OF IATRALIPTICS .8 :40.
3 PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO CHRYSIPPUS & ERASISTRATUS .3 :15.
4 EMPIRIC BRANCH OF MEDICINE .2 :10.
5 PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO HEROPHILUS & OTHER CELEBRATED PHYSICIANS. VARIOUS CHANGES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE IN SYSTEM OF MEDICINE 3.7 3:05.
6 WHO 1ST PRACTISED AS A PHYSICIAN AT ROME, & AT WHAT PERIOD .9 :45.
7 OPINIONS ENTERTAINED BY ROMANS ON ANCIENT PHYSICIANS .8 :40.
8 EVILS ATTENDANT UPON PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 7.7 6:25.
9 Rmds DEEIVED FROM WOOL 3 2:40.
10 Rmds DERIVED FROM WOOL-GREASE 2 1:40.
11 Rmds FROM EGGS 6.1 5:05.
12 SERPENTS' EGGS 1.7 1:25.
13 METHOD OF PREPARING COMMAGENUM. 4 Rmds DERIVED FROM IT 1.1 :55.
14 Rmds DERVED FROM DOO .9 :45.
15 Rmds CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO DIFFERENT MALADIES. Rmds FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY SERPENTS. Rmds DERIVED FROM MICE .6 :30.
16 Rmds DERIVED FROM WEASEL .6 :30.
17 Rmds DERIVED FROM BUGS 1.9 1:35.
18 PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO ASP .7 0.
19 Rmds DERIVED FROM BASILISK .5 :25.
20 Rmds DERIVED FROM DRAGON 1.3 1:05.
21 Rmds DERIVED FROM VIPER 1.3 1:05.
22 Rmds DERIVED FROM OTHER SERPENTS 1.6 1:20.
23 Rmds DERIVED FROM SALAMANDER 1.4 1:10.
24 Rmds DERIVED FROM BIRDS FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY SERPENTS. Rmds DERIVED FROM VULTURE .5 :25.
25 Rmds DERIVED FROM POULTRY 1.2 1.
26 Rmds DERIVED FROM OTHER BIRDS 1.3 1:05.
27 Rmds FOR BITE OF PHALANGIUM, SEVERAL VARIETIES, & OF SPIDER 3 2:40.
28 Rmds DERIVED FROM STELLIO OR SPOTTED LIZARD .6 :30.
29 Rmds DERIVED FROM VARIOUS INSECTS 1.2 1.
30 Rmds FROM CANTHARIDES 1.9 1:35.
31 VARIOUS COUNTER-POISONS .2 :10.
32 Rmds FOR BITE OF MAD DOG 2.6 2:10.
33 Rmds FOR OTHER POISONS 1.3 1:05.
34 Rmds FOR ALOPECY 2.5 2:05.
Rmds FOR LICE & PORRIGO .2 :10.
36 Rmds FOR HEAD-ACHE & WOUNDS ON HEAD 1.6 1:20.
37 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF EYELIDS .8 :40.
38 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF EYES 7.5 6:15.
39 Rmds FOR PAINS & DISEASES OF EARS 5.4 0.
     
30 Remedies from Living Creatures 53 70.5 58:35.
1 ORIGIN OF MAGIC ART 1.2 1.
2 WHEN & WHERE ART OF MAGIC ORIGINATED: BY WHAT PERSONS IT WAS 1ST PRACTISED 4.4 3:40.
3 WHETHER MAGIC WAS EVER PRACTISED IN ITALY. AT WHAT PERIOD SENATE 1ST FORBADE HUMAN SACRIFICES .4 :20.
4 DRUIDS OF GALLIC PROVINCES .8 :40.
5 VARIOUS BRANCHES OF MAGIC 1.3 1:05.
6 SUBTERFUGES PRACTISED BY MAGICIANS 1.7 1:25.
7 OPINIONS OF MAGICIANS RELATIVE TO MOLE. 5 Rmds DERIVED FROM IT 1 :50.
8 OTHER Rmds DERIVED FROM LIVING CREATURES. CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO RESPECTIVE DISEASES. Rmds FOR TOOTH-ACHE 3.1 2:35.
9 Rmds FOR OFFENSIVE ODOURS & SORES OF MOUTH .6 :30.
10 Rmds FOR SPOTS UPON FACE 1.8 1:30.
11 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF THROAT 1 :50.
12 Rmds FOR QUINZY & SCROFULA 3.8 0.
13 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF SHOULDERS .4 :20.
14 Rmds FOR PAINS IN VISCERA .8 :40.
15 Rmds FOR PAINS IN STOMACH 1.7 1:25.
16 Rmds FOR PAINS IN LIVER, & FOR SPITTING OF BLOOD 1.6 1:20.
17 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF SPLEEN 1 :50.
18 Rmds FOR PAINS IN SIDE & LOINS 1.1 :55.
19 Rmds FOR DYSENTERY 1.6 1:20.
20 REMEDES FOR ILIAC PASSION & OTHER MALADIES OF BOWELS 2.6 2:10.
21 Rmds FOR URINARY CALCULI AND AFFECTIONS OF BLADDER 1.7 1:25.
22 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF FUNDAMENT & GENERATIVE ORGANS 2.8 2:20.
23 Rmds FOR GOUT & FOR DISEASES OF FEET 3.2 2:40.
24 Rmds FOR EVILS WHICH ARE LIABLE TO AFFECT WHOLE BODY 1.6 1:20.
25 Rmds FOR COLD SHIVERINGS .6 :30.
26 Rmds FOR PARALYSIS .4 :20.
27 Rmds FOR EPILEPSY 3 2:40.
28 Rmds FOR JAUNDICE .8 :40.
29 Rmds FOR PHRENITIS 1.6 1:20.
30 Rmds FOR FEVERS 3.8 3:10.
31 Rmds FOR DROPSY .4 :20.
32 Rmds FOR ERYSIPELAS .5 :25.
33 Rmds FOR CARBUNCLES .4 :20.
34 Rmds FOR BOILS .6 :30.
35 Rmds FOR BURNS .3 :15.
36 Rmds FOR AFFECTIONS OF SINEWS .7 :35.
37 Rmds FOR MALADIES OF NAILS & FINGERS .5 :25.
38 METHODS FOR ARRESTING HÆMORRHAGE .7 :35.
39 Rmds FOR ULCEROUS SORES & WOUNDS 2.9 2:25.
40 Rmds FOR BROKEN BONES .5 :25.
41 APPLICATIONS FOR CICATRIZATIONS & CURE OF MORPHEW .9 :45.
42 METHODS OF EXTRACTING FOREIGN SUBSTANCES FROM BODY .5 :25.
43 Rmds FOR FEMALE COMPLAINTS 2.5 2:05.
44 METHODS OF FACILITATING DELIVERY .9 :45.
45 METHODS OF PRESERVING BREASTS FROM INJURY .8 :40.
46 VARIOUS KINDS OF DEPILATORIES 1.2 1.
47 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF INFANTS 2.3 1:55.
48 PROVOCATIVES OF SLEEP .4 :20.
49 APHRODISIACS & ANTAPHRODISIACS 1.4 1:10.
50 Rmds FOR PHTHIRIASIS & VARIOUS OTHER AFFECTIONS .7 :35.
51 Rmds FOR INTOXICATION .3 :15.
52 PECULIARITIES RELATIVE TO CERTAIN ANIMALS .6 :30.
53 OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH ANIMALS 1.5 1:15.
   
31 Remedies from Aquatic Production 47 65.5 54:35.
1 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH WATER 1.3 1:05.
2 DIFFERENT PROPERTIES OF WATERS 1.2 1.
3 Rmds DERIVED FROM WATER 1.3 1:05.
4 WATERS PRODUCTIVE OF FECUNDITY. WATERS CURATIVE OF INSANITY 1.2 1.
5 WATERS REMEDIAL FOR URINARY CALCULI .6 :30.
6 WATERS CURATIVE OF WOUNDS .3 :15.
7 WATERS PREVENTIVE OF ABORTION .3 :15.
8 WATERS WHICH REMOVE MORPHEW .9 :45.
9 WATERS WITCH COLOR HAIR .4 :20.
10 WATERS WHICH COLOUR HUMAN BODY .7 :35.
11 WATERS WHICH AID MEMORY, OR ARE PRODUCTIVE OF FORGETFULNESS .2 :10.
12 WATERS WHICH SHARPEN OR DULL SENSES. WATERS WHICH IMPROVE VOICE .3 :15.
13 WATERS WHICH CAUSE A DISTASTE FOR WINE. WATERS WHICH PRODUCE INEBRIETY .4 :20.
14 WATERS WHICH SERVE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR OIL .4 :20.
15 SALT & BITTER WATERS .4 :20.
16 WATERS WHICH THROW UP STONES. WATERS WHICH CAUSE LAUGHTER & WEEPING. WATERS WHICH ARE SAID TO BF CURATIVE OF LOVE .4 :20.
17 WATERS WHICH PRESERVE THEIR WARMTH FOR 3 DAYS .4 :20.
18 OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH WATER. WATERS IN WHICH EVERYTHING WILL SINK. WATERS IN WHICH NOTHING WILL SINK 1.8 1:30.
19 DEADLY WATERS. POISONOUS FISHES 1.8 1:30.
20 WATERS WHICH PETRIFY, THEMSELVES, OR CAUSE OTHER OBJECTS TO PETRIFY .9 :45.
21 WHOLESOMIENESS OF WATERS 2.3 1:55.
22 IMPURITIES OF WATER 1.3 1:05.
23 MODES OF TESTING WATER 1.8 1:30.
24 MARCIAN WATERS .7 :35.
25 VIRGIN WATERS .6 :30.
26 METHOD OF SEARCHING FOR WATER .7 :35.
27 SIGNS INDICATIVE OF PRESENCE OF WATER 1.5 1:15.
28 DIFFERENCES IN WATERS, ACCORDING TO NATURE OF SOIL 2.9 2:25.
29 QUALITIES OF WATER AT DIFFERENT SEASONS OF YEAR .9 :45.
30 HISTORICAL OBSERVATIONS UPON WATERS WHICH HAVE SUDDENLY MADE THEIR APPEARANCE OR SUDDENLY CEASED 2.1 1:45.
31 METHOD OF CONVEYING WATER 1.1 :55.
32 HOW MINERAL WATERS SHOULD BE USED 1.7 1:25.
33 USES OF SEA-WATER. ADVANTAGES OF A SEA-VOYAGE 2.5 2:05.
34 HOW ARTIFICIAL SEA-WATER MAY BE MADE IN PLACES AT A DISTANCE FROM SEA .8 :40.
35 HOW THALASSOMELI IS MADE .4 :20.
36 How HYDROMELI IS MADE .3 :15.
37 METHODS OF PROVIDING AGAINST INCONVENIENCE OF DRINKING SUSPECTED WATER .7 :35.
38 6 Rmds DERIVED FROM MOSS. Rmds DERIVED FROM SAND .6 :30.
39 VARIOUS KINDS OF SALT; METHODS OF PREPARING IT, & Rmds DERIVED FROM IT. 204 OBSERVATIONS 4.5 2:45.
40 MURIA .7 :35.
41 VARIOUS PROPERTIES OF SALT: 1HISTORICAL REMARKS RELATIVE THERETO 3 2:40.
42 FLOWER OF SALT: Rmds. SALSUGO: 2 Rmds 1.4 1:10.
43 GARUM: Rmds .9 :45.
44 ALEX: 8 Rmds 1.7 1:25.
45 NATURE OF SALT 4.1 3:25.
46 VARIOUS KINDS OF NITRUM, METHODS OF PREPARING IT, & Rmds DERIVED FROM IT: 2OBSERVATIONS THEREON 7.9 6:35.
47 SPONGES, & Rmds DERIVED FROM THEM: OBSERVATIONS THEREON 5 4:10.
   
32 Remedies from Aquatic Animals 54 77.8 64:30.
1 POWER OF NATURE AS MANIFESTED IN ANTIPATHIES. ECHENEÏS: 2 Rmds 3.7 3:05.
2 TORPEDO: 9 Rmds .7 :35.
3 SEA HARE: 5 Rmds 1.2 1.
4 MARVELS OF RED SEA .5 :25.
5 INSTINCTS OF FISHES 2.1 1:45.
6 MARVELLOUS PROPERTIES BELONGING TO CERTAIN FISHES .5 :25.
7 PLACES WHERE FISH EAT FROM HAND .5 :25.
8 PLACES WHERE FISH RECOGNIZE HUMAN VOICE. ORACULAR RESPONSES GIVEN BY FISH .7 :35.
9 PLACES WHERE BITTER FISH ARE FOUND, SALT, OR SWEET .8 :40.
10 WHEN SEA-FISH WERE 1ST EATEN BY PEOPLE OF ROME.
ORDINANCE OF KING NUMA AS TO FISH .5 :25.
11 CORAL: Rmds & OBSERVATIONS 2.4 2.
12 ANTIPATHIES & SYMPATHIES WHICH EXIST BETWEEN CERTAIN OBJECTS. HATREDS MANIFESTED BY CERTAIN AQUATIC ANIMALS. PASTINACA: 8 Rmds. GALEOS: Rmds. SUR-MULLET: Rmds .6 :30.
13 AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. CASTOREUM: Rmds & OBSERVATIONS 3.1 2:35.
14 TORTOISE: Rmds & OBSERVATIONS 5 4:10.
15 Rmds DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO RESPECTIVE DISEASES .5 :25.
16 Rmds FOR POISONS, & FOR NOXIOUS SPELLS. DORADE: 4 Rmds. SEA-STAR: 7 Rmds 1 :50.
17 Rmds FOR STINGS OF SERPENTS, FOR BITES OF DOGS, & FOR INJURIES INFLICTED BY VENOMOUS ANIMALS, SEA-DRAGON: 3 Rmds. Rmds DERIVED FROM SALTED FISH. SARDA: 1 Rmd. Rmds DERIVED FROM CYBIUM 1.5 1:15.
18 SEA-FROG: 6 Rmds. RIVER-FROG: Rmds. BRAMBLE-FROG: 1 Rmd.
OBSERVATIONS ON THESE ANIMALS 2.5 2:05.
19 ENHYDRIS: 6 Rmds. RIVER-CRAB: Rmds. SEA-CRAB: 7 Rmds. RIVER-SNAIL: 7 Rmds. CORACINUS: 4 Rmds. SEA-PIG: 2 Rmds 2 1:40.
20 SEA-CALF: Rmds. MURÆNA: 1 Rmd. HIPPOCAMPUS: 9 Rmds. SEA-URCHIN: Rmds 1 :50.
21 VARIOUS KINDS OF OYSTERS: Rmds & OBSERVATIONS. PURPLES: 9 Rmds 3.4 2:50.
22 SEA-WEED: 2 Rmds .4 :20.
23 Rmds FOR ALOPECY, CHANGE OF COLOUR IN HAIR, & ULCERATIONS OF HEAD. SEA-MOUSE: 2 Rmds. SEA-SCORPION: Rmds. LEECH: 7 Rmds. MUREX: Rmds. CONCHYLIUM: 5 Rmds 1.1 :55.
24 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF EYES & EYE-LIDS. 2 Rmds DERIVED FROM FAT OF FISHES. CALLIONYMUS: 3 Rmds. GALL OF CORACINUS: 1 Rmd. SÆPIA: Rmds. ICHTHYOCOLLA: 5 Rmds 4 3:20.
25 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF EARS. BATIA: 1 Rmd.
BACCHUS OR MYXON: 2 Rmds. SEA-LOUSE: 2 Rmds 1.2 1.
26 Rmds FOR TOOTH-ACHE. DOG-FISH: 4 Rmds. WHALE'S FLESH 2.2 1:50.
27 Rmds FOR LICHENS, & FOR SPOTS UPON FACE. DOLPHIN: 9 Rmds. COLUTHIA OR CORYPHIA: 3 Rmds. HALCYONEUM : 7 Rmds. TUNNY : 5 Rmds 2.3 1:55.
28 Rmds FOR SCROFULA, IMPOSTHUMES OF PAROTID GLANDS, QUINSY, & DISEASES OF FAUCES. MÆNA: Rmds. SEA-SCOLOPENDRA: 2 Rmds. SAURUS: 1 Rmd. SHELL-FISH: 1 Rmd. SILURUS: Rmds 1.6 1:20.
29 Rmds FOR COUGH & DISEASES OF CHEST .8 :40.
30 Rmds FOR PAINS IN LIVER & SIDE.
ELONGATED CONCH: 6 Rmds. TETHEA: 5 Rmds .5 :25.
31 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF BOWELS. SEA-WORT: 1 Rmd. MYAX: Rmds. MITULUS: 8 Rmds. PELORIDES: 1 Rmd.
SERIPHUM: 2 Rmds. ERYTHINUS: 2 Rmds 4.1 3:25.
32 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF SPLEEN, FOR URINARY CALCULI, & FOR AFFECTIONS OF BLADDER. SOLE: 1 Rmd. TURBOT: 1 Rmd. BLENDIUS: 1 Rmd. SEA-NETTLE: 7 Rmds. PULMO MARINUS: 6 Rmds. ONYCHES: 4 Rmds 1.4 1:10.
33 Rmds FOR INTESTINAL HERNIA, & FOR DISEASES OF RECTUM. WATER-SNAKE: 1 Rmd. HYDRUS: 1 Rmd. MULLET: 1 Rmd. PELAMIS: 3 Rmds .7 :35.
34 Rmds FOR INFLAMED TUMOURS, & FOR DISEASES OF GENERATIVE ORGANS. SCIÆNA: 1 Rmd. PERCH: 4 Rmds. SQUATINA: 3 Rmds. SMARIS: 3 Rmds 1.6 1:20.
35 Missing.
36 Rmds FOR GOUT, & PAINS IN FEET. BEAVER: 4 Rmds. BRYON: 1 Rmd 1 :50.
37 Rmds FOR EPILEPSY .6 :30.
38 Rmds FOR FEVERS.
FISH CALLED ASELLUS: 1 Rmd. PHAGRUS: 1 Rmd. BALÆNA: 1 Rmd 1.9 1:35.
39 Rmds FOR LETHARGY, CACHEXY, & DROPSY .9 :45.
40 Rmds FOR BURNS & FOR ERYSIPELAS .7 :35.
41 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF SINEWS .4 :20.
42 METHODS OF ARRESTING HÆMORRHAGE & LETTING BLOOD. POLYP: 1 Rmd 2.1 1:45.
43 METHODS OF EXTRACTING FOREIGN BODIES FROM FLESH .4 :20.
44 Rmds FOR ULCERS, CARCINOMATA, & CARBUNCLES 1.2 1.
45 Rmds FOR WARTS, & FOR MALFORMED NAILS. GLANIS: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
46 Rmds FOR FEMALE DISEASES. GLAUCISCUS: 1 Rmd 2.9 2:25.
47 METHODS OF REMOVING SUPERFLUOUS HAIR. DEPILATORIES 1.1 :55.
48 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF INFANTS .7 :35.
49 METHODS OF PREVENTING INTOXICATION.
FISH CALLED RUBELLIO: 1 Rmd. EEL: 1 Rmd. GRAPE-FISH: 1 Rmd .3 :15.
50 ANTAPHRODISIACS & APHRODISIACS.
HIPPOPOTAMUS: 1 Rmd. CROCODILE: 1 Rmd .6 :30.
51 Rmds FOR DISEASES OF ANIMALS .3 :15.
52 OTHER AQUATIC PRODUCTIONS.
ADARCA OR CALAMOCHNOS: 3 Rmds. REEDS: 8 Rmds. INK OF SÆPIA 1.2 1.
53 NAMES OF ALL ANIMALS THAT EXIST IN SEA, 1IN NUMBER 4.6 3:50.
54 ADDITIONAL NAMES OF FISHES FOUND IN POEM OF OVID 1.8 1:30.
   
33 History of Metals 58 85 1:10:50.
1 METALS 1.5 1:15.
2 GOLD 1.3 1:05.
3 WHAT WAS 1ST RECOMMENDATION OF GOLD .8 :40.
4 ORIGIN OF GOLD RINGS 3.8 0.
5 QUANTITY OF GOLD POSSESSED BY ANCIENTS 1.9 1:35.
6 RIGHT OF WEARING GOLD RINGS 6.4 5:20.
7 DECURIES OF JUDGES 1.5 1:15.
8 PARTICULARS CONNECTED WITH EQUESTRIAN ORDER 2.4 2.
9 HOW OFTEN NAME OF EQUESTRIAN ORDER HAS BEEN CHANGED .8 :40.
10 GIFTS FOR MILITARY SERVICES, IN GOLD & SILVER .3 :15.
11 AT WHAT PERIOD 1ST CROWN OF GOLD WAS PRESENTED .6 :30.
12 OTHER USES MADE OF GOLD, BY FEMALES 1.7 1:25.
13 COINS OF GOLD. AT WHAT PERIODS COPPER, GOLD, & SILVER 1ST IMPRESSED. HOW COPPER WAS USED BEFORE GOLD & SILVER WERE COINED. WHAT WAS LARGEST SUM OF MONEY POSSESSED BY ANY 1 AT TIME OF OUR 1ST CENSUS. HOW OFTEN, & AT WHAT PERIODS, VALUE OF COPPER & OF COINED MONEY HAS BEEN CHANGED 3.1 2:35.
14 CONSIDERATIONS ON MAN'S CUPIDITY FOR GOLD 1.7 1:25.
15 PERSONS WHO HAVE POSSESSED GREATEST QUANTITY OF GOLD & SILVER 1.3 1:05.
16 PERIOD SILVER 1ST MADE ITS APPEARANCE UPON ARENA & UPON STAGE 1 :50.
17 PERIODS THERE WAS GREATEST QUANTITY OF GOLD & SILVER IN TREASURY OF ROMAN PEOPLE .8 :40.
18 PERIOD CEILINGS WERE FIRST GILDED .4 :20.
19 REASONS HIGHEST VALUE SET UPON GOLD 2.8 2:20.
20 METHOD OF GILDING .9 :45.
21 HOW GOLD IS FOUND 11.2 0.
22 ORPIMENT .6 :30.
23 ELECTRUM 1 :50.
24 1ST STATUES OF GOLD 1 :50.
25 8 Rmds FROM GOLD 1 :50.
26 CHRYSOCOLLA 1.5 1:15.
27 USE MADE OF CHRYSOCOLLA IN PAINTING 1.2 1.
28 7 Rmds DERIVED FROM CHRYSOCOLLA .5 :25.
29 CHRYSOCOLLA OF GOLDSMITHS, KNOWN ALSO AS SANTERNA .8 :40.
30 MARVELLOUS OPERATIONS OF NATURE IN SOLDERING METALLIC SUBSTANCES, & BRINGING THEM TO A STATE OF PERFECTION .8 :40.
31 SILVER 1.7 1:25.
32 QUICKSILVER 1.1 :55.
33 STIMMI, STIBI, ALABASTRUM, LARBASIS, OR PLATYOPHTHALMON .5 :25.
34 7 Rmds DERIVED FROM STIMMI 1.6 1:20.
35 SCORIA OF SILVER. 6 Rmds FROM IT 3.2 2:40.
36 MINIUM: FOR WHAT RELIGIOUS PURPOSES IT WAS USED BY ANCIENTS 1 :50.
37 DISCOVERY & ORIGIN OF MINIUM .9 :45.
38 CINNABARIS .8 :40.
39 EMPLOYMENT OF CINNABARIS IN PAINTING .5 :25.
40 VARIOUS KINDS OF MINIUM. USE MADE OF IT IN PAINTING 2.8 2:20.
41 HYDRARGYROS. Rmds DERIVED FROM MINIUM 1 :50.
42 METHOD OF GILDING SILVER .3 :15.
43 TOUCHSTONES FOR TESTING GOLD .7 :35.
44 DIFFERENT KINDS OF SILVER & MODES OF TESTING IT .6 :30.
45 MIRRORS 1.6 1:20.
46 EGYPTIAN SILVER 1.2 1.
47 INSTANCES OF IMMENSE WEALTH. PERSONS WHO HAVE POSSESSED GREATEST SUMS OF MONEY 2.4 2.
48 PERIOD ROMAN PEOPLE 1ST MADE VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS .5 :25.
49 INSTANCES OF LUXURY IN SILVER PLATE .8 :40.
50 INSTANCES OF FRUGALITY OF ANCIENTS IN REFERENCE TO SILVER PLATE 1.6 1:20.
51 PERIOD SILVER 1ST USED AS AN ORNAMENT FOR COUCHES .6 :30.
52 PERIOD SILVER CHARGERS OF ENORMOUS SIZE 1ST MADE. WHEN SILVER 1ST USED AS MATERIAL FOR SIDEBOARDS. WHEN SIDEBOARDS CALLED TYMPANA 1ST INTRODUCED 1.6 1:20.
53 ENORMOUS PRICE OF SILVER PLATE 1.7 1:25.
54 STATUES OF SILVER 1.5 1:15.
55 MOST REMARKABLE WORKS IN SILVER & MOST FAMOUS ARTISTS IN SILVER 1.8 1:30.
56 SIL: PERSONS WHO 1ST USED IT IN PAINTING & METHOD THEY ADOPTED 1.2 1.
57 CÆRULEUM 1.4 1:10.
58 2 Rmds DERIVED FROM CÆRULEUM 1.3 1:05.
   
34 History of Metals 56 80.4 1:07.
1 ORES OF BRASS .5 :25.
2 DIFFERENT KINDS OF COPPER 1.2 1.
3 CORINTHIAN BRASS 2.3 1:55.
4 DELIAN BRASS .3 :15.
5 ÆGINETAN BRASS .5 :25.
6 STANDS FOR LAMPS 1.2 1.
7 ORNAMENTS OF TEMPLES MADE OF BRASS .6 :30.
8 COUCHES OF BRASS .6 :30.
9 WHICH WAS 1ST STATUE OF A GOD MADE OF BRASS AT ROME
ORIGIN OF STATUES & RESPECT PAID TO THEM 1.5 1:15.
10 DIFFERENT KINDS & FORMS OF STATUES. STATUES AT ROME WITH CUIRASSES 1.2 1.
11 IN HONOUR OF WHOM PUBLIC STATUES WERE 1ST ERECTED: IN HONOUR OF WHOM THEY WERE 1ST PLACED ON PILLARS: WHEN ROSTRA WERE 1ST ERECTED 3 2:40.
12 IN HONOUR OF WHAT FOREIGNERS PUBLIC STATUES WERE ERECTED AT ROME 1.1 :55.
13 1ST EQUESTRIAN STATUES PUBLICLY ERECTED AT ROME, & IN HONOUR OF WHAT FEMALES STATUES WERE PUBLICLY ERECTED THERE 1 :50.
14 AT WHAT PERIOD ALL STATUES ERECTED BY PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS WERE REMOVED FROM PUBLIC PLACES .9 :45.
15 1ST STATUES PUBLICLY ERECTED BY FOREIGNERS .6 :30.
16 THAT THERE WERE STATUARIES IN ITALY ALSO AT AN EARLY PERIOD 1.3 1:05.
17 IMMODERATE PRICES OF STATUES 1.5 1:15.
18 MOST CELEBRATED COLOSSAL STATUES IN CITY 4.2 0.
19 MOST CELEBRATED WORKS IN BRASS, & ARTISTS, IN NUMBER 17.9 0.
20 DIFFERENT KINDS OF COPPER & ITS COMBINATIONS. PYROPUS. CAMPANIAN COPPER 2.6 2:10.
21 METHOD OF PRESERVING COPPER .3 :15.
22 CADMIA 2.2 1:50.
23 Rmds DERIVED FROM CADMIA. MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF CALCINED COPPER 1 :50.
24 SCORIA OF COPPER .7 :35.
25 STOMOMA OF COPPER; Rmds 1.3 1:05.
26 VERDIGRIS; Rmds 1.7 1:25.
27 HIERACIUM .8 :40.
28 SCOLEX OF COPPER; Rmds .6 :30.
29 CHALCITIS: 7 Rmds 1.2 1.
30 SORY: 3 Rmds .6 :30.
31 MISY: Rmds 1.1 :55.
32 CHALCANTHUM, OR SHOEMAKERS' BLACK: Rmds 2.3 1:55.
33 POMPHOLYX .8 :40.
34 SPODOS; 5 Rmds 1.3 1:05.
35 VARIETIES OF ANTISPODOS .5 :25.
36 SMEGMA .3 :15.
37 DIPHRYX 1 :50.
38 PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO SERVILIAN TRIENS .5 :25.
39 IRON ORES 1.1 :55.
40 STATUES OF IRON; CHASED WORKS IN IRON .8 :40.
41 DIFFERENT KINDS OF IRON, & MODE OF TEMPERING IT 2.3 1:55.
42 METAL CALLED LIVE IRON .9 :45.
43 METHODS OF PREVENTING RUST .9 :45.
44 7 Rmds DERIVED FROM IRON .7 :35.
45 Rmds DERIVED FROM RUST .8 :40.
46 Rmds DERIVED FROM SCALES OF IRON. HYGREMPLASTRUM .8 :40.
47 ORES OF LEAD 1.6 1:20.
48 STANNUM. ARGENTARIUM 1.8 1:30.
49 BLACK LEAD 1.1 :55.
50 Rmds DERIVED FROM LEAD 2.2 1:50.
51 Rmds DERIVED FROM SCORIA OF LEAD .6 :30.
52 SPODIUM OF LEAD .3 :15.
53 MOLYBDÆNA: Rmds .9 :45.
54 PSIMITHIUM, OR CERUSE; 6 Rmds 1 :50.
55 SANDARACH; Rmds .6 :30.
56 ARRHENICUM 1.1 :55.
   
35 Paintings & Colors 59 97.9 1:21:35.
1 HONOUR ATTACHED TO PAINTING 1.5 1:15.
2 HONOUR ATTACHED TO PORTRAITS 3.7 3:05.
3 WHEN SHIELDS WERE 1ST INVENTED WITH PORTRAITS UPON THEM; & WHEN THEY WERE 1ST ERECTED IN PUBLIC .6 :30.
4 WHEN THESE SHIELDS WERE 1ST PLACED IN PRIVATE HOUSES 1 :50.
5 COMMENCEMENT OF ART OF PAINTING. MONOCHROME PAINTINGS. EARLIEST PAINTERS 1.1 :55.
6 ANTIQUITY OF PAINTING IN ITALY .8 :40.
7 ROMAN PAINTERS 2.3 1:55.
8 PERIOD FOREIGN PAINTINGS WERE 1ST INTRODUCED AT ROME 1.1 :55.
9 PERIOD PAINTING 1ST HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM AT ROME & FROM WHAT CAUSES .7 :35.
10 WHAT PICTURES EMPERORS HAVE EXHIBITED IN PUBLIC 1.2 1.
11 ART OF PAINTING .8 :40.
12 PIGMENTS OTHER THAN THOSE OF METALLIC ORIGIN. ARTIFICIAL COLOURS .5 :25.
13 SINOPIS: Rmds 1.2 1.
14 RUBRICA; LEMNIAN EARTH: 4 Rmds .8 :40.
15 EGYPTIAN EARTH .2 :10.
16 OCHRA: Rmds DERIVED FROM RUBRICA .3 :15.
17 LEUCOPHORON .2 :10.
18 PARÆTONIUM .4 :20.
19 MELINUM: 6 Rmds. CERUSE .7 :35.
20 USTA .4 :20.
21 ERETRIA .4 :20.
22 SANDARACH .4 :20.
23 SANDYX .3 :15.
24 SYRICUM .2 :10.
25 ATRAMENTUM 1.4 1:10.
26 PURPURISSUM 1 :50.
27 INDICUM .7 :35.
28 ARMENIUM; 1 Rmd .6 :30.
29 APPIANUM .3 :15.
30 ANULARIAN WHITE .3 :15.
31 WHICH COLOURS DO NOT ADMIT OF BEING LAID ON A WET COATING .6 :30.
32 WHAT COLORS WERE USED BY ANCIENTS IN PAINTING .7 :35.
33 AT WHAT TIME COMBATS OF GLADIATORS 1ST PAINTED & PUBLICLY EXHIBITED .8 :40.
34 AGE OF PAINTING; WITH NAMES OF MORE CELEBRATED WORKS & ARTISTS, 405 IN NUMBER 2.3 1:55.
35 1ST CONTEST FOR EXCELLENCE IN PICTORIAL ART 1.2 1.
36 ARTISTS WHO PAINTED WITH PENCIL 24.8 0.
37 VARIOUS OTHER KINDS OF PAINTING 3.8 0.
38 EFFECTUAL WAY OF PUTTING A STOP TO SINGING OF BIRDS S .6 :30.
39 ARTISTS WHO HAVE PAINTED IN ENCAUSTICS OR WAX, WITH EITHER CESTRUM OR PENCIL .5 :25.
40 1ST INVENTORS OF VARIOUS KINDS OF PAINTING. GREATEST DIFFICULTIES IN ART OF PAINTING. SEVERAL VARIETIES OF PAINTING. 1ST ARTIST THAT PAINTED CEILINGS. WHEN ARCHED ROOFS WERE 1ST PAINTED. MARVELLOUS PRICE OF SOME PICTURES 11 0.
41 ENCAUSTIC PAINTING .4 :20.
42 COLORING OF TISSUES .9 :45.
43 INVENTORS OF ART OF MODELLING 1.3 1:05.
44 1ST TO MOULD FIGURES IN IMITATION OF FEATURES OF LIVING PERSONS, OR OF STATUES .6 :30.
45 MOST FAMOUS MODELLERS 2.1 1:45.
46 WORKS IN POTTERY 3.6 3.
47 VARIOUS KINDS OF EARTH. PUTEOLAN DUST, & OTHER EARTHS OF WHICH CEMENTS LIKE STONE ARE MADE 1.4 1:10.
48 FORMACEAN WALLS .6 :30.
49 WALLS OF BRICK. METHOD OF MAKING BRICKS 2 1:40.
50 SULPHUR, & SEVERAL VARIETIES OF IT: Rmds 2.3 1:55.
51 BITUMEN, & SEVERAL VARIETIES; Rmds 2.4 2.
52 ALUMEN, & SEVERAL VARIETIES OF IT; Rmds 4.3 3:25.
53 SAMIAN EARTH: 3 Rmds .6 :30.
54 VARIOUS KINDS OF ERETRIA .4 :20.
55 METHOD OF WASHING EARTHS FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES .4 :20.
56 CHIAN EARTH; 3 Rmds. SELINUSIAN EARTH; 3 Rmds. PNIGITIS; 9 Rmds. AMPELITIS; 4 Rmds .8 :40.
57 CRETACEOUS EARTHS USED FOR SCOURING CLOTH. CIMOLIAN EARTH; 9 Rmds. SARDINIAN EARTH. UMBRIAN EARTH. SAXUM 2.1 1:45.
58 ARGENTARIA. NAMES OF FREEDMEN WHO HAVE EITHER RISEN TO POWER THEMSELVES, OR HAVE BELONGED TO MEN OF INFLUENCE 1.4 1:10.
59 EARTH OF GALATA; OF CLYPEA; OF BALEARES; & OF EBUSUS .7 :35.
   
36 History of Stones 70 96.7 1:20:35.
1 LUXURY DISPLAYED IN USE OF VARIOUS KINDS OF MARBLE 1.8 1:30.
2 1ST TO EMPLOY MARBLE IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS 1.5 1:15.
3 1ST TO ERECT COLUMNS OF FOREIGN MARBLE AT ROME 1 :50.
4 1ST ARTISTS WHO EXCELLED IN SCULPTURE OF MARBLE, & VARIOUS PERIODS AT WHICH THEY FLOURISHED. MAUSOLEUM IN CARIA. MOST CELEBRATED SCULPTORS & WORKS IN MARBLE, 2IN NUMBER 16.3 0.
5 AT WHAT PERIOD MARBLE WAS FIRST USED IN BUILDINGS 1.4 1:10.
6 1ST TO CUT MARBLE INTO SLABS & WHEN .4 :20.
7 1ST TO ENCRUST WALLS OF HOUSES AT ROME WITH MARBLE .7 :35.
8 WHEN VARIOUS KINDS OF MARBLE CAME INTO USE AT ROME 1.1 :55.
9 METHOD OF CUTTING MARBLE INTO SLABS. SAND USED IN CUTTING MARBLE 1.6 1:20.
10 STONE OF NAXOS. STONE OF ARMENIA .3 :15.
11 MARBLES OF ALEXANDRIA 2.3 1:55.
12 ONYX & ALABASTRITES; 6 Rmds 1.2 1.
13 LYGDINUS, CORALLITIC STONE, STONE OF ALABANDA
STONE OF THEBAIS, STONE OF SYENE 1 :50.
14 OBELISKS 3.6 3.
15 OBELISK WHICH SERVES AS A DIAL IN CAMPUS MARTIUS 1.6 1:20.
16 MARVELLOUS WORKS IN EGYPT. PYRAMIDS 1.1 :55.
17 EGYPTIAN SPHINX 2.6 2:10.
18 PHAROS .7 :35.
19 LABYRINTHS 4.2 0.
20 HANGING GARDENS. A HANGING CITY .4 :20.
21 TEMPLE OF DIANA AT EPHESUS 1.6 1:20.
22 MARVELS CONNECTED WITH OTHER TEMPLES .4 :20.
23 FUGITIVE STONE. 7-FOLD ECHO. BUILDINGS ERECTED WITHOUT USE OF NAILS 1 :50.
24 MARVELLOUS BUILDINGS AT ROME, IN NUMBER 12.5 0.
25 MAGNET: 3 Rmds 2.6 2:10.
26 STONE OF SCYROS .2 :10.
27 SARCOPHAGUS, OR STONE OF ASSOS: Rmds .4 :20.
28 CHERNITES 1.1 :55.
29 OSSEOUS STONES. PALM STONES. CORANI. BLACK STONES .8 :40.
30 MOLAR STONES. PYRITES; 7 Rmds 1.5 1:15.
31 OSTRACITES; 4 Rmds. AMIANTHUS; 2 Rmds .4 :20.
32 GEODES; 3 Rmds .2 :10.
33 MELITINUS; 6 Rmds .3 :15.
34 GAGATES: 6 Rmds .8 :40.
SPONGITES: 2 Rmds .2 :10.
36 PHRYGIAN STONE .3 :15.
37 HÆMATITES: 5 Rmds. SCHISTOS: 7 Rmds .8 :40.
38 ÆTHIOPIC HÆMATITES. ANDRODAMAS; 2 Rmds. ARABIAN HÆMATITES. MILTITES OR HEPATITES. ANTHRACITES 1.3 1:05.
39 AËTITES. TAPHIUSIAN STONE. CALLIMUS 1.5 1:15.
40 SAMIAN STONE: 8 Rmds .6 :30.
41 ARABIAN STONE; 6 Rmds .2 :10.
42 PUMICE; 9 Rmds 1.3 1:05.
43 STONES FOR MORTARS USED FOR MEDICINAL & OTHER PURPOSES.
ETESIAN STONE. THEBAIC STONE. CHALAZIAN STONE 1 :50.
44 STONE OF SIPHNOS. SOFT STONES .7 :35.
45 SPECULAR STONES 1.7 1:25.
46 PHENGITES .6 :30.
47 WHETSTONES .8 :40.
48 TOPHUS .9 :45.
49 VARIOUS KINDS OF SILEX .8 :40.
50 OTHER STONES USED FOR BUILDING .4 :20.
51 VARIOUS METHODS OF BUILDING .7 :35.
52 CISTERNS .4 :20.
53 QUICK-LIME .5 :25.
54 VARIOUS KINDS OF SAND. COMBINATIONS OF SAND WITH LIME .4 :20.
55 DEFECTS IN BUILDING. PLASTERS FOR WALLS 1.1 :55.
56 COLUMNS. SEVERAL KINDS OF COLUMNS .9 :45.
57 5 Rmds DERIVED FROM LIME .4 :20.
58 MALTHA .3 :15.
59 Gypsum .9 :45.
60 PAVEMENTS. ASAROTOS ŒCOS .6 :30.
61 1ST PAVEMENTS IN USE AT ROME .5 :25.
62 TERRACE-ROOF PAVEMENTS 1 :50.
63 GRÆCANIC PAVEMENTS .5 :25.
64 WHEN MOSAIC PAVEMENTS WERE FIRST INVENTED. AT WHAT PERIOD ARCHED ROOFS WERE 1ST DECORATED WITH GLASS .8 :40.
65 ORIGIN OF GLASS 1.1 :55.
66 VARIOUS KINDS OF GLASS, & MODE OF MAKING IT 1.9 1:35.
67 OBSIAN GLASS & OBSIAN STONE 1.8 1:30.
68 MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH FIRE 1 :50.
69 3 Rmds DERIVED FROM FIRE & ASHES .7 :35.
70 PRODIGIES CONNECTED WITH HEARTH .9 :45.
  37 History of Precious Stones 77 100.7 1:23:55.  
1 1ST USE OF PRECIOUS STONES 1.1 :55.
2 JEWEL OF POLYCRATES 1 :50.
3 JEWEL OF PYRRBUS 1.4 1:10.
4 WHO WERE MOST SKILLFUL LAPIDARIES.
FINEST SPECIMENS OF ENGRAVING ON PRECIOUS STONES 1.4 1:10.
5 1ST DACTYLIOTHECÆ AT ROME .5 :25.
6 JEWELS DISPLAYED AT ROME IN TRIUMPH OF POMPEIUS MAGNUS 2.7 2:15.
7 PERIOD MURRHINE VESSELS 1ST INTRODUCED AT ROME.
INSTANCES OF LUXURY IN REFERENCE TO THEM 1.6 1:20.
8 NATURE OF MURRHINE VESSELS 1.1 :55.
9 NATURE OF CRYSTAL 1.7 1:25.
10 LUXURY DISPLAYED IN USE OF CRYSTAL. Rmds DERIVED FROM CRYSTAL 1.6 1:20.
11 AMBER & MANY FALSEHOODS TOLD ABOUT IT 8.2 0.
12 SEVERAL KINDS OF AMBER: Rmds DERIVED FROM IT 2.7 2:15.
13 LYNCURIUM: 2 ASSERTED Rmds 1 :50.
14 PRECIOUS STONES CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO PRINCIPAL COLOURS .5 :25.
15 ADAMAS: 6 VARIETIES. 2 Rmds 3.6 3.
16 SMARAGDUS 1.4 1:10.
17 VARIETIES OF SMARAGDUS 1.4 1:10.
18 DEFECTS IN SMARAGDUS 3.3 2:45.
19 PRECIOUS STONE CALLED TANOS. CHALCOSMA-RAGDOS 1 :50.
20 BERYLS: 8 VARIETIES OF THEM. DEFECTS IN BERYLS 1.9 1:35.
21 OPALS: 7 VARIETIES OF THEM 1.3 1:05.
22 DEFECTS IN OPALS: MODES OF TESTING THEM 1.2 1.
23 SARDONYX; SEVERAL VARIETIES OF IT. DEFECTS IN SARDONYX 2.6 2:10.
24 ONYX: SEVERAL VARIETIES 1.2 1.
25 CARBUNCULUS: VARIETIES OF IT 2.8 2:20.
26 DEFECTS IN CARBUNCULUS, & MODE OF TESTING IT .6 :30.
27 ANTHRACITIS .5 :25.
28 SANDASTROS. SANDARESOS 1.5 1:15.
29 LYCHNIS: 4 VARIETIES .6 :30.
30 CARCHEDONIA .6 :30.
31 SARDA: 5 VARIETIES 1.2 1.
32 TOPAZOS: 2 VARIETIES 1.3 1:05.
33 CALLAINA 1.7 1:25.
34 PRASIUS; 3 VARIETIES OF IT .4 :20.
35 NILION .4 :20.
36 MOLOCHITIS .3 :15.
37 IASPIS; VARIETIES OF IT. DEFECTS FOUND IN IASPIS 2.4 2.
38 CYANOS; SEVERAL VARIETIES .6 :30.
39 SAPPHIROS .4 :20.
40 AMETHYSTOS; 4 VARIETIES. SOCONDION. SAPENOS. PHARANITIS. APHRODITES BLEPHARON, ANTEROS, OR PÆDEROS 2.2 1:50.
41 HYACINTHOS .4 :20.
42 CHRYSOLITHOS: 7 VARIETIES OF IT .7 :35.
43 CHRYSELECTRUM .5 :25.
44 LEUCOCHRYSOS: 4 VARIETIES OF IT .4 :20.
45 MELICHRYSOS. XUTHON .3 :15.
46 PÆDEROS, SANGENON, OR TENITES 1.3 1:05.
47 ASTERIA .5 :25.
48 ASTRION .6 :30.
49 ASTRIOTES .2 :10.
50 ASTROBOLOS .2 :10.
51 CERAUNIA; 4 VARIETIES .9 :45.
52 IRIS; 2 VARIETIES 1.2 1.
53 LEROS .2 :10.
54 ACHATES; SEVERAL VARIETIES. ACOPOS; Rmds DERIVED. ALABASTRITIS; Rmds DERIVED. ALECTORIA. ANDRODAMAS. ARGYRODAMAS. ANTIPATHES. ARABICA. AROMATITIS. ASBESTOS. ASPISATIS. ATIZÖE. AUGETIS. AMPHIDANES OR CHRYSOCOLLA. APHRODISIACA. APSYCTOS. ÆGYPTILLA 4.8 4.
55 BALANITES. BATRACHITIS. BAPTES. BELI OCULUS. BELUS. BAROPTENUS OR BARIPPE. BOTRYITIS. BOSTRYCHITIS. BUCARDIA. BRONTEA. BOLOS 1.3 1:05.
56 CADMITIS. CALLAIS. CAPNITIS. CAPPADOCIA. CALLAICA. CATOCHITIS. CATOPTRITIS. CEPITIS OR CEPOLATITIS. CERAMITIS. CINÆDIA. CERITIS. CIRCOS. CORSOÏDES. CORALLOACHATES. CORALLIS. CRATERITIS. CROCALLIS. CYITIS. CHALCOPHONOS. CHELIDONIA. CHELONIA. CHELONITIS. CHLORITIS. CHOASPITIS. CHRYSOLAMPIS. CHRYSOPIS. CEPONIDES 2.9 2:25.
57 DAPHNEA. DIADOCHOS. DIPHYES. DIONYSIAS. DRACONITIS .9 :45.
58 ENCARDIA OR ARISTE. ENORCHIS. EXEBENUS. ERYTHALLS. EROTYLOS. AMPHICOMOS, OR HIEROMNEMON. EUMECES. EUMITHRES. EUPETALOS. EUREOS. EUROTIAS. EUSEBES. EPIMELAS 1.2 1.
59 GALAXIAS. GALACTITIS, LEUCOGÆA, LEUCOGRAPRITIS, OR SYNNEPHITIS. GALLAICA. GASSINADE. GLOSSOPETRA. GORGONIA. GONIAÆA 1.3 1:05.
60 HELIOTROPIUM. HEPILESTITIS. HERMUAIDOION. HEXLCONTALITROS. HIERACITIS. HAMMITIS. HAMMONIS CORNU. HORMISCION. HYÆNIA. HÆMATITIS 2.4 2.
61 IDÆI DACTYLI. ICTERIAS. JOVIS GEMMA. INDICA. ION .8 :40.
62 LEPIDOTIS. LESBIAS. LEUCOPHTHALMOS. LEUCOPŒCILOS. LIBANOCHRUS. LIMONIATIS. LIPAREA. LYSIMACHOS. LEUCOCHRYSOS .6 :30.
63 MEMNONIA. MEDIA. MECONITIS. MITHRAX, MOROCHTHOS. MORMORION OR PROMNION. MURRHITIS. MYRMECIAS. MYRSINITIS. MESOLEUCOS. MESOMELAS 1.1 :55.
64 NASAMONITIS. NEBRITIS. NIPPARENE .3 :15.
65 OICA. OMBRIA OR NOTIA. ONOCARDIA. ORITIS OR SIDERITIS. OSTRACIAS. OSTRITIS. OPHICARDELON. OBSIAN STONE 1 :50.
66 PANCHRUS. PANGONUS. PANEROS OR PANERASTOS. PONTICA; FOUR VARIETIES OF IT. PHLOGINOS OR CHRYSITIS. PHŒNICITIS. PHYCITIS. PERILEUCOS. PÆANITIS OR GÆANIS 1.1 :55.
67 SOLIS GEMMA. SAGDA. SAMOTHRACIA. SAURITIS. SARCITIS. SELENITIS. SIDERITIS. SIDEROPŒCILOS. SPONGITIS. SYNODONTITIS. SYRTITIS. SYRINGITIS 1.2 1.
68 TRICHRUS. THELYRRHIZOS. THELYCARDIOS OR MULC. THRACIA; 3 VARIETIES OF IT. TEPHRITIS. TECOLITHOS .7 :35.
69 VENERIS CRINES. VEIENTANA .2 :10.
70 ZATHENE. ZMILAMPIS. ZORANISCÆA .4 :20.
71 PRECIOUS STONES WHICH DERIVE THEIR NAMES FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF HUMAN BODY. HEPATITIS. STEATITIS. ADADUNEPHROS. ADADUOPHTHALMOS. ADADUDACTYLOS. TRIOPHTHALMOS .5 :25.
72 PRECIOUS STONES WHICH DERIVE THEIR NAMES FROM ANIMALS. CARCINIAS. ECHITIS. SCORPITIS. SCARITIS. TRIGLITIS. ÆGOPHTHALMOS. HYOPHTHALMOS. GERANITIS. HIERACITIS. AETITIS. MYRMECITIS. CANTHARIAS. LYCOPHTHALMOS. TAOS. TIMICTONIA .8 :40.
73 PRECIOUS STONES WHICH DERIVE THEIR NAMES FROM OTHER OBJECTS. HAMMOCHRYSOS. CENCHRITIS. DRYITIS. CISSITIS. NARCISSITIS. CYAMIAS. PYREN. PHŒNICITIS. CHALAZIAS. PYRITIS. POLYZONOS. ASTRAPÆA. PHLOGITIS. ANTHEACITIS. ENHYGROS. POLYTHRIX. LEONTIOS. PAEDALIOS. DROSOLITHOS. MELICHRUS. MELICHLOROS, CROCIAS. POLIAS. SPARTOPOLIAS. RHODITIS. CHALCITIS. SYCITIS. BOSTRYCHITIS. CHERNITIS. ANANCITIS. SYNOCHITIS. DENDRITIS 2.1 1:45.
74 PRECIOUS STONES THAT SUDDENLY MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE. COCHLIDES 1.6 1:20.
75 VARIOUS FORMS OF PRECIOUS STONES 1 :50.
76 METHODS OF TESTING PRECIOUS STONES 1.3 1:05.
77 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF NATURE AS SHE APPEARS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
COMPARATIVE VALUES OF THINGS 3.4 2:50.
 
1 BOOK 1 M
1 DEDICATION M
C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS TO HIS FRIEND TITUS VESPASIAN.
THIS treatise on Natural History, a novel work in Roman literature, which I have just completed, I have taken the liberty to dedicate to you, most gracious Emperor, an appellation peculiarly suitable to you, while, on account of his age, that of great is more appropriate to your Father;—
"For still thou ne'er wouldst quite despise
The trifles that I write;"
if I may be allowed to shelter myself under the example of Catullus, my fellow-countryman, a military term, which you well understand. For he, as you know, when his napkins had been changed, expressed himself a little harshly, from his anxiety to show his friendship for his dear little Veranius and Fabius. At the same time this my importunity may effect, what you complained of my not having done in another too forward epistle of mine; it will put upon record, and let all the world know, with what kindness you exercise the imperial dignity. You, who have had the honour of a triumph, and of the censorship, have been six times consul, and have shared in the tribunate; and, what is still more honourable, whilst you held them in conjunction with your Father, you have presided over the Equestrian order, and been the Prefect of the Prætorians: all this you have done for the service of the Republic, and, at the same time, have regarded me as a fellow-soldier and a messmate. Nor has the extent of your prosperity produced any change in you, except that it has given you the power of doing good to the utmost of your wishes. And whilst all these circumstances increase the veneration which other persons feel for you, with respect to myself, they have made me so bold, as to wish to become more familiar. You must, therefore, place this to your own account, and blame yourself for any fault of this kind that I may commit. But, although I have laid aside my blushes, I have not gained my object; for you still awe me, and keep me at a distance, by the majesty of your understanding. In no one does the force of eloquence and of tribunitian oratory blaze out more powerfully! With what glowing language do you thunder forth the praises of your Father! How dearly do you love your Brother! How admirable is your talent for poetry! What a fertility of genius do you possess, so as to enable you to imitate your Brother! But who is there that is bold enough to form an estimate on these points, if he is to be judged by you, and, more especially, if you are challenged to do so? For the case of those who merely publish their works is very different from that of those who expressly dedicate them to you. In the former case I might say, Emperor! why do you read these things? They are written only for the common people, for farmers or mechanics, or for those who have nothing else to do; why do you trouble yourself with them? Indeed, when I undertook this work, I did not expect that you would sit in judgement upon me; I considered your situation much too elevated for you to descend to such an office. Besides, we possess the right of openly rejecting the opinion of men of learning. M. Tullius himself, whose genius is beyond all competition, uses this privilege; and, remarkable as it may appear, employs an advocate in his own defence:—"I do not write for very learned people; I do not wish my works to be read by Manius Persius, but by Junius Congus." And if Lucilius, who first introduced the satirical style, applied such a remark to himself, and if Cicero thought proper to borrow it, and that more especially in his treatise "De Republica," how much reason have I to do so, who have such a judge to defend myself against! And by this dedication I have deprived myself of the benefit of challenge; for it is a very different thing whether a person has a judge given him by lot, or whether he voluntarily selects one; and we always make more preparation for an invited guest, than for one that comes in unexpectedly. When the candidates for office, during the heat of the canvass, deposited the fine in the hands of Cato, that determined opposer of bribery, rejoicing as he did in his being rejected from what he considered to be foolish honours, they professed to do this out of respect to his integrity; the greatest glory which a man could attain. It was on this occasion that Cicero uttered the noble ejaculation, "How happy are you, Marcus Porcius, of whom no one dares to ask what is dishonourable!" When L. Scipio Asiaticus appealed to the tribunes, among whom was Gracchus, he expressed full confidence that he should obtain an acquittal, even from a judge who was his enemy. Hence it follows, that he who appoints his own judge must absolutely submit to the decision; this choice is therefore termed an appeal. I am well aware, that, placed as you are in the highest station, and gifted with the most splendid eloquence and the most accomplished mind, even those who come to pay their respects to you, do it with a kind of veneration: on this account I ought to be careful that what is dedicated to you should be worthy of you. But the country people, and, indeed, some whole nations offer milk to the Gods, and those who cannot procure frankincense substitute in its place salted cakes; for the Gods are not dissatisfied when they are worshiped by every one to the best of his ability. But my temerity will appear the greater by the consideration, that these volumes, which I dedicate to you, are of such inferior importance. For they do not admit of the display of genius, nor, indeed, is mine one of the highest order; they admit of no excursions, nor orations, nor discussions, nor of any wonderful adventures, nor any variety of transactions, nor, from the barrenness of the matter, of anything particularly pleasant in the narration, or agreeable to the reader. The na- ture of things, and life as it actually exists, are described in them; and often the lowest department of it; so that, in very many cases, I am obliged to use rude and foreign, or even barbarous terms, and these often require to be introduced by a kind of preface. And, besides this, my road is not a beaten track, nor one which the mind is much disposed to travel over. There is no one among us who has ever attempted it, nor is there any one individual among the Greeks who has treated of all the topics. Most of us seek for nothing but amusement in our studies, while others are fond of subjects that are of excessive subtilty, and completely involved in obscurity. My object is to treat of all those things which the Greeks include in the Encyclopædia, which, however, are either not generally known or are rendered dubious from our ingenious conceits. And there are other matters which many writers have given so much in detail that we quite loathe them. It is, indeed, no easy task to give novelty to what is old, and authority to what is new; brightness to what is become tarnished, and light to what is obscure; to render what is slighted acceptable, and what is doubtful worthy of our confidence; to give to all a natural manner, and to each its peculiar nature. It is sufficiently honourable and glorious to have been willing even to make the attempt, although it should prove unsuccessful. And, indeed, I am of opinion, that the studies of those are more especially worthy of our regard, who, after having overcome all difficulties, prefer the useful office of assisting others to the mere gratification of giving pleasure; and this is what I have already done in some of my former works. I confess it surprises me, that T. Livius, so celebrated an author as he is, in one of the books of his history of the city from its origin, should begin with this remark, "I have now obtained a sufficient reputation, so that I might put an end to my work, did not my restless mind require to be supported by employment." Certainly he ought to have composed this work, not for his own glory, but for that of the Roman name, and of the people who were the conquerors of all other nations. It would have been more meritorious to have persevered in his labours from his love of the work, than from the gratification which it afforded himself, and to have accomplished it, not for his own sake, but for that of the Roman people. I have included in thirty-six books , topics, all worthy of attention, (for, as Domitius Piso says, we ought to make not merely books, but valuable collections,) gained by the perusal of about volumes, of which a few only are in the hands of the studious, on account of the obscurity of the subjects, procured by the careful perusal of select authors; and to these I have made considerable additions of things, which were either not known to my predecessors, or which have been lately discovered. Nor can I doubt but that there still remain many things which I have omitted; for I am a mere mortal, and one that has many occupations. I have, therefore, been obliged to compose this work at interrupted intervals, indeed during the night, so that you will find that I have not been idle even during this period. The day I devote to you, exactly portioning out my sleep to the necessity of my health, and contenting myself with this reward, that while we are musing on these subjects (according to the remark of Varro), we are adding to the length of our lives; for life properly consists in being awake. In consideration of these circumstances and these difficulties, I dare promise nothing; but you have done me the most essential service in permitting me to dedicate my work to you. Nor does this merely give a sanction to it, but it determines its value; for things are often conceived to be of great value, solely because they are consecrated in temples. I have given a full account of all your family—your Father, yourself, and your Brother, in a history of our own times, beginning where Aufidius Bassus concludes. You will ask, Where is it? It has been long completed and its accuracy confirmed; but I have determined to commit the charge of it to my heirs, lest I should have been suspected, during my lifetime, of having been unduly influenced by ambition. By this means I confer an obligation on those who occupy the same ground with myself; and also on posterity, who, I am aware, will contend with me, as I have done with my predecessors. You may judge of my taste from my having inserted, in the beginning of my book, the names of the authors that I have consulted. For I consider it to be courteous and to indicate an ingenuous modesty, to acknowledge the sources whence we have derived assistance, and not to act as most of those have done whom I have examined. For I must inform you, that in comparing various authors with each other, I have discovered, that some of the most grave and of the latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making any acknowledgement; not avowedly rivalling them, in the manner of Virgil, or with the candour of Cicero, who, in his treatise "De Republica," professes to coincide in opinion with Plato, and in his Essay on Consolation for his Daughter, says that he follows Crantor, and, in his Offices, Panæcius; volumes, which, as you well know, ought not merely to be always in our hands, but to be learned by heart. For it is indeed the mark of a perverted mind and a bad disposition, to prefer being caught in a theft to returning what we have borrowed, especially when we have acquired capital, by usurious interest. The Greeks were wonderfully happy in their titles. One work they called κηρίον, which means that it was as sweet as a honeycomb; another κέρας ᾿αμαλθείας, or Cornu copiæ, so that you might expect to get even a draught of pigeon's milk from it. Then they have their Flowers, their Muses, Magazines, Manuals, Gardens, Pictures, and Sketches, all of them titles for which a man might be tempted even to forfeit his bail. But when you enter upon the works, O ye Gods and Goddesses! how full of emptiness! Our duller countrymen have merely their Antiquities, or their Examples, or their Arts. I think one of the most humorous of them has his Nocturnal Studies, a term employed by Bibaculus; a name which he richly deserved. Varro, indeed, is not much behind him, when he calls one of his satires A Trick and a Half, and another Turning the Tables. Diodorus was the first among the Greeks who laid aside this trifling manner and named his history The Library. Apion, the grammarian, indeed—he whom Tiberius Cæsar called the Trumpeter of the World, but would rather seem to be the Bell of the Town-crier,—supposed that every one to whom he inscribed any work would thence acquire immortality. I do not regret not having given my work a more fanciful title. That I may not, however, appear to inveigh so completely against the Greeks, I should wish to be considered under the same point of view with those inventors of the arts of painting and sculpture, of whom you will find an account in these volumes, whose works, although they are so perfect that we are never satisfied with admiring them, are inscribed with a temporary title, such as "Apelles, or Polycletus, was doing this;" implying that the work was only commenced and still imperfect, and that the artist might benefit by the criticisms that were made on it and alter any part that required it, if he had not been prevented by death. It is also a great mark of their modesty, that they inscribed their works as if they were the last which they had executed, and as still in hand at the time of their death. I think there are but three works of art which are inscribed positively with the words "such a one executed this;" of these I shall give an account in the proper place. In these cases it appears, that the artist felt the most perfect satisfaction with his work, and hence these pieces have excited the envy of every one. I, indeed, freely admit, that much may be added to my works; not only to this, but to all which I have published. By this admission I hope to escape from the carping critics, and I have the more reason to say this, because I hear that there are certain Stoics and Logicians, and also Epicureans (from the Grammarians I expected as much), who are big with something against the little work I published on Grammar; and that they have been carrying these abortions for ten years together—a longer pregnancy this than the elephant's. But I well know, that even a woman once wrote against Theophrastus, a man so eminent for his eloquence that he obtained his name, which signifies the Divine speaker, and that from this circumstance originated the proverb of choosing a tree to hang oneself. I cannot refrain from quoting the words of Cato the censor, which are so pertinent to this point. It appears from them, that even Cato, who wrote commentaries on military discipline, and who had learned the military art under Africanus, or rather under Hannibal (for he could not endure Africanus, who, when he was his general, had borne away the triumph from him), that Cato, I say, was open to the attacks of such as caught at reputation for themselves by detracting from the merits of others. And what does he say in his book? "I know, that when I shall publish what I have written, there will be many who will do all they can to depreciate it, and, especially, such as are themselves void of all merit; but I let their harangues glide by me." Nor was the remark of Plancus a bad one, when Asinius Pollio was said to be preparing an oration against him, which was to be published either by himself or his children, after the death of Plancus, in order that he might not be able to answer it: "It is only ghosts that fight with the dead." This gave such a blow to the oration, that in the opinion of the learned generally, nothing was ever thought more scandalous. Feeling myself, therefore, secure against these vile slanderers, a name elegantly composed by Cato, to express their slanderous and vile disposition (for what other object have they, but to wrangle and breed quarrels?), I will proceed with my projected work. And because the public good requires that you should be spared as much as possible from all trouble, I have subjoined to this epistle the contents of each of the following books, and have used my best endeavours to prevent your being obliged to read them all through. And this, which was done for your benefit, will also serve the same purpose for others, so that any one may search for what he wishes, and may know where to find it. This has been already done among us by Valerius Soranus, in his work which he entitled "On Mysteries." The 1st book is the Preface of the Work, dedicated to Titus Vespasian Cæsar. The 2nd is on the World, the Elements, and the Heavenly Bodies. The 3rd, th, th and th books are on Geography, in which is contained an account of the situation of the different countries, the inhabitants, the seas, towns, harbours, mountains, rivers, and dimensions, and the various tribes, some of which still exist and others have disappeared. The 7th is on Man, and the Inventions of Man. The 8th on the various kinds of Land Animals. The 9th on Aquatic Animals. The 10th on the various kinds of Birds. The 11th on Insects. The 12th on Odoriferous Plants. The 13th on Exotic Trees. The 14th on Vines. The 15th on Fruit Trees. The 16th on Forest Trees. The 17th on Plants raised in nurseries or gardens. The 18th on the nature of Fruits and the Cerealia, and the pursuits of the Husbandman. The 19th on Flax, Broom, and Gardening. The 20th on the Cultivated Plants that are proper for food and for medicine. The 21st on Flowers and Plants that are used for making Garlands. The 22nd on Garlands, and Medicines made from Plants. The 23rd on Medicines made from Wine and from cultivated Trees. The 24th on Medicines made from Forest Trees. The 25th on Medicines made from Wild Plants. The 26th on New Diseases, and Medicines made, for certain Diseases, from Plants. The 27th on some other Plants and Medicines. The 28th on Medicines procured from Man and from large Animals. The 29th on Medical Authors, and on Medicines from other Animals. The 30th on Magic, and Medicines for certain parts of the Body. The 31st on Medicines from Aquatic Animals. The 32nd on the other properties of Aquatic Animals. The 33rd on Gold and Silver. The 34th on Copper and Lead, and the workers of Copper. The 35th on Painting, Colours, and Painters. The 36th on Marbles and Stones. The 37th on Gems.
 
2 WORLD & ELEMENTS M
2 - 1 WHETHER WORLD BE FINITE, & WHETHER THERE BE MORE THAN ONE WORLD M
The world, and whatever that be which we otherwise call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a Deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created, nor subject, at any time, to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man, nor can the human mind form any conjecture respecting it. It is sacred, eternal, and without bounds, all in all; indeed including everything in itself; finite, yet like what is infinite; the most certain of all things, yet like what is uncertain, externally and internally embracing all things in itself; it is the work of nature, and itself constitutes nature.
It is madness to harass the mind, as some have done, with attempts to measure the world, and to publish these attempts; or, like others, to argue from what they have made out, that there are innumerable other worlds, and that we must believe there to be so many other natures, or that, if only one nature produced the whole, there will be so many suns and so many moons, and that each of them will have immense trains of other heavenly bodies. As if the same question would not recur at every step of our inquiry, anxious as we must be to arrive at some termination; or, as if this infinity, which we ascribe to nature, the former of all things, cannot be more easily comprehended by one single formation, especially when that is so extensive. It is madness, perfect madness, to go out of this world and to search for what is beyond it, as if one who is ignorant of his own dimensions could ascertain the measure of any thing else, or as if the human mind could see what the world itself cannot contain.
 
2 - 2 FORM OF THE WORLD M
That it has the form of a perfect globe we learn from the name which has been uniformly given to it, as well as from numerous natural arguments. For not only does a figure of this kind return everywhere into itself and sustain itself, also including itself, requiring no adjustments, not sensible of either end or beginning in any of its parts, and is best fitted for that motion, with which, as will appear hereafter, it is continually turning round; but still more, because we perceive it, by the evidence of the sight, to be, in every part, convex and central, which could not be the case were it of any other figure.
 
2 - 3 ITS NATURE; WHENCE THE NAME IS DERIVED M
The rising and the setting of the sun clearly prove, that this globe is carried round in the space of twenty-four hours, in an eternal and never-ceasing circuit, and with in- credible swiftness. I am not able to say, whether the sound caused by the whirling about of so great a mass be excessive, and, therefore, far beyond what our ears can perceive, nor, indeed, whether the resounding of so many stars, all carried along at the same time and revolving in their orbits, may not produce a kind of delightful harmony of incredible sweetness. To us, who are in the interior, the world appears to glide silently along, both by day and by night.
Various circumstances in nature prove to us, that there are impressed on the heavens innumerable figures of animals and of all kinds of objects, and that its surface is not perfectly polished like the eggs of birds, as some celebrated authors assert. For we find that the seeds of all bodies fall down from it, principally into the ocean, and, being mixed together, that a variety of monstrous forms are in this way frequently produced. And, indeed, this is evident to the eye; for, in one part, we have the figure of a wain, in another of a bear, of a bull, and of a letter; while, in the middle of them, over our heads, there is a white circle. (.) With respect to the name, I am influenced by the unanimous opinions of all nations. For what the Greeks, from its being ornamented, have termed κόσμος, we, from its perfect and complete elegance, have termed mundus. The name cœlum, no doubt, refers to its being engraven, as it were, with the stars, as Varro suggests. In confirmation of this idea we may adduce the Zodiac, in which are twelve figures of animals; through them it is that the sun has continued its course for so many ages.
 
2 - 4 ELEMENTS AND THE PLANETS M
I do not find that any one has doubted that there are four elements. The highest of these is supposed to be fire, and hence proceed the eyes of so many glittering stars. The next is that spirit, which both the Greeks and ourselves call by the same name, air. It is by the force of this vital principle, pervading all things and mingling with all, that the earth, together with the fourth element, water, is balanced in the middle of space. These are mutually bound together, the lighter being restrained by the heavier, so that they cannot fly off; while, on the contrary, from the lighter tending upwards, the heavier are so suspended, that they cannot fall down. Thus, by an equal tendency in an opposite direction, each of them remains in its appropriate place, bound together by the never-ceasing revolution of the world, which always turning on itself, the earth falls to the lowest part and is in the middle of the whole, while it remains suspended in the centre, and, as it were, balancing this centre, in which it is suspended. So that it alone remains immoveable, whilst all things revolve round it, being connected with every other part, whilst they all rest upon it.
(.) Between this body and the heavens there are suspended, in this aërial spirit, seven stars, separated by determinate spaces, which, on account of their motion, we call wander- ing, although, in reality, none are less so. The sun is carried along in the midst of these, a body of great size and power, the ruler, not only of the seasons and of the different climates, but also of the stars themselves and of the heavens. When we consider his operations, we must regard him as the life, or rather the mind of the universe, the chief regulator and the God of nature; he also lends his light to the other stars. He is most illustrious and excellent, beholding all things and hearing all things, which, I perceive, is ascribed to him exclusively by the prince of poets, Homer.
 
2 - 5 GOD M
I consider it, therefore, an indication of human weakness to inquire into the figure and form of God. For whatever God be, if there be any other God, and wherever he exists, he is all sense, all sight, all hearing, all life, all mind, and all within himself. To believe that there are a number of Gods, derived from the virtues and vices of man, as Chastity, Concord, Understanding, Hope, Honour, Clemency, and Fidelity; or, according to the opinion of Democritus, that there are only two, Punishment and Reward, indicates still greater folly. Human nature, weak and frail as it is, mindful of its own infirmity, has made these divisions, so that every one might have recourse to that which he supposed himself to stand more particularly in need of. Hence we find different names employed by different nations; the inferior deities are arranged in classes, and diseases and plagues are deified, in consequence of our anxious wish to propitiate them. It was from this cause that a temple was dedicated to Fever, at the public expense, on the Palatine Hill, and to Orbona, near the Temple of the Lares, and that an altar was elected to Good Fortune on the Esquiline. Hence we may understand how it comes to pass that there is a greater population of the Celestials than of human beings, since each individual makes a separate God for himself, adopting his own Juno and his own Genius. And there are nations who make Gods of certain animals, and even certain obscene things, which are not to be spoken of, swearing by stinking meats and such like. To suppose that marriages are contracted between the Gods, and that, during so long a period, there should have been no issue from them, that some of them should be old and always grey- headed and others young and like children, some of a dark complexion, winged, lame, produced from eggs, living and dying on alternate days, is sufficiently puerile and foolish. But it is the height of impudence to imagine, that adultery takes place between them, that they have contests and quarrels, and that there are Gods of theft and of various crimes. To assist man is to be a God; this is the path to eternal glory. This is the path which the Roman nobles formerly pursued, and this is the path which is now pursued by the greatest ruler of our age, Vespasian Augustus, he who has come to the relief of an exhausted empire, as well as by his sons. This was the ancient mode of remunerating those who deserved it, to regard them as Gods. For the names of all the Gods, as well as of the stars that I have mentioned above, have been derived from their services to mankind. And with respect to Jupiter and Mercury, and the rest of the celestial nomenclature, who does not admit that they have reference to certain natural phænomena? But it is ridiculous to suppose, that the great head of all things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs. Can we believe, or rather can there be any doubt, that it is not polluted by such a disagreeable and complicated office? It is not easy to determine which opinion would be most for the advantage of mankind, since we observe some who have no respect for the Gods, and others who carry it to a scandalous excess. They are slaves to foreign ceremonies; they carry on their fingers the Gods and the monsters whom they worship; they condemn and they lay great stress on certain kinds of food; they impose on themselves dreadful ordinances, not even sleeping quietly. They do not marry or adopt children, or indeed do anything else, without the sanction of their sacred rites. There are others, on the contrary, who will cheat in the very Capitol, and will forswear themselves even by Jupiter Tonans, and while these thrive in their crimes, the others torment themselves with their superstitions to no purpose.
Among these discordant opinions mankind have discovered for themselves a kind of intermediate deity, by which our scepticism concerning God is still increased. For all over the world, in all places, and at all times, Fortune is the only god whom every one invokes; she alone is spoken of, she alone is accused and is supposed to be guilty; she alone is in our thoughts, is praised and blamed, and is loaded with reproaches; wavering as she is, conceived by the generality of mankind to be blind, wandering, inconstant, uncertain, variable, and often favouring the unworthy. To her are referred all our losses and all our gains, and in casting up the accounts of mortals she alone balances the two pages of our sheet. We are so much in the power of chance, that change itself is considered as a God, and the existence of God becomes doubtful. But there are others who reject this principle and assign events to the influence of the stars, and to the laws of our nativity; they suppose that God, once for all, issues his decrees and never afterwards interferes. This opinion begins to gain ground, and both the learned and the unlearned vulgar are falling into it. Hence we have the admonitions of thunder, the warnings of oracles, the predictions of soothsayers, and things too trifling to be mentioned, as sneezing and stumbling with the feet reckoned among omens. The late Emperor Augustus relates, that he put the left shoe on the wrong foot, the day when he was near being assaulted by his soldiers. And such things as these so embarrass improvident mortals, that among all of them this alone is certain, that there is nothing certain, and that there is nothing more proud or more wretched than man. For other animals have no care but to provide for their subsistence, for which the spontaneous kindness of nature is all-sufficient; and this one circumstance renders their lot more especially preferable, that they never think about glory, or money, or ambition, and, above all, that they never reflect on death. The belief, however, that on these points the Gods superintend human affairs is useful to us, as well as that the punishment of crimes, although sometimes tardy, from the Deity being occupied with such a mass of business, is never entirely remitted, and that the human race was not made the next in rank to himself, in order that they might be degraded like brutes. And indeed this constitutes the great comfort in this imperfect state of man, that even the Deity cannot do everything. For he cannot procure death for himself, even if he wished it, which, so numerous are the evils of life, has been granted to man as our chief good. Nor can he make mortals immortal, or recall to life those who are dead; nor can he effect, that he who has once lived shall not have lived, or that he who has enjoyed honours shall not have enjoyed them; nor has he any influence over past events but to cause them to be forgotten. And, if we illustrate the nature of our connexion with God by a less serious argument, he cannot make twice ten not to be twenty, and many other things of this kind. By these considerations the power of Nature is clearly proved, and is shown to be what we call God. It is not foreign to the subject to have digressed into these matters, familiar as they are to every one, from the continual discussions that take place respecting God.
 
2 - 6 NATURE OF THE STARS; OF THE MOTION OF THE PLANETS M
Let us return from this digression to the other parts of nature. The stars which are described as fixed in the heavens, are not, as the vulgar suppose, attached each of them to different individuals, the brighter to the rich, those that are less so to the poor, and the dim to the aged, shining according to the lot of the individual, and separately assigned to mortals; for they have neither come into existence, nor do they perish in connexion with particular persons, nor does a falling star indicate that any one is dead. We are not so closely connected with the heavens as that the shining of the stars is affected by our death. When they are supposed to shoot or fall, they throw out, by the force of their fire, as if from an excess of nutriment, the superabundance of the humour which they have absorbed, as we observe to take place from the oil in our lamps, when they are burning. The nature of the celestial bodies is eternal, being interwoven, as it were, with the world, and, by this union, rendering it solid; but they exert their most powerful influence on the earth. This, notwithstanding its subtilty, may be known by the clearness and the magnitude of the effect, as we shall point out in the proper place. The account of the circles of the heavens will be better understood when we come to speak of the earth, since they have all a reference to it; except what has been discovered respecting the Zodiac, which I shall now detail.
Anaximander the Milesian, in the th olympiad, is said to have been the first who understood its obliquity, and thus opened the road to a correct knowledge of the subject. Afterwards Cleostratus made the signs in it, first marking those of Aries and Sagittarius; Atlas had formed the sphere long before this time. But now, leaving the further consideration of this subject, we must treat of the bodies that are situated between the earth and the heavens. It is certain that the star called Saturn is the highest, and therefore appears the smallest, that he passes through the largest circuit, and that he is at least thirty years in completing it. The course of all the planets, and among others of the Sun, and the Moon, is in the contrary direction to that of the heavens, that is towards the left, while the hea- vens are rapidly carried about to the right. And although, by the stars constantly revolving with immense velocity, they are raised up, and hurried on to the part where they set, yet they are all forced, by a motion of their own, in an opposite direction; and this is so ordered, lest the air, being always moved in the same direction, by the constant whirling of the heavens, should accumulate into one mass, whereas now it is divided and separated and beaten into small pieces, by the opposite motion of the different stars. Saturn is a star of a cold and rigid nature, while the orbit of Jupiter is much lower, and is carried round in twelve years. The next star, Mars, which some persons call Hercules, is of a fiery and burning nature, and from its nearness to the sun is carried round in little less than two years. In consequence of the excessive heat of this star and the rigidity of Saturn, Jupiter, which is interposed between the two, is tempered by both of them, and is thus rendered salutary. The path of the Sun consists of degrees; but, in order that the shadow may return to the same point of the dial, we are obliged to add, in each year, five days and the fourth part of a day. On this account an intercalary day is given to every fifth year, that the period of the seasons may agree with that of the Sun. Below the Sun revolves the great star called Venus, wandering with an alternate motion, and, even in its surnames, rivalling the Sun and the Moon. For when it precedes the day and rises in the morning, it receives the name of Lucifer, as if it were another sun, hastening on the day. On the contrary, when it shines in the west, it is named Vesper, as prolonging the light, and performing the office of the moon. Pythagoras, the Samian, was the first who discovered its nature, about the nd olympiad, in the nd year of the City. It excels all the other stars in size, and its brilliancy is so considerable, that it is the only star which produces a shadow by its rays. There has, consequently, been great interest made for its name; some have called it the star of Juno, others of Isis, and others of the Mother of the Gods. By its influence everything in the earth is generated. For, as it rises in either direction, it sprinkles everything with its genial dew, and not only matures the productions of the earth, but stimulates all living things. It completes the circuit of the zodiac in days, never receding from the sun more than degrees, according to Timæus. Similarly circumstanced, but by no means equal in size and in power, next to it, is the star Mercury, by some called Apollo; it is carried in a lower orbit, and moves in a course which is quicker by nine days, shining sometimes before the rising of the sun, and at other times after its setting, but never going farther from it than degrees, as we learn from Timæus and Sosigenes. The nature of these two stars is peculiar, and is not the same with those mentioned above, for those are seen to recede from the sun through one-third or one-fourth part of the heavens, and are often seen opposite to it. They have also other larger circuits, in which they make their complete revolutions, as will be described in the account of the great year. (.) But the Moon, which is the last of the stars, and the one the most connected with the earth, the remedy provided by nature for darkness, excels all the others in its admirable qualities. By the variety of appearances which it assumes, it puzzles the observers, mortified that they should be the most ignorant concerning that star which is the nearest to them. She is always either waxing or waning; sometimes her disc is curved into horns, sometimes it is divided into two equal portions, and at other times it is swelled out into a full orb; sometimes she appears spotted and suddenly becomes very bright; she appears very large with her full orb and suddenly becomes invisible; now continuing during all the night, now rising late, and now aiding the light of the sun during a part of the day; becoming eclipsed and yet being visible while she is eclipsed; concealing herself at the end of the month and yet not supposed to be eclipsed. Sometimes she is low down, sometimes she is high up, and that not according to one uniform course, being at one time raised up to the heavens, at other times almost contiguous to the mountains; now elevated in the north, now depressed in the south; all which circumstances having been noticed by Endymion, a report was spread about, that he was in love with the moon. We are not indeed sufficiently grateful to those, who, with so much labour and care, have enlightened us with this light; while, so diseased is the human mind, that we take pleasure in writing the annals of blood and slaughter, in order that the crimes of men may be made known to those who are ignorant of the constitution of the world itself. Being nearest to the axis, and therefore having the smallest orbit, the Moon passes in twenty-seven days and the one-third part of a day, through the same space for which Saturn, the highest of the planets, as was stated above, requires thirty years. After remaining for two days in conjunction with the sun, on the thirtieth day she again very slowly emerges to pursue her accustomed course. I know not whether she ought not to be considered as our instructress in everything that can be known respecting the heavens; as that the year is divided into the twelve divisions of the months, since she follows the sun for the same number of times, until he returns to the commencement of his course; and that her brightness, as well as that of the other stars, is regulated by that of the sun, if indeed they all of them shine by light borrowed from him, such as we see floating about, when it is reflected from the surface of water. On this account it is that she dissolves so much moisture, by a gentle and less perfect force, and adds to the quantity of that which the rays of the sun con- sume. On this account she appears with an unequal light, because being full only when she is in opposition, on all the remaining days she shows only so much of herself to the earth as she receives light from the sun. She is not seen in conjunction, because, at that time, she sends back the whole stream of light to the source whence she has derived it. That the stars generally are nourished by the terrestrial moisture is evident, because, when the moon is only half visible she is sometimes seen spotted, her power of absorbing moisture not having been powerful enough; for the spots are nothing else than the dregs of the earth drawn up along with the moisture. (.) But her eclipses and those of the sun, the most wonderful of all the phænomena of nature, and which are like prodigies, serve to indicate the magnitude of these bodies and the shadow which they cast.
 
2 - 7 ECLIPSES OF THE MOON AND THE SUN M
For it is evident that the sun is hid by the intervention of the moon, and the moon by the opposition of the earth, and that these changes are mutual, the moon, by her interposition, taking the rays of the sun from the earth, and the earth from the moon. As she advances darkness is suddenly produced, and again the sun is obscured by her shade; for night is nothing more than the shade of the earth. The figure of this shade is like that of a pyramid or an inverted top; and the moon enters it only near its point, and it does not exceed the height of the moon, for there is no other star which is obscured in the same manner, while a figure of this kind always terminates in a point. The flight of birds, when very lofty, shows that shadows do not extend beyond a certain distance; their limit appears to be the termination of the air and the commencement of the æther. Above the moon everything is pure and full of an eternal light. The stars are visible to us in the night, in the same way that other luminous bodies are seen in the dark. It is from these causes that the moon is eclipsed during the night. The two kinds of eclipses are not, however, at the stated monthly periods, on account of the obliquity of the zodiac, and the irregularly wandering course of the moon, as stated above; besides that the motions of these stars do not always occur exactly at the same points.
 
2 - 8 MAGNITUDE OF THE STARS M
This kind of reasoning carries the human mind to the heavens, and by contemplating the world as it were from thence, it discloses to us the magnitude of the three greatest bodies in nature. For the sun could not be entirely concealed from the earth, by the intervention of the moon, if the earth were greater than the moon. And the vast size of the third body, the sun, is manifest from that of the other two, so that it is not necessary to scrutinize its size, by arguing from its visible appearance, or from any conjectures of the mind; it must be immense, because the shadows of rows of trees, extending for any number of miles, are disposed in right lines, as if the sun were in the middle of space. Also, because, at the equinox, he is vertical to all the inhabitants of the southern districts at the same time; also, because the shadows of all the people who live on this side of the tropic fall, at noon, towards the north, and, at sunrise, point to the west. But this could not be the case unless the sun were much greater than the earth; nor, unless it much exceeded Mount Ida in breadth, could he be seen when he rises, passing considerably beyond it to the right and to the left, especially, considering that it is separated by so great an interval.
The eclipse of the moon affords an undoubted argument of the sun's magnitude, as it also does of the small size of the earth. For there are shadows of three figures, and it is evident, that if the body which produces the shadow be equal to the light, then it will be thrown off in the form of a pillar, and have no termination. If the body be greater than the light, the shadow will be in the form of an inverted cone, the bottom being the narrowest part, and being, at the same time, of an infinite length. If the body be less than the light, then we shall have the figure of a pyramid, terminating in a point. Now of this last kind is the shadow which produces the eclipse of the moon, and this is so manifest that there can be no doubt remaining, that the earth is exceeded in magnitude by the sun, a circumstance which is indeed indicated by the silent declaration of nature herself. For why does he recede from us at the winter half of the year? That by the darkness of the nights the earth may be refreshed, which otherwise would be burned up, as indeed it is in certain parts; so great is his size.
 
2 - 9 OBSERVATIONS MADE ON THE HEAVENS BY DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS M
The first among the Romans, who explained to the people at large the cause of the two kinds of eclipses, was Sulpicius Gallus, who was consul along with Marcellus; and when he was only a military tribune he relieved the army from great anxiety the day before king Perseus was conquered by Paulus; for he was brought by the general into a public assembly, in order to predict the eclipse, of which he afterwards gave an account in a separate treatise. Among the Greeks, Thales the Milesian first investigated the subject, in the fourth year of the forty-eighth olympiad, predicting the eclipse of the sun which took place in the reign of Alyattes, in the th year of the City. After them Hipparchus calculated the course of both these stars for the term of years, including the months, days, and hours, the situation of the different places and the aspects adapted to each of them; all this has been confirmed by experience, and could only be acquired by partaking, as it were, in the councils of nature. These were indeed great men, superior to ordinary mortals, who having discovered the laws of these divine bodies, relieved the miserable mind of man from the fear which he had of eclipses, as foretelling some dreadful events or the destruction of the stars. This alarm is freely acknowledged in the sublime strains of Stesichorus and Pindar, as being produced by an eclipse of the sun. And with respect to the eclipse of the moon, mortals impute it to witchcraft, and therefore endeavour to aid her by producing discordant sounds. In consequence of this kind of terror it was that Nicias, the general of the Athenians, being ignorant of the cause, was afraid to lead out the fleet, and brought great distress on his troops. Hail to your genius, ye interpreters of heaven! ye who comprehend the nature of things, and who have discovered a mode of reasoning by which ye have conquered both gods and men! For who is there, in observing these things and seeing the labours which the stars are compelled to undergo (since we have chosen to apply this term to them), that would not cheerfully submit to his fate, as one born to die? I shall now, in a brief and summary manner, touch on those points in which we are agreed, giving the reasons where it is necessary to do so; for this is not a work of profound argument, nor is it less wonderful to be able to suggest a probable cause for everything, than to give a complete account of a few of them only.
 
2 - 10 RECURRENCE OF THE ECLIPSES OF THE SUN AND THE MOON M
It is ascertained that the eclipses complete their whole revolution in the space of months, that the eclipse of the sun takes place only at the conclusion or the commencement of a lunation, which is termed conjunction, while an eclipse of the moon takes place only when she is at the full, and is always a little farther advanced than the preceding eclipse. Now there are eclipses of both these stars in every year, which take place below the earth, at stated days and hours; and when they are above it they are not always visible, sometimes on account of the clouds, but more frequently, from the globe of the earth being opposed to the vault of the heavens. It was discovered two hundred years ago, by the sagacity of Hipparchus, that the moon is sometimes eclipsed after an interval of five months, and the sun after an interval of seven; also, that he becomes invisible, while above the horizon, twice in every thirty days, but that this is seen in different places at different times. But the most wonderful circumstance is, that while it is admitted that the moon is darkened by the shadow of the earth, this occurs at one time on its western, and at another time on its eastern side. And farther, that although, after the rising of the sun, that darkening shadow ought to be below the earth, yet it has once happened, that the moon has been eclipsed in the west, while both the luminaries have been above the horizon. And as to their both being invisible in the space of fifteen days, this very thing happened while the Vespasians were emperors, the father being consul for the third time, and the son for the second.
 
2 - 11 MOTION OF THE MOON M
It is certain that the moon, having her horns always turned from the sun, when she is waxing, looks towards the east; when she is waning, towards the west. Also, that, from the second day after the change, she adds / minutes each day, until she is full, and again decreases at the same rate, and that she always becomes invisible when she is within degrees of the sun. This is an argument of the greater size of the planets than of the moon, since these emerge when they are at the distance of degrees only. But their altitude causes them to appear much smaller, as we observe that, during the day, the brightness of the sun prevents those bodies from being seen which are fixed in the firmament, although they shine then as well as in the night: that this is the case is proved by eclipses, and by descending into very deep wells.
 
2 - 12 OF THE MOTIONS OF THE PLANETS AND THE GENERAL LAWS OF THEIR ASPECTS M
The three planets, which, as we have said, are situated above the sun, are visible when they come into conjunction with him. They rise visibly3 in the morning, when they are not more than degrees from the sunthey are afterwards directed by the contact of his raysand when they attain the trine aspect, at the distance of 1degrees, they take their morning stationary positionswhich are termed pri- mary; afterwards, when they are in opposition to the sun, they rise at the distance of 1degrees from him. And again advancing on the other side to the 120th degree, they attain their evening stations, which are termed secondary, until the sun having arrived within degrees of them, what is called their evening setting becomes no longer visibleMars, as being nearer to the sun, feels the influence of his rays in the quadrature, at the distance of degrees, whence that motion receives its name, being termed, from the two risings, respectively the first and the second nonagenarianThis planet passes from one station to another in six months, or is two months in each sign; the two other planets do not spend more than four months in passing from station to station.
The two inferior planets are, in like manner, concealed in their evening conjunction, and, when they have left the sun, they rise in the morning the same number of degrees distant from him. After having arrived at their point of greatest elongationthey then follow the sun, and having overtaken him at their morning setting, they become invisible and pass beyond him. They then rise in the evening, at the distances which were mentioned above. After this they return back to the sun and are concealed in their evening setting. The star Venus becomes stationary when at its two points of greatest elongation, that of the morning and of the evening, according to their respective risings. The stationary points of Mercury are so very brief, that they cannot be correctly observed.
 
2 - 13 WHY SAME STARS APPEAR SOME TIMES MORE LOFTY & OTHER TIMES MORE NEAR M
The above is an account of the aspects and the occultations of the planets, a subject which is rendered very complicated by their motions, and is involved in much that is wonderful; especially, when we observe that they change their size and colour, and that the same stars at one time approach the north, and then go to the south, and are now seen near the earth, and then suddenly approach the heavens. If on this subject I deliver opinions different from my predecessors, I acknowledge that I am indebted for them to those individuals who first pointed out to us the proper mode of inquiry; let no one then ever despair of benefiting future ages.
But these things depend upon many different causes. The first cause is the nature of the circles described by the stars, which the Greeks term apsides, for we are obliged to use Greek terms. Now each of the planets has its own circle, and this a different one from that of the world; because the earth is placed in the centre of the heavens, with respect to the two extremities, which are called the poles, and also in that of the zodiac, which is situated obliquely between them. And all these things are made evident by the infallible results which we obtain by the use of the compasses. Hence the apsides of the planets have each of them different centres, and consequently they have different orbits and motions, since it necessarily follows, that the interior apsides are the shortest. (.) The apsides which are the highest from the centre of the earth are, for Saturn, when he is in Scorpio, for Jupiter in Virgo, for Mars in Leo, for the Sun in Gemini, for Venus in Sagittarius, and for Mercury in Capricorn, each of them in the middle of these signs; while in the opposite signs, they are the lowest and nearest to the centre of the earth. Hence it is that they appear to move more slowly when they are carried along the highest circuit; not that their actual motions are accelerated or retarded, these being fixed and determinate for each of them; but because it necessarily follows, that lines drawn from the highest apsis must approach nearer to each other at the centre, like the spokes of a wheel; and that the same motion seems to be at one time greater, and at another time less, according to the distance from the centre. Another cause of the altitudes of the planets is, that their highest apsides, with relation to their own centres, are in different signs from those mentioned above. Saturn is in the th degree of Libra, Jupiter in the th of Cancer, Mars in the th of Capricorn, the Sun in the th of Aries, Venus in the th of Pisces, Mercury in the th of Virgo, and the Moon in the rd of Taurus. The third cause of the altitude depends on the form of the heavens, not on that of the orbits; the stars appearing to the eye to mount up and to descend through the depth of the air. With this cause is connected that which depends on the latitude of the planets and the obliquity of the zodiac. It is through this belt that the stars which I have spoken of are carried, nor is there any part of the world habitable, except what lies under it; the remainder, which is at the poles, being in a wild desert state. The planet Venus alone exceeds it by degrees, which we may suppose to be the cause why some animals are produced even in these desert regions of the earth. The moon also wanders the whole breadth of the zodiac, but never exceeds it. Next to these the planet Mercury moves through the greatest space; yet out of the degrees (for there are so many degrees of latitude in the zodiac), it does not pass through more than , nor does it go equally through these, of them being in the middle of the zodiac, in the upper part, and in the lower part. Next to these the Sun is carried through the middle of the zodiac, winding unequally through the two parts of his tortuous circuit. The star Mars occupies the four middle degrees; Jupiter the middle degree and the two above it; Saturn, like the sun, occupies two. The above is an account of the latitudes as they descend to the south or ascend to the north. Hence it is plain that the generality of persons are mistaken in supposing the third cause of the apparent altitude to depend on the stars rising from the earth and climbing up the heavens. But to refute this opinion it is necessary to consider the subject with very great minuteness, and to embrace all the causes. It is generally admitted, that the stars, at the time of their evening setting, are nearest to the earth, both with respect to latitude and altitude, that they are at the commencement of both at their morning risings, and that they become stationary at the middle points of their latitudes, what are called the ecliptics. It is, moreover, acknowledged, that their motion is increased when they are in the vicinity of the earth, and diminished when they are removed to a greater altitude; a point which is most clearly proved by the different altitudes of the moon. There is no doubt that it is also increased at the morning risings, and that the three superior planets are retarded, as they advance from the first station to the second. And since this is the case, it is evident, that the latitudes are increased from the time of their morning risings, since the motions afterwards appear to receive less addition; but they gain their altitude in the first station, since the rate of their motion then begins to diminish, and the stars to recede. And the reason of this must be particularly set forth. When the planets are struck by the rays of the sun, in the, situation which I have described, i. e. in their quadrature, they are prevented from holding on their straight forward course, and are raised on high by the force of the fire. This cannot be immediately perceived by the eye, and therefore they seem to be stationary, and hence the term station is derived. Afterwards the violence of the rays increases, and the vapour being beaten back forces them to recede. This exists in a greater degree in their evening risings, the sun being then turned entirely from them, when they are drawn into the highest apsides; and they are then the least visible, since they are at their greatest altitude and are carried along with the least motion, as much less indeed as this takes place in the highest signs of the apsides. At the time of the evening rising the latitude decreases and becomes less as the motion is diminished, and it does not increase again until they arrive at the second station, when the altitude is also diminished; the sun's rays then coming from the other side, the same force now therefore propels them towards the earth which before raised them into the heavens, from their former triangular aspect. So different is the effect whether the rays strike the planets from below or come to them from above. And all these circumstances produce much more effect when they occur in the evening setting. This is the doctrine of the superior planets; that of the others is more difficult, and has never been laid down by any one before me.
 
2 - 14 WHY THE SAME STARS HAVE DIFFERENT MOTIONS M
I must first state the cause, why the star Venus never recedes from the sun more than degrees, nor Mercury more than , while they frequently return to the sun within this distance. As they are situated below the sun, they have both of them their apsides turned in the contrary direction; their orbits are as much below the earth as those of the stars above mentioned are above it, and therefore they cannot recede any farther, since the curve of their apsides has no greater longitude. The extreme parts of their apsides therefore assign the limits to each of them in the same manner, and compensate, as it were, for the small extent of their longitudes, by the great divergence of their latitudes. It may be asked, why do they not always proceed as far as the th and the rd degrees respectively? They in reality do so, but the theory fails us here. For it would appear that the apsides are themselves moved, as they never pass over the sun. When therefore they have arrived at the extremities of their orbits on either side, the stars are then supposed to have proceeded to their greatest distance; when they have been a certain number of degrees within their orbits, they are then supposed to return more rapidly, since the extreme point in each is the same. And on this account it is that the direction of their motion appears to be changed. For the superior planets are carried along the most quickly in their evening setting, while these move the most slowly; the former are at their greatest distance from the earth when they move the most slowly, the latter when they move the most quickly. The former are accelerated when nearest to the earth, the latter when at the extremity of the circle; in the former the rapidity of the motion begins to diminish at their morning risings, in the latter it begins to increase; the former are retrograde from their morning to their evening station, while Venus is retrograde from the evening to the morning station. She begins to increase her latitude from her morning rising, her altitude follows the sun from her morning station, her motion being the quickest and her altitude the greatest in her morning setting. Her latitude decreases and her altitude diminishes from her evening rising, she becomes retrograde, and at the same time decreases in her altitude from her evening station.
Again, the star Mercury, in the same way, mounts up in both directions from his morning rising, and having followed the sun through a space of degrees, he becomes almost stationary for four days. Presently he diminishes his altitude, and recedes from his evening setting to his morning rising. Mercury and the Moon are the only planets which descend for the same number of days that they ascend. Venus ascends for fifteen days and somewhat more; Saturn and Jupiter descend in twice that number of days, and Mars in four times. So great is the variety of nature! The reason of it is, however, evident; for those planets which are forced up by the vapour of the sun likewise descend with difficulty.
 
2 - 15 GENERAL LAWS OF THE PLANETS M
There are many other secrets of nature in these points, as well as the laws to which they are subject, which might be mentioned. For example, the planet Mars, whose course is the most difficult to observe, never becomes stationary when Jupiter is in the trine aspect, very rarely when he is degrees from the sun, which number is one-sixth of the circuit of the heavens; nor does he ever rise in the same sign with Jupiter, except in Cancer and Leo. The star Mercury seldom has his evening risings in Pisces, but very frequently in Virgo, and his morning risings in Libra; he has also his morning rising in Aquarius, very rarely in Leo. He never becomes retrograde either in Taurus or in Gemini, nor until the th degree of Cancer. The Moon makes her double conjunction with the sun in no other sign except Gemini, while Sagittarius is the only sign in which she has sometimes no conjunction at all. The old and the new moon are visible on the same day or night in no other sign except Aries, and indeed it has happened very seldom to any one to have witnessed it. From this circumstance it was that the tale of Lynceus's quick-sightedness originated. Saturn and Mars are invisible at most for days; Jupiter for , or, at the least, for days less than this; Venus for , or, at the least, for ; Mercury for , or, at the most, for .
 
2 - 16 REASON WHY THE STARS ARE OF DIFFERENT COLOURS M
The difference of their colour depends on the difference in their altitudes; for they acquire a resemblance to those planets into the vapour of which they are carried, the orbit of each tinging those that approach it in each direction. A colder planet renders one that approaches it paler, one more hot renders it redder, a windy planet gives it a lowering aspect, while the sun, at the union of their apsides, or the extremity of their orbits, completely obscures them. Each of the planets has its peculiar colour; Saturn is white, Jupiter brilliant, Mars fiery, Lucifer is glowing, Vesper refulgent, Mercury sparkling, the Moon mild; the Sun, when he rises, is blazing, afterwards he becomes radiating. The appearance of the stars, which are fixed in the firmament, is also affected by these causes. At one time we see a dense cluster of stars around the moon, when she is only half-enlightened, and when they are viewed in a serene evening; while, at another time, when the moon is full, there are so few to be seen, that we wonder whither they are fled; and this is also the case when the rays of the sun, or of any of the above-mentioned bodies, have dazzled our sight. And, indeed, the moon herself is, without doubt, differently affected at different times by the rays of the sun; when she is entering them, the convexity of the heavens rendering them more feeble than when they fall upon her more directly. Hence, when she is at a right angle to the sun, she is half-enlightened; when in the trine aspect, she presents an imperfect orb, while, in opposition, she is full. Again, when she is waning, she goes through the same gradations, and in the same order, as the three stars that are superior to the sun.
 
2 - 17 MOTION OF THE SUN AND THE CAUSE OF THE IRREGULARITY OF THE DAYS M
The Sun himself is in four different states; twice the night is equal to the day, in the Spring and in the Autumn, when he is opposed to the centre of the earth, in the th degree of Aries and Libra. The length of the day and the night is then twice changed, when the day increases in length, from the winter solstice in the th degree of Capricorn, and afterwards, when the night increases in length from the summer solstice in the th degree of Cancer. The cause of this inequality is the obliquity of the zodiac, since there is, at every moment of time, an equal portion of the firmament above and below the horizon. But the signs which mount directly upwards, when they rise, retain the light for a longer space, while those that are more oblique pass along more quickly.
 
2 - 18 WHY THUNDER IS ASCRIBED TO JUPITER M
It is not generally known, what has been discovered by men who are the most eminent for their learning, in consequence of their assiduous observations of the heavens, that the fires which fall upon the earth, and receive the name of thunder-bolts, proceed from the three superior stars, but principally from the one which is situated in the middle. It may perhaps depend on the superabundance of moisture from the superior orbit communicating with the heat from the inferior, which are expelled in this manner; and hence it is commonly said, the thunder-bolts are darted by Jupiter. And as, in burning wood, the burnt part is cast off with a crackling noise, so does the star throw off this celestial fire, bearing the omens of future events, even the part which is thrown off not losing its divine operation. And this takes place more particularly when the air is in an unsettled state, either because the moisture which is then collected excites the greatest quantity of fire, or because the air is disturbed, as if by the parturition of the pregnant star.
 
2 - 19 DISTANCES OR THE STARS M
Many persons have attempted to discover the distance of the stars from the earth, and they have published as the result, that the sun is nineteen times as far from the moon, as the moon herself is from the earth. Pythagoras, who was a man of a very sagacious mind, computed the distance from the earth to the moon to be , furlongs, that from her to the sun is double this distance, and that it is three times this distance to the twelve signs; and this was also the opinion of our countryman, Gallus Sulpicius.
Alexandre remarks, that Pliny mentions this, not as his own opinion, but that of many persons; for, in chap. , he attempts to prove mathematically, that the moon is situated at an equal distance between the sun and the earth; Lemaire, ii. . Marcus remarks upon the inconsistency between the account here given of Pythagoras's opinion, and what is generally supposed to have been his theory of the planetary system, according to which the sun, and not the earth, is placed in the centre; Enfield's Philosophy, i. , . Yet we find that Plato, and many others among the ancients, give us the same account of Pythagoras's doctrine of the respective distances of the heavenly bodies; Ajasson, ii. . Plato in his Timæus, . p. –, details the complicated arrangement which he supposes to constitute the proportionate distances of the planetary bodies. Sulpicius has already been mentioned, in the ninth chapter of this book, as being the first among the Romans who gave a popular explanation of the cause of eclipses.
 
2 - 20 HARMONY OF THE STARS M
Pythagoras, employing the terms that are used in music, sometimes names the distance between the Earth and the Moon a tone; from her to Mercury he supposes to be half this space, and about the same from him to Venus. From her to the Sun is a tone and a half; from the Sun to Mars is a tone, the same as from the Earth to the Moon; from him there is half a tone to Jupiter, from Jupiter to Saturn also half a tone, and thence a tone and a half to the zodiac. Hence there are seven tones, which he terms the diapason harmony, meaning the whole compass of the notes. In this, Saturn is said to move in the Doric time, Jupiter in the Phrygian, and so forth of the rest; but this is a refinement rather amusing than useful.
 
2 - 21 DIMENSIONS OF THE WORLD M
The stadium is equal to of our Roman paces, or feet. Posidonius supposes that there is a space of not less than stadia around the earth, whence mists, winds and clouds proceed; beyond this he supposes that the air is pure and liquid, consisting of uninterrupted light; from the clouded region to the moon there is a space of ,, of stadia, and thence to the sun of ,,. It is in consequence of this space that the sun, notwithstanding his immense magnitude, does not burn the earth. Many persons have imagined that the clouds rise to the height of stadia. These points are not completely made out, and are difficult to explain; but we have given the best account of them that has been published, and if we may be allowed, in any degree, to pursue these investigations, there is one infallible geometrical principle, which we cannot reject. Not that we can ascertain the exact dimensions (for to profess to do this would be almost the act of a madman), but that the mind may have some estimate to direct its conjectures. Now it is evident that the orbit through which the sun passes consists of nearly degrees, and that the diameter is always the third part and a little less than the seventh of the circumference. Then taking the half of this (for the earth is placed in the centre) it will follow, that nearly one-sixth part of the immense space, which the mind conceives as constituting the orbit of the sun round the earth, will compose his altitude. That of the moon will be one-twelfth part, since her course is so much shorter than that of the sun; she is therefore carried along midway between the sun and the earth. It is astonishing to what an extent the weakness of the mind will proceed, urged on by a little success, as in the abovementioned instance, to give full scope to its impudence! Thus, having ventured to guess at the space between the sun and the earth, we do the same with respect to the heavens, because he is situated midway between them; so that we may come to know the measure of the whole world in inches. For if the diameter consist of seven parts, there will be twenty-two of the same parts in the circumference; as if we could measure the heavens by a plumb-line!
The Egyptian calculation, which was made out by Petosi- ris and Necepsos, supposes that each degree of the lunar orbit (which, as I have said, is the least) consists of little more than stadia; in the very large orbit of Saturn the number is double; in that of the sun, which, as we have said, is in the middle, we have the half of the sum of these numbers. And this is indeed a very modest calculation, since if we add to the orbit of Saturn the distance from him to the zodiac, we shall have an infinite number of degrees.
 
2 - 22 STARS WHICH APPEAR SUDDENLY, OR OF COMETS M
A few things still remain to be said concerning the world; for stars are suddenly formed in the heavens themselves; of these there are various kinds.
(.) The Greeks name these stars comets; we name them Crinitæ, as if shaggy with bloody locks, and surrounded with bristles like hair. Those stars, which have a mane hanging down from their lower part, like a long beard, are named Pogoniæ. Those that are named Acontiæ vibrate like a dart with a very quick motion. It was one of this kind which the Emperor Titus described in his very excellent poem, as having been seen in his fifth consulship; and this was the last of these bodies which has been observed. When they are short and pointed they are named Xiphiæ; these are the pale kind; they shine like a sword and are without any rays; while we name those Discei, which, being of an amber colour, in conformity with their name, emit a few rays from their margin only. A kind named Pitheus exhibits the figure of a cask, appearing convex and emitting a smoky light. The kind named Cerastias has the appearance of a horn; it is like the one which was visible when the Greeks fought at Salamis. Lampadias is like a burning torch; Hippias is like a horse's mane; it has a very rapid motion, like a circle revolving on itself. There is also a white comet, with silver hair, so brilliant that it can scarcely be looked at, exhibiting, as it were, the aspect of the Deity in a human form. There are some also that are shaggy, having the appearance of a fleece, surrounded by a kind of crown. There was one, where the appearance of a mane was changed into that of a spear; it happened in the th olympiad, in the th year of the City. The shortest time during which any one of them has been observed to be visible is days, the longest days.
 
2 - 23 THEIR NATURE, SITUATION, AND SPECIES M
Some of them move about in the manner of planets, others remain stationary. They are almost all of them seen towards the north, not indeed in any particular portion of it, but generally in that white part of it which has obtained the name of the Milky Way. Aristotle informs us that several of them are to be seen at the same time, but this, as far as I know, has not been observed by any one else; also that they prognosticate high winds and great heat. They are also visible in the winter months, and about the south pole, but they have no rays proceeding from them. There was a dreadful one observed by the Æthiopians and the Egyptians, to which Typhon, a king of that period, gave his own name; it had a fiery appearance, and was twisted like a spiral; its aspect was hideous, nor was it like a star, but rather like a knot of fire. Sometimes there are hairs attached to the planets and the other stars. Comets are never seen in the western part of the heavens. It is generally regarded as a terrific star, and one not easily expiated; as was the case with the civil commotions in the consulship of Octavius, and also in the war of Pompey and Cæsar. And in our own age, about the time when Claudius Cæsar was poisoned and left the Empire to Domitius Nero, and afterwards, while the latter was Emperor, there was one which was almost constantly seen and was very frightful. It is thought important to notice towards what part it darts its beams, or from what star it receives its influence, what it resembles, and in what places it shines. If it resembles a flute, it portends some- thing unfavourable respecting music; if it appears in the parts of the signs referred to the secret members, something respecting lewdness of manners; something respecting wit and learning, if they form a triangular or quadrangular figure with the position of some of the fixed stars; and that some one will be poisoned, if they appear in the head of either the northern or the southern serpent.
Rome is the only place in the whole world where there is a temple dedicated to a comet; it was thought by the late Emperor Augustus to be auspicious to him, from its appearing during the games which he was celebrating in honour of Venus Genetrix, not long after the death of his father Cæsar, in the College which was founded by him. He expressed his joy in these terms: "During the very time of these games of mine, a hairy star was seen during seven days, in the part of the heavens which is under the Great Bear. It rose about the eleventh hour of the day, was very bright, and was conspicuous in all parts of the earth. The common people supposed the star to indicate, that the soul of Cæsar was admitted among the immortal Gods; under which designation it was that the star was placed on the bust which was lately consecrated in the forum." This is what he proclaimed in public, but, in secret, he rejoiced at this auspicious omen, interpreting it as produced for himself; and, to confess the truth, it really proved a salutary omen for the world at large. Some persons suppose that these stars are permanent, and that they move through their proper orbits, but that they are only visible when they recede from the sun. Others suppose that they are produced by an accidental vapour together with the force of fire, and that, from this circumstance, they are liable to be dissipated.
 
2 - 24 DOCTRINE OF HIPPARCHUS ABOUT THE STARS M
This same Hipparchus, who can never be sufficiently commended, as one who more especially proved the relation of the stars to man, and that our souls are a portion of heaven, discovered a new star that was produced in his own age, and, by observing its motions on the day in which it shone, he was led to doubt whether it does not often happen, that those stars have motion which we suppose to be fixed. And the same individual attempted, what might seem presumptuous even in a deity, viz. to number the stars for posterity and to express their relations by appropriate names; having previously devised instruments, by which he might mark the places and the magnitudes of each individual star. In this way it might be easily discovered, not only whether they were destroyed or produced, but whether they changed their relative positions, and likewise, whether they were increased or diminished; the heavens being thus left as an inheritance to any one, who might be found competent to complete his plan.
 
2 - 25 EXAMPLES FROM HISTORY OF CELESTIAL PRODIGIES; FACES, LAMPADES, & BOLIDES M
The faces shine brilliantly, but they are never seen excepting when they are falling one of these darted across the heavens, in the sight of all the people, at noon-day, when Germanicus Cæsar was exhibiting a show of gladiators. There are two kinds of them; those which are called lampades and those which are called bolides, one of which latter was seen during the troubles at Mutina. They differ from each other in this respect, that the faces produce a long train of light, the fore-part only being on fire; while the bolides, being entirely in a state of combustion, leave a still longer track behind them.
 
2 - 26 TRABES CELESTES; CHASMA CŒLI M
The trabes also, which are named δοκοὶ, shine in the same manner; one of these was seen at the time when the Lacedæmonians, by being conquered at sea, lost their influence in Greece. An opening sometimes takes place in the firmament, which is named chasma.
 
2 - 27 COLOURS OF THE SKY AND OF CELESTIAL FLAME M
There is a flame of a bloody appearance (and nothing is more dreaded by mortals) which falls down upon the earth, such as was seen in the third year of the rd olympiad, when King Philip was disturbing Greece. But my opinion is, that these, like everything else, occur at stated, natural periods, and are not produced, as some persons imagine, from a variety of causes, such as their fine genius may suggest. They have indeed been the precursors of great evils, but I conceive that the evils occurred, not because the prodigies took place, but that these took place because the evils were appointed to occur at that period. Their cause is obscure in consequence of their rarity, and therefore we are not as well acquainted with them as we are with the rising of the stars, which I have mentioned, and with eclipses and many other things.
 
2 - 28 CELESTIAL CORONÆ M
Stars are occasionally seen along with the sun, for whole days together, and generally round its orb, like wreaths made of the ears of corn, or circles of various colours; such as occurred when Augustus, while a very young man, was entering the city, after the death of his father, in order to take upon himself the great name which he assumed. (.) The same coronæ occur about the moon and also about the principal stars, which are stationary in the heavens.
 
2 - 29 SUDDEN CIRCLES M
A bow appeared round the sun in the consulship of L. Opimius and L. Fabius, and a circle in that of C. Porcius and M. Acilius. (.) There was a little circle of a red colour in the consulship of L. Julius and P. Rutilius.
 
2 - 30 UNUSUALLY LONG ECLIPSES OF THE SUN M
Eclipses of the sun also take place which are portentous and unusually long, such as occurred when Cæsar the Dictator was slain, and in the war against Antony, the sun remained dim for almost a whole year.
 
2 - 31 MANY SUNS M
And again, many suns have been seen at the same time; not above or below the real sun, but in an oblique direction, never near nor opposite to the earth, nor in the night, but either in the east or in the west. They are said to have been seen once at noon in the Bosphorus, and to have continued from morning until sunset. Our ancestors have frequently seen three suns at the same time, as was the case in the consulship of Sp. Postumius and L. Mucius, of L. Marcius and M. Portius, that of M. Antony and Dolabella, and that of M. Lepidus and L. Plancus. And we have ourselves seen one during the reign of the late Emperor Claudius, when he was consul along with Corn. Orfitus. We have no account transmitted to us of more than three having been seen at the same time.
 
2 - 32 MANY MOONS M
Three moons have also been seen, as was the case in the consulship of Cn. Domitius and C. Fannius; they have generally been named nocturnal suns.
 
2 - 33 DAYLIGHT IN THE NIGHT M
A bright light has been seen proceeding from the heavens in the night time, as was the case in the consulship of C. Cæcilius and Cn. Papirius, and at many other times, so that there has been a kind of daylight in the night.
 
2 - 34 BURNING SHIELDS M
A burning shield darted across at sunset, from west to east, throwing out sparks, in the consulship of L. Valerius and C. Marius.
 
2 - 35 OMINOUS APPEARANCE IN THE HEAVENS, THAT WAS SEEN ONCE ONLY M
We have an account of a spark falling from a star, and increasing as it approached the earth, until it became of the size of the moon, shining as through a cloud; it afterwards returned into the heavens and was converted into a lampas; this occurred in the consulship of Cn. Octavius and C. Scri- bonius. It was seen by Silanus, the proconsul, and his attendants.
 
2 - 36 STARS WHICH MOVE ABOUT IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS M
Stars are seen to move about in various directions, but never without some cause, nor without violent winds proceeding from the same quarter.
 
2 - 37 STARS WHICH ARE NAMED CASTOR AND POLLUX M
These stars occur both at sea and at land. I have seen, during the night-watches of the soldiers, a luminous appearance, like a star, attached to the javelins on the ramparts. They also settle on the yard-arms and other parts of ships while sailing, producing a kind of vocal sound, like that of birds flitting about. When they occur singly they are mischievous, so as even to sink the vessels, and if they strike on the lower part of the keel, setting them on fire. When there are two of them they are considered auspicious, and are thought to predict a prosperous voyage, as it is said that they drive away that dreadful and terrific meteor named Helena. On this account their efficacy is ascribed to Castor and Pollux, and they are invoked as gods. They also occasionally shine round the heads of men in the evening, which is considered as predicting something very important. But there is great uncertainty respecting the cause of all these things, and they are concealed in the majesty of nature.
 
2 - 38 AIR AND ON THE CAUSE OF THE SHOWERS OF STONES M
So far I have spoken of the world itself and of the stars. I must now give an account of the other remarkable phænomena of the heavens. For our ancestors have given the name of heavens, or, sometimes, another name, air, to all the seemingly void space, which diffuses around us this vital spirit. It is situated beneath the moon, indeed much lower, as is admitted by every one who has made observations on it, and is composed of a great quantity of air from the upper regions, mixed with a great quantity of terrestrial vapour, the two forming a compound. Hence proceed clouds, thunder and lightning of all kinds; hence also hail, frost, showers, storms and whirlwinds; hence proceed many of the evils incident to mortals, and the mutual contests of the various parts of nature. The force of the stars keeps down all terrestrial things which tend towards the heavens, and the same force attracts to itself those things which do not go there spontaneously. The showers fall, mists rise up, rivers are dried up, hail-storms rush down, the rays of the sun parch the earth, and impel it from all quarters towards the centre. The same rays, still unbroken, dart back again, and carry with them whatever they can take up. Vapour falls from on high and returns again to the same place. Winds arise which contain nothing, but which return loaded with spoils. The breathing of so many animals draws down the spirit from the higher regions; but this tends to go in a contrary direction, and the earth pours out its spirit into the void space of the heavens. Thus nature moving to and fro, as if impelled by some machine, discord is kindled by the rapid motion of the world. Nor is the contest allowed to cease, for she is continually whirled round and lays open the causes of all things, forming an immense globe about the earth, while she again, from time to time, covers this other firma- ment with clouds. This is the region of the winds. Here their nature principally originates, as well as the causes of almost all other things; since most persons ascribe the darting of thunder and lightning to their violence. And to the same cause are assigned the showers of stones, these having been previously taken up by the wind, as well as many other bodies in the same way. On this account we must enter more at large on this subject.
 
2 - 39 STATED SEASONS M
It is obvious that there are causes of the seasons and of other things which have been stated, while there are some things which are casual, or of which the reason has not yet been discovered. For who can doubt that summer and winter, and the annual revolution of the seasons are caused by the motion of the stars? As therefore the nature of the sun is understood to influence the temperature of the year, so each of the other stars has its specific power, which produces its appropriate effects. Some abound in a fluid retaining its liquid state, others, in the same fluid concreted into hoar frost, compressed into snow, or frozen into hail; some are prolific in winds, some in heat, some in vapours, some in dew, some in cold. But these bodies must not be supposed to be actually of the size which they appear, since the consideration of their immense height clearly proves, that none of them are less than the moon. Each of them exercises its influence over us by its own motions; this is particularly observable with respect to Saturn, which produces a great quantity of rain in its transits. Nor is this power confined to the stars which change their situations, but is found to exist in many of the fixed stars, whenever they are impelled by the force of any of the planets, or excited by the impulse of their rays; as we find to be the case with respect to the Suculæ, which the Greeks, in reference to their rainy nature, have termed the Hyades. There are also certain events which occur spontaneously, and at stated periods, as the rising of the Kids. The star Arcturus scarcely ever rises without storms of hail occurring.
 
2 - 40 RISING OF THE DOG-STAR M
Who is there that does not know that the vapour of the sun is kindled by the rising of the Dog-star? The most powerful effects are felt on the earth from this star. When it rises, the seas are troubled, the wines in our cellars ferment, and stagnant waters are set in motion. There is a wild beast, named by the Egyptians Oryx, which, when the star rises, is said to stand opposite to it, to look steadfastly at it, and then to sneeze, as if it were worshiping it. There is no doubt that dogs, during the whole of this period, are peculiarly disposed to become rabid.
 
2 - 41 REGULAR INFLUENCE OF THE DIFFERENT SEASONS M
There is moreover a peculiar influence in the different degrees of certain signs, as in the autumnal equinox, and also in the winter solstice, when we find that a particular star is connected with the state of the weather. It is not so much the recurrence of showers and storms, as of various circumstances, which act both upon animals and vegetables. Some are planet-struck, and others, at stated times, are affected in the bowels, the sinews, the head, or the intellect. The olive, the white poplar, and the willow turn their leaves round at the summer solstice. The herb pulegium, when dried and hanging up in a house, blossoms on the very day of the winter solstice, and bladders burst in consequence of their being distended with air. One might wonder at this, did we not observe every day, that the plant named heliotrope always looks towards the setting sun, and is, at all hours, turned towards him, even when he is obscured by clouds. It is certain that the bodies of oysters and of whelks, and of shell-fish generally, are increased in size and again diminished by the influence of the moon. Certain accurate observers have found out, that the entrails of the field-mouse correspond in number to the moon's age, and that the very small animal, the ant, feels the power of this luminary, always resting from her labours at the change of the moon. And so much the more disgraceful is our ignorance, as every one acknowledges that the diseases in the eyes of certain beasts of burden increase and diminish according to the age of the moon. But the immensity of the heavens, divided as they are into seventy-two constellations, may serve as an excuse. These are the resemblances of certain things, animate and inanimate, into which the learned have divided the heavens. In these they have announced stars, as being remarkable either for their effects or their appearance; for example, in the tail of the Bull there are seven stars, which are named Vergiliæ; in his forehead are the Suculæ; there is also Bootes, which follows the seven northern stars.
 
2 - 42 UNCERTAIN STATES OF THE WEATHER M
But I would not deny, that there may exist showers and winds, independent of these causes, since it is certain that an exhalation proceeds from the earth, which is sometimes moist, and at other times, in consequence of the vapours, like dense smoke; and also, that clouds are formed, either from the fluid rising up on high, or from the air being compressed into a fluid. Their density and their substance is very clearly proved from their intercepting the sun's rays, which are visible by divers, even in the deepest waters.
 
2 - 43 THUNDER AND LIGHTNING M
It cannot therefore be denied, that fire proceeding from the stars which are above the clouds, may fall on them, as we frequently observe on serene evenings, and that the air is agitated by the impulse, as darts when they are hurled whiz through the air. And when it arrives at the cloud, a discordant kind of vapour is produced, as when hot iron is plunged into water, and a wreath of smoke is evolved. Hence arise squalls. And if wind or vapour be struggling in the cloud, thunder is discharged; if it bursts out with a flame, there is a thunderbolt; if it be long in forcing out its way, it is simply a flash of lightning. By the latter the cloud is simply rent, by the former it is shattered. Thunder is pro- duced by the stroke given to the condensed air, and hence it is that the fire darts from the chinks of the clouds. It is possible also that the vapour, which has risen from the earth, being repelled by the stars, may produce thunder, when it is pent up in a cloud; nature restraining the sound whilst the vapour is struggling to escape, but when it does escape, the sound bursting forth, as is the case with bladders that are distended with air. It is possible also that the spirit, whatever it be, may be kindled by friction, when it is so violently projected. It is possible that, by the dashing of the two clouds, the lightning may flash out, as is the case when two stones are struck against each other. But all these things appear to be casual. Hence there are thunderbolts which produce no effect, and proceed from no immediate actual cause; by these mountains and seas are struck, and no injury is done. Those which prognosticate future events proceed from on high and from stated causes, and they come from their peculiar stars.
 
2 - 44 ORIGIN OF WINDS M
In like manner I would not deny that winds, or rather sudden gusts, are produced by the arid and dry vapours of the earth; that air may also be exhaled from water, which can neither be condensed into a mist, nor compressed into a cloud; that it may be also driven forward by the impulse of the sun, since by the term 'wind' we mean nothing more than a current of air, by whatever means it may be produced. For we observe winds to proceed from rivers and bays, and from the sea, even when it is tranquil; while others, which are named Altani, rise up from the earth; when they come back from the sea they are named Tropæi, but if they go straight on, Apogæi.
(.) The windings and the numerous peaks of mountains, their ridges, bent into angles or broken into defiles, with the hollow valleys, by their irregular forms, cleaving the air which rebounds from them (which is also the cause why voices are, in many cases, repeated several times in succession), give rise to winds. (.) There are certain caves, such as that on the coast of Dalmatia, with a vast perpendicular chasm, into which, if a light weight only be let down, and although the day be calm, a squall issues from it like a whirlwind. The name of the place is Senta. And also, in the province of Cyrenaica, there is a certain rock, said to be sacred to the south wind, which it is profane for a human hand to touch, as the south wind immediately rolls forwards clouds of sand. There are also, in many houses, artificial cavities, formed in the walls, which produce currents of air; none of these are without their appropriate cause.
 
2 - 45 VARIOUS OBSERVATIONS RESPECTING WINDS M
But there is a great difference between a gale and a wind. The former are uniform and appear to rush forth; they are felt, not in certain spots only, but over whole countries, not forming breezes or squalls, but violent storms. Whether they be produced by the constant revolution of the world and the opposite motion of the stars, or whether they both of them depend on the generative spirit of the nature of things, wandering, as it were, up and down in her womb, or whether the air be scourged by the irregular strokes of the wandering stars, or the various projections of their rays, or whether they, each of them, proceed from their own stars, among which are those that are nearest to us, or whether they descend from those that are fixed in the heavens, it is manifest that they are all governed by a law of nature, which is not altogether unknown, although it be not completely ascertained.
(.) More than twenty old Greek writers have published their observations upon this subject. And this is the more remarkable, seeing that there is so much discord in the world, and that it is divided into different kingdoms, that is into separate members, that there should have been so many who have paid attention to these subjects, which are so difficult to investigate. Especially when we consider the wars and the treachery which everywhere prevail; while pirates, the enemies of the human race, have possession of all the modes of communication, so that, at this time, a person may acquire more correct information about a country from the writings of those who have never been there, than from the inhabitants themselves. Whereas, at this day, in the blessed peace which we enjoy, under a prince who so greatly encourages the advancement of the arts, no new inquiries are set on foot, nor do we even make ourselves thoroughly masters of the discoveries of the ancients. Not that there were greater rewards held out, from the advantages being distributed to a greater number of persons, but that there were more individuals who diligently scrutinized these matters, with no other prospect but that of benefiting posterity. It is that the manners of men are degenerated, not that the advantages are diminished. All the seas, as many as there are, being laid open, and a hospitable reception being given us at every shore, an immense number of people undertake voyages; but it is for the sake of gain, not of science. Nor does their understanding, which is blinded and bent only on avarice, perceive that this very thing might be more safely done by means of science. Seeing, therefore, that there are so many thousands of persons on the seas, I will treat of the winds with more minuteness than perhaps might otherwise appear suitable to my undertaking.
 
2 - 46 DIFFERENT KINDS OF WINDS M
The ancients reckoned only four winds (nor indeed does Homer mention more) corresponding to the four parts of the world; a very poor reason, as we now consider it. The next generation added eight others, but this was too refined and minute a division; the moderns have taken a middle course, and, out of this great number, have added four to the original set. There are, therefore, two in each of the four quarters of the heavens. From the equinoctial rising of the sun proceeds Subsolanus, and, from his brumal rising, Vulturnus; the former is named by the Greeks Apeliotes, the latter Eurus. From the south we have Auster, and from the brumal setting of the sun, Africus; these were named Notos and Libs. From the equinoctial setting proceeds Favonius, and from the solstitial setting, Corus; these were named Zephyrus and Argestes. From the seven stars comes Septemtrio, between which and the solstitial rising we have Aquilo, named Aparctias and Boreas. By a more minute subdivision we interpose four others, Thrascias, between Septemtrio and the solstitial setting; Cæcias, between Aquilo and the equinoctial rising; and Phœnices, between the brumal rising and the south. And also, at an equal distance from the south and the winter setting, between Libs and Notos, and compounded of the two, is Libonotos. Nor is this all. For some persons have added a wind, which they have named Meses, between Boreas and Cæcias, and one between Eurus and Notos, named Euronotus.
There are also certain winds peculiar to certain countries, which do not extend beyond certain districts, as Sciron in Attica, deviating a little from Argestes, and not known in the other parts of Greece. In other places it is a little higher on the card and is named Olympias; but all these have gone by the name of Argestes. In some places Cæcias is named Hellespontia, and the same is done in other cases. In the province of Narbonne the most noted wind is Circius; it is not inferior to any of the winds in violence, frequently driving the waves before it, to Ostia, straight across the Ligurian sea. Yet this same wind is unknown in other parts, not even reaching Vienne, a city in the same province; for meeting with a high ridge of hills, just before it arrives at that district, it is checked, although it be the most violent of all the winds. Fabius also asserts, that the south winds never penetrate into Egypt. Hence this law of nature is obvious, that winds have their stated seasons and limits.
 
2 - 47 PERIODS OF THE WINDS M
The spring opens the seas for the navigators. In the beginning of this season the west winds soften, as it were, the winter sky, the sun having now gained the th degree of Aquarius; this is on the sixth day before the Ides of February. This agrees, for the most part, with all the remarks that I shall subsequently make, only anticipating the period by one day in the intercalary year, and again, preserving the same order in the succeeding lustrum. After the eighth day before the Calends of March, Favonius is called by some Chelidonias, from the swallows making their appearance. The wind, which blows for the space of nine days, from the seventy-first day after the winter solstice, is sometimes called Ornithias, from the arrival of the birds. In the contrary direction to Favonius is the wind which we name Subsolanus, and this is connected with the rising of the Vergiliæ, in the th degree of Taurus, six days before the Ides of May, which is the time when south winds prevail: these are opposite to Septemtrio. The dog-star rises in the hottest time of the summer, when the sun is entering the first degree of Leo; this is fifteen days before the Calends of August. The north winds, which are called Prodromi, precede its rising by about eight days. But in two days after its rising, the same north winds, which are named Etesiæ, blow more constantly during this period; the vapour from the sun, being increased twofold by the heat of this star, is supposed to render these winds more mild; nor are there any which are more regular. After these the south winds become more frequent, until the appearance of Arcturus, which rises eleven days before the autumnal equinox. At this time Corus sets in; Corus is an autumnal wind, and is in the opposite direction to Vulturnus. After this, and generally for forty-four days after the equinox, at the setting of the Vergiliæ, the winter commences, which usually happens on the third of the Ides of November. This is the period of the winter north wind, which is very unlike the summer north wind, and which is in the opposite direction to Africus. For seven days before the winter solstice, and for the same length of time after it, the sea becomes calm, in order that the king-fishers may rear their young; from this circumstance they have obtained the name of the halcyon days; the rest of the season is winterly. Yet the severity of the storms does not entirely close up the sea. In former times, pirates were compelled, by the fear of death, to rush into death, and to brave the winter ocean; now we are driven to it by avarice.
 
2 - 48 NATURE OF THE WINDS
Those are the coldest winds which are said to blow from the seven stars, and Corus, which is contiguous to them; these also restrain the others and dispel the clouds. The moist winds are Africus, and, still more, the Auster of Italy. It is said that, in Pontus, Cæcias attracts the clouds. The dry winds are Corus and Vulturnus, especially when they are about to cease blowing. The winds that bring snow are Aquilo and Septemtrio; Septemtrio brings hail, and so does Corus; Auster is sultry, Vulturnus and Zephyrus are warm. These winds are more dry than Subsolanus, and generally those which blow from the north and west are more dry than those which blow from the south and east. Aquilo is the most healthy of them all; Auster is unhealthy, and more so when dry; it is colder, perhaps because it is moist. Animals are supposed to have less appetite for food when this wind is blowing. The Etesiæ generally cease during the night, and spring up at the third hour of the day. In Spain and in Asia these winds have an easterly direction, in Pontus a northerly, and in other places a southerly direction. They blow also after the winter solstice, when they are called Ornithiæ, but they are more gentle and continue only for a few days. There are two winds which change their nature with their situation; in Africa Auster is attended with a clear sky, while Aquilo collects the clouds. Almost all winds blow in their turn, so that when one ceases its opposite springs up. When winds which are contiguous succeed each other, they go from left to right, in the direction of the sun. The fourth day of the moon generally determines their direction for the whole of the monthly period. We are able to sail in opposite directions by means of the same wind, if we have the sails properly set; hence it frequently happens that, in the night, vessels going in different directions run against each other. Auster produces higher winds than Aquilo, because the former blows, as it were, from the bottom of the sea, while the latter blows on the surface; it is therefore after south winds that the most mischievous earthquakes have occurred. Auster is more violent during the night, Aquilo during the day; winds from the east continue longer than from the west. The north winds generally cease blowing on the odd days, and we observe the prevalence of the odd numbers in many other parts of nature; the male winds are therefore regulated by the odd numbers. The sun sometimes increases and sometimes restrains winds; when rising and setting it increases them; while, when on the meridian, it restrains them during the summer. They are, therefore, generally lulled during the middle of the day and of the night, because they are abated either by excessive cold or heat; winds are also lulled by showers. We generally expect them to come from that quarter where the clouds open and allow the clear sky to be seen. Eudoxus supposes that the same succession of changes occurs in them after a period of four years, if we observe their minute revolutions; and this applies not only to winds, but to whatever concerns the state of the weather. He begins his lustrum at the rising of the dog-star, in the intercalary year. So far concerning winds in general.
 
2 - 49 ECNEPHIAS & TYPHON
And now respecting the sudden gusts, which arising from the exhalations of the earth, as has been said above, and falling down again, being in the mean time covered by a thin film of clouds, exist in a variety of forms. By their wandering about, and rushing down like torrents, in the opinion of some persons, they produce thunder and lightning. But if they be urged on with greater force and violence, so as to cause the rupture of a dry cloud, they produce a squall, which is named by the Greeks Ecnephias. But, if these are compressed, and rolled up more closely together, and then break without any discharge of fire, i. e. without thunder, they produce a squall, which is named Typhon, or an Ecnephias in a state of agitation. It carries along a portion of the cloud which it has broken off, rolling it and turning it round, aggravating its own destruction by the weight of it, and whirling it from place to place. This is very much dreaded by sailors, as it not only breaks their sail-yards, but the vessels themselves, bending them about in various ways. This may be in a slight degree counteracted by sprinkling it with vinegar, when it comes near us, this substance being of a very cold nature. This wind, when it rebounds after the stroke, absorbs and carries up whatever it may have seized on.
 
2 - 50 TORNADOES; BLASTING WINDS; WHIRLWINDS, & OTHER WONDERFUL KINDS OF TEMPESTS
But if it burst from the cavity of a cloud which is more depressed, but less capacious than what produces a squall, and is accompanied by noise, it is called a whirlwind, and throws down everything which is near it. The same, when it is more burning and rages with greater heat, is called a blasting wind, scorching and, at the same time, throwing down everything with which it comes in contact. (.) Typhon never comes from the north, nor have we Ecnephias when it snows, or when there is snow on the ground. If it breaks the clouds, and, at the same time, catches fire or burns, but not until it has left the cloud, it forms a thunderbolt. It differs from Prester as flame does from fire; the former is diffused in a gust, the latter is condensed with a violent impulse. The whirlwind, when it rebounds, differs from the tornado in the same manner as a loud noise does from a dash.
The squall differs from both of them in its extent, the clouds being more properly rent asunder than broken into pieces. A black cloud is formed, resembling a great animal, an appearance much dreaded by sailors. It is also called a pillar, when the moisture is so condensed and rigid as to be able to support itself. It is a cloud of the same kind, which, when drawn into a tube, sucks up the water.
 
2 - 51 THUNDER; IN WHAT COUNTRIES IT DOES NOT FALL, AND FOR WHAT REASON
Thunder is rare both in winter and in summer, but from different causes; the air, which is condensed in the winter, is made still more dense by a thicker covering of clouds, while the exhalations from the earth, being all of them rigid and frozen, extinguish whatever fiery vapour it may receive. It is this cause which exempts Scythia and the cold districts round it from thunder. On the other hand, the excessive heat exempts Egypt; the warm and dry vapours of the earth being very seldom condensed, and that only into light clouds. But, in the spring and autumn, thunder is more frequent, the causes which produce summer and winter being, in each season, less efficient. From this cause thunder is more frequent in Italy, the air being more easily set in motion, in consequence of a milder winter and a showery summer, so that it may be said to be always spring or autumn. Also in those parts of Italy which recede from the north and lie towards the south, as in the district round our city, and in Campania, it lightens equally both in winter and in summer, which is not the case in other situations.
 
2 - 52 DIFFERENT KINDS OF LIGHTNING AND THEIR WONDERFUL EFFECTS
We have accounts of many different kinds of thunder-storms. Those which are dry do not burn objects, but dissipate them; while those which are moist do not burn, but blacken them. There is a third kind, which is called bright lightning, of a very wonderful nature, by which casks are emptied, without the vessels themselves being injured, or there being any other trace left of their operation. Gold, copper, and silver are melted, while the bags which contain them are not in the least burned, nor even the wax seal much defaced. Marcia, a lady of high rank at Rome, was struck while pregnant; the fœtus was destroyed, while she herself survived without suffering any injury. Among the prognostics which took place at the time of Catiline's conspiracy, M. Herennius, a magistrate of the borough of Pompeii, was struck by lightning when the sky was without clouds.
 
2 - 53 ETRURIAN AND THE ROMAN OBSERVATIONS ON THESE POINTS
The Tuscan books inform us, that there are nine Gods who discharge thunder-storms, that there are eleven different kinds of them, and that three of them are darted out by Jupiter. Of these the Romans retained only two, ascribing the diurnal kind to Jupiter, and the nocturnal to Summanus; this latter kind being more rare, in consequence of the heavens being colder, as was mentioned above. The Etrurians also suppose, that those which are named Infernal burst out of the ground; they are produced in the winter and are particularly fierce and direful, as all things are which proceed from the earth, and are not generated by or proceeding from the stars, but from a cause which is near at hand, and of a more disorderly nature. As a proof of this it is said, that all those which proceed from the higher regions strike obliquely, while those which are termed terrestrial strike in a direct line. And because these fall from matter which is nearer to us, they are supposed to proceed from the earth, since they leave no traces of a rebound; this being the effect of a stroke coming not from below, but from an opposite quarter. Those who have searched into the subject more minutely suppose, that these come from the planet Saturn, as those that are of a burning nature do from Mars. In this way it was that Volsinium, the most opulent town of the Tuscans, was entirely consumed by lightning. The first of these strokes that a man receives, after he has come into possession of any property, is termed Familiar, and is supposed to prognosticate the events of the whole of his life. But it is not generally supposed that they predict events of a private nature for a longer space than ten years, unless they happen at the time of a first marriage or a birth-day; nor that public predictions extend beyond thirty years, unless with respect to the founding of colonies.
 
2 - 54 CONJURING UP THUNDER
It is related in our Annals, that by certain sacred rites and imprecations, thunder-storms may be compelled or invoked. There is an old report in Etruria, that thunder was invoked when the city of Volsinium had its territory laid waste by a monster named Volta. Thunder was also in- voked by King Porsenna. And L. Piso, a very respectable author, states in the first book of his Annals, that this had been frequently done before his time by Numa, and that Tullus Hostilius, imitating him, but not having properly performed the ceremonies, was struck with the lightning. We have also groves, and altars, and sacred places, and, among the titles of Jupiter, as Stator, Tonans, and Feretrius, we have a Jupiter Elicius. The opinions entertained on this point are very various, and depend much on the dispositions of different individuals. To believe that we can command nature is the mark of a bold mind, nor is it less the mark of a feeble one to reject her kindness. Our knowledge has been so far useful to us in the interpretation of thunder, that it enables us to predict what is to happen on a certain day, and we learn either that our fortune is to be entirely changed, or it discloses events which are concealed from us; as is proved by an infinite number of examples, public and private. Wherefore let these things remain, according to the order of nature, to some persons certain, to others doubtful, by some approved, by others condemned. I must not, however, omit the other circumstances connected with them which deserve to be related.
 
2 - 55 GENERAL LAWS OF LIGHTNING
It is certain that the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard, although they both take place at the same time. Nor is this wonderful, since light has a greater velocity than sound. Nature so regulates it, that the stroke and the sound coincide; the sound is, however, produced by the discharge of the thunder, not by its stroke. But the air is impelled quicker than the lightning, on which account it is that everything is shaken and blown up before it is struck, and that a person is never injured when he has seen the lightning and heard the thunder. Thunder on the left hand is supposed to be lucky, because the east is on the left side of the heavens. We do not regard so much the mode in which it comes to us, as that in which it leaves us, whether the fire rebounds after the stroke, or whether the current of air returns when the operation is concluded and the fire is consumed. In relation to this object the Etrurians have divided the heavens into sixteen parts. The first great division is from north to east; the second to the south; the third to the west, and the fourth occupies what remains from west to north. Each of these has been subdivided into four parts, of which the eight on the east have been called the left, and those on the west the right divisions. Those which extend from the west to the north have been considered the most unpropitious. It becomes therefore very important to ascertain from what quarter the thunder proceeds, and in what direction it falls. It is considered a very favourable omen when it returns into the eastern divisions. But it prognosticates the greatest felicity when the thunder proceeds from the first-mentioned part of the heavens and falls back into it; it was an omen of this kind which, as we have heard, was given to Sylla, the Dictator. The remaining quarters of the heavens are less propitious, and also less to be dreaded. There are some kinds of thunder which it is not thought right to speak of, or even to listen to, unless when they have been disclosed to the master of a family or to a parent. But the futility of this observation was detected when the temple of Juno was struck at Rome, during the consulship of Scaurus, he who was afterwards the Prince of the Senate.
It lightens without thunder more frequently in the night than in the day. Man is the only animal that is not always killed by it, all other animals being killed instantly, nature having granted to him this mark of distinction, while so many other animals excel him in strength. All animals fall down on the opposite side to that which has been struck; man, unless he be thrown down on the parts that are struck, does not expire. Those who are struck directly from above sink down immediately. When a man is struck while he is awake, he is found with his eyes closed; when asleep, with them open. It is not considered proper that a man killed in this way should be burnt on the funeral pile; our religion enjoins us to bury the body in the earth. No animal is consumed by lightning unless after having been previously killed. The parts of the animal that have been wounded by lightning are colder than the rest of the body.
 
2 - 56 OBJECTS. WHICH ARE NEVER STRUCK
Among the productions of the earth, thunder never strikes the laurel, nor does it descend more than five feet into the earth. Those, therefore, who are timid consider the deepest caves as the most safe; or tents made of the skins of the animal called the sea-calf, since this is the only marine animal which is never struck; as is the case, among birds, with the eagle; on this account it is represented as the bearer of this weapon. In Italy, between Terracina and the temple of Feronia, the people have left off building towers in time of war, every one of them having been destroyed by thunderbolts.
 
2 - 57 SHOWERS OF MILK, BLOOD, FLESH, IRON, WOOL, AND BAKED TILES
Besides these, we learn from certain monuments, that from the lower part of the atmosphere it rained milk and blood, in the consulship of M'Acilius and C. Porcius, and frequently at other times. This was the case with respect to flesh, in the consulship of P. Volumnius and Servius Sulpicius, and it is said, that what was not devoured by the birds did not become putrid. It also rained iron among the Lucanians, the year before Crassus was slain by the Parthians, as well as all the Lucanian soldiers, of whom there was a great number in this army. The substance which fell had very much the appearance of sponge; the augurs warned the people against wounds that might come from above. In the consulship of L. Paulus and C. Marcellus it rained wool, round the castle of Carissanum, near which place, a year after, T. Annius Milo was killed. It is recorded, among the transactions of that year, that when he was pleading his own cause, there was a shower of baked tiles.
 
 
2 - 59 STONES FALLEN FROM CLOUDS & OPINION OF ANAXAGORAS RESPECTING THEM
The Greeks boast that Anaxagoras, the Clazomenian, in the second year of the th Olympiad, from his knowledge of what relates to the heavens, had predicted, that at a certain time, a stone would fall from the sun. And the thing accordingly happened, in the daytime, in a part of Thrace, at the river Ægos. The stone is now to be seen, a waggonload in size and of a burnt appearance; there was also a comet shining in the night at that time. But to believe that this had been predicted would be to admit that the divining powers of Anaxagoras were still more wonderful, and that our knowledge of the nature of things, and indeed every thing else, would be thrown into confusion, were we to suppose either that the sun is itself composed of stone, or that there was even a stone in it; yet there can be no doubt that stones have frequently fallen from the atmosphere. There is a stone, a small one indeed, at this time, in the Gymnasium of Abydos, which on this account is held in veneration, and which the same Anaxagoras predicted would fall in the middle of the earth. There is another at Cassandria, formerly called Potidæa, which from this circumstance was built in that place. I have myself seen one in the country of the Vocontii, which had been brought from the fields only a short time before.
 
2 - 60 THE RAINBOW
What we name Rainbows frequently occur, and are not considered either wonderful or ominous; for they do not predict, with certainty, either rain or fair weather. It is obvious, that the rays of the sun, being projected upon a hollow cloud, the light is thrown back to the sun and is re- fracted, and that the variety of colours is produced by a mixture of clouds, air, and fire. The rainbow is certainly never produced except in the part opposite to the sun, nor even in any other form except that of a semicircle. Nor are they ever formed at night, although Aristotle asserts that they are sometimes seen at that time; he acknowledges, however, that it can only be on the th day of the moon. They are seen in the winter the most frequently, when the days are shortening, after the autumnal equinox. They are not seen when the days increase again, after the vernal equinox, nor on the longest days, about the summer solstice, but frequently at the winter solstice, when the days are the shortest. When the sun is low they are high, and when the sun is high they are low; they are smaller when in the east or west, but are spread out wider; in the south they are small, but of a greater span. In the summer they are not seen at noon, but after the autumnal equinox at any hour: there are never more than two seen at once,
 
2 - 61 NATURE OF HAIL, SNOW, HOAR, MIST, DEW; THE FORMS OF CLOUDS
I do not find that there is any doubt entertained respecting the following points. (.) Hail is produced by frozen rain, and snow by the same fluid less firmly concreted, and hoar by frozen dew. During the winter snow falls, but not hail; hail itself falls more frequently during the day than the night, and is more quickly melted than snow. There are no mists either in the summer or during the greatest cold of winter. There is neither dew nor hoar formed during great heat or winds, nor unless the night be serene. Fluids are diminished in bulk by being frozen, and, when the ice is melted, we do not obtain the same quantity of fluid as at first.
(.) The clouds are varied in their colour and figure according as the fire which they contain is in excess or is absorbed by them.
 
2 - 62 PECULIARITIES OF THE WEATHER IN DIFFERENT PLACES
There are, moreover, certain peculiarities in certain places. In Africa dew falls during the night in summer. In Italy, at Locri, and at the Lake Velinum, there is never a day in which a rainbow is not seen. At Rhodes and at Syracuse the sky is never so covered with clouds, but that the sun is visible at one time or another; these things, however, will be better detailed in their proper place. So far respecting the air.
 
2 - 63 NATURE OF THE EARTH
Next comes the earth, on which alone of all parts of nature we have bestowed the name that implies maternal veneration. It is appropriated to man as the heavens are to God. She receives us at our birth, nourishes us when born, and ever afterwards supports us; lastly, embracing us in her bosom when we are rejected by the rest of nature, she then covers us with especial tenderness; rendered sacred to us, inasmuch as she renders us sacred, bearing our monuments and titles, continuing our names, and extending our memory, in opposition to the shortness of life. In our anger we imprecate her on those who are now no more, as if we were ignorant that she is the only being who can never be angry with man. The water passes into showers, is concreted into hail, swells into rivers, is precipitated in torrents; the air is condensed into clouds, rages in squalls; but the earth, kind, mild, and indulgent as she is, and always ministering to the wants of mortals, how many things do we compel her to produce spontaneously! What odours and flowers, nutritive juices, forms and colours! With what good faith does she render back all that has been entrusted to her! It is the vital spirit which must bear the blame of producing noxious animals; for the earth is constrained to receive the seeds of them, and to support them when they are produced. The fault lies in the evil nature which generates them. The earth will no longer harbour a serpent after it has attacked any one, and thus she even demands punishment in the name of those who are indifferent about it themselves. She pours forth a profusion of medicinal plants, and is always producing something for the use of man. We may even suppose, that it is out of compassion to us that she has ordained certain substances to be poisonous, in order that when we are weary of life, hunger, a mode of death the most foreign to the kind disposition of the earth, might not consume us by a slow decay, that precipices might not lacerate our mangled bodies, that the unseemly punishment of the halter may not torture us, by stopping the breath of one who seeks his own destruction, or that we may not seek our death in the ocean, and become food for our graves, or that our bodies may not be gashed by steel. On this account it is that nature has produced a substance which is very easily taken, and by which life is extinguished, the body remaining undefiled and retaining all its blood, and only causing a degree of thirst. And when it is destroyed by this means, neither bird nor beast will touch the body, but he who has perished by his own hands is reserved for the earth.
But it must be acknowledged, that everything which the earth has produced, as a remedy for our evils, we have converted into the poison of our lives. For do we not use iron, which we cannot do without, for this purpose? But although this cause of mischief has been produced, we ought not to complain; we ought not to be ungrateful to this one part of nature. How many luxuries and how many insults does she not bear for us! She is cast into the sea, and, in order that we may introduce seas into her bosom, she is washed away by the waves. She is continually tortured for her iron, her timber, stone, fire, corn, and is even much more subservient to our luxuries than to our mere support. What indeed she endures on her surface might be tolerated, but we penetrate also into her bowels, digging out the veins of gold and silver, and the ores of copper and lead; we also search for gems and certain small pebbles, driving our trenches to a great depth. We tear out her entrails in order to extract the gems with which we may load our fingers. How many hands are worn down that one little joint may be ornamented! If the infernal regions really existed, certainly these burrows of avarice and luxury would have penetrated into them. And truly we wonder that this same earth should have produced anything noxious! But, I suppose, the savage beasts protect her and keep off our sacrilegious hands. For do we not dig among serpents and handle poisonous plants along with those veins of gold? But the Goddess shows herself more propitious to us, inasmuch as all this wealth ends in crimes, slaughter, and war, and that, while we drench her with our blood, we cover her with unburied bones; and being covered with these and her anger being thus appeased, she conceals the crimes of mortals. I consider the ignorance of her nature as one of the evil effects of an ungrateful mind.
 
2 - 64 FORM OF THE EARTH
Every one agrees that it has the most perfect figure. We always speak of the ball of the earth, and we admit it to be a globe bounded by the poles. It has not indeed the form of an absolute sphere, from the number of lofty mountains and flat plains; but if the termination of the lines be bounded by a curve, this would compose a perfect sphere. And this we learn from arguments drawn from the nature of things, although not from the same considerations which we made use of with respect to the heavens. For in these the hollow convexity everywhere bends on itself, and leans upon the earth as its centre. Whereas the earth rises up solid and dense, like something that swells up and is protruded outwards. The heavens bend towards the centre, while the earth goes from the centre, the continual rolling of the heavens about it forcing its immense globe into the form of a sphere.
 
2 - 65 WHETHER THERE BE ANTIPODES?
On this point there is a great contest between the learned and the vulgar. We maintain, that there are men dispersed over every part of the earth, that they stand with their feet turned towards each other, that the vault of the heavens appears alike to all of them, and that they, all of them, appear to tread equally on the middle of the earth. If any one should ask, why those situated opposite to us do not fall, we directly ask in return, whether those on the opposite side do not wonder that we do not fall. But I may make a remark, that will appear plausible even to the most unlearned, that if the earth were of the figure of an unequal globe, like the seed of a pine, still it may be inhabited in every part.
But of how little moment is this, when we have another miracle rising up to our notice! The earth itself is pendent and does not fall with us; it is doubtful whether this be from the force of the spirit which is contained in the universe, or whether it would fall, did not nature resist, by allowing of no place where it might fall. For as the seat of fire is nowhere but in fire, nor of water except in water, nor of air except in air, so there is no situation for the earth except in itself, everything else repelling it. It is indeed wonderful that it should form a globe, when there is so much flat surface of the sea and of the plains. And this was the opinion of Dicæarchus, a peculiarly learned man, who measured the heights of mountains, under the direction of the kings, and estimated Pelion, which was the highest, at paces perpendicular, and considered this as not affecting the round figure of the globe. But this appears to me to be doubtful, as I well know that the summits of some of the Alps rise up by a long space of not less than , paces. But what the vulgar most strenuously contend against is, to be compelled to believe that the water is forced into a rounded figure; yet there is nothing more obvious to the sight among the phænomena of nature. For we see everywhere, that drops, when they hang down, assume the form of small globes, and when they are covered with dust, or have the down of leaves spread over them, they are observed to be completely round; and when a cup is filled, the liquid swells up in the middle. But on account of the subtile nature of the fluid and its inherent softness, the fact is more easily ascertained by our reason than by our sight. And it is even more wonderful, that if a very little fluid only be added to a cup when it is full, the superfluous quantity runs over, whereas the contrary happens if we add a solid body, even as much as would weigh denarii. The reason of this is, that what is dropt in raises up the fluid at the top, while what is poured on it slides off from the projecting surface. It is from the same cause that the land is not visible from the body of a ship when it may be seen from the mast; and that when a vessel is receding, if any bright object be fixed to the mast, it seems gradually to descend and finally to become invisible. And the ocean, which we admit to be without limits, if it had any other figure, could it cohere and exist without falling, there being no external margin to contain it? And the same wonder still recurs, how is it that the extreme parts of the sea, although it be in the form of a globe, do not fall down? In opposition to which doctrine, the Greeks, to their great joy and glory, were the first to teach us, by their subtile geometry, that this could not happen, even if the seas were flat, and of the figure which they appear to be. For since water always runs from a higher to a lower level, and this is admitted to be essential to it, no one ever doubted that the water would accumulate on any shore, as much as its slope would allow it. It is also certain, that the lower anything is, so much the nearer is it to the centre, and that all the lines which are drawn from this point to the water which is the nearest to it, are shorter than those which reach from the beginning of the sea to its extreme parts. Hence it follows, that all the water, from every part, tends towards the centre, and, because it has this tendency, does not fall.
 
2 - 66 How WATER IS CONNECTED WITH EARTH. NAVIGATION OF SEA & RIVERS
We must believe, that the great artist, Nature, has so arranged it, that as the arid and dry earth cannot subsist by itself and without moisture, nor, on the other hand, can the water subsist unless it be supported by the earth, they are connected by a mutual union. The earth opens her harbours, while the water pervades the whole earth, within, without, and above; its veins running in all directions, like connecting links, and bursting out on even the highest ridges; where, forced up by the air, and pressed out by the weight of the earth, it shoots forth as from a pipe, and is so far from being in danger of falling, that it bounds up to the highest and most lofty places. Hence the reason is obvious, why the seas are not increased by the daily accession of so many rivers.
(.) The earth has, therefore, the whole of its globe girt, on every side, by the sea flowing round it. And this is not a point to be investigated by arguments, but what has been ascertained by experience.
 
2 - 67 WHETHER THE OCEAN SURROUNDS THE EARTH
The whole of the western ocean is now navigated, from Gades and the Pillars of Hercules, round Spain and Gaul. The greater part of the northern ocean has also been navigated, under the auspices of the Emperor Augustus, his fleet having been carried round Germany to the promontory of the Cimbri; from which spot they descried an immense sea, or became acquainted with it by report, which extends to the country of the Scythians, and the districts that are chilled by excessive moisture. On this account it is not at all probable, that the ocean should be deficient in a region where moisture so much abounds. In like manner, towards the east, from the Indian sea, all that part which lies in the same latitude, and which bends round towards the Caspian, has been explored by the Macedonian arms, in the reigns of Seleucus and Antiochus, who wished it to be named after themselves, the Seleucian or Antiochian Sea. About the Caspian, too, many parts of the shores of the ocean have been explored, so that nearly the whole of the north has been sailed over in one direction or another. Nor can our argument be much affected by the point that has been so much discussed, respecting the Palus Mæotis, whether it be a bay of the same ocean, as is, I understand, the opinion of some persons, or whether it be the overflowing of a narrow channel connected with a different ocean. On the other side of Gades, proceeding from the same western point, a great part of the southern ocean, along Mauritania, has now been navigated. Indeed the greater part of this region, as well as of the east, as far as the Arabian Gulf, was surveyed in consequence of Alexander's victories. When Caius Cæsar, the son of Augustus, had the conduct of affairs in that country, it is said that they found the remains of Spanish vessels which had been wrecked there. While the power of Carthage was at its height, Hanno published an account of a voyage which he made from Gades to the extremity of Arabia; Himilco was also sent, about the same time, to explore the remote parts of Europe. Besides, we learn from Corn. Nepos, that one Eudoxus, a contemporary of his, when he was flying from king Lathyrus, set out from the Arabian Gulf, and was carried as far as Gades. And long before him, Cælius Antipater informs us, that he had seen a person who had sailed from Spain to Æthiopia for the purposes of trade. The same Cornelius Nepos, when speaking of the northern circumnavigation, tells us that Q. Metellus Celer, the colleague of L. Afranius in the consulship, but then a proconsul in Gaul, had a present made to him by the king of the Suevi, of certain Indians, who sailing from India for the purpose of commerce, had been driven by tempests into Germany. Thus it appears, that the seas which flow com- pletely round the globe, and divide it, as it were, into two parts, exclude us from one part of it, as there is no way open to it on either side. And as the contemplation of these things is adapted to detect the vanity of mortals, it seems incumbent on me to display, and lay open to our eyes, the whole of it, whatever it be, in which there is nothing which can satisfy the desires of certain individuals.
 
2 - 68 WHAT PART OF THE EARTH IS INHABITED
In the first place, then, it appears, that this should be estimated at half the globe, as if no portion of this half was encroached upon by the ocean. But surrounding as it does the whole of the land, pouring out and receiving all the other waters, furnishing whatever goes to the clouds, and feeding the stars themselves, so numerous and of such great size as they are, what a great space must we not suppose it to occupy! This vast mass must fill up and occupy an infinite extent. To this we must add that portion of the remainder which the heavens take from us. For the globe is divided into five parts, termed zones, and all that portion is subject to severe cold and perpetual frost which is under the two extremities, about each of the poles, the nearer of which is called the north, and the opposite the south, pole. In all these regions there is perpetual darkness, and, in consequence of the aspect of the milder stars being turned from them, the light is malignant, and only like the whiteness which is produced by hoar frost. The middle of the earth, over which is the orbit of the sun, is parched and burned by the flame, and is consumed by being so near the heat. There are only two of the zones which are temperate, those which lie between the torrid and the frigid zones, and these are separated from each other, in consequence of the scorching heat of the heavenly bodies. It appears, therefore, that the heavens take from us three parts of the earth; how much the ocean steals is uncertain.
And with respect to the part which is left us, I do not know whether that is not even in greater danger. This same ocean, insinuating itself, as I have described it, into a number of bays, approaches with its roaring so near to the inland seas, that the Arabian Gulf is no more than miles from the Egyptian Sea, and the Caspian only miles from the Euxine. It also insinuates itself into the numerous seas by which it separates Africa, Europe, and Asia; hence how much space must it occupy? We must also take into account the extent of all the rivers and the marshes, and we must add the lakes and the pools. There are also the mountains, raised up to the heavens, with their precipitous fronts; we must also subtract the forests and the craggy valleys, the wildernesses, and the places, which, from various causes, are desert. The vast quantity which remains of the earth, or rather, as many persons have considered it, this speck of a world (for the earth is no more in regard to the universe), this is the object, the seat of our glory—here we bear our honours, here we exercise our power, here we covet wealth, here we mortals create our disturbances, here we continually carry on our wars, aye, civil wars, even, and unpeople the earth by mutual slaughter. And not to dwell on public feuds, entered into by nations against each other, here it is that we drive away our neighbours, and enclose the land thus seized upon within our own fence; and yet the man who has most extended his boundary, and has expelled the inhabitants for ever so great a distance, after all, what mighty portion of the earth is he master of? And even when his avarice has been the most completely satisfied, what part of it can he take with him into the grave?
 
2 - 69 THAT THE EARTH IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD
It is evident from undoubted arguments, that the earth is in the middle of the universe, but it is the most clearly proved by the equality of the days and the nights at the equinox. It is demonstrated by the quadrant, which affords the most decisive confirmation of the fact, that unless the earth was in the middle, the days and nights could not be equal; for, at the time of the equinox, the rising and setting of the sun are seen on the same line, and the rising of the sun, at the summer solstice, is on the same line with its setting at the winter solstice; but this could not happen if the earth was not situated in the centre
 
2 - 70 OBLIQUITY OF THE ZONES
The three circles, which are connected with the abovementioned zones, distinguish the inequalities of the seasons; those are, the solstitial circle, which proceeds from the part of the Zodiac the highest to us and approaching the nearest to the district of the north; on the other side, the brumal, which is towards the south pole; and the equinoctial, which traverses the middle of the Zodiac.
 
2 - 71 INEQUALITY OF CLIMATES
The cause of the other things which are worthy of our admiration depends on the figure of the earth itself, which, together with all its waters, is proved, by the same arguments, to be a globe. This certainly is the cause why the stars of the northern portion of the heavens never set to us, and why, on the other hand, those in the south never rise, and again, why the latter can never be seen by the former, the globe of the earth rising up and concealing them. The Northern Wain is never seen in Troglodytice, nor in Egypt, which borders on it; nor can we, in Italy, see the star Canopus, or Berenice's Hair; nor what, under the Emperor Augustus, was named Cæsar's Throne, although they are, there, very brilliant stars. The curved form of the earth is so obvious, rising up like a ridge, that Canopus appears to a spectator at Alexandria to rise above the horizon almost the quarter of a sign; the same star at Rhodes appears, as it were, to graze along the earth, while in Pontus it is not seen at all; where the Northern Wain appears considerably elevated. This same constellation cannot be seen at Rhodes, and still less at Alexandria. In Arabia, in the month of November, it is concealed during the first watch of the night, but may be seen during the second; in Meroë it is seen, for a short time, in the evening, at the solstice, and it is visible at day-break, for a few days before the rising of Arcturus. These facts have been principally ascertained by the expeditions of navigators; the sea appearing more elevated or depressed in certain parts; the stars suddenly coming into view, and, as it were, emerging from the water, after having been concealed by the bulging out of the globe. But the heavens do not, as some suppose, rise higher at one pole, otherwise its stars would be seen from all parts of the world; they indeed are supposed to be higher by those who are nearest to them, but the stars are sunk below the horizon to those who are more remote. As this pole appears to be elevated to those who are beneath it; so, when we have passed along the convexity of the earth, those stars rise up, which appear elevated to the inhabitants of those other districts; all this, however, could not happen unless the earth had the shape of a globe.
 
2 - 72 IN WHAT PLACES ECLIPSES ARE INVISIBLE, AND WHY THIS IS THE CASE
Hence it is that the inhabitants of the east do not see those eclipses of the sun or of the moon which occur in the evening, nor the inhabitants of the west those in the morning, while such as take place at noon are more frequently visible. We are told, that at the time of the famous victory of Alexander the Great, at Arbela, the moon was eclipsed at the second hour of the night, while, in Sicily, the moon was rising at the same hour. The eclipse of the sun which occurred the day before the calends of May, in the consulship of Vipstanus and Fonteius, not many years ago, was seen in Campania between the seventh and eighth hour of the day; the general Corbulo informs us, that it was seen in Armenia, between the eleventh and twelfth hour; thus the curve of the globe both reveals and conceals different objects from the inhabitants of its different parts. If the earth had been flat, everything would have been seen at the same time, from every part of it, and the nights would not have been unequal; while the equal intervals of twelve hours, which are now observed only in the middle of the earth, would in that case have been the same everywhere.
 
2 - 73 WHAT REGULATES THE DAYLIGHT ON THE EARTH
Hence it is that there is not any one night and day the same, in all parts of the earth, at the same time; the intervention of the globe producing night, and its turning round producing day. This is known by various observations. In Africa and in Spain it is made evident by the Towers of Hannibal, and in Asia by the beacons, which, in consequence of their dread of pirates, the people erected for their protection; for it has been frequently observed, that the signals, which were lighted at the sixth hour of the day, were seen at the third hour of the night by those who were the most remote. Philonides, a courier of the above-mentioned Alexander, went from Sicyon to Elis, a distance of stadia, in nine hours, while he seldom returned until the third hour of the night, although the road was down-hill. The reason is, that, in going, he followed the course of the sun, while on his return, in the opposite direction, he met the sun and left it behind him. For the same reason it is, that those who sail to the west, even on the shortest day, compensate for the difficulty of sailing in the night and go farther, because they sail in the same direction with the sun.
 
2 - 74 REMARKS ON DIALS, AS CONNECTED WITH THIS SUBJECT
The same dial-plates cannot be used in all places, the shadow of the sun being sensibly different at distances of , or at most of stadia. Hence the shadow of the dial-pin, which is termed the gnomon, at noon and at the summer solstice, in Egypt, is a little more than half the length of the gnomon itself At the city of Rome it is only / less than the gnomon, at Ancona not more than / less, while in the part of Italy which is called Venetia, at the same hour, the shadow is equal to the length of the gnomon.
 
2 - 75 WHEN AND WHERE THERE ARE NO SHADOWS
It is likewise said, that in the town of Syene, which is stadia south of Alexandria, there is no shadow at noon, on the day of the solstice; and that a well, which was sunk for the purpose of the experiment, is illuminated by the sun in every part. Hence it appears that the sun, in this place, is vertical, and Onesicritus informs us that this is the case, about the same time, in India, at the river Hypasis. It is well known, that at Berenice, a city of the Troglodytæ, and stadia beyond that city, in the same country, at the town of Ptolemais, which was built on the Red Sea, when the elephant was first hunted, this same thing takes place for forty-five days before the solstice and for an equal length of time after it, and that during these ninety days the shadows are turned towards the south. Again, at Meroë, an island in the Nile and the metropolis of the Æthiopians, which is stadia from Syene, there are no shadows at two periods of the year, viz. when the sun is in the th degree of Taurus and in the th of Leo. The Oretes, a people of India, have a mountain named Maleus, near which the shadows in sum- mer fall towards the south and in winter towards the north. The seven stars of the Great Bear are visible there for fifteen nights only. In India also, in the celebrated sea-port Patale, the sun rises to the right hand and the shadows fall towards the south. While Alexander was staving there it was observed, that the seven northern stars were seen only during the early part of the night. Onesicritus, one of his generals, informs us in his work, that in those places in India where there are no shadows, the seven stars are not visible; these places, he says, are called "Ascia," and the people there do not reckon the time by hours.
 
2 - 76 WHERE THIS TAKES PLACE TWICE IN THE YEAR AND WHERE THE SHADOWS FALL IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS
Eratosthenes informs us, that in the whole of Troglodytice, for twice forty-five days in the year, the shadows fall in the contrary direction.
 
2 - 77 WHERE THE DAYS ARE THE LONGEST AND WHERE THE SHORTEST
Hence it follows, that in consequence of the daylight increasing in various degrees, in Meroë the longest day consists of twelve æquinoctial hours and eight parts of an hour, at Alexandria of fourteen hours, in Italy of fifteen, in Britain of seventeen; where the degree of light, which exists in the night, very clearly proves, what the reason of the thing also obliges us to believe, that, during the solstitial period, as the sun approaches to the pole of the world, and his orbit is contracted, the parts of the earth that lie below him have a day of six months long, and a night of equal length when he is removed to the south pole. Pytheas, of Marseilles, informs us, that this is the case in the island of Thule, which is six days' sail from the north of Britain. Some persons also affirm that this is the case in Mona, which is about miles from Camelodunum, a town of Britain.
 
 
 
2 - 80 DIFFERENCE OF NATIONS AS DEPENDING ON THE NATURE OF THE WORLD
To these circumstances we must add those that are connected with certain celestial causes. There can be no doubt, that the Æthiopians are scorched by their vicinity to the sun's heat, and they are born, like persons who have been burned, with the beard and hair frizzled; while, in the opposite and frozen parts of the earth, there are nations with white skins and long light hair. The latter are savage from the inclemency of the climate, while the former are dull from its variableness. We learn, from the form of the legs, that in the one, the fluids, like vapour, are forced into the upper parts of the body, while in the other, being a gross humour, it is drawn downwards into the lower parts. In the cold regions savage beasts are produced, and in the others, various forms of animals, and many kinds of birds. In both situations the body grows tall, in the one case by the force of fire, and in the other by the nutritive moisture.
In the middle of the earth there is a salutary mixture of the two, a tract fruitful in all things, the habits of the body holding a mean between the two, with a proper tempering of colours; the manners of the people are gentle, the intellect clear, the genius fertile and capable of comprehending every part of nature. They have formed empires, which has never been done by the remote nations; yet these latter have never been subjected by the former, being severed from them and remaining solitary, from the effect produced on them by their savage nature.
 
2 - 81 EARTHQUAKES
According to the doctrine of the Babylonians, earthquakes and clefts of the earth, and occurrences of this kind, are supposed to be produced by the influence of the stars, especially of the three to which they ascribe thunder; and to be caused by the stars moving with the sun, or being in conjunction with it, and, more particularly, when they are in the quartile aspect. If we are to credit the report, a most admirable and immortal spirit, as it were of a divine nature, should be ascribed to Anaximander the Milesian, who, they say, warned the Lacedæmonians to beware of their city and their houses. For he predicted that an earthquake was at hand, when both the whole of their city was destroyed and a large portion of Mount Taygetus, which projected in the form of a ship, was broken off, and added farther ruin to the previous destruction. Another prediction is ascribed to Pherecydes, the master of Pythagoras, and this was divine; by a draught of water from a well, he foresaw and predicted that there would be an earthquake in that place. And if these things be true, how nearly do these individuals approach to the Deity, even during their lifetime! But I leave every one to judge of these matters as he pleases. I certainly conceive the winds to be the cause of earthquakes; for the earth never trembles except when the sea is quite calm, and when the heavens are so tranquil that the birds cannot maintain their flight, all the air which should support them being withdrawn; nor does it ever happen until after great winds, the gust being pent up, as it were, in the fissures and concealed hollows. For the trembling of the earth resembles thunder in the clouds; nor does the yawning of the earth differ from the bursting of the lightning; the enclosed air struggling and striving to escape.
 
2 - 82 CLEFTS OF THE EARTH
The earth is shaken in various ways, and wonderful effects are produced; in one place the walls of cities being thrown down, and in others swallowed up by a deep cleft; some- times great masses of earth are heaped up, and rivers forced out, sometimes even flame and hot springs, and at others the course of rivers is turned. A terrible noise precedes and accompanies the shock; sometimes a murmuring, like the lowing of cattle, or like human voices, or the clashing of arms. This depends on the substance which receives the sound, and the shape of the caverns or crevices through which it issues; it being more shrill from a narrow opening, more hoarse from one that is curved, producing a loud reverberation from hard bodies, a sound like a boiling fluid from moist substances, fluctuating in stagnant water, and roaring when forced against solid bodies. There is, therefore, often the sound without any motion. Nor is it a simple motion, but one that is tremulous and vibratory. The cleft some- times remains, displaying what it has swallowed up; some- times concealing it, the mouth being closed and the soil being brought over it, so that no vestige is left; the city being, as it were, devoured, and the tract of country engulfed. Maritime districts are more especially subject to shocks. Nor are mountainous tracts exempt from them; I have found, by my inquiries, that the Alps and the Apennines are fre- quently shaken. The shocks happen more frequently in the autumn and in the spring, as is the case also with thunder. There are seldom shocks in Gaul and in Egypt; in the latter it depends on the prevalence of summer, in the former, of winter. They also happen more frequently in the night than in the day. The greatest shocks are in the morning and the evening; but they often take place at day-break, and some- times at noon. They also take place during eclipses of the sun and of the moon, because at that time storms are lulled. They are most frequent when great heat succeeds to showers, or showers succeed to great heat.
 
2 - 83 SIGNS OF AN APPROACHING EARTHQUAKE
There is no doubt that earthquakes are felt by persons on shipboard, as they are struck by a sudden motion of the waves, without these being raised by any gust of wind. And things that are in the vessels shake as they do in houses, and give notice by their creaking; also the birds, when they settle upon the vessels, are not without their alarms. There is also a sign in the heavens; for, when a shock is near at hand, either in the daytime or a little after sunset, a cloud is stretched out in the clear sky, like a long thin line. The water in wells is also more turbid than usual, and it emits a disagreeable odour.
 
2 - 84 PRESERVATIVES AGAINST FUTURE EARTHQUAKES
These same places, however, afford protection, and this is also the case where there is a number of caverns, for they give vent to the confined vapour; a circumstance which has been remarked in certain towns, which have been less shaken where they have been excavated by many sewers. And, in the same town, those parts that are excavated are safer than the other parts, as is understood to be the case at Naples in Italy, the part of it which is solid being more liable to injury. Arched buildings are also the most safe, also the angles of walls, the shocks counteracting each other; walls made of brick also suffer less from the shocks. There is also a great difference in the nature of the motions, where various motions are experienced. It is the safest when it vibrates and causes a creaking in the building, and where it swells and rises upwards, and settles with an alternate motion. It is also harmless when the buildings coming together butt against each other in opposite directions, for the motions counteract each other. A movement like the rolling of waves is dangerous, or when the motion is impelled in one direction. The tremors cease when the vapour bursts out; but if they do not soon cease, they continue for forty days; generally, indeed, for a longer time: some have lasted even for one or two years.
 
2 - 85 PRODIGIES OF THE EARTH WHICH HAVE OCCURRED ONCE ONLY
A great prodigy of the earth, which never happened more than once, I have found mentioned in the books of the Etruscan ceremonies, as having taken place in the district of Mutina, during the consulship of Lucius Martius and Sextus Julius. Two mountains rushed together, falling upon each other with a very loud crash, and then receding; while in the daytime flame and smoke issued from them; a great crowd of Roman knights, and families of people, and travellers on the Æmilian way, being spectators of it. All the farm-houses were thrown down by the shock, and a great number of animals that were in them were killed; it was in the year before the Social war; and I am in doubt whether this event or the civil commotions were more fatal to the territory of Italy. The prodigy which happened in our own age was no less wonderful; in the last year of the emperor Nero, as I have related in my history of his times, when certain fields and olive grounds in the district of Marrucinum, belonging to Vectius Marcellus, a Roman knight, the steward of Nero, changed places with each other, although the public highway was interposed.
 
2 - 86 WONDERFUL CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING EARTHQUAKES
Inundations of the sea take place at the same time with earthquakes; the water being impregnated with the same spirit, and received into the bosom of the earth which subsides. The greatest earthquake which has occurred in our memory was in the reign of Tiberius, by which twelve cities of Asia were laid prostrate in one night. They occurred the most frequently during the Punic war, when we had accounts brought to Rome of fifty-seven earthquakes in the space of a single year. It was during this year that the Carthaginians and the Romans, who were fighting at the lake Thrasimenus, were neither of them sensible of a very great shock during the battle. Nor is it an evil merely consisting in the danger which is produced by the motion; it is all equal or a greater evil when it is considered as a prodigy. The city of Rome never experienced a shock, which was not the forerunner of some great calamity.
 
2 - 87 IN WHAT PLACES THE SEA HAS RECEDED
The same cause produces an increase of the land; the vapour, when it cannot burst out forcibly lifting up the surface. For the land is not merely produced by what is brought down the rivers, as the islands called Echinades are formed by the river Achelous, and the greater part of Egypt by the Nile, where, according to Homer, it was a day and a night's journey from the main land to the island of Pharos; but, in some cases, by the receding of the sea, as, according to the same author, was the case with the Circæan isles. The same thing also happened in the harbour of Ambracia, for a space of , paces, and was also said to have taken place for at the Piræus of Athens, and likewise at Ephesus, where formerly the sea washed the walls of the temple of Diana. Indeed, if we may believe Herodotus, the sea came beyond Memphis, as far as the mountains of Ethiopia, and also from the plains of Arabia. The sea also surrounded Ilium and the whole of Teuthrania, and covered the plain through which the Mæander flows.
 
2 - 88 THE MODE IN WHICH ISLANDS RISE UP
Land is sometimes formed in a different manner, rising suddenly out of the sea, as if nature was compensating the earth for its losses, restoring in one place what she had swallowed up in another.
 
2 - 89 WHAT ISLANDS HAVE BEEN FORMED, AND AT WHAT PERIODS
Delos and Rhodes, islands which have now been long famous, are recorded to have risen up in this way. More lately there have been some smaller islands formed; Anapha, which is beyond Melos; Nea, between Lemnos and the Hellespont; Halone, between Lebedos and Teos; Thera and Therasia, among the Cyclades, in the fourth year of the th Olympiad. And among the same islands, years afterwards, Hiera, also called Automate, made its appearance; also Thia, at the distance of two stadia from the former, years afterwards, in our own times, when M. Junius Silanus and L. Balbus were consuls, on the th of the ides of July.
(.) Opposite to us, and near to Italy, among the Æolian isles, an island emerged from the sea; and likewise one near Crete, paces in extent, and with warm springs in it; another made its appearance in the third year of the rd Olympiad, in the Tuscan gulf, burning with a violent explosion. There is a tradition too that a great number of fishes were floating about the spot, and that those who employed them for food immediately expired. It is said that the Pithecusan isles rose up, in the same way, in the bay of Campania, and that, shortly afterwards, the mountain Epopos, from which flame had suddenly burst forth, was reduced to the level of the neighbouring plain. In the same island, it is said, that a town was sunk in the sea; that in consequence of another shock, a lake burst out, and that, by a third, Prochytas was formed into an island, the neighbouring mountains being rolled away from it.
 
2 - 90 LANDS WHICH HAVE BEEN SEPARATED BY THE SEA
In the ordinary course of things islands are also formed by this means. The sea has torn Sicily from Italy, Cyprus from Syria, Eubœa from Bœotia, Atalante and Macris from Eubœa, Besbycus from Bithynia, and Leucosia from the promontory of the Sirens.
 
2 - 91 ISLANDS WHICH HAVE BEEN UNITED TO THE MAIN LAND
Again, islands are taken from the sea and added to the main land; Antissa to Lesbos, Zephyrium to Halicarnassus, Æthusa to Myndus, Dromiscus and Perne to Miletus, Narthecusa to the promontory of Parthenium. Hybanda, which was formerly an island of Ionia, is now stadia distant from the sea. Syries is now become a part of Ephesus, and, in the same neighbourhood, Derasidas and Sophonia form part of Magnesia; while Epidaurus and Oricum are no longer islands.
 
2 - 92 LANDS WHICH HAVE BEEN TOTALLY CHANGED INTO SEAS
The sea has totally carried off certain lands, and first of all, if we are to believe Plato, for an immense space where the Atlantic ocean is now extended. More lately we see what has been produced by our inland sea; Acarnania has been overwhelmed by the Ambracian gulf, Achaia by the Corinthian, Europe and Asia by the Propontis and Pontus. And besides these, the sea has rent asunder Leucas, Antirrhium, the Hellespont, and the two Bosphori.
 
2 - 93 LANDS WHICH HAVE BEEN SWALLOWED UP
And not to speak of bays and gulfs, the earth feeds on itself; it has devoured the very high mountain of Cybotus, with the town of Curites; also Sipylus in Magnesia, and formerly, in the same place, a very celebrated city, which was called Tantalis; also the land belonging to the cities Galanis and Gamales in Phœnicia, together with the cities themselves; also Phegium, the most lofty ridge in Æthiopia. Nor are the shores of the sea more to be depended upon.
 
2 - 94 CITIES WHICH HAVE BEEN ABSORBED BY THE SEA
The sea near the Palus Mæotis has carried away Pyrrha and Antissa, also Elice and Bura in the gulf of Corinth, traces of which places are visible in the ocean. From the island Cea it has seized on , paces, which were suddenly torn off, with many persons on them. In Sicily also the half of the city of Tyndaris, and all the part of Italy which is wanting; in like manner it carried off Eleusina in Bœotia.
 
2 - 95 VENTS IN THE EARTH
But let us say no more of earthquakes and of whatever may be regarded as the sepulchres of cities; let us rather speak of the wonders of the earth than of the crimes of nature. But, by Hercules! the history of the heavens themselves would not be more difficult to relate:—the abundance of metals, so various, so rich, so prolific, rising up during so many ages; when, throughout all the world, so much is, every day, destroyed by fire, by waste, by shipwreck, by wars, and by frauds; and while so much is consumed by luxury and by such a number of people:—the figures on gems, so multiplied in their forms; the variously-coloured spots on certain stones, and the whiteness of others, excluding everything except light:-the virtues of medicinal springs, and the perpetual fires bursting out in so many places, for so many ages:-the exhalation of deadly vapours, either emitted from caverns, or from certain unhealthy districts; some of them fatal to birds alone, as at Soracte, a district near the city; others to all animals, except to man, while others are so to man also, as in the country of Sinuessa and Puteoli. They are generally called vents, and, by some persons, Charon's sewers, from their exhaling a deadly vapour. Also at Amsanctum, in the country of the Hirpini, at the temple of Mephitis, there is a place which kills all those who enter it. And the same takes place at Hierapolis in Asia, where no one can enter with safety, except the priest of the great Mother of the Gods. In other places there are prophetic caves, where those who are intoxicated with the vapour which rises from them predict future events, as at the most noble of all oracles, Delphi. In which cases, what mortal is there who can assign any other cause, than the divine power of nature, which is everywhere diffused, and thus bursts forth in various places?
 
2 - 96 CERTAIN LANDS WHICH ARE ALWAYS SHAKING, AND OF FLOATING ISLANDS
There are certain lands which shake when any one passes over them; as in the territory of the Gabii, not far from the city of Rome, there are about acres which shake when cavalry passes over it: the same thing takes place at Reate.
(.) There are certain islands which are always floating, as in the territory of the Cæcubum, and of the above-mentioned Reate, of Mutina, and of Statonia. In the lake of Vadimonis and the waters of Cutiliæ there is a dark wood, which is never seen in the same place for a day and a night together. In Lydia, the islands named Calaminæ are not only driven about by the wind, but may be even pushed at pleasure from place to place, by poles: many citizens saved themselves by this means in the Mithridatic war. There are some small islands in the Nymphæus, called the Dancers, because, when choruses are sung, they are moved by the motions of those who beat time. In the great Italian lake of Tarquinii, there are two islands with groves on them, which are driven about by the wind, so as at one time to exhibit the figure of a triangle and at another of a circle; but they never form a square.
 
2 - 97 PLACES IN WHICH IT NEVER RAINS
There is at Paphos a celebrated temple of Venus, in a certain court of which it never rains; also at Nea, a town of Troas, in the spot which surrounds the statue of Minerva: in this place also the remains of animals that are sacrificed never putrefy.
 
2 - 98 WONDERS OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES COLLECTED TOGETHER
Near Harpasa, a town of Asia, there stands a terrific rock, which may be moved by a single finger; but if it be pushed by the force of the whole body, it resists. In the Tauric peninsula, in the state of the Parasini, there is a kind of earth which cures all wounds. About Assos, in Troas, a stone is found, by which all bodies are consumed; it is called Sarcophagus. There are two mountains near the river Indus; the nature of one is to attract iron, of the other to repel it: hence, if there be nails in the shoes, the feet cannot be drawn off the one, or set down on the other. It has been noticed, that at Locris and Crotona, there has never been a pestilence, nor have they ever suffered from an earthquake; in Lycia there are always forty calm days before an earthquake. In the territory of Argyripa the corn which is sown never springs up. At the altars of Mucius, in the country of the Veii, and about Tusculum, and in the Cimmerian Forest, there are places in which things that are pushed into the ground cannot be pulled out again. The hay which is grown in Crustuminium is noxious on the spot, but elsewhere it is wholesome.
 
2 - 99 CONCERNING THE CAUSE OF THE FLOWING AND EBBING OF THE SEA
Much has been said about the nature of waters; but the most wonderful circumstance is the alternate flowing and ebbing of the tides, which exists, indeed, under various forms, but is caused by the sun and the moon. The tide flows twice and ebbs twice between each two risings of the moon, always in the space of twenty-four hours. First, the moon rising with the stars swells out the tide, and after some time, having gained the summit of the heavens, she declines from the meridian and sets, and the tide subsides. Again, after she has set, and moves in the heavens under the earth, as she approaches the meridian on the opposite side, the tide flows in; after which it recedes until she again rises to us. But the tide of the next day is never at the same time with that of the preceding; as if the planet was in attendance, greedily drinking up the sea, and continually rising in a different place from what she did the day before. The intervals are, however, equal, being always of six hours; not indeed in respect of any particular day or night or place, but equinoctial hours, and therefore they are unequal as estimated by the length of common hours, since a greater number of them fall on some certain days or nights, and they are never equal everywhere except at the equinox. This is a great, most clear, and even divine proof of the dullness of those, who deny that the stars go below the earth and rise up again, and that nature presents the same face in the same states of their rising and setting; for the course of the stars is equally obvious in the one case as in the other, producing the same effect as when it is manifest to the sight.
There is a difference in the tides, depending on the moon, of a complicated nature, and, first, as to the period of seven days. For the tides are of moderate height from the new moon to the first quarter; from this time they increase, and are the highest at the full: they then decrease. On the seventh day they are equal to what they were at the first quarter, and they again increase from the time that she is at first quarter on the other side. At her conjunction with the sun they are equally high as at the full. When the moon is in the northern hemisphere, and recedes further from the earth, the tides are lower than when, going towards the south, she exercises her influence at a less distance. After an interval of eight years, and the hundredth revolution of the moon, the periods and the heights of the tides return into the same order as at first, this planet always acting upon them; and all these effects are likewise increased by the annual changes of the sun, the tides rising up higher at the equinoxes, and more so at the autumnal than at the vernal; while they are lower about the winter solstice, and still more so at the summer solstice; not indeed precisely at the points of time which I have mentioned, but a few days after; for example, not exactly at the full nor at the new moon, but after them; and not immediately when the moon becomes visible or invisible, or has advanced to the middle of her course, but generally about two hours later than the equinoctial hours; the effect of what is going on in the heavens being felt after a short interval; as we observe with respect to lightning, thunder, and thunderbolts. But the tides of the ocean cover greater spaces and produce greater inundations than the tides of the other seas; whether it be that the whole of the universe taken together is more full of life than its individual parts, or that the large open space feels more sensibly the power of the planet, as it moves freely about, than when restrained within narrow bounds. On which account neither lakes nor rivers are moved in the same manner. Pytheas of Massilia informs us, that in Britain the tide rises cubits. Inland seas are enclosed as in a harbour, but, in some parts of them, there is a more free space which obeys the influence. Among many other examples, the force of the tide will carry us in three days from Italy to Utica, when the sea is tranquil and there is no impulse from the sails. But these motions are more felt about the shores than in the deep parts of the seas, as in the body the extremities of the veins feel the pulse, which is the vital spirit, more than the other parts. And in most estuaries, on account of the unequal rising of the stars in each tract, the tides differ from each other, but this respects the period, not the nature of them; as is the case in the Syrtes.
 
2 - 100 WHERE THE TIDES RISE AND FALL IN AN UNUSUAL MANNER
There are, however, some tides which are of a peculiar nature, as in the Tauromenian Euripus, where the ebb and flow is more frequent than in other places, and in Eubœa, where it takes place seven times during the day and the night. The tides intermit three times during each month, being the th, th and th day of the moon. At Gades, which is very near the temple of Hercules, there is a spring enclosed like a well, which sometimes rises and falls with the ocean, and, at other times, in both respects contrary to it. In the same place there is another well, which always agrees with the ocean. On the shores of the Bætis, there is a town where the wells become lower when the tide rises, and fill again when it ebbs; while at other times they remain stationary. The same thing occurs in one well in the town of Hispalis, while there is nothing peculiar in the other wells. The Euxine always flows into the Propontis, the water never flowing back into the Euxine.
 
2 - 101 WONDERS OF THE SEA
All seas are purified at the full moon; some also at stated periods. At Messina and Mylæ refuse matter, like dung, is cast up on the shore, whence originated the story of the oxen of the Sun having had their stable at that place. To what has been said above (not to omit anything with which I am acquainted) Aristotle adds, that no animal dies except when the tide is ebbing. The observation has been often made on the ocean of Gaul; but it has only been found true with respect to man.
 
2 - 102 POWER OF THE MOON OVER THE LAND AND THE SEA
Hence we may certainly conjecture, that the moon is not unjustly regarded as the star of our life. This it is that replenishes the earth; when she approaches it, she fills all bodies, while, when she recedes, she empties them. From this cause it is that shell-fish grow with her increase, and that those animals which are without blood more particularly experience her influence; also, that the blood of man is increased or diminished in proportion to the quantity of her light; also that the leaves and vegetables generally, as I shall describe in the proper place, feel her influence, her power penetrating all things.
 
 
2 - 104 WHY THE SEA IS SALT
Hence it is that the widely-diffused sea is impregnated with the flavour of salt, in consequence of what is sweet and mild being evaporated from it, which the force of fire easily accomplishes; while all the more acrid and thick matter is left behind; on which account the water of the sea is less salt at some depth than at the surface. And this is a more true cause of the acrid flavour, than that the sea is the continued perspiration of the land, or that the greater part of the dry vapour is mixed with it, or that the nature of the earth is such that it impregnates the waters, and, as it were, medicates them. Among the prodigies which have occurred, there is one which happened when Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, was expelled from his kingdom; that, for the space of one day, the water in the harbour became sweet.
(.) The moon, on the contrary, is said to be a feminine and delicate planet, and also nocturnal; also that it resolves humours and draws them out, but does not carry them off. It is manifest that the carcases of wild beasts are rendered putrid by its beams, that, during sleep, it draws up the accumulated torpor into the head, that it melts ice, and relaxes all things by its moistening spirit. Thus the changes of nature compensate each other, and are always adequate to their destined purpose; some of them congealing the elements of the stars and others dissolving them. The moon is said to be fed by fresh, and the sun by salt water.
 
 
2 - 106 WONDERS OF FOUNTAINS AND RIVERS
It is very remarkable that fresh water should burst out close to the sea, as from pipes. But there is no end to the wonders that are connected with the nature of waters. Fresh water floats on sea water, no doubt from its being lighter; and therefore sea water, which is of a heavier nature, supports better what floats upon it. And, in some places, different kinds of fresh water float upon each other; as that of the river which falls into the Fucinus; that of the Addua into the Larius; of the Ticinus into the Verbanus; of the Mincius into the Benacus; of the Ollius into the Sevinus; and of the Rhone into the Leman lake (this last being beyond the Alps, the others in Italy): all which rivers passing through the lakes for many miles, generally carry off no more water than they bring with them. The same thing is said to occur in the Orontes, a river of Syria, and in many others
Some rivers, from a real hatred of the sea, pass under it, as does Arethusa, a fountain of Syracuse, in which the substances are found that are thrown into the Alpheus; which, after flowing by Olympia, is discharged into the sea, on the shore of the Peloponnesus. The Lycus in Asia, the Era- sinus in Argolis, and the Tigris in Mesopotamia, sink into the earth and burst out again. Substances which are thrown into the fountain of Æsculapius at Athens are cast up at the fountain of Phalerum. The river which sinks into the ground in the plain of Atinum comes up again at the distance of twenty miles, and the Timavus does the same in Aquileia. In the lake Asphaltites, in Judæa, which produces bitumen, no substance will sink, nor in the lake Arethusa, in the Greater Armenia: in this lake, although it contains nitre, fish are found. In the country of the Salentini, near the town of Manduria, there is a lake full to the brim, the waters of which are never diminished by what is taken out of it, nor increased by what is added. Wood, which is thrown into the river of the Cicones, or into the lake Velinus in Picenum, becomes coated with a stony crust, while in the Surius, a river of Colchis, the whole substance becomes as hard as stone. In the same manner, in the Silarus, beyond Surrentum, not only twigs which are immersed in it, but likewise leaves are petrified; the water at the same time being proper for drinking. In the stream which runs from the marsh of Reate there is a rock, which continues to increase in size, and in the Red Sea olive-trees and green shrubs are produced. There are many springs which are remarkable for their warmth. This is the case even among the ridges of the Alps, and in the sea itself, between Italy and Ænaria, as in the bay of Baiæ, and in the Liris and many other rivers. There are many places in which fresh water may be procured from the sea, as at the Chelidonian Isles, and at Arados, and in the ocean at Gades. Green plants are produced in the warm springs of Padua, frogs in those of Pisa, and fish in those of Vetulonia in Etruria, which is not far from the sea. In Casinas there is a cold river called Scatebra, which in summer is more full of water. In this, as in the river Stymphalis, in Arcadia, small water-mice are produced. The fountain of Jupiter in Dodona, although it is as cold as ice, and extinguishes torches that are plunged into it, yet, if they be brought near it, it kindles them again. This spring always becomes dry at noon, from which circumstance it is called αναπαυόμενον it then increases and becomes full at midnight, after which it again visibly decreases. In Illyricum there is a cold spring, over which if garments are spread they take fire. The pool of Jupiter Ammon, which is cold during the day, is warm during the night. In the country of the Troglodytæ, what they call the Fountain of the Sun, about noon is fresh and very cold; it then gradually grows warm, and, at midnight, becomes hot and saline. In the middle of the day, during summer, the source of the Po, as if reposing itself, is always dry. In the island of Tenedos there is a spring, which, after the summer solstice, is full of water, from the third hour of the night to the sixth. The fountain Inopus, in the island of Delos, decreases and increases in the same manner as the Nile, and also at the same periods. There is a small island in the sea, opposite to the river Timavus, containing warm springs, which increase and decrease at the same time with the tides of the sea. In the territory of Pitinum, on the other side of the Apennines, the river Novanus, which during the solstice is quite a torrent, is dry in the winter. In Faliscum, all the water which the oxen drink turns them white; in Bœotia, the river Melas turns the sheep black; the Cephissus, which flows out of a lake of the same name, turns them white; again, the Peneus turns them black, and the Xanthus, near Ilium, makes them red, whence the river derives its name. In Pontus, the river Astaces waters certain plains, where the mares give black milk, which the people use in diet. In Reate there is a spring called Neminia, which rises up sometimes in one place and sometimes in another, and in this way indicates a change in the produce of the earth. There is a spring in the harbour of Brundisium that yields water which never becomes putrid at sea. The water of the Lyncestis, which is said to be acidulous, intoxicates like wine; this is the case also in Paphlagonia and in the territory of Calenum. In the island of Andros, at the temple of Father Bacchus, we are assured by Mucianus, who was thrice consul, that there is a spring, which, on the nones of January, always has the flavour of wine; it is called διὸς θεοδοσία. Near Nonacris, in Arcadia, the Styx, which is not unlike it either in odour or in colour, instantly destroys those who drink it. Also in Librosus, a hill in the country of the Tauri, there are three springs which inevitably produce death, but without pain. In the territory of the Carrinenses in Spain, two springs burst out close together, the one of which absorbs everything, the other throws them out. In the same country there is another spring, which gives to all the fish the appearance of gold, although, when out of the water, they do not differ in any respect from other fish. In the territory of Como, near the Larian lake, there is a copious spring, which always swells up and subsides again every hour. In the island of Cydonea, before Lesbos, there is a warm fountain, which flows only during the spring season. The lake Sinnaus, in Asia, is impregnated with wormwood, which grows about it. At Colophon, in the cave of the Clarian Apollo, there is a pool, by the drinking of which a power is acquired of uttering wonderful oracles; but the lives of those who drink of it are shortened. In our own times, during the last years of Nero's life, we have seen rivers flowing backwards, as I have stated in my history of his times. And indeed who can be mistaken as to the fact, that all springs are colder in summer than in winter, as well as these other wonderful operations of nature; that copper and lead sink when in a mass, but float when spread out; and of things that are equally heavy, some will sink to the bottom, while others will remain on the surface; that heavy bodies are more easily moved in water; that a stone from Scyros, although very large, will float, while the same, when broken into small pieces, sinks; that the body of an animal, newly deprived of life, sinks, but that, when it is swelled out, it floats; that empty vessels are drawn out of the water with no more ease than those that are full; that rain-water is more useful for salt-pits than other kinds of water; that salt cannot be made, unless it is mixed with fresh water; that salt water freezes with more difficulty, and is more readily heated; that the sea is warmer in winter and more salt in the autumn; that everything is soothed by oil, and that this is the reason why divers send out small quantities of it from their mouths, because it smoothes any part which is rough and transmits the light to them; that snow never falls in the deep part of the sea; that although water generally has a tendency downwards, fountains rise up, and that this is the case even at the foot of Ætna, burning as it does, so as to force out the sand like a ball of flame to the distance of miles?
 
2 - 107 WONDERS OF FIRE AND WATER UNITED
And now I must give an account of some of the wonders of fire, which is the fourth element of nature; but first those produced by means of water.
 
 
 
2 - 110 PLACES WHICH ARE ALWAYS BURNING M
Among the wonders of mountains there is Ætna, which always burns in the night, and for so long a period has always had materials for combustion, being in the winter buried in snow, and having the ashes which it has ejected covered with frost. Nor is it in this mountain alone that nature rages, threatening to consume the earth; in Pha- selis, the mountain Chimæra burns, and indeed with a continual flame, day and night. Ctesias of Cnidos informs us, that this fire is kindled by water, while it is extinguished by earth and by hay. In the same country of Lycia, the mountains of Hephæstius, when touched with a flaming torch, burn so violently, that even the stones in the river and the sand burn, while actually in the water: this fire is also increased by rain. If a person makes furrows in the ground with a stick which has been kindled at this fire, it is said that a stream of flame will follow it. The summit of Cophantus, in Bactria, burns during the night; and this is the case in Media and at Sittacene, on the borders of Persia; likewise in Susa, at the White Tower, from fifteen apertures, the greatest of which also burns in the daytime. The plain of Babylon throws up flame from a place like a fishpond, an acre in extent. Near Hesperium, a mountain of the Æthiopians, the fields shine in the night-time like stars; the same thing takes place in the territory of the Megalopo- litani. This fire, however, is internal, mild, and not burning the foliage of a dense wood which is over it. There is also the crater of Nymphæum, which is always burning, in the neighbourhood of a cold fountain, and which, according to Theopompus, presages direful calamities to the inhabitants of Apollonia. It is increased by rain, and it throws out bitumen, which, becoming mixed with the fountain, renders it unfit to be tasted; it is, at other times, the weakest of all the bitumens. But what are these compared to other wonders? Hiera, one of the Æolian isles, in the middle of the sea, near Italy, together with the sea itself, during the Social war, burned for several days, until expiation was made, by a deputation from the senate. There is a hill in Æthiopia called θεῶν ὄχημα, which burns with the greatest violence, throwing out flame that consumes everything, like the sun. In so many places, and with so many fires, does nature burn the earth!
 
2 - 111 WONDERS OF FIRE ALONE M
But since this one element is of so prolific a nature as to produce itself, and to increase from the smallest spark, what must we suppose will be the effect of all those funeral piles of the earth ? What must be the nature of that thing, which, in all parts of the world, supplies this most greedy voracity without destroying itself? To these fires must be added those innumerable stars and the great sun itself. There are also the fires made by men, those which are innate in certain kinds of stones, those produced by the friction of wood, and those in the clouds, which give rise to lightning. It really exceeds all other wonders, that one single day should pass in which everything is not consumed, especially when we reflect, that concave mirrors placed opposite to the sun's rays produce flame more readily than any other kind of fire; and that numerous small but natural fires abound everywhere. In Nymphæum there issues from a rock a fire which is kindled by rain; it also issues from the waters of the Scantia. This indeed is a feeble flame, since it passes off, remaining only a short time on any body to which it is applied: an ash tree, which overshadows this fiery spring, remains always green. In the territory of Mutina fire issues from the ground on the days that are consecrated to Vulcan. It is stated by some authors, that if a burning body falls on the fields below Aricia, the ground is set on fire; and that the stones in the territory of the Sabines and of the Sidicini, if they be oiled, burn with flame. In Egnatia, a town of Salentinum, there is a sacred stone, upon which, when wood is placed, flame immediately bursts forth. In the altar of Juno Lacinia, which is in the open air, the ashes remain unmoved, although the winds may be blowing from all quarters.
It appears also that there are sudden fires both in waters and even in the human body; that the whole of Lake Thrasymenus was on fire; that when Servius Tullius, while a child, was sleeping, flame darted out from his head; and Valerius Antias informs us, that the same flame appeared about L. Marcius, when he was pronouncing the funeral oration over the Scipios, who were killed in Spain; and exhorting the soldiers to avenge their death. I shall presently mention more facts of this nature, and in a more distinct manner; in this place these wonders are mixed up with other subjects. But my mind, having carried me beyond the mere interpretation of nature, is anxious to lead, as it were by the hand, the thoughts of my readers over the whole globe.
 
2 - 112 DIMENSIONS OF THE EARTH M
Our part of the earth, of which I propose to give an account, floating as it were in the ocean which surrounds it (as I have mentioned above), stretches out to the greatest extent from east to west, viz. from India to the Pillars consecrated to Hercules at Gades, being a distance of miles, according to the statement of Artemidorus, or ac- cording to that of Isidorus, miles. Artemidorus adds to this miles, from Gades, going round by the Sacred Promontory, to the promontory of Artabrum, which is the most projecting part of Spain.
This measurement may be taken in two directions. From the Ganges, at its mouth, where it discharges itself into the Eastern ocean, passing through India and Parthyene, to Myriandrus, a city of Syria, in the bay of Issus, is a distance of miles. Thence, going directly by sea, by the island of Cyprus, Patara in Lycia, Rhodes, and Astypalæa, islands in the Carpathian sea, by Tænarum in Laconia, Lilybæum in Sicily and Calaris in Sardinia, is miles. Thence to Gades is miles, making the whole distance from the Eastern ocean miles. The other way, which is more certain, is chiefly by land. From the Ganges to the Euphrates is miles; thence to Mazaca, a town in Cappadocia, is miles; thence, through Phrygia and Caria, to Ephesus is miles; from Ephesus, across the Ægean sea to Delos, is miles; to the Isthmus is / miles; thence, first by land and afterwards by the sea of Lechæum and the gulf of Corinth, to Patræ in Peloponnesus, miles; to the promontory of Leucate / miles; as much more to Corcyra; to the Acroceraunian mountains /, to Brundisium /, and to Rome miles. To the Alps, at the village of Scingomagum, is miles; through Gaul to Illiberis at the Pyrenees, ; to the ocean and the coast of Spain, miles; across the passage of Gades / miles; which distances, according to the estimate of Artemidorus, make altogether miles. The breadth of the earth, from south to north, is commonly supposed to be about one-half only of its length, viz. miles; hence it is evident how much the heat has stolen from it on one side and the cold on the other: for I do not suppose that the land is actually wanting, or that the earth has not the form of a globe; but that, on each side, the uninhabitable parts have not been discovered. This measure then extends from the coast of the Æthiopian ocean, the most distant part which is habitable, to Meroë, miles; thence to Alexandria ; to Rhodes ; to Cnidos /; to Cos ; to Samos ; to Chios ; to Mitylene ; to Tenedos ; to the promontory of Sigæum /; to the entrance of the Euxine /; to the promontory of Carambis ; to the entrance of the Palus Mæotis /; and to the mouth of the Tanais miles, which distance, if we went by sea, might be shortened miles. Beyond the Tanais the most diligent authors have not been able to obtain any accurate measurement. Artemidorus supposes that everything beyond is undiscovered, since he confesses that, about the Tanais, the tribes of the Sarmatæ dwell, who extend towards the north pole. Isidorus adds miles, as the distance to Thule; but this is mere conjecture. For my part, I believe that the boundaries of Sarmatia really extend to as great a distance as that mentioned above: for if it were not very extensive, how could it contain the innumerable tribes that are always changing their residence ? And indeed I consider the uninhabitable portion of the world to be still greater; for it is well known that there are innu- merable islands lying off the coast of Germany, which have been only lately discovered. The above is all that I consider worth relating about the length and the breadth of the earth. But Eratosthenes, a man who was peculiarly well skilled in all the more subtle parts of learning, and in this above everything else, and a person whom I perceive to be approved by every one, has stated the whole of this circuit to be , stadia, which, according to the Roman estimate, makes , miles. The attempt is presumptuous, but it is supported by such subtle arguments that we cannot refuse our assent. Hipparchus, whom we must admire, both for the ability with which he controverts Eratosthenes, as well as for his diligence in everything else, has added to the above number not much less than , stadia. (.) Dionysodorus is certainly less worthy of confidence; but I cannot omit this most remarkable instance of Grecian vanity. He was a native of Melos, and was celebrated for his knowledge of geometry; he died of old age in his native country. His female relations, who inherited his property, attended his funeral, and when they had for several successive days performed the usual rites, they are said to have found in his tomb an epistle written in his own name to those left above; it stated that he had descended from his tomb to the lowest part of the earth, and that it was a distance of , stadia. There were not wanting certain geometricians, who interpreted this epistle as if it had been sent from the middle of the globe, the point which is at the greatest distance from the surface, and which must necessarily be the centre of the sphere. Hence the estimate has been made that it is , stadia in circumference.
 
2 - 113 HARMONICAL PROPORTION OF THE UNIVERSE
That harmonical proportion, which compels nature to be always consistent with itself, obliges us to add to the above measure, , stadia; and this makes the earth one ninety-sixth part of the whole universe.
Summary.—The facts, statements, and observations contained in this Book amount in number to . Roman Authors Quoted.—M. Varro, Sulpicius Gallus, Titus Cæsar the Emperor, Q. Tubero, Tullius Tiro, L. Piso, T. Livius, Cornelius Nepos, Sebosus, Cælius Antipater, Fabianus, Antias, Mucianus, Cæcina, who wrote on the Etruscan discipline, Tarquitius, who did the same, Julius Aquila, who also did the same, and Sergius. Foreign Authors Quoted.—Plato, Hipparchus, Timæus, Sosigenes, Petosiris, Necepsos, the Pythago- rean Philosophers, Posidonius, Anaximander, Epigenes the philosopher who wrote on Gnomonics, Euclid, Coeranus the philosopher, Eudoxus, Democritus, Critodemus, Thrasyllus, Serapion, Dicæarchus, Archimedes, Onesi- critus, Eratosthenes, Pytheas, Herodotus, Aristotle, Ctesias, Artemidorus of Ephesus, Isidorus of Charax, and Theopompus.
 
  3 COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED M 72.4  
3 - INTRODUCTION M
Thus far have I treated of the position and the wonders of the earth, of the waters, the stars, and the proportion of the universe and its dimensions. I shall now proceed to describe its individual parts; although indeed we may with reason look upon the task as of an infinite nature, and one not to be rashly commenced upon without incurring censure. And yet, on the other hand, there is nothing which ought less to require an apology, if it is only considered how far from surprising it is that a mere mortal cannot be acquainted with everything. I shall therefore not follow any single author, but shall employ, in relation to each subject, such writers as I shall look upon as most worthy of credit. For, indeed, it is the characteristic of nearly all of them, that they display the greatest care and accuracy in the description of the countries in which they respectively flourished; so that by doing this, I shall neither have to blame nor contradict any one.
The names of the different places will here be simply given, and as briefly as possible; the account of their celebrity, and the events which have given rise thereto, being deferred to a more appropriate occasion; for it must be remembered that I am here speaking of the earth as a whole, and I wish to be understood as using the names without any reference whatever to their celebrity, and as though the places themselves were in their infancy, and had not as yet acquired any fame through great events. The name is men- tioned, it is true, but only as forming a part of the world and the system of the universe. The whole globe is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Our description commences where the sun sets and at the Straits of Gades, where the Atlantic ocean, bursting in, is poured forth into the inland seas. As it makes its entrance from that side, Africa is on the right hand and Europe on the left; Asia lies between them; the boundaries being the rivers Tanais and Nile. The Straits of the ocean, of which I have just spoken, extend fifteen miles in length and five in breadth, measured from the village of Mellaria in Spain to the Album Promontorium or White Promontory in Africa, as we learn from Turranius Gracilis, who was born in that vicinity. Titus Livius and Cornelius Nepos however have stated the breadth, where it is least, to be seven miles, and where greatest, ten; from so small a mouth as this does so immense an expanse of water open upon us! Nor is our astonishment diminished by the fact of its being of great depth; for, instead of that, there are numerous breakers and shoals, white with foam, to strike the mariner with alarm. From this circumstance it is, that many have called this spot the threshold of The Inland Sea. At the narrowest part of the Straits, there are mountains placed to form barriers to the entrance on either side, Abyla in Africa, and Calpe in Europe, the boundaries formerly of the labours of Hercules. Hence it is that the inhabitants have called them the Columns of that god; they also believe that they were dug through by him; upon which the sea, which was before excluded, gained admission, and so changed the face of nature.
 
3 - 1 BOUNDARIES AND GULFS OF EUROPE FIRST SET FORTH IN A GENERAL WAY M
I shall first then speak of Europe, the foster-mother of that people which has conquered all other nations, and itself by far the most beauteous portion of the earth. Indeed, many persons have, not without reason, considered it, not as a third part only of the earth, but as equal to all the rest, looking upon the whole of our globe as divided into two parts only, by a line drawn from the river Tanais to the Straits of Gades. The ocean, after pouring the waters of the Atlantic through the inlet which I have here described, and, in its eager progress, overwhelming all the lands which have had to dread its approach, skirts with its winding course the shores of those parts which offer a more effectual resistance, hollowing out the coast of Europe especially into numerous bays, among which there are four Gulfs that are more particularly remarkable. The first of these begins at Calpe, which I have previously mentioned, the most distant mountain of Spain; and bends, describing an immense curve, as far as Locri and the Promontory of Bruttium.
 
3 - 2 SPAIN GENERALLY M
The first land situate upon this Gulf is that which is called the Farther Spain or Bætica; next to which, beginning at the frontier town of Urgi, is the Nearer, or Tarraconensian Spain, extending as far as the chain of the Pyrenees. The Farther Spain is divided lengthwise into two provinces, Lusitania and Bætica, the former stretching along the northern side of the latter, and being divided from it by the river Ana. The source of this river is in the district of Laminium, in the Nearer Spain. It first spreads out into a number of small lakes, and then again contracts itself into a narrow channel, or entirely disappears under ground, and after frequently disappearing and again coming to light, finally dis- charges itself into the Atlantic Ocean. Tarraconensian Spain lies on one side, contiguous to the Pyrenees, running down- wards along the sides of that chain, and, stretching across from the Iberian Sea to the Gallic ocean, is separated from Bætica and Lusitania by Mount Solorius, the chains of the Oretani and the Carpetani, and that of the Astures.
 
3 - 3 BÆTICA M
Bætica, so called from the river which divides it in the middle, excels all the other provinces in the richness of its cultivation and the peculiar fertility and beauty of its vegetation.
It consists of four jurisdictions, those of Gades, of Corduba, of Astigi, and of Hispali. The total number of its towns is ; of these nine are colonies, and eight muni- cipal towns; twenty-nine have been long since presented with the old Latin rights; six are free towns, three federate, and tributary. In this district, the things that more especially deserve notice, or are more easily explained in the Latin tongue, are the following, beginning at the river Ana, along the line of the seashore; the town of Onoba, surnamed Æstuaria; the rivers Luxia and Urium, flowing through this territory between the Ana and the Bætis; the Marian Mountains; the river Bætis; the coast of Corum, with its winding bay; opposite to which is Gades, of which we shall have occasion to speak among the islands. Next comes the Promontory of Juno, and the port of Bæsippo; the towns of Bœlo and Mellaria, at which latter begin the Straits of the Atlantic; Carteia, called by the Greeks Tartessos; and the mountain of Calpe. Along the coast of the inland sea is the town of Barbesula with its river; also Salduba; the town of Suel; and then Malaca, with its river, one of the federate towns. Next to this comes Mænoba, with its river; then Sexifirmum, surnamed Julium; Selambina; Abdera; and Murci, which is at the boundary of Bætica. M. Agrippa supposed that all this coast was peopled by colonists of Punic origin. Beyond the Anas, and facing the Atlantic, is the country of the Bastuli and the Turditani. M. Varro informs us, that the Iberians, the Persians, the Phœnicians, the Celts, and the Carthaginians spread themselves over the whole of Spain; that the name "Lusitania" is derived from the games (lusus) of Father Bacchus, or the fury (lyssa) of his frantic attendants, and that Pan was the governor of the whole of it. But the traditions respecting Hercules and Pyrene, as well as Saturn, I conceive to be fabulous in the highest degree. The Bætis does not rise, as some writers have asserted, near the town of Mentisa, in the province of Tarraco, but in the Tugiensian Forest; and near it rises the river Tader, which waters the territory of Carthage. At Ilorcum it turns away from the Funeral Pile of Scipio; then taking a sweep to the left, it falls into the Atlantic Ocean, giving its name to this province: at its source it is but small, though during its course it receives many other streams, which it deprives as well of their waters as their renown. It first enters Bætica in Ossigita-nia, and glides gently, with a smooth current, past many towns situate on either side of its banks. Between this river and the sea-shore the most celebrated places inland are Segida, also surnamed Augurina; Julia, called Fidentia; Urgao or Alba, Ebora or Cerealis, Iliberri or Liberini, Ilipula or Laus, Artigi or Julienses, Vesci or Faventia, Singili, Attegua, Arialdunum, Agla Minor, Bæbro, Castra Vinaria, Cisimbrium, Hippo Nova or New Hippo, Ilurco, Osca, Escua, Sucubo, Nuditanum, Old Tuati; all which towns are in that part of Bastitania which extends towards the sea, but in the jurisdiction of Corduba. In the neighbourhood of the river itself is Ossigi, also surnamed Laconicum, Iliturgi or Forum Julium, Ipasturgi or Triumphale, Setia, and, fourteen miles inland, Obulco, which is also called Pontificense. Next to these comes Epora, a federate town, Sacili Martialium, and Onoba. On the right bank is Corduba, a Roman colony, surnamed Patricia; here the Bætis first becomes navigable. There are also the towns of Carbula and Detunda, and the river Singulis, which falls into the Bætis on the same side. The towns in the jurisdiction of Hispalis are the following: Celti, Arua, Canama, Evia, Ilipa, surnamed Illa, and Italica. On the left of the river is the colony of Hispalis named Romuliensis, and, on the opposite side, the town of Osset, surnamed Julia Constantia, Vergentum, or Juli Genius, Orippo, Caura, Siarum, and the river Menoba, which enters the Bætis on its right bank. Between the æstuaries of the Bætis lie the towns of Nebrissa, surnamed Veneria, and of Colobona. The colonies are, Asta, which is also called Regia, and, more inland, that of Asido, surnamed Cæsariana. The river Singulis, discharging itself into the Bætis at the place already mentioned, washes the colony of Astigi, sur- named Augusta Firma, at which place it becomes navigable. The other colonies in this jurisdiction which are exempt from tribute are Tucci, surnamed Augusta Gemella, Itucci called Virtus Julia, Attubi or Claritas Julia, Urso or Genua Urbanorum; and among them in former times Munda, which was taken with the son of Pompey. The free towns are Old Astigi and Ostippo; the tributary towns are Callet, Callecula, Castra Gemina, the Lesser Ilipula, Merucra, Sacrana, Obulcula, and Oningis. As you move away from the sea-coast, near where the river Menoba is navigable, you find, at no great distance, the Alontigiceli and the Alostigi. The country which extends from the Bætis to the river Anas, beyond the districts already described, is called Bæturia, and is divided into two parts and the same number of nations; the Celtici, who border upon Lusitania, in the ju- risdiction of Hispalis, and the Turduli, who dwell on the verge of Lusitania and Tarraconensis, and are under the protection of the laws of Corduba. It is evident that the Celtici have sprung from the Celtiberi, and have come from Lusitania, from their religious rites, their language, and the names of their towns, which in Bætica are distinguished by the following epithets, which have been given to them. Seria has received the surname of Fama Julia, Nertobriga that of Concordia Julia, Segida that of Restituta Julia, and Contributa that of Julia. What is now Curiga was formerly Ucultuniacum, Constantia Julia was Laconimurgis, the present Fortunales were the Tereses, and the Emanici were the Callenses. Besides these, there are in Celtica the towns of Acinippo, Arunda, Aruci, Turobriga, Lastigi, Salpesa, Sæpone, and Serippo. The other Bæturia, which we have mentioned, is inhabited by the Turduli, and, in the jurisdiction of Corduba, has some towns which are by no means inconsiderable; Arsa, Mellaria, Mirobriga, and Sisapo, in the district of Osintias. To the jurisdiction of Gades belongs Regina, with Roman citizens; and Læpia, Ulia, Carisa surnamed Aurelia, Urgia or Castrum Julium, likewise called Cæsaris Salutariensis, all of which enjoy the Latian rights. The tributary towns are Besaro, Belippo, Barbesula, Lacippo, Bæsippo, Callet, Cappacum, Oleastro, Ituci, Brana, Lacibi, Saguntia, and Audorisæ. M. Agrippa has also stated the whole length of this province to be miles, and its breadth ; but this was at a time when its boundaries extended to Carthage, a circumstance which has often caused great errors in calculations; which are generally the result either of changes effected in the limits of provinces, or of the fact that in the reckoning of distances the length of the miles has been arbitrarily increased or diminished. In some parts too the sea has been long making encroachments upon the land, and in others again the shores have advanced; while the course of rivers in this place has become more serpentine, in that more direct. And then, besides, some writers begin their measurements at one place, and some at another, and so proceed in different directions; and hence the result is, that no two accounts agree. (.) At the present day the length of Bætica, from the town of Castulo, on its frontier, to Gades is miles, and from Murci, which lies on the sea-coast, twenty-five miles more. The breadth, measured from the coast of Carteia, is miles. Who is there that can entertain the belief that Agrippa, a man of such extraordinary diligence, and one who bestowed so much care on his subject, when he proposed to place before the eyes of the world a survey of that world, could be guilty of such a mistake as this, and that too when seconded by the late emperor the divine Augustus ? For it was that emperor who completed the Portico which had been begun by his sister, and in which the survey was to be kept, in conformity with the plan and descriptions of M. Agrippa.
 
3 - 4 NEARER SPAIN M
The ancient form of the Nearer Spain, like that of many other provinces, is somewhat changed, since the time when Pompey the Great, upon the trophies which he erected in the Pyrenees, testified that towns, from the Alps to the borders of the Farther Spain, had been reduced to subjection by him. The whole province is now divided into seven jurisdictions, those of Carthage, of Tarraco, of Cæsar Augusta, of Clunia, of Asturica, of Lucus, and of the Bracari. To these are to be added the islands, which will be described on another occasion, as also states which are dependent on others; besides which the province contains towns. Of these, twelve are colonies, thirteen, towns with the rights of Roman citizens, eighteen with the old Latian rights, one confederate, and tributary.
The first people that we come to on the coast are the Bastuli; after whom, proceeding according to the order which I shall follow, as we go inland, there are the Mentesani, the Oretani, and the Carpetani on the Tagus, and next to them the Vaccæi, the Vectones, and the Celtiberian Arevaci. The towns nearest to the coast are Urci, and Barea included in Bætica, the district of Mavitania, next to it Deitania, and then Contestania, and the colony of Carthago Nova; from the Promontory of which, known as the Promontorium Saturni, to the city of Cæsarea in Mauritania, the passage is a distance of miles. The remaining objects worthy of mention on the coast are the river Tader, and the free colony of Ilici, whence the Ilicitanian Gulf derives its name; to this colony the Icositani are subordinate. We next have Lucentum, holding Latian rights; Dianium, a tributary town; the river Sucro, and in former times a town of the same name, forming the frontier of Contestania. Next is the district of Edetania, with the delightful expanse of a lake before it, and extending backward to Celtiberia. Valentia, a colony, is situate three miles from the sea, after which comes the river Turium, and Saguntum at the same distance, a town of Roman citizens famous for its fidelity, the river Uduba, and the district of the Ilergaones. The Iberus, a river enriched by its commerce, takes its rise in the country of the Cantabri, not far from the town of Juliobriga, and flows a distance of miles; of which, from the town of Varia namely, it is available for the purposes of navigation. From this river the name of Iberia has been given by the Greeks to the whole of Spain. Next comes the district of Cossetania, the river Subi, and the colony of Tarraco, which was built by the Scipios as Carthage was by the Carthaginians. Then the district of the Ilergetes, the town of Subur, and the river Rubricatum, beyond which begin the Laletani and the Indigetes. Behind these, in the order in which they will be mentioned, going back from the foot of the Pyrenees, are the Ausetani, the Lacetani, and along the Pyrenees, the Cerretani, next to whom are the Vascones. On the coast is the colony of Barcino, surnamed Faventia; Bætulo and Iluro, towns with Roman citizens; the river Larnum, Blandæ, the river Alba; Emporiæ, a city consisting of two parts, one peopled by the original inhabitants, the other by the Greek descendants of the Phocæans; and the river Ticher. From this to the Venus Pyrenæa, on the other side of the Promontory, is a distance of forty miles. I shall now proceed to give an account of the more remarkable things in these several jurisdictions, in addition to those which have been already mentioned. Forty-three different peoples are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Tarraco: of these the most famous are—holding the rights of Roman citizens, the Dertusani and the Bisgargitani; enjoying Latian rights, the Ausetani, and the Cerretani, both Julian and Augustan, the Edetani, the Gerundenses, the Gessorienses, and the Teari, also called Julienses. Among the tributaries are the Aquicaldenses, the Onenses, and the Bæculonenses. Cæsar Augusta, a free colony, watered by the river Iberus, on the site of the town formerly called Salduba, is situate in the district of Edetania, and is the resort of fifty-five nations. Of these there are, with the rights of Roman citizens, the Bellitani, the Celsenses, a former colony, the Calagurritani, surnamed the Nassici, the Ilerdenses, of the nation of the Surdaones, near whom is the river Sicoris, the Oscenses in the district of Vescitania, and the Turiasonenses. Of those enjoying the rights of the ancient Latins, there are the Cascantenses the Ergavicenses, the Graccuritani, the Leo- nicenses, and the Osicerdenses; of federate states, there are the Tarragenses; and of tributaries, the Arcobrigenses, the Andologenses, the Aracelitani, the Bursaonenses, the Calagurritani, who are also surnamed the Fibularenses, the Complutenses, the Carenses, the Cincenses, the Cortonenses, the Damanitani, the Larnenses, the Lursenses, the Lumberitani, the Lacetani, the Lubienses, the Pompelonenses, and the Segienses. Sixty-five different nations resort to Carthage, besides the inhabitants of the islands. Of the Accitanian colony, there are the Gemellenses, and the town of Libisosona, surnamed Foroaugustana, to both of which have been granted Italian rights. Of the colony of Salaria, there are the people of the following towns, enjoying the rights of ancient Latium: the Castulonenses, also called the Cæsari Venales, the Sætabitani or Augustani, and the Valerienses. The best known among the tributaries are the Alabanenses, the Bastitani, the Consaburrenses, the Dianenses, the Egelestani, the Ilorcitani, the Laminitani, the Mentesani, both those called Oritani and those called Bastuli, and the Oretani who are surnamed Germani, the people of Segobriga the capital of Celtiberia, those of Toletum the capital of Carpetania, situate on the river Tagus, and after them the Viatienses and the Virgilienses. To the jurisdiction of Clunia the Varduli contribute fourteen nations, of whom we need only particularize the Albanenses, the Turmodigi, consisting of four tribes, among which are the Segisamonenses and the Segisamaiulienses. To the same jurisdiction belong the Carietes and the Vennenses with five states, among which are the Velienses. Thither too resort the Pelendones of the Celtiberians, in four different nations, among whom the Numantini were especially famous. Also, among the eighteen states of the Vaccæi, there are the Intercatienses, the Pallantini, the Lacobrigenses, and the Caucenses. But among the seven peoples belonging to the Cantabri, Juliobriga is the only place worthy of mention; and of the ten states of the Autrigones, Tritium and Virovesca. The river Areva gives its name to the Arevaci; of whom there are six towns, Segontia and Uxama, names which are frequently given to other places, as also Segovia and Nova Augusta, Termes, and Clunia itself, the frontier of Celtiberia. The remaining portion turns off towards the ocean, being occupied by the Varduli, already mentioned, and the Cantabri. Next upon these touch the twenty-two nations of the Astures, who are divided into the Augustani and the Transmontani, with the magnificent city of Asturica. Among these we have the Cigurri, the Pæsici, the Lancienses, and the Zoëlæ. The total number of the free population amounts to , persons. The jurisdiction of Lucus embraces, besides the Celtici and the Lebuni, sixteen different nations, but little known and with barbarous names. The number however of the free population amounts to nearly ,. In a similar manner the twenty-four states of the jurisdiction of the Bracari contain a population of ,, among whom, besides the Bracari themselves, we may mention, without wearying the reader, the Bibali, the Cœlerni, the Gallæci, the Hequæsi, the Limici, and the Querquerni. The length of the Nearer Spain, from the Pyrenees to the frontier of Castulo, is miles, and a little more if we follow the line of the coast; while its breadth, from Tarraco to the shore of Olarson, is miles. From the foot of the Pyrenees, where it is wedged in by the near approach of the two seas, it gradually expands until it touches the Farther Spain, and thereby acquires a width more than double. Nearly the whole of Spain abounds in mines of lead, iron, copper, silver, and gold; in the Nearer Spain there is also found lapis specularis; in Bætica there is cinnabar. There are also quarries of marble. The Emperor Vespasianus Augustus, while still harassed by the storms that agitated the Roman state, conferred the Latian rights on the whole of Spain. The Pyrenean mountains divide Spain from Gaul, their extremities projecting into the two seas on either side.
 
3 - 5 PROVINCE OF GALLIA NARBONENSIS M
That part of the Gallias which is washed by the inland sea is called the province of [Gallia] Narbonensis, having formerly borne the name of Braccata. It is divided from Italy by the river Varus, and by the range of the Alps, the great safeguards of the Roman Empire. From the remainder of Gaul, on the north, it is separated by the mountains Cebenna and Jura. In the cultivation of the soil, the manners and civilization of the inhabitants, and the extent of its wealth, it is surpassed by none of the provinces, and, in short, might be more truthfully described as a part of Italy than as a province. On the coast we have the district of the Sordones, and more inland that of the Consuarani. The rivers are the Tecum and the Vernodubrum. The towns are Illiberis, the scanty remains of what was formerly a great city, and Ruscino, a town with Latian rights. We then come to the river Atax, which flows from the Pyrenees, and passes through the Rubrensian Lake, the town of Narbo Martius, a colony of the tenth legion, twelve miles distant from the sea, and the rivers Arauris and Liria. The towns are otherwise but few in number, in consequence of the numerous lakes which skirt the sea-shore. We have Agatha, formerly belonging to the Massilians, and the district of the Volcæ Tectosages; and there is the spot where Rhoda, a Rhodian colony, formerly stood, from which the river takes its name of Rhodanus; a stream by far the most fertilizing of any in either of the Gallias. Descending from the Alps and rushing through lake Lemanus, it carries along with it the sluggish Arar, as well as the torrents of the Isara and the Druentia, no less rapid than itself. Its two smaller mouths are called Libica, one being the Spanish, and the other the Metapinian mouth; the third and largest is called the Massiliotic. There are some authors who state that there was formerly a town called Heraclea at the mouth of the Rhodanus or Rhone.
Beyond this are the Canals leading out of the Rhone, a famous work of Caius Marius, and still distinguished by his name; the Lake of Mastramela, the town of Maritima of the Avatici, and, above this, the Stony Plains, memorable for the battles of Hercules; the district of the Anatilii, and more inland, that of the Desuviates and the Cavari. Again, close upon the sea, there is that of the Tricorii, and inland, there are the Tricolli, the Vocontii, and the Segovellauni, and, after them, the Allobroges. On the coast is Massilia, a colony of Phocæan Greeks, and a federate city; we then have the Promontory of Zao, the port of Citharista, and the district of the Camatullici; then the Suelteri, and above them the Verrucini. Again, on the coast, we find Athenopolis, belonging to the Massilians, Forum Julii Octavanorum, a colony, which is also called Pacensis and Classica, the river Argenteus, which flows through it, the district of the Oxubii and that of the Ligauni; above whom are the Suetri, the Quariates and the Adunicates. On the coast we have Antipolis, a town with Latian rights, the district of the Deciates, and the river Varus, which proceeds from Mount Cema, one of the Alps. The colonies in the interior are Arelate Sextanorum, Beterræ Septimanorum, and Arausio Secundanorum; Valentia in the territory of the Cavari, and Vienna in that of the Allobroges. The towns that enjoy Latian rights are Aquæ Sextiæ in the territory of the Saluvii, Avenio in that of the Cavari, Apta Julia in that of the Volgientes, Alebece in that of the Reii Apollinares, Alba in that of the Helvi, and Augusta in that of the Tricastini, Anatilia, Aeria, the Bormanni, the Comaci, Cabellio, Carcasum in the territory of the Volcæ Tectosages, Cessero, Carpentoracte in the territory of the Memini, the Cenicenses, the Cambolectri, surnamed the Atlantici, Forum Voconi, Glanum Livi, the Lutevani, also called the Foroneronienses, Nemausum in the territory of the Arecomici, Piscenæ, the Ruteni, the Sanagenses, the Tolosani in the territory of the Tectosages on the confines of Aquitania, the Tasconi, the Tarusconienses, the Umbranici, Vasio and Lucus Augusti, the two capitals of the federate state of the Vocontii. There are also nineteen towns of less note, as well as twenty-four belonging to the people of Nemausum. To this list the Emperor Galba added two tribes dwelling among the Alps, the Avantici and the Bodiontici, to whom belongs the town of Dinia. According to Agrippa the length of the province of Gallia Narbonensis is miles, and its breadth .
 
3 - 6 ITALY M
Next comes Italy, and we begin with the Ligures, after whom we have Etruria, Umbria, Latium, where the mouths of the Tiber are situate, and Rome, the Capital of the world, sixteen miles distant from the sea. We then come to the coasts of the Volsci and of Campania, and the districts of Picenum, of Lucania, and of Bruttium, where Italy extends the farthest in a southerly direction, and projects into the [two] seas with the chain of the Alps, which there forms pretty nearly the shape of a crescent. Leaving Bruttium we come to the coast of [Magna] Græcia, then the Salentini, the Pediculi, the Apuli, the Peligni, the Frentani, the Marrucini, the Vestini, the Sabini, the Picentes, the Galli, the Umbri, the Tusci, the Veneti, the Carni, the Iapydes, the Histri, and the Liburni.
I am by no means unaware that I might be justly accused of ingratitude and indolence, were I to describe thus briefly and in so cursory a manner the land which is at once the foster-child and the parent of all lands; chosen by the providence of the Gods to render even heaven itself more glorious, to unite the scattered empires of the earth, to bestow a polish upon men's manners, to unite the discordant and uncouth dialects of so many different nations by the powerful ties of one common language, to confer the enjoyments of discourse and of civilization upon mankind, to become, in short, the mother-country of all nations of the Earth. But how shall I commence this undertaking? So vast is the number of celebrated places (what man living could enumerate them all?), and so great the renown attached to each individual nation and subject, that I feel myself quite at a loss. The city of Rome alone, which forms a portion of it, a face well worthy of shoulders so beauteous, how large a work would it require for an appropriate description! And then too the coast of Campania, taken singly by itself! so blest with natural beauties and opulence, that it is evident that when nature formed it she took a delight in accumulating all her blessings in a single spot—how am I to do justice to it? And then the climate, with its eternal freshness and so replete with health and vitality, the sereneness of the weather so enchanting, the fields so fertile, the hill sides so sunny, the thickets so free from every danger, the groves so cool and shady, the forests with a vegetation so varying and so luxuriant, the breezes descending from so many a mountain, the fruitfulness of its grain, its vines, and its olives so transcendent; its flocks with fleeces so noble, its bulls with necks so sinewy, its lakes recurring in never-ending succession, its numerous rivers and springs which refresh it with their waters on every side, its seas so many in number, its havens and the bosom of its lands opening everywhere to the commerce of all the world, and as it were eagerly stretching forth into the very midst of the waves, for the purpose of aiding as it were the endeavours of mortals! For the present I forbear to speak of its genius, its manners, its men, and the nations whom it has conquered by eloquence and force of arms. The very Greeks themselves, a race fond in the extreme of expatiating on their own praises, have amply given judgment in its favour, when they named but a small part of it 'Magna Græcia.' But we must be content to do on this occasion as we have done in our description of the heavens; we must only touch upon some of these points, and take notice of but a few of its stars. I only beg my readers to bear in mind that I am thus hasten- ing on for the purpose of giving a general description of everything that is known to exist throughout the whole earth. I may premise by observing that this land very much resembles in shape an oak leaf, being much longer than it is broad; towards the top it inclines to the left, while it terminates in the form of an Amazonian buckler, in which the spot at the central projection is the place called Cocinthos, while it sends forth two horns at the end of its crescent-shaped bays, Leucopetra on the right and Lacinium on the left. It extends in length miles, if we measure from the foot of the Alps at Prætoria Augusta, through the city of Rome and Capua to the town of Rhegium, which is situate on the shoulder of the Peninsula, just at the bend of the neck as it were. The distance would be much greater if measured to Lacinium, but in that case the line, being drawn obliquely, would incline too much to one side. Its breadth is variable; being miles between the two seas, the Lower and the Upper, and the rivers Varus and Arsia: at about the middle, and in the vicinity of the city of Rome, from the spot where the river Aternus flows into the Adriatic sea, to the mouth of the Tiber, the distance is miles, and a little less from Castrum-novum on the Adriatic sea to Alsium on the Tuscan; but in no place does it exceed miles in breadth. The circuit of the whole, from the Varus to the Arsia, is miles. As to its distance from the countries that surround it- Istria and Liburnia are, in some places, miles from it, and Epirus and Illyricum ; Africa is less than , as we are informed by M. Varro; Sardinia is , Sicily /, Corsica less than , and Issa . It extends into the two seas towards the southern parts of the heavens, or, to speak with more minute exactness, between the sixth hour and the first hour of the winter solstice. We will now describe its extent and its different cities; in doing which, it is necessary to premise, that we shall follow the arrangement of the late Emperor Augustus, and adopt the division which he made of the whole of Italy into eleven districts; taking them, however, according to their order on the sea-line, as in so hurried a detail it would not be possible otherwise to describe each city in juxtaposition with the others in its vicinity. And for the same reason, in describing the interior, I shall follow the alphabetical order which has been adopted by that Emperor, pointing out the colonies of which he has made mention in his enumeration. Nor is it a very easy task to trace their situation and origin; for, not to speak of others, the Ingaunian Ligurians have had lands granted to them as many as thirty different times.
 
3 - 7 NINTH REGION OF ITALY M
To begin then with the river Varus; we have the town of Nicæa, founded by the Massilians, the river Paulo, the Alps and the Alpine tribes, distinguished by various names, but more especially the Capillati, Cemenelio, a town of the state of the Vediantii, the port of Hercules Monæcus, and the Ligurian coast. The more celebrated of the Ligurian tribes beyond the Alps are the Salluvii, the Deciates, and the Oxubii; on this side of the Alps, the Veneni, and the Vagienni, who are derived from the Caturiges, the Statielli, the Bimbelli, the Magelli, the Euburiates, the Casmonates, the Veleiates, and the peoples whose towns we shall describe as lying near the adjoining coast. The river Rutuba, the town of Albium Intemelium, the river Merula, the town of Albium Ingaunum, the port of Vadum Sabatiorum, the river Porcifera, the town of Genua, the river Feritor, the Portus Delphini, Tigullia, Tegesta of the Tigullii, and the river Macra, which is the boundary of Liguria.
Extending behind all the before-mentioned places are the Apennines, the most considerable of all the mountains of Italy, the chain of which extends unbroken from the Alps to the Sicilian sea. On the other side of the Apennines, towards the Padus, the richest river of Italy, the whole country is adorned with noble towns; Libarna, the colony of Dertona, Iria, Barderate, Industria, Pollentia, Carrea surnamed Potentia, Foro Fulvî or Valentinum, Augusta of the Vagienni, Alba Pompeia, Asta, and Aquæ Statiellorum. This is the ninth region, according to the arrangement of Augustus. The coast of Liguria extends miles, between the rivers Varus and Macra.
 
3 - 8 SEVENTH REGION OF ITALY M
Next to this comes the seventh region, in which is Etruria, a district which begins at the river Macra, and has often changed its name. At an early period the Umbri were expelled from it by the Pelasgi; and these again by the Lydians, who from a king of theirs were named Tyrrheni, but afterwards, from the rites observed in their sacrifices, were called, in the Greek language, Tusci. The first town in Etruria is Luna, with a noble harbour, then the colony of Luca, at some distance from the sea, and nearer to it again the colony of Pisæ, between the rivers Auser and Arnus, which owes its origin to Pelops and the Pisans, or else to the Teutani, a people of Greece. Next is Vada Volaterrana, then the river Cecinna, and Populonium formerly belonging to the Etrurians, the only town they had on this coast. Next to these is the river Prile, then the Umbro, which is navigable, and where the district of Umbria begins, the port of Telamon, Cosa of the Volcientes, founded by the Roman people, Graviscæ, Castrum novum, Pyrgi, the river Cæretanus, and Cære itself, four miles inland, called Agylla by the Pelasgi who founded it, Alsium, Fregenæ, and the river Tiber, miles from the Macra.
In the interior we have the colonies of Falisci, founded by the Argives, according to the account of Cato, and surnamed Falisci Etruscorum, Lucus Feroniæ, Rusellana, the Senienses, and Sutrina. The remaining peoples are the Arretini Veteres, the Arretini Fidentes, the Arretini Julienses, the Amitinenses, the Aquenses, surnamed Taurini, the Blerani, the Cortonenses, the Capenates, the Clusini Novi, the Clusini Veteres, the Florentini, situate on the stream of the Arnus, Fæsulæ, Ferentinum, Fescennia, Hortanum, Herbanum, Nepeta, Novem Pagi, the Claudian præfecture of Foroclodium, Pistorium, Perusia, the Suanenses, the Saturnini, formerly called the Aurinini, the Subertani, the Statones, the Tarquinienses, the Tuscanienses, the Vetulonienses, the Veietani, the Vesentini, the Volaterrani, the Voleentini, surnamed Etrusci, and the Volsinienses. In the same district the territories of Crustumerium and Caletra retain the names of the ancient towns.
 
3 - 9 FIRST REGION OF ITALY; THE TIBER; ROME M
The Tiber or Tiberis, formerly called Thybris, and previously Albula, flows down from nearly the central part of the chain of the Apennines, in the territory of the Arretini. It is at first small, and only navigable by means of sluices, in which the water is dammed up and then discharged, in the same manner as the Timia and the Glanis, which flow into it; for which purpose it is found necessary to collect the water for nine days, unless there should happen to be a fall of rain. And even then, the Tiber, by reason of its rugged and uneven channel, is really more suitable for navigation by rafts than by vessels, for any great distance. It winds along for a course of miles, passing not far from Tifernum, Perusia, and Ocriculum, and dividing Etruria from the Umbri and the Sabini, and then, at a distance of less than sixteen miles from the city, separating the territory of Veii from that of Crustuminum, and afterwards that of the Fidenates and of Latium from Vaticanum.
Below its union with the Glanis from Arretinum the Tiber is swollen by two and forty streams, particularly the Nar and the Anio, which last is also navigable and shuts in Latium at the back; it is also increased by the numerous aqueducts and springs which are conveyed to the City. Here it becomes navigable by vessels of any burden which may come up from the Italian sea; a most tranquil dispenser of the produce of all parts of the earth, and peopled and embellished along its banks with more villas than nearly all the other rivers of the world taken together. And yet there is no river more circumscribed than it, so close are its banks shut in on either side; but still, no resistance does it offer, although its waters frequently rise with great suddenness, and no part is more liable to be swollen than that which runs through the City itself. In such case, however, the Tiber is rather to be looked upon as pregnant with prophetic warnings to us, and in its increase to be considered more as a promoter of religion than a source of devastation. Latium has preserved its original limits, from the Tiber to Circeii, a distance of fifty miles: so slender at the beginning were the roots from which this our Empire sprang. Its inhabitants have been often changed, and different nations have peopled it at different times, the Aborigines, the Pelasgi, the Arcades, the Seculi, the Aurunci, the Rutuli, and, beyond Circeii, the Volsci, the Osci, and the Ausones whence the name of Latium came to be extended as far as the river Liris. We will begin with Ostia, a colony founded by a king of Rome, the town of Laurentum, the grove of Jupiter Indiges, the river Numicius, and Ardea, founded by Danaë, the mother of Perseus. Next come the former site of Aphrodisium, the colony of Antium, the river and island called Astura, the river Nymphæus, the Clostra Romana, and Circeii, formerly an island, and, if we are to believe Homer, surrounded by the open sea, though now by an extensive plain. The circumstances which we are enabled to publish on this subject for the information of the world are very remarkable. Theophrastus, the first foreigner who treated of the affairs of Rome with any degree of accuracy (for Theopompus, before whose time no Greek writer had made mention of us, only stated the fact that the city had been taken by the Gauls, and Clitarchus, the next after him, only spoke of the embassy that was sent by the Romans to Alexander)—Theophrastus, I say, following something more than mere rumour, has given the circuit of the island of Circeii as being eighty stadia, in the volume which he wrote during the archonship of Nicodorus at Athens, being the th year of our city. Whatever land therefore has been annexed to that island beyond the circumference of about ten miles, has been added to Italy since the year previously mentioned. Another wonderful circumstance too.—Near Circeii are the Pomptine Marshes, formerly the site, according to Mucianus, who was thrice consul, of four-and-twenty cities. Next to this comes the river Ufens, upon which is the town of Terracina, called, in the language of the Volsci, Anxur; the spot too where Amyclæ stood, a town destroyed by serpents. Next is the site of the Grotto, Lake Fundanus, the port of Caieta, and then the town of Formiæ, formerly called Hormiæ, the ancient seat of the Læstrygones, it is supposed. Beyond this, formerly stood the town of Pyræ; and we then come to the colony of Minturnæ, which still exists, and is divided by the river Liris, also called the Glanis. The town of Sinuessa is the last in the portion which has been added to Latium; it is said by some that it used to be called Sinope. At this spot begins that blessed country Campania, and in this vale first take their rise those hills clad with vines, the juice of whose grape is extolled by Fame all over the world; the happy spot where, as the ancients used to say, father Liber and Ceres are ever striving for the mastery. Hence the fields of Setia and of Cæcubum extend afar. and, next to them those of Falernum and of Calinum. As soon as we have passed these, the hills of Massica, of Gaurus, and of Surrentum rise to our view. Next, the level plains of Laborium are spread out far and wide, where every care is bestowed on cultivating crops of spelt, from which the most delicate fermenty is made. These shores are watered by warm springs, while the seas are distinguished beyond all others for the superlative excellence of their shell and other fish. In no country too has the oil of the olive a more exquisite flavour. This territory, a battle-ground as it were for the gratification of every luxurious pleasure of man, has been held successively by the Osci, the Greeks, the Umbri, the Tusci, and the Campani. On the coast we first meet with the river Savo, the town of Volturnum with a river of the same name, the town of Liternum, Cumæ, a Chalcidian colony, Misenum, the port of Baiæ, Bauli, the Lucrine Lake, and Lake Avernus, near which there stood formerly a town of the Cimmerians. We then come to Puteoli, formerly called the colony of Dicæ- archia, then the Phlegræn Plains, and the Marsh of Acherusia in the vicinity of Cumæ. Again, on the coast we have Neapolis, also a colony of the Chalcidians, and called Parthenope from the tomb there of one of the Sirens, Herculaneum, Pompeii, from which Mount Vesuvius may be seen at no great distance, and which is watered by the river Sarnus; the territory of Nuceria, and, at the distance of nine miles from the sea, the town of that name, and then Surrentum, with the Promontory of Minerva, formerly the abode of the Sirens. The distance thence by sea to Circeii is seventy-eight miles This region, beginning at the Tiber, is looked upon as the first of Italy according to the division of Augustus. Inland there are the following colonies:—Capua, so called from its champaign country, Aquinum, Suessa, Venafrum, Sora, Teanum surnamed Sidicinum, Nola; and the towns of Abella, Aricia, Alba Longa, the Acer- rani, the Allifani, the Atinates, the Aletrinates, the Anagnini, the Atellani, the Affilani, the Arpinates, the Auximates, the Abellani, the Alfaterni (both those who take their names from the Latin, the Hernican and the Labicanian territory), Bovillæ, Calatia, Casi- num, Calenum, Capitulum of the Hernici, the Cereatini, surnamed Mariani, the Corani, descended from the Trojan Dardanus, the Cubulterini, the Castrimœnienses, the Cingulani, the Fabienses on the Alban Mount, the Foropopulienses of the Falernian district, the Frusinates, the Ferentinates, the Freginates, the old Frabaterni, the new Frabaterni, the Ficolenses, the Fre- gellani, Forum Appî, the Forentani, the Gabini, the Interamnates Succasini, also surnamed Lirinates, the Ilionenses Lavinii, the Norbani, the Nomentani, the Prænestini (whose city was formerly called Stephané), the Privernates, the Setini, the Signini, the Suessulani, the Telesini, the Trebulani, surnamed Balinienses, the Trebani, the Tusculani, the Verulani, the Veliterni, the Ulubrenses, the Urbinates, and, last and greater than all, Rome herself, whose other name the hallowed mysteries of the sacred rites forbid us to mention without being guilty of the greatest impiety. After it had been long kept buried in secresy with the strictest fidelity and in respectful and salutary silence, Valerius Soranus dared to divulge it, but soon did he pay the penalty of his rashness. It will not perhaps be altogether foreign to the purpose, if I here make mention of one peculiar institution of our forefathers which bears especial reference to the inculcation of silence on religious matters. The goddess Angerona, to whom sacrifice is offered on the twelfth day before the calends of January [st December], is represented in her statue as having her mouth bound with a sealed fillet. Romulus left the city of Rome, if we are to believe those who state the very greatest number, having three gates and no more. When the Vespasians were emperors and censors, in the year from its building , the circumference of the walls which surrounded it was thirteen miles and two-fifths. Surrounding as it does the Seven Hills, the city is divided into fourteen districts, with cross-roads under the guardianship of the Lares. If a straight line is drawn from the mile-column placed at the entrance of the Forum, to each of the gates, which are at present thirty-seven in number (taking care to count only once the twelve double gates, and to omit the seven old ones, which no longer exist), the result will be [taking them altogether], a straight line of twenty miles and paces. But if we draw a straight line from the same mile-column to the very last of the houses, including therein the Prætorian encampment, and follow throughout the line of all the streets, the result will then be something more than seventy miles. Add to these calculations the height of the houses, and then a person may form a fair idea of this city, and will certainly be obliged to admit that there is not a place throughout the whole world that for size can be compared to it. On the eastern side it is bounded by the agger of Tarquinius Superbus, a work of surpassing grandeur; for he raised it so high as to be on a level with the walls on the side on which the city lay most exposed to attack from the neighbouring plains. On all the other sides it has been fortified either with lofty walls or steep and precipitous hills, but so it is, that its buildings, increasing and extending beyond all bounds, have now united many other cities to it. Besides those previously mentioned, there were formerly in the first region the following famous towns of Latium: Satricum, Pometia, Scaptia, Politorium, Tellene, Tifata, Cænina, Ficana, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullum, Corniculum, Saturnia, on the site of the present city of Rome, Antipolis, now Janiculum, forming part of Rome, Antemnæ, Carnerium, Collatia, Amitinum, Norbe, Sulmo, and, with these, those Alban nations who used to take part in the sacrifices upon the Alban Mount, the Albani, the Æsulani, the Accienses, the Abolani, the Bube- tani, the Bolani, the Cusuetani, the Coriolani, the Fidenates, the Foretii, the Hortenses, the Latinienses, the Longulani, the Manates, the Macrales, the Mutucumenses, the Munienses, the Numinienses, the Olliculani, the Octulani, the Pedani, the Polluscini, the Querquetulani, the Sicani, the Sisolenses, the Tolerienses, the Tutienses, the Vimitellarii, the Velienses, the Venetulani, and the Vitellenses. Thus we see, fifty-three peoples of ancient Latium have passed away without leaving any traces of their existence. In the Campanian territory there was also the town of Stabiæ, until the consulship of Cneius Pompeius and L. Cato, when, on the day before the calends of May [th of April], it was destroyed in the Social War by L. Sulla the legatus, and all that now stands on its site is a single farmhouse. Here also Taurania has ceased to exist, and the remains of Casilinum are fast going to ruin. Besides these, we learn from Antias that king L. Tarquinius took Apiolæ, a town of the Latins, and with its spoils laid the first foundations of the Capitol. From Surrentum to the river Silarus, the former territory of Picentia extends for a distance of thirty miles. This belonged to the Etruscans, and was remarkable for the temple of the Argive Juno, founded by Jason. In it was Picentia, a town of the territory of Salernum.
 
3 - 10 THIRD REGION OF ITALY M
At the Silarus begins the third region of Italy, consisting of the territory of Lucania and Bruttium; here too there have been no few changes of the population. These districts have been possessed by the Pelasgi, the Œnotrii, the Itali, the Morgetes, the Siculi, and more especially by people who emigrated from Greece, and, last of all, by the Leucani, a people sprung from the Samnites, who took possession under the command of Lucius. We find here the town of Pæstum, which received from the Greeks the name of Posidonia, the Gulf of Pæstum, the town of Elea, now known as Velia, and the Promontory of Palinurum, a point at which the land falls inwards and forms a bay, the distance across which to the pillar of Rhegium is miles. Next after Palinurum comes the river Melpes, then the town of Buxentum, called in [Magna] Græcia Pyxus, and the river Laus; there was formerly a town also of the same name.
At this spot begins the coast of Bruttium, and we come to the town of Blanda, the river Batum, Parthenius, a port of the Phocians, the bay of Vibo, the place where Clampetia formerly stood, the town of Temsa, called Temese by the Greeks, and Terina founded by the people of Crotona, with the extensive Gulf of Terina; more inland, the town of Consentia. Situate upon a peninsula is the river Acheron, from which the people of Acherontia derive the name of their town; then Hippo, now called Vibo Valentia, the Port of Hercules, the river Metaurus, the town of Tauroentum, the Port of Orestes, and Medma. Next, the town of Scyllæum, the river Cratæis, the mother of Scylla it is said; then the Pillar of Rhegium, the Straits of Sicily, and the two promontories which face each other, Cænys on the Italian, and Pelorus on the Sicilian side, the distance between them being twelve stadia. At a distance thence of twelve miles and a half, we come to Rhegium, after which begins Sila, a forest of the Apennines, and then the pro- montory of Leucopetra, at a distance of fifteen miles; after which come the Locri, who take their surname from the promontory of Zephyrium, being distant from the river Silarus miles. At this spot ends the first great Gulf of Europe; the seas in which bear the following names:—That from which it takes its rise is called the Atlantic, by some the Great Atlantic, the entrance of which is, by the Greeks, called Porthmos, by us the Straits of Gades. After its entrance, as far as it washes the coasts of Spain, it is called the Hispanian Sea, though some give it the name of the Iberian or Balearic Sea. Where it faces the province of Gallia Narbonensis it has the name of the Gallic, and after that, of the Ligurian, Sea. From Liguria to the island of Sicily, it is called the Tuscan Sea, the same which is called by some of the Greeks the Notian, by others the Tyrrhenian, while many of our people call it the Lower Sea. Beyond Sicily, as far as the country of the Salentini, it is styled by Polybius the Ausonian Sea. Eratosthenes however gives to the whole expanse that lies between the inlet of the ocean and the island of Sardinia, the name of the Sardoan Sea; thence to Sicily, the Tyrrhenian; thence to Crete, the Sicilian; and beyond that island, the Cretan Sea.
 
3 - 11 SIXTY-FOUR ISLANDS, AMONG WHICH ARE THE BALEARES M
The first islands that we meet with in all these seas are the two to which the Greeks have given the name of Pityussæ, from the pine-tree, which they produce. These islands now bear the name of Ebusus, and form a federate state. They are separated by a narrow strait of the sea, and are forty-six miles in extent. They are distant from Dianium stadia, Dianium being by land the same distance from New Carthage. At the same distance from the Pityussæ, lie, in the open sea, the two Baleares, and, over against the river Sucro, Colubraria. The Baleares, so formidable in war with their slingers, have received from the Greeks the name of Gymnasiæ.
The larger island is miles in length, and in circumference. It has the following towns; Palma and Pollentia, enjoying the rights of Roman citizens, Cinium and Tucis, with Latin rights: Bocchorum, a federate town, is no longer in existence. At thirty miles' distance is the smaller island, miles in length, and in circumference; it contains the states of Jamnon, Sanisera, and Magon. In the open sea, at twelve miles' distance from the larger island, is Capraria with its treacherous coast, so notorious for its numerous shipwrecks; and, opposite to the city of Palma, are the islands known as the Mænariæ, Tiquadra, and Little Hannibalis. The earth of Ebusus has the effect of driving away serpents, while that of Colubraria produces them; hence the latter spot is dangerous to all persons who have not brought with them some of the earth of Ebusus. The Greeks have given it the name of Ophiusa. Ebusus too produces no rabbits to destroy the harvests of the Baleares. There are also about twenty other small islands in this sea, which is full of shoals. Off the coast of Gaul, at the mouth of the Rhodanus, there is Metina, and near it the island which is known as Blascon, with the three Stœchades, so called by their neighbours the Massilians, on account of the regular order in which they are placed; their respective names are Prote, Mese, also called Pomponiana, and Hypæa. After these come Sturium, Phœnice, Phila, Lero, and, opposite to Antipolis, Lerina, where there is a remembrance of a town called Vergoanum having once existed.
 
3 - 12 CORSICA M
In the Ligurian Sea, but close to the Tuscan, is Corsica, by the Greeks called Cyrnos, extending, from north to south miles, and for the most part miles in breadth, its circumference being . It is miles distant from the Vada Volaterrana. It contains thirty-two states, and two colonies, that of Mariana, founded by C. Marius, and that of Aleria, founded by the Dictator Sylla. On this side of it is Oglasa, and, at a distance of less than sixty miles from Corsica, Planaria, so called from its appearance, being nearly level with the sea, and consequently treacherous to mariners.
We next have Urgo, a larger island, and Capraria, which the Greeks have called Ægilion; then Igilium and Dianium, which they have also called Artemisia, both of them opposite the coast of Cosa; also Barpana, Mænaria, Co- lumbaria, and Venaria. We then come to Ilva with its iron mines, an island miles in circumference, miles distant from Populonium, and called Æthalia by the Greeks: from it the island of Planasia is distant miles. After these, beyond the mouths of the Tiber, and off the coast of Antium, we come to Astura, then Palmaria and Sinonia, and, opposite to Formiæ, Pontiæ. In the Gulf of Puteoli are Pandateria, and Prochyta, so called, not from the nurse of Æneas, but because it has been poured forth or detached from Ænaria, an island which received its name from having been the anchorage of the fleet of Æneas, though called by Homer Inarime; it is also called Pithecusa, not, as many have fancied, on account of the multitudes of apes found there, but from its extensive manufactories of pottery. Between Pausilipum and Neapolis lies the island of Megaris, and then, at a distance of eight miles from Surrentum, Capreæ, famous for the castle of the emperor Tiberius: it is eleven miles in circumference.
 
3 - 13 SARDINIA M
Leucothea comes next, and after it, but out of sight, as it lies upon the verge of the African Sea, Sardinia. It is situate somewhat less than eight miles from the nearest point of Corsica, and the Straits between them are even still more reduced by the small islands there situate, called the Cuniculariæ, as also those of Phintonis and Fossæ, from which last the Straits themselves have obtained the name of Taphros.
(.) Sardinia extends, upon the east side, a distance of miles, on the west , on the south , and on the north , being miles in circumference. Its promontory of Caralis is distant from Africa , and from Gades miles. Off the promontory of Gordis it has two islands called the Isles of Hercules, off that of Sulcis, the island of Enosis, and off that of Caralis, Ficaria. Some writers place Beleris not far from it, as also Callodis, and the island known as Heras Lutra. The most celebrated peoples of this island are the Ilienses, the Balari, and the Corsi; and among its eighteen towns, there are those of the Sulcitani, the Valentini, the Neapoli- tani, the Bosenses, the Caralitani, who enjoy the rights of Roman citizens, and the Norenses. There is also one colony which is called Ad Turrim Libysonis. Timæus has called this island Sandaliotis, on account of the similarity of its shape to the sole of a shoe, while Myrtilus has given it the name of Ichnusa, from its resemblance to the print of a footstep. Opposite to the Gulf of Pæstum is Leucasia, so called from a Siren who is buried there; opposite to Velia are Poiitia and Isacia, both known by one name, that of Œnotrides, a proof that Italy was formerly possessed by the Œnotrians. Opposite to Vibo are the little islands called Ithacesiæ from the watch-tower of Ulysses situate there.
 
3 - 14 SICILY M
But more celebrated than all is Sicily, called Sicania by Thucydides, and by many writers Trinacria or Trinacia, from its triangular appearance. According to Agrippa it is miles in circumference. In former times it was a continuation of the territory of Bruttium, but, in consequence of the overflowing of the sea, became severed from it; thus forming a strait of miles in length, and a mile and a half in width in the vicinity of the Pillar of Rhegium. It was from this circumstance of the land being severed asunder that the Greeks gave the name of Rhegium to the town situate on the Italian shore.
In these Straits is the rock of Scylla, as also Charybdis, a whirlpool of the sea, both of them noted for their perils. Of this triangle, the promontory, which, as we have already mentioned, is called Pelorus, faces Scylla and juts out towards Italy, while Pachynum extends in the direction of Greece, Peloponnesus being at a distance from it of miles, and Lilybæum, towards Africa, being distant miles from the promontory of Mercury, and from that of Caralis in Sardinia . These promontories and sides are situate at the following distances from each other: by land it is miles from Pelorus to Pachynum, from Pachynum to Lilybæum , and from Lilybæum to Pelorus . In this island there are five colonies and sixty-three cities or states. Leaving Pelorus and facing the Ionian Sea, we have the town of Messana, whose inhabitants are also called Mamertini and enjoy the rights of Roman citizens; the promontory of Drepanum, the colony of Tauromenium, formerly called Naxos, the river Asines, and Mount Ætna, wondrous for the flames which it emits by night. Its crater is twenty stadia in circumference, and from it red-hot cinders are thrown as far as Tauromenium and Catina, the noise being heard even at Maroneum and the Gemellian Hills. We then come to the three rocks of the Cyclopes, the Port of Ulysses, the colony of Catina, and the rivers Symæthus and Terias; while more inland lie the Læstrygonian Plains. To these rivers succeed the towns of Leontinum and Megaris, the river Pantagies, the colony of Syracuse, with the fountain of Arethusa, (the people in the Syracusan ter- ritory drink too of the fountains of Temenitis, Archidemia, Magæa, Cyane, and Milichie,) the port of Naustathmus, the river Elorus, and the promontory of Pachynum. This side of Sicily begins with the river Hirminius, then follow the town of Camarina, the river Gelas, and the town of Agragas, which our people have named Agrigentum. We next come to the colony of Thermæ, the rivers Achates, Mazara, and Hypsa; the town of Selinus, and then the Promontory of Lilybæum, which is succeeded by Drepana, Mount Eryx, the towns of Panhormus, Solus and Himera, with a river of the same name, Cephalœdis, Aluntium, Agathyrnum, the colony of Tyndaris, the town of Mylæ, and then Pelorus, the spot at which we began. In the interior there are the following towns enjoying Latin privileges, those of the Centuripini, the Netini, and the Segestani; tributary towns are those of the Assorini, the Ætnenses, the Agyrini, the Acestæi, the Acrenses, the Bidini, the Cetarini, the Cacyrini, the Drepanitani, the Ergetini, the Echetlienses, the Erycini, the Entellini, the Enini, the Enguini, the Gelani, the Gala- tini, the Halesini, the Hennenses, the Hyblenses, the Herbitenses, the Herbessenses, the Herbulenses, the Halicyenses, the Hadranitani, the Imacarenses, the Ipanenses, the Ietenses, the Mytistratini, the Magellini, the Murgentini, the Mutycenses, the Menanini, the Naxii, the Noæi, the Petrini, the Paropini, the Phthinthienses, the Semellitani, the Scherini, the Selinuntii, the Symæthii, the Talarienses, the Tissinenses, the Triocalini, the Tyraci- nenses, and the Zanclæi, a Messenian colony on the Straits of Sicily. Towards Africa, its islands are Gaulos, Melita, miles from Camerina, and from Lilybæum, Cosyra, Hieronnesos, Cæne, Galata, Lopadusa, Æthusa, written by some Ægusa, Bucinna, Osteodes, distant from Soluntum miles, and, opposite to Paropus, Ustica. On this side of Sicily, facing the river Metaurus, at a di- stance of nearly miles from Italy, are the seven islands called the Æolian, as also the Liparæan islands; by the Greeks they are called the Hephæstiades, and by our writers the Vulcanian Isles; they are called "Æolian" because in the Trojan times Æolus was king there. (.) Lipara, with a town whose inhabitants enjoy the rights of Roman citizens, is so called from Liparus, a former king who succeeded Æolus, it having been previously called Melogonis or Meligunis. It is miles distant from Italy, and in circumference a little less. Between this island and Sicily we find another, the name of which was formerly Therasia, but now called Hiera, because it is sacred to Vulcan: it contains a hill which at night vomits forth flames. The third island is Strongyle, lying one mile to the east of Lipara, over which Æolus reigned as well; it differs only from Lipara in the superior brilliancy of its flames. From the smoke of this volcano it is said that some of the inhabitants are able to predict three days beforehand what winds are about to blow; hence arose the notion that the winds are governed by Æolus. The fourth of these islands is Didyme, smaller than Lipara, the fifth Ericusa, the sixth Phœnicusa, left to be a pasture-ground for the cattle of the neighbouring islands, and the last and smallest Euonymos. Thus much as to the first great Gulf of Europe.
 
3 - 15 MAGNA GRÆCIA, BEGINNING AT LOCRI M
At Locri begins the fore-part of Italy, called Magna Græcia, whose coast falls back in three bays formed by the Ausonian sea, so called from the Ausones, who were the first inhabitants of the country. According to Varro it is miles in extent; but most writers have made it only . Along this coast there are rivers innumerable, but we shall mention those only that are worthy of remark. After leaving Locri we come to the Sagra, and the ruins of the town of Caulon, Mystiæ, Consilinum Castrum, Cocinthum, in the opinion of some, the longest headland of Italy, and then the Gulf of Scylacium, and Scylacium itself, which was called by the Athenians, when they founded it, Scylletium. This part of Italy is nearly a peninsula, in consequence of the Gulf of Terinæum running up into it on the other side; in it there is a harbour called Castra Hannibalis: in no part is Italy narrower than here, it being but twenty miles across. For this reason the Elder Dionysius entertained the idea of severing this portion from the main-land of Italy at this spot, and adding it to Sicily. The navigable rivers in this district are the Carcines, the Crotalus, the Semirus, the Arocas, and the Targines. In the interior is the town of Petilia, and there are besides, Mount Clibanus, the promontory of Lacinium, in front of which lies the island of Dioscoron, ten miles from the main-land, and another called the Isle of Calypso, which Homer is supposed to refer to under the name of Ogygia; as also the islands of Tiris, Eranusa, and Meloessa. According to Agrippa, the promontory of Lacinium is seventy miles from Caulon.
(.) At the promontory of Lacinium begins the second Gulf of Europe, the bend of which forms an are of great depth, and terminates at Acroceraunium, a promontory of Epirus, from which it is distant seventy-five miles. We first come to the town of Croton, and then the river Neæthus, and the town of Thurii, situate between the two rivers Crathis and Sybaris, upon the latter of which there was once a city of the same name. In a similar manner Heraclia, sometimes called Siris, lies between the river of that name and the Aciris. We next come to the rivers Acalandrus and Casuentum, and the town of Metapontum, with which the third region of Italy terminates. In the interior of Bruttium, the Aprustani are the only people; but in Lucania we find the Atinates, the Bantini, the Eburini, the Grumentini, the Potentini, the Sontini, the Sirini, the Tergilani, the Ursentini, and the Volcentani, whom the Numestrani join. Besides these, we learn from Cato that Thebes in Lucania has disappeared, and Theopompus informs us that there was formerly a city of the Lucani called Pandosia, at which Alexander, the king of Epirus, died.
 
3 - 16 SECOND REGION OF ITALY M
Adjoining to this district is the second region of Italy, which embraces the Hirpini, Calabria, Apulia, and the Salentini, extending a distance of miles along the Gulf of Tarentum, which receives its name from a town of the Laconians so called, situate at the bottom of the Gulf; to which was annexed the maritime colony which had previously settled there. Tarentum is distant from the promontory of Lacinium miles, and throws out the territory of Calabria opposite to it in the form of a peninsula. The Greeks called this territory Messapia, from their leader; before which it was called Peucetia, from Peucetius, the brother of Œnotrius, and was comprised in the territory of Salentinum. Between the two promontories there is a distance of miles. The breadth across the peninsula from Tarentum to Brundusium by land is miles, considerably less if measured from the port of Sasina. The towns inland from Tarentum are Varia surnamed Apulia, Messapia, and Aletium; on the coast, Senum, and Callipolis, now known as Anxa, miles from Tarentum. Thence, at a distance of miles, is the Pro- montory of Acra Iapygia, at which point Italy projects the greatest distance into the sea. At a distance of miles from this point is the town of Basta, and then Hydruntum, the spot at which the Ionian is separated from the Adriatic sea, and from which the distance across to Greece is the shortest. The town of the Apolloniates lies opposite to it, and the breadth of the arm of the sea which runs between is not more than fifty miles. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was the first who entertained the notion of uniting these two points and making a passage on foot, by throwing a bridge across, and after him M. Varro, when commanding the fleet of Pompey in the war against the Pirates. Other cares however prevented either of them from accomplishing this design. Passing Hydruntum, we come to the deserted site of Soletum, then Fratuertium, the Portus Tarentinus, the haven of Miltopa, Lupia, Balesium, Cælia, and then Brundusium, fifty miles from Hydruntum. This last place is one of the most famous .ports of Italy, and, although more distant, affords by far the safest passage across to Greece, the place of disembarkation being Dyrrachium, a city of Illyria; the distance across is miles.
Adjoining Brundusium is the territory of the Pediculi; nine youths and as many maidens, natives of Illyria, became the parents of sixteen nations. The towns of the Pediculi are Rudiæ, Egnatia, and Barium; their rivers are the Iapyx (so called from the son of Dædalus, who was king there, and who gave it the name of Iapygia), the Pactius, and the Aufidus, which rises in the Hirpinian mountains and flows past Canusium. At this point begins Apulia, surnamed the Daunian, from the Daunii, who take their name from a former chief, the father-in-law of Diomedes. In this territory are the towns of Salapia, famous for Hannibal's amour with a courtezan, Sipontum, Uria, the river Cerbalus, forming the boundary of the Daunii, the port of Agasus, and the Promontory of Mount Garganus, distant from the Promontory of Salentinum or Iapygia miles. Making the circuit of Garganus, we come to the port of Garna, the Lake Pantanus, the river Frento, the mouth of which forms a harbour, Teanum of the Apuli, and Larinum, Cliternia, and the river Tifernus, at which the district of the Frentani begins. Thus there were three different nations of the Apulians, [the Daunii,] the Teani, so called from their leader, and who sprang from the Greeks, and the Lucani, who were subdued by Calchas, and whose country is now possessed by the Atinates. Besides those already mentioned, there are, of the Daunii, the colonies of Luceria and Venusia, the towns of Canusium and Arpi, formerly called Argos Hippium and founded by Diomedes, afterwards called Argyrippa. Here too Diomedes destroyed the nations of the Monadi and the Dardi, and the two cities of Apina and Trica, whose names have passed into a by-word and a proverb. Besides the above, there is in the interior of the second region one colony of the Hirpini, Beneventum, so called by an exchange of a more auspicious name for its old one of Maleventum; also the Æculani, the Aquilonii, the Abellinates surnamed Protropi, the Compsani, the Caudini, the Ligures, both those called the Corneliani and Bebiani, the Vescellani, the Æclani, the Aletrini, the Abellinates surnamed Marsi, the Atrani, the Æcani, the Alfellani, the Atinates, the Arpani, the Borcani, the Collatni, the Cori- nenses, the Cannenses, rendered famous by the defeat of the Romans, the Dirini, the Forentani, the Genusini, the Herdo- nienses, the Hyrini, the Larinates surnamed Frentani, the Merinates of Garganus, the Mateolani, the Netini, the Ru- bustini, the Silvini, the Strapellini, the Turmentini, the Vibinates, the Venusini, and the Ulurtini. In the interior of Calabria there are the Ægetini, the Apamestini, the Argentini, the Butuntinenses, the Deciani, the Grumbestini, the Norbanenses, the Palionenses, the Sturnini, and the Tutini: there are also the following Salentine nations; the Aletini, the Basterbini, the Neretini, the Uxentini, and the Veretini.
 
3 - 17 FOURTH REGION OF ITALY M
We now come to the fourth region, which includes the most valiant probably of all the nations of Italy. Upon the coast, in the territory of the Frentani, after the river Tifernus, we find the river Trinium, with a good harbour at its mouth, the towns of Histonium, Buca, and Ortona, and the river Aternus. In the interior are the Anxani surnamed Frentani, the Higher and Lower Carentini, and the Lanuenses; in the territory of the Marrucini, the Teatini; in that of the Peligni, the Corfinienses, the Superæquani, and the Sulmonenses; in that of the Marsi, the Anxantini, the Atinates, the Fucentes, the Lucenses, and the Marruvini; in that of the Albenses, the town of Alba on Lake Fucinus; in that of the Æquiculani, the Cliternini, and the Carseolani; in that of the Vestini, the Angulani, the Pinnenses, and the Peltuinates, adjoining to whom are the Aufinates Cismontani; in that of the Samnites, who have been called Sabelli, and whom the Greeks have called Saunitæ, the colony of old Bovianum, and that of the Undecumani, the Aufidenates, the Esernini, the Fagifulani, the Ficolenses, the Sæpinates, and the Tereventinates; in that of the Sabini, the Amiternini, the Curenses, Forum Decî, Forum Novum, the Fidenates, the Interamnates, the Nursini, the Nomentani, the Reatini, the Trebulani, both those called Mutusci and those called Suffenates, the Tiburtes, and the Tarinates.
In these districts, the Comini, the Tadiates, the Cædici, and the Alfaterni, tribes of the Æquiculi, have disappeared. From Gellianus we learn that Archippe, a town of the Marsi, built by Marsyas, a chieftain of the Lydians, has been swallowed up by Lake Fucinus, and Valerianus informs us that the town of the Viticini in Picenum was destroyed by the Romans. The Sabini (called, according to some writers, from their attention to religious observances and the worship of the gods, Sevini) dwell on the dew-clad hills in the vicinity of the Lakes of the Velinus. The Nar, with its sulphureous waters, exhausts these lakes, and, descending from Mount Fiscellus, unites with them near the groves of Vacuna and Reate, and then directs its course towards the Tiber, into which it discharges itself. Again, in another direction, the Anio, taking its rise in the mountain of the Trebani, carries into the Tiber the waters of three lakes remarkable for their picturesque beauty, and to which Subla- queum is indebted for its name. In the territory of Reate is the Lake of Cutiliæ, in which there is a floating island, and which, according to M. Varro, is the navel or central point of Italy. Below the Sabine territory lies that of La- tium, on one side Picenum, and behind it Umbria, while the range of the Apennines flanks it on either side.
 
3 - 18 FIFTH REGION OF ITALY M
The fifth region is that of Picenum, once remarkable for the denseness of its population; , Picentines took the oaths of fidelity to the Roman people. They are descended from the Sabines, who had made a vow to celebrate a holy spring. Their territory commenced at the river Aternus, where the present district and colony of Adria is, at a distance of six miles from the sea. Here we find the river Vomanus, the territories of Prætutia and Palma, Castrum Novum, the river Batinus; Truentum, with its river of the same name, which place is the only remnant of the Liburni in Italy; the river Albula; Tervium, at which the Prætutian district ends, and that of Picenum begins; the town of Cupra, Castellum Firmanorum, and above it the colony of Asculum, the most illustrious in Picenum; in the interior there is the town of Novana. Upon the coast we have Cluana, Potentia, Numana, founded by the Siculi, and Ancona, a colony founded by the same people on the Promontory of Cumerus, forming an elbow of the coast, where it begins to bend in- wards, and distant from Garganus miles. In the interior are the Auximates, the Beregrani, the Cingulani, the Cuprenses surnamed Montani, the Falarienses, the Pausulani, the Planinenses, the Ricinenses, the Septempedani, the Tollentinates, the Treienses, and the Pollentini of Urbs Salvia.
 
3 - 19 SIXTH REGION OF ITALY M
Adjoining to this is the sixth region, which includes Umbria and the Gallic territory in the vicinity of Ariminum. At Ancona begins the coast of that part of Gaul known as Gallia Togata. The Siculi and the Liburni possessed the greater part of this district, and more particularly the territories of Palma, of Prætutia, and of Adria. These were expelled by the Umbri, these again by the Etrurians, and these in their turn by the Gauls. The Umbri are thought to have been the most ancient race in Italy, it being supposed that they were called "Ombrii" by the Greeks, from the fact of their having survived the rains which had inundated the earth. We read that of their towns were conquered by the Tusci; at the present day we find on their coast the river Æsis, Senogallia, the river Metaurus, the colonies of Fanum Fortunæ and Pisaurum, with a river of the same name; and, in the interior, those of Hispellum and Tuder.
Besides the above, there are the Amerini, the Attidiates, the Asisinates, the Arnates, the Æsinates, the Camertes, the Casuentillani, the Carsulani, the Dolates surnamed Salentini, the Fulginiates, the Foroflaminienses, the Forojulienses surnamed Concupienses, the Forobrentani, the Forosempronienses, the Iguvini, the Interamnates surnamed Nartes, the Mevanates, the Mevanionenses, the Matilicates, the Narnienses, whose town used formerly to be called Nequinum; the Nucerini, both those surnamed Favonienses and those called Camellani; the Ocriculani, the Ostrani, the Pitulani, both those surnamed Pisuertes and the others called Mergentini; the Plestini, the Sentinates, the Sarsi- nates, the Spoletini, the Suasini, the Sestinates, the Suillates, the Tadinates, the Trebiates, the Tuficani, the Tifernates surnamed Tiberini, and the others called Metaurenses, the Vesinicates, the Urbinates, both those surnamed Metaurenses and the others called Hortenses, the Vettonenses, the Vindinates, and the Viventani. In this district there exist no longer the Feliginates who possessed Clusiolum above Interamna, and the Sarranates, with their towns of Acerræ, surnamed Vafriæ, and Turocelum, also called Vettiolum; as also the Solinates, the Curiates, the Fallienates, and the Apiennates. The Arienates also have disappeared with the town of Crinovolum, as well as the Usidicani, the Plangenses, the Pæsinates, and the Cælestini. Cato writes that Ameria above-mentioned was founded years before the war with Perseus.
 
3 - 20 EIGHTH REGION OF ITALY; THE PADUS M
The eighth region is bounded by Ariminum, the Padus, and the Apennines. Upon the coast we have the river Crustumium, and the colony of Ariminum, with the rivers Ariminus and Aprusa. Next comes the river Rubico, once the boundary of Italy, and after it the Sapis, the Vitis, and the Anemo, and then, Ravenna, a town of the Sabines, with the river Bedesis, miles from Ancona; and, not far from the sea, Butrium, a town of the Umbri. In the interior there are the colonies of Bononia, formerly called Felsina, when it was the chief place of Etruria, Brixillum, Mutina, Parma, and Placentia. There are also the towns of Cæsena, Claterna, Forum Clodî, Forum Livî, Forum Popilî, Forum Truentinorum, Forum Cornelî, Forum Licinî, the Faventini, the Fidentini, the Otesini, the Padinates, the Regi- enses, who take their name from Lepidus, the Solonates, the Saltus Galliani, surnamed Aquinates, the Tannetani, the Veliates, who were anciently surnamed Regiates, and the Urbanates. In this district the Boii have disappeared, of whom there were tribes according to Cato; as also the Senones, who captured Rome.
(.) The Padus descends from the bosom of Mount Vesulus, one of the most elevated points of the chain of the Alps, in the territories of the Ligurian Vagienni, and rises at its source in a manner that well merits an inspection by the curious; after which it hides itself in a subterranean channel until it rises again in the country of the Forovibienses. It is inferior in fame to none whatever among the rivers, being known to the Greeks as the Eridanus and famous as the scene of the punishment of Phaëton. At the rising of the Dog-star it is swollen by the melted snows; but, though it proves more furious in its course to the adjoining fields than to the vessels that are upon it, still it takes care to carry away no portion of its banks, and when it recedes, renders them additionally fertile. Its length from its source is miles, to which we must add eighty-eight for its sinuosities; and it receives from the Apennines and Alps not only several navigable rivers, but immense lakes as well, which discharge themselves into its waters, thus conveying altogether as many as thirty streams into the Adriatic Sea. Of these the best known are the following—flowing from the range of the Apennines, the Jactus, the Tanarus, the Trebia which passes Placentia, the Tarus, the Incia, the Gabellus, the Scultenna, and the Rhenus: from the chain of the Alps, the Stura, the Orgus, the two Duriæ, the Sessites, the Ticinus, the Lambrus, the Addua, the Ollius, and the Mincius. There is no river known to receive a larger increase than this in so short a space; so much so indeed that it is impelled onwards by this vast body of water, and, invading the land, forms deep channels in its course: hence it is that, although a portion of its stream is drawn off by rivers and canals between Ravenna and Altinum, for a space of miles, still, at the spot where it discharges the vast body of its waters, it is said to form seven seas. By the Augustan Canal the Padus is carried to Ravenna, at which place it is called the Padusa, having formerly borne the name of Messanicus. The nearest mouth to this spot forms the extensive port known as that of Vatrenus, where Claudius Cæsar, on his triumph over the Britons, entered the Adriatic in a vessel that deserved rather the name of a vast palace than a ship. This mouth, which was formerly called by some the Eridanian, has been by others styled the Spinetic mouth, from the city of Spina, a very powerful place which formerly stood in the vicinity, if we may form a conclusion from the amount of its treasure deposited at Delphi; it was founded by Diomedes. At this spot the river Vatrenus, which flows from the territory of Forum Corneli, swells the waters of the Padus. The next mouth to this is that of Caprasia, then that of Sagis, and then Volane, formerly called Olane; all of which are situate upon the Flavian Canal, which the Tuscans formerly made from Sagis, thus drawing the impetuous stream of the river across into the marshes of the Atriani, which they call the Seven Seas; and upon which is the noble port of Atria, a city of the Tuscans, from which place the sea was formerly called the Atriatic, though now the Adriatic. We next come to the overflowing mouths of Carbonaria, and the Fosses of Philistina, by some called Tarta- rus, all of which originate in the overflow of the waters in the Philistinian Canal, swollen by the streams of the Atesis, descending from the Tridentine Alps, and of the Togisonus, flowing from the territory of the Patavini. A portion of them also forms the adjoining port of Brundulum, in the same manner as Edron is formed by the two rivers Meduacus and the Clodian Canal. With the waters of these streams the Padus unites, and with them discharges itself into the sea, forming, according to most writers, between the Alps and the sea-shore a triangular figure, stadia in circumference, not unlike the Delta formed by the Nile in Egypt. I feel somewhat ashamed to have to borrow from the Greeks any statement in reference to Italy; Metrodorus of Scepsos, however, informs us that this river has obtained its name of Padus from the fact, that about its source there are great numbers of pine-trees, which in the Gallic language are called "padi." In the tongue of the Ligurians this river is called "Bodincus," which signifies "the bottomless." This derivation is in some measure supported by the fact that near this river there is the town of Industria, of which the ancient name was Bodincomagum, and where the river begins to be of greater depth than in other parts.
 
3 - 21 ELEVENTH REGION OF ITALY; ITALIA TRANSPAIDANA M
From the river Padus the eleventh region receives its name of Transpadana; to which, situate as it is wholly in the interior, the river, by its bounteous channel, conveys the gifts of all the seas. The towns are Vibî Forum and Segusio; and, at the foot of the Alps, the colony of Augusta Taurinorum, at which place the Padus becomes navigable, and which was founded by the ancient race of the Ligurians, and of Augusta Prætoria of the Salassi, near the two passes of the Alps, the Grecian and the Penine (by the latter it is said that the Carthaginians passed into Italy, by the Grecian, Hercules)—the town of Eporedia, the foundation of which by the Roman people was enjoined by the Sibylline books; the Gauls call tamers of horses by the name of "Epore- diæ"—Vercellæ, the town of the Libici, derived its origin from the Salluvii, and Novaria, founded by the Vertacoma- cori, is at the present day a district of the Vocontii, and not, as Cato supposes, of the Ligurians; of whom two nations, called the Lævi and the Marici, founded Ticinum, not far from the Padus, as the Boii, descended from the Transalpine nations, have founded Laus Pompeia and the Insubres Me- diolanum.
From Cato we also learn that Comum, Bergomum, and Licinîforum, and some other peoples in the vicinity, originated with the Orobii, but he admits that he is ignorant as to the origin of that nation. Cornelius Alexander however informs us that they came from Greece, interpreting their name as meaning "those who live upon the mountains." In this district, Parra has disappeared, a town of the Orobii, from whom, according to Cato, the people of Bergomum are descended; its site even yet shows that it was situate in a position more elevated than fruitful. The Caturiges have also perished, an exiled race of the Insubres, as also Spina previously mentioned; Melpum too, a place distinguished for its opulence, which, as we are informed by Cornelius Nepos, was destroyed by the Insubres, the Boii, and the Senones, on the very day on which Camillus took Veii.
 
3 - 22 TENTH REGION OF ITALY M
We now come to the tenth region of Italy, situate on the Adriatic Sea. In this district are Venetia, the river Silis, rising in the Tarvisanian mountains, the town of Alti- num, the river Liquentia rising in the mountains of Opitergium, and a port with the same name, the colony of Concordia; the rivers and harbours of Romatinum, the greater and less Tiliaventum, the Anaxum, into which the Varamus flows, the Alsa, and the Natiso with the Turrus, which flow past the colony of Aquileia at a distance of fifteen miles from the sea. This is the country of the Carni, and adjoining to it is that of the lapydes, the river Timavus, the fortress of Pucinum, famous for its wines, the Gulf of Tergeste, and the colony of that name, thirty-three miles from Aquileia. Six miles beyond this place lies the river Formio, miles distant from Ravenna, the ancient boundary of enlarged Italy, and now the frontier of Istria. That this region takes its name from the river Ister which flows from the Danube, also called the Ister, into the Adriatic opposite the mouth of the Padus, and that the sea which lies between them is rendered fresh by their waters running from opposite directions, has been erroneously asserted by many, and among them by Nepos even, who dwelt upon the banks of the Padus. For it is the fact that no river which runs from the Danube discharges itself into the Adriatic. They have been misled, I think, by the circumstance that the ship Argo came down some river into the Adriatic sea, not far from Tergeste; but what river that was is now unknown. The most careful writers say that the ship was carried across the Alps on men's shoulders, having passed along the Ister, then along the Savus, and so from Nauportus, which place, lying between Æmona and the Alps, from that circumstance derives its name.
 
3 - 23 ISTRIA, ITS PEOPLE AND LOCALITY M
Istria projects in the form of a peninsula. Some writers have stated its length to be forty miles, and its circumference ; and the same as to Liburnia which adjoins it, and the Flanatic Gulf, while others make it ; others again make the circumference of Liburnia miles. Some persons too extend Iapydia, at the back of Istria, as far as the Flanatic Gulf, a distance of miles, thus making Liburnia but miles. Tuditanus, who subdued the Istri, had this inscription on his statue which was erected there: "From Aquileia to the river Titus is a distance of stadia."
The towns of Istria with the rights of Roman citizens are Ægida, Parentium, and the colony of Pola, now Pietas Julia, formerly founded by the Colchians, and distant from Tergeste miles: after which we come to the town of Nesactium, and the river Arsia, now the boundary of Italy. The distance across from Ancona to Pola is miles. In the interior of the tenth region are the colonies of Cremona, Brixia in the territory of the Cenomanni, Ateste belonging to the Veneti, and the towns of Acelum, Patavium, Opitergium, Belunum, and Vicetia; with Mantua, the only city of the Tuscans now left beyond the Padus. Cato informs us that the Veneti are descendants of the Trojans, and that the Cenomanni dwelt among the Volcæ in the vicinity of Massilia. There are also the towns of the Fertini, the Tridentini, and the Beruenses, belonging to the Rhæti, Verona, belonging to the Rhæti and the Euganei, and Ju- lienses to the Carni. We then have the following peoples, whom there is no necessity to particularize with any degree of exactness, the Alutrenses, the Asseriates, the Flamonienses with those surnamed Vanienses, and the others called Culici, the Forojulienses surnamed Transpadani, the Foretani, the Nedinates, the Quarqueni, the Taurisani, the Togienses, and the Varvari. In this district there have disappeared—upon the coast—Iramene, Pellaon, and Palsatium, Atina and Cælina belonging to the Veneti, Segeste and Ocra to the Carni, and Noreia to the Taurisci. L. Piso also informs us that although the senate disapproved of his so doing, M. Claudius Marcellus razed to the ground a tower situate at the twelfth mile-stone from Aquileia. In this region also and the eleventh there are some celebrated lakes, and several rivers that either take their rise in them or else are fed by their waters, in those cases in which they again emerge from them. These are the Addua, fed by the Lake Larius, the Ticinus by Lake Verbannus, the Mincius by Lake Benacus, the Ollius by Lake Sebinnus, and the Lambrus by Lake Eupilis—all of them flowing into the Padus. Cælius states that the length of the Alps from the Upper Sea to the Lower is miles, a distance which Timagenes shortens by twenty-two. Cornelius Nepos assigns to them a breadth of miles, and T. Livius of stadia; but then in different places. For in some localities they exceed miles; where they divide Germany, for instance, from Italy; while in other parts they do not reach seventy, being thus narrowed by the providential dispensation of nature as it were. The breadth of Italy, taken from the river Var at the foot of these mountains, and passing along by the Vada Sabatia, the Taurini, Comum, Brixia, Verona, Vicetia, Opitergium, Aquileia, Tergeste, Pola, and Arsia, is miles.
 
3 - 24 ALPS, AND THE ALPINE NATIONS M
Many nations dwell among the Alps; but the more remarkable, between Pola and the district of Tergeste, are the Secusses, the Subocrini, the Catali, the Menocaleni, and near the Carni the people formerly called the Taurisci, but now the Norici. Adjoining to these are the Rhæti and the Vindelici, who are all divided into a multitude of states. It is supposed that the Rhæti are the descendants of the Tuscans, who were expelled by the Gauls and migrated hither under the command of their chief, whose name was Rhætus. Turning then to the side of the Alps which fronts Italy, we have the Euganean nations enjoying Latin rights, and of whom Cato enumerates thirty-four towns. Among these are the Triumpilini, a people who were sold with their territory; and then the Camuni, and several similar tribes, each of them in the jurisdiction of its neighbouring municipal town. The same author also considers the Lepontii and the Salassi to be of Tauriscan origin, but most other writers, giving a Greek interpretation to their name, consider the Lepontii to have been those of the followers of Hercules who were left behind in consequence of their limbs being frozen by the snow of the Alps. They are also of opinion that the inhabitants of the Grecian Alps are descended from a portion of the Greeks of his army, and that the Euganeans, being sprung from an origin so illustrious, thence took their name. The head of these are the Stœni. The Vennonenses and the Sarunetes, peoples of the Rhæti, dwell about the sources of the river Rhenus, while the tribe of the Lepontii, known as the Uberi, dwell in the vicinity of the sources of the lhodanus, in the same district of the Alps. There are also other native tribes here, who have received Latin rights, such as the Octodurenses, and their neighbours the Centrones, the Cottian states, the Ligurian Vagienni, descended from the Caturiges, as also those called Montani; besides numerous nations of the Capillati, on the confines of the Ligurian Sea.
It may not be inappropriate in this place to subjoin the inscription now to be seen upon the trophy erected on the Alps, which is to the following effect:—"To the Emperor Cæsar—The son of Cæsar now deified, Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, and emperor fourteen years, in the seventeenth year of his holding the tribuni- tial authority, the Senate and the Roman people, in remembrance that under his command and auspices all the Alpine nations which extended from the upper sea to the lower were reduced to subjection by the Roman people—The Alpine nations so sub- dued were: the Triumpilini, the Camuni, the Ve- nostes, the Vennonenses, the Isarci, the Breuni, the Genaunes, the Focunates, four nations of the Vindelici, the Consuanetes, the Rucinates, the Licates, the Catenates, the Ambisontes, the Ru- gusci, the Suanetes, the Calucones, the Brixentes, the Lepontii, the Uberi, the Nantuates, the Seduni, the Varagri, the Salassi, the Acitavones, the Medulli, the Uceni, the Caturiges, the Bri- giani, the Sogiontii, the Brodiontii, the Nemaloni, the Edenates, the Esubiani, the Veamini, the Gal- litæ, the Triulatti, the Ecdini, the Vergunni, the Eguituri, the Nementuri, the Oratelli, the Nerusi, the Velauni, and the Suetri." The twelve states of the Cottiani were not included in the list, as they had shown no hostility, nor yet those which had been placed by the Pompeian law under the jurisdiction of the municipal towns. Such then is Italy, sacred to the gods, such are the nations, such the cities of her peoples; to which we may add, that this is that same Italy, which, when L. Æmilius Paulus and C. Attilius Regulus were Consuls, on hearing of the rising in Gaul, unaided, and without any foreign assistance whatever, without the help even of that portion which lies beyond the Padus, armed , horse and , foot. In abundance of metals of every kind. Italy yields to no land whatever; but all search for them has been prohibited by an ancient decree of the Senate, who gave orders thereby that Italy shall be exempted from such treatment.
 
3 - 25 LIBURNIA AND ILLYRICUM M
The nation of the Liburni adjoins the river Arsia, and extends as far as the river Titus. The Mentores, the Hymani, the Encheleæ, the Buni, and the people whom Callimachus calls the Peucetiæ, formerly formed part of it; but now the whole in general are comprised under the one name of Illyricum. But few of the names of these nations are worthy of mention, or indeed very easy of pronunciation. To the jurisdiction of Scardona resort the Iapydes and fourteen cities of the Liburni, of which it may not prove tedious if I mention the Lacinienses, the Stlupini, the Burnistæ, and the Olbonenses. Belonging to the same jurisdiction there are, in the enjoyment of Italian rights, the Alutæ, the Flanates, from whom the Gulf takes its name, the Lopsi, and the Varvarini; the Assesiates, who are exempt from tribute; and upon the islands, the Fertinates and the Curicttæ.
Besides these, there are on the coast, after leaving Nesactium, Alvona, Flanona, Tarsatica, Senia, Lopsica, Ortopula, Vegium, Argyruntum, Corinium, Ænona, the city of Pasinum, and the river Tedanius, at which Iapydia terminates. The islands of this Gulf, with their towns, besides those above mentioned, are Absyrtium, Arba, Crexa, Gissa, and Portunata. Again, on the mainland there is the colony of Iadera, distant from Pola miles; then, at a distance of thirty miles, the island of Colentum, and of eighteen, the mouth of the river Titus.
 
3 - 26 DALMATIA M
Scardona, situate upon the river, at a distance of twelve miles from the sea, forms the boundary of Liburnia and the beginning of Dalmatia. Next to this place comes the ancient country of the Autariatares and the fortress of Tariona, the Promontory of Diomedes, or, as others call it, the peninsula of Hyllis, miles in circuit. Then comes Tragurium, a place with the rights of Roman citizens, and celebrated for its marble, Sicum, a place to which Claudius, the emperor lately deified, sent a colony of his veterans, and Salona, a colony, situate miles from ladera. To this place resort for legal purposes, having the laws dispensed according to their divisions into decuries or tithings, the Dahmatæ, forming decuries, the Deurici , the Ditiones , the Mazæi , and the Sardiates . In this region are Burnum, Andetrium, and Tribulium, fortresses ennobled by the battles of the Roman people. To the same jurisdiction also belong the Issæi, the Colentini, the Separi, and the Epetini, nations inhabiting the islands. After these come the fortresses of Peguntium and of Rataneum, with the colony of Narona, the seat of the third jurisdiction, distant from Salona eighty-two miles, and situate upon a river of the same name, at a distance of twenty miles from the sea. M. Varro states that eighty-nine states used to resort thither, but now nearly the only ones that are known are the Cerauni with decuries, the Daorizi with , the Dæsitiates with , the Docleatæ with , the Deretini with , the Deremistæ with , the Dindari with , the Glinditiones with , the Melcomani with , the Naresii with , the Scirtarii with , the Siculotæ with , and the Vardæi, once the scourges of Italy, with no more than decuries. In addition to these, this district was possessed by the Ozuæi, the Partheni, the Hemasini, the Arthitæ, and the Armistæ. The colony of Epidaurum is distant from the river Naron miles. After Epidaurum come the following towns, with the rights of Roman citizens:—Rhizinium, Acruvium, Butua, Olcinium, formerly called Colchinium, having been founded by the Colchians; the river Drilo, and, upon it, Scodra, a town with the rights of Roman citizens, situate at a distance of eighteen miles from the sea; besides in former times many Greek towns and once powerful states, of which all remem- brance is fast fading away. For in this region there were formerly the Labeatæ, the Enderini, the Sasæi, the Grabæi, properly called Illyrii, the Taulantii, and the Pyrei. The Promontory of Nymphæum on the sea-coast still retains its name; and there is Lissum, a town enjoying the rights of Roman citizens, at a distance from Epidaurum of miles.
(.) At Lissum begins the province of Macedonia, the nations of the Parthini, and behind them the Dassaretæ. The mountains of Candavia are seventy-eight miles from Dyrrhachium. On the coast lies Denda, a town with the rights of Roman citizens, the colony of Epidamnum, which, on account of its inauspicious name, was by the Romans called Dyrrhachium, the river Aöus, by' some called Æas, and Apollonia, formerly a colony of the Corinthians, at a distance of four miles from the sea, in the vicinity of which the celebrated Nymphæum is inhabited by the barbarous Amantes and Buliones. Upon the coast too is the town of Oricum, founded by the Colchians. At this spot begins Epirus, with the Acroceraunian mountains, by which we have previously mentioned this Gulf of Europe as bounded. Oricum is distant from the Promontory of Salentinum in Italy eighty miles.
 
3 - 27 NORICI M
In the rear of the Carni and the Iapydes, along the course of the great river Ister, the Rhæti touch upon the Norici: their towns are Virunum, Celeia, Teurnia, Aguntum, Vianiomina, Claudia, and Flavium Solvense. Adjoining to the Norici is Lake Peiso, and the deserts of the Boii; they are however now inhabited by the people of Sabaria, a colony of the now deified emperor Claudius, and the town of Scarabantia Julia.
 
3 - 28 PANNONIA M
Next to them comes acorn-bearing Pannonia, along which the chain of the Alps, gradually lessening as it runs through the middle of Illyricum from north to south, forms a gentle slope on the right hand and the left. The portion which looks towards the Adriatic Sea is called Dalmatia and Illyricum, above mentioned, while Pannonia stretches away towards the north, and has the Danube for its extreme boundary. In it are the colonies of Æmona and Siscia. The following rivers, both known to fame and adapted for commerce, flow into the Danube; the Draus, which rushes from Noricum with great impetuosity, and the Savus, which flows with a more gentle current from the Carnic Alps, there being a space between them of miles. The Draus runs through the Serretes, the Serrapilli, the Iasi, and the Andizetes; the Savus through the Colapiani and the Breuci; these are the principal peoples. Besides them there are the Arivates, the Azali, the Amantini, the Belgites, the Catari, the Cornacates, the Eravisci, the Hercuniates, the Latovici, the Oseriates, the Varciani, and, in front of Mount Claudius, the Scordisci, behind it the Taurisci. In the Savus there is the island of Metubarris, the greatest of all the islands formed by rivers. Besides the above, there are these other rivers worthy of mention:—the Colapis, which flows into the Savus near Siscia, where, dividing its channel, it forms the island which is called Segestica a; and the river Bacuntius, which flows into the Savus at the town of Sirmium, where we find the state of the Sirmienses and the Amantini. Forty-five miles thence is Taurunum, where the Savus flows into the Danube; above which spot the Valdanus and the Urpanus, themselves far from ignoble rivers, join that stream.
 
3 - 29 MŒSIA M
Joining up to Pannonia is the province called Mœsia, which runs, with the course of the Danube, as far as the Euxine. It commences at the confluence previously mentioned. In it are the Dardani, the Celegeri, the Triballi, the Timachi, the Mœsi, the Thracians, and the Scythians who border on the Euxine. The more famous among its rivers are the Margis, which rises in the territory of the Dardani, the Pingus, the Timachus, the Œscus which rises in Mount Rhodope, and, rising in Mount Hæmus, the Utus, the Asamus, and the Ieterus.
The breadth of Illyricum at its widest part is miles, and its length from the river Arsia to the river Drinius ; from the Drinius to the Promontory of Acroceraunia Agrippa states to be miles, and he says that the entire circuit of the Italian and Illyrian Gulf is miles. In this Gulf, according to the limits which we have drawn, are two seas, the Ionian in the first part, and the Adriatic, which runs more inland and is called the Upper Sea.
 
3 - 30 ISLANDS OF THE IONIAN SEA AND THE ADRIATIC M
In the Ausonian Sea there are no islands worthy of notice beyond those which we have already mentioned, and only a few in the Ionian; those, for instance, upon the Calabrian coast, opposite Brundusium, by the projection of which a harbour is formed; and, over against the Apulian coast, Diomedia, remarkable for the monument of Diomedes, and another island called by the same name, but by some Teutria.
The coast of Illyricum is clustered with more than islands, the sea being of a shoaly nature, and numerous creeks and æstuaries running with their narrow channels between portions of the land. The more famous are those before the mouths of the Timavus, with warm springs that rise with the tides of the sea, the island of Cissa near the territory of the Istri, and the Pullaria and Absyrtides, so called by the Greeks from the circumstance of Absyrtus, the brother of Medea, having been slain there. Some islands near them have been called the Electrides, upon which amber, which they call "electrum," was said to be found; a most assured instance however of that untruthfulness which is generally ascribed to the Greeks, seeing that it has never vet been ascertained which of the islands were meant by them under that name. Opposite to the Iader is Lissa, and other islands whose names have been already mentioned. Opposite to the Liburni are some islands called the Crateæ, and no smaller number styled Liburniecæ and Celadussæ. Opposite to Surium is Bavo, and Brattia, famous for its goats, Issa with the rights of Roman citizens, and Pharia with a town. At a distance of twenty-five miles from Issa is Corcyra, surnamed Melæna, with a town founded by the Cnidians; between which and Illyricum is Melite, from which, as we learn from Callimachus, a certain kind of little dogs were called Melitæi; fifteen miles from it we find the seven Elaphites. In the Ionian Sea, at a distance of twelve miles from Oricum, is Sasonis, notorious from having been a harbour of pirates. Summary.—The towns and nations mentioned are in number****. The rivers of note are in number****. The mountains of note are in number****. The islands are in number****. The towns or nations which have disappeared are in number****. The facts, statements, and observations are in number . Roman Authors quoted.—Turannius Gracilis, Cornelius Nepos, T. Livius, Cato the Censor, M. Agrip- pa, M. Varro, the Emperor Augustus now deified, Varro Atacinus, Antias, Hyginus, L. Vetus, Pomponius Mela, Curio the Elder, Cælius, Arruntius, Sebosus, Licinius Mucianus, Fabricius Tuscus, L. Ateius, Capito, Verrius Flaccus, L. Piso, Gellianus, and Valerianus. Foreign Authors quoted.—Artemidorus, Alexander Polyhistor, Thucydides, Theophrastus, Isidorus, Theopompus, Metrodorus of Scepsis, Callicrates, Xenophon of Lampsacus, Diodorus of Syracuse, Nymphodorus, Calliphanes, and Timagenes.
 
  4 COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, & PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED M 62.3  
4 - 1 EPIRUS M
The third great Gulf of Europe begins at the mountains of Acroceraunia, and ends at the Hellespont, embracing an extent of miles, exclusive of the sea-line of nineteen smaller gulfs. Upon it are Epirus, Acarnania, Ætolia, Phocis, Locris, Achaia, Messenia, Laconia, Argolis, Megaris, Attica, Bœotia; and again, upon the other sea, the same Phocis and Locris, Doris, Phthiotis, Thessalia, Magnesia, Macedonia and Thracia. All the fabulous lore of Greece, as well as the effulgence of her literature, first shone forth upon the banks of this Gulf. We shall therefore dwell a little the longer upon it.
Epirus, generally so called, begins at the mountains of Acroceraunia. The first people that we meet are the Chaones, from whom Chaonia receives its name, then the Thesproti, and then the Antigonenses. We then come to the place where Aornos stood, with its exhalations so deadly to the feathered race, the Cestrinis, the Perrhæbi, in whose coun- try Mount Pindus is situate, the Cassiopæi, the Dryopes, the Sellæ, the Hellopes, the Molossi, in whose territory is the temple of the Dodonæan Jupiter, so famous for its oracle; and Mount Tomarus, so highly praised by Theopompus, with its hundred springs gushing from its foot. (.) Epirus, properly so called, advances towards Magnesia and Macedonia, having at its back the Dassaretæ, previously mentioned, a free nation, and after them the Dardani, a savage race. On the left hand, before the Dardani are extended the Triballi and the nations of Mœsia, while in front of them the Medi and the Denselatæ join, and next to them the Thracians, who stretch away as far as the Euxine: in such a manner is a rampart raised around the lofty heights of Rhodope, and then of Hæmus. On the coast of Epirus is the fortress of Chimær, situate upon the Acroceraunian range, and below it the spring known as the Royal Waters; then the towns of Mæandria, and Cestria, the Thyamis, a river of Thesprotia, the colony of Buthrotum, and the Ambracian Gulf, so famed in history; which, with an inlet only half a mile in width, receives a vast body of water from the sea, being thirty-seven miles in length, and fifteen in width. The river Acheron, which runs through Acherusia, a lake of Thesprotia, flows into it after a course of thirty-six miles; it is considered wonderful for its bridge, feet in length, by a people who look upon everything as wonderful that belongs to themselves. Upon this Gulf is also situate the town of Ambracia. There are also the Aphas and the Arachthus, rivers of the Molossi; the city of Anactoria, and the place where Pandosia stood.
 
4 - 2 ACARNANIA M
The towns of Acarnania, the ancient name of which was Curetis, are Heraclia, Echinus, and, on the coast, Actium, a colony founded by Augustus, with its famous temple of Apollo and the free city of Nicopolis. Passing out of the Ambracian Gulf into the Ionian Sea, we come to the coast of Leucadia, with the Promontory of Leucate, and then the Gulf and the peninsula of Leucadia, which last was formerly called Neritis. By the exertions of the inhabitants it was once cut off from the mainland, but was again joined to it by the vast bodies of sand accumulated through the action of the winds. This spot is called Dioryctos, and is three stadia in length: on the peninsula is the town of Leucas, formerly called Neritus. We next come to Alyzia, Stratos, and Argos, surnamed Amphilochian, cities of the Acarnanians: the river Acheloüs flows from the heights of Pindus, and, after separating Acarnania from Ætolia, is fast adding the island of Artemita to the mainland by the continual deposits of earth which it brings down its stream.
 
4 - 3 ÆTOLIA M
The peoples of Ætolia are the Athamanes, the Tymphæi, the Ephyri, the Ænienses, the Perrhæbi, the Dolopes, the Maraces, and the Atraces, in whose territory rises the river Atrax, which flows into the Ionian Sea. Calydon is a city of Ætolia, situate at a distance of seven miles from the sea, and near the banks of the river Evenus. We then come to Macynia, and Molycria, behind which lie Mounts Chalcis and Taphiassus. On the coast again, there is the promontory of Antirrhium, off which is the mouth of the Corinthian Gulf, which flows in and separates Ætolia from the Peloponnesus, being less than one mile in width. The promontory which faces it on the opposite side is called Rhion. The towns of Ætolia, however, on the Corinthian Gulf are Naupactus and Pylene; and, more inland, Pleuron and Hali- cyrna. The most famous mountains are Tomarus, in the district of Dodona, Crania in Ambracia, Aracynthus in Acarnania, and Acanthon, Panætolium, and Macynium, in Ætolia.
 
4 - 4 LOCRIS AND PHOCIS M
Next to Ætolia are the Locri, surnamed Ozolæ; a people exempt from tribute. Here is the town of Œanthe, the port of Apollo Phæstius, and the Gulf of Crissa. In the interior are the towns of Argyna, Eupalia, Phæstum, and Calamisus. Beyond are the Cirrhaean plains of Phocis, the town of Cirrha, and the port of Chalæon, seven miles from which, in the interior, is situate the free town of Delphi, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, and having the most celebrated oracle of Apollo throughout the whole world. There is the Fountain too of Castalia, and the river Cephisus which flows past Delphi, rising in the former city of Lilæa. Besides these, there is the town of Crissa and that of Anticyra, with the Bulenses; as also Naulochum, Pyrrha, Amphissa, exempt from all tribute, Tithrone, Tritea, Ambrysus, and Drymæa, which district has also the name of Daulis. The extremity of the gulf washes one corner of Bœotia, with its towns of Siphæ and Thebes, surnamed the Corsian, in the vicinity of Helicon. The third town of Bœotia on this sea is that of Pagæ, from which point the Isthmus of the Peloponnesus projects in the form of a neck.
 
4 - 5 PELOPONNESUS M
The Peloponnesus, which was formerly called Apia and Pelasgia, is a peninsula, inferior in fame to no land upon the face of the earth. Situate between the two seas, the Ægæan and the Ionian, it is in shape like the leaf of a plane-tree, in consequence of the angular indentations made in its shores. According to Isidorus, it is miles in circumference; and nearly as much again, allowing for the sea-line on the margin of its gulfs. The narrow pass at which it commences is know by the name of the Isthmus. At this spot the two seas, which we have previously mentioned, running from the north and the east, invade the land from opposite sides, and swallow up its entire breadth, the result being that through these inroads in opposite directions of such vast bodies of water, the sides of the land are eaten away to such an extent, that Hellas only holds on to the Peloponnesus by the narrow neck, five miles in width, which intervenes. The Gulfs thus formed, the one on this side, the other on that, are known as the Corinthian and the Saronic Gulfs. The ports of Lecheæ, on the one side, and of Cenchreæ on the other, form the frontiers of this narrow passage, which thus compels to a tedious and perilous circumnavigation such vessels as from their magnitude cannot be carried across by land on vehicles. For this reason it is that both King Demetrius, Cæsar the Dictator, the prince Caius, and Domitius Nero, have at different times made the attempt to cut through this neck by forming a navigable canal; a profane design, as may be clearly seen by the result in every one of these instances.
Upon the middle of this intervening neck which we have called the Isthmus, stands the colony of Corinth, formerly known by the name of Ephyre, situate upon the brow of a hill, at a distance of sixty stadia from the shore of either sea. From the heights of its citadel, which is called Acrocorinthos, or the "Heights of Corinth," and in which is the Fountain of Pirene, it looks down upon the two seas which lie in the opposite directions. From Leucas to Patræ upon the Corinthian gulf is a distance of eighty-eight miles. The colony of Patræ is founded upon the most extensive promontory of the Peloponnesus, facing Ætolia and the river Evenus, the Corinthian Gulf being, as we have previously stated, less than a mile in width at the entrance there, though extending in length as far as the isthmus, a distance of eighty-five miles.
 
4 - 6 ACHAIA M
The province called Achaia begins at the Isthmus; from the circumstance of its cities being ranged in regular succession on its coast, it formerly had the name of Ægialos. The first place there is Lecheæ, already mentioned, a port of the Corinthians; next to which is Olyros, a fortress of the people of Pellene; then the former towns of Helice and Bura, and the places in which their inhabitants took refuge after their towns had been swallowed up by the sea, Sicyon namely, Ægira, Ægium, and Erineos. In the interior are Cleonæ and Hysiæ; then come the port of Panormus, and Rhium already mentioned; from which promontory, Patræ, of which we have previously spoken, is distant five miles; and then the place where Pheræ stood. Of the nine mountains of Achaia, Scioessa is the most famous; there is also the Fountain of Cymothoë. Beyond Patræ we find the town of Olenum, the colony of Dyme, the places where Bupra- sium and Hyrmine once stood, the Promontory of Araxus, the Bay of Cyllene, and the Promontory of Chelonates, at five miles' distance from Cyllene. There is also the fortress of Phlius; the district around which was called by Homer Aræthyrea, and, after his time, Asopis.
The territory of the Eleans then begins, who were formerly called Epei, with the city of Elis in the interior, and, at a distance of twelve miles from Phlius, being also in the interior, the temple of Olympian Jupiter, which by the universal celebrity of its games, gives to Greece its mode of reckoning. Here too once stood the town of Pisa, the river Alpheus flowing past it. On the coast there is the Promontory of Ichthys. The river Alpheus is navigable six miles, nearly as far as the towns of Aulon and Leprion. We next come to the Promontory of Platanodes. All these localities lie to the west.
 
4 - 7 MESSENIA M
Further south is the Gulf of Cyparissus, with the city of Cyparissa on its shores, the line of which is seventy-two miles in length. Then, the towns of Pylos and Methone, the place where Helos stood, the Promontory of Acritas, the Asinæan Gulf, which takes its name from the town of Asine, and the Coronean, so called from Corone; which gulfs terminate at the Promontory of Tanarum. These are all in the country of Messenia, which has eighteen mountains, and the river Pamisus also. In the interior are Messene, Ithome, Œchalia, Arene, Pteleon, Thryon, Dorion, and Zancle, all of them known to fame at different periods. The margin of this gulf measures eighty miles, the distance across being thirty.
 
4 - 8 LACONIA M
At Tænarum begins the territory of Laconia, inhabited by a free nation, and situate on a gulf miles in circuit, and across. The towns are, Tænarum, Amyclæ, Pheræ, and Leuctra; and, in the interior, Sparta, Theramne, and the spots where Cardamyle, Pitane, and Anthea formerly stood; the former site of Thyrea, and Gerania. Here is also Mount Taygetus, the river Eurotas, the Gulf of Egilodes, the town of Psamathus, the Gulf of Gytheum, so called from the town of that name, from which place the passage is the safest across to the island of Crete. All these places are bounded by the Promontory of Malea.
 
4 - 9 ARGOLIS M
The next gulf, which extends as far as Scyllæum, is called the Argolic Gulf, being fifty miles across, and in circuit. The towns upon it are, Bœa, Epidaurus, surnamed Limera, Zarax, and the port of Cyphanta. The rivers are the Inachus and the Erasinus, between which lies Argos, surnamed Hippium, situate beyond the place called Lerna, and at a distance of two miles from the sea. Nine miles farther is Mycenæ, and the place where, it is said, Tiryns stood; the site, too, of Mantinea. The mountains are, Artemius, Apesantus, Asterion, Parparus, and some others, eleven in number. The fountains are those of Niobe, Amymone, and Psamathe.
From Scyllæum to the Isthmus of Corinth is a distance of miles. We find here the towns of Hermione, Trœzen, Coryphasium, and Argos, sometimes called "Ina- chian," sometimes "Dipsian" Argos. Then comes the port of Schœnites, and the Saronic Gulf, which was formerly encircled with a grove of oaks, from which it derives its present name, oaks in ancient Greece having been so called. Upon this gulf is the town of Epidaurus, famous for its temple of Æsculapius, the Promontory of Spiræum, the port of Anthedus, Bucephalus, and then Cenchreæ, previously mentioned, on this side of the Isthmus, with its temple of Neptune, famous for the games celebrated there every five years. So many are the gulfs which penetrate the shores of the Peloponnesus, so many the seas which howl around it. Invaded by the Ionian on the north, it is beaten by the Sicilian on the west, buffeted by the Cretan on the south, by the Ægean on the S.E., and by the Myrtoan on the N.E.; which last sea begins at the Gulf of Megara, and washes all the coast of Attica.
 
4 - 10 ARCADIA M
Its interior is occupied for the greater part by Arcadia, which, remote from the sea on every side, was ori- ginally called Drymodes, and at a later period Pelasgis. The cities of Arcadia are, Psophis, Mantinea, Stymphalus, Tegea, Antigonea, Orchomenus, Pheneum, Palantium (from which the Palatium at Rome derives its name), Megalopolis, Gortyna, Bucolium, Carnion, Parrhasia, Thelpusa, Melænæ, Heræa, Pylæ, Pallene, Agræ, Epium, Cynæthæ, Lepreon of Arcadia, Parthe- nium, Alea, Methydrium, Enispe, Macistum, Lampia, Clitorium, and Cleonæ; between which two last towns is the district of Nemea, commonly known as Bembinadia.
The mountains of Arcadia are, Pholöe, with a town of the same name, Cyllene, Lycæus, upon which is the temple of Lycæan Jupiter; Mænalus, Artemisius, Parthenius, Lampeus, and Nonacris, besides eight others of no note. The rivers are the Ladon, which rises in the marshes of Pheneus, and the Erymanthus, which springs from a mountain of the same name, and flows into the Alpheus. The other cities of Achaia worthy of mention are those of the Aliphiræi, the Abeatæ, the Pyrgenses, the Paro- reatæ, the Paragenitæ, the Tortuni, the Typanei, the Thriasii, and the Tritienses. Domitius Nero [the emperor] granted liberty to the whole of Achaia. The Peloponnesus, from the Promontory of Malea to the town of Ægium on the Corinthian Gulf, is miles in length, and miles across from Elis to Epidaurus; the distance being, from Olympia to Argos, through Arcadia, sixty-eight miles. The distance from Olympia to Phlius has been already mentioned. Throughout the whole of this region, as though nature had been desirous to compensate for the inroads of the sea, seventy-six mountains raise their lofty heads.
 
4 - 11 ATTICA M
At the narrow neck of the Isthmus, Hellas begins, by our people known as Græcia. The first state that presents itself is Attica, anciently called Acte. It touches the Isthmus in that part of it which is called Megaris, from the colony of Megara, lying on the opposite side to Pagæ.
These two towns are situate at the spot where the Peloponnesus projects to the greatest distance; being placed, one on each side, upon the very shoulders of Hellas as it were. The Pagæans, as well as the people of Ægosthena, belong to the jurisdiction of Megara. On the coast there is the port of Schœnos, the towns of Sidus and Cremmyon, the Scironian Rocks, six miles in length, Geranea, Megara, and Eleusis. Œnoë and Probalinthos also formerly existed here; the ports of Piræus and Phalerum are distant from the Isthmus fifty-five miles, being united to Athens, which lies in the interior, by a wall five miles in length. Athens is a free city, and needs not a word more from us in its commendation; of fame it enjoys even more than enough. In Attica there are the Fountains of Cephisia, Larine, Callirrhoë Enneacrunos, and the mountains of Brilessus, Ægialeus, Icarius, Hymettus, Lycabettus, and the place where Ilissus stood. At the distance of forty-five miles from the Piræus is the Promontory of Sunium. There is also the Promontory of Thoricos; Potamos, Steria, and Brauron, once towns, the borough of Rhamus, the place where Marathon stood, the Thriasian plain, the town of Melite, and Oropus upon the confines of Bœotia.
 
4 - 12 BŒOTIA M
In this country are Anthedon, Onchestus, the free town of Thespiæ, Lebadea, and then Thebes, surnamed Bœotian, which does not yield the palm to Athens even in celebrity; the native land, according to the common notion, of the two Divinities Liber and Hercules. The birth-place of the Muses too is pointed out in the grove of Helicon. To this same Thebes also belong the forest of Cithæron, and the river Ismenus. Besides these, there are in Bœotia the Fountains of Œdipodia, Psamathe, Dirce, Epicrane, Arethusa, Hippocrene, Aganippe, and Gargaphie; and, besides the mountains already mentioned, Mycalesos, Hadylius, and Acontius. The remaining towns between Megara and Thebes are Eleutheræ, Haliartus, Platææ, Pheræ, Aspledon, Hyle, Thisbe, Erythræ, Glissas, and Copæ; near the river Cephisus, Larymna and Anchoa; as also Medeon, Phlygone, Acræphia, Coronea, and Chæronea. Again, on the coast and below Thebes, are Ocalea, Heleon, Scolos, Schœnos, Peteon, Hyriæ, Mycalesos, Iresion, Pteleon, Olyros, and Tanagra, the people of which are free; and, situate upon the very mouth of the Euripus, a strait formed by the opposite island of Eubœa, Aulis, so famous for its capacious harbour. The Bœotians formerly had the name of Hyantes.
After them come the Locrians, surnamed Epicnemidii, formerly called Leleges, through whose country the river Cephisus passes, in its course to the sea. Their towns are Opus; from which the Opuntian Gulf takes its name, and Cynos. Daphnus is the only town of Phocis situate on the coast. In the interior of Locris is Elatea, and on the banks of the Cephisus, as we have previously stated, Lilæa, and, facing Delphi, Cnemis and Hyampolis. Again, upon the coast of the Locrians, are Larymna, and Thronium, near which last the river Boagrius enters the sea. Also, the towns of Narycion, Alope, and Scarphia; and then the gulf which receives the name of the Maliac from the people who dwell there, and upon which are the towns of Halcyone, Econia, and Phalara.
 
4 - 13 DORIS M
Doris comes next, in which are Sperchios, Erineon, Boion, Pindus, and Cytinum. Behind Doris lies Mount Œta.
 
4 - 14 PHTHIOTIS M
Hæmonia follows, a country which has often changed its name, having been successively called Pelasgic Argos, Hellas, Thessaly, and Dryopis, always taking its surname from its kings. In this country was born the king whose name was Græcus; and from whom Græcia was so called; and here too was born Hellen, from whom the Hellenes derive their name. The same people Homer has called by three different names, Myrmidones, Hellenes, and Achæi.
That portion of these people which inhabit the country adjacent to Doris are called Phthiotæ. Their towns are Echinus, at the mouth of the river Sperchius, and, at four miles from the narrow pass of Thermopylæ, Heraclea, which from it takes its surname of Trachin. Here too is Mount Callidromus, and the celebrated towns of Hellas, Halos, Lamia, Phthia, and Arne.
 
4 - 15 THESSALY PROPER M
In Thessaly is Orchomenus, formerly called the Minyan, and the towns of Almon, by some called Salmon, Atrax, and Pelinna; the Fountain of Hyperia; the towns also of Pheræ, at the back of which is Pieria, extending to Macedonia, Larisa, Gomphi, Thebes of Thessaly, the grove of Pteleon, the Gulf of Pagasa, the town of Pagasa, which was afterwards called Demetrias, the Plains of Pharsalia, with a free city of similar name, Crannon, and Iletia. The mountains of Phthiotis are Nymphæus, once so beautiful for its garden scenery, the work of nature; Busygæus, Donacesa, Bermius, Daphusa, Chimerion, Athamas, and Stephane. In Thessaly there are thirty-four, of which the most famous are Cercetii, Olympus, Pierus, and Ossa, opposite to which last are Pindus and Othrys, the abodes of the Lapithæ. These mountains look towards the west, Pelion towards the east, all of them forming a curve like an amphitheatre, in the interior of which, lying before them, are no less than seventy-five cities. The rivers of Thessaly are the Apidanus, the Phœnix, the Enipeus, the Onochonus, and the Pamisus. There is also the Fountain of Messeis, and the lake Bœbeis. The river Peneus too, superior to all others in celebrity, takes its rise near Gomphi, and flows down a well-wooded valley between Ossa and Olympus, a distance of five hundred stadia, being navigable half that distance. The vale, for a distance of five miles through which this river runs, is called by the name of Tempe; being a jugerum and a half nearly in breadth, while on the right and left, the mountain chain slopes away with a gentle elevation, beyond the range of human vision, the foliage imparting its colour to the light within. Along this vale glides the Peneus, reflecting the green tints as it rolls along its pebbly bed, its banks covered with tufts of verdant herbage, and enlivened by the melodious warblings of the birds. The Peneus receives the river Orcus, or rather, I should say, does not receive it, but merely carries its waters, which swim on its surface like oil, as Homer says; and then, after a short time, rejects them, refusing to allow the waters of a river devoted to penal sufferings and engendered for the Furies to mingle with his silvery streams.
 
4 - 16 MAGNESIA M
To Thessaly Magnesia joins, in which is the fountain of Libethra. Its towns are Iolcos, Hormenium, Pyrrha, Methone, and Olizon. The Promontory of Sepias is here situate. We then come to the towns of Casthanea and Spa- lathra, the Promontory of Æantium, the towns of Melibœa, Rhizus, and Erymnæ; the mouth of the Peneus, the towns of Homolium, Orthe, Thespiæ, Phalanna, Thaumacie, Gyrton, Crannon, Acharne, Dotion, Melitæa, Phylace, and Potniæ. The length of Epirus, Achaia, Attica, and Thessaly is said altogether to amount to miles, the breadth to .
 
4 - 17 MACEDONIA M
Macedonia comes next, including nations, and renowned for its two kings and its former empire over the world; it was formerly known by the name of Emathia. Stretching away towards the nations of Epirus on the west it lies at the back of Magnesia and Thessaly, being itself exposed to the attacks of the Dardani. Pæonia and Pelagonia protect its northern parts from the Triballi. Its towns are Ægiæ, at which place its kings were usually buried, Beræa, and, in the country called Pieria from the grove of that name, Æginium. Upon the coast are Heraclea, the river Apilas, the towns of Pydna and Aloros, and the river Haliacmon. In the interior are the Aloritæ, the Vallæi, the Phlylacæi, the Cyrrhestæ, the Tyrissæi, the colony of Pella, and Stobi, a town with the rights of Roman citizens. Next comes Antigonea, Europus upon the river Axius, and another place of the same name by which the Rhœmdias flows, Scydra, Eordæa, Mieza, and Gordyniæ. Then, upon the coast, Ichne, and the river Axius: along this frontier the Dardani, the Treres, and the Pieres, border on Macedonia. Leaving this river, there are the nations of Pæonia, the Paroræi, the Eordenses, the Almopii, the Pelagones, and the Mygdones.
Next come the mountains of Rhodope, Scopius, and Orbelus; and, lying along the extent of country in front of these mountains, the Arethusii, the Antiochienses, the Idomenenses, the Doberi, the Æstræenses, the Allantenses, the Audaristenses, the Morylli, the Garesci, the Lyncestæ, the Othryonei, and the Amantini and Orestæ, both of them free peoples; the colonies of Bullis and Dium, the Xylopolitæ, the Scotussæi, a free people, Heraclea Sintica, the Tymphæi, and the Toronæi. Upon the coast of the Macedonian Gulf there are the town of Chalastra, and, more inland, Piloros; also Lete, and at the extreme bend of the Gulf, Thessalonica, a free city; (from this place to Dyrrhachium it is miles,) and then Thermæ. Upon the Gulf of Thermæ are the towns of Dicæa, Pydna, Derra, Scione, the Promontory of Canastræum, and the towns of Pallene and Phlegra. In this region also are the mountains Hypsizorus, Epitus, Halcyone, and Leoomne; the towns of Nyssos, Phryxelon, Mendæ, and what was formerly Potidæa on the isthmus of Pallene, but now the Colony of Cassandria; Anthemus, Olophyxus, and the Gulf of Mecyberna; the towns of Miscella, Ampelos, Torone, Singos, and the canal, a mile and a half in length, by means of which Xerxes, king of the Persians, cut off Mount Athos from the main land. This mountain projects from the level plain of the adjacent country into the sea, a distance of seventy-five miles; its circumference at its base being miles in extent. There was formerly upon its summit the town of Acroathon: the present towns are Uranopolis, Palæorium, Thyssus, Cleonæ, and Apollonia, the inhabitants of which have the surname of Macrobii. The town also of Cassera, and then the other side of the Isthmus, after which come Acanthus, Stagira, Sithone, Heraclea, and the country of Mygdonia that lies below, in which are situate, at some distance from the sea, Apollonia and Arethusa. Again, upon the coast we have Posidium, and the bay with the town of Cermorus, Amphipolis, a free town, and the nation of the Bisaltæ. We then come to the river Strymon which takes its rise in Mount Hæmus and forms the boundary of Macedonia: it is worthy of remark that it first discharges itself into seven lakes before it proceeds onward in its course. Such is Macedonia, which was once the mistress of the world, which once extended her career over Asia, Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Cappadocia, Syria, Egypt, Taurus, and Caucasus, which reduced the whole of the East under her power, and triumphed over the Bactri, the Medes, and the Persians. She too it was who proved the conqueror of India, thus treading in the footsteps of Father Liber and of Hercules; and this is that same Macedonia, of which our own general Paulus Æmilius sold to pillage seventy-two cities in one day. So great the difference in her lot resulting from the actions of two individuals!
 
4 - 18 THRACE; THE ÆGEAN SEA M
Thrace now follows, divided into fifty strategies, and to be reckoned among the most powerful nations of Europe. Among its peoples whom we ought not to omit to name are the Denseletæ and the Medi, dwelling upon the right bank of the Strymon, and joining up to the Bisaltæ above mentioned; on the left there are the Digerri and a number of tribes of the Bessi, with various names, as far as the river Mestus, which winds around the foot of Mount Pan- gæum, passing among the Elethi, the Diobessi, the Carbilesi; and then the Brysæ, the Sapæi, and the Odomanti. The territory of the Odrysæ gives birth to the Hebrus, its banks being inhabited by the Cabyleti, the Pyrogeri, the Drugeri, the Cænici, the Hypsalti, the Beni, the Corpili, the Bottiæi, and the Edoni. In the same district are also the Selletæ, the Priantæ, the Doloncæ, the Thyni, and the Greater Cœletæ, below Mount Hæmus, the Lesser at the foot of Rhodope. Between these tribes runs the river Hebrus. We then come to a town at the foot of Rhodope, first called Poneropolis, afterwards Philippopolis from the name of its founder, and now, from the peculiarity of its situation, Trimontium. To reach the summit of Hæmus you have to travel six miles. The sides of it that look in the opposite direction and slope towards the Ister are inhabited by the Mœsi, the Getæ, the Aorsi, the Gaudæ, and the Clariæ; below them, are the Arræi Sarmatæ, also called Arreatæ, the Scythians, and, about the shores of the Euxine, the Moriseni and the Sithonii, the forefathers of the poet Orpheus, dwell.
Thus is Thrace bounded by the Ister on the north, by the Euxine, and the Propontis on the east, and by the Ægean Sea on the south; on the coast of which, after leaving the Strymon, we come in turn to Apollonia, Œsyma, Neapolis and Datos. In the interior is the colony of Philippi, distant from Dyrrhachium miles; also Scotussa, the city of Topiris, the mouth of the river Mestus, Mount Pangæus, Heraclea, Olynthos, Abdera, a free city, the people of the Bistones and their Lake. Here was formerly the city of Tirida, which struck such terror with its stables of the horses of Diomedes. At the present day we find here Dicæa, Ismaron, the place where Parthenion stood, Phalesina, and Maronea, formerly called Orthagorea. We then come to Mount Serrium and Zone, and then the place called Doriscus, capable of containing ten thousand men, for it was in bodies of ten thousand that Xerxes here numbered his army. We then come to the mouth of the Hebrus, the Port of Stentor, and the free town of Ænos, with the tomb there of Polydorus, the region formerly of the Cicones. From Doriscus there is a winding coast as far as Macron Tichos, or the "Long Wall," a distance of miles; round Doriscus flows the river Melas, from which the Gulf of Melas receives its name. The towns are, Cypsela, Bisanthe, and Macron Tichos, already mentioned, so called because a wall extends from that spot between the two seas,—that is to say, from the Propontis to the Gulf of Melas, thus excluding the Chersonesus, which projects beyond it. The other side of Thrace now begins, on the coast of the Euxine, where the river Ister discharges itself; and it is in this quarter perhaps that Thrace possesses the finest cities, Histropolis, namely, founded by the Milesians, Tomi, and Callatis, formerly called Acervetis. It also had the cities of Heraclea and Bizone, which latter was swallowed up by an earthquake; it now has Dionysopolis, formerly called Cruni, which is washed by the river Zyras. All this country was formerly possessed by the Scythians, surnamed Aroteres; their towns were, Aphrodisias, Libistos, Zygere, Rocobe, Eumenia, Parthenopolis, and Gerania, where a nation of Pigmies is said to have dwelt; the barbarians used to call them Cattuzi, and entertain a belief that they were put to flight by cranes. Upon the coast, proceeding from Dionysopolis, is Odessus, a city of the Milesians, the river Panysus, and the town of Tetranaulo- chus. Mount Hæmus, which, with its vast chain, overhangs the Euxine, had in former times upon its summit the town of Aristæum. At the present day there are upon the coast Mesembria, and Anchialum, where Messa formerly stood. The region of Astice formerly had a town called Anthium; at the present day Apollonia occupies its site. The rivers here are the Panisos, the Riras, the Tearus, and the Orosines; there are also the towns of Thynias, Halmydessos, Develton, with its lake, now known as Deultum, a colony of veterans, and Phinopolis, near which last is the Bosporus. From the mouth of the Ister to the entrance of the Euxine, some writers have made to be a distance of miles; Agrippa, however, increases the length by sixty miles. The distance thence to Macron Tichos, or the Long Wall, previously mentioned, is miles; and, from it to the extremity of the Chersonesus, . On leaving the Bosporus we come to the Gulf of Casthenes, and two harbours, the one called the Old Men's Haven, and the other the Women's Haven. Next comes the promontory of Chrysoceras, upon which is the town of Byzantium, a free state, formerly called Lygos, distant from Dyrrhachium miles,—so great being the space of land that intervenes between the Adriatic Sea and the Propontis. We next come to the rivers Bathynias and Pydaras, or Athyras, and the towns of Selymbria and Perinthus, which join the mainland by a neck only feet in width. In the interior are Bizya, a citadel of the kings of Thrace, and hated by the swallows, in consequence of the sacrilegious crime of Tereus; the district called Cænica, and the colony of Flaviopolis, where formerly stood a town called Cæla. Then, at a distance of fifty miles from Bizya, we come to the colony of Apros, distant from Philippi miles. Upon the coast is the river Erginus; here formerly stood the town of Ganos; and Lysimachia in the Chersonesus is being now gradually deserted. At this spot there is another isthmus, similar in name to the other, and of about equal width; and, in a manner by no means dissimilar, two cities formerly stood on the shore, one on either side, Pactye on the side of the Propontis, and Cardia on that of the Gulf of Melas, the latter deriving its name from the shape which the land assumes. These, however, were afterwards united with Lysimachia, which stands at a distance of five miles from Macron Tichos. The Chersonesus formerly had, on the side of the Propontis, the towns of Tiristasis, Crithotes, and Cissa, on the banks of the river Ægos; it now has, at a distance of twenty-two miles from the colony of Apros, Resistos, which stands opposite to the colony of Parium. The Hellespont also, which separates, as we have already stated, Europe from Asia, by a channel seven stadia in width, has four cities facing each other, Callipolis and Sestos in Europe, and Lampsacus and Abydos in Asia. On the Chersonesus, there is the promontory of Mastusia, lying opposite to Sigeum; upon one side of it stands the Cynossema (for so the tomb of Hecuba is called), the naval station of the Achæans, and a tower; and near it the shrine of Protesilaüs. On the ex- treme front of the Chersonesus, which is called Æolium, there is the city of Elæs. Advancing thence towards the Gulf of Melas, we have the port of Cœlos, Panormus, and then Cardia, previously mentioned. In this manner is the third great Gulf of Europe bounded. The mountains of Thrace, besides those already mentioned, are Edonus, Gigemoros, Meritus, and Melamphyllos; the rivers are the Bargus and the Syrmus, which fall into the Hebrus. The length of Macedonia, Thrace, and the Hellespont has been already mentioned; some writers, however, make it miles, the breadth being . What may be called a rock rather than an island, lying between Tenos and Chios, has given its name to the Ægean Sea; it has the name of Æx from its strong resemblance to a goat, which is so called in Greek, and shoots precipitately from out of the middle of the sea. Those who are sailing towards the isle of Andros from Achaia, see this rock on the left, boding no good, and warning them of its dangers. Part of the Ægean Sea bears the name of Myrtoan, being so called from the small island [of Myrtos] which is seen as you sail towards Macedonia from Geræstus, not far from Carystus in Eubœa. The Romans include all these seas under two names,—the Macedonian, in those parts where it touches the coasts of Macedonia or Thrace, and the Grecian where it washes the shores of Greece The Greeks, however, divide the Ionian Sea into the Sicilian and the Cretan Seas, after the name of those islands; and they give the name of Icarian to that part which lies between Samos and Myconos. The gulfs which we have already mentioned, have given to these seas the rest of their names. Such, then, are the seas and the various nations which are comprehended in the third great Gulf of Europe.
 
4 - 19 ISLANDS WHICH LIE BEFORE THE LANDS ALREADY MENTIONED M
Lying opposite to Thesprotia, at a distance of twelve miles from Buthrotus, and of fifty from Acroceraunia, is the island of Corcyra, with a city of the same name, the citizens of which are free; also a town called Cassiope, and a temple dedicated to Jupiter Cassius. This island is ninety-seven miles in length, and in Homer has the names of Scheria and Phæacia; while Callimachus calls it Drepane. There are some other islands around it, such as Thoronos, lying in the direction of Italy, and the two islands of Paxos in that of Leucadia, both of them five miles distant from Corcyra. Not far from these, and in front of Corcyra, are Ericusa, Marathe, Elaphusa, Malthace, Trachie, Pythionia, Ptychia, Tarachie, and, off Phalacrum, a promontory of Corcyra, the rock into which (according to the story, which arises no doubt from the similarity of appearance) the ship of Ulysses was changed.
Before Leucimna we find the islands of Sybota, and between Leucadia and Achaia a great number of islands, among which are those called Teleboïdes, as also Taphiæ; by the natives, those which lie before Leucadia are called by the names of Taphias, Oxiæ, and Prinoessa; while those that are in front of Ætolia are the Echinades, consisting of Ægialia, Cotonis, Thyatira, Geoaris, Dionysia, Cyrnus, Chalcis, Pinara, and Mystus. In front of these, and lying out at sea, are Cephallenia and Zacynthus, both of them free, Ithaca, Dulichium, Same, and Crocyle. Cephallenia, formerly known as Melæna, lies at a distance of eleven miles from Paxos, and is ninety-three miles in circumference: its city of Same has been levelled to the ground by the Romans; but it still possesses three others. Between this island and Achaia lies the island of Zacynthus, remarkable for its city of the same name, and for its singular fertility. It formerly had the name of Hyrie, and lies to the south of Cephallenia, at a distance of twenty-five miles; in it there is the famous mountain of Elatus. This island is thirty-six miles in circumference. At a distance of fifteen miles from Zacynthus is Ithaca, in which is Mount Neritus; its circumference in all is twenty-five miles. Twelve miles distant from this island is Araxus, a promontory of the Peloponnesus. Before Ithaca, lying out in the main sea, are Asteris and Prote; and before Zacynthus, at a distance of thirty-five miles in the direction of the south-east wind, are the two Strophades, by some known as the Plotæ. Before Cephallenia lies Letoia, before Pylos the three Sphagiæ, and before Messene the Œnussæ, as many in number. In the Asinæan Gulf there are the three Thyrides, and in that of Laconia Theganusa, Cothon, and Cythera, with the town of that name, the former name of which island was Porphyris. It is situate five miles from the promontory of Malea, thus forming a strait very dangerous to navigation. In the Gulf of Argolis are Pityusa, Irine, and Ephyre; opposite the territory of Hermione, Tiparenus, Aperopia, Colonis, and Aristera; and, opposite that of Trœzen, Calauria, at a distance of half a mile, Plateis, Belbina, Lasia, and Baucidias. Opposite Epidaurus is Cecryphalos, and Pityonesos, six miles distant from the mainland; and, at a distance of fifteen miles from this last, Ægina, a free island, the length of which, as you sail past it, is eighteen miles. This island is twenty miles distant from Piræus, the port of Athens: it used formerly to be called Œnone. Opposite the promontory of Spiræum, lie Eleusa, Adendros, the two islands called Craugiæ, the two Cæciæ, Selachusa Cenehreis, and Aspis; as also, in the Gulf of Megara, the four Methurides. Ægila lies at a distance of fifteen miles from Cythera, and of twenty-five from Phalasarna, a city of Crete.
 
4 - 20 CRETE M
Crete itself lies from east to west, the one side facing the south, the other the north, and is known to fame by the renown of its hundred cities. Dosiades says, that it took its name from the nymph Crete, the daughter of Hesperides; Anaximander, from a king of the Curetes, Philistides of Mallus * * * * *; while Crates says that it was at first called Aëria, and after that Curetis; and some have been of opinion that it had the name of Macaron from the serenity of its climate. In breadth it nowhere exceeds fifty miles, being widest about the middle. In length, however, it is full miles, and in circumference, forming a bend towards the Cretan Sea, which takes its name from it. At its eastern extremity is the Promontory of Sammonium, facing Rhodes, while towards the west it throws out that of Criumetopon, in the direction of Cyrene.
The more remarkable cities of Crete are, Phalasarna, Etæa, Cisamon, Pergamum, Cydonia, Minoium, Apteron, Pantomatrium, Amphimalla, Rhithymna, Panormus, Cytæum, Apollonia, Matium, Heraclea, Miletos, Ampelos, Hierapytna, Lebena, and Hierapolis; and, in the interior, Gortyna, Phæstum, Cnossus, Polyrrenium, Myrina, Lycastus, Rhamnus, Lyctus, Dium, Asus, Pyloros, Rhytion, Elatos, Pharæ, Holopyxos, Lasos, Eleuthernæ, Therapnæ, Marathusa, and Tylisos; besides some sixty others, of which the memory only exists. The mountains are those of Cadistus, Ida, Dictynnæus, and Corycus. This island is distant, at its promontory of Criumetopon, according to Agrippa, from Phycus, the promontory of Cyrene, miles; and at Cadistus, from Malea in the Peloponnesus, eighty. From the island of Carpathos, at its promontory of Sammonium it lies in a westerly direction, at a distance of sixty miles; this last-named island is situate between it and Rhodes. The other islands in its vicinity, and lying in front of the Peloponnesus, are the two isles known as Corycæ, and the two called Mylæ. On the north side, having Crete on the right, and opposite to Cydonia, is Leuce, and the two islands known as Budroæ. Opposite to Matium lies Dia; opposite to the promontory of Itanum, Onisia and Leuce; and over against Hierapytna, Chrysa and Gaudos. In the same neighbourhood, also, are Ophiussa, Butoa, and Aradus; and, after doubling Criumetopon, we come to the three islands known as Musagorus. Before the promontory of Sammonium lie the islands of Phocœ, the Platiæ, the Sirnides, Naulochos, Armedon, and Zephyre. Belonging to Hellas, but still in the Ægean Sea, we have the Lichades, consisting of Scarphia, Coresa, Phocaria, and many others which face Attica, but have no towns upon them, and are consequently of little note. Opposite Eleusis, however, is the far-famed Salamis; before it, Psyttalia; and, at a distance of five miles from Sunium, the island of Helene. At the same distance from this last is Ceos, which some of our countrymen have called Cea, and the Greeks Hydrussa, an island which has been torn away from Eubœa. It was formerly stadia in length; but more recently four-fifths of it, in the direction of Bœotia, have been swallowed up by the sea. The only towns it now has left are Iulis and Carthæa; Coresus and Pœëessa have perished. Varro informs us, that from this place there used to come a cloth of very fine texture, used for women's dresses.
 
4 - 21 EUBŒA M
Eubœa itself has also been rent away from Bœotia; the channel of the Euripus, which flows between them, being so narrow as to admit of the opposite shores being united by a bridge. At the south, this island is remarkable for its two promontories, that of Geræstus, which looks towards Attica, and that of Caphareus, which faces the Hellespont; on the north it has that of Cenæum. In no part does this island extend to a greater breadth than forty miles, while it never contracts to less than two. In length it runs along the whole coast of Bœotia, extending from Attica as far as Thessaly, a distance of miles. In circumference it measures , and is distant from the Hellespont, on the side of Caphareus, miles. The cities for which it was formerly famous were, Pyrrha, Porthmos, Nesos, Cerinthos, Oreum, Dium, Ædepsos, Ocha, and Œchalia; at present it is ennobled by those of Chalcis (opposite which, on the mainland, is Aulis), Geræstus, Eretria, Carystus, Oritanum, and Artemisium. Here are also the Fountain of Arethusa, the river Lelantus, and the warm springs known as Ellopiæ; it is still better known, however, for the marble of Carystus. This island used formerly to be called Chalcodontis and Macris, as we learn from Dionysius and Ephorus; according to Aristides, Macra; also, as Callidemus says, Chalcis, because copper was first discovered here. Menæchmus says that it was called Abantias, and the poets generally give it the name of Asopis.
 
4 - 22 CYCLADES M
Beyond Eubœa, and out in the Myrtoan Sea, are numerous other islands; but those more especially famous are, Glau- connesos and the Ægila. Off the promontory, too, of Geræstus are the Cyclades, lying in a circle around Delos, from which circumstance they derive their name. The first of them is the one called Andros with a city of the same name, distant from Geræstus ten miles, and from Ceos thirty-nine. Myrsilus tells us that this island was at first called Cauros, and after that Antandros; Callimachus calls it Lasia, and others again Nonagria, Hydrussa, and Epagris. It is ninety-three miles in circumference. At a distance of one mile from Andros and of fifteen from Delos, is Tenos, with a city of the same name; this island is fifteen miles in length. Aristotle says that it was formerly called Hydrussa, from the abundance of water found here, while some writers call it Ophiussa. The other islands are, Myconos, with the mountain of Dimastus, distant from Delos fifteen miles; Siphnus, formerly called Meropia and Acis, twenty-eight miles in circumference; Seriphus, twelve miles in circuit; Prepesinthus; Cythnos; and then, by far the most famous among the Cyclades, and lying in the very middle of them, Delos itself; so famous for its temple of Apollo, and its extensive commerce. This island long floated on the waves, and, as tradition says, was the only one that had never experienced an earthquake, down to the time of M. Varro; Mucianus however has informed us, that it has been twice so visited. Aristotle states that this island received its name from the fact of its having so suddenly made its appearance on emerging from the sea; Aglaosthenes, however, gives it the name of Cynthia, and others of Ortygia, Asteria, Lagia, Chlamydia, Cynthus, and, from the circumstance of fire having been first discovered here, Pyrpile. Its circumference is five miles only; Mount Cynthus here raises his head.
Next to this island is Rhene, which Anticlides calls by the name of Celadussa, and Callidemus, Artemite; Scyros, which the old writers have stated to be twenty miles in circumference, but Mucianus ; Oliaros; and Paros, with a city of the same name, distant from Delos thirty-eight miles, and famous for its marble; it was first called Platea, and after that, Minois. At a distance of seven miles from this last island is Naxos, with a town of the same name; it is eighteen miles distant from Delos. This island was formerly called Strongyle, then Dia, and then Dionysias, in consequence of the fruitfulness of its vineyards; others again have called it the Lesser Sicily, or Callipolis. It is seventy-five miles in circumference—half as large again as Paros.
 
4 - 23 SPORADES M
The islands thus far are considered as belonging to the Cyclades; the rest that follow are the Sporades. These are, Helene, Phacussa, Nicasia, Schinussa, Pholegandros, and, at a distance of thirty-eight miles from Naxos, Icaros, which has given its name to the surrounding sea, and is the same number of miles in length, with two cities, and a third now no longer in existence: this island used formerly to be called Doliche, Macris, and Ichthyoëssa. It is situate fifty miles to the north-east of Delos, and thirty-five from the island of Samos. Between Eubœa and Andros, there is an arm of the sea ten miles in width, and from Icaros to Geræstus is a distance of / miles.
After we pass these, no regular order can be well observed; the rest must therefore be mentioned indiscriminately. There is the island of Scyros, and that of los, eighteen miles distant from Naxos, and deserving of all veneration for the tomb there of Homer; it is twenty-five miles in length, and was formerly known by the name of Phœnice; also Odia, Oletandros, and Gyara, with a city of the same name, the island being twelve miles in circumference, and distant from Andros sixty-two. At a distance of eighty miles from Gyara is Syrnos, then Cynæthus, Telos, noted for its unguents, and by Callimachus called Agathussa, Donusa, Patmos, thirty miles in circumference, the Corassiæ, Le- binthus, Leros, Cinara; Sicinus, formerly called Œnoe; Hieracia, also called Onus; Casos, likewise called Astrabe; Cimolus, or Echinussa; and Melos, with a city of that name, which island Aristides calls Memblis, Aristotle Zephyria, Callimachus Mimallis, Heraclides Siphis and Acytos. This last is the most circular in form of all these islands. After this comes Machia, then Hypere, formerly Patage, or, as others have it, Platage, but now called Amorgos, Polyægos, Phyle, and Thera, known as Calliste when it first sprang from the waves. From this, at a later period, the island of Therasia was torn away, and between the two afterwards arose Automate, also called Hiera, and Thia, which in our own times came into existence in the vicinity of these islands. Ios is distant from Thera twenty-five miles. Next to these follow Lea, Ascania, Anaphe, Hippuris, and Astypalæa, a free state. This island is eighty-eight miles in circumference, and miles distant from Cadistus, in Crete. From Astypalæa, Platea is distant sixty miles, and Caminia thirty-eight from this last. We then come to the islands of Azibintha, Lanise, Tragæa, Pharmacussa, Techedia, Chalcia, Calymna, in which is the town of Coös, Calymna, at a distance of twenty-five miles from which is Carpathum, which has given its name to the Carpathian Sea. The distance thence to Rhodes, in the direction of the south-west wind, is fifty miles. From Carpathum to Casus is seven miles, and from Casus to Sammonium, the promontory of Crete, thirty. In the Euripus of Eubœa, almost at the very mouth of it, are the four islands called Petaliæ; and, at its outlet, Atalante. The Cyclades and the Sporades are bounded on the east by the Asiatic shores of the Icarian Sea, on the west by the Attic shores of the Myrtoan Sea, on the north by the Ægean, and on the south by the Cretan and Carpathian seas, extending miles in length, and in breadth. The Gulf of Pagasa has in front of it Euthia, Cicynethus, Scyros, previously mentioned, and the very furthermost of the Cyclades and Sporades, Gerontia and Scandila; the Gulf of Thermæ, Iræsia, Solimnia, Eudemia, and Nea, which last is sacred to Minerva. Athos has before it four islands; Peparethus, formerly called Evœnus, with a city of that name, at a distance from Athos of nine miles; Sciathus, at a distance of fifteen, and Imbros, with a city of the same name, at a distance of eighty-eight, miles. This last island is distant from Mastusia, in the Chersonesus, twenty-five miles; it is sixty-two miles in circumference, and is washed by the river Ilisus. At a distance of twenty-two miles from it is Lemnos, being distant from Mount Athos eighty- seven; it is miles in circumference, and has the cities of Hephæstia and Myrina; into the market-place of which last city Athos throws its shadow at the summer solstice. The island of Thasos, constituting a free state, is six miles distant from Lemnos; it formerly had the name of Aëria, or Æthria. Abdera, on the mainland, is distant from Thasos twenty-two miles, Athos sixty-two. The island of Samothrace, a free state, facing the river Hebrus, is the same distance from Thasos, being also thirty-two miles from Imbros, twenty-two from Lemnos, and thirty-eight from the coast of Thrace; it is thirty-two miles in circumference, and in it rises Mount Saoce, ten miles in height. This island is the most inaccessible of them all. Callimachus mentions it by its ancient name of Dardania. Between the Chersonesus and Samothrace, at a distance of about fifteen miles from them both, is the island of Halonnesos, and beyond it Gethone, Lamponia, and Alopeconnesus, not far from Cœlos, a port of the Chersonesus, besides some others of no importance. The following names may be also mentioned, as those of uninhabited islands in this gulf, of which we have been enabled to discover the names:—Desticos, Sarnos, Cyssiros, Charbrusa, Calathusa, Scylla, Draconon, Arconnesus, Diethusa, Scapos, Capheris, Mesate, Æantion, Pateronnesos, Pateria, Calate, Neriphus, and Polendos.
 
4 - 24 THE HELLESPONT.—THE LAKE MÆOTIS M
The fourth great Gulf of Europe begins at the Hellespont and ends at the entrance of the Mæotis. But in order that the several portions of the Euxine and its coasts may be the better known, we must briefly embrace the form of it in one general view. This vast sea, lying in front of Asia, is shut out from Europe by the projection of the shores of the Chersonesus, and effects an entrance into those countries by a narrow channel only, of the width, as already mentioned, of seven stadia, thus separating Europe from Asia. The entrance of these Straits is called the Hellespont; over it Xerxes, the king of the Persians, constructed a bridge of boats, across which he led his army. A narrow channel extends thence a distance of eighty-six miles, as far as Priapus, a city of Asia, at which Alexander the Great passed over. At this point the sea becomes wider, and after some distance again takes the form of a narrow strait. The wider part is known as the Propontis, the Straits as the Thracian Bosporus, being only half-a- mile in width, at the place where Darius, the father of Xerxes, led his troops across by a bridge. The extremity of this is distant from the Hellespont miles.
We then come to the vast sea called the Euxine, which invades the land as it retreats afar, and the name of which was formerly Axenus. As the shores bend inwards, this sea with a vast sweep stretches far away, curving on both sides after the manner of a pair of horns, so much so that in shape it bears a distinct resemblance to a Scythian bow. In the middle of the curve it is joined by the mouth of Lake Mæotis, which is called the Cimmerian Bosporus, and is two miles and a half in width. Between the two Bospori, the Thracian and the Cimmerian, there is a distance in a straight line, of miles, as Polybius informs us. We learn from Varro and most of the ancient writers, that the circumference of the Euxine is altogether miles; but to this number Cornelius Nepos adds more; while Artemidorus makes it miles, Agrippa , and Mucianus . In a similar manner some writers have fixed the length of the European shores of this sea at miles, others again at . M. Varro gives the measurement as follows:—from the mouth of the Euxine to Apollonia miles, and to Callatis the same distance; thence to the mouth of the Ister miles; to the Borysthenes ; to Chersonesus, a town of the Heracleotæ, ; to Panticapæum, by some called Bosporus, at the very extremity of the shores of Europe, miles: the whole of which added together, makes miles. Agrippa makes the distance from Byzantium to the river Ister miles, and from thence to Panticapæum, . Lake Mæotis, which receives the river Tanais as it flows from the Riphæan Mountains, and forms the extreme boundary between Europe and Asia, is said to be miles in circumference; which however some writers state at only . From the entrance of this lake to the mouth of the Tanais in a straight line is, it is generally agreed, a distance of miles. The inhabitants of the coasts of this fourth great Gulf of Europe, as far as Istropolis, have been already mentioned in our account of Thrace. Passing beyond that spot we come to the mouths of the Ister. This river rises in Germany in the heights of Mount Abnoba, opposite to Rauricum, a town of Gaul, and flows for a course of many miles beyond the Alps and through nations innumerable, under the name of the Danube. Adding immensely to the volume of its waters, at the spot where it first enters Illyricum, it assumes the name of Ister, and, after receiving sixty rivers, nearly one half of which are navigable, rolls into the Euxine by six vast channels. The first of these is the mouth of Peuce, close to which is the island of Peuce itself, from which the neighbouring channel takes its name; this mouth is swallowed up in a great swamp nineteen miles in length. From the same channel too, above Istropolis, a lake takes its rise, sixty-three miles in circuit; its name is Halmyris. The second mouth is called Naracu-Stoma; the third, which is near the island of Sarmatica, is called Calon-Stoma; the fourth is known as Pseudo-Stomon, with its island called Conopon-Diabasis; after which come the Boreon- Stoma and the Psilon-Stoma. These mouths are each of them so considerable, that for a distance of forty miles, it is said, the saltness of the sea is quite overpowered, and the water found to be fresh.
 
4 - 25 DACIA, SARMATIA M
On setting out from this spot, all the nations met with are Scythian in general, though various races have occupied the adjacent shores; at one spot the Getæ, by the Romans called Daci; at another the Sarmatæ, by the Greeks called Sauromatæ, and the Hamaxobii or Aorsi, a branch of them; then again the base-born Scythians and descendants of slaves, or else the Troglodytæ; and then, after them, the Alani and the Rhoxalani. The higher parts again, between the Danube and the Hercynian Forest, as far as the winter quarters of Pannonia at Carnuntum, and the borders of the Germans, are occupied by the Sarmatian lazyges, who inhabit the level country and the plains, while the Daci, whom they have driven as far as the river Pathissus, inhabit the mountain and forest ranges. On leaving the river Marus, whether it is that or the Duria, that separates them from the Suevi and the kingdom of Vannius, the Basternæ, and, after them, other tribes of the Germans occupy the opposite sides. Agrippa considers the whole of this region, from the Ister to the ocean, to be miles in length, and miles in breadth to the river Vistula in the deserts of Sarmatia. The name "Scythian" has extended, in every direction, even to the Sarmatæ and the Germans; but this ancient appellation is now only given to those who dwell beyond those nations, and live unknown to nearly all the rest of the world.
 
4 - 26 SCYTHIA M
Leaving the Ister, we come to the towns of Cremniscos, Æpolium, the mountains of Macrocremnus, and the famous river Tyra, which gives name to a town on the spot where Ophiusa is said formerly to have stood. The Tyragetæ inhabit a large island situate in this river, which is distant from Pseudostomos, a mouth of the Ister, so called, miles. We then come to the Axiacæ, who take their name from the river Axiaces, and beyond them, the Crobyzi, the river Rhodes, the Sagarian Gulf, and the port of Ordesos. At a distance of miles from the Tyra is the river Borysthenes, with a lake and a people of similar name, as also a town in the interior, at a distance of fifteen miles from the sea, the ancient names of which were Olbiopolis and Miletopolis. Again, on the shore is the port of the Achæi, and the island of Achilles, famous for the tomb there of that hero, and, at a distance of miles from it, a peninsula which stretches forth in the shape of a sword, in an oblique direction, and is called, from having been his place of exercise, Dromos Achilleos: the length of this, according to Agrippa, is eighty miles. The Taurian Scythians and the Siraci occupy all this tract of country.
At this spot begins a well-wooded district, which has given to the sea that washes its banks the name of the Hylæan Sea; its inhabitants are called Enœchadlæ. Beyond them is the river Pantieapes, which separates the Nomades and the Georgi, and after it the Acesinus. Some authors say that the Panticapes flows into the Borysthenes below Olbia. Others, who are more correct, say that it is the Hypanis: so great is the mistake made by those who have placed it in Asia. The sea runs in here and forms a large gulf, until there is only an intervening space of five miles between it and the Lake Mæotis, its margin forming the sea-line of extensive tracts of land, and numerous nations; it is known as the Gulf of Carcinites. Here we find the river Pacyris, the towns of Navarum and Carcine, and behind it Lake Buges, which discharges itself by a channel into the sea. This Buges is separated by a ridge of rocks from Coretus, a gulf in the Lake Mæotis; it receives the rivers Buges, Gerrus, and Hypacaris, which approach it from regions that lie in various directions. For the Gerrus separates the Basilidæ from the Nomades, the Hypacaris flows through the Nomades and the Hylæi, by an artificial channel into Lake Buges, and by its natural one into the Gulf of Coretus: this region bears the name of Scythia Sindice. At the river Carcinites, Scythia Taurica begins, which was once covered by the sea, where we now see level plains extended on every side: beyond this the land rises into mountains of great elevation. The peoples here are thirty in number, of which twenty-three dwell in the interior, six of the cities being inhabited by the Orgocyni, the Chara- ceni, the Lagyrani, the Tractari, the Arsilachitæ, and the Caliordi. The Scythotauri possess the range of mountains: on the west they are bounded by the Chersonesus, and on the east by the Scythian Satarchæ. On the shore, after we leave Carcinites, we find the following towns; Taphræ, situate on the very isthmus of the peninsula, and then Heraclea Chersonesus, to which its freedom has been granted by the Romans. This place was formerly called Megarice, being the most polished city throughout all these regions, in consequence of its strict preservation of Grecian manners and customs. A wall, five miles in length, surrounds it. Next to this comes the Promontory of Parthenium, the city of the Tauri, Placia, the port of the Symboli, and the Promontory of Criumetopon, opposite to Carambis, a promontory of Asia, which runs out in the middle of the Euxine, leaving an intervening space between them of miles, which circumstance it is in especial that gives to this sea the form of a Scythian bow. After leaving this headland we come to a great number of harbours and lakes of the Tauri. The town of Theodosia is distant from Criumetopon miles, and from Chersonesus . Beyond it there were, in former times, the towns of Cytæ, Zephyrium, Acræ, Nymphæum, and Dia. Panticapæum, a city of the Milesians, by far the strongest of them all, is still in existence; it lies at the entrance of the Bosporus, and is distant from Theodosia eighty-seven miles and a half, and from the town of Cimmerium, which lies on the other side of the Strait, as we have previously stated, two miles and a half. Such is the width here of the channel which separates Asia from Europe, and which too, from being generally quite frozen over, allows of a passage on foot. The width of the Cimmerian Bosporus is twelve miles and a half: it contains the towns of Hermisium, Myrmecium, and, in the interior of it, the island of Alopece. From the spot called Taphræ, at the extremity of the isthmus, to the mouth of the Bosporus, along the line of the Lake Mæotis, is a distance of miles. Leaving Taphræ, and going along the mainland, we find in the interior the Auchetæ, in whose country the Hypanis has its rise, as also the Neurœ, in whose district the Borysthenes has its source, the Geloni, the Thyssagetæ, the Budini, the Basilidæ, and the Agathyrsi with their azure-coloured hair. Above them are the Nomades, and then a nation of Anthropophagi or cannibals. On leaving Lake Buges, above the Lake Mæotis we come to the Sauromatæ and the Essedones. Along the coast, as far as the river Tanais, are the Mæotæ, from whom the lake derives its name, and the last of all, in the rear of them, the Arimaspi. We then come to the Riphæan mountains, and the region known by the name of Pterophoros, because of the perpetual fall of snow there, the flakes of which resemble feathers; a part of the world which has been condemned by the decree of nature to lie immersed in thick darkness; suited for nothing but the generation of cold, and to be the asylum of the chilling blasts of the northern winds. Behind these mountains, and beyond the region of the northern winds, there dwells, if we choose to believe it, a happy race, known as the Hyperborei, a race that lives to an extreme old age, and which has been the subject of many marvellous stories. At this spot are supposed to be the hinges upon which the world revolves, and the extreme limits of the revolutions of the stars. Here we find light for six months together, given by the sun in one continuous day, who does not, however, as some ignorant persons have asserted, conceal himself from the vernal equinox to autumn. On the contrary, to these people there is but one rising of the sun for the year, and that at the summer solstice, and but one setting, at the winter solstice. This region, warmed by the rays of the sun, is of a most delightful temperature, and exempt from every noxious blast. The abodes of the natives are the woods and groves; the gods receive their worship singly and in groups, while all discord and every kind of sickness are things utterly unknown. Death comes upon them only when satiated with life; after a career of feasting, in an old age sated with every luxury, they leap from a certain rock there into the sea; and this they deem the most desirable mode of ending existence. Some writers have placed these people, not in Europe, but at the very verge of the shores of Asia, because we find there a people called the Attacori, who greatly resemble them and occupy a very similar locality. Other writers again have placed them midway between the two suns, at the spot where it sets to the Antipodes and rises to us; a thing however that cannot possibly be, in consequence of the vast tract of sea which there intervenes. Those writers who place them nowhere but under a day which lasts for six months, state that in the morning they sow, at mid-day they reap, at sunset they gather in the fruits of the trees, and during the night conceal themselves in caves. Nor are we at liberty to entertain any doubts as to the existence of this race; so many authors are there who assert that they were in the habit of sending their first-fruits to Delos to present them to Apollo, whom in especial they worship. Virgins used to carry them, who for many years were held in high veneration, and received the rites of hospitality from the nations that lay on the route; until at last, in consequence of repeated violations of good faith, the Hyperboreans came to the determination to deposit these offerings upon the frontiers of the people who adjoined them, and they in their turn were to convey them on to their neighbours, and so from one to the other, till they should have arrived at Delos. However, this custom, even, in time fell into disuse. The length of Sarmatia, Scythia, and Taurica, and of the whole of the region which extends from the river Borysthenes, is, according to Agrippa, miles, and its breadth . I am of opinion, however, that in this part of the earth all estimates of measurement are exceedingly doubtful.
 
4 - 27 ISLANDS OF THE EUXINE. THE ISLANDS OF THE NORTHERN OCEAN M
But now, in conformity with the plan which I originally proposed, the remaining portions of this gulf must be described. As for its seas, we have already made mention of them.
(.) The Hellespont has no islands belonging to Europe that are worthy of mention. In the Euxine there are, at a distance of a mile and a half from the European shore, and of fourteen from the mouth of the Strait, the two Cyanæan islands, by some called the Symplegades, and stated in fabulous story to have run the one against the other; the reason being the circumstance that they are separated by so short an interval, that while to those who enter the Euxine opposite to them they appear to be two distinct islands, but if viewed in a somewhat oblique direction they have the appearance of becoming gradually united into one. On this side of the Ister there is the single island of the Apolloniates, eighty miles from the Thracian Bosporus; it was from this place that M. Lucullus brought the Capitoline Apollo. Those islands which are to be found between the mouths of the Ister we have already mentioned. Before the Borysthenes is Achillea previously referred to, known also by the names of Leuce and Macaron. Researches which have been made at the present day place this island at a distance of miles from the Borysthenes, of from Tyra, and of fifty from the island of Peuce. It is about ten miles in circumference. The remaining islands in the Gulf of Carcinites are Cephalonnesos, Rhosphodusa, and Macra. Before we leave the Euxine, we must not omit to notice the opinion expressed by many writers that all the interior seas take their rise in this one as the principal source, and not at the Straits of Gades. The reason they give for this supposition is not an improbable one—the fact that the tide is always running out of the Euxine and that there is never any ebb. We must now leave the Euxine to describe the outer portions of Europe. After passing the Riphæan mountains we have now to follow the shores of the Northern Ocean on the left, until we arrive at Gades. In this direction a great number of islands are said to exist that have no name; among which there is one which lies opposite to Scythia, mentioned under the name of Raunonia, and said to be at a distance of the day's sail from the mainland; and upon which, according to Timæus, amber is thrown up by the waves in the spring season. As to the remaining parts of these shores, they are only known from reports of doubtful authority. With reference to the Septentrional or Northern Ocean; Hecatæus calls it, after we have passed the mouth of the river Parapanisus, where it washes the Scythian shores, the Amalchian sea, the word 'Amalchian' signifying in the language of these races, frozen. Philemon again says that it is called Morimarusa or the "Dead Sea" by the Cimbri, as far as the Promontory of Rubeas, beyond which it has the name of the Cronian Sea. Xenophon of Lampsacus tells us that at a distance of three days' sail from the shores of Scythia, there is an island of immense size called Baltia, which by Pytheas is called Basilia. Some islands called Oönæ are said to be here, the inhabitants of which live on the eggs of birds and oats; and others again upon which human beings are produced with the feet of horses, thence called Hippopodes. Some other islands are also mentioned as those of the Panotii, the people of which have ears of such extraordinary size as to cover the rest of the body, which is otherwise left naked. Leaving these however, we come to the nation of the Ingævones, the first in Germany; at which we begin to have some information upon which more implicit reliance can be placed. In their country is an immense mountain called Sevo, not less than those of the Riphæan range, and which forms an immense gulf along the shore as far as the Promontory of the Cimbri. This gulf, which has the name of the 'Codanian,' is filled with islands; the most famous among which is Scandinavia, of a magnitude as yet unascertained: the only portion of it at all known is inhabited by the nation of the Hilleviones, who dwell in villages, and call it a second world: it is generally supposed that the island of Eningia is of not less magnitude. Some writers state that these regions, as far as the river Vistula, are inhabited by the Sarmati, the Venedi, the Sciri, and the Hirri, and that there is a gulf there known by the name of Cylipenus, at the mouth of which is the island of Latris, after which comes another gulf, that of Lagnus, which borders on the Cimbri. The Cimbrian Promontory, running out into the sea for a great distance, forms a peninsula which bears the name of Cartris. Passing this coast, there are three and twenty islands which have been made known by the Roman arms: the most famous of which is Burcana, called by our people Fabaria, from the resemblance borne by a fruit which grows there spontaneously. There are those also called Glæsaria by our soldiers, from their amber; but by the barbarians they are known as Austeravia and Actania.
 
4 - 28 GERMANY M
The whole of the shores of this sea as far as the Scaldis, a river of Germany, is inhabited by nations, the dimensions of whose respective territories it is quite impossible to state, so immensely do the authors differ who have touched upon this subject. The Greek writers and some of our own countrymen have stated the coast of Germany to be miles in extent, while Agrippa, comprising Rhætia and Noricum in his estimate, makes the length to be miles, and the breadth . (.) The breadth of Rhætia alone however very nearly exceeds that number of miles, and indeed we ought to state that it was only subjugated at about the period of the death of that general; while as for Germany, the whole of it was not thoroughly known to us for many years after his time. If I may be allowed to form a conjecture, the margin of the coast will be found to be not far short of the estimate of the Greek writers, while the distance in a straight line will nearly correspond with that mentioned by Agrippa.
There are five German races; the Vandili, parts of whom are the Burgundiones, the Varini, the Carini, and the Gutones: the Ingævones, forming a second race, a portion of whom are the Cimbri, the Teutoni, and the tribes of the Chauci. The Istævones, who join up to the Rhine, and to whom the Cimbri belong, are the third race; while the Hermiones, forming a fourth, dwell in the interior, and include the Suevi, the Hermunduri, the Chatti, and the Cherusci: the fifth race is that of the Peucini, who are also the Basternæ, adjoining the Daci previously mentioned. The more famous rivers that flow into the ocean are the Guttalus, the Vistillus or Vistula, the Albis, the Visurgis, the Amisius, the Rhine, and the Mosa. In the interior is the long extent of the Hercynian range, which in grandeur is inferior to none.
 
4 - 29 NINETY-SIX ISLANDS OF THE GALLIC OCEAN M
In the Rhine itself, nearly miles in length, is the most famous island of the Batavi and the Canninefates, as also other islands of the Frisii, the Chauci, the Frisiabones, the Sturii, and the Marsacii, which lie between Helium and Flevum. These are the names of the mouths into which the Rhine divides itself, discharging its waters on the north into the lakes there, and on the west into the river Mosa. At the middle mouth which lies between these two, the river, having but a very small channel, preserves its own name.
 
4 - 30 BRITANNIA M
Opposite to this coast is the island called Britannia, so celebrated in the records of Greece and of our own country. It is situate to the north-west, and, with a large tract of intervening sea, lies opposite to Germany, Gaul, and Spain, by far the greater part of Europe. Its former name was Albion; but at a later period, all the islands, of which we shall just now briefly make mention, were included under the name of "Britanniæ." This island is distant from Gesoriacum, on the coast of the nation of the Morini, at the spot where the passage across is the shortest, fifty miles. Pytheas and Isidorus say that its circumference is miles. It is barely thirty years since any extensive knowledge of it was gained by the successes of the Roman arms, and even as yet they have not penetrated beyond the vicinity of the Caledonian forest. Agrippa believes its length to be miles, and its breadth ; he also thinks that the breadth of Hibernia is the same, but that its length is less by miles. This last island is situate beyond Britannia, the passage across being the shortest from the territory of the Silures, a distance of thirty miles. Of the remaining islands none is said to have a greater circumference than miles. Among these there are the Orcades, forty in number, and situate within a short distance of each other, the seven islands called Acmodæ, the Hæbudes, thirty in number, and, between Hibernia and Britannia, the islands of Mona, Monapia, Ricina, Vectis, Limnus, and Andros. Below it are the islands called Samnis and Axantos, and opposite, scattered in the German Sea, are those known as the Glæsariæ, but which the Greeks have more recently called the Electrides, from the circumstance of their producing electrum or amber. The most remote of all that we find mentioned is Thule, in which, as we have previously stated, there is no night at the summer solstice, when the sun is passing through the sign of Cancer, while on the other hand at the winter solstice there is no day. Some writers are of opinion that this state of things lasts for six whole months together. Timæus the historian says that an island called Mictis is within six days' sail of Britannia, in which white load is found; and that the Britons sail over to it in boats of osier, covered with sewed hides. There are writers also who make mention of some other islands, Scandia namely, Dumna, Bergos, and, greater than all, Nerigos, from which persons embark for Thule. At one day's sail from Thule is the frozen ocean, which by some is called the Cronian Sea.
 
4 - 31 GALLIA BELGICA M
The whole of Gaul that is comprehended under the one general name of Comata, is divided into three races of people, which are more especially kept distinct from each other by the following rivers. From the Scaldis to the Sequana it is Belgic Gaul; from the Sequana to the Garumna it is Celtic Gaul or Lugdunensis; and from the Garumna to the promontory of the Pyrenæan range it is Aquitanian Gaul, formerly called Aremorica. Agrippa makes the entire length of the coast of Gaul to be miles, measured from the Rhine to the Pyrenees: and its length, from the ocean to the mountains of Gebenna and Jura, excluding there from Gallia Narbonensis, he computes at miles, the breadth being .
Beginning at the Scaldis, the parts beyond are inhabited by the Toxandri, who are divided into various peoples with many names; after whom come the Menapii, the Morini, the Oromarsaci, who are adjacent to the burgh which is known as Gesoriacum, the Britanni, the Ambiani, the Bel- lovaci, the Hassi, and, more in the interior, the Catoslugi, the Atrebates, the Nervii, a free people, the Veromandui, the Suæuconi, the Suessiones, a free people, the Ulmanetes, a free people, the Tungri, the Sunuci, the Frisiabones, the Betasi, the Leuci, a free people, the Treveri, who were formerly free, and the Lingones, a federal state, the federal Remi, the Mediomatrici, the Sequani, the Raurici, and the Helvetii. The Roman colonies are Equestris and Rauriaca. The nations of Germany which dwell in this province, near the sources of the Rhine, are the Nemetes, the Triboci, and the Vangiones; nearer again, the Ubii, the Colony of Agrippina, the Cugerni, the Batavi, and the peoples whom we have already mentioned as dwelling on the islands of the Rhine.
 
4 - 32 GALLIA LUGDUNENSIS M
That part of Gaul which is known as Lugdunensis con- tains the Lexovii, the Vellocasses, the Galeti, the Veneti, the Abrincatui, the Ossismi, and the celebrated river Ligeris, as also a most remarkable peninsula, which extends into the ocean at the extremity of the territory of the Ossismi, the circumference of which is miles, and its breadth at the neck . Beyond this are the Nannetes, and in the interior are the Ædui, a federal people, the Carnuti, a federal people, the Boii, the Senones, the Aulerci, both those surnamed Eburovices and those called Cenomanni, the Meldi, a free people, the Parisii, the Tricasses, the An- decavi, the Viducasses, the Bodiocasses, the Venelli, the Cariosvelites, the Diablinti, the Rhedones, the Turones, the Atesui, and the Secusiani, a free people, in whose territory is the colony of Lugdunum.
 
4 - 33 GALLIA AQUITANICA M
In Aquitanica are the Ambilatri, the Anagnutes, the Pictones, the Santoni, a free people, the Bituriges, surnamed Vivisci, the Aquitani, from whom the province derives its name, the Sediboviates, the Convenæ, who together form one town, the Begerri, the Tarbelli Quatuorsignani, the Cocosates Sexsignani, the Venami, the Onobrisates, the Belendi, and then the Pyrenæan range. Below these are the Monesi, the Oscidates a mountain race, the Sibyllates, the Camponi, the Bercorcates, the Pindedunni, the Lassunni, the Vellates, the Tornates, the Consoranni, the Ausci, the Elusates, the Sottiates, the Oscidates Campestres, the Succasses, the Tarusates, the Basabocates, the Vassei, the Sennates, and the Cambolectri Agessinates. Joining up to the Pictones are the Bituriges, a free people, who are also known as the Cubi, and then the Lemovices, the Arverni, a free people, and the Gabales.
Again, adjoining the province of Narbonensis are the Ruteni, the Cadurci, the Nitiobriges, and the Petrocori, separated by the river Tarnis from the Tolosani. The seas around the coast are the Northern Ocean, flowing up to the mouth of the Rhine, the Britannic Ocean between the Rhine and the Sequana, and, between it and the Pyrenees, the Gallic Ocean. There are many islands belonging to the Veneti, which bear the name of "Veneticæ," as also in the Aquitanic Gulf, that of Uliarus.
 
4 - 34 NEARER SPAIN, ITS COAST ALONG THE GALLIC OCEAN M
At the Promontory of the Pyrenees Spain begins, more narrow, not only than Gaul, but even than itself in its other parts, as we have previously mentioned, seeing to what an immense extent it is here hemmed in by the ocean on the one side, and by the Iberian Sea on the other. A chain of the Pyrenees, extending from due east to south-west, divides Spain into two parts, the smaller one to the north, the larger to the south. The first coast that presents itself is that of the Nearer Spain, otherwise called Tarraconensis. On leaving the Pyrenees and proceeding along the coast, we meet with the forest ranges of the Vascones, Olarso, the towns of the Varduli, the Morosgi, Menosca, Vesperies, and the Port of Amanus, where now stands the colony of Flaviobriga. We then come to the district of the nine states of the Cantabri, the river Sauga, and the Port of Victoria of the Juliobrigenses, from which place the sources of the Iberus are distant forty miles. We next come to the Port of Blendium, the Orgenomesci, a people of the Cantabri, Vereasueca their port, the country of the As- tures, the town of Noega, and on a peninsula, the Pæsici. Next to these we have, belonging to the jurisdiction of Lucus, after passing the river Navilubio, the Cibarci, the Egovarri, surnamed Namarini, the Iadoni, the Arrotrebæ, the Celtic Promontory, the rivers Florius and Nelo, the Celtici, surnamed Neri, and above them the Tamarici, in whose peninsula are the three altars called Sestianæ, and dedicated to Augustus; the Capori, the town of Noela, the Celtici surnamed Præsamarci, and the Cilen: of the islands, those worthy of mention are Corticata and Aunios. After passing the Cileni, belonging to the jurisdiction of the Bracari, we have the Heleni, the Gravii, and the fortress of Tyde, all of them deriving their origin from the Greeks. Also, the islands called Cicæ, the famous city of Abobrica, the river Minius, four miles wide at its mouth, the Leuni, the Seurbi, and Augusta, a town of the Bracari, above whom lies Gallæcia. We then come to the river Limia, and the river Durius, one of the largest in Spain, and which rises in the district of the Pelendones, passes near Numantia, and through the Arevaci and the Vaccæi, dividing the Vettones from Asturia, the Gallæci from Lusitania, and separating the Turduli from the Bracari. The whole of the region here mentioned from the Pyrenees is full of mines of gold, silver, iron, and lead, both black and white.
 
4 - 35 LUSITANIA M
After passing the Durius, Lusitania begins. We here have the ancient Turdul, the Pæsuri, the river Vaga, the town of Talabrica, the town and river of Æminium, the towns of Conimbrica, Collippo, and Eburobritium. A promontory then advances into the sea in shape of a large horn; by some it has been called Artabrum, by others the Great Promon- tory, while many call it the Promontory of Olisipo, from the city near it. This spot forms a dividing line in the land, the sea, and the heavens. Here ends one side of Spain; and, when we have doubled the promontory, the front of Spain begins. (.) On one side of it lie the North and the Gallic Ocean, on the other the West and the Atlantic. The length of this promontory has been estimated by some persons at sixty miles, by others at ninety. A considerable number of writers estimate the distance from this spot to the Pyrenees at miles; and, committing a manifest error, place here the nation of the Artabri, a nation that never was here. For, making a slight change in the name, they have placed at this spot the Arrotrebæ, whom we have previously spoken of as dwelling in front of the Celtic Promontory.
Mistakes have also been made as to the more celebrated rivers. From the Minius, which we have previously mentioned, according to Varro, the river Æminius is distant miles, which others suppose to be situate elsewhere, and called Limæa. By the ancients it was called the "River of Oblivion," and it has been made the subject of many fabulous stories. At a distance of miles from the Durius is the Tagus, the Munda lying between them. The Tagus is famous for its golden sands. At a distance of miles from it is the Sacred Promontory, projecting from nearly the very middle of the front of Spain. From this spot to the middle of the Pyrenees, Varro says, is a distance of miles; while to the Anas, by which we have mentioned Lusitania as being separated from Bætica, is miles, it being more to Gades. The peoples are the Celtici, the Turduli, and, about the Tagus, the Vettones. From the river Anas to the Sacred Promontory are the Lusitani. The cities worthy of mention on the coast, beginning from the Tagus, are that of Olisipo, famous for its mares, which conceive from the west wind; Salacia, which is surnamed the Imperial City; Merobrica; and then the Sacred Promontory, with the other known by the name of Cuneus, and the towns of Ossonoba, Balsa, and Myrtili. The whole of this province is divided into three jurisdictions, those of Emerita, Pax, and Scalabis. It contains in all forty-six peoples, among whom there are five colonies, one municipal town of Roman citizens, three with the ancient Latin rights, and thirty-six that are tributaries. The colonies are those of Augusta Emerita, situate on the river Anas, Metallinum, Pax, and Norba, surnamed Cæsariana. To this last place of jurisdiction the people of Castra Servilia and Castra Cæcilia resort. The fifth jurisdiction is that of Scalabis, which also has the name of Præsidium Julium. Olisipo, surnamed Felicitas Julia, is a municipal city, whose inhabitants enjoy the rights of Roman citizens. The towns in the enjoyment of the ancient Latin rights are Ebora, which also has the name of Liberalitas Julia, and Myrtili and Salacia, which we have previously mentioned. Those among the tributaries whom it may not be amiss to mention, in addition to those already alluded to among the names of those in Bætica, are the Augustobrigenses, the Ammienses, the Aranditani, the Arabricenses, the Balsenses, the Cesarobricenses, the Caperenses, the Caurenses, the Colarni, the Cibilitani, the Concordienses, the Elbocorii, the Interannienses, the Lan- cienses, the Mirobrigenses, surnamed Celtici, the Medubrigenses, surnamed Plumbarii, the Ocelenses or Lancienses, the Turduli, also called Barduli, and the Tapori. Agrippa states, that Lusitania, with Asturia and Gallæcia, is miles in length, and in breadth. The provinces of Spain, measured from the two extreme promontories of the Pyrenees, along the sea-line of the entire coast, are thought to be miles in circumference; while some writers make them to be but .
 
4 - 36 ISLANDS IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN M
Opposite to Celtiberia are a number of islands, by the Greeks called Cassiterides, in consequence of their abounding in tin: and, facing the Promontory of the Arrotrebæ, are the six Islands of the Gods, which some persons have called the Fortunate Islands. At the very commencement of Bætica, and twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Straits of Gades, is the island of Gadis, twelve miles long and three broad, as Polybius states in his writings. At its nearest part, it is less than feet distant from the mainland, while in the remaining portion it is distant more than seven miles. Its circuit is fifteen miles, and it has on it a city which enjoys the rights of Roman citizens, and whose people are called the Augustani of the city of Julia Gaditana. On the side which looks towards Spain, at about paces distance, is another long island, three miles wide, on which the original city of Gades stood. By Ephorus and Philistides it is called Erythia, by Timæus and Silenus Aphrodisias, and by the natives the Isle of Juno. Timæus says, that the larger island used to be called Cotinusa, from its olives; the Romans call it Tartessos; the Carthaginians Gadir, that word in the Punic language signifying a hedge. It was called Erythia because the Tyrians, the original an- cestors of the Carthaginians, were said to have come from the Erythræn, or Red Sea. In this island Geryon is by some thought to have dwelt, whose herds were carried off by Hercules. Other persons again think, that his island is another one, opposite to Lusitania, and that it was there formerly called by that name.
 
4 - 37 GENERAL MEASUREMENT OF EUROPE M
Having thus made the circuit of Europe, we must now give the complete measurement of it, in order that those who wish to be acquainted with this subject may not feel themselves at a loss. Artemidorus and Isidorus have given its length, from the Tanais to Gades, as miles. Polybius in his writings has stated the breadth of Europe, in a line from Italy to the ocean, to be miles. But, even in his day, its magnitude was but little known. The distance of Italy, as we have previously stated, as far as the Alps, is miles, from which, through Lugdunum to the British port of the Morini, the direction which Polybius seems to follow, is miles. But the better ascertained, though greater length, is that taken from the Alps through the Camp of the Legions in Germany, in a north-westerly direction, to the mouth of the Rhine, being miles. We shall now have to speak of Africa and Asia.
Summary.—Towns and nations mentioned * * * *. Noted rivers * * * *. Famous mountains * * * *. Islands * * * *. People or towns no longer in existence * * * *. Remarkable events, narratives, and observations * * * *. Roman Authors Quoted.—Cato the Censor, M. Varro, M. Agrippa, the late Emperor Augustus, Varro Atacinus, Cornelius Nepos, Hyginus, L. Vetus, Mela Pomponius, Licinius Mucianus, Fabricius Tuscus, Ateius Capito, Ateius the Philologist. Foreign Authors Quoted.—Polybius, Hecatæus, Hellanicus, Damastes, Eudoxus, Dicæarchus, Timosthenes, Eratosthenes, Ephorus, Crates the Grammarian, Serapion of Antioch, Callimachus, Artemidorus, Apollodorus, Agathocles, Eumachus, Timæus the Sici- lian, Myrsilus, Alexander Polyhistor, Thucydides, Dosiades, Anaximander, Philistides Mallotes, Dionysius, Aristides, Callidemus Menæchmus, Agla- osthenes, Anticlides, Heraclides, Philemon, Xenophon, Pytheas, Isidorus, Philonides, Xenagoras, Astynomus, Staphylus, Aristocritus, Metrodorus, Cleobulus, Posidonius.
 
  5 COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED M 67.2  
5 - 1 TWO MAURITANIAS M
The Greeks have given the name of Libya to Africa, and have called the sea that lies in front of it the Libyan Sea. It has Egypt for its boundary, and no part of the earth is there that has fewer gulfs or inlets, its shores extending in a lengthened line from the west in an oblique direction. The names of its peoples, and its cities in especial, cannot possibly be pronounced with correctness, except by the aid of their own native tongues. Its population, too, for the most part dwells only in fortresses.
 
5 - 2 NUMIDIA M
At the river Ampsaga Numidia begins, a country rendered illustrious by the fame of Masinissa. By the Greeks this region was called Metagonitis; and the Numidians received the name of "Nomades" from their frequent changes of pasturage; upon which occasions they were accustomed to carry their mapalia, or in other words, their houses, upon waggons. The towns of this country are Cullu and Rusicade; and at a distance of forty-eight miles from the latter, in the interior, is the colony of Cirta, surnamed "of the Sitiani;" still more inland is another colony called Sicca, with the free town of Bulla Regia. On the coast are Tacatua, Hippo Regius, the river Armua, and the town of Tabraca, with the rights of Roman citizens. The river Tusca forms the boundary of Numidia. This country produces nothing remarkable except its marble and wild beasts.
 
5 - 3 AFRICA M
Beyond the river Tusca begins the region of Zeugitana, and that part which properly bears the name of Africa. We here find three promontories; the White Promontory, the Promontory of Apoll, facing Sardinia, and that of Mercury, opposite to Sicily. Projecting into the sea these headlands form two gulfs, the first of which bears the name of "Hipponensis" from its proximity to the city called Hippo Dirutus, a corruption of the Greek name Diarrhytus, which it has received from the channels made for irrigation. Adjacent to this place, but at a greater distance from the sea-shore, is Theudalis, a town exempt from tribute. We then come to the Promontory of Apollo, and upon the second gulf, we find Utica, a place enjoying the rights of Roman citizens, and famous for the death of Cato; the river Bagrada, the place called Castra Cornelia, the co- lony of Carthage, founded upon the remains of Great Carthage, the colony of Maxula, the towns of Carpi, Misua, and Clypea, the last a free town, on the Promontory of Mercury; also Curubis, a free town, and Neapolis.
Here commences the second division of Africa properly so called. Those who inhabit Byzacium have the name of Libyphœnices. Byzacium is the name of a district which is miles in circumference, and is remarkable for its extreme fertility, as the ground returns the seed sown by the husbandman with interest a hundred-fold. Here are the free towns of Leptis, Adrumetum, Ruspina, and Thapsus; and then Thenæ, Macomades, Tacape, and Sabrata which touches on the Lesser Syrtis; to which spot, from the Ampsaga, the length of Numidia and Africa is miles, and the breadth, so far as it has been ascertained, . That portion which we have called Africa is divided into two provinces, the Old and the New; these are separated by a dyke which was made by order of the second Scipio Africanus and the kings, and extended to Thenæ, which town is distant from Carthage miles.
 
5 - 4 SYRTES M
A third Gulf is divided into two smaller ones, those of the two Syrtes, which are rendered perilous by the shallows of their quicksands and the ebb and flow of the sea. Polybius states the distance from Carthage to the Lesser Syrtis, the one which is nearest to it, to be miles. The inlet to it he also states to be miles across, and its circumference . There is also a way to it by land, to find which we must employ the guidance of the stars and cross deserts which present nothing but sand and serpents. After passing these we come to forests filled with vast multitudes of wild beasts and elephants, then desert wastes, and beyond them the Garamantes, distant twelve days' journey from the Augylæ. Above the Garamantes was formerly the na- tion of the Psylli, and above them again the Lake of Lycomedes, surrounded with deserts. The Augylæ themselves are situate almost midway between Æthiopia which faces the west, and the region which lies between the two Syrtes, at an equal distance from both. The distance along the coast that lies between the two Syrtes is miles. On it are found the city of Œa, the river Cinyps, and the country of that name, the towns of Neapolis, Graphara, and Abrotonum, and the second, surnamed the Greater, Leptis.
We next come to the Greater Syrtis, miles in circumference, and at the entrance miles in width; next after which dwells the nation of the Cisippades. At the bottom of this gulf was the coast of the Lotophagi, whom some writers have called the Alachroæ, extending as far as the Altars of the Philæni; these Altars are formed of heaps of sand. On passing these, not far from the shore there is a vast swamp which receives the river Triton and from it takes its name: by Callimachus it is called Pallantias, and is said by him to be on the nearer side of the Lesser Syrtis; many other writers however place it between the two Syrtes. The promontory which bounds the Greater Syrtis has the name of Borion; beyond it is the province of Cyrene. Africa, from the river Ampsaga to this limit, includes peoples, who are subject to the Roman sway, of which six are colonies; among them Uthina and Tuburbi, besides those already mentioned. The towns enjoying the rights of Roman citizens are fifteen in number, of which I shall mention, as lying in the interior, those of Assuræ, Abutucum, Aborium, Canopicum, Cilma, Simithium, Thunusidium, Tuburnicum, Tynidrumum, Tibiga, the two towns called Ucita, the Greater and the Lesser, and vaga. There is also one town with Latin rights, Uzalita by name, and one town of tributaries, Castra Cornelia. The free towns are thirty in number, among which we may mention, in the interior, those of Acholla, Aggarita, Avina, Abzirita, Cano- pita, Melizita, Matera, Salaphita, Tusdrita, Tiphica, Tunica, Theuda, Tagasta, Tiga, Ulusubrita, a second Vaga, Visa, and Zama. Of the remaining number, most of them should be called, in strictness, not only cities, but nations even; such for instance as the Natabudes, the Capsitani, the Musulami, the Sabarbares, the Massyli, the Nisives, the Vamacures, the Cinithi, the Musuni, the Marchubii, and the whole of Gætulia, as far as the river Nigris, which separates Africa proper from Æthiopia.
 
5 - 5 CYRENAICA M
The region of Cyrenaica, also called Pentapolis, is rendered famous by the oracle of Hammon, which is distant miles from the city of Cyrene; also by the Fountain of the Sun there, and five cities in especial, those of Berenice, Arsinoë, Ptolemais, Apollonia, and Cyrene itself. Berenice is situate upon the outer promontory that bounds the Syrtis; it was formerly called the city of the Hesperides (previously mentioned), according to the fables of the Greeks, which very often change their localities. Not far from the city, and running before it, is the river Lethon, and with it a sacred grove, where the gardens of the Hesperides are said to have formerly stood; this city is distant from Leptis miles. From Berenice to Arsinoë, commonly called Teuchira, is forty-three miles; after which, at a distance of twenty-two, we come to Ptolemais, the ancient name of which was Barce; and at a distance of forty miles from this last the Promontory of Phycus, which extends far away into the Cretan Sea, being miles distant from Tænarum, the promontory of Laconia, and from Crete . After passing this promontory we come to Cyrene, which stands at a distance of eleven miles from the sea. From Phycus to Apollonia is twenty-four miles, and from thence to the Chersonesus eighty-eight; from which to Catabathmos is a distance of miles. The Marmaridæ inhabit this coast, extending from almost the region of Parætonium to the Greater Syrtis; after them the Ararauceles, and then, upon the coasts of the Syrtis, the Nasamones, whom the Greeks formerly called Mesammones, from the circumstance of their being located in the very midst of sands. The territory of Cyrene, to a distance of fifteen miles from the shore, is said to abound in trees, while for the same distance beyond that district it is only suitable for the cultivation of corn: after which, a tract of land, thirty miles in breadth and in length, is productive of nothing but laser [or silphium].
After the Nasamones we come to the dwellings of the Asbystæ and the Macæ, and beyond them, at eleven days' journey to the west of the Greater Syrtis, the Amantes, a people also surrounded by sands in every direction. They find water however without any difficulty at a depth mostly of about two cubits, as their district receives the overflow of the waters of Mauritania. They build houses with blocks of salt, which they cut out of their mountains just as we do stone. From this nation to the Troglodytæ the distance is seven days' journey in a south-westerly direction, a people with whom our only intercourse is for the purpose of procuring from them the precious stone which we call the carbuncle, and which is brought from the interior of Æthiopia. Upon the road to this last people, but turning off towards the deserts of Africa, of which we have previously made mention as lying beyond the Lesser Syrtis, is the region of Phazania; the nation of Phazanii, belonging to which, as well as the cities of Alele and Cilliba, we have subdued by force of arms, as also Cydamus, which lies over against Sabrata. After passing these places a range of mountains extends in a prolonged chain from east to west: these have received from our people the name of the Black Mountains, either from the appearance which they naturally bear of having been exposed to the action of fire, or else from the fact that they have been scorched by the reflection of the sun's rays. Beyond it is the desert, and then Talgæ, a city of the Garamantes, and Debris, at which place there is a spring, the waters of which, from noon to midnight, are at boiling heat, and then freeze for as many hours until the following noon; Garama too, that most famous capital of the Garamantes; all which places have been subdued by the Roman arms. It was on this occasion that Cornelius Balbus was honoured with a triumph, the only foreigner indeed that was ever honoured with the triumphal chariot, and presented with the rights of a Roman citizen; for, although by birth a native of Gades, the Roman citizenship was granted to him as well as to the elder Balbus, his uncle by the father's side. There is also this remarkable circumstance, that our writers have handed down to us the names of the cities above-men- tioned as having been taken by Balbus, and have informed us that on the occasion of his triumph, besides Cydamus and Garama, there were carried in the procession the names and models of all the other nations and cities, in the following order: the town of Tabudium, the nation of Niteris, the town of Nigligemella, the nation or town of Bubeium, the nation of Enipi, the town of Thuben, the mountain known as the Black Mountain, Nitibrum, the towns called Rapsa, the nation of Discera, the town of Debris, the river Nathabur, the town of Thapsagum, the nation of Nannagi, the town of Boin, the town of Pege, the river Dasibari; and then the towns, in the following order, of Baracum, Buluba, Alasit, Galia, Balla, Maxalla, Zizama, and Mount Gyri, which was preceded by an inscription stating that this was the place where precious stones were produced. Up to the present time it has been found impracticable to keep open the road that leads to the country of the Garamantes, as the predatory bands of that nation have filled up the wells with sand, which do not require to be dug for to any great depth, if you only have a knowledge of the locality. In the late war however, which, at the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, the Romans carried on with the people of Œa, a short cut of only four days' journey was discovered; this road is known as the "Pæter Caput Saxi." The last place in the territory of Cyrenaica is Catabathmos, consisting of a town, and a valley with a sudden and steep descent. The length of Cyrenean Africa, up to this boundary from the Lesser Syrtis, is miles; and, so far as has been ascertained, it is in breadth.
 
5 - 6 LIBYA MAREOTIS M
The region that follows is called Libya Mareotis, and borders upon Egypt. It is held by the Marmaridæ, the Adyrmachidæ, and, after them, the Mareotœ. The distance from Catabathmos to Parætonium is eighty-six miles. In this district is Apis, a place rendered famous by the religious belief of Egypt. From this town Parætonium is distant sixty-two miles, and from thence to Alexandria the distance is miles, the breadth of the district being . Eratosthenes says that it is miles by land from Cyrene to Alexandria; while Agrippa gives the length of the whole of Africa from the Atlantic Sea, and including Lower Egypt, as miles. Polybius and Eratosthenes, who are generally considered as remarkable for their extreme correctness, state the length to be, from the ocean to Great Carthage miles, and from Carthage to Canopus, the nearest mouth of the Nile, miles; while Isidorus speaks of the distance from Tingi to Canopus as being miles. Artemidorus makes this last distance forty miles less than Isidorus.
 
5 - 7 ISLANDS IN THE VICINITY OF AFRICA M
These seas contain not so very many islands. The most famous among them is Meninx, twenty-five miles in length and twenty-two in breadth: by Eratosthenes it is called Lotophagitis. This island has two towns, Meninx on the side which faces Africa, and Troas on the other; it is situate off the promontory which lies on the right-hand side of the Lesser Syrtis, at a distance of a mile and a half. One hundred miles from this island, and opposite the promontory that lies on the left, is the free island of Cercina, with a city of the same name. It is twenty-five miles long, and half that breadth at the place where it is the widest, but not more than five miles across at the extremity: the diminutive island of Cercinitis, which looks towards Carthage, is united to it by a bridge. At a distance of nearly fifty miles from these is the island of Lopadusa, six miles in length; and beyond it Gaulos and Galata, the soil of which kills the scorpion, that noxious reptile of Africa. It is also said that the scorpion will not live at Clypea; opposite to which place lies the island of Cosyra, with a town of the same name. Opposite to the Gulf of Carthage are the two islands known as the Ægimuri; the Altars, which are rather rocks than islands, lie more between Sicily and Sardinia. There are some authors who state that these rocks were once inhabited, but that they have gradually subsided in the sea.
 
5 - 8 COUNTRIES ON THE OTHER SIDE OF AFRICA M
If we pass through the interior of Africa in a southerly direction, beyond the Gætuli, after having traversed the intervening deserts, we shall find, first of all the Liby- Egyptians, and then the country where the Leucæthio- pians dwell. Beyond these are the Nigritæ, nations of Æthiopia, so called from the river Nigris, which has been previously mentioned, the Gymnetes, surnamed Pharusii, and, on the very margin of the ocean, the Perorsi, whom we have already spoken of as lying on the boundaries of Mauritania. After passing all these peoples, there are vast deserts towards the east until we come to the Garamantes, the Augylæ, and the Troglodytæ; the opinion of those being exceedingly well founded who place two Æthiopias beyond the deserts of Africa, and more particularly that expressed by Homer, who tells us that the Æthiopians are divided into two nations, those of the east and those of the west. The river Nigris has the same characteristics as the Nile; it produces the calamus, the papyrus, and just the same animals, and it rises at the same seasons of the year. Its source is between the Tarrælian Æthiopians and the Œcalicæ. Magium, the city of the latter people, has been placed by some writers amid the deserts, and, next to them the Atlantes; then the Ægipani, half men, half beasts, the Blemmyæ, the Gamphasantes, the Satyri, and the Himantopodes.
The Atlantes, if we believe what is said, have lost all characteristics of humanity; for there is no mode of distinguishing each other among them by names, and as they look upon the rising and the setting sun, they give utterance to direful imprecations against it, as being deadly to themselves and their lands; nor are they visited with dreams, like the rest of mortals. The Troglodytæ make excavations in the earth, which serve them for dwellings; the flesh of serpents is their food; they have no articulate voice, but only utter a kind of squeaking noise; and thus are they utterly destitute of all means of communication by language. The Garamantes have no institution of marriage among them, and live in promiscuous concubinage with their women. The Augylæ worship no deities but the gods of the infernal regions. The Gamphasantes, who go naked, and are unacquainted with war, hold no intercourse whatever with strangers. The Blemmyæ are said to have no heads, their mouths and eyes being seated in their breasts. The Satyri, beyond their figure, have nothing in common with the manners of the human race, and the form of the Ægipani is such as is commonly represented in paintings. The Himantopodes are a race of people with feet resembling thongs, upon which they move along by nature with a serpentine, crawling kind of gait. The Pharusii, descended from the ancient Persians, are said to have been the companions of Hercules when on his expedition to the Hesperides. Beyond the above, I have met with nothing relative to Africa worthy of mention.
 
5 - 9 EGYPT AND THEBAIS M
Joining on to Africa is Asia, the extent of which, according to Timosthenes, from the Canopic mouth of the Nile to the mouth of the Euxine, is miles. From the mouth of the Euxine to that of Lake Mæotis is, according to Eratosthenes, miles. The whole distance to the Tanais, including Egypt, is, according to Artemidorus and Isidorus, miles. The seas of Egypt, which are several in number, have received their names from those who dwell upon their shores, for which reason they will be mentioned together.
Egypt is the country which lies next to Africa; in the interior it runs in a southerly direction, as far as the territory of the Æthiopians, who lie extended at the back of it. The river Nile, dividing itself, forms on the right and left the boundary of its lower part, which it embraces on every side. By the Canopic mouth of that river it is separated from Africa, and by the Pelusiac from Asia, there being a distance between the two of miles. For this reason it is that some persons have reckoned Egypt among the islands, the Nile so dividing itself as to give a triangular form to the land which it encloses: from which circumstance also many persons have named Egypt the Delta, after that of the Greek letter so called. The distance from the spot where the channel of the river first divides into branches, to the Canopic mouth, is miles, and to the Pelusiac, . The upper part of Egypt, which borders on Æthiopia, is known as Thebais. This district is divided into prefectures of towns, which are generally designated as "Nomes." These are Ombites, Apollopolites, Hermonthites, Thinites, Phaturites, Coptites, Tentyrites, Diopolites, An- tæopolites, Aphroditopolites, and Lycopolites. The district which lies in the vicinity of Pelusium contains the following Nomes, Pharbæthites, Bubastites, Sethroites, and Tanites. The remaining Nomes are those called the Arabian; the Hammonian, which lies on the road to the oracle of Jupiter Hammon; and those known by the names of Oxyrynchites, Leontopolites, Athribites, Cynopolites, Hermopolites, Xoites, Mendesim, Sebennytes, Cabasites, Latopolites, Heliopolites, Prosopites, Panopolites, Busirites, Onuphites, Saïtes, Ptenethu, Phthemphu, Naucratites, Metelites, Gynæcopolites, Menelaites,—all in the region of Alexandria, besides Mareotis in Libya. Heracleopolites is a Nome on an island of the Nile, fifty miles in length, upon which there is a city, called the 'City of Hercules.' There are two places called Arsinoïtes: these and Memphites extend to the apex of the Delta; adjoining to which, on the side of Africa, are the two Nomes of Oasites. Some writers vary in some of these names and substitute for them other Nomes, such as Heroöpolites and Crocodilopolites. Between Arsinoïtes and Memphites, a lake, miles, or, according to what Mucianus says, miles in circumference and fifty paces deep, has been formed by artificial means: after the king by whose orders it was made, it is called by the name of Mœris. The distance from thence to Memphis is nearly sixty-two miles, a place which was formerly the citadel of the kings of Egypt; from thence to the oracle of Hammon it is twelve days' journey. Memphis is fifteen miles from the spot where the river Nile divides into the different channels which we have mentioned as forming the Delta.
 
5 - 10 RIVER NILE M
The sources of the Nile are unascertained, and, travelling as it does for an immense distance through deserts and burning sands, it is only known to us by common report, having neither experienced the vicissitudes of warfare, nor been visited by those arms which have so effectually explored all other regions. It rises, so far indeed as King Juba was enabled to ascertain, in a mountain of Lower Mauritania, not far from the ocean; immediately after which it forms a lake of standing water, which bears the name of Nilides. In this lake are found the several kinds of fish known by the names of alabeta, coracinus, and silurus; a crocodile also was brought thence as a proof that this really is the Nile, and was consecrated by Juba himself in the temple of Isis at Cæsarea, where it may be seen at the present day. In addition to these facts, it has been observed that the waters of the Nile rise in the same proportion in which the snows and rains of Mauritania increase. Pouring forth from this lake, the river disdains to flow through arid and sandy deserts, and for a distance of several days' journey conceals itself; after which it bursts forth at another lake of greater magnitude in the country of the Massæsyli, a people of Mauritania Cæsariensis, and thence casts a glance around, as it were, upon the communities of men in its vicinity, giving proofs of its identity in the same peculiarities of the animals which it produces. It then buries itself once again in the sands of the desert, and remains concealed for a distance of twenty days' journey, till it has reached the confines of Æthiopia. Here, when it has once more become sensible of the presence of man, it again emerges, at the same source, in all probability, to which writers have given the name of Niger, or Black. After this, forming the boundary-line between Africa and Æthiopia, its banks, though not immediately peopled by man, are the resort of numbers of wild beasts and animals of various kinds. Giving birth in its course to dense forests of trees, it travels through the middle of Æthiopia, under the name of Astapus, a word which signifies, in the language of the nations who dwell in those regions, "water issuing from the shades below." Proceeding onwards, it divides innumerable islands in its course, and some of them of such vast magnitude, that although its tide runs with the greatest rapidity, it is not less than five days in passing them. When making the circuit of Meroë, the most famous of these islands, the left branch of the river is called Astobores, or, in other words, "an arm of the water that issues from the shades," while the right arm has the name of Astosapes, which adds to its original signification the meaning of "side." It does not obtain the name of "Nile" until its waters have again met and are united in a single stream; and even then, for some miles both above and below the point of confluence, it has the name of Siris. Homer has given to the whole of this river the name of Ægyptus, while other writers again have called it Triton. Every now and then its course is interrupted by islands which intervene, and which only serve as so many incentives to add to the impetuosity of its torrent; and though at last it is hemmed in by mountains on either side, in no part is the tide more rapid and precipitate. Its waters then hastening onwards, it is borne along to the spot in the country of the Æthiopians which is known by the name of "Catadupi;" where, at the last Cataract, the complaint is, not that it flows, but that it rushes, with an immense noise between the rocks that lie in its way: after which it becomes more smooth, the violence of its waters is broken and subdued, and, wearied out as it were by the length of the distance it has travelled, it discharges itself, though by many mouths, into the Egyptian sea. During certain days of the year, however, the volume of its waters is greatly increased, and as it traverses the whole of Egypt, it inundates the earth, and, by so doing, greatly promotes its fertility.
There have been various reasons suggested for this increase of the river. Of these, however, the most probable are, either that its waters are driven back by the Etesian winds, which are blowing at this season of the year from an opposite direction, and that the sea which lies beyond is driven into the mouths of the river; or else that its waters are swollen by the summer rains of Æthiopia, which fall from the clouds conveyed thither by the Etesian winds from other parts of the earth. Timæus the mathematician has alleged a reason of an occult nature: he says that the source of the river is known by the name of Phiala, and that the stream buries itself in channels underground, where it sends forth vapours generated by the heat among the steaming rocks amid which it conceals itself; but that, during the days of the inundation, in consequence of the sun approaching nearer to the earth, the waters are drawn forth by the influence of his heat, and on being thus exposed to the air, overflow; after which, in order that it may not be utterly dried up, the stream hides itself once more. He says that this takes place at the rising of the Dog-Star, when the sun enters the sign of Leo, and stands in a vertical position over the source of the river, at which time at that spot there is no shadow thrown. Most authors, however, are of opinion, on the contrary, that the river flows in greater volume when the sun takes his departure for the north, which he does when he enters the signs of Cancer and Leo, because its waters then are not dried up to so great an extent; while on the other hand, when he returns towards the south pole and re-enters Capricorn, its waters are absorbed by the heat, and consequently flow in less abundance. If there is any one inclined to be of opinion, with Timæus, that the waters of the river may be drawn out of the earth by the heat, it will be as well for him to bear in mind the fact, that the absence of shadow is a phænomenon which lasts continuously in these regions. The Nile begins to increase at the next new moon after the summer solstice, and rises slowly and gradually as the sun passes through the sign of Cancer; it is at its greatest height while the sun is passing through Leo, and it falls as slowly and gradually as it arose while he is passing through the sign of Virgo. It has totally subsided between its banks, as we learn from Herodotus, on the hundredth day, when the sun has entered Libra. While it is rising it has been pronounced criminal for kings or prefects even to sail upon its waters. The measure of its increase is ascertained by means of wells. Its most desirable height is sixteen cubits; if the waters do not attain that height, the overflow is not universal; but if they exceed that measure, by their slowness in receding they tend to retard the process of cultivation. In the latter case the time for sowing is lost, in consequence of the moisture of the soil; in the former, the ground is so parched that the seed-time comes to no purpose. The country has reason to make careful note of either extreme. When the water rises to only twelve cubits, it experiences the horrors of famine; when it attains thirteen, hunger is still the result; a rise of fourteen cubits is productive of gladness; a rise of fifteen sets all anxieties at rest; while an increase of sixteen is productive of unbounded transports of joy. The greatest increase known, up to the present time, is that of eighteen cubits, which took place in the time of the Emperor Claudius; the smallest rise was that of five, in the year of the battle of Pharsalia, the river by this prodigy testifying its horror, as it were, at the murder of Pompeius Magnus. When the waters have reached their greatest height, the people open the embankments and admit them to the lands. As each district is left by the waters, the business of sowing commences. This is the only river in existence that emits no vapours. The Nile first enters the Egyptian territory at Syene, on the frontiers of Æthiopia; that is the name of a peninsula a mile in circumference, upon which Castra is situate, on the side of Arabia. Opposite to it are the four islands of Philæ, at a distance of miles from the place where the Nile divides into two channels; at which spot, as we have already stated, the Delta, as it is called, begins. This, at least, is the distance, according to Artemidorus, who also informs us that there were in it towns; Juba says, however, that the distance between these places is miles. Aristocreon says that the distance from Elephantis to the sea is miles; Elephantis being an inhabited island four miles below the last Cataract, sixteen beyond Syene, from Alexandria, and the extreme limit of the navigation of Egypt. To such an extent as this have the above-named authors been mistaken! This island is the place of rendezvous for the vessels of the Æthiopians: they are made to fold up, and the people carry them on their shoulders whenever they come to the Cataracts.
 
5 - 11 CITIES OF EGYPT M
Egypt, besides its boast of extreme antiquity, asserts that it contained, in the reign of King Amasis, , inhabited cities: in our day they are still very numerous, though no longer of any particular note. Still however we find the following ones mentioned as of great renown—the city of Apollo; next, that of Leucothea; then Great Diospolis, otherwise Thebes, known to fame for its hundred gates; Coptos, which from its proximity to the Nile, forms its nearest emporium for the merchandise of India and Arabia; then the town of Venus, and then another town of Jupi- ter. After this comes Tentyris, below which is Abydus, the royal abode of Memnon, and famous for a temple of Osiris, which is situate in Libya, at a distance from the river of seven miles and a half. Next to it comes Ptolemais, then Panopolis, and then another town of Venus, and, on the Libyan side, Lycon, where the mountains form the boundary of the province of Thebais. On passing these, we come to the towns of Mercury, Alabastron, the town of Dogs, and that of Hercules already mentioned. We next come to Arsinoë, and Memphis, which has been previously mentioned; between which last and the Nome of Arsinoïtes, upon the Libyan side, are the towers known as the Pyramids, the Labyrinth on Lake Mœris, in the construction of which no wood was employed, and the town of Crialon. Besides these, there is one place in the interior, on the confines of Arabia, of great celebrity, the City of the Sun.
(.) With the greatest justice, however, we may lavish our praises upon Alexandria, built by Alexander the Great on the shores of the Egyptian Sea, upon the soil of Africa, at twelve miles' distance from the Canopic Mouth and near Lake Mareotis; the spot having previously borne the name of Rhacotes. The plan of this city was designed by the architect Dinochares, who is memorable for the genius which he displayed in many ways. Building the city upon a wide space of ground fifteen miles in circumference, he formed it in the circular shape of a Macedonian chlamys, uneven at the edge, giving it an angular projection on the right and left; while at the same time he devoted one-fifth part of the site to the royal palace. Lake Mareotis, which lies on the south side of the city, is connected by a canal which joins it to the Canopic mouth, and serves for the purposes of communication with the interior. It has also a great number of islands, and is thirty miles across, and in circumference, according to Claudius Cæsar. Other writers say that it is forty schœni in length, making the schœnum to be thirty stadia; hence, according to them, it is miles in length and the same in breadth. There are also, in the latter part of the course of the Nile, many towns of considerable celebrity, and more especially those which have given their names to the mouths of the river—I do not mean, all the mouths, for there are no less than twelve of them, as well as four others, which the people call the False Mouths. I allude to the seven more famous ones, the Canopic Mouth, next to Alexandria, those of Bolbitine, Sebennys, Phatnis, Mendes, Tanis, and, last of all, Pelusium. Besides the above there are the towns of Butos, Pharbæthos, Leontopolis, Athribis, the town of Isis, Busiris, Cynopolis, Aphrodites, Sais, and Naucratis, from which last some writers call that the Naucratitic Mouth, which is by others called the Heracleotic, and mention it instead of the Canopic Mouth, which is the next to it.
 
5 - 12 COASTS OF ARABIA, SITUATE ON THE EGYPTIAN SEA M
Beyond the Pelusiac Mouth is Arabia, which extends to the Red Sea, and joins the Arabia known by the surname of Happy, so famous for its perfumes and its wealth. This is called Arabia of the Catabanes, the Esbonitæ, and the Scenitæ; it is remarkable for its sterility, except in the parts where it joins up to Syria, and it has nothing remarkable in it except Mount Casius. The Arabian nations of the Canchlæi join these on the east, and, on the south the Cedrei, both of which peoples are adjoining to the Nabatæi. The two gulfs of the Red Sea, where it borders upon Egypt, are called the Heroöpolitic and the Ælanitic. Between the two towns of Ælana and Gaza upon our sea there is a distance of miles. Agrippa says that Arsinoë, a town on the Red Sea, is, by way of the desert, miles from Pelusium. How different the characteristics impressed by nature upon two places separated by so small a distance!
 
5 - 13 SYRIA M
Next to these countries Syria occupies the coast, once the greatest of lands, and distinguished by many names; for the part which joins up to Arabia was formerly called Palæstina, Judæa, Cœle, and Phœnice. The country in the interior was called Damascena, and that further on and more to the south, Babylonia. The part that lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris was called Mesopotamia, that beyond Taurus Sophene, and that on this side of the same chain Comagene. Beyond Armenia was the country of Adiabene, anciently called Assyria, and at the part where it joins up to Cilicia, it was called Antiochia. Its length, between Cilicia and Arabia, is miles, and its breadth, from Seleucia Pieria to Zeugma, a town on the Euphrates, . Those who make a still more minute division of this country will have it that Phœnice is surrounded by Syria, and that first comes the maritime coast of Syria, part of which is Idumæa and Judæa, after that Phœnice, and then Syria. The whole of the tract of sea that lies in front of these shores is called the Phœnician Sea. The Phœnician people enjoy the glory of having been the inventors of letters, and the first discoverers of the sciences of astronomy, navigation, and the art of war.
 
5 - 14 IDUMÆA, PALÆSTINA, AND SAMARIA M
On leaving Pelusium we come to the Camp of Chabrias, Mount Casius, the temple of Jupiter Casius, and the tomb of Pompeius Magnus. Ostracine, at a distance of sixty-five miles from Pelusium, is the frontier town of Ara- bia. (.) After this, at the point where the Sirbonian Lake becomes visible, Idumæa and Palæstina begin. This lake, which some writers have made to be miles in circumference, Herodotus has placed at the foot of Mount Casius; it is now an inconsiderable fen. The towns are Rhinocolura, and, in the interior, Rhaphea, Gaza, and, still more inland, Anthedon: there is also Mount Argaris. Proceeding along the coast we come to the region of Samaria; Ascalo, a free town, Azotus, the two Jamniæ, one of them in the in- terior; and Joppe, a city of the Phœnicians, which existed, it is said, before the deluge of the earth. It is situate on the slope of a hill, and in front of it lies a rock, upon which they point out the vestiges of the chains by which Andromeda was bound. Here the fabulous goddess Ceto is worshipped. Next to this place comes Apollonia, and then the Tower of Strato, otherwise Cæsarea, built by King Herod, but now the Colony of Prima Flavia, established by the Emperor Vespasianus: this place is the frontier town of Palæstina, at a distance of miles from the confines of Arabia; after which comes Phœnice. In the interior of Samaria are the towns of Neapolis, formerly called Mamortha, Sebaste, situate on a mountain, and, on a still more lofty one, Gamala.
 
5 - 15 JUDÆA M
Beyond Idumæa and Samaria, Judæa extends far and wide. That part of it which joins up to Syria is called Galilæa, while that which is nearest to Arabia and Egypt bears the name of Peræa. This last is thickly covered with rugged mountains, and is separated from the rest of Judæa by the river Jordanes. The remaining part of Judæa is divided into ten Toparchies, which we will mention in the following order:—That of Hiericus, covered with groves of palm-trees, and watered by numerous springs, and those of Emmaüs, Lydda, Joppe, Acrabatena, Gophna, Thamna, Bethleptephene, Orina, in which formerly stood Hierosolyma, by far the most famous city, not of Judæa only, but of the East, and Herodium, with a celebrated town of the same name.
(.) The river Jordanes rises from the spring of Panias, which has given its surname to Cæsarea, of which we shall have occasion to speak. This is a delightful stream, and, so far as the situation of the localities will allow of, winds along in its course and lingers among the dwellers upon its banks. With the greatest reluctance, as it were, it moves onward towards Asphaltites, a lake of a gloomy and unpropitious nature, by which it is at last swallowed up, and its be praised waters are lost sight of on being mingled with the pestilential streams of the lake. For this reason it is that, as soon as ever the valleys through which it runs afford it the opportunity, it discharges itself into a lake, by many writers known as Genesara, sixteen miles in length and six wide; which is skirted by the pleasant towns of Julias and Hippo on the east, of Tarichea on the south (a name which is by many persons given to the lake itself), and of Tiberias on the west, the hot springs of which are so conducive to the restoration of health. (.) Asphaltites produces nothing whatever except bitu- men, to which indeed it owes its name. The bodies of animals will not sink in its waters, and even those of bulls and camels float there. In length it exceeds miles being at its greatest breadth twenty-five, and at its smallest six. Arabia of the Nomades faces it on the east, and Machærus on the south, at one time, next to Hierosolyma, the most strongly fortified place in Judæa. On the same side lies Callirrhoë, a warm spring, remarkable for its medicinal qualities, and which, by its name, indicates the celebrity its waters have gained. (.) Lying on the west of Asphaltites, and sufficiently distant to escape its noxious exhalations, are the Esseni, a people that live apart from the world, and marvellous beyond all others throughout the whole earth, for they have no women among them; to sexual desire they are strangers; money they have none; the palm-trees are their only companions. Day after day, however, their numbers are fully recruited by multitudes of strangers that resort to them, driven thither to adopt their usages by the tempests of fortune, and wearied with the miseries of life. Thus it is, that through thousands of ages, incredible to relate, this people eternally prolongs its existence, without a single birth taking place there; so fruitful a source of population to it is that weariness of life which is felt by others. Below this people was formerly the town of Engadda, second only to Hierosolyma in the fertility of its soil and its groves of palm-trees; now, like it, it is another heap of ashes. Next to it we come to Masada, a fortress on a rock, not far from Lake Asphaltites. Thus much concerning Judæa.
 
5 - 16 DECAPOLIS M
On the side of Syria, joining up to Judæa, is the region of Decapolis, so called from the number of its cities; as to which all writers are not agreed. Most of them, however, agree in speaking of Damascus as one, a place fertilized by the river Chrysorroös, which is drawn off into its meadows and eagerly imbibed; Philadelphia, and Rhaphana, all which cities fall back towards Arabia; Scythopolis (formerly called Nysa by Father Liber, from his nurse having been buried there), its present name being derived from a Scythian colony which was established there; Gadara, before which the river Hieromix flows; Hippo, which has been previously mentioned; Dion, Pella, rich with its waters; Galasa, and Canatha. The Tetrar- chies lie between and around these cities, equal, each of them, to a kingdom, and occupying the same rank as so many kingdoms. Their names are, Trachonitis, Panias, in which is Cæsarea, with the spring previously mentioned, Abila, Arca, Ampeloëssa, and Gabe.
 
5 - 17 PUŒNICE M
We must now return to the coast and to Phœnice. There was formerly a town here known as Crocodilon; there is still a river of that name: Dorum and Sycaminon are the names of cities of which the remembrance only exists. We then come to the Promontory of Carmelus, and, upon the mountain, a town of that name, formerly called Acbatana. Next to this are Getta, Jeba, and the river Pacida, or Belus, which throws up on its narrow banks a kind of sand from which glass is made: this river flows from the marshes of Cendebia, at the foot of Mount Carmelus. Close to this river is Ptolemais, formerly called Ace, a colony of Claudius Cæsar; and then the town of Ecdippa, and the promontory known as the White Promontory. We next come to the city of Tyre, formerly an island, separated from the mainland by a channel of the sea, of great depth, paces in width, but now joined to it by the works which were thrown up by Alexander when besieging it,—the Tyre so famous in ancient times for its offspring, the cities to which it gave birth, Leptis, Utica, and Carthage,— that rival of the Roman sway, that thirsted so eagerly for the conquest of the whole earth; Gades, too, which she founded beyond the limits of the world. At the present day, all her fame is confined to the production of the murex and the purple. Its circumference, including therein Palætyrus, is nineteen miles, the place itself extending twenty-two stadia. The next towns are Sarepta and Ornithon, and then Sidon, famous for its manufacture of glass, and the parent of Thebes in Bœotia.
(.) In the rear of this spot begins the chain of Libanus, which extends stadia, as far as Simyra; this district has the name of Cœle Syria. Opposite to this chain, and separated from it by an intervening valley, stretches away the range of Antilibanus, which was formerly connected with Libanus by a wall. Beyond it, and lying in the interior, is the region of Decapolis, and, with it, the Tetrarchies already mentioned, and the whole expanse of Palæstina. On the coast, again, and lying beneath Libanus, is the river Magoras, the colony of Berytus, which bears the name of Felix Julia, the town of Leontos, the river Lycos, Palæbyblos, the river Adonis, and the towns of Byblos, Botrys, Gigarta, Trieris, Calamos, Tripolis, inhabited by the Tyrians, Sidonians, and Aradians; Orthosia, the river Eleutheros the towns of Simyra and Marathos; and opposite, Arados, a town seven stadia long, on an island, distant paces from the mainland. After passing through the country in which the before-named mountains end and the plains that lie between, Mount Bargylus is seen to rise.
 
5 - 18 SYRIA ANTIOCHIA M
Here Phœnicia ends, and Syria recommences. The towns are, Carne, Balanea, Paltos, and Gabale; then the promontory upon which is situate the free town of Laodicea; and then Diospolis, Heraclea, Charadrus, and Posidium.
(.) We then come to the Promontory of Syria Antiochia. In the interior is the free city of Antiochia itself, surnamed Epidaphnes, and divided by the river Orontes. On the promontory is Seleucia, called Pieria, a free city. (.) Beyond it lies Mount Casius, a different one from the mountain of the same name which we have already mentioned. The height of this mountain is so vast, that, at the fourth watch of the night, you can see from it, in the midst of the darkness, the sun rising on the east; and thus, by merely turning round, we may at one and the same time behold both day and night. The winding road which leads to its summit is nineteen miles in length, its perpendicular height four. Upon this coast there is the river Orontes, which takes its rise near Heliopolis, between the range of Libanus and Antilibanus. The towns are, Rhosos, and, behind it, the Gates of Syria, lying in the space between the chain of the Rhosian mountains and that of Taurus. On the coast there is the town of Myriandros, and Mount Amanus, upon which is the town of Bomitæ. This mountain separates Cilicia from Syria.
 
5 - 19 REMAINING PARTS OF SYRIA M
We must now speak of the interior of Syria. Cœle Syria has the town of Apamea, divided by the river Marsyas from the Tetrarchy of the Nazerini; Bambyx, the other name of which is Hierapolis, but by the Syrians called Mabog, (here the monster Atargatis, called Derceto by the Greeks, is worshipped); and the place called Chalcis on the Belus, from which the region of Chalcidene, the most fertile part of Syria, takes its name. We here find also Cyrrhestice, with Cyrrhum, the Gazatæ, the Gindareni, the Gabeni, the two Tetrarchies called Granucomatæ, the Emeseni, the Hyla- tæ, the nation of the Ituræi, and a branch of them, the people called the Bætarreni; the Mariamitani, the Tetrarchy known as Marnmisea, Paradisus, Pagræ, the Pinaritæ, two cities called Seleucia, besides the one already mentioned, the one Seleucia on the Euphrates, and the other Seleucia on the Belus, and the Cardytenses. The remaining part of Syria (except those parts which will be spoken of in conjunction with the Euphrates) contains the Arethusii, the Berœenses, and the Epiphanæenses; and on the east, the Laodiceni, who are called the Laodiceni on the Libanus, the Leucadii, and the Larissæi, besides seventeen other Tetrarchies, divided into kingdoms and bearing barbarous names.
 
5 - 20 EUPHRATES M
This place, too, will be the most appropriate one for making some mention of the Euphrates. This river rises in Caranitis, a præfecture of Greater Armenia, according to the statement of those who have approached the nearest to its source. Domitius Corbulo says, that it rises in Mount Aba; Licinius Mucianus, at the foot of a mountain which he calls Capotes, twelve miles above Zimara, and that at its source it has the name of Pyxurates. It first flows past Derxene, and then Anaitica, shutting out the regions of Armenia from Cappadocia. Dascusa is distant from Zimara seventy-five miles; from this spot it is navigable as far as Sartona, a distance of fifty miles, thence to Melitene, in Cappadocia, distant seventy-four miles, and thence to Elegia, in Armenia, distant ten miles ; receiving in its course the rivers Lycus, Arsanias, and Arsanus. At Elegia it meets the range of Mount Taurus, but no effectual resistance is offered to its course, although the chain is here twelve miles in width. At its passage between the mountains, the river bears the name of Omma; but afterwards, when it has passed through, it receives that of Euphrates. Beyond this spot it is full of rocks, and runs with an impetuous tide. It then divides that part of Arabia which is called the country of the Orei, on the left, by a channel three schœni in width, from the territory of the Commageni on the right, and it admits of a bridge being thrown across it, even where it forces a passage through the range of Taurus. At Claudiopolis, in Cappadocia, it takes an easterly direction; and here, for the first time in this contest, Taurus turns it out of its course; though conquered before, and rent asunder by its channel, the mountain-chain now gains the victory in another way, and, breaking its career, compels it to take a southerly direction. Thus is this warfare of nature equally waged,—the river proceeding onward to the destination which it intends to reach, and the mountains forbidding it to proceed by the path which it originally intended. After passing the Cataracts, the river again becomes navigable; and, at a distance of forty miles from thence, is Samosata, the capital of Commagene.
 
5 - 21 SYRIA UPON THE EUPHRATES M
Arabia, above mentioned, has the cities of Edessa, formerly called Antiochia, and, from the name of its fountain, Callirhoë, and Carrhæ, memorable for the defeat of Crassus there. Adjoining to this is the præfecture of Mesopotamia, which derives its origin from the Assyrians, and in which are the towns of Anthemusia and Nicephorium; after which come the Arabians, known by the name of Prætavi, with Singara for their capital. Below Samosata, on the side of Syria, the river Marsyas flows into the Euphrates. At Cingilla ends the territory of Commagene, and the state of the Immei begins. The cities which are here washed by the river are those of Epiphania and Antiochia, generally known as Epiphania and Antiochia on the Euphrates; also Zeugma, seventy-two miles distant from Samosata, famous for the passage there across the Euphrates. Opposite to it is Apamia, which Seleucus, the founder of both cities, united by a bridge. The people who join up to Mesopotamia are called the Rhoali. Other towns in Syria are those of Europus, and what was formerly Thapsa- cus, now Amphipolis. We then come to the Arabian Scenitæ. The Euphrates then proceeds in its course till it reaches the place called Ura, at which, taking a turn to the east, it leaves the Syrian Deserts of Palmyra, which extend as far as the city of Petra and the regions of Arabia Felix.
(.) Palmyra is a city famous for the beauty of its site, the riches of its soil, and the delicious quality and abundance of its water. Its fields are surrounded by sands on every side, and are thus separated, as it were, by nature from the rest of the world. Though placed between the two great empires of Rome and Parthia, it still maintains its independence; never failing, at the very first moment that a rupture between them is threatened, to attract the careful attention of both. It is distant miles from Seleucia of the Parthians, generally known as Seleucia on the Tigris, from the nearest part of the Syrian coast, and twenty-seven less from Damascus. (.) Below the deserts of Palmyra is the region of Stelendene, and Hierapolis, Berœa, and Chalcis, already mentioned. Beyond Palmyra, Emesa takes to itself a portion of these deserts; also Elatium, nearer to Petra by one-half than Damascus. At no great distance from Sura is Philiscum, a town of the Parthians, on the Euphrates. From this place it is ten days' sail to Seleucia, and nearly as many to Babylon. At a distance of miles beyond Zeugma, near the village of Massice, the Euphrates divides into two channels, the left one of which runs through Mesopotamia, past Seleucia, and falls into the Tigris as it flows around that city. Its channel on the right runs towards Babylon, the former capital of Chaldæa, and flows through the middle of it; and then through another city, the name of which is Otris, after which it becomes lost in the marshes. Like the Nile, this river increases at stated times, and at much about the same period. When the sun has reached the twentieth degree of Cancer, it inundates Mesopotamia; and, after he has passed through Leo and entered Virgo, its waters begin to subside. By the time the sun has entered the twenty-ninth degree of Virgo, the river has fully regained its usual height.
 
5 - 22 CILICIA AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS M
But let us now return to the coast of Syria, joining up to which is Cilicia. We here find the river Diaphanes, Mount Crocodilus, the Gates of Mount Amanus, the rivers Androcus, Pinarus, and Lycus, the Gulf of Issos, and the town of that name; then Alexandria, the river Chlorus, the free town of Ægæ, the river Pyramus, the Gates of Cilicia, the towns of Mallos and Magarsos, and, in the interior, Tarsus. We then come to the Aleian Plains, the town of Cassipolis, Mopsos, a free town on the river Pyramus, Thynos, Zephyrium, and Anchiale. Next to these are the rivers Saros and Cydnus, the latter of which, at some distance from the sea, runs through the free city of Tarsus, the region of Celenderitis with a town of similar name, the place where Nymphæum stood, Soli of Cilicia, now called Pompeiopolis, Adana, Cibyra, Pinare, Pedalie, Ale, Selinus, Arsinoë, Iotape, Doron, and, near the sea, Corycos, there being a town, port, and cave all of the same name. Passing these, we come to the river Calycadnus, the Promontory of Sarpedon, the towns of Holmœ and Myle, and the Promontory and town of Venus, at a short distance from the island of Cyprus. On the mainland there are the towns of Myanda, Anemurium, and Coracesium, and the river Melas, the ancient boundary of Cilicia. In the interior the places more especially worthy of mention are Anazarbus, now called Cæsarea, Augusta, Castabala, Epiphania, formerly called Œniandos, Eleusa, Iconium, Seleucia upon the river Calycadnus, surnamed Tracheotis, a city removed from the sea-shore, where it had the name of Holmia. Besides those already mentioned, there are in the interior the rivers Liparis, Bombos, Paradisus, and Mount Imbarus.
 
5 - 23 ISAURIA AND THE HOMONADES M
All the geographers have mentioned Pamphylia as joining up to Cilicia, without taking any notice of the people of Isauria. Its cities are, in the interior, Isaura, Clibanus, and Lalasis; it runs down towards the sea by the side of Anemurium already mentioned. In a similar manner also, all who have treated of this subject have been ignorant of the existence of the nation of the Homonades bordering upon Isauria, and their town of Homona in the interior. There are forty-four other fortresses, which lie concealed amid rugged crags and valleys.
 
5 - 24 PISIDIA M
The Pisidæ, formerly called the Solymi, occupy the higher parts of the mountains. In their country there is the colony of Cæsarea, also called Antiochia, and the towns of Oroanda and Sagalessos.
 
5 - 25 LYCAONIA M
These people are bounded by Lycaonia, which belongs to the jurisdiction of the province of Asia, to which also resort the people of Philomelium, Tymbrium, Leucolithium, Pelta, and Tyrium. To this jurisdiction is also added a Tetrarchy of Lycaonia in that part which joins up to Galatia, containing fourteen states, with the famous city of Iconium. In Lycaonia itself the most noted places are Thebasa on Taurus, and Hyde, on the confines of Galatia and Cappadocia. On the [western] side of Lycaonia, and above Pamphylia, come the Milyæ, a people descended from the Thracians; their city is Arycanda.
 
5 - 26 PAMPHYLIA M
The former name of Pamphylia was Mopsopia. The Pamphylian Sea joins up to that of Cilicia. The towns of Pamphylia are Side, Aspendum, situate on the side of a mountain, Pletenissum, and Perga. There is also the Promontory of Leucolla, the mountain of Sardemisus, and the rivers Eurymedon, which flows past Aspendus, and Catarractes, near to which is Lyrnesus: also the towns of Olbia, and Phaselis, the last on this coast.
 
5 - 27 MOUNT TAURUS M
Adjoining to Pamphylia is the Sea of Lycia and the country of Lycia itself, where the chain of Taurus, coming from the eastern shores, terminates the vast Gulf by the Promontory of Chelidonium. Of immense extent, and separating nations innumerable, after taking its first rise at the Indian Sea, it branches off to the north on the right-hand side, and on the left towards the south. Then taking a direction towards the west, it would cut through the middle of Asia, were it not that the seas check it in its triumphant career along the land. It accordingly strikes off in a northerly direction, and forming an arc, occupies an immense tract of country, nature, designedly as it were, every now and then throwing seas in the way to oppose its career; here the Sea of Phœnicia, there the Sea of Pontus, in this direction the Caspian and Hyrcanian, and then, opposite to them, the Lake Mæotis. Although somewhat curtailed by these obstacles, it still winds along between them, and makes its way even amidst these barriers; and victorious after all, it then escapes with its sinuous course to the kindred chain of the Riphæan mountains. Numerous are the names which it bears, as it is continuously designated by new ones throughout the whole of its course. In the first part of its career it has the name of Imaüs, after which it is known successively by the names of Emodus, Paropanisus, Circius, Cambades, Paryadres, Choatras, Oreges, Oroandes, Niphates, Taurus, and, where it even out-tops itself, Caucasus. Where it throws forth its arms as though every now and then it would attempt to invade the sea, it bears the names of Sarpedon, Coracesius, Cragus, and then again Taurus. Where also it opens and makes a passage to admit mankind, it still claims the credit of an unbroken continuity by giving the name of "Gates" to these passes, which in one place are called the "Gates of Armenia," in another the "Gates of the Caspian," and in another the "Gates of Cilicia." In addition to this, when it has been cut short in its onward career, it retires to a distance from the seas, and covers itself on the one side and the other with the names of numerous nations, being called, on the right-hand side the Hyrcanian and the Caspian, and on the left the Parvadrian, the Moschian, the Amazonian, the Coraxican, and the Scythian chain. Among the Greeks it bears the one general name of Ceraunian.
 
5 - 28 LYCIA M
In Lycia, after leaving its promontory, we come to the town of Simena, Mount Chimæra, which sends forth flames by night, and the city of Hephæstium, the heights above which are also frequently on fire. Here too formerly stood the city of Olympus; now we find the mountain places known as Gagæ, Corydalla, and Rhodiopolis. Near the sea is Limyra with a river of like name, into which the Arycandus flows, Mount Masycites, the state of Andriaca, Myra, the towns of Aperræ and Antiphellos, formerly called Habessus, and in a corner Phellos, after which comes Pyrra, and then the city of Xanthus, fifteen miles from the sea, as also a river known by the same name. We then come to Patara, formerly Pataros, and Sidyma, situate on a moun- tain. Next comes the Promontory of Cragus, and beyond it a gulf, equal to the one that comes before it; upon it are Pinara, and Telmessus, the frontier town of Lycia.
Lycia formerly contained seventy towns, now it has but thirty-six. Of these, the most celebrated, besides those already mentioned, are Canas, Candyba, so celebrated for the Œnian Grove, Podalia, Choma, past which the river Ædesa flows, Cyaneæ, Ascandalis, Amelas, Noscopium, Tlos, and Telandrus. It includes also in the interior the district of Cabalia, the three cities of which are Œnianda, Balbura, and Bubon. On passing Telmessus we come to the Asiatic or Carpathian Sea, and the district which is properly called Asia. Agrippa has divided this region into two parts; one of which he has bounded on the east by Phrygia and Lycaonia, on the west by the Ægean Sea, on the south by the Egyptian Sea, and on the north by Paphlagonia, making its length to be miles and its breadth . The other part he has bounded by the Lesser Armenia on the east, Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Pamphylia on the west, the province of Pontus on the north, and the Sea of Pamphylia on the south, making it miles in length and in breadth.
 
5 - 29 CARIA M
Upon the adjoining coast is Caria, then Ionia, and beyond it Æolis. Caria surrounds Doris, which lies in the middle, and runs down on both sides of it to the sea. In it is the Promontory of Pedalium, the river Glaucus, into which the Telmedium discharges itself, the towns of Dædala, Crya, peopled by fugitives, the river Axon, and the town of Calynda.
(.) The river Indus, which rises in the mountains of the Cibyratæ, receives sixty-five rivers which are constantly flowing, besides upwards of mountain torrents. Here is the free town of Caunos, then the town of Pyrnos, the port of Cressa, from which the island of Rhodes is distant twenty miles; the place where Loryma formerly stood, the towns of Tisanusa, Paridion, and Larymna, the Gulf of Thymnias, the Promontory of Aphrodisias, the town of Hyda, the Gulf of Schœnus, and the district of Bubasus. There was formerly the town of Acanthus here, another name of which was Dulopolis. We then come to Cnidos, a free town, situate on a promontory, Triopia, and after that the towns of Pegusa and Stadia. At this last town Doris begins; but, first, it may be as well to describe the districts that lie to the back of Caria and the several jurisdictions in the interior. The first of these is called Cibyratica; Cibyra being a town of Phrygia. Twenty-five states resort to it for legal purposes, together with the most famous city of Laodicea. (.) This place at first bore the name of Diospolis, and after that of Rhoas, and is situate on the river Lycus, the Asopus and the Caprus washing its sides. The other people belonging to the same jurisdiction, whom it may be not amiss to mention, are the Hydrelitæ, the Themisones, and the Hierapolitæ. The second jurisdiction receives its title from Synnas; to it resort the Lycaones, the Appiani, the Eucarpeni, the Dorylæi, the Midæi, the Julienses, and fifteen other peoples of no note. The third jurisdiction has its seat at Apamea, formerly called Celænæ, and after that Cibotos. This place is situate at the foot of Mount Signia, the Marsyas, the Obrima, and the Orga, rivers which fall into the Mæander, flowing past it. Here the Marsyas, rising from the earth, again makes its appearance, but soon after buries itself once more at Aulocreneæ, the spot where Marsyas had the musical contest with Apollo as to superiority of skill in playing on the flute. Aulocrenæ is the name given to a valley which lies ten miles on the road towards Phrygia from Apamea. As belonging to this jurisdiction, it may be as well to mention the Metropolitæ, the Dionysopolitæ, th>e Euphorbeni, the Aemonenses, the Pelteni, and the Silbiani, besides nine other nations of no note. Upon the Gulf of Doris we have Leucopolis, Hamaxitos, Eleus, and Euthene. We then come to Pitaium, Eutane, and Halicarnassus, towns of Caria. To the jurisdiction of this last place six towns were appended by Alexander the Great, Theangela, Sibde, Medmasa, Euralium, Pedasus, and Telmissus. Halicarnassus lies between two gulfs, those of Ceramus and Iasus. We then come to Myn- dos, and the former site of Palæomyndos; also Nariandos, Neapolis, Caryanda, the free town of Termera, Bargyla, and the town of Iasus, from which the Iasian Gulf takes its name. Caria is especially distinguished for the fame of its places in the interior; for here are Mylasa, a free town, and that of Antiochia, on the site of the former towns of Symmæthos and Cranaos: it is now surrounded by the rivers Mæander and Orsinus. In this district also was formerly Mæandropolis; we find also Eumenia, situate on the river Cludros, the river Glaucus, the town of Lysias and Orthosa, the district of Berecynthus, Nysa, and Tralles, also called Euanthia, Seleucia, and Antiochia: it is washed by the river Eudon, while the Thebais runs through it. Some authors say that a nation of Pygmies formerly dwelt here. Besides the preceding towns, there are Thydonos, Pyrrha, Eurome, Heraclea, Amyzon, the free town of Alabanda, which has given name to that jurisdiction, the free town of Stratonicea, Hynidos, Ceramus, Trœzene, and Phorontis. At a greater distance, but resorting to the same place of jurisdiction, are the Orthronienses, the Alindienses or Hippini, the Xystiani, the Hydissenses, the Apolloniataæ, the Trapezopolitæ, and the Aphrodisienses, a free people. Besides the above, there are the towns of Coscinus, and Harpasa, situate on the river Harpasus, which also passed the town of Trallicon when it was in existence.
 
5 - 30 LYDIA M
Lydia, bathed by the sinuous and ever-recurring windings of the river Mæander, lies extended above Ionia; it is joined by Phrygia on the east and Mysia on the north, while on the south it runs up to Caria: it formerly had the name of Mæonia. Its place of the greatest celebrity is Sardes, which lies on the side of Mount Tmolus, formerly called Timolus. From this mountain, which is covered with vineyards, flows the river Pactolus, also called the Chrysorroas, and the sources of the Tarnus: this famous city, which is situate upon the Gygæan Lake, used to be called Hyde by the people of Mæonia. This jurisdiction is now called that of Sardes, and besides the people of the places already mentioned, the following now resort to it—the Macedonian Cadueni, the Loreni, the Philadelpheni, the Mæonii, situate on the river Cogamus at the foot of Mount Tmolus, the Tripolitani, who are also called the Antoniopolitæ, situate on the banks of the Mæander, the Apollonihieritæ, the Mesotimolitæ, and some others of no note.
 
5 - 31 IONIA M
Ionia begins at the Gulf of Iasos, and has a long winding coast with numerous bays. First comes the Gulf of Basilicum, then the Promontory and town of Posideum, and the oracle once called the oracle of the Branchidæ, but now of Didymæan Apollo, a distance of twenty stadia from the seashore. One hundred and eighty stadia thence is Miletus, the capital of Ionia, which formerly had the names of Lelegëis, Pityusa, and Anactoria, the mother of more than ninety cities, founded upon all seas; nor must she be deprived of the honour of having Cadmus for her citizen, who was the first to write in prose. The river Mæander, rising from a lake in Mount Aulocrene, waters many cities and receives numerous tributary streams. It is so serpentine in its course, that it is often thought to turn back to the very spot from which it came. It first runs through the district of Apamea, then that of Eumenia, and then the plains of Bargyla; after which, with a placid stream it passes through Caria, watering all that territory with a slime of a most fertilizing quality, and then at a distance of ten stadia from Miletus with a gentle current enters the sea. We then come to Mount Latmus, the towns of Heraclea, also called by the same name as the mountain, Carice, Myus, said to have been first built by Ionians who came from Athens, Naulochum, and Priene. Upon that part of the coast which bears the name of Trogilia is the river Gessus. This district is held sacred by all the Ionians, and thence receives the name of Panionia. Near to it was formerly the town of Phygela, built by fugitives, as its name implies, and that of Marathesium. Above these places is Magnesia, distinguished by the surname of the "Mæandrian," and sprung from Magnesia in Thessaly: it is distant from Ephesus fifteen miles, and three more from Tralles. It formerly had the names of Thessaloche and Androlitia, and, lying on the sea-shore, it has withdrawn from the sea the islands known as the Derasidæ and joined them to the mainland. In the interior also is Thyatira, washed by the Lycus; for some time it was also called Pelopia and Euhippia.
Upon the coast again is Mantium, and Ephesus, which was founded by the Amazons, and formerly called by so many names: Alopes at the time of the Trojan war, after that Ortygia and Morges, and then Smyrna, with the surname of Trachia, as also Samornion and Ptelea. This city is built on Mount Pion, and is washed by the Caÿster, a river which rises in the Cilbian range and brings down the waters of many streams, as also of Lake Pegasæus, which receives those discharged by the river Phyrites. From these streams there accumulates a large quantity of slime, which vastly increases the soil, and has added to the mainland the island of Syrie, which now lies in the midst of its plains. In this city is the fountain of Calippia and the temple of Diana, which last is surrounded by two streams, each known by the name of Selenus, and flowing from opposite directions. After leaving Ephesus there is another Mantium, belonging to the Colophonians, and in the interior Colophon itself, past which the river Halesus flows. After this we come to the temple of the Clarian Apollo, and Lebedos: the city of Notium once stood here. Next comes the Promontory of Coryceium, and then Mount Mimas, which projects miles into the sea, and as it approaches the mainland sinks down into extensive plains. It was at this place that Alexander the Great gave orders for the plain to be cut through, a distance of seven miles and a half, for the purpose of joining the two gulfs and making an island of Erythræ and Mimas. Near Erythræ formerly stood the towns of Pteleon, Helos, and Dorion; we now find the river Aleon, Corynæum, a Promontory of Mount Mimas, Clazomenæ, Parthenie, and Hippi, known by the name of Chytrophoria, when it formed a group of islands; these were united to the continent by the same Alexander, by means of a causeway two stadia in length. In the interior, the cities of Daphnus, Hermesia, and Sipylum, formerly called Tantalis, and the capital of Mæonia, where Lake Sale now stands, are now no longer in existence: Archæopolis too, which succeeded Sipylum, has perished, and in their turns Colpe and Libade, which succeeded it. On returning thence towards the coast, at a distance of twelve miles we find Smyrna, originally founded by an Amazon [of that name], and rebuilt by Alexander; it is refreshed by the river Meles, which rises not far off. Through this district run what may almost be called the most famous mountains of Asia, Mastusia in the rear of Smyrna, and Termetis, joining the foot of Olympus. Termetis is joined by Draco, Draco running into Tmolus, Tmolus into Cadmus, and Cadmus into Taurus. Leaving Smyrna, the river Hermus forms a tract of plains, and gives them its own name. It rises near Dorylæum, a city of Phrygia, and in its course receives several rivers, among them the one called the Phryx, which divides Caria from the nation to which it gives name; also the Hyllus and the Cryos, themselves swollen by the rivers of Phrygia, Mysia, and Lydia. At the mouth of the Hermus formerly stood the town of Temnos: we now see at the extremity of the gulf the rocks called Myrmeces, the town of Leuce on a promontory which was once an island, and Phocæa, the frontier town of Ionia. A great part also of Æolia, of which we shall have presently to speak, has recourse to the jurisdiction of Smyrna; as well as the Macedones, surnamed Hyrcani, and the Magnetes from Sipylus. But to Ephesus, that other great luminary of Asia, resort the more distant peoples known as the Cæsarienses, the Metropolitæ, the Cilbiani, both the Lower and Upper, the Mysomacedones, the Mastaurenses, the Briulitæ, the Hypæpeni, and the Dioshïeritæ.
 
5 - 32 ÆOLIS M
Æolis comes next, formerly known as Mysia, and Troas which is adjacent to the Hellespont. Here, after passing Phocæa, we come to the Ascanian Port, then the spot where Larissa stood, and then Cyme, Myrina, also called Sebastopolis, and in the interior, Ægæ, Attalia, Posidea, Neon- tichos, and Temnos. Upon the shore we come to the river Titanus, and the city which from it derives its name. Grynia also stood here on an island reclaimed from the sea and joined to the land: now only its harbours are left. We then come to the town of Elæa, the river Caïcus, which flows from Mysia, the town of Pitane, and the river Canaïus. The following towns no longer exist—Canæ, Lysimachia, Atarnea, Carene, Cisthene, Cilla, Cocylium, Theba, Astyre, Chrysa, Palæscepsis, Gergitha, and Neandros. We then come to the city of Perperene, which still survives, the district of Heracleotes, the town of Coryphas, the rivers Grylios and Ollius, the region of Aphrodisias, which formerly had the name of Politice Orgas, the district of Scepsis, and the river Evenus, on whose banks the towns of Lyrnesos and Miletos have fallen to decay. In this district also is Mount Ida, and on the coast Adramytteos, formerly called Pedasus, which gives its name to the gulf and the jurisdiction so called. The other rivers are the Astron, Cormalos, Crianos, Alabastros, and Hieros, flowing from Mount Ida: in the interior is Mount Gargara, with a town of the same name. Again, on the coast we meet with Antandros, formerly called Edonis, and after that Cimmeris and Assos, also called Apollonia. The town of Palamedium also formerly stood here. The Promontory of Lecton separates Æolis from Troas. In Æolis there was formerly the city of Polymedia, as also Chrysa, and a second Larissa. The temple of Smintheus is still standing; Colone in the interior has perished. To Adramyttium resort upon matters of legal business the Apolloniatæ, whose town is on the river Rhyndacus, the Erizii, the Miletopolitæ, the Pœmaneni, the Macedonian Asculacæ, the Polichnæi, the Pionitæ, the Cilician Mandacadeni, and, in Mysia, the Abrettini, the people known as the Hellespontii, and others of less note.
 
5 - 33 TROAS AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS M
The first place in Troas is Hamaxitus, then Cebrenia, and then Troas itself, formerly called Antigonia, and now Alexandria, a Roman colony. We then come to the town of Nee, the Scamander, a navigable river, and the spot where in former times the town of Sigeum stood, upon a promontory. We next come to the Port of the Achæans, into which the Xanthus flows after its union with the Simois, and forms the Palæscamander, which was formerly a lake. The other rivers, rendered famous by Homer, namely, the Rhesus, the Heptaporus, the Caresus, and the Rhodius, have left no vestiges of their existence. The Granicus, taking a different route, flows into the Propontis. The small city of Scamandria, however, still exists, and, at a distance of a mile and a half from its harbour, Ilium, a place exempt from tribute, the fountain-head of universal fame. Beyond the gulf are the shores of Rhœteum, peopled by the towns of Rhœteum, Dardanium, and Arisbe. There was also in former times a town of Achilleon, founded near the tomb of Achilles by the people of Mitylene, and afterwards rebuilt by the Athenians, close to the spot where his fleet had been stationed near Sigeum. There was also the town of Æantion, founded by the Rhodians upon the opposite point, near the tomb of Ajax, at a distance of thirty stadia from Sigeum, near the spot where his fleet was stationed. Above Æolis and part of Troas, in the interior, is the place called Teuthrania, inhabited in ancient times by the Mysians. Here rises the river Caicus already mentioned. Teuthrania was a powerful nation in itself, even when the whole of Æolis was held by the Mysians. In it are the Pioniæ, Andera, Cale, Stabulum, Conisium, Teium, Balcea, Tiare, Teuthranie, Sarnaca, Haliserne, Lycide, Parthenium, Thymbre, Oxyopum, Lygdamum, Apollonia, and Pergamum, by far the most famous city in Asia, and through which the river Selinus runs; the Cetius, which rises in Mount Pindasus, flowing before it. Not far from it is Elæa, which we have mentioned as situate on the sea-shore. The jurisdiction of this district is called that of Pergamus; to it resort the Thyatireni, the Mosyni, the Mygdones, the Bregmeni, the Hierocometæ, the Perpereni, the Tiareni, the Hierolophienses, the Hermocapelitæ, the Attalenses, the Panteenses, the Apollonidienses, and some other states unknown to fame. The little town of Dardanum is distant from Rhœteum seventy stadia. Eighteen miles thence is the Promontory of Trapeza, from which spot the Hellespont first commences its course.
Eratosthenes tells us that in Asia there have perished the nations of the Solymi, the Leleges, the Bebryces, the Colycantii, and the Tripsedri. Isidorus adds to these the Arimi, as also the Capretæ, settled on the spot where Apamea stands, which was founded by King Seleucus, between Cilicia, Cappadocia, Cataonia, and Armenia, and was at first called Damea, from the fact that it had conquered nations most remarkable for their fierceness.
 
5 - 34 ISLANDS WHICH LIE IN FRONT OF ASIA M
Of the islands which lie before Asia the first is the one situate in the Canopic Mouth of the Nile, and which received its name, it is said, from Canopus, the pilot of Menelaüs. A second, called Pharos, is joined by a bridge to Alexandria, and was made a colony by the Dictator Cæsar. In former times it was one day's sail from the mainland of Egypt; at the present day it directs ships in their course by means of the fires which are lighted at night on the tower there; for in consequence of the insidious nature of the shoals, there are only three channels by which Alexandria can be approached, those of Steganus, Posideum and Taurus.
In the Phœnician Sea, before Joppe there is the island of Paria, the whole of it forming a town. Here, they say, Andromeda was exposed to the monster: the island also of Arados, already mentioned, between which and the continent, as we learn from Mucianus, at a depth of fifty cubits in the sea, fresh water is brought up from a spring at the very bottom by means of leather pipes.
 
5 - 35 CYPRUS M
The Pamphylian Sea contains some islands of little note. The Cilician, besides four others of very considerable size, has Cyprus, which lies opposite to the shores of Cilicia and Syria, running east and west; in former times it was the seat of nine kingdoms. Timosthenes states that the circumference of this island is miles, Isidorus ; its length, between the two Promontories of Dinæ and Acamas lying on the west, is, according to Artemidorus, / miles, according to Timosthenes, . Philonides says that it was formerly called Acamantis, Xenagoras that it had the names of Cerastis, Aspelia, Amathusia, and Macaria, while Astynomus gives it the names of Cryptos and Colinia. Its towns are fifteen in number, Neapaphos, Palæpaphos, Curias, Citium, Corineum, Salamis, Ama- thus, Lapethos, Solœ, Tamasos, Epidarum, Chytri, Arsinoë, Carpasimn, and Golgi. The towns of Cinyria, Marium, and Idalium are no longer in existence. It is distant from Anemurium in Cilicia fifty miles; the sea which runs between the two shores being called the Channel of Cilicia. In the same locality is the island of Eleusa, and the four islands known as the Clides, lying before the promontory which faces Syria; and again at the end of the other cape is Stiria: over against Neapaphos is Hierocepia, and opposite to Salamis are the Salaininiæ.
In the Lycian Sea are the islands of Illyris, Telendos, and Attelebussa, the three barren isles called Cypriæ, and Dionysia, formerly called Caretha. Opposite to the Promontory of Taurus are the Chelidoniæ, as many in number, and extremely dangerous to mariners. Further on we find Leucolla with its town, the Pactyæ, Lasia, Nymphäis, Macris, and Megista, the city on which last no longer exists. After these there are many that are not worthy of notice. Opposite, however, to Cape Chimæra is Dolichiste, Chœrogylion, Crambussa, Rhoge, Enagora, eight miles in circumference, the two islands of Dædala, the three of Crya, Strongyle, and over against Sidyma the isle of Antiochus. Towards the mouth of the river Glaucus, there are Lagussa, Macris, Didymæ Helbo, Scope, Aspis, Telandria, the town of which no longer exists, and, in the vicinity of Caunus, Rhodussa.
 
5 - 36 RHODES M
But the fairest of them all is the free island of Rhodes, , or, if we would rather believe Isidorus, miles in circumference. It contains the inhabited cities of Lindos, Camirus, and Ialysus, now called Rhodos. It is distant from Alexandria in Egypt, according to Isidorus, miles; but, according to Eratosthenes, . Mucianus says, that its distance from Cyprus is . This island was formerly called Ophiussa, Asteria, Æthria, Trinacrie, Corymbia, Pœeëssa, Atabyria, from the name of one of its kings; and, in later times, Macaria and Oloessa. The islands of the Rhodians are Carpathus, which has given its name to the surrounding sea; Casos, formerly known as Achne; Nisyros, twelve miles distant from Cnidos, and formerly called Porphyris; and, in the same vicinity, midway between Rhodes and Cnidos, Syme. This island is thirty-seven miles and a half in circumference, and welcomes us with eight fine harbours. Besides these islands, there are, in the vicinity of Rhodes, those of Cyclopis, Teganon, Cordylussa, the four islands called Diabetæ, Hymos, Chalce, with its city of that name, Sentlussa, Narthecussa, Dimastos, Progne; and, off Cnidos, Cisserussa, Therionarce, and Calydne, with the three towns of Notium, Nisyros, and Mendeterus. In Arconnesus there is the town of Ceramus. Off the coast of Caria, there are the islands known as the Argiæ, twenty in number; also Hyetussa, Lepsia, and Leros.
The most noted island, however, in this gulf is that of Cos, fifteen miles distant from Halicarnassus, and in circumference, according to the opinion of many writers. It was formerly called Merope; according to Staphylus, Cea; Meropis, as Dionysius tells us; and, after that, Nymphæa. In this island there is Mount Prion. Nisyros, formerly called Porphyris, is supposed to have been severed from the island of Cos. We next come to the island of Caryanda, with a city of that name, and that of Pidosus, not far from Halicarnassus. In the Gulf of Ceramicus we also find Priaponnesos, Hipponnesos, Psyra, Mya, Lampsa. Æmyndus, Passala, Crusa, Pinnicussa, Sepiussa, and Melano. At a short distance from the mainland is an island which bears the name of Cinædopolis, from the circumstance that King Alexander left behind there certain persons of a most disgraceful character.
 
5 - 37 SAMOS M
The coast of Ionia has the islands of Trageæ, Corseæ, and Icaros, which has been previously mentioned; Lade, formerly called Late; and, among others of no note, the two Camelidæ, in the vicinity of Miletus; and the three Trogiliæ, near Mycale, consisting of Philion, Argennon, and Sandalion. There is Samos also, a free island, eighty-seven miles in circumference, or, according to Isidorus, . Aristotle tells us, that it was at first called Parthenia, after that Dryussa, and then Anthemussa. To these names Aristocritus has added Melamphllus and Cyparissia: other writers, again, call it Parthenoarussa and Stephane. The rivers of tis island are the Imbrasus, the Chesius, and the Ibettes. There are also the fountains of Gigartho and Leucothea; and Mount Cercetius. In the vicinity of Samos are the islands of Rhypara, Nymphæa, and Achillea.
 
5 - 38 CHIOS M
At a distance of ninety-four miles from Samos is the free island of Chios, its equal in fame, with a town of the same name. Ephorus says, that the ancient name of this island was Æthalia: Metrodorus and Cleobulus tell us, that it had the name of Chia from the nymph Chione; others again say, that it was so called from the word signifying snow; it was also called Macris and Pityusa. It has a mountain called Pelennæus; and the Chian Marble is well known. It is miles in circumference, according to the ancient writers; Isidorus however makes it nine more. It is situate between Samos and Lesbos, and, for the most part, lies opposite to Erythræ.
The adjacent islands are Thallusa, by some writers called Daphnusa, Œnussa, Elaphitis, Euryanassa, and Arginusa, with a town of that name. All these islands are in the vicinity of Ephesus, as also those called the Islands of Pisistratus, Anthinæ, Myonnesos, Diarreusa,—in both of these last there were cities, now no longer in existence,—Poroselene, with a city of that name, Cerciæ, Halone, Commone, Illetia, Lepria and Rhesperia, Procusæ, Bolbulæ, Phanæ, Priapos, Syce, Melane, Ænare, Sidusa, Pele, Drymusa, Anhydros, Scopelos, Sycussa, Marathussa, Psile, Perirreusa, and many others of no note. In the main sea lies the celebrated island of Teos, with a city of that name, seventy-one miles and a half distant from Chios, and the same from the Erythræ. In the vicinity of Smyrna are the Peristerides, Carteria, Alopece, Elæussa, Bachina, Pystira, Crommyonnesos, and Megale. Facing Troas there are the Ascaniæ, and the three islands called Plateæ. We find also the Lamiæ, the two islands called Plitaniæ, Plate, Scopelos, Getone, Arthedon, Cœlæ, Lagussæ, and Didymæ.
 
5 - 39 LESBOS M
But Lesbos, distant from Chios sixty-five miles, is the most celebrated of them all. It was formerly called Himerte, Lasia, Pelasgia, Ægira, Æthiope, and Macaria, and is famous for its nine cities. Of these, however, that of Pyrrha has been swallowed up by the sea, Arisbe has perished by an earthquake, and Methymna is now united to Antissa; these lie in the vicinity of nine cities of Asia, along a coast of thirty-seven miles. The towns of Agamede and Hiera have also perished. Eresos, Pyrrha, and the free city of Mitylene, still survive, the last of which was a powerful city for a space of years. The circumference of the whole island is, according to Isidorus, miles, but the older writers say . Its mountains are, Lepethymnus, Ordymnus, Maicistus, Creon, and Olympus. It is distant seven miles and a half from the nearest point of the mainland. The islands in its vicinity are, Sandaleon, and the five called Leucæ; Cydonea, which is one of them, contains a warm spring. The Arginussæ are four miles distant from Æge; after them come Phellusa and Pedna. Beyond the Hellespont, and opposite the shore of Sigeum, lies Tenedos, also known by the names of Leucophrys, Phœnice, and Lyrnesos. It is distant from Lesbos fifty-six miles, and twelve and a half from Sigeum.
 
5 - 40 HELLESPONT AND MYSIA M
The tide of the Hellespont now begins to run with greater violence, and the sea beats against the shore, undermining with its eddies the barriers that stand in its way, until it has succeeded in separating Asia from Europe. At this spot is the promontory which we have already mentioned as Trapeza; ten miles distant from which is the city of Abydos, where the straits are only seven stadia wide; then the town of Percote; Lampsacus, at first called Pityusa; the colony of Parium, which Homer calls by the name of Adrastia; the town of Priapos; the river Æsepus; Zelia; and then the Propontis, that being the name given to the tract of sea where it enlarges. We then come to the river Granicus, and the harbour of Artace, where a town formerly stood. Beyond this is an island which Alexander joined to the continent, and upon which is Cyzicus, a city of the Milesians, which was formerly called Arctonnesos, Dolionis, and Dindymis; above it are the heights of Mount Dindymus. We then come to the towns of Placia, Ariace, and Scylace; in the rear of which places is Mount Olympus, known as the "Mysian Olympus," and the city of Olympena. There are also the rivers Horisius and Rhyndacus, formerly called the Lycus; this last river rises in Lake Artynias, near Miletopolis, and receives the Macestos, and many other streams, dividing in its course Asia from Bithynia.
This country was at first called by the name of Cronia, after that, Thessalis, and then Malianda and Strymonis. The people of it are by Homer called Halizones, from the fact that it was a nation begirt by the sea. There was formerly a vast city here, Attussa by name; at present there are twelve cities in existence; among which is Gordiucome, otherwise Juliopolis; and, on the coast, Dascylos. We then come to the river Gelbes; and, in the interior, the town of Helgas, or Germanicopolis, which has also the other name of Booseœte Apamea, now more generally known as Myrlea of the Colophonians: the river Etheleus also. the ancient boundary of Troas, and the commencement of Mysia. Next to this comes the gulf into which the river Ascanius flows, the town of Bryllion, and the rivers Hylas and Cios, with a town of the same name as the last- mentioned river; it was founded by the Milesians at a place which was called Aseania of Phrygia, as an entrepôt for the trade of the Phrygians who dwelt in the vicinity. We may therefore look upon this as a not ineligible opportunity for making further mention of Phrygia.
 
5 - 41 PHRYGIA M
Phrygia lies above Troas, and the peoples already men- tioned as extending from the Promontory of Lectum to the river Etheleus. On its northern side it borders upon Galatia, on the south it joins Lyeaonia, Pisidia, and Mygdonia, and, on the east, it touches upon Cappadocia. The more celebrated towns there, besides those already mentioned, are Ancyra, Andria, Celænæ, Colossæ, Carina, Cotyaion, Ceraine, Conium, and Midaium. There are authors who say that the Mœsi, the Brygi, and the Thyni crossed over from Europe, and that from them are descended the peoples called the Mysi, Phryges, and Bithyni.
 
5 - 42 GALATIA AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS M
On this occasion also it seems that we ought to speak of Galatia, which lies above Phrygia, and includes the greater part of the territory taken from that province, as also its former capital, Gordium. The Gauls who have settled in these parts, are called the Tolistobogi, the Voturi, and the Ambitouti; those who dwell in Mæonia and Paphlagonia are called the Trocmi. Cappadocia stretches along to the north-east of Galatia, its most fertile parts being possessed by the Tectosages and the Teutobodiaci. These are the nations by which those parts are occupied; and they are divided into peoples and tetrarchies, in number. Its towns are, among the Tectosages, Ancyra; among the Troemi, Tavium; and, among the Tolistobogi, Pessinus. Besides the above, the best known among the peoples of this region are the Actalenses, the Arasenses, the Comenses, the Didienses, the Hierorenses, the Lystreni, the Neapolitani, the Œandenses, the Seleucenses, the Sebas- teni, the Timoniacenses, and the Thebaseni. Galatia also touches upon Carbalia in Pamphylia, and the Milyæ, about Baris; also upon Cyllanticum and Oroandicum, a district of Pisidia, and Obizene, a part of Lvcaonia. Besides those already mentioned, its rivers are the Sangarius and the Gallus, from which last the priests of the Mother of the gods have taken their name.
 
5 - 43 BITHYNIA M
And now as to the remaining places on this coast. On the road from Cios into the interior is Prusa, in Bithynia, founded by Hannibal at the foot of Olympus, at a distance of twenty-five miles from Nicæa, Lake Ascanius lying between them. We then come to Nicæa, formerly called Olbia, and situate at the bottom of the Ascanian Gulf; as also a second place called Prusa, at the foot of Mount Hypius. Pythopolis, Parthenopolis, and Coryphanta are no longer in existence. Along the coast we find the rivers Æsius, Bryazon, Plataneus, Areus, Æsyros, Geodos, also called Chrysorroas, and the promontory upon which once stood the town of Megarice. The gulf that here runs inland received the name of Craspedites from the circumstance of that town lying, as it were, upon its skirt. Astacum, also, formerly stood here, from which the same gulf has received the name of the 'Astacenian': the town of Libyssa formerly stood at the spot where we now see nothing but the tomb of Hannibal. At the bottom of the gulf lies Nicomedia, a famous city of Bithynia; then comes the Promontory of Leucatas, by which the Astacenian Gulf is bounded, and thirty-seven miles distant from Nicomedia; and then, the land again approaching the other side, the straits which extend as far as the Thracian Bosporus. Upon these are situate Chalcedon, a free town, sixty-two miles from Nicomedia, formerly called Procerastis, then Colpusa, and after that the "City of the Blind," from the circumstance that its founders did not know where to build their city, Byzantium being only seven stadia distant, a site which is preferable in every respect.
In the interior of Bithynia are the colony of Apamea, the Agrippenses, the Juliopolitæ, and Bithynion; the rivers Syrium, Laphias, Pharnacias, Alces, Serinis, Lilæus, Scopius, and Hieras, which separates Bithynia from Galatia. Beyond Chalcedon formerly stood Chrysopolis, and then Nicopolis, of which the gulf, upon which stands the Port of Amycus, still retains the name; then the Promontory of Naulochum, and Estiæ, a temple of Neptune. We then come to the Bosporus, which again separates Asia from Europe, the distance across being half a mile; it is distant twelve miles and a half from Chalcedon. The first entrance of this strait is eight miles and three-quarters wide, at the place where the town of Spiropolis formerly stood. The Thyni occupy the whole of the coast, the Bithyni the interior. This is the termination of Asia, and of the peoples, that are to be found between the Gulf of Lycia and this spot. We have already mentioned the length of the Hellespont and Propontis to the Thracian Bosporus as being miles; from Chalcedon to Sigeum, Isidorus makes the distance /.
 
5 - 44 ISLANDS OF THE PROPONTIS M
The islands of the Propontis are, before Cyzicus, Elaphonnesus, from whence comes the Cyzican marble; it is also known by the names of Neuris and Proconnesus. Next come Ophiussa, Acanthus, Phœbe, Scopelos, Porphyrione, Halone, with a city of that name, Delphacia, Polydora, and Artaceon, with its city. There is also, opposite to Nicomedia, Demonnesos; and, beyond Heraclea, and opposite to Bithynia, the island of Thynias, by the barbarians called Bithynia; the island of Antiochia: and, at the mouth of the Rhyndacus, Besbicos, eighteen miles in circumference; the islands also of Elæa, the two called Rhodussæ, and those of Erebinthus, Megale, Chalcitis, and Pityodes.
Summary.—Towns and nations spoken of * * * *, Noted rivers * * * *. Famous mountains * * * *. Islands, in number. People or towns no longer in existence * * * *. Remarkable events, narratives, and observations * * * *. Roman Authors Quoted.—Agrippa, Suetonius Paulinus, M. Varro, Varro Atacinus, Cornelius Nepos, Hyginus. L. Vetus, Mela, Domitius Corbulo, Licinius Mucianus, Claudius Cæsar, Arruntius, Livius the Son, Sebosus, the Register of the Triumphs. foreign authors quoted.—King Juba Hecatæus Hellanicus, Damastes, Dicæarchus, Bæton, Timosthenes, Philonides, Zenagoras, Astynomus, Staphylus, Aristoteles, Aristocritus, Dionysius, Ephorus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Panætius, Serapion of Antioch, Callimachus, Agathocles, Polybius, Timæus the mathematician, Herodotus, Myrsilus, Alexander Polyhistor, Metrodorus, Posidonius, who wrote the Periplus and the Periegesis, Sotades, Periander, Aristar- chus of Sicyon, Eudoxus, Antigenes, Callicrates, Xenophon of Lampsacus, Diodorus of Syracuse, Hanno, Himilco, Nymphodorus, Calliphanes, Artemidorus, Megasthenes, Isidorus, Cleobulus, and Aristocreon. APPENDIX OF CORRECTIONS. Page , line , The allusion, otherwise obscure, is to the fact that some friends of Catullus had filched a set of table napkins, which had been given to him by Veranius and Fabius, and substituted others in their place. Page , line , for Roman figures, read other figures. Page , line , for the God of nature; he also tends, down to and most excellent. read the God of nature. He supplies light to the universe, and dispels all darkness; He both conceals and reveals the other stars. It is He that regulates the seasons, and, in the course of nature, governs the year as it ever springs anew into birth; it is He that dispels the gloom of the heavens, and sheds his light upon the clouds of the human mind. He, too, lends his brightness to the other stars. He is most brilliant and most excellent. Page , line , for elected, read erected. Page , line , for good fortune, read evil fortune. Page , line , for our scepticism concerning God is still increased, read our conjectures concerning God become more vague still. Page , line , for and the existence of God becomes doubtful, read whereby the very existence of a God is shewn to be uncertain. Page , line , for as she receives, read as receives. Page , line , for the seventh of the circumference, read the seventh of the third of the circumference. Page , line , for transeuntia, read trascurrentia. Page , line , for circumstances, read influences. Page , line , for higher winds, read higher waves. Page , line , for the male winds are therefore regulated by the odd numbers, read hence it is that the odd numbers are generally looked upon as males. Page , line , for of the cloud, read of the icy cloud. Page , line , for sprinkling it with vinegar, read throwing vinegar against it. Page , line , for this substance, read that liquid. Page , line , for but not until, read and not after. Page , line , for the former is diffused, down to impulse, read the the latter is diffused in the blast, the former is condensed by the violent impulse. Page , line . for dash, read crash. Page , line , for thunder-storms, read thunder-bolts. Page , line , for their operation, read its operation. Page , line , for thunder-storms, read thunder-bolts. Page , line , for blown up, read blasted. Page , line , for the east, read the west. Page , line , for even a stone, read ever a stone. Page , line , for how many things do we compel her to produce spontaneously, read how many things do we compel her to produce! How many things does she pour forth spontaneously! Page , line , for odours and flowers read odours and flavours. Page , line , for luxuries, read caprices.
 
  6 COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST, OR FORMERLY EXISTED M 112.4  
6 - 1 EUXINE AND THE MARYANDINI M
THE Euxine Sea, which in former times had the name of Axenus, from the savage and inhospitable character of the nations living on its borders, by a peculiar whim of nature, which is continually giving way before the greedy inroads of the sea, lies between Europe and Asia. It was not enough for the ocean to have surrounded the earth, and then deprived us of a considerable portion of it, thus rendering still greater its uninhabitable proportion; it was not enough for it to have forced a passage through the mountains, to have torn away Calpe from Africa, and to have swallowed up a much larger space than it left untouched; it was not enough for it to have poured its tide into the Propontis through the Hellespont, after swallowing up still more of the dry land —for beyond the Bosporus, as well, it opens with its insatiate appetite upon another space of immense extent, until the Mæotian lakes unite their ravening waters with it as it ranges far and wide.
That all this has taken place in spite, as it were, of the earth, is manifested by the existence of so many straits and such numbers of narrow passages formed against the will of Nature—that of the Hellespont, being only eight hundred and seventy-five paces in width, while at the two Bospori the passage across may be effected by oxen swimming, a fact from which they have both derived their name. And then besides, although they are thus severed, there are certain points on which these coasts stand in the relation of brotherhood towards each other—the singing of birds and the barking of dogs on the one side can be heard on the other, and an intercourse can be maintained between these two worlds by the medium even of the human voice, if the winds should not happen to carry away the sound thereof. The length of the borders of the Euxine from the Bosporus to the Lake Mæotis has been reckoned by some writers at fourteen hundred and thirty-eight miles; Eratosthenes, however, says that it is one hundred less. According to Agrippa, the distance from Chalcedon to the Phasis is one thousand miles, and from that river to the Cimmerian Bosporus three hundred and sixty. We will here give in a general form the distances as they have been ascertained in our own times; for our arms have even penetrated to the very mouth of the Cimmerian Straits. After passing the mouth of the Bosporus we come to the river Rhebas, by some writers called the Rhesus. We next come to Psillis, the port of Calpas, and the Sagaris, a famous river, which rises in Phrygia and receives the waters of other rivers of vast magnitude, among which are the Tembrogius and the Gallus, the last of which is by many called the Sangarius. After leaving the Sagaris the Gulf of the Mariandyni begins, and we come to the town of Heraclea, on the river Lycus; this place is distant from the mouth of the Euxine two hundred miles. The sea-port of Acone comes next, which has a fearful notoriety for its aconite or wolf's-bane, a deadly poison, and then the cavern of Acherusia, the rivers Pædopides, Callichorus, and Sonautes, the town of Tium, distant from Heraclea thirty-eight miles, and the river Billis.
 
6 - 2 PAPHLAGONIA M
Beyond this river begins the nation of Paphlagonia, by some writers called Pylæmenia; it is closed in behind by the country of Galatia. In it are Mastya, a town founded by the Milesians, and then Cromna, at which spot Cornelius Nepos also places the Heneti, from whom he would have us believe that the Veneti of Italy, who have a similar name, are descended. The city also of Sesamon, now called Amastris, Mount Cytorus, distant sixty-three miles from Tium, the towns of Cimolis and Stephane, and the river Parthenius. The promontory of Carambis, which extends a great distance into the sea, is distant from the mouth of the Euxine three hundred and twenty-five miles, or, according to some writers, three hundred and fifty, being the same distance from the Cimmerian Bosporus, or, as some persons think, only three hundred and twelve miles. There was formerly also a town of the same name, and another near it called Armene; we now find there the colony of Sinope, distant from Mount Cytorus one hundred and sixty-four miles. We then come to the river Evarchus, and after that a people of the Cappadocians, the towns of Gaziura and Gazelum, the river Halys, which runs from the foot of Mount Taurus through Cataonia and Cappadocia, the towns of Gangre and Carusa, the free town of Amisus, distant from Sinope one hundred and thirty miles, and a gulf of the same name, of such vast extent as to make Asia assume the form of a peninsula, the isthmus of which is only some two hundred miles in breadth, or a little more, across to the gulf of Issus in Cilicia. In all this district there are, it is said, only three races that can rightly be termed Greeks, the Dorians, the Ionians, and the Æolians, all the rest being of barbarian origin. To Amisus was joined the town of Eupatoria, founded by Mithridates: after his defeat they were both included under the name of Pompeiopolis.
 
6 - 3 CAPPADOCIA M
Cappadocia has in the interior Archelais, a colony founded by Claudius Cæsar, and past which the river Halys flows; also the towns of Comana, watered by the Sarus, Neocæsarea, by the Lycus, and Amasia, in the region of Gazacene, washed by the Iris. In Colopene it has Sebastia and Sebastopolis; these are insignificant places, but still equal in importance to those just mentioned. In its remaining districts there is Melita, founded by Semiramis, and not far from the Euphrates, Diocæsarea, Tyana, Castabala, Magnopolis, Zela, and at the foot of Mount Argæus Mazaca, now called Cæsarea. That part of Cappadocia which lies stretched out before the Greater Armenia is called Melitene, before Commagene Cataonia, before Phrygia Garsauritis, Sargarausene, and Cammanene, before Galatia Morimene, where their territories are divided by the river Cappadox, from which this people have taken their name; they were formerly known as the Leucosyri. From Neocæsarea above mentioned, the lesser Armenia is separated by the river Lycus. In the interior also there is the famous river Ceraunus, and on the coast beyond the town of Amisus, the town and river of Chadisia, and the town of Lycastum, after which the region of Themiseyra begins.
 
6 - 4 REGION OF THEMISCYRA, & NATIONS THEREIN M
The river Iris brings down to the sea the waters of the Lycus. In the interior is the city of Ziela, famous for the defeat of Triarius and the victory of C. Cæsar. Upon the coast there is the river Thermodon, which rises at the fortified place called Phanarœa, and flows past the foot of Mount Amazonius. There was formerly a town of the same name as the river, and five others in all, Amazonium, Themiseyra, Sotira, Amasia, and Comana, now only a Manteium. (.) We find here the nations of the Genetæ, the Chalybes, the town of Cotyorum, the nations of the Tibareni and the Mossyni, who make marks upon their bodies, the people called Macro- cephali, the town of Cerasus, the port of Chordule, the nations called the Bechires and the Buzeri, the river Melas, the people called the Macrones, and Sidene with its river Sidenus, by which the town of Polemonium is washed, at a distance from Amisus of one hundred and twenty miles. We next come to the rivers Iasonius on the site of the older city of Side, at the mouth of the Sidenus and Melanthius, and at a distance of eighty miles from Amisus, the town of Pharnacea, the fortress and river of Tripolis; the fortress and river of Philocalia, the fortress of Liviopolis, but not upon a river, and at a distance of one hundred miles from Pharnacea, the free city of Trapezus, shut in by a mountain of vast size. Beyond this town is the nation of the Armenochalybes and the Greater Armenia, at a distance of thirty miles. On the coast, before Trapezus, flows the river Pyxites, and beyond it is the nation of the Sanni Heniochi. Next comes the river Absarus, with a fortress of the same name at its mouth, distant from Trapezus one hundred and forty miles.
At the back of the mountains of this district is Iberia, while on the coast are the Heniochi, the Ampreutæ, the Lazi, the rivers Acampsis, Isis, Mogrus, and Bathys, the nations of the Colchi, the town of Matium, the river Heracleum and the promontory of the same name, and the Phasis, the most celebrated river of Pontus. This river rises among the Moschi, and is navigable for the largest vessels a distance of thirty-eight miles and a half, and for small ones very much higher up; it is crossed by one hundred and twenty bridges. It formerly had many cities of note on its banks, the more famous of which were Tyndaris, Circæum, Cygnus, and Phasis at its mouth. But the most celebrated of them all was Æa, fifteen miles distant from the sea, where the Hippos and the Cyaneos, rivers of vast size, flow into it from opposite directions. At the present day its only place of note is Surium, which derives its name from the river which flows at that spot into the Phasis, and up to which place the Phasis is navigable for large vessels, as we have already mentioned. It receives also some other rivers, wonderful for their number and magnitude, and among them the Glaucus. At the mouth of the Phasis, at a distance of seventy miles from Absarus, are some islands, which, however, have no name. After passing this, we come to another river, the Charieis, and the nation of the Salæ, by the ancients called Phthirophagi, as also Suani. The river Chobus flows from the Caucasus through the country of the Suani. The river Rhoas comes next, then the region of Ecrectice, the rivers Singames, Tarsuras, Astelephus, Chrysorrhoas, the nation of the Absilæ, the castle of Sebastopolis, one hundred miles distant from Phasis, the nation of the Sannigæ, the town of Cygnus, and the river and town of Penius. We then come to the tribes of the Heniochi, who are distinguished by numerous names.
 
6 - 5 REGION OF COLICA, NATIONS OF ACHÆI, & OTHER NATIONS IN SAME PARTS M
Below this lies the region of Pontus known as Colica, in which the mountain chain of Caucasus bends away towards the Riphæan mountains, as we have previously mentioned; one side running down towards the Euxine and the Lake Mæotis, the other towards the Caspian and the Hyrcanian sea. The remaining portion of these shores is peopled by savage nations, the Melanchlæni, and the Coraxi, who formerly dwelt in Dios- curias, near the river Anthemus, now deserted, but once a famous city; so much so, indeed, that we learn from Timos- thenes, that three hundred nations, all of different languages, were in the habit of resorting to it, and in later times we had there one hundred and thirty interpreters for the purpose of transacting business. There are some authors who are of opinion that this place was built by Amphitus and Telchius, the charioteers of Castor and Pollux, from whom it is generally understood that the nation of the Heniochi sprang. After passing Dioscurias we come to the town of Heracleium, seventy miles distant from Sebastopolis, and then the Achæi, the Mardi, and the Cercetæ, and, behind them, the Cerri and the Cephalotomi. In the innermost part of this district there was Pityus, a city of very considerable opulence, but destroyed by the Heniochi: behind it are the Epageritæ, a people of Sarmatian origin, dwelling upon the range of the Caucasus, and beyond them, the Sauromatæ. It was with these people that Mithridates took refuge in the reign of the Emperor Claudius: and from him we learn that the Thalli join up to them, a people who border on the eastern side upon the mouth of the Caspian sea: he tells us also that at the reflux the channel is dry there. Upon the coast of the Euxine, near the country of the Cercetæ, is the river Icarusa, with the town and river of Hierus , distant from Heracleium one hundred and thirty-six miles. Next to this, is the promontory of Cruni, after passing which, we find the Toretæ upon a lofty ridge of mountains. The city of Sindos is distant from Hierus sixty-seven miles and a half; after passing which, we come to the river Setheries. (.) From thence to the entrance of the Cimmerian Bosporus the distance is eighty-eight miles and a half.
 
6 - 6 CIMMERIAN BOSPORUS M
The length of the peninsula which projects between the Euxine and Lake Mæotis, is not more than sixty-seven miles and a half, and the width across never less than two jugera: it has the name of Eion. The shores of the Bosporus then take a curve both on the side of Europe and of Asia, thus forming the Mæotis. The towns at the entrance of the Bosporus are, first Hermonassa, next Cepi, founded by the Milesians, and then Stratoclia and Phanagoria, and the almost deserted town of Apaturos, and, at the extremity of the mouth, Cimmerium, which was formerly called Cerberion. (.) We then come to Lake Mæotis, which has been already mentioned in the description of Europe.
 
6 - 7 LAKE MIEOTIS AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS M
After passing Cimmerium, the coast is inhabited by the Mæotici, the Vali, the Serbi, the Arrechi, the Zingi, and the Psessi. We then come to the river Tanais, which discharges itself into the sea by two mouths, and the banks of which are inhabited by the Sarmatæ, the descendants of the Medi, it is said, a people divided into numerous tribes. The first of these are the Sauromatæ Gynæcocratumeni, the husbands of the Amazons. Next to them are the Ævazæ, the Coitæ, the Cicimeni, the Messeniani, the Costobocci, the Choatræ, the Zigæ, the Dandarii, the Thyssagetæ, and the Iyrcæ, as far as certain rugged deserts and densely wooded vallies, beyond which again are the Arimphæi, who extend as far as the Riphæan Mountains. The Scythians call the river Tanais by the name of Silis, and the Mæotis the Temarunda, meaning the "mother of the sea." There is a city also at the mouth of the Ta- nais. The neighbouring country was inhabited first by the Carians, then by the Clazomenii and Mæones, and after them by the Panticapenses.
There are some writers who state that there are the following nations dwelling around the Mæotis, as far as the Ceraunian mountains; at a short distance from the shore, the Napitæ, and beyond them, the Essedones, who join up to the Colchians, and dwell upon the summits of the mountains: after these again, the Camacæ, the Orani, the Autacæ, the Mazacasi, the Cantiocæ, the Agamathæ, the Pici, the Rimosoli, the Acascomarci, and, upon the ridges of the Caucasus, the Itacalæ, the Imadochi, the Rami, the Anclacæ, the Tydii, the Carastasei, and the Anthiandæ. The river Lagoüs runs from the Cathæan mountains, and into it flows the Opharus. Upon it are the tribes of the Cauthadæ, and the Opharitæ. Next to these are the rivers Menotharus and Imityes, which flow from the Cissian mountains, among the peoples called the Acdei, the Carnæ, the Oscardei, the Accisi, the Gabri, the Gogari, and, around the source of the Imityes, the Imityi, and the Apatræi. Some writers say that the Auchetæ, the Athernei, and the Asampatæ, Scythian tribes, have made inroads upon this territory, and have destroyed the Tanaitæ and the Inapæi to a man. Others again represent the Ocharius as running through the Cantici and the Sapæi, and the Tanais as passing through the territories of the Sarcharcei, the Herticei, the Spondolici, the Synhietæ, the Anasi, the Issi, the Catetæ, the Tagoræ, the Caroni, the Neripi, the Agandei, the Mandarei, the Satarchei, and the Spalei.
 
6 - 8 SITUATION OF CAPPADOCIA M
We have now gone over the coast which borders upon the Inner Sea, and have enumerated the various nations that dwell thereon; let us now turn to those vast tracts of land which lie further in the interior. I do not deny that in my description I shall differ very materially from the ancient writers, but still it is one that has been compiled with the most anxious research, from a full examination into the events which have transpired of late in these countries under the command of Domitius Corbulo, and from information received either from kings who have been sent thence to Rome, as suppliants for our mercy, or else the sons of kings who have visited us in the character of hostages.
We will begin then with the nation of the Cappadocians. Of all the countries of Pontus, this extends the greatest distance into the interior. On the left it leaves behind the Lesser and the Greater Armenia, as well as Commagene, and on the right all the nations of the province of Asia which we have previously described. Spreading over numerous peoples, it rises rapidly in elevation in an easterly direction towards the range of Taurus. Then passing Lycaonia, Pisidia, and Cilicia, it advances above the district of Antiochia, the portion of it known as Cataonia extending as far as Cyrrhestica, which forms part of that district. The length of Asia here is twelve hundred and fifty miles, its breadth six hundred and forty.
 
6 - 9 LESSER AND THE GREATER ARMENIA M
Greater Armenia, beginning at the mountains known as the Paryadres, is separated, as we have already stated, from Cappadocia by the river Euphrates, and, where that river turns off in its course, from Mesopotamia, by the no less famous river Tigris. Both of these rivers take their rise in Armenia, which also forms the commencement of Mesopotamia, a tract of country which lies between these streams; the intervening space between them being occupied by the Arabian Orei. It thus extends its frontier as far as Adiabene, at which point it is stopped short by a chain of mountains which takes a cross direction; whereupon the province extends in width to the left, crossing the course of the Araxes, as far as the river Cyrus; while in length it reaches as far as the Lesser Armenia, from which it is separated by the river Absarus, which flows into the Euxine, and by the mountains known as the Paryadres, in which the Absarus takes its rise.
 
6 - 10 RIVERS CYRUS AND ARAXES M
The river Cyrus takes its rise in the mountains of the Heniochi, by some writers called the Coraxici; the Araxes rises in the same mountains as the river Euphrates, at a distance from it of six miles only; and after being increased by the waters of the Usis, falls itself, as many authors have supposed, into the Cyrus, by which it is carried into the Caspian Sea.
The more famous towns in Lesser Armenia are Cæsarea, Aza, and Nicopolis; in the Greater Arsamosata, which lies near the Euphrates, Carcathiocerta upon the Tigris, Tigranocerta which stands on an elevated site, and, on a plain adjoining the river Araxes, Artaxata. According to Aufidius, the circumference of the whole of Armenia is five thousand miles, while Claudius Cæsar makes the length, from Dascusa to the borders of the Caspian Sea, thirteen hundred miles, and the breadth, from Tigranocerta to Iberia, half that distance. It is a well-known fact, that this country is divided into prefectures, called "Strategies," some of which singly formed a kingdom in former times; they are one hundred and twenty in number, with barbarous and uncouth names. On the east, it is bounded, though not immediately, by the Ceraunian Mountains and the district of Adiabene. The space that intervenes is occupied by the Sopheni, beyond whom is the chain of mountains, and then beyond them the inhabitants of Adiabene. Dwelling in the valleys adjoining to Armenia are the Menobardi and the Moscheni. The Tigris and inaccessible mountains surround Adiabene. To the left of it is the territory of the Medi, and in the distance is seen the Caspian Sea; which, as we shall state in the proper place, receives its waters from the ocean, and is wholly surrounded by the Caucasian Mountains. The inhabitants upon the confines of Armenia shall now be treated of.
 
6 - 11 ALBANIA, IBERIA, AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS M
The whole plain which extends away from the river Cyrus is inhabited by the nation of the Albani, and, after them, by that of the Iberi, who are separated from them by the river Alazon, which flows into the Cyrus from the Caucasian chain. The chief cities are Cabalaca, in Albania, Harmastis, near a river of Iberia, and Neoris; there is the region also of Thasie, and that of Triare, extending as far as the mountains known as the Paryadres. Beyond these are the deserts of Colchios, on the side of which that looks towards the Ceraunian Mountains dwell the Armenochalybes; and there is the country of the Moschi, extending to the river Iberus, which flows into the Cyrus; below them are the Sacassani, and after them the Macrones, upon the river Absarus. Such is the manner in which the plains and low country are parcelled out. Again, after passing the confines of Albania, the wild tribes of the Silvi inhabit the face of the mountains, below them those of the Lubieni, and after them the Diduri and the Sodii.
 
6 - 12 PASSES OF THE CAUCASUS M
After passing the last, we come to the Gates of Caucasus, by many persons most erroneously called the Caspian Passes; a vast work of nature, which has suddenly wrenched asunder in this place a chain of mountains. At this spot are gates barred up with beams shod with iron, while beneath the middle there runs a stream which emits a most fetid odour; on this side of it is a rock, defended by a fortress, the name of which is Cumania, erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes that lie beyond. Here, then, we may see the habitable world severed into two parts by a pair of gates; they are just opposite to Harmastis, a town of the Iberi.
Beyond the Gates of Caucasus, in the Gordyæan Mountains, the Valli and the Suani, uncivilized tribes, are found; still, however, they work the mines of gold there. Beyond these nations, and extending as far away as Pontus, are numerous nations of the Heniochi, and, after them, of the Achæi. Such is the present state of one of the most famous tracts upon the face of the earth. Some writers have stated that the distance between the Euxine and the Caspian Sea is not more than three hundred and seventy-five miles; Cornelius Nepos makes it only two hundred and fifty. Within such straits is Asia pent up in this second instance by the agency of the sea! Claudius Cæsar has informed us that from the Cimmerian Bosporus to the Caspian Sea is a distance of only one hundred and fifty miles, and that Nicator Seleucus contemplated cutting through this isthmus just at the time when he was slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus. It is a well-known fact that the distance from the Gates of Caucasus to the shores of the Euxine is two hundred miles.
 
6 - 13 ISLANDS OF THE EUXINE M
The islands of the Euxine are the Placate or Cyaneæ, otherwise called Symplegades, and Apollonia, surnamed Thynias, to distinguish it from the island of that name in Europe; it is four miles in circumference, and one mile distant from the mainland. Opposite to Pharnacea is Chalceritis, to which the Greeks have given the name of Aria, and consecrated it to Mars; here, they say, there were birds that used to attack strangers with blows of their wings.
 
6 - 14 NATIONS IN THE VICINITY OF THE SCYTHIAN OCEAN M
Having now stated all that bears reference to the interior of Asia, let us cross in imagination the Riphæan Mountains, and traverse the shores of the ocean to the right. On three sides does this ocean wash the coasts of Asia, as the Scythian Ocean on the north, the Eastern Ocean on the east, and the Indian Ocean on the south; and it is again divided into various names, derived from the numerous gulfs which it forms, and the nations which dwell upon its shores. A great part of Asia, however, which lies exposed to the north, through the noxious effects of those freezing climates, consists of nothing but vast deserts. From the extreme north northeast to the point where the sun rises in the summer, it is the country of the Scythians. Still further than them, and beyond the point where north north-east begins, some writers have placed the Hyperborei, who are said, indeed, by the majority to be a people of Europe. After passing this point, the first place that is known is Lytarmis, a promontory of Celtica, and next to it the river Carambucis, where the chain of the Riphæan Mountains terminates, and with it the extreme rigour of the climate; here, too, we have heard of a certain people being situate, called the Arimphæi, a race not much unlike the Hyperborei. Their habitations are the groves, and the berries their diet; long hair is held to be disgraceful by the women as well as the men, and they are mild in their manners. Hence it is that they are reported to be a sacred race, and are never molested even by the savage tribes which border upon them, and not only they, but such other persons as well as may have fled to them for refuge. Beyond these we come straight to the Scythians, the Cimmerii, the Cisianthi, the Georgi, and a nation of Amazons. These last extend to the Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea.
 
6 - 15 CASPIAN AND HYRCANIAN SEA M
Bursting through, this sea makes a passage from the Scythian Ocean into the back of Asia, receiving various names from the nations which dwell upon its banks, the two most famous of which are the Caspian and the Hyrcanian races. Clitarchus is of opinion that the Caspian Sea is not less in area than the Euxine. Eratosthenes gives the measure of it on the south-east, along the coast of Cadusia and Albania, as five thousand four hundred stadia; thence, through the territories of the Anariaci, the Amardi, and the Hyrcani, to the mouth of the river Zonus he makes four thousand eight hundred stadia, and thence to the mouth of the Jaxartes two thousand four hundred; which makes in all a distance of one thousand five hundred and seventy-five miles. Artemidorus, however, makes this sum smaller by twenty-five miles. Agrippa bounds the Caspian Sea and the nations around it, including Armenia, on the east by the Ocean of the Seres, on the west by the chain of the Caucasus, on the south by that of Taurus, and on the north by the Scythian Ocean; and he states it, so far as its extent is known, to be four hundred and eighty miles in length, and two hundred and ninety in breadth. There are not wanting, however, some authors who state that its whole circumference, from the Straits, is two thousand five hundred miles.
Its waters make their way into this sea by a very narrow mouth, but of considerable length; and where it begins to enlarge, it curves obliquely with horns in the form of a crescent, just as though it would make a descent from its mouth into Lake Mæotis, resembling a sickle in shape, as M. Varro says. The first of its gulfs is called the Scythian Gulf; it is inhabited on both sides, by the Scythians, who hold communication with each other across the Straits, the Nomades being on one side, together with the Sauromatæ, divided into tribes with numerous names, and on the other, the Abzoæ, who are also divided into an equal number. At the entrance, on the right hand side, dwell the Udini, a Scythian tribe, at the very angle of the mouth. Then along the coast there are the Albani, the descendants of Jason, it is said; that part of the sea which lies in front of them, bears the name of ' Albanian.' This nation, which lies along the Caucasian chain, comes down, as we have previously stated, as far as the river Cyrus, which forms the boundary of Armenia and Iberia. Above the maritime coast of Albania and the nation of the Udini, the Sarmatæ, the Utidorsi, and the Aroteres stretch along its shores, and in their rear the Sauromatian Amazons, already spoken of The rivers which run through Albania in their course to the sea are the Casius and the Albanus, and then the Cambyses, which rises in the Caucasian mountains, and next to it the Cyrus, rising in those of the Coraxici, as already mentioned. Agrippa states that the whole of this coast, inaccessible from rocks of an immense height, is four hundred and twenty-five miles in length, beginning from the river Casius. After we pass the mouth of the Cyrus, it begins to be called the 'Caspian Sea;' the Caspii being a people who dwell upon its shores. In this place it may be as well to correct an error into which many persons have fallen, and even those who lately took part with Corbulo in the Armenian war. The Gates of Iberia, which we have mentioned as the Caucasian, they have spoken of as being called the 'Caspian,' and the coloured plans which have been sent from those parts to Rome have that name written upon them. The menaced expedition, too, that was contemplated by the Emperor Nero, was said to be designed to extend as far as the Caspian Gates, where- as it was really intended for those which lead through Iberia into the territory of the Sarmatæ; there being hardly any possibility of approach to the Caspian Sea, by reason of the close juxtaposition of the mountains there. There are, however, other Caspian Gates, which join up to the Caspian tribes; but these can only be distinguished from a perusal of the narrative of those who took part in the expedition of Alexander the Great.
 
6 - 16 ADIABENE M
The kingdom of the Persians, by which we now understand that of Parthia, is elevated upon the Caucasian chain between two seas, the Persian and the Hyrcanian. To the Greater Armenia, which in the front slopes towards Commagene, is joined Sophene, which lies upon the descent on both sides thereof, and next to it is Adiabene, the most advanced frontier of Assyria; a part of which is Arbelitis, He alludes to the town of Arbela, where, as it is generally said, the army of Darius was defeated by Alexander the Great; by which engage- ment the conflict was terminated. It was the fact, however, that Darius left his baggage and treasures at Arbela, while the battle really took place near the village of Gaugamela, about twenty miles to the north-west of Arbela. This place still retains its name of Arbil, where Alexander con- quered Darius, and which joins up to Syria. The whole of this country was called Mygdonia by the Macedonians, on account of the resemblance it bore to Mygdonia in Europe. Its cities are Alexandria, and Antiochia, also called Nisibis; this last place is distant from Artaxata seven hundred and fifty miles. There was also in former times Ninus, a most renowned city, on the banks of the Tigris, with an aspect towards the west. Adjoining the other front of Greater Armenia, which runs down towards the Caspian Sea, we find Atropatene, which is separated from Otene, a region of Armenia, by the river Araxes; Gazæ is its chief city, distant from Artaxata four hundred and fifty miles, and the same from Ecbatana in Media, to which country Atropatene belongs.
 
6 - 17 MEDIA AND THE CASPIAN GATES M
Ecbatana, the capital of Media, was built by king Seleucus, at a distance from Great Seleucia of seven hundred and fifty miles, and twenty miles from the Caspian Gates. The remaining towns of the Medians are Phazaca, Aganzaga, and Apamea, surnamed Rhagiane. The reason of these passes receiving the name of "Gates," is the same that has been stated above. The chain of mountains is suddenly broken by a passage of such extreme narrowness that, for a distance of eight miles, a single chariot can barely find room to move along: the whole of this pass has been formed by artificial means. Both on the right hand and the left are overhanging rocks, which look as though they had been exposed to the action of fire; and there is a tract of country, quite destitute of water, twenty-eight miles in extent. This narrow pass, too, is rendered still more difficult by a liquid salt which oozes from the rocks, and uniting in a single stream, makes its way along the pass. Besides this, it is frequented by such multitudes of serpents, that the passage is quite impracticable except in winter.
(.) Joining up to Adiabene are the people formerly known as the 'Carduchi,' now the Cordueni, in front of whom the river Tigris flows: and next to them are the Pratitæ, entitled the Par Odon, who hold possession of the Caspian Gates. On the other side of these gates we come to the deserts of Parthia and the mountain chain of Cithenus; and after that, the most pleasant locality of all Parthia, Choara by name. Here were two cities of the Parthians, built in former times for their protection against the people of Media, Calliope, and Issatis, the last of which stood formerly on a rock. Hecatompylos, the capital of Parthia, is distant from the Caspian Gates one hundred and thirty-three miles. In such an effectual manner is the kingdom of Parthia shut out by these passes. After leaving these gates we find the nation of the Caspii, extending as far as the shores of the Caspian, a race which has given its name to these gates as well as to the sea: on the left there is a mountainous district. Turning back from this nation to the river Cyrus, the distance is said to be two hundred and twenty miles; but if we go from that river as far down as the Caspian Gates, the distance is seven hundreds miles. In the itineraries of Alexander the Great these gates were made the central or turning point in his expeditions; the distance from the Caspian Gates to the frontier of India being there set down as fifteen thousand six hundred and eighty stadia, to the city of Bactra, commonly called Zariaspa, three thousand seven hundred, and thence to the river Jaxartes five thousand stadia.
 
6 - 18 NATIONS SITUATE AROUND THE HYRCANIAN SEA M
Lying to the east of the Caspii is the region known as Apavortene, in which there is a place noted for its singular fertility, called Dareium. We then come to the nations of the Tapyri, the Anariaci, the Staures, and the Hyrcani, past whose shores and beyond the river Sideris the Caspian begins to take the name of the 'Hyrcanian' Sea: on this side of that stream are also the rivers Maxeras and Strato: all of them take their rise in the Caucasian chain. Next comes the district of Margiane, so remarkable for its sunny climate. It is the only spot in all these regions that produces the vine, being shut in on every side by verdant and refreshing hills. This district is fifteen hundred stadia in circumference, but is rendered remarkably difficult of access by sandy deserts, which extend a distance of one hundred and twenty miles: it lies opposite to the country of Parthia, and in it Alexander founded the city of Alexandria. This place having been destroyed by the barbarians, Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, rebuilt it on the same site as a Syrian city. For, seeing that it was watered by the Margus, which passes through it, and is afterwards divided into a number of streams for the irrigation of the district of Zothale, he restored it, but preferred giving it the name of Antiochia. The circumference of this city is seventy stadia: it was to this place that Orodes conducted such of the Romans as had survived the defeat of Crassus. From the mountain heights of this district, along the range of Caucasus, the savage race of the Mardi, a free people, extends as far as the Bactri. Below the district inhabited by them, we find the nations of the Orciani, the Commori, the Berdrigæ, the Harmatotropi, the Citomaræ, the Comani, the Marucæi, and the Mandruani. The rivers here are the Mandrus and the Chindrus. Beyond the nations already mentioned, are the Chorasmii, the Candari, the Attasini, the Paricani, the Sarangæ, the Marotiani, the Aorsi, the Gaëli, by the Greek writers called Cadusii, the Matiani, the city of Heraclea, which was founded by Alexander, but was afterwards destroyed, and rebuilt by Antiochus, and by him called Achaïs; the Derbices also, through the middle of whose territory the river Oxus runs, after rising in Lake Oxus, the Syrmatæ, the Oxydracæ, the Heniochi, the Bateni, the Saraparæ, and the Bactri, whose chief city is Zariaspe, which afterwards received the name of Bactra, from the river there. This last nation lies at the back of Mount Paropanisus, over against the sources of the river Indus, and is bounded by the river Ochus. Beyond it are the Sogdiani, the town of Panda, and, at the very extremity of their territory, Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great. At this spot are the altars which were raised by Hercules and Father Liber, as also by Cyrus, Semiramis, and Alexander; for the expeditions of all these conquerors stopped short at this region, bounded as it is by the river Jaxartes, by the Scythians known as the Silis, and by Alexander and his officers supposed to have been the Tanais. This river was crossed by Demodamas, a general of kings Seleucus and Antiochus, and whose account more particularly we have here followed. He also consecrated certain altars here to Apollo Didymæus.
 
6 - 19 NATIONS OF SCYTHIA AND THE COUNTRIES ON THE EASTERN OCEAN M
Beyond this river are the peoples of Scythia. The Persians have called them by the general name of Sacæ, which properly belongs to only the nearest nation of them. The more ancient writers give them the name of Aramii. The Scythians themselves give the name of "Chorsari" to the Persians, and they call Mount Caucasus Graucasis, which means "white with snow." The multitude of these Scythian nations is quite innumerable: in their life and habits they much resemble the people of Parthia. The tribes among them that are better known are the Sacæ, the Massagetæ, the Dahæ, the Essedones, the Ariacæ, the Rhymmici, the Pæsici, the Amardi, the Histi, the Edones, the Came, the Camacæ, the Euchatæ, the Cotieri, the Anthusiani, the Psacæ, the Arimaspi, the Antacati, the Chroasai, and the Œtei; among them the Napæi are said to have been destroyed by the Palæi. The rivers in their country that are the best known, are the Mandragæus and the Carpasus. Indeed upon no subject that I know of are there greater discrepancies among writers, from the circumstance, I suppose, of these nations being so extremely numerous, and of such migratory habits. Alexander the Great has left it stated that the water of this sea is fresh, and M. Varro informs us, that some of it, of a similar character, was brought to Pompey, when holding the chief command in the Mithridatic war in its vicinity; the salt, no doubt, being overpowered by the volume of water discharged by the rivers which flow into it. He adds also, that under the direction of Pompey, it was ascertained that it is seven days' journey from India to the river Icarus, in the country of the Bactri, which discharges itself into the Oxus, and that the merchandize of India being conveyed from it through the Caspian Sea into the Cyrus, may be brought by land to Phasis in Pontus, in five days at most. There are numerous islands throughout the whole of the Caspian sea: the only one that is well known is that of Tazata.
 
6 - 20 THE SERES
After we have passed the Caspian Sea and the Scythian Ocean, our course takes an easterly direction, such being the turn here taken by the line of the coast. The first portion of these shores, after we pass the Scythian Promontory, is totally uninhabitable, owing to the snow, and the regions adjoining are uncultivated, in consequence of the savage state of the nations which dwell there. Here are the abodes of the Scythian Anthropophagi, who feed on human flesh. Hence it is that all around them consists of vast deserts, inhabited by multitudes of wild beasts, which are continually lying in wait, ready to fall upon human beings just as savage as themselves. After leaving these, we again come to a nation of the Scythians, and then again to desert tracts tenanted by wild beasts, until we reach a chain of mountains which runs up to the sea, and bears the name of Tabis. It is not, however, before we have traversed very nearly one half of the coast that looks towards the north-east, that we find it occupied by inhabitants.
The first people that are known of here are the Seres, so famous for the wool that is found in their forests. After steeping it in water, they comb off a white down that adheres to the leaves; and then to the females of our part of the world they give the twofold task of unravelling their textures, and of weav- ing the threads afresh. So manifold is the labour, and so distant are the regions which are thus ransacked to supply a dress through which our ladies may in public display their charms. The Seres are of inoffensive manners, but, bearing a strong resemblance therein to all savage nations, they shun all intercourse with the rest of mankind, and await the approach of those who wish to traffic with them. The first river that is known in their territory is the Psitharas, next to that the Cambari, and the third the Laros; after which we come to the Promontory of Chryse, the Gulf of Cynaba, the river Atianos, and the nation of the Attacori on the gulf of that name, a people protected by their sunny hills from all noxious blasts, and living in a climate of the same temperature as that of the Hyperborei. Amometus has written a work entirely devoted to the history of these people, just as Hecatæus has done in his treatise on the Hyperborei. After the Attacori, we find the nations of the Phruri and the Tochari, and, in the interior, the Casiri, a people of India, who look toward the Scythians, and feed on human flesh. Here are also numerous wandering Nomad tribes of India. There are some authors who state that in a north-easterly direction these nations touch upon the Cicones and the Brysari.
 
6 - 21 NATIONS OF INDIA M
But we come now to nations as to which there is a more general agreement among writers. Where the chain of Emodus rises, the nations of India begin, which borders not only on the Eastern sea, but on the Southern as well, which we have already mentioned as being called the Indian Ocean. That part which faces the east runs in a straight line a distance of eighteen hundred and seventy-five miles until it comes to a bend, at which the Indian Ocean begins. Here it takes a turn to the south, and continues to run in that direction a distance of two thousand four hundred and seventy-five miles, according to Eratosthenes, as far as the river Indus, the boundary of India on the west. Many authors have represented the entire length of the Indian coast as being forty days' and nights' sail, and as being, from north to south, two thousand eight hundred and fifty miles. Agrippa states its length to be three thousand three hundred miles, and its breadth, two thousand three hundred. Posidonius has given its measurement as lying from north-east to south-east, placing it opposite to Gaul, of which country he has given the measurement as lying from north-west to south-west; making the whole of India to lie due west of Gaul. Hence, as he has shewn by undoubted proofs, India lying opposite to Gaul must be refreshed by the blowing of that wind, and derive its salubrity there- from.
In this region, the appearance of the heavens is totally changed, and quite different is the rising of the stars; there are two summers in the year, and two harvests, while the winter intervenes between them during the time that the Etesian winds are blowing: during our winter too, they enjoy light breezes, and their seas are navigable. In this country there are nations and cities which would be found to be quite innumerable, if a person should attempt to enumerate them. For it has been explored not only by the arms of Alexander the Great and of the kings who succeeded him, by Seleucus and Antiochus, who sailed round even to the Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea, and by Patrocles, the admiral of their fleet, but has been treated of by several other Greek writers who resided at the courts of Indian kings, such, for instance, as Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent thither by Philadelphus, expressly for the purpose: all of whom have enlarged upon the power and vast resources of these nations. Still, however, there is no possibility of being rigorously exact, so different are the accounts given, and often of a nature so incredible. The followers of Alexander the Great have stated in their writings, that there were no less than five thousand cities in that portion of India which they vanquished by force of arms, not one of which was smaller than that of Cos; that its nations were eight in number, that India forms one-third of the whole earth, and that its populations are innumerable—a thing which is certainly far from improbable, seeing that the Indians are nearly the only race of people who have never migrated from their own territories. From the time of Father Liber to that of Alexander the Great, one hundred and fifty-three kings of India are reckoned, extending over a period of six thousand four hundred and fifty-one years and three months. The vast extent of their rivers is quite marvellous; it is stated that on no one day did Alexander the Great sail less than six hundred stadia on the Indus, and still was unable to reach its mouth in less than five months and some few days: and yet it is a well-known fact that this river is not so large as the Ganges. Seneca, one of our fellow-countrymen, who has written a treatise upon the subject of India, has given its rivers as sixty-five in number, and its nations as one hundred and eighteen. The difficulty too would be quite as great, if we were to attempt to enumerate its mountains. The chains of Emaüs, of Emodus, of Paropanisus, and of Caucasus, are all connected, the one with the other; and from their foot, the country of India runs down in the form of a vast plain, bearing a very considerable resemblance to that of Egypt. However, that we may come to a better understanding relative to the description of these regions, we will follow in the track of Alexander the Great. Diognetus and Bæton, whose duty it was to ascertain the distances and length of his expeditions, have written that from the Caspian Gates to Hecatompylon, the city of the Parthians, the distance is the number of miles which we have already stated; and that from thence to Alexandria, of the Arii, which city was founded by the same king, the distance is five hundred and seventy-five miles; from thence to Prophthasia, the city of the Drangæ, one hundred and ninety-nine; from thence to the city of the Arachosii, five hundred and sixty-five; from thence to Ortospanum, one hundred and seventy-five; and from thence to the city built by Alexander, fifty, miles. In some copies, however, the numbers are found differently stated; and we find this last city even placed at the very foot of Mount Caucasus! From this place to the river Cophes and Peucolaitis, a city of India, is two hundred and thirty-seven miles; from thence to the river Indus and the city of Taxilla sixty; from thence to the famous river Hydaspes one hundred and twenty; and from thence to the Hypasis, a river no less famous, two hundred and ninety miles, and three hundred and ninety paces. This last was the extreme limit of the expedition of Alexander, though he crossed the river and dedicated certain altars on the opposite side. The dispatches written by order of that king fully agree with the distances above stated. The remaining distances beyond the above point were ascertained on the expedition of Seleucus Nicator. They are, to the river Sydrus, one hundred and sixty-eight miles; to the river Jomanes, the same; some copies, however, add to this last distance five miles; thence to the Ganges, one hundred and twelve miles; to Rhodapha, five hundred and sixty-nine—though, according to some writers, this last distance is only three hundred and twenty-five miles; to the town of Calinipaxa, one hundred and sixty-seven, according to some, two hundred and sixty-five; thence to the confluence of the river Jomanes and Ganges, six hundred and twenty-five; most writers, however, add thirteen miles to this last distance; thence to the city of Palibothra, four hundred and twenty-five—and thence to the mouth of the Ganges, six hundred and thirty-seven miles and a half. The nations whom it may be not altogether inopportune to mention, after passing the Emodian Mountains, a cross range of which is called "Imaus," a word which, in the language of the natives, signifies "snowy," are the Isari, the Cosyri, the Izi, and, upon the chain of mountains, the Chisiotosagi, with numerous peoples, which have the surname of Brachmanæ, among whom are the Maccocalingæ. There are also the rivers Prinas and Cainas, which last flows into the Ganges, both of them navigable streams. The nation of the Calingæ comes nearest to the sea, and above them are the Mandei and the Malli. In the territory of the last-named people is a mountain called Mallus: the boundary of this region is the river Ganges.
 
6 - 22 GANGES RIVER M
Some writers have stated that this river, like the Nile, takes its rise from unknown sources, and, in a similar manner, waters the neighbouring territory; others, again, say that it rises in the mountains of Scythia. They state also that nineteen rivers discharge their waters into it; those among them that are navigable, besides the rivers already mentioned, are the Condochates, the Erannoboas, the Cosoagus, and the Sonus. Other writers again say that it bursts forth at its very source with a loud noise, hurling itself over rocks and precipices; and that after it has reached the plains, its waters become more tranquil, and it pauses for a time in a certain lake, after which it flows gently on. They say also that it is eight miles in breadth, where it is the very narrowest, and one hundred stadia where it is but moderately wide, and that it is nowhere less than twenty paces in depth. The last nation situate on the banks of the Ganges is that of the Gangarides Calingæ; the city where their king dwells has the name of Protalis. (.) This king has sixty thousand foot-soldiers, one thousand horse, and seven hundred elephants, always caparisoned ready for battle. The people of the more civilized nations of India are divided into several classes. One of these classes tills the earth, another attends to military affairs, others again are occupied in mercantile pursuits, while the wisest and the most wealthy among them have the management of the affairs of state—act as judges, and give counsel to the king. The fifth class, entirely devoting themselves to the pursuit of wisdom, which in these countries is almost held in the same veneration as religion, always end their life by a voluntary death upon the lighted pile. In addition to these, there is a class in a half-savage state, and doomed to endless labour; by means of their exertions, all the classes previously mentioned are supported. It is their duty to hunt the elephant, and to tame him when captured; for it is by the aid of these animals that they plough; by these animals they are conveyed from place to place; these in especial they look upon as constituting their flocks and herds; by their aid they wage their wars, and fight in defence of their territories. Strength, age, and size, are the points usually considered in making choice of these animals.
In the Ganges there is an island of very considerable size, inhabited by a single nation; it is called Modogalinga. Beyond the Ganges are situate the Modubæ, the Molindæ, the Uberæ, with a magnificent city of the same name, the Modresi, the Preti, the Caloæ, the Sasuri, the Passalæ, the Colobæ, the Orumcolæ, the Abali, and the Thalutæ. The king of the last-named people has fifty thousand foot-soldiers, four thousand horse, and four hundred armed elephants. We next come to a still more powerful nation, the Andaræ, who dwell in numerous villages, as well as thirty cities fortified with walls and towers. They furnish for their king one hundred thousand foot, two thousand horse, and a thousand elephants. The country of the Dardæ is the most productive of gold, that of the Setæ of silver. But more famous and more powerful than any nation, not only in these regions, but throughout almost the whole of India, are the Prasii, who dwell in a city of vast extent and of remarkable opulence, called Palibothra; from which circumstance some writers have given to the people themselves the name of Palibothri, and, indeed, to the whole tract of country between the Ganges and the Indus. These people keep on daily pay in their king's service an army, consisting of six hundred thousand foot, thirty thousand horse, and nine thousand elephants, from which we may easily form a conjecture as to the vast extent of their resources. Behind these people, and lying still more in the interior, are the Monedes, and the Suari, among whom is a mountain known as Maleus, upon which the shadow falls to the north in winter, and to the south in summer, six months alternately. In this district the Constellation of the Greater Bear is seen at only one period in the year, and then but for fifteen days, according to what Bæton states. Megasthenes, however, informs us that the same is the case also in many other localities of India. The South Pole is by the Indians called Diamasa. The river Jomanes runs into the Ganges through the territory of the Palibothri, between the cities of Methora and Chrysobora. In the regions which lie to the south of the Ganges, the people are tinted by the heat of the sun, so much so as to be quite coloured, but yet not burnt black, like the Æthiopians. The nearer they approach the Indus, the deeper their colour, a proof of the heat of the climate. After leaving the nation of the Prasii, we immediately come to the Indus; in the mountains of the Prasii a race of Pygmies is said to exist. Artemidorus says that between these two rivers there is a distance of two thousand one hundred miles.
 
6 - 23 INDUS M
The Indus, called Sindis by the natives, rises in that branch of the Caucasian range which bears the name of Paropanisus, and runs in an easterly direction, receiving in its course the waters of nineteen rivers. The most famous of these are the Hydaspes, into which four other rivers have already discharged themselves, the Cantaba, which receives three other rivers, the Acesinus, and the Hypasis, which last two are navigable themselves. Still however, so moderate, as it were, do the waters of this river show themselves in their course, that it is never more than fifty stadia in width, nor does it ever exceed fifteen paces in depth. Of two islands, which it forms in its course, the one, which is known as Prasiane, is of very considerable size; the other, which is smaller, is called Patale. According to the accounts given by the most moderate writers, this river is navigable for a distance of twelve hundred and fifty miles, and after following the sun's course to the west, in some degree, discharges itself into the ocean. I will here give the distances of various places situate on the coast to the mouth of this river, in a general way, just as I find them stated, although they none of them tally with each other.
From the mouth of the Ganges to the Promontory of the Calingi and the town of Dandaguda, is six hundred and twenty-five miles; from thence to Tropina twelve hundred and twenty-five; from thence to the promontory of Perimula, where is held the most celebrated mart in all India, seven hundred and fifty, and from thence to the city of Patala, in the island just mentioned, six hundred and twenty miles. The mountain races between the Indus and the Jomanes are the Cesi, the Cetriboni, who dwell in the woods, and after them the Megallæ, whose king possesses five hundred elephants, and an army of horse and foot, the numbers of which are unknown; then the Chrysei, the Parasangæ, and the Asmagi, whose territory is infested by wild tigers; these people keep in arms thirty thousand foot, three hundred elephants, and eight hundred horse. They are bounded by the river Indus, and encircled by a range of mountains and deserts for a distance of six hundred and twenty-five miles. Below these deserts are the Dari and the Surve, and then deserts again for one hundred and eighty-seven miles, sands in general encircling these spots just as islands are surrounded by the sea. Below these deserts, again, are the Maltecoræ, the Singæ, the Marohæ, the Rarungæ, and the Morontes. These last peoples, who possess the mountains throughout the whole range of country as far as the shores of the ocean, are free, and independent of all kings, and hold numerous cities upon the declivities of the mountains. After them come the Nareæ, who are bounded by Capitalia, the most lofty of all the Indian peaks: the inhabitants who dwell on the other side of it have extensive mines of gold and silver. After these again are the Oratæ, whose king possesses only ten elephants, but a large army of foot; next come the Suarataratæ, who live under the rule of a king as well, but breed no elephants, as they depend solely on their horse and foot; then the Odonbeores, the Arabastree, and the Horacæ, which last inhabit a fine city fortified by trenches cut in the marshes. It is quite impossible to approach the city, except by the bridge, as the water in the trenches is full of crocodiles, an animal most insatiate for human flesh. There is another city also in their territory, which has been greatly extolled, Automula by name, situate on the sea-shore, a famous mart, lying at the point of confluence of five rivers: their king possesses sixteen hundred elephants, one hundred and fifty thousand foot, and five thousand horse. The king of the Charmæ is a less opulent potentate; he has only sixty elephants and some small remains of his former strength. After these we come to the nation of the Pandæ, the only one throughout all India which is ruled by women. It is said that Hercules had but one child of the female sex, for which reason she was his especial favourite, and he bestowed upon her the principal one of these kingdoms. The sovereigns who derive their origin from this female, rule over three hundred towns, and have an army of one hundred and fifty thousand foot, and five hundred elephants. After passing through this list of three hundred cities, we come to the Darangæ, the Posingæ, the Butæ, the Gogaræi, the Umbræ, the Nereæ, the Brancosi, the Nobundæ, the Cocondæ, the Nesei, the Palatitæ, the Salobriasæ, and the Olostræ, who reach up to the island of Patala, from the extremity of whose shores to the Caspian Gates it is a distance of nineteen hundred and twenty-five miles. After passing this island, the other side of the Indus is occupied, as we know by clear and undoubted proofs, by the Athoæ, the Bolingæ, the Gallitalutæ, the Dimuri, the Megari, the Ardabæ, the Mesæ, and after them, the Uri and the Silæ; beyond which last there are desert tracts, extending a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. After passing these nations, we come to the Organagæ, the Abortæ, the Bassuertæ, and, after these last, deserts similar to those previously 'mentioned. We then come to the peoples of the Sorofages, the Arbæ, the Marogomatræ, the Umbrittæ, of whom there are twelve nations, each with two cities, and the Asini, a people who dwell in three cities, their capital being Bucephala, which was founded around the tomb of the horse belonging to king Alexander, which bore that name. Above these peoples there are some mountain tribes, which lie at the foot of Caucasus, the Soseadæ and the Sondræ, and, after passing the Indus and going down its stream, the Samarabriæ, the Sambraceni, the Bisambritæ, the Orsi, the Anixeni, and the Taxilæ, with a famous city, which lies on a low but level plain, the general name of the district being Amenda: there are four nations here, the Peucolaitæ, the Arsagalitæ, the Geretæ, and the Assoï. The greater part of the geographers, in fact, do not look upon India as bounded by the river Indus, but add to it the four Satrapies of the Gedrosi, the Arachotæ, the Arii, and the Paropauisidæ, the river Cophes thus forming the extreme boundary of India. All these territories, however, according to other writers, are reckoned as belonging to the country of the Arii. (.) Many writers, too, place in India the city of Nysa, and the mountain of Merus, sacred to Father Bacchus; in which circumstance originated the story that he sprang from the thigh of Jupiter. They also place here the nation of the Astacani, whose country abounds in the vine, the laurel, the box-tree, and all the fruits which are produced in Greece. As to those wonderful and almost fabulous stories which are related about the fertility of the soil, and the various kinds of fruits and trees, as well as wild beasts, and birds, and other sorts of animals, they shall be mentioned each in its proper place, in a future portion of this work. I shall also very shortly have to make some further mention of the four Satrapies, it being at present my wish to hasten to a description of the island of Taprobane. But first there are some other islands of which we must make mention. Patala, as we have already stated, lies at the mouth of the Indus: it is of a triangular figure, and is two hundred and twenty miles in breadth. Beyond the mouth of the Indus are the islands of Chryse and Argyre, abounding in metals, I believe; but as to what some persons have stated, that their soil consists of gold and silver, I am not so willing to give a ready credence to that. After passing these islands we come to Crocala, twenty miles in breadth, and then, at twelve miles' distance from it, Bibraga, abounding in oysters and other bell-fish. At eight miles' distance from Bibraga we find Toralliba, and many others of no note.
 
6 - 24 TAPROBANE M
Taprobane, under the name of the "land of the Antich- thones," was long looked upon as another world: the age and the arms of Alexander the Great were the first to give satisfactory proof that it is an island. Onesicritus, the commander of his fleet, has informed us that the elephants of this island are larger, and better adapted for warfare than those of India; and from Megasthenes we learn that it is divided by a river, that the inhabitants have the name of Paleogoni, and that their country is more productive of gold and pearls of great size than even India. Eratosthenes has also given the dimensions of this island, as being seven thousand stadia in length, and five thousand in breadth: he states also that there are no cities, but villages to the number of seven hundred. It begins at the Eastern sea, and lies extended opposite to India, east and west. This island was in former times supposed to be twenty days' sail from the country of the Prasii, but in later times, whereas the navigation was formerly confined to vessels constructed of papyrus with the tackle peculiar to the Nile, the distance has been estimated at no more than seven days' sail, in reference to the speed which can be attained by vessels of our construction. The sea that lies between the island and the mainland is full of shallows, not more than six paces in depth; but in certain channels it is of such extraordinary depth, that no anchor has ever found a bottom. For this reason it is that the vessels are constructed with prows at either end; so that there may be no necessity for tacking while navigating these channels, which are extremely narrow. The tonnage of these vessels is three thousand amphoræ. In traversing their seas, the people of Taprobane take no observations of the stars, and indeed the Greater Bear is not visible to them; but they carry birds out to sea, which they let go from time to time, and so follow their course as they make for the land. They devote only four months in the year to the pursuits of navigation, and are particularly careful not to trust themselves on the sea during the next hundred days after our summer solstice, for in those seas it is at that time the middle of winter.
Thus much we learn from the ancient writers; it has fallen to our lot, however, to obtain a still more accurate knowledge of these people; for during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, an embassy came from even this distant island to Rome. The circumstances under which this took place were as follow: Annius Plocamus had farmed from the treasury the revenues arising from the Red Sea. A certain freedman of his, while sailing around Arabia, was carried away by a gale from the north beyond the coast of Carmania. In the course of fifteen days he had drifted to Hippuros, a port of Taprobane, where he was most kindly and hospitably received by the king; and having, after a study of six months, become well acquainted with the language, was enabled to answer all his enquiries relative to the Romans and their emperor. But of all that he heard, the king was more particularly struck with surprise at our rigid notions of justice, on ascertaining that among the money found on the captive, the denarii were all of equal weight, although the different figures on them plainly showed that they had been struck in the reigns of several emperors. By this circumstance in especial, the king was prompted to form an alliance with the Romans, and accordingly sent to Rome an embassy, consisting of four persons, the chief of whom was Itachias. From these persons we learned that in Taprobane there are five hundred towns, and that there is a harbour that lies facing the south, and adjoining the city of Palæsimundus, the most famous city in the isle, the king's place of residence, and containing a population of two hundred thousand. They also informed us that in the interior there is a lake called Megisba, three hundred and seventy-five miles in circumference, and containing islands which are fertile, though for pasturage only. In this lake they informed us two rivers take their rise, one of which, called Palesimundus, flows into the harbournear the city of that name, by three channels, the narrowest of which is five stadia in width, the largest fifteen; while the other, Cydara by name, takes a direction northward, towards the Indian coast. We learned also that the nearest point of the Indian coast is a promontory known as Coliacum, distant from the island four days' sail, and that midway between them lies the island of the Sun. They stated also that those seas are of a deep green tint; besides which, there are numerous trees growing at the bottom, so much so, that the rudders of the vessels frequently break off portions of their foliage. They were much astonished at the constellations which are visible to us, the Greater Bear and the Pleiades, as though they had now beheld a new expanse of the heavens; and they declared that in their country the moon can only be seen above the horizon from the eighth to its sixteenth day. They also stated that Canopus, a large bright star, gives light to them by night. But what surprised them more than anything, was that the shadow of their bodies was thrown towards our hemisphere and not theirs, and that the sun arose on the left hand and set on the right, and not in the opposite direction. They also informed us that the side of their island which lies opposite to India is ten thousand stadia in length, and runs in a south-easterly direction—that beyond the Emodian Mountains they look towards the Serve, whose acquaintance they had also made in the pursuits of commerce; that the father of Rachias had frequently visited their country, and that the Seræ always came to meet them on their arrival. These people, they said, exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking, having no language of their own for the pur- pose of communicating their thoughts. The rest of their information was of a similar nature to that communicated by our merchants. It was to the effect that the merchandize on sale was left by them upon the opposite bank of a river on their coast, and it was then removed by the natives, if they thought proper to deal on terms of exchange. On no grounds ought luxury with greater reason to be detested by us, than if we only transport our thoughts to these scenes, and then reflect, what are its demands, to what distant spots it sends in order to satisfy them, and for how mean and how unworthy an end! But yet Taprobane even, isolated as it is by nature from the rest of the world, is not exempt from our vices. Gold and silver are held in esteem even there. They have a marble which resembles tortoise-shell in appearance; this, as well as their pearls and precious stones, is highly valued; all our luxuries in fact, those even of the most exquisite nature, are there carried to the very highest pitch. They asserted that their wealth is much greater than ours, but admitted that we know better than they how to obtain real enjoyment from opulence. In this island no slavery exists; they do not prolong their sleep to day-break, nor indeed during any part of the day; their buildings are only of a moderate height from the ground; the price of corn is always the same; they have no courts of law and no litigation. Hercules is the deity whom they worship; SABTUL and their king is chosen by the people, an aged man always, distinguished for his mild and clement disposition, and without children. If after he has been elected king, he happens to become the father of children, his abdication is the consequence; this is done that there may be no danger of the sovereign power becoming hereditary. Thirty advisers are provided for him by the people, and it is only by the advice of the majority of them that any man is condemned to capital punishment. Even then, the person so condemned has a right of appealing to the people, in which case a jury consisting of seventy persons is appointed. Should these acquit the accused, the thirty counsellors are no longer held in any estimation, but are visited with the greatest disgrace. The king wears the costume of Father Liber, while the rest of the people dress like the natives of Arabia. The king, if he is found guilty of any offence, is condemned to death; but no one slays him; all turn their backs upon him, and refuse to hold any communication or even discourse with him. Their festivals are celebrated with the chase, the most valued sports being the pursuit of the tiger and the elephant. The lands are carefully tilled; the vine is not cultivated there, but of other fruits there is great abundance. They take great delight in fishing, and especially in catching turtles; beneath the shells of which whole families find an abode, of such vast size are they to be found. These people look upon a hundred years as a comparatively short life. Thus much have we learned respecting Taprobane.
 
6 - 25 ARIANI AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS M
We will now proceed to give some further particulars relative to the four Satrapies, of which we have postponed further mention till the present occasion.
(). After passing the nations in the vicinity of the Indus, we come to the mountain districts. The territory of Capisene formerly had a city, called Capisa, which was destroyed by Cyrus. Arachosia has a river and a city of the same name; the city was built by Semiramis; by some writers it is called Cophen. The river Erymanthus flows past Parabeste, which belongs to the Arachosii. Writers make the Dexendrusi come next, forming the boundary of the Arachotæ on the southern side, and of the Paropanisadæ on the north. The city of Cartana lies at the foot of Caucasus; in later times it has been called Tetragonis. This region lies over against that of the Bactri, who come next, and whose chief city is Alexandria, so called from the name of its founder. We then come to the Syndraci, the Dangalæ the Parapinæ, the Catuces, and the Mazi; and then at the foot of Caucasus, to the Cadrusi, whose town was built by Alexander. Below all these countries, is the line of coast which we come to after leaving the Indus. Ariana is a region parched by the sun and surrounded by deserts; still, however, as the face of the country is every here and there diversified with well-shaded spots, it finds communities grouped together to cultivate it, and more especially around the two rivers, known as the Tonberos and the Arosapes. There is also the town of Artacoana, and the river Arius, which flows past Alexandria, a city founded by Alexander; this place is thirty stadia in extent. Much more beautiful than it, as well as of much greater antiquity, is Artacabane, fortified a second time by Antiochus, and fifty stadia in breadth. We then come to the nation of the Dorisdorsigi, and the rivers Phar- naracotis, and Ophradus; and then to Prophthasia, a city of the Zaraspades, the Drangæ, the Evergetæ, the Zarangæ, and the Gedrusi; the towns of Pucolis, Lyphorta, the desert of the Methorgi, the river Manais, the nation of the Acutri, the river Eorum, the nation of the Orbi, the Pomanus, a navigable river in the territories of the Pandares, the Apirus in the country of the Suari, with a good harbour at its mouth, the city of Condigramma, and the river Cophes; into which last flow the navigable streams of the Saddaros, the Parospus, and the Sodanus. Some writers will also have it that Daritis forms part of Ariana, and give the length of them both as nineteen hundred and fifty miles, and the breadth one half of that of India. Others again have spread the Gedrusi and the Pasires over an extent of one hundred and thirty-eight miles, and place next to them the Ichthyophagi Oritæ, a people who speak a language peculiar to themselves, and not the Indian dialect, extending over a space of two hundred miles. Alexander forbade the whole of the Ichthyophagi to live any longer on fish. Next after these the writers have placed extensive deserts, and then Carmania, Persia, and Arabia.
 
6 - 26 VOYAGES TO INDIA M
But before we enter into any details respecting these countries, it will be as well to mention what Oncsicritus has stated, who commanded the fleet of Alexander, and sailed from India into the heart of Persia, and what has been more recently related by Juba; after which I shall speak of the route along these seas which has been discovered in later years, and is followed at the present day. The journal of the voyage of Onesicritus and Nearchus has neither the names of the stations, nor yet the distances set down in it; and first of all, it is not sufficiently explained where Xylenepolis was, and near what river, a place founded by Alexander, and from which, upon setting out, they took their departure. Still, however, the following places are mentioned by them, which are worthy of our notice. The town of Arbis, founded by Nearchus on the occasion of this voyage; the river Nabrus, navigable for vessels, and opposite to it an island, at a distance of seventy stadia; Alexandria, built by Leonnatus by order of Alexander in the territories of this people; Argenus, with a very convenient harbour; the river Tonberos, a navigable stream, around whose banks are the Pasiræ; then come the Ichthyophagi, who extend over so large a tract of coast that it took thirty days to sail past their territory; and an island known by the names of the "Island of the Sun" and the "Bed of the Nymphs," the earth of which is red, and in which every animal instantly dies; the cause of which, however, has not been ascertained. Next to these is the nation of the Ori, and then the Hyctanis, a river of Carmania, with an excellent harbour at its mouth, and producing gold; at this spot the writers state that for the first time they caught sight of the Great Bear. The star Arcturus too, they tell us, was not to be seen here every night, and never, when it was seen, during the whole of it. Up to this spot extended the empire of the Achæmenidæ, and in these districts are to be found mines of copper, iron, arsenic, and red lead.
They next came to the Promontory of Carmania, from which the distance across to the opposite coast, where the Macæ, a nation of Arabia, dwell, is fifty miles; and then to three islands, of which that of Oracla is alone inhabited, being the only one supplied with fresh water; it is distant from the mainland twenty-five miles; quite in the Gulf, and facing Persia, there are four other islands. About these islands sea-serpents were seen swimming towards them, twenty cubits in length, which struck the fleet with great alarm. They then came to the island of Athothradus, and those called the Gauratæ, upon which dwells the nation of the Gyani; the river Hyperis, which discharges itself midway into the Persian Gulf, and is navigable for merchant ships; the river Sitiogagus, from which to Pasargadæ is seven days' sail; a navigable river known as the Phristimus, and an island without a name; and then the river Granis, navigable for vessels of small burden, and flowing through Susiane; the Deximontani, a people who manufacture bitumen, dwell on its right bank. The river Zarotis comes next, difficult of entrance at its mouth, except by those who are well acquainted with it; and then two small islands; after which the fleet sailed through shallows which looked very much like a marsh, but were rendered navigable by certain channels which had been cut there. They then arrived at the mouth of the Euphrates, and from thence passed into a lake which is formed by the rivers Eulæus and Tigris, in the vicinity of Charax, after which they arrived at Susa, on the river Tigris. Here, after a voyage of three months, they found Alexander celebra- ting a festival, seven months after he had left them at Patale. Such was the voyage performed by the fleet of Alexander. In later times it has been considered a well-ascertained fact that the voyage from Syagrus, the Promontory of Arabia, to Patale, reckoned at thirteen hundred and thirty-five miles, can be performed most advantageously with the aid of a westerly wind, which is there known by the name of Hippalus. The age that followed pointed out a shorter route, and a safer one, to those who might happen to sail from the same promontory for Sigerus, a port of India; and for a long time this route was followed, until at last a still shorter cut was discovered by a merchant, and the thirst for gain brought India even still nearer to us. At the present day voyages are made to India every year: and companies of archers are carried on board the vessels, as those seas are greatly infested with pirates. It will not be amiss too, on the present occasion, to set forth the whole of the route from Egypt, which has been stated to us of late, upon information on which reliance may be placed, and is here published for the first time. The subject is one well worthy of our notice, seeing that in no year does India drain our empire of less than five hundred and fifty millions of sesterces, giving back her own wares in exchange, which are sold among us at fully one hundred times their prime cost. Two miles distant from Alexandria is the town of Juliopolis. The distance thence to Coptos, up the Nile, is three hundred and eight miles; the voyage is performed, when the Etesian winds are blowing, in twelve days. From Coptos the journey is made with the aid of camels, stations being arranged at intervals for the supply of fresh water. The first of these stations is called Hydreuma, and is distant twenty-two miles; the second is situate on a mountain, at a distance of one day's journey from the last; the third is at a second Hydreuma, distant from Coptos ninety-five miles; the fourth is on a mountain; the next to that is at another Hydreuma, that of Apollo, and is distant from Coptos one hundred and eighty-four miles; after which, there is another on a mountain. There is then another station at a place called the New Hydreuma, distant from Coptos two hundred and thirty miles: and next to it there is another, called the Old Hydreuma, or the Troglodytic, where a detachment is always on guard, with a caravansary that affords lodging for two thousand persons. This last is distant from the New Hydreuma seven miles. After leaving it we come to the city of Berenice, situate upon a harbour of the Red Sea, and distant from Coptos two hundred and fifty-seven miles. The greater part of this distance is generally travelled by night, on account of the extreme heat, the day being spent at the stations; in consequence of which it takes twelve days to perform the whole journey from Coptos to Berenice. Passengers generally set sail at midsummer, before the rising of the Dog-star, or else immediately after, and in about thirty days arrive at Ocelis in Arabia, or else at Cane, in the region which bears frankincense. There is also a third port of Arabia, Muza by name; it is not, however, used by persons on their passage to India, as only those touch at it who deal in incense and the perfumes of Arabia. More in the interior there is a city; the residence of the king there is called Sapphar, and there is another city known by the name of Save. To those who are bound for India, Ocelis is the best place for embareation. If the wind, called Hippalus, happens to be blowing, it is possible to arrive in forty days at the nearest mart of India, Muziris by name. This, however, is not a very desirable place for disembarcation, on account of the pirates which frequent its vicinity, where they occupy a place called Nitrias; nor, in fact, is it very rich in articles of merchandize. Besides, the road-stead for shipping is a considerable distance from the shore, and the cargoes have to be conveyed in boats, either for loading or discharging. At the moment that I am writing these pages, the name of the king of this place is Cælobothras. Another port, and a much more convenient one, is that which lies in the territory of the people called Neacyndi, Barace by name. Here king Pandion used to reign, dwelling at a considerable distance from the mart in the interior, at a city known as Modiera. The district from which pepper is carried down to Barace in boats hollowed out of a single tree, is known as Cottonara. None of these names of nations, ports, and cities are to be found in any of the former writers, from which circumstance it would appear that the localities have since changed their names. Travellers set sail from India on their return to Europe, at the beginning of the Egyptian month Tybis, which is our December, or at all events before the sixth day of the Egyptian month Mechir, the same as our ides of January: if they do this, they can go and return in the same year. They set sail from India with a south-east wind, and upon entering the Red Sea, catch the south-west or south. We will now return to our main subject.
 
6 - 27 CARMANIA M
Nearchus states in his writings that the coast of Carmania extends a distance of twelve hundred and fifty miles. From its frontier to the river Sabis is one hundred miles. At this spot begins the cultivation of the vine; which with the tillage of the fields, extends as far as the river Ananis, a distance of twenty-five miles. This region is known by the name of Armuzia. The cities of Carmania are Zetis and Alexandria.
 
6 - 28 PERSIAN AND THE ARABIAN GULFS M
The sea then makes a two-fold indentations in the land upon these coasts, under the name of Rubrum or "Red," given to it by our countrymen; while the Greeks have called it Erythrum, from king Erythras, or, according to some writers, from its red colour, which they think is produced by the reflection of the sun's rays; others again are of opinion that it arises from the sand and the complexion of the soil, others from some peculiarity in the nature of the water. (.) Be this as it may, this body of water is divided into two gulfs. The one which lies to the east is called the Persian Gulf, and is two thousand five hundred miles in circumference, according to Eratosthenes. Opposite to it lies Arabia, the length of which is fifteen hundred miles. On the other side again, Arabia is bounded by the Arabian Gulf. The sea as it enters this gulf is called the Azanian Sea. The Persian Gulf, at the entrance, is only five miles wide; some writers make it four. From the entrance to the very bottom of the gulf, in a straight line, has been ascertained to be nearly eleven hundred and twenty-five miles: in outline it strongly resembles the human head. Onesicritus and Nearchus have stated in their works that from the river Indus to the Persian Gulf, and from thence to Babylon, situate in the marshes of the Euphrates, is a distance of seventeen hundred miles.
In the angle of Carmania are the Chelonophagi, who cover their cabins with the shells of turtles, and live upon their flesh; these people inhabit the next promontory that is seen after leaving the river Arbis; with the exception of the head, they are covered all over with long hair, and are clothed in the skins of fishes. (.) Beyond their district, in the direction of India, is said to be the desert island of Caicandrus, fifty miles out at sea; near to which, with a strait flowing between them, is Stoidis, celebrated for its valuable pearls. After passing the promontory are the Armozei, joining up to the Carmani; some writers, however, place between them the Arbii, extending along the shore a distance of four hundred and twenty-one miles. Here is a place called Portus Macedonum, and the Altars of Alexander, situate on a promontory, besides the rivers Saganos, Daras, and Salsa. Beyond the last river we come to the promontory of Themisteas, and the island of Aphrodisias, which is peopled. Here Persis begins, at the river Oratis, which separates it from Elymais. Opposite to the coast of Persis, are the islands of Psilos, Cassandra, and Aracia, the last sacred to Neptune, and containing a mountain of great height. Persis itself, looking towards the west, has a line of coast five hundred and fifty miles in length; it is a country opulent even to luxury, but has long since changed its name for that of "Parthia." I shall now devote a few words to the Parthian empire.
 
6 - 29 PARTHIAN EMPIRE M
The kingdoms of Parthia are eighteen in all: such being the divisions of its provinces, which lie, as we have already stated, along the Red Sea to the south, and the Hyrcanian to the north. Of this number the eleven, called the Higher provinces, begin at the frontiers of Armenia and the shores of the Caspian, and extend to the Scythians, whose mode of life is similar in every respect. The other seven kingdoms of Parthia bear the name of the Lower provinces. As to the Parthi themselves, Parthia always lay at the foot of the mountains so often mentioned, which overhang all these nations. On the east it is bounded by the Arii, on the south by Carmania and the Ariani, on the west by the Pratitæ, a people of the Medi, and on the north by the Hyrcani: it is surrounded by deserts on every side. The more distant of the Parthi are called Nomades; on this side of them there are deserts. On the west are the cities of Issatis and Calliope, already mentioned, on the north-east Europus, on the south-east Maria; in the middle there are Hecatompylos, Arsace, and Nisiæa, a fine district of Parthiene, in which is Alexandropolis, so called from its founder. (.) It is requisite in this place to trace the localities of the Medi also, and to describe in succession the features of the country as far as the Persian Sea, in order that the account which follows may be the better understood. Media lies crosswise to the west, and so presenting itself obliquely to Parthia, closes the entrance of both kingdoms into which it is divided. It has, then, on the east, the Caspii and the Parthi; on the south, Sittacene, Susiane, and Persis; on the west, Adsiabene; and on the north, Armenia. The Persæ have always inhabited the shores of the Red Sea, for which reason it has received the name of the Persian Gulf. This maritime region of Persis has the name of Ciribo; on the side on which it runs up to that of the Medi, there is a place known by the name of Climax Megale, where the mountains are ascended by a steep flight of stairs, and so afford a narrow passage which leads to Persepolis, the former capital of the kingdom, destroyed by Alexander. It has also, at its extreme frontier, Laodicea, founded by Antiochus. To the east of this place is the fortress of Passagarda, held by the Magi, at which spot is the tomb of Cyrus; also Ecbatana, a city of theirs, the inhabitants of which were removed by Darius to the mountains. Between the Parthi and the Ariani projects the territory of the Parætaceni. By these nations and the river Euphrates are the Lower kingdoms of Parthia bounded; of the others we shall speak after Mesopotamia, which we shall now describe, with the exception of that angle of it and the peoples of Arabia, which have been already mentioned in a former book.
 
6 - 30 MESOPOTAMIA M
The whole of Mesopotamia formerly belonged to the Assyrians, being covered with nothing but villages, with the exception of Babylonia and Ninus. The Macedonians formed these communities into cities, being prompted thereto by the extraordinary fertility of the soil. Besides the cities already mentioned, it contains those of Seleucia, Laodicea, Artemita; and in Arabia, the peoples known as the Orei and the Mardani, besides Antiochia, founded by Nicanor, the governor of Mesopotamia, and called Arabis. Joining up to these in the interior is an Arabian people, called the Eldamani, and above them, upon the river Pallaconta, the town of Bura, and the Arabian peoples known as the Salmani and the Masei. Up to the Gordyæi join the Aloni, through whose territory runs the river Zerbis, which falls into the Tigris; next are the Azones, the Silici, a mountain tribe, and the Orontes, to the west of whom lies the town of Gaugamela, as also Suë, situate upon the rocks. Beyond these are the Silici, surnamed Classitæ, through whose district runs the river Lycus on its passage from Armenia, the Absithris running south-east, the town of Accobis, and then in the plains the towns of Diospage, Polytelia, Stratonice, and Anthermis. In the vicinity of the Euphrates is Nicephorion, of which we have already stated that Alexander, struck with the favourable situation of the spot, ordered it to be built. We have also similarly made mention of Apamea on the Zeugma. Leaving that city and going eastward, we come to Caphrena, a fortified town, formerly seventy stadia in extent, and called the "Court of the Satraps." It was to this place that the tribute was conveyed; now it is reduced to a mere fortress. Thæbata is still in the same state as formerly: after which comes Oruros, which under Pompeius Magnus formed the extreme limit of the Roman Empire, distant from Zeugma two hundred and fifty miles. There are writers who say that the Euphrates was drawn off by an artificial channel by the governor Gobares, at the point where we have stated that it branches off, in order that it might not commit damage in the city of Babylonia, in consequence of the extreme rapidity of its course. The Assyrians universally call this river by the name of Narmalcha, which signifies the "royal river." At the point where its waters divide, there was in former times a very large city, called Agranis, which the Persæ have de- stroyed.
Babylon, the capital of the nations of Chaldæa, long enjoyed the greatest celebrity of all cities throughout the whole world: and it is from this place that the remaining parts of Mesopotamia and Assyria received the name of Babylonia. The circuit of its walls, which were two hundred feet in height, was sixty miles. These walls were also fifty feet in breadth, reckoning to every foot three fingers' breadth beyond the ordinary measure of our foot. The river Euphrates flowed through the city, with quays of marvellous workmanship erected on either side. The temple there of Jupiter Belus is still in existence; he was the first inventor of the science of Astronomy. In all other respects it has been reduced to a desert, having been drained of its population in consequence of its vicinity to Seleucia, founded for that purpose by Nicator, at a distance of ninety miles, on the confluence of the Tigris and the canal that leads from the Euphrates. Seleucia, however, still bears the surname of Babylonia: it is a free and independent city, and retains the features of the Macedonian manners. It is said that the population of this city amounts to six hundred thousand, and that the outline of its walls resembles an eagle with expanded wings: its territory, they say, is the most fertile in all the East. The Parthi again, in its turn, founded Ctesiphon, for the purpose of drawing away the population of Seleucia, at a distance of nearly three miles, and in the district of Chalonitis; Ctesiphon is now the capital of all the Parthian kingdoms. Finding, however, that this city did not answer the intended purpose, king Vologesus has of late years founded another city in its vicinity, Vologesocerta by name. Besides the above, there are still the following towns in Mesopotamia: Hipparenum, rendered famous, like Babylon, by the learning of the Chaldæi, and situate near the river Narraga, which falls into the Narroga, from which a city so called has taken its name. The Persæ destroyed the walls of Hipparenum. Orchenus also, a third place of learning of the Chaldæi, is situate in the same district, towards the south; after which come the Notitæ, the Orothophanitæ, and the Grecichartæ. From Nearchus and Onesicritus we learn that the distance by water from the Persian Sea to Babylon, up the Euphrates, is four hundred and twelve miles; other authors, however, who have written since their time, say that the distance to Seleucia is four hundred and forty miles: and Juba says that the distance from Babylon to Charax is one hundred and seventy-five. Some writers state that the Euphrates continues to flow with an undivided channel for a distance of eighty-seven miles beyond Babylon, before its waters are diverted from their channel for the purposes of irrigation; and that the whole length of its course is not less than twelve hundred miles. The circumstance that so many different authors have treated of this subject, accounts for all these variations, seeing that even the Persian writers themselves do not agree as to what is the length of their schœni and para- sangœ, each assigning to them a different length. When the Euphrates ceases, by running in its channel, to afford protections to those who dwell on its banks, which it does when it approaches the confines of Charax, the country is immediately infested by the Attali, a predatory people of Arabia, beyond whom are found the Scenite. The banks along this river are occupied by the Nomades of Arabia, as far as the deserts of Syria, from which, as we have already stated, it takes a turn to the south, and leaves the solitary deserts of Palmyra. Seleucia is distant, by way of the Euphrates, from the beginning of Mesopotamia, eleven hundred and twenty- five; from the Red Sea, by way of the Tigris, two hundred and twenty; and from Zeugma, seven hundred and twenty-three, miles. Zeugma is distant from Seleucia in Syria, on the shores of our sea, one hundred and seventy-five miles. Such is the extent of the land that lies in these parts between the two seas. The length of the kingdom of Parthia is nine hundred and eighteen miles.
 
6 - 31 TIGRIS M
There is, besides the above, another town in Mesopotamia, on the banks of the Tigris and near its confluence with the Euphrates, the name of which is Digba. (.) But it will be as well now to give some particulars respecting the Tigris itself. This river rises in the region of Greater Armenia, from a very remarkable source, situate on a plain. The name of the spot is Elegosine, and the stream, as soon as it begins to flow, though with a slow current, has the name of Diglito. When its course becomes more rapid, it assumes the name of Tigris, given to it on account of its swiftness, that word signifying an arrow in the Median language. It then flows into Lake Arethusa, the waters of which are able to support all weighty substances thrown into them, and exhale nitrous vapours. This lake produces only one kind of fish, which, however, never enter the current of the river in its passage through the lake: and in a similar manner, the fish of the Tigris will never swim out of its stream into the waters of the lake. Distinguishable from the lake, both by the rapidity and the colour of its waters, the tide of the river is hurried along; after it has passed through and arrived at Mount Taurus, it disappears in a cavern of that mountain, and passing beneath it, bursts forth on the other side; the spot bears the name of Zoroande. That the waters on either side of the mountain are the same, is evident from the fact, that bodies thrown in on the one side will reappear on the other. It then passes through another lake, called Thospites, and once more burying itself in the earth, reappears, after running a distance of twenty-two miles, in the vicinity of Nymphæum. Claudius Cæsar informs us that, in the district of Arrene it flows so near to the river Arsanias, that when their waters swell they meet and flow together, but without, however, intermingling. For those of the Arsani, as he says, being lighter, float on the surface of the Tigris for a distance of nearly four miles, after which they separate, and the Arsanias flows into the Euphrates. The Tigris, after flowing through Armenia and receiving the well-known rivers Parthenias and Nicephorion, separates the Arabian Orei from the Adiabeni, and then forms by its course, as previously mentioned, the country of Mesopotamia. After traversing the mountains of the Gordyæi, it passes round Apamea, a town of Mesene, one hundred and twenty-five miles on this side of Babylonian Seleucia, and then divides into two channels, one of which runs southward, and flowing through Mesene, runs towards Seleucia, while the other takes a turn to the north and passes through the plains of the Cauchæ, at the back of the district of Mesene. When the waters have reunited, the river assumes the name of Pasitigris. After this, it receives the Choaspes, which comes from Media; and then, as we have already stated, flowing between Seleucia and Ctesiphon, discharges itself into the Chaldæan Lakes, which it supplies for a distance of seventy miles. Escaping from them by a vast channel, it passes the city of Charax to the right, and empties itself into the Persian Sea, being ten miles in width at the mouth. Between the mouths of the two rivers Tigris and the Euphrates, the distance was formerly twenty-five, or, according to some writers, seven miles only, both of them being navigable to the sea. But the Orcheni and others who dwell on its banks, have long since dammed up the waters of the Euphrates for the purposes of irrigation, and it can only discharge itself into the sea by the aid of the Tigris.
The country on the banks of the Tigris is called Parapotamia; we have already made mention of Mesene, one of its districts. Dabithac is a town there, adjoining to which is the district of Chalonitis, with the city of Ctesiphon, famous, not only for its palm-groves, but for its olives, fruits, and other shrubs. Mount Zagrus reaches as far as this district, and extends from Armenia between the Medi and the Adiabeni, above Parætacene and Persis. Chalonitis is distant from Persis three hundred and eighty miles; some writers say that by the shortest route it is the same distance from Assyria and the Caspian Sea. Between these peoples and Mesene is Sittacene, which is also called Arbelitis and Palæstine. Its city of Sittace is of Greek origin; this and Sabdata lie to the east, and on the west is Antiochia, between the two rivers Tigris and Tornadotus, as also Apamea, to which Antiochus gave this name, being that of his mother. The Tigris surrounds this city, which is also traversed by the waters of the Archoüs. Below this district is Susiane, in which is the city of Susa, the ancient residence of the kings of Persia, built by Darius, the son of Hystaspes; it is distant from Seleucia Babylonia four hundred and fifty miles, and the same from Ecbatana of the Medi, by way of Mount Carbantus. Upon the northern channel of the river Tigris is the town of Babytace, distant from Susa one hundred and thirty-five miles. Here, for the only place in all the world, is gold held in abhorrence; the people collect it together and bury it in the earth, that it may be of use to no one. On the east of Susiane are the Oxii, a predatory people, and forty independent savage tribes of the Mizæi. Above these are the Mardi and the Saitæ, subject to Parthia: they extend above the district of Elymais, which we have already mentioned as joining up to the coast of Persis. Susa is distant two hundred and fifty miles from the Persian Sea. Near the spot where the fleet of Alexander came up the Pasitigris to Susa, there is a village situate on the Chaldæan Lake, Aple by name, from which to Susa is a distance of sixty miles and a half. Adjoining to the people of Susiane, on the east, are the Cossiei; and above them, to the north, is Mesabatene, lying at the foot of Mount Cambalidus, a branch of the Caucasian chain: from this point the country of the Bactri is most accessible. Susiane is separated from Elymais by the river Eulæus, which rises in Media, and, after concealing itself in the earth for a short distance, rises again and flows through Mesabatene. It then flows round the citadel of Susa and the temple of Diana, which is held in the highest veneration by all these nations; the river itself being the object of many pompous ceremonials; the kings, indeed, will drink of no other water, and for that reason carry it with them on their journies to any considerable distance. This river receives the waters of the Hedypnos, which passes Asylus, in Persis, and those of the Aduna, which rises in Susiane. Magoa is a town situate near it, and distant from Charax fifteen miles; some writers place this town at the very extremity of Susiane, and close to the deserts. Below the Eulæus is Elymais, upon the coast adjoining to Persis, and extending from the river Orates to Charax, a distance of two hundred and forty miles. Its towns are Seleucia and Socrate, upon Mount Casyrus. The shore which lies in front of this district is, as we have already stated, rendered inaccessible by mud, the rivers Brixa and Ortacea bringing down vast quantities of slime from the interior,—Elymais itself being so marshy that it is impossible to reach Persis that way, unless by going completely round: it is also greatly infested with serpents, which are brought down by the waters of these rivers. That part of it which is the most inaccessible of all, bears the name of Characene, from Charax, the frontier city of the kingdoms of Arabia. Of this place we will now make mention, after first stating the opinions of M. Agrippa in relation to this subject. That author informs us that Media, Parthia, and Persis, are bounded on the east by the Indus, on the west by the Tigris, on the north by Taurus and Caucasus, and on the south by the Red Sea; that the length of these countries is thirteen hundred and twenty miles, and the breadth eight hundred and forty; and that, in addition to these, there is Mesopotamia, which, taken by itself, is bounded on the east by the Tigris, on the west by the Euphrates, on the north by the chain of Taurus, and on the south by the Persian Sea, being eight hundred miles in length, and three hundred and sixty in breadth. Charax is a city situate at the furthest extremity of the Arabian Gulf, at which begins the more prominent portion of Arabia Felix: it is built on an artificial elevation, having the Tigris on the right, and the Eulæus on the left, and lies on a piece of ground three miles in extent, just between the confluence of those streams. It was first founded by Alexander the Great, with colonists from the royal city of Durine, which was then destroyed, and such of his soldiers as were invalided and left behind. By his order it was to be called Alexandria, and a borough called Pella, from his native place, was to be peopled solely by Macedonians; the city, however, was destroyed by inundations of the rivers. Antiochus, the fifth king of Syria, afterwards rebuilt this place and called it by his own name; and on its being again destroyed, Pasines, the son of Saggonadacus, and king of the neighbouring Arabians, whom Juba has incorrectly described as a satrap of king Antiochus, restored it, and raised embankments for its protection, calling it after himself. These embankments extended in length a distance of nearly three miles, in breadth a little less. It stood at first at a distance of ten stadia from the shore, and even had a harbour of its own. But according to Juba, it is fifty miles from the sea; and at the present day, the ambassadors from Arabia, and our own merchants who have visited the place, say that it stands at a distance of one hundred and twenty miles from the sea-shore. Indeed, in no part of the world have alluvial deposits been formed more rapidly by the rivers, and to a greater extent than here; and it is only a matter of surprise that the tides, which run to a considerable distance beyond this city, do not carry them back again. At this place was born Dionysius, the most recent author of a description of the world; he was sent by the late emperor Augustus to gather all necessary information in the East, when his eldest son was about to set out for Armenia to take the command against the Parthians and Arabians. The fact has not escaped me, nor indeed have I forgotten, that at the beginning of this work I have remarked that each author appeared to be most accurate in the description of his own country; still, while I am speaking of these parts of the world, I prefer to follow the discoveries made by the Roman arms, and the description given by king Juba, in his work dedicated to Caius Cæsar above-mentioned, on the subject of the same expedition against Arabia.
 
6 - 32 ARABIA M
Arabia, inferior to no country throughout the whole world, is of immense extent, running downwards, as we have previously stated, from Mount Amanus, over against Cilicia and Commagene; many of the Arabian nations having been removed to those countries by Tigranes the Great, while others again have migrated of their own accord to the shores of our sea and the coast of Egypt, as we have already mentioned. The Nubei have even penetrated as far as Mount Libanus in the middle of Syria; in their turn they are bounded by the Ramisi, these by the Taranei, and these again by the Patami.
As for Arabia itself, it is a peninsula, running out between the Red and the Persian Seas; and it is by a kind of design, apparently on the part of nature, that it is surrounded by the sea in such a manner as to resemble very much the form and size of Italy, there being no difference either in the climate of the two countries, as they lie in the same latitudes. This, too, renders it equally fertile with the countries of Italy. We have already mentioned its peoples, which extend from our sea as far as the deserts of Palmyrene, and we shall now proceed to a description of the remainder. The Scenitæ, as we have already stated, border upon the Nomades and the tribes that ravage the territories of Chaldæa, being themselves of wandering habits, and receiving their name from the tents which constitute their dwellings; these are made of goats' hair, and they pitch them wherever they please. Next after them are the Nabatæi, who have a city called Petra, which lies in a deep valley, somewhat less than two miles in width, and surrounded by inaccessible mountains, between which a river flows: it is distant from the city of Gaza, on our shores, six hundred miles, and from the Persian Gulf one hundred and thirty-five. At this place two roads meet, the one leading from Syria to Palmyra, and the other from Gaza. On leaving Petra we come to the Omani, who dwell as far as Charax, with their once famous cities which were built by Semiramis, Besannisa and Soractia by name; at the present day they are wildernesses. We next come to a city situate on the banks of the Pasitigris, Fora by name, and subject to the king of Charax: to this place people resort on their road from Petra, and sail thence to Charax, twelve miles distant, with the tide. If you are proceeding by water from the Parthian territories, you come to a village known as Teredon; and below the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, you have the Chaldæi dwelling on the left side of the river, and the Nomadic tribes of the Scenitæ on the right. Some writers also make mention of two other cities situate at long intervals, as you sail along the Tigris, Barbatia, and then Thumata, distant from Petra, they say, ten days' sail; our merchants report that these places are subject to the king of Charax. The same writers also state, that Apamea is situate where the overflow of the Euphrates unites with the Tigris; and that when the Parthians meditate an incursion, the inhabitants dam up the river by embankments, and so inundate their country. We will now proceed to describe the coast after leaving Charax, which was first explored by order of king Epiphanes. We first come to the place where the mouth of the Euphrates formerly existed, the river Salsus, and the Promontory of Chaldone, from which spot, the sea along the coast, for an extent of fifty miles, bears more the aspect of a series of whirlpools than of ordinary sea; the river Achenus, and then a desert tract for a space of one hundred miles, until we come to the island of Ichara; the gulf of Capeus, on the shores of which dwell the Gaulopes and the Chateni, and then the gulf of Gerra. Here we find the city of Gerra, five miles in circumference, with towers built of square blocks of salt. Fifty miles from the coast, lying in the interior, is the region of At- tene, and opposite to Gerra is the island of Tylos, as many miles distant from the shore; it is famous for the vast number of its pearls, and has a town of the same name; in its vicinity there is a smaller island, distant from a promontory on the larger one twelve miles and a half. They say that beyond this large islands may be seen, upon which no one has ever landed: the circumference of the smaller island is one hundred and twelve miles and a half; and it is more than that distance from the Persian coast, being accessible by only one narrow channel. We then come to the island of Asclie, and the nations of the Nocheti, the Zurazi, the Borgodi, the Catharrei, the Nomades, and then the river Cynos. Beyond this, the navigation is impracticable on that side, according to Juba, on account of the rocks; and he has omitted all mention of Batrasave, a town of the Omani, and of the city of Omana, which former writers have made out to be a famous port of Carmania; as also of Homna and Attana, towns which at the present day, our merchants say, are by far the most famous ones in the Persian Sea. Passing the river Cynos, there is a mountain, Juba says, that bears marks of the action of fire; also, the nation of the Epimaranitæ, then a nation of Ichthyophagi, and then a desert island, and the nation of the Bathymi. We then come to the Eblitæan Mountains, the island of Omoënus, the port of Mochorbe, the islands of Etaxalos and Inchobrice, and the nation of the Cadæi. There are many islands also that have no name, but the better known ones are Isura, Rhinnea, and another still nearer the shore, upon which there are some stone pillars with an inscription in unknown characters. There are also the port of Gobœa, the desert islands called Bragæ, the nation of the Thaludæi, the region of Dabanegoris, Mount Orsa, with a harbour, the gulf of Duatus, with numerous islands, Mount Tricoryphos, the region of Cardaleon, and the islands called Solanades, Cachinna, and that of the Ichthyophagi. We then find the Clari, the shore of Mamæum, on which there are gold mines, the region of Canauna, the nations of the Apitami and the Casani, the island of Devade, the fountain of Coralis, the Carphati, the islands of Calaëu and Amnamethus, and the nation of the Darræ. Also, the island of Chelonitis, numerous islands of Ichthyophagi, the deserts of Odanda, Basa, many islands of the Sabæi, the rivers Thanar and Amnume, the islands of Dorice, and the fountains of Daulotos and Dora. We find also the islands of Pteros, Labatanis, Coboris, and Sambrachate, with a town of the same name on the mainland. Lying to the south are a great number of islands, the largest of which is Camari; also the river Musecros, and the port of Laupas. We then come to the Sabæi, a nation of Scenitæ, with numerous islands, and the city of Acila, which is their mart, and from which persons embark for India. We next come to the region of Amithos- cutta. Damnia, the Greater and the Lesser Mizi, and the Drimati. The promontory of the Naumachæi, over against Carmania, is distant from it fifty miles. A wonderful circumstance is said to have happened here; Numenius, who was made governor of Mesena by king Antiochus, while fighting against the Persians, defeated them at sea, and at low water, by land, with an army of cavalry, on the same day; in memory of which event he erected a twofold trophy on the same spot, in honour of Jupiter and Neptune. Opposite to this place, in the main sea, lies the island of Ogyris, famous for being the burial-place of king Erythras; it is distant from the mainland one hundred and twenty miles, being one hundred and twelve in circumference. No less famous is another island, called Dioscoridu, and lying in the Azanian Sea; it is distant two hundred and eighty miles from the extreme point of the Promontory of Syagrus. The remaining places and nations on the mainland, lying still to the south, are the Ausaritæ, to whose country it is seven days' journey among the mountains, the nations of the Larendani and the Catabani, and the Gebanitæ, who occupy a great number of towns, the largest of which are Nagia, and Thomna with sixty-five temples, a number which fully bespeaks its size. We then come to a promontory, from which to the mainland of the Troglodytæ it is fifty miles, and then the Thoani, the Actæi, the Chatramotitæ, the Tonabei, the Antidalei, the Lexianæ, the Agræi, the Cerbani, and the Sabæi, the best known of all the tribes of Arabia, on account of their frankincense; these nations extend from sea to sea. The towns which belong to them on the Red Sea are Marane, Marma, Corolia, and Sabatha; and in the interior, Nascus, Cardava, Carnus, and Thomala, from which they bring down their spices for exportation. One portion of this nation is the Atramitæ, whose capital, Sabota, has sixty temples within its walls. But the royal city of all these nations is Mariaba; it lies upon a bay, ninety-four miles in extent, and filled with islands that produce perfumes. Lying in the interior, and joining up to the Atramitæ, are the Mitæi; are the Minæ; the Elamitæ dwell on the sea-shore, in a city from which they take their name. Next to these are the Chaculatæ; then the town of Sibi, by the Greeks called Apate; the Arsi, the Codani, the Vadei, who dwell in a large town, the Barasasæi, the Lechieni, and the island of Sygaros, into the interior of which no dogs are admitted, and so being exposed on the sea shore, they wander about there and are left to die. We then come to a gulf which runs far into the interior, upon which are situate the Lænitæ, who have given to it their name; also their royal city of Agra, and upon the gulf that of Læana, or as some call it Ælana; indeed, by some of our writers this has been called the Ælanitic Gulf, and by others again, the Ælenitic; Artemidorus calls it the Alenitic, and Juba the Lænitic. The circumference of Arabia, measured from Charax to Læana, is said to be four thousand six hundred and sixty-six miles, but Juba thinks that it is somewhat less than four thousand. Its widest part is at the north, between the cities of Heroopolis and Charax. We will now mention the remaining places and peoples of the interior of Arabia. Up to the Nabatæi the ancients joined the Thimanei; at present they have next to them the Taveni, and then the Suelleni, the Arraeeni, and the Areni, whose town is the centre of all the commerce of these parts. Next come the Hemnatæ, the Aualitæ, the towns of Domata and Hegra, the Tamudæi, with the town of Badanatha, the Carrei, with the town of Cariati, the Achoali, with the town of Foth, and the Minæi, who derive their origin, it is supposed, from Minos, king of Crete, and of whom the Carmæi are a tribe. Next comes a town, fourteen miles distant, called Marippa, and belonging to the Palamaces, a place by no means to be overlooked, and then Carnon. The Rhadamæi also—these too are supposed to derive their origin from Rhadamanthus, the brother of Minos—the Homeritæ, with their city of Masala, the Hamirei, the Gedranitæ, the Amphyræ, the Ilisanitæ, the Bachilitæ, the Samnæi, the Amitei, with the towns of Nessa and Cennesseris, the Zamareni, with the towns of Sagiatta and Canthace, the Bacascami, the town of Riphearma, the name by which they call barley, the Autei, the Ethravi, the Cyrei and the Mathatræi, the Helmodenes, with the town of Ebode, the Agacturi, dwelling in the mountains, with a town twenty miles distant, in which is a fountain called Ænuscabales, which signifies "the town of the camels." Ampelome also, a Milesian colony, the town of Athrida, the Calingii, whose city is called Mariva, and signifies "the lord of all men;" the towns of Palon and Murannimal, near a river by which it is thought that the Euphrates discharges itself, the nations of the Agrei and the Ammonii, the town of Athenæ, the Caunaravi, a name which signifies "most rich in herds," the Coranitæ, the Œsani, and the Choani. Here were also formerly the Greek towns of Arethusa, Larisa, and Chalcis, which have been destroyed in various wars. Ælius Gallus, a member of the Equestrian order, is the sole person who has hitherto carried the Roman arms into these lands, for Caius Cæsar, the son of Augustus, only had a distant view of Arabia. In his expedition, Gallus destroyed the following towns, the names of which are not given by the authors who had written before his time, Negrana, Nestum, Nesca, Masugum, Caminacum, Labecia, and Mariva above- mentioned, six miles in circumference, as also Caripeta, the furthest point of his expedition. He brought back with him the following discoveries—that the Nomades live upon milk and the flesh of wild beasts, and that the other nations, like the Indians, extract a sort of wine from the palm-tree, and oil from sesame. He says that the most numerous of these tribes are the Homeritæ and the Minæi, that their lands are fruitful in palms and shrubs, and that their chief wealth is centred in their flocks. We also learn from the same source that the Cerbani and the Agræi excel in arms, but more particularly the Chatramotitæ; that the territories of the Carrei are the most extensive and most fertile; but that the Sabæi are the richest of all in the great abundance of their spice-bearing groves, their mines of gold, their streams for irrigation, and their ample produce of honey and wax. Of their perfumes we shall have to treat more at large in the Book devoted to that subject. The Arabs either wear the mitra, or else go with their hair unshorn, while the beard is shaved, except upon the upper lip: some tribes, however, leave even the beard unshaved. A singular thing too, one half of these almost innumerable tribes live by the pursuits of commerce, the other half by rapine: take them all in all, they are the richest nations in the world, seeing that such vast wealth flows in upon them from both the Roman and the Parthian Empires; for they sell the produce of the sea or of their forests, while they purchase nothing whatever in return.
 
6 - 33 GULFS OF THE RED SEA M
We will now trace the rest of the coast that lies opposite to that of Arabia. Timosthenes has estimated the length of the whole gulf at four days' sail, and the breadth at two, making the Straits to be seven miles and a half in width. Eratosthenes says that the length of the shore from the mouth of the gulf is thirteen hundred miles on each side, while Artemidorus states that the length on the Arabian side is seventeen hundred and fifty miles, (.) and that along the Troglodytic coast, to Ptolemais, the distance is eleven hundred and thirty-seven and a half. Agrippa, however, maintains that there is no difference whatever in the length of the two sides, and makes it seventeen hundred and twenty-two miles. Most writers mention the length as being four hundred and seventy-five miles, and make the Straits to face the southeast, being twelve miles wide according to some, fifteen according to others.
The localities of this region are as follow: On passing the Ælanitic Gulf there is another gulf, by the Arabians called Sœa, upon which is situate the city of Heroön. The town of Cambysu also stood here formerly, between the Neli and the Marchades, Cambyses having established there the invalids of his army. We then come to the nation of the Tyri, and the port of the Danei, from which place an attempt has been made to form a navigable canal to the river Nile, at the spot where it enters the Delta previously mentioned, the distance between the river and the Red Sea being sixty-two miles. This was contemplated first of all by Sesostris, king of Egypt, afterwards by Darius, king of the Persians, and still later by Ptolemy II., who also made a canal, one hundred feet in width and forty deep, extending a distance of thirty-seven miles and a half, as far as the Bitter Springs. He was deterred from proceeding any further with this work by apprehensions of an inundation, upon finding that the Red Sea was three cubits higher than the land in the interior of Egypt. Some writers, however, do not allege this as the cause, but say that his reason was, a fear lest, in consequence of introducing the sea, the water of the Nile might be spoilt, that being the only source from which the Egyptians obtain water for drinking. Be this as it may, the whole of the journey from the Egyptian Sea is usually performed by land one of the three following ways:—Either from Pelusium across the sands, in doing which the only method of finding the way is by means of reeds fixed in the earth, the wind immediately effacing all traces of footsteps: by the route which begins two miles beyond Mount Casius, and at a distance of sixty miles enters the road from Pelusium, adjoining to which road the Arabian tribe of the Autei dwell; or else by a third route, which leads from Gerrum, and which they call Adipsos, passing through the same Arabians, and shorter by nearly sixty miles, but running over rugged mountains and through a district destitute of water. All these roads lead to Arsinoë, a city founded in honour of his sister's name, upon the Gulf of Carandra, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was the first to explore Troglodytice, and called the river which flows before Arsinoë by the name of Ptolemæus. After this comes the little town of Enum, by some writers mentioned as Philotera; next to which are the Abasæi, a nation sprung from intermarriages with the Troglodytæ, then some wild Arabian tribes, the islands of Sapirine and Scytala, and after these, deserts as far as Myoshormon, where we find the fountain of Tatnos, Mount Æas, the island of Iambe, and numerous harbours. Berenice also, is here situate, so called after the name of the mother of Philadelphus, and to which there is a road from Coptos, as we have previously stated; then the Arabian Autei, and the Zebadei.
 
6 - 34 TROGLODYTICE
Troglodytice comes next, by the ancients called Midoë, and by some Michoë; here is Mount Pentedactylos, some islands called Stenæ Deiræ, the Halonnesi, a group of islands not less in number, Cardamine, and Topazos, which last has given its name to the precious stone so called. The gulf is full of islands; those known as Mareu are supplied with fresh water, those called Erenos, are without it; these were ruled by governors appointed by the kings. In the interior are the Candei, also called Ophiophagi, a people in the habit of eating serpents; there is no region in existence more productive of them.
Juba, who appears to have investigated all these matters with the greatest diligence, has omitted, in his description of these regions—unless, indeed, it be an error in the copying—another place called Berenice and surnamed Panchrysos, as also a third surnamed Epidires, and remarkable for the peculiarity of its site; for it lies on a long projecting neck of land, at the spot where the Straits at the mouth of the Red Sea separate the coast of Africa from Arabia by a distance of seven miles only: here too is the island of Cytis, which also produces the topaz. Beyond this are forests, in which is Ptolemais, built by Philadelphus for the chase of the elephant, and thence called Epitheras, situate near Lake Monoleus. This is the same region that has been already mentioned by us in the Second Book, and in which, during forty-five days before the summer solstice and for as many after, there is no shadow at the sixth hour, and during the other hours of the day it falls to the south; while at other times it falls to the north; whereas at the Berenice of which we first made mention, on the day of the summer solstice the shadow totally disappears at the sixth hour, but no other unusual phænomenon is observed. That place is situate at a distance of six hundred and two miles from Ptolemais, which has thus become the subject of a remarkable theory, and has promoted the exercise of a spirit of the most profound investigation; for it was at this spot that the extent of the earth was first ascertained, it being the fact that Erastosthenes, beginning at this place by the accurate calculation of the length of the shadow, was enabled to determine with exactness the dimensions of the earth. After passing this place we come to the Azanian Sea, a promontory by some writers called Hispalus, Lake Mandalum, and the island of Colocasitis, with many others lying out in the main sea, upon which multitudes of turtles are found. We then come to the town of Suche, the island of Daphnidis, and the town of the Adulitæ, a place founded by Egyptian runaway slaves. This is the principal mart for the Troglodyte, as also for the people of Æthiopia: it is distant from Ptolemais five days' sail. To this place they bring ivory in large quantities, horns of the rhinoceros, hides of the hippopotamus, tortoise-shell, sphingiæ, and slaves. Beyond the Æthiopian Aroteræ are the islands known by the name of Aliæu, as also those of Bacchias, Antibacchias, and Stratioton. After passing these, on the coast of Æthiopia, there is a gulf which remains unexplored still; a circumstance the more to be wondered at, seeing that merchants have pursued their investigations to a greater distance than this. We then come to a promontory, upon which there is a spring called Cucios, much resorted to by mariners. Beyond it is the Port of Isis, distant ten days' rowing from the town of the Adulitæ: myrrh is brought to this port by the Troglodytæ. The two islands before the harbour are called Pseudepylæ, and those in it, the same in number, are known as Pylæ; upon one of these there are some stone columns inscribed with unknown characters. Beyond these is the Gulf of Abalites, the island of Diodorus, and other desert islands; also, on the mainland, a succession of deserts, and then the town of Gaza, and the promontory and port of Mossylum, to the latter of which cinnamon is brought for exportation: it was thus far that Sesostris led his army. Some writers place even beyond this, upon the shore, one town of Ethiopia, called Baricaza. Juba will have it that at the Promontory of Mossylum the Atlantic Sea begins, and that with a north-west wind we may sail past his native country, the Mauritanias, and arrive at Gades. We ought not on this occasion to curtail any portion of the opinions so expressed by him. He says that after we pass the promontory of the Indians, known as Lepteacra, and by others called Drepanum, the distance, in a straight line, beyond the island of Exusta and Malichu, is fifteen hundred miles; from thence to a place called Sceneos two hundred and twenty-five; and from thence to the island of Adanu one hundred and fifty miles; so that the dis- tance to the open sea is altogether eighteen hundred and seventy-five miles. All the other writers, however, are of opinion that, in consequence of the intensity of the sun's heat, this sea is not navigable; added to which, commerce is greatly exposed to the depredations of a piratical tribe of Arabians called Ascitæ, who dwell upon the islands: placing two inflated skins of oxen beneath a raft of wood, they ply their piratical vocation with the aid of. poisoned arrows. We learn also from the same author that some nations of the Troglodytae have the name of Therothoæ, being so called from their skill in hunting. They are remarkable for their swiftness, he says, just as the Ichthyophagi are, who can swim like the animals whose element is the sea. He speaks also of the Bangeni, the Gangoræ, the Chalybes, the Xoxinæ, the Sirechæ, the Daremæ, and the Domazames. Juba states, too, that the inhabitants who dwell on the banks of the Nile from Syene as far as Meroë, are not a people of Æthiopia, but Arabians; and that the city of the Sun, which we have mentioned as situate not far from Memphis, in our description of Egypt, was founded by Arabians. There are some writers who take away the further bank of the Nile from Æthiopia, and unite it to Africa; and they people its sides with tribes attracted thither by its water. We shall leave these matters, however, to the option of each, to form his opinion on them, and shall now proceed to mention the towns on each side in the order in which they are given.
 
6 - 35 ETHIOPIA
On leaving Syene, and taking first the Arabian side, we find the nation of the Catadupi, then the Syenitæ, and the town of Tacompsos, by some called Thatice, as also Aramasos, Sesamos, Sanduma, Masindomacam, Arabeta and Boggia, Leupitorga, Tantarene, Mecindita, Noa, Gloploa, Gystate, Megada, Lea, Renni, Nups, Direa, Patiga, Bacata, Dumana, Rhadata, at which place a golden cat was worshipped as a god, Boron, in the interior, and Mallos, near Meroë; this is the account given by Bion.
Juba, however, gives another account; he says that there is a city on Mount Megatichos, which lies between Egypt and Ethiopia, by the Arabians known as Myrson, after which come Tacompsos, Aramus, Sesamos, Pide, Mamuda, Orambis, situate near a stream of bitumen, Amodita, Prosda, Parenta, Mama, Tesatta, Gallas, Zoton, Graucome, Emeus, the Pidibotæ, the Hebdomecontacometæ, Nomades, who dwell in tents, Cyste, Macadagale, Proaprimis, Nups, Detrelis, Patis, the Ganbreves, the Magasnei, Segasmala, Crandala, Denna, Cadeuma, Thena, Batta, Alana, Mascoa, the Scamini, Hora, situate on an island, and then Abala, Androgalis, Sesecre, the Malli, and Agole. On the African side we find mentioned, either what is another place with the same name of Tacompsos, or else a part of the one before-mentioned, and after it Moggore, Sæa, Edos, Plenariæ, Pinnis, Magassa, Buma, Linthuma, Spintum, Sydop, the Censi, Pindicitora, Acug, Orsum, Sansa, Maumarum, Urbim, the town of Molum, by the Greeks called Hypaton, Pagoarca, Zmanes, at which point elephants begin to be found, the Mambli, Berressa, and Acetuma; there was formerly a town also called Epis, over against Meroë, which had, however, been destroyed before Bion wrote. These are the names of places given as far as Meroë: but at the present day hardly any of them on either side of the river are in existence; at all events, the prætorian troops that were sent by the Emperor Nero under the command of a tribune, for the purposes of enquiry, when, among his other wars, he was contemplating an expedition against Æthiopia, brought back word that they had met with nothing but deserts on their route. The Roman arms also penetrated into these regions in the time of the late Emperor Augustus, under the command of P. Petronius, a man of Equestrian rank, and prefect of Egypt. That general took the following cities, the only ones we now find mentioned there, in the following order; Pselcis, Primis, Abuncis, Phthuris, Cambusis, Atteva, and Stadasis, where the river Nile, as it thunders down the precipices, has quite deprived the in- habitants of the power of hearing: he also sacked the town of Napata. The extreme distance to which he penetrated beyond Syene was nine hundred and seventy miles; but still. it was not the Roman arms that rendered these regions a desert. Æthiopia, in its turn gaining the mastery, and then again reduced to servitude, was at last worn out by its con- tinual wars with Egypt, having been a famous and powerful country even at the time of the Trojan war, when Memnon was its king; it is also very evident from the fabulous stories about Andromeda, that it ruled over Syria in the time of king Cepheus, and that its sway extended as far as the shores of our sea. In a similar manner, also, there have been conflicting accounts as to the extent of this country: first by Dalion, who travelled a considerable distance beyond Meroë, and after him by Aristocreon and Basilis, as well as the younger Simonides, who made a stay of five years at Meroë, when he wrote his account of Æthiopia. Timosthenes, however, the commander of the fleets of Philadelphus, without giving any other estimate as to the distance, says that Meroë is sixty days' journey from Syene; while Eratosthenes states that the distance is six hundred and twenty-five miles, and Artemidorus six hundred. Sebosus says that from the extreme point of Egypt, the distance to Meroë is sixteen hundred and seventy-five miles, while the other writers last mentioned make it twelve hundred and fifty. All these differences, however, have since been settled; for the persons sent by Nero for the purposes of discovery have reported that the distance from Syene to Meroë is eight hundred and seventy-one miles, the following being the items. From Syene to Hiera Sycaminos they make to be fifty-four miles, from thence to Tama seventy-two, to the country of the Evonymitæ, the first region of Æthiopia, one hundred and twenty, to Acina fifty-four, to Pittara twenty-five, and to Tergedus one hundred and six. They state also that the island of Gagaudes lies at an equal distance from Syene and Meroë, and that it is at this place that the bird called the parrot was first seen; while at another island called Articula, the animal known as the sphingium was first discovered by them, and after passing Tergedus, the cynocephalus. The distance from thence to Napata is eighty miles, that little town being the only one of all of them that now survives. From thence to the island of Meroë the distance is three hundred and sixty miles. They also state that the grass in the vicinity of Meroë becomes of a greener and fresher colour, and that there is some slight appearance of forests, as also traces of the rhinoceros and elephant. They reported also that the city of Meroë stands at a distance of seventy miles from the first entrance of the island of Meroë, and that close to it is another island, Tadu by name, which forms a harbour facing those who enter the right hand channel of the river. The buildings in the city, they said, were but few in number, and they stated that a female, whose name was Candace, ruled over the district, that name having passed from queen to queen for many years. They related also that there was a temple of Jupiter Hammon there, held in great veneration, besides smaller shrines erected in honour of him throughout all the country. In addition to these particulars, they were informed that in the days of the Æthiopian dominion, the island of Meroe enjoyed great renown, and that, according to tradition, it was in the habit of maintaining two hundred thousand armed men, and four thousand artisans. The kings of Æthiopia are said even at the present day to be forty-five in number. (.) The whole of this country has successively had the names of Ætheria, Atlantia, and last of all, Æthiopia, from Æthiops, the son of Vulcan. It is not at all surprising that towards the extremity of this region the men and animals assume a monstrous form, when we consider the changeableness and volubility of fire, the heat of which is the great agent in imparting various forms and shapes to bodies. Indeed, it is reported that in the interior, on the eastern side, there is a people that have no noses, the whole face presenting a plane surface; that others again are destitute of the upper lip, and others are without tongues. Others again, have the mouth grown together, and being destitute of nostrils, breathe through one passage only, imbibing their drink through it by means of the hollow stalk of the oat, which there grows spontaneously and supplies them with its grain for food. Some of these nations have to employ gestures by nodding the head and moving the limbs, instead of speech. Others again were unacquainted with the use of fire before the time of Ptolemy Lathyrus, king of Egypt. Some writers have also stated that there is a nation of Pygmies, which dwells among the marshes in which the river Nile takes its rise; while on the coast of, Æthiopia, where we paused, there is a range of mountains, of a red colour, which have the appearance of being always burning. All the country, after we pass Meroë, is bounded by the Troglodytæ and the Red Sea, it being three days' journey from Napata to the shores of that sea; throughout the whole of this district the rain water is carefully preserved at several places, while the country that lies between is extremely productive of gold. The parts beyond this are inhabited by the Adabuli, a nation of Æthiopia; and here, over against Meroë, are the Megabarri, by some writers called the Adiabari; they occupy the city of Apollo; some of them, however, are Nomades, living on the flesh of elephants. Opposite to them, on the African side, dwell the Macrobii, and then again, beyond the Megabarri, there are the Memnones and the Dabeli, and, at a distance of twenty days' journey, the Critensi. Beyond these are the Dochi, and then the Gymnetes, who always go naked; and after them the Andetæ, the Mothitæ, the Mesaches, and the Ipsodoræ, who are of a black tint, but stain the body all over with a kind of red earth. On the African side again there are the Medimni, and then a nation of Nomades, who live on the milk of the cynocephalus, and then the Aladi and the Syrbotæ, which last are said to be eight cubits in height. Aristocreon informs us that on the Libyan side, at a distance of five days' journey from Meroë, is the town of Tolles, and then at a further distance of twelve days' journey, Esar, a town founded by the Egyptians who fled from Psammetichus; he states also that they dwelt there for a period of three hundred years, and that opposite, on the Arabian side, there is a town of theirs called Daron. The town, however, which he calls Esar, is by Bion called Sape, who says that the name means "the strangers:" their capital being Sembobitis, situate on an island, and a third place of theirs, Sinat in Arabia. Between the mountains and the river Nile are the Simbarri, tile Palugges, and, on the mountains themselves, the Asachæ, who are divided into numerous peoples; they are said to be distant five days' journey from the sea, and to procure their subsistence by the chase of the elephant. An island in the Nile, which belongs to the Semberritæ, is governed by a queen; beyond it are the Æthiopian Nubei, at a distance of eight days' journey: their town is Tenupsis, situate on the Nile. There are the Sesambri also, a people among whom all the quadrupeds are without ears, the very elephants even. On the African side are the Tonobari, the Ptoenphæ, a people who have a dog for their king, and divine from his movements what are his commands; the Auruspi, who have a town at a considerable distance from the Nile, and then the Archisarmi, the Phaliges, the Marigerri, and the Casmari. Bion makes mention also of some other towns situate on islands, the whole distance being twenty days' journey from Sembobitis to Meroë; a town in an adjoining island, under the queen of the Semberritæ, with another called Asara, and another, in a second island, called Darde. The name of a third island is Medoë, upon which is the town of Asel, and a fourth is called Garodes, with a town upon it of the same name. Passing thence along the banks of the Nile, are the towns of Navi, Modunda, Andatis, Secundum, Colligat, Secande, Navectabe, Cumi, Agrospi, Ægipa, Candrogari, Araba, and Summara. Beyond is the region of Sirbitum, at which the mountains terminate, and which by some writers is said to contain the maritime Æthiopians, the Nisacæthæ, and the Nisyti, a word which signifies "men with three or four eyes,"— not that the people really have that conformation, but because they are remarkable for the unerring aim of their arrows. On that side of the Nile which extends along the borders of the Southern Ocean beyond the Greater Syrtes, Dalion says that the people, who use rain-water only, are called the Cisori, and that the other nations are the Longompori, distant five days' journey from the Œcalices, the Usibalci, the Isbeli, the Perusii, the Ballii, and the Cispii, the rest being deserts, and inhabited by the tribes of fable only. In a more westerly direction are the Nigroæ, whose king has only one eye, and that in the forehead, the Agriophagi, who live principally on the flesh of panthers and lions, the Pamphagi, who will eat anything, the Anthropophagi, who live on human flesh, the Cynamolgi, a people with the heads of dogs, the Artabatitæ, who have four feet, and wander about after the manner of will beasts; and, after them, the Hesperiæ and the Perorsi, whom we have already spoken of as dwelling on the confines of Mauritania. Some tribes, too, of the Æthiopians subsist on nothing but locusts, which are smoke-dried and salted as their provision for the year; these people do not live beyond their fortieth year. M. Agrippa was of opinion that the length of the whole country of the Æthiopians, including the Red Sea, was two thousand one hundred and seventy miles, and its breadth, including Upper Egypt, twelve hundred and ninety-seven. Some authors again have made the following divisions of its length; from Meroë to Sirbitum eleven days' sail, from Sirbitum to the Dabelli fifteen days', and from them to the Æthiopian Ocean six days' journey. It is agreed by most authors, that the distance altogether, from the ocean to Meroë, is six hundred and twenty-five miles, and from Meroë to Syene, that which we have already mentioned. Æthiopia lies from south-east to south-west. Situate as it is, in a southern hemisphere, forests of ebony are to be seen of the brightest verdure; and in the midst of these regions there is a mountain of immense height, which overhangs the sea, and emits a perpetual flame. By the Greeks this mountain is called Theon Ochema, and at a distance of four days' sail from it is a promontory, known as Hesperu Ceras, upon the confines of Africa, and close to the Hesperiæ, an Æthiopian nation. There are some writers who affirm that in these regions there are hills of a moderate height, which afford a pleasant shade from the groves with which they are clad, and are the haunts of Ægipans and Satyrs.
 
6 - 36 ISLANDS OF THE ÆTHIOPIAN SEA M
We learn from Ephorus, as well as Eudoxus and Timosthenes, that there are great numbers of islands scattered all over this sea; Clitarchus says that king Alexander was informed of an island so rich that the inhabitants gave a talent of gold for a horse, and of another upon which there was found a sacred mountain, shaded with a grove, the trees of which emitted odours of wondrous sweetness; this last was situate over against the Persian Gulf. Cerne is the name of an island situate opposite to Æthiopia, the size of which has not been ascertained, nor yet its distance from the main land: it is said that its inhabitants are exclusively Æthiopians. Ephorus states that those who sail from the Red Sea into the Æthiopian Ocean cannot get beyond the Columnæ there, some little islands so called. Polybius says that Cerne is situate at the extremity of Mauritania, over against Mount Atlas, and at a distance of eight stadia from the land; while Cornelius Nepos states that it lies very nearly in the same meridian as Carthage, at a distance from the mainland of ten miles, and that it is not more than two miles in circumference. It is said also that there is another island situate over against Mount Atlas, being itself known by the name of Atlantis. Five days' sail beyond it there are deserts, as far as the Æthiopian Hesperiæ and the promontory, which we have mentioned as being called Hesperu Ceras, a point at which the face of the land first takes a turn towards the west and the Atlantic Sea. Facing this promontory are also said to be the islands called the Gorgades, the former abodes of the Gorgons, two days' sail from the mainland, according to Xenophon of Lampsacus. Hanno, a general of the Carthaginians, penetrated as far as these regions, and brought back an account that the bodies of the women were covered with hair, but that the men, through their swiftness of foot, made their escape; in proof of which singularity in their skin, and as evidence of a fact so miraculous, he placed the skins of two of these females in the temple of Juno, which were to be seen there until the capture of Carthage. Beyond these even, are said to be the two islands of the Hesperides; but so uncertain are all the accounts relative to this subject, that Statius Sebosus says that it is forty days' sail, past the coast of the Atlas range, from the islands of the Gorgons to those of the Hesperides, and one day's sail from these to the Hesperu Ceras. Nor have we any more certain information relative to the islands of Mauritania. We only know, as a fact well-ascertained, that some few were discovered by Juba over against the country of the Autololes, upon which he established a manufactory of Gætulian purple.
 
6 - 37 FORTUNATE ISLANDS M
There are some authors who think that beyond these are the Fortunate Islands, and some others; the number of which Sebosus gives, as well as the distances, informing us that Junonia is an island seven hundred and fifty miles distant from Gades. He states also that Pluvialia and Capraria are the same distance from Junonia, to the west; and that in Pluvi- alia the only fresh water to be obtained is rain water. He then states that at a distance of two hundred and fifty miles from these, opposite the left of Mauritania, and situate in the direction of the sun at the eighth hour, are the Fortunate Islands, one of which, from its undulating surface, has the name of Invallis, and another that of Planasia, from the peculiarity of its appearance. He states also that the circumference of Invallis is three hundred miles, and that trees grow to a height of one hundred and fourteen feet.
Relative to the Fortunate Islands, Juba has ascertained the following facts: that they are situate to the south in nearly a due westerly direction, and at a distance from the Purple Islands of six hundred and twenty-five miles, the sailing being made for two hundred and fifty miles due west, and then three hundred and seventy-five towards the east. He states that the first is called Ombrios, and that it presents no traces of buildings whatever; that among the mountains there is a lake, and some trees, which bear a strong resemblance to giant fennel, and from which water is extracted; that drawn from those that are black is of a bitter taste, but that produced by the white ones is agreeable and good for drinking. He states also that a second island has the name of Junonia, but that it contains nothing beyond a small temple of stone: also that in its vicinity there is another, but smaller, island of the same name, and then another called Capraria, which is infested by multitudes of huge lizards. According to the same author, in sight of these islands is Ninguaria, which has received that name from its perpetual snows; this island abounds also in fogs. The one next to it is Canaria; it contains vast multitudes of dogs of very large size, two of which were brought home to Juba: there are some traces of buildings to be seen here. While all these islands abound in fruit and birds of every kind, this one produces in great numbers the date palm which bears the caryota, also pine nuts. Honey too abounds here, and in the rivers papyrus, and the fish called silurus, are found. These islands, however, are greatly annoyed by the putrefying bodies of monsters, which are constantly thrown up by the sea.
 
6 - 38 COMPARATIVE DISTANCES OF PLACES ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH M
Having now fully described the earth, both without as well as within, it seems only proper that we should succinctly state the length and breadth of its various seas.
(.) Polybius has stated, that in a straight line from the Straits of Gades to the mouth of the Mæotis, it is a distance of three thousand four hundred and thirty-seven miles and a half, and that, starting from the same point, the distance in a straight line to Sicily is twelve hundred and fifty miles, from thence to Crete three hundred and seventy-five, to Rhodes one hundred and eighty-seven and a half, to the Chelidonian Islands the same distance, to Cyprus two hundred and twenty-five, and from thence to Seleucia Pieria, in Syria, one hundred and fifteen miles: the sum of all which distances amounts to two thousand three hundred and forty miles. Agrippa estimates this same distance, in a straight line from the Straits of Gades to the Gulf of Issus, at three thousand three hundred and forty miles; in which computation, however, I am not certain that there is not some error in the figures, seeing that the same author has stated that the distance from the Straits of Sicily to Alexandria is thirteen hundred and fifty miles. Taking the whole length of the sea-line throughout the gulfs above-men- tioned, and beginning at the same point, he makes it ten thousand and fifty-eight miles; to which number Artemidorus has added seven hundred and fifty-six: the same author, including in his calculation the shores of the Mæotis, makes the whole distance seventeen thousand three hundred and ninety miles. Such is the measurement given by men who have penetrated into distant countries, unaided by force of arms, and have, with a boldness that exhibits itself in the times of peace even, challenged, as it were, Fortune herself. I shall now proceed to compare the dimensions of the various parts of the earth, however great the difficulties which may arise from the discrepancy of the accounts given by various authors: the most convenient method, however, will be that of adding the breadth to the length. Following this mode of reckoning, the dimensions of Europe will be eight thousand two hundred and ninety-four miles; of Africa, to adopt a mean between all the various accounts given by authors, the length is three thousand seven hundred and ninety-four miles, while the breadth, so far as it is inhabited, in no part exceeds two hundred and fifty miles. But, as Agrippa, including its deserts, makes it from Cyrenaica, a part of it, to the country of the Garamantes, so far as was then known, a further distance of nine hundred and ten miles, the entire length, added together, will make a distance of four thousand six hundred and eight miles. The length of Asia is generally admitted to be six thousand three hundred and seventy-five miles, and the breadth, which ought, properly, to be reckoned from the Æthiopian Sea to Alexandria, near the river Nile, so as to run through Meroë and Syene, is eighteen hundred and seventy-five. It appears then that Europe is greater than Asia, by a little less than one half of Asia, and greater than Africa by as much again of Africa and one-sixth. If all these sums are added together, it will be clearly seen that Europe is one-third, and a little more than one-eighth part of one-third, Asia one-fourth and one-four- teenth part of one-fourth, and Africa, one-fifth and one-sixtieth part of one-fifth of the whole earth.
 
6 - 39 DIVISION OF THE EARTH INTO PARALLELS AND SHADOWS OF EQUAL LENGTH M
To the above we shall add even another instance of ingenious discovery by the Greeks, and indeed of the most minute skilfulness; that so nothing may be wanting to our investigation of the geographical divisions of the earth, and the various countries thereof which have been pointed out; that it may be the better understood, too, what affinity, or relationship as it were, exists between one region and another, in respect to the length of their days and nights, and in which of them the shadows are of equal length, and the distance from the pole is the same. I shall therefore give these particulars as well, and shall state the divisions of the whole earth in accordance with the various sections of the heavens. The lines or segments which divide the world are many in number; by our people they are known as "circuli" or circles, by the Greeks they are called "paralleli" or parallels.
(.) The first begins at that part of India which looks towards the south, and extends to Arabia and those who dwell upon the borders of the Red Sea. It embraces the Gedrosi, the Carmanii, the Persæ, the Elymæi, Parthyene, Aria, Susiane, Mesopotamia, Seleucia surnamed Babylonia, Arabia as far as Petra, Cœle Syria, Pelusium, the lower parts of Egypt called the Chora of Alexandria, the maritime parts of Africa, all the cities of Cyrenaica, Thapsus, Adrumetum, Clupea, Carthage, Utica, the two Hippo's, Numidia, the two Mauritanias, the Atlantic Sea, and the Pillars of Hercules. Within the meridian of this parallel, on the middle day of the equinox, the pin of the dial, usually called the gnomon, if seven feet in length, throws a shadow at mid-day no more than four feet long: the longest day and night are fourteen equinoctial hours respectively, the shortest being only ten. The next circle or parallel begins with the western parts of India, and runs through the middle of Parthia, through Persepolis, the nearer parts of Persis, the nearer Arabia, Judæa, and the people who live near Mount Libanus, and it embraces Babylon, Idumæa, Samaria, Hierosolyma, Ascalon, Joppa, Cæsarea in Phoenicia, Ptolemais, Sidon, Tyre, Berytus, Botrys, Tripolis, Byblus, Antiochia, Laodicea, Seleucia, the maritime parts of Cilicia, the southern parts of Cyprus, Crete, Lilybæum in Sicily, and the northern parts of Africa and Numidia. In these regions, at the time of the equinox, a gnomon of thirty-five feet in length gives only a shadow twenty-four feet long; and the longest day and night are respectively fourteen equinoctial hours, and one-fifth of an hour, in length. The third circle or parallel begins at the part of India which lies in the vicinity of Mount Imaiis, and runs through the Caspian Gates and the nearer parts of Media, Cataonia, (appadocia, Taurus, Amanus, Issus, the Passes of Cilicia, Soli, Tarsus, Cyprus, Pisidia, Side in Pamphylia, Lycaonia, Patara in Lycia, Xanthus, Caunus, Rhodes, Cos, Halicarnassus, Cnidos, Doris, Chios, Delos, the middle of the Cyclades, Gythium, Malea, Argos, Laconia, Elis, Olympia, Messenia in Peloponnesus, Syracuse, Catina, the middle of Sicily, the southern parts of Sardinia, Carteia, and Gades. A gnomon, one hundred inches in length, throws a shadow seventy-seven inches long; the length of the longest day is fourteen equinoctial hours and a half, plus one thirtieth of an hour. Under the fourth circle or parallel lie those parts of India which are on the other side of the Imaiis, the southern parts of Cappadocia, Galatia, Mysia, Sardis, Smyrna, Sipylus, Mount Tmolus, Lydia, Caria, Ionia, Tralles, Colophon, Ephesus, Miletus, Chios, Samos, the Icarian Sea, the northern part of the Cyclades, Athens, Megara, Corinth, Sicyon, Achaia, Patræ, the Isthmus, Epirus, the northern parts of Sicily, the eastern parts of Gallia Narbonensis, and the sea-coast of Spain, from New Carthage westward. In these districts a gnomon of twenty-one feet throws a shadow of sixteen feet in length; the longest day contains fourteen equinoctial hours and two-thirds of an hour. Under the fifth zone are included, from the entrance to the Caspian Sea, the Bactri, Iberia, Armenia, Mysia, Phrygia, the Hellespont, Troas, Tenedos, Abydos, Scepsis, Ilium, Mount Ida, Cyzicus, Lampsacus, Sinope, Amisus, Heraclea in Pontus, Paphlagonia, Lemnos, Imbros, Thasos, Cassandria, Thessaly, Macedonia, Larissa, Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, Edessa, Berœa, Pharsalia, Carystus, Eubœa in Bœotia, Chalcis, Delphi, Acarnania, Ætolia, Apollonia, Brudisium, Tarentum, Thurii, Locri, Rhegium, the Lucani, Neapolis, Puteoli, the Tuscan Sea, Corsica, the Balearic Islands, and the middle of Spain. A gnomon, seven feet in length, in these countries gives a shadow of six feet, and the length of the day is fifteen equinoctial hours. The sixth division, in which Rome is included, embraces the Caspian nations, Caucasus, the northern parts of Armenia, Apollonia on the Rhyndacus, Nicomedia, Nicæa, Chalcedon, Byzantium, Lysimachia, the Chersonnesus, the Gulf of Melas, Abdera, Samothracia, Maronea, Ænus, Bessica, Thracia, Mædica, Pæonia, the Illyrii, Dyrrhachium, Canusium, the extreme parts of Apulia, Campania, Etruria, Pisæ, Luna, Luca, Genua, Liguria, Antipolis, Massilia, Narbo, Tarraco, the middle parts of Hispania Tarraconensis, and thence through Lusitania. A gnomon of nine feet here throws a shadow eight feet long; the greatest length of the day is fifteen equinoctial hours, plus one-ninth part of an hour, or, according to Nigidius, one-fifth. The seventh division begins on the other side of the Caspian Sea, and the line runs above Callatis, and through the Bosporus, the Borysthenes, Tomi, the back part of Thrace, the Triballi, the remainder of Illyricum, the Adriatic Sea, Aquileia, Altinum, Venetia, Vicetia, Patavium, Verona, Cremona, Ravenna, Ancona, Picenum, the Marsi, the Peligni, the Sabini, Umbria, Ariminum, Bononia, Placentia, Mediolanum, all the districts at the foot of the Apennines, and, beyond the Alps, Gallia Aquitanica, Vienna, the Pyrenæan range, and Celtiberia. A gnomon thirty-five feet in length here throws a shadow of thirty-six feet, except in some parts of Venetia, where the shadow just equals the length of the gnomon; the longest day is fifteen equinoctial hours, plus three-fifths of an hour. Thus far we have set forth the results of observations made by the ancients. The remaining part of the earth has been divided, through the careful researches of those of more recent times, by three additional parallels. The first runs from the Tanais through the Mæotis and the country of the Sarmatæ, as far as the Borysthenes, and so through the Daci and part of Germany, and the Gallic provinces, as far as the shores of the ocean, the longest day being sixteen hours. The second parallel runs through the country of the Hyperborei and the island of Britannia, the longest day being seventeen hours in length. The last of all is the Scythian parallel, which runs from the Riphæan range to Thule, in which, as we have already stated, the year is divided into days and nights alternately, of six months' duration. The same authors have also placed before the first parallel, which we have here given, two other parallels or circles; the first running through the island of Meroë and the city of Ptolemais which was built on the Red Sea for the chase of the elephant; where the longest day is twelve hours and a half in length; and the second passing through Syene in Egypt, in which the longest day is thirteen hours in length. The same authors have also added half an hour to each of the parallels, till they come to the last. Thus far on the Geography of the earth. SUMMARY.—Towns mentioned, eleven hundred and ninety-four. Nations, five hundred and seventy-six. Noted rivers, one hundred and fifteen. Famous mountains, thirty-eight. Islands, one hundred and eight. Peoples or towns no longer in existence, ninety-five. Remarkable events, narratives, and observations, two thousand two hundred and fourteen. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M.Agrippa, M. Varro, Varro Atacinus, Cornelius Nepos, Hyginus, L. Vetus, Mela Pomponius, Domitius Corbulo, Licinius Mucianus, Claudius Cæsar, Arruntius, Sebosus, Fabricius Tuscus, T. Livius, Seneca, Nigidius. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—King Juba, Hecatæus, Hellenicus, Damastes, Eudoxus, Dicæarchus, Bæton, Timosthenes, Patrocles, Demodamas, Clitarchus, Eratosthenes, Alexander the Great, Ephorus, Hipparchus, Panætius, Callimachus, Artemidorus, Apol- lodorus, Agathocles, Polybius, Eumachus, Timæus Siculus, Alexander Polyhistor, Isidorus, Amometus, Metrodorus, Posidonius, Onesicritus, Nearchus, Megasthenes, Diognetus, Aristocreon, Bion, Dalion, the Younger Simonides, Basilis, Xenophon of Lampsacus.
 
  7 MAN, HIS BIRTH, HIS ORGANIZATION, & INVENTION OF ARTS M 107  
7 - 1 MAN M
SUCH then is the present state of the world, and of the countries, nations, more remarkable seas, islands, and cities which it contains. The nature of the animated beings which exist upon it, is hardly in any degree less worthy of our contemplation than its other features; if, indeed, the human mind is able to embrace the whole of so diversified a subject. Our first attention is justly due to Man, for whose sake all other things appear to have been produced by Nature; though, on the other hand, with so great and so severe penalties for the enjoyment of her bounteous gifts, that it is far from easy to determine, whether she has proved to him a kind parent, or a merciless step-mother.
In the first place, she obliges him alone, of all animated beings, to clothe himself with the spoils of the others; while, to all the rest, she has given various kinds of coverings, such as shells, crusts, spines, hides, furs, bristles, hair, down, feathers, scales, and fleeces. The very trunks of the trees even, she has protected against the effects of heat and cold by a bark, which is, in some cases, twofold. Man alone, at the very moment of his birth cast naked upon the laked earth, does she abandon to cries, to lamentations, and, a thing that is the case with no other animal whatever, to tears: this, too, from the very moment that he enters upon existence. But as for laughter, why, by Hercules!—to laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity. Introduced thus to the light, man has fetters and swathings instantly put upon all his limbs, a thing that falls to the lot of none of the brutes even that are born among us. Born to such singular good fortune, there lies the animal, which is destined to command all the others, lies, fast bound hand and foot, and weeping aloud! such being the penalty which he has to pay on beginning life, and that for the sole fault of having been born. Alas! for the folly of those who can think after such a beginning as this, that they have been born for the display of vanity! The earliest presage of future strength, the earliest bounty of time, confers upon him nought but the resemblance to a quadruped. How soon does man gain the power of walking? How soon does he gain the faculty of speech? How soon is his mouth fitted for mastication? How long are the pulsations of the crown of his head to proclaim him the weakest of all ani- mated beings? And then, the diseases to which he is subject, the numerous remedies which he is obliged to devise against his maladies, and those thwarted every now and then by new forms and features of disease. While other animals have an instinctive knowledge of their natural powers; some, of their swiftness of pace, some of their rapidity of flight, and some again of their power of swimming; man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught; he can neither speak, nor walk, nor eat, and, in short, he can do nothing, at the prompting of nature only, but weep. For this it is, that many have been of opinion, that it were better not to have been born, or if born, to have been annihilated at the earliest possible moment. To man alone, of all animated beings, has it been given, to grieve, to him alone to be guilty of luxury and excess; and that in modes innumerable, and in every part of his body. Man is the only being that is a prey to ambition, to avarice, to an immoderate desire of life, to superstition,—he is the only one that troubles himself about his burial, and even what is to become of him after death. By none is life held on a tenure more frail; none are more influenced by unbridled desires for all things; none are sensible of fears more bewildering; none are actuated by rage more frantic and violent. Other animals, in fine, live at peace with those of their own kind; we only see them unite to make a stand against those of a different species. The fierceness of the lion is not expended in fighting with its own kind; the sting of the serpent is not aimed at the serpent; and the monsters of the sea even, and the fishes, vent their rage only on those of a different species. But with man,—by Hercules! most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man. (.) We have already given a general description of the human race in our account of the different nations. Nor, indeed, do I now propose to treat of their manners and customs, which are of infinite variety and almost as numerous as the various groups themselves, into which mankind is divided; but yet there are some things, which, I think, ought not to be omitted; and more particularly, in relation to those peoples which dwell at a considerable distance from the sea; among which, I have no doubt, that some facts will appear of an astounding nature, and, indeed, incredible to many. Who, for instance, could ever believe in the existence of the Æthiopians, who had not first seen them? Indeed what is there that does not appear marvellous, when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked upon as quite impossible, until they have been actually effected? But it is the fact, that every moment of our existence we are distrusting the power and the majesty of Nature, if the mind, instead of grasping her in her entirety, considers her only in detail. Not to speak of peacocks, the spotted skins of tigers and panthers, and the rich colours of so many animals, a trifling thing apparently to speak of, but of inestimable importance, when we give it due consideration, is the existence of so many languages among the various nations, so many modes of speech, so great a variety of expressions; that to another, a man who is of a different country, is almost the same as no man at all. And then, too, the human features and countenance, although composed of but some ten parts or little more, are so fashioned, that among so many thousands of men, there are no two in existence who cannot be distinguished from one another, a result which no art could possibly have produced, when confined to so limited a number of combinations. In most points, however, of this nature, I shall not be content to pledge my own credit only, but shall confirm it in preference by referring to my authorities, which shall be given on all subjects of a nature to inspire doubt. My readers, however, must make no objection to following the Greeks, who have proved them- selves the most careful observers, as well as of the longest standing.
 
7 - 2 WONDERFUL FORMS OF DIFFERENT NATIONS M
We have already stated, that there are certain tribes of the Scythians, and, indeed, many other nations, which feed upon human flesh. This fact itself might, perhaps, appear incredible, did we not recollect, that in the very centre of the earth, in Italy and Sicily, nations formerly existed with these monstrous propensities, the Cyclopes, and the Læstrygones, for example; and that, very recently, on the other side of the Alps, it was the custom to offer human sacrifices, after the manner of those nations; and the difference is but small between sacrificing human beings and eating them.
In the vicinity also of those who dwell in the northern re- gions, and not far from the spot from which the north wind arises, and the place which is called its cave, and is known by the name of Geskleithron, the Arimaspi are said to exist, whom I have previously mentioned, a nation remarkable for having but one eye, and that placed in the middle of the forehead. This race is said to carry on a perpetual warfare with the Griffins, a kind of monster, with wings, as they are commonly represented, for the gold which they dig out of the mines, and which these wild beasts retain and keep watch over with a singular degree of cupidity, while the Arimaspi are equally desirous to get possession of it. Many authors have stated to this effect, among the most illustrious of whom are Herodotus and Aristeas of Proconnesus. Beyond the other Scythian Anthropophagi, there is a country called Abarimon, situate in a certain great valley of Mount Imaus, the inhabitants of which are a savage race, whose feet are turned backwards, relatively to their legs: they possess wonderful velocity, and wander about indiscriminately with the wild beasts. We learn from Bæton, whose duty it was to take the measurements of the routes of Alexander the Great, that this people cannot breathe in any climate except their own, for which reason it is impossible to take them before any of the neighbouring kings; nor could any of them be brought before Alexander himself. The Anthropophagi, whom we have previously mentioned as dwelling ten days' journey beyond the Borysthenes, according to the account of Isigonus of Nicæa, were in the habit of drinking out of human skulls, and placing the scalps, with the hair attached, upon their breasts, like so many napkins. The same author relates, that there is, in Albania, a certain race of men, whose eyes are of a sea-green colour, and who have white hair from their earliest childhood, and that these people see better in the night than in the day. He states also that the Sauromatæ, who dwell ten days' journey beyond the Borysthenes, only take food every other day. Crates of Pergamus relates, that there formerly existed in the vicinity of Parium, in the Hellespont, a race of men whom he calls Ophiogenes, and that by their touch they were able to cure those who had been stung by serpents, extracting the poison by the mere imposition of the hand. Varro tells us, that there are still a few individuals in that district, whose saliva effectually cures the stings of serpents. The same, too, was the case with the tribe of the Psylli, in Africa, according to the account of Agatharchides; these people received their name from Psyllus, one of their kings, whose tomb is in existence, in the district of the Greater Syrtes. In the bodies of these people there was by nature a certain kind of poison, which was fatal to serpents, and the odour of which overpowered them with torpor: with them it was a custom to expose children immediately after their birth to the fiercest serpents, and in this manner to make proof of the fidelity of their wives, the serpents not being repelled by such children as were the offspring of adultery. This nation, however, was almost entirely extirpated by the slaughter made of them by the Nasamones, who now occupy their territory. This race, however, still survives in a few persons who are descendants of those who either took to flight or else were absent on the oc- casion of the battle. The Marsi, in Italy, are still in possession of the same power, for which, it is said, they are indebted to their origin from the son of Circe, from whom they acquired it as a natural quality. But the fact is, that all men possess in their bodies a poison which acts upon serpents, and the human saliva, it is said, makes them take to flight, as though they had been touched with boiling water. The same substance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their throat, and more particularly so, if it should happen to be the saliva of a man who is fasting. Above the Nasamones, and the Machlytæ, who border upon them, are found, as we learn from Calliphanes, the nation of the Androgyni, a people who unite the two sexes in the same individual, and alternately perform the functions of each. Aristotle also states, that their right breast is that of a male, the left that of a female. Isigonus and Nymphodorus inform us that there are in Africa certain families of enchanters, who, by means of their charms, in the form of commendations, can cause cattle to perish, trees to wither, and infants to die. Isigonus adds, that there are among the Triballi and the Illyrii, some persons of this description, who also have the power of fascination with the eyes, and can even kill those on whom they fix their gaze for any length of time, more especially if their look denotes anger; the age of puberty is said to be particularly obnoxious to the malign influence of such persons. A still more remarkable circumstance is, the fact that these persons have two pupils in each eye. Apollonides says, that there are certain females of this description in Scythia, who are known as Bythiæ, and Phylarchus states that a tribe of the Thibii in Pontus, and many other persons as well, have a double pupil in one eye, and in the other the figure of a horse. He also remarks, that the bodies of these persons will not sink in water, even though weighed down by their garments. Damon gives an account of a race of people, not very much unlike them, the Pharnaces of Æthiopia, whose perspiration is productive of consumption to the body of every person that it touches. Cicero also, one of our own writers, makes the remark, that the glances of all women who have a double pupil is noxious. To this extent, then, has nature, when she produced in man, in common with the wild beasts, a taste for human flesh, thought fit to produce poisons as well in every part of his body, and in the eyes even of some persons, taking care that there should be no evil influence in existence, which was not to be found in the human body. Not far from the city of Rome, in the territory of the Falisci, a few families are found, who are known by the name of Hirpi. These people perform a yearly sacrifice to Apollo, on Mount Soracte, on which occasion they walk over a burning pile of wood, without being scorched even. On this account, by virtue of a decree of the senate, they are always exempted from military service, and from all other public duties. Some individuals, again, are born with certain parts of the body endowed with properties of a marvellous nature. Such was the case with King Pyrrhus, the great toe of whose right foot cured diseases of the spleen, merely by touching the patient. We are also informed, that this toe could not be re- duced to ashes together with the other portions of his body; upon which it was placed in a coffer, and preserved in a temple. India, and the region of Æthiopia more especially, abounds in wonders. In India the largest of animals are produced; their dogs, for example, are much bigger than those of any other country. The trees, too, are said to be of such vast height, that it is impossible to send an arrow over them. This is the result of the singular fertility of the soil, the equable temperature of the atmosphere, and the abundance of water; which, if we are to believe what is said, are such, that a single fig-tree is capable of affording shelter to a whole troop of horse. The reeds here are also of such enormous length, that each portion of them, between the joints, forms a tube, of which a boat is made that is capable of holding three men. It is a well-known fact, that many of the people here are more than five cubits in height. These people never expectorate, are subject to no pains, either in the head, the teeth, or the eyes, and rarely in any other parts of the body; so well is the heat of the sun calculated to strengthen the constitution. Their philosophers, who are called Gymnosophists, remain in one posture, with their eyes immovably fixed upon the sun, from its rising to its setting, and, during the whole of the day, they are accustomed to stand in the burning sands on one foot, first one and then the other. According to the ac- count of Megasthenes, dwelling upon a mountain called Nulo, there is a race of men who have their feet turned backwards, with eight toes on each foot. On many of the mountains again, there is a tribe of men who have the heads of dogs, and clothe themselves with the skins of wild beasts. Instead of speaking, they bark; and, furnished with claws, they live by hunting and catching birds. According to the story, as given by Ctesias, the number of these people is more than a hundred and twenty thousand: and the same author tells us, that there is a certain race in India, of which the females are pregnant once only in the course of their lives, and that the hair of the children becomes white the instant they are born. He speaks also of another race of men, who are known as Monocoli, who have only one leg, but are able to leap with surprising agility. The same people are also called Sciapodæ,: because they are in the habit of lying on their backs, during the time of the extreme heat, and protect themselves from the sun by the shade of their feet. These people, he says, dwell not very far from the Troglodytæ; to the west of whom again there is a tribe who are without necks, and have eyes in their shoulders., Among the mountainous districts of the eastern parts of India, in what is called the country of the Catharcludi, we find the Satyr, an animal of extraordinary swiftness. These go sometimes on four feet, and sometimes walk erect; they have also the features of a human being. On account of their swiftness, these creatures are never to be caught, except when they are either aged or sickly. Tauron gives the name of Choromandæ to a nation which dwell in the woods and have no proper voice. These people screech in a frightful manner; their bodies are covered with hair, their eyes are of a sea-green colour, and their teeth like those of the dog. Eudoxus tells us, that in the southern parts of India, the men have feet a cubit in length; while those of the women are so remarkably small, that they are called Struthopodes. Megasthenes places among the Nomades of India, a people who are called Scyritæ. These have merely holes in their faces instead of nostrils, and flexible feet, like the body of the serpent. At the very extremity of India, on the eastern side, near the source of the river Ganges, there is the nation of the Astomi, a people who have no mouths; their bodies are rough and hairy, and they cover themselves with a down plucked from the leaves of trees. These people subsist only by breathing and by the odours which they inhale through the nostrils. They support themselves upon neither meat nor drink; when they go upon a long journey they only carry with them various odoriferous roots and flowers, and wild apples, that they may not be without something to smell at. But an odour, which is a little more powerful than usual, easily destroys them. Beyond these people, and at the very extremity of the mountains, the Trispithami and the Pygmies are said to exist; two races which are but three spans in height, that is to say, twenty-seven inches only. They enjoy a salubrious atmosphere, and a perpetual spring, being sheltered by the mountains from the northern blasts; it is these people that Homer has mentioned as being waged war upon by cranes. It is said, that they are in the habit of going down every spring to the sea-shore, in a large body, seated on the backs of rams and goats, and armed with arrows, and there destroy the eggs and the young of those birds; that this expedition occupies them for the space of three months, and that otherwise it would be impossible for them to withstand the increasing multitudes of the cranes. Their cabins, it is said, are built of mud, mixed with feathers and egg-shells. Aristotle, indeed, says, that they dwell in caves; but, in all other respects, he gives the same details as other writers. Isigonus informs us, that the Cyrni, a people of India, live to their four hundredth year; and he is of opinion that the same is the case also with the Æthiopian Macrobii, the Seræ, and the inhabitants of Mount Athos. In the case of these last, it is supposed to be owing to the flesh of vipers, which they use as food; in consequence of which, they are free also from all noxious animals, both in their hair and their garments. According to Onesicritus, in those parts of India where there is no shadow, the bodies of men attain a height of five cubits and two palms, and their life is prolonged to one hundred and thirty years; they die without any symptoms of old age, and just as if they were in the middle period of life. Crates of Pergamus calls the Indians, whose age exceeds one hundred years, by the name of Gymnetæ; but not a few authors style them Macrobii. Ctesias mentions a tribe of them, known by the name of Pandore, whose locality is in the valleys, and who live to their two hundredth year; their hair is white in youth, and becomes black in old age. On the other hand, there are some people joining up to the country of the Macrobii, who never live beyond their fortieth year, and their females have children once only during their lives. This circumstance is also mentioned by Agatharchides, who states, in addition, that they live on locusts, and are very swift of foot. Clitarchus and Megasthenes give these people the name of Mandi, and enumerate as many as three hundred villages which belong to them. Their women are capable of bearing children in the seventh year of their age, and become old at forty. Artemidorus states that in the island of Taprobane, life is prolonged to an extreme length, while, at the same time, the body is exempt from weakness. According to Durisis, some of the Indians have connection with beasts, and from this union a mixture of half man, half beast, is produced. Among the Calingæ, a nation also of India, the women conceive at five years of age, and do not live beyond their eighth year. In other places again, there are men born with long hairy tails, and of remarkable swiftness of foot; while there are others that have ears so large as to cover the whole body. The Oritæ are divided from the Indians by the river Arabis; they are acquainted with no food whatever except fish, which they are in the habit of tearing to pieces with their nails, and drying in the sun. Crates of Pergamus states, that the Troglodytæ, who dwell beyond Æthiopia, are able to outrun the horse; and that a tribe of the Æthiopians, who are known as the Syrbotæ, exceed eight cubits in height. There is a tribe of Æthiopian Nomades dwelling on the banks of the river Astragus, towards the north, and about twenty days' journey from the ocean. These people are called Menismini; they live on the milk of the animal which we call cynocephalus, and rear large flocks of these creatures, taking care to kill the males, except such as they may preserve for the purpose of breeding. In the deserts of Africa, men are frequently seen to all appearance, and then vanish in an instant. Nature, in her ingenuity, has created all these marvels in the human race, with others of a similar nature, as so many amusements to herself, though they appear miraculous to us. But who is there that can enumerate all the things that she brings to pass each day, I may almost say each hour? As a striking evidence of her power, let it be sufficient for me to have cited whole nations in the list of her prodigies. Let us now proceed to mention some other particulars con- nected with Man, the truth of which is universally admitted.
 
7 - 3 MARVELLOUS BIRTHS M
(.) That three children are sometimes produced at one birth, is a well-known fact; the case, for instance, of the Horatii and the Curiatii. Where a greater number of children than this is produced at one birth, it is looked upon as portentous, except, indeed, in Egypt, where the water of the river Nile, which is used for drink, is a promoter of fecundity. Very recently, towards the close of the reign of the Emperor Augustus, now deified, a certain woman of the lower orders, at Ostia, whose name was Fausta, brought into the world, at one birth, two male children and two females, a presage, no doubt, of the famine which shortly after took place. We find it stated, also, that in Peloponnesus, a woman was delivered of five children at a birth four successive times, and that the greater part of all these children survived. Trogus informs us, that in Egypt, as many as seven children are occasionally produced at one birth.
Individuals are occasionally born, who belong to both sexes; such persons we call by the name of hermaphrodites; they were formerly called Androgyni, and were looked upon as monsters, but at the present day they are employed for sensual purposes. Pompeius Magnus, among the decorations of his theatre, erected certain statues of remarkable persons, which had been executed with the greatest care by artists of the very highest reputation. Among others, we here read an inscription to the following effect: "Eutychis, of Tralles, was borne to the funeral pile by twenty of her children, having had thirty in all." Also, Alcippe was delivered of an elephant—but then that must be looked upon as a prodigy; as in the case, too, where, at the commencement of the Marsian war, a female slave was delivered of a serpent. Among these monstrous births, also, there are beings produced which unite in one body the forms of several creatures. For instance, Claudius Cæsar informs us, in his writings, that a Hippocentaur was born in Thessaly, but died on the same day: and indeed I have seen one myself, which in the reign of that emperor was brought to him from Egypt, preserved in honey. We have a case, also, of a child at Saguntum, which returned immediately into its mother's womb, the same year in which that place was destroyed by Hannibal. () The change of females into males is undoubtedly no fable. We find it stated in the Annals, that, in the consulship of P. Licinius Crassus and C. Cassius Longinus, a girl, who was living at Casinum with her parents, was changed into a boy; and that, by the command of the Aruspices, he was con- veyed away to a desert island. Licinius Mucianus informs us, that he once saw at Argos a person whose name was then Arescon, though he had been formerly called Arescusa: that this person had been married to a man, but that, shortly after, a beard and marks of virility made their appearance, upon which he took to himself a wife. He had also seen a boy at Smyrna, to whom the very same thing had happened. I myself saw in Africa one L. Cossicius, a citizen of Thysdris, who had been changed into a man the very day on which he was married to a husband. When women are delivered of twins, it rarely happens but that either the mother herself, or one, at least, of the twins perishes. If, however, the twins should happen to be of different sexes, it is less probable that both of them will survive. Female children are matured more quickly than males, and become old sooner. Of the two, male children most frequently are known to move in the womb; they mostly lie on the right side of the body, females on the left.
 
7 - 4 GENERATION OF MAN; UNUSUAL DURATION OF PREGNANCY; INSTANCES OF IT FROM SEVEN TO TWELVE MONTHS M
In other animals the period of gestation and of birth is fixed and definite, while man, on the other hand, is born at all seasons of the year, and without any certain period of gestation; for one child is born at the seventh month, another at the eighth, and so on, even to the beginning of the tenth and eleventh. Those children which are born before the seventh month are never known to survive; unless, indeed, they hap- pen to have been conceived the day before or the day after the full moon, or at the change of the moon. In Egypt it is not an uncommon thing for children to be born at the eighth month; and in Italy, too, children that are born at this period live just as long as others, notwithstanding the opinions of the ancients to the contrary. There are great variations in this respect, which occur in numerous ways. Vestilia, for instance, who was the wife of C. Herdicius, and was afterwards married, first, to Pomponius, and then to Orfitus, very eminent citizens, after having brought forth four children, always at the seventh month, had Suillius Rufus at the eleventh month, and then Corbulo at the seventh, both of whom became consuls; after which, at the eighth month, she had Cæsonia, who became the wife of the Emperor Caius. As for children who are born at the eighth month, the greatest difficulty with them is to get them over the first forty days. Pregnant women, on the other hand, are in the greatest danger during the fourth and the eighth month, and abortions during these periods are fatal. Masurius informs us, that L. Papirius, the prætor. on one occasion, when the next but one in succession was urging his suit at law, decided against him, in favour of the heir, although his mother declared that her period of gestation had lasted thirteen months—upon the ground that it did not appear that there was any fixed and definite period of gestation.
 
7 - 5 INDICATIONS OF THE SEX OF THE CHILD DURING THE PREGNANCY OF THE MOTHER M
On the tenth day after conception, pains are felt in the head, vertigo, and dimness of the sight; these signs, together with loathing of food and rising of the stomach, indicate the formation of the future human being. If it is a male that is conceived, the colour of the pregnant woman is more healthy, and the birth less painful: the child moves in the womb upon the fortieth day. In the conception of a child of the other sex, all the symptoms are totally different: the mother experiences an almost insupportable weight, there is a slight swelling of the legs and the groin, and the first movement of the child is not felt until the ninetieth day. But, whatever the sex of the child, the mother is sensible of the greatest languor at the time when the hair of the fœtus first begins to grow, and at the full moon; at which latter time it is that children newly born are exposed to the greatest danger. In addition to this, the mode of walking, and indeed everything that can be mentioned, is of consequence in the case of a woman who is pregnant. Thus, for instance, women who have used too much salted meat will bring forth children without nails: parturition, too, is more difficult, if they do not hold their breath. It is fatal, too, to yawn during labour; and abortion ensues, if the female should happen to sneeze just after the sexual congress. (.) It is a subject for pity, and even for a feeling of shame, when one reflects that the origin of the most vain of all animated beings is thus frail: so much so, indeed, that very often the smell even of a lamp just extinguished is a cause of abortion. From such beginnings as these springs the tyrant, from such the murderous dispositions of men. Thou man, who placest thy confidence in the strength of thy body, thou, who dost embrace the gifts of Fortune, and look upon thyself, not only as her fosterling, but even as her own born child, thou, whose mind is ever thirsting for blood, thou who, puffed up with some success or other, dost think thyself a god—by how trifling a thing might thy life have been cut short! Even this very day, something still less even may have the same effect, the puncture, for instance, of the tiny sting of the serpent; or even, as befell the poet Anacreon, the swallowing of the stone of a raisin, or of a single hair in a draught of milk, by which the prætor and senator, Fabius, was choked, and so met his death. He only, in fact, will be able to form a just estimate of the value of life, who will always bear in mind the extreme frailty of its tenure.
 
7 - 6 MONSTROUS BIRTHS M
It is contrary to nature for children to come into the world with the feet first, for which reason such children are called Agrippæ, meaning that they are born with difficulty. In this manner, M. Agrippa is said to have been born; the only instance, almost, of good fortune, out of the number of all those who have come into the world under these circumstances. And yet, even he may be considered to have paid the penalty of the unfavourable omen produced by the unnatural mode of his birth, in the unfortunate weakness of his legs, the misfortunes of his youth, a life spent in the very midst of arms and slaughter, and ever exposed to the approaches of death; in his children, too, who have all proved a very curse to the earth, and more especially, the two Agrippinas, who were the mothers respectively of Caius and of Domitius Nero, so many firebrands hurled among the human race. In addition to all this, we may add the shortness of his life, he being cut off in his fifty-first year, the distress which he experienced from the adulteries of his wife, and the grievous tyranny to which he was subjected by his father-in-law. Agrippina, too, the mother of Nero, who was lately Emperor, and who proved himself, throughout the whole of his reign, the enemy of the human race, has left it recorded in writing, that he was born with his feet first. It is in the due order of nature that man should enter the world with the head first, and be carried to the tomb in a contrary fashion.
 
7 - 7 THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN CUT OUT OF THE WOMB M
Those children, whose birth has cost the mother her life, are evidently born under more favourable auspices; for such was the case with the first Scipio Africanus; the first, too, of the Cæsars was so named, from his having been removed by an incision in his mother's womb. For a similar reason, too, the Cæsones were called by that name. Manilius, also, who entered Carthage with his army, was born in a similar manner.
 
7 - 8 WHO WERE CALLED VOPISCI M
A child used to be called Vopiscus, who, when twins had been conceived, had been retained in the womb and born alive, the other having perished by abortion. There are, too, some very remarkable instances of this kind, although they are singularly rare and uncommon.
 
7 - 9 CONCEPTION AND GENERATION OF MAN M
Few animals, except the female of the human species, receive the male when pregnant. In only one or two species, and no more, does superfœtation ever take place. Cases are to be found stated in the journals of physicians, and of others who have paid particular attention to the subject, in which twelve embryos have been removed at a single abortion. When, however, but a very short time has intervened between two conceptions, the embryos both of them proceed to maturity; as was seen to be the case with Hercules and his brother Iphicles. This was the case also with the woman who brought forth two children at a birth, one of whom bore a resemblance to her husband, and the other to her paramour. So too, with a female slave in Proconnesus, who was delivered of two children at one birth, one of whom bore a strong resemblance to her master, and the other to her master's steward, with both of whom she had had connection on the same day; with another woman who was delivered of two children at a birth, the one after the usual period of gestation, the other an em- bryo only five months old: and again, with another female, who, having been delivered of one child at the end of seven months, in due course, two months afterwards, brought forth twins.
 
7 - 10 STRIKING INSTANCES OF RESEMBLANCE M
It is universally known that well-formed parents often produce defective children; and on the other hand, defective parents children who are well formed, or else imperfect in the same part of the body as the parents. It is a well-known fact also, that marks, moles, and even scars, are reproduced in members of the same family in successive generations. The mark which the Daci make on their arms for the purpose of denoting their origin, is known to last even to the fourth generation.
(.) We have heard it stated that three members of the family of the Lepidi have been born, though not in an uninterrupted succession, with one of the eyes covered with a membrane. We observe, too, that some children strongly resemble their grandfather, and that of twins one child is like the father, while the other resembles the mother; and have known cases where a child that was born a year after another, resembled him as exactly as though they had been twins. Some women have children like themselves, some like their husband, while others again bear children who resemble neither the one nor the other. In some cases the female children resemble the father, and the males the mother. The case of Nicæus, the celebrated wrestler of Byzantium, is a well-known and un- doubted instance. His mother was the produce of an act of adultery, committed with a male of Æthiopia; and although she herself differed in no way from the ordinary complexion of other females, he was born with all the swarthy complexion of his Æthiopian grandfather. These strong features of resemblance proceed, no doubt, from the imagination of the parents, over which we may reasonably believe that many casual circumstances have a very powerful influence; such, for instance, as the action of the eyes, the ears, or the memory, or impressions received at the moment of conception. A thought even, momentarily passing through the mind of either of the parents, may be supposed to produce a resemblance to one of them separately, or else to the two combined. Hence it is that the varieties are much more numerous in the appearance of man than in that of other animals; seeing that, in the former, the rapidity of the ideas, the quickness of the perception, and the varied powers of the intellect, tend to impress upon the features peculiar and diversified marks; while in the case of the other animals, the mind is immovable, and just the same in each and all individuals of the same species. A man named Artemon, one of the common people, bore so strong a resemblance to Antiochus, the king of Syria, that his queen Laodice, after her husband Antiochus was slain, acted the farce of getting this man to recommend her as the successor to the crown. Vibius, a member of the plebeian order, and Publieius as well, a freedman who had formerly been a slave, so strongly resembled Pompeius Magnus in appearance as to be scarcely distinguishable from him; they both had that ingenuous countenance of his, and that fine forehead, which so strongly bespoke his noble descent. It was a similar degree of resemblance to this, that caused the surname of his cook, Menogenes, to be given to the father of Pompeius Magnus, he having already obtained that of Strabo, on account of the cast in his eye, a defect which he had contracted through imitating a similar one in his slave. Scipio, too, had the name of Serapion given him, after the vile slave of a pig-jobber: and after him, another Scipio of the same family was surnamed Salvitto, after a mime of that name. In the same way, too, Spinther and Pamphilus, who were respectively actors of only second and third rate parts, gave their names to Lentulus and Metellus, who were at that time colleagues in the consulship; so that, by a very curious but disagreeable coincidence, the likenesses of the two consuls were to be seen at the same moment on the stage. On the other hand again, L. Plancus, the orator, bestowed his surname on the actor Rubrius: the player, Burbuleius, again, gave his name to the elder Curio, and the player, Menogenes, to Messala, the censor. There was a certain fisherman, too, a native of Sicily, who bore a strong resemblance to the proconsul, Sura, not only in his features, but in the mode even of opening his mouth, and the spasmodic contraction of his tongue, and his hurried and indistinct utterance when speaking. Cassius Severus, the celebrated orator, had it thrown in his teeth how strongly he resembled Armentarius, the gladiator. Toranius, a slave-dealer, sold to Antony, while he was one of the Triumvirs, two boys of remarkable beauty, as being twins, so strong was their resemblance; whereas, in reality, one of them was born in Asia, and the other beyond the Alps. The fraud, however, having been soon afterwards discovered through the difference in the language of the youths, Antony, who was greatly exasperated, violently upbraided the dealer, and, among other things, complained that he had fixed the price at so high a sum as two hundred thousand sesterces. The crafty slave-merchant, however, made answer that that was the very reason for his having set so high a price upon them; for, as he said, there would have been nothing particularly striking in the resemblance of the boys, if they had been born of the same mother, whereas, children found to be so exactly like each other, though natives of different countries, ought to be deemed above all price; an answer which produced such a reasonable feeling of surprise and admiration in the mind of the proscriber, that he who was but just before frantic under the injury he had received, was led to set a higher value on no part whatever of all the property in his possession.
 
7 - 11 WHAT MEN ARE SUITED FOR GENERATION. INSTANCES OF VERY NUMEROUS OFFSPRING M
There exists a kind of peculiar antipathy between the bodies of certain persons, which, though barren with respect to each other, are not so when united to others; such, for instance, was the case with Augustus and Livia. Certain individuals, again, both men and women, produce only females, others males; and, still more frequently, children of the two sexes alternately; the mother of the Gracchi, for instance, who had twelve children, and Agrippina, the mother of Germanicus, who had nine. Some women, again, are barren in their youth, while to others it is given to bring forth once only during their lives. Some women never go to their full time, or if, by dint of great care and the aid of medicine, they do give birth to a living child, it is mostly a girl. Among other instances of rare occurrence, is the case of Augustus, now deified, who, in the year in which he departed this life, witnessed the birth of M. Silanus, the grandson of his granddaughter: having obtained the government of Asia, after his consulship, he was poisoned by Nero, on his accession to the throne.
Q. Metellus Macedonicus, leaving six children, left eleven grandsons also, with daughters-in-law and sons-in-law, twenty-seven individuals in all, who addressed him by the name and title of father. In the records of the times of the Emperor Augustus, now deified, we find it stated that, in his twelfth consulship, Lucius Sylla being his colleague, on the third day before the ides of April, C. Crispinus Hilarus, a man of a respectable family of the plebeian order, living at Fæsulæ, came to the Capitol, to offer sacrifice, attended by eight children (of whom two were daughters), twenty-eight grandsons, nineteen great-grandsons, and eight granddaughters, who all followed him in a lengthened train.
 
7 - 12 AT WHAT AGE GENERATION CEASES M
Women cease to bear children at their fiftieth year, and, with the greater part of them, the monthly discharge ceases at the age of forty. But with respect to the male sex, it is a well-known fact, that King Masinissa, when he was past his eighty-sixth year, had a son born to him, whom he named Metimanus, and that Cato the Censor, after he had completed his eightieth year, had a son by the daughter of his client, Salonius: a circumstance from which, while the descendants of his other sons were surnamed Liciniani, those of this son were called Saloniani, of whom Cato of Utica was one. It is equally well known, too, that L. Volusius Saturninus, who lately died while prefect of the city, had a son when he was past his seventy-second year, by Cornelia, a member of the family of the Scipios, Volusius Saturninus, who was afterwards consul. Among the lower classes of the people, we not uncommonly meet with men who become the fathers of children after the age of seventy-five.
 
7 - 13 REMARKABLE CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH MENSTRUAL DISCHARGE M
Among the whole range of animated beings, the human fe- male is the only one that has the monthly discharge, and in whose womb are found what we term "moles." These moles consist of a shapeless mass of flesh, devoid of all life, and capable of resisting either the edge or the point of the knife; they are movable in the body, and obstruct the menstrual discharge; sometimes, too, they are productive of fatal consequences to the woman, in the same manner as a real fœtus; while, at other times, they remain in the body until old age; in some cases, again, they are discharged, in consequence of an increased action of the bowels. Something of a very similar nature is produced in the body of the male, which is called a "schirrus;" this was the case with Oppius Capito, a man of prætorian rank.
It would indeed be a difficult matter to find anything which is productive of more marvellous effects than the menstrual discharge. On the approach of a woman in this state, must will become sour, seeds which are touched by her become sterile, grafts wither away, garden plants are parched up, and the fruit will fall from the tree beneath which she sits. Her very look, even, will dim the brightness of mirrors, blunt the edge of steel, and take away the polish from ivory. A swarm of bees, if looked upon by her, will die immediately; brass and iron will instantly become rusty, and emit an offensive odour; while dogs which may have tasted of the matter so discharged are seized with madness, and their bite is venomous and incurable. In addition to this, the bitumen which is found at certain periods of the year, floating on the lake of Judæa, known as Asphaltites, a substance which is peculiarly tenacious, and adheres to everything that it touches, can only be divided into separate pieces by means of a thread which has been dipped in this virulent matter. It is said that the ant, even an insect so extremely minute, is sensible of its presence, and rejects the grains which it has been carrying, and will not return to them again. This discharge, which is productive of such great and singular effects, occurs in women every thirty days, and in a greater degree every three months. In some individuals it occurs oftener than once a month, and in others, again, it never takes place. Women of this nature, however, are not capable of bearing children, because it is of this substance that the infant is formed. The seed of the male, acting as a sort of leaven, causes it to unite and assume a form, and in due time it acquires life, and assumes a bodily shape. The consequence is, that if the flow continues during pregnancy, the child will be weak, or else will not live; or if it does, it will be full of gross humours, Nigidius says. The same author is also of opinion, that the milk of a woman who is giving suck will not become impure, if she should happen to become pregnant again by the same man.
 
7 - 14 THEORY OF GENERATION M
Conception is generally said to take place the most readily, either at the beginning or the end of the menstrual discharge. It is said, too, that it is a certain sign of fecundity in a woman, when her saliva becomes impregnated with any medicament which has been rubbed upon her eye-lids.
 
7 - 15 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE TEETH, AND SOME FACTS CONCERNING INFANTS M
It is a matter beyond doubt, that in young children the front teeth are produced at the seventh month, and, nearly always, those in the upper jaw the first. These are shed in the seventh year, and are then replaced by others. Some infants are even born with teeth: such was the case with Manius Curius, who, from this circumstance, received the name of Dentatus; and also with Cn. Papirius Carbo, both of them distinguished men. When this phenomenon happened in the case of a female, it was looked upon in the time of the kings as an omen of some inauspicious event. At the birth of Valeria, under such circumstances as these, it was the answer of the soothsayers, that any city to which she might happen to be carried, would be destroyed; she was sent to Suessa Pometia, at that time a very flourishing place, but the prediction was ultimately verified by its destruction. Some female children are born with the sexual organs closed, a thing of very unfa- vourable omen; of which Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, is an instance. Some persons are born with a continuous bone in the mouth, in place of teeth; this was the case with the upper jaw of the son of Prusias, the king of Bithynia.
The teeth are the only parts of the body which resist the action of fire, and are not consumed along with the rest of it. Still, however, though they are able thus to resist flame, they become corroded by a morbid state of the saliva. The teeth are whitened by certain medicinal agents. They are worn down by use, and fail in some persons long before any other part of the body. They are necessary, not only for the mastication of the food, but for many other purposes as well. It is the office of the front teeth to regulate the voice and the speech; by a certain arrangement, they receive, as if in concert, the stroke communicated by the tongue, while by their structure in such regular order, and their size, they cut short, moderate, or soften the utterance of the words. When they are lost, the articulation becomes altogether confused and indistinct. In addition to this, it is generally supposed that we may form prognostics from the teeth. The number of teeth allotted to all men, with the exception of the nation of the Turduli, is thirty-two; those persons who have a greater number, are thought to be destined to be long-lived. Women have fewer teeth than men. Those females who happen to have two canine teeth on the right side of the upper jaw, have promise of being the favourites of fortune, as was the case with Agrippina, the mother of Domitius Nero: when they are on the left side, it is just the contrary. It is the custom of most nations not to burn the bodies of children who die before they have cut their teeth. We shall have more to say on this subject when we give an account of the different parts of the body. We find it stated that Zoroaster was the only human being who ever laughed on the same day on which he was born. We hear, too, that his brain pulsated so strongly that it repelled the hand when laid upon it, a presage of his future wisdom.
 
7 - 16 EXAMPLES OF UNUSUAL SIZE M
It is a well-known fact, that, at the age of three years, the body of each person is half the height that it will ever attain. Taking it all in all, it is observed that in the human race, the stature is almost daily becoming less and less, and that sons are rarely taller than their parents, the fertility of the seed being dried up by the heat of that conflagration to which the world is fast approaching. A mountain of the island of Crete having been burst asunder by the action of an earthquake, a body was found there standing upright, forty-six cubits in height; by some persons it is supposed to have been that of Orion; while others again are of opinion that it was that of Otus. It is generally believed, from what is stated in ancient records, that the body of Orestes, which was disinterred by command of an oracle, was seven cubits in height. It is now nearly one thousand years ago, that that divine poet Homer was unceasingly complaining, that men were of less stature in his day than they had formerly been. Our Annals do not inform us what was the height of Nævius Pollio; but we learn from them that he nearly lost his life from the rush of the people to see him, and that he was looked upon as a prodigy. The tallest man that has been seen in our times, was one Gabbaras by name, who was brought from Arabia by the Emperor Claudius; his height was nine feet and as many inches. In the reign of Augustus, there were two persons, Posio and Secundilla by name, who were half a foot taller than him; their bodies have been preserved as objects of curiosity in the museum of the Sallustian family.
In the reign of the same emperor, there was a man also, remarkable for his extremely diminutive stature, being only two feet and a palm in height; his name was Conopas, and he was a great pet with Julia, the grand-daughter of Augustus. There was a female also, of the same size, Andromeda by name, a freed-woman of Julia Augusta. We learn from Varro, that Manius Maximus and M. Tullius, members of our equestrian order, were only two cubits in height; and I have myself seen them, preserved in their coffins. It is far from an unknown fact, that children are occasionally born a foot and a half in height, and sometimes a little more; such children, however, have finished their span of existence by the time they are three years old.
 
7 - 17 CHILDREN REMARKABLE FOR THEIR PRECOCITY M
We find it stated by the historians, that the son of Euthymenes of Salamis had grown to be three cubits in height, at the age of three years; that he was slow of gait and dull of comprehension; that at that age he had attained puberty even, and his voice had become strong, like that of a man. We hear, also, that he died suddenly of convulsions of the limbs, at the completion of his third year. myself, not very long ago, was witness to exactly similar appearances, with the exception of the state of puberty, in a son of Cornelius Tacitus, a member of the equestrian order, and procurator of Belgic Gaul. The Greeks call such children as these, εχτραπέλοι; we have no name for them in Latin.
It has been observed, that the height of a man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, is equal to the distance between the tips of the middle fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight line; the right side of the body, too, is generally stronger than the left; though in some, the strength of the two sides is equal; while in others again, the left side is the strongest. This, however, is never found to be the case in women.
 
7 - 18 SOME REMARKABLE PROPERTIES OF THE BODY M
Males are heavier than females, and the bodies of all animals are heavier when they are dead than when alive; they also weigh more when asleep than when awake. The dead bodies of men float upon the back, those of women with the face downwards; as if, even after death, nature were desirous of sparing their modesty.
We find it stated, that there are some men whose bones are solid, and devoid of marrow, and that one mark of such persons is the fact that they are never thirsty, and emit no perspiration. At the same time, we know that by the exercise of a resolute determination, any one may resist the feeling of thirst; a fact which was especially exemplified in the case of Julius Viator, a Roman of equestrian rank, but by birth one of the Vocontii, a nation on terms of alliance with us. Having, in his youth, been attacked by dropsy, and forbidden the use of liquids by his physicians, use with him became a second nature, and so, in his old age, he never took any drink at all. Other persons also, have, by the exercise of a strong determination, laid similar restraints upon themselves. It is said that Crassus, the grandfather of Crassus, who was slain by the Parthians, was never known to laugh; from which circumstance he obtained the name of Agelastus. There are other persons again, who have never been seen to weep. Socrates, who was so famous for his wisdom, always appeared with the same countenance, and was never known to appear either more gay or more sad than ordinary. This even tenor of the mind, however, sometimes degenerates into a sort of harshness, and a rigorous and inflexible sternness of nature, entirely effacing all the human affections. The Greeks, among whom there have been many persons of this description, are in the habit of calling them ᾿απαθεῖς. A very remarkable thing, too, is the fact, that among these persons are to be found some of the greatest masters of philosophy. Diogenes the Cynic, for instance, Pyrrho, Heraclitus, and Timon, which last allowed himself to be so entirely carried away by this spirit, as to become a hater of all mankind. Less important peculiarities of nature, again, are to be observed in many persons; Antonia, for instance, the wife of Drusus, was never known to expectorate; and Pomponius, the poet, a man of consular rank, was never troubled with eructation. Those rare instances of men, whose bones are naturally solid and without marrow, are known to us as men "of horn."
 
7 - 19 INSTANCES OF EXTRAORDINARY STRENGTH M
Varro, speaking of persons remarkable for their strength, gives us an account of Tributanus, a celebrated gladiator, and skilled in the use of the Samnite arms; he was a man of meagre person, but possessed of extraordinary strength. Varro makes mention of his son also, who served in the army of Pompeius Magnus. He says, that in all parts of his body, even in the arms and hands, there was a network of sinews, extending across and across. The latter of these men, having been challenged by an enemy, with a single finger of the right hand, and that unarmed, vanquished him, and then seized and dragged him to the camp. Vinnius Valens, who served as a centurion in the prætorian guard of Augustus, was in the habit of holding up waggons laden with casks, until they were emptied; and of stopping a carriage with one hand, and holding it back, against all the efforts of the horses to drag it forward. He performed other wonderful feats also, an account of which may still be seen inscribed on his monument. Varro, also, gives the following statement: "Fusius, who used to be called the ' bumpkin Hercules,' was in the habit of carrying his own mule; while Salvius was able to mount a ladder, with a weight of two hundred pounds attached to his feet, the same to his hands, and two hundred pounds on each shoulder." I myself once saw,—a most marvellous display of strength,—a man of the name of Athanatus walk across the stage, wearing a leaden breast-plate of five hundred pounds weight, while shod with buskins of the same weight. When Milo, the wrestler, had once taken his stand, there was not a person who could move him from his position; and when he grasped an apple in his hand, no one could so much as open one of his fingers.
 
7 - 20 INSTANCES OF REMARKABLE AGILITY M
It was considered a very great thing for Philippides to run one thousand one hundred and sixty stadia, the distance between Athens and Lacedæmon, in two days, until Amystis, the Lacedæmonian courier, and Philonides, the courier of Alexander the Great, ran from Sicyon to Elis in one day, a distance of thirteen hundred and five stadia. In our own times, too, we are fully aware that there are men in the Circus, who are able to keep on running for a distance of one hundred and sixty miles; and that lately, in the consulship of Fonteius and Vipstanus, there was a child eight years of age, who, between morning and evening, ran a distance of seventy-five miles. We become all the more sensible of these wonderful instances of swiftness, upon reflecting that Tiberius Nero, when he made all possible haste to reach his brother Drusus, who was then sick in Germany, reached him in three stages, travelling day and night on the road; the distance of each stage was two hundred miles.
 
7 - 21 INSTANCES OF ACUTENESS OF SIGHT M
Instances of acuteness of sight are to be found stated, which, indeed, exceed all belief. Cicero informs us, that the Iliad of Homer was written on a piece of parchment so small as to be enclosed in a nut-shell. He makes mention also of a man who could distinguish objects at a distance of one hundred and thirty-five miles. M. Varro says, that the name of this man was Strabo; and that, during the Punic war, from Lilybæum, the promontory of Sicily, he was in the habit of seeing the fleet come out of the harbour of Carthage, and could even count the number of the vessels. Callicrates used to carve ants and other small animals in ivory, so minute in size, that other persons were unable to distinguish their individual parts. Myrmecides also was famous in the same line; this man made, of similar material, a chariot drawn by four horses, which a fly could cover with its wings; as well as a ship which might be covered by the wings of a tiny bee.
 
7 - 22 INSTANCES OF REMARKABLE ACUTENESS OF HEARING M
We have one instance on record of remarkable acuteness of hearing; the noise of the battle, on the occasion when Sybaris was destroyed, was heard, the day on which it took place, at Olympia. But, as to the victory over the Cimbri, and that over Perseus, the news of which was conveyed to Rome by the Castors, they are to be looked upon in the light of visions and presages proceeding immediately from the gods.
 
7 - 23 INSTANCES OF ENDURANCE OF PAIN M
Of patience in enduring pain, that being too frequently the lot of our calamitous fate, we have innumerable instances related. One of the most remarkable instances among the female sex is that of the courtesan Leæna, who, although put to the torture, refused to betray the tyrant-slayers, Harmodius and Aristogiton. Among those of men, we have that of Anaxarchus, who, when put to the torture for a similar reason, bit off his tongue and spit it into the face of the tyrant, thus destroying the only hope of his making any betrayal.
 
7 - 24 MEMORY M
It would be far from easy to pronounce what person has been the most remarkable for the excellence of his memory, that blessing so essential for the enjoyment of life, there having been so many who have been celebrated for it. King Cyrus knew all the soldiers of his army by name: L. Scipio the names of all the Roman people. Cineas, the ambassador of king Pyrrhus, knew by name all the members of the senate and the equestrian order, the day after his arrival at Rome. Mithridates, who was king of twenty-two nations, administered their laws in as many languages, and could harangue each of them, without employing an interpreter. There was in Greece a man named Charmidas, who, when a person asked him for any book in a library, could repeat it by heart, just as though he were reading. Memory, in fine, has been made an art; which was first invented by the lyric poet, Simonides, and perfected by Metrodorus of Scepsis, so as to enable persons to repeat word for word exactly what they have heard. Nothing whatever, in man, is of so frail a nature as the memory; for it is affected by disease, by injuries, and even by fright; being sometimes partially lost, and at other times entirely so. A man, who received a blow from a stone, forgot the names of the letters only; while, on the other hand, another person, who fell from a very high roof, could not so much as recollect his mother, or his relations and neighbours. Another person, in consequence of some disease, forgot his own servants even; and Messala Corvinus, the orator, lost all recollection of his own name. And so it is, that very often the memory appears to attempt, as it were, to make its escape from us, even while the body is at rest and in perfect health. When sleep, too, comes over us, it is cut off altogether; so much so, that the mind, in its vacancy, is at a loss to know where we are.
 
7 - 25 VIGOUR OF MIND M
The most remarkable instance, I think, of vigour of mind in any man ever born, was that of Cæsar, the Dictator. I am not at present alluding to his valour and courage, nor yet his exalted genius, which was capable of embracing everything under the face of heaven, but I am speaking of that innate vigour of mind, which was so peculiar to him, and that promptness which seemed to act like a flash of lightning. We find it stated that he was able to write or read, and, at the same time, to dictate and listen. He could dictate to his secretaries four letters at once, and those on the most important business; and, indeed, if he was busy about nothing else, as many as seven. He fought as many as fifty pitched battles, being the only commander who exceeded M. Marcellus, in this respect, he having fought only thirty-nine. In addition, too, to the victories gained by him in the civil wars, one million one hundred and ninety-two thousand men were slain by him in his battles. For my own part, however, I am not going to set it down as a subject for high renown, what was really an outrage committed upon mankind, even though he may have been acting under the strong influence of necessity; and, indeed, he himself confesses as much, in his omission to state the number of persons who perished by the sword in the civil wars.
 
7 - 26 CLEMENCY AND GREATNESS OF MIND M
With much more justice we may award credit to Pompeius Magnus, far having taken from the pirates no less than eight hundred and forty-six vessels: though at the same time, over and above the great qualities previously mentioned, we must with equal justice give Cæsar the peculiar credit of a remark- able degree of clemency, a quality, in the exercise of which, even to repentance, he excelled all other individuals whatsoever. The same person has left us one instance of magnanimity, to which there is nothing that can be at all compared. While one, who was an admirer of luxury, might perhaps on this occasion have enumerated the spectacles which he exhibited, the treasures which he lavished away, and the magnificence of his public works, I maintain that it was the great proof, and an incomparable one, of an elevated mind, for him to have burnt with the most scrupulous carefulness the papers of Pompeius, which were taken in his desk at the battle of Pharsalia, and those of Scipio, taken at Thapsus, without so much as reading them.
 
7 - 27 HEROIC EXPLOITS M
But now, as it belongs fully as much to the glorious renown of the Roman Empire, as to the victorious career of a single individual, I shall proceed on this occasion to make mention of all the triumphs and titles of Pompeius Magnus: the splendour of his exploits having equalled not only that of those of Alexander the Great, but even of Hercules, and perhaps of Father Liber even. After having recovered Sicily, where he first commenced his career as a partizan of Sylla, but in behalf of the republic, after having conquered the whole of Africa, and reduced it to subjection, and after having received for his share of the spoil the title of " Great," he was decreed the honours of a triumph; and he, though only of equestrian rank, a thing that had never occurred before, re-entered the city in the triumphal chariot: immediately after which, he hastened to the west, where he left it inscribed on the trophy which he raised upon the Pyrenees, that he had, by his victories, reduced to subjection eight hundred and seventy-six cities, from the Alps to the borders of Farther Spain; at the same time he most magnanimously said not a word about Sertorius. After having put an end to the civil war, which indeed was the primary cause of all the foreign ones, he, though still of only equestrian rank, again entered Rome in the triumphal chariot, having proved himself a general thus often before having been a soldier. After this, he was dispatched to the shores of all the various seas, and then to the East, whence he brought back to his country the following titles of honour, resembling therein those who conquer at the sacred games—for, be it remembered, it is not they that are crowned, but their respective countries. These honours then did he award to the City, in the temple of Minerva, which he consecrated from the spoils that he had gained: "Cneius Pompeius Magnus, Imperator, having brought to an end a war of thirty years' duration, and having defeated, routed, put to the sword, or received the submission of, twelve millions two hundred and seventy-eight thousand men, having sunk or captured eight hundred and forty-six vessels, having received as allies one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight cities and fortresses, and having conquered all the country from the Mæotis to the Red Sea, dedicates this shrine as a votive offering due to Minerva." Such, in few words, is the sum of his exploits in the East. The following are the introductory words descriptive of the triumph which he obtained, the third day before the calends of October, in the consulship of M. Piso and M. Messala; "After having delivered the sea-coast from the pirates, and restored the seas to the people of Rome, he enjoyed a triumph over Asia, Pontus, Armenia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Syria, the Scythians, Judæa, the Albanians, Iberia, the island of Crete, the Basterni, and, in addition to all these, the kings Mithridates and Tigranes."
The most glorious, however, of all glories, resulting from these exploits, was, as he himself says, in the speech which he made in public relative to his previous career, that Asia, which he received as the boundary of the empire, he left its centre. If any one should wish, on the other hand, in a similar manner, to pass in review the exploits of Cæsar, who has shown himself greater still than Pompeius, why then he must enumerate all the countries in the world, a task, I may say, without an end.
 
7 - 28 UNION IN SAME PERSON OF THREE OF HIGHEST QUALITIES WITH GREATEST PURITY M
Many other men have excelled in different kinds of virtues. Cato, however, who was the first of the Porcian family, is generally thought to have been an example of the three greatest of human endowments, for he was the most talented orator, the most talented general, and the most talented politician; all which merits, if they were not perceptible before him, still shone forth, more refulgently even, in my opinion, in Scipio Æmilianus, who besides was exempted from that hatred on the part of many others under which Cato laboured: in cones- quence of which it was, what must be owned to be a peculiarity in Cato's career, that he had to plead his own cause no less than four and forty times; and yet, though no person was so frequently accused, he was always acquitted.
 
7 - 29 INSTANCES OF EXTREME COURAGE M
A minute enquiry by whom the greatest valour has ever been exhibited, would lead to an endless discussion, more especially if all the fables of the poets are to be taken for granted. Q. Ennius admired T. Cæcilius Denter and his brother to such a degree, that on their account he added a sixteenth book to his Annals. L. Siccius Dentatus, who was tribune of the people in the consulship of Spurius Tarpeius and A. Aterius, not long after the expulsion of the kings, has also very numerous testimonies in his favour. This hero fought one hundred and twenty battles, was eight times victorious in single combat, and was graced with forty-five wounds in the front of the body, without one on the back. The same man also carried off thirty-four spoils, was eighteen times presented with the victor's spear, and received twenty-five pendants, eighty-three torcs, one hundred and sixty bracelets, twenty-six crowns, (of which fourteen were civic, eight golden, three mural, and one obsidional), a fisc of money, ten prisoners, and twenty oxen altogether. He followed in the triumphal processions of nine generals, who mainly owed their victories to his exertions; besides all which, a thing that I look upon as the most important of all his services, he denounced to the people T. Romilius, one of the generals of the army, at the end of his consulship, and had him convicted of having made an improper use of his authority.
The military honours of Manlius Capitolinus would have been no less splendid than his, if they had not been all effaced at the close of his life. Before his seventeenth year, he had gained two spoils, and was the first of equestrian rank who received a mural crown; he also gained six civic crowns, thirty seven donations, and had twenty-three scars on the fore-part of his body. He saved the life of P. Servilius, the master of the horse, receiving wounds on the same occasion in the shoulders and the thigh. Besides all this, unaided, he saved the Capitol, when it was attacked by the Gauls, and through that, the state itself; a thing that would have been the most glorious act of all, if he had not so saved it, in order that he might, as its king, become its master. But in all matters of this nature, although valour may effect much, fortune does still more. No person living, in my opinion at least, ever excelled M. Sergius, although his great-grandson, Catiline, tarnished the honours of his name. In his second campaign he lost his right hand; and in two campaigns he was wounded three and twenty times; so much so, that he could scarcely use either his hands or his feet; still, attended by a single slave, he afterwards served in many campaigns, though but an invalided soldier. He was twice taken prisoner by Hannibal, (for it was with no ordinary enemy that he would engage,) and twice did he escape from his captivity, after having been kept, without a single day's intermission, in chains and fetters for twenty months. On four occasions he fought with his left hand alone, two horses being slain under him. He had a right hand made of iron, and attached to the stump, after which he fought a battle, and raised the siege of Cremona, defended Placentia, and took twelve of the enemy's camps in Gaul. All this we learn from an oration of his, which he delivered when, in his prætorship, his colleagues attempted to exclude him from the sacred rites, on the ground of his infirmities. What heaps upon heaps of crowns would he have piled up, if he had only had other enemies! For, in matters of this nature, it is of the first importance to consider upon what times in especial the valour of each man has fallen. What civic crowns did Trebia, what did the Ticinus, what did Lake Thrasymenus afford? What crown was there to be gained at Cannæ, where it was deemed the greatest effort of valour to have escaped from the enemy? Other persons have been conquerors of men, no doubt, but Sergius conquered even Fortune herself.
 
7 - 30 MEN OF REMARKABLE GENIUS M
Among so many different pursuits, and so great a variety of works and objects, who can select the palm of glory for transcendent genius? Unless perchance we should agree in opinion that no more brilliant genius ever existed than the Greek poet Homer, whether it is that we regard the happy subject of his work, or the excellence of its execution. For this reason it was that Alexander the Great—and it is only by judges of such high estate that a sentence, just and unbiassed by envy, can be pronounced in the case of such lofty claims—when he found among the spoils of Darius, the king of Persia, a casket for perfumes, enriched with gold, precious stones, and pearls, covered as he was with the dust of battle, deemed it beneath a warrior to make use of unguents, and, when his friends were pointing out to him its various uses, exclaimed, "Nay, but by Hercules! let the casket be used for preserving the poems of Homer;" that so the most precious work of the human mind might be placed in the keeping of the richest work of art. It was the same conqueror, too, who gave directions that the descendants and house of the poet Pindar should be spared, at the taking of Thebes. He likewise rebuilt the native city of Aristotle, uniting to the extraordinary brilliancy of his exploits this speaking testimony of his kindliness of disposition.
Apollo impeached by name the assassins of the poet Archilochus at Delphi. While the Lacedemonians were besieging Athens, Father Liber ordered the funeral rites to be performed for Sophocles, the very prince of the tragic buskin; repeatedly warning their king, Lysander, in his sleep, to allow of the burial of his favourite. Upon this, the king made enquiry who had lately died in Athens; and understanding without any difficulty from the Athenians to whom the god referred, he allowed the funeral rites to be performed without molestation.
 
7 - 31 MEN WHO HAVE BEEN REMARKABLE FOR WISDOM M
Dionysius the tyrant, who otherwise manifested a natural propensity for cruelty and pride, sent a vessel crowned with garlands to meet Plato, that high-priest of wisdom; and on his disembarcation, received him on the shore, in a chariot drawn by four white horses. Isocrates was able to sell a single oration of his for twenty talents. Æschines, the great Athenian orator, after he had read to the Rhodians the speech which he had made on the accusation of Demosthenes, read the defence made by Demosthenes, through which he had been driven into exile among them. When they expressed their admiration of it, "How much more," said he, "would you have admired it, if you had heard him deliver it him- self;" a striking testimony, indeed, given in adversity, to the merit of an enemy! The Athenians sent their general, Thucydides, into banishment, but recalled him as their historian, admiring his eloquence, though they had punished his want of valour. A strong testimony, too, was given to the merit of Menander, the famous comic poet, by the kings of Egypt and Macedonia, in sending to him a fleet and an embassy; though, what was still more honourable to him, he preferred enjoying the converse of his literary pursuits to the favour of kings.
The nobles too of Rome have given their testimonies in favour of foreigners, even. Cn. Pompeius, after having finished the war against Mithridates, when he went to call at the house of Posidonius, the famous teacher of philosophy, forbade the lictor to knock at the door, as was the usual custom; and he, to whom both the eastern and the western world had yielded submission, ordered the fasces to be lowered before the door of a learned man. Cato the Censor, after he had heard the speech of Carneades, who was one of the embassy sent from Athens, of three men famous for their learning, gave it as his opinion, that the ambassadors ought to be dismissed as soon as possible, because, in consequence of his ingenious method of arguing, it became extremely difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood. What an extraordinary change too in our modes of thinking! This Cato constantly gave it out as his decided opinion that all Greeks ought to be expelled from Italy, while, on the other hand, his great-grandson, Cato of Utica, upon his return from his military tribuneship, brought back with him a philosopher, and a second one when he returned from his embassy to Cyprus; and it is a very remarkable fact, that the same language which had been proscribed by one of the Cato's, was introduced among us by the other. But let us now give some account of the honours of our own countrymen. The elder Africanus ordered that the statue of Ennius should be placed in his tomb, and that the illustrious surname, which he had acquired, I may say, as his share of the spoil on the conquest of the third part of the world, should be read over his ashes, along with the name of the poet. The Emperor Augustus, now deified, forbade the works of Virgil to be burnt, in opposition to the modest directions to that effect, which the poet had left in his will: a prohibition which was a greater compliment paid to his merit, than if he himself had recommended his works. M. Varro is the only person, who, during his lifetime, saw his own statue erected. This was placed in the first public library that was ever built, and which was formed by Asinius Pollio with the spoils of our enemies. The fact of this distinction being conferred upon him by one who was in the first rank, both as an orator and a citizen, and at a time, too, when there was so great a number of men distinguished for their genius, was not less honourable to him, in my opinion, than the naval crown which Pompeius Magnus bestowed upon him in the war against the pirates. The instances that follow among the Romans, if I were to attempt to reckon them, would be found to be innumerable; for it is the fact that this one nation has furnished a greater number of distinguished men in every branch than all the countries of the world taken together. But what atonement could I offer to thee, Marcus Tullius, were I to be silent respecting thy name? or on what ground am I to pronounce thee as especially pre-eminent? On what, indeed, that can be more convincing than the most abundant testimony that was offered in thy favour by the whole Roman people? Contenting myself with the selection only of such of the great actions of the whole of your life, as were performed during your consulship.—You speak, and the tribes surrender the Agrarian law, or, in other words, their very subsistence; you advise them to do so, and they pardon Roscius, the author of the law for the regulation of the theatres, and, without any feelings of resentment, allow a mark to be put upon themselves by allotting them an inferior seat; you entreat, and the sons of proscribed men blush at having canvassed for public honours: before your genius, Catiline took to flight, and it was you who proscribed M. Antonius. Hail then to thee, who wast the first of all to receive the title of Father of thy country, who wast the first of all, while wearing the toga, to merit a triumph, and who didst obtain the laurel for oratory. Great father, thou, of eloquence and of Latin literature! as the Dictator Cæsar, once thy enemy, wrote in testimony of thee, thou didst require a laurel superior to every triumph! How far greater and more glorious to have enlarged so immeasurably the boundaries of the Roman genius, than those of its sway! Those persons among the Romans, who surpass all others in wisdom, have the surnames of Catus and Corculus given to them. Among the Greeks, Socrates was declared by the oracle of the Pythian Apollo to be superior to all others in wisdom.
 
7 - 32 PRECEPTS THE MOST USEFUL IN LIFE M
Again, men have placed on an equality with those of the oracles the precepts uttered by Chilon, the Lacedæmonian. These have been consecrated at Delphi in letters of gold, and are to the following effect: "That each person ought to know himself, and not to desire to possess too much;" and "That misery is the sure companion of debt and litigation." He died of joy, on hearing that his son had been victorious in the Olympic games, and all Greece assisted at his funeral rites.
 
7 - 33 DIVINATION M
A spirit of divination, and a certain communion with the gods, of the most exalted nature, was manifested-among women, in the Sibyl, and among men, in Melampodes, the Greek, and in Marcius, the Roman.
 
7 - 34 MAN WHO WAS PRONOUNCED TO BE THE MOST EXCELLENT M
Scipio Nasica is the only individual who, since the commencement of the Roman era, has been declared, by a vote of the senate, confirmed by oath, to be the most excellent of men. And yet, the same person, when he was a candidate for office, was twice stigmatized by a repulse of the Roman people. He was not allowed, in fine, to die in his native country,—no, by Hercules! no more than Socrates, who was declared by Apollo to be the wisest of men, was permitted to die outside of a prison.
 
7 - 35 MOST CHASTE MATRONS M
Sulpicia, the daughter of Paterculus, and wife of Fulvius Flaccus, has been considered, in the judgment of matrons, to have been the chastest of women. She was selected from one hundred Roman ladies, who had been previously named, to dedicate a statue of Venus, in obedience to the precepts contained in the Sibylline books. Again, Claudia gave strong proof of her piety and virtue, on the occasion of the introduction into Rome of the Mother of the gods.
 
7 - 36 INSTANCES OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE OF AFFECTION M
Infinite is the number of examples of affection which have been known in all parts of the world; but one in particular occurred at Rome, to which no other can possibly be compared. A woman of quite the lower class, and whose name has consequently not come down to us, having lately given birth to a child, obtained permission to visit her mother, who was confined in prison; but was always carefully searched by the gaoler before being admitted, to prevent her from intro- ducing any food. At last, however, she was detected nourishing her mother with the milk of her breast; upon which, in consideration of the marvellous affection of the daughter, the mother was pardoned, and they were both maintained for the rest of their days at the public charge; the spot, too, was consecrated to Piety, a temple to that goddess being built on the site of the prison, in the consulship of C. Quintius and M. Acilius, where the theatre of Marcellus now stands.
The father of the Gracchi, on finding [two] serpents in his house, consulted the soothsayers, and received an answer to the effect, that he would survive if the serpent of the other sex was put to death.—"No," said he, "rather kill the serpent of my own sex, for Cornelia is still young, and may yet bear children." Thus did he shew himself ready, at the same moment, to spare his wife and to benefit the state; and shortly after, his wish was accomplished. M. Lepidus died of regret for his wife, Apuleia, after having been divorced from her. P. Rupilius, who was at the time affected by a slight disease, instantly expired, upon news being brought to him that his brother had failed in obtaining the consulship. P. Catienus Plotinus was so much attached to his patron, that on finding himself named heir to all his property, he threw himself on the funeral pile.
 
7 - 37 MEN WHO HAVE EXCELLED IN ARTS, ASTROLOGY, GRAMMAR, & MEDICINE M
Innumerable are the men who have excelled in the various arts; we may, however, take a cursory survey of them, by citing the names of the principal ones. Berosus excelled in astrology; and on account of his divinations and predictions, a public statue was erected in his honour by the Athenians. Apollodorus, for his skill as a grammarian, had public honours decreed him by the Amphictyonic Council of Greece. Hip- pocrates excelled in medicine; before its arrival, he predicted the plague, which afterwards came from Illyria, and sent his pupils to various cities, to give their assistance. As an acknowledgment of his merit, Greece decreed him the same honours as to Hercules. King Ptolemy rewarded a similar degree of skill in the person of Cleombrotus of Ceos, by a donation of one hundred talents, at the Megalensian games, he having succeeded in saving the life of King Anti- ochus. Critobulus also rendered himself extremely famous, by extracting an arrow from the eye of King Philip with so much skill, that, although the sight was lost, there was no defect to be seen. Asclepiades of Prusa, however, acquired the greatest fame of all—he founded a new sect, treated with disdain the promises of King Mithridates conveyed to him by an embassy, discovered a method of successfully treating diseases by wine, and, breaking in upon the funeral ceremony, saved the life of a man, who was actually placed on the funeral pile. He rendered himself, however, more celebrated than all, by staking his reputation as a physician against Fortune herself, and asserting that he did not wish to be so much as looked upon as a physician, if he should ever happen in any way to fall sick; and he won his wager, for he met his death at an extreme old age, by falling down stairs.
 
7 - 38 GEOMETRY AND ARCHITECTURE M
M. Marcellus, too, at the taking of Syracuse, offered a remarkable homage to the sciences of geometry and mechanics, by giving orders that Archimedes was to be the only person who should not be molested; his commands, however, were disregarded, in consequence of the imprudence of one of the soldiers. Chersiphron, also, the Cnossian, was rendered fa- mous by the admirable construction of the temple of Diana at Ephesus; Philon, by the construction of the basin at Athens, which was capable of containing one thousand vessels; Cte- sibius, by the invention of pneumatics and hydraulic machines; and Dinochares, by the plan which he made of the city of Alexandria, founded by Alexander in Egypt. The same monarch, too, by public edict, declared that no one should paint his portrait except Apelles, and that no one should make a marble statue of him except Pyrgoteles, or a bronze one except Lysippus. These arts have all been rendered glorious by many illustrious examples.
 
7 - 39 PAINTING; ENGRAVING ON BRONZE, MARBLE, AND IVORY; OF CARVING M
King Attalus gave one hundred talents, at a public auction, for a single picture of Aristides, the Theban painter. Cæsar, the Dictator, purchased two pictures, the Medea and the Ajax of Timomachus, for eighty talents, it being his intention to dedicate them in the temple of Venus Genetrix. King Candaules gave its weight in gold for a large picture by Bularchus, the subject of which was the destruction of the Magnetes. Demetrius, who was surnamed the "taker of cities," refused to set fire to the city of Rhodes, lest he should chance to destroy a picture of Protogenes, which was placed on that side of the walls against which his attack was directed. Praxiteles has been ennobled by his works in marble, and more especially by his Cnidian Venus, which became remarkable from the insane love which it inspired in a certain young man, and the high value set upon it by King Nicomedes, who endeavoured to procure it from the Cnidians, by offering to pay for them a large debt which they owed. The Olympian Jupiter day by day bears testimony to the talents of Phidias, and the Capitoline Jupiter and the Diana of Ephesus to those of Mentor; to which deities, also, were consecrated vases made by this artist.
 
7 - 40 SLAVES FOR WHICH A HIGH PRICE HAS BEEN GIVEN M
The highest price ever given for a man born in slavery, so far as I am able to discover, was that paid for Daphnus, the grammarian, who was sold by Natius of Pisaurum to M. Scaurus, the first man in the state, for seven hundred thousand sesterces. In our day, no doubt, comic actors have fetched a higher price, but then they were purchasing their own freedom. In the time of our ancestors, Roscius, the actor, gained five hundred thousand sesterces annually. Perhaps, too, a person might in the present instance refer to the case of the army commissary in the Armenian war, which was of late years undertaken in favour of Tiridates; which officer, in our own time, received his manumission from Nero for the sum of thirteen million sesterces; but, in this case, the consideration was the profit to be derived from the war, and it was not the value of the man that was paid for. And so, too, when Lutorius Priscus bought of Sejanus, the eunuch, Pæzon, for fifty million sesterces, the price was given, by Hercules! rather to gratify the passion of the purchaser, than in commendation of the beauty of the slave. Universal sorrow and consternation then reigning, the public were too much pre-occupied with it to put a stop to a bargain of so scandalous a nature.
 
7 - 41 SUPREME HAPPINESS M
Of all nations of the earth, the Romans have, without doubt, excelled every other in the display of valour. The human judgment cannot, however, possibly decide what man has enjoyed the highest degree of happiness, seeing that every one defines a state of prosperity in a way different from another, and entirely in conformity with his own notions. If we wish to form a true judgment and come to a decision, casting aside all the allurements and illusions of fortune, we are bound to say that no mortal is happy. Fortune has dealt well, and, indeed, indulgently, to him who feels that he has a right to say that he is not unhappy. For if there is nothing else, at all events, there is the fear lest fortune should fail at last; which fear itself, when it has once fastened upon us, our happiness is no longer unalloyed. And then, too, is it not the case that there is no mortal who is always wise? Would that there were many to be found, who could feel a conviction that this is false, and that it had not been enunciated by an oracle itself, as it were! Mortals, vain as they are, and ingenious in deceiving themselves, calculate in the same way as the Thracians, who, according to their experience of each day, deposit in an urn a black or a white pebble; at the close of their life, these pebbles are separated, and from the relative number of each kind, they form their conclusions. But really, may not that very day that has been complimented with a white pebble, have contained in itself the germ of some misfortune? How many a man has got into trouble by the very power which has been bestowed upon him? How many have been brought to ruin and plunged into the deepest misery by their own blessings? or rather, by what have been looked upon too fondly as blessings, for the hour during which they were in the full enjoyment of them. But most true it is, that it is the day after, that is the judge of the day before; and after all, it is only the last day that is to set its stamp on the whole; the consequence is, that we can put our trust in none of them. And then, too, is it not the fact that the blessings of life would not be equal to its evils, even though they were equal in number? For what pleasure is there that can compensate for the slightest grief? Alas! what a vain and unreasonable task we impose upon ourselves! We trouble ourselves with counting the number of days, when it is their weight that ought to be taken into consideration.
 
7 - 42 RARE INSTANCES OF GOOD FORTUNE CONTINUING IN THE SAME FAMILY M
During the whole course of ages, we find only one woman, and that, Lampido, the Lacedæmonian, who was the daughter of a king, the wife of a king, and the mother of a king. Berenice was the only woman who was daughter, sister, and mother of conquerors in the Olympian games, The family of the Curios has been the only one to produce three orators in succession; that of the Fabii alone has given three chiefs of the senate in succession, Fabius Ambustus, his son Fabius Rullianus, and his grandson Quintus Fabius Gurges.
 
7 - 43 REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF VICISSITUDES M
As to examples of the vicissitudes of Fortune, they are innumerable. For what great pleasures has she ever given us, which have not taken their rise in misfortunes? And what extraordinary misfortunes have not taken their first rise in great pleasures? (.) It was fortune that preserved the Senator, M. Fidustius, who had been proscribed by Sylla, for a period of thirty-six years. And yet he was proscribed a second time; for he survived Sylla, even to the days of Antony, and, as it appears, was proscribed by him, for no other reason but because he had been proscribed before.
 
7 - 44 REMARKABLE EXAMPLES OF HONOURS M
Fortune has determined that P. Ventidius alone should enjoy the honour of a triumph over the Parthians, and yet the same individual, when he was a child, she led in the triumphal procession of Cneius Pompeius, the conqueror of Asculum. Indeed, Masurius says, that he had been twice led in triumph; and according to Cicero, he used to let out mules for the bakers of the camp. Most writers, indeed, admit that his younger days were passed in the greatest poverty, and that he wore the hob-nailed shoes of the common soldier. Balbus Cornelius, also, the elder, was elected to the consulate; but he had previously been accused, and the judges had been charged to discuss the point whether he could or not lawfully be scourged with rods; he being the first foreigner,—born even on the very shores of the ocean,—who obtained that honour, which our ancestors denied even to the people of Latium. Among other remarkable instances, also, we have that of L. Fulvius, the consul of the rebellious Tusculani, who, immediately upon his coming over to the Romans, obtained from them the same honour. He is the only individual who, in the same year in which he had been its enemy, enjoyed the honour of a triumph in Rome, and that too, over the people whose consul he had previously been. Down to the present time, L. Sylla is the only man who has claimed to himself the surname of "Happy;" a name which he derived, forsooth, from the bloodshed of the citizens and the oppression of his country! But what claim had he on which to found his title to this happiness? Was it the power which he had of proscribing and massacreing so many thousands of his fellow-citizens? Oh interpretation most disgraceful, and which must stamp him as "Unhappy" to all future time! Were not the men who perished in those times, of the two, to be looked upon as the more fortunate—seeing that with them we sympathize, while there is no one who does not detest Sylla? And then, besides, was not the close of his life more horrible than the sufferings which had been experienced by any of those who had been proscribed by him? his very flesh eating into itself, and so engendering his own punishment. And this, although he may have thought proper to gloss it over by that last dream of his, in the very midst of which he may be said, in some measure, to have died; and in which, as he pretended, he was told that his glory alone had risen superior to all envy; though at the same time, he confessed that it was still wanting to his supreme happiness, that he had not dedicated the Capitol.
 
7 - 45 TEN VERY FORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES HAPPENED TO SAME PERSON M
Q. Metellus, in the funeral oration which he made in praise of his father, L. Metellus, who had been pontiff, twice consul, dictator, master of the horse, one of the quindecemvirs for dividing the lands, and the first who had elephants in his triumphal procession, the same having been taken in the first Punic war, has left it written to the effect that his father had attained the ten greatest and best things, in the search after which wise men have spent all their lives. For, as he states, he was anxious to become the first warrior, the best orator, the bravest general, that the most important of all business should be entrusted to his charge, that he should enjoy the very highest honours, that he should possess consummate wisdom, that he should be regarded as the most distinguished senator, that he should by honourable means acquire a large fortune, that he should leave behind him many children, and that he should be the most illustrious person in the state. To refute this assertion, would be tedious and indeed unnecessary, seeing that it is contradicted more than sufficiently by the single fact, that Metellus passed his old age, deprived of his sight, which he had lost in a fire, while rescuing the Palladium from the temple of Vesta; a glorious action, no doubt, although the result was unhappy: on which account it is, that although he ought not to be called unfortunate, still he cannot be called fortunate. The Roman people, however, granted him a privilege which no one else had ever obtained since the foundation of the city, that of being conveyed to the senate- house in a chariot whenever he went to the senate: a great distinction, no doubt, but bought at the price of his sight.
The son also, of the same Q. Metellus, who has given the above account of his father, is considered himself to have been one of the rarest instances of human felicity. For, in ad- dition to the very considerable honours which he obtained, and the surname which he acquired from the conquest of Macedonia, he was carried to the funeral pile by his four sons, one of whom had been prætor, three of them consuls, two had obtained triumphs, and one had been censor; each of which honours falls to the lot of a very few only. And yet, in the very full-blown pride of his dignity, as he was returning from the Campus Martius at mid-day, when the Forum and the Capitol are deserted, he was seized by the tribune, Caius Atinius Labeo, surnamed Macerion, whom, during his censorship, he had ejected from the senate, and was dragged by him to the Tarpeian rock, for the purpose of being precipitated there from. The numerous band, however, who called him by the name of father, flew to his assistance, though tardily, and only just, as it were, at the very last moment, to attend his funeral obsequies, seeing that he could not lawfully offer resistance, or repel force by force in the sacred case of a tribune; and he was just on the very point of perishing, the victim of his virtues and the strictness of his censorship, when he was saved by the intervention of another tribune,—only obtained with the greatest difficulty,—and so rescued from the very jaws of death. He afterwards had to subsist on the bounty of others, his property having been consecrated by the very man whom he had degraded; and who, as if that had not satiated his vengeance, still farther wreaked his malice upon him, by throwing a rope around his neck, and twisting it with such extreme violence that the blood flowed from out of his ears. And for my part, too, I should look upon it as in the number of his misfortunes, to have been the enemy of the second Africanus; indeed, Macedonicus, in this instance, bears testimony against himself; for he said to his sons, "Go, my children, render the last duties to Scipio; you will never witness the funeral of a greater citizen than him;" and this speech he made to his sons, one of whom had already acquired the surname of Balearicus, and another of Diadematus, he himself at the time bearing that of Macedonicus. Now, if we take into account the above injury alone, can any one justly pronounce that man happy, whose life was thus endangered by the caprice of an enemy, and that enemy, besides, not an Africanus? What victories over enemies could possibly be counterbalanced by such a price as this? What honours, what triumphs, did not Fortune cancel, in suffering a censor to be dragged through the middle of the city—indeed, that was his only resource for gaining time—dragged to that Capitol, whither he himself, in his triumph, had forborne to drag in a similar manner even the very captives whom he had taken in his conquests? This crime, too, must be looked upon as all the greater, from its having so nearly deprived Macedonicus of the honours of his funeral, so great and so glorious, in which he was borne to the pile by his triumphant children, he himself thus triumphing, as it were, in his very obsequies. Most assuredly, there is no happiness that can be called unalloyed, when the terror of our life has been interrupted by any outrage, and much more by such an outrage as this. As for the rest, I really am at a loss whether we ought most to commend the manners of the age, or to feel an increased degree of indignation, that, among so many members of the family of the Metelli, such wicked audacity as that of C. Atinius remained unpunished.
 
7 - 46 MISFORTUNES OF AUGUSTUS M
In the life of the now deified emperor Augustus even, whom the whole world would certainly agree to place in this class, if we carefully examine it in all its features, we shall find remarkable vicissitudes of human fate. There was his rejection from the post of master of the horse, by his uncle, and the preference which was given to Lepidus, and that, too, in opposition to his own requests; the hatred produced by the proscription; his alliance in the Triumvirate with some among the very worst of the citizens, and that, too, with an unequal share of influence, he himself being entirely borne down by the power of Antony; his illness at the battle of Philippi; his flight, and his having to remain three days concealed in a marsh, though suffering from sickness, and, according to the account of Agrippa and Mecænas, labouring under a dropsy; his shipwreck on the coast of Sicily, where he was again under the necessity of concealing himself in a cave; his desperation, which caused him even to beg Proculeius to put him to death, when he was hard-pressed by the enemy in a naval engagement; his alarm about the rising at Perusia; his anxiety at the battle of Actium; the extreme danger he was in from the falling of a tower during the Pannonian war seditions so numerous among his soldiers; so many attacks by dangerous diseases; the suspicions which he entertained respecting the intentions of Marcellus; the disgraceful banishment, as it were, of Agrippa; the many plots against his life; the deaths of his own children, of which he was accused, and his heavy sorrows, caused not merely by their loss; the adultery of his daughter, and the discovery of her parricidal designs; the insulting retreat of his son-in-law, Nero; another adultery, that of his grand-daughter; to which there were added numerous other evils, such as the want of money to pay his soldiers; the revolt of Illyria; the necessity of levying the slaves; the sad deficiency of young men; the pestilence that raged in the City; the famine in Italy; the design which he had formed of putting an end to his life, and the fast of four days, which brought him within a hair's breadth of death. And then, added to all this, the slaughter of Varus; the base slanders whispered against his authority; the rejection of Posthumous Agrippa, after his adoption, and the regret to which Augustus was a prey after his banishment; the suspicions too respecting Fabius, to the effect that he had betrayed his secrets; and then, last of all, the machinations of his wife and of Tiberius, the thoughts of which occupied his last moments. In fine, this same god, who was raised to heaven, I am at a loss to say whether deservedly or not, died, leaving the son of his own enemy his heir.
 
7 - 47 MEN WHOM THE GODS HAVE PRONOUNCED TO BE THE MOST HAPPY M
In reference to this point, two oracles of Delphi may come under our consideration, which would appear to have been pronounced as though in order to chastise the vanity of man. These oracles were the following: by the first, Pedius was pronounced to be the most happy of men, who had just before fallen in defence of his country. On the second occasion, when it had been consulted by Gyges, at that time the most powerful king in the world, it declared that Aglaiis of Psophis was a more happy man than himself. This Aglaiis was an old man, who lived in a poor petty nook of Arcadia, and cultivated a small farm, though quite sufficient for the supply of his yearly wants; he had never so much as left it, and, as was quite evident from his mode of living, his desires being of the most limited kind, he had experienced but an extremely small share of the miseries of life.
 
7 - 48 MAN WHOM THE GODS ORDERED TO BE WORSHIPPED DURING HIS LIFE-TIME; A REMARKABLE FLASH OF LIGHTNING M
While still surviving, and in full possession of his senses, by the command of the same oracle, and with the sanction of Jupiter, the supreme Father of the gods, Euthymus, the pugilist, who had always, with one exception, been victorious in the Olympic games, was deified. He was a native of Locri, in Italy. I find that Callimachus, considering it a more wonderful circumstance than any he had ever known, that the two statues which had been erected to him, one at Locri, and the other at Olympia, were struck by lightning on the same day, ordered sacrifices to be offered up to him, which was accordingly done, both during his life-time, and after his death. Nothing, indeed, has appeared to me so remarkable, as this mark of approval given by the gods.
 
7 - 49 GREATEST LENGTH OF LIFE M
Not only the differences of climate, but the multitude of instances named, and the peculiar destiny attached to each of us from the moment of his birth, tend to render one very uncertain in forming any general conclusion respecting the length and duration of human life. Hesiod, who was the first to make mention of this subject, while he states many circumstances about the age of man, which appear to me to be fabulous, gives to the crow nine times the ordinary duration of our life, to the stag four times the length of that of the crow, to the raven three times the length of that of the stag, besides other particulars with reference to the phœnix and the Nymphs of a still more fabulous nature. The poet Anacreon gives one hundred and fifty years to Arganthonius, the king of the Tartessii; ten more to Cinaras, the king of Cyprus, and two hundred to Ægimius . Theopompus gives one hundred and fifty-three years to Epimenides of Cnossus; according to Hellenicus, some of the nation of the Epii, in Ætolia, have completed their two hundredth year; and his account is confirmed by Damastes, who relates that Pictoreus, one of this nation, who was remarkable for his size and strength, lived even to his three hundredth year. Ephorus says that some kings of Arcadia have lived three hundred years; Alexander Cornelius, that there was one Dandon, in Illyricum, who lived five hundred years. Xenophon, in his Periplus, gives to a king of the island of the Lutmii six hundred years, and, as though in that instance he had lied too sparingly, to his son eight hundred. All these statements, however, have originated in a want of acquaintance with the accurate measurement of time. For some nations reckon the summer as one year, and the winter as another; others again, consider each of the four seasons a year; the Arcadians, for instance, whose years were of three months each. Others, such as the Egyptians, calculate by the moon, and hence it is that some individuals among them are said to have lived as many as one thousand years.
Let us proceed, however, to what is admitted to be true. It is pretty nearly certain, that Arganthonius of Gades reigned eighty years, and he is supposed to have commenced his reign when he was forty. Masinissa, beyond a doubt, reigned sixty years, and Gorgias, the Sicilian, lived one hundred and unwittingly the father of Adonis, by his own daughter Myrrha (or Smyrna), in consequence of the anger of Venus or Aphrodite. He was said to have founded the city of Cinyra in Cyprus. eight. Quintus Fabius Maximus was an augur for sixty- three years. M. Perperna, and more recently, L. Volusius Saturninus, survived all those whose suffrages each had solicited on the occasion of his consulship; Perperna lived ninety-eight years, and left after him only seven of those whose names, when censor, he had enrolled. Connected with this fact, it also suggests itself, and deserves to be remarked, that it has happened only once, that five successive years have ever passed without the death of a senator taking place; this was the case from the occasion on which the censors Flaccus and Albinus performed the lustration, in the year of the City , until the time of the succeeding censors.. M. Valerius Corvinus completed one hundred years, forty-six of which intervened between his first and sixth consulship. He occupied the curule chair twenty-one times, a thing that was never the case with any one besides. The pontiff Metellus also attained the same age. Among women also, Livia, the wife of Rutilius, exceeded her ninety-sixth year; during the reign of Claudius, Statilia, a member of a noble family, died at the age of ninety-nine; Terentia, the wife of Cicero, lived one hundred and three years, and Clodia, the wife of Ofilius, one hundred and fifteen; she had fifteen children. Lucceia, an actress in the mimes, performed on the stage when one hundred years old, and Galeria Copiola returned to the stage, to perform in the interludes, at the votive games which were celebrated for the health of the deified Augustus, in the consulship of C. Poppæus and Q. Sulpicius. She had made her first appearance when eight years of age, just ninety-one years before that time, when M. Pomponius was ædile of the people, in the consulship of C. Marius and Cn. Carbo. When Pompeius Magnus dedicated his great theatre, he brought her upon the stage, as being quite a wonder, considering her old age. Asconius Pedianus informs us, that Sammula also lived one hundred and ten years. I consider it less wonderful that Stephanio, who was the first to dance on the stage in comedy descriptive of Roman manners, should have danced at the two secular games, those celebrated by the deified Augustus, and by Claudius Cæsar, in his fourth consulship, considering that the interval that elapsed between them was no more than sixty-three years; indeed, he lived a considerable time after the last period. We are informed by Mutianus, that, on the peak of Mount Tmolus, which is called Tempsis, the people live one hundred and fifty years, and that T. Fullonius, of Bononia, was set down as of the same age, in the registration which took place under the censorship of Claudius Cæsar; and this appeared to be confirmed by comparing the present with former registrations, as well as many other proofs that he had been alive at certain periods—for that prince greatly interested himself in ascertaining the exact truth of the matter.
 
7 - 50 VARIETY OF DESTINIES AT THE BIRTH OF MAN M
The present conjuncture would appear to demand from me some opinion upon the science of the stars. Epigenes used to maintain that human life could not be possibly prolonged to one hundred and twelve years, and Berosus that it could exceed one hundred and seventeen. The system is still in existence which Petosiris and Necepsos transmitted to us, and called by them "tartemorion," from the division of the signs into four portions; from which it would appear, that life, in the region of Italy, may possibly be extended to one hundred and twenty-four years They maintain that, reckoning from the commencement of an ascending sign, no life can possibly exceed a period of ninety degrees from that point; which periods they call by the name of "anaphoræ;" they say also, that these anaphoræ may be intercepted by meeting with malign stars or their rays even, or those of the sun. To theirs the school of Æsculapius succeeded, which admits that the allotted duration of life is regulated by the stars, but that it is quite uncertain what is the greatest extent of the period. These say that long life is uncommon, because a very great number of persons are born at critical moments in the hours of the lunar days; for example, in the seventh and the fifteenth hours, both by day and night; these individuals are subject to the malign influence of that ascending scale of the years which is termed the "climacteric," and never hardly, when born under these circumstances, exceed the fifty-fourth year.
First of all, however, it must strike us that the variations which have taken place in this science prove its uncertainty; and to this consideration may be added the experience of the very last census, which was made four years ago, under the direction of the Emperors Vespasian, father and son. I shall not search through the registers; I shall only cite some instances in the middle district that lies between the Apennines and the river Padus. At Parma, three persons declared themselves to be one hundred and twenty years of age; at Brixellum, one was one hundred and twenty-five; at Parma, two were one hundred and thirty; at Placentia, one was one hundred and thirty; at Faventia, one woman was one hundred and thirty-two; at Bononia, L. Terentius, the son of Marcus, and at Ariminum, M. Aponius, were one hundred and forty, and Tertulla, one hundred and thirty-seven. In the hills which lie around Placentia is the town of Veleiacium, in which six persons gave in their ages as one hundred and ten years, and four one hundred and twenty, while one person, M. Mucius, the son of Marcus, surnamed Felix, and of the Galerian tribe, was aged one hundred and forty. Not, however, to dwell upon what is generally admitted, in the eighth region of Italy, there appeared by the register, to be fifty-four persons of one hundred years of age, fourteen of one hundred and ten, two of one hundred and twenty-five, four of one hundred and thirty, the same number of one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and thirty-seven, and three of one hundred and forty. Again, we have another illustration of the uncertain tenure of human life. Homer informs us that Hector and Polydamas were born on the same night, and yet how different was their fate! M. Cælius Rufus and C. Licinius Calvus were born on the same day, the fifth before the calends of June, in the consulship of C. Marius and Cn. Carbo; they both of them lived to be orators, it is true, but how different their destiny! The same thing, too, happens every day, and in every part of the world, with respect to men that are born in the self-same hour; masters and slaves, kings and beggars, come into the world at the same moment.
 
7 - 51 VARIOUS INSTANCES OF DISEASES M
P. Cornelius Rufus, who was consul with M. Curio, lost his sight while he was asleep and dreaming that that accident had befallen him. On the other hand, Jason, of Pheræ, when he was labouring under an abscess and had been given up by the physicians, determined to end his life in battle, where he received a wound in the chest, and found, at the hands of the enemy, a remedy for his disease. Q. Fabius Maximus, the consul, having engaged in battle with the Allobroges and the Arverni, at the river Isara, on the sixth day before the ides of August, and having slain there one hundred and thirty thousand of the enemy, found himself cured, during the engage. ment, of a quartan fever.
This gift of life, which is bestowed upon us by nature, is extremely uncertain and frail, whatever portion of it may be allotted to us. The measure is, indeed, but scanty and brief, even when it is the largest, if we only reflect upon the extent of eternity. And then, besides, if we take into account our sleep during the night, we can only be properly said to live half the period of our life; seeing that just one half of it is passed, either in a state resembling death, or else of bodily suffering, if we are unable to sleep. Added to this, we ought not to reckon the years of infancy, during which we are not sensible of our existence, nor yet the years of old age, which is prolonged only for the punishment of those who arrive at it. There are so many kinds of dangers, so many diseases, so many apprehensions, so many cares, we so often invoke death, that really there is nothing that is so often the object of our wishes. Nature has, in reality, bestowed no greater blessing on man than the shortness of life. The senses become dull, the limbs torpid, the sight, the hearing, the legs, the teeth, and the organs of digestion, all of them die before us, and yet we reckon this state as a part of our life. The solitary instance of Xenophilus, the musician, who lived one hundred and five years without any infirmity of body, must be regarded then as a kind of miracle; for, by Hercules! all other men are subject, at certain fixed periods, to recurring and deadly attacks by heat or cold, in every part of the body, a thing that is not the case with other animals; and these attacks, too, return not only at regular hours, but on certain days and certain nights—sometimes the third day, sometimes the fourth, sometimes every day throughout the year. And then, too, there is another kind of fatal disease, that which is produced by over-exertion of the mental faculties. Nature has appointed certain laws as well for our maladies; quartan fevers never commence at the winter solstice, nor yet during the winter months; some diseases never attack us after the sixtieth year; some again disappear at the age of puberty, especially in females; while aged persons are but seldom affected by the plague. There are some diseases which attack whole nations; others prevail among classes; some among slaves, others among the higher ranks, and others among other classes of society. It has been remarked, in reference to this subject, that the plague always takes a course from the south towards the west, and scarcely ever in an opposite direction; it never appears in the winter, or lasts longer than three months.
 
7 - 52 DEATH M
And now to speak of the premonitory signs of death. Among these are laughter, in madness in cases of delirium, the patient carefully folding the fringe or the plaits of the bed- clothes; insensibility to the attempts of those who would rouse them from sleep; and involuntary discharges from the body, which it is not necessary here to particularize; but the most unequivocal signs of all, are certain appearances of the eyes and the nose, a lying posture with the face continually upwards, an irregular and feeble motion of the pulse, and the other symptoms, which have been observed by that prince of physicians, Hippocrates. At the same time that there are innumerable signs of death, there are none of health and safety; so much so, that Cato the Censor, when speaking to his son in relation to those who appear to be in good health, declared, as though it had been the enunciation of some oracle, that precocity in youth is a sign of an early death.
The number of diseases is infinite. Pherecydes of Scyros died from vast numbers of worms issuing from his body. Some persons are distressed by a perpetual fever; such was the case with C. Mæcenas; during the last three years of his life, he could never get a single moment's sleep. Antipater of Sidon, the poet, was attacked with fever every year, and that only on his birthday; he died of it at, an advanced age.
 
7 - 53 PERSONS WHO HAVE COME TO LIFE AGAIN AFTER BEING LAID OUT FOR BURIAL M
Aviola, a man of consular rank, came to life again when on the funeral pile; but, by reason of the violence of the flames, no assistance could be rendered him, in consequence of which he was burnt alive. The same thing is said to have happened to L. Lamia, a man of prætorian rank. Messala, Rufus, and many other authors, inform us, that C. Ælius Tubero, who had filled the office of prætor, was also rescued from the funeral pile. Such then is the condition of us mortals: to these and the like vicissitudes of fortune are we born; so much so, that we cannot be sure of any thing, no, not even that a person is dead. With reference to the soul of man, we find, among other instances, that the soul of Hermotinus of Clazomenæ was in the habit of leaving his body, and wandering into distant countries, whence it brought back numerous accounts of various things, which could not have been obtained by any one but a person who was present. The body, in the meantime, was left apparently lifeless. At last, however, his enemies, the Cantharidæ, as they were called, burned the body, so that the soul, on its return, was deprived of its sheath, as it were. It is stated also, that in Pro- connesus, the soul of Aristeas was seen to fly out of his mouth, under the form of a raven; a most fabulous story, however, which may be well ranked with the one that follows. It is told of Epimenides of Cnossus, that when he was a boy, being fatigued by heat and walking, he fell asleep in a cave, where he slept for fifty-seven years; and that when he awoke, as though it had been on the following day, he was much astonished at the changes which he saw in the appearance of every thing around him: after this, old age, it is said, came upon him in an equal number of days with the years he had slept, but his life was prolonged to his hundred and fifty-seventh year. The female sex appear more especially disposed to this morbid state, on account of the misplacement of the womb; when this is once corrected, they immediately come to themselves again. The volume of Heraclides on this subject, which is highly esteemed among the Greeks, contains the account of a female, who was restored to life, after having appeared to be dead for seven days.
Varro informs us, that when he was one of the "viginti. viri," or twenty commissioners, appointed to superintend the division of the lands at Capua, a man who had been carried to the funeral pile, returned on foot from the Forum to his own house, and that the very same thing happened also at Aquinum. He states also, that Corfidius, who had married his maternal aunt, came to life again, after the funeral had been all arranged, and that he afterwards attended the funeral of the person who had so arranged his own. He gives in addition some other marvellous relations, the whole of which it may be as well to set forth; he says that there were two brothers, members of the equestrian order, and named Corfidius: it so happened that the elder of these was seen to breathe his last to all appearance, and on opening his will, it was found that he had named his brother his heir, who accordingly ordered his funeral. In the meanwhile, however, he who had been thought to be dead, clapping his hands, summoned the servants, and told them that he was just come from his brother's house, who had placed his daughter in his charge; in addition to which, he had mentioned to him the place where he had secretly buried some gold, and had requested that the funeral preparations which had been made, might be employed for himself. While he was stating to this effect, the servants of his brother came in the greatest haste, and informed them that he was dead: the gold too, was found in the place just as he had stated. But throughout the whole of our lives we are perpetually hearing of such predictions as these; they are not, however, worth collecting, seeing that they are almost always false, as we shall illustrate by the following remarkable instance. In the Sicilian war, Gabienus, the bravest of all Cæsar's naval commanders, was taken prisoner by Sextus Pompeius, who ordered his throat to be cut; after which, his head almost severed from his body, he lay the whole of the day upon the seashore. Towards evening, with groans and entreaties, he begged the crowds of people who had assembled, that they would prevail upon Pompeius to come to him, or else send one of his most confidential friends, as he had just returned from the shades below, and had some important news to communicate. Pompeius accordingly sent several of his friends, to whom Gabienus stated that the good cause and virtuous partisans of Pompeius were well pleasing to the infernal deities, and that the event would shortly prove such as he wished: that he had been ordered to announce to this effect, and that, as a proof of its truthfulness, he himself should expire the very moment he had fulfilled his commission; and his death actually did take place. We have instances also of men who have been seen after their burial; but, for the present, we are treating of the operations of nature, and not of miracles.
 
7 - 54 INSTANCES OF SUDDEN DEATH M
Among the things that are looked upon as more especially singular, though of frequent occurrence, is sudden death, a thing that, in fact, is the greatest happiness of life, and, as we will shew, only a natural occurrence. Verrius has given many instances of it; we will limit ourselves by only making a selection. Besides Chilo, who has been already mentioned, Sophocles, and Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, both of them, died of joy, on learning that they had obtained the prize for tragedy. After the defeat at Cannæ, a mother died of joy, on seeing that her son had returned in safety, she having heard a false report of his death. Diodorus, the professor of logic, died of mortification, because he could not immediately answer some question which had been put to him by Stilpo, by way of joke.
Two of the Cæsars, one of whom was at the time prætor, and the other had previously discharged that office, and was the father of the Dictator Cæsar, died without any apparent cause, in the morning, while putting on their shoes; the former at Pisæ, the latter at Rome. Quintus Fabius Maximus died during his consulship, on the day before the calends of January, and in his place C. Rebilus got himself elected consul for only a few hours. The same thing happened also to the senator, C. Volcatius Gurges; these were all of them so well, and in such perfect health, that they were actually preparing to go from home. Q. Æmilius Lepidus, just as he was leaving his house, struck his great toe against the threshold of his chamber door. C. Aufustius, having gone from home, was proceeding to the senate-house, when he stumbled in the Comitium, and expired. Their ambassador, who had just been pleading the cause of the Rhodians in the senate, to the admiration of every one, suddenly expired at the door of the senate-house, just as he was about to retire. Cn. Bæbius Tamphilus, who had been prætor also, expired while he was enquiring of a boy what time it was: Aulus Pompeius died just after saluting the gods in the Capitol; and M. Juventius Thalna, the consul, while he was sacrificing. C. Servilius Pansa expired at the second hour of the day, while he was standing in the Forum, near a shop there, and leaning on the arm of his brother, Publius Pansa: the judge Bæbius, while he was giving an order for an enlargement of bail: M. Terentius Corax, while he was making an entry in his note-book in the Forum: only last year too, a member of the equestrian order at Rome, while whispering in the ear of a man of consular rank, before the ivory Apollo, in the Forum of Augustus; and, what is more singular than all, C. Julius, the physician, while he was applying, with his probe, some ointment to the eye of a patient. Aulus Manlius Torquatus, a man of consular rank, died in the act of reaching a cake at dinner; L. Tuscius Valla, the physician, while he was taking a draught of honeyed wine; Ap. Saufeius, while, on his return from the bath, after drinking some honeyed wine and water, he was swallowing an egg: P. Quinctius Scapula, while he was dining with Aquilius Gallus: Decimus Saufeius, the scribe, while he was breakfasting at his house. Corn. Gallus, who had filled the office of Prætor, and Titus Haterius, a man of equestrian rank, died in the venereal act; and, a thing that was especially remarked by those of our day, two members of the equestrian order expired in the embraces of the same actor of pantomimes, Mysticus by name, who was remarkable for his singular beauty. But the most perfect state, to all appearance, of security from death, was that of which we have an account given by the ancients, in the case of M. Ofilius Hilarus. He was an actor, and after having been very greatly applauded by the people, was giving, on his birthday, an entertainment. During dinner he called for a cup of warm drink; at the same time, looking at the masque which he had worn during the day, he placed upon it the chaplet, which he had taken from his own head; and in that position he remained rigidly fixed, without moving, no one being aware of what had taken place, until the person who was reclining next to him reminded him that the drink was getting cold; upon which he was found to be dead. These are instances of persons dying a happy death; but, on the other hand, there are innumerable cases also of unfortunate ends. L. Domitius, a member of a most illustrious family, having been conquered at Massilia by Cæsar, and taken prisoner by him at Corfinium, being weary of life, took poison; but, immediately after, he used every possible exertion to prolong his life. We find it stated in our Annals, that Felix, a charioteer of the red party, being placed on the funeral pile, some one of the number of his admirers threw himself upon the pile; a most silly piece of conduct. Lest, however, this circumstance might be attributed to the great excellence of the dead man in his art, and so redound to his glory, the other parties all declared that he had been overpowered by the strength of the perfumes. Not long ago, M. Lepidus, a man of very noble birth, who died, as I have stated above, of chagrin caused by his divorce, was hurled from the funeral pile by the violence of the flames, and in consequence of the heat, could not be replaced upon it; in consequence of which, his naked body was burnt with some other pieces of brushwood, in the vicinity of the pile.
 
7 - 55 BURIAL M
The burning of the body after death, among the Romans, is not a very ancient usage; for formerly, they interred it. After it had been ascertained, however, in the foreign wars, that bodies which had been buried were sometimes disinterred, the custom of burning them was adopted. Many families, how- ever, still observed the ancient rites, as, for example, the Cor- nelian family, no member of which had his body burnt before Sylla, the Dictator; who directed this to be done, because, having previously disinterred the dead body of Caius Marius, he was afraid that others might retaliate on his own. The term "sepultus" applies to any mode whatever of disposing of the dead body; while, on the other hand, the word "humatus" is applicable solely when it is deposited in the earth.
 
7 - 56 MANES, OR DEPARTED SPIRITS OF THE SOUL M
After burial come the different quiddities as to the existence of the Manes. All men, after their last day, return to what they were before the first; and after death there is no more sensation left in the body or in the soul than there was before birth. But this same vanity of ours extends even to the future, and lyingly fashions to itself an existence even in the very moments which belong to death itself: at one time it has conferred upon us the immortality of the soul; at another transmigration; and at another it has given sensation to the shades below, and paid divine honours to the departed spirit, thus making a kind of deity of him who has but just ceased to be a man. As if, indeed, the mode of breathing with man was in any way different from that of other animals, and as if there were not many other animals to be found whose life is longer than that of man, and yet for whom no one ever presaged anything of a like immortality. For what is the actual substance of the soul, when taken by itself? Of what material does it consist? Where is the seat of its thoughts? How is it to see, or hear, or how to touch? And then, of what use is it, or what can it avail, if it has not these faculties? Where, too, is its residence, and what vast multitudes of these souls and spirits must there be after the lapse of so many ages? But all these are the mere figments of childish ravings, and of that mortality which is so anxious never to cease to exist. It is a similar piece of vanity, too, to preserve the dead bodies of men; just like the promise that he shall come to life again, which was made by Democritus; who, however, never has come to life again himself. Out upon it! What downright madness is it to suppose that life is to recommence after death! or indeed, what repose are we ever to enjoy when we have been once born, if the soul is to retain its consciousness in heaven, and the shades of the dead in the infernal regions? This pleasing delusion, and this credulity, quite cancel that chief good of human nature, death, and, as it were, double the misery of him who is about to die, by anxiety as to what is to happen to him after it. And, indeed, if life really is a good, to whom can it be so to have once lived?
How much more easy, then, and how much more devoid of all doubts, is it for each of us to put his trust in himself, and guided by our knowledge of what our state has been before birth, to assume that that after death will be the same.
 
7 - 57 INVENTORS OF VARIOUS THINGS M
Before we quit the consideration of the nature of man, it appears only proper to point out those persons who have been the authors of different inventions. Father Liber1 was the first to establish the practice of buying and selling; he also invented the diadem, the emblem of royalty, and the triumphal procession. Ceres introduced corn, the acorn having been previously used by man for food; it was she, also, who introduced into Attica the art of grinding corn and of making bread, and other similar arts into Sicily; and it was from these circumstances that she came to be regarded as a divinity. She was the first also to establish laws; though, according to some, it was Rhadamanthus. I have always been of opinion, that letters were of Assyrian origin, but other writers, Gellius, for instance, suppose that they were invented in Egypt by Mercury: others, again, will have it that they were discovered by the Syrians; and that Cadmus brought from Phœnicia sixteen letters into Greece. To these, Palamedes, it is said, at the time of the Trojan war, added these four, θ, ξ, φ, and χ. Simonides,6 the lyric poet, afterwards added a like number, ζ, η, ψ, and ω; the sounds denoted by all of which are now received into our alphabet.
Aristotle, on the other hand, is rather of opinion, that there were originally eighteen letters,8 α β γ δ ε ζ ι κ λ μ ν ο π ρ ς τ υ φ, and that two, θ namely and χ, were introduced by Epicharmus, and not by Palamedes. Aristides says, that a certain person of the name of Menos, in Egypt, invented letters fifteen years before the reign of Phoroneus, the most ancient of all the kings of Greece, and this he attempts to prove by the monuments there. On the other hand, Epigenes, a writer of very great authority, informs us that the Babylonians have a series of observations on the stars, for a period of seven hundred and twenty thousand years, inscribed on baked bricks. Berosus and Critodemus, who make the period the shortest, give it as four hundred and ninety thousand years. From this statement, it would appear that letters have been in use from all eternity. The Pelasgi were the first to introduce them into Latium. The brothers Euryalus and Hyperbius, were the first who constructed brick-kilns and houses at Athens; before which, caves in the ground served for houses. Gellius is inclined to think that Toxius, the son of Cælus, was the first inventor of mortar, it having been suggested to him by the nest of the swallow. Cecrops gave to a town the name of Cecropia, after himself; this is now the citadel of Athens. Some persons will have it, that Argos had been founded before this period by King Phoroneus; others, again, that Sicyon had been previously built; while the Egyptians declare that their own city, Diospolis, had been in existence long before them. Cinyra,the son of Agriopas, invented tiles and discovered copper-mines, both of them in the island of Cyprus; he also invented the tongs, the hammer, the lever, and the anvil. Wells were invented by Danaus, who came from Egypt into that part of Greece which had been previously known as Argos Dipsion. The first stone-quarries were opened by Cadmus at Thebes, or else, according to Theophrastus, in Phœnicia. Walls were first built by Thrason; according to Aristotle, towers were first erected by the Cyclopes, but according to Theophrastus, by the Tirynthii. The Egyptians invented weaving; the Lydians of Sardis the art of dyeing wool. Closter, the son of Arachne, invented the spindle for spinning wool; Arachne herself, linen cloth and nets; Nicias of Megara, the art of fulling cloth; and Tychius, the Bœotian, the art of making shoes. The Egyptians will have it that the medical art was first discovered among them, while others attribute it to Arabus, the son of Babylonis and Apollo; botany and pharmacy are ascribed to Chiron, the son of Saturn and Philyra. Aristotle supposes that Scythes, the Lydian, was the first to fuse and temper copper, while Theophrastus ascribes the art to Delas, the Phrygian. Some persons ascribe the working of copper to the Chalybes, others to the Cyclopes. Hesiod says, that iron was discovered in Crete, by the Idæan Dactyli. Erichthonius, the Athenian, or, as some people say, Æacus, discovered silver. Gold mines, and the mode of fusing that metal, were discovered by Cadmus, the Phœnician, at the mountain of Pangæus, or, according to other accounts, by Thoas or Eaclis, in Panchaia; or else by Sol, the son of Oceanus, whom Gellius mentions as having been the first who employed honey in medicine. Midacritus was the first who brought tin from the island called Cassiteris. The Cyclopes invented the art of working iron. Choræbus, the Athenian, was the first who made earthen vessels; but Anacharsis, the Scthian, or, according to others, Hyperbius, the Corinthian, first invented the potter's wheel. Dædalus was the first person who worked in wood; it was he who invented the saw, the axe, the plummet, the gimlet, glue, and isinglass; the square, the level, the turner's lathe, and the key, were invented by Theodorus, of Samos. Measures and weights were invented by Phidon, of Argos, or, according to Gellius, by Palamedes. Pyrodes, the son of Cilix, was the first to strike fire from the flint, and Prometheus taught us how to preserve it, in the stalk of giant-fennel. The Phrygians first taught us the use of the chariot with four wheels; the Carthaginians the arts of merchandize, and Eumolpus, the Athenian, the cultivation of the vine, and of trees in general. Staphylus, the son of Silenus, was the first to mix water with wine; olive-oil and the oil-press, as also honey, we owe to Aristæus, the Athenian; the use of oxen and the plough to Buzyges, the Athenian, or, according to other accounts, to Triptolemus. The Egyptians were the first who established a monarchical government, and the Athenians, after the time of Theseus, a democracy. Phalaris, of Agrigentum, was the first tyrant that existed; the Lacedæmonians were the introducers of slavery; and the first capital punishment inflicted was ordered by the Areiopagus. The first battles were fought by the Africans against the Egyptians, with clubs, which they are in the habit of calling phalange. Prœtus and Acrisius were the first to use shields, in their contests with each other; or, as some say, Chalcus, the son of Athamas. Midias, the Messenian, invented the coat of mail, and the Lacedæmonians the helmet, the sword, and the spear. Greaves and crests were first used by the Carians; Scythes, the son of Jupiter, it is said, invented the bow and arrows, though some say that arrows were invented by Perses, the son of Perseus. Lances were invented by the Ætolians; the javelin, with the thong attached, by Ætolus, the son of Mars; the spear of the light infantry by Tyrrhenus; the dart by Penthesilea, the Amazon; the axe by Pisæus; the hunting-spear, and the scorpion to hurl missiles, by the Cretans; the catapulta, the balista, and the sling, by the Syrophœnicians. Pisæus, the Tyrrhenian, was the first to invent the brazen trumpet, and Artemon, of Clazomenæ, the use of the testudo. The batter- ing-horse, for the destruction of walls, which is at the present day styled the "ram," was invented by Epeus, at Troy. Bellerophon was the first who mounted the horse; bridles and saddles for the horse were invented by Pelethronius. The Thessalians, who are called. Centauri, and who dwell along Mount Pelion, were the first to fight on horse—Back. The people of Phrygia were the first who used chariots with two horses; Erichthonius first used four. Palamedes, during the Trojan war, was the first who marshalled an army, and invented watchwords, signals, and the use of sentinels. Sinon, at the same period, invented the art of correspondence by signals. Lycaon was the first to think of making a truce, and Theseus a treaty of alliance. The art of divination by means of birds we owe to Car, from whom Caria derives its name; Orpheus extended it to other animals. Delphus taught us the art of divining by the inspection of entrails; Amphiaraüs divination by fire; and Tiresias, the Theban, presages from the entrails of birds. We owe to Amphictyon the interpretation of portents and of dreams, and to Atlas, the son of Libya, the art of astrology, or else, according to other accounts, to the Egyptians or the Assyrians. Anaximander, the Milesian, invented the astronomical sphere; and Æolus, the son of Hellen, gave us the theory of the winds. Amphion was the inventor of music; Pan, the son of Mercury, the music of the reed, and the flute with the single pipe; Midas, the Phrygian, the transverse flute; and Marsyas, of the same country, the double-pipe. Amphion invented the Lydian measures in music; Thamyris the Thracian, the Dorian, and Marsyas the Phrygian, the Phrygian style. Amphion, or, according to some accounts, Orpheus, and according to others, Linus, invented the lyre. Terpander, adding three to the former four, increased the number of strings to seven; Simonides added an eighth, and Timotheus a ninth. Thamyris was the first who played on the lyre, without the accompaniment of the voice; and Amphion, or, as some say, Linus, was the first who accompanied it with the voice. Terpander was the first who composed songs expressly for the lyre; and Ardalus, the Trœzenian, was the first who taught us how to combine the voice with the music of the pipe. The Curetes taught us the dance in armour, and Pyrrhus, the Pyrrhic dance, both of them in Crete. We are indebted to the Pythian oracle for the first heroic verse. A very considerable question has arisen, as to what was the origin of poetry; it is well known to have existed before the Trojan war. Pherecydes of Scyros, in the time of King Cyrus, was the first to write in prose, and Cadmus, the Milesian, was the first historian. Lycaon first instituted gymnastic games, in Arcadia; Acastus funereal games, at Iolcos; and, after him, Theseus instituted them at the Isthmus. Hercules first instituted the athletic contests at Olympia. Pythus invented the game of ball. Painting was invented in Egypt by Gyges, the Lydian, or, according to Aristotle, in Greece, by Euchir, a kinsman of Dædalus; according to Theophrastus, again, it was invented by Polygnotus, the Athenian. Danaüis was the first who passed over in a ship from Egypt to Greece. Before his time, they used to sail on rafts,which had been invented by King Erythras, to pass from one island to another in the Red Sea. There are some writers to be found, who are of opinion that they were first thought of by the Mysians and the Trojans, for the purpose of crossing the Hellespont into Thrace. Even at the present day, they are made in the British ocean, of wicker-work covered with hides; on the Nile they are made of papyrus, rushes, and reeds. We learn from Philostephanus, that Jason was the first person who sailed in a long vessel; Hegesias says it was Paralus, Ctesias, Semiramis, and Archemachus, Ægeon. According to Damastes, the Erythræi were the first to construct vessels with two banks of oars; according to Thucydides, Aminocles, the Corinthian, first constructed them with three banks of oars; according to Aristotle, the Carthaginians, those with four banks; according to Mnesigiton, the people of Salamis, those with five banks;and, according to Xenagoras, the Syracusans, those with six; those above six, as far as ten, Mnesigiton says were first constructed by Alexander the Great. From Philostephanus, we learn that Ptolemy Soter made them as high as twelve banks; Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, with fifteen; Ptolemy Philadelphus, with thirty; and Ptolemy Philopater, who was surnamed Tryphon, with forty. Hippus, the Tyrian, was the first who invented merchant-ships; the Cyrenians, the pinnace; the Phœnicians, the passage—Boat; the Rhodians, the skiff; and the Cyprians, the cutter. We are indebted to the Phœnicians for the first observation of the stars in navigation; the Copæ invented the oar, and the Platæans gave it its broad blade. Icarus was the person who invented sails, and Dædalus the mast and yards; the Samians, or else Pericles, the Athenian, transports for horses, and the Thracians, long covered vessels,—Before which time they used to fight only from the prow or the stern. Pisæus, the Tyrrhenian, added the beak to ships; Eupalamus, the anchor; Anacharsis, that with two flukes; Pericles, the Athenian, grappling-irons, and hooks like hands; and Tiphys, the helm and rudder. Minos was the first who waged war by means of ships; Hyperbius, the son of Mars, the first who killed an animal; and Prometheus, the first who slew the ox.
 
7 - 58 THINGS ABOUT WHICH MANKIND FIRST OF ALL AGREED. THE ANCIENT LETTERS M
There was at the very earliest1 period a tacit consent among all nations to adopt the letters now used by the Ionians.2 (58.) That the ancient Greek letters were almost the same with the modern Latin,3 is proved by the ancient Delphic inscription on copper, which is now in the Palatine library, having been dedicated by the emperors to Minerva; this inscription is as follows:
ναυσικρατης ανεθετο τηι διος κορηι. ["Nausicrates offered this to the daughter of Zeus."]
 
7 - 59 WHEN BARBERS WERE FIRST EMPLOYED M
The next point upon which all nations appear to have agreed, was the employment of barbers. The Romans, however, were more tardy in the adoption of their services. According to Varro, they were introduced into Italy from Sicily, in the year of Rome 45 having been brought over by P. Titinius Mena: before which time the Romans did not cut the hair. The younger Africanus4 was the first who adopted the custom of shaving every day. The late Emperor Augustus always made use of razors.
 
7 - 60 WHEN THE FIRST TIME-PIECES WERE MADE M
The third point of universal agreement was the division of time, a subject which afterwards appealed to the reasoning faculties. We have already stated, in the Second Book,1 when and by whom this art was first invented in Greece; the same was also introduced at Rome, but at a later period. In the Twelve Tables, the rising and setting of the sun are the only things that are mentioned relative to time. Some years afterwards, the hour of midday was added, the summoner of the consuls proclaiming it aloud, as soon as, from the senate-house, he caught sight of the sun between the Rostra and the Græcostasis; he also proclaimed the last hour, when the sun had gone down from the Mænian column to the prison. This, however, could only be done in clear weather, but it was continued until the first Punic war. The first sun-dial is said to have been erected among the Romans twelve years before the war with Pyrrhus, by L. Papirius Cursor, at the temple of Quirinus, on which occasion he dedicated it in pursuance of a vow which had been made by his father. This is the account given by Fabius Vestalis; but he makes no mention of either the construction of the dial or the artist, nor does he inform us from what place it was brought, or in whose works he found this statement made.
M. Varro says that the first sun-dial, erected for the use of the public, was fixed upon a column near the Rostra, in the time of the first Punic war, by the consul M. Valerius Messala, and that it was brought from the capture of Catina, in Sicily: this being thirty years after the date assigned to the dial of Papirius, and the year of Rome 49The lines in this dial did not exactly agree with the hours; it served, however, as the regulator of the Roman time ninety-nine years, until Q. Marcius Philippus, who was censor with L. Paulus, placed one near it, which was more carefully arranged: an act which was most gratefully acknowledged, as one of the very best of his censorship. The hours, however, still remained a matter of uncertainty, whenever the weather happened to be cloudy, until the ensuing lustrum; at which time Scipio Nasica, the colleague of Lænas, by means of a clepsydra, was the first to divide the hours of the day and the night into equal parts: and this time-piece he placed under cover and dedicated, in the year of Rome 59for so long a period had the Romans remained without any exact division of the day. We will now return to the history of the other animals, and first to that of the terrestrial.
 
8 NATURE OF THE TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS M 115.5
8 - 1 ELEPHANTS; THEIR CAPACITY M
LET US now pass on to the other animals, and first of all to the land animals. The elephant is the largest of them all, and in intelligence approaches the nearest to man. It understands the language of its country, it obeys commands, and it remembers all the duties which it has been taught. It is sensible alike of the pleasures of love and glory, and, to a degree that is rare among men even, possesses notions of honesty, prudence, and equity; it has a religious respect also for the stars, and a veneration for the sun and the moon. It is said by some authors, that, at the first appearance of the new moon, herds of these animals come down from the forests of Mauritania to a river, the name of which is Amilos; and that they there purify themselves in solemn form by sprinkling their bodies with water; after which, having thus saluted the heavenly body, they return to the woods, carrying before them the young ones which are fatigued. They are supposed to have a notion, too, of the differences of religion; and when about to cross the sea, they cannot be prevailed upon to go on board the ship, until their keeper has promised upon oath that they shall return home again. They have been seen, too, when worn out by disease, (for even these vast masses are liable to disease,) lying on their back, and throwing the grass up into the air, as if deputing the earth to intercede for them with its prayers. As a proof of their extreme docility, they pay homage to the king, fall upon their knees, and offer him the crown. Those of smaller growth, which the Indians call bastards, are employed by them in ploughing.
 
8 - 2 WHEN ELEPHANTS WERE FIRST PUT INTO HARNESS M
The first harnessed elephants that were seen at Rome, were in the triumph of Pompeius Magnus over Africa, when they drew his chariot; a thing that is said to have been done long before, at the triumph of Father Liber on the conquest of India. Procilius says, that those which were used at the triumph of Pompeius, were unable to go in harness through the gate of the city. In the exhibition of gladiators which was given by Germanicus, the elephants performed a sort of dance with their uncouth and irregular movements. It was a common thing to see them throw arrows with such strength, that the wind was unable to turn them from their course, to imitate among themselves the combats of the gladiators, and to frolic through the steps of the Pyrrhic dance. After this, too, they walked upon the tight-rope, and four of them would carry a litter in which lay a fifth, which represented a woman lying-in. They afterwards took their place; and so nicely did they manage their steps, that they did not so much as touch any of those who were drinking there.
 
8 - 3 DOCILITY OF THE ELEPHANT M
It is a well-known fact, that one of these animals, who was slower than usual in learning what was taught him, and had been frequently chastised with blows, was found conning over his lesson in the night-time. It is a most surprising thing also, that the elephant is able not only to walk up the tight-rope backwards; but to come down it as well, with the head foremost. Mutianus, who was three times consul, informs us that one of these animals had been taught to trace the Greek letters, and that he used to write in that language the following words: "I have myself written these words, and have dedicated the Celtic spoils." Mutianus states also, that he himself was witness to the fact, that when some elephants were being landed at Puteoli and were compelled to leave the ship, being terrified at the length of the platform, which extended from the vessel to the shore, they walked backwards, in order to deceive themselves by forming a false estimate of the distance.
 
8 - 4 WONDERFUL THINGS WHICH HAVE BEEN DONE BY THE ELEPHANT M
These animals are well aware that the only spoil that we are anxious to procure of them is the part which forms their weapon of defence, by Juba, called their horns, but by Herodotus, a much older writer, as well as by general usage and more appropriately, their teeth. Hence it is that, when their tusks have fallen off, either by accident or from old age, they bury them in the earth. These tusks form the only real ivory, and, even in these, the part which is covered by the flesh is merely common bone, and of no value whatever; though, indeed, of late, in consequence of the insufficient supply of ivory, they have begun to cut the bones as well into thin plates. Large teeth, in fact, are now rarely found, except in India, the demands of luxury having exhausted all those in our part of the world. The youthfulness of the animal is ascertained by the whiteness of the teeth These animals take the greatest care of their teeth; they pay especial attention to the point of one of them, that it may not be found blunt when wanted for combat; the other they employ for various purposes, such as digging up roots and pushing forward heavy weights. When they are surrounded by the hunters, they place those in front which have the smallest teeth, that the enemy may think that the spoil is not worth the combat; and afterwards, when they are weary of resistance, they break off their teeth, by dashing them against a tree, and in this manner pay their ransom.
 
8 - 5 INSTINCT OF WILD ANIMALS IN PERCEIVING DANGER M
It is a wonderful thing, that most animals are aware why it is that they are sought after, and what it is, that, under all circumstances, they have to guard against. When an elephant happens to meet a man in the desert, who is merely wandering about, the animal, it is said, shows himself both merciful and kind, and even points out the way. But the very same animal, if he meets with the traces of a man, before he meets the man himself, trembles in every limb, for fear of an ambush, stops short and scents the wind, looks around him, and snorts aloud with rage; and then, without trampling upon the object, digs it up, and passes it to the next one, who again passes it to the one that follows, and so on from one to the other, till it comes to the very last. The herd then faces about, returns, and ranges itself in order of battle; so strongly does the odour, in all cases, attach itself to the human footstep, even though, as is most frequently the case, the foot itself is not naked. In the same way, too, the tigress, which is the dread of the other wild beasts, and which sees, without alarm, the traces even of the elephant itself, is said at once, upon seeing the footsteps of man, to carry off her whelps. How has the animal acquired this knowledge? And where has it seen him before, of whom it stands in such dread? Doubt there can be none, that forests such as it haunts are but little frequented by man! It is not to be wondered at, if they are astonished at the print of a footstep before unknown; but how should they know that there is anything that they ought to dread? And, what is still more, why should they dread even the very sight of man, seeing that they are so far supe- rior to him in strength, size, and swiftness? No doubt, such is the law of Nature, such is the influence of her power-the most savage and the very largest of wild beasts have never seen that which they have reason to fear, and yet instantly have an instinctive feeling of dread, when the moment has come for them to fear.
(.) Elephants always move in herds. The oldest takes the lead, and the next in age brings up the rear. When they are crossing a river, they first send over the smallest, for fear lest the weight of the larger ones may increase the depth of the channel, by working away the bed of the river. We learn from Antipater, that King Antiochus had two elephants, which he employed in his wars, and to which he had given the names of celebrated men; and that they were aware too of this mark of distinction. Cato, in his Annals, while he has passed over in silence the names of the generals, has given that of an elephant called Surus, which fought with the greatest valour in the Carthaginian army, and had lost one of its tusks. When Antiochus was sounding the ford of a river, an elephant named Ajax, which on other occasions had always led the van, refused to enter the stream; upon which proclamation was made, that the first rank should belong to the one which should take the lead in passing over. One called Patroclus hazarded the attempt, and as a reward, the king presented it with some silver pendants, a kind of ornament with which these animals are particularly delighted, and assigned it all the other marks of command. Upon this, the elephant that had been degraded refused to take its food, and so preferred death to ignominy. Indeed their sense of shame is wonderful, and when one of them has been conquered, it flies at the voice of the conqueror, and presents him with earth and vervain. These animals are sensible to feelings of modesty; they never couple but in secret: the male after it has attained its fifth year, the female after the age of ten. It is said, that their intercourse takes place only every second year, and for five days only, and no more; on the sixth day they plunge into a river, before doing which they will not rejoin the herd. Adulterous intercourse is unknown to them, and they have none of those deadly combats for the possession of the female, which take place among the other animals. Nor is this because they are uninfluenced by the passion of love. One in Egypt, we are told, fell in love with a woman, who was a seller of garlands; and let no one suppose that he made a vulgar choice, for she was the especial object of the love of Aristophanes, who held the very highest rank as a grammarian. Another became attached to the youth Menander, a native of Syracuse, in the army of Ptolemy; whenever it did not see him, it would manifest the regret which it experienced, by refusing its food. Juba gives an account also of a female who dealt in perfumes, to whom one of these creatures formed an attachment. All these animals manifested their attachment by their signs of joy at the sight of the person, by their awkward caresses, and by keeping for them and throwing into their bosom the pieces of money which the public had given them. Nor, indeed, ought we to be surprised, that an animal which possesses memory should be sensible of affection: for the same author relates, that an elephant recognized, after the lapse of many years, an old man who had been its keeper in his youth. They would seem also to have an instinctive feeling of justice. King Bocchus once fastened thirty elephants to the stake, with the determination of wreaking his vengeance on them, by means of thirty others; but though men kept sallying forth among them to goad them on, he could not, with all his endeavours, force them to become the ministers of the cruelty of others.
 
8 - 6 WHEN ELEPHANTS WERE FIRST SEEN IN ITALY M
Elephants were seen in Italy, for the first time, in the war with King Pyrrhus, in the year of the City ; they were called "Lucanian oxen," because they were first seen in Lucania. Seven years after this period, they appeared at Rome in a triumph. In the year a great number of them were brought to Rome, which had been taken by the pontiff Metellus, in his victory gained in Sicily over the Carthaginians; they were one hundred and forty-two in number, or, as some say, one hundred and forty, and were conveyed to our shores upon rafts, which were constructed on rows of hogsheads joined together. Verrius informs us, that they fought in the Circus, and that they were slain with javelins, for want of some better method of disposing of them; as the people neither liked to keep them nor yet to give them to the kings. L. Piso tells us only that they were brought into the Circus; and for the purpose of increasing the feeling of contempt towards them, they were driven all round the area of that place by workmen, who had nothing but spears blunted at the point. The authors who are of opinion that they were not killed, do not, however, inform us how they were afterwards disposed of.
 
8 - 7 COMBATS OF ELEPHANTS M
There is a famous combat mentioned of a Roman with an elephant, when Hannibal compelled our prisoners to fight against each other. The one who had survived all the others he placed before an elephant, and promised him his life if he should slay it; upon which the man advanced alone into the arena, and, to the great regret of the Carthaginians, succeeded in doing so. Hannibal, however, thinking that the news of this victory might cause a feeling of contempt for these animals, sent some horsemen to kill the man on his way home. In our battles with Pyrrhus it was found, on making trial, that it was extremely easy to cut off the trunks of these animals. Fenestella informs us, that they fought at Rome in the Circus for the first time during the curule ædileship of Claudius Pulcher, in the consulship of M. Antonius and A. Postumius, in the year of the City ; and that twenty years afterwards, during the curule ædileship of the Luculli, they were set to fight against bulls. In the second consulship of Pompeius, at the dedication of the temple of Venus Victrix, twenty elephants, or, as some say, seventeen, fought in the Circus against a number of Gætulians, who attacked them with javelins. One of these animals fought in a most astonishing manner; being pierced through the feet, it dragged itself on its knees towards the troop, and seizing their bucklers, tossed them aloft into the air: and as they came to the ground they greatly amused the spectators, for they whirled round and round in the air, just as if they had been thrown up with a certain degree of skill, and not by the frantic fury of a wild beast. Another very wonderful circumstauce happened; an elephant was killed by a single blow. The weapon pierced the animal below the eye, and entered the vital part of the head. The elephants attempted, too, by their united efforts, to break down the enclosure, not without great confusion among the people who surrounded the iron gratings. It was in consequence of this circumstance, that Cæsar, the Dictator, when he was afterwards about to exhibit a similar spectacle, had the arena surrounded with trenches of water, which were lately filled up by the Emperor Nero, when he added the seats for the equestrian order. When, however, the elephants in the exhibition given by Pompeius had lost all hopes of escaping, they implored the compassion of the multitude by attitudes which surpass all description, and with a kind of lamentation bewailed their unhappy fate. So greatly were the people affected by the scene, that, forgetting the general altogether, and the munificence which had been at such pains to do them honour, the whole assembly rose up in tears, and showered curses on Pompeius, of which he soon afterwards became the victim. They fought also in the third consulship of the Dic- tator Cæsar, twenty of them against five hundred foot soldiers. On another occasion twenty elephants, carrying towers, and each defended by sixty men, were opposed to the same number of foot soldiers as before, and an equal number of horsemen. Afterwards, under the Emperors Claudius and Nero, the last exploit that the gladiators performed was fighting singlehanded with elephants.
The elephant is said to display such a merciful disposition towards animals that are weaker than itself, that, when it finds itself in a flock of sheep, it will remove with its trunk those that are in the way, lest it should unintentionally trample upon them. They will never do any mischief except when provoked, and they are of a disposition so sociable, that they always move about in herds, no animal being less fond of a solitary life. When surrounded by a troop of horsemen, they place in the centre of the herd those that are weak, weary, or wounded, and then take the front rank each in its turn, just as though they acted under command and in accordance with discipline. When taken captive, they are very speedily tamed, by being fed on the juices of barley.
 
8 - 8 WAY IN WHICH ELEPHANTS ARE CAUGHT M
In India they are caught by the keeper guiding one of the tame elephants towards a wild one which he has found alone or has separated from the herd; upon which he beats it, and when it is fatigued mounts and manages it just the same way as the other. In Africa they take them in pit-falls; but as soon as an elephant gets into one, the others immediately collect boughs of trees and pile up heaps of earth, so as to form a mound, and then endeavour with all their might to drag it out. It was formerly the practice to tame them by driving the herds with horsemen into a narrow defile, artificially made in such a way as to deceive them by its length; and when thus enclosed by means of steep banks and trenches, they were rendered tame by the effects of hunger; as a proof of which, they would quietly take a branch that was extended to them by one of the men. At the present day, when we take them for the sake of their tusks, we throw darts at their feet, which are in general the most tender part of their body. The Troglodytæ, who inhabit the confines of Æthiopia, and who live entirely on the flesh of elephants procured by the chase, climb the trees which lie near the paths through which these animals usually pass. Here they keep a watch, and look out for the one which comes last in the train; leaping down upon its haunches, they seize its tail with the left hand, and fix their feet firmly upon the left thigh. Hanging down in this manner, the man, with his right hand, hamstrings the animal on one side, with a very sharp hatchet. The elephant's pace being retarded by the wound, he cuts the tendons of the other ham, and then makes his escape; all of which is done with the very greatest celerity. Others, again, employ a much safer, though less certain method; they fix in the ground, at considerable intervals, very large bows upon the stretch; these are kept steady by young men remarkable for their strength, while others, exerting themselves with equal efforts, bend them, and so wound the animals as they pass by, and afterwards trace them by their blood. The female elephant is much more timid by nature than the male.
 
8 - 9 METHOD BY WHICH THEY ARE TAMED M
Elephants of furious temper are tamed by hunger and blows, while other elephants are placed near to keep them quiet, when the violent fit is upon them, by means of chains. Besides this, they are more particularly violent when in heat, at which time they will level to the ground the huts of the Indians with their tusks. It is on this account that they are prevented from coupling, and the females are kept in herds separate from the males, just the same way as with other cattle. Elephants, when tamed, are employed in war, and carry into the ranks of the enemy towers filled with armed men; and on them, in a very great measure, depends the ultimate result of the battles that are fought in the East. They tread under foot whole companies, and crush the men in their armour. The very least sound, however, of the grunting of the hog terrifies them: when wounded and panic-stricken, they invariably fall back, and become no less formidable for the destruction which they deal to their own side, than to their opponents. The African elephant is afraid of the Indian, and does not dare so much as look at it, for the latter is of much greater bulk.
 
8 - 10 BIRTH OF THE ELEPHANT, AND OTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING IT M
The vulgar notion is, that the elephant goes with young ten years; but, according to Aristotle, it is two years only. He says also that the female only bears once, and then a single young one; that they live two hundred years, and some of them as much as three hundred. The adult age of the elephant begins at the sixtieth year. They are especially fond of water, and wander much about streams, and this although they are unable to swim, in consequence of their bulk. They are particularly sensitive to cold, and that, indeed, is their greatest enemy. They are subject also to flatulency, and to looseness of the bowels, but to no other kind of disease. I find it stated, that on making them drink oil, any weapons which may happen to stick in their body will fall out; while, on the contrary, perspiration makes them the more readily adhere. If they eat earth it is poison to them, unless indeed they have gradually become accustomed by repeatedly doing so. They also devour stones as well; but the trunks of trees are their most favourite food. They throw down, with a blow from their forehead, palms of exceeding height, and when lying on the ground, strip them of their fruit. They eat with the mouth, but they breathe, drink, and smell with [the proboscis], which is not unaptly termed their "hand." They have the greatest aversion to the mouse of all animals, and quite loathe their food, as it lies in the manger, if they perceive that it has been touched by one of those animals. They experience the greatest torture if they happen to swallow, while drinking, a horseleech, an animal which people are beginning, I find, to call almost universally a "blood-sucker." The leech fastens upon the wind-pipe, and produces intolerable pain.
The skin of the back is extremely hard, that of the belly is softer. They are not covered with any kind of bristles, nor yet does the tail even furnish them with any protection from the annoyance of flies; for vast as these animals are, they suffer greatly from them. Their skin is reticulated, and invites these insects by the odour it exhales. Accordingly, when a swarm of them has settled on the skin, while extended and smooth, the elephant suddenly contracts it; and, in this way, the flies are crushed between the folds which are thus closed. This power serves them in place of tail, mane, and hair. Their teeth are very highly prized, and from them we obtain the most costly materials for forming the statues of the gods. Luxury has discovered even another recommendation in this animal, having found a particularly delicate flavour in the cartilaginous part of the trunk, for no other reason, in my belief, than because it fancies itself to be eating ivory. Tusks of enormous size are constantly to be seen in the temples; but, in the extreme parts of Africa, on the confines of Æthiopia, they are employed as door-posts for houses; and Polybius informs us, on the authority of the petty king Gulussa, that they are also employed as stakes in making fences for the folds of cattle.
 
8 - 11 WHAT COUNTRIES ELEPHANT IS FOUND; THE ANTIPATHY OF ELEPHANT & DRAGON M
Africa produces elephants, beyond the deserts of the Syrtes, and in Mauritania; they are found also in the. countries of the Æthiopians and the Troglodytæ as mentioned above. But it is India that produces the largest, as well as the dragon, which is perpetually at war with the elephant, and is itself of so enormous a size, as easily to envelope the elephants with its folds, and encircle them in its coils. The contest is equally fatal to both; the elephant, vanquished, falls to the earth, and by its weight, crushes the dragon which is entwined around it.
 
8 - 12 SAGACITY OF THESE ANIMALS M
The sagacity which every animal exhibits in its own behalf is wonderful, but in these it is remarkably so. The dragon has much difficulty in climbing up to so great a height, and therefore, watching the road, which bears marks of their footsteps when going to feed, it darts down upon them from a lofty tree. The elephant knows that it is quite unable to struggle against the folds of the serpent, and so seeks for trees or rocks against which to rub itself. The dragon is on its guard against this, and tries to prevent it, by first of all confining the legs of the elephant with the folds of its tail; while the elephant, on the other hand, endeavours to disengage itself with its trunk. The dragon, however, thrusts its head into its nostrils, and thus, at the same moment, stops the breath and wounds the most tender parts. When it is met unexpectedly, the dragon raises itself up, faces its opponent, and flies more especially at the eyes; this is the reason why elephants are so often found blind, and worn to a skeleton with hunger and misery. What other cause can one assign for such mighty strifes as these, except that Nature is desirous, as it were, to make an exhibition for herself, in pitting such opponents against each other?
There is another story, too, told in relation to these combats —the blood of the elephant, it is said, is remarkably cold; for which reason, in the parching heats of summer, it is sought by the dragon with remarkable avidity. It lies, therefore, coiled up and concealed in the rivers, in wait for the elephants, when they come to drink; upon which it darts out, fastens itself around the trunk, and then fixes its teeth behind the ear, that being the only place which the elephant cannot protect with the trunk. The dragons, it is said, are of such vast size, that they can swallow the whole of the blood; consequently, the elephant, being thus drained of its blood, falls to the earth exhausted; while the dragon, intoxicated with the draught, is crushed beneath it, and so shares its fate.
 
8 - 13 DRAGONS M
Æthiopia produces dragons, not so large as those of India, but still, twenty cubits in length. The only thing that surprises me is, how Juba came to believe that they have crests. The Æthiopians are known as the Asachæi, among whom they most abound; and we are told, that on those coasts four or five of them are found twisted and interlaced together like so many osiers in a hurdle, and thus setting sail, with their heads erect, they are borne along upon the waves, to find better sources of nourishment in Arabia.
 
8 - 14 SERPENTS OF REMARKABLE SIZE M
Megasthenes informs us, that in India, serpents grow to such an immense size, as to swallow stags and bulls; while Metrodorus says, that about the river Rhyndacus, in Pontus, they seize and swallow the birds that are flying above them, however high and however rapid their flight. It is a well-known fact, that during the Punic war, at the river Bagrada, a serpent one hundred and twenty feet in length was taken by the Roman army under Regulus, being besieged, like a fortress, by means of balistæ and other engines of war. Its skin and jaws were preserved in a temple at Rome, down to the time of the Numantine war. The serpents which in Italy are known by the name of boa, render these accounts far from incredible, for they grow to such a vast size, that a child was found entire in the stomach of one of them, which was killed on the Vaticanian Hill during the reign of the Emperor Claudius. These are nourished, in the first instance, with the milk of the cow, and from this they take their name. As to the other animals, which have been of late repeatedly brought to Italy from all parts of the world, it is quite unnecessary to give any minute account of their form.
 
8 - 15 ANIMALS OF SCYTHIA; THE BISON M
Scythia produces but very few animals, in consequence of the scarcity of shrubs. Germany, which lies close adjoining it, has not many animals, though it has some very fine kinds of wild oxen: the bison, which has a mane, and the urus, possessed of remarkable strength and swiftness. To these, the vulgar, in their ignorance, have given the name of bubalus whereas, that animal is really produced in Africa, and rather bears a resemblance to the calf and the stag.
 
8 - 16 ANIMALS OF THE NORTH; THE ELK, THE ACHLIS, AND THE BONASUS M
The North, too, produces herds of wild horses, as Africa and Asia do of wild asses; there is, also, the elk, which strongly resembles our steers, except that it is distinguished by the length of the ears and of the neck. There is also the achlis, which is produced in the island of Scandinavia; it has never been seen in this city, although we have had descriptions of it from many persons; it is not unlike the elk, but has no joints in the hind leg. Hence, it never lies down, but reclines against a tree while it sleeps; it can only be taken by previously cutting into the tree, and thus laying a trap for it, as otherwise, it would escape through its swiftness. Its upper lip is so extremely large, for which reason it is obliged to go backwards when grazing; otherwise, by moving onwards, the lip would get doubled up. In Pæonia, it is said, there is a wild animal known as the bonasus; it has the mane of the horse, but is, in other respects, like the bull, with horns, however, so much bent inwards upon each other, as to be of no use for the purposes of combat. It has therefore to depend upon its flight, and, while in the act of flying, it sends forth its excrements, sometimes to a distance of even three jugera; the contact of which burns those who pursue the animal, just like a kind of fire.
 
8 - 17 LIONS; HOW THEY ARE PRODUCED M
It is a remarkable fact, that pards, panthers, lions, and other animals of this kind, walk with the points of their nails concealed in a sheath in the body, lest they should be broken or blunted; and that, when they run, their hooked claws are turned backwards, and are never extended, except in the act of seizing their prey.
(.) The noble appearance of the lion is more especially to be seen in that species which has the neck and shoulders covered with a mane, which is always acquired at the proper age by those produced from a lion; while, on the other hand, those that are the offspring of the pard, are always without this distinction. The female also has no mane. The sexual passions of these animals are very violent, and render the male quite furious. This is especially the case in Africa, where, in consequence of the great scarcity of water, the wild beasts assemble in great numbers on the banks of a few rivers. This is also the reason why so many curious varieties of animals are produced there, the males and females of various species coupling promiscuously with each other. Hence arose the saying, which was common in Greece even, that "Africa is always producing something new." The lion recognizes, by the peculiar odour of the pard, when the lioness has been unfaithful to him, and avenges himself with the greatest fury. Hence it is, that the female, when she has been guilty of a lapse, washes herself, or else follows the lion at a considerable distance. I find that it was a common belief, that the lioness is able to bear young no more than once, because, while delivering herself, she tears her womb with her claws. Aristotle, however, gives a different account; a man of whom I think that I ought here to make some further mention, seeing that upon these subjects, I intend, in a great measure, to make him my guide. Alexander the Great, being inflamed with a strong desire to become acquainted with the natures of animals, entrusted the prosecution of this design to Aristotle, a man who held the highest rank in every branch of learning; for which purpose he placed under his command some thousands of men in every region of Asia and Greece, and comprising all those who followed the business of hunting, fowling, or fishing, or who had the care of parks, herds of cattle, the breeding of bees, fish-ponds, and aviaries, in order that no creature that was known to exist might escape his notice. By means of the information which he obtained from these persons, he was enabled to compose some fifty volumes, which are deservedly esteemed, on the subject of animals; of these I purpose to give an epitome, together with other facts with which Aristotle was unacquainted; and I beg the kind indulgence of my readers in their estimate of this work of mine, as by my aid they hastily travel through all the works of nature, and through the midst of subjects with which that most famous of all kings so ardently desired to be acquainted. Aristotle then informs us, that the lioness, at the first birth, produces five whelps, and one less every succeeding year, until, after having produced one only, she ceases to bear. The young ones, when first born, are shapeless and extremely small in flesh, being no larger than a weasel; for six months they are scarcely able to walk, and until they are two months old, they cannot move. Lions, he says, are found in Europe, but only between the rivers Achelous and Nestus; being much superior in strength to those which are produced in Africa or Syria.
 
8 - 18 DIFFERENT SPECIES OF LIONS M
There are two species of lions; in the one the body is shorter and more compact, and the mane more crisp and curly; these are more timid than those with a longer body and straight hair, which, in fact, have no fear of wounds. The males raise the leg like the dog, when they pass their urine; which has a most disagreeable odour, the same being the case too with their breath. They seldom drink, and only take food every other day; when they have gorged themselves, they will sometimes go without food for three days. They swallow their food whole, without mastication, so far as they are able; and when they have taken more than the stomach can possibly receive, they extract part of it by thrusting their claws into the throat; the same too, if, when full, they have occasion to take to flight. That they are very long-lived is proved by the fact, that many of them are found without teeth. Polybius, the companion of Æmilianus, tells us, that when they become aged they will attack men, as they have no longer sufficient strength for the pursuit of wild beasts. It is then that they lay siege to the cities of Africa; and for this reason it was, that he, as well as Scipio, had seen some of them hung upon a cross; it being supposed that others, through dread of a similar punishment, might be deterred from committing the like outrages.
 
8 - 19 PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THE LION M
The lion is the only one of all the wild beasts that shows mercy to the suppliant; after it has conquered, it will spare, and when enraged, it will vent its fury rather upon men than women, and never upon children, unless when greatly pressed by hunger. It is the belief in Libya, that it fully understands the entreaties which are addressed to it. At all events, I have heard it asserted as a fact, that a female slave, who was returning from Gætulia, was attacked by a number of lions in the forests; upon which she summoned sufficient courage to address them, and said that she was a woman, a fugitive, helpless creature, that she implored the compassion of the most generous of animals, the one that has the command of all the others, and that she was a prey unworthy of their high repute —and by these means effectually soothed their ferocity. There are various opinions on this point, as to whether it is through some peculiar disposition of the animal, or merely by accident, that their fury is thus soothed by addressing them. As to what is alleged, too, about serpents, that they can be drawn from their holes by singing, and thus be made to yield themselves up to death, the truth or falsity of it has not by any means been satisfactorily ascertained.
The tail of the lion gives indication of the state of his feelings, just as the ears do in the horse; for these are the distinguishing signs which Nature has given to each of the most generous of animals. Hence it is that, when pleased, the tail is without motion, and the animal fawns upon those who caress him; a thing, however, that very rarely happens, for his most frequent state is that of rage. He begins by beating the earth with his tail; and as he becomes more furious, he lashes his sides, as if trying to excite himself. His greatest strength is situate in the breast. From every wound that he makes, whether it is with his claws or his teeth, a black blood issues. When his hunger is satisfied, he becomes harmless. The generous disposition of the lion is more especially manifested in time of danger; not only at the moment when, despising all weapons, he long defends himself solely by the terror which he inspires, and protests, as it were, that he is compelled thus to defend himself, but when he rises at last, not as though constrained by danger, but as if enraged by the mad folly of his adversaries. This, however, is a still more noble feature of his courage—however numerous the dogs and hunters may be that press upon him, as he makes his retreat he comes to a stand every now and then upon the level plain, while he is still in view, and scowls contemptuously upon them: but as soon as ever he has entered the thickets and dense forests, he scours away at the swiftest possible pace, as though aware that the place itself will shelter his shame. When in pursuit, the lion advances with a leap, but he does not do so when in flight. When wounded, he discovers, with wonderful sagacity, the person who struck the blow, and will find him out, however great may have been the multitude of his pursuers. If a person has thrown a dart at him, but has failed to inflict a wound, the animal seizes him, whirls him round and throws him to the ground, but without wounding him. When the lioness is defending her whelps, it is said that she fixes her eyes steadily on the ground, that she may not be frightened at the spears of the hunters. In all other respects, these animals are equally free from deceit and suspicion. They never look at an object obliquely, and they dislike being looked at themselves in such a manner. It is generally believed, that, when the lion is dying, he bites at the earth, and sheds tears at his fate. Powerful, however, and fierce as this animal is, he is terrified by the motion of wheels or of an empty chariot, and still more on seeing the crest or hearing the crowing of a cock; but most of all, is he afraid of fire. The only malady to which the lion is subject, is loss of appetite; this, however, is cured by putting insults upon him, by means of the pranks of monkeys placed about him, a thing which rouses his anger; immediately he tastes their blood, he is relieved.
 
8 - 20 WHO IT WAS THAT FIRST INTRODUCED COMBATS OF LIONS AT ROME, AND WHO HAS BROUGHT TOGETHER THE GREATEST NUMBER OF LIONS FOR THAT PURPOSE M
Q. Scævola, the son of P. Scævola, when he was curule ædile, was the first to exhibit at Rome a combat of a number of lions; and L. Sylla, who was afterwards Dictator, during his prætorship, gave the spectacle of a fight of one hundred lions with manes. After him, Pompeius Magnus exhibited six hundred lions in the Circus, three hundred and fifteen of which had manes; Cæsar, the Dictator, exhibited four hundred.
 
8 - 21 WONDERFUL FEATS PERFORMED BY LIONS M
It was formerly a very difficult matter to catch the lion, and it was mostly done by means of pit-falls. In the reign, however, of the Emperor Claudius, accident disclosed a method which appears almost disgraceful to the name of such an animal; a Gætulian shepherd stopped a lion, that was rushing furiously upon him, by merely throwing his cloak over the animal; a circumstance which afterwards afforded an exhibition in the arena of the Circus, when the frantic fury of the animal was paralyzed in a manner almost incredible by a light covering being thrown over its head, so much so, that it was put into chains without the least resistance; we must conclude, therefore, that all its strength lies in its eyes. This circumstance renders what was done by Lysimachus less wonderful, who strangled a lion, with which he had been shut up by command of Alexander.
Antony subjected lions to the yoke, and was the first at Rome to harness them to his chariot; and this during the civil war, after the battle on the plains of Pharsalia; not, indeed, without a kind of ominous presage, a prodigy that foretold at the time how that generous spirits were about to be subdued. But to have himself drawn along in this manner, in company with the actress Cytheris, was a thing that surpassed even the most monstrous spectacles that were to be seen at that calamitous period. It is said that Hanno, one of the most illustrious of the Carthaginians, was the first who ventured to touch the lion with the hand, and to exhibit it in a tame state. It was on this account that he was banished; for it was supposed, that a man so talented and so ingenious would have it in his power to persuade the people to anything, and it was looked upon as unsafe to trust the liberties of the country to one who had so eminently triumphed over even ferocity itself. There are some fortuitous occurrences cited also, which have given occasion to these animals to display their natural clemency. Mentor, a native of Syracuse, was met in Syria by a lion, who rolled before him in a suppliant manner; though smitten with fear and desirous to escape, the wild beast on every side opposed his flight, and licked his feet with a fawning air. Upon this, Mentor observed on the paw of the lion a swelling and a wound; from which, after extracting a splinter, he relieved the creature's pain. There is a picture at Syracuse, which bears witness to the truth of this transaction. In the same manner, too, Elpis, a native of Samos, on landing from a vessel on the coast of Africa, observed a lion near the beach, opening his mouth in a threatening manner; upon which he climbed a tree, in the hope of escaping, while, at the same time, he invoked the aid of Father Liber; for it is the appropriate time for invocations when there is no room left for hope. The wild beast did not pursue him as he fled, although he might easily have done so; but, lying down at the foot of the tree, by the open mouth which had caused so much terror, tried to excite his compassion. A bone, while he was devouring his food with too great avidity, had stuck fast between his teeth, and he was perishing with hunger; such being the punishment inflicted upon him by his own weapons, every now and then he would look up and supplicate him, as it were, with mute entreaties. Elpis, not wishing to risk trusting himself to so formidable a beast, remained stationary for some time, more at last from astonishment than from fear. At length, however, he descended from the tree and extracted the bone, the lion in the meanwhile extending his head, and aiding in the operation as far as it was necessary for him to do. The story goes on to say, that as long as the vessel remained off that coast, the lion showed his sense of gratitude by bringing whatever he had chanced to procure in the chase. In memory of this circumstance, Elpis consecrated a temple at Samos to Father Liber, which the Greeks, from the circumstance above related, called "the temple χεχηνότος διονύσου," or "of the open-mouthed Bacchus." Can we wonder, after this, that the wild beasts should be able to recognize the footsteps of man, when of him alone of all animals they even hope for aid? For why should they not have recourse to others for assistance? Or how is it that they know that the hand of man has power to heal them? Unless, perhaps, it is that the violence of pain can force wild beasts even to risk every thing to obtain relief. (.) Demetrius, the natural philosopher, relates an equally remarkable instance, in relation to a panther. The animal was lying in the middle of the road, waiting for some one to pass that way, when he was suddenly perceived by the father of one Philinus, an ardent lover of wisdom. Seized with fear, he immediately began to retreat; while the beast rolled itself before him, evidently with the desire of caressing him, at the same time manifesting signs of grief, which could not be misunderstood in a panther even. The animal had young ones, which had happened to fall into a pit at some distance from the place. The first dictates of compassion banished all fear, and the next prompted him to assist the animal. He accordingly followed her, as she gently drew him on by fixing her claws in his garment; and as soon as he discovered what was the cause of her grief and the price of his own safety, he took the whelps out of the pit, and they followed her to the end of the desert; whither he was escorted by her, frisking with joy and gladness, in order that she might more appropriately testify how grateful she was, and how little she had given him in return; a mode of acting which is but rarely found, among men even.
 
8 - 22 MAN RECOGNIZED AND SAVED BY A DRAGON M
Facts such as these induce us to give some credit to what Democritus relates, who says that a man, called Thoas, was preserved in Arcadia by a dragon. When a boy, he had become much attached to it, and had reared it very tenderly; but his father, being alarmed at the nature and monstrous size of the reptile, had taken and left it in the desert. Thoas being here attacked by some robbers who lay in ambush, he was delivered from them by the dragon, which recognized his voice and came to his assistance. But as to what has been said respecting infants that have been exposed and nourished by the milk of wild beasts, as in the case of the founders of our city by a wolf, I am disposed to attribute such cases as these rather to the greatness of the destinies which have to be fulfilled, than to any peculiarity in the nature of the animals themselves.
 
8 - 23 PANTHERS M
The panther and the tiger are nearly the only animals that are remarkable for a skin distinguished by the variety of its spots; whereas others have them of a single colour, appropriate to each species. The lions of Syria alone are black. The spots of the panther are like small eyes, upon a white ground. It is said that all quadrupeds are attracted in a most wonderful manner by their odour, while they are terrified by the fierceness of their aspect; for which reason the creature conceals its head, and then seizes upon the animals that are attracted to it by the sweetness of the odour. It is said by some, that the panther has, on the shoulder, a spot which bears the form of the moon; and that, like it, it regularly increases to full, and then diminishes to a crescent. At present, we apply the general names of varia and pard, (which last belongs to the males), to all the numerous species of this animal, which is very common in Africa and Syria. Some writers distinguish the panther, as being remarkable for its whiteness: but as yet I have not observed any other difference between them.
 
8 - 24 DECREE OF THE SENATE, AND LAWS RESPECTING AFRICAN ANIMALS; WHO FIRST BROUGHT THEM TO ROME, AND WHO BROUGHT THE GREATEST NUMBER OF THEM M
There was an ancient decree of the senate, which prohibited animals being imported from Africa into Italy; but Cn. Aufidius, the tribune of the people, procured a law repealing this, which allowed of their being brought over for the games of the Circus. Scaurus, in his ædileship, was the first who sent over the parti-coloured kind, one hundred and fifty in the whole; after which, Pompeius Magnus sent four hundred and ten, and the late Emperor Augustus four hundred and twenty.
 
8 - 25 TIGERS: WHEN FIRST SEEN AT ROME; THEIR NATURE M
The same emperor was the first person who exhibited at Rome a tame tiger on the stage. This was in the consulship of Q. Tubero and Fabius Maximus, at the dedication of the theatre of Marcellus, on the fourth day before the nones of May: the late Emperor Claudius exhibited four at one time.
(.) Hyrcania and India produce the tiger, an animal of tremendous swiftness, a quality which is more especially tested when we deprive it of all its whelps, which are always very numerous. They are seized by the hunter, who lies in wait for them, being provided with the fleetest horse he can possibly obtain, and which he frequently changes for a fresh one. As soon as the female finds her lair empty-for the male takes no care whatever of his offspring-headlong she darts forth, and traces them by the smell. Her approach is made known by her cries, upon which the hunter throws down one of the whelps; this she snatches up with her teeth, and more swift, even, under the weight, returns to her lair, and then again sets out in pursuit; and this she continues to do, until the hunter has reached his vessel, while the animal vainly vents her fury upon the shore.
 
8 - 26 CAMELS: THE DIFFERENT KINDS M
Camels are found feeding in herds in the East. Of these there are two different kinds, those of Bactria and those of Arabia; the former kind having two humps on the back, and the latter only one; they have also another hump under the breast, by means of which they support themselves when reclining. Both of these species, like the ox, have no teeth in the upper jaw. They are all of them employed as beasts of burthen, in carrying loads on the back, and they answer the purpose of cavalry in battle. Their speed is the same with that of the horse, but their power of holding out in this respect is proportioned in each to its natural strength: it will never go beyond its accustomed distance, nor will it receive more than its usual load. The camel has a natural antipathy to the horse. It can endure thirst for four days even, and when it has the opportunity of obtaining water, it drinks, as it were, both for past and future thirst, having first taken care to trouble the water by trampling in it; without doing which, it would find no pleasure in drinking. They live fifty years, some indeed as much as one hundred. These animals, too, are liable to fits of frenzy. A peculiar mode of castrating them, and the females, even, when required for the purposes of war, has been discovered; it renders them more courageous, by the destruction of all sexual feelings.
 
8 - 27 CAMELEOPARD; WHEN IT WAS FIRST SEEN AT ROME M
There are two others animals, which have some resemblance to the camel. One of these is called, by the Æthiopians, the nabun. It has a neck like that of the horse, feet and legs like those of the ox, a head like that of the camel, and is covered with white spots upon a red ground; from which peculiarities it has been called the cameleopard. It was first seen at Rome in the Circensian games held by Cæsar, the Dictator. Since that time too, it has been occasionally seen. It is more remarkable for the singularity of its appearance than for its fierceness; for which reason it has obtained the name of the wild sheep.
 
8 - 28 CHAMA, AND THE CEPUS M
It was at the games of Pompeius Magnus that the chama was first exhibited; an animal called rufius by the Gauls; having the figure of a wolf, with the spots of the pard. There were also exhibited some animals from Æthiopia, which they called by the Greek name, χήποι, the hinder extremities of which resembled the human feet and legs, while the fore-feet were like hands. These animals have not been seen at Rome since that time.
 
8 - 29 RHINOCEROS M
At the same games the rhinoceros was also exhibited, an animal which has a single horn projecting from the nose; it has been frequently seen since then. This too is another natural-born enemy of the elephant. It prepares itself for the combat by sharpening its horn against the rocks; and in fighting directs it chiefly against the belly of its adversary, which it knows to be the softest part. The two animals are of equal length, but the legs of the rhinoceros are much the shorter: its skin is the colour of box-wood.
 
8 - 30 LYNX, SPHINX, CROCOTTA, MONKEY M
Æthiopia produces the lynx in abundance, and the sphinx, which has brown hair and two mammæ on the breast, as well as many monstrous kinds of a similar nature; horses with wings, and armed with horns, which are called pegasi; the crocotta, an animal which looks as though it had been produced by the union of the wolf and the dog, for it can break any thing with its teeth, and instantly on swallowing it digest it with the stomach; monkeys, too, with black heads, the hair of the ass, and a voice quite unlike that of any other animal. There are oxen, too, like those of India, some with one horn, and others with three; the leucrocotta, a wild beast of extraordinary swiftness, the size of the wild ass, with the legs of a stag, the neck, tail, and breast of a lion, the head of a badger, a cloven hoof, the mouth slit up as far as the ears, and one continuous bone instead of teeth; it is said, too, that this animal can imitate the human voice. Among the same people, there is also found an animal called eale; it is the size of the river-horse, has the tail of the elephant, and is of a black or tawny colour. It has also the jaws of the wild boar, and horns that are moveable, and more than a cubit in length, so that, in fighting, it can employ them alternately, and vary their position by presenting them directly or obliquely, according as necessity may dictate. But the wild bulls which this country produces are the fiercest of all; they are larger than our domestic bull, and exceed all the others in swiftness; are of a tawny colour, with azure eyes, and the hair turned the contrary way; while the jaws open as far as the ears, and the horns are as moveable as those of the eale. The hide of this animal is as hard as flint, and effectually resists all wounds. These creatures pursue all the other wild beasts, while they themselves can only be taken in pitfalls, where they always perish from excess of rage. Ctesias informs us, that among these same Æthiopians, there is an animal found, which he calls the mantichora; it has a triple row of teeth, which fit into each other like those of a comb, the face and ears of a man, and azure eyes, is of the colour of blood, has the body of the lion, and a tail ending in a sting, like that of the scorpion. Its voice resembles the union of the sound of the flute and the trumpet; it is of excessive swiftness, and is particularly fond of human flesh.
 
8 - 31 TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS OF INDIA M
There are in India oxen also with solid hoofs and a single horn; and a wild beast called the axis, which has a skin like that of a fawn, but with numerous spots on it, and whiter; this animal is looked upon as sacred to Bacchus. The Orsæan Indians hunt down a kind of ape, which has the body white all over; as well as a very fierce animal called the monoceros, which has the head of the stag, the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits in length. This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive.
 
8 - 32 ANIMALS OF ÆTHIOPIA; A WILD BEAST WHICH KILLS WITH ITS EYE M
Among the Hesperian Æthiopians is the fountain of Nigris, by many, supposed to be the head of the Nile. I have already mentioned the arguments by which this opinion is supported. Near this fountain, there is found a wild beast, which is called the catoblepas; an animal of moderate size, and in other respects sluggish in the movement of the rest of its limbs; its head is remarkably heavy, and it only carries it with the greatest difficulty, being always bent down towards the earth. Were it not for this circumstance, it would prove the destruction of the human race; for all who behold its eyes, fall dead upon the spot.
 
8 - 33 SERPENTS CALLED BASILISKS M
There is the same power also in the serpent called the basilisk. It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon; it burns up all the grass too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill, not only the rider, but the horse as well. To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.
 
8 - 34 WOLVES; THE ORIGIN OF THE STORY OF VERSIPELLIS M
In Italy also it is believed that there is a noxious influence in the eye of a wolf; it is supposed that it will instantly take away the voice of a man, if it is the first to see him. Africa and Egypt produce wolves of a sluggish and stunted nature; those of the colder climates are fierce and savage. That men have been turned into wolves, and again restored to their original form, we must confidently look upon as untrue, unless, indeed, we are ready to believe all the tales, which, for so many ages, have been found to be fabulous. But, as the belief of it has become so firmly fixed in the minds of the common people, as to have caused the term "Versipellis" to be used as a common form of imprecation, I will here point out its origin. Euanthes, a Grecian author of no mean reputation, informs us that the Arcadians assert that a member of the family of one Anthus is chosen by lot, and then taken to a certain lake in that district, where, after suspending his clothes on an oak, he swims across the water and goes away into the desert, where he is changed into a wolf and associates with other animals of the same species for a space of nine years. If he has kept himself from beholding a man during the whole of that time, he returns to the same lake, and, after swimming across it, resumes his original form, only with the addition of nine years in age to his former appearance. To this Fabius adds, that he takes his former clothes as well. It is really wonderful to what a length the credulity of the Greeks will go! There is no falsehood, if ever so barefaced, to which some of them cannot be found to bear testimony.
So too, Agriopas, who wrote the Olympionics, informs us that Demænetus, the Parrhasian, during a sacrifice of human victims, which the Arcadians were offering up to the Lycæan Jupiter, tasted the entrails of a boy who had been slaughtered; upon which he was turned into a wolf, but, ten years afterwards, was restored to his original shape and his calling of an athlete, and returned victorious in the pugilistic contests at the Olympic games. It is also commonly supposed, that the tail of this animal contains a small lock of hair, which possesses an amatory power; and that when the creature is caught, this hair is shed by it, but has no virtue whatever, unless it is procured from the animal while alive. It is said that these animals couple for no more than twelve days in the year; and that when pressed by hunger they will eat earth. Among the points of augury, to have our progress cut short to the right by a wolf, if at the time its mouth is full, is the best of omens. There is a species, which is known as the stag-wolf, such as we have already said were brought from Gaul and exhibited in the Circus by Pompeius Magnus. It is said, that however hungry this animal may chance to be, if it only turns its head while eating, it immediately becomes oblivious of the food that is before it, and takes its departure to seek it elsewhere.
 
8 - 35 DIFFERENT KINDS OF SERPENTS M
With reference to serpents, it is generally known, that they assume the colour of the soil in which they conceal themselves. The different species of them are innumerable. The cerastes has little horns, often four in number, projecting from the body, by the movement of which it attracts birds, while the rest of its body lies concealed. The amphisbæna has two heads, that is to say, it has a second one at the tail, as though one mouth were too little for the discharge of all its venom. Some serpents have scales, some a mottled skin, and they are all possessed of a deadly poison. The jaculus darts from the branches of trees; and it is not only to our feet that the serpent is formidable, for these fly through the air even, just as though they were hurled from an engine. The neck of the asp puffs out, and there is no remedy whatever against its sting, except the instant excision of the affected part. This reptile, which is thus deadly, is possessed of this one sense, or rather affection; the male and the female are generally found together, and the one cannot live without the other; hence it is that, if one of them happens to be killed, the other takes incredible pains to avenge its death. It follows the slayer of its mate, and will single him out among ever such a large number of people, by a sort of instinctive knowledge; with this object it overcomes all difficulties, travels any distance, and is only to be avoided by the intervention of rivers or an accelerated flight. It is really difficult to decide, whether Nature has altogether been more liberal of good or of evil. First of all, however, she has given to this pest but weak powers of sight, and has placed the eyes, not in the front of the head, so that it may see straight before it, but in the temples, so that it is more frequently put in motion by the approach of the footstep than through the sight. (.) The ichneumon, too, is its enemy to the very death.
 
8 - 36 ICHNEUMON M
This hostility is the especial glory of this animal, which is also produced in Egypt. It plunges itself repeatedly into the mud, and then dries itself in the sun: as soon as, by these means, it has armed itself with a sufficient number of coatings, it proceeds to the combat. Raising its tail, and turning its back to the serpent, it receives its stings, which are inflicted to no purpose, until at last, turning its head sideways, and viewing its enemy, it seizes it by the throat. Not content, however, with this victory, it conquers another creature also, which is no less dangerous.
 
8 - 37 CROCODILE M
The Nile produces the crocodile also, a destructive quadruped, and equally dangerous on land and in the water. This is the only land animal that does not enjoy the use of its tongue, and the only one that has the upper jaw moveable, and is capable of biting with it; and terrible is its bite, for the rows of its teeth fit into each other, like those of a comb. Its length mostly exceeds eighteen cubits. It produces eggs about the size of those of the goose, and, by a kind of instinctive foresight, always deposits them beyond the limit to which the river Nile rises, when at its greatest height. There is no animal that arrives at so great a bulk as this, from so small a beginning. It is armed also with claws, and has a skin, that is proof against all blows. It passes the day on land, and the night in the water, in both instances on account of the warmth. When it has glutted itself with fish, it goes to sleep on the banks of the river, a portion of the food always remaining in its mouth; upon which, a little bird, which in Egypt is known as the trochilus, and, in Italy, as the king of the birds, for the purpose of obtaining food, invites the crocodile to open its jaws; then, hopping to and fro, it first cleans the outside of its mouth, next the teeth, and then the inside, while the animal opens its jaws as wide as possible, in consequence of the pleasure which it experiences from the titillation. It is at these moments that the ichneumon, seeing it fast asleep in consequence of the agreeable sensation thus produced, darts down its throat like an arrow, and eats away its intestines.
 
8 - 38 SCINCUS M
Like the crocodile, but smaller even than the ichneumon, is the scincus, which is also produced in the Nile, and the flesh of which is the most effectual antidote against poisons, and acts as a powerful aphrodisiac upon the male sex. But so great a pest was the crocodile to prove, that Nature was not content with giving it one enemy only; the dolphins, therefore, which enter the Nile, have the back armed with a spine, which is edged like a knife, as if for this very purpose; and although these animals are much inferior in strength, they contrive to destroy the crocodile by artifice, which on the other hand attempts to drive them from their prey, and would reign alone in its river as its peculiar domain. For all animals have an especial instinct in this respect, and are able to know not only what is for their own advantage, but also what is to the disadvantage of their enemies; they fully understand the use of their own weapons, they know their opportunity, and the weak parts of those with which they have to contend.
The skin of the belly of the crocodile is soft and thin, aware of this, the dolphins plunge into the water, as if in great alarm, and diving beneath its belly, tear it open with their spines. There is a race of men also, who are peculiarly hostile to this animal; they are known as the Tentyritæ, from an island in the Nile which they inhabit. These men are of small stature, but of wonderful presence of mind, though for this particular object only. The crocodile is a terrible animal to those who fly from it, while at the same time it will fly from those who pursue it; these, however, are the only people who dare to attack it. They even swim in the river after it, and mount its back like so many horsemen; and just as the animal turns up its head for the purpose of biting them, they insert a club into its mouth, holding which at each end, with the two hands, it acts like a bit, and, by these means they drive the captured animal on shore. They also terrify the crocodile so much by their voice alone even, as to force it to disgorge the bodies which it has lately swallowed, for the purpose of burial. This island, therefore, is the only place near which the crocodile never swims; indeed, it is repelled by the odour of this race of men, just as serpents are by that of the Psylli. The sight of this animal is said to be dull when it is in the water, but, when out of the water, piercing in the extreme; it always passes the four winter months in a cave, without taking food. Some persons say, that this is the only animal that continues to increase in size as long as it lives; it is very long-lived.
 
8 - 39 HIPPOPOTAMUS M
The Nile produces the hippopotamus, another wild beast, of a still greater size. It has the cloven hoof of the ox; the back, the mane, and the neighing of the horse; and the turned-up snout, the tail, and the hooked teeth of the wild boar, but not so dangerous. The hide is impenetrable, except when it has been soaked with water; and it is used for making shields and helmets. This animal lays waste the standing corn, and determines beforehand what part it shall ravage on the following day; it is said also, that it enters the field backwards, to prevent any ambush being laid for it on its return.
 
8 - 40 WHO FIRST EXHIBITED THE HIPPOPOTAMUS AND THE CROCODILE AT ROME M
M. Scaurus was the first who exhibited this animal at Rome, together with five crocodiles, at the games which he gave in his ædileship, in a piece of water which had been temporarily prepared for the purpose. The hippopotamus has even been our instructor in one of the operations of medicine. When the animal has become too bulky by continued over-feeding, it goes down to the banks of the river, and examines the reeds which have been newly cut; as soon as it has found a stump that is very sharp, it presses its body against it, and so wounds one of the veins in the thigh; and, by the flow of blood thus produced, the body, which would otherwise have fallen into a morbid state, is relieved; after which, it covers up the wound with mud.
 
8 - 41 MEDICINAL REMEDIES WHICH HAVE BEEN BORROWED FROM ANIMALS M
The bird also, which is called the ibis, a native of the same country of Egypt, has shewn us some things of a similar nature. By means of its hooked beak, it laves the body through that part, by which it is especially necessary for health that the residuous food should be discharged. Nor, indeed, are these the only inventions which have been borrowed from animals, to prove of use to man. The power of the herb dittany, in extracting arrows, was first disclosed to us by stags that had been struck by that weapon; the weapon being discharged on their feeding upon this plant. The same animals, too, when they happen to have been wounded by the phalangium, a species of spider, or by any insect of a similar nature, cure themselves by eating crabs. One of the very best remedies for the bite of the serpent, is the plant with which lizards treat their wounds when injured in fighting with each other. The swallow has shown us that the chelidonia is very serviceable to the sight, by the fact of its employing it for the cure of its young, when their eyes are affected. The tortoise recruits its powers of effectually resisting serpents, by eating the plant which is known as cunile bubula; and the weasel feeds on rue, when it fights with the serpent in the pursuit of mice. The stork cures itself of its diseases with wild marjoram, and the wild boar with ivy, as also by eating crabs, and more particularly those that have been thrown up by the sea. The snake, when the membrane which covers its body has been contracted by the cold of winter, throws it off in the spring by the aid of the juices of fennel, and thus becomes sleek and youthful in appearance. First of all, it disengages the head, and it then takes no less than a day and a night in working itself out, and divesting itself of the membrane in which it has been enclosed. The same animal, too, on finding its sight weakened during its winter retreat, anoints and refreshes its eyes by rubbing itself on the plant called fennel or marathrum; but if any of the scales are slow in coming off, it rubs itself against the thorns of the juniper. The dragon relieves the nausea which affects it in spring, with the juices of the lettuce. The barbarous nations go to hunt the panther, provided with meat that has been rubbed with aconite, which is a poison. Immediately on eating it, compression of the throat overtakes them, from which circumstance it is, that the plant has received the name of pardalianches. The animal, however, has found an antidote against this poison in human excrements; besides which, it is so eager to get at them, that the shepherds purposely suspend them in a vessel, placed so high, that the animal cannot reach them even by leaping, when it endeavours to get at them; accordingly, it continues to leap until it has quite exhausted itself, and at last expires: otherwise, it is so tenacious of life, that it will con- tinue to fight long after its intestines have been dragged out of its body.
When an elephant has happened to devour a chameleon, which is of the same colour with the herbage, it counteracts this poison by means of the wild olive. Bears, when they have eaten of the fruit of the mandrake, lick up numbers of ants. The stag counteracts the effect of poisonous plants by eating the artichoke. Wood-pigeons, jackdaws, blackbirds, and partridges, purge themselves once a year by eating bay leaves; pigeons, turtle-doves, and poultry, with wall-pellitory, or helxine; ducks, geese, and other aquatic birds, with the plant sideritis or vervain; cranes, and birds of a similar nature, with the bulrush. The raven, when it has killed a chameleon, a contest in which even the conqueror suffers, counteracts the poison by means of laurel.
 
8 - 42 PROGNOSTICS OF DANGER DERIVED FROM ANIMALS M
There are a thousand other facts of this kind: and the same Nature has also bestowed upon many animals as well, the faculty of observing the heavens, and of presaging the winds, rains, and tempests, each in its own peculiar way. It would be an endless labour to enumerate them all; just as much as it would be to point out the relation of each to man. For, in fact, they warn us of danger, not only by their fibres and their entrails, to which a large portion of mankind attach the greatest faith, but by other kinds of warnings as well. When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it before-hand, and the spiders with their webs are the first to drop. Divination from birds has been made a science among the Romans, and the college of its priests is looked upon as peculiarly sacred. In Thrace, when all parts are covered with ice, the foxes are consulted, an animal which, in other respects, is baneful from its craftiness. It has been observed, that this animal applies its ear to the ice, for the purpose of testing its thickness; hence it is, that the inhabitants will never cross frozen rivers and lakes until the foxes have passed over them and returned.
 
8 - 43 NATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN EXTERMINATED BY ANIMALS M
We have accounts, too, no less remarkable, in reference even to the most contemptible of animals. M. Varro informs us, that a town in Spain was undermined by rabbits, and one in Thessaly, by mice; that the inhabitants of a district in Gaul were driven from their country by frogs, and a place in Africa by locusts; that the inhabitants of Gyarus, one of the Cyclades, were driven away by mice; and the Amunclæ, in Italy, by serpents. There is a vast desert tract on this side of the Æthiopian Cynamolgi, the inhabitants of which were exterminated by scorpions and venomous ants. and Theophrastus informs us, that the people of Rhœteum were driven away by scolopendræ. But we must now return to the other kinds of wild beasts.
 
8 - 44 HYÆNA M
It is the vulgar notion, that the hyæna possesses in itself both sexes, being a male during one year, and a female the next, and that it becomes pregnant without the co-operation of the male; Aristotle, however, denies this. The neck, with the mane, runs continuously into the back—Bone, so that the animal cannot bend this part without turning round the whole body. Many other wonderful things are also related of this animal; and strangest of all, that it imitates the human voice among the stalls of the shepherds; and while there, learns the name of some one of them, and then calls him away, and devours him. It is said also, that it can imitate a man vomiting, and that, in this way, it attracts the dogs, and then falls upon them. It is the only animal that digs up graves, in order to obtain the bodies of the dead. The female is rarely caught: its eyes, it is said, are of a thousand various colours and changes of shade. It is said also, that on coming in contact with its shadow, dogs will lose their voice, and that, by certain magical influences, it can render any animal immoveable, round which it has walked three times.
 
8 - 45 COROCOTTA; THE MANTICHORA M
By the union of the hyena with the Æthiopian lioness, the corocotta is produced, which has the same faculty of imitating the voices of men and cattle. Its gaze is always fixed and immoveable; it has no gums in either of its jaws, and the teeth are one continuous piece of bone; they are enclosed in a sort of box as it were, that they may not be blunted by rubbing against each other. Juba informs us, that the mantichora of Æthiopia can also imitate the human speech.
 
8 - 46 WILD ASSES M
Great numbers of hyænas are produced in Africa, which also gives birth to multitudes of wild asses. In this species each male rules over a herd of females. Fearing rivals in their lust, they carefully watch the pregnant females, and castrate the young males with their teeth, as soon as they are born. The pregnant females, on the other hand, seek concealment, and endeavour to bring forth in secret, being desirous to increase their opportunities of sexual indulgence.
 
8 - 47 BEAVERS, AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS; OTHERS M
The beavers of the Euxine, when they are closely pressed by danger, themselves cut off the same part, as they know that it is for this that they are pursued. This substance is called castoreum by the physicians. In addition to this, the bite of this animal is terrible; with its teeth it can cut down trees on the banks of rivers, just as though with a knife. If they seize a man by any part of his body, they will never loose their hold until his bones are broken and crackle under their teeth. The tail is like that of a fish; in the other parts of the body they resemble the otter; they are both of them aquatic animals, and both have hair softer than down.
 
8 - 48 BRAMBLE-FROGS M
Bramble-frogs, also, which live both on land and in water, are replete with various medicinal substances, which they are said to discharge each day, and to take in again with their food, of which they only retain the poisonous parts.
 
8 - 49 SEA-CALF; BEAVERS; LIZARDS M
The sea-calf, too, lives equally in the sea and on land, being possessed of the same degree of intelligence as the beaver. It vomits forth its gall, which is useful for many purposes in medicine; also the rennet, which serves as a remedy in epilepsy; for it is well aware that it is hunted for these sub- stances. Theophrastus informs us, that lizards also cast their skins like the serpent, and instantly devour them, thus depriving us of a powerful remedy for epilepsy; he says, too, that the bite of the lizard is fatal in Greece, but harmless in Italy.
 
8 - 50 STAGS M
Stags, although the most mild of all animals, have still their own feelings of malignancy; when hard pressed by the hounds, of their own accord they fly for refuge to man; and when the females bring forth, they are less anxious to avoid the paths which bear traces of human footsteps, than solitary spots which offer a retreat to wild beasts. They become pregnant after the rising of the constellation Arcturus; they bring forth after a gestation of eight months, and sometimes produce two young ones. They separate after conception, but the males, upon being thus abandoned, become maddened with the fury of their passion; they dig up the earth, and their muzzles become quite black, until they have been washed by the rain. The females, before they bring forth, purge themselves by means of a certain herb, which is called seselis, by the use of which parturition is rendered more easy. After delivery, they take a mixture of the two plants called seselis and aros, and then return to the fawn; they seem desirous, for some reason or other, that their first milk, after parturition, should be impregnated with the juice of these plants. They then exercise the young ones in running, and teach them how to take to flight, leading them to precipices, and showing them how to leap. The sexual passion of the male having been now satisfied, he repairs to the pasture lands with the greatest eagerness. When they feel themselves becoming too fat, they seek some retired spot, thus acknowledging the inconvenience arising from their bulk. Besides this, they continually pause in their flight, stand still and look back, and then again resume their flight when the enemy approaches. This pause is occasioned by the intense pain which they feel in the intestines, a part which is so weak, that a very slight blow will cause them to break within. The barking of a dog instantly puts them to flight, and they always run with the wind, in order that no trace of them may be left. They are soothed by the shepherd's pipe and his song; when their ears are erect, their sense of hearing is very acute, but when dropped, they become deaf. In other respects the stag is a simple animal, which regards every thing as wonderful, and with a stupid astonishment; so much so, indeed, that if a horse or cow happens to approach it, it will not see the hunter, who may be close at hand, or, if it does see him, it only gazes upon his bow and arrow. Stags cross the sea in herds, swimming in a long line, the head of each resting on the haunches of the one that precedes it, each in its turn falling back to the rear. This has been particularly remarked when they pass over from Cilicia to the island of Cyprus. Though they do not see the land, they still are able to direct themselves by the smell. The males have horns, and are the only animals that shed them every year, at a stated time in the spring; at which period they seek out with the greatest care the most retired places, and after losing them, remain concealed, as though aware that they are unarmed. Still, however, they envy us the good that these might do us; for it is said the right horn, which possesses, as it were, certain medicinal properties, can never be found, a circumstance the more astonishing, from the fact that they change their horns every year, even when kept in parks; it is generally thought that they bury their horns in the ground. The odour of either horn, when burnt, drives away serpents and detects epilepsy. They also bear the marks of their age on the horns, every year, up to the sixth, a fresh antler being added; after which period the horns are renewed in the same state, so that by means of them their age cannot be ascertained. Their old age, however, is indicated by their teeth, for then they have only a few, or none at all; and we then no longer perceive, at the base of their horns, antlers projecting from the front of the forehead, as is usually the case with the animal when young.
When this animal is castrated it does not shed its horns, nor are they reproduced. When the horns begin to be reproduced, two projections are to be seen, much resembling, at first, dry skin; they grow with tender shoots, having upon them a soft down like that on the head of a reed. So long as they are without horns, they go to feed during the night. As the horns grow, they harden by the heat of the sun, and the animal, from time to time, tries their strength upon the trees; when satisfied with their strength, it leaves its retreat. Stags, too, have been occasionally caught with ivy green and growing on their horns, the plant having taken root on them, as it would on any piece of wood, while the animal was rubbing them against the trees. The stag is sometimes found white, as is said to have been the case with the hind of Q. Sertorius, which he persuaded the nations of Spain to look upon as having the gift of prophecy. The stag, too, fights with the serpent: it traces out the serpent's hole, and draws it forth by the breath of its lostrils, and hence it is that the smell of burnt stags' horn has the remarkable power of driving away serpents. The very best remedy for the bite of a serpent is the rennet of a fawn that has been killed in the womb of its mother. The stag is generally admitted to be very long lived; some were captured at the end of one hundred years with the golden collars which Alexander the Great had put upon them, and which were quite concealed by the folds of the skin, in consequence of the accumulation of fat. This animal is not subject to fever, and, indeed, it is a preservative against that complaint. We know that of late some women of princely rank have been in the habit of eating the flesh of the stag every morning, and that they have arrived at an extreme old age, free from all fevers. It is, however, generally supposed that the animal must be killed by a single wound to make sure of it possessing this virtue. (.) Of the same species is an animal, which only differs from the stag in having a beard and long hair about the shoulders: it is called tragelaphus, and is produced nowhere except on the banks of the Phasis.
 
8 - 51 CHAMELEON M
Africa is almost the only country that does not produce the stag, but then it produces the chameleon, although it is much more commonly met with in India. Its figure and size are that of a lizard, only that its legs are straight and longer. Its sides unite under its belly, as in fishes, and its spine projects in a similar manner. Its muzzle is not unlike the snout of a small hog, so far as in so small an animal it can be. Its tail is very long, and becomes smaller towards the end, coiling up in folds like that of the viper. It has hooked claws, and a slow movement like that of the tortoise; its body is rough like that of the crocodile; its eyes are deep sunk in the orbits, placed very near each other, very large, and of the same colour as the body. It never closes them, and when the animal looks round, it does so, not by the motion of the pupil, but of the white of the eye. It always holds the head upright and the mouth open, and is the only animal which receives nourishment neither by meat nor drink, nor anything else, but from the air alone. Towards the end of the dog-days it is fierce, but at other times quite harmless. The nature of its colour, too, is very remarkable, for it is continually changing; its eyes, its tail, and its whole body always assuming the colour of whatever object is nearest, with the exception of white and red. After death, it becomes of a pale colour. It has a little flesh about the head, the jaws, and the root of the tail, but none whatever on the rest of the body. It has no blood whatever, except in the heart and about the eyes, and its entrails are without a spleen. It conceals itself during the winter months, just like the lizard.
 
8 - 52 OTHER ANIMALS WHICH CHANGE COLOUR; TARANDUS, LYCAON, & THOS M
The tarandrus, too, of the Scythians, changes its colour, but this is the case with none of the animals which are covered with hair, except the lycaon of India, which is said to have a mane on the neck. But with respect to the thos, (which is a species of wolf, differing from the common kind in having a larger body and very short legs, leaping with great activity, living by the chase, and never attacking man); it changes its coat, and not its colour, for it is covered with hair in the winter, and goes bare in summer. The tarandrus is of the size of the ox; its head is larger than that of the stag, and not very unlike it; its horns are branched, its hoofs cloven, and its hair as long as that of the bear. Its proper colour, when it thinks proper to return to it, is like that of the ass. Its hide is of such extreme hardness, that it is used for making breastplates. When it is frightened, this animal reflects the colour of all the trees, shrubs, and flowers, or of the spots in which it is concealed; hence it is that it is so rarely captured. It is wonderful that such various hues should be given to the body, but still more so that it should be given to the hair.
 
8 - 53 PORCUPINE M
India and Africa produce the porcupine, the body of which is covered with prickles. It is a species of hedgehog, but the quills of the porcupine are longer, and when it stretches the skin, it discharges them like so many missiles. With these it pierces the mouths of the dogs which are pressing hard upon it, and even sends its darts to some distance further It conceals itself during the winter months, which, indeed, is the nature of many animals, and more especially the bear.
 
8 - 54 BEARS AND THEIR CUBS M
Bears couple in the beginning of winter, and not after the fashion of other quadrupeds; for both animals lie down and embrace each other. The female then retires by herself to a separate den, and there brings forth on the thirtieth day, mostly five young ones. When first born, they are shapeless masses of white flesh, a little larger than mice; their claws alone being prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper shape. There is nothing more uncommon than to see a she-bear in the act of parturition. The male remains in his retreat for forty days, the female four months. If they happen to have no den, they construct a retreat with branches and shrubs, which is made impenetrable to the rain and is lined with soft leaves. During the first fourteen days they are overcome by so deep a sleep, that they cannot be aroused by wounds even. They become wonderfully fat, too, while in this lethargic state. This fat is much used in medicine; and it is very useful in preventing the hair from falling off. At the end of these fourteen days they sit up, and find nourishment by sucking their fore-paws. They warm their cubs, when cold, by pressing them to the breast, not unlike the way in which birds brood over their eggs. It is a very astonishing thing, but Theophrastus believes it, that if we preserve the flesh of the bear, the animal being killed in its dormant state, it will increase in bulk, even though it may have been cooked. During this period no signs of food are to be found in the stomach of the animal, and only a very slight quantity of liquid; there are a few drops of blood only near the heart, but none whatever in any other part of the body. They leave their retreat in the spring, the males being remarkably fat: of this circumstance, however, we cannot give any satisfactory explanation, for the sleep, during which they increase so much in bulk, lasts, as we have already stated, only fourteen days. When they come out, they eat a certain plant, which is known as aros, in order to relax the bowels, which would otherwise become in a state of constipation; and they sharpen the edges of their teeth against the young shoots of the trees. Their eye-sight is dull, for which reason in especial, they seek the combs of bees, in order that from the bees stinging them in the throat and drawing blood, the oppression in the head may be relieved. The head of the bear is extremely weak, whereas, in the lion, it is remarkable for its strength: on which account it is, that when the bear, impelled by any alarm, is about to precipitate itself from a rock, it covers its head with its paws. In the arena of the Circus they are often to be seen killed by a blow on the head with the fist. The people of Spain have a belief, that there is some kind of magical poison in the brain of the bear, and therefore burn the heads of those that have been killed in their public games; for it is averred, that the brain, when mixed with drink, produces in man the rage of the bear. These animals walk on two feet, and climb down trees backwards. They can overcome the bull, by suspending themselves, by all four legs, from its muzzle and horns, thus wearing out its powers by their weight. In no other animal is stupidity found more adroit in devising mischief. It is re- corded in our Annals, that on the fourteenth day before the calends of October, in the consulship of M. Piso and M. Messala, Domitius Ahenobarbus, the curule ædile, brought into the Circus one hundred Numidian bears, and as many Æthiopian hunters. I am surprised to find the word Numilian added, seeing that it is well known that there are no bears produced in Africa.
 
8 - 55 MICE OF PONTUS AND OF THE ALPS M
The mice of Pontus also conceal themselves during the winter; but only the white ones. I wonder how those authors, who have asserted that the sense of taste in these animals is very acute, found out that such is the fact. The Alpine mice, which are the same size as badgers, also conceal themselves; but they first carry a store of provisions into their retreat. Some writers, indeed, say that the male and female, lying on their backs alternately, hold in their paws a bundle of gnawed herbs, and, the tail of each in its turn being seized by the teeth of the other, in this way, they are dragged into their hole; hence it is, that at this season their hair is found to be rubbed off their backs. There is a similar animal also in Egypt, which sits, in the same way, upon its haunches, and walks on two feet, using the fore feet as hands.
 
8 - 56 HEDGEHOGS M
Hedgehogs also lay up food for the winter; rolling themselves on apples as they lie on the ground, they pierce one with their quills, and then take up another in the mouth, and so carry them into the hollows of trees. These animals also, when they conceal themselves in their holes, afford a sure sign that the wind is about to change from north-east to south. When they perceive the approach of the hunter, they draw in the head and feet, and all the lower part of the body, which is covered by a thin and defenceless down only, and then roll themselves up into the form of a ball, so that there is no way of taking hold of them but by their quills. When they are reduced to a state of desperation, they discharge a corrosive urine, which injures their skin and quills, as they are aware that it is for the sake of them that they are hunted. A skilful hunter, therefore, will only pursue them when they have just discharged their urine. In this case the skin retains its value; while in the other case, it becomes spoilt and easily torn, the quills rotting and falling off, even though the animal should escape with its life. For this reason it is that it never moistens itself with this poisonous fluid, except when reduced to the last stage of desperation; for it has a perfect hatred for its own venomous distillation, and so careful is the animal, so determined to wait till the very last moment, that it is generally caught before it has employed this means of defence.
They force it to unroll itself, by sprinkling warm water upon it, and then, suspended by one of its hind legs, it is left to die of hunger; for there is no other mode of destroying it, without doing injury to its skin. This animal is not, as many of us imagine, entirely useless to man. If it were not for the quills which it produces, the soft fleece of the sheep would have been given in vain to mankind; for it is by means of its skin, that our woollen cloth is dressed. From the monopoly of this article, great frauds and great profits have resulted; there is no subject on which the senate has more frequently passed decrees, and there is not one of the Emperors, who has not received from the provinces complaints respecting it.
 
8 - 57 LEONTOPHONUS, AND THE LYNX M
There are also two other animals, whose urine possesses very wonderful properties. We have heard speak of a small animal, to which the name of leontophonus has been given, and which is said to exist only in those countries where the lion is produced; if its flesh is only tasted by the lion, so intensely venomous is its nature, that this lord of the other quadrupeds instantly expires. Hence it is, that the hunters of the lion burn its body to ashes, and sprinkle a piece of flesh with the powder, and so kill the lion by means of the ashes even-so fatal to it is this poison! The lion, therefore, not without good reason hates the leontophonus, and after destroying its sight, kills it without inflicting a bite: the animal, on the other hand, sprinkles the lion with its urine, being well aware that this too is fatal to it.
The urine of the lynx, in the countries where that animal is produced, either becomes crystallized, or else hardens into a precious stone, resembling the carbuncle, and which shines like tire. This is called lyncurium; and hence it is, that many persons believe that this is the way in which amber is produced. The lynx, being well aware of this property, envies us the possession of its urine, and therefore buries it in the earth; by this, however, it becomes solid all the sooner.
 
8 - 58 BADGERS AND SQUIRRELS M
The badger, when alarmed, shows its fear by a different kind of artifice; inflating the skin, it distends it to such a degree, as to repel equally the blows of men and the bite of dogs. The squirrel, also, has the power of foreseeing storms, and so, stopping up its hole at the side from which the wind blows, it leaves the other side open; besides which, the tail, which is furnished with longer hair than the rest of the body, serves as a covering for it. It appears, therefore, that some animals lay up a store of food for the winter, while others pass the time in sleep, which serves them instead of food.
 
8 - 59 VIPERS AND SNAILS M
It is said, that the viper is the only one among the serpents that conceals itself in the earth; the others lurking either in the hollows of trees or in holes in the rocks. Provided they are not destroyed by cold, they can live there, without taking food, for a whole year. During the time that they are asleep in their retreat, none of them are venomous.
A similar state of torpor exists also in snails. These animals again become dormant during the summer, adhering very powerfully to stones; and even, when turned up and pulled away from the stones, they will not leave their shells. In the Balearic isles, the snails which are known as the cave-snail, do not leave their holes in the ground, nor do they feed upon any green thing, but adhere to each other like so many grapes. There is another less common species also, which is closed by an operculum that adheres to the shell. These animals always burrow under the earth, and were formerly never found, except in the environs of the Maritime Alps; they have, however, of late been dug up in the territory of Liternum; the most valued, however, of all, are those of the island of Astypalæa.
 
8 - 60 LIZARDS M
It is said, that the lizard, the greatest enemy of all to the snail, never prolongs its life beyond six months. The lizards of Arabia are a cubit in length, while those upon Nysa, a mountain of India, are twenty-four feet long, their colour being either yellow, purple, or azure blue.
 
8 - 61 QUALITIES OF DOG; EXAMPLES OF ITS ATTACHMENT TO ITS MASTER; NATIONS WHICH HAVE KEPT DOGS FOR PURPOSES OF WAR M
Among the animals, also, that are domesticated with mankind, there are many circumstances that are far from undeserving of being known: among these, there are more particularly that most faithful friend of man, the dog, and the horse. We have an account of a dog that fought against a band of robbers, in defending its master; and although it was pierced with wounds, still it would not leave the body, from which it drove away all birds and beasts. Another dog, again, in Epirus, recognized the murderer of its master, in the midst of an assemblage of people, and, by biting and barking at him, extorted from him a confession of his crime. A king of the Garamantes also was brought back from exile by two hundred dogs, which maintained the combat against all his opponents. The people of Colophon and Castabala kept troops of dogs, for the purposes of war; and these used to fight in the front rank, and never retreat; they were the most faithful of auxiliaries, and yet required no pay. After the defeat of the Cimbri, their dogs defended their moveable houses, which were carried upon waggons. Jason, the Lycian, having been slain, his dog refused to take food, and died of famine. A dog, to which Darius gives the name of Hyrcanus, upon the funeral pile of King Lysimachus being lighted, threw itself into the flames, and the dog of King Hiero did the same. Philistus also gives a similar account of Pyrrhus, the dog of the tyrant Gelon: and it is said, also, that the dog of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, tore Consingis, the wife of that king, in consequence of her wanton behaviour, when toying with her husband.
Among ourselves, Volcatius, a man of rank, who instructed Cascellius in the civil law, as he was riding on his Asturian jennet, towards evening, from his country-house, was attacked by a robber, and was only saved by his dog. The senator Cælius, too, while lying sick at Placentia, was surprised by armed men, but received not a wound from them until they had first killed his dog. But a more extraordinary fact than all, is what took place in our own times, and is testified by the public register of the Roman people. In the consulship of Appius Junius and P. Silius, when Titius Sabinus was put to death, together with his slaves, for the affair of Nero, the son of Germanicus, it was found impossible to drive away a dog which belonged to one of them from the prison; nor could it be forced away from the body, which had been cast down the Gemitorian steps; but there it stood howling, in the presence of vast multitudes of people; and when some one threw a piece of bread to it, the animal carried it to the mouth of its master. Afterwards, when the body was thrown into the Tiber, the dog swam into the river, and endeavoured to raise it out of the water; quite a throng of people being collected to witness this instance of an animal's fidelity. Dogs are the only animals that are sure to know their masters; and if they suddenly meet him as a stranger, they will instantly recognize him. They are the only animals that will answer to their names, and recognize the voices of the family. They recollect a road along which they have passed, however long it may be. Next to man, there is no living creature whose memory is so retentive. By sitting down on the ground, we may arrest their most impetuous attack, even when prompted by the most violent rage. In daily life we have discovered many other valuable qualities in this animal; but its intelligence and sagacity are more especially shown in the chase. It discovers and traces out the tracks of the animal, leading by the leash the sportsman who accompanies it straight up to the prey; and as soon as ever it has perceived it, how silent it is, and how secret but significant is the indication which it gives, first by the tail and afterwards by the nose! Hence it is, that even when worn out with old age, blind, and feeble, they are carried by the huntsman in his arms, being still able to point out the coverts where the game is concealed, by snuffing with their muzzles at the wind. The Indians raise a breed between the dog and the tiger, and for this purpose tie up the females in the forests when in heat. The first two litters they look upon as too savage to be reared, but they bring up the third. The Gauls do the same with the wolf and the dog; and their packs of hounds have, each of them, one of these dogs, which acts as their guide and leader. This dog they follow in the chase, and him they carefully obey; for these animals have even a notion of subordination among themselves. It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile. When Alexander the Great was on his Indian expedition, he was presented by the king of Albania with a dog of unusual size; being greatly delighted with its noble appearance, he ordered bears, and after them wild boars, and then deer, to be let loose before it; but the dog lay down, and regarded them with a kind of immoveable contempt. The noble spirit of the general became irritated by the sluggishness thus manifested by an animal of such vast bulk, and he ordered it to be killed. The report of this reached the king, who accordingly sent another dog, and at the same time sent word that its powers were to be tried, not upon small animals, but upon the lion or the elephant; adding, that he had had originally but two, and that if this one were put to death, the race would be extinct. Alexander, without delay, procured a lion, which in his presence was instantly torn to pieces. He then ordered an elephant to be brought, and never was he more delighted with any spectacle; for the dog, bristling up its hair all over the body, began by thundering forth a loud barking, and then attacked the animal, leaping at it first on one side and then on the other, attacking it in the most skilful manner, and then again retreating at the opportune moment, until at last the elephant, being rendered quite giddy by turning round and round, fell to the earth, and made it quite reecho with his fall.
 
8 - 62 GENERATION OF THE DOG M
This animal brings forth twice in the year; it is capable of bearing young when a year old, and gestation continues for sixty days. The young ones are born blind, and the greater the supply of nourishment from the mother's milk, the more slowly do they acquire their sight; still, however, this never takes place later than the twentieth day, or earlier than the seventh. It is said by some writers, that if only one is born, it is able to see on the ninth day; and that if there are two, they begin to see on the tenth, every additional one causing the power of seeing to come a day later. It is said, too, that the females which are produced by the mother in her first litter, are subject to the night-mare. The best dog of the litter is the one which is last in obtaining its sight, or else the one which the mother carries first into her bed.
 
8 - 63 REMEDIES AGAINST CANINE MADNESS M
Canine madness is fatal to man during the heat of Sirius, and, as we have already said, it proves so in consequence of those who are bitten having a deadly horror of water. For this reason, during the thirty days that this star exerts its influence, we try to prevent the disease by mixing dung from the poultry-yard with the dog's food; or else, if they are already attacked by the disease, by giving them hellebore.
(.) We have a single remedy against the bite, which has been but lately discovered, by a kind of oracle, as it were—the root of the wild rose, which is called cynorrhodos, or dogrose. Columella informs us, that if, on the fortieth day after the birth of the pup, the last bone of the tail is bitten off, the sinew will follow with it; after which, the tail will not grow, and the dog will never become rabid. It is mentioned, among the other prodigies, and this I take to be one indeed, that a dog once spoke; and that when Tarquin was expelled from the kingdom, a serpent barked.
 
8 - 64 NATURE OF THE HORSE M
King Alexander had also a very remarkable horse; it was called Bucephalus, either on account of the fierceness of its aspect, or because it had the figure of a bull's head marked on its shoulder. It is said, that he was struck with its beauty when he was only a boy, and that it was purchased from the stud of Philonicus, the Pharsalian, for thirteen talents. When it was equipped with the royal trappings, it would suffer no one except Alexander to mount it, although at other times it would allow any one to do so. A memorable circumstance connected with it in battle is recorded of this horse; it is said that when it was wounded in the attack upon Thebes, it would not allow Alexander to mount any other horse. Many other circumstances, also, of a similar nature, occurred respecting it; so that when it died, the king duly performed its obsequies, and built around its tomb a city, which he named after it.
It is said, also, that Cæsar, the Dictator, had a horse, which would allow no one to mount but himself, and that its forefeet were like those of a man; indeed it is thus represented in the statue before the temple of Venus Genetrix. The late Emperor Augustus also erected a tomb to his horse; on which occasion Germanicus Cæsar wrote a poem, which still exists. There are at Agrigentum many tombs of horses, in the form of pyramids. Juha informs us, that Semiramis was so greatly enamoured of a horse, as to have had connection with it. The Scythian horsemen make loud boasts of the fame of their cavalry. On one occasion, one of their chiefs having been slain in single combat, when the conqueror came to take the spoils of the enemy, he was set upon by the horse of his opponent, and trampled on and bitten to death. Another horse, upon the bandage being removed from his eyes, found that he had covered his mother, upon which he threw himself down a precipice, and was killed. We learn, also, that for a similar cause, a groom was torn to pieces, in the territory of Reate. For these animals have a knowledge of the ties of consanguinity, and in a stud a mare will attend to its sister of the preceding year, even more carefully than its mother. Their docility, too, is so great, that we find it stated that the whole of the cavalry of the Sybarite army were accustomed to perform a kind of dance to the sound of musical instruments. These animals also foresee battles; they lament over their masters when they have lost them, and sometimes shed tears of regret for them. When King Nicomedes was slain, his horse put an end to its life by fasting. Phylarchus relates, that Centaretus, the Galatian, after he had slain Antiochus in battle, took possesion of his horse, and mounted it in triumph; upon which the animal, inflamed with indignation, regardless of the rein and become quite ungovernable, threw itself headlong down a precipice, and they both perished together. Philistus relates, that Dionysius having left his horse stuck fast in a morass, the animal, as soon as it disengaged itself, followed the steps of its master, with a swarm of bees, which had settled on its mane; and that it was in consequence of this portent, that Dionysius gained possession of the kingdom.
 
8 - 65 DISPOSITION OF HORSE; REMARKABLE FACTS CONCERNING CHARIOT HORSES M
These animals possess an intelligence which exceeds all description. Those who have to use the javelin are well aware how the horse, by its exertions and the supple movements of its body, aids the rider in any difficulty he may have in throwing his weapon. They will even present to their master the weapons collected on the ground. The horses too, that are yoked to the chariots in the Circus, beyond a doubt, display remarkable proofs how sensible they are to encouragement and to glory. In the Secular games, which were celebrated in the Circus, under the Emperor Claudius, when the charioteer Corax, who belonged to the white party, was thrown from his place at the starting-post, his horses took the lead and kept it, opposing the other chariots, overturning them, and doing every thing against the other competitors that could have been done, had they been guided by the most skilful charioteer; and while we quite blushed to behold the skill of man excelled by that of the horse, they arrived at the goal, after going over the whole of the prescribed course. Our ancestors considered it as a still more remarkable portent, that when a charioteer had been thrown from his place, in the plebeian games of the Circus, the horses ran to the Capitol, just as if he had been standing in the car, and went three times round the temple there. But what is the greatest prodigy of all, is the fact that the horses of Ratumenna came from Veii to Rome, with the palm branch and chaplet, he himself having fallen from his chariot, after having gained the victory; from which circumstance the Ratumennian gate derived its name.
When the Sarmatæ are about to undertake a long journey, they prepare their horses for it, by making them fast the day before, during which they give them but little to drink; by these means they are enabled to travel on horseback, without stopping, for one hundred and fifty miles. Some horses are known to live fifty years; but the females are not so long-lived. These last come to their full growth at the fifth year, the males a year later. The poet Virgil has very beautifully described the points which ought more especially to be looked for, as constituting the perfection of a horse; I myself have also treated of the same subject, in my work on the Use of the Javelin by Cavalry, and I find that pretty nearly all writers are agreed respecting them. The points requisite for the Circus are somewhat different, however; and while horses are put in training for other purposes at only two years old, they are not admitted to the contests of the Circus before their fifth year.
 
8 - 66 GENERATION OF THE HORSE M
The female of this animal carries her young for eleven months, and brings forth in the twelfth. The connection takes place at the vernal equinox, and generally in both sexes, at the age of two years; but the colt is much stronger when the parents are three years old. The males are capable of cover- ing up to the thirty-third year, and it is not till after the twentieth that they are taken for this purpose from the Circus. At Opus, it is said, a horse served as a stallion until his fortieth year; though he required some assistance in raising the fore part of the body. There are few animals, however, in which the generative powers are so limited, for which reason it is only admitted to the female at certain intervals; indeed it cannot cover as many as fifteen times in the course of one year. The sexual passion of the mare is extinguished by cropping her mane; she is capable of bearing every year up to the fortieth. We have an account of a horse having lived to its seventy-fifth year. The mare brings forth standing upright, and is attached, beyond all other animals, to her offspring. The horse is born with a poisonous substance on its forehead, known as hippomanes, and used in love philtres; it is the size of a fig, and of a black colour; the mother devours it immediately on the birth of the foal, and until she has done so, she will not suckle it. When this substance can be rescued from the mother, it has the property of rendering the animal quite frantic by the smell. If a foal has lost its mother, the other mares in the herd that have young, will take charge of the orphan. It is said that the young of this animal cannot touch the earth with the mouth for the first three days after its birth. The more spirited a horse is, the deeper does it plunge its nose into the water while drinking. The Scythians prefer mares for the purposes of war, because they can pass their urine without stopping in their career.
 
8 - 67 MARES IMPREGNATED BY THE WIND M
It is well known that in Lusitania, in the vicinity of the town of Olisipo and the river Tagus, the mares, by turning their faces towards the west wind as it blows, become impregnated by its breezes, and that the foals which are conceived in this way are remarkable for their extreme fleetness; but they never live beyond three years. Gallicia and Asturia are also countries of Spain; they produce a species of horse known to us as thieldones, and when smaller, asturcones; they have a peculiar and not common pace of their own, which is very easy, and arises from the two legs of the same side being moved together; it is by studying the nature of this step that our horses have been taught the movement which we call ambling. Horses have very nearly the same diseases as men; besides which, they are subject to an irregular action of the bladder, as, indeed, is the case with all beasts of burden.
 
8 - 68 THE ASS, ITS GENERATION M
M. Varro informs us that Quintus Axius, the senator, paid for an ass the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces; I am not sure whether this did not exceed the price ever given for any other animal. It is certainly a species of animal singularly useful for labour and ploughing, but more especially for the production of mules. In these animals also, the country in which they are born is taken into consideration; in Greece, those from Arcadia are the most valued; and in Italy, those of Reate. The ass is an animal which is unable to endure cold, for which reason it is that it is never produced in Pontus; nor is it allowed to cover at the vernal equinox, like other cattle, but at the summer solstice. The males are less proper for covering, when out of work. The earliest age at which the females are ever capable of bearing is the thirtieth month, but the usual time begins at the age of three years. The number to which it gives birth is the same as the mare, which it also resembles, in the length of its gestation, and in its mode of bringing forth; but the female will discharge the generative fluid from the womb, being unable to retain it, unless by blows she is forced to run immediately after being covered. They seldom bring forth two at one birth. When the she-ass is about to bring forth, she shuns the light and seeks darkness, in order to escape the observation of man. Asses are capable of breeding throughout the whole of their life, which extends to thirty years. Their attachment to their young is great in the extreme, but their aversion to water is still greater. They will pass through fire to get at their foals, while the very same animal, if the small- est stream intervenes, will tremble, and not dare so much as to wet even its feet. Nor yet in their pastures will they ever drink at any but the usual watering-place, and they make it their care to find some dry path by which to get at it. They will not pass over a bridge either, when the water can be seen between the planks beneath. Wonderful to relate, too, if their watering-places are changed, though they should be ever so thirsty, they will not drink without being either beaten or caressed. They ought always to have plenty of room for sleeping; for they are very subject to various diseases in their sleep, when they repeatedly throw out their feet, and would immediately lame themselves by coming in contact with any hard substance; so that it is necessary that they should be provided with an empty space. The profit which is derived from these animals exceeds that arising from the richest estate. It is a well-known fact, that in Celtiberia there are some sheasses which have produced to their owners as much as four hundred thousand sesterces. In the rearing of she-mules it is said to be particularly necessary to attend to the colour of the hair of the ears and the eyelids, for, although the rest of the body be all of one colour, the mule that is produced will have all the colours that are found in those parts. Mæcenas was the first person who had the young of the ass served up at his table; they were in those times much preferred to the onager or wild ass; but, since his time, the taste has gone out of fashion. An ass, after witnessing the death of another ass, survives it but a very short time only.
 
8 - 69 NATURE OF MULES, AND OF OTHER BEASTS OF BURDEN M
From the union of the male ass and the mare a mule is pro- duced in the thirteenth month, an animal remarkable for its strength in laborious work. We are told that, for this purpose, the mare ought not to be less than four years old, nor more than ten. It is said also that these two species will repulse each other, unless the male has been brought up, in its infancy, upon the milk of the other species; for which reason they take the foals away from the mare, in the dark, and substitute for them the male colts of the ass. A mule may also be produced from a horse and a female ass; but it can never be properly broken in, and is incorrigibly sluggish, being in all respects as slow as an old animal. If a mare has conceived by a horse, and is afterwards covered by an ass, the first conception is abortive; but this is not the case when the horse comes after the ass. It has been observed, that the female is in the best state for receiving the male in the seventh day after parturition, and that the males are best adapted for the purpose when they are fatigued. A female ass, which has not conceived before shedding what are called the milk-teeth, is considered to be barren; which is also looked upon as the case when a she-ass does not become pregnant after the first covering. The male which is produced from a horse and a female ass, was called by the ancients "hinnulus," and that from an ass and a mare "mulus." It has been observed that the animal which is thus produced by the union of the two species is of a third species, and does not resemble either of the parents; and that all animals produced in this way, of whatever kind they may be, are incapable of reproduction; she-mules are therefore barren. It is said, indeed, in our Annals, that they have frequently brought forth; but such cases must be looked upon only as prodigies. Theophrastus says that they commonly bring forth in Cappadocia; but that the animal of that country is of a peculiar species. The mule is prevented from kicking by frequently giving it wine to drink. It is said in the works of many of the Greek writers, that from the union of a mule with a mare, the dwarf mule is produced, which they call "ginnus." From the union of the mare and the wild ass, when it has been domesticated, a mule is produced which is remarkably swift in running, and has extremely hard feet, and a thin body, while it has a spirit that is quite indomitable. The very best stallion of all, however, for this purpose, is one produced from a union of the wild ass and the female domesticated ass. The best wild asses are those of Phrygia and Lycaonia. Africa glories in the wild foals which she produces, as excelling all others in flavour; these are called "lalisiones." It appears from some Athenian records, that a mule once lived to the age of eighty years. The people were greatly delighted with this animal, because on one occasion, when, on the building of a temple in the citadel, it had been left behind on account of its age, it persisted in promoting the work by accompanying and assisting them; in consequence of which a decree was passed, that the dealers in corn were not to drive it away from their sieves.
 
8 - 70 OXEN; THEIR GENERATION M
We find it stated, that the oxen of India are of the height of camels, and that the extremity of their horns are four feet asunder. In our part of the world the most valuable oxen are those of Epirus, owing, it is said, to the attention paid to their breed by King Pyrrhus. This perfection was acquired by not permitting them to breed until after their fourth year. By these means he brought them to a very large size, and descendants of this breed are still to be seen at the present day. But in our times, we set heifers to breed in their first year, or, at the latest, in their second. Bulls are fit for breeding in their fourth year; one being sufficient, it is said, for ten cows during the whole year. If the bull, after covering, goes to the right side, the produce will be a male; if to the left, a female. Conception takes place after a single union; but if, by any accident, it should not have taken place, the cow seeks the male again, at the end of twenty days. She brings forth in the tenth month; whatever may be produced before that time cannot be reared. Some writers say, that the birth takes place the very day on which the tenth month is completed. This animal but rarely produces twins. The time of covering begins at the rising of the Dolphin, the day before the nones of January, and continues for the space of thirty days. Sometimes it takes place in the autumn; and among those nations which live upon milk, they manage so as to have a supply of it at all times of the year. Bulls never cover more than twice in the same day. The ox is the only animal that walks backwards while it is feeding; among the Garamantes, they feed in no other manner. The females live fifteen years at the longest, and the males twenty; they arrive at their full vigour in their fifth year. It is said that they are made fat by being washed in warm water, or by having the entrails inflated with air by means of a reed, introduced through an incision in the skin. We must not look upon those kinds as having degenerated, the appearance of which is not so favourable. Those that are bred in the Alps, although very small of body, give a great quantity of milk, and are capable of enduring much labour; they are yoked by the horns, and not by the neck. The oxen of Syria have no dewlap, but they have a hump on the back. Those of Caria also, which is in Asia, are unsightly in appearance, having a hump hanging over the shoulders from the neck; and their horns are moveable; they are said, however, to be excellent workers, though those which are either black or white are condemned as worthless for labour. The horns of the bull are shorter and thinner than those of the ox. Oxen must be broken in when they are three years old; after that time it is too late, and before that time too early. The ox is most easily broken in by yoking it with one that has already been trained. This animal is our especial companion, both in labour generally, and in the operations of agriculture. Our ancestors considered it of so much value, that there is an instance cited of a man being brought before the Roman people, on a day appointed, and condemned, for having killed an ox, in order to humour an impudent concubine of his, who said that she had never tasted tripe; and he was driven into exile, just as though he had killed one of his own peasants.
The bull has a proud air, a stern forehead, shaggy ears, and horns which appear always ready, and challenging to the combat; but it is by his fore feet that he manifests his threatening anger. As his rage increases, he stands, lashing back his tail every now and then, and throwing up the sand against his belly; being the only animal that excites himself by these means. We have seen them fight at the word of command, and shown as a public spectacle; these bulls whirled about and then fell upon their horns, and at once were up again; then, at other times, they would lie upon the ground and let themselves be lifted up; they would even stand in a two-horsed chariot, while moving at a rapid rate, like so many charioteers. The people of Thessaly invented a method of killing bulls, by means of a man on horseback, who would ride up to them, and seize one of the horns, and so twist their neck. Cæsar the Dictator was the first person who exhibited this spectacle at Rome. Bulls are selected as the very choicest of victims, and are offered up as the most approved sacrifice for appeasing the gods. Of all the animals that have long tails, this is the only one whose tail is not of proportionate length at the moment of birth; and in this animal alone it continues to grow until it reaches its heels. It is on this account, that in making choice of a calf for a victim, due care is taken that its tail reaches to the pastern joint; if it is shorter than this, the sacrifice is not deemed acceptable to the gods. This fact has also been remarked, that calves, which have been carried to the altar on men's shoulders, are not generally acceptable to the gods; and also, if they are lame, or of a species which is not appropriate, or if they struggle to get away from the altar. It was a not uncommon prodigy among the ancients, for an ox to speak; upon such a fact being announced to the senate, they were in the habit of holding a meeting in the open air.
 
8 - 71 EGYPTIAN APIS M
In Egypt an ox is even worshipped as a deity; they call it Apis. It is distinguished by a conspicuous white spot on the right side, in the form of a crescent. There is a knot also under the tongue, which is called "cantharus." This ox is not allowed to live beyond a certain number of years; it is then destroyed by being drowned in the fountain of the priests. They then go, amid general mourning, and seek another ox to replace it; and the mourning is continued, with their heads shaved, until such time as they have found one; it is not long, however, at any time, before they meet with a successor. When one has been found, it is brought by the priests to Memphis. There are two temples appropriated to it, which are called thalami, and to these the people resort to learn the auguries. According as the ox enters the one or the other of these places, the augury is deemed favourable or unfavourable. It gives answers to individuals, by taking food from the hand of those who consult it. It turned away from the hand of Germanicus Cæsar, and not long after he died. In general it lives in secret; but, when it comes forth in public, the multitudes make way for it, and it is attended by a crowd of boys, singing hymns in honour of it; it appears to be sensible of the adoration thus paid to it, and to court it. These crowds, too, suddenly become inspired, and predict future events. Once in the year a female is presented to the ox, which likewise has her appro- priate marks, although different from those on the male; and it is said that she is always killed the very same day that they find her. There is a spot in the Nile, near Memphis, which, from its figure, they call Phiala; here they throw into the water a dish of gold, and another of silver, every year upon the days on which they celebrate the birth of Apis. These days are seven in number, and it is a remarkable thing, that during this time, no one is ever attacked by the crocodile; on the eighth day, however, after the sixth hour, these beasts resume all their former ferocity.
 
8 - 72 SHEEP, AND THEIR PROPAGATION M
Many thanks, too, do we owe to the sheep, both for appeasing the gods, and for giving us the use of its fleece. As oxen cultivate the fields which yield food for man, so to sheep are we indebted for the defence of our bodies. The generative power lasts in both sexes from the second to the ninth year, sometimes to the tenth. The lambs produced at the first birth are but small. The season for coupling, in all of them, is from the setting of Arcturus, that is to say, the third day before the ides of May, to the setting of Aquila, the tenth day before the calends of August. The period of gestation is one hundred and fifty days. The lambs that are produced after this time are feeble; the ancients called those that were born after it, cordi. Many persons prefer the lambs that are born in the winter to those of the spring, because it is of much more consequence that they should have gained strength before the summer solstice than before the winter one; consequently, the sheep is the only animal that is bene- fitted by being born in the middle of winter. It is the nature of the ram to reject the young and prefer the old ones, and he himself is more serviceable when old, and when deprived of his horns. He is also rendered less violent by having one horn pierced towards the ear. If the right testicle is tied up, the ram will generate females, and if the left, males. The noise of thunder produces abortion in sheep, if they are left alone; to prevent such accidents, they are brought together into flocks, that they may be rendered less timid by being in company. When the north-east wind blows, males are said to be conceived; and when the south wind, females. In this kind of animal, the mouth of the ram is especially looked to, for whatever may be the colour of the veins under the tongue, the wool of the young one will be of a similar colour. If these veins are many in number, it will be mottled. Any change, too, in their water or drink, will render them mottled.
There are two principal kinds of sheep, the covered and the colonic, or common sheep; the former is the more tender animal, but the latter is more nice about its pastures, for the covered sheep will feed on brambles even. The best coverings for sheep are brought from Arabia.
 
8 - 73 KINDS OF WOOL, AND THEIR COLOURS M
The most esteemed wool of all is that of Apulia, and that which in Italy is called Grecian wool, in other countries Italian. The fleeces of Miletus hold the third rank. The Apulian wool is shorter in the hair, and only owes its high character to the cloaks that are made of it. That which comes from the vicinity of Tarentum and Canusium is the most celebrated; and there is a wool from Laodicea, in Asia, of a similar quality. There is no white wool superior to that of the countries bordering on the Padus, nor up to the present day has any wool exceeded the price of one hundred sesterces per pound. The sheep are not shorn in all countries; in some places it is still the custom to pull off the wool. There are various colours of wool; so much so, indeed, that we want terms to express them all. Several kinds, which are called native, are found in Spain; Pollentia, in the vicinity of the Alps, produces black fleeces of the best quality; Asia, as well as Bætica, the red fleeces, which are called Erythræan; those of Canusium are of a tawny colour; and those of Tarentum have their peculiar dark tint. All kinds of wool, when not freed from the grease, possess certain medicinal properties. The wool of Istria is much more like hair than wool, and is not suitable for the fabrication of stuffs that have a long nap; so too is that which Salacia, in Lusitania, finds the most useful for making its chequered cloths. There is a similar wool, too, found about Piscenæ, in the province of Narbonensis, as also in Egypt; a garment, when it has been worn for some time, is often embroidered with this wool, and will last for a considerable time.
The thick, flocky wool has been esteemed for the manufacture of carpets from the very earliest times; it is quite clear, from what we read in Homer, that they were in use in his time. The Gauls embroider them in a different manner from that which is practised by the Parthians. Wool is compressed also for making a felt, which, if soaked in vinegar, is capable of resisting iron even; and, what is still more, after having gone through the last process, wool will even resist fire; the refuse, too, when taken out of the vat of the scourer, is used for making mattresses, an invention, I fancy, of the Gauls. At all events, it is by Gallic names that we distinguish the different sort of mattresses at the present day; but I am not well able to say at what period wool began to be employed for this purpose. Our ancestors made use of straw for the purpose of sleeping upon, just as they do at present when in camp. The gausapa has been brought into use in my father's memory, and I myself recollect the amphimalla and the long shaggy apron being introduced; but at the present day, the laticlave tunic is beginning to be manufactured, in imitation of the gausapa. Black wool will take no colour. I shall describe the mode of dyeing the other kinds of wool when speaking of the sea-purple, or of the nature of various plants.
 
8 - 74 DIFFERENT KINDS OF CLOTHS M
Varro informs us, he himself having been an eye-witness, that in the temple of Sancus, the wool was still preserved on the distaff and spindle of Tanaquil, who was also called Caia Cæ- cilia; and he says that the royal waved toga, formerly worn by Servius Tullius, and now in the temple of Fortune, was made by her. Hence was derived the custom, on the marriage of a young woman, of carrying in the procession a dressed distaff and a spindle, with the thread arranged upon it. Tanaquil was the first who wove the straight tunic, such as our young people wear with the white toga; newly-married women also. Waved garments were at first the most esteemed of all: after which those composed of various colours came into vogue. Fenestella informs us, that togas with a smooth surface, as well as the Phryxian togas, began to be used in the latter part of the reign of Augustus. Thick stuffs, in the preparation of which the poppy was used, are of more ancient date, being mentioned by the poet Lucilius, in his lines on Torquatus. The prætexta had its origin among the Etrurians. I find that the trabea was first worn by the kings; embroidered garments are mentioned by Homer, and in this class originated the triumphal robes. The Phrygians first used the needle for this purpose, and hence this kind of garment obtained the name of Phrygionian. King Attalus, who also lived in Asia, invented the art of embroidering with gold, from which these garments have been called Attalic. Babylon was very famous for making embroidery in different colours, and hence stuffs of this kind have obtained the name of Babylonian. The method of weaving cloth with more than two threads was in- vented at Alexandria; these cloths are called polymita; it was in Gaul that they were first divided into chequers. Metellus Scipio, in the accusation which he brought against Cato, stated that even in his time Babylonian covers for couches were selling for eight hundred thousand sesterces, and these of late, in the time of the Emperor Nero, had risen to four millions. The prætextæ of Servius Tullius, with which the statue of Fortune, dedicated by him, was covered, lasted until the death of Sejanus; and it is a remarkable fact, that, during a period of five hundred and sixty years, they had never become tattered, or received injury from moths. I myself have seen the fleece upon the living animal dyed purple, scarlet, and violet,—a pound and a half of dye being used for each,—just as though they had been produced by Nature in this form, to meet the demands of luxury.
 
8 - 75 DIFFERENT SHAPES OF SHEEP; THE MUSMON M
In the sheep, it is considered a proof of its being of a very fair breed, when the legs are short, and the belly is covered with wool; when this part is bare, they used to be called apicæ, and were looked upon as worthless. The tail of the Syrian sheep is a cubit in length, and it is upon that part that most of the wool is found. It is considered too early to castrate lambs before they are five months old. (.) There is in Spain, and more especially in Corsica, a peculiar kind of animal called the musmon, not very unlike a sheep, but with a fleece which more resembles the hair of the goat than the wool of the sheep. The ancients gave the name of umbri to the breed between this animal and the sheep. The head of the sheep is the weakest part of all, on which account it is obliged, when it feeds, to turn away from the sun. The animals which are covered with wool are the most stupid of all. When they are afraid to enter any place, if one is only dragged into it by the horns, all the rest will follow. The longest duration of their life is ten years; but in Æthiopia it is thirteen. Goats live in that country eleven years, but in other parts of the world mostly eight years only. Both of these animals require to be covered not more than four times to ensure conception.
 
8 - 76 GOATS AND THEIR PROPAGATION M
The goat occasionally brings forth as many as four at a birth; but this is rarely the case. It is pregnant five months, like the sheep. Goats become barren when very fat. There is little advantage to be derived from their bringing forth before their third year, or after the fourth, when they begin to grow old. They are capable of generating in the seventh month, and while they are still sucking. In both sexes those that have no horns are considered the most valuable. A single coupling in the day is not sufficient; the second and the following ones are more effectual. They conceive in the month of November, so as to bring forth in the month of March, when the buds are bursting; this is sometimes the case with them when only one year old, and always with those of the second year; but the produce of those which are three years old is the most valuable. They continue to bring forth for a period of eight years. Cold produces abortion. When their eyes are surcharged, the female discharges the blood from the eye by pricking it with the point of a bulrush, and the male with the thorn of a bramble.
Mutianus relates an instance of the intelligence of this animal, of which he himself was an eye-witness. Two goats, coming from opposite directions, met on a very narrow bridge, which would not admit of either of them turning round, and in consequence of its great length, they could not safely go backwards, there being no sure footing on account of its narrowness, while at the same time an impetuous torrent was rapidly rushing beneath; accordingly, one of the animals lay down flat, while the other walked over it. Among the males, those are the most esteemed which have flat noses and long hanging ears, the shoulders being covered with very thick shaggy hair; the mark of the most valuable among the females is the having two folds hanging down the body from under the neck. Some of these animals have no horns; but where there are horns, the age of the animal is denoted by the number of knots on them. Those that have no horns give the most milk. According to Archelaus, they breathe, not through the nose, but the ears, and they are never entirely free from fever, from which circumstance it is, probably, that they are more animated than sheep, more ardent, and have stronger sexual passions. It is said also, that they have the power of seeing by night as well as in the day, for which reason those persons who are called Nyctalopes, recover the power of seeing in the evening, by eating the liver of the he-goat. In Cilicia, and in the vicinity of the Syrtes, the inhabitants shear the goat for the purpose of clothing themselves. It is said that the she-goats in the pastures will never look at each other at sun-set, but lie with their backs towards one another, while at other times of the day they lie facing each other and in family groups. They all have long hair hanging down from the chin, which is called by us aruncus. If any one of the flock is taken hold of and dragged by this hair, all the rest gaze on in stupid astonishment; and the same happens when any one of them has eaten of a certain herb Their bite is very destructive to trees, and they make the olive barren by licking it; for which reason they are not sacrificed to Minerva.
 
8 - 77 THE HOG M
The period for coupling the hog lasts from the return of the west wind to the vernal equinox; the proper age commences in the eighth month, indeed, in some places, in the fourth even, and continues until the eighth year They bring forth twice in the year, the time of gestation being four months; the number at a birth amounts to twenty even, but they cannot rear so large a number. Nigidius informs us, that those which are produced within ten days of the winter solstice are born with teeth. One coupling is sufficient, but it is repeated, on account of their extreme liability to abortion; the remedy for which is not to allow coupling the first time the female is in heat, nor until its ears are flaccid and pendant. The males do not generate after they are three years old. When the females become feeble from old age, they receive the males lying down. It is not looked upon as anything portentous when they eat their young. The young of the hog is considered in a state of purity for sacrifice when five days old, the lamb on the seventh day, and the calf on the thirtieth. Coruncanius asserts, that ruminant animals are not proper for victims until they have two teeth. It has been supposed, that when a pig has lost one eye, it will not live long; otherwise, these animals generally live up to fifteen, or sometimes twenty years. They sometimes become mad; besides which, they are liable to other diseases, especially to quinsy and to scrofula. It is an indication that the hog is diseased, when blood is found at the root of a bristle pulled from its back, and when it holds its head on one side while walking. When the female becomes too fat, she has a deficiency of milk; the first litter is always the least numerous. Animals of this kind delight in rolling in the mud. The tail is curled, and it has also been remarked, that those are a more acceptable offering to the gods, whose tail is turned to the right than those which have it turned to the left. They may be fattened in sixty days, and more especially if they have been kept without food for three days before fattening. The swine is by far the most brutish of all the animals, and it has been said, and not unaptly, that life has been given them in place of salt. And yet it has been known, that these animals, when carried away by thieves, have recognized the voice of their keeper; and when a vessel has been under water through the inclination of one of its sides, they have had the sense to go over to the other side. The leader of the herd will even learn to go to market, and to different houses in the city. In the wild state also, they have the sense to pass their urine in plashy places, that they may destroy all traces of them, and so lighten themselves for flight. The female is spayed, just as is done with the camel; after they have fasted two days, they are suspended by the hind feet, and the orifice of the womb is cut; after this operation, they fatten more quickly.
M. Apicius made the discovery, that we may employ the same artificial method of increasing the size of the liver of the sow, as of that of the goose; it consists in cramming them with dried figs, and when they are fat enough, they are drenched with wine mixed with honey, and immediately killed. There is no animal that affords a greater variety to the palate of the epicure; all the others have their own peculiar flavour, but the flesh of the hog has nearly fifty different flavours. Hence it is, that there are whole pages of regulations made by the cen- sors, forbidding the serving up at banquets of the belly, the kernels, the testicles, the womb, and the cheeks. However, notwithstanding all this, the poet Publius, the author of the Mimes, when he ceased to be a slave, is said to have given no entertainment without serving up the belly of a sow, to which he also gave the name of "sumen."
 
8 - 78 WILD BOAR; WHO WAS THE FIRST TO ESTABLISH PARKS FOR WILD ANIMALS M
The flesh of the wild boar is also much esteemed. Cato, the Censor, in his orations, strongly declaimed against the use of the brawn of the wild boar. The animal used to be divided into three portions, the middle part of which was laid by, and is called boar's chine. P. Servilius Rullus was the first Roman who served up a whole boar at a banquet; the father of that Rullus, who, in the consulship of Cicero, proposed the Agrarian law. So recent is the introduction of a thing which is now in daily use. The Annalists have taken notice of such a fact as this, clearly as a hint to us to mend our manners; seeing that now-a-days two or three boars are consumed, not at one entertainment, but as forming the first course only.
(.) Fulvius Lupinus was the first Roman who formed parks for the reception of these and other wild animals: he first fed them in the territory of Tarquinii: it was not long, however, that imitators were found in L. Lucullus and Q. Hortensius. The wild sow brings forth once only in the year. The males are very fierce during the rutting time; they fight with each other, having first hardened their sides by rubbing them against the trees, and covered themselves with mud. The females, as is the case with animals of every kind, become more fierce just after they have brought forth. The wild boar is not capable of generating before the first year. The wild boar of India has two curved teeth, projecting from beneath the muzzle, a cubit in length; and the same number projecting from the forehead, like the horns of the young bull. The hair of these animals, in a wild state, is the eclour of copper, the others are black. No species whatever of the swine is found in Arabia.
 
8 - 79 ANIMALS IN A HALF-WILD STATE M
In no species is the union with the wild animal so easy as in that of the swine; the produce of such unions was called by the ancients hybrid, or half savage; which appellation has also been transferred to the human race, as it was to C. Antonius, the colleague of Cicero in his consulship. Not only, however, with respect to the hog, but all other animals as well, wherever there is a tame species, there is a corresponding wild one as well; a fact which is equally true with reference to man himself, as is proved by the many races of wild men of which we have already spoken. There is no kind of animal, however, that is divided into a greater number of varieties than the goat. There are the capræa, the rupicapra or rock-goat, and the ibex, an animal of wonderful swiftness, although its head is loaded with immense horns, which bear a strong resemblance to the sheath of a sword. By means of these horns the animal balances itself, when it darts along the rocks, as though it had been hurled from a sling; more especially when it wishes to leap from one eminence to another. There are the oryges also, which are said to be the only animals that have the hair the contrary way, the points being turned towards the head. There are the dama also, the pygargus, and the strepsiceros, besides many others which strongly resemble them. The first mentioned of these animals, however, dwell in the Alps; all the others are sent to us from the parts beyond sea.
 
8 - 80 APES M
The different kinds of apes, which approach the nearest to the human figure, are distinguished from each other by the tail. Their shrewdness is quite wonderful. It is said that, imitating the hunters, they will besmear themselves with bird-lime, and put their feet into the shoes, which, as so many snares, have been prepared for them. Mucianus says, that they have even played at chess, having, by practice, learned to distinguish the different pieces, which are made of wax. He says that the species which have tails become quite melancholy when the moon is on the wane, and that they leap for joy at the time of the new moon, and adore it. Other quadrupeds also are terrified at the eclipses of the heavenly bodies. All the species of apes manifest remarkable affection for their offspring. Females, which have been domesticated, and have had young ones, carry them about and shew them to all comers, shew great delight when they are caressed, and appear to understand the kindness thus shewn them. Hence it is, that they very often stifle their young with their embraces. The dog's-headed ape is of a much fiercer nature, as is the case with the satyr. The callitriche has almost a totally different aspect; it has a beard on the face, and a tail, which in the first part of it is very bushy. It is said that this animal cannot live except in the climate of Æthiopia, which is its native place.
 
8 - 81 DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HARES M
There are also numerous species of hares. Those in the Alps are white, and it is believed that, during the winter, they live upon snow for food; at all events, every year, as the snow melts, they acquire a reddish colour; it is, moreover, an animal which is capable of existing in the most severe climates. There is also a species of hare, in Spain, which is called the rabbit; it is extremely prolific, and produces famine in the Balearic islands, by destroying the harvests. The young ones, either when cut from out of the body of the mother, or taken from the breast, without having the entrails removed, are considered a most delicate food; they are then called laurices. It is a well-known fact, that the inhabitants of the Balearic islands begged of the late Emperor Augustus the aid of a number of soldiers, to prevent the too rapid increase of these animals. The ferret is greatly esteemed for its skill in catching them. It is thrown into the burrows, with their numerous outlets, which the rabbits form, and from which circumstance they derive their name, and as it drives them out, they are taken above. Archelaus informs us, that in the hare, the number of cavernous receptacles in the body for the excrements always equals that of its years; but still the numbers are sometimes found to differ. He says also, that the same individual possesses the characteristics of the two sexes, and that it becomes pregnant just as well without the aid of the male. It is a kind provision of Nature, in making animals which are both harmless and good for food, thus prolific. The hare, which is preyed upon by all other animals, is the only one, except the dasypus, which is capable of superfœtation; while the mother is suckling one of her young, she has another in the womb covered with hair, another without any covering at all, and another which is just beginning to be formed. Attempts have been made to form a kind of stuff of the hair of these animals; but it is not so soft as when attached to the skin, and, in consequence of the shortness of the hairs, soon falls to pieces.
 
8 - 82 ANIMALS WHICH ARE TAMED IN PART ONLY M
Hares are seldom tamed, and yet they cannot properly be called wild animals; indeed, there are many species of them which are neither tame nor wild, but of a sort of intermediate nature; of the same kind there are among the winged animals, swallows and bees, and among the sea animals, the dolphin.
(.) Many persons have placed that inhabitant of our houses, the mouse, in this class also; an animal which is not to be despised, for the portents which it has afforded, even in relation to public events. By gnawing the silver shields at Lanuvium, mice prognosticated the Marsian war; and the death of our general, Carbo, at Clusium, by gnawing the latchets with which he fastened his shoes. There are many species of this animal in the territory of Cyrenaica; some of them with a wide, others with a projecting, forehead, and some again with bristling hair, like the hedgehog. We are informed by Theophrastus, that after the mice had driven the inhabitants of Gyara from their island, they even gnawed the iron; which they also do, by a kind of natural instinct, in the iron forges among the Chalybes. In gold mines, too, their stomachs are opened for this purpose, and some of the metal is always to be found there, which they have pilfered, so great a delight do they take in stealing! We learn from our Annals, also, that at the siege of Casilinum, by Hannibal, a mouse was sold for two hundred denarii, and that the person who sold it perished with hunger, while the purchaser survived. To be visited by white mice is considered as indicative of a fortunate event; but our Annals are full of instances in which the singing of a mouse has interrupted the auspices. Nigidius informs us, that the field-mouse conceals itself during winter: this is also said to be the case with the dormouse, which the regulations of the censors, and of M. Scaurus, the chief of the senate, when he was consul, have banished from our tables, no lebs than shell-fish and birds, which are brought from a foreign country. The dormouse is also a half-wild animal, and the same person made warrens for them in large casks, who first formed parks for wild boars. In relation to this subject, it has been remarked that dormice will not mate, unless they happen to be natives of the same forest; and that if those are put together that are brought from different rivers or mountains, they will fight and destroy each other. These animals nourish their parents, when worn out with old age, with a singular degree of affection. This old age of theirs is put an end to by their winter's rest, when they conceal themselves and sleep; they are young again by the summer. The field-mouse also enjoys a similar repose.
 
8 - 83 PLACES IN WHICH CERTAIN ANIMALS ARE NOT TO BE FOUND M
It is a remarkable fact, that nature has not only assigned different countries to different animals, but that even in the same country, it has denied certain species to peculiar localities. In Italy the dormouse is found in one part only, the Messian forest. In Lycia the gazelle never passes beyond the mountains which border upon Syria; nor does the wild ass in that vicinity pass over those which divide Cappadocia from Cilicia. On the banks of the Hellespont, the stags never pass into a strange territory, and about Arginussa they never go beyond Mount Elaphus; those upon that mountain, too, have cloven ears. In the island of Poroselene, the weasels will not so much as cross a certain road. In Bœotia, the moles, which were introduced at Lebadea, fly from the very soil of that country, while in the neighbourhood, at Orchomenus, the very same animals tear up all the fields. We have seen coverlets for beds made of the skins of these creatures, so that our sense of religion does not prevent us from employing these ominous animals for the purposes of luxury. When hares have been brought to Ithaca, they die as soon as ever they touch the shore, and the same is the case with rabbits, on the shores of the island of Ebusus; while they abound in the vicinity, Spain namely, and the Balearic isles. In Cyrene, the frogs were formerly dumb, and this species still exists, although croaking ones were carried over there from the continent. At the present day, even, the frogs in the island of Seriphos are dumb; but when they are carried to other places, they croak; the same thing is also said to have taken place at Sicandrus, a lake of Thessaly. In Italy, the bite of the shrew-mouse is venomous; an animal which is not to be found in any region beyond the Apennines. In whatever country it exists, it always dies immediately if it goes across the rut made by a wheel. Upon Olympus, a mountain of Macedonia, there are no wolves, nor yet in the isle of Crete. In this island there are neither foxes, nor bears, nor, indeed, any kind of baneful animal, with the exception of the phalangium, a species of spider, of which I shall speak in its appropriate place. It is a thing still more remarkable, that in this island there are no stags, except in the district of Cydon; the same is the case with the wild boar, the woodcock, and the hedgehog. In Africa, there are neither wild boars, stags, deer, nor bears.
 
8 - 84 ANIMALS WHICH INJURE STRANGERS ONLY, AS ALSO ANIMALS WHICH INJURE NATIVES OF COUNTRY ONLY, & WHERE THEY ARE FOUND M
Besides this, there are certain animals, which are harmless to the natives of the country, but destroy strangers; such are the little serpents at Tirynthus, which are said to spring from out of the earth. In Syria, also, and especially on the banks of the Euphrates, the serpents never attack the Syrians when they are asleep, and even if they happen to bite a native who treads upon them, their venom is not felt; but to persons of any other country they are extremely hostile, and fiercely attack them, causing a death attended with great torture. On this account, the Syrians never kill them. On the contrary, on Latmos, a mountain of Caria, as Aristotle tells us, strangers are not injured by the scorpions, while the natives are killed by them. But I must now give an account of other animals as well, and of the productions of the earth.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable events, narratives, and observations, seven hundred and eighty-seven. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Mucianus, Procilius, Verrius Flaccus, L. Piso, Cornelius Valerianus, Cato the Censor, Fenestclla, Trogus, the Register of the Triumphs, Columella, Virgil, Varro, Lucilius, Metellus Scipio, Cornelius Cel- sus, Nigidius, Trebius Niger, Pomponius Mela, Mamilius Sura. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—King Juba, Polybius, Herodotus, Antipater, Aristotle, Demetrius the physician, Democritus, Theophrastus, Euanthes, Agriopas, who wrote the "Olympionicæ," King Hiero, King Attalus Philometor, Ctesias, Duris, Philistus, Archytas, Phylarchus, Amphilochus of Athens, Anaxapolis the Thasian, Apollodorus of Lemnos, Aristophanes the Milesian, Antigonus the Cumæan, Agathocles of Chios, Apollonius of Pergamus, Aris- tander of Athens, Bacchius of Miletus, Bion of Soli, Chiæreas the Athenian, Diodorus of Priene, Dion the Colophonian, Epigenes the Rhodian, Euagon of Thasos, Euphronius of Athens, Hegesias of Maronea, the Menanders of Priene and of Heraclea, Menecrates the poet, Androtion who wrote on Agriculture, Æschrion who wrote on Agriculture, Lysimachus who wrote on Agriculture, Dionysius who translated Mago, Diophanes who made an epitome of the work of Dionysius, King Archelaus, Nicander.
 
9 HISTORY OF FISHES M 98.9
9 - 1 WHY THE LARGEST ANIMALS ARE FOUND IN THE SEA M
WE have now given an account of the animals which we call terrestrial, and which live as it were in a sort of society with man. Among the remaining ones, it is well known that the birds are the smallest; we shall therefore first describe those which inhabit the seas, rivers, and standing waters.
(.) Among these there are many to be found that exceed in size any of the terrestrial animals even; the evident cause of which is the superabundance of moisture with which they are supplied. Very different is the lot of the winged animals, whose life is passed soaring aloft in the air. But in the seas, spread out as they are far and wide, forming an element at once so delicate and so vivifying, and receiving the generating principles from the regions of the air, as they are ever produced by Nature, many animals are to be found, and indeed, most of those that are of monstrous form; from the fact, no doubt, that these seeds and first principles of being are so utterly conglomerated and so involved, the one with the other, from being whirled to and fro, now by the action of the winds and now by the waves. Hence it is that the vulgar notion may very possibly be true, that whatever is produced in any other department of Nature, is to be found in the sea as well; while, at the same time, many other productions are there to be found which nowhere else exist. That there are to be found in the sea the forms, not only of terrestrial animals, but of inanimate objects even, is easily to be understood by all who will take the trouble to examine the grape-fish, the sword-fish, the sawfish, and the cucumber-fish, which last so strongly resembles the real cucumber both in colour and in smell. We shall find the less reason then to be surprised to find that in so small an object as a shell-fish the head of the horse is to be seen protruding from the shell.
 
9 - 2 SEA MONSTERS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN
But the most numerous and largest of all these animals are those found in the Indian seas; among which there are balænæ, four jugera in extent, and the pristis, two hundred cubits long: here also are found cray-fish four cubits in length, and in the river Ganges there are to be seen eels three hundred feet long. But at sea it is more especially about the time of the solstices that these monsters are to be seen. For then it is that in these regions the whirlwind comes sweeping on, the rains descend, the hurricane comes rushing down, hurled from the mountain heights, while the sea is stirred up from the very bottom, and the monsters are driven from their depths and rolled upwards on the crest of the billow. At other times again, there are such vast multitudes of tunnies met with, that the fleet of Alexander the Great was able to make head against them only by facing them in order of battle, just as it would have done an enemy's fleet. Had the ships not done this, but proceeded in a straggling manner, they could not possibly have made their escape. No noises, no sounds, no blows had any effect on these fish; by nothing short of the clash of battle were they to be terrified, and by nothing less than their utter destruction were they overpowered.
There is a large peninsula in the Red Sea, known by the name of Cadara: as it projects into the deep it forms a vast gulf, which it took the fleet of King Ptolemy twelve whole days and nights to traverse by dint of rowing, for not a breath of wind was to be perceived. In the recesses of this becalmed spot more particularly, the sea-monsters attain so vast a size that they are quite unable to move. The commanders of the fleets of Alexander the Great have related that the Gedrosi, who dwell upon the banks of the river Ara- bis, are in the habit of making the doors of their houses with the jaw-bones of fishes, and raftering the roofs with their bones, many of which were found as much as forty cubits in length. At this place, too, the sea-monsters, just like so many cattle, were in the habit of coming on shore, and, after feeding on the roots of shrubs, they would return; some of them, which had the heads of horses, asses, and bulls, found a pasture in the crops of grain.
 
9 - 3 LARGEST ANIMALS THAT ARE FOUND IN EACH OCEAN
The largest animals found in the Indian Sea are the pistrix and the balæna; while of the Gallic Ocean the physeter is the most bulky inhabitant, raising itself aloft like some vast column, and as it towers above the sails of ships, belching forth, as it were, a deluge of water. In the ocean of Gades there is a tree, with outspread branches so vast, that it is supposed that it is for that reason it has never yet entered the Straits. There are fish also found there which are called sea-wheels, in consequence of their singular conformation; they are divided by four spokes, the nave being guarded on every side by a couple of eyes.
 
9 - 4 FORMS OF THE TRITONS AND NEREIDS. THE FORMS OF SEA ELEPHANTS
A deputation of persons from Olisipo, that had been sent for the purpose, brought word to the Emperor Tiberius that a triton had been both seen and heard in a certain cavern, blowing a conch-shell, and of the form under which they are usually represented. Nor yet is the figure generally attributed to the nereids at all a fiction; only in them, the portion of the body that resembles the human figure is still rough all over with scales. For one of these creatures was seen upon the same shores, and as it died, its plaintive murmurs were heard even by the inhabitants at a distance. The legatus of Gaul, too, wrote word to the late Emperor Augustus that a considerable number of nereids had been found dead upon the sea-shore. I have, too, some distinguished informants of equestrian rank, who state that they themselves once saw in the ocean of Gades a sea-man, which bore in every part of his body a perfect resemblance to a human being, and that during the night he would climb up into ships; upon which the side of the vessel where he seated himself would instantly sink downward, and if he remained there any considerable time, even go under water.
In the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, a subsidence of the ocean left exposed on the shores of an island which faces the province of Lugdunum as many as three hundred animals or more, all at once, quite marvellous for their varied shapes and enormous size, and no less a number upon the shores of the Santones; among the rest there were elephants and rams, which last, however, had only a white spot to represent horns. Turranius has also left accounts of several nereids, and he speaks of a monster that was thrown up on the shore at Gades, the distance between the two fins at the end of the tail of which was sixteen cubits, and its teeth one hundred and twenty in number; the largest being nine, and the smallest six inches in length. M. Scaurus, in his ædileship, exhibited at Rome, among other wonderful things, the bones of the monster to which Andromeda was said to have been exposed, and which he had brought from Joppa, a city of Judæa. These bones exceeded forty feet in length, and the ribs were higher than those of the Indian elephant, while the back-bone was a foot and a half in thickness.
 
9 - 5 BALÆNA AND THE ORCA M
The balæna penetrates to our seas even. It is said that they are not to be seen in the ocean of Gades before the winter solstice, and that at periodical seasons they retire and conceal themselves in some calm capacious bay, in which they take a delight in bringing forth. This fact, however, is known to the orca, an animal which is peculiarly hostile to the balæna, and the form of which cannot be in any way adequately described, but as an enormous mass of flesh armed with teeth. This animal attacks the balænain its places of retirement, and with its teeth tears its young, or else attacks the females which have just brought forth, and, indeed, while they are still pregnant: and as they rush upon them, it pierces them just as though they had been attacked by the beak of a Liburnian galley. The female balænæ, devoid of all flexibility, without energy to defend themselves, and over-burdened by their own weight, weakened, too, by gestation, or else the pains of recent parturition, are well aware that their only resource is to take to flight in the open sea and to range over the whole face of the ocean; while the orcæ, on the other hand, do all in their power to meet them in their flight, throw themselves in their way, and kill them either cooped up in a narrow passage, or else drive them on a shoal, or dash them to pieces against the rocks. When these battles are witnessed, it appears just as though the sea were infuriate against itself; not a breath of wind is there to be felt in the bay, and yet the waves by their pantings and their repeated blows are heaved aloft in a way which no whirlwind could effect.
An orca has been seen even in the port of Ostia, where it was attacked by the Emperor Claudius. It was while he was constructing the harbour there that this orca came, attracted by some hides which, having been brought from Gaul, had happened to fall overboard there. By feeding upon these for several days it had quite glutted itself, having made for itself a, channel in the shoaly water. Here, however, the sand was thrown up by the action of the wind to such an extent, that the creature found it quite impossible to turn round; and while in the act of pursuing its prey, it was propelled by the waves towards the shore, so that its back came to be perceived above the level of the water, very much resembling in appearance the keel of a vessel turned bottom upwards. Upon this, Cæsar ordered a great number of nets to be extended at the mouth of the harbour, from shore to shore, while he himself went there with the prætorian cohorts, and so afforded a spectacle to the Roman people; for boats assailed the monster, while the soldiers on board showered lances upon it. I myself saw one of the boats sunk by the water which the animal, as it respired, showered down upon it.
 
9 - 6 WHETHER FISHES RESPIRE, AND WHETHER THEY SLEEP
Balænæ have the mouth in the forehead; and hence it is that, as they swim on the surface of the water, they discharge vast showers of water in the air. (.) It is universally agreed, however, that they respire, as do a very few other animals in the sea, which have lungs among the internal viscera; for without lungs it is generally supposed that no animal can breathe. Those, too, who are of this opinion are of opinion also that no fishes that have gills are so constituted as to inhale and exhale alternately, nor, in fact, many other kinds of animals even, which are entirely destitute of gills. This, I find, was the opinion of Aristotle, who, by his learned researches on the subject, has induced many others to be of the same way of thinking. I shall not, however, conceal the fact, that I for one do not by any means at once subscribe to this opinion, for it is very possible, if such be the will of Nature, that there may be other organs fitted for the purposes of respiration, and acting in the place of lungs; just as in many animals a different liquid altogether takes the place of blood. And who, in fact, can find any ground for surprise that the breath of life can penetrate the waters of the deep, when he sees that it is even exhaled from them? and when we find, too, that it can even enter the very depths of the earth, an element of so much greater density, a thing that is proved by the case of animals which always live under ground, the mole for instance? There are other weighty reasons as well, which induce me to be of opinion that all aquatic animals respire, conformably to their natural organization; for, in the first place, there has been often remarked in fishes a certain degree of anhelation during the heat of summer, and at other times again, a kind of leisurely gaping, as it were. And then, besides, we have the admission of those who are of the contrary opinion, that fishes do sleep; but what possibility is there of sleeping without respiring as well? And again, we see their breath disengaged in bubbles which rise to the water's surface, and the influence too of the moon makes even the very shells grow in bulk.
But the most convincing reason of all is, the undoubted fact that fishes have the power of hearing and of smelling, two senses for the operation of both of which the air is a necessary vehicle; for by smell we understand nothing else than the air being charged with certain particles. However, let every person form his own opinion on these subjects, just in such way as he may think best. Neither the balæna nor the dolphin has any gills. Both of these animals respire through vent-holes, which communicate with the lungs; in the balæna they are on the fore- head, and in the dolphin on the back. Sea-calves, too, which we call "phocæ," breathe and sleep upon dry land—sea- tortoises also, of which we shall have more to say hereafter.
 
9 - 7 DOLPHINS M
The swiftest not only of the sea animals, but of all animals whatever, is the dolphin. He is more rapid in his move- ments than a bird, more instantaneous than the flight of an arrow, and were it not for the fact that his mouth is situate much below his muzzle, almost, indeed, in the middle of the belly, not a fish would be able to escape his pursuit. But Nature, in her prudence, has thrown certain impediments in his way; for unless he turns, and throws himself on his back, he can seize nothing, and it is this circumstance more especially that gives proof of his extraordinary swiftness. For, if pressed by hunger, he will follow a fish, as it flies down, to the very bottom of the water, and then after holding his breath thus long, will dart again to the surface to respire, with the speed of an arrow discharged from a bow; and often, on such occasions, he is known to leap out of the water with such a bound, as to fly right over the sails of a ship.
Dolphins generally go in couples; the females bring forth their young in the tenth month, during the summer season, sometimes two in number. They suckle their young at the teat like the balæna, and even carry them during the weakness of infancy; in addition to which, long after they are grown up, they accompany them, so great is their affection for their progeny. The young ones grow very speedily, and in ten years are supposed to arrive at their full size. The dol- phin lives thirty years; a fact that has been ascertained from cutting marks on the tail, by way of experiment. It conceals itself for thirty days, at about the rising of the Dog-star, and hides itself so effectually, that it is not known whither it goes; a thing that is more surprising still, if it is unable to respire under water. Dolphins are in the habit of darting upon the shore, for some reason or other, it is not known what. They do not die the moment that they touch the dry land, but will die much more speedily if the vent-hole is closed. The tongue, contrary to the nature of aquatic animals in general, is moveable, being short and broad, not much unlike that of the pig. Instead of a voice, they emit a moaning sound similar to that made by a human being; the back is arched, and the nose turned up. For this reason it is that they all recognize in a most surprising manner the name of Simo, and prefer to be called by that rather than by any other.
 
9 - 8 HUMAN BEINGS WHO HAVE BEEN BELOVED BY DOLPHINS
The dolphin is an animal not only friendly to man, but a lover of music as well; he is charmed by melodious concerts, and more especially by the notes of the water-organ. He does not dread man, as though a stranger to him, but comes to meet ships, leaps and bounds to and fro, vies with them in swiftness, and passes them even when in full sail.
In the reign of the late Emperor Augustus, a dolphin which had been carried to the Lucrine Lake conceived a most wonderful affection for the child of a certain poor man, who was in the habit of going that way from Baiæ to Puteoll to school, and who used to stop there in the middle of the day, call him by his name of Simo, and would often entice him to the banks of the lake with pieces of bread which he carried for the purpose. I should really have felt ashamed to mention this, had not the incident been stated in writing in the works of Mæcenas, Fabianus, Flavius Alfius, and many others. At whatever hour of the day he might happen to be called by the boy, and although hidden and out of sight at the bottom of the water, he would instantly fly to the surface, and after feeding from his hand, would present his back for him to mount, taking care to conceal the spiny projection of his fins in their sheath, as it were; and so, sportively taking him up on his back, he would carry him over a wide expanse of sea to the school at Puteoli, and in a similar manner bring him back again. This happened for several years, until at last the boy happened to fall ill of some malady, and died. The dolphin, however, still came to the spot as usual, with a sorrowful air and manifesting every sign of deep affliction, until at last, a thing of which no one felt the slightest doubt, he died purely of sorrow and regret. Within these few years also, another at Hippo Diarrhytus, on the coast of Africa, in a similar manner used to receive his food from the hands of various persons, present himself for their caresses, sport about among the swimmers, and carry them on his back. On being rubbed with unguents by Flavianus, the then proconsul of Africa, he was lulled to sleep, as it appeared, by the sensation of an odour so new to him, and floated about just as though he had been dead. For some months after this, he carefully avoided all intercourse with man, just as though he had received some affront or other; but at the end of that time he returned, and afforded just the same wonderful scenes as before. At last, the vexations that were caused them by having to entertain so many influential men who came to see this sight, compelled the people of Hippo to put the animal to death. Before this, there was a similar story told of a child at the city of Iasus, for whom a dolphin was long observed to have conceived a most ardent affection, until at last, as the animal was eagerly following him as he was making for the shore, it was carried by the tide on the sands, and there expired. Alexander the Great appointed this boy high priest of Neptune at Babylon, interpreting this extraordinary attachment as a convincing proof of the favour of that divinity. Hegesidemus has also informed us, that in the same city of lasus there was another boy also, Hermias by name, who in a similar manner used to traverse the sea on a dolphin's back, but that on one occasion a tempest suddenly arising, he lost his life, and was brought back dead; upon which, the dolphin, who thus admitted that he had been the cause of his death, would not return to the sea, but lay down upon the dry land, and there expired. Theophrastus informs us, that the very same thing happened at Naupactus also; nor, in fact, is there any limit to similar instances. The Amphilochians and the Tarentines have similar stories also about children and dolphins; and all these give an air of credibility to the one that is told of Arion, the famous performer on the lyre. The mariners being on the point of throwing him into the sea, for the purpose of taking possession of the money he had earned, he prevailed upon them to allow him one more song, accompanied with the music of his lyre. The melody attracted numbers of dolphins around the ship, and, upon throwing himself into the sea, he was taken up by one of them, and borne in safety to the shore of the Promontory of Tænarum.
 
9 - 9 PLACES WHERE DOLPHINS HELP MEN TO FISH
There is in the province of Gallia Narbonensis and in the territory of Nemausus a lake known by the name of Latera, where dolphins fish in company with men. At the narrow outlet of this lake, at stated seasons of the year innumerable multitudes of mullets make their way into the sea, taking advantage of the turn of the tide; hence it is that it is quite impossible to employ nets sufficiently strong to bear so vast a weight, even though the fish had not the instinctive shrewdness to watch their opportunity. By a similar instinct the fish immediately make with all speed towards the deep water which is found in a gulf in that vicinity, and hasten to escape from the only spot that is at all convenient for spreading the nets. As soon as ever the fishermen perceive this, all the people—for great multitudes resort thither, being well aware of the proper time, and especially desirous of sharing in the amusement—shout as loud as they can, and summon Simo to the scene of action. The dolphins very quickly understand that they are in requisition, as a north-east wind speedily carries the sound to their retreats, though a south one would somewhat retard it by carrying it in an opposite direction. Even then however, sooner than you could have possibly supposed, there are the dolphins, in all readiness to assist. They are seen approaching in all haste in battle array, and, imme- diately taking up their position when the engagement is about to take place, they cut off all escape to the open sea, and drive the terrified fish into shallow water. The fishermen then throw their nets, holding them up at the sides with forks, though the mullets with inconceivable agility instantly leap over them; while the dolphins, on the other hand, are waiting in readiness to receive them, and content themselves for the present with killing them only, postponing all thoughts of eating till after they have secured the victory. The battle waxes hot apace, and the dolphins, pressing on with the greatest vigour, readily allow themselves to be enclosed in the nets; but in order that the fact of their being thus enclosed may not urge the enemy to find additional means of flight, they glide along so stealthily among the boats and nets, or else the swimmers, as not to leave them any opening for escape. By leaping, which at other times is their most favourite amusement, not one among them attempts to make its escape, unless, indeed, the nets are purposely lowered for it; and the instant that it has come out it continues the battle, as it were, up to the very ramparts. At last, when the capture is now completed, they devour those among the fish which they have killed; but being well aware that they have given too active an assistance to be repaid with only one day's reward, they take care to wait there till the following day, when they are filled not only with fish, but bread crumbs soaked in wine as well.
 
9 - 10 OTHER WONDERFUL THINGS RELATING TO DOLPHINS
The account which Mucianus gives of a similar mode of fishing in the Iasian Gulf differs from the preceding one, in the fact that there the dolphins make their appearance of their own accord, and do not require to be called: they receive their share from the hands of the people, each boat having its own particular associate among the dolphins; and this, although the fishing is carried on at night-time by the light of torches. If the latter is the meaning, Pliny probably intends to speak only of what some of them are able to do: otherwise it is hard to see of what utility the nets were in the operation.
Dolphins, also, form among themselves a sort of general community. One of them having been captured by a king of Caria and chained up in the harbour, great multitudes of dolphins assembled at the spot, and with signs of sorrow which could not be misunderstood, appealed to the sympathies of the people, until at last the king ordered it to be released. The young dolphins, also, are always attended by a larger one, who acts as a guardian to them; and before now, they have been seen carrying off the body of one which had died, that it might not be devoured by the sea-monsters.
 
9 - 11 TURSIO
There is a fish called the tursio, which bears a strong resemblance to the dolphin; it differs from it, however, in a certain air of sadness, and is wanting in its peculiar vivacity. This animal most resembles the dog-fish, however, in the shape and dangerous powers of the muzzle.
 
9 - 12 TURTLES. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF TURTLES, AND HOW THEY ARE CAUGHT
The Indian Sea produces turtles of such vast size, that with the shell of a single animal they are able to roof a habit- able cottage; and among the islands of the Red Sea, the navigation is mostly carried on in boats formed of these shells. They are to be caught in many ways; but they are generally taken when they have come up to the surface of the water just before midday, a season at which they experience great delight in floating on the calm surface, with the back entirely out of the water. Here the delightful sensations which attend a free respiration beguile them to such a degree, and render them so utterly regardless of their safety, that their shell becomes dried up by the heat of the sun, so much so, indeed, that they are unable to descend, and, having to float against their will, become an easy prey to the fishermen. It is said also, that they leave the water at night for the purpose of feeding, and eat with such avidity as to quite glut themselves: upon which, they become weary, and the moment that, on their return in the morning, they reach the sea, they fall asleep on the surface of the water. The noise of their snoring betrays them, upon which the fishermen stealthily swim towards the animals, three to each turtle; two of them, in a moment, throw it on its back, while a third slings a noose around it, as it lies face upwards, and then some more men, who are ready on shore, draw it to land.
In the Phoenician Sea they are taken without the slightest difficulty, and, at stated periods of the year, come of their own accord to the river Eleutherus, in immense numbers. The turtle has no teeth, but the edge of the mouth is sharp, the upper part shutting down over the lower just like the lid of a box. In the sea it lives upon shell-fish, and such is the strength of its jaws, that it is able to break stones even; when on shore, it feeds upon herbage. The female turtle lays eggs like those of birds, one hundred in number; these she buries on the dry land, and covering them over with earth, pats it down with her breast, and then having thus rendered it smooth, sits on them during the night. The young are hatched in the course of a year. Some persons are of opinion that they hatch their eggs by means of the eyes, by merely looking at them, and that the female refuses to have any intercourse with the male until he has placed a wisp of straw upon her back. The Troglodytæ have turtles with horns, which resemble the branches of a lyre; they are large, but moveable, and assist the animal like so many oars while swimming. The name of this fine, but rarely-found turtle, is "chelyon;" for the rocks, from the sharpness of their points, frighten away the Chelonophagi, while the Troglodytæ, whose shores these animals frequent, worship them as sacred. There are some land turtles also, the shells of which, used for the purposes of art, are thence called by the name of "chersinæ; they are found in the deserts of Africa, in the parts where the scorched sands are more especially destitute of water, and subsist, it is believed, upon the moisture of the dews. No other animal is to be found there.
 
9 - 13 WHO FIRST INVENTED THE ART OF CUTTING TORTOISE-SHELL M
Carvilius Pollio, a man of prodigal habits and ingenious in inventing the refinements of luxury, was the first to cut the shell of the tortoise into laminæ, and to veneer beds and cabinets with it.
 
9 - 14 DISTRIBUTION OF AQUATIC ANIMALS INTO VARIOUS SPECIES M
The integuments of the aquatic animals are many in num- ber. Some are covered with a hide and hair, as the sea-calf and hippopotamus, for instance; others again, with a hide only, as the dolphin; others again, with a shell, as the turtle; others, with a coat as hard as a stone, like the oyster and other shell-fish; others, with a crust, such as the cray-fish; others, with a crust and spines, like the sea-urchin; others, with scales, as fishes in general; others, with a rough skin, as the squatina, the skin of which is used for polishing wood and ivory; others, with a soft skin, like the muræna; and others with none at all, like the polypus.
 
9 - 15 THOSE WHICH ARE COVERED WITH HAIR, OR HAVE NONE & HOW THEY BRING FORTH. SEA-CALVES, OR PHOCÆ
Those aquatic animals which are covered with hair are viviparous, such, for instance, as the pristis, the balæna, and the sea-calf. This last brings forth its young on land, and, like the sheep, produces an after-birth. In coupling, they adhere after the manner of the canine species; the female sometimes produces even more than two, and rears her young at the breast. She does not take them down to the sea until the twelfth day, and after that time makes them become used to it by degrees. These animals are killed with the greatest dif- ficulty, unless the head is cut off at once. They make a noise which sounds like lowing, whence their name of "sea-calf." They are susceptible, however, of training, and with their voice, as well as by gestures, can be taught to salute the public; when called by their name, they answer with a discordant kind of grunt. No animal has a deeper sleep than this; on dry land it creeps along as though on feet, by the aid of what it uses as fins when in the sea. Its skin, even when separated from the body, is said to retain a certain sensitive sympathy with the sea, and at the reflux of the tide, the hair on it always rises upright: in addition to which, it is said that there is in the right fin a certain soporiferous influence, and that, if placed under the head, it induces sleep.
(.) There are only two animals without hair that are viviparous, the dolphin and the viper.
 
9 - 16 HOW MANY KINDS OF FISH THERE ARE
There are seventy-four species of fishes, exclusive of those that are covered with crusts; the kinds of which are thirty in number. We shall, on another occasion, speak of each individually; but, for the present, we shall treat only of the nature of the more remarkable ones.
 
9 - 17 WHICH FISHES ARE OF LARGEST SIZE
Tunnies are among the most remarkable for their size; we have found one weighing as much as fifteen talents, the breadth of its tail being five cubits and a palm. In some of the rivers, also, there are fish of no less size, such, for instance, as the silurus of the Nile, the isox of the Rhenus, and the attilus of the Padus, which, naturally of an inactive nature, sometimes grows so fat as to weigh a thousand pounds, and when taken with a hook, attached to a chain, requires a yoke of oxen to draw it on land. An extremely small fish, which is known as the clupea, attaches itself, with a wonderful tenacity, to a certain vein in the throat of the attilus, and destroys it by its bite. The silurus carries devastation with it wherever it goes, attacks every living creature, and often drags beneath the water horses as they swim. It is also remark- able, that in the Mœnus, a river of Germany, a fish that bears a very strong resemblance to the sea-pig, requires to be drawn out of the water by a yoke of oxen; and, in the Danube, it is taken with large hooks of iron. In the Borysthenes, also, there is said to be a fish of enormous size, the flesh of which has no bones or spines in it, and is remarkable for its sweetness.
In the Ganges, a river of India, there is a fish found which they call the platanista; it has the muzzle and the tail of the dolphin, and measures sixteen cubits in length. Statius Sebosus says, a thing that is marvellous in no small degree, that in the same river there are fishes found, called worms; these have two gills, and are sixty cubits in length; they are of an azure colour, and have received their name from their peculiar conformation. These fish, he says, are of such enormous strength, that with their teeth they seize hold of the trunks of elephants that come to drink, and so drag them into the water.
 
9 - 18 TUNNIES, CORDYLA, & PELAMIDES, & VARIOUS PARTS OF THEM THAT ARE SALTED. MELANDRYA, APOLECTI, & CYBIA
The male tunny has no ventral fin; these fish enter the Euxine in large bodies from the main sea, in the spring, and will spawn nowhere else. The young ones, which in autumn accompany the females to the open sea, are known as "cordyla." In the spring they are called "pelamides," from πηλὸς, the Greek for "mud," and after they are a year old, "thynni." When this fish is cut up into pieces, the neck, the belly, and the throat, are the most esteemed parts; but they must be eaten only when they are quite fresh, and even then they cause severe fits of flatulence; the other parts; with the flesh entire, are preserved in salt. Those pieces, which bear a resemblance to an oaken board, have thence received the name of "melandrya." The least esteemed among these parts are those which are the nearest to the tail, because they have no fat upon them; while those parts are considered the most delicate, which lie nearest the neck; in other fishes, however, the parts about the tail have the most nutriment in them. The pelamides are cut up into small sections, known as "apolecti;" and these again are divided into cubical pieces, which are thence called "cybia."
 
9 - 19 AURIAS AND THE SCOMBER
All kinds of fish grow with remarkable rapidity, and more especially those in the Euxine; the reason of which is the vast number of rivers which discharge their fresh water into it. One fish, the growth of which is quite perceptible, day by day, is known as the amia. This fish, and the pelamides, together with the tunnies, enter the Euxine in shoals, for the purpose of obtaining a sweeter nutriment, each under the command of its own leader; but first of all the scomber ap- pears, which is of a sulphureous tint when in the water, but when out of it resembles other fish in colour. The salt-water preserves of Spain are filled with these last fish, but the tunnies do not consort with them.
 
9 - 20 FISHES NEVER FOUND IN EUXINE; THOSE WHICH ENTER IT & RETURN M
The Euxine, however, is never entered by any animal that is noxious to fish, with the exception of the sea-calf and the small dolphin. On entering, the tunnies range along the shores to the right, and on departing, keep to those on the left; this is supposed to arise from the fact that they have better sight with the right eye, their powers of vision with either being naturally very limited. In the channel of the Thracian Bosporus, by which the Propontis is connected with the Euxine, at the narrowest part of the Straits which separate Europe from Asia, there is, near Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side, a rock of remarkable Whiteness, the whole of which can be seen from the bottom of the sea at the surface. Alarmed at the sudden appearance of this rock, the tunnies always hasten in great numbers, and with headlong impetuosity, towards the promontory of Byzantium, which stands exactly opposite to it, and from this circumstance has received the name of the Golden Horn. Hence it is, that all the fishing is at Byzantium, to the great loss of Chalcedon, although it is only separated from it by a channel a mile in width. They wait, however, for the blowing of the north wind to leave the Euxine with a favourable tide, and are never taken until they have entered the harbour of Byzantium. These fish do not move about in winter; in whatever place they may happen to be surprised by it, there they pass the winter, till the time of the equinox.
Manifesting a wonderful degree of delight, they will often accompany a vessel in full sail, and may be seen from the poop following it for hours, and a distance of several miles. If a fish-spear even is thrown at them ever so many times, they are not in the slightest degree alarmed at it. Some writers call the tunnies which follow ships in this manner, by the name of "pompili." Many fishes pass the summer in the Propontis, and do not enter the Euxine; such, for instance, as the sole, while on the other hand, the turbot enters it. The sepia is not found in this sea, although the lolig is. Among the rock-fish, the sea-thrush and the sea-blackbird are wanting, as also purples, though oysters abound here. All these, however, pass the winter in the Ægean Sea; and of those which enter the Euxine, the only ones that do not return are the trichiæ.—It will be as well to use the Greek names which most of them bear, seeing that to the same species different countries have given different appellations.—These last, however, are the only ones that enter the river Ister, and passing along its subterraneous passages, make their way from it to the Adriatic; and this is the reason why they are to be seen descending into the Euxine Sea, but never in the act of returning from it. The time for taking tunnies is, from the rising of the Vergiliæ to the setting of Arcturus: throughout the rest of the winter season, they lie concealed at the bottom of deep creeks, unless they are in- duced to come out by the warmth of the weather or the full moon. These fish fatten to such an extraordinary degree as to burst. The longest period of their life is two years.
 
9 - 21 WHY FISHES LEAP ABOVE THE SURFACE OF THE WATER
There is a little animal, in appearance like a scorpion, and of the size of a spider. This creature, by means of its sting, attaches itself below the fin to the tunny and the fish known as the sword-fish and which often exceeds the dolphin in magnitude, and causes it such excruciating pain, that it will often leap on board of a ship even. Fish will also do the same at other times, when in dread of the violence of other fish, and mullets more especially, which are of such extraordinary swiftness, that they will sometimes leap over a ship, if lying cross- wise.
 
9 - 22 THAT AUGURIES ARE DERIVED FROM FISHES
Auguries are also derived from this department of Nature, and fishes afford presages of coming events. While Augustus was walking on the sea-shore, during the time of the Sicilian war, a fish leapt out of the sea, and fell at his feet. The diviners, who were consulted, stated that this was a proof that those would fall beneath the feet of Cæsar who at that moment were in possession of the seas-it was just at this time that Sextus Pompeius had adopted Neptune as his father, so elated was he with his successes by sea.
 
9 - 23 WHAT KINDS OF FISHES HAVE NO MALES
The females of fishes are larger in size than the males, and in some kinds there are no males at all, as in the erythini and the channi; for all of these that are taken are found to be full of eggs. Nearly all kinds of fish that are covered with scales are gregarious. They are most easily taken before sunrise; for then more particularly their powers of seeing are defective. They sleep during the night; and when the weather is clear, are able to see just as well then as during the day. It is said, also, that it greatly tends to promote their capture to drag the bottom of the water, and that by so doing more are taken at the second haul than at the first. They are especially fond of the taste of oil, and find nutriment in gentle showers of rain. Indeed, the very reeds, even, although they are produced in swamps, will not grow to maturity without the aid of rain: in addition to this, we find that wherever fishes remain constantly in the same water, if it is not renewed they will die.
 
9 - 24 FISHES WHICH HAVE A STONE IN THE HEAD; THOSE WHICH KEEP THEMSELVES CONCEALED DURING WINTER; AND THOSE WHICH ARE NOT TAKEN IN WINTER, EXCEPT UPON STATED DAYS
All fish have a presentiment of a rigorous winter, but more especially those which are supposed to have a stone in the head, the lupus, for instance, the chromis, the sciæ- na, and the phagrus. When the winter has been very severe, many fish are taken in a state of blindness. Hence it is, that during these months they lie concealed in holes, in the same manner as land animals, as we have already mentioned; and more especially the hippurus, and the coracinus, which Archestratus looks upon its head as a delicacy, but thinks so little of the other parts, that they are not, in his opinion, worth carrying away. He was, however, well known to be much too refined in his notions of epicurism. are never taken during the winter, except only on a few stated days, which are always the same. The same with the muræna also, and the orphus, the conger, the perch, and all the rock-fish. It is said that, during the winter, the torpedo, the psetta, and the sole, conceal themselves in the earth, or rather, I should say, in excavations made by them at the bottom of the sea.
 
9 - 25 FISHES WHICH CONCEAL THEMSELVES DURING SUMMER; THOSE WHICH ARE INFLUENCED BY STARS
Other fishes, again, are unable to bear the heat of summer, and lie concealed during the sixty days of the hottest weather of midsummer; such, for instance, as the glaucus, the asellus, of the fish generally known by the ancients as the sea-perch; and that there is reason for thinking that it was similar to the Perca scriba of Linnæus, having black lines running across the body. Most naturalists are and the dorade. Among the river-fish, the silurus is affected by the rising of the Dog-star, and at other times it is always sent to sleep by thunder. The same is also believed to be the case with the sea-fish called cyprinus. In addition to this, the whole sea is sensible of the rising of this star, a thing which is more especially to be observed in the Bosporus: for there sea-weeds and fish are seen floating on the surface, all of which have been thrown up from the bottom.
 
9 - 26 THE MULLET
One singular propensity of the mullet has afforded a subject for laughter; when it is frightened, it hides its head, and fancies that the whole of its body is concealed. Their salacious propensities render them so unguarded, that in Phoenicia and in the province of Gallia Narbonensis, at the time of coupling, a male, being taken from out of the preserves, is fastened to a long line, which is passed through his mouth and gills; he is then let go in the sea, after which he is drawn back again by the line, upon which the females will follow him to the very water's edge; and so, on the other hand, the male will follow the female, during the spawning season.
 
9 - 27 ACIPENSER M
Among the ancients, the acipenser was esteemed the most noble fish of all; it is the only one that has the scales turned towards the head, and in a contrary direction to that in which it swims. At the present day, however, it is held in no esteem, which I am the more surprised at, it being so very rarely found. Some writers call this fish the elops.
 
9 - 28 LUPUS, ASELLUS
At a later period, they set the highest value on the lupus and the asellus, as we learn from Cornelius Nepos, and the poet, Laberius, the author of the Mimes. The most approved kinds of the lupus are those which have the name of "lanati," or "woolly," in consequence of the extreme whiteness and softness of the flesh. Of the asellus there are two sorts, the callarias, which is the smallest, and the bacchus, which is only taken in deep water, and is hence much preferred to the former. On the other hand, among the varieties of the lupus, those are the most esteemed which are taken in rivers.
 
9 - 29 SCARUS, THE MUSTELA M
At the present day, the first place is given to the scarus, the only fish that is said to ruminate, and to feed on grass and not on other fish. It is mostly found in the Carpathian Sea, and never of its own accord passes Lectum, a promontory of Troas. Optatus Elipertius, the commander of the fleet under the Emperor Claudius, had this fish brought from that locality, and dispersed in various places off the coast between Ostia and the districts of Campania. During five years, the greatest care was taken that those which were caught should be returned to the sea; but since then they have been always found in great abundance off the shores of Italy, where formerly there were none to be taken. Thus has gluttony introduced these fish, to be a dainty within its reach, and added a new inhabitant to the seas; so that we ought to feel no surprise that foreign birds breed at Rome.
The fish that is next in estimation for the table is the mustela, but that is valued only for its liver. A singular thing to tell of—the lake of Brigantia, in Rhætia, lying in the midst of the Alps, produces them to rival even those of the sea.
 
9 - 30 VARIOUS KINDS OF MULLETS, AND THE SARGUS THAT ATTENDS THEM M
Of the remaining fish that are held in any degree of esteem, the mullet is the most highly valued, as well as the most abundant of all; it is of only a moderate size, rarely exceeds two pounds in weight, and will never grow beyond that weight in preserves or fish-ponds. These fish are only to be found in the Northern Ocean, exceeding two pounds in weight, and even there in none but the more westerly parts. As for the other kinds, the various species are numerous; some live upon sea-weed, while others feed on the oyster, slime, and the flesh of other fish. The more distinctive mark is a forked beard, that projects beneath the lower lip. The lutarius, or mud-mullet, is held in the lowest esteem of all. This last is always accompanied by another fish, known as the sargus, and where the mullet stirs up the mud, the other finds aliment for its own sustenance. The mullet that is found on the coast is not highly esteemed, and the most esteemed of all have a strong flavour of shell-fish. Fenestella is of opinion, that this fish received its name of mullet [mullus] from its resemblance to the colour of the red or mullet-coloured shoes. The mullet spawns three times a year: at all events, the fry makes its appearance that number of times. The masters in gastronomy inform us, that the mullet, while dying, assumes a variety of colours and a succession of shades, and that the hue of the red scales, growing paler and paler, gradually changes, more especially if it is looked at enclosed in glass. M. Apicius, a man who displayed a remarkable degree of ingenuity in everything relating to luxury, was of opinion, that it was a most excellent plan to let the mullet die in the pickle known as the "garum of the allies"—for we find that even this has found a surname—and he proposed a prize for any one who should invent a new sauce, made from the liver of this fish. I find it much easier to relate this fact, than to state who it was that gained the prize.
 
9 - 31 ENORMOUS PRICES OF SOME FISH M
Asinius Celer, a man of consular rank, and remarkable for his prodigal expenditure on this fish, bought one at Rome, during the reign of Caius, at the price of eight thousand sesterces. A reflection upon such a fact as this will at once lead us to turn our thoughts to those who, making loud complaints against luxury, have lamented that a single cook cost more money to buy than a horse; while at the present day a cook is only to be obtained for the same sum that a triumph would cost, and a fish is only to be purchased at what was formerly the price for a cook! indeed, there is hardly any living being held in higher esteem than the man who understands how, in the most scientific fashion, to get rid of his master's property.
(.) Licinius Mucianus relates, that in the Red Sea there was caught a mullet eighty pounds in weight. What a price would have been paid for it by our epicures, if it had only been found off the shores in the vicinity of our city!
 
9 - 32 THAT THE SAME KINDS ARE NOT EVERYWHERE EQUALLY ESTEEMED M
There is this also in the nature of fish, that some are more highly esteemed in one place, and some in another; such, for instance, as the coracinus in Egypt, the zeus, also called the faber, at Gades, the salpa, in the vicinity of Ebusus, which is considered elsewhere an unclean fish, and can nowhere be thoroughly cooked, wherever found, without being first beaten with a stick: in Aquitania, again, the river salmon is preferred to all the fish that swim in the sea.
 
9 - 33 GILLS AND SCALES
Some fishes have numerous gills, others again single ones, others double; it is by means of these that they discharge the water that has entered the mouth. A sign of old age is the hardness of the scales, which are not alike in all. There are two lakes of Italy at the foot of the Alps, called Larius and Verbanus, in which there are to be seen every year, at the rising of the Vergiliæ, fish remarkable for the number of their scales, and the exceeding sharpness of them, strongly resembling hob-nails in appearance; these fish, however, are only to be seen during that month, and no longer.
 
9 - 34 FISHES WHICH HAVE A VOICE .— FISHES WITHOUT GILLS
Arcadia produces a wonder in its fish called exocœtus, from the fact that it comes ashore to sleep. In the neighbourhood of the river Clitorius, this fish is said to be gifted with powers of speech, and to have no gills; by some writers it is called the adonis.
 
9 - 35 FISHES WHICH COME ON LAND. THE PROPER TIME FOR CATCHING FISH
Those fish, also, which are known by the name of sea-mice, as well as the polyp and the murænæ, are in the habit of coming ashore—Besides which, there is in the rivers of India one kind that does this, and then leaps back again into the water—for they are found to pass over into standing waters and streams. Most fishes have an evident instinct, which teaches them where to spawn in safety; as in such places there are no enemies found to devour their young, while at the same time the waves are much less violent. It will be still more a matter of surprise, to find that they thus have an appreciation of cause and effect, and understand the regular recurrence of periods, when we reflect how few persons there are that know that the most favourable time for taking fish is while the sun is passing through the sign of Pisces.
 
9 - 36 CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES, ACCORDING TO THE SHAPE OF THE BODY
Some sea-fish are flat, such, for instance, as the rhombus, the sole, and the sea-sparrow; which last only differs from the rhombus in the lateral position of the body. The rhombus lies with the right side upwards, while in the sea-sparrow the left side is uppermost. Some sea-fish, again, are long, as the muræna and the conger.
 
9 - 37 FINS OF FISH, AND THEIR MODE OF SWIMMING
Hence it is that there is a difference, also, in the fins of fish, which have been given them to serve in place of feet, none having more than four, some two only, and others none. It is in Lake Fucinus only that there is a fish found that has eight fins for swimming. Those fishes which are long and slimy, have only two at most, such, for instance, as eels and congers: others, again, have none, such as the muræna, which is also without gills. All these fish make their way in the sea by an undulatory motion of the body, just as serpents do on land; on dry land, also, they are able to crawl along, and hence those of this nature are more long-lived than the others. Some of the flat-fish, also, have no fins, the pastinacæ, for instance—for these swim broad-wise—those, also, which are known as the "soft" fish, such as the polypi, for their feet serve them in stead of fins.
 
9 - 38 EELS M
Eels live eight years; they are able to survive out of water as much as six days, when a north-east wind blows; but when the south wind prevails, not so many. In winter, they cannot live if they are in very shallow water, nor yet if the water is troubled. Hence it is that they are taken more especially about the rising of the Vergiliæ, when the rivers are mostly in a turbid state. These animals seek their food at night; they are the only fish the bodies of which, when dead, do not float upon the surface.
(.) There is a lake called Benacus, in the territory of Verona, in Italy, through which the river Mincius flows. At the part of it whence this river issues, once a year, and mostly in the month of October, the lake is troubled, evidently by the constellations of autumn, and the eels are heaped together by the waves, and rolled on by them in such astonishing multitudes, that single masses of them, containing more than a thousand in number, are often taken in the chambers which are formed in the bed of the river for that purpose.
 
9 - 39 MURÆNA M
The muræna brings forth every month, while all the other fishes spawn only at stated periods: the eggs of this fish increase with the greatest rapidity. It is a vulgar belief that the muræna comes on shore, and is there impregnated by intercourse with serpents. Aristotle calls the male, which impregnates the female, by the name of "zmyrus;" and says that there is a difference between them, the muræna being spotted and weakly, while the zmyrus is all of one colour and hardy, and has teeth which project beyond the mouth. In northern Gaul all the murænæ have on the right jaw seven spots, which bear a resemblance to the constellation of the Septentriones, and are of a gold colour, shining as long as the animal is alive, but disappearing as soon as it is dead. Vedius Pollio, a Roman of equestrian rank, and one of the friends of the late Emperor Augustus, found a method of exercising his cruelty by means of this animal, for he caused such slaves as had been condemned by him, to be thrown into preserves filled with murænæ; not that the land animals would not have fully sufficed for this purpose, but because he could not see a man so aptly torn to pieces all at once by any other kind of animal. It is said that these fish are driven to madness by the taste of vinegar. Their skin is exceedingly thin; while that of the eel, on the other hand, is much thicker. Verrius informs us that formerly the children of the Roman citizens, while wearing the prætexta, were flogged with eel-skins, and that, for this reason, no pecuniary penalty could by law be inflicted upon them.
 
9 - 40 VARIOUS KINDS OF FLAT FISH M
There is another kind of flat fish, which, instead of bones, has cartilage, such, for instance, as the raia, the pastinaca, the squatina, the torpedo, and those which, under their respective Greek names, are known as the ox, the lamia, the eagle, and the frog. In this number, also, the squali ought to be included, although they are not flat fish. Aristotle was the first to call these fish by the one generic name of σελάχη, which he has given them: we, however, have no mode of distinguishing them, unless, indeed, we choose to call them the "cartilaginous" fishes. All these fish are carnivorous, and feed lying on their backs, just as dolphins do, as already noticed; while the other fishes, too, are oviparous, this one kind, with the exception of that known as the sea-frog, is viviparous, like the cetacea.
 
9 - 41 ECHENEIS, AND ITS USES IN ENCHANTMENTS M
There is a very small fish that is in the habit of living among the rocks, and is known as the echeneis. It is believed that when this has attached itself to the keel of a ship its pro- gress is impeded, and that it is from this circumstance that it takes its name. For this reason, also, it has a disgraceful repute, as being employed in love philtres, and for the purpose of retarding judgments and legal proceedings—evil properties, which are only compensated by a single merit that it possesses—it is good for staying fluxes of the womb in pregnant women, and preserves the fœtus up to birth: it is never used, however, for food. Aristotle is of opinion that this fish has feet, so strong is the resemblance, by reason of the form and position of the fins.
Mucianus speaks of a murex of larger size than the purple, with a head that is neither rough nor round; and the shell of which is single, and falls in folds on either side. He tells us, also, that some of these creatures once attached themselves to a ship freighted with children of noble birth, who were being sent by Periander for the purpose of being castrated, and that they stopped its course in full sail; and he further says, that the shell-fish which did this service are duly honoured in the temple of Venus, at Cnidos. Trebius Niger says that this fish is a foot in length, and that it can retard the course of vessels, five fingers in thickness; besides which, it has another peculiar property-when preserved in salt, and applied, it is able to draw up gold which has fallen into a well, however deep it may happen to be.
 
9 - 42 FISHES WHICH CHANGE THEIR COLOUR M
The mæna changes its white colour, and in summer becomes swarthy. The phycis also changes its colour, and while at other times it is white, in spring it is parti-coloured. This last is the only fish that builds itself a nest; it makes it of sea-weed, and there deposits its eggs.
 
9 - 43 FISHES WHICH FLY ABOVE WATER, SEA-SWALLOW, FISH THAT SHINES IN NIGHT, HORNED FISH, SEA-DRAGON M
The sea-swallow, being able to fly, bears a strong resemblance to the bird of that name; the sea-kite too, flies as well.
(.) There is a fish that comes up to the surface of the sea, known, from the following circumstance, as the lantern-fish: thrusting from its mouth a tongue that shines like fire, it emits a most brilliant light on calm nights. Another fish, which, from its horns, has received its name, raises them nearly a foot and a half above the surface of the water. The seadragon, again, if caught and thrown on the sand, works out a hole for itself with its muzzle, with the most wonderful celerity.
 
9 - 44 FISHES WHICH HAVE NO BLOOD.—FISHES KNOWN AS SOFT FISH M
The varieties of fish which we shall now mention are those which have no blood: they are of three kinds—first, those which are known as "soft;" next, those which have thin crusts; and, lastly, those which are enclosed in hard shells. The soft fish are the loligo, the sæpia, the polypus, and others of a similar nature. These last have the head between the feet and the belly, and have, all of them, eight feet: in the sæpia and the loligo two of these feet are very long and rough, and by means of these they lift the food to their mouth, and attach themselves to places in the sea, as though with an anchor; the others act as so many arms, by means of which they seize their prey.
 
9 - 45 SÆPIA, THE LOLIGO, THE SCALLOP M
The loligo is also able to dart above the surface of the water, and the scallop does the same, just like an arrow as it were. In the sæpia, the male is parti-coloured, blacker than the female, and more courageous. If the female is struck with a fish-spear, the male comes to her aid; but the female, the instant the male is struck, takes to flight. Both of them, as soon as ever they find themselves in danger of being caught, discharge a kind of ink, which with them is in place of blood, and thus darkening the water, take to flight.
 
9 - 46 POLYPUS M
There are numerous kinds of polypi. The land polypus is larger than that of the sea; they all of them use their arms as feet and hands; and in coupling they employ the tail, which is forked and sharp. The polypus has a sort of passage in the back, by which it lets in and discharges the water, and which it shifts from side to side, sometimes carrying it on the right, and sometimes on the left. It swims obliquely, with the head on one side, which is of surprising hardness while the animal is alive, being puffed out with air. In addition to this, they have cavities dispersed throughout the claws, by means of which, through suction, they can adhere to objects; which they hold, with the head upwards, so tightly, that they cannot be torn away. They cannot attach themselves, however, to the bottom of the sea, and their retentive powers are weaker in the larger ones. These are the only soft fish that come on dry land, and then only where the surface is rugged: a smooth surface they will not come near. They feed upon the flesh of shell-fish, the shells of which they can easily break in the embrace of their arms: hence it is that their retreat may be easily detected by the pieces of shell which lie before it. Although, in other respects, this is looked upon as a remarkably stupid kind of animal, so much so, that it will swim towards the hand of a man, to a certain extent in its own domestic matters it manifests considerable intelligence. It carries its prey to its home, and after eating all the flesh, throws out the debris, and then pursues such small fish as may chance to swim towards them. It also changes its colour according to the aspect of the place where it is, and more especially when it is alarmed. The notion is entirely unfounded that it gnaws its own arms; for it is from the congers that this mischance befalls it; but it is no other than true that its arms shoot forth again, like the tail in the colotus and the lizard.
 
9 - 47 NAUTILUS, OR SAILING POLYPUS M
Among the most remarkable curiosities is the animal which has the name of nautilus, or, as some people call it, the pompilos. Lying with the head upwards, it rises to the surface of the water, raising itself little by little, while, by means of a certain conduit in its body, it discharges all the water, and this being got rid of like so much bilge-water as it were, it finds no difficulty in sailing along. Then, extending backwards its two front arms, it stretches out between them a membrane of marvellous thinness, which acts as a sail spread out to the wind, while with the rest of its arms it paddles along below, steering itself with its tail in the middle, which acts as a rudder. Thus does it make its way along the deep, mimicking the appearance of a light Liburnian bark; while, if anything chances to cause it alarm, in an instant it draws in the water, and sinks to the bottom.
 
9 - 48 VARIOUS KINDS OF POLYPI; THEIR SHREWDNESS M
Belonging to the genus of polypi is the animal known as the ozæna, being so called from the peculiarly strong smell exhaled by the head; in consequence of which, the mu- rænæ pursue it with the greatest eagerness. The polypi keep themselves concealed for two months in the year; they do not live beyond two years, and always die of consumption, the females even sooner, and mostly after bringing forth. I must not omit here the observations which L. Lucullus, the proconsul of Bætica, made with reference to the polypus, and which Trebius Niger, one of his suite, has published. He says that it is remarkably fond of shell-fish, and that these, the moment that they feel themselves touched by it, close their valves, and cut off the feelers of the polypus, thus making a meal at the expense of the plunderer. Shellfish are destitute of sight, and, indeed, all other sensations but those which warn them of hunger and the approach of danger. Hence it is, that the polypus lies in ambush till the fish opens its shell, immediately upon which, it places within it a small pebble, taking care, at the same time, to keep it from touching the body of the animal, lest, by making some movement, it should chance to eject it. Having made itself thus secure, it attacks its prey, and draws out the flesh, while the other tries to contract itself, but all in vain, in consequence of the separation of the shell, thus effected by the insertion of the wedge. So great is the instinctive shrewdness in animals that are otherwise quite remarkable for their lumpish stupidity.
In addition to the above, the same author states, that there is not an animal in existence, that is more dangerous for its powers of destroying a human being when in the water. Embracing his body, it counteracts his struggles, and draws him under with its feelers and its numerous suckers, when, as often is the case, it happens to make an attack upon a shipwrecked mariner or a child. If, however, the animal is turned over, it loses all its power; for when it is thrown upon the back, the arms open of themselves. The other particulars, which the same author has given, appear still more closely to border upon the marvellous. At Carteia, in the preserves there, a polypus was in the habit of coming from the sea to the pickling-tubs that were left open, and devouring the fish laid in salt there—for it is quite astonishing how eagerly all sea-animals follow even the very smell of salted condiments, so much so, that it is for this reason, that the fishermen take care to rub the inside of the wicker fish-kipes with them.—At last, by its repeated thefts and immoderate depredations, it drew down upon itself the wrath of the keepers of the works. Palisades were placed before them, but these the polypus managed to get over by the aid of a tree, and it was only caught at last by calling in the assistance of trained dogs, which surrounded it at night, as it was returning to its prey; upon which, the keepers, awakened by the noise, were struck with alarm at the novelty of the sight presented. First of all, the size of the polypus was enormous beyond all conception; and then it was covered all over with dried brine, and exhaled a most dreadful stench. Who could have expected to find a polypus there, or could have recognized it as such under these circumstances? They really thought that they were joining battle with some monster, for at one instant, it would drive off the dogs by its horrible fumes, and lash at them with the extremities of its feelers; while at another, it would strike them with its stronger arms, giving blows with so many clubs, as it were; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that it could be dispatched with the aid of a considerable number of three-pronged fish-spears. The head of this animal was shewn to Lucullus; it was in size as large as a cask of fifteen amphoræ, and had a beard, to use the expressions of Trebius himself, which could hardly be encircled with both arms, full of knots, like those upon a club, and thirty feet in length; the suckers or calicules, as large as an urn, resembled a basin in shape, while the teeth again were of a corresponding largeness: its remains, which were carefully preserved as a curiosity, weighed seven hundred pounds. The same author also informs us, that specimens of the sæpia and the loligo have been thrown up on the same shores of a size fully as large: in our own seas the loligo is sometimes found five cubits in length, and the sæpia, two. These animals do not live beyond two years.
 
9 - 49 SAILING NAUPLIUS M
Mucianus also relates that he had seen, in the Propontis, another curious resemblance to a ship in full sail. There is a shell-fish, he says, with a keel, just like that of the vessel which we know by the name of acatium, with the poop curving inwards, and a prow with the beak attached. In this shell-fish there lies concealed also an animal known as the nauplius, which bears a strong resemblance to the sæpia, and only adopts the shell-fish as the companion of its pastimes. There are two modes, he says, which it adopts in sailing; when the sea is calm, the voyager hangs down its arms, and strikes the water with a pair of oars as it were; but if, on the other hand, the wind invites, it extends them, employing them by way of a helm, and turning the mouth of the shell to the wind. The pleasure experienced by the shell-fish is that of carrying the other, while the amusement of the nauplius consists in steering; and thus, at the same moment, is an instinctive joy felt by these two creatures, devoid as they are of all sense, unless, indeed, a natural antipathy to man—for it is a well-known fact, that to see them thus sailing along, is a bad omen, and that it is portentous of misfortune to those who witness it.
 
9 - 50 SEA-ANIMALS, WHICH ARE ENCLOSED WITH A CRUST; CRAY-FISH M
The cray-fish, which belongs to that class of animals which is destitute of blood, is protected by a brittle crust. This creature keeps itself concealed for five months, and the same is the case with crabs, which disappear for the same period. At the beginning of spring, however, they both of them, after the manner of snakes, throw off old age, and renew their coverings. While other animals swim on the water, cray-fish float with a kind of action like creeping. They move onwards, if there is nothing to alarm them, in a straight line, extending on each side their horns, which are rounded at the point by a ball peculiar to them; but, on the other hand, the moment they are alarmed, they straighten these horns, and proceed with a sidelong motion. They also use these horns when fighting with each other. The cray-fish is the only animal that has the flesh in a pulpy state, and not firm and solid, unless it is cooked alive in boiling water.
(.) The cray-fish frequents rocky places, the crab spots which present a soft surface. In winter they both choose such parts of the shore as are exposed to the heat of the sun, and in summer they withdraw to the shady recesses of deep inlets of the sea. All fish of this kind suffer from the cold of winter, but become fat during autumn and spring, and more particularly during the full moon; for the warmth of that luminary, as it shines in the night, renders the temperature of the weather more moderate.
 
9 - 51 VARIOUS KINDS OF CRABS; PINNOTHERES, SEA URCHIN, COCKLES & SCALLOPS M
There are various kinds of crabs, known as carabi, astaci, maiæ, paguri, heracleotici, lions, and others of less note. The carabus differs from other crabs, in having a tail: in Phoenicia they are called hippoi, or horses, being of such extraordinary swiftness, that it is impossible to overtake them. Crabs are long-lived, and have eight feet, all of which are bent obliquely. In the female the first foot is double, in the male single; besides which, the animal has two claws with indented pincers. The upper part only of these fore-feet is moveable, the lower being immoveable: the right claw is the largest in them all. Sometimes they assemble together in large bodies; but as they are unable to cross the mouth of the Euxine, they turn back again and go round by land, and the road by which they travel is to be seen all beaten down with their foot-marks.
The smallest crab of any is that known as the pinnotheres, and hence it is peculiarly exposed to danger; its shrewdness, however, is evinced by its concealing itself in the shell of the oyster; and as it grows larger, it removes to those of a larger size. Crabs, when alarmed, go backwards as swiftly as when moving forwards. They fight with one another like rams, butting at each other with their horns. They have a mode of curing themselves of the bites of serpents. It is said, that while the sun is passing through the sign of Cancer, the dead bodies of the crabs, which are lying thrown up on the shore, are transformed into serpents. To the same class also belongs the sea-urchin, which has spines in place of feet its mode of moving along is to roll like a ball, hence it is that these animals are often found with their prickles rubbed off. Those among them which have the longest spines of all, are known by the name of echinometræ, while at the same time their body is the very smallest. They are not all of them of the same glassy colour; in the vicinity of Torone they are white, with very short spines. The eggs of all of them are bitter, and are five in number; the mouth is situate in the middle of the body, and faces the earth. It is said that these creatures foreknow the approach of a storm at sea, and that they take up little stones with which they cover themselves, and so provide a sort of ballast against their volubility, for they are very unwilling by rolling along to wear away their prickles. As soon as seafaring persons observe this, they at once moor their ship with several anchors. (.) To the same genus also belong both land and water snails, which thrust the body forth from their abode, and extend or contract two horns, as it were. They are without eyes, and have, therefore, to feel their way, by means of these horns. (.) Sea-scallops are considered to belong to the same class, which also conceal themselves during severe frosts and great heats; the onyches, too, which shine in the dark like fire, and in the mouth even while being eaten.
 
9 - 52 VARIOUS KINDS OF SHELL-FISH M
Let us now pass on to the murex and various kinds of shellfish, which have a stronger shell, and in which Nature, in her sportive mood, has displayed a great variety-so many are the various hues of their tints, so numerous are their shapes, flat, concave, long, crescent-shaped, rounded into a globe, cut through into a semi-globe, arched in the back, smooth, rough, indented, streaked, the upper part spirally wreathed, the edge projecting in a sharp point, the edge wreathed outwards, or else folding inwards. And then, too, there are the various dis- tinctions of rayed shells, long-haired shells, wavy-haired shells, channelled shells, pectinated shells, imbricated shells, reticulated shells, shells with lines oblique or rectilinear, thick-set shells, expanded shells, tortuous shells, shells the valves or which are united by one small knot, shells which are held together all along one side, shells which are open as if in the very act of applauding, and shells which wind, resembling a conch. The fish of this class, known as the shells of Venus, are able to navigate the surface of the deep, and, presenting to the wind their concave side, catch the breeze, and sail along on the surface of the sea. Scallops are also able to leap and fly above the surface of the water, and they sometimes employ their shell by way of a bark.
 
9 - 53 WHAT NUMEROUS APPLIANCES OF LUXURY ARE FOUND IN THE SEA M
But why mention such trifles as these, when I am sensible that no greater inroads have been made upon our morals, and no more rapid advances have been made by luxury, than those effected through the medium of shell-fish? Of all the elements that exist, the sea is the one that costs the dearest to the belly; seeing that it provides so many kinds of meats, so many dishes, so many exquisite flavours derived from fish, all of which are valued in proportion to the danger undergone by those who have caught them.
(.) But still, how insignificant is all this when we come to think of our purple, our azure, and our pearls; it was not enough, forsooth, for the spoils of the sea to be thrust down the gullet—But they must be employed as well to adorn the hands, the ears, the head, the whole body, in fact, and that of the men pretty nearly as much as the women. What has the sea to do with our clothes? What is there in com- mon between waves and billows and a sheep's fleece? This one element ought not to receive us, according to ordinary notions, except in a state of nakedness. Let there be ever so strong an alliance between it and the belly, on the score of gluttony, still, what can it possibly have to do with the back? It is not enough, forsooth, that we are fed upon what is acquired by perils, but we must be clothed, too, in a similar way; so true it is, that for all the wants of the body, that which is sought at the expense of human life, is sure to please us the most.
 
9 - 54 PEARLS; HOW THEY ARE PRODUCED, AND WHERE M
The first rank then, and the very highest position among all valuables, belongs to the pearl. It is the Indian Ocean that principally sends them to us: and thus have they, amid those monsters so frightful and so huge which we have already described, to cross so many seas, and to traverse such lengthened tracts of land, scorched by the ardent rays of a burning sun: and then, too, by the Indians themselves they have to be sought in certain islands, and those but very few in number. The most productive of pearls is the island of Taprobane, and that of Stoidis, as already mentioned in the description of the world; Perimula, also, a promontory of India. But those are most highly valued which are found in the vicinity of Arabia, in the Persian Gulf, which forms a part of the Red Sea.
The origin and production of the shell-fish is not very different from that of the shell of the oyster. When the genial season of the year exercises its influence on the animal, it is said that, yawning, as it were, it opens its shell, and so receives a kind of dew, by means of which it becomes impregnated; and that at length it gives birth, after many struggles, to the burden of its shell, in the shape of pearls, which vary according to the quality of the dew. If this has been in a perfectly pure state when it flowed into the shell, then the pearl produced is white and brilliant, but if it was turbid, then the pearl is of a clouded colour also; if the sky should happen to have been lowering when it was generated, the pearl will be of a pallid colour; from all which it is quite evident that the quality of the pearl depends much more upon a calm state of the heavens than of the sea, and hence it is that it contracts a cloudy hue, or a limpid appearance, according to the degree of serenity of the sky in the morning. If, again, the fish is satiated in a reasonable time, then the pearl produced increases rapidly in size. If it should happen to lighten at the time, the animal shuts its shell, and the pearl is diminished in size in proportion to the fast that the animal has to endure: but if, in addition to this, it should thun- der as well, then it becomes alarmed, and closing the shell in an instant, produces what is known as a physema, or pearl-bubble, filled with air, and bearing a resemblance to a pearl, but in appearance only, as it is quite empty, and devoid of body; these bubbles are formed by the abortion of the shellfish. Those which are produced in a perfectly healthy state consist of numerous layers, so that they may be looked upon, not inappropriately, as similar in conformation to the callosities on the body of an animal; and they should therefore be cleaned by experienced hands. It is wonderful, however, that they should be influenced thus pleasurably by the state of the heavens, seeing that by the action of the sun the pearls are turned of a red colour, and lose all their whiteness, just like the human body. Hence it is that those which keep their whiteness the best are the pelagie, or main-sea pearls, which lie at too great a depth to be reached by the sun's rays; and yet these even turn yellow with age, grow dull and wrinkled, and it is only in their youth that they possess that brilliancy which is so highly esteemed in them. When old, too, the coat grows thick, and they adhere to the shell, from which they can only be separated with the assistance of a file. Those pearls which have one surface flat and the other spherical, opposite to the plane side, are for that reason called tympania, or tambour-pearls. I have seen pearls still adhering to the shell; for which reason the shells were used as boxes for unguents. In addition to these facts, we may remark that the pearl is soft in the water, but that it grows hard the instant it is taken out.
 
9 - 55 HOW PEARLS ARE FOUND M
The fish, as soon as ever it perceives the hand, shuts its shell and covers up its treasures, being well aware that it is for them that it is sought; and if it happens to catch the hand, it cuts it off with the sharp edge of the shell. And no punishment is there that could be more justly inflicted. There are other penalties added as well, seeing that the greater part of these pearls are only to be found among rocks and crags, while on the other hand, those which lie out in the main sea are generally accompanied by sea-dogs. And yet, for all this, the women will not banish these gems from their ears! Some writers say, that these animals live in communities, just like swarms of bees, each of them being governed by one remarkable for its size and its venerable old age; while at the same time it is possessed of marvellous skill in taking all due pre- cautions against danger; the divers, they say, take especial care to find these, and when once they are taken, the others stray to and fro, and are easily caught in theirnets. We learn also that as soon as they are taken they are placed under a thick layer of salt in earthen-ware vessels; as the flesh is gradually consumed, certain knots, which form the pearls, are disengaged from their bodies, and fall to the bottom of the vessel.
 
9 - 56 VARIOUS KINDS OF PEARLS M
There is no doubt that pearls wear with use, and will change their colour, if neglected. All their merit consists in their whiteness, large size, roundness, polish, and weight; qualities which are not easily to be found united in the same; so much so, indeed, that no two pearls are ever found perfectly alike; and it was from this circumstance, no doubt, that our Roman luxury first gave them the name of "unio," or the unique gem: for a similar name is not given them by the Greeks; nor, indeed, among the barbarians by whom they are found are they called anything else but "margaritæ." Even in the very whiteness of the pearl there is a great difference to be observed. Those are of a much clearer water that are found in the Red Sea, while the Indian pearl resembles in tint the scales of the mirror-stone, but exceeds all the others in size. The colour that is most highly prized of all, is that of those which are thence called alum-coloured pearls. Long pearls also have their peculiar value; those are called "elenchi," which are of a long tapering shape, resembling our alabaster boxes in form, and ending in a full bulb. Our ladies quite glory in having these suspended from their fingers, or two or three of them dangling from their ears. For the purpose of ministering to these luxurious tastes, there are various names and wearisome refinements which have been devised by profuseness and prodigality; for after inventing these ear-rings, they have given them the name of "crotalia," or castanet pendants, as though quite delighted even with the rattling of the pearls as they knock against each other; and now, at the present day, the poorer classes are even affecting them, as people are in the habit of saying, that "a pearl worn by a woman in public, is as good as a lictor walking before her." Nay, even more than this, they put them on their feet, and that, not only on the laces of their sandals, but all over the shoes; it is not enough to wear pearls, but they must tread upon them, and walk with them under foot as well.
Pearls used formerly to be found in our sea, but more frequently about the Thracian Bosporus; they were of a red colour, and small, and enclosed in a shell-fish known by the name of "myes." In Acarnania there is a shell-fish called "pina," which produces pearls; and from this it is quite evident that it is not one kind of fish only that produces them. Juba states also, that on the shores of Arabia there is a shellfish which resembles a notched comb, and covered all over with hair like a sea-urchin, and that the pearl lies imbedded in its flesh, in appearance bearing a strong resemblance to a hailstone. No such shell-fish, however, as these are ever brought to Rome. Nor yet are anypearls of value found in Acarnania, being shapeless, rough, and of a marble hue; those are better which are found in the vicinity of Actium; but still they are small, which is the case also with those found on the coast of Mauritania. Alexander Polyhistor and Sudines are of opinion that as they grow old their tints gradually fade.
 
9 - 57 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH PEARLS — THEIR NATURE M
It is quite clear that the interior of the pearl is solid, as no fall is able to break it. Pearls are not always found in the middle of the body of the animal, but sometimes in one place, and sometimes another. Indeed, I have seen some which lay at the edge of the shell, just as though in the very act of coming forth, and in some fishes as many as four or five. Up to the present time, very few have been found which exceeded half an ounce in weight, by more than one scruple. It is a well-ascertained fact, that in Britannia pearls are found, though small, and of a bad colour; for the deified Julius Cæsar wished it to be distinctly understood, that the breast-plate which he dedicated to Venus Genetrix, in her temple, was made of British pearls.
 
9 - 58 INSTANCES OF THE USE OF PEARLS M
I once saw Lollia Paulina, the wife of the Emperor Caius —it was not at any public festival, or any solemn ceremonial, but only at an ordinary wedding entertainment—covered with emeralds and pearls, which shone in alternate layers upon her head, in her hair, in her wreaths, in her ears, upon her neck, in her bracelets, and on her fingers, and the value of which amounted in all to forty millions of sesterces; indeed she was prepared at once to prove the fact, by showing the receipts and acquittances. Nor were these any presents made by a prodigal potentate, but treasures which had descended to her from her grandfather, and obtained by the spoliation of the provinces. Such are the fruits of plunder and extortion! It was for this reason that M. Lollius was held so infamous all over the East for the presents which he extorted from the kings; the result of which was, that he was denied the friendship of Caius Cæsar, and took poison; and all this was done, I say, that his grand-daughter might be seen, by the glare of lamps, covered all over with jewels to the amount of forty millions of sesterces! Now let a person only picture to himself, on the one hand, what was the value of the habits worn by Curius or Fabricius in their triumphs, let him picture to himself the objects displayed to the public on their triumphal litters, and then, on the other hand, let him think upon this Lollia, this one bit of a woman, the head of an empire, taking her place at table, thus attired; would he not much rather that the conquerors had been torn from their very chariots, than that they had conquered for such a result as this?
Nor, indeed, are these the most supreme evidences of luxury. There were formerly two pearls, the largest that had been ever seen in the whole world: Cleopatra, the last of the queens of Egypt, was in possession of them both, they having come to her by descent from the kings of the East. When Antony had been sated by her, day after day, with the most exquisite banquets, this queenly courtesan, inflated with vanity and disdainful arrogance, affected to treat all this sumptuousness and all these vast preparations with the greatest contempt; upon which Antony enquired what there was that could possibly be added to such extraordinary magnificence. To this she made answer, that on a single entertainment she would expend ten millions of sesterces. Antony was extremely desirous to learn how that could be done, but looked upon it as a thing quite impossible; and a wager was the result. On the following day, upon which the matter was to be decided, in order that she might not lose the wager, she had an entertainment set before Antony, magnificent in every respect, though no better than his usual repast. Upon this, Antony joked her, and enquired what was the amount expended upon it; to which she made answer that the banquet which he then beheld was only a trifling appendage to the real banquet, and that she alone would consume at the meal to the ascertained value of that amount, she herself would swallow the ten millions of sesterces; and so ordered the second course to be served. In obedience to her instructions, the servants placed before her a single vessel, which was filled with vinegar, a liquid, the sharpness and strength of which is able to dis- solve pearls. At this moment she was wearing in her ears those choicest and most rare and unique productions of Nature; and while Antony was waiting to see what she was going to do, taking one of them from out of her ear, she threw it into the vinegar, and directly it was melted, swallowed it. Lucius Plancus, who had been named umpire in the wager, placed his hand upon the other at the very instant that she was making preparations to dissolve it in a similar manner, and declared that Antony had lost—an omen which, in the result, was fully confirmed. The fame of the second pearl is equal to that which attends its fellow. After the queen, who had thus come off victorious on so important a question, had been seized, it was cut asunder, in order that this, the other half of the entertainment, might serve as pendants for the ears of Venus, in the Pantheon at Rome.
 
9 - 59 HOW PEARLS FIRST CAME INTO USE AT ROME M
Antony and Cleopatra, however, will not bear away the palm of prodigality in this respect, and will be stripped of even this boast in the annals of luxury. For before their time, Clodius, the son of the tragic actor Æsopus, had done the same at Rome; having been left by his father heir to his ample wealth and possessions. Let not Antony then be too proud, for all his trumvirate, since he can hardly stand in comparison with an actor; one, too, who had no wager to induce him—a thing which adds to the regal munificence of the act —But was merely desirous of trying, by way of glorification to his palate, what was the taste of pearls. As he found it to be wonderfully pleasing, that he might not be the only one to know it, he had a pearl set before each of his guests for him to swallow. After the surrender of Alexandria, pearls came into common and, indeed, universal use at Rome; but they first began to be used about the time of Sylla, though but of small size and of little value, Fenestella says—in this, however, it is quite evident that he is mistaken, for Ælius Stilo tells us, that it was in the time of the Jugurthine war, that the name of "unio" was first given to pearls of remarkable size.
 
9 - 60 NATURE OF THE MUREX AND THE PURPLE M
And yet pearls may be looked upon as pretty nearly a possession of everlasting duration—they descend from a man to his heir, and they are alienated from one to another just like any landed estate. But the colours that are extracted from the murex and the purple fade from hour to hour; and yet luxury, which has similarly acted as a mother to them, has set upon them prices almost equal to those of pearls.
(.) Purples live mostly seven years. Like the murex, they keep themselves in concealment for thirty days, about the time of the rising of the Dog-star; in the spring season they unite in large bodies, and by rubbing against each other, produce a viscous spittle, from which a kind of wax is formed. The murex does the same; but the purple has that exquisite juice which is so greatly sought after for the purpose of dyeing cloth, situate in the middle of the throat. This secretion consists of a tiny drop contained in a white vein, from which the precious liquid used for dyeing is distilled, being of the tint of a rose somewhat inclining to black. The rest of the body is entirely destitute of this juice. It is a great point to take the fish alive; for when it dies, it spits out this juice. From the larger ones it is extracted after taking off the shell; but the small fish are crushed alive, together with the shells, upon which they eject this secretion. In Asia the best purple is that of Tyre, in Africa that of Meninx and the parts of Gætulia that border on the Ocean, and in Europe that of Laconia. It is for this colour that the fasces and the axes of Rome make way in the crowd; it is this that asserts the majesty of childhood; it is this that distinguishes the senator from the man of equestrian rank; by persons arrayed in this colour are prayers ad- dressed to propitiate the gods; on every garment it sheds a lustre, and in the triumphal vestment it is to be seen mingled with gold. Let us be prepared then to excuse this frantic passion for purple, even though at the same time we are compelled to enquire, why it is that such a high value has been set upon the produce of this shell-fish, seeing that while in the dye the smell of it is offensive, and the colour itself is harsh, of a greenish hue, and strongly resembling that of the sea when in a tempestuous state? The tongue of the purple is a finger in length, and by means of this it finds subsistence, by piercing other shellfish, so hard is the point of it. They die in fresh water, and in places where rivers discharge themselves into the sea; otherwise, when taken, they will live as long as fifty days on their saliva. All shell-fish grow very fast, and purples more especially; they come to their full size at the end of a year.
 
9 - 61 DIFFERENT KINDS OF PURPLES M
Were I at this point to pass on to other subjects, luxury, no doubt would think itself defrauded of its due, and so accuse me of negligence; I must therefore make my way into the very workshops even, so that, just as among articles of food the various kinds and qualities of corn are known, all those who place the enjoyment of life in these luxuries, may have a still better acquaintance with the objects for which they live.
There are two kinds of fish that produce the purple colour; the elements in both are the same, the combinations only are different; the smaller fish is that which is called the "buccinum," from its resemblance to the conch by which the sound of the buccinus or trumpet is produced, and to this circumstance it owes its name: the opening in it is round, with an incision in the margin. The other fish is known as the "purpura," or purple, and has a grooved and projecting muzzle, which being tubulated on one side in the interior, forms a passage for the tongue; besides which, the shell is studded with points up to the very apex, which are mostly seven in number, and disposed in a circle; these are not found on the buccinum, though both of them have as many spirals as they are years old. The buccinum attaches itself only to crags, and is gathered about rocky places. (.) Purples also have another name, that of "pelagiæ there are numerous kinds of them, which differ only in their element and place of abode. There is the mud purple, which is nurtured upon putrid mud; and the sea-weed purple, which feeds on sea-weed; both of which are held in the very lowest esteem. A better kind is the reef-purple, which is collected on the reefs or out at sea; still, however, the colour extracted from this is too light and thin. Then, again, there is the variety known as the pebble-purple, so called from the pebbles of the sea, and wonderfully well adapted for dyeing; and, better than any of them, that known by the name of "dialutensis," because of the various natures of the soil on which it feeds. Purples are taken with a kind of osier kipe of small size, and with large meshes; these are cast into the sea, and in them cockles are put as a bait, that close the shell in an instant, and snap at an object, just as we see mussels do. Though half dead, these animals, as soon as ever they are returned to the sea, come to life again, and open their shells with avidity; upon which the purples seek them, and commence the attack, by protruding their tongues. The cockles, on the other hand, the moment they feel themselves pricked, shut their shells, and hold fast the object that has wounded them: in this way, victims to their greediness, they are drawn up to the surface hanging by the tongue.
 
9 - 62 HOW WOOLS ARE DYED WITH THE JUICES OF THE PURPLE M
The most favourable season for taking these fish is after the rising of the Dog-star, or else before spring; for when they have once discharged their waxy secretion, their juices have no consistency: this, however, is a fact unknown in the dyers' workshops, although it is a point of primary importance. After it is taken, the vein is extracted, which we have previously spoken of, to which it is requisite to add salt, a sextarius about to every hundred pounds of juice. It is sufficient to leave them to steep for a period of three days, and no more, for the fresher they are, the greater virtue there is in the liquor. It is then set to boil in vessels of tin, and every hundred amphoræ ought to be boiled down to five hundred pounds of dye, by the application of a moderate heat; for which purpose the vessel is placed at the end of a long funnel, which communicates with the furnace; while thus boiling, the liquor is skimmed from time to time, and with it the flesh, which necessarily adheres to the veins. About the tenth day, generally, the whole contents of the cauldron are in a liquified state, upon which a fleece, from which the grease has been cleansed, is plunged into it by way of making trial; but until such time as the colour is found to satisfy the wishes of those preparing it, the liquor is still kept on the boil. The tint that inclines to red is looked upon as inferior to that which is of a blackish hue. The wool is left to lie in soak for five hours, and then, after carding it, it is thrown in again, until it has fully imbibed the colour. The juice of the buccinum is considered very inferior if employed by itself, as it is found to discharge its colour; but when used in conjunction with that of the pelagiæ, it blends with it very well, gives a bright lustre to its colour, which is otherwise too dark, and imparts the shining crimson hue of the kermes-Berry, a tint that is particularly valued. By the admixture of their respective virtues these colours are thus heightened or rendered sombre by the aid of one another. The proper proportions for mixing are, for fifty pounds of wool, two hundred pounds of juice of the buccinum and one hundred and eleven of juice of the pelagiæ. From this combination is produced the admirable tint known as amethyst colour. To produce the Tyrian hue the wool is soaked in the juice of the pelagiæ while the mixture is in an uncooked and raw state; after which its tint is changed by being dipped in the juice of the buccinum. It is considered of the best quality when it has exactly the colour of clotted blood, and is of a blackish hue to the sight, but of a shining appearance when held up to the light; hence it is that we find Homer speaking of "purple blood."
 
9 - 63 WHEN PURPLE 1ST USED AT ROME: LATICLAVE VESTMENT & PRÆTEXTA 1ST WORN M
I find that, from the very first, purple has been in use at Rome, but that Romulus employed it for the trabea. As to the toga prætexta and the laticlave vestment, it is a fact well ascertained, that Tullus Hostilius was the first king who made use of them, and that after the conquest of the Etruscans. Cornelius Nepos, who died in the reign of the late Emperor Augustus, has left the following remarks: "In the days of my youth," says he, "the violet purple was in favour, a pound of which used to sell at one hundred denarii; and not long after, the Tarentine red was all the fashion. This last was succeeded by the Tyrian dibapha, which could not be bought for even one thousand denarii per pound. P. Lentulus Spinther, the curule ædile, was the first who used the dibapha for the prætexta, and he was greatly censured for it; whereas now-a-days," says he, "who is there that does not have purple hangings to his banqueting-couches, even?"
This Spinther was ædile in the consulship of Cicero, and in the year from the Building of the City, . "Dibapha" was the name given to textures that had been doubly dyed, and these were looked upon as a mighty piece of costly extravagance; while now, at the present day, nearly all the purple cloths that are reckoned of any account are dyed in a similar manner.
 
9 - 64 FABRICS CALLED CONCHYLIATED M
Fabrics that are called conchyliated are subjected to the same process in all other respects, but without any admixture of the juice of the buccinum; in addition to which, the liquid is mixed with water and human urine in equal parts, one-half only of the proportion of dye being used for the same quantity of wool. From this mixture a full colour is not obtained, but that pale tint, which is so highly esteemed; and the clearer it is, the less of it the wool has imbibed.
(.) The prices of these dyes vary in proportion to the quantity produced by the various shores; still, however, those who are in the habit of paying enormous prices for them, may as well be informed that on no occasion ought the juice of of the pelagiæ to exceed fifty, and that of the buccinum one hundred sesterces for one hundred pounds.
 
9 - 65 AMETHYST, THE TYRIAN, THE HYSGINIAN, AND THE CRIMSON TINTS M
But no sooner have we finished with one branch of this subject than we have to begin upon another, for we find that it is made quite a matter of sport to create expense; and not only this, but the sport must be doubled by making new mixtures and combinations, and falsifying over again what was a falsification of the works of Nature already; such, for instance, as staining tortoise-shell, alloying gold with silver for the purpose of making electrum, and then adding copper to the mixture to make Corinthian metal.
(.) It was not sufficient to have borrowed from a precious stone the name of "amethyst" for a dye, but when we have obtained this colour we must drench it over again with Tyrian tints, so that we may have an upstart name compounded of both, and at the same moment a two-fold display of luxury; for as soon as ever people have succeeded in obtaining the conchyliated colour, they immediately begin to think that it will do better as a state of transition to the Tyrian hues. There can be little doubt that this invention is due to some artist who happened to change his mind, and alter a tint with which he was not pleased: hence a system has taken its rise, and spirits, ever on the rack for creating wonders, have transformed what was originally a blunder into something quite desirable; while, at the same time, a double path has been pointed out to luxury, in thus making one colour carry another, and thereby become, as they say, softer and more mellow. And what is even more than this, human ingenuity has even learned to mingle with these dyes the productions of the earth, and to steep in Tyrian purple fabrics already dyed crimson with the berry of the kermes, in order to produce the hysginian tint. The kermes of Galatia, a red berry which we shall mention when we come to speak of the productions of the earth, is the most esteemed of all, except, perhaps, the one that grows in the vicinity of Emerita, in Lusitania. However, to make an end, once for all, of my description of these precious dyes, I shall remark, that the colour yielded by this grain when a year old, is of a pallid hue, and that if it is more than four years old, it is quickly discharged: hence we find that its energies are not developed either when it is too young or when old.
 
9 - 66 PINNA, AND THE PINNOTHERES M
Belonging to the shell-fish tribe there is the pinna also: it is found in slimy spots, always lying upright, and never without a companion, which some writers call the pinnotheres, and others, again, pinnophylax, being a small kind of shrimp, or else a parasitical crab. The pinna, which is destitute of sight, opens its shell, and in so doing exposes its body within to the attacks of the small fish, which immediately rush upon it, and finding that they can do so with impunity, become bolder and bolder, till at last they quite fill the shell. The pinnotheres, looking out for the opportunity, gives notice to the pinna at the critical moment by a gentle bite, upon which the other instantly closes its shell, and so kills whatever it has caught there; after which, it divides the spoil with its companion.
 
9 - 67 SPONGES; VARIOUS KINDS & WHERE THEY ARE PRODUCED: PROOFS THAT THEY ARE GIFTED WITH LIFE BY NATURE M
We find three kinds of sponges mentioned; the first are thick, very hard, and rough, and are called "tragi:" the second, are thick, and much softer, and are called "mani;" of the third, being fine and of a closer texture, tents for sores are made; this last is known as "Achillium." All of these sponges grow on rocks, and feed upon shell-and other fish, and slime. It would appear that these creatures, too, have some intelligence; for as soon as ever they feel the hand about to tear them off, they contract themselves, and are separated with much greater difficulty: they do the same also when the waves buffet them to and fro. The small shells that are found in them, clearly show that they live upon food: about Torone it is even said that they will survive after they have been detached, and that they grow again from the roots which have been left adhering to the rock. They leave a colour similar to that of blood upon the rock from which they have been detached, and those more especially which are produced in the Syrtes of Africa.
The manos is the one that grows to the largest size, but the softest of all are those found in the vicinity of Lycia. Where the sea is deep and calm, they are more particularly soft, while those which are found in the Hellespont are rough, and those in the vicinity of Malea coarse. When lying in places exposed to the sun, they become putrid: hence it is that those which are found in deep water are the best. While they are alive, they are of the same blackish colour that they are when saturated with water. They adhere to the rock not by one part only, nor yet by the whole body: and within them there are a number of empty tubes, generally four or five in number, by means of which, it is thought, they take their food. There are other tubes also, but these are closed at the upper extremity; and a sort of membrane is supposed to be spread beneath the roots by which they adhere. It is well known that sponges are very long-lived. The most inferior kind of all are those which are called "aplysiæ," because it is impossible to clean them: these have large tubes, while the other parts of them are thick and coarse.
 
9 - 68 BODIES W/ 3RD NATURE, THAT OF ANIMAL & VEGETABLE COMBINED, SEA-NETTLE M
Indeed, for my own part, I am strongly of opinion that there is sense existing in those bodies which have the nature of neither animals nor vegetables, but a third which partakes of them both:—sea-nettles and sponges, I mean. The sea-nettle wanders to and fro by night, and at night changes its locality. These creatures are by nature a sort of fleshy branch, and are nurtured upon flesh. They have the power of producing an itching, smarting pain, just like that caused by the nettle found on land. For the purpose of seeking its prey, it contracts and stiffens itself to the utmost possible extent, and then, as a small fish swims past, it will suddenly spread out its branches, and so seize and devour it. At another time it will assume the appearance of being quite withered away, and let itself be tossed to and fro by the waves like a piece of sea-weed, until it happens to touch a fish. The moment it does so, the fish goes to rub itself against a rock, to get rid of the itching; immediately upon which, the nettle pounces upon it. By night also it is on the look-out for scallops and sea-urchins. When it perceives a hand approaching it, it instantly changes its colour, and contracts itself; when touched it produces a burning sensation, and if ever so short a time is afforded, makes its escape. Its mouth is situate, it is said, at the root or lower part, and the excrements are discharged by a small canal situated above.
 
9 - 69 SPONGES; THE VARIOUS KINDS OF THEM, AND WHERE THEY ARE PRODUCED: PROOFS THAT THEY ARE GIFTED WITH LIFE BY NATURE M
We find three kinds of sponges mentioned; the first are thick, very hard, and rough, and are called "tragi:" the second, are thick, and much softer, and are called "mani;" of the third, being fine and of a closer texture, tents for sores are made; this last is known as "Achillium." All of these sponges grow on rocks, and feed upon shell-and other fish, and slime. It would appear that these creatures, too, have some intelligence; for as soon as ever they feel the hand about to tear them off, they contract themselves, and are separated with much greater difficulty: they do the same also when the waves buffet them to and fro. The small shells that are found in them, clearly show that they live upon food: about Torone it is even said that they will survive after they have been detached, and that they grow again from the roots which have been left adhering to the rock. They leave a colour similar to that of blood upon the rock from which they have been detached, and those more especially which are produced in the Syrtes of Africa.
The manos is the one that grows to the largest size, but the softest of all are those found in the vicinity of Lycia. Where the sea is deep and calm, they are more particularly soft, while those which are found in the Hellespont are rough, and those in the vicinity of Malea coarse. When lying in places exposed to the sun, they become putrid: hence it is that those which are found in deep water are the best. While they are alive, they are of the same blackish colour that they are when saturated with water. They adhere to the rock not by one part only, nor yet by the whole body: and within them there are a number of empty tubes, generally four or five in number, by means of which, it is thought, they take their food. There are other tubes also, but these are closed at the upper extremity; and a sort of membrane is supposed to be spread beneath the roots by which they adhere. It is well known that sponges are very long-lived. The most inferior kind of all are those which are called "aplysiæ," because it is impossible to clean them: these have large tubes, while the other parts of them are thick and coarse.
 
9 - 70 DOG-FISH M
Vast numbers of dog-fish infest the seas in the vicinity of the sponges, to the great peril of those who dive for them. These persons say that a sort of dense cloud gradually thickens over their heads, bearing the resemblance of some kind of animal like a flat-fish, and that, pressing downward upon them, it prevents them from returning to the surface. It is for this reason that they carry stilettos with them, which are very sharp at the point, and attached to them by strings; for if they did not pierce the object with the help of these, it could not be got rid of. This, however, is entirely the result, in my opinion, of the darkness and their own fears; for no person has ever yet been able to find, among living creatures, the fish-cloud or the fish-fog, the name which they give to this enemy of theirs.
The divers, however, have terrible combats with the dogfish, which attack with avidity the groin, the heels, and all the whiter parts of the body. The only means of ensuring safety, is to go boldly to meet them, and so, by taking the initiative, strike them with alarm: for, in fact, this animal is just as frightened at man, as man is at it; and they are on quite an equal footing when beneath the water. But the moment the diver has reached the surface, the danger is much more imminent; for he loses the power of boldly meeting his adversary while he is endeavouring to make his way out of the water, and his only chance of safety is in his companions, who draw him along by a cord that is fastened under his shoulders. While he is engaging with the enemy, he keeps pulling this cord with his left hand, according as there may be any sign of immediate peril, while with the right he wields the stiletto, which he is using in his defence. At first they draw him along at a moderate pace, but as soon as ever they have got him close to the ship, if they do not whip him out in an instant, with the greatest possible celerity, they see him snapped asunder; and many a time, too, the diver, even when already drawn out, is dragged from their hands, through neglecting to aid the efforts of those who are assisting him, by rolling up his body in the shape of a ball. The others, it is true, are in the meantime brandishing their pronged fish-spears; but the monster has the craftiness to place himself beneath the ship, and so wage the warfare in safety. Consequently, every possible care is taked by the divers to look out for the approach of this enemy. It is the surest sign of safety to see flat-fish, which never frequent the spots where these noxious monsters are found: and it is for this reason that the divers call them sacred.
 
9 - 71 FISHES WHICH ARE ENCLOSED IN A STONY SHELL — SEA ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO SENSATION — OTHER ANIMALS WHICH LIVE IN THE MUD M
Those animals, however, it must be admitted, which lie enclosed in a stony shell, have no sensation whatever—such as the oyster, for instance. Many, again, have the same nature as vegetables; such as the holothuria, the pulmones, and the sea-stars. Indeed, I may say that there is no land produc- tion which has not its like in the sea; no, not even those insects which frequent our public-houses in summer, and are so trouble- some with their nimble leaps, nor yet those which more especially make the human hair their place of refuge; for these are often drawn up in a mass collected around the bait. This, too, is supposed to be the reason why the sleep of fish is sometimes so troubled in the night. Upon some fish, indeed, these animals breed as parasites: among these, we find the fish known as the chalcis.
 
9 - 72 VENOMOUS SEA-ANIMALS M
Nor yet are dire and venomous substances found wanting in the sea: such, for instance, as the sea-hare of the Indian seas, which is even poisonous by the very touch, and immediately produces vomiting and disarrangement of the stomach. In our seas it has the appearance of a shapeless mass, and only resembles the hare in colour; in India it resembles it in its larger size, and in its hair, which is only somewhat coarser: there it is never taken alive. An equally deadly animal is the sea-spider, which is especially dangerous for a sting which it has on the back: but there is nothing that is more to be dreaded than the sting which protrudes from the tail of the trygon, by our people known as the pastinaca, a weapon five inches in length. Fixing this in the root of a tree, the fish is able to kill it; it can pierce armour too, just as though with an arrow, and to the strength of iron it adds all the corrosive qualities of poison.
 
9 - 73 MALADIES OF FISHES M
We do not find it stated that all kinds of fishes are subject to epizoötic diseases, like other animals of a wild nature: but it is evidently the fact that individuals among them are attacked by maladies, from the emaciated appearance that many present, while at the same moment others of the same species are taken quite remarkable for their fatness.
 
9 - 74 GENERATION OF FISHES M
The curiosity and wonder which have been excited in mankind by this subject, will not allow me any longer to defer giving an account of the generation of these animals. Fishes couple by rubbing their bellies against one another; an operation, however, that is performed with such extraordinary celerity as to escape the sight. Dolphins also, and other animals of the cetaceous kind, couple in a similar manner, though the time occupied in so doing is somewhat longer. The female fish, at the season for coupling, follows the male, and strikes against its belly with its muzzle; while the male in its turn, when the female is about to spawn, follows it and devours the eggs. But with them, the simple act of coupling is not sufficient for the purposes of reproduction; it is necessary for the male to pass among the eggs which the female has produced, in order to sprinkle them with its vitalizing fluid. This does not, however, reach all the eggs out of so vast a multitude; indeed, if it did, the seas and lakes would soon be filled, seeing that each female produces these eggs in quantities innumerable.
(.) The eggs of fishes grow in the sea; some of them with the greatest rapidity, those of the muræna, for instance; others, again, somewhat more slowly. Those among the flat fishes, whose tails or stings are not in the way, as well as those of the turtle kind, couple the one upon the other: the polypus by attaching one of its feelers to the nostrils of the female, the sæpia and loligo, by means of the tongue; uniting the arms, they then swim contrary ways; these last also bring forth at the mouth. The polypi, however, couple with the head downwards towards the ground, while the rest of the soft fish couple backwards in the same manner as the dog; cray-fish and shrimps do the same, and crabs employ the mouth. Frogs leap the one upon the other, the male with its forefeet clasping the armpits of the female, and with its hinder ones the haunches. The female produces tiny pieces of black flesh, which are known by the name of gyrini, and are only to be distinguished by the eyes and tail; very soon, however, the feet are developed, and the tail, becoming bifurcate, forms the hind legs. It is a most singular thing, but, after a life of six months' duration, frogs melt away into slime, though no one ever sees how it is done; after which they come to life again in the water during the spring, just as they were before. This is effected by some occult operation of Nature, and happens regularly every year. Mussels, also, and scallops are produced in the sand by the spontaneous operations of nature. Those which have a harder shell, such as the murex and the purple, are formed from a viscous fluid like saliva, just as gnats are produced from liquids turned sour, and the fish called the apua, "from the foam of the sea when warm, after the fall of a shower. Those fish, again, which are covered with a stony coat, such as the oyster, are produced from mud in a putrid state, or else from the foam that has collected around ships which have been lying for a long time in the same position, about posts driven into the earth, and more especially around logs of wood. It has been discovered, of late years, in the oyster—Beds, that the animal discharges an impregnating liquid, which has the appearance of milk. Eels, again, rub themselves against rocks, upon which, the particles which they thus scrape from off their bodies come to life, such being their only means of reproduction. The various kinds of fishes do not couple out of their own kind, with the exception of the squatina and the ray. The fish that is produced from the union of these two, resembles a ray in the fore part, and bears a name among the Greeks compounded of the two. Certain animals are produced only at certain seasons of the year, both in water and on the land, such, for instance, as scallops, snails, and leeches, in the spring, which also disappear at stated periods. Among fishes, the wolf-fish and the trichias bring forth twice in the year, as also do all kinds of rock-fish; the mullet and the chalcis thrice in the year, the cyprinus six times, the scorpæna twice, and the sargus in spring and autumn. Among the flat-fish, the squatina brings forth twice a year, being the only one that does so at the setting of the Vergiliæ in autumn. Most fish spawn in the three months of April, May, and June. The salpa brings forth in the autumn, the sargus, the torpedo, and the squalus about the time of the autumnal equinox. The soft fishes bring forth in spring, the sæpia every month in the year; its eggs adhere together with a kind of black glutinous substance, in appearance like a bunch of grapes, and the male is very careful to go among them and breathe upon them, as otherwise they would be barren. The polypi couple in winter, and produce eggs in the spring twisted in spiral clusters, in a similar manner to the tendrils of the vine; and so remarkably prolific are they, that when the animal is killed in a state of pregnancy, the cavities of the head are quite unable to contain the multitude of eggs enclosed therein. They bring forth these eggs at the fiftieth day, but in consequence of the vast number of them, great multitudes perish. Cray-fish, and other sea-animals with a thinner crust, lay their eggs one upon the other, and then sit upon them. The female polypus sometimes sits upon its eggs, and at other times closes the entrance of its retreat by spreading out its feelers, interlaced like a net. The sæpia brings forth on dry land, among reeds or such sea-weed as it may find growing there, and hatches its eggs on the fifteenth day. The loligo produces its eggs out at sea, clustered together like those of the sæpia. The purple, the murex, and other fishes of the same kind, bring forth in the spring. Sea-urchins have their eggs at full moon during the winter; sea-snails also are produced during the winter season.
 
9 - 75 FISHES WHICH ARE BOTH OVIPAROUS AND VIVIPAROUS M
The torpedo is known to have as many as eighty young ones. It produces within itself very soft eggs, which it then transfers to another place in the uterus, and from that part ejects them. The same is the case with all those fish to which we have given the name of cartilaginous; hence it is, that these alone of all the fishes are at once viviparous and oviparous. The male silurus is the only fish among them all that watches the eggs after they are brought forth, often for as long a period as fifty days, that they may not be devoured by other fish. The females of other kinds bring forth their eggs in the course of three days, if the male has only touched them.
 
9 - 76 FISHES THE BELLY OF WHICH OPENS IN SPAWNING, AND THEN CLOSES AGAIN M
The sea-needle, or the belone, is the only fish in which the multitude of its eggs, in spawning, causes the belly to open asunder; but immediately after it has brought forth, the wound heals again: a thing which, it is said, is the case with the blind-worm as well. The sea-mouse digs a hole in the earth, deposits its eggs there, and then covers them up. On the thirtieth day it opens the hole, and leads its young to the water.
 
9 - 77 FISHES WHICH HAVE A WOMB; THOSE WHICH IMPREGNATE THEMSELVES M
The fishes called the ervthinus and the channe are said to have a womb; and those which by the Greeks are called trochi, it is said, impregnate themselves. The young of all aquatic animals are without sight at their birth.
 
9 - 78 LONGEST LIVES KNOWN AMONGST FISHES M
We have lately heard of a remarkable instance of length of life in fish. Pausilypum is the name of a villa in Campania, not far from Neapolis; here, as we learn from the works of M. Annsaus Seneca, a fish is known to have died sixty years after it had been placed in the preserves of Cæsar by Vedius Pollio; while others of the same kind, and its equals in age, were living at the time that he wrote. This mention of fish-preserves reminds me that I ought to mention a few more particulars connected with this subject, before we leave the aquatic animals.
 
9 - 79 FIRST PERSON THAT FORMED ARTIFICIAL OYSTER—BEDS M
The first person who formed artificial oyster-beds was Ser- gius Orata, who established them at Baiæ, in the time of L. Crassus, the orator, just before the Marsic War. This was done by him, not for the gratification of gluttony, but of avarice, as he contrived to make a large income by this exercise of his ingenuity. He was the first, too, to invent hanging baths, and after buying villas and trimming them up, he would every now and then sell them again. He, too, was the first to adjudge the pre-eminence for delicacy of flavour to the oysters of Lake Lucrinus; for every kind of aquatic animal is superior in one place to what it is in another. Thus, for instance, the wolf-fish of the river Tiber is the best that is caught between the two bridges, and the turbot of Ravenna is the most esteemed, the murena of Sicily, the elops of Rhodes; the same, too, as to the other kinds, not to go through all the items of the culinary catalogue. The British shores had not as yet sent their supplies, at the time when Orata thus ennobled the Lucrine oysters: at a later period, however, it was thought worth while to fetch oysters all the way from Brundisium, at the very extremity of Italy; and in order that there might exist no rivalry between the two flavours, a plan has been more recently hit upon, of feeding the oysters of Brundisium in Lake Lucrinus, famished as they must naturally be after so long a journey.
 
9 - 80 WHO WAS THE FIRST INVENTOR OF PRESERVES FOR OTHER FISH M
In the same age, also, Licinius Murena was the first to form preserves for other fish; and his example was soon followed by the noble families of the Philippi and the Hortensii. Lucullus had a mountain pierced near Naples, at a greater outlay even, than that which had been expended on his villa; and here he formed a channel, and admitted the sea to his preserves; it was for this reason that Pompeius Magnus gave him the name of " Xerxes in a toga." After his death, the fish in his preserves was sold for the sum of four million sesterces.
 
9 - 81 WHO INVENTED PRESERVES FOR MURENÆ M
C. Hirrus was the first person who formed preserves for the murena; and it was he who lent six thousand of these fishes for the triumphal banquets of Cæsar the Dictator; on which occasion he had them duly weighed, as he declined to receive the value of them in money or any other commodity. His villa, which was of a very humble character in the interior, sold for four millions of sesterces, in consequence of the valuable nature of the stock-ponds there. Next after this, there arose a passion for individual fish. At Bauli, in the territory of Baiæ, the orator Hortensius had some fish-preserves, in which there was a murena to which he became so much attached, as to be supposed to have wept on hearing of its death. It was at the same villa that Antonia, the wife of Drusus, placed earrings upon a murena which she had become fond of; the report of which singular circumstance attracted many visitors to the place.
 
9 - 82 WHO INVENTED PRESERVES FOR SEA-SNAILS M
Fulvius Lupinus first formed preserves for sea-snails, in the territory of Tarquinii, shortly before the civil war between Cæsar and Pompeius Magnus. He also carefully distinguished them by their several species, separating them from one another. The white ones were those that are produced in the district of Reate; those of Illyria were remarkable for the largeness of their size; while those from Africa were the most prolific; those, however, from the Promontory of the Sun were the most esteemed of all. For the purpose, also, of fattening them, lie invented a mixture of boiled wine, spelt-meal, and other substances; so that fattened periwinkles even became quite an object of gastronomy; and the art of breeding them was brought to such a pitch of perfection, that the shell of a single animal would hold as much as eighty quadrantes. This we learn from M. Varro.
 
9 - 83 LAND FISHES M
Besides these, there are still some wonderful kinds of fishes which we find mentioned by Theophrastus: he says, that when the waters subside, which have been admitted for the purposes of irrigation in the vicinity of Babylon, there are certain fish which remain in such holes as may contain water; from these they come forth for the purpose of feeding, moving along with their fins by the aid of a rapid movement of the tail. If pursued, he says, they retreat to their holes, and, when they have reached them, will turn round and make a stand. The head is like that of the sea-frog, while the other parts are similar to those of the gobio, and they have gills like other fish. He says also, that in the vicinity of Heraclea and Cromna, and about the river Lycus, as well as in many parts of the Euxine, there is one kind of fish which frequents the waters near the banks of the rivers, and makes holes for itself, in which it lives, even when the water retires and the bed of the river is dry; for which reason these fishes have to be dug out of the ground, and only show by the movement of the body that they are still alive. He says also, that in the vicinity of the same Heraclea, when the river Lycus ebbs, the eggs are left in the mud, and that the fish, on being produced from these, go forth to seek their food by means of a sort of fluttering motion,—their gills being but very small, in consequence of which they are not in need of water; for this reason it is that eels also can live so long out of water; and that their eggs come to maturity on dry land, like those of the sea-tortoise. In the same regions also of the Euxine, he says, various kinds of fishes are overtaken by the ice, the gobio more particularly, and they only betray signs of life, by moving when they have warmth applied by the saucepan. All these things, however, though very remarkable, still admit of some explanation. He tells us also, that in Paphlagonia, land fishes are dug up that are most excellent eating; these, he says, are found in deep holes or spots where there is no standing water whatever, and he expresses his surprise at their being thus produced without any contact with moisture, stating it as his opinion, that there is some innate virtue in these holes, similar to that of wells; as if, indeed, fishes really were to be found in wells. However this may be, these facts, at all events, render the life of the mole under ground less a matter for surprise; unless, perhaps, these fishes mentioned by Theophrastus are similar in nature to the earth-worm.
 
9 - 84 MICE OF THE NILE M
But all these things, singular as they are, are rendered credible by a marvel which exceeds them all, at the time of the inundation of the Nile; for, the moment that it subsides, little mice are found, the first rudiments of which have been formed by the generative powers of the waters and the earth: in one part of the body they are already alive, while in that which is of later formation, they are still composed of earth.
 
9 - 85 HOW THE FISH CALLED THE ANTHIAS IS TAKEN M
Nor would it be right to omit what is said about the fish called anthias, and which I find is looked upon as true by most writers. I have already mentioned the Chelidoniæ, certain islands off the coast of Asia; they are situate off a promontory there, in the midst of a sea full of crags and reefs. These parts are much frequented by this fish, which is very speedily taken by the employment of a single method of catching it. A fisherman pushes out in a little boat, dressed in a colour resembling that of his boat; and every day, for several days together, at the same hour, he sails over the same space, while doing which he throws a quantity of bait into the sea. Whatever is thrown from the boat is an object of suspicion to the fish, who keep at a distance from what causes them so much alarm; but after this has been repeated a considerable number of times, one of the fish, reassured by becoming habituated to the scene, at last snaps at the bait. The movements of this one are watched with the greatest care and attention, for in it are centred all the hopes of the fishermen, as it is to be the means of securing them their prey; nor, indeed, is it difficult to recognize it, seeing that for some days it is the only one that ventures to come near the bait. At last, however, it finds some others to follow its example, and by degrees it is better and better attended, till at last it brings with it shoals innumerable. The older ones, at length becoming quite accustomed to the fisherman, easily recognize him, and will even take food from his hands. Upon this, the man throws out, a little way beyond the tips of his fingers, a hook concealed in a bait, and smuggles them out one by one, rather than catches them, standing in the shadow of the boat and whipping them out of the water with a slight jerk, that the others may not perceive it; while another fisherman is ready inside to receive them upon pieces of cloth, in order that no floundering about or other noise may scare the others away. It is of importance to know which has been the betrayer of the others, and not to take it, otherwise the shoal will take to flight, and appear no more for the future. There is a story that a fisherman, having quarrelled once with his mate, threw out a hook to one of these leading fishes, which he easily recognized, and so captured it with a malicious intent. The fish, however, was recognized in the market by the other fisherman, against whom he had conceived this malice; who accordingly brought an action against him for damages; and, as Mucianus adds, he was condemned to pay them on the hearing of the case. These anthiæ, it is said, when they see one of their number taken with a hook, cut the line with the serrated spines which they have on the back, the one that is held fast stretching it out as much as it can, to enable them to cut it. But among the sargi, the fish itself, that is held fast, rubs the line asunder against the rocks.
 
9 - 86 SEA-STARS M
In addition to what I have already stated, I find that authors, distinguished for their wisdom, express surprise at finding a star in the sea-for such, in fact, is the form of the animal, which has but very little flesh within, and nothing but a hard skin without. It is said that in this fish there is such a fiery heat, that it scorches everything it meets with in the sea, and instantaneously digests its food. By what experiments all this came to be known, I cannot so easily say; but I am about to make mention of one fact which is more remarkable still, and which we have the opportunity of testing by every day's experience.
 
9 - 87 MARVELLOUS PROPERTIES OF THE DACTYLUS M
Belonging also to the class of shell-fish is the dactylus, a fish so called from its strong resemblance to the human nails. It is the property of these fish to shine brightly in the dark, when all other lights are removed, and the more moisture they have, the brighter is the light they emit. In the mouth even, while they are being eaten, they give forth their light, and the same too when in the hands; the very drops, in fact, that fall from them on the ground, or on the clothes, are of the same nature. Hence it is beyond a doubt, that it is a liquid that possesses this peculiar property, which, even in a solid body, would be a ground for considerable surprise.
 
9 - 88 ANTIPATHIES AND SYMPATHIES THAT EXIST BETWEEN AQUATIC ANIMALS M
There are also marvellous instances to be found of antipathies and sympathies existing between them. The mullet and the wolf-fish are animated with a mutual hatred; and so too, the conger and the murena gnaw each other tails. The crayfish has so great a dread of the polypus, that if it sees it near, it expires in an instant: the conger dreads the cray-fish; while, again, the conger tears the body of the polypus. Nigidius informs us that the wolf-fish gnaws the tail of the mullet, and yet that, during certain months, they are on terms of friendship; all those, however, which thus lose their tails, survive their misfortune. On the other hand, in addition to those which we have already mentioned as going in company together, an instance of friendship is found in the balæna and the musculus, for, as the eye—Brows of the former are very heavy, they sometimes fall over its eyes, and quite close them by their ponderousness, upon which the musculus swims before, and points out the shallow places which are likely to prove inconvenient to its vast bulk, thus serving it in the stead of eyes. We shall now have to speak of the nature of the birds.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, . ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Turranius Gracilis, Trogus, Mæcenas, Alfius Flavus, Cornelius Nepos, Laberius the Mimographer, Fabianus, Fenestella, Mucianus, Ælius Stilo, Statius Sebosus, Melissus, Seneca, Cicero, Æmilius Macer, Messala Corvinus, Trebius Niger, Nigidius. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Aristotle, King Archelaus, Callimachus, Democritus, Theophrastus, Thrasyllus, Hegesidemus, Cythnius, Alexander Polyhistor.
 
10 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS M 105.1
10 - 1 OSTRICH M
THE history of the birds follows next, the very largest of which, and indeed almost approaching to the nature of quad- rupeds, is the ostrich of Africa or Æthiopia. This bird exceeds in height a man sitting on horseback, and can surpass him in swiftness, as wings have been given to aid it in running; in other respects ostriches cannot be considered as birds, and do not raise themselves from the earth. They have cloven talons, very similar to the hoof of the stag; with these they fight, and they also employ them in seizing stones for the purpose of throwing at those who pursue them. They have the marvellous property of being able to digest every substance without distinction, but their stupidity is no less remarkable; for although the rest of their body is so large, they imagine, when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of the body is concealed. Their eggs are prized on account of their large size, and are employed as vessels for certain purposes, while the feathers of the wing and tail are used as ornaments for the crest and helmet of the warrior.
 
10 - 2 PHŒNIX M
Æthiopia and India, more especially, produce birds of diversified plumage, and such as quite surpass all description. In the front rank of these is the phœnix, that famous bird of Arabia; though I am not quite sure that its existence is not all a fable. It is said that there is only one in existence in the whole world, and that that one has not been seen very often. We are told that this bird is of the size of an eagle, and has a brilliant golden plumage around the neck, while the rest of the body is of a purple colour; except the tail, which is azure, with long feathers intermingled of a roseate hue; the throat is adorned with a crest, and the head with a tuft of feathers. The first Roman who described this bird, and who has done so with the greatest exactness, was the senator Manilius, so famous for his learning; which he owed, too, to the instructions of no teacher. He tells us that no person has ever seen this bird eat, that in Arabia it is looked upon as sacred to the sun, that it lives five hundred and forty years, that when it becomes old it builds a nest of cassia and sprigs of incense, which it fills with perfumes, and then lays its body down upon them to die; that from its bones and marrow there springs at first a sort of small worm, which in time changes into a little bird: that the first thing that it does is to perform the obsequies of its predecessor, and to carry the nest entire to the city of the Sun near Panchaia, and there deposit it upon the altar of that divinity.
The same Manilius states also, that the revolution of the great year is completed with the life of this bird, and that then a new cycle comes round again with the same characteristics as the former one, in the seasons and the appearance of the stars; and he says that this begins about mid-day of the day on which the sun enters the sign of Aries. He also tells us that when he wrote to the above effect, in the consulship of P. Licinius and Cneius Cornelius, it was the two hundred and fifteenth year of the said revolution. Cornelius Valerianus says that the phœnix took its flight from Arabia into Egypt in the consulship of Q. Plautius and Sextus Papinius. This bird was brought to Rome in the censorship of the Emperor Claudius, being the year from the building of the City, , and it was exposed to public view in the Comitium. This fact is attested by the public Annals, but there is no one that doubts that it was a fictitious phœnix only.
 
10 - 3 DIFFERENT KINDS OF EAGLES M
Of all the birds with which we are acquainted, the eagle is looked upon as the most noble, and the most remarkable for its strength. There are six different kinds; the one called "melanætos" by the Greeks, and "valeria" in our language, the least in size of them all, but the most remarkable for its strength, is of a blackish colour. It is the only one among all, the eagles that feeds its young; for the others, as we shall mention just now, drive them away; it is the only one too that has neither cry nor murmur; it is an inhabitant of the mountains. The second kind is the pygargus, an inhabitant of the cities and plains, and distinguished by the whiteness of its tail. The third is the morphnos, which Homer also calls the "perenos," while others, again, call it the "plangus" and the "anataria;" it is the second in size and strength, and dwells in the vicinity of lakes. Phemonoë, who was styled the "daughter of Apollo," has stated that this eagle has teeth, but that it has neither voice nor tongue; she says also that it is the blackest of all the eagles, and has a longer tail than the rest; Bœus is of the same opinion. This eagle has the instinct to break the shell of the tortoise by letting it fall from aloft, a circumstance which caused the death of the poet Æschylus. An oracle, it is said, had predicted his death on that day by the fall of a house, upon which he took the precaution of trusting himself only under the canopy of the heavens.
The fourth kind of eagle is the "percnopterus," also called the "oripelargus;" it has much the appearance of the vulture, with remarkably small wings, while the rest of the body is larger than the others; but it is of a timid and degenerate nature, so much so, that even a raven can beat it. It is always famishing and ravenous, and has a plaintive murmuring cry. It is the only one among the eagles that will carry off the dead carcase; the others settle on the spot where they have killed their prey. The character of this species causes the fifth one to be known by the distinctive name of "gnesios," as being the genuine eagle, and the only one of untainted lineage; it is of moderate size, of rather reddish colour, and rarely to be met with. The haliætus is the last, and is remarkable for its bright and piercing eye. It poises itself aloft, and the moment it catches sight of a fish in the sea below, pounces headlong upon it, and cleaving the water with its breast, carries off its prey. The eagle which we have mentioned as forming the third species, pursues the aquatic birds in the vicinity of standing waters: in order to make their escape they plunge into the water every now and then, until at length they are overtaken by lassitude and sleep, upon which the eagle immediately seizes them. The contest that takes place is really a sight worthy to be seen. The bird makes for the shore to seek a refuge, and especially if there should happen to be a bed of reeds there; while in the meantime the eagle endeavours to drive it away with repeated blows of its wings, and tumbles into the water in its attempts to seize it. While it is standing on the shore its shadow is seen by the bird, which immediately dives beneath, and then making its way in an opposite direction, emerges at some point at which it thinks it is the least likely to be looked for. This is the reason why these birds swim in flocks, for when in large numbers they are in no danger from the enemy; as by dashing up the spray with their wings they blind him. Again, it often happens that the eagle is not able to carry the bird aloft on account of its weight, and in consequence they both of them sink together. The haliætus, and this one only, beats its young ones while in an unfledged state, with its wings, and forces them from time to time to look steadily upon the rays of the sun; and if it sees either of them wink, or even its eye water, it throws it headlong out of the nest, as being spurious and degenerate, while, on the other hand, it rears the one whose gaze remains fixed and steady. The haliætus is not a species of itself, but is an eagle of mixed breed: hence their produce are of the species known as the ossifrage, from which again is produced the smaller vulture; while this in its turn produces the large vulture, which, however, is quite barren. Some writers add to the above a seventh kind, which they call the "bearded" eagle; the Tuscans, however, call it the ossifrage.
 
10 - 4 NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EAGLE M
The first three and the fifth class of eagles employ in the construction of their aerie the stone aëtites, by some known as "gangites;" which is employed also for many remedial purposes, and is proof against the action of fire. This stone has the quality also, in a manner, of being pregnant, for when shaken, another stone is heard to rattle within, just as though it were enclosed in its womb; it has no medical properties, however, except immediately after it has been taken from the nest.
Eagles build among rocks and trees; they lay three eggs, and generally hatch but two young ones, though occasionally as many as three have been seen. Being weary of the trouble of rearing both, they drive one of them from the nest: for just at this time the providential foresight of Nature has denied them a sufficiency of food, thereby using due precaution that the young of all the other animals should not become their prey. During this period, also, their talons become reversed, and their feathers grow white from continued hunger, so that it is not to be wondered at that they take a dislike to their young. The ossifrage, however, a kindred species, takes charge of the young ones thus rejected, and rears them with its own; but the parent bird still pursues them with hostility, even when grown up, and drives them away, as being its rivals in rapine. And indeed, under any circumstances, one pair of eagles requires a very considerable space of ground to forage over, in order to find sufficient sustenance; for which reason it is that they mark out by boundaries their respective allotments, and seek their prey in succession to one another. They do not immediately carry off their prey, but first deposit it on the ground, and it is only after they have tested its weight that they fly away with it. They die, not of old age, nor yet of sickness, or of hunger; but the upper part of the beak grows to such an extent, and becomes so curved, that they are unable to open it. They take the wing, and begin upon the labours of the chase at mid-day; sitting in idleness during the hours of the morning, until such time as the places of public resort are filled with people. The feathers of the eagle, if mixed with those of other birds, will consume them. It is said that this is the only bird that has never been killed by lightning; hence it is, that usage has pronounced it to be the armour—Bearer of Jove.
 
10 - 5 WHEN EAGLE 1ST USED AS STANDARD OF ROMAN LEGIONS M
Caius Marius, in his second consulship, assigned the eagle exclusively to the Roman legions. Before that period it had only held the first rank, there being four others as well, the wolf, the minotaur, the horse, and the wild boar, each of which preceded a single division. Some few years before his time it had begun to be the custom to carry the eagle only into battle, the other standards being left behind in camp; Marius, however, abolished the rest of them entirely. Since then, it has been remarked that hardly ever has a Roman legion encamped for the winter, without a pair of eagles making their appearance at the spot.
The first and second species of eagle, not only prey upon the whole of the smaller quadrupeds, but will attack deer even. Rolling in the dust, the eagle covers its body all over with it, and then perching on the antlers of the animal, shakes the dust into its eyes, while at the same time it beats it on the head with its wings, until the creature at last precipitates itself down the rocks. Nor, indeed, is this one enemy sufficient for it; it has still more terrible combats with the dragon, and the issue is much more doubtful, although the battle is fought in the air. The dragon seeks the eggs of the eagle with a mischievous avidity; while the eagle, in return, carries it off whenever it happens to see it; upon these occasions, the dragon coils itself about the wings of the bird in multiplied folds, until at last they fall to the earth together.
 
10 - 6 EAGLE WHICH PRECIPITATED ITSELF ON FUNERAL PILE OF A GIRL M
There is a very famous story about an eagle at the city of Sestos. Having been reared by a little girl, it used to testify its gratitude for her kindness, first by bringing her birds, and in due time various kinds of prey: at last she died, upon which the bird threw itself on the lighted pile, and was consumed with her body. In memory of this event, the inhabitants raised upon the spot what they called an heroic monument, in honour of Jupiter and the damsel, the eagle being a bird consecrated to that divinity.
 
10 - 7 VULTURE M
Of the vultures, the black ones are the strongest. No person has yet found a vulture's nest: hence it is that there are some who have thought, though erroneously, that these birds come from the opposite hemisphere. The fact is, that they build their nest upon the very highest rocks; their young ones, indeed, are often to be seen, being generally two in number. Umbricius, the most skilful among the aruspices of our time, says that the vulture lays thirteen eggs, and that with one of these eggs it purifies the others and its nest, and then throws it away: he states also that they hover about for three days, over the spot where carcases are about to be found.
 
10 - 8 BIRDS CALLED SANGUALIS & IMMUSULUS M
There has been considerable argument among the Roman augurs about the birds known as the "sangualis" and the "immusulus." Some persons are of opinion that the immusulus is the young of the vulture, and the sangualis that of the ossifrage. Massurius says, that the sangualis is the same as the ossifrage, and that the immusulus is the young of the eagle, before the tail begins to turn white. Some persons have asserted that these birds have not been seen at Rome since the time of the augur Mucius; for my part, I think it much more likely, that, amid that general heedlessness as to all knowledge, which has of late prevailed, no notice has been taken of them
 
10 - 9 HAWKS. BUTEO M
We find no less than sixteen kinds of hawks mentioned; among these are the ægithus, which is lame of one leg, and is looked upon as the most favourable omen for the augurs on the occasion of a marriage, or in matters connected with property in the shape of cattle: the triorchis also, so called from the number of its testicles, and to which Phemonoë has assigned the first rank in augury. This last is by the Romans known as the "buteo;" indeed there is a family that has taken its surname from it, from the circumstance of this bird having given a favourable omen by settling upon the ship of one of them when he held a command. The Greeks call one kind "epileus;" the only one, indeed, that is seen at all seasons of the year, the others taking their departure in the winter.
The various kinds are distinguished by the avidity with which they seize their prey; for while some will only pounce on a bird while on the ground, others will only seize it while hovering round the trees, others, again, while it is perched aloft, and others while it is flying in mid air. Hence it is that pigeons, on seeing them, are aware of the nature of the danger to which they are exposed, and either settle on the ground or else fly upwards, instinctively protecting themselves by taking due precautions against their natural propensities. The hawks of the whole of Massæsylia, breed in Cerne, an island of Africa, lying in the ocean; and none of the kinds that are accustomed to those parts will breed anywhere else.
 
10 - 10 IN WHAT PLACES HAWKS & MEN PURSUE CHASE IN COMPANY WITH EACH OTHER M
In the part of Thrace which lies above Amphipolis, men and hawks go in pursuit of prey, in a sort of partnership as it were; for while the men drive the birds from out of the woods and the reed—Beds, the hawks bring them down as they fly; and after they have taken the game, the fowlers share it with them. It has been said, that when sent aloft, they will pick out the birds that are wanted, and that when the opportune moment for taking them has come, they invite the fowler to seize the opportunity by their cries and their peculiar mode of flying. The sea-wolves, too, in the Palus Mæotis, do something of a very similar nature; but if they do not receive their fair share from the fishermen, they will tear their nets as they lie extended. Hawks will not eat the heart of a bird. The night-hawk is called cybindis; it is rarely found, even in the woods, and in the day-time its sight is not good; it wages war to the death with the eagle, and they are often to be found clasped in each other's talons.
 
10 - 11 ONLY BIRD KILLED BY OWN KIND, BIRD THAT LAYS ONLY ONE EGG M
The cuckoo seems to be but another form of the hawk, which at a certain season of the year changes its shape; it being the fact that during this period no other hawks are to be seen, except, perhaps, for a few days only; the cuckoo, too, itself is only seen for a short period in the summer, and does not make its appearance after. It is the only one among the hawks that has not hooked talons; neither is it like the rest of them in the head, or, indeed, in any other respect, except the colour only, while in the beak it bears a stronger resemblance to the pigeon. In addition to this, it is devoured by the hawk, if they chance at any time to meet; this being the only one among the whole race of birds that is preyed upon by those of its own kind. It changes its voice also with its appearance, comes out in the spring, and goes into retirement at the rising of the Dog-star. It always lays its eggs in the nest of another bird, and that of the ring-dove more especially,-mostly a single egg, a thing that is the case with no other bird; sometimes however, but very rarely, it is known to lay two. It is supposed, that the reason for its thus substituting its young ones, is the fact that it is aware how greatly it is hated by all the other birds; for even the very smallest of them will attack it. Hence it is, that it thinks its own race will stand no chance of being perpetuated unless it contrives to deceive them, and for this reason builds no nest of its own: and besides this, it is a very timid animal. In the meantime, the female bird, sitting on her nest, is rearing a supposititious and spurious progeny; while the young cuckoo, which is naturally craving and greedy, snatches away all the food from the other young ones, and by so doing grows plump and sleek, and quite gains the affections of his foster-mother; who takes a great pleasure in his fine appearance, and is quite surprised that she has become the mother of so handsome an offspring. In comparison with him, she discards her own young as so many strangers, until at last, when the young cuckoo is now able to take the wing, he finishes by devouring her. For sweetness of the flesh, there is not a bird in existence to be compared to the cuckoo at this season.
 
10 - 12 KITE M
The kite, which belongs to the same genus, is distinguished from the rest of the hawks by its larger size. It has been remarked of this bird, extremely ravenous as it is, and always craving, that it has never been known to seize any food either from among funereal oblations or from the altar of Jupiter at Olympia; nor yet, in fact, does it ever seize any of the consecrated viands from the hands of those who are carrying them; except where some misfortune is presaged for the town that is offering the sacrifice. These birds seem to have taught man the art of steering, from the motion of the tail, Nature pointing out by their movements in the air the method required for navigating the deep. Kites also disappear during the winter months, but do not take their departure before the swallow. It is said, also, that after the summer solstice they are troubled with the gout.
 
10 - 13 CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS M
The first distinctive characteristic among birds is that which bears reference more especially to their feet: they have either hooked talons, or else toes, or else, again, they belong to the web-footed class, geese for instance, and most of the aquatic birds. Those which have hooked talons feed, for the most part, upon nothing but flesh.
 
10 - 14 CROWS. BIRDS OF ILL OMEN. AT WHAT SEASONS THEY ARE NOT INAUSPICIOUS M
Crows, again, have another kind of food. Nuts being too hard for their beak to break, the crow flies to a great height, and then lets them fall again and again upon the stones or tiles beneath, until at last the shell is cracked, after which the bird is able to open them. This is a bird with a very ill-omened garrulity, though it has been highly praised by some. It is observed, that from the rising of the constellation Arcturus until the arrival of the swallow, it is but rarely to be seen about the sacred groves and temples of Minerva; in some places, indeed, not at all, Athens for instance. In addition to these facts, it is the only one that continues to feed its young for some time after they have begun to fly. The crow is most inauspicious at the time of incubation, or, in other words, just after the summer solstice.
 
10 - 15 RAVEN M
All the other birds of the same kind drive their young ones from their nest, and compel them to fly; the raven, for instance, which not only feeds on flesh, but even drives its young, when able to fly, to a still greater distance. Hence it is that in small hamlets there are never more than two pairs to be found; and in the neighbourhood of Crannon, in Thessaly, never more than one, the parents always quitting the spot to give place to their offspring. There have been some differences observed between this and the bird last mentioned. Ravens breed before the summer solstice, and continue in bad health for sixty days—Being afflicted with a continual thirst more particularly—Before the ripening of the fig in autumn; while, on the other hand, the crow is attacked by disease after that period. The raven lays, at most, but five eggs. It is a vulgar belief, that they couple, or else lay, by means of the beak; and that, consequently, if a pregnant woman happens to eat a raven's egg, she will be delivered by the mouth. It is also believed, that if the eggs are even so much as brought beneath the roof, a difficult labour will be the consequence. Aristotle denies it, and assures us in all good faith that there is no more truth in this than in the same story about the ibis in Egypt; he says that it is nothing else but that same sort of billing that is so often seen in pigeons. Ravens are the only birds that seem to have any comprehension of the meaning of their auspices; for when the guests of Medus were assassinated, they all took their departure from Peloponnesus and the region of Attica. They are of the very worst omen when they swallow their voice, as if they were being choked.
 
10 - 16 HORNED OWL M
The birds of the night also have crooked talons, such as the owlet, the horned owl, and the screech-owl, for instance; the sight of all of which is defective in the day-time. The horned owl is especially funereal, and is greatly abhorred in all auspices of a public nature: it inhabits deserted places, and not only desolate spots, but those of a frightful and inaccessible nature: the monster of the night, its voice is heard, not with any tuneful note, but emitting a sort of shriek. Hence it is that it is looked upon as a direful omen to see it in a city, or even so much as in the day-time. I know, however, for a fact, that it is not portentous of evil when it settles on the top of a private house. It cannot fly whither it wishes in a straight line, but is always carried along by a sidelong movement. A horned owl entered the very sanctuary of the Capitol, in the consulship of Sextus Palpelius Hister and L. Pedanius; in consequence of which, Rome was purified on the nones of March in that year.
 
10 - 17 BIRDS, RACE OF WHICH IS EXTINCT, OR OF WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN LOST M
An inauspicious bird also is that known as the "incendiary;" on account of which, we find in the Annals, the City has had to be repeatedly purified; as, for instance, in the consulship of L. Cassius and C. Marius, in which year also it was purified, in consequence of a horned owl being seen. What kind of bird this incendiary bird was, we do not find stated, nor is it known by tradition. Some persons explain the term this way; they say that the name "incendiary" was applied to every bird that was seen carrying a burning coal from the pyre, or altar; while others, again, call such a bird a "spinturnix; though I never yet found any person who said that he knew what kind of bird this spinturnix was.
I find also that the people of our time are ignorant what bird it was that was called by the ancients a "clivia." Some persons say that it was a clamatory, others, again, that it was a prohibitory, bird. We also find a bird mentioned by Nigidius as the "subis," which breaks the eggs of the eagle. In addition to the above, there are many other kinds that are described in the Etruscan ritual, but which no one now living has ever seen. It is surprising that these birds are no longer in existence, since we find that even those kinds abound, among which the gluttony of man commits such ravages.
 
10 - 18 BIRDS WHICH ARE BORN WITH THE TAIL FIRST M
Among foreigners, a person called Hylas is thought to have written the best treatise on the subject of augury. He informs us that the owlet, the horned owl, the woodpecker, which makes holes in trees, the trygon, and the crow, are produced from the egg with the tail first; for the egg, being turned upside down through the weight of the head of the chick, presents the wrong end to be warmed by the mother as she sits upon it.
 
10 - 19 OWLET M
The owlet shows considerable shrewdness in its engagements with other birds; for when surrounded by too great a number, it throws itself on its back, and so, resisting with its feet, and rolling up its body into a mass, defends itself with the beak and talons; until the hawk, attracted by a certain natural affinity, comes to its assistance, and takes its share in the combat. Nigidius says, that the incubation of the owlet lasts sixty days, during the winter, and that it has nine different notes.
 
10 - 20 WOOD-PECKER OF MARS M
There are some small birds also, which have hooked talons; the wood-pecker, for example, surnamed "of Mars," of considerable importance in the auspices. To this kind belong the birds which make holes in trees, and climb stealthily up them, like cats; mounting with the head upwards, they tap against the bark, and learn by the sound whether or not their food lies beneath; they are the only birds that hatch their young in the hollows of trees. It is a common belief, that if a shepherd drives a wedge into their holes, they apply a certain kind of herb, immediately upon which it falls out. Trebius informs us that if a nail or wedge is driven with ever so much force into a tree in which these birds have made their nest, it will instantly fly out, the tree making a loud cracking noise the moment that the bird has lighted upon the nail or wedge.
These birds have held the first rank in auguries, in Latium, since the time of the king who has given them their name. One of the presages that was given by them, I cannot pass over in silence. A woodpecker came and lighted upon the head of Ælius Tubero, the City prator, when sitting on his tribunal dispensing justice in the Forum, and showed such tameness as to allow itself to be taken with the hand; upon which the augurs declared that if it was let go, the state was menaced with danger, but if killed, disaster would befall the prætor; in an instant he tore the bird to pieces, and before long the omen was fulfilled.
 
10 - 21 BIRDS WHICH HAVE HOOKED TALONS M
Many birds of this kind feed also on acorns and fruit, but only those which are not carnivorous, with the exception of the kite; though when it feeds on anything but flesh, it is a bird of ill omen.
The birds which have hooked talons are never gregarious; each one seeks its prey by itself. They nearly all of them soar to a great height, with the exception of the birds of the night, and more especially those of larger size. They all have large wings, and a small body; they walk with difficulty, and rarely settle upon stones, being prevented from doing so by the curved shape of their talons.
 
- 22 PEACOCK M
We shall now speak of the second class of birds, which is divided into two kinds; those which give omens by their note, and those which afford presages by their flight. The variation of the note in the one, and the relative size in the other, constitute the differences between them. These last, therefore, shall be treated of first, and the peacock shall have precedence of all the rest, as much for its singular beauty as its superior instinct, and the vanity it displays.
When it hears itself praised, this bird spreads out its gorgeous colours, and especially if the sun happens to be shining at the time, because then they are seen in all their radiance, and to better advantage. At the same time, spreading out its tail in the form of a shell, it throws the reflection upon the other feathers, which shine all the more brilliantly when a shadow is cast upon them; then at another moment it will contract all the eyes depicted upon its feathers in a single mass, manifesting great delight in having them admired by the spectator. The peacock loses its tail every year at the fall of the leaf, and a new one shoots forth in its place at the flower season; between these periods the bird is abashed and moping, and seeks retired spots. The peacock lives twenty-five years, and begins to show its colours in the third. By some authors it is stated that this bird is not only a vain creature, but of a spiteful disposition also, just in the same way that they attribute bashfulness to the goose. The characteristics, however, which they have thus ascribed to these birds, appear to me to be utterly unfounded.
 
10 - 23 1ST TO KILL PEACOCK FOR FOOD. FIRST TAUGHT ART OF CRAMMING THEM M
The orator Hortensius was the first Roman who had the peacock killed for table; it was on the occasion of the banquet given by him on his inauguration in the college of the priesthood. M. Aufidius Lurco was the first who taught the art of fattening them, about the time of the last war with the Pirates. From this source of profit he acquired an income of sixty thousand sesterces.
 
10 - 24 DUNGHILL COCK M
Next after the peacock, the animal that acts as our watchman by night, and which Nature has produced for the purpose of arousing mortals to their labours, and dispelling their slumbers, shows itself most actuated by feelings of vanity. The cock knows how to distinguish the stars, and marks the different periods of the day, every three hours, by his note. These animals go to roost with the setting of the sun, and at the fourth watch of the camp recall man to his cares and toils. They do not allow the rising of the sun to creep upon us un- awares, but by their note proclaim the coming day, and they prelude their crowing by clapping their sides with their wings. They exercise a rigorous sway over the other birds of their kind, and, in every place where they are kept, hold the supreme command. This, however, is only obtained after repeated battles among themselves, as they are well aware that they have weapons on their legs, produced for that very purpose, as it were, and the contest often ends in the death of both the combatants at the same moment. If, on the other hand, one of them obtains the mastery, he instantly by his note proclaims himself the conqueror, and testifies by his crowing that he has been victorious; While his conquered opponent silently slinks away, and, though with a very bad grace, submits to servitude. And with equal pride does the throng of the poultry yard strut along, with head uplifted and crest erect. These, too, are the only ones among the winged race that repeatedly look up to the heavens, with the tail, which in its drooping shape resembles that of a sickle, raised aloft: and so it is that these birds inspire terror even in the lion, the most courageous of all animals.
Some of these birds, too, are reared for nothing but warfare and perpetual combats, and have even shed a lustre thereby on their native places, Rhodes and Tanagra. The next rank is considered to belong to those of Melos and Chalcis. Hence, it is not without very good reason that the consular purple of Rome pays these birds such singular honours. It is from the feeding of these creatures that the omens by fowls are derived; it is these that regulate day by day the movements of our magistrates, and open or shut to them their own houses, as the case may be; it is these that give an impulse to the fasces of the Roman magistracy, or withhold them; it is these that command battles or forbid them, and furnish auspices for victories to be gained in every part of the world. It is these that hold supreme rule over those who are themselves the rulers of the earth, and whose entrails and fibres are as pleasing to the gods as the first spoils of victory. Their note, when heard at an unusual hour or in the evening, has also its peculiar presages; for, on one occasion, by crowing the whole night through for several nights, they presaged to the Boeotians that famous victory which they gained over the Lacedæmonians; such, in fact, being the interpretation that was put upon it by way of prognostic, as this bird, when conquered, is never known to crow.
 
10 - 25 HOW COCKS ARE CASTRATED. A COCK THAT ONCE SPOKE M
When castrated, cocks cease to crow. This operation is performed two different ways. Either the loins of the animal are seared with red-hot iron, or else the lower part of the legs; after which, the wound is covered up with potter's clay: this way they are fattened much more easily. At Pergamus, there is every year a public show of fights of game-cocks, just as in other places we have those of gladiators.
We find it stated in the Roman Annals, that in the consulship of M. Lepidus and Q. Catulus a dung-hill cock spoke, at the farm-house of Galerius; the only occasion, in fact, that I know of.
 
10 - 26 GOOSE M
The goose also keeps a vigilant guard; a fact which is well attested by the defence of the Capitol, at a moment when, by the silence of the dogs, the commonwealth had been betrayed: for which reason it is that the Censors always, the first thing of all, attend to the farming-out of the feeding of the sacred geese. What is still more, too, there is a love-story about this animal. At Ægium one is said to have conceived a passion for a beautiful boy, a native of Olenos, and another for Glauce, a damsel who was lute-player to King Ptolemy; for whom at the same time a ram is said also to have conceived a passion. One might almost be tempted to think that these creatures have an appreciation of wisdom: for it is said, that one of them was the constant companion of the philosopher, Lacydes, and would never leave him, either in public or when at the bath, by night or by day.
 
10 - 27 WHO FIRST TAUGHT US TO USE LIVER OF TEE GOOSE FOR FOOD M
Our people, however, are more wise; for they only esteem the goose for the goodness of its liver. When they are crammed, this grows to a very large size, and on being taken from the animal, is made still larger by being soaked in honeyed milk. And, indeed, it is not without good reason that it is matter of debate who it was that first discovered so great a delicacy; whether, in fact, it was Scipio Metellus, a man of consular dignity, or M. Seius, a contemporary of his, and a Roman of equestrian rank. However, a thing about which there is no dispute, it was Messalinus Cotta, the son of the orator Messala, who first discovered the art of roasting the webbed feet of the goose, and of cooking them in a ragout with cocks' combs: for I shall faithfully award each culinary palm to such as I shall find deserving of it. It is a wonderful fact, in relation to this bird, that it comes on foot all the way from the country of the Morini to Rome; those that are tired are placed in the front rank, while the rest, taught by a natural instinct to move in a compact body, drive them on.
A second income, too, is also to be derived from the feathers of the white goose. In some places, this animal is plucked twice a year, upon which the feathers quickly grow again. Those are the softest which lie nearest to the body, and those that come from Germany are the most esteemed: the geese there are white, but of small size, and are called gantœ. The price paid for their feathers is five denarii per pound. It is from this fruitful source that we have repeated charges brought against the commanders of our auxiliaries, who are in the habit of detaching whole cohorts from the posts where they ought to be on guard, in pursuit of these birds: indeed, we have come to such a pitch of effeminacy, that now-a-days, not even the men can think of lying down without the aid of the goose's feathers, by way of pillow.
 
10 - 28 COMMAGENIAN MEDICAMENT M
The part of Syria which is called Commagene, has discovered another invention also; the fat of the goose is enclosed with some cinnamon in a brazen vessel, and then covered with a thick layer of snow. Under the influence of the excessive cold, it becomes macerated, and fit for use as a medicament, remarkable for its properties: from the country which produces it, it is known to us as "Commagenum."
 
10 - 29 CHENALOPEX, CHENEROS, TETRAO & OTIS M
To the goose genus belong also the chenalopex, and the cheneros, a little smaller than the common goose, and which forms the most exquisite of all the dainties that Britannia provides for the table. The tetrao is remarkable for the lustre of its plumage, and its extreme darkness, while the eyelids are of a scarlet colour. Another species of this last bird exceeds the vulture in size, and is of a similar colour to it; and, indeed, there is no bird, with the exception of the ostrich, the body of which is of a greater weight; for to such a size does it grow, that it becomes incapable of moving, and allows itself to be taken on the ground. The Alps and the regions of the North produce these birds; but when kept in aviaries, they lose their fine flavour, and by retaining their breath, will die of mere vexation. Next to these in size are the birds which in Spain they call the "tarda," and in Greece the "otis:" they are looked upon however as very inferior food; the marrow, when disengaged from the bones, immediately emits a most noisome smell.
 
10 - 30 CRANES M
By the departure of the cranes, which, as we have already stated, were in the habit of waging war with them, the nation of the Pygmies now enjoys a respite. The tracts over which they travel must be immense, if we only consider that they come all the way from the Eastern Sea. These birds agree by common consent at what moment they shall set out, fly aloft to look out afar, select a leader for them to follow, and have sentinels duly posted in the rear, which relieve each other by turns, utter loud cries, and with their voice keep the whole flight in proper array. During the night, also, they place sentinels on guard, each of which holds a little stone in its claw: if the bird should happen to fall asleep, the claw becomes relaxed, and the stone falls to the ground, and so convicts it of neglect. The rest sleep in the meanwhile, with the head beneath the wing, standing first on one leg and then on the other: the leader looks out, with neck erect, and gives warning when required. These birds, when tamed, are very frolicsome, and even when alone will describe a sort of circle, as they move along, with their clumsy gait.
It is a well-known fact, that these birds, when about to fly over the Euxine, first of all repair to the narrowest part of it, that lies between the two Promontories of Criumetopon and Carambis, and then ballast themselves with coarse sand. When they have arrived midway in the passage, they throw away the stones from out of their claws, and, as soon as they reach the mainland, discharge the sand by the throat. Cornelius Nepos, who died in the reign of the late Emperor Augustus, after stating that thrushes had been fattened for the first time shortly before that period, has added that storks were more esteemed as food than cranes: whereas at the present day, this last bird is one of those that are held in the very highest esteem, while no one will so much as touch the other.
 
10 - 31 STORKS M
Up to the present time it has not been ascertained from what place the storks come, or whither they go when they leave us. There can be no doubt but that, like the cranes, they come from a very great distance, the cranes being our winter, the storks our summer, guests. When about to take their departure, the storks assemble at a stated place, and are particularly careful that all shall attend, so that not one of their kind may be left behind, with the exception of such as may be in captivity or tamed; and then on a certain day they set out, as though by some law they were directed to do so. No one has ever yet seen a flight of cranes taking their departure, although they have been often observed preparing to depart; and in the same way, too, we never see them arrive, but only when they have arrived; both their departure as well as their arrival take place in the night. Although, too, we see them flying about in all directions, it is still supposed that they never arrive at any other time but in the night. Pythonos- come is the name given to some vast plains of Asia, where, as they assemble together, they keep up a gabbling noise, and tear to pieces the one that happens to arrive the last; after which they take their departure. It has been remarked that after the ides of August, they are never by any accident to be seen there.
There are some writers who assure us that the stork has no tongue. So highly are they esteemed for their utility in destroying serpents, that in Thessaly, it was a capital crime for any one to kill a stork, and by the laws the same penalty was inflicted for it as for homicide.
 
10 - 32 SWANS M
Geese, and swans also, travel in a similar manner, but then they are seen to take their flight. The flocks, forming a point, move along with great impetus, much, indeed, after the manner of our Liburnian beaked galleys; and it is by doing so that they are enabled to cleave the air more easily than if they presented to it a broad front. The flight gradually enlarges in the rear, much in the form of a wedge, presenting a vast surface to the breeze, as it impels them onward; those that follow place their necks on those that go before, while the leading birds, as they become weary, fall to the rear. Storks return to their former nests, and the young, in their turn, support their parents when old. It is stated that at the moment of the swan's death, it gives utterance to a mournful song; but this is an error, in my opinion, at least I have tested the truth of the story on several occasions. These birds will eat the flesh of one another.
 
10 - 33 FOREIGN BIRDS WHICH VISIT US; QUAIL, GLOTTIS, CYCHRAMUS & LOTUS M
Having spoken of the emigration of these birds over sea and land, I cannot allow myself to defer mentioning some other birds of smaller size, which have the same natural instinct: although in the case of those which I have already mentioned, their very size and strength would almost seem to invite them to such habits. The quail, which always arrives among us even before the crane, is a small bird, and when it has once arrived, more generally keeps to the ground than flies aloft. These birds fly also in a similar manner to those I have already spoken of, and not without considerable danger to mariners, when they come near the surface of the earth: for it often happens that they settle on the sails of a ship, and that too always in the night: the consequence of which is, that the vessel often sinks. These birds pursue their course along a tract of country with certain resting-places. When the south wind is blowing, they will not fly, as that wind is always humid, and apt to weigh them down. Still, however, it is an object with them to get a breeze to assist them in their flight, the body being so light, and their strength so very limited: hence it is that we hear them make that murmuring noise as they fly, it being extorted from them by fatigue. It is for this reason also, that they take to flight more especially when the north wind is blowing, having the ortygometra for their leader. The first of them that approaches the earth is generally snapped up by the hawk. When they are about to return from these parts, they always invite other birds to join their company, and the glottis, otus, and cychramus, yielding to their persuasions, take their departure along with them.
The glottis protrudes a tongue of remarkable length, from which circumstance it derives its name: at first it is quite pleased with the journey, and sets out with the greatest ardour; very soon, however, when it begins to feel the fatigues of the flight, it is overtaken by regret, while at the same time it is equally as th to return alone, as to accompany the others. Its travels, however, never last more than a single day, for at the very first resting-place they come to, it deserts: here too it finds other birds, which have been left behind in a similar manner in the preceding year. The same takes place with other birds day after day. The cychramus, however, is much more persevering, and is quite in a hurry to arrive at the land which is its destination: hence it is that it arouses the quails in the night, and reminds them that they ought to be on the road. The otus is a smaller bird than the horned owl, though larger than the owlet; it has feathers projecting like ears, whence its name. Some persons call it in the Latin language the "asio;" in general it is a bird fond of mimicking, a great parasite, and, in some measure, a dancer as well. Like the owlet, it is taken without any difficulty; for while one person occupies its attention, another goes behind, and catches it. If the wind, by its contrary blasts, should begin to prevent the onward progress of the flight, the birds immediately take up small stones, or else fill their throats with sand, and so contrive to ballast themselves as they fly. The seeds of a certain venomous plant are most highly esteemed by the quails as food; for which reason it is that they have been banished from our tables; in addition to which, a great repugnance is manifested to eating their flesh, on account of the epilepsy, to which alone of all animals, with the exception of man, the quail is subject.
 
10 - 34 SWALLOWS M
The swallow, the only bird that is carnivorous among those which have not hooked talons, takes its departure also during the winter months; but it only goes to neighbouring countries, seeking sunny retreats there on the mountain sides; sometimes they have been found in such spots bare and quite unfledged. This bird, it is said, will not enter a house in Thebes, because that city has been captured so frequently; nor will it approach the country of the Bizyæ, on account of the crimes committed there by Tereus. Cæcina of Volaterræ, a member of the equestrian order, and the owner of several chariots, used to have swallows caught, and then carried them with him to Rome. Upon gaining a victory, he would send the news by them to his friends; for after staining them the colour of the party that had gained the day, he would let them go, immediately upon which they would make their way to the nests they had previously occupied. Fabius Pictor also relates, in his Annals, that when a Roman garrison was being besieged by the Ligurians, a swallow which had been taken from its young ones was brought to him, inorder that he might give them notice, by the number of knots on a string tied to its leg, on what day succour would arrive, and a sortie might be made with advantage.
 
10 - 35 BIRDS WHICH TAKE THEIR DEPARTURE FROM US, & WHITHER THEY GO; THRUSH, BLACKBIRD, & STARLING, BIRDS WHICH LOSE THEIR FEATHERS DURING THEIR RETIREMENT, TURTLE-DOVE & RING-DOVE. FLIGHT OF STARLINGS & SWALLOWS M
In a similar manner also, the blackbird, the thrush, and the starling take their departure to neighbouring countries; but they do not lose their feathers, nor yet conceal themselves, as they are often to be seen in places where they seek their food during the winter: hence it is that in winter, more especially, the thrush is so often to be seen in Germany. It is, however, a well-ascertained fact, that the turtle-dove conceals itself, and loses its feathers. The ring-dove, also, takes its departure: and with these too, it is a matter of doubt whither they go. It is a peculiarity of the starling to fly in troops, as it were, and then to wheel round in a globular mass like a ball, the central troop acting as a pivot for the rest. Swallows are the only birds that have a sinuous flight of remarkable velocity; for which reason it is that they are not exposed to the attacks of other birds of prey: these too, in fine, are the only birds that take their food solely on the wing.
 
10 - 36 BIRDS WHICH REMAIN WITH US THROUGHOUT YEAR; BIRDS WHICH REMAIN WITH US ONLY 6 OR 3 MONTHS; WITWALLS & HOOPOES M
The time during which birds show themselves differs very considerably. Some remain with us all the year round, the pigeon, for instance; some for six months, such as the swallow; and some, again, for three months only, as the thrush, the turtledove, and those which take their departure the moment they have reared their young, the witwall and the hoopoe, for instance.
 
10 - 37 MEMNONIDES M
There are some authors who say that every year certain birds fly from Æthiopia to Ilium, and have a combat at the tomb of Memnon there; from which circumstance they have received from them the name of Memnonides, or birds of Memnon. Cremutius states it also as a fact, ascertained by himself, that they do the same every fifth year in Æthiopia, around the palace of Memnon.
 
10 - 38 MELEAGRIDES M
In a similar manner also, the birds called meleagrides fight in Bœotia. They are a species of African poultry, having a hump on the back, which is covered with a mottled plumage. These are the latest among the foreign birds that have been received at our tables, on account of their disagreeable smell. The tomb, however, of Meleager has rendered them famous.
 
10 - 39 SELEUCIDES M
Those birds are called seleucides, which are sent by Jupiter at the prayers offered up to him by the inhabitants of Mount Casius, when the locusts are ravaging their crops of corn. Whence they come, or whither they go, has never yet been ascertained, as, in fact, they are never to be seen but when the people stand in need of their aid.
 
10 - 40 IBIS M
The Egyptians also invoke their ibis against the incursions of serpents; and the people of Elis, their god Myiagros, when the vast multitudes of flies are bringing pestilence among them; the flies die immediately the propitiatory sacrifice has been made to this god.
 
10 - 41 PLACES IN WHICH CERTAIN BIRDS ARE NEVER FOUND M
With reference to the departure of birds, the owlet, too, is said to lie concealed for a few days. No birds of this last kind are to be found in the island of Crete, and if any are imported thither, they immediately die. Indeed, this is a remarkable distinction made by Nature; for she denies to certain places, as it were, certain kinds of fruits and shrubs, and of animals as well; it is singular that when introduced into these localities they will be no longer productive, but die immediately they are thus transplanted. What can it be that is thus fatal to the increase of one particular species, or whence this envy manifested against them by Nature? What, too, are the limits that have been marked out for the birds on the face of the earth?
Rhodes possesses no eagles. In Italy beyond the Padus, there is, near the Alps, a lake known by the name of Larius, beautifully situate amid a country covered with shrubs; and yet this lake is never visited by storks, nor, indeed, are they ever known to come within eight miles of it; while, on the other hand, in the neighbouring territory of the Insubres there are immense flocks of magpies and jackdaws, the only bird that is guilty of stealing gold and silver, a very singular propensity. It is said that in the territory of Tarentum, the woodpecker of Mars is never found. It is only lately too, and that but very rarely, that various kinds of pies have begun to be seen in the districts that lie between the Apennines and the City; birds which are known by the name of "variæ," and are remarkable for the length of the tail. It is a peculiarity of this bird, that it becomes bald every year at the time of sowing rape. The partridge does not fly beyond the frontiers of Bœotia, into Attica; nor does any bird, in the island in the Euxine in which Achilles was buried, enter the temple there consecrated to him. In the territory of Fidenæ, in the vicinity of the City, the storks have no young nor do they build nests: but vast numbers of ringdoves arrive from beyond sea every year in the district of Volaterræ. At Rome, neither flies nor dogs ever enter the temple of Hercules in the Cattle Market. There are numerous other instances of a similar nature in reference to all kinds of animals, which from time to time I feel myself prompted by prudent considerations to omit, lest I should only weary the reader. Theophrastus, for example, relates that even pigeons, as well as peacocks and ravens, have been introduced from other parts into Asia, as also croaking frogs into Cyrenaica.
 
10 - 42 VARIOUS KINDS OF BIRDS WHICH AFFORD OMENS BY THEIR NOTE—BIRDS WHICH CHANGE THEIR COLOUR AND THEIR VOICE M
 There is another remarkable fact too, relative to the birds which give omens by their note; they generally change their colour and voice at a certain season of the year, and suddenly become quite altered in appearance; a thing that, among the larger birds, happens with the crane only, which grows black in its old age. From black, the blackbird changes to a reddish colour, sings in summer, chatters in winter, and about the summer solstice loses its voice; when a year old, the beak also assumes the appearance of ivory; this, however, is the case only with the male. In the summer, the thrush is mottled about the neck, but in the winter it becomes of one uniform colour all over.
 
10 - 43 NIGHTINGALE M
The song of the nightingale is to be heard, without intermission, for fifteen days and nights, continuously, when the foliage is thickening, as it bursts from the bud; a bird which deserves our admiration in no slight degree. First of all, what a powerful voice in so small a body! its note, how long, and how well sustained! And then, too, it is the only bird the notes of which are modulated in accordance with the strict rules of musical science. At one moment, as it sustains its breath, it will prolong its note, and then at another, will vary it with different inflexions; then, again, it will break into distinct chirrups, or pour forth an endless series of roulades. Then it will warble to itself, while taking breath, or else disguise its voice in an instant; while sometimes, again, it will twitter to itself, now with a full note, now with a grave, now again sharp, now with a broken note, and now with a prolonged one. Sometimes, again, when it thinks fit, it will break out into quavers, and will run through, in succession, alto, tenor, and bass: in a word, in so tiny a throat is to be found all the melody that the ingenuity of man has ever discovered through the medium of the invention of the most exquisite flute: so much so, that there can be no doubt it was an infallible presage of his future sweetness as a poet, when one of these creatures perched and sang on the infant lips of the poet Stesichorus.
That there may remain no doubt that there is a certain degree of art in its performances, we may here remark that every bird has a number of notes peculiar to itself; for they do not, all of them, have the same, but each, certain melodies of its own. They vie with one another, and the spirit with which they contend is evident to all. The one that is vanquished, often dies in the contest, and will rather yield its life than its song. The younger birds are listening in the meantime, and receive the lesson in song from which they are to profit. The learner hearkens with the greatest attention, and repeats what it has heard, and then they are silent by turns; this is understood to be the correction of an error on the part of the scholar, and a sort of reproof, as it were, on the part of the teacher. Hence it is that nightingales fetch as high a price as slaves, and, indeed, sometimes more than used formerly to be paid for a man in a suit of armour. I know that on one occasion six thousand sesterces were paid for a nightingale, a white one it is true, a thing that is hardly ever to be seen, to be made a present of to Agrippina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius. A nightingale has been often seen that will sing at command, and take alternate parts with the music that accompanies it; men, too, have been found who could imitate its note with such exactness, that it would be impossible to tell the difference, by merely putting water in a reed held crosswise, and then blowing into it, a languette being first inserted, for the purpose of breaking the sound and rendering it more shrill. But these modulations, so clever and so artistic, begin gradually to cease at the end of the fifteen days; not that you can say, however, that the bird is either fatigued or tired of singing; but, as the heat increases, its voice becomes altogether changed, and possesses no longer either modulation or variety of note. Its colour, too, becomes changed, and at last, throughout the winter, it totally disappears. The tongue of the nightingale is not pointed at the tip, as in other birds. It lays at the beginning of the spring, six eggs at the most.
 
10 - 44 MELANCORYPHUS, ERITHACITS & PHŒNICURUS M
The change is different that takes place in the ficedula, for this bird changes its shape as well as its colour. "Ficedula" is the name by which it is called in autumn, but not after that period; for then it is called "melancoryphus." In the same manner, too, the erithacus of the winter is the "phœnicurus" of the summer. The hoopoe also, according to the poet Æschylus, changes its form; it is a bird that feeds upon filth of all kinds, and is remarkable for its twisted topknot, which it can contract or elevate at pleasure along the top of the head.
 
10 - 45 ŒNANTHE, CHLORION, BLACKBIRD & IBIS M
The cenanthe, too, is a bird that has stated days for its re- treat. At the rising of Sirius it conceals itself, and at the setting of that star comes forth from its retreat: and this it does, a most singular thing, exactly upon both those days. The chlorion, also, the body of which is yellow all over, is not seen in the winter, but comes out about the summer solstice.
(.) The blackbird is found in the vicinity of Cyllene, in Arcadia, with white plumage; a thing that is the case nowhere else. The ibis, in the neighbourhood of Pelusium only is black, while in all other places it is white.
 
10 - 46 TIMES OF INCUBATION OF BIRDS M
The birds that have a note, with the exception of those previously mentioned, do not by any chance produce their young before the vernal or after the autumnal equinox. As to the broods produced before the summer solstice, it is very doubtful if they will survive, but those hatched after it thrive well.
 
10 - 47 HALCYONES: THE HALCYON DAYS THAT ARE FAVOURABLE TO NAVIGATION M
It is for this that the halcyon is more especially remarkable; the seas, and all those who sail upon their surface, well know the days of its incubation. This bird is a little larger than a sparrow, and the greater part of its body is of an azure blue colour, with only an intermixture of white and purple in some of the larger feathers, while the neck is long and slender. There is one kind that is remarkable for its larger size and its note; the smaller ones are heard singing in the reed-beds. It is a thing of very rare occurrence to see a halcyon, and then it is only about the time of the setting of the Vergiliæ, and the summer and winter solstices; when one is sometimes to be seen to hover about a ship, and then immediately disappear. They hatch their young at the time of the winter solstice, from which circumstance those days are known as the " halcyon days:" during this period the sea is calm and navigable, the Sicilian sea in particular. They make their nest during the seven days before the winter solstice, and sit the same number of days after. Their nests are truly wonderful; they are of the shape of a ball slightly elongated, have a very narrow mouth, and bear a strong resemblance to a large sponge. It is impossible to cut them asunder with iron, and they are only to be broken with a strong blow, upon which they separate, just like foam of the sea when dried up. It has never yet been discovered of what material they are made; some persons think that they are formed of sharp fish-Bones, as it is on fish that these birds live. They enter rivers also; their eggs are five in number.
 
10 - 48 OTHER KINDS OF AQUATIC BIRDS M
The sea-mew also builds its nest in rocks, and the diver in trees as well. These birds produce three at the very most; the sea-mew in summer, the diver at the beginning of spring.
 
10 - 49 INSTINCTIVE CLEVERNESS DISPLAYED BY BIRDS IN CONSTRUCTION OF THEIR NESTS. THE WONDERFUL WORKS OF SWALLOW. BANK-SWALLOW M
The form of the nest built by the halcyon reminds me also of the instinctive cleverness displayed by other birds; and, indeed, in no respect is the ingenuity of birds more deserving of our admiration. The swallow builds its nest of mud, and strengthens it with straws. If mud happens to fail, it soaks itself with a quantity of water, which it then shakes from off its feathers into the dust. It lines the inside of the nest with soft feathers and wool, to keep the eggs warm, and in order that the nest may not be hard and rough to its young when hatched. It divides the food among its offspring with the most rigid justice, giving it first to one and then to another. With a remarkable notion of cleanliness, it throws out of the nest the ordure of the young ones, and when they have grown a little older, teaches them how to turn round, and let it fall outside of the nest.
There is another kind of swallow, also, that frequents the fields and the country; its nest is of a different shape, though of the same materials, but it rarely builds it against houses. The nest has its mouth turned straight upwards, and the entrance to it is long and narrow, while the body is very capacious. It is quite wonderful what skill is displayed in the formation of it, for the purpose of concealing the young ones, and of presenting a soft surface for them to lie upon. At the Heracleotic Mouth of the Nile in Egypt, the swallows present an insuperable obstacle to the inroads of that river, in the embankment which is formed by their nests in one continuous line, nearly a stadium in length; a thing that could not possibly have been effected by the agency of man. In Egypt, too, near the city of Coptos, there is an island sacred to Isis. In the early days of spring, the swallows strengthen the angular corner of this island with chaff and straw, thus fortifying it in order that the river may not sweep it away. This work they persevere in for three days and nights together, with such unremitting labour, that it is a well-known fact that many of them die with their exertions. This, too, is a toil which recurs regularly for them every year. There is, again, a third kind of swallow, which makes holes in the banks of rivers, to serve for its nest. The young of these birds, reduced to ashes, are a good specific against mortal maladies of the throat, and tend to cure many other diseases of the human body. These birds do not build nests, and they take care to migrate a good many days before, if it so happens that the rise of the river is about to reach their holes.
 
10 - 50 ACANTHYLLIS & OTHER BIRDS M
Belonging to the genus of birds known as the " vitiparræ," there is one whose nest is formed of dried moss, and is in shape so exactly like a ball, that it is impossible to discover the mouth of it. The bird, also, that is known as the acanthyllis, makes its nest of a similar shape, and interweaves it with pieces of flax. The nest of one of the woodpeckers, very much like a cup in shape, is suspended by a twig from the end of the branch of a tree, so that no quadruped may be able to reach it. It is strongly asserted, that the witwall sleeps suspended by its feet, because it fancies that by doing so it is in greater safety. A thing, indeed, that is well-known of them all, is the fact that, in a spirit of foresight, they select the projecting branches of trees that are sufficiently strong, for the purpose of supporting their nests, and then arch them over to protect them from the rain, or else shield them by means of the thickness of the foliage.
In Arabia there is a bird known as the "cinnamolgus." It builds its nest with sprigs of cinnamon; and the natives knock them down with arrows loaded with lead, in order to sell them. In Scythia there is a bird, the size of the otis, which produces two young ones always, in a hare's skin suspended from the top branches of a tree. Pies, when they have observed a person steadily gazing at their nest, will immediately remove their eggs to another place. This is said to be accomplished in a truly wonderful manner, by such birds as have not toes adapted for holding and removing their eggs. They lay a twig upon two eggs, and then solder them to it by means of a glutinous matter secreted from their body; after which, they pass their neck between the eggs, and so forming an equipoise, convey them to another place.
 
10 - 51 MEROPS—PARTRIDGES M
No less, too, is the shrewdness displayed by those birds which make their nests upon the ground, because, from the extreme weight of their body, they are unable to fly aloft. There is a bird, known as the "merops," which feeds its parents in their retreat: the colour of the plumage on the inside is pale, and azure without, while it is of a somewhat reddish hue at the extremity of the wings: this bird builds its nest in a hole which it digs to the depth of six feet.
Partridges fortify their retreat so well with thorns and shrubs, that it is effectually protected against beasts of prey. They make a soft bed for their eggs by burying them in the dust, but do not hatch them where they are laid: that no suspicion may arise from the fact of their being seen repeatedly about the same spot, they carry them away to some other place. The females also conceal themselves from their mates, in order that they may not be delayed in the process of incubation, as the males, in consequence of the warmth of their passions, are apt to break the eggs. The males, thus deprived of the females, fall to fighting among themselves; and it is said that the one that is conquered, is treated as a female by the other. Trogus Pompeius tells us that quails and dunghill cocks sometimes do the same; and adds, that wild partridges, when newly caught, or when beaten by the others, are trodden promiscuously by the tame ones. Through the very pugnacity thus inspired by the strength of their passions, these birds are often taken, as the leader of the whole covey frequently advances to fight with the decoy-Bird of the fowler; as soon as he is taken, another and then another will advance, all of which are caught in their turn. The females, again, are caught about the pairing season; for then they will come forward to quarrel with the female decoy-Bird of the fowler, and so drive her away. Indeed, in no other animal is there any such susceptibility in the sexual feelings; if the female only stands opposite to the male, while the wind is blowing from that direction, she will become impregnated; and during this time she is in a state of the greatest excitement, the beak being wide open and the tongue thrust out. The female will conceive also from the action of the air, as the male flies above her, and very often from only hearing his voice: indeed, to such a degree does passion get the better of her affection for her offspring, that although at the moment she is sitting furtively and in concealment, she will, if she perceives the female decoy-Bird of the fowler approaching her mate, call him back, and summon him away from the other, and voluntarily submit to his advances. Indeed, these birds are often carried away by such frantic madness, that they will settle, being quite blinded by fear, upon the very head of the fowler. If he happens to move in the direction of the nest, the female bird that is sitting will run and throw herself before his feet, pretending to be over-heavy, or else weak in the loins, and then, suddenly running or flying for a short distance before him, will fall down as though she had a wing broken, or else her feet; just as he is about to catch her, she will then take another fly, and so keep baffling him in his hopes, until she has led him to a considerable distance from her nest. As soon as she is rid of her fears, and free from all maternal disquietude, she will throw herself on her back in some furrow, and seizing a clod of earth with her claws, cover herself all over. It is supposed that the life of the partridge extends to sixteen years.
 
10 - 52 PIGEONS M
Next to the partridge, it is in the pigeon that similar tendencies are to be seen in the same respect: but then, chastity is especially observed by it, and promiscuous intercourse is a thing quite unknown. Although inhabiting a domicile in common with others, they will none of them violate the laws of conjugal fidelity: not one will desert its nest, unless it is either widower or widow. Although, too, the males are very imperious, and sometimes even extremely exacting, the females put up with it: for in fact, the males sometimes suspect them of infidelity, though by nature they are incapable of it. On such occasions the throat of the male seems quite choked with indignation, and he inflicts severe blows with the beak: and then afterwards, to make some atonement, he falls to billing, and by way of pressing his amorous solicitations, sidles round and round the female with his feet. They both of them manifest an equal degree of affection for their offspring; in- deed, it is not unfrequently that this is a ground for correction, in consequence of the female being too slow in going to her young. When the female is sitting, the male renders her every attention that can in any way tend to her solace and comfort. The first thing that they do is to eject from the throat some saltish earth, which they have digested, into the mouths of the young ones, in order to prepare them in due time to receive their nutriment. It is a peculiarity of the pigeon and of the turtle-dove, not to throw back the neck when drinking, but to take in the water at a long draught, just as beasts of burden do.
(.) We read in some authors that the ring-dove lives so long as thirty years, and sometimes as much as forty, without any other inconvenience than the extreme length of the claws, which with them, in fact, is the chief mark of old age; they can be cut, however, without any danger. The voice of all these birds is similar, being composed of three notes, and then a mournful noise at the end. In winter they are silent, and they only recover their voice in the spring. Nigidius expresses it as his opinion that the ring-dove will abandon the place, if she hears her name mentioned under the roof where she is sitting on her eggs: they hatch their young just after the summer solstice. Pigeons and turtle-doves live eight years. (.) The sparrow, on the other hand, which has an equal degree of salaciousness, is short-lived in the extreme. It is said that the male does not live beyond a year; and as a ground for this belief, it is stated that at the beginning of spring, the black marks are never to be seen upon the beak which began to appear in the summer. The females, however, are said to live somewhat longer. Pigeons have even a certain appreciation of glory. There is reason for believing that they are well aware of the colours of their plumage, and the various shades which it presents, and even in their very mode of flying they court our applause, as they cleave the air in every direction. It is, indeed, through this spirit of ostentation that they are handed over, fast bound as it were, to the hawk; for from the noise that they make, which, in fact, is only produced by the flapping of their wings, their long feathers become twisted and disordered: otherwise, when they can fly without any impediment, they are far swifter in their movements than the hawk. The robber, lurking amid the dense foliage, keeps on the look-out for them, and seizes them at the very moment that they are indulging their vainglorious self-complaisance. (.) It is for this reason that it is necessary to keep along with the pigeons the bird that is known as the "tinnunculus;" as it protects them, and by its natural superiority scares away the hawk; so much so, indeed, that the hawk will vanish at the very sight of it, and the instant it hears its voice. Hence it is that the pigeons have an especial regard for this bird; and, it is said, if one of these birds is buried at each of the four corners of the pigeon-house in pots that have been newly glazed, the pigeons will not change their abode—a result which has been obtained by some by cutting a joint of their wings with an instrument of gold; for if any other were used, the wounds would be not unattended with danger.—The pigeon in general may be looked upon as a bird fond of change; they have the art, too, among themselves of gaining one another over, and so seducing their companions: hence it is that we frequently find them return attended by others which they have enticed away.
 
10 - 53 WONDERFUL THINGS DONE BY THEM; PRICES AT WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN SOLD M
In addition to this, pigeons have acted as messengers in affairs of importance. During the siege of Mutina, Decimus Brutus, who was in the town, sent despatches to the camp of the consuls fastened to pigeons' feet. Of what use to Antony then were his intrenchments, and all the vigilance of the be- sieging army? his nets, too, which he had spread in the river, while the messenger of the besieged was cleaving the air?
Many persons have quite a mania for pigeons—Building towns for them on the top of their roofs, and taking a pleasure in relating the pedigree and noble origin of each. Of this there is an ancient instance that is very remarkable; L. Axius, a Roman of the equestrian order, shortly before the Civil War of Pompeius, sold a single pair for four hundred denarii, as we learn from the writings of M. Varro. Countries even have gained renown for their pigeons; it is thought that those of Campania attain the largest size.
 
10 - 54 DIFFERENT MODES OF FLIGHT AND PROGRESSION IN BIRDS M
The flight of the pigeon also leads me to consider that of other birds as well. All other animals have one determinate mode of progression, which in every kind is always the same; it is birds alone that have two modes of moving-the one on the ground, the other in the air. Some of them walk, such as the crow, for instance; some hop, as the sparrow and the blackbird; some, again, run, as the partridge and the woodhen; while others throw one foot before the other, the stork and the crane, for instance. Then again, in their flight, some birds expand their wings, and, poising themselves in the air, only move them from time to time; others move them more frequently, but then only at the extremities; while others expand them so as to expose the whole of the side. On the other hand, some fly with the greater part of the wings kept close to the side; and some, after striking the air once, others twice, make their way through it, as though pressing upon it enclosed beneath their wings; other birds dart aloft in a vertical direction, others horizontally, and others come falling straight downwards. You would almost think that some had been hurled upwards with a violent effort, and that others, again, had fallen straight down from aloft; while others are seen to spring forward in their flight. Ducks alone, and the other birds of that kind, in an instant raise themselves aloft, taking a spring from the spot where they stand straight upwards towards the heavens; and this they can do from out of the water even; hence it is that they are the only birds that can make their escape from the pitfalls which we employ for the capture of wild beasts.
The vulture and the heavier wild birds can only fly after taking a run, or else by commencing their flight from an elevated spot. They use the tail by way of rudder. There are some birds that are able to see all around them; others, again, have to turn the neck to do so. Some of them eat what they have seized, holding it in their feet. Many, as they fly, utter some cry; while on the other hand, many, in their flight, are silent. Some fly with the breast half upright, others with it held downwards, others fly obliquely, or else side-ways, and others following the direction of the bill. Some, again, are borne along with the head upwards; indeed the fact is, that if we were to see several kinds at the same moment, we should not suppose that they have to make their way in the same element.
 
10 - 55 BIRDS CALLED APODES, OR CYPSELI M
Those birds which are known as "apodes" fly the most of all, because they are deprived of the use of their feet. By some persons they are called "cypseli." They are a species of swallow which build their nests in the rocks, and are the same birds that are to be seen everywhere at sea; indeed, however far a ship may go, however long its voyage, and however great the distance from land, the apodes never cease to hover around it. Other birds settle and come to a stand, whereas these know no repose but in the nest; they are always either on the wing or else asleep.
 
10 - 56 RESPECTING FOOD OF BIRDS– CAPRI- MULGUS, PLATEA M
The instincts, also, of birds are no less varied, and more especially in relation to their food. "Caprimulgus is the name of a bird, which is to all appearance a large blackbird; it thieves by night, as it cannot see during the day. It enters the folds of the shepherds, and makes straight for the udder of the she-goat, to suck the milk. Through the injury thus inflicted the udder shrivels away, and the goat that has been thus deprived of its milk, is afflicted with incipient blindness.
"Platea" is the name of another, which pounces upon other birds when they have dived in the sea, and, seizing the head with its bill, makes them let go their prey. This bird also swallows and fills itself with shell-fish, shells and all; after the natural heat of its crop has softened them, it brings them up again, and then picking out the shells from the rest, selects the parts that are fit for food.
 
10 - 57 INSTINCTS OF BIRDS: CARDUELIS, TAURUS, ANTHUS M
The farm-yard fowls have also a certain notion of religion; upon laying an egg they shudder all over, and then shake their feathers; after which they turn round and purify themselves, or else hallow themselves and their eggs with some stalk or other. (.) The carduelis, which is the very smallest bird of any, will do what it is bid, not only with the voice but with the feet as well, and with the beak, which serves it instead of hands. There is one bird, found in the territory of Arelate, that imitates the lowing of oxen, from which circumstance it has received the name of "taurus." In other respects it is of small size. Another bird, called the "anthus," imitates the neighing of the horse; upon being driven from the pasture by the approach of the horses, it will mimic their voices-and this is the method it takes of revenging itself.
 
10 - 58 BIRDS WHICH SPEAK-THE PARROT M
But above all, there are some birds that can imitate the human voice; the parrot, for instance, which can even converse. India sends us this bird, which it calls by the name of "sittaces;" the body is green all over, only it is marked with a ring of red around the neck. It will duly salute an emperor, and pronounce the words it has heard spoken; it is rendered especially frolicsome under the influence of wine. Its head is as hard as its beak; and this, when it is being taught to talk, is beaten with a rod of iron, for otherwise it is quite insensible to blows. When it lights on the ground it falls upon its beak, and by resting upon it makes itself all the lighter for its feet, which are naturally weak.
Hence the Latin name "psittacus." From this, Cuvier thinks that the first known among these birds to the Greeks and Romans, was the green perroquet with a ringed neck, the Psittacus Alexandri of Linnæus.
 
10 - 59 PIE WHICH FEEDS ON ACORNS M
The magpie is much less famous for its talking qualities than the parrot, because it does not come from a distance, and yet it can speak with much more distinctness. These birds love to hear words spoken which they can utter; and not only do they learn them, but are pleased at the task; and as they con them over to themselves with the greatest care and attention, make no secret of the interest they feel. It is a well-known fact, that a magpie has died before now, when it has found itself mastered by a difficult word that it could not pronounce. Their memory, however, will fail them if they do not from time to time hear the same word repeated; and while they are trying to recollect it, they will show the most extravagant joy, if they happen to hear it. Their appearance, although there is nothing remarkable in it, is by no means plain; but they have quite sufficient beauty in their singular ability to imitate the human speech.
It is said, however, that it is only the kind of pie which feeds upon acorns that can be taught to speak; and that among these, those which have five toes on each foot can be taught with the greatest facility; but in their case even, only during the first two years of their life. The magpie has a broader tongue than is usual with most other birds; which is the case also with all the other birds that can imitate the human voice; although some individuals of almost every kind have the faculty of doing so. Agrippina, the wife of Claudius Cæsar, had a thrush that could imitate human speech, a thing that was never known before. At the moment that I am writing this, the young Cæsars have a starling and some nightingales that are being taught to talk in Greek and Latin; besides which, they are studying their task the whole day, continually repeating the new words that they have learnt, and giving utterance to phrases even of considerable length. Birds are taught to talk in a retired spot, and where no other voice can be heard, so as to interfere with their lesson; a person sits by them, and continually repeats the words he wishes them to learn, while at the same time he encourages them by giving them food.
 
10 - 60 SEDITION THAT AROSE AMONG THE ROMAN PEOPLE, IN CONSEQUENCE OF A RAVEN SPEAKING M
Let us do justice, also, to the raven, whose merits have been attested not only by the sentiments of the Roman people, but by the strong expression, also, of their indignation. In the reign of Tiberius, one of a brood of ravens that had bred on the top of the temple of Castor, happened to fly into a shoemaker's shop that stood opposite: upon which, from a feeling of religious veneration, it was looked upon as doubly recommended by the owner of the place. The bird, having been taught to speak at an early age, used every morning to fly to the Rostra, which look towards the Forum; here, addressing each by his name, it would salute Tiberius, and then the Cæsars Germanicus and Drusus, after which it would proceed to greet the Roman populace as they passed, and then return to the shop: for several years it was remarkable for the constancy of its attendance. The owner of another shoemaker's shop in the neighbourhood, in a sudden fit of anger killed the bird, enraged, as he would have had it appear, because with its ordure it had soiled some shoes of his. Upon this, there was such rage manifested by the multitude, that he was at once driven from that part of the city, and soon after put to death. The funeral, too, of the bird was celebrated with almost endless obsequies; the body was placed upon a litter carried upon the shoulders of two Æthiopians, preceded by a piper, and borne to the pile with garlands of every size and description. The pile was erected on the right-hand side of the Appian Way, at the second milestone from the City, in the field gene- rally known as the "field of Rediculus." Thus did the rare talent of a bird appear a sufficient ground to the Roman people for honouring it with funeral obsequies, as well as for inflicting punishment on a Roman citizen; and that, too, in a city in which no such crowds had ever escorted the funeral of any one out of the whole number of its distinguished men, and where no one had been found to avenge the death of Scipio Æmilianus, the man who had destroyed Carthage and Numantia. This event happened in the consulship of M. Servilius and Caius Cestius, on the fifth day before the calends of April.
At the present day also, the moment that I am writing this, there is in the city of Rome a crow which belongs to a Roman of equestrian rank, and was brought from Bætica. In the first place, it is remarkable for its colour, which is of the deepest black, and at the same time it is able to pronounce several connected words, while it is repeatedly learning fresh ones. Recently, too, there has been a story told about Craterus, surnamed Monoceros, in Erizena, a country of Asia, who was in the habit of hunting with the assistance of ravens, and used to carry them into the woods, perched on the tuft of his helmet and on his shoulders. The birds used to keep on the watch for game, and raise it; and by training he had brought this art to such a pitch of perfection, that even the wild ravens would attend him in a similar manner when he went out. Some authors have thought the following circumstance deserving of remembrance:—A crow that was thirsty was seen heaping stones into the urn on a monument, in which there was some rain-water which it could not reach: and so, being afraid to go down to the water, by thus accumulating the stones, it caused as much water to come within its reach as was necessary to satisfy its thirst.
 
10 - 61 BIRDS OF DIOMEDES M
Nor yet must I pass by the birds of Diomedes in silence. Juba calls these birds "cataractæ," and says that they have teeth and eyes of a fiery colour, while the rest of the body is white: that they always have two chiefs, the one to lead the main body, the other to take charge of the rear; that they excavate holes with their bills, and then cover them with hurdles, which they cover again with the earth that has been thus thrown up; that it is in these places they hatch their young; that each of these holes has two outlets; that one of them looks towards the east, and that by it they go forth to feed, returning by the one which looks towards the west; and that when about to ease themselves, they always take to the wing, and fly against the wind. In one spot only throughout the whole earth are these birds to be seen, in the island, namely, which we have mentioned as famous for the tomb and shrine of Diomedes, lying over against the coast of Apulia: they bear a strong resemblance to the coot. When strangers who are barbarians arrive on that island, they pursue them with loud and clamorous cries, and only show courtesy to Greeks by birth; seeming thereby, with a wonderful discernment, to pay respect to them as the fellow-countrymen of Diomedes. Every day they fill their throats, and cover their feathers, with water, and so wash and purify the temple there. From this circumstance arises the fable that the companions of Diomedes were metamorphosed into these birds.
 
10 - 62 ANIMALS THAT CAN LEARN NOTHING M
We ought not to omit, while we are speaking of instincts, that among birds the swallow is quite incapable of being taught, and among land animals the mouse; while on the other hand, the elephant does what it is ordered, the lion submits to the yoke, and the sea-calf and many kinds of fishes are capable of being tamed.
 
10 - 63 MODE OF DRINKING WITH BIRDS. THE PORPHYRIO M
Birds drink by suction; those which have a long neck taking their drink in a succession of draughts, and throwing the head back, as though they were pouring the water down the throat. The porphyrio is the only bird that seems to bite at the water as it drinks. The same bird has also other peculiarities of its own; for it will every now and then dip its food in the water, and then lift it with its foot to its bill, using it as a hand. Those that are the most esteemed are found in Commagene. They have beaks and very long legs, of a red colour.
 
10 - 64 HÆMATOPOUS M
There are the same characteristics in the hæmatopous also, a bird of much smaller size, although standing as high on the legs. It is a native of Egypt, and has three toes on each foot; flies forming its principal food. If brought to Italy, it survives for a few days only.
 
10 - 65 FOOD OF BIRDS M
All the heavy birds are frugivorous; while those with a higher flight feed upon flesh only. Among the aquatic birds, the divers are in the habit of devouring what the other birds have disgorged.
 
10 - 66 PELICAN M
The pelican is similar in appearance to the swan, and it would be thought that there was no difference between them whatever, were it not for the fact that under the throat there is a sort of second crop, as it were. It is in this that the everinsatiate animal stows everything away, so much so, that the capacity of this pouch is quite astonishing. After having finished its search for prey, it discharges bit by bit what it has thus stowed away, and reconveys it by a sort of ruminating process into its real stomach. The part of Gallia that lies nearest to the Northern Ocean produces this bird.
 
10 - 67 FOREIGN BIRDS: PHALERIDES, PHEASANT & NUMIDICÆ M
In the Hercynian Forest, in Germany, we hear of a singular kind of bird, the feathers of which shine at night like fire; the other birds there have nothing remarkable beyond the celebrity which generally attaches to objects situate at a distance.
(.) The phalerides, the most esteemed of all the aquatic birds, are found at Seleucia, the city of the Parthians of that name, and in Asia as well; and again, in Colchis, there is the pheasant, a bird with two tufts of feathers like ears, which it drops and raises every now and then. The numidicæ come from Numidia, a part of Africa: all these varieties are now to be found in Italy.
 
10 - 68 PEŒNICOPTERITS, ATTAGEN, PHALACRO- CORAX, PYBRHOCORAX, & LAGOPUS M
Apicius, that very deepest whirlpool of all our epicures, has informed us that the tongue of the phœnicopterus is of the most exquisite flavour. The attagen, also, of Ionia is a famous bird; but although it has a voice at other times, it is mute in captivity. It was formerly reckoned among the rare birds, but at the present day it is found in Gallia, Spain, and in the Alps even; which is also the case with the phalacrocorax, a bird peculiar to the Balearic Isles, as the pyrrhocorax, a black bird with a yellow bill, is to the Alps, and the lagopus, which is esteemed for its excellent flavour. This last bird derives its name from its feet, which are covered, as it were, with the fur of a hare, the rest of the body being white, and the size of a pigeon. It is not an easy matter to taste it out of its native country, as it never becomes domesticated, and when dead it quickly spoils.
There is another bird also, which has the same name, and only differs from the quail in size; it is of a saffron colour, and is most delicate eating. Egnatius Calvinus, who was prefect there, pretends that he has seen in the Alps the ibis also, a bird that is peculiar to Egypt.
 
10 - 69 NEW BIRDS. THE VIPIO M
During the civil wars that took place at Bebriacum, beyond the river Padus, the "new birds" were introduced into Italy —for by that name they are still known. They resemble the thrush in appearance, are a little smaller than the pigeon in size, and of an agreeable flavour. The Balearic islands also send us a porphyrio, that is superior to the one previously mentioned. There the buteo, a kind of hawk, is held in high esteem for the table, as also the vipio, the name given to a small kind of crane.
 
10 - 70 FABULOUS BIRDS M
I look upon the birds as fabulous which are called "pegasi," and are said to have a horse's head; as also the griffons, with long ears and a hooked beak. The former are said to be natives of Scythia, the latter of Æthiopia. The same is my opinion, also, as to the tragopan; many writers, however, assert that it is larger than the eagle, has curved horns on the temples, and a plumage of iron colour, with the exception of the head, which is purple. Nor yet do the sirens obtain any greater credit with me, although Dinon, the father of Clearchus, a celebrated writer, asserts that they exist in India, and that they charm men by their song, and, having first lulled them to sleep, tear them to pieces. The person, however, who may think fit to believe in these tales, may probably not refuse to believe also that dragons licked the ears of Melampodes, and bestowed upon him the power of understanding the language of birds; as also what Democritus says, when he gives the names of certain birds, by the mixture of whose blood a serpent is produced, the person who eats of which will be able to understand the language of birds; as well as the statements which the same writer makes relative to one bird in particular, known as the "galerita,"—indeed, the science of augury is already too much involved in embarrassing questions, without these fanciful reveries.
There is a kind of bird spoken of by Homer as the "scops:" but I cannot very easily comprehend the grotesque movements which many persons have attributed to it, when the fowler is laying snares for it; nor, indeed, is it a bird that is any longer known to exist. It will be better, therefore, to confine my relation to those the existence of which is generally admitted.
 
10 - 71 WHO 1ST INVENTED ART OF CRAMMING POULTRY: WHY 1ST CENSORS FORBADE THIS PRACTICE M
The people of Delos were the first to cram poultry; and it is with them that originated that abominable mania for devouring fattened birds, larded with the grease of their own bodies. I find in the ancient sumptuary regulations as to banquets, that this was forbidden for the first time by a law of the consul Caius Fannius, eleven years before the Third Punic War; by which it was ordered that no bird should be served at table beyond a single pullet, and that not fattened; an article which has since made its appearance in all the sumptuary laws. A method, however, has been devised of evading it, by feeding poultry upon food that has been soaked in milk: prepared in this fashion, they are considered even still more delicate. All pullets, however, are not looked upon as equally good for the purposes of fattening, and only those are selected which have a fatty skin about the neck. Then, too, come all the arts of the kitchen-that the thighs may have a nice plump appearance, that the bird may be properly divided down the back, and that poultry may be brought to such a size that a single leg shall fill a whole platter. The Parthians, too, have taught their fashions to our cooks; and yet after all, in spite of their refinements in luxury, no article is found to please equally in every part, for in one it is the thigh, and in another the breast only, that is esteemed.
 
10 - 72 WHO FIRST INVENTED AVIARIES. DISH OF ÆSOPUS M
The first person who invented aviaries for the reception of all kinds of birds was M. Lænius Strabo, a member of the equestrian order, who resided at Brundisium. It was in his time that we thus began to imprison animals to which Nature had assigned the heavens as their element.
(.) But more remarkable than anything in this respect, is the story of the dish of Clodius Æsopus, the tragic actor, which was valued at one hundred thousand sesterces, and in which were served up nothing but birds that had been remarkable for their song, or their imitation of the human voice, and purchased, each of them, at the price of six thousand sesterces; he being induced to this folly by no other pleasure than that in these he might eat the closest imitators of man; never for a moment reflecting that his own immense fortune had been acquired by the advantages of his voice; a parent, indeed, right worthy of the son of whom we have already made mention, as swallowing pearls. It would not, to say the truth, be very easy to come to a conclusion which of the two was guilty of the greatest baseness; unless, indeed, we are ready to admit that it was less unseemly to banquet upon the most costly of all the productions of Nature, than to devour tongues which had given utterance to the language of man.
 
10 - 73 GENERATION OF BIRDS: OTHER OVIPAROUS ANIMALS M
The generation of birds would appear to be very simple, while at the same time it has its own peculiar marvels. Indeed, there are quadrupeds as well that produce eggs, the chameleon, for instance, the lizard, and those of the serpent tribe of which we have previously spoken. Of the feathered race, those which have hooked talons are comparatively unprolific; the cenchris being the only one among them that lays more than four eggs. Nature has so ordained it in the birds, that the timid ones should be more prolific than those which are courageous. The ostrich, the common fowl, and the partridge, are the only birds that lay eggs in considerable numbers. Birds have two modes of coupling, the female crouching on the ground, as in the barn-door fowl, or else standing, as is the case with the crane.
 
10 - 74 VARIOUS KINDS OF EGGS, AND THEIR NATURE M
Some eggs are white, as those of the pigeon and partridge, for instance; others are of a pale colour, as in the aquatic birds: others, again, are dotted all over with spots, as is the case with those of the meleagris; others are red, like those of the pheasant and the cenchris. In the inside, the eggs of all birds are of two colours; those of the aquatic kind have more of the yellow than the white, and the yellow is of a paler tint than in those of other birds. Among fish, the eggs are of the same colour throughout, there being, in fact, no white. The eggs of birds are of a brittle nature, in consequence of the natural heat of the animal, while those of serpents are supple, in consequence of their coldness, and those of fish soft, from their natural humidity. Again, the eggs of aquatic birds are round, while those of most other kinds are elongated, and taper to a point. Eggs are laid with the round end foremost, and at the moment that they are laid the shell is soft, but it immediately grows hard, as each portion becomes exposed to the air. Horatius Flaccus expresses it as his opinion that those eggs which are of an oblong shape are of the most agreeable flavour. The rounder eggs are those which produce the female, the others the male. The umbilical cord is in the upper part of the egg, like a drop floating on the surface in the shell.
(.) There are some birds that couple at all seasons of the year, barn-door fowls, for instance; they lay, too, at all times, with the exception of two months at mid-winter. Pullets lay more eggs than the older hens, but then they are smaller. In the same brood those chickens are the smallest that are hatched the first and the last. These animals, indeed, are so prolific, that some of them will lay as many as sixty eggs, some daily, some twice a day, and some in such vast numbers that they have been known to die from exhaustion. Those known as the "Adrianæ," are the most esteemed. Pigeons sit ten times a year, and some of them eleven, and in Egypt during the month of the winter solstice even. Swallows, blackbirds, ring-doves, and turtle-doves sit twice a year, most other birds only once. Thrushes make their nests of mud, in the tops of trees, almost touching one another, and lay during the time of their retirement. The egg comes to maturity in the ovary ten days after treading; but if the hen or pigeon is tormented by pulling out the feathers, or by the infliction of any injury of a similar nature, the maturing of the egg is retarded. In the middle of the yolk of every egg there is what appears to be a little drop of blood; this is supposed to be the heart of the chicken, it being the general belief that that part is formed the first in every animal: at all events, while in the egg this speck is seen to throb and palpitate. The body of the animal itself is formed from the white fluid in the egg; while the yellow part constitutes its food. The head in every kind, while in the shell, is larger than the rest of the body; the eyes, too, are closed, and are larger than the other parts of the head. As the chicken grows, the white gradually passes to the middle of the egg, while the yellow is spread around it. On the twentieth day, if the egg is shaken, the voice of the now living animal can be heard in the shell. From this time it gradually becomes clothed with feathers; and its position is such that it has the head above the right foot, and the right wing above the head: the yolk in the meantime gradually disappears. All birds are born with the feet first, while with every other animal the contrary is the case. Some hens lay all their eggs with two yolks, and sometimes hatch twin chickens from the same egg, one being larger than the other, according to Cornelius Celsus: other writers, however, deny the possibility of twin chickens being hatched. It is a rule never to give a brood hen more than twenty-five eggs to sit upon at once. Hens begin to lay immediately after the winter solstice. The best broods are those which are hatched before the vernal equinox: chickens that are hatched after the summer solstice, never attain their full growth, and the more so, the later they are produced.
 
10 - 75 DEFECTS IN BROOD-HENS, AND THEIR REMEDIES M
Those eggs which have been laid within the last ten days, are the best for putting under the hen; old ones, or those which have just been laid, will be unfruitful; an uneven number also ought to be placed. On the fourth day after the hen has begun to sit, if, upon taking an egg with one hand by the two ends and holding it up to the light, it is found to be clear and of one uniform colour, it is most likely to be barren, and another should be substituted in its place. There is also a way of testing them by means of water; an empty egg will float on the surface, while those that fall to the bottom, or, in other words, are full, should be placed under the hen. Care must be taken, however, not to make trial by shaking them, for if the organs which are necessary for life become confused, they will come to nothing. Incubation ought to begin just after the new moon; for, if commenced before, the eggs will be unproductive. The chickens are hatched sooner if the weather is warm: hence it is that in summer they break the shell on the nineteenth day, but in winter on the twenty-fifth only. If it happens to thunder during the time of incubation, the eggs are addled, and if the cry of a hawk is heard they are spoilt. The best remedy against the effects of thunder, is to put an iron nail beneath the straw on which the eggs are laid, or else some earth from off a ploughshare. Some eggs, however, are hatched by the spontaneous action of Nature, without the process of incubation, as is the case in the dung-hills of Egypt. There is a well-known story related about a man at Syracuse, who was in the habit of covering eggs with earth, and then continuing his drinking bout till they were hatched.
 
10 - 76 UGURY DERIVED FROM EGGS BY AN EMPRESS M
And, what is even more singular still, eggs can be hatched also by a human being. Julia Augusta, when pregnant in her early youth of Tiberius Cæsar, by Nero, was particularly desirous that her offspring should be a son, and accordingly employed the following mode of divination, which was then much in use among young women: she carried an egg in her bosom, taking care, whenever she was obliged to put it down, to give it to her nurse to warm in her own, that there might be no interruption in the heat: it is stated that the result promised by this mode of augury was not falsified.
It was perhaps from this circumstance, that the modern invention took its rise, of placing eggs in a warm spot and covering them with chaff, the heat being maintained by a moderate fire, while in the meantime a man is employed in turning them. By the adoption of this plan, the young, all of them, break the shell on a stated day. There is a story told of a breeder of poultry, of such remarkable skill, that on seeing an egg he could tell which hen had laid it. It is said also that when a hen has happened to die while sitting, the males have been seen to take her place in turns, and perform all the other duties of a brood-hen, taking care in the meantime to abstain from crowing. But the most remarkable thing of all, is the sight of a hen, beneath which ducks' eggs have been put and hatched.— At first, she is unable to quite recognize the brood as her own, while in her anxiety she gives utterance to her clucking as she doubtfully calls them; then at last she will stand at the margin of the pond, uttering her laments, while the ducklings, with Nature for their guide, are diving beneath the water.
 
10 - 77 BEST KINDS OF FOWLS M
The breed of a fowl is judged of by the erectness of the crest, which is sometimes double, its black wings, reddish beak, and toes of unequal number, there being sometimes a fifth placed transversely above the other four. For the purposes of divination, those that have a yellow beak and feet are not considered pure; while for the secret rites of Bona Dea, black ones are chosen. There is also a dwarf species of fowl, which is not barren either; a thing that is the case with no other kind of bird. These dwarfs, however, rarely lay at any stated periods, and their incubation is productive of injury to the eggs.
 
10 - 78 DISEASES OF FOWLS, AND THEIR REMEDIES M
The most dangerous malady with every kind of fowl is that known as the "pituita;" which is prevalent more particularly between the times of harvest and vintage. The mode of treatment is to put them on a spare diet, and to expose them, while asleep, to the action of smoke, and more especially that of bay leaves or of the herb called savin. A feather also is inserted, and passed across through the nostrils, care being taken to move it every day; while their food consists of leeks mixed with speltmeal, or else is first soaked in water in which an owlet has been dipped, or boiled together with the seeds of the white vine. There are also some other receipts besides.
 
10 - 79 WHEN BIRDS LAY, & HOW MANY EGGS. VARIOUS KINDS OF HERONS M
Pigeons have the peculiarity of billing before they couple; they generally lay two eggs, Nature so willing it, that among birds the produce should be more frequent with some, and more numerous with others. The ring-dove and turtle-dove mostly lay three eggs, and never more than twice, in the spring; such being the case when the first brood has been lost. Although they may happen to lay three eggs, they never hatch more than two; the third egg, which is barren, is generally known by the name of "urinum." The female ring-dove sits on the eggs from mid-day till morning, the male the rest of the time. Pigeons always produce a male and a female; the male first, the female the day after. Both the male and the female pigeon sit on the eggs; the male in the day-time, the female during the night. They hatch on the twentieth day of incubation, and lay the fifth day after coupling. Sometimes, indeed, in summer, these birds will rear three couples in two months; for then they hatch on the eighteenth day of incubation, and immediately conceive again; hence it is that eggs are often found among the young ones, some of which last are just taking wing, while others are only bursting the shell. The young ones, themselves, begin to produce at the age of five months. The females, if there should happen to be no male among them, will even tread each other, and lay barren eggs, from which nothing is produced. By the Greeks, these eggs are called "hypenemia.
(.) The pea-hen produces at three years old. In the first year she will lay one or two eggs, in the next four or five, and in the remaining years twelve, but never beyond that number. She lays for two or three days at intervals, and will produce three broods in the year, if care is taken to put the eggs under a common hen. The males are apt to break the eggs in getting at the females while sitting, and hence it is that the pea-hen lays by night, and in secret places, or else sits on her eggs in an elevated spot; the eggs will break, too, unless they are received upon some surface that is soft. One male is sufficient for every five females; when there are only one or two females to a male, all chance of their being prolific is spoilt through their extreme salaciousness. The young breaks the shell in twenty-seven days, or, at the very latest, on the thirtieth. Geese pair in the water, and lay in spring; or, if they have paired in the winter, they lay about forty eggs, after the summer solstice. The hatching takes place twice in the year, if a hen hatches the first brood; otherwise, their greatest number of eggs will be sixteen, their lowest seven. If their eggs are taken away from them, they will keep on laying until they burst; they will not hatch the eggs of any other birds. The best number of eggs for placing under the goose for hatching, is nine, or else eleven. The females only sit, and that for thirty days; but if they are kept very warm, then only twenty-five. The contact of the nettle is fatal to their young, and their own greediness is no less so-sometimes, through overeating, and sometimes through over-exertion; for seizing the root of a plant with the bill, they will make repeated efforts to tear it out of the ground, and so, at last, dislocate the neck. A remedy against the noxious effects of the nettle, is to place the root of that plant under the straw of their nest. There are three kinds of herons, called, respectively, the leucon, the asterias, and the pellos. These birds experience great pain in coupling; uttering loud cries, the males bleed from the eyes, while the females lay their eggs with no less difficulty. The eagle sits for thirty days, as do most of the larger birds; the smaller ones, the kite and the hawk for instance, only twenty. The eagle mostly lays but one egg, never more than three. The bird which is known as the "ægolios," lays four, and the raven sometimes five; they sit, too, the same number of days as the kite and the hawk. The male crow provides the female with food while she is sitting. The magpie lays nine eggs, the malancoryphus more than twenty, but always an uneven number, and no bird of this kind ever lays more; so much superior in fecundity are the smaller birds. The young ones of the swallow are blind at first, as is the case also with almost all the birds the progeny of which is numerous.
 
10 - 80 WHAT EGGS ARE CALLED HYPENEMIA, AND WHAT CYNOSURA. HOW EGGS ARE BEST KEPT M
The barren eggs, which we have mentioned as "hypenemia," are either conceived by the females when they are influenced by libidinous fancies, and couple with one another, or else at the moment when they are rolling themselves in the dust; they are produced not only by the pigeon, but by the common hen as well, the partridge, the pea-hen, the goose, and the chenalopex; these eggs are barren, smaller than the others, of a less agreeable flavour, and more humid. There are some who think that they are generated by the wind, for which reason they give them the name of "zephyria." The eggs known as "urina," and which by some are called "cy- nosura, are only laid in the spring, and at a time when the hen has discontinued sitting. Eggs, if soaked in vinegar, are rendered so soft thereby, that they may be twisted round the finger like a ring. The best method of preserving them is to keep them packed in bean-meal, or chaff, during the winter, and in bran during the summer. It is a general belief, that if kept in salt, they will lose their contents.
 
10 - 81 ONLY WINGED ANIMAL THAT IS VIVIPAROUS, AND NURTURES ITS YOUNG WITH ITS MILK M
Among the winged animals, the only one that is viviparous is the bat; it is the only one, too, that has wings formed of a membrane. This is, also, the only winged creature that feeds its young with milk from the breast. The mother clasps her two young ones as she flies, and so carries them along with her. This animal, too, is said to have but one joint in the haunch, and to be particularly fond of gnats.
 
10 - 82 TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS THAT ARE OVIPAROUS.— VARIOUS KINDS OF SERPENTS M
Again, among the terrestrial animals, there are the serpents that are oviparous; of which, as yet, we have not spoken. These creatures couple by clasping each other, and entwine so closely around one another, that they might be taken for only one animal with two heads. The male viper thrusts its head into the mouth of the female, which gnaws it in the transports of its passion. This, too, is the only one among the terrestrial animals that lays eggs within its body—of one colour, and soft, like those of fishes. On the third day it hatches its young in the uterus, and then excludes them, one every day, and generally twenty in number; the last ones become so impatient of their confinement, that they force a passage through the sides of their parent, and so kill her. Other serpents, again, lay eggs attached to one another, and then bury them in the earth; the young being hatched in the following year. Crocodiles sit on their eggs in turns, first the male, and then the female. But let us now turn to the generation of the rest of the terrestrial animals.
 
10 - 83 GENERATION OF ALL KINDS OF TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS M
The only one among the bipeds that is viviparous is man. Man is the only animal that repents of his first embraces; sad augury, indeed, of life, that its very origin should thus cause repentance! Other animals have stated times in the year for their embraces; but man, as we have already observed, em- ploys for this purpose all hours both of day and night; other animals become sated with venereal pleasures, man hardly knows any satiety. Messalina, the wife of Claudius Cæsar, thinking this a palm quite worthy of an empress, selected, for the purpose of deciding the question, one of the most notorious of the women who followed the profession of a hired prostitute; and the empress outdid her, after continuous intercourse, night and day, at the twenty-fifth embrace. In the human race also, the men have devised various substitutes for the more legitimate exercise of passion, all of which outrage Nature; while the females have recourse to abortion. How much more guilty than the brute beasts are we in this respect! Hesiod has stated that men are more lustful in winter, women in summer.
Coupling is performed back to back by the elephant, the camel, the tiger, the lynx, the rhinoceros, the lion, the dasy- pus, and the rabbit, the genital parts of all which animals lie far back. Camels even seek desert places, or, at all events, spots of a retired nature; and to come upon them on such an occasion is not unattended with danger. Coupling, with them, lasts a whole day; the only animal, indeed, of all those with solid hoofs, with which such is the case. Among the quadrupeds, it is the smell that excites the passions of the male. In this act, dogs also, seals, and wolves turn back to back, and remain attached, though greatly against their will. In the greater part of the animals above mentioned, the females solicit the males; in some, however, the males the females. As to bears, they lie down, like the human race, as previously mentioned by us; while hedgehogs embrace standing upright. In cats, the male stands above, while the female assumes a crouching posture; foxes lie on the side, the female embracing the male. In the case of the cow and the hind, the female is unable to endure the violence of the male, consequently she keeps in motion during the time of coupling. The buck goes from one hind to another in turn, and then comes back to the first. Lizards couple entwined around each other, like the animals without feet. All animals, the larger they are in bulk, are proportionably less prolific: the elephant, the camel, and the horse produce but one, while the acanthis, a very small bird, produces twelve. Those animals, also, which are the most prolific, are the shortest time in breeding. The larger an animal is, the longer is the time required for its formation in the womb; those, also, which are the longest-lived, require the longest gestation; the growing age, too, is not suitable for the purposes of generation. Those animals which have solid hoofs bear but a single young one, while those which have cloven hoofs bear two. Those, again, whose feet are divided into toes, have a still more numerous offspring; but, while the others bring forth their young perfect, these last bear them in an unformed state, such, for instance, as the lioness and the she—Bear. The fox also brings forth its young in an even more imperfect state than these; it is a very uncommon thing, however, to find it whelping. After the birth, these animals warm their young by licking them, and thereby give them their proper shape; they mostly produce four at a birth. The dog, the wolf, the panther, and the jackal produce their young blind. There are several kinds of dogs; those of Laconia, of both sexes, are ready for breeding in the eighth month, and the females carry their young sixty or sixty-three days at most; other dogs are fit for breeding when only six months old; the female, in all cases, becomes pregnant at the first congress. Those which have conceived before the proper age, bear pups which are longer blind, though not all the same number of days. It is thought that dogs, in general, lift the leg when they water at six months old; this, too, is looked upon as a sign that they have attained their full growth and strength; when doing this, the female squats. The most numerous litters known consist of twelve, but more generally five or six is the number; sometimes, indeed, only one is pro- dued, but then it is looked upon as a prodigy, and the same is the case, too, when all the pups are of one sex. In the dog, the males come into the world first, but in other animals, the two sexes are born alternately. The female admits the male again six months after she has littered. Those of the Laconian breed bear eight young ones. It is a peculiarity in this kind, that after undergoing great labour, the males are remarkable for their salacity. In the Laconian breed the male lives ten years, the female twelve; while other kinds, again, live fifteen years, and sometimes as much as twenty; but they are not fit for breeding to the end of their life, as they generally cease at about the twelfth year. The cat and the ichneumon are, in other respects, like the dog; but they only live six years. The dasypus brings forth every month in the year, and is subject to superfœtation, like the hare. It conceives immediately after it has littered, even though it is still suckling its young, which are blind at their birth. The elephant, as we have already stated, produces but one, and that the size of a calf three months old. The gestation of the camel lasts twelve months; the female conceives when three years old, and brings forth in the spring; at the end of a year from that time, she is ready to conceive again. It is thought advisable to have the mare covered so soon as three days, and indeed, sometimes, only one, after she has foaled; and, however unwilling she may be, means are taken to compel her. It is believed also, that it is by no means an uncommon thing for a woman to conceive on the seventh day after her delivery. It is recommended that the manes of mares should be cut, so as to humble their pride, in order to make them submit to be covered by the male ass; for when the mane is long, they are liable to be proud and vain. This is the only animal, the female of which, after covering, runs, facing the north or the south, according as she has conceived a male or a female. They change their colour immediately after, and the hair becomes of a redder hue, and deeper, whatever the colour may naturally be; it is this that indicates that they must no longer be covered, and they, themselves, will even resist it. Gestation does not, however, preclude some of them from being worked, and they are often with foal long before it is known. We read that the mare of Echecrates, the Thessalian, conquered at the Olympic games, while with foal. Those who are more careful enquirers into these matters, tell us that in the horse, the dog, and the swine, the males are most ardent for sexual intercourse in the morning, while the female seeks the society of the male after mid-day. They say also, that mares in harness desire the horse sixty days sooner than those that live in herds; that it is swine only that foam at the mouth during the time of coupling; and that a boar, if it hears the voice of a sow in heat, will refuse to take its food, —to such a degree, indeed, as to starve itself, if it is not allowed to cover—while the female is reduced to such a state of frantic madness, as to attack and tear a man, more especially if wearing a white garment. This frenzy, however, is appeased by sprinkling vinegar on the sexual parts. It is supposed also that salacity is promoted by certain aliments; the herb rocket, for instance, in the case of man, and onions in that of cattle. Wild animals that have been tamed, do not conceive, the goose, for instance; the wild boar and the stag will only produce late in life, and even then they must have been taken and tamed when very young; a singular fact. The pregnant females, among the quadrupeds, refuse the male, with the exception, indeed, of the mare and the sow; superfœtation, however, takes place in none but the dasypus and the hare.
 
10 - 84 POSITION OF ANIMALS IN THE UTERUS M
All those animals that are viviparous produce their young with the head first, the young animal about the time of yeaning turning itself round in the womb, where at other times it lies extended at full length. Quadrupeds during the time of gestation have the legs extended, and lying close to the belly; while, on the other hand, man is gathered up into a ball, with the nose between the knees. With reference to moles, of which we have previously spoken, it is supposed that they are produced when a female has conceived, not by a male, but of herself only. Hence it is that there is no vitality in this false conception, because it does not proceed from the conjunction of the two sexes; and it has only that sort of vegetative existence in itself which we see in plants and trees.
(.) Of all those which produce their young in a perfect state, the swine is the only one that bears them in considerable numbers as well; and, indeed, several times in the year a thing that is contrary to the usual nature of animals with a solid or cloven hoof.
 
10 - 85 ANIMALS WHOSE ORIGIN IS STILL UNKNOWN M
But it is mice that surpass all the other animals in fecundity; and it is not without some hesitation that I speak of them, although I have Aristotle and some of the officers of Alexander the Great for my authority. It is said that these animals generate by licking one another, and not by copulation. They have related cases where a single female has given birth to one hundred and twenty young ones, and in Persia some were found, even pregnant themselves, while yet in the womb of the parent. It is believed also that these animals will become pregnant on tasting salt. Hence we find that we have no longer any reason to wonder how such vast multitudes of field-mice devastate the standing corn; though it is still a mystery, with reference to them, in what way it is that such multitudes die so suddenly; for their dead bodies are never to be found, and there is not a person in existence that has ever dug up a mouse in a field during the winter. Multitudes of these animals visit Troas, and before this they have driven away the inhabitants in consequence of their vast numbers.
They multiply greatly during times of drought; it is said also that when they are about to die, a little worm grows in their head. The mice of Egypt have hard hairs, just like those of the hedge-hog. They walk on their hind feet, as also do those of the Alps. When two animals couple of different kinds, the union is only prolific if the time of gestation is the same in both. Among the oviparous quadrupeds, it is generally believed that the lizard brings forth by the mouth, though Aristotle denies the fact. These animals, too, do not sit upon their eggs, as they forget in what place they have laid them, being utterly destitute of memory; hence it is that the young ones are hatched spontaneously.
 
10 - 86 SALAMANDERS M
We find it stated by many authors, that a serpent is produced from the spinal marrow of a man. Many creatures, in fact, among the quadrupeds even, have a secret and mysterious origin.
( ) Thus, for instance, the salamander, an animal like a lizard in shape, and with a body starred all over, never comes out except during heavy showers, and disappears the moment it becomes fine. This animal is so intensely cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way as ice does. It spits forth a milky matter from its mouth; and whatever part of the human body is touched with this, all the hair falls off, and the part assumes the appearance of leprosy.
 
10 - 87 ANIMALS WHICH ARE BORN OF BEINGS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN BORN THEMSELVES. ANIMALS WHICH ARE BORN THEMSELVES BUT ARE NOT REPRODUCTIVE. ANIMALS WHICH ARE OF NEITHER SEX M
Some animals, again, are engendered of beings that are not engendered themselves, and have no such origin as those above mentioned, which are produced in the spring, or at some stated period of the year. Some of these are non-productive, the salamander, for instance, which is of no sex, either male or female; a distinction also, which does not exist in the eel and the other kinds that are neither viviparous nor oviparous. The oyster also, as well as the other shell-fish that adhere to the bottom of the sea or to rocks, are of neither sex. Again, as to those animals which are able to engender of themselves, if they are looked upon as divided into male and female, they do engender something, it is true, by coupling, but the produce is imperfect, quite dissimilar to the animal itself, and one from which nothing else is reproduced; this we find to be the case with flies, when they give birth to maggots. This fact is better illustrated by the nature of those animals which are known as insects; a subject, indeed, very difficult of explanation, and one which requires to be treated of in a Book by itself. We will, therefore, proceed for the present with our remarks upon the instincts of the animals that have been previously mentioned.
 
10 - 88 SENSES OF ANIMALS: TOUCH & TASTE, MORE REMARK, ABLE FOR SIGHT, SMELL, OR HEARING, MOLES, IF OYSTERS HEAR M
Man excels more especially in his sense of touch, and next, in that of taste. In other respects, he is surpassed by many of the animals. Eagles can see more clearly than any other animals, while vultures have the better smell; moles hear more distinctly than others, although buried in the earth, so dense and sluggish an element as it is; and what is even more, although every sound has a tendency upwards, they can hear the words that are spoken; and, it is said, they can even understand it if you talk about them, and will take to flight immediately. Among men, a person who has not enjoyed the sense of hearing in his infancy, is deprived of the powers of speech as well; and there are none deaf from their birth who are not dumb also. Among the marine animals, it is not probable that oysters enjoy the sense of hearing, but it is said that immediately a noise is made the solen will sink to the bottom; it is for this reason, too, that silence is observed by persons while fishing at sea.
 
10 - 89 WHICH FISHES HAVE THE BEST HEARING M
Fishes have neither organs of hearing, nor yet the exterior orifice. And yet, it is quite certain that they do hear; for it is a well-known fact, that in some fish-ponds they are in the habit of being assembled to be fed by the clapping of the hands. In the fish-ponds, too, that belong to the Emperor, the fish are in the habit of coming, each kind as it bears its name. So too, it is said, the mullet, the wolf-fish, the salpa, and the chromis, have a very exquisite sense of hearing, and that it is for this reason that they frequent shallow water.
 
10 - 90 WHICH FISHES HAVE THE FINEST SENSE OF SMELL M
It is quite manifest that fishes have the sense of smell also; for they are not all to be taken with the same bait, and are seen to smell at it before they seize it. Some, too, that are concealed in the bottom of holes, are driven out by the fisherman, by the aid of the smell of salted fish; with this he rubs the entrance of their retreat in the rock, immediately upon which they take to flight from the spot, just as though they had recognized the dead carcases of those of their kind. Then, again, they will rise to the surface at the smell of certain odours, such, for instance as roasted sæpia and polypus; and hence it is that these baits are placed in the osier kipes used for taking fish. They immediately take to flight upon smelling the bilge water in a ship's hold, and more especially upon scenting the blood of fish.
The polypus cannot possibly be torn away from the rock to which it clings; but upon the herb cunila being applied, the instant it smells it the fish quits its hold. Purples also are taken by means of fetid substances. And then, too, as to the other kinds of animals, who is there that can feel any doubt? Serpents are driven away by the smell of harts' horns, and more particularly by that of storax. Ants, too, are killed by the odours of origanum, lime, or sulphur. Gnats are attracted by acids, but not by anything sweet. (.) All animals have the sense of touch, those even which have no other sense; for even in the oyster, and, among land animals, in the worm, this sense is found.
 
10 - 91 DIVERSITIES IN THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS M
I am strongly inclined to believe, too, that the sense of taste exists in all animals; for why else should one seek one kind of food, and another another? And it is in this more especially that is to be seen the wondrous power of Nature, the framer of all things. Some animals seize their prey with their teeth, others, again, with their claws; some tear it to pieces with their hooked beak; others, that have a broad bill, wabble in their food; others, with a sharp nib, work holes into it; others suck at their food; others, again, lick it, others sup it in, others chew it, and others bolt it whole. And no less a diversity is there in the uses they make of their feet, for the purpose of carrying, tearing asunder, holding, squeezing, suspending their bodies, or incessantly scratching the ground.
 
10 - 92 ANIMALS WHICH LIVE ON POISONS M
Roe-Bucks and quails grow fat on poisons, as we have already mentioned, being themselves the most harmless of animals. Serpents will feed on eggs, and the address displayed by the dragon is quite remarkable.—For it will either swallow the egg whole, it its jaws will allow of it, and roll over and over so as to break it within, and then by coughing eject the shells: or else, if it is too young to be able to do so, it will gradually encircle the egg with its coils, and hold it so tight as to break it at the end, just, in fact, as though a piece had been cut out with a knife; then holding the remaining part in its folds, it will suck the contents. In the same manner, too, when it has swallowed a bird whole, it will make a violent effort, and vomit the feathers.
 
10 - 93 ANIMALS WHICH LIVE ON EARTH-ANIMALS WHICH WILL NOT DIE OF HUNGER OR THIRST M
Scorpions live on earth. Serpents, when an opportunity presents itself, show an especial liking for wine, although in other respects they need but very little drink. These animals, also, when kept shut up, require but little aliment, hardly any at all, in fact. The same is the case also with spiders, which at other times live by suction. Hence it is, that no venomous animal will die of hunger or thirst; it being the fact that they have neither heat, blood, nor sweat; all which humours, from their natural saltness, increase the animal's voracity. In this class of animals all those are the most deadly, which have eaten some of their own kind just before they inflict the wound. The sphingium and the satyr stow away food in the pouches of their cheeks, after which they will take it out piece by piece with their hands and eat it; and thus they do for a day or an hour what the ant usually does for the whole year.
The only animal with toes upon the feet that feeds upon grass is the hare, which will eat corn as well; while the solid-hoofed animals, and the swine among the cloven-footed ones, will eat all kinds of food, as well as roots. To roll over and over is a peculiarity of the animals with a solid hoof. All those which have serrated teeth are carnivorous. Bears live also upon corn, leaves, grapes, fruit, bees, crabs even, and ants; wolves, as we have already stated, will eat earth even when they are famishing. Cattle grow fat by drinking; hence it is that salt agrees with them so well; the same is also the case with beasts of burden, although they live on corn as well as grass; but they eat just in proportion to what they drink. In addition to those already spoken of, among the wild animals, stags ruminate, when reared in a domesticated state. All animals ruminate lying in preference to standing, and more in winter than in summer, mostly for seven months in the year. The Pontic mouse also ruminates in a similar manner.
 
10 - 94 DIVERSITIES IN DRINKING OF ANIMALS M
In drinking, those animals which have serrated teeth, lap; and common mice do the same, although they belong to another class. Those which have the teeth continuous, horses and oxen, for instance, sup; bears do neither the one nor the other, but seem to bite at the water, and so devour it. In Africa, the greater part of the wild beasts do not drink in summer, through the want of rain; for which reason it is that the mice of Libya, when caught, will die if they drink. The ever-thirsting plains of Africa produce the oryx, an animal which, in consequence of the nature of its native locality, never drinks, and which, in a remarkable manner, affords a remedy against drought: for the Gætulian bandits by its aid fortify themselves against thirst, by finding in its body certain vesicles filled with a most wholesome liquid. In this same Africa, also, the pards conceal themselves in the thick foliage of the trees, and then spring down from the branches on any creature that may happen to be passing by, thus occupying what are ordinarily the haunts of the birds. Cats too, with what silent stealthiness, with what light steps do they creep towards a bird! How slily they will sit and watch, and then dart out upon a mouse! These animals scratch up the earth and bury their ordure, being well aware that the smell of it would betray their presence.
 
10 - 95 ANTIPATHIES OF ANIMALS. PROOFS THAT THEY ARE SENSIBLE OF FRIENDSHIP & OTHER AFFECTIONS M
Hence there will be no difficulty in perceiving that animals are possessed of other instincts besides those previously mentioned. In fact, there are certain antipathies and sympathies among them, which give rise to various affections besides those which we have mentioned in relation to each species in its appropriate place. The swan and the eagle are always at variance, and the raven and the chloreus seek each other's eggs by night. In a similar manner, also, the raven and the kite are perpetually at war with one another, the one carrying off the other's food. So, too, there are antipathies between the crow and the owl, the eagle and the trochilus;—Between the last two, if we are to believe the story, because the latter has received the title of the "king of the birds:" the same, again, with the owlet and all the smaller birds.
Again, in relation to the terrestrial animals, the weasel is at enmity with the crow, the turtle-dove with the pyrallis, the ichneumon with the wasp, and the phalangium with other spiders. Among aquatic animals, there is enmity between the duck and the sea-mew, the falcon known as the "harpe," and the hawk called the "triorchis." In a similar manner, too, the shrew-mouse and the heron are ever on the watch for each other's young; and the ægithus, so small a bird as it is, has an antipathy to the ass; for the latter, when scratching itself, rubs its body against the brambles, and so crushes the bird's nest; a thing of which it stands in such dread, that if it only hears the voice of the ass when it brays, it will throw its eggs out of the nest, and the young ones themselves will sometimes fall to the ground in their fright; hence it is that it will fly at the ass, and peck at its sores with its beak. The fox, too, is at war with the nisus, and serpents with weasels and swine. Æsalon is the name given to a small bird that breaks the eggs of the raven, and the young of which are anxiously sought by the fox; while in its turn it will peck at the young of the fox, and even the parent itself. As soon as the ravens espy this, they come to its assistance, as though against a common enemy. The acanthis, too, lives among the brambles; hence it is that it also has an antipathy to the ass, because it devours the bramble blossoms. The ægithus and the anthus, too, are at such mortal enmity with each other, that it is the common belief that their blood will not mingle; and it is for this reason that they have the bad repute of being employed in many magi- cal incantations. The thos and the lion are at war with each other; and, indeed, the smallest objects and the greatest just as much. Caterpillars will avoid a tree that is infested with ants. The spider, poised in its web, will throw itself on the head of a serpent as it lies stretched beneath the shade of the tree where it has built, and with its bite pierce its brain; such is the shock, that the creature will hiss from time to time, and then, seized with vertigo, coil round and round, while it finds itself unable to take to flight, or so much as to break the web of the spider, as it hangs suspended above; this scene only ends with its death.
 
10 - 96 INSTANCES OF AFFECTION SHOWN BY SERPENTS M
On the other hand, there is a strict friendship existing between the peacock and the pigeon, the turtle-dove and the parrot, the blackbird and the turtle, the crow and the heron, all of which join in a common enmity against the fox. The harpe also, and the kite, unite against the triorchis.
And then, besides, have we not seen instances of affection in the serpent even, that most ferocious of all animals? We have already related the story that is told of a man in Arcadia, who was saved by a dragon which had belonged to him, and of his voice being recognized by the animal. We must also make mention here of another marvellous story that is related by Phylarchus about the asp. He tells us, that in Egypt one of these animals, after having received its daily nourishment at the table of a certain person, brought forth, and that it so happened that the son of its entertainer was killed by one of its young ones; upon which, returning to its food as usual, and becoming sensible of the crime, it immediately killed the young one, and returned to the house no more.
 
10 - 97 SLEEP OF ANIMALS M
The question as to their sleep, is one that is by no means difficult to solve. In the land animals, it is quite evident that all that have eyelids sleep. With reference to aquatic animals, it is admitted that they also sleep, though only for short periods, even by those writers who entertain doubts as to the other animals; and they come to this conclusion, not from any appearance of the eyes, for they have no eyelids, indeed, to close, but because they are to be seen buried in deep repose, and to all appearance fast asleep, betraying no motion in any part of the body except the tail, and by starting when they happen to hear a noise. With regard to the thunny, it is stated with still greater confidence that it sleeps; indeed, it is often found in that state near the shore, or among the rocks. Flat fish are also found fast asleep in shallow water, and are often taken in that state with the hand: and, as to the dolphin and the balæna, they are even heard to snore.
It is quite evident, also, that insects sleep, from the silent stillness which they preserve; and even if a light is put close to them, they will not be awoke thereby.
 
10 - 98 WHAT ANIMALS ARE SUBJECT TO DREAMS M
Man, just after his birth, is hard pressed by sleep for several months, after which he becomes more and more wakeful, day by day. The infant dreams1 from the very first, for it will suddenly awake with every symptom of alarm, and while asleep will imitate the action of sucking. There are some persons, however, who never dream; indeed, we find instances stated where it has been a fatal sign for a person to dream, who has never done so before. Here we find ourselves invited by a grand field of investigation, and one that is full of alleged proofs on both sides of the question, whether, when the mind is at rest in sleep, it has any foreknowledge of the future, and if so, by what process this is brought about, or whether this is not altogether a matter quite fortuitous, as most other things are? If we were to attempt to decide the question by instances quoted, we should find as many on the one side as on the other.
It is pretty generally agreed, that dreams, immediately after we have taken wine and food, or when we have just fallen asleep again after waking, have no signification whatever. Indeed, sleep is nothing else than the retiring2 of the mind into itself. It is quite evident that, besides man, horses, dogs, oxen, sheep, and goats have dreams; consequently, the same is supposed to be the case with all animals that are viviparous. As to those which are oviparous, it is a matter of uncertainty, though it is equally certain that they do sleep. But we must now pass on to a description of the insects.
 
  11 Kinds of Insects M 140.5  
11 - 1 EXTREME SMALLNESS OF INSECTS M
WE shall now proceed to a description of the insects, a subject replete with endless difficulties;1 for, in fact, there are some authors who have maintained that they do not respire, and that they are destitute of blood. The insects are numerous, and form many species, and their mode of life is like that of the terrestrial animals and the birds. Some of them are furnished with wings, bees for instance; others are divided into those kinds which have wings, and those which are without them, such as ants; while others, again, are destitute of both wings and feet. All these animals have been very properly called "insects," from the incisures or divisions which separate the body, sometimes at the neck, and sometimes at the corselet, and so divide it into members or segments, only united to each other by a slender tube. In some insects, however, this division is not complete, as it is surrounded by wrinkled folds; and thus the flexible vertebræ of the creature, whether situate at the abdomen, or whether only at the upper part of the body, are protected by layers, overlapping each other; indeed, in no one of her works has Nature more fully displayed her exhaustless ingenuity.
In large animals, on the other hand, or, at all events, in the very largest among them, she found her task easy and her materials ready and pliable; but in these minute creatures, so nearly akin as they are to non-entity, how surpassing the intelligence, how vast the resources, and how ineffable the perfection which she has displayed. Where is it that she has united so many senses as in the gnat?—not to speak of creatures that might be mentioned of still smaller size—Where, I say, has she found room to place in it the organs of sight? Where has she centred the sense of taste? Where has she inserted the power of smell? And where, too, has she implanted that sharp shrill voice of the creature, so utterly disproportioned to the smallness of its body? With what astonishing subtlety has she united the wings to the trunk, elongated the joints of the legs, framed that long, craving concavity for a belly, and then inflamed the animal with an insatiate thirst for blood, that of man more especially! What ingenuity has she displayed in providing it with a sting, so well adapted for piercing the skin! And then too, just as though she had had the most extensive field for the exercise of her skill, although the weapon is so minute that it can hardly be seen, she has formed it with a twofold mechanism, providing it with a point for the purpose of piercing, and at the same moment making it hollow, to adapt it for suction. What teeth, too, has she inserted in the teredo, to adapt it for piercing oak even with a sound which fully attests their destructive power! while at the same time she has made wood its principal nutriment. We give all our admiration to the shoulders of the elephant as it supports the turret, to the stalwart neck of the bull, and the might with which it hurls aloft whatever comes in its way, to the onslaught of the tiger, or to the mane of the lion; while, at the same time, Nature is nowhere to be seen to greater perfection than in the very smallest of her works. For this reason then, I must beg of my readers, notwithstanding the contempt they feel for many of these objects, not to feel a similar disdain for the information I am about to give relative thereto, seeing that, in the study of Nature, there are none of her works that are unworthy of our consideration.
 
11 - 2 WHETHER INSECTS RESPIRE, AND WHETHER THEY HAVE BLOOD M
Many authors deny that insects respire,1 and make the assertion upon the ground, that in their viscera there is no respiratory organ to be found. On this ground, they assert that insects have the same kind of life as plants and trees, there being a very great difference between respiring and merely having life. On similar grounds also, they assert that insects have no blood, a thing which cannot exist, they say, in any animal that is destitute of heart and liver; just as, according to them, those creatures cannot breathe which have no lungs. Upon these points, however, a vast number of questions will naturally arise; for the same writers do not hesitate to deny that these creatures are destitute also of voice, and this, notwithstanding the humming of bees, the chirping of grasshoppers, and the sounds emitted by numerous other insects which will be considered in their respective places. For my part, whenever I have considered the subject, I have ever felt persuaded that there is nothing impossible to Nature, nor do I see why creatures should be less able to live and yet not inhale, than to respire without being possessed of viscera, a doctrine which I have already maintained, when speaking of the marine animals; and that, notwithstanding the density and the vast depth of the water which would appear to impede all breathing. But what person could very easily believe that there can be any creatures that fly to and fro, and live in the very midst of the element of respiration, while, at the same time, they themselves are devoid of that respiration; that they can be possessed of the requisite instincts for nourishment, generation, working, and making provision even for time to come, in the enjoyment too (although, certainly, they are not possessed of the organs which act, as it were, as the receptacles of those senses) of the powers of hearing, smelling, and tasting, as well as those other precious gifts of Nature, address, courage, and skilfulness? That these creatures have no blood I am ready to admit, just as all the terrestrial animals are not possessed of it; but then, they have something similar, by way of equivalent. Just as in the sea, the sæpiahas a black liquid in place of blood, and the various kinds of purples, those juices which we use for the purposes of dyeing; so, too, is every insect possessed of its own vital humour, which, whatever it is, is blood to it. While I leave it to others to form what opinion they please on this subject, it is my purpose to set forth the operations of Nature in the clearest possible light, and not to enter upon the discussion of points that are replete with doubt.
 
11 - 3 BODIES OF INSECTS M
Insects, so far as I find myself able to ascertain, seem to have neither sinews,1 bones, spines, cartilages, fat, nor flesh; nor yet so much as a frail shell, like some of the marine animals, nor even anything that can with any propriety be termed skin; but they have a body which is of a kind of intermediate nature between all these, of an arid substance, softer than muscle, and in other respects of a nature that may, in strictness, be rather pronounced yielding, than hard. Such, then, is all that they are, and nothing more: in the inside of their bodies there is nothing, except in some few, which have an intestine arranged in folds. Hence it is, that even when cut asunder, they are remarkable for their tenacity of life, and the palpitations which are to be seen in each of their parts. For every portion of them is possessed of its own vital principle, which is centred in no limb in particular, but in every part of the body; least of all, however, in the head, which alone is subject to no movements unless torn off together with the corselet. No kind of animal has more feet than the insects have, and those among them which have the most, live the longest when cut asunder, as we see in the case of the scolopendra. They have eyes, and the senses as well of touch and taste; some of them have also the sense of smelling, and some few that of hearing.
 
11 - 4 BEES M
But among them all, the first rank, and our especial admiration, ought, in justice, to be accorded to bees, which alone, of all the insects, have been created for the benefit of man. They extract honey and collect it, a juicy substance remarkable for its extreme sweetness, lightness, and wholesomeness. They form their combs and collect wax, an article that is useful for a thousand purposes of life; they are patient of fatigue, toil at their labours, form themselves into political communities, hold councils together in private, elect chiefs in common, and, a thing that is the most remarkable of all, have their own code of morals. In addition to this, being as they are, neither tame nor wild, so all-powerful is Nature, that, from a creature so minute as to be nothing more hardly than the shadow of an animal, she has created a marvel beyond all comparison. What muscular power, what exertion of strength are we to put in comparison with such vast energy and such industry as theirs? What display of human genius, in a word, shall we compare with the reasoning powers manifested by them? In this they have, at all events, the advantage of us-they know of nothing but what is for the common benefit of all. Away, then, with all questions whether they respire or no, and let us be ready to agree on the question of their blood; and yet, how little of it can possibly exist in bodies so minute as theirs.—And now let us form some idea of the instinct they display.
 
11 - 5 ORDER DISPLAYED IN THE WORKS OF BEES M
Bees keep within the hive during the winter—for whence are they to derive the strength requisite to withstand frosts and snows, and the northern blasts? The same, in fact, is done by all insects, but not to so late a period; as those which conceal themselves in the walls of our houses, are much sooner sensible of the returning warmth. With reference to bees, either seasons and climates have considerably changed, or else former writers have been greatly mistaken. They retire for the winter at the setting of the Vergiliæ, and remain shut up till after the rising of that constellation, and not till only the beginning of spring, as some authors have stated; nor, indeed, does any one in Italy ever think of then opening the hives. They do not come forth to ply their labours until the bean blossoms; and then not a day do they lose in inactivity, while the weather is favourable for their pursuits.
First of all, they set about constructing their combs, and forming the wax, or, in other words, making their dwellings and cells; after this they produce their young, and then make honey and wax from flowers, and extract bee-glue from the tears of those trees which distil glutinous substances, the juices, gums, and resins, namely, of the willow, the elm, and the reed. With these substances, as well as others of a more bitter nature, they first line the whole inside of the hive, as a sort of protection against the greedy propensities of other small insects, as they are well aware that they are about to form that which will prove an object of attraction to them. Having done this, they employ similar substances in narrowing the entrance to the hive, if otherwise too wide.
 
11 - 6 MEANING OF THE TERMS COMMOSIS, PISSO- CEROS, AND PROPOLlS M
The persons who understand this subject, call the substance which forms the first foundation of their combs, commosis, the next, pissoceros, and the third propolis; which last is placed between the other layers and the wax, and is remarkable for its utility in medicine. The commosis forms the first crust or layer, and has a bitter taste; and upon it is laid the pissoceros, a kind of thin wax, which acts as a sort of varnish. The propolis is produced from the sweet gum of the vine or the poplar, and is of a denser consistency, the juices of flowers being added to it. Still, however, it cannot be properly termed wax, but rather the foundation of the honey-combs; by means of it all inlets are stopped up, which might, otherwise, serve for the admission of cold or other injurious influences; it has also a strong odour, so much so, indeed, that many people use it instead of galbanum.
 
11 - 7 MEANING OF ERITHACE, SANDARACA, OR CERINTHOS M
In addition to this, the bees form collections of erithace or bee-bread, which some persons call "sandaraca,"1 and others "cerinthos." This is to serve as the food of the bees while they are at work, and is often found stowed away in the cavi- ties of the cells, being of a bitter flavour also. It is produced from the spring dews and the gummy juices of trees, being less abundant while the south-west wind is blowing, and blackened by the prevalence of a south wind. On the other hand, again, it is of a reddish colour and becomes improved by the north-east wind; it is found in the greatest abundance upon the nut trees in Greece. Menecrates says, that it is a flower, which gives indications of the nature of the coming harvest; but no one says so, with the exception of him.
 
11 - 8 WHAT FLOWERS ARE USED BY THE BEES IN THEIR WORK M
Bees form wax from the blossoms of all trees and plants, with the sole exception of the rumex and the echinopodes, both being kinds of herbs. It is by mistake, however, that spartum is excepted; for many varieties of honey that come from Spain, and have been made in the plantations of it, have a strong taste of that plant. I am of opinion, also, that it is without any sufficient reason that the olive has been excepted, seeing that it is a well-known fact, that where olives are in the greatest abundance, the swarms of bees are the most no- serous. Bees are not injurious to fruit of any kind; they will never settle on a dead flower, much less a dead carcase. They pursue their labours within three-score paces of their hives; and when the flowers in their vicinity are exhausted, they send out scouts from time to time, to discover places for forage at a greater distance. When overtaken by night in their expeditions, they watch till the morning, lying on their backs, in order to protect their wings from the action of the dew.
 
11 - 9 PERSONS WHO HAVE MADE BEES THEIR STUDY M
It is not surprising that there have been persons who have made bees their exclusive study; Aristomachus of Soli, for instance, who for a period of fifty-eight years did nothing else; Philiscus of Thasos, also, surnamed Agrius,1 who passed his life in desert spots, tending swarms of bees. Both of these have written works on this subject.
 
11 - 10 MODE IN WHICH BEES WORK M
The manner in which bees carry on their work is as follows. In the day time a guard is stationed at the entrance of the hive, like the sentries in a camp. At night they take their rest until the morning, when one of them awakes the rest with a humming noise, repeated twice or thrice, just as though it were sounding a trumpet. They then take their flight in a body, if the day is likely to turn out fine; for they have the gift of foreknowing wind and rain, and in such case will keep close within their dwellings. On the other hand, when the weather is fine—and this, too, they have the power of foreknowing—the swarm issues forth, and at once applies itself to its work, some loading their legs from the flowers, while others fill their mouths with water, and charge the downy surface of their bodies with drops of liquid. Those among them that are young1 go forth to their labours, and collect the materials already mentioned, while those that are more aged stay within the hives and work. The bees whose business it is to carry the flowers, with their fore feet load their thighs, which Nature has made rough for the purpose, and with their trunks load their fore feet: bending beneath their load, they then return to the hive, where there are three or four bees ready to receive them and aid in discharging their burdens. For, within the hive as well, they have their allotted duties to perform: some are engaged in building, others in smoothing, the combs, while others again are occupied in passing on the materials, and others in preparing food from the provision which has been brought; that there may be no unequal division, either in their labour, their food, or the distribution of their time, they do not even feed separately.
Commencing at the vaulted roof of the hive, they begin the construction of their cells, and, just as we do in the manufacture of a web, they construct their cells from top to bottom, taking care to leave two passages around each compartment, for the entrance of some and the exit of others. The combs, which are fastened to the hive in the upper part, and in a slight degree also at the sides, adhere to each other, and are thus suspended altogether. They do not touch the floor of the hive, and are either angular or round, according to its shape; sometimes, in fact, they are both angular and round at once, when two swarms are living in unison, but have dissimilar modes of operation. They prop up the combs that are likely to fall, by means of arched pillars, at intervals springing from the floor, so as to leave them a passage for the purpose of effecting repairs. The first three ranks of their cells are generally left empty when constructed, that there may be nothing exposed to view which may invite theft; and it is the last ones, more especially, that are filled with honey: hence it is that the combs are always taken out at the back of the hive. The bees that are employed in carrying look out for a favourable breeze, and if a gale should happen to spring up, they poise themselves in the air with little stones, by way of ballast; some writers, indeed, say that they place them upon their shoulders. When the wind is contrary, they fly close to the ground, taking care, however, to keep clear of the brambles. It is wonderful what strict watch is kept upon their work: all instances of idleness are carefully remarked, the offenders are chastised, and on a repetition of the fault, punished with death. Their sense of cleanliness, too, is quite extraordinary; everything is removed that might he in the way, and no filth is allowed to remain in the midst of their work. The ordure even of those that are at work within, that they may not have to retire to any distance, is all collected in one spot, and on stormy days, when they are obliged to cease their ordinary labours, they employ themselves in carrying it out. When it grows towards evening, the buzzing in the hive becomes gradually less and less, until at last one of their number is to be seen flying about the hive with the same loud humming noise with which they were aroused in the morning, thereby giving the signal, as it were, to retire to rest: in this, too, they imitate the usage of the camp. The moment the signal is heard, all is silent.
 
11 - 11 DRONES M
The drones have no sting, and would seem to be a kind of imperfect bee, formed the very last of all; the expiring effort, as it were, of worn-out and exhausted old age, a late and tardy offspring, and doomed, in a measure, to be the slaves of the genuine bees. Hence it is that the bees exercise over them a rigorous authority, compel them to take the foremost rank in their labours, and if they show any sluggishness, punish them without mercy. And not only in their labours do the drones give them their assistance, but in the propagation of their species as well, the very multitude of them contributing greatly to the warmth of the hive. At all events, it is a well-known fact, that the greater the multitude of the drones, the more numerous is sure to be the progeny of the swarm. When the honey is beginning to come to maturity, the bees drive away the drones, and setting upon each in great numbers, put them all to death. It is only in the spring that the drones are ever to be seen. If you deprive a drone of its wings, and then replace it in the hive, it will pull off the wings of the other drones.
 
11 - 12 QUALITIES OF HONEY M
In the lower part of the hive they construct for their future sovereign a palatial abode, spacious and grand, separated from the rest, and surmounted by a sort of dome: if this prominence should happen to be flattened, all hopes of progeny are lost. All the cells are hexagonal, each foot having formed its own side. No part of this work, however, is done at any stated time, as the bees seize every opportunity for the performance of their task when the days are fine; in one or two days, at most, they fill their cells with honey.
This substance is engendered from the air, mostly at the rising of the constellations, and more especially when Sirius is shining; never, however, before the rising of the Vergiliæ, and then just before day-break. Hence it is, that at early dawn the leaves of the trees are found covered with a kind of honey-like dew, and those who go into the open air at an early hour in the morning, find their clothes covered, and their hair matted, with a sort of unctuous liquid. Whether it is that this liquid is the sweat of the heavens, or whether a saliva emanating from the stars, or a juice exuding from the air while purifying itself, would that it had been, when it comes to us, pure, limpid, and genuine, as it was, when first it took its downward descent. But as it is, falling from so vast a height, attracting corruption in its passage, and tainted by the exhalations of the earth as it meets them, sucked, too, as it is from off the trees and the herbage of the fields, and accumulated in the stomachs of the bees—for they cast it up again through the mouth—deteriorated besides by the juices of flowers, and then steeped within the hives and subjected to such repeated changes—still, in spite of all this, it affords us by its flavour a most exquisite pleasure, the result, no doubt, of its æthereal nature and origin.
 
11 - 13 WHERE THE BEST HONEY IS PRODUCED M
The honey is always best in those countries where it is to be found deposited in the calix of the most exquisite flowers, such, for instance, as the districts of Hymettus and Hybla, in Attica and Sicily respectively, and after them the island of Calydna.1 At first, honey is thin, like water, after which it effervesces for some days, and purifies itself like must. On the twentieth day it begins to thicken, and soon after becomes covered with a thin membrane, which gradually increases through the scum which is thrown up by the heat. The honey of the very finest flavour, and the least tainted by the leaves of trees, is that gathered from the foliage of the oak and the linden, and from reeds.
 
11 - 14 KINDS OF HONEY PECULIAR TO VARIOUS PLACES M
The peculiar excellence of honey depends, as already stated,1 on the country in which it is produced; the modes, too, of estimating its quality are numerous. In some countries we find the honey-comb remarkable for the goodness of the wax, as in Sicily, for instance, and the country of the Peligni; in other places the honey itself is found in greater abundance, as in Crete, Cyprus, and Africa; and in others, again, the comb is remarkable for its size; the northern climates, for instance, for in Germany a comb has been known to be as much as eight feet in length, and quite black on the concave surface.
But whatever the country in which it may happen to have been produced, there are three different kinds of honey.—Spring honey is that made in a comb which has been constructed of flowers, from which circumstance it has received the name of an- thinum. There are some persons who say that this should not be touched, because the more abundant the nutriment, the stronger will be the coming swarm; while others, again, leave less of this honey than of any other for the bees, on the ground that there is sure to be a vast abundance at the rising of the greater constellations, as well as at the summer solstice, when the thyme and the vine begin to blossom, for then they are sure to find abundant materials for their cells. In taking the combs the greatest care is always requisite, for when they are stinted for food the bees become desperate, and either pine to death, or else wing their flight to other places: but on the other hand, over-abundance will entail idleness, and then they will feed upon the honey, and not the bee-bread. Hence it is that the most careful breeders take care to leave the bees a fifteenth part of this gathering. There is a certain day for beginning the honey-gathering, fixed, as it were, by a law of Nature, if men would only understand or observe it, being the thirtieth day after the bees have swarmed and come forth. This gathering mostly takes place before the end of May. The second kind of honey is "summer honey," which, from the circumstance of its being produced at the most favourable season, has received the Greek name of horaion; it is generally made during the next thirty days after the solstice, while Sirius is shining in all its brilliancy. Nature has revealed in this substance most remarkable properties to mortals, were it not that the fraudulent propensities of man are apt to falsify and corrupt everything. For, after the rising of each constellation, and those of the highest rank more particularly, or after the appearance of the rainbow, if a shower does not ensue, but the dew becomes warmed by the sun's rays, a medicament, and not real honey, is produced; a gift sent from heaven for the cure of diseases of the eyes, ulcers, and maladies of the internal viscera. If this is taken at the rising of Sirius, and the rising of Venus, Jupiter, or Mercury should happen to fall on the same day, as often is the case, the sweetness of this substance, and the virtue which it possesses of restoring men to life, are not inferior to those attributed to the nectar of the gods.
 
11 - 15 HOW HONEY IS TESTED. ERICÆUM. TETRA- LIX, OR SISIRUM M
The crop of honey is most abundant if gathered at full moon, and it is richest when the weather is fine. In all honey, that which flows of itself, like must or oil, has received from us the name of acetum. The summer honey is the most esteemed of all, from the fact of its being made when the weather is driest: it is looked upon as the most serviceable when made from thyme; it is then of a golden colour, and of a most delicious flavour. The honey that we see formed in the calix of flowers is of a rich and unctuous nature; that which is made from rosemary is thick, while that which is candied is little esteemed. Thyme honey does not coagulate, and on being touched will draw out into thin viscous threads, a thing which is the principal proof of its heaviness. When honey shows no tenacity, and the drops immediately part from one another, it is looked upon as a sign of its worthlessness. The other proofs of its goodness are the fine aroma of its smell, its being of a sweetness that closely borders on the sour,3 and being glutinous and pellucid.
Cassius Dionysius is of opinion that in the summer gathering the tenth part of the honey ought to be left for the bees if the hives should happen to be well filled, and even if not, still in the same proportion; while, on the other hand, if there is but little in them, he recommends that it should not be touched at all. The people of Attica have fixed the period for commencing this gathering at the first ripening of the wild fig; others4 have made it the day that is sacred to Vulcan.
The third kind of honey, which is the least esteemed of all, is the wild honey, known by the name of ericeunm. It is collected by the bees after the first showers of autumn, when the heather alone is blooming in the woods, from which circumstance it derives its sandy appearance. It is mostly pro- duced at the rising of Arcturus, beginning at the day8 before the ides of September. Some persons delay the gathering of the summer honey until the rising of Arcturus, because from then till the autumnal equinox there are fourteen days left, and it is from the equinox till the setting of the Vergiliæ, a period of forty-eight days, that the heather is in the greatest abundance. The Athenians call this plant by the name of tetralix, and the Eubœans sisirum, and they look upon it as affording great pleasure to the bees to browse upon, probably because there are no other flowers for them to resort to. This gathering terminates at the end of the vintage and the setting of the Vergiliæ, mostly about the ides of November. Experience teaches us that we ought to leave for the bees two-thirds of this crop, and always that part of the combs as well, which contains the bee-bread.
From the winter solstice to the rising of Arcturus the bees are buried in sleep for sixty days, and live without any nourishment. Between the rising of Arcturus and the vernal equinox, they awake in the warmer climates, but even then they still keep within the hives, and have recourse to the provisions kept in reserve for this period. In Italy, however, they do this immediately after the rising of the Vergiliæ, up to which period they are asleep. Some persons, when they take the honey, weigh the hive and all, and remove just as much as they leave: a due sense of equity should always be stringently observed in dealing with them, and it is generally stated that if imposed upon in this division, the swarm will die of grief. It is particularly recommended also that the person who takes the honey should be well washed and clean: bees have a particular aversion, too, to a thief and a menstruous woman. When the honey is taken, it is the best plan to drive away the bees by means of smoke, lest they should become irritated, or else devour the honey themselves. By often applying smoke, too, they are aroused from their idleness to work; but if they have not duly incubated in the comb, it is apt to become of a livid colour. On the other hand, if they are smoked too often, they will become tainted; the honey, too, a substance which turns sour at the very slightest contact with dew, will very quickly receive injury from the taint thus contracted: hence it is that among the various kinds of honey which are preserved, there is one which is known by the name of acapnon.
 
11 - 16 REPRODUCTION OF BEES M
How bees generate their young has been a subject of great and subtle research among the learned; seeing that no one has ever witnessed any sexual intercourse among these insects. Many persons have expressed an opinion that they must be produced from flowers, aptly and artistically arranged by Nature; while others, again, suppose that they are produced from an intercourse with the one which is to be found in every swarm, and is usually called the king. This one, they say, is the only male in the hive, and is endowed with such extraordinary proportions, that it may not become exhausted in the performance of its duties. Hence it is, that no offspring can be produced without it, all the other bees being females, and attending it in its capacity of a male, and not as their leader. This opinion, however, which is otherwise not improbable, is sufficiently refuted by the generation of the drones. For on what grounds could it possibly happen that the same intercourse should produce an offspring part of which is perfect, and part in an imperfect state? The first surmise which I have mentioned would appear, indeed, to be much nearer the truth, were it not the case that here another difficulty meets us—the circumstance that sometimes, at the extremity of the combs, there are produced bees of a larger size, which put the others to flight. This noxious bee bears the name of æstrus, and how is it possible that it should ever be produced, if it is the fact that the bees themselves form their progeny?
A fact, however, that is well ascertained, is, that bees sit, like the domestic fowl, that which is hatched by them at first having the appearance of a white maggot, and lying across and adhering so tenaciously to the wax as to seem to be part of it. The king, however, from the earliest moment, is of the colour of honey, just as though he were made of the choicest flowers, nor has he at any time the form of a grub, but from the very first is provided with wings. The rest of the bees, as soon as they begin to assume a shape, have the name of nymphæ, while the drones are called sirenes, or cephenes. If a person takes off the head of either kind before the wings are formed, the rest of the body is considered a most choice morsel by the parents. In process of time the parent bees instil nutriment into them, and sit upon them, making on this occasion a loud humming noise, for the purpose, it is generally supposed, of generating that warmth which is so requisite for hatching the young. At length the membrane in which each of them is enveloped, as though it lay in an egg, bursts asunder, and the whole swarm comes to light.
This circumstance was witnessed at the suburban retreat of a man of consular dignity near Rome, whose hives were made of transparent lantern horn: the young were found to be developed in the space of forty-five days. In some combs, there is found what is known by the name of " nail" wax; it is bitter and hard, and is only met with when the bees have failed to hatch their young, either from disease or a natural sterility, it is the abortion, in fact, of the bees. The young ones, the moment they are hatched, commence working with their parents, as though in a course of training, and the newly-born king is accompanied by a multitude of his own age.
That the supply may not run short, each swarm rears several kings; but afterwards, when this progeny begins to arrive at a mature age, with one accord they put to death the inferior ones, lest they should create discord in the swarm. There are two sorts of king bees; those of a reddish colour are better than the black and mottled ones. The kings have always a peculiar form of their own, and are double the size of any of the rest; their wings are shorter than those of the others, their legs are straight, their walk more upright, and they have a white spot on the forehead, which bears some resemblance to a diadem: they differ, too, very much from the rest of the community, in their bright and shining appearance.
 
11 - 17 MODE OF GOVERNMENT OF THE BEES M
Let a man employ himself, forsooth, in the enquiry whether there has been only one Hercules, how many fathers Liber there have been, and all the other questions which are buried deep in the mould of antiquity! Here behold a tiny object, one to be met with at most of our country retreats, and numbers of which are always at hand, and yet, after all, it is not agreed among authors whether or not the king1 is the only one among them that is provided with no sting, and is possessed of no other arms than those afforded him by his majestic office, or whether Nature has granted him a sting, and has only denied him the power of making use of it; it being a well-known fact, that the ruling bee never does use a sting. The obedience which his subjects manifest in his presence is quite surprising. When he goes forth, the whole swarm attends him, throngs about him, surrounds him, protects him, and will not allow him to be seen. At other times, when the swarm is at work within, the king is seen to visit the works, and appears to be giving his encouragement, being himself the only one that is exempt from work: around him are certain other bees which act as body-guards and lictors, the careful guardians of his authority. The king never quits the hive except when the swarm is about to depart; a thing which may be known a long time beforehand, as for some days a peculiar buzzing noise is to be heard within, which denotes that the bees are waiting for a favourable day, and making all due preparations for their departure. On such an occasion, if care is taken to deprive the king of one of his wings, the swarm will not fly away. When they are on the wing, every one is anxious to be near him, and takes a pleasure in being seen in the performance of its duty. When he is weary, they support him on their shoulders; and when he is quite tired, they carry him outright. If one of them falls in the rear from weariness, or happens to go astray, it is able to follow the others by the aid of its acuteness of smell. Wherever the king bee happens to settle, that becomes the encampment of all.
 
11 - 18 HAPPY OMENS SOMETIMES AFFORDED BY A SWARM OF BEES
And then, too, it is that they afford presages both of private and public interest, clustering, as they do, like a bunch of grapes, upon houses or temples; presages, in fact, that are often accounted for by great events. Bees settled upon the lips of Plato when still an infant even, announcing thereby the sweetness of that persuasive eloquence for which he was so noted. Bees settled, too, in the camp of the chieftain Drusus when he gained the brilliant victory at Arbalo; a proof, indeed, that the conjectures of soothsayers are not by any means infallible, seeing that they are of opinion that this is always of evil augury. When their leader is withheld from them, the swarm can always be detained; and when lost, it will disperse and take its departure to find other kings. Without a king, in fact, they cannot exist, and it is with the greatest reluctance that they put them to death when there are several; they prefer, too, to destroy the cells of the young ones, if they find reason to despair of providing food; in such case they then expel the drones. And yet, with regard to the last, I find that some doubts are entertained; and that there are some authors who are of opinion that they form a peculiar species, like that bee, the very largest among them all, which is known by the name of the " thief," because it furtively devours the honey; it is distinguished by its black colour and the largeness of its body. It is a well-known fact, however, that the bees are in the habit of killing the drones. These last have no king of their own; but how it is that they are produced without a sting, is a matter still undetermined.
In a wet spring the young swarms are more numerous; in a dry one the honey is most abundant. If food happens to fail the inhabitants of any particular hive, the swarm makes a concerted attack upon a neighbouring one, with the view of plundering it. The swarm that is thus attacked, at once ranges itself in battle array, and if the bee-keeper should happen to be present, that side which perceives itself favoured by him will refrain from attacking him. They often fight, too, for other reasons as well, and the two generals are to be seen drawing up their ranks in battle array against their op- ponents. The dispute generally arises in culling from the flowers, when each, the moment that it is in danger, summons its companions to its aid. The battle, however, is immediately put an end to by throwing dust3 among them, or raising a smoke; and if milk or honey mixed with water is placed be- fore them, they speedily become reconciled.
 
11 - 19 VARIOUS KINDS OF BEES M
There are field bees also, and wild bees, ungainly in appear- ance, and much more irascible than the others, but remarkable for their laboriousness and the excellence of their work. Of domestic bees there are two sorts; the best are those with short bodies, speckled all over, and of a compact round shape. Those that are long, and resemble the wasp in appearance, are an inferior kind; and of these last, the very worst of all are those which have the body covered with hair. In Pontus there is a kind of white bee, which makes honey twice a month. On the banks of the river Thermodon there are two kinds found, one of which makes honey in the trees, the other under ground: they form a triple row of combs, and produce honey in the greatest abundance. Nature has provided bees with a sting, which is inserted in the abdomen of the insect. There are some who think that at the first blow which they inflict with this weapon they will instantly die,1 while others, again, are of opinion that such is not the case, unless the animal drives it so deep as to cause a portion of the intestines to follow; and they assert, also, that after they have thus lost their sting they become drones, and make no honey, being thus castrated, so to say, and equally incapable of inflicting injury, and of making themselves useful by their labours. We have instances stated of horses being killed by bees.
They have a great aversion to bad smells, and fly away from them; a dislike which extends to artificial perfumes even. Hence it is that they will attack persons who smell of unguents. They themselves, also, are exposed to the attacks of wasps and hornets, which belong to the same class, but are of a degenerate nature; these wage continual warfare against them, as also does a species of gnat, which is known by the name of " mulio;" swallows, too, and various other birds prey upon them. Frogs lie in wait for them when in quest of water, which, in fact, is their principal occupation at the time they are rearing their young. And it is not only the frog that frequents ponds and streams that is thus injurious to them, but the bramble-frog as well, which will come to the hives even in search of them, and, crawling up to the entrance, breathe through the apertures; upon hearing which, a bee flies to the spot, and is snapped up in an instant. It is generally stated that frogs are proof against the sting of the bee. Sheep, too, are peculiarly dangerous to them, as they have the greatest difficulty in extricating themselves from the fleece. The smell of crabs, if they happen to be cooked in their vicinity, is fatal to them.
 
11 - 20 DISEASES OF BEES M
Bees are also by nature liable to certain diseases of their own. The sign that they are diseased, is a kind of torpid, moping sadness: on such occasions, they are to be seen bringing out those that are sick before the hives, and placing them in the warm sun, while others, again, are providing them with food. Those that are dead they carry away from the hive, and attend the bodies, paying their last duties, as it were, in funeral procession. If the king should happen to be carried off by the pestilence, the swarm remains plunged in grief and listless inactivity; it collects no more food, and ceases to issue forth from its abode; the only thing that it does is to gather around the body, and to emit a melancholy humming noise. Upon such occasions, the usual plan is to disperse the swarm and take away the body; for otherwise they would continue listlessly gazing upon it, and so prolong their grief. Indeed, if due care is not taken to come to their aid, they will die of hunger. It is from their cheerfulness, in fact, and their bright and sleek appearance that we usually form an estimate as to their health.
 
11 - 21 THINGS THAT ARE NOXIOUS TO BEES M
Echo, or the noise made by the reverberation of the air, is also injurious to bees, as it dismays them by its redoubled sounds; fogs, also, are noxious to them. Spiders, too, are especially hostile to bees; when they have gone so far as to build their webs within the hive, the death of the whole swarm is the result. The common and ignoble moth,1 too, that is to be seen fluttering about a burning candle, is deadly to them, and that in more ways than one. It devours the wax, and leaves its ordure behind it, from which the maggot known to us as the " teredo" is produced; besides which, wherever it goes, it drops the down from off its wings, and thereby thickens the threads of the cobwebs. The teredo is also engendered in the wood of the hive, and then it proves especially destructive to the wax. Bees are the victims, also, of their own greediness, for when they glut themselves overmuch with the juices of the flowers, in the spring season more particularly, they are troubled with flux and looseness. Olive oil is fatal2 to not only bees, but all other insects as well, and more especially if they are placed in the sun, after the head has been immersed in it. Sometimes, too, they themselves are the cause of their own destruction; as, for instance, when they see preparations being made for taking their honey, and immediately fall to devouring it with the greatest avidity. In other respects they are remarkable for their abstemiousness, and they will expel those that are inclined to be prodigal and voracious, no less than those that are sluggish and idle. Their own honey even may be productive of injury to them; for if they are smeared with it on the fore-part of the body, it is fatal to them. Such are the enemies, so numerous are the accidents—and how small a portion of them have I here enumerated!—to which a creature that proves so bountiful to us is exposed. In the appropriate place we will treat of the proper remedies; for the present the nature of them is our subject.
 
11 - 22 How TO KEEP BEES TO THE HIVE M
The clapping of the hands and the tinkling of brass afford bees great delight, and it is by these means that they are brought together; a strong proof, in fact, that they are possessed of the sense of hearing. When their work is completed, their offspring brought forth, and all their duties fulfilled, they still have certain formal exercises to perform, ranging abroad throughout the country, and soaring aloft in the air, wheeling round and round as they fly, and then, when the hour for taking their food has come, returning home. The extreme period of their life, supposing that they escape accident and the attacks of their enemies, is only seven years; a hive, it is said, never lasts more than ten.1 There are some persons, who think that, when dead, if they are preserved in the house throughout the winter, and then exposed to the warmth of the spring sun, and kept hot all day in the ashes of fig-tree wood, they will come to life again.
 
11 - 23 METHODS OF RENEWING THE SWARM M
These persons say also, that if the swarm is entirely lost, it may be replaced by the aid of the belly of an ox newly killed, covered over with dung. Virgil also says that this may be done with the body of a young bull, in the same way that the carcase of the horse produces wasps and hornets, and that of the ass beetles, Nature herself effecting these changes of one substance into another. But in all these last, sexual intercourse is to be perceived as well, though the characteristics of the offspring are pretty much the same as those of the bee.
 
11 - 24 WASPS & HORNETS: ANIMALS WHICH APPRO- PRIVATE WHAT BELONGS TO OTHERS M
Wasps build their nests of mud in lofty places, and make wax therein: hornets, on the other hand, build in holes or under ground. With these two kinds the cells are also hexagonal, but, in other respects, though made of the bark of trees, they strongly resemble the substance of a spider's web. Their young also are found at irregular intervals, and are of unshapely appearance; while one is able to fly, another is still a mere pupa, and a third only in the maggot state. It is in the autumn, too, and not in the spring, that all their young are produced; and they grow during the full moon more particularly. The wasp which is known as the ichneumon, a smaller kind than the others, kills one kind of spider in particular, known as the phalangium; after which it carries the body to its nest, covers it over with a sort of gluey substance, and then sits and hatches from it its young.3 In addition to this, they are all of them carnivorous, while on the other hand bees will touch no animal substance whatever. Wasps more particularly pursue the larger flies, and after catching them cut off the head and carry away the remaining portion of the body.
Wild hornets live in the holes of trees, and in winter, like other insects, keep themselves concealed; their life does not exceed two years in length. It is not unfrequently that their sting is productive of an attack of fever, and there are authors who say that thrice nine stings will suffice to kill a man. Of the other hornets, which seem not to be so noxious, there are two kinds; the working ones, which are smaller in size and die in the winter; and the parent hornets, which live two years; these last, indeed, are quite harmless. In spring they build their nests, which have generally four entrances, and here it is that the working hornets are produced: after these have been hatched they form other nests of larger size, in which to bring forth the parents of the future generation. From this time the working hornets begin to follow their vocation, and apply themselves to supplying the others with food. The parent hornets are of larger size than the others, and it is very doubtful whether they have a sting, as it is never to be seen protruded. These races, too, have their drones. Some persons are of opinion that all these insects lose their stings in the winter. Neither hornets nor wasps have a king, nor do they ever congregate in swarms; but their numbers are recruited by fresh offspring from time to time.
 
11 - 25 BOMBYX OF ASSYRIA M
A fourth class of this kind of insect is the bombyx, which is a native of Assyria, and is of larger size than any of those which have been previously mentioned. They construct their nests of a kind of mud which has the appearance of salt, and then fasten them to a stone, where they become so hard, that it is scarcely possible to penetrate them with a dart-even. In these nests they make wax, in larger quantities than bees, and the grub which they then produce is larger.
 
11 - 26 LARVÆ OF SILK-WORM-WHO 1ST INVENTED SILK CLOTHS M
There is another class also of these insects produced in quite a different manner. These last spring from a grub of larger size, with two horns of very peculiar appearance. The larva then becomes a caterpillar, after which it assumes the state in which it is known as bombylis, then that called necy- dalus, and after that, in six months, it becomes a silk-worm. These insects weave webs similar to those of the spider, the material of which is used for making the more costly and luxurious garments of females, known as " bombycina." Pamphile, a woman of Cos, the daughter of Platea, was the first person who discovered the art of unravelling these webs and spinning a tissue therefrom; indeed, she ought not to be deprived of the glory of having discovered the art of making vestments which, while they cover a woman, at the same moment reveal her naked charms.
 
11 - 27 SILK-WORM OF COS—HOW COAN VESTMENTS ARE MADE M
The silk-worm, too, is said to be a native of the isle of Cos, where the vapours of the earth give new life to the flowers of the cypress, the terebinth, the ash, and the oak which have been beaten down by the showers. At first they assume the appearance of small butterflies with naked bodies, but soon after, being unable to endure the cold, they throw out bristly hairs, and assume quite a thick coat against the winter, by rubbing off the down that covers the leaves, by the aid of the roughness of their feet. This they compress into balls by carding it with their claws, and then draw it out and hang it between the branches of the trees, making it fine by combing it out as it were: last of all, they take and roll it round their body, thus forming a nest in which they are enveloped. It is in this state that they are taken; after which they are placed in earthen vessels in a warm place, and fed upon bran. A peculiar sort of down soon shoots forth upon the body, on being clothed with which they are sent to work upon another task. The cocoons1 which they have begun to form are rendered soft and pliable by the aid of water, and are then drawn out into threads by means of a spindle made of a reed. Nor, in fact, have the men even felt ashamed to make use of garments formed of this material, in consequence of their extreme lightness in summer: for, so greatly have manners degenerated in our day, that, so far from wearing a cuirass, a garment even is found to be too heavy. The produce of the Assyrian silk-worm, however, we have till now left to the women only.
 
11 - 28 SPIDERS; THE KINDS THAT MAKE WEBS; THE MATERIALS USED BY THEM IN SO DOING M
It is by no means an absurdity to append to the silk-worm an account of the spider, a creature which is worthy of our especial admiration. There are numerous kinds of spiders, however, which it will not be necessary here to mention, from the fact of their being so well known. Those that bear the name of phalangium are of small size, with bodies spotted and running to a point; their bite is venomous, and they leap as they move from place to place. Another kind, again, is black, and the fore-legs are remarkable for their length. They have all of them three joints in the legs. The smaller kind of wolf-spider1 does not make a web, but the larger ones make their holes in the earth, and spread their nets at the narrow entrance thereof. A third kind, again, is remarkable for the skill which it displays in its operations. These spin a large web, and the abdomen suffices to supply the material for so extensive a work, whether it is that, at stated periods the excrements are largely secreted in the abdomen, as Democritus thinks, or that the creature has in itself a certain faculty of secreting2 a peculiar sort of woolly substance. How steadily does it work with its claws, how beautifully rounded and how equal are the threads as it forms its web, while it employs the weight of its body as an equipoise! It begins at the middle to weave its web, and then extends it by adding the threads in rings around, like a warp upon the woof: forming the meshes at equal intervals, but continually enlarging them as the web increases in breadth, it finally unites them all by an indissoluble knot. With what wondrous art does it conceal the snares that lie in wait for its prey in its checkered nettings! How little, too, would it seem that there is any such trap laid in the compactness of its web and the tenacious texture of the woof, which would appear of itself to be finished and arranged by the exercise of the very highest art! How loose, too, is the body of the web as it yields to the blasts, and how readily does it catch all objects which come in its way! You would fancy that it had left, quite exhausted, the thrums of the upper portion of its net unfinished where they are spread across; it is with the greatest difficulty that they are to be perceived, and yet the moment that an object touches them, like the lines of the hunter's net, they throw it into the body of the web. With what architectural skill, too, is its hole arched over, and how well defended by a nap of extra thickness against the cold! How carefully, too, it retires into a corner, and appears intent upon anything but what it really is, all the while that it is so carefully shut up from view, that it is impossible to perceive whether there is anything within or not! And then too, how extraordinary the strength of the web! When is the wind ever known to break it, or what accumulation of dust is able to weigh it down?
The spider often spreads its web right across between two trees, when plying its art and learning how to spin; and then, as to its length, the thread extends from the very top of the tree to the ground, while the insect springs up again in an instant from the earth, and travels aloft by the very self-same thread, thus mounting at the same moment and spinning its threads. When its prey falls into its net, how on the alert it is, and with what readiness it runs to seize it! Even though it should be adhering to the very edge of its web, the insect always runs instantly to the middle, as it is by these means that it can most effectually shake the web, and so successfully entangle its prey. When the web is torn, the spider immediately sets about repairing it, and that so neatly, that nothing like patching can ever be seen. The spider lies in wait even for the young of the lizard, and after enveloping the head of the animal, bites its lips; a sight by no means unworthy of the amphitheatre itself, when it is one's good fortune to witness it. Presages also are drawn from the spider; for when a river is about to swell, it will suspend its web higher than usual. In calm weather these insects do not spin, but when it is cloudy they do, and hence it is, that a great number of cobwebs is a sure sign of showery weather. It is generally supposed that it is the female spider that spins, and the male that lies in wait for prey, thus making an equal division of their duties.
 
11 - 29 GENERATION OF SPIDERS M
Spiders couple1 backwards, and produce maggots like eggs; for I ought not to defer making some mention of this subject, seeing, in fact, that of most insects there is hardly anything else to be said. All these eggs they lay in their webs, but scattered about, as they leap from place to place while laying them. The phalangium is the only spider that lays a considerable number of them, in a hole; and as soon as ever the progeny is hatched it devours its mother, and very often the male parent as well, for that, too, aids in the process of incubation. These last produce as many as three hundred eggs, the others a smaller number. Spiders take three days to hatch their eggs. They come to their full growth in twenty-eight days.
 
11 - 30 SCORPIONS M
In a similar manner to the spider, the land scorpion also produces maggots similar to eggs, and dies in a similar manner. This animal is a dangerous scourge, and has a venom like that of the serpent; with the exception that its effects are far more painful, as the person who is stung will linger for three days before death ensues. The sting is invariably fatal to virgins, and nearly always so to matrons. It is so to men also, in the morning, when the animal has issued from its hole in a fasting state, and has not yet happened to discharge its poison by any accidental stroke. The tail is always ready to strike, and ceases not for an instant to menace, so that no opportunity may possibly be missed. The animal strikes too with a sidelong blow, or else by turning the tail upwards. Apollodorus informs us, that the poison which they secrete is of a white colour, and he has divided them into nine classes, distinguished mostly by their colours—to very little purpose, however, for it is impossible to understand which among these it is that he has pronounced to be the least dangerous. He says, also, that some of them have a double sting, and that the males—for he asserts that they are engendered by the union of the sexes—are the most dangerous. These may easily be known, he says, by their slender form and greater length. He states, also, that they all of them have venom in the middle of the day, when they have been warmed by the heat of the sun, as, also, when they are thirsty—their thirst, indeed, can never be quenched. It is an ascertained fact, that those which have seven joints in the tail are the most deadly; the greater part, however, have but six.
For this pest of Africa, the southern winds have provided means of flight as well, for as the breeze bears them along, they extend their arms and ply them like so many oars in their flight; the same Apollodorus, however, asserts that there are some which really have wings. The Psylli, who for their own profit have been in the habit of importing the poisons of other lands among us, and have thus filled Italy with the pests which belong to other regions, have made attempts to import the flying scorpion as well, but it has been found that it cannot live further north than the latitude of Sicily. However, they are sometimes to be seen in Italy, but are quite harmless there; they are found, also, in many other places, the vicinity of Pharos, in Egypt, for instance. In Scythia, the scorpion is able to kill the swine even with its sting, an animal which, in general, is proof against poisons of this kind in a remarkable degree. When stung, those swine which are black die more speedily than others, and more particularly if they happen to throw themselves into the water. When a person has been stung, it is generally supposed that he may be cured by drinking the ashes of the scorpion mixed with wine. It is the belief also that there is nothing more baneful to the scorpion and the stellio, than to dip them in oil. This last animal is also dangerous to all other creatures, except those which, like itself, are destitute of blood: in figure it strongly resembles the common lizard. For the most part, also, the scorpion does no injury to any animal which is bloodless. Some writers, too, are of opinion that the scorpion devours its offspring, and that the one among the young which is the most adroit avails itself of its sole mode of escape, by placing itself on the back of the mother, and thus finding a place where it is in safety from the tail and the sting. The one that thus escapes, they say, becomes the avenger of the rest, and at last, taking advantage of its elevated position, puts its parents to death. The scorpion produces eleven at a birth.
 
11 - 31 STELLIO M
The stellio has in some measure the same nature as the chameleon, as it lives upon nothing but dew, and such spiders as it may happen to find.
 
11 - 32 GRASSHOPPER: THAT IT HAS NEITHER MOUTH NOR OUTLET FOR FOOD M
The cicada1 also lives in a similar manner, and is divided into two kinds. The smaller kind are born the first and die the last, and are without a voice. The others are of the flying kind, and have a note; there are two sorts, those known as achetæ, and the smaller ones called tettiqonia: these last have the loudest voice. In both of these last-mentioned kinds, it is the male that sings, while the female is silent. There are nations in the east that feed upon these insects, the Parthians even, wealthy and affluent as they are. They prefer the male before it has had sexual intercourse, and the female after; and they take their eggs, which are white. They engender with the belly upwards. Upon the back they have a sharp-edged instrument, by means of which they excavate a hole to breed in, in the ground. The young is, at first, a small maggot in appearance, after which the larva assumes the form in which it is known as the tettigometra. It bursts its shell about the time of the summer solstice, and then takes to flight, which always happens in the night. The insect, at first, is black and hard.
This is the only living creature that has no mouth; though it has something instead which bears a strong resemblance to the tongues of those insects which carry a sting in the mouth: this organ is situate in the breast of the animal, and is employed by it in sucking up the dew. The corselet itself forms a kind of pipe; and it is by means of this that the achetæ utter their note, as already mentioned. Beyond this, they have no viscera in the abdomen. When surprised, they spring upwards, and eject a kind of liquid, which, indeed, is our only proof that they live upon dew. This, also, is the only animal that has no outlet for the evacuations of the body. Their powers of sight are so bad, that if a person contracts his finger, and then suddenly extends it close to them, they will come upon it just as though it were a leaf. Some authors divide these animals into two kinds, the "surcularia," which is the largest, and the " frumentaria," by many known as the " avenaria;"8 this last makes its appearance just as the corn is turning dry in the ear.
 
11 - 33 WINGS OF INSECTS M
There are some insects which have two wings, flies, for instance; others, again, have four, like the bee. The wings of the grasshopper are membranous. Those insects which are armed with a sting in the abdomen, have four wings. None of those which have a sting in the mouth, have more than two wings. The former have received the sting for the purpose of defending themselves, the latter for the supplying of their wants. If pulled from off the body, the wings of an insect will not grow again; no insect which has a sting inserted in its body, has two wings only.
 
11 - 34 BEETLE. THE GLOW-WORM. OTHER KINDS OF BEETLES M
Some insects, for the preservation of their wings, are covered with a erust1 the beetle, for instance, the wing of which is peculiarly fine and frail. To these insects a sting has been denied by Nature; but in one large kind we find horns of a remarkable length, two-pronged at the extremities, and forming pincers, which the animal closes when it is its intention to bite. These beetles are suspended from the neck of infants by way of remedy against certain maladies: Nigidius calls them "lucani." There is another kind3 of beetle, again, which, as it goes backwards with its feet, rolls the dung into large pellets, and then deposits in them the maggots which form its young, as in a sort of nest, to protect them against the rigours of winter. Some, again, fly with a loud buzzing or a drony noise, while others4 burrow numerous holes in the hearths and out in the fields, and their shrill chirrup is to be heard at night.
The glow-worm, by the aid of the colour of its sides and haunches, sends forth at night a light which resembles that of fire; being resplendent, at one moment, as it expands its wings, and then thrown into the shade the instant it has shut them. These insects are never to be seen before the grass of the pastures has come to maturity, nor yet after the hay has been cut. On the other hand, it is the nature of the black beetle to seek dark corners, and to avoid the light: it is mostly found in baths, being produced from the humid vapours which arise therefrom. There are some beetles also, belonging to the same species, of a golden colour and very large size, which burrow in dry ground, and construct small combs of a porous nature, and very like sponge; these they fill with a poisonous kind of honey. In Thrace, near Olynthus, there is a small locality, the only one in which this animal cannot exist; from which circumstance it has received the name of " Cantharolethus." The wings of all insects are formed without any division in them, and they none of them have a tail, with the exception of the scorpion; this, too, is the only one among them that has arms, together with a sting in the tail. As to the rest of the insects, some of them have the sting in the mouth, the gad-fly for instance, or the "tabanus," as some persons choose to call it: the same is the case, too, with the gnat and some kinds of flies. All these insects have their stings situate in the mouth instead of a tongue; but in some the sting is not pointed, being formed not for pricking, but for the purpose of suction: this is the case more especially with flies, in which it is clear that the tongue is nothing more than a tube. These insects, too, have no teeth. Others, again, have little horns protruding in front of the eyes, but without any power in them; the butterfly, for instance. Some insects are destitute of wings, such as the scolopendra, for instance.
 
11 - 35 LOCUSTS M
Those insects which have feet, move sideways. Some of them have the hind feet longer than the fore ones, and curving outwards, the locust, for example.
These creatures lay their eggs in large masses, in the autumn, thrusting the end of the tail into holes which they form in the ground. These eggs remain underground throughout the winter, and in the ensuing year, at the close of spring, small locusts issue from them, of a black colour, and crawling along without legs and wings. Hence it is that a wet spring destroys their eggs, while, if it is dry, they multiply in great abundance. Some persons maintain that they breed twice a year, and die the same number of times; that they bring forth at the rising of the Vergiliæ, and die at the rising of the Dog-star, after which others spring up in their places: according to some, it is at the setting of Arcturus that the second litter is produced. That the mothers die the moment they have brought forth, is a well-known fact, for a little worm immediately grows about the throat, which chokes them: at the same time, too, the males perish as well. This insect, which thus dies through a cause apparently so trifling, is able to kill a serpent by itself, when it pleases, by seizing its jaws with its teeth. Locusts are only produced in champaign places, that are full of chinks and crannies. In India, it is said that they attain the length of three feet, and that the people dry the legs and thighs, and use them for saws. There is another mode, also, in which these creatures perish; the winds carry them off in vast swarms, upon which they fall into the sea or standing waters, and not, as the ancients supposed, because their wings have been drenched by the dampness of the night. The same authors have also stated, that they are unable to fly during the night, in consequence of the cold, being ignorant of the fact, that they travel over lengthened tracts of sea for many days together, a thing the more to be wondered at, as they have to endure hunger all the time as well, for this it is which causes them to be thus seeking pastures in other lands. This is looked upon as a plague inflicted by the anger of the gods; for as they fly they appear to be larger than they really are, while they make such a loud noise with their wings, that they might be readily supposed to be winged creatures of quite another species. Their numbers, too, are so vast, that they quite darken the sun; while the people below are anxiously following them with the eye, to see if they are about to make a descent, and so cover their lands. After all, they have the requisite energies for their flight; and, as though it had been but a trifling matter to pass over the seas, they cross immense tracts of country, and cover them in clouds which bode destruction to the harvests. Scorching numerous objects by their very contact, they eat away everything with their teeth, the very doors of the houses even. Those from Africa are the ones which chiefly devastate Italy; and more than once the Roman people have been obliged to have recourse to the Sibylline Books, to learn what remedies to employ under their existing apprehensions of impending famine. In the territory of Cyrenaica there is a law, which even compels the people to make war, three times a year, against the locusts, first, by crushing their eggs, next by killing the young, and last of all by killing those of full growth; and he who fails to do so, incurs the penalty of being treated as a deserter. In the island of Lemnos also, there is a certain measure fixed by law, which each individual is bound to fill with locusts which he has killed, and then bring it to the magistrates. It is for this reason, too, that they pay such respect to the jack-daw, which flies to meet the locusts, and kills them in great numbers. In Syria, also, the people are placed under martial law, and compelled to kill them: in so many countries does this dreadful pest prevail. The Parthians look upon them as a choice food, and the grasshopper as well. The voice of the locust appears to proceed from the back part of the head. It is generally believed that in this place, where the shoulders join on to the body, they have, as it were, a kind of teeth, and that it is by grinding these against each other that they produce the harsh noise which they make. It is more especially about the two equinoxes that they are to be heard, in the same way that we hear the chirrup of the grasshopper about the summer solstice. The coupling of locusts is similar to that of all other insects that couple, the female supporting the male, and turning back the extremity of the tail towards him; it is only after a considerable time that they separate. In all these kinds of insects the male is of smaller size than the female.
 
11 - 36 ANTS M
The greater part of the insects produce a maggot. Ants also produce one in spring, which is similar to an egg, and they work in common, like bees; but whereas the last make their food, the former only store it away. If a person only compares the burdens which the ants carry with the size of their bodies, he must confess that there is no animal which, in proportion, is possessed of a greater degree of strength. These burdens they carry with the mouth, but when it is too large to admit of that, they turn their backs to it, and push it onwards with their feet, while they use their utmost energies with their shoulders. These insects, also, have a political community among themselves, and are possessed of both memory and foresight. They gnaw each grain before they lay it by, for fear lest it should shoot while under ground; those grains, again, which are too large for admission, they divide at the entrance of their holes; and those which have become soaked by the rain, they bring out and dry. They work, too, by night, during the full moon; but when there is no moon, they cease working. And then, too, in their labours, what ardour they display, what wondrous carefulness! Because they collect their stores from different quarters, in ignorance of the proceedings of one another, they have certain days set apart for holding a kind of market, on which they meet together and take stock. What vast throngs are then to be seen hurrying together, what anxious enquiries appear to be made, and what earnest parleys are going on among them as they meet! We see even the very stones worn away by their footsteps, and roads beaten down by being the scene of their labours. Let no one be in doubt, then, how much assiduity and application, even in the very humblest of objects, can upon every occasion effect! Ants are the only living beings, besides man, that bestow burial on the dead. In Sicily there are no winged ants to be found.
The horns of an Indian ant, suspended in the temple of Hercules, at Erythræ, have been looked upon as quite miraculous for their size. This ant excavates gold from holes, in a country in the north of India, the inhabitants of which are known as the Dardæ. It has the colour of a cat, and is in size as large as an Egyptian wolf. This gold, which it extracts in the winter, is taken by the Indians during the heats of summer, while the ants are compelled, by the excessive warmth, to hide themselves in their holes. Still, however, on being aroused by catching the scent of the Indians, they sally forth, and frequently tear them to pieces, though provided with the swiftest camels for the purpose of flight; so great is their fleetness, combined with their ferocity and their passion for gold!
 
11 - 37 CHRYSALIS M
Many insects, however, are engendered in a different manner; and some more especially from dew. This dew settles upon the radish1 leaf in the early days of spring; but when it has been thickened by the action of the sun, it becomes reduced to the size of a grain of millet. From this a small grub afterwards arises, which, at the end of three days, becomes transformed into a caterpillar. For several successive days it still increases in size, but remains motionless, and covered with a hard husk. It moves only when touched, and is covered with a web like that of the spider. In this state it is called a chrysalis, but after the husk is broken, it flies forth in the shape of a butterfly.
 
11 - 38 ANIMALS WHICH BREED IN WOOD M
In the same manner, also, some animals are generated in the earth from rain, and some, again, in wood. And not only wood-worms are produced in wood, but gad-flies also and other insects issue from it, whenever there is an excess of moisture; just as in man, tape-worms are sometimes found, as much as three hundred feet or more in length.
 
- 39 INSECTS THAT ARE PARASITES OF MAN. WHICH IS THE SMALLEST OF ANIMALS? ANIMALS FOUND IN WAX EVEN M
Then, too, in dead carrion there are certain animals produced, and in the hair, too, of living men. It was through such vermin as this that the Dictator Sylla, and Aleman, one of the most famous of the Grecian poets, met their deaths. These insects infest birds too, and are apt to kill the pheasant, unless it takes care to bathe itself in the dust. Of the animals that are covered with hair, it is supposed that the ass and the sheep are the only ones that are exempt from these vermin. They are produced, also, in certain kinds of cloth, and more particularly those made of the wool of sheep which have been killed by the wolf. I find it stated, also, by authors, that some kinds of water which we use for bathing are more productive of these parasites than others. Even wax is found to produce mites, which are supposed to be the very smallest of all living creatures. Other insects, again, are engendered from filth, acted upon by the rays of the sun-these fleas are called "petauristæ," from the activity which they display in their hind legs. Others, again, are produced with wings, from the moist dust that is found lying in holes and corners.
 
11 - 40 ANIMAL WHICH HAS NO PASSAGE FOR EVACUATIONS M
There is an animal, also, that is generated in the summer, which has its head always buried deep in the skill [of a beast], and so, living on its blood, swells to a large size. This is the only living creature that has no outlet for its food; hence, when it has overgorged itself, it bursts asunder, and thus its very aliment is made the cause of its death. This insect never breeds on beasts of burden, but is very commonly seen on oxen, and sometimes on dogs, which, indeed, are subject to every species of vermin. With sheep and goats, it is the only parasite. The thirst, too, for blood displayed by leeches, which we find in marshy waters, is no less singular; for these will thrust the entire head into the flesh in quest of it. There is a winged insect which peculiarly infests dogs, and more especially attacks them with its sting about the ears, where they are unable to defend themselves with their teeth.
 
11 - 41 MOTHS, CANTHARIDES, GNATS–AN INSECT THAT BREEDS IN THE SNOW M
Dust, too, is productive of worms1 in wools and cloths, and this more especially if a spider should happen to be enclosed in them: for, being sensible of thirst, it sucks up all the mois- ture, and thereby increases the dryness of the material. These will breed in paper also. There is one kind which carries with it its husk, in the same manner as the snail, only that the feet are to be seen. If deprived of it, it does not survive; and when it is fully developed, the insect becomes a chrysalis. The wild fig-tree produces gnats, known as "ficarii;" and the little grubs of the fig-tree, the pear-tree, the pine, the wild rose, and the common rose produce cantharides, when fully developed. These insects, which are venomous, carry with them their antidote; for their wings are useful in medicine, while the rest of the body is deadly. Again, liquids turned sour will produce other kinds of gnats, and white grubs are to be found in snow that has lain long on the ground, while those that lie above are of a reddish colour—indeed, the snow itself becomes red after it has lain some time on the ground. These grubs are covered with a sort of hair, are of a rather large size, and in a state of torpor.
 
11 - 42 ANIMAL FOUND IN FIRE—-THE PYRALLIS OR PYRAUSTA M
That element, also, which is so destructive to matter, produces certain animals; for in the copper-smelting furnaces of Cyprus, in the very midst of the fire, there is to be seen flying about a four-footed animal with wings, the size of a large fly: this creature is called the " pyrallis," and by some the " pyrausta." So long as it remains in the fire it will live, but if it comes out and flies a little distance from it, it will instantly die.
 
11 - 43 ANIMAL CALLED HEMEROBION M
The Hypanis, a river of Pontus, brings down in its waters, about the time of the summer solstice, small membranous particles, like a grape-stone in appearance; from which there issues an animal with four legs and with wings, similar to the one just mentioned. It does not, however, live more than a single day, from which circumstance it has obtained the name of " hemerobion." The life of other insects of a similar nature is regulated from its beginning to its end by multiples of seven. Thrice seven days is the duration of the life of the gnat and of the maggot, while those that are viviparous live four times seven days, and their various changes and transfornations take place in periods of three or four days. The other insects of this kind that are winged, generally die in the autumn, the gad-fly becoming quite blind even before it dies. Flies which have been drowned in water, if they are covered with ashes,4 will return to life.
 
11 - 44 NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL ANIMALS CONSIDERED LIMB BY LIMB. THOSE WHICH HAVE TUFTS AND CRESTS M
In addition to what is already stated, we will add an account of every part of the body of an animal, taken limb by limb.
All those which have blood, have a head as well. A small number of animals, and those only among the birds, have tufts of various kinds upon the head. The phcenix has a long row of feathers on it, from the middle of which arises another row; peacocks have a hairy tuft, resembling a bushy shrub; the stymphalis has a sort of pointed crest, and the pheasant, again, small horns. Added to these, there is the lark, a little bird, which, from the appearance of its tuft, was formerly called "galerita," but has since received the Gallic name of " alauda," a name which it has transferred to one of our legions. We have already made mention, also, of one bird to which Nature has given a crest, which it can fold or unfold at pleasure: the birds of the coot kind have also received from her a crest, which takes its rise at the beak, and runs along the middle of the head; while the pie of Mars, and the Balearic crane, are furnished with pointed tufts. But the most remarkable feature of all, is the crest which we see attached to the heads of our domestic fowls, substantial and indented like a saw; we cannot, in fact, strictly call it flesh, nor can we pronounce it to be cartilage or a callosity, but must admit that it is something of a nature peculiar to itself. As to the crests of dragons, there is no one to be found who ever saw one.
 
11 - 45 VARIOUS KINDS OF HORNS. ANIMALS IN WHICH THEY ARE MOVEABLE M
Horns, too, of various forms have been granted to many animals of the aquatic, marine, and reptile kind, but those which are more properly understood under that name belong to the quadrupeds only; for I look upon the tales of Actæon and of Cippus even, in Latin story, as nothing more nor less than fables. And, indeed, in no department of her works has Nature displayed a greater capriciousness. In providing animals with these weapons, she has made merry at their expense; for some she has spread them out in branches, the stag, for instance; to others she has given them in a more simple form, as in the " subulo," so called from the resemblance of its horns to a " subula," or shoemaker's awl. In others, again, she has flattened them in the shape of a man's hand, with the fingers extended, from which circumstance the animal has received the name of " platyceros. To the roebuck she has given branching horns, but small, and has made them so as not to fall off and be cast each year; while to the ram she has given them of a contorted and spiral form, as though she were providing it with a cæstus for offence. The horns of the bull, again, are upright and threatening. In this last kind, the females, too, are provided with them, while in most it is only the males. The chamois has them, curving backwards; while in the fallow deer they bend forward. The strepsiceros, which in Africa bears the name of addax, has horns erect and spiral, grooved and tapering to a sharp point, so much so, that you would almost take them to be the sides of a lyre. In the oxen of Phrygia, the horns are moveable, like the ears; and among the cattle of the Troglodytæ, they are pointed downwards to the ground, for which reason it is that they are obliged to feed with the head on one side. Other animals, again, have a single horn, and that situate in the middle of the head, or else on the nose, as already stated.
Then, again, in some animals the horns are adapted for butting, and in others for goring; with some they are curved inwards, with others outwards, and with others, again, they are fitted for tossing: all which objects are effected in various ways, the horns either lying backwards, turning from, or else towards each other, and in all cases running to a sharp point. In one kind, also, the horns are used for the purpose of scratching the body, instead of hands. In snails the horns are fleshy, and are thus adapted for the purpose of feeling the way, which is also the case with the ce- rastes; some reptiles, again, have only one horn, though the snail has always two, suited for protruding and withdrawing. The barbarous nations of the north drink from the horns of the urus, a pair of which will hold a couple of urnæ: other tribes, again, point their spears with them. With us they are cut into laminæ, upon which they become transparent; indeed, the rays of a light placed within them may be seen to a much greater distance than without. They are used also for various appliances of luxury, either coloured or varnished, or else for those kinds of paintings which are known as " cestrota," or horn-pictures. The horns of all animals are hollow within, it being only at the tip that they are solid: the only exception is the stag, the horn of which is solid throughout, and is cast every year. When the hoofs of oxen are worn to the quick, the husbandmen have a method of curing them, by anointing the horns of the animal with grease. The substance of the horns is so ductile, that even while upon the body of the living animal, they can be bent by being steeped in boiling wax, and if they are split down when they are first shooting, they may be twisted different ways, and so appear to be four in number upon one head. In females the horns are generally thinner than in the males, as is the case, also, with most kinds of wool-bearing animals. No individuals, however, among sheep, or hinds, nor yet any that have the feet divided into toes, or that have solid hoofs, are furnished with horns; with the sole exception of the Indian ass, which is armed with a single horn. To the beasts that are cloven-footed Nature has granted two horns, but to those that have fore-teeth in the upper jaw, she has given none. Those persons who entertain the notion that the substance of these teeth is expended in the formation of the horns, are easily to be refuted, if we only consider the case of the hind, which has no more teeth than the male, and yet is without horns altogether. In the stag the horn is only imbedded in the skin, but in the other animals it adheres to the bone.
 
11 - 46 HEADS OF ANIMALS. THOSE WHICH HAVE NONF M
The head of the fish is very large in proportion to the rest of the body, probably, to facilitate its diving under water. Animals of the oyster and the sponge kind have no head, which is the case, also, with most of the other kinds, whose only sense is that of touch. Some, again, have the head blended with the body, the crab, for instance.
 
11 - 47 HAIR M
Of all animals man has the longest hair upon the head; which is the case more especially with those nations where the men and women in common leave the hair to grow, and do not cut it. Indeed, it is from this fact, that the inhabitants of the Alps have obtained from us the name of " Capillati," as also those of Gallia, " Comata." There is, however, a great difference in this respect according to the various countries. In the island of Myconus, the people are born without hair, just as at Caunus the inhabitants are afflicted with the spleen from their birth. There are some animals, also, that are naturally bald, such as the ostrich, for instance, and the aquatic raven, which last has thence derived its Greek name. It is but rarely that the hair falls off in women, and in eunuchs such is never known to be the case; nor yet does any person lose it before having known sexual intercourse. The hair does not fall off below the brain, nor yet beneath the crown of the head, or around the ears and the temples. Man is the only animal that becomes bald, with the exception, of course, of such animals as are naturally so. Man and the horse are the only creatures whose hair turns grey; but with man this is always the case, first in the fore-part of the head, and then in the hinder part.
 
11 - 48 BONES OF THE HEAD M
Some few persons only are double-crowned. The bones of the head are flat, thin, devoid of marrow, and united with sutures indented like a comb. When broken asunder they cannot be united, but the extraction of a small portion is not necessarily fatal, as a fleshy cicatrix forms, and so makes good the loss. We have already mentioned, in their respective1 places, that the skull of the bear is the weakest of all, and that of the parrot the hardest.
 
11 - 49 BRAIN M
The brain exists in all animals which have blood, and in those sea animals as well, which we have already mentioned as mollusks, although they are destitute of blood, the polypus, for instance. Man, however, has, in proportion to his body, the most voluminous brain of all. This, too, is the most humid, and the coldest of all the viscera, and is enveloped above and below with two membranous integuments, for either of which to be broken is fatal. In addition to these facts, we may remark that the brain is larger in men than in women. In man the brain is destitute of blood and veins, and in other animals it has no fat. Those who are well informed on the subject, tell us that the brain is quite a different substance from the marrow, seeing that on being boiled it only becomes harder. In the very middle of the brain of every animal there are small bones found. Man is the only animal in which it is known to palpitate1 during infancy; and it does not gain its proper consistency until after the child has made its first attempt to speak. The brain is the most elevated of all the viscera, and the nearest to the roof of the head; it is equally devoid of flesh, blood, and excretions. The senses hold this organ as their citadel; it is in this that are centred all the veins which spring from the heart; it is here that they terminate; this is the very culminating point of all, the regulator of the understanding. With all animals it is advanced to the fore-part of the head, from the fact that the senses have a tendency to the direction in which we look. From the brain proceeds sleep, and its return it is that causes the head to nod. Those creatures, in fact, which have no brain, never sleep. It is said that stags2 have in the head certain small maggots, twenty in number: they are situate in the empty space that lies beneath the tongue, and around the joints by which the head is united to the body.
 
11 - 50 EARS. ANIMALS WHICH HEAR WITHOUT EARS OR APERTURES M
Man is the only animal the ears of which are immoveable. It is from the natural flaccidity of the ear, that the surname of Flaccus is derived. There is no part of the body that creates a more enormous expense for our women, in the pearls which are suspended from them. In the East, too, it is thought highly becoming for the men, even, to wear gold rings in their ears. Some animals have large, and others small ears. The stag alone has them cut and divided, as it were; in the field-mouse they have a velvet surface. All the animals that are viviparous have ears of some kind or other, with the sole exception of the sea-calf, the dolphin, the fishes which we have mentioned1 as cartilaginous, and the viper. These animals have only cavities instead of ears, with the exception of the cartilaginous fishes and the dolphin, which last, however, it is quite clear possesses the sense of hearing, for it is charmed by singing, and is often taken while enraptured with the melody: how it is that it does hear, is quite marvellous. These animals, too, have not the slightest trace of olfactory organs, and yet they have a most acute sense of smell.
Among the winged animals, only the horned owl and the longeared owl have feathers which project like ears, the rest having only cavities for the purpose of hearing; the same is the case, also, with the scaly animals and the serpents. Among horses and beasts of burden of all kinds, it is the ears which indicate the natural feelings; when the animal is weary, they are drooping and flaccid; when it is startled, they quiver to and fro; when it is enraged, they are pricked up; and when it is ailing, they are pendant.
 
11 - 51 FACE, THE FOREHEAD, AND THE EYE-BROWS M
Man is the only creature that has a face, the other animals having only a muzzle or a beak. Other animals have a forehead as well, but it is only on the forehead of man that is depicted sorrow, gladness, compassion, or severity. It is the forehead that is the index of the mind. Man has eyebrows, also, which move together or alternately; these, too, serve in some measure as indications of the feelings. Do we deny or do we assent, it is the eyebrows, mostly, that indicate our intentions. Feelings of pride may be generated elsewhere, but it is here that they have their principal abode; it is in the heart that they take their rise, but it is to the eyebrows that they mount, and here they take up their position. In no part of the body could they meet with a spot more lofty and more precipitous, in which to establish themselves free from all control.
 
11 - 52 EYES—ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO EYES, OR HAVE ONLY ONE EYE M
Below the forehead are the eyes, which form the most precious portion of the human body, and which, by the enjoyment of the blessings of sight, distinguish life from death. Eyes, however, have not been granted to all animals; oysters have none, but, with reference to some of the shell-fish, the question is still doubtful; for if we move the fingers before a scallop half open, it will immediately close its shell, apparently from seeing them, while the solen1 will start away from an iron instrument when placed near it. Among quadrupeds the mole2 has no sight, though it has something that bears a resemblance to eyes, if we remove the membrane that is extended in front of them. Among birds also, it is said that a species of heron, which is known as the "leucus," is wanting of one eye: a bird of most excellent augury, when it flies towards the south or north, for it is said that it portends thereby that there is about to be an end of perils and alarms. Nigidius says also, that neither locusts nor grasshoppers have eyes. In snails,4 the two small horns with which they feel their way, perform the duties of eyes. Neither the mawworm5 nor any other kind of worm has eyes.
 
11 - 53 DIVERSITY OF THE COLOUR OF THE EYES M
The eyes vary in colour in the human race only; in all other animals they are of one uniform colour peculiar to the kind, though there are some horses that have eyes of an azure colour. But in man the varieties and diversities are most numerous; the eyes being either large, of middling size, remarkably small, or remarkably prominent. These last are generally supposed to be very weak, while those which are deep-seated are considered the best, as is the case also with those which in colour resemble the eyes of the goat.
 
11 - 54 THEORY OF SIGHT—PERSONS WHO CAN SEE BY NIGHT
In addition to this, there are some persons who can see to a very great distance, while there are others, again, who can only distinguish objects when brought quite close to them. The vision of many stands in need of the rays of the sun; such persons cannot see on a cloudy day, nor yet after the sun has set. Others, again, have bad sight in the day-time, but a sight superior to that of others by night. Of persons having double pupils, or the evil eye, we have already spoken1 at sufficient length. Blue eyes are the best for seeing in the dark.
It is said that Tiberius Cæsar, like no other human being, was so endowed by Nature, that on awaking in the night3 he could for a few moments distinguish objects just as well as in the clearest daylight, but that by degrees he would find his sight again enveloped in darkness. The late Emperor Augustus had azure eyes like those of some horses, the white being larger than with other men; he used to be very angry if a person stared intently at them for this peculiarity. Claudius Cæsar had at the corners of the eyes a white fleshy substance, covered with veins, which would occasionally become suffused with blood; with the Emperor Caius4 they had a fixed, steady gaze, while Nero could see nothing distinctly without winking, and having it brought close to his eyes. The Emperor Caius had twenty pairs of gladiators in his training-school, and of all these there were only two who did not wink the eyes when a menacing gesture was made close to them: hence it was that these men were invincible. So difficult a matter is it for a man to keep his eyes from winking: indeed, to wink is so natural to many, that they cannot desist from it; such persons we generally look upon as the most timid. No persons have the eye all of one colour; that of the middle of the eye is always different from the white which surrounds it. In all animals there is no part in the whole body that is a stronger exponent of the feelings, and in man more especially, for it is from the expression of the eye that we detect clemency, moderation, compassion, hatred, love, sadness, and joy. From the eyes, too, the various characters of persons are judged of, according as they are ferocious, me- nacing, sparkling, sedate, leering, askance, downcast, or lan- guishing. Beyond a doubt it is in the eyes that the mind has its abode: sometimes the look is ardent, sometimes fixed and steady, at other times the eyes are humid, and at others, again, half closed. From these it is that the tears of pity flow, and when we kiss them we seem to be touching the very soul. It is the eyes that weep, and from them proceed those streams that moisten our cheeks as they trickle down. And what is this liquid that is always so ready and in such abundance in our moments of grief; and where is it kept in reserve at other times? It is by the aid of the mind that we see, by the aid of the mind that we enjoy perception; while the eyes, like so many vessels, as it were, receive its visual faculties and transmit them. Hence it is that profound thought renders a man blind for the time, the powers of sight being withdrawn from external objects and thrown inward: so, too, in epilepsy, the mind is covered with darkness, while the eyes, though open, are able to see nothing. In addition to this, it is the fact that hares, as well as many human beings, can sleep with the eyes open, a thing which the Greeks express by the term χορυβαντιᾷν. Nature has composed the eye of numerous membranes of remarkable thinness, covering them with a thick coat to ensure their protection against heat and cold. This coat she purifies from time to time by the lachrymal humours, and she has made the surface lubricous and slippery, to protect the eye against the effects of a sudden shock.
 
11 - 55 NATURE OF PUPIL-EYES WHICH DO NOT SHUT
In the midst of the cornea of the eye Nature has formed a window in the pupil, the small dimensions of which do not permit the sight to wander at hazard and with uncertainty, hut direct it as straight as though it were through a tube, and at the same time ensure its avoidance of all shocks communicated by foreign bodies. The pupils are surrounded by a black circle in some persons, while it is of a yellowish cast with others, and azure again with others. By this happy combination the light is received by the eye upon the white that lies around the pupil, and its reflection being thus tempered, it fails to impede or confuse the sight by its harshness. So complete a mirror, too, does the eye form, that the pupil, small as it is, is able to reflect the entire image of a man. This1 is the reason why most birds, when held in the hand of a person, will more particularly peck at his eyes; for seeing their own likeness reflected in the pupils, they are attracted to it by what seem to be the objects of their natural affection.
It is only some few beasts of burden that are subject to maladies of the eyes towards the increase of the moon: but it is man alone that is rescued from blindness by the discharge of the humours that have caused it. Many persons have had their sight restored after being blind for twenty years; while others, again, have been denied this blessing from their very birth, without there being any blemish in the eyes. Many persons, again, have suddenly lost their sight from no apparent cause, and without any preceding injury. The most learned authors say that there are veins which communicate from the eye to the brain, but I am inclined to think that the communication is with the stomach; for it is quite certain that a person never loses the eye without feeling sickness at the stomach. It is an important and sacred duty, of high sanction among the Romans, to close the eyes of the dead, and then again to open them when the body is laid on the funeral pile, the usage having taken its rise in the notion of its being improper that the eyes of the dead should be beheld by man, while it is an equally great offence to hide them from the view of heaven. Man is the only living creature the eyes of which are subject to deformities, from which, in fact, arose the family names of " Strabo" and "Pætus." The ancients used to call a man who was born with only one eye, "cocles," and "ocella," a person whose eyes were remarkably small. " Luscinus" was the surname given to one who happened to have lost one eve by an accident. The eyes of animals that see at night in the dark, cats, for instance, are shining and radiant, so much so, that it is impossible to look upon them; those of the she-goat, too, and the wolf are resplendent, and emit a light like fire. The eyes of the sea-calf and the hyena change successively to a thousand colours; and the eyes, when dried, of most of the fishes will give out light in the dark, just in the same way as the trunk of the oak when it has become rotten with extreme old age. We have already mentioned the fact, that animals which turn, not the eyes but the head, for the purpose of looking round, are never known to wink. It is said, too, that the chameleon is able to roll the eye-balls completely round. Crabs look sideways, and have the eves enclosed beneath a thin crust. Those of craw-fish and shrimps are very hard and prominent, and lie in a great measure beneath a defence of a similar nature. Those animals, however, the eyes of which are hard, have worse sight than those of which the eyes are formed of a humid substance. It is said that if the eyes are taken away from the young of serpents and of the swallow,8 they will grow again. In all insects and in animals covered with a shell, the eyes move just in the same way as the ears of quadrupeds do; those among them which have a brittle9 covering have the eyes hard. All animals of this nature, as well as fishes and insects, are destitute of eye-lids, and their eyes have no covering; but in all there is a membrane that is transparent like glass, spread over them.
 
11 - 56 HAIR OF THE EYE-LIDS; WHAT ANIMALS ARE WITHOUT THEM. ANIMALS WHICH CAN SEE ON ONE SIDE ONLY
Man has lashes on the eye-lids on either side; and women even make it their daily care to stain them;1 so ardent are they in the pursuit of beauty, that they must even colour their very eyes. It was with another view, however, that Nature had provided the hair of the eyelids—they were to have acted, so to say, as a kind of rampart for the protection of the sight, and as an advanced bulwark against the approach of insects or other objects which might accidentally come in their way. It is not without some reason that it is said that the eye- lashes fall off with those persons who are too much given to venereal pleasures. Of the other animals, the only ones that have eyelashes are those that have hair on the rest of the body as well; but the quadrupeds have them on the upper eyelid only, and the birds on the lower one: the same is the case also with those which have a soft skin, such as the serpent, and those among the quadrupeds that are oviparous, the lizard, for instance. The ostrich is the only one among the birds that, like man, has eyelashes on either side.
 
11 - 57 ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO EYELIDS
All birds, however, have not eyelids: hence it is, that those which are viviparous have no nictation of the eye. The heavier kinds of birds shut the eye by means of the lower eyelid, and they wink by drawing forward a membrane which lies in the corner of the eye. Pigeons, and other birds of a similar nature, shut the two eyelids; but the quadrupeds which are oviparous, such, for instance, as the tortoise and the crocodile, have only the lower eyelid moveable, and never wink, in consequence of the hardness of the eye. The edge of the upper eyelid was by the ancients called " cilium," from which comes our word "supercilia." If the eyelid happens to be severed by a wound it will not reunite, which is the case also with some few other parts of the human body.
 
11 - 58 CHEEKS
Below the eyes are the cheeks, a feature which is found in man only. From the ancients they received the name of "genæ," and by the laws of the Twelve Tables, women were forbidden to tear them.1 The cheeks are the seat of bashfulness; it is on them more particularly that blushes are to be seen.
 
11 - 59 NOSTRILS
Within the cheeks is the mouth, which gives such strong indications of the feelings of joyousness and laughter; and above it, but in man only, is the nose, which modern notions have stamped as the exponent of sarcasm and ridicule. In no other animal but man, is the nose thus prominent; birds, serpents, and fishes, have no nostrils, but apertures only for the purpose of smell. It is from the peculiarity of the nose that are derived the surnames of "Simus" and "Silo." Children born in the seventh month often have the ears and the nostrils imperforate.
 
11 - 60 MOUTH; LIPS; CHIN; & JAW-BONE
It is from the " labia," or lips, that the Brocchi1 have received the surname of Labeo. All animals that are viviparous have a mouth that is either well-formed, or harshly defined, as the case may be. Instead of lips and mouth, the birds have a beak that is horny and sharp at the end. With birds that live by rapine, the beak is hooked inwards, but with those which gather and peck only, it is straight: those animals, again, which root up grass or puddle in the mud, have the muzzle broad, like swine. The beasts of burden employ the mouth in place of hands in gathering their food, while those which live by rapine and slaughter have it wider than the rest. No animal, with the exception of man, has either chin or cheek-bones. The crocodile is the only animal that has the upper jaw-bone moveable; among the land quadrupeds it is the same as with other animals, except that they can move it obliquely.
 
11 - 61 TEETH; VARIOUS KINDS OF TEETH; IN WHAT ANIMALS THEY ARE NOT ON BOTH SIDES OF THE MOUTH: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE HOLLOW TEETH
Teeth are arranged in three different ways, serrated, in one continuous row, or else protruding from the mouth. When serrated they unite together, just like those of a comb, in order that they may not be worn by rubbing against one another, as in serpents, fishes, and dogs, for instance. In some creatures they are set in one continuous row, man and the horse, for instance; while in the wild boar, the elephant, and the hippopotamus, they protrude from the mouth. Among those set in one continuous row, the teeth which divide the food are broad and sharp, while those which grind it are double; the teeth which lie between the incisive and the molar teeth, are those known as the canine or dog-teeth; these are by far the largest in those animals which have serrated teeth. Those animals which have continuous rows of teeth, have them either situate on both sides of the mouth, as in the horse, or else have no fore-teeth in the upper part of the mouth, as is the case with oxen, sheep, and all the animals that ruminate. The she-goat has no upper teeth, except the two front ones. No animals which have serrated teeth, have them protruding from the mouth; among these, too, the females rarely have them; and to those that do have them, they are of no4 use: hence it is, that while the boar strikes, the sow bites. No animal with horns has projecting teeth; and all such teeth are hollow, while in other animals the teeth are solid. All fish have the teeth serrated, with the exception of the scarus, this being the only one among the aquatic animals that has them level at the edges. In addition to this, there are many fishes that have teeth upon the tongue and over the whole of the mouth, in order that, by the multitude of the bites which they inflict, they may soften those articles of food which they could not possibly manage by tearing. Many animals, also, have teeth in the palate, and even in the tail;8 in addition to which, some have them inclining to the interior of the mouth, that the food may not fall out, the animal itself having no other means of retaining it there.
 
11 - 62 TEETH OF SERPENTS; THEIR POISON. A BIRD WHICH HAS TEETH
The asp also, and other serpents, have similar teeth; but in the upper jaw, on the right and left, they have two of extreme length, which are perforated with a small tube in the interior, just like the sting of the scorpion, and it is through these that they eject their venom. The writers who have made the most diligent enquiries on the subject, inform us that this venom is nothing but the gall of the serpent, and that it is conveyed to the mouth by certain veins which run beneath the spine; indeed, there are some who state that there is only one poisonfang, and that being barbed at the end, it is bent backwards when the animal has inflicted a bite. Other writers, however, affirm that on such an occasion the fang falls out, as it is very easily displaced, but that it soon grows1 again; this tooth, they say, is thus wanting in the serpents which we see handled about by persons. It is also stated that this fang exists in the tail of the scorpion, and that most of these animals have no less than three. The teeth of the viper are concealed in the gums: the animal, being provided with a similar venom, exercises the pressure of its fangs for the purpose of instilling the poison in its bite.
No winged creatures have teeth, with the sole exception of the bat. The camel is the only one among the animals without horns, that has no fore-teeth3 in the upper jaw. None of the horned animals have serrated teeth. Snails, too, have teeth; a proof of which are the vetches which we find gnawed away by snails of the very smallest size. To assert that among marine animals, those that have shells, and those that are cartilaginous have fore-teeth, and that the sea-urchin has five teeth, I am very much surprised how such a notion could have possibly5 arisen. With insects the sting supplies the place of teeth; the ape has teeth just like those in man. The elephant has in the interior of the mouth fourteen teeth, adapted for chewing, in addition to those which protrude; in the male these are curved inwards, but in the female they are straight, and project outwards. The sea-mouse, a fish which goes before the balæna, has no teeth at all, but in place of them, the interior of the mouth is lined with bristles, as well as the tongue and palate. Among the smaller land quadrupeds, the two fore-teeth in each jaw are the longest.
 
11 - 63 WONDERFUL CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH TEETH
The other animals are born with teeth, whereas man has them only at the seventh2 month after his birth. While other animals keep their teeth to the time of their death, man, the lion, the beasts of burden, the dog, and the ruminating animals, all change them; the lion and the dog, however, change none4 but the canine teeth. The canine tooth of the wolf, on the right side, is held in high esteem as an amulet. There is no animal that changes the maxillary teeth, which stand beyond the canine teeth. With man, the last teeth, which are known as the " genuini," or cheek teeth, come about the twentieth year, and with many men, and females as well, so late even as the eightieth; but this only in the case of those who have not had them in their youth. It is a well-known fact, that the teeth are sometimes shed in old age, and replaced by others. Mucianus has stated that he, himself, saw one Zocles, a native of Samothrace, who had a new set of teeth when he was past his one hundred and fourth year. In addition to these facts, in man males have more teeth than females, which is the case also in sheep, goats, and swine. Timarchus, the son of Nicocles the Paphian, had a double row of teeth in his jaws: the same person had a brother also who never changed his front teeth, and, consequently, wore them to the very stumps. There is an instance, also, of a man having a tooth growing in the palate. The canine teeth,when lost by any accident, are never known to come again. While in all other animals the teeth grow of a tawny colour with old age, with the horse, and him only, they become whiter the older he grows.
 
11 - 64 HOW ESTIMATE IS FORMED OF AGE OF ANIMALS FROM THEIR TEETH
The age, in beasts of burden, is indicated by the teeth. In the horse they are forty in number. At thirty months it loses the two fore-teeth in either jaw, and in the following year the same number next to them, at the time that the eye-teeth come. At the beginning of the fifth year the animal loses two teeth, which grow again in the sixth, and in the seventh it has all its teeth, those which have replaced the others, and those which have never been changed. If a horse is gelded before it changes its teeth, it never sheds them. In a similar manner, also, the ass loses four of its teeth in the thirtieth month, and the others from six months to six months. If a she-ass happens not to have foaled before the last of these teeth are shed, it is sure to be barren. Oxen change their teeth at two years old: with swine they are never changed.,When these several indications of age have been lost in horses and other beasts of burden, the age is ascertained by the projecting of the teeth, the greyness of the hair in the eyebrows, and the hollow pits that form around them; at this period the animal is supposed to be about sixteen6 years old. In the human teeth there is a certain venom; for if they are placed uncovered before a mirror, they will tarnish its brightness, and they will kill young pigeons while yet unfledged. The other particulars relative to the teeth have been already mentioned under the head of the generation of man. When teething first commences, the bodies of infants are subject to certain maladies. Those animals which have serrated teeth inflict the most dangerous bites.8
 
11 - 65 TONGUE; ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO TONGUE. NOISE MADE BY FROGS. PALATE
The tongue is not similarly formed in all animals. Serpents have a very thin tongue, and three-forked,1 which they vibrate to and fro: it is of a black colour, and when drawn from out of the mouth, of extraordinary length. The tongue of the lizard is two-forked, and covered with hair. That of the sea-calf also is twofold, but with the serpents it is of the thinness of a hair; the other animals employ it to lick the parts around the mouth. Fishes have nearly the whole of the tongue adhering to the palate, while in the crocodile the whole of it does adhere thereto: but in the aquatic animals the palate, which is fleshy, performs the duty of the tongue as the organ of taste. In lions, pards, and all the animals of that class, and in cats as well, the tongue is covered with asperities, which overlap each other, and bear a strong resemblance to a rasp. Such being its formation, if the animal licks a man's skin, it will wear it away by making it thinner and thinner; for which reason it is that the saliva of even a perfectly tame animal, being thus introduced to the close vicinity of the blood, is apt to bring on madness. Of the tongue of the purple we have made mention already. With the frog the end of the tongue adheres to the mouth, while the inner part is disjoined from the sides of the gullet; and it is by this means that the males give utterance to their croaking, at the season at which they are known as ololygones. This happens at stated periods of the year, at which the males invite the females for the purposes of propagation: letting down the lower lip to the surface of the water, they receive a small portion of it in the mouth, and then, by quavering with the tongue, make a gurgling noise, from which the croaking is produced which we hear. In making this noise, the folds of the mouth, becoming distended, are quite transparent, and the eyes start from the head and burn again with the effort. Those insects which have a sting in the lower part of the body, have teeth, and a tongue as well; with bees it is of considerable length, and in the grasshopper it is very prominent. Those insects which have a fistulous sting in the mouth, have neither tongue nor teeth; while others, again, have a tongue in the interior of the mouth, the ant, for instance. In the elephant the tongue is remarkably broad; and while with all other animals, each according to its kind, it is always perfectly at liberty, with man, and him alone, it is often found so strongly tied down by certain veins, that it becomes necessary to cut them. We find it stated that the pontiff Metellus had a tongue so ill adapted for articulation, that he is generally supposed to have voluntarily submitted to torture for many months, while preparing to pronounce the speech which he was about to make on the dedication of the temple of Opifera. In most persons the tongue is able to articulate with distinctness at about the seventh year; and many know how to employ it with such remarkable skill, as to be able to imitate the voices of various birds and other animals with the greatest exactness. The other animals have the sense of taste centred in the fore-part of the tongue; but in man it is situate in the palate as well.
 
11 - 66 TONSILS; UVA; EPIGLOSSIS; ARTERY; GULLET
In man there are tonsils at the root of the tongue; these in swine are called the glandules. The uvula,1 which is suspended between them at the extremity of the palate, is found only in man. Beneath this lies a smaller tongue, known by the name of "epiglossis," but it is wanting in animals that are oviparous. Placed as it is between two passages, the functions of the epiglottis are of a twofold nature. The one of these passages that lies more inward is called the [tracheal] artery, and leads to the lungs and the heart: the epiglottis covers it during the action of eating, that the drink or food may not go the wrong way, and so be productive of suffering, as it is by this passage that the breath and the voice are conveyed. The other or exterior passage is called the "gula," and it is by this passage that the victuals and drink pass: this leads to the belly, while the former one communicates with the chest. The epiglottis covers the pharynx, in its turn, when only the breath or the voice is passing, in order that the victuals may not inopportunely pass upwards, and so disturb the breathing or articulation. The tracheal artery is composed of cartilage and flesh, while the gullet is formed of a sinewy substance united with flesh.
 
11 - 67 NECK; THROAT; DORSAL SPINE
The neck is found to exist in no animal but those which have both these passages. All the others which have the gullet only, have nothing but a gorge or throat. In those which have a neck, it is formed of several rounded vertebræ, and is flexible, and joined together by distinct articulations, to allow of the animal turning round the head to look. The lion, the wolf, and the hyæna are the only animals in which it is formed of a single1 rigid bone. The neck is annexed to the spine, and the spine to the loins. The vertebral column is of a bony substance, but rounded, and pierced within, to afford a passage for the marrow to descend from the brain. It is generally concluded that the marrow is of the same nature as the brain, from the fact that if the membrane of exceeding thinness which covers it is pierced, death immediately ensues. Those animals which have long legs have a long throat as well, which is the case also with aquatic birds, although they have short legs, as well as with those which have hooked talons.
 
11 - 68 THROAT; GULLET; STOMACH
Man only, and the swine, are subject to swellings in the throat which are mostly caused by the noxious quality of the water1 which they drink. The upper part of the gullet is called the fauces, the lower the stomach. By this name is understood a fleshy concavity, situate behind the tracheal artery, and joining the vertebral column; it extends in length and breadth like a sort of chasm. Those animals which have no gullet have no stomach either, nor yet any neck or throat, fishes, for example; and in all these the mouth communicates immediately with the belly. The sea-tortoise4 has neither tongue nor teeth; it can break anything, however, with the sharp edge of its muzzle. After the tracheal artery there is the œsophagus, which is indented with hard asperities resembling bramble-thorns, for the purpose of levigating the food, the incisions gradually becoming smaller as they approach the belly. The roughness at the very extremity of this organ strongly resembles that of a blacksmith's file
 
11 - 69 HEART; BLOOD; VITAL SPIRIT
In all other animals but man the heart is situate in the middle of the breast; in man alone it is placed just below the pap on the left-hand side, the smaller end terminating in a point, and bearing outward. It is among the fish only that this point is turned towards the mouth. It is asserted that the heart is the first among the viscera that is formed in the fœtus, then the brain, and last of all, the eyes: it is said, too, that the eyes are the first organs that die, and the heart the very last of all. The heart also is the principal seat of the heat of the body; it is constantly palpitating, and moves as though it were one animal enclosed within another. It is also enve- loped in a membrane equally supple and strong, and is protected by the bulwarks formed by the ribs and the bone of the breast, as being the primary source and origin of life. It contains within itself the primary receptacles for the spirit and the blood, in its sinuous cavity, which in the larger animals is threefold, and in all twofold at least: here it is that the mind has its abode. From this source proceed two large veins, which branch into the fore-part and the back of the body, and which, spreading out in a series of branches, convey the vital blood by other smaller veins over all parts of the body. This is the only one3 among the viscera that is not affected by maladies, nor is it subject to the ordinary penalties of human life; but when injured, it produces instant death. While all the other viscera are injured, vitality may still remain in the heart.
 
11 - 70 ANIMALS WITH LARGEST & SMALLEST HEART, ANIMALS WITH 2 HEARTS
Those animals are looked upon as stupid and lumpish which have a hard, rigid heart, while those in which it is small are courageous, and those are timid which have it very large. The heart is the largest, in proportion to the body, in the mouse, the hare, the ass, the stag, the panther, the weasel, the hyæna, and all the animals, in fact, which are timid, or dangerous only from the effects of fear. In Paphlagonia the partridge has a double heart. In the heart of the horse and the ox there are bones sometimes found. It is said that the heart increases every year in man, and that two drachmæ in weight are added1 yearly up to the fiftieth year, after which period it decreases yearly in a similar ratio; and that it is for this reason that men do not live beyond their hundredth year, the heart then failing them: this is the notion entertained by the Egyptians, whose custom it is to embalm the bodies of the dead, and so preserve them. It is said that men have been born with the heart covered with hair, and that such persons are excelled by none in valour and energy; such, for instance, as Aristomenes, the Messenian, who slew three hundred Lacedæmonians. Being covered with wounds, and taken prisoner, he, on one occasion, made his escape by a narrow hole which he discovered in the stone quarry where he was imprisoned, while in pursuit of a fox which had found that mode of exit. Being again taken prisoner, while his guards were fast asleep he rolled himself towards a fire close by, and, at the expense of his body, burnt off the cords by which he was bound. On being taken a third time, the Lacedæmonians opened his breast while he was still alive, and his heart was found covered with hair.
 
11 - 71 WHEN CUSTOM WAS 1ST ADOPTED OF EXAMINING HEART IN INSPECTION OF ENTRAILS
On an examination of the entrails, to find a certain fatty part on the top of the heart, is looked upon as a fortunate presage. Still, however the heart has not always been considered as forming a part of the entrails for this purpose. It was under Lucius Postumnius Albinus, the King of the Sacrifices,1 and after the 126th Olympiad, when King Pyrrhus had quitted Italy, that the aruspices began to examine the heart, as part of the consecrated entrails. The first day that the Dictator Cæsar appeared in public, clothed in purple, and sitting on a seat of gold, the heart was twice found wanting when he sacrificed. From this circumstance has risen a great question among those who discuss matters connected with divination—whether it was possible for the victim to have lived without that organ, or whether it had lost it at the very moment of its death. It is asserted that the heart cannot be burnt of those persons who die of the cardiac disease; and the same is said of those who die by poison. At all events, there is still in existence an oration pronounced by Vitellius, in which he accuses Piso of this crime, and employs this alleged fact as one of his proofs, openly asserting that the heart of Germanicus Cæsar could not be burnt at the funeral pile, in consequence of his having been poisoned. On the other hand, the peculiar nature of the disease under which Germanicus was labouring, was alleged in Piso's defence.
 
11 - 72 LUNGS: WHAT ANIMALS HAVE LARGEST SMALLEST. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NOTHING BUT LUNGS INSIDE. CAUSES OF EXTRAORDINARY SWIFTNESS IN ANIMALS
Beneath the heart are the lungs, the laboratory in which the respiration is prepared. The use of these, is to draw in the air and then expel it; for which purpose their substance is of a spongy nature, and filled with cavernous holes. Some few among the aquatic animals have lungs, as we have already stated; and among the rest of those which are oviparous, they are small, of a fungous nature, and containing no blood; hence it is, that these animals do not experience thirst. It is for the same reason also, that frogs and seals are able to remain so long under water. The tortoise, too, although it has lungs of remarkable size, and extending throughout the whole of the shell, is also equally destitute of blood. The smaller the lungs are in proportion to the body, the greater is the swiftness of the animal. It is in the chameleon that the lungs are the largest in proportion to the body; in which, in fact, it has no other viscera at all.
 
11 - 73 LIVER: IN WHAT ANIMALS, & IN WHAT PART THERE ARE 2 LIVERS FOUND
The liver is on the right side: in this part is situate what has been called the " head of the entrails," and it is subject to considerable variations. No liver1 at all was found in a victim which was sacrificed by M. Marcellus, about the period when he was killed in battle against Hannibal; while in a victim which was slain on the following day, a double liver was found. It was wanting, also, in a victim sacrificed by C. Marius, at Utica, and in one which was offered by the Emperor Caius upon the calends of January, on the occasion of his entering the year of the consulship in which he was slain: the same thing happened, also, to his successor, Claudius, in the month in which he was cut off by poison. When the late Emperor Augustus was sacrificing at Spoletum, upon the first day of his entering on the imperial dignity, in six different victims the liver was found rolled over within itself, from the very lowest lobe; and the answer that was given by the diviners was to the effect that, in the course of the year, he would gain a twofold sway. It is of evil omen to find an incision in the head of the entrails, except on occasions of disquietude and alarm; for then it is significant of cutting all cares, and so putting an end to them. The hares that are found in the vicinity of Briletum and Tharne, and in the Chersonnesus on the Propontis, have a double liver; but, what is very singular, if they are removed to another place, they will lose one of them.
 
11 - 74 GALL; WHERE SITUATE, & WHAT ANIMALS IT IS DOUBLE. ANIMALS WITH NO GALL, & OTHERS IN WHICH IT IS NOT SITUATE IN LIVER
In the liver is the gall, which, however, does not exist in every animal. At Chalcis, in Eubœa, none of the cattle have it, while in the cattle of the Isle of Naxos, it is of extraordinary size, and double, so that to a stranger either of these facts would appear as good as a prodigy. The horse, the mule, the ass, the stag, the roe-buck, the wild boar, the camel, and the dolphin have no gall, but some kinds of rats and mice have it. Some few men are without it, and such persons enjoy robust health and a long life. There are some authors who say that the gall exists in the horse, not in the liver, but in the paunch, and that in the stag it is situate either in the tail or the intestines; and that hence it is, that those parts are so bitter that dogs will not touch them. The gall, in fact, is nothing else but the worst parts of the blood purged off, and for this reason it is that it is so bitter: at all events, it is a well-known fact, that no animal has a liver unless it has blood as well. The liver receives the blood from the heart, to which it is united, and then disperses it in the veins.
 
11 - 75 PROPERTIES OF THE GALL
When the gall is black, it is productive of madness in man, and if it is wholly expelled death will ensue. Hence it is, too, that the word " bile" has been employed by us to characterize a harsh, embittered disposition; so powerful are the effects of this secretion, when it extends its influence to the mind. In addition to this, when it is dispersed over the whole of the body, it deprives the eyes, even, of their natural colour; and when ejected, will tarnish copper vessels even, rendering everything black with which it comes in contact; so that no one ought to be surprised that it is the gall which constitutes the venom of serpents. Those animals of Pontus which feed on wormwood have no gall: in the raven, the quail, and the pheasant, the gall-bladder is united to the renal parts, and, on one side only, to the intestines. In many animals, again, it is united only to the intestines, the pigeon, the hawk, and the murena, for example. In some few birds it is situate in the liver; but it is in serpents and fishes that it is the largest in proportion. With the greater part of birds, it extends all along throughout the intestines, as in the hawk and the kite. In some other birds, also, it is situate in the breast as well: the gall, too, of the sea-calf is celebrated for its application to many purposes. From the gall of the bull a colour is extracted like that of gold. The aruspices have consecrated the gall to Neptune and the influence of water. The Emperor Augustus found a double gall in a victim which he was sacrificing on the day of his victory at Actium.
 
11 - 76 WHAT ANIMALS LIVER INCREASES & DECREASES WITH MOON. OBSERVATIONS OF ARUSPICES RELATIVE THERETO, & REMARKABLE PRODIGIES
It is said, that in the small liver of the mouse the number of lobes corresponds to the day of the moon, and that they are found to be just as many in number as she is days old; in addition to which, it is said that it increases at the winter solstice. In the rabbits of Bætica, the liver is always found to have a double lobe. Ants will not touch one lobe of the liver of the bramble-frog, in consequence of its poisonous nature, it is generally thought. The liver is remarkable for its powers of preservation, and sieges have afforded us remarkable instances of its being kept so long as a hundred years.
 
11 - 77 DIAPHRAGM. NATURE OF LAUGHTER
The entrails of serpents and lizards are of remarkable length. It is related that—a most fortunate omen—Cæcina of Volaterræ beheld two dragons arising from the entrails of the victim; and this will not be at all incredible, if we are ready to believe that while King Pyrrhus was sacrificing, the day upon which he died, the heads of the victims, on being cut off, crawled along the ground and licked up their own blood. In man, the entrails are separated from the lower part of the viscera by a certain membrane, which is called the " præcordia," because it is extended in front of the heart; the Greeks have given it the name of " phrenes." All the principal viscera have been enclosed by Nature, in her prudent foresight, in their own peculiar membranes, just like so many sheaths, in fact. With reference to the diaphragm, there was a peculiar reason for this wise provision of Nature, its proximity to the guts, and the chances that the food might possibly intercept the respiration. It is to this organ that is attributed quick and ready wit, and hence it is that it has no fleshy parts, but is composed of fine sinews and membranes. This part is also the chief seat of gaiety of mind, a fact which is more particularly proved by the titillation of the arm-holes, to which the midriff extends; indeed, in no part of the body is the skin more fine; for this reason it is, also, that we experience such peculiar pleasure in scratching the parts in its vicinity. Hence it is, that in battles and gladiatorial combats, many persons have been known to be pierced through the midriff, and to die in the act of laughing.
 
11 - 78 BELLY: ANIMALS WITH NO BELLY. ONLY ANIMALS THAT VOMIT
In those animals which have a stomach, below the diaphragm the belly is situate. In other animals it is single, but in those which ruminate it is double; in those, again, which are destitute of blood, there is no belly, for the intestinal canal commences in some of them at the mouth, and returns to that part, as is the case with the sæpia and the polypus. In man it is connected with the extremity of the stomach, and the same with the dog. These are the only creatures that have the belly more narrow at the lower part; hence it is, too, that they are the only ones that vomit, for on the belly being filled, the narrowness at its extremity precludes the food from passing; a thing that cannot possibly be the case with the animals in which the belly is more capacious at the extremity, and so leaves a free passage for the food to the lower parts of the body.
 
11 - 79 SMALL GUTS, FRONT INTESTINES, ANUS, COLON. CAUSES OF INSATIATE VORACITY OF CERTAIN ANIMALS
After the belly we find in man and the sheep the " lactes," the place of which in other animals is occupied by the "hillæ:" it is through these organs that the food passes. We then find the larger intestines, which communicate with the anus, and which in man consist of extremely sinuous folds. Those animals which have the longest intestinal canal, are the most voracious; and those which have the belly the most loaded with fat, are the least intelligent. There are some birds, also, which have two receptacles; the one of which is the crop, in which they stow away the food which they have just swallowed, while the other is the belly, into which they discharge the food when it is duly prepared and digested; this is the case with the domestic fowl, the ring-dove, the pigeon, and the partridge. The other birds are in general destitute of crop, but then they have a more capacious gorge, the jackdaw, the raven, and the crow, for instance: some, again, are constituted in neither manner, but have the belly close to the gorge, those, for instance, which have the neck very long and narrow, such as the porphyrio.
In the solid-hoofed animals the belly is rough and hard, while in some land animals it is provided with rough asperities like teeth, and in others, again, it has a reticulated surface like that of a file. Those animals which have not the teeth on both sides, and do not ruminate, digest the food in the belly, from whence it descends to the lower intestines. There is an organ in all animals attached in the middle to the navel, and in man similar in its lower part to that of the swine, the name given thereto by the Greeks being " colon," a part of the body which is subject to excruciating pains. In dogs this gut is extremely contracted, for which reason it is that they are unable to ease it, except by great efforts, and not without considerable suffering. Those animals with which the food passes at once from the belly through the straight intestine, are of insatiate appetite, as, for instance, the hind-wolf,6 and among birds the diver. The elephant has four bellies; the rest of its intestines are similar to those of the swine, and the lungs are four times as large as those of the ox. The belly in birds is fleshy, and formed of a callous substance. In that of young swallows there are found little white or pink pebbles, known by the name of " chelidonii," and said to be employed in magical incantations. In the second belly of the heifer there is a black tufa found, round like a ball,8 and of no weight to speak of: this, it is generally thought, is singu- larly efficacious in laborious deliveries, if it happens not to have touched the ground.
 
11 - 80 OMENTUM: SPLEEN; ANIMALS WHICH ABE WITHOUT IT
The belly and the intestines are covered with a caul known as the "omentum," consisting of a fatty, thin membrane; except in the case of those animals which are oviparous. To this membrane is attached the spleen, which lies on the left side, and opposite the liver: sometimes, indeed, it changes place with the liver, but such a case is looked upon as nothing less than a prodigy. Some persons imagine that a spleen of extremely diminutive size exists in the oviparous animals, as also in serpents; at all events, it is to be detected in the tortoise, the crocodile, the lizard, and the frog; though it is equally certain that it does not exist in the bird known as the " ægocephalos,"1 nor yet in those animals which are destitute of blood. The spleen sometimes offers a peculiar impe- diment in running, for which reason the region of the spleen is cauterized in runners who are troubled with pains there. It is said also, that if the spleen is removed by an incision, animals may survive. There are some persons who think that with the spleen man loses the power of laughing, and that excessive laughter is caused by the overgrowth of it. There is a territory of Asia, known as Scepsis, in which it is said that the spleen of the cattle is remarkably small, and that from thence it is that remedies for diseases of the spleen have been introduced.
 
11 - 81 KIDNEYS: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE FOUR KIDNEYS. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NONE
About Briletum and Tharne the stags have four kidneys: while, on the other hand, those animals which have wings and scales have none. The kidneys adhere to the upper part of the loins. Among all animals, the kidney on the right side is more elevated than the other, less fat, and drier. In both kidneys there is a certain streak of fat running from the middle, with the sole exception of those of the sea-calf. It is above the kidneys, also, that animals are fattest, and the accumulation of fat about them is often the cause of death in sheep. Small stones are sometimes found in the kidneys. All quadrupeds that are viviparous have kidneys, but of those which are oviparous the tortoise is the only one that has them; an animal which has all the other viscera, but, like man, has the kidneys composed, to all appearance, of several kidneys, similar to those of the ox.
 
11 - 82 BREAST: RIBS
Nature has placed the breast, or, in other words, certain bones, around the diaphragm and the organs of life, but not around the belly, for the expansion of which it was necessary that room should be left. Indeed, there is no animal that has any bones around the belly. Man is the only creature that has a broad breast; in all others it is of a carinated shape, in birds more particularly, and most of all, the aquatic birds. The ribs of man are only eight in number; swine have ten, the horned animals thirteen, and serpents thirty.
 
11 - 83 BLADDER: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO BLADDER
Below the paunch, on the anterior side, lies the bladder, which is never found in any oviparous animal, with the exception of the tortoise, nor yet in any animal that has not lungs with blood, or in any one that is destitute of feet. Between it and the paunch are certain arteries, which extend to the pubes, and are known as the " ilia." In the bladder of the wolf there is found a small stone, which is called " syrites;" and in the bladders of some persons calculi are sometimes found, which produce most excruciating pains; small hairs, like bristles, are also occasionally found in the bladder. This organ consists of a membrane, which, when once wounded, does not1 cicatrize, just like those in which the brain and the heart are enveloped: there are many kinds of membranes, in fact.
 
11 - 84 WOMB: WOMB OF SOW: TEARS
Women have all the same organs, except that adjoining to the bladder there is one like a small sac, from which circumstance it is called the " uterus." Another name for this part is " loci;" but in other animals it is known by the name of "vulva." With the viper and other animals which generate their young within themselves, the womb is double; while with those which are oviparous, it is attached to the diaphragm. In woman it has two concavities, one on either side: when the matrix becomes displaced, it is productive of fatal effects, by causing suffocation. It is asserted that the cow, when pregnant, carries her young only in the right concavity of the womb, and that this is the case even when she produces twins. The womb of the sow is considered better eating if she has slipped her young, than if she has duly brought forth: in the former case it is known by the name of "ejectitia," in the latter it is called " porcaria." The womb of a sow that has farrowed only once is the most esteemed, and that of those which have ceased farrowing, the least. After farrowing, unless the animal is killed the same day, the womb is of a livid colour, and lean. This part, however, is not esteemed in a young sow, except just after the first farrowing: indeed, it is much more highly valued in an animal of a more mature age, so long as it is not past breeding, or has been killed two days before farrowing, or two days after, or upon the day on which it has miscarried. The next best after that of a sow that has miscarried, is that of one that has been killed the day after farrowing: indeed, the paps of this last, if the young have not begun to suck, are excellent eating, while those of an animal that has miscarried are very inferior. The ancients called this part by the name of " abdomen," before it grew hard, and were not in the habit of killing swine while in a state of pregnancy.
 
11 - 85 ANIMALS WHICH HAVE SUET: ANIMALS WHICH DO NOT GROW FAT
Those among the horned animals which have teeth in one jaw only, and pastern bones on the feet, produce tallow or suet. Those, on the other hand, which are cloven-footed, or have the feet divided into toes, and are without horns, have simple fat only. This fat becomes hard, and when quite cold turns brittle, and is always found at the extremity of the flesh; while, on the other hand, the fat which lies between the skin and the flesh forms a kind of liquid juice. Some animals naturally do not become fat, such as the hare and the partridge, for instance. All fat animals, male as well as female, are mostly barren; and those which are remarkably fat become old the soonest. All animals have a certain degree of fatness in the eyes. The fat in all animals is devoid of sensation, having neither arteries nor veins. With the greater part of animals, fatness is productive of insensibility; so much so, indeed, that it has been said, that living swine have been gnawed even by mice. It has been even asserted that the fat was drawn off from the body of a son of L. Apronius, a man of consular rank, and that he was thus relieved of a burden which precluded him from moving.
 
11 - 86 MARROW: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO MARROW
The marrow seems also to be formed of a similar material; in the young it is of a reddish colour, but it is white in the aged. It is only found in those bones which are hollow, and not in the tibiæ of horses or dogs; for which reason it is, that when the tibia is broken, the bone will not reunite, a process which is effected by the flow of the marrow. The marrow is of a greasy nature in those animals which have fat, and suetty in those with horns. It is full of nerves, and is found only in the vertebral column in those animals which have no bones, fishes, for instance. The bear has no marrow; and the lion has a little only in some few bones of the thighs and the brachia, which are of such extraordinary hardness that sparks may be emitted therefrom, as though from a flint-stone.
 
11 - 87 BONES AND FISH-BONES: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NEITHER. CARTILAGES
The bones are hard, also, in those animals1 which do not grow fat; those of the ass are used by musicians for making flutes. Dolphins have bones, and not ordinary fish-bones; for they are viviparous. Serpents, on the other hand, have bones like those of fish. Among aquatic animals, the mollusks have no bones, but the body is surrounded with circles of flesh, as in the sæpia and the cuttle-fish, for instance; insects, also, are said to be equally destitute of bones. Among aquatic animals, those which are cartilaginous have marrow in the vertebral column; the sea-calf has cartilages, and no bones. The ears also, and the nostrils in all animals, when remarkably prominent, are made flexible by a remarkable provision of Nature, in order that they may not be broken. When cartilage is once broken, it will not unite; nor will bone, when cut, grow again, except in beasts of burden, between the hoof and the pastern.
Man increases in height till his twenty-first year, after which he fills out; but it is more particularly when he first arrives at the age of puberty that he seems to have untied a sort of knot in his existence, and this especially when he has been overtaken by illness.
 
11 - 88 NERVE: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NONE
The nerves1 take their rise at the heart, and even surround it in the ox; they have the same nature and principle as the marrow. In all animals they are fastened to the lubricous surface of the bones, and so serve to fasten those knots in the body which are known as articulations or joints, sometimes lying between them, sometimes surrounding them, and sometimes running from one to another; in one place they are long and round, and in another broad, according as the necessity of each case may demand. When cut, they will not reunite, and if wounded, it is wonderful what excruciating pain they cause; though, if completely cut asunder, they are productive of none whatever. Some animals are destitute of nerves, fish, for instance, the bodies of which are united by arteries, though even these are not to be found in the mollusks. Wherever there are nerves found, it is the inner ones that contract the limb, and the outer ones that extend it.
Among the nerves lie concealed the arteries, which are so many passages for the spirit; and upon these float the veins, as conduits for the blood. The pulsation of the arteries is more especially perceptible on the surface of the limbs, and afford indications of nearly every disease, being either stationary, quickened, or retarded, conformably to certain measures and metrical laws, which depend on the age of the patient, and which have been described with remarkable skill by Herophilus, who has been looked upon as a prophet in the wondrous art of medicine. These indications, however, have been hitherto neglected, in consequence of their remarkable subtilty and minuteness, though, at the same time, it is by the observation of the pulse, as being fast or slow, that the health of the body, as regulating life, is ascertained.
 
11 - 89 ARTERIES; VEINS: ANIMALS WITHOUT ARTERIES OR VEINS. BLOOD & SWEAT
The arteries are destitute of sensation, for they are devoid of blood. They do not, all of them, however, contain the vital spirit, and when one of them has been cut, it is only that part of the body that is reduced to a torpid state. Birds have neither veins nor arteries, which is the case also with serpents, tortoises, and lizards; and they have but a very small proportion of blood. The veins, which are dispersed beneath the whole skin in filaments of extreme thinness, terminate with such remarkable fineness, that the blood is able to penetrate no further, or, indeed, anything else, except an extremely subtle humour which oozes forth from the skin in innumerable small drops, and is known to us as "sweat." The knot, and place of union of the veins, is the navel.
 
11 - 90 ANIMALS W/ BLOOD THAT COAGULATES FASTEST & WHICH DOES NOT COAGULATE. ANIMALS WITH THICKEST & THINNEST BLOOD: ANIMALS WITH NO BLOOD
Those animals in which the blood is more abundant and of an unctuous nature, are irascible; it is darker in males than in females, and in the young than in the aged: the blood of the lower extremities is the thickest. There is great vitality, too, in the blood, and when it is discharged from the body, it carries the life with it: it is not sensible, however, of touch. Those animals in which the blood is the thickest are the most courageous, and those in which it is the thinnest the most intelligent; while those, again, which have little or no blood are the most timorous of all. The blood of the bull coagulates and hardens the most speedily of all, and hence it is so particu- larly deadly when drunk. On the other hand, the blood of the wild boar, the stag, the roe-buck, and oxen of all kinds, does not coagulate. Blood is of the richest quality in the ass, and the poorest in man. Those animals which have more than four feet have no blood. In animals which are very fat, the blood is less abundant than in others, being soaked up by the fat. Man is the only creature from which the blood flows at the nostrils; some persons bleed at one nostril only, some at both, while others again void blood by the lower parts. Many persons discharge blood from the mouth at stated periods, such, for instance, as Macrinus Viscus, lately, a man of prætorian dignity, and Volusius Saturninus, the Prefect of the City, who every year did the same, and yet lived to beyond ninety. The blood is the only substance in the body that is sensible of any temporary increase, for a larger quantity will come from the victims if they happen to have drunk just before they are sacrificed.
 
11 - 91 ANIMALS WHICH ARE WITHOUT BLOOD AT CERTAIN PERIODS OF THE YEAR
Those animals which conceal themselves1 at certain periods of the year, as already mentioned, have no blood at those times, with the exception, indeed, of some very small drops about the heart. A marvellous dispensation of Nature! and very similar to that witnessed in man, where the blood is sensible of various modifications from the slightest causes; for not only, similarly to the bile, does it rush upwards to the face, but it serves also to indicate the various tendencies of the mind, by depicting shame, anger, and fear, in many ways, either by the paleness of the features or their unusual redness; as, in fact, the redness of anger and the blush of modesty are quite different things. It is a well-known fact, that when a man is in fear, the blood takes to flight and disappears, and that many persons have been pierced through the body without losing one drop of blood; a thing, however, which is only the case with man. But as to those animals which we have already mentioned as changing colour, they derive that colour from the reflection3 of other objects; while, on the other hand, man is the only one that has the elements which cause these changes centred in himself. All diseases, as well as death, tend to absorb the blood.
 
11 - 92 WHETHER THE BLOOD IS THE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE
There are some persons who are of opinion that the fineness of the wit does not depend upon the thinness of the blood, but that animals are more or less stupid in proportion to the skin or other coverings of the body, as the oyster and the tortoise, for instance: that the hide of the ox and the bristles of the hog, in fact, offer a resistance to the fine and penetrating powers of the air, and leave no passage for its transmission in a pure and liquid state. The same, they say, is the case, too, with men, when the skin is very thick or callous, and so excludes the air. Just as if, indeed, the crocodile was not equally remarkable for the hardness of its skin and its extreme cunning.
 
11 - 93 HIDE OF ANIMALS
The hide, too, of the hippopotamus is so thick, that lances, even, are turned from it, and yet this animal has the intelligence to administer certain medicaments to itself. The hide, too, of the elephant makes bucklers that are quite impenetrable, and yet to it is ascribed a degree of intelligence superior to that of any quadruped. The skin itself is entirely devoid of sen- sation, and more particularly that of the head; wherever it is found alone, and unaccompanied with flesh, if wounded, it will not unite, as in the cheek and on the eyelid, for instance.
 
11 - 94 HAIR & COVERING OF SKIN
Those animals which are viviparous, have hair; those which are oviparous, have feathers, scales, or a shell, like the tortoise; or else a purple skin, like the serpent. The lower part of all feathers is hollow; if cut, they will not grow again, but if pulled out, they will shoot afresh. Insects fly by the aid of a frail membrane; the wings of the fish1 called the "swallow" are moistened in the sea, while those of the bat which frequents our houses are dry; the wings of this last animal have certain articulations as well. The hairs that issue from a thick skin are rough, while those on females are of a finer quality. Those found on the horse's mane are more abundant, which is the case also with the shoulders of the lion. The dasypus has hair in the inside of the mouth even and under the feet, two features which Trogus has also attributed to the hare; from which the same author concludes that hairy men are the most prone to lust. The most hairy of all animals is the hare. Man is the only creature that has hair as the mark of puberty; and a person who is devoid of this, whether male or female, is sure to be sterile. The hair of man is partly born with him, and in part produced after his birth. The last kind of hair will not grow upon eunuchs, though that which has been born with them does not fall off; which is the case also with women, in a great degree. Still however, there have been women known to be afflicted with falling off of the hair, just as some are to be seen with a fine down on the face, after the cessation of the menstrual discharge. In some men the hair that mostly shoots forth after birth will not grow spontaneously. The hair of quadrupeds comes off every year, and grows again. That of the head in man grows the fastest, and next to it the hair of the beard. When cut, the hairs shoot, not from the place where they have been cut, as is the case with grass, but at the root. The hair grows quickly in certain diseases, phthisis more particularly; it grows also with rapidity in old age, and on the body after death. In persons of a libidinous tendency the hair that is produced at birth falls off more speedily, while that which is afterwards produced grows with the greatest rapidity. In quadrupeds, the hair grows thicker in old age; but on those with wool, it becomes thinner. Those quadrupeds which have thick hair on the back, have the belly quite smooth. From the hides of oxen, and that of the bull more especially, glue is extracted by boiling.
 
11 - 95 PAPS: BIRDS W/ PAPS. REMARKABLE FACT'S CONNECTED WITH DUGS OF ANIMALS
Man is the only male among animals that has nipples, all the rest having mere marks only in place of them. Among female animals even, the only ones that have mammæ on the breast are those which can nurture their young. No oviparous animal has mammæ, and those only have milk that are vivi- parous; the bat being the only winged animal that has it. As for the stories that they tell, about the screech-owl ejecting milk from its teats upon the lips of infants, I look upon it as utterly fabulous: from ancient times the name "strix," I am aware, has been employed in maledictions, but I do not think it is well ascertained what bird is really meant by that name.
The female ass is troubled with pains in the teats after it has foaled, and it is for that reason that at the end of six months it weans its young; while the mare suckles its young for nearly the whole year. The solid-hoofed animals do not bear more than two young ones at a time: they all of them have two paps, and nowhere but between the hind legs. Animals with cloven feet and with horns, such as the cow, for instance, have four paps, similarly situate, sheep and goats two. Those which produce a more numerous progeny, and those which have toes on the feet, have a greater number of paps distributed in a double row all along the belly, such as the sow, for instance; the better sorts have twelve, the more common ones two less: the same is the case also with the female of the dog. Other animals, again, have four paps situate in the middle of the belly, as the female panther; others, again, two only, as the lioness. The female elephant has two only, situate between the shoulders, and those not in the breast, but without it, and hidden in the arm-pits: none of the animals which have toes have the paps between the hind legs. The sow presents the first teat to the first-born in each farrow, the first teat being the one that is situate nearest to the throat. Each pig, too, knows its own teat, according to the order in which it was born, and draws its nourishment from that and no other: if its own suckling, too, should happen to be withdrawn from my one of them, the pap will immediately dry up, and shrink back within the belly: if there should be only one pig left of all the farrow, that pap alone which has been assigned for its nutriment when born, will continue to hang down for the purpose of giving suck. The she-bear has four mammæ, the dolphin only two, at the bottom of the belly; they are not easily visible, and have a somewhat oblique direction: this is the only animal which gives suck while in motion. The balæna and sea-calf also suckle their young by teats.
 
11 - 96 MILK: BIESTINGS. CHEESE; OF WHAT MILK CHEESE CANNOT BE MADE. RENNET; VARIOUS KINDS OF ALIMENT IN MILK
The milk that is secreted in a woman before her seventh month is useless; but after that month, so long as the fœtus is healthy, the milk is wholesome: many women, indeed, are so full of milk, that it will flow not only from the mammæ, but exudes at the arm-pits even.1 Camels continue in milk until they are pregnant again. Their milk, mixed in the proportion of one part to three of water, is considered a very pleasant beverage. The cow has no milk before it has calved, and that which immediately follows upon its bringing forth is known as the " colostra:" if water is not mixed with it, it will coagulate, and assume the hardness of pumice. She-asses, as soon as they are pregnant, have milk in their udders; when the pasturage is rich, it is fatal to their young to taste the mother's milk the first two days after birth; the kind of malady by which they are attacked is known by the name of "colostration." Cheese cannot be made from the milk of animals which have teeth on either jaw, from the circumstance that their milk does not coagulate. The thinnest milk of all is that of the camel, and next to it that of the mare. The milk of the she-ass is the richest of all, so much so, indeed, that it is often used instead of rennet. Asses' milk is also thought to he very efficacious in whitening the skin of females: at all events, Poppæa,3 the wife of Domitius Nero, used always to have with her five hundred asses with foal, and used to bathe the whole of her body in their milk, thinking that it also con- ferred additional suppleness on the skin. All milk thickens by the action of fire, and becomes serous when exposed to cold. The milk of the cow produces more cheese than that of the goat: when equal in quantity, it will produce nearly twice the weight. The milk of animals which have more than four mammæ does not produce cheese; and that is the best which is made of the milk of those that have but two. The rennet of the fawn, the hare, and the kid is the most esteemed, but the best of all is that of the dasypus: this last acts as a specific for diarrhœa, that animal being the only one with teeth in both jaws, the rennet of which has that property. It is a remarkable circumstance, that the barbarous nations which subsist on milk have been for so many ages either ignorant of the merits of cheese, or else have totally disregarded it; and yet they understand how to thicken milk and form there from an acrid kind of liquid with a pleasant flavour, as well as a rich butter: this last is the foam4 of milk, and is of a thicker consistency than the part which is known as the " serum."5 We ought not to omit that butter has certain of the properties of oil, and that it is used for an ointment among all barbarous nations, and among ourselves as well, for infants.
 
11 - 97 VARIOUS KINDS OF CHEESE
The kinds of cheese that are most esteemed at Rome, where the various good things of all nations are to be judged of by comparison, are those which come from the provinces of Ne- mausus,1 and more especially the villages there of Lesura and Gabalis; but its excellence is only very short-lived, and it must be eaten while it is fresh. The pastures of the Alps recommend themselves by two sorts of cheese; the Dalmatic Alps send us the Docleatian cheese, and the Centronian Alps the Vatusican. The kinds produced in the Apennines are more numerous; from Liguria we have the cheese of Ceba, which is mostly made from the milk of sheep; from Umbria we have that of Æsina, and from the frontiers of Etruria and Liguria those of Luna, remarkable for their vast size, a single cheese weighing as much as a thousand pounds. Nearer the City, again, we have the cheese of Vestinum, the best of this kind being that which comes from the territory of Ceditium. Goats also produce a cheese which has been of late held in the highest esteem, its flavour being heightened by smoking it. The cheese of this kind which is made at Rome is considered preferable to any other; for that which is made in Gaul has a strong taste, like that of medicine. Of the cheeses that are made beyond sea, that of Bithynia is usually considered the first in quality. That salt exists in pasture- lands is pretty evident, from the fact that all cheese as it grows old contracts a saltish flavour, even where it does not appear to any great extent; while at the same time it is equally well known that cheese soaked in a mixture of thyme and vinegar will regain its original fresh flavour. It is said that Zoroaster lived thirty years in the wilderness upon cheese, prepared in such a peculiar manner, that he was insensible to the advances of old age.
 
11 - 98 DIFFERENCES OF MEMBERS OF MAN FROM THOSE OF OTHER ANIMALS
Of all the terrestrial animals, man is the only biped: he is also the only one that has a throat, and shoulders, or "humeri," parts in other animals known by the name of "armi." Man, too, is the only animal that has the "ulna," or elbow. Those animals which are provided with hands, have flesh only on the interior of them, the outer part consisting of sinews and skin.
 
11 - 99 FINGERS, ARMS
Some persons have six fingers on the hands. We read that C. Horatius, a man of patrician rank, had two daughters, who for this reason had the name of "Sedigitæ;" and we find mention made of Volcatius Sedigitus, as a famous poet. The fingers of man have three joints, the thumb only two, it bending in an opposite direction to all the other fingers. Viewed by itself, the movement of the thumb has a sidelong direction, and it is much thicker than the rest of the fingers. The little finger is equal in length to the thumb, and two others are also equal in length, the middle finger being the longest of all. Those quadrupeds which live by rapine have five toes on the fore feet, and four on the hinder ones. The lion, the wolf, and the dog, with some few others, have five claws on the hind feet, one of which hangs down near the joint of the leg. The other animals, also, which are of smaller size, have five toes. The two arms are not always equal in length: it is a well-known fact, that, in the school of gladiators belonging to Caius Cæsar, the Thracian Studiosus had the right arm longer than the left. Some animals also use their forepaws to perform the duties of hands, and employ them in conveying food to the mouth as they sit, the squirrel, for instance.
 
11 - 100 RESEMBLANCE OF APE TO MAN
As to the various kinds of apes, they offer a perfect resem- blance to man in the face, the nostrils, the ears, and the eyelids; being the only quadrupeds, in fact, that have eyelashes on the lower eyelid. They have mammæ also on the breast, arms and legs, which bend in opposite directions, and nails upon the hands and fingers, the middle finger being the longest. They differ somewhat from man in the feet; which, like the hands, are of remarkable length, and have a print similar to that of the palm of our hand. They have a thumb also, and articulations similar to those in man. The males differ from man in the sexual parts only, while all the internal viscera exactly resemble those of man.
 
11 - 101 NAILS
It is generally supposed that the nails are the terminations of the sinews. All animals which have fingers have nails as well. In the ape they are long and overlapping,1 like a tile, while in man they are broad: they will grow even after death. In the beasts of prey they are hooked, while in others, such as the dog, for instance, they are straight, with the exception, indeed, of the one which is attached to the leg in most of them. All the animals which have feet [and not hoofs], have toes as well, except the elephant; he, also, would appear to have toes, five in number, but rudely developed, undivided, and hardly distinct from one another, bearing a nearer resem- blance, in fact, to hoofs than to claws. In the elephant the fore-feet are the largest, and in the hind-feet there are short joints. This animal is able, also, to bend the hams inward like a man, while in all the others the joints of the hinder legs bend in a contrary direction to those of the fore ones. Those animals which are viviparous bend the fore-leg forward, while the joint of the hind-leg is directed backward.
 
11 - 102 KNEES & HAMS
In man the knee and the elbow bend contrary ways; the same is the case, too, with the bear and the ape, and it is for this reason that they are not so swift of foot as other animals. Those quadrupeds which are oviparous, such as the crocodile and the lizard, bend the knee of the fore-leg back- wards, and that of the hind-leg forwards; their thighs are placed on them obliquely, in a similar manner to a man's thumb; which is the case also with the multipede insects, the hind-legs only excepted of such as leap. Birds, like quadru- peds, have the joints of the wings bending forwards, but those of the legs backwards.
 
11 - 103 PARTS OF HUMAN BODY TO WHICH CERTAIN RELIGIOUS IDEAS ARE ATTACHED
In accordance with the usages of various nations, certain religious ideas have been attached to the knees. It is the knees that suppliants clasp, and it is to these that they extend their hands; it is the knees that they worship like so many altars, as it were; perhaps, because in them is centred the vital strength. For in the joint of either knee, the right as well as the left, there is on the fore-side of each a certain empty space, which bears a strong resemblance to a mouth, and through which, like the throat, if it is once pierced, the vital powers escape. There are also certain religious ideas attached to other parts of the body, as is testified in raising the back of the right hand to the lips, and extending it as a token of good faith. It was the custom of the ancient Greeks, when in the act of supplication, to touch the chin. The seat of the memory lies in the lower part of the ear, which we touch when we summon a witness to depose upon memory to an arrest. The seat, too, of Nemesis lies behind the right ear, a goddess which has never yet found a Latin name, no, not in the Capitol even. It is to this part that we apply the finger next the little finger, after touching the mouth with it, when we silently ask pardon of the gods for having let slip an indiscreet word.
 
11 - 104 VARICOSE VEINS
Men only, in general, have varicose veins in the legs, women but very rarely. We are informed by Oppius, that C. Marius, who was seven times consul, was the only man ever known to be able to have them extracted in a standing position.
 
11 - 105 GAIT, FEET, LEGS
All animals take a right-hand direction when they first begin to walk, and lie down on the left side. While the other animals walk just as it may happen, the lion only and the camel walk foot by foot, or in such a way that the left foot never passes the right, but always comes behind it. Men have the largest feet; in every kind of animal the female has the smallest. Man only has calves, and flesh upon the legs: we find it stated by authors, however, that there was once an Egyptian who had no calves on his legs. All men, too, with some few exceptions, have a sole to the foot. It is from these exceptional cases that persons have obtained the names of Plancus, Plautus, Pansa, and Scaurus; just as, from the malformation of the legs, we find persons called Varus, Vacia, and Vatinius, all which blemishes are to be seen in quadrupeds also. Animals which have no horns have a solid hoof, from which circumstance it is used by them as a weapon of offence, in place of horns; such animals as these are also destitute of pastern bones, but those which have cloven hoofs have them; while those, again, which have toes have none, nor are they ever found in the fore-feet of animals. The camel has pastern bones like those of the ox, but somewhat smaller, the feet being cloven, with a slight line of division, and having a fleshy sole, like that of the bear: hence it is, that in a long journey, the animal becomes fatigued, and the foot cracks, if it is not shod.
 
11 - 106 HOOFS
The horn of the hoof grows again in no animals except beasts of burden. The swine in some places in Illyricum have solid hoofs. Nearly all the horned animals are cloven-footed, no animal having solid hoofs and two horns. The Indian ass is only a one-horned animal, and the oryx is both one-horned and cloven-footed. The Indian ass is the only solid-hoofed animal that has pastern-bones. As to swine, they are looked upon as a sort of mongrel race, with a mixture of both kinds, and hence it is that their ankle-bones are so misshapen. Those authors who have imagined that man has similar pastern-bones, are easily to be confuted. The lynx is the only one among the animals that have the feet divided into toes, that has anything bearing a resemblance to a pastern-bone; while with the lion it is more crooked still. The great pastern-bone is straight, and situate in the joints of the foot; it projects outwards in a convex protuberance, and is held fast in its vertebration by certain ligaments.
 
11 - 107 FEET OF BIRDS
Among birds, some have the feet divided into toes, while others, again, are broad and flatfooted—in others, which partake of the intermediate nature of both, the toes are divided, with a wide space between them. All birds, however, have four toes—three in front, and one on the heel; this last, however, is wanting in some that have long legs. The iynx is the only bird that has two toes on each side of the leg. This bird also protrudes a long tongue similar to that of the serpent, and it can turn the neck quite round and look backwards; it has great talons, too, like those of the jackdaw. Some of the heavier birds have spurs also upon the legs; but none of those have them which have crooked talons as well. The long-footed birds, as they fly, extend the legs towards the tail, while those that have short legs hold them contracted close to the middle of the body. Those authors who deny that there is any bird without feet, assert that those even which are called apodes, are not without them, as also the oce, and the drepanis, which last is a bird but very rarely seen. Serpents, too, have been seen with feet like those of the goose.
 
11 - 108 ANIMAL FEET, THOSE W/ 2 FEET TO 100. DWARFS
Among insects, those which have hard eyes have the forefeet long, in order that from time to time they may rub the eyes with their feet, as we frequently see done by flies. The insects which have long hind-feet are able to leap, the locust, for instance. All these insects have six feet: and some of the spiders have two very long feet in addition. They have, all of them, three joints. We have already" stated that marine insects have eight feet, such as the polypus, the sæpia, the cuttle-fish, and the crab, animals which move their arms in a contrary direction to their feet, which last they move around as well as obliquely: they are the only animals the feet of which have a rounded form. Other insects have two feet to regulate their movements; in the crab, and in that only, these duties are performed by four. The land animals which exceed this number of feet, as most of the worms, never have fewer than twelve feet, and some, indeed, as many as a hundred. The number of feet is never uneven in any animal. Among the solid-hoofed animals, the legs are of their proper length from the moment of their birth, after which they may with more propriety be said to extend themselves than to increase in growth: hence it is, that in infancy they are able to scratch their ears with the hind feet, a thing which, when they grow older, they are not able to do, because their increase of growth affects only the superficies of the body. It is for the same reason also, that they are only able to graze at first by bending the knees, until such time as the neck has attained its proper length.
There are dwarfs to be found among all animals, and among birds even.
 
11 - 109 SEXUAL PARTS. HERMAPHRODITES
We have already spoken sufficiently at length of those animals, the males of which have the sexual parts behind. In the wolf, the fox, the weasel, and the ferret, these parts are bony; and it is the genitals of the last-mentioned animal that supply the principal remedies for calculus in the human bladder. It is said also that the genitals of the bear are turned into a horny substance the moment it dies. Among the peoples of the East the very best bow-strings are those which are made of the member of the camel. These parts also, among different nations, are made the object of certain usages and religious observances; and the Galli, the priests of the Mother of the gods, are in the habit of castrating themselves, without any dangerous results. On the other hand, there is in some few women a monstrous resemblance to the male conformation, while hermaphrodites appear to partake of the nature of both. Instances of this last conformation were seen in quadrupeds in Nero's reign, and for the first time, I imagine; for he ostentatiously paraded hermaphrodite horses yoked to his car, which had been found in the territory of the Treviri, in Gaul; as if, indeed, it was so remarkably fine a sight to behold the ruler of the earth seated in a chariot drawn by monstrosities
 
11 - 110 TESTES: 3 CLASSES OF EUNUCHS
In sheep and cattle the testes hang down to the legs, while in the boar they are knit up close to the body. In the dolphin they are very long, and are concealed in the lower part of the belly. In the elephant, also, they are quite concealed. In oviparous animals they adhere to the interior of the loins: these animals are the most speedy in the venereal congress. Fishes and serpents have no testes, but in place of them they have two veins, which run from the renal region to the genitals. The bird known as the "buteo,"1 has three testes. Man is the only creature in which the testes are ever broken, either accidentally or by some natural malady; those who are thus afflicted form a third class of half men, in addition to hermaphrodites and eunuchs. In all species of animals the male is more courageous than the female, with the exception of the panther and the bear.
 
11 - 111 TAILS OF ANIMALS
Nearly all the animals, both viviparous as well as oviparous, with the exception of man and the ape, have tails in proportion to the necessities of the body. In animals with bristles the tail is bare, as in the boar, for instance. In those that are shaggy, it is small, such as the bear; while in those animals that have long hair, the tail is long also, the horse, for instance. The tail of a lizard or serpent, if cut off, will grow again. The tail governs the movements of the fish like a rudder, and turning from side to side, to the right or to the left, impels it onwards, acting in some degree like an oar. A double tail is sometimes found in lizards. In oxen, the stalk of the tail is of remarkable length, and is covered with rough hair at the extremity. In the ass, too, it is longer than in the horse, but in beasts of burden it is covered with bristly hairs. The tail of the lion, at the extremity, is like that of the ox and the field-mouse; but this is not the case with the panther. In the fox and the wolf it is covered with long hair, as in sheep, in which it is longer also. In swine, the tail is curled; among dogs, those that are mongrels carry it close beneath the belly.
 
11 - 112 DIFFERENT VOICES OF ANIMALS
Aristotle1 is of opinion that no animal has a voice which does not respire, and that hence it is that there is no voice in insects, but only a noise, through the circulation of the air in the interior, and its resounding, by reason of its compression. Some insects, again, he says, emit a sort of humming noise, such as the bee, for instance; others a shrill, long-drawn note, like the grasshopper, the two cavities beneath the thorax receiving the air, which, meeting a moveable membrane within, emits a sound by the attrition.—Also that flies, bees, and other insects of that nature, are only heard while they are flying, and cease to be heard the moment they settle, and that the sound which they emit proceeds from the friction and the air within them, and not from any act of respiration. At all events, it is generally believed that the locust emits a sound by rubbing together the wings and thighs, and that among the aquatic animals the scallop makes a certain noise as it flies. Mollusks, however, and the testaceous animals have no voice and emit no sounds. As for the other fishes, although they are destitute of lungs and the tracheal artery, they are not entirely without the power of emitting certain sounds: it is only a mere joke to say that the noise which they make is produced by grating their teeth together. The fish, too, that is found in the river Acheloüs, and is known as the boar-fish, makes a grunting noise, as do some others which we have previously4 mentioned. The oviparous animals hiss: in the serpent this hissing is prolonged, in the tortoise it is short and abrupt. Frogs make a peculiar noise of their own, as already stated; unless, indeed, this, too, is to be looked upon as a matter of doubt; but their noise originates in the mouth, and not in the thorax. Still, however, in reference to this subject, the nature of the various localities exercises a very considerable influence, for in Macedonia, it is said, the frogs are dumb, and the same in reference to the wild boars there. Among birds, the smaller ones chirp and twitter the most, and more especially about the time of pairing. Others, again, exercise their voice while fighting, the quail, for instance; others before they begin to fight, such as the partridge; and others when they have gained the victory, the dunghill cock, for instance. The males in these species have a peculiar note of their own, while in others, the nightingale for example, the male has the same note as the female.
Some birds sing all the year round, others only at certain times of the year, as we have already mentioned when speaking of them individually. The elephant produces a noise similar to that of sneezing, by the aid of the mouth, and in- dependently of the nostrils; but by means of the nostrils it emits a sound similar to the hoarse braving of a trumpet. It is only in the bovine race that the voice of the female is the deepest, it being in all other kinds of animals more shrill than that of the male; it is the same also with the male of the human race when castrated. The infant at its birth is never heard to utter a cry before it has entirely left the uterus: it begins to speak at the end of the first year. A son of Crœsus, however, spoke when only six months old, and, while yet wielding the child's rattle, afforded portentous omens, for it was at the same period that his father's empire fell. Those children which begin to speak the soonest, begin to walk the latest. The human voice acquires additional strength at the fourteenth year; but in old age it becomes more shrill again, and there is no living creature in which it is subject to more frequent changes. In addition to the preceding, there are still some singular circumstances that deserve to be mentioned with reference to the voice. If saw-dust or sand is thrown down in the orchestra of a theatre, or if the walls around are left in a rough state, or empty casks are placed there, the voice is absorbed; while, on the other hand. if the wall is quite straight, or if built in a concave form, the voice will move along it, and will convey words spoken in the slightest whisper from one end7 to the other, if there is no inequality in the surface to impede its progress. The voice, in man, contributes in a great degree to form his physiognomy, for we form a knowledge of a man before we see him by hearing his voice, just as well8 as if we had seen him with our eyes. There are as many kinds of voices, too, as there are individuals in existence, and each man has his own peculiar voice, just as much as his own peculiar physiognomy. Hence it is, that arises that vast diversity of nations and languages throughout the whole earth: in this, too, originate the many tunes, measures, and inflexions that exist. But, before all other things, it is the voice that serves to express our sentiments,9 a power that distinguishes us from the beasts; just as, in the same way, the various shades and differences in language that exist among men have created an equally marked difference between us and the brutes.
 
11 - 113 SUPERFLUOUS LIMBS
Supernumerary limbs, when they grow on animals, are of no use, which is the case also with the sixth finger, when it grows on man. It was thought proper in Egypt to rear a human monster, that had two additional eves in the back part of the head; it could not see with them, however.
 
11 - 114 SIGNS OF VITALITY & MORAL DISPOSITION OF MAN, FROM LIMBS
I am greatly surprised that Aristotle has not only believed, but has even committed it to writing, that there are in the human body certain prognostics of the duration of life. Although I am quite convinced of the utter futility of these remarks, and am of opinion that they ought not to be published without hesitation, for fear lest each person might be anxiously looking out for these prognostics in his own person, I shall still make some slight mention of the subject, seeing that so learned a man as Aristotle did not treat it with contempt. He has set down the following as indications of a short life—few teeth, very long fingers, a leaden colour, and numerous broken lines in the palm of the hand. On the other hand, he looks upon the following as prognostics of a long life—stooping in the shoulders, one or two long unbroken lines in the hand, a greater num- ber than two-and-thirty teeth, and large ears. He does not, I imagine, require that all these symptoms should unite in one person, but looks upon them as individually significant: in my opinion, however, they are utterly frivolous, all of them, although they obtain currency among the vulgar. Our own writer, Trogus, has in a similar manner set down the physiognomy as indicative of the moral disposition; one of the very gravest of the Roman authors, whose own1 words I will here subjoin:—
"Where the forehead is broad, it is significant of a dull and sluggish understanding beneath; and where it is small, it in- dicates an unsteady disposition. A rounded forehead denotes an irascible temper, it seeming as though the swelling anger had left its traces there. Where the eye-brows are extended in one straight line, they denote effeminacy in the owner, and when they are bent downwards towards the nose, an austere disposition. On the other hand, when the eye-brows are bent towards the temples, they are indicative of a sarcastic disposition; but when they lie very low, they denote malice and envy. Long eyes are significant of a spiteful, malicious nature and where the corners of the eyes next the nose are fleshy, it is a sign also of a wicked disposition. If the white of the eye is large, it bears tokens of impudence, while those who are incessantly closing the eyelids are inconstant. Largeness of
 
11 - 115 RESPIRATION & NUTRIMENT
The breath of the lion is fetid, and that of the bear quite pestilential; indeed, no beast will touch anything with which its breath has come in contact, and substances which it has breathed upon will become putrid sooner than others. It is in man only that Nature has willed that the breath should become tainted in several ways, either through faultiness in the victuals or the teeth, or else, as is more generally the case, through extreme old age. Our breath in itself was insensible to all pain, utterly devoid as it was of all powers of touch and feeling, without which there can be no sensation; ever renewed, it was always forthcoming, destined to be the last adjunct that shall leave the body, and the only one to remain when all is gone beside; it drew, in fine, its origin from heaven. In spite of all this, however, certain penalties were discovered to be inflicted upon it, so that the very substance by the aid of which we live might become a torment to us in life. This inconvenience is more particularly experienced among the Parthians, from their youth upwards, on account of the indiscriminate use of food among them; and, indeed, their very excess in wine causes their breath to be fetid. The grandees, however, of that nation have a remedy for bad breath in the pips of the Assyrian citron, which they mix with their food, and the aroma of which is particularly agreeable. The breath of the elephant will attract serpents from their holes, while that of the stag scorches them. We have already made mention of certain races of men who could by suction extract from the body the venom of serpents; and swine will even eat serpents, which to other animals are poisonous. All those creatures which we have spoken of as insects, can be killed by merely sprinkling them with oil. Vultures, which are put to flight by unguents, are attracted by other odours: the beetle, too, is attracted by the rose. The scorpion puts to death certain serpents. The Scythians dip their arrows in the poison of serpents and human blood: against this frightful composition there is no remedy, for with the slightest touch it is productive of instant death.
 
11 - 116 ANIMALS IMMUNE TO POISON, & FLESH OF WHICH IS POISONOUS
The animals which feed upon poison have been already1 mentioned. Some of them, which are harmless of themselves, become noxious if fed upon venomous substances. The wild boar of Pamphylia and the mountainous parts of Cilicia, after having devoured a salamander, will become poisonous to those who eat its flesh; and yet the danger is quite imperceptible by reason of any peculiarity in the smell and taste. The sala- mander, too, will poison either water or wine, in which it happens to be drowned; and what is more, if it has only drunk thereof, the liquid becomes poisonous. The same is the case, too, with the frog known to us as the bramble-frog. So nu- merous are the snares that are laid in wait for life! Wasps greedily devour the flesh of the serpent, a nutriment which renders their stings fatal; so vast is the difference to be found between one kind of food and another. In the country, too, of the Ichthyophagi, as we learn from Theophrastus, the oxen are fed upon fish, but only when alive.
 
11 - 117 REASONS FOR INDIGESTION. REMEDIES FOR CRUDITY
The most wholesome nutriment for man is plain food. An accumulation of flavours is injurious, and still more so, if heightened by sauces. All acrid elements are difficult of digestion, and the same is the case if food is devoured greedily, or in too large quantities. Food is also less easily digested in summer than in winter, and in old age than in youth. The vomits which man has invented, by way of remedy for this evil, render the body more cold, and are more particularly injurious to the eyes and teeth.
 
11 - 118 FROM WHAT CAUSES CORPULENCE ARISES; HOW IT MAY BE REDUCED
Digestion during sleep is more productive of corpulence than strength. Hence it is, that it is preferable for athletes to quicken digestion by walking. Watching, at night more especially, promotes digestion of the food.
The size of the body is increased by eating sweet and fatty substances, as well as by drinking, while, on the other hand, it is diminished by eating dry, acrid, or cold substances, and by abstaining from drink. Some animals of Africa, as well as sheep, drink but once every four days. Abstinence from food for seven days, even, is not of necessity fatal to man; and it is a well-known fact, that many persons have not died till after an abstinence of eleven days. Man is the only animal that is ever attacked with an insatiate1 craving for food.
 
11 - 119 WHAT THINGS, BY MERELY TASTING OF THEM, ALLAY HUNGER & THIRST
On the other hand, there are some substances which, tasted in small quantities only, appease hunger and thirst, and keep up the strength, such as butter, for instance, cheese made of mares' milk, and liquorice. But the most pernicious thing of all, and in every station of life, is excess, and more especially excess in food; in fact, it is the most prudent plan to retrench everything that may be possibly productive of injury. Let us, however, now pass on to the other branches of Nature.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, two thousand, two hundred, and seventy. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M. Varro, Hyginus, Scrofa, Saserna, Celsus Cornelius, Æmilius Macer, Virgil, Columella,8 Julius Aquila who wrote on the Tuscan art of Divination, Tarquitius who wrote on the same subject, Umbricius Melior who wrote on the same subject, Cato the Censor, Domitius Calvinus, Trogus, Melissus, Fabianus, Mucianus, Nigidius, Manilius, Oppius. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Aristotle, Democritus, Neop- tolemus who wrote the Meliturgica, Aristomachus who wrote on the same subject, Philistus who wrote on the same subject, Nicander, Menecrates, Dionysius who translated Mago, Empedocles, Callimachus, King Attalus, Apollodorus who wrote on venomous animals, Hippocrates, Herophilus, Erasistratus, Asclepiades, Themison, Posidonius the Stoic, Menander of Priene and Menander of Heraclea, Euphronius of Athens, Theophrastus, Hesiod, King Philometor.
 
12 HISTORY OF TREES M 70.1
12 - 1 HONOURABLE PLACE OCCUPIED BY TREES IN THE SYSTEM OF NATURE M
Such, then, is the history, according to their various species and their peculiar conformations, of all the animals within the compass of our knowledge. It now remains for us to speak of the vegetable productions of the earth, which are equally far from being destitute of a vital spirit, (for, indeed, nothing can live without it), that we may then proceed to describe the minerals extracted from it, and so none of the works of Nature may be passed by in silence. Long, indeed, were these last bounties of hers concealed beneath the ground, the trees and forests being regarded as the most valuable benefits conferred by Nature upon mankind. It was from the forest that man drew his first aliment, by the leaves of the trees was his cave rendered more habitable, and by their bark was his clothing supplied; even at this very day, there are nations that live under similar circumstances to these. Still more and more, then, must we be struck with wonder and admiration, that from a primæval state such as this, we should now be cleaving the mountains for their marbles, visiting the Seres to obtain our clothing, seeking the pearl in the depths of the Red Sea, and the emerald in the very bowels of the earth. For our adornment with these precious stones it is that we have devised those wounds which we make in our ears; because, forsooth, it was deemed not enough to carry them on our hands, our necks, and our hair, if we did not insert them in our very flesh as well. It will be only proper, then, to follow the order of human inventions, and to speak of the trees before treating of other subjects; thus may we trace up to their very origin the manners and usages of the present day.
 
12 - 2 EARLY HISTORY OF TREES M
The trees formed the first temples of the gods, and even at the present day, the country people, preserving in all their simplicity their ancient rites, consecrate the finest among their trees to some divinity; indeed, we feel ourselves inspired to adoration, not less by the sacred groves and their very stillness, than by the statues of the gods, resplendent as they are with gold and ivory. Each kind of tree remains immutably consecrated to its own peculiar divinity, the beech to Jupiter, the laurel to Apollo, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus, and the poplar to Hercules: besides which, it is our belief that the Sylvans, the Fauns, and various kinds of goddess Nymphs, have the tutelage of the woods, and we look upon those deities as especially appointed to preside over them by the will of heaven. In more recent times, it was the trees that by their juices, more soothing even than corn, first mollified the natural asperity of man; and it is from these that we now derive the oil of the olive that renders the limbs so supple, the draught of wine that so efficiently recruits the strength, and the numerous delicacies which spring up spontaneously at the various seasons of the year, and load our tables with their viands—tables to replenish which, we engage in combat with wild beasts, and seek for the fishes which have fattened upon the dead corpse of the shipwrecked mariner—indeed, it is only at the second course, after all, that the produce of the trees appears.
But, in addition to this, the trees have a thousand other uses, all of which are indispensable to the full enjoyment of life. It is by the aid of the tree that we plough the deep, and bring near to us far distant lands; it is by the aid of the tree, too, that we construct our edifices. The statues, even, of the deities were formed of the wood of trees, in the days when no value had been set as yet on the dead carcase of a wild beast, and when, luxury not yet deriving its sanction from the gods themselves, we had not to behold, resplendent with the same ivory, the heads of the divinities and the feet of our tables. It is related that the Gauls, separated from us as they were by the Alps, which then formed an almost insurmountable bulwark, had, as their chief motive for invading Italy, its dried figs, its grapes, its oil, and its wine, samples of which had been brought back to them by Helico, a citizen of the Helvetii, who had been staying at Rome, to practise there as an artizan. We may offer some excuse, then, for them, when we know that they came in quest of these various productions, though at the price even of war.
 
12 - 3 EXOTIC TREES. WHEN PLANE-TREE FIRST APPEARED IN ITALY, & WHENCE IT CAME M
But who is there that will not, with good reason, be surprised to learn that a tree has been introduced among us from a foreign clime for nothing but its shade? I mean the plane, which was first brought across the Ionian Sea to the Isle of Diomedes, there to be planted at his tomb, and was afterwards imported thence into Sicily, being one of the very first exotic trees that were introduced into Italy. At the present day, however, it has penetrated as far as the country of the Morini, and occupies even a tributary soil; in return for which those nations have to pay a tax for the enjoyment of its shade. Dionysius the Elder, one of the tyrants of Sicily, had plane-trees conveyed to the city of Rhegium, where they were looked upon as the great marvel of his palace, which was afterwards converted into a gymnasium. These trees did not, however, in that locality, attain any very great height. I find it also stated by some authors, that there were some other instances, in those days even, of plane-trees being found in Italy, and I find some mentioned by name as existing in Spain.
 
12 - 4 NATURE OF THE PLANE-TREE M
This circumstance took place about the time of the capture of the City of Rome; and to such high honour, in the course of time, did the plane-tree attain, that it was nurtured by pouring wine upon it, it being found that the roots were greatly strengthened by doing so. Thus have we taught the very trees, even, to be wine-bibbers!
 
12 - 5 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE PLANE-TREE M
The first plane-trees that were spoken of in terms of high admiration were those which adorned the walks of the Academy at Athens-[in one of which], the roots extended a distance of thirty-three cubits, and spread far beyond its branches. At the present day, there is a very famous plane in Lycia, situate in close proximity to a fountain of the most refreshing coolness; standing near the road, with the cavity in its interior, it forms a species of house eighty-one feet in width. Its summit, too, presents the foliage of a grove, while it shields itself with huge branches, each of which would equal an ordinary tree in size, as it throws its lengthened shade across the fields. In addition to this, that nothing may be wanting to its exact resemblance to a grotto, there is a circle of seats within, formed of stone, intermingled with pumice overgrown with moss. This tree was looked upon as so worthy of remark, that Licinius Mucianus, who was three times consul, and recently the legatus of that province, thought it a circumstance deserving of transmission even to posterity, that he, together with eighteen persons of his retinue, had sat down to a banquet in the interior of it. Its leaves afforded material for their couches in the greatest abundance, while he himself, sheltered from every gust of wind, and trying in vain to hear the pattering of the rain on the leaves, took his meal there, and enjoyed himself more than he would have done amid the resplendence of marble, a multiplicity of paintings, and beneath a cieling refulgent with gold.
Another curious instance, again, was that afforded in the reign of the Emperor Caius. That prince was so struck with admiration on seeing a plane in the territory of Veliternum, which presented floor after floor, like those of the several stories of a house, by means of broad benches loosely laid from branch to branch, that he held a banquet in it-himself adding very materially to the shade it threw-the triclinium being formed for the reception of fifteen guests and the necessary attendants: to this singular dining-room he gave the name of his "nest." At Gortyna, in the Isle of Crete, there is, in the vicinity of a fountain there, a single plane-tree, which has been long celebrated in the records of both the Greek and the Latin language: it never loses its leaves, and from an early period one of the fabulous legends of Greece has been attached to it, to the effect that it was beneath this tree that Jupiter lay with Europa; just as if there had not been another tree of a similar nature in the island of Cyprus. Slips of the tree at Gortyna—so fond is man by nature of novelty—were at an early period planted at different places in Crete, and reproduced the natural imperfections of the tree; though, indeed, there is no higher recommendation in the plane than the fact that in summer it protects us from the rays of the sun, while in winter it admits them. In later times, during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, a Thessalian eunuch, the freedman of Marcellus Æserninus, who, however, from motives of ambition had enrolled himself in the number of the freedmen of the emperor, and had acquired very considerable wealth, introduced this plane into Italy, in order to beautify his country-seat: so that he may not inappropriately be styled a second Dionysius. These monstrosities of other lands are still to be seen in Italy, independently of those which that country has herself devised.
 
12 - 6 CHAMÆPLATANUS. WHO WAS THE FIRST TO CLIP GREEN SHRUBS M
For we find in Italy some plane-trees, which are known as chamæplatani, in consequence of their stunted growth; for we have discovered the art of causing abortion in trees even, and hence, even in the vegetable world we shall have occasion to make mention of dwarfs, an unprepossessing subject in every case. This result is obtained in trees, by a peculiar method adopted in planting and lopping them. C. Matius, a member of the Equestrian order, and a friend of the late Emperor Augustus, invented the art of clipping arbours, within the last eighty years.
 
12 - 7 HOW THE CITRON IS PLANTED M
The cherry and the peach, and all those trees which have either Greek or foreign names, are exotics: those, however, of this number, which have begun to be naturalized among us, will be treated of when I come to speak of the fruit-trees in general. For the present, I shall only make mention of the really exotic trees, beginning with the one that is applied to the most salutary uses. The citron tree, called the Assyrian, and by some the Median apple, is an antidote against poisons. The leaf is similar to that of the arbute, except that it has small prickles running across it. As to the fruit, it is never eaten, but it is remarkable for its extremely powerful smell, which is the case, also, with the leaves; indeed, the odour is so strong, that it will penetrate clothes, when they are once impregnated with it, and hence it is very useful in repelling the attacks of noxious insects. The tree bears fruit at all seasons of the year; while some is falling off, other fruit is ripening, and other, again, just bursting into birth. Various nations have attempted to naturalize this tree among them, for the sake of its medical properties, by planting it in pots of clay, with holes drilled in them, for the purpose of introducing the air to the roots; and I would here remark, once for all, that it is as well to remember that the best plan is to pack all slips of trees that have to be carried to any distance, as close together as they can possibly be placed. It has been found, however, that this tree will grow nowhere except in Media or Persia. It is this fruit, the pips of which, as we have already mentioned, the Parthian grandees employ in seasoning their ragouts, as being peculiarly conducive to the sweetening of the breath. We find no other tree very highly commended that is produced in Media.
 
12 - 8 TREES OF INDIA M
In describing the country of the Seres, we have already made mention of the wool-bearing trees which it produces; and we have, likewise, touched upon the extraordinary magnitude of the trees of India. Virgil has spoken in glowing terms of the ebony-tree, one of those which are peculiar to India, and he further informs us, that it will grow in no other country. Herodotus, however, has preferred to ascribe it to Æthiopia; and states that the people of that country were in the habit of paying to the kings of Persia, every third year, by way of tribute, one hundred billets of ebony-wood, together with a certain quantity of gold and ivory. Nor ought we here to omit the fact, inasmuch as the same author has stated to that effect, that the Æthiopians were also in the habit of paying, by way of tribute, twenty large elephants' teeth. So high was the esteem in which ivory was held in the year from the building of our city, : for it was at that period that this author was compiling his History at Thurii, in Italy; which is all the more remarkable, from the implicit confidence we place in him, when he says that up to that time, no native of Asia or Greece, to his knowledge at least, had ever beheld the river Padus. The plan of Æthiopia, which, as we have already mentioned, was recently laid before the Emperor Nero, informs us, that this tree is very uncommon in the country that lies between Syene, the extreme boundary of the empire, and Meroë, a distance of eight hundred and ninety-six miles; and that, in fact, the only kind of tree that is to be found there, is the palm. It was, probably, for this reason, that ebony held the third place in the tribute that was thus imposed.
 
12 - 9 WHEN EBONY WAS FIRST SEEN AT ROME. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF EBONY M
Pompeius Magnus displayed ebony on the occasion of his triumph over Mithridates. Fabianus declares, that this wood will give out no flame; it burns, however, with a very agreeable smell. There are two kinds of ebony; the rarest kind is the best, and is produced from a tree that is singularly free from knots. The wood is black and shining, and pleasing to the eye, without any adventitious aid from art. The other kind of ebony is the produce of a shrub which resembles the cytisus, and is to be found scattered over the whole of India.
 
12 - 10 INDIAN THORN M
There is in India, also, a kind of thorn very similar to ebony, though it may be distinguished from it, by the aid of a lantern even; for, on the application of flame, it will instantly run across the tree. We will now proceed to describe those trees which were the admiration of Alexander the Great in his victorious career, when that part of the world was first revealed by his arms.
 
12 - 11 INDIAN FIG M
The Indian fig bears but a small fruit. Always growing spontaneously, it spreads far and wide with its vast branches, the ends of which bend downwards into the ground to such a degree, that they take fresh root in the course of a year, and thus form a new plantation around the parent stock, traced in a circular form, just as though it had been the work of the ornamental gardener. Within the bowers thus formed, the shepherds take up their abode in the summer, the space occupied by them being, at once, overshadowed and protected by the bulwark which the tree thus throws around; a most graceful sight, whether we stand beneath and look upwards, or whether we view its arcaded foliage from a distance. The higher branches, however, shoot upwards to a very considerable height, and, by their number, form quite a grove, spring ing aloft from the vast trunk of the parent tree, which overspreads, very frequently, a space of sixty paces in extent, while the shade that is thrown by it will cover as much as a couple of stadia. The broad leaves of the tree have just the shape of an Amazonian buckler; and hence it is that the fruit, from being quite covered by the leaves, is greatly impeded in its growth. The fruit, indeed, of this tree is but scanty, and never exceeds a bean in size; being ripened, however, by the rays of the sun, as these penetrate the leaves, the figs are remarkable for their singular lusciousness, and are quite worthy of the marvellous tree by which they are produced. These fig-trees are found, more particularly, in the vicinity of the river Acesines.
 
12 - 12 PALA: THE FRUIT CALLED ARIENA M
There is another tree in India, of still larger size, and even more remarkable for the size and sweetness of its fruit, upon which the sages of India live. The leaf of this tree resembles, in shape, the wing of a bird, being three cubits in length, and two in breadth. It puts forth its fruit from the bark, a fruit remarkable for the sweetness of its juice, a single one containing sufficient to satisfy four persons. The name of this tree is "pala," and of the fruit, "ariena." They are found in the greatest abundance in the country of the Sydraci, a territory which forms the extreme limit of the expedition of Alex- ander. There is another tree, also, very similar to this, but bearing a still sweeter fruit, though very apt to cause derangement of the bowels. Alexander issued strict orders, forbidding any one in the expedition to touch this fruit.
 
12 - 13 INDIAN TREES, NAMES OF WHICH ARE UNKNOWN. INDIAN TREES WHICH BEAR FLAX M
The Macedonians have made mention of various other kinds of trees, the greater part of which, however, are without names. There is one which resembles the terebinth in every respect, except the fruit, which is very similar to the almond, though less in size, and remarkable for its extreme sweetness. This tree was met with in Bactria, and some persons looked upon it as a variety of the terebinth, rather than as bearing a strong resemblance to it. As to the tree from which they manufacture a kind of linen cloth, in leaf it resembles the mulberry-tree, while the calix of the fruit is similar to the dog-rose. This tree is reared in the plains, and there is no sight throughout the cultivated parts of the country that is more enchanting than the plantations of it.
 
12 - 14 PEPPER-TREE. VARIOUS KINDS OF PEPPER. BREGMA. ZINGIBERI, OR ZIMPIBERI M
The olive-tree of India is unproductive, with the sole exception of the wild olive. In every part we meet with trees that bear pepper, very similar in appearance to our junipers, although, indeed, it has been alleged by some authors that they only grow on the slopes of Caucasus which lie exposed to the sun. The seeds, however, differ from those of the juniper, in being enclosed in small pods similar to those which we see in the kidney-bean. These pods are picked before they open, and when dried in the sun, make what we call "long pepper." But if allowed to ripen, they will open gradually, and when arrived at maturity, discover the white pepper; if left exposed to the heat of the sun, this becomes wrinkled, and changes its colour. Even these productions, however, are subject to their own peculiar infirmities, and are apt to become blasted by the inclemency of the weather; in which case the seeds are found to be rotten, and mere husks. These abortive seeds are known by the name of "bregma," a word which in the Indian language signifies "dead." Of all the various kinds of pepper, this is the most pungent, as well as the very lightest, and is remarkable for the extreme paleness of its colour. That which is black is of a more agreeable flavour; but the white pepper is of a milder quality than either.
The root of this tree is not, as many persons have imagined, the same as the substance known as zimpiberi, or, as some call it, zingiberi, or ginger, although it is very like it in taste. For ginger, in fact, grows in Arabia and in Troglodytica, in various cultivated spots, being a small plant with a white root. This plant is apt to decay very speedily, although it is of intense pungency; the price at which it sells is six denarii per pound. Long pepper is very easily adulterated with Alexandrian mustard; its price is fifteen denarii per pound, while that of white pepper is seven, and of black, four. It is quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into fashion, seeing that in other substances which we use, it is sometimes their sweetness, and sometimes their appearance that has attracted our notice; whereas, pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency; and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was the first to make trial of it as an article of food? and who, I wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself by hunger only for the satisfying of a greedy appetite? Both pepper and ginger grow wild in their respective countries, and yet here we buy them by weight—just as if they were so much gold or silver. Italy, too, now possesses a species of pepper-tree, somewhat larger than the myrtle, and not very unlike it. The bitterness of the grains is similar to that which we may reasonably suppose to exist in the Indian pepper when newly gathered; but it is wanting in that mature flavour which the Indian grain acquires by exposure in the sun, and, consequently, bears no resemblance to it, either in colour or the wrinkled appearance of the seeds. Pepper is adulterated with juniper berries, which have the property, to a marvellous degree, of assuming the pungency of pepper. In reference to its weight, there are also several methods of adulterating it.
 
12 - 15 CARYOPHYLLON, LYCION, & CHIRONIAN PYXACANTHUS M
There is, also, in India another grain which bears a considerable resemblance to pepper, but is longer and more brittle; it is known by the name of caryophyllon. It is said that this grain is produced in a sacred grove in India; with us it is imported for its aromatic perfume. The same country produces, also, a thorny shrub, with grains which bear a resemblance to pepper, and are of a remarkably bitter taste. The leaves of this shrub are small, like those of the cyprus; the branches are three cubits in length, the bark pallid, and the roots wide-spreading and woody, and of a colour resembling that of boxwood. By boiling this root with the seed in a copper vessel, the medicament is prepared which is known by the name of lycion. This thorny shrub grows, also, on Mount Pelion; this last kind is much used for the purpose of adulterating the medicament above mentioned. The root of the asphodel, ox-gall, wormwood, sumach, and the amurca of olive oil, are also employed for a similar purpose. The best lycion for medicinal purposes, is that which has a froth on its surface; the Indians send it to us in leather bottles, made of the skin of the camel or the rhinoceros. The shrub itself is known by some persons in Greece under the name of the Chironian pyxacanthus.
 
12 - 16 MACIR M
Macir, too, is a vegetable substance that is brought from India, being a red bark that grows upon a large root, and bears the name of the tree that produces it; what the nature of this tree is, I have not been able to ascertain. A decoction of this bark, mixed with honey, is greatly employed in medicine, as a specific for dysentery.
 
12 - 17 SUGAR M
Arabia, too, produces sugar; but that of India is the most esteemed. This substance is a kind of honey, which collects in reeds, white, like gum, and brittle to the teeth. The larger pieces are about the size of a filbert; it is only employed, however, in medicine.
"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 sugarcane, has been cultivated from a very early period in Arabia Felix.
 
12 - 18 TREES OF ABIANA, GEDROSIA, AND HYRCANIA M
On the frontiers of India is a country called Ariana, which produces a thorny shrub, rendered precious by the tears which it distils. It bears some resemblance to myrrh, but is very difficult of access, by reason of the thorns with which it is armed. Here, too, a poisonous shrub is found, with a root like the radish, and leaves like those of the laurel, By its powerful odour it attracts horses, and was very nearly depriving Alexander of all his cavalry upon his first arrival there, an accident which also happened in Gedrosia. A thorny shrub has been also spoken of as a native of the same country, with leaves like those of the laurel, the juice of which, if sprinkled upon the eyes, is productive of blindness in all animals. Another plant is also mentioned, with a most remarkable odour, and full of diminutive serpents, the sting of which is sure to cause instant death. Onesicritus states, that in the vallies of Hyrcania, there is a tree resembling the fig, and known as the occhus, from which a honey distils for two hours every morning.
 
12 - 19 TREES OF BACTRIANA, BDELLIUM, OR BROCHON, OTHERWISE MALACHA, OR MALDACON, SCORDASTUM. ADULTERATIONS USED IN ALL SPICES & AROMATICS; VARIOUS TESTS OF THEM & THEIR RESPECTIVE VALUES M
In the vicinity, too, of India, is Bactriana, in which region we find bdellium, that is so highly esteemed. This tree is of a black colour, and about the size of the olive; it has leaves like those of the robur, and bears a fruit similar to that of the wild fig, and in nature resembling a kind of gum. This fruit is by some persons called brochon, by others malacha, and by others, again, maldacon. When of a black colour, and rolled up in cakes, it bears the name of hadrobolon. This substance ought to be transparent and the colour of wax, odoriferous, unctuous when subjected to friction, and bitter to the taste, though without the slightest acidity. When used for sacred purposes, it is steeped in wine, upon which it emits a still more powerful odour. The tree is a native of both India and Arabia, as well as Media and Babylon; some persons give to the bdellium that is imported by way of Media, the name of peraticum. This last is remarkable for its brittleness, while, at the same time, it is harder and more bitter than the other kinds; that of India, on the other hand, is moister, and gummy. This last sort is adulterated by means of almonds, while the various other kinds are falsified with the bark of scordastum, that being the name of a tree the gum of which strongly resembles bdellium. These aduiterations, however, are to be detected—and let it suffice to mention it here, in relation to all other perfumes as well—by the smell, the colour, the weight, the taste, and the action of fire. The bdellium of Bactriana is shining and dry, and covered with numerous white spots resembling the finger-nails; besides which, it should be of a certain weight, heavier or lighter than which it ought not to be. The price of bdellium, in its pure state, is three denarii per pound.
 
12 - 20 TREES OF PERSIS M
Adjoining the countries which we have previously mentioned is Persis, lying along the shores of the Red Sea, which, when describing it, we have mentioned as the Persian Sea, the tides of which penetrate far into the land. The trees in these regions are of a marvellous nature; for, corroded by the action of the salt, and bearing a considerable resemblance to vegetable substances that have been thrown up and abandoned by the tide, they are seen to embrace the arid sands of the seashore with their naked roots, just like so many polypi. When the tide rises, buffeted by the waves, there they stand, fixed and immoveable; nay, more, at high water they are completely covered; a fact which proves to conviction, that they derive their nutriment from the salt contained in the water. The size of these trees is quite marvellous; in appearance they strongly resemble the arbute; the fruit, which on the outside is very similar to the almond, has a spiral kernel within.
 
12 - 21 TREES OF ISLANDS OF PERSIAN SEA. COTTON TREE M
In the same gulf, there is the island of Tylos, covered with a forest on the side which looks towards the East, where it is washed also by the sea at high tides. Each of the trees is in size as large as the fig; the blossoms are of an indescribable sweetness, and the fruit is similar in shape to a lupine, but so rough and prickly, that it is never touched by any animal. On a more elevated plateau of the same island, we find trees that bear wool, but of a different nature from those of the Seres; as in these trees the leaves produce nothing at all, and, indeed, might very readily be taken for those of the vine, were it not that they are of smaller size. They bear a kind of gourd, about the size of a quince; which, when arrived at maturity, bursts asunder and discloses a ball of down, from which a costly kind of linen cloth is made.
 
12 - 22 CYNA TREE. TREES FROM WHICH FABRICS FOR CLOTHING ARE MADE IN EAST M
Juba states, that about a certain shrub there grows a woolly down, from which a fabric is manufactured, preferable even to those of India. He adds, too, that certain trees of Arabia, from which vestments are made, are called cynæ, and that they have a leaf similar to that of the palm. Thus do their very trees afford clothing for the people of India. In the islands of Tylos, there is also another tree, with a blossom like the white violet in appearance, though four times as large, but it is destitute of smell, a very remarkable fact in these climates.
 
12 - 23 COUNTRY WHERE THE TREES NEVER LOSE THEIR LEAVES M
There is also another tree similar to the preceding one, but with a thicker foliage, and a blossom like the rose. This flower shuts at night, and, beginning to open towards sun-rise, appears in full blow by mid-day; the natives are in the habit of saying that in this way it goes to sleep. The same island bears also the palm, the olive, the vine, and the fig, with various other kinds of fruit. None of the trees in this island lose their leaves; it is abundantly watered by cool streams, and receives the benefit of rain.
 
12 - 24 VARIOUS USEFUL PRODUCTS OF TREES M
Arabia, which is in the vicinity of these islands, requires that we should make some distinction in its vegetable products, seeing that here the various parts of trees which are employed for useful purposes are the root, the branches, the bark, the juices, the gum, the wood, the shoots, the blossoms, the leaves, and the fruit.
 
12 - 25 COSTUS M
A root and a leaf, however, are the productions which are held in the very highest estimation in India. The root is that of the costus; it has a burning taste in the mouth, and a most exquisite odour; in other respects, the branches are good for nothing. In the island of Patale, situate at the very mouth of the river Indus, there are two kinds of costus found, the black and the white; the last is considered the best. The price of it is five denarii per pound.
 
12 - 26 NARD. THE TWELVE VARIETIES OF THE PLANT M
Of the leaf, which is that of the nard, it is only right to speak somewhat more at length, as it holds the principal place among our unguents. The nard is a shrub with a heavy, thick root, but short, black, brittle, and yet unctuous as well; it has a musty smell, too, very much like that of the cyperus, with a sharp, acrid taste, the leaves being small, and growing in tufts. The heads of the nard spread out into ears; hence it is that nard is so famous for its two-fold production, the spike or ear, and the leaf. There is another kind, again, that grows on the banks of the Ganges, but is altogether condemned, as being good for nothing; it bears the name of ozænitis, and emits a fetid odour. Nard is adulterated with a sort of plant called pseudo-nard, which is found growing everywhere, and is known by its thick, broad leaf, and its sickly colour, which inclines to white. It is sophisticated, also, by being mixed with the root of the genuine nard, which adds very considerably to its weight. Gum is also used for the same purpose, antimony, and cyperus; or, at least, the outer coat of the cyperus. Its genuineness is tested by its lightness, the redness of its colour, its sweet smell, and the taste more particularly, which parches the mouth, and leaves a pleasant flavour behind it; the price of spikenard is one hundred denarii per pound.
Leaf nard varies in price according to the size; for that which is known by the name of hadrosphærum, consisting of the larger leaves, sells at forty denarii per pound; when the leaves are smaller, it is called mesosphærum, and is sold at sixty. But that which is considered the most valuable of all, is known as microsphærum, and consists of the very smallest of the leaves; it sells at seventy-five denarii per pound. All these varieties of nard have an agreeable odour, but it is most powerful when fresh. If the nard is old when gathered, that which is of a black colour is considered the best. In our part of the world, the Syrian nard is held in the next highest esteem next to this; then the Gallic; and in the third place, that of Crete, which by some persons is called "agrion," and by others "phu." This last has exactly the leaf of the olusatrum, with a stalk a cubit in length, knotted, of a whitish colour, inclining to purple, and a root that runs sideways; it is covered, too, with long hair, and strongly resembles the foot of a bird. Field nard is known by the name of baccar. We shall have further occasion to mention it when we come to speak of the flowers. All these kinds of nard, however, are to be reckoned as herbs, with the exception of Indian nard. Of these, the Gallic kind is pulled up along with the root, and washed in wine; after which it is dried in the shade, and wrapped up in paper, in small parcels. It is not very different from the Indian nard, but is lighter than that of Syria; the price at which it sells is three denarii per pound. The only way of testing the leaves of all these varieties of nard, is to see that they are not brittle and parched, instead of being dried naturally and gradually. Together with the nard that grows in Gaul, there always springs up a herb, which is known by the name of hirculus, or the "little goat," on account of its offensive smell, it being very similar to that of the goat. This herb, too, is very much used in the adulteration of nard, though it differs from it in the fact that it has no stem, and its leaves are smaller; the root, too, is not bitter, and is entirely destitute of smell.
 
12 - 27 ASARUM, OR FOAL-FOOT M
The herb asarum,1 too, has the properties of nard, and, indeed, by some persons is known as wild nard. It has a leaf, however, more like that of the ivy, only that it is rounder and softer. The flower is purple, the root very similar to that of the Gallic nard, and the seed is like a grape. It is of a warm and vinous flavour, and blossoms twice a year, growing upon hill sides that are densely shaded. The best kind is that found in Pontus, and the next best that of Phrygia; that of Illyricum being only of third-rate quality. The root is dug up when it is just beginning to put forth its leaves, and then dried in the sun. It very soon turns mouldy, and loses its properties. There has, also, been lately found a certain herb in some parts of Greece, the leaves of which do not differ in the slightest degree from those of the Indian nard.
1 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.
 
12 - 28 AMOMUM.—AMOMIS M
The clustered amomum is very extensively used; it grows upon a kind of wild vine that is found in India, though some persons have been of opinion that it is borne by a shrub, resembling the myrtle in appearance, and about the same height as the palm. This plant, also, is plucked along with the root, and is carefully pressed together with the hands; for it very soon becomes brittle. That kind is held in the highest esteem, the leaves of which bear a strong resemblance to those of the pomegranate, being free from wrinkles, and of a red colour. The second quality is that which is of a pallid hue. That which has a green, grassy appearance, is not so good, and the white is the worst of all; it assumes this appearance when old. The price of clustered amomum is sixty denarii per pound, but in dust it sells at only forty-nine. Amomum is produced, also, in that part of Armenia which is known as Otene; as, also, in Media and Pontus. It is adulterated with the leaves of the pomegranate and a solution of gum, which is employed in order to make the leaves adhere and form clusters, like those of the grape.
There is another substance, also, which is known by the name of amomis; it is not so full of veins as amomum, harder, and not so odoriferous; from which it would appear, either that it is altogether a different plant, or else that it is amomum gathered in an unripe state.
 
12 - 29 CARDAMOMUM M
Similar to these substances, both in name as well as the shrub which produces it, is the cardamomum, the seeds of which are of an oblong shape. It is gathered in the same manner both in India and Arabia. There are four different kinds of cardamomum. That which is of a very green colour, unctuous, with sharp angles, and very difficult to break, is the most highly esteemed of all. The next best is of a reddish white tint, while that of third-rate quality is shorter and blacker, the worst of all being mottled and friable, and emitting but little smell; which, in its genuine state ought to be very similar to costum. Cardamomum grows also in Media. The price of the best is three denarii per pound.
 
12 - 30 COUNTRY OF FRANKINCENSE M
Next in affinity to cardamomum would have been cinnamomum, and this we should have now proceeded to speak of, were it not more convenient first to make mention of the treasures of Arabia, and the reasons for which that country has received the names of "Happy" and "Blest." The chief productions of Arabia are frankincense and myrrh, which last it bears in common with the country of the Troglodytæ. (.) There is no country in the world that produces frankincense except Arabia, and, indeed, not the whole of that. Almost in the very centre of that region, are the Atramitæ, a community of the Sabæi, the capital of whose kingdom is Sabota, a place situate on a lofty mountain. At a distance of eight stations from this is the incense-bearing region, known by the name of Saba. The Greeks say that the word signifies a "secret mystery." This district looks towards the north-east, and is rendered inaccessible by rocks on every side, while it is bounded on the right by the sea, from which it is shut out by cliffs of tremendous height. The soil of this territory is said to be of a milky white, a little inclining to red. The forests extend twenty schœni in length, and half that distance in breadth. The length of the schœnus, according to the estimate of Eratosthenes, is forty stadia, or, in other words, five miles; some persons, however, have estimated the schœnus at no more than thirty-two stadia. In this district some lofty hills take their rise, and the trees, which spring up spontaneously, run downwards along the declivities to the plains. It is generally agreed that the soil is argillaceous, and that the springs which there take their rise are but few in number, and of a nitrous quality. Adjoining are the Minæi, the people of another community, through whose country is the sole transit for the frankincense, along a single narrow road. The Minæi were the first people who carried on any traffic in frankincense, which they still do to a greater extent than any other persons, and hence it is that it has received the appellation of "Minæan." It is the Sabæi alone, and no other people among the Arabians, that behold the incense-tree; and, indeed, not all of them, for it is said that there are not more than three thousand families which have a right to claim that privilege, by virtue of hereditary succession; and that for this reason those persons are called sacred, and are not allowed, while pruning the trees or gathering the harvest, to receive any pollution, either by intercourse with women, or coming in contact with the dead; by these religious observances it is that the price of the commodity is so considerably enhanced. Some persons, however, say, that the right of gathering incense in the forests belongs to all these people in common, while others again state, that they take their turns year by year.
 
12 - 31 TREES THAT BEAR FRANKINCENSE M
Nor is it by any means agreed what is the appearance of the incense-tree. We have sent several expeditions against Arabia, and the Roman arms have penetrated into the greater part of that country; indeed, Caius Cæsar, the son of Augustus, even earned considerable renown there; and yet this tree has been described by no Latin writer, at least that I know of. The descriptions given of it by the Greek writers vary very considerably: some of them say that it has exactly the leaf of the pear-tree, only somewhat smaller, and of a grass-green colour. Others, again, say, that it has a rather reddish leaf, like that of the mastich, and others, that it is a kind of terebinth, and that King Antigonus, to whom a branch of it was brought, was of that opinion. King Juba, in the work which he wrote and dedicated to Caius Cæsar, the son of Augustus, who was inflamed by the wide-spread renown of Arabia, states, that the tree has a spiral stem, and that the branches bear a considerable resemblance to those of the Pontic maple, while it secretes a sort of juice very similar to that of the almond-tree. Such, he says, is the appearance of the tree as seen in Carmania and Egypt, where it was introduced and planted under the auspices of the Ptolemies when reigning there. It is well known that it has a bark not unlike that of the laurel, and, indeed, some persons have asserted that their leaves are similar. At all events, such was the case with the tree as it grew at Sardes: for the kings of Asia also took considerable care to have it planted there. The ambassadors who in my time have come to Rome from Arabia, have made all these matters more uncertain, even, than they were before; a thing at which we may justly be surprised, seeing that some sprigs even of the incense-tree have been brought among us, from which we have some reason to conclude that the parent tree is round and tapering, and that it puts forth its shoots from a trunk that is entirely free from knots.
 
12 - 32 VARIOUS KINDS OF FRANKINCENSE M
In former times, when they had fewer opportunities of selling it, they used to gather the frankincense only once a year; but at the present day, as there is a much greater demand for it, there is a second crop as well. The first, and what we may call the natural, vintage, takes place about the rising of the Dog-star, a period when the heat is most intense; on which occasion they cut the tree where the bark appears to be the fullest of juice, and extremely thin, from being distended to the greatest extent. The incision thus made is gradually extended, but nothing is removed; the consequence of which is, that an unctuous foam oozes forth, which gradually coagulates and thickens. When the nature of the locality requires it, this juice is received upon mats of palm-leaves, though in some places the space around the tree is made hard by being well rammed down for the purpose. The frankincense that is gathered after the former method, is in the purest state, though that which falls on the ground is the heaviest in weight: that which adheres to the tree is pared off with an iron instrument, which accounts for its being found mingled with pieces of bark.
The forest is allotted in certain portions, and such is the mutual probity of the owners, that it is quite safe from all depredation; indeed, there is no one left to watch the trees after the incisions are made, and yet no one is ever known to plunder his neighbour. But, by Hercules! at Alexandria, where the incense is dressed for sale, the workshops can never be guarded with sufficient care; a seal is even placed upon the workmen's aprons, and a mask put upon the head, or else a net with very close meshes, while the people are stripped naked before they are allowed to leave work. So true it is that punishments afford less security among us than is to be found by these Arabians amid their woods and forests! The incense which has accumulated during the summer is gathered in the autumn: it is the purest of all, and is of a white colour. The second gathering takes place in spring, incisions being made in the bark for that purpose during the winter: this, however, is of a red colour, and not to be compared with the other incense. The first, or superior kind of incense, is known as carfiathum, the latter is called dathiathum. It is thought, also, that the incense which is gathered from the tree while young is the whitest, though the produce of the old trees has the most powerful smell; some persons, too, have an impression that the best incense is found in the islands, but Juba asserts that no incense at all is grown there. That incense which has hung suspended in globular drops is known to us as "male" frankincense, although it is mostly the case that we do not use the term "male" except in contradistinction to the word "female:" it has been attributed, however, to religious scruples, that the name of the other sex was not employed as a denomination for this substance. Some persons, again, are of opinion that the male frankincense has been so called from its resemblance to the testes of the male. The incense, however, that is the most esteemed of all is that which is mammose, or breast-shaped, and is produced when one drop has stopped short, and another, following close upon it, has adhered, and united with it. I find it stated that one of these lumps used to make quite a handful, at a time when men displayed less eagerness to gather it, and it was allowed more time to accumulate. The Greeks call such lumps as these by the name of stagonia and atomus, while the smaller pieces are called orobia. The fragments which are broken off by shaking the tree are known to us as manna. Even at the present day, however, there are drops found which weigh one-third of a mina, or, in other words, twenty-eight denarii. Alexander the Great, when a boy, was on one occasion loading the altars with frankincense with the greatest prodigality, upon which his tutor Leonides remarked to him that it would be time to worship the gods in such a lavish manner as that, when he had conquered the countries that produced the frankincense. After Alexandria had conquered Arabia, he despatched to Leonides a ship freighted with frankincense, and sent him word, requesting that he would now worship the gods without stint or limit. The incense, after being collected, is carried on camels' backs to Sabota, at which place a single gate is left open for its admission. To deviate from the high road while conveying it, the laws have made a capital offence. At this place the priests take by measure, and not by weight, a tenth part in honour of their god, whom they call Sabis; indeed, it is not allowable to dispose of it before this has been done: out of this tenth the public expenses are defrayed, for the divinity generously entertains all those strangers who have made a certain number of days' journey in coming thither. The incense can only be exported through the country of the Gebanitæ, and for this reason it is that a certain tax is paid to their king as well. Thomna, which is their capital, is distant from Gaza, a city of Judæa, on the shores of our sea, miles, the distance being divided into sixty-five days' journey by camel. There are certain portions also of the frankincense which are given to the priests and the king's secretaries: and in addition to these, the keepers of it, as well as the soldiers who guard it, the gate-keepers, and various other employes, have their share as well. And then besides, all along the route, there is at one place water to pay for, at another fodder, lodging at the stations, and various taxes and imposts besides; the consequence of which is, that the expense for each camel before it arrives at the shores of our sea is six hundred aud eighty-eight denarii; after all this, too, there are certain payments still to be made to the farmers of the revenue of our empire. Hence it is that a pound of the best frankincense sells at six denarii, the second quality five, and the third three. Among us, it is adulterated with drops of white resin, a substance which bears a strong resemblance to it: but the fraud may be easily detected by the methods which have been already mentioned. It is tested by the following qualities; its whiteness, size, brittleness, and the readiness with which it takes fire when placed on heated coals; in addition to which, it should not give to the pressure of the teeth, but from its natural brittleness crumble all to pieces.
 
12 - 33 MYRRH M
According to some authors, myrrh is the produce of a tree that grows in the same forests as the incense-tree, though most say that they grow in different places: but the fact is that myrrh grows in many parts of Arabia, as will be seen when we come to speak of the several varieties of it. A sort that is highly esteemed is brought from the islands also, and the Sabæi even cross the sea to procure it in the country of the Troglodytæ. It is grown also by being transplanted, and when thus cultivated is greatly preferred to that which is grown in the forests. The plant is greatly improved by raking and baring the roots; indeed, the cooler the roots are kept, the better it is.
 
12 - 34 TREES WHICH PRODUCE MYRRH M
The tree grows to the height of five cubits, and has thorns upon it: the trunk is hard and spiral, and thicker than that of the incense-tree, and much more so at the root than at the upper part of the tree. Some authors have said that the bark is smooth like that of the arbute, others, that it is rough and covered with thorns: it has the leaf of the olive, but more wavy, with sharp points at the edges: Juba says, however, that it resembles the leaf of the olusatrum. Some again say that it resembles the juniper, only that it is rougher and bristling with thorns, and that the leaves are of a rounder shape, though they have exactly the taste of the juniper. There have been some writers who have incorrectly asserted that both myrrh and frankincense are the product of the same tree.
 
12 - 35 NATURE AND VARIOUS KINDS OF MYRRH M
Incisions are made in the myrrh-tree also twice a year, and at the same season as in the incense-tree; but in the case of the myrrh-tree they are all made the way up from the root as far as the branches which are able to bear it. The tree spontaneously exudes, before the incision is made, a liquid which bears the name of stacte, and to which there is no myrrh that is superior. Second only in quality to this is the cultivated myrrh: of the wild or forest kind, the best is that which is gathered in summer. They give no tithes of myrrh to the god, because it is the produce of other countries as well; but the growers pay the fourth part of it to the king of the Gebanitæ. Myrrh is bought up indiscriminately by the common people, and then packed into bags; but our perfumers separate it without any difficulty, the principal tests of its goodness being its unctuousness and its aromatic smell. (.) There are several kinds of myrrh; the first among the wild myrrhs is the Troglodytic; and the next are the Minæan, which includes the Atramitic, and that of Ausaritis, in the kingdom of the Gebanitæ. A third kind is the Dianitic, and a fourth is the mixed myrrh, or "all-sorts;" a fifth, again, is the Sambracenian, which is brought from a city in the kingdom of the Sabæi, near the sea; and a sixth is known by the name of Dusaritic. There is a white myrrh also, which is produced in only one spot, and is carried for sale to the city of Messalum. The Troglodytic myrrh is tested by its unctuousness, and its peculiarly dry appearance: it has also a dirty, rough look with it, but is more acrid than the other kinds. The Sambracenian myrrh has none of these faults, and is more sightly in appearance than any of them, though it is far from being so powerful. In general, however, the proof of its goodness consists in its being separated in little pieces of uneven shape, formed by the concretion of a whitish juice, which dries up little by little. When broken it ought to exhibit white marks like the finger-nails, and to be slightly bitter to the taste. That of second quality is of a mottled appearance within; while of worse quality is that which is of a black colour within; the very worst of all is that which is black on the outside as well.
The price of myrrh varies according to the number of purchasers. Stacte is sold at prices which vary from three denarii to forty per pound, while the very highest price of the cultivated myrrh is eleven denarii. Erythræan myrrh, the same, it is pretended, as Arabian myrrh, is sixteen denarii per pound, Troglodytic also, is sixteen denarii; and that known as odoraria, or odoriferous myrrh, sells at fourteen. Myrrh is adulterated with pieces of mastich, and other gums; it is also drugged with the juice of wild cucumber, in order to produce a certain bitterness, and with litharge for the purpose of increasing its weight. Other sophistications may be discovered on tasting it, and the gum will adhere to the teeth. But the cleverest mode of adulterating it is with Indian myrrh, a substance which is gathered from a certain prickly shrub which grows there. This is the only thing that India produces of worse quality than the corresponding produce of other countries: they may, however, be very easily distinguished, that of India being so very much inferior.
 
12 - 36 MASTICH M
The transition, therefore, is very easy to mastich, which grows upon another prickly shrub of India and Arabia, known by the name of laina. Of mastich as well there are two different kinds; for in Asia and Greece there is also found a herb which puts forth leaves from the root, and bears a thistly head, resembling an apple, and full of seeds. Upon an incision being made in the upper part of this plant drops distil from it, which can hardly be distinguished from the genuine mastich. There is, again, a third sort, found in Pontus, but more like bitumen than anything else. The most esteemed, however, of all these, is the white mastich of Chios, the price of which is twenty denarii per pound, while the black mastich sells at twelve. It is said that the mastich of Chios exudes from the lentisk in the form of a sort of gum: like frankincense, it is adulterated with resin.
 
12 - 37 LADANUM AND STOBOLON M
Arabia, too, still boasts of her ladanum. Many writers have stated that this substance is the fortuitous result of an accidental injury inflicted upon a certain odoriferous plant, under the following circumstances: the goat, they say, which is in general an animal that is extremely mischievous to foliage, is particularly fond of the shrubs that are odoriferous, as if, indeed, it were really sensible of the value that is set upon them. Hence it is that as the animal crops the sprouting shoots of the branches which are swollen with a liquid juice of remarkable sweetness, these juices drop and become mingled together, and are then wiped up by the shaggy hairs of its unlucky beard. Being there mingled with the dust, these juices form knots and tufts, and are then dried by the sun; and hence the circumstance is accounted for that in the ladanum which is imported by us we find goats' hairs. This, however, we are told, occurs nowhere but among the Nabatæi, a people of Arabia, who border upon Syria. The more recent writers call this substance by the name of stobolon, and state that in the forests of Arabia the trees are broken by the goats while browzing, and that the juices in consequence adhere to their shaggy hair; but the genuine ladanum, they assure us, comes from the island of Cyprus. I make mention of this in order that every kind of odoriferous plant may be taken some notice of, even though incidentally and not in the order of their respetive localities. They say also that this Cyprian ladanum is collected in the same manner as the other, and that it forms a kind of greasy substance or œsypum, which adheres to the beards and shaggy legs of the goats; but that it is produced from the flowers of the ground-ivy, which they have nibbled when in quest of their morning food, a time at which the whole island is covered with dew. After this, they say, when the fogs are dispersed by the sun, the dust adheres to their wet coats, and the ladanum is formed, which is afterwards taken off of them with a comb.
There are some authors who give to the plant of Cyprus, from which it is made, the name of leda; and hence it is that we find it also called ledanum. They say, also, that a viscous substance settles upon this plant, and, that, by the aid of strings wound around it, its leaves are rolled into balls, from which a kind of cake is made. Hence it is, that in Cyprus, as well as in Arabia, there are two kinds of ladanum; the one natural, and mingled with earth, and the other artificial: the former is friable, while the latter is of a viscous nature. It is stated, also, that this substance is the produce of a shrub originally found in Carmania, and propagated by plants, by order of the Ptolemies, in the parts beyond Egypt; while other authorities are found, which say that it grows on the incense tree, and is gathered like gum, from incisions made in the bark, after which it is collected in bags of goat-skin. That of the most approved quality, sells at the rate of forty asses per pound. Ladanum is adulterated with myrtle berries, and filth taken from the fleeces of other animals besides the goat. If genuine, it ought to have a wild and acrid smell, in some measure redolent of the desert places where it is produced: it is dry and parched in appearance, but becomes soft the moment it is touched. When ignited, it gives a brilliant flame, and emits a powerful but pleasant odour; if mixed with myrtle berries, its spurious quality is immediately discovered by their crackling in the fire. In addition to this, the genuine ladanum has more grits, or stony particles, adhering to it, than dust.
 
12 - 38 ENHÆMON M
In Arabia, too, the olive-tree distils a sort of tear, with which the Indians make a medicament, known by the Greeks as enhæmon; it is said to be of wonderful efficacy in contracting and healing wounds and sores. These trees, situate on the coasts there, are covered by the sea at high water, without the berries suffering the slightest injury, although it is a well-known fact, that the salt collects upon the leaves. All these trees are peculiar to Arabia, but it has some few besides, in common with other countries, of which we shall make mention elsewhere, the kinds growing in Arabia being of inferior quality. The people of that country have a wonderful regard for the perfumes of foreign parts, and import them from places at a considerable distance; so soon are men sated with what they have of their own, and so covetous are they of what belongs to others.
 
12 - 39 TREE CALLED BRATUS M
Hence it is, that they import from the country of the Elymæi the wood of a tree called bratus, which is similar in appearance to a spreading cypress. Its branches are of a whitish colour, and the wood, while burning, emits a pleasant odour; it is highly spoken of by Claudius Cæsar, in his History, for its marvellous properties. He states that the Parthians sprinkle the leaves of it in their drink, that its smell closely resembles that of the cedar, and that the smoke of it is efficacious in counteracting the effects of smoke emitted by other wood. This tree grows in the countries that lie beyond the Pasitigris, in the territory of the city of Sittaca, upon Mount Zagrus.
 
12 - 40 TREE CALLED STOBRUM M
The Arabians import from Carmania also the wood of a tree called stobrum, which they employ in fumigations, by steeping it in palm wine, and then setting fire to it. The odour first ascends to the ceiling, and then descends in volumes to the floor; it is very agreeable, but is apt to cause an oppression of the head, though unattended with pain; it is used for promoting sleep in persons when ill. For these branches of commerce, they have opened the city of Carræ, which serves as an entrepot, and from which place they were formerly in the habit of proceeding to Gabba, at a distance of twenty days' journey, and thence to Palæstina, in Syria. But at a later period, as Juba informs us, they began to take the road, for the purposes of this traffic, to Charax and the kingdom of the Parthians. For my own part, it would appear to me that they were in the habit of importing these commodities among the Persians, even before they began to convey them to Syria or Egypt; at least Herodotus bears testimony to that effect, when he states that the Arabians paid a yearly tribute of one thousand talents, in frankincense, to the kings of Persia.
From Syria they bring back storax, which, burnt upon the hearth, by its powerful smell dispels that loathing of their own perfumes with which these people are affected. For in general there are no kinds of wood in use among them, except those which are odoriferous; indeed, the Sabæi are in the habit of cooking their food with incense wood, while others, again, employ that of the myrrh tree; and hence, the smoke and smells that pervade their cities and villages are no other than the very same which, with us, proceed from the altars. For the purpose of qualifying this powerful smell, they burn storax in goat-skins, and so fumigate their dwellings. So true it is, that there is no pleasure to be found, but what the continual enjoyment of it begets loathing. They also burn this substance to drive away the serpents, which are extremely numerous in the forests which bear the odoriferous trees.
 
12 - 41 WHY ARABIA WAS CALLED "HAPPY."
Arabia produces neither cinnamon nor cassia; and this is the country styled "Happy" Arabia! False and ungrateful does she prove herself in the adoption of this surname, which she would imply to have been received from the gods above; whereas, in reality, she is indebted for it far more to the gods below. It is the luxury which is displayed by man, even in the paraphernalia of death, that has rendered Arabia thus "happy;" and which prompts him to burn with the dead what was originally understood to have been produced for the service of the gods. Those who are likely to be the best acquainted with the matter, assert that this country does not produce, in a whole year, so large a quantity of perfumes as was burnt by the Emperor Nero at the funeral obsequies of his wife Poppæa. And then let us only take into account the vast number of funerals that are celebrated throughout the whole world each year, and the heaps of odours that are piled up in honour of the bodies of the dead; the vast quantities, too, that are offered to the gods in single grains; and yet, when men were in the habit of offering up to them the salted cake, they did not show themselves any the less propitious; nay, rather, as the facts themselves prove, they were even more favourable to us than they are now. But it is the sea of Arabia that has even a still greater right to be called "happy," for it is this that furnishes us with pearls. At the very lowest computation, India, the Seres, and the Arabian Peninsula, withdraw from our empire one hundred millions of sesterces every year—so dearly do we pay for our luxury and our women. How large a portion, too, I should like to know, of all these perfumes, really comes to the gods of heaven, and the deities of the shades below?
 
12 - 42 CINNAMOMUM. XYLOCINNAMUM M
Fabulous antiquity, and Herodotus more particularly, have related that cinnamomum and cassia are found in the nests of certain birds, and principally that of the phœnix, in the districts where Father Liber was brought up; and that these substances either fall from the inaccessible rocks and trees in which the nests are built, in consequence of the weight of the pieces of flesh which the birds carry up, or else are brought down by the aid of arrows loaded with lead. It is said, also, that cassia grows around certain marshes, but is protected by a frightful kind of bat armed with claws, and by winged serpents as well. All these tales, however, have been evidently invented for the purpose of enhancing the prices of these commodities. Another story, too, bears them company, to the effect that under the rays of the noon-day sun, the entire peninsula exhales a certain indescribable perfume composed of its numerous odours; that the breezes, as they blow from it, are impregnated with these odours, and, indeed, were the first to announce the vicinity of Arabia to the fleets of Alexander the Great, while still far out at sea. All this, however, is false; for cinnamomum, or cinnamum, which is the same thing, grows in the country of the Æthiopians, who are united by intermarriages with the Troglodytæ. These last, after buying it of their neighbours, carry it over vast tracts of sea, upon rafts, which are neither steered by rudder, nor drawn or impelled by oars or sails. Nor yet are they aided by any of the resources of art, man alone, and his daring boldness, standing in place of all these; in addition to which, they choose the winter season, about the time of the equinox, for their voyage, for then a south easterly wind is blowing; these winds guide them in a straight course from gulf to gulf, and after they have doubled the promonotory of Arabia, the north east wind carries them to a port of the Gebanitæ, known by the name of Ocilia. Hence it is that they steer for this port in preference; and they say that it is almost five years before the merchants are able to effect their return, while many perish on the voyage. In return for their wares, they bring back articles of glass and copper, cloths, buckles, bracelets, and necklaces; hence it is that this traffic depends more particularly upon the capricious tastes and inclinations of the female sex. The cinnamon shrub is only two cubits in height, at the most, the lowest being no more than a palm in height. It is about four fingers in breadth, and hardly has it risen six fingers from the ground, before it begins to put forth shoots and suckers. It has then all the appearance of being dry and withered, and while it is green it has no odour at all. The leaf is like that of wild marjoram, and it thrives best in dry localities, being not so prolific in rainy weather; it requires, also, to be kept constantly clipped. Though it grows on level ground, it thrives best among tangled brakes and brambles, and hence it is extremely difficult to be gathered. It is never gathered unless with the permission of the god, by whom some suppose Jupiter to be meant; the Æthiopians, however, call him Assabinus. They offer the entrails of forty-four oxen, goats, and rams, when they implore his permission to do so, but after all, they are not allowed to work at it before sunrise or after sunset. A priest divides the branches with a spear, and sets aside one portion of them for the god; after which, the dealer stores away the rest in lumps. There is another account given, which states that a division is made between the gatherers and the sun, and that it is divided into three portions, after which lots are twice drawn, and the share which falls to the sun is left there, and forthwith ignites spontaneously.
The thinnest parts in the sticks, for about a palm in length, are looked upon as producing the finest cinnamon; the part that comes next, though not quite so long, is the next best, and so on downwards. The worst of all is that which is nearest the roots, from the circumstance that in that part there is the least bark, the portion that is the most esteemed: hence it is that the upper part of the tree is preferred, there being the greatest proportion of bark there. As for the wood, it is held in no esteem at all, on account of the acrid taste which it has, like that of wild marjoram; it is known as xylocinnamum. The price of cinnamomum is ten denarii per pound. Some writers make mention of two kinds of cinnamon, the white and the black: the white was the one that was formerly preferred, but now, on the contrary, the black is held in the highest estimation, and the mottled, even, is preferred to the white. The most certain test, however, of the goodness of cinnamon is its not being rough, and the fact that the pieces when rubbed together do not readily crumble to powder. That which is soft is more particularly rejected, which is the case, also, when the outer bark too readily falls off. The right of regulating the sale of the cinnamon belongs solely to the king of the Gebanitæ, who opens the market for it by public proclamation. The price of it was formerly as much as a thousand denarii per pound; which was afterwards increased to half as much again, in consequence, it is said, of the forests having been set on fire by the barbarians, from motives of resentment; whether this took place through any injustice exercised by those in power, or only by accident, has not been hitherto exactly ascertained. Indeed, we find it stated by some authors, that the south winds that prevail in these parts are sometimes so hot as to set the forests on fire. The Emperor Vespasianus Augustus was the first to dedicate in the temples of the Capitol and the goddess Peace chaplets of cinnamon inserted in embossed gold. I, myself, once saw in the temple of the Palatium, which his wife Augusta dedicated to her husband the late emperor Augustus, a root of cinnamon of great weight, placed in a patera of gold: from it drops used to distil every year, which congealed in hard grains. It remained there until the temple was accidentally destroyed by fire.
 
12 - 43 CASSIA M
Cassia is a shrub also, which grows not far from the plains where cinnamon is produced, but in the mountainous localities; the branches of it are, however, considerably thicker than those of cinnamon. It is covered with a thin skin rather than a bark, and, contrary to what is the case with cinnamon, it is looked upon as the most valuable when the bark falls off and crumbles into small pieces. The shrub is three cubits in height, and the colours which it assumes are threefold: when it first shoots from the ground, for the length of a foot, it is white; after it has attained that height, it is red for half a foot, and beyond that it is black. This last is the part that is held in the highest esteem, and next to it the portion that comes next, the white part being the least valued of all. They cut the ends of the branches to the length of two fingers, and then sew them in the fresh skins of cattle that have been killed expressly for the purpose; the object being that the skins may putrefy, and the maggots generated thereby may eat away the woody parts, and so excavate the bark; which is so intensely bitter, that it is quite safe from their attacks. That which is the freshest is the most highly esteemed; it has a very delicate smell, and is so extremely hot to the taste, that it may be said to burn the tongue, rather than gradually warm the mouth. It is of a purple colour, and though of considerable volume, weighs but very little in comparison; the outer coat forms into short tubes which are by no means easily broken: this choice kind of cassia, the barbarians call by the name of lada. There is another sort, again, which is called balsamodes, because it has a smell like that of balsam, but it is bitter; for which reason it is more employed for medicinal purposes, just as the black cassia is used for unguents. There is no substance known that is subject to greater variations in price: the best qualities sell at fifty denarii per pound, others, again, at five.
(.) To these varieties the dealers have added another, which they call daphnoides, and give it the surname of isocinnamon; the price at which it sells is three hundred denarii per pound. It is adulterated with storax, and, in consequence of the resemblance of the bark, with very small sprigs of laurel. Cassia is also planted in our part of the world, and, indeed, at the extreme verge of the Empire, on the banks of the river Rhenus, where it flourishes when planted in the vicinity of hives of bees. It has not, however, that scorched colour which is produced by the excessive heat of the sun; nor has it, for the same reason, a similar smell to that which comes from the south.
 
12 - 44 CANCAMUM AND TARUM M
From the confines of the country which produces cinnamon and cassia, cancamum and tarum are imported; but these substances are brought by way of the Nabatæan Troglodytæ, a colony of the Nabatæi.
 
12 - 45 SERICHATUM AND GABALIUM M
Thither, too, are carried serichatum and gabalium, aroma. tics which the Arabians rear for their own consumption, and which are only known by name in our part of the world, though they grow in the same country as cinnamon and cassia. Still, however, serichatum does reach us occasionally, and is employed by some persons in the manufacture of unguents. It is purchased at the rate of six denarii per pound.
 
12 - 46 MYROBALANUM M
In the country of the Troglodytæ, the Thebais, and the parts of Arabia which separate Judæa from Egypt, myrobalanum is commonly found; it is provided by Nature for unguents, as from its very name would appear. From its name, also, it is evident that it is the nut of a tree, with a leaf similar to that of the heliotropium, which we shall have to mention when speaking of the herbs. The fruit of this tree is about the size of a filbert. The kind that grows in Arabia is known as Syriaca, and is white, while, on the other hand, that which grows in the Thebais is black: the former is preferred for the quality of the oil extracted from it, though that which is pro- duced in the Thebais yields it in larger quantities. Among these various kinds, that which is sent from the country of the Troglodytæ is the worst of all. There are some persons who prefer that of Æthiopia to all of these, the nut of which is black, and not oleaginous; it has only a very small kernel, but the liquid which is extracted from it is more odoriferous than that of the other kinds; it grows, too, in a champaign, open country. It is said that the Egyptian nut is even more oleaginous, being of a reddish colour with a thicker shell, and that the plant, although it grows in wet, marshy spots, is shorter and drier than the other kinds. The Arabian nut, again, is said to be of a green colour and of smaller size, but harder and more compact, from the circumstance that it grows in mountainous districts. The best of all, however, is that of Petra, which comes from a city mentioned on a previous occasion; it has a black shell, but the kernel is white. The perfumers, however, only extract the juices from the shells; but medical men pound the kernels, pouring warm water on them, little by little, as they do it.
 
12 - 47 PHŒNICOBALANUS M
The fruit of the palm in Egypt, which is known by the name of adipsos, is put to a similar use in unguents, and is held next in esteem after the myrobalanum. It is of a green colour, has exactly the smell of a quince, and has no stone or nut within. It is gathered a little before it begins to ripen. That which is left ungathered is known as phœnicobalanus; it turns black, and has a tendency to inebriate the person who eats of it. The price of myrobalanum is two denarii per pound. The shop-keepers give this name also to the dregs of the unguent that is made with it.
 
12 - 48 SWEET-SCENTED CALAMUS; THE SWEET-SCENTED RUSH M
Scented calamus also, which grows in Arabia, is common to both India and Syria, that which grows in the last country being superior to all the rest. At a distance of one hundred and fifty stadia from the Mediterranean, between Mount Libanus and another mountain of no note (and not, as some have supposed, Antilibanus), there is a valley of moderate size, situate in the vicinity of a lake, the marshy swamps of which are dried up every summer. At a distance of thirty stadia from this lake grow the sweet-scented calamus and rush. We shall here make some further mention of this rush as well, although we have set apart another Book for plants of that description, seeing that it is our object here to describe all the different materials used for unguents. These plants differ in appearance in no respect from others of their kind; but the calamus, which has the more agreeable smell of the two, attracts by its odour at a considerable distance, and is softer to the touch than the other. The best is the kind which is not so brittle, but breaks into long flakes, and not short, like a radish. In the hollow stalk there is a substance like a cobweb, which is generally known by the name of the "flower:" those plants which contain the most of it are esteemed the best. The other tests of its goodness are its being of a black colour—those which are white not being esteemed; besides which, to be of the very best quality it should be short, thick, and pliant when broken. The price of the scented calamus is eleven, and of the rush fifteen denarii per pound. It is said that the sweet-scented rush is to be met with also in Campania.
 
12 - 49 HAIMONIACUM M
We have now departed from the lands which look towards the ocean to enter upon those which have an aspect towards our seas. (.) Africa, which lies below Æthiopia, distils a tear-like gum in its sands, called hammoniacum, the name of which has passed to the oracle of Hammon, situate near the tree which produces it. This substance, which is also called meto pion, bears a strong resemblance to a resin or a gum. There are two kinds of ammoniacum; that to which the name is given of thrauston, and which bears a resemblance to male frankincense, being the kind that is the most esteemed, and that which is known as phyrama, being of an unctuous and resinous nature. This substance is adulterated by means of sand, which has all the appearance of having adhered to it during its growth: hence it is greatly preferred when the pieces are extremely small, and in the purest state possible. The price of hammoniacum of the best quality is forty asses per pound.
 
12 - 50 SPHAGNOS M
Below these countries, and in the province of Cyrenaica, the perfume called sphagnos is found in the highest state of per- fection: there are some who call it by the name of bryon. The sphagnos of Cyprus holds the second rank, and that of Phœnicia the third. It is said that this plant is produced in Egypt also, and in Gaul as well, and I see no reason to doubt that such is the fact, for this name is given to certain white shaggy tufts upon trees, such as we often see upon the quercus: those, however, of which we are speaking, emit a most exquisite odour. The most esteemed of all are the whitest, and those situate at the greatest height upon the tree. Those of second quality are red, while those which are black are not of the slightest value. The sphagnos, too, that is produced on islands and among rocks, is held in no esteem, as well as all those varieties which have the odour of the palm-tree, and not that which is so peculiarly their own.
 
12 - 51 CYPROS M
The cyprus is a tree of Egypt, with the leaves of the ziziphus, and seeds like coriander, white and odoriferous. These seeds are boiled in olive oil, and then subjected to pressure; the product is known to us as cypros. The price of it is five denarii per pound. The best is that produced on the banks of the Nile, near Canopus, that of second quality coming from Ascalon in Judæa, and the third in estimation for the sweetness of its odour, from the island of Cyprus. Some people will have it that this is the same as the tree which in Italy we call ligustrum.
 
12 - 52 ASPALATHOS, OR ERYSISCEPTRUM M
In the same country, too, grows aspalathos, a white, thorny shrub, the size of a moderate tree, and with flowers like the rose, the root of which is in great request for unguents. It is said that every shrub over which the rainbow is extended is possessed of the sweet odour that belongs to the aspalathos, but that if the aspalathos is one of them, its scent is something quite indescribable. Some persons call this plant erysisceptrum, and others, again, sceptrum. The proof of its genuineness is its red or fiery colour; it is also compact to the touch, and has the smell of castoreum: it is sold at the rate of five denarii per pound.
 
12 - 53 MARON M
In Egypt, too, grows marum, though of inferior quality to that of Lydia, which last has larger leaves, covered with spots. Those of the other are shorter and smaller, and give out a powerful scent.
 
12 - 54 BALSAMUM; OPOBALSAMUM; AND XYLOBAL- SAMUM M
But to all other odours that of balsamum is considered preferable, a plant that has been only bestowed by Nature upon the land of Judæa. In former times it was cultivated in two gardens only, both of which belonged to the kings of that country: one of them was no more than twenty jugera in extent, and the other somewhat smaller. The emperors Ves- pasianus and Titus had this shrub exhibited at Rome; indeed, it is worthy of signal remark, that since the time of Pompeius Magnus, we have been in the habit of carrying trees even in our triumphal processions. At the present day this tree pays us homage and tribute along with its native land, but it has been found to be of altogether a different nature to that which our own as well as foreign writers had attributed to it: for, in fact, it bears a much stronger resemblance to the vine than to the myrtle. This recent acquisition by conquest has learned, like the vine, to be reproduced by mallet-shoots, and it covers declivities just like the vine, which supports its own weight without the aid of stays. When it puts forth branches it is pruned in a similar manner, and it thrives by being well raked at the roots, growing with remarkable rapidity, and bearing fruit at the end of three years. The leaf bears a very considerable resemblance to that of rue, and it is an evergreen. The Jews vented their rage upon this shrub just as they were in the habit of doing against their own lives and persons, while, on the other hand, the Romans protected it; indeed, combats have taken place before now in defence of a shrub. At the present day the reproduction of it has become a duty of the fiscal authorities, and the plants were never known to be more numerous or of larger growth; they never exceed the height, however, of a couple of cubits.
There are three different kinds of balsamum. The first has a thin and hair-like foliage, and is known by the name of eutheriston. The second is of a rugged appearance, bending downwards, full of branches, and more odoriferous than the first; the name of this is trachy. The third kind is the eumeces, so called, because it is taller than the others; it has a smooth, even, bark. It is the second in quality, the eutheriston being inferior to the trachy. The seed of this plant has a flavour strongly resembling that of wine; it is of a reddish colour, and not without a certain amount of unctuousness; the grains of inferior quality are lighter in weight and of a greener hue: the branches of the shrub are thicker than those of the myrtle. Incisions are made in it either with glass, or else a sharp stone, or knives made of bone: it being highly injurious to touch the vital parts with iron, for in such case it will immediately wither away and die. On the other hand, it will allow of all the superfluous branches being pruned away with an instrument of iron even. The hand of the person who makes the incision is generally balanced by an artificial guide, in order that he may not accidentally inflict a wound in the wood beyond the bark. A juice distils from the wound, which is known to us as opobalsamum; it is of extraordinary sweetness, but only exudes in tiny drops, which are then collected in wool, and deposited in small horns. When taken from out of these, the substance is placed in new earthen vessels; it bears a strong resemblance to a thick oil, and is of a white colour when fresh. It soon, however, turns red, and as it hardens loses its transparency. When Alexander the Great waged war in those parts, it was looked upon as a fair summer day's work to fill a single concha with this liquid; the entire produce of the larger garden being six congii, and of the smaller one a single congius; the price, too, at which it was sold was double its weight in silver. At the present day the produce of a single tree, even, is larger; the incisions are made three times every summer, after which the tree is pruned. The cuttings, too, form an article of merchandize: the fifth year after the conquest of Judæa, these cuttings, with the suckers, were sold for the price of eight hundred thousand sesterces. These cuttings are called xylobalsamum, and are boiled down for mixing with unguents, and in the manufactories have been substituted for the juices of the shrub. The bark is also in great request for medicinal purposes, but it is the tears that are so particularly valuable; the seed holding the second rank in estimation, the bark the third, and the wood being the least esteemed of all. Of the wood, that kind which resembles boxwood is considered the best: it has also the strongest smell. The best seed is that which is the largest in size and the heaviest in weight; it has a biting or rather burning taste in the mouth. Balsamum is adulterated with hypericon: from Petra, but the fraud is easily detected, from the fact that the grains of the latter are larger, comparatively empty, and longer than those of balsamum; they are destitute also of any pungency of smell, and have a flavour like that of pepper. As to the tears of balsamum, the test of their goodness is their being unctuous to the touch, small, of a somewhat reddish colour, and odoriferous when subjected to friction. That of second-rate quality is white; the green and coarse is inferior, and the black is the worst of all; for, like olive-oil, it is apt to turn rancid when old. Of all the incisions, the produce is considered the best of those from which the liquid has flowed before the formation of the seed. In addition to what has been already stated, it is often adulterated with the juice of the seed, and it is with considerable difficulty that the fraud is detected by a slight bitterness in the taste, which ought to be delicate and without the slightest mixture of acidity, the only pungency being that of the smell. It is adulterated also with oil of roses, of cyprus, of mastich, of balanus, of turpentine, and of myrtle, as also with resin, galbanum, and Cyprian wax, just as occasion may serve. But the very worst adulteration of all, is that which is effected with gum, a substance which is dry when emptied into the hand, and falls to the bottom when placed in water; both of which are characteristics of the genuine commodity. Balsamum, in a genuine state, should be quite hard, but when it is mixed with gum a brittle pellicle forms upon it. The fraud can also be detected by the taste, and when placed upon hot coals it may easily be seen if there has been any adulteration with wax and resin; the flame too, in this case, burns with a blacker smoke than when the balsamum is pure. When mixed with honey its qualities are immediately changed, for it will attract flies even in the hand. In addition to these various tests, a drop of pure balsamum, if placed in luke-warm water will settle to the bottom of the vessel, whereas, if it is adulterated, it will float upon the surface like oil, and if it has been drugged with metopion or hammoniacum, a white circle will form around it. But the best test of all is, that it will cause milk to curdle, and leave no stain upon cloth. In no commodity are there practised more palpable frauds than in this, for a sextarius of balsamum which is sold by the fiscal authorities at three hundred denarii, is sold again for a thousand, so vast is the profit to be derived from increasing this liquid by sophistication. The price of xylobalsamum is six denarii per pound.
 
12 - 55 STORAX M
That part of Syria joining up to Judæa, and lying above Phœnicia, produces storax, which is found in the vicinity of Gabala and Marathus, as also of Casius, a mountain of Seleucia. The tree bears the same name, and has a strong resemblance to, the quince. The tear has a harsh taste, with a pleasant smell; in the interior it has all the appearance of a reed, and is filled with a liquid juice. About the rising of the Dog- star, certain small winged worms hover about this substance and eat it away, for which reason it is often found in a rotten state, with worm-holes full of dust. The storax next in esti- mation after that already mentioned, comes from Pisidia, Sidon, Cyprus, and Cilicia; that of Crete being considered the very worst of all. That which comes from Mount Amanus, in Syria, is highly esteemed for medicinal purposes, and even more so by the perfumers. From whatever country it comes, that which is of a red colour is preferred, and it should be both unctuous as well as viscous to the touch; the worst kind is that which crumbles like bran, and is covered all over with a whitish mould. This substance is adulterated with the resin of cedar or with gum, and sometimes with honey or bitter al- monds; all which sophistications may, however, be detected by the taste. The price of storax of the best quality is seventeen denarii per pound. It comes also from Pamphylia, but this last is more arid, and not so full of juice.
 
12 - 56 GALBANUM M
Syria produces galbanum too, which grows upon the same mountain of Amanus: it exudes from a kind of giant-fennel of the same name as the resin, though sometimes it is known as stagonitis. The kind that is the most esteemed is cartilaginous, clear like hammoniacum, and free from all ligneous substances. Still, however, it is sometimes adulterated with beans, or with sacopenium. If ignited in a pure state, it has the property of driving away serpents by its smoke, It is sold at five denarii per pound, and is only employed for medicinal purposes.
 
12 - 57 PANAX M
Syria, too, furnishes panax, an ingredient used in unguents. This plant grows also at Psophis in Arcadia, about the sources of the Erymanthus, in Africa also, and in Macedonia. This is a peculiar kind of giant-fennel, which stands five cubits in height: it first throws out four leaves, and then six, which lie close to the ground, round, and of very considerable size; those. however, which grow towards the top resemble the leaves of the olive. It bears its seed in certain tufts, which hang down, just as in the fennel. The juice is obtained by incisions made in the stalk at harvest-time, and in the root in autumn. When in a coagulated state, it is esteemed according to its whiteness. The next in value is that of a pallid colour, while the black is held in no esteem. The price of that of the best quality is two denarii per pound.
 
12 - 58 SPONDYLIUM M
The difference between this kind of giant-fennel and that known as spondylium, consists only in the leaf, which is smaller, and divided like that of the plane tree. It grows in shady places only. The seed bears the same name as the plant, and has a strong resemblance to that of hart-wort: it is only employed in medicine.
 
12 - 59 MALOBATHRUM M
Syria produces the malobathrum also, a tree which bears a folded leaf, with just the colour of a leaf when dried. From this plant an oil is extracted for unguents. Egypt produces it in still greater abundance; but that which is the most esteemed of all comes from India, where it is said to grow in the marshes like the lentil. It has a more powerful odour than saffron, and has a black, rough appearance, with a sort of brackish taste. The white is the least approved of all, and it very soon turns musty when old. In taste it ought to be similar to nard, when placed under the tongue. When made luke-warm in wine, the odour which it emits is superior to any other. The prices at which this drug ranges are something quite marvellous, being from one denarius to four hundred per pound; as for the leaf, it generally sells at sixty denarii per pound.
 
12 - 60 OMPHACIUM M
Omphacium is also a kind of oil, which is obtained from two trees, the olive and the vine, by two different methods. It is produced from the former by pressing the olive while it is still in the white state. That is of an inferior quality which is made from the druppa—such being the name that is given to the olive before it is ripe and fit for food, but already beginning to change its colour. The difference between them is, that the latter kind is green, the former white. The omphacium that is made from the vine is extracted from either the psythian or the Aminean grape, when the grapes are about the size of a chick-pea, just before the rising of the Dogstar. The grape is gathered when the first bloom is appearing upon it, and the verjuice is extracted, after which the residue is left to dry in the sun, due precautions being taken against the dews of the night. The verjuice, after being collected, is put into earthen vessels, and then, after that, stored in jars of Cyprian copper. The best kind is that which is of a reddish colour, acrid, and dry to the taste? The price at which it sells is six denarii per pound. Omphacium is also made another way—the unripe grape is pounded in a mortar, after which it is dried in the sun, and then divided into lozenges.
 
12 - 61 BRYON, ŒNANTHE, AND MASSARIS M
Bryon also bears an affinity to these substances, being the clusters of berries produced by the white poplar. The best kinds grow in the vicinity of Cnidos, or in Caria, in spots that are destitute of water, or else in dry and rugged localities. A bryon of second-rate quality is produced from the cedar of Lycia. Œnanthe, too, bears an affinity to these substances, being the clusters of the wild vine: it is gathered when it is in flower, or, in other words, when it has the finest smell: after which it is dried in the shade upon a linen sheet spread beneath it, and then stored away in casks. The best sort is that which comes from Parapotamia; the next best kinds are those made at Antiochia and Laodicea in Syria; and that of third-rate quality, comes from the mountainous parts of Media; this last, however, is preferable for medicinal purposes. Some persons give the preference over all to that grown in the island of Cyprus. As to that which comes from Africa, it is solely used for medicinal purposes, being known by the name of massaris. Whatever country it may happen to be, the white wild vine produces an œnanthe of superior quality to the black.
 
12 - 62 ELATE OR SPATHE M
There is another tree also, that contributes to the manufacture of unguents, by some persons known under the name of elate, but which we call abies; others again call it a palm, and others give it the name of spathe. That of Hammonium is the most esteemed, and that of Egypt next, after which comes the Syrian tree. It is only odoriferous, however, in places that are destitute of water. The tears of it are of an unctuous nature, and are employed as an ingredient in unguents, to modify the harshness of the oil.
 
12 - 63 CINNAMON OR COMACUM M
In Syria, too, is produced that kind of cinnamon which is also known as comacum. This is a juice which is extracted from a nut, and very different from the extract of the real cinnamomum, though it somewhat resembles it in its agreeable smell. The price at which it sells is forty asses per pound.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, nine hundred and seventy-four. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M. Varro, Mucianus, Virgil, Fabianus, Sebosus, Pomponius Mela, Flavius, Procilius, Hyginus, Trogus, Claudius Cæsar, Cornelius Nepos, Sextus Niger who wrote a Greek treatise on Medicine, Cassius Hemina, L. Piso, Tuditanus, Antias. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Theophrastus, Herodotus, Cal- listhenes, Isigonus, Clitarchus, Anaximenes, Duris, Nearchus, Onesicritus, Polycritus, Olympiodorus, Diognetus, Nicobulus, Anticlides, Chares of Mitylene, Men- mechmus, Dorotheus of Athens, Lycus, Antseus, Ephippus, Dion, Demodes, Ptolemy Lagus, Marsyas of Macedon, Zoilus of Macedon, Democritus, Amphilochus, Aristomachus, Alexander Polyhistor, Juba, Apollodorus who wrote on Perfumes, Heraclides the physician, Archidemus the physician, Dionysius the physician, Democlides the physician, Euphron the physician, Muesides the physician, Diagoras the physician, Iollas the physician, Heraclides" of Tarentum, Xenocrates of Ephesus, Eratosthenes.
 
  13 HISTORY OF EXOTIC TREES, AND AN ACCOUNT OF UNGUENTS M 65.1  
13 - 1 UNGUENTS—AT WHAT PERIOD THEY WERE FIRST INTRODUCED M
THUS far we have been speaking of the trees which are valuable for the odours they produce, and each of which is a subject for our wonder in itself. Luxury, however, has thought fit to mingle all of these, and to make a single odour of the whole; hence it is that unguents have been invented. Who was the first to make unguents is a fact not recorded. In the times of the Trojan war they did not exist, nor did they use incense when sacrificing to the gods; indeed, people knew of no other smell, or rather stench, I may say, than that of the cedar and the citrus, shrubs of their own growth, as it arose in volumes of smoke from the sacrifices; still, however, even then, the extract of roses was known, for we find it mentioned as conferring additional value on olive-oil.
We ought, by good rights, to ascribe the first use of unguents to the Persians, for they quite soak themselves in it, and so, by an adventitious recommendation, counteract the bad odours which are produced by dirt. The first instance of the use of unguents that I have been able to meet with is that of the chest of perfumes which fell into the hands of Alexander, with the rest of the property of King Darius, at the taking of his camp. Since those times this luxury has been adopted by our own countrymen as well, among the most prized and, indeed, the most elegant of all the enjoyments of life, and has begun even to be admitted in the list of honours paid to the dead; for which reason we shall have to enlarge further on that subject. Those perfumes which are not the produce of shrubs will only be mentioned for the present by name: the nature of them will, however, be stated in their appropriate places.
 
13 - 2 VARIOUS KINDS OF UNGUENTS—TWELVE PRIN- CIPAL COMPOSITIONS M
The names of unguents are due, some of them, to the original place of their composition, others, again, to the extracts which form their bases, others to the trees from which they are derived, and others to the peculiar circumstance under which they were first made: and it is as well, first of all, to know that in this respect the fashion has often changed, and that the high repute of peculiar kinds has been but transitory. In ancient times, the perfumes the most esteemed of all were those of the island of Delos, and at a later period those of Mendes. This degree of esteem is founded, not only on the mode of mixing them and the relative proportions, but according to the degree of favour or disfavour in which the various places which produce the ingredients are held, and the comparative excellence or degeneracy of the ingredients themselves. The perfume of iris, from Corinth, was long held in the highest esteem, till that of Cyzicus came into fashion. It was the same, too, with the perfume of roses, from Phaselis, the repute of which was afterwards eclipsed by those of Neapolis, Capua, and Præneste. Oil of saffron, from Soli in Cilicia, was for a long time held in repute beyond any other, and then that from Rhodes; after which perfume of œnanthe, from Cyprus, came into fashion, and then that of Egypt was preferred. At a later period that of Adramytteum came into vogue, and then was supplanted by unguent of marjoram, from Cos, which in its turn was superseded by quince blossom unguent from the same place. As to perfume of cyprus, that from the island of Cyprus was at first preferred, and then that of Egypt; when all on a sudden the unguents of Mendes and metopium rose into esteem. In later times Phœnicia eclipsed Egypt in the manufacture of these last two, but left to that country the repute of producing the best unguent of cyprus.
Athens has perseveringly maintained the repute of her panathenaicon. There was formerly a famous unguent, known as "pardalium," and made at Tarsus; at the present day its very composition and the mode of mixing it are quite unknown there: they have left off, too, making unguent of narcissus from the flowers of that plant. There are two elements which enter into the composition of unguents, the juices and the solid parts. The former generally consist of various kinds of oils, the latter of odoriferous substances. These last are known as hedysmata, while the oils are called stymmata. There is a third element, which occu- pies a place between the two, but has been much neglected, the colouring matter, namely. To produce a colour, however, cinnabar and alkanet are often employed. If salt is sprinkled in the oil, it will aid it in retaining its properties; but if alkanet has been employed, salt is never used. Resin and gum are added to fix the odour in the solid perfumes; indeed it is apt to die away and disappear with the greatest rapidity if these substances are not employed. The unguent which is the most readily prepared of all, and indeed, in all probability, the very first that was ever made, is that composed of bryon and oil of balanus, substances of which we have made mention already. In later times the Mendesian unguent was invented, a more complicated mixture, as resin and myrrh were added to oil of balanus, and at the present day they even add metopion as well, an Egyptian oil extracted from bitter almonds; to which have been added omphacium, cardamum, sweet rush, honey, wine, myrrh, seed of balsamum, galbanum, and resin of terebinth, as so many ingredients. Among the most common unguents at the present day, and for that reason supposed to be the most ancient, is that composed of oil of myrtle, calamus, cypress, cyprus, mastich, and pomegranate-rind. I am of opinion, however, that the unguents which have been the most universally adopted, are those which are compounded of the rose, a flower that grows everywhere; and hence for a long time the composition of oil of roses was of the most simple nature, though more recently there have been added omphacium, rose blossoms, cinnabar, calamus, honey, sweet-rush, flour of salt or else alkanet, and wine. The same is the case, too, with oil of saffron, to which have been lately addedcinnabar, alkanet, and wine; and with oil of sampsuchum, with which omphacium and calamus have been compounded. The best comes from Cyprus and Mitylene, where sampsuchum abounds in large quantities. The commoner kinds of oil, too, are mixed with those of myrrh and laurel, to which are added sampsuchum, lilies, fenugreek, myrrh, cassia, nard, sweet-rush, and cinnamon. There is an oil, too, made of the common quince and the sparrow quince, called melinum, as we shall have occasion to mention hereafter; it is used as an ingredient in unguents, mixed with omphacium, oil of cyprus, oil of sesamum, balsamum, sweet-rush, cassia, and abrotonum. Susinum is the most fluid of them all: it is made of lilies, oil of balanus, calamus, honey, cinnamon, saffron, and myrrh; while the unguent of cyprus is compounded of cyprus, omphacium and cardamum, calamus, aspalathus, and abrotonum. There are some persons who, when making unguent of cyprus, employ myrrh also, and panax: the best is that made at Sidon, and the next best that of Egypt: care must be taken not to add oil of sesamum: it will keep as long as four years, and its odour is strengthened by the addition of cinnamon. Telinum is made of fresh olive-oil, cypirus, calamus, melilote, fenugreek, honey, marum, and sweet marjoram. This last was the perfume most in vogue in the time of the Comic poet Menander: a considerable time after that known as "megalium" took its place, being so called as holding the very highest rank; it was composed of oil of balanus, balsamum, calamus, sweet-rush, xylobalsamum, cassia, and resin. One peculiar property of this unguent is, that it requires to be constantly stirred while boiling, until it has lost all smell: when it becomes cold, it recovers its odour. There are some single essences also which, individually, afford unguents of very high character: the first rank is due to malobathrum, and the next to the iris of Illyricum and the sweet marjoram of Cyzicus, both of them herbs. There are perfumers who sometimes add some few other ingredients to these: those who use the most, employ for the purpose honey, flour of salt, omphacium, leaves of agnus, and panax, all of them foreign ingredients. The price of unguent of cinnamon is quite enormous; to cinnamon there is added oil of balanus, xylobalsamum, calamus, sweet-rush, seeds of balsamum, myrrh, and perfumed honey: it is the thickest in consistency of all the unguents; the price at which it sells ranges from thirty-five to three hundred denarii per pound. Unguent of nard, or foliatum, is composed of omphacium or else oil of balanus, sweet-rush, costus, nard, amomum, myrrh, and balsamum. While speaking on this subject, it will be as well to bear in mind that there are nine different kinds of plants of a similar kind, of which we have already made mention as being employed for the purpose of imitating Indian nard; so abundant are the materials that are afforded for adulteration. All these perfumes are rendered still more pungent by the addition of costus and amomum, which have a particularly powerful effect on the olfactory organs; while myrrh gives them greater consistency and additional sweetness, and saffron makes them better adapted for medicinal purposes. They are most pungent, however, when mixed with amomum alone, which will often produce head-ache even. There are some persons who content themselves with sprinkling the more precious ingredients upon the others after boiling them down, for the purpose of economy; but the strength of the unguent is not so great as when the ingredients have been boiled together. Myrrh used by itself, and without the mixture of oil, forms an unguent, but it is stacte only that must be used, for otherwise it will be productive of too great bitterness. Unguent of cyprus turns other unguents green, while lily unguent makes them more unctuous: the unguent of Mendes turns them black, rose unguent makes them white, and that of myrrh of a pallid hue. Such are the particulars of the ancient inventions, and the various falsifications of the shops in later times; we will now pass on to make mention of what is the very height of refinement in these articles of luxury, indeed, I may say, the beau ideal of them all. (.) This is what is called the "regal" unguent, from the fact that it is composed in these proportions for the kings of the Parthians. It consists of myrobalanus, costus, amomum, cinnamon, comacum, cardamum, spikenard, marum, myrrh, cassia, storax, ladanum, opobalsamum, Syrian calamus and Syrian sweet-rush, œnanthe, malobathrum, serichatum, cyprus, aspralathus, panax, saffron, cypirus, sweet marjoram, lotus, honey, and wine. Not one of the ingredients in this compound is produced either in Italy, that conqueror of the world, or, indeed, in all Europe, with the exception of the iris, which grows in Illyricum, and the nard, which is to be found in Gaul: as to the wine, the rose, the leaves of myrtle, and the olive-oil, they are possessed by pretty nearly all countries in common.
 
13 - 3 DIAPASMA, MAGMA; THE MODE OF TESTING UNGUENTS M
Those unguents which are known by the name of "dia- pasma," are composed of dried perfumes. The lees of unguents are known by the name of "magma. In all these preparations the most powerful perfume is the one that is added the last of all. Unguents keep best in boxes of alabaster, and perfumes when mixed with oil, which conduces all the more to their durability the thicker it is, such as the oil of almonds, for instance. Unguents, too, improve with age; but the sun is apt to spoil them, for which reason they are usually stowed away in a shady place in vessels of lead. When their goodness is being tested, they are placed on the back of the hand, lest the heat of the palm, which is more fleshy, should have a bad effect upon them.
 
13 - 4 EXCESSES TO WHICH LUXURY HAS RUN IN UNGUENTS M
These perfumes form the objects of a luxury which may be looked upon as being the most superfluous of any, for pearls and jewels, after all, do pass to a man's representative, and garments have some durability; but unguents lose their odour in an instant, and die away the very hour they are used. The very highest recommendation of them is, that when a female passes by, the odour which proceeds from her may possibly attract the attention of those even who till then are intent upon something else. In price they exceed so large a sum even as four hundred denarii per pound: so vast is the amount that is paid for a luxury made not for our own enjoyment, but for that of others; for the person who carries the perfume about him is not the one, after all, that smells it.
And yet, even here, there are some points of difference that deserve to be remarked. We read in the works of Cicero, that those unguents which smell of the earth are preferable to those which smell of saffron; being a proof, that even in a matter which most strikingly bespeaks our state of extreme corruptness, it is thought as well to temper the vice by a little show of austerity. There are some persons too who look more particularly for consistency in their unguents, to which they accordingly give the name of "spissum; thus showing that they love not only to be sprinkled, but even to be plastered over, with unguents. We have known the very soles even of the feet to be sprinkled with perfumes; a refinement which was taught, it is said, by M. Otho to the Emperor Nero. How, I should like to know, could a perfume be at all perceptible, or, indeed, productive of any kind of pleasure, when placed on that part of the body? We have heard also of a private person giving orders for the walls of the bath-room to be sprinkled with unguents, while the Emperor Caius had the same thing done to his sitting-bath: that this, too, might not be looked upon as the peculiar privilege of a prince, it was afterwards done by one of the slaves that belonged to Nero. But the most wonderful thing of all is, that this kind of luxurious gratification should have made its way into the camp even: at all events, the eagles and the standards, dusty as they are, and bristling with their sharpened points, are anointed on festive days. I only wish it could, by any possibility, be stated who it was that first taught us this practice. It was, no doubt, under the corrupting influence of such temptations as these, that our eagles achieved the conquest of the world: thus do we seek to obtain their patronage and sanction for our vices, and make them our precedent for using unguents even beneath the casque.
 
13 - 5 WHEN UNGUENTS WERE FIRST USED BY THE ROMANS M
I cannot exactly say at what period the use of unguents first found its way to Rome. It is a well-known fact, that when King Antiochus and Asia were subdued, an edict was published in the year of the City , in the censorship of P. Licinius Crassus and L. Julius Cæsar, forbidding any one to sell exotics; for by that name unguents were then called. But, in the name of Hercules! at the present day, there are some persons who even go so far as to put them in their drink, and the bitterness produced thereby is prized to a high degree, in order that by their lavishness on these odours they may thus gratify the senses of two parts of the body at the same moment. It is a well-known historical fact, that L. Plotius, the brother of L. Plancus, who was twice consul and censor, after being proscribed by the Triumvirs, was betrayed in his place of concealment at Salernum by the smell of his unguents, a disgrace which more than outweighed all the guilt attending his proscription. For who is there that can be of opinion that such men as this do not richly deserve to come to a violent end?
 
13 - 6 PALM-TREE M
In other respects, Egypt is the country that is the best suited of all for the production of unguents; and next to it, Campania, from its abundance of roses.
(.) Judæa, too, is greatly renowned for its perfumes, and even still more so for its palm-trees, the nature of which I shall take this opportunity of enlarging upon. There are some found in Europe also. They are not uncommon in Italy, but are quite barren there. The palms on the coast of Spain bear fruit, but it is sour. The fruit of those of Africa is sweet, but quickly becomes vapid and loses its flavour; which, however is not the case with the fruit of those that grow in the East. From these trees a wine is made, and bread by some nations, and they afford an aliment for numerous quadrupeds. It will be with very fair reason then, that we shall confine our description to the palm-tree of foreign countries. There are none in Italy that grow spontaneously, nor, in fact, in any other part of the world, with the exception of the warm countries: indeed, it is only in the very hottest climates that this tree will bear fruit.
 
13 - 7 NATURE OF THE PALM-TREE M
The palm-tree grows in a light and sandy soil, and for the most part of a nitrous quality. It loves the vicinity of flowing water; and as it is its nature to imbibe the whole of the year, there are some who are of opinion that in a year of drought it will receive injury from being manured even, if the manure is not first mixed with running water: this, at least, is the idea entertained by some of the Assyrians.
The varieties of the palm are numerous. First of all, there are those which do not exceed the size of a shrub; they are mostly barren, though sometimes they are known to produce fruit; the branches are short, and the tree is well covered with leaves all round. In many places this tree is used as a kind of rough-cast, as it were, to protect the walls of houses against damp. The palms of greater height form whole forests, the trunk of the tree being protected all round by pointed leaves, which are arranged in the form of a comb; these, it must be understood, are wild palms, though sometimes, by some wayward fancy or other, they are known to make their appearance among the cultivated varieties. The other kinds are tall, round, and tapering; and being furnished with dense and projecting knobs or circles in the bark, arranged in regular gradation, they are found easy of ascent by the people in the East; in order to do which, the climber fastens a loop of osier round his body and the trunk, and by this contrivance ascends the tree with astonishing rapidity. All the foliage is at the summit, and the fruit as well; this last being situate, not among the leaves, as is the case with other trees, but hanging in clusters from shoots of its own among the branches, and partaking of the nature both of the grape and the apple. The leaves terminate in a sharp edge, like that of a knife, while the sides are deeply indented-a peculiarity which first gave the idea of a troop of soldiers presenting face on two sides at once; at the present day they are split asunder to form ropes and wythes for fastening, as well as light umbrellas for covering the head. The more diligent enquirers into the operations of Nature state that all trees, or rather all plants, and other productions of the earth, belong to either one sex or the other; a fact which it may be sufficient to notice on the present occasion, and one which manifests itself in no tree more than in the palm. The male tree blossoms at the shoots; the female buds without blossoming, the bud being very similar to an ear of corn. In both trees the flesh of the fruit shows first, and after that the woody part inside of it, or, in other words, the seed: and that this is really the case, is proved by the fact, that we often find small fruit on the same shoot without any seed in it at all. This seed is of an oblong shape, and not rounded like the olive-stone. It is also divided down the back by a deep indentation, and in most specimens of this fruit there is exactly in the middle a sort of navel, as it were, from which the root of the tree first takes its growth. In planting this seed it is laid on its anterior surface, two being placed side by side, while as many more are placed above; for when planted singly, the tree that springs up is but weak and sickly, whereas the four seeds all unite and form one strong tree. The seed is divided from the flesh of the fruit by several coats of a whitish colour, some of which are attached to the body of it; it lies but loosely in the inside of the fruit, adhering only to the summit by a single thread. The flesh of this fruit takes a year to ripen, though in some places, Cyprus for instance, even if it should not reach maturity, it is very agreeable, for the sweetness of its flavour: the leaf of the tree too, in that island, is broader than elsewhere, and the fruit rounder than usual: the body of the fruit however, is never eaten, but is always spit out again, after the juice has been extracted. In Arabia, the palm fruit is said to have a sickly sweet taste, although Juba says that he prefers the date found among the Arabian Scenitæ, and to which they give the name of dablan," before those of any other country for flavour. In addition to the above particulars, it is asserted that in a forest of natural growth the female trees will become barren if they are deprived of the males, and that many female trees may be seen surrounding a single male with downcast heads and a foliage that seems to be bowing caressingly towards it; while the male tree, on the other hand, with leaves all bristling and erect, by its exhalations, and even the very sight of it and the dust from off it, fecundates the others: if the male tree, too, should happen to be cut down, the female trees, thus reduced to a state of widowhood, will at once become barren and unproductive. So well, indeed, is this sexual union between them understood, that it has been imagined even that fecundation may be ensured through the agency of man, by means of the blossoms and the down gathered from off the male trees, and, indeed, sometimes by only sprinkling the dust from off them on the female trees.
 
13 - 8 HOW THE PALM-TREE IS PLANTED M
Palm-trees are also propagated by planting; the trunk is first divided with certain fissures two cubits in length which communicate with the pith of the tree, and is then buried in the earth. A slip also torn away from the root will produce a sucker with vitality, and the same may be obtained from the more tender among the branches. In Assyria, the tree itself is sometimes laid level, and then covered over in a moist soil; upon which it will throw out roots all over, but it will grow only to be a number of shrubs, and never a tree: hence it is that they plant nurseries, and transplant the young trees when a year old, and again when two years old, as they thrive all the better for being transplanted; this is done in the spring season in other countries, but in Assyria about the rising of the Dog-star. In those parts they do not touch the young trees with the knife, but merely tie up the foliage that they may shoot upwards, and so attain considerable height. When they are strong they prune them, in order to increase their thickness, but in so doing leave the branches for about half a foot; indeed, if they were cut off at any other place, the operation would kill the parent tree. We have already mentioned that they thrive particularly well in a saltish soil; hence, when the soil is not of that nature, it is the custom to scatter salt, not exactly about the roots, but at a little distance off. There are palm-trees in Syria and in Egypt which divide into two trunks, and some in Crete into three and as many as five even. Some of these trees bear immediately at the end of three years, and in Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt, when they are four years old; others again at the end of five years: at which period the tree is about the height of a man. So long as the tree is quite young the fruit has no seed within, from which circumstance it has received the nickname of the "eunuch."
 
13 - 9 DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF PALM-TREES, AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS M
There are numerous varieties of the palm-tree. In Assyria, and throughout the whole of Persis, the barren kinds are made use of for carpenters' work, and the various appliances of luxury. There are whole forests also of palm-trees adapted for cutting, and which, after they are cut, shoot again from the root; the pith of them towards the top, which is usually called the brain of the tree, is sweet to the taste, and the tree will live even after it has been extracted, which is the case with no other kind. The name of this tree is "chammereps;" it has a broader and softer leaf than the others, which is extremely useful for various kinds of wickerwork; these trees are very numerous in Crete, and even more so in Sicily. The wood of the palm-tree, when ignited, burns both brightly and slowly. In some of those that bear fruit, the seed of the fruit is shorter than in others, while in some, again, it is longer; in some it is softer than in others, and in some harder; in some it is osseous and crescent-shaped; polished with a tooth, superstition employs the stone as an antidote against charms and fascination. This stone is enclosed in several coats, more or less in number; sometimes they are of a thick texture, and sometimes very thin.
Hence it is that we find nine and forty different kinds of palm-trees, if any one will be at the trouble of enumerating all their various barbarous names, and the different wines that are extracted from them. The most famous of all, are those which, for the sake of distinction, have received the name of "royal" palms, because they were preserved solely by the kings of Persia; these used to grow nowhere but at Babylon, and there only in the garden of Bagöus, that being the Persian for an eunuch, several of whom have even reigned over that country! This garden was always carefully retained within the precincts of the royal court. In the southern parts of the world, the dates known as "syagri, hold the highest rank, and next after them those that are called "margarides." These last are short, white, and round, and bear a stronger resemblance to grapes than to dates; for which reason it is that they have received their name, in consequence of their close resemblance to "margaritæ," or pearls. It is said that there is only one tree that bears them, and that in the locality known as Chora. The same is the case also with the tree that bears the syagri. We have heard a wonderful story too, relative to this last tree, to the effect that it dies and comes to life again in a similar manner to the phoenix, which, it is generally thought, has borrowed its name from the palm-tree, in consequence of this peculiarity; at the moment that I am writing this, that tree is still bearing fruit. As for the fruit itself, it is large, hard, and of a rough appearance, and differing in taste from all other kinds, having a sort of wild flavour peculiar to itself, and not unlike that of the flesh of the wild boar; it is evidently this circumstance from which it has derived its name of "syagrus." In the fourth rank are the dates called "sandalides," from their resemblance to a sandal in shape. It is stated, that on the confines of Æthiopia there are but five of these trees at the most, no less remarkable for the singular lusciousness of their fruit, than for their extreme rarity. Next to these, the dates known as "caryotæ" are the most esteemed, affording not only plenty of nutriment, but a great abundance of juice; it is from these that the principal wines are made in the East; these wines are apt to affect the head, a circumstance from which the fruit derives its name. But if these trees are remarkable for their abundance and fruitfulness, it is in Judæa that they enjoy the greatest repute; not, indeed, throughout the whole of that territory, but more particularly at Hiericus, although those that grow at Archelais, Phaselis, and Livias, vallies in the same territory, are highly esteemed. The more remarkable quality of these is a rich, unctuous juice; they are of a milky consistency, and have a sort of vinous flavour, with a remarkable sweetness, like that of honey. The Nicolaän dates are of a similar kind, but somewhat drier; they are of remarkable size, so much so, indeed, that four of them, placed end to end, will make a cubit in length. A less fine kind, but of sister quality to the caryotæ for flavour, are the "adelphides," hence so called; these come next to them in sweetness, but still are by no means their equals. A third kind, again, are the patetæ, which abound in juice to excess, so much so, indeed, that the fruit bursts, in its excess of liquor, even upon the parent tree, and presents all the appearance of having been trodden under foot. There are numerous kinds of dates also, of a drier nature, which are long and slender, and sometimes of a curved shape. Those of this sort which we consecrate to the worship of the gods are called "chydæi by the Jews, a nation remarkable for the contempt which they manifest of the divinities. Those found all over Thebais and Arabia are dry and small, with a shrivelled body: being parched up and scorched by the constant heat, they are covered with what more nearly resembles a shell than a skin. In Æthiopia the date is quite brittle even, so great is the driness of the climate; hence the people are able to knead it into a kind of bread, just like so much flour. It grows upon a shrub, with branches a cubit in length: it has a broad leaf, and the fruit is round, and larger than an apple. The name of this date is "coïx." It comes to maturity in three years, and there is always fruit to be found upon the shrub, in various stages of maturity. The date of Thebais is at once packed in casks, with all its natural heat and freshness; for without this precaution, it quickly becomes vapid; it is of a poor, sickly taste, too, if it is not exposed, before it is eaten, to the heat of an oven. The other kinds of dates appear to be of an ordinary nature, and are generally known as "tragemata;" but in some parts of Phœnicia and Cilicia, they are commonly called "balani," a name which has been also borrowed by us. There are numerous kinds of them, which differ from one another in being round or oblong; as also in colour, for some of them are black, and others red-indeed it is said that they present no fewer varieties of colour than the fig: the white ones, however, are the most esteemed. They differ also in size, according to the number which it requires to make a cubit in length; some, indeed, are no larger than a bean. Those are the best adapted for keeping which are produced in salt and sandy soils, Sudca, and Cyrenaica in Africa, for instance: those, however, of Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, and Seleucia in Assyria, will not keep: hence it is that they are much used for fattening swine and other animals. It is a sign that the fruit is either spoilt or old, when the white protuberance disappears, by which it has adhered to the cluster. Some of the soldiers of Alexander's army were choked by eating green dates; and a similar effect is produced in the country of the Gedrosi, by the natural quality of the fruit; while in other places, again, the same results arise from eating them to excess. Indeed, when in a fresh state, they are so remarkably luscious, that there would be no end to eating them, were it not for fear of the dangerous consequences that would be sure to ensue.
 
13 - 10 TREES OF SYRIA: THE PISTACIA, THE COT- TANA, THE DAMASCENA, AND THE MYXA M
In addition to the palm, Syria has several trees that are pe- culiar to itself. Among the nut-trees there is the pistacia, well known among us. It is said that, taken either in food or drink, the kernel of this nut is a specific against the bite of serpents. Among figs, too, there are those known as "ca- ricæ," together with some smaller ones of a similar kind, the name of which is "cottana." There is a plum, too, which grows upon Mount Damascus, as also that known as the "myxa;" these last two are, however, now naturalized in Italy. In Egypt, too, they make a kind of wine from the myxa.
 
13 - 11 CEDAR. TREES WHICH HAVE ON THEM THE FRUIT OF THREE YEARS AT ONCE M
Phœnicia, too, produces a small cedar, which bears a strong resemblance to the juniper. Of this tree there are two varieties; the one found in Lycia, the other in Phœnicia. The difference is in the leaf: the one in which it is hard, sharp, and prickly, being known as the oxycedros, a branchy tree and rugged with knots. The other kind is more esteemed for its powerful odour. The small cedar produces a fruit the size of a grain of myrrh, and of a sweetish taste. There are two kinds of the larger cedar also; the one that blossoms bears no fruit, while, on the other hand, the one that bears fruit has no blossom, and the fruit, as it falls, is being continually replaced by fresh. The seed of this tree is similar to that of the cypress. Some persons give this tree the name of "cedrelates." The resin produced from it is very highly praised, and the wood of it lasts for ever, for which reason it is that they have long been in the habit of using it for making the statues of the gods. In a temple at Rome there is a statue of Apollo Sosianus in cedar, originally brought from Seleucia. There is a tree similar to the cedar, found also in Arcadia; and there is a shrub that grows in Phrygia, known as the "cedrus."
 
13 - 12 TEREBINTH M
Syria, too, produces the terebinth, the male tree of which bears no fruit, and the female consists of two different varieties; one of these bears a red fruit, the size of a lentil, while the other is pale, and ripens at the same period as the grape. This fruit is not larger than a bean, is of a very agreeable smell, and sticky and resinous to the touch. About Ida in Troas, and in Macedonia, this tree is short and shrubby, but at Damascus, in Syria, it is found of very considerable size. Its wood is remarkably flexible, and continues sound to a very advanced age: it is black and shining. The blossoms appear in clusters, like those of the olive-tree, but are of a red colour; the leaves are dense, and closely packed. It produces follicules, too, from which issue certain insects like gnats, as also a kind of resinous liquid which oozes from the bark.
 
13 - 13 SUMACH-TREE M
The male sumach-tree of Syria is productive, but the female is barren. The leaf resembles that of the elm, though it is a little longer, and has a downy surface. The footstalks of the leaves lie always alternately in opposite directions, and the branches are short and slender. This tree is used in the preparation of white skins. The seed, which strongly re- sembles a lentil in appearance, turns red with the grape; it is known by the name of "ros," and forms a necessary in- gredient in various medicaments."
 
13 - 14 TREES OF EGYPT. THE FIG-TREE OF ALEXANDRIA M
Egypt, too, has many trees which are not to be found elsewhere, and the kind of fig more particularly, which fur this reason has been called the Egypitian fig. In leaf this tree resembles the mulberry-tree, as also in size and general appearance. It bears fruit, not upon branches, but upon the trunk itself: the fig is remarkable for its extreme sweetness, and has no seeds in it. This tree is also remarkable for its fruitfulness, which, however, can only be ensured by making incisions in the fruit with hooks of iron, for otherwise it will not come to maturity. But when this has been done, it may he gathered within fur days, immediately upon which another shoots up in its place. Hence it is that in the year it produces seven abundant crops, and throughout all the summer there is an abundance of milky juice in the fruit. Even if the incisions are not made, the fruit will shoot afresh four times during the summer, the new fruit supplanting the old, and forcing it off before it has ripened. The wood, which is of a very peculiar nature, is reckoned among the most useful known. When cut down it is immediately plunged into standing water, such being the means employed for drying it. At first it sinks to the bottom, after which it begins to float, and in a certain length of time the additional moisture sucks it dry, which has the effect of penetrating and soaking all other kinds of wood. It is a sign that it is fit for use when it begins to float.
 
13 - 15 FIG-TREE OF CYPRUS M
The fig-tree that grows in Crete, and is known there as the Cyprian fig, bears some resemblance to the preceding one; for it bears fruit upon the trunk of the tree, and upon the branches as well, when they have attained a certain degree of thickness. This tree, however, sends forth buds without any leaves, but similar in appearance to a root. The trunk of the tree is similar to that of the poplar, and the leaves to those of the elm. It produces four crops in the year, and germinates the same number of times, but its green fruit will not ripen unless an incision is made in it to let out the milky juice. The sweetness of the fruit and the appearance of the inside are in all respects similar to those of the fig, and in size it is about as large as a sorb-apple.
 
13 - 16 CAROB-TREE M
Similar to this is the carob-tree, by the Ionians known as the "ceraunia," which in a similar manner bears fruit front the trunk, this fruit being known by the name of "siliqua," or "pod." For this reason, committing a manifest error, some persons have called it the Egyptian fig; it being the fact that this tree does not grow in Egypt, but in Syria and Ionia, in the vicinity, too, of Cnidos, and in the island of Rhodes. It is always covered with leaves, and bears a white flower with a very powerful odour. It sends forth shoots at the lower part, and is consequently quite yellow on the surface, as the young suckers deprive the trunk of the requisite moisture. When the fruit of the preceding year is gathered, about the rising of the Dog-star, fresh fruit immediately makes its appearance; after which the tree blossoms while the constellation of Arcturus is above the horizon, and the winter imparts nourishment to the fruit.
 
13 - 17 PERSIAN TREE. IN WHAT TREES FRUITS GERMINATE ONE BELOW OTHER M
Egypt, too, produces another tree of a peculiar description, the Persian tree, similar in appearance to the pear-tree, but retaining its leaves during the winter. This tree produces without intermission, for if the fruit is pulled to-day, fresh fruit will make its appearance to-morrow: the time for ripening is while the Etesian winds prevail. The fruit of this tree is more oblong than a pear, but is enclosed in a shell and a rind of a grassy colour, like the almond; but what is found within, instead of being a nut as in the almond, is a plum, differing from the almond in being shorter and quite soft. This fruit, although particularly inviting for its luscious sweetness, is productive of no injurious effects. The wood, for its goodness, solidity, and blackness, is in no respect inferior to that of the lotus: people have been in the habit of making statues of it. The wood of the tree which we have mentioned as the "balanus," although very durable, is not so highly esteemed as this, as it is knotted and twisted in the greater part: hence it is only employed for the purposes of shipbuilding.
 
13 - 18 CUCUS M
On the other hand, the wood of the cucus is held in very high esteem. It is similar in nature to the palm, as its leaves are similarly used for the purposes of texture: it differs from it, however, in spreading out its arms in large branches. The fruit, which is of a size large enough to fill the hand, is of a tawny colour, and recommends itself by its juice, which is a mixture of sweet and rough. The seed in the inside is large and of remarkable hardness, and turners use it for making curtain rings. The kernel is sweet, while fresh; but when dried it becomes hard to a most remarkable degree, so much so, that it can only be eaten after being soaked in water for several days. The wood is beautifully mottled with circling veins, for which reason it is particularly esteemed among the Persians.
 
13 - 19 EGYPTIAN THORN M
No less esteemed, too, in the same country, is a certain kind of thorn, though only the black variety, its wood being imperishable, in water even, a quality which renders it particularly valuable for making the sides of ships: on the other hand, the white kinds will rot very rapidly. It has sharp, prickly thorns on the leaves even, and bears its seeds in pods; they are employed for the same purposes as galls in the preparation of leather. The flower, too, has a pretty effect when made into garlands, and is extremely useful in medicinal preparations. A gum, also, distils from this tree; but the principal merit that it possesses is, that when it is cut down, it will grow again within three years. It grows in the vicinity of Thebes, where we also find the quercus, the Persian tree, and the olive: the spot that produces it is a piece of woodland, distant three hundred stadia from the Nile, and watered by springs of its own.
(.) Here we find, too, the Egyptian plum-tree, not much unlike the thorn last mentioned, with a fruit similar to the medlar, and which ripens in the winter. This tree never loses its leaves. The seed in the fruit is of considerable size, but the flesh of it, by reason of its quality, and the great abundance in which it grows, affords quite a harvest to the inhabitants of those parts; after cleaning it, they subject it to pressure, and then make it up into cakes for keeping. There was formerly a woodland district in the vicinity of Memphis, with trees of such enormous size, that three men could not span one with their arms: one of these trees is remarkable, not for its fruit, or any particular use that it is, but for the singular phænomenon that it presents. In appearance it strongly resembles a thorn, and it has leaves which have all the appearance of wings, and which fall immediately the branch is touched by any one, and then immediately shoot again.
 
13 - 20 NINE KINDS OF GUM. THE SARCOCOLLA M
It is universally agreed, that the best gum is that produced from the Egyptian thorn; it is of variegated appearance, of azure colour, clean, free from all admixture of bark, and adheres to the teeth; the price at which it sells is three denarii per pound. That produced from the bitter almond- tree and the cherry is of an inferior kind, and that which is gathered from the plum-tree is the worst of all. The vine, too, produces a gum, which is of the greatest utility in healing the sores of children; while that which is sometimes found on the olive-tree is used for the tooth-ache. Gum is also found on the elm upon Mount Corycus in Cilicia, and upon the juniper, but it is good for nothing; indeed, the gum of the elm found there is apt to breed gnats. From the sarcocolla also—such is the name of a certain tree—a gum exudes that is remarkably useful to painters and medical men; it is similar to incense dust in appearance, and for those purposes the white kind is preferable to the red. The price of it is the same as that mentioned above.
 
13 - 21 PAPYRUS: USE OF PAPER; WHEN IT WAS FIRST INVENTED M
We have not as yet taken any notice of the marsh plants, nor yet of the shrubs that grow upon the banks of rivers: before quitting Egypt, however, we must make some mention of the nature of the papyrus, seeing that all the usages of civilized life depend in such a remarkable degree upon the employment of paper—at all events, the remembrance of past events. M. Varro informs us that paper owes its discovery to the victorious career of Alexander the Great, at the time when Alexandria in Egypt was founded by him; before which period paper had not been used, the leaves of the palm having been employed for writing at an early period, and after that the bark of certain trees. In succeeding ages, public documents were inscribed on sheets of lead, while private memoranda were impressed upon linen cloths, or else engraved on tablets of wax; indeed, we find it stated in Homer, that tablets were employed for this purpose even before the time of the Trojan war. It is generally supposed, too, that the country which that poet speaks of as Egypt, was not the same that is at present understood by that name, for the Sebennytic and the Saitic Nomes, in which all the papyrus is produced, have been added since his time by the alluvion of the Nile; indeed, he himself has stated that the main-land was a day and a night's sail from the island of Pharos, which island at the present day is united by a bridge to the city of Alexandria. In later times, a rivalry having sprung up between King Ptolemy and King Eumenes, in reference to their respective libraries, Ptolemy prohibited the export of papyrus; upon which, as Varro relates, parchment was invented for a similar purpose at Pergamus. After this, the use of that commodity, by which immortality is ensured to man, became universally known.
 
13 - 22 MODE OF MAKING PAPER M
Papyrus grows either in the marshes of Egypt, or in the sluggish waters of the river Nile, when they have overflowed and are lying stagnant, in pools that do not exceed a couple of cubits in depth. The root lies obliquely, and is about the thickness of one's arm; the section of the stalk is triangular, and it tapers gracefully upwards towards the extremity, being not more than ten cubits at most in height. Very much like a thyrsus in shape, it has a head on the top, which has no seed in it, and, indeed, is of no use whatever, except as a flower employed to crown the statues of the gods. The natives use the roots by way of wood, not only for firing, but for various other domestic purposes as well. From the papyrus itself they construct boats also, and of the outer coat they make sails and mats, as well as cloths, besides coverlets and ropes; they chew it also, both raw and boiled, though they swallow the juice only.
The papyrus grows in Syria also, on the borders of the same lake around which grows the sweet-scented calamus; and King Antiochus used to employ the productions of that country solely as cordage for naval purposes; for the use of spartum had not then become commonly known. More recently it has been understood that a papyrus grows in the river Euphrates, in the vicinity of Babylon, from which a similar kind of paper may easily be produced: still, however, up to the present time the Parthians have preferred to impress their characters upon cloths
 
13 - 23 NINE DIFFERENT KINDS OF PAPER M
Paper is made from the papyrus, by splitting it with a needle into very thin leaves, due care being taken that they should be as broad as possible. That of the first quality is taken from the centre of the plant, and so in regular succession, according to the order of division. "Hieratica" was the name that was anciently given to it, from the circumstance that it was entirely reserved for the religious books. In later times, through a spirit of adulation, it received the name of "Augusta," just as that of second quality was called "Liviana," from his wife, Livia; the consequence of which was, that the name "hieratica" came to designate that of only third-rate quality. The paper of the next quality was called "amphitheatrica," from the locality of its manufacture. The skilful manufactory that was established by Fannius at Rome, was in the habit of receiving this last kind, and there, by a very careful process of insertion, it was rendered much finer; so much so, that from being a common sort, he made it a paper of first-rate quality, and gave his own name to it: while that which was not subjected to this additional process retained its original name of "amphitheatrica." Next to this is the Saitic paper, so called from the city of that name, where it is manufactured in very large quantities, though of cuttings of inferior quality. The Tæniotic paper, so called from a place in the vicinity, is manufactured from the materials that lie nearer to the outside skin; it is sold, not according to its quality, but by weight only. As to the paper that is known as "emporetica," it is quite useless for writing upon, and is only employed for wrapping up other paper, and as a covering for various articles of merchandize, whence its name, as being used by dealers. After this comes the bark of the papyrus, the outer skin of which bears a strong resemblance to the bulrush, and is solely used for making ropes, and then only for those which have to go into the water.
All these various kinds of paper are made upon a table, moistened with Nile water; a liquid which, when in a muddy state, has the peculiar qualities of glue. This table being first inclined, the leaves of papyrus are laid upon it lengthwise, as long, indeed, as the papyrus will admit of, the jagged edges being cut off at either end; after which a cross layer is placed over it, the same way, in fact, that hurdles are made. When this is done, the leaves are pressed close together, and then dried in the sun; after which they are united to one another, the best sheets being always taken first, and the inferior ones added afterwards. There are never more than twenty of these sheets to a roll.
 
13 - 24 MODE OF TESTING THE GOODNESS OF PAPER M
There is a great difference in the breadth of the various kinds of paper. That of best quality is thirteen fingers wide, while the hieratica is two fingers less. The Fanniana is ten fingers wide, and that known as "amphitheatrica," one less. The Saitic is of still smaller breadth, indeed it is not so wide as the mallet with which the paper is beaten; and the emporetica is particularly narrow, being not more than six fingers in breadth.
In addition to the above particulars, paper is esteemed according to its fineness, its stoutness, its whiteness, and its smoothness. Claudius Cæsar effected a change in that which till then had been looked upon as being of the first quality: for the Augustan paper had been found to be so remarkably fine, as to offer no resistance to the pressure of the pen; in addition to which, as it allowed the writing upon it to run through, it was continually causing apprehensions of its being blotted and blurred by the writing on the other side; the remarkable transparency, too, of the paper was very unsightly to the eye. To obviate these inconveniences, a groundwork of paper was made with leaves of the second quality, over which was laid a woof, as it were, formed of leaves of the first. He increased the width also of paper; the width [of the common sort] being made a foot, and that of the size known as "macrocollum," a cubit; though one inconvenience was soon detected in it, for, upon a single leaf being torn in the press, more pages were apt to be spoilt than before. In consequence of the advantages above-mentioned, the Claudian has come to be preferred to all other kinds of paper, though the Augustan is still used for the purposes of epistolary correspondence. The Livian, which had nothing in common with that of first quality, but was entirely of a secondary rank, still holds its former place.
 
13 - 25 PECULIAR DEFECTS IN PAPER M
The roughness and inequalities in paper are smoothed down with a tooth or shell; but the writing in such places is very apt to fade. When it is thus polished the paper does not take the ink so readily, but is of a more lustrous and shining surface. The water of the Nile that has been originally employed in its manufacture, being sometimes used without due precaution, will unfit the paper for taking writing: this fault, however, may be detected by a blow with the mallet, or even by the smell, when the carelessness has been extreme. These spots, too, may be detected by the eye; but the streaks that run down the middle of the leaves where they have been pasted together, though they render the paper spongy and of a soaking nature, can hardly ever be detected before the ink runs, while the pen is forming the letters; so many are the openings for fraud to be put in practice. The consequence is, that another labour has been added to the due preparation of paper.
 
13 - 26 PASTE USED IN THE PREPARATION OF PAPER M
The common paper paste is made of the finest flour of wheat mixed with boiling water, and some small drops of vinegar sprinkled in it: for the ordinary workman's paste, or gum, if employed for this purpose, will render the paper brittle. Those, however, who take the greatest pains, boil the crumb of leavened bread, and then strain off the water: by the adoption of this method the paper has the fewest seams caused by the paste that lies between, and is softer than the nap of linen even. All kinds of paste that are used for this purpose, ought not to be older or newer than one day. The paper is then thinned out with a mallet, after which a new layer of paste is placed upon it; then the creases which have formed are again pressed out, and it then undergoes the same process with the mallet as before. It is thus that we have memorials preserved in the ancient handwriting of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, which I have seen in the possession of Pomponius Secundus, the poet, a very illustrious citizen, almost two hundred years since those characters were penned. As for the handwriting of Cicero, Augustus, and Virgil, we frequently see them at the present day.
 
13 - 27 BOOKS OF NUMA M
There are some facts of considerable importance which make against the opinion expressed by M. Varro, relative to the invention of paper. Cassius Hemina, a writer of very great antiquity, has stated in the Fourth Book of his Annals, that Cneius Terentius, the scribe, while engaged in digging on his land in the Janiculum, came to a coffer, in which Numa had been buried, the former king of Rome, and that in this coffer were also found some books of his. This took place in the consulship of Publius Cornelius Cethegus, the son of Lucius, and of M. Bæbius Tamphilus, the son of Quintus, the interval between whose consulship and the reign of Numa was five hundred and thirty-five years. These books were made of paper, and, a thing that is more remarkable still, is the fact that they lasted so many years buried in the ground. In order, therefore, to establish a fact of such singular importance, I shall here quote the words of Hemina himself—"Some persons expressed wonder how these books could have possibly lasted so long a time—this was the explanation that Terentius gave: 'In nearly the middle of the coffer there lay a square stone, bound on every side with cords enveloped in wax; upon this stone the books had been placed, and it was through this precaution, he thought, that they had not rotted. The books, too, were carefully covered with citrus leaves, and it was through this, in his belief, that they had been protected from the attacks of worms.' In these books were written certain doctrines relative to the Pythagorean philosophy; they were burnt by Q. Petilius, the prætor, because they treated of philosophical subjects."
Piso, who had formerly been censor, relates the same facts in the First Book of his Commentaries, but he states in addition, That there were seven books on Pontitical Rights, and seven on the Pythagorean philosophy. Tuditanus, in his Fourteenth Book, says that they contained the decrees of uma: Varro, in the Seventh Book of his "Antiquities of Mankind," states that they were twelve in number; and Antias, in his Second Book, says that there were twelve written in Latin, on pontifical matters, and as many in Greek, containing philosophical precepts. The same author states also in his Third Book why it was thought proper to burn them. It is a fact acknowledged by all writers, that the Sibyl brought three books to Tarquinius Superbus, of which two were burnt by herself, while the third perished by fire with the Capitol in the days of Sylla. In addition to these facts, Mucianus, who was three times consul, has stated that he had recently read, while governor of Lycia, a letter written upon paper, and preserved in a certain temple there, which had been written from Troy, by Sarpedon; a thing that surprises me the more, if it really was the fact that even in the time of Homer the country that we call Egypt was not in existence. And why too, if paper was then in use, was it the custom, as it is very well known it was, to write upon leaden tablets and linen cloths? Why, too, has Homer stated that in Lycia tablets were given to Bellerophon to carry, and not a paper letter? Papyrus, for making paper, is apt to fail occasionally; such a thing happened in the time of the Emperor Tiberius, when there was so great a scarcity of paper that members of the senate were appointed to regulate the distribution of it: had not this been done, all the ordinary relations of life would have been completely disarranged.
 
13 - 28 TREES OF ÆTHIOPIA M
Æthiopia, which borders upon Egypt, has in general no remarkable trees, with the exception of the wool-bearing ones, of which we have had occasion to speak in our description of the trees of India and Arabia. However, the produce of the tree of Æthiopia bears a much stronger resemblance to wool, and the follicule is much larger, being very similar in appearance to a pomegranate; as for the trees, they are otherwise similar in every respect. Besides this tree, there are some palms, of which we have spoken already. In describing the islands along the coast of Æthiopia, we have already made mention of their trees and their odoriferous forests.
 
13 - 29 TREES OF MOUNT ATLAS. CITRUS, & TABLES MADE OF WOOD THEREOF M
Mount Atlas is said to possess a forest of trees of a peculiar character, of which we have already spoken. In the vicinity of this mountain is Mauretania, a country which abounds in the citrus, a tree which gave rise to the mania for fine tables, an extravagance with which the women reproach the men, when they complain of their vast outlay upon pearls. There is preserved to the present day a table which belonged to M. Cicero, and for which, notwithstanding his comparatively moderate means, and what is even more surprising still, at that day too, he gave no less than one" million sesterces: we find mention made also of one belonging to Gallus Asinius, which cost one million one hundred thousand sesterces. Two tables were also sold by auction which had belonged to King Juba; the price fetched by one was one million two hundred thousand sesterces, and that of the other something less. There has been lately destroyed by fire, a table which came down from the family of the Cethegi, and which had been sold for the sum of one million four hundred thousand sesterces, the price of a considerable domain, if any one, indeed, could be found who would give so large a sum for an estate.
The largest table that has ever yet been known was one that belonged to Ptolemæus, king of Mauretania; it was made of two semicircumferences joined together down the middle, being four Feet and a half in diameter, and a quarter of a foot in thickness: the most wonderful fact, however, connected with it, was the surprising skill with which the joining had been concealed, and which rendered it more valuable than if it had been by nature a single piece of wood. The largest table that is made of a single piece of wood, is the one that takes its name from Nomius, a freedman of Tiberius Cæsar. The diameter of it is four Feet, short by three quarters of an inch, and it is half a foot in thickness, less the same fraction. While speaking upon this subject, I ought not to omit to mention that the Emperor Tiberius had a table that exceeded four Feet in diameter by two inches and a quarter, and was an inch and a half in thickness: this, however, was only covered with a veneer of citrus-wood, while that which belonged to his freedman Nomius was so costly, the whole material of which it was composed being knotted wood. These knots are properly a disease or excrescence of the root, and those used for this purpose are more particularly esteemed which have lain entirely concealed under ground; they are much more rare than those that grow above ground, and that are to be found on the branches also. Thus, to speak correctly, that which we buy at so vast a price is in reality a defect in the tree: of the size and root of it a notion may be easily formed from the circular sections of its trunk. The tree resembles the wild female cypress in its foliage, smell, and the appearance of the trunk. A spot called Mount Ancorarius, in Nearer Mauretania, used formerly to furnish the most esteemed citrus-wood, but at the present day the supply is quite exhausted.
 
13 - 30 POINTS THAT ARE DESIRABLE OR OTHERWISE IN THESE TABLES M
The principal merit of these tables is to have veins arranged in waving lines, or else forming spirals like so many little whirlpools. In the former arrangement the lines run in an oblong direction, for which reason these are called "tiger" tables; while in the latter the marks are circling and spiral, and hence they are styled "panther" tables. There are some tables also with wavy, undulating marks, and which are more particularly esteemed if these resemble the eyes on a peacock's tail. Next in esteem to these last, as well as those previously mentioned, is the veined wood, covered, as it were, with dense masses of grain, for which reason these tables have received the name of "apiatæ." But the colour of the wood is the quality that is held in the highest esteem of all: that of wine mixed with honey being the most prized, the veins being peculiarly refulgent. Next to the colour, it is the size that is prized; at the present day whole trunks are greatly admired, and sometimes several are united in a single table.
The peculiar defects in these kinds of tables are woodiness, such being the name given to the table when the wood is dull, common-looking, indistinct, or else has mere simple marks upon it, resembling the leaves of the plane-tree; also, when it resembles the veins of the holm-oak or the colour of that tree; and, a fault to which it is peculiarly liable from the effect of heat or wind, when it has flaws in it or hair-like lines resembling flaws; when it has a black mark, too, running through it resembling a murena in appearance, various streaks that look like crow scratches, or knots like poppy heads, with a colour all over nearly approaching to black, or blotches of a sickly hue. The barbarous tribes bury this wood in the ground while green, first giving it a coating of wax. When it comes into the workmen's hands, they put it for seven days beneath a heap of corn, and then take it out for as many more: it is quite surprising how greatly it loses in weight by this process. Shipwrecks have recently taught us also that this wood is dried by the action of sea-water, and that it thereby acquires a hardness and a degree of density which render it proof against corruption no other method is equally sure to produce these results. These tables are kept best, and shine with the greatest lustre, when rubbed with the dry hand, more particularly just after bathing. As if this wood had been created for the behoof of wine, it receives no injury from it. (.) As this tree is one among the elements of more civilized life, I think that it is as well on the present occasion to dwell a little further upon it. It was known to Homer even, and in the Greek it is known by the name of "thyon," or sometimes "thya." He says that the wood of this tree was among the unguents that were burnt for their pleasant odour by Circe, whom he would represent as being a goddess; a circumstance which shows the great mistake committed by those who suppose that perfumes are meant under that name, seeing that in the very same line he says that cedar and larch were burnt along with this wood, a thing that clearly proves that it is only of different trees that he is speaking. Theophrastus, an author who wrote in the age succeeding that of Alexander the Great, and about the year of the City of Rome , has awarded a very high rank to this tree, stating that it is related that the raftering of the ancient temples used to be made of this wood, and that the timber, when employed in roofs, will last for ever, so to say, being proof against all decay,—quite incorruptible, in fact. He also says that there is nothing more full of wavy veins than the root of this tree, and that there is no workmanship in existence more precious than that made of this material. The finest kind of citrus grows, he says, in the vicinity of the Temple of Jupiter Hammon; he states also that it is produced in the lower part of Cyre- naica. He has made no mention, however, of the tables that are made of it; indeed, we have no more ancient accounts of them than those of the time of Cicero, from which it would appear that they are a comparatively recent invention.
 
13 - 31 CITRON-TREE M
There is another tree also which has the same name of "citrus," and bears a fruit that is held by some persons in particular dislike for its smell and remarkable bitterness; while, on the other hand, there are some who esteem it very highly. This tree is used as an ornament to houses; it requires, however, no further description.
 
13 - 32 LOTUS M
Africa, too, at least that part of it which looks towards our shores, produces a remarkable tree, the lotus, by some known as the "celtis," which has also been naturalized in Italy, though it has been somewhat modified by the change of soil. The finest quality of lotus is that found in the vicinity of the Syrtes and among the Nasamones. It is the same size as the pear-tree, although Cornelius Nepos states to the effect that it is but short. The leaves have numerous incisions, just as with those of the holm-oak. There are many varieties of the lotus, which are characterized more particularly by the difference in their respective fruits. The fruit is of about the size of a bean, and its colour is that of saffron, though before it is ripe it is continually changing its tints, like the grape. It has branches thickly set with leaves, like the myrtle, and not, as with us in Italy, like the cherry. In the country to which this tree is indigenous, the fruit of it is so remarkably sweet and luscious, that it has even given its name to a whole territory, and to a nation who, by their singular hospitality, have even seduced strangers who have come among them, to lose all remembrance of their native country. It is said also, that those who eat this fruit are subject to no maladies of the stomach. The fruit which has no stone in the inside is the best: this stone in the other kind seems to be of an osseous nature. A wine is also extracted from this fruit very similar to honied wine; according to Nepos, however, it will not last above ten days; he states also that the berries are chopped up with alica, and then put away in casks for the table. Indeed, we read that armies have been fed upon this food when marching to and fro through the territory of Africa. The wood is of a black colour, and is held in high esteem for making flutes; from the root also they manufacture handles for knives, and various other small articles.
Such is the nature of the tree that is so called in Africa; the same name being also given to a certain herb, and to a stalk that grows in Egypt belonging to the marsh plants. This last plant springs up when the waters of the Nile have retired after its overflow: its stalk is similar to that of the bean, and its leaves are numerous and grow in thick clusters, but are shorter and more slender than those of the bean. The fruit grows on the head of the plant, and is similar in appearance to a poppy in its indentations and all its other characteristics; within there are small grains, similar to those of millet. The inhabitants lay these heads in large heaps, and there let them rot, after which they separate the grain from the residue by washing, and then dry it; when this is done they pound it, and then use it as flour for making a kind of bread. What is stated in addition to these particulars, is a very singular fact; it is said that when the sun sets, these poppy-heads shut and cover themselves in the leaves, and at sun-rise they open again; an alternation which continues until the fruit is perfectly ripe, and the flower, which is white, falls off. (.) Even more than this, of the lotus of the Euphrates, it is said that the head and flower of the plant, at nightfall, sink into the water, and there remain till midnight, so deep in the water, that on thrusting in one's arm, the head cannot be reached: after midnight it commences to return upwards, and gradually becomes more and more erect till sunrise, when it emerges entirely from the water and opens its flower; after which it still continues to rise, until at last it is to be seen raised quite aloft, high above the level of the water. This lotus has a root about the size of a quince, enveloped in a black skin, similar to that with which the chesnut is covered. The substance that lies within this skin is white, and forms very pleasant food, but is better cooked, either in water or upon hot ashes, then in a raw state. Swine fatten upon nothing better than the peelings of this root.
 
13 - 33 TREES OF CYENAICA. THE PALIURUS M
The region of Cyrenaica places before the lotus its paliurus, which is more like a shrub in character, and bears a fruit of a redder colour. This fruit contains a nut, the kernel of which is eaten by itself, and is of a very agreeable flavour. The taste of it is improved by wine, and, in fact, the juices are thought to be an improvement to wine. The interior of Africa, as far as the Garamantes and the deserts, is covered with palms, remarkable for their extraordinary size and the lusciousness of their fruit. The most celebrated are those in the vicinity of the Temple of Jupiter Hammon.
 
13 - 34 NINE VARIETIES OF THE PUNIC APPLE. BALAUSTIUM M
But the vicinity of Carthage is claimed more particularly as its own by the fruit the name of which is the "Punic apple;" though by some it is called "granatum." This fruit has been distinguished into a variety of kinds; the name of "apyrenum" being given to the one which has no woody seeds inside, but is naturally whiter than the others, the pips being of a more agreeable flavour, and the membranes by which they are separated not so bitter. Their conformation in other respects, which is very similar to the partitions of the cells in the honeycomb, is much the same in all. Of those that have a kernel there are five kinds, the sweet, the acrid, the mixed, the acid, and the vinous: those of Samos and Egypt are distinguished into those with red, and those with white foliage. The skin, while the fruit is yet sour, is held in high esteem for tanning leather. The flower of this tree is known by the name of "balaustium," and is very useful for medicinal purposes; also for dyeing cloths a colour which from it has derived its name.
 
13 - 35 TREES OF ASIA AND GREECE; THE EPIPACTIS, THE ERICA, THE CNIDIAN GRAIN OR THYMELÆA, PYROSACHNE, CNESTRON, OR CNEORON M
In Asia and Greece are produced the following shrubs, the epipactis, by some known as "elleborine," the leaves of which are of small size, and when taken in drink, are an antidote against poison; just in the same way that those of the erica are a specific against the sting of the serpent.
(.) Here is also found another shrub, upon which grows the grain of Cnidos, by some known as "linum;" the name of the shrub itself being thymelæa, while others, again, call it "chamelæa, others pyrosachne, others cnestron, and others cneorum; it bears a strong resemblance to the wild olive, but has a narrow leaf, which has a gummy taste in the mouth. The shrub is of about the size of the myrtle; its seed is of the same colour and appearance, but is solely used for medicinal purposes.
 
13 - 36 TRAGION: TRAGACANTHE M
The island of Crete is the only place that produces the shrub called "tragion." It is similar in appearance to the terebinth; a similarity which extends to the seed even, said to be remarkably efficacious for healing wounds made by arrows. The same island produces tragacanthe also, with a root which resembles that of the white thorn; it is very much preferred to that which is grown in Media or in Achaia; the price at which it sells is three denarii per pound.
 
13 - 37 TRAGOS OR SCORPIO; THE MYRICA OR BRYA; THE OSTRYS M
Asia, too, produces the tragos or scorpio, a thorny shrub, destitute of leaves, with red clusters upon it that are employed in medicine. Italy produces the myrica, which some persons call the "tamarix;" and Achaia, the wild brya, remarkable for the circumstance that it is only the cultivated kind that bears a fruit, not unlike the gall-nut. In Syria and Egypt this plant is very abundant. It is to the trees of this last country that we give the name of "unhappy;" but yet those of Greece are more unhappy still, for that country produces the tree known as "ostrya," or, as it is sometimes called, "ostrya," a solitary tree that grows about rocks washed by the water, and very similar in the bark and branches to the ash. It re- sembles the pear-tree in its leaves, which, however, are a little longer and thicker, with wrinkled indentations running down the whole length of the leaf. The seed of this tree resembles barley in form and colour. The wood is hard and solid; it is said, that if it is introduced into a house, it is productive of painful deliveries and of shocking deaths.
 
13 - 38 EUONYMOS M
There is no tree productive of a more auspicious presage than one which grows in the Isle of Lesbos, and is known by the name of euonymos. It bears some resemblance to the pomegranate tree, the leaf being in size between the leaf of that and the leaf of the laurel, while in shape and softness it resembles that of the pomegranate tree: it has a white blossom, by which it immediately gives us notice of its dangerous properties. It bears a pod very similar to that of sesame, within which there is a grain of quadrangular shape, of coarse make and poisonous to animals. The leaf, too, has the same noxious effects; sometimes, however, a speedy alvine discharge is found to give relief on such occasions.
 
13 - 39 TREE CALLED EON M
Alexander Cornelius has called a tree by the name of "eon," with the wood of which, he says, the ship Argo was built. This tree has on it a mistletoe similar to that of the oak, which is proof against all injury from either fire or water, in the same manner, in fact, as that of no other tree known. This tree, however, appears to have been known to no other author, that I am aware of.
 
13 - 40 ANDRACHLE M
Nearly all the Greek writers interpret the name of the tree called "andrachle," as meaning the same as "purslain:" whereas purslain is, in reality, a herb, and, with the difference of a single letter, is called "andrachne." The andrachne is a wild tree, which never grows in the plain country, and is similar to the arbute tree in appearance, only that its leaves are smaller, and never fall off. The bark, too, is not rough, but might be taken to be frozen all over, so truly wretched is its appearance.
 
13 - 41 COCCYGIA; THE APHARCE M
Similar, too, in leaf to the preceding tree, is the coccygia, though not so large; it has this peculiarity, that it loses its fruit while still in the downy state—they then call it "pappus"—a thing that happens to no other tree. The apharce is another tree that is similar to the andrachle, and like it, bears twice in the year: just as the grape is beginning to flower the first fruit is ripening, while the second fruit ripens at the commencement of winter; of what nature this fruit is we do not find stated.
 
13 - 42 FERULA M
We ought to place the ferula also in the number of the exotics, and as making one of the trees. For, in fact, we distinguish the trees into several different kinds: it is the nature of some to have wood entirely in place of bark, or, in other words, on the outside; while, in the interior, in place of wood, there is a fungous kind of pith, like that of the elder; others, again, are hollow within, like the reed. The ferula grows in hot countries and in places beyond sea, the stalk being divided into knotted joints. There are two kinds of it; that which grows upwards to a great height the Greeks call by the name of "narthex," while the other, which never rises far from the ground, is known as the "narthecya." From the joints very large leaves shoot forth, the largest lying nearest to the ground: in other respects it has the same nature as the anise, which it resembles also in its fruit. The wood of no shrub is lighter than this; hence it is very easily carried, and the stalks of it make good walking-sticks for the aged.
 
13 - 43 THAPSIA M
The seed of the ferula has been by some persons called "thapsia;" deceived, no doubt, by what is really the fact, that the thapsia is a ferula, but of a peculiar kind, with leaves like those of fennel, and a hollow stalk not exceeding a walking-stick in length; the seed is like that of the ferula, and the root of the plant is white. When an incision is made in the thapsia, a milky juice oozes from it, and, when pounded, it produces a kind of juice; the bark even is never thrown away. All these parts of the shrub are poisonous, and, indeed, it is productive of injurious effects to those engaged in digging it up; for if the slightest wind should happen to be blowing towards them from the shrub, the body begins to swell, and erysipelas attacks the face: it is for this reason that, before beginning work, they anoint the face all over with a solution of wax. Still, however, the medical men say that, mixed with other ingredients, it is of considerable use in the treatment of some diseases. It is employed also for the cure of scald-head, and for the removal of black and blue spots upon the skin, as if, indeed, we were really at a loss for remedies in such cases, without having recourse to things of so deadly a nature. These plants, however, act their part in serving as a pretext for the introduction of noxious agents; and so great is the effrontery now displayed, that people would absolutely persuade one that poisons are a requisite adjunct to the practice of the medical art.
The thapsia of Africa is the most powerful of all. Some persons make an incision in the stalk at harvest-time, and bore holes in the root, too, to let the juice flow; after it has become quite dry, they take it away. Others, again, pound the leaves, stalk, and root in a mortar, and after drying the juice in the sun, divide it into lozenges. Nero Cæsar, at the beginning of his reign, conferred considerable celebrity on this plant. In his nocturnal skirmishes it so happened that he received several contusions on the face, upon which he anointed it with a mixture composed of thapsia, frankincense, and wax, and so contrived the next day effectually to give the lie to all rumours, by appearing with a whole skin. It is a well-known fact, that fire is kept alight remarkably well in the hollow stalk of the ferula, and that for this purpose those of Egypt are the best.
 
13 - 44 CAPPARIS OR CYNOSBATON, OTHERWISE OPHIOSTAPHYLE M
In Egypt, too, the capparis is found, a shrub with a wood of much greater solidity. The seed of it is a well-known article of food, and is mostly gathered together with the stalk. It is as well, however, to be on our guard against the foreign kinds; for that of Arabia has certain deleterious properties, that from Africa is injurious to the gums, and that from Marmarica is prejudicial to the womb and causes flatulence in all the organs. That of Apulia, too, is productive of vomiting, and causes derangement in the stomach and intestines. Some persons call this shrub "cynosbaton," others, again, "ophiostaphyle."
 
13 - 45 SARIPHA M
The saripha, too, that grows on the banks of the Nile, is one of the shrub genus. It is generally about two cubits in height, and of the thickness of one's thumb: it has the foliage of the papyrus, and is eaten in a similar manner. The root, in consequence of its extreme hardness, is used as a substitute for charcoal in forging iron.
 
13 - 46 ROYAL THORN M
We must take care, also, not to omit a peculiar shrub that is planted at Babylon, and only upon a thorny plant there, as it will not live anywhere else, just in the same manner as the mistletoe will live nowhere but upon trees. This shrub, however, will only grow upon a kind of thorn, which is known as the royal thorn. It is a wonderful fact, but it germinates the very same day that it has been planted. This is done at the rising of the Dog-star, after which it speedily takes possession of the whole tree. They use it in the preparation of wine, and it is for this purpose that it is planted. This thorn grows at Athens also, upon the Long Walls there.
 
13 - 47 CYTISUS M
The cytisus is also a shrub, which, as a food for sheep; has been extolled with wonderful encomiums by Aristomachus the Athenian, and, in a dry state, for swine as well: the same author, too, pledges his word that a jugerum of very middling land, planted with the cytisus, will produce an income of two thousand sesterces per annum. It is quite as useful as the ervum, but is apt to satiate more speedily: very little of it is necessary to fatten cattle; to such a degree, indeed, that beasts of burden, when fed upon it, will very soon take a dislike to barley. There is no fodder known, in fact, that is productive of a greater abundance of milk, and of better quality; in the medical treatment of cattle in particular, this shrub is found a most excellent specific for every kind of malady. Even more than this, the same author recommends it, when first dried and then boiled in water, to be given to nursing women, mixed with wine, in cases where the milk has failed them: and he says that, if this is done, the infant will be all the stronger and taller for it. In a green state, or, if dried, steeped in water, he recommends it for fowls. Both Democritus and Aristomachus promise us also that bees will never fail us so long as they can obtain the cytisus for food. There is no crop that we know of, of a similar nature, that costs a smaller price. It is sown at the same time as barley, or, at all events, in the spring, in seed like the leek, or else planted in the autumn, and before the winter solstice, in the stalk. When sown in grain, it ought to be steeped in water, and if there should happen to be no rain, it ought to be watered when sown: when the plants are about a cubit in height, they are replanted in trenches a foot in depth. It is transplanted at the equinoxes, while the shrub is yet tender, and in three years it will arrive at maturity. It is cut at the vernal equinox, when the flower is just going off; a child or an old woman is able to do this, and their labour may be had at a trifling rate. It is of a white appearance, and if one would wish to express briefly what it looks like, it is a trifoliated shrub, with small, narrow leaves. It is always given to animals at intervals of a couple of days, and in winter, when it is dry, before being given to them, it is first moistened with water. Ten pounds of cytisus will suffice for a horse, and for smaller animals in proportion: if I may here mention it by the way, it is found very profitable to sow garlic and onions between the rows of cytisus.
This shrub has been found in the Isle of Cythnus, from whence it has been transplanted to all the Cyclades, and more recently to the cities of Greece, a fact which has greatly increased the supply of cheese: considering which, I am much surprised that it is so rarely used in Italy. This shrub is proof, too, against all injuries from heat, from cold, from hail, and from snow: and, as Hyginus adds, against the depredations of the enemy even, the wood produced being of no value whatever.
 
13 - 48 TREES & SHRUBS OF MEDITER- RANEAN. PHYCOS, PRASON, OR ZOSTER M
Shrubs and trees grow in the sea as well; those of our sea are of inferior size, while, on the other hand, the Red Sea and all the Eastern Ocean are filled with dense forests. No other language has any name for the shrub which is known to the Greeks as the "phycos," since by the word "alga" a mere herb is generally understood, while the "phycos" is a complete shrub. This plant has a broad leaf of a green colour, which is by some called "prason," and by others is known as "zoster." Another kind, again, has a hairy sort of leaf, very similar to fennel, and grows upon rocks, while that previously mentioned grows in shoaly spots, not far from the shore. Both kinds shoot in the spring, and die in autumn. The phycos which grows on the rocks in the neighbourhood of Crete, is used also for dyeing purple; the best kind being that produced on the north side of the island, which is the case also with sponges of the very best quality. A third kind, again, is similar in appearance to grass; the root of it is knotted, and so is the stalk, which resembles that of a reed.
 
13 - 49 SEA BRYON M
There is another kind of marine shrub, known by the name of "bryon;" it has the leaf of the lettuce, only that it is of a more wrinkled appearance; it grows nearer land, too, than the last. Far out at sea we find a fir-tree and an oak, each a cubit in height; shells are found adhering to their branches. It is said that this sea-oak is used for dyeing wool, and that some of them even bear acorns in the sea, a fact which has been ascertained by shipwrecked persons and divers. There are other marine trees also of remarkable size, found in the vicinity of Sicyon; the sea-vine, indeed, grows everywhere. The sea-fig is destitute of leaves, and the bark is red. There is a palm-tree also in the number of the sea-shrubs. Beyond the columns of Hercules there is a sea-shrub that grows with the leaf of the leek, and others with those of the carrot, and of thyme. Both of these last, when thrown up by the tide, are transformed into pumice.
 
13 - 50 PLANTS OF THE RED SEA M
In the East, it is a very remarkable thing, that immediately after leaving Coptos, as we pass through the deserts, we find nothing whatever growing, with the exception of the thorn that is known as the "thirsty" thorn; and this but very rarely. In the Red Sea, however, there are whole forests found growing, among which more particularly there are plants that bear the laurel-berry and the olive; when it rains also certain fungi make their appearance, which, as soon as they are touched by the rays of the sun, are turned into pumice. The size of the shrubs is three cubits in height; and they are all filled with sea-dogs, to such a degree, that it is hardly safe to look at them from the ship, for they will frequently seize hold of the very oars.
 
13 - 51 PLANTS OF THE INDIAN SEA M
The officers of Alexander who navigated the Indian seas, have left an account of a marine tree, the foliage of which is green while in the water; but the moment it is taken out, it dries and turns to salt. They have spoken also of bulrushes of stone bearing a strong resemblance to real ones, which grew along the sea-shore, as also certain shrubs in the main sea, the colour of an ox's horn, branching out in various directions, and red at the tips. These, they say, were brittle, and broke like glass when touched, while, on the other hand, in the fire they would become red-hot like iron, and when cool resume their original colour.
In the same part of the earth also, the tide covers the forests that grow on the islands, although the trees there are more lofty than the very tallest of our planes and poplars! The leaves of these trees resemble that of the laurel, while the blossom is similar to the violet, both in smell and colour: the berries resemble those of the olive, and they, too, have an agreeable smell: they appear in the autumn, and the leaves of the trees never fall off. The smaller ones are entirely covered by the waves, while the summits of those of larger size protrude from the water, and ships are made fast to them; when the tide falls the vessels are similarly moored to the roots. We find the same persons making mention of certain other trees which they saw out at sea, which always retained their leaves, and bore a fruit very similar to the lupine.
 
13 - 52 PLANTS OF THE TROGLODYTIC SEA; THE HAIR OF ISIS: THE CHARITO-BLEPHARON M
Juba relates, that about the islands of the Troglodytæ there is a certain shrub found out at sea, which is known as the "air of Isis:" he says that it bears a strong resemblance to coral, is destitute of leaves, and if cut will change its colour, becoming quite black and hard, and so brittle as to break if it falls. He speaks also of another marine plant, to which he gives the name of "Charito-blepharon," and which, he says, is particularly efficacious in love-charms. Bracelets and necklaces are made of it. He says also that it is sensible when it is about to be taken, and that it turns as hard as horn, so hard, indeed, as to blunt the edge of iron. If, on the other hand, it is cut before it is sensible of the danger, it is immediately transformed to stone.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, four hundred and sixty-eight. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M. Varro, Mucianus, Virgil, Fabianus, Sebosus, Pomponius Mela, Fabius, Procilius, Hyginus, Trogus, Claudius Cæsar, Cornelius Nepos, Sextius Niger who wrote in Greek on Medicine, Cassius Hemina, L. Piso, Tuditanus, Antias. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Theophrastus, Herodotus, Callisthenes, Isigonus, Clitarchus, Anaximenes, Duris, Nearchus, Onesicritus, Polycritus, Olympiodorus, Diognetus, Cleobulus, Anticlides, Chares of Mitylene, Menæchmus, Dorotheus of Athens, Lycus, Antæus, Ephip- pus, Dion, Adimantus, Ptolemy Lagus, Marsyas of Macedon, Zoilus of Macedon, Democritus, Amphilochus, Alexander Polyhistor, Aristomachus, King Juba, Apollodorus who wrote on Perfumes, Heraclides the physician, Botrys the physician, Archidemus the physician, Dionysius the physician, Democlides the physician, Euphron the physician, Mnesides the physician, Diagoras the physician, Iollas the physician, Heraclides of Tarentum, Xenocrates of Ephesus.
 
  14 HISTORY OF FRUIT TREES M 73.4  
14 - 1 NATURE OF THE VINE. ITS MODE OF FRUCTIFICATION M
Those which have been hitherto mentioned, are, nearly all of them, exotic trees, which it is impossible to rear in any other than their native soil, and which are not to be naturalized in strange countries. It is now for us to speak of the more ordinary kinds, of all of which Italy may be looked upon as more particularly the parent. Those who are well acquainted with the subject, must only bear in mind that for the present we content ourselves with merely stating the different varieties of these trees, and not the mode of cultivating them, although there is no doubt that the characteristics of a tree depend very considerably upon its cultivation. At this fact I cannot sufficiently express my astonishment, that of some trees all memory has utterly perished, and that the very names of some, of which we find various authors making mention, have wholly disappeared. And yet who does not readily admit that now, when intercommunications have been opened between all parts of the world, thanks to the majestic sway of the Roman empire, civilization and the arts of life have made a rapid progress, owing to the interchange of commodities and the common enjoyment by all of the blessings of peace, while at the same time a multitude of objects which formerly lay concealed, are now revealed for our indiscriminate use?
Still, by Hercules! at the present day there are none to be found who have any acquaintance with much that has been handed down to us by the ancient writers; so much more comprehensive was the diligent research of our forefathers, or else so much more happily employed was their industry. It is a thousand years ago since Hesiod, at the very dawn, so to say, of literature, first gave precepts for the guidance of the agriculturist, an example which has since been followed by no small number of writers. Hence have originated considerable labours for ourselves, seeing that we have not only to enquire into the discoveries of modern times, but to ascertain as well what was known to the ancients, and this, too, in the very midst of that oblivion which the heedlessness of the present day has so greatly tended to generate. What causes then are we to assign for this lethargy, other than those Feelings which we find actuating the public in general throughout all the world? New manners and usages, no doubt, have now come into vogue, and the minds of men are occupied with subjects of a totally different nature; the arts of avarice, in fact, are the only ones that are now cultivated. In days gone by, the sway and the destinies of states were bounded by their own narrow limits, and consequently the genius of the people was similarly circumscribed as well, through a sort of niggardliness that was thus displayed by Fortune: hence it became with them a matter of absolute necessity to employ the advantages of the understanding: kings innumerable received the homage of the arts, and in making a display of the extent of their resources, gave the highest rank to those arts, entertaining the opinion that it was through them that they should ensure immortality. Hence it was that due rewards, and the various works of civilization, were displayed in such vast abundance in those times. For these later ages, the enlarged boundaries of the habitable world, and the vast extent of our empire, have been a positive injury. Since the Censor has been chosen for the extent of his property, since the judge has been selected according to the magnitude of his fortune, since it has become the fashion to consider that nothing reflects a higher merit upon the magistrate and the general than a large estate, since the being destitute of heirs has begun to confer upon persons the very highest power and influence, since legacy-hunting has become the most lucrative of all professions, and since it has been considered that the only real pleasures are those of possessing, all the true enjoyments of life have been utterly lost sight of, and all those arts which have derived the name of liberal, from liberty, that greatest blessing of life, have come to deserve the contrary appellation, servility alone being the passport to profit. This servility each one has his own peculiar way of making most agreeable, and of putting in practice in reference to others, the motives and the hopes of all tending to the one great object, the acquisition of wealth: indeed, we may everywhere behold men even of naturally excellent qualities preferring to foster the vicious inclinations of others rather than cultivate their own talents. We may therefore conclude, by Hercules! that pleasure has now begun to live, and that life, truly so called, has ceased to be. As to ourselves, however, we shall continue our researches into matters now lost in oblivion, nor shall we be deterred from pursuing our task by the trivial nature of some of our details, a consideration which has in no way influenced us in our description of the animal world. And yet we find that Virgil, that most admirable poet, has allowed this to influence him, in his omission to enlarge upon the beauties of the garden; for, happy and graceful poet as he is, he has only culled what we may call the flower of his subject: indeed, we find that he has only named in all some fifteen varieties of the grape, three of the olive, the same number of the pear, and the citron of Assyria, and has passed over the rest in silence altogether.
 
14 - 2 NATURE OF THE VINE. ITS MODE OF FRUCTIFICATION M
With what then ought we to begin in preference to the vine, the superiority in which has been so peculiarly con- ceded to Italy, that in this one blessing we may pronounce her to have surpassed those of all other nations of the earth, with the sole exception of those that bear the various perfumes? and even there, when the vine is in flower, there is not a perfume known which in exquisite sweetness can surpass it. The vine has been justly reckoned by the ancients among the trees, on account of its remarkable size. In the city of Populonium, we see a statue of Jupiter formed of the trunk of a single vine, which has for ages remained proof against all decay; and at Massilia, there is a patera made of the same wood. At Metapontum, the temple of Juno has long stood supported by pillars formed of the like material; and even at the present day we ascend to the roof of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, by stairs constructed, it is said, of the trunk of a single vine, that was brought from Cyprus; the vines of that island often attaining a most remarkable size. There is not a wood in existence of a more lasting nature than this; I am strongly inclined, however, to be of opinion that the material of which these various articles were constructed was the wild vine.
 
14 - 3 NATURE OF THE GRAPE, AND THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE M
The cultivated vine is kept down by pruning every year, and all the strength of the tree is drawn as much as possible into the shoots, or else thrown downwards to the sets; indeed, it is only allowed to expand with the view of ensuring an abundant supply of juice, a result which is obtained in various modes according to the peculiarities of the climate and the nature of the soil. In Campania they attach the vine to the poplar: embracing the tree to which it is thus wedded, the vine grasps the branches with its amorous arms, and as it climbs, holds on with its knotted trunk, till it has reached the very summit; the height being sometimes so stupendous that the vintager when hired is wont to stipulate for his funeral pile and a grave at the owner's expense. The vine keeps continually on the increase, and it is quite impossible to separate the two, or rather, I may say, to tear them asunder. Valerianus Cornelius has regarded it as one of the most remarkable facts that could be transmitted to posterity, that single vines have been known to surround villas and country houses with their shoots and creeping tendrils ever on the stretch. At Rome, in the porticoes of Livia, a single vine, with its leaf-clad trellises, protects with its shade the walks in the open air; the fruit of it yields twelve amphoræ of must.
Everywhere we find the vine overtopping the elm even, and we read that Cineas, the ambassador of King Pyrrhus, when admiring the great height of the vines at Aricia, wittily making allusion to the peculiar rough taste of wine, remarked that it was with very good reason that they had hung the parent of it on so lofty a gibbet. There is a tree in that part of Italy which lies beyond the Padus, known as the "rumpotinus," or sometimes by the name of "opulus," the broad circular storeys of which are covered with vines, whose branches wind upwards in a serpentine form to the part where the boughs finally divide, and then, throwing out their tendrils, disperse them in every direction among the straight and finger-like twigs which project from the branches. There are vines also, about as tall as a man of moderate height, which are supported by props, and, as they throw out their bristling tendrils, form whole vineyards: while others, again, in their inordinate love for climbing, combined with skill on the part of the proprietor, will cover even the very centre of the court-yard with their shoots and foliage. So numerous are the varieties of the vine which even Italy alone presents. In some of the provinces the vine is able to stand of itself without anything to support it, drawing in its bending branches, and making up in its thickness for its stunted size. In other places, again, the winds will not allow of this mode of culture, as in Africa, for instance, and various parts of the province of Gallia Narbonensis. These vines, being prevented from growing beyond the first branches, and hence always retaining a resemblance to those plants which stand in need of the hoe, trail along the ground just like them, and every here and there suck up the juices from the earth to fill their grapes: it is in consequence of this, that in the interior of Africa the clusters are known to exceed the body of an infant in size. The wine of no country is more acid than those of Africa, but there is nowhere to be found a grape that is more agreeable for its firmness, a circumstance which may very probably have given rise to its name of the "hard grape." As to the varieties of the grape, although they are rendered innumerable by the size, the colour, and the flavour of the berry, they are multiplied even still more by the wines that they produce. In one part they are lustrous with a rich purple colour, while in another, again, they glow with a rosy tint, or else are glossy with their verdant hue. The grapes that are merely white or black are the common sorts. The bumastus swells out in form like a breast, while that known as the "dactylus," has a berry of remarkable length. Nature, too, displays such varieties in these productions of hers, that small grapes are often to be found adhering to the largest vines, but of surpassing sweetness; they are known by the name of "leptorragæ." Some, again, will keep throughout the winter, if care is taken to hang them to the ceiling with a string; while others, again, will keep by virtue of their own natural freshness and vigour, if put into earthen jars, which are then enclosed in dolia, and covered up with the fermenting husks of grapes. Some grapes receive from the smoke of the blacksmith's forge that remarkable flavour which it is also known to impart to wines: it was the high name of the Emperor Tiberius that brought into such great repute the grapes that had been smoked in the smithies of Africa. Before his time the highest rank at table was assigned to the grapes of Rhætia, and to those growing in the territory of Verona. Raisins of the sun have the name of "passi," from having been submitted to the influence of the sun. It is not uncommon to preserve grapes in must, and so make them drunk with their own juices; while there are some that are all the sweeter for being placed in must after it has been boiled; others, again, are left to hang on the parent tree till a new crop has made its appearance, by which time they have become as clear and as transparent as glass. Astringent pitch, if poured upon the footstalk of the grape, will impart to it all that body and that firmness which, when placed in dolia or amphoræ, it gives to wine. More recently, too, there has been discovered a vine which produces a fruit that imparts to its wine a strong flavour of pitch: it is the famous grape that confers such celebrity on the territory of Vienne, and of which several varieties have recently enriched the territories of the Arverni, the Sequani, and the Helvii: it was unknown in the time of the poet Virgil, who has now been dead these ninety years. In addition to these particulars, need I make mention of the fact that the vine has been introduced into the camp and placed in the centurion's hand for the preservation of the supreme authority and command? that this is the high reward which summons the lagging ranks to the eagles raised aloft, and that even in chastisement for faults it tends to reflect honour upon the punishment? It was the vineyard, too, that first afforded a notion, the practical utility of which has been experienced in many a siege. Among the medicinal preparations, too, the vine holds so high a place, that its very wines taken by themselves are efficacious as remedies for disease.
 
14 - 4 NINETY-ONE VARIETIES OF THE VINE M
Democritus, who has declared that he was acquainted with every variety of the grape known in Greece, is the only person who has been of opinion that every kind could be enumerated; but, on the other hand, the rest of the authors have stated that they are quite innumerable and of infinite extent, an assertion the truth of which will be more evident, if we only consider the vast number of wines. I shall not attempt, then, to speak of every kind of vine, but only of those that are the most remarkable, seeing that the varieties are very nearly as numberless as the districts in which they grow. It will suffice, then, to point out those which are the most remarkable among the vines, or else are peculiar for some wonderful property.
The very highest rank is given to the Aminean grape, on account of the body and durability of its wine, which improves with old age. There are five varieties of the Aminean grape; of these, the smaller germana, or "sister" grape, has a smaller berry than the rest, and flowers more strongly, being able to tear up against rain and tempestuous weather; a thing that is not the case with the larger germana, though it is less exposed to danger when attached to a tree than when supported only by a trellis. Another kind, again, has obtained the name of the "gemella," or "twin" grape, because the clusters always grow in couples: the flavour of the wine is extremely rough, but it is remarkable for its strength. Of these several varieties the smaller one suffers from the south wind, but receives nutriment from all the others, upon Mount Vesuvius, for instance, and the hills of Surrentum: in the other parts of Italy it is never grown except attached to trees. The fifth kind is that known as the lanata, or "woolly" grape; so that we need not be surprised at the wool-bearing trees of the Seres or the Indians, for this grape is covered with a woolly down of remarkable thickness. It is the first of the Aminean vines that ripens, but the grape decays with remarkable rapidity. The second rank belongs to the vines of Nomentum, the wood of which is red, from which circumstance the vines have received from some the name of "rubellæ." The grapes of this vine produce less wine than usual, in consequence of the extraordinary quantity of husk and lees they throw off: but the vine is remarkably strong, is well able to stand the frost, and is apt to receive more detriment from drought than from rain, from heat than from cold; hence it is that those are looked upon as the best that are grown in cold and moist localities. That variety which has the smallest grape is con- sidered the most fruitful: the one which has a jagged leaf is less productive. The vine known as the "apiana," has received that name from the bee, an insect which is remarkably fond of it: there are two varieties of this vine. This grape, too, is covered in its young state with a kind of down; the main difference between the two varieties is, that the one ripens more rapidly than the other, though this last ripens with considerable quickness. A cold locality is not at all hurtful to them, although there is no grape that ripens sooner: these grapes, however, very soon rot in the rain. The wines produced by this grape are sweet at first, but contract a rough flavour in the course of years. This vine is cultivated more than any other in Etruria. Thus far we have made mention of the more celebrated vines among those which are peculiar and indigenous to Italy; the rest have been introduced from Chios or Thasos. The small Greek grape is not inferior to the Aminean for the excellence of its quality: the berry is remarkably thin- skinned, and the cluster so extremely small, that it is not worth while cultivating it, except on a soil of remarkable richness. The eugenia, so called from its high qualities, has been introduced into the Alban territory from the hills of Tauromenium: it is found, however, to thrive only there, for if transplanted elsewhere it degenerates immediately: in fact, there is in some vines so strong an attachment to their native soil, that they leave behind them all their high repute, and are never transplanted in their full entirety. This is the case, too, with the Rhætian and the Allobrogian grapes, of which we have made mention above as the pitch-flavoured grape; these are justly deemed excellent in their own coun- try, while elsewhere they are held in no esteem at all. Still, however, in consequence of their remarkable fertility, they make up for quality by abundance: the eugenia thrives in spots which are scorching hot, the Rhætian vine in places of a more moderate temperature, and the Allobrogian in cold, exposed situations, the fruit being of a black colour, and ripened by the agency of frost. The wines produced from the vines of which we have hitherto made mention, even though the grapes are black, become, all of them, when old, of a white complexion. The other vines are of no note in particular, though sometimes, thanks to some peculiarity either in the climate or the soil, the wines produced from them attain a mature old age; such, for instance, as the Fecenian vine, and the Biturigian, which blossoms at the same time with it, but has not so many grapes. The blossoms of these last-mentioned vines are not liable to receive injury, both because they are naturally but transitory, and have the power of resisting the action of both wind and storm; still, however, those that grow in cold spots are considered superior to those produced in a warm site, and those found in moist places superior to those grown in dry, thirsty localities. The vine known as the "visula" * * * * more than abundance of fruit, being unable to endure the extreme variations of the atmosphere, though it is very well able to stand a continuation of either cold or heat. Of this last kind the smaller one is the best, but difficult to please in its choice; in a rich earth it is apt to rot, while in a thin soil it will come to nothing at all: in its fastidiousness it requires a soil of middling quality, and hence it is that it is so commonly found on the hills of the Sabine territory. Its grape is unsightly in appearance, but has a very pleasant flavour: if it is not gathered at the very moment that it is ripe, it will fall, even before it decays. The extreme size of the leaves, and its natural hardi- ness, are its great protection against the disastrous effects of hail. The grapes known as "helvolæ" are remarkable for the peculiarity of their colour, which is a sort of midway between purple and black, but varies so frequently that it has made some persons give them the name of "varianæ." Of the two sorts of helvolæ, the black is the one generally preferred: they both of them produce every other year, but the wine is best when the vintage has been less abundant. The vine that is known as the "precia" is also divided into two varieties, distinguished by the size of the grape. These vines produce a vast quantity of wood, and the grape is very good for preserving in jars; the leaves are similar in appearance to that of parsley. The people of Dyrrhachium hold in high esteem the vine known as the "basilica," the same which in Spain is called the "cocolobis." The grapes of this vine grow in thin clusters, and it can stand great heat, and the south winds. The wine produced from it is apt to fly to the head: the produce of the vine is very large. The people in Spain distinguish two kinds of this vine, the one with the oblong, the other with the round grape; they gather this fruit the very last of all. The sweeter the cocolobis is, the more it is valued; but even if it has a rough taste, the wine will become sweet by keeping, while, on the other hand, that which was sweet at first, will acquire a certain roughness; it is in this last state that the wine is thought to rival that of Alba. It is said that the juice of this grape is remarkably efficacious when drunk as a specific for diseases of the bladder. The "albuelis" produces most of its fruit at the top of the tree, the visula at the bottom; hence, when planted around the same tree, in consequence of these peculiarities in their nature, they bear between them a two-fold crop. One of the black grape vines has been called the "inerticula," though it might with more propriety have been styled the "sobria;" the wine from it is remarkably good, and more particularly when old; but though strong, it is productive of no ill effects, and, indeed, is the only wine that will not cause intoxication. The abundance of their produce again recommends other vines to us, and, in the first place, that known as the "helvennaca." Of this vine there are two kinds; the larger, which is by some called the "long" helvennaca, and the smaller kind, which is known as the "emarcum," not so prolific as the first, but producing a wine of more agreeable flavour; it is distinguished by its rounded leaf, but they are both of them of slender make. It is requisite to place forks beneath these vines for the support of their branches, as otherwise it would be quite impossible for them to support the weight of their produce: they receive nutriment from the breezes that blow from the sea, and foggy weather is injurious to them. There is not one among the vines that manifests a greater aversion to Italy, for there it becomes comparatively leafless and stunted, and soon decays, while the wine which it produces there will not keep beyond the summer: no vine, however, thrives better in a poor soil. Græcinus, who has copied from the works of Cornelius Celsus, gives it as his opinion that it is not that the nature of this vine is repugnant to the climate of Italy, but that it is the mode of cultivating it that is wrong, and the anxiety to force it to put forth its shoots; a mode of treatment, he thinks, which absorbs all its fertility, unless the soil in which it is planted happens to be remarkably rich, and by its support prevents it from being exhausted. It is said that this vine is never carbuncled, a remarkable quality, if, indeed, it really is the fact that there is any vine in existence that is exempt from the natural influences of the climate. The spionia, by some called the "spinea," is able to bear heat very well, and thrives in the autumn and rainy weather: indeed, it is the only one among all the vines that does well amid fogs, for which reason it is peculiar to the territory of Ravenna. The venicula is one of those that blossom the strongest, and its grapes are particularly well adapted for preserving in jars. The Campanians, however, prefer to give it the name of "scircula," while others, again, call it "stacula." Tarracina has a vine known as the "numisiana;" it has no qualities of its own, but has characteristics just according to the nature of the soil in which it is planted: the wine, however, if kept in the earthen casks of Surrentum, is remarkable for its goodness, that is to say, as far south as Vesuvius. On arriving in that district, we find the Murgentina, the very best among all those that come from Sicily. Some, indeed, call the vine "Pompeiana," and it is more particularly fruitful when grown in Latium, just as the "horconia" is productive nowhere but in Campania. Of a contrary nature is the vine known as the "argeica," and by Virgil called "argitis:" it makes the ground all the more productive, and is remark- ably stout in its resistance to rain and the effects of old age, though it will hardly produce wine every year; it is remarkable for the abundant crops which it bears, though the grapes are held but in small esteem for eating. The vine known as the "metica" lasts well for years, and offers a successful resistance to all changes of weather; the grape is black, and the wine assumes a tawny hue when old. (.) The varieties that have been mentioned thus far are those that are generally known; the others belong to peculiar countries or individual localities, or else are of a mixed nature, the produce of grafting. Thus the vine known as the "Tudernis," is peculiar to the districts of Etruria, and so too is the vine that bears the name of "Florentia." At Arretium the talpona, the etesiaca, and the consemina, are particularly excellent. The talpona, which is a black grape, produces a pale, straw-coloured must: the etesiaca is apt to deceive; the more the wine it produces the better the quality, but it is a remarkable fact, that just as it has reached that point its fecundity ceases altogether. The consemina bears a black grape, but its wine will not keep, though the grape itself is a most excellent keeper; it is gathered fifteen days later than any other kind of grape: this vine is very fruitful, but its grape is only good for eating. The leaves of this tree, like those of the wild vine, turn the colour of blood just before the fall: the same is the case also with some other varieties, but it is a proof that they are of very inferior quality. The irtiola is a vine peculiar to Umbria and the terri- tories of Mevania and Picenum, while the pumula belongs to Amiternum. In the same districts we find the vine called bannannica, which is very deceptive, though the people are remarkably fond of its fruit. The municipal town of Pompeii has given its name to the Pompeia, although it is to be found in greater abundance in the territory of Clusium. The Tiburina, also, is so called from the municipal town of Tibûr, although it is in this district that they have lately discovered the grape known as the "oleaginea," from its strong resemblance to an olive: this being the very last kind of grape that has been introduced. The Sabines and the Laurentes are the only people acquainted with the vinaciola. As to the vines of Mount Gaurus, I am aware that, as they have been transplanted from the Falernian territory, they bear the name of "Falernian:" but it is a fact that the Falernian vine, when transplanted, rapidly degenerates. Some persons, too, have made out a Tarentine variety, with a grape of remarkable sweetness: the grapes of the "capnios," the "bucconiatis," and the "tarrupia," grow on the hills of Thurii, and are never gathered till after the frost commences. Pisæ enjoys the Parian vine, and Mutina the prusinian, with a black grape, the wine of which turns pale within four years. It is a very remarkable thing, but there is a grape here that turns round with the sun, in its diurnal motion, a circumstance from which it has received the name of "streptos." In Italy, the Gallic vine is a great favourite, while beyond the Alps that of Picenum is preferred. Virgil has made mention of the Thasian vine, the Mareotis, the lagea, and several other foreign varieties, which are not to be found in Italy. There are some vines, again, that are remarkable, not for their wine, but for their grapes, such, for instance, as the ambrosia, one of the "duracinus" kind, a grape which requires no potting, but will keep perfectly well if left on the vine, so remarkable is the strength with which it is endowed for withstanding the effects of cold, heat, and stormy weather. The "orthampelos," too, is a vine that requires neither tree nor stay, as it is well able to sustain its own weight. This, however, is not the case with the "dactylis," the stem of which is no thicker than the finger. The "columbina" is one of those with the finest clusters, and still more so is the purple "bimammia;" it does not bear in clusters, but only secondary bunches. There is the tripedanea, too, a name which it owes to the length of its clusters, and the scirpula, with its shrivelled berry; the Rhætica, too, so called in the Maritime Alps, though very different from the grape of that name which is so highly esteemed, and of which we have previously spoken; for in this variety the clusters are small, the grapes lie closely packed, and it produces but a poor wine. It has, however, the thinnest skin of all the grapes, and a single stone, of very diminutive size, which is known as the "Chian;" one or two of the grapes on the cluster are remarkably large. There is also the black Aminean, to which the name of Syriaca is given: the Spanish vine, too, the very best of all those of inferior quality. The grapes that are known as escariæ, are grown on trellises. Of the duracinus kind, there are those known as the white and the black varieties; the bumastus, too, is similarly distinguished in colour. Among the vines too, that have not as yet been mentioned, there are the Ægian and the Rhodian kinds, as also the uncialis, so called, it would seem, from its grape being an ounce in weight. There is the picina too, the blackest grape known, and the stephanitis, the clusters of which Nature, in a sportive mood, has arranged in the form of a garland, the leaves being interspersed among the grapes; there are the grapes, too, known as the "forenses," and which quickly come to maturity, recommend themselves to the buyer by their good looks, and are easily carried from place to place On the other hand, those known as the "cinerea" are condemned by their very looks, and so are the rabuscula and the asinusca; the produce of the alopecis, which resembles in colour a fox's tail, is held in less disesteem. The Alexandrina is the name of a vine that grows in the vicinity of Pha- lacra: it is of stunted growth, and has branches a cubit in length; the grape is black, about the size of a bean, with a berry that is soft, and remarkably small: the clusters hang in a slanting direction, and are remarkably sweet; the leaves are small and round, without any division. Within the last seven years there has been introduced at Alba Helvia, in the province of Gallia Narbonensis, a vine which blossoms but a single day, and is consequently proof against all accidents: the name given to it is "Narbonica," and it is now planted throughout the whole of that province.
 
14 - 5 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE CULTURE OF THE VINE M
The elder Cato, who was rendered more particularly illustrious by his triumph and the censorship, and even more so by his literary fame, and the precepts which he has given to the Roman people upon every subject of utility, and the proper methods of cultivation in particular; a man who, by the universal confession, was the first husbandman of his age and without a rival-has mentioned a few varieties only of the vine, the very names of some of which are by this utterly forgotten. His statement on this subject deserves our separate consideration, and requires to be quoted at length, in order that we may make ourselves acquainted with the different varieties of this tree that were held in the highest esteem in the year of the City of Rome , about the time of the capture of Carthage and Corinth, the period of his death: it will show too, what great advances civilization has made in the last two hundred and thirty years. The following are the remarks which he has made on the subject of the vine and the grape.
"Where the site is considered to be most favourable to the growth of the vine, and exposed to the warmth of the sun, you will do well to plant the small Aminean, as well as the two eugenia, and the smaller helvia. On the other hand, where the soil is bf a denser nature or more exposed to fogs, the greater Aminean should be planted, or else the Murgentine, or the Apician of Lucania. The other varieties of the grape are, for the most part, adapted to any kind of soil; they are best preserved in a lora. The best for keeping by hanging, are the duracinus kind, the greater Aminean, and the Scantian; these, too, will make excellent raisins for keeping if dried at the blacksmith's forge." There are no precepts in the Latin language on this subject more ancient than these, so near are we to the very commencement of all our practical knowledge! The Aminean grape, of which mention has been made above, is by Varro called the "Scantian." In our own times we have but few instances of any consummate skill that has been manifested in reference to this subject: the less excuse then should we have for omitting any particular which may tend to throw a light upon the profits that may be derived from the culture of the vine, a point which on all occasions is regarded as one of primary importance. Acilius Sthenelus, a man of plebeian rank, and the son of a freedman, acquired very considerable repute from the cultivation of a vineyard in the territory of Nomentum, not more than sixty jugera in extent, and which he finally sold for four hundred thousand sesterces. Vetulenus Ægialus too, a freedman as well, acquired very considerable note in the district of Liternum, in Campania, and, indeed, received a more extensive share of the public favour, from the fact that he cultivated the spot which had been the place of exile of Scipio Africanus. The greatest celebrity of all, however, was that which, by the agency of the same Sthenelus, was accorded to Rhemmius Palæmon, who was also equally famous as a learned grammarian. This person bought, some twenty years ago, an estate at the price of six hundred thousand sesterces in the same district of Nomentum, about ten miles distant from the City of Rome. The low price of property in the suburbs, on every side of the City, is well known; but in that quarter in particular, it had declined to a most remarkable extent; for the estate which he purchased had become deteriorated by long-continued neglect, in addition to which it was situate in the very worst part of a by no means favourite locality. Such was the nature of the property of which he thus undertook the cultivation, not, indeed, with any commendable views or intentions at first, but merely in that spirit of vanity for which he was notorious in so remarkable a degree. The vineyards were all duly dressed afresh, and hoed, under the superintendence of Sthenelus; the result of which was that Palæmon, while thus playing the husbandman, brought this estate to such an almost incredible pitch of perfection, that at the end of eight years the vintage, as it hung on the trees, was knocked down to a purchaser for the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces; while all the world was running to behold the heaps upon heaps of grapes to be seen in these vineyards. The neighbours, by way of finding some excuse for their own indolence, gave all the credit of this remarkable success to Palæmon's profound erudition; and at last Annæus Seneca, who both held the highest rank in the learned world, and an amount of power and influence which at last proved too much for him—this same Seneca, who was far from being an admirer of frivolity, was seized with such vast admiration of this estate, as not to Feel ashamed at conceding this victory to a man who was otherwise the object of his hatred, and who would be sure to make the very most of it, by giving him four times the original cost for those very vineyards, and that within ten years from the time that he had taken them under his management. This was an example of good husbandry worthy to be put in practice upon the lands of Cæcuba and of Setia; for since then these same lands have many a time produced as much as seven culei to the jugerum, or in other words, one hundred and forty amphoræ of must. That no one, however, may entertain the belief that ancient times were surpassed on this occasion, I would remark that the same Cato has stated in his writings, that the proper return was seven culei to the jugerum: all of them so many instances only tending most convincingly to prove that the sea, which in our rashness we trespass upon, does not make a more bounteous return to the merchant, no, not even the merchandize that we seek on the shores of the Red and the Indian Seas, than does a well-tilled homestead to the agriculturist.
 
14 - 6 MOST ANCIENT WINES M
The wine of Maronea, on the coast of Thrace, appears to have been the most celebrated in ancient times, as we learn from the writings of Homer. I dismiss, however, all the fabulous stories and various traditions which we find relative to its origin, except, indeed, the one which states that Aristæus, a native of the same country, was the first person that mixed honey with wine, natural productions, both of them, of the highest degree of excellence. Homer has stated that the Maronean wine was mixed with water in the proportion of twenty measures of water to one of wine. The wine that is still produced in the same district retains all its former strength, and a degree of vigour that is quite insuperable. Mucianus, who thrice held the consulship, and one of our most recent authors, when in that part of the world was witness himself to the fact, that with one sextarius of this Wine it was the custom to mix no less than eighty sextarii of water: he states, also, that this wine is black, has a strong bouquet, and is all the richer for being old.
The Pramnian wine, too, which Homer has also similarly eulogized, still retains its ancient fame: it is grown in the territory of Smyrna, in the vicinity of the shrine of the Mother of the Gods. Among the other wines now known, we do not find any that enjoyed a high reputation in ancient times. In the year of the consulship of L. Opimius, when C. Gracchus, the tribune of the people, engaging in sedition, was slain, the growth of every wine was of the very highest quality. In that year, the weather was remarkable for its sereneness, and the ripening of the grape, the "coctura," as they call it, was fully effected by the heat of the sun. This was in the year of the City . There are wines still preserved of this year's growth, nearly two hundred years ago; they have assumed the consistency of honey, with a rough taste; for such, in fact, is the nature of wines, that, when extremely old, it is impossible to drink them in a pure state; and they require to be mixed with water, as long keeping renders them intolerably bitter. A very small quantity of the Opimian wine, mixed with them, will suffice for the seasoning of other wines. Let us suppose, according to the estimated value of these wines in those days, that the original price of them was one hundred sesterces per amphora: if we add to this six per- cent. per annum, a legal and moderate interest, we shall then be able to ascertain what was the exact price of the twelfth part of an amphora at the beginning of the reign of Caius Cæsar, the son of Germanicus, one hundred and sixty years after that consulship. In relation to this fact, we have a remarkable instance, when we call to mind the life of Pom- ponius Secundus, the poet, and the banquet which he gave to that prince—so enormous is the capital that lies buried in our cellars of wine! Indeed, there is no one thing, the value of which more sensibly increases up to the twentieth year, or which decreases with greater rapidity after that period, supposing that the value of it is not by that time greatly enhanced. Very rarely, indeed, up to the present day, has it been known for a single piece of wine to cost a thousand sesterces, except, indeed, when such a sum may have been paid in a fit of extravagance and debauchery. The people of Vienne, it is said, are the only ones who have set a higher price than this upon their "picata," wines, the various kinds of which we have already mentioned; and this, it is thought, they only do, vying with each other, and influenced by a sort of national self-esteem. This wine, drunk in a cool state, is generally thought to be of a colder temperature than any other.
 
14 - 7 NATURE OF WINES M
the exterior of the body, to be cool and refreshing. It will not be foreign to my purpose on the present occasion to state the advice which Androcydes, a man famous for his wisdom, wrote to Alexander the Great, with the view of putting a check on his intemperance: "When you are about to drink wine, O king!" said he, "remember that you are about to drink the blood of the earth: hemlock is a poison to man, wine a poison to hemlock." And if Alexander had only followed this advice, he certainly would not have had to answer for slaying his friends in his drunken fits. In fact, we may Feel ourselves quite justified in saying that there is nothing more useful than wine for strengthening the body, while, at the same time, there is nothing more pernicious as a luxury, if we are not on our guard against excess.
 
14 - 8 FIFTY KINDS OF GENEROUS WINES M
Who can entertain a doubt that some kinds of wine are more agreeable to the palate than others, or that even out of the very same vat there are occasionally produced wines that are by no means of equal goodness, the one being much superior to the other, whether it is that it is owing to the cask, or to some other fortuitous circumstance? Let each person, therefore, constitute himself his own judge as to which kind it is that occupies the pre-eminence. Livia Augusta, who lived to her eighty-second year, attributed her longevity to the wine of Pucinum, as she never drank any other. This wine is grown near a bay of the Adriatic, not far from Mount Timavus, upon a piece of elevated rocky ground, where the sea-breeze ripens a few grapes, the produce of which supplies a few amphoræ: there is not a wine that is deemed superior to this for medicinal purposes. I am strongly of opinion that this is the same wine, the produce of the Adriatic Gulf, upon which the Greeks have bestowed such wonderful encomiums, under the name of Prætetianum.
The late Emperor Augustus preferred the Setinum to all others, and nearly all the emperors that have succeeded him have followed his example, having learnt from actual experience that there is no danger of indigestion and flatulence resulting from the use of this liquor: this wine is grown in the country that lies just above Forum Appii. In former times the Cæcubum enjoyed the reputation of being the most generous of all the wines; it was grown in some marshy swamps, planted with poplars, in the vicinity of the Gulf of Amyclæ. This vineyard has, however, now disappeared, the result of the carelessness of the cultivator, combined with its own limited extent, and the works on the canal which Nero commenced, in order to provide a navigation from Lake Avernus to Ostia. The second rank belonged to the wine of the Falernian territory, of which the Faustianum was the most choice variety; the result of the care and skill employed upon its cultivation. This, however, has also degenerated very considerably, in consequence of the growers being more solicitous about quantity than quality. The Falernian vineyards begin at the bridge of Campania, on the left-hand as you journey towards the Urbana Colonia of Sylla, which was lately a township of the city of Capua. As to the Faustian vineyards, they extend about four miles from a village near Cædicix, the same village being six miles from Sinuessa. There is now no wine known that ranks higher than the Falernian; it is the only one, too, among all the wines that takes fire on the application of flame. There are three varieties of it—the rough, the sweet, and the thin. Some persons make the following distinctions: the Caucinum, they say, grows on the summit of this range of hills, the Faustianum on the middle slopes, and the Falernum at the foot: the fact, too, should not be omitted, that none of the grapes that produce these more famous wines have by any means an agreeable flavour. To the third rank belonged the various wines of Alba, in the vicinity of the City, remarkable for their sweetness, and some- times, though rarely, rough as well: the Surrentine wines, also, the growth of only stayed vines, which are especially recommended to invalids for their thinness and their wholesomeness. Tiberius Cæsar used to say that the physicians had conspired thus to dignify the Surrentinum, which was, in fact, only another name for generous vinegar; while Caius Cæsar, who succeeded him, gave it the name of "noble vappa." Vying in reputation with these are the Massic wines, from the spots which look from Mount Gaurus towards Puteoli and Baiæ. As to the wines of Stata, in the vicinity of Falernum, there is no doubt that they formerly held the very highest rank, a fact which proves very clearly that every district has its own peculiar epochs, just as all other things have their rise and their decadence. The Calenian wines, too, from the same neighbourhood, used to be preferred to those last mentioned, as also the Fundanian, the produce of vines grown on stays, or else attached to shrubs. The wines, too, of Veliternum and Priverna, which were grown in the vicinity of the City, used to be highly esteemed. As to that produced at Signia, it is by far too rough to be used as a wine, but is very useful as an astringent, and is consequently reckoned among the medicines for that purpose. The fourth rank, at the public banquets, was given by the late Emperor Julius-he was the first, in fact, that brought them into favour, as we find stated in his Letters—to the Mamertine wines, the produce of the country in the vicinity of Messana, in Sicily. The finest of these was the Potulanum, so called from its original cultivator, and grown on the spots that lie nearest to the mainland of Italy. The Tauromenitanum also, a wine of Sicily, enjoys a high repute, and fiaggons of it are occasionally passed off for Mamertinum. Among the other wines, we find mentioned upon the Upper Sea those of Prætutia and Ancona, as also those known as the "Palmensia," not improbably because the cluster springs from a single shoot. In the interior we find the wines of Cæsena and that known as the Mæcenatian, while in the territory of Verona there are the Rhætian wines, only inferior, in the estimation of Virgil, to the Falernian. Then, too, at the bottom of the Gulf we find the wines of Adria. On the shores of the Lower Sea there are the Latiniensian wines, the Graviscan, and the Statonian: in Etruria, the wines of Luna bear away the palm, and those of Genua in Liguria. Massilia, which lies between the Pyrenees and the Alps, produces two varieties of wine, one of which is richer and thicker than the other, and is used for seasoning other wines, being generally known as "succosum." The repu- tation of the wine of Beterræ does not extend beyond the Gallic territories; and as for the others that are produced in Gallia Narbonensis, nothing can be positively stated, for the growers of that country have absolutely established manufactories for the purposes of adulteration, where they give a dark hue to their wines by the agency of smoke; I only wish I could say, too, that they do not employ various herbs and noxious drugs for the same purpose; indeed, these dealers are even known to use aloes for the purpose of heightening the flavour and improving the colour of their wines. The regions of Italy that are at a greater distance from the Ausonian Sea, are not without their wines of note, such as those of Tarentum, Servitia, and Consentia, and those, again, of Tempsa, Babia, and Lucania, among which the wines of Thurii hold the pre-eminence. But the most celebrated of all of them, owing to the fact that Messala used to drink it, and was indebted to it for his excellent health, was the wine of Lagara, which was grown not far from Grumentum. In Campania, more recently, new growths under new names have gained considerable credit, either owing to careful cultivation, or else to some other fortuitous circumstances: thus, for instance, we find four miles from Neapolis the Trebellian, near Capua the Cauline, wine, and the wine of Trebula grown in the territory so called, though but of a common sort: Campania boasts of all these, as well as of her Trifoline wines. As to the wines of Pompeii, they have arrived at their full perfection in ten years, after which they gain nothing by age: they are found also to be productive of headache, which often lasts so long as the sixth hour of the next day. These illustrations, if I am not greatly mistaken, will go far to prove that it is the land and the soil that is of primary importance, and not the grape, and that it is quite superfluous to attempt to enumerate all the varieties of every kind, seeing that the same vine, transplanted to several places, is productive of features and characteristics of quite opposite natures. The vineyards of Laletanum in Spain are remarkable for the abundance of wine they produce, while those of Tarraco and of Lauron are esteemed for the choice qualities of their wines: those, too, of the Balearic Isles are often put in comparison with the very choicest growths of Italy. I am by no means unaware that most of my readers will be of opinion that I have omitted a vast number of wines, seeing that every one has his own peculiar choice; so much so, that wherever we go, we hear the same story told, to the effect that one of the freedmen of the late Emperor Augustus, who was remarkable for his judgment and his refined taste in wines, while employed in tasting for his master's table, made this observation to the master of the house where the emperor was staying, in reference to some wine the growth of that particular country: "The taste of this wine," said he, "is new to me, and it is by no means of first-rate quality; the emperor, however, you will see, will drink of no other." Indeed I have no wish to deny that there may be other wines deserving of a very high reputation, but those which I have already enumerated are the varieties upon the excellence of which the world is at present agreed.
 
14 - 9 THIRTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF FOREIGN WINES M
We will now, in a similar manner, give a description of the varieties found in the parts beyond sea. After the wines mentioned by Homer, and of which we have already spoken, those held in the highest esteem were the wines of Thasos and Chios, and of the latter more particularly the sort known as "Arvisium." By the side of these has been placed the wine of Lesbos, upon the authority of Erasistratus, a famous physician, who flourished about the year of the City of Rome . At the present day, the most esteemed of all is the wine of Clazomenæ, since they have learned to season it more sparingly with sea-water. The wine of Lesbos has naturally a taste of sea-water. That from Mount Tmolus is not so much esteemed by itself for its qualities as a wine, as for its peculiar sweetness. It is on account of this that it is mixed with other wines, for the purpose of modifying their harsh flavour, by imparting to them a portion of its own sweetness; while at the same time it gives them age, for immediately after the mixture they appear to be much older than they really are. Next in esteem after these are the wines of Sicyon, Cyprus, Telmessus, Tripolis, Berytus, Tyre, and Sebennys, this last is grown in Egypt, being the produce of three varieties of grape of the very highest quality, known as the Thasian, the æthalus, and the peuce. Next in rank are the hippodamantian wine, the Mystic, the cantharite, the protropum of Cnidos, the wine of the catacecaumene, the Petritan, and the Myconian; as to the Mesogitic, it has been found to give head-ache, while that of Ephesus is far from wholesome, being seasoned with sea-water and defrutum. It is said that the wine of Apamea is remarkably well adapted for making mulsum, like that of Præ- tutia in Italy: for this is a quality peculiar to only certain kinds of wine, the mixture of two sweet liquids being in general not attended with good results. The protagion is quite gone out of date, a wine which the school of Asclepiades has reckoned as next in merit to those of Italy. The physician Apollodorus, in the work which he wrote recommending King Ptolemy what wines in particular to drink—for in his time the wines of Italy were not generally known—has spoken in high terms of that of Naspercene in Pontus, next to which he places the Oretic, and then the Æneatian, the Leucadian, the Ambraciotic, and the Peparethian, to which last he gives the preference over all the rest, though he states that it enjoyed an inferior reputation, from the fact of its not being considered fit for drinking until it had been kept six years.
 
14 - 10 SEVEN KINDS OF SALTED WINES M
Thus far we have treated of wines, the goodness of which is due to the country of their growth. In Greece the wine that is known by the name of "bion," and which is administered for its curative qualities in several maladies (as we shall have occasion to remark when we come to speak on the subject of Medicine), has been justly held in the very highest esteem. This wine is made in the following manner: the grapes are plucked before they are quite ripe, and then dried in a hot sun: for three days they are turned three times a day, and on the fourth day they are pressed, after which the juice is put in casks, and left to acquire age in the heat of the sun.
The people of Cos mix sea-water in large quantities with their wines, an invention which they first learned from a slave, who adopted this method of supplying the deficiency that had been caused by his thievish propensities. When this is mixed with white must, the mixture receives the name of "leu- cocoum." In other countries again, they follow a similar plan in making a wine called "tethalassomenon." They make a wine also known as "thalassites," by placing vessels full of must in the sea, a method which quickly imparts to the wine all the qualities of old age. In our own country too, Cato has shown the method of making Italian wine into Coan: in addition to the modes of preparation above stated, he tells us that it must be left exposed four years to the heat of the sun, in order to bring it to maturity. The Rhodian wine is similar to that of Cos, and the Phorinean is of a still salter flavour. It is generally thought that all the wines from beyond sea arrive at their middle state of maturity in the course of six or seven years.
 
14 - 11 EIGHTEEN VARIETEIS OF SWEET WINE. RAISIN-WINE AND HEPSEMA M
All the luscious wines have but little aroma: the thinner the wine the more aroma it has. The colours of wines are four, white, brown, blood-coloured, and black. Psythium and melampsythium are varieties of raisin-wine which have the peculiar flavour of the grape, and not that of wine. Seybelites is a wine grown in Galatia, and Aluntium is a wine of Sicily, both of which have the flavour of mulsum. As to siræum, by some known as "hepsema," and which in our language is called "sapa," it is a product of art and not of Nature, being prepared from must boiled down to one-third: when must is boiled down to one-half only, we give it the name of " defrutum." All these mixtures have been devised for the adulteration of honey. As to those varieties which we have previously mentioned, their merits depend upon the grape, and the soil in which it is grown. Next after the raisin-wine of Crete, those of Cilicia and Africa are held in the highest esteem, both in Italy as well as the adjoining provinces. It is well known that it is made of a grape to which the Greeks have given the name of "stica," and which by us is called "apiana:" it is also made of the scirpula. The grapes are left on the vine to dry in the sun, or else are boiled in the dolium. Some persons make this wine of the sweet and early white grape: they leave the grapes to dry in the sun, until they have lost pretty nearly half their weight, after which they crush them and subject them to a gentle pressure. They then draw off the juice, and add to the pulp that is left an equal quantity of well-water, the product of which is raisin-wine of second quality. The more careful makers not only do this, but take care also after drying the grapes to remove the stalks, and then steep the raisins in wine of good quality until they swell, after which they press them. This kind of raisin-wine is preferred to all others: with the addition of water, they follow the same plan in making the wine of second quality.
The liquor to which the Greeks give the name of" aigleucos," is of middle quality, between the sirops and what is properly called wine; with us it is called "semper mustum." It is only made by using great precaution, and taking care that the must does not ferment; such being the state of the must in its transformation into wine. To attain this object, the must is taken from the vat and put into casks, which are immediately plunged into water, and there left to remain until the winter solstice is past, and frosty weather has made its appearance. There is another kind, again, of natural aigleucos, which is known in the province of Narbonensis by the name of "dulce," and more particularly in the district of the Vocontii. In order to make it, they keep the grape hanging on the tree for a considerable time, taking care to twist the stalk. Some, again, make an incision in the bearing shoot, as deep as the pith, while others leave the grapes to dry on tiles. The only grape, however, that is used in these various processes is that of the vine known as the "helvennaca." Some persons add to the list of these sweet wines that known as "diachyton." It is made by drying grapes in the sun, and then placing them for seven days in a closed place upon hurdles, some seven Feet from the ground, care being taken to protect them at night from the dews: on the eighth day they are trodden out: this method, it is said, produces a liquor of exquisite bouquet and flavour. The liquor known as melitites is also one of the sweet wines: it differs from mulsum, in being made of must; to five congii of rough-fla- voured must they put one congius of honey, and one cyathus of salt, and they are then brought to a gentle boil: this mixture is of a rough flavour. Among these varieties, I ought to place what is known as "protropum;" such being the name given by some to the must that runs spontaneously from the grapes before they are trodden out. Directly it flows it is put into flaggons, and allowed to ferment; after which it is left to ripen for forty days in a summer sun, about the rising of the Dog-star.
 
14 - 12 THREE VARIETIES OF SECOND-RATE WINE M
Those cannot properly be termed wines, which by the Greeks are known under the name of "deuteria," and to which, in common with Cato, we in Italy give the name of "lora," being made from the husks of grapes steeped in water. Still, however, this beverage is reckoned as making one of the "labourers'" wines. There are three varieties of it: the first is made in the following manner:—After the must is drawn off, one-tenth of its amount in water is added to the husks, which are then left to soak a day and a night, and then are again subjected to pressure. A second kind, that which the Greeks are in the habit of making, is prepared by adding one-third in water of the quantity of must that has been drawn off, and after submitting the pulp to pressure, the result is reduced by boiling to one-third of its original quantity. A third kind, again, is pressed out from the wine-lees; Cato gives it the name of "fæcatum." None of these beverages, however, will keep for more than a single year.
 
14 - 13 AT WHAT PERIOD GENEROUS WINES WERE FIRST COMMONLY MADE IN ITALY M
While treating of these various details, it occurs to me to mention that of the eighty different kinds throughout the whole earth, which may with propriety be reckoned in the class of generous wines, fully two-thirds are the produce of Italy, which consequently in this respect far surpasses any other country: and on tracing this subject somewhat higher up, the fact suggests itself, that the wines of Italy have not been in any great favour from an early period, their high repute having only been acquired since the six hundredth year of the City.
 
14 - 14 INSPECTION OF WINE ORDERED BY KING ROMULUS M
Romulus made libations, not with wine but with milk; a fact which is fully established by the religious rites which owe their foundation to him, and are observed even to the present day. The Posthumian Law, promulgated by King Numa, has an injunction to the following effect:—" Sprinkle not the funeral pyre with wine;" a law to which he gave his sanction, no doubt, in consequence of the remarkable scarcity of that commodity in those days. By the same law, he also pronounced it illegal to make a libation to the gods of wine that was the produce of an unpruned vine, his object being to compel the husbandmen to prune their vines; a duty which they showed themselves reluctant to perform, in consequence of the danger which attended climbing the trees. M. Varro informs us, that Mezentius, the king of Etruria, succoured the Rutuli against the Latini, upon condition that he should receive all the wine that was then in the territory of Latium.
(.) At Rome it was not lawful for women to drink wine. Among the various anecdotes connected with this subject, we find that the wife of Egnatius Mecenius was slain by her husband with a stick, because she had drunk some wine from the vat, and that he was absolved from the murder by Romulus. Fabius Pictor, in his Book of Annals, has stated that a certain lady, for having opened a purse in which the keys of the wine-cellar were kept, was starved to death by her family: and Cato tells us, that it was the usage for the male relatives to give the females a kiss, in order to ascertain whether they smelt of "temetum;" for it was by that name that wine was then known, whence our word "temulentia," signifying drunkenness. Cn. Domitius, the judge, once gave it as his opinion, that a certain woman appeared to him to have drunk more wine than was requisite for her health, and without the knowledge of her husband, for which reason he condemned her to lose her dower. For a very long time there was the greatest economy manifested at Rome in the use of this article. L. Papirius, the general, who, on one occasion, commanded against the Samnites, when about to engage, vowed an offering to Jupiter of a small cupfull of wine, if he should gain the victory. In fact, among the gifts presented to the gods, we find mention made of offerings of sextarii of milk, but never of wine. The same Cato, while on his voyage to Spain, from which he afterwards returned triumphant, would drink of no other wine but that which was served out to the rowers—very different, indeed, to the conduct of those who are in the habit of giving to their guests even inferior wine to that which they drink themselves, or else contrive to substitute inferior in the course of the repast.
 
14 - 15 WINES DRUNK BY THE ANCIENT ROMANS M
The wines that were the most esteemed among the ancient Romans were those perfumed with myrrh, as mentioned in the play of Plautus, entitled the "Persian," though we find it there stated that calamus ought to be added to it. Hence it is, that some persons are of opinion that they were particularly fond of aromatites: but Fabius Dossennus quite decides the question, in the following line:—"I sent them good wine, myrrh-wine;" and in his play called "Acharistio," we find these words-" Bread and pearled barley, myrrh—wine too." I find, too, that Scævola and L. Ælius, and Ateius Capito, were of the same opinion; and then we read in the play known as the "Pseudolus:"—" But if it is requisite for him to draw forth what is sweet from the place, has he aught of that?" to which Charinus makes answer," Do you ask the question? He has myrrh wine, raisin wine, defrutum, and honey;" from which it would appear that myrrh wine was not only reckoned among the wines, but among the sweet wines too.
 
14 - 16 SOME REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH WINE-LOFTS. THE OPIMIAN WINE M
The fact of the existence of the Opimian wine gives undoubted proof that there were wine-lofts, and that wine was racked off in the year of Rome , Italy being already alive to the blessings she enjoyed. Still, however, the several varieties that are now so celebrated were not so in those days; and hence it is that all the wines that were grown at that period have only the one general name of "Opimian" wines, from the then consul Opimius. So, too, for a long time afterwards, and, indeed, so late as the times of our grandfathers, the wines from beyond sea were held in the highest esteem, even though Falernian was already known, a fact which we learn from the line of the Comic writer, "I shall draw five cups of Thasian and two of Falernian."
P. Licinius Crassus, and L. Julius Cæsar, who were Censors in the year from the Building of the City , issued an edict forbidding the sale of either Greek or Aminean wine at a higher price than eight asses the quadrantal—for such, in fact, are the exact words of the edict. Indeed, the Greek wines were so highly valued, that not more than a single cup was served to a guest during the repast.
 
14 - 17 AT WHAT PERIOD FOUR KINDS OF WINE WERE FIRST SERVED AT TABLE M
M. Varro gives us the following statement as to the wines that were held in the highest esteem at table in his day: "L. Lucullus, when a boy, never saw an entertainment at his father's house, however sumptuous it might be, at which Greek wine was handed round more than once during the repast: whereas he himself, when he returned from Asia, distributed as a largess among the people more than a hundred thousand congiaria of the same wine. C. Sentius, whom we have seen Prætor, used to say that Chian wine never entered his house until his physician prescribed it to him for the cardiac disease. On the other hand, Hortensius left ten thousand casks of it to his heir." Such is the statement made by Varro.
(.) And besides, is it not a well-known fact that Cæsar, when Dictator, at the banquet given on the occasion of his triumph, allotted to each table an amphora of Falernian and a cadus of Chian? On the occasion, too, of his triumph for his victories in Spain, he put before the guests both Chian as well as Falernian; and again, at the banquet given on his third consulship, he gave Falernian, Chian, Lesbian, and Marmertine; indeed, it is generally agreed that this was the first occasion on which four different kinds of wine were served at table. It was after this, then, that all the other sorts came into such very high repute, somewhere about the year of the City .
 
14 - 18 USES OF WILD VINE. WHAT JUICES ARE NATURALLY COLDEST OF ALL M
I am not surprised, then, that for these many ages there have been invented almost innumerable varieties of artificial wines, of which I shall now make some mention; they are all of them employed for medicinal purposes. We have already stated in a former Book how omphacium, which is used for unguents, is made. The liquor known as "œnanthinum" is made from the wild vine, two pounds of the flowers of which are steeped in a cadus of must, and are then changed at the end of thirty days. In addition to this, the root and the husks of the grapes are employed in dressing leather. The grapes, too, a little after the blossom has gone off, are singularly efficacious as a specific for cooling the feverish heat of the body in certain maladies, being, it is said, of a nature remarkable for extreme coldness. A portion of these grapes wither away, in consequence of the heat, before the rest, which are thence called solstitial grapes; indeed, the whole of them never attain maturity; if one of these grapes, in an unripe state, is given to a barn-door fowl to eat, it is productive of a dislike to grapes for the future.
 
14 - 19 SIXTY-SIX VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL WINE M
The first of the artificial wines has wine for its basis; it is called "adynamon," and is made in the following manner. Twenty sextarii of white must are boiled down with half that quantity of water, until the amount of the water is lost by evaporation. Some persons mix with the must ten sextarii of sea-water and an equal quantity of rain-water, and leave the whole to evaporate in the sun for forty days. This beverage is given to invalids to whom it is apprehended that wine may prove injurious.
The next kind of artificial wine is that made of the ripe grain of millet; a pound and a quarter of it with the straw is steeped in two congii of must, and the mixture is poured off at the end of six months. We have already stated how various kinds of wine are made from the tree, the shrub, and the herb, respectively known as the lotus. From fruit, too, the following wines are made, to the list of which we shall only add some necessary explanations:—First of all, we find the fruit of the palm employed for this pur- pose by the Parthians as well as the Indians, and, indeed. throughout all the countries of the East. A modius of the kind of ripe date called "chydææ" is added to three congii of water, and after being steeped for some time, they are subjected to pressure. Sycites is a preparation similarly made from figs: some persons call it "palmiprimum," others, again, "catorchites:" if sweetness is not the maker's object, instead of water there is added the same quantity of husk juice of grapes. Of the Cyprian fig a very excellent vinegar, too, is made, and of that of Alexandria a still superior. A wine is made, too, of the pods of the Syrian carob, of pears, and of all kinds of apples. That known as" rhoites" is made from pomegranates, and other varieties are prepared from cornels, medlars, sorb apples, dried mulberries, and pinenuts; these last are left to steep in must, and are then pressed; the others produce a sweet liquor of themselves. We shall have occasion before long to show how Cato has pointed out the method of making myrtites: the Greeks, however, adopt a different method in making it. They first boil tender sprigs of myrtle with the leaves on in white must, and after pounding them, boil down one pound of the mixture in three congii of must, until it is reduced to a couple of congii. The beverage that is prepared in this manner with the berries of wild myrtle is known as "myrtidanum;" it will stain the hands. Among the garden plants we find wines made of the following kinds: the radish, asparagus, cunila, origanum, parsley- seed, abrotonum, wild mint, rue, catmint, wild thyme, and horehound. A couple of handfuls of these ingredients are put into a cadus of must, as also one sextarius of sapa, and half a sextarius of sea-water. A wine is made of the naphew turnip by adding two drachms of naphew to two sextarii of must. A wine is made also from the roots of squills. Among the flowers, that of the rose furnishes a wine: the leaves are put in a linen cloth and then pounded, after which they are thrown into must with a small weight attached to make them sink to the bottom, the proportion being forty drachms of leaves to twenty sextarii of must; the vessel in which it is kept must not be opened before the end of three months. A wine, too, is made of Gallic nard, and another kind of the wild variety of that plant. I find, also, that various kinds of aromatites are prepared, differing but very little in their mode of composition from that of the unguents, being made in the first instance, as I have already stated, of myrrh, and then at a later period of Celtic nard, calamus, and aspalathus, of which cakes are made, and are then thrown into either must or sweet wine. Others, again, make these wines of calamus, scented rush, costus, Syrian nard, amomum, cassia, cinnamon, saffron, palm-dates, and foal-foot, all of which are made up into cakes in a similar manner. Other persons, again, put half a pound of nard and malobathrum to two congii of must; and it is in this manner that at the present day, with the addition of pepper and honey, the wines are made by some known as confection wines, and by others as peppered wines. We find mention made of nectarites also, a beverage extracted from a herb known to some as "helenion," to others as "Medica," and to others, again, as symphyton, Idea, Orestion, or nectaria, the root of which is added in the proportion of forty drachms to six sextarii of must, being first similarly placed in a linen cloth. As to other kinds of herbs, we find wormwood wine, made of Pontic wormwood in the proportion of one pound to forty sextarii of must, which is then boiled down until it is reduced to one third, or else of slips of wormwood put in wine. In a similar manner, hyssop wine is made of Cilician hyssop, by adding three ounces of it to two congii of must, or else by pounding three ounces of hyssop, and adding them to one congius of must. Both of these wines may be made also in another method, by sowing these plants around the roots of vines. It is in this manner, too, that Cato tells us how to make hellebore wine from black hellebore; and a similar method is used for making scammony wine. The vine has a remarkable propensity of contracting the flavour of any plant that may happen to be growing near it; and hence it is that in the marshy lands of Patavium, the grape has the peculiar flavour of the willow. So, in like manner, we find at Thasos hellebore planted among the vines, or else wild cucumber, or scammony; the wine that is produced from these vines is known by the name of "phthorium," it being productive of abortion. Wines are made, too, of other herbs, the nature of which will be mentioned in their respective places, the stœchas for instance, the root of gentian, tragoriganum, dittany, foal-foot, daucus, elelisphacus, panax, acorus, conyza, thyme, mandragore, and sweet rush. We find the names mentioned, also, of scyzinum, itæomelis, and lectisphagites, compounds of which the receipt is now lost. The wines that are made from the shrubs are mostly extracted from the two kinds of cedar, the cypress, the laurel, the juniper, the terebinth, and in Gaul the lentisk. To make these wines, they boil either the berries or the new wood of the shrub in must. They employ, also, the wood of the dwarf olive, the ground-pine, and the germander for a similar purpose, adding at the same time ten drachms of the flower to a congius of must.
 
14 - 20 HYDROMELI, OR MELICRATON M
There is a wine also made solely of honey and water. For this purpose it is recommended that rain-water should be kept for a period of five years. Those who shew greater skill, content themselves with taking the water just after it has fallen, and boiling it down to one third, to which they then add one third in quantity of old honey, and keep the mixture exposed to the rays of a hot sun for forty days after the rising of the Dog-star; others, however, rack it off in the course of ten days, and tightly cork the vessels in which it is kept. This beverage is known as "hydromeli," and with age acquires the flavour of wine. It is nowhere more highly esteemed than in Phrygia.
 
14 - 21 OXYMELI M
Vinegar even has been mixed with honey; nothing, in fact, has been left untried by man. To this mixture the name of oxymeli has been given; it is compounded of ten pounds of honey, five semi-sextarii of old vinegar, one pound of sea-salt, and five sextarii of rain-water. This is boiled gently till the mixture has bubbled in the pot some ten times, after which it is drawn off, and kept till it is old; all these wines, however, are condemned by Themison, an author of high authority. And really, by Hercules! the use of them does appear to be somewhat forced, unless, indeed, we are ready to maintain that these aromatic wines are so many compounds taught us by Nature, as well as those that are manufactured of perfumes, or that shrubs and plants have been generated only for the purpose of being swallowed in drink. However, all these particulars, when known, are curious and interesting, and show how successfully the human intellect has pried into every secret.
None of these wines, however, will keep beyond a year, with the sole exception of those which we have spoken of as requiring age; many of these, indeed, there can be no doubt, do not improve after being kept so little as thirty days.
 
14 - 22 TWELVE KINDS OF WINE WITH MIRACULOUS PROPERTIES M
There are some miraculous properties, too, in certain wines. It is said that in Arcadia there is a wine grown which is productive of fruitfulness in women, and of madness in men; while in Achaia, and more especially in the vicinity of Carynia, there is a wine which causes abortion; an effect which is equally produced if a woman in a state of pregnancy happens only to eat a grape of the vine from which it is grown, although in taste it is in no way different from ordinary grapes: again, it is confidently asserted that those who drink the wine of Trœzen never bear children. Thasos, it is said, produces two varieties of wine with quite opposite properties. By one kind sleep is produced, by the other it is prevented. There is also in the same island a vine known as the "theriaca," the wine and grapes of which are a cure for the bites of serpents. The libanian vine also produces a wine with the smell of frankincense, with which they make libations to the gods, while, on the other hand, the produce of that known as "aspendios," is banished from all the altars: it is said, too, that this last vine is never touched by any bird.
The Egyptians call by the name of "Thasian," a certain grape of that country, remarkable for its sweetness and its laxative qualities. On the other hand, there is in Lycia a certain grape which proves astringent to the stomach when relaxed. Egypt has a wine, too, known as "ecbolas," which is productive of abortion. There are some wines, which at the rising of the Dog-star change their nature in the wine-lofts where they are kept, and afterwards recover their original quality. The same is the case, too, with wines when carried across the seas: those that are able to withstand the motion of the waves, appear afterwards to be twice as old as they really are.
 
14 - 23 WHAT WINES IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO USE IN THE SACRED RITES M
As religion is the great basis of the ordinary usages of life, I shall here remark that it is considered improper to offer libations to the gods with any wines which are the produce of an unpruned vine, or of one that has been struck by lightning or near to which a dead man has been hung, or of grapes that have been trodden out by sore Feet, or made of must from husks that have been cut, or from grapes that have been polluted by the fall of any unclean thing upon them. The Greek wines are excluded also from the sacred ministrations, because they contain a portion of water.
The vine itself is sometimes eaten; the tops of the shoots are taken off and boiled, and are then pickled in vinegar and brine.
 
14 - 24 How MUST IS USUALLY PREPARED M
It will be as well now to make some mention of the methods used in preparing wines; indeed, several of the Greeks have written separate treatises on this subject, and have made a complete art of it, such, for instance, as Euphronius, Aristomachus, Commiades, and Hicesius. The people of Africa are in the habit of neutralizing such acidity as may be found with gypsum, and in some parts with lime. The people of Greece, on the other hand, impart briskness to their wines when too flat, with potters' earth, pounded marble, salt, or sea-water; while in Italy, again, brown pitch is used for that purpose in some parts, and it is the universal practice both there as well as in the adjoining provinces to season their new wines with resin: sometimes, too, they season them with old wine-lees or vinegar They make various medicaments, also, for this purpose with the must itself. They boil it down till it becomes quite sweet, and has lost a considerable portion of its strength; though thus prepared, they say it will never last beyond a single year. In some places they boil down the must till it becomes sapa, and then mix it with their wines for the purpose of modifying their harshness. Both for these kinds of wines, as, indeed, all others, they always employ vessels which have themselves received an inner coat of pitch; the method of preparing them will be set forth in a succeeding Book.
 
14 - 25 PITCH & RESIN M
Of the trees from which pitch and resin distil, there are some which grow in the East, and others in Europe: the province of Asia, which lies between the two, has also some of both kinds. In the East, the very best commodity of this kind, and of the finest quality, is that produced by the terebinth, and, next to it, that from the lentisk, which is also known as the mastich. The next in quality to these is the juice of the cypress, being of a more acrid flavour than any other. All the above juices are liquid and of a resinous nature only, but that of the cedar is comparatively thick, and of a proper consistency for making pitch. The Arabian resin is of a pale colour, has an acrid smell, and its fumes are stifling to those employed in boiling it. That of Judæa is of a harder nature, and has a stronger smell than that from the terebinth even. The Syrian resin has all the appearance of Attic honey, but that of Cyprus is superior to any other; it is the colour of honey, and is of a soft, fleshy nature. The resin of Colophon is yellower than the other varieties, but when pounded it turns white; it has a stifling smell, for which reason the perfumers do not employ it. That prepared in Asia from the produce of the pitch-tree is very white, and is known by the name of "spagas."
All the resins are soluble in oil; some persons are of opinion also that potters' chalk may be so dissolved: I feel ashamed to avow that the principal esteem in which the resins are held among us is as depilatories for taking the hair off men's bodies. The method used for seasoning wines is to sprinkle pitch in the must during the first fermentation, which never lasts beyond nine days at the most, so that a bouquet is imparted to the wine, with, in some degree, its own peculiar piquancy of flavour. It is generally considered, that this is done most effectually by the use of raw flower of resin, which imparts a considerable degree of briskness to wine: while, on the other hand, it is thought that crapula itself, if mixed, tends to mitigate the harshness of the wine and subdue its asperity, and when the wine is thin and flat, to give it additional strength and body. It is in Liguria more particularly, and the districts in the vicinity of the Padus, that the utility is recognized of mixing crapula with the must, in doing which the following rule is adopted: with wines of a strong and generous nature they mix a larger quantity, while with those that are poor and thin they use it more sparingly. There are some who would have the wine seasoned with both crapula and flower of resin at the same time. Pitch too, when used for this purpose, has much the same properties as must when so employed. In some places, the must is subject to a spontaneous fermentation a second time: when this unfortunately happens it loses all its flavour, and then receives the name of "vappa," a word which is applied as an opprobrious appellation even to worthless men of degenerate spirit: in vinegar, on the other hand, notwithstanding its tart and acrid taste, there are very considerable virtues, and without it we should miss many of the comforts of civilized life. In addition to what we have already stated, the treatment and preparation of wines are the object of such remarkable attention, that we find some persons employing ashes, and others gypsum and other substances of which we have already spoken, for the purpose of improving its condition: the ashes, however, of the shoots of vines or of the wood of the quercus, are in general preferred for this purpose. It is recommended also, to take sea-water far out at sea, and to keep it in reserve, to be employed for this purpose: at all events, it ought to be taken up in the night and during the summer solstice, while the north-east wind is blowing; but if taken at the time of the vintage, it should be boiled before being used. The pitch most highly esteemed in Italy for preparing vessels for storing wine, is that which comes from Bruttium. It is made from the resin that distils from the pitch-tree; that which is used in Spain is held in but little esteem, being the produce of the wild pine; it is bitter, dry, and of a disagreeable smell. While speaking of the wild trees in a succeeding Book, we shall make mention of the different varieties of pitch, and the methods used in preparing it. The defects in resin, besides those which we have already mentioned, are a certain degree of acridity, or a peculiar smoky flavour, while the great fault in pitch is the being over-burnt. The ordinary test of its goodness is a certain luminous appearance when broken to pieces; it ought to stick, too, to the teeth, with a pleasant, tart flavour. In Asia, the pitch which is most esteemed is that of Mount Ida, in Greece of Pieria; but Virgil gives the preference to the Narycian pitch. The more careful makers mix with the wine black mastich, which comes from Pontus, and resembles bitumen in appearance, as also iris-root and oil. As to coating the vessels with wax, it has been found that the wine is apt to turn acid: it is a better plan to put wine in vessels that have held vinegar, than in those which have previously contained sweet wine or mulsum. Cato recommends that wines should be got up—concinnari is his word—by putting of lie-ashes boiled down with defrutum, one-fortieth part to the culeus, or else a pound and a half of salt, with pounded marble as well: he makes mention of sulphur also, but only gives the very last place to resin. When the fermentation of the wine is coming to an end, he recommends the addition of the must to which he gives the name of "tortivum," meaning that which is pressed out the very last of all. For the purpose of colouring wine we also add certain substances as a sort of pigment, and these have a tendency to give it a body as well. By such poisonous sophistications is this beverage compelled to suit our tastes, and then we are surprised that it is inju- rious in its effects! It is a proof that wine is beginning to turn bad, if a plate of lead, on being put in it, changes its colour.
 
14 - 26 VINEGAR-LEES OF WINE M
It is a peculiarity of wine, among the liquids, to become mouldy, or else to turn to vinegar. There are whole volumes which treat of the various methods of preventing this.
The lees of wine when dried will take fire and burn without the addition of fuel: the ashes so produced have very much the nature of nitre, and similar virtues; the more so, indeed, the more unctuous they are to the touch.
 
14 - 27 WINE-VESSELS—WINE-CELLARS M
The various methods of keeping and storing wines in the cellar are very different. In the vicinity of the Alps, they put their wines in wooden vessels hooped around; during their cold winters, they even keep lighted fires, to protect the wines from the effects of the cold. It is a singular thing to mention, but still it has been occasionally seen, that these vessels have burst asunder, and there has stood the wine in frozen masses; a miracle almost, as it is not ordinarily the nature of wine to freeze, cold having only the effect of benumbing it. In more temperate climates, they place their wines in dolia, which they bury in the earth, either covering them entirely or in part, according to the temperature. Sometimes, again, they expose their wines in the open air, while at others they are placed beneath sheds for protection from the atmosphere.
The following are among the rules given for the proper management of wines:—One side of the wine-cellar, or, at all events, the windows, ought to face the north-east, or at least due east. All dunghills and roots of trees, and everything of a repulsive smell, ought to be kept at as great a distance as possible, wine being very apt to contract an odour. Fig-trees too, either wild or cultivated, ought not to be planted in the vicinity. Intervals should also be left between the vessels, in order to prevent infection, in case of any of them turning bad, wine being remarkably apt to become tainted. The shape, too, of the vessels is of considerable importance: those that are broad and bellying are not so good. We find it recommended too, to pitch them immediately after the rising of the Dog-star, and then to wash them either with sea or salt water, after which they should be sprinkled with the ashes of tree-shoots or else with potters' earth; they ought then to be cleaned out, and perfumed with myrrh, a thing which ought to be frequently done to the wine-cellars as well. Weak, thin wines should be kept in dolia sunk in the ground, while those in which the stronger ones are kept should be more exposed to the air. The vessels ought on no account to be entirely filled, room being left for seasoning, by mixing either raisin wine or else defrutum flavoured with saffron; old pitch and sapa are sometimes used for the same purpose. The lids, too, of the dolia ought to be seasoned in a similar manner, with the addition of mastich and Bruttian pitch. It is strongly recommended never to open the vessels, except in fine weather; nor yet while a south wind is blowing, or at a full moon. The flower of wine when white is looked upon as a good sign; but when it is red, it is bad, unless that should happen to be the colour of the wine. The vessels, too, should not be hot to the touch, nor should the covers throw out a sort of sweat. When wine very soon flowers on the surface and emits an odour, it is a sign that it will not keep. As to defrutum and sapa, it is recommended to commence boiling them when there is no moon to be seen, or, in other words, at the conjunction of that planet, and at no other time. Leaden vessels should be used for this purpose, and not copper ones, and walnuts are generally thrown into them, from a notion that they absorb the smoke. In Campania they expose the very finest wines in casks in the open air, it being the opinion that it tends to improve the wine if it is exposed to the action of the sun and moon, the rain and the winds.
 
14 - 28 DRUNKENNESS M
If any one will take the trouble duly to consider the matter, he will find that upon no one subject is the industry of man kept more constantly on the alert than upon the making of wine; as if Nature had not given us water as a beverage, the one, in fact, of which all other animals make use. We, on the other hand, even go so far as to make our very beasts of burden drink wine: so vast are our efforts, so vast our labours, and so boundless the cost which we thus lavish upon a liquid which deprives man of his reason and drives him to frenzy and to the commission of a thousand crimes! So great, however, are its attractions, that a great part of mankind are of opinion that there is nothing else in life worth living for. Nay, what is even more than this, that we may be enabled to swallow all the more, we have adopted the plan of diminishing its strength by pressing it through filters of cloth, and have devised numerous inventions whereby to create an artificial thirst. To promote drinking, we find that even poisonous mixtures have been invented, and some men are known to take a dose of hemlock before they begin to drink, that they may have the fear of death before them to make them take their wine: others, again, take powdered pumice for the same purpose, and various other mixtures, which I should Feel quite ashamed any further to enlarge upon.
We see the more prudent among those who are given to this habit have themselves parboiled in hot-baths, from whence they are carried away half dead. Others there are, again, who cannot wait till they have got to the banqueting couch, no, not so much as till they have got their shirt on, but all naked and panting as they are, the instant they leave the bath they seize hold of large vessels filled with wine, to show of, as it were, their mighty powers, and so gulp down the whole of the contents only to vomit them up again the very next moment. This they will repeat, too, a second and even a third time, just as though they had only been begotten for the purpose of wasting wine, and as if that liquor could not be thrown away without having first passed through the human body. It is to encourage habits such as these that we have introduced the athletic exercises of other countries, such as rolling in the mud, for instance, and throwing the arms back to show off a brawny neck and chest. Of all these exercises, thirst, it is said, is the chief and primary object. And then, too, what vessels are employed for holding wine! carved all over with the representations of adulterous intrigues, as if, in fact, drunkenness itself was not sufficiently capable of teaching us lessons of lustfulness. Thus we see wines quaffed out of impurities, and inebriety invited even by the hope of a reward,—invited, did I say?—may the gods forgive me for saying so, purchased outright. We find one person induced to drink upon the condition that he shall have as much to eat as he has previously drunk, while another has to quaff as many cups as he has thrown points on the dice. Then it is that the roving, insatiate eyes are setting a price upon the matron's chastity; and yet, heavy as they are with wine, they do not fail to betray their designs to her husband. Then it is that all the secrets of the mind are revealed; one man is heard to disclose the provisions of his will, another lets fall some expression of fatal import, and so fails to keep to himself words which will be sure to come home to him with a cut throat. And how many a man has met his death in this fashion! Indeed, it has become quite a common proverb, that "in wine there is truth." Should he, however, fortunately escape all these dangers, the drunkard never beholds the rising sun, by which his life of drinking is made all the shorter. From wine, too, comes that pallid hue, those drooping eyelids, those sore eyes, those tremulous hands, unable to hold with steadiness the overflowing vessel, condign punishment in the shape of sleep agitated by Furies during the restless night, and, the supreme reward of inebriety, those dreams of monstrous lustfulness and of forbidden delights. Then on the next day there is the breath reeking of the wine-cask, and a nearly total obliviousness of everything, from the annihilation of the powers of the memory. And this, too, is what they call "seizing the moments of life! whereas, in reality, while other men lose the day that has gone before, the drinker has already lost the one that is to come. They first began, in the reign of Tiberius Claudius, some forty years ago, to drink fasting, and to take whets of wine before meals; an outlandish fashion, however, and only patronized by physicians who wished to recommend themselves by the introduction of some novelty or other. It is in the exercise of their drinking powers that the Parthians look for their share of fame, and it was in this that Alcibiades among the Greeks earned his great repute. Among ourselves, too, Novellius Torquatus of Mediolanum, a man who held all the honours of the state from the prefecture to the pro-consulate, could drink off three congii at a single draught, a feat from which he obtained the surname of "Tricongius:" this he did before the eyes of the Emperor Tiberius, and to his extreme surprise and astonishment, a man who in his old age was very morose, and indeed very cruel in general; though in his younger days he himself had been too much addicted to wine. Indeed it was owing to that recommendation that it was generally thought that L. Piso was selected by him to have the charge and custody of the City of Rome; he having kept up a drinking-bout at the residence of Tiberius, just after he had become emperor, two days and two nights without intermission. In no point, too, was it generally said that Drusus Cæsar took after his father Tiberius more than this. Torquatus had the rather uncommon glory—for this science, too, is regulated by peculiar laws of its own—of never being known to stammer in his speech, or to relieve the stomach by vomiting or urine, while engaged in drinking. lie was always on duty at the morning guard, was able to empty the largest vessel at a single draught, and yet to take more ordinary cups in addition than any one else; he was always to be implicitly depended upon, too, for being able to drink without taking breath and without ever spitting, or so much as leaving enough at the bottom of the cup to make a plash upon the pavement; thus showing himself an exact observer of the regulations which have been made to prevent all shirking on the part of drinkers. Tergilla reproaches Cicero, the son of Marcus Cicero, with being in the habit of taking off a couple of congii at a single draught, and with having thrown a cup, when in a state of drunkenness, at M. Agrippa; such, in fact, being the ordinary results of intoxication. But it is not to be wondered at that Cicero was desirous in this respect to eclipse the fame of M. Antonius, the murderer of his father; a man who had, before the time of the younger Cicero, shown himself so extremely anxious to maintain the superiority in this kind of qualifica- tion, that he had even gone so far as to publish a book upon the subject of his own drunkenness. Daring in this work to speak in his own defence, he has proved very satisfactorily, to lay thinking, how many were the evils he had inflicted upon the world through this same vice of drunkenness. It was but a short time before the battle of Actium that he vomited forth this book of his, from which we have no great difficulty in coming to the conclusion, that drunk as lie already was with the blood of his fellow-citizens, the only result was that he thirsted for it all the more. For, in fact, such is the infallible characteristic of drunkenness, the more a person is in the habit of drinking, the more eager he is for drink; and the remark of the Scythian ambassador is as true as it is well known—the more the Parthians drank, the thirstier they were for it.
 
14 - 29 LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN M
The people of the Western world have also their intoxicating drinks, made from corn steeped in water. These beverages are prepared in different ways throughout Gaul and the provinces of Spain; under different names, too, though in their results they are the same. The Spanish provinces have even taught us the fact that these liquors are capable of being kept till they have attained a considerable age. Egypt, too, has invented for its use a very similar beverage made from corn; indeed, in no part of the world is drunkenness ever at a loss. And then, besides, they take these drinks unmixed, and do not dilute them with water, the way that wine is modified; and yet, by Hercules! one really might have supposed that there the earth produced nothing but corn for the people's use. Alas! what wondrous skill, and yet how misplaced! means have absolutely been discovered for getting drunk upon water even.
There are two liquids that are peculiarly grateful to the human body, wine within and oil without; both of them the produce of trees, and most excellent in their respective kinds. Oil, indeed, we may pronounce an absolute necessary, nor has mankind been slow to employ all the arts of invention in the manufacture of it. How much more ingenious, however, man has shown himself in devising various kinds of drink will be evident from the fact, that there are no less than one hundred and ninety-five different kinds of it; indeed, if all the varieties are reckoned, they will amount to nearly double that number. The various kinds of oil are much less numerous—we shall proceed to give an account of them in the following Book. SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, five hundred and ten. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Cornelius Valerianus, Virgil, Celsus, Cato the Censor, Saserna, father and son, Scrofa, M. Varro, D. Silanus, Fabius Pictor, Trogus, Hyginus, Flaccus Verrius, Græcinus, Julius Atticus, Columella, Massurius Sabinus, Fenestella, Tergilla, Maccius Plautus, Flavius, Dossennus, Scævola, Ælius, Ateius Capito, cotta Messalinus, L. Piso, Pompeius Lenæus, Fabianus, Sextius Niger, Vibius Rufus. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Hesiod, Theophrastus, Aristotle, Democritus, King Hiero, King Attalus Philometor, Archytas, Xenophon, Amphilochus of Athens, Anaxipolis of Thasos, Apollodorus of Lemnos, Aristophanes of Miletus, Antigonus of Cymæ, Agathocles of Chios, Apollonius of Pergamus, Aristander of Athens, Botrys of Athens, Bacchius of Miletus, Bion of Soli, Chærea of Athens, Chæristus of Athens, Diodorus of Priene, Dion of Colophon, Epigenes of Rhodes, Euagon of Thasos, Euphronius of Athens, Androtion who wrote on agriculture, Æschrion who wrote on agriculture, Lysimachus who wrote on agriculture, Dionysius who translated Mago, Diophanes who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades the Physician. Onesicritus, King Juba.
 
  15 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT-TREES M 71.8  
15 - 1 OLIVE: HOW LONG IT EXISTED ONLY IN GREECE. AT WHAT PERIOD IT WAS FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY, SPAIN, AND AFRICA M
THEOPHRASTUS, one of the most famous among the Greek writers, who flourished about the year of the City of Rome, has asserted that the olive does not grow at a distance of more than forty miles from the sea. Fenestella tells us that in the year of Rome , being the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, it did not exist in Italy, Spain, or Africa; whereas at the present day it has crossed the Alps even, and has been introduced into the two provinces of Gaul and the middle of Spain. In the year of Rome , Appius Claudius, grandson of Appius Claudius Cæcus, and L. Junius being consuls, twelve pounds of oil sold for an as; and at a later period, in the year , M. Seius, son of Lucius, the curule ædile, regulated the price of olive oil at Rome, at the rate of ten pounds for the as, for the whole year. A person will be the less surprised at this, when he learns that twenty-two years after, in the third consulship of Cn. Pompeius, Italy was able to export olive oil to the provinces.
Hesiod, who looked upon an acquaintance with agriculture as conducive in the very highest degree to the comforts of life, has declared that there was no one who had ever gathered fruit from the olive-tree that had been sown by his own hands, so slow was it in reaching maturity in those times; whereas, now at the present day, it is sown in nurseries even, and if transplanted will bear fruit the following year.
 
15 - 2 NATURE OF THE OLIVE, AND OF NEW OLIVE OIL M
Fabianus maintains that the olive will grow neither in very cold climates, nor yet in very hot ones. Virgil has mentioned three varieties of the olive, the orchites, the radius, and the posia; and says that they require no raking or pruning, nor, in fact, any attention whatever. There is no doubt that in the case of these plants, soil and climate are the things of primary importance; but still, it is usual to prune them at the same time as the vine, and they are improved by lopping between them every here and there. The gathering of the olive follows that of the grape, and there is even a greater degree of skill required in preparing oil than in making wine; for the very same olives will frequently give quite different results. The first oil of all, produced from the raw olive before it has begun to ripen, is considered preferable to all the others in flavour; in this kind, too, the first droppings of the press are the most esteemed, diminishing gradually in goodness and value; and this, whether the wicker-work basket is used in making it, or whether, following the more recent plan, the pulp is put in a stick strainer, with narrow spikes and interstices. The riper the berry, the more unctuous the juice, and the less agreeable the taste. To obtain a result both abundant and of excellent flavour, the best time to gather it is when the berry is just on the point of turning black. In this state it is called "druppa" by us, by the Greeks, "drypetis."
In addition to these distinctions, it is of importance to observe whether the berry ripens in the press or while on the branch; whether the tree has been watered, or whether the fruit has been nurtured solely by its own juices, and has imbibed nothing else but the dews of heaven.
 
15 - 3 OLIVE OIL: COUNTRIES IN WHICH IT IS PRODUCED, & ITS VARIOUS QUALITIES M
It is not with olive oil as it is with wine, for by age it acquires a bad flavour, and at the end of a year it is already old. This, if rightly understood, is a wise provision on the part of Nature: wine, which is only produced for the drunkard, she has seen no necessity for us to use when new; indeed, by the fine flavour which it acquires with age, she rather invites us to keep it; but, on the other hand, she has not willed that we should be thus sparing of oil, and so has rendered its use common and universal by the very necessity there is of using it while fresh.
In the production of this blessing as well, Italy holds the highest rank among all countries, and more particularly the territory of Venafrum, that part of it in especial which produces the Licinian oil; the qualities of which have conferred upon the Licinian olive the very highest renown. It is our unguents which have brought this oil into such great esteem, the peculiar odour of it adapting itself so well to the full developement of their qualities; at the same time its delicate flavour equally enlists the palate in its behalf. In addition to this, birds will never touch the berry of the Licinian olive. Next to Italy, the contest is maintained, and on very equal terms, between the territories of Istria and of Bætica. The next rank for excellence is claimed by the other provinces of our Empire, with the exception of Africa, the soil of which is better adapted for grain. That country Nature has given exclusively to the cereals; of oil and wine she has all but deprived it, securing it a sufficient share of renown by its abundant harvests. As to the remaining particulars connected with the olive, they are replete with erroneous notions, and I shall have occasion to show that there is no part of our agricultural economy upon which people have been more generally mistaken. (.) The olive is composed of a stone, oil, flesh, and amurca: the last being a bitter liquid, principally composed of water; hence it is that in seasons of drought it is less plentiful, and more abundant when rains have prevailed. The oil is a juice peculiar to the olive, a fact more particularly stated in reference to its unripe state, as we have already mentioned when speaking of omphacium. This oil continues on the increase up to the rising of Arcturus, or in other words, the sixteenth day before the calends of October; after which the increase is in the stone and the flesh. When drought has been followed by abundant rains, the oil is spoilt, and turns to amurca. It is the colour of this amurca that makes the olive turn black; hence, when the berry is just beginning to turn that colour, there is but little amurca in it, and before that period none at all. It is an error then, on the part of persons, to suppose that that is the commencement of maturity, which is in reality only the near approach of corruption. A second error, too, is the supposition that the oil increases proportionably to the flesh of the berry, it being the fact that the oil is all the time undergoing a change into flesh, and the stone is growing larger and larger within. It is for this reason more particularly, that care is taken to water the tree at this period; the real result of all this care and attention, as well as of the fall of copious rains, being, that the oil in reality is absorbed as the berry increases in size, unless fine dry weather should happen to set in, which naturally tends to contract the volume of the fruit. According to Theophrastus, heat is the sole primary cause of the oleaginous principle; for which reason it is, that in the presses, and in the cellars even, great fires are lighted to improve the quality of the oil. A third error arises from misplaced economy: to spare the expense of gathering, people are in the habit of waiting till the berry falls from the tree. Others, again, who wish to follow a middle course in this respect, beat the fruit off with poles, and so inflict injury on the tree and ensure loss in the succeeding year; indeed, there was a very ancient regulation in existence relative to the gathering of the olive-" Neither pull nor beat the olive-tree." Those who would observe a still greater degree of precaution, strike the branches lightly with a reed on one side of them; but even then the tree is reduced to bearing fruit but once in two years, in consequence of the injury done to the buds. Not less injurious, however, are the results of waiting till the berries fall from the tree; for, by remaining on it beyond the proper time, they deprive the crop that is coming on of its due share of nutriment, by occupying its place: a clear proof of which is, that if they are not gathered before the west winds prevail, they are found to have acquired renewed strength, and are all the later before they fall.
 
15 - 4 FIFTEEN VARIETIES OF OLIVES M
The first olive that is gathered after the autumn is that known as the "posia," the berry of which, owing to a vicious method of cultivation, and not any fault on the part of Nature, has the most flesh upon it. Next to this is the orchites, which contains the greatest quantity of oil, and then, after that, the radius. As these are of a peculiarly delicate nature, the heat very rapidly takes effect upon them, and the amurca they contain causes them to fall. On the other hand, the gathering of the tough, hard-skinned olive is put off so late as the month of March, it being well able to resist the effects of moisture, and, consequently, very small. Those varieties known as the Licinian, the Cominian, the Contian, and the Sergian, by the Sabines called the "royal" olive, do not turn black before the west winds prevail, or, in other words, before the sixth day before the ides of February. At this period it is generally thought that they begin to ripen, and as a most excellent oil is extracted from them, experience would seem to give its support to a theory which, in reality, is altogether wrong. The growers say that in the same degree that cold diminishes the oil, the ripeness of the berry augments it; whereas, in reality, the goodness of the oil is owing, not to the period at which the olives are gathered, but to the natural properties of this peculiarvariety, in which the oil is remarkably slow in turning to amurca.
A similar error, too, is committed by those who keep the olives, when gathered, upon a layer of boards, and do not press the fruit till it has thrown out a sweat; it being the fact that every hour lost tends to diminish the oil and increase the amurca: the consequence is, that, according to the ordinary computation, a modius of olives yields no more than six pounds of oil. No one, however, ever takes account of the quantity of amurca to ascertain, in reference to the same kind of berry, to what extent it increases daily in amount. Then, again, it is a very general error among practical persons to suppose that the oil increases proportionably to the increased size of the berry; and more particularly so when it is so clearly proved that such is not the case, with reference to the variety known as the royal olive, by some called majorina, and by others phaulia; this berry being of the very largest size, and yet yielding a minimum of juice. In Egypt, too, the berries, which are remarkably meaty, are found to produce but very little oil; while those of Decapolis, in Syria, are so extremely small, that they are no bigger than a caper; and yet they are highly esteemed for their flesh. It is for this reason that the olives from the parts beyond sea are preferred for table to those of Italy, though, at the same time, they are very inferior to them for making oil. In Italy, those of Picenum and of Sidicina are considered the best for table. These are kept apart from the others and steeped in salt, after which, like other olives, they are put in amurca, or else boiled wine; indeed, some of them are left to float solely in their own oil, without any adventitious mode of preparation, and are then known as colymbades: sometimes the berry is crushed, and then seasoned with green herbs to flavour it. Even in an unripe state the olive is rendered fit for eating by being sprinkled with boiling water; it is quite surprising, too, how readily it will imbibe sweet juices, and retain an adventitious flavour from foreign substances. With this fruit, as with the grape, there are purple varieties, and the posia is of a complexion approaching to black. Besides those already mentioned, there are the superba and a remarkably luscious kind, which dries of itself, and is even sweeter than the raisin: this last variety is extremely rare, and is to be found in Africa and in the vicinity of Emerita in Lusi- tania. The oil of the olive is prevented from getting thick and rancid by the admixture of salt. By making an incision in the bark of the tree, an aromatic odour may be imparted to the oil. Any other mode of seasoning, such, for instance, as those used with reference to wine, is not at all gratifying to the palate; nor do we find so many varieties in oil as there are in the produce of the grape, there being, in general, but three different degrees of goodness. In fine oil the odour is more penetrating, but even in the very best it is but short- lived.
 
15 - 5 NATURE OF OLIVE OIL M
It is one of the properties of oil to impart warmth to the body, and to protect it against the action of cold; while at the same time it promotes coolness in the head when heated. The Greeks, those parents of all vices, have abused it by mak- ing it minister to luxury, and employing it commonly in the gymnasium: indeed, it is a well-known fact that the gover- nors of those establishments have sold the scrapings of the oil used there for a sum of eighty thousand sesterces. The majesty of the Roman sway has conferred high honour upon the olive: crowned with it, the troops of the Equestrian order are wont to defile upon the ides of July; it is used, too, by the victor in the minor triumphs of the ovation. At Athens, also, they are in the habit of crowning the conqueror with olive; and at Olympia, the Greeks employ the wild olive for a similar purpose.
 
15 - 6 CULTURE OF OLIVE: ITS MODE OF PRESERVATION. METHOD OF MAKING OLIVE OIL M
We will now proceed to mention the precepts given by Cato in relation to this subject. Upon a warm, rich soil, he recommends us to sow the greater radius, the Salentina, the orehites, the posia, the Sergian, the Cominian, and the albicera; but with a remarkable degree of prudence he adds, that those varieties ought to be planted in preference which are considered to thrive best in the neighbouring localities. In a cold and meagre soil he says that the Licinian olive should be planted; and he informs us that a rich or hot soil has the effect, in this last variety, of spoiling the oil, while the tree becomes exhausted by its own fertility, and is liable to be attacked by a sort of red moss. He states it as his opinion that the olive grounds ought to have a western aspect, and, indeed, he approves of no other.
(.) According to him, the best method of preserving olives is to put the orchites and the posia, while green, in a strong brine, or else to bruise them first, and preserve them in mastich oil. The more bitter the olive, he says, the better the oil; but they should be gathered from the ground the very moment they fall, and washed if they are dirty. He says that three days will be quite sufficient for drying them, and that if it is frosty weather, they should be pressed on the fourth, care being taken to sprinkle them with salt. Olives, he informs us, lose oil by being kept in a boarded store-room, and deteriorate in quality; the same being the case, too, if the oil is left with the amurca and the pulp, or, in other words, the flesh of the olive that forms the residue and becomes the dregs. For this reason, he recommends that the oil should be poured off several times in the day, and then put into vessels or caul- drons of lead, for copper vessels will spoil it, he says. All these operations, however, should be carried on with presses heated and tightly closed, and exposed to the air as little as possible—for which reason he recommends that wood should never be cut there, the most convenient fuel for the fires being the stones of the berries. From the cauldron the oil should be poured into vats, in order that the pulp and the amurca may be disengaged in a solidified form: to effect which object the vessels should be changed as often as convenient, while at the same time the osier baskets should be carefully cleaned with a sponge, that the oil may run out in as clean and pure a state as possible. In later times, the plan has been adopted of invariably crushing the olives in boiling water, and at once putting them whole in the press—a method of effectually extracting the amurca—and then, after crushing them in the oil-press, sub- jecting them to pressure once more. It is recommended, that not more than one hundred modii should be pressed at one time: the name given to this quantity is "factus," while the oil that flows out at the first pressure is called the "flos." Four men, working at two presses day and night, ought to be able to press out three factuses of olives.
 
15 - 7 VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL OILS. CICUS-TREE OR CROTON, OR SILI, OR SESAMUM
In those times artificial oils had not been introduced, and hence it is, I suppose, that we find no mention made of them by Cato; at the present day the varieties are very numerous. We will first speak of those which are produced from trees, and among them more particularly the wild olive. This olive is small, and much more bitter than the cultivated one, and hence its oil is only used in medicinal preparations: the oil that bears the closest resemblance to it is that extracted from the chamelæa, a shrub which grows among the rocks, and not more than a palm in height; the leaves and berries being similar to those of the wild olive. A third oil is that made of the fruit of the cicus, a tree which grows in Egypt in great abundance; by some it is known as croton, by others as sili, and by others, again, as wild sesamumn: it is not so very long since this tree was first introduced here. In Spain, too, it shoots up with great rapidity to the size of the olive-tree, having a stem like that of the ferula, the leaf of the vine, and a seed that bears a resemblance to a small pale grape. Our people are in the habit of calling it "ricinus," from the resemblance of the seed to that insect. It is boiled in water, and the oil that swims on the surface is then skimmed off: but in Egypt, where it grows in a greater abundance, the oil is extracted without employing either fire or water for the purpose, the seed being first sprinkled with salt, and then subjected to pressure: eaten with food this oil is repulsive, but it is very useful for burning in lamps.
Amygdalinum, by some persons known as "metopium," is made of bitter almonds dried and beaten into a cake, after which they are steeped in water, and then beaten again. An oil is extracted from the laurel also, with the aid of olive oil. Some persons use the berries only for this purpose, while others, again, employ the leaves and the outer skin of the berries: some add storax also, and other odoriferous substances. The best kind for this purpose is the broad-leaved or wild laurel, with a black berry. The oil, too, of the black myrtle is of a similar nature; that with the broad leaf is reckoned also the best. The berries are first sprinkled with warm water, and then beaten, after which they are boiled: some persons take the more tender leaves, and boil them in olive oil, and then subject them to pressure, while others, again, steep them in oil, and leave the mixture to ripen in the sun. The same method is also adopted with the cultivated myrtle, but the wild variety with small berries is generally preferred; by some it is known as the oxymyrsine, by others as the chamæmyrsine, and by others, again, as the acoron, from its strong resemblance to that plant, it being short and branching. An oil is made, too, from the citrus, and from the cypress; also, from the walnut, and known by the name of "caryinon," and from the fruit of the cedar, being generally known as "pisselæon." Oil is extracted from the grain of Cnidos, the seed being first thoroughly cleaned, and then pounded; and from mastich also. As to the oil called "cyprinum," and that extracted from the Egyptian berry, we have already mentioned the mode in which they are prepared as perfumes. The Indians, too, are said to extract oils from the chesnut, sesamum, and rice, and the Ichthyophagi from fish. Scarcity of oil for the supply of lamps sometimes compels us to make it from the berries of the planetree, which are first steeped in salt and water. Œnanthinum, again, is made from the œnanthe, as we have already stated when speaking of perfumes. In making gleucinum, must is boiled with olive-oil at a slow heat; some persons, however, do not employ fire in making it, but leave a vessel, filled with oil and must, surrounded with grape husks, for two and twenty days, taking care to stir it twice a day: by the end of that period the whole of the must is imbibed by the oil. Some persons mix with this not only sampsuchum, but perfumes of still greater price: that, too, which is used in the gymnasia is scented with perfumes as well, but those of the very lowest quality. Oils are made, too, from aspalathus, from calamus, balsamum, cardamum, melilot, Gallic nard, panax, sampsuchum, helenium, and root of cinnamomum, the plants being first left to steep in oil, and then pressed. In a similar manner, too, rhodinum is made from roses, and juncinum from the sweet rush, bearing a remarkable resemblance to rose-oil: other oils, again, are extracted from henbane, lupines, and narcissus. Great quantities of oil are made in Egypt, too, of radish seed, or else of a common grass known there as chortinon. Sesamum also yields an oil, and so does the nettle, its oil being known as "enidinum." In other countries, too, an oil is extracted from lilies left to steep in the open air, and subjected to the influence of the sun, moon, and frosts. On the borders of Cappadocia and Galatia, they make an oil from the herbs of the country, known as "Selgicum," remarkably useful for strengthening the tendons, similar, in fact, to that of Iguvium in Italy. From pitch an oil is extracted, that is known as pissinum;" it is made by boiling the pitch, and spreading fleeces over the vessels to catch the steam, and then wringing them out: the most approved kind is that which comes from Bruttium, the pitch of that country being remarkably rich and resinous: the colour of this oil is yellow. There is an oil that grows spontaneously in the maritime parts of Syria, known to us as "elæomeli;" it is an unctuous substance which distils from certain trees, of a thicker consistency than honey, but somewhat thinner than resin; it has a sweet flavour, and is employed for medicinal purposes. Old olive oil is of use for some kinds of maladies; it is thought to be particularly useful, too, in the preservation of ivory from decay: at all events, the statue of Saturn, at Rome, is filled with oil in the interior.
 
15 - 8 AMURCA M
But it is upon the praises of amurca more particularly, that Cato has enlarged. He recommends that vats and casks for keeping oil should be first seasoned with it, to prevent them from soaking up the oil; and he tells us that threshing-floors should be well rubbed with it, to keep away ants, and to prevent any chinks or crannies from being left. The mortar, too, of walls, he says, ought to be seasoned with it, as well as the roofs and floors of granaries; and he recommends that wardrobes should be sprinkled with amurca as a preservative against wood-worms and other noxious insects. He says, too, that all grain of the cereals should be steeped in it, and speaks of it as efficacious for the cure of maladies in cattle as well as trees, and as useful even for ulcerations in the inside and upon the face of man. We learn from him, also, that thongs, all articles made of leather, sandals, and axletrees used to be anointed with boiled amurca; which was employed also to preserve copper vessels against verdigrease, and to give them a better colour; as also for the seasoning of all utensils made of wood, as well as the earthen jars in which dried figs were kept, or of sprigs of myrtle with the leaves and berries on, or any other articles of a similar nature: in addition to which, he asserts that wood which has been steeped in amurca will burn without producing a stifling smoke.
According to M. Varro, an olive-tree which has been licked by the tongue of the she-goat, or upon which she has browsed when it was first budding, is sure to be barren. Thus much in reference to the olive and the oils.
 
15 - 9 VARIOUS KINDS OF FRUIT-TREES & THEIR NATURES. 4 VARIETIES OF PINE-NUTS M
The other fruits found on trees can hardly be enumerated, from their diversity in shape and figure, without reference to their different flavours and juices, which have again been modified by repeated combinations and graftings.
The largest fruit, and, indeed, the one that hangs at the greatest height, is the pine-nut. It contains within a number of small kernels, enclosed in arched beds, and covered with a coat of their own of rusty iron-colour; Nature thus manifesting a marvellous degree of care in providing its seeds with a soft receptacle. Another variety of this nut is the terentina, the shell of which may be broken with the fingers; and hence it becomes a prey to the birds while still on the tree. A third, again, is known as the "sappinia," being the produce of the cultivated pitch-tree: the kernels are enclosed in a skin more than a shell, which is so remarkably soft that it is eaten together with the fruit. A fourth variety is that known as the "pityis;" it is the produce of the pinaster, and is remarkable as a good specific for coughs. The kernels are sometimes boiled in honey among the Taurini, who then call them "aquiceli." The conquerors at the Isthmian games are crowned with a wreath of pine-leaves.
 
15 - 10 QUINCE. FOUR KINDS OF CYDONIA, AND FOUR VARIETIES OF THE STRUTHEA M
Next in size after these are the fruit called by us "cotonea," by the Greeks "Cydonia," and first introduced from the island of Crete. These fruit bend the branches with their weight, and so tend to impede the growth of the parent tree. The varieties are numerous. The chrysomelum is marked with indentations down it, and has a colour inclining to gold; the one that is known as the "Italian" quince, is of a paler complexion, and has a most exquisite smell: the quinces of Neapolis, too, are held in high esteem. The smaller varieties of the quince which are known as the "struthea," have a more pungent smell, but ripen later than the others; that called the "musteum," ripens the soonest of all. The cotoneum engrafted on the strutheum, has produced a peculiar variety, known as the "Mulvianum," the only one of them all that is eaten raw. At the present day all these varieties are kept shut up in the antechambers of great men, where they receive the visits of their courtiers; they are hung, too, upon the statues that pass the night with us in our chambers.
There is a small wild quince also, the smell of which, next to that of the strutheum, is the most powerful; it grows in the hedges.
 
15 - 11 SIX VARIETIES OF THE PEACH M
Under the head of apples, we include a variety of fruits, although of an entirely different nature, such as the Persian apple, for instance, and the pomegranate, of which, when speaking of the tree, we have already enumerated nine varieties. The pomegranate has a seed within, enclosed in a skin; the peach has a stone inside. Some among the pears, also, known as "libralia," show, by their name, what a remarkable weight they attain.
(.) Among the peaches the palm must be awarded to the duracinus: the Gallic and the Asiatic peach are distinguished respectively by the names of the countries of their origin. They ripen at the end of autumn, though some of the early. kinds are ripe in the summer. It is only within the last thirty years that these last have been introduced; originally they were sold at the price of a denarius a piece. Those known as the "supernatia" come from the country of the Sabines, but the "popularia" grow everywhere. This is a very harmless fruit, and a particular favourite with invalids: some, in fact, have sold before this as high as thirty sesterces apiece, a price that has never been exceeded by any other fruit. This, too, is the more to be wondered at, as there is none that is a worse keeper: for, when it is once plucked, the longest time that it will keep is a couple of days; and so sold it must be, fetch what it may.
 
15 - 12 TWELVE KINDS OF PLUMS M
Next comes a vast number of varieties of the plum, the parti-coloured, the black, the white, the barley plum—so called, because it is ripe at barley-harvest—and another of the same colour as the last, but which ripens later, and is of a larger size, generally known as the "asinina," from the little esteem in which it is held. There are the onychina, too, the cerina,—more esteemed, and the purple plum: the Armenian, also an exotic from foreign parts, the only one among the plums that recommends itself by its smell. The plum-tree grafted on the nut exhibits what we may call a piece of impudence quite its own, for it produces a fruit that has all the appearance of the parent stock, together with the juice of the adopted fruit: in consequence of its being thus compounded of both, it is known by the name of "nuci-pruna." Nut-prunes, as well as the peach, the wild plum, and the cerina, are often put in casks, and so kept till the crop comes of the following year. All the other varieties ripen with the greatest rapidity, and pass off just as quickly. More recently, in Bætica, they have begun to introduce what they call "malina," or the fruit of the plum engrafted on the apple-tree, and "amygdalina," the fruit of the plum engrafted on the almond-tree, the kernel found in the stone of these last being that of the almond; indeed, there is no specimen in which two fruits have been more ingeniously combined in one.
Among the foreign trees we have already spoken of the Damascene plum, so called from Damascus, in Syria, but introduced long since into Italy; though the stone of this plum is larger than usual, and the flesh smaller in quantity. This plum will never dry so far as to wrinkle; to effect that, it needs the sun of its own native country. The myxa, too, may be mentioned, as being the fellow-countryman of the Damascene: it has of late been introduced into Rome, and has been grown engrafted upon the sorb.
 
15 - 13 PEACH M
The name of "Persica," or "Persian apple," given to this fruit, fully proves that it is an exotic in both Greece as well as Asia, and that it was first introduced from Persis. As to the wild plum, it is a well-known fact that it will grow anywhere; and I am, therefore, the more surprised that no mention has been made of it by Cato, more particularly as he has pointed out the method of preserving several of the wild fruits as well. As to the peach-tree, it has been only introduced of late years, and with considerable difficulty; so much so, that it is perfectly barren in the Isle of Rhodes, the first resting-place that it found after leaving Egypt.
It is quite untrue that the peach which grows in Persia is poisonous, and produces dreadful tortures, or that the kings of that country, from motives of revenge, had it transplanted in Egypt, where, through the nature of the soil, it lost all its evil properties—for we find that it is of the "persea" that the more careful writers have stated all this, a totally different tree, the fruit of which resembles the red myxa, and, indeed, cannot be successfully cultivated anywhere but in the East. The learned have also maintained that it was not introduced from Persis into Egypt with the view of inflicting punishment, but say that it was planted at Memphis by Perseus; for which reason it was that Alexander gave orders that the victors should be crowned with it in the games which he instituted there in honour of his ancestor: indeed, this tree has always leaves and fruit upon it, growing immediately upon the others. It must be quite evident to every one that all our plums have been introduced since the time of Cato.
 
15 - 14 DIFFERENT KINDS OF POMES. AT WHAT PERIOD FOREIGN FRUITS WERE 1ST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY, AND WHENCE M
There are numerous varieties of pomes. Of the citron we have already made mention when describing its tree; the Greeks gave it the name of "Medica," from its native country. The jujube-tree and the tuber are equally exotics; indeed, they have, both of them, been introduced only of late years into Italy; the latter from Africa, the former from Syria. Sextus Papinius, whom we have seen consul, introduced them both in the latter years of the reign of Augustus, produced from slips which he had grown within his camp. The fruit of the jujube more nearly resembles a berry than an apple: the tree sets off a terrace remarkably well, and it is not uncommon to see whole woods of it climbing up to the very roofs of the houses.
Of the tuber there are two varieties; the white, and the one called "syricum," from its colour. Those fruits, too, may be almost pronounced exotic which grow nowhere in Italy but in the territory of Verona, and are known as the wool-fruit. They are covered with a woolly down; this is found, it is true, to a very considerable extent, on both the strutheum variety of quince and the peach, but still it has given its name to this particular fruit, which is recommended to us by no other remarkable quality.
 
15 - 15 FRUITS THAT HAVE BEEN MOST RECENTLY INTRODUCED M
Why should I hesitate to make some mention, too, of other varieties by name, seeing that they have conferred everlasting remembrance on those who were the first to introduce them, as having rendered some service to their fellow-men? Unless I am very much mistaken, an enumeration of them will tend to throw some light upon the ingenuity that is displayed in the art of grafting, and it will be the more easily understood that there is nothing so trifling in itself from which a certain amount of celebrity cannot be ensured. Hence it is that we have fruits which derive their names from Matius, Cestius, Mallius, and Scandius. Appius, too, a member of the Claudian family, grafted the quince on the Scandian fruit, in consequence of which the produce is known as the Appian. This fruit has the smell of the quince, and is of the same size as the Scandian apple, and of a ruddy colour. Let no one, however, imagine that this name was merely given in a spirit of flattery to an illustrious family, for there is an apple known as the Sceptian, which owes its name to the son of a freedman, who was the first to introduce it: it is remarkable for the roundness of its shape. To those already mentioned, Cato adds the Quirinian and the Scantian varieties, which last, he says, keep remarkably well in large vessels. The latest kind of all, however, that has been introduced is the small apple known as the Petisian, remarkable for its delightful flavour: the Amerinian apple, too, and the little Greek have conferred renown on their respective countries.
The remaining varieties have received their name from various circumstances—the apples known as the "gemella" are always found hanging in pairs upon one stalk, like twins, and never growing singly. That known as the "syricum" is so called from its colour, while the "melapium" has its name from its strong resemblance to the pear. The "musteum" was so called from the rapidity with which it ripens; it is the melimelum of the present day, which derives its appellation from its flavour, being like that of honey. The "orbiculatum," again, is so called from its shape, which is exactly spherical—the circumstance of the Greeks having called it the "epiroticum" proves that it came originally from Epirus. The orthomastium has that peculiar appellation from its resemblance to a teat; and the "spadonium" of the Belgæ is so nicknamed from the total absence of pips. The melofolium has one leaf, and occasionally two, shooting from the middle of the fruit. That known as the "pannuceum" shrivels with the greatest rapidity; while the "pulmoneum" has a lumpish, swollen appearance. Some apples are just the colour of blood, owing to an original graft of the mulberry; but they are all of them red on the side which is turned towards the sun. There are some small wild apples also, remarkable for their fine flavour and the peculiar pungency of their smell. Some, again, are so remarkably sour, that they are held in disesteem; indeed their acidity is so extreme, that it will even take the edge from off a knife. The worst apples of all are those which from their mealiness have received the name of "farinacea;" they are the first, however, to ripen, and ought to be gathered as soon as possible.
 
15 - 16 FORTY-ONE VARIETIES OF THE PEAR M
A similar degree of precocity has caused the appellation of "superbum" to be given to one species of the pear: it is a small fruit, but ripens with remarkable rapidity. All the world are extremely partial to the Crustumian pear; and next to it comes the Falernian, so called from the drink which it affords, so abundant is its juice. This juice is known by the name of "milk" in the variety which, of a black colour, is by some called the pear of Syria. The denominations given to the others vary according to the respective localities of their growth. Among the pears, the names of which have been adopted in our city, the Decimian pear, and the Pseudo- Decimian—an offshoot from it—have conferred considerable renown upon the name of those who introduced them. The same is the case, too, with the variety known as the "Dolabellian," remarkable for the length of its stalk, the Pomponian, surnamed the mammosum, the Licerian, the Sevian, the Turranian, a variety of the Sevian, but distinguished from it by the greater length of the stalk, the Favonian, a red pear, rather larger than the superbum,together with the Laterian and the Anician, which come at the end of autumn, and are pleasant for the acidity of their flavour. One variety is known as the "Tiberian," from its having been a particular favourite with the Emperor Tiberius; it is more coloured by the sun, and grows to a larger size, otherwise it would be identical with the Licerian variety.
The following kinds receive their respective names from their native countries: the Amerinian, the latest pear of all, the Picentine, the Numantine, the Alexandrian, the Numidian, the Greek, a variety of which is the Tarentine, and the Signine, by some called "testaceum," from its colour, like earthenware; a reason which has also given their respective names to the "onychine" and the "purple" kinds. Then, again, we have the "myrapium," the "laureum," and the "nardinum," so called from the odour they emit; the "hordearium," from the season at which it comes in; and the "ampullaceum," so called from its long narrow neck. Those, again, that are known as the "Coriolanian" and the "Brut. tian," owe their names to the places of their origin; added to which we have the cucurbitinum, and the "acidulum," so named from the acidity of its juice. It is quite uncertain for what reason their respective names were given to the varieties known as the "barbaricum" and the "Venerium," which last is known also as the "coloratum;" the royal pear too, which has a remarkably short stalk, and will stand on its end, as also the patricium, and the voconium, a green oblong kind. In addition to these, Virgil has made mention of a pear called the "volema," a name which he has borrowed from Cato, who makes mention also of kinds known as the "sementivum" and the "musteum."
 
15 - 17 VARIOUS METHODS OF GRAFTING TREES. EXPIATIONS FOR LIGHTNING M
This branch of civilized life has long since been brought to the very highest pitch of perfection, for man has left nothing untried here. Hence it is that we find Virgil speaking of grafting the nut-tree on the arbutus, the apple on the plane, and the cherry on the elm. Indeed, there is nothing further in this department that can possibly be devised, and it is a long time since any new variety of fruit has been discovered. Religious scruples, too, will not allow of indiscriminate grafting; thus, for instance, it is not permitted to graft upon the thorn, for it is not easy, by any mode of expiation, to avoid the disastrous effects of lightning; and we are told that as many as are the kinds of trees that have been engrafted on the thorn, so many are the thunderbolts that will be hurled against that spot in a single flash.
The form of the pear is turbinated; the later kinds remain on the parent tree till winter, when they ripen with the frost; such, for instance, as the Greek variety, the ampullaceum, and the laureum; the same, too, with apples of the Amerinian and the Scandian kinds. Apples and pears are prepared for keeping just like grapes, and in as many different ways; but, with the exception of plums, they are the only fruit that are stored in casks. Apples and pears have certain vinous properties, and like wine these drinks are forbidden to invalids by the physicians. These fruits are sometimes boiled up with wine and water, and, so make a preserve that is eaten with bread; a preparation which is never made of any other fruit, with the exception of the quinces, known as the "cotoneum" and the "strutheum."
 
15 - 18 MODE OF KEEPING VARIOUS FRUITS AND GRAPES M
For the better preserving of fruits it is universally recommended that the storeroom should be situate in a cool, dry spot, with a well-boarded floor, and windows looking towards the north; which in fine weather ought to be kept open. Care should also be taken to keep out the south wind by window panes, while at the same time it should be borne in mind that a north-east wind will shrivel fruit and make it unsightly. Apples are gathered after the autumnal equinox; but the gathering should never begin before the sixteenth day of the moon, or before the first hour of the day. Windfalls should always be kept separate, and there ought to be a layer of straw, or else mats or chaff, placed beneath. They should, also, be placed apart from each other, in rows, so that the air may circulate freely between them, and they may equally gain the benefit of it. The Amerinian apple is the best keeper, the melimelum the very worst of all.
(.) Quinces ought to be stored in a place kept perfectly closed, so as to exclude all draughts; or else they should be boiled in honey or soaked in it. Pomegranates are made hard and firm by being first put in boiling sea-water, and then left to dry for three days in the sun, care being taken that the dews of the night do not touch them; after which they are hung up, and when wanted for use, washed with fresh water. M. Varro recommends that they should be kept in large vessels filled with sand: if they are not ripe, he says that they should be put in pots with the bottom broken out, and then buried in the earth, all access to the air being carefully shut, and care being first taken to cover the stalk with pitch. By this mode of treatment, he assures us, they will attain a larger size than they would if left to ripen on the tree. As for the other kinds of pomes, he says that they should be wrapped up separately in fig-leaves, the windfalls being carefully excluded, and then stored in baskets of osier, or else covered over with potters' earth. Pears are kept in earthen vessels pitched inside; when filled, the vessels are reversed and then buried in pits. The Tarentine pear, Varro says, is gathered very late, while the Anician keeps very well in raisin wine. Sorb apples, too, are similarly kept in holes in the ground, the vessel being turned upside down, and a layer of plaster placed on the lid: it should be buried two feet deep, in a sunny spot; sorbs are also hung, like grapes, in the inside of large vessels, together with the branches. Some of the more recent authors are found to pay a more scrupulous degree of attention to these various particulars, and recommend that the gathering of grapes or pomes, which are intended for keeping, should take place while the moon is on the wane, after the third hour of the day, and while the weather is clear, or dry winds prevail. In a similar manner, the selection, they say, ought to be made from a dry spot, and the fruit should be plucked before it is fully ripe, a moment being chosen while the moon is below the horizon. Grapes, they say, should be selected that have a strong, hard mallets-talk, and after the decayed berries have been carefully removed with a pair of scissors, they should be hung up inside of a large vessel which has just been pitched, care being taken to close all access to the south wind, by covering the lid with a coat of plaster. The same method, they say, should be adopted for keeping sorb apples and pears, the stalks being carefully covered with pitch; care should be taken, too, that the vessels are kept at a distance from water. There are some persons who adopt the following method for preserving grapes. They take them off together with the branch, and place them, while still upon it, in a layer of plaster, taking care to fasten either end of the branch in a bulb of squill. Others, again, go so far as to place them within vessels containing wine, taking care, however, that the grapes, as they hang, do not touch it. Some persons put apples in plates of earth, and then leave them to float in wine, a method by which it is thought that a vinous flavour is imparted to them: while some think it a better plan to preserve all these kinds of fruit in millet. Most people, however, content themselves with first digging a hole in the ground, a couple of feet in depth; a layer of sand is then placed at the bottom, and the fruit is arranged upon it, and covered with an earthen lid, over which the earth is thrown. Some persons again even go so far as to give their grapes a coating of potters' chalk, and then hang them up when dried in the sun; when required for use, the chalk is removed with water. Apples are also preserved in a similar manner; but with them wine is employed for getting off the chalk. Indeed, we find a very similar plan pursued with apples of the finest quality; they have a coating laid upon them of either plaster or wax; but they are apt, if not quite ripe when this was done, by the increase in their size to break their casing. When apples are thus prepared, they are always laid with the stalk downwards. Some persons pluck the apple together with the branch, the ends of which they thrust into the pith of elder, and then bury it in the way already pointed out. There are some who assign to each apple or pear its separate vessel of clay, and after care- fully pitching the cover, enclose it again in a larger vessel: occasionally, too, the fruit is placed on a layer of flocks of wool, or else in baskets, with a lining of chaff and clay. Other persons follow a similar plan, but use earthen plates for the purpose; while others, again, employ the same method, but dig a hole in the earth, and after placing a layer of sand, lay the fruit on top of it, and then cover the whole with dry earth. Persons, too, are sometimes known to give quinces a coating of Pontic wax, and then plunge them in honey. Columella informs us, that fruit is kept by being carefully put in earthen vessels, which then receive a coating of pitch, and are placed in wells or cisterns to sink to the bottom. The people of maritime Liguria, in the vicinity of the Alps, first dry their grapes in the sun, and wrap them up in bundles of rushes, which are then covered with plaster. The Greeks follow a similar plan, but substitute for rushes the leaves of the plane- tree, or of the vine itself, or else of the fig, which they dry for a single day in the shade, and then place in a cask in alternate layers with husks of grapes. It is by this method that they preserve the grapes of Cos and Berytus, which are inferior to none in sweetness. Some persons, when thus pre- paring them, plunge the grapes into lie-ashes the moment they take them from the vine, and then dry them in the sun; they then steep them in warm water, after which they put them to dry again in the sun: and last of all, as already mentioned, wrap them up in bundles formed of layers of leaves and grape husks. There are some who prefer keeping their grapes in sawdust, or else in shavings of the fir-tree, poplar, and ash: while others think it the best plan to hang them up in the granary, at a careful distance from the apples, directly after the gathering, being under the impression that the very best cover- ing for them as they hang is the dust that naturally arises from the floor. Grapes are effectually protected against the attacks of wasps by being sprinkled with oil spirted from the mouth. Of palm-dates we have already spoken.
 
15 - 19 TWENTY-NINE VARIETIES OF THE FIG M
Of all the remaining fruits that are included under the name of "pomes," the fig is the largest: some, indeed, equal the pear, even, in size. We have already mentioned, while treating of the exotic fruits, the miraculous productions of Egypt and Cyprus in the way of figs. The fig of Mount Ida is red, and the size of an olive, rounder however, and like a medlar in flavour; they give it the name of Alexandrian in those parts. The stem is a cubit in thickness; it is branchy, has a tough, pliant wood, is entirely destitute of all milky juice, and has a green bark, and leaves like those of the linden tree, but soft to the touch. Onesicritus states that in Hyrcania the figs are much sweeter than with us, and that the trees are more prolific, seeing that a single tree will bear as much as two hundred and seventy modii of fruit. The fig has been introduced into Italy from other countries, Chalcis and Chios, for instance, the varieties being very numerous: there are those from Lydia also, which are of a purple colour, and the kind known as the "mamillana," which is very similar to the Lydian. The callistruthiæ are very little superior to the last in flavour; they are the coldest by nature of all the figs. As to the African fig, by many people preferred to any other, it has been made the subject of very considerable discussion, as it is a kind that has been introduced very recently into Africa, though it bears the name of that country. As to the fig of Alexandria, it is a black variety, with the cleft inclining to white; it has had the name given to it of the "delicate" fig: the Rhodian fig, too, and the Tiburtine, one of the early kinds, are black. Some of them, again, bear the name of the persons who were the first to introduce them, such, for instance, as the Livian and the Pompeian figs: this last variety is the best for drying in the sun and keeping for use, from year to year; the same is the case, too, with the marisca, and the kind which has a leaf spotted all over like the reed. There is also the Herculanean fig, the albicerata, and the white aratia, a very large variety, with an extremely diminutive stalk.
The earliest of them all is the porphyritis, which has a stalk of remarkable length: it is closely followed by the popularis, one of the very smallest of the figs, and so called from the low esteem in which it is held: on the other hand, the chelidonia is a kind that ripens the last of all, and to- wards the beginning of winter. In addition to these, there are figs that are at the same time both late and early, as they bear two crops in the year, one white and the other black, ripening at harvest-time and vintage respectively. There is another late fig also, that has received its name from the singular hardness of its skin; one of the Chalcidian varieties bears as many as three times in the year. It is at Tarentum only that the remarkably sweet fig is grown which is known by the name of "ona." Speaking of figs, Cato has the following remarks: "Plant the fig called the 'marisca' on a chalky or open site, but for the African variety, the Herculanean, the Saguntine, the winter fig and the black Telanian with a long stalk, you must select a richer soil, or else a ground well manured." Since his day there have so many names and kinds come up, that even on taking this subject into consideration, it must be apparent to every one how great are the changes which have taken place in civilized life. There are winter figs, too, in some of the provinces, the Mœsian, for instance; but they are made so by artificial means, such not being in reality their nature. Being a small variety of the fig-tree, they cover it up with manure at the end of autumn, by which means the fruit on it is overtaken by winter while still in a green state: then when the weather, becomes milder the fruit is uncovered along with the tree, and so restored to light. Just as though it had come into birth afresh, the fruit imbibes the heat of the new sun with the greatest avidity—a different sun, in fact, to that which originally gave it life—and so ripens along with the blossom of the coming crop; thus attaining maturity in a year not its own, and this in a country, too, where the greatest cold prevails.
 
15 - 20 HISTORICAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH THE FIG M
The mention by Cato of the variety which bears the name of the African fig, strongly recalls to my mind a remarkable fact connected with it and the country from which it takes its name.
Burning with a mortal hatred to Carthage, anxious, too, for the safety of his posterity, and exclaiming at every sitting of the senate that Carthage must be destroyed, Cato one day brought with him into the Senate-house a ripe fig, the produce of that country. Exhibiting it to the assembled senators, "I ask you," said he, "when, do you suppose, this fruit was plucked from the tree?" All being of opinion that it had been but lately gathered, —Know then," was his reply, "that this fig was plucked at Carthage but the day before yesterday—so near is the enemy to our walls." It was immediately after this occurrence that the third Punic war commenced, in which Carthage was destroyed, though Cato had breathed his last, the year after this event. In this trait which are we the most to admire? was it ingenuity and foresight on his part, or was it an accident that was thus aptly turned to advantage? which, too, is the most surprising, the extraordinary quickness of the passage which must have been made, or the bold daring of the man? The thing, however, that is the most astonishing of all—indeed, I can conceive nothing more truly marvellous—is the fact that a city thus mighty, the rival of Rome for the sovereignty of the world during a period of one hundred and twenty years, owed its fall at last to an illustration drawn from a single fig! Thus did this fig effect that which neither Trebia nor Thrasimenus, not Cannæ itself, graced with the entombment of the Roman renown, not the Punic camp entrenched within three miles of the city, not even the disgrace of seeing Hannibal riding up to the Colline Gate, could suggest the means of accomplishing. It was left for a fig, in the hand of Cato, to show how near was Carthage to the gates of Rome! In the Forum even, and in the very midst of the Comitium of Rome, a fig-tree is carefully cultivated, in memory of the consecration which took place on the occasion of a thunderbolt which once fell on that spot; and still more, as a memorial of the fig-tree which in former days overshadowed Romulus and Remus, the founders of our empire, in the Lupercal Cave. This tree received the name of "ruminalis," from the circumstance that under it the wolf was found giving the breast—rumis it was called in those days—to the two infants. A group in bronze was afterwards erected to consecrate the remembrance of this miraculous event, as, through the agency of Attus Navius the augur, the tree itself had passed spontaneously from its original locality to the Comitium in the Forum. And not without some direful presage is it that that tree has withered away, though, thanks to the care of the priesthood, it has been since replaced. There was another fig-tree also, before the temple of Saturn, which was removed on the occasion of a sacrifice made by the Vestal Virgins, it being found that its roots were gradually undermining the statue of the god Silvanus. Another one, accidentally planted there, flourished in the middle of the Forum, upon the very spot, too, in which, when from a direful presage it had been foreboded that the growing empire was about to sink to its very foundations, Curtius, at the price of an inestimable treasure—in other words, by the sacrifice of such unbounded virtue and piety—redeemed his country by a glorious death. By a like accident, too, a vine and an olive-tree have sprung up in the same spot, which have ever since been carefully tended by the populace for the agreeable shade which they afford. The altar that once stood there was afterwards removed by order of the deified Julius Cæsar, upon the occasion of the last spectacle of gladiatorial combats which he gave in the Forum.
 
15 - 21 CAPRIFICATION M
The fig, the only one among all the pomes, hastens to maturity by the aid of a remarkable provision of Nature. (.) The wild-fig, known by the name of "caprificus," never ripens itself, though it is able to impart to the others the principle of which it is thus destitute; for we occasionally find Nature making a transfer of what are primary causes, and being generated from decay. To effect this purpose the wild fig-tree produces a kind of gnat. These insects, deprived of all sustenance from their parent tree, at the moment that it is hastening to rottenness and decay, wing their flight to others of kindred though cultivated kind. There feeding with avidity upon the fig, they penetrate it in numerous places, and by thus making their way to the inside, open the pores of the fruit. The moment they effect their entrance, the heat of the sun finds admission too, and through the inlets thus made the fecundating air is introduced. These insects speedily consume the milky juice that constitutes the chief support of the fruit in its infant state, a result which would otherwise be spontaneously effected by absorption: and hence it is that in the plantations of figs a wild fig is usually allowed to grow, being placed to the windward of the other trees in order that the breezes may bear from it upon them. Improving upon this discovery, branches of the wild fig are sometimes brought from a distance, and bundles tied together are placed upon the cultivated tree. This method, however, is not necessary when the trees are growing on a thin soil, or on a site exposed to the north-east wind; for in these cases the figs will dry spontaneously, and the clefts which are made in the fruit effect the same ripening process which in other instances is brought about by the agency of these insects. Nor is it requisite to adopt this plan on spots which are liable to dust, such, for instance, as is generally the case with fig-trees planted by the side of much-frequented roads: the dust having the property of drying up the juices of the fig, and so absorbing the milky humours. There is this superiority, however, in an ad. vantageous site over the methods of ripening by the agency of dust or by caprification, that the fruit is not so apt to fall; for the secretion of the juices being thus prevented, the fig is not so heavy as it would otherwise be, and the branches are less brittle.
All figs are soft to the touch, and when ripe contain grains in the interior. The juice, when the fruit is ripening, has the taste of milk, and when dead ripe, that of honey. If left on the tree they will grow old; and when in that state, they distil a liquid that flows in tears like gum. Those that are more highly esteemed are kept for drying, and the most approved kinds are put away for keeping in baskets. The figs of the island of Ebusus are the best as well as the largest, and next to them are those of Marrucinum. Where figs are in great abundance, as in Asia, for instance, huge jars are filled with them, and at Ruspina, a city of Africa, we find casks used for a similar purpose: here, in a dry state, they are extensively used instead of bread, and indeed as a general article of provision. Cato, when laying down certain definite regulations for the support of labourers employed in agriculture, recommends that their supply of food should be lessened just at the time when the fig is ripening: it has been a plan adopted in more recent times, to find a substitute for salt with cheese, by eating fresh figs. To this class of fruit belong, as we have already mentioned, the cottana and the carica, together with the cavnea, which was productive of so bad an omen to M. Crassus at the moment when he was embarking for his expedition against the Parthians, a dealer happening to be crying them just at that very moment. L. Vitellius, who was more recently appointed to the censorship, introduced all these varieties from Syria at his country- seat at Alba, having acted as legatus in that province in the latter years of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar.
 
15 - 22 THREE VARIETIES OF THE MEDLAR M
The medlar and the sorb ought in propriety to be ranked under the head of the apple and the pear. Of the medlar there are three varieties, the anthedon, the setania, and a third of inferior quality, which bears a stronger resemblance to the anthedon, and is known as the Gallic kind. The setania is the largest fruit, and the palest in colour; the woody seed in the inside of it is softer, too, than in the others, which are of smaller size than the setania, but superior to it in the fragrance of their smell, and in being better keepers. The tree itself is one of very ample dimensions: the leaves turn red before they fall: the roots are numerous, and penetrate remarkably deep, which renders it almost impossible to grub it up. This tree did not exist in Italy in Cato's time.
 
15 - 23 FOUR VARIETIES OF THE SORB M
There are four varieties of the sorb: there being some that have all the roundness of the apple, while others are conical like the pear, and a third sort are of an oval shape, like some of the apples: these last, however, are apt to be remarkably acid. The round kind is the best for fragrance and sweetness, the others having a vinous flavour; the finest, however, are those which have the stalk surrounded with tender leaves. A fourth kind is known by the name of "torminalis:" it is only employed, however, for remedial pur- poses. The tree is a good bearer, but does not resemble the other kinds, the leaf being nearly that of the plane-tree; the fruit, too, is particularly small. Cato speaks of sorbs being preserved in boiled wine.
 
15 - 24 NINE VARIETIES OF THE NUT M
The walnut, which would almost claim precedence of the sorb in size, yields the palm to it in reference to the esteem in which they are respectively held; and this, although it is so favourite an accompaniment of the Fescennine songs at nuptials. This nut, taken as a whole, is very considerably smaller than the pine nut, but the kernel is larger in proportion. Nature, too, has conferred upon it a peculiar honour, in protecting it with a two-fold covering, the first of which forms a hollowed cushion for it to rest upon, and the second is a woody shell. It is for this reason that this fruit has been looked upon as a symbol consecrated to marriage, its offspring being thus protected in such manifold ways: an explanation which bears a much greater air of probability than that which would derive it from the rattling which it makes when it bounds from the floor. The Greek names that have been given to this fruit fully prove that it, like many others, has been originally introduced from Persis; the best kinds being known in that language by the names of "Persicum," and "basilicon;, these, in fact, being the names by which they were first known to us. It is generally agreed, too, that one peculiar variety has derived its name of "caryon," from the headache which it is apt to produce by the pungency of its smell.
The green shell of the walnut is used for dyeing wool, and the nuts, while still small and just developing themselves, are employed for giving a red hue to the hair: a discovery owing to the stains which they leave upon the hands. When old, the nut becomes more oleaginous. The only difference in the several varieties consists in the relative hardness or brittleness of the shell, it being thin or thick, full of compartments or smooth and uniform. This is the only fruit that Nature has enclosed in a covering formed of pieces soldered together; the shell, in fact, forming a couple of boats, while the kernel is divided into four separate compartments by the intervention of a ligneous membrane. In all the other kinds, the fruit and the shell respectively are of one solid piece, as we find the case with the hazel—nut, and another variety of the nut formerly known as "Abellina," from the name of the district in which it was first produced: it was first introduced into Asia and Greece from Pontus, whence the name that is sometimes given to it—the "Pontic nut." This nut, too, is protected by a soft beard, but both the shell and the kernel are round, and formed of a single piece: these nuts are sometimes roasted. In the middle of the kernel we find a germen or navel. A third class of nuts is the almond, which has an outer covering, similar to that of the walnut, but thinner, with a second coat in the shape of a shell. The kernel, however, is unlike that of the walnut, in respect of its broad, flat shape, its firmness, and the superior tastiness of its flavour. It is a matter of doubt whether this tree was in existence in Italy in the time of Cato; we find him speaking of Greek nuts, but there are some persons who think that these belong to the walnut class. He makes mention, also, of the hazel-nut, the calva, and the Prænestine nut, which last he praises beyond all others, and says that, put in pots, they may be kept fresh and green by burying them in the earth. At the present day, the almonds of Thasos and those of Alba are held in the highest esteem, as also two kinds that are grown at Tarentum, one with a thin, brittle shell, and the other with a harder one: these last are remarkably large, and of an oblong shape. There is the almond known as the "mollusk," also, which breaks the shell of itself. There are some who would concede a highly honourable interpretation to the name given to the walnut, and say that "juggles" means the "glens," or" acorn of Jove." It is only very lately that I heard a man of consular rank declare, that he then had in his possession walnut-trees that bore two crops in the year. Of the pistachio, which belongs also to the nut class, we have already spoken in its appropriate place: Vitellius introduced this tree into Italy at the same time as the others that we mentioned; and Flaccus Pompeius, a Roman of Equestrian rank, who served with him, introduced it at the same period into Spain.
 
15 - 25 EIGHTEEN VARIETIES OF THE CHESNUT M
We give the name of nut, too, to the chesnut, although it would seem more properly to belong to the acorn tribe. The chesnut has its armour of defence in a shell bristling with prickles like the hedge-hog, an envelope which in the acorn is only partially developed. It is really surprising, however, that Nature should have taken such pains thus to conceal an object of so little value. We sometimes find as many as three nuts beneath a single outer shell. The skin of the nut is limp and flexible: there is a membrane, too, which lies next to the body of the fruit, and which, both in this and in the walnut, spoils the flavour if not taken off, Chesnuts are the most pleasant eating when roasted: they are sometimes ground also, and are eaten by women when fasting for religious scruples, as bearing some resemblance to bread. It is from Sardes that the chesnut was first introduced, and hence it is that the Greeks have given it the name of the "Sardian acorn;" for the name "Dios balanon" was given at a later period, after it had been considerably improved by cultivation.
At the present day there are numerous varieties of the chesnut. Those of Tarentum are a light food, and by no means difficult of digestion; they are of a flat shape. There is a rounder variety, known as the "balanitis;" it is very easily peeled, and springs clean out of the shell, so to say, of its own accord. The Salarian chesnut has a smooth outer shell, while that of Tarentum is not so easily handled. The Corellian is more highly esteemed, as is the Etereian, which is an offshoot from it produced by a method upon which we shall have to enlarge when we come to speak of grafting. This last has a red skin, which causes it to be preferred to the three-cornered chesnut and our black common sorts, which are known as "coctivæ." Tarentum and Neapolis in Campania are the most esteemed localities for the chesnut: other kinds, again, are grown to feed pigs upon, the skin of which is rough and folded inwards, so as to penetrate to the heart of the kernel.
 
15 - 26 CAROB M
The carob, a fruit of remarkable sweetness, does not ap- pear to be so very dissimilar to the chesnut, except that the skin is eaten as well as the inside. It is just the length of a finger, and about the thickness of the thumb, being sometimes of a curved shape, like a sickle. The acorn cannot be reckoned in the number of the fruits; we shall, therefore, speak of it along with the trees of that class.
 
15 - 27 FLESHY FRUITS. THE MULBERRY M
The other fruits belong to the fleshy kind, and differ both in the shape and the flesh. The flesh of the various berries, of the mulberry, and of the arbute, are quite different from one another—and then what a difference, too, between the grape, which is only skin and juice, the myxa plum, and the flesh of some berries, such as the olive, for instance! In the flesh of the mulberry there is a juice of a vinous flavour, and the fruit assumes three different colours, being at first white, then red, and ripe when black. The mulberry blossoms one of the very last, and yet is among the first to ripen: the juice of the fruit, when ripe, will stain the hands, but that of the unripe fruit will remove the marks. It is in this tree that human ingenuity has effected the least Improvement of all; there are no varieties here, no modifications effected by grafting, nor, in fact, any other improvement except that the size of the fruit, by careful management, has been increased. At Rome, there is a distinction made between the mulberries of Ostia and those of Tusculum. A variety grows also on brambles, but the flesh of the fruit is of a very different nature.
 
15 - 28 FRUIT OF THE ARBUTUS M
The flesh of the ground-strawberry is very different to that of the arbute-tree, which is of a kindred kind: indeed, this is the only instance in which we find a similar fruit growing upon a tree and on the ground. The tree is tufted and bushy; the fruit takes a year to ripen, the blossoms of the young fruit flowering while that of the preceding year is arriving at maturity. Whether it is the male tree or the female that is unproductive, authors are not generally agreed.
This is a fruit held in no esteem, in proof of which it has gained its name of "unedo," people being generally content with eating but one. The Greeks, however, have found for it two names—"comaron" and "memecylon," from which it would appear that there are two varieties. It has also with us another name besides that of "unedo," being known also as the "arbutus." Juba states that in Arabia this tree attains the height of fifty cubits.
 
15 - 29 RELATIVE NATURES OF BERRY FRUITS M
There is a great difference also among the various acinus fruits. First of all, among the grapes, we find considerable difference in respect to their firmness, the thinness or thickness of the skin, and the stone inside the fruit, which in some varieties is remarkably small, and in others even double in number: these last producing but very little juice. Very different, again, are the berries of the ivy and the elder; as also those in the pomegranate, these being the only ones that are of an angular shape. These last, also, have not a membrane for each individual grain, but one to cover them all in common, and of a pale colour. All these fruits consist, too, of juice and flesh, and those more particularly which have but small seeds inside.
There are great varieties, too, among the berry fruits; the berry of the olive being quite different from that of the laurel, the berry of the lotus from that of the cornel, and that of the myrtle from the berry of the lentisk. The berry, however, of the aquifolium and the thorn is quite destitute of juice. The cherry occupies a middle place between the berry and the acinus fruit: it is white at first, which is the case also with nearly all the berries. From white, some of the berries pass to green, the olive and the laurel, for instance; while in the mulberry, the cherry, and the cornel, the change is to red; and then in some to black, as with the mulberry, the cherry, and the olive, for instance.
 
15 - 30 NINE VARIETIES OF THE CHERRY M
The cherry did not exist in Italy before the period of the victory gained over Mithridates by L. Lucullus, in the year of the City . He was the first to introduce this tree from Pontus, and now, in the course of one hundred and twenty years, it has travelled beyond the Ocean, and arrived in Bri- tannia even. The cherry, as we have already stated, in spite of every care, it has been found impossible to rear in Egypt. Of this fruit, that known as the "Apronian is the reddest variety, the Lutatian being the blackest, and the Cæcilian perfectly round. The Junian cherry has an agreeable flavour, but only, so to say, when eaten beneath the tree, as they are so remarkably delicate that they will not bear carrying. The highest rank, however, has been awarded to the duracinus variety, known in Campania as the "Plinian" cherry, and in Belgica to the Lusitanian cherry, as also to one that grows on the banks of the Rhenus. This last kind has a third colour, being a mixture of black, red, and green, and has always the appearance of being just on the turn to ripening. It is less than five years since the kind known as the "laurel- cherry" was introduced, of a bitter but not unpleasant flavour, the produce of a graft upon the laurel. The Macedonian cherry grows on a tree that is very small, and rarely exceeds three cubits in height; while the chamæcerasus is still smaller, being but a mere shrub. The cherry is one of the first trees to recompense the cultivator with its yearly growth; it loves cold localities and a site exposed to the north. The fruit are sometimes dried in the sun, and preserved, like olives, in casks.
 
15 - 31 CORNEL. THE LENTISK M
The same degree of care is expended also on the cultivation of the cornel and the lentisk; that it may not be thought, forsooth, that there is anything that was not made for the craving appetite of man! Various flavours are blended to- gether, and one is compelled to please our palates by the aid of another—hence it is that the produce of different lands and various climates are so often mingled with one another. For one kind of food it is India that we summon to our aid, and then for another we lay Egypt under contribution, or else Crete, or Cyrene, every country, in fact: no, nor does man stick at poisons even, if he can only gratify his longing to devour everything: a thing that will be still more evident when we come to treat of the nature of herbs.
 
15 - 32 THIRTEEN DIFFERENT FLAVOURS OF JUICES M
While upon this subject, it may be as well to state that there are no less than thirteen different flavours belonging in common to the fruits and the various juices: the sweet, the luscious, the unctuous, the bitter, the rough, the acrid, the pungent, the sharp, the sour, and the salt; in addition to which, there are three other kinds of flavours of a nature that is truly singular. The first of these last kinds is that flavour in which several other flavours are united, as in wine, for instance; for in it we are sensible of the rough, the pungent, and the luscious, all at the same moment, and all of them flavours that belong to other substances. The second of these flavours is that in which we are sensible at the same instant of a flavour that belongs to another substance, and yet of one that is peculiar to the individual object of which we are tasting, such as that of milk, for instance: indeed, in milk we cannot correctly say that there is any pronounced flavour that is either sweet, or unctuous, or luscious, a sort of smooth taste in the mouth being predominant, which holds the place of a more decided flavour. The third instance is that of water, which has no flavour whatever, nor, indeed, any flavouring principle; but still, this very absence of flavour is considered as constituting one of them, and forming a peculiar class of itself; so much so, indeed, that if in water any taste or flavouring principle is detected, it is looked upon as impure.
In the perception of all these various flavours the smell plays a very considerable part, there being a very great affinity between them. Water, however, is properly quite inodorous: and if the least smell is to be perceived, it is not pure water. It is a singular thing that three of the principal elements of Nature—water, air, and fire—should have neither taste nor smell, nor, indeed, any flavouring principle whatever.
 
15 - 33 COLOUR AND SMELL OF JUICES M
Among the juices, those of a vinous flavour belong to the pear, the mulberry, and the myrtle, and not to the grape, a very singular fact. An unctuous taste is detected in the olive, the laurel, the walnut, and the almond; sweetness exists in the grape, the fig, and the date; while in the plum class we find a watery juice. There is a considerable difference, too, in the colours assumed by the various juices. That of the mulberry, the cherry, the cornel, and the black grape resembles the colour of blood, while in the white grape the juice is white. The humour found in the summit of the fig is of a milky nature, but not so with the juice found in the body of the fruit. In the apple it is the colour of foam, while in the peach it is perfectly colourless, and this is the case, too, with the duracinus, which abounds in juice; for who can say that he has ever detected any colour in it?
Smell, too, presents its own peculiar marvels; in the apple it is pungent, and it is weak in the peach, while in the sweet fruits we perceive none at all: so, too, the sweet wines are inodorous, while the thinner ones have more aroma, and are much sooner fit for use than those of a thicker nature. The odoriferous fruits are not pleasing to the palate in the same degree, seeing that the flavour of them does not come up to their smell: hence it is that in the citron we find the smell so extremely penetrating, and the taste sour in the highest degree. Sometimes the smell is of a more delicate nature, as in the quince, for instance; while the fig has no odour whatever.
 
15 - 34 VARIOUS NATURES OF FRUIT M
Thus much, then, for the various classes and kinds of fruit: it will be as well now to classify their various natures within a more limited scope. Some fruits grow in a pod which is sweet itself, and contains a bitter seed: whereas in most kinds of fruit the seed is agreeable to the palate, those which grow in a pod are condemned. Other fruits are berries, with the stone within and the flesh without, as in the olive and the cherry: others, again, have the berry within and the stone without, the case, as we have already stated, with the berries that grow in Egypt.
Those fruits, known as "pomes," have the same characteristics as the berry fruits; in some of them we find the body of the fruit within and the shell without, as in the nut, for example; others, again, have the meat of the fruit without and the shell within, the peach and the plum, for instance: the refuse part being thus surrounded with the flesh, while in other fruits the flesh is surrounded by the refuse part. nuts are enclosed in a shell, chesnuts in a skin; in chesnuts the skin is taken off, but in medlars it is eaten with the rest. Acorns are covered with a crust, grapes with a husk, and pomegranates with a skin and an inner membrane. The mulberry is composed of flesh and juice, while the cherry consists of juice and skin. In some fruits the flesh separates easily from the woody part, the walnut and the date, for instance; in others it adheres, as in the case of the olive and the laurel berry: some kinds, again, partake of both natures, the peach, for example; for in the duracinus kind the flesh adheres to the stone, and cannot be torn away from it, while in the other sorts they are easily separated. In some fruits there is no stone or shell either within or without, one variety of the date, for instance. In some kinds, again, the shell is eaten, just the same as the fruit; this we have already mentioned as being the case with a variety of the almond found in Egypt. Some fruits have on the outside a twofold refuse covering, the chesnut, the almond, and the walnut, for example. Some, again, are composed of three separate parts—the body of the fruit, then a woody shell, and inside of that a kernel, as in the peach. Some fruits grow closely packed together, such as grapes and sorbs: these last, just like so many grapes in a cluster, cling round the branch and bend it downwards with their weight. On the other hand, some fruits grow separately, at a distance from one another; this is the case with the peach. Some fruits are enclosed in a sort of matrix, as with the grains of the pomegranate: some hang down from a stalk, such as the pear, for instance: others hang in clusters, grapes and dates, for example. Others, again, grow upon stalks and bunches united: this we find the case with the berries of the ivy and the elder. Some adhere close to the branches, like the laurel berry, while other varieties lie close to the branch or hang from it, as the case may be: thus we find in the olive some fruit with short stalks, and others with long. Some fruits grow with a little calyx at the top, the pomegranate, for example, the medlar, and the lotus of Egypt and the Euphrates. Then, too, as to the various parts of fruit, they are held in different degrees of esteem according to their respective recommendations. In the date it is the flesh that is usually liked, in those of Thebais it is the crust; the grape and the caryota date are esteemed for their juice, the pear and the apple for their firmness, the melimelum for its soft meat, the mulberry for its cartilaginous consistency, and nuts for their kernels. Some fruits in Egypt are esteemed for their skin; the carica, for instance. This skin, which in the green fig is thrown away as so much refuse peeling, when the fig is dried is very highly esteemed. In the papyrus, the ferula, and the white thorn the stalk itself constitutes the fruit, and the shoots of the fig-tree are similarly employed. Among the shrubs, the fruit of the caper is eaten along with the stalk; and in the carob, what is the part that is eaten but so much wood? Nor ought we to omit one peculiarity that exists in the seed of this fruit—it can be called neither flesh, wood, nor cartilage, and yet no other name has been found for it.
 
15 - 35 MYRTLE M
The nature of the juices that are found in the myrtle are particularly remarkable, for it is the only one of all the trees, the berries of which produce two kinds of oil as well as of wine, besides myrtidanum, of which we have already spoken. The berry of this was also put to another use in ancient times, for before pepper was known it was employed in place of it as a seasoning; so much so, indeed, that a name has been derived from it for the highly-seasoned dish which to this day is known by the name of "myrtatum." It is by the aid of these berries, too, that the flavour of the flesh of the wild boar is improved, and they generally form one of the ingredients in the flavouring of our sauces.
 
15 - 36 HISTORICAL ANECDOTES RELATIVE TO THE MYRTLE M
This tree was seen for the first time in the regions of Europe, which commence on this side of the Ceraunian mountains, growing at Circeii, near the tomb of Elpenor there: it still retains its Greek name, which clearly proves it to be an exotic. There were myrtles growing on the site now occupied by Rome, at the time of its foundation; for a tradition exists to the effect that the Romans and the Sabines, after they had intended fighting, on account of the virgins who had been ravished by the former, purified themselves, first laying down their arms, with sprigs of myrtle, on the very same spot which is now occupied by the statues of Venus Cluacina; for in the ancient language "cluere" means to purify.
This tree is employed, too, for a species of fumigation; being selected for that purpose, because Venus, who presides over all unions, is the tutelary divinity of the tree. I am not quite sure, too, whether this tree was not the very first that was planted in the public places of Rome, the result of some ominous presage by the augurs of wondrous import. For at the Temple of Quirinus, or, in other words, of Romulus himself, one of the most ancient in Rome, there were formerly two myrtle-trees, which grew for a long period just in front of the temple; one of these was called the Patrician tree, the other the Plebeian. The Patrician myrtle was for many years the superior tree, full of sap and vigour; indeed, so long as the Senate maintained its superiority, so did the tree, being of large growth, while the Plebeian tree presented a meagre, shrivelled appearance. In later times, however, the latter tree gained the superiority, and the Patrician myrtle began to fail just at the period of the Marsic War, when the power of the Senate was so greatly weakened: and little by little did this once majestic tree sink into a state of utter exhaustion and sterility. There was an ancient altar also, consecrated' to Venus Myrtea, known at the present day by the name of Murcia.
 
15 - 37 ELEVEN VARIETIES OF THE MYRTLE M
Cato makes mention of three varieties of the myrtle, the black, white, and the conjugula, perhaps so called from its reference to conjugal unions, and belonging to the same species as that which grew where Cluacina's statues now stand: at the present day the varieties are differently distinguished into the cultivated and the wild myrtle, each of which includes a kind with a large leaf. The kind known as "oxymyrsine," belongs only to the wild variety: ornamental gardeners classify several varieties of the cultivated kind; the "Tarentine," they speak of as a myrtle with a small leaf, the myrtle of this country as having a broad leaf, and the hexasticha as being very thickly covered with leaves, growing in rows of six: it is not, however, made any use of. There are two other kinds, that are branchy and well covered. In my opinion, the conjugula is the same that is now called the Roman myrtle. It is in Egypt that the myrtle is most odoriferous.
Cato has taught us how to make a wine from the black myrtle, by drying it thoroughly in the shade, and then putting it in must: he says, also, that if the berries are not quite dry, it will produce an oil. Since his time a method has been discovered of making a pale wine from the white variety; two sextarii of pounded myrtle are steeped in three semi-sextarii of wine, and the mixture is then subjected to pressure. The leaves also are dried by themselves till they are capable of being reduced to a powder, which is used for the treatment of sores on the human body: this powder is of a slightly corrosive nature, and is employed also for the purpose of checking the perspiration. A thing that is still more re- markable, this oil is possessed of a certain vinous flavour, being, at the same time, of an unctuous nature, and remarkably efficacious for improving wines. When this is done, the wine strainer is dipped in the oil before it is used, the result of which is that it retains the lees of the wine, and allows nothing but the pure liquor to escape, while at the same time it accompanies the wine and causes a marked improvement in its flavour. Sprigs of myrtle, if carried by a person when travelling on foot, are found to be very refreshing on a long journey. Rings, too, made of myrtle which has never been touched by iron, are an excellent specific for swellings in the groin.
 
15 - 38 MYRTLE USED AT ROME IN OVATIONS M
The myrtle has played its part, also, in the successes of war. Posthumius Tubertus, who gained a victory over the Sabines in his consulship, was the first person who entered the City enjoying the honour of an ovation, for having achieved this success with ease and without bloodshed; upon which occasion he made his entry crowned with the myrtle of Venus Victrix, and thereby rendered her tree an object of regard to our enemies even. Ever since this occasion, the wreath of those who have enjoyed an ovation has been made of myrtle, with the exception of M. Crassus, who, on his victory over the fugitive slaves and Spartacus, made his entry crowned with laurels. Massurius informs us, also, that some generals, on the occasion of a triumph even, have worn a wreath of myrtle in the triumphal car. L. Piso states that Papirius Maso, who was the first to enjoy a triumph for a victory over the Marsi—it was on the Alban Mount—was in the habit of attending at the games of the Circus, wearing a wreath of myrtle: he was the maternal grandfather of the second Scipio Africanus. Marcus Valerius wore two wreaths, one of laurel, the other of myrtle; it was in consequence of a vow which he had made to that effect.
 
15 - 39 LAUREL; THIRTEEN VARIETIES OF IT M
The laurel is especially consecrated to triumphs, is remarkably ornamental to houses, and guards the portals of our emperors and our pontiffs: there suspended alone, it graces the palace, and is ever on guard before the threshold. Cato speaks of two varieties of this tree, the Delphic and the Cyprian. Pompeius Lenæus has added another, to which he has given the name of "mustax," from the circumstance of its being used for putting under the cake known by the name of "mustaceum." He says that this variety has a very large leaf, flaccid, and of a whitish hue; that the Delphic laurel is of one uniform colour, greener than the other, with berries of very large size, and of a red tint approaching to green. He says, too, that it is with this laurel that the victors at Delphi are crowned, and warriors who enjoy the honours of a triumph at Rome. The Cyprian laurel, he says, has a short leaf, is of a blackish colour, with an imbricated edge, and crisped.
Since his time, however, the varieties have considerably augmented. There is the tinus for instance, by some considered as a species of wild laurel, while others, again, regard it as a tree of a separate class; indeed, it does differ from the laurel as to the colour, the berry being of an azure blue. The royal laurel, too, has since been added, which has of late begun to be known as the "Augustan:" both the tree, as well as the leaf, are of remarkable size, and the berries have not the usual rough taste. Some say, however, that the royal laurel and the Augustan are not the same tree, and make out the former to be a peculiar kind, with a leaf both longer and broader than that of the Augustan. The same authors, also, make a peculiar species of the bacalia the commonest laurel of all, and the one that bears the greatest number of berries. With them, too, the barren laurel is the laurel of the triumphs, and they say that this is the one that is used by warriors when enjoying a triumph—a thing that surprises me very much; unless, indeed, the use of it was first introduced by the late Emperor Augustus, and it is to be considered as the progeny of that laurel, which, as we shall just now have occasion to mention, was sent to him from heaven; it being the smallest of them all, with a crisped short leaf; and very rarely to be met with. In ornamental gardening we also find the taxa employed, with a small leaf sprouting from the middle of the leaf, and forming a fringe, as it were, hanging from it; the spadonia, too, without this fringe, a tree that thrives remarkably well in the shade: indeed, however dense the shade may be, it will soon cover the spot with its shoots. There is the chamædaphne, also, a shrub that grows wild; the Alexandrian laurel, by some known as the Idean, by others as the "hypoglottion," by others as the "carpophyllon," and by others, again, as the "hypelates." From the root it throws out branches three quarters of a foot in length; it is much used in ornamental gardening, and for making wreaths, and it has a more pointed leaf than that of the myrtle, and superior to it in softness, whiteness, and size: the seed, which lies between the leaves, is red. This last kind grows in great abundance on Mount Ida and in the vicinity of Heraclea in Pontus: it is only found, however, in mountainous districts. The laurel, too, known as the daphnoides, is a variety that has received many different names: by some it is called the Pelasgian laurel, by others the euthalon, and by others the stephanon Alexandri. This is also a branchy shrub, with a thicker and softer leaf than that of the ordinary laurel: if tasted, it leaves a burning sensation in the mouth and throat: the berries are red, inclining to black. The ancient writers have remarked, that in their time there was no species of laurel in the island of Corsica. Since then, however, it has been planted there, and has thrived well.
 
15 - 40 HISTORICAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH THE LAUREL M
This tree is emblematical of peace: when a branch of it is extended, it is to denote a truce between enemies in arms. For the Romans more particularly it is the messenger of joyful tidings, and of victory: it accompanies the despatches of the general, and it decorates the lances and javelins of the soldiers and the fasces which precede their chief. It is of this tree that branches are deposited on the lap of Jupiter All-good and All-great, so often as some new victory has imparted uni- versal gladness. This is done, not because it is always green, nor yet because it is an emblem of peace—for in both of those respects the olive would take the precedence of it—but because it is the most beauteous tree on Mount Parnassus, and was pleasing for its gracefulness to Apollo even; a deity to whom the kings of Rome sent offerings at an early period, as we learn from the case of L. Brutus. Perhaps, too, honour is more particularly paid to this tree because it was there that Brutus earned the glory of asserting his country's liberties, when, by the direction of the oracle, he kissed that laurel-bearing soil. Another reason, too, may be the fact, that of all the shrubs that are planted and received in our houses, this is the only one that is never struck by lightning. It is for these reasons, in my opinion, that the post of honour has been awarded to the laurel more particularly in triumphs, and not, as Massurius says, because it was used for the purposes of fumigation and purification from the blood of the enemy.
In addition to the above particulars, it is not permitted to defile the laurel and the olive by applying them to profane uses; so much so, indeed, that, not even for the propitiation of the divinities, should a fire be lighted with them at either altar or shrine. Indeed, it is very evident that the laurel protests against such usage by crackling as it does in the fire, thus, in a manner, giving expresssion to its abhorrence of such treatment. The wood of this tree when eaten is good as a specific for internal maladies and affections of the sinews. It is said that when it thundered, the Emperor Tiberius was in the habit of putting on a wreath of laurel to allay his apprehensions of disastrous effects from the lightning. There are also some remarkable facts connected with the laurel in the history of the late Emperor Augustus: once while Livia Drusilla, who afterwards on her marriage with the Emperor assumed the name of Augusta, at the time that she was affianced to him, was seated, there fell into her lap a hen of remarkable whiteness, which an eagle let fall from aloft without its receiving the slightest injury: on Livia viewing it without any symptoms of alarm, it was discovered that miracle was added to miracle, and that it held in its beak a branch of laurel covered with berries. The aruspices gave orders that the hen and her progeny should be carefully preserved, and the branch planted and tended with religious care. This was accordingly done at the country-house belonging to the Cæsars, on the Flaminian Way, near the banks of the Tiber, eight miles from the City; from which circumstance that road has since received the title "Ad gallinas." From the branch there has now arisen, wondrous to relate, quite a grove: and Augustus Cæsar afterwards, when celebrating a triumph, held a branch of it in his hand and wore a wreath of this laurel on his head; since which time all the succeeding emperors have followed his example. Hence, too, has originated the custom of planting the branches which they have held on these occasions, and we thus see groves of laurel still existing which owe their respective names to this circumstance. It was on the above occasion, too, that not improbably a change was effected in the usual laurel of the triumph. The laurel is the only one among the trees that in the Latin language has given an appellation to a man, and it is the only one the leaf of which has a distinct name of its own,—it being known by the name of "laurea." The name of this tree is still retained by one place in the city of Rome, for we find a spot on the Aventine Mount still known by the name of "Loretum," where formerly a laurel-grove existed. The laurel is employed in purifications, and we may here mention, incidentally, that it will grow from slips—though Democritus and Theophrastus have expressed their doubts as to that fact. We shall now proceed to speak of the forest trees. SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, one hundred and twenty. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Fenestella, Fabianus, Virgil, Corn. Valerianus, Celsus, Cato the Censor, Saserna father and son, Scrofa, M. Varro, D. Silanus, Fabius Pictor, Trogus, Hyginus, Flaccus Verrius, Græcinus, Atticus Julius, Columella, Massurius Sabinus, Tergilla, Cotta Messalinus, L. Piso, Pompeius Lenæus, Maccius Plautus, Flavius, Dossenus, Scævola, Ælius, Ateius Capito, Sextius Niger, Vibius Rufus. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Aristotle, Democritus, King Hiero, King Attalus Philometor, Archytas, Xenophon, Amphilochus of Athens, Anaxipolis of Thasos, Apollodorus of Lemnos, Aristophanes of Miletus, Antigonus of Cymæ, Agathocles of Chios, Apollonius of Pergamus, Aristander of Athens, Bacchius of Miletus, Bion of Soli, Chæreas of Athens, Chæristus of Athens, Diodorus of Priene, Dion of Colophon, Epigenes of Rhodes, Euagon of Thasos, Euphronius of Athens, Androtion who wrote on Agriculture, Æschrion who wrote on Agriculture, Lysimachus who wrote on Agriculture, Dionysius who translated Mago, Diophanes who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades the Physician, Erasistratus the Physician, Commiades who wrote on the preparation of Wines, Aristomachus who wrote on the same subject, Hicesius who wrote on the same subject, Themiso the Physician, Onesicritus, King Juba.
 
  16 HISTORY OF FOREST TREES M 123.2  
16 - 1 COUNTRIES THAT HAVE NO TREES M
WE have given the precedence in this account to the fruit-trees and others which, by their delicious juices, first taught man to give a relish to his food and the various aliments requisite for his sustenance, whether it is that they spontaneously produce these delightful flavours, or whether we have imparted them by the methods of adoption and intermarriage, thus bestowing a favour, as it were, upon the very beasts and birds. The next thing, then, would be to speak of the glandi- ferous trees, the trees which proffered the earliest nutriment to the appetite of man, and proved themselves his foster- mothers in his forlorn and savage state—did I not feel myself constrained on this occasion to make some mention of the surprise which I have felt on finding by actual experience what is the life of mortals when they inhabit a country that is without either tree or shrub.
(.) I have already stated that in the East many nations that dwell on the shores of the ocean are placed in this necessitous state; and I myself have personally witnessed the condition of the Chauci, both the Greater and the Lesser, situate in the regions of the far North. In those climates a vast tract of land, invaded twice each day and night by the overflowing waves of the ocean, opens a question that is eternally proposed to us by Nature, whether these regions are to be looked upon as belonging to the land, or whether as forming a portion of the sea? Here a wretched race is found, inhabiting either the more elevated spots of land, or else eminences artificially constructed, and of a height to which they know by experience that the highest tides will never reach. Here they pitch their cabins; and when the waves cover the surrounding country far and wide, like so many mariners on board ship are they: when, again, the tide recedes, their condition is that of so many shipwrecked men, and around their cottages they pursue the fishes as they make their escape with the receding tide. It is not their lot, like the adjoining nations, to keep any flocks for sustenance by their milk, nor even to maintain a warfare with wild beasts, every shrub, even, being banished afar. With the sedge and the rushes of the marsh they make cords, and with these they weave the nets employed in the capture of the fish; they fashion the mud, too, with their hands, and drying it by the help of the winds more than of the sun, cook their food by its aid, and so warm their entrails, frozen as they are by the northern blasts; their only drink, too, is rainwater, which they collect in holes dug at the entrance of their abodes: and yet these nations, if this very day they were vanquished by the Roman people, would exclaim against being reduced to slavery! Be it so, then—Fortune is most kind to many, just when she means to punish them.
 
16 - 2 WONDERS CONNECTED WITH TREES IN THE NORTHERN REGIONS M
Another marvel, too, connected with the forests! They cover all the rest of Germany, and by their shade augment the cold. But the highest of them all are those not far distant from the Chauci already mentioned, and more particularly in the vicinity of the two lakes there. The very shores are lined with oaks, which manifest an extraordinary eagerness to attain their growth: undermined by the waves or uprooted by the blasts, with their entwining roots they carry vast forests along with them, and, thus balanced, stand upright as they float along, while they spread afar their huge branches like the rigging of so many ships. Many is the time that these trees have struck our fleets with alarm, when the waves have driven them, almost purposely it would seem, against their prows as they stood at anchor in the night; and the men, destitute of all remedy and resource, have had to engage in a naval combat with a forest of trees!
(.) In the same northern regions, too, is the Hercynian Forest, whose gigantic oaks, uninjured by the lapse of ages, and contemporary with the creation of the world, by their near approach to immortality surpass all other marvels known. Not to speak of other matters that would surpass all belief, it is a well-known fact that their roots, as they meet together, up-heave vast hills; or, if the earth happens not to accumulate with them, rise aloft to the very branches even, and, as they contend for the mastery, form arcades, like so many portals thrown open, and large enough to admit of the passage of a squadron of horse. (.) All these trees, in general, belong to the glandiferous class, and have ever been held in the highest honour by the Roman people.
 
16 - 3 ACORN OAK. THE CIVIC CROWN M
It is with the leaves of this class of trees that our civic crown is made, the most glorious reward that can be bestowed on military valour, and, for this long time past, the emblem of the imperial clemency; since the time, in fact, when, after the impiety of civil war, it was first deemed a meritorious action not to shed the blood of a fellow-citizen. Far inferior to this in rank are the mural crown, the vallar, and the golden one, superior though they may be in the value of the material: inferior, too, in merit, is the rostrate crown, though ennobled, in recent times more particularly, by two great names, those of M. Varro, who was presented with it by Pompeius Magnus, for his great achievements in the Piratic War, and of M. Agrippa, on whom it was bestowed by Cæsar, at the end of the Sicilian War, which was also a war against pirates.
In former days the beaks of vessels, fastened in front of the tribunal, graced the Forum, and seemed, as it were, a crown placed upon the head of the Roman people itself. In later times, however, they began to be polluted and trodden under foot amid the seditious movements of the tribunes, the public interest was sacrificed to private advantage, each citizen sought solely his own advancement, and everything looked upon as holy was abandoned to profanation—still, from amid all this, the Rostra emerged once again, and passed from beneath the feet of the citizens to their heads. Augustus presented to Agrippa the rostrate crown, while he himself received the civic crown at the hands of all mankind.
 
16 - 4 ORIGIN OF THE PRESENTATION OF CROWNS M
In ancient times crowns were presented to none but a divinity, hence it is that Homer awards them only to the gods of heaven and to the entire army; but never to an individual, however great his achievements in battle may have been. It is said, too, that Father Liber was the first of all who placed a crown on his head, and that it was made of ivy. In succeeding times, those engaged in sacrifices in honour of the gods began to wear them, the victims being decked with wreaths as well. More recently, again, they were employed in the sacred games; and at the present day they are bestowed on such occasions, not upon the victor, indeed, but upon his country, which receives, it is proclaimed, this crown at his hands. Hence arose the usage of conferring wreaths upon warriors when about to enjoy a triumph, for them to consecrate in the temples: after which it became the custom to present them at our games. It would be a lengthy matter, and, indeed, foreign to the purpose of this work, to enter upon a discussion who was the first Roman that received each kind of crown; in fact, they were acquainted with none but such as were given as the reward of military prowess. It is a well-known fact, however, that this people has more varieties of crowns than those of all other nations put together.
 
16 - 5 PERSONS PRESENTED WITH A CROWN OF LEAVES M
Romulus presented Hostus Hostilius with a crown of leaves, for being the first to enter Fidense. This Hostus was the grandfather of King Tullus Hostilius. P. Decius the elder, the military tribune, was presented with a crown of leaves by the army which had been saved by his valour, under the command of Cornelius Cossus, the consul, in the war with the Samnites. This crown was made at first of the leaves of the holm oak, but afterwards those of the æsculus were preferred, as being a tree sacred to Jupiter: this, however, was soon employed indifferently with the quercus, according as each might happen to present itself, the honourable distinction given to the acorn being the only thing observed. Rigorous laws were, however, enacted, to maintain the lofty glories of this wreath, by which it was placed upon an equality even with the supreme honours of the wreath that is given by Greece in presence of Jove himself, and to receive which the exulting city of the victor is wont to break a passage through its very walls. These laws are to the effect that the life of a fellow-citizen must be preserved, and an enemy slain; that the spot where this takes place must have been held by the enemy that same day; that the person saved shall admit the fact, other witnesses being of no use at all; and that the person saved shall have been a Roman citizen.
To preserve an ally merely, even though it should be the life of a king that is so saved, confers no right to this high reward, nor is the honour at all increased, even if it is the Roman general that has been thus preserved, it being the intention of the framers of the law that it should be the status of the citizen that is everything. When a man has received this wreath, it is his privilege to wear it for the rest of his life. When he makes his appearance at the celebration of the games, it is customary for the Senate even to rise from their seats, and he has the right of taking his seat next to the senators. Exemption, too, from all civic duties is conferred upon him as well as his father and his father's father. Siccius Dentatus, as we have already mentioned on an appropriate occasion, received fourteen civic crowns, and Manlius Capitolinus six, one, among the rest, for having saved the life of his general, Servilius. Scipio Africanus declined to accept the civic crown for having saved the life of his father at the battle of Trebia. Times these, right worthy of our everlasting admiration, which accorded honour alone as the reward of exploits so mighty, and which, while other crowns were recommended by being made of gold, disdained to set a price upon the safety of a citizen, and loudly proclaimed thereby that it is unrighteous to save the life of a man for motives of lucre.
 
16 - 6 THIRTEEN VARIETIES OF THE ACORN M
It is a well-known fact that acorns at this very day constitute the wealth of many nations, and that, too, even amid these times of peace. Sometimes, also, when there is a scarcity of corn they are dried and ground, the meal being employed for making a kind of bread. Even to this very day, in the provinces of Spain, we find the acorn introduced at table in the second course: it is thought to be sweeter when roasted in the ashes. By the law of the Twelve Tables, there is a provision made that it shall be lawful for a man to gather his acorns when they have fallen upon the land of another.
The varieties of the glandiferous trees are numerous, and they are found to differ in fruit, locality, sex, and taste; the acorn of the beech having one shape, that of the quercus another, and that, again, of the holm-oak another. The various species also, among themselves, offer a considerable number of varieties. In addition to this, some of these trees are of a wild nature, while the fruits of others are of a less acrid flavour, owing to a more careful cultivation. Then, too, there is a difference between the varieties which grow on the mountains and those of the plains; the males differ from the females, and there are considerable modifications in the flavour of their fruit. That of the beech is the sweetest of all; so much so, that, according to Cornelius Alexander, the people of the city of Chios, when besieged, supported themselves wholly on mast. The different varieties cannot possibly be distinguished by their respective names, which vary according to their several localities. The quercus and the robur we see growing everywhere, but not so with the æsculus; while a fourth kind, known as the cerrus, is not so much as known throughout the greater part of Italy. We shall distinguish them, therefore, by their characteristic features, and when circumstances render it necessary, shall give their Greek names as well.
 
16 - 7 BEECH M
The acorn of the beech is similar in appearance to a kernel, enclosed in a shell of triangular shape. The leaf is thin and one of the very lightest, is similar in appearance to that of the poplar, and turns yellow with remarkable rapidity. From the middle of the leaf, and upon the upper side of it, there mostly shoots a little green berry, with a pointed top. The beech is particularly agreeable to rats and mice; and hence it is, that where this tree abounds, those creatures are sure to be plentiful also. The leaves are also very fattening for dormice, and good for thrushes too. Almost all trees bear an average crop but once in two years; this is the case with the beech more particularly.
 
16 - 8 OTHER ACORNS-WOOD FOR FUEL M
The other trees that bear acorns, properly so called, are the robur, the æsculus, the cerrus, the holm-oak, and the corktree: it is contained in a rivelled calyx, which embraces more or less of it, according to the several varieties. The leaves of these trees, those of the holm-oak excepted, are weighty, pulpy, long, and jagged at the edges, and they do not turn yellow before they fall, as with the beech: they are also longer or shorter, as the case may be.
There are two kinds of holm-oak: one of them, which belongs to Italy, has a leaf not very unlike that of the olive; some of the Greeks give it the name of "milax," and in our provinces it is known as the aquifolia. The acorn of these two kinds is shorter and more slender than in the others: Homer calls it "acylos," and by that name distinguishes it from the ordinary acorn: it is generally said that the male tree of the holm-oak bears no fruit. The best acorn, and the very largest, is that which grows upon the quercus, and the next to it is the fruit of the aæscu- lus: that of the robur, again, is diminutive, and the fruit of the cerrus has a meagre, wretched look, being enclosed in a calyx covered with prickles, like the outer coat of the chesnut. With reference to the acorn of the quercus, that which grows upon the female tree is sweeter and more tender, while that of the male is more solid and compact. The acorn, however, of the latifolia is the most esteemed, an oak so called from the remarkable broadness of its leaves. The acorns differ also among themselves in size, and the comparative fineness of the outer shell; as also in the circumstance that some have beneath the shell a rough coat of a rusty colour, while in others a white flesh immediately presents itself. Those, too, are more particularly esteemed, the two extremities of the nut of which, taken lengthwise, are as hard as a stone: and it is considered preferable that this peculiarity should present itself rather in the shell than in the flesh: in either case, however, it only exists in the fruit of the male tree. In some kinds, again, the acorn is oval, in others round; while in others it is of a more pointed form. The colour, too, varies considerably, according as it is blacker or whiter; this last being held in the highest esteem. The extremities of the acorn are bitter, but the flesh in the middle of it is sweet; another difference, too, consists in the comparative length or shortness of the stalk. As for the trees themselves, the one that bears the acorn of largest size is known as the "hemeris;" a small tree with a thick bushy foliage all around it, and often hollowed at the place where the branch is joined to the trunk. The quercus has a stronger wood, and less susceptible of decay: this also is a very branchy tree, but is much taller than the last, while the trunk is considerably thicker. The ægilops, however, is the highest of them all, and is much attached to wild, uncultivated spots. Next to this in height is the latifolia, but its wood is far from being so useful either for building purposes or for charcoal. When rough-hewn it is very apt to spoil, hence it is that it is generally used in an unhewn state. As charcoal, it is considered only economical in smelting copper; for the moment the workman ceases to blow, the fire dies out, and hence it requires to be repeatedly rekindled; while at the same time it gives out great quantities of sparks. The best charcoal is that obtained from the wood of young trees. Square billets of wood, newly cut, are piled compactly together with clay, and built up in the form of a chimney; the pile is then set fire to, and incisions are made in the coat of clay as it gradually hardens, by the aid of long poles, for the purpose of letting the moisture of the wood evaporate. The worst kind of all, however, both for timber and for making charcoal, is the oak known as the "haliphlœos," the bark of which is remarkably thick, and the trunk of considerable size, but mostly hollow and spongy: it is the only one of this species that rots while the tree is still alive. In addition to this, it is very frequently struck by lightning, although it is not so remarkably lofty in height: for this reason it is not considered lawful to employ its wood for the purposes of sacrifice. It is but rarely that it bears any acorns, and when it does they are bitter: no animal will touch them, with the sole exception of swine, and not even they, if they can get any other food. An additional reason also for its exclusion from all religious ceremonials, is the circumstance that the fire is very apt to go out in the middle of the sacrifice when the wood of it is used for fuel. The acorn of the beech, when given to swine, makes them brisk and lively, and renders the flesh tender for cooking, and light and easy of digestion; while, on the other hand, that of the holm oak has the effect of making them thin, pallid, meagre, and lumpish. The acorn of the quercus is of a broad shape, and is the heaviest as well as the sweetest of them all. According to Nigidius, the acorn of the cerrus occupies the next rank to this, and, indeed, there is no acorn that renders the flesh of swine more firm, though at the same time it is apt to impart a certain degree of hardness. The same author assures us also, that the acorn of the holm oak is a trying diet for swine, unless it is given in very small quan- tities at a time. He says, too, that this acorn is the last to fall, and that the flesh of swine, if fed upon the acorns of the æsculus, the robur, or the cork-tree, will be of a spongy nature.
 
16 - 9 GALL-NUT M
All the glandiferous trees produce the gall-nut as well: they only bear acorns, however, in alternate years. The gallnut of the hemeris is considered the choicest of all, and the best adapted for the preparation of leather: that of the latifolia closely resembles it, but is somewhat lighter, and not by any means so highly approved. This last tree produces the black gall-nut also—for there are two varieties of it—this last being deemed preferable for dyeing wool.
(.) The gall-nut begins to grow just as the sun is leaving the sign of Gemini, and always bursts forth in its entirety in a single night. The white variety grows, too, in a single day, but if the heat happens to overtake it, it shrinks immediately, and never arrives at its proper size, which is about that of a bean. The black gall-nut will remain green for a longer period, and sometimes attains the size of an apple even. The best kind is that which comes from Commagene, and the most inferior are those produced by the robur: it may easily be tested by means of certain holes in it which admit of the passage of the light.
 
16 - 10 OTHER PRODUCTIONS ON THESE TREES BESIDES THE ACORN M
The robur, in addition to its fruit, has a great number of other productions: it bears the two varieties of the gall-nut, and a production which closely resembles the mulberry, except that it differs from it in being dry and hard: for the most part it bears a resemblance to a bull's head, and in the inside there is a fruit very similar to the stone of the olive. Little balls also are found growing on the robur, not unlike nuts in appearance, and containing within them a kind of soft wool, which is used for burning in lamps; for it will keep burning without oil, which is the case also with the black gall-nut. It bears another kind, too, of little ball, covered with hair, but used for no purpose: in spring, however, this contains a juice like honey. In the hollows formed by the union of the trunk and branches of this tree there are found also small round balls, which adhere bodily to the bark, and not by means of a stalk: at the point of junction they are white, but the rest of the body is spotted all over with black: inside they are of a scarlet colour, but on opening them they are found to be empty, and are of a bitter taste.
Sometimes, too, the robur bears a kind of pumice, as well as little balls, which are formed of the leaves rolled up; upon the veins of the leaves, too, there are watery pustules, of a whitish hue, and transparent while they are soft; in these a kind of gnat is produced, and they come to maturity just in the same way that the ordinary gall-nut does.
 
16 - 11 CACHRYS M
The robur bears cachrys, too; such being the name given to a small round ball that is employed in medicine for its caustic properties. It grows on the fir likewise, the larch, the pitch-tree, the linden, the nut-tree, and the plane, and remains on the tree throughout the winter, after the leaves have fallen. It contains a kernel very similar to that of the pinenut, and increases in size during the winter. In spring the ball opens throughout, and it finally drops when the leaves are beginning to grow.
Such is the multiplicity of the products borne by the robur in addition to its acorns; and not only these, but mushrooms as well, of better or worse quality, the most recent stimulants that have been discovered for the appetite; these last are found growing about its roots. Those of the quercus are the most highly esteemed, while those of the robur, the cypress, and the pine are injurious. The robur produces mistletoe also, and, if we may believe Hesiod, honey as well: indeed, it is a well-known fact, that a honey-like dew falling from heaven, as we have already mentioned, deposits itself upon the leaves of this tree in preference to those of any other. It is also well known that the wood of this tree, when burnt, produces a nitrous ash.
 
16 - 12 KERMES BERRY M
The helm oak, however, by its scarlet berry alone challenges competition with all these manifold productions. This grain appears at first sight to be a roughness on the surface of the tree, as it were, a small kind of the aquifolia variety of holm oak, known as the cusculium. To the poor in Spain it furnishes the means of paying one half of their tribute. We have already, when speaking of the purple of the murex, mentioned the best methods adopted for using it. It is produced also in Galatia, Africa, Pisidia, and Cilicia: the most inferior kind is that of Sardinia.
 
16 - 13 AGARIC M
It is in the Gallic provinces more particularly that the glandiferous trees produce agaric; such being the name given to a white fungus which has a strong odour, and is very useful as an antidote. It grows upon the top of the tree, and gives out a brilliant light at night: this, indeed, is the sign by which its presence is known, and by the aid of this light it may be gathered during the night. The ægilops is the only one among the glandiferous trees that bears a kind of dry cloth, covered with a white mossy shag, and this, not only attached to the bark, but hanging down from the branches as well, a cubit even in length: this substance has a strong odour, as we have already stated, when speaking of the perfumes.
The cork is but a very small tree, and its acorn is of the very worst quality, and rarely to be found as well: the bark is its only useful product, being remarkably thick, and if removed it will grow again. When straitened out, it has been known to form planks as much as ten feet square. This substance is employed more particularly attached as a buoy to the ropes of ships' anchors and the drag-nets of fishermen. It is employed also for the bungs of casks and as a material for the winter shoes of females; for which reason the Greeks not inappropriately call them "the bark of a tree." There are some writers who speak of it as the female of the holm oak; and in the countries where the holm does not grow, they substitute for it the wood of the cork-tree, more particularly in cartwrights' work, in the vicinity of Elis and Lacedæmon for instance. The cork-tree does not grow throughout the whole of Italy, and in no part whatever of Gaul.
 
16 - 14 TREES OF WHICH THE BARK IS USED M
The bark also of the beech, the lime, the fir, and the pitch-tree is extensively used by the peasantry. Panniers and baskets are made of it, as also the large flat hampers which are employed for the carriage of corn and grapes: roofs of cottages, too, are made of this material. When a spy has been sent out he often leaves information for his general, written upon fresh bark, by cutting letters in the parts of it that are the most juicy. The bark of the beech is also employed for religious purposes in certain sacred rites. This tree, however, when deprived of its bark, will not survive.
 
16 - 15 SHINGLES M
The best shingles are those made of the wood of the robur; the next best being those furnished by the other glandiferous trees and the beech. Those most easily made are cut from the wood of the resinous trees, but they do not last, with the exception of those made of pine. Cornelius Nepos informs us, that Rome was roofed solely with shingles down to the time of the war with Pyrrhus, a period of four hundred and seventy years. It is well known that it was remarkable for the fine forests in its vicinity. Even at the present day, the name of Jupiter Fagutalus points out in what locality there stood a grove of beeches; the Querquetulan Gate shows where the quercus once stood, and the Viminal Hill is the spot where the "vimen" was sought in ancient times. In many other parts, too, there were groves to be found, and sometimes as many as two. Q. Hortensius, the Dictator, on the secession of the plebeians to the Janiculum, passed a law in the Æsculetum, that what the plebeians had enacted should be binding upon every Roman citizen.
 
16 - 16 PINE M
In those days they regarded as exotics, because they did not exist in the vicinity of the City, the pine and the fir, as well as all the other varieties that produce pitch; of which we shall now proceed to speak, in order that the method of seasoning wine, from the very first, may be fully known. Whereas there are several among the trees already mentioned in Asia or the East, that produce pitch, in Europe there are but six varieties of kindred trees that supply it. In this number there are the pine and the pinaster, which have long thin leaves like hair, and pointed at the end. The pine yields the least resin of them all: in the pine nut, indeed, of which we have previously spoken, it is sometimes to be found, but hardly in sufficient quantities to warrant us in reckoning the pine among the resinous trees.
 
16 - 17 PINASTER M
The pinaster is nothing else but a wild pine: it rises to a surprising height, and throws out branches from the middle, just as the pine does from the top. This tree yields a more copious supply of resin than the pine: the mode in which this is done we shall set forth on a future occasion. It grows also in flat countries. Many people think that this is the same tree that grows along the shores of Italy, and is known as the "tibulus;" but this last is slender, and more com- pact than the pine; it is likewise free from knots, and hence is used in the construction of light gallies; they are both almost entirely destitute of resin.
 
16 - 18 PITCH-TREE: THE FIR M
The pitch-tree loves the mountain heights and cold localities. This is a funereal tree, and, as an emblem of death, is placed before the door of the deceased, and is left to grow in the vicinity of the funeral pile. Still, however, it is now some time since it was admitted into our gardens, in consequence of the facility with which it is clipped into various shapes. It gives out considerable quantities of resin, which is intermingled with white granulations like pearls, and so similar in appearance to frankincense, that when mixed, it is impossible to distinguish them; hence the adulterations we find practised in the Seplasia. All this class of trees have a short bristly leaf, thick and hard, like that of the cypress. The branches of the pitch-tree are of moderate size, and extend from almost the very root of the tree, adhering to the sides like so many arms: the same is the case with the fir, the wood of which is held in great esteem for ship-building.
This tree grows upon the summits of lofty mountains, as though, in fact, it had an antipathy to the sea, and it does not at all differ from the pitch-tree in appearance: the wood is also very highly esteemed for the construction of rafters, and many other appliances of life. A flow of resin, which in the pitch-tree constitutes its great merit, is looked upon as a defect in the fir, though it will generally exude in some small quantity on exposure of the wood, to the action of the sun. On the other hand, the wood which in the fir-tree is remarkably fine, in the pitch-tree is only used for making shingles, vats, and a few other articles of joiners' work.
 
16 - 19 LARCH: THE TORCH-TREE M
The fifth kind of resinous tree has the same localities, and is very similar in appearance; it is known as the larch. The wood of this tree is far more valuable, being unimpaired by time, and proof against all decay; it is of a reddish colour, and of an acrid smell. Resin flows from this wood in still greater quantities; it is of the colour of honey, more viscous than the other varieties, and never turns hard.
A sixth variety is the torch-tree, properly so called, which gives out more resin than any of the others, with the exception of the pitch-tree; but its resin is more liquid than that of this last. The wood, too, of this tree is more particularly employed for kindling fires and giving torch-light in religious ceremonials. Of this tree it is the male only that bears what is known to the Greeks by the name of "syce," remarkable for its extremely powerful odour. When the larch is changed into the torch-tree, it is a proof that it is in a diseased state. The wood of all these trees, when set fire to, gives out immoderate volumes of sooty smoke, and sputters every now and then with a sudden crackling noise, while it sends out red-hot charcoal to a considerable distance—with the sole exception of that of the larch, which will neither burn nor char, nor, in fact, suffer any more from the action of fire than a stone. All these trees are evergreens, and are not easily distinguished by the foliage, even by those who are best acquainted with them, so nearly related are they to one another. The pitch- tree, however, is not so high as the larch; which, again, is stouter, and has a smoother back, with a more velvety leaf, more unctuous to the touch, thicker, and more soft and flexible. The pitch-tree, again, has a leaf more sparsely scattered and drier; it is thinner also, and of a colder nature, rougher all over in appearance, and covered with a resinous deposit: the wood of this tree is most like that of the fir. The larch, when the roots are once burnt, will not throw out fresh shoots, which the pitch-tree will do, as was found to be the case in the island of Lesbos, after the Pyrrhæan grove had been burnt there. In the same species too, the variety of sex is found to constitute a considerable difference: the male is the shorter tree; and has a harder wood; while the female is taller, and bears a leaf more unctuous to the feel, smooth and free from all rigidity. The wood of the male tree is hard and awry, and consequently not so well suited for carpenters' work; while that of the female is softer, as may be very easily perceived on the application of the axe, a test, in fact, which, in every variety, immediately shows us which trees are males; the axe in such case meeting with a greater resistance, falling with a louder noise, and being withdrawn from the wood with considerably greater difficulty: the wood of the male tree is more parched too, and the root is of a blacker hue. In the vicinity of Mount Ida, in Troas, the circumstance whether the tree grows in the mountain districts or on the sea-shore, makes another considerable difference. In Macedonia and Arcadia, and in the neighbourhood of Elis, the names of the several varieties have been totally altered, and it has not been agreed by authors which name ought to be given to each: we have, therefore, contented ourselves with employing the Roman denominations solely. The fir is the largest of them all, the female being the taller of the two; the wood, too, is softer and more easily worked. This tree is of a rounder form than the others, and its leaves are closely packed and feathered, so as not to admit of the passage of rain; the appearance, too, of the tree is altogether more cheerful. From the branches of these different varieties, with the sole exception of the larch, there hang numbers of scaly nuts of compact shape, like so many catkins. The nuts found upon the male fir have a kernel in the fore-part, which is not the case with those on the female tree. In the pitch-tree, again, these kernels, which are very small and black, occupy the whole of the catkin, which is smaller and more slender than in the other varieties; hence it is that the Greeks call this tree by the name of phthirophoron. In this tree, too, the nuts on the male are more compressed, and less moist with resin.
 
16 - 20 YEW M
Not to omit any one of them, the yew is similar to these other trees in general appearance. It is of a colour, however, but slightly approaching to green, and of a slender form; of sombre and ominous aspect, and quite destitute of juice: it is the only one, too, among them all, that bears a berry. In the male tree the fruit is injurious; indeed, in Spain more particularly, the berries contain a deadly poison. It is an ascertained fact that travellers' vessels, made in Gaul of this wood, for the purpose of holding wine, have caused the death of those who used them. Sextius says, that in Greece this tree is known by the name of "smilax, "and that in Arcadia it is possessed of so active a poison, that those who sleep beneath it, or even take food there, are sure to meet their death from it. There are authors, also, who assert that the poisons which we call at the present day "toxica," and in which arrows are dipped, were formerly called taxica, from this tree. It has been discovered, also, that these poisonous qualities are quite neutralized by driving a copper nail into the wood of the tree.
 
16 - 21 METHODS OF MAKING TAR—HOW CEDRIUM IS MADE M
In Europe, tar is extracted from the torch-tree by the agency of fire; it is employed for coating ships and for many other useful purposes. The wood of the tree is chopped into small billets, and then put into a furnace, which is heated by fires lighted on every side. The first steam that exudes flows in the form of water into a reservoir made for its reception: in Syria this substance is known as "cedrium;" and it possesses such remarkable strength, that in Egypt the bodies of the dead, after being steeped in it, are preserved from all corruption.
 
16 - 22 METHODS BY WHICH THICK PITCH IS PREPARED M
The liquid that follows is of a thicker consistency, and constitutes pitch, properly so called. This liquid, thrown again into a brazen cauldron, and mixed with vinegar, becomes still thicker, and when left to coagulate, receives the name of "Bruttian" pitch. It is used, however, only for pitching the insides of dolia and other vessels, it differing from the other kinds in being more viscous, of a redder colour, and more unctuous than is usually the case. All these varieties of pitch are prepared from the pitch-tree, by putting red-hot stones, with the resinous wood, in troughs made of strong oak; or if these troughs are not attainable, by piling up billets of the wood in the method employed for the manufacture of charcoal. It is this pitch that is used for seasoning wine, being first pounded and reduced to a fine powder: it is of a blacker colour, too, than the other sort. The same resin, if boiled gently with water, and then strained off, becomes viscous, and assumes a red colour; it is then known as "distilled" pitch:" for making this, the refuse portions of the resin and the bark of the tree are generally selected.
Another method is adopted for the manufacture of that used as crapula. Raw flower of resin is taken, direct from the tree, with a plentiful sprinkling of small, thin chips of the wood. These are then pounded down and passed through a sieve, after which they are steeped in water, which is heated till it comes to a boil. The unctuous portion that is extracted from this is the best resin: it is but rarely to be met with, and then only in a few places in Italy, in the vicinity of the Alps: it is in considerable request for medicinal purposes. For this, they generally boil a congius of white resin to two congii of rain-water: some persons, however, think it better to boil it without water for one whole day by a slow fire, taking care to use a vessel of white copper. Some, again, are in the habit of boiling the resin of the terebinth in a flat pan placed upon hot ashes, and prefer it to any other kind. The resin of the mastich is held in the next degree of estimation.
 
16 - 23 HOW THE RESIN CALLED ZOPISSA IS PREPARED M
We must not omit, too, that the Greeks call by the name of zopissa the pitch mixed with wax which has been scraped from off the bottoms of sea-going ships; for there is nothing, in fact, that has been left untried by mankind. This composition is found much more efficient for all those purposes in which pitch and resin are employed, in consequence of the superior hardness which has been imparted to it by the sea-salt.
The pitch-tree is opened on the side that faces the sun, not by means of an incision, but of a wound made by the removal of the bark: this opening being generally two feet in width and one cubit from the ground, at the very least. The body of the tree, too, is not spared in this instance, as in others, for even the very chips from off it are considered as having their use; those, however, from the lower part of the tree are looked upon as the best, the wood of the higher parts giving the resin a bitter taste. In a short time all the resinous juices of the entire tree come to a point of confluence in the wound so inflicted: the same process is adopted also with the torch-tree. When the liquid ceases to flow, the tree is opened in a similar manner in some other part, and then, again, elsewhere: after which the whole tree is cut down, and the pith of it is used for burning. So, too, in Syria they take the bark from off the terebinth; and, indeed, in those parts they do not spare even the root or branches, although in general the resin obtained from those parts is held in disesteem. In Macedonia they subject the whole of the male larch to the action of fire, but of the female only the roots. Theopompus has stated in his writings that in the territory of the Apolloniates there is found a kind of mineral pitch, not inferior to that of Macedonia. The best pitch everywhere is that obtained from trees planted on sunny spots with a north-east aspect; while that which is produced from more shaded localities has a disagreeable look and a repulsive odour. Pitch, too, that is produced amid the cold of winter is of inferior quality, being in smaller quantity, too, and comparatively colourless. Some persons are of opinion that in mountainous localities this liquid is produced in the greatest abundance, and that it is of superior colour and of a sweeter taste and has a finer smell so long as it remains in a state of resin; but that when, on the other hand, it is subjected to boiling, it yields a smaller quantity of pitch, because so much of it goes off in a serous shape. They say that the resinous trees, too, that grow on mountains are thinner than those that are found on plains, but that they are apt, both of them, to be unproductive in clear, dry weather. Some trees, too, afford a flow of resinous juice the year after the incision is made, some, again, in the second year, and others in the third. The wound so made is filled with resin, but not with bark, or by the cicatrization of the outer coat; for the bark in this tree never unites. Among these varieties some authors have made the sappium to constitute a peculiar kind, because it is produced from the seed of a kindred variety, as we have already stated when speaking of the nuts of trees; and they have given the name of tæda to the lower parts of the tree; although in reality this tree is nothing else but a pitch-tree, which by careful cultivation has lost some small portion of its wild character. The name "sappinus" is also given to the timber of these trees when cut, as we shall have occasion to mention hereafter.
 
16 - 24 TREES THE WOOD OF WHICH IS HIGHLY VALUED. FOUR VARIETIES OF THE ASH M
It is for the sake of their timber that Nature has created the other trees, and more particularly the ash, which yields it in greater abundance. This is a tall, tapering tree, with a feather-like leaf: it has been greatly ennobled by the encomiums of Homer, and the fact that it formed the spear of Achilles: the wood of it is employed for numerous purposes. The ash which grows upon Mount Ida, in Troas, is so extremely like the cedar, that, when the bark is removed, it will deceive a purchaser.
The Greeks have distinguished two varieties of this tree, the one long and without knots, the other short, with a harder wood, of a darker colour, and a leaf like that of the laurel. In Macedonia they give the name of "bumelia" to an ash of remarkably large size, with a wood of extreme flexibility. Some authors have divided this tree into several varieties, ac- cording to the localities which it inhabits, and say that the ash of the plains has a spotted wood, while that of the mountain ash is more compact. Some Greek writers have stated hat the leaf of the ash is poisonous to beasts of burden, but harmless to all the animals that ruminate The leaves of his tree in Italy, however, are not injurious to beasts of burden even; so far from it, in fact, that nothing has been found to act as so good a specific for the bites of serpents as to drink the juice extracted from the leaves, and to apply them to the wounds. So great, too, are the virtues of this tree, that no serpent will ever lie in the shadow thrown by it, either in the morning or the evening, be it ever so long; indeed, they will always keep at the greatest possible distance from it. We state the fact from ocular demonstration, that if a serpent and a lighted fire are placed within a circle formed of the leaves of the ash, the reptile will rather throw itself into the fire than encounter the leaves of the tree. By a wonderful provision of Nature, the ash has been made to blossom before the serpents leave their holes, and the fall of its leaf does not take place till after they have retired for the winter.
 
16 - 25 TWO VARIETIES OF THE LINDEN-TREE M
In the linden-tree the male and the female are totally different. In the male the wood is hard and knotty, of a redder hue, and with a stronger smell; the bark, too, is thicker, and, when taken off, has no flexibility. The male bears neither seed nor blossom as the female does, the trunk of which is thicker, and the wood white and of excellent quality. It is a singular thing, but no animal will touch the fruit of this tree, although the juice of the leaves and the bark is sweet. Between the bark and the wood there are a number of thin coats, formed by the union of numerous fine membranes; of these they make those bands which are known to us as "tiliæ." The finer membranes are called "philyræ," and are rendered famous by the honourable mention that the ancients have made of them as ribbons for wreaths and garlands. The wood of this tree is proof against the attacks of worms: it is of moderate height only, but of very considerable utility.
 
16 - 26 TEN VARIETIES OF THE MAPLE M
The maple, which is pretty nearly of the same size as the lime, is inferior to the citrus only for the beauty of its wood when employed for cabinet work, and the exquisite finish it admits of. There are numerous varieties of this tree; the light maple, remarkable for the extreme whiteness of its wood, is known as the "Gallic" maple in Italy beyond the Padus, being a native of the countries beyond the Alps. Another kind is covered with wavy spots running in all directions. In consequence of its superior beauty it has received its name, from its strong resemblance to the marks which are seen in the tail of the peacock; the finest kinds are those which grow in Istria and Rhætia. An inferior sort of maple is known as "crassivenium."
The Greeks distinguish the varieties according to their respective localities. The maple of the plains, they say, is white, and not wavy; they give it the name of "glinon." On the other hand, the mountain maple, they say, is of a more variegated appearance, and harder, the wood of the male tree being more particularly so, and the best adapted for spe- cimens of elegant workmanship. A third kind, again, according to the Greeks, is the zygia, with a red wood, which is easily split, and a pale, rough bark. Other authors, however, prefer to make of this last a peculiar species, and give it in Latin the name of "carpinus."
 
16 - 27 BERUSCUM: MOLLUSCUM; THE STAPHYLODENDRON M
But the most beautiful feature of all in the maple is what is known as bruscum, and, even more particularly so, the molluscum. These are both of them tuberosities of this tree, the bruscum presenting veins more violently contorted, while those of the molluscum are disposed in a more simple and uniform manner: indeed, if this last were of sufficiently large size to admit of tables being made of it, there is no doubt that it would be preferred to the wood of the citrus even. At the present day, however, we find it but little used except for the leaves of tablets, or as a veneer for couches. Tuberosities are also found on the alder, but as much inferior to those already mentioned, as the alder itself is to the maple. In the maple the male tree is the first to blossom. The trees that frequent dry spots are preferred to those that grow in watery localities, which is the case also with the ash.
There is found in the countries beyond the Alps a tree, the wood of which is very similar to that of the white maple, and which is known as the staphylodendron. This tree bears a pod in which there is found a kernel, which has the flavour of the hazel-nut.
 
16 - 28 THREE VARIETIES OF THE BOX-TREE M
One of the most highly esteemed of all the woods is the box, but it is seldom veined, and then only the wood of the root. In other respects, it is a wood, so to say, of quiet and unpretending appearance, but highly esteemed for a certain degree of hardness and its pallid hue: the tree, too, is very extensively employed in ornamental gardening. There are three varieties of it: the Gallic box, which is trained to shoot upwards in a pyramidal form, and attains a very considerable height; the oleaster, which is condemned as being utterly worthless, and emits a disagreeable odour; and a third, known as the "Italian" box, a wild variety, in my opinion, which has been improved by cultivation. This last spreads more than the others, and forms a thick hedge: it is an evergreen, and is easily clipped.
The box-tree abounds on the Pyrenean range, the mountains of Cytorus, and the country about Berecynthus. The trunk grows to the largest size in the island of Corsica, and its blossom is by no means despicable; it is this that causes the honey there to be bitter. The seed of the box is held in aversion by all animals. That which grows upon Mount Olympus in Macedonia is not more slender than the other kinds, but the tree is of a more stunted growth. It loves spots exposed to the cold winds and the sun: in fire, too, it manifests all the hardness of iron; it gives out no flame, and is of no use whatever for the manufacture of charcoal.
 
16 - 29 FOUR VARIETIES OF THE ELM M
Midway between the preceding ones and the fruit-trees stands the elm, partaking of the nature of the former in its wood, and being akin to the latter in the friendship which it manifests for the vine. The Greeks distinguish two varieties of this tree: the mountain elm, which is the larger of the two, and that of the plains, which is more shrubby. Italy gives the name of "Atinia" to the more lofty kinds, and gives the preference to those which are of a dry nature and will not grow in damp localities. Another variety is the Gallic elm, and a third, the Italian, with leaves lying closer together, and springing in greater numbers from a single stalk. A fourth kind is the wild elm. The Atinia does not produce any samara, that being the name given to the seed of the elm. All the elms will grow from slips or cuttings, and all of them, with the exception of the Atinia, may be propagated from seed.
 
16 - 30 NATURES OF VARIOUS TREES ACCORDING TO THEIR LOCALITIES: MOUNTAIN TREES, & TREES OF PLAIN M
Having now made mention of the more remarkable trees, it remains for me to state some general facts connected with them all. The cedar, the larch, the torch-tree, and the other resinous trees prefer mountainous localities: the same is the case also with the aquifolia, the box, the holm-oak, the juniper, the terebinth, the poplar, the wild mountain-ash, and the yoke-elm. On the Apennines there is also found a shrub known as the "cotinus," famous for imparting to cloth a purple colour like that of the murex. The fir, the robur, the chesnut, the lime, the holm-oak, and the cornel will grow equally well on mountain or in valley; while the maple, the ash, the service, the linden, and the cherry, more particularly prefer a watery spot on the slope of a hilly declivity. It is not often that we see the plum, the pomegranate, the olive, the walnut, the mulberry, or the elder, growing on an elevated site: the cornel, too, the hazel, the quercus, the wild ash, the maple, the ash, the beech, and the yoke-elm, descend to the plains; while the elm, the apple, the pear, the laurel, the myrtle, the blood-red shrub, the holm-oak, and the brooms that are employed in dyeing cloths, all of them aspire to a more elevated locality.
The sorb, and even still more the birch are fond of a cold site; this last is a native of Gaul, of singular whiteness and slender shape, and rendered terrible as forming the fasces of the magistracy. From its flexibility it is employed also in making circlets and the ribs of panniers. In Gaul, too, they extract a bitumen from it by boiling. To a cold site, also, belongs the thorn, which affords the most auspicious torches of all for the nuptial ceremony; from the circumstance, as Massurius assures us, that the shepherds, on the occasion of the rape of the Sabine women, made their torches of the wood of this tree: at the present day, however, the woods of the yoke-elm and the hazel are more generally employed for this purpose.
 
16 - 31 TREES WHICH GROW ON A DRY SOIL: THOSE WHICH ARE FOUND IN WET LOCALITIES: THOSE WHICH ARE FOUND IN BOTH INDIFFERENTLY M
The cypress, the walnut, the chesnut, and the laburnum, are averse to water. This last tree is also a native of the Alps, and far from generally known: the wood is hard and white, and the flowers, which are a cubit in length, no bee will ever touch. The shrub, too, known as Jupiter's beard, manifests an equal dislike to water: it is often clipped, and is employed in ornamental gardening, being of a round, bushy form, with a silvery leaf. The willow, the alder, the poplar, the siler, and the privet, so extensively employed for making tallies, will only grow in damp, watery places; which is the case also with the vaccinium, grown in Italy for drugging our slaves, and in Gaul for the purpose of dyeing the garments of slaves a purple colour. All those trees which are common to the mountains and the plains, grow to a larger size, and are of more comely appearance when grown on the plains, while those found on the mountains have a better wood and more finely veined, with the exception of the apple and the pear.
 
16 - 32 DIVISION OF TREES INTO VARIOUS SPECIES M
In addition to these particulars, some of the trees lose their leaves, while others, again, are evergreens. Before, however, we treat of this distinction, it will be necessary first to touch upon another. There are some trees that are altogether of a wild nature, while there are others, again, that are more civilized, such being the names by which man has thought fit to distinguish the trees. Indeed, these last, which by their fruits or some other beneficial property, or else by the shade which they afford, show themselves the benefactors of man, are not inappropriately called "civilized" trees.
 
16 - 33 TREES WHICH DO NOT LOSE THEIR FOLIAGE. RHODODOENDRON. TREES WHICH DO NOT LOSE WHOLE OF THEIR FOLIAGE. PLACES IN WHICH THERE ARE NO TREES M
Belonging to this last class, there are the following trees which do not lose their leaves: the olive, the laurel, the palm, the myrtle, the cypress, the pine, the ivy, the rhododendron, and, although it may be rather called a herb than a tree, the savin. The rhododendron, as its name indicates, comes from Greece. By some it is known as the nerium, and by others as the rhododaphne. It is an evergreen, bear- ing a strong resemblance to the rose-tree, and throwing out numerous branches from the stem; to beasts of burden, goats, and sheep it is poisonous, but for man it is an antidote against the venom of serpents.
(.) The following among the forest-trees do not lose their haves: the fir, the larch, the pinaster, the juniper, the cedar, the terebinth, the box, the holm-oak, the aquifolia, the cork, the yew, and the tamarisk. A middle place between the evergreens and those which are not so, is occupied by the an- drachle in Greece, and by the arbutus in all parts of the world; as they lose all their leaves with the exception of those on the top of the tree. Among certain of the shrubs, too, the bramble and the calamus, the leaves do not fall. In the territory of Thurii, where Sybaris formerly stood, from the city there was a single oak to be seen that never lost its leaves, and never used to bud before midsummer: it is a singular thing that this fact, which has been so often alluded to by the Greek writers, should have been passed over in silence by our own. Indeed, so remarkable are the virtues that we find belonging to some localities, that about Memphis in Egypt, and at Ele- phantina, in Thebais, the leaves fall from none of the trees, not the vine even.
 
16 - 34 NATURE OF THE LEAVES WHICH WITHER AND FALL M
All the trees, with the exception of those already men- tioned—a list which it would be tedious to enumerate-lose their leaves, and it has been observed that the leaf does not dry up and wither unless it is thin, broad, and soft; while, on the other hand, the leaves that do not fall are those which are fleshy, thick, and narrow. It is an erroneous theory that the leaf does not fall in those trees the juices of which are more unctuous than the rest; for who could make out that such is the case with the holm-oak, for instance? Timæus, the mathematician, is of opinion that the leaves fall while the sun is passing through the sign of Scorpio, being acted upon by the influences of that luminary, and a certain venom which exists in the atmosphere: but then we have a right to wonder how it is that, the same reasons existing, the same influence is not exercised equally on all.
The leaves of most trees fall in autumn, but in some at a later period, remaining on the tree till the approach of winter, it making no difference whether they have germinated at an earlier period or a later, seeing that some that are the very first to bud are among the last to lose their leaves—the almond, the ash, and the elder, for instance: the mulberry, on the other hand, buds the last of all, and loses its leaves among the very first. The soil, too, exercises a very considerable influence in this respect: the leaves falling sooner where it is dry and thin, and more particularly when the tree is old: indeed, there are many trees that lose them before the fruit is ripe, as in the case of the late fig, for instance, and the winter pear: on the pomegranate, too, the fruit, when ripe, beholds nothing but the trunk of the parent tree. And not even upon those trees which always retain their foliage do the same leaves always remain, for as others shoot up beneath them, the old leaves gradually wither away: this takes place about the solstices more particularly.
 
16 - 35 TREES WHICH HAVE LEAVES OF VARIOUS COLOURS; TREES WITH LEAVES OF VARIOUS SHAPES. THREE VARIETIES OF THE POPLAR M
The leaves continue the same upon every species of tree, with the exception of the poplar, the ivy, and the croton, which we have already mentioned as being called the "cicus."
(.) There are three kinds of poplar; the white, the black, and the one known as the Libyan poplar, with a very diminutive leaf, and extremely black; much esteemed also for the fungi which grow from it. The white poplar has a parti- coloured leaf, white on the upper side and green beneath. This poplar, as also the black variety, and the croton, have a rounded leaf when young, as though it had been described with a pair of compasses, but when it becomes older the leaf throws out angular projections. On the other hand, the leaf of the ivy, which is angular at first, becomes rounder, the older the tree. From the leaves of the poplar there falls a very thick down; upon the white poplar, which, it is said, has a greater quantity of leaves than the others, this down is quite white, resembling locks of wool. The leaves of the pomegranate and the almond are red.
 
16 - 36 LEAVES WHICH TURN ROUND EVERY YEAR M
We find a most remarkable and, indeed, a marvellous peculiarity existing in the elm, the lime, the olive, the white poplar, and the willow; for immediately after the summer solstice the leaves of these trees turn completely round; indeed, we have no sign which indicates with greater certainty that that period has past.
(.) These trees also present in their leaves the same difference that is to be observed in those of all the rest: the underside, which looks towards the ground, is of a green, grassy colour, and has a smooth surface; while the veins, the callous skin, and the articulations, lie upon the upper face, the veins making incisions in the parts beneath, like those to be seen upon the human hand. The leaf of the olive is whiter above, and not so smooth; the same is the case, too, with that of the ivy. The leaves of all trees turn every day towards the sun, the object being that the under side may be warmed by its heat. The upper surface of them all has a down upon it, in however small quantity it may be; in some countries this down is used as a kind of wool.
 
16 - 37 CARE BESTOWED ON LEAVES OF PALM, & USES TO WHICH THEY ARE APPLIED
We have already said that in the East strong ropes are made of the leaves of the palm, and that they are improved by lying in the water. Among ourselves, too, the leaves of the palm are generally plucked immediately after harvest, the best being those that have no divisions in them. These leaves are left to dry under cover for four days, after which they are spread out in the sun, and left out in the open air all night, till they have become quite white and dry: after this they are split before they are put to any use.
 
16 - 38 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH LEAVES M
The broadest leaves are those of the fig, the vine, and the plane; while those of the myrtle, the pomegranate, and the olive are narrow. The leaf of the pine and the cedar is fine and resembles hair, while that of the holly and one variety of the holm oak is prickly-indeed, in the juniper, we find a thorn in place of a leaf. The leaf of the cypress and the tamarisk is fleshy, and that of the alder is remarkable for its thickness. In the reed, the willow, and the palm, the leaf is long, and in the latter tree it is double as well: that of the pear is rounded, and it is pointed in the apple. In the ivy the leaf is angular, and in the plane divided. In the pitch-tree and the fir the leaf is indented like the teeth of a comb; while in the robur it is sinuous on the whole of the outer margin: in the bramble it has a spiny surface. In some plants the leaf has the property of stinging, the nettle for instance; while in the pine, the pitch-tree, the fir, the larch, the cedar, and the holly, it is prickly. In the olive and the holm-oak it has a short stalk, in the vine a long one: in the poplar the stalk of the leaf is always quivering, and the leaves of this tree are the only ones that make a crackling noise when coming in contact with another.
In one variety of the apple-tree we find a small leaf protruding from the very middle of the fruit, sometimes, indeed, a couple of them. Then, again, in some trees the leaves are arranged all round the branches, and in others at the extremities of them, while in the robur they are found upon the trunk itself. They are sometimes thick and close, and at others thinly scattered, which is more particularly the case where the leaf is large and broad. In the myrtle they are symmetrically arranged, in the box, concave, and, upon the apple, scattered without any order or regularity. In the apple and the pear we find several leaves issuing from the same stalk, and in the elm and the cytisus they are covered with ramified veins. To the above particulars Cato adds that the leaves of the poplar and the quercus should not be given to cattle after they have fallen and become withered, and he recommends the leaves of the fig, the holm-oak, and the ivy for oxen: the leaves, too, of the reed and the laurel are sometimes given them to eat. The leaves of the service-tree fall all at once, but in the others only by degrees. Thus much in reference to the leaves.
 
16 - 39 NATURAL ORDER OF THE PRODUCTION OF PLANTS M
The following is the order in which the operations of Nature take place throughout the year. The first is fecundation, which takes place when the west wind begins to prevail, generally about the sixth day before the ides of February. By the agency of this wind all the productions of the earth are impregnated; to such an extent, indeed, that the mares even in Spain are impregnated by it, as we have already stated. This is the generating principle of the universe, and it receives its name of Favonius, as some think, from our word "fovere," which means "to warm and cherish:" it blows from due west at the opening of the spring. The peasantry call this period of the year the "time of heat," because Nature is then longing to receive the seeds of her various productions, and is imparting life to everything that is planted. The vegetables conceive on various days, each according to its respective nature: some immediately, as with animals, others, again, more slowly, carrying with them for a longer period the produce of their conception, a state which has from that circumstance obtained the name of "germination." When the plant flowers, it may be said to bring forth, and the flower makes its appearance by bursting its little capsule, which has acted to it as an uterus. The period of training and education is the growth of the fruit. This, as well as that of germination, is a laborious process.
 
16 - 40 TREES WHICH NEVER BLOSSOM. THE JUNIPER M
The appearance of the blossom bespeaks the arrival of the spring and the birth anew of the year; this blossom is the very pride and delight of the trees. Then it is that they show themselves quite renewed, and altogether different from what they really are; then it is that they quite revel in the contest with each other which shall excel in the various hues and tints which they display. This merit has, however, been denied to many of them; for they do not all blossom, and there are certain sombre trees which do not participate in this joyous season of the year. The holm-oak, the pitch-tree, the larch, and the pine are never bedecked with blossoms, and with them there is no particular forerunner sent forth to announce the yearly birth of their respective fruits. The same is the case, too, with the cultivated and the wild fig, which immediately present their fruit in place of any blossom. Upon the fig, too, it is remarkable that there are abortive fruit to be seen which never ripen.
The juniper, also, is destitute of blossom; some writers, however, distinguish two varieties of it, one of which blossoms but bears no fruit, while the other has no blossom, but presents the berries immediately, which remain on the tree for so long a period as two years: this assertion, however, is utterly fallacious, and all the junipers always present the same sombre appearance. So, too, in life, the fortunes of many men are ever without their time of blossoming.
 
16 - 41 FECUNDATION OF TREES. GERMINATION: APPEARANCE OF FRUIT M
All trees germinate, however, even those which do not blossom. In this respect there is a very considerable difference in relation to the various localities; for in the same species we find that the tree, when planted in a marshy spot, will germinate earlier than elsewhere; next to that, the trees that grow on the plains, and last of all those that are found in the woods: the wild pear, too, is naturally later in budding than the other pears. At the first breath of the west wind the cornel buds, and close upon it the laurel; then, a little before the equinox, we find the lime and the maple germinating. Among the earlier trees, too, are the poplar, the elm, the willow, the alder, and the nut-trees. The plane buds, too, at an early period.
Others, again, germinate at the beginning of spring, the holly, for instance, the terebinth, the paliurus, the chesnut, and the glandiferous trees. On the other hand, the apple is late in budding, and the cork-tree the very last of all. Some trees germinate twice, whether it is that this arises from some exuberant fertility of the soil, or from the inviting temperature of the atmosphere; this takes place more particularly in the several varieties of the cereals. Excessive germination, however, has a tendency to weaken and exhaust the tree. Besides the spring budding, some trees have naturally another budding, which depends upon the influence of their own respective constellations, a theory which we shall find an opportunity of more conveniently discussing in the next Book but one. The winter budding takes place at the rising of the Eagle, the summer at that of the Dog-star, and a third budding again at that of Arcturus. Some persons think that these two buddings are common to all trees, but that they are to be remarked more particularly in the fig, the vine, and the pomegranate; seeing that, when this is the case, the crop of figs, in Thessaly and Macedonia more particularly, is remarkably abundant: but it is in Egypt more especially that illustrations of this vast abundance are to be met with. All the trees in general, when they have once begun to germinate, proceed continuously with it; the robur, however, the fir-tree, and the larch germinate intermittently, ceasing thrice, and as many times beginning to bud again, and hence it is that they shed the scales of their bark three several times; a thing that takes place with all trees during the period of germination, the outer coat of the tree bursting while it is budding. With these last trees the first budding takes places at the beginning of spring, and lasts about fifteen days; and they germinate a second time when the sun is passing through the sign of Gemini: hence it is that we see the points of the first buds pushed upwards by those beneath, a joint marking the place where they unite. The third germination of these trees takes place at the summer solstice, and lasts no more than seven days: at this period we may very distinctly detect the articulations by which the buds are joined to one another as they grow. The vine is the only tree that buds twice; the first time when it first puts forth the grape, and the second time when the grape comes to maturity. In the trees which do not blossom there is only the budding, and then the gradual ripen- ing of the fruit. Some trees blossom while they are budding, and pass rapidly through that period; but the fruit is slow in coming to maturity, as in the vine, for instance. Other trees, again, blossom and bud but late, while the fruit comes to maturity with great rapidity, the mulberry, for example, which is the very last to bud of all the cultivated trees, and then only when the cold weather is gone: for this reason it has been pronounced the wisest among the trees. But in this, the germination, when it has once begun, bursts forth all over the tree at the very same moment; so much so, indeed, that it is accomplished in a single night, and even with a noise that may be audibly heard.
 
16 - 42 IN WHAT ORDER THE TREES BLOSSOM M
Of the trees which, as we have already stated, bud in winter at the rising of the Eagle, the almond blossoms the first of all, in the month of January namely, while by March the fruit is well developed. Next to it in blossoming is the plum of Armenia, and then the tuber and the early peach, the first two being exotics, and the latter forced by the agency of cultivation. Among the forest trees, the first that blossoms in the course of nature is the elder, which has the most pith of any, and the male cornel, which has none at all. Among the cultivated trees we next have the apple, and immediately after —so much so, indeed, that it would almost appear that they blossom simultaneously—the pear, the cherry, and the plum. Next to these is the laurel, and then the cypress, and after that the pomegranate and the fig: the vine, too, and the olive are budding when these last trees are in flower, the period of their conception being the rising of the Vergiliæ, that being their constellation. As for the vine, it blossoms at the summer solstice, and the olive begins to do so a little later. All blossoms remain on the trees seven days, and never fall sooner; some, indeed, fall later, but none remain on more than twice seven days. The blossoms are always off before the eighth day of the ides of July, the period of the prevalence of the Etesian winds.
 
16 - 43 AT WHAT PERIOD EACH TREE BEARS FRUIT. THE CORNEL M
Upon some trees the fruit does not follow immediately upon the fall of the blossom. The cornel about the summer solstice puts forth a fruit that is white at first, and after that the colour of blood. The female of this tree, after autumn, bears a sour berry, which no animal will touch; its wood, too, is spongy and quite useless, while, on the other hand, that of the male tree is one of the very strongest and hardest woods known: so great a difference do we find in trees belonging to the same species. The terebinth, the maple, and the ash produce their seed at harvest-time, while the nut-trees, the apple, and the pear, with the exception of the winter or the more early kinds, bear fruit in autumn. The glandiferous trees bear at a still later period, the setting of the Vergiliæ, with the exception of the æsculus, which bears in the autumn only; while some kinds of the apple and the pear, and the cork-tree, bear fruit at the beginning of winter.
The fir puts forth blossoms of a saffron colour about the summer solstice, and the seed is ripe just after the setting of the Vergiliæ. The pine and the pitch-tree germinate about fifteen days before the fir, but their seed is not ripe till after the setting of the Vergiliæ.
 
16 - 44 TREES WHICH BEAR WHOLE YEAR. TREES WHICH HAVE ON THEM FRUIT OF 3 YEARS M
The citron-tree, the juniper, and the holm-oak are looked upon as having fruit on them the whole year through, and upon these trees we see the new fruit hanging along with that of the preceding year. The pine, however, is the most remarkable of them all; for it has upon it at the same moment the fruit that is hastening to maturity, the fruit that is to come to maturity in the ensuing year, and the fruit that is to ripen the next year but one. Indeed, there is no tree that is more eager to develope its resources; for in the same month in which a nut is plucked from it, another will ripen in the same place; the arrangement being such, that there is no month in which the nuts of this tree are not ripening. Those nuts which split while still upon the tree, are known by the name of azaniæ; they are productive of injury to the others, if not removed.
 
16 - 45 TREES WHICH BEAR NO FRUIT: TREES LOOKED UPON AS ILL-OMENED M
The only ones among all the trees that bear nothing whatever, not so much as any seed even, are the tamarisk, which is used only for making brooms, the poplar, the alder, the Atinian elm, and the alaternus, which has a leaf between that of the holm-oak and the olive. Those trees are regarded as sinister, and are considered inauspicious, which are never propagated from seed, and bear no fruit. Cremutius informs us, that this tree, being the one upon which Phyllis hanged herself, is never green. Those trees which produce a gum open of themselves after germination: the gum never thickens until after the fruit has been removed.
 
16 - 46 TREES WHICH LOSE THEIR FRUIT OR FLOWERS MOST READILY M
Young trees are unproductive so long as they are growing. The fruits which fall most readily before they come to maturity are the date, the fig, the almond, the apple, the pear, and the pomegranate, which last tree is also very apt to lose its blossom through excessive dews and hoar frosts. For this reason it is, too, that the growers bend the branches of the pomegranate, lest, from being straight, they may receive and retain the moisture that is so injurious to them. The pear and the almond, even if it should not rain, but a south wind happen to blow or the weather become cloudy, are apt to lose their blossoms, and their first fruit as well, if, after the blossom has fallen, there is a continuance of such weather. But it is the willow that loses its seed the most speedily of all, long, indeed, before it is ripe; hence it is that Homer has given it the epithet of "fruit- losing." Succeeding ages, however, have given to this term an interpretation conformable to their own wicked practices, it being a well-known fact that the seed of the willow has the effect of producing barrenness in females. In this respect, however, Nature has employed her usual foresight, bestowing but little care upon the seed of a tree which is produced so easily, and propagated by slips. There is, however, it is said, one variety of willow, the seed of which arrives at maturity: it is found in the Isle of Crete, at the descent from the grotto of Jupiter: the seed is unsightly and ligneous, and in size about as large as a chick-pea.
 
16 - 47 TREES WHICH ARE UNPRODUCTIVE IN CERTAIN PLACES M
Certain trees also become unproductive, owing to some fault in the locality, such, for instance, as a coppice-wood in the island of Paros, which produces nothing at all: in the Isle of Rhodes, too, the peach-trees never do anything more than blossom. This distinction may arise also from the sex; and when such is the case, it is the male tree that never produces. Some authors, however, making a transposition, assert that it is the male trees only that are prolific. Barrenness may also arise from a tree being too thickly covered with leaves.
 
16 - 48 MODE IN WHICH TREES BEAR M
Some among the fruit-trees bear on both the sides of the branches and the summit, the pear, for instance, the fig-tree, and the myrtle. In other respects the trees are pretty nearly of a similar nature to the cereals, for in them we find the ear growing from the summit, while in the leguminous varieties the pod grows from the sides. The palm, as we have already stated, is the only one that has fruit hanging down in bunches enclosed in capsules.
 
16 - 49 TREES IN WHICH FRUIT APPEARS BEFORE LEAVES M
The other trees, again, bear their fruit beneath the leaves, for the purpose of protection, with the exception of the fig, the leaf of which is very large, and gives a great abundance of shade; hence it is that we find the fruit placed above it; in addition to which, the leaf makes its appearance after the fruit. There is said to be a remarkable peculiarity connected with one species of fig that is found in Cilicia, Cyprus, and Hellas; the fruit grows beneath the leaves, while at the same time the green abortive fruit, that never reaches maturity, is seen growing on the top of them. There is also a tree that produces an early fig, known to the Athenians by the name of " prodro- mos." In the Laconian varieties of this fruit more particularly, we find trees that bear two crops in the year.
 
16 - 50 TREES THAT BEAR TWO CROPS IN A YEAR. TREES THAT BEAR THREE CROPS M
In the island of Cea there are wild figs that bear three times in one year. By the first crop the one that succeeds is summoned forth, and by that the third. It is by the agency of this last crop that caprification is performed. In the wild fig, too, the fruit grows on the opposite side of the leaves. There are some pears and apples, too, that bear two crops in the year, while there are some early varieties also. The wild apple bears twice in the year, its second crop coming on after the rising of Arcturus, in sunny localities more particularly. There are vines, too, that will even bear three times in the year, a circumstance that has procured for them the name of "frantic" vines. On these we see grapes just ripening, others beginning to swell, and others, again, in blossom, all at the same moment.
M. Varro informs us, that there was formerly at Smyrna, near the Temple of the Mother of the Gods, a vine that bore two crops in the year, as also an apple-tree of a similar nature in the territory of Consentia. This, however, is constantly to be witnessed in the territory of Tacapa, in Africa, of which we shall have to speak more fully on another occasion, so remarkable is the fertility of the soil. The cypress also bears three times in the year, for its berries are gathered in the months of January, May, and September, being all three of different size. There are also certain peculiarities observed in the different modes in which the trees bear their fruit, the arbutus and the quercus being most fruitful in the upper part, the walnut and the marisca fig in the lower. All trees, the older they grow, the more early they bear, and this more particularly in sunny spots and where the soil is not over-rich. All the forest-trees are slower in bringing their fruit to maturity; and indeed, in some of them the fruit never becomes fully ripe. Those trees, too, about the roots of which the earth is ploughed or broken and loosened, bring their fruit to maturity more speedily than those in which this has been neglected; by this process they are also rendered more fruitful.
 
16 - 51 WHICH TREES BECOME OLD WITH GREATEST RAPIDITY, & WHICH MOST SLOWLY M
There are great differences also in trees in respect to age. The almond and the pear are the most fruitful when old, which is the case also with the glandiferous trees and a certain species of fig. Others, again, are most prolific when young, though the fruit is later in coming to maturity, a thing particularly to be observed in the vine; for in those that are old the wine is of better quality, while the produce of the younger trees is given in greater abundance. The apple-tree becomes old very early, and the fruit which it produces when old is of inferior quality, being of smaller size and very liable to be attacked by maggots: indeed, these insects will breed in the tree itself. The fig is the only one of all the fruit-trees that is submitted to any process with the view of expediting the ripening of the fruit, a marvellous thing, indeed, that a greater value should be set upon produce that comes out of its proper season! All trees which bear their fruit before the proper time become prematurely old; indeed, some of them wither and die all of a sudden, being utterly exhausted by the too favourable influence of the weather, a thing that happens to the vine more particularly.
(.) On the other hand, the mulberry becomes aged but very slowly, and is never exhausted by its crops. Those trees, too, the wood of which is variegated, arrive at old age but slowly,—the palm, the maple, and the poplar, for instance. (.) Trees grow old more rapidly when the earth is ploughed and loosened about the roots; forest trees at a later period. Speaking in general terms, we may say that care employed in the culture of trees seems to promote their fertility, while increased fertility accelerates old age. Hence it is that the carefully tended trees are the first to blossom, and the first to bud; in a word, are the most precocious in every respect: but all natural productions which are in any way weakened are more susceptible of atmospheric influences.
 
16 - 52 TREES WHICH BEAR VARIOUS PRODUCTS. CRATÆGUM M
Many trees bears more than one production, a fact which we have already mentioned when speaking of the glandiferous trees. In the number of these there is the laurel, which bears its own peculiar kind of grape, and more particularly the barren laurel, which bears nothing else; for which reason it is looked upon by some persons as the male tree. The filbert, too, bears catkins, which are hard and compact, but of no use whatever.
(.) But it is the box-tree that supplies us with the greatest number of products, not only its seed, but a berry also, known by the name of cratægum; while on the north side it produces mistletoe, and on the south hyphear; two products of which I shall shortly have to speak more at length. Sometimes, indeed, this tree has all four of these products growing upon it at the same moment.
 
16 - 53 DIFFERENCES IN TREES IN RESPECT OF THE TRUNKS AND BRANCHES M
Some trees are of a simple form, and have but a single trunk rising from the root, together with numerous branches; such as the olive, for instance, the fig, and the vine; others again are of a shrubby nature, such as the paliurus, the myrtle, and the filbert; which last, indeed, is all the better, and the more abundant its fruit, the more numerous its branches. In some trees, again, there is no trunk at all, as is the case with one species of box, and the lotus of the parts beyond sea. Some trees are bifurcated, while there are some that branch out into as many as five parts. Others, again, divide in the trunk but have no branches, as in the case of the elder; while others have no division in the trunk but throw out branches, such as the pitch-tree, for instance.
In some trees the branches are symmetrically arranged, the pitch-tree and the fir, for example; while with others they are dispersed without any order or regularity, as in the robur, the apple, and the pear. In the fir the branches are thrown out from the trunk straight upwards, pointing to the sky, and not drooping downwards from the sides of the trunk. It is a singular thing, but this tree will die if the ends of its branches are cut, though, if taken off altogether, no bad effect is produced. If it is cut, too, below the place where the branches were, the part of the tree which is left will continue to live; but if, on the other hand, the top only of the tree is removed, the whole of it will die. Some trees, again, throw out branches from the roots, the elm for example; while others are branchy at the top, the pine for instance, and the lotus or Grecian bean, the fruit of which, though wild, resembles the cherry very closely, and is called the lotus at Rome, on account of its sweetness. For sheltering houses these trees are more particularly esteemed, as they throw out their branches to a considerable distance, from a short trunk, thus affording a very extensive shade, and very frequently encroaching upon the neighbouring mansions. There is no tree, however, the shade afforded by which is less long-lived than this, and when it loses its leaves in winter, it affords no shelter from the sun. No tree has a more sightly bark, or one which has greater attractions for the eye; or branches which are longer, stouter, or more numerous; indeed, one might almost look upon them as forming so many trees. The bark of it is used for dyeing skins, and the root for colouring wool. The branches of the apple-tree have a peculiar conformation; knots are formed which resemble the muzzles of wild beasts, several smaller ones being united to a larger.
 
16 - 54 BRANCHES OF TREES M
Some of the branches are barren, and do not germinate; this takes place either from a natural deficiency of strength, or else some injury received in consequence of having been cut, and the cicatrix impeding the natural functions. The same that the branch is in the trees that spread out, is the eye in the vine, and the joint in the reed. All trees are naturally the thickest in the parts that are nearest the ground. The fir, the larch, the palm, the cypress, and the elm, and, indeed, every tree that has but a single trunk, develope themselves in their remarkable height. Among the branchy trees the cherry is sometimes found to yield a beam forty cubits in length by two in thickness throughout. Some trees divide into branches from the very ground, as in the apple-tree, for example.
 
16 - 55 BARK OF TREES M
In some trees the bark is thin, as in the laurel and the lime; in others, again, it is thick, as in the robur; in some it is smooth, as in the apple and the fig, while in the robur and the palm it is rough: in all kinds it becomes more wrinkled when the tree is old. In some trees the bark bursts spontaneously, as in the vine for instance, while in others it falls off even, as we see in the apple and the arbutus. In the cork-tree and the poplar, the bark is substantial and fleshy; in the vine and the reed it is membraneous. In the cherry it is similar to the coats of the papyrus, while in the vine, the lime, and the fir, it is composed of numerous layers. In others, again, it is single, the fig and the reed for instance.
 
16 - 56 ROOTS OF TREES M
There are great differences, too, in the roots of trees. In the fig, the robur, and the plane, they are numerous; in the apple they are short and thin, while in the fir and the larch they are single; and by this single root is the tree supported, although we find some small fibres thrown out from it laterally They are thick and unequal in the laurel and the olive, in which last they are branchy also; while in the robur they are solid and fleshy. The robur, too, throws its roots downwards to a very considerable depth. Indeed, if we are to believe Virgil, the æsculus has a root that descends as deep into the earth as the height to which the trunk ascends in the air. The roots of the olive, the apple, and the cypress, creep almost upon the very surface: in some trees they run straight and horizontally, as in the laurel and the olive; while in others they have a sinuous course—the fig for example. In some trees the roots are bristling with small filaments, as in the fir, and many of the forest trees; the mountaineers cut off these fine filaments, and weave with them very handsome flasks, and various other articles.
Some writers say that the roots of trees do not descend below the level to which the sun's heat is able to penetrate; which, of course, depends upon the nature of the soil, whether it happens to be thin or dense. This, however, I look upon as a mistake: and, in fact, we find it stated by some authors that a fir was transplanted, the roots of which had penetrated eight cubits in depth, and even then the whole of it was nut dug up, it being torn asunder. The citrus has a root that goes the very deepest of all, and is of great extent; next after it come the plane, the robur, and the various glandiferous trees. In some trees, the laurel for instance, the roots are more tenacious of life the nearer they are to the surface: hence, when the trunk withers, it is cut down, and the tree shoots again with redoubled vigour. Some think that the shorter the roots are, the more rapidly the tree decays; a supposition which is plainly contradicted by the fig, the root of which is among the very largest, while the tree becomes aged at a remarkably early period. I regard also as incorrect what some authors have stated, as to the roots of trees diminishing when they are old; for I once saw an ancient oak, uprooted by a storm, the roots of which covered a jugerum of ground.
 
16 - 57 TREES WHICH HAVE GROWN SPONTANEOUSLY FROM THE GROUND M
It is a not uncommon thing for trees when uprooted to receive new strength when replanted, the earth about their roots forming a sort of cicatrix there. This is particularly the case with the plane, which, from the density of its branches, presents a remarkably broad surface to the wind: when this happens, the branches are cut off, and the tree, thus lightened, is replaced in its furrow: this, too, has also been done before now with the walnut, the olive, and many others.
(.) We have many instances cited also of trees falling to the ground without there being any storm or other perceptible cause, but merely by way of portentous omen, and then rising again of themselves. A prodigy of this nature happened to the citizens of Rome during their wars with the Cimbri: at Nuceria, in the grove consecrated to Juno, an elm inclined to such a degree, even after the top had been cut off, as to overhang the altar there, but it afterwards recovered itself to such an extent as to blossom immediately: it was from that very moment, too, that the majesty of the Roman people began to flourish once again after it had been laid low by disaster and defeat. A similar circumstance is said to have taken place also at Philippi, where a willow, which had fallen down, and the top of which had been taken off, rose again; and at Stagira, in the Museum there, where the same thing occurred to a white poplar; all which events were looked upon as favourable omens. But what is most wonderful of all, is the fact that a plane, at Antandros, resumed its original position even after its sides had been rough-hewn all round with the adze, and took root again: it was a tree fifteen cubits long, and four ulnæ in thickness.
 
16 - 58 HOW TREES GROW SPONTANEOUSLY—DIVERSITIES IN THEIR NATURE, THE SAME TREES NOT GROWING EVERYWHERE M
The trees which we owe to Nature are produced in three different ways; spontaneously, by seed sown, or by a slip which throws out a root. Art has multiplied the methods of reproduction, as we shall have occasion to state in its own appropriate Book at present our sole subject is the operations of Nature, and the manifold and marvellous methods she adopts. The trees, as we have already stated, do not all of them grow in every locality, nor will they live, many of them, when transplanted: this happens sometimes through a natural antipathy on the part of the tree, sometimes through an innate stubbornness, but more frequently through the weakness of the variety so transplanted, either the climate being unfavourable, or the soil repulsive to it.
 
16 - 59 PLANTS THAT WILL NOT GROW IN CERTAIN PLACES M
Balsamum will grow nowhere but [in Judæa]: and the citron of Assyria refuses to bear fruit in any other country. The palm, too, will not grow everywhere, and even if it does grow in some places, it will not bear: sometimes, indeed, it may make a show and promise of bearing, but even then its fruit comes to nothing, it seeming to have borne them thus far in spite of itself. The cinnamon shrub has not sufficient strength to acclimatize itself in the countries that lie in the vicinity of Syria. Amomum, too, and nard, those most delicate of perfumes, will not endure the carriage from India to Arabia, nor yet conveyance by sea; indeed, King Seleucus did make the attempt, but in vain. But what is more particularly wonderful, is the fact that most of the trees by care may be prevailed upon to live when transplanted; for sometimes the soil may be so managed as to nourish the foreigner and give support to the stranger plant; climate, however, can never be changed. The pepper-tree will live in Italy, and cassia in the northern climates even, while the incense-tree has been known to live in Lydia: but how are we to impart to these productions the requisite warmth of the sun, in order to make all the crude juices go off by evaporation, and ripen the resins that distil from them?
Nearly as great a marvel, too, is the fact that the nature of the tree may be modified by circumstances, and yet the tree itself be none the less vigorous in its growth. Nature originally gave the cedar to localities of burning heat, and yet we find it growing in the mountains of Lycia and Phrygia. She made the laurel, too, averse to cold, and yet there is no tree that grows in greater abundance on Mount Olympus. At the city of Panticapæum, in the vicinity of the Cimmerian Bosporus, King Mithridates and the inhabitants of the place used every possible endeavour, with a view to certain religious ceremonies, to cultivate the myrtle and the laurel: they could not succeed, however, although trees abound there which require a hot climate, such as the pomegranate and the fig, as well as apples and pears of the most approved quality. In the same country, too, the trees that belong to the colder climates, such as the pine, the fir, and the pitch-tree, refuse to grow. But why go search for instances in Pontus? In the vicinity of Rome itself it is only with the greatest difficulty that the cherry and the chesnut will grow, and the peach-tree, too, at Tusculum: the Greek nut, too, is grown there from grafts only at a cost of considerable labour, while Tarracina abounds with whole woods of it.
 
16 - 60 CYPRESS M
The cypress is an exotic, and has been reckoned one of the trees that are naturalized with the greatest difficulty; so much so, indeed, that Cato has expatiated upon it at greater length and more frequently than any of the others. This tree is naturally of a stubborn disposition, bears a fruit that is utterly useless, a berry that causes a wry face when tasted, and a leaf that is bitter: it also gives out a disagreeable pungent smell, and its shade is far from agreeable. The wood that it furnishes is but scanty, so much so indeed, that it may be almost regarded as little more than a shrub. This tree is sacred to Pluto, and hence it is used as a sign of mourning placed at the entrance of a house: the female tree is for a long time barren. The pyramidal appearance that it presents has caused it not to be rejected, but for a long time it was only used for marking the intervals between rows of pines: at the present day, however, it is clipped and trained to form hedge-rows, or else is thinned and lengthened out in the various designs employed in ornamental gardening, and which represent scenes of hunting, fleets, and various other objects: these it covers with a thin small leaf, which is always green.
There are two varieties of the cypress; the one tapering and pyramidal, and which is known as the female; while the male tree throws its branches straight out from the body, and is often pruned and employed as a rest for the vine. Both the male and the female are permitted to throw out their branches, which are cut and employed for poles and props, being worth, after thirteen years' growth, a denarius a-piece. In respect of income, a plantation of cypress is remarkably profitable, so much so, indeed, that it was a saying in old times that a cypress-wood is a dowry for a daughter. The native country of this tree is the island of Crete, although Cato calls it Tarentine, Tarentum being the first place, I suppose, in which it was naturalized: in the island of Ænaria, also, if the cypress is cut down, it will grow again from the root. But, in the Isle of Crete, in whatever place the earth is moved, this tree will shoot up of its own natural vigour, and immediately appear above the soil; indeed, in that island there is no occasion even to solicit the soil, for it grows spontaneously there, on the mountains of Ida more particularly, and those known as the White Mountains. On the very summit of these elevations, from which the snows never depart, we find the cypress growing in great abundance; a thing that is truly marvellous-seeing that, in other countries, it will only grow in warm localities; from which it would appear to have a great dislike to its native climate.
 
16 - 61 EARTH OFTEN BEARS PRODUCTIONS WHICH IT HAS NEVER BORNE BEFORE M
It is not only the quality of the soil and the unchanging influences of the climate that affect the nature of trees, but wet and showery weather also, temporarily at least. Indeed, the torrents very often bring down with them seeds, and sometimes we find those of unknown kinds even floating along. This took place in the territory of Cyrenaica, at the period when laser was first grown there, as we shall have occasion to mention when we speak of the nature of the various herbs. A forest, too, sprang up in the vicinity of the city of Cyrene, just after a shower of rain, of a dense, pitchy nature, about the year of the City of Rome .
 
16 - 62 IVY-TWENTY VARIETIES OF IT M
It is said that the ivy now grows in Asia, though Theophrastus has denied that such is the fact, and asserts that it grows nowhere in India, except upon Mount Meros. He says, too, that Harpalus used every possible exertion to naturalize it in Media, but to no purpose; and that Alexander, in consequence of the rarity of this plant, had himself crowned with it, after the example of Father Liber, when returning victorious with his army from India: and at the present day even, it is used to decorate the thyrsus of that god, and the casques and bucklers employed by the nations of Thrace in their sacred ceremonials. The ivy is injurious to all trees and plants, and makes its way through tombs and walls; it forms a haunt much frequented by serpents, for its refreshing coolness; so that it is a matter for astonishment that there should have been such remarkable veneration for this plant.
The two principal kinds in the ivy, as in other plants, are the male tree and the female. The male is said to have a larger trunk than the female, and a leaf that is harder and more unctuous, with a flower nearly approaching to purple: indeed, the flower of both the male and female tree strongly resembles the wild-rose, were it not destitute of smell. Each of these kinds of ivy is divided into three other varieties: the white ivy, the black, and a third known as the helix." These varieties are again subdivided into others, as there is one in which the fruit only is white, and another in which it is only the leaf that is so. In those which have a white fruit, the berry in some cases is closely packed and large, the clusters, which are known as "corymbi," being of a spherical form. So, too, with the selenitium, which has a smaller berry, and fewer clusters; and the same is the case with the black ivy. One kind has a black seed, and another a seed of a saffron colour—it is this last that poets use for their chaplets, and the leaves of it are not so black as in the other kinds: by some it is known as the ivy of Nysa, by others as that of Bacchus: it is the one that among the black varieties has the largest clusters of all. Some of the Greek writers even distinguish in this last kind two varieties, according to the colour of the berries, the erythranum and the chrysocarpus. It is the helix, however, that has the most peculiarities of all, and in the appearance of the leaf more particularly, which is small, angular, and of a more elegant shape, the leaf in all the other kinds being plain and simple. It differs, too, in the distance between the joints, and in being barren more especially, as it never bears fruit. Some authors, however, think that this difference exists solely in respect of age and not of kind, and are of opinion that what is the helix when young, becomes the ordinary ivy when old. This, however, is clearly proved to be an error upon their part, for we find more varieties of the helix than one, and three in particular—that of a grass-green colour, which is the most abundant of all, the kind with a white leaf, and a third, which is parti-coloured, and known as the Thracian helix. In that of a grass-green colour, the leaves are smaller, more closely packed together, and symmetrically arranged; while in the other kinds the features are altogether different. In the parti-coloured kind, also, one variety has a smaller leaf than usual, similarly arranged, and lying closer together, while in the other none of these features are observed. The leaves, too, are either greater or smaller and differ in the disposition of the spots upon them, and in the white helix some of them are whiter than others: the grass-green variety, however, is the one that grows to the greatest height. The white helix is in the habit of killing trees by depriving them of their juices, and increases to such a degree of density as to be quite a tree itself. Its characteristics are, a very large, broad, leaf, and projecting buds, which in all the other kinds are bent inwards; its clusters, too, stand out erect. Although, too, all the ivies have arms that throw out a root, those of this variety are particularly branchy and strong; next to it in strength, are those of the black ivy. It is a peculiarity of the white ivy to throw out arms from the middle of the leaves, with which it invariably embraces any object that may be on either side of it; this is the case, too, with walls, even though it should not be able to clasp them. If the trunk is cut across in ever so many places, it will still live and thrive, having as many fresh roots as it has arms, by means of which it ensures safety and impunity, while at the same time it sucks and strangles the trees to which it clings. There are great differences also in the fruit of both the white ivy and the black; for in some of them the berry is so bitter that birds will not touch it. There. is an ivy also which grows upright, and stands without any support; being the only one that does so among all the varieties, it has thence obtained the distinctive name of "cissos." The chamæcissos, on the other hand, is never found except creeping upon the ground.
 
16 - 63 SMILAX M
Very similar to the ivy is a plant which first came from Cilicia, but is now more commonly found in Greece, and known by the name of smilax. It has numerous thick stalks covered with joints, and thorny branches of a shrub-like form: the leaf resembles that of the ivy, but is not angular, while from the foot-stalk it throws out tendrils; the flower is white, and has the smell of the lily. It bears clusters like those of the wild vine and not the ivy, and of a reddish colour. The larger berries contain three stones, the smaller but one only: these berries are black and hard. This plant is looked upon as ill-omened, and is consequently banished from all sacred rites, and is allowed to form no part of chaplets; having received this mournful character from the maiden Smilax, who upon her love being slighted by the youth Crocus, was transformed into this shrub. The common people, being mostly ignorant of this, not unfrequently take it for ivy, and pollute their festivities with its presence; for who, in fact, is unaware that the ivy is used as a chaplet by poets, as also by Father Liber and Silenus? Tablets are made of the wood of the smilax, and it is a peculiarity of this wood to give out a slight sound, if held close to the ear. It is said that ivy is remarkably efficacious for testing wine, and that a vessel made of this wood will let the wine pass through it, while the water will remain behind, if there has been any mixed with it.
 
16 - 64 WATER PLANTS: THE RUSH: TWENTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF THE REED M
Among those plants which thrive best in cold localities, it will be only proper to mention the aquatic shrubs. In the first rank, we find the reed, equally indispensable for the emergencies of war and peace, and used among the appliances of luxury even. The northern nations make use of reeds for roofing their houses, and the stout thatch thus formed will last for centuries even; in other countries, too, they make light vaulted ceilings with them. Reeds are employed, too, for writing upon paper, those of Egypt more particularly, which have a close affinity to the papyrus: the most esteemed, however, are the reeds of Cnidos, and those which grow in Asia, on the margin of the Anaitic Lake there.
The reed of our country is naturally of a more fungous nature, being formed of a spongy cartilage, which is hollow within, and covered by a thin, dry, woody coat without; it easily breaks into splinters, which are remarkably sharp at the edge. In other respects, it is of a thin, graceful shape, articulated with joints, and tapering gradually towards the top, which ends in a thick, hairy tuft. This tuft is not without its uses, as it is employed for filling the beds used in taverns, in place of feathers; or else, when it has assumed a more ligneous consistency, it is pounded, as we see done among the Belgæ, and inserted between the joints of ships, to close the seams, a thing that it does most effectually, being more tenacious than glue, and adhering more firmly than pitch.
 
16 - 65 REEDS USED FOR ARROWS, AND FOR THE PURPOSE OF WRITING M
It is by the aid of the reed that the nations of the East decide their wars; fixing in it a barbed point, they inflict a wound from which the arrow cannot be withdrawn. By the addition of feathers they accelerate the flight of this instrument of death, and the weapon, if it breaks in the wound, furnishes the combatants with a weapon afresh. With these missiles the warriors darken the very rays of the sun. It is for this reason more particularly that they desire a clear and serene sky, and hold in abhorrence all windy and rainy weather, which has the effect of compelling them, in spite of themselves, to be at peace with one another.
If a person were carefully to enumerate the peoples of Æthiopia, Egypt, Arabia, India, Scythia, Bactria, and Sarmatia, together with all the numerous peoples of the East, and the vast realms of the Parthians, he would find that fully one-half of mankind throughout the whole world live under a dominion imposed by the agency of the arrow. It was their surpassing excellence in this arm that so ennobled the warriors of Crete, though in this respect, as well as in all others, Italy has gained the mastery; there being no reed in existence better adapted for making arrows than that found in the Rhenus, a river of the territory of Bononia: filled with a greater quantity of pith than any of the others, it is light, and easily cleaves the air, while at the same time it has sufficient weight to resist the action of the wind; an advantage that is not possessed in an equal degree by those employed among the Belgæ. These advantages, however, are possessed by the most approved kinds that are found in Crete, although those of India are preferred; in the opinion of some persons, however, these last are of a totally different nature, for by adding a point to them, the natives are able to use them as lances even. Indeed, we find that in India the reed grows to the thickness of a tree, a fact which is proved by the specimens which are everywhere to be seen in our temples. The Indians assure us that in this plant, too, there is the distinction of male and female; the body of the male being more compact, and that of the female of a larger size. In addition to this, if we can credit the fact, a single compartment between the joints is sufficiently large to answer the purposes of a boat. These reeds are found more particularly on the banks of the river Acesines. In every variety of the reed a single root gives birth to numerous stems, and if cut down, they will shoot again with increased fecundity. The root, which is naturally tenacious of life, is also jointed as well as the stem. The reeds of India are the only ones in which the leaves are short; but in all the varieties these leaves take their rise at the joints, and surround the stem with a fine tissue about half way upwards to the next joint, and then leave the stem and droop downwards. The reed, as well as the calamus, although rounded, has two sides, which throw out leaves alternately from above the joints, in such a way that when one springs from the right side, the next issues from the joint above it on the left, and so in turns. Branches, too, shoot occasionally from the stem, being themselves reeds of diminutive growth.
 
16 - 66 FLUTE REEDS: TET REEDOF ORCHOMENTFS; REEDS USED FOR FOWLING & FISHING M
The varieties of the reed are numerous. Some are more compact than others, thicker at the joints, and with a shorter interval between them; while others, again, are less compact, with longer intervals between the joints, and not so straight. Another kind of reed is quite hollow; it is known as the "syringia," and is particularly useful for making flutes, having neither pith in it nor any fleshy substance. The reed of Or- chomenus has a passage in it open from one end to the other, and is known as the auleticon; this last is best for making pipes, the former for the syrinx. There is another reed, the wood of which is thicker, and the passage very contracted, being entirely filled with a spongy kind of pith. One kind, again, is shorter, and another longer, the one thinner, the other more thick. That known as the donax, throws out the most shoots, and grows only in watery localities; indeed, this is a point which constitutes a very considerable difference, those reeds being greatly preferred which grow in a dry soil. The archer's reed forms a peculiar species, as we have already stated; but that of Crete has the longest intervals between the joints, and when subjected to heat is capable of being rendered perfectly pliable at pleasure. The leaves, too, constitute different varieties, not only by their number, but their colour also. The reed of Laconia is spotted, and throws out a greater number of shoots at the lower extremities; being very similar in nature, it is thought, to the reeds that we find growing about stagnant waters, and unlike those of the rivers, in being covered with leaves of considerable length; which, climbing upwards, embrace the stem to a considerable distance above the joints. There is also an obliquely-spreading reed, which does not shoot upwards to any height, but spreads out like a shrub, keeping close to the earth; this reed is much sought by animals when young, and is known by some persons as the elegia. There is in Italy, too, a substance found in the marsh-reeds, called by the name of adarca: it is only to be found issuing from the cuter skin, below the flossy head of the plant, and is particularly beneficial to the teeth, having, in fact, an equal degree of pungency with mustard.
The terms of admiration in which they are spoken of by the ancients compels me to enter into some more minute details relative to the reed-beds of Lake Orchomenus. Characias was the name given there to a reed of stout and compact quality, while a thinner one was known as the plotias; this last was to be found growing on the floating islands there, while the former grew upon the banks that were covered by the waters of the lake. A third kind again, which had the name of "auleticon," was the same that is now known as the musical pipe reed. This reed used to take nine years to grow, as it was for that period that the waters of the lake were continually on the increase; it used to be looked upon as a prodigy of evil omen, if at the end of its rise its waters remained overflowing so long as a couple of years; a thing that was observed at the period of the Athenian disasters at Cheronæa, and on various other occasions. This lake has the name of Lebaida, at the part where the river Cephisus enters it. When this inundation has lasted so long as a year, the reed is found large enough to be available for the purposes of fowling: at this period it used to be called zeugites. On the other hand, when the waters subsided at an earlier period, the reeds were known as bombyciæ, being of a more slender form. In this variety, too, the leaf of the female plant was broader and whiter than that of the others, while that upon which there was little or no down bore the name of the eunuch reed. The stem of this last variety was used for the manufacture of concert flutes. I must not here pass by in silence the marvellous care which the ancients lavished upon these instruments, a thing which will, in some measure, plead as an apology for the manufacture of them at the present day of silver in preference. The reed used to be cut, as it was then looked upon as being in the best condition, at the rising of Arcturus; an usage which prevailed down to the time of Antigenides, the musician, and while flute-playing was of a more simple style. Being thus prepared, the reeds became fit for use in the course of a few years. At that period even the reed required considerable seasoning to render it pliable, and to be instructed, as it were, in the proper modulation of its sounds; the mouthpiece and stops being naturally contracted, and so producing a music better adapted to the theatrical taste of the day. But in later times, when the music became more varied, and luxury began to exercise its influence upon the musical taste, it became the general usage to cut the reeds before the summer solstice, and to make them fit for use at the end of three months; the stops and mouth-piece being found, when the reeds were cut at that period, to be more open and better adapted for the modifications of sound: it is in this state that the reed is used for similar purposes at the present day. In those times it was a very general persuasion also, that every pipe ought to have the tongue of its own mouth-piece cut from the same reed as itself, and that a section from the part nearest the root was best adapted to form the left-handed flute, and from the part adjoining the top the right-handed one: those reeds, too, were considered immeasurably superior, which had been washed by the waters of Cephisus itself. At the present day the sacrificial pipes used by the Tuscans are made of box-wood, while those employed at the games are made of the lotus, the bones of the ass, or else silver. The fowler's reeds of the best quality are those of Panormus, and the best reeds for fishing-rods come from Abarita in Africa.
 
16 - 67 VINE-DRESSERS' REED M
The reed is employed in Italy more particularly, as a sup- port for the vine. Cato recommends that it should be planted in a damp situation, the soil being first turned up with a double mattock, and a distance of three feet left between the young layers; he says, too, that the wild asparagus from which the cultivated species is produced, may be planted together with it, as they agree particularly well together.
(.) He says also that the willow may be planted in its vicinity, than which there is no aquatic plant of more general utility, although the poplar may be preferred for the training of the vine, and the support of the Cæcuban grape; although, too, the alder affords a more efficient protection by the hedges it forms, and, planted in the very water, makes a rampart along the banks in defence of the adjoining country against the violence of the rivers when they overflow; when cut down, too, this last tree is useful for the innumerable suckers which it throws out.
 
16 - 68 WILLOW: EIGHT VARIETIES OF IT M
Of the willow, too, there are several varieties. One of them throws out its branches to a considerable height; and these, coupled together, serve as perches for the vine, while the bark around the tree itself is used for withes. Others, again, of a more pliable nature, supply a flexible twig, which is used for the purpose of tying; while others throw out osiers of remarkable thinness, adapted by their suppleness and graceful slenderness for the manufacture of wicker-work. Others, again, of a stouter make, are used for weaving panniers, and many other utensils employed in agriculture; while from a whiter willow the bark is peeled off, and, being remarkably tractable, admits of various utensils being made of it, which require a softer and more pliable material than leather: this last is also found particularly useful in the construction of those articles of luxury, reclining chairs. The willow, when cut, continues to thrive, and, indeed, throws out more thickly from the top, which, when closely clipped, bears a stronger resemblance to a closed fist than the top of a stump. It is a tree, which, in my opinion, deserves to be placed by no means in the lowest rank of trees; for there is none that will yield a more certain profit, which can be cultivated at less expense, or which is less liable to be influenced by changes in the weather.
 
16 - 69 TREES IN ADDITION TO THE WILLOW, WHICH ARE OF USE IN MAKING WITHES M
Cato considers the culture of the willow as deserving to hold the third rank in estimation, and he gives it precedence to the cultivation of the olive, tillage for corn, or laying out land for pasture. It is not, however, because the willow is the only tree that produces withes; for they may be procured also from the broom, the poplar, the elm, the blood-red cornel, the birch, and the reed itself when split, or else the leaves of that plant, as we know to be the case in Liguria. The vine, also, will furnish them; the bramble, too, with the thorns removed, as well as the twisted hazel. It is a very singular thing, that a wood after it has been beaten and pounded should be found all the stronger for making withes, but such is a striking peculiarity that exists in the willow. The Greek red willow is split for this purpose: while the willow of Ameria is whiter but more brittle, for which reason it is used in an uncut state for tying. In Asia there are three varieties known of the willow; the black willow, which is best adapted for making withes, the white willow, employed for various agricultural purposes, and a third, which is shorter than the others, and known as the helix.
With us, also, there is the same number of denominations given to as many varieties of the willow; one being known as the viminal or purple willow, another as the nitelina, from its resemblance to the colour of the nitela, thinner in the trunk than the preceding one, and the third as the Gallic kind, being the thinnest of them all.
 
16 - 70 RUSHES: CANDLE-RUSHES: RUSHES FOR THATCHING M
The rush, so frail in form, and growing in marshy spots, cannot be reckoned as belonging to the shrubs, nor yet to the brambles or the stalk plants; nor, indeed, in strict justice, to any of the classes of plants except one that is peculiarly its own. It is extensively used for making thatch and matting, and, with the outer coat taken off, for making candles and funeral torches. In some places, however, the rush is more hard and firm: thus, for instance, it is employed not only by the sailors on the Padus for making the sails of boats, but for the purposes of sea-fishing as well, by the fishermen of Africa, who, in a most preposterous manner, hang the sails made of it behind the masts. The people, too, of Mauritania thatch their cottages with rushes; indeed, if we look somewhat closely into the matter, it will appear that the rush is held in pretty nearly the same degree of estimation there as the papyrus is in the inner regions of the world.
 
16 - 71 ELDER: THE BRAMBLE M
Of a peculiar nature, too, though to be reckoned among the water-plants, is the bramble, a shrub-like plant, and the elder, which is of a spongy nature, though not resembling giant fennel, from having upon it a greater quantity of wood. It is a belief among the shepherds that if they cut a horn or trumpet from the wood of this tree, it will give all the louder sound if cut in a spot where the shrub has been out of hearing of the crowing of the cock. The bramble bears mulberries, and one variety of it, known as the cynosbatos, bears a flower similar to the rose. There is a third variety, known to the Greeks as the Idæan bramble, from the place where it grows: it is slighter than the others, with smaller thorns, and not so hooked. Its flower, mixed with honey, is employed as an ointment for sore eyes and erysipelas: and an infusion of it in water is used for diseases of the stomach.
The elder bears a small black berry, which contains a viscous juice, employed more particularly for staining the hair. The berries, too, are boiled in water and eaten.
 
16 - 72 JUICES OF TREES M
There is a juice in the bark of trees, which must be looked upon as their blood, though it is not of a similar nature in all. In the fig it is of a milky consistency, and has the peculiar property of curdling milk, and so forming cheese. In the cherry-tree this juice is gummy, in the elm clammy, in the apple viscous and fatty, while in the vine and the pear it is watery. The more viscous this humour is, the more long-lived the tree. In a word, we find in the bodies of trees-as with all other beings that are animated-skin, blood, flesh, sinews, veins, bones, and marrow; the bark serving them in place of skin. It is a singular fact connected with the mulberry-tree, that when the medical men wish to extract its juice, if the incision is lightly made, by a blow with a stone, and at the second hour of the day in spring, the juice will flow: but if, on the other hand, a wound is inflicted to any depth, it has all the, appearance of being dried up.
Immediately beneath the bark in most trees there is a fatty substance, which, from its colour, has obtained the name of alburnum: it is soft, and is the very worst part of the wood, and in the robur even will very easily rot, being particularly liable to wood-worm, for which reason it is invariably removed. Beneath this fat lies the flesh of the tree, and then under that, its bones, or, in other words, the choicest part of the wood. Those trees which have a dry wood, the olive, for instance, bear fruit every other year only: this is more the case with them than with those the wood of which is of a fleshy nature, such as the cherry, for instance. It is not all trees, too, that have this fat and flesh in any abundance, the same as we find to be the case among the more active animals. The box, the cornel, and the olive have none at all, nor yet any marrow, and a very small proportion, too, of blood. In the same way, too, the service-tree has no bones, and the elder no flesh, while both of them have marrow in the greatest abundance. Reeds, too, have hardly any flesh.
 
16 - 73 VEINS AND FIBRES OF TREES M
In the flesh of some trees we find both fibres and veins: they are easily distinguished. The veins are larger, while the fibres are of whiter material, and are to be found in those woods more particularly which are easily split. Hence it is that if the ear is applied to the extremity of a beam of wood, however long, a tap with a graver even upon the other end may be distinctly heard, the sound penetrating by the passages which run straight through it: by these means it is that we ascertain whether timber runs awry, or is interrupted by knots. The tuberosities which we find on trees resemble the kernels that are formed in flesh: they contain neither veins nor fibres, but only a kind of tough, solid flesh, rolled up in a sort of ball: it is these tuberosities that are the most esteemed parts in the citrus and the maple. As to the other kinds of wood which are employed for making tables, the trees are split into planks lengthwise, and the parts are then selected along which the fibres run, and properly rounded; for the wood would be too brittle to use if it were cut in segments crosswise. in the beech, the grain of the fibrous part runs crosswise; hence it is that the ancients held in such high esteem all vessels made with the wood of it. Manius Curius made oath, on one occasion, that he had not touched an article of all the spoil except a single oil cruet of beech, to use for sacrificing. Wood is always put lengthwise into the water to season, as that part which was nearest the root will sink to a greater depth than the other. In some wood there is fibre, without veins, and merely consisting of filaments slightly knit together: wood of this nature is remarkably fissile. Other wood, again, is more easily broken across than split, such as the wood of those trees that have no fibre, the olive and the vine, for instance: on the other hand, in the fig-tree, the whole of the body consists of flesh. The holm-oak, the cornel, the robur, the cytisus, the mulberry, the ebony, the lotus, and the other trees which we have mentioned as being destitute of marrow, consist entirely of bone. All these woods are of a blackish colour, with the exception of the cornel, of which glossy yellow hunting-spears are made, marked with incisions for their further embellishment. In the cedar, the juniper, and the larch, the wood is red.
(.) In Greece the female larch furnishes a wood which is known as ægis, and is just the colour of honey. This wood has been found to be proof against decay, and forms the pannels used by painters, being never known to gape or split; the portion thus employed is that which lies nearest to the pith. In the fir-tree this part is called "leuson" by the Greeks. In the cedar, too, the hardest part is the wood that lies nearest to the sap: after the slimys pith has been carefully removed, it has a similar degree of hardness to the bones in the bodies of animals. It is said, too, that in Greece the inner part of the elder is remarkably firm: indeed, those whose business it is to make hunting spears, prefer this material to all others, it being a wood composed wholly of skin and bone.
 
16 - 74 FELLING OF TREES M
The proper time for felling trees that are wanted for barking, the round, tapering trees, for instance, that are employed in temples and for other purposes, is at the period of germination: for at other times it is quite impossible to detach the bark from the rotten wood that adheres to it, while the wood itself assumes a blackish hue. Squared logs, and wood from which the bark has been lopped, are generally cut in the period that intervenes between the winter solstice and the prevalence of the west winds; or else, if it is necessary to anticipate that period, at the setting of Arcturus and before that of the Lyre, the very earliest period being the summer solstice: the days of these respective constellations will be mentioned in the appropriate place.
In general it is looked upon as quite sufficient to use all due precaution that a tree is not rough-hewn before it has borne its yearly crop. The robur, if cut in spring, is subject to the attacks of wood-worm, but if cut in winter, will neither rot nor warp: otherwise it is very liable to bend and become awry, as well as to crack; the same is the case, too, with the cork-tree, even if cut down at the proper time. The state of the moon, too, is of infinite importance, and it is generally recommended that trees should be cut only between the twentieth and the thirtieth days of the month. It is generally agreed, however, by all, that it is the very best time for felling timber, when the moon is in conjunction with the sun, a day which is called by some persons the interlu- nium, and by others the moon's silence. At all events, it was under these circumstances that Tiberius Cæsar gave orders for the larches to be cut in Rhætia, that were required for the purpose of rebuilding the bridge of the Naumachia after it had been destroyed by fire. Some persons say that the moon ought not only to be in conjunction, but below the horizon as well, a thing that can only happen in the night. If the conj unction should chance to fall on the very day of the winter solstice, the timber, they say, that is then felled will be of everlasting duration; the next best being the timber that is cut when the conjunction coincides with the constellations previously mentioned. There are some, too, who add the rising of the Dog-star as a favourable time, and say that it was at this period that the timber was cut which was employed in building the Forum of Augustus. Wood which is intended for timber ought to be cut neither when too young nor too old. Some persons, too—and the practice is by no means without its utility—cut round the tree as far as the pith, and then leave the timber standing, so that all the juices may be enabled to escape. Going back to ancient times, it is a remarkable fact, that in the first Punic War the fleet commanded by Duillius was on the water within sixty days from the time the timber was cut: and, what is still more so, Piso relates that King Hiero had two hundred and twenty ships wholly constructed in forty-five days: in the second Punic War, too, the fleet of Scipio was at sea the fortieth day after the axe had been put to the tree. Such is the energy and dispatch that can be displayed on occasions of emergency.
 
16 - 75 OPINION OF CATO ON THE FELLING OF TIMBER M
Cato, a man of consummate authority in all practical matters, expresses himself in relation to timber to the following effect:—"For making presses, employ the wood of the sappinus in preference. When you root up the elm, the pine, the nut- tree, or, indeed, any other kind of tree, mind and do so when the moon is on the wane, after midday, and when there is no south wind blowing. The proper time for cutting a tree is when the seed is ripe, but be careful not to draw it away or plane it while the dew is falling." He then proceeds to say —" Never touch the timber, except when the moon is on the change, or else at the end of the second quarter: at those periods you may either root up the tree, or fell it as it stands. The next seven days after the full moon are the best of all for grubbing up a tree. Be particularly careful, too, not to rough- hew timber, or, indeed, to cut or touch it, unless it is perfectly dry; and by no means while it is covered with frost or dew."
The Emperor Tiberius used also to observe the changes of the moon for cutting his hair. M. Varro has recommended that the hair should be cut at full moon only, if we would avoid baldness.
 
16 - 76 SIZE OF TREES: NATURE OF WOOD: THE SAPPINUS M
From the larch, and still more the fir, after it has been cut, a liquid flows for a considerable period: these are the loftiest and straightest of all the trees. The fir is preferred for making the masts and sailyards of ships, on account of its comparative lightness. It is a common feature with these trees, in common with the pine, to have four rows of veins running along the wood, or else two, or sometimes only one. The heart of these trees is peculiarly well adapted for joiners' work, and the best wood of all is that which has four layers of veins, it being softer than the rest: men of experience in these matters can instantly form a judgment of the quality from the bark. That part in the fir which is nearest to the ground is free from knots: when soaked in river water in the way we have already mentioned, and then barked, the wood of this part is known as sappinus; while that of the upper part, which is harder and knotty, goes by the name of "fusterna." In trees, the side which looks towards the northeast is the most robust, and it is universally the case, that those which grow in moist and damp localities are of inferior quality, while in those which grow in warm and sunny spots, the wood is more compact and durable; hence it is, that at Rome the fir is preferred that grows on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea to that of the shores of the Adriatic.
There are also considerable differences in the qualities of these trees according to the country of their growth: the most esteemed are those of the Alps and the Apennines; in Gaul, those of Jura and Mount Vogesus; those also of Corsica, Bithynia, Pontus, and Macedonia; while the firs of Ænea and Arcadia are of inferior quality. Those, however, of Parnassus and Eubœa are the worst of all, the trees being branchy and knotted, and the wood very apt to rot. As for the cedar, those of Crete, Africa, and Syria are the most esteemed. Wood, if well rubbed with oil of cedar, is proof against wood-worm and decay. The juniper, too, has the same virtues as the cedar; in Spain it grows to a very considerable size, in the territory of the Vacæi more particularly: the heart of this tree, too, is universally more firm and solid than cedar even. A general fault in all wood is that known as cross-grain, which is formed by contortions of the knots and veins. In the wood of some trees there are to be found knurs, like those in marble; these knurs are remarkably hard, and offer a resistance like that of a nail, to the great injury of the saw: in some cases, also, they are formed accidentally, from either a stone, or the branch of another tree lodging there, and being absorbed in the body of the tree. In the Forum at Megara there long stood a wild olive upon which warriors who had distinguished themselves by their martial powers had been in the habit of suspending their arms. In the lapse of time the bark of this tree had closed, and quite concealed these arms from view. Upon it, however, depended the fate of the city; for it had been announced by an oracle, that when a tree there should bring forth arms, the fall of the city would be close at hand: and such, in fact, was the result, when the tree was cut down and greaves and helmets were found within the wood. It is said that stones found under these circumstances have the property of preventing abortion. (.) It is generally thought that the largest tree that has ever been seen, was the one that was exhibited at Rome, by Tiberius Cæsar, as an object of curiosity, upon the bridge of the Naumachia previously mentioned. It had been brought thither along with other timber, and was preserved till the construction of the amphitheatre of the Emperor Nero: it was a log of larch, one hundred and twenty feet long, and of an uniform thickness of a couple of feet. From this fact we can form an estimate of the original height of the tree; indeed, measured from top to bottom it must have been originally of a length that is almost incredible. In our own time, too, in the porticos of the Septa, there was a log which had been left there by M. Agrippa, as being equally an object of curiosity, having been found too large to be used in the building of the vote office there: it was twenty feet shorter than the one previously mentioned, and a foot-and-a-half in thickness. There was a fir, too, that was particularly admired, when it formed the mast of the ship, which brought from Egypt, by order of the Emperor Caius, the obelisk that was erected in the Vaticanian Circus, with the four blocks of stone intended for its base. It is beyond all doubt that there has been seen nothing on the sea more wonderful than this ship: one hundred and twenty thousand modii of lentils formed its ballast; and the length of it took up the greater part of the left side of the harbour at Ostia. It was sunk at that spot by order of the Emperor Claudius, three moles, each as high as a tower, being built upon it; they were constructed with cement which the same vessel had conveyed from Puteoli. It took the arms of four men to span the girth of this tree, and we not unfrequently hear of the price of masts for such purposes, as being eighty thousand sesterces or more: rafts, too, of this wood are sometimes put together, the value of which is forty thousand. In Egypt and Syria, it is said, the kings, for want of fir, used to employ cedar for building their ships: the largest cedar that we find mentioned is said to have come from Cyprus, where it was cut to form the mast of a galley of eleven tiers of oars that belonged to Demetrius: it was one hundred and thirty feet in length, and took three men to span its girth. The pirates of Germany navigate their seas in vessels formed of a single tree hollowed out: some of these will hold as many as thirty men. Of all woods, the most compact, and consequently the hea- viest, are the ebony and the box, both of them of a slender make. Neither of these woods will float in water, nor, indeed, will that of the cork tree, if the bark is removed; the same is the case, too, with the wood of the larch. Of the other woods, the driest is that of the tree known at Rome as the lotus, and next, that of the robur, when the white sap has been removed. The wood of the robur is dark, and that of the cytisus still more so, approaching, in fact, the nearest of all to the colour of ebony; though there are not wanting writers who assert that the wood of the Syrian terebinth is darker. An artist of the name of Thericles is highly spoken of for his skill in turning goblets from the wood of the terebinth: and, indeed, that fact is a proof of the goodness of the wood. Terebinth is the only wood that requires to be rubbed with oil, and is im- proved thereby. Its colour is imitated remarkably well with the walnut and the wild pear, which have its peculiar tint imparted to them by being boiled in colouring liquid. The wood of all the trees of which we have here made mention is firm and compact. Next after them comes the cornel, although it can hardly be looked upon as timber, in consequence of its remarkable slimness; the wood of it, in fact, is used for hardly any other purpose than the spokes of wheels, or else for making wedges for splitting wood, and pins or bolts, which have all the hardness of those of iron. Besides these, there are the holm-oak, the wild and the cultivated olive, the chesnut, the yoke-elm, and the poplar. This last is mottled similarly to the maple, and would be used for joiners' work if wood could be good for anything when the branches are so often lopped: that acting upon the tree as a sort of castration, and depriving it of its strength. In addition to these facts, most of these trees, but the robur more particularly, are so extremely hard, that it is quite impossible to bore the wood till it has been soaked in water; and even then, a nail once driven home cannot be drawn out again. On the other hand, a nail has no hold in cedar. The wood of the lime is the softest of all, and, as it would appear, the hottest by nature; a proof of this, they say, is the fact that it will turn the edge of the adze sooner than any other wood. In the number, also, of the trees that are hot by nature, are the mulberry, the laurel, the ivy, and all those woods from which fire is kindled by attrition.
 
16 - 77 METHODS OF OBTAINING FIRE FROM WOOD M
This is a method which has been employed by the outposts of armies, and by shepherds, on occasions when there has not been a stone at hand to strike fire with. Two pieces of wood are rubbed briskly together, and the friction soon sets them on fire; which is caught on dry and inflammable substances, fun- guses and leaves being found to ignite the most readily. There is nothing superior to the wood of the ivy for rubbing against, or to that of the laurel for rubbing with. A species of wild vine, too—not the same as the labrusca—which climbs up other trees like the ivy, is highly approved of. The coldest woods of all are those of the aquatic trees; but they are the most flexible also, and for that reason the best adapted for the construction of bucklers. On an incision being made in them, they will contract immediately, and so close up their wounds, at the same time rendering it more difficult for the iron to penetrate: in the number of these woods are the fig, the willow, the lime, the birch, the elder, and both varieties of the poplar.
The lightest of all these woods, and consequently the most useful, are the fig and the willow. They are all of them employed, however, in the manufacture of baskets and other utensils of wicker-work; while, at the same time, they possess a degree of whiteness and hardness which render them very well adapted for carving. The plane has considerable flexibility, but it is moist and slimy like the alder. The elm, too, the ash, the mulberry, and the cherry, are flexible, but of a drier nature; the wood, however, is more weighty. The elm is the best of all for retaining its natural toughness, and hence it is more particularly employed for socket beams for hinges, and cases for the pannelling of doors, being proof against warping. It is requisite, however, that the beam to receive the hinge should be inverted when set up, the top of the tree answering to the lower hinge, the root to the upper. The wood of the palm and the cork-tree is soft, while that of the apple and the pear is compact. Such, however, is not the case with the maple, its wood being brittle, as, in fact, all veined woods are. In every kind of tree, the varieties in the wood are still more augmented by the wild trees and the males. The wood, too, of the barren tree is more solid than that of the fruit-bearing ones, except in those species in which the male trees bear fruit, the cypress and the cornel, for instance.
 
16 - 78 TREES WHICH ARE PROOF AGAINST DECAY: TREES WHICH NEVER SPLIT M
The following trees are proof against decay and the other- wise injurious effects of age—the cypress, the cedar, the ebony, the lotus, the box, the yew, the juniper, and both the wild and cultivated olive. Among the others, the larch, the robur, the cork-tree, the chesnut, and the walnut are also remarkably durable. The cedar, cypress, olive, and box are never known to split or crack spontaneously.
 
16 - 79 HISTORICAL FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE DURABILITY OF WOOD M
Of all the woods, the ebony, the cypress, and the cedar are considered to be the most durable, a good proof of which is to be seen in the timber of which the Temple of Diana at Ephesus is built: it being now four hundred years since it was erected, at the joint expense of the whole of Asia; and, what is a well-known fact, the roof is wholly constructed of planks of cedar. As to the statue of the goddess, there is some doubt of what wood it is made; all the writers say that it is ebony, with the exception of Mucianus, who was three times consul, one of the very latest among the writers that have seen it; he declares that it is made of the wood of the vine, and that it has never been changed all the seven times that the temple has been rebuilt. He says, too, that it was Endæus who made choice of this wood, and even goes so far as to mention the artist's name, a thing that really surprises me very much, seeing that he attributes to it an antiquity that dates before the times of Father Liber, and of Minerva even. He states, also, that, by the aid of numerous apertures, it is soaked with nard, in order that the moist nature of that drug may preserve the wood and keep the seams close together: I am rather surprised, however, that there should be any seams in the statue, considering the very moderate size it is. He informs us, also, that the doors are made of cypress, and that the wood, which has now lasted very nearly four hundred years, has all the appearance of new. It is worthy of remark, too, that the wood of these doors, after the pieces had been glued together, was left to season four years before they were put up: cypress was made choice of from the circumstance that it is the only kind of wood that maintains its polish to all future time.
And have we not the statue of Vejovis, also, made of cypress, still preserved in the Capitol, where it was consecrated in the year of the City ? The Temple of Apollo, too, at Utica, is equally celebrated: there we may see beams of cedar still in existence, and in just the same condition in which they were when erected at the first building of that city, eleven hundred and seventy-eight years ago. At Saguntum, too, in Spain, there is a temple of Diana, which was brought thither by the original founders of the place, from the island of Zacynthus, in the year before the taking of Troy, Bocchus says—It is preserved beneath the town, they say. Hannibal, being induced thereto by feelings of religious veneration, spared this temple, and its beams, made of juniper, are still in existence at this very day. But the most memorable instance of all is that of the temple which was dedicated to the same goddess at Aulis, several ages before the Trojan War: of what wood, however, it was originally built is a fact that has been long lost in oblivion. Speaking in general terms, we may say that those woods are of the greatest durability which are the most odoriferous. Next to those woods of which we have just spoken, that of the mulberry is held in the highest degree of esteem, and it will even turn black when old. There are some trees, again, that are more durable than others, when employed for certain purposes. The wood of the elm lasts the best in the open air, that of the robur when buried in the ground, and that of the quercus when exposed to the action of water: indeed, the wood of this last, if employed in works above ground, is apt to split and warp. The wood of the larch thrives best in the midst of moisture; the same is the case, too, with that of the black alder. The wood of the robur spoils by exposure to the action of sea-water. The beech and the walnut are far from disapproved of for constructions under water, and, in fact, these are the principal woods, too, that are used for works under ground: the same is the case, also, with the juniper; which is equally serviceable when exposed to the atmosphere. The woods of the beech and the cirrus very quickly deteriorate, and that of the æsculus will not withstand the action of water. On the other hand, the alder, when driven into the ground in marshy localities, is of everlasting duration, and able to support the very heaviest weights. The wood of the cherry is strong, while those of the elm and the ash are pliable, though apt to warp: these last will still retain their flexibility, and be less liable to warp, if the wood is left to stand and dry upon the trunk after the pith has been cut around. It is said that the larch, when used for sea-going ships, is liable to the attacks of the teredo, as, in fact, all the woods are, with the exception of the wild and cultivated olive. It is a fact, too, that there are some woods that are more liable to spoil in the sea, and others in the ground.
 
16 - 80 VARIETIES OF THE TEREDO M
There are four kinds of insects that attack wood. The teredo has a head remarkably large in proportion to the other part of the body, and gnaws away the wood with its teeth: its attacks, however, are confined solely to the sea, and it is generally thought that this is the only insect that is properly so called. The wood-worm that prevails on the land is known as the " tinea," while those which resemble a gnat in appearance are called "thripes." The fourth kind of wood-worm belongs to the maggot class; some of them being engendered by the corruption of the juices of the wood itself, and others being produced, just as in the trees, by the worm known as the cerastes. When this worm has eaten away enough of the wood to enable it to turn round, it gives birth to another. The generation of these insects is prevented, however, by the bitterness that exists in some woods, the cypress, and the hardness of others, the box, for instance.
It is said, too, that the fir, if barked about the time of budding, and at the period of the moon already mentioned, will never spoil in water. The followers of Alexander the Great have left a statement that, at Tylos, an island in the Red Sea, there are trees, of which ships are built, the wood of which has been found uninjured at the end of two hundred years, even if it has been under water all that time. They say, also, that in the same island there is a certain shrub, about the thickness of a walking-stick only, and spotted like a tiger's skin: it is very heavy, and will break like glass if it happens to fall upon a hard substance.
 
16 - 81 WOODS USED IN BUILDING M
We have in Italy some woods that are apt to split of themselves: to prevent this, architects recommend that they should be first seasoned in manure and then dried, in order to render them proof against the action of the atmosphere. The woods of the fir and larch are well adapted, even when used transversely, for the support of heavy burdens; while the robur and the olive are apt to bend and give way under a weight. The wood of the poplar and the palm are also strong, but this last will bend, though in a manner different from the others; for, while in all other instances the wood bends downwards, in the palm it bends in the contrary direction, and forms an arch. The woods of the pine and the cypress are proof against decay and all attacks of wood-worm. The walnut is easily warped, but we sometimes see beams even made of it. It gives warning, however, before it breaks, by a loud cracking noise; such was the case at Antandros, at the public baths there—the bathers took the alarm upon hearing the beams crack, and made their escape. The pine, the pitch-tree, and the alder are employed for making hollow pipes for the conveyance, of water, and when buried in the earth will last for many years. If, however, they are not well covered over, they will very soon rot; and the resistance they offer to decay will increase in a most surprising degree if the outer surface as well is left in contact with the water.
 
16 - 82 CARPENTERS' WOODS M
The wood of the fir is strongest in a vertical position: it is remarkably well adapted for the pannels of doors, and all kinds of in-door joiners' work, whether in the Grecian, the Campanian, or the Sicilian style. The shavings of this wood when briskly planed, always curl up in circles like the tendrils of the vine. This wood, too, unites particularly well with glue: it is used in this state for making vehicles, and is found to split sooner in the solid parts than in a place where the pieces have been glued together.
 
16 - 83 WOODS UNITED WITH GLUE M
Glue, too, plays one of the principal parts in all veneering and works of marqueterie. For this purpose, the workmen usually employ wood with a threaded vein, to which they give the name of "ferulea," from its resemblance to the grain of the giant fennel, this part of the wood being preferred from its being dotted and wavy. In every variety there are some woods to be found that will not take the glue, and which refuse to unite either with wood of the same kind or of any other; the wood of the robur for example. Indeed, it is mostly the case that substances will not unite unless they are of a similar nature; a stone, for instance, cannot be made to adhere to wood. The wood of the service-tree, the yoke-elm, the box, and, in a less degree, the lime, have a particular aversion to uniting with the cornel. All the yielding woods which we have already spoken of as flexible readily adapt themselves to every kind of work; and in addition to them, the mulberry and the wild fig. Those which are moderately moist are easily sawn and cut, but dry woods are apt to give way beyond the part that is touched by the saw; while, on the other hand, the green woods, with the exception of the robur and the box, offer a more obstinate resistance, filling the intervals between the teeth of the saw with sawdust, and rendering its edge uniform and inert; it is for this reason that the teeth are often made to project right and left in turns, a method by which the saw-dust is discharged. The ash is found the most pliable wood of all for working; and, indeed, for making spears it is better even than the hazel, being lighter than the cornel, and more pliable than the wood of the service-tree. The Gallic variety is so supple, that it is employed in the construction of vehicles even. The elm would rival the trunk of the vine for some purposes, were it not that its weight is so much against it.
 
16 - 84 VENEERING M
The wood, too, of the beech is easily worked, although it is brittle and soft. Cut into thin layers of veneer, it is very flexible, but is only used for the construction of boxes and desks. The wood, too, of the holm-oak is cut into veneers of remarkable thinness, the colour of which is far from unsightly; but it is more particularly where it is exposed to friction that this wood is valued, as being one to be depended upon; in the axle-trees of wheels, for instance; for which the ash is also employed, on account of its pliancy, the holm-oak for its hardness, and the elm, for the union in it of both those qualities. There are also various workman's tools made of wood, which, though but small, are still remarkably useful; in this respect, it is said that the best materials for making auger handles are the wild olive, the box, the holm-oak, the elm, and the ash. Of the same woods also mallets are made; the larger ones, however, are made of the pine and the holm- oak. These woods, too, have a greater degree of strength and hardness if cut in season than when hewn prematurely; indeed, it has been known for hinge-jambs, made of olive, a wood of remarkable hardness, after having remained a considerable time on the spot, to put out buds like a growing plant. Cato recommends levers to be made of holly, laurel, or elm; and Hyginus speaks highly of the yoke-elm, the holm-oak, and the cerrus, for the handles of agricultural implements.
The best woods for cutting into layers, and employing as a veneer for covering others, are the citrus, the terebinth, the different varieties of the maple, the box, the palm, the holly, the holm-oak, the root of the elder, and the poplar. The alder furnishes also, as already stated, a kind of tuberosity, which is cut into layers like those of the citrus and the maple. In all the other trees the tuberosities are of no value whatever. It is the central part of trees that is most variegated, and the nearer we approach to the root the smaller are the spots and the more wavy. It was in this appearance that originated that requirement of luxury which displays itself in covering one tree with another, and bestowing upon the more common woods a bark of higher price. In order to make a single tree sell many times over, laminæ of veneer have been devised; but that was not thought sufficient—the horns of animals must next be stained of different colours, and their teeth cut into sections, in order to decorate wood with ivory, and, at a later period, to veneer it all over. Then, after all this, man must go and seek his materials in the sea as well! For this purpose he has learned to cut tortoise-shell into sections; and of late, in the reign of Nero, there was a monstrous invention devised of destroying its natural appearance by paint, and making it sell at a still higher price by a successful imitation of wood. It is in this way that the value of our couches is so greatly enhanced; it is in this way, too, that they bid the rich lustre of the terebinth to be outdone, a mock citrus to be made that shall be more valuable than the real one, and the grain of the maple to be feigned. At one time luxury was not content with wood; at the present day it sets us on buying tortoiseshell in the guise of wood.
 
16 - 85 AGE OF TREES. TREE PLANTED BY 1ST SCIPIO AFRICANUS. TREE AT ROME 500 YEARS OLD M
The life of some trees might really be looked upon as of infinite duration, if we only think of the dense wilds and inaccessible forests in some parts of the world. In relation, however, to those, the date of which is still within the memory of man, there are some olive-trees still in existence at Liternum, which were planted by the hand of the first Scipio Africanus, as also a myrtle there of extraordinary size; beneath them there is a grotto, in which, it is said, a dragon keeps watch over that hero's shade. There is a lotus tree in the open space before the Temple of Lucina at Rome, which was built in the year of the City , a year in which the republic had no magistrates. How much older the tree is than the temple, is a matter of doubt; but that it is older is quite certain, for it was from that same grove that the goddess Lucina derived her name; the tree in question is now about four hundred and fifty years old. The lotus tree, which is known as the Capillata, is still older than this, though it is uncertain what is its age; it received that name from the circumstance of the Vestal Virgins suspending locks of their hair from it.
 
16 - 86 TREES AS OLD AS THE CITY M
There is another lotus in the Vulcanal, which Romulus erected with the tenth part of the spoil taken from the enemy: according to Massurius, it is generally considered to be as old as the City. The roots of this tree penetrate as far as the Forum of Cæsar, right across the meeting-places of the municipalities. There was a cypress of equal age growing with it till towards the latter part of Nero's reign, when it fell to the ground, and no attempts were made to raise it again.
 
16 - 87 TREES IN THE SUBURBAN DISTRICTS OLDER THAN THE CITY M
Still older than the City is the holm-oak that stands on the Vaticanian Hill: there is an inscription in bronze upon it, written in Etruscan characters, which states that even in those days it was an object of religious veneration. The foundation of the town of Tibur, too, dates many years before that of the City of Rome: there are three holm-oaks there, said to be more ancient than Tiburnus even, who was the founder of that place; the tradition is that in their vicinity he was inaugurated. Tradition states also that he was a son of Amphiaraüs, who died before Thebes, one generation before the period of the Trojan war.
 
16 - 88 TREES PLANTED BY AGAMEMNON THE FIRST YEAR OF THE TROJAN WAR: OTHER TREES WHICH DATE FROM THE TIME THAT THE PLACE WAS CALLED ILIUM, ANTERIOR TO THE TROJAN WAR M
There are some authors, too, who state that a plane-tree at Delphi was planted by the hand of Agamemnon, as also another at Caphyæ, a sacred grove in Arcadia. At the present day, facing the city of Ilium, and close to the Hellespont, there are trees growing over the tomb of Protesilaiis there, which, in all ages since that period, as soon as they have grown of sufficient height to behold Ilium, have withered away, and then begun to flourish again. Near the city, at the tomb of Ilus, there are some oaks which are said to have been planted there when the place was first known by the name of Ilium.
 
16 - 89 TREES PLANTED AT ARGOS BY HERCULES: OTHERS PLANTED BY APOLLO. A TREE MORE ANCIENT THAN ATHENS ITSELF M
At Argos an olive-tree is said to be still in existence, to which Argus fastened Io, after she had been changed into a cow. In the vicinity of Heraclea in Pontus, there are certain altars called after Jupiter surnamed Stratios; two oaks there were planted by Hercules. In the same country, too, is the port of Amycus, rendered famous by the circumstance that King Bcbryx was slain there. Since the day of his death his tomb has been covered by a laurel, which has obtained the name of the "frantic laurel," from the fact that if a portion of it is plucked and taken on board ship, discord and quarrel- ling are the inevitable result, until it has been thrown overboard. We have already made mention of Aulocrene, a district through which you pass in going from Apamia into Phrygia: at this place they show a plane upon which Marsyas was hanged, after he had been conquered by Apollo, it having been chosen even in those days for its remarkable height. At Delos, also, there is a palm to be seen which dates from the birth of that divinity, and at Olympia there is a wild olive, from which Hercules received his first wreath: at the present day it is preserved with the most scrupulous veneration. At Athens, too, the olive produced by Minerva, is said still to exist.
 
16 - 90 TREES WHICH ARE THE MOST SHORT-LIVED M
On the other hand, the pomegranate, the fig, and the apple are remarkably short-lived; the precocious trees being still more so than the later ripeners, and those with sweet fruit than those with sour: among the pomegranates, too, that variety which bears the sweetest fruit lives the shortest time. The same is the case, too, with the vine, and more particularly the more fruitful varieties. Græcinus informs us that vines have lasted so long as sixty years. It appears, also, that the aquatic trees die the soonest. The laurel, the apple, and the pomegranate age rapidly, it is true, but then they throw out fresh shoots at the root. The olive must be looked upon, then, as being one of the most long-lived, for it is generally agreed among authors that it will last two hundred years.
 
16 - 91 TREES THAT HAVE BEEN RENDERED FAMOUS BY REMARKABLE EVENTS M
In the territory about the suburbs of Tusculum, upon a hill known by the name of Corne, there is a grove which has been consecrated to Diana by the people of Latium from time immemorial; it is formed of beeches, the foliage of which has all the appearance of being trimmed by art. Passienus Crispus, the orator, who in our time was twice consul, and afterwards became still more famous as having Nero for his step-son, on marrying his mother Agrippina, was passionately attached to a fine tree that grew in this grove, and would often kiss and embrace it: not only would he lie down, too, beneath it, but he would also moisten its roots with wine. In the vicinity of this grove there is a holm-oak, likewise of very considerable celebrity, the trunk of which is no less than thirty-four feet in circumference; giving birth to ten other trees of remarkable size, it forms of itself a whole forest.
 
16 - 92 PLANTS THAT HAVE NO PECULIAR SPOT FOR THEIR GROWTH: OTHERS THAT GROW UPON TREES, & WILL NOT GROW IN GROUND. 9 VARIETIES OF THEM: CADYTAS, POLYPODION, PHAULIAS, HIPPOPHÆSTON M
It is a well-known fact that trees are killed by ivy. The mistletoe also has a similar influence, although it is generally thght that its injurious effects are not so soon perceptible: and, indeed, this plant, apart from the fruit that it bears, is looked upon as by no means the least remarkable. There are certain vegetable productions which cannot be propagated in the ground, and which grow nowhere but on trees; having no domicile of their own, they live upon others; such, for instance, is the case with the mistletoe, and a herb that grows in Syria, and is known as the " cadytas." This last entwines around not only trees, but brambles even; in the neighbourhood of Tempe, too, in Thessaly, there is found a plant which is called "polypodion; the dolichos is found also, and wild thyme. After the wild olive has been pruned there springs up a plant that is known as "phaulias; while one that grows upon the fuller's thistle is called the "hippophæston;" it has a thin, hollow stem, a small leaf, and a white root, the juice of which is considered extremely beneficial as a purgative in epilepsy.
 
16 - 93 3 VARIETIES OF MISTLETOE. NATURE OF MISTLETOE & SIMILAR PLANTS M
There are three varieties of the mistletoe. That which grows upon the fir and the larch has the name of stelis in Eubœa; and there is the hyphear of Arcadia. It grows also upon the quercus, the robur, the holm-oak, the wild plum, and the terebinth, but upon no other tree. It is most plentiful of all upon the quercus, and is then known as "adasphear." In all the trees, with the exception of the holmoak and the quercus, there is a considerable difference in its smell and pungency, and the leaf of one kind has a disagreeable odour; both varieties, however, are sticky and bitter. The hyphear is the best for fattening cattle with; it begins, however, by purging off all defects, after which it fattens all such animals as have been able to withstand the purging. It is generally said, however, that those animals which have any radical malady in the intestines cannot withstand its drastic effects. This method of treatment is generally adopted in the summer for a period of forty days.
Besides the above, there is yet another difference in the mistletoe; that which grows upon the trees which lose their leaves, loses its leaves as well; while, on the other hand, that which grows upon evergreens always retains its leaves. In whatever way the seed may have been sown, it will never come to anything, unless it has been first swallowed and then voided by birds, the wood-pigeon more particularly, and the thrush: such being the nature of the plant, that it will not come to anything unless the seed is first ripened in the crop of the bird. It never exceeds a single cubit in height, and is always green and branchy. The male plant is fruitful, the female barren; sometimes, indeed, the male even bears no berry.
 
16 - 94 METHOD OF MAKING BIRDLIME M
Birdlime is made of the berries of the mistletoe, which are gathered at harvest, and while in an unripe state; for if the rainy season comes on, though they increase in size, the viscous juice is apt to lose its virtues. They are then dried, and when brought to a state of perfect aridity, are first pounded, and then put in water, in which they are left to rot for twelve days; this being, in fact, the only thing that finds improve- ment in decay. After this, they are again beaten in running water with a mallet, and after losing the outer coat there is only the viscous inner pulp remaining. This substance is birdlime; and after it has been thinned by the addition of walnut oil, it is found particularly useful for catching birds, it being quite sufficient if they only touch it with the wings.
 
16 - 95 HISTORICAL FACTS CONNECTED WITH MISTLETOE M
Upon this occasion we must not omit to mention the admiration that is lavished upon this plant by the Gauls. The Druids—for that is the name they give to their magicians— held nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree that bears it, supposing always that tree to be the robur. Of itself the robur is selected by them to form whole groves, and they perform none of their religious rites without em- ploying branches of it; so much so, that it is very probable that the priests themselves may have received their name from the Greek name for that tree. In fact, it is the notion with them that everything that grows on it has been sent immediately from heaven, and that the mistletoe upon it is a proof that the tree has been selected by God himself as an object of his especial favour.
The mistletoe, however, is but rarely found upon the robur; and when found, is gathered with rites replete with religious awe. This is done more particularly on the fifth day of the moon, the day which is the beginning of their months and years, as also of their ages, which, with them, are but thirty years. This day they select because the moon, though not yet in the middle of her course, has already considerable power and influence; and they call her by a name which signifies, in their language, the all-healing. Having made all due preparation for the sacrifice and a banquet beneath the trees, they bring thither two white bulls, the horns of which are bound then for the first time. Clad in a white robe the priest ascends the tree, and cuts the mistletoe with a golden sickle, which is received by others in a white cloak. They then immolate the victims, offering up their prayers that God will render this gift of his propitious to those to whom he has so granted it. It is the belief with them that the mistletoe, taken in drink, will impart fecundity to all animals that are barren, and that it is an antidote for all poisons. Such are the religious feelings which we find entertained towards trifling objects among nearly all nations. SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, one thousand one hundred and thirty-five. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—-M. Varro, Fetialis, Nigidius, Cornelins Nepos, Hyginus, Massurius, Cato, Mucianus, L. Piso, Trogus, Calpurnius Bassus, Cremutius, Sextius Niger, Cornelius Bocchus, Yitruvius, Græcinus. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Alexander Polyhistor, Hesiod, Theophrastus, Democritus, Homer, Timæus the mathematician.
 
  17 HISTORY OF CULTIVATED TREES M 142.8  
17 - 1 TREES WHICH HAVE BEEN SOLD AT ENORMOUS PRICES M
WE have described the trees which grow spontaneously on land and in the sea, and it now remains for us to speak of those which owe their formation, properly speaking, rather than birth, to art and the inventive genius of man. Here, however, I cannot but express my surprise, that after the state of penury in which man lived, as already described, in primitive times, holding the trees of the forest in common with the wild beasts, and disputing with them the possession of the fruits that fell, and with the fowls of the air that of the fruits as they hung on the tree, luxury has now attached to them prices so enormous.
The most famous instance, in my opinion, of this excess, was that displayed by L. Crassus and Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Crassus was one of the most celebrated of the Roman orators; his house was remarkable for its magnificence, though in some measure surpassed even by that of Q. Catulus, also upon the Palatine Hill; the same Catulus, who, in conjunction with C. Marius, defeated the Cimbri. But by far the finest house of all that period, it was universally acknowledged, was that of C. Aquilius, a Roman of Equestrian rank, situate upon the Viminal Hill; a house, indeed, that conferred a greater degree of celebrity upon him than even his acquaintance with the civil law. This, however, did not prevent Crassus being reproached with the magnificence of his. Crassus and Domitius, members, both of them, of the most illus- trious families, after holding the consulship, were appointed jointly to the censorship, in the year from the building of the City , a period of office that was fruitful in strife, the natural result of their dissimilarity of character. On one occasion, Cneius Domitius, naturally a man of hasty temper, and inflamed besides by a hatred that rivalry only tends to stimulate, gravely rebuked Crassus for living, and he a Censor too, in a style of such magnificence, and in a house for which, as he said, he himself would be ready to pay down ten millions of sesterces. Crassus, a man who united to singular presence of mind great readiness of wit, made answer that, deducting six trees only, he would accept the offer; upon which Domitius replied, that upon those terms he would not give so much as a single denarius for the purchase. "Well then, Domitius," was the rejoinder of Crassus, "which of the two is it that sets a bad example, and deserves the reproof of the censorship; I, who live like a plain man in a house that has come to me by inheritance, or you, who estimate six trees at a value of ten millions of sesterces?" These trees were of the lotus kind, and by the exuberance of their branches afforded a most delightful shade. Cæcina Largus, one of the grandees of Rome, and the owner of the house, used often to point them out to me in my younger days; and, as I have already made mention of the remarkable longevity of trees, I would here add, that they were in existence down to the period when the Emperor Nero set fire to the City, one hundred and eighty years after the time of Crassus; being still green and with all the freshness of youth upon them, had not that prince thought fit to hasten the death of the very trees even. Let no one, however, imagine that the house of Crassus was of no value in other respects, or that, from the rebuke of Domitius, there was nothing about it worthy of remark with the exception of these trees. There were to be seen erected in the atrium four columns of marble from Mount Hymettus, which in his ædileship he had ordered to be brought over for the decoration of the stage; and this at a time, too, when no public buildings even as yet possessed any pillars made of that material. Of such recent date is the luxury and opulence which we now enjoy, and so much greater was the value which in those days trees were supposed to confer upon a property! A pretty good proof of which, was the fact that Domitius even, with all his enmity, would not keep to the offer he had made, if the trees were not to be included in the bargain. The trees have furnished surnames also to the ancients, such, for instance, as that of Fronditius to the warrior who swam across the Volturnus with a wreath of leaves on his head, and distinguished himself by his famous exploits in the war against Hannibal; and that of Stolo to the Licinian family, such being the name given by us to the useless suckers that shoot from trees; the best method of clearing away these shoots was discovered by the first Stolo, and hence his name. The ancient laws also took the trees under their protection; and by the Twelve Tables it was enacted, that he who should wrongfully cut down trees belonging to another person, should pay twenty-five asses for each. Is it possible then to imagine that they, who estimated the fruit-trees at so low a rate as this, could ever have supposed that so exorbitant a value would be put upon the lotus as that which I have just mentioned? And no less mar- vellous, too, are the changes that have taken place in the value of fruit; for at the present day we find the fruit alone of many of the trees in the suburbs valued at no less a sum than two thousand sesterces; the profits derived from a single tree thus being more than those of a whole estate in former times. It was from motives of gain that the grafting of trees and the propagation thereby of a spurious offspring was first devised, so that the growth of the fruits even might be a thing interdicted to the poor. We shall, therefore, now proceed to state in what way it is that such vast revenues are derived from these trees, and with that object shall set forth the true and most approved methods of cultivation; not taking any notice of the more common methods, or those which we find generally adopted, but considering only those points of doubt and uncertainty, in relation to which practical men are most apt to find themselves at a loss: while, at the same time, to affect any scrupulous exactness in cases where there is no necessity for it, will be no part of our purpose. In the first place, however, we will consider in a general point of view, those influences of soil as well as weather which are exercised upon all the trees in common.
 
17 - 2 INFLUENCE OF WEATHER UPON TREES: WHAT IS PROPER SITUATION FOR VINE M
Trees are fond of a site more particularly that faces the north-east; the breezes rendering their foliage more thick and exuberant, and imparting additional solidity to the wood. This is a point, however, upon which most people are very greatly deceived; thus in vineyards, for instance, the props ought not to be placed in such a position as to shelter the stems from the wind in that quarter, it being only against the northern blasts that this precaution should be taken. Nay, even more than this —if the cold weather only comes on in due season, it contributes very materially to the strengthening of the trees, and promotes the process of germination; while, on the other hand, if at that period the southern breezes should caress them, they will grow weak and languid, and more particularly so, if the blossom is just coming on. If rainy weather, too, should happen to follow close upon blossoming, the total destruction of the fruit is the necessary result: indeed, if the weather should be only cloudy, or south winds happen to prevail, it is quite sufficient to ensure the loss of the fruit in the almond and the pear. Rains, if prevalent about the rising of the Vergiliæ, are most injurious to the vine and the olive, as it is at that season that germination is commencing with them; indeed, this is a most critical four days for the olive, being the period at which the south wind, as we have already stated, brings on its dark and lowering clouds. The cereals, too, ripen more unfavourably when south winds prevail, though at the same time it proceeds with greater rapidity. All cold, too, is injurious to vegetation, which comes with the northern winds, or out of the proper season. It is most advantageous to all plants for north-east winds to prevail throughout the winter.
In this season, too, showers are very necessary, and the reason is self-evident—the trees, being exhausted by the fruit they have borne, and weakened by the loss of their leaves, are, of course, famished and hungry; and it is the showers that constitute their aliment. Experience has led us to believe that there is nothing more detrimental than a warm winter; for it allows the trees, the moment they have parted with their fruits, to conceive again, or, in other words, to germinate, and then exhaust themselves by blossoming afresh. And what is even worse than this, should there be several years of such weather in succession, even the trees themselves will die; for there can be little doubt that the effort must of necessity be injurious, when they put forth their strength, and are at the same time deprived of their natural sustenance. The poet then, who has said that serene winters are to be desired, certainly did not express those wishes in favour of the trees. And no more does rain, if prevalent at the summer-solstice, conduce to the benefit of the vine: while, at the same time, to say that a dusty winter produces a luxuriant harvest, is certainly the mistake of a too fertile imagination. It is a thing greatly to be wished, too, both in behalf of the trees as well as the cereals, that the snows should lie for a considerable time upon the ground; the reason being that they check the escape of the spirit of the earth by evaporation, and tend to throw it back again upon the roots of the plants, adding greatly to their strength thereby; and not only this, but they afford a gradual supply of moisture as well, that is both pure and of remarkable lightness, from the fact that snow is only the foam of the waters of heaven. Hence it is that the moisture of snow does not drench and engulph everything all at once, but gradually trickles downwards, in proportion to the thirst of the plant, nurturing it as though from the breast, instead of producing an inundation. The earth, too, ferments under this influence, and becomes filled with her own emanations: not exhausted by the seeds in her bosom, swollen as they are with milk, she smiles in the warm and balmy hours, when the time comes for opening it. It is in this way, more particularly, that corn fattens apace, except, indeed, in those climates in which the atmosphere is always warm, Egypt for example; for there the continuance of the same temperature and the force of habit are productive of the same effects as the modifications of temperature in other countries. At the same time it is equally necessary in every climate that there should be no noxious influence in existence. Thus, for instance, in the greater part of the world, that precocious germination which has been encouraged by the indulgent temperature of the weather, is sure to be nipped by the intense colds that ensue. Hence it is that late winters are so injurious, and such they prove to the trees of the forest even; indeed, these last are more particularly exposed to the ill effects of a late winter, oppressed as they are by the density of their foliage, and human agency being unable to succour them; for it would be quite impossible to cover the more tender forest trees with wisps of straw. Rains, then, are favourable to vegetation-first of all, during the winter season, and next, just previously to germination; the third period for them being that of the formation of the fruit, though not immediately, and only, in fact, when the produce of the tree shows itself strong and healthy. Those trees which are the slowest in bringing their fruits to maturity, and require a more prolonged supply of nutriment, receive benefit also from late rains, such as the vine, the olive, and the pomegranate, for instance. These rains, however, are required at different seasons by the different trees, some of them coming to maturity at one period and some at another; hence it is that we see the very same rain productive of injury to some trees and beneficial to others, even when they are of the very same species, as in the pear for instance: for the winter pear stands in need of rain at one period, and the early pear at another, though at the same time they, all of them, require it in an equal degree. Winter precedes the period of germination, and it is this fact that makes the north-east wind more beneficial than the south, and renders the parts that lie in the interior preferable to those near the coast,-the former being generally the coldest,-mountainous districts better than level ones, and rain at night better than showers in the day. Vegetation, too, receives a greater degree of benefit from the water when the sun does not immediately soak it up. Connected, too, with this subject is the question of the best situation for planting vines, and the trees which support them. Virgil condemns a western aspect, while there are some persons, again, who prefer it to an easterly one: I find, however, that most authors approve of the south, though I do not think that any abstract precepts can be given in relation to the point. The most careful attention on the part of the cultivator ought to be paid to the nature of the soil, the character of the locality, and the respective influences of climate. The method of giving to the vine a southern aspect, as practised in Africa and * * * * is injurious to the tree, as well as unhealthy for the cultivator, from the very circumstance that the country itself lies under a southern meridian: hence it is, that he who selects for his plants there a western or a northerly aspect, will combine on the most advantageous terms the benefits of soil with those of climate. When Virgil condemns a western aspect, there can be no doubt that he includes in his censure a northern aspect as well: and yet, in Cisalpine Italy, where most of the vineyards have an aspect to the north, it has been found by experience that there are none that are more prolific. The winds are also a very important consideration. In the provinces of Gallia Narbonensis, and in Liguria and part of Etruria, it is considered a proof of great want of skill to plant the vine on a site that lies in the teeth of the wind Circius, while, on the other hand, it is a mark of prudence to catch its breezes in an oblique direction; it is this wind, in fact, that modifies the heat in those countries, though at the same time it is usually so violent, as to sweep away the roofs of the houses. (.) There are some persons who employ a method of making the question of weather dependent upon the nature of the soil; thus in the case of a vineyard, for instance, in a dry locality, they give it an eastern or a northern aspect; but where it is planted on a humid site, it is made to face the south. From the varieties of the vine also, they borrow various modifications in reference to site; taking care to plant the early vine in a cold locality, in order that the fruit may ripen before the frosts come on; while such fruit trees and vines as have an antipathy to dews are exposed to the east, that the sun may carry off their humidity at the earliest moment. On the other hand, such as manifest a partiality to dews are planted with a western or even a northern aspect, to give them an opportunity of enjoying them all the longer. Others, again, borrowing their notions pretty nearly from Nature, have recommended that vines and trees should be planted facing the north-east; indeed Democritus is of opinion, that by so doing the fruit will be all the more odoriferous. (.) We have already spoken, in the Second Book, of the points of the north-east and other winds, and shall have occasion in the succeeding one to make mention of several more of the heavenly phænomena. In the mean time, however, we may observe that it would appear to be a manifest proof of the salubrity of a north-east site, that the leaves are always the first to fall in the trees that have an aspect towards the south. A similar reason exists, too, in the maritime districts; in certain localities the sea breezes are detrimental, though in most they are nutritious. For some plants, again, it is pleasant to behold the sea at a distance, while at the same time they will gain nothing by approaching closer to its saline exhalations. The same, too, is the influence exercised by rivers and lakes; they will either scorch the vegetation by the fogs they emit, or else modify by their coolness the excess of heat. We have already mentioned the plants that thrive in the shade, and in the cold even; but in all these matters experience will be found the best of guides.
 
17 - 3 WHAT SOILS ARE TO BE CONSIDERED THE BEST M
Next after the influences of the heavens, we have to treat of those of the earth, a task that is in no way more easy than the previous one. It is but rarely that the same soil is found suited to trees as well as corn: indeed, the black earth which prevails in Campania is not everywhere found suited to the vine, nor yet that which emits light exhalations, or the red soil that has been so highly praised by many. The cretaceous earth that is found in the territory of Alba Pompeia, and an argillaceous soil, are preferred to all others for the vine, although, too, they are remarkably rich, a quality that is generally looked upon as not suited to that plant. On the other hand, again, the white sand of the district of Ticinum, the black sand of many other places, and the red sand as well, even though mixed with a rich earth, will prove unproductive.
The very signs, also, from which we form our judgment are often very deceptive; a soil that is adorned with tall and graceful trees is not always a favourable one, except, of course, for those trees. What tree, in fact, is there that is taller than the fir? and yet what other plant could possibly exist in the same spot? Nor ought we always to look upon verdant pastures as so many proofs of richness of soil; for what is there that enjoys a greater renown than the pastures of Germany? and yet they consist of nothing but a very thin layer of turf, with sand immediately beneath. Nor yet is the soil which produces herbage of large growth always to be looked upon as humid; no, by Hercules! no more than a soil is to be looked upon as unctuous and rich, which adheres to the fingers—a thing that is proved in the case of the argillaceous earths. The earth when thrown back into the hole from which it has just been dug will never fill it, so that it is quite impossible by that method to form any opinion as to its density or thinness. It is the fact, too, that every soil, without exception, will cover iron with rust. Nor yet can we determine the heaviness or lightness of soils in relation to any fixed and ascertained weight: for what are we to understand as the standard weight of earth? A soil, too, that is formed from the alluvion of rivers is not always to be recommended, for there are some crops that decay all the sooner in a watery soil; indeed, those soils even of this description which are highly esteemed, are never found to be long good for any kind of vegetation but the willow. Among other proofs of the goodness of soil, is the comparative thickness of the stem in corn. In Laborium, a famous champaign country of Campania, the stalk is of such remarkable thickness, that it may be used even to supply the place of wood: and yet this very soil, from the difficulty that is everywhere experienced in cultivating it, and the labour required in working it, may be almost said to give the husbandman more trouble by its good qualities than it could possibly have done by reason of any defects. The soil, too, that is generally known as charcoal earth, appears susceptible of being improved by being planted with a poor meagre vine: and tufa, which is naturally rough and friable, we find recommended by some authors. Virgil, too, does not condemn for the vine a soil which produces fern: while a salted earth is thought to be much better entrusted with the growth of vegetation than any other, from the fact of its being comparatively safe from noxious insects breeding there. Declivities, too, are far from unproductive, if a person only knows how to dig them properly; and it is not all champaign spots that are less accessible to the sun and wind than is necessary for their benefit. We have already alluded to the fact, that there are certain vines which find nutriment in hoar frosts and fogs. In every subject there are certain deep and recondite secrets, which it is left to the intelligence of each to penetrate. Do awe not, for instance, find it the fact, that soils which have long offered opportunities for a sound judgment being formed on their qualities have become totally altered? In the vicinity of Larissa, in Thessaly, a lake was drained; and the consequence was, that the district became much colder, and the olive-trees which had formerly borne fruit now ceased to bear. When a channel was cut for the Hebrus, near the town of Ænos, the place was sensible of its nearer approach, in finding its vines frost-bitten, a thing that had never happened before; in the vicinity, too, of Philippi, the country having been drained for cultivation, the nature of the climate became entirely altered. In the territory of Syracuse, a husbandman, who was a stranger to the place, cleared the soil of all the stones, and the consequence was, that he lost his crops front the accumulation of mud; so that at last he was obliged to carry the stones back again. In Syria again, the plough- share which they use is narrow, and the furrows are but very superficial, there being a rock beneath the soil that in summer scorches up the seeds. Then, too, the effects of excessive cold and heat in various places are similar; thus, for instance, Thrace is fruitful in corn, by reason of the cold, while Africa and Egypt are so in consequence of the heat that prevails there. At Chalcia, an island belonging to the Rhodians, there is a certain place which is so remarkably fertile, that after reaping the barley that has been sown at the ordinary time, and gathering it in, they immediately sow a fresh crop, and reap it at the same time as the other corn. A gravelly soil is found best suited for the olive in the district of Venafrum, while one of extreme richness is required for it in Bætica. The wines of Pucinum are ripened upon a rock, and the vines of Cæcubum are moistened by the waters of the Pomptine marshes; so great are the differences that have been detected by human experience in the various soils. Cæsar Vopiscus, when pleading a cause before the Censors, said that the fields of Rosia are the very marrow of Italy, and that a stake, left in the ground there one day, would be found covered by the grass the next: the soil, however, is only esteemed there for the purposes of pasturage. Still, however, Nature has willed that we should not remain uninstructed, and has made full admission as to existing defects in soil, even in cases where she has failed to give us equal information as to its good qualities: we shall begin, therefore, by speaking of the defects that are found in various soils. (.) If it is the wish of a person to test whether a soil is bitter, or whether it is thin and meagre, the fact may be easily ascertained from the presence of black and undergrown herbs. If, again, the herbage shoots up dry and stunted, it shows that the soil is cold, and if sad and languid, that it is moist and slimy. The eye, too, is able to judge whether it is a red earth or whether it is argillaceous, both of them extremely difficult to work, and apt to load the harrow or ploughshare with enormous clods; though at the same time it should be borne in mind that the soil which entails the greatest amount of labour is not always productive of the smallest amount of profit. So, too, on the other hand, the eye can distinguish a soil that is mixed with ashes or with white sand, while earth that is sterile and dense may be easily detected by its peculiar hardness, at even a single stroke of the mattock. Cato, briefly and in his peculiar manner, characterizes the defects that exist in the various soils. "Take care," he says, "where the earth is rotten not to shake it either with carts or by driving cattle over it." Now what are we to suppose that this term "rotten" means, as applied to a soil, about which he is so vastly apprehensive as to almost forbid our setting foot upon it? Let us only form a comparison 'by thinking what it is that constitutes rottenness in wood, and we shall find that the faults which are held by him in such aversion are the being arid, full of holes, rough, white, mouldy, worm eaten, in fact, just like pumice-stone; and thus has Cato said more in a single word than we could have possibly found means to express in a description, however long. Indeed, if we could find means of expressing the various defects that exist in soils, we should find that there are some of them that are old, not with age (for age cannot be concerned in relation to the earth), but of their own nature, and are hence unfruitful and powerless for every purpose from the first. The same writer, too, considers that as the very best of soils, which, situate at the foot of a declivity, runs out into a champaign country, taking a southward direction; such, in fact, being the aspect of the whole of Italy: he says also, that the earth generally known as black earth is of a tender nature, and is consequently the most easily worked and the best for cereals. If we only appreciate with due care the signification of this word "tender," we shall find that it expresses its intended meaning remarkably well, and that in this word is comprised every quality that is desirable for the purposes of cultivation. In a tender soil we shall find fertility combined with moderation, a softness and a pliancy easily adapted to cultivation, and an equal absence of humidity and of dryness. Earth of this nature will shine again after the plough-share has passed through it, just as Homer, that great fountain-head of all genius, has described it sculptured by the Divinity upon the arms [of Achilles], adding, too, a thing that is truly marvellous, that it was of a blackish hue, though gold was the material in which it was wrought. This, too, is that kind of earth, which, when newly turned up, attracts the ravenous birds that follow the plough-share, the ravens even going so far as to peck at the heels of the ploughman. We may in this place appropriately make mention of an opinion that has been pronounced by an Italian writer also with reference to a matter of luxury. Cicero, that other luminary of literature, has made the following remark: "Those unguents which have a taste of earth are better," says he, "than those which smack of saffron;" it seeming to him more to the purpose to express himself by the word " taste" than "smell." And such is the fact, no doubt; that soil is the best which has the flavour of a perfume. If the question should be put to us, what is this odour of the earth that is held in such estimation, our answer is, that it is the same that is often to be recognized at the moment of sunset, without the necessity even of turning up the ground, at the spots where the extremities of the rainbow have been observed to meet the earth; as also when, after long-continued drought, the rain has soaked the ground. Then it is that the earth exhales this divine odour, that is so peculiarly its own, and to which, imparted to it by the sun, there is no perfume, however sweet, that can possibly be compared. It is this odour that the earth, when turned up, ought to emit, and which, when once found, can never deceive a person; and this will be found the best criterion for judging of the quality of the soil. Such, too, is the odour that is usually perceived on land newly cleared, when an ancient forest has been just cut down; its excellence is a thing that is universally admitted. For the culture of the cereals, too, the same land is generally looked upon as the more improved the oftener it has been allowed to rest from cultivation, a thing that is not the case with vineyards; for which reason all the greater care is required in the selection of their site, if we would not have the opinions of those to appear well founded who entertain the notion that the soil of Italy is already worn out. In other kinds of soil the work of cultivation depends entirely upon the weather; as, for instance, in those which cannot be ploughed just after rain, because the natural exuberance of the earth renders it viscous and cloggy. On the other hand, in Byza- cium, a district of Africa, and a champaign country of such singular fertility as to render grain one hundred and fifty fold, the soil is such, that in time of drought, not even bulls are able to plough it; while, on another occasion, just after a shower of rain, one poor ass, with an old woman to guide it, is quite sufficient, as ourselves we have witnessed, to do the plough- ing. But as to amending one soil by the agency of another, as some persons recommend, by throwing rich earth over one that is poor and thin, or by laying a soaking light soil over one that is humid and unctuous, it is a labour of perfect madness. What can a man possibly hope for who cultivates such a soil as this?
 
17 - 4 EIGHT KINDS OF EARTH BOASTED OF BY THE GAULS AND GREEKS M
There is another method, which has been invented both in Gaul and Britain, of enriching earth by the agency of itself, being * * * * and that kind known as marl. This soil is looked upon as containing a greater amount of fecundating principles, and acts as a fat in relation to the earth, just as we find glands existing in the body, which are formed by a condensation of the fatty particles into so many kernels. (.) This mode of proceeding, too, has not been overlooked by the Greeks; indeed, what subject is there that they have not touched upon? They call by the name of leucargillon a white argillaceous earth which is used in the territory of Megara, but only where the soil is of a moist, cold nature.
It is only right that I should employ some degree of care and exactness in treating of this marl, which tends so greatly to enrich the soil of the Gallic provinces and the British islands. There were formerly but two varieties known, but more recently, with the progress of agricultural knowledge, several others have begun to be employed; there being, in fact, the white, the red, the columbine, the argillaceous, the tufaceous, and the sandy marls. It has also one of these two peculiarities, it is either rough or greasy to the touch; the proper mode of testing it being by the hand. Its uses, too, are of a twofold nature—it is employed for the production of the cereals only, or else for the enrichment of pasture land as well. The tufaceous kind is nutrimental to grain, and so is the white; if found in the vicinity of springs, it is fertile to an immeasurable extent; but if it is rough to the touch, when laid upon the land in too large a quantity, it is apt to burn up the soil. The next kind is the red marl, known as acaunumarga, consisting of stones mingled with a thin sandy earth. These stones are broken upon the land itself, and it is with considerable difficulty during the earlier years that the stalk of the corn is cut, in consequence of the presence of these stones; however, as it is remarkably light, it only costs for carriage one-half of the outlay required in using the other varieties. It is laid but very thinly on the surface, and it is generally thought that it is mixed with salt. Both of these varieties, when once laid on the land, will fertilize it for fifty years, whether for grain or for hay. (.) Of the marls that are found to be of an unctuous na- ture, the best is the white. There are several varieties of it: the most pungent and biting being the one already mentioned. Another kind is the white chalk that is used for cleaning silver; it is taken from a considerable depth in the ground, the pits being sunk, in most instances, as much as one hundred feet. These pits are narrow at the mouth, but the shafts enlarge very considerably in the interior, as is the case in mines; it is in Britain more particularly that this chalk is employed. The good effects of it are found to last full eighty years; and there is no instance known of an agriculturist laying it twice on the same land during his life. A third variety of white marl is known as glisomarga; it consists of fullers' chalk mixed with an unctuous earth, and is better for promoting the growth of hay than grain; so much so, in fact, that between harvest and the ensuing seed-time there is cut a most abundant crop of grass. While the corn is growing, however, it will allow no other plant to grow there. Its effects will last so long as thirty years; but if laid too thickly on the ground, it is apt to choke up the soil, just as if it had been covered with Signine cement. The Gauls give to the columbine marl in their language the name of eglecopala; it is taken up in solid blocks like stone, after which it is so loosened by the action of the sun and frost, as to split into laminæ of extreme thinness; this kind is equally beneficial for grass and grain. The sandy marl is employed if there is no other at hand, and on moist slimy soils, even when other kinds can be procured. The Ubii are the only people that we know of, who, having an extremely fertile soil to cultivate, employ methods of enriching it; wherever the land may happen to be, they dig to a depth of three feet, and, taking up the earth, cover the soil with it in other places a foot in thickness; this method, however, to be beneficial, requires to be renewed at the end of every ten years. The Ædui and the Pictones have rendered their lands remarkably fertile by the aid of limestone, which is also found to be particularly beneficial to the olive and the vine. Every marl, however, requires to be laid on the land immediately after ploughing, in order that the soil may at once imbibe its properties; while at the same time, it requires a little manure as well, as it is apt, at first, to be of too acrid a nature, at least where it is not pasture land that it is laid upon; in addition to which, by its very freshness it may possibly injure the soil, whatever the nature of it may be; so much so, indeed, that the land is never fertile the first year after it has been employed. It is a matter of consideration also for what kind of soil the marl is required; if the soil is moist, a dry marl is best suited for it; and if dry, a rich unctuous marl. If, on the other hand, the land is of a medium quality, chalk or columbine marl is the best suited for it.
 
17 - 5 EMPLOYMENT OF ASHES M
The agriculturists of the parts of Italy beyond the river Padus, are such admirers of ashes for this purpose, that they even prefer it as a manure to the dung of beasts of burden; indeed, they are in the habit of burning dung for this purpose, on account of its superior lightness. They do not, however, use them indiscriminately upon the same soil, nor do they employ ashes for promoting the growth of shrubs, nor, in fact, of some of the cereals, as we shall have occasion to mention hereafter. There are some persons who are of opinion also that dust imparts nutriment to grapes, and cover them with it while they are growing, taking care to throw it also upon the roots of the vines and other trees. It is well known that this is done in the province of Gallia Narbonensis, and it is a fact even better ascertained that the grape ripens all the sooner for it; indeed, the dust there contributes more to its ripeness than the heat of the sun.
 
17 - 6 MANURE M
There are various kinds of manure, the use of which is of very ancient date. In the times of Homer even, the aged king is represented as thus enriching the land by the labour of his own hands. Tradition reports that King Augeas was the first in Greece to make use of it, and that Hercules introduced the practice into Italy; which country has, however, immortalized the name of its king, Stercutus, the son of Faunus, as claiming the honour of this invention. M. Varro assigns the first rank for excellence to the dung of thrushes kept in aviaries, and lauds it as being not only good for land, but excellent food for oxen and swine as well; indeed, he goes so far as to assert that there is no food that they will grow fat upon more speedily. We really have some reason to augur well of the manners of the present day, if it is true that in the days of our ancestors there were aviaries of such vast extent as to be able to furnish manure for the fields.
Columella gives the second rank to pigeon manure, and the next to that of the poultry-yard; but he condemns that of the aquatic birds. Some authors, again, are agreed in regarding the residue of the human food as the very best of all manures; while others would only employ the superfluous portion of our drink, mixing with it the hair that is to be found in the curriers' workshops. Some, however, are for employing this liquid by itself, though they would mix water with it once more, and in larger quantities even than when originally mixed with the wine at our repasts; there being a double share of noxious qualities to correct, not only those originally belonging to the wine, but those imparted to it by the human body as well. Such are the various methods by which we vie with each other in imparting nutriment to the earth even. Next to the manures above mentioned, the dung of swine is highly esteemed, Columella being the only writer that condemns it. Some, again, speak highly of the dung of all quadrupeds that have been fed on cytisus, while there are others who prefer that of pigeons. Next to these is the dung of goats, and then of sheep; after which comes that of oxen, and, last of all, of the beasts of burden. Such were the distinctions that were established between the various manures among the ancients, such the precepts that they have left us, and these I have here set forth as being not the mere subtle inventions of genius, but because their utility has been proved in the course of a long series of years. In some of the provinces, too, which abound more particularly in cattle, by rea- son of their prolific soil, we have seen the manure passed through a sieve like so much flour, and perfectly devoid, through lapse of time, of all bad smell or repulsive look, being changed in its appearance to something rather agreeable than otherwise. In more recent times it has been found that the olive thrives more particularly in soil that has been manured with the ashes of the lime-kiln. To the ancient rules Varro has added, that corn land should be manured with horsedung, that being the lightest manure of all, while meadow land, he says, thrives better with a manure of a more heavy nature, and supplied by beasts that have been fed upon barley; this last tending more particularly to the better growth of grass. Some persons, indeed, prefer the dung of the beasts of burden to that of oxen even, the manure of the sheep to that of the goat, and the manure of the ass to all others, the reason being that that animal masticates the most slowly of them all. Experience, however, has pronounced against these dicta of Varro and Columella; but it is universally agreed by all writers that there is nothing more beneficial than to turn up a crop of lupines, before they have podded, with either the plough or the fork, or else to cut them and bury them in heaps at the roots of trees and vines. It is thought, also, that in places where no cattle are kept, it is advantageous to manure the earth with stubble or even fern. " You can make manure," Cato says, "of litter, or else of lupines, straw, beanstalks, or the leaves of the holm-oak and quercus. Pull up the wallwort from among the crops of corn, as also the hemlock that grows there, together with the thick grass and sedge that you find growing about the willow-plots; of all this, mixed with rotten leaves, you may make a litter for sheep and oxen. If a vine should happen to be but poor and meagre, prune the shoots of it, and plough them in round about it." The same author says, also, "When you are going to sow corn in a field, fold your sheep there first."
 
17 - 7 CROPS WHICH TEND TO IMPROVE THE LAND: CROPS WHICH EXHAUST IT M
Cato says, also, that there are some crops which tend to nourish the earth: thus, for instance, corn land is manured by the lupine, the bean, and the vetch; while, on the other hand, the chick-pea exercises a contrary influence, both because it is pulled up by the roots and is of a salt nature; the same is the case, too, with barley, fenugreek, and fitches, all of which have a tendency to burn up corn land, as, in fact, do all those plants which are pulled up by the roots. Take care, too, not to plant stone-fruits on corn land. Virgil is of opinion, also, that corn land is scorched by flax, oats, and poppies.
 
17 - 8 PROPER MODE OF USING MANURE M
It is recommended, also, that the dung-heap should be kept in the open air, in a spot deep sunk and well adapted to receive the moisture: it should be covered, too, with straw, that it may not dry up with the sun, care being taken to drive a stake of robur into the ground, to prevent serpents from breeding there. It is of the greatest consequence that the manure should be laid upon the land while the west winds prevail, and during a dry moon. Most persons, however, misunderstand this precept, and think this should be done when the west winds are just beginning to blow, and in the month of February only: it being really the fact that most crops require manuring in other months as well. At whatever period, however, it may be thought proper to manure the land, the greatest care should be taken that the wind is blowing due west at the time, and that the moon is on the wane, and quite dry. Such precautions as these will increase in a most surprising degree the fertilizing effects of manure.
 
17 - 9 MODES IN WHICH TREES BEAR M
Having now treated at sufficient length of the requisite conditions of the weather and the soil, we shall proceed to speak of those trees which are the result of the care and inventive skill of man. Indeed, the varieties of them are hardly less numerous than of those which are produced by Nature, so abundantly have we testified our gratitude in return for her numerous bounties. For these trees, we find, are reared either from seed, or else by transplanting, by layers, by slips torn from the stock, by cuttings, by grafting, or by cutting into the trunk of the tree. But as to the story that the leaves of the palm are planted by the Babylonians, and so give birth to a tree, I am really surprised that Trogus should have ever believed it. Some of the trees are reproduced by several of the methods above enumerated, others, again, by all of them.
 
17 - 10 PLANTS WHICH ARE PROPAGATED BY SEED M
It is Nature herself that has taught us most of these methods, and more particularly that of sowing seed, as it was very soon evident how the seed on falling to the ground revived again in germination. Indeed, there are some trees that are capable of being propagated in no other way, the chesnut and the walnut, for instance; with the sole exception, of course, of such as are employed for coppice wood. By this method, too, as well as the others, some trees are propagated, though from a seed of a different nature, such, for instance, as the vine, the apple, and the pear; the seed being in all these cases in the shape of a pip, and not the fruit itself, as in that of the chesnut and the walnut. The medlar, too, can also be propagated by the agency of seed. All trees, however, that are grown by this method are very slow in coming to maturity, degenerate very rapidly, and must often be renewed by grafting: indeed, the chesnut even sometimes requires to be grafted.
 
17 - 11 TREES WHICH NEVER DEGENERATE M
On the other hand, there are some trees which have the property of never degenerating, in whatever manner they are reproduced, the cypress, palm, and laurel, for instance: for we find that the laurel is capable of being propagated in several ways. We have already made mention of the various kinds of laurel; those known as the Augustan, the baccalis, and the tinus are all reproduced in a similar manner. The berries are gathered in the month of January, after they have been dried by the north-east winds which then prevail; they are then kept separate and exposed to the action of the air, being liable to ferment if left in a heap. After this, they are first seasoned with smoke, and then steeped in urine, preparatory to sowing. Some persons put them in baskets of osier, and tread them down with the feet in running water, until the outer skin is removed, as it is found that the moisture which they contain is detrimental to them, and prevents them from germinating. A trench is then dug, about a palm in depth, and somewhere about twenty of the berries are then put into it, being laid in a heap: this is usually done in the month of March. These kinds of laurel admit of being propagated from layers also; but the triumphal laurel can be reproduced from cuttings only.
All the varieties of the myrtle are produced in Campania from the berry only, but at Rome from layers. Democritus, however, says that the Tarentine myrtle may be re-produced another way. They take the largest berries and pound them lightly so as not to crush the pips: with the paste that is thus made a rope is covered, and put lengthwise in the ground; the result of which is that a hedge is formed as thick as a wall, with plenty of slips for transplanting. In the same way, too, they plant brambles to make a hedge, by first covering a rope of rushes with a paste made of bramble-berries. In case of necessity, it is possible at the end of three years to transplant the suckers of the laurel and the myrtle that have been thus re-produced. With reference to the plants that are propagated from seed, Mago treats at considerable length of the nut-trees-he says that the almond should be sown in a soft argillaceous earth, upon a spot that looks towards the south-that it thrives also in a hard, warm soil, but that in a soil which is either unctuous or moist, it is sure to die, or else to bear no fruit. He recom- mends also for sowing those more particularly which are of a curved shape like a sickle, and the produce of a young tree, and he says that they should be steeped for three days in diluted manure, or else the day before they are sown in honey and water. He says, also, that they should be put in the ground with the point downwards, and the sharp edge towards the north-east; and that they should be sown in threes and placed triangularly, at the distance of a palm from each other, care being taken to water them for ten days, until such time as they have germinated. Walnuts when sown are placed lengthwise, lying upon the sides where the shells are joined; and pine nuts are mostly put, in sevens, into perforated pots, or else sown in the same way as the berries are in the laurels which are re-produced by seed. The citron is propagated from pips as well as layers, and the sorb from seed, by sucker, or by slip: the citron, however, requires a warm site, the sorb a cold and moist one.
 
17 - 12 PROPAGATION BY SUCKERS M
Nature, too, has taught us the art of forming nurseries; when from the roots of many of the trees we see shooting up a dense forest of suckers, an offspring that is destined to be killed by the mother that has borne them. For by the shade of the tree these suckers are indiscriminately stifled, as we often see the case in the laurel, the pomegranate, the plane, the cherry, and the plum. There are some few trees, the elm and the palm for instance, in which the branches spare the suckers; however, they never make their appearance in any of the trees except those in which the roots, from their fondness for the sun and rain, keep close, as they range, to the surface of the ground. It is usual not to place all these suckers at once in the ground upon the spot which they are finally to occupy, but first to entrust them to the nursery, and to allow them to grow in seed-plots, after which they are finally transplanted. This transplanting softens down, in a most remarkable manner, those trees even which grow wild; whether it is that trees, like men, are naturally fond of novelty and change of scene, or that, on leaving the spots of their original growth, or to which they have been transplanted, they lay aside their bad qualities and become tame, like the wild animals, the moment they are separated from the parent stock.
 
17 - 13 PROPAGATION BY SLIPS AND CUTTINGS M
Nature has also discovered another method, which is very similar to the last—for slips torn away from the tree will live. In adopting this plan, care should be taken to pull out the haunch of the slip where it adheres to the stock, and so remove with it a portion of the fibrous body of the parent tree. It is in this way that the pomegranate, the hazel, the apple, the sorb, the medlar, the ash, the fig, and more particularly the vine, are propagated. The quince, however, if planted in this way will degenerate, and it has been consequently found a better plan to cut slips and plant them: a method which was at first adopted for making hedges, with the elder, the quince, and the bramble, but came afterwards to be applied to cultivated trees, such as the poplar, the alder, and the willow, which last will grow if even the slip is planted upside down. In the case of cuttings, they are planted at once in the spot which it is intended they should occupy: but before we pass on to the other methods of propagation, it seems as well to mention the care that should be expended upon making seedplots.
 
17 - 14 SEED-PLOTS M
In laying out a seed-plot it is necessary that a soil of the very highest quality should be selected; for it is very often requisite that a nurse should be provided for the young plants, who is more ready to hamour them than their parent soil. The ground should therefore be both dry and nutritious, well turned up with the mattock, replete with hospitality to the stranger plants, and as nearly as possible resembling the soil to which it is intended they should be transplanted. But, a thing that is of primary importance, the stones must be carefully gathered from off the ground, and it should be walled in, to ensure its protection from the depredations of poultry; the soil too, should have as few chinks and crannies as possible, so that the sun may not be enabled to penetrate and burn up the roots. The young trees should be planted at distances of a foot and a-half; for if they happen to touch one another, in addition to other inconveniences, they are apt to breed worms; for which reason it is that they should be hoed as often as possible, and all weeds pulled up, the young plants themselves being carefully pruned, and so accustomed to the knife.
Cato recommends, too, that hurdles should be set up upon forks, the height of a man, for the purpose of intercepting the rays of the sun, and that they should be covered with straw to keep off the cold. He says that it is in this way that the seeds of the apple and the pear are reared, the pine-nut also, and the cypress, which is propagated from seed as well. In this last, the seed is remarkably small, so much so, in fact, as to be scarcely perceptible. It is a marvellous fact, and one which ought not to be overlooked, that a tree should be produced from sources so minute, while the grains of wheat and of barley are so very much larger, not to mention the bean. What proportion, too, is there between the apple and the pear tree, and the seeds from which they take their rise? It is from such beginnings, too, as these that springs the timber that is proof against the blows of the hatchet, presses that weights of enormous size even are unable to bend, masts that support the sails of ships, and battering-rams that are able to shake even towers and walls! Such is the might, such is the power that is displayed by Nature. But, a marvel that transcends all the rest, is the fact of a vegetable receiving its birth from a tear-like drop, as we shall have occasion to mention in the appropriate place. To resume, however: the tiny balls which contain the seed are collected from the female cypress—for the male, as I have already stated, is barren. This is done in the months which I have previously mentioned, and they are then dried in the sun, upon which they soon burst, and the seed drops out, a substance of which the ants are remarkably fond; this fact, too, only serves to enhance the marvel, when we reflect that an insect so minute is able to destroy the first germ of a tree of such gigantic dimensions. The seed is sown in the month of April, the ground being first levelled with rollers, or else by means of rammers; after which the seed is thickly sown, and earth is spread upon it with a sieve, about a thumb deep. If laid beneath a considerable weight, the seed is unable to spring up, and is consequently thrown back again into the earth; for which reason it is often trodden only into the ground. It is then lightly watered after sunset every three days, that it may gradually imbibe the moisture until such time as it appears above ground. The young trees are transplanted at the end of a year, when about three-quarters of a foot in length, due care being taken to watch for a clear day with no wind, such being the best suited for the process of transplanting. It is a singular thing, but still it is a fact, that if, on the day of transplanting, and only that day, there is the slightest drop of rain or the least breeze stirring, it is attended with danger to the young trees; while for the future they are quite safe from peril, though at the same time they have a great aversion to all humidity. The jujube-tree is propagated from seed sown in the month of April. As to the tuber, it is the best plan to graft it upon the wild plum, the quince, and the calabrix, this last being the name that is given to a wild thorn. Every kind of thorn, too, will receive grafts remarkably well from the myxa plum, as well as from the sorb. (.) As to recommending transferring the young plants from the seed-plot to another spot before finally planting them out, I look upon it as advice that would only lead to so much unnecessary trouble, although it is most confidently urged that by this process the leaves are sure to be considerably larger than they otherwise would.
 
17 - 15 MODE OF PROPAGATING THE ELM M
The elm seed is collected about the calends of March, before the tree is covered with leaves, but is just beginning to have a yellow tint. It is then left to dry two days in the shade, after which it is thickly sown in a broken soil, earth that has been riddled through a fine sieve being thrown upon it, to the same thickness as in the case of the cypress. It there should happen to be no rain, it is necessary to water the seed. From the nursery the young plants are carried at the end of a year to the elm-plots, where they are planted at intervals of a foot each way. It is better to plant elms in autumn that are to support the vine, as they are destitute of seed and are only propagated from plants. In the vicinity of the City, the young elms are transplanted into the vineyard at five years old, or, according to the plan adopted by some, when they are twenty feet in height. A furrow is first drawn for the purpose, the name given to which is "novenarius," being three feet in depth, and the same in breadth or even more; into this the young tree is put, and the earth is moulded up around it to the height of three feet every way. These mounds are known by the name of "arula" in Campania. The intervals are arranged according to the nature of the spot; but where the country is level, it is requisite that the trees should be planted wider apart. Poplars and ashes, too, as they ger- minate with greater rapidity, ought to be planted out at an earlier period, or, in other words, immediately after the ides of February. In arranging trees and shrubs for the support of the vine, the form of the quincunx is the one that is gene- rally adopted, and, indeed, is absolutely necessary: it not only facilitates the action of the wind, but presents also a very Pleasing appearance, for whichever way you look at the plantation the trees will always present themselves in a straight Line. The same method is employed in propagating the poplar from seed as the elm, and the mode of transplanting it from the seed-plot is the same as that adopted in transplanting it from the forests.
 
17 - 16 HOLES FOR TRANSPLANTING M
But it is more particularly necessary in transplanting, that the trees should always be removed to a soil that is similar, or else superior, to the one in which they grew before. If taken from warm or early ripening localities, they ought not to be re- moved to cold or backward sites, nor yet, on the other hand, from these last to the former. If the thing can possibly be done, the holes for transplanting should be dug sufficiently long before to admit of their being covered throughout with a thick coat of grass. Mago recommends that they should be dug a whole year beforehand, in order that they may absorb the heat of the sun and the moisture of the showers; or, if circumstances do not admit of this, that fires should be made in the middle of them some two months before transplanting, that being only done just after rain has fallen. He says, too, that in an argillaceous or a hard soil, the proper measurement is three cubits every way, and on declivitous spots one palm more, care being taken in every case to make the hole like the chimney of a furnace, narrower at the orifice than at the bottom. Where the earth is black, the depth should be two cubits and a palm, and the hole dug in a quadrangular form.
The Greek writers agree in pointing out much the same proportions, and are of opinion that the holes ought not to be more than two feet and a half in depth, or more than two feet wide: at the same time, too, they should never be less than a foot and a half in depth, even though the soil should be wet, and the vicinity of water preclude the possibility of the soil going any deeper. "If the soil is watery," says Cato, "the hole should be three feet in width at the orifice, and one palm and a foot at the bottom, and the depth four feet. It should be paved, too, with stones, or, if they are not at hand, with stakes of green willow, or, if these cannot be procured, with a layer of twigs; the depth of the layer so made being a foot and a half." It appears to me that I ought here to add, after what has been said with reference to the nature of trees, that the holes should be sunk deeper for those which have a tendency to run near the surface of the earth, such as the ash and the olive, for instance. These trees, in fact, and others of a similar nature, should be planted at a depth of four feet, while for the others three feet will be quite sufficient. "Cut down that stump," said Papirius Cursor, the general, when to the great terror of the prætor of Præneste, he had ordered the lictors to draw their axes. And, indeed, there is no harm in cutting away those portions [of the root] which have become exposed. Some persons recommend that a bed should be formed at the bottom, of potsherds or round pebbles, which both allow the moisture to pass and retain as much as is wanted; while at the same time they are of opinion that flat stones are of no use in such a case, and only prevent the root from penetrating the earth. To line the bottom with a layer of gravel would be to follow a middle course between the two opinions. Some persons recommend that a tree should not be transplanted before it is two years old, nor yet after three, while others, again, are of opinion that if it is one year old it is quite sufficient; Cato thinks that it ought to be more than five fingers in thickness at the time. The same author, too, would not have omitted, if it had been of any importance, to recommend that a mark should be made on the bark for the purpose of pointing out the southern aspect of the tree; so that, when transplanted, it may occupy exactly the same posi- tion that it has previously done; from an apprehension that the north side of the tree, on finding itself opposite to a southern sun, might split, and the south side be nipped by the north-eastern blasts. Indeed, there are some persons who follow a directly opposite practice even in the vine and the fig, by placing the north side of the tree, when transplanted, towards the south, and vice versa; being, of opinion that by adopting this plan the foliage becomes all the thicker and the better able to protect the fruit, which is less liable to fall off in consequence, and that the tree is rendered all the better for climbing. Most people, however, take the greatest care to turn to the south that part of the tree from which the branches have been lopped at the top, little thinking that they expose it thereby to a chance of splitting from the excessive heat. For my own part, I should prefer that this part of the tree should face that point of the heavens which is occupied by the sun at the fifth or even the eighth hour of the day. People are also equally unaware that they ought not, through neglect, to let the roots be exposed to the air long enough to get dry; and that the ground should not be worked about the roots of trees while the wind is blowing from the north, or, indeed, from any point of the heavens that lies between north and southeast; or, at all events, that the roots should not be left to lie exposed to these winds; the result of such modes of proceeding being, that the trees die, the grower being all the while in total ignorance of the cause. Cato disapproves, too, of all wind and rain whenever the work of transplanting is going on. When this is the case, it will be beneficial to let as much adhere to the roots as possible of the earth in which the tree has grown, and to cover them all round with clods of earth: it is for this reason that Cato recommends that the young trees should be conveyed in baskets, a very desirable method, no doubt. The same writer, too, approves of the earth that has been taken from the surface being laid at the bottom of the hole. Some persons say, that if a layer of stones is placed beneath the root of the pomegranate, the fruit will not split while upon the tree. In transplanting, it is the best plan to give the roots a bent position, but it is absolutely necessary that the tree should be placed in such a manner as to occupy exactly the centre of the hole. The fig-tree, it the slip when planted is stuck in a squill—such being the name of a species of bulb—is said to bear with remarkable rapidity, while the fruit is exempt from all attacks of the worm: the same precaution, too, in planting, will preserve the fruit of all other trees in a similar manner. Who is there, too, that can entertain a doubt that the very greatest care ought to be taken of the roots of the fig-tree when transplanted?—indeed, it ought to bear every mark of being taken, and not torn, from out of the earth. Upon this subject I omit various other practical precepts, such, for instance, as the necessity of moulding up the roots with a rammer, a thing that Cato looks upon as of primary importance; while, at the same time, he recommends that the wound made in the stock should be first covered with dung, and then bound with a layer of leaves.
 
17 - 17 INTERVALS TO BE LEFT BETWEEN TREES M
The present seems to me to be the proper occasion for making some mention of the intervals that ought to be left between the trees. Some persons have recommended that pomegra- nates, myrtles, and laurels should be planted closer together than the other trees, leaving, however, a space of nine feet between them. Apple-trees, they say, should be planted a little wider apart, and pear-trees, almonds, and figs even still more so. The best rule, however, is to consult the length of the branches, and the nature of the spot, as well as the shade that is formed by the tree; for it is of great importance to take this last into consideration. The shadow thrown by the large trees even is but of small dimensions, when the branches are disposed around the body of the tree in a spherical form, as in the apple and the pear, for instance. In the cherry, on the other hand, and the laurel, the shadow projected is of enormous extent.
 
17 - 18 NATURE OF THE SAD THROWN BY TREES M
The shadows of trees are possessed of certain properties. That of the walnut is baneful and injurious to man, in whom it is productive of head-ache, and it is equally noxious to everything that grows in its vicinity. The shadow, too, of the pine has the effect of killing the grass beneath it; but in both of these trees the foliage presents an effectual resistance to the winds, while, at the same time, the vine is destitute of such protection. The drops of water that fall from the pine, the quercus, and the holm-oak are extremely heavy, but from the cypress none fall; the shadow, too, thrown by this last tree is extremely small, its foliage being densely packed. The shadow of the fig, although widely spread, is but light, for which reason it is allowed to be planted among vines. The shadow of the elm is refreshing and even nutrimental to whatever it may happen to cover; though, in the opinion of Atticus, this tree is one of the most injurious of them all; and, indeed, I have no doubt that such may be the case when the branches are allowed to become too long; but at the same time I am of opinion that when they are kept short it can be productive of no possible harm. The plane also gives a very pleasant shade, though somewhat dense: but in this case we must look more to the luxuriant softness of the grass beneath it than the warmth of the sun; for there is no tree that forms a more verdant couch on which to recline.
The poplar gives no shade whatever, in consequence of the incessant quivering of its leaves: while that of the alder is very dense, but remarkably nutritive to plants. The vine affords sufficient shade for its wants, the leaf being always in motion, and from its repeated movement tempering the heat of the sun with the shadow that it affords; at the same time too it serves as an effectual protection against heavy rains. In nearly all trees the shade is thin, where the footstalks of the leaves are long. This branch of knowledge is one by no means to be despised or deserving to be placed in the lowest rank, for in the case of every variety of plant the shade is found to act either as a kind nurse or a harsh step-mother. There is no doubt that the shadow of the walnut, the pine, the pitch-tree, and the fir is poisonous to everything it may chance to light upon.
 
17 - 19 DROPPINGS OF WATER FROM THE LEAVES M
A very few words will suffice for the water that drops from the leaves of trees. In all those which are protected by a foliage so dense that the rain will not pass through, the drops are of a noxious nature. In our enquiries, therefore, into this subject it will be of the greatest consequence what will be the nature developed by each tree in the soil in which we are intending to plant it. Declivities, taken by themselves, require smaller intervals between the trees, and in localities that are exposed to the wind it is beneficial to plant them closer together. However, it is the olive that requires the largest intervals to be left, and on this point it is the opinion of Cato, with reference to Italy, that the very smallest interval ought to be twenty-five feet, and the largest thirty: this, however, varies according to the nature of the site. The olive is the largest of all the trees in Bætica: and in Africa —if, indeed, we may believe the authors who say so—there are many olive-trees that are known by the name of milliariæ, being so called from the weight of oil that they produce each year. Hence it is that Mago has prescribed an interval between these trees of no less than seventy-five feet every way, or of forty-five at the very lowest, when the soil happens to be meagre, hard, and exposed to the winds. There is no doubt, however, that Bætica reaps the most prolific harvests from between her olives.
It will be generally agreed that it is a most disgraceful piece of ignorance to lop away the branches more than is absolutely necessary in trees of vigorous growth, and so precipitate old age; as also, on the other hand, what is generally tantamount to an avowal of unskilfulness on the part of those who have planted them, to have to cut them down altogether. Nothing can reflect greater disgrace upon agriculturists than to have to undo what they have done, and it is therefore much the best to commit an error in leaving a superfluity of room.
 
17 - 20 TREES WHICH GROW BUT SLOWLY: THOSE WHICH GROW WITH RAPIDITY M
Some trees are naturally slow in their growth; and those in particular which grow solely from seed and are long-lived. On the other hand, those that are short-lived grow with great rapidity, such as the fig, pomegranate, plum, apple, pear, myrtle, and willow, for instance; and yet these are the very first to display their productions, for they begin to bear at three years old, and make some show of it even before that period. The pear is the slowest in bearing of all the trees above enumerated. The cypirus, however, and the shrub known as the pseudo-cypirus are the earliest in coming to maturity, for they flower almost immediately, and then produce their seed. All trees will come to maturity more rapidly when the suckers are removed, and the nutrimental juices are thrown into the stock only.
 
17 - 21 TREES PROPAGATED FROM LAYERS M
Nature; too, has taught us the art of reproduction from layers. The bramble, by reason of its thinness and the exces- sive length to which it grows, bends downwards, and throws the extremities of its branches into the earth; these immediately take root again, and would fill every place far and wide, were it not that the arts of cultivation put a check to it; so much so, indeed, that it would almost appear that men are born for nothing else but to take care of the earth. Hence it is, that a thing that is in itself most noxious and most baneful, has taught us the art of reproduction by layers and quicksets. The ivy, too, has a similar property.
Cato says, that in addition to the vine, the fig, as well as the olive, the pomegranate, every variety of the apple, the laurel, the plum, the myrtle, the filbert, the nut of Præste, and the plane, are capable of being propagated by layers. Layers are of two kinds; in the one, a branch, while still adhering to the tree, is pressed downwards into a hole that measures four feet every way: at the end of two years it is cut at the part where it curves, and is then transplanted at the expiration of three years more. If it is intended to carry the plant to any distance, it is the best plan to place the layer, directly it is taken up, either in an osier basket or any earthen vessel, for its better security when carried. The other mode of reproduction by layers is a more costly one, and is effected by summoning forth a root from the trunk of the tree even. For this purpose, earthen vessels or baskets are provided, and are then well packed with earth; through these the extremities of the branches are passed, and by this mode of encouragement a root is obtained growing amid the fruit itself, and at the very summit of the tree; for it is at the summit that this method is generally adopted. In this way has a bold and daring inventiveness produced a new tree aloft and far away from the ground. At the end of two years, in the manner already stated, the layer is cut asunder, and then planted in the ground, basket and all. The herb savin is reproduced by layers, as also by slips; it is said, too, that lees of wine or pounded wall-bricks make it thrive wonderfully well. Rosemary also is reproduced in a similar manner, as also from cuttings of the branches; neither savin nor rosemary having any seed. The rhododendrum is propagated by layers and from seed.
 
17 - 22 GRAFTING: THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF IT M
Nature has also taught us the art of grafting by means of seed. We see a seed swallowed whole by a famished bird; when softened by the natural heat of the crop, it is voided, with the fecundating juices of the dung, upon some soft couch formed by a tree; or else, as is often the case, is carried by the winds to some cleft in the bark of a tree. Hence it is that we see the cherry growing upon the willow, the plane upon the laurel, the laurel upon the cherry, and fruits of various tints and hues all springing from the same tree at once. It is said, too, that the jack-daw, from its concealment of the seeds of plants in holes which serve as its store-houses, gives rise to a similar result.
 
17 - 23 INOCULATION OR BUDDING M
In this, too, the art of inoculating took its rise. By the aid of an instrument similar to a shoe-maker's paring-knife an eye is opened in a tree by paring away the bark, and another bud is then enclosed in it, that has been previously removed with the same instrument from another tree. This was the ancient mode of inoculation with the fig and the apple. That again, described by Virgil, requires a slight fissure to be made in the knot of a bud which has burst through the bark, and in this is enclosed a bud taken from another tree. Thus far has Nature been our instructor in these matters.
 
17 - 24 VARIOUS KINDS OF GRAFTING M
A different mode of engrafting, however, has been taught us by chance, another great instructor, and one from whom, perhaps, we have learnt a still greater number of lessons. A careful husbandman, being desirous, for its better protection, to surround his cottage with a palisade, thrust the stakes into growing ivy, in order to prevent them from rotting. Seized by the tenacious grasp of the still living ivy, the stakes borrowed life from the life of another wood, and it was found that the stock of a tree acted in place of earth.
For this method of grafting the surface is made level with a saw, and the stock carefully smoothed with the pruning-knife. This done, there are two modes of proceeding, the first of which consists in grafting between the bark and the wood. The ancients were fearful at first of cutting into the wood, but afterwards they ventured to pierce it to the very middle, and inserted the graft in the pith, taking care to enclose but one, because the pith, they thought, was unable to receive more. An improved method has, however, in more recent times, allowed of as many as six grafts being inserted, it being considered desirable by additional numbers to make a provision for the contingency of some of them not surviving. With this view, an incision is carefully made in the middle of the stock, a thin wedge being inserted to prevent the sides from closing, until the graft, the end of which is first cut to a point, has been let into the fissure. In doing this many precautions are necessary, and more particularly every care should be taken that the stock is that of a tree suitable for the purpose, and that the graft is taken from one that is proper for grafting. The sap, too, is variously distributed in the several trees, and does not occupy the same place in all. In the vine and the fig the middle of the tree is the driest, and it is in the summit that the generative power resides; hence it is, that from the top the grafts are selected. In the olive, again, the sap lies in the middle of the tree, and the grafts are accordingly taken from thence: the upper part being comparatively dry. The graft takes most easily in a tree, the bark of which is of a similar nature to its own, and which, blossoming at the same time as itself, has an affinity with it in the development of the natural juices. On the other hand, the process of uniting is but slow where the dry is brought in contact with the moist, and the hard bark with the soft. The other points to be observed are the following: the incision must not be made in a knot, as such an inhospitable rigidity will certainly repel the stranger plant; the incision should be made, too, in the part which is most compact, and it must not be much more than three fingers in length, not in a slanting direction, nor yet such as to pierce the tree from side to side. Virgil is of opinion, that the grafts should not be taken from the top, and it is universally agreed that it is best to select them from the shoulders of the tree which look towards the north-east; from a tree, too, that is a good bearer, and from a young shoot, unless, indeed, the graft is intended for an old tree, in which case it should be of a more robust growth. In addition to this, the graft ought to be in a state of impregnation, that is to say, swelling with buds, and giving every promise of bearing the same year; it ought, too, to be two years old, and not thinner than the little finger. The graft is inserted at the smaller end, when it is the object of the grower that it should not grow to any considerable length, but spread out on either side. But it is more particularly necessary that the buds upon the graft should be smooth and regular, and there must be nothing upon it at all scabbed or shrivelled. Success may be fully reckoned on if the pith of the graft is brought in contact with the wood and bark of the stock; that being a much better plan than merely uniting them bark to bark. In pointing the graft, the pith ought not to be laid bare; still, however, it should be pared with a small knife, so that the point may assume the form of a fine wedge, not more than three fingers in length, a thing that may be very easily effected by first steeping it in water and then scraping it. The graft, however, must not be pointed while the wind is blowing, and care must be taken that the bark is not rubbed off from either graft or stock. The graft must be thrust into the stock up to the point where the bark begins; care, too, must be taken not to wrench off the bark during the process of insertion, nor must it be thrust back so as to form any folds or wrinkles. It is for this reason that a graft should not be used that is too full of sap, no, by Hercules! no more than one that is dry and parched; for by doing so, in the former case, from the excess of moisture, the bark becomes detached, and in the latter, from want of vitality, it yields no secretions, and consequently will not incorporate with the stock. It is a point most religiously observed, to insert the graft during the moon's increase, and to be careful to push it down with both hands; indeed, it is really the fact, that in this operation, the two hands, acting at the same moment, are of necessity productive of a more modified and better regulated effort. Grafts that have been inserted with a vigorous effort are later in bearing, but last all the longer; when inserted more ten- derly, the contrary is the result. The incision in the stock should not be too open or too large; nor ought it to be too small, for in such case it would either force out the graft or else kill it by compression. But the most necessary precaution of all is to see that the graft is fairly inserted, and that it occupies exactly the middle of the fissure in the stock. Some persons are in the habit of making the place for the fissure in the stock with the knife, keeping the edges of the incision together with bands of osier bound tightly round the stock; they then drive in the wedges, the bands keeping the stock from opening too wide. There are some trees that are grafted in the seed-plot and then transplanted the very same day. If the stock used for grafting is of very considerable thickness, it is the best plan to insert the graft between the bark and the wood; for which purpose a wedge made of bone is best, for fear lest when the bark is loosened the wood should be bruised. In the cherry, the bark is removed before the incision in the stock is made; this, too, is the only tree that is grafted after the winter solstice. When the bark is removed, this tree presents a sort of downy substance, which, if it happens to adhere to the graft, will very speedily destroy it. When once the graft is safely lodged by the aid of the wedge, it is of advantage to drive it home. It is an excellent plan, too, to graft as near the ground as possible, if the conformation of the trunk land knots will admit of it. The graft should not project from the stock more than six fingers in length. Cato recommends a mixture of argil or powdered chalk, and cow-dung, to be stirred together till it is of a viscous consistency, and then inserted in the fissure and rubbed all round it. From his writings on the subject it is very evident that at that period it was the practice to engraft only between the wood and the bark, and in no other way; and that the graft was never inserted beyond a couple of fingers in depth. He recommends, too, that the pear and the apple should be grafted in spring, as also during fifty days at the time of the summer solstice, and during the time of vintage; but that the olive and the fig should be grafted in spring only, in a thirsting, or in other words, a dry moon: he says also, that it should be done in the afternoon, and not while a south wind is blowing. It is a singular thing, that, not content with protecting the graft in the manner already mentioned, and with sheltering it from showers and frosts by means of turfs and supple bands of split osiers, he recommends that it should be covered with bugloss as well—a kind of herb so called—which is to be tied over it and then covered up with straw. At the present day, however, it is thought sufficient to cover the bark with a mixture of mud and chaff, allowing the graft to protrude a couple of fingers in length. Those who wait for spring to carry on these operations, will find themselves pressed for time; for the buds are then just bursting, except, indeed, in the case of the olive, the buds of which are remarkably long in developing themselves, the tree itself having extremely little sap beneath the bark; this, too, is apt, when in too large quantities, to injure the grafts. As to the pomegranate, too, the fig, and the rest of the trees that are of a dry nature, it is far from beneficial to them to put off the process of grafting till a late period. The pear may be grafted even when in blossom, so that with it the operation may be safely delayed to the month of May even. If grafts of fruit trees have to be carried to any distance, it is considered the best plan, with the view of preserving the juices, to insert them in a turnip; they may also be kept alive by placing them near a stream or a pond, between two hollow tiles covered up at each end with earth. (.) The grafts of vines, however, are kept in dry holes, in which they are covered over with straw, and then with earth, care being taken to let the tops protrude.
 
17 - 25 GRAFTING THE VINE M
Cato speaks of three methods of grafting the vine. The first consists in piercing the stock to the pith, and then inserting the grafts, sharpened at the end, in manner already mentioned, care being taken to bring the pith of the two in contact. The second is adopted in case the two vines are near one another, the sides of them both being cut in a slanting direction where they face each other; after which the pith of the two trees is united by tying them together. In employing the third method, the vine is pierced obliquely to the pith, and grafts are inserted a couple of feet in length; they are then tied down and covered over with prepared earth, care being taken to keep them in an upright position. In our time, however, this method has been greatly improved by making use of the Gallic angler. which pierces the tree with- out scorching it; it being the fact, that everything that burns the tree weakens its powers. Care, too, is taken to select a graft that is just beginning to germinate, and not to leave more than a couple of the buds protruding from the stock. The vine, too, should be carefully bound with withes of elm, incisions being made in it on either side, in order that the slimy juices may exude through them in preference, which are so particularly injurious to the vine. After this, when the graft has grown a couple of feet, the withe by which it is fastened should be cut, and the graft left to increase of its own natural vigour.
The proper time for grafting the vine has been fixed as from the autumnal equinox to the beginning of the budding season. The cultivated plants are generally grafted on the roots of wild ones, where these last are of a drier nature. But if a cultivated tree should be grafted on a wild one, it will very soon degenerate and become wild. The rest depends entirely on the weather. Dry weather is the best suited for grafting; an excellent remedy for any evil effects that may possibly be caused by the drought, being a few pots of earth placed near the stock and filled with ashes; through which a little water is slowly filtered. Light dews are extremely favourable to grafting by inoculation.
 
17 - 26 GRAFTING BY SUTCHEONS M
Grafting by scutcheons would appear to owe its origin to that by inoculation; but it is suited more particularly to a thick bark, such as that of the fig-tree for instance. For this purpose, all the branches are cut off, in order that they may not divert the sap, after Which the smoothest part is selected in the stock, and a scutcheon of the bark removed, due care being taken that the knife does not go below it. A similar piece of bark from another tree, with a protuberant bud upon it, is then inserted in its place, care being taken that the union is so exact that there is no room left for a cicatrix to form, and the juncture so perfect as to leave no access to either damp or air: still, however, it is always the best plan to protect the scutcheon by means of a plaster of clay and a band. Those who favour the modern fashions pretend that this method has been only discovered in recent times; but the fact is, that we find it employed by the ancient Greeks, and described by Cato, who recommends it for the olive and the fig; and he goes so far as to determine the very dimensions even, in accordance with his usual exactness. The scutcheon, he says, when taken off with the knife should be four fingers in length, and three in breadth. It is then fitted to the spot which it is to occupy, and anointed with the mixture of his which has been previosly described. This method, too, he recommends for the
Some persons have adopted another plan with the vine, which consists partly of that of grafting by scutcheon, and partly by fissure; they first remove a square piece of bark from the stock, and then insert a slip in the place that is thus laid bare. I once saw at Thuliæ, near Tibur, a tree that had been grafted upon all these various ways, and loaded with fruit of every kind. Upon one branch there were nuts to be seen, upon another berries, upon another grapes, upon another pears, upon another figs, and upon others pomegranates, and several varieties of the apple; the tree, however, was but very short-lived. But, with all our experiments, we find it quite impossible to rival Nature; for there are some plants that can be reproduced in no other manner than spontaneously, and then only in wild and desert spots. The plane is generally considered the best adapted to receive every kind of graft, and next to it the robur; both of them, however, are very apt to spoil the flavour of the fruit. Some trees admit of grafting upon them in any fashion, the fig and the pomegranate for instance; the vine, however, cannot be grafted upon by scutcheon, nor, indeed, any other of the trees which has a bark that is thin, weak, or cracked. So, too, those trees which are dry, or which contain but little moisture, will not admit of grafting by inoculation. This last method is the most prolific of them all, and next to it that by scutcheon, but neither of them can be depended upon, and this last more particularly; for when the adherence of the bark is the only point of union the scutcheon is liable to be immediately displaced by the slightest gust of wind. Grafting by insertion is the most reliable method, and the tree so produced will bear more fruit than one that is merely planted. (.) We must not here omit one very singular circumstance. Corellius, a member of the Equestrian order at Rome, and a native of Ateste, grafted a chesnut, in the territory of Neapolis, with a slip taken from the same tree, and from this was produced the chesnut which is so highly esteemed, and from him has derived its name. At a later period again, Etereius, his freedman, grafted the Corellian chesnut afresh. There is this difference between the two; the Corellian is more prolific, but the Etereian is of superior quality.
 
17 - 27 PLANTS WHICH GROW FROM A BRANCH M
It is accident that has the credit of devising the other methods of reproduction, and has taught us how to break off a branch of a tree and plant it in the earth, from seeing stakes, when driven in the earth, take root, and grow. It is in this way that many of the trees are reproduced, and the fig more particularly; which may be propagated also by all the methods previously stated, with the exception, indeed, of that by cuttings. The best plan, however, is to take a pretty large branch, and, after sharpening it like a stake, to drive it to a considerable depth in the earth, taking care to leave only a small portion above ground, and then to cover it over with sand. The pomegranate, too, may be planted in a similar manner, the hole being first widened with a stake; the same, too, with the myrtle. For all trees of this nature a branch is required three feet in length, and not quite the thickness of the arm, care being taken to keep the bark on, and to sharpen the branch to a point at the lower end.
 
17 - 28 TREES WHICH GROW FROM CUTTINGS; THE MODE OF PLANTING THEM M
The myrtle, too, may be propagated from cuttings, and the mulberry is grown no other way, the religious observances relative to lightning forbidding it to be grafted on the elm; hence it would appear that the present is a fitting opportunity for speaking of reproduction from cuttings. Care should be taken more particularly to select the slips from fruitful trees, and it should be seen that they are neither bent, scabbed, nor bifurcated. The cuttings, too, should be thick enough to fill the hand, and not less than a foot in length: the bark, too, should be uninjured, and the end which is cut and lies nearest the root should always be the one inserted in the earth. While the work of germination is going on, the slip should be kept well moulded up, until such time as it has fully taken root.
 
17 - 29 CULTIVATION OF THE OLIVE M
Cato has treated so well of the precautions that are necessary in cultivating the olive, that we cannot do better than employ his own words on the subject. "Let the slips of olive," says he, "which you are about to plant in the hole, be three feet long, and be very careful in your treatment of them, so as not to injure the bark when you are smoothing or cutting them. Those that you are going to plant in the nursery, should be a foot in length; and you should plant them the following way: let the spot be turned up with the mattock, and the soil be well loosened. When you put the cutting in the ground, press it down with the foot only. If there is any difficulty in making it descend, drive it down with a mallet or the handle of the dibble, but be careful not to break the bark in doing so. Take care, too, not to make a hole first with the dibble, for the slip will have the better chance of surviving the other way. When the slip is three years old, due care must be taken to observe the direction in which each side of the bark is situate. If you are planting in holes or furrows, you must put in the cuttings by threes, but be careful to keep them separate. Above ground, however, they should not be more than four fingers distant from one another, and each of them must have a bud or eye above ground. In taking up the olive for transplanting, you must use the greatest caution, and see that there is as much earth left about the roots as possible. When you have covered the roots well up, tread down the earth with the foot, so that nothing may injure the plant."
 
17 - 30 TRANSPLANTING OPERATIONS AS DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT VARIOUS SEASONS OF YEAR M
If the enquiry is made what is the proper season for planting the olive, my answer will be, " where the soil is dry, at seed-time; where it is rich, in spring." The following is the advice given by Cato on the subject: "Begin pruning your olive-yard fifteen days before the vernal equinox; from that period for forty days will be a good time for doing so. In pruning, adopt the following rules: when the ground is extremely productive, remove all the dry branches or such as may have been broken by the wind; where it is not so prolific, you must cut away still more, then tie them well up, and remove all tangled branches, so as to lighten the roots. In autumn clear away the roots of the olive, and then manure them. The man who labours most assiduously and most earnestly will remove the very smallest fibres that are attached to the roots. If, however, he hoes negligently, the roots will soon appear again above ground, and become thicker than ever; the consequence of which will be, that the vigour of the tree will be expended in the roots."
We have already stated, when speaking on the subject of oil, what are the different varieties of the olive, in what kind of soil it ought to be planted, and what is the proper aspect for the olive-yard. Mago recommends that the olive should be planted on declivities and in dry spots, in an argillaceous soil, and between autumn and the winter equinox. If, on the other hand, the soil is thick, humid, or somewhat damp even, it ought to be planted between harvest and the winter solstice; advice, however, it should be remembered, applicable to Africa more particularly. At the present day, it is mostly the custom in Italy to plant the olive in spring, but if it is thought desirable to do so in the autumn as well, there are only four days in the forty between the equinox and the setting of the Vergiliæ that are unfavourable for planting it. It is a practice peculiar to Africa, to engraft the olive on the wild olive only, a tree which is made to be everlasting, as it were; for when it becomes old the best of the suckers are carefully trained for adoption by grafting, and in this way in another tree it grows young again; an operation which may be repeated continuously as often as needed; so much so, indeed, that the same olive-yard will last for ages. The wild olive also is propagated both by insertion and inoculation. It is not advisable to plant the olive in a site where the quercus has been lately rooted up; for the earth-worms, known as "rauæ" which breed in the root of the quercus, are apt to get into that of the olive. It has been found, from practical experience, that it is not advisable to bury the cuttings in the ground nor yet to dry them before they are planted out. Experience has also taught us that it is the best plan to clean an old olive-yard every other year, between the vernal equinox and the rising of the Vergiliæ, and to lay moss about the roots; to dig holes also round the trees every year, just after the summer solstice, two cubits wide by a foot in depth, and to manure them every third year. Mago, too, recommends that the almond should be planted between the setting of Arcturus and the winter solstice. All the varieties, however, of the pear, he says, should not be planted at the same time, as they do not all blossom together. Those with oblong or round fruit should be planted between the setting of the Vergiliæ and the winter solstice, and the other kinds in the middle of the winter, after the setting of the constellation of the Arrow, on a site that looks towards the east or north. The laurel should be planted between the setting of the Eagle and that of the Arrow; for we find that the proper time for planting is equally connected with the aspect of the heavenly bodies. For the most part it has been recommended that this should be done in spring and autumn; but there is another appropriate period also, though known to but few, about the rising of the Dog-star, namely; it is not, however, equally advantageous in all localities. Still, I ought not to omit making mention of it, as I am not setting forth the peculiar advantages of any one country in particular, but am enquiring into the operations of Nature taken as a whole. In the region of Cyrenaica, the planting is generally done while the Etesian winds prevail, and the same is the case in Greece, and with the olive more particularly in Laconia. At this period, also, the vine is planted in the island of Cos; and in the rest of Greece they do not neglect to inoculate and graft, though they do not plant, their trees just then. The natural qualities, too, of the respective localities, exercise a very considerable influence in this respect; for in Egypt they plant in any month, as also in all other countries where summer rains do not prevail, India and Æthiopia, for instance. When trees are not planted in the spring they must be planted in autumn, as a matter of course. There are three stated periods, then, for germination; spring, the rising of the Dog-star, and that of Arcturus. And, indeed, it is not the animated beings only that are ardent for the propagation of their species, for this desire is manifested in even a greater degree by the earth and all its vegetable productions; to employ this tendency at the proper moment is the most advantageous method of ensuring an abundant increase. These moments, too, are of peculiar importance in relation to the process of grafting, as it is then that the two productions manifest a mutual desire of uniting. Those who prefer the spring for grafting commence operations immediately after the vernal equinox, reckoning on the fact that then the buds are just coming out, a thing that greatly facilitates the union of the barks. On the other hand, those who prefer the autumn graft immediately after the rising of Arcturus, because then the graft at once takes root in some degree, and becomes seasoned for spring, so as not to exhaust its strength all at once in the process of germination. However, there are certain fixed periods of the year, in all cases, for certain trees; thus, the cherry, for instance, and the almond, are either planted or grafted about the winter solstice. For many trees the nature of the locality will be the best guide; thus, where the soil is cold and moist it is best to plant in spring, and where it is dry and hot, in autumn. Taking Italy in general, the proper periods for these operations may be thus distributed:—The mulberry is planted at any time between the ides of February and the vernal equinox; the pear, in the autumn, but not beyond the fifteenth day before the winter solstice; the summer apples, the quince, the sorb, and the plum, between mid-winter and the ides of February: the Greek carob and the peach, at any time in autumn before the winter solstice; the various nuts, such as the walnut, pine, filbert, almond, and chesnut, between the calends of March and the ides of that month; the willow and the broom about the calends of March. The broom is grown from seed, and in a dry soil, the willow from plants, in a damp locality, as already stated on former occasions. (.) That I may omit nothing to my knowledge of the facts that I have anywhere been able to ascertain, I shall here add a new method of grafting, which has been discovered by Columella, as he asserts, by the aid of which trees even of a heterogeneous or dissociable nature may be made to unite; such, for instance, as the fig and the olive. In accordance with this plan, he recommends that a fig-tree should be planted near an olive, at a distance sufficiently near to admit of the fig being touched by a branch of the olive when extended to its full length; as supple and pliant a one as possible being selected for' the purpose, and due care being taken all the time to render it seasoned by keeping it constantly on the stretch. After this, when the fig has gained sufficient vigour, a thing that generally happens at the end of three or five years at most, the top of it is cut off, the end of the olive branch being also cut to a point in the manner already stated. This point is then to be inserted in the trunk of the fig, and made secure with cords, lest, being bent, it should happen to rebound: in this way we find the method of propagating by layers combined with that of grafting. This union between the two parent trees is allowed to continue for three years, and then in the fourth the branch is cut away and left entirely upon the tree that has so adopted it. This method however, is not at present universally known, at all events, so far as I have been able to ascertain.
 
17 - 31 CLEANING AND BARING THE ROOTS, AND MOULDING THEM M
In addition to these particulars, the same considerations that I have already mentioned in reference to warm or cold, moist or dry soils, have also taught us the necessity of trenching around the roots. These trenches, however, in a moist, watery soil, should be neither wide nor deep; while the contrary is the case where the ground is hot and dry; it being the object, in the latter instance, to let them receive and retain as much water as possible. This rule is applicable to the culture of old trees as well; for in very hot places the roots are well moulded in summer, and carefully covered up, to prevent the heat of the sun from parching them. In other places, again, the ground is cleared away from the roots, in order to give free access to the air, while in winter they are carefully moulded to protect them from the frost. The contrary is the case, however, in hot climates, for there they bare the roots in winter for the purpose of ensuring a supply of moisture to the parched fibres.
In all places the rule is to make a circular trench three feet in width at the foot of the tree; this, however, it is not possible to do in meadows, where the roots, in their fondness for the sun and showers, range near the surface far and wide. Such, then, are the general observations that we have to make in reference to the planting and grafting of trees that we value for their fruits.
 
17 - 32 WILLOW-BEDS M
It now remains to give an account of those trees which are planted for the sake of others—the vine more particularly—and the wood of which is cut from time to time. Holding the very first rank among these we find the willow, a tree that is always planted in a moist soil. The hole, however, should be two feet and a half in depth, and the slip a foot and a half only in length. Willow stakes are also used for the same purpose, and the stouter they are the better: the distance left between these last should be six feet. When they are three years old their growth is checked by cutting them down within a couple of feet from the ground, the object being to make them spread out, so that by the aid of their branches they may be cleared without the necessity of using a ladder; for the willow is the more productive the nearer its branches are to the ground. It is generally recommended to trench round the willow every year, in the month of April. Such is the mode of cultivation employed for the osier willow.
The stake willow is reproduced both from suckers and cuttings, in a trench of the same dimensions. Stakes may be cut from it at the end of about three years mostly. These stakes are also used to supply the place of the trees as they grow old, being fixed in the ground as layers, and cut away from the trunk at the end of a year. A single jugerum of osier willows will supply osiers sufficient for twenty-five jugera of vines. It is for a similar purpose that the white poplar is grown; the trenches being two feet deep and the cutting a foot and a half in length. It is left to dry for a couple of days before it is planted, and a space is left between the plants a foot and a palm in width, after which they are covered with earth to the depth of a couple of cubits.
 
17 - 33 REED-BEDS M
The reed requires a soil still moister even than that employed for the willow. It is planted by placing the bulb of the root, that part which some people call the "eye," in a trench three quarters of a foot in depth, at intervals of two feet and a half. A reed-bed will renew itself spontaneously after the old one has been rooted up, a circumstance which it has been found more beneficial to take advantage of than merely to thin them, as was formerly the practice; the roots being in the habit of creeping and becoming interlaced, a thing that ends eventually in the destruction of the bed. The proper time for planting reeds is before the eyes begin to swell, or, in other words, before the calends of March. The reed continues to increase until the winter solstice but ceases to do so when it begins to grow hard, a sign that it is fit for cutting. It is generally thought, too, that the reed requires to be trenched round as often as the vine.
The reed also is planted in a horizontal position, and then covered with earth to a very great depth; by this method as many plants spring up as there are eyes. It is propagated, also, by planting out in trenches a foot in depth, care being taken to cover up two of the eyes, while a third knot is left just on a level with the ground; the head, too, is bent downwards, that it may not become charged with dew. The reed is usually cut when the moon is on the wane. When required for the vineyard, it is better dried for a year than used in a green state.
 
17 - 34 OTHER PLANTS THAT ARE CUT FOR POLES AND STAKES M
The chesnut is found to produce better stays for the vine than any other tree, both from the facility with which they are worked, their extremely lasting qualities, and the circumstance that, when cut, the tree will bud again more speedily than the willow even. It requires a soil that is light without being gravelly, a moist, sandy one more particularly, or else a charcoal earth, or a fine tufa even; while at the same time a northern aspect, however cold and shady, and if upon a declivity even, greatly promotes its growth. It refuses to grow, however, in a gravelly soil, or in red earth, chalk, or, indeed, any kind of fertilizing ground. We have already stated, that it is reproduced from the nut, but it will only grow from those of the largest size, and then only when they are sown in heaps of five together. The ground above the nuts should be kept broken from the month of November to February, as it is at that period that the nuts lose their hold and fall of themselves from the tree, and then take root. There ought to be intervals of a foot in width left between them, and the hole in which they are planted should be nine inches every way. At the end of two years or more they are transplanted from this seed plot into another, where they are laid out at intervals of a couple of feet.
Layers are also employed for the reproduction of this tree, and there is none to which they are better adapted: the root of the plant is left exposed, and the layer is placed in the trench at full length, with the summit also protruding from the earth; the result being, that it shoots from the top as well as the root. When transplanted, however, it is very hard to be reconciled, as it stands in dread of all change. Hence it is, that it is nearly two years before it will begin to shoot upward; from which circumstance it is generally preferred to rear the slips in the nursery from the nut itself, to obtaining them from quicksets. The mode of cultivation does not differ from that employed with the plants already mentioned. It is trenched around, and carefully lopped for two successive years; after which it is able to take care of itself, the shade it gives sufficing to stifle all superfluous suckers: before the end of the sixth year it is fit for cutting. A single jugerum of chesnuts will provide stays for twenty jugera of vineyard, and the branches that are taken from near the roots afford a supply of two-forked uprights; they will last, too, till after the next cutting of the tree. The æsculus, too, is grown in a similar manner, the time for cutting being three years at the latest. Being less difficult, too, to propagate, it may be planted in any kind of earth, the acorn—and it is only with the æsculus that this is done—being sown in spring, in a hole nine inches in depth, with intervals between the plants of two feet in width. This tree is lightly hoed, four times a year. This kind of stay is the least likely to rot of them all; and the more the tree is cut, the more abundantly it shoots. In addition to the above, they also grow other trees for cutting that we have already mentioned—the ash for instance, the laurel, the peach, the hazel, and the apple; but then they are of slower growth, and the stays made from them, when fixed in the ground, are hardly able to withstand the action of the earth, and much less any moisture. The elder, on the other hand, which affords stakes of the very stoutest quality, is grown from cuttings, like the poplar. As to the cypress, we have already spoken of it at sufficient length.
 
17 - 35 CULTURE OF THE VINE AND THE VARIOUS SHRUBS WHICH SUPPORT IT M
Having now described what we may call the armoury of the vine, it remains for us to treat with a particular degree of care of the nature of the vine itself.
The shoots of the vine, as also of certain other trees, the interior of which is naturally of a spongy quality, have certain knots or joints upon the stem that intercept the pith. The intervals between these joints in the branches are short, and more particularly so towards the extremities. The pith, in itself the vivifying spirit of the tree, is always taking an onward direction, so long as the knot, by being open in the centre, allows it a free passage. If, however, the knot should become solidified and deny it a passage, the pith is then thrown downward upon the knot that lies next below it, and making its escape, issues forth there in the shape of a bud, these buds always making their appearance on each side alternately, as already mentioned in the case of the reed and the giant-fennel; in other words, here one bud makes its appearance at the bottom of a knot to the right, the next one takes its place on the left, and so on alternately. In the vine this bud is known as the "gem," as soon as the pith has formed there a small round knob; but before it has done this, the concavity that is left upon the surface is merely called the "eye:" when situate at the extremity of the shoot, it is known as the " germ." It is in the same way, too, that the stock branches, suckers, grapes, leaves, and tendrils of the vine are developed: and it is a very surprising tact, that all that grows on the right side of the tree is stronger and stouter than on the left. Hence it is, that when slips of this tree are planted, it is necessary to cut these knots in the middle, in order to prevent the pith from making its escape. In the same way, too, when planting the fig, suckers are taken, nine inches in length, and after the ground is opened they are planted with the part downwards that grew nearest to the tree, and with a couple of eyes protruding from the earth—in slips of trees, that part is properly called the eye which is to give birth to the: future bud. It is for this reason that, in the seed-plots even the slips that are thus planted sometimes bear the same year the fruit that they would have borne if they had remained upon the tree: this takes place when they have been planted in good seasons and are replete with fecundity, for then they bring to maturity the fruits the conception of which was commenced in another spot. Fig-trees that are thus planted may very easily be transplanted in the third year. As some compensation for the rapidity with which this tree becomes old, it has thus received the privilege of coming to maturity at a very early period. The vine throws out a great number of shoots. In the first place, however, none of them are ever used for planting, except those which are useless, and would have been cut away as mere brushwood; while, on the other hand, every part is pruned off that has borne fruit the previous year. In former times, it was the custom to plant the slip with a head at the extremity, consisting of a piece of the hard wood on each side of it, the same, in fact, that is called a mallet shoot at the present day. In more recent times, however, the practice has been adopted of pulling it off merely with a heel attached to it, as in the fig; and there is no kind of slip that takes with greater certainty. A third method, again, has been added to the former ones, and a more simple one as well, that of taking the slip without any heel at all. These slips are known by the name of arrow- shoots, when they are twisted before planting; and the same, when they are neither cut short nor twisted, are called three-budded slips. The same sucker very often furnishes several slips of this kind. To plant a stock-shoot of the vine is unproductive, and, indeed, no shoots will bear unless they are taken from a part that has borne fruit already. A slip that has but few knots upon it, is looked upon as likely not to bear; while a great number of buds is considered an indication of fruitfulness. Some persons say that no suckers ought to be planted, but those which have already blossomed. It is far from advantageous to plant arrow-slips, for after being twisted, they are apt to break in transplanting. The slips when planted should be a foot in length, and not less, and they ought to have five or six knots upon them; with the dimensions above stated, they cannot, however, possibly have less than three buds. It is considered the most advantageous plan to plant them out the same day that they are cut; but if it is found necessary to plant them some time after, they should be kept in the way that we have already mentioned; particular care being taken not to let them protrude from the earth, lest they should become dried by the action of the sun, or nipped by the wind or frost. When they have been kept too long in a dry place, they must be put in water for several days, for the purpose of restoring their verdancy and freshness. The spot selected, whether for nursery or vineyard, ought to be exposed to the sun, and of as great extent as possible; the soil being turned up to a depth of three feet with a two-pronged fork. The earth, on being thrown up with the mattock, swells naturally, and ridges are formed with it four feet in height, intersected by trenches a couple of feet in depth. The earth in the trenches is carefully cleansed and raked out, so that none of it may be left unbroken, care being taken also to keep it exactly level; if the ridges are unequal, it shows that the ground has been badly dug. At the same time the breadth should be measured of each ridge that lies between the trenches. The slips are planted either in holes or else in elongated furrows, and then covered with very fine earth; but where it is a light soil, the grower will lose his pains should he neglect to place a layer of richer mould beneath. Not less than a couple of slips should be planted together, keeping them exactly on a level with the adjoining earth, which should be pressed down and made compact with the dibble. In the seed-plot there should be intervals left between each two settings a foot and a half in breadth and half a foot in length: when thus planted, it is usual, at the end of two years, to cut the mallet-shoots at the knot nearest the ground, unless there is some good reason for sparing them. When this is done, they throw out eyes, and with these upon them at the end of three years the quicksets are transplanted. There is another method, also, of planting the vine, which a luxurious refinement in these matters has introduced. Four mallet-shoots are tightly fastened together with a cord in tile greenest part, and when thus arranged are passed through the shank-bone of an ox or else a tube of baked earth, after which they are planted in the ground, care being taken to leave a couple of buds protruding: in this way they become impregnated with moisture, and, immediately on being cut, throw out fresh wood. The tube is then broken, upon which the root, thus set at liberty, assumes fresh vigour, and the clusters ultimately bear upon them grapes belonging to the four kinds thus planted together. In consequence of a more recent discovery, another method has been adopted. A mallet-shoot is split down the middle and the pith extracted, after which the two portions are fastened together, every care being taken not to injure the buds. The mallet-shoot is then planted in a mixture of earth and manure, and when it begins to throw out branches it is cut, the ground being repeatedly dug about it. Columella assures us that the grapes of this plant will have no stones, but it is a more surprising thing that the slip itself should survive when thus deprived of the pith. Still, however, I think I ought not to omit the fact that there are some slips that grow without the ordinary articulations of trees upon them; thus, for instance, five or six very small sprigs of box if tied together and put in the ground, will take root. It was formerly made a point to take these sprigs from a box-tree that had not been lopped, as it was fancied that in the last case they would not live; experience, however, has since put an end to that notion. The culture of the vineyard naturally follows the training of the nursery. There are five different kinds of vine: that with the branches running along the ground, the vine that stands without support, the vine that is propped and requires no cross-piece, the vine that is propped and requires a single cross-piece, and the vine that requires a trellis of four compartments. The mode of cultivation requisite for the propped vine may be understood as equally adapted to the one that stands by itself and requires no support, for this last method is only employed where there is a scarcity of wood for stays. The stay with the single cross-piece in a straight line is known by the name of "canterius." It is the best of all for the wine, for then the tree throws no shadow, and the grape is ripened continuously by the sun, while, at the same time, it derives more advantage from the action of the wind, and disengages the dew with greater facility: the superfluous leaves and shoots, too, are more easily removed, and the breaking up of the earth and other operations about the tree are effected with greater facility. But, above all, by the adoption of this method, the tree sheds its blossoms more beneficially than under any other circumstances. This cross-piece is generally made of a stake, or a reed, or else of a rope of hair or hemp, as is usually the case in Spain and at Brundisium. When the trellis is employed, wine is produced in greater quantities; this method has its name of "compluviata" from the "compluvium" or square opening in the roofs of our houses; the trellis is divided into four compartments by as many crosspieces. This mode of planting the vine will now be treated of, and it will be found equally applicable to every kind, with the only difference that under this last method the operation is somewhat more complicated. The vine is planted three different ways; in a soil that has been turned up with the spade-the best of the three; in furrows, which is the next best; and in holes, the least advisable method of all: of the way in which ground is prepared by digging, we have made sufficient mention already. (.) In preparing the furrows for the vine it will be quite sufficient if they are a spade in breadth; but if holes are employed for the purpose, they should be three feet every way. The depth required for every kind of vine is three feet; it should, therefore, be made a point not to transplant any vine that is less than three feet in length, allowing then two buds to be above the ground. It will be necessary, too, to soften the earth by working little furrows at the bottom of the hole, and mixing it up with manure. Where the ground is declivitous, it is requisite that the hole should be deeper, in addition to which it should be artificially elevated on the edge of the lower side. Holes of this nature, which are made a little longer, to receive two vines, are known as "alvei," or beds. The root of the vine should occupy the middle of the hole, and when firmly fixed in the ground it should incline at the top due east; its first support it ought to receive from a reed. The vineyard should be bounded by a decuman path eighteen feet in width, sufficiently wide, in fact, to allow two carts to pass each other; others, again, should run at right angles to it, ten feet in width, and passing through the middle of each jugerum; or else, if the vineyard is of very considerable extent, cardinal paths may be formed instead of them, of the same breadth as the decuman path. At the end, too, of every five of the stays a path should be made to run, or, in other words, there should be one continuous cross-piece to every five stays; each space that is thus included from one end to the other forming a bed. Where the soil is dense and hard it must be turned up only with the spade, and nothing but quicksets should be planted there; but where, on the other hand, it is thin and loose, mallet-shoots even may be set either in hole or furrow. Where the ground is declivitous it is a better plan to draw furrows across than to turn up all the soil with the spade, so that the falling away of the earth may be counteracted by the position of the cross-pieces. It will be best, too, where the weather is wet or the soil naturally dry, to plant the mallet-shoots in autumn, unless, indeed, there is anything in the nature of the locality to counteract it; for while a dry, hot soil makes it necessary to plant in autumn, in a moist, cold one it may be necessary to defer it until the end of spring even. In a parched soil, too, it would be quite in vain to plant quicksets, and it is far from advantageous to set mallet-shoots in a dry ground, except just after a fall of rain. On the other hand, in moist localities, a vine in leaf even may be transplanted and thrive very well, and that, too, even as late as the summer solstice, in Spain, for example. It is of very considerable advantage that there should be no wind stirring on the day of planting, and, though many persons are desirous that there should be a south wind blowing at the time, Cato is of quite a different way of thinking. In a soil of medium quality, it is best to leave an interval of five feet between every two vines; where it is very fertile the distance should be five feet at least, and where it is poor and thin eight at the very most. The Umbri and the Marsi leave intervals between their vines of as much as twenty feet in length, for the purpose of ploughing between them; such a plot of ground as this they call by the name of "porculetum." In a rainy, foggy locality, the plants ought to be set wider apart, but in dry spots nearer to one another. Careful observation has discovered various methods of economizing space; thus, for instance, when a vineyard is planted in shaded ground, a seed-plot is formed there as well; or, in other words, at the same time that the quickset is planted in the place which it is finally to occupy, the mallet-shoot intended for transplanting is set between the vines, as well as between the rows. By adopting this method, each jugerum will produce about sixteen thousand quicksets; and the result is, that two years' fruit is gained thereby, a cutting planted being two years later in bearing than a quickset transplanted. Quicksets, when growing in a vineyard, are cut down at the end of a year, leaving only a single eye above ground; some manure is then placed upon the spot, and a stay driven in close to the plant. In the same manner it is again cut down at the end of the second year, and from this it acquires additional strength, and receives nutriment to enable it to endure the onerous task of reproduction. If this is neglected, in its over-haste to bear it will shoot up slim and meagre, like a bulrush, and from not being subjected to such a training, will grow to nothing but wood. In fact, there is no tree that grows with greater eagerness than the vine, and if its strength is not carefully husbanded for the bearing of fruit, it will be sure to grow to nothing but wood. The best props for supporting the vine are those which we have already mentioned, or else stays made of the robur and the olive; if these cannot be procured, then props of juniper, cypress, laburnum, or elder, must be employed. If any other wood is used for the purpose, the stakes should be cut at the end each year: reeds tied together in bundles make excellent cross-rails for the vine, and will last as long as five years. Sometimes the shorter stock-branches of the vines are brought together and tied with vine-cuttings, like so many cords: by this method an arcade is formed, known to us by the name of "funetum." The vine, by the end of the third year, throws out strong and vigorous stock-branches with the greatest rapidity, and these in due time form the tree; after this, it begins to mount the cross-piece. Some persons are in the habit of "blinding" the vine at this period, by removing the eyes with the end of the pruning-knife turned upwards, their object being to increase the length of the branches—a most injurious practice, however; for it is far better to let the tree become habituated to grow of itself, and to prune away the tendrils every now and then when they have reached the cross-rail, so long as it may be deemed proper to add to its strength. There are some persons who forbid the vine to be touched for a whole year after it has been transplanted, and who say that the pruning-knife ought never to be used before it is five years old; and then at that period they are for cutting it down so completely as to leave three buds only. Others, again, cut down the vine within a year even after it has been transplanted, but then they take care to let the stem increase every year by three or four joints, bringing it on a level with the cross-piece by the fourth. These two methods, however, both of them, retard the fruit and render the tree stunted and knotty, as we see the case in all dwarf trees. The best plan is to make the parent stem as robust and vigorous as possible, and then the wood will be sure to be strong and hardy. It is far from safe, too, to take slips from a cicatrized stem; such a practice is erro- neous, and only the result of ignorance. All cuttings of this nature are sure to be the offspring of acts of violence, and not in reality of the tree itself. The vine, while growing, should be possessed of all its natural strength; and we find that when left entirely to itself, it will throw out wood in every part; for there is no portion of it that Nature does not act upon. When the stem has grown sufficiently strong for the purpose, it should at once be trained to the cross-piece; if, how- ever, it is but weak, it should be cut down so as to lie below the hospitable shelter of the cross-piece. Indeed, it is the strength of the stem, and not its age, that ought to decide the matter. It is not advisable to attempt to train a vine before the stem has attained the thickness of the thumb; but in the year after it has reached the frame, one or two stock-branches should be preserved, according to the strength developed by the parent tree. The same, too, must be done the succeeding year, if the weakness of the stem demands it; and in the next, two more should be added. Still, however, there should never be more than four branches allowed to grow; in one word, there must be no indulgence shown, and every exuberance in the tree must in all cases be most carefully repressed; for such is the nature of the vine, that it is more eager to bear than it is to live. It should be remembered, too, that all that is subtracted from the wood is so much added to the fruit. The vine, in fact, would much rather produce shoots and ten- drils than fruit, because its fruit, after all, is but a transitory possession: hence it is that it luxuriates to its own undoing, and instead of really gaining ground, exhausts itself. The nature, too, of the soil will afford some very useful suggestions. Where it is thin and hungry, even though the vine should display considerable vigour, it should be pruned down below the cross-piece and kept there, so that all the shoots may be put forth below it. The interval, however, between the top of the vine and the cross-piece ought to be but very small; so much so, indeed, as to leave it hopes, as it were, of reaching it, which, however, it must never be suffered to do; for it should never be allowed to recline thereon and spread and run on at its ease. This mode of culture ought, in fact, to be so nicely managed, that the vine should show an inclination rather to grow in body than to run to wood. The main branch should have two or three buds left below the cross-piece that give promise of bearing wood, and it should be carefully trained along the rail, and drawn close to it in such a manner as to be supported by it, and not merely hang loosely from it. When this is done, it should be tightly fastened also with a binding three buds off, a method which will greatly contribute to check the too abundant growth of the wood, while stouter shoots will be thrown out below the ligature: it is absolutely forbidden, however, to tie the extremity of the main branch. When all this is done, Nature operates in the following way—the parts that are allowed to fall downward, or those which are held fast by the ligature, give out fruit, those at the bend of the branch more particularly. On the other hand, the portion that lies below the ligature throws out wood; by reason, I suppose, of the interception of the vital spirit and the marrow or pith, previously mentioned: the wood, too, that is grown under these circumstances will bear fruit in the following year. In this way there are two kinds of stock branches: the first of which, issuing from the solid stock, gives promise of wood only for this year, and is known as the leaf stock-branch; while that which grows beyond the mark made by the ligature is a fruit stock-branch. There are other kinds, again, that shoot from the stock-branches when they are a year old, and these are in all cases fruit stock-branches. There is left, also, beneath the cross-piece a shoot that is known as the reserve shoot, being always a young stock-branch, with not more than three buds upon it. This is intended to give out wood the next year, in case the vine by over-luxuriance should happen to exhaust itself. Close to it there is another bud left, no bigger than a wart; this is known as the "furunculus," and is kept in readiness in case the reserve shoot should fail. The vine, if enticed to bear fruit before the seventh year from its being planted as a slip, will pine away, become as slim as a bulrush, and die. It is thought equally undesirable, too, to let an old stock-branch range far and wide, and extend as far as the fourth stay from the stem; to such a branch the name of dragon-branch is given by some, and of juniculus by others; if these are allowed to spread, they will run to wood only, and make male vines, as they are called. When a vine has become quite hard, it is an extremely bad plan to use it for reproduction by layers. When the vine is five years old the stock-branches are twisted, but each is allowed to throw out some new wood; and so from one to another, care being taken to prune away the old wood. It is always the best plan, however, to leave a reserve shoot; but this should always be very near the main stem of the vine, not at a greater distance, in fact, than that already mentioned. If, too, the stock branches should throw out too luxuriantly, they must be twisted, the object being that the vine may put forth no more than four secondary branches, or even two only, if it happens to be a single cross-railed vine. If the vine is to be trained to grow without any stay at all, still it will stand in need, at first, of some support or other, until it has learnt to support itself: in all other respects the mode of proceeding will be the same at first. When pruning, it will be necessary that the thumb-branches should be arranged in equal numbers on either side, in order that the fruit may not overload one side of the tree; and we may here remark by the way, that the fruit by its weight is apt to bear down the tree and counteract any tendency to increase in height. The vine, unsupported, when more than three feet in height, begins to bend, but the others do not, until they are five feet high at the least; care should be taken, however, never to let them exceed the height of a man of moderate stature. Growers are in the habit of surrounding the vines that creep along the ground with a low fence for them to lean upon; and round this fence they dig a trench by way of precaution, for fear lest the branches in their range should meet one another and so come into collision. The greater part of the world, in fact, gather grapes at their vintage, grown in this fashion, and lying upon the ground—at all events, it is so in Africa, Egypt, and Syria; throughout the whole of Asia, too, and in many parts of Europe as well, this method prevails. In such cases the vine ought to be kept down close to the ground, and the root should be nurtured at the same time and in just the same way as in the case of the vine that grows on the cross-piece. Care, too, should be taken to leave only the young thumb-shoots, together with three buds, where it is a prolific soil, two where it is poor and thin: it is better, too, that the shoots should be numerous than individually long. The influences of soil, of which we have made mention already, will make themselves felt all the more powerfully the nearer the grapes grow to the ground. It is a very advantageous plan to separate the various species of vines and to set them in different compartments—for the mixture of different varieties is apt to deteriorate the flavour not only of the must, but the wine even as well. If, again, for some reason or other, the different kinds must be intermingled, it will be requisite to keep all those together which ripen at exactly the same period. The more fertile and the more level the soil, the higher the cross-pieces must he placed. High cross-pieces, too, are best suited to localities that are subject to heavy dews and fogs, but not to those that are exposed to high winds; on the other hand, where the soil is thin, parched, and arid, or exposed to the wind, the cross-pieces should be set lower. The cross-piece should be fastened to the stay with cords tied as tight as possible, while the bindings used for tying the vine should be thin. As to the various species of vines, and the soils and climates requi- site for the growth of each, we have already treated of them, when enumerating the several varieties of the vine and the wines which they produce. With reference to other points connected with the culture of the vine, there are very considerable doubts. Many persons recommend that the vineyard should be turned up with the spade after every dew that falls in the summer. Others, again, forbid this practice when the vine is in bud; for the clothes, they say, of the people coming and going to and fro are apt to catch the buds, and either knock or rub them off; it is for this reason, too, that they are so careful to keep all animals away from the vines, those with long wool in particular, as it is very apt to pull off the buds. Raking, too, they say, is very injurious to the vine while the grape is forming; and it will be quite sufficient, they assure us, if the ground is turned up three times in the year, after the vernal equinox—first, at the rising of the Vergiliæ, the second at the rising of the Dog-star, and the third time just as the grape is turning black. Some persons make it a rule that an old vineyard shall have one turning up between the time of vintage and the winter solstice, though others, again, are of opinion that it is quite sufficient to bare the roots and manure them. They turn up the ground again after the ides of April, but before the time for germination, or, in other words, the sixth of the ides of May; then again before the tree begins to blossom, after it has shed its blossom, and, last of all, when the grape is just on the turn. The most skilful growers say that if the ground is dug up oftener than necessary, the grapes will become so remarkably thin-skinned as to burst. When the ground is turned up, care should be taken to do it before the hot hours of the day; a clayey soil, too, should never be ploughed or dug. The dust that is raised in digging is beneficial to the vine, it is said, by protecting it from the heat of the sun and the injurious effects of fogs. The spring clearing ought to be done, it is universally admitted, within ten days after the ides of May, and before the blossoming begins; in addition to which, it should always be done below the cross-piece. As to the second clearing, opinions differ very considerably. Some think it ought to be done when the blossoming is over, others, again, when the grapes are nearly at maturity. This point, however, may be decided by following the advice of Cato on the subject; for we must now pass on to a description of the proper' mode of pruning the vine. Immediately after the vintage, and while the weather is still warm, the work of pruning begins; this, however, ought never to be done, for certain physical reasons, before the rising of the Eagle, as we shall have occasion to explain in the following Book. Nor should it be done either when the west winds begin to prevail, for even then there is great doubt whether a fault may not be committed by being in too great haste to commence the work. If any return of wintry weather should chance to nip the vines, while still labouring under the wounds recently inflicted on them in pruning, there is little doubt that their buds will become quite benumbed with cold, the wounds will open again, and the eyes, moistened by the juices that distil from the tree, will become frost-bitten by the rigour of the weather. For who is there, in fact, that does not know that the buds are rendered brittle by frost? All this, however, depends upon accurate calculations in the management of large grounds, and the blame of precipitation cannot with any justice be laid upon Nature. The earlier the vine is pruned, in suitable weather, the greater is the quantity of wood, while the later the pruning, the more abundant is the fruit. Hence it is that it is most advisable to prune the poor meagre vines first, and to defer pruning the more thriving ones to the very last. In pruning, due care should always be taken to cut in a slanting direction, in order that the rain may run off with all the greater facility. The wounds, too, should look down- wards towards the ground, and should be made as lightly as possible, the edge of the knife being well-sharpened for the purpose, so as to make a clean cut each time. Care should be taken, too, to cut always between two buds, and that the eyes are not injured in the operation. It is generally thought that wherever the vine is black, all those parts may be cut off, the healthy parts not being touched; as no useful shoots can be put forth by wood that is bad in itself. If a meagre vine has not good stock-shoots, the best plan is to cut it down to the ground, and then to train new ones. In clearing away the leaves, too, those leaves should not be removed which accompany the clusters, for by so doing the grapes are made to fall off, except where the vine happens to be young. Those leaves are regarded as useless which grow on the sides of the trunk and not from an eye; and so, too, are the bunches which shoot from the hard, strong wood, and are only to be removed by the aid of the knife. Some persons are of opinion that it is a better plan to fix the stay midway between two vines; and, indeed, by the adoption of this method the roots are cleared with greater facility. It is best, however, where the vine needs but a single cross- rail, due care being taken that the rail is a strong one, and the locality not exposed to high winds. In the case of those vines which require trellissed cross-rails, the stay should be placed as near as possible to the burden it has to support; in order, however, that there may be no impediment thrown in the way of clearing the roots, it may be placed at the distance of one cubit from the stock, but not more. It is generally recommended to clear the roots before the pruning is commenced. Cato gives the following general precepts in relation to the culture of the vine:—" Let the vine grow as high as possible, and fasten it firmly, but not too tight. You should treat it in the following manner. Clean the roots of the vine at seedtime, and after pruning it dig about it, and then begin to labour at the ground, by tracing with the plough continuous furrows every way. Plant the young vines in layers as early as possible, and then break up the ground about them. If the vine is old, take care and prune it as little as possible. In preference, bend the vine into the ground for layers, if necessary, and cut it at the end of two years. The proper time for cutting the young vine, is when it has gained sufficient strength. If the vineyard is bald of vines, then draw furrows between them, and plant quicksets there: but let no shadow be thrown on the furrows, and take care and dig them often. If the vineyard is old, sow ocinum there, in case the trees are meagre: but take care and sow there nothing that bears seed. Put manure, chaff, and grape-husks about the roots, or, indeed, anything of a similar nature that will give the tree additional strength. As soon as the vine begins to throw out leaves, set about clearing them. Fasten the young trees in more places than one, so that the stem may not break. As soon as it begins to run along the stay, fasten down the young branches lightly, and extend them, in order that they may gain the right position. When the grape begins to be mottled, then tie down the vine. The first season for grafting the vine is the spring, the other when the grape is in blossom; the last period is the best. If it is your wish to transplant an old vine, you will only be able to do so in case it is no thicker than the arm: first, however, you must prune it, taking care not to have more than two buds upon the stem. Then dig it well up by the roots, being careful to trace them, and using every possible precaution not to injure them. Place it in the hole or furrow exactly in the position in which it has stood before, then cover it with earth, which should be well trodden down. You must then prop it up, fasten it, and turn it in the same direction as before; after which, dig about it repeatedly." The ocinum that Cato here recommends to be sown in the vineyards, is a fodder known by that name by the ancients; it thrives in the shade remarkably well, and received its name from the rapidity with which it grows. (.) We come now to speak of the method of growing vines upon trees, a mode that has been condemned in the strongest terms by the Saserna's, both father and son, and up- held by Scrofa, these being our most ancient writers on agri- culture next to Cato, and men of remarkable skill. Indeed, Scrofa himself will not admit that it is beneficial anywhere except in Italy. The experience of ages, however, hats sufficiently proved that the wines of the highest quality are only grown upon vines attached to trees, and that even then the choicest wines are produced by the upper part of the tree, the produce of the lower part being more abundant; such being the beneficial results of elevating the vine. It is with a view to this that the trees employed for this purpose are selected. In the first rank of all stands the elm, with the exception of the Atinian variety, which is covered with too many leaves; and next comes the black poplar, which is valued for a similar reason, being not so densely covered with leaves. Most people, too, by no means hold the ash and the fig in disesteem, as also the olive, if it is not overshadowed with branches. We have treated at sufficient length already of the planting and culture of these several trees. They must not be touched with the knife before the end of three years; and then the branches are preserved, on each side in its turn, the pruning being done in alternate years. In the sixth year the vine is united to the tree. In Italy beyond the Padus, in addition to the trees already mentioned, they plant for their vines the cornel, the opulus, the linden, the maple, the ash, the yoke-elm, and the quercus; while in Venetia they grow willows for the purpose, on account of the humidity of the soil. The top of the elm is lopped away, and the branches of the middle are regularly arranged in stages; no tree in general being allowed to exceed twenty feet in height. The stories begin to spread out in the tree at eight feet from the ground, in the hilly districts and upon dry soils, and at twelve in champaign and moist localities. The hand of the trunk ought to have a southern aspect, and the branches that project from them should be stiff and rigid like so many fingers; at the same time due care should be taken to lop off the thin beardlike twigs, in order to check the growth of all shade. The interval best suited for the trees, if it is the grower's intention to keep the soil turned up with the plough, is forty feet back and front, and twenty at the side; if it is not to be turned up, then twenty feet every way will do. A single tree is often made to support as many as ten vines, and the grower is greatly censured who attaches less than three. It is worse than useless to attach the vine before the tree has gained its full strength, as in such case its rapidity of growth would only tend to kill the tree. It is necessary to plant the vine in a trench three feet in depth, leaving an interval of one foot between it and the tree. In this case there is no necessity for using mallet shoots, or for going to any expense in spading or digging; for this method of training on trees has this advantage in particular, that it is beneficial even to the vine that corn should be sown in the same soil; in addition to which, from its height, it is quite able to protect itself, and does not call for the necessity, as in the case of an ordinary vineyard, of enclosing it with walls and hedges or ditches, made at a considerable expense, to protect it from injury by animals. In the method of training upon trees, reproduction from quicksets or from layers is the only mode employed of all those that have been previously described; the growing by layers being effected two different ways, as already mentioned. The plan, however, of growing from layers in baskets set upon the stages of the tree is the most approved one, as it ensures an efficient protection from the ravages of cattle; while, according to another method, a vine or else a stock-branch is bent into the ground near the tree it has previously occupied, or else the nearest one that may be at liberty. It is recommended that all parts of the parent tree that appear above ground should then be scraped, so that it may not throw out wood; while at the same time there are never less than four buds on the part that is put into the ground for the purpose of taking root; there are also two buds left above ground at the head. The vine intended for training on a tree is planted in a furrow four feet long, three broad, and two and a half in depth. At the end of a year the layer is cut to the pith, to enable it to strengthen gradually at the root; after which, the end of the branch is pruned down to within two buds from the ground. At the end of two years the layer is completely separated from the stock, and buried deeper in the ground, that it may not shoot at the place where it has been cut. As to the quicksets, they ought to be removed directly after the vintage. In more recent times, a plan has been discovered of planting a dragon branch near the tree—that being the name given to an old stock-branch that has become hard and tough in the course of years. For this purpose, it is cut as long as possible, and the bark is taken off from three-fourths of its length, that being the portion which is to be buried in the ground; hence it is, too, that it is called a "barked" plant. It is then laid at full length in the furrow, the remaining part protruding from the ground and reclining against the tree. This method is the most speedy one that can be adopted for growing the vine. If the vine is meagre or the soil impoverished, it is usual to keep it cut down as near to the ground as possible, until such time as the root is strengthened. Care, too, should be taken not to plant it covered with dew, nor yet while the wind is blowing from the north. The vine itself ought to look towards the north-east, but the young stock-shoots should have a southern aspect. There should not be too great haste in pruning a young vine, but a beginning should be made by giving the wood and foliage a circular form, care being taken not to prune it until it has become quite strong; it should be remembered, too, that the vine, when trained upon a tree, is generally a year later in bearing fruit than when grown on the cross-piece. There are some persons, again, who altogether forbid that a vine should be pruned until such time as it equals the tree in height. At the first pruning it may be cut to within six feet from the ground, below which a shoot must be left, and encouraged to run out by bending the young wood. Upon this shoot, when pruned, there should not be more than three buds left. The branches that take their rise from these buds should be trained in the following year upon the lowermost stages of the tree, and so in each successive year taught to climb to the higher ones. Care, too, should always be taken to leave one hard, woody branch at each stage, as well as one breeding shoot, at liberty to mount as high as it pleases. In addition to these precautions, in all pruning, those shoots should be cut off which have borne fruit the last year, and after the ten- drils have been cut away on every side fresh branches should be trained to run along the stages. In Italy the pruning is so managed that the shoots and tendrils of the vines are arranged so as to cover the branches of the tree, while the shoots of the vine in their turn are surrounded with clusters of grapes. In Gallia, on the other hand, the vine is trained to pass from tree to tree. On the Æmilian Way, again, the vine is seen embracing the trunks of the Atinian elms that line the road, while at the same time it carefully avoids their foliage. It is a mark of ignorance in some persons to suspend the vine with a cord beneath the branches of the tree, to the great risk of stifling it; for it ought to be merely kept up with a withe of osier, and not tightly laced. Indeed, in those places where the willow abounds, the withes that it affords are preferred, on account of their superior suppleness, while the Sicilians employ for the purpose a grass, which they call "ampelodesmos:" throughout the whole of Greece, rushes, cyperus, and sedge are similarly employed. When at any time the vine has been liberated from its bonds, it should be allowed to range uncontrolled for some days, and to spread abroad at pleasure, as well as to recline upon the ground which it has been looking down upon the whole year through. For in the same manner that beasts of burden when released from the yoke, and dogs when they have returned from the chase, love to roll themselves on the ground, just so does the vine delight to stretch its loins. The tree itself, too, seems to rejoice, and, thus relieved from the continuous weight which has burdened it, to have all the appearance of now enjoying a free respiration. Indeed, there is no object in all the economy of Nature that does not desire certain alternations for the enjoyment of rest, witness the succession of night and day, for instance. It is for this reason that it is forbidden to prune the vine directly the vintage is over, and while it is still exhausted by the process of reproduction. Directly the vine has been pruned, it ought to be fastened again to the tree, but in another place; for there is no doubt that it feels very acutely the indentations that are made in it by the holdfasts. In the Gallic method of cultivation they train out two branches at either side, if the trees are forty feet apart, and four if only twenty; where they meet, these branches are fastened together and made to grow in unison; if, too, they are anywhere deficient in number or strength, care is taken to fortify them by the aid of small rods. In a case, however, where the branches are not sufficiently long to meet, they are artificially prolonged by means of a hook, and so united to the tree that desires their company. The branches thus trained to unite they used to prime at the end of the second year. But where the vine is aged, it is a better plan to give them a longer time to reach the adjoining tree, in case they should not have gained the requisive thickness; besides which, it is always good to encourage the growth of the hard wood in the dragon branches. There is yet another method, which occupies a middle place between this mode of propagation and that by layers. It consists of laying the entire vine in the earth, and then splitting the stock asunder by means of wedges; the fibrous portions are then trained out in as many furrows, care being taken to support each of the slender plants by fastening it to a stake, and not to cut away the branches that shoot from the sides. The growers of Novara, not content with the multitude of shoots that run from tree to tree, nor yet with an abundance of branches, encourage the stock-branches to entwine around forks planted in the ground for the purpose; a method, however, which, in addition to the internal defects arising from the soil, imparts a harshness to the wine. There is another fault, too, that is committed by the people of Varracina, near Rome-they only prune their vines every other year; not, indeed, because it is advantageous to the tree, but from a fear lest, from the low prices fetched by their wines, the expense might exceed the profits. At Carseoli they adopt a middle course, by pruning away only the rotten parts of the vine, as well as those which are beginning to wither, and leaving the rest to bear fruit, after thus clearing away all superfluous incumbrances. The only nutriment they give it is this exemption from frequent pruning; but unless the soil should happen to be a very rich one, the vine, under such a method of cultivation, will very soon degenerate to a wild state. The vine that is thus trained requires the ground to be ploughed very deep, though such is not the case for the sowing there of grain. It is not customary to cut away the leaves in this case, which, of course, is so much labour spared. The trees themselves require pruning at the same period as the vine, and are thinned by clearing away all useless branches, and such parts as would only absorb the nutriment. We have already stated that the parts that are lopped should never look north or south: and it will be better still, if they have not a western aspect. The wounds thus made are very susceptible for a considerable time, and heal with the greatest difficulty, if exposed to excesses of cold or heat. The vine when trained on a tree enjoys advantages that are not possessed by the others; for the latter have certain fixed aspects, .while in the former, it is easy to cover up the wounds made in pruning, or to turn them whichever way you please. When trees are pruned at the top, cup-like cavities should be formed there, to prevent the water from lodging.
 
17 - 36 HOW GRAPES ARE PROTECTED FROM THE RAVAGES OF INSECTS M
Stays, too, should be given to the vine for it to take hold of and climb upwards, if they are taller than it. (.) Espaliers for vines of a high quality should be cut, it is said, at the Quinquatria, and when it is intended to keep the grapes, while the moon is on the wane. We are assured, moreover, that those which are cut at the change of the moon, are exempt from the attacks of all insects. According to another system, it is said that vines should be pruned by night at full moon, and while it is in Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, or Taurus: and that, in general, they ought to be planted either when the moon is at full or on the increase. In Italy, ten workmen will suffice for one hundred jugera of vineyard.
 
17 - 37 DISEASES OF TREES M
Having now treated sufficiently at length of the planting and cultivation of trees—(for we have already said enough of the palm and the cytisus, when speaking of the exotic trees)—we shall proceed, in order that nothing may be omitted, to describe other details relative to their nature, which are of considerable importance, when taken in connection with all that precedes. Trees, we find, are attacked by maladies; and, indeed, what created thing is there that is exempt from these evils? Still however, the affections of the forest trees, it is said, are not attended with danger to them, and the only damage they receive is from hail-storms while they are budding and blossoming; with the exception, indeed, of being nipped either by heat or cold blasts in unseasonable weather; for frost, when it comes at the proper times, as we have already stated, is serviceable to them. "Well but," it will be said, "is not the vine sometimes killed with cold?" No doubt it is, and this it is through which we detect inherent faults in the soils, for it is only in a cold soil that the vine will die. Just in the same way, too, in winter we approve of cold, so long as it is the cold of the weather, and not of the ground. It is not the weakest trees, too, that are endangered in winter by frost, but the larger ones. When they are thus attacked, it is the summit that dries away the first, from the circumstance that the sap becomes frozen before it is able to arrive there.
Some diseases of trees are common to them all, while others, again, are peculiar to individual kinds, Worms are common to them all, and so, too, is sideration, with pains in the limbs, which are productive of debility in the various parts. Thus do we apply the names of the maladies that prevail among mankind to those with which the plants are afflicted. In the same way, too, we speak of their bodies being mutilated, the eyes of the buds being burnt up, with many other expressions of a similar nature. It is in accordance with the same phraseology that we say that trees are afflicted with hunger or indigestion, both of which result from the comparative amount of sap that they contain; while some, again, are troubled with obesity, as in the case of all the resinous trees, which, when suffering from excessive fatness, are changed into a torch-tree. When the roots, too, begin to wax fat, trees, like animals, are apt to perish from excess of fatness. Sometimes, too, a pestilence will prevail in certain classes of trees, just as among men, we see maladies attack, at one time the slave class, and at another the common people, in cities or in the country, as the case may be. Trees are more or less attacked by worms; but still, nearly all are subject to them in some degree, and this the birds are able to detect by the hollow sound produced on tapping at the bark. These worms even have now begun to be looked upon as delicacies by epicures, and the large ones found in the robur are held in high esteem; they are known to us by the name of" cossis;" and are even fed with meal, in order to fatten them! But it is the pear, the apple, and the fig that are most subject to their attacks, the trees that are bitter and odoriferous enjoying a comparative exemption from them. Of those which infest the fig, some breed in the tree itself, while others, again, are produced by the worm known as the cerastes; they all, however, equally assume the form of the cerastes, and emit a small shrill noise. The service-tree is infested, too, with a red hairy worm, which kills it; and the medlar, when old, is subject to a similar malady. The disease known as sideration entirely depends upon the heavens; and hence we may class under this head, the ill effects produced by hail-storms, carbunculation, and the damage caused by hoar-frosts. When the approach of spring tempts the still tender shoots to make their appearance, and they venture to burst forth, the malady attacks them, and scorches up the eyes of the buds, filled as they are with their milky juices: this is what upon flowers they call " charcoal" blight. The consequences of hoar-frost to plants are even more dangerous still, for when it has once settled, it remains there in a frozen form, and there is never any wind to remove it, seeing that it never prevails except in weather that is perfectly calm and serene. Sideration, however, properly so called, is a certain heat and dryness that prevails at the rising of the Dog-star, and owing to which grafts and young trees pine away and die, the fig and the vine more particularly. The olive, also, besides the worm, to which it is equally subject with the fig, is attacked by the measles, or as some think fit to call it, the fungus or platter; it is a sort of blast produced by the heat of the sun. Cato says that the red moss is also deleterious to the olive. An excessive fertility, too, is very often injurious to the vine and the olive. Scab is a malady common to all trees. Eruptions, too, and the attacks of a kind of snail that grows on the bark, are diseases peculiar to the fig, but not in all countries; for there are some maladies that are prevalent in certain localities only. In the same way that man is subject to diseases of the sinews, so are the trees as well, and, like him, in two different ways. Either the virulence of the disease manifests itself in the feet, or, what is the same thing, the roots of the tree, or else in the joints of the fingers, or, in other words, the extremities of the branches that are most distant from the trunk. The parts that are thus affected become dry and shrivel up: the Greeks have appropriate names by which to distinguish each of these affections. In either case the first symptoms are that the tree is suffering from pain, and the parts affected become emaciated and brittle; then follows rapid consumption and ultimately death; the juices being no longer able to enter the diseased parts, or, at all events, not circulating in them. The fig is more particularly liable to this disease: but the wild fig is exempt from all that we have hitherto mentioned. Scab is produced by viscous dews which fall after the rising of the Vergiliæ; but if they happen to fall copiously, they drench the tree, without making the bark rough. When the fig is thus attacked, the fruit falls off while green; and so, too, if there is too much rain. The fig suffers also from a superfluity of moisture in the roots. In addition to worms and sideration, the vine is subject to a peculiar disease of its own, which attacks it in the joints, and is produced from one of the three following causes:— either the destruction of the buds by stormy weather, or else the fact, as remarked by Theophrastus, that the tree, when pruned, has been cut with the incisions upwards, or has been injured from want of skill in the cultivator. All the injury that is inflicted in these various ways is felt by the tree in the joints more particularly. It must be considered also as a species of sideration, when the cold dews make the blossoms fall off, and when the grapes harden before they have attained their proper size. Vines also become sickly when they are perished with cold, and the eyes are frost-bitten just after they have been pruned. Heat, too, out of season, is productive of similar results: for everything is regulated according to a fixed order and certain determinate movements. Some maladies, too, originate in errors committed by the vine-dresser; when they are tied too tight, for instance, as already mentioned, or when in trenching round them the digger has struck them an unlucky blow, or when in ploughing about them the roots have been strained through carelessness, or the bark has been stripped from off the trunk: sometimes, too, contusions are produced by the use of too blunt a pruning-knife. Through all the causes thus enumerated the tree is rendered more sen- sitive to either cold or heat, as every injurious influence from without is apt to concentrate in the wounds thus made. The apple, however, is the most delicate of them all, and more particularly the one that bears the sweetest fruit. In some trees weakness induced by disease is productive of barrenness, and does not kill the tree; as in the pine for instance, or the palm, when the top of the tree has been removed; for in such case the tree becomes barren, but does not die. Sometimes, too, the fruit itself is sickly, independently of the tree; for example, when there is a deficiency of rain, or of warmth, or of wind, at the periods at which they usually prevail, or when, on the other hand, they have prevailed in excess; for in such cases the fruit will either drop off or else deteriorate. But the worst thing of all that can befall the vine or the olive, is to be pelted with heavy showers just when the tree is shedding its blossom, for then the fruit is sure to fall off as well. Rain, too, is productive of the caterpillar, a noxious insect that eats away the leaves, and, some of them, the blossoms as well; and this in the olive even, as we find the case at Miletus; giving to the half-eaten tree a most loathsome appearance. This pest is produced by the prevalence of a damp, languid heat; and if the sun should happen to shine after this with a more intense heat and burn them up, this pest only gives place to another just as bad, the aspect only of the evil being changed. There is still one other affection that is peculiar to the olive and the vine, known as the "cobweb," the fruit being enveloped in a web, as it were, and so stifled. There are certain winds, too, that are particularly blighting to the olive and the vine, as also to other fruits as well: and then besides, the fruits themselves, independently of the tree, are very much worm-eaten in some years, the apple, pear, medlar, and pomegranate for instance. In the olive the presence of the worm may be productive of a twofold result: if it grows beneath the skin, it will destroy the fruit, but if it is in the stone, it will only gnaw it away, making the fruit all the larger. The prevalence of showers after the rising of Arcturus prevents them from breeding; but if the rains are accompanied with wind from the south, they will make their appearance in the ripe fruit even, which are then very apt to fall. This happens more particularly in moist, watery localities; and even if they do not fall, the olives that are so affected are good for nothing. There is a kind of fly also that is very troublesome to some fruit, acorns and figs for instance: it would appear that they breed from the juices secreted beneath the bark, which at this period are sweet. These trees, too, are generally in a diseased state when this happens. There are certain temporary and local influences which cause instantaneous death to trees, but which cannot properly be termed diseases; such, for example, as consumption, blast, or the noxious effects of some winds that are peculiar to certain localities; of this last nature are the Atabulus that prevails in Apulia, and the Olympias of Eubœa. This wind, if it happens to blow about the winter solstice, nips the tree with cold, and shrivels it up to such a degree that no warmth of the sun can ever revive it. Trees that are planted in valleys, and are situate near the banks of rivers, are especially liable to these accidents, the vine more particularly, the olive, and the fig. When this has been the case, it may instantly be detected the moment the period for germination arrives, though, in the olive, somewhat later. With all of these trees, if the leaves fall off, it is a sign that they will recover; but if such is not the case, just when you would suppose that they have escaped uninjured, they die. Sometimes, however, the leaves will become green again, after being dry and shrivelled. Other trees, again, in the northern regions, Pontus and Phrygia, for example, suffer greatly from cold or frost, in case they should continue for forty days after the winter solstice. In these countries, too, as well as in other parts, if a sharp frost or copious rains should happen to come on immediately after fructification, the fruit is killed in a very few days even. Injuries inflicted by the hand of man are productive also of bad effects. Thus, for instance, pitch, oil, and grease, if applied to trees, and young ones more particularly, are highly detrimental. They may be killed, also, by removing a circular piece of the bark from around them, with the exception, indeed, of the cork-tree, which is rather benefitted than otherwise by the operation; for the bark as it gradually thickens tends to stifle and suffocate the tree: the andrachle, too, receives no injury from it, if care is taken not to cut the body of the tree. In addition to this, the cherry, the lime, and the vine shed their bark; not that portion of it, indeed, which is essential to life, and grows next the trunk, but the part that is thrown off, in proportion as the other grows beneath. In some trees the bark is naturally full of fissures, the plane for instance: in the linden it will all but grow again when removed. Hence, in those trees the bark of which admits of cicatrization, a mixture of clay and dung is employed by way of remedy; and sometimes with success, in case excessive cold or heat does not immediately supervene. In some trees, again, by the adoption of these methods death is only retarded, the robur and the quercus, for example. The season of the year has also its peculiar influences; thus, if the bark is removed from the fir and the pine, while the sun is passing through Taurus or Gemini, the period of their germination, they will instantly die, while in winter they are able to withstand the injurious effects of it much longer: the same is the case, too, with the holm-oak, the robur, and the quercus. In the trees above mentioned, if it is only a narrow circular strip of bark that is removed, no injurious effects will be perceptible; but in the case of the weaker trees, as well as those which grow in a thin soil, the same operation, if performed even on one side only, will be sure to kill them. The removal of the top, in the pitch-tree, the cedar, and the cypress is productive of a similar result; for if it is either cut off or destroyed by fire, the tree will not survive: the same is the case, too, if they are bitten by the teeth of animals. Varro informs us, too, as we have already stated, that the olive, if only licked by a she-goat, will be barren. When thus injured, some trees will die, while in others the fruit becomes deteriorated, the almond, for instance, the fruit of which changes from sweet to bitter. In other cases, again, the tree is improved even—such, for instance, as the pear known in Chios as the Phocian pear. We have already mentioned certain trees, also, that are all the better for having the tops removed. Most trees perish when the trunk is split; but we must except the vine, the apple, the fig, and the pomegranate. Others, again, will die if only a wound is inflicted: the fig, however, as well as all the resinous trees, is proof against such injury. It is far from surprising that, when the roots of a tree are cut, death should be the result; most of them perish, however, when, not all the roots, but only the larger ones, and those which are more essential to life, have been severed. Trees, too, will kill one another by their shade, or the density of their foliage, as also by the withdrawal of nourishment. Ivy, by clinging to a tree, will strangle it. The mistletoe, too, is far from beneficial, and the cytisus is killed by the plant to which the Greeks have given the name of halimon. It is the nature of some plants not to kill, but to injure, by the odour they emit, or by the admixture of their juices; such is the influence exercised by the radish and the laurel upon the vine. For the vine may reasonably be looked upon as possessed of the sense of smell, and affected by odours in a singular degree; hence, when it is near a noxious exhalation, it will turn away and withdraw from it. It was from his observation of this fact that Androcydes borrowed the radish as his antidote for drunkenness, recommending it to be eaten on such occasions. The vine, too, abhors all coleworts and garden herbs, and the hazel as well; indeed it will become weak and ailing if they are not removed to a distance from it. Nitre, alum, warm sea-water, and the shells of beans and fitches act as poisons on the vine.
 
17 - 38 PRODIGIES CONNECTED WITH TREES M
Among the maladies which affect the various trees, we may find room for portentous prodigies also. For we find some trees that have never had a leaf upon them; a vine and a pome- granate bearing fruit adhering to the trunk, and not upon the shoots or branches; a vine, too, that bore grapes but had no leaves; and olives that have lost their leaves while the fruit remained upon the tree. There are some marvels also connected with trees that are owing to accident; an olive that was completely burnt, has been known to revive, and in Bœotia, some fig-trees that had been quite eaten away by locusts budded afresh. Trees, too, sometimes change their colour, and turn from black to white; this, however, must not always be looked upon as portentous, and more particularly in the case of those which are grown from seed; the white poplar, too, often becomes black. Some persons are of opinion also that the service-tree, if transplanted to a warmer locality, will become barren. But it is a prodigy, no doubt, when sweet fruits become sour, or sour fruits sweet; and when the wild fig becomes changed into the cultivated one, or vice versa. It is sadly portentous, too, when the tree becomes deteriorated by the change, the cultivated olive changing into the wild, and the white grape or fig becoming black: such was the case, also, when upon the arrival of Xerxes there, a plane-tree at Laodicea was trans- formed into an olive. In such narratives as these, the book written in Greek by Aristander abounds, not to enter any further on so extended a subject; and we have in Latin the Commentaries of C. Epidius, in which we find it stated that trees have even been known to speak. In the territory of Cumæ, a tree, and a very ominous presage it was, sank into the earth shortly before the civil wars of Pompeius Magnus began, leaving only a few of the branches protruding from the ground. The Sibylline Books were accordingly consulted, and it was found that a war of extermination was impending, which would be attended with greater carnage the nearer it should approach the city of Rome.
Another kind of prodigy, too, is the springing up of a tree in some extraordinary and unusual place, the head of a statue, for instance, or an altar, or upon another tree even. A fig-tree shot forth from a laurel at Cyzicus, just before the siege of that city; and so in like manner, at Tralles, a palm issued from the pedestal of the statue of the Dictator Cæsar, at the period of his civil wars. So, too, at Rome, in the Capitol there, in the time of the wars against Perseus, a palm-tree grew from the head of the statue of Jupiter, a presage of impending victory and triumphs. This palm, however, having been destroyed by a tempest, a fig-tree sprang up in the very same place, at the period of the lustration made by the censors M. Messala and C. Cassius, a time at which, according to Piso, an author of high authority, all sense of shame had been utterly banished. Above all the prodigies, however, that have ever been heard of, we ought to place the one that was seen in our own time, at the period of the fall of the Emperor Nero, in the territory of Marrucinum; a plantation of olives, belonging to Vectius Marcellus, one of the principal members of the Equestrian order, bodily crossed the public highway, while the fields that lay on the opposite side of the road passed over to supply the place which had been thus vacated by the olive-yard.
 
17 - 39 TREATMENT OF THE DISEASES OF TREES M
Having set forth the various maladies by which trees are attacked, it seems only proper to mention the most appropriate remedies as well. Some of these remedies may be applied to all kinds of trees in common, while others, again, are peculiar to some only. The methods that are common to them all, are, baring the roots, or moulding them up, thus admitting the air or keeping it away, as the case may be; giving them water, or depriving them of it, refreshing them with the nutritious juices of manure, and lightening them of their burdens by pruning. The operation, too, of bleeding, as it were, is performed upon them by withdrawing their juices, and the bark is scraped all round to improve them. In the vine, the stock branches are sometimes lengthened out, and at other times repressed; the buds too are smoothed, and in a measure polished up, in case the cold weather has made them rough and scaly. These remedies are better suited to some kinds of trees and less so to others: thus the cypress, for instance, has a dislike to water, and manifests an aversion to manure, spading round it, pruning, and, indeed, remedial operations of every kind; nay, what is more, it is killed by irrigation, while, on the other hand, the vine and the pomegranate receive their principal nutriment from it. In the fig, again, the tree is nourished by watering, while the very same thing will make the fruit pine and die: the almond, too, if the ground is spaded about it, will lose its blossom. In the same way, too, there must be no digging about the roots of trees when newly grafted, or indeed until such time as they are sufficiently strong to bear. Many trees require that all superfluous burdens should be pruned away from them, just as we ourselves cut the nails and hair. Old trees are often cut down to the ground, and then shoot up again from one of the suckers; this, however, is not the case with all of them, but only those, the nature of which, as we have already stated, will admit of it.
 
17 - 40 METHODS OF IRRIGATION M
Watering is good for trees during the heats of summer, but injurious in winter; the effects of it are of a varied nature in autumn, and depend upon the peculiar nature of the soil. Thus, in Spain for instance, the vintager gathers the grapes while the ground beneath is under water; on the other hand, in most parts of the world, it is absolutely necessary to carry off the autumn rains by draining. It is about the rising of the Dog-star that irrigation is so particularly beneficial; but even then it ought not to be in excess, as the roots are apt to become inebriated, and to receive injury therefrom. Care should be taken, too, to proportion it to the age of the tree, young trees being not so thirsty as older ones; those too which require the most water, are the ones that have been the most used to it. On the other hand, plants which grow in a dry soil, require no more moisture than is absolutely necessary to their existence.
 
17 - 41 REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH IRRIGATION M
In the Fabian district, which belongs to the territory of Sulmo in Italy, where they are in the habit, also, of irrigating the fields, the natural harshness of the wines makes it necessary to water the vineyards; it is a very singular thing, too, that the water there kills all the weeds, while at the same time it nourishes the corn, thus acting in place of the weeding- hook. In the same district, too, at the winter solstice, and more particularly when the snow is on the ground or frosts prevail, they irrigate the land, a process which they call "warming" the soil. This peculiarity, however, exists in the water of one river only, the cold of which in summer is almost insupportable.
 
17 - 42 INCISIONS MADE IN TREES M
The proper remedies for charcoal-blight and mildew will be pointed out in the succeeding Book. In the meantime, however, we may here observe that among the remedies may be placed that by scarification. When the bark becomes meagre and impoverished by disease, it is apt to shrink, and so compress the vital parts of the tree to an excessive degree: upon which, by means of a sharp pruning knife held with both hands, incisions are made perpendicularly down the tree, and a sort of looseness, as it were, imparted to the skin. It is a proof that the method has been adopted with success, when the fissures so made remain open and become filled with wood of the trunk growing between the lips.
 
17 - 43 OTHER REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF TREES M
The medical treatment of trees in a great degree resembles that of man, seeing that in certain cases the bones of them both are perforated even. The bitter almond will become sweet, if, after spading round the trunk and cleaning it, the lowermost part of it is pierced all round, so that the humours may have a passage for escape and ensure being removed. In the elm, too, the superfluous juices are drawn off, by piercing the tree above ground to the pith when it is old, or when it is found to suffer from an excess of nutriment. So, too, when the bark of the fig is turgid and swollen, the confined juices are discharged by means of light incisions made in a slanting direction; by the adoption of which method the fruit is prevented from falling off. When fruit-trees bud but bear no fruit, a fissure is made in the root, and a stone inserted; the result of which is, that they become productive. The same is done also with the almond, a wedge of robur being employed for the purpose. For the pear and the service tree a wedge of torch-wood is used, and then covered over with ashes and earth. It is even found of use, too, to make circular incisions around the roots of the vine and fig, when the vegetation is too luxuriant, and then to throw ashes over the roots. A late crop of figs is ensured, if the first fruit is taken off when green and little larger than a bean; for it is immediately succeeded by fresh, which ripens at a later period than usual. If the tops of each branch are removed from the fig, just as it is beginning to put forth leaves, its strength and productiveness are greatly increased. As to caprification, the effect of that is to ripen the fruit.
 
17 - 44 CAPRIFICATION, & PARTICULARS CONNECTED WITH FIG M
It is beyond all doubt that in caprification the green fruit gives birth to a kind of gnat; for when they have taken flight, there are no seeds to be found within the fruit: from this it would appear that the seeds have been transformed into these gnats. Indeed, these insects are so eager to take their flight, that they mostly leave behind them either a leg or a part of a wing on their departure. There is another species of gnat, too, that grows in the fig, which in its indolence and malignity strongly resembles the drone of the beehive, and shows itself a deadly enemy to the one that is of real utility; it is called centrina, and in killing the others it meets its own death.
Moths, too, attack the seeds of the fig: the best plan of getting rid of them, is to bury a slip of mastich, turned upside down, in the same trench. The fig, too, is rendered extremely productive by soaking red earth in amurca, and laying it, with some manure, upon the roots of the tree, just as it is beginning to throw out leaves. Among the wild figs, the black ones, and those which grow in rocky places, are the most esteemed, from the fact of the fruit containing the most seed. Caprification takes place most advantageously just after rain.
 
17 - 45 ERRORS THAT MAY BE COMMITTED IN PRUNING M
But, before everything, especial care should be taken that intended remedies are not productive of ill results; as these may arise from either remedial measures being applied in excess or at unseasonable times. Clearing away the branches is of the greatest benefit to trees, but to slaughter them this way every year, is productive of the very worst results. The vine is the only tree that requires lopping every year, the myrtle, the pomegranate, and olive every other; the reason being that these trees shoot with great rapidity. The other trees are lopped less frequently, and none of them in autumn; the trunk even is never scraped, except in spring. In prun- ing a tree, all that is removed beyond what is absolutely necessary, is so much withdrawn from its vitality.
 
17 - 46 PROPER MODE OF MANURING TREES M
The same precautions, too, are to be regarded in manuring. Though manure is grateful to the tree, still it is necessary to be careful not to apply it while the sun is hot, or while it is too new, or more stimulating than is absolutely necessary. The dung of swine will burn up the vine, if used at shorter intervals than those of five years; unless, indeed, it is mixed with water. The same is the case, too, with the refuse of the cur- rier's workshop, unless it is well diluted with water: manure will scorch also, if laid on land too plentifully. It is generally considered the proper proportion, to use three modii to every ten feet square; this, however, the nature of the soil must decide.
 
17 - 47 MEDICAMENTS FOR TREES M
Wounds and incisions of trees are treated also with pigeon dung and swine manure. If pomegranates are acid, the roots of the tree are cleared, and swine's dung is applied to them: the result is, that in the first year the fruit will have a vinous flavour, but in the succeeding one it will be sweet. Some persons are of opinion that the pomegranate should be watered four times a year with a mixture of human urine and water, at the rate of an amphora to each tree; or else that the ex- tremities of the branches should be sprinkled with silphium steeped in wine. The stalk of the pomegranate should be twisted, if it is found to split while on the tree. The fig, too, should be drenched with the amurca of olives, and other trees when they are ailing, with lees of wine; or else lupines may be sown about the roots. The water, too, of a decoction of lupines is beneficial to the fruit, if poured upon the roots of the tree. When it thunders at the time of the Vulcanalia, the figs fall off; the only remedy for which is to have the area beneath ready covered with barley-straw. Lime applied to the roots of the tree makes cherries come sooner to maturity, and ripen more rapidly. The best plan, too, with the cherry, as with all other kinds, is to thin the fruit, so that that which is left behind may grow all the larger.
(.) There are some trees, again, which thrive all the better for being maltreated, or else are stimulated by pungent substances; the palm and the mastich for instance, which derive nutriment from salt water. Ashes have the same virtues as salt, only in a more modified degree; for which reason it is, that fig-trees are sprinkled with them; as also with rue, to keep away worms, and to prevent the roots from rotting. What is still more even, it is recommended to throw salt water on the roots of vines, if they are too full of humours; and if the fruit falls off, to sprinkle them with ashes and vinegar, or with sandarach if the grapes are rotting. If, again, a vine is not productive, it should be sprinkled and rubbed with strong vinegar and ashes; and if the grapes, instead of ripening, dry and shrivel up, the vine should be lopped near the roots, and the wound and fibres drenched with strong vinegar and stale urine; after which, the roots should be covered up with mud annealed with these liquids, and the ground spaded repeatedly. As to the olive, if it gives promise of but little fruit, the roots should be bared, and left exposed to the winter cold, a mode of treatment for which it is all the better. All these operations depend each year upon the state of the weather, and require to be sometimes retarded, and at other times precipitated. The very element of fire even has its own utility, in the case of the reed for instance; which, after the reed-bed has been burnt, will spring up all the thicker and more pliable. Cato, too, gives receipts for certain medicaments, specifying the proportions as well; for the roots of the large trees he prescribes an amphora, and for those of the smaller ones, an urna, of amphora of olives, mixed with water in equal proportions, recommending the roots to be cleared, and the mixture to be gradually poured upon them. In addition to this, in the case of the olive and the fig, he recommends that a layer of straw should be first placed around them. In the fig, too, more particularly, he says that in spring the roots should be well moulded up; the result of which is, that the fruit will not fall off while green, and the tree will be all the more productive, and not affected with roughness of the bark. In the same way, too, to prevent the vine-fretter from attacking the tree, he recommends that two congii of amurca of olives should be boiled down to the consistency of honey, after which it must be boiled again with one-third part of bitumen, and one-fourth of sulphur; and this should be done, he says, in the open air, for fear of its igniting if prepared in-doors; with this mixture, the vine is to be anointed at the ends of the branches and at the axils; after which, no more fretters will be seen. Some persons are content to make a fumigation with this mixture while the wind is blowing towards the vine, for three days in succession. Many persons, again, attribute no less utility and nutritious virtue to urine than Cato does to amurca; only they add to it an equal proportion of water, it being injurious if employed by itself. Some give the name of " volucre" to an insect which eats away the young grapes: to prevent this, they rub the pruning-knife, every time it is sharpened, upon a beaver-skin, and then prune the tree with it: it is recommended also, that after the pruning, the knife should be well rubbed with the blood of a bear. Ants, too, are a great pest to trees; they are kept away, however, by smearing the trunk with red earth and tar: if a fish, too, is hung up in the vicinity of the tree, these insects will collect in that one spot. Another method, again, is to pound lupines in oil, and anoint the roots with the mixture. Many people kill both ants as well as moles with amurca, and preserve apples from caterpillars as well as from rotting, by touching the top of the tree with the gall of a green lizard. Another method, too, of preventing caterpillars, is to make a woman, with her monthly courses on her, go round each tree, barefooted and ungirt. Again, for the purpose of pre- venting animals from doing mischief by browsing upon the leaves, they should be sprinkled with cow-dung each time after rain, the showers having the effect of washing away the virtues of this application. The industry of man has really made some very wonderful discoveries, and, indeed, has gone so far as to lead many persons to believe, that hail-storms may be averted by means of a certain charm, the words of which I really could not venture seriously to transcribe; although we find that Cato has given those which are employed as a charm for sprained limbs, employing splints of reed in conjunction with it. The same author, too, has allowed of consecrated trees and groves being cut down, after a sacrifice has first been offered: the form of prayer, and the rest of the proceedings, will be found fully set forth in the same work of his. SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives; and observations, eight hundred and eighty. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Cornelius Nepos, Cato the Censor, M. Varro, Celsus, Virgil, virginus, Saserna father and son, Scrofa, Calpurnius Bassus, Trogus, Æmilius Macer, Græcinus, Columella, Atticus Julius, Fabianus, Mamilius Sura, Dossenus Mundus, C. Epidius, L. Piso. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Hesiod, Theophrastus, Aristotle, Democritus, Theopompus, King Hiero, King Attalus Philometor, King Archelaus, Archytas, Xenophon, Amphilochus of Athens, Anaxipolis of Thasos, Apollodorus of Lemnos, Aristophanes of Miletus, Antigonus of Cymæ, Agathocles of Chios, Apollonius Pergamus, Bacchius of Miletus, Bion of Soli, Chæreas of Athens, Chæristus of Athens, Diodorus of Priene, Dion of Colophon, Epigenes of Rhodes, Euagon of Thasos, Euphronius of Athens, Androtion who wrote on Agriculture, Æschrion who wrote on Agriculture, Lysimachus who wrote on Agriculture, Dionysius who translated Mago, Diophanes who made an Epitome of Dionysius, Aristander who wrote on Portents. J. BILLING, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, WOKING, SURREY.
 
  18 HISTORY OF GRAIN M 175.4  
18 - 1 TASTE OF THE ANCIENTS FOR AGRICULTURE M
WE now pass on to the Natural History of the various grains, of the garden plants and flowers, and indeed of all the other productions, with the exception of the trees and shrubs, which the Earth, in her bounteousness, affords us—a boundless field for contemplation, if even we regard the herbs alone, when we take into consideration the varieties of them, their numbers, the flowers they produce, their odours, their colours, their juices, and the numerous properties they possess—all of which have been engendered by her with a view to either the preservation or the gratification of the human race.
On entering, however, upon this branch of my subject, it is my wish in the first place to plead the cause of the Earth, and to act as the advocate of her who is the common parent of all, although in the earlier part of this work I have already had occasion to speak in her defence. For my subject matter, as I proceed in the fulfillment of my task, will now lead me to consider her in the light of being the producer of various noxious substances as well; in consequence of which it is that we are in the habit of charging her with our crimes, and imputing to her a guilt that is our own. She has produced poisons, it is true; but who is it but man that has found them out? For the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, it is sufficient to be on their guard against them, and to keep at a distance from them. The elephant, we find, and the gurus, know how to sharpen and renovate their teeth against the trunks of trees, and the rhinoceros against rocks; wild boars, again, point their tusks like so many poniards by the aid of both rocks and trees; and all animals, in fact, are aware how to prepare themselves for the infliction of injury upon others; but still, which is there among them all, with the exception of man, that dips his weapons in poison? As for ourselves, we envenom the point of the arrow, and we contrive to add to the destructive powers of iron itself; by the aid of poisons we taint the waters of the stream, and we infect the various elements of Nature; indeed, the very air even, which is the main support of life, we turn into a medium for the destruction of life. And it is not that we are to suppose that animals are ignorant of these means of defence, for we have already had occasion to point out the preparations which they make against the attacks of the serpent, and the methods they devise for effecting a cure when wounded by it; and yet, among them all, there is not one that fights by the aid of the poison that belongs to another, with the sole exception of man. Let us then candidly confess our guilt, we who are not contented even with the poisons as Nature has produced them; for by far the greater portion of them, in fact, are artificially prepared by the human hand! And then besides, is it not the fact, that there are many men, the very existence of whom is a baneful poison, as it were? Like that of the serpent, they dart their livid tongue, and the venom of their disposition corrodes every object upon which it concentrates itself. Ever vilifying and maligning, like the ill-omened birds of the night, they disturb the repose of that darkness which is so peculiarly their own, and break in upon the quiet of the night even, by their moans and wailings, the only sounds they are ever heard to emit. Like animals of inauspicious presage, they only cross our path to prevent us from employing our energies or becoming useful to our fellow-men; and the only enjoyment that is sought by their abominable aspirations is centred in their universal hatred of mankind. Still, however, even in this respect Nature has asserted her majestic sway; for how much more numerous are the good and estimable characters which she has produced! just in the same proportion that we find her giving birth to productions which are at once both salutary and nutritious to man. It is in our high esteem for men such as these, and the commendations they bestow, that we shall be content to leave the others, like so many brakes and brambles, to the devouring flames of their own bad passions, and to persist in promoting the welfare of the human race; and this, with all the more energy and perseverance, from the circumstance that it has been our object throughout, rather to produce a work of lasting utility than to ensure ourselves a widely-spread renown. We have only to speak, it is true, of the fields and of rustic operations; but still, it is upon these that the enjoyment of life so materially depends, and that the ancients conferred the very highest rank in their honors and commendations.
 
18 - 2 WHEN THE FIRST WREATHS OF CORN WERE USED AT ROME M
Romulus was the first who established the Arval priesthood at Rome. This order consisted of the eleven sons of Accra Placentia, his nurse, together with Romulus himself, who assumed the appellation of the twelfth of the brotherhood. Upon this priesthood he bestowed, as being the most august dis- tinction that he could confer upon it, a wreath of years of corn, tied together with a white fillet; and this in fact, was the first chaplet that was ever used at Rome.This dignity is only ended with life itself, and whether in exile or in captivity, it always attends its owner. In those early days, two jugera of land were considered enough for a citizen of Rome, and to none was a larger portion than this allotted. And yet, at the present day, men who but lately were the slaves of the Emperor Nero have been hardly content with pleasure-gardens that occupied the same space as this; while they must have fishponds, forsooth, of still greater extent, and in some instances I might add, perhaps, kitchens even as well.
Numa first established the custom of offering corn to the gods, and of propitiating them with the salted cake; he was the first, too, as we learn from Hemina, to parch spelt, from the fact that, when in this state, it is more wholesome as an aliment This method, however, he could only establish one way: by making an enactment, to the effect that spelt is not in a pure state for offering, except when parched. He it was, too, who instituted the Fornacalia, festivals appropriated for the parching of corn, and others, observed with equal solemnity, for the erection and preservation of the "termini," or boundaries of the fields: for these termini, in those days, they particularly regarded as gods; while to other divinities they gave the names of Seia, from "sero," "to sow," and of Segesta, from tile "segetes," or "crops of standing corn," the statues of which goddesses we still see erected in the Circus. A third divinity it is forbidden by the rules of our religion to name even beneath a roof. In former days, too, they would not so much as taste the corn when newly cut, nor yet wine when just made, before the priests had made a libation of the first-fruits.
 
18 - 3 JUGERUM OF LAND M
That portion of land used to be known as a "jugerum," which was capable of being ploughed by a single "jugum," or yoke of oxen, in one day; an "actus" being as much as the oxen could plough at a single spell, fairly estimated, without stopping. This last was one hundred and twenty feet in length; and two in length made a jugerum. The most considerable recompense that could be bestowed upon generals and valiant citizens, was the utmost extent of land around which a person could trace a furrow with the plough in a single day. The whole population, too, used to contribute a quarter of a sextarius of spelt, or else half a one, per head.
From agriculture the earliest surnames were derived. Thus, for instance, the name of Pilumnus was given to him who invented the "pilum," or pestle of the bake-house, for pounding corn; that of Piso was derived from "piso," to grind corn; and those of Fabius, Lentulus, and Cicero, from the several varieties of leguminous plants in the cultivation of which respectively these individuals excelled. One individual of the family of the Junii received the name of "Bubuleus," from the skill he displayed in breeding oxen. Among the sacred ceremonials, too, there was nothing that was held more holy than the marriage by confarreation, and the woman just married used to present a cake made of spelt. Careless cultivation of the land was in those times an offence that came under the cognizance of the censors; and, as we learn from Cato, when it was said that such and such a man was a good agriculturist or a good husbandman, it was looked upon as the very highest compliment that could be paid him. A man came to be called "locuples," or "rich," from being "loci plenus," or "full of earth." Money, too, received its name of "pecunia," from "pecus," "cattle." At the present day, even, in the registers of the censors, we find set down under the head of "pascua," or "pasture lands," everything from which the public revenues are derived, from the fact that for a long period of time pasture lands were the only sources of the public revenue. Fines, too, were only imposed in the shape of paying so many sheep or so many oxen; and the benevolent spirit of the ancient laws deserves remark, which most considerately enjoined that the magistrate, when he in- flicted a penalty, should never impose a fine of an ox before having first condemned the same party to the payment of a sheep. Those who celebrated the public games in honour of the ox received the name of Bubetii. King Servius was the first who impressed upon our copper coin the figures of sheep and oxen. To depasture cattle secretly by night upon the unripe crops on plough lands, or to cut them in that state, was made by the Twelve Tables a capital offence in the case of an adult; and it was enacted that the person guilty of it should be hanged, in order to make due reparation to the goddess Ceres, a punishment more severe, even, than that inflicted for murder. If, on the other hand, the offender was not an adult, he was beaten at the discretion of the prætor; a penalty double the amount of the damage was also exacted. The various ranks, too, and distinctions in the state had no other origin than the pursuits of agriculture. The rural tribes held the foremost rank, and were composed of those who possessed lands; while those of the city, a place to which it was looked upon as ignominious to be transferred, had the discredit thrown upon them of being an indolent race. Hence it was that these last were only four in number, and received their names from the several parts of the City which they respectively inhabited; being the Suburran, the Palatine, Colline, and Exquiline tribes. Every ninth day the rural tribes used to visit the city for the purpose of marketing, and it was for this reason that it was made illegal to hold the comitia upon the Nundinaæ; the object being that the country people might not be called away thereby from the transaction of their business. In those days repose and sleep were enjoyed upon straw. Even to glory itself, in compliment to corn, the name was given of "adorea." For my own part, I greatly admire the modes of expression employed in our ancient language: thus, for instance, we read in the Commentaries of the Priesthood to the follow- ing effect:—"For deriving an augury from the sacrifice of a bitch, a day should be set apart before the ear of corn appears from out of the sheath, and then again before it enters the sheath."
 
18 - 4 HOW OFTEN & ON WHAT OCCASIONS CORN HAS SOLD AT REMARKABLY LOW PRICE M
The consequence was, that when the Roman manners were such as these, the corn that Italy produced was sufficient for its wants, and it had to be indebted to no province for its food; and not only this, but the price of provisions was incredibly cheap. Manius Marcius, the ædile of the people, was the first who gave corn to the people at the price of one as for the modius. L. Minutius Augurinus, the same who detected, when eleventh tribune of the people, the projects of Spurius Mælius, reduced the price of corn on three market days, to one as per modius; for which reason a statue was erected in honour of him, by public subscription, without the Trigeminian Gate. T. Seius distributed corn to the people, in his ædileship, at one as per modius, in remembrance of which statues were erected in honour of him also in the Capitol and the Palatium: on the day of his funeral he was borne to the pile on the shoulders of the Roman people. In the year, too, in which the Mother of the Gods was brought to Rome, the harvest of that summer, it is said, was more abundant than it had been for ten years before. M. Yarro informs us, that in the year in which L. Metellus exhibited so many elephants in his triumphal procession, a modius of spelt was sold for one as, which was the standard price also of a congius of wine, thirty pounds' weight of dried figs, ten pounds of olive oil, and twelve pounds of flesh meat. Nor did this cheapness originate in the wide-spread domains of individuals encroaching continually upon their neighbours, for by a law proposed by Licinius Stolo, the landed property of each individual was limited to five hundred jugera; and he himself was convicted under his own law of being the owner of more than that amount, having as a disguise prevailed upon his son to lend him his name. Such were the prices of commodities at a time when the fortunes of the republic were rapidly on the increase. The words, too, that were uttered by Manius Curius after his triumphs and the addition of an immense extent of territory to the Roman sway, are well known: "The man must be looked upon," said he, "as a dangerous citizen, for whom seven jugera of land are not enough;" such being the amount of land that had been allotted to the people after the expulsion of the kings.
What, then, was the cause of a fertility so remarkable as this? The fact, we have every reason to believe, that in those days the lands were tilled by the hands of generals even, the soil exulting beneath a plough-share crowned with wreaths of laurel, and guided by a husbandman graced with triumphs: whether it is that they tended the seed with the same care that they had displayed in the conduct of wars, and manifested the same diligent attention in the management of their fields that they had done in the arrangement of the camp, or whether it is that under the hands of honest men everything prospers all the better, from being attended to with a scrupulous exactness. The honours awarded to Serranus found him engaged in sowing his fields, a circumstance to which he owes his surname. Cincinnatus was ploughing his four jugera of land upon the Vaticanian Hill—the same that are still known as the "Quintian Meadows," when the messenger brought him the dictatorship—finding him, the tradition says, stripped to the work, and his very face begrimed with dust. "Put on your clothes," said he, "that I may deliver to you the mandates of the senate and people of Rome." In those days these messengers bore the name of "viator," or "wayfarer," from the circumstance that their usual employ- ment was to fetch the senators and generals from their fields. But at the present day these same lands are tilled by slaves whose legs are in chains, by the hands of malefactors and men with a branded face! And yet the Earth is not deaf to our adjurations, when we address her by the name of "parent," and say that she receives our homage in being tilled by hands such as these; as though, forsooth, we ought not to believe that she is reluctant and indignant at being tended in such a manner as this! Indeed, ought we to feel any surprise were the recompense she gives us when worked by chastised slaves, not the same that she used to bestow upon the labours of warriors?
 
18 - 5 ILLUSTRIOUS MEN WHO HAVE WRITTEN UPON AGRICULTURE M
Hence it was that to give precepts upon agriculture became one of the principal occupations among men of the highest rank, and that in foreign nations even. For among those who have written on this subject we find the names of kings even, Hiero, for instance, Attalus Philometor, and Archelaüs, as well as of generals, Xenophon, for example, and Mago the Carthaginian. Indeed, to this last writer did the Roman senate award such high honours, that, after the capture of Carthage, when it bestowed the libraries of that city upon the petty kings of Africa, it gave orders, in his case only, that his thirty-two Books should be translated into the Latin language, and this, although M. Cato had already compiled his Book of Precepts; it took every care also to entrust the execution of this task to men who were well versed in the Carthaginian tongue, among whom was pre-eminent D. Silanus, a member of one of the most illustrious families of Rome. I have already indicated, at the commencement of this work, the numerous learned authors and writers in verse, together with other illustrious men, whose authority it is any intention to follow; but among the number I may here more particularly distinguish M. Yarro, who, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, thought it his duty to publish a treatise upon this subject.
(.) Among the Romans the cultivation of the vine was introduced at a comparatively recent period, and at first, as indeed they were obliged to do, they paid their sole attention to the culture of the fields. The various methods of cultivating the land will now be our subject; and they shall be treated of by us in no ordinary or superficial manner, but in the same spirit in which we have hitherto written; enquiry shall be made with every care first into the usages of ancient days, and then into the discoveries of more recent times, our attention being devoted alike to the primary causes of these operations, and the reasons upon which they are respectively based. We shall make mention, too, of the various constellations, and of the several indications which, beyond all doubt, they afford to the earth; and the more so, from the fact that those writers who have hitherto treated of them with any degree of exact- ness, seem to have written their works for the use of any class of men but the agriculturist.
 
18 - 6 POINTS TO BE OBSERVED IN BUYING LAND M
First of all, then, I shall proceed in a great measure according to the dicta of the oracles of agriculture; for there is no branch of practical life in which we find them more numerous or more unerring. And why should we not view in the light of oracles those precepts which have been tested by the infallibility of time and the truthfulness of experience?
(.) To make a beginning, then, with Cato—"The agricul- tural population," says he, "produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a class of citizens the least given of all to evil designs.—Do not be too eager in buying a farm.— In rural operations never be sparing of your trouble, and, above all, when you are purchasing land.—A bad bargain is always a ground for repentance.—Those who are about to purchase land, should always have an eye more particularly to the water there, the roads, and the neighbourhood." Each of these points is susceptible of a very extended explanation, and replete with undoubted truths. Cato recommends, too, that an eye should be given to the people in the neighbourhood, to see how they look: "For where the land is good," says he, "the people will look well-conditioned and healthy." Atilius Regulus, the same who was twice consul in the Punic War, used to say that a person should neither buy an unhealthy piece of land in the most fertile locality, nor yet the very healthiest spot if in a barren country. The salubrity of land, however, is not always to be judged of from the looks of the inhabitants, for those who are well-seasoned are able to withstand the effects of living in pestilent localities even. And then, besides, there are some localities that are healthy during certain periods of the year only; though, in reality, there is no soil that can be looked upon as really valuable that is not healthy all the year through. "That is sure to be bad land against which its owner has a continual struggle." Cato recommends us before everything, to see that the land which we are about to purchase not only excels in the advantages of locality, as already stated, but is really good of itself We should see, too, he says, that there is an abundance of manual labour in the neighbourhood, as well as a thriving town; that there are either rivers or roads, to facilitate the carriage of the produce; that the buildings upon the land are substantially erected, and that the land itself bears every mark of having been carefully tilled—a point upon which I find that many persons are greatly mistaken, as they are apt to imagine that the negligence of the previous owner is greatly to the purchaser's advantage; while the fact is, that there is nothing more expensive than the cultivation of a neglected soil. For this reason it is that Cato says that it is best to buy land of a careful proprietor, and that the methods adopted by others ought not to be hastily rejected—that it is the same with land as with mankind—however great the proceeds, if at the same time it is lavish and extravagant, there will be no great profits left. Cato looks upon a vineyard as the most profitable investment; and he is far from wrong in that opinion, seeing that he takes such particular care to retrench all superfluous expenses. In the second rank he places gardens that have a good supply of water, and with good reason, too, supposing always that they are near a town. The ancients gave to meadow lands the name of "parata," or lands "always ready." Cato being asked, on one occasion, what was the most certain source of profit, "Good pasture land," was his answer; upon which, enquiry was made what was the next best. "Pretty good pasture lands," said he—the amount of all which is, that he looked upon that as the most certain source of income which stands in need of the smallest outlay. This, however, will naturally vary in degree, according to the nature of the respective localities; and the same is the case with the maxim to which he gives utterance, that a good agriculturist must be fond of selling. The same, too, with his remark, that in his youth a landowner should begin to plant without delay, but that he ought not to build until the land is fully brought into cultivation, and then only a little at a time: and that the best plan is, as the common proverb has it, "To profit by the folly of others;" taking due care, however, that the keeping up of a farm-house does not entail too much expense. Still, however, those persons are guilty of no falsehood who are in the habit of saying that a proprietor who is well housed comes all the oftener to his fields, and that "the master's forehead is of more use than his back."
 
18 - 7 PROPER ARRANGEMENTS FOR A FARM-HOUSE M
The proper plan to be pursued is this: the farm-house must not be unsuitable for the farm, nor the farm for the house; and we must be on our guard against following the examples of L. Lucullus and Q. Scævola, who, though living in the same age, fell into the two opposite extremes; for whereas the farm-house of Scævola was not large enough for the produce of his farm, the farm of Lucullus was not sufficiently large for the house he built upon it; an error which gave occasion to the reproof of the censors, that on his farm there was less of ground for ploughing than of floor for sweeping. The proper arrange- ments for a farm-house are not to be made without a certain degree of skill. C. Marius, who was seven times consul, was the last person who had one built at Misenum; but he erected it with such a degree of that artistic skill which he had displayed in castrametation, that Sylla Felix even made the remark, that in comparison with Marius, all the others had been no better than blind.
It is generally agreed, that a farm-house ought neither to be built near a marsh, nor with a river in front of it; for, as Homer has remarked, with the greatest correctness, unwholesome vapours are always exhaled from rivers before the rising of the sun. In hot localities, a farm-house should have a northern aspect, but where it is cold, it should look towards the south; where, on the other hand, the site is temperate, the house should look due east. Although, when speaking of the best kinds of soil, I may seem to have sufficiently discussed the characteristics by which it may be known, I shall take the present opportunity of adding a few more indications, employing the words of Cato more particularly for the purpose. "The dwarf-elder," says he, "the wild plum, the bramble, the small bulb, trefoil, meadow grass, the quercus, and the wild pear and wild apple, are all of them indicative of a corn land. The same is the case, too, where the land is black, or of an ashy colour. All chalky soils are scorching, unless they are very thin; the same, too, with sand, unless it is remarkably fine. These remarks, however, are more applicable to champaign localities than declivities." The ancients were of opinion, that before everything, moderation should be observed in the extent of a farm; for it was a favourite maxim of theirs, that we ought to sow the less, and plough the more: such too, I find, was the opinion entertained by Virgil, and indeed, if we must confess the truth, it is the wide-spread domains that have been the ruin of Italy, and soon will be that of the provinces as well. Six proprietors were in possession of one half of Africa, at the period when the Emperor Nero had them put to death. With that greatness of mind which was so peculiarly his own, and of which he ought not to lose the credit, Cneius Pompeius would never purchase the lands that belonged to a neighbour. Mago has stated it as his opinion, that a person, on buying a farm, ought at once to sell his town house; an opinion, however, which savours of too great rigidity, and is by no means conformable to the public good. It is with these words, indeed, that he begins his precepts; a good proof, at all events, that he looks upon the personal inspection of the owner as of primary importance. The next point which requires our care is to employ a farmsteward of experience, and upon this, too, Cato has given many useful precepts. Still, however, it must suffice for me to say that the steward ought to be a man nearly as clever as his master, though without appearing to know it. It is the very worst plan of all, to have land tilled by slaves let loose from the houses of correction, as, indeed, is the case with all work entrusted to men who live without hope. I may possibly appear guilty of some degree of rashness in making mention of a maxim of the ancients, which will very probably be looked upon as quite incredible—"That nothing is so disadvantageous as to cultivate land in the highest style of perfection." L. Tarius Rufus, a man who, born in the very lowest ranks of life, by his military talents finally attained the consulship, and who in other respects adhered to the old-fashioned notions of thriftiness, made away with about one hundred millions of sesterces, which, by the liberality of the late Emperor Augustus, he had contrived to amass, in buying up lands in Picenum, and cultivating them in the highest style, his object being to gain a name thereby; the consequence of which was, that his heir renounced the inheritance. Are we of opinion, then, that ruin and starvation must be the necessary consequence of such a course as this? Yes, by Hercules! and the very best plan of all is to let moderation guide our judgment in all things. To cultivate land well is absolutely necessary, but to cultivate it in the very highest style is mere extravagance, unless, indeed, the work is done by the hands of a man's own family, his tenants, or those whom he is obliged to keep at any rate. But besides this, even when the owner tills the land itself, there are some crops which it is really not worth the while to gather, if we only take into account the manual labour expended upon them. The olive, too, should never be too highly cultivated, nor must certain soils, it is said, be too carefully tilled, those of Sicily, for instance; hence it is, that new comers there so often find themselves deceived.
 
18 - 8 MAXIMS OF THE ANCIENTS ON AGRICULTURE M
In what way, then, can land be most profitably cultivated? Why, in the words of our agricultural oracles, "by making good out of bad." But here it is only right that we should say a word in justification of our forefathers, who in their precepts on this subject had nothing else in view but the benefit of mankind: for when they use the term "bad" here, they only mean to say that which costs the smallest amount of money. The principal object with them was in all cases to cut down expenses to the lowest possible sum; and it was in this spirit that they made the enactments which pronounced it criminal for a person who had enjoyed a triumph, to be in possession, among his other furniture, of ten pounds' weight of silver plate: which permitted a man, upon the death of his farmsteward, to abandon all his victories, and return to the cultivation of his lands—such being the men the culture of whose farms the state used to take upon itself; and thus, while they led our armies, did the senate act as their steward.
It was in the same spirit, too, that those oracles of ours have given utterance to these other precepts, to the effect that he is a bad agriculturist who has to buy what his farm might have supplied him with; that the man is a bad manager who does in the day-time what he might have done in the night, except, indeed, when the state of the weather does not allow it; that he is a worse manager still, who does on a work-day what he might have done on a feast-day; but that he is the very worst of all, who works under cover in fine weather, in- stead of labouring in the fields. I cannot refrain from taking the present opportunity of quoting one illustration afforded us by ancient times, from which it will be found that it was the usage in those days to bring before the people even questions connected with the various methods employed in agriculture, and will be seen in what way men were accustomed to speak out in their own defence. C. Furius Chresimus, a freedman, having found himself able, from a very small piece of land, to raise far more abundant harvests than his neighbours could from the largest farms, became the object of very considerable jealousy among them, and was accordingly accused of enticing away the crops of others by the practice of sorcery. Upon this, a day was named by Spurius Calvinus, the curule ædile, for his appearance. Apprehensive of being condemned, when the question came to be put to the vote among the tribes, he had all his implements of husbandry brought into the Forum, together with his farm servants, robust, Well-conditioned, and well-clad people, Piso says. The iron tools were of first-rate quality, the mattocks were stout and strong, the plough-shares ponderous and substantial, and the oxen sleek and in prime condition. When all this had been done, "Here, Roman citizens," said he, "are my implements of magic; but it is impossible for me to exhibit to your view, or to bring into this Forum, those midnight toils of mine, those early watchings those sweats, and those fatigues." Upon this, by the unanimous voice of the people, he was immediately acquitted. Agriculture, in fact, depends upon the expenditure of labour and exertion; and hence it is that the ancients were in the habit of saying, that it is the eye of the master that does more towards fertilizing a field than anything else. We shall give the rest of these precepts in their appropriate places, according as we find them adapted to each variety of cultivation; but in the meantime we must not omit some of a general nature, which here recur to our recollection, and more particularly that maxim of Cato, as profitable as it is humane: "Always act in such away as to secure the love of your neighbours." He then proceeds to state his reasons for giving this advice, but it appears to me that no one surley can entertain the slightest doubt upon the subject. One of the very first recommendations that he gives is to take every care that the farm servants are kept in good condition. It is a maxim universally agreæd upon in agriculture, that nothing must be done too late; and again, that everything must be done at its proper season; while there is a third precept, which reminds us that opportunities lost can never be regained. The male- diction uttered by Cato against rotten ground has been treated of at some length already; but there is another precept which he is never tired of repeating, "Whatever can be done by the help of the ass, will cost the least money." Fern will be sure to die at the end of a couple of years, if you prevent it from putting forth leaves; the most efficient method of ensuring this is to beat the branches with a stick while they are in bud; for then the juices that drop from it will kill the roots. It is said, too, that fern will not spring up again if it is pulled up by the roots about the turn of the summer solstice, or if the stalks are cut with the edge of a reed, or if it is turned up with a plough-share with a reed placed upon it. In the same way, too, we are told that reeds may be effectually ploughed up, if care is taken to place a stalk of fern upon the share. A field infested with rushes should be turned up with the spade, or, if the locality is stony, with a two-pronged mattock: overgrown shrubs are best removed by fire. Where ground is too moist, it is an advantageous plan to cut trenches in it and so drain it; where the soil is cretaceous, these trenches should be left open; and where it is loose, they should be strengthened with a hedge to prevent them from falling in. When these drains are made on a declivity, they should have a layer of gutter tiles at the bottom, or else house tiles with the face upwards: in some cases, too, they should be covered with earth, and made to run into others of a larger size and wider; the bottom, also, should, if possible, have a coating of stones or of gravel. The openings, too, should be strengthened with two stones placed on either side, and another laid upon the top. Democritus has described a method of rooting up a forest, by first macerating the flower of the lupine for one day in the juice of hemlock, and then watering the roots of the trees with it.
 
18 - 9 DIFFERENT KINDS OF GRAIN M
As the field is now prepared, we shall proceed to speak of the nature of the various kinds of grain; we must premise, however, that there are two principal classes of grain, the cereals, comprising wheat and barley, and the legumina, such as the bean and the chick-pea, for instance. The difference between these two classes is too well known to require any further description.
 
18 - 10 HISTORY OF the VARIOUS KINDS OF GRAIN M
The cereals are divided again into the same number of varieties, according to the time of the year at which they are sown. The winter grains are those which are put in the ground about the setting of the Vergiliæ, and there receive their nutriment throughout the winter, for instance, wheat, spelt, and barley. The summer grains are those which are sown in summer, before the rising of the Vergiliæ, such as millet, panic, sesame, horminum, and irio, in accordance, however, with the usage of Italy only; for in Greece and Asia all the grains are sown just after the setting of the Vergiliæ. There are some, again, that aræ sown at either season in Italy, and others at a third period, or, ill other words, in the spring. Some authors give the name of spring- grain to millet, panic, lentils, chick-peas, and alica, while they call wheat, barely, beans, turnips, and rape, sementive or early sowing seeds. Certain species of wheat are only sown to make fodder for cattle, and are known by the name of "farrago," or mixed grain; the same, too, with the leguminous plants, the vetch, for instance. The lupine. however, is grown in common as food for both cattle and men.
All the leguminous plants, with the exception of the bean, have a single root, hard and tough, like wood, and destitute of numerous ramifications; the chick-pea has the deepest root of all. Corn has numerous fibrous roots, but no ramifications. Barley makes its appearance above ground the seventh day after sowing; the leguminous plants on the fourth, or at the very latest, the seventh; the bean from the fifteenth day to the twentieth: though in Egypt the leguminous plants appear as early as the third day after they are sown. In barley, one extremity of the grain throws out the root, and the other the blade; this last flowers, too, before the other grain. In the cereals in general it is the thicker end of the seed that throws out the root, the thinner end the blossom; while in the other seeds both root and blossom issue from the same part. During the winter, corn is in the blade; but in the spring winter corn throws out a tall stem. As for millet and panic, they grow with a jointed and grooved stalk, while sesame has a stem resembling that of fennel-giant. The fruit of all these seeds is either contained in an ear, as in wheat and barley, for instance, and protected from the attacks of birds and small animals by a prickly beard bristling like so many plisades; or else it is enclosed in pods, as in the leguminous plants, or in capsules, as in sesame and the poppy. Millet and panic can only be said to belong to the grower and the small birds in common, as they have nothing but a thin membrane to cover them, without the slightest protection. Panic receives that name from the panicule or down that is to be seen upon it; the head of it droops languidly, and the stalk tapers gradually in thickness, being of almost the toughness and consistency of wood: the head is loaded with grain closely packed, there being a tuft upon the top, nearly a foot in length. In millet the husks which embrace the grain bend downward with a wavy tuft upon the edge. There are several varieties of panic, the mammose, for instance, the ears of which are in clusters with small edgings of down, the head of the plant being double; it is distinguished also according to the colour, the white, for instance, the black, the red, and the purple even. Several kinds of bread are made from millet, but very little from panic: there is no grain known that weighs heavier than millet, and which swells more in baking. A modius of millet will yield sixty pounds' weight of bread; and three sextarii steeped in water will make one modius of fermenty. A kind of millet has been introduced from India into Italy within the last ten years, of a swarthy colour, large grain, and a stalk like that of the reed. This stalk springs up to the height of seven feet, and has tufts of a remarkable size, known by the name of "phobæ." This is the most prolific of all the cereals, for from a single grain no less than three sextarii are produced: it requires, however, to be sown in a humid soil. Some kinds of corn begin to form the ear at the third joint, and others at the fourth, though at its first formation the ear remains still concealed. Wheat, however, has four articulations, spelt six, and barley eight. In the case of these last, the ear does not begin to form before the number of joints, as above mentioned, is complete. Within four or five days, at the very latest, after the ear has given signs of forming, the plant begins to flower, and in the course of as many days or a little more, sheds its blossom: barley blossoms at the end of seven days at the very latest. Varro says that the grains are perfectly formed at the end of four times nine days from their flowering, and are ready for cutting at the ninth month. The bean, again, first appears in leaf, and then throws out a stalk, which has no articulations upon it. The other legu- minous plants have a tough, ligneous stalk, and some of them throw out branches, the chick-pea, the fitch, and the lentil, for instance. In some of the leguminous plants, the pea, for example, the stem creeps along the ground, if care is not taken to support it by sticks: if this precaution is omitted, the quality is deteriorated. The bean and the lupine are the only ones among the leguminous plants that have a single stem: in all the others the stem throws out branches, being of a ligneous nature, very thin, and in all cases hollow. Some of these plants throw out the leaves from the root, others at the top. Wheat, barley, and the vetch, all the plants, in fact, which produce straw, have a single leaf only at the summit: in barley, however, this leaf is rough, while in the others it is smooth. * * * In the bean, again, the chick-pea, and the pea, the leaves are numerous and divided. In corn the leaf is similar to that of the reed, while in the bean it is round, as also in a great proportion of the leguminous plants. In the ervilia and the pea the leaf is long, in the kidney-bean veined, and in sesame and irio the colour of blood. The lupine and the poppy are the only ones among these plants that lose their leaves. The leguminous plants remain a longer time in flower, the fitch and the chick-pea more particularly; but the bean is in blossom the longest of them all, for the flower remains on it forty days; not, indeed, that each stalk retains its blossom for all that length of time, but, as the flower goes off in one, it comes on in another. In the bean, too, the crop is not ripe all at once, as is the case with corn; for the pods make their appearance at different times, at the lowest parts first, the blossom mounting upwards by degrees. When the blossom is off in corn, the stalk gradually thickens, and it ripens within forty days at the most. The same is the case, too, with the bean, but the chick-pea takes a much shorter time to ripen; indeed, it is fit for gathering within forty days from the time that it is sown. Millet, panic, sesame, and all the summer grains are ripe within forty days after blossoming with considerable variations, of course, in reference to soil and weather. Thus, in Egypt, we find barley cut at the end of six months, and wheat at the end of seven, from the time of sowing. In Hellas, again, barley is cut in the seventh month, and in Peloponnesus in the eighth; the wheat being got in at a still later period. Those grains which grow on a stalk of straw are enclosed in an envelope protected by a prickly beard; while in the bean and the leguminous plants in general they are enclosed in pods upon branches which shoot alternately from either side. The cereals are the best able to withstand the winter, but the leguminous plants afford the most substantial food. In wheat, the grain has several coats, but in barley, more particularly, it is naked and exposed; the same, too, with arinca, but most of all, the oat. The stem is taller in wheat than it is in barley, but the ear is more bearded in the last. Wheat, barley, and winter-wheat aræ threshed out; they are cleaned, too, for sowing just as they are prepared for the mill, there being no necessity for parching them. Spelt, on the other hand, millet, and panic, cannot be cleaned without parching them; hence it is that they are always sown raw and with the chaff on. Spelt is preserved in the husk, too, for sowing, and, of course, is not in such case parched by the action of fire.
 
18 - 11 SPELT M
Of all these grains barley is the lightest, its weight rarely exceeding fifteen pounds to the modius, while that of the bean is twenty-two. Spelt is much heavier than barley, and wheat heavier than spelt. In Egypt they make a meal of olyra, a third variety of corn that grows there. The Gauls have also a kind of spelt peculiar to that country: they give it the name of "brace," while to us it is known as "sanldala:" it has a grain of remarkable whiteness. Another difference, again, is the fact that it yields nearly four pounds more of bread to the modius than any other kind of spelt. Verrius states that for three hundred years the Romans made use of no other meal than that of corn.
 
18 - 12 WHEAT M
There are numerous kinds of wheat which have received their names from the countries where they were first produced. For my part, however, I can compare no kind of wheat to that of Italy either for whiteness or weight, qualities for which it is more particularly distinguished: indeed it is only with the produce of the more mountainous parts of Italy that the foreign wheats can be put in comparison. Among these the wheat of Bœotia occupies the first rank, that of Sicily the second, and that of Africa the third. The wheats of Thrace, Syria, and, more recently, of Egypt, used to hold the third rank for weight, these facts having been ascertained through the medium of the athletes; whose powers of consumption, equal to those of beasts of burden, have established the gradations in weight, as already stated. Greece, too, held the Pontic wheat in high esteem; but this has not reached Italy as yet. Of all the varieties of grain, however, the Greeks gave the preference to the kinds called dracontion, strangia, and Selinusium, the chief characteristic of which is a stem of remarkable thickness: it was this, in the opinion of the Greeks, that marked them as the peculiar growth of a rich soil. On the other hand, they recommended for sowing in humid soils an extremely light and diminutive species of grain, with a remarkably thin stalk, known to them as speudias, and standing in need of an abundance of nutriment. Such, at all events, were the opi- nions generally entertained in the reign of Alexander the Great, at a time when Greece was at the height of her glory, and the most powerful country in the world. Still, however, nearly one hundred and forty-four years before the death of that prince we find the poet Sophocles, in his Tragedy of "Triptolemus," praising the corn of Italy before all others. The passage, translated word for word, is to the following effect:— "And favour'd Italy grows white with hoary wheat."
And it is this whiteness that is still one of the peculiar merits of the Italian wheat; a circumstance which makes me the more surprised to find that none of the Greek writers of a later period have made any reference to it.
Of the various kinds of wheat which are imported at the present day into Rome, the lightest in weight are those which come from Gaul and Chersonnesus; for, upon weighing them, it will be found that they do not yield more than twenty pounds to the modius. The grain of Sardinia weighs half a pound more, and that of Alexandria one-third of a pound more than that of Sardinia; the Sicilian wheat is the same in weight as the Alexandrian. The Bœotian wheat, again, weighs a whole pound more than these last, and that of Africa a pound and three quarters. In Italy beyond the Padus, the spelt, to my knowledge, weighs twenty-five pounds to the modius, and, in the vicinity of Clusium, six-and-twenty. We find it a rule, universally established by Nature, that in every kind of commissariat bread that is made, the bread exceeds the weight of the grain by one-third; and in the same way it is generally considered that that is the best kind of wheat, which, in kneading, will absorb one congius of water. There are some kinds of wheat which give, when used by themselves, an additional weight equal to this; the Balearic wheat, for instance, which to a modius of grain yields thirty-five pounds weight of bread. Others, again, will only give this additional weight by being mixed with other kinds, the Cyprian wheat and the Alexandrian, for example; which, if used by themselves, will yield no more than twenty pounds to the modius. The wheat of Cyprus is swarthy, and produces a dark bread; for which reason it is generally mixed with the white wheat of Alexandria; the mixture yielding twenty-five pounds of bread to the modius of grain. The wheat of Thebais, in Egypt, æhen made into bread, yields twenty-six pounds to the modius. To knead the meal with sea-water, as is mostly done in the maritime districts, for the purpose of saving the salt, is extremely pernicious; there is nothing, in fact, that will more readily predispose the human body to disease. In Gaul and Spain, where they make a drink by steeping corn in the way that has been already described—they employ the foam which thickens upon the surface as a leaven: hence it is that the bread in those countries is lighter than that made else- where. There are some differences, also, in the stem of wheat; for the better the kind the thicker it is. In Thrace, the stem of the wheat is covered with several coats, which are rendered absolutely necessary by the excessive cold of those regions. It is the cold, also, that led to the discovery there of the three-month wheat, the ground being covered with snow most of the year. At the end mostly of three months after it has been sown, this wheat is ready for cutting, both in Thrace and in other parts of the world as well. This variety is well known, too, throughout all the Alpine range, and in the northern pro- vinces there is no kind of wheat that is more prolific; it has a single stem only, is by no means of large size in any part of it, and is never sown but in a thin, light soil. There is a two-month wheat also found in the vicinity of Ænos, in Thrace, which ripens the fortieth day after sowing; and yet it is a surprising fact, that there is no kind of wheat that weighs heavier than this, while at the same time it produces no bran. Both Sicily and Achaia grow it, in the mountainous districts of those countries; as also Eubœa, in the vicinity of Carystus. So greatly, then, is Columella in error, in supposing that there is no distinct variety of three-month wheat even; the fact being that these varieties have been known from the very earliest times. The Greeks give to these wheats the name of "setanion." It is said that in Bactria the grains of wheat are of such an enormous size, that a single one is as large as our ears of corn.
 
18 - 13 BARLEY: RICE M
Of all the cereals the first that is sown is barley. We shall state the appropriate time for sowing each kind when we come to treat of the nature of each individually. In India, there is both a cultivated and a wild barley, from which they make excellent bread, as well as alica. But the most favourite food of all there is rice, from which they prepare a ptisan similar to that made from barley in other parts of the world. The leaves of rice are fleshy, very like those of the leek, but broader; the stem is a cubit in height, the blossom purple, and the root globular, like a pearl in shape.
 
18 - 14 POLENTA M
Barley is one of the most ancient aliments of man, a fact that is proved by a custom of the Athenians, mentioned by Menander, as also by the name of "hordearii," that used to be given to gladiators. The Greeks, too, prefer barley to anything else for making polenta. This food is made in various ways: in Greece, the barley is first steeped in water, and then left a night to dry. The next day they parch it, and then grind it in the mill. Some persons parch it more highly, and then sprinkle it again with a little water; after which they dry it for grinding. Others shake the grain from out of the ear while green, and, aftær cleaning and soaking it in water, pound it in a mortar. They then wash the paste in baskets, and leave it to dry in the sun; after which they pound it again, clean it, and grind it in the mill. But whatever the mode of preparation adopted, the proportions are always twenty pounds of barley to three pounds of linseed, half a pound of coriander, and fifteen drachmæ of salt: the ingredients are first parched, and then ground in the mill.
Those who want it for keeping, store it in new earthen vessels, with fine flour and bran. In Italy, the barley is parched without being steeped in water, and then ground to a fine meal, with the addition of the ingredients already mentioned, and some millet as well. Barley bread, which was extensively used by the ancients, has now fallen into universal disrepute, and is mostly used as a food for cattle only.
 
18 - 15 PTISAN M
With barley, too, the food called ptisan is made, a most substantial and salutary aliment, and one that is held in very high esteem. Hippocrates, one of the most famous writers on medical science, has devoted a whole volume to the praises of this aliment. The ptisan of the highest quality is that which is made at Utica; that of Egypt is prepared from a kind of barley, the grain of which grows with two points. In Baltic and Africa, the kind of barley from which this food is made is that which Turranius calls the "smooth" barley: the same author expresses an opinion, too, that olyra and rice are the same. The method of preparing ptisan is universally known.
 
18 - 16 TRAGUM M
In a similar manner, too, tragum is prepared from seed wheat, but only in Campania and Egypt.
 
18 - 17 AMYLUM M
Amylum is prepared from every kind of wheat, and from winter-wheat as well; but the best of all is that made from three-month wheat. The invention of it we owe to the island of Chios, and still, at the present day, the most esteemed kind comes from there; it derives its name from its being made without the help of the mill. Next to the amylum made with three-month wheat, is that which is prepared from the lighter kinds of wheat. In making it, the grain is soaked in fresh water, placed in wooden vessels; care being taken to keep it covered with the liquid, which is changed no less than five times in the course of the day. If it can be changed at night as well, it is all the better for it, the object being to let it imbibe the water gradually and equally. When it is quitæ soft, but before it turns sour, it is passed through linen cloth, or else wicker-work, after which it is poured out upon a tile covered with leaven, and left to harden in the sun. Next to the amylum of Chios, that of Crete is the most esteemed, and next to that the Ægyptian. The tests of its goodness are its being light and smooth: it should be used, too, while it is fresh. Cato, among our writers, has made mention of it.
 
18 - 18 NATURE OF BARLEY M
Barley-meal, too, is employed for medicinal purposes; and it is a curious fact, that for beasts of burden they make a paste of it, which is first hardened by the action of fire, and then ground. It is then made up into balls, which are introduced with the hand into the paunch, the result of which is, that the vigour and muscular strength of the animal is considerably increased. In some kinds of barley, the ears have two rows of grains, and in others more; in some cases, as many as six. The grain itself, too, presents certain differences, being long and thin, or else short or round, white, black, or, in some instances, of a purple colour. This last kind is employed for making polenta: the white is ill adapted for standing the severity of the weather. Barley is the softest of all the grains: it can only be sown in a dry, loose soil, but fertile withal. The chaff of barley ranks among the very best; indeed, for litter there is none that can be compared with it. Of all grain, barley is the least exposed to accidents, as it is gathered before the time that mildew begins to attack wheat; for which reason it is that the provident agriculturist sows only as much wheat as may be required for food. The saying is, that "barley is sown in a money-bag," because it so soon returns a profit. The most prolific kind of all is that which is got in at Carthage, in Spain, in the month of April. It is in the same month that it is sown in Celtiberia, and yet it yields two harvests in the same year. All kinds of barley are cut sooner than other grain, and immediately after they are ripe; for the straw is extremely brittle, and the grain is enclosed in a husk of remarkable thinness. It is said, too, that a better polenta is made from it, if it is gathered before it is perfectly ripe.
 
18 - 19 ARINCA, AND OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN THAT ARE GROWN IN THE EAST M
The several kinds of corn are not everywhere the same; and even where they are the same, they do not always bear a similar name. The kinds most universally grown are spelt, by the ancients known as "adorea," winter wheat, and wheat; all these being common to many countries. Arinca was originally peculiar to Gaul, though now it is widely diffused over Italy as well. Egypt, too, Syria, Cilicia, Asia, and Greece, have their own peculiar kinds, known by the names of zea, olyra, and wheat. In Egypt, they make a fine flour from wheat of their own growth, but it is by no means equal to that of Italy. Those countries which employ zea, have no spelt. Zea, however, is to be found in Italy, and in Campania more particularly, where it is known by the name of "seed." The grain that bears this name enjoys a very considerable celebrity, as we shall have occasion to state on another occasion; and it is in honour of this that Homer uses the expression, ζείδωρος ἄρουρα, and not, as some suppose, from the fact of the earth giving life. Amylum is made, too, from this grain, but of a coarser quality than the kind already mentioned; this, however, is the only difference that is perceptible.
The most hardy kind, however, of all the grains is spelt, and the best to stand the severity of the weather; it will grow in the very coldest places, as also in localities that are but half tilled, or soils that are extremely hot, and destitute of water. This was the earliest food of the ancient inhabitants of Latium; a strong proof of which is the distributions of adorea that were made in those times, as already stated. It is evident, too, that the Romans subsisted for a long time upon pottage, and not bread; for we find that from its name of "puls," certain kinds of food are known, even at the present day, as "pulmentaria." Ennius, too, the most ancient of our poets, in describing the famine in a siege, relates how that the parents snatched away the messes of pottage from their weeping children. At the present day, even, the sacrifices in conformity with the ancient rites, as well as those offered upon birthdays, are made with parched pottage. This food appears to have been as much unknown in those days in Greece as polenta was in Italy.
 
18 - 20 WINTER WHEAT. SIMILAGO, OR FINE FLOUR M
There is no grain that displays a greater avidity than wheat, and none that absorbs a greater quantity of nutriment. With all propriety I may justly call winter wheat the very choicest of all the varieties of wheat. It is white, destitute of all flavour, and not oppressive to the stomach. It suits moist localities particularly well, such as we find in Italy and Gallia Comata; but beyond the Alps it is found to maintain its character only in the territory of the Allobroges and that of the Memini; for in the other parts of those countries it degenerates at the end of two years into common wheat. The only method of preventing this is to take care and sow the heaviest grains only.
(.) Winter wheat furnishes bread of the very finest quality and the most esteemed delicacies of the bakers. The best bread that is known in Italy is made from a mixture of Cam- panian winter wheat with that of Pisæ. The Campanian kind is of a redder colour, while the latter is white; when mixed with chalk, it is increased in weight. The proper proportion for the yield of Campanian wheat to the modius of grain is four sextarii of what is known as bolted flour; but when it is used in the rough and has not been bolted, then the yield should be five sextarii of flour. In addition to this, in either case there should be half a modius of white meal, with four sextarii of coarse meal, known as "seconds," and the same quantity of bran. The Pisan wheat produces five sextarii of fine flour to the modius; in other respects it yields the same as that of Campania. The wheat of Clusium and Arretium gives another sextarius of fine flour, but the yield is similar to that of the kinds already mentioned in all other respects. If, however, as much of it as possible is converted into fine wheat meal, the modius will yield sixteen pounds weight of white bread, and three of seconds, with half a modius of bran. These differences, however, depend very materially upon the grinding; for when the grain is ground quite dry it produces more meal, but when sprinkled with salt water a whiter flour, though at the same time a greater quantity of bran. It is very evident that "firina," the name we give to meal, is derived from "far." A modius of meal made from Gallic winter wheat, yields twenty-two pounds of bread; while that of Italy, if made into bread baked in tins, will yield two or three pounds more. When the bread is baked in the oven, two pounds must be added in weight in either case. (.) Wheat yields a fine flour of the very highest quality. In African wheat the modius ought to yield half a modius of fine flour and five sextarii of pollen, that being the name given to fine wheat meal, in the same way that that of winter wheat is generally known as "fos," or the "flower." This fine meal is extensively used in copper works and paper manufactories. In addition to the above, the modius should yield four sextarii of coarse meal, and the same quantity of bran. The finest wheaten flour will yield one hundred and twenty-two pounds of bread, and the fine meal of winter wheat one hundred and seventeen, to the modius of grain. When the prices of grain are moderate, meal sells at forty asses the modius, bolted wheaten flour at eight asses more, and bolted flour of winter wheat, at sixteen asses more. There is another distinction again in fine wheaten flour, which originated formerly in the days of L. Paul's. There were three classes of wheat; the first of which would appear to have yielded seventeen pounds of bread, the second eighteen, and the third nineteen pounds and a third: to these were added two pounds and a half of seconds, and the same quantity of brown bread, with six sextarii of bran. Winter wheat never ripens all at once, and yet there is none of the cereals that can so ill brook any delay; it being of so delicate a nature, that the ears directly they are ripe will begin to shed their grain. So long, however, as it is in stalk, it is exposed to fewer risks than other kinds of wheat, from the fact of its always having the ear upright, and not retaining the dew, which is a prolific cause of mildew. From arinca a bread of remarkable sweetness is made. The grains in this variety lie closer than they do in spelt; the ear, too, is larger and more weighty. It is rarely the case that a modius of this grain does not weigh full sixteen pounds. In Greece they find great difficulty in threshing it; and hence it is that we find Homer saying that it is given to beasts of burden, this being the same as the grain that he calls "olyra." In Egypt it is threshed without any difficulty, and is remarkably prolific. Spelt has no beard, and the same is the case with winter wheat, except that known as the Laconion variety. To the kinds already mentioned we have to add bromos, the winter wheat just excepted, and tragos, all of them exotics introduced from the East, and very similar to rice. Tiphe also belongs to the same class, from which in our part of the world a cleaned grain resembling rice is prepared. Among the Greeks, too, there is the grain known as zea; and it is said that this, as well as tiphe, when cleaned from the husk and sown, will degenerate and assume the form of wheat; not immediately, but in the course of three years.
 
18 - 21 FRUITFULNESS OF AFRICA IN WHEAT M
There is no grain more prolific than wheat, Nature having bestowed upon it this quality, as being the substance which she destined for the principal nutriment of man. A modius of wheat, if the soil is favourable, as at Byzacium, a champaign district of Africa, will yield as much as one hundred and fifty modii of grain. The procurator of the late Emperor Augustus sent him from that place—a fact almost beyond belief—little short of four hundred shoots all springing from a single grain; and we have still in existence his letters on the subject. In a similar manner, too, the procurator of Nero sent him three hundred and sixty stalks all issuing from a single grain. The plains of Leontium in Sicily, and other places in that island, as well as the whole of Bætica, and Egypt more particularly, yield produce a hundred-fold. The most prolific kinds of wheat are the ramose wheat, and that known as the "hun- dred-grain" wheat. Before now, as many as one hundred beans, too, have been found on a single stalk.
 
18 - 22 SESAME. ERYSIMUM, OR IRIO. HORMINUTM M
We have spoken of sesame, millet, and panic as belonging to the summer grains. Sesame comes from India, where they extract an oil from it; the colour of its grain is white. Similar in appearance to this is the erysimum of Asia and Greece, and indeed it would be identical with it were it not that the grain is better filled. It is the same grain that is known among us as "irio;" and strictly speaking, ought rather to be classed among the medicaments than the cereals. Of the same nature, too, is the plant called "horminum" by the Greeks, though resembling cummin in appearance; it is sown at the same time as sesame: no animal will eat either this or irio while green.
 
18 - 23 MODE OF GRINDING CORN M
All the grains aræ not easily broken. In Etruria they first parch the spelt in the ear, and then pound it with a pestle shod with iron at the end. In this instrument the iron is notched at the bottom, sharp ridges running out like the edge of a knife, and concentrating in the form of a star; so that if care is not taken to hold the pestle perpendicularly while pounding, the grains will only be splintered and the iron teeth broken. Throughout the greater part of Italy, however, they employ a pestle that is only rough at the end, and wheels turned by water, by means of which the corn is gradually ground. I shall here set forth the opinions given by Mago as to the best method of pounding corn. He says that the wheat should be steeped first of all in water, and then cleaned from the husk; after which it should be dried in the sun, and then pounded with the pestle; the same plan, he says, should be adopted in the preparation of barley. In the latter case, however, twenty sextarii of grain require only two sextarii of water. When lentils are used, they should be first parched, and then lightly pounded with, the bran; or else, adopting another method, a piece of unbaked brick and half a modius of sand should be added to every twenty sextarii of lentils.
Ervilia should be treated in the same way as lentils. Sesame should be first steeped in warm water, and then laid out to dry, after which it should be rubbed out briskly, and then thrown into cold water, so that the chaff may be disengaged by floating to the surface. After this is done, the grain should again be spread out in the sun, upon linen cloths, to dry. Care, however, should be taken to lose no time in doing this, as it is apt to turn musty, and assume a dull, livid colour. The grains, too, which are just cleaned from the husk, require various methods of pounding. When the beard is ground by itself, without the grain, the result is known as "acus," but it is only used by goldsmiths. If, on the other hand, it is beaten out on the threshing-floor, together with the straw, the chaff has the name of "palea," * * * * and in most parts of the world is employed as fodder for beasts of burden. The residue of millet, panic, and sesame, is known to us as "apluda;" but in other countries it is called by various other names.
 
18 - 24 MILLET M
Campania is particularly prolific in millet, and a fine white porridge is made from it: it makes a bread, too, of remarkable sweetness. The nations of Sarmatia live principally on this porridge, and even the raw meal, with the sole addition of mares' milk, or else blood extracted from the thigh of the horse. The Æthiopians know of no other grain but millet and barley.
 
18 - 25 PANIC M
The people of Gaul, and of Aquitania more particularly, make use of panic; the same is the case, too, in Italy beyond the Padus, with the addition, however, of the bean, without which they prepare none of their food. There is no aliment held in higher esteem than panic by the nations of Pontus. The other summer grains thrive better in well-watered soils than in rainy localities; but water is by no means beneficial to millet or panic when they are coming into blade. It is recommended not to sow them among vines or fruit-trees, as it is generally thought that these crops impoverish the soil.
 
18 - 26 VARIOUS KINDS OF LEAVEN M
Millet is more particularly employed for making leaven; and if kneaded with must, it will keep a whole year. The same is done, too, with the fine wheat-bran of the best quality; it is kneaded with white must three days old, and then dried in the sun, after which it is made into small cakes. When required for making bread, these cakes are first soaked in water, and then boiled with the finest spelt flour, after which the whole is mixed up with the meal; and it is generally thought that this is the best method of making bread. The Greeks have established a rule that for a modius of meal eight ounces of leaven is enough.
These kinds of leaven, however, can only be made at the time of vintage, but there is another leaven which may be prepared with barley and water, at any time it may happen to be required. It is first made up into cakes of two pounds in weight, and these are then baked upon a hot hearth, or else in an earthen dish upon hot ashes and charcoal, being left till they turn of a reddish brown. When this is done, the cakes are shut close in vessels, until they turn quite sour: when wanted for leaven, they are steeped in water first. When barley bread used to be made, it was leavened with the meal of the fitch, or else the chicheling vetch, the proportion being, two pounds of leaven to two modii and a half of barley meal. At the present day, however, the leaven is prepared from the meal that is used for making the bread. For this purpose, some of the meal is kneaded before adding the salt, and is then boiled to the consistency of porridge, and left till it begins to turn sour. In most cases, however, they do not warm it at all, but only make use of a little of the dough that has been kept from the day before. It is very evident that the principle which causes the dough to rise is of an acid nature, and it is equally evident that those persons who are dieted upon fermented bread are stronger in body. Among the ancients, too, it was generally thought that the heavier wheat is, the more wholesome it is.
 
18 - 27 METHOD OF MAKING BREAD: ORIGIN OF THE ART M
It seems to me quite unnecessary to enter into an account of the various kinds of bread that are made. Some kinds, we find, receive their names from the dishes with which they are eaten, the oyster-bread, for instance: others, again, from their peculiar delicacy, the artolaganus, or cake-bread, for example; and others from the expedition with which they are prepared, such as the "speusticus," or "hurry-bread." Other varieties receive their names from the peculiar method of baking them, such as oven-bread, tin-bread, and mould-bread. It is not so very long since that we had a bread introduced from Parthia, known as water-bread, from a method in kneading it, of drawing out the dough by the aid of water, a process which renders it remarkably light, and full of holes. like a sponge: some call this Parthian bread. The excellence of the finest kinds of bread depends principally on the goodness of the wheat, and the fineness of the bolter. Some persons knead the dough with eggs or milk, and butter even has been employed for the purpose by nations that have had leisure to cultivate the arts of peace, and to give their attention to the art of making pastry. Picenum still maintains its ancient reputation for making the bread which it was the first to invent, alica being the grain employed. The flour is kept in soak for nine days, and is kneaded on the tenth with raisin juice, in the shape of long rolls; after which it is baked in an oven in earthen pots, till they break. This bread, however, is never eaten till it has been well soaked, which is mostly done in milk mixed with honey.
 
18 - 28 WHEN BAKERS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED AT ROME M
There were no bakers at Rome until the war with King Perseus, more than five hundred and eighty years after the building of the City. The ancient Romans used to make their own bread, it being an occupation which belonged to the women, as we see the case in many nations even at the present day. Plautus speaks of the artopta, or bread-tin, in his Comedy of the Alularia, though there has been considerable discussion for that very reason among the learned, whether or not that line really belongs to him. We have the fact, too, well ascertained, in the opinion of Ateius Capito, that the cooks in those days were in the habit of making the bread for persons of affluence, while the name of "pistor" was only given to the person who pounded, or "pisebat," the spelt. In those times, they had no cooks in the number of their slaves but used to hire them for the occasion from the market. The Gauls were the first to employ the bolter that is made of horse-hair; while the people of Spain make their sieves and meal-dressers of flax, and the Egyptians of papyrus and rushes.
 
18 - 29 ALTCA M
But among the very first things of all, we ought to speak of the method employed in preparing alica, a most delightful and most wholesome food, and which incontestably confers upon Italy the highest rank among the countries that produce the cereals. This delicacy is prepared, no doubt, in Egypt as well, but of a very inferior quality, and not worth our notice. In Italy, however, it is prepared in numerous places, the territories of Verona and Pisæ, for example; but that of Campania is the most highly esteemed. There, at the foot of mountains capped with clouds, runs a plain, not less in all than forty miles in extent. The land here—to give a description first of the nature of the soil—is dusty on the surface, but spongy below, and as porous as pumice. The inconveniences that generally arise from the close vicinity of mountains are here converted into so many advantages: for the soil, acting on it as a sort of filter, absorbs the water of the abundant rains that fall; the consequence of which is, that the water not being left to soak or form mud on the surface, the cultivation is greatly facilitated thereby. This land does not return, by the aid of any springs, the moisture it has thus absorbed, but thoroughly digests it, by warming it in its bosom, in a heated oven as it were. The ground is kept cropped the whole year through, once with panic, and twice with spelt; and yet in the spring, when the soil is allowed to have a moment's repose, it will produce roses more odoriferous by far than the cultivated rose: for the earth here is never tired of producing, a circumstance in which originated the common saying, that Campania produces more unguents than other countries do oil.
In the same degree, however, that the Campanian soil excels that of all other countries, so does that part of it which is known to us as Laboriæ, and to the Greeks as Phlegræum, surpass all the rest. This district is bounded on two sides by the consular high road, which leads from Puteoli to Capua on the one side, and from Cumæ on the other. Alica is prepared from the grain called zea, which we have already mentioned as being known to us as "seed" wheat. The grain is cleansed in a wooden mortar, for fear lest stone, from its hardness, should have the effect of grating it. The motive power for raising the pestle, as is generally known, is supplied by slaves working in chains, the end of it being enclosed in a case of iron. After the husks have been removed by this process, the pure grain is broken to pieces, the same implements being employed. In this way, there are three different kinds of alica made, the finest, the seconds, and the coarse, which last is known as "aphærema." Still, however, these various kinds have none of them that whiteness as yet for which they are so distinguished, though even now they are preferable to the Alexandrian alica. With this view—a most singular fact—chalk is mixed with the meal, which, upon becoming well incorporated with it, adds very materially to both the whiteness and the shortness of the mixture. This chalk is found between Puteoli and Neapolis, upon a hill called Leucogæum; and there is still in existence a decree of the late Emperor Augustus, (who established a colony at Capua), which orders a sum of twenty thousand sesterces to be paid annually from his exchequer to the people of Neapolis, for the lease of this hill. His motive for paying this rent, he stated, was the fact that the people of Campania had alleged that it was impossible to make their alica without the help of this mineral. In the same hill, sulphur is found as well, and the springs of Araxus issue from its declivities, the waters of which are particularly efficacious for strengthening the sight, healing wounds, and preventing the teeth from becoming loose. A spurious kind of alica is made, more particularly of a degenerate kind of zea grown in Africa; the ears of it are larger and blacker than those of the genuine kind, and the straw is short. This grain is pounded with sand, and even then it is with the greatest difficulty that the outer coats are removed; when stripped, the grain fills one half only of the original measure. Gypsum, in the proportion of one fourth, is then sprinkled over it, and after the mixture has been well incorporated, it is bolted through a meal-sieve. The portion that remains behind, after this is done, is known as "excepticia," and consists of the coarser parts; while that which has passed through is submitted to a second process, with a finer sieve; and that which then refuses to pass has the name of "secun- daria." That, again, which, in a similar manner, is submitted to a third sifting, with a sieve of the greatest fineness, which will only admit of sand passing through it, is known as "cribraria," when it remains on the top of the sieve. There is another method, again, that is employed every where for adulterating it. They pick out the whitest and largest grains of wheat, and parboil them in earthen pots; these are then dried in the sun till they have regained their original size, after which they are lightly sprinkled with water, and then ground in a mill. A better granæum is made from zea than from wheat, although it is nothing else, in fact, but a spurious alica: it is whitened by the addition of boiled milk, in place of chalk.
 
18 - 30 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS: THE BEAN M
We now come to the history of the leguminous plants, among which the place of honour must be awarded to the bean; indeed, some attempts have even been made to use it for bread. Bean meal is known as "lomentum;" and, as is the case with the meal of all leguminous plants, it adds considerably, when mixed with flour, to the weight of the bread. Beans are on sale at the present day for numerous purposes, and are employed for feeding cattle, and man more particu- larly. They are mixed, also, among most nations, with wheat, and panic more particularly, either whole or lightly broken. In our ancient ceremonials, too, bean pottage occupies its place in the religious services of the gods. Beans are mostly eaten together with other food, but it is generally thought that they dull the senses, and cause sleepless nights attended with dreams. Hence it is that the bean has been condemned by Pythagoras; though, according to some, the reason for this denunciation was the belief which he entertained that the souls of the dead are enclosed in the bean: it is for this reason, too, that beans are used in the funereal banquets of the Parentalia. According to Varro, it is for a similar cause that the Flamen abstains from eating beans: in addition to which, on the blossom of the bean, there are certain letters of ill omen to be found.
There are some peculiar religious usages connected with the bean. It is the custom to bring home from the harvest a bean by way of auspice, which, from that circumstance, has the name of "referiva." In sales by public auction, too, it is thought lucky to include a bean in the lot for sale. It is a fact, too, that the bean is the only one among all the grains that fills out at the increase of the moon, however much it may have been eaten away: it can never be thoroughly boiled in sea-water, or indeed any other water that is salt. The bean is the first leguminous plant that is sown; that being done before the setting of the Vergiliæ, in order that it may pass the winter in the ground. Virgil recommends that it should be sown in spring, according to the usage of the parts of Italy near the Padus: but most people prefer the bean that has been sown early to that of only three months' growth; for, in the former case, the pods as well as the stalk afford a most agreeable fodder for cattle. When in blossom more particularly, the bean requires water; but after the blossom has passed off, it stands in need of but very little. It fertilizes the ground in which it has been sown as well as any manure hence it is that in the neighbourhood of Thessaly and Macedonia, as soon as it begins to blossom, they turn up the ground. The bean, too, grows wild in most countries, as in those islands of the Northern Ocean, for instance, which for that reason have been called by us the "Fabariæ." In Mauritania, also, it is found in a wild state in various parts, but so remarkably hard that it will never become soft by boiling. In Egypt there is a kind of bean which grows upon a thorny stalk; for which reason the crocodiles avoid it, being apprehensive of danger to their eyes. This stalk is four cubits in length, and its thickness, at the very most, that of the finger: were it not for the absence of articulations in it, it would resemble a soft reed in appearance. The head is similar to that of the poppy, being of a rose colour: the beans enclosed in this head are not above thirty in number; the leaves are large, and the fruit is bitter and odoriferous. The root, however, is highly esteemed by the natives as a food, whether eaten raw or well boiled; it bears a strong resemblance to that of the reed. This plant grows also in Syria and Cilicia, and upon the banks of Lake Torone in Chalcidice.
 
18 - 31 LENTILS. PEASE M
Among the leguminous plants the lentil is sown in the month of November, and the pea, among the Greeks. The lentil thrives best in a soil that is rather thin than rich, and mostly stands in need of dry weather. There are two kinds of lentil grown in Egypt; one of which is rounder and blacker than the other, which has a peculiar shape of its own. The name of this plant has been applied to various uses, and among others has given origin to our word "lenticula." I find it stated in some authors that a lentil diet is productive of evenness of temper. The pea requires to be sown in a warm, sunny spot, and is ill able to endure cold; hence in Italy and the more rigorous climates, it is sown in the spring only, a light, loose soil being chosen for the purpose.
 
18 - 32 SEVERAL KINDS OF CHICK-PEASE M
The chick-pea is naturally salt, for which reason it is apt to scorch the ground, and should only be sown after it has been steeped a day in water. This plant presents considerable differences in reference to size, colour, form, and taste. One variety resembles in shape a ram's head, from which circumstance it has received the name of "arietinum;" there are both the white and the black arietinum. There is also the columbine chick-pea, by some known as the "pea of Venus;" it is white, round, and smooth, being smaller than the arietinum, and is employed in the observances of the night festivals or vigils. The chicheling vetch, too, is a diminutive kind of chick-pea, unequal and angular, like the pea. The chickpea that is the sweetest in flavour is the one that bears the closest resemblance to the fitch; the pod in the black and the red kinds is more firmly closed than in the white ones.
 
18 - 33 KIDNEY-BEAN M
The pod of the chick-pea is rounded, while in other legu- minous plants it is long and broad, like the seed which it contains; in the pea, again, it is of a cylindrical form. In the case of the kidney-bean it is usual to eat the pod together with the seed. This last may be sown in all kinds of soils indifferently, between the ides of October and the calends of November. As soon as ever the leguminous plants begin to ripen, they ought to be plucked, for the pods will very soon open and the seed fall out, in which case it is very difficult to find: the same is the case, too, with the lupine. But before we pass on to the lupine, it will be as well to make some mention of the rape.
 
18 - 34 RAPE M
The Latin writers have only treated of this plant in a cursory manner, while those of Greece have considered it a little more attentively; though even they have ranked it among the garden plants. If, however, a methodical arrangement is to be strictly observed, it should be spoken of immediately after corn, or the bean, at all events; for next to these two produc- tions, there is no plant that is of more extensive use. For, in the first place, all animals will feed upon it as it grows; and it is far from being the least nutritious plant in the fields for various kinds of birds, when boiled in water more particularly. Cattle, too, are remarkably fond of the leaves of rape; and the stalks and leaves, when in season, are no less esteemed as a food for man than the sprouts of the cabbage; these, too, when turned yellow and left to die in the barn, are even more highly esteemed than when green. As to the rape itself, it will keep all the better if left in its mould, aftær which it should be dried in the open air till the next crop is nearly ripe, as a resource in case of scarcity. Next to those of the grape and corn, this is the most profitable harvest of all for the countries that lie beyond the Padus. The rape is by no means difficult to please in soil, for it will grow almost anywhere, indeed where nothing else can be sown. It readily derives nutriment from fogs and hoar-frosts, and grows to a marvellous size; I have seen them weighing upwards of forty pounds. It is prepared for table among us in several ways, and is made to keep till the next crop, its Fermentation being prevented by preserving it in mustard. It is also tinted with no less than six colours in addition to its own, and with purple even; in- deed, that which is used by us as food ought to bæ of no other colour.
The Greeks have distinguished two principal species of rape, the male and the female, and have discovered a method of obtaining them both from the same seed; for when it is sown thick, or in a hard, cloggy soil, the produce will be male. The smaller the seed the better it is in quality. There are three kinds of rape in all; the first is broad and flat, the second of a spherical shape, and tile third, to which the name of "wild" rape has been given, throws out a long root, similar in appearance to a radish, with an angular, rough leaf, and an acrid juice, which, if extracted about harvest, and mixed with a woman's milk, is good for cleansing the eves and improving defective sight. The colder the weather the sweeter they are, and the larger, it is generally thought; heat makes them run to leaf. The finest rape of all is that grown in the district of Nurslia: it is valued at as much as one sesterce per pound, and, in times of scarcity, two even. That of the next best quality is produced on Mount Algidus.
 
18 - 35 TURNIP M
The turnip of Amiternum, which is pretty nearly of the same nature as the rape, thrives equally well in a cold soil. It is sown just before the calends of March, four sextarii of seed to the jugerum. The more careful growers recommend that the ground should be turned up five times before putting in the turnip, and four for rape, care being taken, in both cases, to manure it well. Rape, they say, will thrive all the better, if it is sown together with some chaff. They will have it, too, that the sower ought to be stripped, and that he should offer up a prayer while sowing, and say: "I sow this for myself and for my neighbours." The proper time for sowing both kinds is the period that intervenes between the festivals of the two divinities, Neptune and Vulcan. It is said, too—and it is the result of very careful observation—that these plants will thrive wonderfully well, if they are sown as many days after the festival of Neptune as the moon was old when the first snow fell the previous winter. They are sown in spring as well, in warm and humid localities.
 
18 - 36 LUPINE M
The lupine is the next among the leguminous plants that is in extensive use, as it serves for food for man in common with the hoofed quadrupeds. To prevent it from springing out of the pod while being gathered, and so lost, the best plan is to gather it immediately after a shower. Of all the seeds that are sown, there is not one of a more marvellous nature than this, or more favoured by the earth. First of all, it turns every day with the sun, and shows the hour to the husbandman, even though the weather should happen to be cloudy and overcast. It blossoms, too, no less than three times, and so attached is it to the earth, that it does not require to be covered with the soil; indeed, this is the only seed that does not require the earth to be turned up for sowing it. It thrives more particularly on a sandy, dry, and even gravelly soil; and requires no further care to be taken in its cultivation. To such a degree is it attached to the earth, that even though left upon a soil thickly covered with brambles, it will throw out a root amid the leaves and brakes, and so con- trive to reach the ground. We have already stated that the soil of a field or vineyard is enriched by the growth of a crop of lupines; indeed, so far is it from standing in need of manure, that the lupines will act upon it as well as the very best. It is the only seed that requires no outlay at all, so much so, in fact, that there is no necessity to carry it even to the spot where it is sown; for it may be sown the moment it is brought from the threshing-floor: and from the fact that it falls from the pod of its own accord, it stands in need of no one to scatter it.
This is the very first grain sown and the last that is gathered, both operations generally taking place in the month of September; indeed, if this is not done before winter sets in, it is liable to receive injury from the cold. And then, besides, it may even be left with impunity to lie upon the ground, in case showers should not immediately ensue and cover it in, it being quite safe from the attacks of all animals, on account of its bitter taste: still, however, it is mostly covered up in a slight furrow. Among the thicker soils, it is attached to a red earth more particularly. In order to enrich this earth, it should be turned up just after the third blossom; but where the soil is sandy, after the second. Chalky and slimy soils are the only ones that it has an aversion to; indeed, it will never come to anything when sown in them. Soaked in warm water, it is used as a food, too, for man. One modius is a sufficient meal for an ox, and it is found to impart considerable vigour to cattle; placed, too, upon the abdomen of children, it acts as a remedy in certain cases. It is an excellent plan to season the lupine by smoking it; for when it is kept in a moist state, maggots are apt to attack the germ, and render it useless for reproduction. If cattle have eaten it off while in leaf, as a matter of necessity it should be ploughed in as soon as possible.
 
18 - 37 VETCH M
The vetch, too, enriches the soil, and its cultivation en- tails no labour on the agriculturist. It is sown after the ground has been but once turned up, and requires neither hoe- ing nor manuring; nothing at all, indeed, except harrowing there are three periods for sowing it; the first is about the setting of Arcturus, when it is intended for feeding cattle in the month of December, while in the blade; this crop, too, is the best of all for seed, for, although grazed upon, it will bear just as well. The second crop is sown in the month of January, and the last in March; this last being the best crop for fodder. Of all the seeds this is the one that thrives best in a dry soil; still, however, it manifests no repugnance to a shaded locality. This grain, if gathered when quite ripe, produces a chaff superior to that of any other. If sown near vines supported by trees, the vetch will draw away the juices from the vines, and make them languid.
 
18 - 38 FITCH M
The cultivation of the fitch, too, is attended with no difficulty. It requires weeding, however, more than the vetch. Like it, the fitch has certain medicinal properties; for we find the fact still kept in remembrance by some letters of his, that the late Emperor Augustus was cured by its agency. Five modii will sow as much ground as a yoke of oxen can plough in a day. If sown in the month of March, it is injurious, they say, to oxen: and when sown in autumn, it is apt to produce head-ache. If, however, it is put in the ground at the beginning of spring, it will be productive of no bad results.
 
18 - 39 SILICIA M
Silicia, or, in other words, fenugreek, is sown after alight ploughing merely, the furrows being no more than some four fingers in depth; the less the pains that are bestowed upon it the better it will thrive—a singular fact that there should be anything that profits from neglect. The kinds, however, that are known as "secale" and "farrago" require harrowing only.
 
18 - 40 SECALE OR ASIA M
The people of Taurinum, at the foot of the Alps, give to secale the name of "asia;" it is a very inferior grain, and is only employed to avert positive famine. It is prolific, but has a straw of remarkable thinness; it is also black and sombre-looking, but weighs extremely heavy. Spelt is mixed with this grain to modify its bitterness, and even then it is very disagreeable to the stomach. It will grow upon any soil, and yields a hundred-fold; it is employed also as a manure for enriching the land.
 
18 - 41 FARRAGO: THE CRACCA M
Farrago, a mixture made of the refuse of "far," or spelt, is sown very thick, the vetch being sometimes mingled with it; in Africa, this mixture is sometimes made with barley. All these mixtures, however, are only intended for cattle, and the same is the case with the cracca a degenerate kind of leguminous plant. Pigeons, it is said, are so remarkably fond of this grain, that they will never leave the place where it has been given to them.
 
18 - 42 OCINUM: ERVILIA M
Among the ancients there was a sort of fodder, to which Cato gives the name of "ocinum;" it was employed by them to stop scouring in oxen. This was a mixture of various kinds of fodder, cut green before the frosts came on. Mamilius Sura, however, explains the term differently, and says that ten modii of beans, two of vetches, and the same quantity of ervilia, were mixed and sown in autumn on a jugerum of land. He states, also, that it is a still better plan to mix some Greek oats with it, the grain of which never falls to the ground; this mixture, according to him, was ocinum, and was usually sown as a food for oxen. Varro informs us that it received its name on account of the celerity with which it springs up, from the Greek ὠχέως, "quickly."
 
18 - 43 LUCERNE M
Lucerne is by nature an exotic to Greece even, it having been first introduced into that country from Media, at the time of the Persian wars with King Darius; still it deserves to be mentioned among the very first of these productions. So superior are its qualities, that a single sowing will last more than thirty years. It resembles trefoil in appearance, but the stalk and leaves are articulated. The longer it grows in the stalk, the narrower is the leaf. Amphilochus has devoted a whole book to this subject and the cytisus. The ground in which it is sown, being first cleaned and cleared of stones, is turned up in the autumn, after which it is ploughed and harrowed. It is then harrowed a second and a third time, at intervals of five days; after which manure is laid upon it. This seed requires either a soil that is dry, but full of nutriment, or else a well-watered one. After the ground has been thus pre- pared, the seed is put in the month of May; for if sown earlier, it is in danger from the frosts. It is necessary to sow the seed very thick, so that all the ground may be occupied, and no room left for weeds to shoot up in the intervals; a result which may be secured by sowing twenty modii to the jugerum. The seed must be stirred at once with the rake, to prevent the sun from scorching it, and it should be covered over with earth as speedily as possible. If the soil is naturally damp or weedy, the lucerne will be overpowered, and the spot degenerate into an ordinary pasture; it is necessary, therefore, directly the crop is an inch in height, to disengage it from all weeds, by hand, in preference to the weeding-hook.
It is cut when it is just beginning to flower, and this is repeated as often as it throws out new blossoms; which happens mostly six times in the year, and four at the very least. Care should be taken to prevent it from running to seed, as it is much more valuable as fodder, up to the third year. It should be hoed in the spring, and cleared of all other plants; and in the third year the surface should be well worked with the weeding-hook. By adopting this method, the weeds will be effectually destroyed, though without detriment to the lucerne, in consequence of the depth of its roots. If the weeds should happen to get ahead of it, the only remedy is to turn it up repeatedly with the plough, until the roots of the weeds are thoroughly destroyed. This fodder should never be given to cattle to satiety, otherwise it may be necessary to let blood; it is best, too, when used while green. When dry, it becomes tough and ligneous, and falls away at last into a thin, useless dust. As to the cytisus, which also occupies the very foremost rank among the fodders, we have already spoken of it at sufficient length when describing the shrubs. It remains for us now to complete our account of all the cereals, and we shall here devote a portion of it to the diseases to which they are subject.
 
18 - 44 DISEASES OF GRAIN: THE OAT M
The foremost feature of disease in wheat is the oat. Barley, too, will degenerate into the oat; so much so, in fact, that tile oat has become an equivalent for corn; for the people of Germany are in the habit of sowing it, and make their porridge of nothing else. This degeneracy is owing more particularly to humidity of soil and climate; and a second cause is a weakness in the seed, the result of its being retained too long in the ground before it makes its appearance above it. The same, too, will be the consequence, if the seed is decayed when put in the ground. This may be known, however, the moment it makes its appearance, from which it is quite evident that the defect lies in the root. There is another form of disease, too, which closely resembles the oat, and which supervenes when the grain, already developed to its full size, but not ripe, is struck by a noxious blast, before it has acquired its proper body and strength; in this case, the seed pines away in the ear, by a kind of abortion, as it were, and totally disappears.
The wind is injurious to wheat and barley, at three periods of the year in particular: when they are in blossom, directly the blossom has passed off, and just as the seed is beginning to ripen. In this last case, the grain wastes away, while in the two former ones it is prevented from being developed. Gleams of sunshine, every now and then, from the midst of clouds, are injurious to corn. Maggots, too, breed in the roots, when the rains that follow the seed-time are succeeded by a sudden heat, which encloses the humidity in the ground. Maggots make their appearance, also, in the grain, when the ear ferments through heat succeeding a fall of rain. There is a small beetle, too, known by the name of "cantharis," which eats away the blade. All these insects die, however, as soon as their nutriment fails them. Oil, pitch, and grease are pre- judicial to grain, and care should be taken not to let them come in contact with the seed that is sown. Rain is only beneficial to grain while in the blade; it is injurious to wheat and barley while they are in blossom, but is not detrimental to the leguminous plants, with the exception of the chick-pea. When grain is beginning to ripen, rain is injurious, and to barley in particular. There is a white grass that grows in the fields, very similar to panic in appearance, but fatal to cattle. As to darnel, the tribulus, the thistle, and the burdock, I can consider them, no more than the bramble, among the maladies that attack the cereals, but rather as so many pests inflicted on the earth. Mildew, a malady resulting from the inclemency of the weather, and equally attacking the vine and corn, is in no degree less injurious. It attacks corn most frequently in localities which are exposed to dews, and in vallies which have not a thorough draught for the wind; windy and elevated spots, on the other hand, are totally exempt from it. Another evil, again, in corn, is over-luxuriance, when it falls to the ground beneath the weight of the grain. One evil, however, to which all crops in common, the chick-pea even, are exposed, is the attacks of the caterpillar, when the rain, by washing away the natural saltness of the vegetation, makes it all the more tempting for its sweetness. There is a certain plant, too, which kills the chick-pea and the fitch, by twining around them; the name of it is "orobanche." In a similar manner, also, wheat is attacked by darnel, barley by a long-stalked plant, called "ægilops," and the lentil by an axe-leafed grass, to which, from the resemblance of the leaf, the Greeks have given the name of "pelecinon." All these plants, too, kill the others by entwining around them. In the neighbourhood of Philippi, there is a plant known as ateramon, which grows in a rich soil, and kills the bean, after it has been exposed, while wet, to the blasts of a certain wind: when it grows in a thin, light soil, this plant is called "teramon." The seed of darnel is extremely minute, and is enclosed in a prickly husk. If introduced into bread, it will speedily produce vertigo; and it is said that in Asia and Greece, the bath-keepers, when they want to disperse a crowd of people, throw this seed upon burning coals. The phalangium, a diminutive insect of the spider genus, breeds in the fitch, if the winter happens to be wet. Slugs, too, breed in the vetch, and sometimes a tiny snail makes its way out of the ground, and eats it away in a most singular manner. These are pretty nearly all the maladies to which grain is subject.
 
18 - 45 BEST REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF GRAIN M
The best remedy for these maladies, so long as grain is in the blade, is the weeding-hook, and, at the moment of sowing, ashes. As to those diseases which develop themselves in the seed and about the root, with due care precautions may be effectually employed against them. It is generally supposed that if seed has been first steeped in wine, it will be less exposed to disease. Virgil recommends that beans should be drenched with nitre and amurca of olives; and he says that if this is done, they will be all the larger. Some persons, again, are of opinion, that they will grow of increased size, if the seed is steeped for three days before it is sown in a solution of urine and water. If the ground, too, is hoed three times, a modius of beans in the pod, they say, will yield not less than a modius of shelled beans. Other seeds, again, it is said, will be exempt from the attacks of maggots, if bruised cypress leaves are mixed with them, or if they are sown just at the moon's conjunction. Many persons, for the more effectual protection of millet, recommend that a bramble-frog should be carried at night round the field before the hoeing is done, and then buried in an earthen vessel in the middle of it. If this is done, they say, neither sparrows nor worms will attack the crop. The frog, however, must be disinterred before the millet is cut; for if this is neglected, the produce will be bitter. It is pretended, too, that all seeds which have been touched by the shoulders of a mole are remarkably productive.
Democritus recommends that all seeds before they are sown should be steeped in the juice of the herb known as "aizoüm," which grows on tiles or shingles, and is known to us by the Latin name of "sedum" or "digitellum." If blight pre- vails, or if worms are found adhering to the roots, it is a very common remedy to sprinkle the plants with pure amurca of olives without salt, and then to hoe the ground. If, however, the crop should be beginning to joint, it should be stubbed at once, for fear lest the weeds should gain the upper hand. I know for certain that flights of starlings and sparrows, those pests to millet and panic, are effectually driven away by means of a certain herb, the name of which is unknown to me, being buried at the four corners of the field: it is a wonderful thing to relate, but in such case not a single bird will enter it. Mice are kept away by the ashes of a weasel or a cat being steeped in water and then thrown upon the seed, or else by using the water in which the body of a weasel or a cat has been boiled. The odour, however, of these animals makes itself perceived in the bread even; for which reason it is generally thought a better plan to steep the seed in ox-gall. As for mildew, that greatest curse of all to corn, if branches of laurel are fixed in the ground, it will pass away from the field into the leaves of the laurel. Over-luxuriance in corn is repressed by the teeth of cattle, but only while it is in the blade; in which case, if depastured upon ever so often, no injury to it when in the ear will be the result. If the ear, too, is once cut off, the grain, it is well known, will assume a larger form, but will be hollow within and worthless, and if sown, will come to nothing. At Babylon, however, they cut the blade twice, and then let the cattle pasture on it a third time, for otherwise it would run to nothing but leaf. Even then, however, so fertile is the soil, that it yields fifty, and, indeed, with care, as much as a hundred, fold. Nor is the cultivation of it attended with any difficulty, the only object being to let the ground be under water as long as possible, in order that the extreme richness and exuberance of the soil may be modified. The Euphrates, however, and the Tigris do not deposit a slime, in the same way that the Niles does in Egypt, nor does the soil produce vegetation spontaneously; but still, so great is the fertility, that, although the seed is only trodden in with the foot, a crop springs up spontaneously the following year. So great a dif- ferrous in soils as this, reminds me that I ought to take this opportunity of specifying those which are the best adapted for the various kinds of grain.
 
18 - 46 CROPS THAT SHOULD BE SOWN IN THE DIFFERENT SOILS M
This, then, is the opinion expressed by Cato on the subject: "In a dense and fertile soil wheat should be sown: but if the locality is subject to fogs, rape, radishes, millet, and panic. Where the land is cold and moist, sowing should be commenced earlier; but where it is hot, at a later period. In a red, black, or gravelly soil, provided it is not watery, lupines should be sown; but in chalk, red earth, or a watery soil, spelt. Where a locality is dry, free from weeds, and not overshadowed, wheat should be put; in; and where the soil is strong and powerful, beans. Vetches should be grown in a soil as free from water and weeds as possible; while wheat and winter wheat are best adapted to an open, elevated locality, fully exposed to the warmth of the sun, the lentil thrives best in a meager, red earth, free from weeds. Barley is equally suited for fallow land and for a soil that is not intended to be fallow, and three-month wheat, for a soil upon which a crop of ordinary wheat would never ripen, but strong enough to bear."
The following, too, is sound advice: Those plants should be sown in a thin soil which do not stand in need of much nutriment, the cytisus, for instance, and such of the leguminous plants, with the exception of the chick-pea, as are taken up by the roots and not cut. From this mode of gathering them —"legers"—the leguminous derive their name. Where it is a rich earth, those plants should be grown which require a greater proportion of nutriment, codeword for instance, wheat, winter-wheat, and flax. The result, then, will be, that a light soil will be given to barley—the root of that grain standing in need of less nutriment—while a more dense, though easily-worked soil, will be assigned to wheat. In humid localities spelt should be sown in preference to wheat; but where the soil is of moderate temperature, either wheat or barley may be grown. Declivities produce a stronger growth of wheat, but in smaller quantities. Spelt and winter-wheat adopt a moist, cretaceous soil in preference to any other. (.) The only occasion on which there ever was a prodigy connected with grain, at least that I am aware of, was in the consulship of P. Ælias and Census Cornelius, the year in which Hannibal was vanquished: on that occasion, we find it stated, corn was seen growing upon trees.
 
18 - 47 DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF CULTIVATION EMPLOYED BY VARIOUS NATIONS M
As we have now spoken at sufficient length of the several varieties of grain and soil, we shall proceed to treat of the methods adopted in tilling the ground, taking care, in the very first place, to make mention of the peculiar facilities enjoyed by Egypt in this respect. In that country, performing the duties of the husbandman, the Nile begins to overflow, as already stated, immediately after the summer solstice or the new moon, gradually at first, but afterwards with increased impetuosity, as long as the sun remains in the sign of Leo, When the sun has passed into Virgo, the impetuosity of the overflow begins to slacken, and when he has entered Libra the river subsides. Should it not have exceeded twelve cubits in its overflow, famine is the sure result; and this is equally the case if it should chance to exceed sixteen; for the higher it has risen, the more slowly it subsides, and, of course, the seedtime is impeded in proportion. It was formerly a very general belief that immediately upon the subsiding of the waters the Egyptians were in the habit of driving herds of swine over the ground, for the purpose of treading the seed into the moist soil—and it is my own impression that this was done in ancient times. At the present day even, the operation is not attended with much greater labour. It is well known, however, that the seed is first laid upon the slime that has been left by the river on its subsidence, and then ploughed in; this being done at the beginning of November. After this is done, a few persons are employed in stubbing, an operation known there as "botanismos." The rest of the labourers, however, have no occasion to visit the land again till a little before the calends of April, and then it is with the reaping-hook. The harvest is completed in the month of May. The stem is never so much as a cubit in length, as there is a stratum of sand beneath the slime, from which last alone the grain receives its support. The best wheat of all is that of the region of Thebais, Egypt being of a marshy character.
The method adopted at Seleucia in Babylonia is very similar to this, but the fertility there is still greater, owing to the overflow of the Euphrates and Tigris, the degree of irrigation being artificially modified in those parts. In Syria, too, the furrows are made extremely light, while in many parts of Italy, again, it takes as many as eight oxen to pant and blow at a single plough. All the operations of agriculture, but this in particular, should be regulated by the oracular precept— "Remember that every locality has its own tendencies."
 
18 - 48 VARIOUS KINDS OF PLOUGHS M
Ploughs are of various kinds. The coulter is the iron part that cuts up the dense earth before it is broken into pieces, and traces beforehand by its incisions the future furrows, which the share, reversed, is to open out with its teeth. Another kind—the common plough-share—is nothing more than a lever, furnished with a pointed beak; while another variety, which is only used in light, easy soils, does not present an edge projecting from the share-beam throughout, but only a small point at the extremity. In a fourth kind again, this point is larger and formed with a cutting edge; by the agency of which implement, it both cleaves the ground, and, with the sharp edges at the sides, cuts up the weeds by the roots. There has been invented, at a comparatively recent period, in that part of Gaul known as Rhætia, a plough with the addition of two small wheels, and known by the name of "plaumorati." The extremity of the share in this has the form of a spade: it is only used, however, for sowing in cultivated lands, and upon soils which are nearly fallow. The broader the plough-share, the better it is for turning up the clods of earth. Immediately after ploughing, the seed is put into the ground, and then harrows with long teeth are drawn over it. Lands which have been sown in this way require no hoeing, but two or three pairs of oxen are employed in ploughing. It is a fair estimate to consider that a single yoke of oxen can work forty jugera of land in the year, where the soil is light, and thirty where it is stubborn.
 
18 - 49 MODE OF PLOUGHING M
In ploughing, the most rigid attention should be paid to the oracular precepts given by Cato on the subject. "What is the essence of good tillage? Good ploughing. What is the second point? Ploughing again. What is the third point? Manuring. Take care not to make crooked furrows. Be careful to plough at the proper time." In warm localities it is necessary to open the ground immediately after the winter solstice, but where it is coke, directly after the vernal equinox: this, too, should be done sooner in dry districts than in wet ones, in a dense soil than a loose one, in a rich land than a meagre one. In countries where the summers are hot and oppressive, the soil cretaceous or thin, it is the best plan to plough between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. Where, on the other hand, the heat is moderate, with frequent falls of rain, and the soil rich and full of vegetation, the ploughing should be done during the prevalence of the heat. A deep, heavy soil, again, should be ploughed in winter; but one that is very thin and dry, only just before putting in the seed.
Tillage, too, has its own particular rules—Never touch the ground while it is wet and cloggy; plough with all your might; loosen the ground before you begin to plough. This method has its advantages, for by turning up the clods the roots of the weeds are killed. Some persons recommend that in every case the ground should be turned up immediately after the vernal equinox. Land that has been ploughed once in spring, from that circumstance has the name of "vervactum." This, too, is equally necessary in the case of fallow land, by which term is meant land that is sown only in alternate years. The oxen employed in ploughing should be harnessed as tightly as possible, to make them plough with their heads up; attention paid to this point will prevent them from galling the neck. If it is among trees and vines that you are ploughing, the oxen should be muzzled, to prevent them from eating off the tender buds. There should be a small bill-hook, too, projecting from the plough-tail, for the purpose of cutting up the roots; this plan being preferable to that of turning them up with the share, and so straining the oxen. When ploughing, finish the furrow at one spell, and never stop to take breath in the middle. It is a fair day's work to plough one jugerum, for the first time, nine inches in depth; and the second time, one jugerum and a half—that is to say, if it is an easy soil. If this, however, is not the case, it will take a day to turn up half a jugerum for the first time, and a whole jugerum the second; for Nature has set limits to the powers of animals even. The furrows should be made, in every case, first in a straight line, and then others should be drawn, crossing them obliquely. Upon a hill-side the furrows are drawn transversely only, the point of the share inclining upwards at one moment and downwards at another. Man, too, is so well fitted for labour, that he is able to supply the place of the ox even; at all events, it is without the aid of that animal that the mountain tribes plough, having only the hoe to help them. The ploughman, unless he stoops to his work, is sure to prevaricate, a word which has been transferred to the Forum, as a censure upon those who transgress—at any rate, let those be on their guard against it, where it was first employed. The share should be cleaned every now and then with a stick pointed with a scraper. The ridges that are left between every two furrows, should not be left in a rough state, nor should large clods be left protruding from the ground. A field is badly ploughed that stands in need of harrowing after the seed is in; but the work has been properly done, when it is impossible to say in which direction the share has gone. It is a good plan, too, to leave a channel every now and then, if the nature of the spot requires it, by making furrows of a larger size, to draw off the water into the drains. (.) After the furrows have been gone over again transversely, the clods are broken, where there is a necessity for it, with either the harrow or the rake; and this operation is repeated after the seed has been put in. This last harrowing is done, where the usage of the locality will allow of it, with either a toothed harrow, or else a plank attached to the plough. This operation of covering in the seed is called "lirare," from which is derived the word "deliratio." Virgil, it is generally thought, intends to recommend sowing after four ploughings, in the passage where he says that land will bear the best crop, which has twice felt the sun and twice the cold. Where the soil is dense, as in most parts of Italy, it is a still better plan to go over the ground five times before sowing; in Etruria, they give the land as many as nine ploughings first. The bean, however, and the vetch may be sown with no risk, without turning up the land at all; which, of course, is so much labour saved. We must not here omit to mention still one other method of ploughing, which the devastations of warfare have suggested in Italy that lies beyond the Padus. The Salassi, when ravaging the territories which lay at the foot of the Alps, made an attempt to lay waste the crops of panic and millet that were just appearing above the ground. Finding, however, that Nature resisted all their endeavours, they passed the plough over the ground, the result of which was that the crops were more abundant than ever; and this it was that first taught us the method of ploughing in, expressed by the word "artrare," otherwise "aratrare," in my opinion the original form. This is done either just as the stem begins to develope itself, or else when it has put forth as many as two or three leaves. Nor must we withhold from the reader a more recent method, which was discovered the year but one before this, in the territory of the Treviri. The crops having been nipped by the extreme severity of the winter, the people sowed the land over again in the month of March, and had a most abundant harvest. We shall now proceed to a description of the peculiar methods employed in cultivating each description of grain.
 
18 - 50 METHODS OF HARROWING, STUBBING, & HOEING, EMPLOYED FOR EACH DESCRIPTION OF GRAIN. USE OF THE HARROW M
For winter wheat, spelt, wheat, zea, and barley, harrow, hoe and stub upon the days which will be mentioned in the sequel. A single hand per jugerum will be quite enough for any one of these kinds of grain. The operation of hoeing loosens the ground in spring when it has been hardened and saddened by the rigours of the winter, and admits the early sun to the interior. In hoeing, every care must be taken not to go beneath the roots of the corn; in the case of wheat, zea, and barley, it is best to give a couple of hoeings. Stubbing, when the crop is just beginning to joint, cleanses it of all noxious weeds, disengages the roots of the corn, and liberates the growing blade from the clods. Among the leguminous plants, the chick-pea requires the same treatment that spelt does. The bean requires no stubbing, being quite able of itself to overpower all weeds; the lupine, too, is harrowed only. Millet and panic are both harrowed and hoed; but this operation is never repeated, and they do not require stubbing. Fenugreek and the kidney-bean require harrowing only.
There are some kinds of ground, the extreme fertility of which obliges the grower to comb down the crops while in the blade—this is done with a sort of harrow armed with pointed iron teeth—and even then he is obliged to depasture cattle upon them. When, however, the blade has been thus eaten down, it stands in need of hoeing to restore it to its former vigour. But in Bactria, and at Cyrenæ in Africa, all this trouble has been rendered quite unnecessary by the indulgent benignity of the climate, and after the seed is in, the owner has no occasion to return to the field till the time has come for getting in the harvest. In those parts the natural dryness of the soil prevents noxious weeds from springing up, and, aided by the night dews alone, the soil supplies its nutriment to the grain. Virgil recommends that the ground should be left to enjoy repose every other year; and this, no doubt, if the extent of the farm will admit of it, is the most advantageous plan. If, however, cir- cumstances will not allow of it, spelt should be sown upon the ground that has been first cropped with lupines, vetches, or beans; for all these have a tendency to make the soil more fertile. We ought to remark here more particularly, that here and there certain plants are sown for the benefit of others, although, as already stated in the preceding Book, not to repeat the same thing over again, they are of little value themselves. But it is the nature of each soil that is of the greatest importance.
 
18 - 51 EXTREME FERTILITY OF SOIL M
There is a city of Africa, situate in the midst of the sands as you journey towards the Syrtes and Great Leptis, Tacape by name. The soil there, which is always well-watered, enjoys a degree of fertility quite marvellous. Through this spot, which extends about three miles each way, a spring of water flows—in great abundance it is true—but still, it is only at certain hours that its waters are distributed among the inhabitants. Here, beneath a palm of enormous size, grows the olive, beneath the olive the fig, beneath the fig, again, the pomegranate, beneath the pomegranate the vine, and beneath the vine we find sown, first wheat, then the leguminous plants, and after them garden herbs—all in the same year, and all growing beneath another's shade. Four cubits square of this same ground—the cubit being measured with the fingers contracted and not extended—sell at the rate of four denarii. But what is more surprising than all, is the fact that here the vine bears twice, and that there are two vintages in the year. Indeed, if the fertility of the soil were not distributed in this way among a multitude of productions, each crop would perish from its own exuberance: as it is, there is no part of the year that there is not some crop or other being gathered in; and yet, it is a well-known fact, that the people do nothing at all to promote this fruitfulness.
There are very considerable differences, too, in the nature of water, as employed for the purposes of irrigation. In the province of Gallia Narbonensis there is a famous fountain, Orge by name; within it there grow plants which are sought for with such eagerness by the cattle, that they will plunge over head into the water to get at them; it is a well ascertained fact, however, that these plants, though growing in the water, receive their nutriment only from the rains that fall. It is as well then that every one should be fully acquainted with the nature, not only of the soil, but of the water too.
 
18 - 52 METHOD OF SOWING MORE THAN ONCE IN THE YEAR M
If the soil is of that nature which we have already spoken of as "tender," after a crop of barley has been grown upon it, millet may be sown, and after the millet has been got in, rape. In succession to these, again, barley may be put in, or else wheat, as in Campania; and it will be quite enough, in such case, to plough the ground when the seed is sown. There is another rotation again—when the ground has been cropped with spelt, it should lie fallow the four winter months; after which, spring beans should be put in, to keep it occupied till the time comes for cropping it with winter beans. Where the soil is too rich, it may lie fallow one year, care being taken after sowing it with corn to crop it with the leguminous plants the third year. Where, on the other hand, it is too thin, the land should lie fallow up to the third year even. Some persons recommend that corn should never be sown except in land which has lain fallow the year before.
 
18 - 53 MANURING OF LAND M
The proper method of manuring is here a very important subject for consideration—we have already treated of it at some length in the preceding Book. The only point that is universally agreed upon is, that we must never sow without first manuring the ground; although in this respect even there are certain rules to be observed. Millet, panic, rape, and turnips should never be sown in any but a manured soil. If, on the other hand, the land is not manured, sow wheat there in preference to barley. The same, too, with fallow lands; though in these it is generally recommended that beans should be sown. It should be remembered, however, that wherever beans are sown, the land should have been manured at as recent a period as possible. If it is intended to crop ground in autumn, care must be taken to plough in manure in the month of September, just after rain has fallen. In the same way, too, if it is intended to sow in spring, the manure should be spread in the winter. It is the rule to give eighteen cart-loads of manure to each jugerum, and to spread it well before ploughing it in, or sowing the seed. If this manuring, however, is omitted, it will be requisite to spread the land with aviary dust just before hoeing is commenced. To clear up any doubts with reference to this point, I would here observe that the fair price for a cart-load of manure is one denarius; where, too, sheep furnish one cart-load, the larger cattle should furnish ten: unless this result is obtained, it is a clear proof that the husbandman has littered his cattle badly.
There are some persons who are of opinion that the best method of manuring land is to pen sheep there, with nets erected to prevent them from straying. If land is not manured, it will get chilled; but if, on the other hand, it is over-manured, it becomes burnt up: it is a much better plan, too, to manure little and often than in excess. The warmer the soil is by nature, the less manure it requires.
 
18 - 54 HOW TO ASCERTAIN THE QUALITY OF SEED M
The best seed of all is that which is of the last year's growth. That which is two years old is inferior, and three the worst of all —beyond that, it is unproductive. The same definite rule which applies to one kind of seed is applicable to them all: the seed which falls to the bottom on the threshing-floor, should be reserved for sowing, for being the most weighty it is the best in quality: there is no better method, in fact, of ascertaining its quality. The grains of those ears which have intervals between the seed should be rejected. The best grain is that which has a reddish hue, and which, when broken between the teeth, presents the same colour; that which has more white within is of inferior quality. It is a well-known fact that some lands require more seed than others, from which circumstance first arose a superstition that exists among the peasantry; it is their belief that when the ground demands the seed with greater avidity than usual, it is famished, and devours the grain. It is consistent with reason to put in the seed where the soil is humid sooner than elsewhere, to prevent the grain from rotting in the rain: on dry spots it should be sown later, and just before the fall of a shower, so that it may not have to lie long without germinating and so come to nothing. When the seed is put in early it should be sown thick, as it is a considerable time before it germinates; but when it is put in later, it should be sown thinly, to prevent it from being suffocated. There is a certain degree of skill, too, required in scattering the seed evenly; to ensure this, the hand must keep time with the step, moving always with the right foot. There are certain persons, also, who have a secret method of their own, having been born with a happy hand which imparts fruitfulness to the grain. Care should be taken not to sow seed in a warm locality which has been grown in a cold one, nor should the produce of an early soil be sown in a late one. Those who give advice to the contrary have quite misapplied their pains.
 
18 - 55 WHAT QUANTITY OF EACH KIND OF GRAIN IS REQUISlTE FOR SOWING A JUGEBRUM M
In a soil of middling quality, the proper proportion of seed is five modii of wheat or winter-wheat to the jugerum, ten of spelt or of seed-wheat—that being the name which we have mentioned as being given to one kind of wheat—six of barley, one-fifth more of beans than of wheat, twelve of vetches, three of chick-pease, chicheling vetches, and pease, ten of lupines, three of lentils—(these last, however, it is said, must be sown with dry manure)—six of fitches, six of fenugreek, four of kidney-beans, twenty of hay grass, and four sextarii of millet and panic. Where the soil is rich, the proportion must be greater, where it is thin, less.
There is another distinction, too, to be made; where the soil is dense, cretaceous, or moist, there should be six modii of wheat or winter-wheat to the jugerum, but where the land is loose, dry, and prolific, four will be enough. A meagre soil, too, if the crop is not very thinly sown, will produce a diminutive, empty ear. Rich lands give a number of stalks to each grain, and yield a thick crop from only a light sowing. The result, then, is, that from four to six modii must be sown, according to the nature of the soil; though there are some who make it a rule that five modii is the proper proportion for sowing, neither more nor less, whether it is a densely-planted locality, a declivity, or a thin, meagre soil. To this subject bears reference an oracular precept which never can be too carefully observed—"Don't rob the harvest." Attius, in his Praxidicus, has added that the proper time for sowing is, when the moon is in Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, and Aquarius. Zoroaster says it should be done when the sun has passed twelve degrees of Scorpio, and the moon is in Taurus.
 
18 - 56 PROPER TIMES FOR SOWING M
We now come to a subject which has been hitherto deferred by us, and which requires our most careful attention—the proper times for sowing. This is a question that depends in a very great degree upon the stars; and I shall therefore make it my first care to set forth all the opinions that have been written in reference to the subject. Hesiod, the first writer who has given any precepts upon agriculture, speaks of one period only for sowing—the setting of the Vergiliæ: but then he wrote in Bœotia, a country of Hellas, where, as we have already stated, they are still in the habit of sowing at that period.
It is generally agreed by the most correct writers, that with the earth, as with the birds and quadrupeds, there are certain impulses for reproduction; and the epoch for this is fixed by the Greeks at the time when the earth is warm and moist. Virgil says that wheat and spelt should be sown at the setting of the Vergiliæ, barley between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, and vetches, kidney-beans, and lentils at the setting of Boötes: it is of great importance, therefore, to ascertain the exact days of the rising and setting of these constellations, as well as of the others. There are some, again, who recommend the sowing to be done before the setting of the Vergiliæ, but only in a dry soil, and in those provinces where the weather is hot; for the seed, they say, if put in the ground will keep, there being no moisture to spoil it, and within a single day after the next fall of rain, will make its appearance above ground. Others, again, are of opinion that sowing should begin about seven days after the setting of the Vergiliæ, a period which is mostly followed by rain. Some think that cold soils should be sown immediately after the autumnal equinox, and a warm soil later, so that the blade may not put forth too luxuriantly before winter. It is universally agreed, however, that the sowing should not be done about the period of the winter solstice; for this very good reason—the winter seeds, if put in before the winter solstice, will make their appearance above ground on the seventh day, whereas, if they are sown just after it, they will hardly appear by the fortieth. There are some, however, who begin very early, and have a saying to justify their doing so, to the effect that if seed sown too early often disappoints, seed put in too late always does so. On the other hand, again, there are some who maintain that it is better to sow in spring than in a bad autumn; and they say that if they find themselves obliged to sow in spring, they would choose the period that intervenes between the prevalence of the west winds and the vernal equinox. Some persons, however, take no notice of the celestial phenomena, and only regulate their movements by the months. In spring they put in flax, the oat, and the poppy, up to the feast of the Quinquatria, as we find done at the present day by the people of Italy beyond the Padus. There, too, they sow beans and winter-wheat in the month of November, and spelt at the end of September, up to the ides of October: others, however, sow this last after the ides of October, as late as the calends of November. The persons who do this take no notice, consequently, of the phænomena of Nature, while others, again, lay too much stress upon them, and hence, by these refined subtleties and distinctions, only add to their blindness; for here are ignorant rustics, not only dealing with a branch of learning, but that branch astronomy! It must still, however, be admitted that the observation of the heavens plays a very important part in the operations of agriculture; and Virgil, we find, gives it as his advice, that before any thing else, we should learn the theory of the winds, and the revolutions of the stars; for, as he says, the agriculturist, no less than the mariner, should regulate his movements thereby. It is an arduous attempt, and almost beyond all hope of success, to make an endeavour to introduce the divine science of the heavens to the uninformed mind of the rustic; still, however, with a view to such vast practical results as must be derived from this kind of knowledge, I shall make the attempt. There are some astronomical difficulties, however, which have been experienced by the learned even, that ought to be first submitted for consideration, in order that the mind may feel some encouragement on abandoning the study of the heavens, and may be acquainted with facts at least, even though it is still unable to see into futurity.
 
18 - 57 ARRANGEMENT OF STARS ACCORDING TO TERRESTRIAL DAYS AND NIGHTS M
In the first place, it is almost an utter impossibility to calculate with a fair degree of accuracy the days of the year and the movements of the sun. To the three hundred and sixty-five days there are still to be added the intercalary days, the result of the additional quarters of a day and night: hence it is, that it is found impossible to ascertain with exactness the proper periods for the appearance of the stars. To this we must add, too, a certain degree of uncertainty connected with these matters, that is universally admitted; thus, for instance, bad and wintry weather will often precede, by several days, the proper period for the advent of that season, a state of things known to the Greeks as προχειμάζειν; while at another time, it will last longer than usual, a state of circumstances known as ἐπιχειμάζειν. The effects, too, of the changes that take place in the seasons will sometimes be felt later, and at other times earlier, upon their reaching the face of the earth; and we not unfrequently hear the remark made, upon the return of fine weather, that the action of such and such a constellation is now completed. And then, again, as all these phænomena depend upon certain stars, arranged and regulated in the vault of heaven, we find intervening, in accordance with the movements of certain stars, hailstorms and showers, themselves productive of no slight results, as we have already observed, and apt to interfere with the anticipated regular recurrence of the seasons. Nor are we to suppose that these disappointments fall upon the human race only, for other animated beings, as well as ourselves, are deceived in regard to them, although endowed with even a greater degree of sagacity upon these points than we are, from the fact of their very existence depending so materially upon them. Hence it is, that we sometimes see the summer birds killed by too late or too early cold, and the winter birds by heat coming out of the usual season. It is for this reason, that Virgil has recommended us to study the courses of the planets, and has particularly warned us to watch the passage of the cold star Saturn.
There are some who look upon the appearance of the butterfly as the surest sign of spring, because of the extreme delicacy of that insect. In this present year, however, in which I am penning these lines, it has been remarked that the flights of butterflies have been killed three several times, by as many returns of the cold; while the foreign birds, which brought us by the sixth of the calends of February every indication of an early spring, after that had to struggle against a winter of the greatest severity. In treating of these matters, we have to meet a twofold difficulty: first of all, we have to ascertain whether or not the celestial phænomena are regulated by certain laws, and then we have to seek how to reconcile those laws with apparent facts. We must, however, be more particularly careful to take into account the convexity of the earth, and the differences of situation in the localities upon the face of the globe; for hence it is, that the same constellation shows itself to different nations at different times, the result being, that its influence is by no means perceptible everywhere at the same moment. This difficulty has been considerably enhanced, too, by various authors, who, after making their observations in different localities, and indeed, in some instances, in the same locality, have yet given us varying or contradictory results. There have been three great schools of astronomy, the Chaldæan, the Ægyptian, and the Grecian. To these has been added a fourth school, which was established by the Dictator Cæsar among ourselves, and to which was entrusted the duty of regulating the year in conformity with the sun's revolution, under the auspices of Sosigenes, an astronomer of considerable learning and skill. His theory, too, upon the discovery of certain errors, has since been corrected, no intercalations having been made for twelve successive years, upon its being found that the year which before had anticipated the constellations, was now beginning to fall behind them. Even Sosigenes himself, too, though more correct than his predecessors, has not hesitated to show, by his continual corrections in the three several treatises which he composed, that he still entertained great doubts on the subject. The writers, too, whose names are inserted at the beginning of this work, have sufficiently revealed the fact of these discrepancies, the opinions of one being rarely found to agree with those of another. This, however, is less surprising in the case of those whose plea is the difference of the localities in which they wrote. But with reference to those who, though living in the same country, have still arrived at different results, we shall here mention one remarkable instance of discrepancy. Hesiod—for under his name, also, we have a treatise extant on the Science of the Stars—has stated that the morning setting of the Vergiliæ takes place at the moment of the autumnal equinox; whereas Thales, we find, makes it the twenty-fifth day after the equinox, Anaximander the twenty-ninth, and Euctemon the forty-eighth. As for ourselves, we shall follow the calculations made by Julius Cæsar, which bear reference more particularly to Italy; though at the same time, we shall set forth the dicta of various other writers, bearing in mind that we are treating not of an individual country, but of Nature considered in her totality. In doing this, however, we shall name, not the writers themselves, for that would be too lengthy a task, but the countries in reference to which they speak. The reader must bear in mind, then, that for the sake of saving space, under the head of Attica, we include the islands of the Cyclades as well; under that of Macedonia, Magnesia and Thracia; under that of Egypt, Phœnice, Cyprus, and Cilicia; under that of Bœotia, Locris, Phocis, and the adjoining countries; under that of Hellespont, Chersonesus, and the contiguous parts as far as Mount Athos; under that of Ionia, Asia and the islands of Asia; under that of Peloponnesus, Achaia, and the regions lying to the west of it. Chaldæa, when mentioned, will signify Assyria and Babylonia, as well. My silence as to Africa, Spain, and the provinces of Gaul, will occasion no surprise, from the fact that no one has published any observations made upon the stars in those countries. Still, however, there will be no difficulty in calculating them, even for these regions as well, on reference being made to the parallels which have been set forth in the Sixth Book. By adopting this course, an accurate acquaintance may be made with the astronomical relations, not only of individual nations, but of cities even as well. By taking the circular parallels which we have there appended to the several portions of the earth respectively, and applying them to the countries in question, that are similarly situate, it will be found that the rising of the heavenly bodies will be the same for all parts within those parallels, where the shadows projected are of equal length. It is also deserving of remark, that the seasons have their periodical recurrences, without any marked difference, every four years, in consequence of the influence of the sun, and that the characteristics of the seasons are developed in excess every eighth year, at the revolution of every hundredth moon.
 
18 - 58 RISING AND SETTING OF THE STARS M
The whole of this system is based upon the observation of three branches of the heavenly phænomena, the rising of the constellations, their setting, and the regular recurrence of the seasons. These risings and settings may be observed in two different ways:—The stars are either concealed, and cease to be seen at the rising of the sun, or else present themselves to our view at his setting—this last being more generally known by the name of "emersion" than of "rising," while their dis- appearance is rather an "occultation" than a "setting."— Considered, again, in another point of view, when upon certain days they begin to appear or disappear, at the setting or the rising of the sun, as the case may be, these are called their morning or their evening settings or risings, according as each of these phenomena takes place at day-break or twilight. It requires an interval of three quarters of an hour at least before the rising of the sun or after his setting, for the stars to be visible to us. In addition to this, there are certain stars which rise and set twice. All that we here state bears reference, it must be remembered, to the fixed stars only.
 
18 - 59 EPOCHS OF THE SEASONS M
The year is divided into four periods or seasons, the recurrence of which is indicated by the increase or diminution of the daylight. Immediately after the winter solstice the days begin to increase, and by the time of the vernal equinox, or in other words, in ninety days and three hours, the day is equal in length to the night. After this, for ninety-four days and twelve hours, the days continue to increase, and the nights to diminish in proportion, up to the summer solstice; and from that point the days, though gradually decreasing, are still in excess of the nights for ninety-two days, twelve hours, until the autumnal equinox. At this period the days are of equal length with the nights, and after it they continue to decrease inversely to the nights until the winter solstice, a period of eighty-eight days and three hours. In all these calculations, it must be remembered, equinoctial hours are spoken of, and not those measured arbitrarily in reference to the length of any one day in particular. All these seasons, too, commence at the eighth degree of the signs of the Zodiac. The winter solstice begins at the eighth degree of Capricorn, the eighth day before the calends of January, in general; the vernal equinox at the eighth degree of Aries; the summer solstice, at the eighth degree of Cancer; and the autumnal equinox at the eighth degree of Libra: and it is rarely that these days do not respectively give some indication of a change in the weather.
These four seasons again, are subdivided, each of them, into two equal parts. Thus, for instance, between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox, the setting of the Lyre, on the forty-sixth day, indicates the beginning of autumn; between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, the morning setting of the Vergiliæ, on the forty-fourth day, denotes the beginning of winter; between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, the prevalence of the west winds on the forty-fifth day, denotes the commencement of spring; and between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice, the morning rising of the Vergiliæ, on the forty-eighth day, announces the commencement of summer. We shall here make seed-time, or in other words, the morning setting of the Vergiliæ, our starting-point; and shall not interrupt the thread of our explanation by making any mention of the minor constellations, as such a course would only augment the difficulties that already exist. It is much about this period that the stormy constellation of Orion departs, after traversing a large portion of the heavens.
 
18 - 60 PROPER TIME FOR WINTER SOWING M
Most persons anticipate the proper time for sowing, and begin to put in the corn immediately after the eleventh day of the autumnal equinox, at the rising of the Crown, when we may reckon, almost to a certainty, upon several days of rainy weather in succession. Xenophon is of opinion, that sowing should not be commenced until the Deity has given us the signal for it, a term by which Cicero understands the rains that prevail in November. The true method to be adopted, however, is not to sow until the leaves begin to fall. Some persons are of opinion that this takes place at the setting of the Vergiliæ, or the third day before the ides of November, as already stated, and they carefully observe it, for it is a constellation very easily remarked in the heavens, and warns us to resume our winter clothes. Hence it is, that immediately on its setting, the approach of winter is expected, and care is taken by those who are on their guard against the exorbitant charges of the shop-keepers, to provide themselves with an appropriate dress. If the Vergiliæ set with cloudy weather, it forebodes a rainy winter, and the prices of cloaks immediately rise; but if, on the other hand, the weather is clear at that period, a sharp winter is to be expected, and then the price of garments of other descriptions is sure to go up. But as to the husbandman, unacquainted as he is with the phænomena of the heavens, his brambles are to him in place of constellations, and if he looks at the ground he sees it covered with their leaves. This fall of the leaves, earlier in one place and later in another, is a sure criterion of the temperature of the weather; for there is a great affinity between the effects produced by the weather in this respect, and the nature of the soil and climate. There is this peculiar advantage, too, in the careful observation of these effects, that they are sure to be perceptible throughout the whole earth, while at the same time they have certain features which are peculiar to each individual locality.—A person may perhaps be surprised at this, who does not bear in mind that the herb pennyroyal, which is hung up in our larders, always blossoms on the day of the winter solstice; so firmly resolved is Nature that nothing shall remain concealed from us, and in that spirit has given us the fall of the leaf as the signal for sowing.
Such is the true method of interpreting all these phenomena, granted to us by Nature as a manifestation of her will. It is in this way that she warns us to prepare the ground, makes us a promise of a manure, as it were, in the fall of the leaves, announces to us that the earth and the productions thereof are thus protected by her against the cold, and warns us to hasten the operations of agriculture.
 
18 - 61 WHEN TO SOW THE LEGUMINOUS PLANTS AND THE POPPY M
Varro has given no other sign but this for our guidance in sowing the bean. Some persons are of opinion that it should be sown at full moon, the lentil between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth day of the moon, and the vetch on the same days of the moon; and they assure us that if this is done they will be exempt from the attacks of slugs. Some say, however, that if wanted for fodder, they may be sown at these periods, but if for seed, in the spring. There is another sign, more evident still, supplied us by the marvellous foresight of Nature, with reference to which we will give the words employed by Cicero himself:
"The lentisk, ever green and ever bent
Beneath its fruits, affords a threefold crop:
Thrice teeming, thrice it warns us when to plough."
One of the periods here alluded to, is the same that is now under consideration, being the appropriate time also for sowing flax and the poppy. With reference to this last, Cato gives the following advice: "Burn, upon land where corn has been grown, the twigs and branches which are of no use to you, and when that is done, sow the poppy there." The wild poppy, which is of an utility that is quite marvellous, is boiled in honey as a remedy for diseases in the throat, while the cultivated kind is a powerful narcotic. Thus much in reference to winter sowing.
 
18 - 62 WORK TO BE DONE IN THE COUNTRY IN EACH MONTH RESPECTIVELY M
And now, in order to complete what we may call in some measure an abridgment of the operations of agriculture, it is as well to add that it will be a good plan at the same period to manure the roots of trees, and to mould up the vines—a single hand being sufficient for one jugerum. Where, too, the nature of the locality will allow it, the vines, and the trees upon which they are trained, should be lopped, and the soil turned up with the mattock for seed plots; trenches, too, should be opened out, and the water drained from off the fields, and the presses should be well washed and put away. Never put eggs beneath the hen between the calends of November and the winter solstice: during all the summer and up to the calends of November, you may put thirteen under the hen; but the number must be smaller in winter, not less than nine, however. Democritus is of opinion, that the winter will turn out of the same character as the weather on the day of the winter solstice and the three succeeding days; the same too with the summer and the weather at the summer solstice. About the winter solstice, for about twice seven days mostly, while the halcyon is sitting, the winds are lulled, and the weather serene; but in this case, as in all others, the influence of the stars must only be judged of by the result, and we must not expect the changes of the weather, as if out upon their recognizances, to make their appearance exactly on certain predetermined days.
 
18 - 63 WORK TO BE DONE AT THE WINTER SOLSTICE M
Be careful never to touch the vine at the winter solstice. Hyginus recommends us to strain and even rack-off wine at the seventh day after the winter solstice, provided the moon is seven days old. About this period, also, the cherry-tree, he says, should be planted. Acorns, too, should now be put in soak for the oxen, a modius for each pair. If given in larger quantities, this food will prove injurious to their health; and whenever it is given, if they are fed with it for less than thirty days in succession, an attack of scab in the spring, it is said, will be sure to make you repent.
This, too, is the period that we have already assigned for cutting timber—other kinds of work, again, may be found for the hours of the night, which are then so greatly prolonged. There are baskets, hurdles, and panniers to be woven, and wood to be cut for torches: squared stays for the vine may be prepared, too, thirty in the day time, and if rounded, as many as sixty. In the long hours of the evening, too, some five squared stays, or ten rounded ones may be got ready, and the same number while the day is breaking.
 
18 - 64 WORK TO BE DONE BETWEEN WINTER SOLSTICE & PREVALENCE OF WEST WINDS M
Between the winter solstice and the period when the west winds begin to prevail, the following, according to Cæsar, are the more important signs afforded by the constellations: the Dog sets in the morning, upon the third day before the calends of January; a day on the evening of which the Eagle sets to the people of Attica and the adjoining countries. On the day be- fore the nones of January, according to Cæsar's computation, the Dolphin rises in the morning, and on the next day, the Lyre, upon the evening of which the Arrow sets to the people of Egypt. Upon the sixth day before the ides of January, the Dolphin sets in the evening, and Italy has many days of continuous cold; the same is the case also when the sun enters Aquarius, about the sixteenth day before the calends of February. On the eighth before the calends of February, the star which Tubero calls the Royal Star sets in the morning in the breast of Leo, and in the evening of the day before the nones of February, the Lyre sets.
During the latter days of this period, whenever the nature of the weather will allow of it, the ground should be turned up with a double mattock, for planting the rose and the vine —sixty men to a jugerum. Ditches, too, should be cleaned out, or new ones made; and the time of day-break may be usefully employed in sharpening iron tools, fitting on handles, repairing such dolia as may have been broken, and rubbing up and cleaning their staves.
 
18 - 65 WORK TO BE DONE BETWEEN PREVALENCE OF WEST WINDS & VERNAL EQUINOX M
Between the prevalence of the west winds and the vernal equinox, the fourteenth day before the calends of March, according to Cæsar, announces three days of changeable weather; the same is the case, too, with the eighth before the calends of March, at the first appearance of the swallow, Arcturus rising on the evening of the next day. Cæsar has observed, that the same takes place on the third before the nones of March, at the rising of Cancer; and most authorities say the same with reference to the emersion of the Vintager. On the eighth before the ides of March, the northern limb of Pisces rises, and on the next day Orion, at which period also, in Attica, the Kite is first seen. Cæsar has noted, too, the setting of Scorpio on the ides of March, a day that was so fatal to him; and on the fifteenth before the calends of April, the Kite appears in Italy. On the twelfth before the calends of April, the Horse sets in the morning.
This interval of time is a period of extreme activity for the agriculturist, and affords him a great number of occupations, in reference to which, however, he is extremely liable to be deceived. He is summoned to the commencement of these labours, not upon the day on which the west winds ought to begin, but upon the day on which they really do begin, to blow. This moment then must be looked for with the most careful attention, as it is a signal which the Deity has vouchsafed us in this month, attended with no doubts or equivocations, if only looked for with scrupulous care. We have already stated in the Second Book, the quarter in which this wind blows, and the exact point from which it comes, and before long we shall have occasion to speak of it again still more in detail. In the mean time, however, setting out from the day, what- ever it may happen to be, on which the west winds begin to prevail (for it is not always on the seventh before the ides of February that they do begin), whether, in fact, they begin to blow before the usual time, as is the case with an early spring, or whether after, which generally happens when the winter is prolonged—there are subjects innumerable to engage the attention of the agriculturist, and those, of course, should be the first attended to, which will admit of no delay. Three month wheat must now be sown, the vine pruned in the way we have already described, the olive carefully attended to, fruit-trees put in and grafted, vineyards cleaned and hoed, seedlings laid out, and replaced in the nursery by others, the reed, the willow, and the broom planted and lopped, and the elm, the poplar, and the plane planted in manner already mentioned. At this period, also, the crops of corn ought to be weeded, and the winter kinds, spelt more particularly, well hoed. In doing this, there is a certain rule to be observed, the proper moment being when four blades have made their appearance, and with the bean this should never be done until three leaves have appeared above ground; even then, however, it is a better plan to clean them only with a slight hoeing, in preference to digging up the ground—but in no case should they ever be touched the first fifteen days of their blossom. Barley must never be hoed except when it is quite dry: take care, too, to have all the pruning done by the vernal equinox. Four men will be sufficient for pruning a jugerum of vineyard, and each hand will be able to train fifteen vines to their trees. At this period, too, attention should be paid to the gardens and rose-beds, subjects which will be separately treated of in succeeding Books; due care should be given to ornamental gardening as well. It is now, too, the very best time for making ditches. The ground should now be opened for future purposes, as we find recommended by Virgil in particular, in order that the sun may thoroughly warm the clods. It is a piece of even more sound advice, which recommends us to plough no lands in the middle of spring but those of middling quality; for if this is done with a rich soil, weeds will be sure to spring up in the furrows immediately; and if, on the other hand, it is a thin, meagre land, as soon as the heat comes on, it will be dried up, and so lose all the moisture which should be reserved to nourish the seed when sown. It is a much better plan, beyond a doubt, to plough such soils as these in autumn. Cato lays down the following rules for the operations of spring. "Ditches," he says, "should be dug in the seed-plots, vines should be grafted, and the elm, the fig, the olive, and other fruit-trees planted in dense and humid soils. Such meadows as are not irrigated, must be manured in a dry moon, protected from the western blasts, and carefully cleaned; noxious weeds must be rooted up, fig-trees cleared, new seed-plots made, and the old ones dressed: all this should be done before you begin to hoe the vineyard. When the pear is in blossom, too, you should begin to plough, where it is a meagre, gravelly soil. When you have done all this, you may plough the more heavy, watery soils, doing this the last of all." The proper time for ploughing, then, is denoted by these two signs, the earliest fruit of the lentisk making its appearance, and the blossoming of the pear. There is a third sign, however, as well, the flowering of the squill among the bulbous, and of the narcissus among the garland, plants. For both the squill and the narcissus, as well as the lentisk, flower three times, denoting by their first flowering the first period for ploughing, by the second flowering the second, and by the third flowering the last; in this way it is that one thing affords hints for another. There is one precaution, too, that is by no means the least important among them all, not to let ivy touch the bean while in blossom; for at this period the ivy is noxious to it, and most baneful in its effects. Some plants, again, afford certain signs which bear reference more particularly to themselves, the fig for instance; when a few leaves only are found shooting from the summit, like a cup in shape, then it is more particularly that the fig-tree should be planted.
 
18 - 66 WORK TO BE DONE AFTER VERNAL EQUINOX M
The vernal equinox appears to end on the eighth day be- fore the calends of April. Between the equinox and the morning rising of the Vergiliæ, the calends of April announce, according to Cæsar, [stormy weather]. Upon the third before the nones of April, the Vergiliæ set in the evening in Attica, and the day after in Bœotia, but according to Cæsar and the Chaldæans, upon the nones. In Egypt, at this time, Orion and his Sword begin to set. According to Cæsar, the setting of Libra on the sixth before the ides of April announces rain. On the fourteenth before the calends of May, the Suculæ set to the people of Egypt in the evening, a stormy constellation, and significant of tempests both by land and sea. This constellation sets on the sixteenth in Attica, and on the fifteenth, according to Cæsar, announcing four days of bad weather in succession: in Assyria it sets upon the twelfth before the calends of May. This constellation has ordinarily the name of Parilicium, from the circumstance that the eleventh before the calends of May is observed as the natal day of the City of Rome; upon this day, too, fine weather generally returns, and gives us a clear sky for our observations. The Greeks call the Suculæ by the name of "Hyades," in consequence of the rain and clouds which they bring with them; while our people, misled by the resemblance of the Greek name to another word of theirs, meaning a "pig," have imagined that the constellation receives its name from that word, and have consequently given it, in their ignorance, the name of "Suculæ," or the "Little Pigs."
In the calculations made by Cœsar, the eighth before the calends of May is a day remarked, and on the seventh before the calends, the constellation of the Kids rises in Egypt. On the sixth before the calends, the Dog sets in the evening in Bœotia and Attica, and the Lyre rises in the morning. On the fifth before the calends of May, Orion has wholly set to the people of Assyria, and on the fourth before the calends the Dog. On the sixth before the nones of May, the Suculæ rise in the morning, according to the calculation of Cæsar, and on the eighth before the ides, the She-goat, which announces rain. In Egypt the Dog sets in the evening of the same day. Such are pretty nearly the movements of the constellations up to the sixth before the ides of May, the period of the rising of the Vergiliæ. In this interval of time, during the first fifteen days, the agriculturist must make haste and do all the work for which he has not been able to find time before the vernal equinox; and he should bear in mind that those who are late in pruning their vines are exposed to jibes and taunts, in imitation of the note of the bird of passage known to us as the cuckoo. For it is looked upon as a disgrace, and one that subjects him to well-merited censure, for that bird, upon its arrival, to find him only then pruning his vines. Hence it is, too, that we find those cutting jokes, of which our peasantry are the object, at the beginning of spring. Still, however, all such jokes are to be looked upon as most abominable, from the ill omens they convey. In this way, then, we see that, in agricultural operations, the most trifling things are construed as so many hints supplied us by Nature. The latter part of this period is the proper time for sowing panic and millet; the precise moment, however, is just after the barley has ripened. In the case of the very same land, too, there is one sign that points in common both to the ripening of the barley and the sowing of panic and millet—the appearance of the glow-worm, shining in the fields at night. "Cicindelæ" is the name given by the country people to these flying stars, while the Greeks call them "lampyrides,"—another manifestation of the incredible bounteousness of Nature.
 
18 - 67 WORK TO BE DONE AFTER RISING OF VERGILIÆ: HAY-MAKING M
Nature had already formed the Vergiliæ, a noble group of stars, in the heavens; but not content with these, she has made others as well for the face of the earth, crying aloud, as it were "Why contemplate the heavens, husbandman? Why, rustic, look up at the stars? Do not the nights already afford you a sleep too brief for your fatigues? Behold now! I scatter stars amid the grass for your service, and I reveal them to you in the evening, as you return from your work; and that you may not disregard them, I call your attention to this marvel. Do you not see how the wings of this insect cover a body bright and shining like fire, and how that body gives out light in the hours of the night even? I have given you plants to point out to you the hours, and, that you may not have to turn your eyes from the earth, even to view the sun, the heliotropium and the lupine have been made by me to move with his movements. Why then still look upwards, and scan the face of heaven? Behold, here before your very feet are your Vergiliæ; upon a certain day do they make their appearance, and for a certain time do they stay. Equally certain, too, it is that of that constellation they are the offspring. Whoever, then, shall put in his summer seeds before they have made their appearance, will infallibly find himself in the wrong."
It is in this interval, too, that the little bee comes forth, and announces that the bean is about to blossom; for it is the bean in flower that summons it forth. We will here give another sign, which tells us when the cold is gone; as soon as ever you see the mulberry in bud, you have no occasion to fear any injury from the rigour of the weather. It is the time, now, to put in cuttings of the olive, to clear away between the olive-trees, and, in the earlier days of the equinox, to irrigate the meadows. As soon, however, as the grass puts forth a stem, you must shut off the water from the fields. You must now lop the leafy branches of the vine, it being the rule that this should be done as soon as the branches have attained four fingers in length; one labourer will be sufficient for a jugerun. The crops of corn, too, should be hoed over again, an operation which lasts twenty days. It is generally thought, however, that it is injurious to both vine and corn to begin hoeing directly after the equinox. This is the proper time, too, for washing sheep. After the rising of the Vergiliæ the more remarkable signs are, according to Cæsar, the morning rising of Arcturus, which takes place on the following day; and the rising of the Lyre on the third before the ides of May. The She-goat sets in the evening of the twelfth before the calends of June, and in Attica the Dog. On the eleventh before the calends of June, according to Cæsar, Orion's Sword begins to appear; and, according to the same writer, on the fourth before the nones of June the Eagle rises in the evening, and in Assyria as well. On the seventh before the ides of June Arcturus sets in the morning to the people of Italy, and on the fourth before the ides the Dolphin rises in the evening. On the seventeenth before the calends of July Orion's Sword rises in Italy, and, four days later, in Egypt. On the eleventh before the calends of July, according to Cæsar's reckoning, Orion's Sword begins to set; and the eighth before the calends of July, the longest day in the year, with the shortest night, brings us to the summer solstice. In this interval of time the vine should be cleared of its superfluous branches, and care taken to give an old vine one turning up at the roots, a young tree two. Sheep, too, are sheared at this period, lupines turned up for manuring the land, the ground dug, vetches cut for fodder, and beans gathered in and threshed. (.) About the calends of June the meadows are mown; the cultivation of which, the one which is the easiest of all, and requires the smallest outlay, leads me to enter into some further details relative to it. Meadow lands should be selected in a rich, or else a moist or well-watered, soil, and care should be taken to drain the rain-water upon them from the high- road. The best method of ensurïng a good crop of grass, is first to plough the land, and then to harrow it: but, before passing the harrow over it, the ground should be sprinkled with such seed as may have fallen from the hay in the haylofts and mangers. The land should not be watered, however, the first year, nor should cattle be put to graze upon it before the second hay-harvest, for fear lest the blade should be torn up by the roots, or be trodden down and stunted in its growth. Meadow land will grow old in time, and it requires to be renovated every now and then, by sowing upon it a crop of beans, or else rape or millet, after which it should be sown the next year with corn, and then left for hay the third. Care, too, should be taken, every time the grass is cut, to pass the sickle over the ground, and so cut the aftermath which the mowers have left behind; for it is a very bad plan to leave any of the grass and let it shed its seed there. The best crop for meadow land is trefoil, and the next best is grass; nummulus is the very worst of all, as it bears a pod which is particularly injurious; equisætis, too, which derives its name from its resemblance to horse-hair, is of a noxions character. The proper time for mowing grass is when the ear begins to shed its blossom and to grow strong: care must be taken to cut it before it becomes dry and parched. "Don't mow your hay too late," says Cato; "but cut it before the seed is ripe." Some persons turn the water upon it the day before mowing, where it is practicable to do so. It is the best plan to cut hay in the night while the dews are falling. In some parts of Italy the mowing is not done till after harvest. This operation, too, was a very expensive one in ancient times. In those days the only whetstones known were those of Crete and other places beyond sea, and they only used oil to sharpen the scythe with. For this purpose the mower moved along, with a horn, to hold the oil, fastened to his thigh. Italy has since furnished us with whetstones which are used with water, and give an edge to the iron quite equal to that imparted by the file; these water-whetstones, however, turn green very quickly. Of the scythe there are two va- rieties; the Italian, which is considerably shorter than the other, and can be handled among underwood even; and the Gallic, which makes quicker work of it, when employed on extensive domains, for there they cut the grass in the middle only, and pass over the shorter blades. The Italian mowers cut with one hand only. It is a fair day's work for one man to cut a jugerum of grass, and for another to bind twelve hundred sheaves of four pounds each. When the grass is cut it should be turned towards the sun, and must never be stacked until it is quite dry. If this last precaution is not carefully taken, a kind of vapour will be seen arising from the rick in the morning, and as soon as the sun is up it will ignite to a certainty, and so be consumed. When the grass has been cut, the meadow must be irrigated again, for the purpose of ensuring a crop in the autumn, known to us as the "cordum," or aftermath. At Interamna in Umbria the grass is cut four times a-year, and this although the meadows there are not irrigated,—in most places, three. After all this has been done, too, the pasturage of the land is found no less lucrative than the hay it has produced. This, however, is a matter of consideration for those more particularly who rear large herds of cattle, and every one whose occupation it is to breed beasts of burden, will have his own opinions upon the subject: it is found, however, the most lucrative of all by those whose business it is to train chariot-horses.
 
18 - 68 SUMMER SOLSTICE M
We have already stated that the summer solstice arrives at the eighth degree of Cancer, and upon the eighth day before the calends of July: this is an important crisis in the year, and of great interest to the whole earth. Up to this period from the time of the winter solstice the days have gone on increasing, and the sun has continued for six months making his ascension towards the north; having now surmounted the heights of the heavens, at this point he reaches the goal, and after doing so, commences his return towards the south; the consequence of which is, that for the next six months he increases the nights and subtracts from the length of the days. From this period, then, it is the proper time to gather in and store away the various crops in succession, and so make all due preparations for the rigour and severity of the winter.
It was only to be expected that Nature should point out to us the moment of this change by certain signs of an indubitable character; and she has accordingly placed them beneath the very hands of the agriculturist, bidding the leaves turn round upon that day, and so denote that the luminary has now run its course. And it is not the leaves of trees only that are wild and far remote that do this, nor have those persons who are on the look-out for these signs to go into devious forests and mountain tracts to seek them. Nor yet, on the other hand, are they to be seen in the leaves of trees only that are grown in the vicinity of cities or reared by the hand of the ornamental gardener, although in them they are to be seen as well. Nature upon this occasion turns the leaf of the olive which meets us at every step; she turns the leaf of the linden, sought by us, as it is, for a thousand purposes; she turns the leaf of the white poplar, too, wedded to the vine that grows upon its trunk. And still, for her, all this is not enough. "You have the elm," she says, "reared for the support of the vine, and the leaf of that I will make to turn as well. The leaves of this tree you have to gather for fodder, the leaves of the vine you prune away. Only look upon them, and there you behold the solstice; they are now pointing towards a quarter of the heavens the reverse of that towards which they looked the day before. The twigs of the withy, that most lowly of trees, you employ for tying things without number. You are a head taller than it—I will make its leaves to turn round as well. Why complain, then, that you are but a rustic peasant? It shall be no fault of mine if you do not understand the heavens and become acquainted with the movements of the celestial bodies. I will give another sign, too, that shall address itself to your ear—only listen for the cooing of the ring-doves; and beware of sup- posing that the summer solstice is past, until you see the wood-pigeon sitting on her eggs." Between the summer solstice and the setting of the Lyre, on the sixth day before the calends of July, according to Cæsar's reckoning, Orion rises, and upon the fourth before the nones of July, his Belt rises to the people of Assyria. Upon-the morning of the same day, also, the scorching constellation of Procyon rises. This last constellation has no name with the Romans, unless, indeed, we would consider it as identical with Canicula, or Lesser Dog, which we find depicted among the stars; this last is productive of excessive heat, as we shall shortly have further occasion to state. On the fourth before the nones of July, the Crown sets in the morning to the people of Chaldæa, and in Attica, the whole of Orion has risen by that day. On the day before the ides of July, the rising of Orion ends to the Egyptians also; on the sixteenth before the calends of August, Procyon rises to the people of Assyria, and, the day but one after, of nearly all other countries as well, indicating a crisis that is universally known among all nations, and which by us is called the rising of the Dog-star; the sun at this period entering the first degree of Leo. The Dog-star rises on the twenty-third day after the summer solstice; the influence of it is felt by both ocean, and earth, and even by many of the animals as well, as stated by us elsewhere on the appropriate occasions. No less veneration, in fact, is paid to this star, than to those that are consecrated to certain gods; it kindles the flames of the sun, and is one great source of the heats of summer. On the thirteenth day before the calends of August, the Eagle sets in the morning to the people of Egypt, and the breezes that are the precursors of the Etesian winds, begin to blow; these, according to Cæsar, are first perceived in Italy, on the tenth before the calends of August. The Eagle sets in the morning of that day to the people of Attica, and on tile third before the calends of August, the Royal Star in the breast of Leo rises in the morning, according to Cæsar. On the eighth before the ides of August, one half of Arcturus has ceased to be visible, and on the third before the ides the Lyre, by its setting, opens the autumn,—according to Cæsar at least; though a more exact calculation has since shown, that this takes place on the sixth day before the ides of that month. The time that intervenes between these periods is one that is of primary importance in the cultivation of the vine; as the constellation of which we have spoken, under the name of Canicula, has now to decide upon the fate of the grape. It is at this period that the grapes are said to be charred, a blight falling upon them which burns them away, as though red-hot coals had been applied to them. There is no hail that can be compared with this destructive malady, nor yet any of those tempests, which have been productive of such scarcity and dearth. For the evil effects of these, at the very utmost, are only felt in isolated districts, while the coal blight, on the other hand, extends over whole countries, far and wide. Still, however, the remedy would not be very difficult, were it not that men would much rather calumniate Nature, than help themselves. It is said that Democritus, who was the first to comprehend and demonstrate that close affinity which exists between the heavens and the earth, finding his laborious researches upon that subject slighted by the more opulent of his fellow-citizens, and presaging the high price of oil, which was about to result upon the rising of the Vergiliæ, (as we have already mentioned, and shall have to explain more fully hereafter), bought up all the oil in the country, which was then at a very low figure, from the universal expectation of a fine crop of olives; a proceeding which greatly surprised all who knew tlat a life of poverty and learned repose was so entirely the object of his aspirations. When, however, his motives had been fully justified by the result, and vast riches had flowed in upon him apace, he returned all his profits to the disappointed proprietors, whose avarice had now taught them to repent, thinking it quite sufficient to have thus proved how easy it was for him to acquire riches whenever he pleased. At a more recent period, again, Sextius, a Roman philosopher residing at Athens, made a similar application of his knowledge. Such, then, is the utility of science, the instruction provided by which it shall be my aim, as clearly and as perspicuously as possible, to apply to the various occupations of a country life. Most writers have said that it is the dew, scorched by a burning sun, that is the cause of mildew in corn, and of coal-blight in the vine; this, however, seems to me in a great measure incorrect, and it is my opinion that all blights result entirely from cold, and that the sun is productive of no injurious effects whatever. This, in fact, will be quite evident, if only a little attention is paid to the subject; for we find that the blight makes its appearance at first in the night time only, and before the sun has shone with any vigour. The natural inference is, that it depends entirely upon the moon, and more particularly as such a calamity as this is never known to happen except at the moon's conjunction, or else at the full moon, periods at which the influence of that heavenly body is at its greatest height. For at both of these periods, as already stated by us more than once, the moon is in reality at the full; though during her conjunction she throws back to the heavens all the light which she has received from the sun. The difference in the effects produced by the moon at these two periods is very great, though at the same time equally apparent; for at the conjunction, that body is extremely hot in summer, but cold in winter; while, on the other hand, at the full moon, the nights are cold in summer, but warm in winter. The reason of this. although Fabianus and the Greek writers adopt another method of explaining it, is quite evident. During the moon's conjunction in summer, she must of necessity move along with the sun in an orbit nearer to the earth, and so become warmed by the heat which she receives by reason of her closer vicinity to the sun. In winter, again, at the time of the conjunction, she is farther off from us, the sun being also removed to a greater distance. On the other hand, again, when the moon is at the full in summer, she is more remote from the earth, and in opposition with the sun; while, in winter, she approaches nearer to us at that period, by adopting the same orbit as at her conjunction in summer. Naturally humid herself, as often as from her position she is cold, she congeals to an unlimited extent the dews which fall at that period of the year.
 
18 - 69 CAUSES OF STERILITY M
But we ought always to bear in mind, more particularly, that there are two varieties of evils that are inflicted upon the earth by the heavens. The first of these, known by us under the name of "tempests," comprehends hail-storms, hurricanes and other calamities of a similar nature; when these take place at the full moon, they come upon us with additional intensity. These tempests take their rise in certain noxious constellations, as already stated by us on several occasions, Arcturus, for instance, Orion, and the Kids.
The other evils that are thus inflicted upon us, supervene with a bright, clear sky, and amid the silence of the night, no one being sensible of them until we have perceived their effects. These dispensations are universal and of a totally different character from those previously mentioned, and have various names given to them, sometimes mildew, sometimes blast, and sometimes coal blight; but in all cases sterility is the infallible result. It is of these last that we have now to speak, entering into details which have not hitherto been treated of by any writer; and first of all we will explain the causes of them. (.) Independently of the moon, there are two principal causes of these calamities, which emanate more particularly from two quarters of the heavens of but limited extent. On the one hand, the Vergiliæ exercise an especial influence on our harvests, as it is with their rising that the summer begins, and with their setting, the winter; thus embracing, in the space of six months, the harvest, the vintage, and the ripening of all the vegetable productions. In addition to this, there is a circular tract in the heavens, quite visible to the human eye even, known as the Milky Way. It is the emanations from this, flowing as it were from the breast, that supply their milky nutriment to all branches of the vegetable world. Two constellations more particularly mark this circular tract, the Eargle in the north, and Canicula in the south; of this last, we have already made mention in its appropriate place. This circle traverses also Sagittarius a