Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece. Vol II., by J.A. St. John

Besides these the ancients usually cultivated in their grounds two species of cistus, one with pale red flowers now called the long rose, the other which about midsummer has on its leaves a sort of fatty dew, of which laudanum is made;^[1461] together with the blue eringo,^[1462] rocket, cresses, (which were planted in ridges,) bastard parsley, penny-royal, anis,^[1463] water-mint, sea-onions, monk’s rhubarb, purslain, a leaf of which placed under the tongue quenched thirst, garden coriander, hellebore, yellow, red, and white, bush origany,^[1464] with its pink cones, flame-coloured fox-glove, brank-ursine, or bear’s foot, admired for its vast pyramid of white flowers, chervil, skirwort, the mournful elecampane, giant fennel, dill, mustard and wake-robin, which was sown,

Other garden herbs were the cumin, the seed of which was sown with abuse and curses,^[1466] the sperage-berry, the dittander, or pepperwort, turnips,^[1467] and parsnips, (found wild in Dalmatia,)^[1468] with onions, garlic, and leeks.^[1469] For these last Megara was famous, as Attica was for honey, which suggested to the Athenians an occasion of compliment to themselves,^[1470] it having been a saying among them, that they were as superior to the Megareans as honey is to garlic and leeks.

The cultivation of that species of leek called gethyllis was carried to great perfection at Delphi,^[1471] where it was an established custom, evidently with a view to the improvement of gardening, that the person who, on the day of the Theoxenia,^[1472] presented the largest vegetable of this kind to Leto should receive a portion from the holy table.^[1473] Polemo, who relates this circumstance says, that he had seen on these occasions leeks nearly as large as turnips. The cause of this ceremony was said to be, that Leto when great with Apollo longed for a leek.

Mushrooms ^[1474] were sedulously cultivated by the ancients, among whose methods of producing them were the following. They felled a poplar-tree ^[1475] and laying its trunk in the earth to rot, watered it assiduously, after which mushrooms, at the proper time sprung up. Another method was to irrigate the trunk of the fig-tree after having covered it all round with dung, though the best kind in the opinion of others were such as grew at the foot of elm and pine-trees.^[1476] Those springing from the upper roots were reckoned of no value.

On other occasions ^[1477] they chose a light sandy soil accustomed to produce reeds, then burning brushwood, &c., when the air was in a state indicating rain, this ambiguous species of vegetable started forth from the earth with the first shower. The same effect was produced by watering the ground thus prepared, though this species was supposed to be inferior. In France, the most delicate sort of mushrooms are said to proceed from the decayed root of the Eryngium.

This vegetable appears to have been a favourite dish among the ancients, together with the truffle,^[1478] eaten both cooked and raw;^[1479] and the morrille.^[1480] That particular kind, called geranion, is the modern crane’s bill. The Misu, another sort of truffle,^[1481] grew chiefly in the sandy plains about Cyrene, and, as well as the Iton,^[1482] found in the lofty downs of Thrace, was said to exhale an agreeable odour resembling that of animal food. These fanciful luxuries, which were produced among the rains and thunders ^[1483] of autumn, continued to flourish in the earth during a whole year, but were thought to be in season in spring. Truffle-seed was usually imported from Megara, Lycia, and Getulia; but in Mytelene the inhabitants were spared this expense, their sandy shores being annually sown from the neighbouring coast by the winds and showers. It has been remarked, that neither truffles nor wild onions were found near the Hellespont.^[1484]

What methods the ancients employed for discovering the truffle, which grows without stem or leaf in a small cell beneath the surface of the earth, I have nowhere seen explained. At present ^[1485] their existence is said to be detected in Greece, not by the truffle hound, but by the divining rod. On the dry sandy downs of the Limousin, Gascogne, Angoumois, and Perigord, as well as in several parts of Italy,^[1486] they are collected by the swineherds; for the hogs being extremely fond of them utter grunts of joy, and begin to turn up the earth as soon as they scent their odour, upon which the herdsmen beat the animals away, and carefully preserve the delicacy for the tables of the rich. At other times they are discovered in the following manner: the herdsmen stooping down, and looking horizontally along the surface of the Landes, observe here and there, on spots bare of grass and full of fissures, clouds of very diminutive flies hatched in the truffle, and still regaling themselves with its perfume. In some parts of Savoy they have been found two pounds in weight.

1241. But see Dr. Nolan on the Grecian Rose, Trans. Roy. Soc. ii. p. 330, and Poll. i. 229.

1242. Hist. Nat. xix. 4. Dr. Nolan, p. 330. Nic. Caussin. De Eloquent. xi. p. 727, seq. Cic. De Senect. § 17. Ælian. De Nat. Anim. xiii. 18, has a brief but interesting description of the garden of the Indian kings, with its evergreen groves, fish-ponds, and flights of peacocks, pheasants, and parrots, reckoned sacred by the Brahmins. Cf. Xenoph. Œconom. iv. 13, where he celebrates the fondness of the Persian kings for gardens.

1243. Here sometimes were grown both vegetables, as lettuces, radishes, parsley, &c., and flowering shrubs, as the wild or rose-laurel, which was supposed to be a deadly poison to horses and asses. Lucian. Luc. siv. Asin. § 17.

1244. Luc. Piscat. § 6.

1245. Geop. x. 1. 1. xii. 2.

1246. The cedar still grows wild on the promontory of Sunium. Chandler, ii. 8.

1247. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. i. pl. 4.

1248. Plato describes, though not in a garden, a fountain and a plane-tree, in language so picturesque and harmonious, that it has captivated the imagination of all succeeding writers, many of whom have sought to express their admiration by imitating it in their own style:—Ἥ τε γὰρ πλάτανος αὕτη μάλ’ ἀμφιλαφής τε καὶ ὑψηλή, τοῦ τε ἄγνου τὸ ὕψος καὶ τὸ σύσκιον πάγκαλον, καὶ ὡς ἀγμὴν ἔχει τῆς ἀνθης, ὡς ἄν εὐωδέστατον παρέχοι τὸν τόπον· ἥ τε αὖ πηγὴ χαριεστάτη ὑπο τῆς πλατάνου ῥεῖ μάλα ψυχροῦ ὕδατος, ὥς τε γε τῷ ποδὶ τεκμήρασθαι· νυμφῶν τε τινων καὶ Ἀχελώου ἱερὸν ἀπὸ τῶν κορῶν τε καὶ ἀγαλμάτων ἔοικεν εἶναι· εἰ δ᾽ αὖ βούλει, τὸ εὔπνουν τοῦ τόπου ὡς ἀγαπητὸν καὶ σφόδρα ἡδὺ· θερινόν τε καὶ λιγυρὸν ὑπηχεῖ τῷ τῶν τεττίγων χορῷ, πάντων δὲ κομψότατον τὸ τῆς πόας ὅτι ἐν ἠρέμα προσάντει ἱκανὴ πέφυκε κατακλινέντι τὴν κεφαλὴν παγκάλως ἔχειν. Phæd. t. i. p. 8, seq. The prevailing image in this passage is thus expressed by Cicero: “Cur non imitamur Socratem illum, qui est in Phædro Platonis; nam me hæc tua platanus admonuit, quæ non minus ad opacandum hunc locum patulis est diffusa ramis, quam illa cujus umbram secutus est Socrates quæ mihi videtur non tam ipsa aquula, quæ describitur, quam Platonis oratione crevisse.” De Orat. i. 7. The picture is slightly varied by Aristinætos, who introduces it into a garden:—Ἡ δὲ πηγὴ χαριεστάτη ὑπὸ τῇ πλατάνῳ ῥεῖ ὕδατος εὖ μάλα ψυχροῦ, ὥς γε τῷ ποδὶ τεκμήρασθαι, καὶ διαφανοῦς τοσοῦτον, ὥστε συνεπινηχομένων καὶ διὰ διαυγὲς ὑδάτιον διαπλεκομένων ἐπαφροδίτως ἀλλήλοις, ἅπαν ἡμῶν φανερῶς ἀποκαταφαίνεσθαι μέλος. Epist. Lib.i. Epist. 3. p. 14. On the epithet ἀμφιλαφὴς, which Ruhnken (ad Tim. Lex. p. 24) observes was almost exclusively appropriated by the ancients to the Plane tree, see Apollon. Rhod. ii. 733. Wellauer. et schol.

1249. Where running water was not to be obtained, they constructed two gardens, the one for winter, which depended on the showers, the other on a northern exposure, where a fresh, cool air was preserved throughout the summer. Geop. xii. 5.

1250. Used by rustics in crowns. Athen. xv. 12. Prometheus was crowned with agnus-castus. 13.

1251. Geop. xi. 7. Plin. xv. 18.

1252. Geop. x. 1. 3.

1253. Which delighted particularly in the edges of paths and trodden places. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 6.1.

1254. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. i. pl. 5, sqq.

1255. Laing, Notes of a Traveller, p. 6.

1256. Geop. xi. 21, 23, sqq.

1257. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. i. pl. 79. pl. 203. pl. 334, &c.

1258. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἀφ’ ὧν ζῶσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ταῦτα ἡ γῆ φέρει ἐργαζομένοις· καὶ ἀφ’ ὧν τοίνυν ἡδυπαθοῦσι προσεπιφέρει.—Ἔπειτα δὲ ὅσα κοσμοῦσι βωμοὺς και ἀγάλματα, καὶ οἷς αὐτοὶ κοσμοῦνται, καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ ἡδίστων ὀσμῶν καὶ θεαμάτων παρέχει. κ. τ. λ. Xenoph. Œconom. v. 2, seq.

Pliny has a curious passage on the use of crowns among the Romans, which Holland has thus translated: “Now when these garlands of flowers were taken up and received commonly in all places for a certain time, there came soon after into request those chaplets which are named Egyptian; and after them, winter coronets, to wit, when the earth affordeth no flowers to make them, and these consisted of horn shavings dyed into sundry colours. And so in process of time, by little and little crept into Rome, also the name of corolla, or as one would say, petty garlands; for that these winter chaplets at first were so pretty and small: and not long after them, the costly coronets and others, corollaries, namely, when they are made of thin leaves and plates and latten, either gilded or silvered over, or else set out with golden and silvered spangles, and so presented.” xxi. 2. Pollux affords a list of the principal flowers used in crowns by the Greeks: τὰ δὲ ἐν τοῖς στεφάνοις ἄνθη, ῥόδα, ἴα, κρίνα, σισύμθρια, ἀνεμῶναι, ἕρπυλος, κρόκος, ὑάκινθος, ἑλίχρυσος, ἡμεροκαλὲς, ἑλένειον, θρυαλὶς, ἀνθρίσκος, νάρκισσος, μελίλωτον, ἀνθεμὶς, παρθενὶς, καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τέρψιν, ἠῥισὶν ἡδεῖαν ὄσφρησιν ἔχει. Cratinus enumerates among garland flowers, those of the smilax and the cosmosandalon. Onomast. vi. 106. Athen. xv. 32. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 1. 2–6. 4. Persons returning from a voyage were sometimes crowned with flowers. Plut. Thes. § 22. Soldiers also going to battle. Ages. § 19. Cf Philost. Icon. i. 24. p. 799. Plut. Sympos. iii. 1.

1259. Athen. xv. 15.

1266. Geop. xi. 2. Ovid. Metam. 550.

1269. Geop. xi. 10. Cf. Plut. Sympos. vol. iii. 1, where he assigns the reason why the pine was sacred to Poseidon and Dionysos. The foliage of the pine-forests was so dense in Bœotia as to permit neither snow nor rain to penetrate through. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 9. 6. The shade of such trees, therefore, would be more especially coveted.

1270. Sch. Aristoph. Eq. 537. Geop. xii. 17. 16.

1271. By Dr. Nolan. See his paper on the Grecian Rose. Trans. Roy. Soc. of Lit. ii. 327, sqq.

1272. Cf. Athen. xv. 11.

1273. Οἱ δὲ, ἀπικόμενοι ἐς ἄλλην γῆν τῆς Μακεδόνιης, οἴκησαν πέλας τῶν κήπων τῶν λεγομένων εἶναι Μίδεω τοῦ Γορδίεω. ἐν τοῖσι φύεται αὐτόματα ῥόδα, ἕν ἕκαστον ἔχον ἑξήκοντα φύλλα ὀδμῆ δὲ ὑπερφέροντα τῶν ἀλλων· ἐν τούτοισι καὶ ὁ Σιληνὸς τοῖσι κήποισι ἥλω, ὡς λέγεται ὑπὸ Μακεδόνων. ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν κήτων οὖρος κέεται, Βέρμιον οὔνομα, ἄβατον ὑπὸ χειμῶνος. viii. 138. On the arts and manners of this Midas, who, together with Orpheus and Eumolpos was the founder of the Hellenic religion, see J. G. Voss. de Idololat. i. 24, and Bouhier, Dissert. sur Herod. ch. 80.

1274. Cf. Theop. Hist. Plant. iv. 87.

1275. Athen. iii. 21. Stesichoros lived before Christ about 632. Clint. Fast. Hellen. ii. 5. Crowns of roses are mentioned by Cratinus who was born 519 B. C. which shows that roses must have been largely cultivated in his time. Athen. xv. 27.

1276. Il. α. 477. ι. 703. Cf. Hesiod. Opp. et Dies, 610. To place the matter beyond dispute, Homer speaks of oils rendered fragrant by the perfume of the rose:—ῥοδόεντι δὲ χρῖεν ἐλαίῳ. Il. ψ. 186.

1277. Dioscor. i. 154.

1278. “Les Egyptiens, selon le département de leur Roy Horus, n’en mettaient que trois (saisons): le printemps, l’esté, et l’automne: leur attribuans quatre mois à chacune, et les figurans par une rose, une espy, et une pomme, ou raisin.” Les Images de Platte Peinture des deux Philostrates, par Vigenère, Paris, fol. 1627, p. 555.

1279. Geop. xi. 18. A species of perpetual rose is said to have been recently discovered in France, where “A Parisian florist, we are told, has succeeded in producing a new hybrid rose from the Bourbon rose and Gloire de Rosomène, the flowers of which he had fertilised with the pollen of some Damask and hybrid China roses. The plant is extremely beautiful, the colour bright crimson shaded with Maroon purple, and is further enriched with a powerful fragrance.” Times, March 24th, 1841.

1280. Geop. xi. 18. 12.

1281. Plinius varia genera commemorat, Milesia ardentissimo colore, Alabandica albicantibus foliis, Spermonia vilissima, Damascenæ albæ distillandis aquis usurpantur. Differunt foliorum multitudine, asperitate, lævore, colore, odore.—Heresbachius, de Re Rustica, lib. ii. p. 121. a.

1282. Problem. xii. 8. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 6. 5.

1283. Athen. xv. 29. Plin. xxi. 10. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 6. 4.

1284. As Dr. Nolan seems to suppose. On the Grecian Rose. Transact. Roy. Soc. ii. 328. Though Theophrastus states the contrary very distinctly. Hist. Plant. vi. 2. 1—6. 4—7. 5. The white rose appears at present to be commonly cultivated in Attica.—Chandler, ii. 181.

1285. Geop. xi. 18. 13.

1286. Geop. xi. 18. 1.

1287. Pashley, Trav. i. 8, who observes, that the rose is common in February at Malta.

1288. Geop. xi. 18. 5. Plin. xxi. 4. Pallad. iii. 21. 2.

1289. Geop. xi. 18. 4. Cf. xii. 19. 3.

1290. Geop. xi. 20. Heresbach. de Re Rust. p. 122. b. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 6. 4, 8.

1291. Plin. xxi. 13.

1292. Colum. De Cultu Hortorum, x. 102.

1293. Winter’s Tale, iv. 5.

1294. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. i. tab. 222, tab. 318. Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 1320. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 6. 4. The finest violets, crocusses, &c., in the ancient world, were supposed to be found in Cyrene. Id. vi. 6. 5.

1295. Dioscor. ii. 155.

1296. On the birth of the Hyacinth, see Eudocia in the Anecdota Græca, i. 408.

1297. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 6. 9. 8. 2. This flower flourishes after the setting of Arcturus, about the autumnal equinox.—“We were ferried over a narrow stream fringed with Agnus-Castus, into a garden belonging to the convent. A number of vernal flowers now blossomed on its banks; the garden anemone was crimsoned with an extraordinary glow of colouring. The soil which was a sandy loam, was further enlivened with the Ixia, the grass-leaved Iris, and the enamel-blue of a species of speedwell, not noticed by the Swedish Naturalist.” Sibth. Walp. Mem. i. 282, seq.

1298. This plant was brought from Mount Hymettos, to be cultivated in the gardens of Athens. The Sicyonians, likewise, transplanted it to their gardens from the mountains of Peloponnesos.—Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 7. 2.

1299. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 7. 4.

1300. Dioscor. iii. 89. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. i. tab. 14, tab. 192, seq. tab. 310, tab. 518, tab. 549. Column. x. De Cult. Hort. 96, sqq.

1301. The basil-gentle was watered at noon, other plants morning and evening.—Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 5. 2.

1302. Dioscor. iii. 114.

1303. Colum. x. 399, seq. Engl. Trans.

1304. The anemone among other flowers beautifies the fields of Attica, so early as the month of February.—Chandler, ii. 211. “Les campagnes et les collines sont rouges d’anémones.”—Della Rocca, Traité sur les Abeilles, t. i. p. 5.

1305. Cultivated usually in pots, resembling the gardens of Adonis. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 7. 3. Thickets of this shrub constitute one of the greatest beauties of the islands of the Archipelago. “Les lauriers roses, que l’on conserve en France avec tant de soin, viennent à l’aventure dans les prairies, et le long des ruisseaux qui en sont bordés. Rien n’est plus agréable que de voir ces beaux arbres, de la hauteur de douze à quinze pieds, variés de fleurs rouges et blanches, se croiser par les branches d’en haut, sur un ruisseau ou sur le lit d’une fontaine, et faire un berceau qui dure quelquefois un grand quart de lieue.” Della Rocca, Traité Complet sur les Abeilles, t. i. p. 6.

1306. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 253.

1307. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 8. 2.

1308. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. i. tab. 27.

1309. Known also by the names of νηρίον and ῥοδοδάφνη.—Dioscor. iv. 82. Geop. ii. 42. 1.

1310. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 9. 3.

1311. Cf. Clus. Hist. Rar. Plant. i. 43. p. 65.

1312. Plat. De Rep. t. vi. p. 85. The berry, both of the myrtle and the laurel, assumed, we are told, a black colour in the garden of Antandros.—Theophrast. Hist. Plant. ii. 2. 6.

1313. Hemsterhuis, Annot. ad Poll. ix. 49. p. 943. Cf. Dion. Chrysost. i. 273.

1314. Sibthorp. Flor. Græc. t. i. tab. 2, tab. 367, tab. 374, seq.

1315. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 9. 3.

1316. The strawberry-tree is found flourishing in great beauty and perfection on Mount Helicon, and its fruit is said to be exceedingly sweet.—Chandler, ii. 290.

1317. Sibth. Flor. Græc. tab. 361.

1318. Ἔνθα πλάτανος μὲν ἀμφιλαφής τε καὶ σύσκιος, πνεῦμα δὲ μέτριον, καὶ πόα μαλθακὴ, ὥρα θέρους ἐπανθεῖν εἰωθυῖα. Aristænet. Epist. lib. i. Epist. 3. p. 13. There was, according to Varro, an evergreen platane tree in Crete, i. 7. The same platane is mentioned by Theophrastus, who informs us, that it grew beside a fountain in the Gortynian territory where Zeus first reclined on landing from the sea with Europa, i. 9. 5. Near the city of Sybaris, there is said to have grown a common oak which enjoyed the privilege of being undeciduous. Ibid.

1319. Ἄμπελοι δὲ παμμήκεις σφόδρα τε ὑψηλαὶ περιελίττονται κυπαρίττους ὡς ἀνακλᾷν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ πολὺ τὸν αὐχενα πρὸς θέαν τῶν κύκλῳ συναιωρουμένων βοτρών, ὧν οἱ μὲν ὀργῶσιν, οἱ δὲ περκάζουσιν οἱ δὲ ὄμφακες, οἱ δὲ οἰνάνθαι δοκοῦσιν.—Aristænet. Epist. lib. i. Ep. 3. p. 13, seq.

1320. Sibth. Flor. Græc. tab. 516.

1321. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. i. 13. 1.

1322. Dodwell, ii. 455. Sibth. in Walp. Mem. i. 283. There was a species of mistletoe called the Cretan, which found equally congenial the climates of Achaia and Media. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 1. 3.

1323. That is to say at a late period, for in the time of Theophrastus it would seem not to have been common in Greece, if it had been at all introduced. Hist. Plant. iii. 17. 1.

1324. Dodwell, ii. 455.

1325. Even the platane, also, delights in humid places. Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 4. 2. The black poplar was said to bear fruit in several parts of Crete. iii. 3. 5.

1326. Geop. v. 44. Cf. Artemid. Oneirocrit. ii. 24. p. 112.

1327. Walp. Mem. i. 60.

1328. The cactus, as most travellers will have remarked, flourishes luxuriantly in Sicily even among the beds of lava where little else will grow; it appears, however, to delight in a volcanic soil. Spallanzani, Travels in the Two Sicilies, “i. 209. In the Æolian Islands it thrives so well that it usually grows to the height of ten, twelve, and sometimes fifteen feet, with a stem a foot or more in diameter. The fruits, which are nearly as large as turkeys’ eggs, are sweet and extremely agreeable to the palate. It is well-known that the fruits grow at the edges of the leaves, the number on each leaf is not constant, but they are frequently numerous, as I have counted two and twenty on a single leaf.” iv. 97.

1329. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. i. tab. 29. tab. 157. tab. 185.

1330. Sibth. in Walp. Trav. p. 73, seq. On the seasons of these wild flowers see Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 9. 2.

1331. Dioscor. ii. 186.

1332. Athen. xv. 29.

1333. Demosth. in Callicl. § 1. 3, seq.

1334. Cf. Varro. i. 15. Magii Miscellan. lib. iv. p. 187. b. As the cotton-tree in modern times has been supposed not to thrive at a much greater distance than twenty miles from the sea; so, among the ancients, the olive was supposed not to flourish at a greater distance than three hundred stadia. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 2. 4. Both opinions are probably erroneous, as the olive-tree is found in perfection in the Fayoum, and the cotton-plant in Upper Egypt.

1335. Vict. Var. Lect. p. 874. But the Scholiast (Aristoph. Ran. 1026) gives a different though less probable interpretation to the passage.

1336. Cf. Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. i. tab. 3.

1337. Cato. De Re Rusticâ 6. They were sometimes also grafted, we are told, on lentiscus stocks. Plut. Sympos. ii. 6. 1.

1338. In Syria and some other warm countries the olive was said to produce fruit in clusters. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. i. 11. 4. And when this fruit was found chiefly on the upper branches, they augured a productive year. id. i. 14. 2. Geop. ix. 2. 4. The ancients entertained extraordinary ideas concerning the purity of the olive, which they imagined bore more freely when cultivated by persons of chaste minds. Thus the olive-grounds of Anazarbos, in Cilicia, were thought to owe their extraordinary fertility to the reserved and modest manners of the youths who cultivated them. Id. ix. 2. 6.