"Jamque salutari properet lactuca sapore, Tristia quæ relevat longi fastidia morbi ;" referring, no doubt, to the cure, which, according to Pliny (xix. 38), was effected, in the case of the emperor Augustus, by eating lettuces, administered by order of his physician Musa, whom Virgil is supposed to have celebrated under the name of Iapis (En. xii.), as one who "Scire potestates herbarum usumque medendi Maluit, et mutas agitare inglorius artes." (396.) 16. Lapathos "lubrica" (373)—is probably the sorrel (rumex acetosa) found by Sibthorp wild in Greece (Fl. Gr.), called oxylapathos by Pliny. But why lubrica? Does this apply to the character of the leaves, or, as Schneider suggests, to its effect in lubricating the bowels? 17. Olus pullum (123), enumerated amongst the herbs to be planted in spring, is a synonyme of olus atrum, the Smyrnium odoratum of modern botanists, corrupted in the vernacular tongue to Alexanders, formerly used as celery is at present, but now regarded as too biting and powerful to be agreeable. 18. Sinapis, the sinapis alba, or white mustard, cultivated in our gardens (Fl. Gr.), is from its acridity spoken of as Seque lacessenti fletum factura sinapis." (122.) 19. Staphylinus, 66 Mollemque sinum staphylinus inumbret," (168.) is more particularly described in book ix. c. 4, amongst the plants which favour the production of wax in bees, and there defined as being the wild parsnip. Sibth. Pr. Fl. Gr. makes it the carrot. 20. Siser (114), commonly considered sium sesamum (skirret), from China, a pot-herb introduced into England in 1548, but not much used at present. Is not the siser of the ancients, rather sium nodiflorum, indigenous in Greece? (Sib. Fl. Gr.) "thymi referens thymbræque saporem." (223) 21. Satureia, is probably the summer savory of our gardens, a plant indigenous in Italy, and used as a seasoning for culinary purposes. Thymbra, here mentioned, is regarded as another species of satureia, viz. S. thymbra. Both are aromatic plants. Such were the pot-herbs which Columella directs to be cultivated in his garden; a list comprising the greater part of those in use at present, except the potatoe, and a few other solaneæ, which we owe to the discovery of America. It is indeed rather remarkable, that the exploration of a new continent, and the continued demand for fresh luxuries and conveniences, should have added so little to the articles of human sustenance obtained from the vegetable kingdom; so that whilst the Eastern world has furnished us chiefly with tea and coffee, to the Western hemisphere we should be indebted for little more than for the potatoe and the tobacco. We have indeed added to the number of our exotic fruits, as would be seen, were I to bring before you the meagre catalogue of those known to the ancients. This, however, together with an account of their medicinal plants, must be reserved till the following Lecture. S LECTURE VIII. COLUMELLA. BOOK X CONCLUDED. I MENTIONED in my last Lecture, that the fruits known to the ancients, or at least in common use amongst them, were but few in number. They comprehended indeed only those which are now generally diffused throughout Europe, whilst the productions of the warmer regions of the globe were known to them only by name, or at least were in the hands of very few. Thus we find enumerated in the first place, several kinds of plum, viz. the Armeniaca or Apricot, brought from Armenia, of which indeed no mention is made by any author earlier than Columella; the Damascena, or Damson, from Damascus; the Persica, or Peach, from Persia; a Thus designated : "pomis, quæ barbara Persis Miserat, ut fama est, patriis armata venenis,” (406.) alluding to the fable, that the tree was poisonous in Persia, and had been sent into Egypt for the purpose of punishing the people, but that it lost its venomous properties when thus transplanted. Could this mistake arise from a knowledge of the poisonous properties of the prussic acid existing in the kernels of the peach? the Ceriola, the same no doubt as cerea pruna, (Virg. Ecl. 2), plums of a waxy yellow colour, the particular variety of which of course cannot be ascertained. "Armeniisque, et cereolis, prunisque Damasci (404.) 2ndly, Figs of different kinds, such as Arbos Livia, called after Livia, the wife of the emperor Augustus; others of various colours, purple, red, and yellow, (413.) 3dly, "Punica, quæ rutilo mitescit tegmine grani," (243) is the cultivated pomegranate; and Balaustum, called sterile (297), the wild one. In Greece, at the present day, this tree goes by the name póa or podía, as in ancient times. The island of Rhodes had upon its coins a representation of this tree, from which it appears to have derived its name. As neither an olive plantation nor an orchard were to be included within the precincts of the garden, olives, apples, and pears, are not noticed; but it is rather remarkable, that no notice is taken of the cerasus or cherry, which was brought into Italy from Asia Minor by Lucullus. 4thly, There remains the cucumis and the cu b Virgil distinguishes several kinds of olives, namely, "Orchades, et radii, et amara pausia bacca." (G. ii. 86.) Although Achras, or the wild pear, is mentioned in two places, verses 18 and 210, as growing spontaneously in such soils as are well adapted for a garden. |