703 The modern Andropogon schœnanthus. See B. xii. c. 48.
707 Fluid resin of coniferous trees of Europe.
709 Cupressus semper-virens. He does not say what part of the tree was employed.
712 The alkanet and cinnabar were only used for colouring.
713 “Sampsuchinum.” It is generally supposed that the sampsuchum, and the amaracus were the same, the sweet marjoram, or Origanum marjorana of Linnæus. Fée, however, is of a contrary opinion. See B. xxi. c. 35. In Dioscorides, B. i. c. 59, there is a difference made between sampsuchinum and amaracinum, though but a very slight one.
714 The bark of the Cassia lignea of the pharmacopœa, the Laurus cassia of botany. See B. xii. c. 43.
717 See B. xxiii. c. 54, also B. xv. c. 10. The Malum struthium, or “sparrow quince,” was an oblong variety of the fruit.
718 Sesamum orientale of Linnæus. See B. xviii. c. 22, and B. xxii. c. 54.
720 Southernwood. The Artemisia abrotonum of Linnæus.
721 Or lily unguent, made of the lily of Susa, which had probably a more powerful smell than that of Europe. Dioscorides gives its composition, B. i. c. 63.
722 The Crocus sativus of Linnæus.
723 Cyprinum. It has been previously mentioned in this Chapter.
726 Or unguent of fenugreek, from the Greek τῆλις, meaning that plant, the Trigonella fœnum Græcum of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. c. 120.
727 See B. ii. c. 26, and B. xxi. c. 68-70.
728 The Trifolium melilotus of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 30.
730 He would imply that it was so called from the Greek μεγὰς, “great;” but it was more generally said that it received its name from its inventor, Megalus.
732 Fée does not appear to credit this statement. By the use of the word “ventiletur,” “fanned” may be possibly implied.
734 The Agnus castus of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. c. 38. The leaves are quite inodorous, though the fruit of this plant is slightly aromatic.
735 “Externa.” The reading is doubtful, and it is difficult to say what is the exact meaning of the word.
736 Cinnamomino.
737 Nardinum.
744 Summa auctoritas rei.
752 Fée suggests that this may be the Nymphæa cœrulea of Savigny, a plant that is common in the Nile, and the flowers of which exhale a sweet odour.
753 The diapasmata were dry, odoriferous powders, similar to those used at the present day in sachets and scent-bags.
754 “Fæcem unguenti.”
755 This word is still used in pharmacy to denote the husks or residuary matter left after the extraction of the juice.
756 See B. xxxvi. c. 12. See also Mark xiv. 7, and John xii. 3. Leaden boxes were also used for a similar purpose.
757 Odores.
758 “Heres.” The person was so called who succeeded to the property, whether real or personal, of an intestate.
759 See B. xvii. c. 3, where he quotes this passage from Cicero at length. It appears to be from De Orat. B. iii. c. 69. Both Cicero and Pliny profess to find a smell that arises from the earth itself, through the agency of the sun. But, as Fée remarks, pure earth is perfectly inodorous. He suggests, however, that this odour attributed by the ancients to the earth, may in reality have proceeded from the fibrous roots of thyme and other plants. If such is not the real solution, it seems impossible to suggest any other.
760 By giving preference to the more simple odours.
761 “Crassitudo.”
762 Or “thick” unguent.
763 We learn from Athenæus, and a passage in the Aulularia of Plautus, that this was done long before Nero’s time, among the Greeks.
764 Who succeeded Galba. He was one of Nero’s favourite companions in his debaucheries.
765 Caligula.
766 Solium.
767 After victories, for instance, or when marching orders were given.
768 This is said in bitter irony.
769 Sub casside.
770 Asia Minor more particularly.
771 Exotica.
772 The organs of taste and of smell.
773 We have this fact alluded to in the works of Plautus, Juvenal, Martial, and Ælian. The Greeks were particularly fond of mixing myrrh with their wine. Nard wine is also mentioned by Plautus. Miles Gl. iii. 2, 11.
774 Or Lucius Plautius Plancus. He was proscribed by the triumvirs, with the sanction of his brother. In consequence of his use of perfumes, the place of his concealment “got wind;” and in order to save his slaves, who were being tortured to death because they would not betray him, he voluntarily surrendered himself.
775 Attaching to the triumvirate.
776 Capua, its capital, was the great seat of the unguent and perfume manufacture in Italy.
777 The Phœnix dactylifera of Linnæus. See also B. xii. c. 62, where he seems also to allude to this tree.
778 At the present day this is not the fact. The village of La Bordighiera, situate on an eminence of the Apennines, grows great quantities of dates, of good quality. At Hieres, Nice, San Remo, and Genoa, they are also grown.
779 This, too, is not the fact. The dates of Valencia, Seville, and other provinces of Spain, are sweet, and of excellent quality.
780 Pliny is wrong again in this statement. The date of Barbary, Tunis, Algiers, and Bildulgerid, the “land of dates,” is superior in every respect to that of the East.
781 The Æthiopians, as we learn from Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8.
782 Or in a wild state.
783 “Tectorii vicem.” They were probably planted in rows, close to the wall.
784 This mode of ascending the date-palm is still practised in the East.
786 “Umbracula.” The fibres of the leaves were probably platted or woven, and the “umbracula” made in much the same manner as the straw and fibre hats of the present day.
787 Most of this is borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. ii. 9.
788 Fée remarks, that this account is quite erroneous.
789 This he copies also from Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8.
790 Theophrastus, B. ii. c. 8, mentions this as a kind of date peculiar to Cyprus.
791 This is said solely in relation to the date of Cyprus.
792 Or “dwellers in tents;” similar to the modern Bedouins.
793 Fée remarks, that in these words we find the first germs of the sexual system that has been established by the modern botanists. He thinks that it is clearly shown by this account, that Pliny was acquainted with the fecundation of plants by the agency of the pollen.
795 “Lanugine.” It is possible that in the use of this word, also, he may allude to the pollen. Under the term “pulvis,” “dust,” he probably alludes in exaggerated terms to the same theory.
796 The same methods of propagating the palm are still followed in the East, and in the countries near the tropics.
798 Fée mentions one near Elvas in Spain, which shot up into seven distinct trees, as it were, from a single trunk. The Douma Thebaica, he says, of Syria and Egypt, a peculiar kind of palm, is also bifurcated. The fruit of it, he thinks, are very probably the Phænico-balanus of B. xii. c. 47.
799 “Spado.” Represented by the Greek εὔνουχος and ἔνορχος.
800 “Cæduæ.” Though this is the fact as to some palm-trees, the greater part perish after being cut; the vital bud occupying the summit, and the trunk not being susceptible of any increase.
801 Cerebrum.
802 The Chamæreps humilis of the modern botanists. It is found, among other countries, in Spain, Morocco, and Arabia.
803 Vitilia.
804 “Vivaces.” Perhaps it may mean that the wood retains the fire for a long time, when it burns.
805 Fée suggests that Pliny may possibly have confounded the fruit of other palms with the date.
806 This seems to have been a general name, as Pliny says, meaning an eunuch; but it is evident that it was also used as a proper name, as in the case of the eunuch who slew Artaxerxes, Ochus, B.C. 338, by poison, and of another eunuch who belonged to Darius, but afterwards fell into the hands of Alexander, of whom he became an especial favourite. The name is sometimes written “Bagoüs,” and sometimes “Bagoas.”
807 Dominantis in aula.
808 From the Greek σύαγρος, “a wild boar,” as Pliny afterwards states; they being so called from their peculiar wild taste.
809 See B. vi. c. 39.
810 Said to have been so called from the Greek κάρη, “the head,” and ὑωδία, “stupidity,” owing to the heady nature of the wine extracted from the fruit.
812 The Jericho of Scripture.
813 Athenæus, B. xiv. c. 22, tells us that these dates were thus called from Nicolaus of Damascus, a Peripatetic philosopher, who, when visiting Rome with Herod the Great, made Augustus a present of the finest fruit of the palm-tree that could be procured. This fruit retained its name of “Nicolaän,” down to the middle ages.
814 Pliny would imply that they are so called from the Greek ἀδέλφια, “a sister,” as being of sister quality to the caryotæ; but it is much more probable, as Fée remarks, that they got this name from being attached in pairs to the same pedicle or stalk.
815 Pliny certainly seems to imply that they are so called from the Greek πατέω, “to tread under foot,” and Hardouin is of that opinion. Fée, however, thinks the name is from the Hebrew or Syriac “patach,” “to expand,” or “open,” or else from the Hebrew “pathah,” the name of the first vowel, from some fancied resemblance in the form.
816 From the Greek χυδαῖος, “vulgar,” or “common,” it is supposed. The Jews probably called them so, as being common, or offered by the Gentiles to their idols and divinities. Pliny evidently considers that in the name given to them no compliment was intended to the deities of the heathen mythology.
817 From its extreme driness, and its shrivelled appearance.
818 From Theophrastus, B. i. c. 16.
819 Κύκως in the Greek. It is supposed by Sprengel to be the same as the Cycas circinnalis of Linnæus; but, as Fée remarks, that is only found in India.
820 From the Greek, meaning “sweetmeats,” or “dessert fruit:” he probably means that in Syria and some parts of Phœnicia they were thus called.
821 This story, which is borrowed from Theophrastus, B. iv. c. 5, is doubted by Fée, who says that in the green state they are so hard and nauseous, that it is next to impossible to eat sufficient to be materially incommoded by them.
822 The Pistacia vera of Linnæus. It was introduced into Rome in the reign of Tiberius. The kernel is of no use whatever in a medical point of view, and what Pliny says about its curing the bite of serpents is perfectly fabulous.
823 See B. xv. c. 19. The “carica” was properly the “Carian” fig. “Ficus carica” is, however, the name given to the common fig by the modern botanists.
826 The Juniperus communis of Linnæus.
827 The Juniperus Lycia, and the Juniperus Phœnicia, probably, of Linnæus. It has been supposed by some, that it is these trees that produce the frankincense of Africa; but, as Fée observes, the subject is enveloped in considerable obscurity.
828 The “sharp-leaved” cedar. The Juniperus oxycedrus of Linnæus.
829 The “Pinus cedrus” of Linnæus. The name “cedrus” was given by the ancients not only to the cedar of Lebanon, but to many others of the Coniferæ as well, and more particularly to several varieties of the juniper.
830 See B. xxxvi. c. 4.
831 Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus.
832 These varieties, Fée says, are not observed by modern naturalists.