1346. Geop. x. 41. Plin. xv. 25. Athen. ii. 35.
1347. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 13. 1.
1348. Etym. Mag. 211. 4, sqq.
1349. Geop. x. 3. 73.
1350. Geop. xiii. 19. Athen. ii. 38.
1351. Athen. ii. 12. Vid. Cœl. Rhodigin. vii. 15. Bochart, Geog. Sac. col. 629.
1352. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. i. 3. 3. The fruit of the pomegranate-tree lost much of its acidity in Egypt. Id. Hist. Plant. ii. 2. 7.
1353. In Greece the orange-tree and the lemon blossom in June, Chandler, ii. 238.
1354. Cf. Chandler, ii. 250.
1355. In Babylonia the palm-tree was by some thought to be propagated by off-shoots. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. ii. 2. 2. In Greece, the fruit seldom ripened completely. iii. 3. 5.
1356. Ἔτι δὲ τὸ ἔμπνουν τῆς αὔρας λιγυρὸν ὑπηχεῖ τῷ μουσικῷ τῶν τεττίγων χορῷ δι᾽ ἥν καὶ τὸ πνίγος τῆς μεσημβρίας ἠπιῶτερον ἐγεγόνει ἡδὺ καὶ ἀηδόνει, περὶ πετόμεναι τὰ νάματα, μελωδοῦσιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡδὺ φώνῶν κατηκούομεν ὀρνίθων, ὥσπερ ἐμμελῶς ὁμιλούντων ανθρώποις. Aristænet. Epist. lib. i. Ep. 3. p. 17.
1357. “The amorous thrill of the green-finch was now heard distinctly. The little owl hooted frequently round the walls of the convent. In the river below, otters were frequently taken. On the sides of the banks were the holes of the river-crabs; and the green-backed lizard was sporting among the grass.” Sibth. in Walp. Trav. p. 76.
1358. Plat. De Legg. t. viii. p. 107.
1359. Eudoc. Ionia. 434.
1360. Plin. xix. 19. Athen. xi. 39.
1361. Bœttig. Fragm. sur les Jar. des Anciens, in Magaz. Encycloped. Ann. vii. t. i. p. 337. Cardinal Quirini, Primordia Corcyræ, c. vii. p. 60, sqq.
1362. See in Xenophon a brief description of the gardens of Cyrus. Œconom. iv. 21. Upon this passage our countryman, Sir Thomas Browne, has written an elaborate treatise.
1363. On the various methods of propagating trees see Theophrast. Hist. Plant. ii. 1. 2.
1364. Astronomicon, ii. p. 30. l. 4. Scalig. et not. p. 67.
1365. Cf. Athen. xiv. 68.
1366. De Plantis, ii. 6.
1367. Hobhouse, Travels, i. 227. Thiersch, Etat Actuel de la Grèce, t. i. p. 297.
1368. Geop. iii. 3. 9. Clem. Alexand. Stromat. l. vi. Opera, t. ii. p. 800. Venet. 1657.
1369. Geop. xii. 75. x. 75. 19.
1370. Geop. x. 77. Colum. v. 11. 1. Pallad. vii. 5. 2. Plin. xvii. 26. Cato. 42. Virg. Georg. ii. 73, sqq.
1371. Geop. x. 76.
1372. Introduced by Dionysios the elder into Rhegium, where it attained, however, no great size. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 5. 6. The same naturalist speaks of two plane trees, the one at Delphi, the other at Caphyæ in Arcadia, said to have been planted by the hand of Agamemnon, which were still flourishing in his own days, iv. 13. 2. This tree attains a prodigious size in Peloponnesos. Chandler, Travels, ii. 308. Our traveller was prevented from measuring the stem by the fear of certain Albanian soldiers who lay asleep under it; but Theophrastus gives us the dimensions of a large platane, at Antandros, whose trunk, he says, could scarcely be embraced by four men, while its height before the springing forth of the boughs was fifteen feet. Having described the dimensions of the tree, he relates a very extraordinary fact in natural history, namely, that this platane, having been blown down by the winds and lightened of its branches by the axe, rose again spontaneously during the night, put forth fresh boughs, and flourished as before. The same thing is related of a white poplar in the museum at Stagira, and of a large willow at Philippi. In this last city a soothsayer counselled the inhabitants to offer sacrifice, and set a guard about the tree, as a thing of auspicious omen. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 16. 2, seq. Cf. Plin. xvi. 57. In corroboration of the narrative of Theophrastus, Palmerius relates, that, during the winter of 1624–25, while Breda was besieged by Ambrosio Spinola, he himself saw in Brabant an oak twenty-five feet high, and three feet in circumference, overthrown by the wind, and recovering itself exactly in the manner described by the great naturalist. The vulgar, who regarded it as a miracle, preserved portions of its bark or branches as amulets.—Excercitationes, p. 598.
1373. Plut. Sympos. ii. 6. 7.
1374. “It is reported,” observes Lord Bacon, “that, in the low countries, they will graft an apple scion upon the stock of a colewort, and it will bear a great flaggy apple, the kernel of which, if it be set, will be a colewort and not an apple.” Sylva Sylvarum, 453.
1375. Geop. x. 20. 1. Varro. i. 59. Mustea (mala) a celeritate mitescendi: quæ nunc melimela dicuntur, a sapore melleo.—Plin. xv. 15. Dioscor. i. 161.
1376. Plut. Sympos. ii. 6. 1.
1377. Geop. x. 19. 15, cum not. Niclas.
1378. Inseritur vero ex fœtu uncis arbutus horrida. Virg. Georg. ii. 69, with the note of Servius.
1379. Plut. Sympos. ii. 6. 1.
1380. Plin. xvii. 14.
1381. Castanea inseritur in se, et in salice, sed ex salice tardius maturat, et fit asperior in sapore. Pallad. xii. 7. 22. Cf. Virg. Georg. ii. 71. Plutarch speaks of certain gardens on the banks of the Cephissos, in Bœotia, in which he beheld pears growing on an oak-stock: ἦσαν δὲ καὶ δρύες ἀπίους ἀγαθὰς ἐκφέρουσαι. Sympos. ii. 6. 1.
1382. Geop. x. 41. 3. iv. 12. 5.
1383. Geop. iv. 4.
1384. Thiersch, Etat Actuel de la Grèce, t. i. p. 298.
1385. Idem. t. i. p. 288. Speaking of the fertility of the islands, Della Rocca remarks: “Le terroir y est si bon, et les arbres y viennent si vîte, que j’ai vu à Naxie des pépins d’orange de Portugal pousser en moins de huit ans de grands orangers, dont les fruits étoient les plus délicieux du monde, et la tige de l’arbre si haute, qu’il falloit une longue échelle pour y monter.”—Traité Complet des Abeilles, t. i. p. 6.
1386. On the artificial ripening of dates, Theoph. ii. 8. 4.
1387. Athen. iii. 19. Plut. Phoc. § 3. Xenoph. Vectigal. i. 3.
1388. Ὁ νοῦν ἔχων γεωργός, ὧν σπερμάτων κήδοιτο καὶ ἔγκαρπα βούλοιτο γενέσθαι, πότερα σπονδῇ ἂν θέρους εἰς ᾿Αδώνιδος κήπους ἀρῶν χαίροι θεωρῶν καλοὺς ἐν ἡμέραισιν ὀκτὼ γιγνομένους.—Plat. Phœd. t. i. p. 99. Suid. v. Ἀδώνιδ. κῆπ. t. i. p. 84. b. Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 7. 3. Caus. Plant. i. 12. 2. Eustath. ad Odyss. λ. p. 459. 4.
1389. Tod, Annals of Rajast’han, vol. i. p. 570.
1390. Cf. Athen. iii. 12. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. i. 3. 3. The fruit of the Egyptian sycamore, or Pharaoh’s fig-tree, was eaten in antiquity as now. Athenæus, who was a native of the Delta, says they used to rip open the skin of the fruit with an iron claw, and leave it thus upon the tree for three days. On the fourth it was eatable, and exhaled a very agreeable odour. Deipnosoph. ii. 36. Theophrastus adds, that a little oil was likewise poured on the fruit when opened by the iron. De Caus. Plant. i. 17. 9. ii. 8. 4. In Malta figs are still sometimes ripened by introducing a little olive oil into the eye of the fruit, or by puncturing it with a straw or feather dipped in oil. Napier, Excursions along the Shores of the Mediterranean, vol. ii. p. 144. Cf. Lord Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, 446.
1391. Ap. Athen. iii. 10. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 8. 1.
1392. Aristot. de Gen. Anim. t. i.
1393. Suid. v. ερινεὸς. t. i. p. 1038. d.
1394. Cf. Tournefort, t. ii. p. 23.
1395. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 767
1396. Athen. iii. 7. The Laconian fig-tree was not commonly planted in Attica. Frag. Aristoph. Georg. 4. Brunck. This kind of fig requires much watering, which was found to deteriorate the flavour of other kinds. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 7. 1.
1397. Athen. iii. 8.
1398. Athen. iii. 9. In the fig-tree orchards of Asia Minor the spaces between the trees are sown, as in vineyards, with corn, and the bushes are often filled with nightingales.—Chandler, i. 244.
1399. Athen. iii. 10. There was, also, a species which received its name from resembling the crow in colour. Sch. Aristoph. Pac. 611. Philost. Icon. i. 31. p. 809, where figs are enumerated in his elegant description of the Xenia. Cf. Pausan. i. 37. Vitruv.
1400. Geop. x. 9. Clus. Rar. Plant. Hist. i. 4.
1401. Geop. x. 14. 60. Pallad. ii. 15. 13.
1402. Geop. x. 16. 53. 76.
1403. Geop. x. 59. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ii. 8. 1. Caus. Plant. i. 9. 1. Plin. xvii. 43. Pallad. ii. 15. 1l.
1404. Geop. x. 3. Cf. Xenoph. Œconom. xix. 3.
1405. Plin. xvii. 13. When a tree was barren, or had lost its strength in blooming, they split it at the root, and put a stone into the fissure to keep it open, after which it was said to bear well. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ii. 7. 6. It was customary, moreover, to wound the trunks of almond, pear, and other trees, as the service-tree in Arcadia, in order to render them fertile. 1d. ii. 7. 7. The berries of the cornel and service-trees were sweeter and ripened earlier wild than when cultivated, iii. 2. 1.
1406. The ancients believed that the moon ripens fruit, promotes digestion, and causes putrefaction in wood, and animal substances. Athen. vii. 3. Cf. Plut. Sympos. iii. 10.
1407. Geop. x. 2. 13.
1408. Cf. Vigenère, Images des Philostrates, p. 48.
1409. “Les orangers et les citronniers perfument l’air par la quantité prodigieuse des fleurs dont ils sont chargés, et qui s’épanouissent aux premières chaleurs.”—Della Rocca, Traité sur les Abeilles, t. i. p. 5.
1410. Originally of Crete. Pashley, i. 27. κοδύμαλον in the ancient dialect of the country. Athen. iii. 2.
1411. Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 480. Geop. xii. 1. 2.
1412. Geop. xii. 6. Pallad. i. 35. 16.
1413. Lucian. Luc. siv. Asin. § 43.
1414. Geop. ii. 37. 40.
1415. These were covered with plates of the lapis specularis, and furnished with wheels, that they might the more easily be moved in and out from under cover. Colum. De Re Rust. xi. 3. p. 461: see also Castell, Villas of the Ancients, p. 4.
1416. These are found growing at present even in the cemeteries. “Des melons d’eau qui végètent çà et là sur ces tombes abandonnées, resemblent, par leur forme et leur pâleur, à des crânes humains qu’on ne s’est pas donné la peine d’ensèvelir.” Chateaub. Itin. i. 27. These fruit are considered so innocent in the Levant as to be given to the sick in fevers. Chandler, i. p. 77.
1417. Colum. De Cult. Hortor. 234.
1418. Sch. Aristoph. Acharn. 494.
1419. Athen. iii. 1.
1420. Chandler, i. 317.
1421. See Strattis’s Invocation to the Caterpillar. Athen. ii. 79. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 2. 4. 5. 4.
1422. Geop. xii. 13. 3. Pallad. ii. 14. 2.
1423. Athen. i. 12.
1424. Geop. xii. 19. 1, sqq. Pallad. iv. 9. 8.
1425. Plin. xix. 23. Pallad. iv. 9. 8.
Colum. x. De Cult. Hortor. 394.
1426. Lord Bacon, having noticed this fact, adds the following sage remark: “If you set a stake or prop at a certain distance from it (the vine), it will grow that way, which is far stranger than the other: for that water may work by a sympathy of attraction; but this of the stake seemeth to be a reasonable discourse.” Sylva Sylvarum, 462.
1427. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 3. 5. Plin. Hist. Nat. xix. 24.
1428. Plin. xix. 23.
1429. Cf. Athen. iii. 5.
1430. Athen. iii. 2.
1431. The best melons at present known in Greece are those of Cephalonia, which lose their flavour if transplanted. Hobhouse, Trav. &c., i. 227. Cf. Chandler, i. p. 14.
1432. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 494.
1433. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ii. 7. 5.
1434. Schol. Aristoph. Pac. 966.
1435. Geop. xii. 18. 2. Plin. xix. 42. Dioscor. ii. 152. The physician, however, modestly professes his unbelief: ἔνιοι δὲ ἱστόρησαν, ὅτι ἐάν τις κριοῦ κέρατα συγκόψας κατορύξῃ, φύεται ἀσπάραγος · ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀπίθανον.
1436. The asparagus, however, has been found, in modern times, growing wild among the ruins of Epidauros. Chandler, ii. 249.
1437. Athen. ii. 62.
1438. Geop. ii. 41.
1439. Athen. ix. 9. Suid. v. κράμβη. t. i. p. 1518. b. Cf. Foës. Œconom. Hippoc. v. κραμβίων. p. 214. Dioscorid. ii. 146.
1440. Cf. Steph. Byzant. de Urb. p. 488. b.
1441. Cf. Casaub. Animadv. in Athen. ix. 9. t. x. p. 24.
1442. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 1. 3.
1443. Athen. iv. 11.
1444. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 4. 2. 6. 4. Aristoph. Concion. 355, et schol.
1445. Geop. xii. 1.
1446. Geop. xii. 25. 1.
1447. Cf. Sibth. Flor. Græc. tab. 368.
1448. Dioscor. iii. 53. Geop. xii. 25. 4.
1449. Geop. xii. 24.
1450. The rose-coloured lotus was said by the poet Pancrates to have been produced from the blood of the lion slain by the Emperor Adrian. Athen. xv. 21.
1451. Athen. iii. 1.
1452. Nicander in Georgicis ap. Athen. iii. 1.
See the note of Schweighæuser, t. vii. 10.
1453. Histor. Plant. iv. 10.
1454. It was also found in Thesprotia. Athen. iii. 3.
1455. Geop. ii. 39. Apuleius relates that the lupin-flower turned round with the sun, even in cloudy weather, so that it served as a sort of rural clock. Cf. Plin. xviii. 67.
1456. The caper-bush blossoms in June. Chandler, ii. 275.
1457. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 3. 6. Cf. Sibth. Flor. Græc. tab. 488.
1458. Athen. ii. 52.
1459. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 9. 2. Cf. vii. 3, 3. Hesiod reckons the mallow and the asphodel among edible plants. Opp. et Dies, 41. Gœttling, therefore, (in loc.) wonders Pythagoras should have prohibited the mallow. Cf. Aristoph. Plut. 543. Suid. v. θύμος. t. 1. p. 1336. e. Horat. Od. i. 32. 16.
1460. Colum. de Cult. Hortor. 253. Cardan in his treatise De Subtilitate having undertaken to assign the cause why certain flowers bend towards the sun, his antagonist, J. C. Scaliger, remarks upon his philosophy as follows:—“De floribus, qui ad Solem convertuntur non pessime ais: tenue humidum ad Solis calorem, se habere, ut corii ad ignem. Cæterum adhuc integra restat quæstio. Rosis enim tenuissimum esse humidum testantur omnia. Non convertuntur tamen. Platonici flores quosdam etiam Lunæ dicunt esse familiares: qui sane huic Sideri, sicut illi suo canant hymnos, sed mortalibus ignotos auribus.” Exercit. 170, § 2. “The cause (of the bowing of the heliotrope) is somewhat obscure; but I take it to be no other, but that the part against which the sun heateth, waxeth more faint and flaccid in the stalk, and thereby less able to support the flower.” Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum § 493.
1461. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. 1. tab. 258, seq.
1462. Colum. x. de Cult. Hortor. 230, sqq. Sch. Aristoph. Nub. 235.
1463. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 72. 2.
1464. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 826, 837.
1465. Colum. x. De Cult. Hortor. 374. English Translation. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 12. 1.
1466. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 3. 3. Cf. Dioscor. iii. 68, seq.
1467. Athen. iv. 11.
1468. Athen. ix. 8.
1469. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 4. 7, 10, 11. Aristoph. Plut. 283, et schol. Eq. 675. 494. Vesp. 680. Acharn. 166, 500. Plut. 283.
1470. Schol. Aristoph. Pac. 246. 252.
1471. Cf. Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 675.
1472. This passage has escaped the diligence of Meursius, Græc. Feriat. p. 150.
1473. Athen. ix. 13.
1474. Dioscor. ii. 200, seq. Plin. xix. 11.
1475. Athen. ii. 57. Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 189, 191. Eccles. 1092. Geop. xii. 36.
1476. A similar observation is made in France respecting the truffles, the best of which are supposed to grow about the roots and under the shadow of the oak. Trollope’s Summer in Western France, ii. 352.
1477. Geop. xii. 41. 2.
1478. Sch. Aristoph. Nub. 189.
1479. This was more particularly the case on the Tauric Chersonese.—Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 13. 8.
1480. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. i. 10. 7.
1481. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 6. 13.
1482. Athen. ii. 62.
1483. Plut. Sympos. iv. 2. 1. who relates that the ὕδνα attained to a very large size in Elis.
1484. Vid. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 6. 13.
1485. Walp. Mem. i. 284.
1486. Valmont de Bomare, Dict. D’Hist. Nat. t. ii. p. 21, seq.
CHAPTER III.
VINEYARD, VINTAGE, ETC.
One of the principal branches of husbandry[1487] in Greece was the culture of the vine, probably introduced from Phœnicia.[1488] Long before the historical age, however, it had spread itself through the whole country, together with several parts of Asia Minor, as may be inferred from the language of Homer,[1489] who frequently enumerates vineyards among the possessions of his heroes. Like most things the origin of which was unknown, the vine furnished the poets and common people with the subjects of numerous fables, some of which were reckoned of sufficient importance to be treasured up and transmitted to posterity. Thus, among the Ozolian Locrians, it was said[1490] to have sprung from a small piece of wood, brought forth in lieu of whelps by a bitch. Others supposed a spot near Olympia[1491] to have given birth to the vine, in proof of which the inhabitants affirmed a miracle was wrought annually among them during the Dionysiac festival. They took three empty brazen vessels, and having closely covered and sealed them in the presence of witnesses, again opened them after some interval of time, not stated, when they were found full of wine. According to other authorities, the environs of Plinthinè, in Egypt, had the honour of being the cradle of Dionysos, on which account the ancient Egyptians were by some accused of inebriety, though in the age of Herodotus[1492] there would appear to have been no vineyards in the whole valley of the Nile. In reality,[1493] the vine appears to be a native of all temperate climates, both in the old world and the new, and will even flourish[1494] and produce fine grapes in various situations within the tropics, where clusters in different stages of ripeness may be observed upon its branches at all seasons of the year.
The opinions of Grecian writers respecting the soil best suited to the cultivation of the vine, having been founded on experience, generally agree with those which prevail in modern times.[1495] They preferred for their vineyards the gentle acclivities of hills,[1496] where the soil was good, though light and porous, and abounding in springs at no great depth from the surface.[1497] A considerable degree of moisture was always supposed to be indispensable, on which account, in arid situations, large hollow sea-shells, and fragments of sandstone[1498] were buried in the soil, these being regarded as so many reservoirs of humidity.
By some the vine was even thought to delight in the rich alluvial soil of plains, such as is found in Egypt,[1499] where, in later times, the banks of the Nile, from Elephantinè to the sea, seem to have presented one vast succession of vineyards.[1500] But superior vines were produced on a few spots only, as at Koptos, and in the neighbourhood of Lake Mareotis, where showers of sand, pouring in from the desert or the sea-shore, diminished the fatness of the ground. With respect to Koptos, we possess, however, no precise information,[1501] but are expressly told, that the Mareotic vineyards covered a series of sandy swells, stretching eastward from the lake towards Rosetta.[1502] On the southern confines of Egypt, in the rocky and picturesque island of Elephantinè, the vine was said[1503] never to shed its leaves; but as none grow there at present, the traveller has no opportunity of deciding this question. In Greece the vineyards of the plains were generally appropriated to the production of the green grape, the purple being supposed to prefer the sides of hills, or even of mountains, provided it were not exposed to the furious winds upon their summits. Several sorts of white grape, also, as the Psillian, Corcyrean, and the Chlorian, delighted in elevated vineyards,[1504] though it was often judged necessary to reverse these rules, and compel the hill-nurslings to descend to the plains, while those of the plains were in their turn exposed to the climate of the mountains.
Much judgment was thought to be required in selecting the site of a vineyard, though almost everything depended on the climate and general configuration of the district in which it was situated. Thus in warm countries, as in the Pentapolis of Cyrene, the vineyards sloped towards the north; in Laconia, they occupied the eastern face of Mount Taygetos, while in Attica and the islands, the hills often appear to have been encircled with vines. Upon the whole, however, those were most esteemed which looked towards the rising sun and enjoyed, without obstruction, the first rays of the morning.[1505] And this also is the case in the Côte d’Or, where the best wines, as the Chambertin, the Vin de Beaune, and that of the Clos Vougeot, are grown on eastern declivities. In some parts of Greece, the vine was strongly affected by the prevalence of certain winds, as those of the east and the west in Thessaly, which in the forty cold days of winter were attended by frost that killed its upper extremities, and sometimes the whole trunk. At Chalcis, in Eubœa likewise, the Olympias, a western wind, parched and shrivelled, or, as the Greeks express it, burnt up the leaves, sometimes completely destroying the shrub itself.[1506] In such situations it was accordingly found necessary to protect it by a covering[1507] during the prevalence of cold winds. At Methana, in Argolis, when the south-east in spring blew up the Saronic gulf,[1508] the inhabitants, to defend them from it, spread over their vines the invisible teguments of a spell; which was effected in the following manner: taking a milk-white cock, and cutting it in halves, two men seized each a part, and then, standing back to back, started off in opposite directions, made the tour of the vineyard, and, returning whence they had set out, buried the cock’s remains in the earth. After this the Libs might blow as it listed, since it possessed no power to injure any man’s property within the consecrated circle.[1509] The prevalence of the north wind during autumn was considered auspicious, as they supposed it to hasten the ripening of the fruit.
When the husbandman had resolved on the formation of a new vineyard, he first, of course, encircled the spot with a hedge[1510] which was made both thick and strong for the purpose of repelling the flocks and herds, which, as well as goats, foxes, and soldiers, loved to prey upon the vine.[1511] His next care was to root up the hazel bush and the oleaster, the roots of the former being supposed to be inimical to the Dionysiac tree, while the oily bark of the latter rendered it peculiarly susceptible of taking fire, by which means vineyards would often appear to have been reduced to ashes. So at least says Virgil.[1512]