PLUM TREE.
Plum trees were known in Africa from time immemorial; and Theophrastus speaks of the great number of these trees which were to be found at Thebes, Memphis, and especially at Damascus.[XII_71] Athenæus, also, praises the excellent plums of this last-named city;[XII_72] and we know that time has not lessened their ancient reputation.
Asia and Egypt sent a great quantity to Europe; and, in order that they might keep better during this long voyage, a part of them were dried, and the rest were preserved—that is to say, the best—in honey and sweet wine.[XII_73] These were the only kind known in Rome in the time of Cato (150 years B.C.), but the Romans, then novices in the art of good living, would have but ill-appreciated the delicate and perfumed pulp of Damascus plums, at the moment when, hardly plucked from the tree, their fresh and velvet-like bloom delights the eye and tempts the palate of epicures. Two centuries later the science of good living made incredible progress. A magiric atmosphere enveloped the capital of the universe with its delicious fragrance, and the joyous free livers of Italy cultivated in their gardens plums of the most beautiful purple and gold,[XII_74] far superior to the much-extolled fruit from Damascus and Memphis. The fields everywhere offered such luxuriance of plum trees that Pliny, the opposition man, or juste milieu of that time, complained of their number,[XII_75] and grieved at what he fancied a useless and expensive profusion of them.
The ancient Counts of Anjou transplanted the plums of Damascus into their province; and the good King René of Sicily, Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence, introduced them into southern Europe.[XII_76]
The plums of Monsieur are thus named because Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIV., was very fond of them.[XII_77]
The plums of Reine Claude owe their name to the first consort of Francis I., daughter of Louis XII.[XII_78]
The plums of Mirabelle were brought from Provence into Lorraine by King René.[XII_79]
XIII.
PIP FRUIT.
QUINCE TREE.
This tree appears to have been a native of Cydon, a city of Crete; from hence it passed into Greece,[XIII_1] and soon became the delight of its voluptuous inhabitants. The environs of Corinth, above all, were noted for the sweetness and beauty of their quinces,[XIII_2] which the enlightened luxury of Attica preferred to all others.
Rome did not fail to enrich itself with a fruit[XIII_3] to which the ingenuity of culinary art was to give a new flavour. Young plants were first imported from abroad, and put in boxes;[XIII_4] but the Romans knew not how to rear them, and were obliged for a long time to content themselves with excellent quinces preserved in honey, and sent from Iberia and Syria to the great capital.[XIII_5]
At last they learned how to cultivate the quince tree,[XIII_6] and subsequently introduced it into Gaul, where it succeeded admirably. They, too, could then enjoy, with a certain pride, preserves nothing inferior to those of Spain,[XIII_7] and which the confectioners in the “market of dainties,”[XIII_8] kept in reserve with quince wine[XIII_9] for the tables of the patricians; and also the stomachic exhilarating liqueur extracted from the fruit of sweet Cydoneum,[XIII_10] which even a petite maîtresse would not have disdained at a light morning repast.
At any rate, the faculty this time agreed with culinary chemistry in recommending to epicures those delicious preparations. It was asserted, besides, that the quince possessed the most beneficial qualities,[XIII_11] first, as an aliment, and next, as a counter-poison:[XIII_12] gourmandise made the mind docile, and none doubted its marvellous virtues.
This fruit, so much extolled, was preserved by placing it with its branches and leaves in a vessel, afterwards filled with honey or sweet wine, which was reduced to half the quantity by ebullition.[XIII_13]
PEAR TREE.
Many countries have disputed the honour of having given birth to the pear tree. According to some it was a native of Mount Ida, so renowned for its refreshing fountains; others said Alexandria; and in the opinion of some writers it came from different parts of Greece. Let us add to this enumeration Palestine, where this tree grew at a very remote period.[XIII_14]
It results from these different allegations that the ancients were acquainted with the pear tree; that they cultivated and were fond of pears, which is not at all surprising, as they are an excellent fruit. Theophrastus was very fond of them; he speaks of them very often,[XIII_15] and always with praise. The same thing may be affirmed of Pliny,[XIII_16] and more particularly of Galen, whose medical authority was formerly of so much weight. The learned physician of Pergamo is pleased to recognise in the pear strengthening qualities which benefit the stomach, and an astringent virtue which the apple does not possess in the same degree.[XIII_17]
Like us, the Greeks and Romans distinguished several kinds of this fruit, whose names indicated their taste and forms. It is not certain whether they possessed the Bon Chrétien, which honours our tables in winter, either raw or cooked. This name reminds us of its origin, which we will relate.
Louis XI., King of France, had sent for Saint François de Paule from the lower part of Calabria, in the hopes of recovering his health through his intercession. The saint brought with him the seeds of this pear, and as he was called at court Le Bon Chrétien, this fruit received the name of him to whom France owed its introduction.[XIII_18]
APPLE TREE.
A very ancient tradition—for it is six thousand years old—represents the apple as being, from the beginning of the world, the inauspicious fruit to which may be traced all the miseries of mankind. We crave permission to defend it from this accusation, merely by these few words, “That it is nowhere written.”
The holy books rarely speak of the apple tree. If we are not mistaken, it is only mentioned in five passages[XIII_19] of the sacred writings, and at periods very distant from the first offence of man. Therefore, nothing indicates aversion or contempt on the part of the inspired writers for this tree, which on one occasion serves even as a graceful term of comparison;[XIII_20] from which it might be concluded that the inhabitants of the east thought as much of it as other nations.
There is one (and perhaps only one) example of a singular and excessive repugnance to apples. It is said that Uladislas, King of Poland, no sooner perceived them than he became so confused and terrified that he immediately fled. It certainly required very little to disturb this poor prince!
Greece produced very beautiful apple trees, and their fruit was so excellent, that it was the favourite dessert of Philip of Macedon, and of his son, Alexander the Great, who caused them to be served at all their meals.[XIII_21] Probably they were obtained purposely for them from the island of Eubœa, which enjoyed an extraordinary reputation for apples.[XIII_22]
The Athenian legislator—the wise Solon—almost succeeded in throwing discredit on this aliment, so much liked by his fellow-citizens, by a sumptuary law which he thought it necessary to establish.
The inhabitants of Attica were fond of good living; and when one of them took a wife he spared no expense to give splendour to the nuptial banquet—a very excusable pride on such an occasion. Solon was in the habit of interfering rather too much in the affairs of others. Every one has his failing, and this was his: he imagined that his fellow citizens fared too sumptuously on their wedding-day; and, in order to curtail an expense contrary to his ideas of economy, he ordered that the bridegroom should be content with a single apple, while his guests were regaling themselves at his expense. Who would believe it? This law was religiously observed by the Greeks, and the Persians thought it so original that they, in their turn, adopted it.[XIII_23]
The Latins gave a favourable reception to the apple tree, and cultivated it with care. Eminent citizens of Rome did not disdain to give their names and patronage to different kinds procured by themselves, or which they had improved in their orchards. The Manlian apples were so called after Manlius; the Claudian after Claudius, their patron; the Appian owed their name to Appius. Some others preserved that of their native country: such were the Sidonians, the Greeks, and the Epirotes.
After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans introduced all these fruits;[XIII_24] and as the climate was more favourable to apple trees than that of Italy, they soon multiplied to a surprising extent. France ought to be grateful to those proud warriors for a present that enriched that province of the empire, and which perhaps still contributes to its prosperity.
LEMON TREE.
Among the richest productions of Media, Virgil mentions a tree, to whose fruit he attributes the greatest virtues against all poisons. The description he gives of it seems to belong to the lemon tree.[XIII_25] However this may be, its origin, and even its identity, have given rise to the most animated disputations.
Many have asserted that Juba, King of Mauritania (50 years B.C.), spoke of the lemon tree, and that he looked upon it as being very ancient. They add, that the Lybians gave to its fruit the name of “Hesperide apples,” that Hercules stole, and which, on account of their colour, were called “golden apples” by the Greeks, who were indebted to that hero for their introduction.[XIII_26]
Others maintain that no one has spoken of them before Theophrastus,[XIII_27] who called them “Median apples,” after the place of their origin; and that consequently those persons were wrong who confounded them with the apples taken from the garden of the Hesperides.[XIII_28]
These difficulties will probably disappear, if we remember that the ancients have given to the lemon tree various names[XIII_29] which belong to other trees. The truth is, that the Athenians received it from the Persians, who were neighbours of the Medes, and from Attica it spread all over Greece.[XIII_30]
Lemons were only known to the Romans at a very late period, and at first were used only to keep the moths from their garments. The acidity of this fruit was unpleasant to them, and Apicius makes no use of it: those who wish to satisfy their curiosity on the subject may read the remarks of Lister, the celebrated physician of Queen Anne, and editor of the works of this famous gourmet.[XIII_31]
In the time of Pliny, the lemon was hardly known otherwise than as an excellent counter-poison.[XIII_32]
Fifty years after that, Palladius reared the plants which he had received from Media,[XIII_33] and at last this tree was slowly naturalized in the south of Europe.
A considerable number of anecdotes have been told of the anti-venomous properties of the lemon. Athenæus speaks of two men who did not feel pain from the bite of dangerous serpents, because they had previously eaten of this fruit.[XIII_34] Either this story is false, or men and things have strangely altered.
Apicius preserves lemons by putting each of them into a separate vessel, which is hermetically sealed with plaster, and afterwards suspended from the ceiling.[XIII_35]
In another place we shall speak of the tables and beds made of the lemon tree, so fashionable amongst the Romans, and for which they spent prodigious sums.
One thing remains to be noticed; and that is, that preserved lemon peel was considered as one of the best digestives, and that doctors recommend it to weak and delicate persons.[XIII_36]
ORANGE TREE.
If confidence is to be placed in some authors, the native land of the orange tree would appear to be the gardens of the Hesperides, so remarkable in mythologic ages, and it was found also in Western Africa, Mauritania, and the Fortunate Islands; to which they add those mountains of Atlas so little known in a botanical point of view, notwithstanding the daring excursions of several learned men.
According to other observers, it originally came from the southern countries of China,[XIII_37] from the islands of the Indian Archipelago, or even from that portion of the globe called Oceania.
One incontestable fact is, that writers of antiquity were completely ignorant of the existence of this superb tree. Had they known it, its majestic height, the dark green of its foliage, the suavity of its flowers, its fruit, so fine, bright, and so flattering to the taste, could not have failed to inspire them with brilliant pages. Theophrastus, and the Latin geoponics, never would have neglected to speak of the luxury and fecundity it displays, even in the season of hoary frost. Besides, the name of Portughan, which is given to the orange by the Arabs—a name foreign to their language, but which is again heard among the Italians, Spaniards, and even in the southern provinces of France—is it not an indication that the introduction of this tree has some connection with the Portuguese voyages to India, particularly those of Juan de Castro in the year 1520?
It is the Portuguese who have planted the orange tree in the Canaries, at Madeira, where it was supposed to be indigenous on account of the vigorous vegetation it there displays: it is the Portuguese who have introduced this tree into all countries washed by the Mediterranean: and it is still the Portuguese who have furnished the parent suckers, whence the Spaniards have been enabled to form their immense groves in Andalusia and Algarvia.[XIII_38]
From the foregoing recital we may conclude that the grand poliphagic triumvirate of antiquity—Archestratus, Vitellius, and Apicius—never tasted this fruit, which Heaven reserved for the appreciation of modern times. Blessed shades! if, attracted sometimes by the exquisite vapours of our stoves, you should wander again round those succulent dishes which a more experienced chemistry enables us to elaborate: if fruitless gastronomic reminiscences should lead you into the delightful retreat of some one of your disciples, who by his enlightened skill is there preparing the treasures of the dessert: oh! turn away your eyes from those enticing fruits which display their golden rays, and rise in pyramids upon a porcelain pedestal. Here are oranges, the nectar and ambrosia of the Olympian ages, which you doubtless regret, and we have again discovered. These wonders of sweetness existed perhaps in China, but you knew it not, for China did not become a Roman province. But console yourselves, giants of cookery! we have not yet attained the high pinnacle of your art; your wild boar à la Troyenne, your peacocks’ brains, and your phenicopters’ tongues, secure for you a triumph which posterity will dispute in vain!
The orange known under the name of “Portugal orange” comes from China. Not more than two centuries ago the Portuguese brought thence the first scion, which has multiplied so prodigiously that we now see entire forests of orange trees in Portugal.[XIII_39]
It appears to have been the custom formerly, in England, to make new-year’s presents of oranges stuck full with cloves. We read in one of Ben Jonson’s pieces, the “Christmas Masque,” “He has an orange and rosemary, but not a clove to stick in it.”[XIII_40]
At the present day we can dispense with this embellishment.
The first orange tree cultivated in the centre of France was to be seen a few years ago at Fontainebleau. It was called Le Connétable (the Constable), because it had belonged to the Connétable de Bourbon, and had been confiscated, together with all property belonging to that prince, after his revolt against his sovereign.[XIII_41]
FIG TREE.
Antiquity, sacred and profane, has not left us, on any other tree, facts so clear and certain as upon the fig tree; it is the only tree of Eden of which the sacred books have preserved to us any mention.[XIII_42] In the East there were immense plantations of it; Egypt had some also;[XIII_43] and the land of Canaan produced figs, which enabled Moses to judge of its fertility.[XIII_44]
The Scriptures, in order to give us an idea of the happiness and tranquillity the Jews enjoyed under the reign of Solomon, tell us that, “in Judea and in Israel all dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree.”[XIII_45]
And the fruit of this tree was no doubt very dear to the Hebrews, since Rubshakeh, the general of the Assyrian army, thought to seduce them from their obedience to Hezekiah, King of Judea, by saying to them: “Come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree.”[XIII_46]
Thus the trade carried on with figs in Jerusalem had become so considerable and active, that Esdras was obliged to interdict it on the Sabbath day. It appears that figs were arranged in small masses, to which they give the form of loaves or cakes, either round or square, which were sold nearly in the same way as at the present day.[XIII_47]
From the East the fig tree passed into Greece, then into Italy, Gaul, Spain, and throughout Europe.
The Athenians pretended that this tree was a native of their soil, and this people never wanted mythologic facts to support their assertions; they imagined, and would have others believe, that the grateful Ceres rewarded the Athenian, Phytalus, for his hospitality by giving him a fig tree, which served for all the plantations of Attica.[XIII_48]
Whatever may be the way it came to them, they received it with transports of joy; it was planted with great pomp in the centre of the public square at Athens: from that time this spot was sacred to them.[XIII_49]
Ere long the fame of the figs of Attica spread far and wide: they were the best in Greece; and the magistrates strictly prohibited their exportation.[XIII_50] This law was afterwards modified, that is, the exportation of figs was allowed on payment of a very heavy duty.
They then appointed inspectors, whose duty it was to discover contraventions, and report them: thence arose the name of Sycophant,[XIII_51] taken by those informers—a vile and dispised set of men, whose denunciations were often false, and with whom the infamous authors of a base calumny were eventually assimilated.[XIII_52]
In Greece every one feasted on figs: it was a sort of regular gastronomic furore, which knew no bounds, and the wise Plato himself ceased to be a philosopher when presented with a basket of that fruit. As an aliment it was considered so wholesome and strengthening, that on the first introduction of them they constituted the food of the athletæ, whose patron, Hercules, had also fed on them in his youth.
The superiority of the Greek figs was so generally acknowledged that the kings of Persia even had a predilection for them: dried ones were served on the tables of these ostentatious princes.[XIII_53]
The Romans believed, according to an antique tradition, that their first princes, Romulus and Remus, were found under a fig tree on the shore of the Tiber; they therefore rendered signal honours to this tree when it was brought into Italy: they planted it in the Forum; and it was under its shade that a sacrifice was offered every year to the shepherdess who had suckled their founder.[XIII_54]
It may, nevertheless, be affirmed, that no one before Cato had noticed the fig tree,[XIII_55] which probably appeared in Rome at the same period as the peach, apricot, and other trees of Asia. Sixty years afterwards Varro speaks of it as a novelty from beyond sea, and points out to us that its various species have retained the names of the countries whence they came.[XIII_56]
Those varieties were so numerous, that Pliny counts no less than twenty-nine of them,[XIII_57] and the designation of the greater part recalled to mind the illustrious families who had taken them under their patronage.
The people of the north, especially the moderns, cannot well explain the extraordinary infatuation of the ancient southern nations for the fruit of the fig tree. Perhaps we ought to look for the reason in the nourishing, fresh, and sweet qualities of its pulp, and in the numerous plantations of those trees, which sometimes furnished an agreeable food to entire armies, when other provisions failed.[XIII_58] That of Philip of Macedon owed its preservation to the figs brought to it by the Magnesians.[XIII_59] A long time before, David received with joy, from the hands of Abigail, two hundred baskets of dried figs, for himself and his exhausted men.[XIII_60]
More than once the far-famed reputation of some beautiful plantations of fig trees brought long and disastrous wars on an entire country, as steel attracts lightning. Xerxes left Persia, and rushed on Attica, to take possession of those delicious figs, whose renown only had crossed his territory:[XIII_61] and it was partly to eat the figs of Rome that the Gauls waged war against Italy:[XIII_62] thank Heaven we have now more respect for our neighbours’ fig trees.
The best things in the world have had their detractors, and the fig is not an exception. Philotimus and Diphilus looked upon it as bad food;[XIII_63] Galen was unwell after partaking of figs, and he recommends us to mix almonds with them;[XIII_64] Hippocrates himself thought them indigestible, and advised to drink plentifully after eating them.[XIII_65]
All these great men may have been right, but the Greeks, their contemporaries, acted as if they were wrong: happily we are not called upon to decide between them.
Figs were commonly served on aristocratic tables with salt, pepper, vinegar, and some aromatics; they were eaten fresh, or dried in the oven, or on hurdles in the sun.
RASPBERRY TREE.
The ancients hardly mention the raspberry tree, which they placed on a level with the bramble. The Latins called it “Bramble of Ida,” because it was common on that mountain.[XIII_66] There can be no doubt, however, that the Romans knew how to appreciate the raspberry tree, so much esteemed in our days.
CURRANT TREE.
The moderns have attempted to ennoble our two kinds of currants by decorating them with Latin names, which recall their antiquity.[XIII_67] Vain effort! To all appearance the Greeks and people of Italy were not acquainted with the currant tree,[XIII_68] although they well deserved to possess this delicious fruit.
STRAWBERRY PLANT.
Among the Greeks the name of the strawberry indicated its tenuity, this fruit forming hardly a mouthful. With the Latins the name reminded one of the delicious perfume of this plant. Both nations were equally fond of it, and applied the same care to its cultivation. Virgil appears to place it in the same rank with flowers,[XIII_69] and Ovid gives it a tender epithet,[XIII_70] which delicate palates would not disavow. Neither does this luxurious poet forget the wild strawberry,[XIII_71] which disappears beneath its modest foliage, but whose presence the scented air reveals. Transported to the tables of the Luculli, by the side of its more brilliant and more beautiful sister, a flattering murmur often bore testimony to its merit, and nature triumphed in the midst of ingenious guests, soliciting of art what they repudiated in nature.
MULBERRY TREE.
The ancient mulberry tree was considered the wisest and most prudent of trees, because it took care, they said, not to let the smallest of its buds come to light before the cold had entirely disappeared, not to return. Then, however, it hastened to repair lost time, and a single night was sufficient to see it display its beautiful flowers, which the next morning brightly opened at the rising of Aurora.[XIII_72]
The voluptuous Romans, reposing late on their soft couches the day after the fatigues of a banquet worthy of Vitellius, did not trouble themselves much about this interesting phenomenon, which occurred, if Pliny does not mistake, in the gardens of their villas. But they knew that mulberries agree with the stomach, that they afford hardly any nourishment, and easily digest:[XIII_73] therefore, no sooner had they opened their heavy eyelids than an Egyptian boy—attentive living bell—at a sign disappeared, and quickly returned, bearing a small crystal vase, filled with mulberry juice and wine reduced by boiling. This beneficent fruit preserved in this mixture all its sweet flavour,[XIII_74] and enabled the rich patrician to await until evening the hour for new excesses.
It is quite evident that this luscious fruit was a native of Canaan, for the high road by which the tribes of Israel went up to the feasts at Jerusalem lay through the valley of Baka, or Mulberry Tree;[XIII_75] and the whole tract of country from Ekron to Gaza abounded in these trees.
XIV.
SHELL FRUIT.
ALMOND TREE.
This tree, whose fruit was called at one time “Greek Nut,” and, at another, “Thasian Nut,”[XIV_1] is a native of Paphlagonia, according to Hermippus.[XIV_2] The nations of the east thought much of almonds, and Jacob found them worthy of appearing among the presents he designed for Joseph.[XIV_3] The almond tree of Naxos supplied the markets of Athens.[XIV_4] The Romans, in their turn, sought them, and believed, like the physician spoken of by Plutarch, that it was only necessary to eat five or six almonds to acquire the ability of drinking astonishingly.[XIV_5]
Besides, this fruit had not always so mean a destination: the disciples of Apicius made of it one of the most delicate of dishes. Here it is, as taught to them by their master:—
Take almonds that have been pounded in a mortar, and mix them with honey, pepper, garum, milk, eggs, and a little oil; submit the whole to the action of a slow fire.[XIV_6]
The ancients were acquainted with the oil of almonds,[XIV_7] of which they made nearly the same use as we do ourselves; but they possessed, in addition, an infallible means of augmenting the fertility of the almond tree. It was very simple:—A hole was made in the tree, a stone was introduced into it,[XIV_8] and, thanks to the virtue of this new manure, the branches soon bent under the weight of almonds.
The good almonds come from Barbary and the south of France. When young, they are preserved like green apricots. They are eaten at table, fresh or dry; in comfits, pastry, &c.: they are also used to make orgeat and refreshing emulsions. The oil extracted from almonds, even bitter ones, is very sweet; it is best extracted cold, by pressure. The pulp is employed, under the name of almond paste, for several purposes, one of which is to render the skin soft and flexible.[XIV_9]
WALNUT TREE.
Asia, the cradle of most fruit trees, gave birth also to the walnut tree. It is believed to be a native of Persia,[XIV_10] and its pleasing foliage already adorned, in Biblical times, the orchards of the east. One of the most ancient of the sacred books informs us that it was known to the Jews,[XIV_11] and it may be inferred from a passage in the Song of Solomon that they possessed numerous plantations of this tree.[XIV_12]
Among the Persians, walnuts were not lavished on the first comer, as with us; the sovereign reserved them for his dessert, and the people were obliged to abstain from them. But perhaps it may be said that, however fond this prince may have been of walnuts, he could not eat all that were produced in his states. The objection is embarrassing, we own, and chroniclers are silent on this point. But let us suppose that this generous potentate distributed to his favourites the walnuts from which his satiated appetite was compelled to abstain; and, indeed, we find that a king of Persia sent some to the Greeks, who called them “Royal Persian nuts,”[XIV_13] in gratitude and remembrance of the august gift.
They did still better; the king of Olympus had a great liking for this fruit, so they hastened to consecrate it to him,[XIV_14] and the “nuts of Jupiter” were cultivated with honour in the whole of Greece.[XIV_15]
Italy received the walnut tree from Attica, and, by degrees, the conquerors of the world introduced it to the different countries of Europe.
The Romans, imitators of the piety of the Greeks, placed this tree also under the protection of the most powerful of their gods. One of their most whimsical customs, perhaps, owed its origin to this consecration, which will serve to explain it:—
After the wedding feast the bridegroom strewed in the nuptial chamber, at night, several baskets of walnuts, which children hastened to pick up.[XIV_16] This was, they said, a kind of offering to Jupiter, and thus he was entreated to grant his supreme patronage to the husband, and to adorn the wife with the virtues of Juno.[XIV_17] The god could not have failed to smile at this part of the request of blind mortals, and it is asserted that, at times, he condescended not to grant it.
Others have given a different interpretation. According to them, the walnut, being covered with a double envelope when fresh, became a presage of abundance and prosperity.[XIV_18]
It would be too tedious to relate all the singular opinions to which this ceremony gave rise. The most reasonable appears to be that adopted by certain commentators:—Walnuts, say they, served as playthings for children, and, by throwing them on the ground the day of his wedding, the bridegroom made it understood that he and his companion renounced the frivolities of youth, henceforth to devote themselves to the serious exigencies of a family.[XIV_19]
This fruit was considered astringent,[XIV_20] stomachic, and proper to facilitate digestion.[XIV_21] It was made into preserve, and eaten in small quantity, mixed with figs. In this manner paralysis of the tongue was avoided—an effect to which it was believed those who partook of them to excess were exposed.[XIV_22] Green walnuts were much esteemed; they were served at dessert,[XIV_23] notwithstanding the opinion of Heraclides, of Tarentum, who looked upon them as a stimulant to the appetite, and advised a trial of them at the beginning of a repast.[XIV_24]
When Pompey had made himself master of the palace of Mithridates, he had search made everywhere for the recipe of the famous antidote against poison used by that king. At length it was found; it was very simple: however, we offer it to the curious:—
Pound, with care, two walnuts, two dried figs, twenty leaves of rue, and a grain of salt.[XIV_25] Swallow this mixture—precipitate it by the assistance of a little wine, and you have nothing to fear from the most active poison for the space of twenty-four hours.
NUT TREE.
The Greeks gave hazel nuts the name of “Pontic Nuts,” and Theophrastus calls them “Nuts of Heraclea,” because the territory of that capital of the kingdom of Pontus produced the best.[XIV_26]
The Latins, at first, retained the same designation for this fruit, but afterwards, the environs of Præneste and Avellinum supplying them with a great quantity of excellent nuts, they gave them the name of those two cities.[XIV_27] They employed also a diminitive[XIV_28] to indicate those which came from the first of these localities. The French Aveline (filbert), and Noisette (hazel nuts), are evidently borrowed from the Roman vocabulary.
The inhabitants of Præneste raised the nut tree to a sort of religious worship. This tree had preserved them from famine during the time Hannibal besieged their city,[XIV_29] and since that memorable epoch it had enriched them, for the ancients preferred hazel nuts to all other shell fruit, as possessing most wholesome and nourishing qualities.[XIV_30]
It was the custom in France, some centuries ago, at the time of the summer solstice (Midsummer eve), to take all the kitchen utensils and make the most frightful clatter by knocking them one against another. The simpletons of those times imagined that there were no better means of preventing the rain, which, in their opinion, was detrimental to filberts and hazel nuts.[XIV_31] Hospinian, who relates this ridiculous custom, does not tell us what results they obtained by all their racket.
PISTACHIO TREE.
This tree, esteemed by the Romans,[XIV_32] is a native of India.[XIV_33] Lucius Vitellius brought some plants of it from Syria to Rome, under the reign of Tiberius; a little time subsequently, a knight, named Flaccus Pompeius, introduced it also into Spain.[XIV_34]
Galen doubted whether pistachio nuts were good for the stomach.[XIV_35] Avicenna proved the contrary;[XIV_36] and several centuries before the Arabian physician, Roman epicures had courageously demonstrated that this fruit never does harm in whatever form it may be presented, whether raw or roasted, alone or accompanied with garum and salt.
CHESNUT TREE.
According to some writers the chesnut tree owes its name to the city of Castana, in Thessaly, where they maintained it originated. On the contrary, it comes from Sardis, in Lydia, if we are to believe the physician, Diphilus, who calls chesnuts, acorns of Sardis, and says they are nourishing, but indigestible.[XIV_37]
Amaryllis was fond of this fruit;[XIV_38] but Amaryllis was only a shepherdess, and her beauty did not prevent her from having rather rustic tastes. The Roman ladies abandoned the chesnut to that low class of citizens whose palates, incapable of improvement, remain always stationary in the midst of the incessant progress of cookery; sad example of invincible frugality, which the most exciting fumets fail to arouse.
Nevertheless, there was a soft and tender species of chesnut, Castaneæ molles,[XIV_39] which were allowed on some of the tables of the higher class of citizens, and recommended themselves by their delicate pulp to the attention of the guests;[XIV_40] perhaps oil of chesnuts was obtained from this particular kind.[XIV_41]
To render the chesnuts more agreeable and wholesome they must be pealed of their skins, which is very tough; put into boiling water, it penetrates and softens the bitter pellicle (the tan) covering them, and facilitates its removal from the floury substance. When the chesnuts can be easily stripped of this pellicle by the pressure of the fingers, take the jar from the fire; shake them well on all sides. The tan will soon detach itself from their surface, and be altogether removed; then take them out, and after they have been shaken in a sieve made purposely, they are washed in cold water, to take away, with what remains of the tan, the bitter water they may have preserved; they are then cooked without water, in a well-covered vessel, and upon a moderate fire.
“To eat chesnuts green all the year, boil them in water for fifteen or twenty minutes; put them afterwards in a common oven, one hour after the bread has been taken out. By this double operation the chesnuts acquire a degree of cooking and desiccation, by which they can be preserved a very long time, provided they are kept in a dry place. They can be used afterwards by putting them to warm in a bain-marie.”—Dutour.
POMEGRANATE.
Ceres, disconsolate on account of the loss of her daughter, to whom Pluto destined the sceptre of Hell, implored the ruler of Olympus to restore Proserpine. Jupiter promised that the favour should be granted, provided that she had not partaken of anything in the infernal regions. Now, she had eaten some grains of a pomegranate; very few indeed; some serious authors have said three; others, quite as respectable, say nine. The fact is, however, Proserpine had broken her fast; therefore she might think herself fortunate in being allowed to pass six months on earth and six months in the abode of darkness.[XIV_42]
This little mythologic story informs us that the pomegranate tree was known to antiquity, and that the garden of the Elysian fields contained most excellent fruit for the use of its melancholy inhabitants.
The pomegranate, whose acidulated flavour is so pleasing to the inhabitants of hot climates, was first cultivated in the east, then in Africa, but especially in the environs of Carthage, from whence the Romans brought it into Italy, where it was commonly called the Carthaginian apple;[XIV_43] it was also named Granatum, on account of the number of its seeds.[XIV_44]
Pliny distinguishes five different species of promegranate;[XIV_45] Columella teaches the way to rear this tree;[XIV_46] and Apicius treats of the preservation of its fruit, to do which it is only necessary to plunge it in boiling water, take it out immediately, and suspend it from the ceiling.[XIV_47]
The Greeks were very fond of pomegranates. The finest came from Attica, so celebrated by the genius of its inhabitants; and from Bœotia,[XIV_48] that privileged soil, where agriculture and stupidity flourished together.[XIV_49]
XV.
ANIMAL FOOD.
Bread, vegetables, and fruit for a long time provided man with a sufficient and easy alimentation.[XV_1] Wandering with his flocks in search of cool pasture, he only exacted their wool wherewith to make the clothing requisite for his migratory life;[XV_2] their services to assist him in hollowing a difficult furrow;[XV_3] and their first-born as a most agreeable offering to the all-powerful master of heaven and earth.[XV_4] We may also suppose that, in the pastoral ages, the wandering tribes of Asia added to their vegetable food the milk of their ewes, goats, or cows, although it is not mentioned in the Book of Genesis[XV_5] at a very early period, it is true, but which forms a nourishment nature seems to point out as proper to infancy and old age;[XV_6] mankind, therefore, abstained from animal food during many centuries.[XV_7] Ecclesiastical and profane writers seem to agree on this point.[XV_8] Habit had not yet produced disgust, and curiosity, the fatal mother of experience and sensuality. To eat was for them the most natural and simple action of life. The art of cookery tries, makes choice, and improves: that art did not exist.
The frightful cataclysm which overthrew the world, and of which the history of every nation gives proofs more or less confused, came to modify this state of things. “Men were obliged to be fed with more substantial food,”[XV_9] and our forefathers were allowed to add to vegetables and the herbs of the country, “animated beings, and all that which had life and motion.”[XV_10]
The magiric science, therefore, began in the year of the world 1656.
From that period, indeed, the cooking of meat, however little complicated it may have been, required an attention, care, and study, which prepared the development of that marvellous faculty to which no possible limit can be assigned—the last to disappear, and to which, in fact, are related nearly all the actions of human life—the sense of taste.
Heathen authors, guided by the lights of reason, some gleams of tradition, and perhaps not absolutely strangers to the writings of Moses, agree pretty well on the diet of the Golden Age;[XV_11] that age of innocence, acorns, and happiness,[XV_12] when everywhere were seen streams of milk, and nectar, and honey, flowing from the hollow oaks and other trees of the forests.[XV_13]
But when the question is to point out the time at which the use of animal food was introduced, ideas become clouded, and highly intelligent minds, bewildered by the obscurity which envelops the subject, have frequently appealed to absurd legends and ridiculous fables, invoking the aid of their false and contested authority.
Xenocrates pretends that Triptolemus forbad the Athenians to eat animals.[XV_14] Man must, then, have been still frugivorous for four centuries after the Deluge.
This opinion found contradictors, who maintained that man contented himself with fruit only because fire was wanting to cook meat; but Prometheus came, and taught him how to draw the useful element from the flint which concealed it, and was the first to venture on the sacrifice of an ox.[XV_15] This happened in the year of the world 2412.[XV_16]
All this is a mistake, say other and very sensible writers; here is the truth on this difficult point: The goddess Ceres had sown a field, and the wheat came up as desired, when a pig entered, tumbled about, and caused considerable damage, which so irritated the lady that she punished him with death. Now, as a pig is good for nothing except to eat, this one was eaten; and from that day, so fatal to the swinish race, mankind learnt to appreciate the flesh of animals.[XV_17]
At the same time, Bacchus killed a goat he found nibbling at the tendrils of his darling vines;[XV_18] and Hyberbius, son of Mars, and a slasher, like his father, amused himself by killing another, in order to become familiar thus early with scenes of combat.[XV_19] These goats were roasted; and as experience had as yet furnished no rule of comparison, and formed no taste—that exquisite sentiment of the beautiful in the plastic arts, and of the good in the culinary science—it was decided that this dish was very tolerable.
Hitherto the bovine race had only lost one individual: its sad destiny began in the year 1506, before our era, under the reign of the fourth king of Athens, Erichtonius, on a day of great solemnity, when an ox, pressed probably by hunger, came near the altar, and devoured one of the sacred cakes which heathen piety had dedicated to Jupiter. The zealous Diomus rushed forward, and pierced the heart of the sacrilegious quadruped.
It might be supposed that the anger of the god was immediately appeased; but no! the terrible Jupiter knitted his brows; Olympus was in great agitation; and pestilence came, and spread its ravages amongst the Athenians.
“All did not die, but all were struck;”[XV_20] and, to propitiate the implacable scourge, they thought of nothing better than to institute the Buphonic Feast, which happily re-established their health, and which they continued to celebrate every year. They sacrificed an ox,[XV_21] offered a piece to Jupiter, and the faithful divided the rest among themselves.
At Tyre, in Phœnicia, meat was consumed on the altar, but the gods had the profit of it, and nobody else. Some fruit and a few vegetables were sufficient for the frugality of people enjoying innocent and primitive customs. But it happened, in the time of Pygmalion,[XV_22] that a young sacrificer having perceived that a piece of the victim had fallen, hastened to pick it up and replace it carefully on the fire of the altar. In the performance of this operation he burned his fingers, and instantly put them into his mouth, to lessen the pain. As he could not help tasting the fat with which they were covered, the greedy young man experienced a new sensation, which tempted him to swallow a mouthful—then a second—a portion of the victim was eaten; he put another piece under his cloak, and, with his wife, made the finest supper in his life. All went on very well until the prince, being informed of this profanation, loaded them with reproaches, and condemned both to the punishment of death.
Gluttony, however, is rash: other sacrificers ate—at first in secret—of this forbidden food; then they were imitated; and, at last, by degrees meat passed from the altar of the gods, who did not taste it, to the tables of mortals, who feasted upon it.[XV_23] People may or may not believe this anecdote, which informs us in so satisfactory a manner of the epoch at which man, from being frugivorous, became carnivorous; but one thing is certain, that in the time of Homer (there is only eighty years between him and Pygmalion), the flesh of animals was then much in fashion, for we read of his giving to his heroes, as their principal food, a whole hog, three years old, and oxen roasted—not even jointed.[XV_24]
Some ideologists and dreamers have risen against the use of meat; their declamations, often very eloquent, have been read; but, from Pythagoras, a sublime and honest enthusiast, down to the whimsical J. J. Rousseau—who, by-the-by, was very fond of mutton chops and bœuf à la mode, although he exclaimed against the cruelty of mankind, whose hands were stained with the blood of animals—no nation has yet determined to adopt the patriarchal diet of the first ages of the world.
Plutarch was a vegetarian; and we possess one of his treatises, in which he endeavours to prove that flesh is not the natural food of man.[XV_25] As a conclusive answer—meat was eaten. So, when an ancient philosopher one day denied the movement of matter, a person reduced him to silence by walking.
But, if animal diet has, from time to time, met with a small number of detractors, what an immense crowd of apologists and adepts has it not also found! It would signify nothing to name individuals; let us point out whole nations. Who is not acquainted with the delicacy and luxury of the Assyrians and Persians? Who is not aware that the genius of the Greeks improved the culinary art, and that their cooks were famous in history? What of the Syracusans, whose dainty and curious ideas passed as a proverb; and of the Athenians, who were so passionately fond of the pleasures of the table; or of Naples, Tarentum, and Sybaris, so celebrated for their good cheer? The Romans surpassed even these refinements and sumptuous repasts: theirs is the honour of the pontiffs’ feasts, the excesses of Capreæ, the profusions of Vitellius, of Galba, Nero, and Caligula. They have the honour of the banquet of Geta, which lasted three days, and ended by exhausting the alphabetic list of all the dishes that the universe could supply.